I am shocked at the sudden and unexpected welcome when I feel him slipping away from me or rather, dad is pulling him away from me looking at him menacingly.
-Wait, dad, he's a friend from school.
H-How was he inside?
O-That is my fault. I gave him my key and told him to wait here for me. Right Diego?
D-Yes?
H-That's not an answer. Is it true?
D-It is true sir. I was given the house key and told to wait here as well.
There is a long silence before dad nods in satisfaction and enters the house without a word. Osiris follows and I follow after him dragging Diego inside with me.
----------------------Hades POV-------------------
I enter the kitchen and start busying myself so I don't think too much about it, but it doesn't work. I don't believe it. He dares address her so casually. Looking at her, speaking at her, touching her. How dare he?
-He does not get to do that.
O-Dad? Are you okay?
My grip tightens in surprise and I end up breaking half the kitchen room on top of me. At the last moment I call forth my aura to protect me from the falling ceiling. After I'm sure everything has passed, I stand carefully to not break the rest of the house. I shake the dust of myself as I straighten up. When I look up I see that everyone is looking at me shocked. I casually put my hands in my pockets and step outside of the room.
---------------------Osiris POV---------------------
I look as dad leaves to the guest room in utter shock. I look back at the destroyed kitchen and sigh heavily as I hurry Themis and Diego towards the living room. We sit down and as I turn to turn on the stereo I notice Diego is still standing.
-Are you going to sit down any time soon Diego?
D-Not really. I'm fine like this.
T-Don't let dad scare you. He's not that scary once you get to know him. Give him time to let him know you better.
D-I don't think he wants to know me anytime soon.
T-Give it time, he'll come around. Eventually. Now sit down.
D-If it's fine by you, then sure.
-What movie do you want to see or a specific show that you'll like?
T-How about... Lucifer? That's a pretty cool show.
-You want that because you want to see the guy who plays the devil the rest of the night.
T-Not true!
-You're blushing.
T-Then put this movie instead.
I chuckle as Themis looks away from us. I put the movie and we end up watching the second one also. After the movie has ended I put some zombie shows and movies and before long Themis is asleep on Diego's lap. I get up and take her in my arms taking her to her room and I take her clothes off before tucking her into her bed and give her a goodnight kiss. I go back to the living room with Diego.
-Hey Diego, can you let me borrow your notes from school. I know you picked up notes for both of us yesterday.
D-Sure, by the way, there is no school today. There is a teacher's meeting to coordinate some events. Well, I should leave before is too late.
-Is still early.
D-Thanks but, I really have to go and change clothes, get some rest and do my own homework. Say bye to Themis for me and tell your dad it was a pleasure to meet him.
-I will, see you tomorrow.
D-Next week, our school doesn't give classes on Fridays.
I nod in response and as he walks out I turn and keep watching my zombie movies until I fall asleep.
Later I wake up and I find that I have some blankets on me and the TV is turned off. I stand and put the blankets away rubbing my eyes still sleepy before grabbing some cookies from the kitchen and head back to my room. As I finish eating I notice that the temperature is rising extremely, at first I think nothing of it but after a few minutes as it gets hotter I check the thermostat and I see everything is fine. Immediately on alert I knock on the guest room door.
-Dad, are you okay?
I hear a couple of different noises come from inside before the door swings open revealing a still sleepy dad.
H-What's wrong?
-Can you try and cool down a little. You're going to burn down the house if you keep this up.
H-Whatever it is, is not me. I can assure you that.
I open my eyes wide in shock and as I process what he just told me we hear something breaking in Themis's room and we both head to her room hurriedly. Before we get to her room the door is blown away towards us and we feel the air getting even hotter. When I look up I see Themis standing in the door, her face expressionless and her eyes lost in a trance completely. She turns to us and raises her hand to attack, as her aura starts to manifests I look at her eyes when suddenly she lowers her hand and turns to the balcony and flies away into the night. I let out a sigh I didn't know I was holding.

H-Are you okay?
-Not sure. I'll follow her, and call you when I find her.
H-Don't do anything rash.
-I never do that. I hope we can find her before anything bad happens.
With that I go to the balcony and let myself fall into the air as I open my wings and fly all around the city following her aura. After a couple of hours I go back home without any results. I land on the balcony and I stretch a bit my muscles that became sore from being in the same position for too long.
-Themis, where are you?
I hear the door open inside and without moving I ask.
-Found anything?
