Page 96 of The Shadow Gods

The gods had taken my body, my beliefs, and my future. I couldn't see Athena having a problem walling me into this cave.

In that moment, I couldn't go on. I didn't want to.

What was there for me?

The serpents were silent. They agreed with me.

Moving slowly, I skirted rocks and the trails of animals toward the sound of the ocean. I went up the hill, over crags until there it was. A turquoise blue so pure I couldn't have imagined it. I had never seen anything like it. Far off in the distance, white sails dotting the horizon, ships floated over the waves. I wondered about the people on them. Did they have any worry beyond pulling in a netful of fish? Did they still worship Athena and the gods, or had enough time passed that the gods were forgotten?

Gripping a boulder, I pulled myself to the side of the cliff and forced myself to stare down. A white, sandy beach lay so far below me, it was just a speck. Would the fall kill me? Or would I land and continue on, forever mangled, until the sea covered me?

Even then, what would my fate be?

Still, my serpents were quiet.

“Should I?” I whispered to them, but they didn't answer. They didn't know, because I didn't know either.

Laughter rang out, bouncing over the stones like a child's toy. As I stared, tiny forms scurried over the sand. It was their laughter I heard. It was so pure, so happy, I smiled in response.

I watched them for a while, but they were so far, they were only bits of color darting from one side of the beach to the other.

Hours passed, but their joy was constant. Soon, the sun was dipping lower, and I was running out of time. This was my chance. I knew that, if I wanted to try, this was the way.

The light hit the water, illuminating the ships, and it was then I realized how many there were. The ones close to shore were fishing vessels, but the ones sailing past were warships.

On the beach, one of the children cried out and then another. They were frightened.

Think of how much more terrified they would be if you—monstrous, broken, grotesque—threw yourself over this cliff. Would you turn their joy to fear? Would you turn them to stone, knowing you had blighted the final moments they had on this earth?

No.

No. I hadn't much sympathy left, but I had enough not to dothis. Turning around, I left the ocean and the setting sun behind me. It was harder to find my home in the dark. My scales scraped over the stones, tearing past the surface so I left a trail of blood.

My body ached as I arrived at the cave. I gazed around. Something inside me wondered if I would ever see the sky again, so I lifted my chin to see the stars. It was then, before I could pick out a constellation, that I saw the carved face in the rock above the cave entrance. Fanged. Wide-eyed.

Horrible.

Me.

Suddenly, I didn't care to see anything. Moving like I was my age, I slithered past the eroded shepherd and inside.

* * *

The scene shifted, and I was no longer me. I could feel the change before I looked out from Athena's eyes.

Power coursed through my veins, along with a sense of being so very, very right.

Yeah. This kind of confidence could only belong to a goddess.

* * *

Medusa.

I stared at the image of her face above the cave and smiled. The rightness of the punishment drifted through me.

“Here?”Perseus asked. His gaze darted from the carving to the piles of stones that had once been men.

He was young and full of a courage he hadn't earned, so it didn't frighten him as much as it should.

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