The Fates were as eerie as Logan remembered.

Klotho and Lachesis had returned in this life as cousins, Klotho taking on the name Molly with bright red hair, and Lachesis Alice with blonde curls. They were under watch of Atropos, who was called Tamara. She was a good deal older than Molly and Alice, both of the girls being in their mid-teens whereas Tamara looked about sixty. Molly and Alice were pale little things, and Tamara was a raven skinned and quite round woman. She stared at Logan with almost dead eyes as he walked in.

"Hades, Hestia, these are our long missed Fates," John said, golden hand gesturing to the women that sat around the long, ornate table occupying John's meeting hall. "We are so thankful to see them again."

"Bonjour, amis de longue date," Charlotte said, letting go of Logan's arm so she could curtsey. Charlotte's family had lived in France before immigrating to America when she was ten. French was her first language, but she had spoken and interacted with English long enough her accent had all but faded. "A pleasure, as always."

"You too," the cousins said in sync, their voices squeaky; Logan could see their hands shaking, revealing how nervous they were.

"Lady Hestia," Tamara nodded, a thick Jamaican accent coating her next words. "Still our virgin Goddess afta all these years, I see."

Charlotte blushed, moving to take a seat embarrassedly. Logan simply stared after her. Countless lives and she still hadn't gotten any? That was a feat within itself, one that left Logan thinking, not for the first time, she had the strongest willpower of them all.

"Come here, young Hades," Tamara said, shocking Logan out of his thoughts.

Loga turned pensively toward the woman, closing the distance between them. Denying the Fates was something he had learned never to do.

Tamara grinned wickedly, reaching up to place her hand on his face when he was close enough, and resting it there. She closed her eyes, Logan looking around the room uncomfortably as she did. He noticed then the yarn and needles on the ground in front of the Fates. Of course they would be knitting.

"Aye, can't expect us ta change our nature," Tamara chuckled in comment to his observation. This was what he disliked most about the Fates– one touch and there was your entire life and all your thoughts.

It was five minutes before Tamara finally stopped touching him. Logan let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. Standing back to his full height, he raised an eyebrow at her. Did she know about Violet now? The glint in Tamara's eyes said yes, yes she did. But Logan knew she wouldn't tell anyone. The Fates didn't interfere with people's lives; they only enforced the natural order already set for each person's lifespan, and told what the universe allowed them to.

"I'm not as strong as I used ta be," Tamara said at last, curling her lips back to reveal yellowing teeth. "But I can see da power in you, young Hades. It burns like ya siblings' do. And when yous are reunited with ya lover, it shall be difficult ta extinguish such intensity of ya abilities.

"Before young Zeus split souls in 'alf, the mortals were much stronga. It is the same for da Gods, and though we were never combined, we are pieces that fit together."

Logan nodded, his entire reason for kidnapping Violet having been confirmed by Fate itself. At least now he knew he hadn't ripped that girl away from her life for nothing. He didn't feel guilty for it, more or less just unsettled. He didn't like leaving her child of a brother on his own, but Hecate had assured she had put a veil on the boy so he wouldn't be put into the system because his mother was unfit to take care of him. There was also an aunt not too far away who could come if there were some emergency. And Logan was making sure the boy had more than enough means to live upon.

Still, the fight Violet had given had told Logan just how much she did not want to leave.

But now, it was all worth it.

Sighing, Logan sat down at the table near the head by John and Edgar. John was chattering with an assistant, Edgar texting on his phone. Logan chose to sit in silence for the next thirty minutes until Fawn arrived, taking the seat farthest away from him. Her green eyes were tired, the crow's feet at the edges strained with worry. Logan guessed that she had been looking for Violet– for Persephone.

"Ah, sister," John said, giving welcome to her. "It seems now that you're here, we are ready to begin!" He motioned his assistant away, who closed the doors behind himself, leaving just the siblings and the Fates, who were busy knitting, the cousins casting glances toward Fawn, trying to identify the new face.

