Medusa: The Wronged

  Medusa ~ The Wronged

  Book I of the Gods & Monsters Series

  JJ King

  Copyright © 2019 JJ King

  First Edition

  All rights reserved.

  Kindle Edition

  ISBN-978-1-9995531-1-1

  DEDICATION

  To the strongest woman I know, my mom.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Growing up, my family were story people. My dad told us stories about the abominable snowman that made me snuggle up with my brothers for safety and my mom read us books from this collection she had. The collection covered fairy tales, fables, you name it. My favorite book in the collection, though, was about the Greek monsters and heroes. I had that book read to me until I was able to read it myself, then I devoured it over and over. That was when I learned about Medusa.

  I was Medusa for Halloween on my sixth birthday. I was a villainess, a monster, a terror in the night. It was awesome.

  It wasn’t until university that I started reassessing Medusa’s role in Greek mythology. I read Ovid’s Metamorphosis and studied different versions of the myths, and a picture of women as either monsters or victims began to form. It did not sit well with me.

  So, I wrote my own version of Medusa’s story. She’s still a monster, still a terror, but she’s so much more, as well. You’ll see.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  About the Author

  CHAPTER ONE

  Over two thousand years ago…

  The mirror lied, it had to.

  She reached out with hands that looked the same as always and gasped in jagged breaths with familiar lungs. Parts of her were the same, but the rest...

  A keening sound slipped from her lips, echoing off the walls of the... where was she? A cave, she was underground. Why? Where were her sisters?

  A hissing started near her ear, catching her attention, snapping her back into the horrifying reality that was her life. She stared into the mirror as a slender emerald colored snake lifted from her head, moving along her scalp, through her hair.

  No, she blinked and squinted, too terrified to move, not her hair. Mesmerized and cold from shock, she lifted a hand, reaching tentatively for the snake atop her head, freezing when it rushed towards her fingers, curling round her wrist. The sensation of its slippery scales moving across her skin sent shivers down her spine, and she stared in horror as it undulated over her hand, pushing between her fingers and around to nuzzle her palm.

  Her breaths came in small gasps now. This wasn’t possible, this wasn’t real. It couldn’t be. She tugged her hand away from the snake, which hissed and retreated into the dark mass on top of her head, where her beautiful hair used to be.

  She pressed her hand against her chest, sucking in deep gasps and trying to retain consciousness as the hissing intensified and more snakes unfurled from what had seemed like thick curls and swayed, moving to their own music.

  Darkness threatened. She staggered back, afraid she might fall, and sank to the cold, damp rocky floor. This isn't happening, this isn't happening...

  "Please," she begged the silent empty cavern, "I'm sorry..."

  Then she knew nothing but blackness.

  *****

  Present day…

  The insistent buzzing of her cell phone woke Em out of a dream so tantalizing, her skin still tingled. She blinked away the last vestiges of sleep and fumbled for the tiny hateful machine, lifting it above her face to check the screen. She blinked to clear her sight and cursed. Unknown.

  Throwing the phone down on the sheets beside her, Em climbed to her feet and stretched, letting the vertebrae in her long, slender back crack with satisfying snaps. She yawned and padded quietly to the bathroom to relieve herself, wincing at the dark circles under her eyes, then to the kitchen for a cup of Ambrosia.

  She couldn’t help it, a wry smile tugged at her lips as she lifted a scoop of the exorbitantly expensive coffee from the bag and deposited it into her even more expensive coffee maker. She hadn’t been able to pass up the overpriced coffee, not after she’d seen the name, so cleverly referencing the food of the Greek gods. Thank the gods it was the best coffee she’d ever tasted, or the vendor would have been getting a very unpleasant visit from her.

  Em breathed in the scent of the dark roast and made her way to the fridge, stepping over a pair of discarded bubble gum pink panties on the way. She arched an eyebrow at them then hooked a toe beneath the lacy material and flicked it out of her kitchen.

  “Not cool,” she murmured, looking around the room with fully awake eyes, finally seeing the carnage in her living room. Em frowned and huffed out a sigh. “Damnit.”

  Not in the mood to ruin her entire day with a sisterly fight, Em gathered up her coffee and headed straight back to her room. She was just about there when the door to her guest bedroom opened and a beautiful young creature stepped through the doorway, her long graceful arms reaching for the stunning woman who stepped out behind her, naked as the day she’d been born.

  Em moved swiftly, stepping into her room and pulling the door half-closed behind her. Curious, she waited, watching the little interplay between predator and prey, wondering if the prey even knew what danger it was narrowly escaping. By the way the woman smiled and leaned in for a final kiss, her eyes glossy from too much wine or other substances, chances were she had no idea.

  Em waited until her sister walked the young woman to the door and closed it behind her, locking it securely, to step clear of her room and glare silently at her sister’s self-satisfied grin.

