“Can we even do this without her?” I asked, sitting back in the couch. “We were given our powers so the five of us could fight together. Will we be able to succeed with her gone?”
“Who knows?” Chris shrugged. “But I do know this—we won’t succeed if we don’t try. And if we don’t try, and the Titans return, then we won’t ever have a chance to figure out how to bring back Kate.”
“I’m glad we all agree,” Darius said, sitting straighter. “Because while you’ve all been in LA, another monster has slipped through the portal.”
“Another one?” I gasped. “Why didn’t you say something sooner? We could have already killed it!” I glanced around at the others, but none of them looked surprised. So I crossed my arms and sat back, eyeing them suspiciously. “Why do I get the feeling that you all knew about this already?”
“You’ve been asleep for over a day,” Danielle said.
“A day?” I repeated, and Darius nodded in confirmation. I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised—I’d used a lot of energy at the gallery. Of course I needed time to recharge. But still… I had no idea it had been so long. “That means we have less than a week until the spring equinox.”
“Six days, to be exact,” Blake said. “And this monster—a Cyclops—has been contained to the general area around the portal. So while you were sleeping, we decided that this is a perfect opportunity to test out Medusa’s head. I was the one who convinced them to wait for you.”
“Thanks,” I said, since he was right—I would have hated to miss out on that. “But if it works—and I can’t imagine why it won’t work—we’ll have a statue of the Cyclops left over. What should we do with it? We can’t exactly leave it out in the open.”
“We’re already one step ahead of you,” Ethan said, smiling smugly. “The first thing we’ll do is lure the Cyclops into the cave. We’ll use the head on him in there, and then poof. The Cyclops will turn to stone, and he’ll serve as a warning for any other creature that escapes from Kerberos.”
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
We parked at the Hemlock Center and crept out of the van, each with our favorite weapon hidden under our clothes. Ethan also carried a backpack, with Medusa’s head zipped inside. Luckily, the snakes on her head had died after we beheaded her—to turn someone to stone, all we had to do was open her eyes. Theoretically, of course, since we had yet to test it out. Sure, we could have tested it on a rat, or a guinea pig or something, but it was going to be much more rewarding to test it out on a monster itself.
We walked around to the back of the playground, so the Cyclops wouldn’t see us approach. Like Darius had said, it waited there for us, calmly. Or at least, I thought that was the Cyclops. Because from behind, all I could see was what looked like a young boy. He sat on a swing, surrounded by bags of fast food—Taco Bell, McDonalds, KFC—you name it, and it was there. That was how the witches were keeping the Cyclops in one place. As long as they continuously fed it and promised to return with more food, it didn’t attack and was staying on the playground.
But they couldn’t keep giving it bags of fast food forever, which was why it was time for us to get involved.
“Are you sure that’s the monster?” I whispered, peering out at the small figure. It sat on the swing, holding tightly onto the chains. It wasn’t swinging—it was just sitting there, digging its toes into the ground. “It looks more like a fifth grade boy.”
“That’s because you’re looking at it from behind,” Blake said. “From the front, it’ll be obvious that it’s a monster. You’ll see.”
“You’ve seen it already?” I asked.
“I came here once,” he said. “I was curious about what it looked like. I delivered it some Taco Bell.”
“Let me guess…” I said. “A crunch wrap, no sour cream, with extra nacho cheese?”
“Four crunch wraps, three tacos, and a burrito” he said, and I widened my eyes, since there was no way that small creature could eat so much. “Don’t be deceived—that’s one hungry Cyclops. And once it gets older, fast food isn’t going to cut it anymore. Because grown Cyclopes eat—”
“Will you guys shut up?” Danielle somehow managed to sound like she was screaming, even though she was whispering like the rest of us.
“What do they eat?” I asked, ignoring Danielle and focusing on Blake.
“Humans,” Ethan jumped in before Blake had a chance to answer. “Which is why we need to turn that one over there to stone before it grows up and realizes that crunch wraps aren’t the most delicious item on the menu.”
