"Eddie." I sighed. "I don't have time for this!"

    Percy frowned. "Is this-?"

    "Yes." Aurora explained.

    Her frown deepened. "Then why are we being so casual?"

    "I don't know." Aurora shook her head in disbelief. "I never know. Perhaps I never will."

    "Look at us." Eddie smirked. "Like old pals, I'm sorry I didn't arrive earlier it looks like you were having such a nice lunch. Now if you'll just let me..."

    He reached for my arm and I yanked it away. Jason side stepped in front of me, Ryan crouched, I stood meekly behind my two protectors. Eddie tilted his head and frowned.

    "Hm. I see." He observed.

    "Excuse me." Percy said, still very bewildered. "I'm not going to fight a little kid, so if you'll please cease whatever nonsense this is-"

    "Oh, sorry princess." Eddie spat, with a lot more malice than normal. "I'm afraid I don't care in the slightest what you have to say."

    Percy's jaw dropped open. "Excuse m-"

    "Thanatos says hi." Eddie hissed, and pulled a small egg from his pocket and crushed it.

    The room was instantly filled with thick purple smoke. There was yelling and screaming and I stumbled around, completely blink. My eyes stung from the smoke I couldn't find anyone. Then all of a sudden, a hand clenched around my arm, and I was yanked so hard I nearly fell over. I couldn't tell who it was, but this hand was gloved. I don't remember Eddie wearing gloves. In fact, none of us did.

    "Hey stop it!" I tried to kick and squirrel my way out of their grasp and I just ended up tripping on my own shoes.

    "Hey!" I spotted a fuzzy bright blue glow in the dense smoke behind me, I was moving away from it. "Get your hands off me!"

    Another hand latched onto my free arm just as the smoke was fading out and I looked back into the bright green eyes of someone I recognized. Only it wasn't the option I was hoping for.

    "Got you." Eddie smirked at me.

    I was nearly torn in two as the other mystery kidnapper was halted by the added weight of another human. The smoke fully cleared away and the two of us stared up into the face of a mask with bright purple markings. I blinked, I had never seen this before in my life. Eddie gasped, so I'm guessing he probably has. The masked figure let out a muffled chuckle.

    "Edmund Nakumura?" They tilted their head to the side. "It's nice seeing you again."

    I glanced back and forth between the two people on either arm and realized they knew each other. Eddie momentarily forgot about me (something I didn't know he was capable of doing) and turned a few shades paler. Probably from the shock. I really wish I knew what was going on.

    "N-no! You're supposed to be dead!" He swore and laid on hand on his belt where I sure he kept a knife or something of the like.

    The figure laughed again. "We're all full of surprises, aren't we?"

    Then they glanced down at me. "And you're not the queen, my bad. This is where we get off I'm afraid."

    The masked figure let go of my arm and I rubbed it sorely. Then they ran off back into the receding smoke cloud. Then I was suddenly left standing there with a slack jawed Edmund and me, my confused self.

    "Am I allowed to ask...?" I tried.

    Eddie frowned, and grabbed onto my hand with a death grip. "No, shut up. Where's your bird?"

    Speak of the devil, I heard a loud shriek and Peri flew out of the smoky room, eyes blazing with fury. Peri dived straight towards Eddie's faced and his eyes widened and he forced us both to duck as Peri flew overhead. It would have been really funny if I hadn't been counting on that small green parrot to save my life. Fortunately, when Eddie recovered and yanked me up again, Jason had appeared and his boot landed on Eddie's chest. Effectively sending him sliding across the marble. My hero.

    I fell back and managed to catch myself with my hands at the last moment. Peri was up again and landed in the hood on my poncho. I had to momentarily tune out his voice since all he was doing was screaming about how I couldn't be left alone for one second. It was easy though because Jason flipped his head in an attempt to get the hair out of his eyes, he was breathing heavily and looked very serious when he offered his hand to help me up. It was distracting, to say the least.

    Eddie groaned, pushed himself up on his elbows and rubbed his chest painfully, then stared at us. "Ugh, you."

    "What are you doing?" Jason asked me, sounding annoyed.

    I realized I was still holding his hand.

    "Oh Kosmos!" I inwardly choked, feeling my face grow hot with embarrassment. "Sorry."

    I dropped his hand immediately and wiped off the nervous sweat from my palm. Kosmos.

    "You know I can't actually believe you right now." Peri said in disbelief.

    "Shut up!"

    "Where's the queen?" Jason's eyes narrowed as he glanced around the hallway.

    On the opposite end, far away from where we were, Percy was dragged kicking and screaming by two of those masked people. One of them had her sword in hand and threw it to the ground as they made their hasty escape. Jason didn't even hesitate as he bolted across the marble and picked up her sword. He raised his forearm and Lafayette let out a shriek as he flew just overhead. Kosmos, that was attractive.

