Lyicus woke up abruptly, the sunlight shone gold slashes through the parted curtains in his eyes. A hand gripped his arm for dear life and he turned surprised to see his mother.

'Mum?' he said breathlessly. A sharp stabbing pain erupted in his chest he moved to the edge of the bed.

'Rest, rest, Lycius you're surviving gun wounds okay, but Calix has treated them and there's some remaining trauma in the muscle--' her voice cracked and she let out a loud moan like that of a whimpering chihuahua in distress and started sobbing. 'I'm sorry, I thought—' she started fanning her face though she noticeably hadn't started crying yet. Lycius grabbed her hands in his and pleaded for her to calm down.

'Where's Rhea?' he asked, and he shook his head in disbelief at the dream he had. The memory of the beast that had taken over. 'I think she ate me.'

'You'll have to talk to Calix about it because I don't fully understand what happened.' Lycius rushed quickly to the wardrobe and then realised he wasn't in his own room and in Calix's bedroom. Alright, he would have to settle with his striped pyjama pants and marched quickly out of there. He was soon humbled by the wave of weakness that washed over him and the black dots threatening to expand in his vision and he caught himself against a pillar and leaned against it. His mother called out behind him, but he kept moving throughout the house blindly shouting for Rhea and Calix. Events of the night started to torment his memory, but it was all in disorder, there was Giannis who was shooting at him, and then there was the image of him slipping through the throat of the night sky, sharp teeth carefully avoiding his body as he fell into the void.

Oh god, he thought he was going to be sick, but he marched on.

'Lycius! Lycius! She's not here!' his mother said by the time he was in the parlour. He turned on her and immediately got emotional.

'Where is she?' he peered out behind her at the very clear ballroom, he remembered the blood, the bodies... 'Where are the wolves?' His mother shook her head and curled her lips in. Lycius felt his chest concave into itself and ran his hands through his greasy hair. 'No. No.'

Iris wiped a tear away and pulled a hanky from her blouse pocket. 'Rhea took one for the team.'

'What does that mean? Where is she? Where is Calix?' he said trying not to snap.

'He'll be back in a couple of hours.' She sniffled. 'He'll be able to explain it better than I can.'

Lycius grabbed her by the shoulders trying not to be forceful but visibly frustrated. 'Just run through the basics. Please, it's going to drive me insane.' Iris calmed him down and made him sit down on the couch opposite her. She twiddled her thumbs and cleared her through trying to find the right words to begin. Every second that passed was a year robbed from his lifespan, or so he felt at least. He looked over at the pile of paintings, the easel and art tools left untouched. She had to come back for those, this thought relaxed him for the moment.

'She isn't completely herself anymore. She has a split personality and apparently, it's new and very good at--' she waved her hands in fast spinning circles. '--at tricks.'

Lycius thought about the three-headed woman and the gaping mouth that engulfed him. 'Go on.'

'The personality has taken over, in a way. Sometimes Rhea will come out but she is very quiet when she does so Calix mainly communicated with... Oh, this sounds idiotic out loud but this alter ego claims to be the Titaness Hekate.'

Iris was disappointed by the lack of surprise from her son. It wasn't that he expected that answer, however, he did expect something dramatic from Rhea and it certainly fit the image he could remember from the attack. Lycius shrugged. 'Rhea has been worshipping her for years.'

'Okay then,' she said tensely. 'Well, they were very cross with the Darlings and in fact, Calix is very disturbed by them too, but is sure there is some kind of misunderstanding.'

Typical. Lycius thought.

'Then Rhea, not Hekate apparently... Read your book.'

That made Lycius straighten in his seat. 'She did? And what did she think?'

'She kept underlying lines that she thought were clues.' Iris paused when she noticed her son beaming brightly, almost with relief. 'They are clues?' she said surprised. He nodded. Iris arched her brow. 'The fairy-tale about a maiden and a demonic family?'

'I tried to write out the story of how the Darlings abuse their powers over werewolves who can't afford the treatment. I couldn't directly write what I experienced so I had to write a dramatized version, something extreme that the spell that I'm under keeps me from...' Lycius blinked. 'Holy fuck.' Lycius started stretching and wriggling his jaw. He clapped his cheeks. 'The Darlings are the ones that activated the curse again.' He reeled at himself, at how easily he could say it out loud. He laughed and then felt himself want to burst into tears.

His mother looked aghast at him then moved to the edge of the couch. 'She tried to pinpoint a location from your story... I suppose you don't know where to find them though right?' Iris had said half hopeful and it was true. Lycius had escaped but he was not well, he was not fully aware nor remembered sufficiently enough of that night. Maybe there was another magic block that kept him from picturing the doorway.

'They make profit from the werewolves that don't make it,' he said numbly.

'Is that why you ran away with those wolves?'

'I found them, they had already been sold to other myth families of a kind of criminal underworld I'm not familiar with. I can't believe I just said that. I'm speaking. I can say it. I have to talk to Rhea.' Lycius shot up from his seat and made his way to the door. 'Where can I find her?'

'You won't be able to,' she said sadly stopping him in his tracks.

He glared over his shoulder. 'Why?'

'She took your book, my love, she's long gone now.'

'She-she's not gonna trying and face them on her own?' he waited for her to deny it as his anxiety brewed.

'Not exactly, she was invited. Now there's no Lazarus to warn them that she is coming with the fury of a titan.'

'She was invited to them? And you let her go!' Lycius shouted.

'You act as if I have control over her. She's not my child she is a grown woman, but you are my son and my only concern.'

'She's going to get herself killed. Where is she? Where has she gone?'

