Fated (2 page)

"It was nice to meet you. Welcome to San Marino.
"

"Thanks. I’ll call you soon- it would be nice to hang out.
"

I nodded and let Jess pull me out, wondering if Jade felt the same vague familiarity that I did. I was in the loop this time, though, and that was nice.

This cycle was different than any of my others, because my memories had already been unlocked. Normally, I live just like a normal girl until it is time for my cycle to begin, at which time, my Aegis (my handler, of sorts) appears to me and gives me my bloodstone, a powerful stone created just for me. The second I touch it, my memories are unlocked and my cycle begins.

But this time something unusual had happened. Because a mysterious high priest had tried to coerce me into undoing the past, my memories had been unlocked before my cycle even began. My Aegis, Ahmose, and I had to travel back to ancient Egypt in order to, well, save the world.

It had been gut-wrenching. Being back in Alexandria had been amazing. It had been as though I had never left, which was a little odd. But Gavin was there, in the form of Hasani, the commander of Marc Antony’s armies. He was as beautiful as ever, strong and brave with a warrior’s heart.

In every life, he is with me in some form. But in Alexandria, I had known he was going to die and how, which made every single second that we spent together wretchedly painful. I had ultimately managed to allow Fate to unfold as it was meant to, which meant that I had allowed a Roman soldier to run his sword through my soul mate. Hands down, it was the most difficult thing. Ever. In the history of the world.

And here we go again. My Daedal had found her way into my life. Which meant it was time for us to walk her difficult path yet again. I never had any real blueprint for the choices that she was supposed to make, but I had strong innate urges that guided me toward the right decisions. Plus, of course, the bird-shaped birthmark on my wrist throbbed like crazy when we were doing something wrong, sort of like a bad-decision compass.

As we wound our way through the crowded gym back toward the stage, I shook my head to get rid of my dark thoughts. There was no reason to stress about it now. One thing that I had learned after all of these years, was that no good came from worrying. What was meant to happen would happen. What I should do now instead of stressing, was spend every minute that I still had left with Gavin.

He was waiting for me at the base of the stage and I leaned into him, brushing a kiss against his soft lips. He smiled and I felt my knees literally weaken. He winked as I jumped up onto the stage, and I felt my heart crack just a little. He had no idea. He thought everything was fine. Normal. And normal it was not
...
the absolute story of my life.

Jenn started banging the drums and the throngs of people on the dance floor cheered, so I focused my attention on their faces, waiting for my cue to sing. The heat from the lights shone on my bare shoulders and I soaked it in now, while it still felt good. In about fifteen minutes, it would start getting too hot.

Allowing myself to become immersed in the moment, I concentrated on the bass thumping in my chest, tapping my foot to its beat. I could feel Derek’s stare, Tara’s glare and Gavin’s soft gaze. And something else. Scanning the crowd, I searched for whatever it was that was making me feel
...
wrong.

Teachers lined the walls, dutifully supervising the hyped-up student body. Bodies writhed and undulated on the dance floor, stirring the subtle smell of sweat and the heavy scent of perfume. The colored lights flashed and shadows were cast against the walls. There was nothing out of place, nothing out of the ordinary. Everything seemed fine, but it wasn’t. I could feel it.

Jess worked her way next to me and nudged me with her eyebrows raised and I realized that I had missed my cue. She back-tracked and played it again and I lifted the mic, singing into it absently as I continued to examine the room.

Jade stood alone at the back of the gym, moving gently in time with the music. It was painfully obvious that she didn’t know anyone yet, since she was all alone surrounded by a crowd. I hoped she called me soon. She was bound to be lonely without anyone to talk to. She had always been a social butterfly.

Just as I was about to shift my attention, something about the way her eyes were fixated on the curtains lining the wall gave me pause. I peered more closely into the darkness, trying to see what she was staring at through the flashing lights. There was nothing there
...
but suddenly, as she gazed at them, the curtains began fluttering--starting where she was standing and moving down the long wall like a tidal wave. It took me a second to comprehend. She had done that.

I gasped but before I could react, a piercing pain ripped through me, radiating from my wrist. My birthmark throbbed wildly, spreading pain into my arm and quickly traveling throughout the rest of my body. The pain was so intense that I couldn’t breathe. I dropped to my hands and knees, the mic flying from my hand and skittering across the stage. I vaguely recognized the shrill metallic feedback as it slid to a rest against a speaker. People covered their ears in the crowd as Jess ran to me and dropped to her knees beside me.

"Are you okay?
"
she asked frantically. "What’s wrong?
"

I struggled to breathe, trying to force air in past the pain. I couldn’t speak. All I could do was shake my head and wrap my arms around myself as I laid on the floor, gasping for air. It was like a hundred knives were stabbing me, twisting and turning and wrenching.