    I bolted after him, and heard Eddie call out from behind me. I glanced back only once, to see he was still sitting on the ground, looking defeated and... disappointed? I don't know, I had a sword wielding, falcon summoning, bad boy to catch up with.

    I practically flew past Ryan as she popped out from the room with the smoke wielding dual daggers. "Craig? What's going on? Where are you going?"

    "Go help the others!" I awkwardly flapped my hands at her as I slid around the corner.

    If there was anything that living with the Pack for fifteen years taught me, it was how to run. Trademark ability of the wolf was to be able to maintain a consistent speed for hours at a time. It was a vital skill for hunting, and it was coming handy just about now. As I spotted the rag tag group of criminals and Jason barreling down the front steps of the Capital, I thought to myself Felix would be so proud.

    "Craig?" Jason did a double take as I caught up him.

    "I though you said you didn't like the queen?" I laughed at him.

    He shrugged. "I guess you were right, I can't resist the chance to save a damsel in distress."

    I blinked. "I guess I did say that, didn't I?"

    The masked kidnappers had wielded their weapons and were effectively splitting the crowds outside of the castle with success. That is, the crowds that were still left, it looks like the group with the masks had ambushed this one spot in preparation for their escape with the queen. I was also wondering where all the guards were, until I began to put two and two together slowly.

    None of the masked people I had seen so far were women (as far as I could tell) so I deducted this wasn't Katestra. Plus, they were leaving with the queen and Eddie had come for me. There were lots of clues really. Anyway, the official royal protection must have been busy dealing with Katestra, who was looking for me, and here I am chasing after the queen. It was brilliant really.

    We were making really good ground, only a few meters behind them at most as we pushed our way through busy streets and shocked faces. That was, until a collection of animals with hooves dropped in behind up and began to close the gap faster than we were. I glanced over my shoulder a few times and spotted a few horses, and other things I didn't recognize. The one leading them was what looked like a cross between a horse and a zebra, all of them had masked riders.

    I realized we had gotten ourselves into trouble. Peri, who had switched to flying by my shoulder started letting out nervous chitters. The gang with the queen turned into and alley and, surrounded by riders, we had no choice but to follow. All of us skidded to a stop in, surprise! A dead end. Our birds landed defensively upon our shoulders, and Jason tightened his grip on Percy's sword.

    Percy herself was looking pissed off as she glared at us, blocked by the gag in her mouth. Her hands were tied, literally. The masked kidnapper that Eddie had yelled at earlier stepped forward suddenly, brandishing a large jungle-type sword that wasn't quite a machete. Jason dropped into a sloppy stance.

    "If you want her, you going to have to go through me." He warned.

    I assumed they were the leader, started laughing maniacally. "You're not going to fight us."

    "Yeah?" Jason dared them. "Why do you think that?"

    Faster than what should be humanly possible, the leader stepped forward and grabbed my wrists as I yelped, then pressed their sword gently against my neck. I felt my heart start to pound, and I swallowed as all the moisture evaporated from my mouth.

    Jason paled considerably but didn't move. "You won't."

    "Oh, I will, darling." There was no reserve in their voice. "Now you're going to drop that sword, and back away. That way nobody gets hurt."

    "Bundi." The one on top of the horse-zebra fusion called out. "Look."

    They pointed toward Lafayette, who's feathers were ruffled up in agitation from his perch on Jason's shoulder. The leader stared at the bird, not letting go of me. Lafayette glared in my direction, a shaft of light hitting his bright orange eye perfectly, setting it ablaze. The leader let out another dry laugh, and suddenly pushed me towards the horse-zebra rider, who had another long blade ready to press against my neck. Jason never dropped his stance.

    Then the leader reached behind their head and pulled off their mask. It slipped off to reveal a young face, with dark brown eyes and a choppy undercut. They smirked and put on hand on their hip.

    "Put down the sword kid, tell me your name. I must have forgotten it."

    Jason frowned, finally someone who was as confused as I was. "What? I've never met you before."

    They raised an eyebrow. "Highly unlikely, but possible I suppose."

    Then they swung their fist around and punched Jason's wrist, effectively knocking the sword out of his hand. It clattered to the ground and two more rushed in to bind Jason's hands behind his back as he fought against the bond.

    "Hey chief." One of the other masked members dug their hands into the bag at my side and pulled out the stick Eddie had given me months back. "Look what this one has."

    The leader of the gang's eyes widened and a sly smile appeared on their lips as they saw the stick. "Oh... we're keeping you."

    They made a vague hand gesture. The person who was holding the sword to my throat took the pommel and whacked me in head with it. This did the trick, because the sky instantly diffused together with the earth. I felt myself numbly fall to the ground. Then I sunk slowly into unconsciousness.