Page 9 of Becoming Monsterous

When he dies, days later, the battle is still going on. I feel his powers pass to me, and know that I won't have them for long before the mortals find a way to kill me too.

So I decide to take whatever vengeance I can with as much speed as possible.

The memory flashes through my mind so quickly that I get lost in it. As I blink my way out moments later, I realize with sharp recollection that Percy Thomas, the cruel summoner who killed so many monsters in battle, is now the Magistrate.

Centuries later.

Chapter7

Ellie

He should be dead—at least, that's what I believe, from what the monsters and Lise have told me. Summoners live longer than most humans, but even they're supposed to die after a few hundred years. Their monster contracts are often passed in their wills, so that any indentured to them will be forced to continue working for another summoner, even after their deaths.

Medusa died on the battlefield long ago. Several centuries, maybe even a millennia before I came to Occult House. That would make Percy far older than he's meant to be.

And I have the feeling he hasn't gotten that old by eating antioxidants and wearing sunscreen.

The mystery of the Magistrate will have to wait for another time, though. I can feel Medusa's memories wash over me, her knowledge and presence flowing through me like fresh water through a shallow riverbed. What was once just a small sense of someone in the back of my mind becomes stronger and fuller as her consciousness is reborn within my body.

And the more she grows, the more she pushes out Aphrodite. Her bitterness and anger. The falseness of her love. All of it is pushed out, along with her control of my mind and body, which return to me between one breath and the next.

I blink awake, my vision swarming as the fullness of having control of my body washes over me once more. It felt like an eternity passed within my mind as Medusa spoke to me, but it can't have been more than a few moments in reality. We're still standing in the courtyard of Occult House, Angus poised behind me like he just let go of my arms.

Aleron and Morpheus are in front of me, staring at me with rapturous reverence. Those expressions pass, replaced by confusion and revulsion—and I force my eyes away, looking down towards the unconscious body crumpled at my feet.

A thread of energy flows from me to Aphrodite's body, visible to my gorgon and goddess-blessed eyes. It reminds me of the conduit that Nemesis put between himself and Medusa.

I know now from experience that it's the kind of connection that can't be severed. It means that when Aphrodite dies, her godhood will flow to me—and all the power along with it.

Power that I'm no longer sure I want, after feeling the way it corrupted her soul and seeing how it bent my triumvirate to her will completely.

"Ellie." Aleron's voice startles me; he's staring at me with swirling green eyes, confusion written on his dark brows. "Is that... really you?"

"Yes. Medusa helped me push out Aphrodite. Technically that means she could possess me now herself, but... I trust that she won't."

"Wow. No wonder." Aleron reaches out to skim my face with his fingertips, leaving shivers in the wake of his touch. "I can't believe that's you."

I swallow, reaching up to touch my cheeks gingerly. "Why? Do I look different? Did Aphrodite take something from me when she possessed my body?"

It's only as Angus faces me that I realize I've grown an inch or two. I'm staring at his chin now instead of his neck. I could probably even kiss Morpheus and Aleron without having to goallthe way up on my tiptoes.

And when I turn my head left and right, staring down at my arms and legs, I feel the slither of dozens of snakes flowing from my scalp, down my shoulders, to my elbows.

Morpheus holds out his arm and flicks the tattoo of Cornelia at me. She soars through the air, dives into my hair, and joins the other snakes. I reach out to rub her scaled head with my finger, glad to have her back with me. I don't know how or why, but she's different from the other snakes.

"Thank you," I tell Morpheus.

He shakes his head, expression guilty and ashamed. "I can't believe I did that to you, Ellie. Can you ever forgive me?"

"And me," Angus says, sounding anguished. "I nearly squeezed you to death."

"It wasn't your fault," I tell them both quickly, my attention straying to the golden tint of my skin, which almost seems to sparkle. "This was all Aphrodite's fault. Which is a good reminder—we have to find somewhere to store her now that she's back in her body, so she can't get back here and possess me again."

Aleron looks at me oddly. "Shouldn't we just kill her?"

"Not until we know the consequences," I tell him, thinking fast. "What if she's able to pass from her body to mine again? That's the last thing we want."

"If you say so. It doesn't seem likely to happen again." He blinks, a dumbstruck expression on his face as he looks me up and down slowly. "You look so... different. Almost like you're one of us now."

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