Alex traveled quickly down the deserted streets. His bare arms were covered in goosebumps from the cold, and the thin Pokémon pajama pants he wore did little to warm his legs. He walked barefoot since his old worn-out sneakers made too much noise for his liking.

The tall lamp posts that dimly lit the sidewalk barely aided him, so he relied on his exceptional night vision to survey his surroundings. That night was quiet. The bitterness of the cold winter air deterred people and animals alike from staying out too late after sundown.

Danger rarely lurked around in the small Idaho town the orphanage resided in. That didn't mean there wasn't the occasional creep slinking along in the shadows of the alleyways, though. Alex kept his guard up and made note of nearby hiding spots to seek shelter in.

Not long after starting his journey, Alex arrived at the park where he'd first seen the strange man that disappeared into the shadows six years ago. It sat peacefully in the dark, undisturbed by the playful screams of children, or the yapping of little dogs. The oak tree that stood alone off to the right seemed to beckon Alex to its side like an old friend.

Alex pushed open the metal chain-link gate. The rusted hinges groaned in displeasure at being forced to move at the dead of night. The sound rang in Alex's ears and made him pause to listen for a sign that someone else heard it.

When the only thing he heard after a minute was the sound of his own breathing, he stepped through the gate. The grass was a comfort to his achingly cold feet. He crossed the field, paying no mind to the playground equipment that moved in the breeze.

His destination was the same each time he paid the park a late-night visit: A section of the treeline that blended in perfectly with its surroundings. Three trees in particular that once radiated with the lingering power of Sister Minnie's visitor.

It'd been a long time since Alex felt a connection with that power. Not that it mattered. He'd memorized the individual patterns that decorated the three trees' bark, knew the exact placement of the lower limbs, and could visualize the shape of their foliage.

He placed his hand on one of the trees and closed his eyes. The bark was warm under his palm. It pulsed with life, beating in time to the rhythm of his heart. He released all thoughts and allowed himself to open up. His mind reached toward the heartwood. He followed it through the thin crevices, the bumps, and the rings. A part of him already knew that he'd come up empty, but the thrill at exploring the tree kept his disappointment at bay.

Perhaps it was his distraction that allowed for the hidden figure to catch him off guard.

An inhuman force threw Alex violently to the side. He crashed to the ground with a painful thud and wheezed as his breath was forced from his lungs. Before he had time to blink, something grabbed him by the throat and lifted him up. His skin felt painfully cold where the thing touched it. He kicked his legs, seeking the comfort of the ground, but found nothing but air.

He couldn't see his attacker. Nothing stood before him but the empty park. The repugnant scent of rotten eggs singed the inside of his nose. He felt nothing but their icy hand and a sensation that was reminiscent of the one he'd been so desperate to find. Only, this was infinitely more sinister. Fear chilled him to the bone before he'd even heard it speak.

He would hear the voice again and again for many sleepless nights. It plagued his dreams more often than the dying man, sometimes even accompanying him for a night of torture.

When it spoke, it did so through Alex's mind.

Well, well, well, what do we have here? The voice was indescribable and entirely inhuman. It slithered along the folds of his brain like a snake. It wasn't one singular sound; instead, it was composed of the screams of the damned while somehow maintaining the structure of human speech.

Alex nearly wet himself. His heart thudded erratically against his sternum, and he briefly wondered if it was capable of bursting open. He kicked at the air in front of him but made no contact.

The creature holding him laughed. Alex felt his body seize up. He could no longer move and could barely breathe with the hand constricting tighter around his throat.

Stop fighting me, demigod. It will only make your death more painful, hissed the creature.

Something sharp grazed Alex's chest. It ripped his shirt open and exposed his thin torso to the cold. His skin remained unharmed, though he didn't know how long it would stay so.

He felt the primal urge to scream, but all that came out was a whimper.

This is it, he thought. This is where I die.

"Ceuthonymus!" A tangible human voice called.

The creature drew its attention away from Alex, in turn releasing him from the spell that kept his limbs in place. He flailed his body around wildly, and its grip on his throat loosened enough for him to fall from its grasp. He wasted no time scrambling away once he was on solid ground.

