So... I owe you all (if any of you are still reading this) an apology.

I'm not going to bore you with details about real life sucking away all my time and attention - we all live in real life, so I assume you all know what it's like. I will say that I had a buffer of about three chapters written for this story, but due to computer troubles, I no longer have them. What I do have is the outline that I wrote for this story. I'm going to post that here, and hopefully it will provide some closure. If anyone wants to pick this up, you're more than welcome; just let me know so I can go read it!

You've been fantastic, guys. Thank you so much.

Amulet locations

1. Brookland: magnet on locker of Destynni Winterleigh

2. Brecon Beacons: on handle of heirloom dagger hidden in secret compartment in Sergeant's desk … Sergeant turns out to be Wolf

3. Malagosto: Behind collage, directly behind photos of his parents and Ian - he had to rip the pictures to get it

4. Sloterdijk (Gameslayer)

5. London (MI6): HQ has been infiltrated

6. Chelsea (Alex's old house):

7. Cairo (the place that Alex shot Julius Grief):

8. Olympus

Amulet abilities

1. Direct communication w/ Ananke: (offers occasional guidance)

2. Control of physical bonds: (possible, but is quite tiring, sore after simple manipulation)

3. Control over psychological/emotional bonds: (passes out from exertion)

4. Ability to detach from "humanity": (TURNING POINT! Detaching from humanity makes using his other powers effortless. Turns out he was limited by his silly human baggage all along … at least, that's how Unhuman Alex thinks. But he realizes that to allow the proper flow of fate, he must return to his humanity for now. Once he's back, Alex decides never to do it again, because next time he just might lose himself

5. Omnipresence: (Ananke's goal is to show him the superiority of an ethereal being, and once Alex receives this gift he realized that it would have turned the tides in their favor in the battle in the Royal and General Bank)

6. Control over Clotho: (is the Fate associated with birth, visiting Chelsea and going through everything in search of the amulet made Alex able to release the past lingering in him)

7. Control over Atropos: (is the Fate associated with death, similar situation as Chelsea, able to let go of hold on trying to predict the future)

8. Control of Lakhesis: (is the Fate associated with the time in between life and death, visiting the site of his emotional torture allowed him to make peace with his life experiences)

The "reveal" (AKA all the spoilers)

Ideally, Ananke wants an heir to look after the world, with her stepping in if something is not to her liking (since she will ultimately wield more power than he). She thinks that Zeus has become incompetent, and she is essentially staging a coup d'état, intending to have Alex defeat and replace Zeus.

Why does she want Lydia along? Turns out children of Hestia are some combination of empathic and telepathic, but empathy is seen as "good" and telepathy as "bad." Lydia's father (son of Hestia, equal parts empathic and telepathic, but chose to be entirely an empath) died, mother (daughter of Hermes) abandoned her without explaining her abilities to her. Ananke unlocked Lydia's telepathic abilities in exchange for her being a double agent for Ananke, promising to unlock her empathic potential too once the mission was completed. Ananke told her what to say to get under Alex's skin.

During the climax at Olympus, Alex, after some turmoil, rebels against Ananke and leads the Olympians in war against her. At this point he doesn't know that Lydia is a traitor (he noticed some powerful psychological bonds around her when he was Unhuman but didn't dwell on it). While Ananke takes on all the Olympians, Lydia suddenly turns on Alex. They have a psychological battle where Lydia tries to trigger Alex's detachment from his humanity, but eventually Alex succeeds in unlocking all of Lydia's empathic potential all at once. This sudden emotional input from everyone around her in a high-stress situation overwhelms her, and she meets some sort of interesting and dramatic end. Alex returns to his senses and rejoins the effort against Ananke, which his side was losing badly. His powers turn the tide, and they defeat her. However, in order to tap into enough power to defeat her, Alex had to become Unhuman for an extended period of time. At the end of the battle, he realizes that he no longer wants or has the ability to regain his humanity. Instead, he replaces Ananke as a primordial force. Epilogue: everyone else coping / moving on / reflecting on whether Olympus should be replaced or reformed.