Moonless

Chapter 62

AN; Holy cow guys 9120 reads!? You guys are just amazing. And we are soooo close to 10,000 reads! Wow! -Sam
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I stood there for a second, while Hecate's words rang true in my ears. And I knew at the moment what I had to do and  I made the impossible decision.

Without hesitation, I took a running start and dove head first   into the pool. The coldness of the water hit me like a rock wall and I gasped, and inhaled a mouthful of water. I emerged sputtering and coughing.

The sound of laughter greeted my ears the and I locked eyes with Hecate who was now bent over, and peering down at me. I noticed she was no longer naked but wearing a dark purple silk tunic with black embroideries running in a criss-cross pattern over her breasts.

"In all my years, I have never seen anyone come into the pool of Mnemosyne quite like that," she said between giggles.

"You told me that if I didn't bathe in it that me and my mate and my brother would die. So I got in as quick as I could."

"No I told you that if you did except the power I could grant you that they would."

She held out her hand for me which I hesitantly excepted. The sunlight streaming through the canopy created dapples of light on her skin.

"Come now, since you have bathed in Mnemosyne's waters you can now take advantage of its properties. You just need to stand on this rock and look down at its surface, your lost memories should appear on its surface. Mnemosyne is Lethe's, the river of forgetfulness, lesser known sister. It brings back memories to the surface, while Lethe banishes them away.

I took her hand and she pulled me up, despite her size she was surprisingly strong. I cried in surprise at the sensation of something clinging to my body. I lost my footing on the smooth slippery surface of the rock and feel back into the water, while I frantically batted at the thing that now gripped my body only to see that the thing clinging to me was only a silk tunic like  the one Hecate's  wore. The only difference between mine and hers was mine was white.

"I clothed us as soon as you entered the water," Hecate explained, while she helped me up on the rock for a second time. "When you come into a place of power such as this,
you must come humbled, naked. Afterwards, there is no problem clothing ourselves in the garments of our choosing."

I looked down at the pool of water. It's surface had grown oddly still, despite the waterfall behind us that continued to tumble into its waters.

"You need to remember what happened before I came to your aid. Because if we know how you escaped him, we may uncover how to beat him."

"So you are the one that saved me from Him?" I asked, "And then erased my memory?"

"I did not save you. I heard you calling for me from within that dark place. And when I came for you, you were already out and standing before me. You were so scared that you couldn't even communicate to me what had happened to you, only that you wanted to be taken to your mom. But your mother was dead, so I took you to your brother instead."

"But why take my memory if it was so important?"

Hectate reached out to me and place a hand on my shoulder. "What you experienced in that dark place would have been too much for a child. It was twisted many pure hearts, and would have twisted yours too, so sealed away those memories before they broke you. And I made you forget the rest, so you could be hidden away until the time was right. Unfortunately, that time came sooner than I hoped .

The water in the pool began to darken until it became an inky black.

Hecate learned closer to the pool. That long strands of her hair fell into the water

"In all my years..." she muttered. "Those memories,  no wonder that place has twisted the hearts of so many children."

"What do you mean? I can't see anything?" I said while I continued to look into the inky blackness."

"That's because your mind does not want to retain these memories, it wants to forget.l

Hecate cupped her hands to form a bowel and filled them with the dark liquid. Here drink. "If your mind does not want to remember, then you must relive it."

I looked down at the water the back at her.

"Do I have to?"

"Yes."

I inhaled deeply and let her bring the dark liquid to my lips and I swallowed it.