*Clarissa*
Davina, Rosalie, Avalon, Nemesis, and I had gone around the city, pouring Hecate's potion over the petrified citizens. It wasn't easy and once they returned to normal, they demanded to know what had happened. Rosalie used a spell to alter their memories, making them forget the entire incident.
It was necessary. The humans were bound to ask far too many questions if we told them the truth and not knowing was safer for them. Ignorance was dangerous, but in this case it was bliss.
We had finished curing petrified victims earlier and were now on our way back to the lake house. Sure enough, a few moments later, Nemesis pulled the car into the driveway.
She shut the car off and the five of us sat there in silence for a few moments. We still hadn't discussed what had happened last night with the Fates. But I knew we needed to talk about it. So I took a deep breath and shattered the silence.
"Look, I know last night was...awful to say the least, but I know that we're all going to make Eris pay for this," I told them.
"Have any of you been down to the cave yet?" Nemesis asked.
I shook my head and there was a chorus of no's from the backseat.
"You guys should go down there," Nemesis told us, "They...they aren't totally gone."
I looked at Avalon, Davina, and Rosalie and then the four of us jumped out of the car and rushed down to the cave in the lake house.
We entered and found the Fates laying on their stone slabs. What had Nemesis been talking about?
I got my answer when a shimmer of light came down from the ceiling and the Four Fates appeared as ghosts.
"Oh my Gods," Rosalie gasped. I covered my mouth in shock.
"What is this?" Avalon asked.
"Calix, is it really you?" Davina asked. The youngest of the Fates nodded.
"It's me, Davina," he assured her.
"How are you here?" I asked.
"We seem to exist here and in Hades' palace for now," Arrow replied.
Rosalie reached out to hold Soren, but her hands went right through him. He gave her a sad smile.
"Sorry beloved," he told her, "We're essentially ghosts and you know what that means."
Rosalie nodded and bit her lip.
"Clary," Arrow called out. I turned to look into his ghostly dark blue eyes. "Don't...don't give up on us."
"Never," I replied, "The potion worked. The citizens of Moonshell are back to normal."
"That's good. I suppose that's the silver lining in all this," Arrow sighed.
"Any idea how we're supposed to stand up to Hemera?" Rosalie asked the Fates.
"Hemera is powerful, but she's at her most powerful when she's with Aether," Arrow explained, "You should talk to him."
I nodded.
"But be careful, Aether may not be as hostile as Hemera, but he still believes demigods and humans are beneath him," Soren cautioned.
"We will, beloved," Rosalie assured her soulmate.
"Do you still have some of the potion left?" Calix asked.
Davina nodded.
"We saved some of it, just in case Eris goes on a petrifying spree," Davina replied.
"That's another thing we need to figure out," I noted, "We need to get that shield away from Eris. She can't be allowed to turn anyone else to stone."
"We'll figure it out," Rosalie assured me.
Then I heard Davina gasp in horror.
"Calix, you're fading!" she exclaimed.
"We can only spend so much time here," Calix sighed.
"I guess this means you have to leave," I told Arrow.
"Yes, but I promise we'll be back as often as we can," Arrow assured me.
And with that, they vanished in a shimmer of light.
Talk to Aether...
Steal the shield...
Make Eris and Hemera pay...
I wasn't sure about the first two, but I knew that we needed to succeed at the last one. We needed to make those two Goddesses pay. Only then would the Fates be restored to us.
Davina, Rosalie, Avalon, and I went out to the dock and sat down on it. The four of us sat in silence, but I shattered it, knowing that we needed to talk.
"Look I know that this isn't necessarily what the four of us signed up for when we bound ourselves to the Fates," I told them, "But it is what it is now and we need to deal with that."
"We need to make Eris pay," Davina whispered. Avalon and Rosalie nodded in agreement.
"And we will," I assured her, "We'll all make her pay and ensure she feels every last bit of pain that we felt when we were forced to say goodbye to the Fates."
And I knew right then and there that the four of us had made a vow. We wouldn't stop until we made Eris suffer for what she had done. She had taken away our soulmates...the ones we loved. She had separated us from them. She made it so that we couldn't touch them. She forced them to become ghosts. She caused all of this.
These next few weeks were going to be hard and I think we all knew that, but it didn't change anything. The four of us were now more determined than ever. With the Fates temporarily out of commission, we needed to take up their duties and that meant that we needed to safeguard the fates of the people of Moonshell. Something else that Eris loved messing with.
She needed to be stopped and I knew that between the four of us, we could put an end to this. But the journey to Eris' defeat wouldn't be easy and I think we all knew that. But at the same time, we were all willing to fight this battle. For the people of Moonshell. For the Fates. But most importantly, for ourselves.
We needed to defeat Eris and we needed to do it soon. She couldn't be allowed to harm anyone else.
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