"Macy, what is it? Do you need an ambulance?
"
Her eyes were flooded with panic as she was shoved out of the way by her sister. Jenn peered into my face worriedly.

"Macy, oh my God. Are you alright?
"
Jenn turned to the audience and screamed,

"Someone call an ambulance!
"

Gavin jumped onto the stage and sprinted to where I was lying. He dropped to the floor and picked up my hand as he loomed over me.

"Macy, look at me,
"
he commanded. "Please, sweetheart, breathe. It’s okay.
"

And I realized with a start that I still wasn’t breathing. The pain wracking my body was preventing me from drawing a breath. I was still gasping like a fish out of water. And just when I thought it couldn’t get worse, the pain spread to my temple, exploding into a million shards of light.

My last conscious thought was hearing my own scream.

When I opened my eyes, the lights were blinding. Loud noises and rushed voices swirled around me and I squeezed my eyes closed again to shut out the dizziness.

"Macy?
"
A strange male voice asked. "Can you hear me? Squeeze my hand.
"

I squeezed his hand, but didn’t open my eyes.

"She’s responding to commands!
"
the stranger yelled. Suddenly, my right eye was wrenched open and a light shone into it. Then the left.

"Her pupils are equal and reactive to light!
"
he announced.

Something firm was strapped around my neck and I couldn’t move my head. But I kept my eyes closed. My insides were on fire, a burning, gut-wrenching pain. If I just kept my eyes closed, I could focus on staying conscious. If I opened them, I might fade away. The pain was that intense.

And then I was moving. Someone was rolling me on a stretcher. It was a jolting ride.

Every time they hit a bump, my insides screamed. Where was all this pain coming from? I’d never felt anything like it. Appendicitis, maybe?

All of a sudden, I dropped down as they unlocked the legs of the stretcher and then I was lifted back up manually. I opened my eyes.

The night sky yawned over my head, huge and black. Twinkling bright stars winked at me from the darkness and I stared silently at them, trying to focus on anything other than the blinding pain. I was still at the school in the parking lot. And they were lifting me into an ambulance. I could hear Jenn’s nervous voice and I summoned the strength to speak.

"Wait,
"
I murmured. No one heard me in the melee. "Wait!
"
I croaked louder. Everyone paused and the man in charge looked at me.

"Where’s Hasani?
"

Everyone looked around in confusion and I realized my mistake.
Oh, god no.
My thoughts were so jumbled that I had called my boyfriend by a two-thousand year old name. I rushed to fix it.

"I meant Gavin. Where’s Gavin?
"

Gavin stepped into my line of sight and laid his hand on my arm. I focused on his face, which was calm in the midst of the swarming chaos around me. The familiar warm presence of his hand on my skin was calming.

"I’m right here, Macy,
"
he answered quietly. "I wouldn’t be anywhere else. I’m going to follow the ambulance and call your mom, okay? You’re going to be alright. Do you understand?
"

I wasn’t sure if that was a directive or meant to be soothing but I nodded as best I could with the neck brace on. I felt his hand slip away from my arm and I wanted to protest, but I couldn’t. He was gone and I couldn’t see him anymore. They hoisted me into the ambulance and slammed the doors shut. A female EMT knelt beside me, cleaning my arm for an IV and talking to me in a soothing voice.

As I stared into her face, it morphed into the dark scary face of Annen, the high priest who had caused me so much trouble in Egypt. As the EMT murmured, all I could see were Annen’s jagged teeth and I gasped, shrinking back into the stretcher. Just as soon as the sound came out of my mouth, though, her face returned to normal. Blonde hair, blue eyes, freckles on her nose.

White teeth. Not the face of the high priest. She stared at me in concern.

"Are you alright?
"
she asked, with medical crispness. "Here, this will make you feel better.
"

She injected something into the IV and the walls of the ambulance got blurry as warmth spread quickly throughout my body. I closed my eyes.

* * *

I was suddenly standing in front of three women. And my pain was gone. The room we were in was cavernous and plain with white mist hugging the ceiling and swirling around our feet, clinging to my skin. I had no idea where I was and my disorientation only grew. There were no windows and I could see no doors, yet there was clearly a breeze blowing through, disturbing the strange white mist. It was curious. And I had no idea how I had gotten here.

But no sooner did I even have the thought than I realized that I must be dreamwalking. This entire place was real, but it was appearing to me in a dream. It was disorienting.

The three women in front of me were sitting at a massive white marble table, each in an ornate carved chair. The woman sitting in the middle was glaring at me sternly, her thin lips pinched together tightly. Her skin was like parchment and I could easily see the blue veins in her hands and temple. Her pitch-black hair flowed to her waist, like an ebony river, pooling in her lap.

