81. Serpents and Tentacles
All the while Phorcys and Phorcydes led Medusa through the ruins, she felt Akrivi's persistent gaze. Earlier, as he offered his greetings to her father and aunt, he had appeared on the verge of bursting with a million questions. She stubbornly avoided eye contact.
Maybe she'd explain things later, or not. For the first time in a long time, she wished to relax and see what it's like to be with her family. But that already felt impossible because Perseus was within reach and still breathing.
"Why did you stop me?" Medusa asked as they stepped over a toppled pillar. She had shifted to short-haired, gangly May because the thought of being carried was off-putting.
"Stop you from doing what?" Phorcydes casually asked as if one of her large shadow hands wasn't tugging an unconscious Perseus along like a stringed balloon.
"Perseus is dangerous—an unrepentant murderer. The sooner we kill him, the better for Cosmolith."
If her father was shocked by her harsh words, it didn't show in his expression. Since they began weaving their way through decrepit walkways and crumbling alleys, he had maintained solemn silence. Perhaps speaking was painful, seeing that his neck had that around it.
"After you meet your mother, seek me out," Phorcydes said, blatantly ignoring Medusa's warning. "I'll show you something interesting."
Biting back the urge to argue, Medusa nodded tightly.
Her mind was already made up, though. Before she kills Poseidon, Perseus would go first. Now that she thought of it, it was solely her fault that he was still alive.
She should have turned him to stone the instant their eyes met without a barrier.
Next time.
Soon they came upon a weather-beaten door that blended so well with the surrounding walls that Medusa would have walked right past if Phorcys hadn't stopped.
As he reached for the door, a polished brass handle appeared. He twisted it open to reveal the black depths of a portal. "I will head in last."
Medusa held Rico's collar and led him past the door.
In a span of what felt like a second, they appeared at the other side.
Ahead, surrounded by a dense circle of forest, was a villa.
Not as grand as the one in Hesperides, but it was large enough to fit what a moderately wealthy family may own in Athens.
Was this still Sarpedon? She looked at the sky, observing the weather and the sun's position.
The weather and the time of day appeared the same, but she couldn't be too sure.
"Is this Sarpedon?" Medusa asked after Phorcydes walked through the portal.
"Yes." Her aunt gripped her wooden staff tightly as she surveyed the grounds like a proud sovereign. "And the island belongs to us. Beyond the tree border? Horrors." Her eyes sparkled with dark delight, then she looked at Medusa. "Think you're strong enough to explore?"
Medusa considered her months of training under her curse. "We'll see."
Phorcydes chuckled, then beckoned to Akrivi and the Opsianian. "Both of you come with me."
Akrivi hesitated at her side. "Later. Let's talk later." Then he hurried after Phorcydes.
Phorcys finally stepped out and shut the lone door in the guard post. Again, Medusa's attention shifted to the thorns.
It bothered her—no, what she felt was rising fury, the ever-present type that simmered in the background.
Zeus had used the same thorns on Lachesis and Atropos.
How did he do it? What was it about the stupid southern sorcery that it could be used to overpower the Moirai?
Well, the Monolith energy was also thrown in. Still...
"It's safe to release him." Phorcys stopped next to her and patted Rico's head. "He can't roam past the border."
Medusa let Rico go, watching as he lazily lumbered ahead, sniffing this and that.
They stood in silence as a gentle breeze tugged at her short curls and Phorcys' himaton.
"You mother..." There was a weariness in his tone. "Your mother learned about the duplicate yesterday."
Medusa opened her mouth to speak only to realise she had nothing to say; after all, she was an active participant in the deception. Then she had felt nothing; now the guilt scratched. "I see."
"She was—is angry with me."
Angry? It was an odd picture to imagine. Medusa's sparse encounters with Ceto had left her thinking her mother was a never-angry, ditsy woman unhealthily enamoured by her husband. "I'm sorry for the deception."
"It's no matter," Phorcys said. "She will come around... eventually."
A beat of silence, then Medusa asked, "When did you find out about the duplicate?"
