Page 13 of It's In His Hiss

And somehow, despite the tight space and theoncoming emotional storm, I feel like I can breathe.

We pull up to the imposing gates of my family estate an hour later, and I take a deep breath. “Here goes nothing.”

“Or everything,” Gordy adds as if we’re about to embark on some epic quest instead of walking into a parlor to have tea and unpleasant conversations.

“Ha-ha, very funny.”

“Hey, life with you is an adventure, Alice. With or without magic powers.”

“Let’s hope it stays that way after today,” I say, pushing open the car door before the nerves can glue me to the seat.

Standing beside him as we face the grand double doors, I feel oddly calm. I knock, and the door swings open. Mom and Dad stand there, looking at me with confusion because I knocked, which I’ve never done before.

“Mom, Dad, we need to talk,” I announce, more confident than Ifeel.

Their expressions are a mix of surprise and apprehension.

I turn to Gordy, and he raises his eyebrows at me in question. “Oh, right. Mom, Dad, this is Gordon. Gordy, these are my parents, James and Rose.”

“Nice to meet you,” my parents say in unison. They seem to be taking me bringing home a gorgon well—almosttoowell.

They usher us into the family living room, the one we don’t bring guests to. It’s a comfortable room with a huge wraparound couch that’s the most comfortable thing in the world to take naps on, a fireplace, and a TV screen that could fill in for a movie screen in a cinema.

“Sweetheart, what’s all this about?” Mom asks, her brow furrowed as she looks between Gordy and me. “I thought you ran off to find yourself.”

“It’s about me. About who I really am,” I say, taking a step forward. “I know there’s something you haven’t told me. Is it true? Do I have… abilities?”

The following pause feels like an eternity.

Finally, Dad clears his throat. “Yes, Alice. You do.”

“Oh,” I mutter because nothing else comes to mind at that moment. I’m too stunned for words.

“Your mother and I, we wanted to protect you,” Dad continues, voice heavy with unspoken regret.

“Protect me from what? From being who I am? Clearly,gaslighting your own daughter for decadesisstellar parenting.” The words tumble out, laced with years of confusion, hurt, and frustration.

My mother flinches. “Alice, it wasn’t like that.”

“Oh? Then what was it like, Mom?” I challenge. “I mean, let’s go over the facts: you knew I had magic,chose not to tell me, and instead, let me walk around thinking I was some kind ofhuman disaster magnet?”

My father sighs. “We thought if we didn’t acknowledge it, maybe it would never awaken.”

I blink. “Did you seriously tryignoringmagic out of existence?”

My mother rubs her temples. “Sweetheart, please?—”

“No, no,” I interrupt. “This is great. Next time something goes wrong, I’ll just pretend it didn’t happen andpoof—problem solved.”

Gordy coughs, poorly disguising a laugh.

My father glares at him. “And who exactly areyouin all this?”

Gordy, entirely unbothered, grins. “The guy who’s been helping her withher uncontrolled magicwhile you two werepretending reality doesn’t exist.”

It makes sense now that they didn’t bat an eyelid when I walked through the door with a gorgon. They’ve keptmyheritage from me, so who knows what they’re used to? What they’ve seen?

Mom sighs heavily. “Can we sit down and discuss this? Like a family?”

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