  “What?” Thea chuckled, reaching a delicate hand up to her intricately woven hair scarf, the single piece of material on her body. With deft movements, she unwound the long scarf, carefully uncovering her true glory and curse, a head full of shimmering, copper and gold snakes, which hissed to attention the moment they were uncovered.

  Rotating her neck, Thea soothed her snakes, stroking them gently, murmuring sweet promises not to cover them again for such a long time and thanking them for their patience. They held back momentarily, then relented and rushed to nuzzle her with love and affection. Thea smiled and sauntered down the hallway, snagging the coffee cup from Em’s hands before she had a chance to protect it and took a sip. “Mmmm,” she moaned, her eyes still relaxed from a night of sex, “This is delicious.”

  Em grinned slyly and grabbed her coffee mug back, careful not to spill any. “It’s called Ambrosia.” She laughed aloud as Thea choked on the last swallow, her face turning red in outrage.

  “What the Hell, Medusa!” she yelled dramatically, staring at the coffee now as if it were made of pure evil. “That’s not funny.”

  Em just shrugged and grinned, taking another sip. “I think it’s hilarious, Sthenno.” She deliberately used her sister’s real name since she’d been so kind as to use hers.

  Thea pursed her lips and shook her head, wiping her lips with her fingers. “You’ve always had a fucked-up sense of humor.” She arched an eyebrow and shook her head. “Weirdo.”

  Em grinned, her mood becoming decidedly more agreeable, and hugged her sister, letting her undulating mass of iridescent snakes mingle for a moment with her sister’s. “Now, tell me about the girl.”

  *****

  Em’s phone buzzed again, distracting her as she t
yped the last sentence of the chapter she’d been working on since yesterday. Her current work in progress was a romantic thriller, the final book in a five-part series that had hit the charts hard three years before and had stayed near the top this entire time.

  She glanced at the screen and saw yet another Unknown caller, her fourth since this morning’s wake up call. Too focused on finishing to give the mysterious caller much thought, she let it buzz and allowed her mind and fingers to work together to create the perfect dramatic stop to the scene.

  A few minutes later she sat back and reread the paragraph. It was dark and sexy, and utterly provocative, exactly what she’d been going for. Her readers were going to freak the Hell out when they read it!

  Em laughed and relaxed back in her chair, rotating her stiff shoulders. She’d been at it for over two hours, ever since Thea had taken off for the day. She’d taken the time to reread her work from the previous day, allowing herself to get caught up in the urgency of the chapter, then she’d let her creative mind free and prayed her fingers could keep up. Today was a good day for writing, they weren’t all. So, when the muse called, she answered.

  Muses. Em chuckled and pushed away from her ornate desk, deciding it was a good time for lunch. Thea’s reaction this morning to her Ambrosia coffee had been hilarious and had provided her with endless giggles all morning. It wasn’t nice of her to tease her sister, Em knew that, but after a lifetime of living as mythical Greek monsters, she figured their choices included taking things too seriously, or finding the humor in the tragedy. She’d long since accepted their lot in life, though, admittedly, she’d had emotional setbacks through the years. Times when her blasé attitude had shifted dramatically and she’d been enraged at the injustice of history, the fickleness of the gods. In those dark times, as she called them, Em hadn’t coped well with her reality. She’d been petty and cruel, dark and twisted. She’d maimed and killed for fun. But those days were in the past now, or so she hoped. Writing had been her salvation. These days if she felt in a murderous mood, she slaughtered characters, not humans.

  Thea’s miserable attitude towards all things Greek wasn’t because she was in a dark time. The truth was, she had never come to terms with their punishment. She hated their representation in mythology and it fueled her hatred for all things theological. Even the more modern, feminist, reimagining of their origin story, based on Ovid’s stupid “masterpiece,” Metamorphosis, pissed Thea off. How many times over their long lives had Em heard her sister rant that they weren’t monsters or victims of rape, that it was ridiculous for history, or mythology as it was now known, to remember them as anything but strong women who had known what they’d wanted and had gone after it, to their own ultimate peril.

  They’d been so young back then, so naïve and filled with romantic ideas. The three of them; Sthenno, Euryale, and her.

  Em let herself remember how it had been, back in Greece when they’d sworn their obedience and chastity to their goddess, Athena. They’d been so happy, so connected and unified under their love for the warrior goddess, that they’d foolishly believed their happiness could last forever. It hadn’t, happiness never did.

  Still, she sighed, they’d been together back then. Three sisters, so beautiful and devout. Now, what were they? Three sisters, one of whom hadn’t deigned to so much as speak to the other two in over thirty-five years? They used to be inseparable, now they were fractured.

  Em swallowed the lump in her throat at the thought of Eury and reached for her phone to order some sushi for lunch.

  Four calls from Unknown. She chewed on her lip and let herself wonder if maybe, just maybe, it was Eury. No, it’s probably just a telemarketer or another deep breather like last month. She dialed her favorite sushi delivery and ordered her usual.

