Tori sat in silence on the couch in Eris' room, thumbing the corners of the necromancers' book impatiently. The goddess lounged on her stomach on her bed, her legs kicking back and forth as she flipped through a Pottery Barn magazine. She twirled a pen in her fingers and would periodically circle something on a page before turning to the next. She was picking out furniture for her new room—painfully slowly, Tori might add.

To make matters worse she was demanding Jade's constant attention. In the past fifteen minutes the older hybrid had gotten up and down at least a dozen times from her spot on the couch. To save time she remained at the foot of the bed, leaning against the footboard and staring, disinterested, at the magazine as well. She propped her chin up on her elbow and grunted a bleak response every time Eris demanded her opinion.

"What do you think of this wardrobe?" Eris held the catalogue up so she could see.

"I think it's going to be empty since you've got nothing to put in it," Jade grumbled.

"I don't think it goes well with the bed I picked out," the goddess ignored her dour response and continued flipping.

The hybrids shared an annoyed look; Tori could see Jade's growing frustration, could easily see it etched into the tired lines on her face. Tori cleared her throat. "Eris," she interjected. "Could we get to this now?" She waved the book in the air.

The goddess sighed dramatically, and for a brief moment she felt as if she was seeing her sister again for the first time in a century. It sometimes surprised her how remarkably similar they were. "Give it," Eris demanded. Tori tossed the book to Jade who caught it with ease and handed it to the goddess. She noticed when Eris took the book her fingers brushed against Jade's and she smirked; Jade jerked her hand away as if she'd been burned and rubbed it against her jeans, as if she were trying to rub away a stain.

Since her private discussion with Eris, Tori had noticed Jade had been somewhat withdrawn and distant, as if consumed by something. She wasn't stupid; she knew it had something to do with whatever they'd talked about. She just knew now wasn't the time to drag it to the surface.

"My, my," Eris muttered with some admiration.

"What is it?" Tori asked hopefully.

"This book isn't old by immortal standards—maybe four hundred years or so—but the content is millennia. Scribes must have transposed from the original. Some of the content predates even my birth," she explained as her eyes scanned the page, translating a language long ago lost to time.

"How can you tell?" The young hybrid rose to her feet to take her spot by Jade, peering with interest at the text before her.

"Because it doesn't mention me. Or my brothers or sisters. Or any of those intolerable aunts and uncles. That smug Athena or vain Aphrodite. That baby Ares—"

"Eris," Jade snapped her fingers in the goddess' face.

"Who does it mention? The Titans?" Tori pressed.

"Even better," Eris smiled smugly as she flipped the page and continued reading. "Their parents, the Old Ones." She looked up, clearly expecting a stunned reaction. Instead she found an identical pair of knitted eyebrows and bemused frowns. "The Protogonoi?" Jade and Tori glanced at each other and shrugged their shoulders. "Do you… just…" She stumbled over her words as she tried to process their ignorance. "You both share a body with millennial-old magickal entities. I don't know what Lucia and you chat about in your free time," she glared pointedly at Tori. "But Shade knows of the primordials. The first deities." She stared expectantly at Jade.

"We don't exactly chit-chat over a cup of tea, Eris. He stays locked up." Jade shook her head in disbelief. "I don't talk to him."

Eris pushed herself onto her hands and knees and tapped the center of Jade's forehead angrily. "Shade is young by my standards. He wouldn't be able to read this. Neither would your idiot," she glanced at Tori. "But he certainly knows whom I'm speaking of. Don't you, Shade?" She raised her voice at the last part and Jade stepped back out of her easily accessible range.

Tori felt her spirit stir within her, wakening as the goddess raged. Lucia wouldn't interrupt without her host's permission, but she was eager to watch the exchange. "What does it say about them?" She pressed.

Eris sighed and sat back on her bed and placed the book in her lap. "What do you know about Twilight?" She asked, brow perked skeptically.

"Magick versus magick with mortals in the crossfire. Mortals create hybrids. Hybrids push gods and magicks into the Void. Yay humanity," Jade said flatly, waving her fist lifelessly above her head.

Eris stared at her dumbly and then to Tori. "Do you have anything to contribute?"

"Um…no," Tori admitted somewhat sheepishly. "Those are the cliffnotes."

The goddess scoffed. "All right. Do you know why it was magick versus magick?"

"Becaaaause… you're all a bunch of dicks," Jade guessed. Tori nudged her with her elbow; now was not the time to taunt the deity.

