Acadia Restoration

Chapter 8

"How did you do that?" Luna was still shocked by the portal.

"By speaking Acadian, the original language of Acadia. The language directly speaks to Acadia- a world filled with magic- so by speaking Acadian one can trigger the opening of portals," Laiko did his best to explain.

"Uh huh," Luna said.

"So where to first?" Jade asked.

"Let's get out of the open first," Laiko suggested. Norah looked around and noticed they were earning plenty of confused stares. They walked into a coffee shop and sat down. It didn't take long for the group to notice how similar the gorgons looked. They were all female, all of them wore shawls to cover their snakes, but from the scalp that was exposed it could be seen that the snakes were black and they all had striking green eyes with slitted pupils.

"Why do they all look like clones?" Max tried to keep his voice down.

"They all come from years of recycled genes," Luna replied in a hushed voice.

"Back to the original question, where are we going?" Kelp asked.

"We need to find their queen," Norah said.

"How are we going to get an egg though. I doubt she just hands them out," Cristina said.

"Maybe she'll let us have one if we tell her our cause?" Serina suggested with a shrug.

"Not likely, gorgons value their young, they are known for killing outsiders. It won't be long before they come for us," Hope said. "Look here they come now,". They turned to see two large female gorgons in armor step into the shop. In front of the armored gorgons was a smaller gorgon who wore servant attire, a flowing cloak, and a plain shawl. This gorgon had bright yellow eyes.

"I'm here to escort you to the castle, the Queen wishes to see you," the smaller gorgon announced.

"Do we have a choice?" Kelp asked sheepishly.

"No," the small gorgon responded. She led them out onto the sidewalk. They were greeted by a limo which they stepped into and sat down. The guards got in the front and the small gorgon put up the divider.

"Who are you?" Norah questioned her.

"My name is Padma. I work for the Queen," she responded.

"What do you want from us?" Norah asked. Padma leaned back in the seat and crossed her legs.

"I don't want anything from you, my job is to deliver outsiders to the Queen, she decides what happens to you," Padma explained. It didn't take long for them to reach the castle gates. The gates led into a garden that surrounded the castle. In this garden there were various plants and most notably the statues. Most of them looked terrified, some of them were crying, some were trying to shield themselves.

"I see you've noticed the Queen's collection," Padma said to Norah who was staring at the garden intensely.

"Were those re-"

"Yes, they were all once living breathing creatures. I suggest you guys cooperate, lest you want to join them," Padma warned them.

"How many gorgons did it take to freeze all of them?" Serina asked. Her tone wasn't fearful or concerned like Norah's, it was just curious.

"Just the Queens. Only Queens are allowed to expose their snakes, it is seen as a challenge to her power if another gorgon shows theirs. That's why we wear the shawls," Padma answered. They got out of the car and were led into the throne room. Along the walls of the room, female guards sat at their posts. All of them with green eyes. Atop the throne sat the Queen. She was a sight to behold, with her long black snakes, sharp claws, leathery wings and yellow eyes. Upon the observation Norah turned to Padma, who had the same eyes. The Queen had a certain beauty that couldn't be pinpointed, but it was there. Norah surveyed the other gorgons in the room, all of them were identical. All of them resembled a watered down version of the Queen. The Queen had brown skin with red undertones. The other gorgons had olive tones, except Padma, who even though had an olive skin tone, shared the same red undertones. Norah noted the exquisiteness of the gorgons physical appearance. How nice it must have been to be guaranteed beauty.