Conflicted

by
Jaylyn Cairo

A New Generation Novel















Dedicated to Great Grandpa.
R.I.P.
We love you.









Chapter One


	Are we there yet?” Sia whined, throwing herself over Dexter’s lap. She treated her boyfriend/guardian like a lounge chair every day of her life. I felt bad for the poor guy, but what could I do to stop it? 
	If you’re new, I guess it’s my responsibility to fill you in. My name is Ambrosine, but I prefer Sine. My twin sister that I only recently discovered I had is named Alessia, but she goes by Sia. Both of us have personal guardians. Mine was in training. Leaving my brand new boyfriend in charge of me for the time being.
	His name is Alexander Keller, and he’s been my best friend since the 1700s. I trusted him more than anyone else, except maybe my mother and Sia. His hair was brown with blonde sun streaks running through it. His eyes were gentle brown, usually sweet. The rest of my makeshift family consisted of Abril Rave, Clarice Woodson, Kylah Haynes, and two complicated people with rather…different situations. Rhett Hodges, my gay best friend with blonde hair and blue eyes, whom I loved dearly, was dead. Sia and I could still see him, and he served as a second guardian for both of us. He seemed to know everything about everything now that he was a ghost, and it could be useful and annoying.
	The second oddball was Luka Rush. He’s supposed to be my male counterpart, so you would think that we would be the ones together. But no. ‘Cause I find him kind of annoying and insufferable. He has silvery-blonde hair and piercing green eyes that see straight into your soul. Abril was a British party girl with cinnamon colored skin and a different hair color and style everyday. Clarice was the smart and reserved one, who always spoke her mind. She looked smart too. Her eyes were bluish-gray, and her hair was caramel brown. Kylah was a bit of a drinker, but she’d saved my life with a beer bottle a week ago, so I didn’t mind anymore. I’d known her practically since birth. Her hair was reddish-brown, but she insisted there was no red. Her eyes were brown, hidden by blue contacts. It made them look indigo, which in her defense did look pretty awesome. 
	My guardian’s name was Lloyd. His sandy blonde hair and blue eyes made him quite a looker, but I had no interest. He liked me, I knew that. I had to make sure our relationship remained professional. He’d been sent on a mission by me, with three of my newer best friends. Shania, Kei, and Nova were my team of assassins. My assassinating days were over, but the four of us were somewhat inseparable now. Even though they were currently away, we kept in constant touch.
	Nova had red hair and orange eyes, Shania had white-blonde hair and icy blue eyes, and Kei was an Asian with spiky black hair and dark brown eyes. That leaves my friends who’d kinda ditched me lately, after Nova’s boyfriend was killed in a battle of their own. Their names were Simple, Jester, Killjoy, and Sandman. Dark skin, shaved black hair, and black eyes were features that Simple and Killjoy shared. But whereas Simple was modest in size, Killjoy was absolutely huge. Sandman had sandy blonde hair and plain blue eyes. Jester had been cute-ish, with shaved brown hair and brown eyes that had always softened whenever he’d looked at Nova.
	Lastly, there was me, Sia, and Dexter. Dexter had black hair and gray eyes. Sia and I were not completely identical, though we were damn close. Both of us had porcelain skin that was incredibly hard to tan, black waves of hair down to our butts, and our mother’s smartass attitude. The difference was our eyes. Mine were very dark blue, with silver dots scattered in the irises. They looked like two itty-bitty night skies. Sia’s were very dark green, with a rim of white around the irises. Hers looked like a brightened eclipse.
	Two more important things. My insane ex-boyfriend, Zakary, is an angel of death. He wants to be good, but Alex kicked his ass recently and now he’s too terrified to come anywhere near us. He used to associate with enemy number one, but that man: Fabrizio, had been murdered. Nova, Shania, Kei, and Lloyd had discovered him. Because they discovered him, my assassins had insisted on finding out about the murder. Nobody but Rhett knew who had really done it, but all Rhett would say is that it was the same people who killed him. Who, again, Rhett wouldn’t tell me any details about. 
	Finally, all of us, except Sandman, Killjoy, and Jester are gods. Some are demigods, and some are full gods and goddesses. It makes no difference to me, but some of the main Olympian gods don’t approve of relationships between gods and demigods. Pigs, almost every one of them. Most of us really hated the majority of the Olympian gods. My twin and I wanted nothing more than to murder Zeus, but we wouldn’t. Our mom wouldn’t allow us to. 
	My mother, Artemis, goddess of the hunt, had decided to ship my family and me off to Russia. She thought we’d be safe from Zakary and Alex’s crazy mother: Hera, there. The rest of them had already been safe, they were only going because I was and I was the leader. In Russia, we were expected to go to a school for rich kids. The only good thing about it my mother had mentioned was that we’d pass all courses with flying colors, and we had our own house. No one else could get in to bother us.
	Abril, Clarice, Dexter, Sia, Kylah, Alex, Luka, and I were currently seated in the backseat of a limo, our personal transport while we were at this school. The car was going from the airport to the school, which just so happened to be in the middle of nowhere. “Does it look like we’re there?” Abril huffed. She and Sia were the most impatient out of all of us, but even I was starting to get annoyed with the never-ending car ride. 
“I don’t see why they couldn’t just tell us where it was and let us disappear there,” Dexter agreed.
	I closed my eyes and leaned against Alex. Sia and I have some weird variation of sleeping sickness that makes us sleep all the time, and the urge just kind of hits us. We have no choice. That wasn’t happening now, but I feared my tiredness would progress into it. 
“I hear we have to start classes today,” Clarice said calmly.
“What? It takes a billion light-years to get there, and we have classes as soon as we do?” Sia shrieked. 
	“You’ll like our first one, Sia. It’s like battle class,” Abril said, winking. She would enjoy it too, I didn’t know who she was trying to kid. 
“Battle class? What do we battle?” Alex asked.
“Abril is exaggerating, as always. It‘s really defense class. However, the students are separated into one defense team, and one offense team. One team attacks, one defends. I don’t understand why humans need such a class, but you never know what could happen to a school full of rich children,” Claire said.
	Definitely not good. Abril and Sia would get too caught up in that. Not to mention that Dexter would utterly destroy anyone who tried to land a blow on Sia. That was gonna have to be dealt with somehow, and soon. Alex grimaced. He tried his hardest to be a pacifist, but after he battled Zakary and his soldiers, that didn’t appear to be worth pursuing anymore. He didn’t like to hurt people who hadn’t done anything to him.
Sia and I fell asleep for the remainder of the ride. 


	I was standing in a hall unfamiliar to me. A narrow hallway. Someone stood at the end of it. She had long auburn hair that pooled around her feet. It was like me after my three year long sleep. She didn’t turn, so I walked up behind her and went to touch her arm. “Do not,” she said in a hollow voice.
“Why not? You’re part of my subconscious, why can’t I see your face?” I argued.
	My hand kept coming closer, until I could easily grab her. And then it just…stopped. I stumbled back, reaching for her again. An invisible force stopped my hand once more, surprising me. “I told you not to try it. I will show you my face when you need to see it; when you are ready. But let me ask you, why do you want to see it?”
“Um, natural curiosity, I guess.”
“Then you are not ready to see yet,” she said.
	I frowned. “When I know why I need or want to see your face, you’ll let me? Is that right?” I asked.
“Yes. Very good.”
	I backed to the other end of the hallway. “Okay. And when do you think I’ll be ready?”
“Whenever you decide to be,” she answered cryptically. 
“Uh, not to burst your bubble of mystery, but that didn’t make any sense whatsoever,” I informed her. I bet I’d made her smile, but with her stubbornness, there was no way for me to be sure. I found it rather easy for me to make people smile, even against their will. It’s a talent of mine.
	“That may be, but it is all I can tell you.”
“Why is that? You’re worse than Rhett. He knows everything, but he never shares information with me. He says I’m not ready yet too.”
“He is wise, this friend of yours. But do not worry. I will share information with you when I can. Your friend Rhett is forbidden to tell you certain things by the same force that forbids me to tell you things. I cannot tell you that source, I basically cannot tell you much of anything.”
	My mind did flips. “If I found the source by myself, and killed it, could you two tell me everything you want to?” I asked.
“It is possible, but I do not believe you will be able to. You need to get going. The point of this dream has been made, even if you do not realize that. Besides, you will be arriving at your destination very soon. I will see you again.”
The woman raised her hand, and the narrow room crashed down over our heads.


	I jolted from my sleep, making Alex jump. Sia did the same thing four seconds later. “What’s wrong?” Alex and Dexter asked simultaneously. Sia and I looked at each other before answering them. My eyes asked the question, and she nodded slightly. 
“What the hell? I don’t understand that talking with their eyes thing they do! Clarice, explain it to me and teach me how to do it,” Abril commanded. Clarice looked up from her book. 
	“You have lost your mind if you think I’ll respond positively to that demand.”   Abril ignored her embarrassment and plastered her face to the window. “Going to clean the windows with your tongue, Abril?” Clarice asked. I put a hand over my mouth to suppress my laugh.
	Abril pretended to laugh. “Very funny, Claire. I’ll wipe the floor with you in defense class, you just wait,” she threatened. I rubbed my eyes.
“How long was I out?” I asked.
“About an hour and a half. What were you dreaming about? You kept frowning, and once you got this really thoughtful look on your face,” Alex said.
“Oh, just some weird thing about a woman who was in serious need of a haircut.”
	The surprise on Sia’s face when I said that told me she’d had the same dream. “You’re dreaming about women now?” Alex teased.
“No! She said that she’s forbidden to tell me things, like Rhett, but she’ll help me when she can. She wouldn’t let me see her face though, she said I wasn’t ready yet,” I elaborated, sticking my tongue out at Alex. 
	“Whatever,” he replied, knowing it would bug me. Abril gasped and jumped up, smacking her head on the ceiling of the car. Clarice was the first one to laugh, clapping. “Way to go, Abril. You’ve created a new meaning for a true dumbass. You’re over two hundred years old and you still don’t have a fully developed brain.”
“Shut up. We’re here,” Abril announced, rubbing the top of her head. 
	All of us looked out our windows. A huge school loomed over us when the car stopped. The doors were equally huge, and two men, two women, and a big surprise walked out. My jaw dropped. My friends all laughed. “Well, look, Sine. They tracked down your best friend in the entire world,” Kylah said. Abril was the first one out of the car. She danced around outside. 
	“She makes us look bad. I’d better go clarify that we’re not all as stupid as she is,” Claire said, getting out next. Sia and Dexter went, Kylah went, and Luka went, until it was just me and Alex. 
	“You’re being dumb, Sine. Get out of the car,” Alex said, climbing out and pulling on my leg. He got me to the section of the limo that was in front of the door with my legs hanging out, but that was as far as he could pull me. I clamped onto the seat with my hands. “No! I won’t go! Why is she here?!” I yelled at him. Alex folded his arms over his chest. “Maybe other people want an education.”
“I don’t even want an education! We were forced to come here, so why did she have to just show up too?” I wailed.
	Tan hands grabbed my feet. I cursed the world silently. “Come on out, Sis!” a horribly annoying and familiar voice laughed, wrenching me from the safety of the car and slinging me into the outer wall of the school building. When I finally managed to peel myself off, she was standing right there with her cocky grin. “I always tried to tell you that you were a wimp. Everyone’s stronger than you,” she bragged.
“I’m prepared to pay you a million dollars to leave,” I said seriously.
“Nah, staying here and messing with you is too much fun to pass up. But I will take the money.”
	I went for her throat. She ducked and grabbed me, shoving my face into the ground. “Guess what? I finally stopped aging.”
“Well, that’s good. Ya old hag.”
“I’m only a year older than you! If anyone’s old, it’s you. What, is three hundred the new two hundred? At least I’m young. You were this age when I was an adorable baby,” she argued. The idiot. 
“Adorable? You were a fat sack of crap living in my old room! You were purple for the first two years of your life!”
	She pushed my face further into the dirt. “Come again?”
“You really want me to?” I asked, disappearing and reappearing on my feet behind her. I brushed myself off. “Damn. You’re intent on damaging my face, aren’t you?”
“Maybe if I do, the lovely Alex will finally realize he’s meant to be with me,” she said, batting her eyelashes at Alex. I longed to roundhouse kick her in the face.
“Can it, Adalyn. Get your own boyfriend.”
“Okay, then I want…” she waggled her finger around, “That boy.”
	Her finger had landed on Luka. “Huh?” he said dumbly. He’d been kinda detached since we had gotten off the plane. I felt bad that he’d been forced to come along with us, when Nova, Kei, and Shania hadn’t. They’d been a part of my life longer than he had, I could see how he would feel cheated. “Did someone say something about me?”
“No. Forget it,” I said.
	A woman in a dark blue pantsuit wearing an owl pendant approached me. “Ambrosine, my name is Viviana Bridges. I’m the headmistress of the school for young millionaires. It is not necessary for you to attend classes, but I would think that you should at least attend history and defense skills. A large part of the history course includes legends. I’m sure you would be interested in that,” she said. What an odd choice of words for a human who knew nothing of our history. Sia came to my side and hooked her arm through mine.
	“Actually, history is our least favorite subject. Defense skills sounds just fine, but I’d rather not spend an hour hearing lies,” she said.
“Sia, shut it. I want to hear the school’s version of the legend,” I said.
“Lady Sine, you can’t force her to,” Dexter said.
	Alex stepped in. “They’ll both do whatever they want. I’m sure the three of you aren’t making a very good impression. Now, if you don’t mind my asking, could one of you show us where we’ll be living?”
“Wait,” Luka said, pointing at the roof of the school. All of us looked up, except Adalyn, who scooted closer to him while everyone else was distracted. The only reason I saw is because I was used to watching my back around her. She was dangerous if you didn’t know enough to look out for her. Viviana looked shocked at the sight that we found rather normal. Alex reached around to cover her eyes. She didn’t question him.
	“Oh gods,” Alex sighed, shielding his own eyes from the sun as he looked up. Clarice was dangling Abril over the edge of the roof, holding her by her shirt.
“Why?” I called to Clarice.
“She said she was going to wipe the floor with me, but I’ll bury her in the ground before she can,” she explained.
	Abril wiggled around. “Stop it, Claire! I’m gonna fall! My shirt’s ripping,” she whined. Clarice frowned.
“Yeah, that way you can fear the fall more.”
“That’s not funny. I was kidding about fighting you, I know you’re better! I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”
“Not good enough!” Clarice yelled, dropping Abril.
	None of us moved to help her. Sia sighed. “Go get her, Dexter,” she ordered. He nodded, appearing where Abril would land and catching her with one arm. Clarice pouted the unsuccessfulness of her plan from the roof.
	“Hey, thanks, Dexter. Uh, your bicep is cutting off my air supply,” Abril gasped. He set her down far away from where Clarice appeared. 
“Well, I hope this school knows what they’re dealing with now,” Kylah said.
	





Chapter Two


	Our new house was built with wine-colored bricks. Kylah’s eyes glittered when she saw it. “Oh my gosh! It’s so perfect!” she squealed. The school was built of the same color bricks, I didn’t see why she hadn’t noticed it before. It was huge, kind of old fashioned looking. Viviana pulled a key out of her pocket and presented it to me. Everyone treated me and Sia with respect because everyone thought we were some kind of nobility.
“Here. We can have more made if you need them,” she said.
“Uh, yeah. We’ll need one for each of us, we don’t move as one entity all the time,” Abril said. 
	Viviana looked at me like she expected me to scold Abril. “What?” I said.
“You allow your subordinates to speak for you?”
“Her subordinates?!” Abril growled.
“Look, let’s get something straight. This is my family, not my personal army. They’re my equals, and yours. If you can’t treat them with the respect I do, one of them will end up killing you,” I promised, moving past her to get into the house. I hated people like her. They suck up, but they still think they’re the most superior being in the entire world.
	“Lady Ambrosine, I apologize. I didn’t know,” Viviana said as I was unlocking the door. Everyone filed inside ahead of me. Except Sia, who was famous for speaking her mind. “She doesn’t want your apology now. You’re not helping yourself by apologizing because you didn’t know. That’s the worst thing to say. How about you just stay out of our way, and avoid speaking anymore?” she suggested. Viviana bristled.
“Excuse me?”
“You wanna mess with me?” Sia dared.
	I grabbed her wrist and pulled her inside. “No, Sia, we’re not going to be fighting anyone this soon after getting here. You can fight her some other time.”
The last statement was what convinced her to get back in the house. She liked to leave people with the fear that they didn’t know when she’d be back for the kill. Sia’s a bit of a barbarian when she’s in a mood.
	I looked around. To my right was a living room, and to my left was a huge kitchen. A staircase lay in front of me. The floors and stairs were made of oak, and the walls were all red. “I think some remodeling is in order, but it’s not awful,” Kylah said thoughtfully. Abril and I went upstairs. It was just a long hallway. Bedrooms, with gold nameplates on each door. I opened the door with my name on it. Each bedroom had an adjoining bathroom and a good sized closet. 
	All of us settled into a period of relaxation in our new rooms. My brief hour of peace was shattered by Abril kicking my door open. “Gods, are you in here already?” I mumbled. “Guess what? I started a club!” she announced happily, winking at me.
“When did you even go to the school to start a club?! What kind of club?”
Clarice appeared in the doorway.
	“She went with me to pick up our uniforms, and she slipped off when I wasn’t looking. She met some snooty girl who has a club, and now Abril thinks that she needs one too,” she told me, handing me a uniform on a wire hanger. I hung it on the door handle of my closet. Abril was absolutely beaming, seeing nothing wrong with making herself well known as soon as she arrived in a new place.
“Congratulations! Everyone in this family is now a member of the Gorgeous Gods Club!”
	Everyone in our family gathered in my room to stare at her. Clarice sighed. “I tried to tell her not to name it that. Did she listen? The teachers were intrigued by the name, being humans and all. They loved the idea, and they love Abril’s ‘enthusiasm’.”
All of us continued our staring at Abril. She cast a long glance around the room.
“Well, don’t just stand here gazing at me! Put on your uniforms and let’s get moving. I’ve got to show you all the club room, and assign your individual duties. Go!” Abril ordered, clapping her hands.
	We all did what she said. I met Alex and Sia in the hallway. The new uniform was a black pleated skirt, a black short-sleeved t-shirt, and a wine colored sweater vest thingy. The boys wore black dress pants and wine colored button-up, collared shirts. Kylah burst into the hall. “Everything here is such a lovely color!”
“Being the daughter of Dionysus, I’m sure you think so,” Alex said. Abril was waiting in front of the door downstairs. I huffed. 
	“Well, there goes my run-for-it escape plan.”
The club room Abril had picked out wasn’t all that bad. The walls were wood paneled, with huge arched windows and a very high ceiling. There was a large table in the middle of the room, each side lined with chairs. Abril plopped down into the big one at the head of the table. 
	“I’ll start with the assignments now. As I’m sure you all know, I’m the president. Alex will be my vice-president, who is in charge of all communication affairs with other clubs and school officials.”
“Gee, I’m overjoyed,” Alex said.
“Clarice will be the secretary, who records basic notes of what we do in here.”
“Oh, goody gumdrops,” Claire said, not bothering to look up from her book.
“Dexter, you’re the doorman/bodyguard. Whenever we have a visitor, you handle them.”
“I understand,” he said seriously.
	“Luka, you’re the pretty face. If any of the club’s activities get us into trouble, you use your charm to get us off the hook.”
“Should I be flattered?” Luka asked.
“Kylah, you’re in charge of snacks and drinks for the club meetings.”
“Okay,” she said, nodding eagerly.
“Adalyn, you’re a recruiter. Use your bubbly personality to attract more members. You won’t be needed in most of the meetings, since you are just an honorary member.”
“I’m crushed.”
	Abril tapped her chin. “Rhett will be in charge of spying on other clubs to make sure they aren’t trying anything sneaky.”
“He’s not even here,” I informed her.
“Well, tell him whenever he does show up. I think that settles things,” she said.
	Sia slammed her hand down on the table. “Hey! What about us?” she yelled across the table. I would’ve been happy with Abril completely forgetting to assign us a job to benefit the club. But it was too late now. I trapped Sia in a headlock and willed Abril to have not heard her.
	“Oh yeah! Girls, as the adorable, mysterious, tall, enchanting twins, it’s your job to be the club’s mascots!” she giggled, bringing out two costumes. My jaw dropped to the floor. It was some kind of sluttified maid outfit. Sia studied the costume.
“Huh. If Adalyn’s the one who’s supposed to attract members, why do we have to wear this stuff?” she asked.
“We don’t,” I said, throwing my costume onto the ground.
	Abril pouted. “Come on, Sine. It’ll be fun, you’ll have boys all over you all the time,” she said. A bad attempt at convincing me.
“I’m not okay with her assignment!” Alex contributed. Classic jealous boyfriend act. Abril grabbed him by his ear and pinched.
	“I didn’t ask you. Now, don’t you want to see your little girlfriend here in all kinds of revealing outfits? And don’t you want your boyfriend to pay more attention to you?” Alex and I both reddened.
“Not if my chest and ass are hanging out all the time!” I yelled, getting in Abril’s face.
“Well, it’s my club, so you have to!”
“I didn’t even choose to be a member! You decided we all were on your own!”
“Please…” she whispered, giving me the puppy-dog eyes.
	I snatched the costume up off the floor and crushed it to me. “I’m not wearing anything today. Send Adalyn out to do her thing. I’ll hang out here, and make a few calls about redecorating,” I said, my tone ringing with finality that dared someone to challenge me.
	I sat down in one of the wooden chairs and propped my feet up on the table. “Okay, fine. A compromise. Adalyn, go bring us back at least two new members,” Abril said. Adalyn nodded, departing.


	Karsten was following a strange, hyper girl down a hallway that he’d never seen before. The hallway of classrooms reserved for clubs was not a place he’d ever pictured himself in. The girl, Adalyn, threw open a door to reveal the most intimidating group of beautiful people Karsten had ever seen. They were all seated at a long table, relaxing with irritated looks still on their faces. The first pair of eyes to meet his were stormy gray. A guy loomed over him.
	“As the doorman, I must ask for your identification as a club member,” he said in an extremely low voice. Karsten wanted to turn on his heel and run for the hills. The girl sitting at the head of the table climbed up on top of it. Another one stood up in turn and jerked that girl’s ankle out from under her. The first girl crashed to the ground.
“Clarice! You totally ruined my intimidation technique,” she whined from the floor.
“You ruined my life. I think it’s only fair.”	
	A third girl stood up from her place at the table. “Who’s this?” she asked, coming to inspect Karsten. Her dark green eyes studied him from head to toe. Karsten was short, with bright red hair and blue eyes. He was a nerd, very smart in classes like history and such. “How should I know who he is? I found him looking lonely, so I grabbed him,” Adalyn said, going to the table and leaving him alone. An apple exploded against Adalyn’s forehead as soon as her butt hit the seat.
	“You idiot,” said a twin of the girl in front of Karsten. She got up and joined her twin. She grabbed his chin and tilted his face up towards her. She wore sunglasses, so he couldn’t be sure of the expression in her eyes. Though she was frowning, Karsten didn’t think he was the one she was frowning about.
	“You can’t just go around scaring the bejeezus out of people to make them join! That’s not how I gathered you guys, you could’ve at least learned something, Abril. Poor kid, look at him. Adalyn, you scared him to death. Did you ever think that just asking him if he was interested in joining would’ve been a better solution? No, I’m sure you didn’t. You don’t possess enough common sense to think of others.” She removed a book from the shelf beside her and threw it at Adalyn, who barely had time to dodge. The girl it would’ve hit next smacked it aside with a flick of her wrist.
	 A boy got up. He looked friendly enough, at least he was smiling. No one else but him, and the first twin who’d approached Karsten were. “Aw! He’s so cute! I say we keep him, don’t you think we should, Dexter?” the first twin giggled, trapping him in a hug. He laughed nervously. Never had a pretty girl stood this close to him, let alone give him a welcoming hug. The boy extended a hand.
“Hello. My name is Alex, what’s yours?” he asked politely.
	Karsten blushed. Usually, whenever someone spoke to him, they were teasing or saying something mean. Karsten had always been the awkward type, not one who made friends easily. Most people considered having a brain to be like a disease. Maybe these people wouldn’t. “Um, I’m Karsten Laker. I know I’m short, but I’m sixteen. I’m really smart, and if you want help with your homework, I can do that. Just…please don’t hit me. I’m really not strong, I can’t stand up to you. I never really had any friends at all, even though I try to be nice to everyone. People don’t like me ‘cause I’m smart, I know that. But I can’t understand why being smart is a bad thing. I mean, you guys are smart, right? If they were, they could see that the only reason they’re gonna get anywhere in life is because of their money.”
	“Yeah, kid. We’re smart enough to realize that you’re pretty brilliant yourself. All of us here come from difficult backgrounds that we had to overcome. You’re no different, and you have a much stronger state of mind than any of us did. I’m willing to stand up for you, everyone is. But if we do, you’ve gotta make a commitment to learning how to protect yourself at the same time,” Sunglasses Girl said.
“Could you all teach me that, too?” he asked.
“I can teach him,” the big guy offered.
	The girl with the sunglasses arched an eyebrow. “If we let you do it, Dexter, you promise to remember that he’s uh…not the same as you?” she asked.
“I know that. I’ll remember his status.”
“My status?” Karsten squeaked unsurely.
“It just means you’re not very skilled at fighting or defending. Dexter’s like my bodyguard, so he’ll help you out a lot. He’s the most patient besides Alex, but Alex doesn’t like to fight anyway,” the green-eyed twin explained. 
	Karsten nodded slowly. So many people talking at once, it was a little terrifying, and exciting. He looked at Alex, who smiled. That boy wasn’t overly muscular, but that didn’t mean he had no muscle at all. Besides that, he towered over almost everyone in that room. He looked like he could be a fighter. “Wondering about why I don’t fight?” he asked.
“A little.”
“I don’t like to fight people unless they’ve done something on purpose to hurt someone I love. If you do that, I’ll kill you,” he said cheerily. That last sentence, with that gentle smile, somehow made Alex all the more intimidating.
	The girl with the sunglasses smacked his chest. “You’re scaring him! I didn’t do this to all of you,” she said.
“No, if I recall correctly, you and Kylah ambushed us,” the girl with the glasses said.
“Yeah, how do you justify that?” Alex asked.
“If I put you all in a car and take you back to where I found you, would that please you?”
	All of them immediately started muttering excuses and apologies. She smiled, the way people smiled when they were satisfied with something. “Then I suggest you shut up. Okay, follow me here kid, ‘cause I’m gonna name everyone once. The scary doorman is Dexter. My giggly twin over there is Sia. The self-proclaimed boss is Abril, and the one who pops her big head all the time is Clarice. The boy with silvery hair is Luka, and the girl with the cool looking eyes is Kylah. You already know Alex and Adalyn. You’ll hear about a kid named Rhett, but he’s hardly ever here. He’s here in spirit, you could say,” Sunglasses Girl said.
	Karsten looked at each person as she said their name, memorizing. They watched him look at them and murmur to himself several more times, until he seemed to know everyone. Karsten was good at that kind of thing: remembering people’s names. “Who are you?” he asked the girl with the sunglasses. 
“I’m Sine. The real boss, without such a big ego.”
“Oh. Well, am I a member of the club now?”
	Abril smiled at him. It was half friendly, half frightening. “Of course, if you want to be. That’s why we told Adalyn to bring people here. We didn’t think she’d kidnap you.”
“Of course you thought that’s what she’d do. That’s what you would do,” Clarice argued. Sine watched the two of them argue warily.
	“Do you have anyone else you want to join?” Luka asked.
“Preferably twins that bear even a slight resemblance to me and Sia so we don’t have to be the mascots?” Sine asked hopefully. Karsten shook his head.
“No, sorry. This is the first time anyone in this school has ever spoken to me, if not teasing. I have a sister, but she has her own club.”
	Abril jumped up, her hand balling into a fist. “That’s the girl that bugged me about being the new kid without a club. I knew there was something similar about you and her. That just means I want you for the club even more. When she sees that my club has her brother, she’ll know what she’s dealing with,” she said.
“Wait, why doesn’t your sister stick up for you?” Sia asked.
“She’s pretty and popular here; I don’t think she wants to be seen with me. It would damage her reputation if she stuck up for me, so she ignores me all the time.”


	Gods. This kid was so pathetic it made me want to cry. Abril pounced on him, knocking Sia into the bookcase. Dexter ran to help her up. “Since you’re so sad and lonely, I’ve decided to take you under my wing. I’ll teach you”
I grabbed her by her arm and slung her back across the room to her seat. This Karsten kid didn’t look like the type to analyze our strength and speed.
	“You won’t teach him anything but to be an idiotic actress. I’m sure he wants more from his life than that,” Clarice said. I wrapped an arm around his shoulders. Once I had a claim on someone, they were mine. I was still the unquestionable leader of our family. Even if this was Abril’s club, I was in charge when I decided it was time for me to be. Karsten looked up at me, something like awe in his eyes.
“I’ll look out for him. You gotta problem with that, kid?” I asked. My sunglasses were the only thing protecting him from my challenging glare.
	He fidgeted, looking for the right words. “No, I’d be grateful if you looked out for me. I really have to get going back to my dorm now, but um…should I meet you all here tomorrow?” he asked, shrinking back toward the door. Dexter barred his way. He was taking his job a little too seriously.
	“Yeah, meet me here tomorrow. I should be alone, if they decide to behave,” I said, looking at everyone over my shoulder. Karsten almost bowed. However, he turned and looked up at Dexter nervously. I could tell Dexter felt kinda protective of the kid too. We all seemed to. The same way my original family members felt protective of Alex. 
“Um, Mr. Doorman, may I please leave?”
“Yes, small sir, you may exit,” Dexter said, opening the door for him. Before he shut it, Karsten did bow his head.
	“Thanks, everyone! I finally have friends,” he said. His innocent smile was the last thing I saw before the doors closed. All of us immediately started bickering amongst ourselves. When it was over, Clarice was beating Abril with a broken coat rack while Abril shielded herself with an encyclopedia; Kylah and Luka were pressed against the windows, looking for an escape; I was about to pull a chunk of hair out of Adalyn’s head; she was about to spit in my face; and Sia, Dexter, and Alex were all standing there looking at us. We all separated ourselves from our annoyances and sat back down at the table. 
	“You guys are a threat to society,” Alex stated.
“No, I don’t think so. After all, the fight was confined to the club room. Maybe this club will prove useful,” Clarice said thoughtfully.
“Yeah, I agree. I can kick Sine’s ass everyday without worrying about getting in trouble with the humans,” Adalyn said.
“Oh, shut up! I don’t even have a scratch on me, you have a shiny new bald spot,” I said, turning my nose up at her. 
	Alex put a hand on my arm. “If you keep provoking each other the fighting will start all over again. Why do all of you guys have to be so violent?” he asked.
“I chose Abril for her tough yet fun attitude, I intended to have a fighter in my family. I didn’t expect her and Clarice to clash so badly that Claire would turn into a fighter as well. They screw up the balance,” I answered.
	Clarice was currently dropping books onto Abril’s head while clearing out space on one of the big bookcases. It only made sense that she would want to keep some books, if she was going to be spending a lot of time in this room. We all had a right to customization in this room. “I don’t think it’s us screwing up the balance. As the delinquent and the truly nice guy, it would be most predictable for Alex and Abril to be together. Instead, our almighty leader snatched him. Oh, and with the sudden appearance of your twin, it would make more sense for her to be evil. 
	“You should have found another boy, one with bad boy tendencies. It would make sense for me to end up with him. Dexter and Sia are the only couple in our little group that makes sense. Let me see, Luka and Kylah have obvious chemistry but Adalyn is getting in the way. It would be a most interesting turn of events if Lloyd came back and fell for Adalyn, but he’s already secretly in love with Sine. This also makes sense. Now, who’s screwing up what?” Clarice asked, dropping another book.
	Abril rubbed her head grouchily. “Do you mind sitting back down now?” she asked. Clarice smiled innocently and sat back down, opening her book again. Once that was done, we all knew that she wasn’t going to want to be bothered anymore. She would ignore us unless it was absolutely necessary for her to speak. “Back to more important matters, we need to talk about recruiting more people,” Abril said.
	“Why do you want humans in your club, anyway?” Sia asked Abril.
“Because, I know there are lots of children like that boy. We’re gonna stick up for them. I don’t like seeing humans destroying each other. Kids like Karsten strive to be the best, and beasts like most humans try to tear them down. I want each of us to have someone to protect, the way Sine has volunteered to protect Karsten. We, as the superior beings, cannot allow this barbaric system to go on!” Abril said fiercely.
	I collapsed into Sia’s lap. “Did Abril just make a kind of beautiful and passionate speech, or was that my imagination?”
“No, I heard it too,” Clarice said, staring up from her book. 
“Gods, Abril, we never knew you cared so much for the humans,” Alex said. 
“Did that really just happen?” Luka asked.
“I think we’re all dreaming,” Kylah said.
	Dexter stayed silent for a moment. “I support Miss Abril,” he said.
“Me too!” most of us chorused. The only one left to say something was Clarice. She closed her book. 
	“All right, I can see none of you will leave me alone until I answer. I suppose I support this new idea as well. I’m going home now.”








Chapter Three


	Abril made me leave my sunglasses at home the next day. After arguing for a good amount of time, I had to shut Abril up. Unfortunately, that meant shoving my sunglasses into Abril’s mouth. They were, of course, retired from use after bathing in Abril’s drool. I stomped out of the house. Rhett joined me on my walk to the club room. “Hey there. On a leisurely stroll?” he asked.
	With so many students around, I couldn’t talk to Rhett aloud. They would think I was some kind of mental case if I did. No. I’m meeting this pathetic kid in our brand new club room.
“Ooh, you and some nerd you feel sorry for, in a dark room, alone? Uh oh. I’m gonna go warn Alex about your inevitable infidelity. Don’t worry, if it comes to it, I’ll be happy to take him off your hands,” Rhett said sweetly, smiling beautifully at me.
I think not. Don’t tell Alex anything like that, he’ll worry. You know how he is.
“Yeah. Easy to freak out, hard to calm down.”
	That’s right. Where have you been, by the way?
“Around. What about you guys? What’s this about a club room?” he asked, looking down at me. The way he looked at me showed a large amount of protectiveness. Maybe that was the guardian kicking in or something, but I didn’t mind it if he looked at me that way. I’d simply never noticed before.
	Abril wanted to start a club, so she forced all of us to be members. Including you, ghost boy.
“Huh? Me?”
Yeah, you heard me right. Abril told me to tell you that it’s your job to be the club’s sleuth. She wants you to spy on the club she’s competing with. Personally, I think she considers us to be her slaves.
	“Yeah, Abril likes to think that way. But she still thinks of you like a mother.”
A mother?!
“You could be Abril’s mother, you’re technically old enough. But that’s not what I meant. A lot of us like to think of you that way, because our lives truly began once you found us. You transformed us from our lonely selves into completely new, brilliant people. That’s all I meant,” he explained.
	I could see Karsten waving at me from in front of the club room doors. Rhett’s eyes widened. “He’s not like I expected him to be. He’s cute, just small.”
I guess.
“Infidelity reinstated,” Rhett said with a wink, disappearing. I opened my mouth to yell for him to come back, but it was no use. I would just make a fool of myself. I wished my skirt had pockets. I didn’t know what to do with my hands if I wasn’t holding something or shoving them into my pockets. I had black leggings on beneath my skirt in case I got into a fight, but they didn’t have pockets either.
	“Hi, Sine! You seem like a different person without your sunglasses,” Karsten said. I gripped the hem of my short skirt. It would do for now. 
“Yeah, sure. Shouldn’t you get going to your first period? Everyone else seems to be gone.”
“I don’t have a first period. See, all the first periods are defense type classes, and that’s not my thing. Besides, Dexter’s gonna give me private lessons, right?”
	Wow. This kid really did remember all of our names. Impressive. I wouldn’t have been able to if I hadn’t known them for a few hundred years. I walked behind Karsten to the area behind the school where kids with free time gathered. Karsten and I sat down at a picnic table, and he asked me to quiz him on history. While I did that, I simultaneously worried about getting a farmers tan. I wondered if this lazy feeling was how humans always felt. It seemed like I always had something important I needed to be doing. While in Russia, Zakary wasn’t around to bother me. I had no enemies as of yet. I could just take it easy until I made some.
	“Sine? What are you thinking about?” Karsten asked.
“Huh? Oh, humans,” I blurted.
He laughed. “Humans? You make that sound like you’re an alien or something. Why are you thinking about us humans?”
“Oh, well see, I kind of have a double life. I don’t consider myself to be a human, though I know I am one. I’m not used to this kind of relaxation.”
“That must suck. Usually, someone would’ve bothered me by now, but it looks like they’re wondering about you too much. I’m glad you have this time to chill.”
	He hadn’t asked about my double life reference. This kid was really something. “Yeah. It’s probably not healthy for me to always be on the go,” I agreed.
“I’m alone all the time, so I pretty much do whatever I want. I’m an honor student, but it’s not like I have to be. My family has money and everything, but since my mom died, I decided I didn’t want to succeed using my money. I wanted to be smart. My mom was short too, like me. That’s why it hurts me most when people tease about my height.”
	A nasty looking boy walked up. He was almost my height. He sneered at Karsten. “Yeah, and that’s why it’s so fun to do it. Midget,” he sang in a nasally voice. I stood up, releasing my skirt. Kicking someone’s ass gave me something to do with my hands. 
“Back off the kid.”
“Or what?”
“I’ll make you back off. You’re not gonna pick on him anymore,” I said firmly.
	The boy pinched my arm. “A babe like you beating me up? Come on now, you don’t have to hang out with this loser. You can come back to my dorm with me.”
A girl and another boy approached. “Are you trying to stick up for that loser?” the girl asked. Two more boys and two more girls came, and the group surrounded me. 
“He’s not worth it.”
“He’s scum with money.”
“The nerd doesn’t need a pretty bodyguard like you.”
	An exasperated sigh rang out. “You know, I try to be a pacifist. But it’s people like you who really make me feel monstrous,” Alex said, grabbing the first nasty boy and throwing him to the ground. That was all I needed to start a fight. Alex knew better than to hurt anyone else in the group. He’d chosen his one victim, now these were all mine.
	I smiled. I performed a one handed handstand, kicking two girls in the face. I back-flipped up onto my feet, landing on one of the boys. That left two boys and a girl. The girl I took out first, elbowing her in the stomach and throwing her down to writhe in pain with the others. I kicked one boy in the face, and decided that I would have some fun with the last one standing.
	“Tell me, if I were to allow you to get a hit in, what would you do?” I asked.
“I would break your wrist, fracture your jaw, and shatter your big toe,” he growled.
“Huh. The first two were good, the last one was weird. But, if that’s what you want, I’ll grant your wish.”
	I grabbed his hand and snapped his wrist like I was breaking a pencil in half. Bones were so easy. He danced around carelessly, waving his broken wrist about. I punched him in the face, holding back much of what I wanted to hit him with. I heard the sickening crack of his jaw. Fractured. Lastly, for the big toe. How to go about that, I wasn’t quite sure. After careful consideration, I stomped on it. That one sounded like a glass breaking to me. I wasn’t sure how the humans heard it, but I found the shattering to be strangely satisfying. 
	I brushed my hands off on my skirt. “Well now, I think I’ve set quite an example. Thanks for starting it, Alex,” I said.
“I was tired of waiting for you, so I figured I’d help out. Besides, those boys were about to get grabby. As the jealous boyfriend, it’s only natural for me to step in at that point. Hey, Karsten. Havin’ a good morning?” Alex said, switching from annoyed to a total sweetheart. Weird.
	I noticed how Karsten watched intently when the breeze blew Alex’s loose brown shirt to reveal the abs Abril was so crazy about. Now, I was the girlfriend, I was supposed to notice. Rhett appeared, squealing. “Oh my gods! He’s gay! He’s gay, he’s gay, he’s gay! I can’t believe this, he’s adorable and he’s gaaaaaaaaay!”
	Rhett must’ve truly been excited, ‘cause he accidentally projected it. Alex heard, and his cheeks turned pink. “Oh. I get it. I should…um…go change,” he stammered. I laughed. “Don’t be silly. I think you look fine,” I said teasingly. He wore jeans and his brown shirt with black Converse. He did look fine, I liked his outfit. Apparently, Karsten agreed with me. He blinked and looked away.
	Rhett, I told you not to let Alex hear things that will make him worry.
“My bad. I couldn’t help it. He’s so cute though,” Rhett gushed, walking up in front of Karsten. Rhett’s hand melded with his. He jumped back, gasping.
“What’d you just do?” I accidentally said out loud.
“What did I do?” Karsten asked.
“Oh, she just babbles. She’s a little on the insane side, really. Come on, Karsten, I’ll stay with you during this next class. Sine needs to go home and take a nap,” Alex said in a rush. 	
	I stepped away from the broken bodies and walked into the forest. Rhett went with me. “I guess I unknowingly tried to possess him. But I can’t fit into a little body like that.”
“I know. Rhett, you don’t want to possess anyone, do you?”
“Not really. I’m cool with being me,” he said, shrugging. 
	I walked until I was in the area of woods behind our house. Rhett kept giving me that protective look. “Is something wrong?” I asked.
“Just some plan your mother and father have. There are actually two plans. One involves me, and one involves some demigod. I can’t tell you anymore than that. Your mom will probably talk to you about it soon. Are you gonna go inside now?”
“I guess. You coming?”
“No, I’m avoiding Abril. Maybe if I never show up around her, I won’t have to take part in the club,” he said, winking and disappearing.
	I entered the house, grumbling about Rhett’s vagueness and unfairness. If I had to be the mascot, he could at least be a spy. I would gladly trade places with him. Alex was sitting on the couch. “What are you doing here? You were taking Karsten to class,” I said.
“I did take him to class. No one’s gonna beat him up in there, most of the kids witnessed your performance. You can go meet up with him when this class is over. What did Rhett do, besides decipher that Karsten is gay?” he asked.
	I sat down next to him. “He told me some random information about what’s going on at Olympus, and then he ran off. He doesn’t want to be part of the club, so he’s avoiding contact with Abril.”
“That little…” 
“I know. But ghosts are sneaky. He’s just using that against all of us. Besides, I think Rhett has stuff going on in his own little world.”
	I shut my eyes. “Like what?” Alex asked.
“How should I know? My priorities are here, I can’t be all in Rhett’s business. You can ask him, if he ever bothers to show up here.”
	Alex pinched my cheek. “It’s so hard for you to just chill out, isn’t it? You think you always need to have something to do. Can’t sit still,” he teased lightly. I smacked his hand away from my face. 
“Don’t.”
“If you want something to do, why don’t you take up knitting or something? Abril’s out shopping for costumes for you and Sia.”
	I groaned. Alex wrapped his arms around me and gave me a hug, rocking me back and forth. “You’re funny. I’m just kidding about knitting, by the way. Although, having a hobby wouldn’t kill you.”
“Protecting you guys is my hobby.”
“That’s not a hobby, that’s an obsession of yours,” he corrected.
	Both of us turned our attention to the wall in front of us suddenly, as the portal from Olympus opened up. My dad stepped through. He was the messenger, after all. Sia flew down the stairs, throwing herself at him. If gods didn’t have such good reflexes, she would’ve knocked Hermes through the wall. He managed to catch Sia in the nick of time, hugging her before setting her back down. Sia sat down on my lap. I struggled to move her so that I could see our dad.
	“Girls, how have you been adjusting?” Hermes asked.
“Sine beat some kids up this morning, and I slept. Dexter’s upstairs unpacking my suitcase for me. Abril started a club and she wants me and Sine to be some kind of sexy mascots and Sine’s against it but I think all the costumes so far are cute. Rhett’s skipping out on any kind of interaction with anyone but Sine, and Clarice doesn’t want to leave her room much. We kind of adopted this human kid Karsten into our social circle because he doesn’t have any other friends,” Sia said.
	Sia seemed to have a natural talent for being able to tell events that happened in weeks in about two seconds. If you knew her long enough, you almost got used to it. It’s fairly impossible to develop an immunity to Sia’s weird talents. “Sounds like you’re relatively happy here,” Dad said.
“Relatively,” I repeated. Alex pinched me.
	Alex was all about respect for the gods who weren’t total jerks. He hated his step-dad and his mother the most. He was scared of my mom. He thought Aphrodite had a questionable personality, he liked my dad, and he didn’t know any of the other gods very well. Hera wanted to kill me, which was probably the only reason Alex didn’t get along with her. Zeus was an all around jerk. Nobody but Hera liked Zeus. “Try to keep a positive attitude, Sine. Have you been to any classes yet?”
“No, I’ve been busy being used by your third daughter.”
	Hermes smiled fondly. “Abril’s a fun spirit, don’t smother her.”
“I’m not the one doing the smothering.”
“Come on, let her have her fun. Did you know that Phaedra Dall is a new teacher here?” he asked.
	“Phaedra? As in, Attis’s girlfriend?” I asked.
“Yes, that’s the woman.”
“But she’s not a teacher. She’s a funeral director. When did she get here?”
“She arrived this morning. She’ll be living here as well, to make sure you kids behave. Your mother and I asked her if she’d be willing to come. She’ll keep Adalyn and the others in check, but she won’t invade your space. Isabela and Genevieve will be coming tomorrow. All of them have rooms downstairs. I know you didn’t notice the door to the extra hallway in the living room.
	“Now, off that subject, Sine and Sia, you need to come with me. Your mother and I have a surprise for you in your mother’s house. Go get Dexter, Sia, I know he’ll want to come. Alex, I’m afraid if you go, your mother will want to see you. Do you have a problem with staying here?” Hermes asked. Alex stood up and shook his hand.
“No, sir. I’ll take care of Karsten until you get back,” Alex told me. 
I nodded. “Thanks. Everything should be fine.”
“I know. See you later.”
	Alex left the house. Sia ran upstairs and told Dexter where we were going. Once the two of them were back, the four of us went back through the portal my dad had opened. Usually, when I went to my mother’s house, she was waiting for me on the porch. This time, Lloyd stood there. I ran up the short series of steps and threw my arms around his neck. “Hey, Lloyd! I haven’t seen you in forever. How’s training going?” I asked.
“Very well, thank you, my lady. Shall we go inside?” he asked, putting me back on my feet. 
	All of us but my dad went in. It was a rarity for him to be invited into my mother’s house. He knew better than to break her rules on her turf. Artemis glided down the stairs to meet us. She kissed both our cheeks, patted Dexter and Lloyd’s shoulders, and sat me and Sia down on the couch. She took her usual place in the chair in front of us and clasped her hands in her lap. Lloyd and Dexter stood behind her with perfect posture, their hands behind their backs. They looked very professional, and it made me want to giggle. Lloyd could be a pretty funny guy when he wanted to be. 
	Lloyd looked pretty good. The last few times I’d gone a while without seeing him, he’d come back looking rough. Rough as in, torn up clothes, messy face and limbs, but always more muscular. He wasn’t giant, more subtly muscular. Like Alex. Nice to look at, obviously built with hardened muscle, but not terribly frightening. Dexter, Lloyd, Alex, and Luka all shared that characteristic.
	“Welcome home, my girls. How do you like life in Russia?” Artemis asked.
“It’s fun,” Sia said brightly.
“It’s interesting,” I said.
	Artemis shared my lack of interest in new things. Sia was closer and more similar to my dad, and vice versa. “Ambrosine, I know that you are very family oriented. Tell me, how did you feel when you found out you had a sister?”
“Ecstatic. Why do you ask?” I sounded sarcastic, but my words were sincere. Finding out I had a sister had been the best news I’d ever heard in my life. I’d always wanted a big family, which was part of the reason why I gathered my makeshift family of best friends. 
	“Well, darlings, your father and I claimed a friend of Mathias Rush, Luka’s older brother. Which means, the two of you now have an older brother,” Artemis said quietly. My eyes widened, and so did Sia’s grin. 
“A brother?” Sia said excitedly.
“That’s right. Ambrosine, any thoughts on this news?”
“Where is he? Is he truly older, or does he just look older? What’s his name?” I asked.
	Artemis laughed for half a second. Zeus controlled her behavior. She wasn’t supposed to get any enjoyment out of interaction with her children. Enjoyment meant that she was getting distracted from her responsibilities as a major goddess. “His name is Zephyr. He was originally a demigod, fathered by Hermes. I thought you could use more family, so I claimed the boy. He’s five hundred and six years old. Yes, he’s truly older than you, and he also looks older. He’s rather reserved and hard to read, but he has a good heart. He’s strong. He too, has wavy black hair, and his eyes are a mix of blue and green. I don’t know if you knew this, but once claimed, sometimes the person’s looks will change. That would be how he acquired his hair and the blue parts in his eyes. He’s very tall, and appears to be about twenty-one or so. Older than the two of you look. He’ll be leaving here with you today. Would you like to meet him?”
	Sia nodded eagerly. I leaned back against the couch, crossing my arms over my chest and shrugging. I was only being defensive. He was our brother now, fully. All traces of his biological mother’s blood and DNA had been replaced by my mother’s. Making him a technical child of Artemis and Hermes. I was surprised my mother had welcomed a boy into the family though. I mean, she hated boys, for the most part. I’d only ever seen her be nice to Alex. I’d thought he was the only boy she had a soft spot for. What made this Zephyr different?
	Artemis got up and went upstairs. I wondered if she’d given him a place in her special hallway. That hallway was adorned with pictures of Sia and me from our younger years. Artemis’s secret room was at the end of the hallway, a private escape from the stresses of being an important goddess. Maybe she’d want to paint a picture of the three of us together. I wouldn’t object to that.
	When Artemis came back, a tall man was following behind her. His waves of hair stopped just past his ears, and his bangs were trimmed to hang right above his eyes. His multi-colored eyes were framed with black lashes. His eyes were blue and green, and cold. He wasn’t pale, but he wasn’t tan either. He was about the same height as Luka. “Good morning, my lord,” Lloyd and Dexter said in unison, bowing.
“Lloyd. Who’s this?” the man asked in a low voice. He was referring to Dexter.
	Sia gazed at him. I elbowed her in the ribs. “Hey, stop staring like that. You’re making us look bad. He is our brother after all,” I whispered.
“I know, but are you looking at him? We have one dreamy brother.”
“Stop it! Inbreeding is greatly frowned upon in this family! Besides, you have Dexter already, and he’s standing right there.”
“If you had to choose between Zephyr and Dexter, who do you think is cuter? I mean, they’re both muscular, both have black hair, those intense eyes, they’re tall, it’s such a hard choice!” she cried.
	I stood up and grabbed her shoulders, shaking her. “That man, right there, that is our brother. Brother, brother, brother. The man in front of him, right there, is Dexter. Boyfriend, boyfriend, boyfriend. Do you understand the distinction?”
She pouted. “I guess so.”
	Zephyr and Dexter shook hands, after making some very formal introductions. Artemis looked at Zephyr with the same pride and love she had in her eyes when she looked at me and Sia. Though she had never had any intention of becoming a mother, she liked it. She was a damn good mother. Zeus would just have to deal with it. Maternal feelings will always conquer the power of jerkish men.
	Artemis touched Zephyr’s shoulder lightly. “Zephyr. Would you like me to introduce you to your sisters?” she asked.
“No. You were asking if I needed you to tell me which was which. I believe I know the difference between the twins,” he said calmly. Zephyr walked forward, and Sia stood up. I was already on my feet from shaking Sia. Sia tried to avoid Zephyr’s eyes, but I looked right into them. They showed absolutely nothing, as my mother had said. He was exceedingly difficult to read. Wowza, this guy was strong.
	“You’re Sine. And you’re Sia. Am I right?” Zephyr asked with a small smile. He was right. He’d been able to tell who was who without being told. 
“Yes, that’s right. It’s nice to meet you, Brother,” I said, formally and icily.
“The pleasure is all mine, Sister,” he replied, an almost indefinable sense of sincerity ringing in his words.