Phorcys held his hands at his back. "The duplicate didn't have Rico."
"Oh." Of course. How had she forgotten? That meant he kept Ceto in the dark from the moment they took the duplicate from Phorcydes. Now she understood why her mother would be mad.
"Does it seem like I am stalling?" He suddenly asked.
Did it? He was standing with the same stoic expression and gaze fixed ahead. Wait, now that she looked closely, he did seem a little tense, and they had yet to take a forward step since he stopped next to her. Was angry Ceto that scary?
"I can wait," Medusa said. "We don't have to see her now."
Phorcys sighed and shook his head. "No, it's fine. Let's go."
Instead of heading to the front door, Phorcys led her around the back of the villa and down a stone path curving through a garden. Soon, they stood before another building a small distance from the main house.
Phorcys led her up the steps. "She has been in the water since yesterday. Her appearance..." he paused. "Try not to be too surprised."
Medusa nodded, confident. She had seen her fair share of beasts. How terrifying could Ceto be?
Once they reached the door, Medusa reverted to her ten-year-old body.
The door creaked loudly as Phorcys pushed it open, revealing a dark pool half the size of a football field.
The water surface was so still that it resembled black glass reflecting the colourful fresco on the high ceiling.
The place smelled faintly of roses and had a cool, pleasant temperature.
He strolled to the edge of the pool and stopped. "Ceto."
The water remained still.
"Again, I apologise."
Silence.
"The Moirai led—" He fell silent as if catching himself using a slur. "Our youngest has returned."
A ripple spread from the centre of the pool, distorting its stillness.
"Medusa is here," Phorcys added, a relieved note colouring his voice. "Please, come out."
The water swelled as though something colossal heaved beneath. Waves rose, splashed over the edge and wet their feet. Medusa peered more closely at the troubled water, hoping to catch movement in all that darkness.
Finally, something emerged in the middle of the settling pool.
The crown of a person's head with sleek, dark hair.
Medusa cocked her head, attention completely arrested.
The oddities began to appear as the rest of Ceto's head pushed past the surface.
Grey skin bearing the pattern of a tiger shark, large, completely black eyes and ears resembling tail fins.
As the rest of her body surged from the pool, Medusa stumbled away, stunned at her proportions.
Like the torso of a doll fused to a massive skirt of dark, writhing tentacles.
Ceto leaned forward, water sluicing down her shoulders and chest as she peered at Medusa. She blinked slowly like a cat. There was a sound, a mournful lowing mixed with sparse clicks.
Medusa stood frozen, heart racing in her throat. Faced with Ceto's size, she could only gape like she did the first time she met her curse. Though she was more fascinated than scared, and there was an odd desire to reach out and touch her.
Ceto leaned even closer, her head eclipsing Medusa's vision. She was so close that Medusa could count the beads of water on her dark lashes and see the interesting way light reflected on her striped skin.
Then she extended a webbed hand and tapped Medusa's forehead. "So..." She tilted her head. "You are the real one."
Before Medusa could respond, a tentacle gently picked her up. Air whooshed around her ears as Ceto straightened. There was a smile on her face—a terrifying smile that exposed sharp, serrated teeth but softened her eyes.
"To make me embrace a living doll, while my child faced dangers alone. The Moirai is truly wicked." She carefully encircled Medusa with more tentacles, hugging her to the side of her face and patting her head.
Medusa remained stiffly curled up, not knowing how to act. At least there was no slime, just cool and very wet, snug tentacles. The suckers felt soft as they brushed her cheek.
"Your father knew. That wicked man knew you were alone but did nothing. He and his sister and the rest of them are slaves to the Moirai." Ceto refused to acknowledge Phorcys as she turned, her head nearly brushing the high ceiling. "But who am I to speak? I am also a foolish slave."
"You are not a slave, nor are you foolish," Phorcys replied evenly.
She huffed. "I am still not speaking to you."
"Understandable," Phorcys said, that weary note returning. He turned to the door. "You should return to the villa. The pool is too shallow."
