Natural Causes

**Natural Causes** is a case featured in *Criminal Case*. It takes place in *The Kidnapping Of Persephone* chapter of Graecita.

## Plot

Previously at Graecita, after the *Hamilton Laurent’s Revenge* got sucked by a whirlpool, a huge crowd gathered at the shore, in shock of what happened. Being informed of this incurrence, Norah and the city guards showed up at the docks to investigate what happened. Marionette, who’s apartment is close to the sea, noticed the large number of people at the docks and wondered what’s going on and so she went there to see for herself. She met with Norah who told her about the whirlpool sightings and that one of the ships parking on the docks was reported missing. Norah did not tell Marionette which ship, but when she heard about this, she remembered that Madelina said she’ll be attending a boat party and knew exactly what ship Norah was referring to. Scared for her friend’s life, Marionette foolishly jumped into the water despite her minimal swimming skills and began looking for Madelina under the sea. Unfortunately, the only signs she found of her and the ship was a sailor hat Madelina had worn when she visited her today, which she had dropped when the whirlpool was taking her. Marionette was about to pass out from the water, but Norah had jumped into the sea and got her out before she could drown. Once they had reached the land, Norah scolded Marionette for putting her life on danger, who began crying about the likelihood Madelina could be dead, regretting what she told her in their last interaction.

The next day at Mount Olympus, Artemis had just woken up and went to the kitchen to grab something to eat, only to find it in complete mess. She then realizes that Natalie and Madelina is here and asks the latter what they are doing. While she is making a blueberry pancake mix, Madelina tells Artemis that she intends to practice potion brewing but since this is a risky hobby to get into, she decided to train with cooking first and surprised her friends with breakfast. She then offers the mixer to Artemis, asking her to taste the pancake mix and tell her if it tastes good. Artemis did what Madelina asked and didn’t like the taste at all, but she lied and told her friend that it tastes great. Happy with the mixture, Madelina pours it on the pan and instructs Natalie to watch it as she wants to chat with Artemis. Madelina and Artemis move away from Natalie’s hearing distance, and Artemis questions Madelina what she wants to say to her, who asked Artemis if there’s a chance she can rejoin her pack. Knowing that Madelina was no longer a virgin, Artemis reminded her about the rules of her pack, which Madelina did not forget and begged Artemis to make an exception like she has done for the late Renée Diouf. Artemis refused, highlighting that Madelina consented to sleeping with Chet and that the only reason she welcomed Renée was because she didn’t make the choice of losing her virginity so giving Madelina the same treatment would be spitting on her grave. Madelina was disappointed, but she understood that her request was selfish so she chose not to discuss it further, but Artemis noticed something was off about her and asked her why she wanted to come back. Madelina explained that she no longer feels welcome in the HL’s Revenge and that for the past 9 months, the crew was acting cold toward her. She goes on by telling Artemis that the crew was never exactly fond of her, but at least they acknowledged her as a part of the team, but now it seems like they are trying to avoid her and she feels like she must’ve done something that made them hate her, but she has no idea what it is. But she suspects that it has something to do with Mia, who made it very clear how much she despises her, and so Madelina is trying to appease to her, hoping to restore things back to how they were. The boys are sleeping at the living room and Zachary hears Madelina’s ramblings, but pretends to be asleep hoping to avoid a confrontation. While Madelina is venting to Artemis, the blueberry pancakes begin to bubble, and not knowing what she’s supposed to do, Natalie consults Madelina’s advice. Madelina tells Natalie to flip the pancakes, and Natalie flips the WHOLE PAN. Madelina starts freaking out and quickly puts the pancakes back to the pan, and they ended up looking messy. She panics, as those pancakes were supposed to be Mia’s and Natalie offers to eat them and Mia could have hers instead, but this wasn’t an option as Madelina made normal pancakes for everyone and the blueberry pancakes were specifically for Mia, hoping to get into her good side. Artemis assures Madelina that the pancakes don’t look “that bad”, so she continues baking them and soon the girls of HL’s Revenge wake up and come to the kitchen, joined by Hasuro and Zachary. Once they have all sat on the dining table, Natalie and Madelina served the pancakes and the crew began eating. None of them liked the pancakes, but not wanting to make a scene, they stayed silent and pretended to enjoy their meal. The only person who didn’t get their pancakes was Mia, but soon Madelina served her a plate of blueberry pancakes. Feeling suspicious, Mia asked why her pancakes were different than the rest, and Madelina lied by stating that she happened to find blueberries in the fridge and knowing how much she likes them, she decided to add them to her pancakes. Mia declined the meal and Maverick finally came to the table, his eyes on Mia’s pancakes. He decided to take a bite and unlike the others, he didn’t hide the fact he disliked the pancakes and since he’s the only one who had a bad reaction from eating the pancakes, Mia assumed that Madelina deliberately served her bad food and stormed outside. Madelina was confused, but she then took a bite from own pancakes, spitting the food out from disgust and she questioned the crew about how could any of them enjoy what they’re eating and they all smiled awkwardly. Once everyone was done eating, Artemis was ready to take them to Demeter, but she told the boys to stay behind as the goddess was not fond of mortal men. The guys tried to protest, but for no avail and so they agreed to stay in Artemis’ place until the girls are done inspecting Demeter’s fields. The girls all went outside and as soon as Natalie and Madelina stepped in the yard, an excited Bambi ran toward them and forced them to mount his back. Artemis, Yoyo, April and Ophelia each mounted one stag, leaving behind two for Mia to ride. Mia tried to get on their backs, but none of the stags likes her because of her behavior back at the alps and they threatened her to back away. Since none of the stags are willing to let her mount them, Mia was forced to walk the journey to Demeter’s fields while everyone else gets a ride.

