Sweet Legacy (Sweet Venom)

by Tera Lynn Childs

  “It’s overwhelming.” I force myself to hold on to tight control of my emotions. “How do I know if what I’m seeing has happened or will happen? How do I know what to do about it?”

  “You will not always know. You must trust that the gift does not give what you do not need.” She pats me on the arm. “When you sought me, you found Thane. Though you did not see clearly at the time, that led you to the door.”

  Wow. Now that all makes sense.

  “What about my vision of Grace’s death?” I whisper. “That didn’t come true.”

  I died instead.

  “Any vision of the future,” she explains with a cryptic smile, “is of but one of many possible futures. The mere act of seeing a path can alter the course. You saw your sister’s death so that you could prevent it, and so that you could receive my message from the Fates.”

  “Your message?”

  All at once the pieces of the puzzle fall into place, and I realize that the oracle must have had this planned from the very beginning. Everything leading up to my trip to Hades—my connection with Apollo, Gretchen diving into the abyss, all the way back to Grace moving to the city—had to go exactly according schedule in order for me to wind up dead and have that chat with the Fates.

  I gape. I never gape.

  “You left the pendant on purpose,” I assert. “You knew I would become a beacon. You knew everything.”

  Her smile remains unreadable, but she does nothing more than shrug.

  I narrow my gaze. “Did everything go according to your plan?”

  “My plan?” She shakes her head. “I make no plans. Events pass as I see them to be.”

  Then, without another word, she turns and walks away. A sound to my left draws my attention, but I see nothing there. When I look back, the oracle is gone.

  But I will never be far, she echoes in my mind. All you have to do is think my name.

  Oracle? I ask.

  No, she replies with a snort. Metrodora.

  Metrodora?

  Do not judge, she says. You should see how odd your name will seem in two thousand years.

  The feeling in my brain changes—it’s hard to describe, but it’s almost like a breeze—and I know she’s gone. For now.

  “Such a mystery,” I mutter.

  “What’s that?” Thane asks, walking up behind me and slipping his arms around my waist.

  “Oh, nothing,” I say, turning in the circle of his embrace. I lift up to whisper against his mouth, “Now, about those golden apples . . .”

  CHAPTER 34

  GRACE

  I want to jump up and down for joy. My sisters and I just fought a battle that had been brewing for millennia—and we won. Even if it’s only the first of many to come, it’s definitely worth celebrating.

  Pushing through the crowd, I’m looking for Milo, but I run into my parents first.

  Dad looks a bit overwhelmed, like he’s still in shock about everything that happened. I’m not surprised. Engineers don’t usually have to face anything more daunting than a set of technical drawings and a deadline.

  Mom, on the other hand, looks exhilarated.

  “Gracie!” she shouts, waving at me and then hurrying over.

  “Hi Mom.” I check her and Dad over real quick. “You guys are okay?”

  “We’re great,” she gasps. “That was amazing.”

  Dad looks like he wants to be sick.

  “Do you do this all the time?” he asks, his voice weak and distant.

  “No,” I promise, “not . . . quite like this.”

  I’m not delusional. I know that things aren’t going to be easy breezy Medusa girl from here on out. We will still be battling monsters, and I’m sure some of the gods—not just Nyx—will want to change things somewhere down the line.

  But I have to believe that this was the hardest fight we’ll ever face. Now that we’ve faced it and won, we’ll be more confident about whatever comes next.

  “Hi Grace, have you seen—” Cassandra freezes when she sees that I’m talking with my parents. “Oh. Hello.”

  This is kind of awkward—my parents meeting my biological mother on the battlefield between the world of monsters and the world of man. I almost laugh. If this isn’t a perfect reflection of what my life has become, I don’t know what is.

  “Mom, Dad,” I say, giving them a wide-eyed look, “this is Cassandra. Our biological mother.”

  There is a long pause. I’m not sure how they’re going to react. My parents are good, loving people, but this is a very unusual situation. And I barely know Cassandra at all.

  When Mom steps up in front of her, I suck in a breath.

  “Thank you,” Mom says, with tears in her eyes, “for bringing her into this world. And for letting us love her.”

  Cassandra pulls Mom into a tight hug. “You have raised her to become a remarkable young woman. You have done well by your daughter.”

  Your daughter. I don’t miss Cassandra’s pointed use of the word your. She wants Mom to understand that she isn’t claiming me. Not that the decision is hers. I like Cassandra well enough, but Mom and Dad are my parents. I would choose them over anyone.

  Mom finally pulls out of the weepy hug and moves back to Dad’s side. “We had better get going,” she says. “I’m sure you girls have some things to, um”—she gestures at the battlefield around us—“take care of.”

  “For a second,” Dad says, sounding completely confused, “I thought one of the soldiers we were fighting was a—” He shakes his head. “No. No, I must have been seeing things.”

  Cassandra and I exchange a look, and I burst out laughing.

  “You need some rest, Dad,” I advise.

  “Is it safe to go home now?” Mom asks.

  I nod. “Definitely safe.”

  “We’ll see you there?”

  I give them each a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll be home by curfew.”

