Young Writers Society

"Listen," Amy said. "I think there's been some kind of confusion. I don't know I'm supposed to be here. I'm... just Amy. I'm a teacher in Seattle. It's 1996, where I'm from. And I want to go back to my time."

She noticed as the door swung open. She looked over at the sofa. The Heineken was still there. It was going to be really hard not to drink after all of this.

Wilson nodded slowly, looking at their poor normal, human, teacher companion.

"Amy, I have compassion for you, and if I were any less of a not-normal person I would probably feel the same. But it seems like that's probably Thana's friend and we're just gonna have to roll with the punches. Even if the punches are weird! And wacky!"

"But if I know anything, we'll figure out how to get you home soon. Just give it a little bit."

Hablex didn't know what to do for Amy's sake.

She herself felt like she barely was understanding this world and this cabin for that matter, but then someone declaring himself as the god of death to appear, and then mentioning a friend. So this person might be the reason for the cabin itself, and perhaps them being here in the first place.

She did agree with Wilson's positivity, but she couldn't think of anything else to say besides, "If someone can bring us back, then, hopefully we can help."

Although a part of Hablex would miss these peculiar people she met.

"Thana?" a voice called - young, feminine and energetic - from the floor above. "Are you in here? I tried checking the forest, but something must have been off with the spell."

"I'm here," Thanatos said, but his voice was so quiet that Wren doubted the newcomer could actually hear what was being said. But whoever his friend was seemed to guess that Thanatos was in the basement; it wasn't long before Wren heard her coming down the stairs.

The girl that emerged from the darkness was...colorful. Wren couldn't think of any other word that could really describe her. She was wearing a bright pink, sleeveless dress that went a little up before her knees, despite the weather outside. The dress wasn't the only odd part of her appearance: there was the tall black boots, bright blue hair that went down to her shoulders, one pink eye, and one purple eye. And, most importantly - or strangely - of all, there was a witch hat perched on her head. The hat had a purple ribbon around it, and there was a cute, almost cartoonish skull button on the ribbon.

Thanatos immediately made a beeline for her.

The girl blinked.

"...Oh," she managed to get out, staring at the others in the room. "That's unexpected."

“Ohhh a pretty lady!” Wilson chirped. “Hello. Are you responsible for us being here or are you as confused as we are?”

Just then, another woman appeared who was dressed like she would have been right at home at a Madonna concert. Still, everyone else acted like they knew her, and Amy

Amy's head was starting to throb. "I'm Amy," she said. She waited for the woman to answer Wilson's question before she asked any others.

Hablex began to wonder if all other worlds could be this weird. Since not only had she met a girl that could shape-shift, someone who literally was time, and then the god of death, another stranger appears talking about a spell.

And the new arrival was a sight to see, if one could blink past the many colors she was wearing. Maybe Hablex should stick around in this place to meet even more eccentric people.

She felt like laughing, but her giggles sounded hollow just in her mind, so she figured she should probably hold off on doing that in front of the others. No need to worry them further.

The girl - woman? - gave a questioning look in the god of death's direction. Seeming to notice just how flustered he was, she turned back to Wilson.

"Hi," she said, giving a little smile. She leaned in a little bit and looked Wilson over. Wren wondered if she could somehow tell that Wilson was time itself. Something, Wren realized, Amy was completely oblivious to. "I'm just as confused as you are about all of this - no one's been here lately, right?"

The last question was directed at Thanatos, who looked like he desperately wished to be somewhere else than in the room right now.

Thanatos shook his head.

"Ares and Athena wanted to," he quietly said, "but then they decided to have a date night at home."

The girl crossed her arms and pursed her lips.

"Hmmm," she said, drawing out the 'm' sound. "There goes that theory, then. Everything was perfect the last time I was here, so I wonder why it's getting weird now?"

She thought for another moment, then seemingly remembered that Amy had spoken.

The smile returned, this time in the form of a grin. The girl straightened and placed a hand on her chest in an almost comical way.

"I'm Hecate," the girl offered. "Greek goddess of magic, subordinate to Hades, and one of Thana's best friends."

Amy blinked. Of course. It was all starting to come together now. They had to be in some alternate universe where the Greek Gods were not only real, but very much active.

"Okay," she said. "But are there any more of you?"

She taught a basic course on the Greek myths in her class, but that was in the springtime, one of the last things they did that year. "And, uh, why us?" She asked Hecate. When she didn't respond, Amy added, "well, if you see Athena, tell her I say hello."

Hecate tilted her head - presumably in confusion.

"In general or here right now?" she asked. "For the first one, yes. For the second one, no - it was just supposed to be Thana and me here today."

Wren hadn't expected Greek mythology to suddenly become real when she woke up this morning, but there was something about both Thanatos and Hecate that made her feel somehow comforted. Maybe it was because one of them was the goddess of magic; Wren had always suspected the shapeshifting had something to do with some innate magic.

Or maybe it was just that - once you took away their strange clothing - the two gods were surprisingly similar to regular people.

Hecate crossed her arms. Thanatos shifted so he was slightly behind her.

"I'm trying to figure out why you're here," she admitted, "but I really have no idea. But magic can be a little chaotic sometimes, so..."

She glanced back at Thanatos.

"...We should ask Lucifer for help," Thanatos quietly suggested.

Hecate gave a wise, knowing nod.

"I'll text him right after this," she agreed.

"Wait," Wren interrupted, "you know Lucifer?"

Images of a suit-clad devil popped into her head. Wren knew it was silly to think of FOX's Lucifer instead of the actual Lucifer from the Bible, but she had never been religious. And Lucifer was technically property of DC Comic...

Hecate nodded again.

"Yeah," she said. "We're friends. I don't see him nearly enough, though, so this is the perfect excuse to get together!"

Wren stared for a moment.

She wasn't sure if it was out of the sudden realization that she really had no idea what was going on, or the realization that she was standing in front of two gods, but she reverted to her nervous habit of cleaning her glasses.

"...Where are we?" she hesitantly asked.

Hecate grinned.

"You're in the Winter Wonderland," she said. She gave the wall beside her an affectionate pat. "It's a little pocket reality. I've been making a lot of them lately, but this one is the first. It's like magical virtual reality, but it's not just a game."

"So, you made this place, but you don't know why we're here or how we get home?"

She thought about her brother and sister, probably going about their lives as if nothing was wrong while she was stuck here. She had the urge to say more, but held back.

"Surely if we were brought here, there has to be a way to bring us back." But the girl had said she was friends with Lucifer. "Why should we trust you?" Amy added.

Wilson nodded, humming to herself while rubbing her chin, even though she had no beard to stroke in thought.

“She has a point. Not all gods are trustworthy. I mean, look at Zeus.”

From the looks that briefly passed over Thanatos and Hecate's faces, Wren had a sneaking suspicion they weren't that fond of Zeus, either.

"I don't know why you wouldn't trust us," Hecate hesitantly said, her voice laced with confusion. She glanced over at Thanatos - only to discover that he had moved behind her. "We've only just met."

She looked back at the rest of the group and gave them a smile again.

"I might not know how you got here, but I never said I didn't know how to get you back," she said. "Transportation spells are easy - even if they might involve moving people between realities."