Mystic Island

☼☼15☼☼

Raine

We were bombarded with questions when we stumbled onto the sands. How weird it must have for Kayla and I to appear out of nowhere, by a whisk of a shadow. Brooke’s face was pale and her gray eyes were wide and relieved.
“Kayla! Raine!” she breathed. “Where have you been?”
I forced my voice to remain stable. “How much time do you have?”
“Was that supposed to be sarcastic?” Piper asked disapprovingly.
I gazed at her with wide gold eyes. Now that Sierra was gone, I felt no reason to act bravely. “Do I look sarcastic?” Kayla was still shivering.
Rose frowned. “What happened? We heard barks a couple minutes ago…”
“We have to get out of here,” I told them.
“What?” Rose asked with shock.
Conor eyed us with steady, dark gray eyes. “What happened?”
I rushed through telling them, gasping for breaths still.
“You found Heather?” Brooke echoed with rising joy in her voice. “Where…” She was about to say “Where did you find her?”, but that changed to, “Where is she? Why isn’t she with you?”
“We were attacked by an army of at least a couple hundred hellhounds.” I called them hellhounds because none of them would understand Sierra’s ridiculous name for the mixed breed of demon dogs.
“That must have been the barking,” Rose remarked bluntly.
“Nothing gets past you, Rose.” That time, I meant to be sarcastic.
She made a face. Brooke looked troubled while the former followers of Lea remained silent. “Where is the pack?”
“I...I’m not sure,” I admitted. But then I remembered the ghost-like deer. “I think they’re taken care of.”
“How?”
“Don’t ask me, ask the deer,” I muttered.
“What?”
I took a deep breath and my heart quieted. “Nothing.”
“If they’re gone, why do we have to leave?” Caroline spoke up.
“You don’t think they’ll come back?” I asked her incredulously.
Caroline looked away, but Jacob said, “No, I don’t.”
“Neither do I,” Piper said.
I didn’t say anything more about that, but I glanced at the two children of Athena. Both of their faces were uncertain.
“I see no reason to leave,” Piper pointed out innocently.
Kayla exchanged a wary glance with me and I felt a surge of anger. They hadn’t been the ones facing hundreds of monsters.
Brooke sighed resignedly. “Raine. I think we’ll be okay for another night.”
“But…”
“Raine,” she said more firmly. “Look, if it makes you feel any better, someone can stand guard to warn us if anything comes. Okay?”
I knew it wasn’t, but I said, “Okay.”
Brooke made a faint smile. “Alright. Why don’t you rest? You have to be exhausted after searching all day and battling all night.”
I nearly passed out then. “Okay,” I repeated. I lied down on the sand, the cool pressure comforting, but my mind was racing while it seemed I was asleep. The others were exhausted as well; only Sam, the son of Apollo, remained awake to stand guard.
I didn’t mean to fall asleep---no, I was much too worried for that, but soon the gentle black waves of sleep were too tempting to resist. I drifted off into welcomed sleep…

I hissed. I had fallen asleep only to wake up in the forest outside of the color-lit cave. The rainbow lights filtered out of the mouth of the den and the pawprints still indented the moss and leaves. The mist that had faded as the undead dissolved had returned, making it impossible to see anything a foot in front of me. The rainbow was only a colorful cloud in the cloudy air. But that was not the only rainbow.
The floor shifted, and I gasped as I was lurched forward by some invisible force, my feet skimming over the forest floor effortlessly. The only effort I exerted was me trying to stop myself. Whoever was pulling me seemed to be a whole lot stronger than I was. The rainbow became larger as I was brought toward it and then…I broke through the fog.
I widened my gold eyes. Heather was only a few feet before me.
“Raine…” she whispered. She didn’t look happy to see me.
I furrowed my eyebrows. “What’s wrong?”
No, it wasn’t that she looked unhappy. She looked…terrified. For me. “Raine, you have to get out of here!”
“Why?” Someone stepped forward from behind the trunk that Heather was tied to. The goddess stared at me with cold amusement.
“Well, well,” Hecate mused. “It seems my daughter was right. You do have a knack for escaping death.”
“When are you going to give up?” I hissed at her. “When are you going to realize that you’ll never win? That you’ll never kill Artemis?”
Hecate sniffed, her colorful eyes never leaving me. “That one will never leave this island. And neither will you.”
“So you’ve said,” I said with attempted courage. “Yet, I’ve left.”
Hecate narrowed her eyes and her fangs bore with fury. “Incompetence of others. You are not so hard to predict, young demigod. Do you not think that I have not learned? That I did not foresee your return?”
“Did you?”
