Prophecy

IV

[rerum]

Tessa's heartbeat was still racing when she landed on the opposite side of the portal. Her pulse raced in her ears, and her entire body buzzed from the adrenaline that came from time-travel. They'd escaped in time, but Vinny would no doubt be right after them. Right?

Tessa took a deep breath of the foggy air around her, and began to take note of the changes that had occurred. Her glittering flapper dress of the Roaring Twenties had elongated and changed into—what was that, a Victorian dress and jacket? Her hair was pinned elegantly on top of her head, and Artemis' bow and Tempest remained in pin form in the small pocket of her jacket.

"Where are we now?" Imogen asked, picking at the hem of her jacket. The daughter of Cupid's flashy dress had morphed as well, turning into a style similar to Tessa's—elaborate skirts, a slight train, and a tight jacket. Her blonde hair was twisted into a chignon at the base of her head, and her bow had turned into what seemed to be a parasol.

Tessa looked around, noticing that she and her friends had been dumped atop a bridge. A dark river sat below them, and on either side of the river, a city shrouded in the darkness of night pierced through with light in the smog.

"London," Tessa decided at last. "In the 1870s."

"So that explains the get-up," Eli chimed. The son of Ahklys, now donning a dress coat, pants, and waistcoat with a top hat, grinned impishly at Tessa.

The daughter of Poseidon eyed Eli carefully, noting how he was acting when he looked away. He seemed to be a bit more fidgety, less his collected and bubbly self. He wouldn't hold anyone's gaze for longer than a few moments, and when he looked away, Tessa could see secrets darting behind his piercing blue irises.

"We should get moving," Kaden spoke from where he leant against the bridge. Tessa turned to look at her boyfriend and felt her heart flutter—he wore similar clothing to Eli, and as did Reese, but there was something about how he was carrying himself that made Tessa swoon. He could have belonged in any era, his grace and good looks were as timeless as beauty itself.

"Tessa?" The son of Venus' voice shook her out of her reverie.

"Huh?"

"You're staring at me."

Tessa's eyes widened and she was grateful for the darkness to mask her blush. Focus, Brennan.

"Kaden's right," Reese glanced around the bridge and the city surrounding them. "If it's night here, we'll only have a little bit of time to find the relic and return it to Olympus by midnight."

"But how do we know where to go? We can't just walk around in the middle of the night waiting to find Vinny." Eli countered, folding his arms.

Kaden brandished Crocea Mars, which had hidden itself as a walking stick of the era with a bright ruby handle. "We know what the last relic is, though. That might help us find it."

"What is it?" Imogen asked.

Kaden met Tessa's gaze, and with a chill, the realization dawned on her. "My father's trident."

Imogen's eyes widened. "Then we need to get a move on. If that's not returned, there really will be war."

"But the other relics didn't correlate to where they were hidden." Eli knit his eyebrows together.