"Looking for something?" I turned around in Dr. Saltzman's chair and dangled the car keys in the tribrid's face.
"Give me those." Hope tried to snatch the keys out of my grasp but I evaded her. "I thought you said you were going to Olympus."
"That's what I told you because I knew you would run off to go after the human."
"And you're here to stop me?" She crossed her arms.
"No, Andrea," I sighed. "I'm here to help you because instead of asking for my help you would rather do it on your own without knowing what you are getting yourself into. We literally talked about this four hours ago. You push people away. It's by some miracle of the Gods you haven't pushed me away."
Hope rolled her eyes, muttering a spell and the keys flew into her hands. "I didn't ask for your help because I don't need your help."
"Zeus give me strength." I let out an airy chuckle. "Since you don't need my assistance I am going to Olympus. For real this time."
I stood up from the chair but Hope stopped me, putting her hand on my shoulder. "If I do need help, you'll be the first person I'll fire message."
Pressing a kiss to her forehead, I sighed, "Be safe." I closed my eyes and thought of Mount Olympus. "Don't miss," I whispered in Artemis' ear but like always she hit her target.
"You should know this by now, little sister. I never miss." She gave me a smug smile and I rolled my eyes giving her the same smile.
"Yes, yes. Goddess of the hunt and all that."
"Did you and Andrea get into another argument?" Artemis questioned while making a hunting simulation.
"What makes you say that?"
"You either come to Olympus when you want to get away from Andrea or when you want to start trouble with Apollo. And since our dear brother is currently indisposed you are here because you and Andrea fought. What happened?"
"The wisest one out of us all, Athena."
"Very funny, Alexius. What happened?"
"Wasn't really a fight but I can feel her pushing me away. Something bad is brewing, Artemis. I can feel it."
My sister stopped moving through her simulation and stood in front of me. "Have you had a vision?"
"Not yet, but I'm sure I'll be getting one soon."
She brought her hand up to my face and cupped it. "So remain calm until you receive one of the world ending. Would you like to visit the girls with me?"
"Yes, Thalia and I need a rematch. She cheated the last time we sparred. Where are they?"
"Romania last I checked." Artemis did her thing and we suddenly we were in a clearing full of tents.
"Lady Artemis." A girl bowed. "Alexius."
"There's no need for that, Leila. You can stand."
Leila brought herself to her full height and smiled at my sister.
"Do you have a mission for us?"
"Not at the moment. I just wanted to check on you all. Where's Thalia?"
"She went hunting said she needed to clear her mind. Shall I call her back?"
"No, I'll search for her myself. Tell the rest of the girls I said hello."
"Will do, Lady Artemis."
Artemis began walking into the forest and I followed her with a smile on my face.
"After you, Lady Artemis," I laughed.
"Oh, shut up, Alexius."
"Will do, Lady Artemis," I continued laughing and caught the arrow that flew by my head. "Maybe next time, Thalia."
Another daughter of Zeus stepped out from behind the tree with a bow in her hands and a huge smirk forming on her face.
"Last time we fought I won."
"Only cause I was distracted."
"Yeah, by your tribrid girlfriend." Thalia turned to my sister and smiled. "Lady Artemis."
"Thalia," Artemis smiled back. "How are you?"
Our sister shrugged her shoulders. "Nothing new."
"Staying out of trouble?"
"You know trouble finds me." I chuckled at Thalia's answer and they gave me a look.
"What?"
"You seem tense, Lex. Wanna spar?" Thalia came closer to me and started poking my chest and abdomen.
"This is who you are allowing led the Huntress?" I questioned Artemis, ignoring Thalia. "A child."
"First, I'm not a child," Thalia pouted and continued poking me which proved my point. "And second you know you wanna hit me."
She pulled her arm back to poke me again but I caught it and twisted it around, putting her in a headlock.
"Are you finished?" I asked but Thalia grunted, throwing her head back and connecting with my nose.