Charlotte, who sat next to Fawn, made a motion to pat the older woman's shoulder in comfort. She was saying reassuring words to Fawn, subtly casting glances at Logan that said please tell her because Charlotte couldn't stand to watch her loved ones be pained.

Logan didn't really care either way though.

Now that he knew Violet would be his most needed alliance, he wasn't giving her up. He didn't care if that was selfish or manipulative. He would not let the Titans win this time. The look on Cronus' face when he had escaped from Tartarus– that smirk that said you have lost again, son– was enough to leave Hades' mind imprinting the message of never again throughout every lifetime. Because if there was one Olympian that hated Cronus the most, it was Hades, which in turn meant Logan too.

"As you know," John said, cutting off all other conversation in the room. "We have gathered here as our beloved Fates have confirmed their earlier prophecy of war."

"What kind of war?" Fawn asked, giving the women a skeptical look.

"One far worse than da last, Lady Demeter," said Tamara, pausing in her knitting. "In da last, you were a dying breed, and when da Titans were released it was just they afta ya. Now, ya are a growing breed and some seek ta bring the Titans forth and claim da thrones of Olympus. New enemies awaitin'."

"But how is that even possible?" asked Helen, John's wife and the incarnate of Hera.

This time, it was, shockingly, Molly that spoke, "They have, like, figured out the way to, like, drain immortality from others, so they can become stronger, and you know, more Godly or whatevs," the teen babbled. "If they have taken enough divinty, then they, like, shall be Gods once more. There is divinity in all of us, but that's not to say it's, um, for keeps, you know." She didn't even look up from her knitting the entire time.

"But how do they drain power from others?" Logan asked, thinking that if they could figure it out, the tactic could be reversed and those with the Olympians could use it against those with the Titans so that they were evenly matched.

"We don't know yet," said John, disappointing Logan as always. "But we do know how they are getting to the Titans."

"I still say it's impossible," Fawn sighed.

"Technically, dear sister, it is," John agreed. "No live mortal can step foot into the Underworld without the permission of Hades, and since he is mortal now, you must be dead to enter unless–"

And the gears turned in Logan's head.

"Unless you have the Keys of Hades," he said before John could finish, going rigid in his seat. "But that isn't possible. Those too are in the Underworld, guarded by my judges."

"They were," Tamara said.

"Excuse me?" Logan asked.

"They were," Tamara repeated. "What was once in da Underworld is now on earth, young Hades."

"But how is that possible?" asked Charlotte, leaning forward across the table in anxiety. "If no one alive can enter…"

"Ah, but no one alive did enter," Tamara smiled. "Ya see, there are still mortals who form cults ta worship us. One of those cults is in favor of Lady Nemesis. One little request, and some poor idiat was willin' to die fo her. Somehow, he got da keys and, with modern medicine, it was easy to bring him back to da living. And we all know that what's taken in the Underworld comes back ta ya topside."

All Gods around the table were silent at this. Most in trepidation and shock, while Logan was boiling with mute rage. They had gone into his domain and stolen from him. The Keys had been worn around the necks of his judges. How had one dead mortal gotten to them?

How?

"But they don't have the Key to Tartarus," he said at last, taking a deep breath so he would not go on a rampage and break everything in John's house. He was in no mood to get reprimanded for it right now. "It vanished the last time that they were released."

"It didn't vanish, young Hades. Rather it appeared. Once twisted through da lock, the key faded inta care of da mortals," said Tamara, tsking her tongue. "They sell it ta the highest bidda."

"Through the lock?" Logan questioned, bypassing the rest of the information for a moment. "That means someone unlocked their cell. I thought the Titans escaped because the bonds we had placed weakened when the mortals stopped worshiping us and we began to lose our divinity."

"No, young Hades. Those bonds weren't a part of da Gods– they were a part of the Underworld," Tamara explained. "Though ya had all used ya powers to cage da Titans, their prison was in Tartarus, protected by its bound'ries once the bond was solidified. That kind of magic can't be undone, but it can be unlocked."

