Page 1 of Medusa

CHAPTER1

Medusa,known as Maddie to her friends, woke up slowly one grey morning. The gloom outside made her want to curl up under her covers for another couple hours. She stretched languidly and glanced at her alarm clock. It was an old-fashioned kind, with red illuminated numbers.

The numbers were flashing 12:00.

“Shit!” Maddie cursed, grabbing at her cell phone and almost dropping it in her haste to turn it on. “Shit!” she exclaimed again when she saw that it was almost eight in the morning. She whipped her covers off, scrambling gracelessly out of bed and stripping out of her tank top and short shorts that she wore to sleep. She didn’t see where they’d landed, because she already had her t-shirt half on. She tucked her bra, underwear, and socks into a bag, yanked on a pair of comfy leggings, and half-ran, half-fell down the stairs.

She looked longingly at her coffee maker, but there was no time for that this morning. She grabbed a banana and granola bar, which joined her garments in the bag, and stepped into her running shoes before she was out the door.

The daycare she owned was only two blocks away, thankfully, and she sprinted the short distance. She arrived out of breath and disheveled, just as the first parent was walking up the pathway.

“Hestia,” she gasped at her assistant. “Do you mind…”

“Not a problem,” Hestia reassured her calmly. “Hello Damien, are you excited to play with the dinosaurs again?”

The door closing behind her cut off the rest of the conversation. “First order of business, get properly dressed,” Maddie said to herself, closing herself in her office. The clock on the wall told her she’d managed to make it from bed to work in less than five minutes. “Thank someone,” she muttered and started fixing her clothing. She practically inhaled her breakfast before rejoining Hestia in the common space.

Damien, age three, was playing with the large plastic dinosaurs they’d received yesterday. There was a Stegosaurus, a Triceratops, and of course, a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Damien had decided that the three-horned dinosaur was the baby and the other two were the parents.

Maddie deftly plucked the screw out of Shana’s hands before it reached her mouth, the nine-month-old too young to understand the difference between food and toy. The baby screwed up her face, ready to scream, but then she spotted the dark haired Alexander and made happy babbles at him. The pretty toddler boy was only two, but he already had half the population of Purgatory wrapped around his little finger, and Maddie was no exception. Fortunately, he was a darling and the extra attention didn’t do him any harm.

“Maddie,” Hestia said in an undertone. “Lady Chloe is here to talk to you.”

Maddie’s eyebrows rose in surprise. Then she remembered that the Lord of the Underworld’s wife worked above, in the human realm, and she’d gone back to her job recently after the birth of their first child six months ago. “I’ll talk to her right away. Are you all right with them?” She indicated the kids happily playing on the floor.

“We’ll be fine. Shoo,” Hestia said gently, waving her hands in the direction of the kitchen. “And have some coffee.”

“Yes, Mother,” Maddie teased. In reality, she was desperate for the dark shot of caffeine and would probably do almost anything for some. “Hello, Lady Chloe,” she greeted the blonde woman in her kitchen.

“Please, drop the honorific,” Chloe pleaded. She had baby Atlanta in one arm and a to-go coffee from the ButterNut Bakery in her free hand. “I need to talk to you.”

“I’m all ears,” Maddie said, pulling down her favorite mug and pouring herself a cup from the coffee maker in the corner.

“Atlanta is…” Chloe trailed off, biting her lip.

Maddie waited patiently, the mug warming her hands as she cradled it.

“You know I’m a wolf shifter, right?” Chloe asked, turning the full force of her gaze on Maddie.

“Yes.”

“And Lucifer’s a demon.”

“Naturally.”

“Well… Atlanta’s a little precocious.” Chloe put the baby down on the ground gently.

The instant the baby’s feet touched the tile, she transformed, her back legs becoming like those of a wolf. Tiny, ebony-colored, sparsely feathered wings sprouted from her shoulder blades. The rest of her stayed in human form, and she flopped around her mother’s feet, crying piteously.

Chloe picked her up again and Atlanta turned full human once more. Chloe gestured at the baby, shrugging as if to say, “See?”

Maddie grinned. “That was incredible!” She directed her comments to the baby. “You’re so good at that!”

“Not so great in ahumandaycare,” Chloe said meaningfully. “Please, tell me you have room for her here? I don’t know what else to do!”

“Of course we have room for her. I assume you wanted her close to your work so you could pop in and see her during the day,” Maddie said.

“Exactly,” Chloe interrupted. “But whenthisstarted happening…”

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