GORGON RESIDENCE

FIRST FLOOR KITCHEN

4:38 PM

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12th

Deuce removed his glasses and his hood as he walked in through the kitchen back door into his home, welcomed by the familiar smells of his mother's Grecian cooking. Wait, cooking? His mother only did that on special occasions. What was up?

"Mom?" Deuce asked as his yellow-green eyes adjusted to the artificial light of the kitchen. "What's going on?"

"Oh, honey, you're just in time," Madeline Gorgon cried as she walked past her son and gave him a brief kiss on the cheek. "Would you mind terribly if I had you bake something before freshening up for dinner? We're having a visitor tonight, and it's imperative we make her stay as wonderful as possible."

"Her stay"? Deuce shrugged. Sure, he guessed. It was probably one of his mom's friends or an aunt. He hung up his hoodie on the pillar-like coat rack and got to work sifting through the cabinets, looking for a bowl and the Grecian dessert recipe book. "Anything she likes in particular you'd want me to make?"

"Oh, that's such a great idea to make something she'd like!" his mother cried as she waved away steam from a pot from which she'd just removed the lid. "Here, let me call . . ." Madeline reached into the folds in her sweater and pulled out a positively archaic cell phone. "Let me call her father and see what it is she likes."

Parental phone calls? Now that was interesting.

"Who's coming?" Deuce asked.

"An old friend's daughter. She just moved here from New Jersey."

"You mean Silvia Diabolos, the daughter of the Jersey Devil?" the Gorgon boy asked. He didn't mind Silvia. He was actually pretty okay with the idea of her coming over. She was neat and easy to talk to, like one of the guys. And the eye thing? Really cool.

"Yes, she just transferred to Monster High! I'm guessing you know her already, so dinner should go better than planned." Madeline turned her attention to the sound of crackling on her phone. "Jay, are you there? It's Madeline. . . .Gorgon, yes! . . . well, I'm doing fine! And how about yourself?" She stirred as she talked and smiled. So obviously she was friends with the Jersey Devil. A Grecian monster and one of America's oldest myths of a cryptozoological being? Who would've known? "That's good news. I can't believe Silvia's old enough to go to high school. I remember when she wasn't any bigger than a Pine Barrens sapling. But that's not the reason I asked. Jay, do you happen to know your daughter's favorite dessert?" Madeline laughed. "Well, Silvia, yes. I know you and your wife had just as many children as your mother did!"

So Silvia had twelve brothers and sisters? Deuce tried not to wonder how he could've missed that detail as he held a whisk in his hand, just in case it would be needed.

"Corpse-cakes. Excellent. That's do-able. Thank you, Jay! I can't wait to get to see Silvia after so long! I'm sure she misses you."

"So . . ." Deuce began. "Silvia's got a big family?"

"Oh, yes!" Madeline replied as she turned off the stove and went about setting the table as the meal cooled. "There's Silvia, eight older brothers and sisters, and a set of younger triplet girls. And, I always feel really bad about this: I can never remember all of the names. They're all related to trees, horses, and bats."

"'Silvia' is a tree-related name?" Deuce asked, sprinkling sugar atop the bowl of ingredients so it was distributed evenly.

"Yes, Deuce," Madeline said, almost shocked. "It's a variation of the Latin word 'silvam' meaning 'forest.'I know we're Greek, but I thought you at least knew some Latin."

"Oh. My bad," Deuce murmured.

Madeline shook her head as she shined a fork before muttering, "I truly have failed as a mother."

"What time is Silvia coming over?" Deuce asked.

Madeline laid the fork down and checked the sundial on the wall. "Here, I'll take over the corpsecakes. You go get dressed. She'll be here in about ten minutes."

Ding-dong!

Her father had told her that Madeline was a sucker for the traditions of her old home and had never met a theme she didn't like, so Silvia, wanting to humor the Gorgon matron, was now standing outside the Gorgon residence in a white Grecian-inspired tunic. Her black hair was in a high ponytail, and her red eyes had been lined with kohl. She shifted her weight from one gladiator sandal-clad foot to the other as she waited for someone to answer the door.

The door opened to reveal Deuce, dressed to the nines.

