Chapter Twenty - Ensnared

I decided to do a little exploration of the Waystation while the others celebrated the news of Emmie and Jo's adoption. Don't get me wrong, I like babies as much as the next girl, but I didn't think my high body temperature would be very good for holding infants. Besides, the place was huge!

Truth be told, I had to peel myself away from the main area. In one corner of the main room gleamed a chef's kitchen which was big enough to host several celebrity cook-offs at once. Definitely put Uncle Joe's place to shame - not that it was a competition or anything. At the center of the hall stood a massive dining table of rough hewn redwood with seating for twenty, and at the far end of the hall, under the rose window, was Josephine's workshop area.

Table saws, drills, lathes, kilns, forges, anvils, sewing machines, cauldrons, welding stations and several other industrial appliances lay scattered around in a way that probably only made sense to Jo. There was so much to look at just there, that if I didn't look anywhere else, I probably wouldn't get the chance later.

To the left and right there were raised walkways with wrought-iron railings, and elegant Victorian lampposts lined the walls. Behind the railings, rows of doorways led into other rooms. About a half dozen or so ladders stretched up to the ceiling where giant birds roosted on the ledges that were stuffed with bedding. The first set of doors I checked led to a series of spare rooms set up like a motel. The next doorway opened into what looked like a fully operational hospital complete with that industrial disinfectant smell. I would not be exploring that room, thank you very much!

I was so engrossed with what I was seeing that I wasn't paying attention to where I was going, which is exactly how I managed to find myself swinging from the ceiling in a net trap like the monster of the week in a Scooby Doo cartoon.

"Well, what have I caught now?" The woman's voice was smooth as butter - I think that's a saying I'd heard before. I never understood it until now. My first thought was monster. Then she dropped down from a set of rafters that had been in the shadows near the ceiling and I had to immediately reassess.

The woman had rust red eyes and long, auburn hair tied in a braid that looped across her shoulders and around her neck like a hangman's noose, and the look she was giving me was like a large predatory cat about to pounce. She was hot, and I was in trouble.

"Um..." I gulped.

"You're new," she purred. Purred! Like a cat. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, you know," I gestured nervously, causing the net to spin slowly to the left. "Just hanging around."

"How clever," she grinned, as if genuinely amused. "Are you stuck? Do you need help down?"

I almost said yes, but something in the way those red eyes glinted in the light of the hallway made me pause. This was a test, I was certain of it. Instead, and with great willpower, I forced my gaze away from the dangerous woman and examined the net. The ropes were new and well woven, so there would be no way to snap them easily. I supposed I could go full ignition and burn my way to freedom, but noticed the sprinkler head of a fire suppression system directly over my head. Bad idea! Maybe I could cut myself free? I reached for my knife, only to find the sheathe empty.

"Looking for this?" The woman asked, holding my knife and gently tapping her chin with the point of the blade.

I grumbled under my breath as the net began to rotate to the right. I was going to get seriously dizzy if this kept up. Then I saw it. A small flaw in one of knots visible only for a half second as the lighting shifted. Grinning triumphantly, I reached up and worked my finger through, widening the gap and undoing the tangle. Unfortunately, had I thought ahead, I would have remembered to hold on to something. Instead, as the tension was released, I had only a brief moment for a sharp intake of breath before I fell to the floor below.

"Ow..." I groaned, rubbing my backside.

"Oh, very well done!" The woman applauded. "Clever and resourceful. I think I like you. Wherever did you find her, Artemis?"

I looked up to see Artemis leaning against a door frame two doors down.

"We met in Manhattan," the goddess said. "She's been with us since."

"And yet, not with you."

"The girls have grown attached," Artemis replied.

"I can see why," the red-eyed woman grinned like the glint of light off a sharp blade. "Allow me to take her in."

"What?" I asked.

"Why?" Artemis asked.

"She is very powerful."

"She is right here," I said. "And, she has a name. Penelope."

