Chapter 27

• Cursed. That was all Athena could think about when she and Hecate were in the carriage. She hadn't listened to anything else that Poseidon had said to her after that word was spoken. And when he saw how she wasn't responding and was trapped deep in her mind, he knew that he had to send her back up to the surface. That is where Hecate had greeted her, yet Athena only stood up from the water and walked out of the cave and up those golden stairs. With a worried black haired girl trailing behind her, wondering what had happened down there.
• Cursed. The word repeated itself over and over again in her mind. It burned in her mind and it was slowly poisoning it. The mind can be your worst enemy if you're alone and she might be with Hecate in a carriage, yet she feels alone. She's alone in her mind and it burns her and thinking about this is even worse. On top of everything else that has happened to her, this happens. She might have gotten more courage from coming back to life, which she still doesn't understand, yet she feels like that courage has crumbled to the ground, as if it was never there at all.
• The more she thought about it, the more horrible this was. In her village, there were stories like this. People tell stories of things that aren't real, yet perhaps she's realizing that all those stories she heard had a bit of truth in them. Witches, magic and worlds after death do exist. Maybe she's overthinking this though, or maybe she's not even thinking this through enough but all she can think of is him and what has happened to him and what she can do to help. And she realized that she can't.