I wrote down everything that had happened at the hospital, gaining a few more 'key questions'. I suppose the main thing was to figure out who this 'He-' was. Maybe starting with Norse Mythology? That sounded like a good idea.

I typed in 'Norse Mythology He' and clicked on the first suggestion, making the He, Hel. I found out she was the guardian of the realm Hel, which we refer to as hell. She was outcast from Asgard because she was too ugly to fit in with the Ǣsir, a lot like Hephaestus was outcast from Olympus. I also found out that her symbol is the Hagalaz. Now I had a palpable connection between the two. I wrote that down in big letters, circling and underling for effect.

Just as I was about to look a bit further into it, there was a knock at the door. Closing my laptop and hiding my notes, I went over to answer it.

"Rose?" I asked, thoroughly surprised to see the little demigod here.

"Hi, Eden," she said happily. "Can I come in?"

"Sure," I said, moving back and opening the door.

She sat herself down on the sofa.

"So, what's up?" I asked.

"My dad came to me," she said, a little self conscious. "He got a letter address to you the other day, but it had no return address. When he tried to open it, he couldn't. I think whoever wrote this only wanted you to see it." She got the letter from her bag. "My dad asked me to give it to you. Said it'd get me out the house and save him time all at once."

I inspected the letter. The paper was thicker than average, a dusty brown colouring. My name was scrawled across the front in elegant green ink, shining slightly. It was the same handwriting as on the wall, and on my notes. It was from him.

"Thank you, Rose," I said. "I'll open it later, eh?"

She jumped up a little. "Oh, of course!" she said hurriedly. "I'll leave you be, I'm sure you're very busy!" She made for the door.

I grabbed her arm. "There's no need for you to go if you don't want to," I said.

She shook her head, smiling. "No, I'm okay, thank you. I should be getting home anyway. My mum doesn't like me out on my own for too long."

"If you're sure," I said to her, opening the door.

"I'll see you tomorrow!" she said, waving as she left.

"See you," I said. "And thank you for the letter!"

I closed the door and sat back down, the letter in my hands. I stared at the handwriting, trying to decipher who could be behind it. One of my cousins – on my dad's side - was very interested in graphology, the study of people's handwriting. I tried to remember what she'd said about it.

The writing itself was rather small. I remember that means that the writer is not all that confident yet can also indicate a great thinker or academic type. The pressure of the writing was heavy on the page as I could see where it had dented the envelope. This indicated commitment and a serious nature. However, the writing itself was slanted to the left, which I remember to mean that the writer has many reserves and is true to themselves before anyone else. This can mean they are resentful to people who try to force responsibility on them.

I quickly wrote all of that down so I didn't forget. I also wrote 'double check' next to it because whilst I was confident in my memory, I may have gotten a few things wrong.

Then I went to open the letter. I hooked my thumb under the leaf of the envelope and tugged. It didn't budge. I tried again: still nothing. Why couldn't I open my own mail? I turned it back over. There was Eden Lee Llewellyn in green script, so it was definitely for me. So what was the problem? Then I noticed the rune drawn onto the envelope. It was a simple line, but I recognised it. This was Isa, meaning a challenge or frustration. Basically the envelope was sealed.

Why send me a sealed envelope? Sighing, I set it aside. It was no use to me at the minute. I glanced at the clock on the wall: 12:45. I put together some lunch and sat back down. I thought about tomorrow, pushing the letter out of my mind. I'd have to keep an eye out for any more runes I could spot. Maybe find a way to reverse them? Apparently the reverse version of that rune worked as they cancelled each other out, but how to cast a rune? I'd look into it. Spotting the runes themselves would be tricky, because they would be tricky to spot. How to over come that?

Then I had an idea. Starting my laptop back up, I searched for rune meanings once more. There was this rune, Ansuz, which looked like a slanted F. With a start, I realised it was the same one from my dream. Someone was showing me true visions. Huh. One of its meanings was revealing a message, as well as truth and true vision. In theory, I could see through any spell. I wonder if it worked with the Mist? I'd have to look into that at some point.

One of the ways I'd read about a rune being cast is via a rune casting, but that was mainly for divination and so would be pointless in this instance. If this mysterious force behind all this could enforce a rune through writing it down, could I? I got a blank piece of paper and drew Ansuz. I held it up and looked around the room. Everything looked the same, but then I hadn't expected anything to have changed.

I went into the bathroom and pulled down the neck of my shirt. I used a small amount of Mist to cover up a very nasty scar I got from one of my battles with Phoebus. I held the rune next to it. The Mist flickered and cleared, showing the scar that ran from my collar bone down to my elbow. You really don't want to know how I got that. But at least I now knew the rune worked.

Now I had to figure out how to use it conspicuously. Having a sheet of A4 paper and waving at people might give it away I'm up to something. Well, true sight implies using your eyes. What if I drew it on my eyelids? That didn't actually sound like that bad of an idea. I had skin toned make up that I could cover it up with and still make it look natural enough to pass as my actually skin.

I found a pen I knew I could trust and carefully drew the rune, making sure to draw it so it wasn't reversed. That could lead to all sorts of problems. When I was done, I looked at my reflection. I could clearly see my scar, yet I could feel the Mist still in place. Wow. I had to test run this. Grabbing my jacket, I headed back into the city.

It was like walking around a completely different London. Just walking through Green Park I noticed all sorts of things I'd never seen before. I could see the nymphs in the trees, the naiads in the lake. I even spotted a few Kabolos scaring the mortals and causing mischief. How could I not have seen all this before? Obviously demigods weren't as good as seeing through the Mist as we thought!

I spent a good few hours in the Park, not even bothering to go around the rest of the city. The runes worked, that was all I needed to know. There was still this niggling feeling in the back of my mind that I shouldn't be using them. They were 'not condoned', after all. Persephone's words rung in my head: the results are often not what the user intended. Well, I hadn't seen a lot of unforeseen consequences as a result of the runes. Or was that just because the people using them were experienced sorcerers? Well, regardless of the risks, I knew I was ready for tomorrow.