"Freedom is a right that must be contained."

Ashley stared at Luke, not quite believing the words coming out of his mouth, "Huh?"

Luke chuckled at her expression, "I said, I managed to get you permission to leave the ship to explore New York for a while."

"Really?" Ashley gasped, yet again.

"Yes," Luke sighed, rolling his eyes at her, "You're beginning to make me regret it."

"Thanks, Luke!" Ashley said quickly, running off.

Luke sighed, shaking his head as he dropped his head into his hands.

Ashley walked through the streets of New York with a giddy look on her face, gaining plenty of odd looks from the adults she passed.

She didn't notice the dark shadows that raced past in alleys as she wandered the streets with the little cash she had on her. She may have gone into a couple of stores that were waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay above her pay grade.

(Coming out empty-handed quite often. Amusing when she got suspicious looks from the people at the front of the shops when she left the stores)

Eventually, Ashley found her stomach rumbling again, and she found herself a shopping mall, and she easily found the big yellow M for McDonald's.

Ashley pulled out her phone after ordering her Big Mac Hunger Buster meal, sitting at a table by the window, she easily connected to the free wifi and opened Wattpad.

She scrolled through the updates, deciding that she didn't want to read any of the books that had been updated - she read a lot of books, okay? - and opened up her chat with 'Drag0nRider201'.

Heya :Ashley typed: Got permission to head into NYC today. :D

Drag0nRider201: Huzzah!

Ashley chuckled, typing away: Just hanging at Macca's for lunch.

Drag0nRider201: At what? I do not speak this strange, alien dialect.

Ashley mock gasped: The slang, you no speak???? Ze world ending!!!! :Ashley snorted: Jk. XD. I'm at the fancy big M fast food. McDonald's. XD

Drag0nRider201: The place that sells nothing but junk and yet has heavenly fries? Yeah, I know it.

Ashley snorted once more, gaining the side-eyed looks from plenty of people around her: Truer words have never been spoken.

Drag0nRider201: More or less, anyways. I'm currently wedged between my parents as they try to make up their minds about lunch. I think Wendy's is winning.

Sounds healthier than Macca's. XD :Ashley chuckled, pausing when her order was called out, and she stood up, collecting the food before sitting down once more.

Drag0nRider201: Probably. We're forbidden from entering the doors of the dreaded big M.

Ashley munched on some fries as she messaged back with one hand: How so?

Drag0nRider201: We hate the place. It's a self-imposed thing.

Oh :Ashley shrugged.

Drag0nRider201: Shoot, I gotta run. Turns out we're going to a cafe? No idea.

Ashley smiled, finishing her fries and moving to her sundae: Okay, have fun!

Drag0nRider201: You too, enjoy the labyrinth of New York.

Ashley snorted, typing back her response: I've already gotten lost five times, I'm sure that I'm going to get lost a few more times. XD

Ashley stuck her headphones in when she didn't get a reply back from 'Drag0nRider201', playing one of their playlists as she finished her sundae and moved onto her burger.

That was quickly vanquished as well, and the drink was slurped up within minutes. And Ashley didn't find herself full at all, if anything she felt even hungrier, although it may have just been because she may have overdone it this morning with Nicky.

Maybe just a little bit, if her aching muscles were anything to go by.

Ashley ended up dumping the rubbish into the bin, and leaving the food court of the mall, exploring the massive mall - it was a supermall compared to the ones that she was used to - finding a couple of bookstores with a great range of books.

As she wandered the supermall, Ashley wondered if there were any other pantheons that existed outside of the Greek Gods. Romans, maybe? Egyptian? Norse? The last one was when she came across the Marvel comics.

Oh, that would be chaos, having all four pantheons in one single universe.

She brought a couple of books to a series she was reading back at home, the physical books always better than the digital.

She also brought a Finding Dory bag just to make a joke out of it with Nicky when she got back. The son of Nyx was quickly becoming a good friend to her, not her best friend, but a good friend.

And she managed to find a giant candy store with so many different types of lollies from all over the world, it had taken Ashley fifteen minutes to tear herself out of the shop with only spending fifteen bucks. It was hard for her to not try and buy more.

About fifteen minutes of walking, she started getting the feeling as if someone was watching her.

"Aw, what a cute puppy!"

Ashley would've, on a normal day and before she learned of her heritage, ignored the voice if she hadn't accidentally glimpsed the small girl trying to pat the most demonic "puppy" ever in the reflection of a shop window. The "puppy"'s fiery red eyes stared right into her soul, looking directly at her.

"Oh, shitz," Ashley gulped, realizing what it was. A Hellhound. She started sprinting, and the Hellhound took chase after her.

Ashley apologized mentally to everyone that the Hellhound knocked over in its mad dash to catch her.

She ended up in an alleyway before she knew it, and found herself cursing herself as she ended up at a dead end.

"You have got to be kidding me," Ashley groaned as she pulled out her sword, it expanded from the tiny knife that it had compressed down to when Luke had given it to her for her own protection in the mortal world.

The Hellhound snarled at her as it stalked her like prey. Armed and ready to fight prey.

"Bring it on, then," Ashley spat at it, raising her sword.

She knew that her stance was horrible, but she knew that she didn't need the sword as much as some of her fellow demigods may need. In fact, she only proved her point when the Hellhound attacked, she managed to slice a cut down its side and it growled at her when she avoided it.

A smug grin pulled at her lips as she kept the Hellhound's wound from closing. The brute of a dog snarled at her when it realized what she was doing to it.

Ashley then forced the Hellhound to stop completely, although it could still breathe and see everything going on around it. It's red eyes widened in horror when it realized it couldn't move.

Ashley walked forward towards it, "I'm truly sorry about this," she apologized to the quickly growing fearful Hellhound. She stabbed it in the heart, and it turned into a pile of gold dust.

Ashley sighed as her sword dropped from her hand, already feeling the effects of holding the Hellhound for as long as she did. She grabbed her sword from the ground and let it fold back into itself to become the tiny dagger once more.

"Forgive me," She whispered to the gold dust before walking away from the scene of the crime.