Sweet Legacy (Sweet Venom) (4 page)

“We won’t,” I promise, even though I don’t know how.

We have to go after the gorgons—they’re being held prisoner, in constant immediate danger—but we have to protect our mother, not just because they might be able to use her to kill our powers, and not just because she’s our mother and a link in the chain leading all the way back to Medusa, but also because I know what this means to Grace. She is so proud to have found the clues to our mother’s location—that her name is Cassandra Gregory and what her phone number was four years ago—and I know Grace desperately wants to meet her.

And I find myself desperately wanting to make my sisters happy, no matter what.

“We have to protect her,” Grace insists. “
I
have to. I have to go back.”

I’m surprised by the certainty I see in her determined gaze. The Grace I first met a few weeks ago would be frightened and full of doubts. She was too afraid to stand up to a mean girl at school or ask out the cute boy she liked. The Grace in front of me sits strong and sure of what she has to do. I’m impressed. As the multihued glow of the fire flickers in her eyes, I smile at the transformation.

No doubt our mother will be proud.

We will just have to rescue the gorgons and save our mother at the same time.

“Right,” I say, the plan forming in my mind as I speak. “We can handle things here. You go home and find our mother.”

Grace lights up with a hopeful smile.

Nick steps forward. “I’ll go with her.”

I swing my gaze his way.

His midnight blue eyes confront me, like this is a test. He’s offering to help, but will I let him? Do I trust him? Am I willing to put my sister’s safety in his hands?

I’ve already made my decision.

Without hesitation, I say, “Good idea.”

He gives me a tight nod.

That’s a lot of trust I just gave him. He knows how big that is, especially where my sisters are involved. They are more important to me than anything.

“No, I’ll go,” Thane says. He scowls at Nick. “Gretchen might need you here.”

Clearly he’s not ready to trust Nick quite that much.

“I should be the one to go.” Greer pushes unsteadily to her feet. “The boys will be far more useful down here than I am. Besides, you might need my . . . special skills to find her.”

“Sillus stay,” the little monkey freak says, moving closer to my side. “Help here.”

“Nick and I will be fine,” Grace insists, ignoring Thane’s scowl. “Gretchen will need your muscle,” she tells her brother. “And give me ten minutes online and I’ll be able to find our mother.”

Good, because Thane is keeping secrets. I don’t really want to interrogate him in front of Grace—she loves him and might not like what he has to say—so his staying behind is a double win. It will separate them for a while, and it will keep him in my sights.

I meet Grace’s gaze. “You’re sure? I’m not alone down here, you know.” I nod at the friends filling the cave around us. They might not be able to take on the entire Nychtian Army, but they’re more than adequate backup.

“I know,” Grace says, laying a hand on my shoulder. “I think you need at least one of us down here with you. And I’ll feel better knowing Thane is at your side.”

“Fine,” I say. “If you’re sure.”

“More than ever.” She smiles, and I can’t help but smile in return.

My little sister, all grown up—although maybe she just
feels
like my littler sister.

“Hey, which one of us is oldest, anyway?” I ask.

She frowns, probably wondering why I’m asking now of all times. “Greer,” she says, “and then me.”

I nearly choke. “I’m the baby?”

“I knew I had to be oldest,” Greer says. “I’m the most responsible.”

I roll my eyes.

“Then make yourself useful by being
responsible
for divvying up the supplies,” I say, pushing to my feet and getting to work. “We won’t need to keep rations for five. And you two will need some of the weapons back in our world. As soon as Greer is strong enough to continue, we’ll move.”

“I’m strong enough now,” she insists, and proves the truth of her words by hefting two heavy backpacks off the ground and carrying them to a nearby table.

Our super healing powers must be taking care of the poison quickly.

My gut clenches at the thought of my sisters and me splitting up. Both missions are important, though, and I know how Grace feels about finding our mother, so of course she wants to go after her. It’s the best option. Doesn’t mean I like it.

I quickly join Greer at the table of backpacks and start digging through to separate out the things we won’t need anymore. If our initial encounter down here taught me anything, it’s that we need to move light and fast if we’re going to get through the abyss, get into Olympus, and get the gorgons out without launching into all-out war. We don’t have the numbers for that right now. We’ll save the war for later.

