Once Sunday afternoon drew to a close, Val, Ross, and their mother left the countryside. While their mother drove, both of them sat in the backseat together. The front passenger's seat went unoccupied, but that did not matter because Val and Ross preferred sitting together in their sibling solidarity.

"Did you two kids enjoy the trip?" their mother asked over her shoulder.

"Yeah," Val said. "It was really fun being in the middle of nowhere so that we could play with our powers!"

"When you say 'middle of nowhere' like that, it sounds like you are being sarcastic," Ross stated simply.

Val scrunched her face up in a glare and poked her tongue out at him. Her family knew what she meant, so she had not cared enough to bother with eloquent speech. Ross's critique was not appreciated.

Even in the car, he was reading from his textbook. Considering how mortals and immortals alike could experience motion sickness—especially while reading in the car—Val would not have been surprised if Ross developed an ability specifically for this purpose. He could still engage in conversation while his eyes scanned over the pages. "You saw Val, right Mom? She was running around like a squirrel."

"Yes, I did see that," their mother said, chuckling. "I would say that she was running around like a chicken with her head cut off, trying to chase that squirrel!"

Val crossed her arms over her chest and sunk down into the seat. The seatbelt tugged at her body. It was a reminder of the constraints that the mortal world imposed on her, but she did her best to ignore the whining call for freedom that always played at the back of her mind.

Val and Ross were already in the works of developing a plan to escape their dull, mortal lives. They just needed to find the location of the immortal world: the Summit of Ascension. Until then, she would have to deal with seatbelts.

The act of wearing seatbelts was a stupid, unnecessary thing for demigods that they did to placate their mother. Neither Ross nor Val needed seatbelts for their own safety in an automobile. If they were to get into a car accident that was deadly to mortals, she had no doubt that they could walk away just fine.

Only, their mortal mother would not be able to do the same. Despite her own fragility, their mother worried about Val and Ross wearing seatbelts while she herself neglected to wear one.

Morbid thoughts aside, Val was thoroughly annoyed with Ross right now. Without a doubt, she had been tricked into chasing those squirrels yesterday.

The soft sound of rustling paper accompanied the hum of the road. Ross turned the page and kept on reading peacefully. It was as if he did not feel an ounce of guilt over his trick. That was typical for Ross.

They arrived back at their apartment in Brillion City. The fresher, country air, they traded in for the smog of the city. Up the stairs they went so that Ross and Val could start preparing dinner.

Their family liked to take turns doing the duties around the house, so tonight, their mother could relax before returning to work tomorrow. Since Ross had graduated high school last year and continued to live at home, he always contributed around the house and paid for some things, though their mother always protested on both accounts.

Val worked a part-time job over the summer, so she had some income and even more free time. As much as she wanted to help out too, her efforts were mostly shut down. For instance, Val had only gotten to cook a handful of meals before her nonexistent dream of becoming a chef had been shattered.

As the older one, Ross had fulfilled his duty of insulting Val's cooking. "I would rather cook for myself than eat the food that you make," he said. Of course, he only put it that bluntly out of jest.

Instead, Ross and Val took to cooking together so that some of his cooking talent could rub off on her. "If you were more patient and paid more attention to detail, I am sure that you would do better," he had advised. That could probably be applied to other areas of her life, too.

Tonight, they shared a nice dinner where they chattered cheerfully around the table. In spite of the grievances that she had with the mortal world, Val also found happiness in her boring, typical life. When she spent time with her family like this, Val could almost forget about her need to find her proper place in the world—almost.

A demigoddess belonged on the Summit of Ascension. She ought to become a goddess one day. Nothing would ever change that.

Later in the evening, it was time to retire to her room for the night. "Goodnight, Mom. Goodnight Ross."

Her mother kissed her forehead, tousled her hair, and took an uncomfortably long time in patting each hair back into place. Her mother was always overly touchy like that, though. "Goodnight, dear. Sleep well."

"Goodnight, Val," Ross said.

Everything about that night was typical until morning came.

*

At the kitchen table, only Val and her mother were there for breakfast. Usually, Ross was the early riser. Without fail, he always woke up before her. This could be the one chance where Val could make fun of him for a change.

"I'm going to wake up Ross," Val said as she pushed her chair back.

"Oh, that's not necessary," her mother said casually. "You can let him sleep in. I can always see him after work."

While Ross did not have to work today and he could very well sleep in, Val genuinely wanted to wake him up. They had plans for today. Namely, they were going to walk around the city until they found a rat or some such small animal for her to continue trying to learn that new ability.

