Maelstrom

Twenty-Three

Lukas shot Mark a wry look. "Yes. It was right before our candlelit dinner."

Mark put his hands up in surrender. Reese tried not to roll his eyes.

Eventually, the glass hallway came to an end at a steel door. This was what Reese had been expecting. He pulled the designated arrow from his quiver, strung it, and said, "Stand by."

Then he fired.

The arrowhead split at the last second into a sort of grapple, latching onto the steel door. Along the shaft of the arrow, lights began to glow as somewhere on the streets below, Dale and Eli began to hack into the security systems surrounding it. Eventually, the hydraulic lock hissed open.

"Open sesame and all that jazz," Dale announced into Reese's ear. "Be quick."

Reese didn't need to be told twice. He strung another arrow and crept through the threshold into the holding room, nearly blinded at all the light. Fluorescent lights hung from the ceiling and lined the corners of the room, all aimed at its focal point: a white-marble pillar with a glass top, inside of which sat a glimmering sword.

The Sword of Peleus.

"That's it?" Mark asked. "I've seen more impressive swords at camp. We could have passed one of those off as this to the Romans and been done with it."

Reese promptly ignored him. He surveyed the floor for any traps, the air for any lasers, but came up empty. All they had to do was take the Sword and go.

Lukas huffed a breath. "All of that waiting for a toothpick." And with that, he strode towards it.

"No!" Reese exclaimed—

But nothing happened. Lukas walked harmlessly to the pedestal, searched the rim, pressed a button, and watched as the glass disappeared. With a passing glance to Reese, he reached in, grabbed the Sword, and turned back around.

"Don't get your panties in a twist, Hale," Lukas chided. "Everything is fine."

Reese cleared his throat, standing up straighter. "It could have been a trap."

Lukas waved his free hand as he walked back towards Reese and Mark. "Well, it wasn't." He raised his sleeve to his mouth. "Asset is attained."

Lukas furrowed his eyebrows. "I said asset is attained." He gave Reese and Mark wary looks. "They're not answering."

Reese turned on his comms, but sure enough, there was no sound coming from the other side. Not even static. It was as if the connection itself had been frozen or shut off.

Mark cursed, pulling out his phone. "If Alcander died on me—" He cut himself off as the phone rang.

"Mark!" Dale exclaimed, her voice coming through the speaker.

"What the hell happened?" Mark asked.

"We were shut out of the system and trying to get it back as we speak—" Dale cut herself off by slipping into Spanish, probably uttering what Reese figured to be curses. "—But we have a serious problem!"

"What is it?" Reese asked, his hand creeping up towards his quiver.

"Footage is showing Tessa getting taken by Menoetious. They electrocuted her. They're in some room on the sixth floor." Dale rattled off. "Mist protection is down by the way!"