The city was alive, but I felt hollow.
I could still feel his presence, even though he was nowhere to be seen. Hades hadn’t touched me—not physically—but his grip was everywhere. On my skin. In my mind. In the way my breath felt wrong, as though I were inhaling something poisoned.
Orion kept close, but even his presence didn’t shake the feeling that something was off.
We kept moving. The streets blurred past us, their neon lights bleeding into the shadows like fractured glass. I focused on my steps, on the sound of my boots hitting the pavement, grounding myself in the present.
But it didn’t work.
Because I wasn’t alone in my head anymore.
“Did you miss me?”
I froze.
Orion kept walking a few steps ahead before realizing I had stopped. He turned, eyes narrowing. “Medusa?”
I didn’t answer. My pulse was hammering, cold sweat sliding down my spine. The voice hadn’t come from the street, or from Orion.
It had come from inside me.
The serpents stirred violently, hissing in protest. My breathing grew shallow, my fists clenching.
No. No, this wasn’t real.
And then the street melted.
The buildings bent inward, the lights flickering wildly as the city twisted around me. My vision swam, warping at the edges. The world was wrong, the colors too sharp, too bright.
Orion’s voice sounded distant. I could see his lips moving, but the words didn’t reach me.
Because he was here.
Hades.
He stepped out of the shadows, smooth and effortless, as if he had been standing there all along. His golden eyes burned through me, a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips.
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
“Poor thing,” he mused, his voice rich with amusement. “You really thought you could shut me out?”
I staggered back, but the world around me shifted. The ground felt soft beneath my feet, the city fading—
No. Not again.
The marble pillars of Athena’s temple loomed around me, their golden carvings glinting in the dim firelight. The scent of incense curled in the air, thick and suffocating.
I was back there.
“No,” I whispered, shaking my head. My voice barely made a sound.
Hades’ smirk widened. “Oh, yes.”
My body was trembling. I tried to move, but my limbs felt sluggish, heavy, wrong. My mind screamed at me to run, to fight, but I was stuck, frozen in this memory-made-nightmare.
A soft click echoed behind me.
The temple doors opening.
I knew what came next.
The serpents lashed wildly, sensing the storm inside me. My breathing was ragged, my throat tight with panic.
Not again.
I turned sharply, expecting to see him. Expecting Poseidon’s towering form, his cruel, sea-worn hands reaching for me—
But the figure that stood in the doorway wasn’t him.
It was me.
I recoiled. My reflection stared back at me, her expression hollow, her eyes empty.
Hades circled slowly around me, watching. “You think you survived, Medusa,” he murmured, tilting his head. “But what are you now?”
My breath hitched.
“You call yourself free,” he continued, his voice silk and venom. “You call yourself strong.” His gaze burned into me. “But you haven’t changed. You are still that girl, kneeling on cold marble, waiting for someone to save her.”
I clenched my fists, my nails digging into my palms.
“This isn’t real,” I snarled. “You don’t control me.”
Hades smiled. Smiled.
And then he raised a hand—and snapped his fingers.
The world collapsed.
I gasped as I was ripped from the vision, my body crashing back into the present. The city reappeared in a violent blur, the sounds of the street returning all at once.
I was on the ground.
Orion was kneeling beside me, gripping my arms. His face was tight with concern, but his eyes were searching—calculating. “You were gone for a minute,” he said, his voice laced with urgency. “What happened?”
I shook my head, unable to form words. My body was shaking. My mind still felt like it didn’t belong to me.
Orion’s grip tightened slightly. “Medusa.”
I looked at him. Really looked at him.
And something cracked inside me.
I had no control.
Hades could reach me anywhere. He could pull me into my past, warp my memories, break me down—and I couldn’t stop him.
I had spent my entire life fighting. Running. Hiding. And yet, here I was, once again at the mercy of something stronger, something untouchable.
I forced myself to stand, but I was unsteady. Orion kept close, his expression unreadable.
“Hades won’t stop,” he said after a long moment. “Not until you give in.”
I knew that.
I hated that.
The weight of it all—the past, the curse, the gods, him—pressed down on me, suffocating.
But I would not bow.
I lifted my chin, my voice steady despite the storm inside me. “Then we make him regret trying.”
Orion exhaled slowly, nodding once.
We both knew this fight was only just beginning.