Medusa and her Reluctant Minions

Fifteen minutes. That's how long I had been trying to wake up the sleepy sky daughter. She just wouldn't budge. I shook her, I talked to her nicely, I messed up her already messy hair but nothing budged her. Not until I told her breakfast was ready. She then shot out of the bed and raced out of the room into the corridor.

After a minute, she of course came back into the room with a sheepish grin on her face.

"Uh, where's the kitchen?" she asked, almost embarrassed.

I laughed at her and walked up to her, slinging my arm across her shoulders.

"Well, m'lady, it'll be this way." I say, leading her toward the left kitchen entrance.

She laughed, leaning into the embrace, "Well my good sir," she said with an awful British accent, "I certainly do hope they have bacon."

I mimic her.

"Ah, of course madame, we can't not-" she paused dead in her tracks, catching my attention. I look at her, and ask in a normal voice, "Are you okay?"

"Can you hear that?" she whispers.

"Hear what?"

"Shh. Listen."

I do what she says and I stop talking, opening my ears and listening for anything. I hear nothing. I'm about to tell her it was her imagination, then I hear it. The low hissing hum of snakes.

"There shouldn't be snakes on the ship," I say, my grip on her tightening.

Our oath last night is stuck in my head.

"Sn-snakes? Snakes on the sh-ship?" she stutters, fear high in her voice.

"Yeah, I-"

"Wrong, demigod." A voice says, catching our attention and sending chills down my spine, "There is a snake on this ship. And she's about to make you into a cute lawn ornament."

I turn around to find a woman with a headscarf wrapped around her head and sunglasses. Brandon is screaming down the corridors, "Everyone stay in your rooms!"

It's too late for Maliah and me, though. We're right in her line of fire.

"Medusa," I say, unsure of how I'm so certain that it's her.

"Yes, demigod. Now prepare to turn to stone. At least you and that terrified little girlfriend of yours will be frozen for all of eternity in that cute position."

She laughs evilly and begins to unwrap her head. There are other snakes on the ship though, slithering around and Maliah sees them, whimpering at the sight. I pull her close to me, telling her not to look. Medusa begins removing her sunglasses and finishes taking off her wrap but Maliah lets out a blood curdling scream and a gust of wind so powerful it almost knocks me over materializes and slices the monster in half.

I turn to Maliah and I see her eyes glowing that bright shade of blue again. I'm about to speak until she screams again, this time in pain. I focus harder and see a blond boy holding a sword and Maliah is holding her side, blood spilling on her hands.

Before I can do anything, another boy with brown hair grabs the blond and punches him. She's still screaming, the air around us going into a frenzy. The boy with the brown hair, still fighting the blond, turns to us and screams, "Get her out of here, now!"

He punches the blond again and I grab Maliah, scared of hurting her even more, and move her, pulling her back into her room. She'd stopped screaming, the air dying down, and I noticed that she hadn't shed a single tear. Not even after being stabbed. I didn't understand. I couldn't focus on it, though, I had to get help.

"Brandon! Ellie!" I scream, "Help! There are two weird guys on the ship and Maliah is hurt and we need help!"

Brandon ran into the room, his eyes widening when he saw how bad she was hurt and how much blood she was loosing. He pulled her out of my arms and I crashed to my knees. I'd had so much adrenaline a minute ago, and now all of it was gone and replaced with fear. I was so scared that she was going to die. Ellie had been outside, fighting with the two strange boys, and I could hear Brandon screaming for her to get to safety.

I felt a hand touch my head and I looked up, seeing Maliah. She was concerned about me? When she was as hurt as she was, I didn't understand.

"Tyler, please watch her. I have to go make sure Ellie is okay." Brandon pleaded.

I nodded, taking Maliah into my arms as she slowly collapsed. Her breathing was so bad. She felt so weak in my arms. Our oath burned in my mind. I didn't protect her. I had promised her. She hugged me. It was the first time ever that she hugged me, and I was too scared to hug her back. I was too scared to hurt her. Her eyes close shut.

