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"After you," he said, gesturing toward the pool steps The empty pool seemed scary to me now, particularly with the water that was supposed to be in it hanging above my head

Nervously, I descended the stairs with hi hi in the eover our heads like a furious cloud, churning silently I glanced up at it and felt ainst my birthmark But no pain Oddly, even with this clearly out of the ordinary experience, rasped it anyway and waited, holdingfor his nextdown I cringed and braced for the iainst the top ofin clouds I shook s a to ate White iant, terrifying falcons They were so enore that they seemed to be the size of mountain lions And they were not stone

They were alive Their eyes were blood red, their expressions fierce As Iates," Alexi commanded "Harmonia is here to see the Moirae"

The falcon on the left opened its beak "Answer the question first, then you htened on h his fingertips Apparently, he didn’t enjoy being referred to as a servant

"I do not answer to you," he replied through gritted teeth "I co Harry"

The falcons watched hi their heads just a little to the left Light glistened off of their iridescent feathers and I realized that tiny shards of gold were embedded within their plu, their massive claws curled around the platfor must one wander the shores of Hades if the boatman isn’t paid?"

The falcon closest to me rasped

"One hundred years," I answered pro subconscious knowledge and mee of the river Styx inin front of it Murky, turbulent water wound its way to the gates of Hades with lost souls wandering on each side It was a dark, unhappy place and I shook my head to free myself of the memory

"Correct," the bird uttered as they both nodded in unison "You ates swung open and the birds dipped their heads in deference as I passed beneath them Alexi followed directly on lacial breath on my neck Confused by the falcon’s dictate, I turned to face Alexi

"Drink fro directly inside the gates beneath a snificent blue flowers dropped from the branches every few round On the table, a jeweled goblet was sitting in the shade Alexi nudged me toward it

"Drink froave me a droll look "Does it matter? If you don’t drink, you cannot continue into Olympus And if you do not appear in front of the Sisters, they will kill you Drink"

"Can you not just tellneed to be so difficult?

"It is nectar," he replied brusquely "Now, drink it"

I picked up the heavy golden chalice, wrapping ers around the solid stem and sniffed at the clear liquid within It had the consistency of thick syrupy juice but was transparent like water It had a heavy, sweet s I’d encountered before- a er on it I hesitated, even though the s me in I felt an incredible co smile

"You’ve drunk from this cup a thousand times before It will not harathered up e I could do this

I sipped tentatively at the liquid, but it was so overwhelotevery ounce of the sweet goodness, gulping so fast that it streaked down my chin As I finished the last siped at ain

My hand was covered in blood

Holding the goblet up so that I could peer into the reflection, I saw in horror that my chin and teeth were smeared with cri fiend

"What is the nectar made from?" I turned to Alexi in a panic ide eyes

"The blood of the unborn," he answered "You know this It gives you eternal life"

I fell onto hed But even as I did, the revulsion quickly faded, replaced with a strange feeling unlike anything I rean in my toes and quickly worked itself up like an invisible presence It was Knowledge Understanding Power

Awareness Clarity Harmonia’s memories returned in a scant blink of an eye I was her She was me

Harmonia Visions ofspeed

I stopped coughing and slowly rose fro with hten as I stood I kneas losing the baby fat that Macy still carried in her cheeks as I acquired Harmonia’s more adult face I wanted to look, but didn’t have tio," Alexi approved "Gratitude for being quick"

I threw him a look as I walked ahead of him He knew his place was behind me And now so did I I could feel hter of Aphrodite and Ares, returning to s that were done si I could do but accept it