Free Fated by Courtney Cole

it’s me, Macy. " I cupped his face in my hands, trying to get him to focus on mine.
    He stared back at me like I was an idiot.
    "I know who you are, " he replied. "Did I hit my head or something? "
    He looked puzzled, but only by my behavior. He had apparently completely forgotten the visions ... and the fact that he had just called me Harmonia. Interesting. The bloodstone must have a different effect on him than it did on me. Or the Fates were messing with me somehow.
    Suspicion bubbled up within me before I tampered it down. There was no use second-guessing them at the moment.
    "Is everything okay over here? " Jade asked as they dropped onto the wet sand next to us.
    I nodded. "Everything’s great. We found my necklace, Noah didn’t drown himself ... this is a stellar day. "
    As Noah and Gavin poked and teased each other, Jade turned to me, her eyes eagle sharp.
    "What was wrong with Gavin? "
    Drat her super perception skills. She’d always been that way- never missing anything.
    Sometimes it came in handy, but more often than not, it was a pain. Like right now.
    "Nothing. He got a little disoriented in the water. No big deal. The current is bad today and that makes it easy to get turned around. "
    "Hmm, " she drawled, studying my face. "Whatever you say. "
    She turned to watch Noah and Gavin, who were wrestling around beside us, kicking up sand. "Well, they both certainly seem fine now, " she observed. I nodded, but my thoughts had already drifted to her and the vision that I had seen of her strapped to a hospital bed. The boys were fine. But was she?
     

 

     
     

Chapter Six
     
    Beneath the surface of the pool, the water was a blue tinted serenity that I craved every day. I tried to stay after swim practice at least twice a week so that I could collect myself in solitude, pulling my thoughts together into something that made cohesive sense. In here, I was alone in utter silence. It was a refreshing change of pace. Nothing could bother me. Not Tara, not the Moirae, not the mysterious Keres.
    I broke the surface, took a deep breath and dove back under. As I pulled with long strokes, I allowed my mind to wander. There was so much to think about. At the very top of the headache inducing questions was Harmonia. Who was she? And why was Gavin murmuring her name? I felt a brief stirring of jealousy but thought the better of it. That was ridiculous. The best part of being a soul mate was knowing that you were meant for each other.
    I kicked off the tiled wall and shot toward the other side of the pool, plunging my face once again into the cold water. And immediately startled, flailing for a moment before I regained my composure.
    Directly in front of me, about ten yards away in the deep end, Ahmose was floating in the depths of the pool like a giant black jellyfish, watching me with an intense expression on his creepy face. His black robes were floating all around him and his long gnarled limbs were stretched toward me in an ominous, fear-inducing presence. So much for being alone.
    Macy, we need to talk.
    I heard his thoughts immediately in my mind, as clearly as if he had spoken aloud.
    Quickly. Time is of the essence.
    I scowled at him as I swam to the side of the pool and pulled myself up and over the ledge, dripping on the tiles. I glanced around me. No one else was here. Thank god.
    Ahmose shot through the surface of the water, spraying me with chlorinated droplets, then lightly landed on his feet next to me. He was completely dry- as though he’d never been submerged at all.
    "Why must you persist in scaring me to death? " I asked him in agitation. "Would it really be so hard to just walk up to me like a normal human being? "
    He stared down his long nose at me and I could practically feel the tension in his ancient body. The air around us was pregnant with it which immediately put me on edge.
    "As much as I would like to engage in conversation with you, Macy, I don’t have the time.
    Things are spiraling out