[eheu fugaces labuntur anni]

For the first time in a very long time, Reese felt like things were finally starting to make sense. It felt like he'd seen the light again after so long in the dark, finally found the answer after so much confusion. Because as he stood amid the archery range, the group of his campers firing bows alongside him as he fired with a smile on his face, he'd felt just a glimmer of hope sparkle down onto him.

After all, so many things were going right in the past 48 hours. Tessa had woken up after days in a cursed coma, and was now the Tessa that they all knew and loved. Flynn and Amelie had arrived from their honeymoon in England, and were now aiding the cause at Camp Half-Blood. Kaden and Dale were using their combined hacking abilities to go through the evidence they had on the Masks and Aether, and were apparently very close to finding a surefire lead.

Their success was nearly tangible, a leaf floating through a warm summer breeze.

Reese's smile grew at the thought, and he drew another arrow and pulled his bowstring back to his cheek. His sapphire eyes locked on the bullseye of the target before him and with a deep breath—

The sound of his campers suddenly sprinting out of the archery range snagged Reese's attention at the worst possible second. He turned his head, dazed, and his golden arrow sailed far from the target, let alone the bullseye. However, he wasn't paying attention.

"Where do you all think you're going?" Reese lowered his bow, furrowing his brow.

Naturally, no one answered him. Reese frowned and averted his attention in the direction that his group of campers were running off to. Nothing seemed to be wrong, judging by the giggles and the chatter, and Reese had half a mind to try and look for his reflection—was something caught in his teeth or something that he'd scared them all away?—when he saw Chase Ferguson come trotting up to meet them, a smile like the Cheshire on his face.

Reese narrowed his gaze, disdain fermenting in his soul. He huffed a breath and marched out of the archery range, following his campers as they darted off after Chase.

As soon as he saw it, he tried with every ounce of his will to keep from laughing. He failed.

Chase and Mark's constant battle was one that Reese had been familiar with for a long time now, but it had mostly consisted of jabs and quick remarks at the other. Apparently, their war had escalated, because Reese came to a stop at the base of a group of campers looking up at Mark Akagi, dangling by his ankles from a rope tied to the tree. The campers were giggling, some were trying to help, but Mark was seething.

"What's wrong, Mark? You look a little...tied up at the moment," Chase smirked, folding his arms across his chest.

Mark, swinging slightly from where his ankles were bound, managed to glare at Chase the whole time. "If the blood wasn't rushing to my head right now, you'd be catching my fists of fury, Chase."

Chase arched a doubtful eyebrow. He snorted and turned on his heel, the group of campers in his wake.

Mark's gaze caught on Reese's. "Are you just going to stand there?"

Reese held up a finger. "Quiet. I'm trying to imprint this image into my head forever."

"You're a terrible person sometimes, you know that?"

"At least I'm not tied to a tree."

Silence.

Mark grumbled, "Just get me down from here."

Reese shook his head, laughing. "How'd you even get up here?" He walked closer to Mark, inspecting for the easiest possible way to get him down.

"The little runt lured me into a trap," Mark huffed. "I should've known."

Reese stifled another laugh. Judging from Mark's altitude and the type of knot that Chase had used, there was no way that he was going to get Mark down the old-fashioned way. He sighed, grabbing an arrow from his quiver and nocking it.

"What're you doing?" Mark asked, his voice suddenly trembling. "When I said you were a terrible person, I didn't mean it!"

Reese shot Mark a look. "I'm going to cut you down, relax." He drew the bowstring back. "And you're absolutely right; I'm delightful."

Before Mark could counter him, Reese released his golden arrow. It severed the rope tying Mark up, sailing into the grove beyond the tree. Mark screeched and fell to the ground, rolling atop the grass.

"If I wanted a concussion, I would have asked for one," Mark grumbled, sitting up and untying the knot at his feet.

Reese shook his head, holding out a hand. Mark took it, and he hauled himself to his feet.

"Don't you have a class to get back to?" Mark asked, brushing himself off.

