Sweet Venom

“What about the ones who’ve seen us,” I press. “They could tell others what we look like, and could mistake Greer for one of us.”

“Unlikely. It’s not like they’re uploading pictures to Flickr or passing around wanted posters with our pictures and a big reward offer.”

“But there is,” I cry. “There’s a bounty on our heads. You heard what the satyr said. They’ve been promised eternal freedom in exchange for our lives. Greer is just as valuable to them as we are.”

She hesitates. Good, hopefully I’ve gotten through. Hopefully she’ll—

“You saw her,” she snaps. “We could be standing side by side and no one could guess we’re triplets.”

Now she’s just being deliberately difficult. I think part of her is jealous, resentful of the obvious advantages Greer has in her life. I think Gretchen’s worried too—she just doesn’t want to admit it. I need to push the right buttons.

“You said yourself, things are getting weird,” I say, trying another tack. “More monsters, monsters at different times. What if other things change?” I grasp for anything that might change her mind. “What if they can start smelling us the way we smell them?”

That gives her pause again. I can see—and almost feel—her considering that possibility. Which only makes me more nervous. Gretchen is a keep-it-together girl. If she thinks that might happen, we could be in really big trouble.

She finally shakes her head. “It doesn’t matter—”

“Doesn’t matter?”

“We can’t make her accept the truth.” Gretchen clenches her jaw. “She made her choice. She doesn’t want anything to do with us.”

“But Gretchen—”

“Forget it,” she says, walking away to the street where her Mustang is parked at an alarming angle. “If you want a ride home, let’s go. Otherwise I’ll see you tomorrow.”

I watch, helpless, as Gretchen disappears down the steep hill. How can she be so heartless? I look back up at Greer’s house—at our sister’s house. A curtain on the first floor flutters back into place.

Greer might be a bit of a snob, but that doesn’t change our blood. She’s obviously been given everything she wants her entire life, so it’s not surprising that she has a superior attitude about things. She probably needs to see the proof that we’re triplets. Next time I’ll bring the records.

At the moment, though, I feel like I need to stay close.

Gretchen might be able to walk away, but I can’t. I’ve only just found my sisters, and I’m not going to leave one of them at the mercy of whatever monster crosses her path. And Gretchen can obviously take care of herself.

Acting like I’m walking away, in case someone is watching through that window, I head around the corner. The house behind Greer’s on the side street has a big, six-foot-high brick wall around the property. As soon as I’m clear from view, I break into a run. Circling around the block, I head into the hilly park across from her house. It’s scattered with dense bushes and shaded by lush trees. A perfect hiding spot.

I climb the concrete steps to the path that gives me a perfect, unobstructed view of Greer’s house below.

As I sink down onto the grassy hillside, next to a thick-leaved bush, I’m not sure about this plan. I’m not sure I even have a plan. I just know I can’t abandon her. Greer may not want anything to do with me, but I’m going to watch out for her anyway. That’s my job, isn’t it? What kind of guardian would I be if I let my own triplet get eaten by a griffin or something on the day we meet?

Besides the fact that Gretchen and Greer are my sisters, there’s a lot more at stake. According to the book, we are the only three girls of this generation of Medusa’s descendants. Always girls. Now I know that we inherited our mythological genes from our biological mother, but I’ve never been able to find out anything about her. There could be aunts or cousins out there somewhere too, I suppose, but the book clearly said there are only three girls born in a given generation.

That means we’re it. We’re the only ones who can carry on the legacy.

There’s a whole mess of pressure that comes along with that realization. The three of us are the only ones standing between this world and the monsters. There is no way I can leave one of us unprotected and in danger.

As I settle in for however long this security stakeout is going to take, I reach into my backpack for my phone to text home about the delay.

Instead, my fingers brush over the rough cloth surface of a book.

In the craziness of discovering our triplet and the rush to meet her, I must have tossed the Medusa book into my bag. I’d stopped reading at the sentence about three girls in a generation. Maybe there are clues about our other relatives or more specifics about the legacy.

And it looks like I’m going to have plenty of time.

I turn back to the page I was on and continue reading.

When the time to break the seal draws near, a time predestined by the fates at the moment of closure, the Key Generation will arrive. It will be a generation born in the same moment of the same womb.

The same moment? The same womb? That must mean triplets.

The Key Generation is safe from neither the forces of supposed good nor those of confirmed evil. It must be protected at any cost, by any measure, separated to prevent their discovery by those who wish to render the scales unbalanced.

Separated? Is that why Gretchen, Greer, and I were sep-arated at birth and adopted out into different families? Our mother must have known we were special—the Key Generation—and that we would be in danger. She gave us up, leaving us with no knowledge of our true heritage in order to protect us. I’ve always wondered why my mother gave me up. Now I guess I know.

Only when the Key Generation has reached maturity will it be able to join together to break the seal, thus restoring the natural order. There are those on both sides of this war who would prevent this occurrence by any means available.

What on earth does that mean? The only seal Gretchen has mentioned is the one that keeps monsters locked in their realm. If we are the Key Generation, then we’re supposed to break the seal? But why? It’s supposed to be our job to keep monsters away. Breaking the seal would have the opposite effect.

I skim the rest of the chapter, looking for anything more about the seal and why anyone would want to break it, but it’s just more about the danger to all descendants of Medusa. Especially the Key Generation.

Maybe that explains the bounty. But who is it that wants us gone?

There are two sides that don’t want us to break the seal, which I’m pretty sure we don’t want to do anyway. But I have a feeling they won’t pause to ask before going to “any means available” to stop us.

While I sit, the cold of the ground seeping through my jeans, I keep cycling the thoughts through my mind. Triplets. Danger. Key Generation. Two sides. Break the seal.

It doesn’t make any sense, but I know one thing for sure. Protecting Greer and keeping her safe is my top priority. Whatever the Key Generation is supposed to do, I doubt we can do it as two out of three. Gretchen and I need Greer, as a member of the Key Generation and as a sister.

Chapter 17

Greer

I can’t stop myself from watching as the two girls—my sisters, apparently—stand arguing on the sidewalk. Most of their words are lost to the soundproof windows and heavy velvet drapes, but I manage to catch a few. “Duty. . . .” “Sister. . . .” “Snob. . . .”

As Gretchen, the military-looking one, stomps away, I can imagine which of the words were hers. Her disgust