Nothing happened. A surprisingly warm breeze suddenly washed all over me, it made me sneeze and I opened my eyes to find myself absolutely covered in golden dust.

I looked up; Marley was standing there with the sun forming a halo around his face and sandy hair. Williams's sword was right through where the empousa had been and my best friends face was terrifying. He looked like some kind of avenging angel.

I blinked, snapping out of it. "Nice of you to join us" I snapped, still very irritated with him.

I might have been a little bit too harsh because his face fell, bringing out the kicked puppy look. He lowered the sword, looking confused "What?"

Relief flooded through me, he genuinely didn't remember. This must mean he'd been under a trance or something, thank god. "Oh...never mind" I scanned the street; the dust was everywhere "What happened? What is this stuff?"

"I don't know, there was this weird vampire thing and it had fireballs and it had you cornered and Liam was unconscious!" I recognised the signs of panic in my friend and rearranged my face into a reassuring smile.

"Its o.k Marls, what happened to the vampire thing?" I brushed some of the dust of his shoulder absent mindedly.

Marley glanced at the sword in his hand, like he was scared it might attack him "I...I picked this up and stabbed it and...it just exploded"

I looked at him and laughed humourlessly "And the day started out so well..."

Marley grinned at me and opened his mouth to speak but a faint groan made us both turn. It was the first time I'd really looked at William since he'd been blasted. I felt a pang of guilt; he was in really bad way. A fireball had hit him straight on and his chest looked badly burned. And I'd thought my arm was bad...

Marley was already leaning over him, snapping his fingers to focus the boy's attention "O.k, Liam can you hear me?"

William opened one eye, looking utterly pathetic "Did I kill her?" Marley glanced at me, smiling briefly at my utterly incredulously face before turning back to the injured boy.

Have I mentioned that Marley is a much nicer person than I am? "Yeah you did it, but I think we're gonna have to get you to a hospital or something mate."

William's eyes widened at that and he attempted to get up "No, I'm fine" He promptly groaned in pain before sinking back down the wall.

I raised my eyebrows, peering at the roasted flesh of his chest "Looks like it"

Marley glared at me as he helped the boy up onto his shoulder "A little help please Gem" I glared right back at him for making me feel bad before hoisting William up from the other side.

Luckily we were nearly home, if I'd had to go much further in that stupid travesty of a three-legged race I think my spine might have given out. To say he that looked pretty skinny, the guy was heavy. Not he appreciated that, he whined and moaned every time one of us accidently jerked him. Unfortunately Marley caught me the third time I did it on purpose. And on top of that the elevator was out of order. We finally managed to get him up two flights of stairs and into Marley's apartment.

I helped Marley put him on the couch; he was still complaining "Ow...careful..."

My patience with the boy, injured or not, was wearing pretty thin and it must have shown in my face because Marley quickly sent me off to fetch some hot water with salt, cold water, kitchen roll, towels and that soothing cream his Mom bought when he burnt his arm. I know Marley's Apartment way better than my own; as there are less people to randomly move stuff around, and I was soon back in the front room.

Marley started peeling back the boy's shirt; luckily the fireball thing had knocked his armour right off him. I winced imagining what would have happened if it's had melted...ouch. Marley's voice was reassuring and calm, a sure sign he had absolutely no idea what he was doing. "This may sting a little..."

William jerked back as Marley applied the warm salt water, crying out in pain. "Keep still" Marley said calmly "It'll disinfect it"

"It hurts" William whimpered, looking a lot younger with his pout. He kind of reminded me of my little half brother Joe, cocky as heck until he gets hurt and then he's just like a little kid again; a whiny little kid. Still Marley probably needed some help.

I settled on the arm of the sofa faking a wide smile "Oh think about something else." He glared at me "Oh come on...I know, let's play twenty questions. I'll start, what exactly is an empousa and why did it attack us?"

"That's two questions" William said unhelpfully, though he was at least concentrating on me now.

