[in ictu oculi]

There was a heartbeat or two of silence as Tessa stood, shell-shocked, atop the central platform of headquarters. Her heart twisted within her chest, every nerve in her body erupted into existence and faded, as if the very fabric of being she existed on couldn't fathom what her eyes were seeing.

Tessa managed a shaky breath, averting her gaze from Reese's disheveled figure to Dale, Mark, and Kaden. Her friends had seemingly assumed their own form of confusion and disbelief, but one thing was strikingly similar within them all. Hope, blazing like fire in their eyes.

"Did I land in a universe where none of you know who I am, or something?" Reese tried for a laugh, but his voice was gruff, like he'd spent his two months across the universe screaming atop his lungs.

Before another wave of silence could wash over them, Dale's soft voice chimed. "If you take off into another stupid-ass decision like that again, I will actually murder you."

And as Reese drew his eyebrows together in confusion, Dale darted forward, pulling the son of Apollo into a long-awaited hug. Reese looked taken aback for a split second, but wrapped his arms around the smaller girl, his eyes closing as he released a breath.

Tessa dug out her phone as Kaden and Mark swept to join Reese on the platform, sending a quick message to Imogen. She stuffed her phone away, turning on her heel and following her friends.

"So much for being a hero, huh?" Reese managed as he pulled away from Mark and Kaden's group embrace to drag Tessa into his embrace.

Tessa took a deep breath, her heart slowing to a normal pace. This was Reese. He was alive and safe and back home.

"How did you get back?" Tessa asked, stepping out of the embrace to look up at Reese. His eyes had darkened, or maybe it was Tessa's imagination, but the son of Apollo cleared his throat.

"It wasn't a planned return, I'll tell you that much," Reese exhaled. He staggered to one of the chairs nearby, slumping into it like he hadn't sat down in years. "I only left this early because I was found out."

"Found out?" Kaden asked, bracing his hands on the back of another chair. "The General?"

Reese nodded, dragging a hand through his dust-laden blond hair. "For the past two months, I've been playing the part of my alternate self on the other world. The plan was working: I was gaining intel on how the Regiment works, I was working with Matthew to come back home. Everything was working until..."

His sapphire eyes looked haunted, like part of him was still trapped on the other side of the portal. On the glass tabletop, his free hand twitched with some sort of nervous tic.

Tessa grabbed a pitcher of water on a nearby counter, pouring Reese a glass. She walked back over to the table where her friends were crowded, handing the son of Apollo the glass.

"You don't have to tell us anything if you aren't ready," Tessa assured him, sitting down. "Whatever you went through these past two months can't be easy to talk about."

Reese was silent for a while, taking small sips of water as if to clear his head. He set down the glass, his knuckles white around it. "I'll talk. I want to say it once and be done with it, put it behind me."

Tessa nodded to Reese, but glanced up to look at each of her friends. They all wore the same visage of concern, the hope in their eyes dying down. Here was a reminder of the war they were all forced into from birth, a reminder of the troubles and hardships they'd never be free from. Something withered within Tessa at the thought; she wondered when it died within Reese.

"I was marooned over there for two months. After the portal closed, I defeated the squadron of Regiment soldiers that the General had sent to stop us. With Matthew's help, we made our hasty plan to assume the position I had been tasked with. I'd failed once, and given the fact that the Reese on the other side was my twin, it wasn't hard to gain the General's trust again." Reese explained, his voice as taut as the bowstring slung across his back.

"But what happened to the real Reese from that universe?" Mark asked, arms folded across his chest.

Reese set his jaw, a feather of a muscle twitching within it. "He wasn't a problem. I kept him bound in my—his closet for two months."

A chill permeated the air, but Reese continued his tale.

"With Matthew's help, we were able to figure out how Eli's tech could generate a frequency that would open a portal. However, my move-out date, per se, was hastened when I found out the General's new plan." Reese's words were strained, and he took another hearty sip of water.

"She's recruited Deimos," Reese spoke, looking into Tessa's eyes. "I don't know how long he's been over there, but he's in the Regiment's ranks."

Tessa felt her stomach clench with fear, a sickness that she thought she'd quelled. Her first enemy, now free to rule alongside the General, spreading fear and panic.

"The Olympians told us that they'd try him," Dale countered. "How did he escape their hold?"

"Gods play by different rules," Tessa managed. "He escaped Artemis' grasp, I'm not surprised that he escaped the Olympian Council's."

"You'd think for a bunch of all powerful immortals that their prisons would sustain," Kaden's grip on the chair tightened, and he shoved it away with all his might in rage.

