Athena's Enigma

24 - Medea and Me

I didn’t get to speak with Jason that day. I think he was avoiding me and I didn’t blame him since he told everyone that Logan was planning to break up with me. Most people didn’t care about the rumor since a lot of people didn’t even know who I was but it still bothered me to get stares in the hallways. 

Logan was still sick and got worse over the course of the day. I was not surprised when he called me the next day and told me that he would not being going to school. I told him to rest easy and assured him that I could take the bus. Sitting on the bus I decided that after school I would stop by Logan’s apartment and make sure he was doing okay.

Something I didn’t realize though was once I got to school; it was my one day where I had the class with Jason and Logan: mythology. With Logan being absent, that just left me to fend for myself. I began immediately regretting going to class.

I was sure to get to class really early so I could get a seat and mix into the crowd hoping to avoid Jason. I wasn’t sure if I could control an outburst if I was near him and I didn’t want to cause a scene in class. The classroom started to slowly fill up and I spotted Jason as soon as he walked in. He didn’t even searched through the class as he took a seat in one of the first rows.

I glared at the back of his head until the professor entered and called for the class’s attention. He didn’t say anything before he began writing on the board.

“Class,” the professor began. “How many of you know about this subject in Greek mythology?”

I looked up to the board, my interest already dropping as it always did in this class when I saw the words: The Golden Fleece.

A mutual response came from the class except one girl who raised her hand ready to show off what she knew. The professor pointed toward her and she sat up straighter as she announced, “It is a fleece made out of gold sheep’s fur and was taken by Jason and his Argonauts.”

My interest suddenly perked up and I remembered Peyton’s words came to my mind, “You do know about the Greek Jason right? ... The Golden Fleece? Medea? None of this ringing a bell?"

“Correct,” the professor said. “Yes, it was Jason’s quest to go and fetch the Golden Fleece in order to take his rightful place on the throne of Iolcus in Thessaly. This took place in the time of Homer…”

I blocked out most of the unimportant things. I probably needed to know the place and time for a test but that wasn’t why I was really interested. After a while of meaningless babble, I finally heard something interesting.

“After Jason was told by Aeetes that he had to do three tasks to get the fleece he fell into a great depression. The goddess Hera wanted him to succeed so she convinced Aphrodite to convince her son Eros to make Aeetes’s daughter, Medea, fall in love with Jason. Medea aided Jason in his three tasks by supplying him with what he needed to succeed,” my professor droned on. He went on to explain each task and how Medea specifically helped him until then last one where she distracted her own father to escape with Jason.

He went on to explain all the hardships they endured on their journey back. Medea and Jason were exiled once they returned for killing a king and they settled down in Corinth.

“Jason then married Creusa who is sometimes referred to as Glauce. When Medea found out about this, she grew very angry as one can imagine. She cited all the help she had given him but Jason simply said that he should not have thank her but he should thank Aphrodite who made Medea fall in love with him in the first place. Medea took her revenge though by giving Creusa a cursed wedding dress that burned her as soon as she put it on.”

My eyes widened as he went on explaining all the after effects of everything. Jason ended up dying lonely and unhappy all for breaking his vow to Medea to forever be hers.