  After a quick good-bye, they head back toward the parking lot where they left the station wagon. I have a feeling that things at home will never be the same—in a good way.

  “You were amazing, Grace,” Cassandra says.

  I feel my cheeks blush. “Thanks.”

  “I should get going too,” she says.

  It’s weird, saying good-bye to my biological mother. She hasn’t been a part of my life before, but she is integral to everything that’s happened—to everything that I am and have become.

  “We’ll still see you, right?” I ask. I mean, it’s not like we won’t be needing her or the Sisterhood anymore just because the door has been opened and the prophecy fulfilled.

  “Of course!” She grins, and I feel her joy in my heart. “You’ll have a hard time keeping me away, now that your identity doesn’t need to be protected anymore.”

  “I’m glad,” I say.

  “You know, it was the hardest thing I ever did,” she says, her eyes growing sad, “giving you and your sisters up for adoption. It broke my heart.”

  “I know why you did it. You saved us.” I gesture at the friends and family around us. “You made this possible.”

  “I’m glad you are happy,” she says. “Your parents and your brother love you as much as I hoped they would.” She glances over at Gretchen. “I wish I had known how terrible some parents could be.”

  She’s right. Gretchen’s adopted parents were awful. Cassandra couldn’t have known, and she couldn’t have done anything about it if she had. Gretchen is tough, and her family situation only made her tougher. It made her strong enough to bring us together, to lead us into war, and to make sure we came out on top. She became exactly who she needed to be.

  Maybe Gretchen and Cassandra need to spend some time together to see that things turned out okay in the end. Maybe we all need to.

  “The four of us should have lunch sometime,” I suggest. “You and me and Gretchen and Greer.”

  “Lunch?” she replies.

  I shrug. “Or something. We have sixteen years to catch
up on.”

  Cassandra wraps her arms around me and squeezes tight. “I would love that.”

  “Me too,” I whisper as I hug her back.

  “There you are,” a familiar boy voice calls out. Milo appears out of the crowd, looking sweaty and scratched, but otherwise okay.

  Cassandra pulls away. “You have my number.”

  “I do.” I give her a sunny smile. “I’ll call it.”

  Then she’s turning and walking away, disappearing into the crowd. I watch until I can’t see her anymore.

  “That was,” Milo exclaims, “completely insane.”

  “Yeah,” I reply, facing him, “it totally was.”

  I take a step toward him. At the same time, he steps closer to me. We wind up an inch apart, staring into each other’s eyes, my silver-gray ones gazing up into his pale green ones. His soft mouth spreads into a wide smile as he lifts his palms to cup my jaw.

  “My life isn’t normal, you know,” I say before he starts to lower his head.

  “I know,” he replies, his smile growing. “Normal is boring.”

  “Good. I just wanted to get that out of the way.”

  I drape my arms around his neck, running my fingers through his dark curls. It’s hard to believe we met only a few weeks ago. Then again, it’s hard to believe what a different girl I was when we met.

  Some things have stayed the same, though. I still love my family more than anything—there are just more of them to love now. I’m still a computer genius, straight-A student, and all-around good girl. I still have slightly less confidence than I would like, but I’m getting more every day. And Milo’s smile still makes my stomach do little flip-flops of joy.

  As Milo’s lips find mine, I tug him even closer.

  I hope none of those things ever change.

  CHAPTER 35

  GRETCHEN

  When everyone else is gone—all the friendly monsters, Grace’s folks, and the women of the Sisterhood of the Serpent—the gorgons ask to speak with us privately in front of the door. The boys wait for us in the parking lot to give us time to talk. Sillus races after them and tugs on Nick’s hand, and Nick lifts the furry freak onto his shoulders for a ride. I watch with a smile.

  “What’s up?” I ask, turning back to our immortal aunts.

  Ursula and Sthenno glance at each other and nod, which makes me nervous.

  “You girls did a marvelous job today,” Ursula says. “Far better than we ever dreamed.”

  Sthenno smiles. “You made us proud.”

  When she says that, I feel myself stand up straighter. It is amazing how powerful and proud that makes me feel. There is more behind her statement than a simple acknowledgment of success. There are thousands of years of expectation and anticipation.

  “We have awaited this moment for millennia,” Ursula continues, “to see, if not our sister’s death avenged, then at least proper order restored.”

  I can’t imagine what it’s been like. Their sister was murdered, and the killer has been running free, living without guilt while raising troops to kill even more of their family. If something happened to Grace or Greer, I don’t think I would have the patience to wait until some prophesied future date.

  They have more patience than I could ever hope—or want—to have.

  That makes our victory all the sweeter.

  “Us too,” Grace says. “I mean, we haven’t been waiting that long, but . . .”

  “We are glad to take over the legacy,” Greer finishes.

  Grace gives her a grateful smile.

  “Yes,” Ursula says, “taking over. That is what we wish to speak with you about.”

  Things will change now. In the short time since I learned about the entire scope of our destiny, about opening the door and becoming the guardians, I’ve never had much chance to think about what would happen after. I was too busy trying to keep my sisters alive, trying to get to this point.

  “Now that the battle is over,” Sthenno explains, “you must close the door.”

