The Silent Siren

Chapter 1

It was a warm, peaceful, midsummer night down on planet Earth. It was about 7:45 P.M. on Mount Olympus, which was the throne of the gods and a big white palace residing high up in the clouds. The sun was setting, its radiance like no other . The beautiful shades of reds, oranges, and yellows lit up the glorious night sky. All of the residents of this quiet little planet were mesmerized by the wondrous rainbow, created by Iris, goddess of rainbows, though, and were too dazed by its glory to appreciate the beautiful sunset. People were actually praying for it to rain so the rainbow would appear! The gods noticed this, so Artemis, the goddess of the hunt and the moon, and Apollo, god of music and the sun, the twin creators of the sunset and sunrise, went to Zeus, the lord of the gods and their father, not to mention lord of the sky, to explain their worries, or in Artemis’s case, demand that they be fixed.

            “Father, we demand to have the people down on Earth respect us and our creations! We work hard to create the sunrise and sunset every day and night! I have to bring the moon up in my moon chariot and down again while Apollo takes care of the sun! Do you know how heavy those things are??? We break our backs each day and night trying to do something kind, and what do we get? Nothing! They don’t even appreciate us! The ungrateful wretches. You have to do something,” Artemis angrily ranted, the only one of the two unafraid of Zeus, for she was his favorite child out of thousands (over the span of millions of years, of course).

            “Ah, Artemis,” Zeus soothed. “Calm down. I’ll do what I can.”

            “But father!” Apollo, Artemis’s twin brother, broke in angrily. “This conversation, or should I say petty argument, is going nowhere good. You haven’t even given us a straight answer! And Artemis, just stop it all right? Your yelling is getting you nowhere. Besides, who demands something from the Lord of the Gods, anyway? You’re gonna get yourself killed by your own father!”

            “Apollo, son, you know I would never do anything to harm your sister,” Zeus responded in exasperation. “And as for your little problem, children, I’ll do what I can. Well anyway, now I understand the prophecy my grandmother, Gaia, or mother Earth, was telling me about earlier. She said that a single young demigod would make the mortals understand the importance of what all the gods do to appease them and all of their silly whims.”

            “But, father!” Artemis replied, a frown still plastered on her perfect, beautiful face. Although she had been alive since not long after the dawn of time, her sharp but kind features made her look as if she was fresh out of college. But that doesn’t mean she wasn’t as stubborn as one of that age. “The prophecy was just made! We don’t know exactly when it will happen! Some prophecies take over a hundred years to be put into action!”

            “Well, whenever it happens, the young man who will complete this quest will be a hero without a doubt,” Zeus started to add, until Artemis so rudely interrupted him.

“It COULD be a girl,” Artemis retorted, pouting. “Heroines aren’t impossible, you know!”

 “Now, before you go back down to Earth, my godly children,” Zeus concluded, ignoring his daughter’s whining, “would you like to join me for some sweet ambrosia (the godly drink of immortality) and double chocolate chip cookies by the TV? The football game’s on, and it’s the New York Giants playing, too!”