by S. E. Babin
"And what if Hermes is not deposed? What is the prophecy then?"
"Fluid," Lachesis said, which meant they wouldn't tell us jack crap about it. From the annoyed sigh Artie gave, she knew it too.
"Okay then," Artie said. "What do we need to do?"
Hermes shoved an enormous bite of food into his mouth, his face thoughtful as he chewed the enormous cude. When he finally managed to get it down, he shrugged. "We do what we always do."
"Come up with a plan?" I asked hopefully. We never did that.
Hermes gave me a blank look.
"Kill everyone?" Hera asked.
"Go in and make a mess of everything?" Artie chimed in.
"It's what we do best," I added.
All of the Fates sighed in unison. "We're so going to die," Atropos muttered.
"Are you dead yet?" I asked. "No. Because we always went in and made a mess of everything, making it so damn confusing for everyone, no one could figure out their next move." I grinned at them. "We're like superheroes but without all the cool gear or intellect!"
"Speak for yourself," Artie said.
"You've always been the brains of the operation," I said. "I always get to be the bait."
"No," Hermes chimed in. "You're like Godzilla swinging its tail from side to side never paying attention to the things behind her that get destroyed."
"If that wasn't true, my feelings would be hurt," I said. "And also I think you just told me that my ass is large."
Hermes snort laughed which made me feel better. He was looking mighty glum lately.
"I know I'm pregnant but you don't have to start body shaming me right away," I continued. "I still have a full eight months before my tail is large enough to wipe out entire cities."
He broke and laughed out loud. "Gods. Shut up, Abby." But he chuckled again as he said it which made me know he wasn't mad at me.
"Anywaaaaaay," Clotho drawled. "This is where we are. I'm leaving it up to you to fix it."
All of us blinked at her. "Since you were the one to drop the Doomsday scenario on us," Artie said, "isn't that worth a little bit of help from you?"
The Fates shared a meaningful glance at each other. Lachesis leaned over and whispered something into Atropos' ear, who then leaned over and did the same to Clotho. When they finished speaking in their hushed whispers, they all crossed their fingers in weird unison and blinked at us. It was weirdly Cheshire cat-like and I felt like I'd just fallen down the rabbit hole. Why did I not think I was going to like what they were about to tell me?
"This is all the help we can provide," Atropos said. "Hermes should undergo another coronation -"
I groaned. "But the first one was such a pain to plan!"
Atropos speared me with a glare. "Then make it a party celebrating his rule." She waved her hand in annoyance. "I don't care. Get everyone on Olympus together. When the people gather in the square, we will highlight those who are treacherous to the throne. This will give you the opportunity to take them out before the coronation ends in bloodshed."
I swallowed hard and let my gaze trail over to my friends who all sat there with identical expressions of concern.
"Errmmm," Hermes said, then cleared his throat. "If we take them out, won't that be bloodshed?"
Atropos nodded. "But not yours."
Artie shifted uncomfortably. "That seems...treacherous."
Lachesis nodded. "It...does. But it's necessary."
I let my gaze go to Clotho. I stared at her for a minute attempting to decipher why in the world she was going along with this plan. It definitely didn't sound like her. It didn't sound like any of us. In fact, it kind of sounded like...
I shoved my chair behind me as I stood up and gathered magic in my hands as fast as it would flow. Hermes' didn't ask me what was going on, but when he saw my reaction, he stood too.
Artie and Hera were a little slower to react.
The Fates sat there with expressions of amusement.
"Should we kill them now?" Atropos asked.
"Or should we kill them later?" Lachesis said.
"Perhaps we should kill one, then the rest later," Clotho added.
"It's what HE would want," they all said together.
"Screw me left and call me Susan," I whispered. "What in the hell is going on?"
We all stood in a standoff, but we were the only ones who looked nervous. Atlas, who hadn't said a word this entire time, slowly pushed his chair back and gave me a quizzical look.
"Abby?"
