Neither of the girls really enjoyed being in the woods, but the house was surrounded by them, so they had no choice. They walked with their arms linked together, talking about the most normal topics they could think of. Being inside the house was suffocating for Alexia, as she couldn't think of anything besides Demetri or Roman, or about being Immortal. She may not be a normal girl, but she needed to be reminded that until last night, she had been.

Her chest felt heavy, as if all the information she had acquired was sitting on top of her, weighing her down. It wasn't fair that this was happening to her. Why did she have to become Immortal? Sure, if what the boys had told her was true she would have died before she turned twenty-one, but at the moment, she would take death over the kind of pressure she felt now.

"You know when we go back to school we are going to have so much gossip to catch up on. I wonder if people will notice we are all not there."

"I'm sure they will," Ellie assured her. "Who wouldn't notice that the most popular girl and her two sidekicks were away for a week? Who wouldn't notice that the two new absolutely gorgeous guys are also gone for a week?"

Cheri looked at Ellie like she was an idiot for bringing up Demetri and Roman.

"First of all," Alexia responded, "people do not see you guys as my sidekicks, and second, no Demetri and Roman talk please."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to bring them up."

They walked in silence for a few minutes, looking at the trees and listening to the sounds around them. Up ahead, a fallen tree lay across another tree, creating a perfect bench. They brushed the snow from it and took a seat.

"Not only are we going to have a bunch of gossip to catch up on," Cheri chimed in, "but also a lot of homework."

Homework. That was something that seemed so human and normal. Alexia had an idea. "Let's go pick some up then."

"I don't know if you remember this," Cheri reminded her, "but all of our families think we are in California with your dad. Don't you think it would be a little weird if we just showed up to get homework?"

Alexia knew she was right. It was a bad idea, but she enjoyed the idea of doing something as normal as homework. "Whatever, I guess you're right."

She hung her head for a moment and then she heard it. Her head snapped up and her whole body got tense. She could tell her friends had heard it too because they were just as stiff. Somebody was moving behind them, trying to sneak up on them. Alexia tried to focus on everything she was mad about. She knew they were about to be attacked and her only chance was to get extremely angry.

With her eyes shut tight, she started to think about the past day and night. She thought of how she couldn't make up her mind about Demetri and Roman, how they were confined in a huge house with no answers, how she was in danger from... what was she in danger from? That was it; that was what she focused on to make herself get angry. They kept telling her, "You're in danger" and "It's not safe", but not once did they tell her from what.

If she turned around, she was sure she would be looking danger in the eyes, and she was certain that she was mad enough to take it on. Her eyes flashed open and she whipped around to see two men a few feet away from them. She couldn't see clearly, but she knew that rage was about to take over. She looked at her friends who were still sitting down and when they looked at her, their eyes were as black as hers. They knew they would walk away from this unharmed; the two men, however, would not.

∞

"I knew we shouldn't have left them alone," Roman said. "This is not like Alexia at all." He and Demetri had locked Silos in the kitchen before leaving the house to search for the three girls. They were searching the woods, trying hard to listen for the sound of voices.

"In case you haven't noticed, she hasn't been acting like herself since she became Immortal." Demetri was right, she hadn't been acting like the girl they had loved for all these years. "She's acting much more bratty than usual."

"Alexia is not a brat," Roman protested.

"I didn't say she was a brat. I said she was acting bratty."

Roman didn't respond. He didn't care what his brother had to say, he just wanted to find her alive. They walked deeper into the woods, not speaking, just listening. But there was nothing to hear. After ten minutes of searching, they split up to cover more ground.

Roman wanted to yell for her, but if he did, anyone who was around would know that she was not with them, not protected. A million things were running through his mind. What if she was already dead? Would it be that easy to kill her? She was a new Immortal and they were supposed to be the easiest to eliminate. It was hard to avoid these thoughts, especially since it was getting dark and the woods would soon be pitch black.

Demetri tried to use his third defense to find her. He tried to find that pull that would always lead him to her, but it was not there. This gave him hope, since it meant that she was not far away. He was thinking about what he would do when he found her, and how he would hug her for a long time. Then he would get mad at her for taking off on them, but his anger wouldn't last, since his relief would smolder it. From his left side he heard twigs cracking, and he knew Roman had been on his left. He could still see his silhouette, so Demetri whistled to get his brother's attention. Roman turned and started running towards him.

"I hear something coming from over there," Demetri told him. The two started toward the noise, trying to be quiet in case it wasn't the girls. The closer they got, the more distinguished the voices became. Then they heard her voice. They both started running towards it, almost racing each other to reach her first. Roman was fast, but as always, Demetri was faster, and he broke through the trees into the clearing first and was shocked at what he saw.