Two demigods? Ceuthonymus chuckled; a sound that grated against the very fiber of Alex's being. This will be a feast of the century.

Alex caught sight of his savior stepping out of the trees. The darkness clung to him like black spiderwebs that he brushed off with ease. To his surprise, it was the same man he'd seen all those years ago. He hadn't aged a day past eighteen, and he still wore the same gray suit Alex remembered so well. Alex would have thought that he'd been living amongst the trees, had he not been so clean.

"Go back to the Underworld where you belong, daemon." The young man's voice rang strongly through the night. The sound of it, deep and hoarse as if barely used, was a welcoming replacement for Ceuthonymus' voice. "My father will not be happy to find you absent from your post."

As he drew nearer, the scent of damp earth reached Alex's nostrils. The smell brought a reprieve from that of the daemon's odor. His comfort wouldn't last long.

He'd have given anything to eliminate his vision at that moment. Neither the daemon's voice nor its stench compared to its hideous body. Alex couldn't tear his eyes away as it began to materialize.

Ceuthonymus' skin was white with pools of red that sat just beneath the surface. It stretched thin over a bone-thin form that mimicked the structure of a human. Its face bore no such resemblance. There were no eyes, ears, or nose. Instead, a huge lipless mouth stretched over the entirety of the bottom half of its head. Rows of razor-sharp teeth glistened in the moonlight.

There was no cloth to hide the rest of its features. Its arms hung to its knees, twice as long as its torso, and ended in saw-like claws. Its legs were permanently bent at the knee, as was its hunched spine. The daemon still stood much taller than the man before it.

Hades does not control me! Ceuthonymus screeched.

The screech caused physical pain to the inside of Alex's head, and he groaned.

Darkness crept up the man's hand and took shape into a large silver sword. He swung it a few times to get a feel for it before pointing it at the daemon. "This is your last chance. Return to the Underworld as you are or spend the next hundred years reforming your miserable body."

Ceuthonymus hissed. It lunged for the man with greater speed than Alex could keep up with. He was certain the man was about to die and that he'd be next.

But the creature's claws did not find their target. Alex watched in awe as the man appeared between him and the daemon. He turned and flung his sword so hard it tore straight through the creature's neck.

A horrible scream echoed through his brain; the sound accompanied by wet gurgles. The creature fell to the ground and blood blacker than night burned the grass beneath its body. Within seconds, Ceuthonymus was nothing more than a pile of yellow powder that reeked of sulfur. The sword was swallowed by the ground.

The man casually strode over to Alex and offered him a hand. After some hesitation, he accepted and allowed himself to be pulled to his feet.

"Th-thank you," he stammered. He stared at the man's face and his mind went completely blank. His eyes were black, more so resembling the shadows he traveled through than the blood of the monster. His skin was oddly tan. He had proud cheekbones and a strong, square jaw that was peppered with facial hair. His dark eyebrows sat emotionless just above his eyes.

Alex shuffled uncomfortably while the man studied his appearance. His pajamas were covered in dirt, his shirt ripped nearly in half, and his bare feet were stained green from the grass. He clenched his jaw to keep his teeth from clattering while he shivered. He couldn't tell if it was due to the cold or the adrenaline coursing through his veins.

"You're welcome, Alexander. We should get you home before sunrise." The man gestured to the sky. It was turning blue in the distance.

Alex didn't move. "How do you know my name?"

The man held out his hands with a pile of clothes, including a brand-new pair of shoes. "Let me explain on the way."

And so they walked. Alex found that the clothes fit him perfectly, having changed behind the trees before they left. The man introduced himself as Edmund. A son of Hades, ruler of the Underworld. Alex knew very little about Greek mythology, only snippets of information he'd retained from long conversations with Zeke. He found it difficult to wrap his head around the fact that the very human-like man walking beside him was half god.

"Is that why that thing called you a demigod?" Alex asked. His mind conveniently left out both times he, too, was referred to as a demigod. After all, if one of his parents was a god, he wouldn't have been left to grow up in an orphanage… right?

