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When I get home, Lacey and Chloe are working quietly in the basement, the strains of some old Big Band song—Chloe’s genre of choice—the only noise. Lacey is poring over astrological charts, setting up the fate of some poor human. Probably planning to screw him or her over, too.
“Picking out another boyfriend for me since mine will soon be dead?” I hiss as I stride down the center aisle toward her. “I wouldn’t recommend that.”
I have the satisfaction of seeing her face go white and then bright red. She’s busted, and she knows it. Good.
“How did you find out?” she asks.
“Good old Dad ratted you out.”
She squares her shoulders and faces me. I feel a surge of adrenaline. At least she’s not going to cower down. I’m going to get a good, soul-cleansing fight. “I’m not sorry.”
“I didn’t expect you to be. But you will be,” I say, moving closer and standing toe to toe with her. I have two inches in height on her, and I love that she has to look up at me.
“Hey,” Chloe cries, getting up from her spinning wheel and coming to stand between us. “What’s this all about?”
“Our dear sister fated Alex for me so that I could experience the joy of love or some such crap. But I think we all know it was revenge, don’t we?” I say to Lacey.
“Whoa,” Chloe says. She turns to Lacey. “You really did that?”
“With Zeus’ blessing,” Lacey says with a smug smirk on her face.
“Only because you lied about your motives,” I say.
She only shrugs. “So?”
“So, you condemned Alex to suffer and die young for no other reason than to get even with me. Does this not strike you as even a tiny bit wrong? This is not what we do. Human life isn’t to be treated recklessly. We serve Zeus’ plan, not our own petty agendas. Or we did, until you threw all that out the window.”
Lacey waves a dismissive hand. “He’d have died someday anyway. They all do.”
That’s it. Something in my brain snaps, and I’m no longer rational. I push Chloe out of the way and tackle Lacey with everything I have. We hit the floor. She tries to scramble away from me, but I’m stronger. I sit on her chest and lean down with my elbow against her throat, pressing down with all my weight. She gasps for air and claws at me, but I don’t let go. I can’t kill her, but I can make her hurt.
Chloe tugs at my shirt, trying to get me off Lacey. I bear down even harder on Lacey’s throat with one arm and brush Chloe off with the other. Lacey’s turning purple, and I’m loving it.
Now Chloe is pounding on my back. “Let her go,” she cries.
I keep the pressure on until the purple begins changing to blue. Then I let go. Lacey crawls backward, away from me, but not fast enough. I plow my fist into her nose. The bright red blood flows, and I finally let Chloe pull me up. My knuckles are split and bleeding, but I don’t care.
“You are such an insensitive bitch,” Lacey spits at me. She wipes her nose with the back of her hand, smearing blood all over her face. I can’t help but smile at the sight.
“Charlie died, and you didn’t care. You just snipped his line and walked away. You didn’t care how much it hurt me,” she says through tears.
“It. Is. What. I. Do.” I pronounce each word through clenched teeth. “Will no one ever get that through their stupid heads? Killing people is my life.
“The day you decided to love a human boy, you knew how it would end. And when. You knew you’d grieve, and yet, you did it anyway. That I had to kill him and cause you pain is your fault, not mine. You want to hate someone, hate yourself,” I say to Lacey.
“You are my sister. You should have gone to Hades on my behalf and argued for Charlie’s immortality. He’s listened to you before.”
I snort. “Once. And that was because of a very stupid mistake I made when I’d only been on the job a month. All Hades did was undo what never should have been done to begin with. He’s never intervened in a case where fate has been assigned and correctly carried out. Nor will he. I’m not about to stick my neck out with Hades because you were too stupid to realize the consequences of your actions.”
“I wasn’t stupid. I only wanted to know what it felt like to really love someone and have them love you back. It was wonderful, but now he’s gone and it hurts. It hurts so bad that some days, I can’t stand it. Even after all these years, I miss him. Worse, it’ll never stop hurting because I can’t die and join him in the Underworld.”
