Selena was in shock. Or at least that's what she deemed it to be. Her ears rang, and she couldn't make herself speak. Selena could only make eye contact with the dead lion's eyes. Sam helped raise her to her feet, eyes never leaving those lifeless ones before her. She leaned against her brother, and she felt the vibrations of his voice as he talked to Major, guiding them to wherever he had in mind. She couldn't see Major—not like she was looking, as those dark, lifeless eyes held her in a trance. The blaring sirens and flashing lights of the ambulances and fire trucks in the parking lot jolted her out of it.

Selena hobbled her way, mostly leaning on Sam, to the ambulance. The wound in her back made moving excruciating, and she bit back screams. The paramedics who spotted her and her twin hurried over to them. She could only imagine what she looked like, with the monster's blood covering her face; she assumed she looked a lot like Sam, but worse. Out on the field, she was certain they were going to die, but her mind couldn't currently comprehend all the order of events that occurred. The only thing that mattered was that she and Sam had made it out alive.

The female paramedic who got to them first wrapped one arm around Selena's waist to help Sam get her to the ambulance. Her brother's body locked up in a defensive position, and his grip on her tightened like the paramedic was here to attack them, too.

They made their way to the unoccupied ambulance, Selena sat in the bay, shivering. She did not realize how cold she was after being in the inferno circle.

Paramedics took Sam away and hauled him elsewhere.

A heated blanket draped over her shoulders; and her body relaxed in relief. Selena looked up to see the female paramedic give her a concerned smile and handed her an oxygen mask. Selena took it from her and slowly inhaled. The throb of her head slowly went away with each electrifying breath of pure oxygen shooting into her system. She closed her eyes and just breathed.

"Do you mind if I take a look?" A deep voice asked.

Selena's eyes shot open to see another paramedic, this time a male, come over to her.

"Your head looks terrible. I am going to check you for a concussion. Is that okay?"

She nodded to him. He held up his forefinger and flashed a finger-width flashlight into her eyes. After he finished, he handed her a water bottle.

"No concussion." The paramedic told her. "Does anything else hurt?"

"My back." Selena croaked pulling the heated blanket off of her shoulders.

The paramedic walked beside her and gently leaned in to examine her. He ran a gloved finger down the claw marks, and she couldn't help but tense at the touch of the fabric against her sore wound. When he pulled away and looked at him, his glove was spotless, not a drop of blood on it. She tried to rein in her shock. She didn't make up what happened did she? A phantom pain of the claws tearing through her back made her body go rigid.

No, she definitely didn't imagine the whole thing.

"Your back seems to be a little bruised, but fine. I'll get Juarez to give you some ice for it."

The paramedic gave her a small smile, and placed the blanket back over her shoulders before he left. Selena took in another clean breath of oxygen from the mask, and the pain in her back dimmed. Footsteps approached her again, to the left of the ambulance. Her eyes snapped to the sound, and Sam loomed. He was no longer limping like when they first sauntered in. Her muscles released the tension in her body at seeing her brother in better condition.

"You look disgusting." He gave her a small smile that did not reach his eyes.

He took the water bottle from her hands and chugged it.

Selena glanced down at the blood-soaked sleeves of her formally white gown. Well, at least it only had to be worn once. Sam sat down next to her. She offered him the mask of oxygen, but he waved it off. Soot still covered his face, which oddly enough accented his eyes more than his sun-tanned skin.

"So." He started, "Do you wanna try to explain what just happened, or should I?"

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Selena shook her head. She was still trying to work that out for herself. Sam had said he saw that thing in his dreams. In fact, it looked quite familiar to her too, like she saw a drawing of it somewhere.

But she couldn't answer his question any better than he could, so instead, she asked, "Where's Major?"

"Who?"

Selena took another deep breath from the oxygen mask before she continued. Her fingers shook slightly.

"That boy who saved us."

She whipped her head side-to-side, searching for that head of platinum hair.

"Do you know him?"

She gripped the ends of the blanket at her shoulders. "Sort of; I met him at Biggby today while you were running late. He noticed I was anxious and told me whatever was bothering me, I should trust my instincts, especially if they had never led me wrong before in the past."

