Page 5 of Meduso
“There will come a time when you will pay for these little pranks of yours, Euryale and Meduso! And I will make sure we are there to see that day!” Enyo wailed.
The Graeae then scurried out of the hall to attend to their other duties in the palace.
“Aren’t we getting a little too old for this?” Stheno asked us. Her arms folded over her chest, seeming to be disappointed at my sister and me for our childish behavior.
Euryale and I just stared at each other for a moment, and then, as if on cue, we both answered our sister in unison. “No!”
Stheno shook her head, vexed at our response. “There will come a time when these little games of yours will not be accepted. You really could get into trouble for this, especially on the surface.”
Euryale rolled her eyes. “Well, all the more reason for us to get them in now, while we can get away with it!”
I laughed at my sister’s quick wit.
“Anyway, Meduso, get yourself together and meet me in the grotto. We will depart for Arima shortly,” Stheno sternly demanded, before walking out of the Great Hall.
“I wouldn’t worry too much about Echidna. She can be stubborn and a little full of herself, but just play along with her. Stroke her ego a bit, and you’ll be just fine,” Euryale explained to me.
“Is she pompous?” I asked.
“You will see when you arrive. She’s sort of all over the place. You would be too if you had to be married to that fool, Typhon.”
I gulped at the mention of Typhon. Euryale smirked at my reaction, slapping her hand to her forehead before shaking it. “Typhon won’t be there, of course, silly. Remember? He’s stuck in Tartarus.”
I let out a heavy sigh of relief as she revealed this.
Typhon. It was a name I heard of from the tales my father once told me in regards to Zeus. I also heard about him from the Graeae’s lessons.
The story goes that Typhon fought Zeus to overtake the cosmos. Typhon was indeed a powerful, uncontrollable, monster. A force to be reckoned with. He had hundreds of snakes that grew from his shoulders and back that released breaths of fire. Typhon himself also had the capability to emit and control flames. However, he was no match for Zeus and his thunderbolts. Once Zeus had defeated Typhon in a battle that shook the sky, the land, and the darkest depths of the oceans and Underworld, he condemned Typhon to rot in Tartarus for eternity. The wickedest of fates and cruelest of punishments for anyone to have to endure.
Yet, I was somehow related to this monster, at least by marriage. It was difficult for me to imagine that any sister of mine could be married to such a vile and despicable creature.
There wasn’t much for me to do to have to prepare to leave our oceanic palace for the surface. I acquired my sandals from my room and didn’t bother to change my beige tunic that I already had on.
I then met up with Stheno and my mother in the grotto.
“You’re late, Meduso,” my mother declared.
“I’m sorry. I was talking to Euryale and then needed to grab my sandals,” I explained.
“Go to the ledge with Stheno,” my mother demanded.
I did as she told me to. I walked to the edge of the cliff, overlooking the bright sapphire water beneath us. As I stood next to Stheno, I felt her grip my hand, holding it tightly.
“Are you ready, Meduso?” Stheno asked me.
I gulped and eventually nodded with hesitance.
My mother reached her arm out so that her palm faced the pool beneath us. The water that was crystal blue began to change into a lackluster pewter gray, as if Hephaestus himself was blacksmithing and forging metals, liquifying them into weaponry.
“I will return you both when the sun sets,” my mother informed us.
“Farewell, mother,” Stheno shouted. “On the count of three, Meduso. One… two… and three!”
Still clasping my sister’s hand, I jumped into the metallic liquid beneath us along with her. I closed my eyes tightly, expecting to feel the wetness of the water against my skin, the break of the pool to splash as we struck it. Instantly, I opened my eyes, and I was not underwater or in the grotto or the deep ocean.
I glanced upward to see the clear blue sky once again. It was only the second time in my entire life I had witnessed it. I inhaled the fresh air from the surface. There was something about breathing in the air from the land that was more invigorating than beneath the sea. I placed my hands over my chest, to feel the heavy rise and fall of my muscles, as my lungs inhaled the quality of the atmosphere that they were not normally used to.
It took me a second to realize that there wasn’t dirt or grass on the ground that I was standing on. It was a frigid white substance that sent chills from my feet up through my spine. I shivered before leaning down to touch it in my hands. It was very wet and cold, but it contained the purest white color I had ever seen. Whiter than even Apollo’s garments and the ivory on his lyre.
