I GAIN AN ALLY AND AN ENEMY

I was with my mother again. Helen was only in kindergarten, and I was teaching her basic math. No matter how hard I tried, Helen never paid any attention. Instead, she begged me to play video games with her or kick a ball outside. But it never bothered me, and we ended up playing video games. Halo 3 had just come out, and we were both addicted to it.

The TV screen shattered like glass, revealing an ominous presence in the dark. The sky, the house, and even my family began to disappear. The world crumbled, and I was enveloped by darkness. A familiar voice called my name. "Hello, Yiannis. Miss me?"

"Hey, dad. I was in a good dream. Why'd you have to ruin it?" Even though Kronos is the god of time, he has some awful timing.

"To congratulate you, of course. You've done excellent work. Zeus has lost both power and trust, and Poseidon and Hades have left Olympus in anger. That's two fewer gods we don't need to worry about. In fact, Hades wishes to join our cause."

"He does? I knew he hated Olympus, but I thought that he was just bitter. Would he actually be willing to go so far as to destroy it?"

"Bitterness left untended can turn to despair and hate," Kronos laughed. "I told you before that I did not eat my own children. Gaia fed that lie to the six gods who were my children to turn them against me. Hades has been isolated because he found out the truth long ago, and Zeus has been wary of him. If Hades were to ever spill it all out, the younger gods would rebel. However, there is no real evidence, and so the truth would sound like the ramblings of a madman."

"Or it could be that no one would want to believe it," I added. "People love living in delusions. They want to be comforted, and reality is nothing but disturbing. The truth can hurt, but a lie can be anything you want it to be."

"Indeed," Kronos said. "However, they will be forced to accept it sooner or later. The truth will be laid bare to all, but by then, it would be too late. People only see things as they really are when there is nothing to be done about them. Or when they are motivated to bring change by them. However, I did not come to discuss philosophy. I came with a warning."

"A warning? Is it those zealots Hades mentioned?"

"Yes."

"So you already knew about them. Why didn't you tell me?"

"They wouldn't have done anything to you or Helen before the quest. They're fanatical worshippers of Zeus. The only reason they're after you is that Zeus suspects you. Or rather, he needs a scapegoat. Zeus can't lose the trust of the other Olympians. He needs the power of the other gods to move forward with Gaia's plans. I planned to inform you only when they might become a threat, which is now."

"I'm going to get caught if you continually hold information from me. A zealot could have been watching me all this time. If they did, they would have all the evidence they need. Even if I wasn't under surveillance, I could have slipped up in front of them, and I wouldn't have known."

"Alright, fine, I'll keep you updated more frequently. I'll give you some info right now. The zealots have already talked to Zeus. They know what happened at Olympus and that Zeus thinks you're the one who planned everything with Hades. Unless you can persuade them otherwise, you and Helen will become their primary targets."

"So I need to create a believable delusion. Got any ideas?"

"Just a suggestion. Yiannis, aren't you forgetting something?"

"What do you mean?" Now the landscape changed to that of a stream. I saw an image of Vittoria reflected in the water. "What does she have to do with any of this?"

"Think back to her conversation with Ares in that Lucky Hermes Hotel. Didn't she act a little strange?"

"From the way she acted, I deduced she had to know something about the real thief. Gods can't steal each other's belongings, but they could ask a demigod to do it. I planned on asking her about it when we got back to the hotel. Still, where does she play into any of this?"

"Vittoria just might be what you need to fool the zealots if you use her well."

"How so? Even if she's on our side, I don't see what trick she has up her sleeve that will get me out of this."

"If you do decide to talk to her, you should be able to figure it out. I shall leave you now. In a couple of minutes, you'll be back at camp."

I wanted to ask more, but I went against that notion. There wasn't much I could get in a few minutes. Besides, I could just dump the questions on Vittoria later, if she's my supposed trump card.

I woke up from my dream and saw DGH. It was the evening, and the sky was filled with brilliant orange streaks as the sun slowly began to set and give rise to the moon. It was dinnertime now, and everyone was in the cafeteria, fooling around as they always have when they ate. I didn't realize it until now, but I was homesick. DGH was the place where I made other friends besides Julien. I hoped they were still my friends.