Chapter Four


	Zephyr did return home with us, but Lloyd didn’t. He was still in training. That sucked, but there was nothing I could do about it besides force him to accompany me back to Russia. Alex and the others instantly welcomed Zephyr once they were told that he was our new older brother. He politely excused himself to his new room after the introductions were over with.
	“He’s your brother?” Abril asked.
“Yes, he’s my brother. No, he will not join the club, no matter what you say or what you wear. He’s more reserved than I am,” I informed her ahead of time. If Abril couldn’t talk her way into getting what she wanted, she would usually dress up in some disgusting outfit as a last resort. Abril has some of the most sickening habits on Earth.	
	I went off to meet Karsten after his second to last class, but a hand stopped me. I turned to find Zephyr. “Uh, hey. Did you need something?” I asked.
“Are you going out?”
“Yeah. You…wanna come with me? I think there are some students around your age here.”
“I will come along, but not for that reason. I have not been to the mortal world since I was eighteen. I want to see how it has changed.”
	Zephyr and I walked side by side to Karsten’s classroom, where he was waiting outside the door. He looked up at Zephyr, who was gazing all around him. I was sure he’d been mystified by the TV in his room. I’d have to teach him about that. “Is this your big brother or something?” Karsten asked. 
“Uh, yeah. This is Zephyr. Zephyr, this is Karsten. We’re helping him out with his bullies. I scared most of them off this morning, before Sia and I went to see you,” I explained.
	Zephyr nodded, his eyes distant. He pulled a pair of glasses from his pocket and slipped them on. I guess some gods have a glitch in their system that makes them need glasses, though most don’t. Like Clarice, she needed her glasses. “Oh, well, I could see the resemblance. Do you go to school here too, Zephyr?” Karsten asked.
“No. I am already educated in the subjects you have here.”
“You look smart, especially with your glasses on. I’m not surprised you don’t need to learn anything else. How old are you anyway?”
	I could tell Zephyr didn’t want to keep talking to Karsten. He wanted to see more of the modern world. “Come on, Karsten. What’s your next class?” I asked.
“I don’t have one. I only have three middle classes. We should go to the club room now, right?”
	Zephyr looked down at me. “Do you mind if I go wander, Sister?”
“No, I don’t care. Just make sure you don’t get lost. If you get home and no one’s there, you can just hang out in the club room with us. We’re getting some new stuff in there soon that you’d probably be interested in seeing,” I said suggestively. He put his hands in his pockets and strolled off. 
	“Do you like having a big brother?” Karsten asked.
“I guess so. He’s really quiet, so it’s hard to tell anything about his personality,” I said. 
“Do you ever wonder what he thinks of you?”
“I haven’t really had time to think about that. I know he cares about me and Sia. I mean, older siblings act like jerks sometimes, but they love you and they’ll stick up for you when you need it.”
	Karsten frowned. “My sister doesn’t.”
“If so, she’s not your family. Not your sibling. The club members are my family, and they’ll be yours too. You have several older brothers and sisters now. And every single one of us will stick up for you when you need us,” I promised. Karsten hugged me, his skinny arms squeezing my middle. 
	“Thank you, Sine. Why do I get the feeling you’ve made other people feel as happy and loved as I do?”
“Because, kid, that’s kind of my profession. I make the sad kids happy, and transform them into different people. You wouldn’t believe how the others used to be before I tracked them down. They were like totally different people.”
“Can you tell me? About the others and how you met?” he asked eagerly, blue eyes shining. 
	Kylah surged up from behind us. “That’s a story for another day, time, or year,” she laughed, guiding us to the club room. She just didn’t want me to tell Karsten how much of a chicken she’d once been. I had several stories to go with that statement as well. Even though she’d known me longest, she barely had any dirt on me. I hadn’t shared much with my friends when I was a kid. 
	Abril was already at her place at the head of the table. Clarice was reading. Alex was snoozing in the chair next to Clarice. Nobody else was there yet. However, there had been some changes made to the room. There was a small table in the corner, next to a new cabinet. On the table was a microwave. I assumed that meant the cabinet was full of snacks. A space above the doorway looked like it was ready to have a TV placed there. A computer desk was set up too, and a computer box sat on the tabletop. Karsten ran over to it, examining the box.
	“Wow! You have the most expensive computer in the world, just sitting here! Can I set it up, Miss Abril?” he asked. I sat down in the chair next to Alex and poked his cheek until he woke up. Sia and Dexter walked in. 
“Where’s Zephyr?” Sia asked.
“How should I know?”
“He left with you. I think it’s cool how he calls you Sister and you call him Brother. I’ve never actually spoken to him but once, and he calls me Sia. It’s not fair that you two already have a close relationship, you don’t even like him!”
	I sighed, drumming my fingers on the table. It wasn’t my fault. It just so happened that Zephyr’s personality was similar to mine, and we got along because of it. My twin laid her head down on the table for a nap. Her cabin fever variation must’ve been getting to her. I hadn’t had the problem in a while. It affected Sia worse than it did me. Probably because Sia had only recently been brought back to life.
	“My lady, are you all right?” Dexter asked Sia. 
“I’m fine. Just tired,” she mumbled. I played with her hair until she fell asleep. Little things like that relaxed Sia. I didn’t know if they worked on me, and I didn’t care. I hardly ever had time to relax.
	“Hey, Dexter?” Karsten said from where he sat on the floor, unpacking the computer box. Dexter glanced his way. “Why do you call Sia ‘my lady’? Are she and Sine some kind of nobility?”
	That was our cover story, but it sounded like utter crap to me. If the humans bought it, that just showed how terribly not bright these were. “I am her guardian, because she and Lady Sine are members of nobility. I cannot tell you anymore than that.”
“What about Zephyr? Should I call them that too?”
“Lord Zephyr is nobility, but he does not need a guardian. If you’ve met him, I’m sure you’ve seen why. There is no need for you to address them as I do, but you can if you wish to.”
	I shot Dexter a look. “Please don’t call us that,” I told Karsten. 
“Where’s your guardian?” he asked.
“Training. I don’t need one anyway, our mother only wants them around because she underestimates us.”
	I sensed something familiar and tackled Karsten. I covered his eyes until the portal disappeared. Geez, what were the Olympians thinking? Opening a portal with a human standing right there. I let Karsten up and came face to face with my mother. I took a few steps back, surprised. She never came down by herself. She usually had a guardian or someone else with her. Karsten stared at her quite obviously. I subtly smacked Sia in the back of the head to wake her up. Dexter bowed.
	“Lady Artemis. To what do we owe the pleasure?” he asked. Karsten’s eyes widened. He look up at me.
“Where’d she” I smothered the rest of his question with my hand. My mother turned her eyes on Karsten. 
	“I came to see how Zephyr, Ambrosine, and Alessia were doing. I told them I’d be visiting every month. Didn’t Alessia tell you that?” she asked Dexter while she maintained eye contact with Karsten. I kept his mouth covered. 
“Ambrosine, who is this boy?” she asked.
“Karsten Laker. He’s a friend of ours.”
	Artemis raised an eyebrow. A human? 
He needs us. I know he’s not a demigod like the rest of our family, but no one else cares about him. I couldn’t just let him live his whole life alone. I want to claim him, but I don’t know how. You think Dad could do it?
He could, but this boy looks more like an archer to me. Why don’t you ask your uncle?
But I hate Uncle Apollo.
	That earned me a stern look. I quieted, looking down at my shoes. The doors opened to reveal Zephyr. “Mother. You’re here?”
“Yes, dear. Do you like it here? Have you been exploring?”
“Yes. I’ve seen quite a few new things. Including that thing on the floor there,” he said, referring to the computer. Karsten struggled, trying to escape my hold on him. 
	My mother reached out and removed my hand from his mouth. “You are a friend of my girls?” she asked. He gulped, intimidation kicking in.
“Yes ma’am. You’re their mother?”
“Yes. You can’t tell?”
	Artemis pulled me close by her side. She looked like an older version of me. It was nearly impossible not to see the resemblance. I didn’t dare pull away from my mother, much as I wanted to. “I can tell. I was just making sure you weren’t a third sister,” Karsten said, smiling sweetly. Dang. This kid was an extraordinary suck-up.
“Boy, don’t fool yourself into thinking flattery will make me like you. I like you already, there’s no need to try to strengthen my feelings. How did Ambrosine find you? I know about her habit of collecting people,” Artemis said, looking at me out of the corner of her eye. 
	Another portal opened, and again I was forced to tackle Karsten. I glared at Apollo as he entered. “Geez, Sine, what’s wrong with you? Why do you keep doing that?” Karsten asked, rubbing the back of his head. If anymore gods decided to show up, he was gonna have a concussion.
	“What are you doing here?” I asked Apollo coldly. 
“We need to talk,” he said seriously, yellow eyes panicked. Karsten stared at him. 
“Whoa, his eyes are yellow. Are they contacts?”
	Alex grabbed Karsten. Apollo and I looked at each other warily. Zephyr sighed. “I’m going back to the house. Sister, will you be all right? Should I take Sia with me?” he asked. “Yeah, probably. She’s exhausted, she needs to sleep. I’ll be okay. See you at home,” I said. Zephyr lifted Sia into his arms. Dexter trailed behind him until they were out of sight. Apollo and I went into the hallway while Alex had Karsten distracted. Apollo fidgeted, avoiding my gaze now.
	“Has anyone ever told you that you, your sister, and your new brother all have this ferocity in your eyes? It’s quite frightening,” he said.
“It’s about to get a lot more frightening if you don’t tell me what you’re doing here. You and my mother both almost showed the portal to Olympus to a human. I want to know why you took the risk in coming here. You know I don’t like you,” I said, narrowing my eyes. Having more power than all of the gods is helpful in getting me what I want.
	“It was a prophecy. About you. That’s why I came.”
“Well, spit it out. Tell me the prophecy,” I ordered.
Apollo pulled a piece of paper from his pocket. If we didn’t write prophecies down, we’d never be able to remember them.
	Απόψε, το κακό θα συγκεντρωθούν στα δάση της Ρωσίας. Ο στόχος του κακού είναι η δημιουργία ιδανικό ηγέτη τους. Τέλειο δολοφόνο τους. Η ψυχή του Ambrosine Devanney θα καταστραφεί και να αντικατασταθεί από το δαίμονα που ζει μέσα της.
	Meaning: Tonight, evil will gather in the woods of Russia. The goal of the evil is to create their ideal leader. Their perfect assassin. The soul of Ambrosine Devanney will be destroyed and replaced by the demon that lives inside of her. Last time I checked, there was no demon living within me. That was something I surely would’ve noticed. If a demon snuck into my body, I would know about it.
	“Have you shown this to my mother?” I asked, writing down the English translation beneath the Greek symbols. 
“Not yet. Should I?”
“No. Don’t tell anyone. Not Zeus, not my mom, not my dad, not my siblings. We’ll see what happens. You can help me out if it comes true. I’ll just stay with Alex tonight, that way I can’t get snatched without Alex noticing.”
	I pushed open the club room door a crack. I pointed Karsten out to Apollo. “See that human there?” I asked.
“Yeah, what about him?”
“Tonight, while he sleeps, I want you to claim him. If he’s gonna be part of my family, he has to have power and be immortal. I can’t claim him, and Mama told me to ask you. Will you do it?”
“Sure. You know, if I claim him, he’ll grow several inches while he sleeps. He’ll know something’s off. Oh, and he’ll be much more handsome,” Apollo reminded me. Rhett appeared and winked, mouthing the word infidelity.
	Leave me alone, I’m dealing with important issues. No infidelity!
“Oh, Sine, denial will get you nowhere,” Rhett taunted.
“I know he’ll change physically. But he won’t know about his powers, so he won’t access them until we teach him. Don’t forget. You should go now, and open the portal out here so that no one will see you,” I said.
	Apollo did as I said, departing. I smacked Rhett playfully. “Stop harassing me.” 
The two of us entered the room. Abril sensed him. Rhett tensed up, looked around, and ran through the wall to escape. Abril crashed into it, knocking herself out. Clarice burst out laughing.
	“Is your uncle gone already?” Artemis asked. She had been talking to Kylah, but now she’d lost interest in their conversation. Alex was helping Karsten set up the new computer. It looked like a fairly normal scene, besides the unconscious girl in the floor. “Yeah, he went home. He wanted to ask me a question about my chariot abilities,” I said, quietly enough so that Karsten wouldn’t hear me.
	“I suppose I’ll be going too. I love you, Ambrosine. Be safe,” she added, going out into the hallway to open her portal as well. Why had she told me to be safe? She had never said that before. 
	I propped Abril up in her chair. Luka had never shown up, meaning he was probably asleep at home, or visiting his family. “Karsten, I think you should stay at our house tonight,” I said, surprising everyone in the room. Clarice especially. 
Our swords and stuff are in that house. What if he finds them? What if one of us forgets and uses powers in front of him? she thought.
I’ll handle it.
	“Really? Why? Where would I sleep?” Karsten asked.
“You’ll stay in my room. I just think it sounds like a good idea to get you away from all those bullies in your dorm. It’s just for tonight, just in case one of them tries to come after you while you’re alone. You won’t be there for them to torture you,” I lied smoothly. Karsten believed me.
	“Well, I guess I will. But I don’t wanna kick you out of your room. I’ll sleep on the couch or something,” he said.
“No, I’ll just stay with Alex. It’s fine, you’re not intruding on anything,” I reassured him. Clarice grumbled something, and I stuck my tongue out at her.
	All of us left the club room the way it was. Alex had to carry Abril back to the house. Karsten was bubbling with excitement about staying with us. Phaedra would take good care of him, I knew that. She would find him adorable, as Rhett did. Genevieve was sitting on the porch steps when we arrived. “Hi, Sine!” she exclaimed, jumping up to hug me. I could tell she wanted to hug Alex too, but that would be difficult with Abril in his arms. She looked at Karsten. 
	“Who’s this?” she asked, chewing on a long strand of blonde hair. Phaedra came outside, placing a hand on her youngest daughter’s head.
“Well, well, Sine. I hope your father warned you about us staying here,” she said.
“Yeah, he told me. Phaedra, Genevieve, this is Karsten. He’s a new friend of ours. Treat him nice,” I told Genevieve, knowing she could be a bit of a bully herself.
	Phaedra squealed. “You are an adorable boy! Where’s your girlfriend? Not around?” 
“I, um, don’t have one,” Karsten admitted shyly. 
“What? That’s crazy. Genevieve, don’t you think he’s cute?”
	Genevieve’s mischievous blue eyes looked Karsten over. “Oh yes, Mama, he’s cute. He looks like he’d be fun to mess with,” she said. I flicked her in the forehead. 
“I told you to be nice. I meant it. You’re about the same age. He’s only one year older than you. I’m telling you, if you say or do one mean thing, I’m coming after you,” I warned. Phaedra shepherded all of us into the house. 
	“I’m gonna order some pizza for dinner. Karsten, what kind of pizza do you like?” Phaedra asked, picking up the phone. The school apparently had its own version of room service. Abril had been begging me to allow her to abuse it, and I had been refusing. But now she was knocked out, so I didn’t have to worry about her bugging me for every kind of food under the sun to be delivered to our front door. I showed Karsten around the house, making sure to tell him which rooms he could and could not go into. Zephyr was reading in the living room, ignoring everyone else. 
	Karsten watched TV in my room while we waited for the pizza to arrive. “Sister, why have you invited a human to stay here?” Zephyr asked.
“It needed to be done. He won’t bother you, I promise, Brother.”
“That’s not what I’m worried about. I’m worried that you have an ulterior motive for him staying with us.”
	I made sure everyone else was in the kitchen before lowering my voice. “I invited him to stay here because I asked Uncle Apollo to claim him tonight.”
“Why?”
“I collect people, like Mother said. If he’s gonna be part of my collection, he’s gotta be at least a demigod.”
“I see.”
	Anyone else would’ve argued that it was a reckless decision to make. Leave it to the big brother to let me do whatever I wanted without questioning me. “How’s Sia?”
“She is still sleeping. Dexter is with her. I was told about your sleeping issues, but it seems that only Sia suffers,” Zephyr said thoughtfully.
“Did anyone tell you that up until a few years ago, Sia was dead?” I asked.
“No. What do you mean? How was she resurrected?”
	Zephyr seemed genuinely surprised. Why wouldn’t anyone tell him about that? I mean, it was a major event in our history. Sia dying and coming back to life would be something to tell the brand new brother. “From what I’ve been told, I can only infer that she was brought back to life because I needed her blood. I had a near death experience that resulted in amnesia. I knew nothing about who I was or what I was. I didn’t know about my powers or my family.
	“I would’ve been dead if Alex and Clarice hadn’t tracked Sia down and told her about me being in a coma. I stayed in a coma for six years, but Sia’s blood fixed me up. I would have flashes of memories in my head, and sometimes my original personality would shine through the confusion. It took quite a while for me to get over it, but as you can see, I did. Forgetting who you are is extremely annoying for someone like us.”
	Zephyr sat and thought for a while about everything I’d said. Me regaining my memories and all that was a sort of miracle, but someone like us saw a lot of miracles. My story wasn’t as impressive as Sia’s, but Sia didn’t like to tell hers. 
	“Who killed her? Why?” Zephyr asked.
“Some Eris demigods killed her. They had been in an ongoing battle, and Sia just pushed herself too hard. She’d been fighting all by herself for a long time, she was just too tired. She made herself use more power than her body could handle, and she just…died. It was instantaneous. I’ve been through something exactly like what she described happened to her then. It’s scary, but it doesn’t hurt at all,” I remembered.
	“Brother, are you informed?” 
“Yes. I know you aren’t. As much as I’d like to tell you, Sister, I am forbidden by our parents,” he said, giving me a sad smile. 
*     *     *
	Alex was asleep instantly. His breathing had lulled me to sleep for approximately twenty minutes before I felt a prickling sensation on the back of my neck. I was too tired. I ignored it entirely.
	When the feeling didn’t go away after ten more minutes, I opened my eyes to see a hand coming for my face. I leapt up, only to be caught by several more hands. One covered my mouth, one covered my eyes. I chomped down on a finger. “Alex!” I screamed, out loud and in my head. He sat up too, and was grabbed. I got angry, struggling harder against my attackers. 
	“My lady, you must be still.”










Chapter Five


	Sine, what’s going on? Alex asked.
I don’t know. I was warned, but I didn’t think anything would happen if I stayed with you, I replied fearfully. I wasn’t scared of my attackers. I was scared for Alex. Both of us longed to protect each other, but now both of us were in deep crap. Alex bit down on the hand covering his mouth. Someone yelped, but they recovered quickly. Gods and demigods. 
I’m sorry, Sine. If I’d known you needed me to protect you, I wouldn’t have let my guard down. It’s my fault, Alex thought guiltily.
	The strangers were walking us into the woods. Hopefully, Uncle Apollo was getting his ass in gear and sending for help. The man was useless most of the time, he could help me out this once. Wearing sweatpants and a camisole in the freezing cold at night only made things worse. Alex only wore pajama pants, no shirt. He must’ve been suffering more than I was. It’s not your fault. It’s my fault for not telling anyone about it. Apollo should send help for us soon. Don’t worry. Now, you got my back?
Huh?
Alexander, do you have my back?
Yeah, always!
	My body exploded with blue energy, shocking my attackers into letting go of me. I unleashed lightning onto Alex’s and he was freed as well. The two of us took off running blindly. If the idiots who’d grabbed us were really demigods, they had to know that Alex and I had a few tricks up our sleeves. Alex reached for my hand in the darkness. Darkness didn’t bother me, this was my time. I could see perfectly fine, but I knew he couldn’t. Night was not the same for him as it was for me. I grabbed his hand and squeezed, continuing to run. Until I tripped, bringing Alex down with me as I fell. 
	More hands reached out from the shadows, separating Alex and me. I was held down on the ground, thrashing. I flipped my palms up to allow a large amount of lightning to build up. A cloaked figure descended from a nearby tree. He struck a tree with something, lighting a fire. Slowly, he and some other cloaked people built up a bonfire. I could see Alex’s scared eyes, illuminated by the firelight. He was pushed against a large tree trunk, unable to move. A demigod came and bound him with witch energy. Crap. There went any chance of him escaping.
	My lightning was about ready. Just as I got ready to release it, a cloaked figure came to stand over me. He bowed lowly. “My lady,” he said. I lost my cool, forgetting my lightning. Calling me that just to mock me was the last straw. 
“Your lady? What the hell are you talking about?! You kidnap me and Alex, force us here, tie us down, then you have the audacity to treat me with respect?! I’ll kill you, I’ll kill all of you!” I screamed, my eyes turning red.
	My palms crackled with electricity, reminding me that they were ready to fry someone. The cloaked figure pulled two daggers from the folds of his cloak and handed them to two people kneeling at my sides. The two of them bowed their heads and plunged the daggers through my palms. My scream got caught in my throat, my eyes huge. The pain of it was unbearable. Alex screamed my name, struggling fiercely. The daggers went all the way through my hands, into the hard ground. I couldn’t move, I didn’t dare try. 
	I wanted help. I wanted to be saved. I was pretty much helpless now, and Alex couldn’t move at all. Gods, where the hell was my uncle? He was supposed to be getting me backup. We should’ve been rescued by now. My hands burned, leaking golden blood that soaked into the ground. 
	Sine, are you okay?
No. It hurts, I thought quietly, tears streaming down my face where I lay. I could barely make myself think enough to talk to Alex.
I’m sorry. I’ll figure something out, I’ll help you. Just hang on.
Alex, I can’t handle it.
Yes you can, sweetheart, you can. You’re the strongest person I know, you can hang on. 
	I shook my head. Alex cringed, his eyes turning gold. His full power wasn’t going to get him out of that witch energy. My wails turned to sobs, making me shake and tearing up my hands even more. The cloaked figure touched my wet cheek. “Now, now, my lady. We’re just going to help you. We’re going to extract the demon from your soul. After that, you’re free to go,” he said soothingly.
	Alex sucked in air, moving around, trying to slip through the power that bound him to the tree. Two more people drew daggers, shoving them through my ankles to hold me down there. Alex and I both screamed, him in pain from watching, me in awful pain. Why did this have to happen to me? There was no demon in my soul. I knew there wasn’t. There couldn’t be. 
	“What do you mean? How do you extract a demon?” Alex yelled over my sobs. Pain was something I could handle, to an extent. Having four daggers shoved through my hands and ankles was past my limit. I wanted to die. 
“Quiet, boy. You were never meant to be here. You’ll see how it is done in a few minutes.” Some random man walked around me, chanting weird words. Everyone else but the chanter and the original cloaked figure had backed off. Alex’s power had died down as he watched fearfully.
	Alex, help.
I’m trying to call others to help. Damn Apollo, he’s so useless!
It hurts.
I know, I know. I’m sorry. It’ll be all right. 
Please help.
I’m trying, Sine! I’m trying!
	Alex was frustrated. The chanting was in Greek. If I’d been able to focus, I probably could’ve been able to tell what they were saying. Some kind of ancient Greek incantation no doubt. What was it meant to do? 
	My thoughts drifted. Brother, I just met you. I’m sorry I didn’t really get a chance to know you. Dexter, I always thought you were a good guy, I hope you always take care of Sia. I hope you guys get married and have a billion babies. Sia, looks like this is the end of the moon twins. Tell Mama and Daddy that I’m sorry. Whatever my responsibility in the New Generation Project is, I hope you’ll take over for me. Lloyd, thank you for protecting me. You were a faithful and good hearted guardian that could never be replaced. Luka, I’m sorry I dragged you to Russia with me. I’m sorry I messed up your life. I hope none of you think that my death here is your fault. It’s mine. I should’ve told all of you. 
	Even more tears streaked my face. I wasn’t crying for myself anymore. It was for the others, for my family. I was gonna miss them so much. Maybe I could be like Rhett. Rhett appeared next to Alex. My eyes fell on his see-through face. “Rhett?” I said hoarsely.
“What’s that, dear?” the cloaked figure asked.
“Nothing.”
“Sine, just wait. I’ll get Alex free, and then we’ll take care of you. Just be strong,” Rhett said.
	I nodded tearfully. I was losing too much blood. My eyes were closing, my heartbeat slowing. My vision dimmed and blurred. “Are we ready now?” the cloaked figure asked. He was putting on a black glove. I didn’t understand, but I could barely move. The chanter stopped. 
	“Sir, is it time for the extraction?” he asked.
“Yes. Keep chanting, you fool!” the cloaked man boomed. Alex and Rhett both froze, watching with large eyes. The chanter started back up again, terror in his voice. The extra people were all staring, whispering amongst themselves. My breathing was shallow. I was practically gasping for breath now. The cloaked man knelt beside me. 
	“My lady, as your servants from the shadows, we will set you free from this vessel. We will make your power clean and true. Until now, it has been dirtied. Your soul has been invaded by another. The soul of Ambrosine will be forever banished from this world. She will burn in Hell for eternity, while our beautiful leader is a perfect being again. Our only deity. Our Amaia.
	“I know you thought we were addressing you as our lady, but that isn’t so. We are only interested in the demon that resides in your soul. She is very old, and very precious to us. We will do anything to bring her out of your body. Once we have successfully set her free, your own body will be treated with the utmost respect. After all, you did host our lovely leader for several months. We owe you a lot. It is unfortunate that in order to bring Amaia out, you must be killed. Maybe you could have followed in her footsteps. A shame, it truly is. Now then, you must let go of your body. Amaia, be free, take over!”
	There was a moment of silence. Throughout the annoying, somewhat repetitive speech, the chanting had still been going on in the background. Now, there was absolutely no sound in the entire forest. No one was breathing. No one was talking. No one was moving. The cloaked man brought his hand down so quickly that the movement was a total blur to everyone there. Not just me. 
	His gloved hand went straight through the middle of my chest. My back arched as it did, my eyes growing so big it felt like they’d pop out of my head. Alex and Rhett screamed incoherent words. The hand was slowly removed from my chest, and I felt my body trying to die. I fought it.
	I felt the pressure of the daggers leave my hands and ankles, all four disappearing at the same time. Someone picked me up with one arm, ignoring the amount of blood that must’ve been getting on him. Someone let Alex go as well. I looked up at the person holding me. The face was difficult to make out, with me being half dead and all, but I eventually recognized the person. “Brother? How did you know?” I whispered.
“Don’t speak. Lloyd, Nova, Shania, and Kei are taking care of things here. Let’s get you home, Luka’s waiting. Can you hang on?” 
	I nodded weakly. Phaedra and Luka were indeed waiting when we arrived. The huge hole in my chest sent Phaedra running to the bathroom. Everyone else stood on the stairs, crying. Sia came running down. “Gods, what happened to her?!” Sia screamed. I could tell she wanted to do something, to make me feel better in some way, but she couldn’t touch me. Couldn’t hold my hand, nothing. 
	Zephyr laid me down on the couch. Luka was crying, but he had himself basically under control otherwise. Luka healed my hands and ankles first. Huge pink scars were the only indicators that there had ever been anything there. Sia and Zephyr stayed by my side while Luka healed the gaping hole in my chest. When Luka healed, it was like magic. The place he was healing and his hands lit up gold. I stared at the ceiling, unable to look at the cloaked freak’s work. A hand clapped down on Luka’s shoulder. “Luka, son, you can stop now. She’ll be all right. Let her parents see her,” Asclepius said. 
	Asclepius was Luka’s father. His hand passed over my wound and it closed automatically. He was the best healing god I’d ever seen. My parents were standing behind him. Artemis cradled my face, her tears dropping onto my cheeks. “My baby, you could’ve been killed,” she cried. The front door opened, and I craned my neck to see. In walked Nova, Shania, Kei, Lloyd, and Rhett, all looking grim. Nova kicked the door closed. Her red hair poked out from under her hood. Kei looked at me with worried eyes. Shania collapsed into an armchair. Lloyd stood at the end of the couch, looking me over. 
	“Boss, how’re you doin’?” Nova asked.
“Better. Thanks, you guys,” I said.
“Thank Lloyd. He always knows when you’re in trouble, but he could tell this was really bad. I could not handle losing another person. They tortured you on purpose.”
“I know they did it on purpose. They made a mockery of me. Hey, where’s Alex? Wasn’t he with you guys?”
	Nova looked down guiltily. Shania scowled, and Kei started gushing apologies. “We tried to tell him to come back with us, but a few of those cult guys escaped and he ran after them and we don’t know where he went. I think he got kidnapped but I’m not sure and I can’t look it up yet ‘cause it only happened a few seconds ago. If he did get captured he probably intended to because as a prisoner, you tend to hear a lot of guard gossip. But why would Alex do something so stupid?” Kei wailed.
	 “Mama, you know I have to go get him now, right?” I asked.
“I know you want to, but you really shouldn’t. Look at your hands, Ambrosine. Look what they did to you, what they tried to do!”
	The puckered skin on my hands wasn’t pretty, but it also wasn’t fatal. It wasn’t anything anymore but a memory. “I got Alex caught up in this. If it weren’t for me, he wouldn’t have been captured, or wouldn’t be following them. However, in his condition, if he keeps following them, he will get captured. I’ll wait for the rest of the night. If he’s not back by morning, I’m going after him.”
	Abril and Karsten came into the living room. Dammit! I’d forgotten about Karsten. “Sine, you’re…gods?” Karsten asked shyly. Seeing him still human reminded me of something. 
	“I’ll come back to you in a minute, Karsten. Mother, where is Apollo? I’m gonna wring his neck,” I said. This time, I didn’t get in trouble. My dad opened a portal. Abril covered Karsten’s eyes for me. If my dad was so happy about going to get Apollo, it meant he was probably asleep. Jerk. “Now, Karsten, what were you asking me?” 
Karsten swallowed and took a deep breath. “All of you, all of you in this room, are gods?”
	Abril had told him. It only made sense, he was never gonna understand the happening in the woods if we didn’t tell him the truth. Abril had just beat me to it. She’d probably done a sloppy job of explaining things as well. I had to smooth things over. 
“No, not all of us are gods.”
“But, Abril said”
“Abril wasn’t specific. She, Clarice, Kylah, Rhett, Genevieve, Isabela, and Phaedra are demigods. Luka, Sia, Dexter, Lloyd, and I are gods, along with my parents. Zephyr and Alex started out as demigods, but became gods through a claiming process.
	“You were supposed to be claimed tonight. However, my uncle just so happens to be a douche bag. In a few minutes, when my dad brings him back, I’m going to kick his ass. You can watch, or not watch. But I still need you to be claimed.”
	Might as well tell him the whole truth while I still had time to. His reaction to being claimed wasn’t a bad one either. “When I get claimed, what happens?”
“Nothing really. I mean, in your case, you’ll go to sleep feeling normal. But when you wake up, you’ll be a lot taller, more handsome, and you’ll have power. The kind of power we have. You saw me beat up those kids this morning, didn’t you? I know this is an ironic example, but you saw that hole in my chest. That’s what gods can do. And that’s barely a true display of power.”
	The portal opened up again. Hermes dragged Apollo into the room. Zephyr beat me there, hitting Apollo in the face as soon as the portal closed. Sia came after that. The two of them were doing such a good job of making him pay, I decided that I’d just let them have their fun. 
	“I thought all the gods were like a family that existed in perfect harmony. But your sister and brother look like they’re about to become murderers,” Karsten observed. Now probably wasn’t the best time to tell him that as a god, he’d be expected to kill people sometimes. I’d wait a while before telling him that. 
“Nope, most of the gods hate each other. In fact, if there weren’t laws, they would’ve destroyed each other by now. Sia, Brother, can you pause your wrath for a moment?” I requested.
	Apollo healed by the time the two of them stepped aside. He looked scared of me. Scared of Sia. Scared of all of us. “Stop looking at me like that. Yes, I’m bloody and scarred. That’s your fault. Yes, my boyfriend is heading for certain death. That’s partially your fault. But I’m not going to kill you today. Now, claim Karsten and get out of my sight.”
	I ignored him from then on, turning to Nova. She opened her mouth to say something serious, but I hugged her first. I had missed Nova. I’d been against it when the three assassins had asked me about learning more about Fabrizio’s murder, but they’d managed to talk me into it. Kei was awesome with computers. When everything was all better, Karsten could be his apprentice. Shania acted like she hated everyone, but she was really a softie. Nova had to be tough and mature. But sometimes, she needed her time to cry. Which was when I took over the mature role.
	“How’re you?” I asked, jerking her hood off. Nova had orange eyes, the same as her father. Having the powers of Ares and Hecate was a strange combination, but it made her powerful. We weren’t sure whose Kei was. Shania was a daughter of Nemesis, hence her icy personality.
	“We’re okay. You scared us though, Boss. Are you doing all right, besides your boyfriend running off?” she said. 
“Yeah. Have you met my new sibling?”
“Another new sibling? Didn’t it surprise us enough when Sia showed up?”
“This one is different. But you can meet him in a second. Did you find anything out about Fabrizio?”
	Fabrizio, the true demon, had made my life a living hell for nine years. Nine years seems like a long time to humans, but it’s longer for gods. Although, I did spend the majority of those years asleep. Whenever I was awake, I was kicking his ass and getting my revenge. Now that he was dead, I was only disappointed that I hadn’t been the one to kill him. “Actually, yes. Kei was able to access some surveillance cameras in the building where we found him. I never told you that we found him in a private study room in a library. We were fortunate to be the first ones to find him. 	
	“Whoever killed him was clearly a god and experienced at assassination, because they knew to leave something in the way of the wound so that it wouldn’t heal. All I was able to see was that it was a girl. She had blonde hair, and I could tell Fabrizio never expected to be attacked then. She took him down in seconds. After she left, you see Zakary standing in the corner of the room. He just appeared there, looked at Fabrizio, and left. I can’t help but think that he ordered the girl to kill Fabrizio. I wanted to see the girl’s face, so Kei got into the other cameras. I have a picture, but I’ll unpack it later. I don’t suppose we have rooms, do we?”
	I patted her cheek. “Have you seen the size of this house? Each of you has a room to yourself. There are nameplates, so don’t worry about that.”
“Wow, your mom takes good care of us.”
“Yeah well, she does what she can.”
	I grabbed Zephyr by the arm, meaning to introduce him to Nova. I made the mistake of grabbing the one covered in gold blood. It was still warm, making me cringe. That was just gross, even though it was my blood. I was still covered in it. “Come on, Sine, let’s go get you changed,” Sia said, pulling me away from my brother and up the stairs. My mother followed. We went into Sia’s room, and I knew she was gonna make me wear something ridiculous.
	“Ambrosine, you need to tell us what happened. I’m going to tell your father when we get back to Olympus. Now, please. It’s very important that you tell us everything you know about what happened to you tonight,” my mother insisted.
“They tried to kill me tonight, that’s what happened! I woke up, and hands were coming at me from all directions. I woke Alex up, but they just grabbed him too. They took us into the woods, and me and Alex got away for a minute.
	“They tripped me after like three minutes, and they separated us again. They held me down on the ground and used witch energy to bind Alex to a tree. He tried to help me, but it was pretty useless. The people were strong. Some of them wore cloaks. When the leader showed up, he made a huge bonfire with the others. I was going to use lightning, but they knew about that attack.
	“The leader had two people shove daggers through my hands. He called me ‘my lady’, the way Lloyd does. I got really mad, but that was before the daggers were in my hands. Anyway, I was pathetically begging Alex to do something, and he was getting mad that no one seemed to be coming to the rescue. Around that time, the daggers were shoved through my ankles too. As you can imagine, I sobbed and made a total baby out of myself. I’m kind of glad that only Alex saw, because he would never make fun of me for it. But now he’s gone, and once I find him, I’m gonna have to yell at him for being a brave idiot once again.
	“This other nut started chanting in ancient Greek. He walked around me, like the words he was saying were going to do something to me. The main man in the cloak put on a glove, and kept saying something about me having a demon in my soul. He said the demon was called Amaia, and they were her servants. They wanted Amaia and me to be separated, so that she could be their leader. But I don’t know how many times I have to say that I don’t have a demon living in me. 
	“What worries me is that they said once they got the demon out of me, they were planning on going after Sia. They were gonna do all the same things to her. After the cloaked weirdo finished his speech, he told Amaia to be free and shoved his through the middle of my chest,” I finished.
	Sia whirled from where she’d been digging through the mountain of clothes in the bottom of her wardrobe. “You got that hole in your chest…from a hand?”
“Yeah. But aren’t you worried about yourself? They’re planning on shoving a hand through you too,” I pointed out.
“That’s just unsanitary, and disgusting. I’d rather be one with a demon than have that happen to me. Now, put this on, go to bed, and leave the rest of this to us,” Sia ordered, tossing my white and blue nightgown at me. The one from my three year sleep. I really hoped someone had washed it since then.