"Is there a chance that it couldn't be the Deimos from this universe? Are the gods even the same on either world?" Mark held a hand to his forehead, like he was getting a migraine. "Yeah, this is our life now, isn't it?"

Reese shook his head. "The General denounced the Olympians on her universe. They're condemned to Tartarus, all of them that wouldn't support her cause."

"And what cause is that?" Dale spat. "World domination?"

"Precisely," Reese met her gaze. "And universal, apparently."

Tessa clenched her fist and unfurled her fingers, once, twice, three times. If Deimos had escaped, then there'd be no doubt that he would help the General determine her team's weaknesses. He'd distributed their worst fears, watched with glee as they suffered. She could practically feel Deimos' sword protruding from her chest, slick with her blood—

"Tessa," Kaden's voice shook her out of her flashback, and Tessa jumped. She met her friend's gazes, taking a shaky breath. Now was not the time to be afraid.

"Right," Tessa exhaled, wiping her now sweaty palms on her jeans. She got to her feet. "Well, we certainly have a lot on our plate now, don't we?"

"There's more," Reese said, getting to his feet. Tessa turned to look at him, and where a boy in battle gear looked back at her, she saw a young, stubborn boy whose biggest worries were passing tests in mythology class.

"Reese, you've gotta get some rest." Kaden surged to his best friend's side as Reese took a step and nearly collapsed. "You can tell us everything else later."

The son of Apollo didn't look happy about it, but nodded. Kaden helped him back up, but before either of the boys could start their ascent into the camp above, the golden elevator doors pinged, sliding open.

Imogen saw Tessa first, a casual look on her face. "Hey, what is it?" She walked into the room, her footsteps echoing in the air.

Stressed as she was, Tessa couldn't fight the smile that tugged at her lips. She pressed her lips together, pointing to the opposite side of the room where Reese was waiting.

Imogen knit her eyebrows together but turned on her heel. Instantly, her hands flew to her mouth.

"Hey, Gen," Reese greeted, and even with the grit covering him from head to toe wasn't enough to dampen the beam of light that the son of Apollo became.

Imogen shook her head, as if she couldn't really believe it was him. Reese took a tentative step forward, and Kaden had enough time to duck and cover before Imogen darted across the distance that separated her from Reese, leaping into his embrace.

"I-I thought you w-were dead," Imogen sobbed into Reese's shoulder, clinging to him like a koala. "You left m-me."

Reese pulled back ever so slightly to cup a hand to Imogen's porcelain face. The intense look of passion that Reese gave her was so strong that Tessa almost felt like she was intruding on something.

"I'd never leave you," Reese whispered, brushing away Imogen's tears. "Never."

Imogen smiled through her tears, a sort of hysteric laugh only brought on by relief escaping her lips. She pressed hers to Reese with everything she had, and Reese hefted her up into the air, kissing her back.

Tessa glanced away, allowing her friends the privacy of an intimate reunion. Kaden walked up to stand at her side, slipping a hand around her waist.

"We'll leave you two alone then," Dale called to Imogen and Reese, oblivious to all but themselves in their reunion.

Tessa shook her head, chuckling under her breath as Kaden escorted her out. Mark and Dale followed, and together, the four friends headed into the elevator, up and into the light.

"Think they'll come out from down there anytime soon?" Mark wisecracked.

Tessa and Dale looked at one another and sputtered into laughter as Kaden fought his own, smiling as he shook his head, mouthing 'nope.' Mark laughed as well, and in that moment, it was easy to forget the war they were facing, the danger on the other side. Friendship was all that mattered, the one weapon in their arsenal that not even the Regiment could take from them.

~~

The peace didn't last, however. Torment found Tessa in the middle of the night, watching her from behind corners like a thousand eyes until she was at the end of her wits.

The daughter of Poseidon tossed and turned in her covers, free-falling into her nightmares as they unfolded around her. Images flashed before her closed eyes, a slideshow she was forced to watch.

In her dreams, Tessa was standing atop the platform in New Orleans, Orion's pavilion of portals staring back at her. However, instead of alternate universes flashing from behind each portal, Tessa only saw fleeting images that burned into her mind.

A voice like a thousand snakes whispered into her head: The Oracle.

Out of the depths, a half-blood shall rise...

Tessa saw herself sinking to the bottom of a sea or lake, water as black as night dragging her down. She clawed at her throat as she staggered to swim up, but each effort only weakened her.

And become the key to the ancient ones' demise...

