Ethos has a very compelling reason for me to take him to Fate's Hollow, and it jingles in my bag as we take the winding trail towards the foothills of Mount Olympus. The gods may live on top, but the most powerful creatures dwell beneath. Far beneath. I find myself shivering as fog curls out into the trees and wraps around my ankles.
"So," Ethos says, breaking the silence. "I've met a lot of streetwise scoundrels, but none of them have ever known the way to Fate's Hollow. How did you?"
I don't really want to talk about it. But I also don't like walking this road in silence. "My curiosity gets the best of me. Even when it really shouldn't."
"Curiosity, really?" He breaks a twig off an overhanging branch. "It doesn't have anything to do with Hesta's Bounty?"
Hesta's Bounty is infamous. There's not a man alive who doesn't want in on the wager. Or woman, if you're me. People pay to send unwitting souls into the forest, and they get paid if they place the right bet. But the real money is in finding the hollow yourself and bringing back a zeusflower. A golden, glowing, five-petaled flower that only grows in the hollow. If you bring back that baby, you win every bet.
If you don't bring back that baby, you get nothing.
Believe me. I know.
I throw a look back at Ethos, then keep watching my feet. The ground is getting more uneven. "What exactly do you plan on offering the Fates?"
"Same thing I offered you."
I snort at his stupidity. Men.
"Fates don't need money. They need souls."
He shrugs, but I can see right through that flimsy façade of machismo. "I'm willing to give them as many as they want."
I grit my teeth as we come to the end of the path. "They want them all."
YOU ARE READING
Megara: Ancient History
Fanfiction"You sold your soul to me, to save your boyfriend's life. And how does this creep thank you? By running off with some babe. He hurt you real bad, didn't he, Meg?" (I do not own the art used on the cover!)
