Heart (25 page)

The ground was a terrifying distance beneath
us. We had been climbing for what felt like hours. My muscles shook
and trembled; my stomach ached with nausea and muscle pain. My
fingers were numb from their effort to hold on. I had scrapes and
bruises all over my skin from the unforgiving rock. If we made it
to the top, I had decided that I would need to move in with the
Fates. I sure as hell wasn’t going to try to climb down after all
of this.

“We’re almost there,” Ryder grunted. “Let’s
go, Red.”

I looked up. The distance seemed impossible.
I was so tired.

I reached up, stretching on my tiptoes to
find the next handhold. The rock I stood on gave way, crumbling to
dust and disappearing beneath me. A scream of terror ripped from my
throat. I clawed at the rock façade, but I couldn’t find a hold. My
body slammed against the sharp edges of the cliff, my dress tore
and my skin scraped painfully as I started to fall.

I had a moment of sheer panic, where my heart
leapt to my throat and my mind blanked from all conscious thought.
Then Ryder’s impossibly capable arm slammed against my back,
pushing me into the cliff first, then his body next. He held me
against him, his entire body shaking with the effort to keep us
both from falling.

I moved quickly, burying my brand new,
debilitating fear of heights and my rush of adrenaline. I shifted
carefully in his arms and dug my fingers back into the rock wall,
then found a place for my toes.

When I was as secure as could be, I turned to
share a wide-eyed look with him.

“Thank you,” I shouted over the gush of air
in my ears.

He jerked his head, dismissing me. “Let’s
just get to the top, okay?”

I started climbing right away. “Okay.”

I hugged the wall as tightly as I could and
tried not to slow down or stop. I moved from crevice to crevice,
slowly gaining ground. I forced my brain to stop thinking about
what could happen if I slipped again or what was likely to happen
when I reached the top. I just needed to get there. I just needed
to get off this wall and then I would face the consequences.

My entire life had been a reflection of my
movement now. One small step at a time. One frame of consciousness
to the next. I moved carefully and with intent, but I moved in a
way that would protect me.

And now my calculated steps and drive to stay
alive included Ryder. From this day on, they would always include
Ryder.

Finally,
finally
, we reached the top.
I clawed at the smooth dirt ground until my fingertips were
bloodied and my fingernails broken and jagged. Slowly, with every
ounce of remaining strength and all of the determination I could
grasp, I pulled myself over the edge.

Ryder joined me a second later and we lay
together on the hard ground, with the fierce wind whipping all
around us. Ryder’s hand landed heavily on mine and squeezed. We
just lay there for a few minutes, catching our breath and staring
at each other.

My stomach flipped with panic. I knew we
needed to move, that we were completely vulnerable like this. But I
had nothing left. My muscles ached and my bones hurt. What a stupid
place to live.

“We should move,” Ryder suggested.

“I can’t,” I whimpered.

His lips twitched and under different
circumstances he might have smiled. “We need to-”

“You need to stand up and address us
properly,” the cold voice of the eldest Fate addressed us.

A chill snaked down my spine. So much for the
element of surprise.

I lifted my head, ignoring the heaviness of
it and stared into the milky white eyes of Isadora. Her
ankle-length white hair tossed wildly in the ferocious wind but
always stayed out of her face. She looked down at us with one
eyebrow raised and full lips turned down into a haughty frown.

“Isadora,” I greeted casually.

Surprise lit her face and I wondered for a
moment if she planned to kill me right this second. Finally, after
long moments of weighted silence, she returned, “Ivy.” She turned
to Ryder and said, “Orpheus.”

He jumped to his feet and shifted his
shoulders uncomfortably. “I don’t actually go by that.”

Isadora rocked back on her heels and held his
attention. “Does it matter what you go by? Do your feelings and
opinions make truth any less true?”

I pushed to my feet and tried not to sway. I
felt like paper in the intensity of the breeze. I waited for the
wind to pick me up and toss me off the side of this mountain.

“We need to talk to you.” I pushed my hair
out of my face and tried to sound firm.

