My jaw went slack. "W-What? But there are people in here! The servants, the guards—"

"And the Rogues too." His expression hardened. "The second they took you, they declared war. So, we'll give back the favor to them."

I fumbled for an excuse. "B-But what about the Artifacts? It will be destroyed in the explosion!"

He shook his head. "The Artifacts are virtually indestructible, Ames. We'll look for them once the fire clears up everything."

He took my arm once more and dragged me along to the window at the other side of the room, but this time, I let him take me as my mind went blank at his words.

No. I can't let them burn down the mansion or kill off the Rogues. Not that I've just known the truth.

Zeus was about to reach for the window when I gripped his arm with both of my hands and pulled him away from it, making him stumble.

He frowned. "What are you doing, Ames? We're wasting time. The Rogues might be here any minute."

I clenched my fists. "I can't let you guys blow the mansion up. It's too. . . much."

"What are you talking about? The Rogues kidnapped you, for goodness' sake!" he said. "Wait. Don't tell me you're having that syndrome thing that Athena said to me earlier."

"I don't have Stockholm syndrome!" My hand itched to put a palm over my face. "I— You don't understand! This mansion, it's my father's—"

He raised a hand up, gesturing me to keep quiet. I huffed as he put two fingers over his ear and paused.

"Yeah, sis. I can hear you." Zeus glanced at me. "She's here with me. Don't worry, she's pretty much fine."

Another pause.

"Okay. . . Okay," he said. "Got it."

He put down his hand and took a deep breath.

I raised a brow. "What did your sister say?"

"We really have to get out of here." He gazed at me square in the eye. "There's five minutes left till the bombs explode."

"No!" I stomped my foot. "You've got to tell Athena to disarm the bombs! People will get hurt!"

Zeus tilted his head. "Why are you persistent on stopping this, Ames? When we knew that you were gone, we were worried sick about you. At first we thought the Rogues. . . killed you, but then the tracker Athena put on you began moving to the ocean—"

"Tracker? What tracker?" I patted around my body.

He pointed at my chest. "She put it on your necklace."

"What?" I pulled out my necklace, and sure enough, there was a tiny red dot stuck behind the pendant. It blinked as if winking at me.

"How did I not see this before?" I muttered.

"Never mind that," he said. "After all what they did to us, why do you sympathize with them?"

"Because I now know that they're just like us!" I shouted. "Please, this mansion is my family's home! My real father, he's alive and he's the leader of the Rogues. The only reason they're also looking for the Artifacts is because of some prophecy he told me about."

"Prophecy?"

"Yes! He can tell you about it if you just give him and the Rogues a chance." I took a step toward him. "Look, I. . . I know you're mad about them kidnapping me, but they didn't hurt me one bit. If you do care, tell Athena to turn off the bombs. Please."

He stared at me with a questioning gaze, but I gave him a determined look. I noticed the subtle clenching of his jaw.

"Fine." He finally sighed, then put a finger on his ear. "Athena, tell Poseidon to disarm the bo—"

His hand went limp on his side, his expression faltering. For a moment I thought I saw his eyes flicker. I gazed at him in concern.

"Zeus? What's wrong—"

Suddenly, he grabbed my arm, pulling me along as he ran towards the window. The glass shattered at our bodies' impact.

Time seemed to slow down as the two of us fell three stories high off the mansion. As I looked at Zeus falling beside me, his face changed from the blank expression earlier to one of panic. I turned below me and the ground came closer and closer. . .

"NO!" I reached my hands out and a green energy field surrounded me and Zeus, breaking our fall. The barrier rolled around like a ball for a moment before dissipating. Zeus and I laid on the moist mowed lawn, breathing heavily. Drops of rain fell on my face as I stared at the broken window that we just came from.

I pushed myself up and turned to Zeus. "What the hell were you thinking?!"

"I. . . I don't know. Something came to me and then—" His eyes widened. "T-The bombs! We've got to run—"

Before I even knew it, a loud explosion occurred and everything turned black.

"Ames. . . Ames!" I felt someone shake my body. "Wake up!"

Groaning, my eyes fluttered open. Everything was blurry but a hazy figure stood over me.

"Zeus?" I squinted at the person. "Is that you?"

"Oh god, you scared me for a second there." The figure sighed in relief. "Are you okay?"

I blinked a couple of times, and my vision finally cleared. Zeus was staring at me with wide eyes, his face covered with a few scratches.

"W-What happened?"

"Ames, I'm sorry, but the bombs. . . they exploded," he said, his tone grim. "I. . . I'm sorry. I couldn't stop it."

Zeus reached his hand to me and I begrudgingly took it. As I rose up, my head throbbed and a deafening ring sounded in my ears. My gaze landed on the blazing mansion in front of me, and the pain worsened.

The whole building was engulfed in flames, not a part of it left untouched by the blazing hell. When I looked closer, I noticed some parts of the mansion, mostly near the sides, had already collapsed. The greenery near it didn't even stand a chance.

"No. . ." I choked down a sob. "This. . . This can't be happening."

This must be a dream. This must be a. . . dream. I must've hit my head too hard that I'm making this up in my mind.

But deep inside me, I knew it wasn't. It was still raining like earlier. It was all real. The mansion's destroyed and everyone inside didn't make it.

The kind maids who made me feel at home away from home, the guards who secured the place from danger. The old butler Jean-Paul who showed me to my room, little Duke who greeted me in the hallways even if I was a stranger to him.

Everyone's dead, including the other Chosens. And my own father.

I felt Zeus stand beside me. "Amelia, I—"

"Zeus! Amelia!" someone shouted from afar.

Tears streaming down my face, I turned to Athena and Poseidon jogging to our direction.

Athena looked at Zeus. "I've been trying to contact you minutes ago! What happened to you?"

