Heaven Sent by Clea Hantman

spun me around on the giant lazy Susan I was standing on, revealing my three least-favorite girls in all of the universe: Tizzie, Alek, and Meg, aka the Furies.
    “What do you three want?” asked my sister, her voice dripping with dislike.
    “We came to call a truce on the eve of your wedding, Thalia,” said Alek, the one I think I hated the most. She had tortured me when we were children, called me names that were inconceivable, embarrassed me in front of all the heavens—she had even made meeat dirt once. Even when it’s fancied up with marshmallows, dirt doesn’t taste good, in case you were wondering.
    “Please accept our apologies for all that kid stuff. We’re adults now; we should act as such,” said Tizzie, her hair a brilliant shade of orange.
    Thing was, I wasn’t an adult. This marriage stuff didn’t change that. And these girls, these girls were definitely not adults. Why, just last week my sister Clio was outside with her beau and she thought she spotted Meg behind a tree. She went and looked behind the tree, but there was no Meg. Only a giant vat of fish heads, which promptly fell on her head. It was a pointless, silly, and mean little trick, the kind only a child plays.
    Adult shmadult.
    “Pretty scarf,” said Era to Alek. Era takes people at their word. So if Alek said she came in peace, Era believed it. She obviously thought she would make nice with a compliment. Me, I’m not convinced so easily.
    “Thank you,” said Alek. “It was a gift fromJason.” " *
    I told you they were up to no good. The Furies knew darn well that Jason was Era’s crush of the month. That was a little jab thrown directly at my sister’s heart. They couldn’t even control themselves for five minutes.
    “Oh, well, it’s beautiful,” said Era, her lip a-quivering.
    “We come with a prewedding gift for you, Thalia,” said Tizzie.
    “Would it be a tiara of poisonous snakes or maybe a bracelet made of sharp shards of glass?” I asked.
    “Thalia!” scolded Lenora. “You apologize at once. They come in peace.”
    Oh, great, they’ve got Lenora hoodwinked.
    “Yes, ma’am. I’m oh, so terribly, ridiculously, apologetically, resolutely sorry, girls,” I said.
    “Enough,” said Lenora through gritted teeth.
    “Look, we come bearing gifts,” said Meg. “An ancient perfume oil from the nether reaches of the deep blue sea. It smells of purple and yellow sea lilies.”
    The perfume she held out to me was in this gorgeous bottle all adorned in glitter and gold. That was one of the cruddiest things about the Furies—they always had the best stuff.
    “Take the gift, Thalia, and thank your visitors,”said Lenora.
    “Yes, ma’am. Thank you, thank you so very much. I will treasure this gift always….”
    The Furies, in unison, said, “You are most welcome,” and then turned on their heels and left.
    “Don’t touch it!” said Polly as soon as they were gone. “It’s got to be a trick.”
    “Oh, you girls are far too suspicious,” said Lenora. “Those young girls are harmless. They came in peace. Let’s have a whiff of that old stuff.”
    “I’m dying to smell it!” said Era, her eyes as wide as they could be.
    “I don’t know. I don’t trust them. Not one bit. Still, that bottle is exquisite looking,” said Polly.
    “I just want to smell it,” said Era. “I’m sure it’s harmless.”
    “No!” screamed Polly and I in unison.
    But Era opened the bottle and nothing came out. No demons, no snakes, no spiders.
    I put my nose to the bottle and took a sniff. Oh. I was taken aback—this was truly the most gorgeous smell I had ever smelled, a smell so fabulously smelly, all I could do was yell at Polly, “Smell!” and with that, I thrust the bottle out to her.
    Polly smelled, and nothing bad happened to her, either. We swooned at the ripeness and plumpness of the perfume. It was, without a doubt, heavenly.
    “Okay, maybe they weren’t up to anything,” said Polly, still smiling from the