Book of Panacea

by Tineke Peeters

  "Crossroads are points in life, where you need to choose. Whether it be going left or right on an actual crossroad, or a decision in life. For gods and goddesses such as you, this means power and destiny."

  Phatostai was nodding and absently petting Apples' butt. I wasn't sure if he realized it, but Apple was breathing deeply and enjoying the moment. Me? I was confused. I thought we just got our powers and the rest is faith.

  "Aren't the Faiths in charge of destiny?" I thought this was a reasonable question. Apparently, I was wrong.

  "Those, and excuse my words, bitches are in charge only of life and death. It is the choices you make that define your destiny in life. Our lives are extremely long, and we are to some extent, immortal. But I am getting off track; my job is to train you in whichever path you choose." She stopped talking again. These were some serious choices we had to make. No one ever told me that this was what happened once you got your powers, I just thought we got them and then we're here to hone them so as not to harm anyone while practicing.

  "I will warn you once, as it is very tedious to do this again and again; I do NOT decide for you. You have to make these choices on your own. I can help by giving advice and some protection, but in the end, you are the one that has to ask the right questions of yourself and make your decision." Gods, how many times is she going to say decisions and choices? I mean, we get it; do it yourself is the main advice here.

  "By the end of your training, the choices will be made, and the direction of your path will be clear; and obviously, you will have honed your skills in the powers that result from your natural and intellectual instinct." Again she looked around with this serious look on her face; it was disconcerting how serious she was. This is very important and not something to trifle with. I looked up at Maria and saw that all the amusement from before had disappeared off her face. She nodded at me with the same serious look as Hecate.

  "Is this clear?"

  "Yes," Phatostai said while nodding his head. This time slower than before, as he also knew of the seriousness of the situation we were in. He must not have known either.

  "Yes," I answered.

  "How exactly will the choices appear?" I, for once, asked an intelligent question and Hecate inclined her head approvingly.

  "The choices appear whenever they feel like it. With Phatostai, it was the protection bubble. The choice was made when he used it to protect all of you from little old me." And, she was back to the silly Hecate of before.

  "And for me?" I asked.

  ***

  22

  I closed my eyes and watched my thoughts float around me, I had to pick one. Panacea blushing when I kissed her hand; I smiled and pushed it aside. I picked another one, here; Panacea had the brush in her hair. Shaking my head, I pushed that one aside as well. Sparky getting his memory back was the next thought, it was a sad one, but I did not ponder on it long and pushed it aside as well.

  Now my mind was clear, I took a deep sigh and relaxed further. Arriving at a field of flowers, I was surprised to see Panacea. I smiled and walked towards her, but she held out her hand to stop me. Eyes wide with fright, she looked at me. No not at me, behind me. Before I could turn around to look, I was engulfed in a ring of fire. Looking up I saw Panacea had tears in her eyes; a dark shadow emerged behind her and grabbed her, as I heard a sinister laugh echoing around me. Both the shadow and Panacea disappeared. I panicked, I had to help her! I had to get out of these flames!

  I took a step forwards and stubbed my toe on a rock; it made me lose my balance and there was nothing I could do. I would get burned alive, but when I fell, I did not feel the fire, I was not burning. Opening one eye, I saw that the flames were all over me, but instead of burning me they were caressing me. Slowly, I sat up and watched the flames warily; one flame seemed to get a face. Sure enough, when looking at the flames closely, they all had faces. They were smiling mischievously, making me smile. One of them landed on my knee and was doing some kind of dance, as the others watched. When this one finished, the others did the same dance; it was cute to watch.

  So this was my power then, fire. But in what context, I wondered. Fire is normally just a sign of the arrival of someone's powers, not an actual power. Thinking about this, I saw the flames and field disappear and I was back into my mind with all kinds of thoughts running through it. So many that I got a headache and woke up from the meditation.

  Hecate finally took mercy on us and told us to 'procrastinate;’ whatever that means and to make sure we can tell her all about the meditation in the morning with a fresh start.

