Title: Avenging Fate
Author: Jennifer Derrick
Series: Threads of the Moirae #2
Genre: Mythology, Romance, Young Adult
Release Date: September 12, 2016
Publisher: Clean Teen Publishing
Summary:Still reeling after killing the man she loved, Atropos turns her attention to the twin tasks of avenging his death and freeing humanity from the deadly grip of the Keres. When she sets out on a murderous mission to retrieve her shears, her only aide is her temperamental ex-boyfriend, Ares. He is fickle at best, traitorous at worst, and assistance from him may be worse than none at all.
Along the way, she allies with a group of powerful supernaturals and learns that the crimes of the gods are more twisted and far-reaching than she realized. What begins as a quest for vengeance becomes a journey through betrayal, loss, love, and hope. It ignites a war that will pit Atropos against the gods in a battle for the freedom of humanity.
Avenging Fate is the second book in The Threads of Moirae Series by Jennifer Derrick.
“I have something you want. Come,” Hades says, heading for the doors and leaving me to follow him.
We wander the hallways through the palace until I’m hopelessly lost. This place is huge and labyrinthine. With all the black wood, black furniture, and dark paintings, every hall looks the same. If his goal is to trap me here, he’s succeeded. I don’t think I’ll ever find the front door again.
At the end of one hallway, we stop in front of a—surprise—black wooden door. Unlike the doors to his inner sanctum, this door is unadorned except for the faint outline of a palm plate, a lighter gray against the black. It also has no handle and no lock, so I’m surprised when Hades reaches out a hand and the palm plate adheres to it as though magnetized.
Pulling the door open, he descends the narrow staircase beyond. He can see in complete darkness, but I can’t, so I put both hands on the walls and feel for each step with my feet, praying I don’t miss one and knock us both down the stairs.
We descend for what seems like forever.
“I didn’t think we could go any further down than the ground floor of your palace,” I say, trying to break the monotony. “I thought you lived at the true bottom of the Underworld.”
“That’s technically true,” he says. “There are no more levels to the Underworld. This is just storage, I guess you’d call it.”
“Most people use closets,” I tell him. “Garages. Even basements that are only one level under the house. Not bottomless pits.”
“There are things I prefer to keep safe down here. Things other people have no business seeing. Or having. Allow an old man his secrets, Atropos.”
“Old man.” I snort. “Right.”
“You’re old, too,” he says.
“Technically true,” I admit. “But neither of us is exactly decrepit, as evidenced by the fact we’ve walked down all these stairs. You couldn’t just poof down here?”
“This area is protected from poofing. Either in or out, and for good reason. Ah, here we are,” he says, and I hear him moving away from me.
“Finally,” I say, and hurry to catch up with him, keeping my arms in front of me for guidance. When I touch his robes, I hang on and let him pull me through the darkness.
“Lights would be good,” I say.
“Again, there are things I don’t want others to see. Without my help, no one sees what’s down here. Since you can’t see, you don’t know there are many passages and doorways along this hallway. One wrong turn and you’d be lost forever.”
Okay, fine. He’s entitled to his crazy.
He stops, and I do, too, barely avoiding slamming into his back. Something creaks, and then we’re bathed in a soft blue light. After the complete darkness, I shut my eyes against the glare. Hades says nothing while my eyes adjust.
We’re standing in a doorway. I peek around Hades to see what’s in the room beyond and gasp when I see the jar sitting on a pedestal in the center of the room.
“Is that—?” I begin to ask, but even though I was expecting it, I’m still surprised this legendary object is right in front of me.
“Pandora’s jar? Yes.” Hades says.
It’s larger than I thought it would be, about knee height on me, and intricately shaped. The base is wider than the middle, which bulges out slightly before tapering again to a slender neck. The domed lid sports a small handle, and there are handles on either side of the neck. It looks like it’s made from clay that’s been painted black and decorated with patterns of gold. There are no skull and crossbones, HAZMAT labels, or any indication that this jar may contain all the miseries of humanity. It looks like something you’d want to have in your house.
