[iuncta iuvant]

If there was one thing that Tessa knew to be true about Dale Alcander, it ws that it was very difficult to surprise her. The daughter of Demeter almost always had a finger on the pulse of life, what with having a best friend like Mark Akagi running around. But as Tessa met her best friend's gaze from across the sandy shore, seeing the moonlight illuminate the shock in Dale's golden irises, she was almost taken aback herself.

Dale lowered her hand from her mouth, taking a few tentative steps forward. "Is it...is it really you, Tessa? I'm not dreaming this?"

Tessa looked down at herself, fighting a grimace. Her vision was already beginning to go blurry, why was she still talking—"Yeah, it's me. I'm back, Dale."

Dale's shock turned into pure joy as she hurried towards Tessa, trapping her in a hug. "You have no idea how much I've missed you. Don't ever leave us like that again, okay?"

Wincing away the pain in her side, Tessa tried her best to nod. "Okay, Dale," Tessa heaved a breath. "Now I really need to get to the infirmary."

Dale pried herself away, snapping to attention. "The infirmary? What's wrong?"

Tessa watched as her apartment door was kicked open, sending splinters of wood and metal flying at her in all directions. With a hand on Tempest in its pin form, Tessa peered through the wreckage as a figure moved through the doorway, and she saw—

"I'll explain everything when I'm not on the verge of unconsciousness. Now, please," Tessa wheezed, gripping her side. She could feel her sweatshirt already slick with blood.

Dale sprang into action, slinging Tessa's arm around her neck and wrapping her own around Tessa's waist. Together, they staggered away from the beach, each yard becoming a mile.

"Keep talking, Tessa," Dale urged. "Stay with me. What happened? How did you get here?"

Tessa tried to swallow, but her mouth was so dry. "After...after I reviewed the file Kaden left me, I decided that I couldn't just ignore what was happening. Part of me didn't want to come back but..."

"But?" Dale pressed. They'd reached the central green of cabins, and Tessa could see the faint glow of the infirmary in the distance.

"But this is my home. You guys are my home. And anyone that hurts my home will hear from me." Tessa managed, the driving force in her heart almost lessening the pain in her side. But it returned in the split second it had faded, stronger than ever. She cried out, stumbling a bit.

"Tessa!" Dale repositioned herself, helping Tessa back to her feet. "Okay, so you came back. How you got from Manhattan to Long Island Sound is a mystery, but how did you get hurt?"

Lie to them. You don't even know how it happened yourself. He's supposed to be gone, it makes no sense. Lie. Lie. Lie—

"Someone broke into my apartment as I was getting ready to leave," Tessa panted. They were almost to the infirmary, but Tessa's vision was going fuzzy. "They...they shouldn't have been there. We got into a fight. His sword struck me when I was making my escape."

"Who, Tessa? Who did this?" Dale's voice had taken on a new level of urgency. "Was he wearing a mask by any chance?"

Tessa grimaced, shaking her head. They'd reached the infirmary now, and Dale barked some orders at the few Apollo kids on the night shift. One scrambled for the cabinets as the other two sprinted out the door. They reached one of the cots, and Tessa collapsed onto it.

"Who was it, Tessa?" Dale asked again, her gold eyes bright.

Tessa breathed like her lungs were made of paper. "Matthew Baines."

Dale's eyes nearly popped out of her head. "That's not possible."

Tessa tried to shrug, but pain arched through her spinal cord. A heartbeat later, the Apollo kid brought a canteen of nectar around to Tessa's bedside, thrusting it into her hands. With shaking fingers, Tessa brought it to her lips and took a sip. As it always did, the drink of the gods tasted like some food that Tessa had enjoyed; this time, it tasted like the lemonade she and her mother made on hot summer days.

"I was just as surprised as you are," Tessa managed, some strength returning to her in waves. "I don't know how he got out of the Underworld, or how he found me, but he did and here I am." She waved at her side, where the Apollo kid, with trembling fingers, was examining.

The sound of rapid footsteps filled Tessa's ears and when she looked up, she saw Mark and Reese dart into the room, followed by Kaden. Her heart did a little tap dance in her chest—or maybe it was the fact that she was on the brink of death; who could tell.

