[in pectore / in the heart]

Time stopped.

            Tessa's heart skipped a beat in her chest, pulsing with absolute sorrow as she watched Kaden kiss Mallory. The fury and sadness within her mixed and churned through her veins, a tidal wave of rage that she couldn't decide to execute through skewering the Roman girl or collapsing to her feet and sobbing.

            Before she could decide, Kaden pulled away from the kiss. Something flickered in his emerald eyes, and as Tessa choked back another sob, he turned and finally locked eyes with her. His disposition changed, and he let go of Mallory, who was smirking.

            "Tessa, I—" Kaden tried, reaching for her, but the daughter of Poseidon cut him off.

            "I know you're the child of the goddess of love, but I didn't know that that meant you had to be unfaithful to your girlfriend." She retorted, venom in her words. She sent a scathing look at Mallory, who faltered under her gaze. "Careful, or he'll do it to you too next."

            "Tessa!" Kaden exclaimed. His eyes were filled with panic, but before Tessa could break, she stormed out of the gymnasium.

            Tessa fled down the halls, forcing back tears as she did. If it were up to her, she'd break down right then and there, but she couldn't do that to herself. She'd grieve in solitude, not in front of the two people inflicting it upon her.

            "Wait!" Kaden cried from behind her. "Tessa, please wait!"

            She bolted out of the gymnasium's front doors, but a hand wrapped around hers from behind, twirling her back around. Kaden stood behind her, with a pleading look in his starry eyes.

            "What?" Tessa snapped, although her voice break. She cursed herself mentally, looking away.

            "You don't understand," Kaden whispered, his voice fragile. "I would never do that to you, Tessa, you know that—"

            "Well, then what the hell was that?" Tessa snapped, rage backing her words. She yanked her hand out of his grip, and she saw something shatter behind his eyes.

            Kaden's eyes became glassy, and he gripped Tessa's hands to his heart. "Tess, I am so sorry. What you saw...there's more to the story, I swear!"

            "If you're charmspeaking me right now, I swear to all of the gods—" Tessa's voice cracked, and tears began to slip down her face.

            "I'm not!" The green-eyed boy countered. "Tessa, please, please, just listen to me. She forced the kiss on me—"

            "Sure, she did!" Tessa exclaimed. "Kaden, you really are digging yourself a grave here. You don't know your own power! The things you've done recently, the flirting, the charming smiles, all of it! All of it contributes to whatever Mallory feels for you!"

            Kaden winced, and Tessa's heart continued to pound, on the verge of breaking. "Tessa, do you really believe I'm that low of a person that I would do that to you? That I'd betray you?"

            Tessa pressed her lips into a thin line. She knew that Kaden was too much of an upstanding person, but that didn't take away from the image of him kissing the one girl that was trying to win him back burning its way into Tessa's mind.

            "I used to," Tessa decided, her voice deathly calm. "But then I saw that and now I don't know what to believe." She jerked her finger back to the gym behind them.

            Kaden exhaled, his breathing ragged. When he met Tessa's gaze, his eyes were watering, just like hers. "Tessa, please," He breathed. "I can't lose you."

            "You should have thought about that before you let Mallory kiss you," Tessa's words were beginning to tremble, ramming into one another. She recognized the symptom before she could register how to stop it, and as another anxiety attack welled up in her body, she couldn't shut it away.

"You hurt me. You're supposed to be the one who I can go to, who I have gone to, whenever I needed solace! Does all of that mean nothing to you now? Now that you're back at your old camp surrounded by even more people that adore you, there's no more room for me in your heart anymore?" Tessa exclaimed, her breathing becoming quicker and quicker.

"No!" Kaden interjected. "Tessa, you know that's not the case!"

"But it's what I've seen! These past few days have been you returning as the conquering hero, with hardly any time for your new friends, your real friends! For me! Kaden, these people want to take you back and you're giving them exactly that!" Tessa wiped the tears away from her face. "Well, if that's what you want, then fine."

"Tessa—"

"Lately, I thought you would come around. That with all of this...this shit that's been happening, I could count on you to be my anchor. But now I can't even trust that! Mark's the enemy, Dale hates me, my mom's missing, an entire camp thinks I have something to do with all of this! And now my boyfriend kisses another girl?" Tessa's voice cracked, but she forced herself to stand her ground. "I just can't deal with any of this anymore. I need a break."

