[miserabile visu]
Reese had never run faster, fought harder, or prayed stronger in his entire twenty-two years of life than in these minutes of battle.
The second he had leapt out from Kassie's portal, he had sprinted into the smoking building, firing arrows at any of Menoetious' henchmen that dared to cross him. He left a trail of bodies and bronze in his wake as he fought his way up to Imogen's floor. One after another, his enemies went down, and he was one floor closer to Imogen.
It became a mantra in the son of Apollo's mind as he raced up the seemingly endless flights of stairs. Nock, draw, fire, run. Nock, draw, fire, run. Imogen. Imogen. Imogen.
Finally, Reese burst through the stairwell door onto Imogen's floor. Fire alarms were blaring, but Reese ignored them, along with the plumes of sizzling smoke streaming out the windows. He probably should have worried about asphyxiation, but the only thing on his mind was finding Imogen and getting her out of here.
Arrow drawn, Rees crept down the aisles of the office, peering into cubicle after cubicle to ensure there were no enemy soldiers waiting for him. He trampled fallen papers, discarded weapons, and broken glass on his quest, his heart racing with each step he took.
Finally, he saw her.
Reese dashed towards Imogen, sprawled on the carpeted floor of the office. Her blonde hair was caked with ash, debris, and blood from an ugly scar on her temple. She seemed lifeless, and Reese choked back a sob.
Please, gods, please don't take her away from me, Reese thought to himself as he shouldered his bow. He reached for Imogen's neck with trembling hands, pressing two fingers to the soft patch of skin between her jaw and ear.
Please...
He felt it. It took a few moments, but Imogen's pulse was still there, fluttering like a butterfly with a broken wing, trying to lift off. She was still alive.
If he wasn't in the middle of a war, Reese would have burst into tears. He hung his head in relief, sniffed back the onslaught of tears, and released a shaky breath. He pulled Imogen into his arms, carrying her bridal style, and got to his feet.
That's when he saw them.
Bodies littered the floor like grotesque roadblocks, fanning out from behind Imogen, towards the pinnacle of the explosion. What must have been the mailing room was now a charred husk of its former self, still steaming and glowing with embers. Imogen had gotten the tail end of the blast, knocking her unconscious, but some of her fellow Romans hadn't been so lucky. Scarlet blood stained their violet t-shirts, their golden armor. Ash covered their faces. Some didn't have much of a face left to cover.
Reese watched this silent scene, sorrow feuding with rage in his heart. He'd been lucky; Imogen had been spared. How many of these half-bloods' families would be able to say the same thing? How many of them had half-siblings, parents, friends that were agonizing over their loved ones' return?
War was a greedy entity. It could take lives without remorse, wreak devastation upon the innocent and the guilty, until even the survivors weren't sure what side they were on to begin with.
But this war had only just begun. There were still countless lives left to be lost if he didn't move now. Flynn was the medic, the one with the power to heal these people as best he could. Reese? He was the fighter, the defender of those who needed to be saved.
So, with a prayer on his lips, Reese Hale turned with Imogen in his arms, and stalked out of this battlefield, wondering if he would find a similar scene on the next.
~~
The street outside the office building was in shambles when Reese emerged from the shattered sliding doors, sapphire eyes burning with a remorseful flame. He'd hardly been outside for ten seconds before one of his half-siblings, a girl named Renee, rushed up to him.
"Is she okay?" Renee asked, her voice practically a squeak.
Reese glanced down at Imogen in his arms, practically weightless. "She's unconscious. Can you heal her?"
Renee was barely fifteen, so much younger than Reese and yet wiser than he gave the kid credit for. She'd been training alongside Flynn in the infirmary since she'd stumbled into Camp Half-Blood last year. How quickly her life had changed...
Renee nodded, drawing her dark brows together. She didn't speak as she flagged down the nearest child of Hecate, manning everything between the portals back to camp and the Mist surrounding the battlefield and the attacks left to be made. It just so happened that the girl jogging over, trailed by a violet haze, was Amelie.
