Archive of Our Own ^beta

Rowan was wandering the forest that day.

Walking along the paths she wandered through for years, humming the same soft melody that alerted the tree nymphs that Rowan was in the north woods yet again. Killing the occasional monster, stopping to rest underneath a tree every now and then.

It was a pattern she’d grown used to, a simple activity that passed the time. Dangerous? Maybe. But she’d gotten accustomed to dire and nauseating circumstances a long time ago—this was what she was taught to do! They could handle it! 

It was late evening when it happened—a change in the atmosphere.

Rowan knew who it was, of course. She could recognise her presence from miles away. 

After all, it was the goddess that picked her up one day after an encounter with cyclopes, the goddess that took them under her wing, the goddess that trained them to be the greatest witch since she was only seven years old, the goddess that Rowan saw as her mother.

Hecate.

“Mom!” Rowan grinned. She got up from her spot underneath the tree, never hesitating to get closer.

Hecate only looked at her calmly. She never displayed much emotion, though Rowan simply brushed it off as “tough love” or “just her personality”. 

“I’m not your mother.” she said flatly.

Rowan only laughed. “Yes you are! Closest thing I’ve got, right?”

If only she took it seriously beforehand. It was dangerous—getting attached to people that never cared. 

Hecate only scoffed with a sound too quiet for Rowan to hear. “If you’re so determined…” she murmured.

“Huh?”

Hecate shook her head. “It is nothing. Go pack your bags.”

“ What?! ” Rowan immediately protested. “ Why?! Is it something I’ve done? I’m sorry if I was lousy last practice, I’ll make it up to you, I swear —”

“ Enough. ” Hecate said, silencing Rowan. 

It wasn’t unexpected to realise that she lost the ability to speak, even if it was just temporary. Just another one of the spells Hecate used to have her follow her command. 

“You know a war has officially begun, yes?” Hecate asked calmly. “One led by Kronos with plans to overthrow Olympus, yes?”

Rowan frowned. Why were they talking about this?

“Well, yeah, but what does it have to do with—”

“I thought you were smart , Rowan.” Hecate said. “Seems like I was misled in my previous assessment of character.”

Rowan’s heart sank. Hecate thought she was stupid.

She wasn’t stupid, right?

…Right?

“What do you mean…?”

She sighed impatiently. “Pack your bags. You will aid me and side with Kronos during the Second Titanomachy.”

Rowan’s jaw dropped incredulously. “ What? No! I don’t want to betray my siblings—”

Hecate snapped. “Why— don’t you want to side with your mentor , Rowan?”

Rowan hesitated. “But…” she trailed off, now unsure.

“Well?”

“I… I don’t want to choose sides, mom.” Rowan frowned. “I don’t want to betray my friends. My siblings. Can’t we just—”

Hecate scoffed. “Don’t be silly. Don’t bother trying to save your siblings, you’re with me . You’d be dead if I didn’t save you, remember?”

“Please, mom!” Rowan pleaded, desperately tugging at Hecate’s right hand.. “We don’t need to overthrow Olympus, just—”

“Rowan.” Hecate said sharply. Her voice cut into the air like a hot blade, newly forged and deadly. “You either choose me, your mentor, the only reason you’re as great as you are, the one who's been by your side for six years, or, the siblings that you barely know and the camp that’s only ever relentlessly bullied you for years.”

Rowan swallowed. “How did you—?”

Hecate laughed. “What, you think I don’t keep tabs on my children when they’re not with me. Don’t be ridiculous. I care, Rowan. They don’t. Join me.”

Rowan looked downward. Her gaze was fixed on her beat-up shoes, as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. 

She didn’t want to choose. Not between the woman that was practically her only mother figure throughout childhood and the friends she always wished to have.

She didn’t want to fight in a war she never asked for.

“Mom, please…” They muttered weakly. “I don’t want to—”

She felt Hecate’s gaze harden. Rowan could tell her words ticked her off, even without looking.

“Ah.” Hecate said coldly. “I see.”

Rowan flinched. She recognised that tone—sharp, cruel. The tone she heard whenever she couldn’t perform a spell quite right, or cast hexes weaker than usual due to the Underworld’s impact on her as a child of the sun. 

Dread filled the pit in her stomach. They knew what was coming next—a hex, a sharp lecture, or something along the lines of the first two. 

Thing is, Rowan would have been fine with that. It was a form of discipline, she reasoned with herself. Hecate only ever wanted the best for her. Her sad excuse of a biological mother did much worse, she was lucky to have Hecate.

“I’m sorry—” were the only words Rowan remembered uttering, a meek, desperate attempt to pacify the anger and disappointment directed at her.

Rowan awoke in the infirmary days later. They supposed Hecate placed a minor coma hex on her, nothing too bad.

That was until she saw the still-healing scarring.

“Wha…” Rowan mumbled. She looked around to see a concerned Will Solace rewrapping what looked like scars littering her visible body with bandages. “Will?”

Will looked visibly startled to hear their voice, before his expression shifted to one of relief.

“Oh, thank the gods, Rowan, I didn’t think you’d make it—”

“What? Make what?” Rowan frowned. “What do you mean?”

“We heard you scream—well, Chiron and a couple campers did because they were on the outskirts of the woods—by the time we found you, you were passed out in a pool of your own blood.”

“ What? But the last thing I remember—...” Rowan trailed off. 

“The last thing you remembered…?” Will prompted, still visibly concerned.

Rowan racked her head for answers.

Hecate couldn’t have done it, right…?

She never hurt her this badly before. Only a couple scratches and bruises.

Right…?

Rowan swallowed.