CHAPTER SEVEN: OPEN FORUM

We sat by a pigeon cage, and I told them everything. My innermost thoughts, my suspicions, and my theories. I could tell that they were overwhelmed by my discussions, since their eyes were trying their best to keep up with me. Lucius closed his eyes, and raised a hand in renunciation. "Hold up, you met the servant?" he clarified.

I nodded. "This is her." I said, showing them the picture I stole back at the police station. The son of Hades then took it from my hands, and began studying it. Rain went beside him, to take a closer look. They both looked at me, and Lucius raised the picture a little higher. His purple eyes constantly shifted to me and to the picture. "There is a resemblance. Well, almost. Her face is covered with a mask" Rain said, nodding slowly. "The police actually thought this was you?" I nodded again, shamefully.

"Well, the hair is a dead giveaway." Lucius said. "Only, her hair has a little more brown in it. Eve's hair is pure black."

"Not only that, she has a symbol of Hecate." Rain said, pointing at the dog symbol on the girl's bare shoulder. Rain then turned towards me. "So, you fought her."

"Uh-huh." I answered.

"But when she retreated, people suddenly came out of nowhere."

"Yep."

"And you nearly destroyed Mcdonalds."

I was taken aback, for a while. "At least I thought I did."

Rain paused for a moment. "Okay, good." he said, sighing in relief. "Well, you're not the only one who experienced weird stuff."

"What do you mean?"

"While we were battling the black dogs, a pound van passed by." explained Lucius. "We did not know where that van came from, but it shooed the dogs away. The next thing we knew, tons of people were already walking the streets, there were cars everywhere, and it was like the battle never happened. The shops we thought we destroyed were back in one piece. Clearly, this is Hecate's doing."

"She must've cast a spell on the entire city. An illusion." Rain suggested. "She is also known as the goddess of the crossroads. She is known for making her travellers stranded. I'm sure once we set upon her territory, it would automatically turn into a complete ghost town. It would be like civilization never took place, and her black dogs will start howling. As for her servant, well... we're going to have to deal with her first."

Lucius and I nodded in agreement. "Hecate must have rigged the entire City. So I guess we have no choice but to stay together, ALWAYS." he continued. "but why?"

Lucius began scratching his head, thinking very hard of Hecate's vague motives. Then I remembered something.

"The enemy of the past." I murmured.

"What did you say?" Lucius asked.

"I see what Hecate is doing," I said, feeling enlightened. "She is hiding something. And that is the enemy of the past."

"Do you mind on elaborating on that, Masahiro?" Rain said, unconvinced.

"I'm not sure if this is right, but I think Hecate must have a specific spell in creating illusions." I explained. "And then she casted it on this city. Everytime we reach a specific territory, like Times Square and the Jailhouse, the people don't disappear. We do."

"How is that possible?"

"Whenever we reach a territory….. we get teleported to one of her crossroads." I said. "As for the illusion part, she must've created one and implanted it in her roads, so that we could still be convinced that we're still in New York."

"So are you saying were not in New York?" Lucius asked, becoming slightly scared.

"Now we are," I answered. "The pigeons in that cage are living proof that we're in the mortal world. But, if people and animals suddenly disappear and the place becomes absolutely deserted, then that would mean we got teleported in her crossroads."

"Then how did we get back to New York?" Rain asked, overwhelmed.

"By defeating her minions, I guess." I shrugged. "The Laistrygonians from earlier are obviously working for her."

"What does this have to do with the enemy of the past?" Lucius asked.

"I am getting to that." I told him. "As I said earlier, Hecate is hiding something in New York."

"You mean the enemy of the past?"

I nodded. "She must've known that demigods were going to come here, so she devised a plan to distract us before we could reach to it."

"You mean to say," Lucius cupped his chin. "Each time we reach her 'territories', we are automatically brought to the crossroads. She did that so we wouldn't be able to find the enemy."

I grinned. "You got it."

Emo kid scoffed and flexed his calloused fingers. "As expected from someone like her." He said, smirking.

"If that's the case, then we'd better hurry." Rain said, looking ahead with a serious look on his face. "If she's distracting us like this, then that would mean this enemy of the past is not only valuable, dangerous, and strong. Probably big, since it's hiding in this city."

