Thea had a big problem.

She was cursed.

With eternal youth.

Forever.

She was born during the Ancient Greek era and still lived. The goddess Hebe was angered by Thea's easy beauty at birth, and with a snap of the fingers, Thea was burdened for eternity.

Literal eternity.

Fate really sucks.

"Ugh, Hebe, it's you." 

Thea glared at the goddess in her bedroom. 

Hebe just smirked. "As much as you might think that I've come to gloat about your haplogrouped niece's funeral today, I haven't. I just want to have a little chat. To make a deal." 

Thea's eyebrows arched. "What is it?"

"Ahh, now that's the attitude." Hebe said coyly. "So, the deal is simple. If you can find the ancient key I've hidden with the Ceryneian Hind, I will let you grow up and live like a normal human. Plus, since I'm so generous, I'll even give you someone to help you. So, ta ta!" And Hebe disappeared in a cloud of gold dust.

Thea squinted through the dust and made out a vague human shape. As the dust settled though, she saw it was just an average boy around fourteen, kind of like her except for the fact that she looked fourteen, but was around three thousand, born during the dark ages of the Greeks.

"Yoo-hoo." A hand waved in front of her face. Thea looked up and saw the boy grinning at her. 

Who are you?" She sputtered. 

"Nice to meet you too," The boy grinned. "I'm Thaddeus, but please don't call me that. My mom calls me Teddy, and you can too, but to my dad I'm Thaddeus Hayden Kuro. I'm also known as the spirit charmer. 

 And this is a BIG secret but my dad calls me the underworld's headache. Plus, my dad's Hades. Who are you? "

Thea took a step back. "Whoa, Teddy. I'm Thea Roxanne Sterling, and I go by Thea. The only person who ever called me Thea Roxy was my great-something niece. End of story."

Teddy grinned. Again. "Nice to meet you Thea."

And for the first time in her life since meeting Hebe, Thea smiled back.

I really hate fast deer

Thea and Teddy were really off. Thea could hardly wait! After over three millenniums of pure torture, she had, A) made a friend and B) could reverse the spell. And, Teddy could totally relate to having weird family/god and goddess issues. After all, his dad was Hades. 

"One hundred percent!" Teddy said with a crazed look in his eye. "In fact, lets go met Hades. He loves to mess me up but hates 

 when any other god or goddess does it to me or my friends."

"Oh, so I'm your friend now?" Thea teased gently. Teddy stared at her with an unwavering gaze. "No, you're my worst enemy, remember?"

"Oh yes, now I remember. The last time I supposedly saw you, you had my old dagger stuck in your back, courtesy of me." Thea returned the gaze.

Teddy burst out laughing, the corners of his eyes crinkling joyfully. "Well let's go find you some life." He gunned the brakes just as a golden deer burst across the asphalt road. "I think we've found the Hind."

About the author

Brandi Kooistra was born in BC and now lives in Ontario. She is 12, has two cats named Rocky and Rosco and really loves writing and chocolate.

Ps from the author: If you want a book two of Thea and Teddy's adventures put in a comment about it.