The Great Easter Egg Hunt

"Are you sure we're even allowed to do this, Pastor Joseph?" the toe-haired girl looked up questioningly and with big, round eyes full of hope at the tall, red-haired priest. The pastor smiled, kneeling down in the soft grass. The kids ran around all over the well-trimmed chapel lawn, hoping over benches, skidding to a stop in the sandbox, all under the watchful eyes of their parents, dressed in their Sunday Best, smiling at their children's antics and talking amiably with one another. A light, early spring breeze complemented a warm, sunny Easter Sunday. Some of the Church helpers were setting up a snack table, covered with a white and red-checkered cloth with biscuits, cakes and the inevitable three different flavors of kool-aid.

"Of course, Millie," Pastor Joseph said in a warm, calming voice, his eyes twinkling. "Michael and his...er...his brother have encouraged us to keep along with our traditions, not abandon them. Not ever."

Millie frowned a little, looking down. "My Daddy said that God is gone...like my Grandma...is that true?"

Pastor Joseph smiled at her, but felt a lump in his throat. He had been asked this question a hundred times in the past months. Hadn't they heard the Archangel's words? It was abundantly clear, wasn't it?

He sighed inwardly and looked down at the confused, but hopeful eyes of the little girl's and found himself genuinely smiling.

They were his flock after all. And they were uncertain and frightened.

His eyes flicked up to the ever-present robed figure standing aside in the corner of the courtyard, his arms folded, the warm air seemingly not reaching him. The symbol of the serpent and the sword wreathed in flames was embroidered in gold on his chest over his heart.

Uncertain. Frightened. His flock had every reason to be.

They all did.

His smile broadened and he shook his head gently at Millie.

"No, no, angel, that's not entirely true," he said. "It's more like...well, it's more like Mr. Miller over there," he said, nodding in the direction of an elderly gentleman dressed in egregiously plaid slacks and chatting happily while wolfing down his forth biscuit with gravy. "You know how he used to run the corner bakery, right?"

Millie nodded.

"Well, now who runs it?"

"Um...it's still a Mr. Miller, just that it isn't the same Mr. Miller," she answered, her face scrunching up in concentration. "It's his son, right Pastor Joseph?"

The Pastor barked out a short laugh and nodded. "Right, Millie, it's not a quiz, though." Millie beamed and clasped her hands in front of her stomach. "You see, God and his sons...that's sort of like Mr. Miller and his son. God is in retirement, so to say, and his sons are running the business now. Do you understand?" Millie looked at the ground and nodded.

"Good," the Pastor said, his tone turning a bit more serious. "It's important to remember that Heaven is in...good, safe hands... also, what I said before. We are not giving up any of our old traditions." He stood up and pointed at the milling groups of children, now being organized into small groups. "And that, young lady, most definitely includes the world-famous Boise First Methodist Easter Egg Hunt. So, off you go!"

Millie let out a squeal of delight and scampered off towards her mother, who smiled and herded her into a group. Pastor Joseph watched as they got the kids to their starting position, and then let them loose into the surrounding fenced-in acre and a quarter forest, woken baskets in hand, searching frantically for the hidden eggs.

He felt himself smile, but it inevitably began to fade as he felt the chill again...the chill coming from that...thing in the robe...the Priest of the Heralds. He glanced over again, only to realize with horror that it had turned towards him...

The Priest inclined his head slightly and Pastor Joseph flinched back involuntarily. Was that...was that a nod of respect? Acknowledgment? He frowned, but did manage to nod back, more deeply. The hooded figure turned away, leaving Pastor Joseph wondering.

My flock...God help me, am I doing the right thing?

Millie saw the flash of blue paint deep in the grass, and sprang forward as fast as her eight-year-old legs could carry her. She skidded to a halt on her knees and reached out her hand...

"Hey! Stop! That one's mine!" cried a boy's voice somewhere behind her. Her hand froze and she looked back.

A larger boy was running towards her, his face twisted in anger. She felt an unwelcome flash of fear as she recognized that it was Ezrah Jenkins that was barreling down directly at her. Ezrah wasn't very good at sharing. In fact, he was well known to knock other kids over if he wanted something bad enough. He had even hit a friend of hers the other week, sending him to the nurse...

Ezrah stopped, standing over her, his eyes flicking to the egg, his eyebrows close together. Millie flinched back and fiddled with a pink ribbon in her hair.

"Well? You gonna give me my egg, or not?"

