Sweet Legacy (Sweet Venom) (29 page)

“We are amazing,” I whisper so only my sisters can hear.

“Of course we are,” Gretchen says. “We’re the Key Generation.”

“But more than that,” Grace says, her voice tight with emotion, “we’re sisters. And we
are
amazing.”

When we break up our hug, all three of us have unshed tears in our eyes. I smile, knowing that Grace is right. It’s not just our legacy or our gorgon blood that makes us great. It’s our strength as sisters. And no god or monster can take that away from us.

Nick walks up to Gretchen, wraps a hand behind her neck, and pulls her into a very meaningful kiss.

Grace plunges into the crowd, no doubt looking for Milo.

I turn and find Thane standing right behind me.

He is covered with sweat, the sleeve of his T-shirt is torn, and he’s bleeding from a slash above his left eye.

We share a private smile, and then I step into his arms without hesitation. I don’t even care that he is sweating and bleeding all over my Marc Jacobs tank. Well, I don’t care
much
.

“We really did it?” I whisper.

He nods. “Would you accept anything less?”

“Of course not.” I smile. “You’re learning.”

Even without our supernatural connection, I feel the bond between us. It’s only growing stronger with time. With Thane, unlike with anyone else in my life—except maybe my sisters—I can be absolutely, unequivocally, unreservedly myself. No image to maintain, no facade of perfection. No striving to be better, smarter, stronger, faster. Just . . . me. For the first time in my life, I am content.

Not that I’m going to sit back on my heels and drift along. That’s just not my way. But when Mother and Dad return, they are going to find a different Greer than they’re used to.

And she is going to be so much happier.

“I believe you have something that belongs to me.”

I turn at the sound of the oracle’s voice—her real voice, not the echo inside my head.

She looks untouched by the battle. No bruises or scratches mar her smiling, wrinkled face. Even her voluminous robes look as if she’s just pulled them out of her closet.

Her eyes study me, knowing. They sparkle with the power to see everything in everyone. She has powers I can only imagine.

It’s a good thing she’s on our side.

She lifts her brows.

Right. Her pendant.

I reach into my jeans pocket, pulling out the bundle wrapped in a piece of my tank that was about to fall off anyway. I carefully hand it over to the oracle. She peels off the layer of fabric. Grabbing the heavy gold chain, she places the pendant back where it belongs—around her neck.

“It suits you better,” I say with a half smile. “Gold isn’t really my metal.”

“No,” she replies, giving me a wry look. “You are more of a platinum girl.”

“Yes.” I sigh, and my smile fades. We have more serious things to talk about—like how I am supposed to deal with my gift. “Does it get easier?”

She shakes her head slowly. “No, I’m afraid it does not.”

Great. That is precisely what I wanted to hear.

“Possession of the second sight,” she says, “is both powerful and dangerous. You must always retain your awe and respect for the power.”

“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
G
RACE

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.