The Gorgon Queen

Chapter 32

"You said you wouldn't hurt him!" I shouted to the point where I thought I would start to cough up blood. In one moment Orion was there and then the next, he was gone.

Out of my sight forever.

Hades clucked his tongue, "I'm the ruler of the underworld darling, you should know better than to trust me."

"And yet she accepted your deal." Athena was practically seething. I couldn't tell if she was angry with what Hades had done to Orion or if she was angry with me.

I pulled at my restraints as Hades spoke, "But I do keep my word when it benefits me, so I will send you to where the stones are."

He snapped his fingers and the tightness around my wrists was relieved. As I rubbed feeling back into them, I made my way towards the edge of the cliff, praying to see Orion somewhere down there with only a few scrapes.

"He's gone, Medusa." Perseus said as he came up behind me and rested a comforting hand on my shoulder. I shook my head in denial. I wouldn't accept it.

"In the underworld, no one is ever truly dead," Hades sighed, "Besides, you'll get to see him again at some point thanks to my deal."

Apart of the deal I accepted was the ability of seeing my dead loved ones at any given moment. I wasn't sure how it worked and at that moment I was too frightened to even ask. Now more than anything I longed for my mother's hug or for Papa to tell me that everything was going to be okay, even for Orion to kiss my aniexies away.

But I could feel my heart slowly beginning to harden, for I was angry.

Angry at Hades for killing the only man I've ever loved.

Angry at my parents for placing this pressure on my shoulders.

And most of all, I was angry at the Gods, which was something I never thought I would be. How could let these stones out of their sight and expect my parents and me to find them? It was their fault that I was in this situation, that Orion and my parents are now dead.

It was their fault that I became who I am today.

Looking down into the abyss at the edge of the cliff, a wave of emotions took over me, but I refuse to let any tears fall, refusing to give into the satisfaction of letting Hades seeing me crumble. I turned to face him, my face like stone.

"Take us there. Now."

With a wicked smile, Hades snapped his fingers and the dark cave vanished before my eyes, only to be replaced with the cave I've come to call home.

* * *

At the time, the cave had more rocks and boulders. A single stream of light came through the top, creating an eerie feel to the place. "Let's just find these stones, go to Zeus and be done with it all." Perseus said. I couldn't blame him for wanting to get this whole thing over with.

I for one was ready to go back home. To my sisters. I let myself think about them as I sifted through the rocks, hoping that they were faring well.

As I stepped over a boulder, a sparkle of white light caught my eye. I knelt down and gasped and I looked upon what was in my hand.

"I found one!"

After that, Aspasia found a sapphire stone in a crack in the wall and Athena found a jet black one laying amongst the rocks. We placed them all together side by side.

"Can we all agree that the black one is the Death Stone?" Perseus said. We all nodded, for it was given. After much debate, we soon realized that the pearly white stone was Life and the sapphire stone was Fate.

"Now that we found them, what do we do?" Athena asked.

"I send you to Zeus." Hades appeared out of the shadows with the same grin he had when we left. Without so much as a word, he flicked his fingers and we were off again.

Had I known what awaited me in the Temple of Zeus, I would've taken those stones and thrown them into the Cephissus, but I was a woman who was heartbroken and angry.

And when a woman is angry and heartbroken, it's a risk for disaster.