Maelstrom

Sixteen

Tessa brushed past Kaden and Dale, darting into the hallway and out of the infirmary. What she found outside its doors amazed her.

Camp Half-Blood was surging into action. Everywhere Tessa looked, she saw demigods arming themselves and prepping for battle. Their strategies had worked well: the Ares and Athena cabins were convening under their flags, armed for battle. Over near Cabin Twenty, the children of Hecate were testing their spells, spirals of their magic arcing up towards the barrier, revitalizing it. An army of Celestial Bronze was at their fingertips, waiting to strike.

"Tessa!" Sophia spotted her from where she was meeting with the Ares kids. She jogged over to where Tessa stood, her bronze armor clanking as she did. "What's going on?"

"Menoetious struck the Roman base in Midtown," Tessa reported, her voice seemingly emotionless. "Possible casualties. Typhon has awoken, as well. The entire west coast is submerged from a tsunami."

Sophia's eyes widened, but she got her shock under control. "Tell me where you want us to go, and we'll go."

Tessa cast a look at the Ares and Athena kids, waiting on their leader. She spotted Bianca Windsor of Aphrodite leading her siblings over, watching Tessa all the while. In the distance, Nova and Calum led their siblings and their contraptions out of Cabin Nine. Everyone was looking to Tessa, their leader in this war, for guidance.

It felt like Tessa was standing on the cliff of a continental shelf, miles underwater as she loomed atop the abyss. Now was not the time to get lost in her emotions, in the inevitable heartbreaks that would follow the next few days, weeks, months. People would die, some of them could be the faces looking to her right now.

"Tessa?"

Tessa closed her eyes, taking a breath as she felt the familiar claws of anxiety reaching for her, trying to drown her. She couldn't afford to be weak, she couldn't afford to be afraid, not now. She needed to call upon her strength, upon her powers to lead her forces and save them all.

One way or another, this would end. And so long as Tessa was alive, no one else would die.

Tessa opened her eyes, returning her attention to Sophia. "Head to Midtown. We'll meet you there. I want everyone at their correct assignments. No one gets into Camp Half-Blood, or Olympus. Understood?"

Sophia smirked, nodding. "Understood." And with that, she jogged away.

"Tessa!"

She whirled around to find Dale behind her, golden eyes luminous in the growing darkness. "Kassie's portal is ready. Are you?"

Tessa nodded, and headed back into the infirmary with Dale, passing children of Apollo prepping for their positions as battle medics. They reached Chase's room, where a silvery portal was waiting for them.

"There you are," Kassie said upon their arrival. "The others have gone ahead."

Dale sheathed her bronze dagger, rolling her shoulders as she approached the portal. "Where are the Hunters going to be?"

"We'll be wherever you need us," Kassie glanced between Dale and Tessa. Her gaze lingered on the daughter of Poseidon, and Tessa remembered the first moment she'd met Kassie. How far they'd come since then.

"Follow us when you can," Tessa answered. "We'll need your forces."

Kassie nodded curtly. She motioned to the portal, where Dale was just stepping through. "When you're ready, Tessa."