He grins, tracing an X on his chest. “Not a scratch.”
Next comes Gretchen, without Nick. What happened to him? She squeals into the parking lot, pops her trunk, and starts hauling duffel bags out of her car. A furry monkey jumps out after her, and at first I think it’s Sillus. But then another monkey climbs out, and another, and even more—at least twenty little Silluses pile out of the Mustang. They run around to the trunk and try to help Gretchen.
She already has all four duffel bags out and on the ground. They’re totally stuffed to the brim.
She says something to the monkeys and then hefts a bag onto each shoulder, walks over to the rendezvous spot, and drops them to the ground with a clatter.
“Weapons,” she says, glancing around at the gathered crowd, not acting at all surprised by the sheer number of monsters in our group. “Lots of them.”
Thane crosses to her car and grabs the other two duffel bags away from the monkeys who are trying—and failing—to drag them across the concrete. My brother brings them over and adds them to the pile.
“Who are your friends?” I ask Gretchen, hiding a smile.
“Apparently,” she says with a wary look at the monkeys, “this is Sillus’s extended family.”
Two of the little guys have climbed onto Gretchen’s roof and are trying to shove the trunk door down from above without success. A few are in the trunk, jumping up and down to make the car bounce as they giggle and laugh. Another pair sits in the driver’s seat—one standing behind the steering wheel pretending to drive, the other on the floor playing with the pedals.
I hope Gretchen has her keys secured.
“They’re adorable,” I say.
“They smell,” she replies, but there is no venom in her tone. She likes them.
“So,” I ask, “where’s Nick?”
She shakes her head. “He had to—”
“Right here,” Nick says.
We all turn as he appears out of nowhere—literally out of nowhere. That must be what my autoporting looks like. Nick brings with him a couple dozen of his closest friends. Most of them look . . . more than human: women with leaves and flowers in their hair, men with tree trunks for legs, and various beings of both sexes who look like they’re made out of soil, rock, and water.
“I brought more troops,” he says with a wink.
“What are they?” Gretchen asks in a suspicious whisper.
“Nature creatures,” he replies. “Dryads, naiads, and all the other ‘ads.’ These are the nymphs.”
“Did you just autoport?” I ask. I thought that was my special gift—mine and Euryale’s, anyway.
“No,” a woman’s voice says. “But we did.”
Speaking of Euryale, she and Sthenno appear right in front of us.
“I did not find the oracle,” Sthenno confesses. “She has truly gone to ground.”
“That’s all right,” Greer replies. “We found the door without her.”
“That is most impressive.” Euryale grants her a brilliant smile.
I can understand why Gretchen is always so determined to make her proud. She has a way of making you feel like a superstar.
“I had success as well,” Euryale says. “Our Olympic allies will be ready when the battle begins.”
“That’s great news,” I cheer. “Right?”
“Yes, it’s stupendous,” Gretchen says, handing me a dagger. “Now let’s get back to business. Start coating the weapons with venom.”
I stare at the knife for a few seconds before asking, “With venom? How do we do that?”
Gretchen grabs another dagger, drops her fangs, and then traces them over the blade. When she holds it out for me to inspect, I can see the glisten of clear purple liquid on the edge.
“Only our venom can send the monsters home,” she says. “Once the door is open, they’ll be pouring out into our realm, so we’re going to give as many people as possible the power of our venom.”
That’s assuming we get the door open.
I nod and let my fangs drop.
Gretchen hands a knife to Greer, who does the same. We each take a duffel bag of weapons, coating every dagger, sword, and arrow, along with weapons I can’t even name, with our sweet purple venom. Gretchen coats two duffel bags full in the time it takes me and Greer to each do one.
When all the weapons have been envenomed, we hand them out to our growing crew of volunteers.
“We’ll need to be armed too.”
I look up and see Cassandra leading a crowd of women into the group.
“Who are all of these women?” I ask.
“Your family,” she replies.
