Kate jumped into her car and turned the ignition on before she realized she had no idea where exactly she was going. She slouched and let her head rest on the steering wheel just letting her mind wander for a minute. She knew being a vessel was an honor, the woman in her family had been doing so for thousands of years but in all the stories and histories she had read and been told by her grandmother, not one of them mentioned Ares being released, not one. It was just her luck it would happen now.
"I understand Kate, I really do, this is a lot, especially for someone who has just started learning about magick," the Mother said, "But we need to get going, and unfortunately getting back to our realm is going to be difficult."
She sighed, the Mother was right so sitting up she put the car in gear and left the parking lot. "Okay, so how do we get to the Underworld?" she asked driving in a random direction. No one said anything and she groaned, "Come on we don't have time for you to be coy or nervous or whatever it is you have going on. ]ust tell me where to go so we can get to Artemis."
"I'm not nervous," the Maiden said offended, Kate smiled to herself she was so happy to hear her again, she hadn't spoken since they had entered the bar. "I told you I wasn't interested in talking to him and I meant it but forget about that for now, I can tell you how to get to the Underworld but it can be a bit much. Are you sure you are ready for it?"
"A bit much?" the Mother asked annoyed, "It's a lot more than a bit much."
"Would someone fill me in please?" Kate asked rolling her eyes.
"What they are trying to tell you is that to get to the Underworld requires blood magick," the Crone answered. Kate's stomach dropped, she knew that blood magick was a requirement but using it put a stain on her soul, and the more she used it the darker her soul could become.
"There's really no other way? I thought you and Hades were friends and you could come and go as you pleased," she squeezed the steering wheel tighter.
"Our immortal body can come and go as it pleases," the Maiden said matter of factly, "You may be our vessel but you are not immortal, to get through the gates you will have to spill your blood."
She drove in silence for a while trying to decide what she was going to do, on the one hand, if she wanted to find Artemis she would have to allow her soul to be stained, but on the other, if she didn't find her she was almost positive one of the other gods trying to hunt her would catch up to her sooner rather than later. She bit her lip making a decision.
"Fine, I'll do it, where's the gate?"
"We need to find a yew tree," the Mother said obligingly. Kate quirked her lip thinking, she wasn't sure where to find a yew tree. While she drove she kept her eyes open for any parks nearby that may have a yew tree planted there. Finally, after what seemed like hours she saw one. It was in a large park, towering over all of the other trees. She pulled over and grabbed her bag.
Approaching the tree she noticed the beautiful green needles blooming brightly, a few branches held red berries, and she smiled to herself that was where yew berries came from, she had never made that connection before and she shook her head laughing quietly to herself. As she go closer she saw the different parts of the trunk that intertwined to become so large that she wouldn't have been able to wrap her arms halfway around it. Inhaling she let the refreshing smell wafting off the tree fill her lungs, as much as she was enjoying it she could feel the Three-Faced Goddess bathing in the magick radiating from it filling her with a warm fuzzy feeling in the pit of her stomach. She reached out and touched the trunk and she could've sworn she felt it press into her and twitter happily.
She stepped back, as much as she was enjoying herself she had work to do. Beginning to rummage through her bag she pulled out a small dagger and waited for someone to tell her what to do.
"Cut into the palm of your hand make sure it is deep enough that it bleeds freely, you don't want to have to cut yourself multiple times," the Mother said gently. Kate placed the blade in the palm of her hand and closing her hand around it she quickly cut her hand open.
"What's next?" she asked through gritted teeth as she watched large drops of blood drip to the ground.
"Now step up to the trunk and draw a five-pointed start large enough for you to step through."
She did as she was told, when she was done she reached into her bag and pulled out a handkerchief, and wrapped it around her hand waiting for something to happen.
"There's more?" she asked, "Why not just tell me everything all at once?" she grumbled under her breath.
"We didn't want to overwhelm you," the Maiden said a slight lilt to her voice, she was enjoying this just a little too much.
"Step up to the tree place your hand on the star and ask it to welcome you home," the Crone said impatiently, she seemed more excited to be going home than the other two.
"You would be too if you were as old as I am," she grouched at her. Kate bit her cheek to keep from smiling and stepped up to the tree doing as she was told. As soon as she placed her hand on the tree and asked it to let her go home the start began to shimmer becoming a bronze-colored liquid. Looking through it she saw a small home and forest in the distance.
"Home," all three echoed in her head, she braced herself, hefted her bag onto her shoulder, and pushed through the door. Stepping through was a little more difficult than she anticipated, the doorway may have looked liquid but as she pushed through it seemed to push back against her making her have to push harder. Finally, she felt a pop, the release caused her to trip and she had to steady herself. Orienting herself she looked around. She had expected to walk right into Hekate's realm since she had seen it through the door, but to her surprise, she wasn't standing in a small wood anywhere near her.
"Where are we, I thought we were going to your house," she said under her breath, she wasn't sure where she was but she knew she was in the Underworld. She had read enough books to know she didn't want to draw too much attention to herself here, Hades didn't like when mortals found their way into his realm, and he wasn't known for letting people just walk back out.
"We are in the Underworld, but getting to our realm is going to take a little extra effort on your part," the Maiden said irritably.
