Chapter 12: My mind is broken

I swear my mind was playing tricks on me. The black curly-haired woman, (aka the one trying to kill us), also looked like a blonde woman with blue eyes and a long black dress.

"Uh, guys? Is it just me or are you seeing double?" I asked shell shocked.

But before anyone could answer my question, we were veiled in a curtain of darkness. Suddenly, everybody around me vanished and were replaced by some of the people I hated most.

To the right of me was the same blonde woman that was morphed into the black-haired woman. I then noticed that the blonde woman was surrounded in a purple fog, instantly making me realize who it was. It was Hecate, goddess of the mist and crossroads, as well as my mother.

I also saw Mrs. Denvers, the old hag who refused to feed me four years ago and kicked me out of her house. Along with her, there was a group of three guys that had bullied me and Marianne at a park two years ago. But the last person I saw was...Marianne. The same Marianne with the large potbelly and messy black bun.

And yet, instead of feeling some sort of grief or sadness, I felt angry. No, I wanted revenge. They all deserved to be punished. They deserved to suffer for what they did to me.

I pulled out my two knives and snarled at them. I ran at them in a rage as they began yelling insults at me.

"You don't deserve to be my daughter!" Hecate sneered.

"Get out of here, you homeless brat! You don't deserve my food!" Mrs. Denvers shouted, wagging her finger aggressively.

The group of guys laughed at me. "Ha ha! You're so pathetic, you loser! Get out of my park!" one of them yelled.

But worst of all, Marianne scowled at me. "Brat, I wish you weren't my sister, it's your fault I died!"

If I was angry before, I was definitely raging now. I began slashing at them, cursing them and screaming until there was nothing to slash at anymore. They had all dissolved to dust. I crumpled to the floor and began crying. What had I just done?

I then looked up. The veil of darkness was now gone, and instead, I saw my friends, but it wasn't exactly them. They were mixed with the people I had just slashed to dust. Alexander, Kai, and Arthur looked like the group of boys that had bullied me and Marianne. Geneva looked like Mrs. Beavers, and Amethyst looked like my sister.

They were all fighting each other, and my guilt and sadness switched back to rage. I wanted to fight them again, even though just moments earlier, I felt guilty for slashing my most hated enemies to dust. I pounced at Geneva/Mrs. Beavers as we rolled together in a tussle, trying to hit each other. In front of us, I heard Hecate cackle, enjoying our rage and fighting.

As I continued fighting Geneva, out of our tussle and fighting each other with our daggers, a burst of light came down upon us and blinded us. However, in the literal blink of an eye, I could see normal again. My friends turned back into their fully normal selves and Hecate turned back into the black, curly-haired woman.

Dropping from the roof of the grocery store was a woman with long, shoulder-length brunette hair with intelligent, emerald-green eyes and tan skin. She was wearing a black pantsuit with a white shirt and black heels. She was also wearing white glasses, making her look like some sort of businesswoman.

"Nemesis," the business woman snarled. "Get away from these demigods!"

"Mom," Arthur said. "What are you doing here?"

"Getting this hag of a goddess away from my city," his mom responded.

Nemesis laughed, clearly amused by Arthur's mom. "Good luck with that. I'll take all of you on!"

Nemesis instantly targeted the woman, lunging at her with ferocious speed. Arthur and his mother countered, blasting Nemesis with light beams. Meanwhile, Kai and Amethyst shot arrows at her, and Alexander threw debris from the roof. I also shot multiple spells at her, but the force of all our projectiles didn't do a single thing to Nemesis, who juked and slashed through them.

Kai then ran towards Nemesis, trying to take her on with his sword, but after a single slash to her torso, he was disarmed and Nemesis kicked him in the stomach. I tried putting a time spell on her to slow her down, but she easily sped past it and continued her onslaught, blasting a ray of darkness at Alexander and knocking him down.

Arthur and his mom shot another set of light beams, but they were instantly overpowered by Nemesis's darkness rays and were hit back into a broken aisle in the back of the grocery store. Amethyst had her arrows blocked and was blasted backward, leaving only me to take on Nemesis.

As she was dashing towards me, bullets and projectiles rained down on Nemesis, showering her with debris and dust. Flying above the roof was a large jet, with a sleek black color and intricate designs. There were large attack cannons and missile launchers on the sides of the jet. In the front was a glass cockpit, Oman driving the jet and pressing on buttons.

"FOR TEXAS, YOU OL' RASCAL! YEE-HAW!" Oman yelled, raining even more bullets down on Nemesis. Nemesis was gradually being pushed back by the projectiles, not being able to dodge the attacks.

Oman then shot down a flash grenade at the Nemesis, blinding her in light. He dropped down a ladder next to us and Nemesis roared with anger. "Get in quick! She won't be down long!"

I hastily climbed up, everyone climbing up behind me as Nemesis's vision started returning. We zoomed away as Nemesis screamed, "THERE WILL BE JUSTICE!"

Arthur's mom ran to the front of the jet. "Oman?" she asked with surprise.

Oman's face lit up. "Cynthia!" he exclaimed. "It's been so long!"

The two embraced each other.

"Mom, who is he?" Arthur asked.

"This is Oman," Cynthia answered. "He was my old protector when I went to Camp Half-Blood."

"Hold up," Kai asked. "You're a demigod?"

"Indeed I am. I'm a child of Iris, goddess of the rainbow," Cynthia responded.

Arthur looked at his mom. "Listen, mom. When these four people came to my office, I initially attacked them out of suspicion. At one point, I absorbed the electricity from a nearby test tube and was filled with power. What happened?"

Cynthia looked at Arthur. "The powers of Iris work in many ways. You absorbed the energy from the tube and were given a burst of strength."

Arthur nodded slowly. "I see. Now where are we heading?"

Amethyst walked up to Oman, handing him the compass Chiron gave her. "Well, we should first drop off Cynthia. She needs to stay at LionsWorth Enterprises."

"All right then, LionsWorth Enterprises we go!" Oman shouted.