Fated Read Online Free Page A

back in the morning.
    So, why don’t we get a little more sleep and see what happens? "
    I nodded in agreement and settled down in my bed, while Mom curled herself back up in the chair. My hand stung from the IV stuck in it, but I attempted to ignore it as I tried to force myself to go back to sleep. At the same time, I was a little scared to slip off into dreamland. I didn’t like dreamwalking. When I woke up, I didn’t feel rested and I always felt somewhat foggy. Not a pleasant feeling. Plus, facing the Moirae was terrifying.
    After a few minutes of being wide awake and listening to the quiet footsteps of the nurses, I knew sleep wasn’t going to come. There was just too much to think about. What had caused that horrible pain? Why were the Keres surrounding me? Where the heck was Annen in all this? The last time I had seen him had been in ancient Alexandria, when he had tried to convince me that the Moirae were just using mortals for entertainment. That there was no real purpose to fate.
    I couldn’t believe that was true. I just couldn’t. If it was ... then everything that I stood for was a lie. I was a lie. I purposely tried to avoid thinking about the other thing that Annen had told me.
    I could be normal. I could renounce the Order and live just like a normal girl ... never having to guide my Daedal into choosing decisions that would hurt her so much in the end.
    Because her decisions might help the world, but they certainly weren’t all that good for her. Or for me. I sighed as I fingered the phoenix birthmark on my wrist.
    My Daedal. The image of the curtains fluttering around her at the dance suddenly consumed me. She had moved them without touching them. How the heck had she done that?
    Clearly, something was drastically different this time. It was no time to bail on her. She would need me.
    And besides, who knew what consequences such a drastic action would have? And what would happen to Jade if I quit? Although the idea of normalcy was so, so tempting. One of the strangest things about being a Keeper was that after my memories were restored, while I might not remember the details of past lives, I still kept the wisdom and experience that I gained from them ... which made me a VERY unusual girl, a thousand (make that two) times older than my real age.
    A nurse interrupted my musings, thankfully, as she came to take my vital signs.
    Apparently, my blood pressure was back down to normal, which she assured me was a very good thing. She poked and prodded at me for a few minutes, taking my temperature, chatting a little. I actually welcomed the company because I was afraid of my own traitorous thoughts.
    As she bent back down to check my IV site, I glanced absently over her hunched back toward to door. It was standing open and I could see the nurse’s station situated right down the hall. A nurse in yellow scrubs and a really bad haircut sat with her hands propped under her chin. It looked like she was trying desperately to stay awake. Every few seconds, her head slumped and she jerked it back up. I had to give her credit. Staying awake all night to work the night-shift night after night must be a nightmare.
    As I absently stared at her, a black cloudlike fog appeared in my doorway and I startled. It quickly materialized into Annen. The priest’s jagged, blackened teeth were stretched into a creepy grin as he calmly watched the nurse attend to me. I glanced frantically past him at the nurse in the hall to find that she hadn’t moved. It didn’t look like she had noticed anything.
    Couldn’t anyone else see him?
    He was the same as I remembered. His head was shaved, his eyes were black as night and his face was creased in wrinkles. Inky tattoos to the ancient god Anubis scrolled over his hands and up his frail arms, disappearing into the flowing dark robes. My heart pounded as the nurse finished messing with my IV tube and I prayed that she didn’t notice my rapid pulse-rate. She straightened, smiled and