Tyler

I woke up in a patch of dirt. My body felt ice cold and wet. I was exhausted and I was breathing raggedly, which usually comes up after my full moon happens.

Last night I had the usual pain and I blacked out after trying to take control. The image of my friends looking at me unable to help was the last thing I saw. It left me a whole in my heart which was being filled with despair. Are they okay? What did my alter ego do?

I saw the destruction in the cold morning mist. Trees all around the lake was ripped out of their roots. The ground was demolished and had deep trenches. A place that used to be a cave into a cliff was caved in by rocks.

I stood up weakly and noticed one important detail about myself. My lack of clothing.

"Ah!" I yelled.

Usually I hide some for after my transformation. But I was so concentrated on Vanessa and Jesse; I forgot to get some from my room.

"So not cool! Stupid, Garcia!" I muttered shivering.

I heard a voice in the distance yelling, "Tyler!"

I panicked and noticed a lake a couple of yards away. I ran at top speed and dived in. I felt the coolness of the water on my skin and took a deep breath to calm me down. Wait…deep breath? I panicked and expected to choke. But I felt normal underwater, possibly even better. My tiredness went away and I could breathe normally. Like I was only taking in the oxygen from the water.

Wicked, I thought. Aquaman is a loser compared to me. Especially from my southwest angle.

I swam up to the surface. I reached the air with Themis standing above me.

"Why are you in there?" She asked.

"I don't have any clothes," I said awkwardly.

Themis snapped her fingers. "Now you do."

I looked down into the water and a blue T-shirt and black jeans was certainly on me. "Thanks for the now wet threads," I mumbled.

I swam back to the ground near the lake. As I climbed of the water, I was tackled back in.

"Now this just defeats the purpose," I growled.

"Tyler!" Vanessa yelled next to me in the water. "You're back to normal!" She even hugged me fiercely.

"Are you okay?" I asked quickly. For the first time in a long time, Vanessa was the only girl I was happy to see.

"Of course," Jesse said above us. His clothes were splattered with mud and torn with claw marks. His expression at me and Vanessa was a mix of jealousy and confusion. "Just some minor scratches and a bit tired but we managed."

"I'm so sorry guys," I said. "What did I look like?"

"A sea wolf," Vanessa commented.

Tyler thought about it. I never saw what I looked like in a transformation. It interested and bothered me. I looked at my hands with intensity. There had to be something I could do to lift this curse.

Themis looked interested. "Tyler turns into a telekhine on a full moon. I would figure that much. Guys, we were supposed to start class two hours ago, so we'll just learn out here."

"Really?" Jesse said. "Did you not notice the fact Vanessa and I died almost a million times last night?"

"It's very important we get this lesson out of the way," Themis insisted. "I wanted combat training first then a lesson in the real world."

We all listened to her and sat in the shade under a tree. The morning sun was bright and warm in the clear blue sky. Themis dried Vanessa and my clothes so we were able to relax. She also fixed up Jesse and Vanessa's torn clothing. I felt calm and at peace. Everyone was okay and we were some pretty good warriors. Nothing could ruin this moment.

"Alright we need to understand the Olympians. So think. If you were to keep a close watch on your kingdom and keep the respect of your people, what would you do?"

"Show them my abs," I said. "Everybody loves them."

"Flick my hair like a Jonas Brother," Jesse said. "Girls love that."

"Buy them designer handbags," Vanessa said. "Knock offs are so unbecoming."

Themis messaged her forehead. "So much work to do on you guys. No, the correct answer is that you become a positive role model on your people. Example, who is our president and first lady?"

"Zane and Haley Mitchell," Vanessa answered. "No way, they're Zeus and Hera?"

Themis nodded. "Good job, Vanessa. This election of presidents is fake. There's always the candidate that everyone likes which is Zeus in disguise. He wants to appear as a king even to his people."

I gasped. "That election twelve years ago in Florida, Zeus rigged it! There was no way Gore lost."

Themis shrugged. "Zeus has his ways and the United States president always has two brothers. All Olympians are in the higher parts of society like Hale and Peyton Mitchell. Peyton is Poseidon and is a well known billionaire cruise line manager. Hale, or should I say Hades, mines into the earth for gold and other precious metals. This is technically his kingdom to begin with so it comes to him easily."

