"Get back here Hermes!" A familiar male voice shouted amid glass shattering beyond the lobby. It was Zeus.

When I neared a concrete wall, I slowed down to a halt. I quickly hid behind it and gazed at the commotion that was happening.

Just like what Poseidon said, Zeus and Athena were both busy fighting two black-clad men. One of them was perched on a museum column while shooting golden arrows at Athena's direction. Athena held a bronze shield and used it to block her assailant's arrows.

Zeus, on the other hand, was attacking another using an iron sword. The man he called Hermes was constantly dodging his attacks.

"You can't catch me!" Hermes teased. "You're too slow!"

Zeus grunted and brashly slashed his sword at Hermes multiple times, but Hermes kept on sidestepping. It didn't take long before Zeus leaned on his sword for support, panting. Hermes smugly looked at his opponent.

"Are you done yet?" Hermes asked, feigning a yawn. "Let's make this fight a little more interesting, shall we?"

As soon as he said those words, he bent down into a crouch. His body started to enlarge, orange fur growing from his skin and his limbs turned into big paws. His clothes started to tear off, giving way for his fur-covered body and razor-sharp claws. Yellow eyes replaced his emerald ones and his human teeth turned into pointed canines.

I gasped. H-He just turned into a tiger!

The tiger roared, making Zeus step back in fear. Athena and the archer both froze on their places, staring at the majestic feline that replaced Hermes.

"What good timing, Hermes!" the archer called. "We really needed you to turn into a tiger for the mission!"

I swore that the tiger's eyes moved sideways, as if trying to roll them. He ignored the archer and took a step forward, baring its large canines at Zeus.

Zeus gulped. "S-Stay away."

A fit of laughter resonated in Hermes's mind. This is going to be fun.

Athena shuffled in front of Zeus, shielding him from the advancing tiger.

"Step back, Hermes" she said, a hint of terror in her voice. "I-I'm warning you."

Tiger Hermes growled in response.

Mustering his courage with a deep breath, Zeus stepped away from Athena's shield. "I'll take care of this."

Athena stared at him in disbelief. "Are you mad, Zeus? It's a freaking ti—"

"I said I'll take care of it," he said, adjusting the grip on his sword. "Go and stop Apollo."

Just as he said this, a golden arrow shot towards them. Luckily, Athena stopped it in time with her shield and glared at the archer.

Apollo shrugged halfheartedly. "It was worth a shot."

Athena let out a battle cry and headed to Apollo. He started raining her with his golden arrows only to bounce off from Athena's shield. Even though it seemed useless, Apollo continued shooting Athena with arrows until he ran out of them.

Athena put down her shield and smirked. "Not so brave without your arrows, are you, Apollo?"

Apollo jumped down from the column and tossed his bow aside, the golden bow landing on the marble tiles with a clatter.

"I didn't want it to come to this but. . ."

He flicked both of his wrists and produced two golden daggers. At the blink of an eye, he threw one of them at Athena's direction. Athena instinctively stepped away from the dagger's path but the knife left a tiny scratch on her cheek. Blood started to trickle from the small wound.

Touching the wound, Athena laid down her shield beside her and took out a bronze dagger. "You're not the only one who has shiny toys."

Apollo pointed his dagger at the shield. "Putting down Aegis is a stupid move, even for you, Athena."

Athena glanced at her shield and smiled knowingly. "We'll see."

She wagged a finger at him, coaxing him to come to her. Apollo sprinted towards Athena, the tip of his dagger dangerously pointed at her.

Apollo sent a flurry of attacks at Athena's direction, who quickly took on defense and blocked every single attack. After a few beats, Athena switched to offense and started striking Apollo with her own moves.

Their fight became more intense as time ticked by. Both of them were so fast now that I couldn't keep up on who was attacking or defending anymore. One minute Apollo would get pushed away by Athena, the next minute he would be behind her by the time she blinked her eyes open.

I just realized. . . Athena looked really awesome while she was on combat mode.

When Athena and Apollo didn't look like taking a break anytime soon, I shifted my gaze on the other fight happening at the other side of the lobby. Hermes the Tiger circled around Zeus, eyeing him with lethal intent while Zeus looked at the big feline warily, his sword raised on guard.

Both of them continued circling each other for a few moments before suddenly, Tiger Hermes pounced at Zeus. Zeus sidestepped and swiped his sword at Hermes's side, leaving a gash on the tiger's belly.

Tiger Hermes bellowed in pain. Zeus gave a triumphant grin.

Hermes attacked Zeus again, this time aiming at the sword on his hand. Zeus tried to jump out of the way but he got hit by one of Hermes's long claws. Zeus hissed as the claw pierce his leg, leaving a tear on his pants and a long and deep wound exposed itself.

I covered my mouth with my hand, trying to hold down a shriek.

Zeus landed on the floor face first and the sword slipped from his grasp. He tried to crawl and get it back but Hermes already got near and pushed the sword farther away.

Laughing nervously, Zeus pushed himself up and slowly stepped back, limping and shaking in fear. He came near to a meteorite in a glass display and used it as support, gripping on the side with one hand while holding his injured leg with another.

"O-okay, Hermes, you win," Zeus stuttered. "Let's stop before somebody gets hurt real bad. . ."

Tiger Hermes let out a low rumble. Staring at Zeus intently, he approached him with an aura of a predator hunting its prey, murderous and taunting.

My eyes widen as I watched the scene unfold. Zeus had a bleeding leg and was holding himself against a large, vicious tiger.

I blinked back the tears forming in my eyes. The situation looked helpless.

"No. . ." My voice trailed off as I thought of the inevitable outcome of this fight.

Zeus, for some reason, suddenly didn't look afraid at the least and wore a confident smirk on his face, which made the incoming tiger hesitate for a second, tilting his head in confusion.

