IF IT GOES WELL IT ENDS WELL

So Nathan was the backstabbing friend. I thought it would be Julien, but it looks like I was wrong. Still, I can't rule him out as an enemy. This is his friend group, and all of them are zealots who show unbinding loyalty to the gods. Chances are Julien's a part of this cult too.

"Sorry, Yiannis. I got you into this mess. I should have figured out who you were. I'm such an idiot," Vittoria said apologetically.

"No," I disagreed. "It's not your fault. I had my suspicions about you. Back in the Lucky Hermes Hotel, from the way you and Ares talked and on what Kronos said, I reasoned you were the thief. I should have confided in you sooner. What now?"

"Nathan hasn't moved with his buddies. If he decides to walk in here, we're finished. Nathan will think we're being suspicious, and that alone is enough to keep us on house arrest."

"House arrest?"

"Yeah. DGH has procedures on how to deal with spies. You can check that out on their guidebook. Anyways, they lock the spy up until he confesses everything he knows, either willingly or through torture. Thomas is the one who does the torturing. That scumbag just does it for his own amusement."

"They actually have a guidebook for this? Is this some video game?"

"Yes," Vittoria chuckled. "It's an RPG, and we're the villains with magical powers trying to overthrow society. That's how I feel about all this greek stuff sometimes. Anyway, we need a better hiding place, lest we want it to be game over. Stay right here." It's not like I was going anywhere. I needed assistance just getting up properly. Vittoria was swift and quiet, even though she moved quickly through patches of bushes and stepped on leaves. She would make a good assassin.

Vittoria came back to me a few minutes later. "There's a thick pile of bushes behind some trees. Nathan shouldn't be able to find us there." She carried me along, which slowed her down a lot. I hope Nathan wasn't nearby.

The hiding place was excellent, but it was also uncomfortable. Branches jabbed every part of my body. It was way too humid here. Vittoria drugged me, and I vomited twice already as a result. I was just going to die at this point.

"Nathan knows you went into the forest by yourself late at night," Vittoria informed me. "Even if he doesn't find you now, he'll continue to be suspicious about you. I have a bad feeling he's planning to put you under house arrest."

"It's the logical thing to do from his perspective," I agreed. "If he does, I'm not sure I'll be the only one. Helen might be subjugated to torture too, and so might you. We have to trick him somehow. Convince him I'm completely innocent."

"But how?"

"Vittoria, what else can you do with your magic?"

"I'm not the best at it, but other than healing, I can make illusions."

"You can make illusions? For real? That's insane!"

Vittoria's cheeks flushed. "It's nothing special." She twirled her fingers. Then she cursed. "I left my bracelets in my room. We could have just walked out of here if I had them."

"No, it's fine," I shook my head. "How good are you at making illusions? Can you make yourself look like someone else?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"I came up with an idea. The perfect way to fool Nathan. But first, is there anyone on our side who left camp?"

"No. We have ten people here in total, and four are leaving next week. Actually, now that you mention it, Brian said he was going back to base tonight."

"You guys have a base?"

"You won't believe the number of people who support our cause. We have the wealthy and prominent politicians giving us big bucks and a lot of weapons."

"How on earth do they know about the gods?"

"Some of them are demigods too, Yiannis. They hate the gods as much as we do."

"There really is a God on our side, huh?"

"Sure is," Vittoria flashed that crazy grin again. "I can make myself look like Brian if that's what you're asking. But how is that going to fool Nathan?"

"Well, it's like this," I told her my plan. Vittoria stared at me like I was insane. "Yiannis, this is too risky. What happens if Nathan sees through it?"

"Does Nathan know that you can make illusions?"

"No. It's something I learned recently. We haven't talked in years, and Nathan's become a real jerk since then. He shouldn't be aware."

"Then there's nothing to worry about. Nathan already knows that there are spies in the hotel. All you have to do is not get caught, which should be easy since you're tricking their minds. Just try not to make it obvious." I pulled out the scissors from my pocket. "Before we go on with this, make sure to notify Brian that he shouldn't come back here first thing tomorrow. Take this with you."

"But that's your scythe. Lord Kronos gave it to you as a gift."

"And?"

"I don't deserve to have it in my possession."

"I have no clue as to why you don't, but I'm letting you borrow it for the moment, so you do. Remember to give it back later. The scythe should convince Nathan that you're the son of Kronos. Well, that Brian is the son of Kronos, anyway. You remember the rest, right?"

Vittoria nodded. "Yeah. Are you sure about this? It would be a lot safer to fall back to the hotel."

