[et tu, brute?]

Aether's mansion was darkening with each day that passed. Since the siege on Camp Jupiter, Dale had retreated to the confines of her bedroom-turned-war tent, doing everything she could to compile the information she'd gathered on her prison and those that lived there. However, the day Aether and the Masks were waiting for was quickly approaching, and it permeated the gilded halls like an impenetrable fog.

After his episode, Luke hadn't been seen around the mansion. He didn't sneak up on Dale in the library anymore, or arrive to meals, or do much of anything. Dale wondered if he'd somehow died, but if that was the case, Kane would have probably killed her in her sleep by now. No, Luke was still in his lavish military base, but hadn't left in days.

And Dale was running out of time. The attack was expected any day now, that was all Adhara could gather, but Dale needed more. More time, more information, anything that they could get to their friends to give them a fighting chance. Because in the pit of her soul, Dale knew that the Masks had more in their arsenal than just their nightmarish abilities—they had something nightmarish hidden beneath the palace as well.

Dale crumpled up another piece of paper in her frustration, launching it across the room where it joined other discarded ideas. She'd been contemplating possible plans of attack for hours now, and nothing reasonable was coming to mind. So far she'd come up with poisoning Luke—although she didn't have any poison, strangling Luke—how could she do that if she had no idea where he was, and flat-out begging Luke—which she would never deign to do.

Dale groaned, her power flaring within her at her frustration. How was it that she'd been here for so long and still had nothing when it came to her mission? All she knew was that Kane was shifty, Luke was Aether, and there was something under the palace.

That might be your only lead, Dale thought to herself, drumming her pen on the desk. Go and follow it.

But she couldn't. Kane had Masks guarding the passageway in the library specifically to keep Dale out.

How do you know they're still there?

Dale sat there for a moment, wondering if it was worth it to go and find out. If she was caught, Luke's welcome might just run out. But then again, Luke was nowhere to be seen...

"For a daughter of Demeter, you sure are set to destroy the rainforest," Adhara's voice chimed, and Dale whirled around in her chair to find the daughter of Nemesis sauntering into her room.

Dale sprang to her feet. "What's going on? Please tell me that you know more about the attack."

Adhara bit her deep-red lip. Then she shook her head. "I think Kane suspects that I'm working with you. I haven't been able to gather anything imperative during any war councils."

Dale felt her heart sink a little bit in her chest. She took a deep breath, forcing herself to focus. "Took him long enough," She managed. "But are you sure? Nothing at all?"

Adhara's violet eyes flickered. "Yes, I'm sure. But that's what I'm here about." She glanced over her shoulder. "They won't be implementing Project Maelstrom, but I was eavesdropping on Vinny and Matthew and they mentioned something about their workspace being underground."

Dale's eyes widened. "The passageways."

Adhara nodded. "Wherever they lead, we might find Project Maelstrom at the end of it."

"And if we do," Dale grinned, adrenaline beginning to pump through her veins. "Aether won't stand a chance."

Adhara turned on her heel, walking over to Dale's desk. She rifled through the stacks of papers and files until she unearthed their makeshift map. "I did some digging, and there's another secret passageway in the dining room, behind a tapestry. If we go now, there's a good chance we won't be spotted."

Dale nodded, making sure her knife was sheathed to her belt. She felt their mission finally beginning to gain momentum. For days, she'd been wondering what was done that passageway, and if they were right about it, they could stop Project Maelstrom. Dale only hoped that they were.

~~

"Why didn't you tell me it was this creepy looking?"

"You didn't ask."

Adhara and Dale stood before the passageway, which was indeed behind a tapestry of a spooky-looking man. The stone wall behind it had disappeared, revealing a very dark, very narrow passageway beyond it illuminated sparsely by a torch of Greek fire. Cobwebs lined the top of the passageway, and Dale was grateful in that moment for her short stature.

"So," Adhara cleared her throat, eyes locked nervously on the gloomy passage before them. "What happened the first time you went down this?"

Dale shrugged, flicking her flashlight down into the darkness to gain some more perspective. "At first, nothing. Then I sensed something coming towards me very quickly so I got out of there."

Adhara nodded along. "And that's when Kane found you."

"Precisely," Dale confirmed. "Where is he, anyway?"

Adhara drew out a long breath. "Preparing the Masks for war. There's some powerful spell thing that keeps them obedient and unresponsive, and he's the only one that knows how to do it."

Dale drew her eyebrows together, turning her head to look at the daughter of Nemesis beside her. "Even Luke can't?"

Adhara tensed. "There's a lot of things he can't do. Now are we going to investigate or what?"

Dale put her hands up in mock surrender, but when Adhara didn't move, she sighed. "I'll go first." And with that, she braced herself with one hand wielding her flashlight and the other resting on the hilt of her knife before stepping into the passageway.

It was like stepping into another climate. Maybe all passageways were this dank and chilly, but given the general atmosphere of Aether's palace, this one felt like it had been drawn from the seventh circle of Hell.

