Seth was mildly freaking out now. Algea was still sitting in the farthest corner of the room. She hadn't said or moved much since telling Seth about the murderous demigod that Ankmet was consulting. Seth had been trying to find a way out, but with everything, Seth came up with, Algea just shook her head no. Finally, he flopped onto the ground beside Algea. She looked over at him with a raised eyebrow.

“What? It’s not like you have been trying to get us out.” Seth grumbled up at Algea. “You have been sitting there doing nothing except rejecting every idea I have.”

“There is nothing to do until an opportunity presents itself. For now, we have just to wait.” Algea replied coolly. Seth grumbled a response before a small shiver ran down him.

“Are you cold?” Algea asked, confused, as she took in his gray tank top and baggy black jeans.

“It is freezing here. The walls and floor are concrete, and my clothes are not warm.” Algea’s eyes widened in realization. Reaching down, she slipped off her linen half-skirt, leaving her in only her wrapped top and black pants. She handed the skirt over to Seth.

“I can’t accept that. Just looking at you is making me cold.” Seth frowned as Algea dropped the skirt on top of his head. He huffed but wrapped the cloth around his shoulders anyway.

“Don’t worry. I’m not cold,” She paused, cocking her head to the side, contemplating before returning to staring at her feet. “Demigods don’t feel temperature the same way as you do. It has more to do with how we are made than anything else.” Seth perked up at that. He was eager to hear more of Algea’s world, and with how bored he was, his attention was fully on Algea.

“How are you made then? I just thought that you were born from a god and human having, you know,” He paused uncomfortably, “Fun.” Algea snorted before quickly sobering up.

“That is, unfortunately, only half of it,” Seth looked over at Algea. Her lips formed a small grimace before she continued. “Demigods are born normal. We have regular human lives, but there is something about the godly blood that runs in our veins that craves freedom from our human sides. While human, we lead miserable and troubled lives, and most of us die young,” Seth looked at her with growing unease. He did not like what she was hinting at. She smirked. “Once our human side has died, our godly blood takes over, and we wake up as the demigod we were born to be,” She laughed drily. “Sometimes the godly blood changes our outward appearance besides healing all damage from our death,” She pointed to her fangs as an example. “Something about our parents’ animal and human duality,” she waved her hand dismissively before looking back at her shoes. “It is already disorienting, waking up after dying, but then to find you have a tail or claws, well,” She shook her head. “Some of us take a long time to adjust to our new lives.”

“So, it is because you have already died that you don’t feel temperature the same way I do,” she nodded. “That is so cool,” Algea whipped her head around and looked at him in complete confusion. “Well, okay, not cool, but at least your death was not permanent,” Seth awkwardly smiled and shrugged. Algea looked at him judgingly.

“I suppose that is one way of looking at it,” She scrunched up her nose. After some more uncomfortable silence, Seth perked up.

“Wait, how old are you? Also, you are covered in scars. If all the damage from your death was healed as you said, then does that mean you got those afterward?” Seth sat up and looked at Algea expectantly. Algea had a look crossed between pride and impressed.

“Very clever,” she tilted her head in approval. “Last I checked, I am about three thousand years old,” she shrugged. Give or take a few hundred years.” Seth looked at her with his mouth open in absolute disbelief. But my physical age is around nineteen to twenty.”

“You died at around my age. That is so sad! You had so much you could have lived for!” Seth flopped down and pressed his hands to his eyes. A small chuckle made Seth look over at Algea again. She was silently laughing so hard tears started to well up in her eyes. If Seth didn’t know better even her black eye patch grew darker.

“That is the kindest thing anyone has said regarding my death,” She gasped out between laughs. Seth looked up with a grin, but it was quickly lost as something dark took over his thoughts.

“You said that most of the demigods die horribly or something like that,” Seth trailed off as Algea sobered up. She looked over at Seth and was surprised that he looked concerned. Rubbing the back of her neck, Algea confirmed Seth’s suspicions. “Oh God, Algea. It wasn’t violent, was it?” Seth's eyes looked on in worry as Algea looked back in pure and utter shock. “Actually, you don’t have to tell me.” Seth scooted back.