“I did,” Hecate said, and she walked gracefully to where Heather was tied. She held out a hand and grabbed Heather’s chin and forced the huntress to turn her face. Hecate hissed and stared at me. “How fruitless your quest was. I’d almost give this one up now. She has been nothing but a bother since Nixta brought her here.”
Heather shook her head out of Hecate’s grasp, and stared forward, not meeting anyone’s eyes. I had never seen her so cold before.
“Stupid hunter,” Hecate sneered at Heather, who remained motionless. Hecate fixed her gaze on me. “What a plan I have set up. My enemy is falling into my trap. The annoying little heroes---” Hecate bared her fangs at me. “…will have Death finally catch up to them.”
I narrowed my eyes and shivered. I supposed my act of courage did not come easily as I wanted it too. Hecate snorted at my silence, and walked around me. “Are you afraid, young demigod?” she asked softly. Her eyes remained blood-red. “Do you fear me?”
I carefully pulled my sword out of my pocket and held it against my side. I shook my head a tiny bit, but in hindsight, I knew I probably should have just stayed still.
“I do not believe you,” she hissed.
Maybe I was impulsive. Or maybe I was just stupid. “Why don’t you just summon a horde of empousae to kill me? Since you always hide behind some kind of army.”
Hecate’s face was venomous. “You do not think I can fight you on my own?”
Heather’s eyes glanced in my direction. The dark goddess snarled in fury. I murmured, “This is only a dream.”
“A dream?!” Hecate shrieked, and Heather flinched, staring at me with brooding, sad eyes. Then the witch grew quiet. “Yes. That’s it. A dream. Only a dream.”
I instinctively took a step back. The goddess’ voice was dangerously soft. “Tell me, Raine, do you think that I cannot kill you in this dream? Do you honestly believe that you cannot be harmed?”
There was only the sound of Heather’s unsteady breathing.
Hecate pulled her lips back over her teeth. “That was a question.”
“Yes, I do honestly think that you have no power over me in my dream. After all, it is my dream.”
“Your dream,” Hecate scoffed. “You do not think you were summoned?”
“And I’ve never been hurt in my dreams before!” I growled. “Never, not when Hades sent his daughters to kill me, not when…”
Hecate breathed, “His daughters? Demigods?”
“No…” I began to deny, but Hecate held my gaze. Suddenly, I could not feel consciousness any longer and I was lost in the magic goddess’ gaze. I felt weightless, in a trance.
“Now,” Hecate purred. “Who may we have been talking about?”
“Andrea and Kayla,” I answered with monotone. Heather wore a mask of horror. Hecate smiled darkly.
“You have my Lord’s children among you?” Her face mesmerized me, and I was quick to respond, “Yes.”
“Yet they fight beside you?” Hecate inquired. “Do they know who their father is?” I fought against the hypnotic hold she held of me, but my subconscious forced myself to speak with no secrets. Her eyes were spiraling. “Not Andrea. We don’t know where she is. Both know who they are.”
The daughter of Demeter shivered with a horrified face, and she began to say, “Are those the demigods I told you…?”
Hecate glared at her, hissing. “Quiet, you! We are discussing something much more important than anything you may have to say.” But I shook my head. Because Hecate looked away, the spell was broken. When she looked back at me, I did not meet her eyes, just in case they were hypnotizing again.
“Does it matter who their parents are?” I asked. “One, okay, she’s turned against us, but what about Kayla? She won’t ever side with her father. She knows that he made Nichole kill all of her old friends last fall. She knows what evil he contains, and she doesn’t want any of that. I think she even wants revenge.”
“Yes, yes, everyone is noble,” Hecate sniffed, dismissing the conversation of the two daughters of Hades. “But to address what you believed before, when you thought that you cannot be harmed in dreams…”
“I can’t.”
Hecate’s eyes began to shift colors again from red and stayed at a very dark blue. They glittered with evil anticipation. “Do you not think I brought you here on purpose? If I cannot kill you in the waking world, then perhaps…”
I didn’t like where this was going.
“Then I will kill you here.” Hecate’s bat-like wings spread out from her back.
“You never could before,” I taunted.
She narrowed her eyes. “That is because of your talent.”
“My talent?”
“Of escape,” Hecate ridiculed. “The reason you have not died is that you always leave the scene of the battle before any real harm can come to you. And then,” she said, waving her hand to Heather, “someone always dies in your place. You’re a runner.”
“I’m not a runner! I’m a fighter,” I objected.
“Are you? Is there any battle you can truly admit that you’ve stayed in?”
I opened my mouth to reply right away, but I couldn’t think of any example. I had run from most of my battles. “There was in California,” I thought up.