"What the hell happened?" Reese asserted, blue eyes beseeching.

Dale got to her feet. "We will explain when Tessa isn't about to die."

"About to die?" All three boys said in panicked unison. Dale ushered them into the hallway, shutting the curtain to give Tessa some space.

"That might be an exaggeration," Tessa coughed. As the Apollo kid drew his now bloodied hands from Tessa's side, she grabbed them, looking into his eyes. He was young, maybe about sixteen, and judging from the shakiness of his hands, he didn't seem to be comfortable with someone else's life in his hands.

"Kid," Tessa said, her voice as soft as it could be. "Get some rest."

"Uh, lady, you're bleeding out on my shift." The Apollo boy laughed cynically. "Can't do that."

Tessa made a challenged face over the sound of Dale filling in the boys in the hallway. "You're, what, fifteen? Sixteen? Given your panic, you can't have done too much actual medical work aside from what you're being taught. You were put on the night shift because the odds of any major injuries happening when camp is out of session is slim."

The boy looked down; she got him. "I just want to help."

"I know you do," Tessa whispered. "And you have already. You've done the equivalent of first aid when it comes to being a half-blood, kid, you gave me nectar because you know what it does. Now, I don't want to go into shock and give you a heart attack because then we'd all be screwed but the tall boy in the hallway, the one with the brown hair who probably looks like he's on the verge of passing out from all this, he's a doctor. Send him in here, and thank you for your efforts." Tessa reclined against the pillows.

The Apollo boy blinked, but nodded. He hurried out of Tessa's sector, the curtain whipping shut around him. The next time Tessa opened her eyes, Kaden Gray was looking over her in concern.

"Gods dammit, Tess," Kaden exhaled. "What did you get yourself into this time?"

Tessa fought a smile. "All sorts of trouble, Kade. All sorts of trouble."

Kaden let out a sort of stressed laugh, but Tessa watched as he sterilized his hands and grabbed the medical supplies he needed. "Sword wound?"

Tessa nodded. "Celestial bronze, if that does anything for your medical questions."

Kaden made a considerate face, lifting up the fabric of Tessa's sweatshirt to clean up some of the blood. "It does, believe it or not. Celestial bronze and Imperial gold can still wound demigods, assuming the blades haven't been tampered with or poisoned, but if you'd been hit with Stygian Iron—"

"Let me take a wild guess," Tessa hissed as Kaden applied a disinfectant. "I wouldn't even be talking to you right now?"

"Close," Kaden said, looking up to meet her gaze with an impish look in his eyes. "You wouldn't be breathing."

"I see," Tessa nodded. "Well, thank the gods."

"Thank the gods indeed," Kaden muttered under his breath, tossing the bloodied swatches of gauze. "Now, uh, Tessa, I'm going to need to close the wound but I can't get to all of it with you like this."

Tessa arched a brow. "What do you mean?"

Kaden blushed. "Well, uh, you see..." He cleared his throat. "You're going to have to take your shirt off for me to actually do anything."

And despite it all, despite everything Tessa had just been through, despite the past three years and the break-up and the wars and the tragedy, Tessa found herself laughing. Kaden tried to fight a laugh himself. "Stop laughing, you'll make the bleeding worse."

Tessa chuckled. "If that's what all this fuss is about, Kaden, you should know better." She pulled her sweatshirt up and over her head, leaving her in a green sports bra. "It's not the first time you've seen me shirtless."

Kaden sucked in a breath, averting his gaze. "No, but it'll be the first time I've touched you without one since then."

That tension in the air that had lingered between them for a year and a half only intensified at that. Tessa sat up, desperately grasping for something to talk about. Anything that would stray her focus from Kaden's intricately focused fingers, cleaning her wound, grazing the skin on her waist—

"So what made you came back?" Kaden asked, tearing Tessa out of her reverie. "Two days ago you were resolute on staying where you were. What changed?"

Tessa bit her lip as Kaden brushed her ponytail over her other shoulder, his touch setting her nerves on fire. "You did. You're what made me came back, but tangentially."

Kaden's hands stilled for a microsecond, and Tessa knew why. But as fast as he'd stopped, he continued working. "I convinced you?"