Artemis is leading the way to Demeter’s fields. Since she was the only that did not get a ride, Mia found it difficult to keep up with the girls and by the time they made it to her mother’s dwellings, she was worn out. At the fields, the nymphs were busy harvesting crops and getting ready for the winter, but when they noticed Artemis coming, they dropped everything they were doing and ran to greet the goddess of the hunt. The nymphs noticed the rest of the girls, and were shocked at seeing the clothes they were in (All of them with the exception of Natalie and Madelina were wearing swimsuits) and they offered to dress them up style their hair. The girls were reluctant, as they had a mission to complete, but they gave into the nymphs’ offer, who dragged them to the woods to play dress up with them. While the girls are having fun with the nymphs, a frankincense tree nymph ran to her fellow woodland spirits, panicking, and announced that a nymph by the name of Clytie was attacked by a carnivorous plant. This caused a panic, and wanting to calm everyone down, Natalie and Mia decided to go save Clytie and asked the frankincense tree nymph to lead them to her. The nymph, whose name is Leucothoe did as she was told and led the duo to the carnivorous plant, but it was too late as Clytie was already dead.

After taking a look at the scenery, Natalie and Mia came to the conclusion that the only way the plant could’ve attacked Clytie is if she came close to it and since no would is stupid enough to go near a carnivorous plant, it was obvious someone fed her to it and they were dealing with a murder. Since Leucothoe was a witness, Natalie and Mia decided to interrogate her and she claimed that she was busy collecting frankincense for her to sell and she heard screams from the forest and when she followed them it led her to Clytie being eaten by the plant. Leucothoe tried to free her, but she did not have the strength to fight the plant so she went to look for the other nymphs to help her. Since they failed to get answers from Leucothoe, Natalie and Mia began investigating the murder by their own, finding reasons to suspect Daphne, a naiad who was transformed into a laurel tree thousands of years ago, and they had an encounter with the goddess Demeter, who they chose not to ask about Persephone, knowing if she was in the fields, Demeter would deny it but if she wasn’t and Demeter learned about her disappearance, the world would suffer her wrath. While they were discussing the murder, Yoyo approaches the duo and tells them that she has a lead about the victim.