“Oh?” Hecate jeered. “And what happened?” Lower, she added, “Now don’t lie to me. I can detect a fib in one’s voice. It rings out like a foul note in an orchestra.”
“We destroyed Hades’ army,” I growled. Well, part of it anyway.
“Yes, yes, I know,” Hecate said impatiently. “Nyx has been keeping me updated. But did anyone die?”
I did not meet her questioning gaze. “Someone always dies,” I murmured.
“And there was when we fought Hades in that abandoned warehouse in California,” I said.
“If I recall Nyx’s words, you did not fight Lord Hades. Athena did, and if you ask me, she’s half as rotten as Artemis,” Hecate dismissed. “And you battled your friend, er, the child of some sky god.”
“Zephyrus,” I snapped, feeling some wild, chivalrous feeling to defend my former companion.
“Yes, yes,” Hecate dismissed again. “Quite an accomplishment in your mind, I assume. How did you kill her? Sword? Lightning?”
“No,” I mumbled. “I didn’t kill her, Brayden did.”
Hecate fixed her eyes on mine. They changed to a hungry blood-red. “While you cowered and prepared for death, is that right?” She did not expect any response from me, my lips in a firm, hard purse of a line.
Hecate took a step forward, her body crouching like an animal. I moved Lightning Strike and the dirty gold light flew off it in a glinting, wonderful array of bronze.
Heather struggled against the enchanted wire that kept her hostage. It must have been killing her not to be free. I saddened at the thought. If either of us died, neither of us would be free. If I died, her death would quickly follow. If she died first, then I would die for trying to avenge her death. Either way, the huntress would never feel sunlight warm her skin, never see the stars in their silver glory. She wouldn’t ever see the moon that she loved so much.
Hecate showed her fangs that seemed to run in the Underworld-dweller bloodline. Though I was certain a star goddess that her mother was said to be would not be a creature of the Underworld. She took a step closer to my stiff self. “Do not be afraid, demigod,” she soothed with venom in her voice, despite the words that were usually meant to reassure someone. “Your death will be quick and painless. Though I would have enjoyed seeing you in misery, I have learned too much from my relative, Thanatus, God of Peaceful Death.” The winged creature before me then sprang from the stony earth, sails of her wings outstretched to the wind that was created when she swooped from her launching point and dove over me. I had just raised my sword in time when she came to meet me.
Her fangs clashed with the blade, and the harsh, chilling screech caused me to shiver. She recoiled, as the celestial bronze somewhat harmful to gods and goddesses (I can only imagine how scraping one’s teeth on that would feel like --- somewhere between fire and ice), but she came at me with equal speed. Her hand swept against the gleaming sword again, her claws attempting to gouge marks or even slice it into ribbons of metal, but the bronze was impervious to her blows. She would try to claw at me, but to her fury, I was skilled in swordplay. I deflected her strikes blow after blow. Finally, I tried at becoming the offensive.
I swiped the blade at her when Hecate sidestepped, but the goddess was of course thousands of years older than I, and she was far more skilled in battle than I was. My attempts to injure her only came back as failures, but that did not stop me from swinging again. And when I did, my blade broke marble skin. I had almost imagined black blood or blood in a range of that color to bleed from Hecate’s exposed arm, but it was gold; ichor, like all immortals. But the witch screeched, and I noticed that her nails had turned into talons. The claws stuck my face and I staggered backwards. I nearly passed out from the rusty scent of my own blood, warm on my skin. I gently moved my hand across my face to feel that the attack had wounded my forehead down to my chin, straight down my nose. I shook the droplets of scarlet that began to slide down the center of my face.
I hissed at the sorceress, and charged her. The blade crossed her arm again, now creating a cross-shape when it struck in the opposite direction across her previous wound. Hecate smacked me in the jaw, only batting me away, but she was a goddess. Her power was endless to a demigod like me, and that clout had felt as if a jagged boulder had impacted me. I fell to my knees, and the goddess recovered. Drops of ichor sprinkled onto the front of my shirt when she stood over me, snickering.
“A valiant effort,” Hecate mock-praised me. “But, sadly, your endeavor was fruitless, as I had imagined before this even begun.” My head was spinning and I leaned accidentally back and fell on my bottom. I could see Hecate…three Hecates truly. I dazedly put my hand to my face, which was smothered in blood. I pressed my jacket sleeve to the wound to stop it from bleeding anymore. After all, Hecate wouldn’t even need to lift another talon if I died from blood loss. I felt the flow gradually lessen.
“Damned fool,” she sneered. Her hand was engulfed in colorful magic, ready to toss at me. I…I braced myself for impact. I half-heartedly hoped that Hecate was wrong and that when I woke up, I would be uninjured. Hecate saw my desperation in my expression with glee. “So ready for death. Are you giving up, little idiot?”
