The compound was quiet, dust motes dancing in the slant of sunlight through the tall windows. Most of the others were outside training or getting into trouble. But not me. I preferred the quiet. The shadows. The corners no one else noticed.

  Angelina found me in one of those corners, curled up on the windowsill with a book I wasn’t really reading. We were both nine years old then, but she carried herself like someone older, like she already knew who she was meant to be. Her steps were always sure, deliberate, like she belonged wherever she went. I admired that about her.

  She didn’t say anything at first, just sat beside me with a soft sigh and looked out the window. Her presence alone made the silence feel warmer, less like loneliness and more like calm.

  After a moment, she reached into her pocket and pulled something out—a simple leather bracelet, dark with age and use. She turned it over in her fingers, thumb brushing the worn knot in the middle.

  “This was mine,” she said quietly. “My mother gave it to me. Said it was for protection… but I think it was more for comfort. A reminder that I wasn’t alone.”

  I blinked at her. “Why are you telling me that?”

  She smiled, not teasing, just soft. “Because I want you to have it.”

  I stared at her, confused. “But it’s yours.”

  “Was,” she corrected gently. “Now it’s yours. I see you, Nix. Even when you try to hide. You carry a lot—more than most. You don’t talk about it, but I know. And one day… maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow… but one day, you’re going to need something to remind you that you’re not alone.”

  I didn’t know what to say. My throat tightened, and I just nodded. She tied the bracelet around my wrist, her fingers warm and steady.

  Then, maybe sensing I needed more than just comfort, she began to speak again. “You know what I can do, right?”

  I hesitated, then nodded. “Harmonic shockwaves. You can knock people over with a shout.”

  She smiled faintly. “It’s more than that. My mother is Nemesis—goddess of retribution. My powers are about balance. Justice.”

  She paused, her fingers brushing the windowsill. “The shockwaves? They don’t just throw people off—they disrupt everything. Magic. Movement. Focus. If someone’s throwing too much power around, I can cut through it. Bring them back to level.”

  I leaned forward, listening.

  “I can also feel when something’s unfair,” she added. “Not just in fights—anywhere. It’s like a pressure, like the world tilts out of balance and I know something’s wrong.”

  I swallowed. “Does it hurt?”

  She thought for a moment. “Sometimes. It hurts to carry other people’s wrongs.”

  I blinked. That was terrifying.

  Angelina met my eyes again. “The point is—we all have things that scare us. Powers that hurt. Mine can shake people apart. Yours can bring the dead back into the world. But that doesn’t make them wrong. It just means we have to choose how to use them.”

  I nodded again, slower this time. My chest ached with something I didn’t quite have the words for.

  “You’re stronger than you think,” she said. “But even the strong need anchors.”

  That bracelet is still with me.

  And now, more than ever, I understand why she gave it to me.

  My voice was steady, but tension coiled beneath my skin like a drawn bow. “What is coming for us?” I asked, eyes locked on the spirit of Thalos. I didn’t want riddles or warnings. I wanted truth. We were finally getting together again—finally stepping into the world we were meant for—and I needed to know what waited for us on the other side.

  The question hung there, heavier than the crashing waves nearby.

  Thalos’s face shifted. He took a breath, slow and deliberate, then said the name that sent a chill straight through my chest. “Cole.”

  Even Phoenix flinched beside me.

  “Cole is a demigod, son of Dolos—the god of trickery and illusion. From the moment he was born, deception clung to him like a second skin. He could bend perception, warp reality, and twist minds with ease, even as a child. But it wasn’t enough. Cole didn’t just want power—he wanted control. Control of the truth, of memory, of the very fabric of what people believed.”

  Thalos said, his voice quieter now, like it was being pulled away by the wind, “he’s been planning—longer than you know. Before any of you ever came to the compound, before you even knew who you were, Cole had already begun turning other demigods like you to his side. He was… brilliant, in his way. Manipulative. Charismatic. Dangerous. I trained some of the demigods he manipulated myself. They were gifted, powerful—but he twisted their loyalty. And they followed.”

  If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  The stars above seemed dimmer as he spoke.

  “He wanted power, more than any of the others. When he realized he couldn’t earn it from the gods, he took it. He attacked Olympus. Not alone—he had those he had corrupted. They stormed the lower courts, and three minor gods fell that day. Gone. Erased.”

  Phoenix’s hand tensed in mine.

  Thalos looked away, pain evident in the lines of his glowing face. “The major gods responded swiftly. But the damage had already been done. Trust was shattered. Olympus was no longer safe—not for the gods, not for demigods like you. So they sealed it. Closed the gates.”

  Zeus, in his fury, killed the remaining demigods who had sided with Cole, and all the other demigods in the world. He saw their betrayal as unforgivable. But Hera and Athena—perhaps out of mercy, or foresight—pleaded for the children. For you. For the twelve who were not old enough to have chosen a side. Their plea was granted, and your lives were spared.

  The twelve remaining demigods were brought to the compound for their safety and to train. It was supposed to be a sanctuary, a place to grow and learn away from the chaos of the world. But safety was an illusion. The walls that sheltered us couldn’t keep out the darkness forever. You know how that ended.

