Curse of the Sphinx Read Online Free

beginning of the year.
    “Pink and sparkles?” He took the proffered pencil. “It must be my lucky day.”
    She snorted. Because what man didn’t like pink? “If you like it that much, keep it.”
    “Eyes up here, people.” Mr. Burton’s voice interrupted.
    She turned to face the board where Mr. Burton wrote Sphinx in red.
    “All right. How many of you have heard of the Sphinx?” He turned back to the class.
    A few hands went up.
    “What is it?”
    Hope shifted in her seat.
    “A monster.”
    “A cursed person.”
    “A figment of your imagination.”
    The last commenter got raised eyebrows.
    “The Sphinx was a monster.” Mr. Burton threw a miniature candy bar at the student who’d given the correct answer. “And a monster, in mythology, is . . .”
    Several hands went up.
    “Yes, Gage.”
    “A monster is a mixed breed created by a god.”
    Candy flew through the air.
    “And what was the Sphinx?” His eyes roamed the room. “Alani.”
    “Lion and eagle.”
    He tilted his head and pursed his lips. “What else?”
    The room was silent.
    “Human.” She said it. She didn’t even know why. She’d gone the entire semester without saying much of anything. And she didn’t even like chocolate.
    Mr. Burton nodded his approval and tossed another silver wrapper.
    “You going to eat that?” Caidyn whispered.
    She held the candy out, and he took it. “Thanks.”
    Their eyes locked, and she had the distinct feeling that precipitated the change into her other form. Excitement. Trepidation. Shuddering, she forced her attention back on her instructor.
    “There is significant debate regarding the Sphinx,” Mr. Burton continued. “Some say she was born of monsters: Orthrus, Chimera, Typhon, or Echidna.” He wrote the names on the board.
    Her heart beat faster and her palms began to tingle with the desire to hit something. “Maybe the Sphinx was human,” she blurted. “Maybe she was cursed.”
    “Maybe.” Mr. Burton tossed more candy at her, but she slumped back into her seat and made no move to catch the treats.
    As Mr. Burton’s Q&A continued, Hope tuned out. She knew her history. How her grandmother sat outside of Thebes questioning every man who wanted to enter the city. She asked the same riddle to each, and when they couldn’t answer, she strangled them.
    What the myth lost through time was how her grandmother, who was actually the granddaughter of Hera, was hiding in Thebes from a son of Apollo who was determined to kill her. While she was there, she fell in love. But her lover was killed as she tried to defend the city. Mad with grief, and attempting to protect Thebes, she wouldn’t let strangers into the city. The myth told nothing of her pain.
    And Oedipus? Sure, he came to free the city from the monster, but the myth was wrong, like so many others. The very morning he showed up, Phaidra had killed the demigod who’d been after her. She wasn’t interested in fighting Oedipus. Instead of solving the riddle, he struck a deal with her. She fled, and he got all the glory.

 
     
     
     
    “HOPE?”
    Her name brought her back to Mr. Burton’s class, and the now almost-empty classroom. She focused on the glittery pencil drumming on the edge of her desk.
    “Hey. Did you want your pencil back?” Caidyn held it out.
    She shrugged. “If you want it, you can have it.”
    “You sure?” He waved it in front of her as if it were a prize.
    She relented with a smile. “Uh-huh. You can keep it.”
    It was the longest conversation she’d had in several months at Kentwood.
    When her sophomore year started, Hope had been the new pretty girl in school. New and pretty sparked curiosity. But her lack of social skills, and her mom’s insistence that she keep to herself, were a block of concrete in the ocean of interest. Within a few weeks, she was invisible. Again.
    And then two weeks ago, Caidyn moved from Atlanta. Attractive, athletic, and friendly, he persisted in talking to her, even when she put her