Fates' Folly (32 page)

"You're sick, TT," Barty said, holding a hand
out for one and quickly discarding the wrapper to take a bite.

"Aren't we all," I said, biting into my own
cookie.

Riley ate his moon pie in two bites. He stood
in front of me and, with an air of finality about him, took my
hands in his. "Myra, none of what we have discussed changes that I
have made a vow to either bring Sebastian before Hades or end his
immortal life. I can feel Hades' summons as we speak. Our time is
up."

"Is there anything we can do?"

Riley squeezed my hands. "I can try and say a
few words on Sebastian's behalf."

Barty scoffed, stepping in between us to
whisper in Riley's face. "What has happened to you? I have never
known you to take such a risk. Hades will not be swayed, and you
could easily end up with a worse fate than Sebastian if Hades
thinks you challenge him. First you say you love her, and now you
risk yourself by speaking up for Sebastian, who would have been
perfectly happy to have destroyed you not three hours ago. I am in
fear for you, my friend," Barty said, grabbing Riley's
shoulder.

Riley clasped Barty's forearm in his, like
some weird secret handshake. "Thank you for the concern,
Bartholomew."

To me he said, "We must go."

I nodded. "Okay, but we should all go."

Riley said, "I don't think it would be a good
idea to face Hades if you do not have to."

"Trust me, I don't want to see him, but maybe
I can give a firsthand account of my time with Sebastian- maybe it
will help."

Riley nodded. Barty jerked Sebastian up off
the couch, both of them shifting out of my apartment during the
movement.

Riley gave me a small smile. "Ready?"

I nodded.

"Breathe."

I took a deep breath, filling my lungs to
capacity and held it for several seconds, feeling unease for what
was to come. Then- because I couldn't hold my breath any longer,
just like I couldn't go hide in my closet with a bag of cake rolls
and avoid the future any longer- I released the breath into the
unrelenting pain of the shift.

I smelled sugar and eucalyptus, sugar and
eucalyptus, sugar…

"Myra? Myra, honey you need to wake up. Come
on sweetie, open your eyes."

I opened my eyes. Carrie's deep brown eyes,
her perfectly shaped eyebrows bent in concern, filled my vision. As
she leaned closer, I watched her glossy pink mouth say, "She's
awake."

"It's about damn time," I heard Barty say, as
he came to stand next to Carrie and loom over me.

I tried to sit up, but Carrie pushed me back
down and shoved a honey bun in my face. "Eat this," she said.

I'm ashamed to say, my stomach clenched at
the thought. "I think I'm going to be sick," I croaked, not sure
what had happened to my voice.

Carrie picked me up, sat me in a chair, slid
a waste basket in between my knees and bent my head over it. "Do
you think a peppermint might help?" she asked.

After a few minutes of deep breaths, I sat
up, shaking my head. "I'm actually feeling much better, I think I
was more disoriented than sick,” I said, my voice still sounding
hoarse. "What happened to my voice?

"You screamed through the entire shift,"
Barty said, hands on his hips.

"Look, this was my fourth shift today, it
hurts and I-"

"I really don't care to hear your pitiful
excuses," he snapped, before turning his back on me and moving to
the other side of the room.

"What’s his problem?" I whispered.

Carrie waved her hand in the direction of
Barty. "He's just having a hissy fit because Hades only wanted to
see Riley.”

I turned around in my seat. Sebastian was
curled up asleep on three chairs that sat against the back wall,
and Barty was pacing the small space between the door to Hades'
inner sanctum and Carrie's desk.

"How long has Riley been in there?"

"Let's get some coffee," she said, pulling me
out of the chair and walking me to one of two big leather wing
backs that faced her desk.

I sat down and enjoyed the feeling of slowly
sinking into the fat leather cushion. I looked up at Carrie, who
was pushing buttons on a shiny gold espresso machine. "You've
redecorated- it looks good," I said, taking the cup of coffee she
handed me.

Carrie smiled. "Yeah. Hades owed me for the
sconces he broke, plus we had some big wigs come through yesterday,
so I thought I'd spruce things up a bit."

I added two creams and four sugars to my
coffee. "Should we be worried about Riley?" I asked, already
worried, but trying to stay low key- not a natural state for
me.