Neither of them spoke, and Tessa didn't know for how long. She couldn't bring herself to look at Kaden; it would only break her heart even more.

"Okay," Kaden whispered. He sniffled, and the sound of him crying made Tessa bite her lip to the point where she tasted blood to keep herself from joining him. "I know you need some time. I get that. You're underneath a world of stress right now, so am I, and I know how weary it can be. But trust me when I say this, Tessa. I can't let you go. I won't. There'll be a time for us. I guess it just isn't now. But I'll wait for you. If it's a day, a week, a month, a year, a whole eternity...I'll wait for you, Tess."

Curse this boy and his way with words. Tessa only nodded shortly, but the image burning into her mind had singed the parts of her that would have forgiven him right then and there. So with a ragged breath, she started off.

Tessa turned on her heel, and as she walked down the moonlit trails back to the residence hall, she couldn't feel her heart beat. She wondered if it had broken enough to the point where no longer had one at all.

Maybe that would help her. If she didn't have a heart, she wouldn't feel. And if she couldn't feel, she'd be able to face the oncoming storm without remorse of her actions.

But as she got back to her room and collapsed on her bed, her sobs muffled by her pillow, she knew that Kaden still had part of her now broken heart, and that was one piece of herself that she could never get back, broken pieces of glass and all.

~~

            "Tessa, open the door please?" Sophia's muffled voice came from behind Tessa's locked door.

            The daughter of Poseidon herself was seated at the desk in her room, rifling away through the countless files she'd retrieved from Kaya. Centurion reports and auguries were scattered across the mahogany desk-top, some correlating to Operation: Delta, and others related to the attack on New Rome. Tessa leant back in her chair, her bloodshot eyes scanning a report.

            "Tessa isn't here right now, please leave a message after the beep." She called, her voice scratchy from hours of crying. She cleared her throat. "Beep."

            "I'll give you some more beeps and bleeps if you don't unlock this damn door, Brennan." Sophia's voice rang out again. "I'm serious."

            "I know you are," Tessa concurred. "But I'm not in the mood. Don't you have a meeting to attend, anyway?"

            "The meeting that you have to be at too? Not for another few hours. Now open the door."

            Tessa sighed and pushed herself away from the desk. She got up and padded across the room, and as soon as she opened it, Sophia flew in.           

            "Took you long enough," The daughter of Athena exhaled. She crossed over to Tessa's bed, sitting on the edge of it as Tessa made her way back to her desk chair. "Now tell me what happened."

            Tessa shook her head, her heart thumping in her chest like rolls of thunder in the sky. "It's all a blur," She murmured. "Which is just as well considering I don't want to talk about it."

            Sophia sighed, fiddling with the ends of her fiery hair. "Do you want to know what I know?"

            The daughter of Poseidon rested her head on her hands, staring tiredly at the papers on her desk. "What?"

            "He hasn't said a word to anyone all day."

            Tessa turned around, watching Sophia carefully.  "What do you mean?"

            "You heard me," Sophia said. "He hasn't spoken. Everyone's tried to get to him; myself, Reese, Dale, Vinny, Jett, Alex, Kaya. He's taking your break-up just as bad, if not worse."

            And Tessa knew why. It pained her more than anything to know that she'd added another scar to Kaden's already damaged heart. Her boy—her ex-boyfriend had been through too much in his life, and with a weight of guilt in her soul, she knew that the break-up wasn't helping. But she needed time to recuperate, to feel like herself again when all of this stress was over. She loved him more than she had ever loved anyone, more than life itself, but given the circumstances, he was better off without her at this point. He'd be safer, somewhere where Orion, Mark, and their Regiment couldn't get him.

            "I think you made the right decision," Sophia said softly. "Being in a relationship at times like this...it can offer you solace but you don't know how quickly that person can be taken from you. We've got a war to fight. We don't need our hearts to be out on the frontlines as well as ourselves."

            Tessa took a ragged breath, but nodded. "Thanks, Sophia," She whispered.

            The daughter of Athena smiled sympathetically. "No problem," She stood. "Now, there's someone who wants to know if you're doing alright. Is it alright if I send him in?"

            Tessa gave Sophia a look. "I'm really not in a stable condition right now, Soph—"

            "Come on in, kid!" Sophia called as she walked out of the room. "Keep your distance."

