Free Fated by Courtney Cole Page B

walking quickly away.
    The snakes started moving, slithering toward me. No, no, NO.
    I yanked my hand from Ahmose’s grasp and immediately the vision ended. I was safely back on the pool deck. I took a step toward the priest and opened my mouth speak, but closed it. What in the world should I say? I had no idea where to begin. I settled on the obvious.
    "What the hell was that? " I demanded. My voice shook though and I knew he heard it.
    "That is who you are, " Ahmose stated simply. I stared at him and waited for the layers of confusion to fall away as usually happened when he showed me a vision. But it didn’t happen.
    Old memories didn’t reemerge.
    "Where are my memories? Why haven’t they returned? "
    "Because they have been blocked very thoroughly. And I am not allowed to give them to you. I must go and it is likely you will not see me again, Keeper. Find Annen. Listen to what he says to you. "
    "You told me to ignore him! " I gasped. "You said that he was lying. "
    "I know what I said. And it was necessary at the time. But I’m telling you now. Find him. "
    "Someone cut his tongue out ..." I trailed off and Ahmose nodded.
    "Yes. There is much at stake here and truthfully, we are all in danger. I don’t know if we will survive it. "
    "You’re scaring me, " I replied, staring into his eyes.
    "I mean to. Trust no one, watch behind you. "
    And he was gone. I stood in a puddle of water on the slippery tiles staring into thin air where he had just been two seconds ago. I grabbed my towel and rubbed it vigorously up and down my arms, trying to restore the blood flow that had been stopped with his chilling words.
    Something was terribly wrong. I had been aware of it for days, but now it was confirmed.
    If Ahmose was scared, then I should be too.
     
    * * *
     
    I couldn’t get home fast enough, even with my typical pedal-to-the-metal driving style. I barricaded myself in my room and flew to my desk, booting up my laptop. I had one name to go on. Cadmus. Gavin had been Cadmus. I quickly punched that into a search engine and a myriad of results popped up. After five minutes, I sat back in my chair completely dumbfounded.
    Cadmus had been the King of Thebes, just as Zeus mentioned in my vision. He had angered the Greek god Ares by killing his dragon and was forced to serve him for several years.
    After he loyally served the time assigned to him, he was rewarded by being given a bride.
    Harmonia, the daughter of Aphrodite and Ares himself. Me.
    Time seemed to stand still as I flew through the other websites, reading a mile a minute, my eyes quickly absorbing every bit of information that I could drudge up.
    At their wedding (my wedding!) Harmonia and Cadmus were given a gift by Harmonia’s stepfather. But it wasn’t just any gift. Her stepfather, Hephaestus, had been harboring bitter feelings toward his wife, Aphrodite. Apparently, Harmonia (me!) had been conceived with Ares. Aphrodite had been cheating on her husband with the god of war. To get his revenge, Hephaestus appealed to Zeus and had created a beautiful necklace for Harmonia as a wedding gift. It was made with Zeus’ own blood. And it had been cursed.
    Any wearer of the necklace would retain her beauty and youth, but she would suffer great misfortune. One of Harmonia’s own daughters met a violent end because of it. After their children suffered so much, Harmonia and Cadmus were turned into snakes and sent to the fields of Elyria to live for the rest of eternity. The necklace was passed to Queen Jocasta and after her husband died, she married her own son, Oedipus. When the world discovered his identity, he scratched his own eyes out and she killed herself.
    I felt numb. My necklace had created the Oedipus complex.
    My necklace. I fingered the bloodstone that was lying against my chest. It was cool against my skin, even through my shirt. It couldn’t be the same necklace. Could it? Lachesis had told me that there were twelve Keepers and each of us had a