"Do you trust me?" I hissed to him.
He swallowed hard, hesitated, but then nodded his head. His gaze flicked from me to the Fates and back again.
"Then get behind me and do as I say."
Hades, I sent a tendril of magic out through my thoughts. I need you. I could not take out the Fates by myself. I wasn't sure if all of us together could do it either. They were under the influence of...something. I let out a slow deep breath, unfocused my eyes, and looked at them through a spectrum of magic. My mother had taught me a lot of things before she perished, but one of them had been the most important lesson. She told me I sometimes needed to look underneath things rather than straight at them. And so, of course, I had ignored this advice and let the Fates waltz right into my home, eat my lasagna, and then casually speak about killing us.
I'm here, a tendril of a whisper came through my mind.
Stay unseen, I pleaded.
As you wish.
"Why are you doing this?" As my sight hazed over, I could see a single thread of magic floating down from the sky and entangled with all three of them. The magic was of the purest white and seemed very familiar.
I swallowed hard and was about to open my mind again when the harsh whisper of a thought roared through my mind.
I will kill him and destroy his kingdom with my bare hands.
What could I say? My honey had daddy issues.
"God," I whispered.
Atropos grinned widely and I swallowed hard because she wasn't in control. And she looked...hungry.
"Your future father-in-law says hello," she said, her voice sweet and syrupy. "He asked for us to tell you he's looking forward to meeting his first grandchild."
I swallowed hard. "Over my dead body," I whispered, the supper I'd eaten roiling in my stomach.
Lachesis shrugged. "He said that was okay, too. He's too young to be a grandfather anyway."
Clotho was blinking rapidly. Her breath came in gasps and she reached over and clenched the edge of the table. "Abby," she wheezed. Her normal brown gaze swam with silver as her eyes met mine. "RUN!"
I blinked and immediately spun on my heel, grabbed Artie and burst from the house before my magic caught up to me and we were able to blink away.
We landed on our asses in the middle of a forest, the sky above us black but filled with thousands of glorious stars. We both made embarrassing wheezing noises of fear but settled down once we realized the Fates were nowhere to be seen. Seconds later, Hermes appeared, then Hades, followed by Hera who clasped Atlas by the elbow.
"Would anyone care to explain what the HELL just happened?" Hermes ran a hand through his dirty blond hair and gave us an incredulous look. "And why is your house a breeding ground for weird shit?" he yelled.
"I LIKE MY HOUSE!" I yelled back.
"But I've almost died there hundreds of times!" he yelled back.
My lips twisted. "Fair enough." I sighed as I scrubbed a hand over my face. "I don't know. Maybe Zeus is playing tricks on me from beyond the grave."
"Or maybe your luck is so spectacularly bad that it's commonplace now," my fiance said.
"Shut it," I grumbled.
Atlas collapsed beside Hera and fell onto his back, his breath whooshing from his lungs.
"The most burning question is how did my father gain control of the Fates?" Hades sat beside me, not caring his slacks were going to get damp from the dewy grass.
Hera answered, her face grim in the dim light of the moon. "My understanding
is that at certain times of the year, the Fates' magic will hitch. It could have allowed him a window."
"Hitch?" Hermes asked.
She nodded. "I'd need a calendar to look at, but if we are anywhere close to an eclipse, it could have done it."
"Why would an eclipse halt their magic?" I asked, thoroughly confused.
"Hitch, I said." Hera pinned me with a glare. "Eclipses screw up the natural order of things. They open portals where none should ever be. They give some people more power and take it away from others. It is an...unnatural event that has affected us always, but very few people think it’s real."
"Except for the Fates," Artie said.
Hera nodded. "I overheard Lachesis mention something to Zeus so very long ago, but I never thought about it again. It seemed...far-fetched."
I snorted because we were sitting out in the middle of the woods after we had narrowly escaped certain death. As far as I was concerned nothing was far-fetched when it came to all of us.