The door handle slightly rotated. Algea was up and at the door before Seth could register that the door was opening. Algea kicked the door open and into whoever was opening it. A small groan confirmed she hit her target. Seth scrambled up to find Algea was already in the hallway and had Ankmet pinned to the wall by his throat. Fangs bared, Algea pressed Ankmet further up and into the wall.

“Woah, Algea! What the hell?” Seth looked at her with wide eyes. Ankmet gurgled a response. She pushed harder. “Hey, maybe we should hear him out. Then you can kill him. Alright?” The look Algea gave him was withering, but she let go. Ankmet slid down the wall, coughing and gasping. She stepped back, but her look of fury held Ankmet in place on the floor. She arched her eyebrow.

“Why the hell would you do that, Algea?” Ankmet coughed some more spit onto the floor. She only glared but motioned for Seth to speak. Her look said, “You saved him; you talk to him.” Seth sighed.

“Um, well,” Seth awkwardly started. “She may be upset that you went to talk to The Commander.”

Ankmet’s eyes widened. “I didn’t tell her you were here. I just needed to ensure that the information I gave you was accurate, and now it is.” She clearly did not believe him. “Algea, I promise that I didn’t lead her here. I would be as much of a deadman as you would be. Why would I risk your wrath on top of her anger?” This seemed to get to Algea. Relaxing her stance, she sighed. Picking Ankmet up, she brushed him off as an apology. “I now know where two of your teammates are. Ridley is with Aurelio over near the Blood Spire Forest,” Algea looked at him in surprise. Before she could speak, Ankmet waved her off. “I already got what I wanted. My problem was dealt with, and I now know why he betrayed me,” She grimaced but understood. “Ikijin has gone into hiding somewhere in the Crane Tooth Marshes. As for Althea, well, I have not heard much from her. I last heard she was working closely with the Commander in Per-Amun. She was helping her with her work with the High Council, but that was a while back. A lot has changed since then.”

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“Thank you Ankmet. We will be off then,” Ankmet held his hand up.

“Now Algea, I know you have the capabilities to handle yourself, and if I am being honest, I almost pity Aurelio,” Ankmet paused with a look of disgust. “Almost. However,” He looked over at Seth. “Your human friend there will not last long.”

Algea stiffened and stood in front of Seth, guarding him from Ankmet. Seth was thoroughly confused and looked between the two demigods as they squared off. Algea stepped forward slightly and growled warningly. Ankmet held his hands up.

“You know I have no qualms with humans, but you have been in their realm for too long if you cannot smell him. He reeks,” Seth looked affronted and smelled his shirt. He had sweated a little in the sun, and he was covered in sand. He didn’t think he smelled that bad though. “Oh, I am sure you smell fine to other humans, but to us demigods you smell like hot metal and barn animal. No matter of bathing will change that.”

“Ankmet, if you knew, why didn’t you say anything?” Algea was ready to strike, but this didn’t phase Ankmet. If anything, he was more confident as he strode up to Seth and draped his arm over his shoulder. Well, he tried. Seth stood several heads taller than Ankmet, so he could only place his hand on Seth’s shoulder. Algea was miffed, but before she could yank his hand away, Ankmet continued.

“I wanted to make sure that the human you took with you was truly worthy of the great Algea, Reaper of Duryona,” She snorted, and Ankmet grew serious. “In all honesty though, Algea, what are you thinking about bringing a human here? He will get himself killed or worse. You know how much humans are coveted by the right buyers here,” He gripped Seth’s shoulder hard. Seth worked hard not to let tears fall, keeping a straight face. “Their blood is a delicacy to the children of Sekhmet. I am constantly getting new bulk orders of human blood wine weekly.”

Seth felt all his pricy blood drain from his face as he looked for Algea to call out Anhmet for the joke this was. When Algea didn’t even flinch at the idea that Seth’s blood was a food item here, he decided he was very done with this adventure. Sensing Seth was freaking out, Algea spoke up.