“Right,” I said. “Makes sense.”
At that moment, the Cyclops shifted in the swing and looked around the playground. “Hello?” it asked, its voice soft and unsure. “Is someone there?” It rotated around completely, and when it turned to face us, I sucked in a sharp breath, raising a hand to my mouth.
One single eye stared out at us, taking up a huge chunk of the creature’s forehead. The eye was twice the size of a human eye, and much rounder, so it appeared almost cartoonish. It was right above his nose, which was pushed in and turned up, probably to make room for the eye.
I shouldn’t have been shocked—obviously I knew that Cyclopes only had one eye—but he looked so human from behind. I’d nearly forgotten that he was a monster until he’d turned around.
The Cyclops blinked a few times, but other than that, his expression was unchanged. “Hi,” he said, and his voice wavered, as if he were scared. “Are you here to bring me food?”
“Yes.” Ethan stood up and walked toward the Cyclops. “I have it in my bag.”
I stayed behind him, not wanting to get too close to the Cyclops. The boy didn’t scare me, exactly—after all, he was only a child—but looking at that round, single eye made me feel uneasy. All the monsters I’d ever seen were adults. This one was so young. I knew Ethan said that adult Cyclopes ate humans, but it was hard to imagine this boy—who was still holding tightly onto the chains of the swing and blinking at us nervously—hurting anyone.
“Yay!” The Cyclops smiled, which looked rather creepy, given his single eye. “What do you have for me today? More of those tacos? I really liked those.”
Ethan paused, not meeting the Cyclops’s eye, and pulled at the straps of his bag. Was he having the same hesitations as I was?
Danielle must have also thought he was having doubts, because she stepped to the front of the group. “Yes, we did,” she cut in. “But this time, we brought enough for all of us. We were thinking that we could have a picnic, in the cave. It’ll be an adventure. Would you like that?”
I’d never pegged Danielle as someone who would be good with kids, but the Cyclops smiled, his eye lighting up. “Yes!” he said. “That does sound fun. But… we’re just going in the cave, right? Not into that dark place?” His lower lip quivered, his body starting to tremble. “Because I don’t want to go back there. Never, ever, ever.” He glanced behind him, looking over one shoulder, and then the other. His breaths were coming faster, and he looked like a trapped bird, searching for an escape.
Before he had a chance to run, droplets started to fall from overhead—rain. But they were only falling on top of us. Everywhere else was still dry.
“We won’t send you back to Kerberos,” Danielle said. “We promise. We just want to go to the cave to get out of the rain. After all, it’s not fun to picnic when you’re getting rained on. Right?”
“I guess so,” the Cyclops said, and with that, we all walked to the portal that led to the underground cave.
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
The first time we were in the cave—back when we were following the clues to find the Book of Shadows—I’d assumed it was directly below town. But back then, I’d never traveled through a portal before. Now, I’d taken portals to Greece, Antarctica, and LA. None of those portals had felt any different from the others. And since both of the entrances to the cave were through portals, I supposed the actual cave didn’t have to be in Kinsley. It could be anywher
e.
The inside of the cave looked the same as it had the first time we were there. Two portals swirled on the walls—the one we’d taken to get there from the playground had the normal, smokescreen appearance like all the other portals I’d ever taken. The opposite portal, however, had a murky, muddy appearance. The hairs on my arm rose just from looking at it. But while the portals were hugely different, they both cast an eerie glow that provided us enough light to see in the cave.
As planned, Blake and Ethan stood in front of the portal to Kerberos, to guard it in case any monsters decided that now would be a good time for them to escape. Chris, Danielle, and I stood in front of the portal to the playground, so the Cyclops couldn’t try to make a run for it.
“What are you all standing around for?” The Cyclops’s stomach rumbled, and he wrapped his arms around it, ducking his head as if embarrassed. “I’m hungry. Can we eat now?” His lower lip stuck out as he looked at the backpack, making him look like a starving puppy.
