.
.
.
All sounds drowned out.
Just a pretty girl in a blue dress, dressed like the best princess, but was in fact the weakest. Sweat dribbling down dark hair matted to her forehead. Heart beating rapidly, fingers twitching, holding onto her dress.
Vultures, hyenas, all creatures with evil intent watching her.
In their circle she stands… It is seemingly a beautiful place, but there is so much toxicity and danger embedded with its beauty.
That's me—the rabbit surrounded by the wolves.
I couldn't even swallow properly, as the witch who had been torturing those innocent victims rose to her feet, and looked me in the eye.
For the first few seconds, I felt I was going to start flying next, but then she suddenly spat on the floor close to my feet, and walked away.
Just like that?
I was surprised, but wasn't as surprised as when everyone else began to walk away mumbling.
What? No, I mean, what??
I turned to watch them all leaving.
What just happened?
Wait, what the!?
Calm down, Ceci. Are they coming back or what? Is this some kind of joke? Are they going to suddenly turn, lift up their hands, and have me dangling in the air too?
"She thinks she can do anything because Hayden's her date. She must be kidding me," I heard one of them mumble.
"But she's just his date. Hayden won't feel attacked if we attack her. He won't take it personally."
"They're not just dates. They're roommates. It could have been planned somehow. Best not to take chances."
Oh.
That was it.
Relief flushed through me, as I realized the reason they'd let me go. They didn't want to attack me because it would mean attacking Hayden. A slow smile broke across my glossy lips as I placed a hand on my chest. What the?
So this was what protection meant?
What? So it meant no one was going to touch me as long as I said I was Hayden's date?
Wait… was this similar to the feeling of being a prefect? The amount of power, authority and protection? It meant I wouldn't have to be targeted?
Woah!
The feeling was similar to being high on drugs.
"Hey, thanks so… so much. I…" the first strangled girl said, trying to rise, as she massaged her neck, the tear stains obvious on her cheeks, but I began shaking my head.
"Thank you," the couple mumbled, looking at me like I was some incredible creature they couldn't comprehend.
"Hey, it's fine. It's fine. Don't mention. Just hide out somewhere till it all ends. I have to wait for Hayden," I said, looking at the three of them whose tear-filled eyes were now filled with gratitude.
My first followers in Mysia.
I turned, and walked away, looking around with more ease than I'd previously done.
I felt really powerful, but it was best not to do too much.
Clearing my throat, I walked with my head high, and as you probably guessed, people stared at me.
But it only made me feel like,
Oh, peeps! I know I'm attractive, but come on, I'm not your thing to play with.
I moved towards the seats, climbing between the rows, making sure wherever I sat was going to be visible enough, so Hayden and I would see each other quickly should he come through the door.
However, as I settled in, my feet kicked something soft and warm. Fear gripped me at first, but I took in deep breaths.
"You're Hayden's date, girl. You're fine," I said to myself, and bent, my hair falling along with my head, as I looked under the chair. There was a crumpled figure there hiding in the cramped space.
"Hey, what you doing? Are you scared? You'll get suffocated in there," I said gently.
"I'm fine."
The voice was soft, scared.
"What are you?" I asked.
"A gorgon," came the reluctant reply.
I hiccupped, another new wave of fear throbbing through me. The fact that this creature could turn its hair into snakes that would turn me to stone was terrifying. I forced down saliva.
"Well, no one will hurt you because I'm Hayden's date, and I'm with you."
"They will. They will hurt me," his voice was laced with more fear, and I could hear his breathing quicken.
"I just told you I'm Hayden's date."
"Then you will hurt me."
I chuckled lightly, "Me? I'm the one who should be scared of you. I'm, well, I'll just say I'm Human."
The gorgon hesitated before speaking.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I'm sure. Hayden wanted me to wait here because apparently he thought the hall is safest, but it definitely doesn't have an atom of safety in it."
"The powerful ones have no idea how dangerous the places they call safe are," he replied, and I pondered on it for a while. He was right.
"My parents too," I said, lying on the chairs, watching him through the tiny spaces between them, "They told me Mysia is safe, but that's only because they were too powerful to see how dangerous it would be for someone like me who is so weak. This is their idea of the safest place," I chuckled dryly, "A school where people strangle others in a ball. A place where monsters eat hearts and fingers. A school where people watch others through mirrors. That's crazy. I don't want to be here. They say you don't know what you got till it's gone. When I was in the human world, I didn't know schooling normally was gold. If you hit someone in my school, that's detention. Depending on how hard it is, that's assault. Compare that to this."
"Really? Are there schools like that?"