I nodded. "But Nathan would still be suspicious of me. Let's hope this works."

Just on cue, we heard footsteps behind us. "You sure you saw Yiannis? He could be back in his room already. Even if he's not, this forest is huge. He could be anywhere!" Nick was exasperated. No surprise there; he was the laziest one of all. Still, everything was falling into place. Their timing couldn't have better.

Vittoria whammed into Thomas and slit his throat in one swift move. Thomas staggered backward as blood flew out of his neck. In seconds, he was killed. "Woah, never knew you could do that," Nathan clapped. "When'd you learn to use a knife like that, Brian?"

That would mean Vittoria's illusion magic was working. I was still behind the bushes, so I couldn't see it for myself.

"Oh, my master taught me a lot when I was little. About the art of killing." I was amazed by Vittoria's magic. Even her voice was unrecognizable. Based on Nathan's reactions, he believes he's talking to Brian, so what I'm hearing must be Brian's voice.

"You don't say," Nathan snickered. "Who would this master of yours be, exactly? Actually, don't tell me. I'll have my men force it out of you. Get'em, boys." I heard blades clanging wildly. Then screaming filled my ears. It only got louder and louder, like it was hitting a crescendo.

Nathan laughed, but I heard a twinge of nervousness in it. "So you're the son of Kronos, eh? Quite the nice scythe you got. But now you'll be dealing with me. You better get ready."

"No," Vittoria said. "It ends here." She came and dragged me out of the bush. Then she was kind enough to wham me facefirst into the ground. I felt the blade of my own scythe pressed against my chest. "Move in inch, and I'll sever his body."

"What did you do to him, you disgusting Titan breed! He's our savior!"

"Nothing special at all," Vittoria sniggered. "But he may not last long. It was easy to bring him here by provoking him with threats, directed mainly at Helen, his sister."

"His sister's here too? Did you kill her?"

"Possibly. I could have buried the body somewhere, and I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time searching for it. I can't wait to see your reaction when you do find it. Are you just going to stand there?"

"If it was his sister there, I would have left her to die. There's no way a crippled little girl's going to save Olympus. It would be far better to get rid of her before the Titans got their hands on her. Although there wasn't much they could do with her, to begin with. She's too weak to survive, so I think killing her would be merciful, really. Saves her a lot of pain, you know? Unfortunately, even though I don't care one bit about Yiannis, I need to preserve our apparent savior. So I'll be nice and let you go now. He can't die until he fulfills his purpose."

"Why, thank you. You're ever so kind, Nathan," Vittoria bowed. She disappeared into the forest. "How useless could you guys be? None of you could even get a scratch on him." I could feel the weight of his eyes staring down at me. I thought he was about to lambast me for getting in his way, but he just picked me up. "Alright, I'll take him to the infirmary. You guys need to get your wounds treated as well."

When I woke up, I was in a hospital bed. My little sister was sleeping beside me, clasping my hand tightly. I got up and realized I was shirtless. No wonder it felt so cold in here. I found a black T-shirt in a basket on a table adjacent to the bed and put it on. I lay down and waited for my sister to open her eyes.

As soon as Helen saw me, she gave me a bear hug. "I'm not dead yet, little sister." Helen hugged me tighter, and her smile grew proportionately. "You need to stop scaring me like this. I get a heart attack when you collapse."

"No, you get a heart attack every time I get injured. Even if all I get is a little cut, you worry about it like I'm going to get the plague."

"You can, along with pneumonia and other diseases. Which is why I worry a lot." I patted my sister on the head. "Aw, thanks. But hey, I'm awake now, so why did your smile go away?"

"Chiron took care of you when Nathan brought you back. More importantly, Yiannis, did you drink?"

"Um, well..."

"Yiannis! Mother said drinking was bad for your health!"

"Now you're acting like Mother. She never said drinking was bad; just overindulging on it is. Mother drank when we were asleep. I only drank because I wanted to enjoy myself. I won't do it again."

"You promise?" Helen scowled. I raised my pinky. "Yeah, I pinky promise."

"Ok, if you do drink again, big brother, I'm going to cut your finger off."

"Please don't."

Helen smiled evilly. "I will. So you better keep your promise. Oh, I almost forgot. Chiron said that you got bitten by a black widow on your right hand. The poison would've killed you if you got here any later than you did. What happened?"

