Maelstrom

Nineteen

[hortus in urbe]

Tessa felt her heart constrict within her chest, as if actual snakes were twisting around her vitals. She watched as the Oracle spread her hands, and the green smoke around her began to pillow. Her eyes began to shine, and a resonation like a hum in the earth began to vibrate at Tessa's feet.

"I am the spirit of Delphi, speaker of the prophecies of Phoebus Apollo, slayer of the mighty Python. Approach seeker and ask." Came the Oracle's voice.

Tessa took a deep breath. "Show me the Great Prophecy."

A bright light began to shine from around the Oracle, as if a new dawn was forming behind her. Tessa held up a hand to shield her eyes but found herself entranced as the Oracle spoke. "Out of the depths, a half-blood shall rise and become the key to the ancient ones' demise. And see the turn of eras new and old, defeat the traitors of bronze and gold. Or witness the world in smoke and flame, accept thy darkness, accept thy name."

Tessa fell out of the memory with a start. She gripped the porcelain frame of the sink, holding on so tight that her knuckles turned white. Slowly, she let go, allowing the feeling to return to her fingers as she looked up at the mirror, as if expecting to find her memories displayed upon its glass surface.

But there was no sign of the Oracle, spewing green smoke that billowed around her like her floating chiton, or the Greek countryside beyond her. Rather, Tessa stared at a girl that seemed like herself, but just a little off. Her dark hair was twisted into a haphazardly assembled up-do, some strange combination of a bun, a braid, and a ponytail. Tempest gleamed from within the locks. Her sea-green eyes watched Tessa's every movement, their focus spurred by the slightest movement or change. Her face seemed sallow and sunken, a visage cut from a mountainside. The jacket on her frame had been cut, scorched, and torn in places, yet she wore it like armor.

It was Tessa, as if she'd walked out of a dream. Not entirely there, not entirely true, but corporeal enough to meander its way through its own semblance of life.

Tessa took a deep breath and exhaled, tearing her gaze from her haunting reflection. If she couldn't recognize herself now, she wondered how bad it would get in the days to come. How alien she would feel in her own skin.

These thoughts plagued Tessa as she marched out of her quarters and down the halls, until she emerged into the lobby of Dale's café-turned-military base. Thankfully, the number of wounded she had seen the day before had dwindled, and only a handful of demigods with more severe injuries were occupying the closed-off cots. Tessa caught a glimpse of Ms. Hale, but before she had a chance to speak with her, Reese and Flynn's mother returned to her healing.

"If it isn't our fearless leader," Mark said by way of greeting. Tessa turned to find him thrusting a mug of coffee towards her, which she gratefully obliged. "How'd you sleep?"

"There's no time for discussing the symbolism of our dreams, how few and far between they might be at the moment," Dale cut in from across the room, a remote control in her hands. Her golden eyes were locked on the TV screen hanging in the corner. "We have bigger problems, I'm afraid."

Tessa and Mark drifted over to where Dale was standing behind the counter, eventually assimilating into her worrisome stance. Dale had opened a news channel, and nothing being reported, however familiar, settled any of the nerves blossoming in Tessa's soul.