"Do we have a calendar?" I asked Hades.
With a snap of his finger, he produced one and handed it over to me. I flipped it open to the current month and ran my fingers down to the day. "Well, crap," I muttered.
"Total solar eclipse?" Hera asked, even though from her tone she already knew the answer.
"Tomorrow," I said.
"Makes sense," Hera commented. "He probably wrested control of them yesterday, and sent Clotho back home to wait for you." She smiled. "I wouldn't doubt Hades has a spy in the Underworld."
Hades muttered curse made me think he agreed with her.
"He knew Abby's plans to return home," Artie mused.
"We can't fight them," Hades said.
"We could," my husband retorted.
"Yes, but if Abby's involved and someone dies, like they usually do, how are going to explain the death?" Hermes wasn't even trying to be funny. He had a valid point.
We all mulled that over. The death of a Fate would not go unanswered for.
"Do you think they were telling the truth about their prophecy?" I asked.
Atlas finally spoke. "If they are, should we not be prepared for battle?"
"But if they aren't?" Hermes countered. "If we slaughter people unnecessarily I’m a worse ruler than my father."
"Why would they tell us something like that?" Artie said mostly to herself.
"They didn't," Hades said. "My father did."
"But why?" I wondered aloud. "What good would it do him?"
"Perhaps this was his way of helping us?" Hera ventured.
I laughed out loud. "God help? Us?" I snorted. "No way."
The deep inhale of Hades' breath told me he might agree with Hera. "Well...there are rules," he began.
"No." I refused to believe this was an act of assistance. "Why would he use the Fates?"
"Because he is not allowed to interfere." Hades smile was rueful.
"So he wrested control of them and made them break their own laws?" I asked, incredulous.
"Yes. So he wouldn't have to break his own." Hades chuckled.
I slapped a hand over my face. "Then why would he threaten to kill us?"
Hades barked a laugh. "Because why wouldn't he if he saw an opportunity? Take us out and it's a lot easier for him to step in and take control of Olympus. But if he can't kill us, he might as well have an ally."
I sighed. "I really hate your dad," I told him.
"Yeah," he agreed. "He's a real piece of work."
"So do we believe him?" Artie asked.
Hera shrugged. "We'd be fools to trust someone as treacherous as he, but we cannot discount Hades' words. He knows his father better than all of us. If he thinks the prophecy is true, we must prepare for war."
"How long will he have control of the Fates?" I asked.
Hera shrugged. "Since Clotho is already fighting against him, it might not be for that much longer. But the eclipse isn't until tomorrow. They might be weakest at that point. I'd say at least another day or two."
"And how will we know when they're back to being themselves?"
Hera smirked. "Well, if they tell us to kill hundreds of innocent people again, you'd probably do well to wait a little longer."
I rolled my eyes. Hades reached over and patted my leg. "I'll be able to tell."
I studied him. "I'm still mad at you."
He leaned over and brushed his lips against mine. "I know."
He clasped my fingers in his own and squeezed.
My heart sighed.
How could I be so in love with someone yet want to strangle them all the time?
Chapter 5
We finally made our way out of the forest and back into the Underworld. With Hades leading us, no one had to die to get in. Which was a good thing because dying was kind of aggravating and my hair was never the same once I woke up. Once we made it inside we all headed for the study. Tilly hovered in the corner with no expression on her face. Hera blinked several times when confronted with the Underworld's resident spirit, but she wisely chose to clamp her lips shut and not say a word about it.
Surprisingly enough, I had never seen the true place where the souls were kept here, though at night if it were quiet enough, I could hear the low moaning. I hadn't yet had the courage to ask Hades about it. I'd learn the truth soon enough, but it wouldn't matter anyway. I loved Hades with all of my soul, even if he was a weird meld of Olympian and the Christian devil.
He was my devil and that's all there was to it.