Her bright eyes darkened upon sight of Imogen. She looked up at Reese, understanding passing between them, and snapped her fingers. A cloudy portal materialized a few feet away; Reese could see the infirmary through the mist and magic.
Reese handed Imogen to Renee, who managed to hurry her way through the portal and disappear. It closed shut with a poof, leaving Reese alone with his sister-in-law.
"How is it?" Reese asked, his tone grave.
"Not good," Amelie shook her head. Her face seemed sallow, her eyes and cheeks sunken. Directing all the magic she could possess into different areas of the battle must have drained her energy, and yet, Amelie was still up and fighting. "Pardon my French, but everything's going to shit."
"How many civilian casualties?" Reese asked as Amelie started walking towards the street, littered with bodies of fallen enemy soldiers.
"Thankfully, none," Amelie reported as they stepped over an enemy soldier's body. "A few are wounded, that's where Flynn is now."
Reese nodded, taking in the information, as well as the state of the battlefield. It seemed strange. Their chunk of street was completely in shambles, covered in bodies and blood stains and burns. The office building was still sending plumes of smoke into the sky. And yet, thanks to Amelie and her siblings, the Mist had held. Civilians walked around the blockades they'd put up as nothing had been there at all.
"Where is everyone?" Reese asked.
Amelie stopped, glancing up at him. "You'll see."
Reese furrowed his eyebrows in confusion but followed Amelie's gaze. Mark and Kaden were standing nearby, receiving reports from various demigods. Dale was nowhere to be seen, but Tessa was standing on the curb, directing streams of water up to the scorching floor. The remaining demigods in their forces gave her a wide berth, as if stepping within a ten foot radius of the daughter of Poseidon would be their demise.
Reese started for her, but Amelie grabbed his sleeve. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. Not right now."
"Why?" Reese asked. "What's up with her?"
Amelie's eyes darkened again. "Rainier showed up, Reese. With a firing squad." She dropped Reese's gaze. "He shot Madi to death."
Reese felt his heart stop, and he tore his attention to Tessa. She'd lowered one hand, and Reese could see it was stained with blood. Madi's blood.
"Oh, gods," Reese breathed, dragging a hand through his blond hair. He knew Tessa well enough to know that she would try to numb her emotions and focus on the work yet to be done when something like this happened. When someone she loved was taken from her.
But then again, Tessa had changed. They all had. Battle after battle had twisted and tugged at their souls and their resolve until they emerged as completely new people on the other side.
There was no telling what Tessa would do now. She was as unstable as a nuclear reaction, just looking for the right time to explode.
"Just leave her alone for right now," Came Amelie's quiet warning. "She has enough on her plate." And with that, the daughter of Hecate hurried off towards the tasks awaiting her.
Thankfully, Reese didn't need to think about his next move, because it came in the form of Mark and Kaden, approaching him with matching expressions of concern and dread.
"Hey, how're you holding up? Did you find Imogen?" Kaden asked, his green eyes bright with worry.
Reese nodded. "Yeah." He cleared his throat. "Yeah, she's still alive."
Mark's eyes widened. "Really?"
Reese pinned him with a derisive look. "Did you think otherwise?"
"Nothing against Imogen, but Reese, you saw what happened. The odds were low, but I'm glad she defied them," Mark elaborated, his words airy with caution.
Reese pressed his lips into a thin line, looking down at his ashy shoes. "She was lucky. But others weren't, and they won't be if we don't find Menoetious and stop him."
"We were right," Mark said. "Rainier was Menoetious."
"I wish we weren't," Kaden's voice was grim, and Reese knew why. He could see where his best friend was looking without having to see it for himself.
"What's our next move?" Reese asked. "Typhon's awake, and if he reaches New York before we can sever the connection Menoetious has to him, we'll all be screwed."