Chapter Six


	The woman with long auburn hair was back. Standing at the end of the narrow hallway, refusing to let me see her face. I frowned, realization striking me. “You’re Amaia, aren’t you?” I accused.
“I was.”
“What do you mean, you were? Did you see what they tried to do to me, just to get you out? Yet here you are, in my soul, in my head, just fine. I don’t know why those idiots thought they could gain access to my soul just by shoving a hand through my chest.”
	The woman didn’t turn. I closed the distance between us and put my hand on her shoulder. I was somewhat surprised that I wasn’t immediately repelled this time. I was able to touch her. “Yes, I am Amaia. Yes, I saw those bastards torture you. I wanted to help. But as I reside in your body, I can only act through your body. I believe the men knew I would resist as well. If I reacted, you would be under my control. That is why they went to such drastic measures to hold you down.
	“If I had known about that event, I would have told you. I did not feel the pain you felt the same way you did, but I felt something. Now, Ambrosine, do you wish to see my face?”
I hesitated. “No.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I don’t want to see right now. I need to hear your story. Or at least, I need to know why they want you so badly.”
	Amaia nodded a little. “Very well. I was born September 13th, 1096. I am aware that that is the date of your birth as well, just a different year. I have a twin sister, the demon who resides in your sister. Her name is Neria. She is telling Alessia the same story I am telling you right now. Neria and I were separated soon after our births, to families that were very different in their opinions of their new children. 
	“Neria found me after three hundred years. We were forced to fight for our lives a lot of the time. We did not have the ability to go into the same red-eyed state that you and Alessia do. You see, that red-eyed state comes from my sister and me. It is us helping you in the only way we possibly can: by lending you our power as demons. The reason you have not been able to use our full power while fighting is because neither of you has accepted us. 
	“Again, that is not a part of the story am I currently supposed to be sharing. As I told you, my twin and I were constantly under attack. Our power was great, but too many other people wanted it. One night, we were attacked. Neria was currently pregnant by the guardian that had been assigned to her. I had a significant other, but I was waiting for marriage. The men who barged into our house claimed that because Neria was pregnant, her soul was tainted.
	“They said that through death, she would become pure again. After that, they killed her guardian, the father of her child. My…boyfriend and I were forced to watch. I tried to help Neria, but there was nothing I could do. I was paralyzed by fear. They killed her the same way they tried to kill you tonight. They shoved butchering knives through her hands and ankles, and they used their hands to put a hole in her chest. I saw the lights leave her eyes. Her eyes used to be green. But when I saw them then, they were just bottomless pits. No life at all.
	“My boyfriend was named Alexander. He had the most beautiful brown eyes, but I watched the life leave those as well. Finally, I was alone, backed against a wall with no way to escape. The speech you heard tonight was similar to the one I heard back then. As I am sure you know, they killed me with no mercy. That night, that night we all died, was September 13th, 1696.”
	Another Alexander with gorgeous brown eyes. Another set of twins separated at birth that managed to find each other against all odds. Another attack on them that separated them forever. Another twin falling in love with her guardian. The twins. Born on the same day as me and Sia. Dying the actual day and year of our birth. It couldn’t be a coincidence. Which could only mean that…
	“History’s repeating itself,” I murmured.
“Somewhat. Clearly, the ending will be different for you, but not by much. At this rate, they will still kill you. All four of you. Dexter, Alessia, Alexander, and you. My sister and I merged with your souls for a reason. We wanted things to be different for you. If we combine our power with yours, a different outcome is guaranteed.”
“How do you and your sister still communicate?”
“We are able to speak telepathically whenever you and Alessia are close to each other.”
“Forgive me, but I think it’s freaky that there’s, like, another person living within me. And I’m not pregnant.”
	Amaia chuckled. “I understand. I would find it strange too. You and I are a lot alike, Ambrosine Devanney.”
“Everyone really seems to get a kick out of saying my whole name all the time.”
“It is surprising for most people that you still use the last name of your caretakers. Most goddesses would despise the idea.”
“Most of them do. But it’s not like I haven’t heard the ‘proper this and that’ speech before. Nobody seems to realize that I don’t care about how they think things are supposed to go.”
	I looked down at the floor. “But now’s not the time for that speech. I’m sorry about the loss of your lover, and your sister. This time is going to be different. I’ll win, not just because I want to, or because Alex is involved. I won’t win because Olympus needs me to. I won’t win because it’s my destiny. I’m going to win…for you. I’ll win because I need to. I’ll put those bastards in their place, one at a time.”
“I admire your courage. But you will need so much power.”
	I looked up, my eyes falling on the back of her head. “So, share your power with me. I know you can.”
“I take it you have figured out how to truly merge souls and power then?” Amaia said suggestively. I could sense that she was looking at me out of the corner of her eye. But I didn’t meet that eye. It was like cheating for me to do that, and cheating was against my code of conduct.
	“I know. Show me your face, Amaia.”
“Why do you need to see my face, Ambrosine?”
	The question was the only thing separating me from the power I was going to need. But was merging with a demon really the best thing for me to do? The best way for me to accomplish my goals? My gaze on the back of her head hardened. Crap. Now is not the time for critical thinking, Ambrosine! Crap, crap, crap. Think of Alex. What would he tell me to do?
	He’d tell me to shut up and do what needed to be done already. I knew the answer to Amaia’s question. I’d known since the first time she’d asked me. It was common knowledge. Anyone could’ve given her the correct answer. However, there needed to be true meaning behind the words that answered. Not just anyone could give the wholly correct answer. Besides, not just anyone could gain access to my soul. I hoped that if Sia was answering this question, she shared these thoughts. 
	I tightened my hand on Amaia’s shoulder. “Looking into the eyes is to look in the soul. Without knowing someone’s soul, you cannot possibly merge. Show me your eyes, Amaia. Show me your soul.”
	I saw the smile first. A wicked smile. It was just like the one I wore. The bangs were the next thing I saw. They fell way past where they should’ve, hanging into her eyes. Her skin was pale but flawless. She wore a simple white and blue nightgown. All that auburn hair covered the back of the gown, that was why I hadn’t noticed before. The eyes were the last thing I looked at.
	They weren’t the red I’d been expecting. “Took ya long enough to spit it out. I hate all that formal crap. Nice to meet you,” Amaia said, shocking me entirely. After the way she’d spoken to me, I’d assumed that was how she talked all the time. She was a lot more like me than I’d realized.
	Amaia’s eyes were blue. Minus the stars. A blue deeper than the ocean, bluer than the dawn. They rivaled my eyes. “Um, hi?” I managed to say.
“Don’t give me that. I’ve been living in Hell for three hundred years, I hear the way the new souls talk. I hear the way you talk. I have been locked up in here for nine, listening to you. I know the meaning of an apostrophe!”
	I stepped back. Gods, this was too much for me. “Sorry, I’m just not used to it.”
“Whatever. At least I’ll be able to leave your body sometimes now.”
“Huh?” I spluttered.
“That’s right. I’m free from my prison that was your head. You kept me in here, because you didn’t accept me. Now you have. Don’t worry though, I can’t leave your side. If I try it, I’ll go right back to my cozy spot in hell.”
Geez, she really was a demon.


	I opened my eyes. Sia was standing in my room. I could only assume Neria was the girl with her. Dexter stood slightly behind her, another man by his side. What the hell was going on? I looked beside me. I shot across the room, pressing myself against the window. “Gods! You can’t just lay in my bed with me! Uh, uh. We are totally gonna have to establish ground rules. One, no sleeping in my bed. That’s creepy. Two, no showing up without warning. You can’t take over my body whenever you want that way, can you?” I clarified.
“No. I need permission.”
	Amaia smiled, drifting over to my side. Oh wow, she was floating. All the little people floated. “I woke up, and she was just there. Same thing with Dexter. I should never wake up with two boys laying on my bed, Sine!” Sia shrieked. Neria and Amaia went to each other as Sia and I did. 
	“Um, I think introductions should probably be made. And explanations are owed,” Sia and I said the last sentence in unison. 
“Fine then, if that’s what you want,” Amaia shrugged and Neria giggled. Dexter and his ghost dude just looked at each other.
	“This is Theron. I guess you could say Dexter’s his kinda-sorta reincarnate. Only, they’re separate. I don’t know how to explain it, Theron, you’re good with words,” Neria gave up, draping herself over Theron’s shoulders. She really was like Sia. Dexter and Theron were only furniture to the two of them.
“Very well, my lady. The three of us were able to merge successfully with your souls last night. Giving the three of us a newfound sort of freedom.
	“Alexander Keller, the kinda-sorta reincarnate of Amaia’s Alexander, is also experiencing this phenomenon. Unfortunately, having Alexander Sr. floating around won’t help him escape. I don’t know if you realized this, but the Alexander that loved Amaia is an ancestor of your Alexander,” Theron said.
“We’re gonna need some way to distinguish one from the other,” I said.
“We’ll call yours Alex, you call ours A.S.,” Amaia said.
	All of us stopped talking to look around at each other again. “We’re like, the same people from different centuries. We just look different on the outside,” Sia said slowly. 
“That’s a good way to put it,” Neria said, smiling. 
“There a certainly some big changes in the storyline, though. They attacked me alone this time, and they took Alex prisoner instead of killing me. I’m aware that they only took him because it’ll lure me back there, but it doesn’t matter. Secondly, thanks to you guys, Sia and I have our red-eyed state.
	“Probably the biggest difference is that Sia isn’t pregnant,” I finished. 
“Yeah, but that only means they’ll kill me just to kill me. Not because I’m ‘tainted’,” Sia said. Dexter tensed when she talked about herself being killed. Thinking about Sia, dead, really bothered him. He’d even broken down in sobs once in front of me and Sia, because he thought she was going to die. It was pretty awkward for me and Lloyd, who were forced to wait in the hallway while that went on.
	There was a knock on the door. “My lady? Is everything okay in there?” Lloyd asked. I’d forgotten he was here. He’d been so silent last night when everything was going on. But that was probably just because he’d been worried. 
“Yeah, everything’s fine.”
“Well, Karsten is awake, and he’s very pleased with his new form. He wants to see you.”
	I’d forgotten about Karsten too. He was a demigod now, I wanted to see how that had turned out. “Okay, just tell him to hang on a second,” I told Lloyd, and waited for his footsteps to go away.
	“Do you guys know how to…um, go back into our souls?” Sia asked.
“Aw, do we have to so soon? I feel like we just got out,” Neria whined, though she was smiling dreamily at Theron like she didn’t have a care in the world. She probably didn’t want to leave him again. I understood that feeling. 
“Yeah, we’ve all got important stuff to be doing, and we can’t have you guys floating around behind us. Look, once we’re finished taking care of what needs to be taken care of, you can rematerialize and we’ll practice combining our powers,” I said.
	Amaia narrowed her eyes. “We get to take over. Just so you see what we can do when we’re fully combined,” she said.
“How are we gonna see when you’re in control?” Sia asked.
“Record it,” Dexter said.
“Oh yeah, I keep forgetting they know about modern objects,” I said. Amaia kicked me. 
“Do we have a deal on what’s going down, Ambrosine Devanney?” she asked.
	I gave her a hateful look, standing on my one unhurt leg. “Yeah, we have a deal.”
Amaia floated toward me. She kept coming, until she disappeared into my body. I shivered. “Too weird,” Sia and I said. Dexter even shuddered a bit.
	I changed into my assassin clothes. I hadn’t worn them in a while. Black jeans, black shirt, tight black leather jacket. I pulled my hair up into a high ponytail and trimmed my bangs myself. On my feet were black Converse. Can’t go kill people without my Converse on. Once I was dressed, I pulled up a floorboard in my closet. My sword lay there, sheathed and for the moment, harmless.
	I had said that if Alex wasn’t back by morning, I was going after him. If I was going after him, I was going to need my sword. I unsheathed it a bit and admired the gleaming white blade. I slid it through a belt loop and walked downstairs to the kitchen. Nova, Shania, and Kei looked at my clothes before saying anything. “Going somewhere, Boss?” Shania asked.
“Yeah. I’ve gotta save Alex,” I said matter-of-factly. Nova and Kei shook their heads. Shania just grinned. 
	“Where’s Karsten?” I asked.
“He’s in the living room, I think. Wait until he sees you, he’ll wonder what he’s gotten himself into,” Nova said. I flashed a wicked smile at her.
	He was in the living room, looking like a totally different person. He was probably taller than me now. From the looks of his now long legs, he was Luka’s height. His red hair now had gold streaks, and his eyes were olive green. Blue and yellow mixed did make green, but I never knew that color rule applied to eyes as well. Then again, most people don’t mix eye colors just to see what happens. Dang, had Karsten turned into a little hottie overnight. He caught sight of me and jumped up. 
	“Hey, Sine! Look at me, I look like a new person! I can’t thank you enough. Hey, why are you dressed like that?”
“I’m going out for a while.”
	Footsteps stomped down the stairs. Abril danced into the room, dressed similarly to me. Her dark blue hair was in a braid. Her sword was in her hand. “Gods, no. You are not coming with me,” I said firmly.
“Come on, Icy. I want to go. Zephyr’s going.”
	I turned to see that my brother was standing behind me. “I am going, Sister. Someone has to make sure you’re okay, and Lloyd has to go back to training. Besides, I don’t have much field experience. I’ve only ever trained. This is the perfect opportunity.”
He could train against me.
	Gah! Since when could Amaia speak into my brain? But that was a good idea. “Fine, you can both come. But we have serious training to do before we leave this afternoon,” I said. I could tell Abril thought she’d won some small battle against me, but wait until she saw what Amaia and I had in store for her. If Zephyr had only fought in training, I wondered how he’d do too. I really hoped Sia wasn’t gonna want to come along as well. I needed her at the house to keep an eye on things. 
	“Don’t worry, I have no interest whatsoever in joining the rescue squad. I’ve got training and things to do here. Although, Neria and I can help you train these two,” Sia said as she entered the room. Abril and Zephyr both looked confused at her reference to Neria. It kinda felt good to know more than everyone else. Especially our apparent genius of a brother. 	
	“Um, I don’t mean to interrupt, but I don’t suppose I could go along as well, could I?” a small voice asked. The four of us whirled. 
“Karsten? Why would you want to go with us? It’s dangerous, you have no training,” I said in disbelief. His want to come along made no sense at all.
“I wanna go because I have no training with weapons. I can help you figure out where he is, give you directions. I have a permanent internet connection on my laptop. I can help. And you can train me along the way, when we stop. It makes sense for me to do it so that you don’t split up your assassins. Kei taught me how to use the best tracking system in the world on my laptop. 
	“I can help you, Sine. I want to. I know your mother wanted me to be an archer. Otherwise, she would’ve had your dad claim me. It wasn’t just you that picked me. I can thank you this way. Please,” Karsten pleaded, intensity burning in his eyes. 
“How did you know all that stuff about my mother?”
“She told me. She told me not to let you leave without me.”
	I was trapped now. If my mother wanted me to bring Karsten along, I didn’t have much of a choice on the matter. “Do you really think you can handle it, Karsten? Do you have any idea what a battle with another god is like?” I asked calmly.
“I, um…”
“Do you know what it looks like when I battle? Do you know what it’s like to protect someone with your life? Do you know what it’s like to put your soul in someone else’s hands?”	
	Karsten winced. Sia and Zephyr looked at me curiously. Abril was out of it. “Have you ever witnessed death? Have you ever been the cause of death? I know your mother died, and I know how much that hurt you. Could you inflict that pain on someone else, if you knew it needed to be done?”
	I knew this question would trigger something in Karsten. He obviously felt very passionate about his mother’s death. “I could if it needed to be done. If I knew that by killing that one person, I could stop a million other people from suffering through the same heartache I still do. Please, Sine. I know with all my heart that I’m up to this.”
“All right. But, first you have to see what our kind of battles look like. Trust me, it’s nothing like the movies. Especially not with me,” I said, smirking a bit.
	Sia pinched my cheek. “Feeling a bit cocky tonight, aren’t we?” she teased. 
“First of all, it’s mid-morning. Second, don’t touch my face. Now, I’m leaving this forest at twelve-thirty sharp. Sia, you’re coming with me. We’re training until twelve-fifteen. Karsten, you’re training with Dexter and Lloyd until twelve, then you’re coming to observe me and Sia. Brother, Abril, you’re the ones training with me and Sia. I want both of you to know that you’re in for quite a workout. 
	“Fighting us now will be different from any scenario you could imagine. We’ve recently acquired a new power. Do you both understand the risk you’re taking by training with us?”
	Sia giggled. “Neria says she can’t wait. She thinks Zephyr’s cute too.”
Isn’t he your brother? That’s disgusting.
“Amaia thinks you’re gross, and we’ve already been over this. I apologize on Sia’s behalf, Brother.”
	Zephyr smiled. “It’s nothing that can’t be dealt with, Sister. Now, are we going to start training soon? I must say, I can hardly wait to get started. You and Sia were already the most powerful goddesses. The only thing more exciting than fighting the two of you together would be to fight the two of you, and Luka Rush. But you say you have new power? Does it surpass anything anyone has ever seen?”
	Zephyr’s speech was a little freaky. He was almost too happy to be training with his baby sisters. But he’d saved my life the night before, so I was going to trust him, no matter what he said or did that I found creepy. Amaia was whispering into my head once more. Tell your brother that the power he will see is truly otherworldly. I relayed Amaia’s message to Zephyr and disappeared deep into the forest. When everyone else showed up, so did Clarice. With a camera.
	“Sorry. I’d have to commit suicide if I didn’t get this on tape,” she shrugged.
“Whatever. Just stay back.”
Amaia, I give you control.
You won’t regret it, Ambrosine Devanney.
Again with the name, huh?





Chapter Seven


	Alex woke up in a terrible mood. He was dressed in barely sufficient clothes, and he was chained to a wall. It was like he’d woken up in a dungeon. A girl sat nearby, texting. She had long blonde hair and brown eyes. “So, you’re awake,” she said without looking at him. “Who are you? Where are we?”
	She was in front of him in an instant, smiling. Alex glared into her eyes, jerking his head away when she tried to touch his cheek. “You are cute. Of course, you’re much cuter in better lighting, but oh well. My name is Penelope Martuna. I’m supposed to watch you, and kill anyone who tries to take you away. Including Ambrosine Devanney. How would you feel if you watched her die? How would you feel if we just sent out a clone of you to replace you in her heart?”
	Alex’s eyes burned. “You couldn’t replace me. Sine would know.”
“Ambrosine, would never be able to tell the difference. Besides, you can’t be all that important to her, and she can’t be all that important to you. She isn’t strong. You saw, Alex. You watched us kill her once. We could do it again,” Penelope instigated.
“No. You took us by surprise. And if I know Sine, she’s getting stronger somehow as we speak. She’ll be ready for you next time. All of us will be.”
	Penelope held Alex’s face and kissed his cheek. “I’ll get one step closer to that smart mouth of yours everyday. Until then, sweet dreams,” Penelope said sweetly, pulling a syringe out of thin air and jabbing it into Alex’s arm. Alex maintained the murderous look he was wearing until he vision began to dim. He slowly lost the ability to hold up his own head, or keep his eyes open. Penelope stood up and retreated to where she had been when he’d first awoken. Sine. I know you’d be able to tell the difference between me and an imposter if it was needed. But whatever happens, just don’t die for me.


	Clarice’s eyes widened. Sine seemed different somehow, though she looked the same. She opened her eyes to reveal that they were neon red. A horrifying color, really. Sine faced Zephyr, and Sia faced Abril. Sia’s eyes were the same as Sine’s. Abril, Zephyr, and Sia drew their swords.
	“Are you ready?” Zephyr asked Sine. She smiled wickedly, but didn’t speak. Zephyr disappeared and reappeared, bringing his sword down over Sine’s head. She glanced up and stopped the blade with her bare hand. Clarice double checked to make sure she had recorded that. Sine’s fingers closed around Zephyr’s blade, and she threw him into a tree. He did flips through the air, managing a shaky land on his feet. Sia was giggling. Abril was already sweating.
	Abril charged, slicing at Sia’s head. Sia ducked, dodged, cartwheeled, jumped, leapt, and rolled out of the way of all Abril’s attacks. She was fast. Had she been that fast before? Clarice blinked. It might’ve been her imagination, but Sine and Sia seemed to be morphing. It was an almost unnoticeable process. But there was a streak of auburn in Sine’s midnight black hair. What the hell kind of power were they using? How had they managed to obtain something like that?
	Sine shook her head, moving her head ever so slightly to dodge a stab from Zephyr. “You’re going to have to move much faster if you want to cut me,” she said, in a voice that sounded nothing like her own except for the ring of confidence. 
“You’re not my sister,” Zephyr accused.
“You’re right. I’m not. Neither is the girl fighting Abril. But you’re not always gonna be fighting Ambrosine and Alessia. Get used to being fooled by appearances. Fight like you mean it.”
	Zephyr’s eyebrows pushed together in frustration. Sine smiled, sickly sweet. The sword in Zephyr’s hand kept swinging, and Sine kept dodging. In a flash, Sine drew her sword and cut Zephyr’s cheek. A bit of blood got on Zephyr’s glasses. Karsten walked up behind Clarice. “Wow, look at that sword. It’s pure white, isn’t it?” he commented. Sine’s eyes flicked up at him, and he gasped, backing into Dexter and Lloyd.
	“Lady Sine is really giving him a hard time, isn’t she?” Dexter mused.
“It’s not Sine. But whoever it is happens to be very skilled at dodging and blocking attacks. Wait until you see the footage I got before this,” Clarice said, watching Sine’s body jump-kick Zephyr in the face. He’d removed his glasses by now. 
	Sine and Sia were fierce in this state. Clarice had no idea what it was or who had taught them to fight that way, but it was impressive. Sia laughed when Abril nicked her palm. “Very good! You cut me! I can’t say that the boy over there is doing so well at trying to cut my sister. But, Amaia is a billion times better than me. See if you can do it again,” Sia prompted, dancing away from Abril. She was graceful in the way she fought. Every time she dodged or attacked, there was something strangely beautiful about it. Sia’s sword had been drawn, but she hadn’t yet turned it into a scythe. If the person fighting Abril wasn’t Sia, she probably didn’t know how.
	Sine lifted a finger and pointed it at Zephyr. He tilted his head to the side confusedly. Lightning shot from Sine’s finger. It was a small amount, enough to stun Zephyr but not enough to kill him.
	“Amaia. That wasn’t necessary,” Sine’s actual voice said.
“It was entirely necessary. If he wants to train, I’ll train him,” the second voice argued.
“Give me control back. It’s time to leave. You’ve beaten my brother up enough. I mean it, Amaia.”
“Fine, whatever. Neria, are you retreating too?”
	Sia laughed. “I suppose I have no choice, if they want to take over. Lloyd, Dexter, you better be ready to catch your ladies,” she said. Sine and Sia started to fall, but their guardians did catch them in time. Zephyr stood up from where he’d fallen and put his glasses on. 
	“We have to get going now. Dexter, take care of Sia while we’re gone. I’ll carry Sister to the car. I trust that you all will have things under control here?” he said.
“Yes, my lord. We’ve got it covered,” Dexter said.
“Abril, Karsten, are the two of you ready to go?”
“Yeah, we’re ready. I mean, that was quite an experience, but now I’m full of adrenaline. If we don’t go now, I’m likely to explode. I hope we get into a fight soon,” Abril said. Zephyr took Sine into his arms.
	“I don’t. If the people who attacked Sister have anything like that power she just used, we don’t stand a chance while she’s unconscious,” Zephyr said thoughtfully.
“They don’t have the power. It’s what they want,” Sia murmured. She’d recovered much faster than Sine.
	“The freaks who jumped Sine and Alex wanted the power she has. They only attacked Sine first because her demon is stronger. She’s more of a fighter than mine. They plan on stealing Sine’s, and once they’ve done that, they’ll take mine. Which would result in both of us…dead.”


	The ocean? What was Alex doing at the ocean? More than that, he was standing on a cliff above the ocean, gazing down. There was something floating. Was it…a person? Alex squinted. It was nighttime, and he could barely see. “Hello?” he called.
Alex.
	Sine’s voice. In his head, calling to him. Sine needed him. Was she the shape in the water below? Alex immediately stripped off his shirt and dove in. The water was like ice, but he couldn’t afford to give up. The cold soaked into his skin, making his muscles freeze up. He could see a cloud of darkness, not far below him. Long hair, that’s what the dark cloud was. 
Alex. 
	Alex made himself swim deeper, reaching for Sine. He managed to grab her pale wrist. Why was she drowning here? Why hadn’t he saved her before she fell in? Now that Alex had a hand on Sine, he tried to swim back up. But she was heavy. He couldn’t remember Sine ever being so heavy. He’d held her countless times before, and they were underwater. She should’ve been light as a feather. Instead, she felt like she was made of concrete.
Alex.
	Alex looked down to see if there was something making Sine weigh so much. But there was nothing. Sine’s face was blank, pale, as icy as the water. Alex pulled her closer, wrapping an arm around her waist and trying to propel them upward. Sine’s eyes opened. 
	Why won’t you save me, Alex?
He heard the question, but her lips never moved. Her plea for rescue broke his heart. Only because he didn’t know if he would be able to. Alex gritted his teeth. He had next to no air left in his lungs, and Sine had to be dying by now. Someone else dove in above him. It was Penelope. She grabbed hold of Alex, trying to pull him away from Sine. Sine’s eyes pleaded with him. The eyes he found so irresistible. They were desperate now, counting on him to save her.
	Alex met Penelope’s eyes. “She’ll die,” he protested aloud.
“She’s dead already. You don’t have to die with her,” Penelope insisted.
Sine was slipping away from Alex. She clung to him. 
	“You’re going to let me go? Allow me to drown here while you live with her?” she accused harshly. Alex’s eyes were pained. 
“Let me go, Penelope. I can save her.”
“No. You’re not strong enough to save her. You’re coming with me, and she is going to die here. There is absolutely nothing you can do for her. Lloyd or Luka could save her. But not you. You’re not a fighter. You can’t even fight for what you love anymore. Now, let go.”
	Sine’s eyes fell shut, and she loosened her grip on Alex. “Go,” she said, venom dripping from the one word she spoke. It surprised Alex so much that he let her go. She sunk quickly. You were supposed to love me, Alex.


	Alex opened his eyes to find himself still chained to the wall. Thank the gods that hadn’t been real. Penelope was smirking at him. “Bad dream?” she asked.
“What was the meaning of that? Why did I see it? I know you wanted me to,” Alex said. Penelope’s smirk didn’t go away. Never had he wanted to strike a woman in his life, but he was starting to. There was a first time for everything. 
	“It’s symbolic, that’s for sure. However, I can assure you that I don’t know the meaning of it. Ambrosine was dreaming the same thing, though. She’ll mental message you about it in a minute, in fact. I’ll go get you some food,” Penelope said, winking and blowing a kiss as she left. Alex waited. His arms ached. Maybe the physical pain he was currently in was what had affected him in the dream. It was only a dream, after all. But maybe it meant Sine and he were making a mistake by being together. Maybe Sine really should’ve chosen her counterpart.
	Alex? Can you hear me?
Sine. Gods, you don’t know how happy I am to hear your voice. I know you’re going to ask about the dream. But that could never happen in real life, I hope you know that. I would never let any girl drag me away from you if you were dying. I promise.
He could almost hear her relieved laugh.
	You need to chill out. I was going to ask if you were okay first.
Oh, I’m chained to a wall. There’s some insane chick who’s been coming onto me since I woke up for an extended period of time. Other than those two lovely factors, I’m just peachy, Alex thought pessimistically. It wasn’t like him, but being held prisoner in a mock dungeon had that effect on people.
	Someone’s grumpy. I don’t blame you though. They haven’t hurt you at all? In any way? Sine asked worriedly.
No, Sine. I am able to handle myself.
Barely.
You’re about to yell at me, aren’t you? Alex predicted, bracing himself for her mental outrage.
	Penelope reentered just as the rant started. It was so loud and angry that even Penelope heard it without meaning to. ALEXANDER JAMES KELLER! If they don’t kill you, I will! You have no idea how pissed I am at you. IDIOT! Why would you go running after those people? Why didn’t you come check on me? Why didn’t you ask someone to go with you? Idiot, idiot, idiot. There are no other words I can even think of to describe you right now. I can’t believe you ran off, and got CAPTURED! If you’re gonna chase the villain, you’re not supposed to let them catch you! Idiot! Fool!
	Alex suppressed the urge to cover his ears, knowing it wouldn’t do anything. Penelope dropped the tray of food she’d been bringing Alex, holding the sides of her head. “Damn, she’s pissed. And loud.”
“She’s not finished. She’s just stopping to breathe,” Alex grimaced.
	And you can tell that little bitch there with you that if she lays one hand on you with any intention other than smacking you, I swear I’ll rip her head off. You can be chained to a wall, you can be smacked, you can leave me to drown, but you may NOT kiss that girl. Do you understand me, Alexander James? There’ll be repercussions for you too, if you allow it to happen. The rest of that rant was lost, switching from English to Greek too fast for Alex to keep up.
	Penelope smirked at that. Alex huffed. That’s not even moderately fair. Why should  
I get punished if she kisses me? Besides, it’s not like you kiss me all the time.
Alex.
Sorry, sorry. I’m just saying, if she did, you could learn from it. Maybe I’d be more willing to fight back if you did.
Alexander.
	There was absolutely no chance of Alex winning this argument. I apologize deeply.
It’s fine. Do you have any idea where you are?
Why? Alex asked cautiously. The last thing he wanted was to set her off again. 
You know why. Abril, Brother, Karsten, and I are coming after you, she replied.
Karsten? He’s human. And why in the world would you bring Abril?
	Penelope was gathering up the tray and going to get another one. Alex sighed. His arms really did hurt. If he ever got let down, he was going to have a tremendous amount of newfound upper body strength. She wanted to come. Karsten’s not human anymore, Apollo claimed him. You should see him, Alex. I feel like a mother.
You’re just now starting to feel like a mother? It’s not enough that you made yourself a family already? You just had to see Karsten change?
	Alex sensed something familiar, but he couldn’t quite put a name with the presence. Was there someone he knew outside the door? Had they been betrayed by someone? Sorry to disappoint, Alex, but it’s only me, Rhett said in his head.
Sine, did you send Rhett here? Alex asked.
How could I send him there? I haven’t seen him since I last saw you, and I don’t even know where you are. Ask Rhett where you are, Sine ordered.
	Alex did as he was told. I’m sorry. I can’t tell her. And I can’t undo your chains either. They were ready for me to try. All I can do is keep you company, unfortunately.
Alex told this to Sine.
	Rhett was able to use some power to soften Sine’s voice when she freaked out, but it was still pretty bad. Okay, okay. Can he provide any hints? Sine asked when she finished.
I can only tell her that they only want Sine to think that they want her demon. They really don’t. They said stuff about wanting Sia’s to get Sine worked up. The people who wanted Amaia and Neria are long gone. These people only want to build a rebellion against Sine. They hate her. They hate everything she stands for. And once she arrives here to save you, Alex, they’re going to kill her. But in the meantime, they’ll be picking people off back in Russia. 
	Alex told Sine everything in a panicky mental voice. He could sense Sine worrying through the connection they currently had. A rebellion…against me? Sine thought quietly. Why?
Tell her that they want to make her feel isolated. They hate her because…because…
Alex cut in. Because why, Rhett? There’s no point in keeping her in the dark any longer than we already have. Her mother’s out of time to tell her. We’re just gonna have to inform Sine ourselves.
	Alex could feel Rhett’s hesitation to say anything else. Artemis was going to be so unbelievably pissed at him. Her wrath was probably going to be a billion times worse than her daughter’s.
	You’re going to inform me? Sine said in utter disbelief.
I am. It appears Rhett is too reluctant, Alex said.
Well, start informing, Keller.
	Alex smiled. Sine only called him Keller when she was anxious. She was actually nervous about being informed. What he had to tell her wasn’t good, and she wouldn’t like hearing it. As a natural reaction, she would reject what he told her at first, and gradually come to accept it. 
	I’m getting around to it, Devanney. Before I start, you have to promise me something. Then you have to promise me that you’ll keep that promise.
Uh, okay.
Promise me that once I tell you, you won’t accuse me of being a horrible liar and spiral into a deep and terrible depression.
Alex, does that honestly sound like something I would do? she mused.	
	Alex frowned. She already wasn’t taking it seriously. How was he ever going to do this? Sine, promise, he snapped.
He startled her with his sudden change of tone. When she responded, she sounded much more serious. But he’d also frightened her with the urgency of his tone. He didn’t want to be the one to tell her this stuff. There was no other choice. If he didn’t do it, no one would, and Sine would never know the truth until it was too late.
	I promise, I won’t accuse you of being a liar and get depressed. And I promise to keep that promise, she thought meekly.
Good. Now, I’ll start with the New Generation Project. You’ve heard about it a couple times, right? Alex confirmed.
Yeah. No one would tell me what it was though, even when I threatened.
	Alex took another deep breath. Penelope was back, watching him attentively. He made sure to shut her out of his thoughts, though she probably already knew everything he was getting ready to tell Sine. Originally, the plan was for all the parents to tell their children when they thought the time was right. However, I’m going to tell you, because it’s time you knew.
	Athena began planning the New Generation Project when Apollo had a very strange and very dangerous prophecy. Zeus rejected it as nonsense, but it is becoming clear that the prophecy is very real, no matter who rejects it. Very soon, the Olympian gods are going to die. I hate to tell you this, Sine, but it’s going to happen really, really soon. You’ve already seen it happen once, when Zakary almost killed you. That is basically the happening that Apollo’s prophecy foretold. 
	The New Generation Project is essentially the plan for the replacement of the gods. Olympus won’t just disappear when they die. It’ll remain, and it’ll need someone good to take over. They’ve already got most of the major spots filled. You’re the new Zeus, Sine. You’re supposed to be the almighty queen of the gods once the current king is nothing but a crystal statue. Because my mother was the queen, I’ll be king by default. With the way things are going, the new Mt. Olympus will be matriarchal. 
	Sia is supposed to be the new Hades. Almost every one of us is supposed to take over for our parents. There’ll be a few extras, like Luka and Zephyr and Karsten, but they don’t really play a part in the project. You understand me, don’t you Sine? We’re supposed to watch our parents die, and we’re supposed to replace them. I hate the whole idea, but we don’t really have a choice. It is a good plan, but they didn’t really consider our feelings on the matter. My mother might be on the insane side, but I don’t want to witness her death. I especially don’t want to see her die, then waltz out and announce that I’ll be taking her place.
	It’s not fair that they’re making us do this, but I will do it. It needs to be done, and I believe we can build a better Olympus with you as the new queen. Don’t you think so?
Sine was silent. Alex didn’t get an answer for a long time.
	She believes you. She just has to cry first, Rhett thought. Alex hung his head. Don’t worry, Alex. She has her brother there for her, and Abril. Things will be okay. She has her tattoo now. She’s been informed. 
Alex studied the stone floor.
	Yeah. I guess it’s a good thing.
I can’t help but wondercould Sine change the fates of the gods?
No. I love Sine, I have all the faith in the world in her, but she can’t change that. She’s not meant to. She’s meant to be in charge. That’s the reason why she found all of us. A part of her was always preparing for this. 
	Alex lifted his eyes to the ceiling. Above him, a single window let a small amount of light into the dungeon. Sine, don’t hate me for telling you.











Chapter Eight


	Luckily, I wasn’t so torn up about the New Generation Project and its purpose. It was very important and everything, but I didn’t have time to worry about that now. I was sitting in the backseat with Abril, the two of us bored and feeling lazy. Karsten was in the passenger seat with his laptop, giving Zephyr driving instructions. He was also talking endlessly.
	“If Mars had earthquakes would they be called marsquakes?” 
“Who knows?” Abril said unenthusiastically.
“When lightning strikes the ocean why don’t all the fish die?”
“Poseidon loves all his fish and protects them from Zeus,” Zephyr said, sounding ridiculous.
“If there’s a speed of sound and a speed of light is there a speed of smell?”
“Of course there is,” I said.
	I really wished he’d stop talking. “Can you cry underwater?”
“I’m sure you can, nobody would be able to tell you were crying though,” Zephyr said.
“Does the postman deliver his own mail?”
“Depends,” I said.
“Why is there a light in the fridge and not in the freezer?”
“People are prejudiced against freezer lights,” Abril said.
	I rolled my head to give her a classic did-you-really-just-say-that look. She shrugged. “Can crop circles be square?”
“They would be called crop squares then, but sure,” I said.
“Are eyebrows considered facial hair?”
“Although they technically are, most people do not consider them to be,” Zephyr said smartly. Gods, why wouldn’t Karsten stop talking? It was like he had some kind of condition.
	“How come soap contains real lemons, but lemon juice has artificial flavorings?”
“They waste all the real lemons on the soap,” I said tiredly. 
“Why is it called a drive-through when you have to stop?”
“The world may never know,” Abril sighed.
“Why do banks leave the door wide open but they have the pens chained to the counter?”
“Pens are very precious to banks,” Zephyr said.
	I drummed my fingers on my leg. “Where in the nursery rhyme does it come out and say that humpty dumpty is an egg?”
“Nowhere, you genius,” Abril said sarcastically.
	“What was the best thing before sliced bread?”
“Karsten,” Zephyr said. 
“Why is there an expiration date on sour cream?”
“Karsten,” Abril said.
“When cheese gets photographed, what does it say?”
“Karsten,” I said.
“Why isn’t the number eleven pronounced onety-one?”
“Karsten,” Zephyr, Abril, and I groaned.
	By the mercy of the gods, he finally stopped talking after that. Once Karsten shut up, I discovered that the car ride had the potential to be peaceful. I very nearly fell asleep. The humming of the car, Karsten’s murmured directions, and the unusually smooth quality of the road didn’t make it easy to stay awake. My eyes had only been closed for six milliseconds before something large and heavy landed on the roof of the car. I automatically reached for my sword. It was laying sheathed in the floorboard. 
	Zephyr slammed on the brakes. I hit my head on the back of his seat, hurting my neck. Whatever had been on top of our car rolled over the hood and into the road. I got out, deciding that I wouldn’t need my sword to take care of this clown. He was getting up. Abril gasped, rolling her window down. I backed up. “Is that Alex?” I heard Karsten ask. 
“Alex?” I said unsurely.
	I wasn’t sure if this was really Alex or not. It looked like him, sure. But that didn’t mean anything. Anyone could look like anyone. “Yeah. I managed to get away from the dungeon. What are you waiting for? We have to get away before they catch up to me,” the person said urgently. He sounded like Alex too. Karsten was frowning, typing something into the program he was using. I was right. Something was off about this.
	“Alex, how did you get away? What about the girl guarding you?” I asked. I needed him to think that I believed him long enough for me to think of a test. The guy kept glancing behind him. While he was distracted, I transferred a dagger from my boot to my jacket sleeve. It was perfectly concealed. For the time being. 
“She let me go. I used my best puppy-dog eyes and she melted. Can we please”
“Why didn’t you use your hypnosis on her?”
	He thought I was trying to trick him, I could see it in his eyes. However, I was being serious. The real Alex had used his hypnosis on me several times to get little things he wanted. I personally couldn’t stand the technique. Abril said she thought that it added to Alex’s sex appeal. Which only disturbs me further. I changed my mind about the dagger. My still sheathed sword appeared on my hip. I slipped the dagger back into my boot the next time he looked over his shoulder. Extremely and dangerously unobservant.
	“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Sine. I love you, let’s just go,” the imposter pleaded. Now, I could completely see through the spell that made him look like Alex. Before he could move, I swung my sword. It looked to the others like I hadn’t cut anything, or even come close. But black blood spattered on the ground, and there was a thud. I grinned.
	“Thought that was you, Zak,” I said as he morphed back into himself. I was famous because of him. My messed up ex-boyfriend turned angel of death. Zakary was every bit as legendary and famous as me and Sia. Besides his fame, most girls found him charming and dreamy. Those girls probably hadn’t seen his wings. They were huge, stretching out five feet on either side. His jet black feathers looked quite lovely to me, but Adalyn thought they were gross.
	Zak’s wings would grow back, no matter what happened to them. Which was why I’d made a habit of cutting them off every time we crossed paths. As soon as Zakary was back in his own form, the stumps where his wings used to be were visible. They were still dripping black blood. It looked painful, but Zakary was smiling. “It’s about time I found you, Sine. People are getting tired of hearing the same old legends about us. They want to hear about new fights,” he said.
“You think you can handle me, angel boy?” I taunted.
	Zakary was strong. Maybe as strong as Amaia. But if I could beat him on my own, he’d be no match for my power combined with Amaia’s. “Your people took Alex,” I said.
“So what if we did?” he shrugged.
“Why would you do that?”
“You know why. We want you. You want Alex. If we have him, we basically have a one way ticket to you. You know, if I gave the order, Penelope could kill Alex in his sleep.”
	I grabbed Zak by the collar of his shirt and pressed him against a tree. “You better not touch him. She better not. Or I’ll burn everything and everyone that’s important to you.”
“Could you, Sine?”
	My eyes changed colors. I was one fourth in demon mode. “I could. As easily as you could give the order to end Alex’s life.”
“I’m in the mood for a good fight. What about you?”
“I would like very much to show you my new power. Have you improved any since Alex kicked your ass?”
	His green eyes flashed. I knew how to push Zak’s buttons. It was easy, and fun. He led me into the forest, with my friends trailing close behind. He drew his sword and attacked without warning. Amaia, want control?
Me, fight an angel of death? I suppose I can manage.
Very well then. All yours.


