揥hat is this place??I asked.
Dr. Kent lowered herself into one of the chairs and tented her fingers under her chin. 揑 call it the Grotto. It is where I work.?
I turned to Circe, who was trying and failing to stay calm. She kept opening her mouth like she was going to say something but she couldn抰 get it out. Marie was silent.
揥ho are you??I asked. 揑s your name even Madeline Kent??
揟hat is one of many monikers I抳e used over the years.?She glanced to the spinning wheel. 揟here was a time when all I did was sit and weave together the lives of mortals. Their short, delicate threads have always been of particular fascination to me.?
揑 knew it,?Circe whispered into the dark. 揑 knew it couldn抰 be a coincidence that you knew so much about Medea, that you just happened to be the one ready to answer Briseis抯 questions.?
揟here are very few coincidences in life,?Dr. Kent said. 揂nd you抮e right to assume this isn抰 one of them.?
揥ait,?I said, my heart crashing in my chest. 揥hat are you talking about??
揝he is one of the Moirai,?Circe said. 揙ne of the Fates. Clotho, if my theory is correct.?
Dr. Kent smiled wide. She laughed, and the sound echoed off the high stone walls. 揧ou抮e right, but you give me too much credit. I am not the great goddess I once was. My loom gathers dust as we speak.?
CHAPTER 8
What did I know about the Fates, and why was everything I could think of from Disney movies or Broadway shows? I tried to quiet my racing heart enough to think clearly. Dr. Kent studied me carefully, and as she leaned forward in her chair she seemed to grow a head taller. I stepped back. My gut had been trying to tell me something, and I was kicking myself for brushing it aside. Now we were in a cave somewhere deep underground and in the presence of another living, breathing goddess. I didn抰 understand how I抎 missed this. Dr. Kent had been helpful, even kind. Now she seemed amused but distant. I didn抰 know which version of her I was supposed to believe.
Circe lifted her chin and spoke in a calm, steady voice. 揧ou knew the Medea story. You抎 seen the document. It抯 the real story of Medea, and no one in all the years it has existed could pinpoint where it came from.?
揗aybe you hadn抰 figured it out, but I guarantee the Vatican knew what it was,?Dr. Kent said. 揧our family had been in possession of the document for a long time, my dear Circe. And then it fell into the hands of the Church. Why would they care so much about it? Why should they??
揑t抯桰 don抰梚t抯 very old,?Circe stumbled over her words.
揟hey wanted it because it is written in the hand of a goddess.?Dr. Kent splayed her hand out in front of her, then curled her fingers like she was holding an imaginary pen. 揑t was a very foolish thing for me to do. I can admit that now. But you must understand that I have found myself oddly intrigued by your family and its long memory. I gifted that parchment to Medea抯 eldest child, a girl called Eriopis. I wanted her to have an accurate record before mortals got their hands on it. That any part of it still remains is a miracle in and of itself.?
揃riseis said that you are a friend of her mother,?Circe said. 揟hat you抳e known them since before Bri was born. Did you know this entire time how this would play out??
揟hat Selene抯 life would be cut short??Dr. Kent asked. 揟hat Thandie抯 would as well??
Hearing their names rocked me to my core. I took another step back.
Dr. Kent stood and went to her loom. She let her long fingers trace the filaments of golden thread around the wheel. 揥hen I weave a mortal抯 life, I see it like a moving picture. I see how they enter the world, how they exist in it, and how they depart this mortal plane. That is the extent of my terrible gift.?
She turned to me, and then her gaze flitted to the ground. I followed it and saw a network of lacy green moss had blanketed the rocks around my feet.
Dr. Kent rested her hand on the loom, and again sadness pulled the corners of her mouth down and made her shut her eyes. 揑 wove the thread of predetermined events, Lachesis determined the thread抯 length, and Atropos cut it at the appropriate time. Together my sisters and I see a hazy picture of the life we抳e helped usher into existence.?
揧ou knew what would happen to my mom??I asked. 揂nd you knew what was gonna happen to Selene, too??A white hot rage ripped through me. 揧ou抳e known Mo since before I was even born. Why didn抰 you help us? Why didn抰 you step in??
Dr. Kent walked toward me. The moss at my feet puffed up and began to spread out all around me.
揇o you know how often I抳e been asked to interfere in the lives of mortals??she asked in a way that told me she wasn抰 expecting a real answer. 揥hen some lustful god falls in love with a mortal they come to me begging for insight to their fate. How long will they live? How will they die and what can be done to keep it from happening? We knew all, my sisters and I. But we were not tasked with judging these fragile lives. We don抰 write their fates, only see them, and bring them into being. And we do not interfere in the lives of mortals.?