Alexia was blood-soaked and beating a man twice her size to the ground. Cheri and Ellie were also covered in blood. Ellie was holding a second man to the ground as Cheri kicked his body over and over. Even in the shadows of the woods, the boys could see their pitch-black eyes. They seemed to almost glow brighter and brighter with every kick or punch they delivered to the men. When it was clear that the man Ellie and Cheri had been fighting was knocked out cold, they ran to help their friend. Ellie grabbed the man's arm and ripped it clean off. She had meant to pull him to the ground, but there was too much rage flooding her veins. The man screamed and fell to the ground, gripping the spot where his left arm had just been. As soon as she had an opening, Cheri stomped on the man's face as hard as she could. If he were human, he would have died instantly.

They stood there for a moment, breathing heavily. Slowly their minds became clear and their eyes returned to their natural colors. The adrenaline leaked from their bodies, and suddenly they were all very exhausted. Demetri and Roman had watched the beating from the sidelines in absolute awe. Demetri made the mistake of taking a step toward them and in an instant Cheri was at his throat, eyes gleaming black. When she realized who she was choking, she immediately let go and her eyes went back to normal.

"Oh no, I'm so sorry." She took a step back and looked over at her friends who were walking over to join them.

"Let's get back to the house before it gets too dark." Roman's tone told them there was no arguing what he had said. He led the way with the girls following him and Demetri taking up the rear.

Once the trees started to thin, Alexia spoke in a calm voice. "How long until those men wake up?" Nobody answered her.

Roman held the front door open for them and murmured something about following him to the kitchen. Silos was still locked in there and it was time to hear the message he had for Alexia. "This man has a message for you, Alexia. He won't tell us what it is, only you."

She nodded and walked toward the man who appeared to be asleep. As soon as Alexia was beside him, he jerked awake. "Finally found you, did they? You look like you have hurt somebody"

"We didn't need finding." She ignored his second comment. "What is your message for me?"

"I will only tell you. They all have to leave." He glanced at Demetri, Roman, and her two bloody friends.

"Well, I wish for them to stay."

"Then you will not get your message." Alexia didn't want to deal with this man right now, as she wanted to shower and go to bed. She was tired and was sure that there was a lecture from Demetri and Roman in the near future.

"You know I will tell them what you say anyways."

"I am aware of that, but I have my instructions. I tell you the message alone."

Alexia turned to the group standing behind her and rolled her eyes. "I swear I'm going to tell you what he says anyways, so just stand outside so I can hear what he has to say."

They hesitated but left her alone with him. Before Roman left he told her, "If he tries anything, pour some of this on his chest." He pointed to the Wither.

She gave him a strange look but nodded. Once they all left, she asked the man, "What's the message?"

"They are lying to you," the man responded.

"Lying about what?"

"Everything."

"Listen, Silos, I am tired, I just fought a man twice my size, I'm covered in blood, and want to shower. If you're not a little more descriptive, then we're done here." She turned to leave.

"Wait, there is more." She turned back and tapped her foot impatiently "They are lying to you about how you became Immortal."

Now that she thought of it, they hadn't really told her about how she had died, only that something went wrong, and she was sent into reincarnation. "Who is this message from?"

"Amarantos."

"He used to be the leader of The Union?"

"So they have told you some truth. Yes, that is who sends the message."

"Is there anything else he wanted you to say?" she prodded.

"Yes." He paused. "He won't stop until your dead. You may be Immortal but there is a way to eliminate an Immortal."

"Why does he want me dead?" Alexia was clueless.

"He wants Demetri and Roman to continue being punished. He wants them to have the ultimate punishment." Alexia wanted her brain to make sense of this, but it didn't make any sense at all. What were Demetri and Roman being punished for? And how would her death be the ultimate punishment? Silos finished by saying, "That is all I have to say to you. You can send your boyfriends in to kill me now."

"Neither of them is my boyfriend."

"That's right, you can't decide who you love, can you?"

"How do you know..." she stopped herself. This man couldn't possibly know that she was struggling to decide who she liked. He had even used the word 'love', and she didn't know Demetri or Roman enough to love either of them. She shrugged it off and turned to leave the kitchen.

"What was the message?" Roman asked when she joined them. They were all sitting in the living room waiting for her. Alexia debated a moment about how much she wanted to tell them.

"Just that Amarantos won't stop until I'm dead. Silos wants you two to go kill him now." The words sounded so strange coming from her mouth, and she had expected them to be harder to say.

"Was that all he said? You were in there longer than that." Demetri was pressing her to tell more but she had made up her mind. She was not going to tell them that he said they were lying to her.

"Yeah, he said Amarantos wanted me dead to punish you guys. It just doesn't make sense. He said my death would be the ultimate punishment for you guys. What does he mean?"

"I don't know, Alexia, you're sure that's all he said?"

"Yes, that's all. Can I go shower now?"

