An Ning was almost out of her mind with the pain. She hovered between insanity and nightmare but still her body refused to obey her command and give birth to her children. In a moment of clarity, she ordered the women to take her to the spring where the clear water buoyed her up and eased the tension in her belly.

The eldest, a boy, was born first. He left her body the instant An Ning submerged in the pool. The little girl followed not long after, her little lungs inhaling air and screaming at the same time. The women covered the precious little babies in wads of cotton then cleaned An Ning up and carried them to their bedroom inside the cave, where the little family slept in comfort.

An Ning woke up to the feel of little hands kneading at her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, little mouths pulling at her still tender nipples. The precious twins were rooting like pigs at her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, their faces red, their eyes closed.

"You look beautiful," she whispered as she tenderly caressed their cheeks. "I wish your father was here so he could see how beautiful you two are."

"They are precious, aren't they?" Nyra said, standing looking at them from the open door. "When are you going to tell Han that his children are born? Don't you think he deserves to know?"

"There's still time," An Ning said casually. "I didn't know you'll be back soon."

Nyra came into the room and sat on the side of the bed, her forefinger playing with one tiny hand.

"We found the men. I've sent Gara to get them. I think they'll be here by tomorrow."

"Where did you find them?"

"I did as you suggested and trailed one of those n.o.bel laureates. I gathered these so called scientists together and told them I was pulling the rug off their projects and not giving them any more money so they panicked. This guy actually led us to the building bas.e.m.e.nt where apparently Yu Yan or Merius built a huge laboratory for human guinea pigs. I was so incensed by what I saw that I did as you suggested and killed the man. The rest of those sc.u.ms are living on borrowed time as we speak."

"Destroy everything they own even their family. I don't want anyone profiting from these monsters' so-called work. Leave them nothing but the clothes on theirs backs," An Ning ordered grimly.

"It will be done as you said," Nyra nodded. Her fingers trailed softly on the cheek of one child. "What are you going to call them?'

"Castor and Pollux," An Ning said without hesitation. "Polly will be a good nickname for the baby girl."

"I don't think she'll be called Polly for long," Nyra laughed. "She looks like a Pollux to me. She has yours and Hippolyta's eyes."

"Castor will stay here with us. I don't care about any old customs the tribe may have followed in the past. These are my kids and they stay together with me."

"Your choice," Nyra shrugged. "It's not really a custom but rather a choice. We are a tribe of women. Of course, that says something of who we are as a whole. But I think it's different in your case. You bore twins. A girl and a boy. I think that portents the path the Amazons will follow in the future."

"That we need men to survive?"

"That we have to adapt to the times," Nyra corrected. "Your son will be the first man to live here amongst us from his birth to his youth. Can you imagine that? He will grow up with the Amazons. A man child. Who knows, the others will see this and will be encouraged not to give away their sons anymore."

"If that happens, then change will come fast for Saravia. We need to put up some barriers to protect ourselves."

"The spring water?" Nyra asked.

"That and the entire grove," An Ning said. "Grandfather's magic will not stand the test of time. Someone stronger may appear and destroy the s.h.i.+eld he's put around it. Hippolyta's spring alone will cause wars to erupt and we don't want that to happen."

"What do you suggest then?"

"I have something in mind. I still need to calibrate some nuts and bolts for it to happen though."

"We'll don't make it too long. I've just been told that three Amazons are pregnant. It's becoming an epidemic," Nyra laughed.

An Ning was surprised but laughed along with her. It seemed that the once abandoned village was stirring up with more than one tiny life. The barriers it once put up to hide itself from the world were weakening. One little push and those barriers will tumble down, exposing Saravia to outside influences it may or may not survive.

Once the twins were born, strange things began to happen in Saravia. The big rock that used to protect the village from adverse weather split and cracked. What's strange about it though was that by cracking and splitting up, the ground revealed an underground pa.s.sage that led to a river below.

The presence of the river stunned the village. The river flowed down a cave that zigzagged to the mouth of a bigger river some miles away which then washes into the ocean. The underground river on the other hand gave An Ning another headache. Fortunately, the river basin which the underground water flowed into was part of a bridal gift Li Cheung gave Hippolyta on their wedding day. The gift was a large parcel of land that included the river and some parts of a still unexplored mountain.

But the underground river seemed like an omen to An Ning. It portent a change that she was not sure she could handle yet. Another strange thing that happened concerned the twins, Castor and Pollux. An Ning was wakened one morning by the feel of something sharp digging at her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. When she looked down, she saw her nipples bleeding. The twins though seemed unconcerned about the taste of blood mixing in with the milk. Their tiny faces were flushed, their eyes opened.

An Ning pulled their mouths from her chest to examine her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. The skin on her nipples were raw and sore, as if something sharp had bitten and gnawed at them. She frowned and looked at the twins. They were gurgling happily, waving their arms in the air, and smiling at her. Both sets of eyes looked at her as though they recognized her and were happy to see her. They were smiling...their front little teeth flas.h.i.+ng cutely at her. Teeth...something cold ran down An Ning's back.

