I was generous, so I decided to submit a new chapter just for the heck of it. On the other hand, I've noticed that one my most ardent supporters, Heart of the Demons, has been curiously absent the passed couple of chapters. I can only assume they've been very busy, so I shouldn't worry. Anyway, enjoy this next chapter.

Evening had just fallen by the time Corey returned home on his motorbike, still reeling from the fight with the Hydra and his first encounter with Hades. The latter event left Corey shaken and he wanted nothing more than to return and relax and maybe attempt to get his homework done. At least now he wasn't alone in his newfound quest to find Pandora's Box. Brad Hendry of all people was the Incarnate of Ares, and he proved instrumental in helping to defeat the Hydra. It felt like a great relief for Corey to have help for a change. All that remained was to find the other Incarnates, assuming there were any to be found.

But that notion had to wait as Corey approached the front door of his home. He found Maggie sitting on an elevated couch in the front porch, kicking her legs up into the air. An uneasy feeling washed over Corey, and for once it had nothing to do with some random monster of the week. Then again, Maggie was something of a little monsters in her right. Bracing himself for certain doom by way of annoying little sister, Corey reached the porch and stopped just short of the door. He looked at Maggie, who had a wry little smirk on her face.

"What's with the stupid grin, Maggie?"

Pressing her lips together, Maggie replied in a slight singing tone, "You're in trouble."

Corey could feel the blood drain from his face. "Dad's waiting for me, isn't he?"

"Yep, and Mom too," Maggie said, and Corey willed himself to walk through the front to his fate. "Dead brother walking."

Corey didn't respond and just walked into the house. His pace was slow and deliberate, methodical and measured. He was trying to brainstorm some ideas, or rather excuses, to feed to his parents. Unfortunately, Corey knew they wouldn't buy any excuse he presented them, especially his father. He had to face the music. Corey entered the living room and sure enough, his parents were there waiting for him. John in particular was sitting in his favorite chair, leaning forward and with his hands folded together like the otherwise benevolent patriarchal ruler of a kingdom. Patricia stood at the side of the chair like John beautiful queen. Neither of them were particularly happy with Corey at the moment. No more running or delaying. It was time for Corey to face the potential parental scalding.

"Hey Mom, Dad. How was your day?" Corey instantly cringed at the weak choice of words.

"Take a seat, Corey," John said, his tone stern and commanding, and Corey reluctantly sat on the couch nearby. "Where were you, son?"

Corey needed an excuse and he needed it now. "I was just going through town, talking to some friends from school."

"There was another attack by some kind of monster today, Corey. You could've been killed and we wouldn't know about it until it was too late." Patricia said.

"I wasn't, and those guys in the armor; they showed up to take that thing down, so it's good and I'm still alive." Corey tried to explain while concealing the fact that he was talking about himself and Brad.

"That's not the point, Corey," John bellowed as he stood right up out of his seat. "I was there too, doing my job as a police officer, but I was also there doing my job as a father. If I'd found your dead body today, what do you think I would've had to tell your mother and sister? How do you expect they would've reacted to the news that their son and brother wasn't ever coming home again?"

"Okay, Dad, I get it," Corey proclaimed, although he inwardly regretted the tone of his voice. "Look, I'm fine and I'm home. You don't have to worry about me now."

"We worry about you every day, Corey, every single day. That's our responsibly as parents, to ensure the protection of our children." Patricia said with rare authority in her tone.

By the point, Corey had to concede. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to worry either one of you."

John took a hold of Corey's shoulder and held him tightly. "We're not trying to ruin your life, son. We're trying to make sure you still have one because one day, we're both going to be gone. You and your sister are going to have to learn to live without us when that day comes."

Corey considered what his father told him, and he soon cautiously asked, "So am I grounded now?"

John was going to let that last act of defiance slide since he was already sure that he'd gotten through to his son. "Not grounded, but consider yourself on probation. From now on, I want you to be home by 10:00 every day. Not 10:05, not 10:02, not 10:01. 10:00 exactly on the dot." he declared in the sternest of tones he could muster.

Corey was beaten and he knew it. With a nod of acknowledgment, he replied, "Yessir."

John nodded his approval and gave Corey a gesture to leave. Just as Corey reached to bottom of the stairs, John said, "Corey? I'm only want what's best for you. You know that."