Isadora turned back to me. “I can see
that.”

“Please,” I gritted out.

“Please what?” she challenged.

“Please may we speak with you, and the other…
two?”

I felt her impatience as she pursed her lips.
“I expected more from you, Siren. Your lack of respect is
troubling.”

I bristled at her condescension, but she had
something I wanted and picking a fight with her from the start
would obviously not work in my favor.

“I apologize,” I said through gritted teeth.
“Allow me to begin again. My associate and I request an audience
with you, oh, great and powerful Fate.”

Her clouded eyes flashed with lightning, but
a small smile played at her lips. “Better,” she allowed graciously.
She spun around and began walking toward the mouth of a large cave.
Her gray robes billowed out behind her and danced in the wind,
tangling with her massive length of hair.

“This is your last chance to back out,” I
whispered to Ryder.

His tongue slid over his bottom lip as he
considered me. “And miss this? I have a feeling the fun is just
beginning.”

“Just don’t leave my side,” I warned him. “I
wouldn’t put it past them to turn you into a slave or something.
You’d be destined to feed them grapes and fan them with peacock
feathers for the rest of eternity.”

He raised an eyebrow, “Peacock feathers?”

“Let’s just get this over with.”

We hurried after her. The wind hit so
violently, I expected it to eventually push me over. I kept my head
down and fought it with my remaining strength. The lip of the cave
blotted out the sun when we stepped beneath it, but it wasn’t until
we were completely in the mouth that the wind finally stopped
beating my bare skin.

It was shockingly quiet inside the dark
space. My ears still rushed from the blender of sound outside, but
there was nothing but silence in here.

A torch flared to life along the wall and as
we moved deeper into the cave, more of them came to life. Soon the
dirt floor and smooth, domed roof were lit with bright, warm
light.

Isadora led the way down a long tunnel. We
followed in silence, fear mounting with each step.

I didn’t know anything about the Fates to
have an idea of what would happen in their lair. I half expected
them to cut me to pieces and use my virginal blood to tell the
future. I tried to picture what it had been like for my mother over
the last few months, the kinds of nightmares she had to suffer
through, but I couldn’t even imagine what life had been like for
her.

The bitterness I still felt for her, the
residual trauma from her neglect and mistreatment began to fade in
light of witnessing her real sacrifice for me. I didn’t know if we
would survive Olympus or even the next hour, but I started to think
about a future with her if we did. If we could shake Nix and escape
the Fates, then maybe there was a relationship to be salvaged
between us. Maybe we wouldn’t always have to hate each other.

Only time would tell.

The tunnel widened into a large cavern
covered in thick, patterned rugs and decorated with luxurious, yet
gaudy taste. I felt like we’d stepped into the inside of a genie’s
lamp. Furniture in pink, neon green and yellow littered the space,
covered in purple, red and royal blue pillows. Sheer fabric hung
from the ceiling and draped over rock walls. More torches burned in
the open spaces and caused shadows to shade the corners and stretch
along the faces of the other two Fates. They sat on the center
couch, waiting for us.

Veda lifted her childlike face and stuck her
tongue out at me. The forked, lizard-like thing flicked over her
upper lip and then disappeared back into her unholy mouth. I
shivered before I could check my reaction. She grinned with
pleasure, happy to freak me out.

Enid wrapped her slender arm around Veda’s
shoulder and met my wide gaze with shrewd eyes. Her lips turned
with a slyness that warned me something terrible was coming my
way.

“Sit,” Isadora ordered. Her hand swept toward
a mustard-colored couch opposite theirs. She perched on the edge of
her seat, next to Veda. Seeing them lined up together was something
else.

Ryder pressed his hand to my lower back and
urged me to sit down. If it hadn’t been for him I might have stood
there staring at them for the rest of the day. I was
half-disgusted, half-terrified.

“Your audience,” Isadora smiled politely.
“We’re listening.”

I swallowed around a lump of nerves and got
to business. “You have my mother,” I told them. They didn’t
respond. They simply stared at me. “I would like her back.”

