When the mortal picks up my prison, I'm not particularly worried. I've been moved around a lot of late. I'm actually more curious. How did a mere mortal chance upon the pithos in which I am contained? Is she going to free me? Who is she? I can see through the ceramic of the jar and I don't recognize the girl who is staring at me. She's young, with curly auburn hair and emerald eyes. I can sense her as well. She doesn't appear to have bad intentions, though something about her unsettles me. Many have glanced at the jar, but the girl is staring directly at me, as though she can see me as I see her. No mortal has ever done that before. I'm wondering if it's just a coincidence when she speaks. "It's you," she whispers, her voice soft and calm, "Hope. You're beautiful." I'm taken aback. She really can see me! I move to the far end of the pithos, completely unnerved now. This mortal can sense and sight me like I sense and sight her. That's...impossible. I am Hope. She is Human. We're completely different beings.
And yet...I feel a strange connection to this eerie young stranger. She isn't just any human. She's special. I can tell from the glint in her eyes that make them look like glass. It looks like she's on the brink of madness, but I know the truth. She's actually on the brink of something glorious. I stare into the green depths of her eyes, mystified. There are so many secrets there...so much horror...so much magnificence...
"Rachel?" a new voice breaks my trance, "Um, what are you doing with that?"
The girl isn't moved as easily as me. "I found it. It's Pandora's jar, isn't it?"
"Please put down the jar," the newcomer – a demigod, I realize – pleads.
The mortal, Rachel, is hardly listening. She runs a finger along one of the swirls painted on to the pithos; a sudden chill forces me closer to the other end of my prison. "I can see Hope inside," she breathes, "So fragile." Yes, I am fragile, but I am also strong, and I can tell she knows that. For some reason, it scares me.
"Rachel," the demigod is more forceful this time, and that's finally what it takes to force the mortal from her reverie. Suddenly, she seems normal, too normal, as if her previous state was just a dream. But as she passes the pithos on to the demigod, I can feel her tingling, still recovering. I watch her as I change hands, still entranced, still frightened. This mortal who isn't just a mortal has a fate that is special. Nobody could doubt that, and I know it will be a long time before I forget.
I'm still drowning in her glass eyes when I'm taken away.