I hurriedly ran down the block as the sound of footsteps pursued on me. Since I was faster, I had the advantage of my friends. My fiery, coppery, auburn hair blazing in the wind; I scoffed a smile. My friends wouldn’t catch me. I would beat them to the field as usual. Juarez seemed to be the only challenge. Her light brown hair and tan complexion gaining. Eyeing my cousin, I gained speed. Finally, our flowery field was in sight. With…Luna in the middle of it?!

“What took you guys so long?” Luna laughed. I knew I didn’t have to ask out loud since Luna could read minds. “Becoming invisible and riding the air.”

“No one saw you, did they?” Faith asked.

“I made sure no one was around.” Luna said, flipping her blackish, brown hair from her face.

“I still say you need to be more careful.” Danielle said as she reached us, blonde hair in her face.

“I agree with her.” Raven breathed. Brown hair a mess, brown eyes focused on Luna.

“I am careful.” Luna argued. “I hide when I want to go invisible.”

I wasn’t convinced. Luna was careful, but she never knew if she was alone. Ever since we discovered our powers, we’ve all been on edge. Raven could travel back and forth into time and predict the future. Danielle could control the forces of nature. Faith could control fire. Luna could become invisible and read minds. Juarez could control water. Me…being the daughter of Zeus, carried his powers. I could also know the history of others by one touch. Because I was his only child, I was leader of our group. There were three daughters of Poseidon and three children of Hades. Two of which were daughters, one was a son. Not only did we need to work on our powers, we also needed to find him. I just stared at the mark on my right hand. We each bared a mark on the little bit of flesh between our thumb and index finger. The daughters of Poseidon: Juarez, Danielle, and Luna, had a tear drop. The daughters of Hades: Raven and Faith had a small pentacle, the sign of the devil. I had a little lightning bolt on mine. To me, I thought of it as an angled Z, the first letter of my father’s name. It occurred to all of us that the son of Hades would have the same mark Faith and Raven had. None of us know our fathers. All of us were raised by mothers. We became friends after we were all cast aside by others. Juarez and Danielle were my cousins. We were the first members of the group. Then came Raven, who had been friends with me since we were both three. Faith came along and Luna followed in after that. Everyone else had a group, and we had ours.

“Faye, you okay?” Juarez asked, interrupting my thoughts. I just stared blankly at my cousin.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I lied. Truthfully, I wasn’t. I never wanted to be a goddess. Although, none of us did. “Let’s practice.”

I rose up from my seat and smiled. Everyone just listened and worked on perfecting their powers. I wondered the entire time how this war would end.


“How’s it going?” Stanton asked me and startled me. Stanton was the bad boy of the school. He always got himself into trouble. Girls were bothered by it, we…girls like me. Girls like Stanton were attracted to that and that alone. Stanton was a lot more to me. Everything about him drew me in. His blonde hair, blue eyes, angelic features…it all attracted me. His attitude touched me the most. He always had to show he was tough. He never let anyone mess with him. I had always liked him. I even wondered if he liked me. We had been friends for two years. He treated me like a sister.

“Hi, Stanton…” I breathed. My hazel staring into his: I could tell I was blushing.

“I’ve been thinking…” he said, leaning against the lockers. His face inches from mine. “We’ve been friends for two years now. I like you…and…I think we should go out sometime.”

“Are you using something to flatter me into saying yes?” I flirtatiously asked.

“Maybe…” he said, working his charm.

“Well I hate that it’s working.” I giggled. “When?”

“Friday, I’ll pick you up at seven,” he told me, taking hold of my chin. “I’ve got something special in mind.”

“Can’t wait…” I smiled.

“I’ll see you then,” he said and walked off. I just stared down his direction until he was out of sight. I couldn’t believe it! I was going on a date with Stanton! Could my day get any better?! Then I finally snapped back into the real world and rushed to class.


Faith and Luna sat at our usual desks in history class. Luna, as usual, pulled her hair in a ponytail. Faith kept her midnight black hair down in her hazel eyes. I was glowing and my friends were definitely curios.