“I thought there were only three daughters born to every generation,” Greer says. “There must be almost fifty women here.”
“Not all are blood relatives,” Cassandra explains. “This is the Sisterhood of the Serpent. There are aunts and sisters-in-law and adopted cousins and stepdaughters and other women who married into the Medusa clan. Since the time of prophecy, the Sisterhood has gathered the women in our family to prepare them for this very moment. We have known for generations that you would need help.”
Without stopping to think, I pull her into a tight hug. “That’s amazing.”
Sthenno clears her throat. Loudly.
“Oh, right!” I step back and perform the introductions. “Cassandra, this is Sthenno. She’s—”
“An immortal gorgon,” Cassandra finishes. “Our ancient aunt.”
Before I can confirm, she pulls Sthenno into a tight hug. To my amazement, Sthenno hugs her back. “It has been too long, niece.”
“And I am Euryale,” our other aunt says.
When Cassandra releases Sthenno, she turns and hugs Euryale, too. It is as much a family reunion for the gorgons as it is for me and my sisters. Our mother is the descendant of their sister, too.
As I look around at our gathered numbers, I’m in awe. For the first time, I think maybe we won’t be quite so ridiculously outnumbered. Maybe we’ll stand a chance of coming out of this alive.
“Do we have a plan?” Euryale asks.
“Don’t lose?” Greer suggests.
Gretchen and Sthenno spear her with identical unamused looks.
“The plan is simple,” Gretchen explains. “We make for the door, while everyone else here holds off anyone who tries to stop us.”
Euryale traces the hem of her flowing top. “The envenomed weapons will do no good against the gods and their army.”
“Our forces will just have to stand their ground,” Gretchen replies. “If we can’t make it to the door, then none of this matters.”
We need to get to the door in order to break the seal. That is the only way we can fulfill the prophecy and take up our legacy.
“Then we open the door,” I offer. “Right?”
Gretchen nods.
“When that happens, the tides will shift,” Sthenno says. “Most of the gods will change sides. A flood of monsters will enter this realm.”
“We’ll send them home,” Gretchen says, spinning one of her daggers on her fingers, “but they will come back just as fast.”
Greer stretches to her full height. “We will win,” she insists. “No matter how many monsters come out, no matter how many gods try to kill us. We will win, because we are right. And that makes us strong.”
Sthenno claps her on the back.
Euryale smiles. “It is time.”
“We need to brief the troops,” Gretchen says. She climbs onto a bench and faces the crowd. They must sense her leadership role, because they fall silent. “First priority will be the three of us getting to the door and getting it open.”
The crowd of humans and monsters murmurs in agreement.
Nick shouts, “We protect the sisters at any cost. All costs.”
I bite my lips. That is a lot of pressure, a lot of responsibility. Others will be protecting us, putting our safety before theirs. I’m humbled.
And I’m all the more driven to succeed
. I won’t let their risks—and potential sacrifices—be in vain.
“Once the door is open,” Gretchen continues, “the battle will change.”
“The Olympic faction will no longer wish you dead,” Sthenno says. Then she hastily adds, “We hope that, with the door open, their focus will shift to fighting the monsters. They should be on our side at that point.”
“They will fight with us,” Euryale adds, “not against us.”
“Monsters will pour out of the abyss, trying to overrun us—kill us—so they can have absolute freedom to take over this world,” Gretchen says. “This is when you will use the venom-dipped weapons. Send them back to the abyss.” Under her breath she adds, “Even if they keep coming right back out.”
The crowd boos, clearly not any more thrilled with the idea of a monster takeover than we are. They have no idea.
“With the door open, there will be other forces working against us from this side of the door,” Gretchen says. “Some monsters, as well as an army of hypnotized humans, being forced to fight.”
More boos.
“Do not,” Gretchen shouts over them, “kill the humans. Immobilize them if you have to, or knock them unconscious. They are innocent in this, and will be acting against their will. Is that understood?”