  I turned toward Thalos, my voice barely above a whisper. “Then why is Cole still after us? If Olympus is sealed, what does he want with us?”?

  “Zeus did close Olympus, no one goes in, no one comes out. But he made exceptions to open the gates; a major god can open the way… or the blood of all thirteen demigods is spilled.”

  I turned toward him, confused. “Thirteen? But there are only eleven if you count Cole.”

  Thalos met her gaze. “Angelina and Stephen are alive.”

  The ground shifted beneath me. My breath caught in my throat, and I turned slowly to look at Phoenix. I expected shock, disbelief—some mirrored expression of the earth-shattering revelation we’d just received. But instead, all I saw was quiet shame. Her eyes were cast down, her shoulders stiff. She already knew. And she’d carried that burden alone.

  “I asked him years ago,” Phoenix said softly, turning to face me, her voice thick with regret. “Angelina gave me a bracelet years ago, I tried to summon her spirit using it, but she never came. Spirits don’t hide. They’re either gone, or they’re alive. And Thalos confirmed it.” She looked down, guilt flashing across her face. “He made me promise not to tell you. He didn’t want you getting involved. I hated keeping it from you, Bay. I really did. But I gave him my word… and I didn’t want to risk losing you too.”

  I stared at them both, heart racing, mind reeling.

  Thalos confirms it, his expression darkening with the weight of the truth. “I didn’t tell the others,” he said, “because I knew what it would do to them. They would’ve gone looking, blindly, recklessly—and Cole would have used that. I couldn’t risk it.”

  He turned to me and Nix, his voice heavy with sorrow. “Every moment I wasn’t guarding or guiding one of you, I was searching for Angelina and Stephen. Tracking whispers. Following leads. I never gave up. I’m convinced Cole has them—and has had them all this time.”

  I look over at Phoenix, Phoenix’s face drawn with strain and guilt. Nix meets my gaze and quietly says, “I can’t hold onto him much longer.”

  My breath catches. Thirteen demigods. Angelina and Stephen—alive. The truth crashes over me like a wave, cold and impossible. My head swims with everything Thalos has said, but one thread is painfully clear—Cole will try to gather all twelve of us, and he already has two.

  Thalos lifts his gaze to us one last time. His voice is worn and fading, but resolute. “You still have time. You’re strong—stronger than you know. The twelve of you together… you can stop him. You can protect each other. Don’t let him break what you’ve built.”

  Thalos’s spirit faded into the air like mist dissolving into the night. For a moment, I just stood there, numb, the waves crashing in the distance as the weight of it all settled on my chest. I glanced at Phoenix—she was turned away, her shoulders rigid, her hands clenched into fists at her sides. The guilt rolled off her in waves.

  I stepped toward her and wrapped my arms around her without hesitation. She didn’t resist. The tension in her shoulders melted almost instantly, and for a moment, we just stood there, quiet and still, holding onto each other like lifelines.

  “I’m not mad,” I whispered. “I understand why you didn’t tell me. You were trying to protect me, and you were listening to our guardian.”

  She nodded against my shoulder, and I felt her exhale—long and shuddering, like she’d been holding her breath for years. Then she broke.

  Phoenix buried her face in my shoulder, and a sob tore from her throat. Her hands clutched at my shirt like she was afraid she’d fall apart without something to hold onto. Her body shook with the force of everything she’d been holding in.

  “I should have done something,” she cried. “I should have tried. Maybe I could’ve helped them. Instead, I was hiding all these years. Ten years, Bay. Ten years of doing nothing while Angelina and Stephen were probably being tortured. And I did nothing.”

  She pulled back slightly, just enough for me to see her face. Tears streamed down her cheeks, and her eyes were wild with guilt and self-loathing. “I kept the secret like he told me to, and I told myself it was the right thing. But what if it wasn’t? What if they needed me? What if I let them suffer because I was too afraid?”

  My heart shattered for her. I pulled her closer again, pressing my cheek against the top of her head.

  “You were a kid,” I said softly. “We both were. Thalos didn’t want us involved, and he kept you from telling anyone because he was scared too. You didn’t do anything wrong, Nix. You were surviving, like the rest of us.”

  She trembled in my arms, the last of her strength spilling out in tears and gasped breaths. I held her tighter, trying to anchor her to the present.

  “But we’re not kids anymore,” I continued. “And now we know. Now we can do something. We’re going to find them. We’re going to bring them back. Together.”

  She didn’t say anything right away, just kept crying into my shoulder, but I felt the tiniest nod against my skin. Then, slowly, she pulled back, wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand. Her expression was still raw, but there was something else in it now—steel.

  She took a deep breath and straightened. “I made a promise to Thalos. I kept it. But now it’s time to fight back. No more hiding. No more waiting. We’re going to find them, Bay. And we’re going to make Cole pay for everything he’s done.”

  I nodded, my throat tight with emotion. Whatever came next, we would face it together. And this time, we wouldn’t let anyone else be taken.