Zoey's POV
I wake up to a blinding light. I wince in pain and hear a soft sound, one that sounds like chuckling or something. I turn my head, but all I can see his white. Tears fill my aching eyes and my vision blurs, making it all the harder to see what's going on around me.
"Do you hear me, Zoey?"
I turn my head again, trying to figure out where that divine voice is coming from. Suddenly the light dims and my arms which were strapped down are released. I sit up and rub my head, feeling as though I'm about to lose whatever small amount of food I was given.
"Zoey, Daughter of Nyx. Can you hear my voice?"
It's a girl speaking. I don't know who, but she must know me somehow.
"Nyx told me you would be here. . . She was right, as always."
"Who are you?" I ask.
My vision clears and I am back in that awful, too-white room from before. I shudder and wrap my arms around myself, staring around the room. What's going to happen to me. . . ? Am I truly becoming insane like they keep saying?
"Why do you doubt yourself, Daughter of Nyx? You have been greatly Gifted by her, and as her child, you possess great powers," the voice says.
There are three bright flashes of light, one orange-brown, one silver, and one purple. Three beautiful women stand in front of the door, all varying in their appearances.
One steps forward. She wears clothes that make her look like a warrior or something, and she smiles sweetly at me, gorgeous amber eyes locked on me. The next one walks up, the woman who appeared in silver light. She wears a moon-white dress and her eyes are like the moon reflected on the ocean, and her long hair twinkles like Nyx's does, as though there are stars in her hair. The last woman steps up. She wears a long, purple and black dress. Her hair is pure dark and doesn't twinkle, and her eyes are limitless blackness.
"I am Artemis," says the warrior woman.
"I am Selene," says the woman in white.
"I am Hecate," says the last woman, smiling at me sweetly.
Artemis fists her hand over her heart and bows at the waist to me. "Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt. Merry meet, Zoey, Daughter of Nyx."
Selene mirrors Artemis's moves. "I am Selene, Goddess of the Moon, merry meet and blessed be, Nyx's Daughter, Zoey."
Hecate doesn't mirror their movements. She walks over to me and grabs my hand. She kisses it softly and I feel a hot, familiar sting that I felt when Nyx kissed my forehead. A purple symbol of a crescent moon and stars appears on the back of my hand where Hecate kissed me. "Merry meet and blessed be, my dear Zoey. I am Hecate - Goddess of Dark Magic and Darkness."
"Merry meet, Goddesses. I'm very honored to meet you," I say.
"The pleasure is all ours, Zoey. We are here to assist you in any way we can," Artemis says.
"Really? How?" I ask.
Artemis's body flashes bright and then suddenly, it's no longer Artemis standing there - it's Leigh!
"L-Leigh?" I stutter, utterly shocked.
"Yes, I am truly sorry for hiding myself from you, but I needed to be sure it was truly you and Chloe we had found."
"Leigh wasn't real?"
"I am Leigh, and she is me. But yes, she was real. We are, however, one and the same."
I sigh, feeling sick to my stomach again. Why do I feel like I just watched Leigh die?
"Who would we be, if not us? Why did you create a girl to be our friend who wasn't even real?" I ask.
"We will explain everything soon enough," Artemis says, back in her other form. "But now, we must get you out of here. Hades and Zeus are retrieving the other ones, the other demigods like you and Chloe, as well as Chloe herself. Come with us, please."
I sigh, defeated, and take Hecate's offered hand, not fully trusting Artemis or Selene. But hey, who can argue with Goddesses?