Millie felt a flash of frustration. She had been looking so hard, and she normally only found two or three eggs every year...and that wasn't a lot of prizes, but they were hers...it wasn't fair!

"Nu-uh, Ezrah," she said, standing up. "I saw it first...and...and if you don't let me have it, I'm tellin' Pastor Joseph on you!" she said, her fists balled up at her sides.

Ezrah's lip curled. "Nu-uh!"

"Uh-huh!" Mille shot back.

Something like a growl came from Ezrah's throat. "Let you have it, huh?" he snarled. Millie shrunk back.

Ezrah's hand shot out and Millie felt herself shoved off balance as it hit her in the chest. She landed on her back in a heap, dirt spilling all over her nice, pretty dress. She watched helplessly as Ezrah bent over and put the egg...her egg... into his basket, his narrow eyes watching her, his lip curled up in a feral smile.

He stood back up and jabbed at her emphatically in her direction with his finger. "And don't you dare go tattlin' on me, Silly Millie, or a lot worse is gonna happen to ya...a lot worse." He nodded and turned his back to her, stalking away, leaving Millie sitting on the ground in silence.

She sniffed and started to cry.

A hand came down gently on her shoulder and Millie jolted and screeched. She spun her head wildly and found herself looking up into a pretty lady's face. Where had she come from? Millie hadn't heard a thing...she was smiling down at Millie's confusion, a warm, welcoming smile and she smelled like fresh flowers. Millie felt herself relax and sniffed harder, wiping her nose.

"Are you just going to let him get away with that?" the lady asked, her voice as soft and gentle as a fresh spring rain.

"Wh...what?" Millie answered, confused. "You mean...you mean...Ezrah?"

The lady nodded, standing up. Millie frowned at her.

"Why are you dressed like that?" She looked like something out one of those Hobbit movies. She had a bow and arrow strung around her chest with a leather strap, and her clothes were a mix of wood-colored leathers, blending in perfectly with the surrounding forest. Her hair was light brown, like a deer's skin, and her eyes...Millie found herself gasping a bit. They swam like mossy-green emeralds, reminding her of forest ponds...

The lady smiled at her again. "I'm always dressed like this. This..." she said, sweeping a hand all around her. "is my domain. Or...at least it used to be..."she said, frowing in thought. "And yes, I meant 'Ezrah', " she added emphatically, her mouth twisting a little at the mention of the boy's name. "Now answer me, young lady, are you going to just allow him to this to you?"

Millie shrugged. "What am I s'pposed to do?" she said petulantly. "He's twice my size."

The lady's eyes twinkled. "The thing is with any Hunt, it doesn't matter if the prey is bigger or physically more dangerous than you, so long as you are cleverer than it is."

Millie tilted her head. "I'm smarter than Ezrah?"

The lady nodded.

"Then...then why don't I know what to do?"

The lady offered Millie a hand up. "Because you are but a young Hunter, Millie Turner. You need to learn the basics, first." She frowned. "Most of the people down here do..." she added to herself.

Millie frowned. "How do you know my name?"

The lady looked back at her, her face still. "Because you will soon know mine. In fact, I sincerely hope that it will become among the first of your thoughts and prayers every day..." she said, her face beaming. "You are but the first. Now – what say you that we take the first step in getting your prize back?"

"Um...OK..."Millie answered hesitantly. "How?"

The lady stood up and turned her nose into the air, seemingly sniffing for something. Her eyes shone wildly as she turned back to Millie.

"We follow it. Unseen. Learn it's ways. Then, when we have learned what we need to learn, we can capture it." Her head tilted to the side and she held out her hand. "Are you ready?"

Millie frowned questioningly, looking deep into the pretty lady's eyes. She felt an excitement run through her. An energy. A...feeling that all she wanted in the world was to get her egg back from Ezrah Jenkins. She reached out her hand and smiled.

"OK, but I gotta be back in an hour...that's when they count up all the eggs and hand out the prizes. Promise?"

The lady smiled back. "Promise," she said quietly, holding a finger to her lips. And then they took off together into the woods.

Ezrah was easy to follow, and it helped that it seemed to Millie that they made no sound at all, the forest lady and her, blending into every shadow and bush, stepping lightly over every dry twig or fallen leaf. She watched him repeat the process of following around other kids in the woods, waiting until they had spotted an egg, then running up and stealing it from them. Over and over again he did it, his basket getting very full. She felt a hatred of the bully building up in her. The lady looked down at her and frowned. She leaned towards Millie to whisper in her ear.