Edmund gave him a look that he didn't quite understand. "Yes. You see, Alexander, the world is full of monsters like Ceuthonymus. Even though you can't always see them, they see people like you and me. You're lucky that I was there in time to keep him from eating you."

The creature didn't seem like a him to Alex, but he kept that comment to himself. "I don't understand what you mean. I'm nothing like you. I don't have cool powers or travel through shadows."

"You and I are more alike than you think," said Edmund. "There's a camp that I run in the Underworld. A place safe from monsters. I think it's time you join me down there."

"The Underworld? Isn't that where you told that thing you'd send it to? Why on earth would I want to live down there?" Alex couldn't keep the edge from his voice.

Edmund didn't react to the hostility. "The camp has a boundary that keeps monsters out. It's one of the safest places for demigods to be. Think about it. If you decide that you want to come with me, meet me at the forest tonight, and I'll take you there."

They stopped in front of a tattered building that looked like nothing more than a run-down shack. Alex couldn't help but think that Edmund's suit probably cost twice as much as the place he called home.

He refused to make eye contact with him. "I'm thankful that you saved my life. But I don't even know you. How do I know that this isn't a trap, and you won't just kill me the first chance you get?"

Edmund stayed quiet for a long time as if carefully contemplating his words. "I think a part of you feels the similarities between us, Alexander. Why else would you have visited the park as often as you did?" He paused. When Alex didn't say anything, he continued. "My offer only extends until midnight. After that, I won't be around to save you again."

Alex closed his eyes to repress the recent memories plaguing his mind. When he finally turned to look at Edmund, he was gone.

X

"What did he say it was called again?" Zeke asked in an excited yet hushed tone.

The boys sat on Alex's bed. Alex held a pillow firmly against his chest. The bedroom door remained open in case the sisters called them for breakfast.

Zeke was already awake when Alex returned. Alex had taken one look at his friend before bursting into tears.

Zeke quickly rushed to his side to comfort him. He held him in a tight hug until his sobs subsided, and he was able to relay to him the events of that night. Zeke seemed both horrified and entranced by the story Alex told.

"Ceuthonymus. A daemon of some kind, I guess." He could barely talk about it without his eyes filling with tears.

Zeke set a gentle hand on Alex's knee. "It's gone now. It's never going to hurt you again."

Alex buried his face in the pillow. He stifled a sob by biting the inside of his cheek hard enough to draw blood. Real, human blood.

"He said that there were other monsters out there like it. Ones that would kill me if they got the chance." Like he'd stupidly given Ceuthonymus the chance. How could he have been that brainless?

"But this camp is safe from them, right?" Zeke asked.

Alex shrugged. "I guess so. Isn't it weird that this random guy wants me to go to his random camp in the Underworld? Doesn't that sound at all suspicious to you?"

Zeke let out a sigh. "Maybe if you hadn't just found out that you were a demigod, and this guy saved your life from a very real threat."

Alex wanted to scream into his pillow. So many feelings were fighting for power in his chest. Terror, anger, relief, and above all, hope. He still wore the nice clothes Edmund conjured for him, a stark difference to the tattered hand-me-downs he usually wore. If he could provide that, what else was he capable of?

Without really knowing it, Alex made up his mind by breakfast. Throughout the day, he made sure to compliment Sister Minnie's cooking as much as possible. He let Sister Ida know how much he appreciated her sewing his clothes back to good condition and reminded Sister Irene just how beautiful her voice was when she sang to them.

A part of him felt guilty that he had an out from the orphanage, while the other children had to stay. Though, without him to feed they would have more money to dote on the others.

As he stared at the fire lit by Sister Minnie that night, he couldn't help but feel an extraordinary sadness in his chest. Sadness from being abandoned, alone, and different. His life had already begun to change, and he knew it would never be the same again.

He went off to bed before the rest. He had no intention of sleeping, lest he miss his opportunity. Sister Minnie called out a soft "goodnight" to him, and as he turned to return the pleasantry, he noticed two large horns extending from the top of her head. When he blinked, they were gone.

