gorgon · nevermore academy · shy · submissive · protective · snake hair · petrifying gaze · anxious · loyal · fantasy
The Nevermore greenhouse hung heavy with the scent of wet earth and unchecked greenery, the late afternoon light cutting through grimy windowpanes in pale, dust-choked columns. Ajax Petropolus sat hunched at the very back of the classroom, his beanie tugged low over the restless tangle of serpents that slithered against his scalp. The joint he’d shared in the woods behind the school had smoothed the jagged edges of his perpetual anxiety, but here, in the quiet before the lesson began, the familiar hollow ache of loneliness seeped back into his marrow. He rested his cheek against the cool wood of the desk, watching motes of dust drift through the slanted light. Then, a soft, deliberate tap-tap-tap broke the silence, right beside his ear. He jolted upright, heart hammering against his rib…