Illusions: A Grace Murphy Novel

by Nicole Hamlett

  "But I have more. I need more than that. If all I get to do is kill and maim and be on alert for the next big attack, I'm going to lose my ever-loving-mind."

  "Well, that's what your family is for. And your books. I've read a couple. They're not bad." She shrugged and leaned back. "You do have a habit lately of making your heroes a little on the banal side, though. I'm chalking that up to your man problems."

  "I don't know how to fix it. I'm isolating so much that I'm losing touch."

  "How often do you visit your home on Earth?"

  "You mean the one that got blown up by Nemesis' siblings?" I turned my head, giving her a wide-eyed stare.

  "Okay, fair point. I'm worried that we've run into her here, not to change the subject dear."

  "Right, but she's Nemesis."

  "Indeed. Do you know much about her?"

  "Only what I've read in the mythology books which I'm coming to realize are ever only half to a quarter right."

  "Well, she's smart, devious, and man can she hold a grudge."

  "She seems like she's happy to be out of the game, really."

  Medusa's head tracked movement at the other side of the camp. Nemesis was there, filling a pack with supplies. "Hmm. Still, I'd be wary."

  "I don't know. I think that if it weren't for her mother, we could be friends. She did heal me up, you know."

  "Did she?"

  "Oh yeah, I was all but dead when we ended up at her village. She had multiple opportunities to kill me. And yet, she hasn't."

  Medusa's expression was inscrutable, and I would have paid good money to know what she was thinking. It's possible that she would lie to me. I didn't know her well enough to tell if she was telling me the truth yet. That thought led me to the stomach clenching knowledge that during this mission, the only person I could trust was the person I was going to have to work the hardest to protect.

  I could shoot my mother for sending George. What a horrible, no good, bad idea.

  Rather than focus on that nightmare, I blurted out, "What are you thinking? I can’t tell."

  When Medusa smiled at me, her fangs descended. It made me flinch, but she didn't react. "I think that this favor for Diana has turned into something much more involved than I initially thought it would be." She shifted and arched her back. "Do you want my advice, Grace?"

  "Sure?"

  "You don't sound sure. Yes or no?"

  "Yes." I tried to make that sound as certain as I possibly could.

  "Go and see a therapist. You've got issues. You're going to keep acting out and getting mad until you handle those."

  "Great," I scoffed. "Got any recommendations?"

  "As a matter of fact, I do. Mine is an excellent therapist, and she is incredibly discreet."

  My mouth popped open in surprise. Medusa went to therapy?

  As if reading my mind, she replied. "I'm thousands of years old with a curse that has turned me into a gorgon. I am a giant snake, Grace. Do you honestly believe that I couldn't use a bit of therapy?"

  I nodded, staring blankly into space. Yeah, I'd need therapy in that case too. Hell, I needed therapy in my case. "Shoot me her number, would you? I'll make an appointment when we get home."

  "Excellent. I will do so. Now, let's sort through this stuff so we can decide what we're taking and leaving."

  "Yeah okay." I popped up to my feet and brushed the dirt off the back of my pants.

  "No more fighting with Hephaestus."

  "I'm not going to make any promises."

  "Yes, you are. If I catch you starting a fight with him again, you're going to spend the next hundred years decorating Olympus' main fountain as statuary."

  I gasped and turned on her. "You wouldn't."

  Medusa shrugged nonchalantly. "Try me."

  "Fine. But I can't make any promises if he starts it."

  "Try," she grit out between her lengthening fangs.

  "Do those pop out when you're excited and angry?" I teased.

  "You're trying my patience." The S's were starting to sound sibilant.

  "Sssorry," I couldn't help myself. I think I have a secret death wish.

  "I've met your son. If I didn't think he would benefit from a few more years in your company, I'd drop you in a cave somewhere and enjoy watching you starve to death."

  "Wow," I replied. "You're a little bloodthirsty."

  "Now, apologize to Hephaestus before he leaves so you can part on good terms."

  I don't know what hurt worse, that she wanted me to apologize or the pain I felt from Porkchop’s poisonous quills.

