Chapter Twenty-Six: Like Mother, Like Daughter

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Disclaimer: I don't own HOO or VE

Chapter Twenty-Six: Like Mother, Like Daughter

Manhattan, sometime in the past

Everything was going fine until it wasn't. 

Pearl successfully got them into Lilith's lair, and they were able to break out the captured demigod children. But when they were leading them out, Violet and Lincoln were brought in.

Pearl, Betsy, and Andi had gotten the children through the door and were leading them away. Ryan was waiting with a large van (which wasn't suspicious at all). Andi and Lily were about to climb through when suddenly Violet, Phoenix and Lincoln approached and exiles started swarming the place.

"Go!" Lily shouted. She launched herself at an exile, pulling out her dagger. But as soon as she had returned him, two more grabbed her arms and put them behind her back.

"Lily!" Violet said when she was shoved into the procession.

"Take her to the dungeons," Phoenix instructed the exiles. He looked at Lily curiously, and Roc tried to forget the fact that he looked so much like Roc. 

The exiles marched her down to the dungeons. She was shoved back into the cell she had just come from, the rest of the children gathering around her. "Are you here to rescue the rest of us?" Simon asked. He had a gash on his forehead.

"No," Lily said. "I'm sorry. But someone else is coming who will get all of you out of here."

Simon touched his forehead and winced. Lily wished she could help him; she could only take away power. But if her mother's bracelets were poison...

"Can I try something?" she asked Simon.

The boy nodded. She picked at the skin around her wrist, opened up a small wound. Placing the drop of dark black blood on his forehead, she watched in amazement as the wound healed.

"Look!" one of the children gasped.

Poking out of the once-closed window was now a thick vine. It moved in reaction to Lily's blood, as though drawn to it. 

"Gray's gift," Lily said softly. Moving her hand, she watched as the window slowly opened. 

Suddenly the door was opened again and Violet was thrown inside. "Are you ok?" she asked, glancing at Lily's stomach.

"I'm fine," Lily glanced at the window and Violet followed her gaze. But she also saw the problem; the window was at an angle that would require one to use a great amount of strength in order to climb out; strength a child didn't have.

"Go," Violet said. 

"But-" Lily started.

Violet shook her head. "I know you're not from here," she said. "I... remember things, things from the past that are changing. You're not from this time, are you?"

"No," Lily admitted.

Violet's face pinched. "Can you tell me... does this all work out?"

"Everything that's meant to happen, will happen," Lily said. She hugged her mom tight, and Violet put her arms up, confused. 

"You're not scared at all to have this baby?" Violet asked. "Even though you're Grigori?"

"My mother was a Grigori," Lily said. "I wish I had appreciated how strong she was and how much she loved me before I lost her."

Violet nodded, and Lily knew she understood. "Your father died?" she asked.

Lily winced. "It's complicated." Violet nodded again, and Lily let her come to her own conclusions.

"You'll make a good mom," Violet told her. 

"Thank you," Lily said, her voice cracking. She wanted to ask her mom for advice, to ask (even though she knew she wouldn't have the answer) what kind of powers her child might have. She wished she could ask Pearl how everything worked out, just as Violet now wanted to ask for the answers to all of her questions. But if she knew the answers... everything would change.

"Go," Violet said again.

Lily tried not to cry as she turned to the window, launching herself up and pulling herself through the narrow crack. Violet watched her go, her face guarded.

As soon as she was out she ran for the woods, not stopping until she reached the lot of a run-down Walgreens. She saw the van there and ran towards it, relieved to see that the kids had already been dropped off.

"Lily!" Andy said. "We were just about to come back, I swear. But we had to get the kids to safety-" 

"It's ok, I understand," Lily reassured her. 

"It's the weirdest thing," Ryan said. "When I got there, it was almost like Chiron was waiting for me. He had the immortie and everything," he held out his hand, revealing a glowing watch face. "Said it fell out of the sky."

"Maybe someone else time traveled earlier than us," Birdie signed.

"Well, we did use an immortie to go back in time," Pearl glance at Betty. "Maybe it just ended up at camp."

"Maybe," Adele sounded unconvinced.

"So how do we get it to work?" Ryan asked. "None of us are closely enough related to Kronos."

"Aren't you a demigod?" Andi glanced at Birdie. "Aren't you all somehow related? No offense," she added quickly.

"Kronos is my great-great grandfather," Ryan said. "And that's if you ignore the rumors that Hera had Hephestaus all by herself."

"So who is closely enough related?" Adele asked.

They sat in silence for a moment. "Chiron is his son," Pearl finally said. "He used it the first time. But when we were sent here we got a Grigori to amplify Betsy's powers."

"Let me try something," Lily said after a moment. She lifted her Grigori dagger, which had somehow returned to her on the walk back. She carefully sliced through the thin skin of her wrist, letting the dark blood flow onto the watch. It began to tick and glow, forming a vortex above them.

"Here we go," Bridget signed.

"Here we go," Ryan agreed.

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