“Thalia?”
I blinked my eyes, which were extremely out of focus for some reason. I took a few seconds to reorient myself. I was in our throne room on Parnassus, propped up in my own throne. It was the middle of the day. Bright sunlight contributed to my visual complications. Too much light for the throne room. Which used to have a roof. I was aware of people crowded around me, mostly sisters, maybe Aphrodite, too.
And Apollo. The voice was his. The hands on my shoulders, holding me upright in my throne, were his. The face full of both concern and relief was his.
“What happened?” I asked. My voice was groggy. My mouth was parched.
“Do you know where you are?” I recognized Calliope’s voice. She was home! Artemis must’ve brought her back along with Leto.
“Parnassus,” I said.
“Do you know who you are?” asked Apollo.
For the first time in almost a thousand years, I knew exactly who I was. I was dying to ask Calliope all about leading our sisters to the mind archive, and what the rest of them had experienced after turning their keys. But now wasn’t the time, so I simply said, “I’m Thalia. Calliope, do you remember, too?”
“Shhh, take it easy,” Calliope soothed as she stroked my arm. “You’ve had a rough couple of days.” I accepted her answer for the time being. We could catch each other up later.
“Right, she’s had a rough couple of days,” I heard a derisive snort behind the wall of Muses.
“Beroe,” I said, craning around my sisters to locate the source of the voice. “Are you okay?”
“All here,” said Beroe. “Well, almost all,” she grinned as she held up her right arm. The stump was healed over, but it looked like the hand was gone for good.
“I’m so sorry,” I said “It’s all my fault.”
“No, it isn’t,” said Beroe. “Hephaestus explained everything. The wine didn’t work because Poseidon was under my enchantment when he drank it. I still don’t know how he got unenchanted. Or Dionysus. But, for whatever reason, it looks like my marriage of convenience is going to be pretty convenient after all.”
“Where’s Hera?” I asked, deciding now wasn’t the time to claim credit. I had all of eternity for that.
“She should be waking up any time now,” said Apollo. “Athena and Artemis took her back to Helicon. I don’t know how she’s going to react when she remembers Zeus throwing her out, but I’m sure Athena has a plan for every possible contingency.”
“What about everyone else?” I said.
“Zeus welcomed the rest of the Twelve back to Olympus after they pleaded for his pardon and swore allegiance to Leto,” said Calliope.
“Even Dionysus,” said Beroe. “He just had to promise he’d never bring his wife there, which is more than fine with me.”
“What about Hephaestus?” I said.
“He and Hera don’t have that great of a history,” said Aglaea. “It wasn’t hard to convince anyone that he’d ally with Leto over her.”
“And your family?” I said.
“I got Asclepius, Epione, and the rest of their children to a constellation,” said Apollo. “For their safety, I can’t tell anyone, even you, which one.”
“Good,” I nodded. “So. Our house is destroyed, Beroe’s missing a hand, who knows when your son and his family can come back to Earth, Ixion’s stuck to a burning wheel in the sky, and Hera is probably out for blood, but hey, at least Zeus lived happily ever after.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure,” said Apollo.
“I’m trying really hard to avoid a ‘your mom’ comeback right now, but I may not have the strength to resist,” I said.
“I’d expect nothing less,” said Apollo, “though I should remind you that my mother is a sleeper agent waiting to turn on Zeus the moment Athena gives the word. But that isn’t what I meant. There’s a reason Zeus forgave everyone so easily and is making such a fuss over his new queen.”
“And that is?” I said.
“He’s hoping no one figures out that he used his last lightning bolt yesterday.”
I grabbed Apollo and kissed him for all I was worth. He pulled me to my feet, kissing me back. I was vaguely aware of a chorus of sisterly squeals, but I didn’t care. In that moment, I felt certain that Apollo was mine and I was his. Nothing could take that from me. Nothing could spoil this perfect moment. Nothing.
“Oh,” said Beroe, “and there’s more good news! Mom, you want to tell them or can I?”
“Do I not know this either?” said Apollo.
“We wanted to wait until Thalia woke up so we could tell you two together,” Aphrodite smiled.
“Our family’s back together!” said Beroe.
Into our midst appeared a figure and face I hadn’t seen for years. One I had once hoped never to see alive again. One who had been responsible for what, after all the events of the last week, I still considered the most miserable summer of my life.
“Adonis.”
