by Nicole Thorn
That line of thought did not help anything. I needed to remember what sanity felt like. Massive breakdowns helped no one.
With that in mind, I gathered myself for the rest of this day. It would suck. It would suck hard. “All right, no puppy,” I said to Jasmine, sternly.
She frowned at me, crossing her arms over her chest. “Fine. No puppy in the house. But I’m playing with him, and you can’t stop me.” She stuck her tongue out at me to emphasize the point. I rolled my eyes, but didn’t contradict her. As long as it didn’t happen in the house, then she could play with the all the puppies she wanted to.
Verin shook his head. “I’m really not sure how any of you can help me,” he said. “You’ve already given me what information you could. Unless you were withholding something in your vision?” he asked me dryly.
“No,” I said, snide. “Why would I withhold anything that would make your presence in my life last longer than it already has?”
“Of course not,” Verin said. “Silly of me to think so, right? Why don’t you all stay here, and let me handle the rest? I’m not sure there’s anything you could do, anyway.” He rose to his feet.
Jasmine laughed. “Sorry buddy. You’re stuck with us now. We’re helping you whether you like it or not. But look on the bright side, these two demigods are alive because we butted out little seer noses into their business. Ain’t that right, honey?” She bumped her hip into Zanders.
He smiled down at her. “It is right. I’m still convinced that we could have survived the furies with just the first forewarning though. I’m just awesome like that.”
“Furies?” Verin asked.
“Long story,” Jasper said, effectively stopping anyone from telling him. Kizzy looked up at him. The expression seemed more affectionate than anything else. To me, it looked like she silently thanked him for being so protective of her, without stifling her. Since telling Verin about the furies would reveal a great deal about her and Zander, we would be tight-lipped about that.
Verin looked at each of us. “Furies, huh?” he said again.
“It’s really not that big a deal,” Jasmine said dismissively. “A huge misunderstanding, and some insanity on their part. It’s all been worked out. I promise. Now, onto Cerberus!”
Verin’s curiosity still showed, but he could put it aside for now. Cocky motherfucker probably thought he could pry the information out of us later. It would be fun watching him try. “Right. What do you think you can do to help? It doesn’t seem like your visions will magically point you in the right direction.”
Jasmine jumped in. “Zander and I will talk with Callie. Maybe she’s heard something.”
“The Oracle?” Verin asked.
Jasmine nodded.
“Which means that you and Juniper can go talk with Medusa. I bet she has a lot of information that people think is secure.”
“Medusa?” Verin asked.
“Oh, wait!” I said. “Why the hell do I have to go off with Verin? Why can’t Jasper and Kizzy go with him to deal with Medusa? Don’t put me in a vehicle with him, because only one of us is coming out, and I don’t think it’ll be him.” I glared at Verin for good measure, but he still mulled over the Medusa comment.
“You know Medusa?”
“Yes,” Jasmine said, beaming. “We met her when she pulled us over while impersonating a cop.”
“Oh, okay,” Verin said.
“And you’re going because the two of you need to work out this tension,” Jasmine said. “It’s insane how much you two hate each other. The way I figure it, I’ll stuff you in a car together, and either you’ll learn to get along, or one of you will die. Easy-peasy.” She smiled when she said it.
Jasper cleared his throat. “Kezia and I can go. It’ll be fine.”
Bless my brother.
“No,” Jasmine said.
Curse my sister.
“Why not?” Jasper asked. “We could get a lot done without all the fighting and possible homicide. If I go the rest of my life without getting a phone call from Juniper begging me to help hide a body, I’d be okay with that.”
Jasmine grinned. “Like Juniper wouldn’t know how to hide a body.”
“Thanks, I guess . . . ” I mumbled.
“You need to summon Kizzy’s mom,” Jasmine said. “She and Persephone are all close and shit. Maybe she said something that’ll be helpful. Now break!” She clapped her hands together, and grabbed Zander by the front of his shirt. He let her drag him out of the house, a huge smile on his face.