“Why are you glowing?” Faith asked curiously. Luna already knew my answer just by peering inside of my mind.
“She’s got a date Friday night!” Luna exclaimed. They both already knew I had been crushing on Stanton for almost a year. That part of their question was practically answered. Just listening to the two of them made her blush. “With Stanton…”

“Who’s got a date with Stanton?” Millie, the queen bee of the school asked. Her two little disciples, Chloe and Mindy, right behind her. Millie had a thing for Stanton. They broke up a month ago and she wouldn’t let it go. She also knew that I liked him. The two of us have been enemies since I moved here. Millie spread a rumor that I cut and constantly tormented my cousins and Raven. So to get even, I busted her with a photo for smoking in the girl’s bathroom. We never got along after that.

“Faye does so get over it!” Faith stammered. She absolutely hated Millie.

“She’ll just be like every other girl he dated.” Millie said to her “friends”. “He takes them on a couple dates. Stays with them for a month, and dumps her…typical.”

“He was only like that with you…cuz you were a bitch!” Faith snapped. “Unlike Faye, who is nice, you’re just horrible.”

“Fine then, don’t believe me.” Millie scoffed. Then she turned to me, an evil look in her eye. “I’m just warning you.”

Then the three of us just watched her and her followers walk away. I couldn’t believe Millie would say something like that about Stanton.

“I hate her.” Faith said. “She’s such a bitch.”

“I agree…” Luna smirked. “No wonder why they broke up. Don’t listen to her, Faye. She’s just jealous that he likes you instead of her.”

“I’m not going to.” I grinned. “Stanton is better than that. I know him more than she ever will.”


The last bell of the day rang to dismiss the students out of school. I placed the last of my books in my locker when Stanton shut it to get my attention.

“Do you do that to every girl?” I laughed. I loved it how I was his favorite girl to pick on.

“Nope…just you.” Stanton said. He then placed both hands on both sides of my head on the lockers and leaned in. I just smiled and looked up at him.

“Are you trying to charm me?” I asked. Every time our eyes locked, I felt more and more attracted to him.

“Maybe…” he grinned. “Let’s walk for a minute.”

He backed away and we walked down the hall. I just continued to wonder why his eyes had an effect on me. Out of everyone in this school, he attracted me the most.

“Do you ever feel like you’re different?” he asked me. He just continued to stare into my eyes as if he could sense how I felt. “Like you don’t fit in with anyone else?”

“You have no idea.” I joked. That’s when I noticed a tattoo on the small flesh of his hand. “When did you get a tattoo?”

“I’ve always had it.” Stanton said, showing me the tattoo. It was a pentagram. “So what did you mean by ‘You have no idea’?”

“It’s nothing.” I lied. Stanton meant the world to me. I hated lying to him, but my life had to be kept secret.

“Come on…tell me,” he pleaded, making me face him and look into his eyes. Those piercing, blue eyes working their charm on me.

“I-I can’t…” I stuttered. “It’s not my secret to share. I just know how it feels to be different.”

“I see what you mean,” he said, letting me go. I felt terrible. It bothered me to lie to him, but I was right. It wasn’t a secret on mine to share. This little secret was my whole life. Once all of us discovered our powers and our true identity, we converted to paganism. We created our own copy of The Book of Shadows. Then we vowed to keep our lives secret. “That’s why I like you so much. You get me.”

I just smiled and blushed. I remembered the day we had become friends.
‘I became the new girl two years ago. I first moved at ten and was separated from Raven. Then when Raven moved to Doddridge, she told me about it. In New York, I had met Faith and Luna. Later within the year, Faith moved to Doddridge. Luna moved there three years after that. I moved to Doddridge when I was fourteen. My cousins and my friends were the first people I noticed. Then one day, a boy had introduced himself to me, Stanton. We talked for awhile and got to know each other. Later day, a boy tried to shove me into my locker. Stanton pulled him away, pinned him against a locker, and sucker punched him so hard, he fell to the ground. I thanked him for that.

“Anything for a pretty girl,” he had said. We have been friends after that.’

“Thanks…” I muttered.

“Anything for a pretty girl,” he said. Then he pulled a single red rose out of his jacket.

“Did you have that before?” I asked as he handed it to me. “How’d you do that?”

“I’ve been practicing,” he told me and kissed my forehead. “I’ll see you Friday. Like I said, I’ve got something special in mind.”