"Sorry, sis," Zeus said. "I passed out when the explosion happened."

"Thank god you two made it out," Poseidon said, then gazed at me in worry. "Amelia, are you ok—"

"I'm not okay! Stop asking that question because I'm not!" My voice cracked. "What were you guys thinking? There were people in there for goodness' sake!"

The three siblings fell silent, their eyes wide at my sudden outburst.

"You guys could've just dropped in to rescue me," I continued. "You didn't have to blow the place up! I didn't know my friends were a bunch of. . . of terrorists!"

Poseidon started, "Amelia, we did what we had to do—"

"Shut. Up!" A heavy wave of energy passed through me and the next thing I knew, the Olympian siblings were down the ground, groaning in pain. I gasped.

A shockwave. I just did a shockwave. I haven't done it in a long time, but it still got to hurt my friends.

I was about to step in and help them when, to my surprise, the three of them got themselves to stand up. I mentally sighed in relief.

"Guys, I'm so sorry—"

"Traitor!"

I turned around to see Eloise and Raymond running towards us. Artemis's Chosen took a couple of arrows from her behind and launched it to our direction. The four of us ducked for cover near some bushes and trees.

"Eloise, stop!" I yelled as more arrows came to our way. "What are you doing?"

"You betrayed us!" she shouted. "You knew they were coming for you, and you let them destroy our home!"

As she loaded another arrow onto Argentum, Raymond jumped behind her and flew upwards with Talaria's wings flapping on his feet. Zeus shot out rods of lightning, but Raymond dodged them all with ease. He swooped in but was cut short by tentacles of water wrapping around his arms and legs.

Raymond growled, struggling from his water restraints. "Let. Me. Go!"

"I won't," Poseidon said and he pulled him down to the ground.

Arrows kept coming to us, and Poseidon used the rest of the extensions on his arms to swat them away. He then grabbed Eloise, stopping her from shooting more arrows.

"Let me go, killer!" she spat. "I'll slay you when I break free from your watery grasp!"

I looked at Poseidon. "You heard her. Let them go, Sei."

"What? But Amelia—"

"I said let them go," I said, my tone firm. "Don't make it worse than it should be."

With a wave of his arms, the tentacles drew back from Raymond and Eloise. Poseidon flicked his wrists and the water burst away from his limbs. The water floated around him in drops for a moment before simultaneously falling to the ground. The light rain stopped as well.

"Well, that was easy," Zeus commented.

Eloise glared at me and the Olympian siblings, shaking with anger. "You. . . You'll all regret messing with us!"

She placed two fingers on her lips and blew out a high-pitch whistle. Howls echoed from the distance, and a second later, three white wolves arrived from the far side of the burning mansion.

"Attack!" Eloise shouted.

Yellow eyes and sharp teeth glistening, the wolves growled before lunging towards us.

I was about to conjure a barrier when all of a sudden, they froze like statues.

"I think that's enough."

The six of us turned to see Demetrius and Alistair emerging from the flames of the mansion. Unlike earlier, the latter was on his feet as he waved his arms around, bending the fire near them to move through. Meanwhile, Demetrius had his right hand gestured at the menacing wolves.

T-They're alive!

Eloise turned to Demetrius. "How could you? Let my wolves kill them!"

Demetrius shook his head. "I don't want a drop of blood to be spilled in my home."

She pointed at the Olympian siblings. "But they destroyed the mansion and killed the other people inside!"

"The staff escaped through the tunnels, don't worry," he said, then turned to Alistair. "Do your thing."

Nodding, Alistair reached his arms out the fiery mansion. The fire began rising up from the building, leaving a charred carcass of what remained of the mansion. The fire clumped together and formed into a huge sun-like sphere above us, illuminating the night with its intense brightness. I felt sweat pouring off my brow from the heat.

Alistair moved his hands onto his chest and the fire flew towards him, engulfing him completely before disappearing into thin air.

He swiveled to us and for a second, I thought I saw fire dancing in his eyes.

"It's done," he announced.

"Thank you." Demetrius gazed at Eloise. "Eloise, order your wolves to retreat. Now."

With a motion of his hand, the wolves unfroze from their petrified state, looking at Eloise in utter confusion. She blew a series of whistles and the wolves ran off back to where they came from.

"There!" the silver-haired girl snarled at Demetrius. "Are you happy now?"

Ignoring her remark, Demetrius turned to me, smiling softly.

"I'm glad you made it out," he said, then glanced at the Olympian siblings. "I suppose you three are my daughter's friends. I've heard quite a lot of things about you."

Athena frowned. "Did he just say. . . his daughter?"

She and Poseidon stared at me with the same face the wolves showed to Eloise earlier.

I laughed nervously. "It's a long story."

Zeus crossed his arms. "Well, Ames. You better tell us about it."

"How sweet of a reunion this is."

A very familiar woman strutted towards us. In her grasp was a long wooden stick as tall as her height. At her arrival, I felt my senses tingle.

My brows furrowed. "Rhea?"

Rhea smiled at me sweetly. "Hello, darling. Are you feeling alright?"

I blinked. "Um, yeah?"

"Right," I heard Athena mutter beside me.

"Mother! What are you doing here?" Poseidon asked. "Aren't you supposed to be in the car waiting for us? It's too dangerous."

"I couldn't just let you all have the fun for yourselves," Rhea said. "I might as well join in!"

"And what are you holding?" Zeus pointed to the tall stick she was holding.

Rhea glanced at it. "Ah, this thing. It's a—" She paused, her eyes landing on something behind us. "Well, hello there. It's been a while since our last encounter."

"What?" I whipped my head around and saw Demetrius staring at Rhea. Eyes narrowing, his hazel eyes suddenly flashed a shade of gold.

"I never thought I'd see you again. Cybele."