I held my breath as Kara took a step forward, a look of disbelief on her face as Hecate smiled down at us in that all-knowing way she had. The second the shock left my friend, it was replaced with anger and I saw the tears on her cheeks as she looked up. Behind us I sensed the other women moving; standing and inching closer towards us which left me feeling caged in. The fact Cain and Apollo weren't here wasn't lost on me now and internally I slapped myself for not even trying to resist whatever spell had been put over us.

"You are all that I imagined and more, daughter." Hecate suddenly appeared in front of Kara, and the woman in front of us was so alike the one I'd seen back in the Underworld, but also completely different.

Here, she was very much alive and powerful.

The urge to stare at her, to simply be in her presence was just as strong as it had been the first time I met her, just magnified a hundred times more. Her brown eyes were still warm and kind, full of endless knowledge and able to see things I knew no one else ever could. Dark curly hair fanned out behind her and she stood taller and prouder than I'd ever seen. Here there were no plants to absorb her energy, feed off her touch, confined to a cabin that pulsed with each of her heart's beats. The whole realm did that instead. Hades had the Underworld, and here Hecate was Queen; this was her kingdom.

"Why did you leave me?" Kara managed to say, her voice shaking like her hand as it found mine.

"I had hoped by the time we found each other, you'd understand why I did all I have done. Now I see how foolish that was." Hecate put her arms around Kara, suddenly pulling me into the group hug before slowly letting us go. "I am sorry, daughter. I made a promise and so it was. Our pain in this journey was as necessary as her own. As his."

She gave me a pointed look.

"What are you talking about?" Kara frowned, yet I could feel the anger growing inside her. "Just once, can you stop with this martyr bullshit, the riddles and talk to me? After everything, don't you think I am owed an explanation?"

"And this is why I stayed away," Hecate said simply. "Even now, you are still unable to see it all. There is only anger where there should be understanding. You needed to be shown another way, another life. To stay at my side would have done you no favours. You needed to be more than the rest of them, and you are. I am so proud."

Kara didn't move. No words left her now as she just stared at her mother. I saw the hate in her eyes but could feel her pain and the sense of betrayal. Most of all, it was clear that for Kara, seeing Hecate now, it was easier for her to hide behind those feelings than accept and risk showing what she felt most deep inside. Whether she knew it or not, she wanted that approval, and recognition from Hecate nearly as much as she wanted her love.

How many times have I faced off against my own parents in the same way?

"As I am of you as well, Elise. Time is not your friend nor is it your ally. For all you have endured, look at you now." Pride radiated from her and I struggled to stay so close as it became overwhelming. "Look at you both. And here you stand, together."

This really wasn't like all the times before.

With her attention solely focused on us, it was overwhelming. I wasn't sure if I wanted to cry, lay down and hide, or run - back into her arms or as far away as possible. I'd wondered about the Underworld weakening her, and it had. Any restraints she'd previously had placed on her were gone, and the woman in front of me was the Hecate that so many feared and admired. Hera had once cut out the tongues of any who dared to say her name and standing here now, basking in her praise like adoring fangirls, I understood why.

Cain once told me Hecate wasn't like the other Powers.

I wonder if he knew how right he was.

Sensing those behind us creeping even closer, I turned to find Artemis gone and the one that stood where she had caught my attention. Her skin was copper, with lush lips and dark ring of makeup curving around her eyes. The dress she wore had a distinct egyptian flair, the heavy golden collar around her neck something others didn't have. As she smiled at me, I smelt the earthy dampness of the mud by the rivers edge, and felt the sand on the breeze, stinging my cheek as we walked across a barren land.

Is that Cleopatra?

"Elise?" Kara's voice snapped me out of my trance, and looking at her now I felt dazed.

"What, I - where are we?" I ask, not sure if I'd missed something, but needing to know that anyway.

Hecate held her hand out as a grey and brown owl flew down to her. "This is the crossroads. Where the sky, the earth and sea all meet and realms beyond the world of the living and dead blur into one."

There were so many things I wanted to say and ask, yet Kara beat me to it.

"And why did you bring us here?" Kara demanded, as Hecate put the bird to her ear, nodding along as if they were having their own conversation.

It flew away as quickly as it had come.

"I'm not sure what you mean, I did not bring you here." There was no missing the hint of amusement in her voice.

"You said to find you where the wild women run?" I motion around us, as if that alone proves our point.

"And you found me."

"So what next?" Kara questioned, soon distracted as three little rabbits hopped by our feet, a large black dog behind them.

