- The Twelve Days of Stella (Part 1)
- The Twelve Days of Stella (Part 2)
- The Twelve Days of Stella (Part 3)
As Stella flicked her hand at the room, sending the sea of Skittles back into oblivion—except for the jarful she zapped onto her desk ... for later—she wished she’d just cleaned up the mess in the first place. Then she wouldn’t be facing Phoebe’s questioning look about the paintings.But it wasn’t like she had to stay and answer those questions.
“I’m going out for a while,” Stella said as she snatched the portraits off the sofa and headed for her room. “Try not to bring any more plagues to the house before I get back.”
She could practically hear Phoebe’s teeth grinding behind her. That almost made up for her discovering the paintings.
Stella quickly slid the canvases under her bed. They should be safe from Phoebe’s curiosity—and her powers—until Stella could decide what she wanted to do with them. Now that they’d come out of hiding she couldn’t just put them back and forget.
When she heard Phoebe’s door slam—not an unusual occurrence—Stella stepped into her silver ballet flats. Seconds later she was walking the path to the village, heading for her favorite refuge: the pantheon temple. Perched on a cliff overlooking the gorgeous Aegean below, the pantheon temple was built as a tribute to all the gods and goddesses of Olympic descent in an attempt to diffuse any arguments about preferred patron deities and the like. Not that anything could prevent the gods from arguing.
The temple was rarely used anymore. The gods didn’t visit the island with any regularity, and the residents didn’t feel compelled to pay formal tribute. Which meant that Stella usually found the temple deserted—the perfect environment for clear thinking.
As she climbed the shallow steps and passed through the colonnade to enter the temple proper, she felt a growing sense of calm and clarity. There was something about the brightly colored mural the covered every square inch of the interior walls that just ... made her smile. It portrayed all the gods and goddesses in their most resplendent glory. Like a massive and ancient family portrait.
Stella went, as she always did, to stand before the goddess on the far wall. The one wearing a beautiful golden crown, holding a plump pomegranate in her elegant hand, and with a proud peacock laying across her feet. Hera.
It had been years since Stella met with her immortal ancestor. The great deities rarely left Olympus anymore, and Stella hadn’t had time—or an invitation—to attend their court. If she couldn’t speak to Hera face-to-face, then this was the next best thing.
She lifted a hand to run her fingertips over the gilded sandals on Hera’s feet, but stopped when she heard footsteps echoing into the temple.
Startled, she turned to see who else still visited the temple, and was even more shocked to see Phoebe’s friend, Troy, hurrying inside. He was carrying a cloth bag in his outstretched hands, eyeing it nervously as if it might bite at any second.
Tune in tomorrow for the next installment. [Part 5]
Hugs,
TLC
No comments:
Post a Comment