[ad astra]

Dale watched as the fire grew higher, unable to tear her gaze from the flickering golden flames in the night. This wasn't the first funeral procession she'd seen as a demigod, and she doubted it would be her last, but there was something that struck her as selfish about burning the shrouds of the dead when they were alive.

The officials of Camp Jupiter had made no speech. The horrors of that night and of the month and years prior spoke for themselves in the way people muffled sobs, lit candles, and watched. Nothing anyone could say could make the deaths of so many seem positive. So, the three praetors—Kaya, Kaden, and Julius—stood with Luci, the augur, among other Lares and Senators as the shrouds were placed on the fire, and into ember they became.

Fighting Typhon had taken a lot out of Dale, so she hadn't noticed when the boys slipped away with Adhara. However, she'd soon learn that Vinny and Matthew had taken hostages and threatened to kill Imogen, and in order to save the daughter of Cupid, Mallory Burke, the daughter of Fortuna, had given her life. Sera Brennan had wounded Vinny in the process of his escape, but the rat managed to disappear with Matthew to who knows where.

Mallory's shroud had been the first to burn—silver and gold, like denarii and drachmas. Kaden could hardly announce her name and wish her peace, and Dale could only imagine what her friend must be feeling. Mallory had been one of Kaden's best friends when he was at Camp Jupiter, and to burn her shroud at the hand of another of their best friends...

Dale's golden gaze flicked over to Mark, watching as the son of Iris bowed his head in reflection. There'd been a time when Mark went dark under Orion's influence. What if that had been her? Was it so easy for people to cast off those they'd once cared about? To kill them?

Other shrouds were added to the fire, and Dale lost track of the names. Almost two dozen casualties, and Dale found herself thinking about how the American Civil War had cost both sides casualties, and since they were all American, it had been the bloodiest war in its history. She felt like that now, that since the Masks were demigods as well, the casualties seemed darker, hallowing, haunting.

Alison Danforth, daughter of Mercury. Tyler Gonzales, son of Aphrodite.

Dale had known some of these kids. That's all they were. Kids. And they'd pitted themselves into a battlefield.

Max Smith, son of Ceres. Marina Wayfield, daughter of Hecate.

The fire burned brighter, as if it were mirroring the potential that these kids had.

Chase Ferguson, son of Nike.

Dale's head snapped up. What? Chase? No, that couldn't be right. She glanced over at Mark, and her best friend was donning a similar expression of bewilderment.

"You didn't hear?" A girl nearby Dale whispered. Dale recognized her as Adriana Oliver, a daughter of Vulcan. "Chase was making some big escape from the Masks, but that guy Kane noticed. He killed him."

"That's not what I heard." Another voice whispered. "I heard that Vinny Maxwell and Matthew Baines took him hostage when they disappeared."

"That's not what I—"

The fire snapped and popped, silencing the discord. Dale stared into the flames, suddenly numb. Chase couldn't be dead. He was back in Camp Half-Blood, safe and sound. What was he doing on the battlefield? There's no way that Mark would have let him fight.

And yet, Mark looked guilty. Terribly guilty.

Dale took a deep breath, shutting her eyes. She only opened them when a murmur of dissent rippled through the crowd, and Dale watched as Tessa walked across the platform, a golden shroud in her arms. Immediately, Dale understood.

Oh, Tessa...

"Luke Knight." Tessa's voice reverberated through the city center. "He wasn't a demigod. He wasn't a god. He wasn't anything that could do anyone harm. He was distraught. He was cursed. And death was the only way for him to find peace."

A few handlers came forward and took Luke's shroud from Tessa's arms, leaving the daughter of Poseidon on the platform. She stood and watched as her brother's body burned, and then walked away, back to the masses.

Eventually, the fire was put out and the funeral-goers managed their way back to their barracks and homes. But Dale and her friends were left standing, watching, waiting as the embers and coals faded to black and nothing else remained.

~~

"So where do we go from here?" Reese asked, drumming his fingers atop the glass table. "Battle's over."

"But the war isn't," Tessa countered from where she leant against a filing cabinet. "If anything, it's just beginning."

Mark dragged his hands over his face, resting his arms on his knees. His dark eyes were haunted, but he averted his tired gaze between his friends. "So Kane—Menoetious, whatever—just disappeared?"

Tessa nodded with a defeated sigh. "Adhara managed to get to him. But after that, yeah, he just disappeared."

"Maybe we got lucky and Adhara killed him?" Dale offered, nervously unbraiding and braiding her caramel hair.

Reese laughed wryly. "Have we ever been that lucky before?"

Dale shrugged. "Thought I'd give optimism a try."

Kaden got up from where he sat, walking over to the central platform, and watching one of the monitors. "There's nothing on facial recognition, which is probably rendered useless anyway. Menoetious can change his appearance at will, given that he's a Titan."

"Where would he go?" Imogen asked. "It's not like the Titans have an active base. They're all imprisoned."

Alex shook his head. "If he really does want this evil plan of his to work, then he's probably trying to lay low for a while. Maybe create a new alias, worm his way into another position of power."

