Turned To Stone

Chapter 2 - Evan

It was a good thing rocks couldn't shiver.

Despite the fact that Evan was literally made of stone, he could feel the gorgon boy's powers working over him, trying to freeze him into a statue, never to move again.

It didn't work.

Evan didn't know why. He'd never met a gorgon before, he didn't know how their power worked.

But it didn't work on him.

"Connor, did you seriously freeze someone already, how stupid can you get-" the pretty girl with the long brown hair braided with different colors woven into it screamed as Evan turned to look at her.

"I didn't do it. He's a gargoyle." The boy, Connor, grumbled.

"H-hi." He said weakly, staring at the girl.

"Oh. Hi, I'm Zoe Murphy. His sister, unfortunately." She added the last part under her breath as she extended her hand to Evan. He took it gingerly, all too aware of his stone hands being able to crush her bones.

He jumped at the hissing noise that emanated from behind him.

"Put those nasty, evil little creatures away or I swear on all that is holy I will barbecue them, Connor." Zoe threatened, shooting a glare in the other boy's direction that Evan quickly noted definitely would not reach his eyes considering their height difference.

He turned to see Connor coaxing a few snakes back under the beanie he was wearing, his hands surprisingly gentle. "They're not evil, or nasty. They just don't like you because you smell like a hawk."

Zoe rolled her eyes. "Whatever, freak. Try not to petrify anyone else today."

Evan noticed Connor's eyes flash sharply when she said 'freak.'

"You never told me your name, by the way." He startled when he realized she was talking to him.

"Oh- oh well it's- um, it's Evan- Evan Hansen. I'm new this- this year so I don't- I don't really know- know anyone."

"Evan Hansen?"

"Yeah, Evan Hansen. Sorry."

Zoe frowned. "Why are you apologizing-"

"Because you said my name and then I repeated it which is weird and I totally didn't need to do that so I'm sorry-"

"Dude." Connor said flatly. "She's really not worth it."

Before Evan could stutter out a confused question as to why, the gorgon boy had turned on his heel and was walking off, hunched in on himself and with his head down. Creatures of all sizes rushed to get out of his way.

Zoe sighed. "Sorry about him. He's not a nice person."

"No- no he's okay I- okay I wouldn't be- be super nice in- nice in his situation." Evan managed, shrugging weakly.

Zoe watched him for a second, then smiled. "What's your first class, Evan?"

He quickly dug his schedule out of his pocket and handed it to her.

"Basic Mythology. Cool. Me too, I'll show you where it is." Zoe motioned for him to follow her, smiling. She was a completely different person once her brother had left. He had to be her brother, they had similar facial features.

"Thanks." Evan managed weakly, following her and trying to make himself as small as possible.

He noticed she was limping a little, and frowned. "Are you- are you okay?"

"What?" She frowned, then looked down at her leg and 'oh'ed softly. "I got into an argument with Connor this morning and he petrified me."

"But- but you're still- still here?" Evan asked in confusion.

"Yeah, Mom got me unstuck. We've got vials of anti-petrification serum all over the house, and we always carry some with us. Especially me since I'm most likely to run into one of his victims."

Evan frowned quietly at her use of the word victims, but didn't say anything else because they were entering the classroom. He got some strange looks, but no worse than he usually did.

"C'mon, I see two empty seats over there." Zoe led him across the room.

Evan was torn. Sitting near the front meant he didn't have to see people staring at him as he talked. But it also meant people staring at the back of his head, and he could practically feel all the eyes already. He suppressed a shiver, trying to keep little pebbles from falling off his shoulders like they usually did when he was nervous.

Zoe plopped down in a seat, leaning back casually as the professor stood up to talk. Evan noticed with surprise that he had furry goat legs.

"Hello, everyone. My name is Professor Underhill, and welcome to Basic Mythology. We're going to start off with ice breakers-"

Oh no. Evan hated ice breakers. Just thinking about talking to his classmates about pre-picked topics that he might not know anything about made him want to panic. He wouldn't have anything interesting to talk to anybody about and then no one would talk to him and the teacher would assume he was too stupid to know anything about the class and just kick him out and he was pretty sure he needed this class to graduate and-

"Evan." Zoe waved her hand in front of his face. He flinched and blushed.

"H-huh?" He could hear several people behind him snicker and felt his face heat up just a bit.

"Your turn. Your name, what kind of creature you are, and one thing you hope to learn out if this class."

"Oh. Well, my name- my name's Evan Hansen. I'm- it's pretty self explanatory what I am- I'm a gargoyle." What did he want to learn from this class?

Evan was speaking again before even thinking, which was something he probably needed to fix. "I want to- want to know why people- people are so terrified- so scared of gorgons."

The room went very silent. Everyone was staring at him oh no everyone was staring and judging and they would think he's some sort of freak and he would get shunned more than he already was.

"Mr. Hansen, are you familiar with the mythology of the gorgon?" The professor asked slowly. "What they can do?"

Evan nodded weakly.

"Then that in itself should tell you why we are so afraid of gorgons, our local one in particular."

"But-but with all the- the magical advances you can get- can get past it. There's- there's anti-petrification serum, Zoe has- has some right- right now."

"Mr. Hansen, gorgons are among the most dangerous and volatile creatures on the planet. You would do well, even being what you are, just to stay clear of Connor Murphy, so no one has to be de-petrified."

The teacher moved on, but Evan sat there, trying to decipher what he had just been told.