Tera Childs - Sweet Venom

Maybe if I move around to its back, I can get close enough to—

Grace and the tail come swinging my direction. She loses her grip, flies through the air, and tackles me to the ground.

“It’s so strong,” she gasps, pushing off me and to her feet.

As she pulls me up after her, I say, “Tell me about it.”

“Hang on, Greer!” Grace shouts.

“We need to stop the tail,” I say. “It’s too dangerous.”

Grace nods at the wall of weapons. “What about one of those?” she suggests. “Maybe we can pin it down.”

“Great idea.” I grab a pair of spears and hand her one. “I’ll go around the other side. You move from this side. Whoever gets first stab—”

“—goes for it,” she finishes. “Got it.”

As I circle around, I see the manticore trying to snap at Greer with its rows of sharp teeth. When that doesn’t work, it lifts its spiked tail, ready to strike.

“Grace!” I shout, because she’s closer.

But she’s already seen the movement and dives onto the tail, throwing the creature’s aim off just enough to miss Greer. I close the distance to the tail and, as it rebounds to the ground, tossing Grace off to the side on the first bounce, I lift the spear above my head and slam it down as hard as I can into the scaly flesh.

My shoulder feels like it’s on fire.

The beast yowls in pain. Though its tail still wriggles, the creature is pinned into place.

I race around to the front, holding my right shoulder with my left hand, searching for a spot to get close enough to get a bite in. But between the flailing claws and the snapping jaws, there’s no opening that won’t get me a seriously painful injury. Even if I could, I’m not much better than a monster chew toy with my shoulder out of joint.

“Greer, you have to bite it!” I shout.

“Me? I—” She looks at me, helpless. “I can’t. I don’t know how.”

“You have to. Close your eyes and do it,” I insist. “ Instinct will take care of the rest.”

Grace shouts up from the floor, “We believe in you!”

Greer’s eyes widen in terror and then narrow in determination. Come on. Squeezing her lids shut, she opens her mouth and sinks her teeth into the creature’s shoulder.

I didn’t see her fangs descend. But when the monster disappears beneath them three beats later, sending Greer into a heap on top of Grace, I know she did it.

Gasping with exertion and adrenaline and recovered breath, I grab Greer with my good arm and roll her off Grace before collapsing onto the floor next to them.

For a long time we lie there, side by side and panting, trying to absorb what just happened. If they hadn’t shown up, I’d be monster meal right now, some beastie’s one-way ticket out of the abyss.

Grace was right. Things are changing and I can’t do this alone anymore. Without Ursula—I mean Euryale—around to help me figure things out, I need my sisters even more. And I need to tell them that. My near-death moment has made me realize that I’d better say what I have to say before I lose the opportunity.

“I was going to call you two,” I say, swallowing my pride. “Tomorrow, I was going to call and apologize and say we should train together. We’re sisters and it’s my duty to make sure you’re safe. Training you to protect yourselves is the best way to assure that.”

“Really?” Grace squeals, pushing herself up to a sitting position. “I was going to come tell you the same thing,” she says. “Tomorrow.”

“Looks like the monsters moved up our timetable,” I reply with a laugh.

We both turn to look at Greer, who hasn’t responded. She is lying there with her eyes closed and a completely disgusted look on her face, but otherwise looking like her normal icy self. Maybe she’ll need some convincing after this. A manticore would horrify anyone who saw it on the street. Let alone having to fight it.

“All right,” she finally says. “I’m in.”

I release a relieved breath and sense that Grace does the same. Neither of us wants her to walk away.

“On one condition,” Greer adds.

“What’s that?” Grace asks.

“This monster fighting gig cannot,” she says, “interfere with my social schedule.”

She hasn’t moved, hasn’t altered her expression. She’s lying there in bare feet and what are probably designer clothes. She’s just sent some hideous unknown monster back into the abyss. And she’s worried about her social schedule?

I’m on the verge of telling her to stuff it when she cracks a smile.

Grace and I burst out laughing.

Thank goodness.

“I’m joking.” Greer sits up. “Mostly. But I’m also kind of serious. I have a lot of responsibilities that don’t involve”—she makes a vague gesture that kind of encompasses the whole room—“any of this. I can’t cast them aside.”

My laughter dies.

She’s right. This world might have been my whole existence for the last four years, but Greer and Grace have been living real lives. They have people who care about them and others who depend on them. They’re not alone, like me. It’s not fair to ask them to give up all that for something they didn’t choose.

“Fine,” I say reasonably. “We’ll work around all the other stuff whenever we can.”

“Excellent.” Greer pushes to her feet. “Now, do you have any mouthwash around here? That monster tasted nasty.”

I point her to the bathroom, and she disappears to wipe out the taste of beastie. I don’t blame her—monsters taste like rotten garbage, and the sweet taste of our venom is never quite enough to counteract it. You learn to deal, but you never get used to it. Not really. Monster is not an acquirable taste.

“Were you really going to call us tomorrow?” Grace asks quietly.

“I was.”

She’s silent for a few seconds before asking, “Why?”

I’m ready to shrug off the question, as if it’s nothing major. But when I look in her eyes, I can tell it’s a very big deal.

“Because we belong together,” I answer honestly. “What-ever kept us apart all these years, I think we belong together in the end. Things are changing, and although that scares me a little, it’s obviously part of something bigger than all of us. We have a destiny to fulfill, and I don’t want to fulfill it alone. I don’t think I can.”

Oh, she mouths.

