Charmed: Let Gorgons Be Gorgons Read Online Free Page B

dirt and the tiny stones these shoes were not made for caves.”
    Stheno rolled her eyes. “Then change them.”
    Euryale let out a resigned huff of air. “Fine.”
    Euryale closed her eyes and concentrated. It only took a second for the black leather heals to shift into a more appropriate pair of brown hiking books. When she opened her eyes again, she seemed quite happy with her new choice of footwear, but her smile faltered as her eyes moved up to the tight skirt above them. She looked at her sister, held up a finger and shrugged an apology as she closed her eyes again. The tight skirt shifted into a pair of jeans and her blouse changed to a T-shirt. She finished off the look by having her own long, black hair pulled back into a hair clip. This time when she opened her eyes she seemed happier with the entire ensemble.
    “Better?” Stheno asked.
    Euryale smiled. “Much.”
    “I don’t understand why you didn’t just do that when we first entered the caves,” Stheno said as she continued on down the tunnel.
    “Mainly because I know it drives you crazy,” Euryale replied. “If we’re going to do this every year I might as well have some fun in the process.”
    For as long as they had been sisters, Euryale had been something of a mystery. At times she seemed naïve and somewhat clueless. And yet, Stheno was fairly certain it was all an act, something to mess with her. It was Euryale’s way of standing out as the middle sister. Stheno was beyond tired of it, especially since it had only been the two of them together for the longest time.
    Stheno tried to put her frustrations with Euryale out of her mind as she continued the journey. Not that she needed to concentrate on the path. They’d made this trip so many times that she could do it with her eyes closed.
    The tunnels beneath the city of Athens were always cool, no matter the season, no matter the millennia. That was the one thing Stheno had come to expect whenever they visited their lost sister. It was an annual tradition, this trek to the place between the Earth and Hades, between life and death; one that usually ended with the same expected result. But this year would be different. This year, everything would change.
    Stheno and Euryale had never been all the way down to Hades before. These tunnels were the closest they had ever come. It wasn’t safe for them in Hades. Not while they were still alive. Hades wasn’t exactly a high-volume tourist destination, even for Stheno or Euryale, no matter what mortals might think of them when they were in their cursed form. They’d been called demons on more than one occasion, but that couldn’t have been further from the truth.
    It was rarely called Hades in the modern world any longer, but the sisters refused to let the name go. They held tight to their memories of the time in which they had been cursed, refusing to completely change with the times. Oh, Euryale liked the modern conveniences enough: the ease of technology, the taste of manufactured foods. But some things were best in their original form. “Hades” was just so perfect a word whether referring to the god or his home. “The Underworld” did not have nearly the same ring to it. So very literal. Totally lacking in any creativity.
    The path before them broke off into a pair of tunnels and the sisters took the one on the right without hesitation. They’d been making this trek for over a thousand years. Always on the same date, even when the world had adapted to a new calendar. This time they brought with them a hope that they had not felt in centuries. This time, they were going to reunite their family.
    “Every year this journey feels shorter than the last,” Euryale said.
    “The curse of immortality,” Stheno replied. “The more days behind us, the less time means in the present.”
    “One would think by now that time would have lost all meaning,” Euryale said.
    “It probably would if we hadn’t been counting the days since we lost our