Ecliptic

3.

"You want anything?" I shouted from the kitchen. Archer only grunted in response which I took to mean no, so I poured myself a glass of tea and went the table.
In the search bar were the words "I think I am a Greek goddess.. help?" I sighed inwardly. No wonder he wasn't finding anything.
He was completely involved in his search though, head bent over the keyboard, scribbling down useless information about the Greek gods.
I watched him for a while, weighing in occasionally only to be shot down. He seemed so frantic. It scared me a little.
Eventually, I realized if I didn't do something now, he wouldn't ever stop looking.
"Get up."
"What?" Archer didn't even look away from the screen.
"Get up, let me try. You've been at it for an hour. Take a break, get some food... I'll let you know if I see something." He frowned but handed me the compueter.
"Thank you."
I turned away, grabbed a towel, and headed outside. I laid it out on the grass and sat. I groaned, knowing this search would produce nothing and that it would take Archer months to forget it.
Oh well, I had to try. I thought a moment before quickly typing "dreams about Greece." Archer's problem was that he was being too literal. Some of the best information comes up where you least expect it.
Unfortunately, this was not one of those cases.
All of the sites that came up were for dream condos in Greece or blogs about dreaming of going to Greece.
I tried a few more key words, but nothing of interest showed.
I was about to give up and explain to Archer that this mission was hopeless and the dreams meant nothing, but then I had an idea.
"Dream meanings in ancient Greece," I mouthed as I typed.
"Prophesies and Ancient Greek Dream Interpretations" I read aloud. I clicked it and a whole article came up, decorated with vines and cheesy suns and moons.
"Crap." It wasn't even a good site. I stayed on though, because I was curious. To this day I don't know if I'm glad or not.
Of course, I did not know then what would come to pass. I was simply a teenage girl reading an online article, unknowingly altering her future.
The first page was nothing special; some facts here, fables there. Then I came upon the section about dreams.
"In ancient Greece, prophets were both admired and feared. Some, like the Oracle of Delphi, spoke through hosts.
Others spoke through dreams. Dreams, especially ones involving a great blessing or great disaster, were considered gifts from the god Apollo (the god of prophesy among other things). Certain groups believed that dreams not only showed the future, but showed the past as well, even going so far as to say that they were images of past lives. These ideas were never widely accepted, however, and the idea died out almost completely around the time Greece itself fell from glory."
"Huh,"I thought. "Thats interesting."
I saved the page and grabbed my things. I zoomed into the house only to find Archer sitting on the couch, munching on a carrot stick watching "Hercules".
"Wow." I teased.
"What? It's a good movie," he remarked. "You find anything?"
He looked so hopeful. I knew the website wasn't anything to get excited over, but I nodded anyway. Archer jumped up and raced over to me. I put the computer down and pulled up the page. He poured over the article, soaking up every word.
Finally, he pulled back.
"Huh... that kinda makes sense."
"What? It makes sense if you're crazy and believe in that crap."
"But, I mean, I told you they felt like memories. Maybe it's not so far fetched."
I couldn't believe what I had just heard. "What happened to Mr. Skeptical who needed proof that the Earth went around the Sun?"
"Thats different," he defended. "The moon goes around the Earth and the Earth goes around the Sun? So why do they travel the same path in the sky? They shouldn't look the same."
I laughed at his sincerity, but soon returned to my own skepticism.
"Archer do you really believe this?"
"I don't know."
I stood back and looked at him. He looked so sad. This was really getting to him.
"Hey, in your dreams what goddess are you?
Wow, I never thought I'd have to say that sentence.
"Artemis."
That didn't make much sense.
"Thats weird," I said. "If that whole reincarnation thing is true, which it isn't, then you were the Greek goddess Artemis in a past life, correct?"
"Yes."
This was getting weirder by the second.
"But Artemis vowed to stay a virgin forever and hated most men. Why would she be reincarnated into one? Can Goddesses even die?"
"They can if they are killed by another god." Archer jumped back. "How did I know that?"
"Because apparently you were one."
I didn't believe it, but I could tell that for some reason Archer did.
But where did we go from here? If he thought he was a Greek goddess, what did he intend to do about it?
"Go to Greece."
I looked up and Archer was staring at me, wide eyed. "What did you say?"
"Didn't you ask something?" He looked scared. He knew I hadn't.
"No. I thought it." We stared at each other, horrified.
"I know."