Hades landed his chariot at the entrance and wished us a jolly day. He seemed a lot happier now. I guess getting some dirt on Zeus improved his mental health. I saw the skeletal horses zoom into the sky, creating a white mark as if someone had applied paint there with a brush. The last time I checked, you had to be a jet plane or a rocket to make those marks.

Vittoria, Helen, and I turned around to DGH and knocked on the door. "You and Helen slept like babies," Vittoria smirked. "I wanted to talk to you, but I decided to let the two of you sleep."

"Well, we can talk later," I said. "There's a lot I need to ask you."

"It's the same for me." Chiron opened the door for us, greeting us with a pat on the back. "Right on cue. The celebration's about to start!"

"Celebration?" Helen asked. "Like a party?"

"Yeah," Vittoria nodded. "We do this whenever a demigod completes a quest because it doesn't happen often. After all, we've been through, I say we deserve it. Right, Yiannis?"

"Yep." It was good to be back. I wanted to ask Vittoria about tons of things so badly, but that'll have to wait. Party time comes first.

The ballroom was loaded with food. Someone cranked up the music, and everyone started dancing and singing. Even though the song was horrible, nobody seemed to mind. They were just so happy to celebrate rather than mourn.

I saw Helen chatting with her friend, Amelia. Vittoria waved to me. "When this is over, wait for me by the creek," she said in my ear. She was embarrassingly close, and I saw several girls take note and speak in hushed voices. I hated gossip, and the last thing I need is a rumor about Vittoria and me sitting in a tree to spread. Anatasia gave me the death eye, which meant she was in a joyful mood. Our interactions typically tend to be her trying to plummet me to the ground.

Searching for a single person in a big room filled with a hundred people is not easy. Some guys wanted to hang out with me, but I declined. A few girls wanted to dance, and I gave the same answer. Eventually, I found who I was looking for: Julien.

He was with Nathan and a couple of other boys: George, Nick, and Thomas. Thomas saw me first. "Hey, Yiannis, what's up?"

"You guys are so mean. I completed a grand quest and all, and my friends aren't even celebrating with me." Thomas's face stiffened, meaning he didn't consider me a "friend." In fact, the thought seemed to offend him. "Sorry, Yiannis. It took more time to prepare this whole thing than I thought."

"You guys set this all up?"

"Yeah," Julien smiled. It felt genuine, unlike the fake one Thomas gave. " Poseidon told us the whole story and said you should get back here by the evening. We only had hours to get it all done."

"It was such a pain," Nathan groaned. "Why do parties have to be so much work?"

"We have to cater to over a hundred kids here," Nick answered. "They demand a ton of calories."

"Which is distributed over a dozen tables," George added. "Then we have to deal with refills. Plus, we got to clean the whole place up before curfew. Yiannis, since this party's for you, mind helping out a bit? It's only fair."

"Hey, leave the guest of honor out of this." Julien put a hand on Thomas's shoulder. "We can't have our hero doing the dirty work now."

"I'll lend a hand in taking out the trash if that's alright," I smirked.

"I second that," George concurred. "We need extra hands anyway."

"Well, fine, if you want to," Julien shrugged. "Don't do too much."

"Hey, guys, the party's still going on." Nathan held up a glass of wine.

"Wait a minute, we can drink alcohol here?" I was shocked. Chiron was like a super strict dad. There's no way he would allow us to get drunk.

"Yeah," Nathan chuckled. "Chiron is obviously strict about it, though. We only drink this stuff during celebrations or festivals. More importantly, the party's still going on. How about we enjoy ourselves now? Cheers?" He held out a glass to me. I took it and clanked my glass with his. "Cheers."

Vittoria sure took her time. I must've waited for at least an hour before she finally arrived. "You're finally here. What took you so long?"

"I helped Nathan and his friends clean up. On top of that, I had multiple things to deal with."

"Well, since you're here, I'm guessing you have nothing else to do. It'll be twelve in two hours. Sure we should be doing this now?"

"You wanted to talk to me too, Yiannis. I'm going to be busy the whole day tomorrow. So this is really the only time."

"Ok, so what did you want to say to me?"

"My apologies."