	Zephyr watched closely. His sister was changing, into the person he’d fought that morning. The person that lived within Sine without being her. Zakary looked confused, but he hadn’t lost his will to fight. Even without his wings, which Sine had made sure to cut off first. “This isn’t a new power. You’re possessed by a demon,” Zakary said knowingly. Zephyr’s eyes widened behind his glasses. Was that the source of his sisters’ new powers? Demons? Surely, Ambrosine and Alessia would never turn to demons for help in winning battles. Especially ones like this. But if Zakary was familiar with demons, did that mean he could beat one?
	“I haven’t possessed her. We’re simply sharing this body. Besides, what do you know of demons, boy? Very little, if anything. Come on, I’ll even put the sword away,” Sine said in a voice that clearly didn’t belong to her. Zakary frowned, surging toward her with his sword. She stopped his attack the same way she’d stopped Zephyr’s first one. Just by simply holding out her hand. Zakary, in shock, twisted and applied more pressure to his sword against her hand. Nothing happened.
	“Is that all you’ve got, boy?”
Sine’s fingers wrapped around the blade tightly, and her other hand came up to caress Zak’s face. “I don’t like you. Ambrosine doesn’t like you, no one likes you.”
Sine sent a huge amount of electricity into Zakary’s face, and through his sword to his arm. He howled in pure agony until she let go. She wore a cruel smile now.
	Sine looked down at Zakary, who had hit his knees as soon as the electricity stopped. Her gaze was disapproving. She waited patiently for him to get back up. He tried to grab her ankle and pull him down as a sneak attack, but she jumped back, hanging in the air for a minute as she did. Zakary tried to use black flames to back her up more, and it worked. While she was moving, he sent more Karsten’s way. Zephyr was ready to move in front of him, but all Sine had to do was draw her sword. It stopped the flames by sucking them up right before they hit Karsten.
	Karsten shrunk back, and Abril pushed him slightly behind her. “You’re powerful, but you’re not really trying. Are you?” Zakary suspected.
“Nope. You’re not worth my full power.”
	Sine rolled her eyes when Zakary tried to stab her through the middle of her chest. “Ambrosine already has one scar there. That’s my fault, and I won’t allow anyone else to hurt her that way again. Besides, it’s not like you can even cut me at your power level. You should probably just give up.”
	Zakary didn’t look inclined to do that. He continued to stupidly attack Sine head on. She moved ever so slightly to guide the sword into his abdomen. “I believe this is where you stabbed Ambrosine the last moment you were still a god. Not an angel of death. You could always apologize to everyone, you know. It couldn’t be that hard.”
“Don’t tell him that, Amaia,” Sine’s voice said. Zakary recoiled upon hearing the name, his eyes seeming to shrink into his head. 
	“Amaia?” Zakary whispered. 
“That’s my name,” the other voice replied.
“Where’s Neria? You two are never supposed to grant your powers to anyone, they’ll explode from the inside, out.”
“Well, if I’m in this girl, and she has a twin, where do you think my twin would be?”
“Sine and Sia have the power to support you without dying? Everyone told me that you joining up with a god or human would have a drastic effect on their body. Like a repeat of the Hindenburg, with a person.”
	Sine sighed. There were more auburn streaks in her hair now. The ones that had appeared when she’d been fighting Zephyr had vanished once she passed out and went back to normal. If it turned fully auburn, would it still go back to normal? Zephyr had deduced that the longer she stayed fully merged with her demon, the more she started to look the way her demon once had. But somehow, Zephyr got the feeling that she wasn’t fully merged with her demon. Only part of the way. More so than she had been, definitely, but the demon was holding back some large amount of power. She was underestimating his sister. 
	“In case you hadn’t noticed, Ambrosine is not the typical goddess, nor is she a human. She is like a whole new type of god, and it is for that reason that she is able to bear me living in harmony with her soul. In fact, she managed just fine before she even knew of my existence. I’ve been living there since before your last fight. I almost had to leave because of you, when you used your red light trick. 
	“But, don’t get any ideas. That trick won’t work on me. As I am a demon, and I’m in control of this body right now.”
“Oh really? Will this work?” Zakary asked, smirking, as he disappeared and reappeared with his sword through Sine’s heart. Blood trickled down the corner of Sine’s mouth, and her eyes were wide.
	“Sister!” Zephyr yelled, preparing to go to her. Abril’s hand shot out to stop him. He looked at her with a somewhat crazed look in his eye. 
“Don’t. If there’s one thing Icy hates, it’s someone interfering. Besides, our Ambrosine Devanney doesn’t go down that easy,” Abril assured him. Karsten whimpered behind her at the sight of the sword protruding from Sine’s chest. Sine wasn’t moving, wasn’t speaking. Her golden blood was soaking the front and back of her shirt.
	“It sure looks like he got her. How can she be okay?” Karsten mumbled.
“You clearly don’t know the Sine I do. Just wait.”
That was all the boys could do, if they couldn’t interfere. They could only wait for something to happen.
	Sine took two steps forward, walking herself off the blade. She smiled wickedly, her bangs hiding her eyes. “I told you, didn’t I? Your powers are no match for mine,” she said. Zakary scowled, readying his self for an attack. Sine held out her empty hand. Why wouldn’t she just use her sword already? Sure, she was impressive enough. But it was stupid not to use the sword. 
	A bow appeared in her left hand, and a quiver appeared on her back. Zakary wasn’t sure how to react or where to move. Sine still didn’t lift her head. But in a matter of seconds, she’d fired four arrows. When they hit the trees, Zephyr could tell they weren’t normal arrows. The archery equipment and Sine disappeared. Sine appeared on the arrow behind Zakary without him noticing. She leaned forward, pressing a silver dagger into his back. She was gone by the time he turned around to return the weapon. 
	Sine was balancing on another arrow. Her bow returned, and she fired an arrow into Zakary’s shoulder. Zephyr admired her skill and evasiveness. She was very good at this. Sine back-flipped, landing right in front of Zakary. “I’ll let you stab me. Anywhere you want. It’s only fair, since I’ve hit you twice now,” she offered. He jabbed at her face, and she leaned back, out of the way.
	“Anywhere but there.”
Sine snapped her fingers, and all the arrows removed themselves from the trees they were in and shot at Zakary. She jumped out of the way, high into a tree. Karsten, Abril, and Zephyr stared in awe. What kind of technique and magic was that?
	“Sorry, you ran out of time. Well, you’ll be in recovery for a while. Ambrosine, you ready to take over?”
“If you’re finished showing off, I think it’s only appropriate that I do. Brother, would you mind catching me? I’m going to be weak again. Why does that happen, Amaia?”
“’Cause, my power puts too much strain on your body. You’ll be out for at least a couple hours this time, if not more. I’m glad I could help you out today. Don’t give me control for a while, I need chill time, and so do you. Later,” the other voice said.
	Zephyr appeared just in time to catch Sine. He noticed something. Black ink running up and down her side. A tattoo? Who could’ve informed her? Not his mother or father, they’d been too busy lately. And Mother still hadn’t thought Ambrosine was ready to be informed the last time he’d spoken to her about it. Sine’s eyelids fluttered, and she muttered something about an idiot in her sleep. Still recovering from her earlier mind rant at Alex, he could see.
	A girl appeared next to Sine. She had auburn hair and gorgeous blue eyes. “Wimp,” she commented. She was ethereal looking, and very beautiful. A ghost? But Zephyr didn’t have the ability to see ghosts, and he was pretty sure Abril and Karsten could see her too. “Who are you?” Zephyr asked, lifting Sine.
“Oh, I’m Amaia. I needed to get out of there. She’s dreaming about yelling at Alex some more, and I have to hear it a lot more than you do. I, unfortunately, hear everything she thinks.”
	Amaia stretched. “You’re…” Karsten trailed off, seemingly unable to believe his eyes. The girl floated over to him. It seemed that she couldn’t go too far from Sine. 
“Yes, doll face, I’m a demon. What? Not what you expected?” she asked.
“Um, no.”
	Amaia smiled. “Well, remember my face. Now that Zakary knows which demons he’s dealing with, he’ll be a lot more careful about the attack teams he sends out. I could’ve killed him today, but that’s not my place. Besides, I’m against killing other people’s enemies. I’ll fight them and break them down, sure. Oh, and by the way, you owe me one,” she told Karsten, winking.
“Huh?”
“I saved your life. Trust me, doll face, those black flames of Zakary’s would’ve disintegrated you.”
	Karsten looked at the floating girl like he didn’t really believe she was there. She just glided back over to Sine. “Why can’t you leave her?” Abril asked curiously.
“She’s my host. If I try to leave, I’ll be transported right back to hell. I’ve told her this, but I don’t think she really absorbed that we have to be inseparable now. If I want to go somewhere, I have to get her to go with me. It really sucks, it’s like I’m being chaperoned for everything I do,” Amaia said in a somewhat whiny tone.
	Sine stirred in Zephyr’s arms. “If you wanna go on dates in hell, be my guest,” she said in a small voice.
“You’re too wiped out to be awake. Go back to sleep,” Amaia ordered.
“Shut up. You don’t tell me what to do. I’ll sleep later.”		
	Sine stretched, blinking several times. “Whatever. I was being serious about not giving me control for a while.”
“I know. Thanks for getting me stabbed, by the way,” Sine said, looking down at her blood soaked shirt. She zipped her jacket and covered the hole in the back of it with her long hair. “Oh, get over it. It already healed and everything. And you know it looked damn cool when I walked off that sword.”
	It was interesting, watching the two of them argue. Amaia had said something about living in harmony with Sine’s soul. Maybe she thought this was harmony, but it was chaos to everyone else. Sine’s hair color was back to normal. “Sure it did. Please don’t give Zakary permission to stab me either.”
“It’s no fun to battle if you don’t take a few hits.”
“Getting stabbed through the heart and offering to let someone stab you anywhere is not ‘taking a few hits’. Not to us non-demons, anyway,” Sine argued, standing up.
	A breeze blew through the clearing. Sine made a face. “What is it, Sister?” Zephyr asked. He could tell something was wrong.
“Something’s wrong back home. Something with Sia. She tries to shut me out, but then our twin resonance phenomenon thingy kicks in. I think…I think they’re under attack,” Sine guessed.
	Karsten and Abril started. “Under attack?” Karsten whimpered.
“Don’t worry. Sia has her scythe, and Dexter is there. The others all know what they’re doing with weapons. We’ve been fighting for our lives since birth, Karsten. You’ll get used to it eventually,” Sine said. Zephyr frowned.
“Alessia and Dexter may be able to handle it, but what about Genevieve, Isabela, and Phaedra? Who’s going to protect them? They aren’t exactly the type to fight,” he said. 
	Sine frowned too, thinking about it. Amaia spoke up. “Neria and Theron can separate themselves from Alessia and Dexter if you want them to. As long as they stay close, they’ll be able to protect the Aphrodites,” she said.
“No, Sia and Dexter might need Neria and Theron in their fights. I need to figure out who’s the best person to protect them.”
	Karsten, Zephyr, Sine, and Amaia thought. Amaia knew everyone by now, since she’d been living within Sine for quite a while. She was as familiar with Sine’s family as Sine was. Abril thought it was kinda weird. She hadn’t known Amaia for more than thirty minutes, but Amaia had known her for like, nine years. 
	Abril was the only one not thinking because she already knew who was best fit to protect Phaedra and her daughters. She was waiting for the others to figure it out. But Sine heard her smug thoughts. “Who’s best fit to protect them, Abril?”
“Alex.”
	Sine and her brother exchanged a glance. “Abril, why are we on the road?”
“Oh yeah…” 
Zephyr tapped his chin.
	Amaia and Sine’s light bulbs went off at the same time. “I know,” they said in unison. They shared a wicked smile.
“Rhett.”













Chapter Nine


	Sia was relaxing in the living room when the people appeared in front of the house. Dexter spotted them first. Sia waved a hand lazily. “I’m too tired. Can you and Theron deal with that?” she asked. Dexter bowed, Theron appearing as he left the room. Sia closed her eyes and laid back on the couch, placing both hands on her stomach. Another voice startled her. 
“You dirty liar,” Neria giggled.
“I could swear you needed permission to get out.”
“I don’t, and you’re avoiding my accusation.”
	Neria put on a serious face until Sia sighed. “If I told Sine, she’d just get mad and yell at me about being irresponsible. Besides, it’s not a big deal. Dexter’s terrified, but I really don’t think it’s worth worrying about. Not with everything else that’s going on.”
“I thought my living space was getting smaller. When I got pregnant, Amaia went ballistic. Theron was pale as a sheet for months, but I didn’t think it mattered either. After some time passed, both of them and A.S. became really supportive. You should tell your sister.”
	Sia thought about her brother and sister, who were out fighting to save Alex that very moment. What would they think if she told them now? She thought back to the night when she’d told Dexter their big news.


	“Can I tell you something important without you going insane?” she’d asked. Her tone had worried Dexter, but he had agreed to her terms nevertheless. It took quite a while for Sia to get the words out. As soon as she did, Dexter froze and went pale. Sia sat on her bed and watched him silently freak out and curse himself.
	“How?” he’d whispered.
“I could explain it to you, but I believe you know the method,” Sia had said grimly. 
“Well…do you want it?”
“Of course I want it! It’s mine, it belongs to me. Not some random human who could adopt it.”
Dexter had smiled wryly. 
	“It’s mine too, right?”
Sia just looked at him.  Dexter’s gray eyes slowly calmed as he’d thought about it. 
“Your mother and father are going to impale me,” he’d thought aloud.
“You forgot my sister.”
“Gods,” he’d muttered, dropping his head in his hands. 


	That had occurred before Zephyr’s initiation into the family. Now Sia had someone else to worry about telling. Her parents knew. They were not pleased, but they were doing their best to be supportive. She was mostly worried about Sine. Sine was not nearly as calm and collected as Dexter or their mother, nor was she as carefree and accepting as their father. If she told Alex and got Alex to tell Sine, that would make it easier on Sia. Alex would probably be the only one to congratulate her and not see the problem. Except Rhett, whom she’d also confided in. He was thrilled, and intent on catering to Sia’s every whim while pregnant. 
	Someone kicked the door in. Neria and Sia jumped up, facing the short front hallway. Sia felt a sword at the back of her neck. “What the hell? Where’s Dexter and Theron? Someone needs to protect the Aphrodites,” Sia said, kicking her attacker in the crotch and running him through with his own sword. Neria moved to the window nearest to Sia. Normally, Sine would’ve been around to take control. Sia didn’t know how to be a leader. She only knew to look after herself and her siblings.
	“Looks like Dexter’s unconscious. Theron is standing guard over him, but he can’t help without permission. You should call the others down, before the whole house is full of soldiers,” Neria suggested. Sia did just that, alerting the rest of Sine’s family that the house was under attack. Sia tried to block Sine out. But there was still the connection all twins had. Sine would be able to tell that something was wrong.
	Once the others were fighting, Sia was halfway satisfied. She needed to retrieve Dexter, and she needed to protect Phaedra, Isabela, and Genevieve. She couldn’t send Neria to do anything, because she couldn’t do anything at all when separated from her host. Sia heard a startled gasp from the hallway the extra rooms were on. The hallway that Phaedra and her kids were on. Sia burst through the door. 
	Two soldiers were floating, pressed against the wall. Rhett shimmered into view, his hands wrapped around the men’s throats. That was why, to everyone but Sia and Neria, it looked like the soldiers were floating. “Rhett! How’d you know we were in trouble?” 
“Sine thought something was wrong, and she was worried about Phaedra and the girls. So, she sent me here to make sure they were safe. What about you? Did you get hurt?” Rhett asked, eyeing her stomach.
	She laid a hand on it, out of habit. Neria giggled, disappearing back into Sia’s soul. “I’m fine. I’m not a different person, I still know how to fight. This is mostly why I don’t want to tell Sine. She’ll fuss over me, and she’ll try to make me sit out most of the fights. But it’s looking like it’ll take a month or longer for her to find Alex and get back, so I have time to keep fighting. Where have you been lurking, Rhett?” Sia asked suspiciously. 
“Around. Looking for Alex. Have you told anyone else about the baby?” Rhett asked, looking at her stomach lovingly. 
	“No. Who would I tell?”
“Your brother? Your sister?”
“Hell no. I’m not stupid. Sine would abandon her mission to save Alex for a day, just to come back here and yell at me. I refuse to tell her until it’s necessary,” Sia said. Rhett had strangled the two soldiers to death already. He let them drop. Sia wondered how they were going to get rid of the bodies.
	Rhett sighed. “You can’t hide things from Sine. How far along are you again?”
“Like two months,” Sia guesstimated. 
“You’ll be showing by the time they get back. What are you gonna tell her then? What about when you have contractions? Sine will sense your pain, and then you’re just screwed. You should just tell.”
“I’ll tell her. When she gets back, once she has Alex.”
	Rhett frowned, brushing golden hair from his crystal eyes. “Oh, I don’t think that’s such a good idea. Sine’s not going to be in a good mood for very long after her return. You should tell her when she’s on the way back, not when she gets back.”
“What do you mean? What aren’t you telling us?”
“I can’t tell you that.”
	Clarice was pacing. “Something’s not right. Why would they take time to send soldiers here? They should be focused on the one’s making the rescue. Yet they had to attack us too. Why?” she wondered aloud.
“You think something’s up?” Kylah asked.
“Yeah. Definitely.”


	I woke up in the hotel we’d been at for weeks while Karsten searched for Alex’s location. Karsten was sitting at the table, on his laptop. Zephyr was reading on the small couch, and Abril was passed out on the other bed. Amaia hadn’t left my soul for days. “Karsten, have you figured out where Alex is yet?” I asked, sitting up and rubbing my eyes.
“As a matter of fact, I’m very close.”
	I picked up the phonebook off the table in between the beds and threw it at Abril. She didn’t move an inch. Alex? Are you up? I tried.
Unfortunately. Are you mad at me?
No. Should I be?
I was just wondering, since you were awfully quiet after I told you about the New Generation Project, Alex said sheepishly.
	I hadn’t told him about the new tattoo I’d somehow acquired. He hadn’t told me that they just popped up, whether you wanted them to or not. I was just thinking. Nothing for you to worry about. I have some news for you.
Do I want to hear it?
Probably not. I ran into you a few weeks ago, I thought, knowing it would confuse him.
Huh? I haven’t moved. At all. My arms are killing me, Alex thought unhappily.	
	I’m sorry. What I meant was, I ran into Zakary in disguise. He had a spell on him that made him look like you. I tested him though, and he failed. I fought with him for a little bit afterwards, but he ran off. Did you already know that he was the boss of the people who captured you? That he controls Penelope, and she’ll kill you on the spot if he gives the order? My last thoughts became a little frenzied, as I started to panic about Alex being killed for the second time.
	I’m glad you saw through it. How’d the fight go?
Amazingly.
I’m sure Amaia did the fighting for you, and she performed amazingly. You shouldn’t rely on the demons so much, Sine. It’s not good for you, or for her. Her power can be exhausted, if you use it too frequently. She didn’t tell you that, but I’m sure she asked you not to call on her for a while, Alex reminded me.
	If Amaia was as powerful as she liked to say she was, I didn’t see how her powers could be diminished. I understood, but she should’ve known to tell me the real reason why she didn’t want to battle for a while. I was just testing out her power, looking for its limits and stuff. I didn’t mean to tire her out. I forgot you had a demon too.
Yep, Alexander Senior, as Amaia and the others call him. I prefer A.S., and I think he does too. He said senior makes him feel old and gross.
You got a funny one. Mine just thinks she’s funny, I sighed.
	I could sense that Amaia wanted to join the conversation, but I shut her out. It was difficult to shut part of myself off, but I managed. I’m not really concerned with personality. I just know that A.S. wants to help me, and I’m going to let him. With the demons, we have a better chance of winning than we ever have. Um, Penelope is about to call you. I don’t particularly understand her motivations, but she really doesn’t like you. Rhett wasn’t lying about a rebellion. Oh, by the way, Penelope is the name of my personal guard.
	My cellphone went off in my pocket. Karsten and Zephyr looked up from what they were doing. “Hello?” I answered civilly. 
“Hello, Ambrosine Devanney.”
Amaia appeared. “Told you. People can’t resist saying the name.”
“Amaia, go away. Hello, Penelope, girl who is only able to make moves on my boyfriend because he’s hung up on a wall like a sword.”
	There was soft laughter on the other side of the phone. I could hear Alex. He sounded okay. “Penelope, get off me! Get off, I’m not kidding around!” Alex yelled. I heard a kissing noise, and Alex apologized profusely. I shut my eyes and counted to ten so that I wouldn’t break my phone in half.
	“That’s right, I probably wouldn’t be able to kiss on him if he wasn’t chained up. However, he’s barely wearing a shirt, his pants are torn, and he’s just there. What kind of girl wouldn’t want to…play?” Penelope asked innocently.
“One who knew me,” I answered.
“I know you. I know your strengths, I know your weaknesses, I know your attacks. You count on the element of surprise to win your fights. Without that, you cannot win.”
	I was tired of her bragging about knowing me. The girl had probably never even seen me. “You’re wrong.”
“Am I? Or are you just saying that because you’re embarrassed that you’ve been exposed?”
“Nope, you’re just wrong.”
“How is that?” Penelope asked, truly curious.
“I do not count on surprise. I don’t count on anything. If I have motivation to win, I will win. It’s as simple as that,” I informed her. Letting her in on the way I operated wasn’t a problem for me. She wouldn’t be able to understand it or use it against me, so it didn’t matter. It might’ve been a different story if she’d been right the first time. 
	I ended the call and threw my phone at the wall. Karsten winced when it exploded. I put a pillow over my head and screamed into the bedding. Abril picked herself up and came over to my bed. She played with my hair, braiding and unbraiding it in different places. Zephyr hadn’t stopped reading, and Karsten hadn’t stopped typing. I stayed quiet. I didn’t even mental message Alex anymore. Penelope got under my skin worse than Zakary did or Fabrizio had. 
	Abril’s phone went off. She stopped in the middle of a braid to answer. She tapped my shoulder. “It’s Nova. She says she has news about Fabrizio’s murderer and she wants to discuss it with you,” Abril reported. I held out my hand. She placed her phone in it. I slid my hand under the pillow I was hiding under and put the phone to my ear.
“Yes?”
“Boss? Why do you sound all muffled?”
	I sighed. “I’m not in the best of moods, Nova. Do you have something to tell me, or not? If not, I would like to take a shower.”
“Yeah, I have stuff to tell you. Sorry, Boss. Um, Kei got a name on the girl who killed Fabrizio,” Nova said.
“Good. Tell him I’m impressed. Who was she?”
	My assassins, tough as they were, craved praise. They soaked up any that I gave them and used it like fuel. The way plants used water. “She’s Greek. Her name’s Penelope Martuna. Her mother is Alectrona and her father is some other unimportant god. Alectrona is a sun goddess; a wannabe Apollo. She’s been claimed by Nemesis, Morpheus, and I’m sad to say Hecate. She’s supposed to help Zakary lead the rebellion against you. She’s like, the minor gods’ version of you. That’s why she uses her last name, too.”
	Penelope Martuna. It had to be the same Penelope guarding Alex. Unfortunately for her, I knew how to block and counter Hecate and Nemesis attacks. I also knew a bit about the way Morpheus’s powers worked. I doubted she knew the extent of my powers, or anything about Amaia’s. I barely knew anything about Amaia’s powers, and I was the host. But I wasn’t complaining. If she explained everything she could do, I would probably be too terrified to give her control anymore. 
	“Good work. So, how’re things with you?” I asked cautiously.
“You mean, about Jester?” Nova asked wryly. Nova had been utterly destroyed after his death. We hadn’t known the elite Striker team Simple, Jester, Sandman, and Killjoy all that long. But Nova and Jester had chemistry from the start. Simple and I had been good friends. We only hung out a handful of times, but the friendships had been fun while they lasted.	
	“I’m just making sure you’re okay.”
“I’ve been better since you gave me his ring. It’s kind of like I still have part of him, all to myself. I’m never taking it off.”
	Abril started snoring again, dozing. She wasn’t fully asleep yet, but snoring seemed to come as naturally as breathing to her. I could hear Kylah’s voice in the background. “What is that noise?” she yelled. She must’ve been close by.
“Abril’s snoring,” I told her.
“It sounds like someone’s starting up their lawnmower. Tell her to shut up.”
	I laughed, remembering the ring Jester had planned to give Nova. The ring was silver, edged with ice diamonds and engraved with their initials. All four of the boys were/had been test subjects. They’d been given powers that imitated those of the gods’. Jester’s power had been ice, hence the ice diamonds. Simple had been looking after it when Jester died. He’d given it to me to give to Nova, and that was the last time I had seen Simple and his team.
	“I’m glad Simple got the chance to give it to me. I know we’ll never forget him,” I said sincerely.
“Yeah. Um, Sia has something she and Dexter would like to tell you together,” Nova said, sounding unsure. I tensed.
“Did someone die or something?”
“Oh, no. It’s nothing bad, I don’t think. I don’t know what it is, but Sia looks reluctant and Dexter looks scared. Sia said Rhett convinced her to tell.”
	I wasn’t convinced that their news wasn’t bad. “Okay.”
“Sia says to turn on the video function.”
All phones now had a video function that would allow you to video chat if you wanted to. I turned Abril’s video chat option on and waited, holding the phone in front of me. An image of Sia and Dexter showed up a moment later. Rhett was a dim, flickering image behind them, beaming.
	“Hi, Sine,” Rhett chirped. Abril looked over my shoulder, her birch eyes wide. She was so close that her green and pink ponytail on the side of her head tickled my cheek. I frowned. 
	“What’s wrong with you? Get off me,” I said. 
“I can see him, Icy. I can see Rhett,” she whispered, a tear falling from the corner of her eye. Rhett looked confused.
“How? Can you hear me, Abril?” he asked.
“Yeah, I hear you loud and clear, Rhett,” Abril said, smiling bigger than I’d ever seen her smile before. 
	Rhett’s whole face lit up. His blue eyes focused on Abril. Her tears dropped onto the screen. “I can see you, Rhett, it’s really you,” she cried. Karsten and Zephyr were looking up. Karsten joined us, peering at the phone. He used his sleeve to wipe the tears off the screen. 
	“I don’t understand. You told me Rhett was just never around. Why wouldn’t Abril be able to see or hear him?” Karsten asked.
“He can see me too!” Rhett exclaimed. 
“Dexter, can you see him?” Sia and I asked in unison. 
 	Dexter looked around, desperately trying to see Rhett. “No,” he said, sounding defeated. It didn’t make much sense for Rhett to be visible over video chat, but I knew the others would take any way they had to see Rhett again. His eyes brimmed with tears. 
“I’m visible again. At least, kind of,” he breathed. It was a very exciting thing, but that wasn’t what Sia and Dexter had wanted to tell me. I didn’t have the heart to stop the reunion between Abril and Rhett though. So, I settled for explaining Rhett to Karsten.
	“Karsten, you remember how everyone chuckled when I said Rhett was always in the club room in spirit?” I asked. 
“Yeah. So?”
“They chuckled because Rhett is a spirit. He’s dead. Murdered. Only Luka, Sia, and I can see him. That is why it’s so surprising that you and Abril can see and hear him now. He could speak into your head, but you didn’t know before. He might now, but I dunno. I talk to him all the time. He’s very sweet. He knows everything, and if he can, he’ll help you out when you need it. Rhett, say hello.”
	Rhett waved, smiling beautifully. “Hello, Karsten. I know you, but you don’t know me. In fact, I was the first one to figure out that you were gay,” Rhett said. I wanted to hit him. Those were not very polite first words. Karsten blushed.
“Oh. Uh, how?”
“’Cause I’m gay. And I notice things.”
“I guess I should be glad I’ve been found out, since I was wondering how to tell you guys. Good to know I’m not alone. I would be honored to mental message you Rhett, as soon as I figure it out. But for now, it’s nice to be able to meet you, face to face,” Karsten said, smiling warmly.
	I could tell that Rhett had liked him before, but he liked him even better as a god. Not because he was more handsome or taller, but because he was immortal. He wouldn’t die on Rhett now. Although…Rhett was dead. But he kind of wasn’t. Never mind, I don’t understand ghost logic.
	“Yeah, kinda face to face. I’m just so happy to be seen again. Not that only being able to talk to three people and have them look me in the eye isn’t fun. I would never get tired of the twins, but you know,” Rhett said. I rolled my eyes.
“Yeah, whatever. Listen, I’m getting a headache. Sia, Dexter, what is it you two wanted to tell me?” I asked, rubbing my temples.
	Abril pinched the bridge of my nose for me, relieving some of the pressure in my head. It still hurt unusually bad though. Sia and Dexter exchanged a look. Sia took a deep breath, making me even more tense than I already was. Dexter put an arm around Sia. “We wanted to tell you that…I’m pregnant, Sine,” Sia said. My facial expression didn’t change. It remained rather cool and passive. I’d already guessed. Already had my assumptions, and already come to terms with it. I made it my business to stay one step ahead of everyone. Slowly, I smiled at Sia.
	“Congrats. To the both of you,” I said softly.
Dexter let out his breath. “You’re not mad, Lady Sine?”
“No. You thought I was going to kill you, didn’t you?”
“It’s possible.”
	The door to our room burst open. An entire army stood there. Zephyr was looking out the window. The building was surrounded. I unsheathed my sword looked at Sia seriously. Zephyr was looking at me intently. “Sister?” he said.
“Sine?” Sia said.
“Boss?” Nova said, coming out of nowhere.
“Zephyr, go back to the school and make sure they’re safe there. I won’t be here when you get back. I’ll take care of the soldiers, you three just get out.”
	Abril grabbed my arm. “Icy, you can’t fight them alone.”
“Just go,” I said, looking at her with pained eyes.
Once they escaped, I took a deep breath and prepared for my first massacre.




Chapter Ten


	Massacre. Understatement of the century. One blast of lightning, and the army Zakary had sent was totally obliterated. The car hadn’t even left the parking lot yet. There I was, making everything look all beautifully dramatic, and the weakness of these soldiers had to ruin it.
	I leaned out of the window. “Zephyr, Abril, Karsten! Get in the car, start it, but don’t leave yet. I’m doing one more sweep to try to clean up what I can,” I called.
“She almost blew up the building, what does she think she can clean up?” Karsten mumbled. I met the three of them at the car ten minutes later. The humans were all fine. They’d taken refuge in the basement of the building. There was nothing I could do about the soldiers’ bodies. So I left them where they were.
	“You’re an idiot, Icy. Why would you use lightning first thing?” Abril asked.
“When you have the ability to use lightning, you can talk to me about when and when not to use it,” I said. Zephyr chuckled from the front seat. Karsten was back to typing away on his laptop. I wondered what he was doing, but I didn’t want to disturb him. 
	“Now that there’s been one attack you know they’ll be trying to hold us up wherever we go. We’ll have to stop to eat in a little while. Afterwards, I want to buy some camping gear. It’s not safe for the humans if we stay in hotels anymore,” I said. 
“But I hate camping. And if we do that, how am I gonna change my hair color?” Abril whined.
	“Leaf green, mud brown, river water blue. There’s three hair color possibilities right there. Abril, this is about saving Alex. It’s not about your hair color anymore. So, I propose that while the rest of us go shopping, you go buy yourself some wigs to hold you over until we get back home. Or, you could always go natural,” I suggested. The look of horror on Abril’s face was priceless. I took that to mean that she was going to go wig shopping. She tapped Karsten on the shoulder.
	“Karsten, if I go wig shopping, I’ll need someone’s opinions on which ones to get. Will you come with me? The serious kids can do the serious shopping. We’ll have some fun and meet at some rendezvous point. How much longer is it gonna be before we stop?”
“I’ll go with you, Abril,” Karsten said cheerily.
“The more you talk, the shorter it’ll be before we stop. Brother and I can only take so much of your voice,” I said.
	I leaned back in my seat and closed my eyes. An arm wrapped around my neck, and suddenly Abril’s fist was digging into the top of my head. “I don’t think you’re being very nice, Icy. Sure, you’re stronger in a fight, but you still suck physically. Like Adalyn says, anyone can beat you up if you don’t have a sword,” Abril cackled. I struggled to get her off, but she was right. I really needed to go to a gym or something. Zephyr stopped the car again and hour later, and I was still in that position. Abril released me. 
	“So where’s the rendezvous point, Abril?” Zephyr asked. We were at a brand new shopping center. I didn’t know how Abril planned on finding a wig shop so quickly, but it wasn’t really important. Zephyr had already pointed out a store with camping gear in the windows. Abril hooked her arm through Karsten’s, tapping an index finger on her lower lip. Her British accent sounded very out of place in comparison to all the Russian ones around us. 
	“That restaurant over there. We’ll shop, meet there in thirty minutes, eat, and get on the road again. While we’re eating, Karsten can work on locating Alex. Sound good?”
Amaia appeared, stopping all of us in our tracks. She was visible to humans, and even they weren’t stupid enough not to see something was off about her appearance. 
“What are you doing, idiot? Get back in,” I hissed. I sounded like a mother telling her child to get back in the car or something. But I didn’t have a clue how to put Amaia back in my soul. I couldn’t do anything but yell at her.
	“Crap,” Amaia breathed.
“What?” Abril, Zephyr, Karsten, and I said.
Amaia’s blue eyes darkened. I could sense a story coming on. Amaia took a few deep breaths. She stopped floating, and she was less see-through. She was a good enough image to fool the humans. Her eyes met mine, and I could tell that she was only going to inform me willingly. I would have to tell the others, ‘cause she sure wasn’t inclined to share any information with them.
	“Brother, can you go tent shopping alone? I need to find out what’s bothering Amaia,” I said. Karsten looked at Amaia shyly. She smiled, looking rather cat-like. 
“Hi there, doll face. Did you miss me?” she said, cupping Karsten’s chin. I grabbed her wrist, dragging her back to my side. I was kind of surprised at how solid she felt. She was still nothing more than an excellent apparition in my mind. Maybe she had the potential to be more.
	Zephyr went off to buy camping gear, and Abril and Karsten took off in no particular direction. Amaia and I leaned against the hood of the car. There was nowhere we could talk privately, so it was better to stay in the parking lot. “Tell me what’s wrong,” I said.
“Wait a second. You’ll see the first thing that’s wrong in a moment,” Amaia said cryptically. I was reminded of the first time she’d spoken to me. She’d had a much different personality back then. All formal and junk. Why couldn’t she be like that again? This side of her was more annoying, more talkative.
	I waited for whatever she was talking about to show up. I felt a prophecy coming on. Amaia handed me a small piece of paper and a pen out of Abril’s bag. Abril packed the oddest things for rescue missions. My hand moved on its own, scribbling down Greek symbols. Amaia watched me, translating in her head as she read. Though her name wasn’t Greek in the least, that was where she was from. I sat back and looked at what I’d written. Σήμερα είναι μια κουρασμένη μέρα. Μείνετε ξύπνιοι, ή να πεθάνουν.
	Today is a tired day. Stay awake, or die. 
	“I won’t let you die,” Amaia said.
“I don’t intend to die! I wouldn’t, even if I did fall asleep or whatever. That’s crazy. Besides, I sleep all the time, and I’m still kickin’. It doesn’t matter what happens while I’m knocked out,” I said.
	Amaia grabbed my hands. “I know I’m contradicting myself a bit, but you can’t be willing to throw your own life away so easily. You’ve been close to death innumerable times, but you always survive. Don’t you think there’s a reason for that? I mean, look at these scars. Remember the hole in your chest? Remember how you cried, and sobbed, and begged Alex to help you. That was death. That’s the despair that comes with death. I know you’re scared of it.”
	I got into the backseat of the car and picked up my sword. It was always white, whiter than the moon itself. I didn’t understand how I could kill people with this, how I could wound so many people with it, and never get bloodstains on my little katana. I realize that I call our weapons swords, but they aren’t like medieval swords. Personally, I think those are weird looking. I fell in love with the Japanese katana on a trip with my family, Alex picked up the idea, and he made one for me. All our swords were like that. 
	What’s the matter with you? You’re thoughts are…distressed.
Dumb prophecy. Don’t worry about it.
I’m worrying.
Alex, seriously.
I’m serious.
	I tapped the side of my head with my sword. Amaia was sitting next to me now. I was bored. Just something about me dying. 
How?
Something about sleep.
Well, don’t you dare die on me, Ambrosine Devanney! I know you’re not taking it seriously, but you better!
	Amaia and I shared a look of surprise. He wasn’t as loud as I had been when I yelled about him being an idiot, but that last mental message had been pretty loud. “He’s just as devoted to protecting you as you are to him. I don’t know why you look so surprised,” she said, composing herself. I chose not to start the argument that said she’d been equally surprised. Alex, I think you know very well that I can’t die yet. 
	I ignored his protests until he dropped the subject. Fine. Have you guys figured out my location yet?
No. Karsten’s working hard on it.
Poor kid. I feel responsible for him being involved in this. Oh, and you guys might want to watch your backs. Zakary’s out of recovery from when Amaia beat him, and he’s really pissed. He’ll probably try to get his revenge on you soon. It wouldn’t surprise me if he was on his way now. 
	If Zakary did show up, it was a perfect time for me to try something dangerous. But it would also be fun. “You’re an idiot if you think I’ll agree,” Amaia said.
“You know you want to try it.”
“I know that you probably wouldn’t be able to handle it and you’d crash and burn, just like Zakary said.”
	Have Zak’s wings grown back yet?
Not fully. Why do you always cut them off?
Because I can, and it’s fun. That’s how I start all our fights. Though it was a bit weird, him imitating your face with those giant wings on his back.
Ew, spare me the mental image.
	Alex had to be a positive kid, if he was making me laugh while being held prisoner. How are you? Okay? Is Penelope leaving you alone?
Not really. But she’s nothing I can’t handle. My arms hurt like hell.
Is there no way for you to stand up?
No. They feed me, but only enough to keep me alive. I’m getting skinnier by the day, and I have almost no energy.
	I was on the verge of a migraine. I had too much going on. Alex was whining about his arms, I was still processing being informed, Amaia was keeping things from me, and now there was Zakary to look out for. Well, I’ll be there as soon as I can.
I really wish you weren’t so stubborn about things. If Zakary or Penelope would look me in the eye, I could walk myself out of here.
	Well, guess what? If they haven’t looked you in the eye in all that time you’ve been there, they probably know about your hypnosis. That’s probably my fault, ‘cause I kinda used knowledge of that to test Zakary. Oh, and you cannot walk yourself outta there, because you have no energy. You would probably have enough time to drag yourself out of wherever you are, but they’d just capture you again five minutes later. I suggest you leave the rescue to me.
	I put my sword down. “Why do you keep talking about hypnosis? What kind of power is that? Where does it come from?” Amaia asked. 
“I dunno, it’s just something Alex does. It works on everyone, there are no exceptions. Not even demons,” I said, cutting her off before she could boast.
“I’d like to see it.”
“No, you wouldn’t. I find it very unpleasant. Like my will is being taken away just because Alex is cute.”
	My last sentence intrigued Amaia. “He can do it because he’s hot?”
“No, that’s not exactly it. I don’t know how to explain it. He looks into your eyes, and you just kinda…bend to his will. It’s scary if you think about it.”


	“Please stay away, Alex. I really don’t want you to be there. You’ll get hurt,” I insisted. Alex’s doe eyes searched my face for any sign of weakness. If he found none, I knew he’d find a way to get what he wanted out of me.
“Alex, please don’t,” I begged.
He softened his eyes, blinking his long lashes. “Please, Sine?” he requested, quietly and sweetly.
	I had fallen under his spell already. I knew Alex could do this, it pretty much classified as a power. “Say you’ll let us come,” he ordered, just as sweet.
“You can come,” I repeated robotically.
“Thank ya,” he laughed, disappearing. 


	I shuddered at that memory. I didn’t like to think of myself as weak to persuasion. But Alex really hadn’t been very fair about that. Amaia watched that scene in my mind. “That’s cool. How long has he been able to do that?”
“Forever.”
	I was so tired of waiting for something to happen, I figured nothing was going to. I took a short nap, leaving Amaia in charge of watching for something bad. I swear, only ten minutes had gone by when Amaia woke me up. Karsten’s face was pressed against my window, terrified. I rolled it down. “What’s wrong?”
“You’ve got to go! That dude with the wings showed up outta nowhere and grabbed Abril! She tried to fight him, but she was no match for him. I don’t see how you did so well against him,” Karsten gasped.
	I picked up my sword, got out, grabbed Karsten by the wrist, and started running. I couldn’t believe Zakary had just attacked in the middle of all the humans without stopping time. I did stop time as I ran. Something was gonna have to be done about the memories of the humans. Karsten steered me in the direction he’d come from. Zakary was standing in the middle of a store, with Abril laying at his feet. Her eyes were closed, a dagger in between her shoulder blades.
	She wasn’t dead. I made sure of that. But it wasn’t just Abril there. He’d also killed all the humans in the store, and I could see Zephyr in a corner. He was alive too. I glared at him. “I guess I should thank you for leaving those two alive,” I said, mental messaging Luka to come as I spoke.
	“Not a problem. They were weak anyway. And your new one was so weak that I didn’t even touch him. You haven’t taught him to fight yet?” Zak bragged. 
“He knows the basics. But you know, you’re lucky you didn’t kill them, and you didn’t touch him.”
	“Why is that? If you think your demon is going to beat me now, you’re very wrong. I’ve gotten stronger while I’ve been in recovery.”
“If you had killed them, and you had laid a finger on Karsten, you would’ve severely regretted it. I’m already mad that you’ve taken Alex. I’m mad that you put a hole in my favorite jacket. I’m mad that you stabbed Abril in the back. I’m mad that you sent soldiers to attack my pregnant sister and my family for no reason.
	“You really don’t want to do anything else to piss me off,” I said darkly. Zakary, of course, took that as a challenge. If there was one thing we were good at, it was pissing each other off. I pulled the dagger out of Abril’s back and moved her over to where Zephyr lay, unconscious. She’d be out of the way there. 
I want control, Amaia whined.
Shut up. I’ll give you control when you need it.
	Zak drew his sword. I watched him carefully. He was really mad, which meant he was going to be reckless. He wouldn’t be thinking clearly, and he wouldn’t have a strategy when he attacked. “Why are you here, Zak?” I asked, dodging a jab to my face. Why did he always go for my face?
	“Why do you think I’m here? You schooled me last time, so now I have to kill you. That’s the way it works. I’m going to tear you apart here, but I’ll leave you alive once I do and take you to Alex.”
He surprised me, I’ll admit it. “Why would you take me to Alex?”
“So the two of you can watch each other die, of course. That’s the only reason Penelope and I are keeping him alive,” Zak said confidently. He actually thought that he could kill me. Poor fool.
	“How do you get stronger, Zak?” I asked.
“I kill other angels of death and absorb their power. You can never be sure how strong I’ll be when you fight me. I could be the same, or I could be a billion times more powerful.”
“You really love to brag, don’t you?” Karsten said in an angry voice. I caught the dagger Zakary sent flying Karsten’s way. If I hadn’t, it would’ve gone straight through Karsten’s mouth and come out the back of his head. Gruesome, I know, but being a goddess isn’t as glamorous as one might think.
	Karsten frowned. He was angry because Zakary had killed a mother. I knew she was a mother, because her little boy was still alive. Zak couldn’t kill a kid, no matter how hard he tried. The boy was touching his mom’s hair, crying and whimpering. Now was the first time I noticed him. The only reason he was immune to my time freezing was because the store was too far away for it to reach. If I froze him now, he’d only be more scared. I bowed my head, thinking.
	“Sine, I want to fight. Stop stalling and let’s get to it,” Zakary said. I disappeared and reappeared in front of the boy. I knelt beside him and touched his shoulder lightly.
“Hey, are you okay? Did you get hurt at all?” I asked gently.
“No, I’m okay. But my mommy, she doesn’t look too good,” he cried, rubbing at his eyes. I picked him up.
	“I said I want to fight! Stop ignoring me!” Zakary yelled, sending black flames my way. I turned the kid away from the blast and held out my hand. I sent lightning towards him to cancel out his flames. The little boy whimpered, clinging to me. He was only about four. What are you doing? You can’t hold that kid and fight at the same time, you idiot! Amaia said. I ignored her opinion, as usual. I really needed to figure out what to do with this boy. I couldn’t leave him alone.
	“Allow me to help you with that,” Zakary said, appearing and putting a dagger to the boy’s throat. I didn’t have time to move. I stared into Zak’s black eyes as he smiled, looking a little insane. An arrow soared from across the room, planting itself firmly in Zakary’s shoulder. Both of us turned. Karsten was holding his bow that I assumed he’d acquired from my mother. It was silver, not gold like the one Apollo carried. Zakary and I were equally surprised by Karsten’s interference. 
	“You stupid boy!” Zak snarled, appearing in front of Karsten. Karsten looked at him evenly and jabbed another arrow into his chest. I knew the only reason why he’d been able to injure Zak twice was because Zakary underestimated him. If Zak had been thinking rationally, he would’ve guarded better. 
	Zephyr was waking up in the corner. I went to him. “Are you okay, Brother?”
“I’m fine. Who’s this boy? What happened?” Zephyr asked, holding his head.
“This boy is the only one left alive. Can you watch him for me? Oh, and Luka should be arriving soon. He’ll heal Abril and you, if you need it,” I said.
“Who’s fighting Zakary then? If you aren’t, and I’m not, and Abril’s not?”
“Karsten seems to be handling himself pretty well.”
	I moved Abril onto her side. Her wound was healed, she was just unconscious. “What about you, are you okay?” I asked.
“He stabbed me. I’ll kill him,” Abril muttered weakly.
“Don’t worry. Karsten and I can handle it. You need to rest here until Luka comes to finish your healing process. You’re in no position to be fighting anyone. Karsten could beat you right now.”
“Why’s he doing so well? We’ve barely taught him anything. Who is this kid?” Abril asked, noticing him for the first time.
	“I dunno, I just know he wasn’t safe where he was. Karsten’s doing well because he’s angry. But he won’t be able to do so well much longer. I’ll need to help him. Amaia won’t shut up about wanting control.”
“So give it to her. She’s an excellent fighter, with unimaginable power,” Zephyr said.
“Yeah, but did it ever occur to any of you that I am still capable of winning battles? That Zakary is the enemy I have to beat? This whole thing is basically between me and him. If I don’t finish it, there was no point in there ever being a battle between us.”
	Abril looked down at her hands. “Yeah, but…you might not be able to win without using her power.”
“I know.”
“But you just said”
“I know. I’m going to win, and Amaia’s going to help me. We’re going to fight at the same time.”
	Zephyr and Abril looked at me like I’d lost my mind. I probably had. Amaia appeared. “I strongly advise against what you’re thinking.”
“You told me that earlier. But it’s a good idea.”
“It’s not. That would be why I don’t think you should attempt it,” Amaia argued.
“Too bad you don’t have much of a choice.”
	Amaia frowned. “You’re not very nice about things.”
“You’re not very cooperative.”
“I guess we can try it. But freeze time for Zakary too, you’re gonna need to prepare.”
“For what?” Abril and Zephyr asked.
“Ambrosine wants to fuse, because she needs the world to know just how stupid she really is,” Amaia said. 
	I smiled.












Chapter Eleven


	Ten minutes later, Amaia had wrapped my entire upper body in bandages, including my arms. The bandages around my chest were so tight, each breath was a challenge. Zakary was still frozen. I couldn’t my arms, so Abril had to be called to help me get redressed. I wasn’t about to let Amaia near me again. Abril laughed as she helped pull my shirt over my head. “What’s with all the bandages?”
“She’ll need them in case I have to use a lot of power and her clothes explode. I wouldn’t want her to be exposed to that boy,” Amaia explained.
	I sucked in a tiny amount of air. “I don’t think this is really a good way to keep me covered. I can’t breathe, and I can’t move my arms at all. And what about my bottom half?! I would think that’s the place to cover up!”
“I’ll be able to move your arms, weakling. Your pants won’t explode, I promise.”
“Yeah. Because I’ve found black skinny jeans to be extremely durable,” I said sarcastically. Abril slid my black leather jacket on for me.
	“I think you’re all set. Wow, Icy. You better hope those bandages around your boobs hold,” Abril laughed.
Zakary better hope whatever bandages around her boobs hold! Alex yelled in mine and Abril’s minds. He’d been eavesdropping the whole time. He heard whatever I did when he was in my head. I laughed. 
	“Goodness. I never knew Alex could be such a hothead when he gets jealous.”
“Oh, he gets worse, I’m sure. If he’s anything like his ancestors,” Amaia sighed. The two of us went into memory mode, picturing many times our Alexs had lost their cool and gone a bit crazy. Alex didn’t have too many of those moments if he could help it, but he was a boy. Boys have to have their insane moments. Zakary, however, was having a HUGE insane moment. He wasn’t acting like himself at all.
	“Wait, Amaia,” I said.
“What? Now you have cold feet? I oughta smack you,” she groaned.
“It’s not Zakary.”
“Have you lost your mind? It is Zakary. Nobody else we know fires black flames out of their hands.”
	I smiled. “No, they weren’t flames. I thought they were weaker than usual when I deflected them. It was black witch energy. Similar, but not quite similar enough to fool me completely. And that person pretending to be Zak, they’re slow. Also, I haven’t seen any wing stumps. I’m getting really tired of these tricks.”
	I unfroze time with my sword at “Zak’s” neck. The person was surprised. 
“Huh? How’d you get there?”
“You mean you can’t freeze time, Penelope? Gosh, you’re a lot weaker than I thought you’d be,” I said, feeling the bandages on my arms rip. The morphing began, and Penelope turned back into herself.
	“So, you were smart enough to figure it out.”
“You were dumb enough to help me see that it wasn’t him. Why would you want to impersonate Zakary?”
“He’s my boyfriend. It’s fun to pretend to be him, see what I can’t see otherwise,” Penelope said, winking. 
	Abril raised an eyebrow. “Wow, she’s a freaky one, huh Icy?”
“Yeah. I’d say she’s more suited for fighting you.”
“Huh?! I’m not freaky at all!” she argued.
	I ignored Abril, sheathing my sword. “Anyway, I don’t have time to mess around with you. You’re in the way,” I said to Penelope. She turned red, both from embarrassment and anger. Amaia was pouting inside my head.
Man. I thought we were finally gonna get to fight serious. That’s not very fair.
“You can’t just walk away! You would’ve fought if you hadn’t figured out I wasn’t Zakary!” Penelope protested.
	I looked back at her as I helped Zephyr up. “Yeah. But you’re not Zakary, and I would’ve figured it out when you evaporated after I attacked you once while fused with Amaia. You learned stuff you thought would sound impressive coming from him, and you copied his personality. If you’re not Zakary, you’re not my main concern. In fact, I’m not concerned about you at all. You’re insignificant. Now, get out of my way,” I said.
	Penelope shook. “I’m not insignificant! I’ve spent my life being compared to you, being prepared to fight you! Zakary let me have my chance, he sent me here. He believes I can defeat you, and I will! I have the powers of three gods too, with the powers of my mother and father. After all the training that I’ve been put through, after all the comparing without a word of praise, I won’t let you walk away from a fight with me!”
	She sent witch energy at me, which I knocked away with the back of my hand. She was too shaken up. Karsten was still gaping at the fact that he’d been fighting a girl. “You’ll never be able to fight on par with me if you’re so careless. There’s no point in even trying.”
“Shut up!” she screamed, huge icicles flying at me with the intention of impaling me. I melted them as soon as they came to close to me, exerting the heat of the magma I held inside.
	My instincts allowed me to do things I’d never known I could do. Like the melting thing, that was purely instinctual. I was trying to remember who else Nova had said Penelope was claimed by. Penelope appeared in front of me and flicked something into my face. I tried to grab it as it floated past my eyes, but there was nothing there. I frowned, looking up at her. “The third god who claimed me was Morpheus. Night, night, Ambrosine Devanney,” Penelope said, smiling slyly.