  “Close the door?” Greer tilts her head.

  I ask, “How do we do that?”

  “It is the same to close the door,” Ursula says, “as it is to open the door.”

  Sthenno gestures at the portal. “Now that the seal has been broken, it will require only one sister to perform the ritual.”

  Pulling out one of my daggers, I quickly slice the blade over my palms, drawing out thin stripes of blood. I tuck the dagger under my arm and slap my palms together. Just as quickly as it opened, the door swirls shut, contracting like a whirlpool.

  “You must always remember,” Ursula says, “to open the door at least once each day. Otherwise it will seal, with all the consequences that accompany a permanent closure.”

  Always remember? Why does this sound like some kind of last lecture?

  “What do we do when we open it?” Greer asks.

  “I have the scanned versions of the monster binders,” Grace says. “Will they help us figure out which ones to let through?”

  “Yes, they will help,” Ursula answers. “But you should know by now that the world in which we exist is not black and white. You cannot look in a book to know a creature’s heart.”

  I have listened to enough of her lessons over the years to understand her meaning. “We have to trust our judgment.”

  “Yes,” she says.

  I can feel her pride.

  “We won’t be perfect,” I argue.

  “Of course not,” she replies. “You are human.”

  “Besides,” I say, flashing my fangs. “That’s what these babies are for.”

  “Now that the seal is broken,” Sthenno explains, “things will change in the abyss. Access to the door from that side will be more orderly. All creatures within will have an equal opportunity.”

  “But how many do we let through?” Grace asks. “How long do they get to stay? How far are they allowed to go?”

  Ursula shrugs.

  “I think that’s up to us,” I say, finally getting the message. “We’re the head girls in charge, and we sail this ship however we see fit.”

  “Your sole charge is to ensure the balance in this realm.” Sthenno looks at each of us in turn. “Interpretation of that charge is yours to determine.”

  “That is the true responsibility of the legacy,” Euryale finishes. “To balance the freedom of the monster realm with the safety of the human one.” She beams at me. “I am certain you will be fair and generous guardians.”

  “But you’ll be here to advise us, right?” Grace asks. “You can help us figure things out.”

  My gut clenches. I’m afraid I know the answer to Grace’s question. The gorgons are passing us the torch—preparing us to carry on . . . without them.

  My fears are confirmed when Ursula shakes her head.

  “We have trespassed in this world too long,” she states. “It is time for us to move on.”

  “Move on?” Grace chirps.

  “It is time for us to leave this realm,” Ursula says. “To go to Mount Olympus.”

  “The Olympians have extended us an invitation we cannot refuse,” Sthenno explains. “In an attempt to make amends for . . . all that has passed, they will elevate us to the rank of goddesses.”

  “We shall sit on the council of justice.” Ursula presses her palms to her stomach, and I can tell she’s excited. “We will be able to prevent wars like this from happening in the future.”

  “Besides,” Sthenno says, “this world is rightfully yours now. You have earned it.”

  I don’t understand why they’re doing it, why they’re leaving just when we’ve made everything right. I want to argue, to tell them we will still need them, maybe more than ever.

  But I know how stubborn Ursula is. She’s made up her mind and there is no changing it.

  Grace does the arguing for me.

  “You can’t leave,” she insists. “We need you.”

  Ursula smiles in that way she has that says there is no p
oint in arguing. Goodness knows she’s given me that look enough over the years.

  “You have all that you need right here.” She gestures at me and my sisters. “As long as you have each other, you will not fail.”

  “And as this afternoon has proved,” Sthenno adds, “you have abundant help should you need more.”

  My emotions break free. I rush forward and hug Ursula.

  “Thank you,” I whisper so only she can hear. “For . . . saving me.”

  “It is you who saved me.” She leans back, presses her palms against my cheek. “You are the daughter I could never have.”

  My chest tightens, because that’s how I feel too. She is the only mother I’ve ever known. The thought of losing her . . . it hurts. But if she’s taught me anything, it’s how to push past the pain.

  When she pulls away, taking her sister by the hand, I let her go.

  “With our departure,” she says, “we give you not only the legacy of guardianship. . . .”

  “We give you our immortality,” Sthenno finishes.

  “Immortality?” Grace echoes.

  Greer stands utterly still.

  “There is a catch,” Sthenno says. “We have but two immortalities to give.”

  “The balance must remain as before,” Euryale explains. “Two immortal sisters . . .”

  “One mortal,” I fill in.

  She nods. “We shall leave it to you three to decide. When you are ready, speak the decision and it will be done.”

  Grace, Greer, and I exchange a glance. Grace looks confused. Greer looks terrified. I’m sure I look determined. My sisters can have the immortality. I refuse to watch either of them die.

  “Time to go, sister,” Sthenno says, tugging at Euryale’s hand. “Olympus awaits.”

  “Good-bye, Gretchen, Grace, and Greer,” Euryale says. “The world is safe in your hands.”

  Then, as I watch, they disappear into mist. I can’t stop the tears from streaming. Except in those moments before we brought Greer back to life, I have never felt so much emotional pain. I have to physically squeeze myself to keep from sobbing.