WHO: Hecate, Kaden and Morgan WHEN: Saturday night (24th) WHERE: Manitoba, Canada WHAT: Hecate hitches a ride on Morgan's broomstick WARNINGS: None
‘Expect my presence once the sun has set,’ had been beautiful words from Morgan, a woman who understood the power of the night. If it was up to Hecate, she would have spent the rest of the daylight hours asleep on Delphine’s couch, in front of the fire and surrounded in dogs. It if was up to Hecate, she wouldn’t have stepped out of the sanctuary of this house till dark had fallen.
But the mortals were daylight creatures, and when they rose, Hecate forced herself up too. She knew her behaviour was odd, and that everyone in the household had breathed a sigh of relief when she told them a friend was coming to pick her up, although to their credit they tried not to be obvious about it. They were kind people, but their kindness wasn’t limitless, and Hecate was wary about outstaying her welcome.
Her lack of magic, lack of power, vulnerability and alienation… people usually prayed to her to guide them through these things. Stepping out into the sun when Delphine’s husband locked up the house made her feel even more exposed, she was never quite herself in the daylight hours, and now… she barely felt herself at all.
But she was stronger than Kaden, so she had to keep her head. Rationally, she knew it was unlikely she would come to harm in this busy little village, with the giant presence of Hecuba at her side. These were no longer the days when a lone woman who stumbled out of the woods with a black dog on her heels would cause a deep and violent suspicion in the mortal world.
Just a little suspicion, just one that said… we’re not unhappy you’re not staying another night…
Hecate didn’t blame them. They’d been kind enough. They’d given her clean clothes, sanctuary to sleep, they’d given her food for herself and both dogs. Delphine made a mean coffee. It was enough.
She was pleased to see Kaden start to eat a little more (though his appetite was nowhere near the voracious hunger of Hecuba – or Hecate herself) and that he was getting the hang of drinking on his own. He still hobbled about on three legs, though, and wouldn’t let anyone touch his throat, but he stuck close to Hecuba, and Hecuba stuck close to her, so there was no need to try a put a collar on him.
She didn’t think he’d run from her. She hoped he wouldn’t try to run from her.
The three of them slowly walked the length of the town as the morning passed. Hecate let Hecuba lead the way, and one by one they ran across most of the dogs she’d met the other night, some of them walking their humans, others tied up in yards, all of them happy to lick Hecate’s hand when she offered it, though she did have to do a little trespassing to get to some of them. Kaden lasted half a block at a time before he needed to be carried, and though her arms and back still ached from carrying him for so long the other night, she managed. The strength was returning slowly to her body, if nothing else, yet.
The lack of magic continued to become more disturbing by the hour, and the growing sense of disconnect from the land was worse. She didn’t belong here, she was more vulnerable here than she’d been in a long, long time, and her whole body knew it. Messaging Qebhet helped a little, but Morgan’s arrival would help much, much more.
Soon, though. Soon. A few more hours. All she had to do – all she could do, was wait.
In the afternoon, Hecate set up camp in a booth near the window of Delphine’s diner, eating her way through several people’s worth of food (at least she hadn't lost her wallet, at least the power of a credit card didn't fizzle out at the border.) Even after her third plate, she still felt like there was an emptiness in her. Hunger wasn’t the most accurate way to describe what she was feeling, but the food did help. Kaden slept a lot, stretched out in the booth beside her – or rather he went to sleep a lot, and woke up shortly after, as soon as his muscles started to twitch like he was running, running in his sleep – and very often he woke up yelping, or whimpering, or in complete, frozen silence.
After one such nightmare he bolted, faster than her reflexes, faster than Hecuba could raise her head, fueled by some deep panic. He hit the swinging doors so hard he pushed them open (though he yelped again in pain as he did) and escaped out into the car park, Hecuba hot on his heels and Hecate not far behind.
She didn’t dare call his name. She’d been using it in secret, only allowing herself to speak it in the moments when they were alone. She didn’t want him to forget who he was, but shouting it across a car park felt like inviting trouble. Without magic, she had no sense of where that trouble might come from, so it felt like there was danger waiting everywhere.
So she couldn’t call out to him, she could only follow as he scooted into the middle of the long carpark, turning around in fast circles like he, too, was expecting danger from everywhere. Hecate looked left, right, behind her – nothing seemed to be coming for them. No Ares, no sudden appearance of Apollo (though she wished the sun would hurry and slip below the hills - she felt watched.)
To her right, an engine started up – a mobile home was pulling backward out of a lot in front of the motel, and Hecuba bounded toward Kaden to grab him by the back of his neck in her enormous mouth to carry him out of the way. Hecate knew she was being as gentle as she could – but Kaden still screamed, an undoglike and harrowing sound of his mouth. He thrashed in the air as Hecuba carried him toward the sidewalk in front of the motel, safely out of the way of any reversing cars, and Hecate ran over to try and calm him. He escaped Hecuba’s grip before she could reach him, though, and bolted away – right down the far end of the carpark, where he threw himself under a parked, black car.
Hecate dropped down to her knees on the damp pavement, crouching to look under the car. He was cowering, right in the middle, out of easy reach. “It’s alright,” she told him. “I’m sorry, Hecuba’s sorry, she was just trying to get you out of the way. I can’t lose you to a car, Kaden, not now. I can’t lose you to anything, you have to stay close to me.”
It didn’t matter, though. No matter how what she said, or how long she sat on the ground beside the car, Kaden wouldn’t budge. Hecuba lay down beside her, her head under the car as well, watching, but still he wasn’t moving. A couple of people walking past stopped to ask if she was alright, but Hecate waved them on. He’d come out in his own time, she was sure.
And eventually he did calm down, and pulled himself on his belly to sniff at one of the rear wheels. Hecate shifted position – the cold of the ground was seeping into her tired muscles, and sitting here for too long was uncomfortable. Kaden emerged from the other side of the car as she stood up, and he stood, too, his good front paw up against the driver’s door, his wounded leg held close by his side. He barked once, and mouthed at the door handle, though it was nothing a dog could open. But still, he tried again, at the back door, and around near Hecate he tried the passenger door too, before whining deeply and running back around to the driver's to try again.
Hecate looked in through the back window, and saw the car seat, and the bags, and the little microwave, and the sleeping bags and blankets and all, and understood. This was his car, this was his car and the desperately helpless whine coming from Kaden right now as he went round and round, trying every handle, was the most animated he’d been since the change. “Oh, Kaden, if I was myself I could unlock this in a moment,” she apologised, and reached for the handle to try it anyway. Kaden yelped, his whole body shaking with anticipation, but when the handle didn’t budge he sat down by the back wheel and wailed.
She rather felt like wailing too. It had been a long time since she’d felt this powerless – it was a different kind of powerless to bleeding out from a gunshot wound in a park, entirely different. But mortals must feel this way, all the time, so she would bear it. It was worth it, to save his life.
With a heavy puff of breath, Hecate sat down on the curb again, and stroked a hand down Kaden’s side. “I know,” she said to Kaden, as he crawled away from her, underneath the car again, his mournful whines breaking her heart. “I know, but Morgan will be here soon, and then we can go home.”
Though what home there was left for him in New York… Hecate didn’t know.