	Karsten watched as Sine fell to the ground. He wanted to help, but he found himself unable to move. Penelope looked at him steadily, her eyes turning white. She did the same thing to Zephyr and Abril. The three of them found themselves incased in ice. Sine was sleeping soundly on the ground, and inside her soul, Amaia was asleep as well. They were useless now, as good as dead.
	Penelope positioned her sword over Sine’s throat. “I’m so tired of my powers being compared to yours. When the truth is, as long as I have the power to knock you out, there’s no way anybody without the same ability could beat me. If I hadn’t been claimed by Morpheus, yes, you would’ve killed me today. If you were to miraculously wake up, you might still kill me today. But I’m ready for that. Zakary only pretends to love me because it means he can get into my head and make me do anything he wants. I know that. I know that everyone uses me because I’m the closest thing to you that’s alive.
	“But things are going to be different once I’m running things. I’ll bring Mt. Olympus to the way it was. Not only that, but I’ll bring Hell back to the way it was. With hundred-handed ones, demons, everything it used to have. Things wouldn’t be right with someone like you as a leader anyway. All you think about is protecting your friends. You don’t even care about yourself. Zeus is a smarter ruler, but he’s still not good enough. Your friends don’t worry about protecting you as much as you do them, so I don’t see why you keep trying. 
	“Your two female assassins, in fact, are out shopping right now. They aren’t worried about you at all. And that male one? He’s so weak, he’s never even picked up a sword before. He knows he’d be better off dying. Your family is nothing. You see how easily those two over there went down. However, all of the people involved with you fight with one advantage that you don’t.
	“They don’t worry about anyone else. They know about themselves, and that’s enough for them. That’s why, in a few minutes, they’ll have outlasted you, their leader for so long. Once I show them what a real leader is like, they won’t even remember your famous name. I honestly can’t believe someone like you”
	Karsten watched the whole thing, fearing for Sine‘s life. Sine looked very peaceful whenever she was asleep. That perfect peace was about to be ruined, turned bloody and horrific. Someone crashed through the wall, causing a cloud of dust to rise. Whoever it was knocked Penelope far away from Sine. Karsten saw the glint of a sword through the dust. It smacked into the ice around him, Abril, and Zephyr. The kid Sine had rescued had been frozen in place on the floor the whole time. 
	Karsten breathed in deeply. Somehow, he’d still maintained his ability to breathe while inside the ice. Karsten picked the kid up and waited. Whoever had just saved Sine’s life, he wasn’t going to interfere with them. Their head was ducked, a frown on their face. Those were the first two things revealed. The crash also woke Sine up. She sat straight up, looking at the face of the person. 
	Penelope got up from where she’d fallen, launching a stream of curses at the unknown person. “Urusei. I got tired of your voice a few speeches ago.”
Sine was still staring. Clearly, it was someone she knew. But from Karsten’s angle, he couldn’t tell who it was for sure. Abril and Zephyr had already seen the face. That word, urusei. Japanese?


	“Kei,” I breathed, “Are you wielding a sword?”
Kei looked down at me, frowning. I could only stare at him. I’d been lucky to get out those six words. I’d never seen Kei look so serious. He kept looking at me as I got onto my feet. Before I could even register that he’d moved, Kei threw himself into my arms. I tried to see where the sword was as he cried into my shoulder. 
	“Boss, I thought you were dead! I didn’t know if I’d get here in time, and I just wanted Penelope to shut up but I knew if she did that meant you’d died so I didn’t want her to. I didn’t mean to speak Japanese but it did sound really cool and I’m sorry that I almost didn’t get here! I don’t even know how to hold a sword, I hate weaponry! I miss my computer,” Kei wailed, dropping the sword and stomping on it while he hugged me. I couldn’t help but smile. 
	Kei had actually picked up a sword. For my sake. And he’d saved my life with that sword. I was so proud of my little assassin. “It’s okay, Kei. I was just asleep. But you did save my life. Thank you. I’ll bring you a new computer when I get home from rescuing Alex. Okay? You should go home. I’m going to kill her now. Unless, of course, you want to pick your sword up again and help me?” I asked, knowing what he’d say. 
	Kei took a step back. Two more people stepped through the hole in the wall. Shania had her bloodthirsty grin on. Nova was frowning with her arms crossed over her chest. “I wasn’t about to let you have all the fun, Kei.”
Kei shook his head in disgust. “Shania no baka. I told you to stay at home,” he said. I’d never heard him speak so much Japanese. 
“Don’t use different languages against me! Like I’d let you come here and kill everyone worth fighting,” Shania yelled.
	Nova put her hand in Shania’s face. “First of all, I didn’t bring you along to kill anyone. This is the Boss’s fight, and you aren’t interfering unless she asks you to. Second, the only reason we’re here is to make sure Kei didn’t get impaled upon entry. We’re leaving now. Let’s go. I told you not to bring your sword, idiot,” she said.
“Didn’t Kei already call me an idiot in that funky language of his?” Shania asked.
	Kei and I rolled our eyes. “That funky language you’re referring to is called Japanese. Shania, honestly,” I said.
“You know, we masters of the funky language are the ones who invented that style of your sword. I’ll make you use one of the stupid looking ones if you don’t shut up,” Kei said. “Hey, what was that word you said to Penelope?”
Kei smiled. “Urusei?”
“What’s that mean?”
“Genius,” Nova said.
	Penelope was looking at all of us. “Whenever you’re done,” she said.
“You sure you don’t want to hold onto the break to recover?” I asked, looking at the her dislocated shoulder. Kei looked surprised.
“Did I do that?” he asked.
“Kei, don’t you think you’d at least build up a little muscle over three thousand years? I mean, you knocked through that wall without any trouble,” Shania said.
	Nova grabbed her arm. “We’re going now, Shania. Kei, are you coming?”
Kei looked at Penelope thoughtfully. His brown eyes had a look in them I’d never seen before. Even though it was his profession, never had Kei looked like a real assassin. He never had a bloodthirsty look in his eye. He never killed. Not directly, at least. He was good at bombs, things of that nature that could kill. He never did hand to hand combat or used any kind of weapon.
	“No. I’ve hurt her, now I’m going to stay. Who knows, maybe I’ll be a real assassin now,” Kei said, smiling at Nova. He was like the Asian version of Alex, in a lot of ways. “You think you’re a match for me?” Penelope asked, disappearing and going for Kei’s back. I blocked her with my hand. Because I didn’t know how to do the skin hardening thing, her blade cut into my hand. I didn’t mind, very much. It would heal in seconds. It was barely a scratch.
	“He is. But he has me watching his back as well, so your death is guaranteed,” I said. Amaia was screaming in my mind.
I want to! I want to! I want control! PLEASE!
Shut up!
	With Amaia distracting me, Penelope landed a kick to the side of my face. The bruise healed almost as soon as it formed. I grimaced. Kei was still just standing there. I hoped I wasn’t gonna have to do Assassins 101 in the middle of a fight. Penelope seemed to recognize that her fight wasn’t going to be as easy as she thought. I was ready for that Morpheus power of hers as she flicked something into my face again. I disappeared before she could flick her fingers in my face.
	“Hey, Boss, your invitation for me to help you out is still in effect, right?” Kei asked. I nodded from where I was, trying to make sure I didn’t breathe in for a few extra seconds. Just to be safe.
	“If it’s going to be two on one, I suggest you take turns attacking me. Since one on one seems to be more your style, Ambrosine,” Penelope said, smirking. Kei picked up his sword, keeping an eye on Penelope the whole time. If she so much as breathed wrong, he’d see it. He really did know how to be an assassin. I loved Kei a lot, but I couldn’t help but wonder why the kid had chosen to be an assassin. It wasn’t really appropriate for me to call him kid either. He was one of the oldest demigods alive. Over three thousand years old has got to be a record. However, his powers were never used, because nobody knew who his god parent was. We didn’t even know if he knew.
	Both Kei and I took defensive positions. “I don’t particularly have a style. You can go first,” I said casually. My chance to leave was gone. Shania and Nova didn’t disappear. I knew they wanted to watch Kei’s first fight. I wouldn’t be surprised if one of them pulled out a camera. I would’ve. 
	Penelope stared at both of us, then sprung forward. Her blade swung by my face. I turned a bit. Kei swung his blade, cutting her hand off. He laughed nervously.
“Oops.”
“Damn, Kei, don’t maim her so quickly,” I scolded.
“Sorry, Boss.”
	Penelope ignored her bleeding stump of what used to be a hand and picked up her sword with the other one. It was unfortunate that she turned out to be ambidextrous. She really was going die. I was going to kill her. But I was also going to feel terrible for her as I did so. My heart really was too large for me to be such a constant fighter. If she’d spent her whole life being compared to me, being trained just to beat me, I felt awful. That was a terrible way to grow up, and I would’ve felt the same way she did if it had been me. Maybe I would let Kei do the actual killing. He’d had no problem cutting off that hand.
	“I can’t die here. Not yet,” Penelope said breathlessly. So that wound was hurting her. I hadn’t been sure. She wasn’t acting like she was in pain at all. Luka appeared, going to Abril immediately. It was about time he got there. The idiot. 
“Why not? Isn’t in battle, fighting for a good reason, the best way to die?” I asked.
“It is, but I won’t lose to some kid who’s never even touched a weapon before today. I came to fight you.”
	I lowered my sword. “Well, I can’t fight you.”
“Why? I know you’re underestimating me, but if you don’t fight me, if you don’t even use your sword, I’m going to kill you.”
“So?”
“Why don’t you care about yourself at all?! I can’t understand that! You’re the greatest hero in the world of the gods. You’re the best fighter, the most powerful. But you’re so stupid. You could care less about your own existence.
	“All you care about is protecting your stupid friends! What happens when they all turn against you? What happens when they decide they don’t want you around to protect them anymore? I just don’t get it. How can you possess so much talent and skill, and use it for such a dumb purpose? Why don’t you care about yourself in the least?” Penelope screamed.
	“Because I’m a murderer! It doesn’t matter how many people I save, it doesn’t matter who I’m protecting really. Fact is, if I fight for only myself, I’m a criminal. All I do is kill. That’s my goal. That’s your goal. What kind of a life is that? An empty existence, a world of nothing but blood and gore. I’m tired of all of you telling me I’m stupid for protecting my family. If I didn’t have them to protect, I would be a shell of a person. Just like the rest of you stupid murderers. I’m not going to fight you because I feel bad for you. Get out of my sight,” I said, losing control of myself.
	I barely felt it when the sword pierced my stomach. Blood came with my exhale. Penelope twisted her sword, trying to get some reaction out of me. “You stabbed me. Now what are you trying to do?” I asked.
“Why aren’t you dying?” Penelope cried.
“I keep trying to tell you bastards. Our Ambrosine Devanney doesn’t go down that easily,” Abril said.
“The first and only person you’ve told was me,” Zephyr reminded her. She laughed nervously.
	I looked up, bringing my sword up with a flick of my wrist. It cut across Penelope’s abdomen, from her left hip to her right shoulder. “I said I won’t fight you.”
“But…you cut me. You have to!”
“I don’t go by the same rules as Kei. He hurt you, so he felt he has to fight you. I cut you, and it means nothing,” I said.
“I can’t stand you! I’ll never understand you!”
“I didn’t ask you to. Kei, can you finish this for me? If you can’t, I’ll help you. And I’ve got your back, so don’t worry.”
	Kei looked at me worriedly. “Boss, are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“But”
“I’m fine, Kei. Are you going to finish Penelope off, or shall I?”
“I can do it,” Kei said, avoiding my eyes. I’ve said before that they craved praise. All of them. And they all hated it when I had to use a little attitude against them. It made them kind of sad and quiet.
	Now I felt bad. “I’m sorry, Kei. Whatever happens, I’m proud of you and I’ll never forget that you saved me today,” I said.
Kei’s smile returned, and he blocked a head-on attack from Penelope. For someone so unpracticed at sword fighting, Kei was pretty good at it. 
	Kei cut Penelope up good. It only took him ten minutes to get her to fall. I still felt bad for her, even though she’d pissed me off pretty bad. Kei stood over Penelope, his brown eyes troubled. “Do you have anymore speeches to make?”
“How can you be so good at fighting? This is your first time wielding a sword, and my hundredth. Why did you dodge me so well, how did you slice me so many times?” Penelope asked.	
	Penelope had been cut multiple times on her torso, her arms, and the backs of her legs. I was surprised that she’d stayed standing as long as she had. But her questions were good ones. Ones that I had intended to ask myself. It was useful that she’d gone ahead and asked for me.
	“I can cut you because I’ve been trained since I was a little boy. Just because I don’t use a sword doesn’t mean I don’t know how. I have no idea who my god parent is. Up until recently, the only reason I stayed with the Company was to see if I could use their computers to find out who my parent is. But now I stay because I know that I needed to meet the Boss. You don’t have a real reason to fight. If you hate what they’ve put you through so much, why did you stay? Why did you fight the Boss at all? If you hated your destiny, you could’ve changed it at any time. But you stuck with it like an idiot. And I’m not going to let you kill the closest thing I’ve ever had to a mother.”
	Geez, why did everyone keep calling me a mother? Sia was the soon to be mother in our family, not me. “I couldn’t change my destiny. I’m going to kill Ambrosine Devanney. If I can’t crush her soul the way I planned, I’ll stomp her heart into the ground,” Penelope said weakly.
	“And how are you planning on doing that?” Nova asked.
“Yeah. If you think that just beating Kei is all you’d have to do, you’re sadly mistaken. There’s still us,” Shania said.
“I’m glad I’m so important to you guys,” Kei said dryly.
“I don’t even have to speak aloud.”
	I realized what she was going to do. Hey, who’s guarding the kid?
I heard her mental voice loud and clear in my head as she contacted some unknown person. I picked up my sword, wondering if she’d really do it.
I’m here. Why?
I’ve failed. Kill him.
Understood.
	Penelope waited for five minutes, while I stood, frozen. It’s done, Lady Penelope.
Good.
Chapter Twelve


	I sank to my knees. Never had I known that such despair even existed. Nova, Shania, and Kei kept their distance, standing over Penelope. Kei placed his sword on the back of her neck. “How?” she whispered. “How can you kill me?”
“Because. I’m an assassin,” Kei said, killing her in one more final move.
	“Boss?” Nova said softly.
Hey, Ambrosine?
	Nova and Amaia were the ones closest to me. Abril got up from where she’d been sitting as Luka healed her. Luka and Zephyr looked at me blankly. Abril put an arm around me. A brave act. “Icy. Hey, what’s the matter?” she asked gently. I couldn’t even choke out an explanation. 
“Abril, would you do me a favor?” I whispered.
“What?”
	I handed her my sword. “Take that, and run it through my heart please.”
“Huh? No! Why would you tell me to do something like that?”
“If you won’t, then I will,” I said, snatching it back and knocking her away. None of them came near me. I held the sword at an angle in front of my heart and closed my eyes. Luka and Zephyr didn’t know what I was doing. I could’ve been doing a ritual, for all they knew. Abril was sitting on her butt, staring in disbelief. There were tears in her eyes.
“Don’t do it, Icy. Please. Who will protect us now?”
“Someone else.”
	The moment the blade came in contact with my skin, it stopped. I opened my eyes to see a hand. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“Karsten. Move.”
“You cannot die now. He’s not dead yet. If you were thinking, you’d know that the voice Penelope heard was mine. She was too weak for anyone to hear her that wasn’t as close as we are. But if you killed yourself like an idiot, then what?”	
	Sine, what’s the matter? Why are your thoughts so scrambled and upset? Did something happen? Alex asked.
No. Nothing happened.
Well, it sure seemed like it.
No.
	Hearing Alex’s voice, even in my head, was such a huge relief. Just don’t scare me like that, okay? I thought something was really wrong.
I love you, Alex. You know that, right?
I could tell I surprised him. Expressing romantic emotions wasn’t really my forte. I could say I love you a billion times, but it never really held any meaning. The way I said it to Alex had a whole new amount of meaning behind it.
	You’re lying! Something did happen. Why are you keep secrets? Alex whined. 
I thought you were dead.
Why did you think that? Were you injected with some kind of drug? 
Kei and Shania killed Penelope, and I thought someone received her order to kill you. 
Kei killed Penelope? 
Yeah.
As in, with a weapon?
You’re going to offend him. I really love you, Alex.
	His voice from then on was exasperated. Sine, I’m not dead. You know I’m not dead, because I’m speaking to you. I’m aware that you love me, and you know I love you too. I always have, and I always will. But if you’re going to keep up your mission to rescue me, you can’t be all hung up on events that didn’t happen. Okay?
Okay.
I promise, I’m all right. Don’t worry.
	Abril hugged me tightly until the sword completely dropped from my hand. I’d given her a good scare. “I’m really sorry Abril.”
“You should be, you idiot!” she sobbed.
“I said I was!”
“I’m telling Alex what you were going to do.”
“Don’t! He’ll freak out!”
	Abril smirked. Karsten was mad at me. He led the way back to the car, holding the kid’s hand. The kid was clearly exhausted. Karsten held him in his lap in the car. Abril was apparently acting as my supervisor now. I called Sia in the car, using Zephyr’s phone. “Hello?” she answered tiredly.
“Pregnancy makes you even lazier, huh?” I teased.
“Of course it does.”
“How’re you feeling today?”
	She yawned in response. “I’m thinking of having labor induced,” she said a moment later. 
“I think it’s still too early for you to induce labor, Sia. You’re only like, two months into it.”
“No, Mama told me that we have so much power in us, if we carried a child for as long as humans do, it’d be destroyed. I only have about three more months. Which yes, is still a little while. But you know. It’s tiring, having someone else inside you,” she said. 
	Sia only had three more months left? That wasn’t very long at all. “I’m glad you thought to tell me that. Did you tell Dexter?”
“He’s rocking in the corner as we speak.”
“Huh. I wonder how he’ll be once it’s finally born.”
“He better shape up! I’m not going to be the only one raising this kid,” Sia snapped. I thought I heard Dexter whimper in the background.
	“Sia, do you think Zakary and friends know about the baby?” I asked.
“I dunno.”
“Don’t you think it’d be pretty bad if they found out about it?” 
“Probably.”
“You don’t seem very concerned.”
	My sister was going to be some parent if she didn’t worry about her child even before it was born. “I don’t have a reason to be. Sure, they’re going to want it once it’s born, someone always wants the baby in a situation like ours. Bottom line is, we’re not going to let them have it. Don’t worry about things that haven’t even happened, Sister,” Sia said.
“You’re right.”
“So, are you guys making progress with your rescue efforts?”
“Not really.”
	Sia yawned once more. “Do you want to go to sleep, Sia?” I asked.
“That’d be lovely, thank you.”
“I’ll talk to you later.”
“Oh, I forgot to tell you. You’re going to have to take part in a pretty fierce battle tonight. Be ready,” Sia laughed.
“How could you almost forget to tell me something like that?!”
“Bye, Sine!”
	The phone call ended. Zephyr was looking at me, though he really should’ve been paying attention to his driving. “No sleep for anyone tonight,” I said, handing Zephyr back his phone. Abril’s jaw dropped.
“Aw! Why not? I’m tired already, and the sun hasn’t even gone down yet,” she whined.
“It’ll go down in thirty minutes,” Karsten said.
“How do you know that? Why can’t we sleep, Icy? I’ll fight for my right to sleep, I’ll go nuts if I don’t soon.”
	I wasn’t really listening to Abril. I was looking at Karsten. He wouldn’t even look at me. I didn’t blame him, being disgusted with my behavior and all, but he was kinda hurting my feelings.
	“You’ll survive. We have to stay up and prepare for an ambush,” I said absentmindedly. Karsten still didn’t look at me. Abril huffed.
“Oh man. More fighting?”
“You didn’t have to come, you know,” Zephyr pointed out.
“Yes I did. Who else is gonna kick Alex’s ass for running off on his own when we find him?”
	I was sure Karsten had to be aware of my feelings. “I’m going to,” I said.
“Yeah, but you’d beat the crap out of any of us for running off. It’s got no real meaning unless I’m there to do it with you,” Abril said.
“I wouldn’t beat Clarice up for leaving.”
“Why?”
“Because, Clarice wouldn’t leave without a really good reason. Alex left in a spur of the moment thing, Rhett and Kylah are always off somewhere, but not even the gods know why you would leave.”
	I shut my eyes and faced the window to try to forget about Karsten. But it was bothering me. It bothered me so much that my hand itched for my sword. It didn’t take much to get me annoyed, but this was getting under my skin as much as conversing with Zakary did. Why am I sensing murderous intent toward Karsten from you? Alex asked, interrupting my bloody fantasy.
	No reason.
He’s ignoring you, isn’t he? I know how it gets to you when people like him do that. Still, it’s no reason to kill him. Don’t you agree?
Yes, he’s ignoring me, yes I agree that I have no reason to kill him. But I can’t help it. It bothers me to no end, I said. 
My hands were starting to shake.
	Chill out. Think calm thoughts.
I’ll work on it. Alex, what do you know about an attack on us tonight?
Nothing really, I haven’t heard any gossip. Rhett hasn’t been hanging around me lately either. But, I guess if you killed Penelope, Zakary’s probably gonna be pretty mad. I think they were romantically involved or something.
You’re right about that. Thanks for the help, Alex.
	There was a pause. Don’t go insane, all right? You’d be more than unstoppable if you did.
I’ll see what I can do to prevent that from happening, I thought dryly. I sensed immediately after that something about my answer bothered Alex. I couldn’t understand why or what, though. He could be very vague and mysterious sometimes. It was rare for him to act that way, fortunately for me.
	Look, whenever you have free time, ask Amaia about the risks of fusing souls with her. You shouldn’t take the going crazy thing so lightly. It’s very possible for everyone with power like yours to go insane. It’s definitely something to keep in mind, Alex thought. He made me so curious about things he knew, and how he knew them. 
	Yeah, okay, Alex. Sorry if I worried you with my reaction to craziness.
You’re annoying.
Wow, are you tired? That’s usual the only thing that can make you grouchy.
Well, you know, sleep is hard to come by when you’re dangling from a wall.
Okay, okay. If Rhett would just tell us where you are, I could get you off that wall. You should hypnotize him into telling.
I can’t do that, Sine.
	I sighed disappointedly. I was so tired of people saying no, or they couldn’t do it. I wished I could hypnotize people into giving me whatever I wanted. So then, you need more power, a little voice inside my head whispered. Something in me snapped. Like back when I’d been on vacation with Kylah and Luka. I’d broken down inside the room for seemingly no reason. This time, it was somewhat different. I didn’t burst into uncontrollable tears. I bent over, clutching my head.
	If you want to get stronger, you just need to absorb the powers of everyone you kill. You’ll be invincible then.
Abril touched my back lightly. “Hey. You okay?”
	I didn’t even hear her. The voice in my head was deafening now. It drowned out everything else. Which was probably a good thing. In my current state, if I’d been aware of Abril, I might’ve ripped her arm off or something. And if I did that, I wouldn’t be able to rest or live with myself until I found Abril a perfect new arm. ‘Course, Abril would more than likely kill me before I could locate a new limb for her.
	“But if I do that, I’ll be murdering without reason,” I whispered back to the voice.
Fool! You have a reason. You need to gain more power, so you can defeat all your enemies. Right?
“Well, yeah, but Alex told me to be careful with my power.”
Alex is only jealous. Anyone would and should be. After all, you are a new type of god all together. You alone are superior to everyone else.
“Not Luka.”
	I wondered where the voice in my head was coming from. It wasn’t Amaia’s voice. I wondered why it was in my head, and I wondered if Alex could hear it. Then we’ll kill and absorb Luka first.
“But he’s my friend.”
No, I’m your friend. You need power, and I’m helping you to acquire it. What has Luka ever done for you?
“Well, he’s brought me back from the brink of death a few times.”
	I was slowly but surely regaining my composure. Until the voice in my head let out an ear-splitting scream. I squeezed the sides of my head even harder. I hated noise. Noise and kids were probably my greatest weaknesses. Noise shook me to my core, and kids distracted me. I was reminded of the kid sleeping in the front of the car on Karsten’s lap. What would become of him once we dropped him off at the police station? The screaming ceased, and I let out my breath, but it only started up again. Until I snapped.
	You will kill all your friends and absorb them. If you don’t, I’ll scream, and you will die, the voice whispered once it finished its awful shrieking. 
“Okay, okay! I’ll do it!” I whimpered softly, shaking my head to try to stop the ringing in my ears. How I hated noise. Abril jerked me up by the back of my shirt and smacked me across the face with her free hand. My head spun, but I knew I wouldn’t be hearing the threatening little voice for a while. I wouldn’t be thinking at all for a little while. My brain must’ve bounced against the inside of my skull when she smacked me. 
	“Snap out of it, Icy! Your creepy muttering is freaking me out,” Abril said, grimacing. The permanent smile on her lips made it so that Abril almost never frowned. She was getting close now.
“Sorry.”
“You okay?” Zephyr asked.
“Yeah. Just a…moment of insanity,” I said truthfully.
	Karsten still didn’t speak to me. I remembered Alex’s lecture. I would just have to wait it out. Twenty minutes later, my patience was just about used up. “You’ve stopped sneaking glances at me,” Karsten said.
“Yeah,” I said, trying to be indifferent. But inside my head, I was back-flipping in glee. 
“Then I guess it’s time for me to forgive you for trying to kill yourself.” 
“I’m sorry, Karsten. I would’ve done the same thing if I thought any of you were dead,” I said, thinking of Rhett.
	He appeared next to me, smiling. “And there I thought you were actually gonna make it to my side. Guess not,” he joked. I was glad he wasn’t mad at me in the least. 
“Yeah well, one of them would’ve caught my soul and stuffed it right back into my body if I’d succeeded at stabbing myself. Doesn’t look like I’ll be standing on the same side as you anytime soon,” I said, smiling back at him. But at the same time, my statement made me kind of sad.
	“Hey, don’t worry about it, Sine. I’m all right, I promise.”
“In my opinion, you’re not completely all right until I’ve figured out a way to bring you back.”
“I could always use possession, but something tells me you wouldn’t like that too much. Right?”
“Right.”
	Zephyr pulled into the parking lot of the police station, and Karsten got out to carry the kid inside. Karsten was the only one of us without any blood on him. The lower part of my shirt had some, the back of Abril’s shirt had some, and Zephyr’s shoulder was still soaked. And of course, Rhett couldn’t be seen. If he carried the kid in there, the police would be alarmed.
	“What’s the matter with you, Sine? You look upset,” Rhett observed.
“I’m bored. I’ve been bored for a while now,” I said.
“No, you’ve been weird for a while now. I can’t say what it is exactly, but there’s something not right about you. Maybe there was something more to that dust that Penelope flicked in your face. Maybe it doesn’t just make you go to sleep. I could take a peek,” Rhett teased.
	I pushed him playfully. “You better not.”
“I’m kidding. You should ask Amaia if she thinks anything’s wrong though.”
“Why? How would she know? She just lives in my soul, right?”
“I dunno. Neria could sense it when Sia got pregnant. By the way, sorry for keeping that a secret from you,” Rhett laughed nervously.
	I remembered that he had done just that. Who was supposed to be the best friend? No offense to Sia, but when she told one of my family members a secret that she didn’t tell me, I expected fully for them to tell me. The fact that Rhett hadn’t annoyed me. “Yeah, I’ll deal with you later,” I grumbled.
	Abril was sitting with her arms crossed over her chest, looking out the window. But she was frowning. I wondered what her issue was. I wasn’t gonna ask. Not while Abril had a frown on her face. That usually wasn’t a good sign. 
	Hey, Amaia. You alive in there?
Not technically. What do you want?
Rhett told me to ask you if anything seems wrong with me from your point of view.
There’s a whole lot wrong with you from my point of view. And everyone else’s.
I’ll get you for that.
	Rhett heard what she said, and laughed. Because she spoke directly into my brain, it was easy for anyone to hear it as I did. 
I can’t tell if there’s something wrong with you, and I don’t know how you expected me to. 
Rhett told me you could.
Rhett lied. Neria could tell if Sia was pregnant. I’m sure she can’t tell anything else. If you were wondering, I’m not sharing my living space with any Alex babies.
	I turned bright red. Abril’s smile returned, and she lifted her eyebrows. Rhett laughed again. That’s not what I wanted to know! Alex and I don’t…
Yet.
You’re disgusting.
No, honest.
	Abril started giggling. “Well, we all know who to ask if we wanna know how yours and Alex’s relationship is going,” she said.
“Ew! You’re so gross. If Alex heard you, he’d go into one of his moods,” I said, turning away.
	I heard her, Alex thought quietly. I could tell from his mental tone that he had already gone into one of his moods, just like I’d said.
Sorry.
Gods, I’m so disturbed.
So, I guess future children are out of the question for us? I teased, trying to cheer him up a bit. Or at least make him laugh.
	Sine! Shut up, it’s worse coming from you!
You just had to say no.
That’s not what I meant! I mean, if you want them, sure, but we’ve only been together for a few weeks and I haven’t really considered our lives that far into the future
Alex, chill. It’s okay.
	I’d worked him up more than intended. Now he was never gonna calm down. At this rate, he’d still be freaking out about our questionable future children three years from now.
But, now I have to figure out if I do want kids or not.
You most certainly do not.
Yeah I do. I’m in my three hundreds, I should’ve had this figured out already.
You can always revert to the way you looked when you were fourteen or so. That way, you would look like there’s no way for you to be thinking about kids. You were pretty cute at that age.
	Though it didn’t look like it now, I was older than Alex by a…couple years. But I’d always been watching, not like a stalker, like a guardian. To make sure he didn’t kill anyone with his powers. At the time, I hadn’t known that our powers came from the gods. I only knew that it was unacceptable for one of my chosen ones to kill humans using their powers. I’ve always been cute. But I don’t know how to revert backwards, only you can do that.
That’s because I’m awesome.








Chapter Thirteen


	Karsten came back to an empty car. Abril, Zephyr, and I were talking to some godlings. Who just so happened to appear on the hood of the car and refused to leave until I spoke to them. I wasn’t even talking. Abril was. Zephyr was acting as my shield. Karsten walked over to join us. “What are you doing?” he asked. The godling girls talking to us whipped out their fan guides. I wanted to know what bastard was selling all these t-shirts and books. I wanted in on the profit.
	“Who’s he? He’s not in the handbook,” one of the girls said.
“Are they gods too?” Karsten asked.
“They belong to the class of godlings. Very annoying, and very hard to get rid of,” I said.
“Why are they talking to you?”
“They’re fans.”
	Zephyr tensed. I had my hands on his back, so I knew immediately. “What’s wrong?” I asked.
“We need to go. Get rid of your fans.”
“But, I tried, they”
	Zephyr cursed, turning and shielding me as the two of us fell to the ground. Karsten followed his lead, grabbing Abril. I heard an awful noise, and shut my eyes. One of the godlings was dead. I opened my eyes and saw another arrow, heading straight for the other godling. She was stunned at the death of her friend, whom I tried not to look at as I appeared in front of the living one and caught the arrow. I frowned. Whoever the archer was, they weren’t inclined to come out willingly.
	I snapped the arrow. “Who was it?” Karsten asked, sitting up after looking around.
“A coward.”
“They aren’t gonna show themselves? We should go after them, shouldn’t we?” Zephyr asked.
“No.”
	I took the godling by the arm and pulled her behind me. Another arrow soared from behind us. I switched our positions easily. The arrow hit me in the leg. Karsten whimpered. “Sine.”
“I’m fine,” I said, making no attempt to remove the arrow from my leg. I was going to show the archer how much it took to make us back down. I didn’t know who had sent him, but it was pretty easy to guess.
	The godling stared at the blood seeping through my jeans. “Are you okay?”
“You know very well that this is what I do. Take pictures or something, just stay quiet,” I ordered. 
	Another arrow. This one hit me in the shoulder. I frowned. It hurt more than the last one. “He’s changing the heads. You can’t take the next one, Sine!” Karsten yelled.
“Why?”
“It’s poisoned.”
“All right then,” I said, catching it just before it rammed into the middle of my forehead. I watched the black poison drip off the steel head. 
	“Now then, if they want to play dirty, I think it’s time to give these back. Amaia, do you mind taking over for just a second and doing your thing with the arrows?”
You sound like an idiot when you talk to me out loud.
“Just shut up and help me out.”
Whatever.
	Amaia took control, but this time my mind stayed alert. Amaia loosened her grip on the arrow and turned the head to face the air around us. She focused on the nearby clusters of trees and shut her eyes. It was weird, being conscious while we shared my body. I didn’t like it. It made me kinda uncomfortable. Amaia seemed to find what she was looking for, opening my eyes and raising her free hand. She snapped her fingers, and smiled. The arrows shot backwards out of my body and out of her hand, flipping in the air and soaring toward the smallest cluster of trees.
	I heard the scream. Amaia retreated. In the future, when you give me control, make sure there’s something fun for me to do.
You’re too picky.
Not listening, Amaia sang.
	I sighed. Karsten, Zephyr and Abril got up. The godling was quivering behind me. “Should I escort her back, Sister?” Zephyr asked.
“Yeah. We’ll stay here until you get back. Abril, would you mind calling Clarice and letting her know that they should keep their guard up back home? Oh, and once you finish doing that, knock a human out and steal me some suitable clothes.”
	Karsten was shocked. “I thought you and your family were the embodiment of goodness and stuff. And you’re giving Abril orders to rob someone for their clothes?”
“We’re mostly good. But I can’t go walking around covered in as much blood as I am now. It’ll scare the humans, and I don’t need them making a fuss over dried blood. If I scare the humans, I’ll have to erase some of their memories. Which isn’t good for humans. Therefore, it is better for Abril to simply knock someone out, steal their clothes, and leave money beneath them. Don’t you think?” I asked, shrugging out of my jacket. 
	Karsten looked away. “Geez, I’m sure glad none of you ever took my clothes while I was human,” he muttered.
“We could’ve. How would you know?”
“That’s not funny. I know you well enough now to tell when you’re joking and when you’re not. You’re joking.”
“Yeah. So, Karsten,” I said, leaning against the side of the car. With Abril and Zephyr gone, Karsten was feeling awkward. He was scared of me.
	“Yeah?”
“What about your father and your sister? Won’t they wonder where you are if you run off to spend an eternity with us?” 
“Not really. My father disowned me, and I’ve told you before that my sister wants nothing to do with me. You guys are my family now,” Karsten said, sounding as pitiful as he had when we’d first met him.
	“What’s your sister’s name?”
“Penelope,” he said in a small voice.
“Come again?”
“My sister was Penelope Martuna. Don’t worry about it.”
“Well, wait! What do you mean she was your sister? I had my assassins kill her right in front of you! And Abril met her before,” I argued, pretty much refusing to believe that Penelope had been Karsten’s sister we’d heard about.
	Karsten wasn’t pitiful. I was wrong about that. He had an incredible amount of strength. To deal with everything about his mother, and then to deal with us killing his sister only a few inches away from him without saying a word. And his father disowning him? That had to hurt him incredibly on an emotional level. “Doesn’t that mean you’re a god?” I asked.
“I was a demigod. Since I’ve been claimed by another man though, I don’t quite know what to call myself.”
“Why didn’t we see you as a god?”
	I was not processing this new information very well. Mostly because I still couldn’t believe it, no matter how much he shared with me. “You told Alex you could revert to the way you looked earlier in life. I just made myself look younger and told you that I was short for my age. Also, I dyed my hair and put in contacts. There wasn’t much I could do to my facial structure though.”
	Damn, this kid was smarter than I’d thought. Pretending not to be a god though, that was a low blow. I wouldn’t have had to tackle him so many times in the club room if he’d told us the truth from the start. “Perhaps it’s time you tell me exactly what’s going on with you, Karsten Laker,” I said, narrowing my eyes.
	He took a deep breath. “I am Karsten Laker. I’m twenty-eight years old, but I prefer to look as though I’m sixteen. My ‘sister’ Penelope Martuna, only has the same father as me. My father is someone that you were very misinformed about. I’m not going to tell you who he is, but Penelope and I were forbidden at birth to use our powers acquired from him. Penelope’s mother is Alectrona. It was mere coincidence that we ended up with the same caretakers. My step-father, and my real mother.
	“Penelope didn’t like living with caretakers. So she killed my mother. She never wanted anything to do with me because I was a half-blood. Scum, she said. Scum who never deserved to be seen by her. She killed my mother right in front of me, the same way you all just killed Penelope. I didn’t know that I was fighting her back there, but I’m sure glad that I got my chance to. When I met you, it was my chance at another family. A better one. Without my mom around, my step-dad immediately sent me off to school and severed all ties with me. I was depressed, you see. That’s why I made myself so small. I felt small. I felt as though I deserved to be small.
	“I don’t have any family, at all, except for my biological father. I doubt he would want anything to do with me either. I didn’t have a purpose in life. Penelope was gone, replaced with a clone she made. She stabbed Abril so that Abril wouldn’t tell you she’d seen her before. She knew I wouldn’t tell. Anyway, while I was lying in bed the night I met you, I thought about it.
	“You’re a deity to all your friends. You call it a family. It makes you the mother. I need someone I can look up to. I need someone to stand up for and protect. You’re their goddess. Please, can you be mine too?” Karsten asked, dropping to his knees. I looked down at him calmly.
	“Stand up, Karsten,” I ordered.
He obeyed, rising to his full height, where he towered over me. Now I was looking up at him. I didn’t like having people look up to me. I didn’t say a word to Karsten, just took two steps forward. I wrapped my arms around him and squeezed.
	“You don’t need to look up to anyone. You’re one of the strongest men I’ve ever met. I’ve already made you part of my family. Why would you want to look up to someone again? Why would you risk getting hurt all over again? You whimper my name every time I get hurt. There’s going to be a battle tonight, and I’m going to get hurt. The others look up to me for some reason, but I don’t want them to be entirely devoted. I want them to look out for themselves. Your sister said that their worry for themselves was a sign of betrayal towards me. I think that it’s another sign of trust.”
	Karsten’s arms came up around me slowly, his tears soaking through my shirt. “Ambrosine Devanney, I look up to you because you’re irresistible. You’re the perfect person for anyone to look up to. Everyone looks up to you. I’ll do whatever you want, but I need to protect you. I’m going to fight alongside you for as long as I live, and maybe I’ll be like Rhett and continue to stand by you even in death.”
Rhett appeared again. Hey, don’t mind me. I haven’t heard anything. But weren’t you asleep when Penelope said that thing about the others looking out for themselves? How could you know that?
	Rhett said that in my mind because he knew Karsten would hear it and ask the question. “Yeah, how did you?”
“I was awake.”
“You were awake, and you were just going to lay there and let her kill you?” 
“No. I could hear Kei deliberating on the best way to break down the wall. I knew I was in no real danger.”
	Karsten frowned, stepping back. He was so obviously a god. He had the lovely eyes, perfect skin, and silky hair. I just couldn’t believe I’d been so easily fooled by him. However, the fact that he was brilliant enough to be a student of Kei’s, and brilliant enough to fool Kei, was amazing in its own right. I shouldn’t have felt so embarrassed about being tricked by him. 
	Abril reappeared. I yawned, my conversation with Karsten momentarily paused. I took the clothes from Abril. “Karsten, turn around,” I said.
He blushed. “You’re going to change out here in the open?”
“I don’t think anyone’s gonna see me.”
	I gestured to the deserted police station and empty road. Karsten turned and hung his head while I changed. Abril had found me another pair of black skinny jeans, to my delight. I could’ve done without the white shirt, but oh well. I put my jacket back on and made sure I looked good in the window reflection. Zephyr appeared not long after. Karsten went back to his normal skin color as we got back into the car. Rhett was still hanging around, laying across Abril’s and my lap. I doubted that she even knew. 