Maybe I was wrong, Hecate and her animal friends seemed just as connected here as they had in the Underworld. She put her hand out at just the right time to run down the dog's back as it passed her, its tail wagging as the contact yet it didn't stop or stay with her for longer than that.

"Tea?" Hecate smirked.

"Tea?" She repeated, looking at me to see if I was believing what she was hearing as well.

"Where are Cain and Apollo?" I ask instead.

"Around." Hecate shrugged. "Safe. Perhaps this is what they need. Light can not exist without the dark or is it the other way around?"

Hecate moves by us, and cushions now fill the space around the fire. The women have gone, bar the odd couple gathered on the other side, and the same flickers of light disappear across the field, and back into the trees. I see Artemis, arm in arm with another, laughing and chatting excitedly like old friends, or perhaps something more as Artemis' hand ran up the other girl's back, following the curves of her lower body which felt like more than a friendly gesture, before the pair disappeared.

"These women, who are they?" I sat beside her, not as conflicted about this as Kara who stood behind us watching.

"The wild ones," Hecate passed me a cup, before moving a large cast iron pot into the flames. "This place is theirs, and perhaps one day you two will join them. I feel it in your hearts, it's branded on your soul. Your magic knows the way home."

"So is this more like a heaven situation or something else?" The thought makes me shiver, yet I don't think I'm too disappointed either way.

She chuckled softly to herself, scooping up a very brave and curious rabbit that stopped between us. Hecate ran a finger down its back making its ears drop flat as its adorable little nose didn't stop twitching.

"Here and now is all there is, as it only was in the beginning before the worlds divided and the realms parted. Gaia showed me the way, a long, long time ago." Hecate stared into the fire, and just when I thought she wasn't going to say anything more, she came back, yet didn't look at us. "They all have a story to tell, scars that never healed and hearts that while cracked are not broken."

I thought about this, as Kara finally joined us, sitting beside me which I think was mostly so she could glare at her mother easier than if she was next to her.

"They are survivors, the ones who couldn't be tamed and controlled." I thought about Medusa instantly, and wondered if she'd ever find peace here.

"Yes. Although, not all did survive. They still found their way here." Her hand covered mine as she set the rabbit down. "You understand."

I think I did?

"Was that Cleopatra?" I whispered, feeling rude for asking yet I didn't see her anywhere now.

"She is but one of many, who has more to say than her reputation allows. They all do."

"Elise," Kara warned.

"What?"

"We didn't come to discuss Cleopatra."

"I'm not sure why we came at all now, so why not?" I hated that she was right, and turned back to Hecate. "Can you help us with the Furies, please?"

She looked thoughtful for a moment. "We always knew they'd come back. With Cronus unable to kill them, lest he kills himself, it has simply been a matter of when."

"So is that a yes?" I glance at Kara, who looks as confused now as I felt.

"What do you think I can do?"

"We are not stupid, and clearly you led us here for a reason whether you are going to admit it or not." Kara snapped. "I am tired of our lives feeling as though they are nothing more than a game played by bored gods. You are here, with these lost souls and damaged women, yet where were you when I needed you? Your own blood, abandoned time and time again, and for what reason? Because it will be? What the fuck does it even mean and who are you to even decide that?"

If Hecate was upset by Kara's outburst it didn't show. She simply passed over two teacups, just as dainty and fragile as the ones she'd left in the Underworld. Reaching into the flames, a very similar teapot was in her hands.

"None of this is my decision to make, Kara. No one wields that kind of power," She fussed with the teapot and as she motioned to the cups, we obediently held them out to her. "But if you only look where you think you should, listen at the wrong time and fail to ask the right questions, you may be fooled into thinking some do. What is magic if not an illusion? Drink your tea."

"Are you talking about the Fates?" Kara asked, while I blew softly on the hot water before taking a sip.

"And why would you think that?" Hecate challenged, while I felt like I was stuck in the middle of another family feud.

"This is what I'm talking about. Just say, yes or no." Kara huffed, now glaring at the tea before sipping it cautiously. "You're right about time not being on our side, on Elise's side. If you're on ours, please, just tell us what we need to know."

"What do you think?" I realised Hecate was looking at me and looked between her and Kara for some kind of clue what the right answer might be. "You, Elise. Not her."

"The Fates want us to think they are all knowing and all powerful, but they're not. They know enough to fool us into thinking that, but not anymore. It's why Nieve brought back the Furies to punish me," I decided. "It was a desperate move, from a desperate person."