As I start pulling things out, Nick steps up next to me at the table and helps.

“I’ll protect her,” he says quietly, “with everything I am.”

I don’t pause in my work. “I know.”

“You’re so sure of me now?” he asks with a smile. “What changed?”

I shrug. “Nothing. Everything.” I flick him a glance. “It just changed.”

He nods and reaches for the six-pack of water bottles in my hand.

“Promise me one thing,” he says.

I keep my eyes on the backpack. “What’s that?”

“That you’ll protect yourself”—he rests his hand over mine—“until I’m back at your side to do it myself.”

I snort—partly because the request is ridiculous, but also because the undertone of feeling in his request is too much. I don’t deal well with emotion. I don’t like the idea of separating from him, either. “In case you hadn’t noticed,” I reply, “I’m pretty good at taking care of myself.”

“I noticed,” he says, without moving his hand. “Promise?”

Something in his tone makes me look up. His midnight blue eyes are steady and intense. I want to make light, but I think we’re long past making jokes about serious situations. In the end, I nod. “Promise.”

CHAPTER 4
G
RACE

T
he creatures around me are beautiful—not like supermodel beautiful or even bouquet-of-flowers beautiful. I try not to gawk at them slack-jawed like a total idiot. I mean, in the past few weeks I’ve seen a lot of weird things I’d never seen before. But these creatures, Gretchen’s friends, are in a class by themselves.

They are unique.

Some of them are beasts I’ve studied in mythology, like the pegasus with its breathtaking wings and the centaur guy with the body of a horse. Others are completely new and surprising. The golden maiden and the twin guards—shiny black stone, like they were carved from the world around us—are especially intriguing.

I don’t want to stare, but I can’t help it.

I force my attention back to Greer.

“Do you need anything before we go?” I ask. “More water? Some food? An emergency blanket?”

She seems so much better now after a few hours of rest, but I can’t get the image of what she looked like immediately after the attack—eyes glazed over and skin inflamed and an angry shade of red—out of my mind. She would have died if Thane hadn’t given her the antidote. That moment terrified me. I was frozen and I didn’t know what to do. Thank goodness Thane was there, that Greer encouraged me to let him come.

We came too close to losing her.

My hands shake a little as I fumble with the backpack zipper.

“I’m perfectly all right, Grace,” she insists. “Truly.”

I watch her, study her, checking for—I don’t know, signs of pain or a bad reaction to the poison or something. She pats me on the arm before grabbing one of the reorganized backpacks and carrying it over to where Gretchen has piled the ones staying here. Except for the disheveled hair and slightly pale skin, she looks fine, though. I hope that means she really
is
fine.

“She’s stronger than she looks,” Thane says.

He’s watching her intently, just like I was doing a second ago.

He’s right. She may not have Gretchen’s physical strength, but inside she’s tough. Bugging her and making her reassure me over and over isn’t very helpful or healing.

“I know,” I reply, turning to lean back against the table.

Thane doesn’t move. He just stands there, staring blankly across the cave. He’s not quite looking at her anymore, like he’s trying to act casual.

After more than half a lifetime together, I can read him too well. I can see beneath the surface. Greer drops a bottle of water, and his eyes are immediately on her as she bends to pick it up. Though he’s trying to hide it, his attention is fully focused on Greer. Something more is going on here than he wants me to know, and considering everything that’s happening, it’s past time he told me. Secrets lead to problems.

I clear my throat. “Can we talk for a sec?”

He looks at me, questioning. I lift my brows in return—I’m serious about this—and he shrugs. I nod my head toward the cave entrance, away from the ears of everyone gathered inside. He throws one last glance at Greer, as if he has to re-assure himself one more time, and then follows me toward the cave entrance.

Total privacy isn’t really an option in this tiny space, but we’re as far from the others as we can get while still being safely inside.

I stop in front of the narrow tunnel that leads back out into the main cavern of the abyss, turn to face him, and cross my arms over my chest. Thane stands perfectly still, unblinking and tense. I don’t need Greer’s power to know he knows exactly what I’m going to ask.

