Emily POV

Every day brought with it another loss. I, Pegasus, Joel, and Paelen stood together at Chiron's funeral pyre. The ancient centaur had died peacefully in the night. No one said a word. There was nothing to be said. Each Olympian knew a pyre waited for them. It was only a matter of time.

Venus and Mars had died two days before. At the loss of his mother, Cupid was inconsolable. The following day the winged Olympian had slipped silently into the dense jungle and hadn't been seen since.

After Chiron's funeral Pegasus and I walked away from the camp. The stallion's head hung low, and he moved more slowly. I had discovered that when I touched him, the pain was eased—even though the aging process would not stop. It hurts to know that I, one of the most powerful beings, couldn't even stop an ageing process.

We went for a fly. Pegasus was too old to carry me, so I decided to carry him instead. We flew the whole day, like it could somehow erase our problems. When we returned to camp, bad news awaited. Diana had tripped, falling down the temple stairs, and had broken several bones. I ran to find her, with Pegasus right behind me.

"Em, please help her," my father said desperately. He was kneeling beside Diana's cot and holding her hand.

I saw his fear—the same I had seen when my mother had become seriously ill. I blinked, suddenly realising just how much my father cared for the Olympian. It was much more than friendship. My heart twisted. He had moved on, but I haven't.

"Please," Apollo begged from the other side of his sister. His blue eyes radiated pain, along with something else I didn't recognise. It almost seemed…different. Different from the Apollo I know.

Diana's eyes were clenched shut in pain. Her face was pale and drawn, and for the first time since we'd met, she looked helpless. I immediately knelt down next to her, touching Diana's forehead. My powers began to work immediately as they knitted the broken bones back together and healed the internal injuries. After a few minutes, Diana sighed peacefully and fell into a deep, restful sleep.

"Thanks, Em," my father said in relief.

"Yes, thank you," Apollo added. "I do not know what I would do without my sister."

Apollo looked frail and delicate compared to the strong, powerful Olympian he had been just a few days ago. Still, he carried himself with the same confidence I knew. He was changing. But not the way I expected. What has changed? I didn't know. Neither he, nor Diana had much time left. But I rarely saw him. He often sneaked into the forests, not coming out until late at night. No one knew where he went, and that bothered me a lot.

"I've got to do something, Pegs," I said as we walked away from the painful sight. "I can't just stand by watching you all fade away."

"There is nothing to be done," Riza called.

"I don't believe you!" I shouted angrily to the empty air. "You were the Xan! There has to be something."

Come, Riza offered. It is time I showed you who we were. Learn, child. Learn the powers of the Xan and our limits.

I insisted on getting Joel. Riza led both of us deep into the temple. I carried Pegasus down the steeper steps and farther along the twisting corridors than they had ever been before.

We eventually stopped at a solid wall. "We hid our own origins in here," Riza said aloud. "This was our knowledge, not meant for others to see or learn."

I reached out my hand and touched a raised stone on the wall. "Open."

Dust and small pebbles rained down as a very tall, very thick door that hadn't been touched in thousands of years groaned and slowly slid open.

Time skip. go read the book if you're interested

I ran to my dad, about to combust with excitement. Finally, we could finally do something! "Arious showed me what to do. I have the power to send us back in time. We'll go to ancient Greece and destroy that weapon before it can do any harm!"

Two seconds of silence, that was all. Before my dad exploded. "WHAT?"

"Yes!" I turned to Joel, my grin never fading. "The moment you're feeling better, I'll send us back to Cape Sounio. We'll destroy the weapon before it can be found. Then none of this will happen and everyone will live!"

Agent B shook his head. "Time travel isn't possible. If it were, the CRU would have discovered it by now."

"Agent B, you don't understand. The CRU can't do many things, unlike the Xan." I whirled around to face him. "You wouldn't understand it, you're too in depth with that stupid society to accept anything new. You can't, but I can. And I can prove it."

"With what?" He demanded, crossing his arms. I glanced over at Stella who figured it out. "Emily is right." Stella placed her hands on my shoulder, starting to tell the group what happened at the Acropolis Museum. "They were from thousands of years ago. They even had Mike on them." Everyone's eyes shifted to the dog who excitedly wagged his tale.

"That proves we went back in time. We were there." I insisted.

Once again, Agent B proved to be obstinate. "It still won't work. Even if those pots prove you did go back in time, you obviously failed. The weapon still existed and Olympus was still destroyed. Us being trapped here proves that."

"No one knows what would have happened. But I have to try, they are my friends, and I must try to save them! You, Agent B, aren't going to stop me."

"Agent B's right, Em," my father said. "Time travel is impossible."

"No it's not! Dad, the pots prove it. Now that we know what's at stake, we'll be extra careful." I blinked back tears. How could my own father take our enemy's side?

"Em, some pots don't prove it. If you really went back, don't you think the gods would have recognised you? That they would have said something by now? They have kept silent about it, and the pots don't mean anything."