"What is it you want from me? It seems to me as if you have it all in hand." As I finished my tea, Hecate held out a small, flat rock and without thinking I put my teacup upside down on it. "Though I must admit, even I did not sense their return nor expect it to be so soon. The Furies are a little problematic."

Kara rolled her eyes. "A little? From what we know, even Cronus could not stop them, and he had an army larger than ours."

Hecate smirked, lifting my cup as she inspected the inside curiously.

"No, they were very stoppable. He just couldn't kill them."

"Neither could we." She frowned, glancing my way.

"We hurt them." I shrug.

My cup was thrown into the flames and she held out the rock for Kara who sat hers down as I had. I wondered if she even knew what she was doing.

"Teamwork is a powerful thing." Hecate mumbled. "When you have a team. Nothing burns as bright as one, rather than many."

As she tossed Kara's cup into the fire, sparks flew, spreading across the meadow in various spots. Kara scrambled to her feet as the fire in front of us dimmed slightly, the roar of flames and wind easing yet the spot fires were what now had her attention. Each began to grow and spread, the crackle of the flames on the dry grass filling the air as smoke blew up towards the sky. I looked around us to realise we were surrounded, and wasn't quite sure if this was a threat or not as I covered my mouth and nose with my shirt, the heat and embers swirling close and closer.

"What are you doing?" Kara looked around us cautiously as I got to my feet.

She stomped out the fire closest to her, a rush of her magic spreading out across the field which extinguished the smaller fires. For every one she put out, another reappeared which only made Hecate laugh as she waved her arms around the main pit, allowing it to grow stronger once more.

"Proving a point." I answered Kara, moving to her side, as we both looked at her mother who now stood opposite us. I thought about how devilish Hades had looked in the fire's glow; Hecate was more demonic and there was no stopping the shiver that ran up my spine.

Kara stopped, her cheeks flushing red as she glared at her mother. "This is just wasting time!"

"What was in the tea?" I ask, catching Kara's eye I motioned to the flames and together, we put it all out, which only seemed to please Hecate if the smug look of satisfaction on her face was anything to go by.

"Nothing I didn't already know." Hecate smiled, her eyes glowing orange despite the lack of light.

"This was pointless, she's just like all the others." Kara glared. "Let's go find everyone and get out of here."

"If that's what you really want." The key was removed from around Hecate's neck, and she tossed it over the ashes and into Kara's hand. "Until next time then."

This couldn't be it.

Matt's vision haunted me as Kara practically began to drag me away. The air felt colder with every step we took and yet Hecate's presence followed us like a shadow as we hit the trees. The breathless sob that escaped Kara made me stop, only she didn't, charging on into the darkness.

"Come on," Her voice broke as she shouted back at me, and I quickly moved to catch up.

"Kara, I'm sorry." That stopped her.

"Why?"

"I know that wasn't how you wanted things to go." I hugged her tightly and felt her tremble with the effort of trying to hold herself together.

"It shouldn't surprise me, but after everything," she doesn't finish, taking a deep breath instead as I let her go. "Thank you."

Kara looked at the key in her hands as if she expected it to start talking and when it was clear nothing was going to happen, she simply put it on over her head. Looking around us, there was no clue as to where the others could actually be.

"What now?" She sighed, as we started to slowly walk again.

Once again I caught the flicker of light, our guides leaping from one branch to another above us and as the trees thinned, I realised we were going back towards the ocean. Everything told me we should go this way, they'd led us here and now they'd lead us to the way home. There was no doubt we wouldn't find the twins and Cain on our way, just how we all came together here.

"Don't look where we think we should." I decide.

"What?" Kara groaned. "Elise, they're the ramblings of a mad woman. It's all a game to her"

"A game we're already a part of. I'm not going that way."

"Now you're being stupid. Let's just get out of here and work out what to do next once we're home." She argued.

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Elise, come on. Please."

"She's right," I wondered how much I would end up regretting this. "You don't understand."

"Excuse me?" Kara's eyes instantly narrowed, her arms folding over her chest defensively.

"I know it's hard, and I can't even begin to understand how this, all of this with her is for you to deal with. But please don't let that stop you from being you, especially not now when I need you to see this through with me. We're not going that way."

I could see her thinking it over, feel how conflicted she was about everything and I didn't blame her for any of it. The second she made up her mind, I knew I wasn't going to like what she had to say as her jaw clenched with irritation and I could see the defeat in her eyes.

"I can't."

"Cara, please." I beg now, reaching for her arm, she steps back.