I looked at Verin. He had that confusion that people sometimes got when Jasmine pushed them into a corner they didn’t want to be in.
My glower brought him out of it. He looked at me and sneered. Oh, he would die. “I suppose we’re going. Shall I fetch my car?”
“No,” I said. “You aren’t driving. You don’t even know where the place is, and I bet you drive like a maniac. Let me get my keys.” I stormed off, so angry that steam should’ve been rising from my ears. I would get revenge for this. I just had to figure out what would bother Jasmine the most.
I snatched my keys as Kizzy came in to grab a little pot that we had set up in the kitchen window. She started growing apples as I walked away from her. Verin followed me out to the car, and climbed into the passenger’s seat. He probably got dirt all over my floor. He immediately pushed the seat all the way back to make room for his legs, and his hand began reaching for the radio as I started the ignition.
“Hey!” he shouted when I slapped his fingers. “What the fuck?!”
“Don’t touch that,” I said. “It’s perfect.”
“You can barely hear anything,” he argued.
That had been the point, but I didn’t owe him an explanation. I just started driving, ignoring him. That lasted all of five minutes. “You should stop and get me breakfast,” he said. “How about there?” He pointed to a fast food place. “Or not, since you’re driving past it. What about that one? That one? Okay, fine, that one. Please. Please, please, please, please—”
“Oh my god, fine! Anything to shut you up!” I shouted, jerking the wheel harder than necessary. We careened into the parking lot, pulled into the drive-thru, and rolled the window down. I opened my mouth to ask him what he wanted when he straight up climbed over me and stuck his head out the window.
I fumed while he ordered, thinking of all the ways I could hurt him without getting blood on my seats. When he sat back, looking proud of himself, I glared at him. Hard. “You are a jackass,” I said.
He rolled his eyes. “I think you saying that gives us a kettle and pot situation,” he drawled.
I pulled forward without saying anything. He climbed over me to talk with the girl behind the register again. And by talk, I meant flirt. He probably couldn’t keep it in his pants either. Annoying little man. As he sat back in his seat, I scowled at him about as hard as I could.
“What?” he asked cheekily.
“If I could get away with it, I’d boot your ass out on the highway without slowing down,” I said.
His grin got wider.
The teenager in the window delivered his food, and I handed the greasy bag to him, trying not to wince at the thought of it touching my car. Surely, he wouldn’t ruin my car. He wouldn’t get food all over the place, and then give me that cheeky smile, right? Shaking my head, I pulled out of the drive-thru.
I focused on the road, to make sure I didn’t get us lost.
“They gave me an extra hash brown,” Verin said. “Would you like it?”
“No,” I said.
“Why not? They’re good.”
I focused so hard on the road, that I spoke without thinking. “It’s so greasy. If I eat that, then I can’t have my pop tart on Sunday.”
“Huh?” he asked.
I felt my cheeks redden, and slumped down in my seat. If I didn’t answer him, then he would let it go, right? Sadly no. I felt him staring at me, without slowing down his eating. Eventually, it got to be too much, so I ex
plained. “If I’m good all week and eat really healthy, then I get to have a pop tart on Sundays,” I said. “As a reward.”
He still stared at me. “You could have one of these pop tarts any day,” he said.
I didn’t respond to that. I had been a little bigger as a kid, so Dad put me on a diet. It had been like this for most of my life, and I saw no reason to change now. I didn’t want to tell him any of that, because it would’ve been too much for a stranger I didn’t like. Hell, Zander and Kizzy didn’t know about that, unless my siblings told them.
He pulled the hash brown out of the bag, and waved it under my nose. It smelled yummy, but my stomach tightened at the thought of eating it. “It’s just one hash brown,” he said.
I shook my head no, and he took the temptation back. My hands stayed too tight on the steering wheel. Verin would probably notice. However, Jasmine kind of got what she wanted. The rest of the drive stayed quiet, so we had stopped fighting. On a road in the middle of nowhere, I pulled over to the side and waited.
“What are we doing?” he asked.
