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"No" I ht say that," Lachesis grinned "Which ht came to me "You cannot kill them It takes Zeus’ sword to kill an immortal

And you don’t have it"

Annoyance flashed upon her face

"Correct But ill find it In the meantime, your precious friends and family will burn in this fire in torment until we find the sword and put them out of their misery Your mortal mother, of course, can so easily die Perhaps it would be more humane to choose her, Keeper

Her death will be quick If you choose Cadether"

"You would burn us alive until you find the sword?" I repeated in horror

"Now you’re catching on," Lachesis nodded "There is one s There is a box, a box containing murderous souls We know that Ahmose took it for you

If you tell us where it is, we’ll let both Cadmus and your mother live Only you need to die

What do you think about this bargain?"

"I can’t give it to you" I murmured uncertainly

But even as I spoke, ht of Ares and Aphrodite their laughing faces fro into rinned And I knew, in the space of that one second, that I would gladly do it I would give thee my life for theirs

Thanks to the Fates, I had a couple thousand years of practice at dealing with sadness and tragedy I could do this I could put aside fear and sadness and do what I needed to do

"You have prepared me well for this day," I said to them calmly "But tell ain? How do I know that you will release everyone else?"

"Harmonia, use your head," Clothos answered "You will be alive in this pit until we find the sword You will see us release everyone You will be in agony, but you will be conscious

That is part of the fun"

I thought on that for a ive you the box on one condition Let oodbye to them Please Restore theoodbye I have never knowingly done anything to offend you or against you I have done all that you have asked for thousands of years Please Can’t you do this one thing forwith the I had ever done My hatred for them completely filled me up But if I could just look into Cadmus’ eyes one more time and see the love that he held for ly step to my death

"Give us a moment," Lachesis demanded

She and the other two Fates convened in a huddle I stood quietly, oddess to s turned

"Fine," Lachesis answered simply "Where is the box?"

I slid my knapsack off of my back and pulled out the box I handed it to her with shaking fingers One of the ancient Keres started to say solare, she closed her roup of nyestured toward Cadmus and my mother

"Restrain them"

The nymphs stepped forward reluctantly and did as she asked

"I would also like to say goodbye to Ares and Aphrodite," I deestured toward another nymph

"Get them down," she instructed She turned back to me "No tricks"

I shook my head "No No tricks"

I watched a couple of smaller nymphs shimmy spritely up the trees to the cocoons thatthe pods toward other servants waiting to catch them Yet another servant released a pulley which lowered round

Within a few minutes, they were unwrapped and stood lifelessly next to Cadmus and ht, but they were as ehed heavily It was heartbreaking and I was helpless

Lachesis turned to the toin each one’s ear And one by one, the life returned to their eyes As soon as they looked around and realized where they were, they began struggling hard against the ny holds

But it was no use

"What is the aze and I watched as realization dawned on his handsome face

"Why are you here?" he asked me "What is this?"