"What? You made come all the way out here just to say sorry?" Vittoria nodded. She pointed to the left of the rock I was sitting on. "There's nothing there," I told her. She took out her phone and shed light on that area. I saw a little bug with a coloring similar to that of a black widow, long legs, and a tube-like segment in its mouth. I didn't know what type of bug I was looking at, but small animals colored in bright red or orange tend to be poisonous. The subtle smile smeared on her face let me know she wasn't sorry at all, confirming my thoughts.

"You're scary, you know that? You planned all this to poison me?"

"Why, yes, I did," Vittoria flashed a devilish grin. It was attractive, in a weird way. "You ever heard of assassin bugs, Yiannis? They're quite lethal. They spread Chagas disease, which causes tissue inflammation."

"So you're going to hope a kissing bug kills me? The hotel is right over there, and I'm betting they have treatments for all sorts of diseases."

"Oh, I know," Vittoria's grin grew wider. "You see, this particular bug comes from the Underworld. I picked up during our little voyage there. Bugs in the Underworld are exponentially more deadly than their counterparts here. The one that's going to bite you will knock you out and then make your heart stop."

"But I'm the supposed traitor here. At least that's what Zeus thinks. If you kill me, everyone would know I'm innocent. The kids at the hotel are going to bind together and ramp up their efforts to find you. After all, you are trying to kill them."

"Not quite," Vittoria said. "You see, the prospect of an enemy hiding in plain sight among a group tends to make people suspicious. They don't know who's an enemy and how many they're dealing with. For all they know, everyone they thought was a friend could have been lying to their face the whole time."

"Making it difficult for large groups to come to a consensus. In the end, it'll just lead to factions and infighting. You'll direct said fighting in a way that benefits you. As others waste their time trying to get a lead and arguing with each other, you'll be collecting information and 'silencing' any potential threats. But I have to ask, why are you doing this? Whose side are you on? Clearly, you don't support the gods. Were you the real thief all along?"

"I know you figured that part out by now. Yes, I did steal Zeus's bolt, along with Poseidon's trident and Hades's helm. I knew there were zealots here in DGH. I even know who some of them are. I spread a rumor that Hades would use the prophecy to his advantage and sent his son to steal Zeus's bolt. Zeus believed it without hesitation, as now he got the perfect excuse to get rid of Hades. Olympus is right above us, so it would be dumb to keep the weapons on me. I lent them to a dracaena, and she was supposed to give them to Kronos. But I guess Ares decided not to stick to the script and took them away."

"So, whose plan was he supposed to follow?" I already knew the answer. I just wanted to confirm that she followed Kronos's orders. Given what she said, it's fairly obvious. But for all I know, the minor gods have planned an uprising.

"The gods are so vain, Yiannis. They see themselves as higher beings and yet act like toddlers, and we mortals always get involved. Did you know the two world wars we fought were caused by Zeus and Hades? Zeus and Hades made a bet on the river Styx; the loser would abide by the winner's terms. Hades bet the Allies would win the first war, and they did. Zeus paranoia got the better of him. He thought Hades would ask that Zeus no longer be the king of the gods, so he planned the start of the second world war. He manipulated millions of innocent people to their deaths just to save his own skin, and that's only one example. If that's what the gods did somewhat recently, what on earth do you think they did back in ancient times? What have they done up until now?"

"I'm inclined to agree with you on that. I'm also inclined to believe that your encounters with the gods weren't so pleasant. Were you used as well?" Vittoria clenched her fists. Her eyes were filled with pure rage as she stared up into the sky. "I will topple Zeus and clear the way for those who are more deserving to be our lords. I will change the world and make it better."

"That's a lofty ideal, Vittoria. Still, I doubt you manipulated the gods on your own. Who helped you?"

"I would like to keep talking to you, Yiannis. Unfortunately, your time is up. Helen's going to be in shambles when she hears of your death. I liked you as well. It's a shame, really."

"You'd love to kill me, but you know you can't."

"Why is that?"

"The longer this goes on, the riskier it gets for you. People might incidentally drop in on our private chat. That would expose you, and my name would be cleared. Also, it's almost curfew, and people will wonder where we are."