“You can’t see it, but there’s a barrier right there,” I said, pointing to just in front of the car. “The first time we came here, I plowed right into it, because humans aren’t allowed through the barrier. I almost broke my sister’s nose.” I frowned, remembering the bruises that she had been sporting for a week afterward.
Verin cocked his head. “But I could get through?”
“Well, yes,” I said. “You’re not human. I wouldn’t suggest walking into a gorgon reform camp unannounced though.”
“Huh?”
“It’s a long story. The gist is the gorgons in this camp took the wrong side, so Medusa is whipping them into shape.”
“One of these days, you’ll have to tell me more about these long stories,” he said. “You people keep leaving a man confused, and what am I supposed to do about it?”
A woman appeared on the road. She smiled, and waved her hand dramatically. She was, to put it simply, gorgeous. She stood a little shorter than me, with a figure that people would kill to touch. She didn’t look super skinny, which helped with the figure. Her hair was blond in her glamour, but when we walked through the barrier, I knew it would turn to yellow snakes. Her eyes—which I could only look at because of some special lenses she got from Zeus—were the palest green. Medusa wore a green dress that went down to her thighs, and a huge smile.
“That’s her,” I said, climbing out of the car.
“Juni!” Medusa shouted, rushing me. I braced myself a moment too late, so we almost went to the ground when she hugged me. I felt pretty sure she could suffocate me like this if she wanted to. “I haven’t seen you in so long!” Medusa shouted, swinging me back and forth.
“You saw me two weeks ago,” I said.
She set me on my feet and waved her hand. “That was a long time ago. So much has changed. I’ve beheaded so many of my foolish sisters since then—ooh, who’s the boy. He looks yummy. Hello sir, my name is Medusa. You look gorgeous, and smell familiar. Hades’ son? I haven’t seen you since you were this high.” She put her hand out about two feet from the air. “How’s your mother!?”
Verin grinned. “She’s good. I didn’t know she knew you.”
Medusa waved her hand. “I only met her the one time. Guard duty. Hades had a little spat with some Hunters, and we had to make sure that you’d be safe.”
“What?” Verin asked.
“Oooh, you got the car fixed,” Medusa said, rushing over to my vehicle. She ran her hands down the smooth steel, smiling. “It looks very nice, Juniper. I hope the check I sent was helpful in the repairs? I am sorry it happened.” She looked back at me, hopefully. Her big green eyes shined with emotion.
“I did, thank you,” I said, smiling. “It wasn’t necessary, though.”
Medusa didn’t acknowledge that. “Come in, come in!” She grabbed my arm and Verin’s, and hauled us over the barrier. It didn’t feel like much to me. Like stepping into a slight breeze. Verin shivered, so either he felt it more than I did, or he hadn’t been expecting it. Medusa dropped our arms once we reached the other side.
All the stories about Medusa had been lies, because people needed a bad guy and a hero. Considering what Poseidon did to her, I thought sacrificing her for that cause had been uncalled for and crueler than words could describe. But Medusa took it in stride. She still hated Athena and Poseidon, but got along with all the other gods just fine.
Medusa led us through the gorgon community with surety. Most of the women sat at tables eating, but some had been tied to poles or in a circle of victims they had turned to stone. Punishments fit for a gorgon, I guessed. The community had built of small houses and recreational areas. Like the cafeteria and a playroom. It looked like a cozy place, if you ignored the fact you couldn’t stare anyone in the eyes but Medusa.
Medusa’s place didn’t appear any better than the other houses. Same size, same furnishings. Same everything. A three-bedroom house, with thrift store furniture and brown carpets that had seen better days. But I could see that she loved every inch.
“Please sit,” she said, taking her own seat on an ugly orange recliner. Verin and I took the green loveseat across from it. That meant I actually had to sit next to him, and I showed my displeasure by sitting as close to the arm of the chair as I possibly could. Turned out, I could squeeze myself into some pretty small spaces.
Verin rolled his eyes, and turned to Medusa. She grinned at him. “What can I help you two with?”
