Mystic Island

☼☼☼☼

As it rained in Appalachia, America, it rained just as hardly in Greece. In fact, it most likely rained wherever Raine went after the death of her friend, the daughter of Athena, Brooke Gray. Scarlet had run off, not seen again for a very long time. She had disappeared from the mountains and hills of Appalachia with no clear direction in mind.
No one knew for sure where Raine had gone in the demigod campsite. Chiron was ordered not to return to Appalachia by the Olympians that remained in Greece. The demigods would have to learn to truly defend themselves. The demigods had taken down the cabin, not setting fire to it in tribute like normal, because that only brought up suspicion and terrible memories of the arson.
Not everyone exactly believed Raine. Nor did they understand why she ran off. But the daughter of Zeus was proud, as they all knew, and they thought she’d run off because of her wounded pride. But because she did not return, not for the whole rest of the summer, and that put a damper on everyone’s mood after that. They hoped she had not been killed, though if she had, they knew she would have gone down fighting. They wallowed in worry of Raine and war until the nymphs passed news that the blockade in the Atlantic was keeping Hades from attack. But that was also disturbing. If they were in the Atlantic now, and not the Pacific, they were gaining ground to Greece, and then to Olympus. One nymph, who had been roaming around the forests of the world, had seen a dark-haired girl riding a winged horse made of gold in the wild forests of the North. Rumors of this mysterious girl, who carried a somewhat large aura of power around her, and of the majestic stallion of gold passed through the forests of Appalachia and reached Ryan the satyr, who communicated with the dryads and water nymphs to hear of news of the war (it wasn’t exactly a war they would speak about on the radio or on TV…no, they were too busy with the other wars America had gotten herself into). The demigods knew it was Raine, and that the horse was probably her faithful pegasus Sunny, which they were all too happy to hear. It helped them rest a bit. The remaining children of Appalachia stayed in the mountains all of this last summer before the war truly began.

