"See?" Leo pointed. He had met up with Louisa, Lucy-Jo and a trio of toddlers two minutes ago. "The whole thing just folded up." They stood on a road bridge, looking down at the scene below. Three roads travelled north. The one on the left eventually veered to the left. The one on the right eventually veered to the right.

The one in the middle used to carry on straight. Now it slowly curved up into the sky like a rollercoaster. At the very top was a huge portal, swirling and glowing greens, blues, purples and white. At the very bottom were a hoard of land and range rovers, all driven by some fish monsters. They knew how to fly great big complicated spaceships but they didn't know how to drive a car of the idle human species past five miles an hour.

Leo looked worried. "None of the cars have gone through yet. At the speed they're going, it'll take between an hour and an hour and a half to get to the top."

"Let the buggers go." Louisa said, turning away. Leo grabbed her by the arm and forced her to turn around again.

"There are kids in those cars!" He protested. Louisa's opinion suddenly changed.

"Right." She touched the mobile phone ear piece all demigods had been given to stay in contact with each other. She issued directions to where they were before explaining the situation. "We all need ta be here 'n' pronto. Any kids ya find along the way, send 'em ta the camps quickly." Louisa signed off.

"What are we going to do?" Leo asked, tugging his sleeve back. All demigods had been burnt with the enchanted tattoos that corresponded to their godly parent. Leo's was a fiery hammer and he was quite proud of it.

He opened a portal and kindly ushered the three toddlers through. The portal closed.

Louisa studied the chaos around the cars. Monsters – humanoid and ones like the one from the swimming pool – were battling armoured demigods and gods- minor and major.

"We help them." She looked at Lucy-Jo. "Are you the only one here or did ya bring the whole party?"

"All of us. Nearly a million from all over the world."

"Tell 'em scratches and bites from those things can cause 'em to turn into the same thing," Lucy-Jo scowled at this, "but we need 'em here ta help. All of them." The Assassin turned away and started relaying the messages. Louisa noticed that her Assassin friend repeated the messages in several different languages.

"Lou?" Louisa looked at Leo. He seemed nervous and sheepish but clearly trying to hide it.

"What's the matter?" Louisa asked, for once, genuinely concerned. Leo struggled with his words before simply holding his arms out in a silent request for a hug.

Louisa was aware of Lucy-Jo talking animatedly in French ten feet away as she stepped into Leo's arms to offer reassurance.

"I'm… I'm scared…" Leo admitted in a small voice.

"We all are, Valdez."

"You don't seem scared though." Leo mumbled into her shoulder. Louisa had to think before answering.

"The kids are more scared. We've gotta be strong just ta give 'em that small bit of hope." Leo nodded. He was silent for a few seconds, mustering the courage to ask her something. Lucy-Jo was arguing very colourfully with someone on her phone. Her back was still facing them and she moved further away, putting a distance of fifteen feet between them.

"Lou, I wanna… I wanna do something in case we end up as alien monsters."

"Valdez, don't think ya dare think like that!" She scolded.

"Sorry for being a realist." He muttered. She sighed.

"What'd ya wanna do?" Leo hesitated, but forced himself to hold her at arm's length. She made to ask him something, but Leo cut her off by leaning forward and grazing his lips over hers.

He had crushed on Louisa for weeks now. It wasn't a silly crush, like his previous ones. He had spent as much time as possible with her for the past month and he had grown increasingly fond of her. Maybe a bit too fond if he wanted to keep his head on, but hey, the world was ending and he had been single all his life. That was no fun. Especially when his friends had girlfriends and continuously tried to set him up with girls he didn't really take a fancying to. It was just torture.

Leo hovered, less than a centimetre from kissing her properly. Neither of them moved. She was too stunned at his courage- or stupidity- and he was too nervous to finish the deed now he had started it.

A warm tingle worked its way down Leo's spine and he found himself relaxing. His shyness slowly faded away and he managed to find the courage to press his lips to hers.

She remained stunned for a few seconds. Leo actually whimpered, pleading her to respond. He was ecstatic and relieved when she did.

The kiss was soft and sweet. It was also highly relaxing for the pair of them.

But it didn't last long.

They had work to do.