When Eithne came home from school, she thought everything was fine. Sure, it was a little too quiet, but nothing to freak out about. That's the thing, though; everything in your life seems ordinary until it isn't. You rely on the expected, the known, to always be there and you block out what doesn't fit. 

Take this for instance: Eithne saw blood before she saw the dead bodies. When she'd walked through the door, there were small, dark drops randomly scattered about. But Eithne didn't think it was blood. Not at first. She thought Nina had spilled some chocolate syrup on the floor. When the bullies at school got real bad, their foster mom Lulu always gave Nina a sundae to cheer her up. So even though the silence and the dirty floor were weird, she shrugged it off. 

But then she walked past the living room and stopped in her tracks. Michael's body laid sprawled out over the cushions, eyes milky and half his torso torn off. The couch was stained black, not even red, too dark to really tell how much blood he'd lost. It didn't matter though. He was dead.

Eithne vomited. There was no warning, no burn or gagging beforehand. She just threw up, fine until she wasn't. She wondered if that was how Michael died. Maybe he was just reading on the couch one second and then something killed him the next, and he wasn't Michael anymore but Michael's body because when you die that sack of flesh you called you is left empty.

Too scared to keep looking, she ran to the kitchen. There was a back door there, a way out. Just get out and find a phone and find Lulu. That was all Eithne had to do. She was just a kid. Kids weren't supposed to deal with this. Whatever...whatever that was got handled by adults.

On the way, though, Eithne tripped and faceplanted into the hardwood floor. She cursed, turning around to see if she'd done any serious damage. What the hell got in her way?

It was Nina. Her little ringlets were glued to the floor and her chest caved in on itself. The bones were visible, off-white points sticking through rusted brown blood and torn muscle. Nothing was missing from her body like Michael, just shattered. Like a bug you accidently stepped on.

Tears streamed down Eithne's face. Her stomach curled in on itself and though every fiber of her being screamed to run, her arms shook when she tried to get up. She stayed on her hands and knees for what seemed like eternity. Nina just laid underneath her, eyes staring at the ceiling.

"Eithne! Eithne, where is he?"

She was suddenly pulled up from the ground, face to face with Ak. Her shoulder hurt. Maybe it was dislocated. Ak was always built, and she knew he had to have some strength in him, but that yank felt like her arm was gonna fall off. Then she'd only have one arm, like Michael in the...

"Eithne," Ak yelled again, face red and sweaty. "Where is he?!"

Eithne didn't understand. Everything felt too foggy and slow to focus on, and her body ached. Ok, think. Nina and Michael were dead. Lulu...Lulu was missing. Who was Ak looking for? Then she felt it. A rumbling growl from the back of the house shook the floor, vibrated through her bones, and echoed in her skull. It felt like...like her dreams of huge eyes and rolling tongues and fear.

"I-I haven't seen Ezekial. It's him? He's the one who...Ezekial did all this, right?"

Ak hesitated a few moments, eyes darting across her face. He must have liked what he'd seen because then he smiled, a dazzling grin that promised trouble, and nodded.

"Yes. You were right, you know. I didn't think it was you, maybe Nina, but by the gods it was you the whole time! No wonder you've never been found."

"What?"

"Eithne, you're a demigod!"

He waited. She stared.

What the actual fuck was going on now? What was a demigod? Why was Ak so...excited? Had she hit her head or something? Was she hallucinating? Insane? Still keeping eye contact with Ak, she bit her thumb. Hard.

"Uh," the boy mumbled, "what - what are you doing?"

"Fuck, you're real."

Ak looked at her like she was certifiable, which she probably was. Maybe her and Janie could get joint cells. It wouldn't be so bad if they were together. Granted, she didn't like Janie all that much, but you still needed someone to talk to. Especially when you're losing your shit. Wait, could you even hear people through padded walls? Or maybe Ak was the insane one and what Eithne really needed to do was run like right now.

Another roar shook the house, closer than before. Maybe this doesn't make sense, but it just felt like Ezekial. Nothing else made her skin crawl quite like him. He'd killed her foster family and he was almost here, Eithne was sure of it.

So when Ak pulled her over to the kitchen and stuffed her under the sink, without any warning, she didn't complain. Even if he was a jerk about it and it smelled like sewage and her arm stuck to the plunger.

"Stay here," he whispered. "Don't come out."

His smile was still there at a thousand-watts, but his stance was tense. He blocked off her view of everything else, of the bodies and blood and death coming their way. She noticed one of Ak's hands drifting to his neck. There sat a golden chain, a little rusted and battered, with one large black bead at the middle. Just what was he up to? Eithne held her shaking hands and tried her best to scowl.

"You better not leave me here, jackass."

"Leave you? Never!"

And then he slammed the door shut on her nose.