"Yeah, but how much time does that give us until he unleashes Typhon again?" Tessa retorted.

Alex held Tessa's gaze. "I thought you and Dale destroyed Typhon."

Dale snorted. "Do you really think that we could destroy a primordial monster? I appreciate the assumption, but yeah, there's no chance of that. We weakened him, but I'm not sure for how long."

"We need Luke's files," Kaden continued, dragging a hand through his hair. "Apparently, all of their information on Project Maelstrom is in them."

"And Project Maelstrom is Typhon?" Kaya arched an eyebrow from where she sat at the table.

"Either that, or Typhon is an asset to help carry out Project Maelstrom," Kaden answered. "We're rolling with the second idea, given the New Rome Earthquake taking place before Typhon was freed."

"These files," Reese chimed. "Did Luke mention where we can find them?"

Tessa shook her head. "Probably still in his mansion."

"Wouldn't the mansion disappear, or something?" Mark figured. "Some sort of weird connection to Luke?"

"No, Adhara and Amelie went to go scope it out," Dale answered. "Maybe they'll find the files too."

"Yeah, if Luke didn't lie about them," Alex said brusquely.

"He wouldn't," Tessa rescinded fiercely.

Alex narrowed his gaze at Tessa. "You're awfully defensive over a guy who kidnapped your best friend."

"And you're looking a little too comfortable with fourteen people being dead now ensuring your life," Tessa fired back. "Cool it."

"Enough," Reese interrupted, annoyance lining his voice. "You guys can duke it out in the courtyard later. We have more important issues."

It wasn't long until arguments were blossoming all over Headquarters. Everyone seemed to have their own idea for what to do about Menoetious and Project Maelstrom, but no one wanted to negotiate or elaborate on their plans. Dale sat in exasperated bliss at her seat around the glass meeting table, watching the argument play out the way one would watch a tennis match when there was nothing else good on TV.

And then it hit her.

"The flash-drive," Dale blurted out, sitting up straight.

Her friends quieted, looking at her in confusion.

"What flash-drive?" Imogen blinked.

Dale got to her feet, adrenaline and excitement beginning to flow through her veins. "Liam's flash-drive. The one he gave us after the General and her forces died."

Tessa's eyes lit up. "It had intel on the General's plans. Plans that Vinny gave her."

"And if Vinny executed Project Maelstrom," Kaden continued, beginning to zoom around the room in search for the flash-drive in question.

"Then those plans are probably on that flash-drive." Mark finished. "Where is it?"

"I'm looking, I'm looking!" Kaden exclaimed, darting around the room. Everyone followed in pursuit, searching filing cabinets and shelves and drawers.

"But how would Menoetious get ahold of the plans? How would Luke?" Kaya countered, shutting a drawer in a failed search.

"Menoetious was one of the General's torturers," Reese explained. "He tortured Flynn when he was...estranged."

"Who's the General?" Alex interrupted. "You guys have to fill me in on these things."

"I was," Tessa answered quickly. "We'll explain later. It's a long story."

Alex drew out a sigh. "Was I there?"

"Alex," Imogen snapped. "Focus." The son of Mars put his hands up in mock surrender and got back to looking for the flash-drive.

"FOUND IT." Mark announced, holding up a flash-drive about as long as his pinky. Everyone flocked over to the son of Iris, and Kaden snatched it out of Mark's hands, running over to the central monitor.

Dale's heart pounded in her chest as she watched Kaden plug in the flash-drive and get to work at trying to open it. However, it wasn't looking too good. Several encryptions and pop-ups and the like appeared on the screen, and Kaden was trying to get through them all.

"I can't get in," Kaden sighed, hitting his hand on the desk in frustration. "It's military intel. Of course, it's encrypted."

"Can Eli get through it?" Tessa wondered. "He's managed to do a bunch of techy-mystical stuff so far. Maybe he can give it a whirl?"

Kaden nodded, reluctantly unplugging the flash-drive. "I'll go find him. But if this doesn't work, it's back to square one."

"We've been at square one," Kaya said flatly. "So I'm sure it won't be too much of an upheaval."

Kaden pocketed the flash-drive and left the Principia's basement, leaving Dale and the others to fend for themselves.

"I should probably go do damage control," Kaya huffed a breath, gathering her long dark hair into a ponytail. "Conquer or die doesn't hold much sway when people keep dying left or right."

"Besides," Alex added comically. "Julius is probably up to his knees in senatorial complaints."

Imogen snorted. "Of all people, you elected Julius praetor?"

"Yeah, what's with that anyway?" Dale asked.

"Praetor pro tempore," Kaya clarified. "And it's only until we can finish the election. But now that we have a war to mobilize for..."

"What, no more campaign buttons?" Mark joked. A lighthearted laugh filled the room, and for a moment, things didn't seem as bleak.

"I'm afraid not," Kaya said pointedly. "Let us know if Kaden and Eli find anything."

The group dispersed, until it was only Dale and Mark left in the basement. Both best friends were silent, but Dale knew they were thinking the same thing.

