Poppaea and Juni (part 3)
Part 3
After Octavia left, Juni called up Gen and said, “Hi Gen, remember what you said about those poppies?”
“Yeah, but we didn’t see them when we went to Pietra’s house.”
“Well, that doesn’t mean that they won’t come back, and this time we’re going to be ready for them,” Juni said.
“With what?", Gen asked.
“With snow,” Juni said, “but where do we get it?”
“Well, there’s a place where they have snow but it’s reserved for the Christmas season,” Gen said, “I’m not sure if we can get it. Besides, is it an emergency?”
“Yes. Please don’t ask why, but yes,” Juni said.
“Well...okay,” Gen said, “I’ll gather the girls and we’ll meet you at your hotel room, then we’ll go get the snow.”
“Cool,” Juni said.
After she hung up, the Eurasian waited for the group to come. In a short time, they came and went to the place that Gen had mentioned. The manager’s preferred language was Italian, so Pietra did the talking. The manager didn’t fully understand the reason why the four wanted the snow, but decided to give a large portion of it to them for free, in order to get them to leave. Pietra thanked him, and he packed the snow in a large box and carried it to their car. Afterwards, they got into the car and drove back to Pietra’s house. They brought the snow in with them and opened the box. Fortunately, the snow was cold so if any poppies were in Pietra’s bedroom, they would be taken care of and in a sense, Poppaea would be “on ice”.
The four carried the box to Pietra’s bedroom, opened the door and turned on the light. To their surprise, poppies littered the floor.
“Okay girls, let’s do our thing” Juni said-and with that, the four started covering the poppies with snow. As it covered the poppies, they heard a voice:
“What?! What are you doing? Stop it!”
“Gen, did you hear something?", Juni asked and winked.
“No J, must be my imagination,” Gen said, winking back.
After the poppies were covered, Pietra went and got a broom and dustpan. When she came back and gladly started sweeping the floor, the voice exclaimed, “Stop this now!” Of course, Pietra ignored her and continued sweeping until she got the last poppy off the floor.
“Trash time!", the group happily said. Then Pietra threw the poppies into the wastebasket.
“Let me do something,” Juni said.
“Okay,” Pietra said.
Juni took a handful of snow and dumped it on the poppies. It was her private revenge on Poppaea for what she did to her Pietra.
“Serves you right,” she muttered.
At 11 p.m. that night, everyone drove to a local garbage disposal and dumped the bag full of poppies there. Then they drove off. A few minutes later, Poppaea crawled out of the trash and fumed.
This wasn’t over yet.
Meanwhile, Octavia had come back from ancient Rome with the artifact that would help Juni, and they were once again in her hotel room where she showed her the artifact.
“This is an heirloom,” she said, “said to keep evil spirits from possessing you. I’m going to put it around your neck so when Poppaea tries to possess you, she won’t be able to. However, I want this returned to me so please don’t lose it.”
“I won’t,” Juni said.
“Good,” Octavia said, “and now I must go. I wish you very well.”
“Thanks,” Juni said.
Before she left, Octavia asked, “By the way, did you take care of your poppy problem?”
“Oh yes,” Juni said, “most definitely.”
Octavia just smiled, then a few minutes later she left the hotel room. The Eurasian toyed with the heirloom and hoped that it would work. The last thing she wanted was for Octavia to trick her in this time of crisis.
A few days later, Poppaea found Juni out on the street but this time she wasn’t afraid. Nero’s wife arrogantly said, “You and your friends may have thought that you won by humiliating me, but I’m not through with you yet.”
“Well bring it on, Poppaea. I’m more than ready to go up against you,” Juni said.
Poppaea smiled and said, “Well then, meet me at the Colosseum tomorrow at sunset and come alone.”
“Okay, but won’t Nero be there?", Juni smugly asked.
“Yes, but he’ll see who the REAL victor is,” Poppaea said.
“Whatever, but then again we’ll see,” Juni said.
“Fine,” Poppaea said and walked off.
“Great,” Juni said confidently- then walked off as well.
The next evening, Juni and the gang drove to the Colosseum and she stepped out.
“Are you sure we can’t come with you?", Gen asked.
“Yes. Poppaea wanted me to come alone, and it wouldn’t be fair to lie,” Juni said.
“Good luck,” Pietra said.
“Thanks. I’ll need it,” Juni said,“and I’ll be lucky if I come out of this alive.”
“Well be praying for you,” Anna said, and grasped her hand.
“Great. I gotta get to the fight now. Bye,” Juni said and ran into the Colosseum. For a second, she was alone and then she heard a voice:
“Juni.”
She turned around and saw Nero.
“Juni, what are you doing here?", he asked.
Before she could answer, Poppaea approached them and said, “Now it comes down to this. Noone is going to save you, Juni. Soon I’ll control you again.”
“We’ll see about that,” Juni said.
“Juni, please just leave now for your safety,” Nero said, “my wife is a dangerous woman.”
“No Nero, I won’t leave. I accept Poppaea’s challenge.”
“Wise choice Juni, but enough talk. It’s time for your defeat!”
In seconds, Poppaea transformed into a spirit and tried to get into Juni’s body. That’s when the heirloom took effect: it gave off a bright light and knocked the spirit back. Poppaea was shocked and asked, “W...what happened?”
“Oh, have you seen this?", Juni smugly asked, showing her the heirloom, “compliments of my friend Octavia, and made to ward off evil spirits. It works very well, wouldn’t you say?”
“Give me that necklace!", Poppaea exclaimed.
“Sorry, no can-do,” Juni said, “I’ve got to give it back to her afterwards.”
“Not if I snatch it from you,” Poppaea said; then she lunged towards her and knocked her down. The two struggled while Poppaea tried to pull the necklace off Juni. The struggle lasted for some time until Nero intervened, pulling his wife off of her. Juni breathed a sigh of relief and fortunately the necklace was still on her.
However, it was far from over.
When Poppaea attacked her again, Juni swung her waist-length, ponytailed black hair in her face and knocked her down. Once she was down, Juni grabbed her hair, punched her, looked into her eyes and said, “Why don’t you just get out of here? You’ve caused nothing but trouble, and I’ve proven tonight that I can kick your butt.”
Poppaea was angry but didn’t have the energy to fight anymore.
“Okay, okay...I’ll leave,” she said-gasping.
“And don’t harass my friends or me again,” Juni said-still holding her hair.
“Okay. Please let me go now,” she begged.
Juni let go of her hair, and Poppaea got up and ran off. Nero applauded and said, “That was quite a fight that you put up against my wife.”
“Thanks,” Juni said, “and part of it couldn’t have been done without the help of your other wife Octavia. If it hadn’t been for her, Poppaea would have controlled me again. I clearly remember what happened the last time.”
“As do I,” the emperor said.
“Umm, Nero?", Juni asked.
“Yes Juni?", he asked.
“I don’t feel so good. I think I’m gonna faint now,” she said.
With that, she fainted and the emperor caught her. She lay in his arms, and Nero gently placed her on the ground and got on top of her. Juni slowly woke to gentle kisses on her face, neck and lips.
It was a long and passionate night.
While Juni and Nero slept that night at the Colosseum, Octavia approached them, kissed Juni’s cheek and gently removed the necklace from her neck without touching her. The necklace gently floated back into her hand, and then Octavia smiled, whispered “thank you” to Juni, and quietly walked away.
The next morning, the sun woke up the two and the birds were chirping. Juni noticed that the necklace was gone, but didn’t realize that Octavia had come and taken it back. No matter, her battle with Poppaea had been won and all was right with Rome.
Today she and her friends would celebrate.