Venus places her hand on the glass container to the left. Inside it Crystal floats, ghost like, in the water. Wisps of her blonde hair twist and twirl in slow motion around her pale face.

Is she dead? Oh god. Is she dead?

Venus looks at Cal.

"This one is for you!" she says.

Then she runs over to the second translucent door and brings her doll like gaze to my face.

"And this one...this one is for you!"

Cupid's thumps against the glass behind her are becoming weaker. His eyes are bulging in panic but they have found me. I can see his mouth moving but the words are lost behind the window.

Adrenalin surges through my body making every inch of me tremble. My stomach is turning and I'm dangerously close to throwing up.

I need to get him out of there.

She claps her hands together impatiently.

"Well? Come on then" she says "Are you going to open your presents or not?"

For a moment I stay rooted to the spot.

Is this a trick?

Then I don't care anymore; I don't care if it's a trick, or if Venus is going to kill me, or that I'm going to be put to trial. I don't care that Cal has betrayed me, or that I'm terrified, or that I may never get to see my dad again.

All I care about is Cupid – his life slowly trickling away into that container of water.

I bolt forwards, past the desk, and past Venus – my body slamming into the glass door.

I place my palms all over it, trying to find out how to get it open.

There's no door handle.

How can I get him out?

Inside Cupid looks calmer than before – his usually ruffled hair standing on end in the water. He taps against the glass to get my attention then gestures with his head. I follow his gaze.

Venus still stands between the two doors. She dangles a key delicately from her fingers.

"Silly little match" she says "You'll need a key to open that door."

I rush forwards and snatch it from her – her sickly sweet scent washing over me as I get close. I don't look to her face for a reaction; I just race back, my eyes searching for a key hole.

I can't find it.

Cupid taps against the glass again and points to my left.

There's a small hole in the glass. I jam in the key, turn, and pull backwards.

The door bursts open and I am engulfed with ice cold water. I fall onto my back gasping as Cupid crashes down on top of me. His skin is cold and wet and he burrows his head down by my shoulder as he splutters and gulps in the room's scented air.

I lay there in a couple of moments of cold relief before I remember the other container.

Crystal.

I roll Cupid off me and sit up – frantically looking to see if Venus' other victim is alright.

Cal is striding forwards towards the second door. His expression is unreadable. He snatches the key off Venus and glares at her. Then he turns the lock – standing to the side as Crystal's fragile looking form comes crashing out onto the floor.

"Crystal" I whisper urgently "Is she...?"

Cupid is now on his hands and knees – retching water. He coughs a few more times and then looks at me.

"Our kind can't drown. Not fully." He says, his voice sounds wheezy and tired "She'll be alright, lovebug, eventually..."

With that he collapses back onto the ground and rolls over onto his back, stretching out wearily in the shallow puddle of water. He blinks a few times – his chest moving up and down as he takes big heavy breaths.

I look up at Venus who towers between me and Cupid, and Crystal and Cal. There's a thunderous expression on her face and the air around her suddenly feels static and charged.

The hairs on my arms prickle and stand on end.

"Look at the mess you've made on my floor" she shrieks "Water. EVERYWHERE."

I shuffle backwards, away from her and towards Cupid. Cal merely stares at her. He's standing a few feet away from Crystal who remains unmoving on the ground – he looks bored.

"Mother" he says calmly "What is the meaning of this? I understand Cupid – but why is Crystal here?"

He looks down at Crystal on the floor with a look of distaste on his face. She finally moves – a weak gasp escapes from her lips.

I feel a small moment of relief.

"I couldn't care less whether she lives or dies" he says.

I blink angrily and suddenly Venus is stood in front of Cal.

"You don't?" she says.

Her lips are twisted into a smile but there is no kindness in her unblinking eyes.

"Of course not" he snaps – unflinching "She's one of your agents. She's nothing to me."

Venus takes a step backwards – her skirt of roses rustling as she moves. She looks confused for a minute.

"Yes" she says thoughtfully as Crystal begins to retch on the floor "She is mine isn't she?"

Suddenly she is looming over her. She picks her up by the neck of her drenched white jacket and throws her into the wall as though she weighs nothing. Crystal bounces off and thuds hard onto the ground – still once more.

"Mine to do whatever I please with" Venus continues.

She smiles that twisted smile again – and advances slowly towards Crystal's crumpled form.

"She has been a very naughty agent" she says "gallivanting around with Cupid and his match. I think I will kill her."

"Mother..." warns Cal.

She turns to him.

"If you hurt her now you can't make an example of her – like Lila – remember." He says slowly "You can put her up for trial too – so everyone knows what you do people who betray you."

She blinks then nods a disjointed kind of nod – her movements make me think of a character in a creepy stop motion film.

"Yes" she says dreamily "I'll put her on trial with the others."

She looks at Cal and smiles sweetly.

"At least I have one good son" she says.

She moves beside him and strokes his face with her white, slippery looking fingers – looking out over the lot of us. Then she sighs.

"I'm bored of you all now" she says "GUUAARRDDSS!"

The two agents from outside burst back inside.

"Help Cal transport these downstairs. Put them with my other pets" she says. "Come on. Hurry."

The two agents sprint forwards. The male scoops Crystal up over his shoulder while the female pulls Cupid up to his feet. Cal strides over to me and offers me his hand.