Under another arch, the General stood at the head of an ornate table, issuing commands to the glowing figures seated around it. A man of pure light, another made of stars, all grinning devilishly at her doppelganger's commands. Two girls stood in the shadows, one with a golden ring and the other with eyes like ice.

And see the turn of eras new and old...

Tessa saw herself, helpless as she stood in Delphi where she heard the prophecy for the first time. Light from Vinny's portals blazed on around her, until the light faded and Tessa was standing elsewhere, within New York City, watching as armies marched down the streets.

Defeat the traitors of bronze and gold...

Vinny Maxwell sat on the General's obsidian throne, blood staining the floor of the throne room as he cleaned his golden sword of the substance. Matthew Baines sat in the Fields of Punishment, enduring whatever gods-awful task he'd been forced to commit.

Or witness the world in smoke and flame...

Her friends staggered through a battlefield, injured and weak, searching for a place of solace. Bombs erupted like mines around them, sending plumes of onyx smoke into the air.

Accept thy darkness...

Images of Tessa's friends overwhelmed in battle flooded Tessa's vision. Kaden, praetor's cape snapping in the wind, was surrounded by enemy soldiers. She saw Flynn, darting around an overwhelmed infirmary, panic evident in his eyes. Back on the battlefield, Reese and Imogen stood back to back, firing arrow after arrow. Dale stood in the heat of battle, golden eyes glowing with power. Mark stumbled through a corridor, his eyes hazy as the shouts of the enemy were heard in the distance. Tessa's form continued to sank, until it rested at the bottom of the sandy sea. Her eyes were shut, her body weak as the darkness seemed to clutch at her.

Accept thy name.

Kaden bellowed a battle cry, stabbing each one of the soldiers around him through the heart with his golden blade.

Flynn began to deny certain patients, an aura of health and plague and death surrounding him like a halo.

Imogen turned away from the battle, glancing at Reese only to collapse to the ground, blood spurting from a wound.

Dale was not of this earth, as her nature magic strengthened to form vines as thick around as tree trunks, snapping Regiment soldiers in half.

Mark became light and speed incarnate, sweeping back to face the enemies that followed him within a split second, lightning and arcs of power bouncing off his form.

Tessa's shut eyes snapped open, eyes of pure electric blue as she cried in defiance and shot to the surface of the waves, an explosion like force causing the water behind her to follow in her wake.

-

Tessa shot awake, breathing as if she'd never breathed before. She pressed a hand to her sternum, to the thin white scar from which Deimos' sword had once protruded from, feeling the intense pound of her heart to a degree where it was almost painful. When she pulled her hand away, blood stained her fingertips.

Tessa choked back a gasp, her hand shaking. She got out of bed, kicking the covers off her. She padded over to her bathroom, heart still pounding, and washed the blood from her hands. Looking in the mirror, it seemed that her old would had reopened, judging from the pool of blood on her shirt.

The daughter of Poseidon gasped, fighting through the panic as she tugged the shirt off her figure and tossed it to the floor. Hands shaking, she did her best to clean up the wound, and when the blood was gone, Tessa pulled on a clean shirt.

A cold wind permeated the room, and with a mumble of a few curse words, Tessa headed over to shut her window. Why she'd left it open, she couldn't remember, but her fingers froze on the window sill just before she pushed the glass into place.

Faintly, as soft as the breeze it floated on, Tessa heard the laughter of a woman and a man. In dark unison, a cackle meant to taunt Tessa away from any hopes of success. The laughs of the General and Deimos, united together across space and time.

Tessa shut her window, back against the wall as she caught her breath. She sank to the floor, legs hugged to her chest. She sat there until sunrise, looking, hoping, breathing, searching for some courage in the shadows of her life that had blossomed in her wake.

~~

[Kaden Gray's Perspective]

"Kaden, please tell me that you've gotten some sleep in the past few days." Kassie's voice chimed from the Iris-Message she'd initiated.

Kaden, fingers clacking away at the keyboard in front of him, didn't need to look at his older sister's visage to know she looked both worried and annoyed for him. "I dozed off for an hour last night. Or was that the night before? Point being that yes, I have gotten some sleep."

His older sister sighed, and Kaden used that opportunity to push away from the central monitor he'd been working at to check the coding he'd set up on another computer. In the meantime, he took a hearty sip of the coffee Tessa had brought him before heading off to train.

"I'm fine, Kass, really," Kaden called, settling into position. He updated the facial recognition program he had running 24/7 for Vinny Maxwell, grabbed a few files from that desk, and slid back over to the central monitor. "You don't need to worry, I'll be fine."

"Is Tessa worried?" Kassie questioned.

