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White’s casino was literally right down the street from the clinic. It should have taken us all of like, ten minutes to let Aria know we were leaving, hoof it over to the ostentatious building, and get White’s annoying front desk staff to let us into the millionaire’s inner sanctuary.
But apparently, I needed to just stop expecting anything even vaguely resembling normal anymore.
We had left the clinic and made it about halfway to the big, glittering casino when everything suddenly went...weird. It was like everything around me just stopped. One minute I was hurrying along beside Chike, muttering about the stupidity of vampires and demons and what the heck Rhys could have gotten up to with White. The next second, it felt like the air around me thickened, my movements becoming heavy, as if I was pushing my way through some sort of fluid resistance—like walking through molasses, or pushing my way through invisible cotton batting.
I felt a tingle of strange magic all around me, and I turned to find Chike frozen in place. Even the breeze had stopped right where it was. Chike’s long braid and a few loose strands of his lavender hair stuck straight out to the side and one of his graceful hands was paused mid-gesture. He had been winding up to a good rant about Rhys not telling him things and how everyone just assumed he was weak. Now, he was silent. I couldn’t even see him breathing.
I fought my way back a few steps to get to Chike, panic clawing at my chest. He wasn’t breathing. I gripped his arm and found it warm and giving. My healing powers told me he was alive, but...on pause. I glanced around. Birds hovered in mid-air. Traffic had stopped. The other pedestrians around us had frozen just like Chike.
“The sunshine here is always so harsh,” a reedy voice complained from behind me, startling me and causing me to whirl away from Chike. I pushed through the thick air to face whoever had spoken.
A bent, stooped old woman stood there in the middle of the sidewalk, her gray clothes and long white hair moving in a breeze that certainly wasn’t blowing here in the real world. On her left side stood a slender, sprightly looking pre-teen with shiny gold ringlets that trailed down her back. The younger one was wearing a sort of glittery gold wrap dress and sandals. She shook her head and smiled at the old woman, like a child looking fondly on the antics of their dear old granny. “Atropos, the sun is the same on Earth as it has always been.” She glanced at me with dark eyes and winked. “She prefers the even temperatures in the god realm.”
I watched them warily. The old woman’s eyes were a pure, eerie white. But the young girl wasn’t any better. There was an ancient thing looking out at me from those dark depths. The power in me rose up, as if suddenly realizing it was in the presences of familiar energy—godspark, or something like it. On the old woman’s other side, a beautiful, voluptuous redhead appeared. She cocked a hip and crossed her arms, tossing her messy red curls and looking at me with dark red-orange eyes. “Hello, Troya. Do you remember us?”
My ears were ringing, and breathing seemed difficult. No, I didn’t remember them. Why should I? But then the memories came, faint flashes of a distant past becoming less fuzzy the longer I concentrated on them. I remembered them. I remembered the redhead handing me a golden cup. I remembered the golden-haired one standing at my side, one hand on my shoulder, staring blankly into the distance with her dark eyes while silent tears rolled down her cheeks. I remembered the wizened hands of the old woman, lifting a glinting pair of scissors to cut something away from me. Something dear. Something I both loved...and hated. Something that hurt.
I stumbled a step back, fisting my hands at my sides, confused and overwhelmed by the flash of memory from my previous life. “The fates,” I whispered, not knowing what I was going to say until the words left my mouth, put there by memories that didn’t quite feel like my own. “You’re the fates. The norns.”
The younger-looking one clapped her hands together. Skuld, my memory supplied. Lachesis. The future. “Oh goodie! She remembers us!”
The older looking one gave her sister a tolerant look with those white eyes. “The past never really dies, you know that.” Urd. Atropos. The past.
“None of that matters,” the redhead said. “It’s what you do now, that is important.” Verdani. Clotho. The present. “What will you do, Troya, Heimdall’s daughter, beloved of your house? Will you listen to the advice we offer?”
I shook my head, not quite able to take it all in. “Why are you here? What do you want?” I might not understand everything, but one thing was clear in my memory. The fates never appeared unless something big was happening. They never interfered with the destiny of humans.
Clotho moved a bit closer, tilting her head, those red eyes boring into mine. “Your king and your knight are in danger, little one. Your decisions will determine their fate.”
Lachesis skipped forward and did that creepy looking into nothing...thing again. “If you awaken what sleeps inside you, they will live. If not, they will die. If they live, life here on this plane will continue on its current path. Your demon is integral to that continuation.” She blinked, as if reading something from a page in front of her face. “If you choose to remain as you are, the demon will die and his thread will unravel, taking the threads of the others around him as it goes.”
I swallowed hard. “What? What do you mean? Is Rhys in danger? Just tell me what to do to help him. Let me out of this stupid time warp so I can get to him!”
Atropos hobbled closer, reaching out a gnarled old hand toward me. “I am known for my scissors,” the old lady rasped. “But I can work a needle as well. Shall I sew your past and your present together, girl? If you learn about your gifts, how will you use them?”
Clotho huffed. “She’ll just make the same mistake again. It’s what mortals do. And she’s mostly mortal now.”
I glared at her. “What do you mean? What mistake? Will you please just make sense?”
The redhead stared into my eyes. “Such potential. So much power sitting there, untapped and waiting to be put to use. But how will you use it? What do you think your father was up to all those years ago? He feared what you would choose if given the choice. Will you choose the demon this time?”
