Katoptris

Book 1 ~ Part 4

The boys followed Megan down one street, up another. She'd turn left, right, backtrack, get lost, find the path again, and the boys still didn't know where they were going after hours of walking.

At one point, Megan turned down one street and saw a little white house that jogged a few early memories from her mind. She immediately walked back the way she had come, stopping at a signal. Megan was mumbling incoherently as they waited to cross the street. "The other side."

Leo was starting to lose his patience. "The other side of what?"

Megan turned towards the boys. Nico's hands were crossed over his chest. "Meg, do you even know where we are going?"

"It must be on the other side of the freeway. Mrs. Love never liked us over there. She said it's where the dirty hippie scum liked to congregate and we wouldn't affiliate with them."

The boys glanced at each other before crossing the road. "Isn't Mrs. Love your mother?"

Megan gasped. "Of course not! She is Courtney's mother." Megan could just remember the woman. She never wanted Megan, and always blamed their problems on her.

Megan was glad to be rid of her.

The blonde glanced in every possible direction. "We're looking for the house with the tall fence. That's the right path into the woods. From there, we find Juno."

"And we are going to face who knows what without a plan?"

"Don't over think this, Nico. I had no plan last time."

"Why don't you just search for Hera with your navigational powers or whatever?"

She sighed, knowing it couldn't be any easier for the boys then it was for her. "Juno is blocked from my sight. I know where she is. It's where every Roman starts their journey, in the states. I was..." Megan struggled to remember for a moment. "-nine when I found it. I was scared and thought I had lost the only home I'd ever known. And then I saw two children sitting on this wall. And I know they were leading me to my destiny."

Finding the fence wasn't that hard after reaching the correct side of the road, and now they stood, staring down a dark path. Megan glanced back at the boys. "Not much farther now."

She started to jog down the road, which changed from cement to dirt within a few yards. Megan could barely remember the scared girl who once traveled down this world thinking she had lost everything, and realizing that she never had anything before starting her journey.

After a few minutes, every step felt like thirty, as though the earth was trying to absorb her. She could hear the boys panting behind her. The wind was pushing her back, and when she felt a hand on her shoulder and her feet stuck to the ground.

That hardly ever happened. Megan usually floated.

She turned to find Nico holding onto both her and Leo, struggling to keep them from sinking.

Quicksand wasn't native to the Pacific Northwest, which could only mean..

Megan's eyes widened. "It's her. The earth mother." That was the mistress mentioned by Helen and the empanosai. Time and time again the great mother had promised to overthrow the gods, and, so far, she had always be beaten.

The pale boy nodded. "Yes, Mother Earth stirs in her sleep."

--

It took far longer than planned to reach the playground, and from there, was another hike to where Juno was kept.

Juno was trapped inside an old, burned out tree. Megan broke away from the boys and half ran, half flew to the goddess. She placed a hand on the lady's shoulder. "My queen, we've come to free you."