On July 4th, Artemis had told Raine and Heather to return to their families. Raine refused to see her friends, but the refusal was not truly necessary. All of her half-god friends were in the Western part of Maryland as it was. Heather’s family had moved to Richmond, Virginia, or rather, on the outskirts, in a more suburban area. No one around there knew Heather, and she posed as their niece, so no confusion would arouse at the neighborhood Independence Day cook-out. Raine’s family was overjoyed to see their warrior daughter safe at last, and Niko, Raine’s little half-brother, was raring to hear about her adventure and of course…to see her sword.
Meanwhile, Independence Day meant nothing to Greece. The people of this financially-struggling nation were behaving as any country of this day and age would---fussing over politics. The oldest dwellers of this nation though did not care one bit for the mortal country’s political issues. The rains fell on this day in Greek Europe as a young immortal clothed in a hooded dark rain-cloak approached the Council Building upon Mount Olympus, the center of the good side of the world.
A minor god hissed at her, not seeing who she was when she passed him, but quickly apologized when he recognized the youthful girl. But she was not like her family, quick to be angered by disrespect. She was only used to it by her own kin for thousands of years---a simple hiss from a passing minor god would not bother her. She nodded to him, and walked up the steps to the marble structure, not minding the rain pelting her back. In fact, she enjoyed it.
The immortal girl saw darkness cross her face when she climbed the last step. She rolled her yellow eyes, and shook her dark brown hair out of her face as she threw the hood of her head, under the shade of the high stone roof. The building almost looked like the White House in America, but more like the Parthenon in both Tennessee and Greece. There was faint sound of voices on the open room inside, and the immortal child almost walked inside before three women blocked her path.
The dark-haired child looked up to the three angered faces calmly. “Hello.”
The middle one, and the clear leader, hissed in a wheedling voice…a voice of taunting, “Well look who isn’t dead. If it isn’t the usurper.”
“I believe you know how I obtained the moon,” the child said carefully. “My cousin was not the true holder.”
“Oh, child, if we cared a bit about that wretch, why would we be bothering with you?” the one on the left, and the youngest of the three (she would be seemingly, oh, nineteen to twenty-one to mortals) sneered. Her blonde hair was in waves around her face and her blue eyes were cruel. She was also the most beautiful out of the three older women, but she was not as beautiful as the young child before them.
“Aphrodite, please leave me alone,” the child pleaded, not begging though. Her voice was sharp and brave. “I must speak with father.”
The blonde on the right with brown eyes hissed, and she said menacingly, “What could be so important, child? Lose all of your arrows?”
“No, Demeter, I know,” the leader said. “Her little twig of a bow snapped in half, and she needs a new one.” They all laughed in the young one’s face, but her expression was cool and emotionless.
The leader grabbed the child’s shoulder and pulled her forward. She looked down inches from her face and hissed, “Listen, huntress. Lord Zeus is discussing the war with the minor god scouts. If you know what’s good for you, you’d run off back to America. What a pitiful little country that is too.”
“There is nothing wrong with the land of the free,” the child hissed. “It holds many great demigods.”
“Demigods!” the blonde on the left, Aphrodite, snorted. “Stupid little things they have been. Completely worthless.” Now the goddess of love did not truly mean that, but if it made the young dark-haired girl angry, then she did not care what she said. “Wouldn’t you say so, Hera?”
The leader, Hera, narrowed her eyes. “There is not a creature on this earth and above who despises those little half-blooded vermin more than I. Especially that daughter of Zeus.” The young immortal’s eyes flew wide with rage, but she only released a growl in her throat. She could not attack any of the three older goddesses---that was what they wanted first of all, and she wouldn’t have a chance. Though she could defeat each of them, who would her father be more likely to listen to? Three honorable adult-form goddesses or one, young runaway? Yes, it would be the first.
“Please, Hera,” the young girl said. “I must speak to Lord Zeus.”
Hera sniveled, “Beg, you little worm.”
“I will not. I have my dignity, even if you do not.” The child smiled when Hera leaped at her, but Aphrodite and Demeter held her back.
“Peace, sister,” Demeter said. “Brother Zeus will not be pleased if his daughter is killed.”
“One day you will be lying broken without life once more, Artemis,” Hera snarled at the young girl. “If my former apprentice Hecate could not do it efficiently, then I will!” But the three goddesses watched the young girl walk into the building confidently with glares of fire. Young Artemis knew that they meant their threat, but she had larger problems than three hateful, jealous Olympians.
Artemis’ shadow fell across the polished ancient floor. Zeus was speaking to a minor goddess by the name of Dike, goddess of justice, who was a general of the Eastern Blockade, the army holding the Minors back near the Coast of Europe. Artemis overheard the shrill-voiced goddess say that she had left Palaemon, young god of the seas, as commander to take charge while she was absent. Zeus listened intently to the goddess but when he glanced up, he saw the youngest Olympian (or the only that remained as young) standing against the shower of rain that fell off the roof. He beckoned her over, and told Dike to return to her post. The goddess (who had no wings, not to be confused with Nike) sprinted from the building, and Artemis approached her father.
“What is it, Artemis?” he asked. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Now that Artemis was finally to tell her father the truth, a terrible secret that she had kept from everyone she knew for nearly four years. And the knowledge that her powerful father would know caused no words to come to her mouth. She only gazed at Zeus with fear.
“What is it? Speak.”
Artemis sighed, and thought, ‘This would happen eventually. Just tell him. He won’t tell Hera, not if you ask him not to tell anyone. Not even Apollo. She shivered once. Especially not Apollo’. As she opened her mouth, another shadow passed over head. A graceful boy about nineteen fluttered lightly down next to her. He had decided to appear younger than he had before, and his green eyes were wider and larger. The god of messengers dipped his head to Zeus respectfully. The wings on his feet laid flat against the ground, tired of the flight.
“Hello, Lord Zeus,” young Hermes greeted the King of Gods reverently. He looked to his side to regard Artemis, and somewhat shyly said, “Hi Artemis.”
Artemis rolled her eyes, nodding a short nod of hello to the winged god. She opened her mouth to speak, but Zeus raised his hand. “Artemis, we will speak of whatever it is you must say some other time. Hermes has news of other minors that are in hiding and of the mysterious Titan rising. You are dismissed.” His attention turned to the young god, and he gave a sideways look of apology to the youthful moon goddess. Artemis hissed under her breath, and morphed into a gray bird, flying in the other direction of where she’d entered. She didn’t want to cross Hera again.
Artemis flew over Greece back to America. She decided to direct her path over South America and move upward to mostly avoid the invisibly blockaded Atlantic. Artemis, remaining in bird form, was conflicted with emotions the entire flight. She was choking with fear, making her forget to flap a couple of times, and she calmed herself, thinking, ‘What if I had told him? What if I had? Then Zeus would know, and everyone would know. I cannot bear it. I must keep it a secret for eternity.’ She swallowed her fear and dove towards Towson, Maryland.