Both girls looked at each other unhappily. I knew they hated the idea of taking a risk with this guy, but I was tired of wandering around aimlessly.

"If this is a trap and we all end up dead," Vaz finally said, scowling, "I'm so going to kill you."

I looked to Faith to see if she would try to stop me again, but she wouldn't meet my eye. She stroked the black mark on her arm and bit her lower lip as if she was fighting back a protest.

"Very well," Stabby smiled. He sat down suddenly, legs crossed, and gestured for us to do the same. "I am glad that you are allowing me to repay my debt."

"Whatever, just get to the part where you're useful," Vaz muttered.

"As you know," he started, still grinning widely. "I am in contact with the PoP. I regret to say that I have already informed them of your location, so your cover has been blown. Telling you this is help in itself, but I'm going to do a little bit more."

My hands started shaking. The PoP knew where we were? Were they on their way right now? I swallowed dryly and tried to pay attention, but I felt light headed. If we were caught off guard, we would be doomed.

"Your friend there has a little mark on her arm," Stabby nodded his head at Faith, who hastily tried to cover it up. "I'm assuming she touched the bow."

"Now you see," he continued as we all sat in tense silence, "the bow was a gift to a descendent of Hades long, long ago. It returns to its owner as soon as the owner notices it's missing. The tricky thing about the bow is… well, the child of Hades used it once to save the life of a old man who was meant to die. Furious, Hades cursed the bow and hid it, thinking that was a solution."

"Hades cursed the bow?" I cut in. "So does that explain why some people can't touch it?"

Stabby licked his lips. "In a way. Any direct child of a god is not allowed to make contact with its wood. The problem was, the bow always returns to its master. So the bow returned to the child of Hades, but obviously, contact with a demi-god is painful. Hades' child tried to keep the bow away after learning its curse, and eventually tried to bury it in the sand. That night, it escaped its confinements and attached itself to him while he was sleeping. He died."

"How?" I gaped.

"If you touch it for even a mere second, it burns you. Overexposure… let's just say it doesn't end well," Stabby shrugged nonchalantly.

"How does this information help us, though?" Vaz scowled. I could tell she was on the edge too after hearing that the PoP knew our location. What if he was just stalling until they arrived?

"Patience, daughter of Hecate." He shook his head. "I'll never finish my story if all of you keep interrupting."

"Sorry. Continue," I said hurriedly. I wanted him to get to the point as fast as possible. Also, I wanted to spare him from the snappy comeback Vaz undoubtedly was about to say.

"The bow was now without an owner, so it did not move. Decades later, it was discovered by a mortal. Obviously they had no idea the power they were wielding. One of their friends, however, was a descendant of Hermes, and could sense the magical energy, so he tried to take it. He succeeded, but the bow was angry at being taken away from it's master. It marked him, much like it marked your friend over there."

"What does the mark mean?" Faith whispered, looking strangely calm.

Stabby tilted his head at her. "Do you really want to know, descendant of Apollo?"

She looked away. I wanted to comfort her, but there was nothing I could say. Stabby still hadn't said anything useful, and for all we know, the PoP could be getting closer by the second. Part of me wanted to forget the whole thing and keep running with the girls. The other half was determined to learn something more.

Vaz was feeling the same way. "If you don't hurry up and get to a point... "

"I'm getting there," Stabby raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. "The one who is marked becomes the new master of the bow if the bow is not returned to its master in the next three days."

"Isn't that a good thing?" I asked.

He smiled. "Depends on your perspective. The bow is a powerful weapon and an invaluable asset. It has more magical qualities than you think, when used correctly. However, don't forget that the bow is cursed. That curse does more than keep godly children away from it; it seeks out those with godly blood."

My mouth went dry. "Are you saying that it targets demi-gods?"

"It shoots where you aim," was all Stabby would say.

Faith suddenly shot to her feet, face pale. "We need to get out of here."

"Huh?" Vaz tilted her head, and her eyes widened. "Oh my gods, Luke, we need to run."

Stabby just sat there and smiled, and suddenly I knew what was upsetting them. In the distance, the sound of trampling brush and shouts was growing louder. We had been discovered.

Vaz and I were on our feet now, too. We had two options; flee, or stand and fight. From the sounds of it, there were at least 20 enemies incoming. That meant, if my math was right, each of us would have to fight around six to seven people, unless Stabby decided to jump into the fray and do some damage. At this point, I wasn't sure if he would help us or hurt us.

"Luke, we gotta run," there was a new urgency to Vaz's voice now. I knew she was right. We wouldn't stand a chance.

"See you soon," Stabby waved casually, before vaporizing into shadow. I didn't have time to think about what that meant, because a second later, Faith and Vaz were both dragging me into the forest.

The three of us broke into a sprint. Vaz was in front, then Faith, and then, of course, me in the back, already panting heavily. Five minutes later and the only thing keeping me alive was adrenaline. Despite our efforts, however, the noise was only growing louder.

