Slightly below the Pure Royals were the Royals, the descendants of the remaining Olympian gods and goddesses. Unlike the Pure Royals, who maintained their original ancient Greek family name, the Royals’ family names were influenced by the culture and language of their geographical locations. For example, Hera’s descendants were originally known as the Themistoklis family, but in Australia, it was Tavoularis, and in Bulgaria, it became something entirely different: Petrova. I didn’t even bother trying to remember all their names, though. Most Royals would jump at the chance to let you know their royal lineage, anyway. Besides, it was also obvious who was a Royal from the size of their wallet.

Then there was the lowest caste, slightly above your standard-issue humans. That was where I fit in: the Regulars. Look it up in the dictionary and it was precisely what I was supposed to be: average, common, uniform, consistent, and fixed. No overflowing bank accounts, no exotic vacations, no sports cars, or big houses. There was a god for everything under the sun, but of course, us Regulars didn’t share a lineage with the fancy, powerful ones. We came from the many gods and goddesses who didn’t have a seat on Mount Olympus. They were the gods and goddesses of regular things, like the god of sleep, Hypnos, and the god of the west wind, Zephyros. It was next to impossible to keep track of a Regular’s lineage—there were too many minor gods and too many of us.

Other than being the descendants of the gods and goddesses, the Hellenicus had one other thing in common: to honor our demigod lineage, Apollo wanted to set us apart from normal humans—or, as we called them, the Nescient—and awarded us an extraordinary ability to help us find our soul mates. Our gift allowed us to read our other half’s mind, something the Nescient couldn’t do. That way, even though we were continuously reincarnated, we would always be able to find each other.

Every year, the Court—a heavily guarded compound located in Denali, Alaska—held a revered event known as the Gathering. It was a chance for all the Hellenicus from around the world to come together in the hopes of being reunited with their soul mates. In our eighteenth year, during our first Gathering, our clairaudient gift was awakened through a sacred ritual known as the Awakening Ceremony. Then we would wait for the moment when we met our other half. A single touch could ignite what we called a click—a phenomenon that allowed us to hear our soul mate’s thoughts. It was how we knew we had found the one.

I would be eighteen soon. Tomorrow I would officially go to the Court for the first time. And find out if my life would change forever.

Chapter One