Eithne couldn't help the slew of curses that came out, but immediately froze when she heard Ezekial laughing. The sound was like a shrill car engine that wouldn't start, a put-put-fwaaaaaaaaa-put-put that grated on your ears.

"Eithne," the monster sang, voice deeper than she'd ever heard it. "Where are you? Come out, come out, sister."

As his voice grew closer, the air grew heavier. Ezekial was like the dump during a summer heat wave covering everything nearby in its stench. Goosebumps traveled up and down Eithne's skin. Just how close was he? Could he...could he find her?

"You're my favorite, you know. The best godling I've smelled in centuries. Michael was so bitter and Lulu too bland. But you..." Ezekial moaned so loud the house shook, "you...you're perfect. Come on, my little godling. Aren't you curious? You always were so afraid. Don't you want to know why?"

Muffled by her hiding place, Eithne heard Ak laugh mockingly. "Because you're fugly?"

Ezekial roared, shaking the pipes pressed against Eithne's back. She listened to the fight that started - the grunts and cries and sharp screeches and whooshes - as it slowly but surely moved from the kitchen. Ak was leading Ezekial away but for how long? She had no idea what the hell was going on!

Wet, squelching noises filled the air. Ezekial laughed. And under the kitchen sink that blinded her and smelled like rot, Eithne finally knew something. Ak was dying. She knew it deep down, all the way to her bones and even further. In a few minutes, he'd be laying on the floor just like Nina. Blood. Bone. Huge, jagged teeth marks. Dead.

Her body moved on its own. Eithne tumbled out from her hideaway, shaking as she tore through the cabinets. Every hair stood on end. Why was she out in the open? What could she do?

Eithne didn't know. She couldn't remember getting up or even deciding that she should. She just was. And she had no idea what she was looking for until it was in her trembling hands. The room blurred into a swirling kaleidoscope of white and blue. She gripped onto the counter as hard as she could, jumping at the sound of another crash. Eithne's vision slowly cleared. In her hands was a jar of hot fudge, the same one Lulu made ice cream sundaes with.

"You call yourself a demigod? I have eaten thousands with better aim!"

Why hadn't anyone called the police? Were her neighbors blind and deaf? Lulu and Michael could never make all this noise! What Eithne needed wasn't Ak. No, she needed SWAT, the CIA, the fucking fire department!

Fire...fire...

The fudge in her hand boiled and popped inside its glass cage, burning a dull orange. She didn't notice though as Ezekial made his entrance. Thrown from the other room, he burst through the kitchen wall and landed harshly on his back.

Eithne knew it was Ezekial, it had to be, but the thing in front of her looked nothing like him. Gone was the creepy little teen. In his place stood a monster almost eight feet tall, mud brown, with an eye that took up his lopsided forehead. He turned his beady gaze towards her and flashed a sharp grin.

"There you are, special godling."

Eithne choked on the dust flying through the air. The room, her body, suddenly felt too hot.

"Come, let's see how good you taste."

For a giant oaf, Ezekial snatched her up quickly. His sweaty hands could kill her in an instant, big enough to hold three of her at once. With as much dramatic flair as he could muster, he pulled Eithne straight up to that disgusting eye.

"Why so quiet, demigod?"

"I-I'm not a demi-whatever! Leave me alone!"

"You smell like one," he purred as he took a big whiff of her hair. His nose almost dragged her in.

"Well, your nose is shit!"

Ezekial actually had the gall to look offended. He bared his yellow fangs, fist tightening until her rib snapped. Eithne whimpered as pain shot up and down her sides, squeezing her heart in a tight grip. She couldn't breathe. Ezekial's giant eye blinked rapidly.

"Shit?! Shit?! My nose has tracked down the best! Hercules and Ariadne! Cetus and Bellerophon! Even Nobody before he blinded my brother!"

The jar of hot fudge shook uncontrollably as the glass nearly melted and molded to Eithne's hand. Fire, it hissed. Fire. Fire. Fire.

Eithne tried her best to grin. If Ak wasn't going to show up, she'd take care of herself.

"That's funny actually."

"...It is?"

"Yeah, Zeke. I mean, NOBODY GIVES A DAMN!"

She threw the jar with all her might, watching as the pressure finally exploded it into a million pieces. Hot fudge splattered Ezekial's face, burning through several layers of skin and eye tissue. His roar shook the whole house.

Then, Eithne was flying. Her body screamed as it crashed through a window, landing outside in the road. Ezekial was not too far behind, running blindly through a wall and onto the front lawn. His anguished sobs echoed through the quiet neighborhood and fat tears rolled down his cheeks. He threw himself on the grass and rolled around violently.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?! EITHNE!"

The world blurred in and out, the loose gravel in her hand drawing blood. She could barely made out Ezekial's words over the hideous ringing. And just before everything went black, she saw a tiny little thing scurrying up the cyclopes' legs and torso.