Page 21 of Whiskey, Thieves, and Bastards
“You might not want to bring that up in front of the furies.”
Persephone laughed.
“You should. The bushes are Alecto’s hobby and she’s probably made more bush jokes than you can even think up.”
“Is that a challenge?”
“Don’t worry about the furies. They’re hilarious if you didn’t do anything wrong and if Medusa really is a fury, I think they’ll be really excited about it. There are only three of them.”
Yeah. Except I thought I was one of three Gorgons and the other two didn’t really want anything to do with me. It was going to suck if I was the fourth fury and they didn’t want me to be a part of their club.
Still, I hadn’t lived this long being afraid to try anything. Here went nothing.
Ihad never met Alecto, Tisiphone, and Megaera, but they were infamous. When I was dealing with my shit after Poseidon and Athena, I even let myself think it was all my fault and I was somehow bad. I thought the furies were going to come punish me. Yeah, I was in a terrible place for a while. I was terrified and looking over my shoulder for the furies for months.
They were supposed to be monstrous in appearance. It gave credence to the theory they were curses personified. So, color me totally shocked when I saw three totally gorgeous, completely normal looking women lounging in the garden drinking cocktails. Well, two of them were. That had to be Alecto trimming a hedge to look like a tentacle.
They looked up when they saw us and they were all focused on me. Yeah, that wasn’t uncomfortable. They just stared and scrutinized me. I felt like I was five years old again and I was trying to hide that I’d broken something important. My parents usually just needed to stare at me long enough and I’d confess.
Then, their entire faces just lit up.
“Where in actualfuckdid you find another fury?”
“We thought it was just us.”
“Oh, she’s beautiful. I can’t wait to corrupt her.”
Cas stepped forward.
“How do you three know she’s a fury, but the gods who have spent this much time around her think she’s a Gorgon?”
“A Gorgon? There’s only a few of those, too. There’s only one this could possibly be. Welcome, Medusa. I’m Alecto, this is Tisiphone, and that’s Megaera.”
“It’s an elementary mistake to make,” Tisiphone said. “There’s three of us and you only see us if you’ve been naughty.”
“Like Krampus?” Benji said.
“We’remuchscarier than Krampus. Most of the gods avoid us because they don’t know if we haven’t gone after them because of the covenant or because we can’t. We like it that way. Gorgons are rare, too. Most people avoid them because of their gaze, but the ones who are immune don’t like being around them because they are utter cunts. Persephone told us she was best friends with Medusa and she was different. It’s not just the rareness and that most people avoid furies and gorgons. It’s thenatureof furies. Did you just figure it out, Medusa?” Megaera asked.
“No, Athena finally told me the truth after I met my mates. She never cursed me. She asked the fates to help me because Poseidon would come for me again and they didthisto me.”
“No, they didn’t. Are you sure you’re ready to hear this? It’s going to be a mind fuck after finding out you’re not a Gorgon and it’s probably not going to feel good.”
“Will it feel as bad as being starved in the basement of a Coalition facility while they try to exorcize you through the door?” I asked.
“It’s a different kind of shitty, but once you hear it, it’s going to change your life for the better. You’ll figure out your magic and a single fury could stop the Coalition. But you’re our sister so if the angels show up, you’ll have four furies. Four furies are potent enough to fuck up an entire choir of angels if they showed up trying to get messy,” Tisiphone said.
“Well, I suppose this is a lovely place to hear it.”
“Love your bush,” Benji said, winking.
Alecto batted her eyelashes.
“I like your mate. Can one of the gods make food and drink?”
Dionysus conjured wine and fruit while Persephone made salad and cucumber sandwiches. Hades made a grill appear and started making burgers. A lot of people didn’t know this about Hades, but he loved to barbecue.
“Okay, so you’re friends with gods, so I’m betting you know about the self-actualization thing.”