            Tiredly, Tessa stared and watched her doorframe. She heard a shuffle, a clatter, and more footsteps. Eventually, she perked up in confusion at seeing Charlie's tall frame pop into her room, boxes and cards in his hands.

            "Charlie?" Tessa asked, pushing herself off her chair.

            "Hi, Tessa," The son of Vulcan smiled. "Do you mind if I set this down?"

            Tessa blinked but nodded. She watched in utter bewilderment as her newest friend hurried into her room, dropping the armful of gifts onto her bed. Among the mess were boxes of chocolate, 'Get-Well Cards', and a stuffed dragon.

            "I heard about your breakup with Kaden," He said awkwardly, looking at her with bright teal eyes. "I'm really sorry."

            Tessa took a deep breath, trying to force away the aftereffects of her break-up-induced anxiety attack. She feigned a smile. "I've dealt with worse," She said softly. "Are all of these for me?" She pointed to the stack of gifts.

            Charlie lit up, as if remembering the truckload of things that he'd only just then put down. "Oh, yeah! Break-ups are rough, and I could only imagine what you must be going through. So I decided to bring you some stuff to maybe lift your spirits."

            A ghost of a smile played at Tessa's lips as she reached for the gifts. Gingerly, Tessa picked up the stuffed dragon, amusement filling her eyes. "Of all things, a stuffed dragon?"

            The son of Vulcan's cheeks pinked as he reached up and rubbed the back of his neck. "Oh, yeah, well...don't tell anyone, but Eugene is actually my stuffed animal. I've had him all my life, and he always cheered me up as a kid, so I thought that he'd cheer you up too."

            Tessa's spirits lifted if only a little at the thought that her newest friend, one who hardly knew her, had felt enough empathy for her to bring her gifts. Even if it did come in the form of a stuffed green dragon named Eugene, the sincerity of it made her heart skip a beat in a positive way.

            "Thank you, Charlie," She looked up at him and smiled. "This...this means a lot to me right now."

            Charlie beamed. "Glad I could help," He said.

            For a moment, the two of them only smiled at one another, until Tessa remembered the circumstances she was under. Her smile crumbled, and she looked away.

            "I can see you're still upset, so I'll give you some space." Charlie chimed. "But if you ever need someone to listen, come find me. I'll be there in a heartbeat."

            Tessa pressed her lips into a thin line, but smiled weakly. "Thank you," She whispered.

            The son of Vulcan smiled, and as he disappeared from the room, Tessa found herself hugging Eugene the Green Dragon to her chest. What had happened to the boy who had flirted with her shamelessly when they first met? The one who had told her that if he were Kaden, he'd never want to let her go?

            Tessa's heart beat in her chest, filling her with a feeling she couldn't exactly place. With a sigh, she returned to her desk, but was sure to place Charlie's gift in the corner of it. As she worked, she couldn't help but think that Charlie's tactic had worked: each time she glanced up at the stuffed dragon with its little fabric tongue sticking out, she smiled in amusement, and bit by bit, she felt her heart begin to stitch itself back together.

~~

            An hour and a half later, Tessa reclined in one of the seats within the Senate House. Voices of the praetors and senators echoed across the amphitheater-like room, and with lazy but bright green eyes, Tessa surveyed the room.

            Kaya and Alex were seated in their thrones atop the dais, and the former was leant forward as she engaged in a heated debacle between herself and a Lar in the front row. Alex scanned the audience lazily, and when they met Tessa's gaze, she looked away.

            Dale, Reese, and Sophia were seated beside Tessa, and at the end of their little row, sat Kaden. Sophia had been right, apparently: the son of Venus looked weary and fragile, just how Tessa felt, only four seats away. His vision flicked to meet Tessa's, and with a pang, she turned away.

            Kaya, in exasperation, stood. The side-conversations echoing throughout the room were cut off, and the daughter of Trivia took a deep breath. "Tessa Brennan," She spoke, her eyes locking on Tessa's from the dais. "Come down to the podium, please."

            Tessa made a face, but the pleading look in the praetor's eyes made her stand with a sigh. She reached to put a hand on Tempest's hilt, but with annoyance, remembered that the guard statue outside the Senate House had confiscated any and all weapons. Holding her head high, Tessa made her way down the aisle's steps until she stood before an amphitheater filled with Romans, looking steamed.

            "Yes?" Tessa purred, an innocent yet challenging look in her eyes as she leant against the podium.

