Pushing through the crowd, I’m looking for Milo, but I run into my parents first.
Dad looks a bit overwhelmed, like he’s still in shock about everything that happened. I’m not surprised. Engineers don’t usually have to face anything more daunting than a set of technical drawings and a deadline.
Mom, on the other hand, looks exhilarated.
“Gracie!” she shouts, waving at me and then hurrying over.
“Hi Mom.” I check her and Dad over real quick. “You guys are okay?”
“We’re great,” she gasps. “That was amazing.”
Dad looks like he wants to be sick.
“Do you do this all the time?” he asks, his voice weak and distant.
“No,” I promise, “not . . . quite like this.”
I’m not delusional. I know that things aren’t going to be easy breezy Medusa girl from here on out. We will still be battling monsters, and I’m sure some of the gods—not just Nyx—will want to change things somewhere down the line.
But I have to believe that this was the hardest fight we’ll ever face. Now that we’ve faced it and won, we’ll be more confident about whatever comes next.
“Hi Grace, have you seen—” Cassandra freezes when she sees that I’m talking with my parents. “Oh. Hello.”
This is kind of awkward—my parents meeting my biological mother on the battlefield between the world of monsters and the world of man. I almost laugh. If this isn’t a perfect reflection of what my life has become, I don’t know what is.
“Mom, Dad,” I say, giving them a wide-eyed look, “this is Cassandra. Our biological mother.”
There is a long pause. I’m not sure how they’re going to react. My parents are good, loving people, but this is a very unusual situation. And I barely know Cassandra at all.
When Mom steps up in front of her, I suck in a breath.
“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.”
Your daughter. I don’t miss Cassandra’s pointed use of the word your. She wants Mom to understand that she isn’t claiming me. Not that the decision is hers. I like Cassandra well enough, but Mom and Dad are my parents. I would choose them over anyone.
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.”