CHAPTER LXXIX:And The River

Hecate was beautiful, olive complexion with dark hair and gorgeous, golden flecked, hazel eyes. Hecate wore a black dress that was excessively fitting, with golden bars on her legs and arms. Mini Persephone on the other hand was, blurry, for the lack of a better word, with a white dress and a flower crown. I blinked and Mini Persephone was next to me, her hair was blue and her eyes were a dull grey.

"Hello, Mini Goddess." I said.

Mini Persephone stared at me for a second before speaking, "Hello, Mini Goddess."

I stared at her for a second, "Are you? Echo?"

"Echo." Mini Persephone said.

I looked at her and saw that her little flower crown was made of Narcissuses. The sun yellow daffodils were intricately woven together to make Echo's crown. I noticed some Yarrow in the mix which matched her white dress.

"Don't mind Echo, Nemesis made me watch her for the day. She's beautiful, no? Right up your alley as well, unless your type is specific to grey eyed brunettes." Hecate said from the stage.

I turned to look at Hecate and saw Echo was next to her again. My face felt hot, and my heart skipped beats. I noticed that Hecate had set up some props on the stage. Mainly bushes, fake buildings, and trees.

"I do love theatre, Greek Tragedy is my favorite, but when my name was Trivia Roman combat took precedence. It was poor entertainment, but they knew how to kill a man. I once watched a man's skull get crushed by a lion, it was like watching a human crush a water bottle." Hecate said from next to me.

I turned to Hecate, two of her were sitting next to me with Echo in the middle. The Hecate on the left of Echo held a torch in her right hand, and Hecate's twin held a torch in her left hand. The Hecate on the right of Echo had a beautiful golden dress, with black bars of metal on her legs and arms. I was getting tired of Hecate and Echo constantly shifting positions, I was having trouble understanding how they were doing it. I assume that Hecate had overall say here, while Echo was just hard to keep track of.

"What am I doing here Lady Hecate?" I asked.

Both of the Hecates looked at me, "We're showing you the paths ahead before we help you, is that alright Mary?" They answered in unison.

I nodded and watched the stage where all the props were set up. The Hecates were already back on the stage. The Hecate with the black dress was holding up a tragedy mask to her face, while the Hecate with the gold dress was holding up a comedy mask to her face. The scene behind the Hecate with the comedy mask showed Khaos behind her, it was actually Echo in a red and black dress, in her true form. Next to Echo was a figure that looked like me, but my hair color was restored to the oak brown that I missed.

My ghost walked to Echo and knelt before her. Echo smiled uneasily and started phasing through the ghost like figure. The comedy masked Hecate was showing me giving up and surrendering to Khaos. My ghost began coughing up blood and the curtains closed.

The comedy masked Hecate stepped onto the stage with her arm out and announced, "As you can see if you give up now, all will be well! You and your friends will be spared!" The curtains opened to show a cardboard Olympus with ghosts of Penny, Seth, Olivia, Mino, and me in a few thrones on Olympus. "You will be gods in a new era, if you don't mind the majority of your loved ones dying."

The curtains closed once more and the Hecate with the tragedy mask stepped onto the stage. The scene behind her showed cardboard pillars with ghosts of my friends dead or injured. I was the only alive on stage.

"You could resist darling, but it'll cost you so much. Are you sure you want to go through with it?" The tragedy masked Hecate asked.

I looked at her as the curtains drew to a close. "I don't know Hecate." I answered.

"Don't know." Echo mimicked from next to me.

I jumped in my seat. Echo was really fucking hard to keep track of. I stared at Echo as the Hecate in the black dress walked up the stage taking her mask off. Hecate went up to Echo and whispered something in her ear. I didn't catch it, but Echo stared at me.

"Sorry," Echo said in a monotone voice.

"It's okay Echo, you're forgiven." I responded in a soft voice.

Echo turned to Hecate, "Echo; Forgiven."

Hecate smiled and sat back down with us, Hecate moved her hand and ghosts of people started to put on a Hecate production of the kidnapping of Persephone. I watched the play as I considered my options. On the one hand, I would become a slave for Khaos but I'd be alive-ish. On the other hand, I started to question if this battle was a losing one. What would happen if I tried to fight, and I lost.

I sighed deeply and watched the play in front of us. Hecate was sitting next to me waiting for my answer. By the time I got my answer the play had gotten to the part where Demeter was talking to Helios.

"I'll continue my fight against Khaos, Hecate, Lady of Paths." I said.

"I knew you would, now let's get you trained." Hecate said through a smile.

Hecate clapped and the fake stage turned into a giant inferno. The whole stage, props and all, burned up and disappeared. Hecate helped me up and led me through a cave. The cave had an Amethyst purple glow with a bright blue river flowing through.

"Hecate, who betrayed us?" I asked.

Hecate seemed amused by the question, "Who hasn't betrayed YOU in recent days? Who, out of the people you trusted and loved, hasn't put their blade in your back, or to your throat. The dead cry and curse your name from Tartarus, while the living betrayers are waiting for the Ides of March."

Hecate wouldn't tell me, that was clear, but the way she spoke meant my betrayer was close to me. Especially since she chose to use the Ides of March metaphor. I really hoped my story would end better than Julius Caesar's story though. I really didn't want to end up as a chopped salad with red wine vinaigrette dressing on some senate stairs, especially since red didn't go well with white.

Hecate and me continued walking through the tunnel. The color of the purple gemstone died down as another bright light came through the tunnel. We reached the end to see a beautiful light blue pond with an equally beautiful goddess patiently waiting for us by a campfire. The woman by the fire had golden blonde hair and fiery orange eyes, she wore an orange and red dress with gold splattered one like the edges of a fire. The woman in front of me was Hestia, the oldest and youngest child of Kronos, and The Fourteenth Olympian.