Samson shook his head at her story. "Do you think he knew about the attack today?"

"I don't know, but he seemed interested in this." She laid her left palm open, exposing her moon and diamond birthmark.

Sam scrunched his face. "Why was he interested in that?" He asked, placing his right palm up, examining his own odd-shaped birthmark.

Like her, Sam's birthmark was two shades darker than his actual skin, just enough where it could stick out but remain inconspicuous. Unlike her, Sam's mark was of a sun, but had the same three diamond-shaped stars in the middle.

"I don't know. Do you think this all was a coincidence? I mean, first, this meeting with this stranger who tells me to trust my gut instinct that it's never wrong like he knows me, and then the same stranger reappears and saves our asses from this monster. A monster you have dreamt about and didn't bother telling me." She reined in her bitterness of the last part.

"I don't even know what that thing was."

"The chimera." A voice said to their right.

Both twins snapped their heads to see Major leaning against the side of the ambulance. How long had he been there for? What did he hear?

"The what-a?" Sam asked, the surprise on his face like hers.

Major pushed off the shoulder, leaned against the ambulance and now stood before them, arms crossed. Selena took note of his impressive height. Major stood a couple of inches taller than Sam, but his muscles dwarfed her brother's. Where Sam had a lean build, Major was definitely on the bulkier. She had noticed it back at Biggby, but after seeing those muscles in action, she couldn't stop staring at them. He was beautiful in every way of the word.

"Did no one teach you anything?" He asked, his voice cold.

"You're at our graduation. Obviously, we were taught something." Selena snapped at him.

His brows raised in surprise by her retort. Selena lifted the mask to her face again. Unlike the twins, Major remained free of soot and the chimera's blood. And what really irritated her was that his hair, ending at the nape of his neck, barely looked disheveled, like he didn't just face off a lion-goat-snake monster.

"That," He nudged his head toward the football field. "Was the chimera, though it hasn't been seen since Bellerophon slayed it in the Trojan War."

The twins look at each other, confusion sketched on both their faces.

"The Trojan War?" Sam asked.

"Like from Greek mythology?" Selena's voice cracked at the last word.

Major stared down his nose at the twins. "Not myths, but yes. The one the stories talk about."

Sam ran a hand through his soot-covered hair. "But that's what it was a story. You know, not real."

"Would you consider what just happened as 'not real'?" He air quoted the last phrase. "Though I will admit mortals have put their own spins on things, as they are a bit more dramatized than the truth."

Selena inhaled again through the mask she brought to her face.

Sam shook his head. "But they're fake."

Major's eyes narrowed. "Did that feel fake to you?"

Her brother examined his once-injured arm; now, a shredded sleeve the only remnant. His skin was perfect, with no scar, no scab, and maybe some dried blood from the old wound, but that was it. "Sort of."

Major also looked at Sam's arm, his expression slack.

"You aren't normal," Major said, making eye contact with Sam.

"Well, that's rude." Sam scoffed.

Major sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. Like this wasn't going how he had planned...what exactly did he have planned?

"Did you send the Chimera?" Selena slowly asked.

The coincidences were too close to be coincidences, he had something to do with that thing. With the burning down of the school. With the injuries or deaths of innocents here today.

Deaths.

Selena flinched.

Had anyone died? It seemed likely, but with everything still in complete chaos; there was no way of telling. Maybe if she braved the reality of the world's current state, she'd turn on the news when she got home and find out. She doubted any of the first responders here would tell her anything.

"No." Said Major flatly.

"Do you know who did?" Sam asked.

"Potentially," Major said, rubbing his jaw.

Selena inhaled one last breath from the mask and sat it beside her. It no longer hurt to breathe, and everything that was injured or sore during the attack faded.

"Do you know why it attacked?" Asked Selena.

Major's sapphire blue eyes met hers, and then they drifted low. Right down to her left palm, which she still had laid open on her thigh. She clenched her hand into a fist at his gaze. His eyes drifted over to Sam, but his right hand was already lying face down on the ambulance bay they sat at, using it to hold up his weight.

"Yes," Major said slowly, again making eye contact with Sam. "It was looking for you." He glanced back at Selena. "Both of you."