"Yeah, you should all go upstairs, you don't want to hear this." Cheri and Ellie rose from their chairs and followed Alexia to their room.

As soon as the door was closed, Ellie asked her, "I know your hiding something. What else did he say?"

"Nothing. That was all he said." She flashed her a wink and put a finger to her lips indicating that there was more to say, but she didn't want to be overheard.

"Well, how do you think they are going to kill him? I thought he was Immortal?"

"Don't you remember that Demetri had mentioned that there was a loophole or something?" They heard a scream come from the kitchen unlike any they had ever heard.

"Apparently that loophole is very painful." They were silent for a moment and then Alexia rose to take a shower. "I can't believe I am covered in blood right now..."

The shower calmed her nerves and she was ready to collapse into the comfortable bed and sleep. After the day that she had, she was surprised that she could hold herself up. Before leaving the bathroom, she stared at herself in the mirror for a long time. She felt different, but she didn't look different, as her face hadn't changed at all. In a way, she was hoping to find something different about her appearance, and then she remembered her appearance would never change again.

"Alexia?" There was a knock on the door. "We are both still really bloody and need to shower, so are you almost done in there?" She opened the door to find Ellie with pajamas in hand, ready to shower.

"Yeah, all done." She tried to smile but it was too hard. Cheri was sitting in the old rocking chair trying not to get blood on anything. "You know, I'm sure you can use one of the other showers. Just go ask Demetri or Roman." She tossed her bathroom bag into her suitcase and flopped onto the bed.

"That's a good idea, but I don't want to walk in on them disposing of a dead body."

"I'm sure they have killed him by now." There was a moment of silence and Alexia had a feeling her friend was thinking the same thing she was. "It sounds strange to say that in such a casual way..."

"I know what you mean."

"Do you want me to go ask if you can use one of their showers?"

"Could you?"

"Of course." Alexia got back on her feet for what she hoped would be the last time for the night. The kitchen door was closed but she could hear voices on the other side. She knocked and waited, as she didn't want to walk in on anything.

It was Roman who opened the door, and he didn't try to conceal the room behind him, so she assumed the man had been disposed of.

"Can Cheri use your shower? The blood is drying and is super uncomfortable."

"Of course, she can. My room is at the end of the hall. I'll go put fresh towels in there." He didn't look her in the eye as he spoke and pushed past her without another word. She had expected a lecture but was glad she didn't get one.

Demetri was sitting in the kitchen, washing the island with a blood-stained cloth. His face looked tired and his eyes didn't seem to glow as they usually did. "Are you okay?" she asked him.

He tossed the rag into the sink and sighed. "Killing somebody isn't something I enjoy doing." She wasn't going to get a straight answer from him. If he said he wasn't okay, it would make him look weak and he wanted her to think of him as somebody who could protect her.

"How do you kill somebody who is Immortal? Doesn't it kind of defeat the purpose of being Immortal if you can die?"

"It's not an easy thing to do. There are certain things you need, and most of them are pretty rare."

"Tell me, please."

"You need this potion kind of thing called Wither."

"Is that what Roman had told me to pour on him if he tried anything?" she asked.

"Yes, that's it," Demetri nodded. "Basically, it's like acid. Normal acid won't hurt us, but Wither...it's unbearable pain. To kill an Immortal, they need to have three things in their system: Wither, the blood from another Immortal, and the blood from a Tera. You remember what a Tera is, right?"

"Somebody like us, but they haven't died before their time, so they aren't Immortal."

"Exactly, the combination of the three creates a gas that is deadly to us. It burns your insides and eats its way through your body, until you are just a pile of blood and bones."

The thought made Alexia sick, so she leaned against the counter for balance. "So... how are those things rare?"

"Making Wither is a long-complicated process. You need many things to make it as strong as possible. Things like werewolf blood, the feather from an angel wing, the oil from an olive tree grown on Greek soil, and then there are more common ingredients like..."

"Hold on, did you say werewolf blood?"

"Yeah."

"You're joking right?"

"Uh, no."

"You mean there are real werewolves?" Alexia was staring at him like he had gone mental.

"There aren't many anymore, since they are almost extinct, hence why that ingredient is so rare." Demetri paused and looked at her. "Come on, you can believe in Immortals but not werewolves? Don't tell me your surprised angels and vampires are real, too."

"No, I'm not as surprised about angels, but werewolves and vampires... That's just weird."

"Anyways, that's the only way to kill somebody like us."

"How did you get all of those ingredients?"

"We are always prepared." The answer was a little brief, but she was too tired to push for a better one. Demetri decided that was enough questions. "You should go to bed, Alexia, you look really tired."

"I am very tired. Good night."

"Alexia?" he called before she could leave.

"Yeah?"

"Do you promise you won't take off like that again? I know you were able to handle yourselves with those two guys, but you just never know what else is out there."

"I promise."