Thalia's Musings 
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You, you you , i just have no words
I mean _______ is back and the thing with hera and leto and apollo and gah, you’re almost worst than steve moffat and joss whedon,
you broke my little shipper heart and made my OTP even more miserable
This cliffhanger is even worse that the one at the end of the mark of athena
you deserve a newberry or whatever they give author
” gah, you’re almost worst than steve moffat and joss whedon,”
This comment made my life.
Awesome ending! I can’t wait for the next volume. Now if you excuse me I’m going to find a dark corner and go into withdrawal until it comes back
Thanks! Hopefully the wait won’t be too long B-)
That was incredible, as always. Also can I join in the Muses’ sisterly squeal ?
You may ^_^ And thank you!
I just finished the entire series
I love your take on greek mythology and the characterization of the gods.( Hephaestus is my favorite)
I too enjoy writing about greek myths. If you have time PLZ check out my webcomic God Games
http://godgames.webcomic.ws
It pales in comparison to your story but I put my heart and soul into it.
Thanks can’t wait for volume 4
Hi! I love Greek myths as well, and have been a lurker in your site for a while.
Please, keep doing what you’re doing, I can tell it is a labor of love and I enjoyed reading, even going so far as twice. I can’t wait to see what misadventures await Thalia, Apollo, the rest of the Muses, and the Olympians in general. (Secretly I’m hoping Apollo breaks off for good with Adonis.)
I’ve just binge read your series over the past few days and I am astounded. I’ve always loved Greek mythology, and I’ve read and watched many things based on the myths. Yours is the best by far. You’ve combined the strangeness and creativity of the original myths with complex and human (well, maybe not technically human) personality and motive. Never whilst reading this have I felt irritation at common mythstakes, (see what I did there??? :p) and I have been amazed at how your reinterpretations and your own original aspects feel so natural. You combine drama and tragedy and epicness and romance together beautifully-with a massive helping of comedy! If anyone has been blessed by Muses it’s you.
Thank you so much! Comments like this are everything to me ^_^
I’ve been doing a binge reread myself (and reccing the series to a bunch of friends since it’s the holidays) and honestly this is one of those books that gets better every reread. Still holding out hope for volume four someday!
Just the level of respect you have for all of your characters, and your willingness to drop anvils where necessary. TM is seriously one of my favorite series for that alone, and your incredible gift for plotting and slow-burn character development just tips the scales even more in its favor.
Thank you so much! It means a lot to know that people are still revisiting the series and recommending it to others. There is definitely going to be a Volume 4. I wish I could give you something more concrete than “It’s going to happen,” but it is. Also, thanks for the comment on slow burn character development. I love that kind of thing in other works, so it’s cool knowing people appreciate it in mine.
So I spent most of December binge reading your novel and I gotta say, it was worth every moment. Your style has only improved with time, and your ability to weave together disparate threads of mythology is phenomenal. I absolutely adore this series and I can’t wait for a volume 4!
I’ve been checking for updates ever since the election. Right now, I feel like I need a story about the downfall of a leader who thinks he’s entitled to do whatever he wants to women.
Totally feel you on that 😦 I’m working on a blog post about exactly where I am with TM4.
New here I finished it just recently….if epic comedy is possible this is it and many thanks for the wild ride that is your story.
Thank you! It makes me happy to know people are still discovering Thalia’s Musings ^_^
I have, for the third, possibly fourth time, read through this series. Just as fine as the first time I read it, and more relevant than ever. That being said, (and I know that you’ve been having health problems on a truly unfortunate scale, so this honestly is not the admonition that it appears to be), it seriously pains me that it has been such a long wait for the ending. This is literally the worst cliffhanger tease I’ve ever experienced.
Thank you so much! It’s encouraging to know people are still coming back 😊
this is the cliffhanger of all cliffhangers and i can’t believe you’d be cruel enough to leave us hanging here 😵😵😵
seriously though, i love this series a lot and thank you so much for writing it! the memorable (and complicated!) characters, the intricate plot and the interweaving sub-plots, the tension and chemistry between all your characters, their unique relationships with each other, the way they all grow and change as time passes – i feel like i’ve been on an adventure with them and it only got better the second time around!
i also love how you take myths and tweak/combine them to fit your story. (i especially thought the way Semele died here was quite clever, considering how she died in the original myth.)
another thing i really like is how a lot of your characters react differently (and realistically!) to the trauma they experience. Hera acting as she does, the way Artemis blocks out and is super hostile whenver anything remotely romantic is suggested, Apollo’s….entire romantic history – they’re all different ways of reacting to the shit Zeus put them through but they all unmistakably bear the mark of what he’s done.
overall, this series is INSANELY funny, has gripping characters with great chemistry, and amazing writing. thanks for the adventure!