"In a way," Tessa confessed. "But after you left...I did a lot of thinking. It was like I'd stayed hidden from thinking about all this for three years, but you were the catalyst that made all those thoughts come back. And then I started to see things, hear things, and I knew that whatever break the gods had deigned to give me had run out. I'd overrun my stay in whatever fantasy I'd tried to live in for three years."

Kaden took a seat on her bedside, green eyes intent as he tied thread to a needle. "Now, Tessa, I'm going to need you to keep talking. This'll sting a bit, but just distract yourself."

Tessa nodded, bracing herself. As Kaden began to stitch her up, she told him what had happened these past few days. How her nightmares had returned, how the figure in the park had uttered part of the prophecy and warned that she'd come back, everything. But by the end of it, she didn't even realize that Kaden had finished his stitching, and was now listening to intently to everything she was saying.

"It was time I came home," Tessa summarized, looking down. "I understand if everyone thinks it was selfish of me to stay away."

Kaden shook his head. "Hey, it wasn't selfish. You needed a break, we all did. Your break just consisted of isolation. Everyone copes in different ways. There's no need to apologize or anything of the sort."

Tessa smiled softly. "Thank you, Kaden. For everything."

Kaden mirrored her smile. "I've always got your back, Tessa. Never forget that."

Their gazes held for a moment too long, and Kaden ripped himself away, exhaling shakily. "The stitches should hold, and depending on how fast you heal, they'll be removed in a week or two. Now it's the middle of the night, so I'll send the vultures off—"

The curtain ripped open, and Mark popped his head inside. "Who are you calling vulture?" Hands that Tessa recognized as Reese's and Dale's grabbed either side of Mark and pulled him back into the hallway.

Tessa and Kaden laughed, and Kaden spoke again. "As I was saying, don't worry about what to do next. We'll figure that out in the morning. For now, just get some sleep."

And maybe it was Tessa's exhaustion or Kaden charmspeaking her, but suddenly, Tessa's eyelids felt heavier and the next thing she knew, she was drifting into her dreams.

--

The next morning was a blur, and Tessa was grateful for it. She'd received a private breakfast, courtesy of Reese and his knowledge of Tessa's affinity for chocolate muffins, and they'd watched a few episodes of Law and Order in the meantime. After, Tessa had changed into a spare camp shirt—man, did that bring back memories—and she and Reese had left the infirmary, towards the Big House.

Now, Tessa found herself sitting in on a war council and while she technically was still the head counselor of Cabin Three, she didn't feel like she was really there. She felt a bit like she was in a dream, watching everything play out around her. Her friends, however, didn't feel that way and that was a given.

"We have reason to believe that whoever these masks are and Vinny Maxwell are in collusion," Kaden concluded his debriefing, folding his arms across his chest. "Evidence connects Vinny Maxwell's last known location to the most recent disappearance, and if we can hit two birds with one stone, we should do it."

Chiron looked through the files that Kaden had given him, a worried look on his face. "Go back for a moment, Kaden," The centaur said. "These masks...what do we know about them?"

Mark swiped up on his tablet, and all the collected images of the masks that both camps had gathered appeared on the screen. Pearly white faces with blacked out eyes gazed back at the council, and Tessa readjusted herself in her seat, never a fan of anything creepy.

"This group of masks, which we've ever so eloquently dubbed the Masks, has been taking halfbloods hostage for about three years now. The first was Mallory Burke, daughter of Fortuna. She went missing in December, three years. Followed by Bree McIntire, daughter of Ares on a trip to visit her family last year. Then, the Calvert twins, children of Ceres; stolen away in the middle of the night within Camp Jupiter itself. And now..."

A dark-haired boy seated at the table cleared his throat, and Tessa ran through her hasty running of names at the beginning of the council to match a name to his face: Jesse Argent, son of Hephaestus.

"They've added three more demigods to their ranks," Jesse spoke, his voice gruff. "Samantha Phillips, daughter of Mars; Joey Chan, son of Hermes; and Lexie Chavez, daughter of Apollo. They were taken just over a day ago. Only myself and Marcellus Mayfair, a son of Somnus, escaped."

"You encountered the Masks?" Sitara Chaudri, the standing counselor for Athena, asked. She seemed skeptical, but intrigue flared in her dark eyes.

