Fated (9 page)

"You had so much promise, Harmonia, yet you’ve disappointed us so greatly.
"

She turned slowly in her seat and I sucked my breath in.

She was ancient. Her wrinkles were deep and creviced, her eyes faded. She lifted a gnarled finger and motioned for me to come closer. Once upon a time, she had appeared as a beautiful woman to me, because she hadn’t wished to scare me. Apparently, that was no longer her concern.

I swallowed hard and walked to her, having no idea at what was to come.

Clothos and Atropos stared on silently, each as terrifying as Lachesis. As I got closer to Atropos, my life force began to appear around me, clinging to my body. She leaned forward and inhaled just a little, as though she was sampling it. It wafted toward her like a magnet and she sucked at it a little, then blew it back at me. I tried not to hyperventilate. With a single breath, she could kill me.

She grinned a toothless grin at me and I shuddered.

"Sister,
"
Clothos cautioned, and Atropos sat back in her seat. She looked disappointed that her fun had been thwarted.

"You are a thorn in my side,
"
Clothos reprimanded me. "You have one duty and one duty only now. To protect your Daedal. Yet she’s been threatened on your watch. Your Aegis has been punished in your stead. And you have been granted a new one. Don’t abuse it this time.
"

Her faded blue eyes appraised me and I squirmed, then summoned my inner feistiness.

"Clothos, please explain what is going on. Where is Zeus? Where are my parents? You have much to explain.
"

She laughed, condescending and amused at once.

"As if you can demand that, Keeper. You can no longer command as a goddess, have you not noticed? Look around you. Olympus belongs to us. Which means you do, as well. Behave and we will spare Cadmus.
"

Cadmus.
Gavin.
My heart lurched in my chest and I tried to show no outward signs of alarm, but they could read me like a book. They had access to my thoughts and Clothos could taste my emotions, yet another gift. She licked her lips and swallowed.

"Terror is so delicious,
"
she remarked. "You’re disappointingly predictable, Harmonia.

All these years and you would still risk everything for him. Tsk,tsk. Your father would be ashamed.
"

"Where
is
my father?
"
I inquired politely, trying to keep my voice steady.

"Not here,
"
she replied mysteriously. "Ares can’t help you.
"

"What is your obsession with my Daedal? Why is she so important?
"
I asked. "Surely, if I am to protect her, you should tell me why she is important. It would help.
"

They seemed to consider it for a moment before Lachesis replied.

"She possesses a
...
gift. It is in the best interest of mortals to discover this gift.
"

"Is it the Keres who want to stop that?
"
I asked.

"Yes. It is the Keres. You love your precious humans so much that you should want to help them, no?
"
Atropos asked. "The Keres want to kill your Daedal. You must prevent that.
"

"What is her gift?
"

"That will be revealed in due time, Keeper,
"
Lachesis said. "It is not of your concern at the moment.
"

"She can heal
...
very quickly. Is that her gift? Why would the Keres want to kill her for that reason? It doesn’t make sense.
"

"Surely you are not questioning us,
"
Clothos inquired steadily.

"No. I am just trying to figure it out.
"

Clothos laughed, a chilling sound.

"Harmonia, you’ve never changed. You see the very best in people, not what they are actually capable of.
"

Her mention of my name reminded me of a more important issue to press.

"Clothos, why have I been rendered mortal? Where is everyone else? How have you managed to do this?
"

All three sisters cackled at that, their ancient faces twisted and ugly. I flinched.

"Do we repulse you?
"
Atropos asked, sitting forward in her chair. She seemed eager and I instantly shook my head.

"No, of course not. I’m just confused. That is all. Why have you done this?
"

Clothos sobered and stared at me. "You’ve never known what it is like to have a father who doesn’t claim you. You were a bastard daughter yet Ares proudly claimed you as his. Our own father never publicly announced us, even though we were so valuable to him. He only loved us for our gifts.
"

"I’m sure that Zeus meant no harm
..."
I began, but she interrupted sharply.

