[scientia et sapientia]

The Labyrinth groaned as it meandered its way underneath the earth, as if the monster Theseus had defeated all those eons ago had returned and was haunting the maze once more. Given Tessa's luck that day, she wasn't sure she'd mind if the Minotaur came barreling at them, screaming bloody murder. However, to her partial dismay, nothing attacked her and her friends.

She, Kaden, Reese, and Sophia marched their way through the ancient maze, jumping at every sudden noise, at every shadow along the wall. Thankfully, they'd had enough sense to have packed flashlights before they arrived at Camp Jupiter, and with Tessa bringing up the front and Reese the rear, they had enough light to help them through the tunnels.

Tessa took a shaky breath of the musty underground air, trying to force the feelings of claustrophobia away from her mind. She waved her flashlight, scanning the approaching sector of the Labyrinth—yet another tunnel of rusty red brick.

"Are we there yet?" Reese groused from the back of the group.

To be quite honest, Tessa wasn't sure. She learned enough from her studies with Sophia in the Archives to know that time passed differently in the Labyrinth, as did distance. It felt like they'd been down there for a few hours, but what if it'd only been a few minutes? Or on the opposite spectrum, days?

"Do you see any soldiers in black?" Sophia mused, kicking at a pebble on the maze's floor as she walked.

"No," Reese answered.

"Then no, we're not there yet." Sophia answered.

A ghost of a smile played at Tessa's lips, but it was almost like the pretense of happiness was too much for her. Instantly, images of Alex's dead body, her mother and Dale in the Labyrinth, Vinny's blood-stained sword, and Mark's grim expression filled her head, sending a pang through her heart and wiping the smile off of her face.

"How do you think Kaya's holding up?" Kaden asked softly, his voice reverberating off the walls.

A chill snaked its way up Tessa's spine as she thought of the daughter of Trivia, who'd seen the death of her closest colleague and still took it upon herself to hold the rest of the city. Tessa could only imagine how Kaya was doing, and she prayed to every god there was to help the girl get through the times to come. The grief would fade, but would never rescind its temporary claim over her heart and mind.

"As well as she can," Sophia figured. There was a beat of silence before she continued. "I still can't believe it."

"Join the club," Kaden said glumly. "All this time, he was right under our noses, and we completely missed it."

"We can't beat ourselves up for it," Tessa tried, but even she couldn't convince herself. "We did as much as we could have given the leads we found."

Silence ensued, but Tessa wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

She took a deep breath, trying to alleviate the strain on her soul as she walked. That's when the scenery began to change. The tunnel morphed from red brick on all sides to platforms of gray stone, with the faded images of mosaics lining the walls. Tessa knit her eyebrows together intently, scanning the friezes and finding that they were of the gods.

"Well, this is new," She murmured, running her hand gently across the wall.

A clatter echoed off in the distance, and everyone jolted, reaching for their weapons. They all froze, hearts pounding in the perpetual silence of the maze, waiting for something less than friendly to spring out at them and attack.

But there was nothing.

Tessa sighed, lowering Tempest and lifting the flashlight. However, the beacon of light fell upon a woman's face, and the next thing Tessa knew, the flashlight had clattered to the ground.

"Oh, please," The woman's voice grumbled in the darkness before them, her tone sharp.

Instantly, the tunnel filled with light, rendering the demigods' flashlights useless. Tessa drew Tempest, prepared to attack this mysterious woman, when she caught her gaze. The woman was tall, in a dapper black pant-suit. Her midnight hair was pulled up into a sleek ponytail, and her arms were folded across her chest. However, the most captivating thing of all were her steely gray eyes, like smoke unfurling behind glass.

Sophia gasped at Tessa's side. Her pale blue irises shifted to match the gray of the woman's eyes, and in that moment, Tessa knew.

"Mother?" Sophia whispered, as if she couldn't believe her eyes.

A soft smile played at Athena's lips as she acknowledged her daughter, but the steely gaze returned as soon as she addressed her companions. "I'm afraid I don't have much time. Come, and we'll discuss."

