The pic up top is of the maple nymph.
They walked across the street.
"Who are we meeting?" Miley asks as she jumps from white line, to white line, on the crosswalk.
"Somebody," Rillen says.
"That doesn't tell me anything." Miley declares.
"We don't know their name," Hailey says.
They get across the street, and head for the maple. A girl walks out from behind the tree and demands, "Don't even think about pulling a leaf from my tree. It hurts like Tartarus."
Miley stands on her tippy toes and whispers in Hailey's ear, "What's Tartarus mean?"
"It's what the Greeks and Romans call hell." The maple nymph explains. She's dressed in ripped jeans, and despite the cold weather, a noodle strap shirt with leafs imprinted on it. Rillen smiles and sticks his hand out for her to shake. She slaps it away, like it was a deadly disease. And asked, "What do you want?"
"Well, we were just told to find the local nymph. And that's you," Hailey fills in.
"Ooh, the gods want you to do their dirty work! And why would I help you?" She asks, looking from Rillen, to Hailey, to Miley.
"We were just doing what we were told. And Miley isn't part of this." Rillen says, rubbing his hand where she slapped it.
The nymph chuckles softly, "You don't understand, do you?" They shrug, and the nymph continues to explain. "The Gods, will come to their children so that the little mortals can do the hard work. The Gods sit up there," she pointed to the sky, "in their "mighty" thrones and watch you die trying."
"Is that supposed to boost our self esteem?" Hailey asks. "I have to go and find a freaking diamond!"
The maple nymph looked unfazed, "Hm, you don't have to."
"The woman said-" The nymph cuts her off.
"The "woman" is your mother, now shoo, I don't care what your mother said." And with that the nymph seemed to melt into the tree.
"Your mom?" Miley says, she was still staring at the tree, as if it might come to life at any moment.
"Does that mean that the man who messes with my writing is my dad?" Rillen asks, pulling his eyes from the tree to look at Hailey.
She nods. "That nymph, was absolutely no help." Hailey turns on her heels and walks away. Rillen and Miley right next to her.
YOU ARE READING
The Pride of Athena
FantasyHailey was only 12 years old when her missing mother contacted her. Athena told Hailey to go on a mission to find The Lost Daimond and save the world from destruction, the daimond controlled the fate of both Athena, and Minerva's lifeline. She doesn...