He walked off and I just stood there and stared. What did he mean by ‘practicing’? And what? Could it be that he was Hades’ son? No…not him, it couldn’t be. Then again…every friend I had was a demigod. Still…it couldn’t be him. I knew we had to find him soon though. The fate of the earth depended on it. If the son of Hades fought alongside him, we would all be doomed. That’s why it was so important to find him…before Hades did.

“Danie, what are you doing?” I asked. All that I could tell was that Danielle was doing a warrior pose.

“Just watch…” she said. She then lowered down, jumped, twirled in the air, and punched the ground as she landed. Then the ground cracked and moved toward a huge rock. In a matter of seconds, the rock cracked in half.

“When were you able to do that?” Luna asked, amazed. We all were.

“I’ve been practicing that for weeks.” Danielle answered.

“We both have,” Juarez said. “I can absorb water from anything and I can make anything yield by bending the water in their blood.”

“That’s amazing!” Raven exclaimed. “I’ve been perfecting my landings and now I can go back and forth further. I can also stay there for an hour now.”

“Awesome!” Faith said. “I can make the fire change color and not burn…watch!”

Then she performed a little light show of different colors of fire. Specs of it touched everyone, but it didn’t burn.

“That’s amazing!” Luna piped. “I’ve been able to go further back into people’s mind. I can also push a recent memory into back of their mind and cause them to accidently tell about a forgotten memory. I can even bring back a forgotten memory. And they don’t even feel it anymore, no more headaches. So they can’t detect it.”

“What about you, Faye? How’s your power coming?” Juarez asked. I had been practicing. I could go way back and get every detail of that person’s life. I could also get all their deepest secrets. My only problem was that I couldn’t control it. I couldn’t trigger it or stop it when I pleased. It would occur when I was touched and it would stop when that person wasn’t touching me. The only time it didn’t happen was when a god or demigod touched her. I was also working on getting to where I could get the history and secrets of gods and demigods. If I could get my power to work on my friends, then I would be able to get it work on an actual god. I been practicing on my friends for weeks and had got nothing.

“I don’t know. Let’s find out.” I said and held my hands out. Juarez then placed her hands on mine. Nothing…nothing happened. I was about to let go when a flashback of Juarez’s recent activity appeared into my mind. Then a series of flashbacks came to me counting down all the way to when Juarez was born. “It worked! It actually worked!”

“Did you see my past?” Juarez asked, letting go of me.

“All of it…” I said. “And a secret…I didn’t know you liked Zahi Collins.”

Juarez blushed and giggled. Zahi was a foreign exchange student from India. He was pretty cute with his brown hair and slight tan…no wonder Juarez liked him.

“I wanna go out with him,” she admitted. “But I feel like it’s dangerous for me to date a mortal being a demigod.”

“Why should that stop you?” Faith asked. “Look at Faye. She’s got a date Friday with Stanton. He’s a mortal like Zahi.”

I then looked down to my feet. I didn’t tell them about how when Stanton kissed my forehead, that I didn’t see his past. I thought it was just a glitch, but my power never did that with mortals. I started to think Stanton was a demigod, Hades’ son. I didn’t want to believe it, but that seemed to be the only reason.

“Faye…you okay?” Juarez asked. I looked up to everyone staring at me. I continued to stare blankly at them.

“She’s thinking about something.” Luna said. “About how she couldn’t see Stanton’s past when he touched her.”

Her powers have never done that before.” Raven said.

“I don’t know why they didn’t work.” I exclaimed. “Stanton’s a mortal. I know he is.”

“We don’t know that for sure.” Luna protested. “You also saw a pentagram on his hand. He’s the only one who has that mark…out of guys anyway.”

“He could be Hades’ son.” Faith said.

“We don’t know that for sure.” I argued. I just didn’t want to believe it. There was no way he could be Hades’ son. “He couldn’t be…could he?”

“You’re right…we don’t know that for sure.” Raven said. She could tell I was upset by this. “Right now, we just need to practice on our powers. We can worry about the son of Hades later.”

We decided to drop the argument there. Everyone else focused on their powers. I just thought about Stanton. There was no way he could be the son of Hades. It wasn’t possible…it just wasn’t.

“You alright…” Raven asked, concerned.

“I don’t know.” I replied. I just felt terrible.

“I know it’s hard to believe.” Raven said, hoping to comfort me. “Even I can’t believe it. Just don’t let it bother you, okay?”