"I know." Corey replied before he walked up the stairs, leaving his parents to wonder if they did the right thing.

The following day at Dover High, Corey was sitting alone at one of the tables with his face buried in his arms during lunch period. A familiar and friendly voice said, "Hey Corey."

Corey looked up at found Damien standing right beside him. "Hey Damien."

Damien sat down beside his best friend and said, "You really look like crap. Rough night?"

Corey righted himself in his seat and rubbed his head in exhaustion. "That's one way of saying it. Mom and Dad put me on probationary curfew; can't stay out passed 10:00."

"Damn, that's rough."

"At least I'm just on probation, not grounded. I can still hang out, just not after 10," Corey clarified to his best friend even though it was not needed. "What about you? I thought you were sick."

Damien shrugged and said, "I got better, spent the time away watching the news about that Zeus guy. Now there's another one, a guy in red armor, and they killed that 3-headed snake thing."

Corey nervously nodded and said, "Yeah."

Damien let out a breath of interest and stated, "Man, I'd give anything to know who these guys are, what they're doing here and why."

Right at the moment he heard those words from his best friend, Corey's mind started racing. It dawned on him and he he hadn't told anyone about his newfound abilities and identity. He couldn't tell his mother and father out of a very real concern they'd fear for his life, as if they hadn't already after the previous night. He didn't tell Maggie because she might've gone about telling her friends at her school. But Damien? Damien was his best friend and probably the one person Corey knew he could trust without a doubt. It was a risk, though. It was a risk that Damien knowing about Corey would place him in danger. But Corey had grown at least a little more confident, especially now that Brad was fighting alongside him. So, what harm could there have been?

"Damien, I got to tell you something. It's important."

"Okay, what?"

Corey braced him and began to explain. "Zeus, the guy in the silver armor... it's me. I'm Zeus."

Damien sat silent, as if mentally processing what he'd just heard from his best friend. Then, Damien broke out laughing. Corey was stunned but not remotely surprised at the reaction. Damien kept going in hysterical giggling. He and Corey received curious glances from each the students and most of them dismissed the interaction as one of the two boys telling the other a joke. Again, Corey wasn't at surprised but, looking around at the other students, he was certainly at least mildly embarrassed. All the while, Damien continued laughing so much that he had to hold his arms to his sides. Only then did he make an attempt to communicate with Corey.

"Oh my... oh my God, dude! That's the funniest shit I've ever heard. You had me at the 'I'm Zeus' part."

Corey said nothing in response, but he did think to himself, Dear Lord, kill me now.

Damien was finally able to get himself together and bring his laughter, telling Corey, "That was some seriously funny shit. You really had me going, Corey. You really did," Then Damien looked Corey in the face and noticed a seriousness in his eyes. "You were just messing with me, right?"

Corey lightly shook his head and replied, "Not exactly, man."

"Heh, shit," Damien giggled, but he could see how Corey's expression hadn't changed. "Oh shit. Oh shit, you're serious, aren't you?"

Corey sighed and pulled back on the sleeve of his right hand, displaying the mark that was present there. "This mark on my hand just appeared out of nowhere, on the same day that Minotaur thing showed up... the same day that Zeus showed up. Damien, that was me."

"Ah man! Does anyone else know?" Damien asked in disbelief, finally coming to terms with he'd heard from his friend.

Corey hid the mark before he replied, "So far, only Brad knows."

Damien was stunned once again and said, "Hendry? You told Brad Hendry but not your best friend? What the hell?"

"I didn't tell him. Brad figured it out... right before he changed too." Corey said.

"Changed? Wait, that guy in the red armor was Brad?" Damien said.

Corey nodded and explained, "Yeah, apparently we're both the reincarnations of the Gods from ancient Greece, and we're on a quest to find a magic box before a psychopathic underworld God can claim it to conquer our world and kill us all. Oh, and there's a talking owl involved that's actually the ghost of Athena."

Damien was stunned, his mouth agape in astonishment. "Dude," he said, still trying to process it all. "That's the most insane thing I've ever heard. But it makes so much sense. It explains why you had to take off from school the day after the monster attack. It explains all those times you were freaked out. You got powers, you and Brad. It's crazy."

"Hey chill out, and please keep your voice down, man. Look, nobody else can know about this. My parents don't even know about this, so please, Damien, I need you to keep it to yourself."

