Hunter: Fate & Fury

Chapter 3

I half-listened to the conversation in front of me; Artemis didn't believe their former saviour was in fact Hecate, and Kara didn't understand how she didn't know that. Right now I don't think Kara understood much about anything as memories of the past were being sorted through and with that came a whole lot of pain. Her voice was strained and she sighed a hundred times more than necessary. I worried what this would do to her once we made it back to the real world and what it might do to us. I'd chosen Hecate over her, and for what - more riddles?

"You're quiet," Apollo said softly beside me.

"Nothing to say."

"I find that hard to believe."

"I wish things had gone better for Kara," I admit. "And I'm also just waiting to see if anyone else realises we're walking in circles"

"What? We're not walking in circles." He frowns.

"Yeah, we are," I pointed to the tree with the broken branches, one of which we had to go around as it nearly covered the path. "Broken branch, big rocks on the footpath around the bend, creepy spider looking trees on the little cliff, right before the smell of the ocean hits."

He looks at each thing as we go by it and stops as we hit the broken branch again. "Shit. How didn't I notice?"

"Because you're too busy eavesdropping on their convo." I give up and take a seat on a fallen tree just off the path. Apollo hesitates, the pair not even noticing as he takes the spot beside me. I don't even want to stop them, needing a break from their stress. "Don't worry, they'll be back soon enough."

We sat there for a moment, enjoying the quiet until he had started talking again.

"Apart from your fall, anything else happen?"

"No, Hecate was her usual self which wasn't what Kara was hoping for. We split up because I went back to Hecate rather than listen to her, so she's going to be annoyed at me about that."

"Did you get what you wanted?"

"I don't know. I did get confirmation that there was once a fourth," I hesitated, deciding not to reveal who the fourth had been, or was. Without thinking about it, I ran my hand across my stomach.  "And she can still see a happy ending for me, which is better than a horrible death."

"That's something then, but you're not sounding like that is a good thing?"

"I just need to process it I guess. Her riddles leave me feeling even more confused and all I can think about is how much Hecate has sacrificed and what I might have to as well. I don't want to end up like her. She thinks the cost is worth it for the cause, only I'm not sure it is. Does that make me selfish?"

"No." Apollo answered quickly. "Not at all. She has made her choices, and you will make yours."

"Did you know she is Eileithya?" I ask him.

"Only as of now, I could hear you and Artemis talking, but couldn't see you and clearly you two couldn't hear me either as I'd been yelling your names." He shrugged. "Makes more sense than I think Artemis realises. It also means she's been here since the beginning of, well, everything. I wonder how involved she really has been, while all this time, everyone just thought she was hiding out in the Underworld. It explains why the Fates hate, or at least, fear her."

Especially if she was the fourth.

"What was she like to you?" I wonder, and he takes a moment to answer.

Apollo frowns. "A teacher? She treated us firm, but fair, knowing what our powers would be and helping us prepare for them when they fully developed. She warned us of our strengths, our weaknesses. Eilethya was the mentor our Father wished he could be, and everything our Mother never was. She showed us kindness most children of our kind never get to know."