  ***

  24

  "Cyriel, my poor baby!" I run towards Phatostai who is kneeling in front of a fizzling Cyriel. Phatostai looks up at me with helplessness showing in his eyes. I am not fazed the least.

  "How could you?! He is an innocent." In my subconscious, I realize he is not to blame, but I still yell.

  "And how are you not protecting him from this? It is a training island, a safe environment!"

  Now Hecate looked at me wide-eyed.

  "I am not to blame here and neither is Phatostai. It is your parents or whoever added all these creatures on the island with you, you are supposed to be here on your own!" Now she was yelling.

  I was seeing red, clenching my fists, I screamed. I just screamed, no words, just one loud scream. This was all the fault of everyone that thought it was okay to keep me hidden from the other gods. Now, this happened. After meeting so many new gods, creatures and powers, I was in a turbulence of emotions. I could not take it anymore. My hands went up to my head to try and keep it together. Still, I was screaming at the top of my voice.

  I opened my eyes and stopped screaming; finally calming down.

  I took deep breaths and looked around, it was deadly silent.

  Phatostai looked as if I had slapped him; he stood up and walked away without a word. I wanted to call him, but he was fast and my voice was hoarse from all the screaming.

  "Are you calm enough now to heal me? Cause if you need another hysterical outburst, I would appreciate it if you did it further away. My ears are still ringing." Cyriel said.

  "You don't have ears Cyriel, and yes, I am calm." I took another deep breath and knelt down next to him. I was exhausted, but the need to heal him was so strong inside me that I instantly knew what to do.

  Closing my eyes, I hovered my hands over his tiny body. I saw that the injuries were superficial. Some feathers were singed to the bone, but there was no internal damage. The ointment for the burns on his skin was something called Aloe Vera, I never heard of it before. For the feathers themselves... Time, was the only cure.

  I opened my eyes and bit my lip. Cyriel being the vain creature he was, was going to be horrified.

  "And? What is the medicine?" He asked in a pitiful small voice. I swear if he had arms, he would put one over his eyes in a theatrical gesture. I rolled my eyes, such a drama queen.

  "The conclusion is that I can heal the burns on your skin with something called Aloe Vera; I’m sure the Cornucopia can provide it. The feathers are another thing altogether." My voice was hoarse from all the screaming and came out as a croak.

  His beady eyes opened wide, he was not going for drama now. He was genuinely worried.

  I realized now that there was no great damage done by the fire, but still, watching him fall mid-flight in a smoky spiral to the ground had been heart-stopping. On the other hand, my outburst was totally uncalled for and I had no idea that I had bottled up all those emotions.

  "You can fix them, right? Some are gone, they will grow back right? Some magic potion, maybe?" I focused back on Cyriel and shook my head.

  "No, time and rest will be the only cure for that." I croaked.

  Horrified, Cyriel looked towards Hecate. "Surely you can magic my feathers back?"

  Hecate shrugged and said, "I can put a glamor on them, but not grow them back."

  Cyriel shook his head in disbelief. "Lottie?"

  "Nope," Hecate answered
before he could yell for Maria. They were somewhere else; as Hecate decided it was too dangerous for Maria to be in the surrounding area with a fire wielder. Not that Phatostai could wield fire exactly; just scare the flames into flight. And see how well that went with Cyriel around...I was glad Apple was still fast asleep behind the tree I put him.

  "I am going to kill him" Cyriel swore.

  "I am going to ask for the Aloe Vera from the Cornucopia." I decided that I could do that, and maybe figure out an apology for my behavior towards Phatostai. And figure out why I had that outburst in the first place

  "It is best you stay with Cyriel and I go look for the Cornucopia, it moves quite a lot and I know my way around the island better than you." Without waiting for an answer, Hecate moved away.

  Lying down on the grass next to a moaning Cyriel, I tried to analyze my strange behavior.

  It was absurd to react over the top like that. Was it the shock of the moment? The immense emotions of everything that had happened in such a short time? I did not know.

  "Cyriel? Are you okay?"

