The Guardian, page 1
THE GUARDIAN
A.L. HAWKE
Copyright © 2022 by A.L. Hawke
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author, except by reviewers who may quote brief passages for a review. For permission requests, please write to:
A.L. Hawke
P.O. Box 2253
Mission Viejo, CA 92690
Email correspondence: contact@alhawke.com
ISBN: 978-1-953919-22-9 (paperback)
ISBN: 978-1-953919-21-2 (ebook)
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022921336
This is a work of fiction. It comes directly from the author’s imagination. This includes names, characters, places, and incidents. Any public names are used solely for creative purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to companies, institutions or locales is entirely coincidental or accidental.
Line edited by Stephanie Marshall Ward
Proofread by Alexa B., alexabooks.wixsite.com/authors
Cover © 2022 by Brosedesignz
Published in the United States of America in December, 2022
Learn more about A.L. Hawke at www.alhawke.com
Created with Vellum
CONTENTS
1. My Marker
2. Buondì
3. Breakfast
4. Swank
5. The Walk
6. An Eloquence In Terror
7. Santa
8. Customs
Parting Words
Furies series
Excerpt from My Evil Eye
Also by A.L. Hawke
About the Author
Dedicated to my son Evan D.
Arachne was his idea
1
MY MARKER
It’s dark, but the water’s warm. A green glow shines in front of me. That’s the glow from my eyes. The thick black cobras in my hair are stirring on my head like crazy. They don’t like water and they know where this is heading. My incisors have grown into fangs, my fingernails are sharp as knives, and my face is wrinkled like an old lady’s. Yeah, I’m in full-on Medusa mode. But I probably look pretty silly to the fish as a sea monster swimming in a bathing suit.
Oh, there’s a shark. He’s a big one. Watch out, sharkie, I’ve got teeth too. I adore these creatures, by the way. They’re cannibals. As a monster myself, I play nice and find eating my own kind to be really gross, but I respect killing machines.
I lost the little fella. I smell him more than see him now. He’s giving me a wide breadth. It must be these snakes snapping back at him over my head.
I’ve changed into Medusa because, honestly, I’m totally freaked out. It’s creepy swimming alone in the ocean at night. I’m waiting for a great white shark to latch onto my legs and tug me down, like in that famous scene in Jaws. Remember that movie? You know when the girl at the beginning of the movie is, like, laughing while frolicking on the beach, running from her boyfriend, and she goes out on the water alone? She jerks in surprise because a two-ton shark is chomping off her legs. Then she’s pulled down, spurting unintelligible things as her whole body is torn apart. I love that scene. Anyway, sharkies, you best not pull that shit on me.
Where’s my marker?
The important thing at the moment is finding the statue. It’s not much further out, if I remember.
I peek out of the water for a second to catch my breath. I squint as light shines from a tower under the shadow of a hill by the shore. I see a small boat sailing near me.
Duck down!
I duck. Then I snort sea water and the water trickles over my eyes. My boyfriend’s snorkeling mask is too large. He’s going to hike over to San Fruttuoso Bay and snorkel tomorrow, and he’ll be using aquatic equipment during the day like a normal person.
Which will already be wet. Which you’ll have to explain to him, Gorgi.
Yeah, whatever, Medusa.
I reposition my leaky mask over my face and look down toward the sea floor. A few scattered fish glow green in the light from my eyes. Other than that, it’s just a dark, sandy floor about five meters down. No statue. I gargle more salt water.
Jesus.
Yes, Jesus. Where are you?
I’d really like to return to my dry, warm hotel right now.
I think the effigy is closer to the shore.
One fin at a time, Medusa. One fin at a time.
And there it is! Christo degli Abissi.
The Jesus Christ statue is standing on stone steps underwater, with outstretched arms—glowing green from my gaze—looking right up at me. A few small fish are swimming around a small reef behind him. The marker points to the spot. But I need more air to search. Ready? Well…here goes. Now don’t laugh, but I can only hold my breath for, like, twenty seconds. That makes me a poor free diver. I catch a quick breath at the surface again, then I dive. As I kick, my body darts like a dolphin toward the statue. My hands brush over the stone hand. Then, using my green gaze, I skim the sandy bottom looking for her entrance.
Do you remember where it is? I can’t recall. I mean, the statue’s pretty darn popular so it must be hidden. I remember it being near a rocky structure.
Just go back to the hotel.
I have to find her.
After seeing nothing but sand, I force my way back in the other direction. There are no fish around me now because, for a moment, I was choking on sea water and struggling to breathe. I look up. The monument’s above me now. Illuminated by my emerald eyes, looking more jade in the dark sea, the statue stands over me in full majesty. He’s awe inspiring, and in sunlight, he’d be even better.
I can’t breathe!
I rise fast, gulping more water, until I reach the surface again. Again, there’s the tower to my side; in the other direction, the sea. I’m far out now. The waves undulate, pushing me up and down, making me feel really queasy. Well, here we go again.
Just go back to the hotel. This is horrible.
I have to find her.
Hey, look! I think it’s by those rocks over there beyond the statue.