"He's only been in there about twenty
minutes. I think it's just a basic debriefing. Zeus and St. Peter
have been in the formal waiting room since the moment you arrived,
so Hades isn't going to waste time with torture."

She unwrapped a chocolate glazed Honey Bun,
placed it on a napkin and handed it to me. "Besides, Riley was
Hades' first Assassin, and though Hades seems heartless at times,
he has a special fondness for Riley, in his own way he respects
him."

I took a sip of coffee and a bite of
chocolate Honey Bun. "How did Zeus and Peter get here when we did?
And how did they know we'd be here?"

Carrie gave me a look of pity. "Sweetie, Zeus
is a god, and St. Peter has enough powers that he could be. Knowing
when you cross over into the Underworld and being able to appear at
the same moment is child's play for them." She took a sip of her
coffee. "And honey, even if they weren't that powerful, all of
Olympia heard your screams."

"Really, you can hear people during
shifting?"

Carrie chuckled. "You're so cute. Yes, at
least once you enter our realm, and if you're loud enough."

Carrie refilled my coffee cup. "Thanks
Carrie, you always make me feel better."

"No problem, sweetie, we girls have to stick
together," she said with a wink.

I slipped down the supple back of the giant
chair, and my butt was basically hanging off the edge of my seat
while my feet did their impression of a jack hammer- I was in a
sugar coma. Well almost, from my knees up I felt dimwitted and
lethargic- it was my feet that were holding me back from a full
fledge zone out.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Barty
asked, leaning on the front of Carrie's desk. His arms were folded
across his chest, one over-plucked eyebrow was raised, and his
upper lip and mustache were curved into a sneer.

"Ahh. The classic Barty look of disdain."

Carrie snickered. "Not that I have anything
against your ass Bartholomew, but you can get it off my desk."

Barty moved to the leather chair, twin to my
own, beside me. He sat in it like it was a throne.

I truly thought Barty was a jackass, but I
had to admit I was glad he was here. "You know Barty, at first I
thought you wholly unattractive, but you do have a certain
appeal."

Barty rolled his eyes. "Is she drunk?"

Carrie leaned forward over her desk, her eyes
narrowing at Barty. "Two chocolate honey buns, one package of devil
squares and two zebra cakes, plus an extra cream, extra sugar
espresso," she pulled a diamond heart shape watch out of her
cleavage, "all in the last ten minutes. Have you been working
out?"

Barty's face flushed to the color of his
hair. "A little weight lifting here and there when I get the
time."

Carrie nodded, sitting back in her chair,
fingernail file poised and ready for action. "I thought something
looked different."

Barty's face became a brighter red as he
mumbled, "Thank you for noticing."

OH MY GODS! BARTY HAS A THING FOR CARRIE!

I shot up in my seat. "Oh my gods!
Barty-"

The door to Hades' inner sanctum opened.
Riley, wearing a look of indifference, walked through the door. I
felt like we had all gasped and had our mouths hanging open, but it
was just me. Riley pulled a chair over to the side of Carrie's
desk. "It won't be long before Hades is ready for all of us," he
said.

"Were you able to speak with him about
Sebastian's circumstances?" I asked.

Riley pulled off his glasses, pinching the
bridge of his nose. "A little. I was not in the position to convey
the whole story or, at least, Hades was not in the frame of mind to
listen. I explained about Joshua's soul, but Hades was already well
aware of it. Peter is present to take possession of the boy's soul
from Sebastian. Hades did not care to elaborate on the
particulars.

“He was mostly concerned about the events
surrounding Sebastian's capture. I expressed my concern about
Sebastian's state of mind, but Hades waved my concerns away and
continued to interrogate me as to what was in Sebastian's
possession when he was found. He is now having a short meeting with
Zeus and Peter. We will soon be joining them, making ourselves
available to answer any questions or give testimony to any of
Sebastian's crimes that we may have witnessed. I still have hope
that we may get another opportunity to speak on Sebastian's
behalf.”