"What's the hold-up?" Zeus mocked. "Having second thoughts already?"

Small, navy blue rods of energy began to form one of Zeus's palms, creating a crackling sound. It looked like a mini light show on his hand, beautiful but dangerous at the same time. The electricity emitting from his palm was so potent that some strands of my hair started to rise up.

Realizing what was going to happen, Hermes continued his approach and jumped at Zeus, his sharp fangs and claws bared like deadly knives. But he was a moment too late. Zeus threw a shot of electricity at him. Hermes got hit midair and landed on the floor with a thud, twitching uncontrollably. The patch of fur where he was hit was completely singed.

Hermes tried to stand on his fours but instead collapsed from his effort. He growled at Zeus, staring at him with his yellow feline eyes.

"Don't even think about it," Zeus warned, creating another ball of electricity on his hand.

Across the lobby, I heard someone holler in pain. I turned to see Apollo clutching his arm and was glaring at Athena, who had her bronze dagger inches from his head.

"I'll get my revenge on you," he spat.

Athena rolled her eyes. "Whatever, Apollo." She turned to her brother, who was still supporting himself on the pedestal. "Zeus, are you okay?"

"It depends on your definition of being okay," he replied casually. When he tried to move his leg, he let out a pained moan. "Nope. Definitely not okay."

"Let me help you with that," I blurted, revealing myself to them.

Athena and Zeus looked at me in surprise, while Apollo stared at me in confusion. Hermes, still in tiger form, didn't move.

"Amelia?" The two Olympian siblings chorused.

I waved at them awkwardly. "H-Hey, guys."

"What are you doing here?" he asked, the electricity on his hand dissipating.

Athena pursed her lips. "Why are you here?"

"It's a long story," I said.

"Tell us about it, then."

We all turned at the source of the voice. Artemis was at a balcony two floors high. On her grasp was the Bow of Artemis, but it looked very different. The bow's color changed from dark brown to dazzling silver. It had intricate carvings but I couldn't make out the figures since the bow was far away.

"Artemis." My teeth gritted as I uttered her name.

She let out a bark of laughter. "So you survived one of my exploding arrows? You're tougher than I thought!" She looked around the lobby. "I don't see Water Boy anywhere. He's dead now, I hope?"

"What?" Zeus and Athena exclaimed in unison, staring at me in shock.

"Poseidon's okay," I said before they had other thoughts. "I. . . we got far enough before the arrow exploded."

Both of them sighed in relief.

Artemis scoffed. "You did? Then I'll make sure I won't let you survive next time."

She began muttering something under her breath, the words coming out like a song. The Bow of Artemis started glowing, the figures in the bow letting out an eerie silver light. Strange energy started to surround us, creating a gravity-like force that made my body somewhat heavier. I tried to take a step forward and my leg felt like it was lifting an invisible weight.

"Does anyone feel that?"

Before someone could give a reply, Apollo suddenly got to his feet. He swiftly kicked the dagger from a distracted Athena and punched her on the stomach. She fell down on her knees, grimacing.

"Athena!" I scrambled to her but struggled to do so, every step I took slower than normal.

Apollo gazed down at her, his expression cold. "That was the half of my revenge on you, just so you know. I'll get the other half the next time we meet. If there's even a next time."

He then ran to Hermes, his movement somehow not affected by the weird gravity. Hermes, still a tiger, started shrinking in size and turned into an orange tabby. The cat whipped his tail around and flexed his paws, testing them. He tried to stand and walk, but he tripped on his small cat feet.

"Meow!" the cat whined. I'm still paralyzed!

"Alright! I'm coming already!" Apollo said.

"I don't think so!" Zeus said, creating a ball of electricity on his palm.

He threw the collected energy at Apollo's direction, but he managed to dodge the incoming projectile. Zeus threw another one but missed. Eventually reaching Hermes, Apollo carried the newly-turned cat and leaped to the balcony where Artemis stood.

Artemis raised the shining bow above her head, her silver eyes gleaming like two full moons.

"Now, witness the ability of the goddess of the hunt!" her voice boomed, the air surrounding her becoming thick with the strange energy. "By the power bestowed upon me, the force of Artemis's bow shall be set free!"

A huge wave of invisible force erupted from the bow, pushing me, Athena and Zeus back away. Zeus's grip on the pedestal slipped, making him stumble and fall. He winced as his wounded leg made movement.

Artemis lowered down the glowing bow and took an arrow from her quiver. She loaded it on the bow and silver began to spread on it like a plague until the whole thing became silver itself.

I did a double-take, while I heard someone gasp.

Apollo started laughing like a maniac, which caused Hermes the cat to perk up. "I would really hate to be on your shoes! Artemis's going to take you all down!"

Artemis groaned. "Shut up, Apollo. You're ruining the moment."

With her left eye closed, she steadied the silver bow and took aim. At me.

She launched the arrow and a flash of silver appeared behind it, making the arrow look like a comet. The silver arrow flew and headed towards my direction.

"Amelia, get out of the way!" I heard someone shout at me, but I couldn't pinpoint who.

I willed my legs to run, but I couldn't. I tried to move them again but I was rooted on the spot. If it was because of fear or the force coming from Artemis, I wasn't sure.

"Run for your life!" a little voice inside my head screamed. "You're going to get yourself killed, you idiot!"

"I-I can't!" I stammered. "My feet feel like concrete!"

"Amelia!" Someone else yelled, but his or her voice seemed to come from far away, turning into a mere background sound.

The arrow continued its way to me, approaching faster and faster by the second. Everything else seemed to fade away as I waited for the incoming arrow to come and pierce through me, my eyes unwavering.

I was going to die.