	Sia drummed her fingers on her desk. Dexter was laying on the bed, his head buried under a mass of pillows. Her desk was all the way across the room. “I really don’t see what brings about these fits of yours. I swear, I’m going to burn you one day.”
“I’m a horrible man. I don’t deserve to have a child with you, my lady,” Dexter sobbed.
“Got that right,” Sia muttered.
“I’m trash. I had no right making love to someone like you.”
“I know you didn’t.”
	Sia switched positions, placing her elbow on the desk and dropping her chin into her hand. “I’m just going to replace myself. Run away and live under a rock.”
“Okay.”
“I don’t know what I’ll do when it’s born. I’ll run around in helpless circles. You’ll have Lady Sine at your side anyway, you don’t need my help.”
“I don’t.”
	Sia continued giving simple answers to his statements until he quieted. She got up and went to sit beside him. She took his hand in hers and waited for Dexter to respond. He sat up. “My lady, do you have any thoughts on our future with this child?” Dexter asked.
“I think that I’ve told you what I’m naming our child, so I would like for you to say the name when you refer to it. You are thinking of marriage, and we have no time for a wedding, Dexter. Oh, and stop calling me ‘my lady’. You can’t call me that around your child. You’ll confuse her.”
	Dexter’s eyes widened. “You’ve been told that it’s a girl?”
“No. Mother’s intuition.”
“You can’t have mother’s intuition yet, as you are not officially a mother, my lady,” Dexter pointed out. Sia gave him the death glare.
“What did I just tell you?”
	Dexter put his best innocent face on. “I’m sorry! But I’ve never called you anything else in my entire life, it’s second nature,” he said.
“Yes. But you can’t say, ‘I love you, my lady’. You can’t say, ‘What a beautiful baby, my lady’. You can’t say, ‘Will you marry me, my lady?’. You can’t! It’s better for you to get out of the habit now,” Sia said, getting upset.
	Dexter hugged her. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you cry.”
“It’s not your fault. It’s this damn pregnancy.”
“Do you want to talk to Lady Sine?”
“We can’t call her. Nova said she destroyed her phone when we spoke to her in the hotel room before the massacre there. We could call Abril’s phone, I suppose, but it depends on where they decide to camp out.”
	Sia stole one of Dexter’s pillows and wrapped it around her head. Dexter kept a hand on her back while he dialed Abril’s number on Sia’s cellphone. “Hey, Luka!” Sia yelled at the top of her lungs. Luka showed up in the doorway.
“Yeah?”
“Can you make me feel better? Please?”
“Sia, I can’t do much more. If I try, I might accidentally cause you to have the baby right here in the floor. And then, I would have to die after witnessing such a thing,” Luka said, wincing at the thought alone.
	“She didn’t answer. I assure you, Lord Luka, if you ever saw that much of Lady Sia, you would be dead in seconds,” Dexter promised, flashing a rare smile. Luka cowered. Sia growled, and Dexter realized his mistake. He dropped to his knees and held her hand.
“I’m sorry. Please forgive me.”
“Dexter.”
	He looked up at Sia, and she giggled the way she’d always used to. Dexter brightened, though it was only for a moment. Sia went from giggly to murderous without even blinking. Smoke rose from their joined hands, and Dexter tried very hard not to cry. “What is my name, Dexter?”
“Alessia Diana Corbett,” he whispered. Corbett being the last name of Sia’s awful caretakers. But it was her name. She’d asked Dexter to say it. Still, he was terrified that he might have angered her by using it.
	“That’s right. I’d kind of forgotten that I have a last name too. Now, you may pick out of those names what to call me. You can call me Alessia, Sia, Diana, Corbett, any of those. But, you may not add ‘miss’ or ‘lady’. Just a simple name. After all, I’m not really your superior. Your mother is Athena and your father is Ares. I’m not of any higher status than you. Why do you insist on treating me like a queen?”
	Dexter let go of her hand and watched the burns she’d left fade. Sia’s eyes never left his face. He was well aware that she would wait forever for an answer. Luka started healing Sia as best he could, ignoring the couple completely. Dexter could hear him wishing to be anywhere else. If he couldn’t even tell he was projecting his thoughts, he was so out of it that he might as well have not been there at all.
	“I treat you that way because that’s how I think of you. I also think of you as being someone far out of my reach. Which is why I’m so worried about our child. What if you realize you’re too good for me after it’s born? Will I ever see either of you again? Or will you just pack up and leave? And what about arranged marriages? Gods do that all the time. I just…don’t want to let myself see you as an equal.”
	Sia was surprised at his answer. He’d obviously spent some time freaking out about this. How had she not sensed that something really was deeply bothering Dexter? Sia sent Luka away and started to go to him. She was interrupted by a glimpse into the future. Dexter steadied her and waited for her vision to end. When it did, Sia looked shaken. She was pale, and she was shivering. Dexter saw goose bumps break out on her skin. He squeezed her forearm a bit.
	“Are you okay”
Sia clapped a hand over his mouth. She looked up at him with eyes that were half scared, half threatening. “What were you going to call me?” she asked. Dexter shifted Sia into one arm, and used his newly freed hand to remove hers. Her eyes held his, making sure he knew that there was no escape.
“Are you okay, Sia?” he said, hesitating before he spoke the name.
	Sia smiled and giggled. “I’m fine. Gods, it’s like meeting you for the first time.” 
She said it smiling, but she slowly transformed back to solemn. 
“What’s the matter?”
“I was just thinking. I haven’t laughed in a long time.”
“Well, that’s still better than Lady Sine. She hasn’t laughed, ever. It’s like she doesn’t know how,” Dexter said, trying to bring back the giggles.
	Instead, he got a kick to the crotch as soon as the two of them stood. Dexter crumpled, falling back into the floor. Sia put a hand on her bulging stomach. “Sine doesn’t have time to laugh. She’s always fighting for us. I hope Abril’s made her laugh at least once in the time they’ve been gone. I was happy to hear she was going too. I hope they come home soon, though.
	“Oh, I’m sorry. Did I kick you too hard?” Sia asked, finally noticing that Dexter was still writhing in pain on the floor. Sia smiled sweetly at him, imagining how their baby was going to look. Hopefully, it wouldn’t arrive into the world with the same face of twisted pain Dexter was wearing then. She should have Dexter’s eyes, and Sia’s hair. At least, that was the way the child appeared in Sia’s mind. The name she’d chosen for her sure to be daughter was just perfect. Sia couldn’t wait to share the name with everyone. She was already in love with her unborn child.
	Dexter groaned again. “I only hope you’re satisfied with one child from me,” he gasped.
“Hm…no. I want seven more!” Sia laughed. 
Dexter groaned and rolled onto his side. “You’ll be the death of me, Sia.”
“And don’t you forget it.”
	Sia helped Dexter stand up. He frowned. “You shouldn’t be lifting anything.”
“I lifted you. Dexter, I’m a goddess. I’m not a weakling human who can’t do anything but sleep while she’s pregnant. Fact is, I loathe that everyone is trying to protect me all the time. I know how to fight. Nothing’s changed about me other than my body shape, and even that will be back to normal soon. I’m the heir of Hades. I don’t need your protection, or anyone else’s.”
	Dexter and Sia looked at each other for a long time. “If that’s what you want.”
“Huh?”
“My job is to protect you. If I don’t do that, I’ll have to leave,” Dexter said sadly.
“Don’t! You can’t.”
“I’m kidding.”
	Sia smacked his chest. “You’re evil!”
“No. Deceiving.”
“Whatever. You’ll regret it later.”
	Dexter averted his eyes. “Sia, what did you see in the future?” he asked.
She fidgeted. “Nothing. I’ll tell you about it later.”
“Was it bad?”
“Yeah. It was bad,” she whispered.





Chapter Fourteen


	It was five. The sun was sinking. Karsten, Abril, Zephyr, and Sine were camped out in a small forest Sine had chosen. Now she was asleep inside their brand new tent. As was Zephyr. Leaving Karsten on guard duty, and Abril modeling wigs in front of him. She was currently sporting an orange bob. “Karsten, you look so distant. Don’t you like this one?” Abril asked.
“No, it looks good. Can I ask you something personal?”
	Abril sat down next to him and took the wig off. Her real hair was its natural color. Sleek black, secured into a long high ponytail. It had gotten that way as the result of Luka’s healing. It cured the damage to her hair caused by the dye, making it go back to the way it was supposed to look. Her hair was a lot like Sine’s when it was like this, Karsten noticed absently.
	“Sure. Personal questions are my favorite kind.”
Karsten took a deep breath. If Abril loved personal questions, he was going to assume that she would give a very good answer. Unless she only liked asking personal questions. But she hadn’t said that. Or implied it.
“What do you think of Sine?” he asked quietly.
	He took her by surprise. He saw it in her eyes before she laughed. The laugh was different from her usual one. She was remembering something dark, something that pained her or something like that. “She saved my life. She saved all our lives. We all think the world of her,” Abril said hesitantly. Karsten’s olive colored eyes studied her. Abril stared down at the wig intently. She hated it when people tried to understand her past. Her struggle. 
	“You’re hilarious and you make up most of the personality of the family. But you’re bothered by your past. What’s your story?” Karsten asked.
“Why should you care?” Abril snapped, her defenses from two hundred years ago returning. “Because. I’ve been through a lot in my life too. You don’t have to be so defensive. I just wanted to know about your past. You don’t have to tell me. But I would like to know your personal opinion of Sine. Not everyone’s. Yours.”
	Abril cut her eyes at him. “You’re pushier than our last gay,” she teased.
“Yeah. Probably so. I intend to find out all your stories. Every family member. Even Rhett, if he ever mental messages me. It seems he’s shy.”
“He’s a little shy. But he’s always floating around the world. The way our friend Kylah travels. Although, I doubt Rhett’s following Kylah’s wine tasting agenda.
	“Why do you want to know our stories, Karsten? Are you a spy or something?”
“I want to know, to find out how bad my whole story sounds in comparison. I’m not anyone’s spy.” 
	Abril’s eyes were still guarded, but she wasn’t as threatened looking as she had been originally. Karsten had noticed the alarm in her face when asked about herself. He got the sense that most people didn’t dare ask Abril about herself. She was kind of intimidating when she wasn’t acting foolish. It took a lot to intimidate Karsten now, though. After his life of hardships and whatnot.
	“My past is not one that I’m fond of telling people about. If you know what I mean.”
“What? Filled with inner struggles, conflicting feelings, things of that nature?”
“No,” Abril said sharply.
Karsten held his hands up innocently.
	Abril relaxed again. She was more sensitive than she let on. “When I was six, I got into my first fight. I felt the need to fight. I felt that fighting was the only way I was ever going to be able to interact. I didn’t see anything wrong with it, as I’d never done anything else. My mother was an idiot. I didn’t like her, and I still don’t. The only reason I ever go is because Icy thinks it’s good to keep ties with her. I’d be pleased if she and everyone else who ever bothered me dropped dead. I know that probably makes you hate me a bit, but that’s just my personal view on them.
	“Anyway, I spent my entire life fighting. I got into fights whenever I was just out in London. At the academies. Outside my flat. Behind and inside of early restaurants. I slapped my mother once. I used to be quite the violent person, Karsten. I wasn’t suicidal, like Alex, and I wasn’t willing to spend my life in solitude, like Rhett. I don’t know how Clarice would’ve dealt with things on her own, she’s never told anyone. But she probably wouldn’t be very happy.
	“The night I met Icy and Kylah was July 16th, 1743. I was in a pub, a popular one. Of course, I went there looking for a fight. Back when my hair was horribly ugly and boring. I stood around and waited for a good opponent to fight. Boys offered to buy me drinks all the time. In the dark lighting, they probably couldn’t tell I was black. Most guys didn’t like me for that. It was why my mum was an outcast too. Pretty much all I had to do to pick a fight in a pub was look at someone wrong and say the word wanker or tosser. It was fairly easy for me.
	“So, I found myself a burly looking guy and spit a few names at him. I knew by then that I wasn’t normal. None of us knew until about ten years ago that our powers came from gods. Not even our genius Clarice could figure it out. Ever since, Alex is the one who figures stuff out about our other abilities and stuff. We all have a label in the family. Mine would be the fighter/clown. I’ll explain more later though, since that’s not what you asked me. 
	“I was on the verge of winning my fight when the door opened. The breeze from outside felt good, and like I said, I was almost finished with my current fight. Naturally, I turned to see who it was. I was kinda surprised that there were two girls standing there. I wanted to kill them immediately. They were beauty queens, the kind of girls that I despised. Even though I looked a bit like one myself. I loathed the look of confidence in Icy’s eyes. That was the first thing I noticed when I looked at her, and it still is. It bugs me to this day. All this damn confidence she has. It pisses me off.
	“But that’s the thing about our leader. She pisses us all off in different ways. If it weren’t for her eyes, I would’ve kept trying to kill her forever. In some ways, I hate Icy. I love her more than I hate her, but still. It’s just jealously on my part. Icy walked into the bar like she was looking for me.
	“I thought she must’ve been there to meet a boy. Instead, when she spotted me, she smiled. And pissed me off more than I already was. It’s also in that smile of hers. I want to kill her again every time I see the smile and the eyes together. I was surprised at how easily she leaned down and whispered to me. Most people tried to keep their distance from me. Like I was a monster. Except stupid men. They can’t leave well enough alone, and they’ve never been able to. Icy said, ‘We are like you. If you come with us, we can help you. What do you say?’. All I could do was stare at her.
	“She had such an accent back then, but you’d never know she wasn’t American now. I don’t know why I still have mine and she doesn’t. I guess British accents are just so sexy that they don’t even waste away with time. My first reflex was to swing at Icy. She dodged me so easily, I was in shock. She stood face to face with me, we’ve always been the same height. I tried to hit her again, and she caught that fist. It was the first time I ever saw her frown. Once the smile was gone, some of my killer instincts lessened. It didn’t matter by then. I had made my choice. I was going to kill her.
	“Icy threw me down when I tried to jerk away. Kylah looked really hesitant and unhappy to be there. I’d never seen any girl in London wear anything other than one of those huge, frilly, ugly dresses. But neither one of them wore them. I’d never seen anything like them. They were different, special. Like I was. Kylah was fidgeting the whole time. She bent down and said to Icy, ‘We should go home now. If she does not wish to come with us, we cannot make her. There is no point in beating her into submission. Please do not make a scene in front of so many humans’.
	“With her use of the word human, I became so confused that I forgot about wanting to fight Icy. She straightened up. I freaked out when I thought she was just going to leave after she’d picked a fight with me. She just looked at me. ‘Do you want to come, then?’ she asked. I couldn’t refuse an offer that gave me imminent chances to kill her. However, the more I got to know her, there was too much of Icy to love for me to kill her. 
	“My opinion of her? Icy is annoying, manipulative, mean, and hateful. But she’s also kind, loving, and protective. If she weren’t around, I would’ve become the type of person she lives to kill now. But one day, I’m going to kill Icy,” Abril said, winking.
A yawn came from inside the tent. 
	“Keep dreaming. Like you could ever kill me,” Sine said sleepily.
“I will. You know that’s my deepest desire.”
“Good luck.”
“I appreciate your support,” Abril laughed.
“You have my support for as long as you live.”
“Or as long as you do.”


	From the worried look on his face, I was guessing that Karsten thought I hadn’t known about Abril’s wish to kill me. I did, and it didn’t bother me at all. It really wouldn’t  bother me if when my time came, one of my own killed me. I believed in my own weird way that for one of them to kill me was the best way for me to go. I brushed off Abril’s threats and ran my fingers through her hair.
	“I wish you’d leave your hair like this,” I said thoughtfully.
“No way in hell.”
“Oh well. Looks like the battle hasn’t started yet.”
“Luckily, no. If it had, Abril and I would probably be dead by now. Should we wake Zephyr up?” Karsten asked.
	I glanced back at the tent. “I wouldn’t try it. He might kill you if you do. Or at least, give you his best glare. It’s quite frightening,” I warned, but Karsten was already crawling into the tent. Abril and I stuck our heads in. Karsten took Zephyr by the shoulder and shook him gently. It was enough to wake my brother, though. Zephyr rolled over very slowly, revealing his face bit by bit until we could see half of it. There was a small frown on his face, and his multicolored eyes were absolutely murderous. 
	Karsten fell onto his backside, and Zephyr reburied himself under blankets. It was cold in the Russian wilderness. I wanted to go back to sleep more than anything. “What is it with these Artemis and Hermes children? They’re so violent when they’re tired,” Karsten mumbled, traumatized. Abril stretched and pulled Karsten away from Zephyr.
“I’m a Hermes, so it’s not his genes. They’re moon gods. They thrive in the night, not during the day. That’s why they try to sleep all throughout the day and only get up when it’s nighttime,” she explained.
	I wondered if before Zephyr had been claimed by my mother, had he slept this way? Sia and I always had. Especially Sia. If I woke her up, I got the same glare I got from Zephyr. If someone woke me up, that earned them a fist to the face, and progressing levels of pain the more they tried to wake me up. It’s not a wise decision to make. Abril was awake whenever you needed her to be, no complaints. She was weird.
	The three of us sat there for a while with nothing to do. I huffed and stood up after twenty minutes of boredom. “Abril, you want to fight?” I asked.
“Fists or weapons?” she asked automatically.
“Whichever. Use your sword when you need it. You can start with your fists.”
“Good, we all know you’re a wimp. You’re terrible at using your fists to fight. Hey, promise you won’t let Amaia have control during the fight. I only cut Neria once when she took over Sia’s body. She dodges like she’s doing a dance, it kind of annoyed me.”
	She wouldn’t be able to handle a fight with me, anyway.
You’d be surprised.
What? You think she’s actually a good opponent?
Yeah, I do. Abril has loads of fighting experience. And she’s right, I’m pathetic when it comes to physical strength. If she’s starting with her fists, I can only dodge. I got lucky the time I threw her down in the pub.
I’m ashamed to have chosen you for a host.
Shut up.
	Abril and I walked into the middle of our little campsite. My sword was on my hip. I wouldn’t draw mine until she drew hers. The only unfair thing about our fight was my extra powers. Hermes didn’t appear to pass any special powers onto his kids, except sarcastic personalities and an uncanny ability to make anybody believe any lie. Whenever we finally rescued Alex, I’d get him to do some research on that.
	Abril faced me and grinned. “It’s been a long time since we fought. You sure you want to?” she asked.
“Please. There’s nothing else to do, and there’s no way you’re going to beat me. Karsten’s just lucky I didn’t ask him.”
“Yeah,” Abril laughed, “He’s got no idea what it’s like to actually go against you. The feeling of anxiety I get when I looked at your sword. Or just at you when you’re getting ready to battle. It’s scary. I like it.”
	I shook my head. “You’re a freak.”
“Aren’t we all?”
“Yeah, but you’re just creepy.”
	Abril and I stood in silence. She lunged for me. I leaned back a bit to dodge her first punch. She disappeared, showing up behind me. I hated doing back-flips. It made my whole torso hurt and the whole movement was just a strain. But I had no choice. I had to live up to all my bragging. Abril used to be lethal with fists that she thought were human. Now, she knew all kinds of tricks. I knew her fighting style well enough.
	Abril spun around, trying to kick me in the ribs. I knocked her hand away, but not without taking some damage. She broke two of my fingers, my right pinky and ring finger. I hid that hand behind my back until it healed. Abril was still coming. She was as ruthless as Shania. A true danger to humanity. 
	“Come on, Abril. If you want to kill me, you can’t do it like that,” I said, appearing in front of her, pinching her cheek, and then springing back several feet. I was a million light-years faster than Abril. I was faster than most gods, and faster than all demigods. Abril grinned.
	“Shut up. I’m enjoying my fight. I haven’t been in a fight since the pub. Even back then, there was no one who could actually fight back. This is what I always wanted out of fighting,” she said harshly. I frowned. Something wasn’t right about her. It was almost like she was forgetting who she was. During my next few dodges, I tried to keep my eyes on her face. Her fists were coming too fast for me to look at her for very long. So I stopped both of them.
	Abril thrashed, trying to free her fists from me. “Abril. You need to calm down.”
“What are you talking about? I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not. Just stand still and breathe. We can’t fight if you can’t handle it. This is why you needed to stop back then. Chill,” I ordered.
“I told you, I’m fine.”
“And I told you that you’re not. Damn, we could really use our good influence about now.”
	Karsten was debating in his head whether or not to come help me out. I needed Alex. He could calm anyone down so easily. Thinking of me? his voice interjected.
Yeah, but you were thinking of me too. As you were inside my head.
I didn’t deny that.
I know. Would you like to help me out, because you’re the most awesome kid in the world?
	Alex scoffed. I didn’t know how he could do that in his head, but apparently he could. Sure. Who’s the problem?
Abril.
What’d you do to make her worked up? I don’t know how much of an effect I’ll have on her. I can’t do much for her just talking. It’d be different if it was anyone else. But Abril’s crazy.
	Abril was still squirming around, but I had a good grip on her fists. There was no way she was going anywhere. I didn’t reply to Alex. My way of telling him that I was already busy trying to get her to calm down, and I needed his help no matter what he said about Abril. I could hear him project his voice. Abril, what’s wrong with you? Tell me what you’re feeling.
	Abril struggled against me as she answered. I want to fight. I want to fight Icy, but she says something’s wrong with me. 
Why do you want to fight Sine?
Her eyes.
Don’t look at her eyes. Think about other things. Things that you enjoy.
	Abril shut her eyes, calming a bit. While she did that, I tried to figure out how to take the confidence out of my eyes. It wasn’t my fault. It was just always there. Alex. Tell me things I enjoy.
“You enjoy Alex,” I said tensely. I didn’t want Abril thinking it was okay to think romantically about him. It wasn’t. This was a one time offer, and if she ever did it again, I’d kill her for real. Alex heard my suggestion to think about him. I could tell he wanted to yell at me, but if he did that, Abril would only get worked up again.
	In a strained mental voice, Alex continued his calming process. Abril, what are you thinking about? Are you calming down?
A little. I’m trying to think of things I enjoy.
Try thinking about me, like Sine said, Alex said reluctantly.
What about you?
“Well, you do have a thing for his abs.”
And my butt, Alex muttered mentally.
	Abril’s thoughts about Alex got so bad, I thought I was gonna have to do something. Knock her out. I’d prefer to knock her out over listening to her think this way about Alex. Alex had stopped listening himself. Gods, I’m so disturbed, he said only to me.
You’re not the only one.
Is she calm yet?
I dunno.
	Karsten came up behind Abril. He pointed at her and mouthed, “Is she okay?”
“She’ll be fine. Abril, are you feeling better now? You all right?”
She didn’t answer, and that worried me for a second. She jerked her fists out of my hands. I’d unknowingly loosened my hold on her. I took a step backwards, and motioned for Karsten to do the same.
	Abril opened her eyes to show me their odd birch coloring. She smiled. “I’m okay now. Thank you, Icy.” 
Thank you, Alex, she added.
No problem. But I’d like a favor in return.
What?
Never ever, ever in your life can you think those thoughts about me ever again. That was gross. I only have one tattoo, and even if I got more, they wouldn’t be in the places you imagine them. I’m a person, not a doodle pad.
	I laughed. I was going to hug Abril, but something stopped me. The voice in my head wasn’t Alex’s, and it wasn’t Amaia’s. Crap. The screaming started shortly after. I sank to my knees. Karsten ran to my side, trying to help me stand. “Go away!” I screamed while I was still capable of sensible speech. Abril was concerned too, but she knew to stay away when something was bothering me. Headaches were my undoing. I curled into the fetal position, holding my head.
	The screaming went on for a long time. I thought it would never stop. If it hadn’t stopped when it did, I would’ve been begging Abril to kill me again. Karsten tried to come closer again. I couldn’t tell him to stay away, I was counting on Abril. My mind was too jumbled for me to mental message her, though. I would have to rely on her instincts, if she would listen to them.


	Abril watched Sine writhe on the ground, frowning. Karsten was inching forward. Abril’s hand came down on his shoulder, pulling him back to her side sharply. “It was that dust of Penelope’s. I know it was,” Abril said.
“I know. I just didn’t want to think it was true.”
“Huh?”
	Karsten’s eyes were tortured, conflicted. “Penelope and I are half siblings. We share a father. However, like I told Sine, we were forbidden to ever use his powers in our lifetime. Our father is a god of madness. And Sine is going mad,” he said sadly.
“Why didn’t you tell anyone?! Crap, now I’ve got to call Clarice and see if there’s anything she can do. Gods, I’m so tired of things like this. Get out of my sight before I rip your head off. Go wake Zephyr up,” Abril said, going to Sine’s side.
	Sine tried to push Abril away, but she was weak now. “Icy, it’s okay. You’re gonna be okay. I’m here for you.”
Sine whimpered in response. A branch broke behind them, and Abril turned. Zakary stood there, with his army behind him.
	Abril stood up, her back to Sine. “You had to show up now?”
“Of course. Without Sine, you barely stand a chance,” Zakary responded.
“When you’re dead, I’m going to paint your corpse different colors. I’ll kill you, Zakary.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t see that happening. If your leader can’t, neither can you. Besides, I brought someone for you to fight. As well as someone for Karsten, and even one for Zephyr. I’m very considerate when it comes to battling.”
	Zakary started at something behind Abril. She turned to see if help had come, or something like that. But Sine had lifted her head. To show neon red eyes and a bloodthirsty smile. That wasn’t Sine, it wasn’t Amaia, and it wasn’t a mixture of the two of their souls. Abril could only stare in fear the way Zakary was. 
	Sine stopped smiling. She rose to her feet and drew her sword. With a maniacal laugh, she charged at Zakary.





Chapter Fifteen


	Sia and Dexter were completely relaxed. Sia was exhausted, laying across Dexter’s lap, on the verge of sleep. Clarice entered the room, her eyes glued to her book. “Something on your mind, Clarice?” Sia asked.
“I’m cut off from Sine again. It’s probably nothing, but I’ve got a bad feeling. Tell me, Sia, have you seen anything in the future lately?” Clarice asked, lifting her eyes from the pages of her book. 
	Clarice’s unwavering pale blue eyes unnerved Sia. “Uh, yeah. I guess.”
“You guess?”
“I did. I saw something earlier today. And it would explain your bad feeling.”
“It’s very important that you told me what you saw. Kei!” Clarice called. He appeared in front of her.
	“You need something, Claire?”
“Can you track Sine?”
“I can. You want me to figure out where she currently is?” Kei clarified.
“Yes. We’re going to be joining her shortly, as I feel that Sine is not in any condition to be fighting. If you have time, I would also like for you to find out more about Penelope’s father. But the second thing is not nearly as important as finding Sine. Will you help me and do that?”
	Kei saluted Clarice. “Sure thing. I’ll find the Boss right away,” he said, and ran up the stairs to his technology man cave. Clarice faced Sia again, her eyes now expectant. Sia didn’t understand how Sine could stand to live with Clarice. The girl was probably the scariest of them all. 
	“I saw Sine. The battle was going on, and she wasn’t herself. She was more like, well, insane. She was all clumsy, but she was fierce. It was like she didn’t have control of her own body, and neither did Amaia. I don’t know what it was, and I don’t quite know how to explain it. The scary thing was, once she had practically killed Zakary, she moved on to us. I don’t think that it’s such a good idea for us to show up there,” Sia said. Dexter’s hand that rested on Sia’s stomach balled into a fist.
	Clarice thought for a moment. “Luka, come here!” she yelled. He came down the stairs as fast as he could. None of them ever dared to keep Clarice waiting. 
“Yeah?”
“Can you heal madness?”
“You think Lady Sine has really gone mad?” Dexter asked.
“Yes, that’s what I think. Sia, you don’t have to come along. In fact, I wouldn’t if I were you. Luka, answer my question.”
	Luka stammered, tripping over his words. “Um, well, I don’t really know. I would have to ask my dad.”
“Then do that. While you’re upstairs, tell everyone we’ll be leaving in a few minutes, and to dress for battle.”
“Okay,” Luka said, nodding and jogging back up the stairs.
	Clarice took control so easily. Sia heard a scream, and leaped up. Clarice threw open the door to the extra hallway of bedrooms. “Why must they always enter through here?” Sia wondered aloud. Genevieve and Isabela backed out of their room. There must’ve been soldiers inside. Sia grabbed both of them and disappeared outside. Dexter followed them. Clarice went to find Phaedra. The two of them appeared outside as well. Clarice put two fingers in her mouth and whistled.
	The piercing whistle could probably be heard from miles away. Everyone that had been in the house that wasn’t a soldier disappeared. Clarice’s signal had told them all to follow Kei wherever he went. With the whistle had come a mental message from her. She trusted that Kei had had enough time to find Sine.
	Phaedra picked up a giant branch from the edge of the forest and took a batter’s stance. Genevieve and Isabela watched their mother with fascination. When the soldiers burst through that door, Phaedra swung her club with all her might. She knocked out five soldiers in one hit. Sia gaped, and Dexter tried very hard not to laugh. Clarice pushed her glasses up. “Huh. Kind of impressive, wouldn’t you say?”
“Yeah, no kidding. Who knew Aphrodites had fighting spirit?” Dexter said.
“I don’t think it’s fighting spirit. I think it’s a traumatized attempt to protect her children. Doesn’t she know we’ll protect her and them too?” Sia asked.
	Clarice shrugged. Four soldiers appeared, forming a square around Phaedra. She dropped her branch as she shook in terror. Sia’s palm started smoking, but Clarice smothered it. “Don’t.”
“Why?!”
“You’ll hit Phaedra too.”
“Mom!” Isabela and Genevieve cried. 
	The second the soldiers drew their swords, Clarice threw a dagger into the back of the one nearest her. He fell, so that they could all see the terrified look on Phaedra’s face. Someone else appeared, and took out all the rest of the soldiers. Phaedra flung herself into his arms, crying hysterically. “I am not a fighter, Attis! I’m just not!” she wailed, clinging to him.
	Clarice laughed humorlessly. “I think we can leave this place to them. Is that okay with you, Attis? It’s been a while since you last fought,” she said. 
Attis looked a bit sour. “I can still fight. Just because I haven’t had to, and I’ve been having a lot of relaxation time lately, doesn’t mean I forgot all my past years of battling. I’m not a wimp,” he said. Clarice smiled.
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
“Save my stupid daughter, will ya?”
	Hearing Attis Devanney refer to Sine as his daughter made Sia’s heart ache. At first, she didn’t understand why. But it didn’t take her long to figure it out. It was because no matter what, her old caretakers had never thought of her as their daughter. They’d been too scared of her. 
	Clarice, Sia, and Dexter disappeared, linking their minds to Kei’s. They had no idea where the others had ended up, and they didn’t know where they were going to end up either. They ended up in some forest. Sia saw Sine before she noticed their surroundings, though. She had gone insane. That crazed look on her face, there’s no way the normal Sine would even be able to make a face like that. Zakary had it rough. Sia felt bad for him, having to fight that monstrosity that had taken over Sine’s body one way or another. If she felt bad for him, she was going to help. In any way she could.
	“Dexter. Go help Zakary,” she ordered.
“But, Sia, he’s the enemy. Why should I help him?” Dexter protested. 
“Because if you don’t, I’ll pack up and move in with him.”
“Huh?!”
“Go. Now.”
“Yes ma’am.”
	Dexter appeared behind Sine, grabbing her arms and pulling her away. A sword flashed behind him, cutting deep into his shoulder. Sia lunged forward, only to be snatched back by Clarice. “Don’t.”
“But he’s”
“I’m telling you, you aren’t in any condition to be fighting. I’ll step in if he gets into danger. For now, just stay behind me,” Clarice told her sternly. It was like being scolded by a parent for the first time.
	Dexter faced the person who’d cut him. Lloyd’s whole face was pained, but he had no choice but to fight against them. Luka appeared behind Dexter, resting a hand on Lloyd’s shoulder. “I’ll keep him busy. Besides, Zakary cut me up the last time I faced him. Lloyd might be a little easier,” he said.
“Have you lost your mind? He’s been in training for months. He’ll protect Sine at all costs, you nut,” Sia yelled.
	Luka just looked at her until she surrendered. Sia had no control whatsoever over Sine’s family. It wasn’t fair. She was the twin of their leader, they should listen to her as easily as they listened to Clarice. Sia pouted behind Clarice, looking over her shoulder to make sure Dexter was all right. “Sia, have you seen Rhett?”
“Not recently. I can summon him, he can’t refuse me. Do you want me to?” Sia asked.
“No. I’m just going to mental message him and ask what he’s doing,” Clarice said, shutting her eyes. Communicating across long distances took a lot more concentration. Especially if you didn’t know specifically where the person was.
	“He’ll probably say he can’t tell you. Ghosts are limited by a force that I don’t know much about. They can’t tell the living much about what they learn in death. I truly wish there was a way to bring Rhett back. I never knew him when he was alive, and I’m tired of looking through him. The other thing is, Rhett is the only one of us who knows Alex’s location. But he can’t touch anything solid, except me, Luka, and Sine. I feel bad for him, knowing so much and wanting to help but not being able to.”
	Clarice watched Sine nearly behind Zakary. “Rhett’s been gone for an awfully long time, don’t you think?” she asked.
“You’re asking my opinion?” Sia said, shocked.
“Yeah. Data’s no good without anything to back it up. Are you going to tell me what you think, or not?”
“He has been gone forever. Do you have any idea what he could be doing? He never tells me anything, and I doubt he’s told Sine anything either.”
	Sia almost couldn’t stand to stay there. Seeing her sister in this condition was heartbreaking. Sia wanted to know very badly what was the matter with her sister. What had caused this sudden insanity? “I know what he’s doing. It’ll become evident soon. My mother’s been dropping hints for a while, but now I understand Rhett’s part in this. We’re going to be having an interesting night,” Clarice said.
“What do you mean by that?”
“Oh, nothing. You’ll see. Now, Sia, if necessary, I’ll have to go fight. Which means you’ll be left to defend for yourself. I know that’s what you want. I know you don’t want us to protect you. 
	“But since you made the choice to have unprotected sex with Dexter, you now have to start worrying about your child as well as yourself. No offense, but it’s not really you that everyone is trying to protect. Everyone is worried about your child. You can’t afford to be reckless, not only because you might die. Your child could die as well. None of us want that to happen, and all we’re trying to do is make you see that you need not only be worried about yourself. In fact, you can’t maintain that point of view.”
	Sia looked down at her stomach, her cheeks burning in shame. It was true, she hadn’t valued the life of her unborn daughter very much. She was very aware of her daughter’s presence, but she never considered her when it came time for a battle. “You’re right. I’m sorry, Clarice.” 
	Clarice stretched and popped her neck. “Don’t apologize to me. As long as you realize what’s wrong with your way of thinking. Personally, I think that the way you run your life is up to you. Normally I wouldn’t butt in. However, someone important asked me to talk to you about it. That’s the only reason why I bothered,” she said. Clarice was nothing if not blunt.
	“Who asked you?” Sia asked.
“Alex did.”
“Who told him?”
Neria appeared, laughing nervously.
	“That would be me,” she admitted. 
“When have you ever even seen Alex?”
“I haven’t. Because A.S. and Alex are related by blood, A.S.’s fusion to Alex’s soul is more concrete. He can travel as far away from Alex as he wants. I told him when he happened to be in the neighborhood. You were asleep.”
“Thanks for telling me.”
“I just did,” Neria said as Sia glared at her.
	Abril was having trouble. She was trying to fight her opponent, who did have a fighting style very much like her own. But at the same time, she was trying to watch Sine. Just to make sure the girl didn’t try anything dumb like going after one of their family members. 
	Clarice was watching from the sidelines, guarding Sia. Abril didn’t see why Sia had come along in the first place. Her being there was distracting Dexter as he kept trying to restrain Sine. What was more unbelievable was that this wasn’t even really a battle. In this state, with Sine going on pure instinct, she was easy to kill. It didn’t seem that killing Sine was Zakary’s goal anymore. Abril was sure that if he was going to kill her, Zakary preferred to kill Sine while she was in her right mind. Dexter and Zakary were working together. It was all kinds of weird.
	Lloyd was something else to worry about. That kid was strong. Much stronger and powerful than he had been before starting his extra training. Luka was doing a pretty good job of keeping Lloyd busy, though. There was one plus. Karsten was swamped with guilt, and Abril getting mad at him just before the start of the fighting hadn’t helped anything. This was a three-way thing. Sine and Lloyd against everyone, the family and assassins against Zakary’s soldiers, and everyone trying to somehow fix Sine. Something inside her was broken. Which meant there had to be someway to fix it. To repair whatever had been broken in her soul.	
	Sia’s eyes barely ever left Dexter. When they did, they traveled to Zakary’s fight with Sine. Neria was standing with her. Neria slipped her hand into Sia’s. She whispered Amaia’s name at the same time Sia whispered Sine’s. “You think…they’ve both become monsters? Do you think Amaia is just as insane right now as Sine is?” Sia asked.
“Probably. I want to know what happened to them when we weren’t around. Where is Zephyr?” Neria asked.
	As if on cue, Zephyr fell to the ground in front of where they were. Sia rushed to help him up, sending hellfire into the face of a soldier. Hellfire was the name she’d given to her red and black flames. Using that method of attack required almost no effort on her part. Using a sword was the only thing that people had any right to be worried about. Zephyr nearly attacked Sia. He stopped immediately once he took the time to recognize her.
	“What’s going on, Zephyr?” Sia asked, looking him over for any injuries.
“Sister has gone mad. Karsten and Penelope were half siblings. As I’m sure you know, Kei killed her. She and Karsten shared the same father, a god of madness. Before she was killed, Penelope gave Sine just a little bit of madness. It preyed on her weaknesses and ate away at her, from what we can tell. None of us can fight very well, because we’re all trying to figure out how to put her back to normal,” Zephyr explained, thrusting his katana over Sia’s shoulder to kill a soldier trying to initiate a sneak attack.
	Clarice, who had been listening and thinking, disappeared. She took a sword through her lower abdomen for Abril, who would’ve taken it through her chest. The only way it didn’t hit Clarice there was because she jumped just before. Still attached to the sword, Clarice viciously kicked the soldier in the chest. He fell back, and the sword was removed from her stomach.
	Clarice drew her sword and instantly killed the soldier before he even hit the ground from her kick. Abril high-fived her, and both of them smiled. They stood back to back as soldiers slowly began to recognize that the two of them were a very big threat. “You ready, Claire? This looks like enough,” Abril said.
“I’m ready when you are.”
“Okay…NOW!”
	The two of them rocketed around the crowd of soldiers that had been surrounding them. All Sia saw were flashes of blurred movement. After a few seconds, Abril and Clarice were standing right back where they’d started. Sia blinked. All the soldiers around them fell to the ground, dead. “Where’s the one who fights just like you do?” Clarice asked.
“Around. He went off to save Zakary a while ago. Sine is complicating things enormously,” Abril sighed.
	Clarice disappeared and reappeared. She had a boy by the collar. “Is this him?”
“Uh, yeah. How’d you catch him?”
“Is that important now?”
“No, I guess not. What do you want with him? Zakary said he brought this one along specifically to fight me,” Abril said.
“Good. If he fights like you, he’s no problem. I know your style better than anyone else. Wouldn’t you agree?”
	Abril’s hand tightened on the hilt of her sword. “I guess. Shall we?”
“We shall,” Clarice said, a tiny frown on her face.
Sia had a feeling that this particular battle was not going end well for that poor boy Clarice had just snatched.
	Sia was a twin. Meaning she and her twin possessed the resonance phenomenon. Sia could not be shut off from Sine. Sia decided to use that to her advantage. Zephyr agreed to guard her while she and Neria used their resonance phenomenon to communicate with their insane sisters. Sia’s mind was transported into Sine’s head. She could hear the thoughts that were currently going through it. 
	You need more power. You aren’t trying hard enough, an unknown voice said.
I am trying.
Not enough! Try harder, or I’m going to scream very loud. Your ears will bleed if you hear it from a mile away.
No, no! Please don’t! I just need it to be quiet, it needs to be quiet.
If it’s quiet, you have no motivation. Now, to get stronger, you have to absorb the powers of strong people. Let’s start with your sister.
	Sine’s brain was too scrambled. Sia could hardly make out the conversation. But once she was finally able to hear the voices of her sister and her insanity, Sia understood. She continued listening, and wondered what Neria was hearing. My sister?
Yes. She’s the second most powerful one here. We’re going to use this power to kill Zakary, so we can’t absorb him. Now, you’re going to kill her and absorb her powers.
But my sister is pregnant. And she’s my sister. I can’t kill her.
	Sia sensed the threat before it could come. I’ll scream.
Sine’s mental voice was so miserable, it made Sia want to cry. Don’t. Please don’t make me kill Sia. I love her, I don’t want to get stronger this way.
You’ve already chosen this path, there’s no going back now. 
But I want to! You’re supposed to help me! All you do is hurt me, and try to make me hurt those that I love. Besides, you already told me that I was supposed to be killing Luka and absorbing him.
	Sia’s mind reached out to Sine’s. If she could link with it, maybe Sia could fix whatever was wrong with Sine. Maybe she could get rid of the madness. Sia’s mind successfully linked, and she was transported somewhere even deeper in Sine’s head. They were in the middle of a battlefield. Sine was laying on the ground in front of Sia. Everything around them was engulfed in flames.
	Sia bent down and touched Sine’s shoulder. “Sine. Wake up. It’s me, Sia. You’re okay. I’m here now.”
Sine’s eyes opened. They were very red. “Sia,” she said, her voice raspy. 
“That’s right. I’m here to put you back to normal. Come with me, and we’ll fix everything,” Sia said, extending a hand. Sine shook her head, her eyes blazing redder with every passing second.
	“No. Run.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Run, Sia. I’m a monster now. I can’t even get control of my own body back. I’m not strong enough to stand up. I have no strength at all. Just kill my body and put my mind at ease. Tell Alex I’m sorry.”
	Sia pulled Sine into a sitting position and wrapped her arms around her twin’s neck. “I won’t. I won’t run away, and I won’t kill you. I won’t tell Alex you’re sorry, because you’re coming back with me. There will be nothing to apologize for. Don’t you want to see Alex again? Don’t you miss him? Even if you end up like Rhett, there’s a chance that Alex will never be able to look into your eyes again. Won’t that make you sad? You’re going to be an aunt soon. 
	“I can’t go to the hospital to have a baby without you there. I can’t live without you there. There will be no one to protect us. I know everyone tries to tell you that we don’t need you to protect us. I know sometimes that even we say that. But we don’t mean it. If it weren’t for your protection, most of us wouldn’t be here today. So I won’t let you give up. Think of your family. Think of everyone. Attis wants you to be okay. Adalyn wants you to be okay. Janice believes that you can make it through this. Isabela, Genevieve, and Phaedra have faith in you. We’re all devoted to helping you. Don’t give up on us, Sine. Please, Sister. Don’t die,” Sia pleaded, tears falling from her face onto Sine’s shirt.
	Sine hugged Sia back loosely. Sia had to keep in mind that she was currently speaking to Sine’s mind. If she could get Sine to make the decision to take back over her body, then it would happen on the outside. All she had to do was make Sine want to overcome her madness.
	“It’s not that simple. You have to defeat my madness. Or, someone does. I told you to run because it’s going to take over this manifestation of me in a minute. Now that you’re here, you have no choice but to go against it. I’m sorry, Sia. Sorry I got you involved in this,” Sine said.











Chapter Sixteen


	I was not sane. As Sia prepared to fight my madness, I was somewhere even deeper inside my head. With Amaia. When I showed up there, she just looked at me grimly. “If you’re going to call me names, feel free to get started,” I said dryly. 
“I’m not gonna call you names. I’m going to suggest that you get your act together and get over this madness. I find it annoying.”
	I sighed. “Don’t you think I would if I could? You inhaled that dust as I did. You’re going insane too. It’s not just me. Or haven’t you noticed that the thing controlling my body has red eyes? That’s a sign of demonic powers, and it ain’t comin’ from me.”
“I’ve seen it. Neria should have no problem defeating my madness. If you have faith in your sister and lend her some of your power, she’ll have a better chance too. Instead, you’re sitting around your soul feeling guilty, and letting that thing take over your body. If you intend to give yourself up, I can kill you now, and make it easier on everyone else.”
	I turned away from my snobby demon. “I do have faith in Sia. I didn’t know it was possible to lend my power, and now that I do know, I still don’t know how. If you killed me, then you would die too. You chose me as your host. If you don’t like it, you can leave.”
“You know there’s nowhere else for me to go. I don’t hate you as a host, I don’t like how whenever you have a formidable foe, you try to give up. It’s a crappy trait to have. You’re brave sometimes, but most of the time you’re a coward. A heroine doesn’t have time to act cowardly. You fight, you protect, you achieve victory. But you do not give up.”
	A speech from Amaia was not the best way to realize the error of my ways. Amaia had known me for all of a few weeks. Yet she had seen enough to say that I was a coward. I didn’t like that, but there was nothing to be done about it now. “I apologize.”
“Don’t worry about it, just fix it. Do you want me to show you how to lend Sia your powers now, Ambrosine?” Amaia asked tiredly.
“Yeah, I’d appreciate it if you did.”


	Sia’s sword materialized, sticking out of the ground in front of her. Someone else was suddenly in Sine’s place. A shadow person. That was how it started out. As Sia backed away, it took on human features. It kind of looked like Sine, but twisted. Her hair had blood red streaks, like the ones she’d gotten before her vacation with Luka. Sia didn’t like her hair when it looked that way. In addition to the red streaks, she also had some auburn ones. Her eyes were like twin suns. There were lightning bolts drawn on her face, from the corner of each eye to the middles of her cheeks. 
	There were new tattoos on her arms. Blue waves, flowing down each arm to the palms of her hands. They stopped where the waves surrounded the twin scars on her palms. Her normally white katana was black, and the hilt was diluted red. Sia stared at it. She didn’t even know what to call it. This aura, it was beyond that of a demon’s. The thing, the thing that had taken over Sine, smiled.
	“What are you?”
“I am what Ambrosine Devanney has become. I have no name of my own. Besides, I didn’t think you were one of those people who wants to learn the name of the person who kills you. I apologize. You can call me whatever you want,” it said in a hoarse voice.
“I’m not the type to learn the name of those who are going to kill me. I’m in the habit of finding out the names of those I kill,” Sia said, pulling her sword out of the ground. The red blade flashed as the surrounding flames were reflected in it.
	“Oh really? As if you could beat me in your condition.”
“My condition has nothing to do with my fighting ability. I have every intention of winning this battle and saving my sister. You’ll lose here, Demon.”
“Demon? Do you really think that’s a correct term for me?”
“It’s the only one I can think of on such short notice. If you wanted a name, you should’ve fought Clarice. That’s her thing.”
	The demon rolled her eyes. “We’ll just see how that turns out.”
“Yes, we will.”
“Are you quite ready?”
“Yeah.”
“All right then. Here I come!” the demon warned, speeding toward Sia. 
	She waited for the demon to get close before sending hellfire into its face. It scorched the demon, but it didn’t stop her. Sia raised her sword and defended herself against the attack. The demon landed behind Sia, trying to cut in in half. Sia managed to block that as well, surprising the demon.
	“You don’t fight as though you’re worried about that kid of yours.”
“I don’t have time. Right now, my concern is my sister.”
“I’d be careful if I were you, regardless of what you think your concern is. I hope you’ve had enough training to know that you should thoroughly analyze your opponent while fighting,” the demon said, taunting her a bit. Sia tried not to get aggravated with it. 


	Abril and Clarice had finished off a lot of soldiers with their speed attack. The boy who fought just like Abril was running from them. Luka and Lloyd were both trying so hard not to hurt each other too badly that it was barely a fight. More like the two of them just dancing around each other. Zakary was defending himself against all Sine’s body’s attacks. Dexter was knocked out. Sine had hit him in the side of the head with the hilt of his sword. The assassins hadn’t yet gotten involved. 
	Zephyr was standing guard over Sia and Neria. The two of them were curled into balls, their foreheads touching. Clarice didn’t quite know what they were doing, but she hoped it was something productive. Kei fidgeted. “Should we help? We’re supposed to work for the Boss, but that’s not really the Boss,” he said.
“I wanna fight, if Nova would get her sword out of my shoe. My toes hurt from me scrunching them back for so long,” Shania whined.
Nova pushed her sword further through the shoe. “Shania, I want you to take care of as many soldiers as you possibly can. It’d be fabulous if you could get rid of all of them. Kei, I need you to figure out where Alex is, now. I don’t care if that means you have to leave the battlefield. I’m going to help Zakary with the Boss. That’s definitely not her. I’m guessing that whatever’s Sia’s doing, she’s trying to fix the Boss. We’re just gonna have to trust her.”
	Karsten listened to them make plans. He was sitting in the tree above them, clutching his bow to his chest. He could take the madness back, if he could get close enough to Sine. But that was going to be impossible. She’d impale him before he could get within inches of him. Nova was right, it was up to Sia now. Karsten wished he’d done something to stop Penelope. He wished he could do something to help Sine. Instead, he was feeling especially useless.


