Sorry about the endless spelling mistakes in the last two chapters. Late-night writing sprees are killer. At least now I hope this will be a fuller chapter.

Prey

Archie shoved his hands in his pockets angrily, weaving through the throng of people that crowded the streets of New Olympia. His swaying gait, characteristic for most teenage boys caused the many business associates glance at him briefly. With his hood up and his disinterest in weaving through the mass of bodies and roughly jostling them as they passed, many took the time out of their already hectic schedules (by their own fault of course) to look back at the boy with a frown. Quite frankly, Archie couldn't care less. He never really cared much about what others thought of him. In fact, he usually took the feelings he saw in other's eyes towards him and put it in his poetry.

As the descendant of Achilles rounded a corner his stomach growled loudly. He himself wasn't hungry but his stomach demanded to be fed. "Fine, fine." He growled and stopped at a street vendor.

Mm. Street meat, not the best thing to eat right now… Archie mused. Still, he bit into the oversized hotdog. As the skin broke the hot juices spurted into his mouth, awakening his taste buds. The closet poet groaned, having not had 'Street Meat' in so long. He took a seat on the far left of a street bench where on the other side was an elderly (and according to him, smelly) man.

Said senior slowly turned his head to face the slouching teenager, a smile on his heavily wrinkled face. "Hey there, big boy. What'chya doin' with yer hood up in all that? Yer gonna get shot, them homeboys will think yer some gang member." Despite the man's rather dark words, he still smiled.

Finishing his hotdog, Archie tossed the napkin in the garbage can next to him and looked to the old man. "That's the least of my problems." He said flatly and stood again to cross the street. Ten minutes later and after almost getting hit by a taxi the teenager arrived at the largest park in New Olympia. It wasn't the same one that he and Atlanta used, it was much larger and had more than one pond. Large, deep ponds with fish…

Archie shivered and killed the train of thought as he passed under the large white archway that read;

Olympic Park

Every time he passed under he couldn't help looking up, attempting to calculate its height. Odie had ruined his wonder once, but the number had been long forgotten. Finding an unoccupied bench he claimed the entire thing and brought his knees up. He wrapped his arms around them and rested his head in his arms.

--

Persephone was catapulted into a rather dull-looking landscape. In fact, it wasn't much of a landscape at all but a circular room comprised of mirrors and a single floodlight that was nowhere to be seen. Across the 'room' was the huddled form of Atlanta, clutching her head with her legs pulled as close to her chest as they could be. The screams had died down to loud whimpers and cries yet tears continued to run down her cheeks.

Kneeling down next to her, Persephone laid a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Atlanta, open your eyes."

In response Atlanta jerked away and rolled half-way onto her stomach. The poor girl was drenched in sweat.

Persephone held both her shoulders now and gently shook the girl. "Atlanta! You must look at me!"

Atlanta whimpered, keeping her eyes squeezed shut. Her nails clawed at the floor that couldn't be seen, but could be felt. The pain in her head had subsided some, but only because it spread to the rest of her body. She felt like her bone marrow was boiling while her muscles were being constantly shocked with a tazer. Her jaw hurt and her fingertips ached, Atlanta was in a world of hurt.

Persephone held back the urge to 'freak out' and shook the moaning girl harder. Atlanta gasped as she was rolled over onto her back and opened her eyes wide while her jaw dropped open. The goddess took the opportunity to hold the redhead's head between her palms, index and middle fingers pressed to her temples.

"Atlanta, I am going to take some of the pain away but you must try to relax."

"Relax? How can I relax?" The teenager hissed.

"Just try." Persephone replied quickly and closed her eyes, concentrating on the pain the mortal felt. Taking a deep breath she held onto it and pulled it within herself, gasping as the discomfort mounted. Being unfamiliar to pain the woman pulled away quickly, panting and eagerly waiting for it to fade away. When it did, both she and Atlanta relaxed.

Without warning Persephone was yanked out in a whirlwind that deposited her in her own body, in the real world. At the same time Atlanta's now limp body stirred and moaned, head turning to the other side.

--

Archie spent several minutes staring at a furry caterpillar crawling on the opposite bench arm. Rear first, a wave to the front, rear, a wave to the front, rear… During the minutes where he began to loose interest in the creature he developed the distinct feeling that he was being watched.

Tearing his cerulean coloured eyes from the worm he glanced around the area, scrutinizing every person, every tree until his eyes stopped at an elderly woman sitting on the bench across the path. Thanks to his years of reading Greek poetry, and his time with the gods Archie was able to identify the foreign writing on the cover to be Greek.

"Hm, a clue, Sherlock." The boy murmured with a somewhat amusing British accent. Upon studying the woman's face further, it struck familiarity in him, especially the deep purple hair. He scrunched his nose and slipped off the bench. The woman quickly averted her eyes to look at the pages of the book.

"Miss Athena." Archie said simply, trying to make himself look subordinate all the while obviously annoyed.

The elderly woman sighed and closed her book with a snap. "You caught me."

"Something tells me you wanted to get caught."

"I suppose I did. I'm worried about you Archie. We all are."

The boy shoved his pale hands into his hoodie pocket and hunched his shoulders. "Well don't. Worry about Atlanta, not me."

Athena sighed again, a little more heavy this time. "About Atlanta…"

The descendant of Achilles narrowed his eyes at the goddess' tone. "What about her? She hasn't… died, has she?" His voice became soft and cracked near the end of the sentence.

"No no, she's quite alive. Here, I think we should go see her now."

Archie nodded, swallowing the lump in his throat. His right hand went from his hoodie to his pocket to grasp the handle of his Hephaestus whip. The feeling of the cool handle in his palm soothed him somewhat.