The Allotter:The Threads of Destiny (9 page)

 
“Who are you?” her voice weak with emotion, wondering why she felt he was familiar to her.

  The older gentleman looked around, spread his arms wide and said with arrogant confidence and joy, as a slow grin plastered across his regal face,
“I’m your father, dear girl. Welcome home!”

  Evie looked over at her mother who was conveniently looking away, avoiding eye contact.

“What do you mean by welcome home? What?” Evie dumbly repeated, unsure if she heard him right.

   Thelma stood and turned to him, her movements morphing her familiar frame from her mother; simple black hair pulled back in a low ponytail and sweater vest, to a breathtaking beauty with mahogany curls and flawless golden skin that shimmered like pixie dust. The stunning figure pulled at the recesses of Evie
’s mind, as if a memory of her was imbedded deep in her subconscious, a woman that Evie remembered from her dreams as a young girl. Looking from her daughters slackened face to the newly revealed father dearest, Thelma chose her next words with care.

 
“I’m not sure if she will or can handle all of this right now, Zeus. Revealing yourself may have been a bit……premature.”

Chapter 11

 
Zeus?

  Evie sat rooted to the chair. Did she just hear that right? She scrubbed her hands down her face.
“Zeus? Are you kidding me? Is this a joke or something?” She looked to each one for a reaction; her shoulders slumped with the realization that it was, indeed, not a joke. Kratos stood off to the side of her chair, his stoic face and stiff stance did not look comforting. She looked back at ‘her parents.’

  Zeus and the beautiful woman who was the image of her mother stood in silence for a few moments, as if pondering their next course of action.

Evie stood and knocked her chair out from under her, her voice a quiver, “Someone had better start talking right now!”  She was fuming and annoyed and furious, and….she didn’t know what else but she was sure it wasn’t good.

 
“Have a seat, honey. You’re stressing yourself out.” Thelma or whoever the woman was that sounded like Thelma but looked like a goddess, tried to console her. Evie began pacing back and forth, shaking her head in disbelief. She stopped, fury evident on her face, “Don’t you fucking ‘honey’ me! If you‘re gonna call me honey, at least be in the form of my mother!” Evie screamed her chest heaving, palms cool and clammy. Her knees wobbled as if they would give out at any moment.

 
“None of you are human, apparently my father is Zeus, I’ve been hospitalized and kidnapped, and you want me to calm down?” her shrill voice hurt her own ears as her chest heaved from the near panic attack she was about to have. She felt as if she were teetering on the edge of insanity. One false move and she would be straight-jacket material.

    Evie shouted,
“Explain yourselves! Now!” The outburst actually caused the God of all Gods to lean back in surprise and eyes her with apprehension.

  Hands on his narrow hips, Zeus furrowed his brow.
“First, have a seat. Then we can all talk about the events leading up to this. Time is of the essence, right now.”  His deep baritone was laced with calm sincerity. At her single nod, he gently guided Evie to the now straightened chair.

  Kratos stepped forward.
“Would you like me to leave?” His sculpted face was a mask of indifference while he stood and waited for an answer. She felt a sudden panic wash over her at the thought of him leaving her at this moment. It was the soft but insistent voice in her head that said she needed him. Why did she need him? She searched the lean planes of his profile, willing him to look at her. His face remained impassive as he avoided her, his aloofness causing a lump to form in her throat. His back was straight, feet apart, hands clasped behind his back. He was the epitome of a soldier.

  Dismissing him with a wave of his hand, Zeus
’s imperial voice answered, “Yes, you may go

You have done a superior job, Kratos. You are an apt warrior.
” Kratos bowed and turned away, his eyes wandering towards her for a scant moment. She watched his retreating figure, hoping he would look back, her panic beginning to rise at his imminent absence. She would not stop him. She needed to face what was happening alone.

  Walking over to Thelma, Zeus leaned back to sit. Evie
’s arm shot out palm first to warn him that there was no chair for him to sit in, that he would fall to the floor, when a gilded throne materialized behind him, cradling his momentum down. Evie shook her head in wonderment.

  He unbuttoned the front of his jacket and then grazed his beard with the palm of his hand. His calm demeanor was deceptive as his brow furrowed in concentration.
“Have you ever heard of the Fates in Greek mythology?” he asked as he casually crossed one leg over the other.

