Andromeda and Artemis

       Professor Katherine Adams was a brilliant woman and when paired with her closest friend and colleague Andromeda Diamandis, the two of them were unstoppable. The two girls had met in school and were inseparable since then. But when one of her team's expeditions went awry, they flew in to see what could've gone wrong at the dig sight and what they found, changed everything.
"I don't understand what they mean by 'they've gone missing'. I mean, the island is only 156 square miles, there's only so far they could've gotten." Katherine commented to Andy as she read off the report. The two archaeologists were on a plane to the island where the original team had reportedly found artifacts that may've belonged to the island's founder and namesake, Zakynthos, the grandson of Zeus and Pleiad Elektra and the son of Dardanos, founder of Troy.
"It won't hurt to check; besides this gives me the perfect excuse to get away from all the paperwork and see the site for ourselves." Andy replied. Andy pinned a stray curl away from her face and then packed the mirror away. Katherine fiddled with her bracelet as they felt the plane begin its descent. She shuffled the papers back into the folder and placed them gently into her bag.
As they descended the ramp from the plane onto the island, Andy spotted their crew leader, Walker. His bright smile stood out against his tanned face as he greeted them both warmly. He directed them to the car to go to the Diana Hotel, it was relatively close to the beach where they were digging.
"So we've done pretty well getting pieces out," Walker started conversationally, "But we did think we should get you two down here to look at some of it before we try to remove any of it. We were on lunch break the other day and two of our guys just didn't come back. We waited around a little bit, called their cell, asked if anyone had seen them, but no luck. No one's seen or heard from them in the last week; it's like they just disappeared." Katherine looked up from her research with furrowed brows and met Andy's look of incredulous disbelief before clearing her throat to speak.
"So you're telling me that two grown men just disappeared into thin air off our job site and no one knows where they went or what could've happened to them?" Katherine asked, Walker shrugged and nodded.
"Pretty much, yeah." He turned the car into the drive of the hotel and pulled into a spot. The hotel looked stunning from the outside and they could see the white sand and brilliantly blue water. The inside was just as gorgeous with finished wood and polished marble floors, tall floor to ceiling windows, and a few touches of artwork on the walls. They loaded their luggage onto a cart and walked up to the woman behind the counter.
"Hello, how can I help you?" She had a thick Greek accent and a pleasant smile. Her voluminous curly hair was slicked back into a ponytail that moved as she walked and was decorated with pins that caught the sunlight.
"Good afternoon, we're checking in for a room reserved under the name 'Adams' for the week." Katherine replied. The woman typed a few things into the computer and then rummaged around in a bin under the desk.
"Here is your key," She placed it on the counter in front of her, "And your luggage will be brought up to your room. Have a nice stay!" They both thanked her and walked through the spacious hallway to the marble stairs. Andromeda looked around in awestruck wonder.
"This place is so beautiful," She stopped to stare at the view from one of the windows. "I think this is the best place we've been sent for a job!" Katherine couldn't help but nod in agreement as she gazed out at the endless lapis blue sea that glistened in the high afternoon sun. The hotel overlooked the beach, several smaller houses, and stores.
After settling in and putting away their belongings, the two decided to start on their research for the following day at the dig site. They stayed up and sorted through the research they had and what was sent to them from the crew. There were several interesting documents they found of multiple artifacts that would benefit the extraction of more items the next day.
"Katherine, I think we need to take a break," Andy rubbed her eyes tiredly. "We have to be up early tomorrow before it gets too hot." Katherine slumped back into her seat and pinched the bridge of her nose.
"I know, I know. I just feel like we're missing something." She sighed, "My gut is telling me something is wrong."
"Well it's rarely steered you wrong before." Andy reached for another file to sort through. Katherine smiled in appreciation and continued to sort the papers into separate piles.

A groggy Andy was walking, well closer to stumbling, beside Katherine, who was equally as tired, down to the hotel breakfast. They both poured a cup of coffee and filled their plates with food. The morning was lovely; the sky was a pale blue, the temperature felt nice, and the pair could hear the waves crashing against the beach in the quiet daybreak. They both sat in a comfortable silence and took it all in.
The walk to the beach was nice and rather peaceful. Katherine had double and triple checked their bags to make sure they had absolutely anything and everything they could need. Andromeda was so excited to see the site. Both her and Katherine had been stuck with so much paperwork lately, they jumped at the chance to get to see an actual expedition for the first time in months. When they had met in school they had bonded over their want for excitement and discovery. They both wanted to travel the world and go on life changing explorations. But Andy was really struggling with being kept in the office all day, every day.
"Good morning!" Walker exclaimed as they arrived at the table under the pavilion the crew had set up.
"Hello, are we ready to start?" Katherine asked. They both sat their cases down and pulled out their information. Andy started tacking it up on the bulletin.
"Yes! But I did want you to look at some of these artifacts that we found before we bring them up." Walker said, digging through a bag under the table.
"Of course, the same ones you mentioned yesterday?" He nodded. "Well let's go then." Together, they all walked to one of the frames that didn't have anyone around it and as they got closer, Andy could hear a faint hum coming from it.
"Do you hear that?" Andy asked, her eyebrows furrowed.
"That's why we wanted you to look at it, we don't know if it's safe to bring up." They looked into the frame and saw a necklace with a pendant attached to it. Andromeda felt pulled to it as she cautiously walked into the pit and reached out for it. She picked it up with gloved hands and held it for them to see. It was caked with dirt but they could see the faint glow of bronze and an engraving. She walked back up and placed it on the table for her and Katherine to look at it closer.
"I think I'm going to take this back to the hotel we're staying at to examine it and try to find some clues about it." Andy said decisively.
