-Jaden-

Why the hell did he touch it?! Oliver knew not to touch anything our enemy had made! And this one was made of shadows! That... That weapon, a scythe? Fucking hell, this was a problem.

"You better get down here! Selene?!" I shouted again, and heard commotion in the living room when Natalie and Mike hurried to our aid.

"What's going on?" Tilly asked sleepily, but I ignored her.

I stared at my mate's hand, the finger the spot had vanished into, but there was nothing left now. A second later, we weren't alone anymore.

Selene and Helios were the first who appeared in our room while Natalie and Mike barged in through the door with their guardians already out. Everyone quickly glanced around the room, searching for an enemy, then turned their attention to us. It was Natalie who noticed I was holding Oliver's hand.

"What happened?" Natalie asked and came to sit on our bed to see it closer.

"I... I think we were pulled... somewhere..." Oliver muttered. "And I... I..."

"We got pulled into this old, dark forest. His evil version was there," I told her quickly, still mad at Oliver. "He turned into a weapon and Oliver touched it even though I told him not to!"

"I don't know why I touched it..." Oliver mumbled, and his disoriented behavior scared me.

"We saw something black on his finger before it vanished in him," I said, while Natalie took Oliver's hand in hers.

"It looked like a black Echo..." Oliver said, then shook himself a little and looked up. "I feel fine, though. I can't feel anything in me."

'I don't see anything odd, either,' Cedric told us, and even his spiritual voice sounded concerned.

"Maybe... Maybe it was just a dream?" Oliver asked carefully.

"Since when has anything been just a dream?" I asked and turned back to Natalie. "I'm telling you, it actually happened. That... thing... put something in Oliver."

"That thing is my second half," Oliver said, and yanked his hand back from us. "I feel fine."

'I've searched everywhere. I can't find anything odd,' Cedric agreed.

"Let me see..." Natalie muttered, and both she and Mike rested a hand on Oliver's shoulder.

We all stayed silent while they searched through Oliver's spirit, and maybe a minute later, they looked at each other, then pulled back.

"Nothing," Natalie said. "There is nothing odd in your spirit."

"If it really was a shadow Echo, we should see it right away," Mike added. "Maybe it was just a dream."

"I'm telling you–" I tried again, but Oliver hushed at me. "So we're just going back to bed like nothing happened, huh?" I asked.

"What else was there in that dream?" Selene asked.

Oliver stayed silent and stared at his hand while I told them everything I remembered seeing. Which wasn't much. When I mentioned the weapon again, and explained how evil Oliver had turned into it, they all got curious.

"What kind of weapon?" Helios asked.

"Uh... A scythe," I said. "Had skulls and stuff as decoration."

Helios glanced at his sister, then back at me. "I see."

"What?" I asked with a frown.

Helios shook his head a little. "Nothing. It's just that scythes aren't common weapons."

Cameron sifted in me, but stayed silent.

I stared at Helios, expecting him to continue, but he didn't.

"So... What could that mean?" I asked him, paying more attention to his expression and posture. "Why scythe?"

"It could be a message," Helios said slowly, like he didn't want to answer me right now.

'He knows it's a message...' Cameron murmured to me privately, confirming my suspicions. 'They just don't want to talk about it.'

"What kind of message?" I asked Helios.

"Hard to say yet," he said. "But we'll worry about that. Oliver should rest now."

'You won't get anything out of him,' Cameron told me. 'Let them leave.'

"Sure," I said, and turned to Oliver, and gently tried to get his attention. "Hey... Are you all right?"

"I am..." he said, and finally stopped staring at his hand and looked at me. "But I'm worried about him. You saw him... He was in so much pain."

"Your evil twin?" I asked quietly, and he nodded. "I saw that. But we will keep your promise. We will help him and find a way to put you back together."

"What if it's too late? What if there won't be anything left of him when we find a way?" Oliver asked with fear in his voice. "I can't let him suffer."

I smiled at him and put my arm around his shoulders. At a moment like this, he still could only worry about others...

"He is strong," I said soothingly. "He is half of you, so he is very strong. And he knows you'll keep your promise. He will wait and fight until we get him back."

Oliver nodded and rested his head against my shoulder. I'd not realized how shaken he was because of our short encounter...

"Hey... Everything will be all right, I promise," I whispered.

"Okay..." he mumbled, but I could feel his despair. "Do you think it hurt when he ripped off that piece of himself?"

Right, it was part of the soul that he tore off...

"I hope not," I told him, but then thought of something else. "Wait... It was a piece of your own soul."

"Yeah, I think so. Why?" Oliver asked with a frown.

But I turned to Natalie. "Are you sure you can't find anything? That piece was Oliver's own spirit. Maybe it... Maybe it got absorbed back into him or something?"

I wasn't even done talking when Natalie pressed her hand on Ollie's shoulder and tried again to locate the dark Echo or whatever it was. Mike followed her example, and together – with Cedric, no doubt – they searched through Oliver's spirit.

"I don't..." Natalie finally mumbled, her eyebrows in a deep frown. "If it did, I can't find traces of corruption."

"It may be that Oliver's spirit cleansed it already," Mike said. "Such a small piece of corruption can't stand against Oliver and the Echo of Hades."