As we fled, the foliage had grown thicker around us. Soon I could barely see Faith in front of me. I felt like we needed to tie ropes around our waists or something so that no one would get lost, but we didn't have time. There was hardly any sunlight filtering through to the forest ground; the dim lighting made the setting seem even more ominous.

"Keep up, stupid!" Vaz scolded from the front. I was falling behind; the lack of oxygen was getting to me. I moved my legs as fast as I could and did my best to ignore the burning. After ten more minutes, I was done. My vision was red and tears were streaming down my face. My legs refused to cooperate and I fell, choking on what little air I could inhale.

The girls noticed and stopped. I could tell they were exasperated, and wanted to apologize, but I couldn't speak. My breaths came out in wheezes.

"He can't run any further," Faith said, looking at Vaz. I wanted to roll my eyes. No duh.

"Well they aren't stopping," Vaz said grimly, nodding to the direction the sounds were coming from. They were getting closer.

"We can't just leave him behind."

"True."

Faith took out her bow and notched an arrow. "So we fight."

"No." Vaz shook her head, putting a hand on Faith's arm. "There's no way we can win this one."

There was silence, except for the sounds of my lungs collapsing. I felt like dying, but in more ways than one. Why was I always the handicap? Zeus knows how many times I had been a dead weight. I wanted more than anything to just do something helpful for once.

I clenched my fists and prayed harder than I ever had before. I prayed to every god I could think of that we would make it out of the mess. And, as if by a miracle, it seemed like they responded.

The ground started rumbling in the distance. We could hear screams and then the sound of hasty retreating. Had there been another earthquake?

"What… just happened?" Faith asked, arrow still notched.

"Since when have we had so many earthquakes?" Vaz shook her head. I saw the start of a smile forming on her face.

I sent a silent thank you to the sky and took my first deep breath in what felt like days. "We're safe. For now, anyway."

"Do you think Stabby is going to make a habit of appearing and making a ruckus?" Vaz looked around as if he was there, watching.

She had a point. He had shadow travelled into our business one too many times. If he kept doing it, we'd never get anything done. It was only by dumb luck that we had managed to escape him so far. I remembered his last words to me. See you soon. That couldn't have meant anything good. But I looked at Faith and Vaz and saw genuine concern in their eyes, and decided it was best to play stupid.

"He's probably tired of us," I said, rising to my feet and wincing at my jello legs. "I saved his life last time he tried to steal the bow. That's gotta count for something."

"But he 'repaid' his debt by telling us more about the bow, remember?" Vaz replied.

"Nah," I waved a hand around. "We're good."

I was lying through my teeth and I think we all knew it, but no one said anything more on the subject. I looked around and realized that we were very lost, very alone, and without a clue on what to do next.

"I think we should've given Stabby the bow," Faith said suddenly after a minute of silence.

"That bow is our only lead," Vaz argued. "If we gave it up, we'd have nothing to figure out where the PoP is. Why would you want to do that?"

Faith brushed a finger over the black that had crept up her arm in a swirl pattern. "I don't want to be its new master."

That's right! I had forgotten about that. If we didn't track the PoP down soon enough, the bow would accept Faith as its master and stop leading us. She seemed to know more than we did, however. I tried to meet her eyes and she looked down, kicking the dirt.

I tried to think of the right way to word my question. "Faith… when Stabby said that you knew the owner of the bow…"

"He was lying," she cut me off, emerald eyes cold. "I know nothing."

Vaz attempted to help. "We're not pressuring you, but it might be helpful if you have any information we don't already know."

"I know nothing," Faith repeated, sounding less sure.

She was lying. It was obvious. But once again, none of us decided to address it. There seemed to be silent consensus that some things didn't need to be talked about… yet. We were just standing there quietly, staring at eachother. Vaz suddenly turned and pointed to me.

"You!" she said, sounding angry. "Why wouldn't the bow have chosen you when you touched it?"

"I…" I tried to think of a good answer, but she had a point. Why would it not burn me, but not 'choose' me, either?

"I have a history with the PoP. Do you think it could sense that?" Faith proposed, still speaking in a weird, quiet voice.

"Even if it could, I don't think that's it," Vaz mused. "It had other owners who weren't in the PoP. Why would it start selecting people based on that?"

"The PoP have an unnatural attachment to Hades. The bow is a weapon of Hades. Her theory makes sense to me," I shrugged.

"No, it's something else." Vaz started pacing. "I just know it."

"Does it matter?" I asked, suddenly anxious. "We have a timeline now. If we don't hurry up and get to the owner of the bow, we'll never find them. Mom and Dad could be in huge trouble right now and we're just standing around."

Both girls looked at me, and I could tell they were thinking the same thing: You're the reason we stopped in the first place.

I shut up. They were right.

"Let's get moving, then," Faith finally said. And so we did.

Alright guys! Let me know what you thought of the chapter! I'm always open to feedback. Let me know how you like the characters and if you have any ideas for the next chapter or what you think might happen ;) Toodles!