"We can't move without Tessa," Mark's voice was soft.
Reese sighed, looking over to where Tessa was standing, only to find that she was no longer at the curb. Instead, she'd mounted a nearby park bench, and the demigods were surrounding her.
"She is a psychological marvel," Mark muttered. "Five stages of grief in no time."
Kaden swatted at Mark, and the three boys headed over to where Tessa was preaching. She wouldn't meet either of their gaze's, anyone's, really. She kept her eyes aloft, saying her piece without contact as if the slightest glance would tear her to pieces.
"—Our suspicions were correct, but we cannot afford to celebrate our accuracy. Menoetious has entirely renounced his reputation as Rainier, which makes him unpredictable and therefore, dangerous. We've tried to bend the Mist to our will, but we now have two duties: protect our kind and protect the mortals. Whatever war that Menoetious is trying to start with him and finish with Typhon will cost them more casualties than it will us." Tessa announced, her voice like stone.
"We need to defend Manhattan against Menoetious and his forces. Olympus is a few blocks away, and with the gods incapacitated, we cannot risk a breach. Therefore, I will be assigning new missions to each cabin. You are to commit to your mission, and answer first to your counselor, and then to me." Tessa watched the sea of demigods before her. "You fought well today. Keep making me proud."
No one spoke to thank her. No one attempted to revere her. Instead, the sea of demigods parted down the middle as Tessa stepped down from her bench. Each step she took was calculated, and maybe it was Reese's imagination, but he could feel a slight tremor through the earth as she walked through the makeshift aisle.
Hail, Tessa Brennan, daughter of Poseidon; god of the sea, father of horses, earthshaker.
Reese remembered meeting Tessa for the first time, and finding her underwhelming compared to all the gossip floating through camp since her arrival. How could a girl so small and so stubborn have the power to raise the seas and shake the earth?
That had been nearly eight years ago, and now, watching as Tessa emerged from the crowd, he wondered the same thing. How could Tessa, this girl who loved and fought so fiercely, continue to be a benevolent leader and a frightening enemy? She was expected to be so many things, that she couldn't just be her at a time like this. She needed to be who those looking to her for guidance needed her to be, and that was a general.
Surprisingly, Tessa made a sharp turn and headed directly towards Reese, Mark, and Kaden. Her eyes were unsettling: a chaotic turquoise, rimmed with red, like the sea after a shark attack.
She slowed to a stop before them, eyeing them each as if daring one of them to ask her how she was holding up. However, Reese and Mark and Kaden knew her by now, and knew not to ask that at a time like this.
"So, Tess," Kaden spoke, his voice both soft and strong. "What's our next move?"
Tessa's bloodshot eyes flicked to Kaden, softening slightly. "I sent Dale to find us a base. She should be back soon."
"What then?" Mark asked. "You mentioned new assignments. Do you have ideas?"
Tessa shook her head, sniffling. "Some," Her voice was scratchy, like she'd screamed it raw. "I'll need help with them."
"Well, allow me," Reese chimed, trying to coax Tessa to look up at him. She did, and Reese smiled ever so slightly. Just enough to support her. "I have yet to draft a capture the flag strategy that didn't prove victorious."
A ghost of a smile tugged at Tessa's lips, but realization struck behind her haunted eyes, and her face fell once more. It was then Reese noticed that her hands were still a faint red, blood caked beneath her fingernails like she'd clawed out someone's throat.
Tessa opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by Dale's voice. "I've got it!"
Reese turned to find Dale darting towards them, her caramel hair disheveled from its braid. Her lip was split, but if Dale cared, she didn't show it.
"Really?" Kaden folded his arms across his chest as he turned to the daughter of Demeter. "Where is it?"
Dale wiggled her eyebrows. "That would spoil the surprise. Follow me, everyone, and please, stay within the tour group." She turned on her heel and bounded down the street, leaving Reese, his friends, and their forces with no choice but to follow.