  "How can I be okay? I have lost my beautiful looks. I will look hideous even if the burns are healed." He was just being his dramatic self, so I guess he was okay after all.

  "Cyriel?" I asked.

  "What is it Pana?" He was still trying to check his tail feathers, not giving me much attention.

  "What do you think made me react so weird?"

  "Pana, you Loooove me! And... You are weird, girl!" He answered. Now I got his full attention as he realized I was worried.

  "Thanks, Cyriel! You are such a gem." I rolled my eyes at him. "Be serious!"

  Cyriel sighed, "Pana, you have come to a different island for the first time, helped a mother dog give birth to a three-headed puppy, again for the first time. You raised the puppy at the same time as meeting a god of your own age, for the first time; you ended up in the mind of a unicorn the first day your powers showed themselves and met another goddess for the first time. That is a lot of firsts to deal with. To top it off, I got hurt during a training session. That was the last drop and you burst."

  "That makes sense, actually." It was a normal reaction to emotional overload according to Cyriel. I had nothing to compare it to, so I just shrugged my shoulders and accepted Cyriels' explanation.

  Closing my eyes, I drifted off.

  A very loud and angry scream woke me up. I jumped up and looked around to see Apple awake, and ambling towards me. He made his first proper steps on the account of a scream that had terrified him.

  When the next angry scream shook the island, I got up and picked up my whimpering baby.

  "Ssh, baby, it’s okay." I held him close and started rocking him. I looked back at Cyriel and saw he was worried too. What should we do, I wondered.

  ***

  25

  Hecate

  I picked up my skirts and walked off at a fast pace.

  "This whole training of two gods is not going well; why would anyone send the girl with an entourage? It is so unnecessary; and just plain dangerous." I knew mumbling to myself would not help the issue, but it annoyed me to no end. They should have known better, but then again, I am sure no-one was supposed to know she was on the island.

  I decided I needed help. Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath and raised my arms upwards.

  "Artemis dear, I call upon you for some advice. Please assist me with the knowledge necessary to be able to teach this young goddess." I hoped she was not busy as I could only invoke her once; ‘cause it was not within my power to invoke her or any other god twice in one day.

  When nothing happened, I continued in the general direction of the Cornucopia. Arriving at a tree, I took a minute to get my bearing. I saw a flame in front of me and realized this was where Phatostai had gone; he was sitting in the same meadow as the Cornucopia. I sighed, there was no way around him without him noticing me.

  I am terrible at comforting anything or anyone, so sighing, I pushed away from the tree and took a step forward, only to get surprised by a tap on my shoulder. Barely able to stop a squeak from escaping my mouth, I turned around with my hands stretched out in front of me. A spell was on my lips, but my arms dropped to the side at the sight in front of me.

  "Hey Hecate, how is it going?" Artemis stood there in all her glory, casually leaning against the tree. She was wearing a white gown that was elegantly draped across one shoulder. She was the epitome of what a Greek Goddess should look like, and I hated it.

  "Artemis, sweet innocent Artemis. What have you been doing with yourself these past, what is, 50 years now?" Crossing my arms, I glared at her. She disappeared at the same time as Apollo did, but now I knew why.

  Artemis narrowed her eyes at me: "You know well enough by now that I was in hiding with Apollo's son. After that, I was not interested in answering questions and advised Asclepius to do the same. How is it they used to say on Earth? Stay off the grade or something?"

  "Stay off the grid, you mean." I had spent more time with the humans on Earth than any other god or goddess. So the slang of humans was one I was familiar with, but haven't had the chance to use it in a long time.

  "Yes, off the grid; and it has been successful so far. Only now you 'summon' me, and since I had nothing else to do, I was forced to appear. Please, do tell why?" Artemis crossed her arms and stood across from me in the same stance as I was standing; I decided the best course of action was to relax my pose to seem less threatening. I wanted answers, and I would get them.

  "I have Apollo's grandchild, little Panacea on the island to train, which I am sure you had something to do with?" Artemis inclined her head.