"DEUCE?" Silvia declared in surprise.

"Hey," he laughed, giving her a tiny wave.

Silvia smiled. "Oh, my God! Wow . . . What're you doing here?"

"I live here."

"Gorgon . . . Of course!" Silvia rolled her eyes and sighed. "I'm sorry for not realizing it sooner. At least there'll be someone I know who's my age at this dinner."

"Yeah, that'll be cool." Deuce laughed and tucked a hand into the pocket of his black and gray pinstriped pants. "Crap! Sorry for not saying earlier. Come in."

"Why such a reaction?" Silvia asked as she stepped over the threshold and looked Deuce in his yellow-green eyes. "I can come in without permission. It's just rude to do so."

"Oh, yeah. Once you're friends with vampires, you kind of think everyone has to be invited in." Deuce smiled as Silvia giggled appropriately at his assertion. She shrugged. He wondered how, for someone so chill, she and Cleo weren't able to get along. It just didn't make sense.

"Makes sense."

"Is that the voice of a Diabolos I hear in my atrium?" Madeline's voice cried as the sound of clinking glasses echoed in the kitchen. Deuce cringed at how high-pitched his mother's voice sounded. Had she started drinking?

"Yes, it is!" Silvia smiled as she entered the kitchen and gave Madeline a warm hug. "It's so great to finally see you again, Mrs. Gorgon."

Deuce's mother's cheeks were red and she seemed more giggly than usual. Oh, Zeus . . . She WAS drunk. But . . . why? Madeline would say and ask about the most awkward things after one too many sips. She'd probably ask how far he and Cleo had gone (far enough) or if Deuce had heard from his father, who had moved away with his life partner Perseus (yet another reason why his mother hated the name) after the divorce had gone through.

"Oh, please, I'm divorced! You can call me Madeline. You're old enough now."

Oh, Zeus, why? Deuce avoided his mother's smile. One of his snakes slithered to hide his face away from Silvia as she turned back to look to him. Deuce couldn't believe his luck-or lack thereof. No one at Monster High knew about the divorce. He'd always just said his dad worked a business back in Greece. No one knew. And now a girl he'd just met yesterday knew the secret he'd kept from his coach, his teammates, his girlfriend of two years?

Silvia gave a polite smile. She'd had no idea that Madeline was now single. "Alright, Madeline. I've missed you. Now . . ." Silvia noticed Deuce was now hanging back, biting his forked tongue. "May I ask what there is to eat?"

Thank Zeus Silvia's good at changing subjects, Deuce thought to himself.

"Yes, you may," Madeline said with a bigger smile than necessary. "We're having ameletita, and I have a smaller dish of spanakorizo, if you want any."

Silvia lifted her pert nose. "It smells amazing!"

Deuce smiled a little. If there was one thing he was grateful for, it was definitely Silvia's ability to adapt. She was so chill. So unlike Cleo . . .

Deuce shook the thought from his head before he could entertain it any further.

"I'm glad you think so! Don't be shy; dig in!" Madeline said as she poured two more glasses of wine and gave it to Deuce and Silvia.

It's part of our ancient Greek culture, Deuce reminded himself as he noticed Silvia's discreet surprise at being offered wine. I was hardly breast-fed so much as I drank wine growing up. It's okay.

Silvia lifted a forkful of ameletita to her mouth and chewed it as slowly as possible, savoring every hint of flavor. "Goodness, it's delicious! Now . . ." Silvia licked her lips before pointing at the dishes. "I know spanakorizo is a spinach and rice stew cooked with lemon and olive oil sauces, but what's ameletita? It's really meaty and chewy."

Madeline laughed.

"Now, don't tell Deuce, because I've been feeding this to him for years without complaint, but amalatita is a wonderful Grecian dish made from grilled lamb's testicles." Madeline smiled and took yet another sip of her wine.

Deuce paled. WHAT?

"Please excuse me," Deuce muttered as he left the table, ready to throw up.

"I wonder what got into him," Madeline mused.

"Would you like me to check?" Silvia asked, glancing over her shoulder in the direction Deuce had stalked off. Madeline set down her glass.

"Yes, I think that'd be lovely."