“I won’t…” I said. Then the both of us hugged and joined in with everyone else. I still had my mind on Stanton. Could it be that he was the son of Hades?


‘The air was tense…blood had been spilled…and a lot of it. Swords clashed, shields fell…men died. Hades was riding the air as his demon army fought against us all. I watched as they all fought: Danielle, Juarez, Faith, Luna, Raven and…Stanton?! I raced to his side, but it was too late. Hades rode as his army killed the rest of them. I sat there beside Stanton’s body. I didn’t sense the demon as I cried. I turned around to try and defend myself…’


I awoke from my terrible nightmare. These fears of mine continued to be brought out into my mind every night as I thought about them. I turned to my alarm clock to check the time. It was 3:30 a.m. I’d have to get up in three hours and get ready for school. I laid my head back down and hoped that I could get some sleep.


The day dragged by slowly for me. It was noon, everyone but me got excited for lunch. I was still upset by my nightmare. There was no way Stanton was him…there just wasn’t.

“Stay away from Stanton!” Millie ordered as she slammed her hands on the lunch table. I just stared blankly at her. She was furious, but I was in no mood to put up with Millie.

“What are you going to do about it?” I asked, smiling. Millie never scared me. Being a demigod, I knew I could take her.

“Just stay away from him!” she snapped. Anger and jealousy arose within the prep.

“Just try and stop me.” I smirked. I started to grow impatient with her. Millie’s jealousy wasn’t going to keep me away from Stanton. Millie blocked my path as I got up to leave. “Move…”

“You gonna stay away from him?” she scoffed.

“No…now move.” I snapped. Anger started to arouse in me as my impatience grew. I was prepared to slap her when I noticed Stanton come by. He took hold of Millie and made her move. Then he came to me and took my hand.

“Let’s go walk around,” he said, smiling. My temper faded away as he led me out of the cafeteria. Millie just stood there, silent, and about to cry. I just smiled and walked with Stanton. “So what was she so pissed off about?”

“She’s jealous that you’re going on a date with me.” I explained. He still had a hold of my hand, and still nothing came from him. No past, no secrets…nothing. “I could care less either way.”

“I can care less,” he said, pulling me closer toward him. “You’re the one I want…not her.”

I wanted the moment to last forever. But the bell rang and ruined it. Students were roaming the halls and getting to class.

“Meet me at the door outside after school,” he told me and kissed my hand. Then he walked away and I watched him go.


Raven was sitting at our usual spot in science. The both of us chose to sit in the back of the room away from everyone. That way, we could discuss our powers without anyone hearing.

“Millie looked really pissed today,” she told me. “After you two left, she ran to the bathroom and cried.”

“Good…I don’t care.” I smiled. “She needs to just get over Stanton. He doesn’t like her.”

“I know…he likes you.” Raven said. “He only dated Millie to make you jealous. When that didn’t work, he broke up with her.”

“Doesn’t he know I’m not the jealous type?” I laughed. We were friends for two years and he still didn’t figure that out?

“Guess not…” Raven joked. “Took him long enough to ask you out. So where are you going anyway?”

“I don’t know. He didn’t say.” I explained. Stanton never did say where we were going. “All he told me was that he had something special in mind.”

“I wonder what it is.” Raven said. I did too. I was curious on where Stanton was taking me. I knew I’d find out soon.


Stanton was waiting by the entrance like he said he would. I smiled and went right over to him.

“You look cheerful,” he said and hugged me. “Or are you always like that around me?”

“I’m just a cheerful person.” I joked. I continuously kept wondering why my powers didn’t work on him. He was the only person my powers didn’t work on. It made me frustrated, but good. I felt like I could actually feel normal around him. I forgot what it was like to be normal. We all did. We discovered our powers when we were all seven. We figured out our identity and mission a year ago. It was all stressing. For some strange reason, Stanton took my stress away. All my worries faded when I was with him.

“Are you sure about that?” he asked. “I’ve noticed when I’m not around, you look stressed. You always seem to get in a cheery mood when I’m near you.”

“Then I guess it is you.” I laughed. I couldn’t believe he noticed how stressed I was. I always did such a good job at hiding it. We were all stressed. We had a war to prepare for and a demigod to find in such little time. The whole world rested in our hands. If we failed, the whole world would suffer. Just thinking about it caused me stress. “You never did tell me why you liked me.”