"Aren't you even worried about Cain, what he and Apollo are up to? Artemis just vanished. We find them. If they think we should stay, I'll consider it. Otherwise, we'll find them and go." It wasn't up for discussion. "I'm surprised Cain isn't even here after we just stupidly ran off and-"

"He let me go." I saw the flicked of surprise before she stood a little taller, as her lips pressed tightly together as she was forcing them to stay closed. "I'm sorry."

"Don't." She warned. "Listen to me, Elise. We have to go. She isn't who you want her to be, who you think she is."

Listen at the wrong time.

"No, she's exactly who I think she is. I'm sorry, I wish this was easier for you, and she could be who you need her to be here, but please trust me, Kara. We can go back and-"

"I'm not going back."

"Okay, and I'm not leaving yet." I told her firmly.

"Elise," She warns, and as the lights flicker ahead, I see the way her body leaned slightly to go that way.

"Go find the others. I'll see you all soon."

And then I'm gone. Back in the meadow where the pit is still smouldering. Embers burn and the smell of the smoke taints the air. It's dark, the sky and the thousands of stars above me all I have to see by and up on the rock, just like when I found Kara sitting in the same position, the black shadow shape up there now was Hecate. There is no way she didn't know I was there, every crunch of dead grass, or the clack of rocks hitting together gave me away but I wasn't trying to hide.

Out of nowhere a white light appeared on the horizon, the moon that began to rise up into the sky unlike anything I had ever seen before. Hecate's hand was offered, and taking it, she pulled me up to sit beside her. We sat there quietly for a moment, just watching and I was glad I didn't follow Kara.

"I've missed this world." Hecate sighed, sounding tired. "There really is no place like home."

"Why now? You could have left at any time."

"I'd always wondered what it would be like to have a son." She mused, not answering me. "A daughter was a challenge I never intended to face. Though, some of the best things in life are often unexpected."

"I don't think there is much in life that you aren't expecting"

"It would be easy to think that. I never expected her, and I swear to the first mother, and all that is the universe I never intended to let it be. No mother would ever willingly bring a child into such a world, to live the life I saw and once I knew she existed, I selfishly couldn't bear to let her go. Only I did, and perhaps she is just as lost to me as she would be if she had never been born at all." I wished for Kara to be here now, to see this side of Hecate. The emotion in her voice brought tears to my eyes, while her own ran freely down her cheeks. "Your future is still the same. I see the happiness to come. You will find your freedom, and peace. Nieves' actions will not have the desired effect, so long as you continue to forge your own path."

"Tea leaves told you that?" I don't hide how sceptical I was about that. "Matt, the Seer, he had a vision. I died in it, we all did."

Hecate ran a hand through her hair, and I wasn't expecting to see the dark brown snake in her hand a second later; its scales like a rainbow as it caught the light. She let it go, and turned to look at me as if waiting for me to continue.

"Oh, that's all?" She said a second later, realising that's all I had to say.

"That's a pretty big deal."

"I thought by now you would know better than to believe all you see, or let it control you. Are you not the one to have slayed the oh so terrifying Dark King? Yet I am positive I saw him somewhere around here."

"It felt different." I protested. "I've died before, I've seen it all, and this felt final."

"Of course it did. You aren't the same girl who faced it all before. The woman who is emerging is someone else entirely, only still very much you. Dear Brynhild said it better than even I could have." She winked, and slid off the rock.

Instantly I followed her. We didn't say anything for a while, walking up the hill towards the trees that didn't seem possible to ever reach while the moon hung so low above them I wondered if I could jump up and reach it. Rabbits and snakes crossed our path, always following their master and as Hecate picked up a little white kitten I saw its claws dig into her hands and the blood wet its paws.

"It's hard to believe that the cause is worth the sacrifices along the way, when you lose so much. Something I hope we never have in common." The kitten to dust which she turned to throw behind us and into the wind.

"Kara isn't lost, if you're referring to her. She just needs some time."

"Time." Hecate laughed bitterly. "Perhaps the most powerful thing of all, and something we do not have a lot of. Your friends have had enough, unlike you, little phoenix. You like it here."

"I do. Kara told me a little of what she remembers when you used to come here. What did you burn?"

"Knowledge may be power, but what do we really need to know?" I barely managed to stop my eyeroll and yet another of her riddles, internally groaning and the lack of a clear answer. "I would spend hours with Gaia. We'd talk about all that was and all that had yet to come. By writing the things I sought to achieve, I burned them to release the intentions, invoke all that was good and true to be and destroy all that I longed to forget."

Once again I felt my brian threatening to malfunction at the casual mention of Gaia. "Is this, Gaia, the Gaia. As in mother of all?"