Jesse nodded. "A mission went wrong, to say the least." It was clear he didn't want to talk about what he'd endured, a feeling Tessa recognized.

"What we do know is that the Masks are out for demigods. What they need them for, or what they do to them, is still unknown. We also know that they attack as a group, and are able to confuse and ambush their prey through the use of an occult chant. We have a team back in New Rome that's devoted to trying to crack whatever language the chant is in." Kaden continued, his fortitude echoing in his voice.

"We also know that the Masks serve a superior," Reese declared. "Someone under the alias of Aether."

"The primordial god of light?" Orpheus Spencer, the counselor for Hebe, made a face. "What's so threatening about that?"

"The fact that this metaphorical light is blocking the memories of the taken. Countless children of Somnus, as well as satyrs, have tried establishing empathy links with them to get a location, but they can't. It's like they're dead, but if they were, we'd know for sure." Dale countered, her small stature resolute.

"Marcellus and his siblings have been able to reconstruct partial memory blips from the taken before they were...well, taken," Mark said, typing away on his tablet. He swiped up, and in panels at the end of the table, as if on a giant invisible screen, the memories of the taken were shown.

"They all show the same thing, in a matter of speaking," Mark explained. "The subject finds themselves surrounded by the Masks, instantly set at unease and confusion as they weigh in. The chanting begins, disabling the instincts that the halfbloods have to fight back. Then Aether appears."

Tessa made a face; the figure, Aether, wasn't wearing a mask, but appeared in a halo of light. His face was shrouded in light as well, as if in a mask of its own.

"Maybe it is the actual god, Aether," Nova Brooks offered from where she sat on the table. The daughter of Hephaestus was a good friend of Tessa's, and nodded at her upon meeting her gaze. "That would explain the light."

"That's what we thought too," Reese pointed a finger at Nova. "But then, we had Kaya do some of her magical voodoo tricks on the memory, and we were able to come up with a possible face to whoever is behind the mask."

A blurry image of a pale face with glowing eyes and blond hair looked back at them. Still cryptic, but a step in the right direction. Tessa narrowed her eyes at the image she was looking at; it tickled a memory in the back of her head, but she wasn't sure what.

"We've tried and tried to locate a possible identity to whoever this is, but it's still too hidden to do much," Kaden reported. "But aside from that, we need to warn every half-blood in both valleys about the Masks. Should they be seen, they are to run the other way. There is no being a hero with a force we know little about."

"That's ridiculous!" Chase Ferguson, a younger demigod, got to his feet. "We're literally heroes in training and you want us not to fight?"

"Hey," Mark peered around the figures obscuring his vision. "Is that Chase? I know its Chase from the obnoxious attitude. Chase, don't make me get out of my seat, I will mess you up."

"Bet," Chase taunted.

Tessa stifled her laughter as Mark tried to get out of his seat, but Reese swept behind him and shoved him back in. Even in their twenties, with Reese at twenty-two and Mark a year behind, they were still like teenagers. Mark jerked a warning finger at Chase, who held his hands up in mock terror and rolled his eyes.

"Anyways," Dale asserted, glaring at the two boys. "Kaden's right. Until we know more about Aether and his masks, they are not to be tampered with. Camp boundaries need to be strengthened, with night watches reinstated. As we saw with the disappearance of the Calvert twins, the Masks can somehow evade being seen and even break into camps."

"Curfews need to be enforced," Chiron nodded. "I'll let the harpies know."

Tessa made a face. The harpies were bird-women that one should never tamper with. They also happened to be the equivalent of camp monitors, and enforced things like curfews and any new policies that had to take effect.

"Also," Kaden took a breath. "Any demigods that are out on field missions, trips, or at school are to be brought in to whatever camp is nearest them as soon as possible. The Masks are everywhere and can be anywhere in an instant. They do not discriminate by major or minor gods, powerful or powerless. They will take anyone with godly power, and that is a fate that no one else should have to bear." His emerald eyes were blazing.

Reese got out his phone, suddenly panicked. "I'll call Flynn and Amelie. They're over in England, but I'd imagine they'd had enough of sightseeing." He tapped away on his phone, leaving the room.