At that moment, something within me broke. I couldn’t take this anymore. Sure, the Cyclops might grow up to be a monster, but he wasn’t a monster yet. Why should we punish him for something he may or may not become?
“Maybe we shouldn’t do this,” I said to the others. “Can’t we wait for another creature to slip through the portal? One that’s more… deserving of this?”
“No.” Chris didn’t hesitate for a second. “We have no idea when another one will escape, and every second that passes is another second closer to the spring equinox. We have to do this now. For Kate.”
I pressed my lips together, since I couldn’t say no to that. But as I looked at the Cyclops—who was still looking around at all of us, clueless about what was going on—I wondered if there was another way.
“This needs to be a group decision,” Blake said. “But Nicole… what other choice do we have?”
Everyone looked at me for an answer, but I stayed silent, studying the Cyclops. Could we send him back to Kerberos? But he’d been so terrified when we’d mentioned Kerberos that I couldn’t imagine sending him back there. After all, he was so young right now. He couldn’t have been alive during the Second Rebellion. He was just unlucky enough to have been born in the prison world, and therefore be a prisoner by default. It didn’t seem fair to send him back there for a crime he didn’t commit.
But he also couldn’t live among humans. He could never blend in with them, and there was also the bigger issue—that he would eventually want to eat them.
Maybe there was another solution? Perhaps Hypatia could bring him to the Greek Islands of Old Mythology. If I remembered correctly from The Odyssey, the Cyclopes had an island there. Maybe we could send this Cyclops back there so he could live with his kind?
“Enough waiting around,” Ethan said, unzipping his backpack. “I’m bringing the food out now, so you all better be prepared.” He wrapped his hand around the dead snakes that had been Medusa’s hair and pulled out her head.
Not having much of a choice, I closed my eyes, bracing myself for the Cyclops’s scream.
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
The scream was long and tortured, just like Kate’s, and hearing it sent chills down to my bones. Then, mid-scream, it stopped. Someone shuffled their feet, but other than that, all was silent.
“Is it done?” I asked. “Can we open our eyes?”
Ethan didn’t answer. Instead, I heard the sounds of a struggle, and something clattering to the floor.
“Fight me and they all die,” Ethan said, his voice low.
“Ethan?” I kept my eyes closed, since I couldn’t risk opening them in case Medusa’s head was still out. “What’s going on?”
“I have the head of Medusa in one hand, and a knife to your boyfriend’s throat in the other,” Ethan said, calm and calculated. “Open your eyes, and you’ll be turned to stone. If Blake speaks, or if you try to do anything to save him, I’ll slit his throat. Not like you can do much to save him, because you can’t risk using your powers on me if you can’t see anything, can you? And if you think Blake will use his power to save himself, don’t worry—I made sure he couldn’t when I knocked his lighter out of his hand. As a son of Zeus, I’m stronger than him, so he doesn’t have a chance of breaking free.”
“What are you doing?” My heart pounded faster, and the darkness surrounded me, making me feel like I couldn’t breathe. I was suffocating in it, drowning in it. “I don’t understand,” I said. “I thought you were helping us.”
Ethan laughed—dry and manically. He sounded like he was choking on his own laughter. It lasted for a few seconds before he got ahold of himself. “You are all so stupid,” he said, spitting out the last word. “I haven’t been on your side since you let Rachael die. Do you know what it feels like? To get your life back and think you’re going home again, and then watching your twin die in front of you and being powerless to save her? Rachael should have been the one you saved first, not Blake. Rachael was a demigod. A daughter of Zeus. Blake is only a witch. Her life was worth a thousand more than his ever could be. And you—a demigod yourself—should have known that. You should have saved your own kind first. But you didn’t, and I will never forgive you for it.”
“That is so backward,” Danielle said, which sent a surge of pride through my chest. Only a few months ago, she’d been casting spells on humans simply because she could. “Nicole would have saved Rachael if she could. None of us wanted anyone to die.”
“She would have saved Rachael second,” Ethan said. “Not first. And Rachael deserved to be saved first.”
