Page 2 of Tangled Fates

“I had to tend to the garden. Check on all the stones and water,” I said, trying to keep the irritation out of my voice.

“They are picking up an order soon, I need you to prepare the shipment.” She glared at me. “We cannot have another shipment of missing items. This time they won't be so lenient and how else would we pay for all of this?”

Lately, Mother had been on edge, chastising me like I was a child even though we had been doing this for over a hundred years. I had been doing this since the beginning and she had been reaping the benefits all along. She would disappear every so often to God knows where; I was never privy to her whereabouts.

“I will triple check; I do it every time,” I said, keeping my other thoughts to myself because I needed her in a good mood when I asked her about going out for my birthday.

“You better, or else I won't be so lenient either,” she threatened, before walking away. “Dinner is at six, don’t be late again,” she yelled.

I growled, feeling annoyed that she didn’t believe me when I said all the items were there. Someone was taking our product and blaming us for the shortage. If she wasn’t so lazy she would be checking my work, but Goddess forbid she actually worked a day in her life.

I took a deep breath.

My arms shook from the weight of the things I was carrying as I made it to the workshop. I put down the box, immediately sorting through everything and put aside what we needed for the order. I grabbed boxes and the order form. This time we would need to almost double the order to make up for the loss from the last order.

I knew I hadn’t forgotten anything from the last order, I was meticulous in my packing, keeping track of what went in and out of this tower. Next time I saw Tay, I would need to ask him if there was a possibility that someone could be stealing from us. If anyone could give me information, it was him. He was the one who usually picked up the orders and handled the distribution.

Grabbing my iPod from the table, I hooked up some headphones and shuffled through the hundred song playlist that I had heard a thousand times now. Tay had given it to me about ten years ago, but I treasured this tiny machine like it was my god. I had no idea who any of these singers were, but Avril Lavigne and Mandy Moore got me through some dark times.

Shoop by Salt-N-Pepa, played immediately as I moved my hips, getting ready to infuse the moon water with my power.

“You’re packed and you’re stacked, ‘specially in the back Brother, wanna thank your mother for a butt like that. Can I get some fries with that shake-shake boobie?” I sang, grabbing two big bowls with the other ingredients.

I poured the jugs of water into the big bowls that sat side by side. Once the water was all poured in, I added some herbs and florals with some mint and a moonstone.

Stirring the ingredients with my hands, I put one hand in each bowl, feeling the moonstone heighten my power. It danced under my skin, in delicate swirls as I let it build.

“Flos nitor et rutilans tua virtus luceat,” I whispered, feeling the power glow within and outside of me.

I had never seen what I looked like when my power flowed out of me, but ethereal, transcendent and otherworldly were some of the words Tay used to describe me. All I could see was a golden light, so I imagine that's what glowed around me.

The water warmed with my power as I pushed more of it into the water reciting the incantation again, to ignite another layer of power. My body grew hot, clammy and if I went too far, I could ruin this batch. Once my power reached a certain level, I would evaporate the water or the power would implode. It was a delicate balance that had taken me at least fifty years to master.

Once I felt the power in the water level off, I eased off my effort slowly receding the tendrils of magic. When my light shone no more, I pulled my hand out of the water. My body sagged from exertion. Lately, I had been feeling more exhausted as I made more batches with my power.

Anxiety spiked through me at what would happen if I stopped being able to make vials of my power. The unknown made me nervous, but I longed for a moment of normalcy. My body shook with exhaustion, and I cursed at myself for not eating before I began the session. Looking at the time, I noticed it was almost four.

My brows furrowed as I tried to remember what time I had started. What usually took me about thirty minutes almost took me two hours? That couldn't be right, but that would explain why I was so exhausted. I had never done anything this long with so much power. The water in the bowls looked no different than usual, but I wondered if these would be very powerful or if I had ruined this batch.

I didn’t know what I should do, but I couldn’t let this batch go to waste or we wouldn't make our quota. Throwing a small prayer up to the goddess, I strained the first bowl, then the second one. I filtered the water two more times before pouring them into small vials suitable to hold the concoction. After forty vials were filled, I capped them with a cork setting them aside to let them soak in the moonlight one more time.

My eyes grew heavy with sleep as I finished the rest of the tasks I needed to do. By six o’clock, I was dead on my feet. I was wishing for a nap before dinner, but knew I had to head up now before the wrath of Mother made dinner even more uncomfortable.

Trudging up the steps, each one taking all my will to complete, I made it to the main floor to see the kitchen empty. The smell of food was absent from the air as I looked around the open space. I pursed my lips, my irritation was at an all-time high. She couldn’t even be bothered to cook us dinner while I did all the work around here.

Meow.

Loki walked through my legs, rubbing himself against me like he wanted to comfort me, while I debated if I even wanted to eat. Even though I was exhausted, I grabbed a Pop Tart. I poured Loki his food and made my way to my room, ready to pass out and get ready for another day.

2

RYDER

Thief. I had been called every name in the book that was related to thievery. My business was built upon it, thrived on it and my success was because of it. What started out as a way to survive, to help feed my family, grew into something I couldn’t believe.

My contracts were small at first. Stealing back money or stealing prized possessions grew into stealing fortunes, antiques, paintings, rare items and the odd princess or two. You needed a dangerous rumored artifact or maybe a rare magical item, then I was the guy you called, along with my best friends Gray and Soren.

And right now, we were about to look for the most sought-after item for the last hundred and fifty years. Oria. It was the most expensive item you could purchase at two hundred thousand dollars an ounce. People were willing to pay it because a vial of Oria could save your life and possibly bring you back from the hands of death himself.

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