"Get up" he says forcefully.

I glare at him but take his hand – allowing him to pull me to my feet.

I don't know where we're being taken, but it has to be better than being in here; being with Her.

"GO ON. GET THEM OUT OF MY SIGHT" Venus screams. "I DON'T WANT TO LOOK AT THEM ANYMORE. GO! GO! GO!"

The agents race us out of the door. I don't dare look back as it closes behind us.

I can't stop shaking.

Now outside, Cal lets go of my arm to pick up his bow and quivers from by the wall.

"This way" he says - walking back down the corridor.

I look behind me. Crystal is still wet and unconscious – carried effortlessly by the guard. Cupid is trudging beside the female – seemingly accepting his fate.

I'm not sure if his calmness is terrifying or reassuring.

Does he have a plan? Or is he just too tired to fight?

Cal takes us to the elevator and hustles us inside. Behind him Cupid reaches for my hand and squeezes it.

It'll be OK he mouths to me.

I wish I could believe that.

When the elevator stops we are marched down another corridor to the indoor courtyard I passed through on my first visit to the Matchmaking Service.

The male agent walks up to the the statue of Venus – Crystal still sways over his shoulder but I notice her eyes blinking open.

The agent produces a key card and scans it across the face of the statue. Then he takes a step backwards as the clear, circular pool behind it is slowly raised a couple of inches, and slides across the cobbled stones. In its place is a gaping hole and through it is the top of a twisted stairway leading into darkness.

"Get off me" mumbles Crystal.

The agent places her back onto her feet. He looks a bit embarrassed as she glares at him and I wonder if they know each other.

"Venus' orders" he mutters.

She gives him an icy look then surveys the rest of us; me and Cupid, as drenched and bedraggled as she is, the other agent, and Cal stood rigidly beside us. For a moment she looks as though she's going to make some kind of cutting remark, before seemingly deciding we're not worth the energy. She shakes her head to herself and heads down the stairway.

"I can take it from here" Cal informs the two guards.

They look at him hesitantly and Cal frowns.

"Need I remind you that I am your superior?" he says. "Go back to your post. I can handle a few prisoners."

The male looks at him.

"You sure you can get their Sims fired up on your own?"

Sims?

Cal nods stiffly.

"Very well sir" he says, and the two of them head back down the corridor.

Cal leads us to the hole and Cupid and I follow him down the stairway. It's dark at the bottom – dimly lit by a long flickering artificial light attached to the low ceiling. It smells of damp.

As we walk onwards my stomach begins to turn. There are barred doors in the walls; each one with a chair behind it. On each chair there is a person – a person with no space to move staring blankly out into the darkness.

I peer into one as we pass.

A petite girl with creamy brown skin and jet black hair sits behind the door – her eyes closed as though asleep. She must be around my age. As I look at her I stagger backwards. Her hair looks like it is moving – alive - and I notice a small black snake entwining itself around her neck.

A scribbled placard above the door reads: Medusa.

Medusa?

We move further forwards past another door where a tall black man sits, a scar across his face, his brown eyes staring blankly outwards. I don't catch the writing signalling his name, but I notice Crystal looking in at him and shaking her head sadly.

I think back to the Records of the Finis.

Is he the Minotaur?

The lines of doors stretch onwards and I see other names as we pass; I notice an Icarus and a Pandora, I see Hermes - the guy from Elysium with the eyeliner, and then my heart jolts as I see Charlie's face peering lifelessly out from one barred window, and Selena's from another.

Cal comes to a halt beside three empty, barred rooms.

They must be for us.

Panic fills me.

I don't want to go in there.

I look up at Cupid for support but to my surprise he is grinning. He walks past me and pats his brother on the back.

"Do you think Venus bought it?" he asks.

"I should think so" says Cal.

"You got the Finis?"

Cal nods again.

"Good work brother."

I frown, confused, and Crystal rolls her eyes.

"You could have told me you know" she says to Cal "Jerk."

With that she walks through the door nearest to her and sits down on the seat in the wall.

"What...what's going on??" I ask.

Cal turns to me, a bashful look on his face.

"I'm sorry Lila" he says "It was the only way to get the Finis back in the building. You had to believe I'd betrayed you. Venus would have known if you didn't."

I think back to the house; I'd thought back then that the two brothers were silently communicating with each other.

"You mean... this was the plan all along?" I say.

Cupid nods.

"A bit of a last minute plan" he says "But yes."

For a moment I don't know whether to feel relieved or annoyed.

I decide to settle on relieved.

Things definitely aren't perfect, but they aren't looking as bad as they did five minutes ago...

I grin.

"OK. Well...what do we do now then?" I ask.

Cal gestures down at the rows of barred doors.

"Behind each one is a powerful enemy of Venus" he says "An enemy who would like nothing better than to take Venus down. She keeps them all here in their own individual Sims. They're tormented inside, and they don't realise that they're in a Sim so they're trapped there. The only way they can get out is if they realise it's not real and they find the way out."

He passes me, Cupid and Crystal a small microchip. Cupid slips his into his ear.

"That's where we come in." says Cupid "We're going to go into their Sims"

He grins at me.

" And we're going to wake up some Myths."