This was an interesting tidbit. I'm not sure how many creatures Vittoria robbed from the Underworld, but I only saw a snake and a kissing bug. I examined my right hand, and sure enough, there was a band-aid there. I felt it, and pain erupted from my skin. Was that the poison? It had to be ridiculously potent. I'm lucky to be alive. But why did Vittoria use the spider? Was it to make my death look like an unfortunate incident and not attempted murder?

Then I understood. Vittoria was bluffing the whole time, especially the part about the alcohol. She hadn't drugged it at all. There's no way she could without getting noticed. That and the assassin bug were only a diversion. She needed to keep my attention elsewhere while the poison did its thing. I'm not sure how Underworld spider poison works, but I'm sure it took a while before it could kill me. The dizziness and fatigue happen shortly after the bite, and Vittoria just made the whole wine story up to keep my focus on her. Once the spider bit me, all she needed to do was stall until I was defenseless. And here I thought I was the devious one for fooling all the gods. Vittoria was machiavellian all the way. I'm thankful she's on my side.

I realized I still had a headache. It was minor, but I just barely felt it. "Yiannis?" Helen touched my arm. "You looked frightened a second ago. Is something wrong?"

"No. I just thought about something. You wanted to know what happened to me yesterday, right?" Helen nodded. I informed her of what occurred last night, albeit an edited(by that, I mean a total lie) version. Helen took my right hand in hers. Tears fell out of her eyes and made splotches on the now saggy band-aid. I hugged my little sister. "Did I do something that made you sad? Was it drinking? I promised I wouldn't do it again."

"No," Helen whined. "You always protect me, and you get hurt every time. You get hurt because of me. I'm such a useless little sister. You always have to do everything for me." I put my arms around Helen. "You're my stupid little sister. Of course, I'm going to protect you. I have to. But you're not useless, Helen. You saved my life back in Ohio, remember?"

"Yeah, you were strapped to a bed. It was scary."

"So don't say you're useless. You're not. Remember that."

"Ok," Helen sniffed. "I will." Her smile came back. "I love you, Yiannis."

"I love you too," I ruffled my sister's hair.

"I'll get everyone else here." Helen got out of her chair and bolted out the door(well, with a cane, she wasn't fast.). I was glad my little sister was happy. But the events of last night still bothered me. In the end, Nathan turned out to be my enemy. So did Thomas, Nick, George, and one other kid. I needed to know whether Julien was with them or not. If only he could come out of that door...

Which is what happened. Julien came in, followed by Helen, Vittoria, and Nathan. I didn't want to see the last one, but I still had to pretend we were friends. I can't have Nathan think I'm acting out of character.

"Glad you're awake. We were all worried about you," Vittoria smiled. During the quest, I always thought Vittoria was hesitant when she approached me. Vittoria showed no signs of that now. I took that as a sign that she trusted me, and it was oddly comforting. I guess that was because she was my only real friend at the moment, as Julien may just turn out to be my biggest enemy.

Julien and Nathan both gave me fistbumps. "Welcome back to the world of the living. You may be the son of Hades, but you have a life here too, you know," Julien joked.

"Yeah, don't scare us like that," Nathan scratched his head. "We thought you had speeded your way to the afterlife."

"I could speed up your life if you want. That way, we could be together in the Underworld," I said. "How about it?"

"I think I'll pass," Nathan shuddered. "The Underworld is scary."

"Same here," Julien grinned. "I would prefer a life here than down below."

"Well, I'm not offering it again, so you blew your chance," I shrugged. "What happened with Brian? Did you guys get him?"

"No, he got away," Nathan muttered bitterly. "I was going to beat him to bits, but he used you as a hostage. In the end, I had to let him go. It was the only way to save you."

It's totally not like you wanted me alive only so you and the gods could use me. I can't die until after I save Olympus because servitude to the gods is my only reason for living. It's like being a nationalist in a way. I just die for twelve overrated beings instead of a country.

"Well, I appreciate you saving me. Thanks, Nathan." Yes, thank you, Nathan. You were kind enough to believe that Brian was the one who attacked me last night, not Vittoria. You actually think I'm innocent. Most likely, you've told Zeus about recent events. Zeus had no idea who set him up, and I wanted to keep it that way(so everyone would think he's still guilty), but I doubt he'll do anything about it. Kronos is still a bunch of disassembled body parts. How's he going to fight against Olympus like that? Now that everyone knows I'm innocent, there's no reason for them to be wary of me. It'll be easy for me to earn their trust and protect the other spies.

Everyone left the room except Julien. "I have to talk to you, Yiannis. I told the others to give us some space."

