I can’t believe I’m sitting at a table in a sushi restaurant with my two sisters. My sisters! I don’t think I’ve been this happy since we adopted Thane—who is hopefully busy working on his own bid for happiness—and this is happy on a whole different their-blood-is-my-blood level.
Gretchen and Greer don’t seem to share my excitement.
To my left, Gretchen’s arms are crossed and leaning on the table, a stormy look on her face. There’s a line between her eyebrows where she’s squeezed them together. Her eyes are a darker shade of gray than I’ve ever seen in my mirror. I wonder if that’s what I look like when I’m angry.
Or am I more like Greer, sitting stiff spined in her chair, exuding haughty annoyance and looking like she might fracture into a million pieces at any second?
Either way, the tension at the table is practically killing me. I’m not just going to let things go and pretend like everything is okay, though, because big things are going on and we need to talk about them. Sitting up straight in my chair, I look at Gretchen.
“I know who Sthenno is.”
Immediately her demeanor changes. “Who?”
“My counselor, Ms. West,” I say, so proud to have figured it out. “I didn’t get a chance to talk to her about it because, well, she disappeared.”
“Not like you?” Gretchen clarifies. “Not autoporting?”
“No, she just walked out of the building—”
“I’m sorry,” Greer interrupts. “But, Sthenno? As in the immortal Gorgon Sthenno?”
“The same,” I say with a grin. “After you and I fought the serpent-lady at the wharf—”
“Sea dracaena,” Gretchen mutters.
“Right.” I flash a scowl at her. As if that’s helping right now. “Anyway, after you left, then Gretchen’s mentor, Ursula, visited me. Only she’s not just Ursula, she’s really the other immortal Gorgon, Euryale.”
“An immortal Gorgon visited you on the wharf?”
“Yes.” Am I being unclear? I don’t think so. “She autoported to me, thinking I was Gretchen, because she’s been imprisoned somewhere and I guess her autoporting wires got crossed—”
“Grace,” Gretchen interrupts with a snarl. “Can we get back to the part where you discovered your counselor is Sthenno?”
“Oh, right.” I guess it’s better to stay on track. “Anyway, she got away before I could ask her, and I thought maybe, if you want, we could go talk to her together. I could make an appointment for after school or something.”
Gretchen nods and I sigh with relief. We’ve found Ursula’s sister and now maybe we can figure what’s going on and why things are changing. That’s one thing checked off the list of unanswered questions today.
“Great,” Greer says, not sounding thrilled. “Can we get back to my problem here?”
Gretchen scowls. “Of course,” she sneers. “Because this is all about you.”
“Now, Gretchen,” I say, wanting to diffuse the sudden tension.
“No,” Greer says before I can finish. “That’s fair.”
Gretchen seems stunned that Greer would make that kind of concession. I guess I’m actually a little surprised too. They look at each other—okay,
Thankfully, the waitress arrives, breaking the unsisterlike tension.
“You girls ready to order?” she drawls, looking from Greer to me to Gretchen. “Well, aren’t you three adorable? Triplets, huh?”
I smile. “Yes, we—”
“I’ll have salmon nigiri and a bowl of miso soup,” Greer says, cutting off my answer.
“The tempura platter,” Gretchen says. “With extra shrimp.”
The waitress quickly scribbles down their orders and then looks at me.
“Can I just get an avocado roll?” I ask. When the waitress nods and adds it to the order, I say, “Thank you.”
The waitress grabs our menus and leaves, probably eager to escape the tension-filled table. If only I could go with her. No. I’m not going to run away. I’m going to face this and find a way to make them see reason.
“We’re here to talk,” Gretchen says. “Let’s talk. Ask your questions.”
Her gaze doesn’t waver from Greer, who’s been practicing the silent treatment since we left the loft. I don’t have to know her like a sister to literally feel the anger pouring off her in frosty waves.
While they have a little stare-down, I drum my fingers on the underside of my chair, feeling powerless. With two such strong personalities, how can I ever make them see how lucky we are to have found each other? We need to find an element of common ground, beyond our shared DNA and monster-hunting destiny, something to show my sisters that we aren’t as different as we seem.
Looking around the table, though, I can’t help but worry that maybe we are. One is a gruff, tough commando chick, who dresses all in black and drab and prefers to fight alone. Another is a pretty, preppy, popular girl, who wears the finest fashions and prefers to keep her social calendar intact.
And then there’s me. What type am I exactly? The eco-conscious computer geek who’d rather be comfortable than fashionable and who is still learning how to stand up for herself. On the surface we don’t have much to bond about.
“Listen,” I begin, “I really think we should—”
“Tell me about the monsters,” Greer says. “Where do they come from?”
“Another realm,” Gretchen replies. “Sealed off from ours.”
Greer asks, “Then how do they get here?”
“Well, there’s this—”
“The seal is cracked,” Gretchen explains.
Speaking of the seal . . . “You know, I read in that Medusa book that we’re supposed to—”
“What do they do here?” Greer continues, as if I hadn’t spoken.
Gretchen shrugs. “Feed on humans. Drain their life force and then either kill or control them.”
“Kill or—” I stutter. Did Gretchen just say
“But there are others, right?” Greer asks, interrupting me
I’m thrilled that they’re talking, but do they really have to keep cutting me off? Letting me finish a sentence would be nice. Now is not the time for that battle, though, so I bite my tongue and listen.
“I don’t know,” Gretchen says with a sigh.
“Really?” I gape.
“Maybe that’s one of the things that’s changing.” She rubs her neck. “There might be beasties coming through that aren’t pure evil.”
That’s news to me. From the start, Gretchen has been very clear. Monsters are bad, end of discussion. Something must have made her question the truth of that conviction.
“Why are we the only ones who see them?”
“It’s our legacy as descendants of Medusa. We are the huntresses who keep the monsters in their realm and out of ours.”
Greer leans forward across the table. “No,
I want to take offense, but I’m thrilled that she’s found something to connect us. “But we took down that serpent crea—” I glance at Gretchen. “That sea dracaena the other night. We
Greer glares at me.
Gretchen gives me a tight smile. “You’re working on it.”
“When we fought that sea whatever,” Greer says, gesturing at me, “it disappeared. One moment it was there, the next it was gone. What happened?”
“I bit it,” I explain, jumping at the chance to explain something. Glancing quickly around to make sure no one is watching, I focus on my teeth and slide my fangs down into view. I’ve been practicing. “We have
