When Rhys left Jericho to grab a shower, he found clothes in the closet that fit him, which was again, Fate’s work, Rhys was sure. He had just finished dressing when a knock sounded on his door.
Broni timidly knocked on Rhys’s door, not anxious to see Rhys while still feeling bruised by his words the night before. His expression let Broni know he wanted to see her even less.
“I have to go out again, and Mother has requested that you accompany me.”
“Tell Fate I’m not—” Rhys broke off his words at Broni’s negative shake.
“Not Fate, Mother. You can’t refuse her requests. Believe me, you don’t want to make her angry,” Broni warned.
“Very well, it’s not like I have anything better to occupy my time.” Broni winced at his sarcastic words.
She held out her hand and Rhys took it after a brief hesitation. With a blurring movement of time that took mere seconds, Broni and Rhys found themselves in the middle of a deadly battle. Instinctively, Rhys dodged an arrow headed for him.
“What the fuck!”
Broni burst out laughing. “Don’t worry; their weapons cannot harm us. They don’t even know we are here.”
After they watched the battle to the conclusion, Rhys felt the pull within him to join the losing side as they began to retreat. Rhys wanted to yell at them to hold. Inexplicably, he could see if they’d held their ground they would have won the bloody fight. Instead, they had lost because their leader wasn’t courageous enough to move his men forward. He was concerned more for the casualties than the battle, an error that had cost them the victory.
Rhys was disappointed when he found himself back in his room.
“That’s it?”
Broni nodded. “Sometimes it is. The battle ended the way it was supposed to, or I would have known what to do. A lot of the times I’m just a spectator. They are given free will and many times they do make the right decisions.”
“And when they don’t?”
“If I am allowed to intervene, I lead the person to the correct path,” Broni explained.
“When you’re not allowed to intervene, you just leave them to their misery even knowing you could have changed it?” His voice was filled with derision.
“It’s not that simple, Rhys. A person’s life is made of layers of whom and what affects them. If I change something without knowing the eventual outcome, I could cause irreparable damage, not only to the one I want to help but others,” Broni stated softly. “Foresight of the future is not my gift.”
“How convenient for you.” Rhys went to the closet to get fresh clothes. He needed a shower, even though they had just stood as spectators. He still felt hot and sweaty from the blazing sun and flying dust the horses had stirred up.
Broni watched him closely. His remarks had been snide, yet she sensed he was finally listening to her explanations.
“Each of my sisters and I have struggled with this aspect of our gifts. Cara feels the pain of taking souls before their time or whenever they’re not ready to leave their earthly bodies. I constantly battle with the desire to intervene sometimes because I become so caught up in what is happening I want to help.
“One time, I was watching a football player at a bar. My goal was to keep a fight from occurring with another. However, the football player was so obnoxious I seriously wanted someone to knock him on his spoiled ass. If I had let the fight occur, he would have lost his contract for professional football. The son of a bitch didn’t deserve to become as famous and rich as he did either.” Broni shrugged. “I almost intervened, but my mother stopped me.” Shuddering, she turned away from Rhys, sitting down on the chair beside his bed. “The fight would have made him lose his temper, leaving the bar drunk and killing a college student.”
“You couldn’t have known.” Rhys was beginning to see the difficulties of her duties, Broni hoped.
“It wasn’t my place to know, only to do as I was told. I almost failed. Only Destiny and Fate know Mother’s plans. It’s not my place to intercede. It took me a long time to learn that lesson. The consequences could destroy someone’s life, despite my well-meant intentions.”
“Are you saying Mother is responsible for my family’s deaths?” Rhys’s jaw was clenched, waiting for her answer.
Broni sighed and explained as best as she could. “No, Rhys. What I am trying to say is their deaths were a result of a chain of events. You being a lawyer, Daniel altering the evidence, Shelton not being able to cope with his wife’s death, and deciding to take justice into his own hands.”
“So who is to blame?”
Broni gave him the best answer she could. “Your profession is blinding you to the true answer, Rhys. Your lawyer mind is telling you to place blame and give the appropriate punishment. To you that is justice, but to us it is not so simple. Humans see death differently. It is much more complex than that. Each human has unique DNA, yes?”