Slowly, Dale marched down the passageway, maintaining her calm. This wasn't the first time she'd done something like this before—she'd faced the Labyrinth before on her own, after all—and Adhara was behind her.

Wait...

Dale stopped in her tracks, whirling around to find Adhara frozen, hardly a foot into the passageway. Her violet eyes were luminous in the darkness, and they were trained on some point on the horizon. Dale quickly surveyed the passageway, but realized that Adhara must've been having a moment.

"Adhara?" Dale took a step towards her. "Everything alright?"

Adhara released a shaky breath. "What's down here...changes everything. It's been hidden for over twenty years. Our discovery will..."

"It will what?" Dale said, feeling a chill spider-walk down her spine.

Adhara tensed like her back had been hit with a board. She gasped, and her violet eyes began to glow. Dale stepped back in shock.

"Our discovery will aid those in need, but unleash another terrible force upon the world. We will have a potential advantage in one battle, but will ultimately lose the next so long as it is unleashed." Adhara's eyes rolled into the back of her head, and she collapsed to the passage floor.

"Adhara!" Dale yelped and hurried to her friend's side. She pressed her fingers to the Nepalese girl's throat, and sighed with relief when she felt a pulse. But before Dale could panic, Adhara groaned and sat up.

"I feel like someone mistook my head for a gong," Adhara pressed a manicured hand to her forehead, wincing. "What happened?"

Dale helped Adhara to her feet. "You basically prophesied our doom."

Adhara frowned, watching Dale carefully. "I can't see the future though."

Dale tilted her head in confusion. "Isn't that what your powers are? Your whole balance thing?"

Adhara shook her head, reaching back to tie her thick onyx hair back. "No, no, no. My power over balance is basically the future sending me signs and messages when pivotal decisions are made. I can sense how the decision changes things, but not how or why."

"Really? Because what you just said sounded a lot like the future," Dale said with a weak laugh.

Adhara pursed her lips, doubt flickering in her violet eyes. "Let's go." She pushed past Dale and headed deeper down the passageway, and Dale watched her friend go in confusion.

Dale shook her head, jogging after the daughter of Nemesis. "Another thing," She began. "I think Kane has something to do with Luke's disappearance."

Adhara wrinkled her nose. "What makes you say that?"

Dale told her about what she'd seen when she returned from her mission, and how Luke had gone mad for a moment, with Kane slinking off into the shadows after he had. Adhara only raised an eyebrow, the only sign of her emotion on the matter.

"That's a strong accusation," Adhara mused airily. "Kane is Luke's right-hand man. To do anything to harm him would be the equivalent of regicide."

"What do we know about him, anyway?" Dale questioned as they turned a corner. She sent a tendril of her power down the new corridor, and when they deemed it empty, they continued.

Adhara met Dale's gaze. "Truthfully? Not much. All I know is that he and Luke met in a mental institution. Kane was sort of his...roommate, I guess you could say."

Dale's steps slowed for a moment. "Really?"

"Yeah," Adhara affirmed. "Kane could see through the Mist too, so Luke didn't feel all alone. That's all I really know."

"So he's a demigod? A mortal?" Dale asked.

"No idea," Adhara exhaled. "But whatever he is, he's crazy, all right."

Dale snorted. "That, I know."

Adhara smirked. The passageway began to slope down, and their steps became more cautious and calculated.

"Not much to do dating wise in this place," Adhara said, a joking manner to her voice. "All the guys are insane and all the girls are Masks. I'd make a move for Luke, but he seems to have his head turned."

When Dale put two and two together, she tried her best not to burst into laughter. "Oh, honey, that's not gonna end well for him. I don't do romance."

"But do you do what comes after?" Adhara winked, and the two girls laughed. For a moment, the passageway didn't seem as eerie.

But of course, soon, that moment was gone.

Dale and Adhara meandered their way down the sloping passageway, until they reached a dropoff. Adhara nearly walked straight off the shelf, had it not been for Dale sensing it and blocking Adhara from falling.

"Thanks," Adhara muttered, violet eyes locked on the gaping pit beneath them.

"Don't mention it," Dale murmured, equally entranced. The void felt like a black hole, as if it had its own energy and gravitational pull. A ring of other passageways all ended at the pit, with torches of Greek fire hanging at the very end. Dead roots from beneath the stones of the passageways surrounding it all dangled into the pit, being pulled down. A chill emanated from it, and Dale got a bad feeling like she was facing the entrance to Tartarus.

"Something's down there," Adhara murmured. "But what?"

Dale looked around for a way to peer through the darkness, because their flashlights were rendered useless in the thick shadows of the pit. Her gaze averted back to the dead roots, and an idea began to blossom in her head.

"I'm gonna try something," Dale decided. "I can't guarantee it'll work, but let the record show it was an attempt nonetheless."

Adhara motioned for her to proceed—while managing to remain as close to the wall as possible.

Dale got down on her knees, reaching over the edge of the passageway. She spread her fingers and summoned her power, allowing it to thrum through her veins and into the roots of the passageways. And all around, the once dead plants began to blossom again, turning into thick green vines.

