Rising Heroes Book Four: The Sands of Ouroboros

Chapter Ten: Lost to the Storm

Disclaimer: I don't own HOO or VE

Chapter Ten: Lost to the Storm

Roc had done a lot of stupid things in his life.

He had flown in broad daylight, putting himself at risk of being seen by anyone below. He had stolen things, read other people's emotions, scorned girls.

Then he met Lily, and everything changed.

She thought she was so damaged, so poisonous, but Roc knew from experience that sometimes the most damaged things are the ones that have the most potential. She was reckless, and stubborn, but she cared so much about the people around her- to the point where she was willing to put her own life on the line.

That was why Gray's death was so hard on her, why she fought so hard even though she was pregnant. He meant what he said when he told her he would help take care of her- their- child, not just for her but for himself as well. This was his second chance, his way to do better. They had followed Leviathan all over the world, dispatching his exiles but never finding him. Her parents had tried to track her, but Roc knew tricks from his now-dead Nephilim mother. And... he had hoped to find his father.

So when he landed on the floor of the Santorini hotel, the first thing he did was spring into a defensive pose. But there was no threat- only Grigori milling about, talking and arming themselves. Reid landed beside him. "Where are we?" he asked.

Roc snatched a newspaper off of the stand. "I guess your watch thing worked," he said. "We're in the past."

Suddenly a portal opened above their heads again, and four people tumbled to the ground in front of them. One was a little boy with a satyr's legs and tiny horns in his curly hair. "Grove!" Reid said, scooping him up. 

"You know him?" Roc asked.

Reid nodded. "He's my nephew. But he was just born... he shouldn't be this big."

The other three teenagers stood up. Roc recognized two- with brownish hair and hazel eyes and identical impish faces, it was Milo and Sal, Lily's twin brothers. But the third, a girl with pale golden hair and peach-colored eyes, looked like no one he recognized.

"Milo and Sal," Roc said, gesturing to the brothers. "Lily's siblings. But they're not this old either."

Milo looked around "Where are the others?"

Roc grabbed each twin by the arm, pulling them into an empty room. Reid followed, carrying Grove, and the girl came behind. Roc closed the door. "You're from the future," he said plainly.

Milo and Sal gave identical nods. "All of us younger Grigori snuck into Camp," he said. "We wanted to see what it was about."

"We found this cave," Sal continued, "and glowing stones."

"Then poof!"

"Now we're back in time, I guess."

"So all of the siblings of Lily's friends are scattered in time?" when the twins nodded, Roc rubbed his temples. "Fabulous."

"I'm guess that's how Grove got here too," Reid said. Shucking his coat, he wrapped it around Grove's legs. "What about you?" he asked the girl.

The girl looked at Roc, face grim. "We came back to fix things," she said. "We found the stones because we wanted to go back."

"Why?" Roc asked.

"Because you're my father," the girl said. "And where I'm from, you're dead."

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The first thing Roc did was figure out exactly where in time they were. Apparently Lily's mom had already spoken to Irin, which meant tonight was the night she would be captured by his father, Phoenix.

Which, coincidentally, was the name of his daughter. The daughter he had had... with Lily.

The more he looked at her, the more familiar she became. She looked exactly how his father had described Lilith, and she had powers to match- she could control not only the air, but lightning as well.

"Let me help!" Phoenix insisted when he found them a hotel room. Reid was placating Grove, and Milo and Sal were fiddling with the TV.

"Everyone will help," Roc said. "I have a plan."

At that, everyone turned to face him. "A sacrifice is about to happen," Roc said. "It opens a gateway between Hell and this world. I think if one of us attaches ourselves to the sacrifice somehow, we can use it to go back to our respective timelines."

"No," Phoenix said immediately. "I came here to save you. In the future, Leviathan kills you. Let me kill him now, here, while he's still asleep!"

"Your mother and I met because of Leviathan," Roc said. "If we don't meet, you're never born, and there's no one to come back and kill him. You'll create a time paradox."

"Then let me weaken him, at least," Phoenix said. "Cripple him in some way."

"No," Roc said. "Your help will be needed here, to help with the tsunami."

"What about us?" Milo asked.

"I need some of everyone's blood," Roc said. "We need to find a way to get onto the island before the ceremony, and get off after." he produced vials that he had stolen from one of the strategy tables, and a knife he had gotten from the kitchens. "Everyone bleed into these, then give me some item of yours. I'll fly to the island tonight, throw them in the volcano when my father starts the ritual, and fly back when it's done."

"Um-" Reid started. "Roc..."

"What is it?" he asked.

"It's Phoenix," Reid said. "She's gone."

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By the time Roc made it up to the roof, it was too late. "What happened?" he asked Lincoln, who was kneeling in the middle of the ground.

Lincoln looked up, distraught. "He took them," he said. "Phoenix took Violet and some other girl who was up here."

Roc kicked at the bricks, the edges  crumbling and falling. "Why would he take her?" he asked.

Lincoln shook his head. "I don't know," he said. "But whoever she was, Phoenix said she looked just like Lilith."