"No, I'm not," she answered, getting in her fighting stance.
I looked at my older sister and she shook her head, chuckling, "This is between you two." A bucket of popcorn appeared in her hands.
My arm came forward, blocking the kick directed at my face which brought my attention back to Thalia.
"I was standing still. How'd you miss?" I smirked.
Instead of answering, she threw a combo of punches with a majority of them being blocked. Quickly turning my defense to offense, I trapped her arms and landed punches to her abdomen. I swept her legs from under her and punched her face until my back connected with a tree.
Artemis' angry face came into my view. "What is wrong with you? You could have killed her."
I looked over her shoulder to see a groaning Thalia with a bloody face.
"She's a demigod; she's fine."
The sound of Artemis' hand connecting with my cheek rang through the forest so loudly the birds flew out of their nests. I laughed, spitting out the blood.
"Think you knocked out a tooth."
"Alexius, look at me because I'm only going to say this once." I hummed, looking at my sister. "Fix whatever is going on with you before I fix it for you."
"Yes ma'am."
I teleported back to Olympus and received another slap to the face.
"Why'd you do that?" I questioned Athena, rubbing my cheek, the same one Artemis slapped.
"I thought you had your temper under control."
"It is under control," I murmured, pushing past her but she stopped me.
"Then explained what just happened with Thalia."
"Nothing happened, she's fine. Can I go?"
"She is not fine, Alexius," Athena scolded me. "She is laying on the forest floor with her face covered in blood."
"She wanted to spar so we sparred."
"That is not sparring and you know it." My sister stared into my eyes as if she was searching for an explanation. "You would tell me if something was wrong?"
"You know I would, sister." I pulled her into a hug. "You know I would."
࿊࿊࿊
"Apollo!" I shouted, jumping on his back. "Did you have fun with the human girl?"
"What makes you think I was with a human girl?" he asked.
"Artemis told me and I can smell the perfume. Is that Versace? What's her name? Did you use your real name or a fake?"
"Yes, not telling you, also not telling you."
"But I'm the favorite."
"I'll tell you if you tell me what went through your mind when you were pummeling Thalia."
I threw my head back with a groan. "For the last time nothing happened. Thalia wanted to spar so we sparred."
Apollo flipped me over his shoulder so I was standing in front of him. "You almost killed her, Alexius."
"Artemis stopped me before it reached that point. She'll heal in a couple of hours."
A fire message appeared when I finished talking. It was from Hope asking for my help. I chuckled, shaking my head.
"I have to go, brother. Tell our sisters I'm fine."
Teleporting to Hope's location, I was met with Dr. Saltzman at some type of motel.
"What are you doing here?" we asked at the same time.
"Hope fire messaged me saying she needed help," I answered first.
"I caught her sneaking out saying Landon was in trouble. Why weren't you with her?"
"I was then went to Olympus. Was he in trouble?"
Dr. Saltzman nodded his head. "Yeah, he found his mom but apparently a monster followed him and they came here."
"Why are monsters still after him?"
"Who knows but you won't believe this."
"I'm a Greek goddess, Dr. Saltzman."
"True," He smiled and shook his head like he still couldn't believe it. "Malivore is Landon's father."
My shocked face morphed into anger when Dr. Saltzman opened the room door. Hope was on top of Landon with her shirt halfway up her body. They were all over each other, kissing.
"Damn," I chuckled and walked away, ignoring the tribrid's call of my name.
I closed my eyes to teleport to Olympus but when I opened them, I was still in the motel parking lot with Hope standing in front of me.
"How?" I whispered the question.
"I-I don't know," she stuttered.
"Hope." Hurt flashed in her eyes but she quickly hid it. "You just stopped me from teleporting. How?"
"I didn't want you to leave."
"You didn't want me to leave after I saw you kissing Landon," I repeated her words making sure I heard her.
"It was a mistake." The tribrid reached for me but I stepped backwards.
"Yeah, I'm sure it was." I let out a dry chuckle, shaking my head.