"One and the same." She shrugged. "Now, you seek answers regarding the Furies that I can not answer. I see your path, your happiness, it's all still there. Naive may have thought her actions would change everything, but it merely delayed it. Just, do as you always do. They will not be so easily fooled as they had been the first time, nor will they be as reckless as they were the second."

Hecate yawned, right as the earth trembled and unbothered she simply stretched her arms up towards the sky. The illusion that she was holding the moon above her head wasn't lost on me, but there was something else, something I couldn't ignore only the more I tried to focus on it, the further it seemed to escape me until suddenly everything made sense.

Ask the right questions.

"You're the fourth." I gasped. "It's you, isn't it?"

"There is no fourth, Elise." She smirked, before stepping forward to hug me as another tremor had the ground beneath us trembling. Her words were only a whisper in my ear. "We all have to burn to be reborn, always changing, evolving, into something else, something more."

And then she was gone.

"What the f-" I spun around, sensing her everywhere but nowhere which gave me no idea where I was or which way I now had to go. "Hecate?"

"Elise?" From the trees the lights return, one taking the shape of Artemis and I headed towards her. "Oh there you are!"

"Where have you been?" I ask her. "Did you see Hecate?"

"Hecate? Is she really here?"

"Yes, who do you think Kara and I were talking to?"

"Eileithya, I only left because I knew you'd be safe with her and," Her voice trailed off. "Wait. You mean, that was actually Hecate? It doesn't make sense, she would have been in the Underworld by the time our mother had Cain."

"I have a feeling she wasn't as much of a prisoner there as it's made out to be." I decided.

This was the crossroads after all, as she had said it was here before the worlds divided and the realms parted. It would make sense she'd be able to come and go as she pleased. I wonder if Hades had any idea, though considering he hadn't known she was gone when we went to see her, I didn't think he would.

"Where is everyone else?" Artemis asked instead, clearly happy to move on from that discussion.

"I have a feeling we'll find them soon enough. Where have you been?" We start to walk down the hill, though I keep an eye out for guiding lights that may tell us here to go.

"Catching up with an old friend. We spent some time here after Cain was born. It wasn't all bad. To be honest, I had the tiniest fragment of hope that our mother would be here. How silly of me." She sighed.

"Not silly." Apparently Mum issues were a common theme tonight, and as we passed the boulders and abandoned fire pit, the ground shook again. "What is that?"

"I'm not sure." Artemis closed her eyes, slowing her walk until she stopped. "I can't sense where anyone else is."

"I don't think we're supposed to." She only groaned and stomped on up ahead, yet from the smouldering fire pit, I saw something gold, reflecting the red light of the embers around it. "Art, I think I've found something."

Kicking the ash away, I reached down as the ground shook again. The metal was warm in my hand, a large disc almost like a novelty coin and as I wiped the ash away, familiar markings began to appear. Not that any of it mattered as I barely had a chance to let out a scream, the ground crumbling away beneath my feet as I started to fall.

"Gotcha!" Apollo grabbed me, appearing out of nowhere and slamming into the dirt at the side of the passage, I ducked my head down as embers and who knows what else rushed over me.

I held onto his hand, then his forearm, trying to get a foothold in the dirt and spit out the crap in my mouth. My eyes stung, and coughing, I was thankful to feel the fresh air as I was helped up and out of the hole. Wiping my face I coughed and spat at the ground beside me, not even questioning it when someone handed me some water which after more spitting, I then used it to wipe my eyes with.

"You okay?" He frowns.

"Great timing."

"You know I always have your back." He smiles as Artemis comes running back over.

"What the hell just happened?"

"Elise fell." He tells her.

"Understatement of the year." I mumble, daring to look back down the hole. "Where's Cain? Kara?"

"No idea." They say at the same time.

"Great." I shake my hair, not sure if the sand is going to be removed easily and holding up my hand, get Apollo to drag me up to my feet. "I think I'm done with this adventure now."

"There you all are!" Kara called, joining our little group. "Where's Cain?"

"You haven't seen him either?" I can't stop the tiny flicker of panic that blooms in the pit of my stomach as I look at Apollo. "He was with you, wasn't he?"

"For a bit. We each wanted to go a different way, so we did."

"Seems common." Artemis mumbled.

"Well, let's find him and get out of here." Kara decided, glaring at me. "If you agree to that, now?"

"No argument here." I subtly tap my pocket as I start to follow the trio down the field, and back towards the ocean, thankful my prize is still there and I didn't lose it in my fall.

Medusa was not going to be happy when she found it missing.