Page 29 of Polar Fates
“I agree,” Torben says in his deep voice. “I’m happy to go there and find that Van Deen guy, but I’m not going to kill any shifters. There’s too few of us already. Even if some of them are feral, there seem to be others who might be likeus.”
“I’ve killed before,” Húnn half-whispers, before raising his voice. “But that was in defence of my brother. I’m not a brute. Those women might think that just because we’re shifters, we’re like animals. But we’re not. We have ethics, we have laws. In the shifter community, if someone breaks the law, they don’t get killed. They get a trial, they may go to prison or pay a fine, but we don’t have a death sentence. So why would we suddenly go against all ourprinciples?”
“Seems like we’re all in agreement.” I’m relieved that they’re all saying what I’ve been thinking allalong.
“But what do we do now?” Finn asks. “I’m sure the Fates would have come up with something else if there was anotheroption?”
“Let’s askthem.”
I climb out of Húnn’s lap, but before I can reach the door, it opens and the three Fates enter. Of course they were listening in, what did Iexpect.
“Well, well, well,” Atropos smirks, “Beauty and the beasts have found each otheragain.”
Torben looks like he’s close to saying something, but he manages to stay quiet. But the struggle is real. How dare she call my menbeasts!
“We’re not going to kill,” I say through clenched teeth. “You’ll need to find someone else for that. Or even better, do it yourself. I think you could do with some real-worldexperience.”
“Don’t you think that if we could leave this place, we’d have already done something?” Atropos asks furiously. “We’re trapped here and all we can do iswatch.”
Oh. That explains a lot. Like why they sent Airlea rather than getting us themselves. Why they need a Portal on Inchbrach. One mystery less, so many more togo.
I can’t resist asking though, “How long have you been trapped in thishouse?”
Clotho shrugs, but I can’t help getting some sad vibes fromher.
“Ever since our father cursed us to be the Fates.” She looks at her sisters questioningly. “Two millennia, maybe? It’s hard to keep track oftime.”
Wow.
“Who looked after the threads before you?” I ask, unable to hide my curiosity. Let’s hope curiosity doesn’t kill thebear.
“The old Fates, of course,” Atropos says dismissively. “It’s a job description, not aname.”
So many questions... Who was their father? Why did he curse them? Who were those other Fates? If only we’d met them in different circumstances. I’m sure I could persuade them to tell me their story. If they’ve been unable to leave this house for two thousand years, they must be incredibly bored. It’s a miracle they’ve not gone crazy. Oh. Make thatcrazier.
“We won’t kill anyone in your name,” Torben announces, repeating what I already said. “We can try and capture Van Deen, but there will be nokilling.”
Lachesis suddenly claps her hands, as if she’s applaudinghim.
“Well done. Seems you’re not beasts after all,” she laughs brightly, showing her sparkling whiteteeth.
I glare at them when I realise what this means. “This was just a test? You never meant us to killthem?”
“We may be the Fates, but we’re not completely heartless,” Clotho saysdisapprovingly.
“You could have fooled me,” I mutter under my breath, gaining another stare fromher.
Atropos steps forward and somehow, I know it’s not going to be good news, despite the fact that we won’t have to kill all thoseshifters.
“The ferals all have the same origin: Van Deen and Arcas,” she explains. “While his thread is no longer part of the fabric of the world, he still has one, and it’s wrapped around his children. Cut the thread and they’ll lose their ability to shift. They won’t be able to breed and we’ll be able to lift the ban preventing all shifters fromreproducing.”
She pauses and I’m waiting for the bad bit. I’m pretty sure I can guess where this isgoing.
“There is only one way to do that. Kill Van Deen. KillArcas.”
Noooooooooooooooooooooo, Alis wails in my head and I instinctively put my hands over my ears. Not that it helps tune out my bear friend’sanguish.
Before I can do anything else, I feel my body shift and am pushed away intodarkness.
