“No, not at all,” her mother whispered. “I’d been hoping this conversation would never be necessary, but I was stupid to make that assumption. I had the same one with my mom, and she had the same one with hers. It goes back a long way through the family line.”
“Weird...” Once the machine was set, Desi sat down across from her mother at the table. “Is this the part where you tell me I’m a princess who’d been cursed by an evil witch? Will animals start singing and doing my chores? I could definitely go for that.”
Chuckling, her mother gazed at her. Eventually, the laughter subsided into a sigh. “It’s the part where I tell you that you’re a vessel for guardians of justice.”
“Cute.” Desi groaned. “Please don’t mess with me while I’m tired. It really sucks. My patience is garbage at the moment.”
“I wish I was messing with you,” Mom whispered. “You’ve heard of Medusa, I’m sure. She’s the most famous of our kind.”
Desi gripped the counter tightly. “The snake lady who tried to turn everyone into stone. Ugly as sin, last I checked. Fitting. I’m gross too.”
“Oh sweetie...” Brie whimpered.
I hated hearing her talk so poorly of herself too, yet I couldn’t argue that she had an ugly soul.
Her mother wisely avoided commenting. “Medusa was a gorgon. She had a number of sisters too who were captured, tortured, and executed. Their daughters were also gorgons, and so on and so forth through the family line. All the way to us.” She sighed. “It’s not easy. In the past, the guardians of our ancestors didn’t have to hide. With magic practically dead, coming out of the woodwork is a lot more complicated. But they are there.”
“Wait, what?” Desi asked. “Please, be thorough. Talk to me like I’m stupid because I’m exhausted. I can barely understand any of this. What are gorgons? What are guardians?”
“Gorgons are magical creatures, once thought to be goddesses, who judged souls and turned evil doers into stone.” Mom paused for effect. “Medusa only ever turned terrible men into stone and was punished for it.”
“Sounds just like something the patriarchy would do,” Desi mumbled. The coffee finally finished brewing, and she poured herself a cup.
Her mother laughed. “Yes, the snakes are the guardians. In the old days, working with their host was desirable and expected. As magic faded, the guardians started pursuing other routes. Mainly, earning human forms of their own after guiding their vessel to true love.”
“How romantic.” She rolled her eyes. “So let’s see if I can put this together, then. I’m the descendent of Medusa, one of these gorgon things, and the next bit of information you’re going to drop on me is that I have guardians guiding me to ‘true love?’” The venom in her voice as she said the last two words made me bristle. “If that’s the case, either my taste in men is terrible, or their guidance is greatly flawed.”
For a long time, her mother said nothing. “When you said you thought something was wrong with you, I thought perhaps you’d had a sign of their power. That strange things have been occurring.”
“Perhaps,” Desi muttered. “I mean, I’d been on a date with a guy. We were kissing, and the only reason we broke apart is because something bit my ear.” She lifted her hair to show Brie’s bite marks. “Some crazy bug got me.”
Mom stood and came closer to investigate. “Snake fangs. Two punctures. Quite sharp. You’re lucky you didn’t lose part of your ear.”
“A snake bit me?” She scowled. “Snakes like Medusa had? In my hair? I’ve never seen them before.”
“That doesn’t mean they aren’t there.” Her mother tousled her hair gently. “I’ve only seen them once when you were little. Small things, babies really. They were nestled close to your scalp. As they grow up, their magic becomes stronger and helps them hide. They are only seen when they want to be. Given the nature of the world, they might not actually be able to communicate with you until you believe in magic itself. I’m sure their hope was for you to find love, and they’d be released. That’s what happened to mine.”
“Your snake guardians are human,” Desi said. “Do you still talk to them and stuff?”
With a shrug, her mom went back to the table. She started cleaning up her lunch mess, probably only wanting something to do. The tension between them became thick, fast. “We were close for a time. Penelope and Leo moved across the country. Logan is still nearby, but you know he hasn’t been the same since he lost his wife.”
I gasped. “I knew there was something different about them!”
“Shh!” Brie hissed.
Desi shook her head. “That’s not possible. They’re people. Not snakes.”
“Take a good look at their eyes sometime,” Mom spoke so casually, as if they were talking about the weather. “It took a lot for me to understand as well. My mother told me at a much younger age, and it screwed with my head a lot. I became very bitter toward my guardians when things weren’t working out. I thought I could spare you the pain of ever knowing. There are others like us who never learn. As our kind dies out, so do the legends and the stories. They fade into myths. When you were young, I thought it would be easier for you to find love. I don’t know why. Love is never easy.”
Desi ran one of her hands through her hair. Her fingers brushed toward my scales, and I didn’t bother trying to move away like I normally would. I let her touch me, and when she did, she stopped to stroke my back for a few seconds—testing to see if I was in fact real. Her hand shot away.
“S...so it might be true,” she whispered.
“You were bit by one of them last night because they didn’t find the man you were with to be worthy of your affections. Any other strange occurrences?” Mom asked, her gaze narrowed.
“Last night, Rodney said he felt frozen. He thought it was butterflies, though. Other guys have had fingers cut, or been hurt in other ways.” Desi sighed. “Harder to deny all of this when so many incidents have happened over the years. Have all my dates really been that terrible?”
“Yes, but Rodney was just fine,” Jerry sneered at me.
I scoffed. “He’s a player.”
“He was willing to work to make things better with his last girlfriend.”
Brie growled. “The fighting is what is messing everything up!”
I couldn’t deny that because Desi put a hand to her forehead. She felt so much pain! What were we doing to her?
“Honey?” Mom asked.
She shook her head. “Sharp...all across my head. I need more caffeine.”
“No, I don’t think that’s what’s going on,” Mom said softly. “In the old days, when we knew of our passengers and magic was strong, accidents weren’t common. They served a purpose. If you’re getting headaches and bites, then there isn’t harmony between you and your guardians. Or your guardians are in poor health.”
“Can magical creatures get sick?” Desi laughed. Ouch!
Mom shrugged. “Why not?”
“Because they’re magic!”