But I realize my super cursed eyes saw the rock formation, making it appear closer than it really is. Even swimming quickly, it is taking a long time to get there. Far worse, the surface is way up above me now.
I fight myself, air or not, to keep skimming the bottom. I shine my green eyes along the rocks.
Then my body jerks. A huge bolus of fluid comes from my mouth in a bubble and makes me cough, swallowing more and gagging. I squeeze my hands tight to try to remain calm. Then I look at the ocean surface far above me.
Go back up!
I smell humans. I also feel the water stir as they swim overhead. At this time? Can you believe it? They’re scuba divers, judging from the bubbles moving around them, about a half mile to my left, where I saw the boat. Well, these divers have a lot of excitement in store, and not just the thrill of seeing the Christo degli Abissi at night, if I’m still here.
Where are you, Arachne!
Hi. Blacked out for a moment. Shit, where’s my mask. Shit! My lover’s going to totally kill me.
I’m bobbing up and down in the waves along the surface, coughing up a storm, gasping for air mixed in the salty brine. Was I out again?
I’m fucking convulsing.
I catch a glimpse of the statue with my roaming green gaze.
Give up, Gorgiana!
Something tugs at my leg. Something grabs me and I’m yanked down, pulled so hard that my shoulder slams against the sea floor. It reminds me of that scene from Jaws again. I’m dragged along the sand moving so fast, as if a boat snagged me on a fishing line and is dragging me. Surrounded by bubbles, I can’t see a thing above me. And this rush of water. It burns my eyes. And…I feel pain in my chest again…and...
2
BUONDÌ
I open my eyes and gaze up at a muddy ceiling. Water drips from above and along the walls. And there’s a single flickering yellowish-red light. I turn my head and see it’s fire. A figure in a black poncho is hunched over it, cooking something in a metal frying pan. I smell cooked fish. She’s pale-skinned and bald. Her hand, holding the pan over the fire, is thin, bony, and black.
There’s movement under my back. I turn to my side and it tickles me. I lean over to take a look.
I scream! I was lying on thousands of spiders! Gross!
“Buondì, Medusa,” the figure in black says with a chuckle.
Icky spiders scatter about me.
“I hate spiders!”
“Why’d you visit then? Hmm?”
I feel so sick I vomit all over the stupid little bugs, coughing up a torrent of clear water, which washes over and floods them. So there! The sea water rushes out of my nostrils too. I can’t breathe. I’m gasping.
I close my eyes. Someone is holding me. I turn and see my friend’s eyes by the flickering flames. Arachne’s eyes are made up of tiny black dots, but she has normal lips and pretty features. And she’s smiling.
“Found you,” I say.
“Benvenuto. Why’d you come, Medusa?”
“Trouble.” Then I barf up more water by her side.
“It will pass,” Arachne says, patting my back.
I take a deep breath, inhaling more salt. But then I find that I can breathe. Yeah, I can breathe! It’s, like, heaven. I stand up straight, taking in more wondrous air. Arachne returns to her fire, lifting a metal frying pan.
“I’m making you breakfast,” she says. “Barracuda.”
“Oh, yummy.”
She shrugs. “It’s fresh.”
Somehow, the spiders are gone. She commands the little ones, you know. I suppose she was trying to make me comfortable, using them as a mattress, but how disgusting.
I look around her cave. It’s only the size of a small room, but it adjoins a muddy hallway. The opposite side of her cave has an antique wood dresser she must have dragged here. And lying about it is a pile of dresses. My friend loves clothes. In the nineteenth century, Arachne was a designer. And before that, she often specialized in fashion. That’s how she got cursed in the first place. But the weirdest thing in this muddy lair is not the large, elegant dresser and pile of clothes, it’s a pile of filthy, rotting fish lying on the floor full of, not spiders, but—eek!—worms. You know I love snakes, but when worms are the size of my fingernail—gross. This must be, like, her refrigerator or something. She looks back at me, her eyes clusters of small black balls in her normal, pretty face, and smiles again. Her face is lovely—sans the spider eyes.
“You went the wrong way,” Arachne says. “The passage was in the opposite direction.”
“Figures.”
“I told you to never return. You’re breaking my vow of silence.”
“I had to.”
“Why? What is it? What made you drown yourself?”
I take a deep breath. Oh, what a relief it is to breathe again! It’s so weird how things like breathing can be taken for granted. My friend can breathe underwater for hours because she is cursed to be in the form of a spider, and spiders can stay underwater for a long time. Not snakes. Only a few snakes can swim and hold their breath. And certainly not good ole Medusa. You know, I can only hold my breath for twenty seconds.
“The war’s back. Imada is coming for you.”
Arachne moves the sizzling meat in her pan and shakes her head. “The war will never end.”
“Hades got information from Athena.” When I utter the goddess’s name, Arachne’s arm holding the pan shakes. “Athena blabbed that you know the location of the Scepter. Then she told him you were here. That information leaked and now you have Imada after you. You know the Scepter of Azure’s power. Imada wants the staff. As far as we know, it’s the only Scepter left.”
