Connelly awoke to his family’s loud voices in the kitchen. He couldn’t make out any of the actual words, his senses muddled with sleep. He slowly pulled himself out of bed, creeping through the halls of the house on quiet steps. He didn’t want his family to hear him or else they would stop talking-- they didn’t tell the youngest their secrets, yet. He was constantly reminded that he was too young to comprehend what they were talking about.

“I’ve met him.” He heard his sister, Esme, say.

“You crossed over?!” That voice belonged to his father, and his anger was evident.

Connelly allowed a frown to wrinkle his features as he continued to listen. Cross over? The wall? Esme crossed over the wall?

Throughout his entire childhood, Connelly was reminded to never cross the wall, or even go near it, for that matter. It separated them from the lesser creatures, and it was dangerous to go near the mortals. For they were gods, and they were better than the monsters on the other side.

“You told us that Amias’s life on the other side was unhappy, but that other boy cares for him! The brother!” Esme continued on, the anger in her voice growing.

Connelly could imagine Esme’s fierce appearance, arms crossed over her chest and sneer on her face. Then, his father spoke, again. “How did you find him, then? Being coddled by mortals?”

There was no response for quite a while. Finally, Lennan replied. “We found him being beaten up by a group of bullies.”

“Exactly!” Their father shouted, before being shushed by their mother.

“You will wake Connelly, we don’t want him to overhear us.”

Connelly frowned deeply at that. Why did they never trust him to hear the family’s affairs? He knew he was young, but Lennan was allowed into the family meetings when he was twelve, and Connelly was already fourteen!

“I know you think it’s wrong to separate Amias from his mortal family, but he belongs with us. We don’t know when his powers may awaken, and he will be reaching puberty soon. He needs to understand himself before that happens.” His mother continued.

“Mom’s right.” He heard Lennan finally say.

“I’m still against it,” Caradoc said.

Caradoc, the second oldest of his siblings, was usually the calm voice in their conversations. Connelly had never once seen him lose his temper, but the anger in that one sentence was boiling. It scared Connelly. Who was Amias? Someone who could cause so much anger and disagreement among his family.

Although they could fight, his family usually stayed calm during their meetings-- Connelly had listened in more than once. This topic, this person, Amias, was different.

“We’ll continue this conversation later.” His father’s stern voice shook Connelly out of his thoughts.

He realized the meeting was ending, and he scrambled to hide, so they didn’t catch him listening in. He hid around the wall, watching, first his parents, and then the others trail out of the kitchen.

“I know you were listening.”

Connelly startled, turning his gaze on Esme. “Sorry,” He muttered.

Esme was the oldest of the siblings, and she was their rock. She was by far the strongest of them, being raised as a woman of war, like their mother. Their mother, Enyo, the goddess of war. She completely took over raising Esme, not allowing their father to have much influence. According to their father, she constantly told him, “Women have to fight harder to get the same opportunities as men, and I want Esme to be completely capable of fighting.”

And it worked, Esme was a fighter. A scary fighter.

“It’s okay.” She smiled at him. “I just don’t want you to get any ideas. I may have crossed the border, but you cannot. It’s dangerous. Mortals live in a different world than us.”

Connelly nodded. “Got it.”

Connelly was absolutely determined to get over that wall and find whoever Amias was. He didn’t know what made him so special, but he’d find out. The only problem was… he had no idea how to get over the wall. Although the guards paid more attention to the mortals’ side, it wouldn’t be easy to sneak by. How did Esme manage it?

It was the only thing he could think about the entire time he was in school, leaving him completely distracted.

“What is with you today?”

Connelly looked up to find Fay. She was one of his friends, and she had obviously been pressured by his other friends to check up on him.

“Do you know how to go around the wall?” Connelly asked bluntly.

Fay blinked at him. “You want to go to the mortal side? Why?”

Connelly shrugged. “Just curious,” He wasn’t about to give up his family’s secrets, even to a friend.

She frowned. “Well, no, I don’t know how to cross the wall.” She crossed her arms, staring intently. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing. It’s nothing.” He insisted.

She watched him for a minute before sighing. “If you really want to know, you could ask Orcus.”

He gave her a disbelieving look. “That kid? He’s, like, twelve.”

“He’s still Hades’ son. He hears things.”

Orcus Hades was young, but everybody knew his name, and it wasn’t just because of how infamous his father was. Everyone knew his name because of the mystery surrounding his conception. No one knew who his mother was-- maybe not even Orcus. Only Hades.

“Fine,” Connelly muttered. “I’ll go see Orcus.”

It wasn’t hard to find the boy. All he had to do was ask a few students who were in the same year as Orcus, and, just like that, the two were face-to-face. Apparently, Orcus was completely ostracized from the other students in his grade because of his parentage, so he spent most of his time in the abandoned room that used to house the culinary club before it ran out of funding.

“What do you want?” Orcus asked, frowning. “Aren’t you Eros’s son? What do you want with a Hades?”

“I need information,” Connelly stated simply.

