A Perfect World

Chapter 15

We had been studying for a few hours when the doctor opens the door, a clipboard in hand.

“Hello, Miss Jones.” She says in a too-bright tone.

“Hey.” Is all Emory says back, pulling herself up into a more comfortable sitting position.

“I have a few tests I need to run, then you’re free to go.”

“Let’s get going then. As much as I love hospital, I’d prefer not to be the one in them.”

The doctor runs several tests, drawing blood, testing blood pressure, checking her heart, breathing, and several other things I can’t even begin to identify. Within an hour all the tests had been taken, and we were just waiting for the results to come in so we could go. Suddenly Claire jumps up, her laptop clattering to the ground and slamming shut. Everyone jumps at the noise, and I say loudly, “Claire, dude, you’re gonna break your computer.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know, but I found something.” She says, sitting back down and opening her computer, “It’s a charm that’s supposed to be able to remove The Balance from the victim, without the requirement of “Balancing what was wronged” or whatever.” She explains, quoting a website I found earlier that she must have come across.

“Aha! Here it is,” She says once she has located whatever it is she’s looking for, “The Souls of Fate and Destiny, a green, blue, white, and gold stone said to be created by the deities to amplify their power and allow greater communication with the goddess Haiwa. Supposedly, Haiwa added her soul to the stone, sealing the deal and creating an object that could be more powerful than all of them combined. There is no known location of it, Haiwa, or Destiny, but the Fates have been located in very mountainous regions on multiple occasions.”

“So we’re going to find the Fates, or what? What do we do with this information?” Ty asks from the other side of the room.

“That’s what I was thinking,” I say offhandedly while I reread what Claire had found in our document, “It says the last known location of the Fates is the Tidedia mountains on the west coast of Armatica, in the northern part of Fralciano. If we were to fly there it’ll take about 6 hours, then we’ll have to do a lot of driving and walking to find them.”

“That is assuming they are still there. When was that information updated last?” Jack inquires skeptically.

“December 7th. It’s currently the 9th, and they were seen on the 6th.” I retaliate sharply, maybe a bit too sharply.

“Fine. How are we gonna get there? We have nowhere near enough money to get all of us there.” He snaps back, looking for every loophole he could find.

“Easy. We hop on illegally. We’ve never had a problem with anything like this before.” I say, stating the obvious solution, and earning surprised, and slightly offended, looks from everyone as I take a swig out of my water bottle, “Come on, you guys can’t seriously be thinking about actually following the law for once. You just broke six people out of jail for various crimes ranging from murder to thievery, and you want to find a legal way to cross the ocean.” I say, slightly annoyed, but my tone very disbelieving, “Seriously.” I say softly, going back to my research.

“No, we’re just surprised you’re the one suggesting it for once. Usually, you’re yelling at us to find a legal solution.” Claire says, already over whatever emotion had overcome the others.

“Well, desperate times call for desperate measures,” I say, not really paying much attention as I scan an old, now online, lore book for anything we should know about the Fates before we meet them. So far, all I had found was they appeared differently to everyone, but no one is sure what causes the different appearances. The most common form is a group old hags that share a single eye, closely followed by three young women of various races in second, but almost always with at least one gold eye among them. It mentions various other appearances, ranging from animals that speak, to ghost-like figures whispering into the wind, but I skip most of that, deeming it irrelevant to our cause.

A later article mentions a similar phenomenon with the deity Destiny. Destiny often appears as an androgynous figure, often dressed in white, gold, and pale blue, sometimes their form appearing more femme or masculine depending on who you feel like dealing with, but one thing is always consistent, Destiny’s eyes are always two different colors, one blue, to ‘Unlock and open your soul’ and the other gold to ‘Read your spirit and judge your intent’. Destiny sounds easier to deal with, but the Fates sound easier to find, so I settle on studying the latter.

I don’t find much other than repeated information, but I am able to confirm my information a bit more against other lore bits, and a few things that aren’t really useful but are interesting. Just as I’m getting ready to pack up the doctor comes back, again with her clipboard in hand, “You’re free to go, Miss Jones. You’ll recover nicely within a few months, as long as you’re careful and allow yourself to heal.”

Emory nods, “Thank you.” Before hopping off the bed and disappearing out the door to change into her own clothes, but if I know her well enough her internal response was probably mostly cursing about being able to leave finally, and joking about running off without us. The doctor leaves, and I close my computer and tuck it away in my bag as Emory reappears in the room, dressed in a stone-washed denim jacket, red leggings, plain sneakers, and a blue, sideways baseball cap.

“Welcome back, Captain Jack,” I say, straightening and bowing low to her as she walks in, and listening to Emma burst into laughter and cackling behind me. Emory tries to stifle a laugh for a few seconds, but fails, doubling over in laughter and falling against the wall. The three of us cackle for a good 5 or 10 minutes, adding things every 30 seconds or so, fueling the fire while the others, undoubtedly, stare at us like we’re insane until we calm down enough to speak clearly again.

“I’m still not sorry for that, Emory!” I say loudly, falling over with laughter again.

“Emory, can you please explain why my little sister just made a Pirates of the Caribbean reference and is now struggling to stand up straight?”

“I must decline at this time, as inside jokes are meant to be kept inside.” She says with a cheeky grin.

“This is either madness or brilliance,” Emma says, falling back onto the bed with laughter again.

“It’s remarkable how often those two traits coincide,” I reply, completing what must have been the 12th reference Emma had come up with. If you were to count Emory’s, that number would be at least triple, if not quadruple both mine and Emma’s.

“Alright, pirates,” Claire says, taking charge of the situation, “Let’s go. We’ve got places to be and Fates to see, and I’d rather that be sooner than later.”