  In less than thirty minutes, Em placed the first bite of Gold Dragon roll in her mouth and moaned with pleasure. She’d lived in New York for almost fifteen years now and had scoured the city for the best food, the best clothes, the best everything. Her favorite sushi restaurant delivered, and was located nearby, which made it her go-to for lunch most days.

  Em ate every piece of her Gold Dragon and spicy tuna rolls between sips of pinot grigio, enjoying the simple things in life, then settled back in front of her computer to take care of the less enjoyable aspects of being an author.

  She took her time, checking her Facebook page, her Twitter, Instagram, and webpage, for comments and questions. Her readers were amazing, totally dedicated to the worlds she created on page, and she liked interacting with them. She didn’t do it every day, that would be exhausting and it would take too much time away from her writing, but she did try to check in once or twice a week.

  Em clicked on her list of new friends, vetted and either accepted or denied based on their status as human by her personal assistant Grace, and noticed one that stood out from the others. The profile picture was a gorgon, a beautiful face twisted in rage with snakes surrounding her cursed face. It was hideous and beautiful all at the same time, a dramatization she’d seen many times over the years. In and of itself, it wasn’t unusual for a fan of hers since one of her series was based in Greek mythology and featured the infamous Medusa as a heroine. It had been received with critical acclaim and had gotten her on both the New York Times and USA Today Bestseller lists.

  It was the name attached that stood out. Αδελφή.

  Sister.

  Em bit down hard on her bottom lip and chewed, looking at the familiar word. Eury?

  She clicked on the profile and scrolled down through the few pictures carefully, her heart beating harder with each photo. The Aegean beach, Sounio, the Acropolis, places they were never supposed to see again. There were no selfies, no text attached to the shots, but as she scrolled down, seeing one image after another of places she and her sisters had walked in another lifetime, Em’s body tensed with insistent instinct.

  Ordering herself to calm the fuck down, Em clicked the profile’s message button. Her fingers hovered above the keyboard, not knowing what to say, what to ask. This was her sister, it had to be, but she’d done nothing more than add her as a friend on Facebook. Or had she?

  Em grabbed her phone and pulled up the log, scrolling back to see how many unknowns she’d gotten and for how long.

  Her stomach sank. There were fourteen unknown calls in her history, all of which she’d completely ignored over the past four days. The first few were spread out, but since this morning… Em pressed her hand against her mouth.

  For a moment she was frozen, unable to think or breathe. Eury was in trouble, she knew it. If it had been just the random call, the Facebook add, but calling four times in a few hours? Her sister needed her.

  Em sucked in a deep breath and dialed Thea, wondering if she’d received any calls.

  “Hey,” Thea answered, sounding happy. She wouldn’t be for long.

  “Thea, you need to come home right now. Eury’s in trouble.” Em blurted the words out then clicked the end call button before her sister could respond. Pushing up from the desk so quickly the chair upended behind her, Em rushed to her bedroom to throw some clothes in a suitcase. No, she thought, shaking her head as if to clear it, we’ll need plane tickets. She ran back out to the desk and looked around wildly for her phone, desperately swiping papers onto the floor, before realizing she had it in her hand.

  She called her travel agent, one of the many people she kept well paid in case of emergencies, which this definitely was. She ordered two first class tickets to Athens on the first available flight and went back to her room to pack a suitcase, but not before she made one more call and sent off a quick Facebook message to presumably her sister.

  The sound of Thea’s keys undoing the multiple locks on the front door was the first thing to make a dent in Em’s concentration. She ran to the front door and pulled her sister into her arms, hugging her fiercely, then slipped Thea’s passport into her hands.

  “Em, stop, please,” Thea pleaded, tugging her towards th
e nearest chair and pushing her down. Thea sank to the floor in front of the chair and held onto her hands, shaking them. “Tell me what happened.”

  Em swallowed hard and huffed out a breath. “I’ve been getting calls from an unknown caller for a few days now, but they were sporadic and I thought nothing of it. But, since I woke up this morning, I’ve gotten four new calls and I just checked my Facebook,” she jumped up from the chair, pulling Thea with her over to the desk, where the profile of her sister was still up on the screen.

  She waited while Thea scrolled down through the pictures, her eyes darting over the profile, looking for clues, just as Em had. She lifted her face to look at Em with wide eyes and then pulled her cell phone free from her pocket and clicked opened her Facebook. The same profile waited for her to click. “It’s her.” Thea grinned and accepted her sister’s request, then the grin slipped from her face. “Did you message her?”

  Em nodded, “Yeah, but she hasn’t responded.” She pulled up her messages once more just to check then reached for Thea’s arm and gripped her sister as waves of anxiety pumped off her, “I have a really bad feeling, Thea. I can’t explain it, it’s just…”