Maelstrom

Four

[damnatio ad bestias]

Through the ceiling-to-floor windows of the conference room, Tessa could see all of Manhattan sprawled out beneath her. People bustling down the streets, cars and taxis speeding between one another, buildings reaching for the sky like hands of the faithful. Sunlight filtered between the cloud cover, casting the metropolis in a melancholy light.

Two weeks from then, and Tessa wondered how much of the city below her would change. Would people be screaming, fleeing for cover? Would the cars and the taxis be abandoned in the chaos? Would the buildings be destroyed like sandcastles in the wake of the tide? Light might be bearing down on New York City now, but darkness was on the horizon, as dark and thick as an abyss at the bottom of the sea.

Tessa inhaled slowly, attempting to bring herself back to the present. They had two weeks to prepare, two weeks to find Menoetious and stop him before he and Typhon destroyed humanity. They could do this.

Right?

"Tessa?"

The daughter of Poseidon turned around to face Adam, standing in the doorway to the conference room. He was smiling in amusement, but his gray eyes were unreadable.

"Hey," Tessa exhaled, feeling a slight pang of nerves rattle through her soul. "What's up?"

"I could ask you the same thing," Adam quirked a brow, stepping into the room. "The meeting ended ten minutes ago. What're you still doing in here?"

Tessa glanced around sheepishly, as if realizing what she was doing. "Just lost in thought. But I wanted to ask you something about the other night."

Adam made a funny face, pulling out a chair and sitting down. He chuckled under his breath. "Oh, boy. What'd I do?"

"Nothing, relax," Tessa laughed quickly, covering it up with a clearing of her throat. "But, uh, I was going through some security footage for a story of mine, and I noticed something a little disquieting around the time you left the other night."

Adam drew his eyebrows together, puzzlement on his face. "Define disquieting."

"There was this shady guy hanging around the entrance," Tessa had mentally rehearsed the lie in her head all morning, but saying it now was like opening the floodgates. If she screwed up, Adam would no doubt pick up on the breadcrumbs until he started asking questions. "He left after a while, but did you happen to see anything when you left?"

Slowly, Adam shook his head and something deflated inside of Tessa. "Not that I can recall. But that late at night, anyone lingering around can seem shady. Were you okay when you left?"

Tessa held up a hand, as if stopping Adam's concerns in their tracks. "I was fine," Her tone was a little more clipped than she'd anticipated, but she shrugged it off. "I was just curious."

Adam didn't seem convinced, but he got to his feet, exhaling while he did. "Am I off the hook, sergeant?"

Tessa rolled her eyes sarcastically. "Yes, go back to doing whatever menial task it was that you were doing."

Adam beamed at her, and Tessa felt a sad little flutter in her heart. His smile was so like Kaden's.

Before Tessa knew it, she was standing alone in the conference room, left to her own devices. Her plan had failed before it had even begun, and she wasn't sure what to do with that. Adam hadn't seen anything the other night, but that only meant that the man was a part of the mythological world, concealed by the Mist. And for whatever reason, he'd wanted to show Tessa what had happened to Chase Ferguson and Kiara Fairwolf.