I hear an explosion in the hallway and then silence.

After a minute, the twins and Katelynn come into the room. Brandon followed suit. Everyone was shaken up. No one knew exactly what happened to us, to her, but they knew that it was something bad. I could only barely make out what they were saying, everything was so distant. They could tell that she was really hurt. I had no idea how to help her right now.

Ellie comes into the room hold both of the strange boys by their arms. I look up at them and I my eyes land on the blond haired boy. I'm blinded by rage and I stand up, wanting to confront him, but I didn't realize Maliah was still awake and was holding onto me completely. All of the noise, the talking, it all came back into focus.

"Tyler, no!" Jase said.

"Tyler, Tyler, please," Maliah said, almost begging. Her voice was weak and she was breathing heavily. I looked down at her and saw the tears in her eyes, "You're high on adrenaline and you aren't thinking straight, please don't."

She was crying now. I had never seen her cry this hard, and I didn't like it at all. I didn't even notice that I'd pulled Dynami out until it clattered to the floor of the boat. I wrapped both of my arms around Maliah, gently. I held her in the embrace and tried to calm myself down. I looked at Brandon, and it was obvious that the only thing stopping him was Ellie.

I stared at the blond boy but he looked different now. I didn't see the same evil I saw in his eyes before, I only saw fear, regret, pain. He looked murderous before, but now he looked like he couldn't even hurt a fly.

My eyes landed on the brown haired boy, the one who saved Maliah.

"Who are you?" I ask him.

"My name is Perry." he says, staring at me.

"Thank you for helping us, but why'd you do it?" I ask him, confused.

He takes a deep breath, "My brother, Harvey, he was under a spell. We're children of Hecate. She did a spell for Medusa, for a price, but she never saw Harvey's face. She didn't know it was him."

I stared at him, searching for a lie in his story but he seemed genuine.

"Well, considering we're somewhere in the Atlantic, as long as no one tries to kill anyone you two can stay."

"Thank you." Perry says.

It's quiet again until Maliah whimpers, clutching her side. I lift her up, "We need to get her medical treatment."

"But who's going to be able to do that? We don't have anyone-"

"Oh yes, you do."

There's a blinding flash of light and I turn around to find a man with blond blue eyes, flashing a bright white smile.

Something you should know about the gods, if they show up it's usually never a good thing. They're also usually up to no good. But the way Apollo delicately handled Maliah, I couldn't bring myself to care why he was brought here. She was whimpering and he was holding her shirt up, examining her side where the deep gash was.

"Why, my young demigod. You certainly have gotten yourself into some trouble. Hold still and I'll get you fixed up." he says.

He hums a soft tune and his hands glow. After a while of humming, he finishes and removes his hands. Where Maliah's gash used to be just mere seconds ago, there was nothing but flesh.

Maliah looked up at him, amazed, "Thank you, Lord Apollo."

"You're welcome. You know, Maliah Blake, with your strength, beauty and grace, it's hard for me to imagine how you've kept yourself out of trouble as long as you did. Are you sure you're feeling okay?" he asked her.

"Yeah, I feel a lot better now, thank you."

"Do you want to tell me what happened back there? With Medusa. You sliced her in half with an air current." he said.

She got sheepish, her face turning red, "I'm not sure. Sometimes I just get scared or upset and bad things happen."

"What did you feel when you hit her, fear?" he asks.

"Yes."

He looks at her, nodding.

"Maliah, are you sure you're okay?" Brandon asks.

"Yes, you don't have to baby me." she reassures.

"Yes, I do. We're going to talk to dad when this is over. You can't go on this other quest. It's too dangerous."

"I can handle myself," she says, slightly upset.

"No, you can't. You almost got yourself killed. I'm talking to dad and that's final."

"No you're not!" She screamed, blasting Brandon through the boat.

Her eyes were glowing that bright blue shade again, and this time I knew I wasn't the only one who noticed.