  "What you don't know, is that there is another god here that was announced to start his training. So now, I have two students and a ridiculous entourage of a Dryad, fairies, a dog, and bird." I threw up my hands and glared at her.

  "The bird is now burned, thanks to training both together; and now I need some explanation as to what to do."

  It seemed I had shocked Artemis speechless because she was gaping at me. She came out of her shock and speech was returning fast.

  "You have got to be kidding me! Out of all the times, there has to be a god in training NOW?!" She was shrieking now and turning red, not an attractive color on her I noted.

  "There are hardly any young gods or goddesses, but now there is one right here at the same time?" She asked.

  I nodded and pointed behind me, aware that Phatostai might have heard us.

  "You have got to be freaking kidding me! What is He doing here?" She asked.

  I frowned. "You know Phatostai?" I asked. She said she had been in hiding all this time, how would she know the young god? Turning around to look at him, I realized she was looking at the Cornucopia, not Phatostai. When I saw who was next to the Cornucopia, my mouth dropped open.

  I swear, if steam could come out of my ears, it would right now. Clenching my fists, I could barely control myself. Through gritted teeth, I answered. "I don't know, but I will find out."

  "You don't know! How can you not know! It is your island, you should have been aware." Astonished, Artemis stared at me. It was true, I should have felt him arriving on the island.

  "He must have just arrived, but no way in his Hell, is he staying here."

  "Are you sure you didn't hide him here?" Artemis' eyes were slits now. But I could also hear an undertone of concern.

  "Why do you care?" I asked curiously. It took the steam out of my anger for a bit.

  "If you did not know he was here, there can only be one reason he is. He is here to kidnap Pana." She whispered.

  "No way, as far as I know, Hades still knows the difference between the Cornucopia and a goddess," I smirked now at Artemis.

  "Yes, you should definitely know." Now it was her turn to smirk. I turned away from her to watch Hades put on his helmet of invisibility and try to pick up the Cornucopia.

  "Hecate, you have to do something, he can't know about Pana."

  "I am aware
of that, but he also can't take the Cornucopia, as it is needed for the training and for my own survival on this island. I will take care of it. Can you visit later on or do I summon you again tomorrow?"

  I didn't wait for her answer, as I saw Phatostai getting up to speak to Hades. I made my way over and whispered in Phatostais' ear: "Get out of here and let me handle him. He need not know anything about anyone if you know what I mean." I glanced at his flame and hoped he understood; I was talking about Panacea as well. He nodded and slowly moved away.

  Pushing my boobs up a bit to create more cleavage, I advanced on Hades hoping to seduce the truth out of him. Hopefully, I could control my fury. If not, ... He would look cute as a rabbit and Apple could learn how to hunt. I knew my grin was evil right now, so smoothing my facial expression; I sashayed over to the Cornucopia, where I knew Hades was even though he was invisible.

  ***

  26

  "Hades, darling, I know you are there, you handsome devil." Okay, maybe I was overdoing it a bit, I needed to be careful. He took off his helmet and dazzled me with his smile, gods; he was bloody gorgeous!

  "Hecate! My sweet little witch, what are you doing here?"

  I had to make a serious effort to stay nice, as I knew he was taunting me. Little witch was what he used to call me when he had done something, and wanted my approval.

  "I work here; this is my island more or less." I said. I put my hand on my hip and pouted.

  "What are you doing here? I haven't seen you in ages! Not even when Earth burned. Where have you been keeping yourself?" I could see his expression turn sour for a second, then he smiled again.

  "I have been island hunting."

  "Huh?" This took me by surprise. "Care to explain?"

  "Not really," he teased, "but since it is you, I will make the effort. I lost my Palace as it was on, or rather in, Earth. So I have been staying at Zeus'. That was until I found this island and will petition him for it. See, we can make it our island. Dark colors as I see you still like, lots of shadows and of course puppies!" He was smiling at me as if he were giving me a treasure, by now, I was confused. Didn't he have his own island? But this one was mine by default as I was the trainer; or, would he be the trainer then?