Changing the Future

Chapter 93

The world transformed into a blur of greens and browns as my feet pounded the dirt. I pushed myself faster, leaping over fallen logs and traversing the uneven terrain with ease. The wind whistled in my ears. Sweat trailed down my face and the back of my neck.

This place had served as my training ground many a time.

My first wilderness survival test had occurred on Delos under Artemis's supervision. Apollo had made me perform a two-hour-long concert in honor of the Muses' upcoming festival in Thespiae. I'd come camping with the twins and taught them how to make their first s'mores. I'd met the Titaness Leto one Mother's Day while Apollo and Artemis fought over who her favorite child was.

I'd even celebrated my sixteenth birthday here.

I came to a gentle stop as I approached a circular clearing. Yellow daisies and white dandelions outlined the perimeter. It reminded me of a fairy circle, but unlike most things in my life, fairies were genuinely a myth.

My fingers trailed along the trees skirting the edge, picturing where fairy lights had once wrapped around them. A few feet away, I saw the remnants of the illuminated tiles that had served as the dance floor buried beneath new growth. The stage where the Muses had played had started to warp and rot but otherwise remained standing.

I could've sworn we packed everything away that night – Artemis would sooner shoot her brother than violate her leave-no-trace policy – but I must've been mistaken.

I bent down and plucked a yellow daisy.

"The curse of Delos," I mumbled, twirling its stem between my fingertips.

"Indeed," Artemis said, nearly startling me out of my skin.

"That's the curse of Delos?" Frank asked, eyebrow raised. "A yellow daisy?"

"So, all we had to do was pick a flower?" Hazel said at the same time.

Artemis softly sighed. "For the physician's cure, the flower must be picked by my brother or me. It won't work otherwise."

"Oh," they chorused once more.

"Hey, Artemis," I began, catching the goddess' attention. "Would you like to make a flower crown?"

I giggled as the ordinarily stoic goddess of the hunt flushed gold, eyebrows pinching together in irritation. I swore, her eye twitched at the suggestion alone.

"A flower crown?" echoed Frank.

"An irrelevant matter," Artemis huffed, "but understandable given where we are. I'm not surprised you returned here of all places."

I shrugged. "I needed a break from the dark thoughts. What better place than the spot where I got the best surprise party of my life?"

"You've celebrated your birthday on Delos?" Hazel said, gaze flickering toward the dilapidated stage and buried dance floor.

Instead of saying anything, I summoned pink light to my hand and gestured across the landscape. Slowly, the clearing took on the appearance it had on the night of my sixteenth birthday: fairy lights encircling the tree trunks and loosely hung between branches, a dancefloor of glowing white tiles as if we'd be dancing the night away on a cloud, tables crowded with food and presents, and the Muses providing music straight from my playlist.

The gods in attendance took a corporeal form, tinged pink, of course. Aphrodite had transformed my tattered clothes – thanks, Hermes, for destroying them in the first place – into a stunning gold dress with all the matching accessories and given me a hairdo worthy of my new look. Dionysus had tried to spike the punchbowl when Hephaestus had his back turned. Hades and Persephone had taken to the dancefloor, ignoring Demeter's vitriol through mouthfuls of whole-grain bread. If I remember correctly, Poseidon unhinged his jaw to eat his club sandwich. Hestia fussed over my cake, changing the flavors and designs throughout the night until Artemis announced it was time to sing Happy Birthday.