Waves slid back and forth on the heated shore, conversing with the stones and the sand as a young, dark-haired woman made her way to the end of a rickety old dock.

    A woven basket in hand, she bent down at the end of the dock and slid her feet into the water. She wiggled them for a moment, smiling at the small fish that had begun to congregate around her feet, along with the faint fizz of sea foam between her toes.

    "What cute little creatures," she whispered, pulling her waist-length curls back with a ribbon and raising her feet back up on the dry wood.

    Opening her basket, she rummaged around for a few seconds, shoving aside a crusty slice of bread, a bunch of cloves and a rather dirty eye ball before pulling out a palm-sized bottle filled with a silver sparkling liquid.

    She chuckled, covering the eye with a scrap of cloth. "Better be careful with that one."

    Pouring the liquid into her palm, she squirmed as she spread it into the soles of her feet. She needed to be quick if she wanted to reach the Graeae, but surely meeting with their sister would take longer than usual this time, since they were going in blindly.

    "Thank you very much for that, Perseus," the young woman outright laughed this time, touching her foot to the water and her smile growing wider as she placed all her body weight onto the surface, not sinking any lower than the bottom of her foot.

   Gathering her basket and double checking she had everything she needed, she stepped completely onto the water, raising and tightening the hood of her cloak as she began to walk.

   "Someone help me please!" A hoarse cry reached across the sea, echoing in the woman's ears. "Please! Make it stop!"

    The young woman ground her teeth together, raising her eyes to the groups of sea foam that had begun to grow thicker and more frequent, but the screaming continued.

    "I can't do this! Please! Make the pain stop!"

    She shook her head, nails digging into the handle of the basket as she broke into a sprint, sea salt spraying and coating the bottom of her skirt.

     "Not this time, Ilithyia, you can't," she growled, her legs slowing slightly as her spirit fought to drag her back to the shore. The screams and howls grew, while other voices chirped behind it, offering comforting, but meaningless words to the individual in agony.

    Mist swirled around the top of the ocean now, mixing and melting with the water as other voices drifted to Ilithyia on the breeze, overpowering the grievous cries that now faded into the clouds. She ran into the mists, encompassed by darkness and praying that the gods would look down on her with mercy, while a thin white band that lay on top of her head illuminated itself.

    Her chest contracted, her very essence twisting in retribution. Cupping a hand to her mouth, Ilithyia vomited, wretching as ichor and bile splattered over her coppery skin. She wiped it against her cloak, gagging at the smell and mess she'd made, when suddenly a hand shout out of the shadows. Claws, darker than the soul of Hades' himself, dug into Ilithyia, yanking her off her feet and into the waiting mist.

    Shaking, she bit into her lip, liquid iron swimming across her tongue. She needed to stay silent, to breathe, to take back control of herself, unless she felt like losing her eyes as well.

    The clawed being dragged her further out to  sea, but by this point, Ilithyia could make out the weathered hunch and silver flash of the figure's hair, tied atop its head with a vocal chord of Larunda, a young nymph who couldn't keep her mouth shut in regards to the secrets of the gods.

    With bile rising again, Ilithyia raised her chin, a smirk beginning as she lifted her basket. "Hello Enyo, it's a pleasure to see you, or rather not see you again."

   There was no response, until Ilithyia felt her body fall forward, plunging her into the ocean and the lack of oxygen beneath.

    A hand forced her mouth open, flooding it with water while she gasped and quaked, until something thick and slimey slid down her throat and stopped just past the break of her own vocal chords.

    "Breathe, you pathetic goddess, or Thanatos will have an interesting time fetching your body from this part of the sea."

    Inhaling sharply, Ilithyia's eyes popped open and she clamped her hands around her throat in horror.

    "There is a siliphon in your throat. It will convert water to oxygen for now, but will run out in two hours time. It should take less than that to do what Scylla has asked of us."

    Ilithyia kicked back at the figure, aiming for its head as she pulled on her arm, but it was no use. A deep cavern settled itself before her at the bottom of the sea, far from the eyes of any prying humans.

    "I wouldn't take the Graeae as cowards, to drag their victims to the bottom of the sea only to the throw them to the hands of their older sister."

    The clawed hand settled around her throat, placing her in the entrance of the cave, and in just enough light for the empty sockets of her captor's eyes to stare into her own iris-filled ones.

    "Do not speak of what you don't know, unless you'd wish me to pluck one of your eyes to keep as my own." A scoff rose from the cavern of rotting flesh that composed the hag's mouth. "It would make my sisters quite jealous, so perhaps I should."

    "Then how would you respond to me giving them your eye?" Ilithyia whispered.

     The hag smiled, seaweed glazing her teeth. "You shall see."

    Cackles rose from the shadows as two figures detached themselves from the walls, silvery strands of hair falling to the floor, unpinned like that of their sister's, while both held tightly to each other's hands.

