Monsters are real and Catia Delos lives to fight them.
After her father's tragic death when she was a child, Catia was sent away by her stepmother to the Guardians, a race of demigods who live to fight the monsters that threaten the world. To Catia...
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Tensions in the house were high over the next few days. Every time GAIA sent out an alert for a monster, Catia's gut twisted oddly. Ever since she'd began her training, they had drilled it into her mind that she protected humans from monsters.
But now, with the rules the Council had in place, she could not do that. All her training felt wasted now.
Skye hadn't come out of his room much in the last few days. For the first little while, a muscle in his jaw had feathered whenever the monster alerts would go off. But soon, he hadn't been able to take it and he'd stormed off to his room.
Catia saw him occasionally as he grabbed food, but besides the most basic of pleasantries, they didn't speak. There was nothing to say they hadn't said. Both Catia and Skye were too angry about these new rules.
Connor was in his office constantly. Whenever Catia left her room, she could hear him on endless video calls, though his voice was too low to make out what they were talking about.
Despite how restless she felt, training felt hollow.
There was a knock on her door and Catia sat up in her bed. "Come in."
Connor entered, the deep shadows under his eyes making him appear older than he really was. "The representative from the Council just landed at the airport. He'll be here in less than an hour."
Catia prickled at the news. "Am I supposed to act excited?"
He sighed, looking frustrated. "I know this isn't ideal for anyone. But this is what the Council has decided. I want you and Skye in the training room when the representative arrives. This place needs to act like it's still functioning."
"But it's not functioning because of the Council's stupid new rules. So why should I have to pretend for their benefit?"
"Just please, for me?"
She crossed her arms over her chest. She loved Connor. In a lot of ways, he was her father. But what he was asking her to do wasn't fair.
"Catia, you know that if you refuse to follow the Council's rules, they won't react kindly."
Catia stiffened. The Council didn't take kindly to those who created dissent or tried to leave the ranks of the Guardians. They would wipe the memories of dissenters using water from the River Lethe in the Underworld and sent to live with the mortals. But those were those that were heard about. The others... they disappeared without a trace.
She finally relented, though she was still bitter. "I will not pretend to be happy about them micro-chipping me."
Connor let out a small chuckle. "I didn't expect that you would be."
He left then, and Catia let out a long sigh and fell back against her pillows. She stared up at the ceiling for a minute, wondering how much trouble she would get in if she refused the microchip.