I ran a hand through my hair, my motions still feeling slow and difficult. I didn’t know what was going on, but the intuition that was growing alongside my godspark insisted that I needed to do something. To go. To move. Now.
Rhys was in danger, thanks to whatever shit White was up to. If the fates said he would die, he would die. If they said I could save him, then they were right. I might not know much about the gods, but my rapidly returning memories told me one thing—the fates alone could see all the threads. “Whatever I need to do to save Rhys, I’ll do it.”
“But what about your demon?” Lachesis said, bouncing on her toes and setting her gold ringlets swaying. “Do you want him to succeed?”
I blinked at her. “White? I don’t know. I mean...if whatever he’s doing is good, then sure.”
“She can’t make a decision without all the information,” the little blond said, glancing at the others. “Asking her to do that is just as unfair as the last time. We are not the gods. Fate is not cruel, no matter how others make it seem.”
Atropos nodded. “She’s right. Centuries ago, we were forced to alter your fate without your knowledge of the consequences, the ripples and bumps it would cause in the weave. Today, you learn the truth.”
My eyes darted to Chike, but he seemed the same as before. “Your lover is safe,” Clotho said with a nod at my merman. “He waits. The whole world waits. Troya, you are the daughter of Heimdall and one of Aphrodite’s priestesses. You were the golden child of his house, beloved by all, but sheltered. You were imbued with the powers of sensuality and love, and of light and healing. But your most important gift was kept hidden from you.” She peered into my eyes as if she were seeing into my soul. It was terrifying, but I couldn’t bring myself to look away. “You have the ability to influence the fates of those around you, child. Your will can color the very threads of fate.”
I was breathing hard all of the sudden. Something inside me was trying to get out. But the present version of me was afraid to let the memories wash over me. The gods had lied to me—kept things from me? Did I really want to know? “Why?” I managed. “You...you’re saying I used to be able to...what? Make things happen? Why would they hide that from me?”
Atropos lifted her hand toward me again. “Because it was easier to manipulate you and use your powers for their own purposes that way.” Her white eyes were riveted to my face, her hand hovering near my forehead. I could feel the power inside me reaching for her, wanting to complete that circuit. Alongside the confusion and fear was another emotion, one I was very familiar with. Anger. Rage was boiling up inside me just like it had ever since I first felt that memory of my past life. I had thought the rage was all for Derek White, the demon who murdered my sister and broke my heart. But now...now I was beginning to suspect the anger was there for an entirely different reason. I’d been betrayed by my own father. I didn’t understand it all. Especially what it had to do with Derek White. But I did understand the burning need for the truth.
I closed my eyes and leaned forward, letting Atropos press her wizened fingertips to my forehead.
Power flooded my entire body, bathing me in a blinding golden light as fragments of memory flowed through my mind in a disjointed, confused jumble. I couldn’t even begin to make sense of it all. But I would. I knew I would.
What was important right now was the power I felt flowing around me and through me, sinking into my flesh and bones, merging with every cell of my body, making me feel...whole. It had been locked away. Recently, the key had been turned, but I was too scared to open the door. Atropos had just broken the lock and flung the door wide open. I couldn’t hide from myself anymore.
I opened my eyes as Atropos pulled away. The old woman gave me a slight, wry smile. “It is done.”
Then she vanished.
Lachesis bounced on her toes, her dark eyes lighting up like a star-filled sky. “The possibilities have grown brighter. But the path will not be easy. Keep faith in your own strength, Troya.” Then she too, was gone.
Clotho regarded me with flashing flame-colored eyes, her tangled red-orange hair lashing around her like it, too was made of fire. “Your actions shape your world, Troya. Whatever you believe, know it is the truth and believe it with your whole being. That is the only way forward. We’ll be watching.”
She vanished and I was left alone in the frozen world. A heartbeat passed, two. Then everything rushed back. The noise and motion around me suddenly seemed too intense, like too much to take in. I sank to my knees, breathing in deep and trying to find my center again.
“Troy!” Chike’s silky voice was panicked. “What happened? Are you okay?” His graceful hands cupped my face as he forced me to look up at him. “Why did you fall down? What’s....” He stroked his hands over my cheeks, then sank down to kneel in front of me, his amethyst eyes wide and full of shock. “Troy? What is this?”
I managed to get my mouth to work, finally. “What is what?” Whoa. My voice sounded different, rich and...sexy.
“Your aura...your magic. It’s...different.”
I nodded. “I suppose that’s what happens when the fates start playing around with things.”
He blinked at me. “The fates? Like...Greek mythology?”
I took a deep breath and stood, pulling Chike up to join me. “Yep. Greek, Norse, whatever names mortals throughout the ages have given them. They were here. Froze time. Told me the gods kept my powers a secret so they could use me. You know. The usual.” I started walking toward the casino. “Oh, and apparently I can do something to change people’s fates? I don’t know. It’s all kinda confusing.” I looked back to find him just standing there, gaping. “Well? Are you coming? We need to go get Rhys. And Derek, I suppose. Orion probably won’t let me just leave his Lord and Master behind.”
Chike snapped his mouth shut and hurried to catch up. “Right. Sure. That.” But he was still looking at me funny. Oh well. I had more important things to do right now than worry about how crazy I sounded.