I focused my mind on a happy place…or tried to. I tried to imagine sitting on the beach with gray skies overhead---just how I liked it. Or I imagined laying on my bed with the sound of rain patting the world outside of my window, the beads of water dribbling down the glass…I felt my final bliss.
Just wake up! my inner voice told me. If you wake up, it will be all over! My eyes flashed open. Hecate was watching my pain, in no rush to end my life. After all, dreams were as long as the dreamer wished it to be. But I was the dreamer. This was my dream, and I should have been the one to control it. Wake up, wake up, wake up…
Those words became vocal. “Wake up, wake up, wake up!” I murmured, growing louder with each word. The seams that held this nightmare together loosened, and the dizzy image of Hecate simmered into a blur. Hecate seemed to realize what was happening, and she hissed, “No! No, you cannot escape! I control this dream! I...”
And then night had consumed my senses.

I slowly regained consciousness and I heard myself mumbling, “Wake up, wake up---” My eyes opened slowly just to close. My face was pressed against the sand and I jerked to a kneeling position, shaking sandy grains out of my golden eyes. Heart racing, I dared myself to reopen my eyes. The night had faded into daybreak, the sky pinkish blue. The sun was a pure gold circle above the ocean, a fiery disc already heightening into the cloudless sky. I stood shakily with surprise. “It’s morning,” I mumbled groggily with shock.
“Yes, it is,” Brooke said without looking at me. Rose had crabs in her hand and Jacob, I assumed, had created a fire to roast them. They were already a reddish color.
Rose’s eyes were fixed on the boiling crustacean. “It’s about 7. Kayla’s still asleep.” She absentmindedly gestured towards the still figure of my dark friend.
Brooke frowned. “You hardly kept quiet all night. What…” She broke off when she looked up at me, her face morphing into terror.
“What?” I said with a stronger voice now.
“Raine,” she gasped. “Oh, Raine, what happened to your face?”
“My face?” Fear creeped up on me. My hands flew to my forehead and slipped down to my chin. Sure enough, the triple wounds of a claw mark cut down where Hecate had attacked. Cold reality stood in my head. If my injury had remained from my dream, then I really would have died. I wouldn’t have ever wakened. “Oh…” I whispered.
At the tone in Brooke’s voice, Rose looked up curiously too from where she sat on the sand. Her blue eyes widened. “My gods, Raine, what happened?! You look terrible!”
“Do I…?” I said without steadiness. I sat abruptly on the sand. I was absolutely frozen in shock. “The dream…she would have killed me…”
Brooke listened to every word intently. “Who?” she demanded. “Who would have killed you?”
The loudening voices startled the other demigods, and they stared at me with fear. They began to ask questions at once, and I glanced instinctively at Kayla. She did not stir. I didn’t know whether I was more surprised or frightened.
Brooke stood quickly to her feet, and whipped a glare at the chattering former-bandits. “Shush. Let me ask questions.” She spoke about me like I was incompetent. At that state in time, I probably was.
Brooke stared at me with rock-hard gray eyes. “Raine. Who did this to you? Did you sneak off in the night?”
“No, I did not.” My voice was monotone.
“Then how do you have a deep wound on your face?”
I mesmerized the harsh-lit sand. “I…I was attacked.”
Someone who was listening huffed impatiently. Brooke handled my plain words better though. “Who attacked you?” she asked me softly.
“H-Hecate.” When I said that, there were gasps and in my peripheral vision, I saw the paling of faces, sympathetic eyes. In the younger of the demigods, Sam and Caroline, in their eyes, I saw plain fear, irrevocable and stark.
My balance was unsteady and soon, it failed. I collapsed on the ground. Brooke’s light footfalls padded on the sand until I felt her against my side. My own gaze was unfocused, but I could feel her worry one burn right through my skin. I blacked out a couple moments after that…

No! I screamed in my head. Because I had technically not slept for days and days, I had fallen asleep again. But instead of seeing my enemy goddess facing me with rage in her eyes and preparing to finish me off, the cave was not present. And my friends were not there either. In fact, the entire island had disappeared, and I was lying on mossy earth in a forest. I sat up with newfound strength and energy. My weariness had ripened and faded and new life entered my battered body. I put a hand to my face. The wound…it was a pale scar on my forehead. As if it were weeks old instead of minutes.
I got myself to my feet without too much trouble, and I breathed, “Wow.” The forest itself was shimmering with silvery light. When I looked upward, the stars were brighter than I had ever seen them. But…a faint golden light shone far, far back within the trees. That seemed out of place in the colorless night. Yes, for me, the night had returned.