Athena waved her hand for them to follow and turned on her heel, marching down the Labyrinth's mosaic-covered walls. A few moments passed, and Tessa glanced to Sophia for a strategy, but the red-haired girl only started after her mother. Tessa, Reese, and Kaden hurried after her, and found her and her mother standing in a vestibule-like area that was covered in the ancient mosaics.

"Now, as I've said before, I don't have much time, so be attentive," Athena said, her arms still folded across her chest. "Firstly, I praise you all for the skills you exerted in the Battle of New Rome a few hours ago. Given the pressures you faced, you performed beautifully. Well done."

Tessa narrowed her eyes at the goddess. Athena was making it sound like that battle was a show, and they'd all played their parts. Did she not realize the casualty levels? Did she not see Alex's blood on Tessa's hands?

"Secondly, I understand you're searching for the Regiment, as well as Dale Alcander and Sera Brennan," Athena continued, unfolding her arms and clasping her hands together daintily.

"You know where they are?" Kaden asked, clearing his throat.

Athena arched an eyebrow. "To a degree," She drawled. "They are within the Regiment's base, which I do not have the coordinates to. It's been warded and protected by magic that even I haven't seen in my existence, so I cannot be sure where it is, but nonetheless, they are there."

Tessa felt her heart skip a beat within her chest. Her best friend and her mother, both inside the Regiment. But out of their own will or Orion's?

"Are they okay?" Reese asked, intensity in his voice.

Athena held up a hand. "I can't be sure of that, but you all can. Continue on through the Labyrinth, and keep your minds centered on finding Orion and his base. Only then will you possibly be able to surpass the tricks and twists of the maze." She glanced around the illuminated vestibule, a groan echoing in the distance. "My son did an excellent job at creating this, but too many souls have perished within it."

Sophia inhaled sharply. "Thank you for your guidance, mother," She held her head up high as she spoke. "But we have one more question to ask."

Athena met her daughter's gaze, a quizzical look in her eyes. She nodded, and Sophia glanced at Tessa, Kaden, and Reese, before speaking again.

"What has become of Vinny Maxwell?" Sophia asked.

That alone was enough to trigger the fury Tessa now harbored within her at the son of Victoria. He'd been their friend, they'd trusted him, and all along, he'd been playing them for fools. He'd killed Lucillia, he'd killed Alex, and if Tessa and her friends didn't put an end to it all, who knew if they'd be next?

If Dale and her mother would be next?

Tessa gripped Tempest's leather hilt tightly, reverting her gaze to the goddess. Athena pursed her lips, as if she were perusing a shelf of books rather than finding intel on Public Enemy Number One of Camp Jupiter.

"He fled the scene of the battle after killing Alexander Devan," Athena said, her voice reverberating off the walls. "But as of now...I can't be sure. I'm sorry."

"So he's in the Regiment's base?" Reese countered. He dragged a hand through his already disheveled blond hair, and Tessa could see the frustration within his blue irises.

Athena shook her head. "He's either masked himself very well, or is somewhere that he cannot be detected."

"Wonderful," Reese grumbled.

Maybe it was Tessa's imagination, but a rumble of thunder echoed throughout the halls of the Labyrinth, causing her and her friends to jump. Athena, however, only sighed.

"Zeus is limiting my interference," She explained. "I'm afraid that's my cue."

"Thank you again, mother," Sophia nodded. She may have appeared to be calm, cool, and collected, but Tessa could practically feel the tension radiating off the red-haired girl. Tessa knew the feeling; it wasn't every day that you met your godly parent.

Athena smiled thinly. "I'm proud of you, Sophia. Know that the next time you go into battle." She nodded to her daughter, before addressing the rest of the group. "Go forth, heroes, and good luck." And just like that, she dissolved into nothing, just a simple scent of old books lingering in the air.

With Athena went the light of the Labyrinth, as the maze instantly returned to its former dim state. Tessa recovered her flashlight, and with Reese's help, they were able to fill the vestibule with light once more, if only a little.

"We should probably rest," Kaden said, his voice low. "We'll need to restore our energy."

