If I weren’t on the verge of heaving the remains of Mom’s veggie stew, I’d appreciate Thane’s protectiveness. He’s always been that way, ready to throw himself into anything if he thinks I’m in danger. But then I guess that’s what big brothers are for.

At this moment, though, it’s all I can do to keep my stomach contents where they belong. I close my eyes and shake my head.

“We should go,” Thane says.

Milo nods. “You get her outside and I’ll pay the bill.”

“No,” I whisper, swallowing down the nausea as best I can. I don’t want to ruin this night. “I’m—I’ll be fine. Just give me a—”

The front door to the restaurant opens with a whine and the stench hits me tenfold. I feel my eyes roll back as my body tries to reject the smell. Or to protect me from whatever’s causing it. I’ve never had such a violent reaction to an odor before.

“Maybe we should—” I force my eyes open, but instead of Milo’s adorable face or my brother’s strong one, my gaze focuses on the thing that has just walked in the front door. The creature.

The body looks like a normal man, with arms and legs and everything in between. The head, though. . . . It’s the head of a bull.

I’m not joking. A man with the head of a bull has just walked into an all-night dim sum restaurant as if it were normal.

I look at Thane for reassurance, hoping the panic I’m feeling shows in my eyes, telling him everything he needs to know. He turns to look at the door then back at me, jaw clenched and eyes wide. “Let’s go.”

I nod.

“What’s going on?” Milo turns and looks too. “Do you two know that guy?”

“Guy?” I choke. Is he blind? Can’t he see?

For that matter, can’t everyone see? Why isn’t anyone screaming or running away? Slowly, I scan the rest of the tables. No one else seems to have taken notice of the man-bull, who is now crossing the main floor and heading for the back room.

I look at Thane, certain he must have seen it.

But no, the look in his eyes now is simply concern for me. Did I just imagine the look of recognition I saw a moment ago? Milo doesn’t see it, and neither does Thane. No one does. I’m the only person who saw a slobbering beast instead of a man.

Which can only mean one thing.

“I’m just—” I shake my head. “I don’t feel great.”

Both boys nod, as if it’s totally normal and logical and not at all out of the ordinary, when it’s anything but. There’s only one possible explanation for this hallucination. I must be going crazy.

Chapter 4

Gretchen

Even twenty minutes in a scalding shower can’t completely wash the stink of minotaur off my body. I lather-rinse-repeat five times, hoping to purge the lingering residue from my hair. Getting up close and personal with a monster is never pretty, but sometimes it’s worse than others.

By the time this one popped back to wherever he came from, my pores were plugged with his toxic odor. Dis. Gust. Ing. I might have nightmares.

With one white fluffy towel wrapped around my chest and another cocooning my hair, I cross to the library and drop down into the task chair in front of the computer. I glide the mouse over the sleek black surface and click open my e-mail.

“Nothing from Ursula,” I think out loud.

This is getting weird. She usually sends me some kind of message if she’s going to be gone overnight. I’ve been living with the woman for four years, and I still have no idea where she goes or what she does when she disappears for days at a time. At first I was too nervous to ask. The woman saved me from the streets and gave me a purpose. I wasn’t about to piss her off by questioning her movements. Now I accept her random hours as normal and keep up my half of the don’t ask, don’t tell policy.

How many other sixteen-year-olds have free range of an awesome loft and a Mustang and no curfew? I know how lucky I am. Fighting beasties and keeping my questions about her whereabouts to myself are prices I’m more than willing to pay.

But when I last saw her a few days ago—has it been a week already?—she promised it was finally time to answer some of the lingering questions about my Medusa heritage and my huntress legacy. I would finally find out the full deal about being the latest descendant of the mortal Gorgon, instead of just knowing the piecemeal story she’s fed me over the years.

Ursula has been scarce ever since.

Four years’ worth of patience is running out, and she goes and vanishes. I’d say it wasn’t fair, but whoever said life was supposed to be? I didn’t ask for awful, selfish parents who liked to hit me when the drink and drugs ran out any more than I asked to be responsible for keeping the human world safe from monsters. You can’t change destiny.

Composing a new message to Ursula, I type up my report as fast as possible. I still have school in the morning and about an hour of homework left to do.

To: [email protected]

From: [email protected]

Subject: Hunt Report #0427

Target: Minotaur, male

Discovery: Scent of wretched puke sour hay and bile while sniff-testing the air from the balcony window.

Location: Chinatown, all-night dim sum restaurant, back room

Result: Discovered the subject on the verge of attacking human couple on sappy romantic date. Used eye hypnosis to keep human couple focused on sappy romantic date. Had little trouble engaging and neutralizing minotaur given his massive head and lack of coordination. Entire incident over in less than five minutes.