I began to walk towards the light, but I was itching to run. After only a couple of steps, I broke into a sprint. Strength coursed through my body.
The trees were no saplings. Every one was as big like they were hundreds of years old. I could not really see where I was running; I could not see the ground, the looming trees until they were close enough, the roots that I nearly tripped on. Seriously, I hoped that whatever it was that was giving the light off was worth it because this was taking a lot out of my energy…the energy that magically appeared.
Luckily I was swift, seemingly swifter in dream, and I reached the source of the light before long. I passed the last oak and found myself facing a great, gold-lit marble building.
To put an image in mind, the building looked like the Lincoln Memorial, minus Mr. Lincoln sitting on his eternal seat. I shrank back into the trees, immensely shocked. I discovered that I was breathing hard, so I quieted the short, gasping breaths. I took one smooth, deep one, and then rushed out into the open.
Now that I had gotten over my shock, I scanned the area with clear vision. The huge monument was embedded into a rocky mountainside. Behind it, small enough from my distance to look like they were in footholds, nestled little dark gold and white houses. The night-dwelling moon curved over it, bigger than I had ever seen it. Before me was a great Celestial Silver Giant. I felt with a twinge of understanding…looking at the glowing white sphere that loomed over the living world bigger than anything I had ever witnessed, I understood Hecate’s want for the silver giant so badly. If it were so huge---it had to be as powerful. I pondered this, my eyes not leaving the moon, until a flicker of white caught my eye. In a little stream next to me, a little girl with billowing, near-white blond hair watched me with a curious, pale face. I tried to make my gold eyes scary.
“Scram!” I told the naiad. “This is my dream! Go away!” The spooked water nymph disappeared into the black water with a ploop! In the distance, figures clothed in white dotted the night mountainside. I glanced swiftly down at my own clothes. Blood-streaked, once-blue jacket, jeans, and tennis shoes. I hissed, and without thought, ducked behind one of the bushes that lined the edge of forest. I would stand out in this place.
I watched everywhere around me to make sure no one saw me. It seemed silly to hide here. Why was I hiding? What harm was I doing by being here? Not to mention I did not know where I was, though I had a guess, and so what if someone did see me? What would be the worst that would happen?
But I did have some kind of feeling that I wasn’t supposed to be here. So I continued to hide. That was when I heard the first one.
The bubbling of voices began to raise from the gold-and-ivory temple and I saw shadows pass through the dim openings that were somewhat visible from where I was. I saw a flash of fire, and my impulsive instincts overwhelmed me. I had to see what was going on. I slid from my post and quickly dashed to a column that was the closest in the direction I ran. I put my hands against the cold marble and leaned around the corner. What I saw made me gasp.
I should have recognized where I was right away, even if I had only been here once before. I observed the gods in the temple atop Mount Olympus as they moved around inside.
Some of them looked different than I had remembered…but then I understood why. This not a scene from the modern era, or anything close to it. Aphrodite was younger than I’d seen last fall, looking about ten, which at this time, she probably was. Apollo had the innocent eyes of a child, only fourteen, and Hera looked different as well. She looked bitterer here. She glared at the twins, Apollo and Artemis, with undisguised hatred. I recalled Artemis telling me that she had despised them before they were even born, but that she favored Apollo. It seemed that she did not like either. Apollo didn’t notice the goddess’ hostile stare, but Artemis did. She met the older immortal’s eyes with burning yellow eyes, and Hera returned her glare with eyes colder than winter. Hera bared her teeth, and Artemis ducked her head down like a child being punished. But when Hera finally turned her gaze elsewhere, Artemis glanced back at up at her with dark eyes.
There was another immortal I did not notice, a boy with disheveled brown hair and mossy-green eyes and winged feet. He did not sit in a throne at all, but on the ground in a small space where there was nothing. It was Hermes at an age younger than Aphrodite, perhaps eight or nine. He was glancing shyly at Artemis, but when the animal goddess turned her head towards him, he looked forward as if he had never looked at anything else. There was another change: instead of Dionysus, a goddess with reddish-blond hair and mousy-brown eyes stood by the throne where the wine god usually sat. Hestia, goddess of the hearth. My own father stood and began to speak.
I did not listen to anything anyone said. I focused on the younger gods, Hermes, Apollo, and Artemis. The messenger god’s wings were flapping furiously, hating not being able to be in the air, and the young god himself didn’t look comfortable either. He kept staring at Artemis with wide eyes, and when she caught his eyes, she bared her teeth and her eyes morphed into snake ones. Apollo glared at the little god with hard orange-yellow eyes, and Hermes shied away.