Reese shrugged, placing his bow across his back. "They've all probably run off for the day," He responded. "Don't you have a son of Nike to maim?"

Mark glowered. "If only." He huffed a breath. "I'm gonna go check in with Kaden and Dale, see if there's anything else I can do for them."

Reese fell into stop with the son of Iris as he trekked out of the grove. He glanced around the valley as they walked, but just as they emerged from the grove, a shiver spider-walked down Reese's spine.

"Reese?" Mark's voice sounded distant, despite his standing right beside him. "What's up?"

Reese took a deep breath, and watched as it fogged up before him despite the warm weather. He felt like he was freezing from the inside out and he didn't know why.

That's when he saw it.

Like a flickering phantom, the body at the base of Mark's tree appeared. Blood flooded from a knife wound onto the grass, onto the white flowers that dotted the grove. With another flash, Reese realized that he was the body. Or rather, the version of himself that he'd killed.

"Reese?"

The son of Apollo looked at his hands, covered in blood. Panic dredged up in his veins and he forced another shaky breath.

And then just like that, it was all gone. The body, the blood, everything. All that was left of Reese's vision was the chill that had settled in his nerves, taunting him, teasing him, that his secrets wouldn't stay locked up forever.

"Dude, what's the matter with you?" Mark rested a hand on Reese's shoulder, and Reese jumped.

Reese chewed on his lip. "Nothing, I just...I thought I saw something."

Mark furrowed his brow, but cast an upturned eye around the grove. "Let's get to the Library, and see what's going on."

Reese nodded, and practically sprinted his way out of the grove with Mark at his side.

~~

While Camp Jupiter had a high-tech headquarters underneath the Principia, Camp Half-Blood had the Library of Athena. It was one of the largest buildings in Camp Half-Blood, filled to the brim with files and documents and books in a span of languages, from Latin to Ancient Greek to English and everything in between. Most of the time, the only demigods that frequented it were children of Athena or half-bloods that had been selected for quests. However, it was now the base for the resistance against the Masks.

And in Reese's head, it was one of the most beautiful places in Camp Half-Blood. Immaculate Greek columns dotted the three-story building, with ceiling-to-floor windows on each level. Stone bookshelves covered every wall, every aisle, and in the center of the building was an intricate fountain carved of all twelve Olympians in a circle, with water flowing around their feet. It had been Sophia Ransom's parting gift to Camp Half-Blood two years ago, before she and her girlfriend, Alexia Prinz, went to go work with the Amazons up in Seattle for some mission that Reese forgot about.

Mark and Reese entered the library and headed to the top floor, which held all the high-tech gadgets that Dale and Kaden had acquainted themselves with. Sure enough, their friends were waiting for them there.

"It's about time," Dale called from behind a bookshelf. "What kept you so long, Akagi?"

Mark shot Reese a death glare, warning him to not so much as utter a word from his incident. Reese gave Mark a trusting nod and looked away.

"Got held up with something," Mark coughed, walking towards the center of the floor. "Do you guys have anything new?"

Kaden whirled around from where he was typing away rapidly on his computer. Reese was almost taken aback at how...different Kaden seemed. For so long, Reese had watched his best friend toe the line of self-destruction in the three years that Tessa had been gone; more so, after they broke up. Kaden was tenser, quieter; his hair had gotten longer and hung in a style similar to how Alex's had once been, his clothing had been rumpled.

But now...Kaden was back to himself, it seemed. His hair was still shaggy, but his emerald eyes glinted the way they once had. There was his omnipresent soft smile lacing his lips. The jeans and flannel he wore were ironed and looked like new.

"I've been working on the algorithm to pinpoint Jared Knight's mystery location," Kaden responded, nodding to his screen. "And I am pleased to say that I've narrowed our chances down from the entire country to the Northeast."

"That's still like, eight states," Mark quipped.

Kaden arched a brow, a pointed look at Mark. "How was that tree you were in, Mark?"

Mark froze. Reese froze. Dale leapt out from where she was hiding behind the bookshelf.

"How'd you know?" Mark whispered in incredulous horror.