No one seemed to be in the mood to argue, so Tessa was the first to collapse to the ground, leaning against the dusty mosaic wall. She took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves as she waved her flashlight across the room, at her friends who joined her on the Labyrinth floor.

"So what's the plan?" Reese asked from his side of the vestibule. He stretched his legs out before him, reclining against his backpack on the ground.

Tessa knew it was inevitable, but as everyone looked to her, she wished they'd all look away. How could they look at her like that, like she was a leader, when she couldn't save Alex? When she couldn't put two and two together in time to save a city?

She looked down, dropping their gazes. "Make our way to camp," She started slowly. "Get coordinates from Amelie, as well as reinforcements, and head back into the maze."

"To defeat the Regiment?" Reese concluded.

"No, for a scavenger hunt," Tessa deadpanned. "Of course to defeat the Regiment! What else?"

Reese put his hands up in mock surrender, trying at a weak smile. However, just like all things in the Labyrinth, it crumbled. There just wasn't enough room in an endless maze for smiled and happiness, not when there was danger lurking around every corner.

"Man, that battle took a lot out of us, huh?" He glanced around the room, at the friends that sat in heaps of post-battle misery and reflection.

"We were blindsided," Tessa sighed. She set down her flashlight, trading it for Tempest. In the gloom, the bronze sword gleamed, still flecked with the golden dust of monsters.

"No kidding," Kaden concurred. For what felt like the first time since the battle, Tessa took Kaden in, registering just how detrimental the effects of seeing his old best friend turn into a villain were. His emerald eyes gleamed sadly, and every muscle in his body was tense, like he'd run into trouble at any moment.

"I just feel so stupid. He was my best friend, and I didn't stop to think how my absence might have changed him. He's practically blaming this all on me, and at this point, it feels like he's right." He continued, dragging a hand through his chestnut hair.

"Hey." Reese started. "Leave that talk in Quitterville, that's quitter talk. That asshole isn't right about anything, especially you. You saved Rome from the drakon, you're praetor now!"

"I shouldn't be," Kaden focused his gaze on the gloom of the tunnels of the Labyrinth, and Tessa felt her heart twist in her chest. "That title belongs to Alex."

"Kaden," Tessa said softly. At the sound of her voice, he turned, meeting her gaze. "Don't beat yourself up. Vinny took a lot from us today, but we can't allow him to see that he's getting to us. He'll win that way, and we can't let that happen."

"Tessa's right," Sophia chimed. "Today was troubling, but we have to focus on what's to come, or else we'll be blindsided again. Besides, Vinny's a coward, that's all he is. He and Orion and the rest of the Regiment for that matter."

Tessa remembered what the former centurion had said to her just moments before firing the arrow that would kill Alex. Both camps will crumble, and so will Olympus, all when Orion's power is at its strongest.

"We have to figure out how to defeat Orion," Tessa mused. "Vinny practically told me, but he didn't at the same time."

She recounted what the traitor had told her, and even with the combined intelligence of four very smart demigods, Tessa and her friends still looked stumped.

"Maybe it's like a werewolf thing," Reese tried. "The full moon?"

Sophia snorted at the thought. "Orion as a werewolf. Now there's a thought."

Tessa bit her lip in thought, knitting her eyebrows together. "No, but there's gotta be something. You and Jett said something about his asterokinetic power, so maybe its linked to space?" She glanced at Sophia, but the daughter of Athena only shrugged.

Kaden furrowed his brow. "Space..." He murmured. Instantly, his green eyes lit up. "Guys, that's it."

"Do explain," Reese turned to his best friend, waving his hand lazily.

"Orion draws his power from space, right? If that's the case, then Reese might not be too far off, and instead of the moon, it's something more personal to him." Kaden explained, his words electric with the realization.

Tessa's eyes widened. "His constellation."

"Exactly," Kaden met her gaze, and the two of them smiled.

"So you're saying that somehow, when Orion's constellation is at its highest vantage point in the sky, he'll issue the attack?" Sophia recounted, fiddling with the ends of her fiery hair.

"In a nutshell, yes," Kaden concurred. "We'll just have to figure out when that is."