Then, before I can react, she lurches forward and throws her arms around my neck in a tight hug.

“Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!” I scream.

“What?” she gasps.

“My shoulder,” I explain, my eyes clenched against the sharp pain. “It popped out of the socket when I skewered the beastie’s tail.”

“Oh, what can I do?”

I give her a quick lesson and then, before I can take a fortifying breath, she shoves everything back into place. I gasp at the shock, but can tell that she did a fine job.

“Okay?” she asks.

I nod.

“Can I hug you now?” When I nod again, she wraps her arms gingerly around my shoulders. “I’m so glad you realized we belong together.”

“I can tell.”

I shrug it off with sarcasm, but inside I feel a strange sensation of warmth. Compelled by some unknown reason, I lift my own arms and hug her back.

“I’m glad we got here in time,” Grace says, squeezing tight. “If we hadn’t . . .”

She lets her words trail off. She doesn’t need to finish the sentence. I was there, I’d accepted my fate. And then they’d— “Hey,” I say, pulling back as I remember the moment. “How did you guys get inside anyway? The loft’s security is military grade.”

“Oh.” She beams. “I guess my autoporting kicks in when I really need it.”

That solves the mystery of how the girls got inside, but not how the manticore snuck past the system. I’ll have to do a full inspection. There must be a hole somewhere, and I need to keep other monsters from showing up unexpectedly.

“Am I missing a group hug?” Greer asks.

“Come on.” Grace removes one arm and waves her close. “Gentle with Gretchen’s shoulder though.”

Greer kneels down next to us, and Grace and I each wrap an arm around her back while she does the same. I’ll worry about securing the perimeter later. Right now, I’m enjoying the moment. For once.

“Triplets,” Greer says, shaking her head.

“Who’d have thought?” I ask.

“Reunited,” Grace adds. “I can’t imagine a more perfect ending.

Strangely enough, neither can I.

Gretchen

After I let the girls wash off their sweat and slime first, there is barely enough hot water left for me to grab a quick shower. But it’s enough. And with clean clothes on, I feel completely refreshed and revived. Even my shoulder feels practically normal.

Rubbing my hair dry with the towel, I head out into the loft to find them. They’re sitting at the dining table, hunched over one of the monster binders and giggling. With the balcony doors open wide, a fresh breeze blows in off the Bay. It feels like everything is fresh and new.

“Look at his feet,” Grace exclaims, pointing to an anatomical drawing of a nulus.

Greer makes a face. “Gross.”

“You should see the panotii,” Grace says. “They have ears the size of their bodies.”

“Have you memorized all the binders?” Greer asks.

“No.” Grace blushes. “I’ve digitized most of them, though, and the funnier images stand out.”

I’m impressed. That’s a lot of work she got done in not a lot of time. I bet she has the entire library scanned and catalogued in less than a month.

I keep back, not wanting to disturb their moment. It feels weird to have people, other than Ursula, making themselves at home in the loft. Before I brought Grace back here, no one else had ever been in the loft.

Still, as weird as it feels, it also feels completely right. Meant to be. Like the pieces of a puzzle I didn’t even know I had to solve have finally fallen into place.

Now, if only Ursula were safely back home—

Greer stands, knocking her chair back behind her.

I step into the room.

“What’s wrong?” Grace asks, a note of panic in her voice.

“I—” Greer holds her hands out as if to steady herself. “I don’t know. It’s just, all of a sudden, I got this really awful feeling.”

Grace looks at me, her face creased with concern.

“What kind of feeling?” I ask.

Greer turns to face me, drained of color. “Like something bad is about to happen.”

As if on command, my phone rings.

I dash into the kitchen, snatching my phone off the charger. I can’t help the tiny spark of hope that it’s my mentor on the other end of the line.

“Hello,” I gasp into the receiver. “Ursula, is that—?”

“Get out!” a male voice shouts.

“What?”

“Get out of the loft,” he screams. “Get out now!”

Something about the absolute terror in his voice stabs me right in the chest. Without stopping to think, I move, grabbing each of my sisters by the arm, and shout, “Run!”

Dragging them behind me, I race for the open door. At a dead run, we fly out onto the balcony. I launch my sisters over the railing and then follow them down into the Bay below.

Before we hit the water, the air above us explodes in a burst of heat and light, slamming us hard against the ice-cold waves. I lose track of my sisters as I’m propelled into the inky depths, short of breath and trying to orient myself to find my way back to the surface. Following my air bubbles, I break through into the night, gasping and choking.

I scan the area, relieved to see Grace and Greer treading water nearby. They seem whole and unhurt. They both have their eyes glued to the spot above me, to the loft. I can see flickering yellow-and-orange flames reflected in their glassy eyes. I think Grace might be crying.

Afraid of what I’ll see, I force myself to turn and look up.

I suck in a gasp.

The entire upper level is blown out, and the building is engulfed in flames. Smoke billows out of my home, glowing in the light of the fire inside. My face burns with the heat of the raging inferno. My mind is reeling, and the only coherent thought I can grasp is how very close we came to getting blown up with the loft.

“This is bad,” Greer says.

“Somebody tried to kill us,” Grace says, unnecessarily.

I look at her. “You think?”

She ignores my sarcasm, shaking her head. “All those books,” she says. “Thank goodness I got most of the binders done, but all those resources . . .”

I can’t think about that right now. I can’t think about the library or the weapons collection or the handful of mementos I’ve gathered in my lifetime. None of that matters more than the safety of Grace and Greer. We are lucky to be alive tonight.