"He meant exactly what he did, to shun us for centuries. He has gotten his just desserts.
"

I swallowed, stared at the bitter women and then swallowed again. How did one go about arguing with insanity?

"But what about everyone else?
"
I asked. "What did they do to deserve this?
"

"Mainly nothing,
"
Lachesis shrugged. "But no one ever stepped in. For instance, Hera could have easily insisted to her husband that he do the right thing, but she did not.
"

"But it is no one else’s fault,
"
I protested. "I’m sure they meant no harm.
"

"As do we. We mean no harm. They’re all being taught a valuable lesson. Humility. They need to realize that they are not as important as they think.
"

"Where are they?
"
I asked again, hoping that they might change their minds and tell me.

But no such luck. Atropos was already shaking her ancient head.

"No, dear Keeper. That shall remain our secret for now.
"

Clothos turned back to me, her faded eyes becoming fierce. My stomach tightened.

"You need to concern yourself with guarding your Daedal. Make sure that the Keres do not get close to her. If they do
..."
she stopped speaking as Atropos leaned forward, inhaling ever so gently against my life force. It pulled toward her slightly and I took a step back. She laughed, a malevolent, eerie sound.

"If they do, I’ll let Atropos finish,
"
Clothos confirmed.

I nodded.

"I’ve come to love my Daedal,
"
I replied. "Of course I wish no harm to come to her, so I will do my best to guard her. Can you tell me
...
. When will you allow the other gods to return home?
"
My gaze swept below the palace toward the ravaged streets of Olympus before I returned my attention to the Fates.

"They deserve to come home, sisters.
"

Lachesis cocked her head, her white hair curled around her thin shoulders.

"That will probably never happen, but I should probably never say never,
"
she replied cryptically. She smiled, amused at her own vagueness.

"Harmonia, this situation is unlike anything you’ve seen before. You will need to take on the role of protector, which will require you to use your gifts. Harmonia’s gifts. That is the reason you were called here today. You have drunk from the cup, which has returned your gifts to you. For now. Over the coming days, you’ll feel
...
more yourself. Use caution,
"
she instructed.

I nodded. It was true. I already felt different than before. I felt
...
awake. That was the best way to put it. I felt as though I had been asleep before and now I had been awakened.

Something that I couldn’t explain pulsed through my veins and it both alarmed me and excited me. It felt as though I was home. Because I was.

"Yes,
"
I agreed. "I will use caution.
"

"Do your job well, and we will consider allowing your parents to return,
"
Clothos mentioned casually and I startled. I knew she was lying, but the knowledge that whatever Jade was was so important that she would bother to lie was alarming. What in the hell
was
she?

"That will be all,
"
Clothos dismissed me and they all promptly turned their backs on me again. I stood uncertainly until Alexi grasped my elbow once more and led me back out through the palace.

As we passed Hephaestus, I glanced over my shoulder to find him staring at me. His eyes were pensive and soulful and I wondered what he was thinking. Did he think I could help?

And why would I want to help him anyway, after he had tried to curse me for all of eternity?

Yet, I couldn’t help but admit that I felt sorry for him. His great shoulders slumped and he sat once more next to the post he was chained to.

We stopped directly before the massive gates at the small golden table. Alexi motioned toward the basket of blue blossoms.

"You must eat one,
"
he instructed.

I stared at him suspiciously. "Why? What are they? The bones of the unforgiven?
"

"Don’t be silly,
"
he replied. "They are simply Lotus Blossoms
...
one of the many forms of ambrosia. You must eat one to return to the mortal world.
"

I stared at him once more before approaching the basket hesitantly. As I drew nearer, just as the nectar had lured me in with its delicious smell, so too did the blossoms. Their sweet smell drifted to me on the breeze and it was almost hypnotic. I knelt by the basket and pulled one out with trembling fingers, raising the fragrant flower to my lips. I ate it quickly, savoring the rich flavor. It was the most delicious thing I had ever eaten.

I felt slightly woozy as I stood and faced Alexi.