Ceto still wouldn't look at him. When he left, her face fell.
"My child..." She moved Medusa so their eyes met and stared as if peering into her soul. Her expression turned even more sorrowful as she shook her head. "What am I saying? You are no child."
Medusa did not argue.
"But you're still a child in my eyes." She smiled again, the action lessening the sadness on her face.
"Will you tell me how this happened? Did the Moirai do this to you?
Sometimes my mind... my mind fails me. Things happen, and I don't... I do not know when tragedy befalls my children. I am sorry."
There was a pitiful expression on her face, and shame. Why shame? If anyone should be ashamed, it should be Zeus, Athena, Poseidon and those in league with them.
"There's no need to apologise." Medusa patted her tentacle in an awkward attempt to give comfort. "If it was the Moirai who did this to me, then I am grateful.
The corner of Ceto's lips drooped. "You have become one of her followers." She sighed. "Like father, like daughter, truly."
Ceto needed to understand that she preferred her circles of reincarnation to Zeus' brand of immortality. "It is not what you think. That I am like this, not so helpless, is a gift."
For the first time in Medusa's life, she told another person everything about her five lives. Starting from the fifth to the first.
As she spoke, Ceto carefully sat Medusa by the pool, reverted to her human form and settled next to her. She listened in silence, just staring ahead as her knuckles grew white from how hard she clenched the sheet wrapping her body.
By the time Medusa was done, the air around Ceto warped, forming waves of mirage.
"Do you understand why I can't see the Moirai as the enemy? Well, there's one Moirai who hates me, but I loathe her in equal measure," Medusa said bitterly.
Seriously, I hope you never return, Atropos.
"Give me your hand," Ceto quietly said. Her usually soft voice now possessed a strange heaviness and an unnatural echo.
Confused, Medusa did as she asked.
Ceto wrapped her dainty fingers around Medusa's much smaller hand. Her touch was warm. "Are you immortal now?"
Medusa frowned as she considered her question. Was she immortal? No. She could die with the help of the Monolith. Even now, if she wanted to, she could end her life; what she wasn't certain of was the reincarnation. Would she truly die or repeat life with her memories intact?
"I... I don't know."
"I see." Ceto nodded as if she completely understood and stared at Medusa's hand.
"Never... never in my life have I been this enraged.
" Her voice trembled. Aether went wild, flaring harder and distorting the space around her.
"How could they? How could they do that to you?
" A line of tears travelled down her cheek, but her eyes remained hard.
"Athena said... she said upon oath that she was taking my children to serve in her temple.
That was the punishment after they killed my first. Was there something more?
Was my mind away when they colluded to violate my child? To think we offered up—"
She grabbed her head. "Did they do the same to Stheno and Euryale?
Ah!" Across her skin, stripes appeared and disappeared.
"It's our fault. If Phorcys hadn't rebelled.
Or if... if I had died at the beginning.
If I had died, then my children wouldn't be born to suffer so.
" More tears flowed. "It's our fault. I am so sorry, my child. I keep failing my children."
Her curse said that in her first life, her family sought revenge and perished for it. And now, she could feel her mother's rage and sorrow. They care for me. A warmth spread across Medusa's chest, healing a wound she hadn't realised hurt so much.
"Don't cry, mother." She patted Ceto's trembling back.
It was this world, this sick version of Cosmolith, that was wrong. Not her mother with a broken mind or her father seeking a way of escape.
"If you had died, I wouldn't be here," Medusa said as she let her hand drop.
"Despite all that... sorrow, I am glad I exist." Most of her first life had been filled with happy memories, and her second was only bad because of her bitter mother and a tribe's superstition.
Now, she had a chance to set things right and erase those who caused her pain.
She was under no delusion that the Moirai weren't using her in some way, but she had made peace with it. The rewards were worth it.
"Are you truly glad you exist?" Ceto looked at her, eyes red from her tears.
"What if whatever your father is planning with the Moirai fails?
Sometimes I forget what is important, but I can never forget Zeus.
He is wicked. Even now, I have become one of his generals.