In the next two days, the rapid growth of the twins became even more evident. Castor now had a head full of hair. His sister Pollux began to crawl and seemed to be talking to her in her little girl voice. On the fifth day, the twins started to walk. On the 12th day, their height was now the same as a two year old. On the 20th day, they started to speak. At the end of the month, Castor and his sister Pollux achieved the impossible and transformed into the size and height of any normal 12-year old human child born to normal parents.

An Ning rode the change without any actual surprise. The twins' parents, after all, were not ordinary. Their grandparents on her side even more so. And Nyra had explained to her that when Hippolyta was crowned queen of the Amazons she had been the same age as the twins were right now, at the tender age of twelve. And her rapid growth was even more remarkable because she achieved that in less than a month after the former queen gave birth to her.

"Isn't that rather strange? I feel like I've given birth to a set of monsters. This is not possible," An Ning said to Nyra.

"You believe in your immortality yet you don't believe in this?" Nyra mocked. "Your family is not normal, An Ning. Saravia is not normal. The people around you are not normal. We've lived through many centuries. We've fought wars. We've fought and killed tyrants. And yet, we're still here. Except for that ignominious episode with Yu Yan, we've always prevailed and won. You gave birth to your children in Hippolyta's sacred pond. You fed them your blood, which has the power to cancel the effects of over-reaching technology yet you still doubt this?"

"I guess I just want to have normal kids," An Ning shrugged. ""If they grow big too soon how can I enjoy their childhood?"

"They'll stop changing when they reach the age of twelve. Then they'll become the normal children you want. They'll reach full adulthood when they're in their 20s. Then they will continue to live like that until something happens and they die."

"Die? But they're immortal," An Ning protested.

"Those women with us on the island were immortals, too, but they still died," Nyra pointed out.

"Maybe despair overrode their love of life and they just gave up," An Ning said. "I think immortality is also a choice. Why continue living when you're in pain, hungry or sad? Those women saw no future for themselves and maybe they just allowed themselves to drift away. You didn't. Somehow, you still held on to hope and that's why you're still alive."

"Maybe you're right," Nyra agreed after thinking over what An Ning said. "It was my anger that helped me. I wanted Yu Yan dead and I held on to that thought for twenty years."

"Don't worry. She died a painful death. I made it as painful as possible so she would have no memory except for the pain," An Ning said, thinking of Yu Yan imprisoned with all those crazies in the crystal pendant. She will spend the rest of her life battling her way through survival, just like those thousands of women she condemned to death on the island. A fitting end for a first cla.s.s b.i.t.c.h like Yu Yan, An Ning thought in satisfaction.

"Mommy, what are you smiling about?" the voice of a young child, Pollux.

An Ning turned her head and smiled at her daughter. Both of her children looked like her except for their eyes, which were a light grey in color. Pollux especially was turning out to be a small and delicate beauty. Her bones were delicate, her face an enchanting combination of creamy skin, pink lips, and exquisitely detailed black eyebrows. This is what the young Hippolyta must have looked like when she was crowned queen of the Amazons at the age of twelve, An Ning thought. Pollux had the looks and the bearing of a queen and like Hippolyta, had a curious mind that could grasp atoms and time at a snap of a finger.

"I was just remembering something funny that happened," An Ning said. "Where's your brother?"

"He's fis.h.i.+ng as usual. He said it's too hot to move so he's staying in one place and napping I guess," Pollux shrugged.

"Again? I have yet to see a more lazy boy than your brother. Are you done with your homework?"

"We finished it last night. Mommy, would you be sending us to school soon? I mean there is a school in the next town, right? I googled it up in the internet."

"Is that what you want? To attend school?"

"Not really," Pollux said. "But Cas and I talk about it and we agreed it might be fun."

"If that's what you'd like to do then I'm fine with it. It'll be good for the two of you to see the outside world so you'll have a good understanding of it when the time comes. But Lux, I want you to promise me something."

"What is it, Mommy?"

"All of these," An Ning waved her hand in a big circle, "must be kept secret. About who you are, Saravia, your grandparents, everything must be kept within these walls only. You do understand what I mean, don't you?"

"I understand. You don't want people to look at us like we're weirdos."

"But we are weirdos," An Ning corrected gently. "You and I both. Your brother. The women here in the village. Everybody here is weird and unique and that's why we need to keep all of this a secret. Most people out there are kind but there are others who may not understand what we are and may try to do us harm. I don't mind killing one or two to protect my kids but why bother when it's much more fun to fool them, right?"

Pollux laughed. There was a twinkle in her light eyes when she looked at her mom.

"Mommy, you are so bad," she dimpled prettily.

"I know. And that's why you love me, right?"

Mother and daughter laughed harmoniously. They were almost the same height and they looked so much alike they could be twins. The boy looking at them from a distance thought so, too, and felt somewhat lonely because of it. But then mother and daughter saw him and both of them waved at him happily. The boy laughed and strode forward in their direction, a basket of fresh, live fish held in one hand.