“Tell me,” I say.

He hesitates and then shakes his head.

“What’s going on?” I demand. “You clearly know more about all of this”—I wave my hands at the general circumstances of my life—“than you should. That sword. The hellebore. Tell me.”

“No.”

No? I jerk back, shocked. “Why not?”

He shakes his head again, his stormy eyes darkening to almost black.

“You know everything I know,” I insist. “I have no secrets.”

He cocks one brow at me.

A flash of heat burns my cheeks.

Okay, I have
almost
no secrets. I haven’t been completely open and forthright about how I’m sorta, kinda, maybe dating his friend Milo. Maybe when I know for sure if we’re together, I’ll talk to Thane about it. For now I’m too afraid to mess things up. Besides, that’s hardly relevant to our situation here.

I correct my statement. “I have no secrets
about this
.”

He softens, just barely—there’s a slight drop in the rigid stance of his shoulders—but I can tell he’s battling this on the inside.

“Grace-face, I—” He cuts himself off, frowning like he’s thought better of answering. “I can’t.”

What a cop-out.

“You can,” I throw back, “but you
won’t
.”

He shrugs as if there’s no difference.

I study him intently, trying to think of some reason that he wouldn’t want to tell me the truth. He’s not the kind to be embarrassed, so I’m sure that’s not it. He also wouldn’t keep something from me unless he felt he had to. The only other thing he’s ever been this secretive about is his past—the time before Mom and Dad adopted him into our family.

He’d only been eight. What could that have to do with this?

“If this is about your past,” I say, “it doesn’t matter. I don’t care about anything that happened before we even met. I love you. Besides,” I continue, “I know you. I know it can’t be anything bad.”

He stares at me, unblinking.

I whisper, “It can’t be
that
bad.”

His cheeks flush with color, and I’m stunned by his re-action. He’s scared, of what he’s done and of me finding out. I don’t know what to say. Thane doesn’t have a bad bone in his body. Sure, he and Dad fight about his plans for the future, and he barely gets by in school, but he’s kind and loyal and good. He loves his family above anything. The idea that he ever did something so bad that he’s afraid to tell me . . . I don’t believe it.

As I shake my head, he drops his gaze away. “Leave it, Grace,” he says. “Please.”

That shocks me even more than his refusal to answer. Thane doesn’t beg—ever—which only makes whatever he’s hiding scarier. He’s my brother in every way that matters. I won’t push him to tell the secret that causes him so much pain as long as it’s not dangerous.

I stiffen my spine. “Will it endanger my sisters or our mission?”

He flinches, as if the very idea hurts him. “No. Never.”

Thane and I exchange a look, and I know he understands.

“Will it endanger
you
?”

He shrugs again and drops his gaze.

“Oh, Thane.” I step forward and pull him into a hug, relieved when he hugs me back tighter than ever. I’m scared for him, but I’m also amazed at his strength, at his willingness to shoulder all of this on his own. He’s incredible.

“Excuse me,” a male voice says behind me. “Can’t a monoceratus get through here?”

“Oh, sorry,” I say, moving out of the way of the entrance.

Turning to see exactly what a monoceratus is, I’m smiling as I look up into the glowing face of a unicorn.

“Holy goalie,” I mutter.

“Yeah, yeah,” the single-horned horse says, walking past me into the cave. “Gretchen and I already went through this once. I’m a unicorn. Woo-hoo.”

I turn to see if Thane is as awed as I am, but he has already disappeared back to Greer’s side. The unicorn walks past me, heading for the golden maiden. Something tickles at the back of my memory. Why do I feel like I’ve thought about unicorns recently? I can’t imagine why. It’s not as if they’re a part of everyday conversation like when I was eight. Maybe there was one in the monster binders I scanned before Gretchen’s loft blew up. That must be it.

I return to the group at the heart of the tiny cave. Greer has almost recovered. Nick and I need to leave soon. We can’t afford to waste any time. We have to go save my biological mother from monster-realm assassins. I only hope we can get to her before it’s too late.

“The line is heavily guarded,” the unicorn tells the group. “Not a chance of getting through without drawing their attention.”

Gretchen swears. “There goes that plan.”