"Now what?
"

He took my arm and we strolled out, the falcons above us strangely quiet as they observed us. As soon as we stepped from the gates, they swung closed with a metallic clang. We were once again surrounded by clouds, but through them, I saw that we were standing on a steep precipice. I could see the ground hundreds of miles below us. I inhaled sharply as I turned to Alexi.

"How do we get back?
"

"Like this,
"
he replied. He grasped my arm yet again and we stepped from the edge.

And I was in my bed. I had no recollection of falling from the edge of Mount Olympus at all. I simply stepped from the edge and then suddenly, I was here
...
in the dark safety of my room. Alexi was gone.

I glanced at my clock. 3:00 a.m. My breaths were shaky and nervous and I consciously tried to still them. Reaching for my bed stand, I grabbed my phone.

Gavin would be asleep, but I needed to tell him that I loved him. More than ever, I realized that it had always been him. He had always been the most important thing. My fingers flew as I typed the text.

I love you more than life.

When he woke up in the morning, he would wonder why I had sent him such a sentimental text at 3:00 in the morning. Honestly, I just needed to be close to him. This all seemed like a horrible dream. I clasped my phone to my chest and closed my eyes, willing myself to sleep.

I woke to persistent whining and opened my eyes. Early morning light streamed through my bedroom windows and I blinked, trying to place the noise that had woken me. It whined again.

I glanced down and found Hamlet cowering next to me, trying to crawl under my bed. He was too large, so only his head was buried beneath my bed frame. His entire body was shaking as he whimpered. I reached down and patted him.

"What’s the trouble, Hammie?
"
I murmured, trying to soothe him as I forced myself to wake up.

He whimpered again.

And the house started to shake. Right in front of my eyes, my bedroom walls seemed to flex, then tremble as my bed lurched. I could hear glass breaking somewhere else in the house and Hamlet gave up trying to get under my bed and instead lunged into bed with me. My bedside table vibrated away from the bed, the lamp crashing to the floor.

The drawers on my tall dresser slid out, the weight causing the entire dresser to tumble over. Every one of the glass globes that my dad had been giving me for years flew off. I watched one shatter against the wall, the glittery liquid inside running down in streaks.

After a moment, the heavy rumbling stopped, leaving behind only sporadic quivers.

Aftershocks. I took a deep breath, rubbing Hammie’s soft ears.

"It’s okay, boy,
"
I consoled him. "It’s over now. We should be used to this.
"
But we weren’t. It was always startling.

My mom barged into my room, stepping around my fallen dresser and eyeing the damage.

"Are you okay?
"
she asked nervously. "God, I hate those things.
"

"Me too,
"
I agreed. "But I’m fine. My snowglobes are all broken though.
"

She knelt down and surveyed the mess as I untwisted myself from my blankets and the dog.

"Not this one!
"

She held up one lone survivor. A delicate globe that my father had brought me from a business trip to New York. The statue of Liberty stood proudly in the middle, holding up her torch. I had gotten it when I was eight, back when my dad was still my hero.

I crossed the room and took it from her, sitting on the edge of my bed. She sat beside me, wrapping her arm around my shoulders. I leaned my head against her, inhaling her familiar perfume.

"Speaking of your father, honey, I’ve been trying to get a hold of him. I have a dentistry conference this weekend and I wanted you to spend the weekend at his house. But he hasn’t returned my calls yet. Maybe he’s out of the country on business.
"

Or maybe he just doesn’t give a fig, I thought. But I didn’t say it. It pained my mother to no end that he had lost all interest in me. And it pained me too. I couldn’t figure out if it bothered him so much that he wasn’t a big part of my life anymore and so he just didn’t want to remind himself of that by hearing the details of my life, or if he actually just didn’t care.

Surprisingly, even with Harmonia’s memories returned to me, my mortal memories still bothered me. My mortal father could still cause me pain. Curious. I turned to my mother.

"Mom, seriously, that’s not necessary. I’m 17 years old. I’m perfectly capable of staying by myself for the weekend.
"
Seventeen going on two thousand. Too bad I couldn’t mention that.

