Artemisia High

Prologue

"Dr. Darnel, Mr. Jamal is waiting for you in his office. He says it's urgent."

"Thank you, Tina. Tell him I'll be right there."

Sage Darnel walked briskly down the hall. He was a fragile man with bright eyes. He wasn't the most handsome of men, but he was quite skilled in the medical field. With his short legs, he wasn't a very fast walker. He walked quickly only because of his wife.

His wife was pregnant. In a matter of weeks, she would give birth to a child. He needed this job in order to care for her. Now more than ever, it was important for him to stay with AlphaStar, Inc. He wouldn't dare risk his child's life.

He arrived quickly to the meeting. The only person in the room was Mr. Jamal, the CEO of the company.

"Sit, Dr. Darnel. We've got some very important matters to discuss."

He did sit. He sat there and listened to every word Mr. Jamal had to say.

"Dr. Darnel, as you know, we have been producing our products at a very high rate. We need you to join our team providing these products to the world. We wouldn't want people to find out what really goes on here, and hopefully, you can help convince the public our remedies are real."

"But sir, I'm just working as a researcher. You want me to do this?"

"You are a doctor. Make the public believe. If they don't need our products, we go out of business. They need to continue taking placebos as long as they are ill. I believe you can do that."

Dr. Darnel took the job. What else could he do? It was a dishonest job, but he was going through desperate times, and desperate times call for desperate measures...

3 days later, he called a local news station and confessed. He confessed to every sin AlphaStar, Inc. every did. He told them about the placebos, the dirty marketing, the harmful ingredients: everything.

He knew it was a risk. It was the biggest risk he could ever take. Even so, he had to do it. After seeing the whole picture of every dirty trick AlphaStar was pulling, Sage vowed to take them down. Their ugly secrets went against every moral he stood by, and he knew his wife would agree. They couldn't raise a child with money made dishonestly.

He knew they had to flee, but he had to wait until after the baby was born. It was too dangerous to leave now.

Little did he know how quickly news spread. Every major news outlet was pulling back the layers of AlphaStar. Even though Sage confessed on background and was anonymous, Mr. Jamal knew who had spilled the company secrets.

The company was constantly pursuing him. His wife couldn't even give birth in a hospital for fear of AlphaStar finding their record.

On July 18, Mrs. Darnel gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. Unfortunately, that was too much for her, and Mrs. Darnel passed in childbirth. Sage was left in tears with only his daughter. He knew it was too dangerous to keep her. He swaddled his child in a blanket embroidered with her name and left her at the door to a local orphanage. That night, he fled the country as Dmitri Erland. His one wish was that his daughter would be safe, even if he wasn't.

❂

Crescent Moon. That was the name embroidered in her baby blanket, the one thing she had with her when the orphanage found her. It was nearly 16 years later, and she was still here. Apparently, no one wanted a fragile girl with a heightened immunity to cancer.