My smile stretched painfully over my gritted teeth "So you get to ask two next turn..."

"It's an original vampire, a monster that drinks human blood" William winced as Marley started applying the cream "It attacked us because I'm, well we're...half god"

I stared at him. He stared back at me, a small sheepish smile on his face. Lots of different replies were running through my head at that point but Marley beat me to it "Excuse me?"

William leaned forward conspiratorially "How much do you know about the Greek Myths?"

My heart sank; I didn't want to hear anymore. I had a strong feeling I wouldn't like what was coming next. "The keyword being myth right?" I asked jokingly. Marley ignored me entirely and William smiled at me sadly.

"I'm afraid not. The truth is, the Greek gods are still very much alive. They still run things behind the scenes, releasing monsters and messing around with mortals."

Marley had forgotten all about the cream "You mean like Apollo and Artemis, those gods?" I cursed inwardly; I knew I should have made him do a project on Alexander the Great with me in the fourth grade, instead of letting him go off with Mickey and do the Greek Gods.

William looked up nervously "Yeah, but I wouldn't mention their names. Anyway, these gods get off with mortals and we're the result. We're kinda half human, half god..."

There was silence for several minutes as me and Marley processed this. Well I think Marley was processing it, I was in more of a Yeah-Right sort of a place. I kept blocking out all the things about this explanation that made sense, it was impossible. Greek Gods do not exist...did not exist! End of.

"So who's your Dad then?" Marley asked, his face inexplicably hard.

William blushed and looked down, suddenly embarrassed "My Dad's a clothes designer in LA"

"So who's your Mom then?" Marley asked, there was definitely something wrong with him. I just didn't have a clue what.

William mumbled something that sounded like "A fo dighty"

"Really?" Marley asked, evidently surprised. I racked my brain but I still had no idea what they were talking about.

William glared at him and spoke coldly "Shut up, I didn't ask for her as a Mother. She's got nothing to do with me."

Marley raised his hands peacefully "Whoa, I didn't say anything" There was a long pause as the boys stared at the floor, immersed in their own thoughts. Then Marley spoke carefully "Will?"

The older boy glanced at him "What?"

Marley seemed to be struggling with something, he swallowed and then the words spilled out of him "Do you know who my Dad is?"

A knot in my stomach tightened, this wasn't going to end well. Marley had always wondered about his Dad, way more than me. That had been what our first argument had been about, Marley had constantly wanted to talk and fantasise about who our Dad's could be and I...just didn't. It made me feel weird and I didn't like it. I still didn't want to talk about it now.

William stood up "I...let me try something" He pulled Marley up too and then looked at me "You burnt your arm didn't you?" Marley started at this, turning towards me with a Why-Didn't-You-Say-Anything look.

As soon as he mentioned it my arm started throbbing again, worse than before. I nodded "Yeah, so? It's not so bad..."

He nodded, pulling me up "Keep still" William told me as he started peeling my coat off.

I winced as he pulled off a bit of skin with it but managed to shoot Marley an I'm-O.k grin. Luckily my school shirt was a couple of sizes too big so I could just pull the edges away from the burn. My upper am and elbow were bright red and nice and crispy.

William was obviously a bit squeamish but he pulled Marley over. He took Marley's arm and placed his hand firmly on my arm. It kinda hurt and Marley pulled away "What are you doing?"

"Just trust me" Marley looked at me warily but he did what he was told. His hand was cool on my skin, it felt really nice. "Now repeat after me; Therapéf̱ste to énkav̱ma"

Marley looked at me and I shrugged, what was the worst that could happen? "Therapéf̱ste to énkav̱ma"

I gasped like some Disney princess, I know how pathetic that sounds but my arm was glowing with some sort of golden light. It was mesmerising and it felt so warm.

Marley snatched his hand away in horror and the glow faded "What was that?"

William examined my arm smugly "Totally healed" He turned to Marley and bowed sardonically "All hail Marley Richards the son of Apollo, god of, amongst other things, medicine"