Lucy stands before the statue she had heard stories about since she was a toddler by her mother before her death. She was supported by her crudely made crutches under her left arm as she just stood there and looked at the statue. Lucy couldn’t believe she was finally here looking at the statue. Her old tatter blood stain dress flutters in the light breeze as she just stands there and look-up at the creature in front of her. Tears slide down her cheek as she raises her right hand to touch the statue. Her petite hand was covered in scars and her fingers looked like they belonged on an old lady. They were all crooked and bent at all angles. She touches the smooth surface of the statue and wishes someone like this creature had protected her or even eaten her instead of letting her live the life she had lived.

Lucy just stands there letting the coldness of the metal the statue was made of seep into her body while letting the tears come out. It’s been a long time since she had been allowed to drop her guard and cry. She wasn’t allowed to cry when her twin brother was killed in the fighting cage. She wasn’t allowed to cry when her mother died protecting her. She wasn’t allowed to cry when she was punish or beaten by her so called uncle.

Her mother had told her that the woman this statue had been made of protected their kind and forced the world to recognize them. Lucy wishes she could had been born like this woman or her mother and twin brother, but instead she had been born mute instead. She has a gift that she wishes she didn’t have. It’s been nothing but a burden to her. She never wanted to know what people thought or how they felt, especially when they were dying. There are a few things that should remain private. She shivers as a cold wind blows by her. Her dress offered her very little protection and her feet were exposed. Her toes were just like her fingers, crooked from healing the wrong way. She was lucky to be able to walk after all the punishment and pit fights she had survived. She closes her eyes and mentally start praying to the woman this statue represented.

“I don’t know if you can hear me or not, but please tell my mother I love and miss her. Also, can you let my brother know that I am sorry he had to die for me? I should had been the one that was put in that cage match, not him. He should had been the one to live, not me. It was my fault that he was killed. I should had done what I was told to do instead of resisting.”

Lucy thinks back on that faithful day. She had been informed that she was going to be fighting the winner of the match. The guy she saw fighting was twice her size and was a shape shifter like her brother and the rest of the fighters today. He had already killed three people that had gone against him. She had looked at the man she was told to call Uncle and read his mind. He was tired of taking care of a mute like her and wanted to kill her. The other kids he had caged up earn their money here at the farm, by winning fights. She was a drain and expendable. All she was good for was cleaning the house and feeding the other kids he kept in cages. She had never told her so call Uncle that she could read peoples thoughts. Her brother told her to keep her talent secret or she would be forced to use it for him.

When it came time for her to fight the kid, she resisted and her brother told their Uncle he would take her place. Her Uncle didn’t like the idea, because he knew her brother would win easily. So to even the odds, her Uncle spiked the other kid’s water with a drug that would send him into a frenzy. She had been made to watch as her brother battled the other kid. She saw him torn limb from limb and felt his death. Later on that night, she had been given as a present to the other kid’s owner to be used as he liked. She had felt his desire and the sadist things he had in his head that he wanted to do to her. In the morning time she had been given back broken and beaten to her Uncle.

After the death of her brother, things got really bad for her. Her Uncle would put her in cages matches against dogs and normal children to fight. A lot of them were stronger and better trained then she was and she would just curl up into a ball and let them kick and punch her without fighting back. Her Uncle hated it when she did that, because after the match. He would chain her up outside and leave fresh meat for the wolves in the area to come and kill her. There were a few that attacked her and took bites out of her flesh. They never killed her, but wounded her. When her Uncle came to check to see if she was dead and found her alive. He would kick her and call her names as he dragged her back to the farm and throw her into the cellar he kept her in.

The night she escape, she knew her Uncle had something sadist planned for her. She had picked up on his thoughts and knew she needed to escape. When he came down to get her, she pretended she was sick and when he got close to her, she grabbed his gun that he always carried on his hip and shot him at close range. What she hadn’t counted was him falling and pinning her underneath his body. As weak as she was it took her fifteen minutes to escape from under him. Once Lucy was free, she grabbed her crutch and hobbled out of the cellar as fast as she could. She freed some of the other kids and watch as they torched the house, the barn and the pit they all were forced to fight in.