"I don't think that's a good idea." Walker said uneasily. "It definitely seems dangerous."
"I think it'll be fine." Andy looked at Katherine for help.
"I agree with Andromeda, we can take it back and try to find something out about it." She said, although she sounded confident but she eyed the amulet apprehensively.
"If you say so." Walker said as he left the pavilion.
Later that night, Andy was sitting at the table in their hotel room staring fixedly at the now polished amulet. Under all the dirt it was clearly bronze with an engraving of the goddess Artemis. She supposed it made sense, the inhabitants of the island always told the myths of Artemis and her twin brother, Apollo, wandering the woods of Zakynthos in ancient times. But still something in her told her that there was something off about the necklace. It seemed to radiate power.
"Katherine, do you think there could be something wrong with this amulet?" Andromeda asked. Katherine sat down across from her and stared down at the pendant. She was quiet for a minute.
"I think," She started slowly, "I think that it could be something we've never seen before." Andy didn't know what made her do it but she reached her hand out to grab the coin pendant. All of a sudden the room started to shift and the two girls began to descend to the ground; everything looked like it was dissolving into sand. They watched as their clothes shifted from modern times to ancient chitons.
"What just happened?" Katherine asked after a period of silence. Andromeda looked down at the necklace still clutched in her palm and put it around her neck. She took a shaky breath as she looked down the empty beach. There were no shops or hotels, no roads or traffic lights but a little further down the beach they saw a man and a woman; they walked down the beach to them.
"Brother you cannot just take the people's belongings." The woman chided.
"But Artemis," He started but his sister cut him off. Andy and Katherine exchanged wide-eyed looks.
"The Artemis?!" Katherine mouthed. Andy shrugged and shook her head in confusion. The siblings continued to squabble as Katherine and Andy tried to figure out how to broach the conversation.
"I must leave Brother, you should as well. It is almost sundown." With a pop and a flash of light the two were gone. Katherine and Andy looked at each other with wide eyes.
"What in the world just happened?" Katherine asked, completely bewildered.
"I think I know who can fix our problem. We just need to go into town and tell people what we saw!" Andy exclaimed and was off like a rocket while Katherine rushed to go after her. The archeologists quickly found the town and saw an older woman wearing a chiton similar to theirs.
"Excuse me!" Katherine called. The woman looked confused. "She doesn't speak English, how much Greek do you know exactly?"
"Enough to get by." Andromeda shrugged. "Με συγχωρείτε, σας έχουμε μια συναρπαστική ιστορία. Θα μπορούσαμε να το πούμε?" Excuse me, we have an exciting story for you. Could we tell it? The woman looked apprehensive but nodded nonetheless. So Andy told her about how they saw Artemis and Apollo. The woman started speaking rapidly and pointing excitedly to the building she had been walking towards.
"Achillea wants us to follow her into this building and tell these people our story." Andy told her, she took Katherine's hand and led her to the building. Achillea was already in the building and telling everyone what she had heard. So Andy told them the story and the crowd murmured skeptically. Soon a man stepped out of the crowd and said something to Andy that made the color drained slightly from her face.
"What did he say?" Katherine asked, urgently. Andy cleared her throat nervously and leaned slightly towards her.
"He said if we really thought the gods would help us then they would certainly save us from certain, uh, well death." Andy said not looking away from the man who had stepped out of the crowd. "And I accepted his challenge."
"Are you insane!?" Katherine hissed through clenched teeth.
"Probably." She answered. She stood up straighter and didn't back down from his challenge. She said a few more sentences in Greek and the man recoiled in slight shock but nodded.
"What was that?"
"I just challenged him to a fight at sundown." Katherine rolled her eyes.
"So you are actually insane."
"Actually I'm a genius. Think about it, Artemis is the protector of women so when I pray to her and I'm wearing her medallion, she'll come to rescue me. It makes sense." Andy explained. Katherine supposed it did make sense but it was still very risky.
"Just be careful." Katherine sighed. Andy sent her a wink.
"I always am."
When sundown came, Andromeda held a bronze sword in one hand and faced her opponent. She held Artemis' coin in her other hand and silently prayed to the goddess for help. She had taken some swordplay in college to be in some of the Shakespearean plays that had been performed and she only hoped that it would come in handy. The man started towards Andy and she raised the sword. The blades collided with a sound that resounded through the air. Andy was really hoping that Artemis would make an appearance and quickly. She parried his blade away and jabbed at him which he deflected with apparent ease, they continued this dance. When Andy felt like she couldn't lift her arms anymore there was a brilliant light. Andy could have cried in relief as she saw Artemis.
"What is happening here?" She asked as her silver eyes passed over them and the crowd that had gathered. Andy explained what had happened and that Katherine and her needed to get back to the present. Artemis seemed to contemplate this before saying, "Walk with me." Andy took Katherine's hand and followed the goddess into the woods.
"I can help you," The goddess spoke but then turned to Andy, "However you, Andromeda, are conflicted. If you would like to stay, I will accept you as one of my maidens." Katherine didn't miss how Andy's eyes lit up at the proposition. But then she turned to Katherine with questioning eyes while Katherine's filled with tears as she took Andy's hands.
"You obviously want this, you want more with your life." Now Andy's eyes had tears in them, "Go find whatever it is, just don't forget about me. Okay?"
"I will never forget about my best friend." Andy answered through her tears. "Say hello to my star for me when you get back ok?" Memories of stargazing in college on the roof of their dorms together flashed through Katherine's mind.
"Ok."
Katherine Adams woke up alone in her hotel room with an empty feeling in her chest. She got up and looked out at the sky, the Andromeda constellation looked different. It was in the shape of a girl with curly hair running through the sky. Katherine said hello every time she saw her because for just a moment, she felt like her friend had never left.