	I took Amaia’s hands as she instructed me to. “Now, I need you to picture Sia in your head. Picture yourself in front of her, and fuse your soul to hers. Pour your power into her. I know it sounds weird when I’m saying it out loud, but you have to do as I say. Otherwise, it’s useless.”
“I understand.”


	Sia was panting. The demon had Sine’s speed, as well as all her attack methods. Blood dripped off Sia’s hand, running down her whole arm. Sia hadn’t managed to land one blow on the demon. “I thought you said you were ready. Would you like to take a break?” the demon asked.
“Hell no.”
	The demon shook her head. “You’re stupid. But if you don’t want to accept my kindness, I won’t try anymore. Prepare to die.”
Sia blocked another head on attack. The demon disappeared and reappeared closer to her. Sia grabbed the sword as it rushed by her ear. She surprised the demon, who let her guard down for a moment. Sia was hesitant to hurt it. She didn’t know what effect it would have on her sister.
	Sia, raise your hand, Sine’s voice ordered.
Raise it? Why?
Just do what I say!
Sia raised her hand and aimed it at the demon, who struggled to escape from Sia’s hold on the sword.
	Lightning shot from Sia’s palm, sending both her and the demon flying backwards. Sia caught herself before she could fall and crack her skull on the ground. The demon skidded into a pile of flaming rubble. Both of them were back on their feet before too long. Firing lightning was a lot more intense than using hellfire. Sine used it all the time, and it didn’t appear to phase her at all. Sorry. I messed up, was that enough? Sine asked.
Was that enough? You sent it flying!
	She sensed Sine’s surprise. That had only been a little bit? Sia felt recharged. Sine was letting Sia borrow her power. If that was the case, Sia had a lot more ammo than she’d thought. Now there was hellfire, magma, lightning, ice, anything she wanted. The best part was, the demon wasn’t aware of all that Sia could do now. Don’t get too cocky. It has all the same powers as you do. Your hellfire is your best chance at winning. Don’t be fooled, the hellfire hurt it in the beginning. I recommend using hellfire for the final blow. Okay?
	Sia nodded. If Sine could see what was going on, that was even better. It was like having another set of eyes. Sia, you’re not paying attention. It’s coming.
Sia slashed the air just before the demon reached her. The next time she looked, there was a small cut on the demon’s cheek.
	“You can’t use lightning. You weren’t claimed,” the demon spat.
“Well, I believe I just did. Are you going to do something about it?”
The demon narrowed its eyes, the lightning bolts beneath them scrunching up. 
	That thing is seriously ugly.
I’d laugh at you if you looked like that.
Lovely inspiration for a Halloween costume though.
Yeah.
	Sia’s body erupted with red energy that repelled the demon and its attack. This new energy she had from being one with her sister, she felt like it gave her a whole new power of her own. Was this how it felt to be Sine? If it was, Sia wasn’t sure she ever wanted to go back to being just herself. If Sine was this powerful, why did she try to avoid using her power? Sia sliced across the demons chest. Black blood, the same as Zakary’s poured down the demon’s body and dripped onto the burning battlefield.
	Sia laughed. You need to calm down. 
I can’t. Your power is exhilarating. 
If you can’t handle it, I won’t lend it to you. 
Then take it back.


	I appeared beside Sia. I didn’t know how I’d gotten there, but it was probably better. Sia shouldn’t have to fight an enemy of mine. The demon thing that bore a slight resemblance to me stood in front of us, bleeding. I pushed Sia back. “Take a breather,” I said, drawing my sword. Sia sat down on the ground and put her head in her hands. The demon smiled. 
	“What’s amusing?” I asked.
“You are. To think you really believed you could fight me.”
“What are you talking about?”
The demon opened its mouth, and began to scream. I felt like all of my organs must’ve exploded within me. When I put my hands over my ears, I felt blood. I fell to the ground, unconscious and very pissed.


	Shania tore through the campsite, killing a soldier with every breath. Nova had been knocked out as well. Kei was perched in the tallest tree, trying to find out where Alex was. Karsten, who had attempted to help with Sine, was laying on the ground. Sine’s body had cut him up good. Dexter was still unconscious, and Zephyr was still guarding Sia and Neria. As for Abril and Clarice, they were more fortunate. With Shania killing most of the soldiers, they’d tracked down Abril’s first opponent.
	Clarice barricaded the boy between two very thick trees, herself, and Abril. Clarice was a strategist, battling was what she did best. And when she did battle, she always won. There were no buts about it. If she didn’t win, she died. It was as simple as that for every child of Athena, and Athena herself. 
	Clarice smiled, pushing her glasses up. “Nowhere left for you to run now,” she said.
“We’re fed up with hide-and-seek,” Abril panted.
“It’s time to die now.”
“But don’t worry.”
“The fact that you were good enough to require both of us”
“Means that you’re quite skilled indeed.”
	Abril and Clarice lit up with white energy from their souls. Like flames. The boy gripped his sword so hard that his knuckles turned white. “What are you?” he growled.
“Don’t be silly,” Abril said.
“We’re demigods, fool,” Clarice said.
“The demigods who are going to kill you now!” they said together, as Abril went for his neck and Clarice dove for his ankles.
	One useless corpse later, Clarice and Abril were trying to get the blood off of whatever they could. “I don’t think that we should use that attack anymore,” Abril said, smearing blood across her cheek. Clarice pointed to it, and Abril licked her thumb and tried to remove it.
	“Shut up. Someone else is coming,” Clarice said before Abril could speak again. The person came into view. Abril scoffed.
“Don’t worry about it. That’s the kid Karsten was supposed to fight. Where is Karsten anyway?”
“He’s laying on the ground over there. Maybe we should take care of this one for him.”
“Yeah. It’s only common courtesy.”	
	Zakary knew why Sine was going crazy. Penelope had confided in him about her father and the nature of his powers. But he hadn’t thought that Penelope would ever use her powers on Sine. She had, and now he had to deal with it. The stupid girl had only made things worse for her comrades. Her little brother was all shredded up because of her actions. Penelope had cared about the kid, at least a little.
	Zakary’s soldiers were almost gone. He couldn’t defend himself against Sine forever. Something else was going to have to happen. It couldn’t go on this way. Sine’s white sword clashed with his black one again and again. She was making little sounds of frustration that he wouldn’t fight back. 
	A hand shot out from the trees and grabbed Sine’s sword. The person remained hidden by the darkness as they jerked the sword from her hand. Zakary knew that Sine had a habit of keeping daggers in her boots. He confiscated them quickly before the could use them on whoever had helped him. Zakary sheathed his sword and tackled Sine. Another pair of hands threw him off of her. “I don’t appreciate you putting the moves on Sine right in front of me. No matter what condition she’s in,” a familiar voice said.
	Zakary stared in disbelief. “Alex? How’d you get out?” he said.
“I made a miraculous recovery,” another voice said. The other hands who’d first taken the sword from Sine. Rhett stepped out, fully visible and very solid. But he always looked that way to Zakary. What shocked Zak was when Alex looked directly at Rhett. “Rhett, the gods are still gonna need you to help them. We don’t have time to make conversation with Zakary now. Look around. Our side’s taken a turn for the worst without a leader,” Alex said.
	Clarice and Abril were out. After doing so well for so long, they’d been taken out by someone who had been meant to fight Karsten. Lloyd and Luka had been incapacitated by a few soldiers. Rhett straightened. “Right. I know. I’ll help them when they actually get here. What do we do about Sine though?” Rhett asked, looking down at her sadly. Alex frowned and shocked her to knock her out.
	“It needed to be done. She’s too much trouble like that. Now then, can you count how many foes we have to take care of?”
“I can tell you,” Zak said.
“Why would you help us?”
“I’m going to be arrested anyway. I might as well help some old friends before I am. There are three very good fighters left. The one Clarice and Abril were fighting, and the one Zephyr was fighting. And one extra thought I brought just in case.”
	Alex smiled at Zakary. “I knew you weren’t all bad.”
“You have too much trust in me, kid.”
“No, I have just the right amount. Rhett, let’s go ahead and get started.”
“I’m gonna stay out here. You can’t stay in there very long, or she’ll become convinced that you’re a figment of her imagination. Okay? Zeus should be almost right behind you. IF HE WOULD EVER GET HERE,” Rhett said exasperatedly. 
	Zakary was not able to think clearly. Alex could see Rhett. You don’t make a miraculous recovery from death, Zak thought. Who could’ve fixed him? If there was even a way to fix a dead person. Alex touched his forehead to Sine’s, and Rhett laid a hand on both of them.


	Sia stood up as her twin fell. If Sine was down, there was no longer any time for her to rest. The demon sighed. “Really, that wasn’t even a challenge. What about you, are you weak against noise too?” it asked.
“Clearly not, as I’m still alive after your hideous shrieking. As you pointed out, I’m about to have a new baby. Babies make noise. I can endure it. Just because we’re twins doesn’t mean we’re exactly alike.”
	The demon shrugged. “Whatever. It doesn’t matter if my screams won’t work on you. I will kill you too.”
“I don’t know why you’re saying too. She’s not dead,” Sia said.
“She’s close enough. I’ll give you five minutes to see for yourself, say last words, all that jazz. I’ve got time to spare.”
	Sia kept a cautious eye on the demon as she walked over to Sine. However, the demon was busy redrawing the lightning bolts on its face. Sia was afraid to touch Sine. The feeling was similar to when Zephyr had carried Sine into the house covered in blood and on the brink of death. Now, Sine was bleeding again, holding her head, and crying. Definitely alive, but in terrible pain. Sia touched Sine’s shoulder so lightly, she wasn’t sure if her sister even felt it.
	“Sine, are you awake?” Sia whispered as quietly as she could. She didn’t want to hurt Sine’s head anymore. She wasn’t sure how much more noise Sine could take. 
“Sia. I have a headache.”
“Oh honey, I think you have brain damage.”
“Behind you,” Sine whispered before her eyes fell shut again.




Chapter Seventeen


	I felt helpless. A single scream from the root of my madness had rendered me useless. Through my blurred vision, I watched a golden whirlwind descend from the fiery sky. Nobody else should’ve had access into my subconscious. Only my twin, Amaia, and Madness. “Behind you,” I told Sia. I could no longer keep my eyes open then. The pain in my head was too much for me. 
	Sia rose. I could still hear. I heard the roar of the flames, the winds dying down, the madness breathing, and I heard Sia’s sharp intake of breath. “Gods. You look horrible,” she said. I tried to open my eyes. But that too, was out of the question for me. Just like joining the battle.
	“Thanks, Sia. I appreciate your kind words. Would you mind telling me what that thing over there is?”
The voice practically opened my eyes for me. Summoning all my strength, I pushed myself up into a sitting position. I wiped the blood from my face and everywhere else. Sia was right, Alex looked horrible. He wore a white tank top, torn and filthy pajama pants, and no shoes. His hair had grown out, and the sun streaks were completely gone. The overall brown of his hair had darkened. It was no longer light. He was definitely skinnier, and his wrists were just horrible. It hurt for me to look at them.
	“That thing is Sine’s madness in a body. It’s truly disgusting. Don’t you agree?”
“I can’t say it’s disgusting, so much as twisted. After all, it is Sine’s face,” Alex said, springing forward. He landed right in front of the madness and wiped its face clean of all the markings. He was right, it did look like me. More than I’d realized before.
“See?”
	Alex had done that with barely any effort. How could he have so much power? If anything, he should be weaker than he had been the last time I’d seen him. Sia was gawking, as I would’ve if I was able. “Alex, how did you do that?”
“What?”
“Um, touch the demon thing and then just come back and stand next to me,” Sia said.
Alex blinked innocently.
	“I dunno. You’re saying that was surprising?”
“I’ll say so,” the madness piped up.
“Then you’re weaker than I thought. Let’s see how this goes,” Alex said, bracing himself. I had no earthly idea what he was going to do. All I knew was that he never would’ve been so confident if I hadn’t saved his life a month or so ago and accidentally transferred some of my confidence to him.
	Alex got right in front of the madness again and grabbed both its wrists. Since he’d been claimed by Zeus as well, he had lightning. He wasn’t as used to controlling it as I was, so he didn’t use it often. Now, he was sending vast amounts of electricity into the madness’s embodiment. Despite this, the madness showed no signs of pain. It held back. Alex looked it in the eye. I began to understand, slowly but surely. “Say you’re going to be still,” he said sweetly.
	“I’m going to be still,” the madness repeated robotically.
“For as long as I want you to be.”
“For as long as you want me to be.”
“And once I tell you that you can move again, you accept and embrace that fact that I will kill you, even if I’m not the only one to fight you.”
“I accept and embrace that you are going to deliver the killing blow once I am allowed to move again.”
“Very good,” Alex praised, patting the madness’s head.
	Alex let go of the madness and stepped back. Sia moved to help me stand. I could only stare at Alex, who was looking more like a different person every second. The madness stayed as still as a statue. But then, he’d ordered it to. And an order from Alex wasn’t something anyone could ignore. The longer I stayed awake, the more strength I got back. I stood on my own, no longer needing Sia’s help.
	“Sine, are you okay?” Alex asked, converting back to his old self.
“I’m fine. What about you, hero?” I asked, teasing.
“Shut up. I’m all right. Though both of us could use a little healing, I don’t think we’ve got much time for that.”
“You’re right, we don’t.”
	Sia looked at both of us exasperatedly. “I don’t know what the two of you are waiting around for. We’ve still got that to deal with, and I’m sure there’s a downside to staying inside Sine’s head for too long. Therefore, I order you to kiss and hug and get that out of the way so we can finish this.”
	I nodded. Alex and I did what she asked. As he hugged me, Alex whispered, “Rhett’s back.”
“What, has he been on a trip?” I asked.
“No, Sine. He rescued me. The gods brought him back.”
Tears came to my eyes. “Really?”
“Yeah. I wouldn’t have gotten into your head without his help. Because he’s not dead, he’s not limited as a ghost anymore.”
	I shut my eyes. I couldn’t get worked up over the return of my friend. “All right. Good. I’ll deal with that later. I think it’s time for Amaia and I to be of as much help as we can,” I said.
You think so, Amaia?
I don’t know what you’ve been waiting for all this time.
All right then. Let’s get to fusing.
	Amaia and I were back in our meeting room. We joined hands, and stared into each other’s eyes. It looked a little gay, if you asked me, but there was nothing to be done. 
Fuse, we thought in unison.


	Rhett looked at Zakary disdainfully. “Why are you staring at me?” he asked.
“Oh, I dunno, because you magically came back to life,” Zak retorted.
“What are you, stupid? I didn’t magically appear back into my body. It had to be fixed, which Asclepius did. Afterwards, there was quite a bit of bargaining for Hades’s help. He finally agreed. But I’ve still got some spiritual abilities. It’s kind of like I’m still a ghost, possessing my own body.”
	Rhett crossed his arms over his chest. “Now, don’t ask me anything else. Clarice is angry, and I want to see how she’s gonna act when she wakes up.”
Clarice’s arm twitched ever so slightly. A second later, she tightened her hand on her sword and plunged the blade into the ground. She used it as a support to get up. The god who’d defeated her was clearly surprised. 
	“Dammit. You broke my glasses,” she said, tossing the cracked pair away. The god laughed, feeling cocky since he’d gotten her down once.
“You’re just stupid. I’ve already beaten you once, you damned Athena.”
“You find something wrong with being an Athena, young man?” a new voice said, appearing in front of Clarice. Clarice recognized the woman even without her much needed glasses. 
	“Mother,” she whispered.
In front of Abril, there appeared Hermes. He looked down at his daughter protectively. 
“Athena, I hope you don’t mind me joining you,” he said.
“Please. As if this matter even requires both of us. Join me if you like. I’ll make short work of this boy.”
	Artemis appeared in front of her third child, Zephyr. “Mother! What are you doing here?” he exclaimed.
“Zakary has become too much of a problem for us, and I have a grandchild on the way. I won’t let the life of that child be compromised. As for Alessia, I hope she can save her sister before Zeus gets there. She needs to hurry,” Artemis said, looking over her shoulder at Sia. Artemis drew her bow. 
	Apollo landed gracefully in front of Karsten. “He’s not technically mine, but he’s the only archer here I see fit to protect. So then, I’ll just finish off the rest of the soldiers with my sister,” he said, narrowing his yellow eyes and pulling his golden bow out of thin air.
“Artemis, I believe it’s only right that I protect my heir,” Hades said, standing over Sia.
“I believe it’s in your best interest to get thirty feet away from my daughter. From that distance, do as you like,” Artemis replied.
	Hecate lifted Nova into her arms. “My little witch, you fought well. Don’t worry. I’ll protect you,” she promised. Nemesis appeared at Shania’s side. 
“At least you’re still standing,” she said in her voice that sent chills down Shania’s back.
“Yeah. Thanks for the assistance, Mom.”
“Don’t mention it. Ever.”
	Kei watched the scene from his tree, wishing he could figure out who his parent was. It didn’t matter. He could still be of use. Since Alex had appeared, he could fight now. He didn’t have to look anymore. This would be his second time picking up a sword, and he would show everyone that he was capable of being an assassin. For the sake of his beloved Boss, who was going through her own inner battle. “I’ll kill anyone who threatens her!” Kei declared, diving down from his branch.
	Adalyn appeared. Where she’d been the whole time was unclear. But she engaged herself in battle immediately, without asking any questions. It didn’t matter. All that mattered was fighting. Aphrodite shimmered into existence beside Rhett.
“Hello, love. I see you haven’t had to fight yet,” she said, kissing his cheek.
“Nope. I’m watching him,” Rhett said, gesturing to Zakary.
	The two boys were half brothers, related by their mother. Not something Aphrodite enjoyed thinking about. She decided to ignore her other son, who was just fine with her decision. Hecate and Aphrodite looked into the red sky. “Damn,” Hecate said.
“Here comes Ares,” Aphrodite said fondly.
	A fireball shot down from the sky. It exploded upon landing, and Ares stood amidst the flames. Aphrodite clapped. “Wonderful entrance!”
“Idiot,” Hecate said.
“I know, it was amazing! I’m off, to protect my daughter and sons and all that,” Ares said, referring to Nova, Dexter, and Lloyd.
	Nyx sat on air. “I didn’t think my son would ever be in need of my help in battle. A shame, pure and simple. If only Asclepius could’ve come in my place. Oh well. I’ll avenge him, and I’ll beat him up later,” she said, brandishing a spear and throwing it straight through the chest of a shoulder.
	Dionysus and Kylah showed up together. “I don’t want to fight,” Kylah said.
“Neither do I.”
“However, it’s for Sine, so I don’t have much of a choice.”
“I’ll prepare a drink for you,” Dionysus offered, patting his daughter on the head. She went off to join the fight.
	Last, Hera and Zeus appeared. Hera looked around. “Where’s my son?” she asked Rhett. He laughed.
“You are nuts if you think I’m sendin’ you in there.”
“Rhett Hodges. I will join the inner battle at once,” Zeus said.
“If you ask nicely.”
	Zeus grabbed Rhett by the throat and pinned him against a tree. “Listen”
Rhett frowned, and his eyes turned white. “Let go of me,” he ordered.
“Who are you to give orders?” Zeus demanded, secretly fearing the power in Rhett’s eyes.
“I’m Rhett Hodges, like you said. If you won’t let go, I’ll free myself. I told you when you first brought me back to life, I would only allow you into Sine’s inner world if they needed you there. As of now, they don’t. I’ll let you know if your services are required later.”
	Zeus stared. Rhett walked through him. Once freed, his eyes were crystal blue once more. “I am the king of the gods. You expect me to condone such disrespect?” Zeus spluttered. 
	This time, Rhett was the one pinning Zeus against the tree. Alex and Sine’s bodies were laying very close. Rhett was the only one protecting them, so he had to keep an eye on them. “Let’s settle this now. You’re the king of the gods. But you’re not anything to us. Hera’s the queen, and she means nothing either. Those two right there are the only people that matter to us! You hold no sway over us. We’re not anything to you either. We know that, as you’ve only interfered because you thought the world could be destroyed if this went on. 
	“Just because you’re helping us once doesn’t mean we have to follow your orders. Fact is, if you hadn’t been king for so long, most of the gods wouldn’t be loyal to you anyway. You’re just a bastard who has no idea how false his sense of dominance is. Look around you, Zeus. Everyone is turning to a new hero. You’re slowly turning into a memory, that few will hold onto.”
	Rhett smiled and released Zeus. “Now, I think it best if you get away from me and my queen. Otherwise, I’ll be killing you here, not delivering a speech.”
Zeus stared. “What have these children turned into?”
“They are the New Generation Project. Did you think I would just choose random new gods? All of them have secret potential within their hearts. Alessia, Ambrosine, Alexander, Dexter, and now Rhett have unlocked their potential and embrace it. Father, any one of the five could easily kill you. Don’t underestimate my test subjects,” Athena said from where she battled.
	“That didn’t answer my question about their species, and how they turned out this way,” Zeus said.
“As you can see, I’m a bit preoccupied. Hermes, would you like to finish this one off so I can satisfy my father’s curiosities?”
“Sure. I can do that,” Hermes said.
	Athena approached her father. “Now, listen carefully, because I don’t want to go over it again. As you know, Alessia and Ambrosine have their red-eyed state that originates from the ancient demons within them. More than that, they are both able to tolerate a considerable amount of power that others wouldn’t. They are both chariots, and they have been known to defy many laws of nature. Even our laws. 
	“Rhett, is an interesting case. He’s half spirit, although we returned him to his body. His powers are truly otherworldly, and even I do not know much about them. I do not know what abilities he still has, or if he acquired any new ones. Alexander no longer refers to his state of great anger as ‘going monster’. I believe he’s accepted it and uses it when absolutely needed. Besides that, he also has something like mind control. I’ve never seen anything like it before. More unbelievable, is that there’s no real explanation for how he obtained that power.
	“These children were born during a time when great, pure, vast power flowed through all the gods. It was the power of Amaia and Neria. Once they were killed, their power filled Olympus. The babies born during the time when their power hung in the air are special. They are the children we see before us, though some are older or younger than others. We’ve never encountered anything like them, and I don’t care to battle any of them. Their leader truly is a new type of god, and you shouldn’t make anymore of an enemy out of her. 
	“As I have handpicked Ambrosine Devanney as the next queen of the gods, I’m telling you not to disturb any of her actions. If you kill my test subjects, I’ll kill you, Father. Regardless, there’s still my daughter to discuss, and Abril Rave. The two of them are more dangerous combined than apart. I can’t say I’m pleased with that, but they are a truly strong team. Luka Rush is still a mystery to me. I can’t say I’ll ever understand him. Lloyd and Dexter are simply two fantastic guardians. They’ll stay loyal to their mistresses until the end. 
	“As for the assassins, they’re the same as the guardians. All of them are extremely loyal. I have a feeling all of them are bonded very strongly with their Boss. Karsten is the newest addition, so I’m still researching him. Finally, there are the two that you’re most interested in. I didn’t bother to go into detail about them, because I know you have specific questions. Don’t waste my time if you’re going to ask them.”
	“Why doesn’t Ambrosine try to overthrow me?”
“Didn’t I say don’t waste my time? She couldn’t be less concerned with you. She only wants to protect her friends. I might add, her love for her parents is genuine. She had little to no reaction to being informed, which I found most interesting. All of us thought she would retaliate in some way. But so far, she’s just brushed it off like it’s nothing.”
“Why does everyone have such an interest in her? How does she acquire such loyalty from people? Such as Rhett Hodges, your daughter, and the rest. She’s even made Alexander turn on his mother.”
	Artemis approached. “Ridiculous. She did that herself.”
Hera frowned, reddening. “I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.”
“Of course you do. If you hadn’t tried to kill the love of your son’s life, he wouldn’t hate you so much. But you did, and he does. There’s no undoing that. My daughters are not merely a topic of discussion. Ambrosine’s feelings on the New Generation Project are not any of your business. Either of you.
	“You should be less concerned about them and more concerned for spending time with your daughter. After all, we haven’t got much time left with them, have we?” Artemis reminded them, holding up her gloved hand. When she removed the glove, all of the saw the crack in her hand, like a crack in a crystal. Every god had one, and every god hid it. They didn’t want their children getting distracted.
	“Artemis is right, but I will answer your last question, Father. It is a good one. Ambrosine Devanney is a goddess unlike any other. Everyone she meets is instantly charmed by her, and feels as though they must be loyal, no matter what her opinion on it is. You ask why. Simply because her heart is pure. She draws people in with a special power of her own. To gain protection from her is like the entire world shielding you. I do not know what to make of her, or what she is. I don’t know where her power comes from. But there’s something I do know. No matter how many people she kills, Ambrosine Devanney is not, and will never be a murderer.”
“A…murderer?” Zeus repeated.
	Hera’s fists shook. “That’s ridiculous! She’s killed thousands. What is that, if it is not murder?”
“Protection, self defense, whatever you wish to call it. It is not a murder if you kill with reason. The one thing she will never run out of is reason to fight,” Artemis said.
“That’s right,” Athena said, smiling.
	Clarice and Abril were standing, leaning on each other for support. Luka helped Lloyd up, and Karsten extended a hand to Dexter. Clarice came to her mother’s side. 
“We’ll have faith in our goddess, no matter what,” she said.
“Yeah. We owe her our lives, a billion times over,” Abril said.
“If we ever gave up, it’d be the day we were completely erased, so that not even the smallest bit of our soul remained,” Luka said.
“Maybe still afterwards,” Lloyd said.
	Rhett knelt down next to Sine suddenly. “Something’s wrong, I think,” he said worriedly. Artemis was the first one there. Sine was very stiff for a second, then she would thrash as though she were in pain. Nyx helped her old friend and Hermes keep the girl in place. Rhett’s eyes shone with tears, for fear that something terrible was happening to his leader.
	“What’s the matter with her?” he asked Artemis.
“She’s just fighting. Don’t worry. She’ll make it through this,” Hermes said. He was wearing his usual goofy smile. If he felt that confidently about Sine’s victory, Rhett would follow his lead.
	Hera went to touch Alex’s face, but found herself being blocked by Nova, Shania, and Kei. “Move aside. He’s my son,” Hera said.
“We know, we’re not stupid,” Shania said, rolling her eyes.
“However, we think that our Boss would prefer that you didn’t touch him. Besides, it’s not like you even tried to come to his rescue all this time. I doubt you even cared enough to see that he was in trouble,” Kei accused.
	Nova kept quiet. Another bloody battlefield, with small fires and rubble. Her mind flashed back to Jester’s final battle. Hera took advantage of her spacing out, and smacked Nova across the face. Shania backslapped Hera without even thinking. Kei wrapped his arms around Nova.
	“Hey, Nova? You okay? Why are you crying, did she hurt you that badly?” he asked. She turned her face away.
“No. Forgive me for worrying you.”
“It’s all right, but don’t lie to us. I know what you were thinking about. I know you miss him, but you can’t let your grief distract you from what needs to be done. The Boss is still battling, right? So we can’t let anyone get past us. We know her. We know what she would and wouldn’t want. Let’s not disappoint her,” Shania said, her face turning icy. 
	Nova nodded. Rhett continued monitoring Sine, and the three assassins kept standing guard over the bodies with him. Artemis looked at the crack in her own skin, then at the face of her daughter. Who looked so much like her. That face would soon be ruined by grief, confusion, and anger. It was inevitable that Ambrosine would be angry when she saw that the end was near for the gods. Why couldn’t Artemis do anything to stop it? Why couldn’t Asclepius heal the cracks in their skin at all, even when he used all his power?
	A few shining tears dripped onto Sine’s face. Nyx gave Artemis an encouraging smile. “Hey. You don’t need to cry. You know we’ve still got time left.”
“I know.”
“Art, seriously, don’t cry,” Hermes pleaded.
	Artemis moved away from Ambrosine to step on Hermes’s face. “I’ve told you numerous times that I do not approve of you calling me Art!”
“Okay, okay! Please get the heel of your boot out of my ear now!”
“Artemis, Hermes, I think something is wrong now. With both these kids,” Nyx said, looking at the bodies confusedly.
	All the gods and Ambrosine’s followers gathered around to look at the bodies of Ambrosine Devanney and Alexander Keller. Their breathing had become irregular. Their chests were beginning to look a bit like an optical illusion. As though they were sinking into themselves. Clarice realized what was happening before her mother. “Back up! Alex…he’s been infected by the madness too, but he was able to suppress it. His goodness is the perfect defense against it, but it doesn’t make it disappear. The madness within both of them is going to manifest,” she said.
	Every god had a weapon out in an instant. “Is it okay to hurt them?” Hecate asked.
“Of course! It’s perfect to destroy them!” Kylah said.
“All right then. Our objective is to destroy them,” Athena said.
	Pillars of see-through light exploded from their chests. Clarice and Abril looked up in disbelief. “What the hell are those?”
“It’s just a small amount of their soul power. The madness needs it to manifest,” Athena said matter-of-factly, like this happened to her everyday. 
	Two distorted versions of Alex and Sine appeared next to the real ones. Both of them were difficult to look at without staring. “I want to fight Ambrosine’s madness,” Zeus declared. All the other gods rolled their eyes.
“Feel free. It’s nothing any of us should look forward to,” Karsten said as the madness smiled at Zeus.
	“Well then. Come at me with all you’ve got, king of the gods,” Sine’s madness challenged.
“If I can’t kill the real thing, you’re second best,” Zeus said.
“I’m so flattered. As if you stand a chance.”
“Let’s find out.”
The madness appeared in his face. 
	“As you wish.”








Chapter Eighteen


	Pain. Fusing with a demon was painful, though it was necessary. If I was going to protect my friends and my family, I needed to fuse with Amaia. I could stand it. If I couldn’t, I really was useless. I wouldn’t allow myself to be useless. I opened my eyes. 
“I won’t be useless,” I repeated.
“Shut up!” Amaia ordered.


	Alex whirled. Sine had told him not to look, as Amaia had said her clothes could explode. Sine was back on the ground, her head bowed. “Hey, are you okay?” he asked.
“Why don’t you come give me a kiss and see for yourself?”
“Amaia, shut up. Don’t say things like that to him.”
“Oh, you shut it. You sayin’ you don’t enjoy kissing your own boyfriend?”
“I’m saying that I don’t enjoy you using my body to kiss my boyfriend. Now stop arguing with me. We’ve got a job to do.”
“’Scuse me, Superman.”
	Sine stood up. Sia and Alex drew nearer to each other at the look on her face. It was truly frightening. Sine’s eyes were a darker blue than anything. A few stars remained, but Alex was too caught up in the blue. It was like diving into the perfect ocean, beneath a perfect night sky. A blend of Sine and Amaia’s eyes. Sine’s hair was straighter, and her bangs were longer. There was also a single strand of auburn beside her face. But her clothes stayed fully intact. For the time being.
	“See? Look at him stare, he does want a kiss,” Amaia said. Or, it was her voice coming out of Sine’s mouth. Something about that made Alex frown. Sia got the feeling he’d like it even less if he saw Amaia in full control of Sine’s body. Sia didn’t see anything to dislike about the process. So what if Sine merged with her demon completely? It didn’t really change anything about Sine herself. She was still the heroine, one of the moon twins, the wielder of the pure sword, the legendary Ambrosine Devanney.
	Alex was frowning at Sia now. She’d accidentally started projecting her thoughts. “That’s not what I’m worried about. Sine, do you and Amaia know how to get back to your separate forms?” he asked nervously.
“Well…” Sine’s voice said.
“Don’t worry, kids. I’ve studied up on this. All that has to happen is that Ambrosine goes to sleep. Besides, I can’t fight at full power for very long in this body. We’re just wasting time,” Amaia’s voice said. It was strange to watch the two of them argue, as they were about to.
	“What do you mean, ‘this body’? What’s wrong with it? Alex, what’s wrong with my body?” she asked, frowning and looking down at herself. Sia giggled, and Alex blushed. “Nothing’s wrong with it,” he said shyly. 
“Yeah, Amaia. In fact, I do believe my chest is much larger than yours. Right, Alex?” 
Sia giggled some more while Alex’s blush deepened. 
“I don’t know. I’ve never seen Amaia, and I don’t spend my free time staring at your chest. Please don’t get me involved in arguments like this.”
	The madness was yelling out profanities and screaming to be let go. Sine ignored it. Sia was glad to see that its noise didn’t seem to bother her anymore. “That’s the price you pay for deciding you want to be with her,” Amaia’s voice said.
“Shut up, Amaia. We should get to work now. I’ve got the perfect strategy for dealing with this opponent,” Sine said. Alex felt a bit jealous at the strange bond between the demon and the goddess. Amaia knew exactly what Sine meant as soon as she said she had a plan, while Alex and Sia remained clueless.
	“Are you sure that’s what you want to do?”
“Why wouldn’t I be sure?”
“Because you were in so much pain when it happened to you. And, it wasn’t the madness’s fault. You have no reason to use that method,” Amaia reminded Sine, whose eyes widened. 
“No reason?”
“No. Do you still want to do it?”
“Not without reason. So then, do we just kill it?”
	Sine’s head nodded. Sine held out her hand, and the sword levitated off the ground and to her hand. “We’ll come up with a plan as we go?” Sine asked.
“Yeah. Sounds good,” Amaia said.
“Here we go then. Alex, tell it to move.”
“You can move now,” Alex told the madness obediently. 
	It went for its black sword automatically, attempting to block Sine and Amaia’s attack. The blades met, and Sine’s eyes turned red as she pushed against the madness’s sword. Amaia took over temporarily, pushing against the other sword with all her strength. The white blade began to cut through the black one. Seeing this, the madness jumped back. Sine looked satisfied.
	“Thanks for the strength boost, Amaia,” she said.
“Shut up and pay attention. You’re getting cocky. Use lightning now, before it does. When it gets into trouble, it uses lightning to distract us so that it can heal itself.”
“Gotcha.”


	I held out my hand. Instead of my usual whitish-blue lightning, this time it was black. “Sorry, my fault,” Amaia said.
“Don’t worry about it. It looks kinda looks cool. Did I get it?”
“I think so. No wait, behind Alex.”
	I appeared in front of Alex and held up my sword. I could tell I surprised the madness. It flipped over top of Alex and me, landing on its feet. Alex drew his sword from thin air. I knew it well. Gold bladed, with a sapphire in the hilt. It was unique enough, easily standing out among others. Alex slashed the madness. I noticed that when he cut it, he shut his eyes. I touched his shoulder. “You know it’s really not me you’re cutting, right?”
“I know. But it has your face, so it’s difficult.”
“Aw, you’re cute.”
	Amaia made my head turn the other way and blocked magma with my sword. “You’re an idiot! Stop with the googly eyes and get back to fighting. I’m going to use my full power. You’ve still got the bandages around your middle from earlier, don’t you?”
“Yeah, I think so.”
“Good. Brace yourself, Ambrosine Devanney. Oh, you two, don’t look,” Amaia told Sia and Alex. 
	Both of them weren’t very happy with that statement. “What?! You’re going to use your best power, and we can’t even look?” Sia exclaimed.
“Yeah, that’s what I said.”
“That’s not fair, we’re the closest ones to her! We should be allowed to see,” Alex argued. I gave him my best intimidation look. This was my version of hypnosis, scaring the piss outta someone until they obeyed.
	“Turn around and get on the ground, both of you,” I ordered. Alex hit the ground happily. Sia sat down. She couldn’t lay down because of her stomach, but she knew what I meant.
	“Now that we’ve got them taken care of, I believe I’ll begin. Have you prepared yourself?” Amaia asked.
“I don’t really know how to prepare myself. I guess I have.”
“You’re so pathetic. Hold your breath, you’ll have precisely three minutes to stay this way. Understand? You have to end it in one strike.”
“Okay. I can do that.”
“You better. Ambrosine, what is your reason for killing this madness?”
	If this questioning thing about my reason was going to become a regular thing, I was actually all right with that. It made me feel better about launching my final attack. It was ironic that the first person I would ever use it on was myself. What kind of an effect would Amaia’s raw power have on my inner mind? I really hoped I wouldn’t die or go brain dead after this.
	“My reason. My reason for killing this madness is to protect everyone. If I allowed it to progress within my body, I would murder. I cannot murder.”
“Very good. Shut your eyes and hold your breath.”
“Take care of me, all right?”
“Don’t be stupid. You have to stay awake. We’re not killing it, remember? We have to leave it the tiniest bit alive, so that Alex can destroy it,” Amaia said.
“Oh yeah. Okay, that’s what we’ll do then.”
	Amaia stopped speaking out loud, and spoke into my mind. You know there’s a chance that this will kill you, right?
“I know. I’m prepared for that, at least.”
You’re a good host. No matter what I’ve said, I’m glad I chose you.
Shut up. There’s no way to confirm that I’m going to die. Don’t you dare start saying last words. You’ll only slow me down.
Okay.
	“Let’s go.”
“As you wish,” Amaia said, and then she took a deep breath. “Final fusion, let’s destroy everything evil in sight.”
“You’re so lame,” I said meekly, smiling.
	I shut my eyes and held my breath. The power of a demon. The power that Amaia hid. The power that made her the strongest of all the demons. Power greater than any of the gods, titans, or anything in existence. All of the power that Amaia kept restricted inside of herself flowed into me. I knew my irises were now flaming, the same as the world around me. My hair was decorated with a single auburn streak that fell close to my face. My face was decorated with red war paint. My jacket and shirt exploded, leaving only the tightly wrapped bandages around my torso.
	I felt like my body was going to explode. How could Amaia stand this? 
You’re getting distracted. Three minutes.
Right. I understand.
	I inhaled and raised my sword. I had such incredible strength, it was like the heavy sword I held was a feather. I charged at the madness, who was frozen in fear. My legs were heavy. My eyelids were heavy. I was heavy. But I couldn’t give up. I couldn’t let the enormous pressure on my body stop me. This power was what I needed. What I wanted. My need for power was what had fueled the madness all this time, and now it would be its undoing. 
	I jumped into the air, relieving some of the pressure on my legs. I put all my strength into it as I brought the sword down over the madness’s head. My eyes, only more crazed, stared up at the pure sword in horror. The sword that would end its power over me. I, Ambrosine Cynthia Devanney, was about to conquer my greatest weakness. I cut the madness neatly in half, adding lightning to it at the last time. I hadn’t meant to do that, I’d really meant to leave some for Alex to kill. But I’d gotten into the moment.
	The madness and I fell to the ground together. I couldn’t support my body weight anymore. As my eyes fell shut, I felt my sword in my hand. My fingers closed around it tightly. This was the one thing I would never let go of, even in death. “Final fusion. Mission accomplished,” I murmured.


	Sia heard Sine hit the ground. She only knew that it was Sine because there were two thuds. She’d killed the madness, but the power of the ultimate demon had killed her as well. “Alex!” she shrieked, running to Sine. It was the regular Sine, who could pass for a normal girl. Unlike the one Sia had been with for the past hour. The twisted version, and the demon version.
	Alex lifted Sine into his arms without hesitation. He was panicking. “Oh gods, what do we do? How do we get out?” he asked frantically, holding Sine closer. She was still holding onto her sword. A good sign, it meant she was alive. But only slightly. 
“I don’t know. Alex, is she breathing regularly?” Sia asked.
“No, yes, I don’t know! I don’t know! We’ve got to help her, we’ve got to do something! I don’t know how I got in, Rhett helped me. But we probably can’t reach him from this side. Sia, I can’t let her die. Especially not right in front of me.”
	Help appeared in the form of Amaia. “Oh no. She’s not looking too good,” she said sadly, peering at the pale face of her host. 
“How could you do this to her?!” Sia screamed.
“She knew the risks. She wanted to. There’s a reason why we call it final fusion. I was holding back, I tried not to put too much pressure on her. But it’s like being dropped into the very bottom of the ocean suddenly. More often than not, the bodies can’t take it. I thought maybe she’d be different.”
	Sia dropped to her knees. “I can’t be the only one. I can’t. I need her, she’s the only reason I’m still alive,” she whispered.
“Amaia, do you know how to get out?” Alex asked, trying to stay calm.
“I know how. But do you really want to leave? This is the only place where you can see her last thoughts.”
	Alex shook his head vigorously. “No! I won’t stay to see her last thoughts, because Sine will live!”
“Alex,” Sine whispered.
He started, looking down at her pale face. She was smiling. 
	“It’s been so long since I’ve heard you laugh. You’re changing, into a stronger person. You’re not the Alex I knew, but I still love you the same. Promise me…you won’t forget all our time together.”
“Don’t say that. I can’t forget. We’re going to have many more times together, I promise. You can live if you want to. Don’t you want to live, Sine? Don’t you want to see your niece? Don’t you want to stay with your family?”
	Sine looked away, down at Sia. Sia gazed back with tear-filled eyes. It was their twin telepathy working again, them communicating through eye contact. Sia grabbed onto Sine’s hand that still held the sword. “Don’t you dare give up, Sine! Don’t you dare! You can’t die yet, there’s still things to be done! I won’t let you die. We are the moon twins, we help each other no matter what the obstacle. But I can’t help you if you won’t accept it.”
“I love you, Sia.”
“Shut up! Stop saying things like that!”
	Sine looked up at Alex again. “Please, stay,” he said brokenly.
“I can’t.”
“Why not? You’re still alive, you’re talking to us. There’s no reason for you to have to die. You know it, I know it, Sia knows it. Why are you trying so hard to give up?”
“She’s trying to protect you. Just like always,” Amaia said. “Ambrosine Devanney only exists to protect you. To protect all of you.” 
	Alex and Sia shut their eyes and gritted their teeth. “In a way, I’ve killed myself. You know? Isn’t that kinda funny, Alex?”
“Sure, Sine. It’s funny if you think it’s funny.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Then just don’t go.”
	Sine’s eyes widened. “Wow. The gates to the Underworld. Can you see them, Alex? Sia? Amaia?” she asked. Alex was the only one among them who couldn’t see the gates. Seeing the gates was the final straw for Sia. She wailed, hiding her face as tears seeped through the spaces between her fingers.
	“It’s all right, you guys. Bye, Alex. Bye, Sia. I’ll be seeing you soon, I suppose?”
“Yeah. I’ll see you later,” Amaia said, looking away.
Sine reached up to touch Alex’s face as he tried not to cry. 
	“You’re my favorite. Kylah thought you were going to be my first lover. She was wrong about that, but you are my first real love. So don’t think too badly of me for doing this. It’s all to protect you, Alex.”
“Don’t tell me that.”
“I love you.”
	Alex felt her go limp. Sia and Amaia stared into the air above her body. “Wow, what a huge soul,” Amaia murmured.
“Yeah. I’ve never seen anything like it,” Sia said.
“Who cares what her soul looks like? If this is the end of her, you shouldn’t be marveling at the beauty of her soul. You should cry! You should be…as heartbroken…as I am,” Alex said, sinking to the ground. 
	Sine’s inner world began to transform. The fires went out, and the rubble disappeared. Her fiery sky turned white, and buildings sprung up from the ground. Snow began to fall on all of them. Alex laid Sine down once enough snow had built up beneath her. The snow cleared away all of the blood on her. Even in death, she held onto her white sword.
	Sia and Amaia looked up. “It’s beautiful.”
“It’s just Sine’s soul, making things right in this world,” Sia said.
Alex’s fists slammed into the snow. 
	“I’ll never forgive you for this! You promised me that you would always protect me! Dying is not protecting us! Dying accomplishes nothing! I’d rather fight a war at your side, than live in absolute peace without you! The world cannot function this way. It won’t be at peace without someone to keep it peaceful. None of us are anything without you! How can you think this is helping? I won’t forgive you! This isn’t love, it’s just the final act of a coward! I can’t believe you’re willingly leaving this way! If you go now, Ambrosine Cynthia Devanney, I swear I’ll hate you for the rest of my life! Come back right now and protect us!” Alex screamed into the sky.