Kaden smirked, pointing to the window that when Reese looked through it, gave a perfect view to the grove where Chase trapped Mark. "Box seats."

Mark deflated to the sound of Dale's chipper laughter. Reese smiled and walked over to the board they'd set up. Like the one in Camp Jupiter, it was filled with pictures of the missing, photos of the Masks, locations, theories, everything that they had on the case. Only now, there was a new addition to the board.

"What did you guys manage to get out of Jared Knight, anyway?" Reese asked, eyeing the photograph of the blond boy Sera Brennan once knew.

"Nothing coherent," Dale sighed, strolling over with books in her arms. "Everything he said was just...it was like speaking to the Oracle."

Reese's eyebrows shot up at that. "Maybe he tried to be the Oracle and that's why everything he said was cryptic?"

Dale shook her head, golden irises locked on the photograph. Something filled her gaze, something that Reese couldn't decipher. "He knew something that the Masks either wanted from him, or wanted to make sure he could never release."

"Didn't he say he had a son?" Mark asked from where he reclined on a Roman-style sofa. "Shouldn't we be looking for him?"

"We tried," Kaden said flatly. "But no one knows where Jared's son is. He said that the moon took his son from him and that the ocean would bring him back."

Mark blinked. "What?"

"Exactly." Kaden nodded.

Mark flopped back on the sofa. "Well, the moon controls the ocean, so maybe it has something to do with that?"

Dale looked over his shoulder at her best friend. "Are you really trying to bring up a scientific standpoint to this? We're children of gods, Mark."

Mark threw his hands up in surrender.

Reese furrowed his eyebrows at that, Dale's words ringing in his head. "Then it has to do with the gods. The moon is Artemis and the ocean is Poseidon."

"That doesn't make any sense," Kaden rebutted. "What would the Olympians want with the son of a mortal guy?"

"Or maybe it's the Hunters?" Dale theorized. "Jared did say that he knew the Hunters of Artemis. He knew Sera, and went on a quest with her once."

"So the Hunters took his son and Poseidon will bring him back?" Mark made a face. "Where do Aether and the Masks even fit into this whole equation?"

That's when it hit Reese.

"Poseidon's not the one that'll bring his son back," Reese said, his voice like echoes in his head. "Tessa will."

Silence dropped on the room.

"That's how it's connected to Aether," Reese continued, adrenaline pumping through his veins. "We know that the Masks were watching Tessa during her absence, waiting for her to be at her most vulnerable. Then, she gets cursed into a coma by the Arai, who are working for Aether. The ocean isn't Poseidon, it's his daughter."

"But what would Aether want with Tessa? There's still a disconnect," Mark tried.

Reese turned back to the board. "Maybe the Masks have Jared's son. Maybe that's why they messed up his mind."

Dale made a sound in the back of her throat, and Reese turned to look at her. She looked like she'd just pieced something together, something pivotal, but before anyone could make anything of it, the sound of high heels clicking against the marble floors of the Library echoed through the room.

Reese's heart elated at the sound and he turned around, a grin already on his face.

Imogen Cadwell sauntered down the marble floors in heels, pink jeans, a white sweater, and heart-shaped sunglasses on her face. She stopped, removing her glasses and giving the four people before her. "I came as soon as I heard, so please tell me that I didn't charmspeak my way into two months paid vacation for nothing."

~~

Greetings out of the way, Reese couldn't have been more relieved that Imogen had finally come to Camp Half-Blood. It had been an uphill battle trying to get her to safety, what with the Masks out and about, but even though the daughter of Cupid could handle some dudes in masks, having Imogen with him relieved almost every worry that Reese was harboring.

"I'm so sorry I couldn't get here earlier," Imogen said, her hand in Reese's as they left the Library of Athena. They were headed to the Big House to show Imogen her room.

"Don't worry about it," Reese smiled. "I'm just glad you're safe."

"Yeah, Imogen, how did you even land getting here?" Kaden asked from the front of the group.

