The Next Chapter of Our Lives

Warning

"Hey, baby girl," Apollo cooed as he held Marisol. "Guess who's back!"

I chuckled as I watched them. When we got back, Luke had already fed her and didn't know what to do next. Apollo burped her, and now he was talking to her. I rested my head on his shoulder, content.

I jolted up as an alarm blared, the baby wailed at the noise and Apollo pulled her in. We ran to the safe room.

"You stay here with Marisol, I'll find out what's happening," I told Apollo.

"No! I'll go, she needs you. She needs her mother more than she needs me." I slapped him.

"One, she needs us equally, no 'needing one more than the other' crap. Ok?" I told him, "Two, I lost you once today, I don't need to again. Last, I run this planet alongside Chaos I have to go see what the hell is going on!" Apollo looked down. I kissed Marisol's head and kissed my husband. "See you in a few."

With his nod, I was off. I ran down the halls, but I felt like I was running in slow motion. I unfurled my wings and flew as fast as I could. I heard my phone ring, so I pulled it out quickly, barely checking the caller ID.

"I'm on my way, Luke."

"Can you hurry, it's a rouge ship, and I don't want to be here."

"Luke," I sighed.

"What?"

"A rouge ship can be dangerous, you know that!"

"Usually it isn't," he stated in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Usually, I don't have to tread through Greek Hell after finding my husband killed, and our baby almost kidnapped!"

"Geez, what crawled up your ass and died?" he muttered.

"You'd be like this if you've been up since 2 something in the morning and had the best/ worst day of your life."

"True, true."

I hung up and slowed down time. Within milliseconds I was tucking in my wings next to Luke watching the ship land."

"You gonna give me a heads up next time, Perce?" he asked after gasping and putting his hand on his chest.

I pretended to ponder it. "Nah." He shoved my shoulder lightly. The ship docked, and we went in a defensive mode. It was cerulean blue with silver designs. The name was written in smallish gold letters at the bottom. The windows were tinted black, but I could still see several figures inside.

"It's called The Space Rover," I told my second in command. He laughed, so I elbowed him.

"Ow!" I was about to say something, but they lowered the ramp. A Zithorian and an Xnorax walked down the slope in light armor, with two nicely dressed Netherians. When the two with armor reached the bottom, they took positions on either side.

"Who are you?" I asked, ahem, demanded.

"It doesn't matter who we are," one of the Netherians said.

"Your undocumented ship says otherwise," Luke defensively told them.

"We have been sent to warn you," the other one said. "There are people who want your baby, and they will not rest until they have it. They recommend you surrender now, and they will spare your lives."

I tried to speak-- to move, but I couldn't. I was paralyzed with fear for my daughter, and with hatred for whoever would do this. Luke sensed this, so he spoke on my behalf.

"Who sent you?"

"Why the very people who want the child, of course. They sent us after their failed attempt this morning," The first one spoke again. Its voice was way too cheery for my liking, so I snapped.

I don't remember how it happened, but Riptide was pressed against their throat, my hand grasped their fancy shirt, and I was growling at the Netherian.

"We need names and coordinates. NOW!" The Netherian trembled.

"Persi!"

"Not now!" My eyes glowed, and it pissed its pants.

"We just got a call with no caller ID, Offering us millions of dollars if we did this!" the other shouted.

I shoved the one in my grasp away. It tumbled, and I stalked off the dock. Luke tried to stop me, but my eyes were still glowing, so he backed off. My aura made people move out of my way while going down the path to the safe room. Once there, I had to calm down to do all the tests.

First, there was a hand scan, then the eye scan, and last, a voice recognition/ riddle test.

"I can be hot, I can be cold, I can run, and I can be still, I can be hard, and I can be soft. What am I?" The speaker asked as I finished the biometric scans. We all had unique riddles, for example, Luke's was about a thief, and Zoe's was about the sky. We were able to tell each other what it was about but never the answer.

"Water," I answered when I was sure no one was around.

The three feet thick, enforced vibranium door opened. My husband and child sat in front, the first seen. I looked at the other 5 in the room, the rulers of 3 different planets, King Bliwaba, and his husband, King Dameer, Queen Semae, Queen Lor'aan, and her wife, and Queen Nebav.

"You're safe," I told them.

All of them got up and went to the fifth meeting room. Apollo tried to get up, but I told him to sit back down.

"Why?" He asked when all the leaders left the room.

"The people who killed you tried to take Marisol. They want her for some reason." Apollo sat me down with him, transferring Marisol to me.

"Hey," he whispered, "We'll find them, but for now, we can keep our daughter safe." I looked at our sleeping daughter.

"How can we? They killed you! They would've killed Artemis if I never showed up!"

"But they couldn't stave you off!" Apollo told me. "They are not strong enough to challenge you."

"They were distracted, Apollo! Not to mention how I didn't care for a fair fight!"

"Dammit, Persi, you need to stop that! You have fought Kronos and Gaia and Order!"

"I had help! I wasn't even the one to kill Kronos or Gaia! Luke stabbed himself in his Achilles Heel and took a trip to the Underworld, and Leo blew himself up!" Sometime during this, Apollo had summoned a bassinet, and I put Marisol in it.

"You may not have defeated them yourself, but you still played a significant role in their demise. Not to mention how you beat the Minotaur without training and Ares with little."

"It's our daughter on the line, how can you put so much faith in me?"

"How can I not? Someone even comes close to threatening your family and friends, and you're putting the fear of you in them. You are the scariest person I know, and I know you'll protect her."

I hugged him, and put my head on his shoulder, shedding a tear of fear. I kissed him lightly, and we broke apart when Marisol started crying.

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Meant to post this a week ago, sorry. Good night/morning/afternoon. I semi hate school, but that just goes with my general dislike for life. I think that's enough of my life, what about yours?