"I've already told my friends that I was going to bed. So I can stay for as long as I need to, as long as nobody sees me."

"Yes, but it still would have been better to kill me sooner. Why haven't you, I wonder? Perhaps there's something you'd like to pry out of me?"

Vittoria arched her eyebrow. "You're quick to catch on. You're acting very cocky for someone who's going to die, you know that?"

"Oh no, I won't be dying anytime soon," I chuckled. "I'm supposed to save Olympus, after all."

"Which is why I need to kill you now. You're the gods' most useful asset and the biggest threat to me."

"What about Helen? She's also a child of Hades."

"I won't be killing her. I don't need to. No offense, but what chance does a crippled little girl stand against Olympus?"

"Are you sure that's not some excuse you're making to not kill Helen? You've become attached to her, haven't you?"

"I have not!" Vittoria yelled. Her head became a bright red tomato. "You weren't joking when you said you were envious of me because Helen's my sister," I laughed. "Well, that settles it. I'll tell you what you need to know."

"You will?" Vittoria pressed her bronze knife at my throat. "What are you up to now?"

" I'm just going to 'enlighten' you." I tapped my foot on the ground. The assassin bug was suspended in mid-air, and I stomped on it. Time moved again, and the squashed bug lay on a small pool of green blood. "Your power is so annoying," Vittoria grumbled. "It makes killing you difficult. But from what I've seen, it does have limits. You have difficulty using it when you're exhausted, and the period you can use it for drastically decreases. You're good with a sword, but not much better than average."

"So you're saying I'm still a pawn in your game," I smiled. "What else do you have up your sleeve? Not more Underworld creatures, I hope?"

"Tch. You have no idea. The Underworld is a treasure trove." I heard a hissing noise. A snake curled up around Vittoria's feet, and she petted its head. "This is my pet snake, Assos."

"So he's your ace, then?"

"He's a black mamba from the Underworld. My master gifted this to me. The black mambas in this world can kill a man with just two drops of its venom. The ones down below... well, you'll die instantly from organ and heart failure. Black mambas can also reach up to speeds of about ten miles per hour very quickly. You drunk, didn't you? DGH makes their wine with the grapes they grow here. I volunteered to help and drugged the wine everyone drank with a special white powder."

As soon as she said that, my legs began to buckle. "You sprinkled cocaine into everyone's drink, and nobody noticed?"

"Well, a mix of cocaine and fentanyl, to be precise. I would have liked to make the concentration high enough to kill you. But then other demigods would have died as well, and people would realize that the traitor was actually among the ones who made the wine for today's party. Eventually, I would be found out. But I can kill you either way. You're both drunk and high. You're having trouble standing upright, and you look like you might vomit, a typical reaction to drug abuse."

"So that's why you dragged this whole thing out." I was breathing heavily. I never drank or used/misused any drugs in my life. The effects of abusing two potent drugs were killing me. I was sure to pass out soon. "You couldn't kill me unless I was under the influence."

"Exactly." I wanted to wipe that smug smile off of Vittoria's face. I didn't think she'd go this far. But then again, I exploited Ares and didn't care at all about his current predicament. Vittoria pinned me to the ground. "You'll pass out in an hour. Since I'm a nice person, I'll kill you then and give you a painless death. Now, talk. Poseidon's trident and Zeus's master bolt were supposed to be in that bag, along with another weapon. But the only thing that I saw in the Underworld was Hades's helm. Ares only had Zeus's bolt, and the trident under Zeus's throne was a fake. I was also informed that the bolt Ares has was also fake. They should have been in that black bag. Where did they go?"

"What if I told you I threw them down into a pit?" Vittoria pressed her weight on me. I could feel the vomit sticking in my throat. "I'm not joking. Remember that big pit where we heard people screaming? I threw them down there." Vittoria stood up, her eyes wide. "But that's...you threw them into Tartarus?" I barely managed to stand. "Yeah, I did. That was part of my plan."

"But what reason do you have to side against the gods?"

"I feel the same way you do about the gods. They killed my mother, and the only reason Helen and I lived was to be used. My little sister was crippled. I was traumatized. I refuse to accept things as they are. I want to change the world, too, Vittoria."

"So you're on my side?"

