by J J King
She held back the question as long as she could then gave it. They needed something to pass the time. “So, what’s it like?” she asked. “Loving a god.” The moment she asked, she thought of Morpheus.
Medusa smiled. “Why? You falling in love with a god?” She fluttered her long eyelashes at Cate, assuming an innocent look that didn’t quite work with her dark eyes and swaying snakes.
“No,” Cate scoffed, trying to act nonchalant while her heart skipped a beat then started again at the mention of the L word. “It’s not like that.”
“Oh?” Medusa’s voice was full of laughter. “Then what is it like?”
“It’s like none of your business,” Cate snapped back, feeling annoyance and the edge of panic turn her nasty.
Medusa held her hands up. “Hey, you’re the one who brought up love.”
Cate frowned. It was true. She’d created her own trap then had neatly stepped into it. Fuck. She huffed out a breath, knowing she probably looked like an idiot to Medusa who was probably the coolest chick she’d ever met other than Selene. “Fine,” she admitted on a long sigh, “there’s something going on. I just don’t know what it is yet.” But that didn’t sit well with her either. Cate rubbed at the spot just above her sternum, where pressure built whenever she thought about Morpheus.
“It’s not like we’ve known each other long,” she continued, following the train of thought the subject set her on. “So, there’s no need to rush anything. I mean, yeah,” she chuckled and shrugged her shoulders as if nonplussed by the discussion even though it was winding her up inside, “we may die at the hands of Zeus but that’s no reason to rush things.” Cate glanced over at Medusa who was walking silently by her side. “Right?”
Medusa offered a neutral smile, neither confirming nor denying Cate’s assumptions. The lack of support made her hackles rise.
Cate pouted, then, realizing she was pouting, sucked her bottom lip into her mouth and chewed on it. She let herself stew, knowing full well that she was giving into her darker emotions and letting them cloud her mind. She was in a mood and needed to work it out.
“I mean, what would you do?” Cate whirled around, throwing up her hands in frustration. “If you’d just met a guy and, yeah, he was totally hot. Hotter than anyone you’d ever seen in your entire life, which is saying something because I’m as old as Greece.” Her eyebrows shot up on her forehead. “And he’s smart, too, like really smart and creative. And he makes your knees feel like gelatin and you can’t really think straight around him.” Cate ran a hand through her hair, finger combing a knot she found made by an errant twig. Probably from when she’s stirred up the elements.
“That’s how I felt when I met Poseidon.” Medusa’s quiet reply struck Cate harder than an actual blow. There was a simple truth in her words and Cate could tell they came straight from the heart.
She knew what Medusa and Poseidon had gone through to be together. Athena had separated them for over two thousand years and made it so both had thought the other had abandoned them. They’d finally reunited just months ago thanks to Medusa’s sister Euryale’s quest to find their parents, whom Athena had imprisoned as well. It had all worked out for them and for her and Selene, since they’d secured a promise from Medusa to help them free Endymion. But, the happy ending didn’t erase the years of torture and grief in between. Love was a treacherous sport.
Cate ignored the feeling of lightheadedness that came over her whenever she seriously thought about Morpheus and decided now was as good a time as ever to face her fears. “Selene loves Endymion more than I’ve ever loved anyone in my life.” She brushed a strand of hair out of her face. “And when Zeus’ lightning bolt hit him, I thought she was going to die from grief. And I didn’t just watch her go through it, I felt it when we merged. I felt everything she did and I don’t want to ever feel that way again.” Cate walked a bit further, giving herself a moment to breath and swallow back the emotion she’d let loose. “You know, no one ever really asks me why I offered my power to help save Endymion.”
“Why did you?” Medusa slowed her pace to match Cate’s meandering steps.
“People talk about the triumvirate as if they understand it. The maiden, the mother, and the crone.” Cate rolled her eyes hard. “I’m apparently the crone, not because I’m haggard but because I roll with death. My power comes from the earth but it’s the darker side of the elements. I wield destruction as easily as Selene brings blessings on new mothers. She’s the light to my darkness and I’ve always felt connected to her in a way that’s hard to describe.”
“Where does Artemis fit into all this?” Medusa asked with a raised eyebrow.
Cate shook her head slowly. “Nowhere that I can feel. I’ve never known Artemis, so there may be a connection and there may not. I guess we’ll find out pretty soon.”
“What’s it like to share a body with Selene?”
The laugh came instantly and Cate grinned. “I wonder how many times have we been asked that.” She pictured the perfect blond in her mind and felt a surge of love for her best friend. “Of course, we rarely tell the truth. It’s just too complicated. See, it’s been the best and worst experience of my existence. The best because I’ve gotten to know and love the most amazing woman in the world as my sister. We’ve shared thoughts and one being for so long that we’ve kind of become more than we could have ever been apart. But,” she let out a long sigh, “we are cursed to spend only minutes together every day, to never have the chance to touch, to walk together under the sun or moon. In Morpheus’ dreamscape I got to hug her for the first time and that meant more to me than any gift I’ve ever been given.” A thought darkened her mind. “What if that’s part of my attraction to Morpheus? Gratefulness for bringing Selene and me together.”