    She watched his long and graceful fingers tap a rhythmic beat upon his leg. He appeared so cool and collected, and looked like a man, and yet
…She shook her head out of her musings. What had he just asked her?

  She cleared her throat,
“I‘m sorry, what did you just ask me?” she folded her hands together in her lap.

His fingers stopped as he regarded her.
“I asked you if you have ever heard of the Fates in Greek mythology.” Thelma moved with fluid grace to stand beside his chair. Evie studied them both, almost believing they were figments of her imagination, a hallucination from a psychotic break. Almost.

 
“I think so.” Evie rubbed the goose bumps that erupted upon her arms. “Yes, they are the three old hags who share an eye, right?” she answered, impressed with herself for remembering a little bit of Greek mythology, even if it was from an early eighties movie. Or maybe it was the animated movie about Hercules that she was remembering. Zeus chuckled at her dismayed facial expression, as if he could read her thoughts. She wouldn’t be surprised if he could, given the circumstances.

 
“The Fates choose the beginning, middle, and the end of a person’s life. Clothos spins the thread of life at birth, Lachesis spins the lot and length of life, and Atropos cuts or ends the thread of life. They choose an individual’s destiny. They are not old and do not share an eye. They do, however, share the vision of destiny.” His explanation was said with quiet precision, as he gave her time to process what he was saying to her.

  She watched him with anticipation of what he would say next. He simply studied her, as if gauging her reaction to what he was telling her and what he would tell her next. He folded his hands across his flat stomach as he glanced at her mother. He appeared so
…hesitant to continue. When he didn‘t continue, she prompted him.

 
“What has any of this got to do with me?” Her question shot a shiver of foreboding down her spine. As she waited for his answer, she reflected over the anomaly of her eyes, her dreams and bizarre visions, and the episode in the bathroom. She waited with bated breath for the crucial answer, the answer that explained and defied logic. Her inner voice, the voice she had always thought was her subconscious, whispered to her that she already knew the answers, to trust and listen to what he had to say. She rebelled against that voice, willing it to be silent.

  From his majestic perch, Zeus nodded as if he had made a decision and then glanced again at Thelma. She smiled with sad reluctance, her beautiful brow furrowed with concern. Leaning forward, his elbows braced upon his knees, he revealed with quiet strength,
“You are Lachesis, the measurer of lots.” As he began to explain, Evie shook her head in denial. The measurer of lots, what did that even mean?

  He continued on despite her frantic breaths and barely coherent denials. "According to humankind
’s perception of Greek mythology, the Fates are divine goddesses who choose a human’s destiny. It is also said that they can choose a god or goddesses destiny.”
  His revelation was ridiculous to her. Pressing her palm to her forehead, she murmured, "I've read of the three Fates and have seen them depicted in movies, but I think you are mistaken when it comes to me. This is just ludicrous.”  Her resolve to believe in what she said and what was happening began to wax and wane with each passing moment as each of them looked upon her with expectations she was afraid she could not deliver. She heard a buzzing in her head again, as a voice stronger in its intensity commanded her to keep it together, as if a battle of consciousness was beginning to rage in her.
  Zeus stood and began to pace, the silence adding to Evie’s already frayed nerves. Shifting in her seat, she felt a comforting hand on her shoulder, causing her to startle. She was relieved to find Thelma smiling at her as she took the seat that appeared next to her. She breathed a sigh of relief she had not realized she was holding, Themis was now in ’Thelma’ form. She needed her mother right now, the mother she was familiar with, plain and simple. Leaning forward in her chair, Thelma squeezed Evie’s hands and continued where the now restless Zeus had left off.
“You see, Evie, there are not three Fates. There are four. Tyche is the fourth. She bestowed good fortune, wealth, and riches to those who were worthy. "Thelma’s full lips pinched as she thought for a moment. Seeing the guarded but curious expression on Evie’s face spurred her on.
"I’m going to tell you a story that will help you understand what is happening.” Slipping a stray curl behind Evie’s ear was a small comfort she desperately needed.

Her mother squeezed her cool palms, a small sign of reassurance.
“Do you think you can listen to me right now?” A moment passed, Evie thought about her now complex future. Somehow, she knew what her mother had to say was going to irrevocably change everything. She nodded her head once and sucked in a breath of anticipation, as if she was about to hear the secrets of the universe. Thelma’s grip on her hands felt like her only tether to reality.

