The Sixth Life of Medusa

7. Where Titans Roam

Clotho was insane. What else could explain her ridiculous suggestion?

How could Medusa convince her parents to let her not only visit but stay in Tartarus for at least three years? Three years! Even suggesting visiting the bogs had triggered a vehement refusal from Phorcys. Now Tartarus?

"She must be insane," Medusa mumbled as she broke through the waves. She wiped water off her face and peered ahead. The beach was deserted to her relief.

Stay in Tartarus for three years?

"Hah." Medusa released a dead chuckle as she waded through the gently lapping waves. Though the sun was yet to appear, the sky was already brightening with the promise of a new day.

But was Tartarus as terrible as rumours suggested? Not according to Clotho. The goddess had claimed that Tartarus was far removed from its reputation. Curiosity was beginning to suppress Medusa's initial disbelief and terror.

Medusa hugged herself as she shivered from the chill of the sea breeze. "I must be insane too," she said with a sigh.

Tartarus was known as one of the four evils of Cosmolith. Even babies knew that thanks to a popular rhyme mothers sang to misbehaving children.

Beware the second evil, where Titans roam in chains. They'll crush the heads of children, who dare to disobey.

When Medusa was five, a tutor had taught her the rhyme which was part of a page-long poem. Then for a whole month, she made Medusa read a heavy volume of The Cursed Beasts of Cosmolith. All the while Medusa suffered through those pages, there was a sadistic glint in the tutor's eyes.

The illustrations of the monsters were rendered with such great detail that, despite it being the last thing Medusa wanted, she soaked up every bit of information. Their horrifying appearance, where they lived, and how they hunted. From that day, the terror of beasts latched on to her very soul. Pretty ironic that she ended up being one.

Nightmares haunted Medusa's sleep even several months after her father dismissed the tutor. And the first line of that poem stuck because of its catchy tune. There were even moments in her previous lives when she found herself humming the rhyme.

Despite Tartarus' reputation of keeping those beasts from mortal lands, Clotho expected Medusa to look her parents in the face and ask that they permit a vacation there. How laughable.

But Medusa must do it. Not the part about asking her parents to let her stay in Tartarus for three years—they'd rather die than agree to that—but finding a way to leave the villa.

Perhaps she could sneak away without her parents' notice. Despite Galene's warning about not going off alone, going to the cliff the second time and taking a dive without a single servant spotting her had been too easy. The trick was to leave before the cock crowed.

At least Clotho hadn't entirely left her alone.

Medusa blinked down at her hands. A tiny rune in the shape of an inverted V with a dot at its zenith marked the centre of each palm.

Clotho assured Medusa that no one would see the marking unless they had also sworn an honour oath to her. According to the deity, the rune would enable two-way communication between them, unlike the one-way communication they had before. Clotho had said nothing about the function of the other identical rune.

Was Medusa being naive? Clotho had made an honour oath, but trusting the deity to this extent had to be foolish.

Feeling eyes on her, Medusa looked ahead and did a double take. "Father?"

Phorcys' face was unreadable as he beckoned to Medusa.

What was this? Was he angry? Could he tell she had been visiting Clotho?