Kaden's fingers froze mid-type. Tessa was a little worried about his distraction, his dedication these past few days in Reese's return to securing Camp Jupiter. However, in the fleeting moment that Tessa had come to visit—it might have been longer but the past 72 hours were all a blur to Kaden—she had seemed a little out of sorts.

"Kass, what's this about?" Kaden glanced away from the computer screen to look at the Mist through which his sister was formed.

The Huntress chewed on her lip. "I won't be able to come home for tomorrow. Artemis has us stationed all over the country to keep an eye on things, and I can't leave my team."

Kaden had to think for a second on what day it was, but with a twist of his heart, it all came crashing back to him. The car-ride, the accident, the inception of his guilt, all seven years ago, as of tomorrow.

"That's all right," Kaden cleared his throat, smiling sympathetically at his sister. Across whatever distance was between them now, Kaden could feel the bond between them, plagued by sorrow.

Kassie took a breath. "I've gotta go. I'll talk to you soon, okay?"

Kaden nodded. "Okay."

"Love you."

"Love you too."

Kassie cut off the connection of the Iris-Message, and Kaden found himself staring at empty air.

For seven years, he'd blamed himself for surviving the accident when it had taken both his father and his brother. That had been the day that his life changed forever, the day that Venus had claimed Kaden and Kassie, guiding them to Camp Jupiter. Shortly after, Kassie joined the Hunters of Artemis, and while the two Gray siblings were family, Kaden found himself alone and separated from his only surviving family.

Seven years...

He'd gone to Camp Half-Blood a year later, right before he turned 13, and found himself entirely alone. To maintain the rift between Roman and Greek, his memories of Camp Jupiter and his true parentage, his old friends, were blurred. Instead, he found himself "claimed" by Aphrodite, and had practically started anew. He met Reese, Mark, Dale, the rest, until that fateful day where the daughter of Poseidon had fled to the canoe lake, and fell flat on her face. Kaden had rushed to Tessa's aid, and felt the world fall out from under his feet with one look into her eyes and that bond snapped into place.

Seven years of distress and elation. Seven years of guilt and pride. Seven years of tears and laughter.

"Kaden?" A voice chimed, and Kaden shook himself out of his reverie to find Sophia standing nearby.

"Hey, yeah, what's up?" Kaden asked, rubbing his eyes.

"Alexia's waiting in the courtyard. She said that you needed to touch base with her on some of the legion's tactics?" Sophia pointed a thumb to the elevator door.

Kaden took a deep breath. He'd been down in the Principia's basement for so long, he didn't realize how much time had passed in the day.

"Yeah, I'll be right up." Kaden got to his feet, when an inkling began to form. "Wait, Sophia!"

The daughter of Athena arched an eyebrow, "Yeah?"

"Alexia's a daughter of Pluto, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

Kaden bit his lip. "I think I need her to do me a favor."

~~

"This might be the weirdest thing anyone has ever asked me to do," Alexia leant against a tree.

"Says the girl who asked for it to be done at midnight," Kaden retorted, clutching the shopping bag in his hands.

Alexia shrugged. "You want to raise the spirits of the dead, you follow the conditions of the girl whose dad controls them."

Kaden took a deep breath of the winter air, his emerald gaze catching on the pit in the ground. "So...I just toss the food in there?"

Alexia nodded, pushing herself off the tree. "And then I say an incantation, and the spirits will arise. If the food is specified to Landon, he'll be drawn to it."

Kaden bit down on his lip so hard he was afraid it would split, but nodded. "Alright, well...here goes nothing."

The son of Venus knelt to the snow-covered grass below, digging out the slices of Hawaiian Pizza. Kaden resented it, but Landon had loved it when he was alive. Kaden tossed the food into the pit, then reached for the large jug of pink lemonade. He poured it into the pit, hands shaking all the while, then stood.

Alexia stepped forward and incited her chant in Latin. Kaden picked up the general gist of the incantation: let the dead rise again, let them taste the food of the living. That didn't stop the chill from spider-walking down his spine.

Glowing spirits began to rise from the earth like tendrils of mist, and Kaden wondered if his pounding heartbeat was as loud as the cadences of their ascent from the Underworld. A few milled about the edge of the pit, but Kaden noticed a smaller glow, a brighter one, bend down to drink from the bubbling liquid within the pit. The figure solidified into a discernable face and shape, and Kaden's heart twisted.

"Landon?" Kaden whispered, his heart breaking all over again.

The youngest son of Venus smiled at his older brother. "Hi, Kaden. I've missed you."