"They do." Joel surprised me, by speaking up. "A girl, Mr Jacobs, wrote a letter to Emily. Persephone Jackson. She somehow knew Emily would be there, despite Emily not having any communications with her for months. You cannot say that's nothing." I took out the paper I always kept with me, handing it to my father, who read it quietly. He paled. "What does she mean by those who died?"

"Persephone Jackson?" Agent B asked, blinking hard all of a sudden. "I know her. Sarcastic little delinquent who hates the gods."

"You told her about the gods?" We shouted in unison. He shook his head. "I bumped into her just about 3 months ago. She was with two of her friends. She just looked at me, and told me, randomly I might add, 'I know you.' Creepy as it was, I asked her about it. She just shrugged, with this distant look in her eyes, and told me she didn't know why she said that."

"What does that have to do?" Paelen asked, shaken, although I didn't know why.

"I was on my lunch break. Got bored. Decided to talk to her, cause why not? I asked her about her name and why her parents decided to call her that. She didn't seem that surprised that I knew her, and just told me that Persephone, in the Greek myths, was the only wife of the Big Three who chose her husband, and didn't regret it. She told me her mother had chosen Persephone because after all her personal drama, she was happy. That her mother wanted her to have a happy life as well, with no regrets."

"Telling us the whole meeting is not helping!" I said, frustrated. "If there's nothing good in them, don't tell us!" He ignored me, naturally. "So we started talking about the gods. Granted, it got a bit confusing since her other two friends prefered the roman names but she used all the greek names, but I got quite a lot out of them. Hazel and Frank, that was the name of her two friends. Persephone told how people shouldn't have to worship gods, that they weren't worth respecting. She mentioned you, you know. I was so shocked when she said your name, but managed to keep it in. My little sister, Emily, was stolen away by the gods. Her exact words. They were the ones who came in between our relationship, and now they take her away from me. You won't get it, but you will. I think. If I know you then you probably will. Gods are useless. If I were to ever make a choice between gods and titans, I would choose the titans. At least they don't pretend. Her words were so honest, so open. Her friends dragged her away after that." Dad paled at that. I blinked, feeling my cheeks wet. She still though of me as a sister despite our failed conversations. But how did she know about the Gods? Why did she hate them? Why? Why? Why? Why am I asking why?

"She's different, Emily." Agent B said firmly. "Persephone is different. She has never been able to stay in one school for reasons. Always, something happens and everyone always blames her. All the authorities know her because of her record. Her stepfather went missing and her mother somehow had made a real life statue of him, sending him to an arts museum. A really nasty job, actually. He looked hideous."

"You know him?" My dad looked conflicted.

"Yes. He was suspected of child abuse among other things. Not sure what the mother was thinking of when she married him. But that's beyond the point. Look, Persephone has too many secrets, and people get hurt around her. People died like 6 months ago, and they all had some kind of connection to Persephone. Either she killed them, or she has enemies. If she says she is trying to change things, it's time you take it seriously." I… I didn't even bother asking when he read the letter. But I did want to know more about the stepfather. How was it that I'm the only one who didn't know him?

"Em," my father sighed. "You better get everything ready. You'll be leaving tomorrow."

I packed everything and the next day, the team was ready to go. I firmly refused to let Agent B join us. Despite the information he provided, I was not about to bring him along into the past, where any tiny detail could disrupt our timeline.

As everyone prepared to leave, I approached dad. "I guess this is it."

There was fear in his eyes, but I knew he wouldn't try to stop me. No now.

"Promise me," he said, "promise me you'll be careful. Don't take any unnecessary risks. Just destroy that weapon and get right back here."

"We will," I promised.

I looked at my group of travelers. Joel was standing beside Paelen, who was seated on one of Brue's shoulders. Stella was in her wheelchair beside Pegasus. Mike, as always, was at my side. "Are we ready?"

Joel patted my arm. "It's up to you now, Em. What do you want us to do?"

"We need to be connected." I wrapped my arm around Pegasus, and grasped Joel with the other hand. He held hands with Stella, and so on. Soon, everyone was touching one another, in one big circle. I took a deep breath in, mentally preparing myself. "Alright, here we go." I closed my eyes, delving into the knowledge I had acquired from Arious, Ifocused my powers and commanded them to take us deep into the past: back to Earth, to the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounio. Almost immediately, I felt a strange sensation—like I was butter in a microwave.

The world around me blurred, like I was in the middle of a thick fog. I didn't feel like we were moving. Instead, everyone outside our circle was moving. I couldn't even see any clear shapes behind my friends. The loud whooshing sounds were almost demeaning as we moved faster through time and space. I gritted my teeth—it was all very distracting. Just then, something slammed violently into my back. I was knocked forward, breaking contact with Joel and Pegasus. No! I nearly lost my concentration but I managed to grasp onto the tethering pieces. A searing pain struck my heart, like an unforgiving tear. I could feel everyone's terror and hear our screams as we somersaulted through time. I hit something hard, like a wall, before blacking out.