It wasn't working. My bones felt hollow, there was nothing left in them to give to Bundi. I needed to get in there, I knew what I wanted—what I needed to do. I closed my eyes and tried to think about how wonderful it would be once this was all over. I couldn't, my fingertips tingled, my palms were glowing, but I was still awake.

     "Craig, who are you doing this for?" Peri whispered.

     "I'm... I'm doing this for Felix." I grit my teeth, and gathered more energy.

     I could see the wound closing, the black dots shrinking, but I needed to get inside their head. I could feel in when Peri realized what I was going to do. He drew back his presence immediately, recoiling in shock and leaving me shaking and cold.

     "Craig—" he started.

     "I have to!" I gasped, starting to see black spots. "Trust me, Peri, please."

     His beak slacked open, like he wanted to bite my ear and tell me to snap out of it. He didn't. His wings spread and I could feel them on my shoulder blades, lifting me up. The power returned to my body.

     Percy screamed. We glanced up in terror, Apophis stalked towards us, carrying our Queen's limp body in her arms. Percy was protesting, but there was a growing bloodstain on her shoulder, growing bigger the closer she stalked towards us.

     I felt a sob build up in my throat. I couldn't save them. I couldn't save them all. I couldn't heal people as fast as they were dying.

     Apophis form changed, her eyes melted into slits, and glowed with their own fierce light. Her snake was wrapped around her neck, its eyes pulsed as well. She emanated rage, and fury, and most importantly, power. Apophis finally stopped in the area where we crouched, were just a bunch of kids, trembling, cold, and weak under her pressure. She laid Percy to the side, she was still breathing only unconscious. None of us could move. I couldn't stop looking into her eyes... I... I couldn't breathe.

     "Jason, stop!" Aurora shouted from across the field.

     Apophis whipped her head around, but it was too late. Jason Griffith flew across the field with a scream of a kid who's been deeply, deeply wronged. It was echoed by his falcon, flying at his shoulders. Her let three arrows fly within seconds. They all missed, but it didn't matter. As soon as he was close, his fists burst into flame and he tackled Apophis with everything he was worth. I barely processed the gasps from our party, I could only feel the cold terror as Apophis gripped Jason's forehead. His eyes rolled back, his body went lip, and he fell to the ground. She wiped Percy's blood on her cloak and reached towards me. Her fingers outstretched, sharp, black-as-night nails reaching towards my skin.

     Ryan fell over, unconscious, so did Eryan. My head swam as I felt her mind brush against mine. She demanded obedience. Then her fist closed around my arm. I looked up into her face, two flaps of glowing membrane—not her own—sprung out from her neck. She opened her mouth and a long, green, split tongue flicked out between two artificial fangs.

     "Do it." She hissed, and sent a jolt through my body.

     I woke up, gasping, entirely confused for a few seconds. Then I realized the pale, melanin-deprived spots on my skin where gone. I was in someone else's body. These were Bundi's memories.

     I looked up, there was Antaeus's face. His snarling, sly, scarred face. In one hand, he held a dying familiar. In the other he held a bloody knife. There was a girl on the ground in front of him, writhing and sobbing. This was when Antaeus first killed a spirit in front on Bundi. I sensed it was not the last.

     Peri's presence was here, from his wings on my back, the way my vision sharpened when I stared at the evil man in from of me. Anger filled my gut, and I drew power from it. It was too easy, and it scared me, but I had to do this.

     Antaeus snide expression suddenly changed into confusion. "Who are you?"

     I looked down at my glowing palms. The more I stared at them, the more it looked like a bloodstain. I ignored Antaeus, and reached into the air, looking for the break in the memory.

     "You'll answer me when I speak to you." He growled, standing up and throwing the dead bird to the side. It's feathers still dribbling from his chin.

      I reached forward, and brushed the hair away from his eyes. They were black pools, full of lumps of retina and lenses. This, this was where the... the... I can't remember the word Than used. This was where the darkness drew its power. It was too weak to know I was here. I wouldn't be this lucky next time.

      "I'm sorry." I said weakly, and peeled off his face.

     The entire memory ripped like paper. It terrified me, I hated how easy this was, after months of trying to figure out this power, when I finally dipped into its dark side I fell. It was like it was covered in oil. I kept eating it up, opening up the jaws of my heart to take in the hatred and pain of this memory until there was nothing left.

     I didn't stop ripping it apart. I kept reaching with my calloused finger tips at whichever scraps had Antaeus's imprint on them. I chewed, kicked, and clawed through them until only the most necessary parts where left. The parts that led Bundi to become the parent figure, the protector. I left those, but they simply didn't need all of this.

     Even Peri was scared of how easy this was, I could feel it.

     Then, it was finished. My eyes blinked open, Apophis fell back away from me, gasping. She let a cold, husky laugh from behind her thick mat of hair. It sent shivers down my spine. I resisted the urge to chew my fingernails and rip my hair out.

     "This... this is too easy," she panted through a grin.

     Then her body crumpled to the ground.