Damien understood the seriousness in Corey's voice and with a nod, he said, "Okay."

Corey breathed a sigh of relief, even patting his best friend on the shoulder. "Thanks, man. I owe you big time."

Unbeknownst to Corey and Damien, someone had been listening in on them. Could they be?

The rest of the school went by without incident. Corey and Damien pushed through the academic hurdles of the day and the occasional scalding from the faculty right up until the final bell. By the end of the day, Dover High students began filing out of the school toward the buses or the waiting cars of their parents. Corey and Damien walked out together, unaware that they were being followed. They reached the bike rack where Corey undid the chains on his motorbike, while Damien looked around for anything out of place. He was still processing the knowledge that Corey was Zeus, as well as forcing to keep quiet as Corey requested. Damien did see movement approaching him and Corey and quickly recognized that it was Brad.

"Hey Mercer, I been looking for you," Brad bellowed. Reaching the boys, Brad glared at Damien and said to him, "Take a hike, Winters. I got business with Mercer."

"Not on your life, Hendry. I'm staying right here." Damien replied with surprising resolve.

"You want to start something with me, Hot Topic?" Brad challenged.

"Brad, it's cool. Damien knows." Corey said.

Brad glanced between both boys and then said to Corey, "Wait, you told him? You told Winters that we're..." Brad stalled for half a second before saying, "...That we're kind of a thing?!"

Corey and Damien looked at Brad incredulously, and Damien audibly muttered, "Dude, that's gross."

Rolling his eyes in disbelief, Corey said to Brad, "What's wrong with you, Brad? I was to talking about you and me being Gods."

"Right, I knew that," Brad said trying to feign ignorance. "Wait, is Winters one of us too?"

"I kind of wish I was. You guys are practically superheroes and nobody knows about it besides me." Damien said.

"Yeah and like I told you earlier, I'd prefer to keep it that way." Corey said.

Damien nodded in affirmation, just missing Brad's narrowed glare. Corey snorted at the exchange his best friend and his fellow God as it were. What did Athena call him the first time they met? An Incarnate? Perhaps it was a bit redundant, but it seemed to fit. Right now, it was the first time Corey felt a sense of relief. Damien now knew his secret. Brad was an Incarnate like him. For once, Corey didn't feel like the weight of the world was on his shoulders. Yet for some reason out of his scope, he still couldn't shake the feeling that there were other eyes on him. Corey peered around at the massive wave of students still filing out of the school, but he couldn't find anything out of the ordinary.

"Corey?"

"What?" Corey said, noticing Damien and Brad staring at him.

"You good, Mercer? You look like you're spacing out." Brad said.

Corey seemed to snap out of his stupor and replied, "Yeah. Um, you guys feel hitting the park for a bit? This big crowd of angsty high school students is making me a little claustrophobic."

Damien and Brad exchanged curious glances, and Damien said, "Sure, man."

"Lead the way, Mercer." Brad added.

The boys went along their way ahead of the rest of the students, all the while being closely watched by a familiar avian creature hidden from view. Athena had been keeping an eye on the trio, pleased that Corey had found another Incarnate in Brad as Ares. But Damien was not an Incarnate. He possessed no mark and no aura of any God of days gone by. Athena couldn't shake the feeling that something felt odd. Perhaps it was paranoia on her part. Corey seemed to trust Damien enough to reveal his secret. It was decided then that if Corey trusted Damien, then Athena would at the very least Corey's judgment.

But Athena had her eyes on another individual. This one was otherwise hidden amid the sea of students leaving the school, but Athena's keen animal sight was more than capable of locating the intended target. That was precisely what Athena had done, and she watched intently as the individual followed the three boys out of the crowd of students. Based upon her initial judgment of the person's youthful appearance, Athena surmised that it was another student. She couldn't determine if this person was a potential threat, and simply flying in to confront this person wouldn't help. Athena had to trust Corey to know what to do if and when this person caught up to him and his friends. For the time being, Athena continued to keep a watchful eye on her charges and hope that Corey would be prepared for anything.

Author's Note: This chapter is finish, relatively acting as filler but still advancing the story forward. Poor Corey is now a fairly generous curfew, and he's revealed his identity to his actual best friend Damien. And, whose spying on the boys now? Feedback would be welcome, and I hope Heart of the Demons is out there somewhere. Peace.