Rhys nodded.
“Humans are born with a finite amount of time that Mother grants them. When they have served their purpose, they are taken; many times to another realm, sometimes they return to her to be gifted with another lifetime. On the other hand, if a soul does evil while on Earth, they are delivered to Hades where he keeps their soul imprisoned for eternity. My mother, Destiny, my sisters and I are used to drawing the picture Mother wants, but ultimately, Mother is the only one who knows the whole picture because she is the artist.”
Broni stood up, shrugging. “There is a time when it is all dealt with according to how Mother chooses. Sometimes, she gives her punishments or rewards immediately. Sometimes, after they die. It’s always when She chooses because She is the creator.”
Rhys stood, staring at Broni. “You told me about you and your sister’s gifts. Cara’s took my family when they died. Where did she take them?”
This question Broni had been dreading most of all, knowing if she didn’t answer he would just ask her sister himself.
“Their souls were given to Mother. I honestly don’t know where they are now. If they are still with her, or if they’ve been given life again. Only Mother or Zerina would know that answer.”
“Zerina would know where my family is now? Deena might have been reborn?”
When Broni saw the hope in his eyes, she hid the pain his question caused her.
“Zerina is the most important of us all. It is her responsibility to place the soul within the infant child at its first breath. She is the strongest and the weakest of us all.”
Before he could ask, she answered his next question. “Cara and I see our soul but a short time before we move on, however Zerina sees hers for a lifetime, sometimes through several lifetimes. So, yes, she would know if Deena was given another life.”
“Does it happen often?” Broni could see he was seeking any tiny thread of encouragement that he could find his family again.
“To a special few, they are granted another life.” Broni stared into Rhys’s eyes. “Then there are the strong whose soul is so important it is needed over and over through many lifetimes.”
“Are those the only ones?” Rhys wanted hope that his children’s short lives would be given another chance. It wouldn’t be comfort for losing them, but it was something he could cling to during the night when their absence left him in pain at his failure to protect them.
“For those whose lives were ended too soon,” Broni rose to her feet, going toward the door, “a second chance for life is granted.”
Rhys noticed her trembling hand as she opened the door, leaving him alone, and for the first time in a long time, the silence wasn’t welcome.
* * *
Rhys was kept busy the next several weeks. Broni escorted him through different time periods, observing battles he had only read about in college History classes. During his free time, he worked out with Jericho. Surprisingly, he was developing a strong friendship with the demi-God. Neither liked to talk about their pasts, so instead, they would talk about their new experiences. Jericho would go with C
ara when she was called, therefore Rhys and he would tell each other where they had been that day.
He was kept busy, but he noticed the heightening tension taking over the household as the whereabouts of Broni’s sister, Zerina, remained unknown. Fate and Destiny spent many hours on the balcony searching the stars for her, and he could see their exhaustion becoming more evident as each day passed.
Rhys was on his way to breakfast when he passed by Jericho and Cara’s room. Cara often joined them for the meal before they went their own way. Cara leaving to join her sister and mother while Rhys and Jericho sweated and grunted through marathon workout sessions. Neither could explain the need they felt to strengthen their bodies, a compulsion that grew stronger each day.
He was just passing the door when Jericho exited the room, slamming the door behind him. Seeing him wince at the loud noise in the long hallway, it didn’t take much to deduce there was a problem between the couple.
Jericho fell in step with Rhys as they headed downstairs.
“Problems?” Rhys didn’t want to pry into his new friend’s private life, yet he was willing to lend an ear.
“No… yes.” Jericho let out a sigh. “Not an argument. I am just worried about Cara. She is not feeling well. I want to send for a doctor, but she just tells me to leave her alone. I don’t even know if there are doctors here. She refuses to answer my questions.” Rhys saw the worried look on his face.
“Is there a particular time of the day she is sick?”
Jericho cast him a sideways glance. “Yeah, morning. That’s why she hasn’t been down to breakfast the last few days.”