The crowd murmurs.
“Is that understood?” she repeats.
“Yes.”
“Okay.”
“No kill.”
Gretchen nods and then jumps down from her perch.
“So, girls,” she says, giving me and Greer serious looks as the crowd around us applauds, “are we ready?”
“Yes,” I reply, even though I feel like throwing up.
Greer nods and looks like she feels the same.
Gretchen pats each of us on the back. “Let’s do this.”
CHAPTER 32
GRETCHEN
We approach from the north end of the pond. Everything looks calm. Nothing out of the ordinary about the tourists and families milling around, snapping pictures and chasing ducks. The path is clear. The air smells like salt and sea—monster free. An ordinary day in an ordinary place.
For a split second I think opening the door might turn out to be a nonissue. Maybe no one on either side will notice, and we’ll be able to open it without having to fight for our lives against the Olympus faction.
I’m about to suggest we speed it up—get down there and get the door open before anything changes—when something changes.
It’s minor, just a shift in the atmosphere, and then—
“Run!” I shout as the sky above transforms into a sea of flying creatures.
Silver birds and winged dragons and countless other airborne beasties swarm overhead. The fear in the crowd behind us is palpable. Those with mythological blood see exactly what they are. To the humans in our army, it might look like nothing more than a sky full of ordinary birds, but even a flock of seagulls would be alarming in these numbers. They sense trouble.
I grab a sister in each hand and sprint for the door. That has to be our only concern.
Something swoops down in front of us. I keep running.
I don’t know how they knew what was coming. It doesn’t matter how they knew we’d found the door. They knew. And they’re ready for the battle.
The world explodes around us into a chaos of fights and combat among humans, monsters, nymphs, and gods. The uninvolved humans—just out to enjoy the day—flee, frightened by the outbreak of random violence. If they only knew what they were really running from.
I duck and dodge, keeping my sisters moving and my eye on the prize—the door.
Greer screams.
My arm jerks back. I release Grace and spin around to see a catoblepa grabbing Greer by the shoulders. I swing my arm down, grab a dagger from my boot, and reverse the momentum, striking up into the hoofed creature’s chest.
Thane comes out of nowhere, launches himself onto the catoblepa’s back, and knocks it to the side. As he struggles to pin it to the ground, he turns and shouts, “Keep moving!”
I grab Greer by the hand and take off.
We’re only about fifty feet closer to the door when a trio of hippocampi jump out of the pond and position themselves between us and our destination. I hesitate, holding my sisters back as I decide on a tactic.
“Go left,” I shout, shoving my sisters to the side as I run the opposite way.
The hippocampi look confused, unsure of which way to go. Their uncertainty gives me time to get in position. In the end, they decide to go after the easier target, the single girl. Me.
Big mistake.
“Come on,” I say, taunting them, trying to draw them closer as I back toward the water.
“Coming my way?” a sickening voice says behind me.
I spare a glance and see a man—tall, broad-shouldered, with gray hair and a long gray beard—rise out of the water. “What—?”
He raises his hands, and the water shoots out of the pond.
Poseidon?
“We cannot allow you to open the door,” he bellows as water rains down on me.
“Not your call, big guy,” I reply.
I really don’t like being told what I can and can’t do.
First things first. I turn back to face the hippocampi, only to find my sisters tackling them to the ground. I trained them well. Fine, I’ll deal with Poseidon now.
A blond woman with hair flowing down to her waist and swirls of pink fabric wrapped around her body rises out of the water in front of the sea god.
“You have lost the path of right, uncle,” the woman says.
Poseidon scoffs. “Love cannot protect the human world from monsters, Aphrodite.”
She spreads her hands wide, and a bright glow surrounds her. “You would be surprised by the power of love.”
The bright glow expands in a quick burst. Aphrodite turns her head. “Run, Gretchen,” she shouts. “Get to the door.”
My mind is reeling at the idea that a god—an honest-to-goodness god—is here to fight me. To fight us. To kill us. And a goddess is just as determined to protect us.