"Humans say no to violence." I was about to start bragging, but then I realized we were also wicked, "but some of us still do worse things than what I've seen at Mysia. But hey, maybe nowhere is safe for the weak."
I felt a shift underneath, and saw he was slowly coming up.
I sat up immediately, my hair swinging over my shoulders, "Hey, you're not going to turn me into stone, are you?" I said, half joking, half serious.
He chuckled, and finally, rose. He looked younger than I was. Cute with bushy brows, and brown eyes. He also had freckles across his face. His hair was quite short, and it made me wonder if it meant his snakes would be short.
"Hi," I greeted, and watched him get mesmerized by my beauty.
"Hi," he replied shyly.
"So, why do you think someone is going to hurt you, even when you're with me? Nobody hurt me when I saved their victims."
"They will do anything to hurt me, and I can't protect myself because protecting myself may mean accidentally killing them."
"Oh, turning them to stone."
"I can choose to turn their arms or legs to stone, but if I can't focus or control it, I might not be able to stop it, and once it gets to their heart, and it turns to stone, it's over. There's no remedy. I'll be locked away."
"Ah, protecting yourself as a gorgon who's not so experienced can be hard, but why are you so convinced they're going to…" my eyes caught a strange glint in his oversized coat.
My heart raced, "wh… what's that?" I asked, looking from him to the glinting substance.
"What you think it is."
He opened his large coat slightly, and I gasped, looking around immediately.
"Stop, you'll draw attention!" He cautioned, and I swallowed, my pupils still moving around restlessly.
The crown they were all crazy over was here… here in the arms of a kid! A kid was going to become King! He would be absolutely protected.
"Who's your Queen?"
He covered up the little part of the crown in view, "She's a banshee. She got the Crown. I don't know how, and commanded me to keep the crown and turn anyone who dared look me in the eye to stone. She said I'm the best person to keep it."
"Smart. No sane idiot would look you in the eye."
"Doesn't mean they can't fight me with eyes closed. That's why she's not smart, but stupid."
"Oh. Hayden said something about Absensual Defense."
"Yeah, learning how to keep balance and composure with one or more senses gone."
"Oh. Like learning how to fight while being blindfolded?"
"Yeah. I'll be dead in a second. That's why I want to hide. I'm just so sick of this."
"What if you…" I cleared my throat, and watched him closely. His eyes met mine, "gave someone else?"
"You?" He suggested immediately. My lips parted, but closed without words. I moistened my lips.
"Will the banshee hurt you if you lost it?"
"She said I'd lose my hearing forever, and she would break all my bones."
I bit my lip. The missing part of the puzzle was protecting him.
As if on cue, my brain supplied an answer.
I took out my phone, sliding to my camera app. Pulling him, I put my arm around his shoulder, and gave my brightest smile.
Click!
"Smile, Gorgon, smile!" I urged, and winked.
Click!
He didn't know what was happening, but we took a series of adorable big sister and little brother pictures. Anyone seeing it would think we were affiliated somehow.
My heart was racing with excitement now.
"Download the most popular apps used in school." I said, handing the phone to him.
He took it, and after looking at me cautiously, he slid up my app list, and clicked on it.
"Every phone has M Cube. It's the most popular app."
"M Cube?"
"Triple M. Meet Mythical Me."
"Oh. Then open an account for me, and follow Hayden, Athie, Valen…"
"Slow down."
"Okay."
I looked around, biting my lip, as if someone was going to come the next second and pounce on me. Because the Gorgon was right. I wouldn't even be able to protect me if I was found to be with the crown. They would forget all about Hayden and get their hungry paws on the crown.
"Done."
"That was fast."
"It's quite simple."
We began to follow all my roommates and Valen, before I uploaded the pictures. Captioning them with, _Look who made HAYDEN'S date fun while HAYDEN went huntingggggg. My little pookie. #Hayden'sschoolson._
Yeah, Hayden's name in bold letters. Boy, you're trademarked. Bang!
"What? He won't accept me as his school son. Who has a son while in school? He'll get mad."
"At me. Not at you. And he doesn't need to accept. Everybody just thinks whatever they want to think. They believe what is on social media without finding out. And it's not like Hayden's the type to go around denying rumors. He looks like the type to watch you stone cold if you said, 'Hayden someone said you killed your mother. Is it true?' Besides, the whole thing is chill. Everyone's not going to think you're his biological son or there's some gorgon lady out there he slept with," I rattled off.
He was silent as he considered it, and I watched his face slowly light up positively, "Thank you… you just made my whole life better," he suddenly said and hugged me. My hand froze in mid gesticulation, then finally, I patted his head, slowly, carefully, hoping snakes wouldn't pop out of nowhere.
"We're fine."
"You can have my Crown."
Holy Moly…