My throat burned and it was hard to swallow. I couldn't keep running much longer. The pain in my sides was becoming unbearable and I collapsed as I rounded a corner. The armor was weighing me down. The sword, and spear combination was awkward, but Gideon told me I had to learn to get proficient with all of Arthur's Artifacts.

  The Bonding Ceremony had almost killed me. Half a dozen Artifacts whizzed across the room and floated around me in a magical circle, and then vanished, binding to my soul.

  Gideon told me that I was special and that most people only get one or two Artifacts, but I didn't feel special. I felt heavy and tired.

  Five in the morning was a horrible time to fight monsters. The harpy flew right by me, as I crouched behind a dumpster in the alley. I gasped for air, trying to steady myself.

  "You're slowing down." I heard Andrea say. Of course, she was invisible and armed with only her Veil and Apollo's Golden Bow. She was probably dangling from a fire escape, mocking me.

  "I don't see you running around in a hundred pounds of armor." I huffed.

  "You don't see me at all." She corrected. I rolled my eyes.

  The harpy must have heard us chatting, as it came whirling around the corner, shrieking. I thrusted up with my spear, but missed horribly, over balancing. Falling over saved my life though as harpy talons took a tuft of my hair. I whimpered and desperately tried to smooth it back into place.

  "This hair gel is expensive!" I shouted at the harpy, who only screeched back at me.

  Andrea got off eight or nine sun arrow shots from her bow. I was surprised at how agile she was only a year after having her son. She was hard to keep out of the field, so now her and Hector rotated on missions, while the other watched little Orion.

  I missed my next thrust and grunted in frustration. The harpy swooped in again, darting away from Andrea's constant barrage. It angled over top of me, and I saw an opening.

  Thrusting up, I thought I had her, but the harpy twirled around me, driving her talons into my shoulders.

  Suddenly I was airborne.

  "Uh, guys!" I shouted down at the others for help. A couple of Andrea's sun arrows slammed into my plate armor.

  "Oh yea, thanks. That helps a whole lot." I said sarcastically as the harpy started ascending with me. Because of the weight of my new armor, I couldn't lift my arms above my head to strike it.

  This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

  "Sorry!" She shouted, but the harpy began to lift me above the buildings.

  The view would have been incredible, if I didn't have razor claws digging into my flesh. I looked back at my companions as they assembled on a rooftop, way behind me. They just kind of stared at me...so useful.

  But the CN Tower looked great up close. Up among the radio antennas, the harpy hovered above a nest, with several smaller harpies anxiously waiting to turn me into bird chow.

  The mama harpy shook me loose from her talons, and it hurt like nobodies business.

  As I was falling, I wondered what harpy eggs tasted like. Did they even lay eggs or have live births? Were they edible after the fact?

  A shadow swept through the nest and the mama harpy screamed in horror. Suddenly there were bits of baby harpy everywhere and stream of red ran down the side of the CN Tower. As I landed, I toppled over in a nest full of gore. There was bits of baby harpy stuck in my everywhere. It was gross.

  Over by a guard rail, catching his breath and teeming with dark energy was the last person I wanted to see.

  "I had it covered!" I called out. Chase's sunken blue eyes rolled at me.

  "Really? Didn't look like it." He called back. He was so calm and cool all the time and it drove me nuts. If it wasn't bad enough that he had just swooped in here and stole Serena, now he was showing off and "saving" me.

  What a prick. Him and his stupid sword.

  The mama harpy screamed and this time I was not the target. I desperately looked for a way out that didn't include me tumbling off the edge and plummeting to my death.

  I noticed a maintenance hatch and climbed out of the nest to make a run for it. It was windy and hard to breathe up here. I looked back, and I saw Mr. Asshole pressed against the rail, fighting off the bird lady.

  "Go ahead and get out of here, I've got this. You don't need to stick around." He shouted.

  "Fine, suit yourself." I scoffed. I flipped him and the stupid harpy off and made my way back inside. I hoped he would fall off the damn tower.

  The descent in the big elevator gave me a lot of time to think. Too much time. I started thinking about nights with Serena. How we used to smile and tease each other. How her tiny nose used to wrinkle up at me every time I said something stupid. I loved her, and she moved on to that loser.

  I mean, I didn't help my case. At first it was just jealousy. But then that turned into accusations, cause apparently, I was insecure.

  Then I got really mad, lost my temper. Then she lost hers. Things were said. Things I wished I could take back. It turned out my accusations of her cheating on me were not warranted. But it ended up pushing her right into Chase's arms anyway.

  I was coming down the CN Tower elevator single, miserable and covered in bird person. People were staring, I smelled bad and I had forgotten to dismiss my armor.

  "Renaissance fair." I told a lady who kept looking at me. She gave me a half assed smile and moved away to the other side of the glass elevator.

  And you know what was worse? I was pretty sure Serena was pregnant when she took her leave of absence in May.

  I didn't know if it was Chase's or mine and I didn't think she was going to tell either of us anyway. She just disappeared on us. I had been trying to get some answers out of Andrea, but it was like pulling teeth with her. Damn sisterhood.

  I reached the bottom and walked out the front door to see Chase standing there. Because of course he was...

  No sword, no armor. Just ripped jeans and a Metallica tee shirt.

  "Harpy's dead." He said, waiting, before falling in behind me as I stomped off ahead.

  "You ok?" He asked. What a smug bastard, I thought. I should have just punched him in his stupid face.

  "Yea man, I'm good." I told him.

  I was, in fact, not good.