“I already explained this to you.” I tried to speak calmly and rationally, despite the possibility that Ethan was too far gone to be appealed to through logic. But I had to try. I had to do anything to make sure he didn’t slice that knife across Blake’s throat. “Blake had a stomach wound, and Rachael had a shoulder wound. In any normal circumstance, a stomach wound is far more deadly—”
“Shut up!” Ethan yelled. “Stop throwing that same bullshit at me. We all know why you went to Blake first, and it wasn’t because you were analyzing both of their wounds. So stop trying to convince me otherwise, because it’s not gonna work.”
“What exactly do you plan on doing from here?” Chris asked. “You have a knife to Blake’s throat. If any of us open our eyes, we’ll turn to stone. We’re all stuck. And I have a feeling that if you actually planned on killing Blake, you would have done it already. So what’s the point of this, Ethan? What are you trying to do?”
“I’m going to bring the head of Medusa to the Titans, as an offering from Helios,” Ethan said, sounding mighty proud of himself.
“Helios?” Danielle repeated. “What does he have to do with this?”
“You didn’t think you would hear his name again, did you?” Ethan laughed. “But like Hypatia warned us back in Greece, the gods don’t forget their wrath. Helios definitely didn’t forget about you killing his cow. When he saw how angry I was at you—rightfully so, after you let my sister die—he approached me with a deal. I help you get the head of Medusa, and then I take it into Kerberos as an offering to the Titans, to prove Helios’s loyalty to them. Then, when the Titans free themselves and rise again, I and anyone I care about will be protected under Helios himself. Helios even told me that he would bring my sister back from Hades. So don’t you see… I had no choice but to work with him. Anything to get my sister back. I wanted to behead Medusa myself, which was why I put that gray energy in your drinks, but hey, we can’t always get what we want, can we? I have the head now, so that’s good enough. I’ll present it to the Titans, and they’ll give their gratitude to me for stopping you all from killing Typhon. Because that’s what happens when anyone gets turned to stone, you know. They die. It was so pathetic watching you all try to convince yourselves otherwise when it came to poor Kate.”
My heart dropped, but I forced myself to stay focused. I had to, for Blake’s sake. Because despite Ethan’s threats, I didn’t actually think he wo
uld take that head into Kerberos. He would have to be insane to step foot through that portal.
“You have the head,” I told Ethan, reminding myself to stay calm. “So why are you still here? Why haven’t you taken it to Kerberos yet?”
“I’m not scared, if that’s what you think,” he said. “Helios promised me that the Titans are expecting me. They’ll protect me until the portal opens completely.”
“And you’ll trust him?” Danielle asked. “Why?”
“Why not?” Ethan said. “You all promised that you would keep my sister and me safe, but you lied. Zeus was just going to leave us on the Land of the Lotus Eaters for the rest of our lives, so he clearly doesn’t give a shit about us. Might as well take my chance with the other side, especially since it’s looking like they’re the ones who will be in power for the next thousand or so years, anyway.”
“You’re wrong,” Chris said. “We can stop them, and we will.”
“Really?” Ethan chuckled. “With just three of you left? Good luck with that.”
“Three?” Danielle repeated. “There are four of us. And there will be five of us, once we figure out how to get Kate back.”
“You’re even stupider than I thought,” Ethan said. “Sure, there are four of you now. I was thinking of killing you all, but I decided that being alive would be far worse torture for you than being dead. Chris—knowing that Kate gave her life for you out of love, after the way you were so oblivious to how much she cared for you? That’s gotta hurt. Danielle—you’re miserable as it is, so I have no interest in killing you. And Nicole—you’re the best of all. Because Medusa isn’t the only one I’m taking with me into Kerberos. I’m taking Blake, too. And I highly doubt the Titans will extend the same generosity toward him that they will to me.”
“You can’t do that,” I said, the words catching in my throat. “Take the head—I don’t care. But Blake stays here. Just tell us what you want. Tell us what you want us to do for—”
Elementals 3: The Head of Medusa Page 17