“Luckily, no one is going to get their hands on him,” She pulled Ankmet’s hand off Seth’s shoulder. “He is under my protection. We have a deal, and you know how I am about deals.”

Ankmet sighed before just shrugging. “It is on both of your heads, but if he wants to travel with you, I think you should at least give him something to protect himself with,” Ankmet turned to Seth. “Silas, have you ever used a weapon before? No offense, but you look like you haven’t held anything more dangerous than a kitchen knife,” Algea snorted, and Seth’s face shaded pink.

“I have, actually,” Seth crossed his arms. “I spent some time working with all kinds of weapons.”

“Hm, okay,” Ankmet looked far from convinced. He and Algea shared a look. After what felt like a long time, she sighed. Ankmet lit up like a kid who was just told he could have any candy he wanted, and Algea dragged her hand down her face. “Silas,” Ankmet slyly addressed Seth. “You may have had some experience, but that was with other humans. Demigods are,” He paused, “Different. Luckily you have none other than the Reaper and myself here to train you.” With a wide smile Ankmet beamed at Seth who only looked shocked. “I will allow you both to stay here, naturally, and I will not even charge you rent!” Algea glared at Ankmet and he nervously laughed. “Unfortunately this place does not have many guest rooms available. There is one that has a twin bunk and one that has a larger bed, but unfortunately those are your only options.”

“We will take the twin bunks,” Algea’s quick reply caught Ankmet off guard.

“I meant both are available you need only choose one for yourself,” Algea waved him off.

“I want only the twin bunk room. No other room will be needed.” Seth looked at Algea incredulously. Happy with Algea’s answer, Ankmet clapped his hands before walking away. Algea and Seth both followed, although Seth was more reluctant than Algea. He looked at her in a way that expressed to her that speaking for him was not okay. She winced an apology back before turning back to Ankmet.

The room that Ankmet led them to was a fairly large room with a small kitchen and living space. The two bunks were on the farthest wall. As soon as the door closed Algea vaulted herself to the top bunk.

“Hey, what the hell was that back there? If we are going to work together you need to talk to me before deciding something like that,” Seth stood there waiting for an answer. When no answer came, Seth decided to look at the kitchen to find some food. He was hungry after such a long day.

The pantry and fridge were full, but Seth had a hard time figuring out what the ingredients were. Some looked like jars of beer while others were packaged meat and vegetables, but all looked slightly off from what Seth was used to seeing. Picking up some leaves that smelled like mint, some tomatoes and some other fresh vegetables, Seth got to work making a salad.

“You won’t be able to stomach that,” Algea was watching Seth work from the bed. She looked exhausted and bored. There were dark circles under her eyes that looked like she hadn’t slept in days.

“Why is that?” Seth asked, holding the knife stopped mid cut.

“That lettuce is not the same kind grown in the human realm. It’s harder on your stomach than the one you are used to,” Seth sighed and put down the knife.

“Then, what can I have? I haven’t eaten anything since we started this journey. It feels like I haven’t eaten in days!” Algea’s eyes widened. She slipped down and came over to the kitchen.

“Oops, I forgot you humans eat more regularly than us,” She shooed Seth over to the other counter. “I will see what we have that you can eat,” She started rummaging and pulling out random ingredients. She pulled out the mint and scrunched up her nose before throwing it back into the fridge. Handing Seth some meat to cube, she began to heat the skillet.

After a wonderful meal, Seth decided he was done for the day and headed to bed. Algea said she was not tired at all and went over to the far corner. She made sure the room didn’t have any way for Ankmet to watch them before sitting down next to the dim lamp. She pulled out the necklace her mom had given to Seth. She had grabbed it out of his pocket when he was showering after dinner. Taking a knife from the kitchen she pricked her finger. Writing on the blade, the edge grew red then back to gray steel. With that done she began to slice off a layer off the back of the golden medallion. On the exposed side she began to carve out a long string of tiny hieroglyphics. Luckily, Algea doesn’t sleep that much and she was done before Seth woke up that morning.