"Alexius," Hope started but closed her mouth when our ears picked up a person trying to start a car.
"Who's that lady?"
"Landon's mom, Seylah," she said and walked towards her.
"He found his mom but not his own girlfriend."
"Let me guess. Pizza run?"
"Alaric was right. You are a pain. Who are you?" Landon's mom gestured her head towards me.
"Why are you stealing a car?" I avoided the question and asked my own.
"It's my car, so it's not stealing," she replied, rubbing the two wires together.
"Oh, then you're just afraid to go upstairs and get your keys because then you'd have to tell Landon that you're abandoning him again," Hope spoke up. "Even worse."
"He likes you, Hope. Be good to him." I held in my laughter at Landon mom's words.
"You first. Now, are you coming with, or do I need to drag your ass upstairs?"
"I never thought I'd see him again. And I was okay with that. Being a mother was never on my list of things to do before I died. Every now and then, over the years, I wondered how he was. What kind of person he turned out to be. If he had a nice life. Turns out he's a good person with a crappy life. He deserves better."
"Then help make it better," Hope pleaded with her.
"That's exactly what I'm doing." The engine started and she closed the door.
"What you think you're doing for him doesn't matter. All that he's gonna remember of you is that you abandoned him when he needed you the most."
"No. He won't remember me, period. And neither will you."
She shot Hope with a dart, causing the tribrid to fall to the ground. I was hit too but one dart wasn't enough to knock me out. When she noticed she frowned and rapidly pressed the trigger, delaying my movements. She took advantage of the situation and drove out of the parking lot.
"Hope," I groaned, feeling the effects of the darts. "Wake up. I still need to yell at you for kissing the mop head. Why did you?"
"Because you were right about me pushing people away," she answered.
I looked at her and helped her stand up. "So you kissed him to test my hypothesis."
She turned to me and sighed. "I don't know, Alexius."
"Let me know when you do."
I went towards the room door but heard a snarl, the tribrid must have heard it also because she brought her hand up and the door flew open.
"Ictus," she chanted and the monster was thrown back into the bathroom with the door slamming shut. "Also: ick!"
"See?! Danger magnet!" Landon yelled while pointing at the door. The creature still making noise.
"Uh, I'm guessing a Mer-Man," Dr. Saltzman said and the monster banged on the door. "A very pissed Mer-Man."
"Why are the monsters still coming for him?" Hope asked. "We don't even have what they want."
"Oh, no," Landon gasped, gripping his backpack.
"Zeus," I groaned, throwing my head back. "What did you steal now?"
"Hope, you said a necromancer told you the knife was one of three keys, right?"
"The Necromancer," she corrected him. "Like I said, it's a long story, But why does it matter?"
Landon turned around with a statue in his hands and at that moment I never wanted to kill someone so badly.
"Son of a bitch," Dr. Saltzman mumbled.
"This is Seylah's," Landon explained then started rambling, "I picked it up, but I didn't steal it. I-I... Not on purpose, anyway. I don't know how it got in there, just like how I don't know what happened with the knife. - I swear, I wouldn't do that again."
Dr. Saltzman, Hope, and I looked at each other during his rambling.
"Landon, Landon," Hope called his name. "It's okay I believe you."
"Am I the only one who doesn't?"
The banging on the door grew louder.
"We gotta move," Dr. Saltzman told us.
Landon put the statue in his backpack but Hope stopped him.
"No, no, no, wait. Leave it, leave it."
"What? Are you out of your mind?" Dr. Saltzman questioned her and I wanted to say yes.
"No. I'm just sick of playing the same game. So let the monster have it. He'll take it to Malivore. We follow him, we know where it is."
"I am not taking two teenagers and a Greek goddess to a covert military hiding place for a demon portal."
"You kind of have to!"
"Why?" Landon asked.
"Because Seylah's going there," I answered and looked at him. He had a sorry look on his face but I could care less right now.