“Do you really think that plays a part in it?” Medusa sounded skeptical.
Cate started to answer but stopped herself and really thought it over. Slowly, she shook her head. “No, I don’t think so.”
“Are you maybe looking for a way to get out of having to own up to your feeling?” Medusa reached out and plucked a leaf from a tree then absently twirled it around.
Cate watched the leaf spin in Medusa’s fingers and scowled, wondering how someone she’d only just met could have such painful insight into her personality. She chewed her lip and didn’t respond.
Medusa flicked the leaf to the ground and reached for another. “I just ask because that’s exactly what I would do. No,” she corrected herself, “that exactly what I have done.” She chuckled. “I was so angry when I finally saw Poseidon again that it was hard to think straight. I thought he’d abandoned me because of this,” she pointed to her head where her snakes moved in slow undulations, “but it was all a lie set up by Athena. Still, I tried to deny the way I felt about him. But, it caught up with me and finally kicked me in the ass. Which, I’m totally happy about, don’t get me wrong. I just recognize a fellow love avoider.”
The awkward term made Cate twist and look at Medusa, who was watching her expectantly. There was no judgement in her eyes, Cate realized, and no sympathy. Just an understanding from someone who knew on an intimate level just how much loving another could hurt.
Cate thought it over and wiped absently at her arm where something sticky clung to her skin. She looked down and saw a cobweb sticking determinedly to her forearm. She frowned and picked at the sticky silk, which wouldn’t budge. “What the hell is this stuff?” she wondered aloud and twisted to see Medusa scraping her nails along her skin as well.
Cate cursed under her breath and summoned a trickle of power from her core, letting it crackle along her skin. It rippled beneath the web, lifting it momentarily, then fizzled out, leaving the scent of smoke behind. She stared at the spot, confused, then shifted her gaze as the fine hairs on the back of her neck stood straight up.
Something hit her a split second later with enough force to slam her back against the nearest tree. Cate looked around wildly for her assailant and found no on
e. Then a sharp yell from Medusa drew her gaze and she gasped as she watched the gorgon get hit by an almost imperceptible web. Medusa was thrown back, as she’d been, but she didn’t hit a tree. Her body stopped mid air, suspended in another weave of spider’s silk. Curses streamed from her mouth.
Cate’s mind raced, discarding possible culprits and stopped dead on just one.
Arachne.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Cate struggled against her bonds, pulling up as much power as she could possibly muster, desperate to free herself and Medusa before she descended on them. She’d heard tales of Arachne and her endless hunger. The monstrous spider would be pleased to find fresh meat in her trap, even more so to find a previous priestess of Athena helpless.
“The more you struggle, the tighter you’ll be bound,” a soft voice said, sounding as if it came from every direction around them.
Fear speared Cate straight through the chest, immobilizing her for a moment. She tensed, not breathing, and squeezed her eyes shut. She couldn’t go like this, she just couldn’t. Had she really lived thousands of years just to be eaten by a giant spider? Had she finally moved past her vendetta with Athena just to be digested by her creation? And why wasn’t her magic working?
“What did you do to me?” she bit the words out, forcing herself to speak, to breathe, to fight to live. The fear that skittered up her spine and atrophied her muscles was unnatural. She looked down at her arms and torso, covered in webs, and realized Arachne’s silk was poisoned. Like many predators, she used toxins to quell her prey.
A dark shape, too tall to be just a woman, moved forward out of the thick trees and into the dappled sunlight filtering through the canopy of thick leaves. Cate’s stomach contracted, pushing vomit into her throat, but she swallowed it down, refusing to lose herself in the fear. Nearby, Medusa hissed, baring her teeth as tears dripped from her chin onto her binds. Absolute terror and panic marred her beautiful features, and she repeated one name over and over. Poseidon.
“No need to pray to the God of the sea.” Arachne stepped into the clearing. Her body, long and lean, was lifted into the air, held aloft by four huge, hairy legs that skittered forward unnaturally. From her back four more legs extended and curled forward, twitching around her as if ready to strike out at any moment.
Cate shuddered to think of what they could do.
“He has no power here,” Arachne continued, stepping closer. Her human eyes met Cate’s gaze directly followed by four endlessly black orbs that watched from her head. Cate shivered and wondered if the spider woman could actually see straight into her soul. That’s what it felt like.
She was powerless here, Cate accepted that certainty with a sinking feeling of dread. They were incapacitated and alone, too far from their group to call for help, hidden deep within the Steni Forest for even Zeus to see them.
They were royally fucked.
So, she used the only defense she had. “Athena did this to you, didn’t she?” Cate asked the question though she knew the answer already. She knew the tale of the beautiful and proud young weaver who claimed to be better than even Athena and refused to acknowledge that her talent came from the goddess. Cate glanced over at Medusa and caught her gaze, then prayed she would understand and start talking.
“Fuck Athena,” Medusa ground out between clenched jaws.
