Slay

“Jason, What are you doing?” I hear the distant words echo down the corridor and float into my chambers.

I clamber to put my hair brush I was using as a microphone down on my vanity. I was waiting for my latest sculpture to dry and indulging in a little kitchen karaoke. But that quickly comes to a halt. This isn’t the first time some voyager has entered my cave and interrupted my jam session. I’m just over here vibing and minding my own business. I’m just a banished banshee that lives in solitude trying my damndest not to turn people to stone. But then you get these self righteous jerks coming to my home to try to slay me. Well, I’ve got news for this guy: no mere man is going to slay me.

I put on my hot pink sleep mask and turn to meet the “heroes” at the opening of my sleeping chambers. Technically this whole cave is my domain, but I usually stay on the far end. I sleep and eat in this cavern, so I don’t run the risk of accidentally luring some innocent passerby. I can’t help if my singing lures men to their ultimate doom.

“Jason! Wait for us!” I hear a voice say again.

I stretch out my neck to try and hear foot steps or heavy breathing or… something. Just as I find my footing on the slippery, damp ground something barrels right into me and knocks me flat on my ass.

“What the-“ I yell. The darkness of the cave disorientates me, but I suddenly realize my mask is not covering my eyes. “Oh no.” I breath.

“Who’s there?” A person’s voice shakes as if the ground beneath him has began to quake.

“Who the hell do you think it is?” I say. “You know whose cave this is, don’t you?”

“Well, yes but-“ He stammers.

“But what? You come all the way down here to bother me, bump into me and now you’re demanding to know who I am? This is my home. Who the hell are you?” I growl and clasp both hands over my eyes.

“Jason, Are you okay? We can’t find you. The caves are too vast.” I hear the distant voice say. From what I know of the echos, they definitely took a wrong turn somewhere.

“Yes. I’m fine. Go back to the boat. I’ll meet you there.” The boy in front of me says. I’m actually not sure if he’s a boy or not. But when you’re thousands of years old, everyone seems like an infant to you.

“Oh good, run along little mortal. “ I say and chuckle deeply.

Most men take one good look at my gorgon green complexion and run as fast as they can. But I feel this boy whirl around me with one fluid movement.

“What are you doing?” I demand and clasp my hand tighter.

“Why didn’t you turn me to stone? You are the infamous Medusa, are you not?” The boy asks with unfaltering confidence.

Okay, this is a new one. “I don’t need anymore ugly statues to clutter my space. I have enough wannabe heroes who forced me to use my powers on them.” My hair, made up of dozens of different snakes, rattles toward the boy.

I hear a small laugh leak out of his lips and he says, “Well, how do you know I’m ugly? Maybe you’d like to stare at this face all day long.” I’m pretty sure he’s joking, but without seeing his face there’s no way to know if he’s smiling or not.

I’m not the best with social cues. Not hearing more than a terrified scream will do that to you. And all this sarcastic banter has my head whirling. Plus I think this kid knocked me down harder than I thought. I touch the palm of my hand to my temple that has started to throb. I’m taken by surprise when the serpent on my head start to hiss and rattle their tales.

“What do you think you’re doing?” I spit.

I feel the boy pull back his hand and take a step back, “Sorry, It just looked like you were hurt.”

What? Why would he care if I was hurt? Didn’t he come here to chop my head off?

I let the air go stagnate with awkward silence.

“Is this your chambers?” I hear his voice call it to me from a distance. From the direction of my room? Oh no. He’s trying to go into my room.

“Wait. Stop. You can’t go in there!” I rush over to the entrance of my chambers but don’t feel him. He must have gone in already. Great. I might really have to turn him into stone. I was on such a good streak too. I hadn’t had an accident in like 40 years.

“Why not?” I hear his voice say from the corner of my room.

“This is my chambers. Are you not worried I will turn you to stone?” I ask. I can’t hide the frustration fermenting in my voice like rotten fruit.

“Is it just you down here? Must get lonely.” He says avoiding my question all together.

“Why do you even care? Aren’t you here to slay me?” I can’t take his false friendliness anymore.

I hear clinging of ceramic and I think he’s by the book shelf I made from driftwood.

“Hey, be careful with those.” I call out.

“Oh, sorry. “ He says. “I was here to slay you. Or at least I was ordered to try. But then I heard you singing.”

“So? Lots of sirens sing. It’s its kind of our whole deal. I usually don’t do it unless I know I’m alone.” I leave out the part that I’m always alone so I don’t usually have to worry.

“Did you make these?” He puts particular emphasis on “make.”