  Probably the apology.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  "Fine, I'll apologize to him, but I'm not going to like it."

  "I didn't ask you to like it, Grace. I just said that you'll feel better if you do."

  "I don't think I'll feel better," I grumbled. I'd held on to my hurt and anger for so long that it had become an essential part of my makeup. Who was I, if I weren't the person so mad and antagonistic towards Hephaestus?

  That sentiment stopped me in my tracks, because a revelation finally occurred to me. Who was I, if I weren’t the person angry and antagonistic towards my ex-husband Brandon. Even after seeing him pinned like a butterfly to my foyer wall, I couldn’t get over the hurt and the distrust that he’d caused. Was I transferring my anger at Brandon onto Hephaestus?

  Honestly, I didn't know, but I begrudgingly headed toward where Medusa had come out of the Rift anyway. That’s where he'd be waiting for Diana to open it again and he probably deserved an apology. Would he be there with Nemesis? Would I burst into flames if I saw them sucking face again? Eh, probably.

  There was a push on my back, and I turned to scowl at Medusa. She was giving me her best wide-eyed innocent look. "Just to satisfy my curiosity, you're enjoying my discomfort, aren't you?"

  She grinned and said, "Yep. I sure am."

  "Asshole," I muttered.

  "Heard that," she chirped back.

  I could be grumpy and petulant with her, but the truth is, she helped me. I'd known that I was turning into a curmudgeonly hermit. I just didn't know how to escape that cycle. Now, I had hope. I also had some hardcore therapy to look forward to. We crossed the clearing with Medusa crooning that she knew what I was dithering on about and that I was silly. I gave her a rude gesture and walked faster, hoping to get far enough away that I wouldn't hear the taunts.

  I had felt the Rift before it opened. It was a tingling that made the hair on my arms stand on end, much like a small electric shock. My legs carried me faster. I needed to apologize to him, just in case. What if I didn't make it through this and we had this anger between us? I was crashing into the solid wall of his back before I even realized that I'd started running.

  Heph rocked forward with an audible "Oomph."

  "Sorry," I breathed out. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't be so bitchy. I shouldn't be so angry. I mean, you're a dick, yeah. But I shouldn't keep taking it out on you."

  He turned around, his face incredulous. "You're apologizing to me now?"

  A bright flash of light from the Rift cast his face in shadow. I was glad. I think that if I had to look him in the eye, I wouldn't be able to continue. "Yeah."

  "It's a little long time coming, isn't it?"

  "Don't start on me about a long time coming, Hephaestus," I began, my voice becoming angry. "You could have apologized too. But you didn't, did you?"

  "Wait, so you're waiting for me to apologize to you now?" He was getting angry too.

  In the end, that's what we were, two angry people who just didn't know how to talk to each other. His body was tense like he was getting ready for a fight. Mine was too. Maybe if we just duked it out, we could get over this anger. Maybe if we pounded each other into bloody smears, we could move on?

  "What? No!" I gripped my scalp and pulled at the hair, trying to refocus on what it was that I wanted to say. "No." Calmer this time. "I am apologizing. I want you to know that I am sorry. I wish I could be easier with you, Heph. Y
ou have to know how I feel."

  "How could I? You're always yelling at me."

  My brow furrowed as my defenses went on high alert. "I'm trying not to get defensive here, but you're making it really fucking hard."

  A roar shook the clearing. Confused, I looked over his shoulder at the Rift and stopped cold. "Son of a bitch!"

  Smirking and waving one fingered at me, Nemesis was strolling backward toward the portal. "You're not going to get far, you putrid cow!" I bellowed.

  Then a spray of quills blazed through the air at Nemesis. It looked like she was going to dodge them all, but one struck true, right under her left collarbone. She shouted in surprise and fell back into the Rift.

  "What?" Heph jerked around in time to see Nemesis’s body disappear. He swore too and took off at a run. "Apology accepted Grace. I'll see you again when you get home," he yelled.

  I started to run after him because here she was doing what I'd feared all along and I'd let my guard down. Nemesis was going to be back on Earth, and if I didn't catch her now, I wasn't going to. Earth was a damn big planet with lots of places to hide; more so now than when she'd been exiled.

