2016, New Salem

Medusa stood in her son's clothing-covered room, the smell was awful. In Deuce's bed were three small-ish dragons and a sleeping Deuce. It was almost noon, Medusa remembered when her son was small she'd kiss him awake. As a teenager she tried to decided between pushing him out of bed or throwing hot, soapy, water. Instead she whistled, waking up the dragons and chasing a rumbling in the sheets.

"Hey, Mom. What's up?" Deuce yawned.

"The sun, hours ago. You've slept half the day away." Medusa said, her heel tapping on the floor.

Deuce put on his sunglasses and checked his phone, "Yeah, personal best."

Medusa raised her sunglasses and pointed to her closed eyes. "Do you know what these are, boy?"

"Laugh lines?" Deuce said, rubbing his dragon, Barbeque, behind the wings.

"Don't be cute. These are wrinkles. I never had wrinkles before I had you. You are draining me, boy, draining me." Medusa said, hands on her face.

Her son picked up the dragon Cassandra and put her before his face. "You still look half-full to me, Maddy."

Medusa made an exasperated noise, the snakes on her head twirling in annoyance. She exhaled and smiled. "Cleo's been waiting downstairs."

Cassandra, Barbeque and Pink Fred scrambled out of the bed as Deuce ran into the bathroom. "Now you tell me!"

"Well I would've told you when she got here but we were having the most delightful conversation about the Trans-Parasitic Partnerships and that chocolate-jello cake you made last week. She agrees with me, it's good but you can do better." Medusa called from outside his bathroom.

"Mom, space." Deuce called with toothpaste in his mouth.

"I'm your mother, we shared a body-"

She heard him start to sing off-key in an attempt to drown her out. Medusa walked downstairs to see Cleo, the mummy princess Deuce was dating, texting on her phone. She raised her bored eyes to ask, "Another cup as we wait, Maddy?"

"Cleo, my sweetheart, I have to love that boy but you can walk off any time." Medusa said, pouring coffee into the mugs.

"He knows when to walk behind me and when besides me, it's rare to find someone that respectful and that shredded in the same package." Cleo said, smirking over her cup rim.

Medusa nodded then saw her son jump over the staircase and land next to Cleo.

"Hey, Babe." Deuce said as he held a hand out for her to grab and stand up.

"Finally, let's go. They've started without out but it's actually still fashionable to be late, see you soon, Maddy." Cleo said as she and Medusa kissed one another's cheek.

Medusa was about to kiss her son's cheek when he dived to grab a bagel, "Later, Moms."

"Deuce, wear a jacket. It's chilly today." Medusa said, holding up a jacket of his.

"It's not that bad." Deuce said.

Cleo shivered against the open door's wind. "Deuce, grab a jacket."

"On it." Deuce took a jacket off a rack, put it on, then put an arm around Cleo. They left Medusa holding the rejected jacket to her heart.

"For her he'll wear new clothes and brush his snakes, I'm lucky if he doesn't leave food on the couch. I don't mean crumbs, I mean bags of snacks and half finished drinks." Medusa said while on a Skullpe chat with her sisters. Stheno was drinking a beer and Euryale was doing yoga. Medusa was typing an academic criticism on the use of Greek architecture for an online magazine; she had more to talk about regarding her son.

"I hear you, sister, they're getting too close. I say we introduce our boy to a new hobby- I think he'd be a marvelous welder." Euryale suggested as she reached for the grass.

Medusa made a choked sound, "Are you teasing me? I want Cleo to move in with us!"

Stheno laughed, Euryale's thin torso filled her frame.

"But, but, but, Medusa!" Euryale fretted.

"Claws off, Yuri, a good taco changes a boy for the better." Stheno said, leaning back in her rocking chair on her porch.

"No, no, no, no, no! It's the end when they find careers and their other-halves. All my girls did, and while yes I adore my grandchildren- my hearts and souls- I miss yelling at my own babies." Euryale explained, her chin in view.

"Euryale, the boy broke my heart when he hit puberty. Now he makes me sick. I'm happiest when I see him with Cleo, he can be her man, at least." Medusa said, biting her lips. "I swear, when I see them sit together it's so easy to imagine a tiny mixture of a person, or three, in the middle."

"They are teenagers!" Euryale tried to counteract.

"Actually despite the bod, Cleo is older than me and I love that!" Medusa said, her snakes grinning.

"Decade-difference isn't that weird these days, Vipey brought a vampire home. It was a girl, and she was extremely polite and old-fashion and asked me for Vipey's hand in marriage. I told her to shut up and ask Vipey herself and she did so now they are." Stheno said, throwing the bottle behind her.

Stheno then heard her sisters' screaming with questions.

"Oh yeah, Vipey's getting married to her boss-girlfriend." Stheno said, then she turned over to ask her old-man, "Hey Ro, where we suppose to start telling people?!"

The yelling from the screen was getting pitchy so Stheno closed the box on the Icoffin4.

At Monster High's Student Disembodied Committee Meeting Cleo was signing papers with her committee members about bringing in more humane traps to catch the bats in the gym ceiling.

"Deuce, do you think I was too hard on Slo Mo?" Cleo asked as they sat in the fold-out chairs.

"I mean, yeah, but he needs a nudge once in a while. And, Babe, you never hold back when push needs shove." Deuce said, hugging her from behind her seat.

"I am a gift to this world, wait a minute." The mummy said as she held up her ringing phone. "Hi Maddy, we- what? What?! OH MY RA! For reals!? Oh yes! Oh really? Well course! No, Maddy you are." Cleo giggled then made kissing noises to her phone.

She grabbed Deuce's arm and dragged him out to the car her Daddy sent to pick her up from school. The guards locked the doors after the couple got inside. "Deuce! Viperine is getting married!" Cleo said, throwing her arms up to touch the car's ceiling.

"Wow, to Veronica? That's amaze-balls." Deuce said, "Wait, as family we should call her Elissabat, right?"

"Yes! She'll be your cousin-in-law! AHHH! But they asked to keep it quiet, they just want a special, secret, modestly small ceremony away from the Booparazzi and only with immediate family." Cleo explained.

Deuce chuckled, "My family is never quiet, believe me. Yo, hold up, be my wedding date?"

"Oh hells yes, I have to be first on this scoop! Spectra will hate me!" Cleo had her most wicked grin on, Deuce thought it made her eyes shimmer.

"Right, and meet my family." Deuce said, pulling her closer by the waist.

Cleo's face went from excited, concerned, shortly worried to warm, hopefilled and excited again. She grabbed Deuce's chin in her hand. "They'd better get ready."