He still has a hand on my small sculptures. They’re nothing special. I just use the clay from the cave and sculpt different figures. Some are pretty life-like. Some of the bigger ones are even good enough to scare straggling visitors away.

“Yes.” I let the “s” slither out through my teeth.

I hear him take a seat on a pile of linens in the corner. I turn my whole body toward him and stalk closer. Okay, Med, It’s time to put your big girl gorgon face on and scare the crap out of this kid.

“Look, I don’t want to kill you.” He says.

That’s a new one. Most heroes can’t wait to unsheathe their swords.

“I was sent here to kill you on a suicide mission. My King, Pelias sent me on a wild goose chase to try to get me killed. I only came because if I didn’t it would be treason. And I think you can agree with me on this, I’d like to keep my head.” He chuckles at the end.

“What exactly is funny?” I ask with a growl.

I can’t see him because of the blind fold, but when Athena cursed me, I also gained certain reptilian skills. I can sense his body heat. The snakes on my head are made up of different types of snakes. Some rattlers, some copper heads and a few vipers. The vipers are the ones that can sense his body heat. Now that I’ve regained some composure, the vipers are showing me his general shape and movement.

I see his shape falter and flinch. Good, we’re finally getting somewhere.

“N-Nothing. I’m sorry I disturbed you. I just figured, well, you must not want to hurt me. You put a blind fold on.” He stands up from the pile of linens.

I stalk closer to him. My snakes are on high alert and ready to strike. I’m at least six inches taller when they are fully extended. I’m just as far from him as they all collectively relax. What? Why would they deflate like this guy isn’t a threat?

Look, Girls, I know we haven’t seen anyone in decades, but you can’t start getting all pheromone-y on me now. I say to them telepathically.

They all move as one unit, like a collective being. I usually have some control over them, but apparently not when faced with a male.

“I can take it off.” I spit out.

“No, no. That’s okay. I should be getting back anyway. My crew is horrible with directions and if I don’t return they’ll get stuck in your cave forever. “ He says and saunters passed me. He grazes my arm on the way out and I can’t help but shutter. He touched me? And didn’t repel in disgust?

“Who are you?” I say as a whisper mostly to myself.

“My name is Jason. Nice to meet you.” He says and turns back toward me.

“What is your angle? This is a new one I’ll give you that.” I scoff.

“A new one?” ‘He asks and I can sense his thermal head tilt in confusion.

“Most so-called heroes don’t pretend to be friendly before they try to kill me.” I say.

“Well, most monsters don’t turn out to be beautiful sirens that lure me to them with an enchanting song.” He retorts.

Beautiful? What in Cupid’s arrow is going on here?

“Look, Boy. Stop with the games. I don’t know how much wine you brought on your boat, but you might want to go back and rethink your choices.” Venom coats my words and he seems to take a few steps back.

“I don’t like wine, but okay. I’m leaving. Oh, and I’m no boy. I’m actually a fairly famous hero.” He says.

“Yeah, well. I’m Medusa, the infamous gorgon that turns men to stone when she looks at them, maybe you’ve heard of me.”

Jason comes back to see me everyday for two weeks. He is the craziest man I’ve ever encountered. I’m careful to not sing. I don’t want my siren song to lure him to me. I don’t get any pleasure from him visiting me. Well, maybe that’s not true. I am less lonely. I haven’t been able to talk to someone in so long.

“Aren’t your men getting suspicious of you coming down here everyday?” I ask him as he lazily lays on my pile of linens again.

“They think I’m trying to find you still. Remember this cave is like a labyrinth to them.” He says and closes his eyes.

Four days into our little friendship we discovered that I could look at him. If I didn’t look at him directly, the cruse’s magic didn’t apply. I wasn’t looking at him, I was looking at his reflection. Semantics are a big thing when dealing with curses.

“Why do you keep coming down here?” I ask. My tone is nonchalant but I find myself holding my breath.

He’s obviously still younger than me. That’s the problem when you’re immortal. There’s always a vast age gap with any potential suitors. But I was wrong before when I assumed he was a boy. He was not. He had a full dark beard, middle length brownish hair that he count tie back when he needed to. And broad, fully-developed, adult shoulders. The kid of shoulders that scream, “I don’t care that your snakes add 15 pounds, I’ll still carry you out of this cave.”

“Aww, don’t you know that already? I like hanging it with you. You’re a much better conversationalist than my ship mates, trust me. And much better to look at.” He chuckles.

My breath hitches and my heart flutters as if it sprouted wings and wanted to beat right out of my chest.