 
“Tyche is the daughter of Zeus and Aphrodite; she is your half sister. Throughout Greek history, there have been prophecies that Zeus would be overthrown by a son just like Zeus overthrew his father, Cronus. When Zeus’s first love, Metis became pregnant, he feared that she would have a boy who would then overthrow him. So Metis, loyal to the point of madness, banished herself to Elysium to have her child and live as a mortal in the afterlife, eliminating the possible threat of a son being born. An intrusive curiosity eventually got the better of Zeus, leading him to search out Metis to see the child just once. To his surprise, Metis had a daughter, not a son, and named her Athena.”

  The sudden silence from Thelma punctuated the weight of her words, causing a stifling ache to build up in Evie
’s chest.  She pressed her hand against her racing heart beat and glanced up at the occupants of the room. Zeus still stood before the long expanse of windows, staring out into the night sky while Thelma sat before her, eyebrows raised in question. Evie knew what she was thinking. Should she continue? Could Evie handle the unbelievable story she was telling? Did she even have a choice at this point?

  Clearing her throat, Evie mumbled her encouragement,
“You can go on.” She pulled her hands away from her mother with awkward hesitation.

  Folding her hands in her lap, Thelma sighed and continued.
“Zeus was saddened by the loss of Metis but relieved that he had a daughter, who swiftly proclaimed her loyalty to Zeus. Against his better judgment, he allowed the beautiful Aphrodite to comfort him, resulting in her becoming pregnant. This pregnancy resulted in the Delphic Sybil to prophesize that Aphrodite’s child would be the child who would overthrow Zeus, not Metis’s child, and that the child would be a girl. Of coarse an oracle is never considered wrong, their prophecies are merely looked upon as misunderstood.”

 
“Misunderstood my ass.” Zeus grumbled under his breath. Evie and Thelma looked at him for a moment, causing him to raise his palms in mute surrender. Thelma continued. 

 
“Once Ares heard of this, his initial anger and jealousy that Aphrodite and Zeus were intimate evolved into a master plan. Why not allow the birth so that the child could overthrow Zeus? Aphrodite on the other hand, just wanted to keep her child safe.

   The Delphic Sybil disappeared without prophesizing to Zeus. No one knows what happened to her, why she disappeared. Eventual speculation suggested that Ares had a hand in the Sybil
’s disappearance, which he vehemently denies. Without a doubt, Aphrodite and Ares are involved with her disappearance. But, they were not the only ones to know about the prophecy. Pythia, the most powerful and divine deities, knew of the prophecy but did not divulge.”

  Without warning, Zeus slammed his palms against the glass, causing a loud boom to reverberate throughout Evie
’s entire body. Her hand to her throat in shock, Evie’s wide eyes lit upon Thelma as the room vibrated and rippled, the floor flashing like white lightening. Once the room had calmed, Thelma leaned toward her and in a lowered voice, “He’s still a bit angry with Pythia about that.”

  Evie closed her mouth once she realized it had been hanging open after his outburst.
“Go on,“ she prompted, eager but apprehensive to hear the rest of what she had to say.

  Thelma continued,
“Pythia did not divulge the crucial information simply because no one asked. She was often fickle like that. Once Zeus was aware of the true prophecy and its details, he sent for Tyche. She had been abusing her ability to bestow and take away fortune resulting in financial and emotional turmoil for many mortals. Zeus had called for her to appear before him and the others, to confront her recent rebellious behavior and deliver her punishment. The punishment and humiliation she received in front of the others caused her to become angry and resentful. She disappeared not long after her punishment ended.”

 
“He shouldn’t have humiliated her like that in front of other…individuals.” Evie was disappointed to hear that he would do such a thing. She watched his shoulders bunch at her words, as if it was already a sore spot.

Thelma shifted uncomfortably in her seat,
“Yes. Well…anyway. He realized that the only way he could be overthrown was if the thread of his existence was cut. The only immortals with the ability to do that are the Fates. So he temporarily displaced the Fates, the only immortals known to have the ability to end the existence of a god. With their consent and cooperation of course and loyal to Zeus, they were aware of the scheme and conjured up a plan to temporarily become mortal, anonymity and humanity being their shield. It was only suppose to be until Tyche could be found and dealt with. The plan ended up backfiring on them all.”