The Zodiac Cycle

3.6 Hecate

"Alright, time to head out." Mark yelled out to us. "I hope you're all ready."

"Finally, we've been ready all day." Ash complained, hoisting a backpack over his shoulder. "Why are we leaving so late?"

"Castle patrols are less alert in the afternoons, we have a better chance of sneaking into Naveah at night." Mark explained, crossing his arms as he watched the group gathering their stuff.

"I'm a-oh-kay with traveling at night." Elizabeth put a thumb up toward Mark.

Once everyone got all their bags on, Mark led them out of the compound and through some underground tunnels that they hadn't been in before. The tunnels were a bit musty and small, so Elizabeth's antlers nearly scraped against the top. George's ponytail definitely touched it a few times.

George was annoyed by the small amount of space. Clementine walked beside him, matching her pace to his carefully. She seemed a bit spaced out to George, like her head was in the clouds.

"Something wrong?" He asked her, putting his hand on her shoulder. She blinked, then looked up at him.

"Do ya think all of this is legit?" She asked. "I feel like there's somethin we ain't bein told, but I also know that I'm superstitious most of the time." .

"Sometimes it's okay to be superstitious. There's something missing, sure, but I also don't think they are lying about anything they've said," George replied, trying to comfort her as best as he could. "At least, not yet."

she huffed, not convinced, looking away from George.

George wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "Look, if they double-cross us, we can just beat the hell out of them and go home. does that sound like a plan?"

clementine chuckled, looking up at him again. "yeah, tha'll work for now."

"on another note, this will be the first time all twelve signs will be together in two years." he put a finger up on the hand that wasn't around Clementine. "It'll be weird to have the signs glow again."

She nodded, but didn't say anything.

He knew something was still bugging her, so he spoke again. "Something else wrong?"

She bit her lip before answering. "Its been two years, George, and we've never really talked about what happened."

"Yeah, I didn't really know what could be said." He shrugged.

"Why did ya go with Ash?" She asked.

George hissed. "I- uh-" then he sighed, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand. "In all honesty, I was just lazy. I didn't see us winning, so I didn't want to put in the effort to lose." He glanced at her for her reaction. Her shoulders slumped a bit at his reply. "

"If ya could go back, would ya change yer choice?" Clementine wrapped her hand around George's from the arm he had around her.

"If it would save Iris, yes." George glanced behind them, to where Brianna walked behind the rest of the group, her arms crossed. "But I'm not sure if what happened to her was avoidable or not."

"Alright Guys, from here on out we need to be quiet." Mark told the group from where he was leading the front. "We do not want to be caught."

The group was in front of the end of the tunnel. It led up to the outside into a forest draped in shadows as the sun had finished setting for the night.

"Dark spooky woods at night?" Clementine glared at Mark. "Let's not."

Elizabeth chuckled as she walked up to beside George and Clementine. "What, you scared of the dark?"