'She's made her choice. They killed her sister.' His mother stood up and took his face in her hands. 'She can't come back because the authorities are trying to find her. She was found in the street with two dead bodies and God only knows what she did to that wretched man.'

Lycius scrunched up his nose. 'John? John.' He pressed his fist to his mouth as he tried to remember what happened. What would she have done to Giannis? He felt her rage as if it was his own when he was in the stomach of Hekate, but he didn't understand where it came from. It was too passionate for their casual hate for each other. Something else happened between them, there was dread blended with grief whirling in her and a part of it left an impression on his own spirit.

'I have to go with her,' he said. 'What flight is she on? Where is Calix?'

His mother's composure turned rigid and cold. 'She doesn't want you anymore.'

Rhea sat up on her knees in bed and hoisted her dress back up over her chest. If she was upset with Lycius he couldn't tell. She fixed the spaghetti straps of her sparkling dress and clapped her hands on her thighs drilling her curious and bewildered eyes into him.

Lycius was sitting on his hands to hide them, blushing a furious red and trying to steady his breaths. It was already happening. His dad had only just been buried, barely cold in the grave and the curse had moved on to torment him. A strange tingling sensation burned in his gums and instinctively ran his tongue along the back of his lower teeth.

'Okay I don't want to do this because it feels like you're just doing it to please me,' she said. She arched a concerned brow. 'I don't want you to feel forced—'

'It's not that! I'm just feeling overwhelmed,' he said and felt himself blush a deeper pink.

She gently patted his shoulder and smiled. Red lipstick was smudged across her chin; he couldn't imagine how ridiculous he looked. His body went rigid in surprise because he thought she was going in to give him another kiss and felt silly for how ready was for it. How much he wanted it to happen despite the claws digging into the bedsheets under him. However, she leaned over him to grab the tissue box on the nightstand and plucked one out to start wiping at his mouth. She giggled.

'What?' he said.

'This just feels silly,' she said. 'And this colour doesn't suit your skin tone.'

'You're right it suits your chin more than my own.'

She let out a mocking gasp then folded the tissue to wipe at her own mouth. Lycius quickly glanced down at his nails where Rhea couldn't see, and he grimaced as they had only greyed and thickened before sitting back on it.

'What brought you to the club?' she leaned against the bedframe and rested her head in her hand as her silver eyes raked his body.

'I came to see your show,' he said casually.

'After a funeral?' he didn't respond. 'You came into the bar so cocky and then you started a fight with a stranger—and snapped at your best friend, John,' she added sarcastically. His lips sealed shut as did his eyelids in a bitter shame. 'I'm not an expert, Lycius, but I think you're going to need something a bit more constructive than liquor and a barfight.' Her fingers pushed back his hair from his forehead so she could see his face clearly and he was tempted to be childish and shake it back down again to hide away from her judgement. 'This isn't really how you want to spend "your last night alive", whatever that means. Don't misunderstand me, this hotel room is lovely, the best place I've ever stayed in, but I don't understand what you want.'

'Can't I want to spend time with you?' he was slightly abrasive. Either she didn't notice or chose to ignore it as she used to when they were younger and he was grateful.

'Sure, except that we haven't spoken since we graduated.' She paused when he looked at her and he didn't mean to bare any pain in his expression yet with it he caught a glimpse of her worry. A proper concern, like that of a real friend. It was why he had picked to see her on his last night as a human because if anyone were to understand his situation it would be a worshipper of all things dark and creepy. It would be his oldest friend, his first crush, the creepiest and craziest woman he knew. He was incredibly charmed by her show and how she had grown so into the gothic character she loved to play as when they were younger. So why didn't he just tell her then?

'I-I want to be here with you. Can we just sleep together?' he said.

'I mean you know I can't sleep at this hour of the night unless you mean you want me to take off this dress...' she smirked.

He wet his lips and rolled his head back to huff as if he was biting back agony. In his mind, he was and it wasn't just because of the curse. I wish we had more time, he thought. I wish I used it better.

'Alright, Mr Dramatic get up off your arse.' Rhea dragged her arse across the bed and heaved a loud groan as she jumped up and opened the glass-panelled doors letting a cool gust of wind drift in. Before she exited the balcony, she tiptoed back to slip her strappy heels back on and offered him a hand. Lycius was stiff on his hands and she playfully crept over and gripped one of his lean arms. He let her pull him, he knew he shouldn't have and dreaded the reaction that awaited but also revelled at the relief of being forced to explain it and when his hand was released from his clenched-up buttock, he was both eased and disheartened that his nails were perfectly normal.

They laced their fingers as they strode across the burnt orange tiles, now a darkened brown under the night sky, and leaned against the natural stone balustrade. She let go of his and bumped shoulders with him as she described the new things she could see in the sky now that her magic had matured. There was dust that wove around glittering different primary colours, and stars that shone where they shouldn't be. When he questioned what she meant she wiggled her eyebrows and didn't bother to elaborate. Then she spoke about her art degree and the new friends she made and how Arianna was doing back at home, and how sometimes she missed her badly, then other times she was relieved she was on her own. Lycius felt stupidly envious as the truth was obvious, she missed talking to someone about her powers. He had missed being that for her.

'I—' Lycius flinched away and slowly backed into the doorway. Rhea watched him as he awkwardly waved his hands and some excuse to leave. 'I'll be back in a minute.'

Rhea looked at him from the rail as if she knew he wasn't coming back, and he would have shied away if it were disappointment or annoyance. It wasn't either, it was like those silver eyes blanked me out and she rolled her head forward and gazed back at the stars. She had given up and he was again filled with mixed emotions as he left for good.

Rhea will return in Medusa's Misfortunes...