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"Why would I care about your family?" Atropos asks.
"Because you care about the gods," Gaia tries.
The Fates cackle. "We don't care about the gods. We only care about ourselves."
"Truly?" I ask. "You don't care about anything else? About love? About what is right? About second chances. About forgiveness?"
The Fates frown. "No. We only care about pleasure." They look in their eyes though tells me they are lying. Everyone cares about more than just pleasure. Otherwise, they would be twisted and dark souls, not fit for Mount Olympus.
I start to speak. But Lark cuts me off. "Look," she says. "The room, it's changing." As she points, the Fates run from the room, turning their backs on us.
She points to the corner of a wall where it is fading away. "What's happening?" I ask, as more of the room fades away, leaving us in a small cottage with dusty floorboards and cluttered shelves, filled with jars and herbs. And beyond that, there are piles of strings everywhere. From the rafters, from pegs in the walls, everywhere you look are the strings.
The strings of life.
The Fates have so much control.
"They must have put a glamour over their home, concealing the truth," Lark says in a whisper.
"If they were hiding the truth of that," Remedy asks, "what else are they hiding?"
15
Ares
When Hades came for me, he wasn't alone. With the daughters distracted with finding one another, he was free to come after us. They all left their realms.
But now, we are free to go after them once more.
"Finally," Hades growls. "We're all here."
We look at one another, considering our next move. We've been in an alliance ever since we took our wife and locked her in a cage twenty-one years ago.
We felt Persephone leave her prison. It was like a rush of energy moving through the world as she emerged from the Underworld.
"She's on Olympus," Zeus tells us, his eyes filled with righteous fury. "I feel her presence there, in the sky."
"Then what are we waiting for?" I ask, looking around at the men who I vowed to protect until the day we died. Our wife, though, she ruined the love between us; now we only hold vengeance in our hearts.
"Nothing. It's time to finish what we started," Poseidon snarls. "Those girls think they are as strong as us. They haven't a clue. Being kept in a cage for so many months has only allowed my powers to grow. They've only been held at bay and I am ready to unleash them."
I wonder what Persephone will think when she sees us. Will she see that she is the reason we're against her? She didn't ever really love us; she only wanted us for our seed. She wanted a child, but we wanted her heart, mind, and soul.
She is a deceiver.
And it's time she understood that we won't let her, or her daughters win this game.
We are off, toward Mount Olympus, one aim in mind. Find Persephone.
16
Persephone
The Fates have turned from us, but as the room comes into focus for what it truly is, I realize they are deceiving us, at their core.
They aren't to be trusted.
"What have you done?" I ask, pulling on Clotho’s shoulders, spinning her around to face me. I recoil in horror as I see her face. It is gnarled and ruined, rotted teeth and discolored eyes. She is an old woman, more ancient than the days, and I can't look away, though I am disgusted with her.
"Mother," Tennyson screams, grabbing my arm and pulling me to her. "Careful now."
Behind me, Lachesis has grabbed a handful of strings and laughs maniacally. They were so beautiful, the Fates, only minutes ago, and now I see them for what they really are.
Old, broken women who are relishing the chance to torment me.
"What have you done?" I ask again. I am trying to remember why they could have wanted to hurt me, but seeing them like this, I know they have lost their wits. There is no sense in their eyes, only menace.
"You think you are so pretty, sweet Persephone," Atropos sneers at me. "A body any god would crave, a face too beautiful to deny. But no one gets everything they want, precious Sephy. It isn't the way the world works."
Clotho laughs beside her sister. "At least no one gets that when we are the ones in charge of life and death."
"Tell me what you did! Tell me. Did you do something to my husbands?"
The Fates hold their bellies, laughing so hard there are tears running down their sunken in cheeks. They are relishing this moment and I won't let them enjoy themselves at the expense of my daughters.
"Seph, maybe we..." Gaia is pulling away, scared. "The girls, Rem and Harlow, they are pregnant. They need to be safe," she whispers.
I nod, knowing she is right. What was I thinking, bringing my girls to the Fates?