H-Not a trace, I checked twice with every monster and demigod in the city. Not a trace of her aura either.
-At least she's not hurt. I can tell that for sure. She's pretty good at hiding her aura.
H-She sure is.
-Hey dad. I was wondering......
Just as I start speaking I feel a sudden headache and I step back, putting distance between dad and myself. He tries to come closer but I keep him away. I look around for a route to get away and I go for the only place he can't follow me. The sky, I dash towards the balcony and just as I'm going to fly away I feel a hit on my neck before everything goes black.
---------------------Hades POV--------------------
As I catch Osiris before he falls completely I hear a knock on the door.. I put Osiris on his bed before answering the door. I open the door and I find myself in front of Cerberus and Themis's friend.
-What are you doing with him?
There is a long silence before the boy speaks up.
D-There is something you need to see. In person, sir.
H-Enter, let me get ready for the day.
I head to the bathroom to tidy up into clean clothes before heading back out.
-This better be worth my time, I'll have more urgent matters to attend to than following you around.
C-I assure you, you'll want to see this for yourself.
We go down to Cerberus's place and as we get closer to the door I can hear things breaking on the inside and shouting from his brothers and a scream I could recognize anywhere, anytime. I burst the door open and rush inside and I see that Orthrus is on the floor holding back a rampaging Themis as Nemean tries to shake her off of him. I sneak up behind her and silently put my arms around her and take her away from them. I feel as she digs her nails in my forearm and kicks around trying to break free from my grasp. I tighten my hold on her trying to calm her down but it has the opposite effect as she tries to hit me over and over. In a brief moment she stops struggling and as I start to loose my hold on her she dashes her head back hitting me in the face so hard that I lose my balance stumbling into Nemean and when I look up I see that Cerberus is trying to hold her still. I go to help him hold her off and this time I pin her down to the floor with a knee pressed on her back twisting one arm on her back with a strong grip and with my other hand holding her other arm to the floor. I turn to face Cerberus.
-Cerberus, do you still have the aura handcuffs I used on you when you tried to play a prank on me a bit after I took you in?
C-Yes, why?
-Go get them and please hurry up. I don't know how much longer I can hold her down.
C-Got it.
With that he goes away and my full attention goes back to Themis. I try calling out to her several times before she reacts for a brief moment. She's fighting back the urge to hurt me. I notice she starts whispering something so I close in to hear what she's saying.
T-Sorry. S.... me. Please.
-What was that?
T-Save....me.
I jolt up as she loses herself again. Shortly after Cerberus comes in with the auracuffs and I put them on her wrists instantly decreasing her strength to that of a human child. With that I'm able to restrain her a bit more easily and lucky me she starts dozing off exhausted. I take her in my arms and upstairs to Cerberus's room. I go back downstairs and I cross my arms over my chest as I look at the three brothers before turning my attention on the boy who to my surprise is still here. I sit down and ask ahead.
-Did she said anything when you found her?
D-Actually, she found me and I brought her here because it was the closest place to where we were at the moment.
-Did she said anything at all?
D-She did kept on repeating the same thing over and over. She said, begged, to be saved.
C-Saved?
-Saved, Cerberus go get Osiris and bring him here. I have to check something.
With that I go and check Themis out. Any injury or something out of the ordinary and that's when I see it. A light blue mark on her wrist. I snap a picture of it and send it to Poseidon if he recognizes it as dangerous. Shortly after my phone buzzes and there is a single word, <Coming> and after that there is a knock on the door and I let him in. As he starts checking her I ask him.
-Do you know what it is?
P-This is an extremely dangerous poison. Whoever put the poison in her can now control her at will. Honestly, I'm surprised no one is dead or hurt from crossing her until now.
-Are you saying that this poison is some kind of mind control? How do we stop it?
P-It depends how long she's been with the poison in her. If it was not a day I could take it out myself but if is longer than a day we will need an antidote to get the poison out of her system.
-Please say you can do it right now.
P-I'm sorry brother, I can't do it. By what I see the poison have been already there almost two days. She will get through this, since she didn't hurt anyone by now, it means she's fighting to regain control of herself. Even now she's still fighting whoever is trying to control her. I have to be going now, I hope she gets better soon.
-So do I. Thanks.
As Poseidon leaves Cerberus enters the room breathless and shaking.
C-Hades, he's gone. I looked but I couldn't find him.
-Easy, slow down. Let's go downstairs and you can tell me everything. Now, tell me what happened, and Osiris?