"Yes. Kronos and I planned the whole thing out. I found the bag and held on to it. I dressed up in disguise and gave it to Ares. After that, I let Kronos take over the rest."

"I see. You knew about Kronos and his plan. But still, why? Helen's life could be in grave danger if the gods found out you were a traitor."

"I'm aware of that! But Helen's life won't be any better under the thumb of Zeus. He'll just use her and then zap her when there's no use for her. He'll do the same to me. But there's more to it. I'm destined to bring down the gods."

"Destined?"

"The prophecy states a child of Kronos will destroy Olympus." I took out the scissors from my pocket. Vittoria's mouth was now in a perfect O. "That scythe... you're the son of Kronos?!" I nodded as I put the scythe away. "The freezing power I have - I'm actually stopping time." My face was going to smack into the ground, but Vittoria caught me. "Sorry! Please forgive me, my lord!"

"Lord?"

"You are the son of Kronos, right? Wouldn't it be appropriate to call you that?"

"That's going a bit too far. I have a name, so stick to Yiannis."

"Alright, Yiannis." Vittoria slung my arm over her shoulder and helped me walk. "Hey, can't you use your healing magic on me?"

"I can, but there are limits to what I can do. I can only heal injuries. At best, I can make you feel better, but you'll fall unconscious anyway. I just need to get you back to your room, so hang in there."

We went past scores of trees and bushes until the hotel became visible. Vittoria suddenly dragged me behind a tree. "Hey! What are you doing?" She put her hand on my mouth. "Ssh! They're here!" she hissed.

"Who?"

My vision was blurry, and squinting didn't help much. But I was able to see what bothered Vittoria. A group of five kids in white hoods stood in a circle, hands linked together. They surrounded two goats. They all went down on their knees and reached for the sky. "Zeus! Hear our cry! Accept our prayer, our sacrifice! We sacrifice these goats to you so that you may bless us with your grace! We seek out your wisdom so that we may fulfill our loyalty to you!" The five kids started chanting in what sounded to be ancient Greek. Lightning struck the ground, and the goats were no longer there.

One of the kids took his hood off: Thomas. "As epic as ever, huh?"

I realized that I knew who the other kids were. Nathan, George, and Nick. But I didn't know who the fifth kid was - it wasn't Julien.

Nick nudged Thomas. "Hey, our leader's strict about this. Do you want Nathan to beat you up again?"

"I'm laxer now," Nathan took off his hood. "I received some interesting news."

"Yiannis was the villain of the story, after all?"Thomas joked. Nathan shook his head. "Zeus himself admitted Yiannis is innocent, but I won't rule it out. What he did confirm was that a third party had set everything up. Poseidon, Ares, Hades, and maybe even Yiannis were all dancing to the tune of somebody else. On top of that, this somebody has spies here."

"Spies?" Nick asked. "What is this, James Bond? Does Zeus know who they are?"

"Hmm? No, this is just a hunch. You see, I caught hold of a peculiar message written in graffiti. It said, 'The Titan Lord will prevail. The gods will be overthrown. I hope you go to Tartarus, Nathan.' You guys can see it in the basement."

"That's one bad spy," George stated the obvious. "Why would they give us free info like that?"

"Don't know. But it does help us," Nathan grinned.

"How so?" Thomas cocked his head. "All we know is that there are spies. We don't know who they are."

"That's fine. We don't need to figure out who the spies are."

"We don't?"

"All we need to do is let everyone in on this for now. Leak this to the gods, and they'll be sure to pay more attention here. Since everyone knows that spies are among us, they'll naturally become suspicious of others, except those they know they can trust. With the gods and over a hundred kids keeping an eye on each other, these spies will find it an ordeal to lay low. They'll slip up at some point."

"And then we can catch and interrogate them," Thomas grinned. "Can I do water torture?"

"Of course not," Nathan silenced him. "We'll look like monsters if we go that far. Some might suspect us. But before all that, I want to tell you guys something. I saw Yiannis wandering into the forest. Alone. What could he have been doing this late at night, when it's almost curfew?"

"Shall we find out for ourselves?" Thomas licked his lips.

"Yes," Nathan smirked. "I would love to do nothing more."