            "Do you mind standing trial for a moment to convince the few skeptics in the room of your innocence?" Kaya asked airily.

            A flare of panic welled in Tessa, but she forced it down. She smiled thinly, and with a wave from Kaya, two senators rose from the audience. A boy and a girl—Tessa racked her brain and remembered them as Julius and Lucillia, the centurions of the third cohort—walked to the dais.

            Lucillia, brushing her dark red hair back over her shoulder, straightened her posture. She stared Tessa dead in the eye, and Tessa forced herself to look neutral. "Where were you before the explosion in New Rome was set off?"

            "In my room," Tessa responded. "I was Iris-Messaging my sister back at Camp Half-Blood to ask how things were going."

            Julius nodded, walking past with his head bowed in thought and his hands behind his back. "When you arrived at the scene of the explosion, what did you see?"

            Tessa took a deep breath. "I saw the culprit of the explosion, a son of Iris and former friend of mine. Mark Akagi. He approached Kaden Gray and myself, and attacked."

            "But if you say he's your former friend, why did he attack?" Lucillia interrogated.

            "Because he wasn't himself anymore. Whatever made him join the Regiment, it must have changed him. The Mark that attacked me is no friend of mine." Tessa responded, an edge in her voice.

            Kaya held up a hand. "Enough about the culprit, centurions. Carry on with the interrogation."

            The centurions nodded, and Julius watched Tessa carefully. "Tell us what ensued after you and Kaden Gray fought against this Mark character."

            Absentmindedly, Tessa glanced at Kaden in the audience. It was as if their break-up never happened, that he was still her confidant despite it all. The son of Venus nodded, a small encouraging smile on his lips that only twisted her heart. She looked back at the boy before her, a strong look in her eyes.

            "I ran from the scene to get Mark away from Kaden. I ended up losing him, but ran across the Regiment's leader, Orion. We engaged in a small battle before another explosion filled the armory and he disappeared." Tessa reported.

            "Did you know Orion was in the armory?" Lucillia countered.

            "No, I did not." Tessa responded calmly. "I'm not in league with the people who kidnapped my best friend, led me and my entire camp to believe he was dead; who attacked your home, injured and wounded members of your legion. I may be an outsider, but I am not a traitor."

            Silence fell upon the senators and Lares in the audience. Tessa stared them all down, her sea-green eyes electric. In her gaze, she held a storm about to break. She dared one of them to challenge her authority, her credibility. They'd regret their every move.

            To their relief, no one rebuffed Tessa's story. She was dismissed back to her seat, but Tessa didn't hesitate to shoot glares this way and that at the people that she knew were silently linking her to the attack.

            "Now," Alex's voice boomed as he stood from his throne. "We have a more pressing issue to discuss than Miss Brennan's alibis. The Regiment arrived directly into New Rome, with no entrance through the barrier that our sentries would have been able to see. This raises the question of how these enemies were able to invade a heavily fortified military base, and after consultation with Kaya and the Greek task-force, I believe we finally have an answer.

            "With the revival of Operation: Delta, the situations that have occurred in the past few days have led Kaya and myself to believe that there is Labyrinth entrance here within Camp Jupiter." Alex continued, but the audience erupted into an outcry.

            The praetors silence the crowd, calm expressions on their face. Tessa narrowed her eyes at Alex as he continued to speak, wondering why he seemed so neutral to all of this and Tessa's supposed involvement when the day before, he'd been adamant on accusing her.

            "We are not sure where this possible entrance could be located, or if there is one at all. However, it is our strongest lead at the moment, and we will be setting up a team to work opposite the Greek taskforce to find and blockade this entrance." The son of Mars' voice reverberated through the room.

            Kaya stood by Alex, her violet cape billowing as she walked. "This task is to become our camp's top priority, but as not to spread panic, the only souls that are allowed to know this information are the ones seated in this meeting right now. Should word spread to the legion and other veterans of New Rome, a mass panic will spread like wildfire, and punishment will be placed on whoever speaks."

            Tessa was taken aback. If a rumor spread, they were willing to punish whoever talked?

            "This Senate meeting is adjourned," Kaya continued, and swept back to discuss something with Alex.

            The senators and Lares in the room stood, conversing in hushed tones as they emerged from the Senate House. Tessa and her friends emerged as well, standing at the base of the front steps in a circle.