"By who?" demanded Logan.

"Brother! Calm yourself," John warned, looking toward Logan's hands that were grabbing at the edge of the table, knuckles turning white. Logan retracted his hands, not liking his brother's critical eye. "We do not know who opened the gates– but that is not the problem now. Now, we must find your Key to Tartarus. If we have it, then our enemy cannot get into Tartarus, which solves half of the war."

"But they'll still try and drain us of our power?" asked Fawn.

"Yes," John sighed. "They mainly want to release the Titans because they know that they will go after us first. Good old Mother and Father shan't be happy after so many more years of entrapment. Gods know they weren't last time." John gave a less than humorous chuckle, not meeting the eyes of anyone. He'd been their mother's favorite, and still idolized her even though she'd sided with Cronus in the end.

"So the main focus now is to get the Key," Edgar said, stepping in for John. "Do we have any idea where it is?"

The Fates shook their head. "We see lives, not keys," said Tamara, and was about to continue before Molly interjected. "But we do know there is a way to, like, track it."

"How so?" asked Logan, giving the women a critical glance. "Don't tell me a virgin sacrifice, or something." He'd taken care of the mess from those ceremonies enough times he wasn't in the mood to deal with another one.

"No," said Tamara. "But it does require blood magic. Since ya the owner of the key, young Hades, you gotta be the one to perform the ceremony. And to do that, ya got ta have somethin' from when ya was immortal yourself."

"I don't have anything like that," Logan said, frowning. All of Hades' possessions remained in the Underworld, more than likely untouched since he, along with the others, had sacrificed themselves to put the Titans back into their cage.

"You'll figure somethin' out," Tamara said, showing her yellowed teeth again as she smiled. "Until then, ya all must be on the look for allies toward ya cause. Ya have little Eros, but there are many more out there."

"But how do we find them?" Fawn asked, almost desperately.

"You cast a spell," said John.

Logan looked at the table. It was humorous that Hecate had known all of this first, before the Fates had been found. The woman had out staged his siblings endlessly. It was how she had found Logan in this life, having remembered her former self when she was a teenager and Logan was just a babe. The spell itself required a lot of magic, he knew, but it was Hecate's element and was why she could use it more often than most. And she knew all of the right words, the right offerings to spirits to track the souls of the Gods' incarnations.

But Logan wouldn't tell these people that. While he wanted to finish this whole ordeal quickly, he wouldn't exploit Hecate. She had been too good a friend to him for that.

"It is a very costly spell," John continued. "It drains quite a lot of your divinity because the magic of it is so potent. But every few months we can all perform it."

"My daughter!" Fawn cried heavily, standing from her chair. "You must show me immediately, John. I have to…I have to see her."

Swallowing dryly, Logan looked to Tamara, who gave him a wicked grin. "Be warned, Lady Demeter," she said crookedly. "If a God or Goddess has already been claimed by another's magic, yous cannot seek them out. Example bein' even if those sided with da Titans wanted to try and corrupt little Eros, they couldn't 'cause he's bonded ta Lady Hera, the one who cast the spell ta find him."

"Well, it wasn't to find him specifically," said Helen. "I was just trying to find another God, but he was the first I focused in on."

"But, what if I were trying to find Persephone?" Fawn asked, her eyes beginning to water. Gods, she was going to cry. Logan was not in the mood for that.

"Then ya need an offering ta her element. But, as I said Lady Demeter, ya cannot find her if she is already claimed," Tamara warned. "There are many Gods out there that aren't on either side, and if any one of them found her since she's been livin' in this cycle, then their divinity is a guise to hers, and vice versa. When da Gods group together, the spell don't work no more because they've bonded."

Fawn nodded, sniffling to keep her tears from falling. "I want to try though. I have to try."