Orcus was clearly a Hades, even at twelve years old. He had jet black hair that was cut so his bangs hung over his face, his brow came down over his eyes, giving him a permanent frown, and he already had at least two tattoos. One was creeping up his neck and the other was over his knuckles, spelling out a word that Connelly couldn’t make out.

Tattoos were an important factor of the gods’ culture, it signified a milestone in a god’s life. Usually, a god was given their first tattoo when they turned ten, but Orcus. Even Connelly only had one. Why did Orcus have two?

“What kind of information?” Orcus leaned back in the chair he was sitting in, not breaking eye contact with Connelly.

He took a deep breath. “I need to know how to cross into the mortal side.”

Orcus paused, staring at Connelly with an inquiring gaze. “Why would you want to do that?” His lips curled into a smile-- a smile that didn’t speak kindness, just… interest.

“I don’t think you need to know that.” Connelly said, stubbornly.

The other boy rolled his eyes. “Yeah? Well I disagree.” He stood up, revealing the fact that he was almost as tall as Connelly.

Connelly sighed, giving in to the power of a Hades. “Okay, but you can’t tell anyone about this. Not a customer, not your father.”

Orcus sneered. “You think I can’t keep a secret? I can.”

“Okay, fine. Sorry.” He ran a hand over the top of his head. “I overheard my siblings and parents talking this morning.” He looked at Orcus, checking if he was actually listening.

Orcus frowned. “I’m assuming family meetings are common in your household? So why is this special?”

“They were talking about how my sister had met someone, a boy named Amias, on the mortal side. She had crossed the wall. And then they started arguing… and I just want to find this boy.” He explained, but he out certain details that he didn’t want to tell Orcus.

The other boy rolled his eyes. “That’s all?” He stared at Connelly as he nodded his response. “Ugh, that’s so boring. Fine, I can help you get over the wall.”

Connelly wasn’t actually expecting Orcus to help him, but the boy ordered him to meet him at the train station after school hours ended. The wall was a short commute from the town, so it made sense they would need to take a train there.

For the rest of the day, Connelly was out of sync. He couldn’t stop thinking about the wall, whoever Amias was, and Orcus. Fay was watching him the entire day-- he had clearly piqued her interest when he asked her about the wall. At the end of the day, Fay tried to approach him, but he quickly brushed her off, explaining he didn’t have time. And just like that, he was off to the train station.

Connelly had never been a fan of trains, and just because he had a goal in mind, didn’t make it easier to sit on the bumpy, uncomfortable train. Orcus was watching him with narrowed eyes.

“You okay? Getting second thoughts?” He asked with a raised eyebrow.

“No. No. I just hate… trains.” He looked out the window.

Orcus snorted at him. It was embarrassing to have a twelve year old watch you get motion sickness on a train, especially when you’re a god. “Shut up.” Connelly muttered.

It took about an hour for them to reach the last stop-- their stop.

“It’s a short walk.” Orcus stated simply as they walked out of the station.

The wall was intimidating. Even to a god. At the top of the wall were towers where the guards patrolled. “Won’t the guards see us?” Connelly whispered.

Orcus looked up before rolling his eyes. “The guards are basically just for show. They just sit around, probably take naps. After all, who would be stupid enough to try and cross the wall?” He flashed a dangerous grin.

Connelly swallowed hard. “Right.”

Orcus motioned for Connelly to follow him. They walked down the length of the wall. For the most part, the wall was completely bare-- a blank canvas. There wasn’t even a crack. Except for one section.

“Here we are.” Orcus gestured.

In bright blue spray paint the words, “THE POWER OF THE GODS” was written on the cool stone. It was startling to see something so obvious on the infamous wall. “What is this?” Connelly asked.

“The entrance.”

Orcus, without hesitation, pushed his hand against the wall, but instead of smashing it against the stone, it went right through. The power of the gods. “Go right through, just don’t get lost.” Orcus pulled his hand back.

The mortal side was strange. People sat on the ground, begging for money, and the air made him cough. He bumped into a man and, when he apologized, he told him to get lost. Mortals really lived like this?

After wandering the streets for a bit, he realized he had no idea how to find Amias. He could ask a local, but he was too worried he would be told to get lost again. He turned into an alleyway to think, but he was surprised it wasn’t empty. A mortal boy was crouched behind a dumpster.

“Are you okay?”

Connelly enjoyed Cameron’s company, and he wasn’t expecting that. He expected mortals to be savages, and some of them were, but Cameron seemed to be different. He was nice and smart, however he did show Connelly some methods of theft that he was sure was illegal.

When Cameron ended the tour at his house, Connelly couldn’t stop staring at the little house. He had mentioned he had a brother, and they both fit in such a tiny place? What startled him more, though, was the boy who ran out of the house.

“Cam!”

The boy had wild, curly brown hair, and scarily familiar brown eyes. That wasn’t all, though, Connelly could feel that this boy wasn’t just a normal mortal.

“Who… who’s this?” Connelly asked.

Cameron frowned at him. “This is my brother, Amias.”

Everything hit Connelly all at once. This boy was Amias, the one his family was talking about, and he was part god. Not just any god. He was part Eros. Those brown eyes belonged to his father. This little mortal was Connelly’s brother.