I open my eyes to a bnk, white room. The room smells nicer this time around. Maybe Loki did just have somebody smelly over st time.

  "I was not expecting that!" Loki excims.

  "What could somebody like you, not expect?" I chuckle.

  Loki's sitting on an old shabby bed. He has a small orb in his hand that he's twirling around.

  "Kara's a holy knight! And to the blood goddess of all people?" Loki says.

  "Do you know her?" I ask.

  "Oh! We go way back. I served under Zeus with her!" He smiles.

  Zeus? I thought the first hero killed him.

  "So you're anti-hero?" I ugh.

  "No, no! Just anti-Odin. He did lock us all in here!" Loki says.

  "So you're trapped? Will you ever get out?" I ask him.

  "I could. I just need the right person! You see, I need a holy knight to take a deal, of sorts." He tells me.

  What kind of deal? Gd I'm not a holy knight! He may be asking me about it right now.

  "It's a deal of power." He says.

  "Stop! I don't like when you do that." I ugh.

  "I'd need to give my power to them. Leaving me basically human. No magic, nothing." He says somberly.

  "Have you ever offered this to somebody?" I ask him.

  "Yes, all the time! Your little Kara friend accepted the deal." He answers.

  He didn't tell me! How long has he known?

  "I just found out. You may be in some serious trouble." Loki tells me, "I'd recommend telling your friends about this, or you could withhold it like usual. It's not up to me."

  "Take me home! I need to talk with Henry." I say.

  "Whatever, man! I was just giving you a warning." Loki shrugs.

  He walks over to me and taps my forehead. I fall to the ground and jolt awake. We're moving in a carriage. It's dark outside. That asshole! Why didn't he lead with that? Kara has the power of a god? That's why she didn't even flinch at my attacks. Comparing her to Maria is like one of Ann's attacks against a baby! I sit in the carriage, alone. The others were pretty affected by Kara. Terry was already mute because of trauma. I can't imagine what he's going through right now.

  Peter wakes up first. He quickly moves from the floor to a seat.

  "You're already awake I see!" Peter says to me.

  "Yeah, I'm sorry for how long it took me to reach you." I tell him.

  "It's fine. I've gone through worse," he ughs.

  If one of his best friends dying is nothing, what kind of things has Peter gone through?

  "Have you heard of the burning man?" Peter asks me.

  "Yeah, I've heard of him." I tell him.

  That's a bit of an understatement. I watched the burning man kill a whole vilge! Not to mention his diary.

  "I watch him turn into that monster. It was, a year ago from today! He almost killed me!" Peter says.

  "I heard he was good friends with Bud, now both of them are gone..." I say.

  "Yes, the revolution is losing many of its strongest members. It's time for a new generation of heroes Caleb. I see a difference in you from when we first met." Peter says, while looking up into the sky, "You've grown strong yes, but I see a light in you! You just may be a true hero Caleb."

  A true hero? I could never be, I'm just trying to survive. Am I though? Three months ago I would have just ran from Kara, I would have let her kill these three. If a being a hero means being a coward, then I cross all the boxes.

  "I need to tell you something." I tell Peter.

  "What's that?" Peter asks, he has a warm smile.

  "Kara she-" Peter cuts me off.

  "We all know she's a holy knight! She said that out loud!" Peter says.

  "No, she made a deal with a god. Not a normal one, she... I can't expin it well. I've been having somebody talk to me when I sleep." I tell Peter.

  I look over to see if he's even listening. He nods to keep going.

  "I've been speaking with Loki. He told me Kara took the blood goddesses powers in return, the blood goddess was given a mortal body." I tell him.

  He squints his eyes at me. He looks down and rubs his chin.

  "I don't know much about gods Caleb. I'm not going to be able to help you on this one!" Peter tells me.

  Who would know about this stuff? Should I even tell the others then? Why was I the one in this situation? Wick would know how to handle this better than me! We sit in silence after this. During this time, the others begin to wake up. After maybe twenty minutes the whole group is up. I hadn't even noticed the sun come up. Even with the others awake, the carriage is still silent. Derrick hasn't even made a hurtful comment this whole time.

  "We're getting close to home." Henry says to break the silence.

  "What do pn on doing once we're there?" I ask.

  Henry scratches his head.

  "I don't know! Maybe train or something. If I train hard, this won't happen again." Henry says.

  "You two seem awfully close!" Derrick mutters.

  "Well, we have spent the past week with each other!" Henry ughs.

  "You can be friends with him, even after he got Marlin killed." Derrick yells.

  "He didn't cause that! He's not the reason this happened." Henry yells back.

  They get into an all out screaming match. I don't intervene. Derrick's right, Marlin wouldn't have died if I never existed. Terry cowers in a corner. He's pretty messed up. Maybe I should join him. Who knows, it might make this all go away. Maybe I can just wake up in my bed.

  We finally reach the giant territories border. It's nice to see this, it means we're close to home. We pass through the border, Derrick and Henry have calmed down by now.

  "Can we pull over for a little?" Henry asks me.

  This kind of reminds me of, Marlin's little request. I tell the driver to pull over for a little he. He pulls into the same field we stopped in st time. It may have only been a week ago but it's nostalgic. Derrick walks over to me.

  "Let's spar! Winner gets to be the leader." He says.

  "But, we're almost home..." I tell him.

  "I don't care! We're gonna fight.' Derrick has a fierce look in his eyes.

  He really hasn't changed this whole time! He's got a strong will, and ego. The only problem is... he really doesn't have the power to back it up.

  We walk a few feet away from each other. We both draw our swords and get into a fighting stance. Henry gives us a count down.

  "Three... Two... Go!" Henry shouts.

  Derrick rushes towards me. His movements are slow. He pulls his sword over his head and ssh down at the ground. I easily avoid it, he falls face first down, just catching himself with one hand. His body turns and he kicks his leg up. I almost get a face full of dirt but he misses.

  "Damn Caleb, go easy on him!" Henry jokes.

  Derrick stands up quickly and stomps over to him.

  "He can't go easy! I'm too strong!" Derrick yells in his face.

  I walk up behind him and lightly hit the end of my swords handle on the back of his head. He falls the the ground and hold his head.

  "Can we get going now, or do you want to try again?" I joke.

  Henry picks Derrick up and carries him over to the carriage. Me and the other two follow him. We get into the carriage and get moving back to camp.