The fluttering is interrupted by clamoring of awkward footsteps echos into my chamber.

“What was that?” I ask Jason as we both jump to our feet.

I quickly grab my blindfold and put it back on. I am comfortable with the mirror when it’s just me and him. But if someone else comes in here? Who knows what I might do? I’ve had accidents before. I don’t want to risk that again.

“I’ll go check it out. It’s probably just one of my idiot crew mates getting lucky enough to actually find us.” He whispers.

He takes soft, tip-toed step to my chamber exit. After a few minutes of anticipation clouding the air, I hear Jason say, “Hello. Who goes there?”

“It is I, Perseus. I have come to slay the gorgon.” A deep bellowing voice reverberates off the cave walls.

You’ve got to be kidding me. I don’t see anyone for decades and now lol of a sudden it's a race to decapitation? Just my luck.

“Hey bro, I’m Jason for Volos, I was here first. This gorgon is my kill.” Jason’s voice cuts through my building anxiety like a sword cutting through- well, I don’t really want to think about what a sword might cut through right now.

“Yes, your men told me you’ve been here for two weeks? You are obviously not worthy of finding the gorgon and gain the glory. Goddess Athena has given me a polished bronze shield to defeat the gorgon. Step aside, I will sly her.” Perseus says.

That bitch. Athena was the one that stuck me here. Why would she want me dead? Right when I get some sort of resemblance of a friendship she has to go and give some douche bag-hero a special weapon.

“Oh, well, then I guess you are the worthy one.” Jason says. I blink in shock. He’s just going to let Perseus kill me? I guess he just didn’t want to do it himself. “I didn’t find anything back that way, though. Maybe the gorgon is down those caverns. I haven’t searched the left side.” Relief floods my bran as I realize he is distracting Perseus. The left side of the cave leads to a series of complicated tunnels that loop back around.

Silence envelopes the space as I wait for Jason to come back. At least I hope it's him. I hear footsteps and realize that maybe Perseus didn’t take the bait. Will I have to turn him to stone? Could I do that? Am I the monster everyone thinks I am? Have I been lying to myself about my true nature? Tap, tap, tap. The footsteps get closer and I see a figure of body heat grow closer. I hold my breath to brace for a strike.

“Hey, Little Viper, It’s okay. It’s just me.” Jason pulls my hand away from my face and puts it against his chest. I can’t see him but his strong chest and body heat is so comforting that I can’t help but fall into his embrace.

“I was so worried. I was so worried that you were going to let him find me.” I blubber.

“Oh no, Lil’ Viper. I got you.” He says and tightens his grip around my waste. “But he’s going to find you eventually. And he might actually succeed if that bronze shield is really magic. We have to figure out how to fix this.” He says an his jaw tightens.

“I don’t get it, Athena put me here. She said I needed to be protected from men after-“ I cut myself off. I didn’t need to go into my past. It was a long story and there were hero’s to thwart.

“I don’t know. But there must be something we can do to get you out of here.” He says.

I look around at my chambers and see the mirror was using to see Jason.

“I think I’ve got an idea.” I say.

“I think the chamber is over here.” I hear Jason say from 100 yards away.

“You said that last time.” Perseus says incredulously.

“I got turned around. Look the faster you slay Medusa, the faster I can go home.” Jason placates.

“Alright, step aside.” Perseus’s voice grow nearer and I can sense his body heat around the corner.

The caves are dark and damp. I burst out of the doorway and take off my blindfold. Please, let this work.

Perseus plunges toward me, shining his bronze shield at me and thrusting his heavy sword toward my neck. My back is turned to him as I see his reflection displayed on multiple different mirrors in front of me. His sword clanks against stone and fabric. My head rolls toward him, frozen in stone.

“She turned herself into stone.” Perseus’s mouth falls agape.

Jason stares down at the stone head. The head has snaked stone tendrils curving down into a stone grimace, it ends with a snarl of teeth and stone fangs growling.

“You did it. You actually slayed Medusa.” Jason cheers and pats Perseus on the back.

Perseus grabs the stone head and prances back to his ship.

Jason hangs back and looks over to my chamber entrance. “Well, you certainly pulled that off nicely, little Viper.”

“I can’t believe that actually worked.” i chuckle and shake my head. “Couldn’t have done it without you, Champ.” I say give him a wink through the mirror reflection.

“Now that everyone will think you’re dead, maybe you can find some freedom.” He says solemnly.

“Maybe we’ll meet again.” I say with hopeful tears glazing over my eyes.

But now, I’ve got my own slaying to do.