"Why? Did she tell you guys that?"
"In her own way," Hope replied, holding up Landon's tracer bracelet and put in the the statue. "Hold that. I'll explain in the car. Let's go."
"H-He's a fish man on land. How fast can he be, right?" Dr. Saltzman wondered. Suddenly the monster tore through the door. "Oh, my God!"
"Turns our he's pretty fast," Hope said from the backseat, sticking her head in between the seats.
"Listen, this was your idea. So is it within my bounds as the headmaster to tell you to shut it?"
"Yes," I mumbled an answer to Dr. Saltzman's question.
"What if we don't get there in time?" Landon asked also from the backseat. The two lovebirds deserved to sit with each other.
"Seylah doesn't have that much of a lead on us," Hope told him.
"I can't believe she wants to erase herself just to get out of being a parent. Why can't Alexius just teleport us to Triad and we wait for the monster?"
"Because Alexius can't teleport places she isn't familiar with and because Alexius isn't your personal teleporting device," I responded. "Alexius would also do anything to get out of being your parent including erase herself."
Hope flicked my ear and I looked at her through the rear view mirror, rolling my eyes.
"What the hell is that?!" Landon yelled, pointing at a fence and Dr. Saltzman stopped the car.
"Why are you so loud?" I asked as everyone got out of the car.
There were multiple signs on the metal fence.
"Triad," Hope read one.
"Explosives?"
"On the bright side, maybe this fence stopped our fishy friend," Dr. Saltzman said then I looked around the fence.
"I don't think so." I shook my head and climbed through the fence to enter a large clearing with the monster a few yards away.
"There," Hope said, slowing down. She stopped Landon when he tired running towards it. "Hey, stay back. He's dangerous."
"I have to get in there," he told her, getting out of her hold.
Hope screamed his name, running after him. Dr. Saltzman and I followed them but in the next second an explosion occurred and we were blown backwards.
With a groan, I woke up to the bright sun rays on my face and stood up. There were large carters in the field. Looking around, Dr. Saltzman, Hope and Landon had gotten up and seemed disoriented.
"Where the hell are we? What happened?" Landon fired off questions.
"I don't know," Dr. Saltzman groaned. "But I don't think we're in Kansas anymore."
I looked at Hope with widened eyes and she gave me the same expression.
"You remember?"
She discreetly nodded her head. How did we remember but not Dr. Saltzman and Landon?
We made our way to the car and everyone got in their previous seats.
"Thank you again for coming to help me," Landon broke the silence.
"Sorry you didn't find your mother," Dr. Saltzman apologized. "What I don't understand is why I can't remember how we found you. Hope?" He glanced at the tribrid through the rear view mirror. "Any theories?"
"Work in progress," she murmured.
"What about you, Alexius?"
"No, Dr. Saltzman." I shook my head. "Sorry."
"It's okay. I'm sure we'll find answers sooner rather then later."
There was silence. Again. Landon broke it. Again.
"Uh, I think the bus stop is actually that way."
"Oh, that's okay. We'll drive you," Dr. Saltzman told him.
"Where?" I asked the headmaster scared of the answer.
"Home."
"Speaking of home, I forgot my father asked me to complete something for him. I'll be back by dinner." I turned around in the seat and looked at Landon. "Have fun at the Salvatore School. I'm sure everyone will make your stay enjoyable." My eyes flickered to Hope when I said the last sentence and teleported to Olympus.
"Where's Athena?" I asked a random person walking by.
"I saw her last in the training room, Lady Alexius."
Running through the halls of the palace, I bursted through the doors and saw my sister beating up a dummy.
"Athena," I called out almost stuttering.
"What's wrong?" she questioned making her way towards me.
"A-Andrea," This time I did stutter and couldn't breathe.
"Alexius." My sister gripped my face. "Alexius, talk to me. What happened with Andrea?"
"T-The prophecy is right. S-She's going to kill me." I realized then my vision went black.