"Oh do forgive me," the woman said, not sounding at all contrite. "I am Britomartis. Goddess of nets and traps."

Of course she was a goddess, I mused. At this point I wondered if every goddess was actually a super model. Or maybe it was the other way around? I shook my head. No time to get distracted!

"What do you mean by you 'want' me?" I asked.

"You have potential, Penelope," Britomartis said. "But it is not being realized. Dear Josephine can teach you what she knows."

"What do you get out of it?" Artemis asked.

"The new child is noisy," the goddess of nets responded. "It bothers my babies. As I can't always be around ot comfort them, I would like someone to look after them and be sure they are taken care of."

I blinked. A goddess wanted me to babysit?

"I don't do diapers," I blurted out.

This time, it was Britomartis' turn to blink. And then she laughed.

"She means her griffons, Penelope," Artemis said. "They are her sacred animal, and she considers herself their mother."

"They are such wonderful creatures," Britomartis said with a soft smile. "And no diapers required. Though, that might make cleaning up after them easier in one regard while presenting a whole range of other difficulties."

"Ultimately, the decision is hers to make," the goddess of the hunt said, turning to regard me with those chilling silver eyes. "Do you wish to continue traveling with my hunt or would you prefer to remain here for the time being, taking care of griffons and potentially learning greater control of your abilities?"

"I..." I hesitated. On the one hand, I had made so many friends in the hunt. Realistically, I knew it couldn't last, but I also wasn't in a hurry to end it either. And I was looking forward to seeing Colorado. But at the same time, my powers had a tendency to get out of hand if I didn't keep them under tight control. I really didn't want to hurt anyone on accident if it could be avoided.

"As much as I want to be selfish and stay, it's probably for the best that I learn better control. If Jo will teach me, I will be happy to stay and learn."

"Oh, listen to you being so formal," Britomartis teased, then turned to Artemis. "I'll be sure to take very good care of this little one, don't you worry."

"She is only available until the Winter Solstice," Artemis said. "After that, I am to bring her back to Manhattan with me should she wish to go back home."

"That should be plenty of time."

The older woman couldn't refuse when Britomartis asked her to teach me. Like, literally could not refuse. Jo had even offered me a sympathetic smile as if to apologize for being dragged into whatever whim directed the goddess. Truthfully, I didn't really mind all that much - the hardest part was saying goodbye to the other girls when the time came for them to move on. After much hugging and promises to see each other again, they finally left and I was alone again.

Well, not so alone. Britomartis (who told me to just call her 'Brit'), turned out to have a great sense of humor and was genuinely fun to be around when she wasn't intentionally being terrifying. Emmie and Josephine were interesting company as well. Apparently the two of them had been hunters together before leaving on good terms in the eighties. They were also together together - like in an actual relationship and everything! Was that something girls could actually do!? Since when was that an option? My mind boggled.

When it came to helping me train my powers, Jo really knew what she was doing. My excitement about actually finally learning magic didn't dim, even when she started explaining things in more technical terms using physics and math. If anything, it helped me understand what she was talking about better. I might have guessed that she was a child of some crafts god like Athena or Hephaestus considering her workshop area, but in reality her godly parent was Hecate. Her mortal father had given her an initial interest in mechanics, and she had nose dived from there.

Jo had asked me to demonstrate my abilities, so I showed off by channeling my flames from my fingertips to my shoulders on both arms, lengthening my hair and changing the color for good measure, and finished with my Aura Sight. Unfortunately, I quickly hit a wall when it came to practical study beyond what I could do innately.

"This is a puzzle," Jo said with an uncharacteristic frown, then she grinned triumphantly. "I've got it! You're a pretty logically minded kid, maybe actually seeing it in action will help you figure out how to do it yourself."

"I remember seeing Celyn use magic for healing," I said. "I was watching her do it, but I don't think I can replicate it. I tried."

"Were you watching with your eyes or with your Aura sight?" She asked.

"I... You're right!" I beamed, excited. "Let's try it!"