"So... Does that mean I'm safe, no matter what?" Oliver asked.

"The enemy must've had a reason to put it in you," Selene said. "We must stay cautious."

"Sorry... I can't find anything," Natalie said, giving up. "It can be that they tried to plant the corruption back into you, but it was too weak and was already destroyed."

"I think the scythe was more important," Oliver said, and turned to me. "Right? It has to mean something. He showed it to me for a reason."

I glanced at Helios, but neither he nor his sister were in any hurry to say anything about it.

"I think so too," I told Oliver. "But maybe you should rest now. I'll watch over you."

"We all will," Selene promised with a gentle smile. "And we'll try to find answers for you."

"Thanks," Oliver said. "And I'm sorry... I don't understand why I touched it... I knew I shouldn't touch it, but... It seemed so... Harmless."

"Don't worry about it," Selene said. "Just... don't do it again, okay?"

"I promise," Oliver said.

A moment later, and after the gods and Oliver's parents promised to watch over us, we were left alone. I was thankful for that because I was dying to speak with Cameron. Alone.

'So what is this scythe?' I asked him privately.

'I think you all might want to hear this. Especially Oliver,' he said.

'I don't know if we should burden the others just yet,' I said cautiously.

'I would not keep this from Oliver. He needs to know about it, for all our safety,' Cameron said.

I sighed. Oliver must've already figured out I was talking to Cameron. I glanced at my mate, who indeed was looking at me with a frown.

"Fine..." I said out loud. "What is it you want to tell us, Cam?"

Everyone in the room perked up to listen.

'It's about the scythe,' Cameron spoke so that my friends could hear him too. 'There is a chance I'm completely wrong, but... I'm not wrong.'

"Of course," I said, rolling my eyes. "Just spit it out."

'I believe Adam wanted to show you it because it's the Scythe of Death,' Cameron finally said.

'That did cross my mind, too,' Cedric said carefully.

"What is that?" Oliver asked.

'One of Hades' toys,' Cameron said. 'I'd assumed Adam got his hands on it too when he ransacked Hades' home, but if he showed it to you, that must mean he couldn't touch it.'

"Like he literally couldn't touch it?" I asked.

'Yes,' Cameron said.

'I heard there is only one person besides Hades who can wield it,' Cedric said quietly.

'Death,' Cameron said slowly. 'The end of all beings.'

"Death?" I repeated. "You mean... Death is an actual person?"

I could feel Cameron's disbelief as he stared at me. I could literally feel his stare on me.

"What?" I asked.

'So I'm guessing you haven't stopped to think what being the Harbinger of Hades actually means,' Cameron said once he'd recovered from his disbelief. 'You idiot are cuddling with Death himself!'

We all turned to stare at Oliver. He stared back at me with wide eyes.

"I'm... Death?" he asked in a high-pitched voice.

'For the love of...' Cameron mumbled and sighed. 'You can literally kill all spirits with a snap of your fingers! How did you not know this?'

'They've been pretty preoccupied with things,' Cedric said quietly. 'And no one told them Death is an actual being.'

Cameron snapped his spiritual mouth shut and retreated a little. 'Well, anyway... Adam wants that scythe, but for as long as only Death can even touch it, he can't get it on his own.'

"But he has now half of my spirit," Oliver said. "He can just go get it himself, so why would he want me to know about it?"

"Unless..." I muttered, and they all turned to me. "Unless your evil twin tried to warn us. He's not Adam's pawn, and never will be."

Silence fell as we all thought about my words. Suddenly, I was sure I was right.

"Adam wouldn't want us to know he's going after the scythe," I said. "And Oliver... the dark one... he endured a lot of pain just to show the scythe to us. Why would he go through all that pain for Adam?"

'I wish you're right, but I have my doubts,' Cameron said.

Oliver watched me in silence. I wasn't quite sure why, but he was grateful. Maybe because we'd all assumed that the second half of his spirit was pure evil and only capable of horrifying things. Maybe I'd given him hope that his second half wasn't all evil.

"And maybe... When he gave that little piece of himself to you... Maybe he was simply trying to return some of your stolen spirit back to you," I said to him.

'You're all fools if you believe that even for a second. This was Adam's plot, and you better remember that, or you'll get us all killed,' Cameron said with a snort.

'Come on. We don't know that,' Cedric said sternly. 'It is still Oliver's spirit we are talking about. Corrupted or not, he would want to help us anyway he can.'

Again, Cameron retreated a little, and this time, he wasn't in a hurry to reply. Or speak at all.

"Is it just me..." Jack suddenly said, peering at the door. "But did no one seem too bothered by this?"

"I was sure we'd get sent straight to Arlona, for sure," Tilly muttered.

I expected Cameron to say something, but I guess he was still too wary of Cedric to say anything.

"Helios and Selene clearly knew about the scythe, and it looks like they didn't want us to pay attention to it," I said slowly. "I don't understand why, though. I'd thought they would want Oliver to know that there's a weapon with his particular name on it."

"They've been very secretive lately," Arch said.