"Always respect your prey, Millie Turner. You can never hunt for revenge. If you do, it will spoil your aim, and the Hunter will become the Prey."

Millie nodded, even though she didn't fully understand. "What do we do now?"

"What have you seen?"

Millie pursed her lips together. "He follows other kids around and steals their eggs as soon as they find one."

The lady nodded back. "So, we need to set a trap, based on what we know of this behavior, do you understand?"

Millie shook her head. "What kind of trap?"

The lady smiled. "Oh, nothing devious. This is a child's hunt after all, and your first. We only need to separate him from his basket, and make sure he won't be able to run after you when you take it from him. Tell me, did you seen him put his basket down?"

Millie smiled and nodded. "When he had to cross the creek. He put it on a stone."

"Perfect. Now, Millie, how do we get him to go back to that creek?"

Millie thought very hard. "I make it look like I found an egg? Make him follow me?"

The lady beamed. "And then, the hardest part – how do we slow him down at the creek?"

Millie frowned, then a thought hit her. She smiled widely.

Ezrah watched Silly Millie balance herself on a stone in the middle of the creek and hop over to the the next one. She looked up at the opposite bank and he followed her gaze.

A flash of pink color in the branches of a big tree. Ezrah smiled. His next egg. He was going to get so many prizes this year. A record. The best egg hunter of the all. The very best.

He put the basket down on a big rock and hopped onto the stones, following Millie's path. She looked back and saw him, her eyes going big and round with fear.

"Oh no you don't Ezrah! You already stole an egg from me today!" she shrieked.

Ezrah smiled wickedly, springing onto the next rock. "Yeah, and you were too stupid to give up and go back," he taunted. She had frozen just short of the last jump onto the bank, eying the prize and glancing back at him.

"You stop right there, Millie, or I'll push you into the creek this time!" he shouted. She paled and stopped looking at the egg. He grinned. He leapt onto a rock next to her, glaring. "You stay right there until I'm gone, you hear? Or ker-splash!" He watched as she looked down and nodded numbly.

"Good." He turned and sprang onto the opposite bank on to a pile of fresh leaves.

They gave way under his feet, and he sunk in up to his knees in mud.

He looked around wildly, not understanding. The leaves were spread out in a thin layer over a loose, muddy creek bank. He yelped and tried to pry his right leg out. It moved, but just barely. He swung his head back around to Millie.

"Don't just stand there, you idiot, help me!" he shouted at the girl, who was still standing on the rock with her head down.

Millie raised her eyes to him...

….and was smiling from ear-to-ear. Ezrah felt himself go cold with shock.

"Sorry Ezrah, but no," she said, hopping from her stone back towards the opposite bank. "You messed with the wroooong girl," she trilled as she got to the other side and started skipping towards...

Ezrah's jaw dropped, dumb-founded.

His basket. His Easter basket...

"Hey...hey!" He felt himself shrieking, now desperately yanking at his legs, the mud making wet, slurping sounds around him. "Those are mine! Leave them alone or I'll..."

She grasped the handle of the full basket and turned back to him, frowning. "Or you'll what, Ezrah?" She appraised him and nodded. "Figure it'll take a little while for you to get out of there, and by that time, we'll be counting eggs already. You gonna say that I took them? When every other one of my friends are gonna say that you stole them from them?" Her eyes narrowed. "If I were you, I'd think really, really hard about this, and ask yourself if you really want to keep messing with me afterwards." She stared at him, and he felt his face flushing. Something...something was different about the girl. He actually felt...

….afraid.

She seemingly sensed this and nodded to herself in satisfaction, and skipped off back towards the Church, the basket in her hand.

Ezrah stared after her for awhile in shock, then went back to freeing himself from the mud.

By the time he got loose, he could hear the Church's bells ringing. He'd have to hurry back, or the adults would go looking for him if they found him missing. They'd be upset. He glanced back at the pink egg.

Well, at least I'll have one damned egg, he thought.

He went to grab it and...

….his hand came back grasping a long, pretty pink ribbon...

….a hair ribbon...

….Millie's ribbon...

Ezrah felt himself sit down heavily on the ground, shaking his head.

Man, remind me never to screw with that girl again...

Pastor Joseph looked around and smiled as the kids came streaming back out of the woods. He looked on in confusion as for some reason, Millie was busy giving out several of her extra eggs to all of the other children, but shrugged it off, noting that she had had a particularly good hunt this year.

