“I’m not sure what’s happening here, but if this escalates any further we will be forced to call the police,” a freckle-faced teenage boy wearing the bowling alley’s uniform told us in a hushed tone.

  Delores and I were locked in a stare-down, neither of us moving at all. Delores’s amber-colored eyes blazed with an intensity that she had never shown before. The wholesome facade had finally slipped. How had she hidden this side of herself so well? Nix stepped in before things spiraled out of control.

  “Yeah, sorry about this, we’re leaving,” she said, and gently grabbed my hand.

  I accepted her hand, interlacing her fingers, but I didn’t plan on going anywhere. The first time she attempted to guide me away, I stood firm and held my ground.

  “No, Stormie, we really gotta go. You don’t understand who they are,” she said and gave me a hard yank.

  This time, my feet moved without my permission. She led me out of the building, dragging me behind her like a petulant child. When we were in the parking lot, I pulled my hand free of her vice grip.

  “What don’t I know? They were either sent by the Olympians, like that Spartan. Or they’re part of that organization. Either way, we can deal with them.”

  Nix’s midnight blue eyes were wide as she shook her head.

  “If I’m right about them, the Olympians sent them, but they’re nothing like that Spartan.”

  The look in her eyes finally calmed me down enough to listen to reason. It was a mixture of understanding and fear.

  “So what are they?”

  A divine presence hit us, so powerful it caused both Nix and me to bow our heads to the ground.

  “You two are assuming we’ll just let you walk away,” the blonde called from behind us before Nix could answer my question.

  As my body adjusted to the oppressive force, I became able to move freely once more. I turned around to face them. In the early afternoon sunlight, he looked even more dangerous. His bulging biceps looked like he bench-pressed livestock. The lightning bolt on the front of his uniform made me wonder if it was more than a team logo. Delores, the more subtle of the two, had already revealed herself to be some kind of human torch. So it didn’t feel like a reach that he would wear the symbol of his power openly.

  “I think they’re Olympian champions,” she said when she turned around as well.

  The two of them approached us with the casualness of a friendly meet-up, and the confidence of people that knew this wouldn’t even be a fight. I didn’t know how true that was, but I wasn’t about to let them intimidate me. The moment they got close enough to speak to without yelling, I spoke up.

  “You’re not letting us do anything. We do what we want, and there isn’t anything anyone can do to stop us.”

  “Spoken like a true loose cannon. A storm raging over the plains, you need to be checked before you destroy everything,” Delores said, glaring at me.

  “She’s so poetic. See me, I just follow orders. Zeus wants you gone, so here we are,” the blonde said.

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  So they were after me on behalf of that asshole.

  “So, you two are Olympian champions then?” I asked with my hands clenched into fists.

  “Don’t bother lying about it either,” Nix said before something to our left seemed to catch her attention.

  I wanted to follow her gaze and see what she was staring at, but I was afraid of looking away from these two. I kept my eyes focused on them.

  “Indeed we are. Just like you two,” Delores said.

  There was no way her statement was true. I had never agreed to be Typhon’s champion.

  “The storm doesn’t decide what to call itself. Its victims do,” Typhon said.

  So that was it? I was his champion because they decided I was? What did that mean for Nix? She wasn’t the only child of Nyx. I had seen firsthand that her mom had the same powers she did. Could a god have more than one champion? Even if they could, I was probably Typhon’s lone surviving champion. That thought both heated my blood and made me feel alone.

  The blonde stepped forward, his chest staring me in the face. I looked up at him. It suddenly occurred to me that I was going to have to fight this guy. It wasn’t optional. The churning in my gut started immediately.

  I wonder what that much muscle would look like as it melted. I thought as a sinister grin spread across my face.

  The man cracked his knuckles.

  “It looks like the monster has decided to stop cowering behind his girlfriend and face his demise,” he said, clearly not taking me seriously.

  That was the last insult I was going to take. I started to lunge forward, but Nix’s firm hand on my chest stopped me.

  “Don’t, she probably works for Hestia. Hence, all the Pyro. This asshat is more than likely Zeus’s. That would make him at least an S- tier,” she explained as I seethed at the smiling man.

  He nodded. “Good job figuring that out. At least now you understand who is going to kill you.”

  “Why does any of that matter? They clearly aren’t just going to leave us alone. We have to fight them.”

  She explained further without ever taking her eyes off whatever she was staring at.

  “You remember The Prometheus Pact? The Olympian gods can’t engage mortals directly, so they have people that represent them,” she started.

  “Champions,” I nodded as the pieces finally started falling into place for me.

  I still wanted to tear the guy apart, but I resisted the urge to move. I listened to what Nix was saying, hoping it would teach me something I could use to kill them.

  “Yes, but even champions can’t just attack anyone they want. They are bound by the Prometheus Pact as well. Those things are called Pact Wardens.”

  She pointed to the spot she had been staring at, and I finally followed her gaze. There was a group of people standing near the parking lot entrance watching us.

  I stared at them, trying to make out exactly what they looked like, but they seemed to fade in and out of focus. I couldn’t tell if they were even human. I just saw three shrouded figures in dark robes watching us.

  “Gods, I hate those killjoys,” the blonde said and rolled his eyes at the figures.

  “Okay, so what are they doing here?” I asked impatiently.

  “They are here because this clown is too powerful to engage in combat with us,” Nix said, turning her eyes to the blonde.

  Every cell in my body wanted to shove Nix aside and slay this giant standing in front of me. Another thing that gave me pause was the fact that the champions didn’t attack us. They stood patiently aside and just let Nix talk. I knew that wasn’t because they just liked the way she spoke. So I listened to find out exactly what was holding them in check.

  “So are they here because I’m too weak to take these two on?” I asked.

  I didn’t want to sound as insecure as I felt about that, but I felt like it bled through in my tone.

  “How about you throw a punch and we’ll all find out together?” the blonde said and gestured to me with a curled index finger.

  “Prove yourself to be the reckless savage that we all know you to be,” Delores said.

  I wanted to attack them both and prove just how much of a brainless monster I could truly be. Nix moved her thumb across my chest slightly, and the feeling drew my full attention to her hand. I looked at her, blinking back the rage that was trying to consume me.

  “No, they’re not here because of you.” Nix said, locking her midnight eyes on mine. “They’re here because I’m too weak.”