ʏօʊռɢ ɮʟօօɖ ♆ 𝗣. 𝗝𝗔𝗖𝗞𝗦𝗢𝗡

♆ 𝗜𝗩. 𝗗𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗠𝗦, 𝗗𝗢𝗚𝗦, 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗗𝗘𝗔𝗧𝗛

╝♅╚

***

WE WERE MISERABLE that night. We camped out in the woods, a hundred yards from the main road, in a marshy clearing that local kids had obviously been using for parties. The ground was littered with flattened soda cans and fast-food wrappers.

We'd taken some food and blankets from Aunty Em's, but we didn't try to light a fire to dry our damp clothes. The day we had was filled with monsters and provided enough excitement for one day. We didn't want to attract anything else.

We decided to sleep in shifts, and Percy volunteered to take the first watch. Annabeth curled up on the blankets and was snoring as soon as her head hit the ground. Grover fluttered with his flying shoes to the lowest bough of a tree, put his back to the trunk, and stared at the night sky.

I laid down on one of the ratty blankets and pulled the flannel I had brought over myself tightly, trying to stay warm despite how damp my clothes were. I was the only one who still had their bag, so I used it as a makeshift pillow. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, but found that sleep wasn't coming all that easily. My mind replayed the strange day that  I had, and nothing made any sense. Then again, my entire life hasn't made any sense.

I wasn't used to sleeping on the ground. I've slept on uncomfortable couches and motel beds. Hell, I've had to share the backseat of the Impala with Sam or Dean, and trust me, it's not the most comfortable when you find that your brothers drooled on top of your head or soaked your shirt. 

My mind eventually wandered, and sleep finally tugged at my eyelids until they drooped shut.

***

When I woke up, I looked off to the side to see if it was my turn to be on watch but found that Percy was no longer across from me. I sat up immediately to see that I was no longer in the forest but on an empty cobbled road. There was foliage and some trees surrounding me, but it was sparse.

The road was forked. Either path appeared to lead to nowhere, but the stones on either side were of different colors. The one on the left was paved with gold, while the one on the right was paved with dark gunmetal, almost black color stone. The gold-paved path looked like it was glittering, but I could hear dark whispers coming from it, enticing me to follow the path. While the other path seemed normal, I could feel the weariness and weight of the path. 

Where the paths started to diverge, there was a metal pole holding 3 torches, with a statue of a polecat and a breed of dog that I wasn't familiar with. Still, it vaguely looked like a labrador, and the statues were on either side of the pole. The flickering flames of the torches illuminated the area around me.

"You'll have to choose." A low but feminine voice said behind me.

I quickly whipped around to find no one there. I clenched my fists and turned back to face the torches to find a woman standing in front of the diverging path. I took a sharp inhale of air as I studied the woman. She was beautiful. Black curls framed her face and flowed down her back. She was wearing a dark red turtle neck, black skinny jeans, black heeled boots, and a black leather biker jacket. Her hands were littered with chunky silver rings. Her eyes were familiar, but they seemed to shift colors like a kaleidoscope constantly.

But what caught my attention was the ornate silver circlet on her head, a crescent moon settled on the middle of her forehead. I swallowed thickly as I finally recognized the woman standing in front of me.

Hecate was standing in front of me. I didn't know what to call her, though. She was the woman who gave birth to me, but it didn't feel right to call her my mother.