Kaden released a laugh that sounded more like a sob, given the tears flooding his eyes. "I-I don't know what to say."

Landon tilted his head, like he was analyzing Kaden's very soul. "You want to apologize for what happened. You don't have to."

"But—" Kaden began, but the ghost of his little brother cut him off.

"Kaden, you're a hero. You always have been to me, and you always will be. But if it's one thing that heroes need to realize is that they can't change their fate, they can only embrace it." Landon explained.

"What, that accident was fate?" Kaden beseeched.

Landon shrugged. "It was a deer that ran in front of the car. A deer is Artemis' sacred animal, and Kassie is now the Lieutenant of the Hunters of Artemis, right?"

"Can't argue with the kid," Alexia chimed.

Kaden shot the daughter of Pluto a look before returning his gaze to Landon. "I feel like I should have been with you and Dad, then."

Landon shook his ghostly head, his figure coming in and out of focus with each movement. "Every hero goes through tragedy, Kaden. It makes them stronger. If Dad and I lived, you would never have gone to camp and realized your true potential. Just look at you, you're the praetor of Camp Jupiter for Pete's sake!"

Kaden couldn't fight a smile at that. "But...I miss you, kid."

"I miss you too, Kaden. But your fate is to be carried out in the land of the living, You've done great things, and you'll continue to do them." Landon glanced at the crowd of spirits behind him, and with a pang of his heart, Kaden realized that that was his brother's fate: to mill about the fields of Asphodel for all eternity.

"There are whispers," Landon continued. "Of a new war on the horizon. Old enemies of the gods are stirring, ones that you and your friends must face. Is this true?"

Kaden nodded, tears falling from his eyes. "It's true, and quite complicated."

"I believe in you, Kaden. Whatever you do, your heart's always in the right place to protect those you love." Landon met Kaden's gaze, emerald eyes onto emerald eyes.

"I couldn't protect you," Kaden whispered. "Or Dad."

"And you can't keep beating yourself up about that. Dad and I are so proud of who you've become. We're rooting for you, Kade. Even if we're in the Underworld and Kassie is off who knows where with the Hunters, your family is always at your side. You're never truly alone." Landon pointed a ghostly finger at Kaden's golden ring.

"You wear Dad's ring, you turned it into your sword. If you have that and the love and memory of us in your heart, you have nothing to apologize for."

Kaden took a shaky breath. "I might have to do some nasty things in this war, Landon. I don't know if you'll be proud of me then."

"I'll always have faith in you, Kaden." Landon asserted. "Like I said before, whatever you do will be for the right cause."

Kaden bit his lip. "Thank you."

Landon smiled. "Don't mention it."

"There's so much I wish I could tell you," Kaden exhaled, dragging a hand through his hair. It felt like the anchor of guilt that had weighed down in his soul for seven years was finally dissipating.

"Nothing I've heard before," Landon teased, leaning down to grab a piece of whatever was floating around in the pit. "How's that Tessa girl you always tell me about at my grave?"

Kaden smiled. "She's great. She's really stressed lately, but I hope she knows that I'll help her through all this."

"Kaden's got a girlfriend," Landon sing-songed.

Kaden laughed. "She's been my girlfriend for over a year now, you dork."

Landon burst into echoing laughter as well, and if Kaden closed his eyes, he could pretend that he was sitting around in his old family home, laughing with his little brother about something. But even when Kaden opened his eyes and saw the spirit of his brother staring back, the same reassurance flooded his heart.

"I'm afraid I can't stay much longer," Landon sighed. "But thank you for visiting me again, Kaden. I look forward to hearing from you every year."

Kaden smiled sadly. "Kassie can't make it this year, she's afraid. She's really busy, but she misses you a lot too, Landon."

"Tell her the same from me? And that I love her too?" Landon asked.

"You've got it," Kaden nodded.

Landon stood from where he knelt and smiled down at Kaden with that light he used to possess, now radiating around him as his literal soul. "Remember that you've always got me there with you, Kaden. I love you."

"I love you too," Kaden called back.

Landon had enough time for one last smile before the spirits of the dead all glowed with a bright light, then dissipated into thin air. Kaden stared out to over where his brother had been, but as he turned to Alexia and headed back into camp, the anchor of guilt in his heart felt lighter, so light until he wondered if Landon's spirit was truly there beside him, removing it himself.

Darkness had no place in Kaden's heart. Not anymore. Not as long as his brother and dad had faith in him, not as long as Reese was back, as his friends were with him, and as long as Tessa, the light in his life, continued to shine at his side.