Lucy hadn’t stuck around because some of the kids hated her and wanted her dead for beating them in the cage fights. So she had walked for three days, till she found a truck she could hide abroad and made her way here to the statue her mother had told her stories about. Now, that she has finally seen it, she didn’t know what she would do. All she knew for certain was that she was finally free.

Lucy could feel a panic attack starting to come on as she falls to her knees and holds tight onto the leg of the statue. She grips it tightly as she tries to scream, but nothing comes out of her mouth. She wishes someone would hear her pray and help her. Lucy passes out at the foot of the statue still clinching the foot of the statue.

She doesn’t feel the presents of a woman appearing next to her or when she is lifted off the ground and carried away.

Theia looks down at the poor girl she had been sent to get and bring back to her place. The poor girl smelled like she has never had a bath and of blood. She also looked like several wild animals had attacked her. Theia picks the unconscious girl up off the ground and take her to her place. She sends a message to her Aunt Leto to come and see if she could heal the poor girl. While she waits for her Aunt Leto to show up. She strips the girl out of her clothes. She strips out of her own clothes and takes the girl into the pool with her and wash her body gently.

“Nice place, Theia.” Leto had gotten her niece’s request for help.

“Thanks, mom gave it to me.” She was still holding the young girl in the water, so she wouldn’t drown.

“I hate to ask you to do this Aunt Leto, but I was wondering if you could heal this young girl for me please.” Theia felt sorry for the girl. Her abilities told her what had happen to her.

Leto looks at the young naked girl in Theia’s arms.

“Bring her up here and let me do what I can for her. I can’t erase or heal the mental scars or damage done to her, but I can heal her body.
You’ll have to help her heal the mental wounds she has.”

Theia carries the teenage girl in her arms out of the water and lay her on a day bed in the sunlight. This was the first time she has had any of her relatives, other then her sister here at her private place.

Leto walks over and places her hand on the girl’s forehead and channel the healing energies she gets from her father Apollo into the girl. Theia watches as the girl’s crooked fingers and toes straighten out. All the injuries the girl has suffered heals itself, including what caused her muteness in the first place.

“That should do it. She should be able to speak again. She was born mute, but I fixed what caused it. She’ll need some rest for at least a day or two.” Leto stands up and looks at her niece.

“Thank you, Aunt Leto.” Theia gives her a hug.

“You’re welcome, sweetie. Now, I need to get back to Africa and help my daughter out. She’s trying to save a village.” Leto walks over towards one of the doors to the villa and disappears.

Theia picks the young girl up and carry her to her bedroom and lay her on her bed. There was a day lounge in her room she could lay on to sleep. She grabs one of her short sleeping gowns and put it on the girl as she tucks her under the sheet covering her bed. The cool air coming off the ocean kept her place cool and smelling of ocean air.

Lucy wakes up a day latter and found herself laying on a nice comfortable bed under a silky sheet. As she looks around the room she was in, she discovered it had a Mediterranean feel to it. The air smelled pure and of the sea. She could hear waves crashing on the other side of the wall. She notices she was wearing a nice gaze type night gown and she didn’t hurt any more. She looks at her fingers and notice they were completely healed and normal. She didn’t see her crutches anywhere in the room as she swung her legs out from under the sheet she was covered with. She looks down at her feet and notices they were cleaned and healed like her hand.

Lucy slides down off the bed carefully, as her feet touches the smooth stone floor. She didn’t feel any pain as her feet touches the floor or as she put weight on it. The stone floor felt cool under her feet. She could smell cooked fish drifting in the air from across the open space from where she was. There was a large pool and garden in the center of the building from what she could see from where she was sitting.

She moves carefully from the bed to the doorway, which didn’t have a door, but a grazed curtain pulled back. She looks out towards the courtyard and notices the place was design in a rectangular shape. There were opened rooms on each side of a covered walked way and paths leading from the room she was in across the open space.

