The First Daughter

Lilly sat on the ground, with her knees to her face, arms wrapped around her legs, and she rocked back and forth, with wide frightened eyes. I thought it was funny and cute but I decided to stifle a laugh as I try to light a fire instead. Lilly's eyes darted between me and Darren, who was sleeping, with his face bandaged, up against Blackjack. All the pegesi were fast asleep also: they deserved rest after the squabble with the ashy Drakon.

I worked hard on the fire so I wouldn't worry about Darren, or laugh at Lilly.
"Ar, Ar,. are you, sh,sh, sure, you, sh, sh, should be, light,t,ting a f,fire?" Lilly stammered practically starting an earthquake with her shaking. Either from the cold or it was anxiety from Lilly's fight with the Drakon: My bet was both. I looked at Lilly and sat on my haunches with my arms on my knee, "We need to keep warm." I replied.

There was a pause as I continued to work and Lilly turned her head over to Darren, "Wh, what, di,di,did you d,do, t,t,to him?" She managed to say.
I stopped for a second and looked at Darren and worked at me fire again and replied, "I dunno: I just told him to relax and he fell asleep in my arms."

I worked harder and a spark jumped up from the flint and landed on a dead dry pack of leaves. It hardly caught on so I helped in along and gently blew. I tried a couple of times and the fire jumped in front of me, so I backed away and let it burn. I took some small kindling and set it beside the leaping flames. I sat back and looked over at Lilly and asked her about the thing.

"U?" Lilly asked, suddenly her voice becoming strong again.
I sighed and decided that I was going to be patient with Lilly, "About the Hecate thing."
Lilly stopped rocking back and forth and relaxed only slightly staring at the glow of the fire, "I, I think that my mom is Hecate. I haven't been claimed yet but..." She paused.
"But what?"
Lilly looked at me and replied, "Everything points to it."
"How so?" I asked.
"Umm," Lilly laughed nervously looking away again, "I don't know where to start."
"Where is the beginning?" I asked her.
She looked up and replied, "Shreveport." She half whispered.

Shreveport: That is a horrible memory. Separated from everyone, that horrible, snake smell, people crowing around me like a wave, being carried into a hole, Demios coming out of nowhere, the bottomless hole, darkness, green smoke and cloud, blacking out, then waking up to the nightmare in the cab that I like to call the killer taxi.

I shuddered and listened to Lilly as she began to tell her story, "It first started when I started to hear a voices, correction: voice, telling me that she was a victimized and that I needed to avenge her. Then Darren went missing and after that people separated me from you. I heard both you and Darren scream, and I started to panic as the voice just kept saying that she was a victim and I needed to do something about it. Suddenly I smelled something and I looked down and saw a cloud of green with sparks snapping at my feet like little fireworks, and it thickened and it suddenly, like lifted me up straight up close to the ceiling.

"That was when I saw her. I, I didn't know what to think. But luckily Hecate spoke, "Utilize your power Lilly McWish." She told me.
I asked her how she knew me, but Hecate said that it didn't matter and said that you two were in danger and that I was the only one that I could save them. Hecate's tone was like I was in trouble or something like I had just taken a cookie from the jar when she didn't tell me too.

"I looked down and saw that you guys were facing off your own monsters, you were about to be thrown into Tarterus, I think, while Darren was fighting off a Lamia.

Lamia: My Uncle (duh) Apollo told me stories about the first one, apparently she angered the gods (I mean who doesn't?) and they turned her into a half-snake woman with a thirst for young blood. Kinda like the Greek version of a vampire. But sometimes (if the conditions were right) if a Lamia sucked the blood of a young woman, then she'd become a Lamia as well.

"But anyway," Lilly continued, "I suddenly felt this pressure on my shoulders, like a ton of SUV's had suddenly dropped on them. I couldn't save you guys, I mean, I was an unclaimed. I couldn't! But Hecate kept yelling at me to do something, saying that only I could save my friends. I kept screaming at her that I couldn't, she yelled at me that I could. I tried to concentrate maybe I could do something but nothing happened other than getting this massive headache." Lilly paused as her voice began to break, "I. I even went to my knees. I swear I could smell the magic in the cloud that I was sitting on. I screamed bloody murder as the pressure kept piling on me. My stress level went beyond my limits as I heard you guys scream from fear, my stomach turned over and over."

I watched Lilly as tears started to fall from her face as she tried to continue, "I looked up to Hecate, for mercy I guess, but she just looked down at me, disappointed, and I remembered one thing she said before I passed out, that I had "failed her"."

The fire crackled as Lilly tried to gather her thoughts. Darren groaned and tossed his head from side to side but remained asleep. I looked over at him for a second to see if he would do anything else but he didn't and I returned my attention back to Lilly. I started to wish that I was asleep but I remembered that something was out there and Lilly needed to vent on what was going on, so I knew to stay awake.

Lilly continued, "Then there's just now. You told me to go but shortly after leaving I stopped Blackjack and heard Hecate's voice in my head, telling me again that I was the only one that could save you guys. I turned my head and saw your butts being kicked, no offense. "

I laughed, "None taken."
Lilly smiled and continued, "Blackjack said that he was game and we turned around and for some odd reason, it was like a switch that was turned on or something cause I felt this surge of power course through me, and I smelled magic. Then the next thing I knew I had broken a spell that had kept the Drakon together in the first place."

Lilly paused and turned her head to me, "Hannah, I have a confession to make."
I wondered what it could be so I replied, "Shoot."
"I've been lying to you about my age."
"How? Why?"
"Well I don't exactly know when my birthday is, the orphanage only have a guess on how old I am, and we usually celebrate on the day that I was found on the steps of the orphanage." Lilly paused, "That was thirteen years ago today."

"Indeed it was." A voice said.

Both Lilly and I whirled around to see a, taller, older version of Lilly standing before us, with a goddess presence around her. I got up quickly out of respect while Lilly got up slowly. I bowed slightly while Lilly just stood there, waiting. The goddess smiled at me, "I wonder why the gods debated to kill you Hannah Batson: Daughter of Artemis. You have much respect."
Even though I guessed who this was I asked anyway, "Who are you?"
"I am Hecate." She replied, "Goddess of the Mist and Magic."

Notes

Whew finally got this done! Sorry it took so long guys!