I kicked my shoes off and rested my feet on top of the coffee table. Hera sneered at me, and I grinned back. It was my second home and if I wanted to put my feet everywhere I could. Hades followed Atlas and Hermes in, sank into his favorite leather recliner and scrubbed a hand over his tired face.
"Tilly, bring refreshments."
The ghost bobbed once in the air and disappeared. Atlas gawked.
"Weird, right?" I said and grinned at him.
He blinked at me. "How long has she been here?"
Hades shrugged. "I don't remember. Tilly just...is."
I wasn't sure what Tilly truly was to Hades, but I knew she had kept him company during the times he was separated from Persephone. Then I rolled in and screwed his whole world up. He and Tilly hung out in his study, but I didn't think there was much else to it.
And...considering I was now pregnant, I wasn't sure how the ghost was going to to deal with it. Truth be told she freaked me out still and I rarely said more than I had to to the spirit.
With a wave of his finger, several chairs appeared and my friends sank down into them. Artie's eyes were shadowed and her hair looked like she'd been on a motorcycle. She looked too exhausted to do anything about it and, once again, a massive wave of guilt over the situation rolled over me like a tsunami.
Her gaze met mine. I held it, pouring all the apologies I could into my eyes. She blinked at me and wetness shone in her eyes.
I'm sorry, I mouthed.
She clamped her lips together and nodded at me.
It was enough. For now.
My husband looked haggard, but still took charge. "We are safe here. Feel free to stay as long as you need to. I'll have quarters made up and ensure you all have separate areas. Breakfast is served at 8 a.m. sharp in the dining hall. We can reconvene in the morning if you'd like and try to come up with some kind of plan to avoid what's to come.”
"If it's prophecy, can it be avoided?" Hermes spoke, exhaustion leaking with every word.
Hades' lips thinned. "No. But we can minimize casualties and we can do our best to protect our children." His gaze lingered on my stomach. Our children. Our child.
Baby Draco had no idea how fierce his parents could be, but we were going to show him soon enough.
If it was a boy. The vision the Fates showed me was of a girl, but I wasn't sure how true it was or if the vision was only to tell me a child would be born. Either way it didn't matter. I would be the first immortal to bear a child in many years. The first true Olympian mort
al. We were keeping mum about Persephone's little demi-god bun in the oven for now. That was her own bundle of problems and how it would come out, no one knew. We would deal with it later if we needed to. I, for one, wasn't going to step in the way of anyone's child.
"Perhaps I should just go back to Olympus and try for reason," Hermes mused.
Artie was the first to snort, followed by me, and then Hades. Hera stared at her stepson like he'd just eaten a live frog.
"Reason?" she spat. "You want to reason with the Olympians? Since when has that been a viable path for anyone?"
Hermes reached up and squeezed the place between his eyebrows. A huff of bitter amusement escaped him. "I don't know what else to do," he said quietly.
I immediately clamped my lips together and felt a squeeze of guilt for laughing at him.
"We can try it," I said.
Hera turned her glacial stare to me. "Oh yes, let's do. And perhaps we shall offer them tea and crumpets when everything is finished and we're laughing ourselves silly at how difficult government rule can be?" She threw her hands in the air. "I'm surrounded by complete and total morons," she muttered to herself and stood abruptly.
Atlas, as he was wont to do, said nothing, merely content to sit back and judge us silently. I needed to come up with a nickname for him. Soon, I decided.
"Hera," I probed, "he's trying."
She spun to me, her icy gaze blazing with anger. "He's trying to get us all killed," she hissed.
I looked back to Hermes. His shoulders were hunched and his mouth was tight with stress.
"Maybe we should still try it," I said gently. "Look at us sitting here. Five years ago this never would have happened without someone walking out of here maimed."
"If you don't stop being so touchy feely," Hera muttered, "maiming will happen."
I ignored her. "If you tell the Olympians of the vision you have for the future, maybe they will listen."
Artie remained silent but I could see the curiosity on her face.
"It's up to you, though," I said to him. "Olympus belongs to you."
