A young woman was lying in a poppy field, surrounded by the bright red color flowers during a flawless afternoon. She closed her eyes, and felt as the warm breeze gently wafted across her face, and the earth below felt cool on the skin of her exposed arms and legs. It was the perfect summer day, and she felt like she could easily find a peaceful nap here.
Yet everything suddenly grew quiet. No more birds singing or bugs flying by, and the young woman opened her bright green eyes slowly, confused as to the cause of this remarkable silence.
The ground around her suddenly gave way, and she emitted a scream that echoed to nowhere as she scrambled for firm ground, gripping at each blood red flower as they slipped from the soil and into the darkness below. Just as she was able to grab onto a nearby rock, however, a pair of strong arms took her within their grasp, and pulled her into the crevice. She reached for the sky, for the sun, and for the land above, but suddenly, it was gone and all she felt was the speed of her descent.
The alarm sounded, and the young woman sat up in her bed with a start. She was sweating profusely as her long dark hair stuck to the perspiration on her face and neck. It was a dream, or rather a nightmare; one that had haunted her for years. She slowly peeled herself out of bed and walked toward her desk, lifting up the documents she had there. There was a tabloid magazine, which headline read "SCANDAL! Supermodel Mina Cerigo caught again cheating!" and next to that, an envelope addressed from Olympus Investment Corporation. It contained a single plane ticket, a nonstop from Boston Logan to Tokyo Narita for today's date, September 23rd, and a note that simply said, "I'll be waiting. –A.T." The young woman smiled, and her eyes drifted to a wedding portrait on the wall before she suddenly got a call.
She answered the phone softly, "Hello?"
"Yes Mrs. Stephanie Theodorou?" It was the concierge downstairs, "Someone to see you, a Diana Lambros. She said she's your ride to the airport."
"Go ahead and send her up."
Within minutes a knock came at the door and the housekeeper allowed the chauffeur in.
"Hello? Cousin?" Diana called out. She was tall and graceful, with cropped blond hair and silvery gray eyes. "Do you need help?"
"No." Came the quiet voice of Stephanie before she appeared from her bedroom with a large suitcase. "I'm all set…how bad is it down there?"
"I haven't seen anyone yet, but that doesn't mean they aren't there." Diana said, moving to look out the window. Stephanie followed. "They know you're leaving, though."
Stephanie sighed, "Being worshiped isn't all what it's cracked up to be."
"Lets do this." Diana nodded, and threw a pocketknife toward a dartboard, landing a perfect bull's-eye. This drew a shocked look from the housekeeper, but Diana just smiled. "Lucky me."
Before they made their way downstairs, Diana drew a pair of sunglasses from the neckline of her tank top and a Boston Red Sox cap from the pocket of her oversized cargo pants. Stephanie put on a large floppy black straw hat and sunglasses of her own, but they were larger and from an expensive designer that also made her black floral sundress, sandals, handbag, and leather luggage.
"You look like a commercial, no wonder why they want to take pictures of you." Diana smirked.
"It wouldn't hurt you to dress a bit nicer you know." Stephanie walked ahead of her, and entered the elevator in the main foyer of the penthouse.
"Nah, I have no one to impress. I never cared for such things. You know that."
Once they reached the ground floor, the concierge was there with a bellman to take Stephanie's luggage to the valet circle where Diana's car was waiting.
"The paparazzi are waiting, Mrs. Theodorou." He said, "Please be careful."
"I will." Stephanie replied, glanced over at her cousin, "Ready?"
"Ready." She nodded. "One…Two…Three…"
The two darted out of the apartment building and were suddenly flooded by photographers. Diana grabbed Stephanie's hand and guided her toward the car, but it didn't stop the press from hounding.
"Stephanie! How are things with your husband? You were away from him for a while…"
"Stephanie! What do you think of this affair your brother-in-law's wife Mina has gotten herself into? Huh? With the Askeridis fellow who runs the arms manufacturing company?"
"How does Adrian feel about all of this? Are you going to see him now?"
"Tell us, Stephanie, how does it feel knowing that your husband and mother take money and give money respectively?!"
Stephanie remained silent, with her head down as she hurried into the back seat of the waiting gold Dodge Charger. Once the door was closed, however, she tapped on her cousin's shoulder, "GO!"
Diana took off without warning, and reporters scrambled to get away. After several minutes of silence, Stephanie settled back into her seat, throwing her head back with a sigh.
"I hate this."
"I know." Diana replied, "It's not what it used to be."
Stephanie took a look at the car, not only was it a brand new Dodge Charger, but it was a sparkling gold color with a silver deer hood ornament. "Is this new?"
"Yeah actually, my brother got it for me. Do you like it?"
"Well, it's a bit…garish don't you think?"
"I did say Paul got it for me."
The two shared a moment of laughter as Stephanie gazed out of the window and up into the clear September morning sky. The moon was visible almost directly overhead, looking like no more than a wisp of cloud to the casual observer. Stephanie smirked a bit.
"Your mother wanted to see you this morning…"
"Then she should have came and gotten me herself."
"Persephone…"
"Artemis…"
A grumble from the driver's seat, "I know…I know."
"She needs to get over it. She can deal, and she's dealt before. We don't really have that much time, I'm not flying on the private jet so I seriously have a plane to catch."
"Not flying on the private jet?" Artemis looked back at her cousin in the rearview mirror, "That's odd, why not?"
"Well he's in Tokyo right now doing business." Persephone replied, "He figured a large commercial airline would be faster. And it's not like I can disappear and reappear like I used to. Humans get suspicious about such things. So…a long boring flight it is. There will be daemon guards waiting for me at the airport and one will be flying with me so…I should be fine."
"Right. I will tell your mother, that you love her, and that you had to catch a plane but you will call her when you get to Tokyo and that you will be fine." Artemis smirked, "How's that?"
"Good." Persephone smiled back. "Works for me…how's Dad?"
"Oh you know. He's Dad."
The two shared a hearty laugh before pulling up to the airport, and the guards were there immediately to retrieve their boss's precious cargo.
Artemis leaned over the passenger seat and put the window down as her cousin gathered her belongings to leave for the winter. "You will be easy on those souls, right?" She grinned.
Persephone looked back and lifted up her sunglasses, "Of course." Her eyes were now more of an amber yellow, and she gave Artemis a quick wink before lowered her glasses and walking into the terminal with her guards.
The Goddess of the Moon sat back in her seat and shifted into drive. "It's starting earlier and earlier every year." She said to herself in a concerned tone before driving off back to downtown Boston, where she would have to face Demeter, her modern boss, and the onslaught that waited.