Total pages in book: 56
Estimated words: 52864 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 264(@200wpm)___ 211(@250wpm)___ 176(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 52864 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 264(@200wpm)___ 211(@250wpm)___ 176(@300wpm)
He glanced at it but didn’t move.
“You’re not hungry?” I asked.
“Not really.”
“Mind if I eat?”
“Be my guest.”
I went back inside and came out with my food. I was absolutely starving, and after the tense situation today, I needed something to settle my stomach.
After I inhaled my meal, I poured a tall glass of wine and chugged it.
“You sure you want to be drinking? Alcohol fogs the mind,” Draco said, his voice drab.
“That, my friend, is the point.” My mind was still backlogged with all the fun events from the last week—Leo leaving and cheating, then Draco showing up, followed by an appearance from the ancient king of Minoa. Now we were in St. Thomas, trying to figure out how to stop Draco from destroying the world I loved. On top of that, I’d been brought to the afterlife and told in no uncertain terms that I had to make sure Draco didn’t team up with Ten Club.
“What was that about the afterlife?” He took the glass of scotch.
Guess he changed his mind about drinking.
“Random thoughts,” I lied. “So what happened with your mother? What did she say on the beach?”
Draco shook his head. “Have you heard of the chicken and egg paradox? In this case, it is man and fate.”
“Okay…?”
“Have you ever read a story where the hero has a dark premonition and then attempts to avoid his future?”
“Yeah. Sure.” Though, I couldn’t name one off the top of my head.
“How about the story where he learns his actions only lead to the future he so badly wishes to avoid?”
It was often referred to as the illusion of choice in fables and mythology. In the end, the character, usually a mortal who has slighted the gods, learns he was never really in control. I always saw those stories as a metaphor meant to deter the masses from doing bad things. Specifically, life was a test with only one outcome: death. And no one escaped facing their maker, so better behave and listen to the gods.
“As hard as he tries, the character can’t outrun fate,” I said. “But that doesn’t mean the minutes in between don’t matter.” In fact, it was the only thing that mattered.
“Yes, and today I learned that others took action, excluding me from controlling those minutes.”
“You mean your mother?”
He nodded. “Along with others.”
“But why?”
“She thought she was saving the world, I suppose.” He shook his head. “Now, every decision I make only keeps me on a path I do not wish to follow. Ironic, isn’t it? You remove one man’s choice, and in the process, you remove everyone else’s, too.”
Whoa. What? “Why would you think it’s game over after only talking to your mom for ten minutes?” I snapped.
“Jeni saw what was coming, which included her standing at my side when I effectively end the world, so she sent me away. But now, the very thing she wished to circumvent is happening. She now carries the same gnawing guilt for abandoning me that eventually leads her to help me.”
I exhaled, trying to think. “Not that I believe it, but if everything is inevitable—”
“It is done, Piper. Over.” He threw back his drink.
My eyes teared, and then the anger came. “Draco, you are not giving up.” Too much was at stake.
“There is no point. Any action that could have changed things was ignored decades ago. I will end this world.” He exhaled. “And I need another drink.” He went inside.
I stayed on the balcony, staring at the turquoise waves, hoping some grand wisdom would come to me. After studying thousands of years of history about kingdoms, countries, and civilizations that rose and fell, there had to be something we could do.
I went around and around in my head. The one thing fallen empires and civilizations had in common was that the rulers began believing they were gods, that their power was absolute and that the people would always obey.
In the end, one of two things destroyed them: the people figured out they outnumbered the rulers and overthrew them, or the people left. Without anyone to rule, the powerful weren’t so powerful anymore. But ninety percent of the time, the people reclaimed their power and took their fates into their own hands. All it required was that tipping point. Every civilization in history had succumbed to it eventually. Afterwards, something new would rise from the ashes.
That was it. I rushed inside. “Draco, we need to tell everyone what’s coming. Show them what Ten Club and the Seers want for us all. Well, maybe not the Seers. Trying to explain a group of fascist dead witches would be a little difficult, but Ten Club is doable.”
“How could that possibly do any good?” he asked.
“Maybe your fate’s been decided, but everyone else’s? You might be the most powerful man ever to walk the earth, but you can’t control every single person on the planet. It’s not possible.”