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And So It Begins...
And So It Begins...
Serenity was a snow-nymph, a lesser goddess who owned and prowled the icy tundra that freezes the earth. Well, part of it anyway. Serenity was beautiful and she knew it. She had silvery long hair, pale white blue skin, frozen blue lips, and blue eyes that were so cold and piercing you thought they could see into your very soul. But Serenity could not see into your soul; she was merely a pretty snow-nymph who made ice sculptures and had a pet snow leopard named Peace. Peace was a gift from her only friend, Semele, and was meant to be a joke of sorts, but Serenity loved it with all her heart.
Semele, you ask? She was not as beautiful as Serenity, nor did she have her ice, but she was close ranking. Semele had coppery brown hair that reached her hips, fleshy tan skin, pink lips and soft, twinkling eyes that laughed all the time. Though Semele had a problem... the sun god Apollo. So one cloudy day, Semele stumbled into Serenity's sparkling snow cave and begged her to help her with some undefined "problem".
"What happened to you!" Serenity was worried. Semele's usual pinkish tan complexion was replaced with a rather pale, pasty color.
"You promise you won't tell anyone or get jealous?" Semele's voice was shivery, not her common confidence. Serenity's brow furrowed in concern.
"I would never be jealous of you! We are sisters. And I promise not to tell." Serenity's voice was anxious.
"Apollo." The word came out with fear. Serenity blinked. This was not what she had expected. I mean, sure Apollo was the sun god, but what did that have to do with - oh gods, Apollo was chasing her! Serenity's blue eyes became wide and her mouth formed a perfect o.
"He's not." She daringly whispered. "He wouldn't. Didn't Zeus command him to stop?" Apollo was known for chasing pretty forest nymphs... he once chased a girl so much she prayed to the gods to save her and they changed her into a laurel tree.
"Yes, but Apollo is like a child. What he wants he gets. We need to escape. Now. He won't come to your cave because he needs warmth, but he might make a cave in. We have to pack and move."
"To where? We don't have any humans to go to..."
"That's taken care of." Semele handed Serenity a crinkled piece of paper. She unwrinkled the wad and briskly read:
MARY ANN ROBERTS
A DELIGHTFUL SCHOOL FOR FINISHED YOUNG LADIES AND GENTLEMAN.
#713 IVY ST.,
TOLON, GREECE
Serenity's eyes drifted down the page, to some smaller writing...
1-10 GSRH HXSLLO RH ULI NZTRXZO XIVZFIVH LMOB.
"What does that mean? It makes no sense." Serenity glanced back up at Semele. She smiled wearily.
"It's a code. A=Z, B=Y, C=X, and so on."
"Oh." Serenity furrowed her brow in concentration and stared at the letters, and suddenly there it was, in clear letters... - THIS SCHOOL IS FOR MAGICAL CREATURES ONLY - . Serenity saw now. She handed the rumpled paper back to Semele. Serenity spun around and looked at her oilskin that held all of her sculpting tools; a sharp chisel, a used hammer, a toothed saw, a Asian sword. There were many more but Serenity did not have time to run her hands over them all. She rolled them up and put them into her packer. There was not much else; a wad of human cash, an ivory comb, a tiny blue glass bird, and a beautiful silver mirror with a engraving of a graceful Aphrodite rising out of the sea, her pretty pale skin glistening with wet. She sighed at it and gently put it into her bag.
"I'm ready."