"I know,
"
she sighed. "And it’s not that I don’t trust you. It’s just that I worry. What if there’s another earthquake?
"
She looked around my dismantled room. "I don’t want you home alone in that case.
"

"Mom, I’ll be fine. I wasn’t even scared. Honestly.
"

"Hmm. Okay, maybe,
"
she murmured. "And maybe is a maybe, not a yes.
"

I smiled. "Okay. Maybe.
"

"I don’t think you should go to school today,
"
she announced as the room shuddered once again with an aftershock. "It would make me more comfortable to have you at home. And besides, you have a mess to clean up.
"

I looked around. That was an understatement. It looked like a train had hit my room.

And from somewhere amid the chaos, I could hear the muffled ring of my phone. I knew it was Gavin, calling to check on me, so I scrambled around trying to find it. My mom pulled it out from under my broken lamp and handed it to me.

"I’m going to get ready for work,
"
she said. "Have a great day. I’ll call you later.
"

I nodded as I answered my phone.

"Are you alright?
"
Gavin asked, not bothering to even say hello. I smiled at his obvious concern.

"Yes, I’m fine. My room is trashed though. How about you?
"

"I’m fine. My room’s fine. You know
..."
his voice turned suggestive and I could practically see him waggling his dark eyebrows. "If you need someplace to sleep, my bed’s available.
"

I laughed. "Right. Your mom would love that.
"

"Minor hurdle,
"
he replied with a grin.

I knew he was grinning. I could hear it. I absolutely loved his smile. It was the sexiest thing on earth. Thoughts of how we had spent so many afternoons in Cleopatra’s palace in Alexandria invaded my thoughts and distracted me. I could still practically feel the taste of his lips and the feel of his rock-hard muscles beneath my fingers. This wasn’t helping.
I forced my thoughts away from the pleasurable ones with a sigh.

"Speaking of moms, mine doesn’t want me to go to school today, so you don’t need to come pick me up. I’ve got to stay here and clean up this mess.
"

As I spoke I looked around and groaned. What a disaster. My fingers itched to pick it up right now. The clean freak in me was about to emerge with a vengeance.

"Hmm. Staying home, huh? Need some help?
"
Gavin’s husky voice was hopeful and oh-so-sexy and I felt myself waver. Then I thought the better of it.

"I’m thinking that if you came over, I wouldn’t get anything done.
"

"Well, you would, but it wouldn’t help your room,
"
he conceded. "But I miss you. I need to see you today. Want to grab some dinner tonight?
"

"Absolutely,
"
I replied. "Just not that Italian place.
"

"Agreed,
"
he replied. "No arguments there. I’ll come by after school. I love you.
"

"I love you too.
"

"By the way
...
thanks for the late night text. What’s up with that?
"

I knew he would ask.

"I don’t know. I just couldn’t sleep and I wanted to be close to you.
"

"Hmm. Okay. Well, I love you more than life, too. Now get some work done and I’ll see you soon.
"

I sighed as I hung up the phone. I loved everything about him. His face, his voice, his sweet soul. It was astounding that the millennia hadn’t changed him a bit. I briefly wondered if it had changed me, as I stooped to pick up the clothes that had scattered from my drawers.

As I moved, my bloodstone swung away from me and clanged into my dresser. I clutched it and tucked it back into my nightgown. I focused very hard on trying to remember the detail surrounding it, but my memories of it were murky and I knew that was how the Moirae wanted it.

The bloodstone was powerful, so they didn’t want me to be able to harness that power. Yet somehow, I had a sneaking suspicion that my necklace, the necklace in the legends, was tied to my bloodstone in some way. I could just feel it.

I stared at the pile of dripping glass heaped in the middle of my floor and sighed yet again.

What a mess. I so wished that it was already cleaned up. I needed to make a research trip to the library and I didn’t want to waste hours cleaning up earthquake debris.

Within the breadth of one second, before I had barely even finished my thought, the glass was gone. The wetness that had saturated my carpet was completely dry, not a spot, not a stain. I gasped.