"I have the feeling they thought it was just a bad dream, to be honest," Oliver said and sighed. "But it wasn't a dream. We were pulled into that forest. I saw the blur and everything."

"It really wasn't a just dream," I agreed. "But I guess there isn't much anyone can do about it. Except for adding more safety measures."

Oliver sighed and rubbed his temples. Then he straightened his posture and turned to me.

"So... Where is it right now?" he asked, but he wasn't talking to me.

"The scythe?" I asked.

"Yeah."

We all turned our attention to Cameron. He was uncomfortable with this attention, but he finally sighed.

'Its location is unknown unless you have a key that takes you to it,' he said. 'And that key... Hard to say. Most likely hidden in Hades' home.'

Oliver nodded slowly. "And... How does one get to Hades' home?"

Cameron wasn't in a hurry to reply. 'Why would you want to know?'

"Just out of curiosity," Oliver said, acting like he didn't care.

But he did. Maybe a little too much.

"Fenrir?" Jack spoke quietly.

His god appeared in the corner of the room and sat down next to Jack with a heavy sigh.

"We are having a bit of a... uh... fight," he said, and we all tensed up. "Between us cousins, don't worry," he added hurriedly.

"Why?" Jack asked.

"It's about the scythe," Fenrir said, and looked at Oliver. "You want to go find it, am I right?"

"...Yes," Oliver admitted carefully. "If it belongs to me, and if Adam is trying to get to it, I think we should go find it."

"It does belong to you," Fenrir said. "And I agree. We should be the ones to find it first. But some of us... don't see the importance."

"So... Helios and Selene don't want me to find it?" Oliver guessed.

"Well, they and the majority of our cousins," Fenrir said.

"Why?" I asked. "We should obviously get it."

"They are afraid it will only end up in Adam's hands if we go look for it. You know, because he can follow your every move," Fenrir told Oliver. "They are afraid Adam will try to use you to get to it, and then steal it from you. They believe the scythe is safer where it is buried, and best left alone."

"But you don't believe so," Jack guessed.

"I don't care, honestly," Fenrir said. "We need weapons. We need every single godly heirloom there is to fight Adam. And that scythe is powerful, especially in the hands of Death."

"But what can we do?" Oliver asked. "If we so much as suggest finding it, Rayleigh will ship us to Arlona and keep us locked there."

Fenrir glanced around the room, then raised his eyebrows in a questioning manner. "Unless we just... go. We don't have to let anyone know about it."

We all stopped to stare at him with wide eyes.

"We just... go?" Oliver repeated in shock.

"I mean... I happen to have the vessels of Valhalla at my disposal. They could take us to Hades' front door," Fenrir said carefully.

We kept staring at him in silence.

"Adam must already have a plan to get it," Fenrir added. "So... We should make up our mind now."

"Will it be safe?" Ben asked.

"We should be safe in Hades' kingdom, yes. Especially with Oliver," Fenrir said. "There is nothing you overpowered kids can't handle. We'll just find the key and leave."

"We're going to get in so much trouble if we go," Tilly said slowly. "We will get grounded for the rest of our lives."

"Nothing new, then," I grinned, but let it fade soon. "I really do feel like Oliver's second half was trying to warn us. I think Adam is already able to go get it without our help."

"I really don't like the idea of letting him have it," Jack said, and Tilly agreed.

"He already has too many toys," I said.

"So... We're going?" Fenrir asked.

We turned to Oliver. He let out a slow breath, and his eyes showed his worry. He peered at the door, and stopped to listen to his parents, who had stayed up.

"We don't have to go," I told him soothingly.

"We need that scythe," Oliver whispered, and turned back to me. "My second half made his way through all the protections surrounding us just to warn us. You saw how badly hurt he was... If we do nothing... If we let Adam have the scythe... He suffered for nothing."

'So we have now decided he was here to warn us?' Cameron asked in disbelief.

"Were you there to see him?" Oliver asked.

'...No. I was not included,' Cameron admitted quietly. 'But... It does not matter if he came to see you to warn you or to trick you. Adam can't have that scythe, no matter what. It is too powerful.'

"Agreed," Fenrir said. "We need that power on our side."

"So we'll just go grab that key, right? No one needs to know we're gone, right?" Oliver asked.

Fenrir scratched his jaw with an awkward grin. "They may notice we're gone."

'You should also tell them to pack some spare clothes,' Cameron said with a snort.

"What do you mean?" Oliver asked.

"Hades' home is a bit of a broader concept than just a mere house," Fenrir said.

'It's a realm of its own,' Cameron said. 'If we go, we are not coming back in days.'

"Days?" Oliver asked.

"Look... We have to decide now," Fenrir said in a pleading voice. "My cousins will soon notice what I'm trying to do. They will stop us."

"We are not weak," Jack said quietly. "We can defend ourselves."

Oliver turned to me. A big part of me wanted us to forget about the scythe. Oliver was still healing from having his soul ripped in half, and I had no idea if he could handle a trip like that. But at the same time... We needed that scythe...

Our world was about to end. We needed everything we could get our hands on.

Oliver smiled at me. "You're right. We need that scythe."

"So...?" Fenrir murmured.

Oliver nodded. "Let's go find it."