I leapt from the bed, no longer caring that I was naked as I streaked down the stairs and ran into the kitchen.
Tad wasn’t there. I spun around. “Where is he?”
“Sis?” Tad called, and I turned again to see him on the couch in the living room I’d just streaked through. Dahlia sat next to him, and Damara was at his feet, her bag open along with her mouth. Beth and Sandy were nowhere to be seen, but when I listened, I could hear their hearts beating in tandem upstairs. I grinned.
“Tad, you’re okay!”
“Can you do something for me?” He grimaced and rolled his eyes up to the ceiling.
“Of course, anything.” I took a step toward him and he put up his hand.
“Can you go put some clothes on?”
I laughed. “Tad, you think this is bad, you should see me covered in scales and blood.”
He peeked at me with one eye. “Do I even want to know?”
Still laughing, I shook my head. “Maybe. But I think I’ll wait till Yaya gets inside before we talk about that.”
“Yaya’s here?”
I nodded and headed for the stairs, Yaya’s heartbeat calling to me from the other side of the door, as familiar to me as Tad’s. I paused and held it open. “Hey, Yaya.”
She smiled up at me. “My beautiful girl. Go put some clothes on, you make my skin twitch and shiver just looking at you.”
Smiling, I went upstairs. The closet of clothes offered up a variety of things, and I took my time picking through. Now that we’d stopped Achilles and saved Tad, and Yaya was out of the hospital, the weight of responsibility dusted off my shoulders. I took my time looking through the variety of materials and choices. I steered clear of the longer skirts and thick winter sweaters. The cold didn’t bother me, no need to pretend I was something I wasn’t. Finally I settled on the everyday, and yet even that wasn’t quite right.
I slid on a pair of jeans and a long-sleeved lace top. The lace played peekaboo with the skin across my middle, the pattern on it mimicking the scales that lay hidden another layer below. I liked the look. For the first time since I was a little girl, I felt like . . . me. Like this was the Alena I was always meant to be.
I brushed through my hair and stared at the mirror. Attached to it was a note from Remo.
You know where I am.
“Cocky,” I whispered, my mouth stumbling over the almost-naughty word. Yet I still smiled.
I was halfway down the stairs when trouble flew in through the door. Ernie grimaced up at me and my smile slid.
“I don’t think you should be here, cherub.” My smile slipped further until I was frowning. “I don’t know whose side you’re on.”
He let out a long sigh. “It’s complicated. I’m on your side, but the people I deal with, they aren’t exactly stable. You saw Hera. Achilles. Even Zeus. You think keeping my head attached to my body has been an easy thing all these years? You have to look like you support them all, while making sure they all think you only support the one you’re dealing with.”
His explanation didn’t make me feel any better. But for the moment, it would have to do.
“Fine. But don’t tell me we have more problems. I’ve had my share for the year.”
“Oh, we don’t have problems. But you do. You most certainly do.”
I slid to my bum on the stairs. “Tell me.”
Ernie flitted to my side and sat beside me. “Achilles is dealt with; that was a slick move cutting his tendons. But Hera is far from done. She’s raising another hero to take you and the bird girls out. Someone even stronger than Achilles.”
“Who?” I whispered.
“The slayer of the Minotaur. He’s smarter than Achilles and is a demigod to boot.” Ernie paused, and I let out a breath.
“You mean that Achilles was just the warm-up act?”
“Exactly. Hera is pulling out the big guns now. Theseus will not go down as easy as Achilles. Not by a long shot.” Ernie placed a hand on my knee. “And Zeus is nowhere to be found.”
“You mean he’s been godnapped?” Tad barked out from the living room.
Ernie shook his head. “No, I mean he’s gone into hiding. He won’t be any help against Hera and Theseus.”
The smile and laughter that had been so light on my shoulders faded. “Then I will face Theseus without Zeus. Not that he was much help this time around.”
“Not without me,” Dahlia said. I smiled at her, the weight on me easing a little.
“Or me,” Sandy and Beth said together.
Yaya winked at me and made a shooting motion with one hand. “Or me. We will stand together in this, little snake. Just like a family should.”
I stood up. “Well, until Theseus shows up at the door, there’s no point in worrying.”
“What are you going to do?” Damara stood and faced me.
“I’m going to bake something. Maybe add a little venom to it and have it delivered to Hera. What do you say, Ernie? Think she would like some venom in her vanilla cupcakes?”
Ernie laughed and flipped over backward. “Oh, I think she would love them.”
Though my smile was not as big, the weight on my shoulders wasn’t either. I wasn’t facing this alone. And maybe, just maybe, I could find a way to make it in this life as a monster.