The Meanings of Lost

Chapter 27

Steve:

A bright white glow starts to envelop the house as the Amazons leave. Two figures slowly emerge from it. A female, with long black hair and bronze skin, so similar to Diana. The only difference where her moss green eyes. The second figure, as its features became clear, I recognized. Hades.

"Steve, glad to see you." He says.

I look down at my hands. Did I do it? Why don't I remember it?

"You have proven yourself worthy." The woman says sounding slightly like bells. "Oh, have I forgotten to introduce myself? I'm Aphrodite. Don't forget it." She shoots me a sickeningly sweet smile. I scowl, despite an overwhelming desire to smile back. She should like me after all, if I'm getting help from her.

"She has that effect on everyone." Drones Hades. "Now, for why you're here."

"I didn't do it." I mumble. "And I'll never do it, no matter what you say or threaten. So don't bother sending me back." I grow my arms and my stance widens.

"Of course not. This is all a test remember." He says, his voice so slow and lifeless, so bored with everything.

"Now come with us," says Aphrodite, "it's almost over." They beckon me forwards. Light fades and ash envelopes the room as a find myself in a far off, familiar place of my memory. I close my eyes and hear the sounds of an old air fighter over head and a crisp wind against my skin.

Diana:

"Did you see where Steve went?" I ask Ivan. He looks around perplexed and shakes his head no. Then he walks over to the stairs and calls Ambrosine down. For some odd reason, I hold my breath until she comes down the stairs. She gives us a crooked smile.

"Where did Steve go." She asks. "Wait no, that's not my one question." She freezes, holding herself incredibly still, except for the textures in her eyes, which seem to turn in sync with her brain. "My one question is: what is the connection between those costumes and the presence of those people in our house? Directed at Diana."

"No cake darling," Ivan says ruffling her hair. "This isn't Clue. But I'll answer the first question: No idea."

"Aww, I thought really hard about it. It was the only question I could think of that would reap the most answers."

"I'm not so sure," I tell her. "My answer is they claimed to be Amazons and were recruiting." She smiles slyly at me, knowing that statement carries more weight than I passed it off as.

"Where's Steve?" She asks. Ivan and I both shrug and look around the room, but my reasoning for the motion begins to fade. Ambrosine's face go placid, no longer curious about the man.

We sit back down for supper and I look passively at the extra place setting, the vague feeling that I have forgotten something - or someone - important. But it doesn't matter now. After a thousand years I'm bound to forget someone, bound to have the faces all blur into one or slip my mind altogether. I look back down at my meal and eat it dutifully.

~~~~~

The next morning I find myself passed out on an unfamiliar couch, wrapped in a homemade quilt. A fire crackles near me, providing enough warmth that the only use of the blanket could be a comfort.

"Diana?"

"Hmm?" I turn over to find Ambrosine standing over me with a tray of steaming food.

"You fell asleep at the table. It was soooo funny. Dad says I shouldn't say that though. So I made you breakfast." She sits down beside me as I lift myself into a sitting position. She places the tray of waffles on my lap. "The whipped cream is homemade because I still can't get it out of cans. Oh, and the police came last night but they couldn't find any trace of anyone. They're putting out an alert."

I chuckle. "I'd sorta like to see the Amazons try and reason with a modern population."

"Meh. I'd like to see a modern population reason with a secret organization of warriors."

"I'd think it would be a lot more eventful that reasoning with an alien or science experiment gone wrong."

"Yah." She gets up, leaving me to my own devices, and creeps back up the stair to her room.

I poke at the waffles, letting the smell warm me from the inside as a smile rises on my face. It's sweet. I wonder about last night, that missing piece I can't quite grasp. I feel lighter, but I can't help but think I've lost something important.

Aphrodite:

I sit on my chair on the council.

"I think this is going on too long." Artemis mutters. "Just send her back to her people."

"She rejected them, Artemis, accept that." Hera says. "She no longer has that path available to her. She is pursuing motherhood and love. This test is to figure out where her loyalties lie. She has chosen the men, now she just needs to prove that she deserves it."

"The man has proven worthy." I say, "even in the mist of Hades games."

"Then soon this business will come to a close." Says one of the three fates. Those ladies give me the creeps.

"It's not everyday a god or an Amazon goes down such a path." Says the third.

"Fun it was and fun it is and soon the answers we shall know." Chants the one in the middle, the one bearing that ghastly eye. The one staring right at me.

~~~~~

Hey sorry for the extremely late updates. My exams are starting next week so I'm a bit busy, but I think I might have a bit more time to write once they start due to half days and less to no assignments. Please don't forget to vote, comment, and share! Also, I can't believe I'm near 2k reads! Thanks so much, everyone!
~Beneath_the_Willows