"Well, Gray, when you can charmspeak and your job is all about your way with words—"

"Never mind, I get the point."

Imogen's smile lit up her face—and Reese's heart. The blonde daughter of Cupid looked up at Reese and her smile only grew. "What?"

"Nothing," Reese matched her grin. "Just thinking about how much I love you."

And when a rosy haze appeared on Imogen's cheeks, Reese felt his heart flip in victory. He leant in and pecked her cheek, and when Imogen yelped in amused surprise, he did it again.

"Oy, lovebirds, keep it PG." Mark called from behind them.

Reese gestured to Mark from behind, and judging by the sound that the son of Iris made, he wasn't too happy with it.

The group reached the Big House, and Kaden and Mark submit themselves to lugging the onus of Imogen's twelve pink Gucci suitcases. As Imogen followed them down to where she'd be staying, walking the hardwood floors as if it were a runway, Reese watched her go and smiled.

He remembered meeting her when he was seventeen, feeling like he was about to lose his best friend to the world he belonged to. And then she traipsed into his life, a vision, an ephemeral haze of designer perfume and melodious laughter. She'd tried to evade his capture, and he'd tried to evade her games. But when the universe wanted two people to be together, it found a way to do so.

"Reese?" Dale's voice brought the son of Apollo out of his reverie. He turned to see the small daughter of Demeter lingering in the living room of the Big House, her golden eyes dim. "Could I talk to you about something?"

Reese blinked, but nodded. "Sure, what's up?"

Dale took a deep breath, like what she was about to say pained her. "I've...these past few weeks, I've been keeping something from you guys. I didn't think much of it at first, but now, I realize it's a lot more than I had anticipated."

"What is it?" Reese said, concern lacing his voice. He took a step towards Dale, and for some reason unbeknownst to him, Dale started and took an equal step away from him.

"Dale?" Reese knit his eyebrows together. Dale looked like she was trying to get the words out, but they were locked in her throat, choking her. Her golden eyes shimmered, and before Reese could take another step towards her, footsteps filled the air and just as quickly as Dale had succumbed to her secret, she came out of it.

"I gotta say, I didn't know the Big House had that many rooms," Mark huffed, stretching his arms from the weight of Imogen's suitcases.

Imogen gave the son of Iris a flippant look. "Oh, please, you're just grouchy because my stuff was heavy."

"Maybe I am," Mark sniffed. "What'd you pack, rocks?"

"What's it to you?"

Reese shook his head and looked back to Dale, and before he could say anything, she shot him a steely look. Don't you dare.

Reese frowned. He opened his mouth to speak, but the sound of bickering beat him to words.

"Flynn, I'm fine, now really, you can stop—"

"You were in a coma for nearly a week! You need to be resting, or let me at least finish your checkup—"

"Hey, everybody," Tessa said loudly as she entered the Big House. Flynn Hale flanked her on one side, a stethoscope around his neck and a distraught look on his face.

Tessa looked to Reese from across the room, a desperate look in her turquoise eyes. "Can you help, please?"

Reese, although confused by Dale's shift in behavior, nodded. "Flynnigan," He snagged his twin brother's attention at the nickname. "Release."

Flynn stood, a displeased glint in his sapphire eyes. "What, she walks out of a coma and is peachy keen?"

"First, don't say peachy keen ever again," Reese quipped. "And second, don't you have other patients to work on than Tessa, who you've checked on a million times in the past day and haven't found anything troubling?"

Flynn pressed his lips together in defeat. "Maybe..."

"I rest my case."

Flynn fidgeted with the gold wedding band on his finger, the permanent reminder to his wedding with Amelie Winters, the daughter of Hecate. He looked away from Tessa, who had extricated herself from his grip, and caught glimpse of Imogen. "Oh, hey, Gen's here!"

"Hey, Flynn," Imogen smiled warmly. "How was England?"

"Ah, you know," Flynn waved a hand. "Rainy, damp, but pretty cool."

Imogen laughed. "I hope you and Amelie had fun."

"Yeah, how's Amelie?" Kaden asked, a friendly smile on his face.

