by Amber Lynn
Trey and Sean were floating in the air, and seemed to be unable to move. At least they didn’t look like they had the ability to swim around like fish. I took out my phone and started taking pictures. It was just too good not to document. Plus, if the two of them ever stepped out of line, I had a little bit of blackmail to straighten them out.
“Do you have to do that?” Sean asked. Apparently their lips weren’t frozen like the rest of their bodies.
“Sorry, but no one is going to believe me otherwise,” I replied snapping a few more photos. Vinnie was probably recording everything for me on his built-in computer, but I didn’t need to rub that in.
“Be careful where you step. We triggered something as we walked into the room,” Trey said.
“Any suggestions on how to get them down?” I asked finally putting the phone away.
“There’s only one way I can think of, and I’m guessing it’s going to hurt,” Rick said.
“I really wish there was another way, but you’re right,” Nate agreed with whatever idea Rick was thinking up. I was sure the guys wouldn’t mind a little pain, if it allowed them to get free. “It’s not them who’s going to feel the pain, sweetie. We need you to say a spell to release them and it would be nice if you could figure out one that will keep any other booby traps from attacking us.”
“Oh, is that all? A little headache shouldn’t be that bad. I haven’t used much magic lately, so I doubt it’ll be that bad. Give me a second to think up something.” I really hoped the notion of little magic use equating to little headache proved to be true.
“I bet you wish you had that rhyming book right about now,” Rick taunted me.
“Whatever, big brother. Stuck they are, but that is not how we want them to be; release them from this magic, and clear the house of anything we cannot see,” I said.
I saw Trey and Sean fall to the ground right before a force of energy hit me like a truck. I felt myself fly backwards, and then the lights went out in my world. I’d lost count of how many times I’d lost consciousness, but I assumed it was more than a human had to deal with in a normal lifetime.
“Well, that was just silly,” I heard Eva say. Didn’t we already talk once that day, why in the world was I back in the black void? “Because you’re going to be passed out for a while anyway. I just grabbed you before you were totally out, so we could hang out.”
“Why would I have been passed out?” I asked.
I opened my eyes and looked around to verify I was back in the void. Eva had found herself a chair and was sitting there smiling at me. I was still finding it hard to believe her and I were friends of any kind. It reminded me of the relationship I had with Frannie, which had only recently begun to make sense.
“Because you didn’t take proper precautions when you tried to disarm someone else’s spell. You really are wet behind the ears when it comes to this magic stuff. You’re lucky that I decided it was time for us to have another little talk, otherwise, right now you’d be just plain boring, lying there blacked out,” she said.
“Didn’t you say everything you needed to say earlier today? If you say too much more, I’d have to claim I learned something useful.”
“Well, yeah, but that was all business. I’ve missed you over the years, and I thought we could play catch up now,” she said, getting excited and clapping her hands together. She was a strange cookie.
“Has anyone ever told you how weird you are?” I asked. It wasn’t exactly nice, but she was missing a big hunk of something between her ears.
She laughed. “Oh, Avery, you were always good for a laugh. Let’s see what can we talk about? I figure your physical body will need to rest for at least twenty minutes after a blast that strong.”
“So I’m not really here?” I asked, confused exactly how she did whatever she did. “The way you just said that sounded like my body is still back in the house with the guys.”
“That’s true this time. Last time you were all here; this time you’re kind of just a holograph of yourself,” she explained. I held out my arms and they seemed real enough to me.
“Are you saying I’m basically here to amuse you while my body recovers from the blast?” I wasn’t sure whether to be happy about that or not.
“I would be happy,” she said with a smile. I was just complaining to Nate about reading my mind, and he wasn’t anywhere near as bad as Eva. “Yeah, sorry about that, I’m not really reading your mind so much as I can just hear everything like it’s spoken out loud. Anyway, I don’t get to make contact with non-deities very often, and without you around the last few decades, it’s been a little boring.”
“You’re the bringer of life, right? Does that mean you knew who I was when I was reborn? Everyone else who should’ve known me didn’t.”
“That was the plan. I did, but not at first. I actually didn’t have a hand in your most recent birth. Which was surprising to me. One day you just kind of popped up on my radar. You won’t remember, but when you were ten, I tried to visit you like the old times. I was disappointed when you didn’t recognize me,” she replied, making a sad face.
She really over-exaggerated her emotions. I imagined she wasn’t a very good poker player.
“Sorry,” I said, not sure what I was apologizing for. “How did we come to be friends again? You said you don’t talk to average people like me often, why did you choose me?”
“Actually, you’re my only contact in the normal world these days. People just don’t believe in us gods and goddesses like they did in the old days. Anyway, telling you how we became friends is so boring, when I can just show you. We should have enough time,” she said, getting out of her chair and looking down at her wrist like she was wearing a watch. “Time for a trip down memory lane.”
She walked over and put her hand along the left side of my face, like she was going to do some crazy mind meld with me. She giggled, evidently picking up that thought. I closed my eyes, because it seemed like the right thing to do, and when I opened them, I was in a time period I’d not visited yet. Things were bound to be interesting.