She follows the smell of the cooking fish across the open space towards the kitchen on the other side. She looks into what must be the kitchen and sees a woman with long amber color hair, fair skin, button nose cooking the fish. She wasn’t very tall and looked young, like she was a teenager. She did notices that the woman was wearing a pair of light blue shorts and a matching camisole. She also noticed a vein that was on her right leg that had flowers and bumble bees on it that circled her leg and went up under her shorts and continued onto her left arm.

Theia notices out of the corner of her eye the young girl that she had been sent to bring back to her place. She watches as the girl walks across the Atrium and stops at the doorway of the kitchen.

“Would you like something to drink?” Theia was almost done with dinner.

Lucy nods her head yes.

Theia grabs a crystal glass from the cabinet, and pours her a nice cold glass of grape juice.

“I hope you don’t mind grape juice.” Theia hands the glass to Lucy.

Lucy looks at Theia’s face and notices her eyes were the color of Cat's Eye Aquamarine. She accepts the glass from her. As she watches the young lady turn back to an ancient looking stove, she has never seen before. It was more like a counter with holes where the flames could come up from below and heat the dish on top.

Lucy tastes the juice she was handed. It tasted so sweet and natural.

“Did you make this juice?” Lucy looks towards the woman.

“Yes and no. I squeezed the grapes to make it, but I didn’t grow the grapes. They were already grown when I moved in.” Theia takes the fish out of the pan and along with the vegetables she had cooked with them and place them on two separate plates.

Lucy loved the smell of the cooked food and watched as the lady put a huge cooked fish on two different plates along with the vegetables. Her mouth starts to water, as she takes another sip of the juice.

“I hope you like fish.” Theia carries the two plates to an outside marble table.

“I’ve never had fish before.” Lucy follows the woman to the table.

Theia looks at the girl “go ahead and sit down. This your home now as well.”

Lucy couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She sits down in the chair across from the woman. She watches as the woman refills her glass and as she pours herself a glass as well. She takes a bite of the fish and loved what she tasted. She had never tasted something so good before. She didn’t realize how hungry she was as she ate the food.

Theia just smirks as she watches the girl shovel the food into her mouth.

“You might want to slow down, before you choke.” Theia had a kind smile on her face as she looks towards Lucy.

Lucy slows down and blushes from embarrassment. She starts taking smaller bites and eating a little slower. She looks at the woman sitting across from her.

“How did I get here and who are you?” This has been bothering Lucy since she woke-up.

“Well, to answer your first question. I brought you here to be healed and to be safe. The answer to your second question is, my name is Theia
and I am the daughter of Athena herself. My mother sent me to retrieve you and take you some where safe. My Aunt Leto healed all your injuries and healed you of your birth defect, if you hadn’t noticed.” Theia just watches her.

It just dawns on Lucy, that she had spoken out loud. Tears slide down her cheeks from her eyes.

Theia hands her a handkerchief “dry your eyes and blow your nose.”

Lucy does what she is told to do. She lays the dirty handkerchief on the table and finishes her meal. She finishes her dish and felt full for the first time in her life. She leans back in her seat and wonders why she had been rescued.

“Would you like some desert?” Theia had an apple pie she made earlier sitting in the kitchen.

“No ma’am. I’m full.” Lucy was full for once in her life.

Theia gets up and gather all the dirty dishes.

“Here, let me help you.” Lucy was starting to get out of her seat.

“No, you stay where you are. I got this.” Theia takes the dirty dishes into the kitchen and send all the food waste to the compost she had for her flowers beds and garden and hand wash the dishes themselves. Any left overs, she puts in airtight containers and set them in the ice-cold water chest she uses for storage.

She walks back outside and sits down in her chair.

Lucy had looked around while she was sitting outside. She had never seen anything like this before. The weather here was nice and comfortable. The building itself looked to be an old style, not new. she knew the woman that fed her said her name was Theia and she was the daughter of Athena. Who was Athena?

Theia comes walking out of the kitchen “would you like to talk here, or would you like to walk on the beach and talked?”

“You have a beach?” Lucy was surprised.