I glance around the battlefield and am amazed to see more gods battling. A goddess with wheat in her hair—Demeter, maybe—is grappling with another who has a regal bearing—the queen goddess, Hera. A god with dark looks and an air of evil flings bolts of flame at a goddess who returns fire with golden arrows. Hades and Artemis are battling over whether or not we’ll die now . . . or later. I’m voting for neither.
I’m ready to end this phase of the war.
“Come on,” I yell to my sisters. “We need to get the door open. Now!”
I sprint for the spot, with my sisters right behind me.
When we finally reach the location, there is a giant serpent winding its way around the three trees. The thing is huge, with muscles that bulge and ripple as it circles. At first I hesitate—it could crush the air out of all three of us without much effort—but then it winds itself around so tightly that it’s practically in a knot.
It’s stuck, and I see our chance.
I leap over its coils, into the space between the trees. Into the door.
My skin feels like I walked into a ball of static electricity—sparks and tingles everywhere.
“Hurry.” I hold my hands out to my sisters.
Grace jumps over as I help Greer climb the slimy serpent.
Once we’re all together, the three sisters of the Key Generation standing in the heart of the ancient door to the monster abyss, the weight of what we’re about to do hits me. What we do next will change everything. Forever.
With one action, we will set our futures in stone.
My hand tightens around the hilt of my dagger.
I almost wish we had time to absorb this moment, to take in every detail. But it’s probably better that we don’t. Too much thinking would just muddy a decision that we already made. There’s no thinking left to do.
Time to fulfill that prophecy.
&nbs
p; “Let’s open this sucker,” I say, drawing the blade over my palms. “Quickly.”
I trace the same lines in Greer and Gretchen’s outstretched palms.
We stand in a circle, inside the circle of trees.
Three within three.
I look first at Grace—the first sister I found—and then at Greer. I’m a sister. I love them and I can’t imagine going back to the way things were before. Who would have thought I would be so comfortable relying on others? So happy to not be alone anymore?
Life truly has come full circle.
As I take Grace’s palm in one hand and Greer’s in the other, I smile and brace myself for whatever comes, knowing that together we can take it on.
Greer and Grace exchange a look. Then Grace takes Greer’s hand, closing the circle, and the world explodes around us.
I don’t know what I expected to follow the opening of the door, but the blinding light and hurricane-force wind seem reasonable. Those last for only a split second, just long enough for me to shut my eyes against the glare and get thrown back against one of the trees.
Quickly regaining my footing, I turn back to fight, ready to face Athena or the hippocampi or whatever other creature is coming after us.
But it’s like we hit the pause button. Now everything is rewinding. The beasts in the sky stop attacking. The serpent around the door slithers away. The epic battle raging beyond quits full stop. It’s as if everyone decided, right in the middle of battle, that they didn’t want to fight after all.
“What’s happening?” Grace asks.
I shake my head. “I don’t know.”
“The door is open,” a deep voice says.
I turn and look up to find Zeus standing next to us—over us—imposing, intimidating, and about the size of a garbage truck. He is the leader of the faction that has been trying to kill us. Instinctively, I step in front of my sisters and raise my dagger.
“Put that aside,” he says, brushing my arm away. “You have initiated the prophecy. We are no longer enemies.”
I blink several times. “What?”
“Now,” he says, gesturing at the swirling vortex that is the door, “we face the same foe.”
Almost as soon as he says that, monsters start climbing out of the abyss, two, four, even six at a time. If we don’t act fast, we’ll be outnumbered before we can get our first bites in. My sisters and I dive forward as the rest of our friends and supporters come to our aid. Fangs bared, we start venoming beasties, not bothering to care about pulse points or bite placement. We send them back as fast as we can, while our support army slashes venom-dipped weapons into the ones that get through our line of defense. Creatures are coming out in greater numbers than we can stop, even with the extra help.
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