How had I done that? I glanced around my room and saw the shattered pieces of glass in my wastebasket next to my desk. What the heck? I had briefly pictured my floor as the clean area that it had been- and all of a sudden, it became that way. Ho-ly crap.

My gifts. Harmonia’s gifts. They were coming back to me.

I focused hard on the rest of my room, picturing my dresser upright and my clothes neatly folded within its drawers. It instantly became so. It didn’t happen in front of me in a blur of motion, it was just
...
there. One moment it was a mess, the next moment it was clean, as though it had always been that way. I swallowed. What else could I do that I hadn’t remembered yet?

It was both an exciting and a petrifying thought.

I wished that the Moirae had allowed my memories to come fully back to me. I could remember bits and pieces of my life as a goddess, but nothing very cohesive or concrete. Just brief flashes. Gavin as Cadmus
...
his voice, his smile. It was the same. His touch on my back, his kiss on my neck. I could remember those things. I could remember scant flashes of life on Olympus, but no details. It was frustrating.

Regardless, I needed to put that out of my mind and focus on the present. I needed to learn more about the necklace of the legends
...
Harmonia’s Necklace.

I grabbed some clothes and ducked into my bathroom, stopping short in front of the mirror in awe. My face had indeed transformed. It was subtle, not something you would be able to put your finger on. It was more like a vague radiance. My face had gotten thinner and more elegant, losing the baby fat that I had still been carrying in my cheeks. My vivid eyes remained the same. I turned from my reflection, yanking my hair into a ponytail before I grabbed my car keys.

I was at the library 10 minutes later.

As I walked through the hushed halls, I felt as though I was being watched. It was unnerving because every time I turned around, there was no one there. No one seemed bothered by the earthquake from this morning. I passed a few racks of books that had been disturbed, but library aides were busily re-shelving them. Apparently, there hadn’t been any real damage.

I passed the coffee bar, inhaling the rich scent of roasted fresh coffee beans before I entered the main hall. I loved this library. It felt elegant and familiar with its dark wood panels and cozy lamps. I had been coming here since I was a kid. As I turned the corner, though, a hushed murmuring enveloped me
...
vague whispers. I whirled around, but there was no one there.

And no one around me seemed as though they could hear it. I continued on to a tiny reading nook, trying to ignore the voices.

Dropping my stuff into a chair, I punched "Harmonia’s Necklace
"
into the nearest resource computer. A plethora of book choices popped up and I scribbled them all down. I spent the next five minutes filling my arms with books on mythology and then settled myself into an overstuffed leather chair to pore through them.

There were conflicting stories. Some said that no descriptions of the necklace were available, while others said that it was a two-headed serpent. And while I couldn’t conclusively rule that out, it didn’t feel right. I didn’t think it had been a snake.

I kept reading, filing each bit of information away as I read, but nothing was earth-shattering. It was all stuff that I already knew. My step-father had created a necklace to gain revenge on my mother for her infidelity. Unfortunately for me, he gave me the necklace, not my mother. So not fair. I was supposed to be cursed for all of eternity because of my mother’s actions. What the books didn’t contain though, was the fact that Zeus had contributed his own blood in order to make my necklace so powerful. The idea of how powerful it really was was alarming.

I fingered my bloodstone. With each breath I took, I was more and more convinced that somehow, the bloodstones
were
Harmonia’s Necklace. The Fates must have somehow managed to use the one stone from my necklace to create more necklaces, one for each Keeper and one for each of the Fates. Hephaestus could have done that for them- he was the blacksmith to the gods. He could create anything which might be why they kept him chained to their door.

And realization fell on me like a ton of bricks.
Of course.
They kept Hephaestus near because they needed him. My necklace had been tied to me, which must have been the reason that they had chosen me to be a Keeper. They needed its power, but in order for them to access it, I still needed to have possession of it in some form. They needed me.

I remembered Lachesis’ words when I was in Alexandria, right after I had lost my bloodstone.
The bloodstones were made from one stone. One. When one is lost, we all suffer…Our
power as a whole should not be diminished because of the carelessness of one, should it?