“Oh, please. Get your head out of the romance novels and look around. Love is not meant for us. It never was. We determine who loves and who doesn’t, but it isn’t meant for us. I knew that and it’s why I chose to stay away from the humans. At least until you mucked around in my life,” I say.
“We can love,” Chloe, ever the optimist, interjects.
“Sure, but it never works out,” I say, turning on her. “Have you ever had happily ever after? No. And why? Because we exist outside of fate. Our relationships either end in breakups when the human finds the person they’re really fated for, or they end in death and we go on living for millennia. Either way, we end up miserable,” I say.
I turn to Lacey, who is now sitting in her chair and weeping, pressing tissues to her bloody nose. I roll my eyes. Any respect I have for her vanishes under contempt. “I can’t stand it. Charlie was a hundred years ago. Get over it. The drama queen act is beyond old.”
“Will you just ‘get over’ Alex?” she asks.
“You already know the answer to that question. You created this mess for the express purpose of making me hurt, so I think you know what will happen. I promise you this, however. I’ll deal with it a hell of a lot better than you,” I say.
I start to walk away and then turn back to her. I have the brief satisfaction of seeing her shrink away from me. Her earlier bravado has faded, and now she’s afraid of me. Good.
“You know what? We’re done, you and I. I will work with you on matters of fate because I have no choice. But that’s it. Stay out of my life. If I ever catch you fating a human to have any relationship with me, even if it’s to be my garbage man, I swear I will beat you black and blue and then cut you in half, just like I did Ker. Do your damn job and leave me alone.”
I flee upstairs, Chloe hot on my heels. She catches me as I yank open the front door. Grabbing my arm, she tugs me back into the foyer.
“What are you going to do?” she asks.
“What I should have done to begin with. Go flush Alex’s memory. Slash and burn. I’ll go back so far he won’t even know I exist. Hell, he’ll be lucky to remember his damn name.”
“Did Zeus say you had to?”
“No. He’s willing to let it go since Alex is dying, as long as he remains silent. But I can’t have a relationship with Alex, not now. Everything is tainted. He didn’t choose me. Lacey made him choose me. There’s no honesty in that,” I say.
“We’d all be better off if he forgot me. I can’t undo the early death she threw at him because of me, but I can at least let him die in peace.”
“I understand if you want to flush him,” Chloe says. “But he has feelings for you. Whether they’re programmed into him or not, they’re real to him. Maybe he will be happier spending his last days with you, the person he’s fated for, than spending them without you.”
“But how will I ever know what’s real and what’s not? Can I spend time with him, always wondering whether he would have chosen to spend that time with me if Lacey hadn’t thrown him at me? What if he only loves me because he has no choice?”
“Sometimes, you just have to accept what is. You like him and your actions are your own because you have no fate. Lacey couldn’t make you like him back, yet you do. Maybe that’s all that matters right now. Maybe you can just love him until he dies and enjoy it for the pleasure it brings both of you without worrying about his fate. He doesn’t have to know why he likes you. Only that he does.”
I look down at Chloe. “Da
mn it. When did you get so wise?”
“I’ve always been that way. You just never notice. Don’t go charging off to flush him right now. Cool down and think about it. Make the decision you want to make, not the decision that Lacey is pushing you toward.”
She has a point. I’m usually guilty of rushing into decisions and regretting them later. Exhibit A—the whole Alex debacle. If I hadn’t given in to my impulse to go after him that first day, none of us would be in this mess. Chloe is right. A cooling-off period is in order.
“I’ll think about it,” I promise, and I get a huge smile out of my sister.
“By the way, where’s Mom?” Chloe asks. “I thought she went to Olympus with you.”
“Oh, damn,” I say. “I was in such a hurry to get away from her and Zeus that I left them bickering at the temple. She’s probably back at Mount Mitchell by now, fuming because I took the car. I guess I’d better go get her.”
“No, you go cool off. I’ll go. I’ll talk her down so she won’t be so angry at you for leaving her with Zeus longer than necessary.”
“Thanks,” I say.
“No problem. Everything will work out. It always does, and we have reason to know that better than anyone.”
I smile at her. “I hope you’re right.”
“Of course I am,” she says, pulling the door closed behind her.