Arachne turned slowly, looking over her shoulder with an arched brow as if she knew exactly what Medusa was trying. Of course, she did, Cate admitted to herself. She wasn’t an idiot. She was just a giant, man eating spider.
Yeah, this was going to end well.
“That’s right.” Arachne turned away from Cate and stepped closer to Medusa. “You’re Athena’s little sidekick turned monster.” She sneered. “I guess you finally realized what a total bitch she is, huh?”
Medusa’s snakes undulated around her head, straining forward to snap and hiss at the threat. Unable to sooth them, Medusa focused her complete attention on Arachne. “Well, considering the fact that she gave me a head full of snakes when I dared to love anyone but her, I’d say yeah, she’s a bit of a bitch.” She delivered it with as much dry snarkiness as she could manage.
Arachne was silent for a long moment as she appraised Medusa. Cate held her breath and prayed they would connect in their shared hatred of the goddess. Arachne approached Medusa slowly, stepping over fallen branches and lifted one of her forelegs to touch a snake that hissed and snapped angrily in response. She shifted slightly, caressing the length of Medusa’s cheek as gently as a lover. Cate saw Medusa shudder under the touch and fight to keep her eyes locked on Arachne’s.
When Arachne spoke, it came out in a quiet whisper that Cate had to strain her ears to hear.
“I’m going to enjoy eating Athena’s little experiment.”
Panic flooded Cate’s veins, turning her blood to ice. She scrambled to think, to come up with some miraculous response that would stop a giant spider from devouring them both, and came up with nothing. Her mind spun, blurred by whatever toxins were in Arachne’s web. But, when Arachne leaned into Medusa’s neck and opened her mouth revealing sharp fangs, she screamed the first words that came to mind.
“We want to take Zeus down!”
It was crude and not entirely accurate, but Cate couldn’t explain their entire plan in the mere seconds it would take for Arachne to clamp her fangs into Medusa’s neck. When Arachne jerked back and shot her a look of astonishment, Cate surged on.
“Zeus gets away with ruining lives every fucking day and no one has the strength to stop him.” She felt spit fly from her mouth but kept going. “He’s vain, and proud, and too fucking arrogant to stop so someone has to step up. Someone has to stop him from ruining another life.” She panted for breath, suddenly feeling as if the web around her was tightening unbearably.
Arachne skittered across the distance, her movement so unnatural it made Cate’s stomach roil. She bit back the urge to vomit and forced herself to meet Arachne’s eyes. In them Cate saw interest and something more, something almost human. Hope sparked.
“Arachne.” Cate used the monster’s name, hoping it would make some kind of connection that would keep her listening long enough to change her mind. “Look at us, all three of us here. We were never meant to be this way. Both of you were screwed over by Athena.” Cate tilted her chin toward Medusa because her hands were bound firmly in the web. “And I…”
“You what?” Arachne interrupted, leaning in close enough that her warm breath beat against Cate’s cheek.
She shuddered.
“Zeus tried to kill my best friend’s lover.” Cate locked her gaze on Arachne and launched into the story of how she and Selene had become locked together and how Endymion remained alive but comatose because of their combined magic. “That’s why we’re here,” she added with a thread of hope spilling into her voice. “We need Artemis to set him free. Please,” Cate heard herself beg and didn’t care, not anymore. “Let us go. Someone needs to stand up to the bastard and we’re willing to do it.”
Arachne seemed to ponder this. She shuffled back and looked between them, her human eyes shrewd and thoughtful while her multitude of spider eyes unnerved. Cate bit her tongue to stop herself from rambling on. There was no need. They’d made their case and it was important to live up to their mission. If they were brave enough to take on Zeus, they should be brave enough to face down a giant spider.
Cate willed herself not to shudder under the scrutiny of those eyes.
“Artemis is not in the habit of leaving this forest, let alone volunteering for misguided missions,” Arachne scoffed. Her lips pulled back, revealing dagger sharp fangs.
“It’s not misguided,” Medusa insisted, drawing Arachne’s attention. “Insane? Yes, definitely,” she conceded with a shrug. “Doomed to fail? Possibly.”
Cate’s mouth dropped open. What was Medusa trying to accomplish here?
Medusa wasn’t finished, though. “But, nothing about this mission is misguided. Each and ever
y one of us involved are very aware of how this could end and we’re choosing to do it anyway.”
“Why?” Arachne asked quizzically. “What’s in this for you?”
Medusa took her time answering, which made Cate’s stomach jitter with nerves. When she did speak, the gorgon’s tone was thoughtful, impressive given the circumstances of their discussion. “I gave my life to Athena when I was just a little girl. My sisters and I could hardly wait until our first menses to become women so we could pledge ourselves to Athena.” She swallowed hard and lowered her eyelids for a moment as emotion played across her features.
“As the children of sea gods, we had a healthy respect for the divine, especially the Olympians, and I had some knowledge of punishments meted out by the gods. I always assumed those punishments were warranted.” She took a deep breath and raised her gaze to meet Arachne’s. “I assumed yours was warranted.”