"Then there's the other nine," Themis continued. "Ares is a well known battle commander in our wars. His name is Alaric Sanders. He has three purple hearts and multiple awards for bravery. Hephaestus, or Hogan Fanes, is a famous technological inventor. He made popular things like the MYpod. Hector Holt is Hermes, an athlete in baseball that shatters records with his amazing speed. Adriana Blaire is Aphrodite and a model considered to be the most beautiful woman in ages. A.J. Archer is Apollo and a medical doctor best known for his miracle surgeries. His twin sister Artemis, Ally Archer, is a hunter and advocate for female independence."

Themis took a deep breath. I could tell she didn't like talking about the Olympians so casually.

"Damon Chamberlain is Dionysus. He is famous for his popular wine and occasionally in the tabloids because of his late night parties. Alicia Blake, or Athena, is a well-known author and scholar. She wrote the Percy Jackson book series and The Heroes of Olympus to highlight the gods over the Titans. Finally, there is Deanna Forbes who is planter and environmentalist known for saving endangered plant species."

My head hurts. I think my mind imploded. "But the Olympians don't sound bad. We haven't noticed them do anything terrible.

Themis sneered. "Of course you haven't. They don't want you to. Examples of horrible things they've done to humanity would a list taller than Mount Rushmore. Artemis hunts people for sport. Ares starts most of the wars he fights in. Poseidon sank the Titanic for fun. I'm sugar-coating these things for you guys. You're too young to know the true horrors of what the gods have done."

"That's not cool," Tyler said.

"It's important that we do something," Themis said. "The gods don't care about any mortal. They're just forms of entertainment to them."

Jesse looked like he was deep in thought. "I remember half those people," Jesse said slowly. "I didn't they'd be that special."

"Did not see any of that coming," Vanessa admitted.

"It's important to know your enemy before-"

Themis was interrupted by a large explosion. Half the forest was blown off ten feet from us. The explosion blew red hot air in our faces.

I stood up and saw two people walking to us. One was Artemis in her Greek armor. The other was a buff dude in Greek armor. He had long straight black hair that was spiked up into a sort of Mohawk. He had a playful smile and his face...it was horrible. It was scarred and burnt. I gulped from the intensity of its ugliness.

Jesse groaned. "Let me take a wild guess. Alaric and Ally. Ares and Artemis?"

"Correct," Themis steamed.

"Well," Ares called. "Those are demititans? Puny kittens."

"We'll see when I scratch your eyes out," I yelled. "Ka-bloom!"

I was about to charge Ares when Themis stopped me.

"What is your purpose here?" Themis asked. "Leave before I kill you."

"Aw," Ares taunted. "Four eyes thinks she can kill me. We won't harm anyone…dramatic pause…other than Jesse."

"Who says dramatic pause?" I asked. Then I processed the last part. "Why Jesse?"

"Why explain when I kill you!" Ares shouted running to us.

I noticed Artemis lost interest and starting examining her nails.

Ares was closing on us so fast, I felt nervous. Jesse did a double palm thrust to Ares and I felt him trying to reverse time. His face became strained.

"Dude, you look like you're on the toilet," I observed.

"I'm trying to push him back," Jesse said. "But I lost most of my power from last night."

Ares only slowed down a bit. But in my opinion, he seemed very eager to come over to us.

Themis took out a credit card which seemed like pure gold. "Go to the kitchen and slide this in the fridge."

Jesse laughed nervously. "That made no sense."

"Go, I'll hold them off."

"No…" Jesse realized what Themis said. "We aren't leaving you."

"Yeah, we can pull this off together!" I said.

"I can show Ares how it feels to be beat up by a girl," Vanessa offered.

"No, you need to leave. Jesse, go restore the original king."

Jesse looked heartbroken. "No!"

I felt useless. Themis knew we couldn't do anything. It was true. Vanessa and Jesse had to deal with a night of my telekhine side, while I had a painful transformation that took out a lot my energy.

I felt frustrated with my curse and it wasn't the first time. But I knew we couldn't do anything.

"Let's go," I said forcefully. I ran ahead toward the house so no one could see how I really felt.