I watched for what seemed like a long time, Artemis did not say anything, but the look in her eyes was anxious. She kept shifting around in her seat. Eventually, Zeus glanced at her shifting again.
“What is it, Artemis?” he asked, exasperated. “You’ve been jumpy all night.”
The young goddess’ eyes clouded. “I’m sorry, Father. But I made a promise to my friend that I would ask this.”
The other gods quieted. Clearly no one expected the little goddess to say anything. Even Apollo’s face was puzzled.
Zeus nodded. “Go on.” But when Artemis hesitated, Hera stood up.
“Of course she has nothing to say,” the brown-haired goddess spat. Little Artemis shrank back, and Hera took this as an opportunity to shame the young immortal.
“I do not believe that she has any right to speak at the Council,” Hera said, speaking to all of the Olympians now. “In fact, I don’t believe any of the younger gods here should have a voice at all.” Murmurs of agreement rose steadily from the other older gods, but some of the younger gods, like Apollo and Aphrodite, jumped to their feet and burst into outrage like wildfire. Even young Hermes spoke out. Artemis, to my shock, was the only one who didn’t say anything. Her face was a deep shade of gold and she ducked her head down as far as it would go, staring at the patterned floor. When an intense light coming from the outside burned into the room, caused by Apollo’s smoldering orange eyes, Zeus roared. “Enough!” An ear-splitting roll of thunder boomed outside, causing me to flinch, and the sky was alive with powerful bolts of lightning that singed the air. Since I was the only non-immortal, the fiery air was almost painful to me.
Zeus glared harshly at his wife. “Enough, Hera. My daughter has enough representation as any other Olympian here.” Hera scowled at those words, and she sat abruptly down in her seat. Her face would have been an angry crimson, if only gods had red blood. But since gods’ blood was gold, her face was so deeply gold that it looked like a solar eclipse. Her face was a mask of pure fury. Zeus looked to Artemis. “You may speak.”
Artemis shifted again, looking extremely uncomfortable with every pair of eyes on her, whether angry, surprised, or thoughtful. She then slipped out of her seat and spoke. “Father, I must ask a favor of you. My cousin, Hecate, wishes to join the Council as well. She wishes to become an Olympian.” The room burst into words of disapproval. A couple voices rose above the outburst.
“A Titanide?” Demeter hissed. “Join the council?” Titanide? What was a Titanide?
“You were a Titanide too,” Artemis protested.
“Was,” Demeter repeated. “That is past tense.”
“You cannot change that!”
“Exactly,” Hephaestus growled. “The last we need is another young immortal running around, especially with the knowledge of our secrets! She has Titan blood!”
“Untrustworthy!” Ares hissed.
“We should have confined her along with her despicable mother to the stars long ago,” Poseidon said. “So we wouldn’t have to put up with another little…”
“Silence!” Zeus boomed, and the other gods grew quiet. Lightning crackled around the floor as he met his daughter’s gaze. “What you ask for is inexcusable.”
“But Father…” Artemis tried.
“No! Already have I allowed you to join the Council,” Zeus growled. “You do not have any obedience whatsoever! You cannot tell what is right from what is wrong! Already have I given you power. Already have I given you further immortality. I will not give this to another nameless minor goddess!” I felt anger boil inside of me terribly when I saw the rage in Zeus’ dark golden eyes. I became lost in the scene before me.
“Hecate is not just another nameless minor goddess!” Artemis said. “I had promised her this!”
“You had no right to promise that worthless immortal anything!” Zeus thundered. “That demon has evil blood in her. She will corrupt the Council as soon as she steps foot in here!”
“Evil blood!” Artemis echoed scornfully. “She is Leto’s niece.”
Hera let out a low hiss when she heard her enemy’s name. Apollo’s orange eyes flickered hatefully at the hostile goddess.
“That makes her your niece too!” Artemis continued. Her pale yellow eyes were round and pleading. “Please.”
Zeus growled at the young goddess. “No.”
“But…”
Thunder boomed and Zeus snarled, “That is final! The witch does not become one of us.” Artemis shrank back, and slumped in her seat. I overheard Zeus’ words, “Disobedient imbecile.” With a glare at his dejected daughter, my father said, “If that is all, then this meeting is adjourned.” There was a white light, and then Zeus was gone. The other gods began to disperse. Demeter sneered at the animal goddess before fading into thin air. Hera glared at the sad Artemis with satisfaction at her shame before dispersing as well. Almost every god had gone when the fire burnt out. All who was left was Artemis and Apollo. The sun god approached his sister warily.