Kate gritted her teeth, and bit back on her frustration before responding, "I am not complaining I would just like to know where exactly I am so I can figure out which way we need to go." She stood in front of a large river, the water was so dark it looked like oil had spilled in it, the ground crunched under her boot as she stepped closer to it. She kneeled to get a closer look, and as she stared she saw her reflection. At first, she just saw herself, her dark hair cascading down her back and her purple eyes, but the longer she stared she saw lines form along her forehead, and her dark hair became gray and then pure white. After a moment the older woman was staring back at her, and then she watched as her skin dried out and she faded into dust leaving her spirit behind.
"Kate...Kate...KATE!" the Crone's worried voice echoed through her head finally breaking the trance.
"That was close," the Maiden's voice was shaking with barely concealed anxiety.
"You must be careful here Kate, this realm is designed for the dead, for those whose heart is still beating it can be hypnotic, don't let the beauty trap you here," the Mother warned.
"And especially don't eat any of the food," the Maiden piped in. Kate smirked, even the people who didn't study mythology knew better than to eat anything she found here.
"Thanks for the warning," she replied sarcastically, she stepped away from the river and looked around, she was standing in a large cave, though there was no natural light to be found she was still able to make out shapes and the glow from the river helped to clear up some things. She saw a large opening between two large pillars, but she couldn't make out anything more than shadows.
"Okay, so what do we do now?" she asked walking slowly towards it, as she approached she could have sworn she heard something breathing but when she looked around she didn't see anything.
"Honestly, we aren't sure," the Maiden said slowly, "We've always been able to enter our part of the Underworld without having to go through any of this."
"Yes, but there should be something here," the Mother said thoughtfully.
"Something like what?" Kate asked, she reached out to touch the barrier but before her hand came within an inch a growl came from behind her. She turned around and came face to face with a dog that stood at least twelve feet tall. She took tried to take a step back but she bumped into the barrier.
"What the hell is that?" she asked her voice barely above a whisper.
"That is Cerberus," the Maiden said calmly.
Kate looked up at the large animal, his fur was black as midnight, following up on his body she saw that he had three heads, and all three had red eyes fixed on her. Their lips were pulled back to show the sharp points of teeth, stained with what she assumed was the blood of his meals. She couldn't understand why Hekate seemed completely fine with him snarling down at her.
"Because where Cerberus is-" the Crone said.
"Persephone is right behind him," the Mother finished. Kate was confused, she knew who Persephone was but why would she follow Cerberus around?
"You misunderstand, Percy doesn't follow the dog," the Maiden sounded almost annoyed, "The dog follows Percy."
Kate tried to look around the dog but he was so large she couldn't see past him, and she could see there wasn't anyone in sight. She looked back up at him and he let out a low growl.
"Well so far all I see is a large dog who looks like he wants to eat me for lunch and magick or no magick I don't think I'll be able to put up much of a fight against his three heads," she said sarcastically. She knew there was no way she would win in a fight against Cerberus but she wasn't about to just give in, she reached back in her bag and pulled out her dagger, it wouldn't cause much damage but it would have to do. She let her bag fall to the ground and widened her stance but before either could make a move a bright golden, green light began to glow between them.
Standing frozen Kate watched as the glow became brighter and brighter until she had to shield her eyes, when she was able to look again she was shocked to find a young woman standing there. She stood a few inches shorter than her. Her long red and gold hair cascaded in waves down her back to her knees. Her skin was sun-kissed golden draped in soft sheets of dark blue, purple, and black fabrics. Her full lips were set in a frown and her forest green eyes flared as they locked on the dagger in Kate's hand.
"I told you she would be here soon, and you had to go and piss her off," the Maiden snapped at her.
"I'm sorry, I wasn't interested in being lunch," she muttered just as frustrated.
"He wouldn't have eaten you, Kate," the girl's voice bit into her, "He doesn't eat people unless Hades or I instruct him to do so," she paused and looked closer at Kate, a moment later her face relaxed and a small smile quirked her lips, "Hello Hekate, welcome home."
"May we?" their voices echoed in her head and she sighed, this was taking longer than she had thought it would, but she hadn't gotten off to a great start with Persephone, and she seemed to like Hekate. Kate relaxed and opened herself up, a few moments later she felt her consciousness being pushed back as the Three-Faced Goddess stepped up and took the wheel.
"Hello Persephone, it is good to be home," their voices echoed out of her and her lips smiled serenely at her.
"It has been a long time, we have missed you around here," Persephone said turning to Cerberus, she snapped her fingers and he laid down and rested his head on his paws, she reached out and gave each of them a scratch. "What has brought you back?" she asked turning back to them.
They stepped closer to her and slowly let the dog sniff her hands, "I need to go home, back to my realm, I am looking for someone."
Persephone quickly stopped scratching him and turned shocked at her, "What do you mean to go home? Has no one told you?"
Kate felt her stomach drop, this was not going to be good, "Told us what?"
Persephone hesitated looking like she did not want to be the one to tell them this but she straightened her spine, "When Ares was released he...well he was pretty mad and he took it out on your home. I am so sorry Hekate but your realm is nothing but charred ash and the remains of your home are nothing but skeletal."