"All the more reason to get to camp as soon as possible," Tessa reasoned.

"And on that note," Reese clapped his hands together. "We should probably get some sleep. I can take first watch."

"I'll join you," Tessa added, nodding at the son of Apollo.

Sophia heaved a sigh. "I hate watches," She grumbled. "I'm a heavy sleeper, what if I don't wake up in time and we all get mauled by a monster?"

"We won't be, we'll have booked it by that point," Tessa nudged her friend, the ghost of an impish smile on her lips. "You on the other hand..."

"Oh, shut up." Sophia yawned. She shifted, resting her head on top of her backpack.

Soon, the vestibule filled with silence, the only sound coming from the creatures of the Labyrinth, echoing in the distance.

~~

"Name one funny thing that's happened when you were with Imogen," Tessa whispered to Reese, tossing the flashlight back to him.

Reese caught it, twirling it around his fingers as he thought. "It was the first time we met, when I got lost on the way to the bathroom, and I was trying to be smooth but my shoes were untied. I tripped, fell flat on my face, and she still won't let me hear the end of it." His lips twitched up at the story. "How about you and Kaden?"

Tessa caught the flashlight as he tossed it back. She glanced over at where her boyfriend slept, his eyes shut and his soft lips parted. He looked so peaceful, so calm, and given all that had happened, she tried to wish as much serenity upon the son of Venus as possible.

She returned her gaze to Reese, thinking of a moment. "Madi walked in on us making out once."

"Yikes," Reese hissed, although Tessa could detect the hint of a laugh in his voice. "How'd that turn out?"

"Well, considering the fact that we were in our bathing suits after the heat wave at camp, and we were on my bed, she jumped to conclusions pretty quickly." Tessa laughed softly, remembering the look on her sister's face.

"Fantastic," Reese mused. "Your turn."

Tessa swept her gaze around the vestibule, flashing the light of the flashlight down either end of the tunnels to make sure the coast was clear. "What do you miss most about camp?" She tossed the flashlight back to Reese, who caught it in midair.

"Campfires with Flynn," The son of Apollo said, looking down. "I always thought the songs were dumb, but when everyone's singing them together, and Flynn is trying to beat his record of how many smores he can scarf down in a minute, it's great."

Tessa smiled wistfully at that. She agreed with Reese on that; the campfire songs were pretty cheesy, but when you're surrounded by all of your friends and you're having a good time, even the stupidest things become valuable moments.

Tessa sighed. "What I wouldn't give for a s'more right now."

"Amen."

"Wrong religion."

"Oh, shut up."

Tessa smirked as she caught the flashlight. "I miss the canoe lake." She said.

"I don't," Reese frowned. "I anger one naiad once and I can never make it across that lake in a canoe for the life of me."

"What did you expect?" Tessa retorted, but her features softened. "But it was my happy place. Nothing went wrong there, no matter what kind of pressures I was under."

Reese nodded. Tessa tossed the flashlight back to him, and Reese fiddled with it for a moment before speaking again. "I'm afraid for everyone back at camp if we can't do this."

Tessa's gaze snapped up, but before she could speak, he continued.

"So many kids see camp as their only safe place in the world. If we lose and the Regiment wins...I don't want that to be taken from them. Sure, it's our training ground, but it's our home." He pressed his lips into a firm line, before meeting Tessa's gaze full on. "We can't let them destroy our home, Tessa."

Tessa searched his eyes from across the room, shadows dancing across his blue irises. She nodded in agreement. "They won't."

Reese took a deep breath. "Kaden and Imogen's home is destroyed," He whispered. "We let him destroy it."

"No, we didn't," Tessa countered. "Vinny's attack was inevitable, and it's not like we knew his true intentions until he carried it out anyway."

"I know, but..." Reese gesticulated lackadaisically, like he was grasping for something that he couldn't quite reach. "A safe haven shouldn't be trespassed on. We let it slip once with New Rome, but we'll rebuild it. As soon as the Regiment is taken care of, we'll rebuild it."