Yoyo explains that she and the other girls were chatting with the nymphs and they learned that the victim often visited Eros’ temple to receive spiritual guidance from him. Natalie and Mia decided to head there, suspecting Eros himself but also finding reasons to add the god Apollo to their suspect list, who Clytie has strong unrequited feelings for. During the investigation, the duo discover that Clytie and Leucothoe are the daughters of a titan called Oceanus, making the two sister and that the two were close until Clytie learned that Apollo had feelings for Leucothoe and wanting the god for herself, Clytie tells her father about their relationship and he punishes Leucothoe by burying her alive, but she was eventually resurrected as a frankincense tree. Natalie and Mia also learn that Leucothoe wasn’t the only “lover” of Apollo Clytie mistreated, and that she was also harassing Daphne, who Apollo had a big crush on (which Daphne didn’t return). While they were recapping the case, Natalie and Mia could hear Ophelia screaming.

Feeling concerned for their friend, Natalie and Mia went to see what’s bringing Ophelia distress and caught her getting chased by Apollo who was trying to get a kiss from her. Ophelia did not want to kiss him, but Apollo wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer and from the way he was acting, it was clear he was put on a spell. Apollo wouldn’t let go of Ophelia, so Artemis had to step in and shoot her brother in the nuts to make him stop. Once the god was done groaning in pain, Natalie and Mia confronted him and Apollo was shocked by hearing of his behavior, blaming it on Eros who must’ve shot him with an arrow of love as a prank. Once they have cleared things up with the god, Natalie and I decided to give Eros’ temple another look where they found out that Clytie stole an arrow from Eros, hoping to use it to make Apollo fall in love with her, giving the girls a reason to speak with the two gods again. Additionally, they learned that Demeter was mad at Clytie for slacking off and not doing the tasks she’s assigned to her, threatening to kick her out of the fields. After collecting enough evidence, Natalie and Mia went to confront Leucothoe for the murder.

Leucothoe acted shocked by the accusations, claiming that although she and her sister had their differences, she would never stoop low enough to kill her, but after Natalie and Mia pressed her with evidence, she eventually confessed to the crime, claiming that she did it out of self-defense. Leucothoe explained that a few nights before Persephone descended to the underworld, she walked in on Clytie giving a necklace to Minthe, that looked like Persephone’s. Leucothoe suspected something shady was going on, so she his from the two nymphs and eavesdropped at them, watching Minthe wear the necklace and take the appearance of the underworld’s queen. Leucothoe was shocked at what she saw but she didn’t reveal herself and walked away from the nymphs, keeping what she saw to herself. However, after Persephone made her departure, Minthe suddenly disappeared and the other nymphs grew concerned, wondering where she has gone. Leucothoe thought of what she’s seen that night and knew Clytie was somehow involved in this, so she confronted and asked her why Minthe was disguising as the queen of the underworld. Clytie refused to answer Leucothoe’s questions and told her to fuck off, so Leucothoe decided to let it go. However, today, while Leucothoe was collecting frankincense, Clytie approached her, carrying an axe and tried to swing it at Leucothoe. Luckily Leucothoe turned before Clytie could hit her, and she ran away screaming. Clytie ran after her and Leucothoe was forced to fight her, eventually grabbing the axe from her. Leucothoe used the butt of the axe to knock out Clytie, but what she didn’t notice is that there was a carnivorous plant near them, so when she hit Clytie she pushed her toward the plant and it ended up eating her. Leucothoe was horrified and didn’t know what to do, so she ran to get help from the other nymphs but didn’t have the courage to admit she was the one who pushed Clytie. Although they felt Leucothoe was somehow justified for what she’s done, Natalie and Mia took her to Demeter and the nymph explained the reasons why she killed Clytie. Demeter was furious, not because of the murder but because Leucothoe didn’t her about Minthe and Clytie’s plot. She pardoned the nymph for the murder but she began panicking, thinking about what could have happened to her daughter and not wanting to fall victims to her wrath, Natalie and Mia quickly ran back to their friends.

