No matter what Hakyeon did, he just couldn't shake off the words he'd heard in his dream.

Beware, my son. He who you believe to be your friend secretly plots against you.

It was clearly a message from his father, but why him? Why now? He'd lived more than twenty years without any kind of contact with his father, and now he sends him that weird message in a dream?

Who you believe to be your friend secretly plots against you.

What did Zelos mean by that? Was he referring to Taekwoon? Was Taekwoon plotting something against him?

Or did he mean one of the guys...?

Hakyeon shook his head. That was impossible. He knew his friends and he knew that all they were doing was to help him.

Well, except Hades...Wonshik.

Hakyeon struggled to trust the Lord of the Underworld. 

He'd known Hades was known to be crafty and usually kept his true intentions unknown. And he'd gone and made a deal with him...

Perhaps that was what his father meant. Perhaps Wonshik wanted to use his skills to cause havoc somewhere.

He turned his head to where the pomegranate sat on the bedside table, almost shimmering in the dim lighting. 

Well, he'd already made the deal, not to mention already taken the fruit. The others had worked all night long to secure the rest of the ingredients and Hades had generously allowed them the use of the Underworld for a little while longer in order to craft the spell. 

He took a deep breath. There was no going back now, and they were through the hard part. In no time, it would all be over, and he'd be with Nayoung again.

He smiled as he thought about her. Yet, a small part of him couldn't let go of the small warning he'd been given.

He who you believe to be your friend secretly plots against you. 

That same part of him that held onto those words from his father also advised him to keep them to himself. 

He leaned against the table as the others put the other ingredients in the bowl. "So how does my blood exactly fit in with this?" he inquired.

Jaehwan raised an eyebrow. "Weren't you listening before?" he asked. "You and Taekwoon are unique, and hence the spell can be performed well."

"Unique how?"

Jaehwan stepped away from the table and went over to him, turning him so that they were face to face with a full sized mirror.

Why was there a mirror in here again? Ah yeah, Hades insisted on it, and with Cerberus on their tail, none of them had refused his demands, even if they seemed odd.

"You and Taekwoon are cousins, not only through your mother's side, but your father's side as well," Jaehwan told him. "While it isn't uncommon for Godly brothers to have children, it's incredibly rare for them to have children with human sisters. The two of you share mortal blood, not just immortal blood, and that makes you similar, much much similar."

Hakyeon stared at his reflection in the mirror, considering Jaehwan's words.

"Some might say, you two are the same," Jaehwan told him.

It was then that Hakyeon could almost see Taekwoon in the mirror, in his reflection, staring back at him.

He quickly shook the thoughts he was having out of his head, pulling out of Jaehwan's grasp. "Let's just get this spell done with."

"We're ready," Hongbin announced, straightening up.

"Now the final component..." Jaehwan dragged on, grabbing the paper with the spell and scanning it.

He then looked up at Hakyeon, who nodded, understanding what he was meant to do. He reached around for a knife when Jaehwan stopped him.

"Not just any knife," he told him. "Apparently the skin should be cut with a special type of ritual knife."

Hakyeon frowned. "Who came up with that idea?"

Jaehwan shrugged. "Don't ask me. I wasn't alive when this spell was made."

He handed Hakyeon a strange knife. A bit bigger than a chopping knife, it seemed to be made out of a strange type of metal, having a curved shape. The handle was made of wood, with Greek inscriptions shabbily etched onto it, as if a toddler had gotten hold of a knife and decided to sketch something onto the handle.

Hakyeon held his arm over the bowl, holding the knife up to his wrist and pressing it against his skin. He in a breath when it cut through the skin, drawing the knife back.

The blood pooled up in the cut Hakyeon had just made, leaking out and running down his wrist. Slowly, a drop of his blood left his hand and fell into the bowl. One by one, a few drops dripped into the bowl at an agonizingly slow rate.

"How much blood do we need?" Hakyeon turned to Jaehwan.

"Actually, I think we may have enough," Jaehwan said.

"So what now?" Hakyeon wondered.

A final drop fell into the bowl with a small hiss and a puff of smoke.

At once, Hakyeon's head began to feel light, like he'd been drained of all the blood in his body. His stomach threatened to throw up his breakfast and his head spun like crazy. His vision blurred till he could no longer make out who was in the room with him. His head throbbed like he had a really bad hangover.

He clutched at his throbbing head as his legs felt like jelly. He felt around behind him with his hand until he felt his back hit the wall.

His legs gave out and he sunk to the ground as the buzzing in his head got louder and louder, drowning out the sound of his own thoughts.

He was scared, terrified by what was happening to him.  

He forced his eyes open, looking around the room, but he couldn't see very well, and he felt unconsciousness creeping up on him.

A figure leaned down in front of him. 

Help, he wanted to say, but the words couldn't reach his throat. Instead, he weakly reached out for them, hoping they'd understand his call for help. 

They didn't make any move, and Hakyeon could barely make out their facial features.

"I hope you understand, Hakyeon," he heard Jaehwan's voice echo in his head as his vision blackened. "It's nothing personal."

He was then forced to give into the darkness.