"Because there's always a power struggle," Eris shot her a withering stare but otherwise ignored her. "That's one thing that will never change no matter the realm, no matter the race. Every religion has primordial deities. There are dozens of them, more than even the Guardians know. Parents of the gods. They fought amongst themselves for control of this realm. Their children fought for control of this realm. The mortals are doing the same now. The power struggle is inevitable."

"What's your point, Eris?" Jade pressed.

Eris waved the book in their face. "I'm getting there." She fell silent as she continued to skim the following pages, tracing her index finger along the text as she did so. "The Titans overthrew the Protogonoi, the Olympians overthrew the Titans. Not necessarily the case with all the other theologies but many of the primordials were an active threat to their children, so we sent them through the Void and took this world as our own. Inevitably, we began to squabble for dominance.

"The creation of the Guardians was a successful attempt by the mortals to take the world from us. But it wasn't their first attempt. Quiz time, children, do you know what their first plan was?" She glanced up at them expectantly.

The Latina frowned and turned to her companion. This was not a part of their history. Since her calling she'd always been told that Atticus' effort was the first and only to expel the immortals.

"Figures," Eris sighed. "Atticus wasn't alone in the beginning, did you know that? He had companions; they all sought to banish us. They had all heard the myths of the Old Ones, and assumed the old adage, 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend,' to be true."

"They wanted to bring the primordial gods back to defeat you," Jade muttered.

"Ten points to Hufflepuff." Eris snapped her fingers in Jade's direction.

"Hufflepuff?" Jade scoffed indignantly, "I'm clearly a Slytherin."

"Did they succeed?" Tori asked.

"They didn't have a chance," the goddess continued. "We killed them before they could devise the last of the ritual. Myself and my phonoi." An evil smile spread across her face. "Well, all of them but Atticus. He wasn't fond of the idea of bringing more deities into the fight. He predicted the same outcome that we did: the Old Ones would have turned against the mortals once we were out of the picture. He had left their company to seek an alternative means to save your race. By the time we slaughtered them he was long gone. Perhaps he carried one of their grimiores with him, because I recall burning all we could find. Yet, here we are." She raised the book and waved it in their direction.

"That's what that is? So the necromancers—" Tori began.

"—Are trying to free the Old Ones?" Jade finished. Her eyes widened and her lips parted in surprise. "That's what's in that book?"

"Indeed it is. Here you have their nearly complete step-by-step guide to bring about the end of your world." She tossed the book on the bed. "Idiots."

"Well, so, it's incomplete. The necromancers couldn't have even finished the ritual if we hadn't interrupted them, right? So we should be in the clear?" Tori asked hopefully.

"Unless they have since found a way to complete it," Eris countered as she opened the book again and flipped to the final few pages. "And it would appear that they're very close."

Tori felt a knot tighten in her stomach. "How close?"

"Where did you capture them, again?" the goddess ignored her question.

"New Mexico."

"I bet near Hopi Indian land?" she guessed.

"…Sure?" Tori replied hesitantly.

"Many of the Native American primordials were banished. Too much bickering among them. It would appear part of the ritual to bring them back requires visiting their sacred spaces. Eons ago there was probably an altar there. Something precious to them. It appeared you interrupted their efforts. Lucky you."

"So… no apocalypse?" Jade ventured.

"Well, I didn't say that. If anything you just slowed them down," Eris informed.

"They're in a room just down the hall. I think it's safe to say we put a stop to it," Tori explained.

"Unless there are others. Did you even bother to ask?"

"They're practically comatose if you could even call it that. Their telepaths can't read their minds, and Tori and I can't sense any emotions from them. They might as well be a brick wall," Jade replied.

The goddess hummed to herself as he eyes drifted down the page. "Well, that's no good." She grinned and glanced back up at them. "That's no good at all."

"Cut the shit, Eris," the pale girl snapped. "What does it say?" She reached for the book only to have Eris hold it just out of reach.

She tutted reproachfully. "I have another request first," she informed. "It's clear you're woefully unprepared to handle this situation. I'd like to offer you my help. And by offer I obviously mean insist."

"Your translation will be more than enough," Tori countered firmly.

"Yeah… about that. I'm not translating another line unless you agree. And, wow, you really want to know what the rest of it says. Especially this page." She tapped the book, teasing them. "I want out of this prison, even if it is just for a little while."