“What’s it doing here? After Alex died, Persephone told me the Keres had it,” I say, figuring this tidbit of information won’t get her into any trouble.
“They did. But your boyfriend found it and brought it to me.”
We wander the hallways through the palace until I’m hopelessly lost. This place is huge and labyrinthine. With all the black wood, black furniture, and dark paintings, every hall looks the same. If his goal is to trap me here, he’s succeeded. I don’t think I’ll ever find the front door again.
Pulling the door open, he descends the narrow staircase beyond. He can see in complete darkness, but I can’t, so I put both hands on the walls and feel for each step with my feet, praying I don’t miss one and knock us both down the stairs.
We descend for what seems like forever.
“I didn’t think we could go any further down than the ground floor of your palace,” I say, trying to break the monotony. “I thought you lived at the true bottom of the Underworld.”
“That’s technically true,” he says. “There are no more levels to the Underworld. This is just storage, I guess you’d call it.”
“Most people use closets,” I tell him. “Garages. Even basements that are only one level under the house. Not bottomless pits.”
“Old man.” I snort. “Right.”
“You’re old, too,” he says.
“Technically true,” I admit. “But neither of us is exactly decrepit, as evidenced by the fact we’ve walked down all these stairs. You couldn’t just poof down here?”
“This area is protected from poofing. Either in or out, and for good reason. Ah, here we are,” he says, and I hear him moving away from me.
“Finally,” I say, and hurry to catch up with him, keeping my arms in front of me for guidance. When I touch his robes, I hang on and let him pull me through the darkness.
“Lights would be good,” I say.
“Again, there are things I don’t want others to see. Without my help, no one sees what’s down here. Since you can’t see, you don’t know there are many passages and doorways along this hallway. One wrong turn and you’d be lost forever.”
Okay, fine. He’s entitled to his crazy.
He stops, and I do, too, barely avoiding slamming into his back. Something creaks, and then we’re bathed in a soft blue light. After the complete darkness, I shut my eyes against the glare. Hades says nothing while my eyes adjust.
We’re standing in a doorway. I peek around Hades to see what’s in the room beyond and gasp when I see the jar sitting on a pedestal in the center of the room.“Is that—?” I begin to ask, but even though I was expecting it, I’m still surprised this legendary object is right in front of me.
“Pandora’s jar? Yes.” Hades says.
It’s larger than I thought it would be, about knee height on me, and intricately shaped. The base is wider than the middle, which bulges out slightly before tapering again to a slender neck. The domed lid sports a small handle, and there are handles on either side of the neck. It looks like it’s made from clay that’s been painted black and decorated with patterns of gold. There are no skull and crossbones, HAZMAT labels, or any indication that this jar may contain all the miseries of humanity. It looks like something you’d want to have in your house.
“What’s it doing here? After Alex died, Persephone told me the Keres had it,” I say, figuring this tidbit of information won’t get her into any trouble.
“They did. But your boyfriend found it and brought it to me.”
Pop Culture Moments of My Life
Pop culture is a huge part of my life. As a writer, TV, movies, music and books give me inspiration and teach me what can be achieved in various storytelling mediums. (Of course, they also teach me what can flop like a dying fish, as well.) Here’s a collection of ten pop culture moments of my life.
1. The book that made me want to be a writer.
I’ll catch heck for this, but it was Gone With the Wind. I read it in fifth grade and I just couldn’t believe that someone could spin such an epic story with so much drama and romance. When I read that Margaret Mitchell wrote it while recuperating after a broken leg, I kind of hoped I’d break my leg, too. I had some kind of magical belief system going that there was a connection between broken bones and great novels.
2. Last TV show I binged.
I wish I could say something geeky and cool, but it was the Great British Baking Show. It’s the only reality TV I can stand. The judges are fair and there’s no backstabbing or snark from the contestants. It’s a very polite battle, made all the more polite-sounding by the British accents. The cake either rises or it doesn’t, no one eats bugs, and there’s no hair pulling.