“Why don’t we walk on the beach and talk?” Theia takes her hand and escorts Lucy out towards the beach.

Lucy couldn’t believe what she saw as she was escorted by Theia out of the house. She was lead down a path that lead to the beach. It was so pristine, and the waves were so enticing.

Theia watches Lucy as she looks out towards the ocean.

“Let me guess, you have never seen an ocean before?”

“No, my Uncle kept me and my brother as slaves to fight in the pits. He killed my brother because he volunteered to take my place. My Uncle was trying to kill me. He thought I was useless.” Tears start leaking out of her eyes as she cries.

Theia walks over and holds her.

“Well, you are safe here and you can take as much time as you like to heal.” Theia figures that Lucy needed some time to herself to figure out what she wanted to do.

“Will you be here?” Lucy looks at Theia?

“Yes, I’ll be here, after all it’s my home.” Theia gives Lucy a hug as they stand out on the beach and watch the waves come and go.

Six Months Later (December):
Lucy couldn’t believe that this was going to be her first Christmas as a free person. She had two sisters and a Greek goddess for an adopted mother. She had spent six months with Theia at her private residence and only going out with her adopted sisters or her sister-in-law. Shayla had been great to her and the two of them spend time together or going out places, while Theia and Titanis go and fight or protect someone.
Both her sisters made sure she was combat trained and use any weapon they had at the house. She was given her own set of Roman style armor and her own sword. The Goddess Athena did share her blood with Lucy, which made her like Theia. She wasn’t like her older sister Titanis, but like Theia.

“Hey, are the cookies ready?” Titanis comes walking in from outside.

She had been outside shoveling snow off the drive way. They had the Christmas tree decorated and there were packages under the tree. The whole house was decorated for Christmas.

“Yes, big sister. I’m done with the cookies and they aren’t burned either. Shayla made sure this time.” Lucy sets the tray she was carrying with cookies and home-made eggnog on the coffee table.

Shayla has been teaching her how to cook. She still couldn’t get over the fact that a blind woman was such an excellent chef. Shayla taught her so much about the different spices, the different meats and seafoods, vegetables’ and how to prepare them. Baking was her favorite thing to do when she was feeling sad or upset. Theia’s place always smelled like breads and pastries. Theia took her into the town a few times to sell them.

“I don’t know. If my wife was involved, that means you were trying to poison us.” Titanis loved teasing her little sister.

Her mother had asked how she would feel having one more sister added to the family. At first Titanis thought her mother was trying to replace
her, but then she found out that wasn’t the case with Theia. Her mother explained Theia’s case to her and after thinking about it. She didn’t have a problem with Theia becoming her sister.

Then, when Lucy was rescued by Theia. She wonders what was going to happen to her after Theia told her what Lucy’s life had been liked. Titanis approached her mother and asked her to adopted Lucy as their third sister. Theia felt the same way about the decision. So, Athena went ahead and adopted Lucy as her third daughter. Athena decided that having three daughters were enough after sharing her blood with Lucy.

“I would never poison my sister. Maybe, beat them up or take embarrassing photos, but never poison.” Lucy takes a sugar cookie she made and bite in it. She saw Leo steal a few for himself.

Theia grabs a few after Shayla and eat them. She drinks the homemade eggnog.

“See, Theia isn’t dead from eating my cookies or drinking the eggnog.” Lucy sits down by Theia.

“Okay, you’re not trying to poison us.” Titanis gives her a teasing smile and sits down next to her wife.

“Hey sis, is mom going to visit us this Christmas?” Theia was looking towards Titanis for an answer.

“She said she’ll be here on Christmas morning. There are certain laws that God/dess have to follow.” Titanis didn’t know all of them, but if their mother made a promise, she normally kept it.

Lucy stands up and look at everyone present “not to long ago, I was a slave made to fight in pits for entertainment of others. I lost my brother to that environment. Now I have two loving sisters and a loving sister-in-law. Plus, a loving mother. I want to say thank you and Merry Christmas.”

"Merry Christmas, Lucy."