Bonus Story: The Medusa Girls Meet a Mermaid

This is a super-short bonus scene I wrote as a guest blog once. It is the first (but probably not the last) crossover story between my series. I hope you enjoy it!

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“I’m not supposed to autoport anywhere I haven’t already been,” I insist.

The book said I could literally send myself into the middle of a mountain or—worse—the middle of a crowded street. How could we explain that away?

I want to go to a tropical island as much as the next girl, but… it’s scary.

“There’s no danger, Grace,” Greer insists, reading my mind as usual. “The island is deserted.”

“But—“

“I’ve been there a dozen times,” she says.

“But—“

She’s started to get impatient. “You’ve seen the satellite image of the beach and—“

“For the love of sanity,” Gretchen—who is always full up on impatience—snaps. “There is a Lamia monster on the loose in the Bahamas. We need to stop it before more people get hurt.”

I sigh. She’s right.

We’re not sure how the Lamia got from San Francisco to the complete other side of the continent. It’s a giant shark. It can’t exactly hop on an airplane. Gretchen’s betting on a freight train, while Greer and I think it swam through the Panama Canal. However it traveled, as long as it’s out there, swimming free, people are in danger.

“Okay,” I finally say. “Let’s go.”

My sisters take my hands and, with my mind focused on the pictures from Greer’s last vacation, I close my eyes, hold my breath and autoport us across the map.

My first clue that I haven’t sent us into the center of a massive inanimate object—not than the center of an animate object would be better—is the splash.

“Ew,” Greer complains. “These are new shoes.”

“You missed a bit,” Gretchen grumbles.

Daring to open my eyes, I’m surprised to find us standing about fifty feet offshore from a beautiful white beach. The water is only knee deep and is much warmer than the Pacific. No wonder people rave about the Bahamas.

“Um, guys,” I say, pointing up the beach. “We’re not alone.”

Greer looks up from lamenting her saltwater-logged shoes and Gretchen spins around to face the direction I’m pointing, where a girl with frizzy blonde hair and a boy in a black tee are staring at us.

“Sugar,” Greer mutters.

Gretchen curses.

My thoughts exactly.

~*~*~*~

“Did you just see what I saw?” Quince asks.

“Did you see three girls appear out of nowhere?” I ask. When he nods, I say, “Uh-huh. I did.”

The three girls notice us and start walking toward shore. Quince pushes to his feet and I pop up next to him. As they get close, I can see that they’re triplets. They have different styles, but their features are identical. How cool is that?

“Um, hi,” the girl in the middle says.

Quince steps closer to my side. “Hey.”

The girl on the right, who looks like she’s wearing head-to-toe designer clothes, including her shoes, narrows her pale gray eyes at me. I get the odd feeling that she’s… reading me.

She tilts her head to the side and says, “She’s a mermaid.”

My mouth drops open as Quince’s hands clench into fists.

“No way,” the girl in the middle exclaims.

The fancy one nods.

“I knew they existed,” the third one, who looks tough in a tight black tank and black wrist cuffs. “But I’ve never met one.”

“How did you know?” I ask the fancy one.

She kind of smirks. “I have second sight.”

“Second sight?” I shake my head.

“What does that mean?” Quince asks.

“Greer can read minds,” the middle one says. “I’m Grace.”

She holds out her hand and I stare at it for a minute before taking it. “I’m Lily,” I say. “What are you?”

Grace glances at Greer and the other sister, who shrugs. “We’re descendants of Medusa,” she explains. “We hunt monsters.”

“Medusa?” I gasp.

Quince makes a choking sound.

“Wow,” I say. “That’s so cool. I’ve never heard of—“

“We need to go,” the third girl says. “There’s a Lamia terrorizing a village on Lemonade Cay. We need to stop it before it eats any more fishing boats.”

“And fishermen,” the fancy one adds.

“Oh,” I say, horrified by the thought of some giant sea monster eating its way through the Bahamas. “Lemonade Cay is about ten miles east of here.”

“Great,” the gruff one says as she takes the other two by the hand. “Let’s go.”

“It was nice meeting you,” Grace says with a sunny smile. “I hope we can—“

“Grace,” the gruff one warns.

“I’m going.” She flashes me another smile and then, poof, they’re gone.

“That was…”

“Weird,” Quince finishes. “Medusa was real?”

“I’m real,” I counter. “You know mer powers were a gift from one of Poseidon’s sea nymphs.”

“Yeah, but…” He shakes his head and smiles. “What kind of crazy world have you brought me into, princess?”

“A magical one, tough guy,” I reply, wrapping my arms around his waist. “And you love every minute of it.”

He leans his forehead against mine. “What makes you so sure?”

“Because—” I lift onto my toes and press my lips to his. “—you love me.”

He pulls me tighter to him. “That I do, princess,” he says against my mouth. “That I do.”

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I have been getting an unusual number of requests recently for more crossover stories (or even a crossover book!) between my Oh. My. Gods., Forgive My Fins, and Sweet Venom series. I have ideas. Boy do I have ideas. But the real question is… would you read them?

Let me know in comments if you’re interested and, if so, what kind of crossover story you would want to read.