We outlined the problem for her. She listened carefully, nodding her head. “Well, that does seem like something to worry over. The only time I’ve met Cerberus, he was trying to kill me at the time. Long story. Boring story. Has Jasper tried having a vision, by any chance?”
“He can’t,” I said. “Not without something connected to Cerberus.”
Medusa nodded. “That’s right. I thought I had heard something about that somewhere in time. Well, then we just need to get something of Cerberus’.” She tapped her fingers together with a smile. “And I know just how to do it.” Medusa jumped to her feet, and rushed away from us.
“That smile was concerning,” Verin said.
“Yeah . . . yeah it was,” I said. We didn’t have to wait long before Medusa turned back up. She had a big metal bowl in her hands. It had carvings on the outside that I couldn’t read, but they had been beautifully done. All evenly spaced, and carefully crafted.
Medusa set the bowl down on the coffee table hard enough that I worried about the glass. My eyes widened as she knelt down, a knife in her hand. “Don’t worry. I’m not murdering anything with this knife but a fruit.” She lifted a pomegranate and stabbed the knife through the center. A quick squeeze later, and all the seeds and juices fell out, into the bowl.
Without wasting a second to wipe the sticky juice off her fingers, she lit a match, and dropped it into the bowl. It went up like there had been gasoline instead of fruit inside. Medusa whispered something, and then sat back, looking proud of herself. Call me crazy, but that had me worried.
About half a second later, a woman appeared in the middle of the living room. Her arms crossed over her chest and seeds in her hand. “Really, Medusa? Again?”
“You love those seeds,” Medusa said with a huge smile.
The woman rolled her eyes. She didn’t look much older than me, early twenties, but since she had been summoned like a goddess, I knew she had to be much older. Her skin looked softly tanned, like she had spent a lot of time out in the sun. Brown hair fell down her back in a wave that contrasted almost completely with her bright green eyes. She was tall, willowy, but with the figure of a goddess. When I looked into her face, I could see Kizzy in her.
I knew her identity even before she looked at Verin and me. Her entire demeanor changed as she grinned happily. “Verin!” the goddess shouted. The next second, she hugged him so hard, that his feet stopped touching the floor.
Verin grunted, and pat her back aw
kwardly.
“It’s been so long since I’ve seen you. You should be kinder to your stepmother, you know. Call every now and then.” Persephone put him back down, and rubbed her hands on his cheeks and fixed his hair. It fell right back in his face, and she scowled at it. “Silly hair should listen to me.”
“Of course, Persephone,” he said.
She waved it away. “Never mind. You look so strapping. You’ve gotten big since the last time I saw you. I swear you demigods grow so fast! At least Artimis has been the same age for long enough that I’ve gotten used to it.” She shook her head, and then pinched Verin’s cheek again.
Persephone noticed me. Her arm came around my shoulders instantly. “Oh, who’s your friend, Verin?” she asked. “She’s pretty. And a seer, if the eyes are anything to go by. Very rare.”
“Juniper,” Verin said, not bothering to comment on the friend thing.
“Juniper,” Persephone said. “It’s great meeting you. You’re so cute. I could just put you in my pocket.”
“I’m like two inches shorter than you are,” I pointed out.
“I’ve got deep pockets,” she informed me.
“Do I not get a greeting?” Medusa asked, standing to her feet. She crossed her delicate arms over her chest, and smirked. “I’m the one that called you here after all, Persephone.”
The goddess threw her hands into the air. “How rude of me. I haven’t seen you in so long either. Not since the seventies . . . Oh, the seventies. I miss that decade more than you can know.” She sauntered over to Medusa. The women put their arms around each other and started making out.
I blinked.
Verin blinked.
I looked up at him. “Of all the ways I thought this would go, that—” I pointed to the duo, who now used some tongue. “—was not on the list.”
He shook his head. “Nor mine, Juniper. Nor mine.”
CHAPTER EIGHT:
My Tongue Gets Around
