25. Medusa

T he valley Cas's village was in was vast and I hadn't really had the chance to explore it yet. Cas said there was a big clearing they trained the littles on. They might eventually have to build on it, but they hadn't gotten there yet. He said it was beautiful and the perfect place for fury lessons.

But my lessons had already started. We couldn't just walk there. Furies could portal and they told me I needed to learn that first. I could fuck up the masses with my mind, but they pointed out that could go several ways and I didn't self-actualize myself any wings like they did. If shit went sour, I couldn't fly out of there. I'd need to portal.

So, my first assignment was popping myself over to the clearing Cas told us about with just a photo. I never had a good relationship with my actual sister. I wanted one, but she was always jealous of the attention I got. She was jealous of literally everyone over every little thing and generally unpleasant to be around.

But the furies? This was the kind of sister relationship I always wanted. They were trying to help me, but there was a lot of good-natured ribbing so I was having fun, too.

"Girl, you are concentrating too hard. Do you want me to get some of that concoction Benji gave that fake priest? You look like you ate an entire block of cheese and can't shit," Alecto said.

"That drink is pure evil, and you'd have to be pretty stupid to drink it once, much less continue to drink it," I laughed.

"Your boyfriend grew up around those people. He knew how to play to their weaknesses. But no deathly hot, half Korean distractions. Before you learn anything, you need to figure out portalling. If the Coalition is using some kind of drug to take supernaturals, you'd have a few seconds before you're out. It would be enough time to get yourself to safety," Megaera said.

"Just in case you needed a little more motivation. My therapist says proper motivation is vital to everything in life," Tisiphone said.

"Oh, I'm completely motivated, but I've never done this before."

"You're forgetting how it was when you learned your green witch magic. This is easier than that. You don't have to learn how to control it or worry about using too much magic and causing an earthquake. You just need to tap into it and figure out what it feels like. Then, you'll be able to do it whenever you want."

"Trapping people in their worst nightmares is a lot more complicated because we have to teach you how to sense they deserve it first. Your big bear daddy isn't going to allow anyone like that in his village, so I'm going to have to arm wrestle all your mates so they let us take you out of it."

Ooh! I had a great idea, and it was actually something I really needed.

"When Jezebel and I were stuck in the basement, we said if we ever got out, we were going to have a girls' night out drinking doing mean things to stupid boys. That's expanded to Kat, Calamity, and Persephone, but you should totally come and we can practice there! Tisiphone is mated to Kat, Jezebel, and Calamity and the rest of you are my sisters. Kat already said she'd kick their asses if they came and ruined Jezebel's fun. She's an original, so they know she'd win."

"Ooh, girls' night!" Megaera said, clapping.

I didn't know what was going on with Alecto. The only time anyone was unhappy when someone found their mate was when that mate happened to be someone they were in love with. Alecto hadn't met Tisiphone's mates before. She still seemed conflicted over the fact that Tisiphone found hers. The three of them were close. I couldn't imagine her not being happy for her sister.

Something was going on, but I didn't think I could ask yet. So, I focused on trying to portal. They said it was a feeling, but I was so full of feelings right now. There were the ones from New Eden I was ignoring, the elation of all the new family and friends, I'd just found, and the pressure of finding out I was fated to be one of Athena's heroes.

"So, I'm feeling all the feels right now and some of them aren't good. I don't know which one I'm supposed to be focusing on."

They just laughed at me.

"This isn't some deep emotion that your therapist drags out and then you ugly cry in their office. You just have to really want to go somewhere."

"It can't be that easy."

"It really is. Is there a reason you don't want to go to that clearing?" Alecto asked.

"Uh, no?"

"You don't sound too sure, cupcake."

"If I may?" Athena said, stepping out of the shadows.

I let out a little growl. I could have learned this ages ago if she'd just told me the truth. Alecto put a hand on my arm.

"Athena has always been a friend to the furies. Hear her out."

"Listen, I know you're mad I didn't tell you. Part of it was that I didn't know how to face you and the other was intuition. It never felt like the right time until recently. I've been watching your lessons. The Fates aren't always fair. Some of the other religions think their god doesn't give them more than they can bear, but that's not exactly true. Some of the things we go through are awful.

"I think I understand why it just never felt like the right time. Heroes are my thing, you know? They all have some kind of motivation for their quest. If you'd learned this ages ago, the Coalition wouldn't have taken you. Dionysus would have had no reason to seek out your other mates, and none of you would be here about to take them down."

She did not.

"I'm going to hit her," I said.

"Don't. I'm pretty sure she's right," Tisiphone said.

"It sucks so much ass. We get it. But we know about the Fates, too. You wouldn't be standing here right now, fully mated, and a total badass if it weren't for them meddling. I'm pretty sure you getting taken and finding out now was just as fated as your mates are. It's your origin story before you take out the bad guy," Alecto said.

"Thanks, I hate it."

"You can hate it all you want," Athena said. "But if you want to fully learn how to be a fury, you have to accept that all this shit in your life led you to this point so that you can be a fury and avenge everyone the Coalition hurt and save future generations from them."

Fuck

Me.

Athena never cursed unless there was no other appropriate word to use. She was so smart, she was practically a walking thesaurus, so she generally had another word. Athena used to tell us that sometimes, swear words were going to be the best choice for what we needed to say, but to make totally sure there wasn't a better word before we uttered one.

But in this case, ‘shit' was the appropriate word. And asking me to accept the shitshow because it was preparing me for the future was honestly just as big a shitshow. Was there something wrong with just asking me? Because after Poseidon, I was pretty big on consent. If someone had said hey, want to bring down the Coalition with help from your mates and a super squad? I would have said hell yes without the whole torture thing.

I needed to get out of here. I needed five minutes alone just to scream into the abyss without anyone judging me or needing to kill something because I was upset.

I closed my eyes thinking about how I was going be alone with so many people around. But then, I felt the tug of my green witch magic and the smell of trees and flowers. I opened my eyes and smiled.

I guess I figured out this portalling thing. I just needed to want it enough.

Now that I was alone, I threw back my head and just screamed.