Chris took us down one part of the hallway and around the corner, where the floor opened up, showing a huge amount of open space with televisions mounted on the walls in front of chairs and tables.
“We do some work here,” Chris said. “But mostly we use this floor as a staging area or as somewhere to bring people new to the organization.”
“Who runs this?” I asked. “You?”
Chris shook his head as we walked across the open space and through a set of double doors at the end. This area had a desk large enough to fit the four people who worked behind it, all of whom waved at Chris as he walked by. Two armed guards, both carrying spears and bucklers, stood in front of a set of mahogany double doors. One of them bowed his head slightly while the other pushed open the doors, revealing a large office with floor-to-ceiling windows on both sides. Two desks sat at the far end of the room, and the occupants of the chairs behind them got to their feet and came to greet us.
“Don’t freak out,” I whispered to Antonio.
“Why?” he asked, before catching sight of the two women and realizing who one of them was. He put his hands over his eyes and turned away.
“Oh, for crying out loud,” Medusa said, the snakes that were entwined with her dark hair barely moving around her shoulders. She wore a white T-shirt and black jeans with dark-green trainers. Her skin was olive colored, and her short fingernails were painted black. One of the snakes moved over her shoulder languidly, showing absolutely no interest in anyone in the room. “I’m not going to turn you to stone.”
“She really isn’t,” the woman beside her said. I’d never met her before. She had dark skin and waist-length black hair that was braided with small silk bows of various colors. She wore a pale-yellow dress that stopped just above her knees and a thin golden necklace with a gold-and-diamond pendant of a falcon on the end.
“Medusa,” I said with a smile. “It’s been a long time.”
“Nathaniel Garrett,” she said, returning the smile. “It has been too long.” She walked over and hugged me, the snakes on her head moving away from my face.
“This is Isis,” Medusa said, introducing me to the second woman.
“An Egyptian goddess?” Antonio asked, only now peeking through his fingers as I shook her hand.
“I am sorry for your loss,” I said.
Isis smiled warmly. “Thank you. It was many centuries ago.”
“I know, but it feels like something I need to say.”
“What happened?” Antonio whispered.
“My husband, Osiris, was murdered by his brother Set,” Isis said. “It was a ploy by people working with Hera to ensure that the strongest of us who opposed them were no longer an issue. When Avalon came to fruition, many of the Egyptian deities fled, died, or joined them. My son, Horus, fled. I have not seen him in nearly two thousand years.” She touched the pendant on the necklace. “I hope to one day see him again.”
“I’m sorry,” Antonio said. “That’s awful.”
“Thank you,” Isis said. “Our mutual friend brought you here to see us.”
“Chris hasn’t exactly explained why,” I said.
“How come your snakes can’t turn me to stone?” Antonio asked, before assuming the expression of a man who had just said something aloud that he’d only meant to think.
“Mythology is bullshit,” Medusa said. “There are two types of stories. Either one deity had their followers create a story to tell the world about how awesome they were, or the enemy of a deity had their followers tell a story about how evil their opponents were. In my case, there was a story about Athena turning me into a Gorgon. I was born a Gorgon, and the story was concocted by Hera and Perseus. Perseus hated the Olympians. His father, Zeus, was about as good at being a father as he was at keeping his dick to himself, and Perseus was a judgmental little shit who believed every evil thing he was fed about them. Hera sent him after me to kill me and take my head.” She tapped her neck. “Guess how well it went.”
“But the rest of the story?” Antonio asked. “What happened?”
“Well, seeing how Perseus was unable to kill me and barely left with his life, he took the head off the body of a soldier I’d taken. From what I hear, he then killed some snakes and sewed their corpses into the head. He took it to a king of somewhere or other, and when he got laughed at, he butchered him and told everyone that the head turned people to stone if they’re not nice to him. My head does that. The decomposing head of a soldier does not. Still, he got rich and famous off it, and I decided to lie low and not do anything that would make Hera come after me again.”
“But your snakes can turn people to stone?” Antonio asked.
“No, they’re snakes,” Medusa said. “I turn people to stone. My snakes are just a physical part of me, like fingers or something else that would bite you with venom designed to dissolve flesh and kill in seconds.” She smiled at Antonio, whose eyes went wide.
“Relax,” I said. “She’s not someone who would turn you to stone just for being there, no matter how much the stories suggest otherwise.”
“The Kuros arrived this morning,” Isis said. “They were taken to the warehouse. We have belowground floors there that double as accommodation.”
“How did you manage to spring up under Avalon’s nose?” I asked.
“Money,” Medusa and Isis said in unison and then laughed.
“We’ve always had organizations like this,” Isis said. “But over time it was necessary to change and adapt into something that is out in the open but still leaves us able to operate.”
“This is a place for people to hide from Avalon, yes?” I asked.
“Hide and fight back,” Medusa said. “Originally we fought against the oppression from people like Hera and her allies. But now that Avalon’s true colors have been revealed, we’ve had to increase our scope somewhat.”
“So what happens now?” I asked.
“Now, you stay here and hide,” Isis said. “You are human; you cannot hope to defeat Baldr and his allies.”
“As a human, I defeated Orestes,” I told her.
“You really think Baldr will fall as easily?” Medusa asked softly. “You are a warrior of great strength, Nate, but you are human. Until your power returns, you will not be able to defeat someone with Baldr’s power. Nor his Harbinger allies.”
“Do we know who those allies are?” I asked.
“Two teams,” Isis said. “One led by Adrestia and one by Apep.”
I groaned.
“Is that bad?” Antonio asked. “Sorry, my ancient mythology is a little rusty.”
“Adrestia is Ares’s daughter,” Chris said. “Nate killed both her father and her brother.”
“You killed Ares?” Antonio asked, astonished.
“A long time ago,” I said. “But Adrestia’s not exactly someone who forgives and forgets. She’s also a negative empath, so she feeds off people’s pain, misery, and the like. It makes her stronger. Deimos had a similar power, and he was just a joy to be around.”
“And Apep?” he asked.