"Yeah, big enough to squash Olympus." Lucius pointed out. Rain nodded.

"So what should we do now?" I asked.

"Find the servant." Rain declared and stood up. "Come on. Let's find these so-called 'crossroads'."

(O u O)

Lucius chanted something in Greek and the Furies somehow came, out of the blue. I shrieked at the sight of them, and I hid behind Rain. I still remembered them from my first bus ride to Teterboro. One of them tried to kill me.

Strangely, they ignored me and followed Lucius' orders in searching for Hecate's 'crossroads'. Rain hauled a taxi and managed to persuade the driver to take us anywhere, by showing off a large amount of cash that Chiron gave him before we left. "New Yorkers." Rain muttered.

We drove around the city for hours and hours, following the Furies. It eventually grew dark. I leaned by the window, thinking of how inferior I seemed.

Lucius had amazing shadowbinding skills, while Rain can control the weather and blast lightning just like his father. They were sons of the Big Three. Me? Well, all I could do is come up with strategies. That's all. I did not have any other special abilities that would vaporize or manipulate an opponent. If these two were the strong elites, then I was probably useless in this quest.

My eyes grew heavy again, fell asleep, and I had another strange dream.

I dreamt….of my mother. She was not in her usual Greek Armour, surprisingly. She just wore a brown coat and brown leather boot. She almost looked like a female version of Sherlock Holmes. I knew it was her right away, for I recognized her long dark flowing hair and her piercing grey eyes. It was dark, extremely foggy, and it was raining, so I wasn't able to make out where she was. But I was able to notice that she was holding something in her arms. Something very delicate.

I followed her quietly to a small Tatami home. My eyes widened. Was this the night when she gave me to my father?

I came closer and hid behind a huge rock at the front yard. She knocked on the door and cradled the delicate thing in her arms. It was a baby she was carrying, no doubt. And I was so sure that it was me she was holding.

My father never explained this incident in full detail. I was afraid to ask him about it, since he was always sensitive and touchy to topics that involved my mother. So not only was I getting drenched, but I could feel my adrenaline pumping hard, apparently feeling the jitters. When the door finally opened, I expected to see my father's face. Instead, I saw a couple. And neither of them had the face of my father.

I raised my brow in confusion. Isn't this supposed to be the night my father took me in? If it is, then how come my father is nowhere to be found? Could they be people who knew him? Random thoughts raced through my mind. My life has been very mind-boggling. First, Hecate's irritating goals and this crazy quest, and then this dream. What was my subconscious mind trying to show?

Soon, my mother spoke up. "Good evening, Mr. and Mrs. Fujihara." She said, giving them a bow of respect. "My apologies for my tardiness."

The old couple invited Athena to come inside, but she declined for she had other matters to attend to. I began to roll my eyes, then I suddenly stopped. Fujihara?

"Is this the child you speak of?" the man said, peering over the infant.

Athena nodded. "This is Elle."

The woman gave a gentle smile. "Why, she is so pretty."

"I'm sure she'll become a great individual, since she will be under your care." The goddess assured, handing over the bundle of joy to the decent couple.

The woman gently took the child from her. As soon as she did, Athena gave them a bow. "Arigatou-gozaimasu." Then she left. Just like that.

All of the sudden, my dream shifted. From land, I was underwater. For some reason, I did not bother to struggle. I just allowed myself to slowly sink lower and lower. Shockingly, I could still breathe and I felt very relaxed. That is, until someone appeared beside me.

It was my freaky twin again. This time, her eyes were close and she looked like she was asleep. Strange, even though we were both underwater, I noticed a tear escaping from her lashes. I just stared at her. Usually, I would run or try to get away from her, but I did not feel fear or anger. I honestly did not know what I felt when I saw her.

I began to wonder who she was. Is she that girl that my mother gave away? Is she also a child of Athena? Why does she always appear in my dreams? How come I feel connected and drawn towards her?

I kept on asking myself questions I knew I couldn't answer, until she abruptly opened her eyes.

My eyes flew open and the first thing I saw was Rain's grin. "Hey, Eve." Rain said.

