Juliet had left Jacob and Helena behind. The two had joined the officers sworn to Hektor, his military freaks. Instead, she chose to wander around, to explore.

There was something in the air that made her skin curl. It wasn’t the sickness itself as much as its effect on the people.

The empty street made it for a ghost town. But knowing that the buildings were jam-packed with people gave her the impression of being observed at every twist and turn.

And not just that, but her own blood seemed to react very violently with this place. She felt her heritage stir and scream. The Phoenix in her was trying to communicate something.

Even though she had crossed the threshold to the Oriole Realm and she could now probably humble most of Hektor élite, Juliet wasn’t feeling confident.

She had liked the Ancestral Bond effect on her since day one, but she had let some of Epagogia’s words crack her confidence.

The special bond she shared with Jacob had made her much more self-conscious and meditative than she had ever been. Spontaneity and anger had marked a big part of her life.

Juliet had bitch-slapped her own stepfather during the first day of the apocalypse. She had done wild things for a fifteen-year-old. Some of her adventures were not even known to her family and friends. She had ventured in the nearby forests, off trail, and she had had scraps with beasts before she could split a bear in two with a karate-chop.

Doubts.

So many doubts assaulted her.

She had seen a world of Black Flames, but she also needed her Golden Flames if she wanted to be the support Jacob needed.

But there was a call in what she had seen in her vision, a reality greater than she had ever thought possible.

She was torn.

“Hey kid,” she heard a voice coming from the corner.

She had been walking in the main street where all the restaurants and nice shops had been before the apocalypse turned the world upside down.

“Hello,” Juliet said while craning her head a bit.

“I’m trying to help some people get home, I think they are sick, would you mind helping me?” he had a worried expression but he was still trying to put on a smile.

“Sure,” Juliet nodded. They needed to start building ties in this community and helping people in need was definitely a good start.

She ha’d no idea who that man was. But one thing was for sure, his expression seemed genuine enough that she was willing to follow him.

They didn’t speak because soon after turning the corner Juliet almost retched. There, on the ground, two people layed without pants, with the skin on their legs open to the raw flesh beneath in most parts. It was a gory sight and the smell, God, the smell almost made her faint.

She had fought Charybdes and she would forever carry those nightmares with her, but this was different. Fighting Charybdes had been a quick business, something to rush into.

While looking at the plague that was slowly taking every trace of humanity away from those two bodies, Juliet didn’t know what to do.

You can kill a monster, but you cannot kill a disease.

Right?

Without even thinking she approached the two people, dodging the man who was now trying to stop her.

“Don’t touch them directly! You need some form of protection if you don’t want to get infected yourself!” the man said.

“Don’t worry,” Juliet looked at him seriously and then got on the ground.

She knew she had the Sacred Queen Phoenix Constitution and that she could somehow help them.

It was a vague sensation, a hunch. She didn’t know what had called her from her very own soul, but something was there. Something was telling her that she could help them, that she would be able to make their life better.

They were two men—no, two young men. Not over thirty years old.

Their expression was twisted in pain, but both had fainted. They couldn’t even protest or shout at such injustice.

So, she summoned her Golden Flames.

She had discovered their power while meditating on her heritage. They had been an incredible source of power, but Juliet felt that they only partially represented herself. Now, though, they were an anchor; they became something to use to make sense of this tragedy.

She covered herself in Golden Flames.

Raising her eyes, she saw the man behind her recoil in surprise.

She ignored him. There was something much more important to attend to.

Jacob had said that he was going to hunt the Plague Doctor, but he hadn’t said whether or not he would be capable of curing those people. The disease they carried, apparently, was too strong to be subdued by the ingredients Jacob currently had on his hands.

And if Jacob couldn’t help everyone, someone else had to do it.

Juliet felt she was that someone.

She wasn’t as naturally talented as Helena, but to hell if she couldn’t bend the fate of the two poor bastards in front of her.

Juliet sat cross-legged.

The man behind her was saying something, but she ignored him.

Politeness had never belonged with Juliet, for all she tried to appear civil in front of Jacob.

Now, she had one mission, and one only.

To save these two people.