Met with the new client again. What shall I call him? Let's call him 'Octavian', because I intend to turn him into a Caesar.

Octavian has followed all of my instructions. His eyebrows are now under control and his skin is beginning to improve. He complained about the diet - too many vegetables - but I nipped that in the bud. I don't care if the dietician tells him to drink nothing but carrot juice, he'll follow my directions to the letter or regret it. I'm not saying I can't be swayed by a carefully worded plea or, you know, the traditional offering of burnt flesh, but you'd better come as a supplicant with the proper amount of humility.

I do admit that monotonous diets are a sore point with me - who is he to complain when I spent how long on just nectar and ambrosia?

Tomorrow we'll be meeting with a real estate agent. He needs to make a marital alliance, and I've got two young women in mind. One is an elementary school teacher and the daughter of a venture capitalist. The other is a hematologist who's the best friend of the young wife of a certain CEO. Luckily for me they both live in the same neighborhood. And there just happen to be a couple of places on the market....

Well, that trip turned out about as well as I expected.

What a fiasco.

What's happening to us? We can't even control our own anymore. Artemis insane, how many others dead, napping, or missing. Even Athena seemed on a thin edge. And me - well, I've adopted a mortal child and I admit I have no idea what I am going to do with her when she turns 18.

I miss the old days more than ever.

Susan and I went to Alki for some purported 'Pirate landing' yesterday. Anticlimactic, crowded, and hot. None of the modern pirate fans seem to understand how violent, pest-ridden, and filthy the originals were. Remind me to write down the story of the time I was kidnapped and held for ransom by pirates some time.

I needed to get some time with her. I've felt her slipping into herself as the pregnancy progresses. Since she started to show last month, most of her friends (and all of her male friends) seem to have dropped her. She still won't tell me who the father is, and I've decided not to press further. It doesn't matter which of those pimply faced teenaged boys she used to hang out with impregnated her - none of them have anything to offer, they're as interchangeable as toy soldiers. We don't need what they can give.

Embarcation

Athena arrived yesterday, safe and sound. She was appropriately impressed by Whidbey Island and admitted, after some pressing, that, yes, she understands the attraction of living in such a place. Of course, unlike some of us, Athena didn't have the experience of growing up on an island in the Mediterranean. The inside of my ex-husband's skull must have the same fond associations for her as gently rolling waves do for me....

She insists on driving. To Alaska?!? I told her it's simply not done, I offered to buy her a plane ticket, I offered to hire a private plane, but she pointed out in that infuriating way of hers that the commercial airlines don't get us close enough and a private plane would attract the kind of attention we don't want. Thank goodness it's summer and I have my IDs in order. We won't be taking MY car, I rented something that can handle the terrain, will keep us comfortable, and has a decent built-in entertainment system. After about three hours of listening to Athena get all the questions right on NPR quiz shows I would be ready to drive off an iceberg.

I don't like leaving Susan for so long, either, but Argus will keep an eye on her.

Met with my new client before Athena's arrival. A mid-level executive in a well-known company in an industry that will not be named. He looks like an Italian mobster and dresses like one too. I can see why one of my puppies referred him to me. He's got a lot of potential - very forceful personality - but he needs guidance. Refinement. I gave him some homework while we're away: facial, eyebrows, hairstylist, interior decorator, personal trainer, and krav maga to cultivate that aggressive killer instinct. And most importantly, come up with a list of all his internal and external peers. The people he will be competing with for resources and promotions.

This should be fun. I haven't taken on a new client in a couple years. The first part is always the most exciting.

Fine.

I suppose I can try this until the current crisis is wrapped up. Sure, NOW you want to be in touch. Any time anything happens on the West Coast, the phone rings. The rest of the time? Not a peep. What an ungrateful passel of brats you are. But don't expect me to use my real alias and don't expect me to divert significant attention from business to fix your little problems. I have a career to manage and a family to support. I just took Susan for one of those new 3-D ultrasounds yesterday - the baby is so beautiful! Try not to be too jealous, darlings.