I’m walking through a market area. I see many people wearing things similar to togas, but not really the same. I guess I mean there’s a lot of draping going on. I glance down and notice I’m wearing a bright red draped dress that looks like it could very well serve as a bed sheet.
Many of the merchants are waving to me, trying to get me to come take a gander at their goods. Apparently I’m just out for a stroll, so I wave and smile, but don’t stop. It seems from my body’s memories that this is the first time I’ve been out alone in months. As it appears to be a recurring theme in my past lives, Nate, or Vasilis, as he’s known in this time, is being overprotective of his little butterfly and isn’t letting me out to play.
“This is where it all started,” I hear the female voice that I associate with Eva say in my head.
Not being able to control my body is difficult, because I can’t see her anywhere that I’m currently focused. Her voiceover was a new addition to my little visions. It’s a little like someone narrating my life.
“Sorry about that. We have to let the past play out, but we can both talk to each other while it happens,” I hear her reply.
Okay this is really freaky, it appears that she’s in the past with me, at least mentally. This will be the first time I’m able to communicate with someone in the past.
“Correct, isn’t it so cool. Oh look, you should be able to see me now,” she says.
Sure enough I see her at a stand, buying some jewelry. My body continues on its walk and as we pass her, she looks up and smiles. We smile back and continue on. Before long, I can feel her walking next to me.
“You’re special,” she says out loud to the past me.
“I don’t know what you mean,” I reply. “I’m no more special than the next person.”
“Oh, but sweet Catherine, we both know that isn’t true. You are a queen among your kind and meant for very illustrious things. I think we’re
going to be great friends,” she states.
“I’m sorry, but you must have me mistaken for someone else,” I say, and look around, trying to find an escape route. My body is confused by the fact that she called me by name. There’s a part of me that wishes Freddie would pop out and save her from the crazy lady.
“Don’t worry, my fiery friend, you don’t have to run. I’m Clotho, by the way. I’ve had my eye on you for a while now, but you never seem to be alone,” she says. “I can understand why that is, even if it makes things more difficult for me.”
“My friends seem to like to keep me guarded from others. I’m starting to think they had the right idea. I really must be getting back,” I say, still not feeling safe around her. It felt like spiders were crawling up my arms, and I knew she was to blame.
She chuckles. “It’s okay, most people aren’t sure what to make of us deities. That’s why we tend to keep to ourselves, much like you do. I read a note not long ago, though, and I have a feeling it was speaking of you, so I wanted to get to know you a little better. See if you were really worth the effort to protect. If you are, I’ll add what I can to strengthen your defenses.”
“Care to share what this note said, and why you thought it spoke of me?” I ask, digesting the part about her being a deity. She said her name is Clotho and my body knows of only one deity named Clotho. It wasn’t a stretch to assume I was speaking to one of the three Fates.
“Sorry, I can’t reveal what the note said. I’m sure eventually you’ll read it yourself. You’ll find as the years go by that us Fates try very hard not to meddle that much in others’ lives. Don’t get me wrong, we enjoy changing the timeline here and there, but we never mess with the really important events in time,” she says.
I had a feeling that claim had changed a little over the years. The woman I knew in the present hinted her and her sisters had helped me alter things in my timeline, and the past me had her own ideas on just how involved the Fates got.
“That isn’t exactly what I’ve heard about you. You and your sisters get to decide when people are born, how long they live and when and how they die. I would think that means you have a hand in everyone’s life, and they better hope they don’t make you mad,” I say. Now that I know what I’m dealing with, I don’t seem to be as afraid anymore. There’s still part of me that’s leery, but I don’t think she’ll hurt me.
She just shrugs at my comment. “We all have jobs in this world, some are easier than others. I spend a lot of time making difficult decisions, but today I have decided I need a day off. What were you planning on doing with your freedom? I imagine it won’t be long before your mate finds you, but we have a little while we can spend getting to know each other.”
She seems determined to become my friend. I don’t really understand why, but I have a feeling I won’t be able to shake her either. If anything did go wrong today, I guess having the two of us together would be better than being alone.
“I was going to go down to the lake and sit for a while,” I tell her.
“That sounds like a marvelous idea,” she says, looping her arm through mine. “Let’s go.”
As she drags me off, the vision starts to get dark. “Oh pooh,” I heard present Eva say mentally. “You’re coming back around and have to go back to your current body. We really did have a lot of fun that day. Maybe we’ll have a chance to visit it again later. You’ll love how much trouble you were in when your friends finally caught up with you.”
I doubted that. I remembered enough of my past that I knew I hated the never-ending lectures about how dangerous the outside world was for me. I had to be thankful they were just then learning there was a prophecy about needing to protect me.
The next thing I knew, I woke up in Nate’s lap, and saw the worry that was too often in his eyes. I looked around and found myself on an unfamiliar bed. I wasn’t sure which house I was in or really how much time had passed.
“Do you want to explain what just happened?” he asked. “I have a strong feeling you know the answer to that question.”