“You just have a really great personality,” he said, smiling. I had always loved his smile. It always brightened my mood. I never got tired of seeing it. “You don’t let people get to you. You’re kind to everyone. You’re just fun to be around.”

“Wow…” I said. “Most people think of me as a freak.”

“You’re a special kind of freak,” he told me. “People shouldn’t insult you for who you are.”

“It never bothers me.” I said. “People have told me that to my face and I would just smile.”

“It’s good that you don’t let people get to you,” he said as he took a hold of my hand. And again…nothing came from him. “You’re too amazing for that.”


I sat on my little rock as everyone else practiced. My thoughts on Stanton distracted me. Not only was I in wonderment of our date, I was also frustrated on why my powers refused to work on him. There had to be a reason why my powers wouldn’t work on him.

“Faye, what’s up with you?” Juarez asked. I just looked up and stared. Everyone was staring at me. I hadn’t realized I had been thinking about Stanton for at least an hour.

“Still can’t figure out why your powers won’t work on Stanton, huh?” Luna asked me.

“It just doesn’t make any sense.” I told my friends. “I can’t get anything from him. No past, no secrets…nothing.”

“There has to be a reason why her powers refuse to work.” Danielle exclaimed. I knew there was a reason. I just didn’t know what it was.

“Only gods and demigods can block her powers.” Raven said.

“Not necessarily…” Juarez protested. “She can see demigods’ past and secrets now. So there’s got to be another reason.”

“What about a demon?” Faith asked. “Do her powers work on them?”

“I don’t know, but I don’t wanna find out.” I told her. “I just don’t get it. How is he able to do this? He’s the only person who can block off my powers.”

“I seriously think he’s Hades’ son.” Luna said to me. I still didn’t want to believe it. I just didn’t want him into this. Stanton just couldn’t be Hades’ son…he just couldn’t be.

“He can’t be.” I protested. “There’s no way.”

“Think about it, Faye,” Luna argued. “He blocks off your powers. He has a pentagram on his right hand. And not to mention he can manifest things.”

I had never told any of them that. I just hoped it was nothing, but it had nagged at me for days. I just couldn’t believe any of it.

“I don’t want him in this!” I sobbed. “I just don’t want it to be true. I just don’t.”

“None of us do, Faye.” Luna said. “But we’ve all noticed it. With all of our powers. He blocks off mine too. I can’t get a thought out of him. And I remember clearly that Hades’ son has the power to do that.”

“So what are we going to do?” Faith asked. “How are we going to really prove he’s Hades’ son? We can’t just assume that he is.”

“Faye can find out Friday.” Luna stated. “She knows how to figure it out. And her date is her chance to do it.”

I really didn’t want to use our date to find out if he was Hades’ son. But what other choice did I have? Luna was right. This was my only chance to find out.


Tuesday…near the middle of the week. I just smiled as I strutted into the school building. I loved me outfit I chose today. Particularly because Stanton loved this outfit. I wore; a black dress with a flared out, knee-high skirt, a black, leather, studded, half-top jacket, neon purple tights, and black moccasins. My make-up consisted of; black eyeliner and mascara, a thin line of purple eye shadow, and strawberry lip-gloss. I just wore black bangles, my Greek amulet, and my black choker for jewelry. Once I got to my locker, I eyed my amulet in my hand. My grandmother had given it to me two years ago before I died. I missed my grandmother dearly. Cancer had overcome her and slowly killed her. Since then, my friends and I searched high and low for remedies, stones, and herbs for a healing spell we had found in The Book of Shadows. This way…no one close to us would get severely ill.

“You miss her again…don’t you?”

I jumped and turned to see Stanton behind me…eyes filled with concern.

“It’s just…we were really close.” I told him as I began to cry.

“I know,” he said and hugged me. “I’m sorry.”

I just cried until I felt better. I was glad that my make-up was waterproof. I looked up at him and smiled. I wanted to say I loved him, but I was afraid to because I didn’t know how he felt about me.

“You really are different from everyone here.” I said as I smiled.

“You are just as special, Faye,” he smiled and took hold of my chin. “You need to remember that.”

I just stared into his beautiful, blue eyes. His eyes of blue fire, burning into my hazel eyes. Then the bell rang and people were flooding the halls.