  A strong hand gripped the back of my shirt and hauled me back. "Grace, Stop!"

  "She's going to get away," I growled. Man, I was pissed. I should have known better, and believe me; I was berating myself right now, more than anyone else ever could.

  "You saw that she was hit with a quill. She is going to be gravely injured if what happened to you is any indication. Porkchop’s aim was true. Besides, Heph is on it. He'll get her. You need to focus on the mission, remember? That’s why I'm here - to help you get that accomplished. Drew's back home, right? They’ll get her. They will both take care of this."

  I scowled and twitched toward the Rift that was shooting someone else into the clearing. Had Heph caught her already, and was he throwing her back? Without conscious thought, I summoned in my Kukri, ready to chop her bloody head off as soon as she materialized. Porkchop too was at the ready. He’d charged up to the swirling light after releasing his spikes. The growl emitting from the porcupine was menacing. He really did not like Nemesis, and I was in complete agreement.

  Again, Medusa held me back. "Not her," she murmured. I let go of the tension and released my Kukri into the ether.

  Georgie's halo of curly hair popped through, and the Rift closed with an audible pop. "Well, this is getting exciting, isn't it?" she breathed.

  "Did you see her?" I ran up and grabbed her shoulders and shook her a little. The first few times through a Rift leaves you disoriented, and I couldn't wait for her to acclimate to give me answers.

  "See who?"

  "Nemesis. She snuck through while I was talking to Heph. Fuck. FUCK! This catastrophe is all my fault! I shouldn't have trusted her."

  George's eyes got wide as she stared at me in horror. "Nemesis is back on Earth?"

  "You didn't see her?"

  "N-no.

  "Did you see Heph?"

  "Yeah, he seemed angry about something, so I didn't stop to talk to him before I came through. I figured you guys had gotten into another fight and if you wanted to tell me about it, you would."

  I laughed, a dark, mirthless laugh. "Man, I wish that's all that happened."

  "Grace, you can't blame yourself," Medusa cut cleanly into my self-loathing tirade.

  "Can't I? I knew she was going to do this. I told her that I knew she'd betray me, and she assured me that we were on the same side. I am so naive that someone should just kill me now and put me out of my god damned misery."

  "Oh, my Gaia with the pity party!" Medusa snapped her fingers in my face and bared her fangs. "Snap out of it and get a hold of yourself. We'll find the duplicitous bitch later. Right now, we need to end Hecate's subjugation of this world so we can go home and deal with the crap there."

  "Always with the crap," George muttered. I shot her a dark look, and she backed up a step.

  "I'm sorry." I ignored the pull of the Rift and walked back to the supplies at our camp. We needed to get armed, get to the palace and finish this up so we could get back home. Medusa was right. The faster we got this done, the sooner we could catch up to Nemesis. Obviously, she knew that Nyx was buried deep in Atlantis, but we had no reason to believe that she knew where Atlantis was anchored. Poseidon had guards stationed around the area. If Nemesis showed up there, Diana would know and could deal with it. I didn't have to be on Earth for them to take care of things.

  Besides, Medusa was right. With the poison working into her system, she’d be weak. The men would have an easier time of finding her with that factored in. I don’t think it was just the lack of powers that had me so sick from Porkchop’s poison. His poison was lethal. It also didn’t hurt that she’d have a nasty burn from the quill.

  I had to get over this martyrdom that I had going on. It wasn't doing me or anyone else any good. I always scoffed at protagonists who took the world on their shoulders and acted like they were the only character that mattered. Yet, here I was doing the same damn thing, and it made me sick to my stomach. I was only a single person. I didn't even have the cosmic powers of someone like Diana or Zeus. Well, not yet anyway. So why was I turning into such a martyr about this?

  I gave myself a nice hard shake and turned to face my companions. "Okay, yeah I've got a Jesus complex. I get it. I'm working on it. Not sure when that developed, but let's nip that in the bud right now and see what we can do to fix this. George, you bring any goodies for me?"

  Her face lit up like the Fourth of July. "Boy, did I!"

