“Let me go, you beast!” Amanda shouted as the dragon dragged her into a dark cave. But there was just enough light for Amanda to see what was in the cave, “Cerberus…, Orthrus…, Hydra…, Chimera…!” her eyes widened as she named the most dangerous monsters, all offspring of Echidna, a drakaina, a half snake half woman, and Typhon, the evil monster Zeus trapped under Mount Etna thousands of years before, “The Caucasian Eagle..., the Crommyonian sow, the gorgons…, even Medusa! The Colchian Dragon, guard of the Golden Fleece, the Teumessian Fox, and even Scylla, the many-headed beast! My gods! That’s not a dragon at all… THAT’S ECHIDNA! I GOTTA GET OUTTA HERE!”
“Foolish girl, you shall be going nowhere,” Echidna’s voice echoed on the walls of the cave. “I have orders from my patroness, Iris, goddess of rainbows, not to let any young heroes or heroines pass to the palace of rainbows. Our orders are to capture the two of you, dead or alive. Unfortunately, I only got one of you meddling demigods. Well, anyway, Iris fears that you may try to break her spell,”
“What spell?” a sincerely confused and frightened Amanda whispered back.
“Playing dumb won’t work on ME, foolish siren,” Echidna shrieked back, giving away all of the information Amanda needed. “The spell Iris put on all of the mortals to disregard the sunset, so rainbows will dominate.”
“Jeremy and I aren’t just dealing with ignorant mortals, now, are we,” Amanda muttered under her breath.
“Medusa, take her away!” Echidna ordered her daughter, “Iris will be pleased!”
“Gladly,” Medusa evilly grinned, as Amanda tried to avoid looking into her eyes for fear of being paralyzed and turned to stone, “I shall take her to the prison until Iris comes to retrieve the brat.”
As Amanda silently listened to the cruel plans these creatures had made for her, she was shaking from head to toe, “P-please, let me go!” she stuttered, to frightened to even move. Amanda may have looked tough and courageous on the outside, but you can only expect so much from a fourteen- year- old girl, “Let me go or I’ll sing for you filthy creatures!”
The cruel Medusa cackled as she led Amanda into a concrete room, and tied her to a chair, her hands and feet bound together with the same wire used to bind her to the chair. “Stupid little girl. Your family’s… Hmmm… How should I put this…? Your family’s little ‘trick’ of killing by voice only works on mortals stupid enough not to avoid your perilous kind,” she enunciated each syllable of every word clearly as she leaned in toward Amanda, trying to look her into her eyes, but each time, Amanda would just shut her eyes tighter. Eventually enough, the gorgon Medusa resorted to having her “hair”, or “pet snakes” (for instead of having hair, Medusa the gorgon had many little snakes coming out of her head.) bite Amanda all over her face. Poor young Amanda was now pale with a mixture of fright and pain.
Each time one of the snakes’ sharp teeth came in contact with her face, the poor girl would wince, or maybe even scream, “Please, stop! I’m begging!” she cried out for mercy. Since that was not effective, she then begged the gods, “Please, oh gods and goddesses! If you can hear me now, please help me! Oh, Fates, please do not let this t be when or where I die! I have a mission to complete, and I can’t leave Jeremy alone like this! He’d be devastated! If he misses me as much as I miss him right now, he’d be nearly suicidal!”
“The gods can’t help you now, foolish siren,” a smooth but cruel high-pitched voice rang out as a young woman in a bright dress covered with all of the colors of the rainbow designed in colorful splotches. “In case you haven’t heard of me, I’m your worst enemy, your best friend, and YOUR FUTURE DESTROYER. Can you guess who I am? No? Well, I’m Iris, goddess of rainbows, and YOU’RE COMING WITH ME!”
Amanda looked up at her captor with a feeling of disgust as she was ruthlessly untied, “You cruel, vain, vile woman,” she seethed. “You’re willing to murder to be the best of the best. Well, you know what? I used to think you were admirable. I thought it was amazing how each color and shade of the multicolor rainbow blended together. I thought that the genius behind it must be perfect and good-looking like the creation itself. But now I see that a rainbow is just an illusion. A rainbow may be beautiful at appearance, but before you can get to the rainbow, you must first get through the rain. Just like you, Iris. Before you can be happy and content, like a rainbow, you must be cold and evil like rain. A rainbow is just beautifully disguised evil. I get you, Iris, but I also hate your guts. It’s payback time!”
And with that, at the end of Amanda’s long speech, she pulled the skeleton doll out of her pocket, “Death, DEATH!” she screamed into it’s ear.
“I see you have a doll,” Iris sarcastically smirked, “Ooooh, I’m so scared.”
“Iris, I don’t think that’s-,” Medusa began, but Iris interrupted her.
“Shut up, Medusa,” Iris snapped, “Girl, you’re coming with me.”
“I don’t think so,” Amanda vengefully grinned as the skeleton doll came to life and grew largely in size. “YOU are coming with ME!”
And with that she pulled out Apollo’s golden flute, and blew hard and loud.
YOU ARE READING
The Silent Siren
Teen FictionAmanda, a half siren demigod, is tired of assisting her mother and the other sirens in drowning men by singing, so she runs away to a nearby ship where she becomes the only female crew- member. She hides who she really is and tries desperately to fo...