    "She's waiting for you," one whispered, tugging on her robe and grinning as she poked a large, razor sharp tooth into the saggy skin of her cheek.

   "She is, she is, she is," the other giggled, racing up to the pair and grabbing Ilithyia herself. "Tell me, goddess, have you ever met the faces of Fate? Have you seen them cut the strand of one of their unfavored gods, or the tangled life of a human growing too powerful for even the gods to control? Like... poor Larunda?"

    Ilithyia frowned, the string on her head glowing brighter as the three dragged her down a rocky hall, to the sharp precipice lined with skulls.

    "I'm surprised you would speak of that traitor, when you were one of the closest to work with her, Deino, or should I remind you of the punishment His Highness so graciously kept from you? Your sister bears the evidence of your co-conspirator's foolishness. No one, mortal or god, can discover the true secret of the gods." Ilithyia threw herself away from them, collapsing to the ground as her basket fell open.

    "My sisters and I agree on this, goddess, that is true. " Enyo said, "No mortal or god could steal the true secret of the gods," The sockets of her eyes lit up, her teeth shining as she glanced in the direction of Ilithyia, "but who is to say there is nothing more in this world other than mortals and gods? Who are you to be here and act like Hera herself when you are nothing more than a measly goddess of fertility, finding protection in the strand of a weakened rope?"

    Ilithyia grimaced at the tightness in her head as her fingers brushed over the burning strand. "You are foolish if you think I'd step into these waters with no form of protection. And if not protection, then at least a form of bargaining, and that is exactly what I've come to do, against my own wishes, but the wishes of those that I serve."

    "Look at that would you, Pemphredo," Deino said to their third sister, taking the tooth she held in her hand and tracing it over Ilithyia's cheekbone, "she's lowered herself to that of a lackey now! What a shame. Scylla would have loved to consume the bones of a goddess with some integrity left. But as it were, this one has already caused more trouble than she's worth."

    Raising her hand, Ilithyia scraped her nails over the gelatinous tissue that lay wrapped in tattered cloth. "If Scylla wishes to eat me, you'd all better keep a close eye on the only one that allows you the power of sight in these miserable waters."

   "Eye?" Pemphredo shrieked, falling to her knees and patting the rocky ground. "What eye? Whose eye? Our eye? Eye!" She held up a small rock triumphantly as she shoved it into her eye socket, crying out in frustration and pain when it refused to slide in. "Trickster! What a cruel, cruel goddess!"

    Standing to her feet, Ilithyia pushed past the three and held her trembling hand over the trench. "Yes, the very eye of yours that Perseus stole over two centuries ago. How upset you must have been, not being able to see the light of day or even your own hands in front of your vile faces."

    "When you live for so long in the darkness, goddess, " Deino murmured, "you become used to the cold arms that hold you close and refuse to let you go. You discover the alliances you should keep, and the ones you should abandon. Can you say the same?"

    Ilithyia shrugged. "All I can say is I'm here for a bargain," She stepped back, rocks crumbling as her heels hung over the trench, "but it isn't with any of you three."

    Enyo's mouth pulled downward, her skin crunching as she said, "Then who is it you mean to bargain with?"

    A flash of a smile was all she'd receive in answer as Ilithyia held the scrap close to her chest and leaned back, falling over the edge and into the chasm.

    "Who is it you mean to bargain with!"

    No response, only the quick swish of Ilthyia's body as she swam, deeper and deeper into the depths, her chest compressing with each kick, the cool water tickling her nose and all light disappearing from her eyes, save for the single strand around her head.

    "Goddess!" Pemphredo screamed.

    "My sisters..." a soft voice said, surrounding Ilithyia and nearly swallowing her whole with its power, "what troubles you so?"

    Deino grumbled, "You said you wished for us to bring the goddess to you, and we have done so, now what?"

    A mighty wind blew Ilithyia against the side of the trench, drawing a groan from her as a rib cracked against the stone. She raised her hand to her face as two large yellow eyes peered out from the darkness. "I did ask you to bring the goddess to me, sisters, that is true, but it is up to her as to what we do with her."

    "What do you mean?" Enyo shouted down.

    Another sigh. "Daughter of Gaia, what could you bargain with great worth, other than your soul, to a creature such as myself?"

    Ilithyia held out the cloth while ripping the strand of light from her head. "The Fates offer a soul, a soul you greatly value, in exchange for your aid."

    The yellow irises widened, before three more pairs of the same eyes awoke, slithering towards the goddess. "Whose soul?"

    "The soul of Circe, the one who cursed you. In doing so, your curse will end, and another soul will be restored."

    A scaled green hand reached out of the darkness, plucking the eye and strand from Ilithyia as numerous voices whispered in tandem.

    "What is it that you need?"

~*~*~*~*~*~