Well...that didn't go the way Major had wanted it to.

He didn't mean to blow up on Selena, but something in her tone eradicated his self-control and had him snapping at her. Her voice had a sneer and her gaze burrowed into him. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but it all just got under his skin. His fingers still felt the strange frostbite sensation of grabbing onto her arm to stop her from leaving and to hear him out. Selena then demanded Major come with them back to their house to see if their parents had made their way back there. He silently agreed.

Whatever he needed to do to convince them that their father wasn't actually their father, and to come back with him to Olympus, he'd do that. And starting at their house to exploit the answers seemed like a logical reason.

Selena took the seat next to Samson, and Major slid into the back of the car. He saw them communicate silently together, only picking up on a hint of a word here and there, but not much to get the context.

"What the hell?" Samson mumbled, pulling into a driveway.

Major turned his attention from the passenger window to the windshield in front of them. The house whose driveway they pulled into looked pedestrian, except for the door off its hinges. Both twins swiftly exited the car, barely waiting until they parked. When Major stepped out, he scrunched up his nose. The house reeked of the lemon-lime stench of magic.

Major looked at the door now on the ground covered in claw marks. Samson swore. Major followed the twins, who slowly went into their house. Inside did not look much better.

Stuffing from the couch filled the living room. Absolutely everything that could be broken was. Major walked over to the wall with claw marks on it. His fingers traced the indents on the wall and his finger tips touched something wet.

Major touched the pads of his fingers together. It had a thicker consistency than water. He pulled his fingers apart, and it was stickier. Blood. He stared at the burgundy colored walls, several splotches of blood were hidden in the color. Major doubted either twin would notice without closely examining it.

"Harpies." He muttered wiping the blood coating his fingers on his jeans.

Samson and Selena both looked at him from the entryway, where they still stood, eyes bulging.

"Harpies were here." Major explained.

They were hunting for something or someone. He started walking around the house. Glass, broken wood, and furniture stuffing covered every spot on the floor. Until he got to the back of the house. A single closed door stood perfectly intact. Major sniffed and almost gagged. The magic must have been performed in this room.

He walked to the door to open it, but the handle wouldn't move. Major jiggled the handle again, this time a bit harder. He pushed against it, and it still wouldn't move. He kicked at the door, letting out a growl, but it stayed shut.

"Samson! Selena!" He called for the twins.

It took them a while to make their way to him. Their grim faces reflected the weight of the damage to their home, like they were absorbing everything.

"It won't open." He jiggled the door handle again.

The twins looked at each other.

"That's dad's office," Samson said.

The Olympians always assumed some sort of sorcery had been used to conceal the twins from Olympus. His father even accused Hecate of helping to hide them from him, but she also helped with the search. A ping of their energy would show up on the map in the council room every now and again, but it would disappear as quickly as it appeared.

The realization struck Major like an arrow.

Aaron King must be a sorcerer who worshiped Hecate. The door remained untouched; the only plausible explanation was that it was protected with magic. If Aaron King could conjure up something like this, it's no surprise that the twins remained hidden for so long.

Major spit on the ground in frustration. Without the original caster, they had no chance of getting into that room. Unless...

"Open the door," Major told the twins.

They looked at each other, exchanging in a silent conversation.

"So are you going to open the door or you just going to stand there for the rest of the day looking at each other?" Major snapped.

Selena stepped forward and made her way to the door. She grabbed the handle, her hand trembling.

She pushed the handle down and the door opened.

His guess was right. Aaron King used blood magic on thedoor. That's why it remained untouched. Even the monsters couldn't penetrate its defenses. The entire house could burn down, and that room would remain intact. That's why this house had reeked of magic, Aaron King was an extremely powerful sorcerer.

Selena just stood there dumbstruck, looking at her hand, so Major walked past her and into the room. The room exuded a chill that set it apart from the rest of the house. The cold air nipped at his skin. He shivered.

By his surroundings, Apollo did not leave his children untrained by not bringing them to Olympus. From what he saw with the Chimera, their training still lacked what he and the other Marked–who were back at Olympus,—had undergone, but the twins were not untrained.

On the desk by the computer sat an ornate picture frame. The golden oak embroidered the family picture. Major picked it up, his fingers lazily tracing the lines of the embroidery. The photo looked to be at least ten years old, showing the smiling twins missing their front teeth. Standing next to the little Samson in the photo, must be the twins' mother—Cathryn King, Zeus had informed him.

She shared her daughter's same shade of black hair, but where Selena's was more wavy, Cathryn's was straight and had pale blue eyes that neither twin inherited, but her face resembled her now grown son's. Next to her stood her husband, Aaron King. He had his golden hair tied back in a bun, his gold eyes shining in the sunlight of this photo, sharing Samson's golden features, but his face resembled his step-daughter's.

Major frowned, it seemed Cathryn King had a type, or Aaron changed his features to prevent paternal questions from the twins. He had only met Apollo a handful of times and could barely remember what he looked like, only that he had the gold colorings Samson acquired. Major hadn't seen the god since he was twelve years old. Right before all the Marked had to be brought to Olympus, and then he disappeared and hid the twins with him. Neither Apollo nor Artemis had been to Olympus in over six years.

"That was taken when we went to Cedar Point for our ninth birthday." Selena said from behind him. "Sam was finally tall enough to ride all the rides."

Major turned around, and saw both twins standing behind him. Examining—no, more reminiscing—of the artifacts displayed in the room. Major did not doubt that Aaron King loved his stepchildren like they were his own flesh and blood, something his own father could learn a thing or two about. A sudden surge of jealousy flashed through him, but it dispersed as quickly as it came. Now was not the time to be resentful of the cards he'd been dealt.

"What's in here?" Major asked, putting down the picture frame.

"Memorabilia," Samson said.

Major sighed. "No, I mean more than that." He turned to face Selena, who was holding a white box the size of a smart phone in her hands. "That door was sealed with blood magic. The strongest protection spell there is. It was sealing in something."

Both twins remained silent. He groaned in frustration.

Easy. He told himself.

The twins had a right to be in total shock. Absolutely everything they knew about had been blown into smithereens, just to be revealed that their life is a lie and that monsters are real.

Major began going through the desk drawers, rummaging through any piece of paper for clues. The King family harbored a secret that no one but Cathryn and Aaron knew about.

The desk held no clues or information. He slammed the drawer a little too harshly, causing Samson to jump. Samson furrowed his brow at the computer on his dad's desk. With no need to ask to see if Samson could get on it, he did. Samson plopped himself in the chair and quickly keyed in the code to unlock the monitor.

Major leaned over to see what he was doing. The other boy's eyes darted across the screen while he read.

"I have something," Samson said in a low voice.

Selena appeared at Samson's other side without the box she held moments before. A series of numbers presented on the screen.

"What's this?" Selena asked.

"His bank information?" Samson replied.

Major studied the numbers, his eyes narrowed. Honestly, he should just let it go. He was sent to bring the twins back to Olympus alive, and he should—he would. Major did not expect to fight a chimera, discover Samson and Selena had next to nothing knowledge of their heritage, find the twins' house ransacked by monsters searching for something, and that the twins' stepfather was a powerful enough sorcerer to use blood magic. He had to admit the circumstances did pique his curiosity.

It made him curious enough to find out what that number meant, and then go back to Olympus.

"Google it," Selena said after some uninterrupted silence.

So Samson did just that.

"They're coordinates." She breathed.

Sure enough, a map popped up on the monitor. And right under that little red pin was an address.

110 West Anasazi Trail, Paulden, Arizona.