I've always prided myself on being removed from other peoples problems. always told me to be like water. Let things pass through me and around me. Be fluid so that others didn't hinder my progress. I had initially thought she meant that about my sports, but it turns out it applies here at the Cathedral. I was popular in school, so it was weird being the outcast here. I spent more than enough time on my own, giving off an air of independence that few others here could claim. Except for maybe Dyson. But despite his brood exterior, and sharp wit, he was always quick to be around others when the offer was there. I, on the other hand, kept my distance from all of them. An argument could be made for the time I've spent with Erik, but despite my attempts to get close to him, he's kept me at arms length.

  I'd fill my days with Chase in the Training Room, but I hadn't seen him in days. I continued our routine, as he would expect of me, but without his guidance, it felt...empty? The more time we spent together, the closer I felt to him; like some kind of invisible tether connecting us. I'd have dreams about him, cloaked in shadows, eyes glinting like a cat in the darkness. I'd try to speak or to run to him, but he was always just out of reach. Now, he was gone and out of reach while I'm awake too. I was left to wonder if I'd ever see him again, my chest tightening at the thought of never seeing him again. Now, I know what the others say about him and I. I know they think that I'm sleeping with him or something, but it's not like that. It's something else. Something...more.

  I threw a light sweater over my workout clothes and moved from the gym to the Rec Room. Orion had called for a group meeting, I suppose to discuss all of our missing companions, or the lack of work we'd had lately. I still hadn't been deployed on any missions, not even the small ones. Chase would recommend that I stay and train, learn to master my Artifacts. Any excuse for me to be stuck here with him. But now he was gone.

  "Thanks for coming Kalysta. I think that's everyone." Orion said, standing on the long couch in the middle of the room. I nodded at him and leaned against the pool table, keeping my distance from the others. I scanned the room as Orion began to speak, looking for Erik among the Chosen, but he wasn't there. Surprisingly, Dyson was. He had found a particularly dark corner to sulk in, his headphones on, but with one tucked behind his ear so that he could hear Orion.

  "So, I did a bit of snooping and found something important." Orion start off, throwing a file folder on the side table. "Anders was looking into Damien before he left to go with Seraphina. I'm pretty convinced this Demi-God guy is the man in this dossier. Damien Griffin, a former Chosen of the Cathedral, part of the old team."

  Amelia grabbed up the folder as her brother, Ethan, reached for it. She gave him a teasing smile and flicked it open.

  "I mean, I can see the resemblance. I think." She said, turning the folder and getting a closer look at the picture attached. "Although the guy we fought was shredded and had never seen hair cut."

  Amelia passed off the folder to her brother, who passed it to Tadashi. Tadashi walked it over to Dyson, who just shrugged and waved it away. Tadashi sighed and brought it over to me.

  "I wasn't on the mission, but I do know stories about Chase's team." I told them, flicking through the folder. Chase had mentioned Griffin before, mostly in passing, when I would ask about my mother. The scrawny boy in the picture was as I imagined him. But I also knew that he had died on the same mission as my mother. The file with his name confirmed this, with a large DECEASED

  "I mean, I just know what Chase has told me, and the odd conversation I heard between him and Anders." I said, shaking my head. I was by no means an expert. "Your parents were on the same team Orion, why don't you ask them about this guy?" I tried to deflect.

  "I tried," Orion sighed. "My Dad refused to get into it. I think him and my Mom still aren't over whatever it was that happened when the team split up."

  "I can understand that. I lost my mother that night." I said, bitterly.

  "Sorry. Right." Orion rubbed the back of his neck and looked at me apologetically.

  "So what's the point? Do we have a lead? Are we tracking this guy down?" Amelia asked, shifting impatiently. It was nice to see her abrupt, matter-of-fact attitude returning. It was hard to watch her sulk around like an injured doe, when we all knew she was stronger than that. Erik hadn't actually done anything to her, so she should have been fine. Or maybe I'm just cold to the situation. As the only two girls, we should have had a sisterhood, but I had never made any effort to connect with her.

  "I...don't have a lead. But the more we know about this guy, the more we can plan ahead." Orion jumped off the couch and rushed for a white board on wheels. He dragged it to the center of the room and pulled the cap of the marker, dramatically flourishing it.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  "So what do we know about Griffin, the Chosen?" He asked. I pushed off the pool table and moved to hand Ethan the folder, but he didn't seem to notice me standing beside him. His eyes stared off vacantly, like he was only half paying attention. I tapped his bulging triceps with the folder and he jumped, looking down at me. I stuffed the folder into his hand and moved back to my spot. He looked strangely shaken, like he was just seeing what was happening for the first time.

  "We know he was part of the Cathedral, and knew a bunch of our parents." Orion said, when no one jumped on his question. He quickly scribbled down short form on the white board, the marker squeaking loudly in the silence of the room.