"Oh, she's good."

"Ooh, did you guys bring souvenirs?" Mark asked.

Dale whacked him. "You're 21 and you still want souvenirs?"

"Why shouldn't I?"

Reese took a step back as the voices escalated, suddenly shaken. The voices began to swirl around his head like he was caught in a storm, and he shook his head, trying to free himself from their grip.

Then, suddenly, the voices stopped as Reese cried out, "Flynn, I need to talk to you outside."

The room fell silent. Reese's friends all looked to one another in partial confusion as Flynn's eyebrows shot up in start. However, he followed his twin out the door, shutting it behind him.

"What's up?" Flynn asked, leaning against one of the white posts surrounding the wrap-around porch. He was always cool, always sympathetic; he and Amelie were a good match for each other, Reese thought.

Reese took a shaky breath, the image of his dead body coming to the forefront of his memory. "I...had a health question."

Flynn's eyebrow raised. "Are you okay?"

Reese hesitated, but nodded. "Yeah, no, it's just that after Tessa's predicament, I've been thinking." He cleared his throat. He'd had years of training in dissuading enemies, but then again, so had Flynn. "If someone is...cursed, and then undergoes strenuous or traumatic circumstances, how would that leave their mind?"

Flynn knit his eyebrows together. "Well, in Tessa's case, she fell into a coma. That would be the norm for situations like that."

"Well, what if the person just goes on like nothing's wrong? They're cursed, they witness all of these terrible things—maybe even commit some terrible things...would that mental curse somehow show symptoms later on in life?"

"What kind of curse are you talking about? There's a lot, all with their own symptoms and side effects."

Reese took a deep breath; was it just him or was it getting harder to breathe? "The Achilles curse, for instance."

Flynn's eyes widened. "You know someone with the Achilles curse?"

Reese shook his head. "Hypotheticals. Like, if Tessa had the Achilles curse, how would that work with the other curses she was forced to submit to?"

Flynn bit his lip. "Well, the Achilles curse is a tricky one. It's really rare, and rarer still for someone to actually walk out of the Styx with it. If Tessa had the Achilles curse and then was cursed by the Arai...given the fact that she woke up...she probably wouldn't have woken up to begin with."

"But she did."

"But she doesn't have the Achilles curse."

"But what if she did? What would happen if she had the Achilles curse, underwent all that mental trauma, and walked out of it unscathed?"

Flynn was eyeing Reese carefully, but despite Reese's rapid heartbeat and attempt to remain calm. "She'd face a lot of side effects. Hallucinations, anxiety, a lot of similar symptoms to those that she already tends to experience but...worse, if that makes any sense. Eventually, she'd be driven to madness."

"What would happen then?"

Flynn pressed his lips together. "If she didn't end up tearing herself to pieces from the torture, she'd do it to those around her."

Reese released a shaky breath with a pang. "Would there be any way to prevent that madness from happening?"

Flynn knit his eyebrows together. "There could be one thing, but it's a cure that no one really knows about."

"Tell me."

"Reese, are you sure you're alright?"

Before Reese could demand even more information from his brother, the door slammed open, making both sons of Apollo jump. Reese whirled and found his friends all streaming out the door, talking animatedly, arming themselves. Kaden was the last out the door, watching his phone with a look of both victory and defeat.

"Kaden, what is it?" Reese asked.

The son of Venus looked up, his emerald eyes electric. "We got a location. Jared Knight's address is up in Maine, and if we're right about this hunch of ours, then we'll have some Masks to interrogate by the end of it."

Reese's blue eyes widened, and curse forgotten, he sprang into step with his best friend. Flynn was close behind, although he swerved off to the infirmary after a short while. Before Reese knew it, all of Camp Half-Blood was buzzing with the news: the Masks were to be ambushed, Tessa was back on her feet and ready to lead, they'd get their friends back, the rumors spread on and on.

But as the group made their way to the Library of Athena, Reese caught Dale's eyes from across the green. She was silent, somber, solemn.

Like she'd known about this all along.