	All of the gods, each and every one, sensed it when Ambrosine stopped breathing. Rhett’s face fell in terror. Alex continued breathing, but Sine had definitely stopped. Artemis and Hermes were there in an instant. Alex sat up, looked at her, stood up and walked straight into Abril and Clarice’s waiting arms. The three hugged as a group, trying to comfort Alex without breaking down. Sia rose across the battlefield. “Sine, I’m coming to get you,” Rhett said. Aphrodite grabbed him by the back of his shirt.
	Alex turned around and glared at Sine’s body. “I hate you, Ambrosine Devanney! I hate you!”
 All the gods expected his outburst to trigger some reaction out of Ambrosine. But nothing happened. Her eyes stayed shut. Artemis didn’t know what to do. She was too flustered. Nova burst into tears. Kei sobbed on the ground, and Shania did her best to console both of them. Her own icy tears were wept in silence.
	Sia enfolded herself in Dexter’s arms. She wasn’t crying, and she didn’t particularly have any emotion on her face. Lloyd and Luka were both crying, looking at her body wistfully. Zephyr hugged Kylah, a surprising act for someone as cold as him. None of the others had known that the two had ever even spoken. Adalyn hugged herself, trying very hard not to cry for the sister she’d always been so horrible to. Zakary cried from where he sat chained to a tree. And Karsten, who stood alone the farthest away, wept endlessly. 
	Amaia approached the body. Slowly and deliberately, she raised her hand. Clarice stopped her. “Allow me,” she said thickly.
Clarice reared back and slapped Sine with all her might. All of them waited hopefully. All except Alex.
	“I suppose I’ll take the body,” Hades said.
“Back off,” Hermes said, glaring. There was no trace of his old smile as he knelt over his dead daughter.
	“What do we do now? Who’ll protect us?” Rhett asked.
“No one. Even she didn’t care enough to protect us in the end,” Alex said roughly.
“What do you mean, Alex? I know you’re upset by her death, but you’re acting like you’re her enemy. Explain,” Clarice said.
“She betrayed me. You all can go on grieving if you like. I’m going to go dress my wounds and take a shower.”
	Karsten stepped into his path. “Stop.”
“Karsten, I’ll move you if you don’t get out of my way,” Alex said. 
“No. I’m not going anywhere until you listen. I don’t know what happened when you all were in Sine’s inner world. But I can tell you that you’ve treasured that girl more than anything ever since you met her. I don’t know why you’re trying so hard to convince yourself that you hate her now, but you can’t. Get over yourself and go hold her hand and cry like you want to,” Karsten said. 
	Alex hung his head. He threw a shaky fist at Karsten, which Karsten took. Karsten led Alex back over to the body. Alex sat down next to Sine and looked at her. He leaned down and kissed her forehead. “I love you. But I’m still mad about you leaving me alone. Completely unprotected,” he said, his hand lingering on her cheek. As he stood up, icy fingers wrapped around the hand on her face. 
	“Do you really hate me, Keller?”













Chapter Nineteen


	I’ll admit, it was mean of me to play dead for a few minutes. I was going to get up as soon as I returned to my body, but I heard Alex saying he hated me. He sounded very sincere, and that froze me to my core. What had brought me back from the brink of death? I remembered that I wasn’t finished protecting everyone yet. Not everyone could defend themselves. There was still Sia’s child to take care of. Besides, dying looked boring. I hated being bored.
	I opened my eyes slowly, to make sure I was really back. I’d very nearly jumped up at Clarice’s slap, but I’d held onto my self control for a bit longer. Alex’s brown eyes were huge. I didn’t blame him. It wasn’t everyday that someone we knew came back from the dead. “Sine, I” Alex began, tripping over his words. I hardened my gaze so that I wouldn’t cry. Alex could tell he was in trouble. Rhett threw his arms around me, knocking me back to the ground. 
	“Rhett, you’re solid! You really are alive again,” I said, squeezing him. He glared at me. I thought for a second he might declare his hatred for me as well.
“You’re lucky I haven’t killed you yet. Pretending to be dead, how could you, Sine?”
I wiped the tears off his face.
	“I’m not dead, all right? I was for like, fifteen seconds. But I still have responsibilities here. As for you, Alexander Keller, as of now we no longer have the friendship required to be a couple.”
“You return from the dead and immediately begin breaking hearts. How interesting,” Zeus commented. 
	I had my sword at his throat in an instant. “We already powerful gods who come back from death acquire a whole new amount of strength. At my current level, you are nothing more than a bug beneath my heel. And I don’t like bugs,” I said. Amaia laughed behind me. I narrowed my eyes at her.
Shame on you. Almost killing me.
You asked for it. Literally.
	Amaia laughed once more and returned to my soul. I stepped away from Zeus. I didn’t like being close to him for an extended period of time. “What were you doing out here all this time? Something useful, I hope?”
“We were taking care of the manifestations of your madness, and Alexander Keller’s. I would say that’s rather useful,” Zeus said, glaring at me. 
“No. The true battle has already been finished. Sad to say, you missed it. Shouldn’t you be going home now?”
	I could hear Athena’s thoughts. She thought hard, so she projected almost everything. Clarice was the same way, but I’d learned to tune her out a long time ago. Ambrosine Devanney took control of the situation almost immediately. Even Father is showing his respect, how interesting. My, how I’d like to study her more closely.
I smiled to myself. I was interesting? Please. To the gods, I was nothing more than an animal they were observing.
	“I’m going home. Is something going to be done about him?” I asked, gesturing to Zakary. He looked up at me with puffy green eyes. Before death, that look might’ve phased me. But I was tougher now. I had to be. The only person who might’ve known what I was feeling inside was Rhett. Maybe he knew how to ease the turmoil in my heart. 
“What do you want us to do with him?” my mother asked. My reaction to her was the same as always. My respect and love for my mother was undying, no force could change that. 
	“I guess we should hold him prisoner and see if he’s done anything else to screw up the mortal world. If he hasn’t, Alex has a treatment for him. Don’t you?”
Alex didn’t look at me. “Yeah.”
	I knew from Alex’s tone and the fact that he was hiding his eyes that he was extremely upset. I was sure that some of the pain in my heart was from hurting him this way. I didn’t want us to have to break up, the idea itself was pretty stupid. Yet there we were. The only real reason I’d done it was so that Hera would back off my case. If she saw me do this now, I could go back and apologize to Alex later. I couldn’t deal with Hera trying to kill me all the time. These were just a few of the conflicting thoughts that ran through my head.
	“You don’t want us to kill him?” Ares asked.
That startled me. “No! You can’t kill him!”
“All right, all right. You should probably calm down. We gods need to be on our way. The kids deserve to go home and get some rest. Ambrosine, Alessia, I think Zeus wants to talk to you two tomorrow,” Nyx said. While she said it, she had her own son in a headlock, and was in the middle of digging her elbow into his scalp.
	I smiled. Nyx was one of my favorite gods, because of her unique personality. “We’ll see. Depending on how my busy schedule works out. I really need to go home now and take care of things. Zakary, if I meet with Zeus tomorrow, I’m gonna come see you. And we’re gonna talk about this rebellion of yours,” I said, making it a promise. He smiled. 
“All right. It’s a date.”
“You wish.”
	To anyone else, it would’ve seemed like things were looking up for my little family. My enemy had been captured and it seemed like he was going to be made into a good guy. I’d acquired a lot more power, and I’d managed to stay alive after using my demon’s ultimate attack. However, there were still several things that needed to be fixed. And wherever there was a hero with nothing to do, a villain would always show up. It was like a law of nature.
	My gods and the Olympic gods faced each other. “Thank you for your help,” I said.
Kei smiled. “Arigato.”
“You saved most of us today, so we owe you. If you ever have a battle,” Abril said. 
“Do not worry. The day I ask for your help is the day I die,” Zeus said. Artemis, Hermes, and several others suppressed their murderous intent towards him.
“Hopefully then, that day will be soon.” Alex was the one to say it. 
	Zeus went after him. It didn’t matter that I was still feeling hurt because of Alex saying he hated me. I was a protector, and Zeus was going after my most prized possession. I beat him there, kicking him into a tree. “Make no mistake. I’ll kill you if you try to harm any of my gods ever again.”
“Father, you’re just causing trouble for yourself. A war against these children is not something we want. They already hate you enough. Remember Rhett’s speech,” Aphrodite said, pulling Zeus through the portal the other gods opened.
	We waved goodbye to our parents until the portal closed. “Well, that makes two victories for us so far,” Clarice said.
“Oh man, I need some sleep,” Abril groaned.
“Don’t mind me. Just came back from being dead for a few months,” Rhett said subtly.
“I need a drink,” Kylah said, frowning. 
“My head hurts,” Luka whined. 
	A tall body rushed at me, picking me up and swinging me around. I realized mid-swing that it was Lloyd. “My lady, I thought you were gone forever. You have no idea how scared I was.”
“I’m sorry for scaring you, Lloyd. But could you put me down?”
“Oh, my apologies.”
“So, are you staying with me now? All finished with your training?” I asked.
“Yes, my lady. I’ve completed every method of training Lady Artemis could offer. I can be a much more efficient guardian now,” Lloyd said brightly.
	I stretched onto my tiptoes to pat his head. “You were already a perfect guardian. Does anyone else wanna go home?”
“I think I need to lay down,” Sia said, her eyes meeting mine for the first time since I’d woken up. Her eyes let me know that she wasn’t mad at me for dying. 
	All of us disappeared at once, appearing outside of our house. Attis and Phaedra were sitting on the porch. “I see you made it out alive. Hey, wait, wasn’t Rhett dead?” Attis asked. I rolled my eyes.
“He was. Now he’s alive. Don’t ask questions, just accept it,” I said.
“Alex, do you want me to heal your wrists? If I hurry, there shouldn’t be any scarring,” Luka said.
	Alex held his hands out to Luka. If they intended to stay in the front yard all night, that was fine with me. Genevieve, who had adored Rhett in her younger years, tackled Rhett as soon as he came inside. He laughed, happy that someone had finally had a bigger reaction to his return. Though, to us, it was kind of like he’d never really been gone. Especially to me and Sia.
	Abril danced through the house, singing in German. By the time she started doing that, everyone had retired to their rooms. We could still hear her. From what I caught and typed into Google Translator, it was nonsense that she was singing. Kei and I stuck our heads out of our rooms. “I think I’ve heard that song before,” Kei said.
“When have you been exposed to German?” I asked.
“On one of my shows.”
“Your Japanese shows?”
“Yeah. I’m wondering where Abril heard it.”
	Abril continued skipping down the hallways, now humming the same tune. It was only a matter of time before she started singing again. Oh, how I longed to shove my whole boot down her throat. “There’s no telling, and asking would be useless. Hey, Abril. I’m sure some of us are trying to sleep. It’s really not wise to irritate pregnant women, you know,” I said. Dexter’s head entered the hallway.
“If you’re worried for Sia’s sake, don’t be. She is fast asleep, and I don’t think even Miss Abril’s singing will disturb her.”
“Come on, Dexter, you couldn’t work with me on something? Just this once? I’ll pay you to say that Sia’s about to commit a murder.”
	Lloyd’s head poked into the hallway right above mine. “I rather like the song,” he said. I sighed.
“What is it with you guardians?”
“I just think it’s got a fun, upbeat melody. Something to heighten our spirits.”
“Abril, shut up,” Rhett said, entering the conversation. Abril stopped humming, and picked up her gibberish lyrics again. 
	“Gods, you have no idea how hard it is not to rip your head off right now,” Clarice said, squinting into the hallway. Her replacement glasses were hiding from her. Abril’s song became increasingly more high-pitched. Abril dodged a wine bottle as she danced. 
“Abril! I won’t miss next time!” Kylah threatened. All of us covered our ears. Kei was the only assassin with a room upstairs. I wished Shania could’ve been there. She would’ve shut Abril up. But that girl was probably knocked out downstairs. Luka opened his door.
“Hey, have we got some kind of exotic bird in the house?” he asked. I could tell he’d previously been asleep.
	Amaia appeared. “Hey! Some of us would like our noisy hosts to go to sleep!” she yelled. Abril was oblivious.
“Amaia, what do you say we use final fusion?”
Clarice shot me a look. “If you do, I’ll knock both of you through a wall,” she warned. 
“Warning heeded,” I mumbled.	
	The very last door on the hallway opened. Alex’s sleepy face entered the hallway. He reached out and grabbed Abril by her hair. He brought her close, so that she was looking into his eyes. A bit too close for me to be comfortable with it. “Repeat. You’re going to shut up.”
“I’m going to shut up.”
“You’re going to go back to your room, shut the door, clamp your mouth shut, and go to sleep. Got it?”
“I’m going to go back to my room, shut the door, clamp my mouth shut, and go to sleep. I got it,” Abril repeated.
	Lloyd pouted as Abril retreated. I pushed him back into my room. Lloyd slept in my floor. He always had, but I still thought it was weird. When I turned around, Alex was sitting on my bed. He didn’t look at me, but I knew why he was there. He wanted an explanation for why I’d embarrassed him and broken his heart twice earlier today. I owed him that much, at least.
	“Lloyd, can you please stand guard outside the door?”
“Yes ma’am. As you wish,” Lloyd said, obeying me without hesitation. Alex raised his head only after Lloyd was gone.
	I didn’t speak. I knew Alex had a lot on his mind, and I felt that it was better to let him speak first. “Sine, I didn’t mean it when I said I hated you. I felt betrayed, and very hurt. To think that you would die so easily, it was shocking and I didn’t know how to act. I shouldn’t have said I hated you, and I’m sorry for it. You know better than anyone that I’m not capable of hating anyone, especially not you. I still don’t hate you, even though it feels like you made my heart explode into a million pieces. If I could take it back, I would. I know that’s the lamest cliché ever, but it’s all I can think of. Please try to understand that I thought I was going to be without you forever. It’s unbearable, like nothing I’ve ever felt before. Just the fifteen seconds when you really were dead were too much for me,” Alex said, his long bangs hiding his teary eyes.
	“Alex, you’ve been everything to me for a long time. I know I don’t have much time to be romantic and have the kind of relationship I’m sure you’d prefer, and I’m sorry. I’m sorry we had to meet as gods, and have all these problems to deal with. You keep getting hurt, and targeted, and it’s all because of me. It’s because people were using you to get to me. I thought that maybe if I was gone, people would leave you alone. I believed that if I died, you would know I wanted you to take my place. Clarice would kill everyone if she did, and Sia’s just not a leader. 
	“If there’s ever a time when I’m not around, I want you to remember that. You’re changing, but it’s for the best. You are the thing that keeps us sane, the soul that keeps us good. If you hadn’t shown up when you did, there’s no way I would’ve been able to even get off the ground, let alone defeat the madness the way I did. You also foresaw that I would have trouble with insanity. It’s because no one knows me as well as you do. Never forget this conversation, Keller. Whenever you’re sad, or feeling betrayed by me, remember what I’m saying to you now.
	“No matter what my actions are, or what I say, my heart and soul lives within all of you. I will go to any lengths to protect all of you. I will never hurt you. If it means lying, acting, doing something lethal to myself, I will. I know you don’t like it, but that’s the way it is. I didn’t build a family so that others could start destroying it. We’ve got Rhett back, and a new addition. Karsten and Rhett have fixed our family, repaired all the damage it took. This house is full of the people I love most, and right now, I’m at my happiest. I smile a lot, but it’s not genuine. The one thing I hope to do soon is laugh again. It’s been so long since either of us laughed,” I said, remembering times when Alex and I had laughed together.
	Alex grabbed my hand and held it in both of his. “If being with everyone makes you happy, then I’ll do everything in my power to help you protect them and myself. All I’ve ever wanted is for all of us to be happy.”
“Me too.”
“Are you crying? I thought you said you wanted to laugh, not cry,” Alex said.
“I can’t help it. Don’t make fun of me, okay?”
	I pulled Alex to his feet and hugged him as tightly as I had when he first agreed to join my family. “I wouldn’t dare.”
“Yeah, ‘cause I’ll squash you if you do.”
“I wouldn’t doubt it.”
“You know I only broke up with you to get rid of your mother, right?” I asked.
“Really?” Alex was genuinely surprised.
“Yes, Alex. You’re so gullible, it’s not even funny.”


	Artemis smiled. She was painting, probably her final portrait. So far, she’d painted Ambrosine, Alexander, Alessia, Dexter, Zephyr, herself, and Hermes. But there was something missing. The place where Alessia’s arms made a cradle. Artemis would have to see the baby before she could finish her last painting. Hermes stood behind her, this being his first time seeing her hallway of memories and all the rest of her paintings. “Wow. I knew you could paint, but I didn’t think you enjoyed it that much. You looked reluctant when I asked you to paint me a picture of the girls for my house,” he said, looking around.
	Artemis’s eyes drifted to the spreading crack in her hand as she touched up a few things in the painting. Tears dripped onto her lap, rolling steadily off her cheeks. 
“The end is near for us, isn’t it?” she asked.
“Artemis, you should know that there is no end for us. Our daughters and son will keep us alive in their memories. Don’t worry.”
	She dabbed at her eyes, brushing her bangs away. “You know what I mean. I know we were impressed that Ambrosine had decided to be strong about this, but now it’s me who doesn’t want to let go. I don’t want to leave this life and abandon my children. Living until they were born was pointless. If I could take all the time behind me and lay it in front of me to spend it with my children, I would be happy. But I feel like all my time is being stolen from me.”
	Hesitantly, Hermes touched Artemis’s shoulder. She didn’t stiffen or move away. “Artemis. Our children are already legends. They love us, but they need to know that nothing lasts forever. They’ll still have our statues. They’ll have the temple where they can come to visit us. I know you love them more than anything, and I do too. Nothing lasts forever for us either.”
“My daughter will be queen of the gods. Mt. Olympus will finally be ruled by a woman, and I’m going to miss it. My greatest wish is for the children to grow up and be able to choose their own destinies. I don’t want them to go through anything like this, ever in their lifetimes.”
	A lump rose in Hermes’s throat. “You’re going to make me cry, Art.”
“What have Inever mind,” Artemis said, dropping her threat before it even made it past her lips. Artemis traveled through the hallway to her balcony, where she could see her children. Alessia was fast asleep, with Dexter watching over her. As for Ambrosine, she was sitting in the floor of the living room with Alexander, her head on his shoulder while they watched movies. He was beaming from head to toe at the fact that he had her back. Zephyr was asleep, after a long day of battling and struggles. All of them deserved rest. All of them deserved happiness. 
	Hermes joined her. “Why do you watch them, when it only makes you fear your death more?”
“I have to see them, or I can’t keep myself functioning. Seeing Ambrosine die today was such a horrible moment. I didn’t know what to do with myself. You saw it. I could barely keep myself under control.”
“Artemis, you were just scared. Any mother would be if they saw something like that. But your problem is that you linger in the past.
	“Ambrosine isn’t dead now. She’s just fine, and she’ll be on Olympus tomorrow, where you can talk to her. With Alessia. Don’t get your head stuck in the past. Live for the present while you can. When you paint, you see what makes you happiest. That’s where your best inspiration comes from. That’s why when you try to paint someone like your father or Hera, it never comes out as well as when you paint the children. I know I must sound like a disrespectful man to you, and I apologize. I just don’t want you to miss out because you’re worrying about stuff that already happened,” Hermes said.
	Artemis didn’t look at him. Her eyes stayed fixated on the images of her children. “No, Hermes, for once you are not just a disrespectful man. You are probably the only man on Olympus that I have recently acquired respect for. Don’t start grinning in that idiotic way of yours. After all, you did give me my children, even though it was against my will at first. You stand by me, no matter how many times I beat you up. You’re a very good friend to me, and I appreciate it,” she said, twisting one of her silver rings around her finger. 
	Hermes surprised her with his boldness, spinning her around and giving her a big hug. Artemis had barely ever made contact with anyone but her children. To be hugged by this man was a strange feeling. However, there was a comforting aspect to it as well. Artemis didn’t hug him in return, but she didn’t move away. Her chin rested on his shoulder, and her arms hung limp by her sides.
	“We’re going to be okay. Always.”
“I don’t see how you can remain so positive about things all the time.”
“I can because you’re gloomy enough for everyone on Olympus. Try to spend some time doing things just for you. Forget about work and everything else for a couple hours, and enjoy yourself. It really helps with all this stress. I think the more stressed you are, the more quickly your skin cracks,” Hermes hypothesized.
	Artemis thought about it, her mind returning to the morning when she’d woken up to find the crack in her left hand. Being ambidextrous as most gods were, it didn’t really matter which hand the crack appeared on. While it limited the use, it didn’t render a hand useless. It was just a warning. A reminder of what was to come very soon. For those who worried more about it, it kind of made sense for the cracks to spread due to stress. Hermes was brighter than he looked.
	“I’m somewhat impressed,” Artemis admitted. 
“I’m a god. I have to be at least a little smart,” Hermes said, putting on his stupid grin.
“You asked Athena, didn’t you?”
“It’s possible.”











Chapter Twenty


	Two weeks and two months later, Clarice slapped me awake. I suppressed my urge to throw her through the window opposite the room. “Can I help you?”
“Sia told me to tell you, and I quote, ‘Get your lazy ass down to the car and drive me to the hospital!’. Only slightly more crazed, and she was several octaves higher as she shook me like a rag doll,” Clarice said.
	I got out of bed, pulling a sweater over my head while I went to wake Alex up. I was much too tired to drive. Alex could drive while I provided sleepy support for my shrieking sister. I shoved Alex out of his bed and threw jeans and a jacket at him. He had no idea what was going on, but he started getting dressed anyway. Sia was downstairs, waiting on the couch in the living room. “Why do you want me to drive you? Where’s your baby-daddy?” I asked, looking around for the number for our limo driver. Maybe Alex wouldn’t have to drive after all. It made more sense to take the limo, Sia could lie down in there.
	“He’s hyperventilating outside. I’m surprised you couldn’t hear him from your room,” Sia gasped irritably. 
“Yes, well, those of us who love to sleep were trying to do just that. You had to pick Clarice to wake me up.”
“I could’ve chosen Abril.”
“Good point.”
	I found the card and dialed the number. Alex came downstairs. “Hey, I was splashing some water on my face and I heard something outside. And when I looked, Dexter was out there having some kind of major freak out. Should I be concerned about that?” he asked. Sia and I yawned together. The limo driver answered the phone last minute, half asleep. Poor guy. Now I’d caused two people to suffer with me. It was unnatural for me to be awake at five in the morning. Why couldn’t Sia wait eight more hours to wake me up to take her to the hospital?
	“We’ll pay you extra tonight. I need you to take some of us to the hospital.”
The limo driver had his own little residence on campus, the same as us. My parents were the ones who paid him, but I felt that making him work now was kinda mean. I’d pay him to make up for it. “I’ll be there in one minute,” he said, suddenly full of energy at the mention of a bonus. I held Sia’s hand as the three of us walked outside. Sia snapped her fingers. Dexter appeared at her side. She let go of my hand and punched him in the stomach. He doubled over in pain.
	“I’m the one who’s pregnant. I don’t have time to be taking care of you. Next time you have another one of these annoying fits, I’m pitching you a permanent tent outside. Do you understand me?”
“Yes ma’am,” Dexter said as the limo pulled up in front of the four of us. I handed the driver a few hundreds while Dexter helped Sia in. I was the last one in after Dexter.
	I was seconds from sleep when Sia started whining about the pain. I lifted my head from Alex’s shoulder. He had successfully gone back to sleep. I didn’t have the heart to wake him up again. No matter how jealous I was of him at the moment. “Sia, you’re actually a lot calmer than Clarice made you sound,” I commented. 
“I’ve grown used to the pain of the contractions. I learn how to tolerate things as I experience things. However, it still hurts some,” Sia said, taking deep breaths and holding onto Dexter’s hand.	
	“You just don’t want to sob in front of humans.”
“I’m of a higher species! I can’t be seen blubbering in front of them!” Sia cried.
“Sia, it’s fine. They have no idea who you are. Besides, you’re pregnant. Anyone pregnant is expected to cry. I bet even Mama shed a tear or two with us,” I argued.
Sia narrowed her watery eyes.
	“Holy hell, it hurts! Gods, Dexter, just kill me,” Sia finally snarled. Dexter whimpered, but didn’t break down. He’d promised Sia that he wouldn’t. 
“It’s my fault! I’m so sorry, Sia! I’m an utter disgrace!” Dexter cried, staring down at the floor of the limo.
	Alex opened one eye to look at Sia and Dexter crying in each others arms. “Those two are certainly an odd pair. I wonder how their baby will be,” he said. I relaxed. I wasn’t worried about their future with their baby one bit. They were perfect together. 
“Loud,” I said in response to his thought about the baby. 
“Probably.”
	The limo came to a halt. It was then that the gravity of the situation hit me. Sia was going to have a baby. I couldn’t believe that I was just now getting that sickly happy feeling. I’d been watching Sia grow rounder and rounder every day for months, and only when it was time for the kid to be born did I start to see her as really pregnant. Dexter told Alex and me to go ahead and tell the nurses.
	Alex had to though, since I was clinging to Alex’s arm like I would fall off a cliff if I didn’t. “Hi, um, we need a birthing room or whatever,” he said.
“Okay, where’s the patient?” the nurse asked, gazing at Alex.
“Oh, um, she’ll be in here in a second. Don’t be alarmed, she’s my twin. I’m not gonna change clothes and shove a pillow up my shirt or anything,” I said.
“Sine, I think maybe you should get something to drink. You look a little pale to me.”
“No, I’m okay. I have to be there for Sia.”
	Dexter carried Sia in. She was scowling, trying to put on a tough face for the humans. I could tell the nurse was torn between who to fall for. The sweet brunette with the pretty eyes, or the dark and muscular one. Either way, it didn’t matter. She couldn’t have either. But I’d let her fantasize while she could. Sia crossed her arms over her chest as we followed the nurse down the hall. While she usually would’ve loved being held by Dexter, now she was thinking that it made her look weak. 
	The nurse took Sia to change her into a hospital gown. I was the only one in the room for that. Alex was trying to calm Dexter down so that he wouldn’t pass out. Humans did that all the time. Pathetic males. The nurse let us back in when she went to get the doctor. “Why can’t they just let me have the baby already? Instead, they wanna stick needles into my arm and take my blood pressure. I just want to have this kid!” Sia yelled angrily. I stood by her side and played with her hair to calm her down. 
	The doctor came in. He was a red head, with a small beard and kind eyes. I took a liking to the doctor immediately. I was fine with this human delivering my sister’s baby. “Hi, Miss Corbett. How are you doing?” he asked.
“Fine. Can I have the baby now?”
“Let’s see how dilated you are. Do you feel like you’re ready to push?”
“I feel like I’m ready to lay an egg. Yes, doc, I would very much like to push about now,” Sia said.
	I pinched her. “Sia, don’t be rude.”
“Please excuse my behavior. Are you gonna check my dilation?”
“I was planning on it,” the doctor said, smiling. Dexter and Alex turned pink. I gave both of them my best glare. 
	“Out,” I ordered.
“Don’t have to tell me twice,” Alex said, holding open the door for Dexter.
“I’ll just be in the hallway, Sia. Let me know when or if you want me back in here,” Dexter said, following after Alex. Sia waved goodbye. The doctor confirmed that Sia was dilated enough to start pushing. I calmed myself. 
	“Which one of you is the father?” the doctor asked when the boys reentered.
“Me,” Dexter said quietly.
“Would you like to hold one of her legs?” 
Alex, Sia, and I laughed at Dexter’s hesitation. For this, he required permission. He knew that, I knew that, Alex knew it, but the doctor didn’t see what we were laughing at. He was starting to look a bit flustered. Sia had begged to have the baby in a hurry, and now she was almost stalling.
	“Or, you could stand across the room with a net,” I said. Dexter responded to that with a look of alarm. Sia met Dexter’s eyes. 
“Dexter, you have my permission to hold my leg,” she said.
“Do I have to look?” he asked.
“No, in fact I think I’d prefer you didn’t. Sine, will you and Alex hold my hands, please?”
	Alex smiled sweetly. “Sure,” he said, going to her left side. The jerk. I saw right through that sweet smile. Sia was not ambidextrous. Her left hand was horribly weak, which meant she wouldn’t be squeezing his hand very hard at all. I, on the other hand, was stuck with her very strong right hand. The doctor and his associates or whatever were all getting ready for the birthing. Sia was getting nervous, I could see it all over her face. There was about to be a lot of yelling. As the doctor opened his mouth to ask if we were ready, Phaedra threw the door to the room open. Her companion was my mother.
	“Mama?” I said, surprised.
“Did you think I would miss this? I brought Phaedra along, since she’s had three kids. I thought she would have encouraging words for Alessia,” Artemis said.
“Do you?” Sia asked.
“Just think of it as pushing a watermelon through the eye of a needle,” Phaedra said, smiling at Sia brightly.
	Sia’s jaw dropped. Artemis patted her face. “Don’t worry, honey. If you’re ready to push, it probably won’t take too long. All of my birthing experiences were very brief,” she continued.
“Really?”
“Yes, take my oldest for example. He only took six hours.”
“That’s short?” Sia said in horror.
	I held onto Sia’s hand, and my mom placed her hand over top of ours. Phaedra stood on Alex’s side. “Okay, Sia, are you ready to push?” the friendly doctor asked.
“I don’t think I can do this,” Sia said. She was starting to sweat, an action she hated more than anything else in the world. 
“Sia, you didn’t struggle through this whole pregnancy to wimp out now. I know you can do this. You want this baby, don’t you?” I asked.
	She looked up at me, tears pooling in her eyes. “Of course. But I’m scared. It really hurts, and I’ve never done anything like this.”
“Alessia, it’ll stop hurting after you push a few times. For us, actual childbirth should only take up to five minutes. Take it from me, who birthed twins in four minutes flat,” Artemis said. It was probably the most comforting advice Sia had gotten so far. Phaedra’s comment had made me afraid of childbirth. 
	Dexter came to kneel beside Sia. “I know you can do this. If you can be a great warrior, this is nothing. I love you, Sia.”
Sia rubbed her eyes. “I love you, too. I’m ready now, I guess. Dexter, get back into position. I’m gonna get this baby out in three minutes,” Sia said.
“Trying to beat my record?” Mama teased.
“Don’t rush yourself. Something might go wrong, and then someone really might need a net over there,” I said.
	The doctor started to smile in his kind way again. “Are you ready now?”
“Hell yeah! Let’s get this sucker out!” Sia yelled.
“It’s not the last batter in the major league game, Sia. It’s a new baby,” Alex said.
“Shut up! Three minutes, start the timer, nurse!”
	Sia pushed for two minutes, doing better than she’d originally intended. Dexter collapsed when he heard the first cries of the baby. Alex and I grinned at each other, and Phaedra stroked Sia’s hair. Sia laid back, sinking into her pillows. “Personal best,” she breathed. I would’ve hugged her if she hadn’t looked so fragile. I knew she was just tired. She’d strained herself, just like I’d told her not to do. 
	“Congratulations, Sia. Did you know it was a girl?” the doctor asked. He’d said his name earlier, but I hadn’t been listening. I’d been too busy judging his character. I didn’t want to give the impression that I’d allowed an anonymous doctor to bring my niece into the world.
	“Yes, I knew. Dexter tried to deny it, but I knew,” Sia said breathlessly.
“Do you know what you’re going to name her?”
“Blaine Selene.”
“Another middle name meaning moon or something closely related?” Alex noticed.
“There’s not gonna be any left if I ever decide to have a kid,” I said teasingly.
	The nurses finished cleaning up Baby Blaine and bundled her up. Sia took her newborn goddess into her arms and smiled. It was a nice sight, the two of them together this way. Blaine had a head full of black hair that was already started to form waves in it. Her eyes were very large, grayish-green in color. We had been in the hospital for only an hour. In the next two days, Sia’s body would quickly transform back into firm muscle, showing no signs that she’d ever been pregnant. 
	We had a few hours before the rest of our family would wake up and come to see the new baby that was the newest and youngest addition to our family. Alex held out a hand to Dexter when the doctors left. “You still alive down there?”
“Yes. Can I hold her?” Dexter asked, getting to his feet with Alex’s help.
“Can you handle it?” Sia asked.
“Yes. I no longer suffer from anxiety or worries, now that our child has finally arrived.”
	Dexter smiled and bent down to take the tiny baby from Sia. While Blaine was in the room, it was as if no one could take their eyes off of her. Blaine reached out with a tiny gloved hand and tried to touch Dexter’s face. I’d never seen him look so completely happy and blissful. 
	“She’s so pretty,” Phaedra said, gazing at the baby.
“I agree,” Artemis said softly. Sia remembered that our mother probably had limited time in the mortal world to see the baby. I didn’t want her to go, but she had no choice in the matter. Not with Zeus around. Something had to be done about him, and soon. 
“Mama, do you want to hold her?”
“My apologies, Lady Artemis. Here,” Dexter said, giving her the baby.
	Artemis stroked the baby’s face lightly with a fingertip. Hermes appeared behind her and peeked over her shoulder. He was sleepy too. “Wow, Sia. She looks just like you,” he said, smiling.
“Thanks, Daddy,” Sia said, brushing off the compliment.
“No, really. She looks exactly the way you did when you were first born. I must say, most babies are funny looking when they’re born. Your child here is an exception, just like you and your sister were,” Artemis said. 
	Sia and I blushed. “Mama, you’re supposed to say stuff like that. All mothers do,” I said. 
“What have I told you, Ambrosine? I don’t lie to make others feel good about themselves. Not even you two. False promises and compliments do nothing, because any way you look at it, they’re still false. I hope you’ll do the same for your child, Alessia, and refuse to lie to her no matter what the situation.”
	“I was planning on it. But I’m not the one you need to teach about being a stern parent. You should probably talk to Dexter. With the eyes he’s giving Blaine now, it looks like he’d jump over the moon if he even thought that’s what she wanted.”
“Hm…you’re right. Dexter, dear, see me later,” Artemis said.
“Yes, my lady,” Dexter said politely, bowing.
	Alex came up behind me, resting his chin on my shoulder. I glanced him out of the corner of my eye. “Makes you wonder, huh?” 
“About what?”
“If Sia’s child is that beautiful, what would one of yours look like?” he whispered, so that only I would hear.
	“Why, Alex, are you thinking dirty thoughts?” I joked.
“No! Sine, you’re worse than Abril. I’m still contemplating the subject of children and all that. I’m simply saying that I’m curious about how inhumanly gorgeous babies can be.”
“Shut up, you’re gonna make me blush. Just stare at the baby like everyone else.”
“All right. I don’t see why Sia eats compliments up, and you act like they’re the ultimate poison against you,” Alex sighed.
	I frowned. “I just don’t like being complimented. There’s no way for me to explain why, so don’t ask me to try.”
“I didn’t.”
“And don’t.”
“I didn’t intend to. Geez, chill out. I know I put all your emotions in a frenzy, but you don’t have to act all pissy,” Alex teased, laughing a bit. 
	I laughed. “You really want me to kick you out that window, don’t you?”
“I’d take you down with me, Ambrosine Devanney.”
“Again with the name, I see.”
“Sorry. That’s what everyone called you in the place where I was kidnapped, so it’s kind of a habit I’m still trying to get over,” Alex explained.
My gaze softened. I turned to give him a hug.
	“Well, don’t worry about anything like that happening ever again. I won’t let it,” I promised. He poked my sides. I yelped and jumped.
“You’re so mean. I never should’ve confided in you about my secret ticklishness.”
“But ya did.”
“I regret it every time you poke me.”
	Artemis and Hermes watched him hold me in place and poke my sides, while I desperately tried to avoid him. He finally stopped his evil tickling when I slid to the floor, giggling. “See, you can still laugh,” he praised.
“She giggled, actually,” Sia pointed out.
“We’re never going to speak of me giggling ever again. Everyone understand?” I asked, pushing up off the floor. 
	“Surely you weren’t speaking to us,” my mother said, her tone converting to stern.
“’Course not. Why would you think I meant you?” I said, shifting my gaze to the wall beside her head. She smiled fondly.
“Your father and I have to be getting back. Bring Baby Blaine to see us again soon. But do everyone a favor and refuse any requests from Zeus to see her. Ambrosine, I would appreciate it if you would help in guarding the child.”
	Blaine peeked out from beneath her blanket at me. I met her eyes and smiled. Slowly, she smiled back with her little bitty lips. “Of course I’ll protect her. She’s basically why I’m here. She’s part of my family, isn’t she? She’s had my protection since her creation,” I said, laughing as the baby stared at me.
	The tiny goddess held her arm out in my direction. Artemis looked down at her. “Well, look at that. Looks like Blaine knows who she wants to meet next. Ambrosine, do you want to hold her now? Since your father and I are leaving anyway?” she asked.
“Is that all right with you, Sia?” I asked.
“Don’t be stupid. You can hold her anytime you want to, and you never need to do something dumb like ask permission. Besides, she wants you to hold her,” Sia said, smiling at me.
	Artemis and Hermes kissed Blaine goodbye. Artemis handed her to me, making sure I had my arms right. The big green eyes of Blaine Selene looked back at me. There was something especially magical about her. I could tell that she was going to grow up to be a whole new level of gorgeous, far surpassing Sia and me. But there was something about the sense I got of her power. It wasn’t as large as Amaia’s. It was just strange.
	My mother and father left through a portal Hermes opened. I laid down next to Sia with the baby. Blaine snuggled into the crook of my arm and went to sleep. “Good job, Sia. Only you could produce something like this. Oh, and Dexter, she looks kinda like you too. In her eyes, she has some of that intensity,” I added truthfully.
“Thank you, Lady Sine.”
	Sia sat up and grabbed the TV remote. “When can we leave the hospital? Tomorrow, right?” she asked.
“Yeah, tomorrow afternoon at the earliest,” I said, stopping to think about it before I answered her. I hated giving false information by accident. The last time I’d been around a newborn was when one of my Devanney aunts had had her son. They’d let her out the following afternoon.
	I looked down at Blaine, ignoring the TV completely. The nurse came in. “Can we take Blaine for a little while? We need to make sure she’s in perfect health,” she said, casting a long glance at Alex and Dexter while she reached for Blaine. Sia shot her a glare that had the power to kill. The nurse got the message. There was no way she was gonna get any chance to flirt with the new daddy.
	Nova, Shania, and Kei appeared. “Hey, Boss. We know this is probably a bad time,” Shania began. 
“But there’s a bit of an emergency,” Nova said.
“We could use your help,” Kei said, smiling.
“It’s just that the school isn’t looking so safe anymore. The headmistress is presently trying to break the door down. I believe she’s another crazed Athena. I think it’s about time we relocate,” Shania said.
“Whatcha think?” Nova asked.
	I stood up, pulling my white sword from thin air. “I say, I never liked it much in Russia anyway.”
“The accents?” Kei guessed.
“How’d you know? Let’s get going, you all,” I said.
“Yes ma’am.”
Alex put a hand on my arm. “Don’t forget your reason,” he said, smiling.
	“Don’t worry about it. Just another day of saving the world,” I laughed.








Epilogue


	Holy crap! The Boss is on fire!” Nova exclaimed from her place on the couch.
“Shania’s not doing so bad,” Kei said, trying to support both his friends. 
“Yeah, but the Boss has it in the bag. I would’ve given up by now, Shania’s just stubborn.” 
I ignored their conversation, completely focused on my battle. 
	“I won’t lose this, Boss!” Shania yelled.
“Please, you’ve already lost!” I yelled back, panting. 
Shania wiped sweat from her face, putting her all into her next move. I succeeded, she didn’t. She dropped to her knees. 
	“I’ve been defeated,” she sighed.
“Don’t feel bad, Shania. The Boss really is the best at this. She’s beaten everyone so far,” Kei said, patting her head.
“But, I thought I was the only one who could win.”
“You never stood a chance. We told you not to. You know the Boss is the fastest goddess in any world,” Nova reminded her.
	I did a happy dance. “Yes! I am victorious once more!”
“Boss, you’re really gifted,” Kei praised.
“Why, thank you.”
“But there’s one person we all know you’re training to beat, and it’s pretty much impossible. You know that.”
	I narrowed my eyes. “I’m going to beat that dumb kid. Since Zakary got out, all he’s done is brag. It’s not fair that I can’t cut his wings off anymore.”
“You’ll get over it. Anyway, you say you can beat me now? Well then, I’ll take that as a challenge. Let’s go, Sine,” Zakary said, coming upstairs. His room in our new house was the basement. I’d taken to calling him Troll.
	“I’m going to beat you,” I said, determined. 
“Shania, may I have that, please?” Zakary said, holding his hand out. Shania gave him the small white remote she held. “You ready for this?”
“Please.”
“You really like to bluff. We’ll just see who’s better here and now.”
	I gripped my Wii remote tighter. Zakary just so happened to be the king of Just Dance 2. I wanted to beat him more than anything in the world. Since we’d met, we’d been rivals. That hadn’t stopped during his rebellion against me. The two of us would never stop trying to best each other. It was simply the way things worked. However, the only time we could have our dance battles was when Alex was asleep. Which meant that I had to carefully sneak out of bed every morning without waking him up. Tricky stuff, but my training as an assassin came in handy there.
	There was one other thing that bothered me about having Zakary back. He was totally stealing my fame. There were almost as many t-shirts with his face on them as there were with my face. Zakary chose his favorite and best song, the one I trained the hardest at. Hey Ya, by OutKast. It was a fun dance, but probably the hardest and most embarrassing one. I had to get over that if I wanted to beat him. He went for this one every time, and the two of us were setting scores that I’m sure the game creators thought were impossible to reach.
	The dance began, and the two of us became blurs of movement. We were too fast for the game to keep up, so it settled for giving us a steady stream of perfects. There was one part in the song where the game decided to hate me, and that was usually where Zakary would get the advantage. I was going to master that part, even if it killed me. 
	I did well at keeping the score tied at first. When we reached that part, my scores dropped to goods and okays. Unacceptable. I sped up, put more effort into my swings. Zakary laughed. “You’ve lost now.”
“I don’t think so,” I said, as it approached the most embarrassing part of the dance. The part where Zakary and I had to, as the song put it, “shake it like a Polaroid picture”. While I was excellent at that part, whenever I saw him do it, I would start laughing too hard to keep my scores up. This time, I was going to get it. I would win.
	It was time. I put my whole body into it, sending my assassins into fits of giggles. I averted my eyes from Zakary. “Come on, Sine. You know you want to look. What if you’re not getting perfects?”
“I am.”
“How do you know?”
	I opened my eyes as the deadly part finished. I was so close. I could win this. But I saw something out of the corner of my eye. Movement. When I glanced more, all I saw was the open door to the basement. What had I seen moving? I looked down. “Dammit!” I gasped, disappearing and reappearing on the top step. I scooped Blaine up and slammed the door shut. I’d lost. I held Blaine so that she was facing the TV.
	“Do you see that, Blaine Selene? I just lost, all because I had to save you,” I said, ignoring Zakary’s victory dance. Blaine was developing a bit faster than human children. But she would slow down as soon as she began to look like a normal one year old. We’d been assured of this by my mother. Which meant, of course, Blaine had begun to crawl. She wasn’t talking, but she crawled, clapped, giggled, and kissed. Occasionally, she would wave goodbye. But you really had to coax it out of her.
	Blaine clapped her tiny porcelain hands together and giggled. Just like her mother, who I would find fast asleep if I went upstairs. And probably topless. I didn’t know why, but she would immediately pass out after each time she fed Blaine. It was pretty disgusting. Did Dexter ever bother trying to put a shirt on her while she slept? No. That was my job. Just like babysitting this kid, who’d cost me what would’ve been my biggest victory ever. I turned Blaine around.
	She met my eyes as she always did. Blaine liked the look of my eyes. I was fine with that, but I had to hold her at a distance when she was going to look at me. She’d poke my eye out if I didn’t. “Ugh. How could you do this to your own aunt?”
“I think she probably felt sorry for poor Shania,” Shania said, kissing the top of Blaine’s head as she walked by.
	“Where are you going?” I asked.
“I’m going to look around. We haven’t since we arrived in this place. What’s it called again?” 
“I dunno. Greensboro or something like that. Or, that’s the city we’re closest to. Kylah chose this place. Where we are now is Bethany. Janice’s parents live a little ways up the road,” I said. I’d kind of helped Kylah pick this place, but my assassins would think I was getting homesick if I told them that. 
	Kei and Nova rose from the couch. “I think I’m going to get on the computer. Boss, do we need to buy some baby gates or something?” he asked.
“No, Zakary needs to remember to shut the damn door when he comes upstairs,” I snapped, glaring at Zak. 
“Don’t cuss in front of the baby,” he scolded.
	I ignored him. Blaine was exposed to all kinds of things in this house. “Get back to your lair, Troll.”
“You first.”
“Ooh, what a great comeback. I’m so impressed with your quick thinking.”
“Uh oh,” Zakary said, shrinking back. 
	I didn’t even have to turn around to know who was glaring down at the back of my head. I laughed nervously. “Alex. Good to sense you today. You know, I was just gonna give Blaine a bath, so if you’ll excuse me,” I said, trying to walk around him. He stuck his arm out to block my path. But he wasn’t going to yell at me yet. Not while I had the baby in my arms.
	“Zakary. Basement,” Alex ordered.
“Okay.”
“Sine, go put Blaine in her playpen.”
“Um, I don’t think I should. She’s been showing some dangerous tendencies lately. I’ll just hold her,” I said.
	I looked up at Alex hesitantly. He smiled. “I’ll let it go this once if you can beat me at Toxic.”
“Blaine, time to go back upstairs. Alex, you are so going to regret that deal.”