Rising Heroes Book Four: The Sands of Ouroboros

Chapter Thirty-Four: All Gone

Disclaimer: I don't own HOO or HO

Chapter Thirty-Four: All Gone

The sewers of New York, sometime in the past

"We came from a much different future," James explained, taking a step towards his mom. "One where Lilith and Sammael were defeated. We time-travelled to the past and we think Leviathan came back and changed things so that everything went wrong."

"What?" Now Stephanie looked absolutely and utterly confused. Dapper and Onyx pulled them deeper into the area and they all sat down.

"It's true," Lily confirmed. "My parents were Violet and Lincoln."

Stephanie covered her mouth. "But... they died! Three days ago!"

"I know," Lily said softly. "We need to know exactly what happened so that when we go back, we can fix everything."

"It's a long story," Dapper said gruffly. 

Onyx steepled his hands. "After Lilith started pumping Violet full of arrows," he said, "she, you know, almost died and then Phoenix killed her and... I'm assuming you know all this, right?" he asked. The group nodded. "Well, then Phoenix brought Lilith back. But when I was retrieving the Grigori children, someone visited Lilith. A woman; one with lions."

"Rhea," Roc said. "She's a Titan; she's the one trying to stop the demi- um, our friends," he said, deciding that explanation would take too long.

"Yes, well, Rhea knew exactly Violet's plan. She told Lilith how to kill her, and she did. They killed Lincoln, Evelyn, Spence... then they went to the Academy and burned it to the ground. They've been hunting every Grigori they can find for the past few days, with Leviathan and Sammael's help."

"They imprisoned the angels," Seb leaned forward in his chair. "And they took my girlfriend. Beth. She was Griffin's daughter."

"Griffin's still alive," Stephanie said, "but we have no idea where he is. The rest of us have been scattered. Salvatore-" her voice broke. "Salvatore died so we could get back here without anyone discovering us."

"Why would they take her?" Dapper asked Seb.

"Her power is that she can amplify and recreate anyone else's power," Seb said. Then his eyes widened. "Do you think Leviathan wants to use her to strengthen his powers?"

"They might be trying to kill the angels once and for all," Dapper mused. "Even though they've been yoking their power. It's been raining for weeks now."

"Raining?" Andi asked.

"When someone drains a power, that of a celestial, nature reacts through rain," Dapper responded. 

"The tears of the gods," Lily murmured. "The prophecy."

"So we go back and... what?" James asked. "We have to decide just exactly what we will do."

"We have to rescue Beth," Seb added. "How else will we get her home?"

"Consider this," Onyx held up a finger. "In going back and changing things, will you prevent yourself from ever going back in the first place?"

Now Steph shook her head. "I've studied this," she said. "Time isn't like a river, diverging and whatnot. It's more like... well, it's more like a tree. Constantly growing. When changes are made in the past, a new timeline diverges. An old timeline might wither and cease to exist, but the actions made there are still preserved. It isn't kept from existing in the first place. So even if, say, you erased yourself from existence, your past self still exists in that decaying timeline. It's just about which timeline you're able to keep alive. The timeline you guys originally came from is dead- there's no getting it back- but you can create a timeline as similar as possible by minimizing any changes in the past."

"Ok," James shook his head, a little confused. "I think I get it. If we go back in time and kill Rhea and Leviathan, like our children wanted, we can stop this?"

"Or," Lily ventured, "we go back and find their future selves the moment they travelled back in time, and kill them then. They don't make changes to the past, but our present will be pretty much identical- except for the fact that our parents will remember our past selves."

"First thing's first," Roc decided. "We have to find the Immortie."

"Who was with the demigods most recently?" Andi asked.

"Beth and I were," Seb said. "It was left at camp after the Battle of the Labyrinth."

"We have to get there before Rhea destroys the whole thing," James said.

"And save Beth," Seb added.

"Maybe we could offer to trade the Immortie for her," Lily suggested. "Double cross them?"

"That's a good idea," James said. "But first we need to actually get the Immortie before Rhea sets her sights on camp."

"If she hasn't already," Roc said dryly.

"I can help," Dapper said. "I have a car. Take it."

"Thank you," Lily told him. 

"And Lily?" Onyx added when they went to walk out. "Will you make sure... if the future really is changed. Make sure I'm still stripped of my powers." he glanced at Dapper, who squeezed his hand.

"I will," Lily promised.

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Ten minutes later they had snuck out of the sewers without attracting any suspicion and were piled into Dapper's beat-up car. Thankfully it didn't seem like Rhea and Leviathan had turned their attention to normal mortals-yet.

"Skye, can you navigate?" James asked as he drove. Skye nodded.

"Do you think they'll give us the Immortie willingly?" Andi asked. "Or should we... steal it?"

"Chiron might," Skye said. "Maybe people who have actually met him in the past should just go, though."

"So just Seb then," James grumbled. He glanced at Seb, who was still looking disheveled and halfway crazy. "They're gonna think he's homeless."

Seb rolled his eyes. "I can pull it together," he said. "But we need to get Beth afterwards."

"Of course we will," Lily said. "We're not leaving anyone behind."