Tessa nodded slowly. The intensity in Reese's eyes was enough to spur the emotions inside of her, the ones that had haunted her since she stepped foot in the damned maze. It felt as if she were locked in the battle once more, witnessing the horror all over again.

She took a ragged breath, looking back up at Reese. He tossed the flashlight back to her, and as its beacon of light sailed through the air, it caught the scarlet remnants of Alex's blood on her hands. Tessa got the feeling that no matter how hard she tried to rid herself off the blood in the future, she'd always have that burden on her shoulders—a friend she couldn't save.

~~

"Why are there so many different tunnels?" Reese poked at a twig that stuck out from the wall of the Labyrinth as they walked, glancing at Sophia, who was on flashlight duty for the day.

"The Labyrinth reflects different periods of history, as well as different areas from around the world. For example, the older parts of the Labyrinth—the mosaic stuff?—that's all from when it first was created. We haven't seen any yet, but there are some more high-tech parts to it as well." Sophia explained, reflecting the beam of light off of the walls surrounding them.

Tessa sighed. She wasn't sure how much time had gone by in the real world, but it sure felt like two days had passed within the maze. And to no one's delight, Sophia and Reese engaged in another battle of But Why Is This A Thing.

"But why is—" Reese started again, but at Tessa's side, Kaden interrupted.

"Can't the Labyrinth also manipulate itself to the mind of whoever's within it?" He said, his eyes flickering dangerously at Reese. Tessa got the general gist: shut up before I punch you.

Sophia rolled her eyes at the boys before glancing back at Kaden. "It can," She answered simply. "But it doesn't look like that so far."

"Maybe we should try it," Tessa tried. "If we all try to channel our best memories of camp, and keep going forward like Theseus told us, we might walk straight into the valley."

Sophia shrugged. "Worth a shot."

Tessa couldn't tell for everyone else, but as she walked hand-in-hand with Kaden behind Reese and Sophia, she thought up her best memories of Camp Half-Blood. Meeting each of them for the first time, her Capture the Flag victories, the dances and parties within the arena.

But within her happier memories were the flecks and bits that somehow wormed their way into Tessa's current worries. Mark's laughter of the past mixed with the deadly gleam in his eyes when he'd nearly killed Tessa and Kaden. Dale's warm hugs melded with the image of her walking through the Labyrinth alone. A valley that was always filled with light somehow shrouded in the darkness as war neared.

Tessa opened her eyes, and had to muffle her scream.

The tunnel had changed, alright. From an earthy mix of dirt and leaves came a tunnel Tessa had taken before, into a cavern where she and Mark had both died.

"No way," Kaden breathed in disbelief at her side. He squeezed her hand reassuringly, but Tessa's heart was racing in her chest. She wasn't back here, she couldn't be, it had disintegrated when Deimos disappeared.

But as she and her friends step foot into Crystal Cave once more, she saw that the cavern was very well intact. As if the battle against Deimos had never happened, the vast earthy room echoed their very footsteps, and across the crystalline pool where the god of panic had tried to drown her, was the platform that marked the end of the cave for tourists, where Tessa and her friends had begrudgingly left Mark behind.

"No," Tessa whispered in horror.

Before she could react, she felt hands grip her from behind, disarming her. Tessa struggled, her battle senses kicking in. She flipped her attacker over, scrambling for her sword.

"You," Tessa heard Reese curse, making her look up. And what she saw confirmed her suspicions.

"So we meet again," Vinny grinned, sauntering towards them lazily. His golden sword was sheathed at his side, but he was flanked on either side by two Regiment soldiers, excluding the one Tessa had judo-flipped. "Good to see you all."

In that moment, Tessa retrieved Tempest, the tidal wave of rage within her becoming unleashed once more. She ran for the traitor, but as if she had no skill at all, she was disarmed, her arms tangled behind her back as Vinny stepped behind her.

She would have moved, had it not been for the blade of the golden dagger now at the base of her throat.

"No one moves," Vinny said from behind Tessa, and she eyed her friends, who were watching in a mix of rage and horror. "Or else your lovely leader dies in the place she perished before."