"Sure. What is it, old pal?" Was this luck? Julien wanted to talk to me privately just as much as I did. "You're frowning. Something the matter?"

"Yeah. Yiannis, what happened last night?"

"Didn't Nathan tell you?"

"Yes, but I want to hear it from you." Was he trying to compare our stories, hoping for even the slightest contradiction? Did Nathan tell him to do this? I told Julien everything that happened last night(the edited version, hoping Nathan didn't notice anything amiss).

"I see," Julien nodded. "It's practically the same one Nathan gave."

"Do you not believe me?"

"No, I just thought you would know a bit more about the situation than Nathan did. You spent more time with Brian, so I hoped you would catch on to at least something."

"I told you already - he's the son of Kronos. He tried to kill me, so the second half of the prophecy won't happen. He goaded me with threats to Helen's life, and I played right into his hands. Pretty dumb of me, huh?"

"Not really. I would probably end up the same as you if we swapped places, and Brian was gunning for me. But are you sure that's all you know?"

"Well, Brian did tell me some things."

"Such as?"

"Julien, is there a cult here filled with zealots?" Julien raised his brows. "What exactly do you mean by that?"

"Brian told me there was a group of demigods who were fanatics when they worshipped Zeus. He said they acted like they had a fetish for the king of the gods."

Julien tensed. His arms exerted so much force that the table he leaned on was creaking. "Was that all?"

"He told me that Nathan, Nick, George, and Thomas were the leaders of the cult and that they didn't care about me one bit. They only made friends with me so they could earn my trust and use me. Brian even told me that Nathan might decide to kill Helen in the future."

"I see." Julien was trembling. Was it because of rage or fear?

"Hey, Julien, you sure you ok? You're shaking. Ants in your pants?"

"I'm fine." Julien's voice was a lot weaker now. Am I a threat now because I know about the cult, or is it that if Nathan finds out about what I know, he may decide to be "off with my head?"

"So, Julien, is what he said true? Is there a crazy cult here? Are you a part of it? Do you want Helen dead-"

"No, I'm not a part of it, and of course, I don't want Helen dead!" I didn't expect to get such an emotional reaction, and from the looks of it, Julien didn't either. "Sorry about that," he sighed. "Just because my friends are in some cult doesn't mean I'm in it too."

"I just wanted to make sure. I believe you. Did you not know about it either?"

"Not even the tiniest bit. Well, I do know, and I'll make sure Nathan and the rest stay away from your sister."

"I appreciate it. There's something else I want you to know. As my best friend, you're the only one I can confidently confide in. This has nothing to do with Brian, by the way."

"What is it?"

"I'm leaving DGH. I'm taking Helen with me, and the two of us are living in the Underworld from now on."

"You're leaving? So soon?" I nodded. "Yeah. I'm worried about Helen. Living so close to the cult is dangerous. Even though the Underworld kinda sucks, it at least offers plenty of protection. Helen will have Hades looking after her."

"Think about a bit more before you decide to leave, Yiannis."

"I've already thought it out. I'll visit from time to time, so don't worry. This isn't a permanent goodbye."

"Still... well, alright. If that's what you want." Julien hugged me for the first time and put clapped his hands on my shoulders. "Say bye to Helen for me, will you?"

"You got it."

Vittoria was waiting next to the door in my room. She stuffed something in my pocket, which turned out to be my trusty pair of scissors. "Thanks, Vittoria. I missed my favorite item."

"Just doing as you instructed, my lord."

"I told you not to call me that."

"Oh, right. Sorry, Yiannis."

"It's cool. Mind if we chat?" I opened the door to my room. "After you," I bowed.

"You do know it's against the rules for two people to be alone in a room, right?"

"Yes, but nothing happens if we don't get caught. I won't do anything weird, so relax. Besides, I doubt you care about the rules. How many have you broken since you got here?"

"A lot. Chiron caught me way too many times, and his punishments are so cruel. I think they can count as child abuse, and so I've minimized the rule-breaking."

"Makes sense. If it's ok with you, I'll lock the door as we chat. That way, nobody can interrupt us, and we'll know if someone's coming, especially Chiron." Vittoria walked into the room as I closed the door behind me.

Vittoria sat on my bed. "What did you want to discuss?"

"Well, I have to say your performance was impressive last night. That was quite a show."

"You came up with the plan, Yiannis. I was just following orders."

"Not the whole thing with Nathan, if that's what you meant. I'm talking about your attempt to end my life."

