“I wanna say thank you to all of you for this honor. My team, Kelly and Joe at Blue Wave Records, the best manager in the world Shayla, my friends Korrie, Heather, Shawn, Marissa, Lauren, Tina, and Marcus. I love you guys. There is no way possible I would be standing up here if it wasn’t for your hard work and support. All those late night, and early mornings. Putting up with my craziness. You are the real heroes.”
“To my fans . . .” I tried to find those words I’d written down but decided to go with how I felt in the moment.
“You know I’d do anything for you all. I care so much about you, and I hope with all that I am that you never give up on yourself. Like the rivers of this Earth, they weave and slowly carve their way through mountains and harsh landscapes creating canyons. You are powerful, and you can be your own river. If anyone tries to tell you that you are worthless, that you are nothing, remember these next words. Whoever said you can’t do it is afraid you might. And for what it’s worth: it’s never too late to be whoever you want to be.
“I hope you live a life you can be proud of, and if you aren’t, then I hope you have the courage to start again. To my sisters of this Earth you are machines, you are worthy, and you are beautiful. Keep fighting for you, for us, for your families. Keep those tits up and heads high. No one is allowed to treat you like less than the goddess you are. My fellow people of color, this moment shows us all how powerful, strong, and enduring we are. Don’t give up on society because of how much further we have to go. Let’s be like the river until we help build this planet to be as it should be . . . where no matter your gender, race, religion, or sexual preferences, we all are equal. Thank you so much for this honor everyone.” I stepped back to let any of my team who wanted to talk do their thing and absorbed the emotions reeling inside me.
Two of my people said their short speeches, and I smiled when appropriate. Instead of my thoughts staying to the present where they should have been, a certain sixteen-year-old boy with blond hair and blue eyes drifted in. I’d tried to avoid thoughts about Maddie over the years, wondering what he was up to, why he left and never came back. However, he’d remained my best friend, my guardian, and the one person in the whole world I wanted to share moments like this with.
I shook my head to clear the worthless thoughts since it had been years since then. Once the acceptance speeches ended, we walked off the stage together. The rest of the night flashed in a blur. I danced at the after party, basked in the glow of everyone’s congratulations, and was driven home.
I stared at the award as it shined from the highway lights on the way to the hotel. I wanted to be back at my garden cottage in Seahill, Washington, but I had a meeting with my label tomorrow, so to the hotel we went. Once the town car stopped, I was helped out with a gentle hand from the door attendant. I had drunk a little too much so I was grateful for the gesture, and the dress I’d been shoved into constricted my movements.
“Thank you,” I purred at whoever helped me and walked to the double doors. Suddenly, that gentle hand yanked me to the right. Unprepared for the jarring movement, I fell and was tossed over a shoulder like wasn’t a five-foot-nine woman who had an ass and thighs to weigh whoever down.
“What the fuck!” I cursed and squirmed.
People watched the incident, so I knew I couldn’t unleash my powers upon this fool. I had to pretend to be a normal human or expose my powers to everyone. I kicked and punched the kidnapper and was thrown to the harsh ground. People yelled and my driver ran to me.
“Help!” I screamed and flailed frantically. Had I not drank so hard at the after party my actions to get away would have been more clear. I knew very well how to take care of myself. Famous singer Hazel Kennedy by day, and Hero Society fighter by night.
Only I couldn’t let anyone know that, or my life would be over.
Chapter Two
Hazel
“Congratulations, Hazel, on your big win!” The front desk woman of Blue Wave Records waved to me as I squinted at her bronze name tag.
“Thanks, Cari. I’m here for the meeting with Kelly and Joe.” My confident smile hid how shitty I felt. The aches and the migraine were one of the many reasons why I hated drinking alcohol. Tastes like shit, and yeah, I forgot about a certain someone for a little bit. But then I feel like shit afterwards. However, on the outside I tried to not look like a troll today. I also didn’t usually wear makeup since my platform was about embracing yourself as you are, including bags under your eyes from a party night, and wild hair wrapped in a beautiful red scarf. Yoga pants and tank tops were fashionable, right? My manager Shayla walked in the door shortly after I did and looked me over from flip flops to the tip of my scarf.
“You should be glad I love you,” she stated with a smirk, then walked toward the glass doors with Cari chasing after her.
Shayla didn’t take shit from anyone. She either liked you or she didn’t, and you knew it. She liked me for me and wanted to be on my team from the beginning.
I followed behind them slowly, wanting to avoid any shouting that may or may not occur once Shayla reached the meeting room. Soreness jarred my senses. I had soaked in an Epsom salt bath, but it didn’t help much. I needed to be back in my garden where I had the perfect blend to help ease the ache.
“There she is! Our beautiful Hazel! Didn’t I tell you she’d win?” Joe bragged and walked over to hug me. Despite being a short fellow, he never once rested his head against my breasts when he embraced me. I liked that he’d always been respectful to the women he worked with instead of using his position of power over those under him to be creepy.
“We won,” I reminded him, since the album was a vast group effort.
“Yes, we did. I’ll never forget how you are such a kind spirit. You’ve been with us since you were seventeen and have been such a blessing ever since.” He hugged me one more time before sitting at the long wooden table next to Kelly. I smiled, grateful for a wonderful team. I knew many artists who had been taken advantage of or stuck in awful contracts by greedy corporations. Somehow, I’d managed to get lucky in that department, and I never let myself forget that fact.
“So, first round of business. We heard about last night. That must have been frightful. How are you feeling?” Kelly pushed her highlighted blond hair back and stared at me from across the table.
“I’m OK.” I avoided the details of a bruised hip and a hangover.
“We’re glad you’re all right. We’re very worried about you and your safety. So we are—"
“Which we’ll come back to after we talk about what’s next. You’ve got a busy schedule coming up,” Joe abruptly cut Kelly off which earned him a punishing glare.
“As you know, I’ve already started writing and playing around in the studio. I’m heading back to my Seahill home for a few weeks to rest before jumping into the soundtrack songs for that Hero Society movie.” Internally I smiled. I would write and sing songs for a movie about the society I was secretly a member of. Some people were in awe or feared the Hero Society so having a secret identity to fight with was a necessity.
“Oh yes, we are looking forward to that. Maybe we can plan a short tour with the studio to promote the movie and your titles on the soundtrack.” Joe beamed, then launched into discussion with Shayla about making the plans.
The Hero Society had come out about two years ago and had been saving lives ever since. While I didn’t struggle with my powers like many did, I was relieved when they told the world how people like me existed. The ancient Greek gods and goddesses of myth had been real, but the gods killed off their demigod children, which angered the humans of the time. Humans stopped believing in them. However, the gods and goddesses loved humankind, so once they disappeared without the faith of humans, they transferred their powers into the genes of humans. Until a human host turned sixteen, the host looked and acted normal. However, on the host’s sixteenth birthday, the power arose if it thought the host was fit to be a hero. If the host didn’t use the powers, the host would go crazy . . . literally.
After the day in the woods with my old foster family, I never rejected my powers. I left and never looked back. I became emancipated, took care of myself, provided for myself, and hit it big on social media with a song I’d written about heartbreak. Blue Waves wanted me after hearing the song, and I knew they were the right fit. Shayla saw my story on TV and knew she wanted to represent me. I hadn’t even agreed to hiring her when she walked uninvited and unannounced into my negotiation discussions with Kelly and Joe. Taking care of my career was her personal mission, and she hadn’t let me down yet.
