MEDUSA 𓆙 𝐑𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧 [English Edition]

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟏𝟕 • Murder city

"HE USED MAGIC TO LOCK THE DOOR!" Terra yelled, jerking the handle as if that might make it open.

Her father had locked her and her friends in the suite while Bloom disappeared with Rosalind. Terra caught her father in a logical trap. The thing about locking them in should be punishment.

"He's just overwhelmed," Musa said, trying to calm him.

But Terra wasn't listening and didn't want to. Aisha took this opportunity to try to sneak into her room, which Musa thought was wise, but Stella stopped her:

'And where are you going?' She knew she was the teacher's darling, she just didn't know that his pet was a mouse.

"I was planning to calm the situation down by dodging it, but if you want to stir things up again..."

"Wait! Let's all calm down here," said Musa, her head aching. Soon, she turned to her boyfriend: "Sam, can't you see if you can open the door from the outside?"

Sam, like a perfect boyfriend, nodded. Terra, her sister, asked to be careful because she knew about the burns outside. He nodded, saying that everything would be fine.

Ah, that was his mistake.

As she passed into the hallway, she tried to pry the door handle of the Winx suite open, but it didn't work. He thought about kicking in the door to try to break it down, but footsteps behind him startled him.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, not understanding, staring at the blonde girl with a snake on her leg.

It was only then that he realized that this was Viperine, Alfea's killer jellyfish. He opened his mouth, his powers shifting to get him out of there as fast as he could.

"Oh, aren't you Terra's brother?" she asked.

Sam swallowed hard but nodded. Another mistake.

"I'm going to have to apologize to you, Sam," he hissed. "I hope you understand, but your sister and I have some unfinished business."

"What do you mean? What did she do?" he asked, too quickly. "It's not better to settle in person with her."

Viperine snorted, approaching.

"Do you always talk to murderers, Sam?"

In a second, Sam fell to the ground. Luckily, none of the statues broke. He looked terrified, which pleased Viperine. Anakin freed himself from her leg, curling around the cold marble of her petrified body.

"A pity," she sighed. "You were kind of cute, Sam. It's always the cutest ones that break hearts."

◈

RIVEN REFUSED to admit he was scared. He and Kat entered the castle through the darkness, carrying torches, and as they moved through the corridors, Riven heard the creak of rafters, and then a flash of red light in the distance.

"What are you doing?" he asked as soon as he heard her calling for someone. "What if it's one of those things?"

A fire faerie Riven barely knew who emerged from a corner, then several other faeries came stumbling toward the experts.

"This way, boys," she said. "There are more students in the greenhouse."

Kat nodded.

"I'll take them back." She turned to Riven. "You take the stragglers from the greenhouse."

Before he could protest, Kat was already taking the fairies away. Riven didn't want to break up; it was a one-way ticket to the city of murder! He sure as hell didn't want to be alone.

But who could be in the greenhouse?

So he entered silently, illuminating the place with his torch—vines entwined with flowers, pots of earth carefully separated. "No, if only," was what Terra would say with her annoyance.

It was hard to imagine that he really liked it there, felt delighted and comforted. Then the fire lit up the stragglers. At two tables, lying unconscious and half conscious, were Beatrix and Viperine. In front of Dane were several pots of herbs, beakers, and other lab equipment.

"What on earth happened to them?"

Riven saw the look on Dane's face: panic. Viperine didn't look good, but at least she was awake. As soon as she saw him, she sat up with some difficulty.

"Dane found me," she said simply.

"I found her in one of the hallways upstairs. She looked like she was about to faint. "So I brought her here," explained Dane."And Beatrix set a trap in Miss Dowling's office. I think it was some kind of paralysis, but the Viperine was giving me instructions on a potion to nullify the spell, but..."

"What the hell?" sighed Riven.

He was tempted to tell them to leave her there and fuck her, but he knew that neither Dane nor Viperine would abandon Beatrix. Things between him and his girlfriend were complicated, but he was willing to fight for her.

He glanced at the door, but he didn't feel like stepping out of it alone and facing monsters that ripped people limb from limb. Yeah, being alone wasn't an option.

Did Beatrix care for him? Not.

Did Dan care? Maybe, but he seemed to care about her.

Did Viperine care about Riven? It was very likely...

He looked at Viperine and almost couldn't stand her tired, withered gaze. He had never seen her like this, so broken. Viperine always had energy, was always strong and never shaken. So the sight of her now was disconcerting.

"What do you need me to do?"

━━━━━━
9.26.22

𓆙 𓆙 𓆙

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