Nero prowled over to the couch with a low growl.
I glanced at the wolf.
It tucked its tail and slunk away.
“EVERYONE!” Patro shouted as he waved a yellow scroll through the neon-red air. “Medusa … escaped from the Underworld.” His voice shook like he’d seen a ghost. “She murdered two Olympians—twoimmortals.”
The sirens seemed to wail louder.
Patro flipped it around for all to see.
The entire page was a picture of Medusa. Pale and small-boned, her eyes looked much too large for her head. Covered in blood and dirt, she stared blankly from behind prison bars.
Patro read the headline, “Manhunt mobilized because monstrous Medusa is rampaging again, two Olympians dead: Is she now coming for the Chthonics who locked her up?”
I rolled my eyes.
Agatha laughed.
“Why aren’t you panicking? What the fuck is wrong with you people?” Patro pointed the scroll at me accusingly. “Nowthe disgusting Gorgon is going to come after all of us … She should have just fucking died. Snake scum.”
Agatha stepped forward. “Do you have a problem with Gorgons, Patro?” she asked. “Because that sounded like a slur.”
Patro sneered. “Yeah, maybe I do … They’re violent dark creatures who can’t figure out how to fucking act right. They’re more like animals than—”
“I wouldn’t finish that sentence if I were you.” Agatha cut him off, razor-sharp teeth glinting in her mouth as the skin on her face started to peel away, revealing a monstrous visage.
She opened her maw wider.
In a blur, Achilles moved across the room and stood in front of Patro protectively.
He leaned forward like he was also baring his teeth behind his muzzle; the smoking end of his cigarette matched his eyes.
Flashing crimson lights bathed all of them in shadows as the emergency warning continued blaring.
“They don’t fear her because she’s part Gorgon,” I said.
Everyone turned toward me.
I spoke slowly, “Recessive traits … can be expressed when Spartans breed with creatures … That’s why it doesn’t often happen.”
“What are you talking about?” Patro asked with narrowed eyes.
“There arestrangeancestors in the Artemis line,” I said quietly, not looking at Kharon across the room. “Medusa wasn’t born with Chthonic powers—she’s a Gorgon, born with the power of Fate.”
Patro gasped, and the scroll clattered as it dropped from his fingers. “That’swhy everyone fears Medusa?” he asked with disbelief.
Drex whimpered.
Patro’s face contorted with disgust. “She’s a fucking monster.” He shivered dramatically. “Snake scum with the power of Fate. She shouldn’t exist.”
Agatha rolled her eyes and sat down primly on the couch. “You’re such a bigot.”
“Oh please,” Patro said. “We’re all thinking it.”
Kharon stared blankly at the wall.
Medusa was his sister.