A few minutes later, Ezrah Jenkins came trudging back in, his pants practically ruined with mud. He made it a point to give the other kids a wide berth, simply going over to the snack table to munch sullenly on some cake. Pastor Joseph made a mental note to talk to the kid later. He was a troubled one, anyway, always requiring extra attention...

….his thoughts broke off as he noticed the man in the suit sprinkling...no, pouring something on the ground off to the side of the parents and kids. He frowned and walked over.

"Um...excuse me...um sir?" he said, reaching the man.

"Don't step there, thank you very much," the man grumbled, reaching into his suit jacket and tracing around the design he had made in the ground, pouring another liquid in a circle around it.

Pastor Joseph frowned in irritation. He didn't recognize the man at all...he wasn't a member of his flock...

"What do you think you're doing here?"

The man looked up. "Oh, me? Nothing. I'm the bait."

Pastor Joseph felt a flash of bewilderment. "'Bait'?...What...what are you talking ab..."

He cut off and went rigid as the silent figure of the Priest of the Heralds glided over.

"What is happening here, good Pastor?" the Priest asked, hooded head looking between the two of them. "Who is this man?"

"Actually, I believe that you are looking for me," the man said, straightening up. "Well, your Bosses are, actually."

Pastor Joseph felt a flash of shock as he recognized the man's face...

….from the TV...from all of the Wanted posters...it was one of them...one of the Heretics...

"Crowley..." hissed the Priest, drawing a wicked looking dagger from his sleeve and pressing it to his chest. The symbol embroidered there began to pulse and flash in a golden light.

"In the flesh, so to speak," Crowley smiled back, eyes twinkling. He put his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels. "Now, if the lady wasn't mistaken in her assessment..."

There was a flash of lightning and a crack of thunder. White smoke swirled and a figure appeared out of it. Pastor Joseph gasped. It was one of the Heralds themselves. She stood there, bathed in pulsing light, her eyes narrowed at the Heretic.

"Crowley..." she said. "I'm shocked that you would actually be brave enough to show yourself..."

Crowley titled his head to the side, frowning. "Which one are you? Dopey, Sneezy, or Doc...I get you all confused these days..." he shrugged. "Doesn't matter. Like I was telling my friend here, it has nothing to do with courage, actually, I'm the bait."

The Herald shook her head in confusion. "I'm Sarah, Crowley, and what in the hell are you talking about?"

There was a sudden rush of movement behind her, and Joseph watched as the Priest was shoved bodily backwards with one arm by a man in a trenchcoat and a blue work-tie, knot askew. He continued rushing forward, a lighter in his hand...

Sarah snarled and turned, drawing her sword, lightning dancing from her fingertips...

Flame touched the ground, and a ring of blue fire sprung up from where Crowley had been pouring out liquid onto the ground. Sarah stopped short and snarled.

"Holy Oil?"

"And a Devil's Trap," Crowley nodded, looking at the ground, where there was a red liquid poured out in an intricate pattern. "And to add extra added security, we're on hallowed ground." He nodded and blew out a breath. "I'll be damned, Castiel, the Greek girl was right. It was easy." He shook his head. "I owe Garth ten dollars when we get back."

Joseph watched in shock as the second Heretic strode around the circle, eying Sarah warily. She stared back at him angrily, but seemed trapped. He stopped next to Crowley and nodded back in the direction of the stunned parishioners, who were all watching the scene unfold.

"It worked, you can come out now!" he shouted back in their direction. "We need to take her back to Headquarters, and you said your restraints could bind her!"

Joseph watched as what had looked like a blank patch of forest unfolded and a tall woman dressed in ancient hunting leathers strode out of them and through the silent crowd, who automatically parted, making a path for her. All except one.

Little Millie turner rushed out and yanked on the woman's tunic, causing her to stop. The woman looked down questioningly, but smiled.

"You said I was the first, and that I'd know your name..." Millie said. She tilted her head. "But you never told me...what is it?"

The woman smiled warmly and patted Millie's hand.

She stood up and turned back to Castiel and Crowley, then fixed a steely gaze on Sarah. She reached into her backpack and unwound a long net with leather straps.

"I am called Artemis, Millie Turner, the Goddess of the Hunt. Daughter of Zeus and Leto. And this particular Hunt...," she said, her eyes flashing back at Millie. "...this Hunt was mine."