September 21, 1933
I ran my hand over the heads of my sleeping children.
How did I fall so far?
"Mommy," my youngest called for me.
"Hush my darling. Try to sleep." I ran my fingers through his poor black hair.
"I can't mommy. The voices are too loud." His dark eyes drove into my heart.
"Mommy?" Great, now the other one was wake. His elder by two years, my little girl wore his same black eyes.
"It's alright Bianca, go back to sleep."
"What is going on out there?" She curled up next to me.
"What do you mean?"
"The noises. People are screaming." Her little body shook from cold and fear. I listen for a moment but could hear no screaming.
"You mean the growling?"
"Growling? I don't hear no growls," My son, Nico, perked up.
"You don't? I do. Listen," I made fake growling noises without moving my mouth.
"I do! I do hear growling. Oh, what is it mother?" Bianca clung to me with worried eyes.
"It sounds like griffins to me."
"Griffins?" My childern's eyes sparked under the glow of fires outside.
"Oh yes, I recognize their calls. Three maybe four…just right outside our cave."
"Cave?" Bianca blinked.
"Yea stupid, can't you see it?" My son teased.
"Hey, none of that. Don't you know griffins are attracted by bad behavior?"
My son quickly covered his mouth with his hand.
"Then they are going to take Nico away," My daughter smiled.
"No, they are too busy to worry about little boys who make mistakes. Besides I would never let take any of my kids." I paused to let out a cough.
My daughter leaned on me, "Really?"
"Of course."
"But Margent Williams and her sisters were sent to their uncle's house in Rhode Island, yesterday," Bianca told me.
"Is that so?"
"Her parents couldn't pay to feed them."
"Well, that is happening to a lot of people right now, honey, but don't worry she will see them again really soon."
"Will you ever send us away?" Her eyes drilled a hole in my heart.
"No," I coughed, "Never."
"Never?" Nico echoed.
"Never ever," I wrapped my arm around him and his sister.
"Are the griffins attacking the people?" Nico asked.
"No, they're just playing?"
"Playing? Then what's the fire for?"
"Fire?" I caught myself, "Oh, yes. That's what they are playing with, silly. Griffins love fire but they have to be careful of they will get burn." Darn this cough. "They love fire so much that sometimes they forget they it can hurt them. Some people love fire too. That's what we have in common with griffins."
"I want to go play!" My son leaped up.
"No!" I pulled him back down, "It's much too late. You need to sleep now."
"Really?"
"Yes, it is pass your bed time. Come on lay down."
They lay their little heads in my lap and I lured them into a light sleep.
A few hours passed. I did my must not to wake my angels when I stood up to go take a look. I coughed in the silence. It echoed through the dense camp. There was a deadly aurora surround the collection of tents and make-shift homes. A light fog hovered over the burnt grass.
"I know you are there. Stop being a coward and show yourself," I shouted into the shadows.
A figure shimmed and stepped out of the darkness. He looked about my age with long black hair and my children's eyes. Under him arm he held a black helm.
"Hello my Raven."
"Don't you go calling me raven! Six months it's been since I last saw you!"
"I have been busy," he said in a low voice.
"Clearly," I looked around.
He narrowed his eyes, "You are well aware that the fates cause death!" He kicked an abandon shoe on the ground. "I only take care of them." He paused as if he did truly cared. "For you," he tossed a coin bag filled with coins.
"That's it?"
"If I take any mortal money from the Olympus account my brothers will notice."
"Screw your brothers! These are your children! This will barely pay for food for three mouths! I can't even afford to put a roof over their heads. And who knows when you will be back this time!" I finished in a coughing fit.
He step over to me and helped me support my weight, "You are weak."
"From working hard! You know people won't hire women with the economy so crappy! How do you expect me to take care of our kids?"
"That's why I'm here."
"What?" I was stunned.
"Allow me to take them somewhere safe."
"Take them? Not to the underworld," I pushed him away.
"No. Of course not, a friend of mine has promise a safe place at his hotel."
"A hotel?"
"Yes. They well have food, shelter and anything else they could ever want."
"No."