“I’ll see you later,” he said to me and began to walk off. I began to smile and just walked to my class. ‘I love you.’ I turned around to see if someone said something to me…but no one was around me. I just looked around, and then shrugged it off. I must have been hearing things I thought as I walked to class.


French class was my least favorite. The only thing good about it was that Juarez was there. Juarez may be a freshman, and me a junior…but this class had a mix of students. I sat myself beside my cousin. Juarez was only a year younger, but she failed a grade, so she was held back. It never bothered her, but she had tried to find ways to skip a grade and be with all her friends and be in classes with Zahi. She had even considered channeling Athena and asking for her aid. But we had all agreed that it would be dangerous to do. But Juarez still wanted to try and see if Athena would bless her with wisdom. So we decided to try this tonight and see what would happen.

“Are we still going to try the spell?” she asked as soon as I sat down.

“Yeah,” I answered. “Did you remember to make the necklace?”

“Yep,” she said and showed me. “Everything I needed to make this wisdom amulet is here. A chain of silver, silver carved into the shape of a serpent with sodalite eyes, wisdom herbs burned to ash by an orange candle…all done. Then I dipped the necklace into holy water and into the herbs’ ashes…just like it said. All we have to do now is call upon Athena and ask for her to bless the amulet with her wisdom.”

“Good,” I said. “So we’re ready to perform the ritual. Be at our field ten minutes before midnight.”

“Bonjour, everyone,” Mr. Pierre, our French teacher said as he walked into the room.

“Bonjour, Mr. Pierre,” everyone greeted him.


French class just seemed to fly by today to me. I just went to my locker to get my things for history. ‘Be warned goddess. The war has just begun.’ I looked around in full blown panic. Something had to have been there…something…or someone.


I thought of what all I could do while the others practiced their powers. I remembered one day, I was angry and made a storm when I was ten. I wished it so hard, that it happened…and it was in the middle of summer. So I began to wonder if I could control the weather with my mood. So I began to think of something that made me angry, and looked for a far away block.

“Faye…what are you doing?” Juarez asked. I ignored her and continued to concentrate. I felt the sting of lightning surge to my fingertips, and I pressed and pressed. Then…when I unleashed it, a bolt of lightning shot the rock and cracked it into pieces. Everyone stared at me in utter shock.

“How…how did you do that?” Luna asked.

“I remember creating a storm in the middle of summer when I was ten.” I told her. “I was angry that day, and my storm expressed my anger.”

“Wow…remind me to never piss you off.” Faith laughed. I just smiled.

“It’s getting late.” I said as I looked at the sky. “Be here ten minutes before midnight. Wear black garments and remember to bring the items we need to perform the spell.”

They all nodded and we left our field.

I remembered to take a ceremonial bath just before placing on my witchcraft garments. I slowly lit my candles all within the room. The white were for purity, orange for wisdom, pink for love, red for courage, green for fertility, and black for banishing evil. Within my water, I sprinkled lavender bath salt and then lit lavender incense. I bathed for at least an hour to fully soak it in. Once I dried myself off and blew out my candles, I placed on my outfit. A lacey, old fashioned, black dress that touched the ground, and a long, black, hooded cape. I wore for my hands; black gothic gloves and black boots for my feet. My amulet was my protection, so I placed it around my neck. I marked my eyes in black eyeliner into the look of a cat. I looked at my clock and read the time. It was 11:40; it would take me ten minutes to reach the field. I grabbed The Book of Shadows and my silver chalice, as well as the bottle of red wine.

The night seemed quiet. The air was still and the moon full. I avoided the streets and went through the woods. I heard the crack of a twig break behind me and turned around. I looked to where the sound came from, but saw nothing. So I let it go and continued walking.


Everyone was waiting and getting ready for the ceremony. All dressed the same; they placed all that they needed. A bowl of holy water in the middle of the pentagram, a black candle at each corner of the altar, a pentagram in the center of the altar, an athame on the right of the bowl and a boline on the left. All that was needed was the silver chalice at the front and a bottle of red wine in the back. The girls looked over to my direction. Their lips grinning slightly, but their eyes filled with concern.

“Everything will be fine.” I told them. “Did you remember your protection charms?”

They all nodded and continued the preparations. I looked for the spell and was surprised.

“Shit,” I said in anger.

“What is it?” Juarez asked, worried.