" Despair returned to her face. "Because of my foolish decision, Phorcys has grown more desperate.
Now he believes you can kill Zeus. Why does he insist on tormenting me with such treasonous, impossible aspirations? "
"I will kill Zeus." Or die trying.
Ceto's brow bunched as she shut her eyes tight. "You are a child. You may have lived for years on another plane, but now you are a ten-year-old. Zeus will kill you. Forsake whatever this is. Flee from us. Live."
Medusa sighed internally. She had only told her mother about the reincarnation circles and not how far she had come after returning to Cosmolith. For months, she and her curse had made plans, trained, and created a way with the help of the key. Zeus may be impossible now, but in time...
Drawing a breath in preparation, Medusa shifted to her gorgon form.
"Oh," Ceto whispered as she stared at her. "He mentioned it, but I didn't want to believe." As she took in the snakes and claws, sorrow dimmed her gaze. What would she do if she saw her serpent limb?
Turning to the pool, Medusa made up her mind. "Watch."
Before Ceto could speak, she dived in and drew from her stored Monolith essence. The key responded, and, just as she had in her blindfold training, her body grew and grew and grew until her head and shoulders broke the surface.
Seeing the shocked look on Ceto's face was worth it.
"How?"
"I don't know. It's just something I can do." Of course, it was the key that made it possible, and maybe having Ceto's blood made the process easier. Who knows?
Her snakes slide over the side of her face and her shoulders. She patted one that rose to her eye level. There was still the inconvenience of stripping before growing, but Clotho had promised to solve that problem before she disappeared.
"Do not worry about me," Medusa said as she patted another snake that bumped her right cheek. "The Moirai never forced me." She waded to the edge of the pool. "It's possible to kill Zeus, and it's possible to end your immortality."
Ceto shook her head, still appearing stunned with disbelief. "Don't say impossible things."
"It isn't impossible. I will prove this by bringing Poseidon's head to you."
"What!" Ceto's face grew pale. "No. No, please. Don't—"
"I wasn't seeking permission, mother," Medusa said firmly. She was the one Poseidon violated, and no one would deny her revenge. "Killing Poseidon is worth all the risk in the world."
Shoulders drooping, Ceto shook her head. "I fought him recently. This is not to discourage you, my child, but he is strong. Far stronger than he was two hundred years ago. Your father thinks the same."
Medusa shrugged. "He will die."
"You speak with such confidence. Did the Moirai assure you of victory?"
"No."
"Then why!" She asked, frustration clear on her face. "Speak the truth. Are you immortal?"
Well, if I don't kill myself. Or not. She has never fought a high god before. The key may be unable to preserve her life; this was the biggest gamble of her life. "I am mortal."
"Ah." Ceto released a shaky laugh and looked away. "How terrifying." She placed a hand over her chest. "My heart has never raced this hard since the beginning."
Even though Medusa was confident in her petrification, she had never tested it on an actual deity. But there were rumours of beasts that were on the same tier as deities in Sarpedon. Perhaps, this was her chance. "I will ease your mind."
Ceto looked up with hope. "You will?"
"Yes." Medusa smiled. "Take me to the fiercest beast on this island, one that's on the same tier as a deity. I will show you then."
Ceto shook her head as if giving up. "Fine."
"Good." Medusa maintained her gorgon appearance as she shrank to human size and shrugged on her clothes.
"Can you sprout wings?"
Medusa lifted her brow at the unexpected question. "Can Stheno and Euryale?"
"Yes." Ceto made her way to the door. "I saw it once when I visited them at the temple thirty years ago."
"I see." Medusa trailed after her. "No wings for me yet." The best she could do was jump really high.
Since Medusa and her sisters had more than one beast form, did the same logic apply to Ceto? She kept the question for later.
"I will go to your father," Ceto said when they reached the doors of the villa.
Galene stood waiting, her eyes widening when she spotted Medusa.
She smiled without showing her fangs. "Galene. How have you been?"
"I've been fine?" The maid answered tentatively, clearly puzzled.