“I’m sorry,” he told her, who would not look up. “I know you wanted Hecate to be a part of the Council too.”
Artemis glanced at her brother. “I thought you wanted Hecate to become an Olympian.”
Apollo shrugged. Artemis bared her teeth at him. “You’re no better than the rest of them! Hecate is our cousin, and she deserves to become an Olympian just as much as we do.”
While shaking his head, Apollo frowned. “I am as good as the rest because they’re right. Hecate has Titan heritage.” Artemis hissed. Apollo looked upon her with frustration. “Don’t hiss at me, Artemis! You know just as well as I do that Hecate isn’t who she used to be! She’s an ambitious, dark-hearted minor god that is going to wind up killed! You can’t keep associating yourself with her!”
Artemis snarled in fury at her brother. “That’s not true! How can you say that? She’s my friend and she used to be yours!” She was an inch from Apollo’s flaming face, her fiery pale eyes boring into his orange ones. She slipped away and began to walk out of the silver-lit building. Apollo growled behind her. “Don’t you dare walk away! You’ll just go right to Hecate!” Artemis kept walking gracefully away from her brother through the leafy beginnings of another part of the forest. Apollo hissed. “Listen for once!”
Artemis stopped and looked over her shoulder. “You’re not my mother. Don’t tell me what to do.” She looked forward, and continued to walk into the wet woods. For some reason, I was carried along with Artemis because now Apollo’s voice was fading and I could hardly see his orange eyes glow in the darkness.
It wasn’t too long before a goddess crossed the path that Artemis was walking on. It was a young goddess about fourteen, like Artemis and Apollo, with dark hair and colorful eyes. Young Hecate’s face lit up when she saw her cousin. “Artemis!” she said gleefully. Then she saw the huntress’ frustrated face. “What’s wrong?”
“Annoying imbecile,” Artemis muttered.
“Oh, you mean your brother,” Hecate said with realization. “What’s he done this time?”
“He thinks he knows what’s best for me,” Artemis murmured. “He wants me to listen to the other gods.”
“Other gods?” Hecate echoed. “Did you come from a council meeting?” Her rainbow eyes lit up with excitement. “Did you ask? What happened?”
The silver goddess looked at her cousin sadly. “I…I’m sorry, Hecate. Father won’t allow you to become an Olympian.”
Hecate’s eyes clouded and darkened. “What?”
“I tried to reason with them…” Artemis began.
The witch bared her fangs. “So you say! But perhaps it’s because you wanted to keep all of the power to yourself! What, are you going to take the moon all to yourself as well?” Artemis opened her mouth to reply, but said nothing.
Hecate’s wings burst from her back. “You promised! You promised that I would become an Olympian with you!”
“I believe it is only because Asteria’s father was a Titan. If you prove that you are good…”
“Prove that I’m good?” Hecate screeched in disbelief. “Why should I prove anything to them? What do I care what they think anymore?” She was trembling with anger. “Why should I trust you anymore, after you break promise after promise?”
“I have not broken any!” the moon goddess protested. “I swear I’ll keep trying! I’ll make them see that you are good!”
Hecate snarled with pure hatred. “Don’t bother! I trusted you and now you say that I’m not allowed to join the Council because I’m not good enough? Pfft!” she hissed.
“Hecate, what is the matter with you?” Artemis questioned softly, her yellow eyes truly frightened now. “You’ve never acted in this way before.”
Hecate let out another snaky hiss through her bared, clenching, sharp milky teeth, unable to say any words. Artemis zipped to her side in a flash of silver. Hecate flinched away from her with wounded eyes. “It is okay. I will ask again, I promise.”
“You promise,” Hecate snapped. “You promise! Why should I listen to you?” Her eyes darkened. “Why should I leave you alive?”
“Leave me alive?” Artemis echoed, astounded. “Why are you speaking like this? You’re frightening me.”
The witch’s eyes bended and twisted into beady, black eyes. Then she shook her head, and her eyes returned to normal…or what they had been before. When Artemis backed away from her friend, Hecate barked. I remembered that she was the patron for canines. Immortals picked up their spheres of power’s characteristics in their appearance in behavior more than they possibly realized.
Artemis met the trembling, wild-eyed sorceress with an effort-made calm gaze. She said in a faintly quivering voice, “Hecate. Calm down. It is not such a big deal. You’re powerful enough.”
Hecate froze, her face dangerous. “What.” That was not really a question, but the animal goddess answered it anyway.
“You have witchery,” Artemis murmured. “You don’t need the moon or the Council seat.”
That was enough for Hecate. The thin line of sanity that held her insanity back had snapped, allowing her blind fury to take control of her body and mind. The goddess of magic leaped with invisible speed, a blur of black and crimson, and in a second, though I didn’t see how it happened, Hecate had her fangs at Artemis’ throat. The silver immortal had fallen.