"Is that what this is? You came to get revenge?" Her voice wavered. I didn't understand. She calls me "lord" and refers to Kronos as her master. What's my father's relationship with her? Ever since I told her I'm Kronos's son, she talked to me more openly, but she seemed scared of me like she knew I could lash out at her at any time. Did Kronos treat her poorly, or was she afraid of the Titan Lord? I wanted to ask, but I felt she would think I'm barging into her business.

"I promised you could relax. I'm not going to do anything to you, although I am mad you deceived me so flawlessly with the whole cocaine thing and had a spider bit me."

"You noticed?"

"Yeah. That was a clever little stunt you pulled." The corner of Vittoria's mouth lifted a bit, forming a small smile. She tried hiding it, but I still saw. "Anyway, I wanted to talk about Helen and me. The two of us will be leaving the hotel."

"Leaving? Where are you two going?"

"The Underworld." I filled her in on the conversation Julien and I had in the infirmary. I also reminded her of what Nathan said last night about my little sister. "Helen's life is in danger. It won't be safe here."

"I understand how you feel. I want Helen to be safe too. But I need you here. So do the other spies."

"I know. Helen and I will visit from time to time. I'll come over more often. Nathan's probably informed Zeus of what occurred last night. Going under the assumption that Nathan believed you were Brian, my innocence is confirmed. With that, I won't be suspicious, and everyone will trust me, making it easy to abuse that trust by spreading lies. That makes it much easier to protect you and the other spies. But you're going to help as well. I can't do it alone."

"I figured that much on my own. What is it I should do?"

I thought about it for a moment. "Nathan's most likely going to take a leading role in searching for the spies. You two used to be friends, right?"

"We were friends. I don't talk to him at all anymore. But I can tell what you're thinking. You want me to mislead Nathan and his friends?"

"Basically. Try to aggravate Nathan if you can. Make sure he follows nothing but empty leads. That goes for the other kids too. Distract them and keep them occupied with other things. Will Nathan trust you?"

"He knows there are spies, so not fully. But I won't know unless I communicate with him."

"If you don't think it'll work, you could just have another one of our spies do it."

"Which is what I intend to do." Vittoria gave me that devilish grin again, and I still found it alluring in a strange way. "I knew about the cult for some time. It's larger than you might think. I believe there's a total of thirty members, so it's not a fringe group in DGH."

"Why are you smiling, then? That makes our job more difficult."

"Normally, yes. But say some of those members are actually spies, and they've been in the cult for a while. Then what happens?"

My jaw dropped. "Nathan already trusts those spies, and fooling him will be almost too easy. Vittoria, you're amazing, you know that?"

"I appreciate the compliment, Yiannis, but I didn't do anything extraordinary. You would have done it quicker than I did, I bet."

"I'm sure getting the spies there wasn't easy. So, who's on our side?"

"I only managed to put three spies in the cult. But you already know two of them, and that's all you need to know."

"Who would they be?"

"Nick and George. They've been friends with Nathan for three years now, although they hate the guy. The two of them are like Nathan's right-hand men."

"Excellent. You already had the whole matter figured out, huh?"

"Yes, I did." Vittoria got up from the bed. "Well, this was a productive discussion. I'll be looking forward to the next time we do this," she smiled. "I'll say my goodbyes to Helen. Stay alive, Yiannis."

"Right back at you."

At first, Helen made a big fuss about leaving, but after I told her about Nathan, she calmed down and said she would only go with me if she could come back here every now and then, to which I agreed. She was going to really miss her friend Amelia.

"Big Brother, aren't you sad about leaving?"

"Yeah," I smiled, recalling all the fun times I had with Vittoria and Julien. "I'm going to miss those two. It's the same for you, isn't it, little sister?"

"Yeah." Tears rolled down her cheeks. "I - I don't want to leave. I want to play with Amelia."

"Yeah, I know," I wrapped my arms around Helen. "I'm sorry. You have to leave because your big brother's a wuss and can't protect you."

"That isn't true! You've always been there for me. I always ask you to spoil me, and you never complain. You do so much for me, yet you never complain."

"It's all worth it if it's for you. You're my little sister."

"And you're my big brother." Helen met my eyes, and her face beamed. She was happier than I'd ever seen her. "I don't deserve you, but I'm glad all the same. We are going to come back, right?"

"Yes, we will." I touched the ground, and it opened up into a giant abyss(as the son of the Underworld, I could open paths that go down there from the surface of the Earth.) Helen took my hand, and the two of us began walking down our way to our new home.