Thinking about Esperanza Valdez, who grew up poor spending extra hours in the family machine shop. Who worked so hard everyday, then met a man who truly respected her and what she built. Who had a son she nurtured and taught and loved, because even though she was a single working mother, she was going to give her son everything she could. Esperanza who’s working late in the shop one night, smiling when she hears her son scampering around in the back because she’s working on a Christmas present and she wants it to be a surprise. She’s almost finished when the doors slam shut behind her, which makes her turn around. Leo’s on the other side of those doors, and she rushes to open them so he won’t be scared. That’s when the first flames lick the walls around the doors, when the smoke seeps through the cracks. And Esperanza dies praying to Hephaestus to protect their son. He doesn’t.
Thinking about Emily Zhang, who saw her fellow soldiers under fire, who knew she could save them, but at what cost? Who knew she might not survive, but how could she sit there, knowing full well her family gift could save them? Who knew she was leaving a son at home, a son who doesn’t even know who he is, but how could she look him in the eye if she didn’t save these people? Emily Zhang who takes a deep breath, adjusts her rifle, and prays to both Mars and Poseidon to protect her, and more importantly protect her son. She flies across the battlefield as a hawk, and shoves the members of her unit out of the way as the grenade goes off. The pieces of shrapnel pierce her uniform. She bleeds to death staring up at the sky.
Thinking about Marie Levesque, a young Black woman who just wanted something of hers, wanted some ounce of power or control over her own life. Who fell in love with the god of riches and had an opportunity to ask for more, a chance to be someone. But it was a curse, a child who destroyed any chance she had to be someone. It’s Pluto’s fault, not her daughter’s, but a voice whispers to her. Calls to her. And she listens, because the voice says she can be important, that she can have a lasting impact on the world. Marie Levesque who took her daughter to Alaska for a chance to mean something, but who realized how wrong she was just a second too late. And she dies, holding her daughter, sacrificing her life to undo the damage she did. As the earth collapses around her, she can’t help but wonder. Does this mean she made a difference? Or is she just undoing the damage she did, remembered for the bad instead of the good.
Thinking about Beryl Grace, a washed up actress who thought her life was over until she managed to catch the eye of the king of the gods. Beryl Grace who basked in Zeus’s glory, because that meant she was worth something, worth more than the tabloids could ever tell her. Beryl Grace who attracted Zeus not once, but twice, both times granting her a child. Beryl Grace who was forced to give up her son to her lover’s jealous wife, a moment that ruined any chance she or her remaining daughter ever could have had a happiness. Beryl Grace with a son she was forced to abandoned, a daughter who fled, and a lover who no longer cared, left with nothing but a bottle in her hand. Beryl Grace who had one drink too many, left the bar laughing, and got in her car. Beryl Grace who saw the other car too late, whose last image was two white headlights, reminding her vaguely of the lightning she used to watch for.
Thinking about Maria Di Angelo, a woman who fled Mussolini’s Italy for the states with her two children, barely speaking any English. Who caught the eye of the god of death, long enough for him to stick around. Whose existence, along with her children’s, threatened the rule of Zeus. But she knows she can’t live in fear, because a life lived in fear isn’t a life at all. She knew this as she fled Italy, and she knows it when Hades begs her to let him protect them. Was it selfish to want a full life even if it meant living outside the protection Hades offered? Arrogant, even? No, Maria decides, because she can’t let her children be raised in the underworld. Zeus would never be so bold as to hurt her and her children. So when Maria steps out of the room in the hotel to grab her coat, she doesn’t see it coming. Maybe she could have, but she was just a mortal. She had no chance.
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