“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.”
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.