Charlotte shot Logan an accusing glance from across the table as Fawn spoke, but Logan ignored her. Wasn't his problem if Fawn was mopey about not having hold on Violet. Finders keepers he wanted to childishly say. He'd been the on to take Violet first, so technically she belonged to him now. He'd bonded with her, as had Hecate and Thaddeus, and, by now, probably Chad.

The last thought prickled him a little bit. If he didn't know better, he would've said it was jealousy over having to share Violet. In reality, he was simply worried that that many Gods in one place were an easy target. Note to self to strengthen the wards around the house…

"We will begin immediately," John was saying once Logan decided to tune back into the present conversation. "I know it is much to ask, but we are stronger together siblings. There is plenty of room here for everyone, and in a matter of weeks we can have five new allies, if we all work together on this."

"Only five?" asked Charlotte. "But there are six of us."

"I'm afraid I'm still too drained from finding Eros, sister," Helen interjected. "I shall show you all how to properly go about it though– it is a bit frightening at first."

"So wait," Logan said, pressing his hands to the table with a scowl. "You're saying you want us to stay here?"

"Of course," John said, as if the request wasn't a burden. "As I said, we are stronger together. Just a week, two at the most, brother. It is your job to do such a thing."

"My job is back in Connecticut, actually. And I can't take two weeks off. This is a busy season." He was lying about that. Winter was the busy season, when everyone got sick and croaked.

But he had Violet at home, and he needed to talk with her as soon as possible and get her to start remembering things. Hecate had said interactions with people from her past, namely him, would help, as well as Logan showing her how to use her powers. Once they were fully developed, there was no way she wouldn't remember, but until that point he needed to teach her how to wield them so the process would move along quicker.

Not only that, but he had to prepare her for the fact that she was not a human, which, he could see, to any adult who had thought they were for their entire life it would be an unbelievable thing. Logan had had the luck of being found by Hecate when he was young and still open to such matters of the world. Plus he had left himself memoirs throughout the centuries. His house itself he had built three hundred years ago, and to step inside it was an instantaneous trigger to his memories of the past.

But for Violet this was, as far as he knew, her first reincarnation in millennia. The memories had to be locked away somewhere deep after so many years of oblivion.

"You cannot deny this responsibility, Hades," John said, giving Logan a stern glare. "Do not forget I am still your King, and you cannot refuse a command from me, which this is something that I command."

"Why you little son of a–"

"Logan," Charlotte interrupted, shaking her head at him slowly.

Taking a deep breath, Logan bit back his comment. He was a man of honor, unfortunately. He had to accept the request, as it was a law and he was an enforcer of such things. It would break his very ethic not to. But that didn't mean he wasn't livid when he agreed to stay at John's house and perform the rituals with everyone.

"Splendid," John said, giving Logan a shit-eating grin. He had half a mind to smack it off of the man's arrogant face, but Logan figured it would simply lead to a quarrel and wasn't worth it. "For now, you must all be hungry! I'll have my attendants show you to your rooms, and get started on lunch!"

Logan was the first to stand, grumbling as he followed an attendant from the room to the foyer and up the marble staircase to one of the guest rooms in John's house. It was an ugly room, everything in some soupy green color with overly feminine furniture. Logan gave the place a blank frown, and sat down at the desk in the room, taking his cell phone from his pocket and hitting speed dial for the house.

"You were supposed to call when you landed," Hecate said accusingly when she answered.

Logan sighed. "Wasn't in much of a mood."

"I know you hate flying, my Lord, but really, I was worried something had gone wrong and that–"

"There's been a change in plans," Logan said, ready to get to the point and end the phone call so that he could take a nap before lunch. He hadn't slept all night, having tried to on the plane ride but his nerves had kept waking him up.

"And what is that, my Lord?"

"Instead of a few days, I'm going to be here for a few weeks." If he didn't commit suicide in that time period, it would be a miracle. "They've figured out how to find the others, like you have. They want all of us to try it, and I'm guessing to keep trying once we regain our strength."

