Fates and Furies (The Sphinx Book 4)

by Raye Wagner

  Lela Eder: You are a serendipitous blessing for me. I love that you are such a go-getter and you pick up the slack before I’m even aware of it happening.

  To Kelly Hashway: You’re an incredible editor, and my stories are better because of you. Heaps and heaps of thanks!

  Krystal Wade: I usually cringe when I get my MS back from you, but by the time we’re done I want to hug you I’m so proud of what you’ve helped me create. XOXO

  Jo Michaels: You have artistic-formatting super-powers! And you’re just awesome.

  To my Raye-Team: I hear the A-team music when I say that, and you definitely have amazing talents and abilities among you. I’m not kidding about that someday-dream when we all get together!

  Mythic Muses: You are the best launch team ever! I recently had another author contact me about my secret, and I had to tell her I just have the most incredible team. Love you all!!

  Renegades!! I never knew having a fan group could be so much fun. Thanks for your encouragement and all your enthusiasm!

  And a special thank you to Dawn Yacovetta and Janelle Dudley. You’ve both got incredible talent and perspective, and I consider myself blessed that you both had the courage to message me!!

  And you . . . the reader of my words. I hope you find power in the stories you read, and pleasure as you read them. Thank you for spending your time with me.

  Index of Characters and Mythology Figures

  Hope: the Sphinx

  Leto: Hope’s mother; also a Sphinx

  Priska: Hope’s “aunt,” tasked with protecting Leto and Hope, demigod daughter of Artemis

  Charlie Davenport: Priska’s employer

  Athan: demigod son of Hermes

  Haley: Hope’s friend from school

  Mr. Stanley: a butcher who is kind to Hope; Haley’s father

  Xan: demigod son of Ares

  Dahlia: daughter of Eris, Xan’s cousin, friend of Hope

  Ares: god of war, bloodshed, and violence; father of Xan

  Aphrodite: goddess of love, beauty, desire, and pleasure

  Athena: goddess of wisdom, courage, justice, skill, warfare, battle strategy, and handicrafts

  Apollo: god of music, truth, and prophecy; twin brother to Artemis. Fell in love with Phoibe and cursed her daughter, Phaidra, when she refused his advances. Hunts Hope and Hope’s mother, Leto.

  Artemis: virgin goddess of the hunt, twin sister to Apollo. Mother to Priska.

  Boreas: god of winter and the north wind

  Demeter: goddess of grain, agriculture and the harvest, growth, and nourishment

  Dionysus: god of wine, parties and festivals, madness, chaos, drunkenness, ecstasy, and drugs

  Eris: goddess of strife and discord, mother of Dahlia

  Eros: god of love and desire

  Charon: the ferryman who carries souls across the rivers Styx and Acheron

  The Fates: three incarnations of destiny, primordial deities who are even more powerful than the Olympians; Atropos (the cutter of life’s thread), Lachesis (the measurer), and Clotho (the spinner) are destiny personified. Collectively known as Moirai.

  The Furies: primordial goddesses of vengeance: Tisiphone (avenger or murder), Megaera (the jealous) and Alecto (constant anger). Daughters of Nyx, sisters to the Fates. Collectively known as the Erinyes.

  The Graeae: three ancient sea spirits who personified the white foam of the sea; they shared one eye and one tooth among them. By name: Deino, Enyo, and Pemphredo.

  Hades: ruler of the Underworld; god of the Earth’s hidden wealth, both agricultural produce and precious metals; married to Persephone.

  Hephaestus: god of fire, metalworking, and crafts; father to Mr. Stanley

  Hera: queen of the heavens and goddess of marriage and fidelity, childbirth, heirs, kings, and empires.

  Hermes: god of commerce, boundaries, travel, thievery, trickery, language, writing, diplomacy, athletics, and animal husbandry; father of Athan

  Hestia: goddess of the home, hearth, and chastity; mother of Obelia

  Hypnos: god of sleep

  Leto: Titan goddess of Motherhood

  Persephone: wife of Hades; queen of the Underworld; daughter of Zeus; goddess of spring growth.

  Poseidon: god of the sea, rivers, floods, droughts, earthquakes, and the creator of horses.

  Skia: immortal creatures from the Underworld

  Thanatos: the personification of death, twin brother to Hypnos.

  Zeus: king of the gods, ruler of Mount Olympus, and god of the sky, lightning, thunder, weather, law, order, and fate.

  About the Author

  Raye Wagner grew up in Seattle, the second of eight children, and learned to escape chaos through the pages of fiction. As a youth, she read the likes of David Eddings, Leon Uris, and Jane Austen. As an adult she fell in love with Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series (shocker!) and Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight (really!) and was inspired to pursue her dream of writing young adult fiction. Raye enjoys baking, puzzles, Tae Kwon Do, and the sound of waves lapping at the sand. She lives with her husband and three children in Middle Tennessee.

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