I suddenly blinked my eyes back to reality. "Huh?" was all I could say.

"Man, you look like you've seen Melinoe. You ok?" Lucius asked. I just nodded, only noticing that Rain was actually carrying me like a damsel-in-distress. I struggled to get down, and he gently did so. I ignored him and fixed my dishevelled outfit.

Lucius let out a cough (I could've sworn I heard him snicker in between those coughs). "Good, because Alecto and her sisters picked up movement." I turned to see that we were in front of Central Park Zoo. When we entered, all of the animals were in deep sleep, and there was not a single security guard in sight. Not only that, I stepped on something interesting. It was a box of Pocky. I picked up to see that it was empty.

"What's that, Eve?" Rain asked.

"A box of Pocky." I replied.

"You mean that chocolate stick snack in Japan?" Lucius asked. I nodded.

"Strange it looks... new." I've observed.

"Guys!" rain called. "Check this out!" We all went to where Rain was, and we saw a graffiti painting on the wall. However, it was not just any ordinary graffiti. It looked like the walls were telling a story of some sort. It contained a lot of black dogs, and above them was Hecate (yes, I recognized her) holding two flame torches. There were two beings at each side. One was a person in a dog mask; it was obviously the servant I fought. However, I couldn't tell what the other one was. It looked like...a dragon.

"Could this be some sort of... battle plan?" Lucius asked.

Rain shrugged. "What really bugs me is this creature at the right side. Could this be the enemy of the past?" I stepped towards the wall painting and reached for the camera in my jacket pocket. I took a photo, and a flash came. Afterwards, I looked at the tiny screen of my device. In there, I saw the servant, doing the graffiti art herself. Rain and Lucius came closer to me, and took a glimpse of the moving snapshot. Later, Hecate came into the picture. She started praising her for her masterpiece, and she began treating the girl as if she was her own daughter.

"Could it be that the girl is a daughter of Hecate?" asked Lucius.

"It may be possible. One thing's for sure, this is her territory." I said. Then we heard howling of dogs.

"Here they come." Rain said, wielding Kairos. Lucius got his stygian iron sword out (sorry, the name of his weapon is pretty hard to pronounce.), while I got out my USB rod (I know, I suck at giving names). We all prepared for whoever was going to come out. Soon, we heard a giggle. But we didn't know where it was coming from.

I stayed close to Rain and Lucius, for I had no intentions of fighting alone again. Our eyes kept searching for the petite voice, until I found her on the top of the aviary.

"Above!" I warned my comrades. They immediately looked up and glared at the girl. She was playing with a yoyo, and kept on giggling like a maniac as usual.

"So that's the servant of Hecate." Lucius said, gritting his teeth. Despite his aggressive look, however, I could tell right away that he was expecting something from this girl. It was like he was wishing that she was... Sophie.

The girl sat there for a long time, playing with her yoyo. I couldn't help but notice the toy she had. As she kept playing with it, the yoyo got bigger. It got bigger and bigger, and it eventually turned into her meteor hammer. Rain smirked at this. "Some weapon." he scoffed. The girl with the dog mask continued to giggle. Soon enough, she was no longer sitting on the top of the aviary. It was like she disappeared in thin air.

"Darn! Now where did she go?" Rain muttered.

"Just keep your eyes open! She can appear anywhere!" I said. I was so focused on looking for her around the vicinity, that I failed to notice her flying above us. "Eve! Look out!" Lucius cried, pushing me away. The next thing I knew, a spike ball hit the ground beside me. I glared at our opponent, who was still giggling. I blinked again to see that she was already fighting with Rain. But, it looked like he couldn't land a hit on her. Then I realized he was only distraction. Lucius was already summoning his shadows, and they crept towards her. They were about to grab her, but she was too quick for them. Lucius could not even believe it.

She was right behind me, but I was ready for her. I dodged her meteor hammer, and I hit her chest with my rod. This sent her flying to the monkey cage. I lunged for her, throwing stilettos at her. She managed to dodge them, and she climbed up to the cage. "Oh no you don't!" I said, climbing the cage as well.

When I reached the top, I was greeted by her meteor hammer. But it was a good thing I managed to dodge it.

Eventually, it was just me and the servant.