“We don’t have enough people.” I told her. “We need one more.”

“Maybe I can help.”

We all looked over to see Stanton standing there.

“How did you get here?” Faith asked. I just stood there, unable to talk.

“I always come here around midnight,” he explained. “I thought about going to Faye’s and having her come with me tonight, but when I got there, I saw her heading to the woods. So I followed her to see where she was going.”

I began to blush, and then all the girls surrounded me.

“We may prove he’s Hades’ son.” Luna said.

“But can we trust him to keep it secret?” Danielle asked.

“I don’t see why not.” Raven said.

“What do you wanna do, Faye?” Juarez asked me.

“He’ll need something for protection.” I reminded them. Every spell we did involved an item of protection.

“Both my rings are blessed with protection.” Faith told me. She took her skull ring off and handed it to me. “He can use this one.”

I took it and handed it to Stanton.

“You’ll need this.” I told him.

“I know how these spells work,” he said in his charming voice. He walked over and everyone got in their places. They all got on each point of the star, leaving the top point empty and Juarez sitting in the middle of the star and Stanton in front of her. I looked at the spell, and got to work.

“With this water,” I chanted as I took the bowl to Juarez. “We place our sins to purify.”

Juarez placed the necklace into the bowl and placed it of her lap. Then I poured the wine into the chalice.

“We drink from this cup and ask for your protection.” I chanted. I went to my point of the star and took a sip. “I drink from my brother and sisters to seek your aid.”

One by one, the girls drank from the chalice and chanted the same. The Juarez handed the last of it to Stanton.

“I drink from my sisters to seek your aid,” he said after he drank the last of the wine. Then Stanton placed the chalice back on the altar and began to light the candles.

“We light these candles to banish evil, purify our minds, bring us protection, and strengthen our souls,” he chanted. Then he walked back into his place and everyone on the star held hands. We lifted our hands and slowly invoked the guardian watchtowers.

“Hail to the guardian watchtowers of the east, for air. We invoke thee,” we chanted. “Hail to the guardian watchtowers of the south, for fire. We invoke thee. Hail to the guardian watchtowers of the west, for water. We invoke thee. Hail to the guardian watchtowers of the north, for earth. We invoke thee. Protect us and aid us in our task.”

Then Juarez stood up and raised the bowl to the sky. We all looked up and began to chant. “We invoke thee, Athena. Give us your mercy. Bless us with your wisdom. We invoke thee, Athena. We invoke thee Athena. We invoke thee, Athena.”

Soon the bowl began to glow and a light from the heavens shined down on it. The necklace slowly rose into the air and sparkled like diamonds. A flash of light blinded us all, and the necklace landed gently back into the bowl. Then the spell was over.

“Did it work?” Faith asked.

“Let’s find out.” Juarez said and placed it around her neck. There was a short pause, and then she spoke. “It works! I’m seeing things I never knew before! Athena has blessed us!”

I smiled and glanced at Stanton. I was relieved that the spell worked.

“He has to be him.” Luna said. “He has to be Hades’ son.”

“What are you talking about?” Stanton asked, confused.

“Who do you live with?” she asked him. “Who takes care of you?”

“Just my mom. My dad left when I was born,” he told her. “I still don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“We’re all demigods.” Faith told him. “Raven and I are the daughters of Hades. Luna, Danielle and Juarez are the children of Poseidon. Faye’s the daughter of Zeus. We’ve been looking for Hades’ son for forever.”

“The mark on your hand says it all.” Raven pointed out and the two of them showed him their hand. “You have the same mark as us.”

He looked at his hand, but he still couldn’t believe it.

“You guys are crazy!” he snapped. “Do you really believe this, Faye?”

I just stared at him and looked down.

“Now you see why I know how you feel.” I muttered. “We have a war to fight. I’m just glad that we found you before your father did.”

Stanton just stared at me and sighed.

“I’m sorry…” he said. “I just…I just can’t believe it.”

He turned to run and I tried to stop him.

“Stanton!” I cried, but he was already gone.


I tossed and turned to my terrible nightmare. My nightmare continued to haunt me every night.

‘Swords clashed and blood spilled. A sword had come my way…’

I screamed and shot up in my bed. I was shaking and lathered in sweat. I breathed heavily and tried to calm down. How would we last in this war?