"Why'd you let Chase go?" Dale found her voice, watching Mark intently.

Mark tensed, avoiding Dale's pointed gaze. "He wanted a chance to prove himself. Aether killed his father."

Dale's eyebrows flew up. "But—"

"I know," Mark assured, his voice silent yet strong. "That's why I let him go. If I knew he was going to die..."

"Hey," Dale countered. "There's no way you could have known that."

Mark waved a lazy hand. "As annoying as Chase was, he didn't deserve to die." His voice cracked slightly, and Dale bit her lip.

"Some people say he didn't die," Dale chose her words carefully. "No one knows what happened to him."

Mark met Dale's gaze at that. "What?"

And so Dale filled him in on the variety of rumors that she'd heard in the two days since the funeral. They ranged from flat-out murder, to kidnapping, to disappearing to something called the Upside Down. Regardless, no one knew what happened to Chase Ferguson, and yet he'd been pronounced legally dead before the legion.

"What do we do?" Mark whispered.

Dale chewed on her lip. "I'm not sure. But something tells me that we'll figure it out. We always do."

And despite it all, a ghost of a smile appeared on Mark's lips. And just like that, some hope began to glimmer on the horizon for Dale.

~~

[two weeks later]

Dale wasn't normally a fan of dressing up, but she supposed that today was as good of an exception as any. The one-shoulder dress was pretty comfortable, and in a shade of light pink that Dale couldn't find a problem with. Besides, she'd been allowed to wear her beaten up converse underneath the dress, so why should she complain?

Gripping her little bouquet tighter, Dale poked her head around from behind Tessa to watch the ceremony. She assumed it was close to ending, as both Reese and Imogen had read their vows and the audience had done a fair amount of tearing up.

Luci, donning her violet augur get-up, stood before Reese and Imogen, a benevolent smile on her face. "May I have the rings?"

A chorus of 'AWW's erupted in the audience as down the aisle, Maurice the golden retriever came bounding towards the happy couple. Dale fought the urge to both roll her eyes and laugh—Maurice was a stray that had wandered into Camp Half-Blood, and so naturally, the demigods bugged Chiron to keep him. Reese had found out about Maurice and unofficially declared him his pet. So hence, Maurice was dubbed the ring-bearer.

Reese crouched down, pet Maurice's head, and gingerly took the two rings on the pillow Maurice was carrying. Dale had to hand it to him; Maurice was a pretty well-trained dog.

"Now," Luci said, a laugh in her voice. "Imogen, take a ring and place it on Reese's hand."

"With this ring," Imogen smiled, looking resplendent in his white embroidered gown. "I thee wed."

"Reese," Luci said expectantly.

Reese took the remaining ring and slipped it over Imogen's finger. Dale fought the urge to roll her eyes at the giant smile on the son of Apollo's face. "With this ring, I thee wed."

Luci grinned. "I now pronounce you husband and wife! Reese, you may kiss the bride."

Everyone got to their feet and cheered as Reese pulled Imogen in for a sweet kiss, both smiling. Dale hollered at the top of her lungs, alongside Mark, Kaden, Flynn, Alex, and Kaya as Luci named them Mr. and Mrs. Hale and Reese and Imogen began to march back down the aisle.

"Can you believe it?" Tessa laced her arm through Dale's as they followed Reese and Imogen out.

"To be honest, no," Dale laughed. "Our Reese's Pieces. Hitched."

Mark appeared beside them, slinging his arms around Tessa and Dale. "Gotta admit, the kid's got game. I thought he'd wait until he was fifty to get married for how oblivious he is."

"Mark," Kaden chided, following the group.

"What?" Mark asked. "Am I wrong?"

"No, but it's their wedding day. Quit bullying Reese."

"Yeah!" Reese exclaimed from down in front of them.

"Do you even know what we're talking about, old man?" Dale put a hand up to her lips and called.

"Nope! But Mark's probably roasting me!" Reese laughed back.

"I am, don't worry!" Mark called back.

Reese and Imogen disappeared as they headed towards the immaculate reception area that Kaya and Amelie had created. Dale and her friends followed, the guests at their heels, and before long, everyone was partying on the dance floor, courtesy of Jett Tran, DJ extraordinaire.

After Imogen and Reese shared their first dance as husband and wife, everyone else was swept onto the dancefloor. In the moments as Dale and all of her friends were dancing with Reese and Imogen, bopping along to the music and taking swigs of the drinks being provided, Dale came to a realization.

As a demigod, nothing in their lives was certain. They could have good days, and tragedy the next. It was just how their fates were intertwined as defenders of the mythological and mortal worlds. But even though godly blood and mortal danger was their burden to bear, tonight, they were nothing but human. They were human, and they were alive.

Because battles would come. Darkness would fall. Blood would be spilt and lives would be lost, but all of that was worth enduring because they had laughter, love, and most importantly of all, each other. So as night fell and stars poked through the indigo night, as bright as the lanterns and fairy lights strung up around the dancefloor, Dale and her friends celebrated, drunk on happiness, wishing for a future as bright as the stars above them.