What would've been a quiet summer turns into a globe-trotting adventure when an incident in Olympian High's campus garden gets the attention of resident Chosens Amelia Kingston and Zeus Olympian. To their surprise, the culprit is none other than the...
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The single blue gem in Amelia's bracelet glinted at the cackling fire across the room. Amelia wasn't sure why Hatsu had to turn on the fireplace. It wasn't even that cold, but the fire didn't give off that much heat either, so she couldn't complain. At least she wasn't being baked in alive.
Amelia fiddled the necklace while she replayed Hatsu's words over and over again. It kept her busy from falling asleep again out of boredom, which was becoming too tiring at this point.
You have the eyes of a person who does not know what she wants, even when the choices are already there.
What did she even mean by that? Was she giving her some love advice? It sounded like she did. But as far as Amelia was concerned, she didn't even need it. Her love life, although nonexistent, was none of Hatsu's business. She also didn't mind if it didn't exist—she was still functioning without it. The whole thing just felt overrated.
But Pierre would definitely mind. The look on his face when she didn't answer him straight away. . . she didn't want to disappoint him and ruin their friendship.
And Amelia didn't even know what to tell him when she'd see him—how to answer his 'offer'.
"Yes, no, yes, no. . ." Amelia mumbled as she counted through the interlocked rings of her bracelet. "Yes, no, yes, no, yes. . . Yes."
Amelia let her arm fall to the side. It wasn't like she didn't want to be closer to Pierre—the guy was so sweet and shy that you couldn't hate him for it. But the idea of having to commit to a serious relationship while she had secrets she couldn't share. . .
Groaning, Amelia propped herself up from the mat and stood. A dull throb came from her injury, but it wasn't something she couldn't handle. Slowly but surely, she walked toward the sliding door, moved it open, and went outside.
Even though there were no lights around, the hallway was strangely bright. Several rooms like hers had their doors closed. With one hand on the wall for support, Amelia limped onwards, careful not to make a sound, but it was harder than she thought. The floor was all wood, and she was bound to create a creak with every few steps or so.
A larger door waited for her all the way to the other side of the house, which might lead outside.
Some fresh air would do the trick, Amelia thought. I might as well know where I am right now.
By the time she reached the door, the brightness wasn't dying down. If anything, it was going brighter, so bright that she imagined a big spotlight shone outside.
A gasp escaped her lips when Amelia moved the door aside. Hues of orange and red painted the world outside like a raging wildfire that got out of hand. There was no sign of anything alive. No sign of where she was in the world.
She wasn't in Japan anymore, Amelia knew that fact somehow. This was another realm, one that she thought wasn't possible.
Her flipping stomach threatened her to lurch forward. Even with the odd lack of heat from the fire, it felt like she was standing at the edge of hell.