X

Alex waited until he was sure that everyone was asleep. He quietly slipped through the bathroom window for the last time. He carried only a pillowcase of his belongings. There wasn't much of anything, other than a toy car Zeke gifted him one Christmas, and an old children's book about a mouse and a cookie. He held the end of the pillowcase in his mouth while he shimmied down the tree.

As soon as his feet hit the ground, he looked around for any sign of danger. The night was quiet. Not eerily so, just the comfortable silence he'd grown so used to over the years. He made it ten feet down the sidewalk before he heard rustling behind him.

He instinctively ducked behind a nearby bush. The rustling was coming from the very tree he'd just descended. Whatever it was made so much noise he feared it'd wake everyone in the orphanage. He caught sight of blonde curly hair before the person fell from the tree and landed flat on their back.

"Zeke!" Alex hissed. He jumped up from his hiding spot and ran to his friend's side. "What are you doing out here?"

He was so worried about being caught that it took him a while to notice his friend wasn't wearing any pants. Instead of two human legs, he had two fluffy, oddly shaped legs that ended in cloven hooves.

Zeke smiled up at him. A mischievous, bright smile that Alex had grown so fond of. "You didn't actually think I was going to let you leave me behind? No way, you're stuck with me."

Alex blinked hard. He rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands. He expected Zeke's legs to go back to normal, but they never did. Was he dreaming? He must have said it out loud because Zeke laughed.

"You're a demigod, and I'm your satyr. A protector if you must. Therefore, wherever you go, I will go." Zeke sat up and pointed to the top of his head. "My horns haven't come in yet. I have to deliver you to a half-blood camp and get my searcher's license first."

Alex couldn't believe it. He wouldn't believe it. "You mean to tell me that you've known this whole time that I'm… I'm different, and you never bothered to tell me?"

Zeke simply shrugged. "I didn't actually know until this morning. I was sent here by Edmund to scout for a demigod since he felt some kind of weirdness lurking around. I don't know how you demigods sense each other, honestly."

Alex took a deep breath. Everything he'd ever known was a lie. What if this opportunity was too good to be true?

"We should probably get going. Edmund isn't a liar, and I bet he won't be there if we're even a second late." Zeke stood up. To Alex's horror, he saw a fluffy tail flicking behind him.

Alex shook his head. He made up his mind before and he wasn't about to go back now. Side by side, they made their way down the sidewalk.

Edmund was true to his word. He stood just out of the tree line. Thankfully, he was far away from the battle scene that took place the night before. He raised one of his bushy eyebrows at the two boys.

"You made the right choice, Alexander." He gave him a courteous nod. "Zeke, I appreciate your help. But I'm afraid that my father does not allow satyrs within the camp boundaries."

Zeke huffed and stomped one of his feet. "I'm going to see Alex into the camp safely no matter what."

Edmund didn't bother to argue.

He led the two boys deep within the heart of the trees, where very light moonlight penetrated through. Zeke tripped on almost every root they walked over. Alex realized that he and Edmund must have had a similar ability to see through the dark because neither of them had a problem navigating.

Once Edmund decided their position was sufficient, he brought them to a halt. "Take my hands. Do not let go, no matter what. Do you understand?"

Alex automatically clenched his fists. "What are you going to do?"

Edmund gave him a stern look then immediately softened it. His voice was tight but gentle. "I'm going to shadow travel us to the Underworld. We will land right outside of the gates to Persephone's gardens. This isn't an easy task for any of us, so you will need to keep your grip strong to avoid being lost."

Alex decided that was a decent enough explanation. He reached for Zeke's hand first, then Edmund's. The man's skin felt cold, like how the daemons felt around his neck. He bit his cheek to avoid jerking away.

A few seconds passed before anything happened. Then, Alex felt the ground rip out from underneath his feet. He flew through the air so quickly that he had to force his eyes shut to avoid them being buffeted by an icy wind. It felt like he was being pulled in every direction possible. The only constant was Edmund's large hand firmly grasping his own.

Just when he felt like he couldn't take anymore, his feet touched solid ground. His head felt like it was about to explode from the drastic change in pressure. He stumbled backward a few steps before turning around and losing what was left of his dinner.