Dale took a deep breath, and controlled the vines to spiral up, grab the torches from their mounts, and hold them over the pit below. With the combined light of the Greek fire, the darkness was shattered, and what it hid was revealed. About twenty feet down was a circular plane of earth, with cell bars in a smaller circle in the very center. Something flickered like lightning behind the bars, and as if it noticed the light, a sound like rumbling thunder emanated into the pit.

Adhara gasped like she'd been shot. She grabbed Dale's shoulder, yanking her back into the passageway and inherently disrupting Dale's focus on the vines; the torches fell to the pit below, and the roots withered away. Dale looked at Adhara in bewilderment but Adhara pointed a finger back down at the base of the pit, now permanently illuminated.

Dale knit her eyebrows together, following Adhara's pointing, and felt her heart stop.

Kane.

Where he'd come from, Dale had no clue, but the wiry-looking young man was stalking towards the base of the pit, towards the cell bars. He knelt at the base of it, and even from twenty feet high, Dale could see how tense he was.

"It's almost time," Kane's voice echoed through the pit. "Soon, you will be freed and my reign upon this earth may finally come to fruition."

The thing in the pit hissed in what Dale assumed was approval.

"Aether is almost out of the way," Kane reported. "By the time the battle comes tomorrow, he won't stand a chance. That silly little mortal will be destroyed in his prime, his own power ripping him apart from the inside."

"I knew it," Dale whispered to Adhara. "He's trying to hurt Luke."

Adhara didn't respond; too entranced in Kane's double agency, Dale supposed.

"You—are—not—alone." The thing in the pit sounded like the earth shifting, a storm breaking, a tidal wave hitting the shore as it spoke.

Kane got to his feet, suddenly alarmed. Dale and Adhara shrank against the wall, and Dale prayed to the gods that Kane wouldn't find them eavesdropping. Whatever it was in that pit, how did she know he couldn't sic it on her and Adhara?

Adhara elbowed her, and Dale bit back a yelp of pain. She glared daggers at the daughter of Nemesis, but at the look of sheer urgency in Adhara's eyes, Dale relaxed. Adhara nodded to the passageway behind them, and Dale dipped her chin in affirmation. Together, they slowly crawled their way back the way they'd come.

Dale's nervous heartbeat felt like it could rattle the earth the way that thing in the pit had, and it didn't let up when she and Adhara got to their feet, a safe distance from the pit.

"This is bad," Dale hissed. "What the hell do we do? Kane's planning to overthrow Luke with whatever that thing was!"

Adhara paced the passageway like a caged panther. "Dale, did you not figure it out yet? It all makes sense! The storm spirits that attacked Camp Jupiter, and now this thing?"

Dale blinked. "Spell it out for me."

Adhara looked up at the ceiling for strength. "That thing in the pit? That's Typhon, father of monsters and ultimate storm spirit. If Kane plans to release him tomorrow, that can only mean one thing."

Dale felt her heart sink to her stomach. There was no way...Typhon was destroyed by the gods, locked up for all eternity in the old myths. How could Kane...? No.

And yet she knew in her heart of hearts that Adhara was right. Although Adhara didn't finish her sentence, the possibility hung in the air like the fog-like darkness of Typhon's prison.

If Kane released Typhon, there would be no hope for any demigod, Roman or Greek, to defeat him.

"What do we do?" Dale whispered.

Adhara shook her head. "We need to warn them. The battle's tomorrow; no wonder everything's been so tense lately." She took a deep breath. "I'll go tell them."

"Adhara, no! You can't risk it." Dale grabbed Adhara's wrist. They'd reached the dining room again, and the tapestry was shut behind them. The man on it stared at Dale like one of those paintings in a Scooby-Doo episode.

"If we don't warn them, they'll be obliterated," Adhara said in protest, yanking her arm from Dale's grip. "I'll be fine."

And before Dale could protest, Adhara stalked out of the room. Dale cursed in Spanish for several minutes, kicking the wall. She whirled around, and found herself staring right at the tapestry again. The man looked oddly familiar, with dark, maniacal eyes...

"That's Menoetious," A voice chimed, sending a flare of panic through Dale. "Titan of Violence."

Dale whirled around to face Luke, standing with a soft smile on his face in the center of the room. He looked disheveled; his hair was a mess and there were dark circles under his eyes. His eyes, however, were blue. Luke was speaking, not Aether. But who knew what would happen?

"Oh," Dale managed, her heart pounding.

Luke drew his eyebrows together. "Are you alright, Dale?"

Dale chewed on her lip, unsure of what to say. Here was the man who had betrayed her trust, kidnapped her and countless more of her friends, who was planning to attack her friends. And yet, this man's best friend was planning to overthrow him and destroy the world.

The enemy of my enemy...

Dale mustered up all the courage she could find, staring at Luke from across the room. So long as Aether didn't make any guest appearances, she should be fine.

"We need to talk."