  "We know he was capable of bonding to multiple Artifacts. His main one was a sword called Acheron." Ethan said, reading from the file.

  "Acheron, like the river in Greek myth." I chimed in. "It mean's pain."

  "Okay, great work guys." Orion grimaced as he wrote it all down.

  "He studied magic at the Citadel and was supposedly a magic user." Amelia added, grabbing the folder from her brother. The more we found out about this guy, the more I knew we were outmatched without Erik. Even more so without Chase and Anders.

  "And we know Damien claimed to be a child of Eris, a demi-god. Maybe it makes sense that he controlled a sword named after one of the rivers of the Underworld." Tadashi added, which surprised me, as I seldom heard him speak. Ethan nodded enthusiastically with his friends contribution. And then he was struck with a look of sudden sadness as he reached to his chest.

  "We know he has the Spear of Longinus." He added sadly. Amelia reached back and held his hand, which he gave a soft squeeze. Orion kept his face toward the white board, his grimace turning into a full frown as he was realizing exactly what I had; we were outmatched.

  "So what's the point?" We all turned to look at Dyson, who was standing up as he spoke.

  "We're trying to get to know our enemy. Maybe there is something here that will give us a lead." Orion said, trying to be reassuring. Dyson was shaking his head. I noticed that his black hair dye was starting to fade, leaving his roots a rich brown. I subconsciously reached up to my own hair, where my naturally black hair was coming through the artificial scarlet, and tightened my ponytail.

  "We're moving information from a paper onto a board. We aren't learning anything new. This guy could be targeting other Chosen, or other Artifact sites as we speak, and we'd have no idea cause Anders isn't here to tell us about it. Where the fuck is everyone anyway?" He snapped.

  "Anders and Chase are away on missions. Erik is..." Orion tried to get out, but Dyson cut him off.

  "Missing again. Our fearless leader." He snarked.

  "Erik is dealing with some stuff." Orion almost stumbled over his words, still in shock from Dyson's outburst.

  "We're all dealing with shit. Why do his problems come before everyone else's?" He pushed. I watched as Amelia stood up and went to Dyson, grabbing for one of his hands.

  "Hey, what's going on?" She stage-whispered. Dyson pulled his hand away from her. Not in a malicious way, more like he was afraid that she had touched him.

  "I'm just saying, until we get out there and actually do something, we are no closer to solving the problem of a homicidal Demi-God out there kicking the Order's ass. What good is having the power of Death itself on our side if I can't get out there and hurt the people threatening those I care about? How are we supposed to do anything, sitting here babysitting fragile egos and the latest teen drama?" Dyson barked out, his anger rising. His pale complexion had turned pink. I found it difficult to disagree with him.

  "Dyson's right. We aren't fixing anything by standing around here. Orion, is there a way you could get access to the database Anders uses? See if there are any actual leads out there?" I added. Orion looked around the room hopelessly.

  "I...yea, I mean I could. I'm not supposed to but I have some back doors installed." He humble-bragged. I could tell he was getting anxious and I had hoped that this course of action would at least temper things.

  "Are we actually going to act on any of that though? Or are we going to have to wait for Erik to stop having a pity party?" Dyson continued. Orion sighed and clenched his jaw. Amelia tried to calm Dyson down again, placing a hand on his shoulder, but this time Dyson physically recoiled from her touch.

  "Come on man, give me a break. I'm trying." Orion pleaded.

  "It's not you dude! It's Erik. Everything is about Erik. He's gotta be the hard ass and the boss man, but he's more fragile than a sheet of glass. Honestly, he hurt Amelia and he's walking around acting like he's the victim, sulking and going on runs to get away from here. Where is he now Orion?" Dyson moved passed Amelia to stand in front of Orion. There wasn't much of a size difference between the two smaller boys, but Dyson carried something inside that seemed to make him loom over poor Orion.

  "Dyson, I think you need to chill man." Orion said, trying to find his spine. Dyson stared at him for a long moment, the tension building as his grey eyes seemed to pierce into Orion.

  "Whatever, do what you want." Dyson said quietly, putting his headphones back on and moving to leave. Amelia tried to stop him, but he just moved past her like she wasn't even there. Poor girl. There was a communal exhale of exhaustion when Dyson left the room.

  "He's not wrong," I shrugged. "Could you use your back door in the Order database to track Chosen?"

  "Actually, I could." Orion swallowed hard. "But that's like, a huge breach of privacy."

  "At this point, I think that's a risk we need to take. I know for a fact that Chase isn't on a mission. He would have told me." I realized how it sounded before it left my mouth, and I cringed as all the eyes turned to me.

  "Just find Chase and Erik and we can go after them first." I added before leaving the room, my cheeks burning.