They would have to be discreet, of course. The public knew about the existence of gods and demigods, but that did not mean they wanted anyone knowing about their divine blood. While an immortal presence was accepted in the mortal world, it was a rarity for demigods to openly live amongst mortals. That was probably because weak demigods could easily disappear.

Demigods either hid their divine blood or something bad happened to them—probably along the lines of horrible science experiments conducted by mortals. Average humans wanted a piece of the power that a select few had since birth. It was only natural, but no less reprehensible.

Val did not want to find out what happened to those demigods whose true identities were discovered. Neither she nor Ross had to worry about that, since they had always done a good job at keeping their golden blood inside their veins or concealed if they must bleed.

When she knocked on the door to Ross's room, she got no response. Out of respect, she waited some good, long seconds and knocked more loudly. Again, Val waited, then let herself into his room. It looked like she really would have to wake him up, at least until her eyes set on his empty bed.

Ross was gone.

"Hey Mom," Val began slowly, but stopped.

Her mother was up earlier than her, so perhaps she had seen him leave. Except then, she would have told Val so much if that were the case. Her mother would freak out if Ross was gone and she did not know of his whereabouts. Seeing as she was right there in the kitchen, it was not like Val could hide his absence, so all of her hesitation was pointless.

"I guess Ross left already. Do you know where he is?"

"Rosamer is gone?" her mother asked, one hand over her dropped mouth. "What do you mean, he's gone?"

"I mean that he's not here," she said plainly. Val mentally prepared herself to soothe the chaos that would surely break out in her mother. As the voice of reason, she said, "Let's check our phones and see if he left us anything."

Indeed, both of them checked their cell phones. Neither of them had a message from Ross.

Preempting her mother's reaction, Val said, "Ross is an adult. There's no reason to freak out, Mom. He can come and go as he pleases."

Her mother was already pacing across the kitchen. "I would like to know when he is leaving and where he is going, so long as he lives under my roof."

"You cannot use that excuse if Ross even helps pay for some of the bills!"

Basic reason was beyond their mother whenever it came down to her trying to protect them from the entire world. "I am his mother! I deserve to know these things. I'm your mother too, Val. Don't you agree with me?"

"No." Personally, Val knew that she had induced similar stress in her mother before. "Mom, just relax. Seriously, he's fine. Maybe he just went to meet a girl last night or something and he isn't back yet."

Knowing her brother, Val could not imagine him getting a girlfriend in the next hundred years. They were immortal after all. He could take that long or longer to find success in romantic pursuits. Despite her pessimism for Ross's dating prospects, Val would say anything to try to calm her mother down.

"Do you think that would make me feel any better?" her mother cried. Hefting out a sigh, she sat back down. "I don't think that I can eat anything right now."

"Uh, that's fine. Don't then. Just relax, and go to work when it's time."

From time to time, her mother missed work, and by that, Val meant that she missed work often enough to constantly be between employment. Between her overly anxious personality and the migraines that she suffered, her mother did not function well in any workplace.

Already, her mother sat there with her fingers kneading her forehead. "You are not worried about Rosamer, are you?"

"No." Though Val said her response plainly, she lied through her teeth. There was no logical answer as to where he could be, so of course she worried about him. They had plans to continue her mental training today.

"If he comes home while I am at work, could you give me a text?"

"Yep." Given the ordeal that had just gone on in the house, Val did not exactly want to stay and eat breakfast either. "I think that I want to go back to bed." Fleeing for her bedroom, she stopped when her mother spoke again.

"Oh, Val, wait. I know that this must be just as surprising for you as it is for me, but please do not feel overwhelmed."

It was funny to hear her mother talk like that. "I'm fine. I just want some alone time."

Ross and Val always tried to include their mother the best that they could on things related to their divine blood. As they developed a new understanding overtime, they always explained everything to her. Because of this, her mother should know very well why Val wanted to retreat to her room, and her next request reflected that.

"Please do not try going after Rosamer. Who knows when he left last night or where he could have gone."

Val's eyes flitted from side to side. "Don't worry. I won't." Whether that was a lie or a truth, she did not know yet. If she could find Ross, then of course she would go after him. First though, she had to find him, so she entered her room and shut the door after herself.

Past Insight would come in handy for this type of thing.

Character Update:

* All entries are based on what Val knows.

Rosamer (Ross) Title: None Rank: Demigod Attributes: None Abilities Name Class Description

Future Sight

cognitive

- feels a general sense of intuition regarding the future

- cannot use knowledge of the future in a way that causes immediate, prominent changes in the web of destiny without weakening the effect

Read Mind

cognitive

- listen in on other people's conscious thoughts