The Sweetest Rose-LokixOC

Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Image (c) Universal

One Year Later

"Dr. Pierce, the new acquisitions have arrived." Joshua Sanders, Cassandra's assistant called from the open doorway of her office, but she barely heard him, absorbed with the newscast streaming on her laptop.

Cassandra flicked her hand dismissively, her eyes glued to the computer screen in front of her. "I'll go down to the warehouse later and check things over."

The live broadcast flickered for a moment, as the drone shifted angles zooming up on the strange symbol charred into the earth. A thousand feet in diameter, the circle was bisected down the middle by a symbol like an Egyptian ankh, looped by an ouroboros. The third anomaly to have appeared in as many days.

Cassandra pressed her fingertips to her lips, feeling an overwhelming sense of anxiety. The whole thing was disturbing. What did any of this mean? Were they being invaded again from outer space?

The newsfeed shifted to a so-called expert on symbology, an elderly Swedish man with thinning hair and a white beard. "While this phenomenon has captured the public eye, I suspect this is just a hoax."

The news anchor leaned forward over her desk. "What makes you think that Dr. Eriksson?"

"These supposed crop circles contain symbols from multiple cultures. Egyptian, Celtic, Greek.... I cannot think what else it would be, if not a malicious prank." Dr. Eriksson declared pompously.

"So, this is not the work of aliens, then?"

Dr. Eriksson shook his head dismissively. "Definitely not, Barbara. This is why..."

Photos of the three circles popped up onto the screen simultaneously and the symbologist launched into a detail explanation of the dubious markings in the charred earth, continually emphasizing his belief the circles were a childish prank or a red herring created by some terrorist organization to create panic.

Cassandra slumped forward in her chair, exhaling shakily. Tension drained out of her in a whoosh. After the apocalyptic events of six years ago the world would break under another alien threat.

She shivered violently, recalling people all around her dissolving into ash, swirling away to nothing. Then silence. Morbid, deadly silence as she stood by herself on a New York City sidewalk sobbing helplessly in the rain.

When everyone reappeared last fall, the world seemed to go back to normal for the most part. But those who were spared in Thanos' first attack still remembered the horror.

She still remembered.

Cassandra shook off her dark thoughts, closing the live feed. Her fingers trembled unsteadily over the mouse, both from a lack of caffeine and nerves. Surging to her feet, she crossed to the window at the rear of her office. The familiar sight of the city soothed her when she was upset.

When she first hired on at the auction house over the summer, she absolutely loved having her own office. As an associate curator she'd expected to be crammed into a cubicle and shoved into a dusty corner and forgotten.

Instead, she had her own private space with a panoramic view of the New York City skyline. Fluffy white clouds floated lazily across the late afternoon sky, the sun a pale disk hovering over the Empire State Building several blocks away.

Cassandra closed her eyes, listening to the comforting staccato rhythm of horns honking angrily in the streets below. At least somethings never changed. You could always depend on a New Yorker to road-rage.

"Dr. Pierce, there is one other thing." Josh said hesitantly from the doorway.

Cassandra swiveled from the window to face her assistant. He wore a familiar anxious expression that told her everything she needed to know. She paced over to her desk, resting her hand lightly on the highly polished mahogany. "Let me guess. Mr. Kensington is making a nuisance of himself again."