~~
Ten minutes later, with the help of some Mist, the group of a few dozen demigods stopped before Dale's café, Nectar and Ambrosia, on Fifth Avenue. They hadn't gone in, mostly because everyone was still baffled at how nearly a hundred demigods were supposed to fit inside a small café on New York's most conspicuous street.
Dale stood at the head of the group, beaming. "Come on in!" She waved them through the door.
"Uh, Dale?" Mark asked, eyes glued to the sign. "Why?"
Dale shot her best friend a look. "Just trust me, huh?" And with that, she sashayed into the café.
Reese had no choice but to follow, so he and his friends filed through the door.
And he found a completely different setting.
Instead of the typical café scene Reese had grown used to, there were cots and medical supplies set up around the room. A few of the wounded immediately flocked to the cots, and nymphs materialized beside them, aiding them where they could.
"But wait," Dale said. "There's more."
She went behind the counter, now empty of desserts, and pressed a button. The door that would have led to the kitchen shimmered and dissolved until a bronze elevator door was in its place.
"Dale, what the—" Tessa began, her eyes wide in shock.
"I had some help from Amelie," Dale shrugged. "Thanks to her and the Mist, Nectar and Ambrosia will serve as a makeshift military base/infirmary until the feces stop hitting the oscillating object. Now, if you need medical attention, don't be afraid to speak up, and if you need to rest, you'll find rooms upstairs."
A frenzy of demigods hurried for the elevator, but were stopped as Tessa spoke up.
"Hold on!" She exclaimed. "I want to speak with Dionysus, Nike, and Hermes cabins."
The two dozen demigods between the three cabins stayed back as the rest of the Greeks filtered through the infirmary and up into Dale's makeshift hotel. Reese eyed the counselors of each cabin: Rory, the head counselor of Hermes' offensive group, seemed spooked; Lyric's eyepatch was as menacing as ever as the head counselor of Nike, and as for Dionysus—
"Holy crap," Kaden marveled. "Jett, what the hell are you doing here?"
The head counselor of Dionysus shucked off his hood, and sure enough, Jett Tran, the son of Bacchus grinned back at his former friend. "What, you're not happy to see me?"
"Jett," Tessa's voice was like a swift punch, snagging the boy's attention. "What're you doing here?"
Jett's cheerful look dulled a bit, and he shifted. "I came in with the Romans against my will. While the rest of them took the legionnaires from Camp Half-Blood, I snuck into Cabin Twelve and made my peace with them. Kaya and Alex were acting out of fear, but I don't agree with it. We need to be united, and I'm here to help with that."
"The explosion should have been enough of an act of unity," Mark raised his eyebrows in disbelief.
Jett shook his head. "Rome is crumbling from the inside out. We've been hit from too many sides, so we don't know who to trust. It'll take some convincing, but I don't want it to reach the point where more casualties on both sides will be what brings Greece and Rome together."
"No one does," Reese concurred. He nodded to Jett. "Do you have a plan?"
"Yeah!" Jett chimed.
"Then carry it out when your shift is done," Tessa said briskly. She averted her attention to include Rory and Lyric. "I want the three of you to lead your cabins. You have first watch. Take the city block up to the Empire State Building. If anyone that even looks like they could be a threat comes near you, you have my permission to—"
"Eliminate them?" Lyric looked up from filing her nails with her dagger.
Tessa blinked. "Uh, no. Bring them to Camp Half-Blood for interrogation." She turned to Reese. "Get in touch with Chiron. He's our best bet for interrogation."
Reese nodded, digging out his phone as he excused himself from the group conversation. He'd slipped out of Nectar and Ambrosia, phone half-way to his ear when he spotted someone along the opposite side of the road.
Suddenly, he wasn't twenty-two and battle-hardened, but twelve and confused, watching as his family car abandoned him and Flynn along Half-Blood Hill. His phone fell to the ground, his heart stopping as the breath gathered in his throat.
"Mom?"