CHAPTER 135: 135-TAKING ONE BACK HOME

Clementine:

I was breathing heavily after I transitioned back. My uniform was intact, but my jacket lay on the ground. I picked it up and quickly put it on, buttoning it tightly. While Ian stepped out of the darkness to stare at the man, I stayed silent. I had noticed that instead of helping me, he had hidden in the shadows. I didn’t understand why. He never seemed afraid of anything, so why was he afraid of transitioning? Or did he simply not want to help me?

I had expected him to flaunt his wolf the first chance he got. But he shocked me when he didn’t. Or maybe, just like always, he was giving me the chance to lead and come for help if I hadn’t been able to fight.

The big black wolf had returned to human form. He whimpered on the ground, badly wounded from the scars and injuries I had given him.

"Ian, tie him up and take him to the station," I said as I looked at him.

The man was barely conscious now. Ian watched him with a deadpan look before kneeling, grabbing his hair, and punching him in the face, knocking the wind out of him.

"Why? Why take him to the station? Let’s throw him to the Medusa and let her feed," he said.

I shook my head. "I think he’ll be more valuable alive than dead," I replied.

That was when I saw Yorick and Troy rushing back to our building. They must have seen the man arrive and ran out of the house to come help me. Once they got there, they looked at him, then looked up.

"So, what’s the plan?" Troy asked as he stared at the man on the ground. I don’t think they had seen me transition because they had run down to come here. I was in shock myself at the fact that I fought the man in just a few minutes but weirdly enough, it seemed like a huge battle.

"Are we going to finish him?" Yorick added.

"No. Ian will take him to the station. We’ll board the train with him and hand him over to the ringleaders," I said, making the decision. Thankfully, they agreed.

Ian didn’t argue. He simply grabbed the man, threw him over his shoulder, and the next thing I knew, he was gone. He sprinted off so fast that suddenly it was just the three of us.

"We should look for Haiden," Troy said.

"Oh, I know. He went into that house," Yorick replied, pointing toward a distant building.

"I think he’ll be fine," I said, taking deeper breaths.

"Unless the Medusa pretends to be us." At that, Troy’s words made my skin prickle with goosebumps.

"Or what if she pretends to be Clementine?" Yorick asked, shock clear on his face.

"I’m sure Haiden won’t open it. He knows better," I insisted, though even I wasn’t sure of my own words.

"He definitely will," Yorick admitted. I think it took a lot of courage for him to confess that Haiden would open the door for me no matter what.

"Fuck, we need to go," I said once I realized how serious this situation was. Just then, our eyes shifted toward the house where Haiden was hiding, and we saw Medusa moving toward it.

"Shit," I muttered. "Let’s go."

I ran out of the brown house, but first we searched for weapons. We couldn’t go fight the medusa without any weapons. But we didn’t know how to fight her anyway.

The people who lived there had plenty. I grabbed a sword from one of the rooms, my breathing quickening as I held it.

"Oh my god." Having a weapon in the North meant power, so finding a room full of them felt like everything we could hope for.

Troy quickly stuffed weapons into a bag, while Yorick pulled a mirror from the wall.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

He stared at me with a look of understanding, looking all set to go defend Haiden.

"We can’t look directly into Medusa’s eyes. To fight her, we need an indirect method," he explained, holding up the mirror.

"What about the snakes? They can still attack us," I pointed out. I saw him pause, realizing there might need to be another way.

"Okay, here’s the thing," he said, snapping his fingers. "All three of us will have a sword, and all three of us will carry a mirror. Something light?"

"The small mirrors that we carry in our bags," I said.

"Yeah. That would do. It’ll be much lighter to carry." Yorick agreed.

"So we’ll stand around her. Once she faces one of us, that person will raise the mirror so the others can see her and attack. When she turns to someone else, that person will close their eyes while the others strike from behind. We can use the mirrors to watch her from a distance without looking directly at her," Troy suggested, looking anxious.

But I had a different idea.

"What if we make her look directly into her own eyes through the mirror?" I suggested.

"I’m not sure if that will work. We’ve seen her through the mirrors, staring, and not once did she turn into stone. So our best bet is to fight her with the swords," Yorick suggested, and I nodded. I was just having crazy ideas, anything that could help us survive the night.

"We need to fight her. We have to cut off all the snakes on her head," I said. It was the only plan I could come up with at the moment. We didn’t know how things would feel once we were out there. This whole conversation happened in the two minutes we spent watching Medusa move toward Haiden’s house.

"Guys, we shouldn’t waste time," I urged, sprinting out of the room. The next thing we knew, we were rushing toward the house.

But the moment we reached the road, we heard her talking to Haiden. My chest tightened with panic. What if he had already opened the door?