Barty said, "I have tried to warn you, my
friend. Seb is going to suffer greatly. Hades has to worry about
his own hide- besides, if Hades does not act, Zeus or the Christian
God will. Sebastian has much to answer for. You know this, Riley.
You've let Myra's opinions cloud your mind. You will be
disappointed if you think we can succeed in any way at achieving
mercy."

I sat forward, so I could glare at Barty.

"Don't look at me like that. You are a fool
if you think otherwise. I am not saying we shouldn't try. I am just
being realistic," Barty snapped.

"He is merely stating the obvious," Sebastian
said, coming forward to stand behind Barty's chair.

He looked like shit, actually worse- he
looked like death, and though I knew without a shadow of a doubt
that Sebastian was as crazy as they came, I couldn't deny the heart
ache I felt for all that he had been through.

"CARRIE!" Hades roared.

Carrie stood up. "Okay, I guess he's ready
for you. Do me a favor though- give me the count of twenty and then
go on in." She smiled, "I want to give my support." She walked out
the door with her hips sashaying enough that even I appreciated
it.

I didn't count to twenty. Instead, I grabbed
the snack basket and handed everyone a cosmic brownie. "We should
fortify ourselves."

"With chemically processed brownies?" Barty
asked, picking off the rainbow candy coated chocolate chips.

"Whatever it takes," I said.

Brownies consumed, Riley, Sebastian,
Barty and I somberly walked into Hades'…what the hell? Board
room?

We walked into a cold black hole that seemed
to have devoured any warmth, softness or welcome the room had held
on my previous visits. At the far end, a black lacquered conference
table and several chairs shone bright under white cylinder shaped
lights that hung from above, but otherwise, the room was dark and
empty, making me think of a black abyss waiting to drag us in.

I shook the thoughts from my head, blaming my
sugar rush for my imagination taking such a Gothic bent. Even so, I
couldn't stop the feeling of insignificance weighing heavily on me
as we made our way to the empty table and chairs.

"Wow, somebody's been busy redecorating," I
said, trying to lighten my mood.

"Shhhhh!" Barty hissed, grabbing my arm and
pushing me forward until I ended up in one of the armless black
leather chairs. It swiveled!

"What? Last time it was a lounge," I said as
he sat down beside me, putting himself between me and Sebastian and
Riley, who had already sat down.

"Hades is a god."

"What? Gods don't redecorate?" I hissed
back.

"Being a god, he can change his surroundings
at his whim. To ask if he redecorated like it was done by manual
labor would be insulting."

Good grief, what a snob.

"He isn't even here, so pull your panties out
of your ass and leave me alone," I said, in a half growl, half
whisper. "I hate you."

"The feeling is mutual," he growled back.

"Children," Hades said with a chuckle,
suddenly appearing across the table from us, looking very GQ in a
black pin striped suit. "Please, we have guests. And, correct me if
I'm wrong, gentlemen, but I do not believe they would want to watch
me skin you and then hang you by your toe nails," he said, on an
ambiguous chuckle as he slapped the taller man beside him.

As I watched Hades laugh, I couldn't help but
admire how well his suit fit his tall muscular body. The cerulean
blue silk shirt he wore made his eyes the exact color of an ocean
horizon, shimmering under a noon day sun. There was no getting
around it, he made my mouth water, and the word yummy came to
mind.

The big blond receiving Hades' jovial
man-pats gave a deep rumble of laughter, "I would not mind,
brother. I miss our younger, wilder days." He looked at me and
winked. "No one was safe."

Obviously this was Zeus. He was a nice
looking man. He had a GI Joe thing going for him- short, straw
colored wavy hair, tall broad shoulders and, from the way his gray
suit fit, all over heavily muscled. With his grayish blue eyes,
straight long nose and Tom Selleck smile I could see how he could
tempt a few Grecian virgins to allow him into their beds.

Barty grabbed my hand under the table and
squeezed. I think he was trying to tell me not to respond to their
taunts. Duh! I'm not stupid. I wanted to say, but Duh, I'm not
stupid, so I kept my mouth shut. I tried to squeeze his hand back
to tell him this, but I don't think he noticed. I hadn't put much
effort into the task because, once I was distracted from Hades and
Zeus, I noticed Peter sitting in the chair on the other side of
Zeus, directly across from Riley.