  George flung her pack down on the ground and started rooting through the contents. "Hey, did you guys noticed anything weird about Drew while he was over here?" She popped her head up to make eye contact, and I could see the worry in her eyes.

  "As a matter of fact, yes! He was acting off. Like - not himself but not like anyone else. I know that doesn't make sense, but we had a battle against this giant snake, and he was the first to go down."

  She gasped. "Whoah."

  "Right? It started around the time we were in… Son of a - She must have done something to him."

  "Who?" George asked.

  "Nemesis. Does she have the power to cloud someone's mind?"

  "Yes, she does," Medusa piped in. "It's one of her most powerful skills. She confuses the situation, casts some illusions and suddenly, you don't know which way is up."

  "Why didn't affect me, then?"

  "Didn't it?" Medusa asked knowingly. "You said that there were moments of distrust, but overall it felt like you were becoming friends? And if that stunt in the river wasn't a manipulation tactic, I do not know what is. I thought you were going to burn down the forest."

  "So, either I'm partially immune, or she didn't bother to put the full whammy on me because she underestimated me. I hate when people underestimate me." I frowned and then waved it away. "Okay, nothing we can do about her now. We'll get this mess cleaned up and then hunt her down."

  "Yeah!" Georgie exclaimed. "Nobody messes with Harbor Chicks!"

  I burst out laughing. "That has nothing to do with this situation. How long have you been waiting to shout that out?"

  She grinned up at me. "Too long. Now, ready to hear what fabulous prizes you're in for?" At my nod, she continued. "So, first, I brought a real pair of Kukri for you." She snapped up two hilts without blades.

  "You've been watching Sulu in Star Trek again, haven't you?"

  George blushed. "I've got such a crush on Jon Cho."

  Medusa patted her on the head. "Who doesn't, doll? Smart, good looking and funny? It's like the trifecta of crush-worthy."

  "I know, right?" She ran her thumb over a small indentation in the hilt, and the blades materialized, clicking into place as their parts matched. "That extensible katana is so cool, though. I'd make all our weapons extensible if I could. Just super fricken' cool."

  George had been working closely with Hephaestus on designing more modern weapons. Even though her specialty was t
racking and healing, she'd outed herself as a total tech nerd after Athena had died. Heph missed Athena, though he wouldn't say it, and readily accepted her presence in his workshop. She was even teaching Dylan how to design effective weapons. George was just flat out amazing.

  She finally stopped talking and started shuffling through the jumble of treasures in her bag. "I brought something for you too Maddie. Just in case."

  "Darling, do I look like I need a weapon?"

  I snorted, and George blushed giving Medusa a sheepish shrug.

  "You haven't been over the barrier yet, Maddie. We have no idea how it's going to affect your power or ability. Better safe than sorry."

  Medusa glared at me for calling her the nickname. "You haven't earned that right yet."

  Shrugging, I asked, "Well what do you want me to call you then?"

  "Goddess? Your Highness? Your worshipful?"

  An eyebrow rose, and I scoffed. "Don't push it."

  "Obviously, you aren't afraid enough, yet."

  We weren't going to get anywhere if we kept snapping at each other like this. I had to wonder where the camaraderie of our talk before went. "Okay, so we've got weapons. We've got Georgie who is a walking polygraph…" I paused, realizing why Nemesis had scrammed before Georgiana could get here. George would have sniffed her out in a hot second, and she would never have made it back to Earth. Alright, less of that and more focusing on what we needed to do next. "And we've got a plan."

  Medusa cocked her head at me. "We've got a plan?"

  "No," I laughed. "But it felt splendid to say it out loud.

  "I'm curious," George interjected.

  "About what, lovey?" I said.

  "Have you guys been attacked since you stepped outside the barrier?"

  "No, why?"

  "How long have you been here?" She was peering through the trees.

  "At least a full day, why?"

  "And you haven't been attacked? We were under the impression that you were on the verge of being massacred. Which is why we sent Medusa through. I mean, sending her is like sending in the army, or a tactical nuclear strike. But, I'm noticing that it is quite peaceful here."