“Isn’t there another way to get to our realm?” I ask. “A back door or something?”

“Back door,” Gretchen’s monkey friend says with a giggle.

The creatures around me exchange mocking laughs and skeptical glances.

“Not one that you would survive,” the golden maiden answers diplomatically. “The only ways of exiting Abyssos are through the door or through the godly realms.”

“Godly realms?” Gretchen asks.

The golden maiden explains, “Hades and Olympus.”

“What’s wrong with them?” I ask. “Can’t we use one of those entrances?”

She shakes her head. “The path from Olympus to Panogia is more heavily guarded than even the door. With an army at your side you could not succeed.”

She doesn’t have to voice the implied,
You would not survive.

“That’s why we’re going through the abyss to get there,” Gretchen says. “It’s the only way to bypass the tough security.”

“Hades then?” We can’t just let the assassins find and kill our mother; I can’t, I won’t—not when I haven’t even met her yet. Not when we’re so close. I have so many questions.

“The underworld is worse,” the unicorn says. “Airtight security to keep the dead from returning to life.”

“And the journey through Hades itself would be no easy task,” the golden maiden adds. “Most likely you would not even make it to the Panogian path.”

“Where does that leave us?” Greer asks. “There is no way home?”

She doesn’t sound as freaked out as I am. “We’re trapped here?” I gasp. “Forever? We just give up?”

“Of course not,” Gretchen says, but without her usually infallible certainty.

The group falls silent, and I scan the crowd for any signs of an idea. Anything. There has to be some hope, some way we haven’t thought of.

Greer clears her throat. “What about autoporting?”

We all turn to face her.

“What?” I ask.

“Autoporting,” she repeats, checking her fingernails. Yep, almost back to normal now. “Maybe you can use your power to get home.”

Why didn’t I think of that? I have this power—for just this kind of situation, I hope.

Encouraged, I turn to Gretchen.

“Maybe,” she says, considering.

“It
must
be possible,” I say. “Euryale autoported to me that night on the pier.”

“Not her body,” Gretchen argues. “You said she wasn’t really there.”

“She wasn’t, but . . .”

“If her powers are tethered,” the golden maiden suggests, “that might explain her incomplete autoportation. It is likely her captors took precautionary measures.”

“That she could still project even her image at such a distance,” Nick says, sounding impressed, “is a sign of her tremendous power.”

“Let’s do it,” I say, clapping my hands together. “It can’t hurt to try. If I can autoport me and Nick back to our realm, then once you rescue Euryale, she’ll be able to get everyone else home.”

“Your power must be well honed,” the golden maiden warns. “Travel between realms is not easy.”

What about this life
is
easy? Fighting monsters out to kill or capture me, watching my sister almost die, being trapped in this dark smelly place? Everything is hard compared to my life before meeting Gretchen, when I spent most of my time in front of a computer screen. It’s
all
hard. I bite back the sarcasm and focus my energy on positive thinking.

“I can do it,” I insist. I have no choice.
We
have no choice.

Gretchen hesitates, studying me. Well, she won’t find any doubts. I’m confident—or at least confident enough to try.

Finally, she says, “Get your bags.”

Minutes later, Nick and I are standing at the center of the group, each of us carrying a backpack of extra supplies. He doesn’t have to go with me—his allegiance is to Gretchen—so I appreciate his coming to help, especially since he already knows the boss and his prized assassins. That information might come in really handy.

Gretchen stands before me, Sillus sitting at her feet, her hands on my shoulders. “You take care of yourself. Find our mother, get to the safe house, and stay put. We’ll meet you there when we get out.”

“I will,” I promise. “You stay safe too. Find the gorgons and get Euryale to autoport you all out of here.”

She smiles, like she’s a little amused by my concern for her safety. Or maybe she’s uncomfortable having someone worrying about her for a change. Well, she’d better get used to that. I’m brilliant at worrying.

I see her glance at Nick, who gives her a look full of longing. I’m glad she doesn’t doubt his loyalty anymore, because that one exchange tells me how he feels about her. She’s his sun, moon, and stars. As soon as we get through this mess—this war—I’ll make sure she does something about that.