The woman to her right was small, very small. She had mousy brown hair, light brown eyes and a soft, heart-shaped face. She wasn’t pretty, but she wasn’t ugly, either. She was watching me sympathetically, her eyes liquid and soft, but something about her put me instantly on edge. Looking at her, I felt like I should feel comfortable, but it was exactly the opposite. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end.

And I knew the woman on the left. White blonde hair, ice blue eyes, skin so pale it was almost transparent. She was scowling at me. It was Lachesis. The middle sister of the Fates and the only one I actually had previous interactions with.

I was face to face with the three Moirae sisters. I gulped. This couldn’t be good. Usually the Aegis stood in front of them and carried their wishes to the Keepers. I had never been summoned. Until now.

I took a step forward.

"Stay where you are,
"
the woman in the middle commanded. "If I want you to come closer, I’ll let you know.
"

She was clearly in charge which meant she must be Clothos. And that left the mousy little one to be Atropos. The one who controlled death itself. No wonder I felt uneasy. She was called The Unavoidable. And I suddenly realized what the mist was. It was my life force.

Whenever any mortal was in the near vicinity of Atropos, their life force becomes visible. If she chose, she could inhale it which would kill me instantly. My foot faltered as I instantly stepped back and stood still.

A small smile lingered on her lips and I wondered briefly if she could read minds like Lachesis could.

"Yes, I can,
"
she confirmed in a soft voice. Everything about her was so delicate and feminine, it was hard to believe that she could wield death with a mere whim. I cringed.

"Don’t worry, little one,
"
she assured me. "It isn’t your time yet. I have no wish to harm you.
"
Clothos scowled.

"Speak for yourself, sister. I myself am quite agitated with her.
"

My head snapped up. What in the world had I done? I rattled through every possible thing that could have offended them, but came up empty.

"Now, now, sister,
"
Lachesis said smoothly. "This situation isn’t Macy’s fault. That is your name in this life, is it not?
"
She stared at me coolly. She knew that it was. I nodded.

"You need to know that the Keres are gathering around you.
"
Clothos explained, in the least gentle tone I’d ever heard. "Things are about to change, in a way so enormous, it is hard to comprehend.
"
She sounded slightly excited about that last part, which seemed odd.

My confusion grew. I vaguely remembered Annen saying something about the Keres when I was in Alexandria. It was right after I had saved Hasani when he died saving my life.

What had Annen said?
The Keres won’t stand for this, Lachesis. I will try again and next time, I will
not fail.
Afterward, I had asked Ahmose who the Keres were, and he had replied that it wasn’t time for me to know.

I was guessing it was time now.

"And you would be correct,
"
Lachesis nodded. I sincerely hated the whole mind-reading thing. Nothing was private from them.

"The Keres are our sisters. Our youngest sisters. They used to work with us, or rather, for us. They carried out the punishments of those who earned the worst deaths. But many years ago, they rebelled. They have been working against us ever since.
"

I stared at Lachesis, trying to make sense of what she had just said. If the Keres had carried out the worst punishments possible then they must be very scary people. At my thought, I saw Lachesis’ lip curl slightly.

"Yes,
"
she confirmed. "Our sisters shouldn’t be taken lightly. They are fairly heartless.
"

Well, I suppose years of carrying out heinous executions would do that to someone. I tried to stop my imagination from running away with me, from trying to picture what they looked like and from wondering what these scary creatures wanted with me.

"So, the Keres have rebelled against you? What do they want?
"

"Oh, who knows?
"
Clothos asked airily, waving her hand. "They wanted their independence and then they wanted to be seen as important in their own right and now
...
who knows? They are deluded. That much is certain.
"

She stared harshly at me.

"And they are inordinately interested in you, Keeper. Do you wonder why?
"

I met her stare and tried not to flinch. Her eyes were as black as night.

"I don’t know, Clothos. I didn’t even know they existed until recently.
"

She cocked her head and examined me, probably rifling through my stored memories.

Oddly, I felt nothing. Not even a tickle as she probed deep into my brain. After a few minutes, she nodded.

"Very well. I believe that you know nothing. But that doesn’t mean that there is nothing to know. Your Daedal has always been of integral importance and it is truer now than ever. This time, she really does have the power to change everything. All will be revealed to you when the time is right. Until then, be on your guard, Keeper.
"

The Moirae suddenly started fading away, becoming more distant and more distant from me, until I could no longer see them. The mist swirled around me, clinging to my arms, legs and face and suddenly everything around me was consumed by the wispy whiteness.

And then there was nothing.