"But it shall take away all of your divinity for a time," Hecate said indignantly. "You are not meant for magic, Logan. None of you are, as it is not your element. The only reason I can so often use it is because I created it."

"I know," Logan said, leaning forward into his lap to stretch out his back. Gods, he was getting old quickly. "That's why John wants us all together right now– he thinks it'll lend more power."

"Hmm," Hecate hummed. "I can see where he comes from in that regard, but you shall still be vulnerable. Let us hope your enemies do not attack during this time."

"It wouldn't be of any use," Logan shrugged. "Turns out the reason they want the Titans released so much is in hopes of distracting us so they can take our divinity. They've somehow figured out a way to do so. Even if the Titans aren't released, they'll still try."

"How would they release the Titans in the first place? No living can enter the Underworld."

"They have the Keys."

The other line was silent for a minute, two, three… Logan began to wonder if Hecate had hung up on him when she said, "Do they have the key to Tartarus?"

Logan shook his head, and then realized Hecate wouldn't be able to hear that. "No," he said. "It is still lost. But the Fates said that since I am linked to it, there is a way of tracking it down. I don't know how to though, as it involves needing something from when I was a God, which I have none of."

"I see," Hecate said, and was silent again for a moment. "How long do you expect to be gone?"

"Two weeks at the most."

"Alright…"

"How's Violet?" Logan asked after a moment, because he knew Hecate wanted him to.

"She is frightened, my Lord. And angry. And very worried for her brother. She tried to escape when she first woke up– once again got the best of Thaddeus, and Chad too. But I was able to sedate her."

"How'd she get out of the house?" Logan asked, eyebrow raised.

"She, well…she climbed out of the window."

"She what?" Logan asked, standing up from the seat. "How didn't she kill herself?"

"The vines, my Lord."

"Those things are too flimsy. I know she's small but there isn't any way they could've held under a squirrel's weight, much less Violet's. Just one yank and they snap for Gods' sake."

"You forget that her element is nature, sir. When I went to have Chad remove the vines so she could not attempt escape in that route again, he said they were practically grown into the wall, and so thick he had to cut them down with a saw. It would figure her powers would be more active under duress," Hecate mused.

Logan shook his head. "And she still has no idea who she once was?"

"No, my Lord. I know you wish for her to quickly, but as I said before, I cannot use magic on her. Her brain is too developed for such an onslaught of memories. It may turn her insane."

"I know," Logan sighed, running a scraggled hand down his face. It was a nervous habit he'd had since he was a child. "But I won't be there to help her remember any time soon, so it's up to you and those two idiots who call themselves assistants. Outdone by a little girl, how ridiculous…"

"She is a fighter, my Lord."

"Obviously," said Logan with a roll of his eyes. "Well, that is all the information I have learned so far, and I'd like some time to sleep before having to deal with my siblings again, so I'm going to let you go, Hecate."

"Of course, my Lord. Though do call me if you learn anything else."

"I will," Logan said. "Have a good day, Hecate."

"You too, Logan."

And he hung up, setting the cell phone down on the desk. Standing to stretch, he took off his jacket, unknotted his ties, and stripped of his shoes and socks. The bed was too plush for his liking, but as tired as he was it didn't much matter. The moment he closed his eyes he was practically asleep.

And he'd dream of a girl with green eyes, begging him not to steal her away from all she's known, even though they both know he will.


a/n: hey guys, tons of updates lately huh? And I know that it says that once two Gods have joined together the spell to find them does not work, which doesn't correlate with Hecate finding Violet since she lived with Danny (who is Erebus) but you should know that while not stated in this chapter, there is an exception for primordial deities considering the fact they existed before magic did, so its laws have no effect on them, or anyone in association with them. (i.e. Danny and Violet in this case.)

Thanks for reading, and I know this chapter may be kind of confusing with so much information, so if you have questions please ask. I'd love to answer them. You can leave them in a review or PM me, whichever you'd like! Big thanks to everyone who's been here since the start, and all those joining in. It means more than you could know.