Once they have taken Leucothoe to Demeter, Natalie and Mia told their friends about what they learned about Clytie, and her involvement in Persephone’s disappearance. These news concerned Artemis, because if Persephone was no where around Demeter’s fields, it means she must have gotten kidnapped and they needed to find out where she is or her mother would punish the mortal world with eternal winter. Artemis tells Natalie and Mia that they need to go back and speak with Leucothoe, to learn more about what she saw as it could help them find Persephone, but before they could go do this, Yoyo tells Mia that Ophelia wants to talk with her.

Wondering what is wrong with Ophelia, Mia joins Yoyo to go talk with her. Ophelia was frustrated, she explains that Artemis may have temporarily stopped Apollo chasing her, but he still wouldn’t leave her alone. She reveals that she noticed him following and spying on her, and she is afraid he would try to hit on her again when no one is around. After hearing this, Yoyo and Ophelia decide to confront Apollo, but he was just as frustrated as Ophelia, claiming that the spell Eros put on him is too strong and he can’t stop thinking about her. So the two girls took Ophelia with them to Eros, who thought this whole thing is funny until Ophelia started yelling at him, demanding that he reverse whatever spell he’s put on Apollo. Eventually, tells her about the “arrow of hatred”, explaining whoever gets hit with it, develops a strong hatred to the first person that meets their eye, but if it is used on someone hit with the “arrow of love”, all what it would do is even out the arrow’s effect. Once Eros shares this, the girls inspect his studio and find a quiver with all his arrows, but they all looked the same so they couldn’t tell apart between the “arrows of hatred” and the “arrows of love”. Ophelia feared that if they accidentally shot Apollo with the “arrow of love” again, his feelings for her would only grow stronger and it would make it even more difficult for them to reverse them. So she, Yoyo and Mia decide to have Madelina inspect the arrows and she used her ability to detect magic to separate the “arrows of love” from the “arrows of hatred”. The girls then set up a trap, leaving Ophelia in the forest by herself to wait until Apollo approaches her, which he did. Ophelia tries to keep her cool, and while Apollo is getting close to her, her friends are in a hiding spot waiting for the perfect chance to shoot Apollo with an “arrow of hatred”. Since Madelina has more experience than the arrows with arrows, she was tasked to shoot Apollo but unfortunately, she was not as lucky as she had been when fighting Lykaon and missed Apollo by a long shot. This startled the god and while he was distracted, Ophelia screamed and began running away from him. Apollo started chasing her and Madelina tried to shoot him over and over again, but missed every shot. Eventually, they ran out of arrows and Apollo ends up cornering Ophelia to a tree. Ophelia panicked, but fortunately for her, there was an arrow right above her head, which she removed from the tree and then she slid under Apollo toga, using the arrow to stab him in the balls. Since he is a god, the arrow didn’t do him any damage, but it did hurt him A LOT and he fell in the ground in pain. Once Ophelia stabbed the god, her friends all came to check if she was okay and by the time they arrived, Apollo recovered from the pain and removed the arrow from his body. The girls all froze, afraid they may have offended the god, but luckily Apollo was chill and Eros’ spell was broken. He turns to Ophelia and apologizes to Ophelia for the way he behaved, but still offers to take her out in a date to make up for it, showing that he is still player with and without Eros’ help. This made Ophelia roll her eyes and the girls simply walked away, making the god feel humiliated.

