Sweet Venom

In that instant, I was determined to make myself worthy.

I spun around to face her. “Tell me what to do,” I said, full of a courage I was only beginning to feel. “How do I earn my place?”

It feels so long ago now. Ursula insisted I didn’t need to earn anything, that the room was mine without conditions.

But I was eager to prove myself. We started training the next day. Everything from martial arts to weapons to memorizing mythology. Ursula has been my guide and mentor in everything about my heritage.

I drop the tube of lotion back into the nightstand and slam the drawer shut. “Where are you?” I shout to the empty room. “How could you just disappear?”

Frustrated, I throw myself onto her bed. As I bounce, a pillow lurches to the side, knocking the book off the nightstand. With a groan, I roll to the side, leaning down to pick it up.

When I do, a small white envelope falls to the ground.

My heart rate triples.

I set the book back on the nightstand, snatch the note off the floor, and sit up, holding the crisp paper in both hands. Scrawled across the envelope is a single word: Gretchen.

My breathing shallows as I lift the flap and pull out the folded notecard covered in Ursula’s elegant script.

Dearest Gretchen,

If you are reading this note, then I must have been gone for some time already. I feared this might happen. Since your sixteenth birthday some weeks ago, things have been changing. Perhaps you’ve begun to notice. I knew this time was coming and have been making preparations for the upcoming events, but there are still some mysteries I must solve first. The hunt for answers may take me into danger. Do not worry about my safety—I assure you I am fine. But if I am kept from you at this critical time, you must find my sister. Although we have remained out of touch in recent years, I do know she is living and working in the city. I wish I could give you more information to go on, but our separation has been essential for your protection. Find her, as she can help guide you into this next phase if I cannot. I apologize for the cryptic nature of this note, but if it is discovered by someone other than you, I must guard our secrecy at all costs.

Yours ever,

Ursula

“What. The. Hades?” I reread the note, not believing it could be as mysterious as it first seems. But after four passes, it still makes no sense. My birthday, changes, new phase, secrecy. She’s in danger, but she’s safe. Her sister? Does she know that I have a sister too?

I flop back onto her bed. Great. I found a note, exactly what I was hoping for, but I’m even more lost than before. I’m used to knowing exactly what to do—sniff a monster, find it, send it home. I’m at a total loss right now. And I don’t like the feeling.

Chapter 10

Grace

Standing in the cafeteria line, waiting to pay for a bottle of kiwi-strawberry juice to go with the hummus-and-spinach wrap and baby carrots already in my reusable lunch bag, I’m not really excited to spend another lunch period in the library. Last week was bad enough, and I could at least claim new-girl status as my excuse.

But by day three, shouldn’t I have someone to sit with?

Maybe not. This whole new-girl thing is totally foreign to me. I try to remember new students at Orangevale, and how long it took them to assimilate. I only remember one who—

“You’re up,” a gruff female voice says from behind me in line.

I twist around. “Oh, Vail. Hi.”

She jerks her head toward the checkout.

I step forward and show my juice to the cashier. After handing over my money, I turn and say, “Thanks.”

She shrugs, sliding her tray of lumpy school food forward.

I turn, ready to head out the side door for the library and another lunch hour alone with the books. It could be worse, I guess. I could have to eat lunch with Miranda.

“You can sit with us,” Vail says as she walks by with her tray.

Did she just say what I think she said?

“What?” I hurry to catch up with her. “Really?”

She gives me a duh-are-you-stupid? look. I just grin and follow her to a table in the center of the cafeteria.

There’s a handful of other kids at her table. The group at the far end looks like vamp-loving goths, dressed all in black, with deep purple lipstick and heavy-duty eyeliner. Two empty seats separate them from Vail’s diverse trio. Next to Vail sits a girl who looks like Marilyn Monroe, with platinum-blond hair, ruby red lipstick, and a low-cut vintage dress. Across the table is a boy with turquoise-blue hair and matching eyeliner. He’s wearing a black HELLO KITTY tee, black skinny jeans, and a wide, white, studded belt. By comparison, Vail is almost tame. Over the weekend, she dyed her hair tips lime green, a shade that perfectly matches her baggy cargo pants and the bleeding smiley face on her tight black tee.

With blah-colored clothes, hair the color I was born with, and nothing but a dab of organic lip balm on my mouth, I definitely feel like the outsider in this group.

“This is Lulu,” Vail says, nodding to the girl at her left. “And that’s Jax.”

Better the outsider in a group than the outsider without a group.

I smile at the boy, Jax, and set my tray down next to him. “Hi,” I say as I slip into the seat. “I’m Grace.”

“Charmed, I’m sure,” Lulu drawls, offering her hand across the table like I might want to kiss her ring. I gingerly take it and give it a quick shake.

“Lay off,” Vail grumbles, swirling her fork around her plate.

“I think we have Computer Science together,” Lulu says, in a completely normal voice.