“Now I understand all those divers swimming around the cave lately. I thought you were one of them with a green flashlight.”
“You picked a popular spot. No one’s found this place yet?”
“And no one will.” She shakes her head, still crouched staring at her frying pan. “This cave is not near the statue. No one will find the entrance, unless I will it.”
“Where’s the Scepter of Azure, Arachne?”
“Breakfast is ready. I caught a small one. It should be very good. Buon appetito.”
She walks over and hands me the pan with a smile. I take it to be polite.
“I’m so happy you came,” Arachne says, touching my arm.
Her multi-dot eyes can turn green like mine, you know. But while normal, mine are beautiful, hers are ugly. But both are just as repulsive, just for different reasons. She doesn’t look straight into my eyes because she knows my curse—I freeze whoever stares at them. I look down. But then I look over at her slaughterhouse wall stash.
And she’s still waiting for me to eat.
“Barracuda?” I ask.
Arachne nods.
“I really wouldn’t want to impose.”
“There’s plenty. Go ahead.”
I can’t stop smelling the wall of rotten fish. Then I look at the slimy cooked fish, gills and all, in the pan. Yum. To be polite, I sit on her damp, muddy floor beside her. I tear off a piece of white flesh and eat around the scales. She’s still all smiley watching me. Here goes…
“It’s good,” I say with my mouth full. It really isn’t bad.
“Yeah,” she says. tearing some from the pan. “Everything is better down here.”
“It’s been so long,” I say, touching her arm. “I miss you.”
She nods. Then she puts an arm around me. “I miss you more, Medusa. Of all people, I miss you the most.”
“Are you really happy here?”
“It’s home.” She shrugs. Then she looks around her room. “I’m far happier here than I could ever be up there. Up there is Athenia.”
“Cora defeated her,” I say, shaking my head. “Mount Olympus was—”
She shakes her head, losing her smile. Then the little balls in her eyes shine emerald, like my eyes did underwater.
“Let’s not start up with that again,” she snaps. “The Hellenistic world you reside in was created by her.”
“But Hades and Cora run the show now.”
“No.”
She jumps up.
“No.”
Her eyes have turned even brighter green. Her legs and arms narrow a little and she’s a little taller. She’s lengthening, changing into a spider. She does this, just like my hair turns into thick snakes when I get worked up.
“Apollo and Athena hold sway over your world,” she says, avoiding my eyes. “Even if you don’t see it, they and their slaves run Gaia. You’re deluding yourself, just like your best friend Persephone, Cora, is deluded.”
“I didn’t come to fight. I came to get you out of here.”
“I will never leave. I have my family of darlings. And I have my idol. I’m happy and in peace. I suspect I’m happier than you. You came for Cora’s Scepter? Even if I had it, I wouldn’t give it to you. I love you, Medusa, I really do, but you know I’m Christian. I believe in End Times. I’ll go on praying in my sanctuary under my god, but I will never risk being the instrument of his apocalypse.”
“Cora knew you wouldn’t give it to her. But if you give it to me, Imada will have no more reason to search for you.”
“I don’t have it.”
I squint at her. I don’t believe her. Her black smock is shining green, this time in the glow of my eyes.
“If you give me the staff, I’ll get rid of it,” I add. “I’ll hide it so no one can find it. Cora promised. She knows her prophecy. She doesn’t want the prophecy to come true either.”
“Then it will be found,” she says, shaking her head. “I’m not only worried about Persephone, I’m worried that it will be found by someone else and used to hurt people.”
“You have to trust me.”
She sits by the fire again, with her back turned to me, and tears more fish from the pan and just eats. “No.” But she smiles again. “Have breakfast with me and let us speak of other pleasant things. Please, Medusa.”
“I didn’t come here for the Scepter. I came for you.”
“I’m fine. But even if they find me…” she says, chewing with her mouth full. "They will never get the Scepter.”
“So you do have it?”
Arachne sighs deeply. I sit down beside her and rub her back. “Oh, Arachne, aren’t you miserable here? Let me take you back to the surface.”
“Don’t pity me!” she exclaims, shaking her head hard. “Don’t ever do that! That’s acting like them. Do you think that if I had crossed your friend Persephone, she wouldn’t have cursed me too!”
“Cora hates her family more than anyone. She’s good. And she can help you.”
“Oh, stop, Medusa!” She glares at me with green eyes. But I know my eyes are green too, because her face shines green. “How is Cora good? She killed everyone she loved.” She points a finger at her other skeletal hand. Her arms are dried up, like a corpse’s. “You can’t go outside under the sun, but look at me? Look at my hands. Or my eyes.” She points to all those black dots making up her spider eyes. Then she slaps her hand along her bald head. “You have snakes for hair? So? At least you have hair. They did this to us. They all did this to you and me. They’re not our friends, they’re responsible. I don’t trust any of them. All of them, including your Kore, are overbearing, pompous, sadistic. You had beauty, I had skill. So? They made us monsters. But they kept you human enough to delude you. Now you come here because that bitch holds you as if by a leash.”