C-He's not there. I looked all around for him but I couldn't find him. I couldn't even find his aura.
-Where could have he gone.
-------------------Themis POV--------------------
I wake up with a terrible headache and I put a hand on my forehead as I struggle to remember what happened before. I look around, taking in my surroundings and I notice that I'm not in my room but somewhere else. I feel tears welling up in my eyes and I hold a hand to my chest. Isn't until later that I realize that the sadness I'm feeling is Osiris's and not mine.

I stand up from the bed feeling a bit of dizziness, but I keep moving towards the door. I open the door and I head to the stairs. I try to be as quiet as possible thinking that everyone is asleep but without succeeding. I go down a couple steps before I fall over the last ones landing on a soft yet hard structure. I open my eyes to see.
-Cerberus? What? Uh, sorry, ugh.
C-Are you okay?
-Yeah, nothing's broken thanks to you.
H-I think he meant from before falling on him.
-Daddy!
I throw myself at him enveloping him in a tight hug. I lift him up slightly but put him back down when my headache comes back ten times harder than before. I take a step back rubbing my head as dad gets me a chair from the kitchen to sit down.
H-Why did you got out of bed if you were not feeling well?
-Not really, I have to find Osiris before he hurts himself badly. He has to be pretty close to me right now or else I wouldn't be able to sense him so strongly.
H-Here, take this. It will help with the headache.
-Thanks.
I take the cup in my hands and take a quick sip.
H-Where do you think that Osiris is.
-Let me see.
I close my eyes and focus on Osiris's aura. I take a paper and draw the image I saw when I tracked Osiris and I give it to dad whose expression turns even more serious. He puts it for Cerberus to take.
H-Cerberus, you know what to do.
C-On it, I'll be back shortly.
-Why didn't you went instead of him?
H-Because someone has to make sure you stay here. Safe and sound. Feeling better?
-A bit.
H-Can you stand?
-I'd prefer not to.
H-Wait here, there's someone who wants to see you. I'll go get him.
He stands and disappears into the living room. I lean forward on the table resting my head in my arms. I hear footsteps coming in and shift my head to the side.
-Who is it?
D-Open your eyes and find out.
-Diego?
D-The one and only at your service.

He puts a hand on top of mine, kissing it gently.
D-Feeling better?
-Not really, is bearable but is not gone completely.
D-What are you doing?
-Following Osiris and Cerberus's aura.
D-How is he doing?
-He's practically on top of him, they should be heading back now.
D-That's good right.
-Hmm, what the..... no, no, NO.
As I speak I stand up suddenly trying to go out but I lose my balance and I fall to my knees, breathing heavily.
D-Hey, Themis, Themis. Hold on, you can do it. I know you can. Wait here, I'll get your dad right away.
-No, give me your hand.
He gives me his hand and I take it in mine and put it on my forehead. I focus hard on his hand, the pressure, the warmth it radiates. Slowly, I feel my breathing slows down and I feel a bit better.
D-Feeling better? What about Cerberus and Osiris?
-Osiris is on the same place and Cerberus is still moving away from him no signals of coming back anytime soon. I don't understand, he knows how much we need him, how much I need him, so why?
D-I don't know. Sorry I'm not of much help. How long do we have to keep doing this?
-What do you mean?
D-You know what I'm talking about. Can you tell soon?
-Not now.
D-Themis....
-I said not now. This needs no further discussion!
With that I storm out of the house and do what I should have done from the beginning. Search for Osiris. I focus my energy on finding him. When I find him I immediately take flight in his direction. I spot him in an alley in the far back, I go down and take him with me.
-My, he's heavy. Honestly, what does he eat?
The fly home is relatively long but I manage to get home safely. I crashland on the ceiling of the building and Osiris slips from my hands.
-Osiris!
I run up to him and take him in my arms, after a couple of minutes he starts waking up and I hug him tightly.
O-Themis? You're okay.
-I have to confess something I should've told you sooner. I have a, I am.....
I look away from him, cursing under my breath. I take deep breaths and start over from the beginning this time going straight to the point.
-Diego and I, we're having a relationship.
O-I know, we're all friends since school started last year.
-No, he's my boyfriend, we're a couple.
O-Since when?
-Since we turned thirteen. I decided to kept it a secret because I know dad wouldn't approve.
H-You're right, I wouldn't.
I freeze in place as I hear dad's voice behind me. The anger, deception, rage, disapproval in his voice. I slowly turn around to face him.