Tessa saw Mark send a text on his phone, dejected in his stature. Something told her it had something to do with a certain raven-haired daughter of Nemesis, one who challenged Mark anytime they were together.

"This council is adjourned," Dale called. "And please, use whatever means you have to call or text your friends and get them back here. I'm afraid even older demigods are at risk."

Suddenly, everyone was up and away, texting, calling, FaceTiming their friends around the world. Different languages filled the room, all laced with severity. And then, a new perspective on this all dawned on Tessa. When Chiron left the room to consult with Mr. D, she got to her feet, walking over to where Kaden, Reese, Dale, and Mark were huddled.

"You guys wanted me back for more than one reason, I'm assuming," Tessa mused, snagging their attention. "You knew these Masks were out there, and that I could be taken."

Mark pressed his lips together in thought. "Even without the Masks, we needed you back here, Tessa. Sure, we can manage just fine without you but—" Dale jabbed him in the side.

"What Mark means to say is that our team isn't complete without you in it," Dale finished, a smile on her face. "It started with us five and it'll end with us five."

"Hopefully not tragically," Reese chimed. " Because that would really suck."

A ripple of laughter chimed through the air, Tessa's included, and for a moment, she was back in. She could pretend as if she'd never left, as if she was sixteen instead of twenty-one, and that she had yet to leave for a quest that would change everything.

"Hey, do you guys know when Matthew's sentence in the Fields of Punishment was supposed to end?" Tessa asked.

"Wasn't it ten years?" Dale asked, drawing her eyebrows together.

Reese's eyes widened. "And yet it's been five, and he's out. Yeah, no, that's super sketchy."

Kaden drummed his fingers against the tabletop. "Hades and the Furies wouldn't just let someone like that free for good behavior." He shook his head. "He had to have escaped."

"But how do you escape the Underworld?" Mark countered. "That'd take some severe planning. We all know it's easy to get into the Underworld, it's the getting out part that's difficult."

A possibility bloomed in Tessa's mind, one that she hated to dwell on, but a possibility nonetheless. "What if he didn't escape alone?" She turned around from where she'd paced, turquoise eyes bright. "What if he had help?"

"Who would help that rat out of the Underworld?" Dale looked taken aback.

"Someone who could help him," Reese theorized. "Someone who probably understood his animosity and lured him out."

Tessa closed her eyes, thinking back to the break-in. She'd been heading to the door, everything packed and in her backpack, when the door had bust open. Matthew had come storming in, and the fight had ensued.

"Well, look who it is," Matthew drawled, giving Tessa one of his signature onceovers. "You look good, Tessa."

"What the hell are you doing here?" Tessa demanded. Despite her apprehension, she turned Tempest into its sword form, the weight familiar in her hand. "You belong in the Underworld."

Matthew padded over to a photo on the end table, picking it up. "What can I say?" He let it fall to the floor, and the glass shattered. "Got out on good behavior."

"Somehow, I find that hard to believe," Tessa veered away from him. "Look, I don't know what you want but I can't give it to you. I haven't been involved for—

"Three years?" Matthew finished her sentence, and Tessa was taken aback. "Yeah, I know. Everyone knows. The mighty all fall at some point, right?"

Tessa lifted her head. "Get out of my house."

Matthew smirked. "I will. Once I take you with me. I've got a friend who wants to see you brought before him in chains, so I'm afraid I'm just the messenger, babe. Don't shoot."

"Unlikely," Tessa snarled.

Matthew's eyes glinted with malevolence. "Just as stubborn and stupid as ever. If it's a fight you want, then it's a fight you'll get, Tessa. Just say the word."

That's when she charged.

"Tessa?" Kaden's voice brought Tessa out of her memories, and she looked around to see everyone looking at her in concern.

Tessa inhaled, clearing away her haze. "Matthew mentioned that he had a friend, someone who wanted to see me brought before him in chains. Whoever this is, Matthew sees him as both an ally and a superior, since he was only there to bring me to him."

"So it's probably the same person who got him out," Reese nodded. "Well, isn't this quite the conspiracy?"

"We need to find out what happened down there," Kaden dragged a hand through his tousled hair. "But how?"

"The only way you can know what happens in Hades' kingdom," Dale offered. "We need to go pay a visit to the Underworld."