            "Well, that was unsettling," Reese voiced, his blue eyes the color of the January sky above them. "What was with all of that shade towards Tessa?"

            Tessa smiled wryly at the son of Apollo. "I can't be the only one who throws shade at people. The torch has to be passed every now and again."

            They made their way to where the other centurions and senators were retrieving their weapons, and as Tessa picked up Tempest, she felt her familiar confidence resurge within her. While it still was quelled from her repairing heart, her metaphorical safety blanket was back in her possession once more.

            "Regardless, you guys do know what this means, right?" Dale spoke. She met Tessa's gaze, and in that split second, she could see the darkness flickering behind the daughter of Demeter's golden irises.

            "We're in big trouble?" Kaden tried, a weak attempt at a smile on his lips. Tessa stared at them for a second too long, the longing in her soul to feel them on hers once more almost unbearable.

            Sophia looked like she'd been smacked between the eyes as realization dawned on her. "There's an entrance into Camp Half-Blood too."

            Tessa cleared her throat awkwardly. "Don't worry, I sicced Madi and the others on their own little mission to find it and destroy it."

            "When'd you do that?" Reese asked.

            "Literally right before all hell broke loose," Tessa deadpanned. "I'll touch base with her soon, but until then, we've gotta be on our toes too."

            Her friends made muffled sounds of agreement, and as they emerged from the Senate House's property, Tessa got a chilling feeling down her spine. She glanced behind her, and standing there on the steps of the building in the shade, was Mark. But then the sun came out from behind a cloud, and just like that, he was gone.

~~

            Eli made two discoveries about the Labyrinth as he, Aspen, and Lukas embarked through its corridors. One, it stank in there. Two, he needed a map.

            The trio of soldiers wove their way through the enchanted maze, jumping slightly as its walls groaned and fighting off spiders and other small creatures that darted through its confinement. Eli's Stygian iron sword did next to nothing to improve the dim lighting of the tunnel, but thankfully, the bronze and gold of Aspen and Lukas' weapons made up for it.

            "So where exactly are we going?" Aspen asked, eyeing a spider-web hanging from the ceiling. She slashed her spear across it, and Eli almost felt a little sympathy for the spider within it as it fell to the ground.

            "Target B," Lukas exhaled as they turned a corner. The rusty red bricks of the hall turned into white stone, covered in even more dust and spiderwebs than before.

            "Which one is that again?" Eli coughed, making a face at all of the dust.

            "Camp Half-Blood," Lukas responded, glancing over his shoulder at the son of Ahklys. "Greek training camp. So you'll be right at home, won't you?"

            Eli made a face at the boy as he turned back around, but a small flutter of hope resonated in his chest. If they were going to the camp for the Greeks, maybe he'd be able to get help. He could escape the Regiment once and for all.

            If they don't kill you on sight, his conscience reminded him. You're the enemy, remember?

            He really hated his conscience sometimes.

            The trio of soldiers continued on down the path, but the hallway filtered into a small room, shrouded in darkness and filled with pumps and other metal contraptions. A white wooden door stood at the opposite side of the room, their apparent exit.

            Before Eli could protest, Aspen surged forward. She opened the door and stepped out, beckoning Lukas and Eli to follow.

            "Where are we?" Lukas whispered as he stared around the room. They were in a basement, with old furniture dotting the white stone room. Old school supplies and book shelves lined the walls, dust covering the entirety of the room. However, a wooden staircase sat along the same wall as the Labyrinth's exit, leading up.

            "Guess we'll find out." Aspen responded. The girl stepped out of the doorway and towards the staircase, flying up it. Lukas followed, and soon, Eli.

            They opened the door at the top of the stairs, and found themselves in the ground floor of a house. Couches sat in the living room, in front of a TV that was still on. The kitchen nearby was covered in footprints, and breakfast foods lined the counters, a buffet that had molded over. The most unsettling thing about the floor, though, were the scorch marks lining the tiles and walls, like an explosion had ensued. Chairs were knocked over, and claw marks dotted the walls.

            Before Eli could speak, Lukas and Eli hit the ground, unconscious. He whirled around, and standing behind his companions, a wild look in her sea green eyes, was a woman. Her dark hair was tangled up in a bun, and scrapes and scars lined her hands and face. She bore a certain familiarity to someone Eli had seen but couldn't place, and before he could, he blacked out.