I missed an update yesterday…wow. I'm actually kinda embarrassed about that….oops. Anyway, here's today's chapter.

Oh wait! Almost forgot. I know, I know. It's really spelled Uranus like the planet, but some people tend to say the name of that planet…wrong (Oh you ALL know what I'm talking about that.). SO I changed the spelling. Go figure.

Jacob's POV

At the same time, we both pulled away, trying to figure out what had just happened. Alex was blushing like mad when she looked away. Our hands pulled apart, but just before they did I got one last low voltage jolt that made my arm go a little numb.

We just sat there in silence for a little bit, not looking at each other. We probably would've been there all day if Alex hadn't finally spoken up.

"I'm sorry," she apologized. "I..I didn't mean…"

We were both fumbling around in the dark trying to think of a non-romantic reason for why we'd just done that. Needless to say, we didn't do a good job.

"I just…I don't know what came over me," Alex tried to explain. "I didn't…we can't…"

My head was already not liking this. What was I going to tell Rae? Should I even tell her? If Alex was right and having a girlfriend was going to be a distraction, then this was going to be a major distraction until it got sorted out.

On one hand there was Alex. She knew me better than anyone, she always had my back and I always had hers. She kept me grounded, kept me focus, and whenever I most wanted to give up, she would always somehow keep me going. I could go to her with anything, in any state of mind, rely on her as much as she did on me.

Then there was Rae. My actual girlfriend for one. Everything was so much easier with her, and the way she looked at me always made me feel like I was strong. She drew her strength from me, I was what kept her together. And she'd helped me keep a grip on reality more than once. Oh, and there was the whole thing where she wouldn't try to kill me if she lost her temper.

"Alex," I interrupted, "don't apologize."

"No," Alex said, scooting away from me. A hurt expression came across my face. Sherealized what she'd just done and tried to explain.

"Jacob," she said, "as much as I want this…" she looked me over, drew in a shaky breath, and continued, "and believe me, I want this…I can't hog you all to myself when the whole world needs you. That and although I may not like Rae, I'm not about to steal a guy who's already got a girlfriend."

She stood up, turning to leave. "Look…this never happened. We're still just friends, end of story."

I got up after her, because there was no way in Hades I was giving up that easy. "I can't just ignore this, and I know you can't either."

She stopped and turned back to look at me. "Know me that well, huh? Jacob c'mon, I hate that Rae, but you do know if you leave her for me, you're going to be breaking some hearts? And I know you're too nice to do that."

I sighed. Sometimes, this girl could be very, very stubborn. And about the strangest things. Who fights to not get what they want?

"So what then? We can't just sweep this under the rug and pretend it didn't happen," I said. "I enjoyed it too much to do that."

She gave a half-chuckle. "For all your bad comebacks, you know what to say to a girl…"

She got serious again. "But, I'm not risking your life and the world just so I can get what I want. The world needs Jacob Jackson the savior more than I need Jacob Jackson the boyfriend."

"How about this then?" I asked, coming up with an idea. "One day, when this all over, and the world doesn't need me to be its hero, and if I am wholesomely unattached, we'll be together. No distractions, no selfishness, no broken hearts?"

She thought it over, then gave me a kiss on the cheek. "Deal."

"Jackson…" a pained voice suddenly groaned out.

Alex and I spun our heads to see a lone figure coming towards us. He looked vaguely mortal, but his skin was blackened as if he'd been thrown in the fire for a little bit before someone pulled him out. A few embers came off of him and his clothes every now and again.

Soon, a crowd of people came down from the mess hall, chasing after it. Han, Will, Henry, Tony, Roxanne, James, anyone who could cross the border was following this one, burnt mortal warily with weapons drawn. Even my parents were following it. And it was walking straight towards me.

"Jackson…" it groaned again.

"This thing just waltzed in to camp, moaning and groaning," Henry said as they got closer. "At first we thought it wanted your Dad, but…"

"Just let me kill the damn thing!" Roxanne yelled.

"We don't know what it wants yet," James disagreed. "We might learn something. Besides, how much harm could one of these things do? I hear a strong enough wind can turn them to dust."

"This guy isn't like the other possessed mortals we saw," I said, approaching it with interest as it continued to limp towards me. "The original flesh is still somewhat intact, it can talk…what did Urunos do to this guy?"

"Jackson…" the possessed mortal groaned again. Then, he stopped, and his voice changed from a dry, pained groan to the voice of Urunos himself.

"Jackson," he spoke my name like a threat. Alex tensed up instantly and had her sword out in seconds. She tried to stab the thing then and there, but I grabbed her arm. I wanted to hear this out.

"What do you want?" I challenged.

"You're Oracle, is not alone in insight to the future," Urunos's voice warned. The possessed mortal's eyes glowed with the red with power as he spoke directly at me. Everyone else was hushed into silence, hanging on his every word.

"You will fight, you will resist," Urunos warned. "But my numbers will darken the skies. You will lose hope as I take life after life, city after city. I will break your every line as well as your spirits. Look around you Jacob, look at all those you love, those who look to you for guidance. For very soon, they will all cry out for help, and you will be unable to save them all."

Alex strained against my grip, but I held her back. This was the first time anyone had talked to Urunos without someone trying to kill the other. So far, all he'd done was threaten us, threaten me. But I wanted to hear what he had to say.

"They see you as a savior," Urunos said. "I see you as but a rock, to be crushed to gravel beneath my step. When the time comes Jacob, and it shall come soon, you must choose. Who shall you sacrifice, and who shall you save? For you will try, but you will be powerless. You will be forced to listen as your friends, your family, all die. And when the last lines have fallen, you will beg for me to take you next."

Alex sent a charge up my arm, and I pulled away in pain. She shot forward and sliced. The enslaved mortal was gone in a flash. I thought that would be the end of it. It wasn't.

Alex turned to me, her eyes now glowing. Everyone else watching gasped. It had kind of been a secret Alex was fighting for control of herself. In Urunos's voice, not even Dark Alex, she continued.

"I know you as she knows you," Urunos warned. "I know the choices you will not make, the fears you cannot face. I know whose deaths will break your will, I know your every weakness and every strength. Your flaws, and the flaws of those you most trust will cost millions of lives. And this conflict shall not end, until you have tasted death."

Alex collapsed to the floor, and I was at her side in an instant. James was with me a second later. It all became a blur after that. She wasn't moving, her breathing was ragged, her heartbeat was off. I held her in my arms as James worked furiously to keep her stable.

The others just watched, in shock. The sense of déjà vu from when Chiron had died was coming now. Alex suddenly gasped, spasmed, and jerked to life.

"Oh gods…" she groaned. "My head is killing me…"

My relief, and the relief of everyone else watching was palpable. When Urunos showed up, I was going to make him pay for this. Somehow, some way, he was going to regret coming at me like this.

But his words echoed in my head. All his predications, they were a lot more straight forward than anything the Oracle had ever given us. I hoped he was just making grim promises rather than actually telling a future set in stone.

I looked around at everyone. I imagined hearing their last cries of life as Urunos killed them, and shuddered. Urunos, for whatever reason, was waging his own personal war against me. I had the attentions of a power far my greater. Joy.