3. My all-time favorite movie.
The Empire Strikes Back. Yes, the original Star Wars was awesome, but Empire combined heightened stakes, emotional involvement, and character development with the space battles and became something special. And it had Yoda.
7. Movie that I should have loved, but didn’t.
Pop culture is a huge part of my life. As a writer, TV, movies, music and books give me inspiration and teach me what can be achieved in various storytelling mediums. (Of course, they also teach me what can flop like a dying fish, as well.) Here’s a collection of ten pop culture moments of my life.
1. The book that made me want to be a writer.
I’ll catch heck for this, but it was Gone With the Wind. I read it in fifth grade and I just couldn’t believe that someone could spin such an epic story with so much drama and romance. When I read that Margaret Mitchell wrote it while recuperating after a broken leg, I kind of hoped I’d break my leg, too. I had some kind of magical belief system going that there was a connection between broken bones and great novels.
2. Last TV show I binged.
I wish I could say something geeky and cool, but it was the Great British Baking Show. It’s the only reality TV I can stand. The judges are fair and there’s no backstabbing or snark from the contestants. It’s a very polite battle, made all the more polite-sounding by the British accents. The cake either rises or it doesn’t, no one eats bugs, and there’s no hair pulling.
The Empire Strikes Back. Yes, the original Star Wars was awesome, but Empire combined heightened stakes, emotional involvement, and character development with the space battles and became something special. And it had Yoda.
4. Last album I listened to.
I don’t listen to too many entire albums these days, owing to my ever-changing musical tastes. I just can’t commit to an album. But I did listen to the soundtrack from The Kingsmen start to finish. Excellent combination of retro hits, angry music, and music legends-to-be.
5. First album I ever bought.
Probably the soundtrack to Grease. It was our musical in elementary school and I wanted to learn all the songs. It was years, though, before I figured out that the lyric, “and we throw away conventionality” didn’t say, “and we throw away the mentionality.” Like that was even a word.
6. The classic book I pretend to have read.
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. It’s the only book I read the Cliff’s Notes for in high school. (Apologies to my teachers.) I just could not get through it. I learned enough to get a D on the test and moved on. But I tell everyone that I read it. I figure that it counts since I passed the test.
7. Movie that I should have loved, but didn’t.
The Lord of the Rings. I loved the books and the whole world seemed to love the movie. It had Orlando Bloom in his prime for crying out loud! But it just fell flat for me. I kept thinking, “That’s not how I saw it in my head.” It was a huge disappointment and I still haven’t gotten over it.
8. Favorite TV show that was cancelled too early? Too late?
Both of these are Nathan Fillion projects for me. Firefly was cancelled way too soon. With that cast and universe? They could have churned out compelling stories for years. The one that went on too long? Castle. I loved it for seven years and then the writers just destroyed it when Castle and Beckett went through the fake separation. By the time they killed it off after season eight, it was a mercy killing.
9. What I’m reading now.
I try to keep one serious book and one fluff book going at a time. The serious book is The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu, by Joshua Hammer. The fluff is Falling, by Jane Green.
10. The fictional place that I’d like to move to.
I’m still waiting for my acceptance letter to Hogwarts. But if I can’t go there, I’ll happily move to eighteenth-century Scotland to live with Jamie Fraser from Outlander.
Jennifer is a freelance writer and novelist. As a freelancer, she writes everything from technical manuals to articles on personal finance and European-style board games. Her interest in storytelling began when she was six and her parents gave her a typewriter for Christmas and agreed to pay her $.01 per page for any stories she churned out. Such a loose payment system naturally led to a lot of story padding. Broken Fate, her first novel, earned her $2.80 from her parents.
Jennifer lives in North Carolina and, when not writing, can often be found reading, trawling the shelves at the library, playing board games, watching sports, camping, running marathons, and playing with her dog. You can visit her at her official website.
Avenging Fate #2
KOBO / iTUNES / GOODREADS TBR
Broken Fate #1(Currently Free)
KOBO / iTUNES / GOODREADS TBR
Thank you for posting the information about my novels, Lattices of Love and No Greater Love. I appreciate your help. Eris
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