But Artemis was not as weak as she appeared under attack. Her body shifted to a viper and she swiped at Hecate’s shoulder. It had not seemed like such a powerful attack, but Hecate was gushing golden blood like she had been shot with a missile. She put a hand to her shoulder and limped forward. Artemis had already turned to her regular form again. Hecate spat with pain-filled rage.
“I don’t want to hurt you anymore,” the huntress said with hurt. The daughter of the star goddess snarled at this, and she bared her fangs. I had not noticed the quiet attack when Hecate had been at her cousin’s throat, but she had bitten down a bit. When a smear of ichor colored the goddess of the hunt’s neck, I felt a surge of anger. I wanted to kill younger Hecate, but I was powerless and apparently not truly present, as I had been before.
“You already have!” the witch cried. She this time remained still, but she threw magic at her cousin. The goddess was thrown to the earth, but when she tried to rise like before, she shook unsteadily.
“I have finally mastered my powers to a perfect extent,” Hecate spat. “Don’t you think so, Artemis?”
Artemis struggled to sound powerful. “Don’t…”
Hecate’s eyebrow raised in a moment of hesitation.
“Don’t make me hurt you.” Hecate laughed with humorless, furious laughter. She raised the magic high over head, a snaky arc of unnaturally-colored fire. But when she hurled it at her, Artemis was swifter than light. She passed the witch with graceful speed, tearing a bleeding wound in Hecate’s black chiton while running. Hecate was limping even worse now. Hecate flapped her wings angrily to raise her slowly, as she was injured, but Artemis reached her faster. One wing was torn with ocher liquid. Hecate fell to the ground, seemingly wounded. Seemingly.
I saw the trick as Artemis did not. I had seen others fake their injuries before, looking as if they were easy to overtake. But this was Artemis’ first life, in a sense, and she was not too experienced in battle yet, as it looked to me. When Artemis reached her cousin, and looked over her, ichor coloring the end of her dark hair, she sighed. “Hecate…”
The witch snapped to life, grasping the silver goddess’ legs and tossing her to the ground. She sank her grown talons in her side when she sprinted away from her. Artemis forced herself to stand, but her white chiton was stained with gold now. Hecate laughed, leaping for a final blow, but she never made it to Artemis. A golden-and-orange flash intercepted the witch and two arms tossed her aside. The bat-winged goddess snarled as she collided with a boulder.
Apollo stood in front of his bleeding sister protectively, and the young goddess whispered to her brother, “Apollo, don’t…”
Apollo glared at her with round orange eyes, mocking her, “You’re not my mother. Don’t tell me what to do.” Despite the pain she was in, Artemis rolled her eyes.
Hecate limped towards the young sun god angrily. The boulder that she had been launched against was crushed into a human shape. I shivered in my nonexistent body.
“This is not your business, moron,” Hecate said to Apollo furiously. “Leave.”
Apollo had a bow ready from nowhere with an arrow notched. “My sister is my business.” The arrow stabbed Hecate in her good leg, and she fell to her knees. Ichor flowed quickly from the arrow-wound. Apollo towered over her, no usual happiness lighting his young face. It was stonier than rock.
“Fine,” Hecate snapped. “Finish me off why don’t you? End my pain.”
Apollo growled. “No, I don’t think I will.” He flashed back to Artemis. “You leave. Don’t you come back either.”
Hecate surprisingly complied, limping towards the woods. Then she threw a venomous, now violet-red, glare of pure hate at Artemis. The huntress met it sadly. “Do not believe that this is over. Oh, I am far from finished with you. Watch your back. When you hear a howl, flee as far as you can. But do not believe that you will survive. One day I will stand over your broken, lifeless body with the moon at my command. And then everyone will fear and serve me.” She held out her hands like an animal to touch the ground. The pure black dog scampered off into the Olympic forest, into the night…
Artemis sighed with relief. “Thank you, Apollo. I don’t know what got into Hecate.”
Apollo hissed with half as much fury as Hecate. “Don’t ever see her again! I warned you off, and what do you do? Go straight to that psychotic murderer!”
“I…”
“She’s killed people!”
“So have you.”
Apollo snapped as he glowed with the light of his own sun. “Listen to me for once, Artemis.” Then the light flashed, and was gone.
Artemis sighed dejectedly, and the scene faded into total black. The only things left were Artemis and…apparently me. She looked at me with a terribly wounded face. “Do you see?” she whispered. “No one listens to me. If they had, none of this would have ever happened.”
The world shut off like a TV.