"You are still stubborn my raven, I thought this depression would have taught you a lesson."
"No it has only strengthened me."
"Strengthened?" He watched me as I cough again.
"Please. Let me take them. This is not the time period they deserve to grow up in."
"Time period?"
"The hotel they will stay at will freeze them in time. They will never age as long as they never step out of its doors. They will be sustain in paradise until a kinder time comes along."
"You mean until you need them."
"I need to make sure they are safe from my brothers."
"Why? Why can't your brothers know of their existence? They know about your other children," I heard the disgust in my voice but I didn't care. How dare he go around making innocent women fall in love with him?
"Because a great rift is growing between us, the fates predict war. A great war that the great nations will fight in, millions will die. You think it is hard to feed your family now, wait a few months, and then you will truly know what hunger is."
"You are starting this war, aren't you?"
"No, my brothers."
"You blame everything on them."
"Because it is always their fault, their sons are too violent and they have no wisdom."
"They can not control their children as much you can't control yours."
"My children are wiser, they understand more, and they don't me to advise them."
"So, you agree with them?"
"Not always."
"See? How can you blame them?"
"They are trying to make me swear an oath, an oath that will no longer let me have children, some random idea of Zeus, probably from bookworm daughter of his."
"Oh what shame," I growled.
"Peace my little jealous flower."
"I am not your flower. That is your wife."
"Yes, that's true," He placed hand on my cheek, "You are my little raven."
"I can't let them go. I promised Bianca I would never leave her."
A sad cloud passed over his eyes.
"What?" I asked him, "What's wrong?"
"You will break that promise whether you agree with me or not."
"What?" I faltered, "How long do I have?"
"I can't not say but your string withers thin; Perhaps a year."
"A year?" A cough stirred in my throat, "My cough? It will get worst?"
He nodded.
Tears formed in my eyes.
"Don't worry. I will take good care of you," He held me close.
"It's not me I am worried about," I glanced back at the tent where my children safely sleep.
"Bianca senses it too. That's why she clanged to you so closely tonight."
I looked him with questioning eyes.
"They awoke to screams that you could not hear tonight, didn't they? And fire you could not see."
I nodded slowly.
"There was a riot on the other side of town, killed about two hundred people, none of them of great importance, just more dust to crowd my fields."
"What an awful power!"
"Yes, it is cruel, especially when the children of my brother dance around with their lightning and water."
"Is this the only way?"
"It is the wisest."
"They will hate me for it."
"Don't worry, the hotel will make them forget everything about their past lives…unless you want them to remember you. I could…"
"No," I interrupted him, "It will be easier this way. Memories are more painful then emptiness, I should know. Just let them know I love them. I love them with all my heart."
"I will"
"Ok," I said defeated.
"I swear on the River Styx that I will take care of them."
"I know you will" I stepped away from him. "Take them."
"Not now. Sun rise approached and that fat headed Apollo can't keep his mouth shut. Take them to Grand central station at twelve o'clock. Put them on the 66 train to Las Vegas.'
"Las Vegas?" I asked.
"Yes"
"Very well," I hugged my arms.
"Come to me my raven, let me bless your passing. I won't be able to visit you for a while but I make sure you are well taken care of."
"No, I don't want you to."
"What?"
"I don't deserve it. I didn't do anything important in my life."
"You were a good mother."
"Yes, but I also broke the hearts of my family by coming away with you. I left my father a broken man with no successor to great family name. I betrayed my mother to a point where she will no longer utter my name. I did nothing to help the people around and have only thought of myself and my children. Do you know I pushed an old woman out of the bread line yesterday? Just so I could get the last roll. No, I don't deserve an awarded life. Treat me as you would any poor women."
"You are strange women," He looked at me with curious eyes.
"Which is why I capture your heart?"
He smiled at me. He never smiled. "My raven, I will do anything you asked."
"Then judge me as you would any other," I took another step away from him, "And I am not your raven, not any more."
He walked over to me, "Yes you are," He kissed me on the cheek, "You will always be," He replace his helm back onto his head and disappeared back into the darkness just before the first rays of light started shine.