Hoping to learn more about what happened to Persephone, Natalie and Mia went to speak with Leucothoe as Artemis has asked them. To their disappointment, the nymph knew nothing about where the goddess was being kept, but she reveals something she overheard- Minthe and Clytie did not make the glamour. She explains that all what Clytie did was steal jewelry from Persephone and that according to the conversation she had with Minthe, a witch had provided them with glamor and gave Minthe the idea of taking Persephone’s place and act as Hades’ wife. This made the duo realize that Minthe and Clytie were simply pawns in the game and they were dealing with something bigger, and if they wanted to find out where Persephone was, they needed to find the witch first, so they searched the forest for any signs of her and they and they found and underneath a pile of nuts, they found a wooden tube. The tube they found is used by sorcerers to store glamour and since there is still magic in the tube, Natalie and Mia sent the tube to Madelina, hoping she could identify which sorcerer gave it to Minthe and Clytie. Madelina was both shocked and angry when she inspected the tube, and when the duo asked her why she was so pissed off, she revealed that familiar with the magic used to make the glamour as it was Circe’s, whose spells Madelina had manipulated before. This revelation shocked the girls, as they thought Circe was executed back at Clew Bay but it looked like she had escaped and is involved in Persephone’s power. Madelina also revealed that she figured out Circe’s whereabouts through the magic, and that she’s currently somewhere in Northwest Africa and if they wanted to find Persephone, then they needed to go there and have another encounter with Circe.

Once Artemis learned the truth about Persephone’s disappearance, she panicked and brought the girls back to her place. She began phoning all the Olympians while the girls of *HL’s Revenge* told their male crewmates about their discoveries. Since they have searched Demeter’s fields like Hades had requested, Maverick suggested that they reach out to Hades and have him return them to Graecita, but the rest of the crew felt that they still had a lot more in their plates. After she was done phoning the Olympians, Artemis tells the crew that they’ll have a meeting in the Olympic palace about Persephone’s disappearances and they are expected to join them. The team groaned, but they followed Artemis outside where they found the god Apollo riding a chariot, with a large cart connected to its end and Hermes standing next to him. Artemis approaches Hermes and gives him a letter, instructing him to travel to the underworld and deliver this to Hades. Hermes was hesitant, feeling a little scared of Hades, but he obeys Artemis and begins flying to the underworld. Artemis then turns to the team and tells them that her brother will take them to the city of Olympus, that she needs to prepare for the meeting but will soon meet them again at the palace. Artemis goes back to her home and the team hop into Apollo’s ride, ready to go to Olympus and meet the other gods.

Meanwhile in Graecita, the queen is seen going into the palace dungeons to visit her brother, Kaleb Willoughby for the first time in 9 months and was shocked to see the state he was in. Ever since Leonora had him locked up and stripped him off his titles, Kaleb went into a deep depression and had lost a lot of weight- His muscles were now gone and his face that was once childlike had become gaunt and resembled that of a ghost. When Kaleb saw Leonora, he immediately asked her about his son- KJ has survived, but the blow Kaleb gave him was so strong, that it put him in a coma and he has yet to wake up. Kaleb felt guilty and began crying about how this was all his fault, but then he took a look at Leonora, became enraged and shifted the blame on her, yelling at her for “betraying his trust” and burying Yvette against his will. Kaleb’s words hurt Leonora, but she remained silent until Kaleb asked her when does Marionette plan to visit him. Leonora tells him that Marionette moved away, which only angered him more, since now that Yvette is out of the picture, he expected Marionette to fall into his arms. When Kaleb started insulting Marionette, Leonora finally lost it and started lashing out at Kaleb, telling how he was a terrible: Leader, father, friend, brother and worst of all a lover to both Yvette and Marionette. When Leonora calls him a terrible “lover”, Kaleb cracks a laugh and he asks Leonora if Norah is a better “lover” than him, and he exposes her for messing around with Discordia back when they were at Rome. Even though the two of them were in a break, Leonora did not like hearing this, but she pretends to be unbothered and tells Kaleb that she visited him hoping that the 9 months in prison might have changed him, but instead it looks like he only became more deranged than he originally was. She then gets and starts to make her leave, but Kaleb freaks out, apologizing for being mean to her and begs her not to leave him alone. But Leonora ignores his pleas and leaves him crying in his cell.

## Summary

### Victim

* **Clytie** (found eaten alive by a giant carnivorous plant)

## Killer’s Profile

* The killer drinks mint tea.
* The killer wears fumes.
* The killer practices yoga.
* The killer wears prayer beads.
* The killer has pollen on themselves.