"Do you mean, like, out to the breakroom?" The Latina asked hopefully.

"Oh, no, to solve this problem we're going to have to do a bit of travelling," Eris assured.

Tori opened and closed her mouth soundlessly; words refused to come as she was struggling to process the information they'd just learned. Another apocalypse. The rise of the primordial gods. The knowledge of how to stop it was right in front of them, literally, and it was unobtainable without the assistance of a goddess. A goddess who had tried to kill her, Jade, and the rest of the human race no less.

"Do you hear how crazy you sound?" Jade jumped in. "The council won't allow it. You attempted world domination. You killed Guardians, you killed humans. They're hesitant to even let you out of your room and you want to go outside?"

"Well, that's where you two come in, isn't it?"

"No amount of us interceding on your behalf is going to convince them. It's just not going to happen," Tori fumbled desperately.

"Oh, please, I know that. I want you to break me out," Eris explained.

Tori's jaw actually dropped. "Eris," she laughed nervously, "No one has escaped the Vault. No one. Ever."

"But I've got something they didn't have: Guardians on my side." Tori could feel the arrogance and self-satisfaction pulsating from her, as if the tide was coming in.

"Eris, get serious. There's no way. Even if we could, we wouldn't. We know you'll disappear the second you're able." Jade argued.

"Now, wait a second," Eris raised a finger is disagreement. "Feel free to bind my powers. I know you know how, lotus petal," she glanced at Tori. "Would that make you feel better? Knowing that I can't teleport, and I can't make your precious Jade go feral? I'd be basically mortal. Powerless against the two of you."

Jade and Tori shared another concerned glance; Tori'd lost track of how many they had made today. As foolish as she knew this was, the goddess was making a compelling argument. But she knew there was an ulterior plan. There always was with her. She could sense Jade had come to the same conclusion.

"Let's just for one second assume that we're actually considering this. We break you out. Then what? They'd hunt us down in a second," Jade argued.

Eris squinted her eyes and studied them. "Only if you ruined the seals carved on your chest and…" she trailed off as her gaze shifted from one hybrid to another. "I don't think you did. She's not about to get back on the radar." She pointed at Jade. "And you're not about to betray her secret." She jabbed the same finger in Tori's direction.

Tori could practically feel her scar throbbing at Eris' accusation; no, she hadn't destroyed hers yet. If Jade ever decided to disappear again Tori wanted to be able to go with her. She couldn't do that if the Guardians could track her.

"We're undetectable. We break out, we take care of this Old Ones business, uninhibited by your useless Guardians, we come back heroes. You get to prevent another apocalypse, I get some fresh air. Win-win."

Jade sighed heavily and made her way to the couch against the wall. She rested her elbows on her knees and dropped her head into her hands, her emerald tresses spilling over her face. "This is crazy," she groaned.

"Chaotic, actually. If you need some time to think if over, children, I can wait. I'm fairly certain I hold all the cards in this game though. I hope you come to that same conclusion sooner rather than later," Eris hummed triumphantly.

Tori released her vice grip on the footboard and flexed the stiffness from her fingers. "Jade, come with me," she muttered as she extended a hand to lead her from the room. They needed to have this discussion without the goddess present. "We'll be back with our answer soon," she informed Eris.

"I'll be here reading! Don't take too long. Armageddon and all that."

"I need a million cigarettes," Jade breathed as their bedroom door latched behind them. She made a beeline for her bag and emptied it on the bed, snatching a crumpled pack of Marlboro's from the pile. "What are we going to do?" She asked through pursed lips as she lit up.

Tori hadn't heard Jade sound so hopeless before, and wondered if that's how she herself sounded. "I don't know," she admitted, and it scared her.

"She's the only one who can read that fucking grimoire."

"So she's the only one who knows what the ritual requires."

"And how to stop it."

"And who knows what else," Tori added exasperatedly. "And she won't tell us if we don't release her."

Jade took a long drag from her cigarette and ashed it on the floor. "The council won't allow it."

"They won't," Tori agreed.

They both stared at the glowing cherry at the end of Jade's cigarette, the long, thin tendril of smoke that wafted from it. Tori's mind was reeling, and she tapped into Lucia's psyche to try and calm her thoughts. It wasn't that she needed the clarity to make a decision; no, she needed mental stillness to resolve herself to the truth.

"Tori," Jade broke the silence.

"Jade," Tori replied softly.

"We have to break Eris out of the Vault."

"I know."