Fates' Folly Read Online Free

and this was all real. What I needed to
ask myself, and quickly because the sound of Riley's footsteps were
getting fainter and fainter, was- would panicking about being crazy
or taking the time trying to wake up be productive? Would it do me
any good?
    No, not really.
    If I was being honest with myself, I'd admit
that I wasn't ready to deal with any of the possibilities anyway,
except maybe a dream, but then, wouldn't I just continue on and see
how things played out? Hell, a naked Brad Pitt could be standing
around the next corner.
     
    "What was the verdict?" Riley asked when I
reached the end of the cave, where he was leaning against the wall,
waiting.
    "I decided I didn't want to deal with the
possibility of whether I had lost my mind or not, so I'm pretending
everything is normal and going to be just fine."
    "Pretending? You think that'll work?" he
asked, moving off the wall to stand in front of me.
    "I don't see why the hell not, worked for my
childhood just fine."
    He shrugged his shoulders and then turned to
the flat cave wall in front of us. "This is the entrance to the
Underworld. In the future, if Hades is expecting you, you can forgo
this formality and shift directly into his realm."
    "I thought he summoned us. Wouldn't that mean
we were expected?"
    "He summoned me. He knows of you, but I don't
think he'll like you just appearing in front of him for the first
time. Hades doesn't care for happenings out of his control. You,
Myra Jane Collier, are just such a happening. Following a protocol,
such as using the front door into Hades’ realm, may go a long way
to soothe his temper while it is a minor inconvenience to us."
    "Oh. So we're doing a little ass kissing. I
get it."
    Riley stared blankly at me for a second.
Finally, he said, "Always take the door on the left."
    I looked at the wall of rock. "What door?"
Riley took my hand and pressed it to the wall. "What are you
doing?"
    "I'm introducing you. Hades' power controls
the doors and only his Assassins can see or pass through the doors
of their own free will. The door to Hades’ realm will recognize
Hades' power within you. You only have to do this once; in the
future you can shift into any part of the Underworld except Hades’
inner sanctum."
    I wanted to say, ‘What?’ but before the
thought could reach my lips, two unadorned stone doors appeared
before me. They were lopsided and the edges were uneven.
    "They look like big rocks some giant pancaked
together, shoved over the openings and said, ‘Ugh, door’."
    Riley shrugged, "Probably."
    "I was joking," I said.
    "I wasn't," Riley said, completely
monotone.
    Great. "Okay, so always take the left door.
What's behind the right?"
    "Don't take the right."
    "Okay, but what's behind it?"
    "I don't know. The Damned take the
right."
    "The Damned?"
    Riley raised his arms, gesturing around him,
and started speaking in a very badly done ghostly voice. "This is
the Underworld. Hades is the Lord of the Underworld. The Underworld
is where the souls of the dead travel for judgment. Hades, being
the Lord of the Underworld, has the job of judging the souls that
come to him. Those that he finds lacking would be the… Damned."
    "You know, at first I thought, poor guy he
has no sense of humor. Now I realize you're just a smartass."
    Riley smiled and then continued, "To open the
door on the left, place your hand at its center."
    He motioned for me to do so, so I did. The
stone felt cold to the touch but soon began to warm under my hand.
There was no glow, creak, click or even hiss of escaped air to
precede the door opening. It just opened and Riley stepped through
with me following.
    "Gold," I found myself saying without
thought. I was standing in an octagon shaped room. The walls and
dome ceiling were so thick with gold leaf, you could clearly see
the impression of the paint brush that layered it. The only thing
more ornate was the gold and jewel encrusted chandelier hanging in
the center of the room. I was standing under the