Enid’s face lit with amusement. “Back?” she
snickered. “Was she yours to begin with?”

Veda laughed a tinkling sound that grated on
my nerves. “I thought it was she that had you.”

“And haven’t we had you both all along?” Enid
finished.

“I would like my mother out of your
possession and into mine,” I clarified. My anger rose like a storm
inside me, it gained ground and power and threatened to end this
discussion before it really began.

“She is not yours to reclaim,” Isadora said
sternly. “Her life is already ours. It’s a pity you came all of
this way. It appears that you risked your lives for nothing.”

I pressed my lips together and tried not to
explode. “She’s not yours to claim either,” I gritted out. My hand
landed on my ribs where a tattoo was etched into my skin.
My
soul is free
. “She is a person. No one can own her. No one can
possess her. She should be free to leave.”

“Your ideals are simply adorable,” Enid
laughed. “Look at your moral high ground! It’s simply glowing with
purity.” She whipped her head to the side and met Isadora’s
calculated glare. “She won’t be able to get the job done, Sister.
She’s too clean. She doesn’t have what it takes.”

“She’s the only one that has what it takes,”
Isadora answered. “Besides, we win no matter what.”

“Win what?” My chest tightened with
warning.

“You’ll understand,” Veda grinned. “In
approximately three more minutes.”

Isadora leaned forward, ignoring her younger
sister. “We made a deal with Nix to watch over you while you aged.
Eighteen is an important time for you, Child. Your powers expand
every day, your crown settles more firmly on your head with each
passing minute. When you were but an hour old, new to this world
and yet more dangerous than every other baby born on that day, Nix
offered something we wanted in exchange for our sight. We gave him
everything he asked for. We watched over you while you aged. We
protected you from needless harm. And we focused on the things that
were to come in your lifetime. Yet we allowed everything.”

“You allowed everything?” I didn’t understand
where this was going. Veda was wrong. Three minutes wasn’t nearly
enough time.

“He asked us to watch, not intervene. Do you
see the difference?” Isadora asked.

Warning bells blared in my head. Okay… now I
was starting to understand. “What does that have to do with my
mother?”

“Let’s start with the fact that she is your
mother,” Enid sneered. “She gave birth to you. Her womb created
you. Along with the help of your father, she conceived you. She
also created your sister. Your mother has a greatness inside of her
that is dormant until it touches a god. And then it’s as if she
comes to life. Her powers burst into fullness and the offspring she
spins are magnificent.”

“And powerful,” Veda added.

Ryder’s fingers dug into my back. I felt him
begin to understand too.

“We could use Ava,” Isadora explained. “We
could find a god that was capable of greatness and see what else
your mother is capable of. We could gamble on another exceptional
child and then we could wait… for years.”

“And it’s so hard to find good gods these
days. The last one we picked… well… he wasn’t exactly a gentleman.”
Enid’s longer fingernails pinched the silk of her gray, Grecian
gown.

“And they didn’t exactly have a connection,”
Veda snickered.

Enid grinned wickedly, “And who has all of
that time?” The three Fates shared a snide look and laughed at her
joke.

If anyone had time, it was these three.

Enid met my gaze and held it with hers. “It
would be so much simpler if we already had access to one of her
children.”

“A powerful one,” Veda grinned.

“One that was already close to coming of
age,” Enid finished.

“Me?” I finally understood.

“You,” Isadora declared.

“No,” Ryder said immediately. “No.
Never.”

“Orpheus,” Veda sneered. Her tilted eyes
flashed with lightning and danger. “He wasn’t supposed to be here,”
she complained to her eldest sister.

“There is always a chance,” Isadora said
quietly. “He might work in our favor.”

“Your favor?” I hated not knowing all of the
sick twists and turns to their malicious scheming.

“We have a common enemy,” Isadora explained.
“There is someone we both wish to end. We are willing to bargain
with you, if you agree to certain terms.”

“Just say it,” I growled. I was tired of
these games. I needed answers.

Isadora lifted her chin and said with both
finality and simplicity, “We want Nix dead.”