"The other one was a fake," Ceto explained. "And take Medusa to Phorcydes," she said before walking away.
Galene's gaze lingered on Medusa's face, probably taking note of the resemblance she shared with her father. She didn't appear fazed. That much was expected, seeing she served masters who already had two gorgon daughters.
"Welcome back," she finally said before leading the way.
Medusa broke the silence as they walked down the corridor. "Thanks for protecting me from the ekhidna."
Galene glanced at her, a subtle frown squeezing her brow. "Ekhidna?"
It suddenly occurred to Medusa that Clotho must have wiped the encounter from the maid's mind as well. How sad. "Never mind."
Galene led her to a large white room and excused herself. Phorcydes, Akrivi and Lela were present, and a third unconscious person lay prone on a wooden gurney. Medusa scowled when she looked at their face.
"Why is he in that state?" Save for the strip of cloth covering his rear, he was stripped bare.
Phorcydes looked up, the large needle she held stopping an inch from the base of Perseus' spine.
"You have come." Phorcydes took in Medusa's gorgon appearance and nodded as if pleased. "My niece is beautiful in any form." She turned to Akrivi and Lela, who waited at her left like soldiers. "You think so too, no?"
They nodded tightly as if questioned at gunpoint.
Aside from the vials holding strange liquids, unfamiliar apparatuses and cases of black needles, there was something different about the way aether acted around Perseus. And that marking...
Drawing closer, Medusa stared at his back, surprised at the intricate markings across it. She knew most blood carriers bore markings on their backs, but she had never seen one as intricate and somewhat coherent. It resembled a tattoo, but drawn with blue ink.
"I will not let you kill him," Phorcydes said.
"Why?" Medusa didn't care if this was her aunt. If she stood between her and revenge, then she was wrong.
"Because I found him first," Phorcydes answered nonchalantly. "He is mine to do whatever I please with. If you want him so badly, fight me to take him." As she spoke, she pushed the needle in. It was attached to a thin tube that drained what appeared to be spinal fluid into a rune-marked beaker.
"Do you think you will win?" Her aunt glanced her way, a look of amusement on her face. "Soon to be god killer." Her eyes sparkled as if they shared a secret.
Medusa scowled. She was in no mood for games.
"Such bitter rage in your eyes." She chucked as she started pushing acupuncture needles into Perseus' back. "I am guessing you do not know what this is." She nodded at the marking as all playfulness faded from her face.
Too frustrated to speak, Medusa shook her head in answer.
"It's a marking born from southern sorcery. Perseus holds the essence of the first blood." She gave Medusa an expectant look.
When Medusa said nothing, she sighed.
"Zeus' blood," Akrivi answered like a good student. "Is Zeus' blood really in him?"
"That is my hope. I have never seen patterns this intricate on a blood carrier." She glared down at Perseus. "This child offered himself to me on a platter. Now that the Moirai of death is absent, I will be an idiot to pass up this opportunity."
Medusa stared at Perseus. It would be so easy to walk over, grab his leg and turn him to stone. She almost moved to do so when Phorcydes' words stopped her.
"I will find a way—any way to rid my brother of those accursed thorns!" She clenched her fists, green eyes bright with rage. "Zeus, that vile son of the abyss, added his blood to the thorns. There must be a way to undo it. He thinks he is the only one versed in southern sorcery."
Phorcydes' face twisted with a determined scowl. Both Akrivi and Lela backed up as a gust of wind whipped through the room.
"I've had centuries to learn. I know plenty." She continued expertly piercing Perseus' back with more needles. "That man will not free my brother if I win the games. The Moirai told me. The shameless oath breaker!"
Oh. Medusa frowned. That may pose a problem. She hoped the case wouldn't be the same when she won the game and made a request. Asking Clotho if she would win the games had yielded no answer. She wouldn't even share the theme of the games.
Phorcydes straightened, her joints popping as she turned to look at Medusa. "You will have to be a little patient, dear niece. If this son of lightning is still alive when I am done, you can have your revenge."