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...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Amelia stood in the cool, lush forest of Kozan-ji, her eyes dazed and glazed over. Her hand traveled down near her stomach, where she felt an uneven patch of skin over her fingers. She pulled up her white shirt a little, and sure enough, there was a rough circle that she had never seen before until recently.
She was alive. And even better, she wasn't dreaming. Hatsu was real as much as her gunshot wound was. Not that the latter was supposed to be reassuring.
Amelia looked at the sky. Beyond the shedding trees, the warm sun was halfway up. Birds chirped their songs as they flew by. The leaves nearby had dew settled on them.
It was morning time. She was away for almost the whole day.
She looked around. Raymond wasn't around, or any of the Mafia for that matter. The ones Raymond took down were gone too. An uneasy sensation settled in her gut.
What if they kidnapped Raymond?
Amelia headed to the temple, a hand pressed over the scar on her midsection. Her heart began to race as she climbed up the slippery steps and followed the winding stone path before reaching her destination.
The main temple still looked the same as the last time she saw it, which was only yesterday. But this time, yellow and black police tape hung around the temple's front like flashy banners. A sign written in red Japanese letters stood by the porch. Amelia guessed that it said 'No trespassing' or something of the sort.
Amelia was about to take another step when she froze at the sound of incoming footsteps. Before she could fully turn around to face who it was, someone pulled her into a bone-crushing hug.
"Redhead!" Raymond exclaimed. "Dios mío, you're all right! I thought the worst happened and the Mafia kidnapped you or something."
Amelia winced as a slight pain shot from her stomach. "I'm. . . fine. Can you let me go a bit? I think I can't breathe."
Raymond let go, a sheepish grin on his face. "Sorry. You've got no idea how worried sick I was. You were gone the whole day! I looked all over the forest for you and even checked the city. Well, I checked the outskirts but was planning on going all the way to the city center. And don't get me started on Zapper Boy yelling at my ear like a maniac—"
"W-wait a sec," Amelia interrupted. "Zeus called you?"
"Yeah. . ." Raymond looked around. "We should get outta here first, then I'll explain. And it won't be just me, though. The place kinda gives me the creeps."
Amelia followed Raymond out of the temple grounds, across the road, and into one of the restaurants that were open nearby. As they entered, the two of them greeted the shop owner, who was sweeping outside. They walked over to one of the tables and sat down.
"Okay, I think we're all good." Raymond turned to Amelia. "So who's going to start? I feel like you've got something more interesting to tell me."
Amelia waved a dismissive hand. "You go first. Are you okay, by the way? The last time I saw you, you crashed because of a stray bullet."
