[aut consiliis aut ense / either by meeting or the sword]

The Principia was every classical architect's dream. Built with white marble, the sleek building was at least two stories, with immaculate columns and glittering floors. Steps led up to the ornate golden front door, outside which, hung purple and gold banners. The courtyard was dotted with trees which shook softly in the oddly warm winter breeze.

            "Woah," Sophia murmured, her eyes wide as they approached the praetorian building.

            Kaden smirked at Sophia's astonishment, leading them towards the building. To Tessa's chagrin, he had remembered the way to the building, after all. The son of Venus led the group, a slight swagger in his step. "I know." He said.

            Dale glanced around the courtyard, nodding in agreement. "Kind of reminds you of Olympus, doesn't it?"

            Tessa would say so; the throneroom of the gods and the Principia were built in a similar fashion, and she wondered what she would find on the inside. Would there be a blazing hearth and ceiling of constellations inside this official building too?

            The four demigods made their way up the marble steps and towards the ornate front door, which as if on cue, swung open as soon as they approached.

            "Yeah, that's not creepy," Tessa muttered under her breath, eyeing the shimmering doors as she and her friends passed them.

            To her discovery, the Principia was not a replica of the Olympian throneroom, which she found a relief. The foyer was large, with a babbling fountain in the center of the room and a grand staircase behind it that lead to the upper floors. Balconies dotted the halls of the other floors, as if people could watch anything that was happening in the foyer from above. The floor was sparkling marble, and more banners glittered around the vast room.

            A teenage boy paced in the center of the foyer, his violet cloak billowing around his ankles as he did so. Aside from that, he bore no other sign of his status, even though Tessa knew that this boy was Kaya'a co-praetor. He had a dark brown hair like Tessa's, with tanned skin and even darker eyes. He looked up as Tessa and her friends approached, stopping in his tracks.

            A vacant smile stretched across his lips as his gaze fell upon Kaden at the front of the group. "So the charming hero returns at last." He drawled, his voice tonally powerful. "Kaden Gray...welcome home."

            Four sets of eyes fell upon Kaden, who as always, took the situation in stride. His posture was perfect, his head held high. With a slight smirk, Kaden's green eyes glimmered as he looked back to the boy. "Thank you, Alex," He said cheerily.

            The praetor, Alex, stood up a little straighter. "Are you going to introduce me to your little entourage?"

            "Task force," Tessa corrected, her words sharp. "We're no one's entourage."

            Alex's dark eyes flicked over to Tessa, as if just now acknowledging her presence. His smile seemed to stretch a little more. "Who might you be?"

            Before Tessa could speak, the sound of footsteps reverberated through the tense air in the foyer. She glanced at the grand staircase behind Alex and found Kaya descending it, a much more amiable smile on her face than her colleague's.

            "Alex, be nice," The daughter of Trivia corrected simply. "These are our guests. We must be gracious hosts."

            Alex had no response as his partner joined him at his side. Kaya had stripped of her armor, standing before them in shorts, a t-shirt, and her cape. Back in her own element, that amiable aura had begun to radiate from her, and the enemy that Tessa had made her out to be had disappeared.

            "May I introduce you to my co-praetor, Alex Devan, son of Mars," Kaya gestured to the boy lurking at her side, his arms folded across his chest. "Alex, may I present Kaden Gray, Dale Alcander, Sophia Ransom, Tessa Brennan, and Reese—where's Reese?"

            Tessa blinked, glancing over her shoulder. It just now registered that the son of Apollo had not somehow joined them on their mission to the Principia, and was most likely traipsing the streets of New Rome in a confused daze. She sighed. "Lost."

            Kaya pursed her lips. At that moment, a legionnaire with disheveled dirty blond hair emerged from one of the side doors of the foyer, flipping through a report. "Julius," She called.

            The legionnaire, Julius, looked up. He straightened up at seeing Kaya and Alex, nodding to them in respect. "Yes, Kaya?"

            "Do me a favor and go retrieve Reese Hale, son of Apollo. He is a part of the Greek task-force but must have gotten lost during the feast. Find him and escort him here promptly, would you?" Kaya commanded kindly.

            Julius nodded. "On it," And with that, he disappeared out the front doors.

            Kaya turned back to the group. "Well, unfortunately, we can't wait for Reese all day. We have much to discuss."

            Alex nodded, somehow reanimating now that Tessa's outburst had died down. "Yes, indeed," He concurred, sauntering in front of the fountain. "As Kaya might have informed you, I located Kaden through a dream I had a few nights ago. It was very hazy, very foggy, but I was able to make out enough information to report to our augur, Luci. She consulted the auguries and came back with some interesting news.

            "She announced that Kaden would be brought back to camp in great triumph, which seemed good enough for Kaya and I. However, her final pieces of information brought us to a...somewhat hesitant outlook on the task at hand." Alex's footsteps punctuated his words, reverberating across the immaculate white walls and columns of the foyer.

            "What kind of news?" Kaden asked, knitting his eyebrows together.

            "That our retrieval of you, Kaden, would bring the arrival of the goddess Tempestas in your wake and either unleash her blessing or her wrath upon us Romans in the troubling times to come." Alex revealed, but upon hearing it, Tessa felt her heart skip a beat. Subconsciously, her hand went to her side, where Tempest normally hung, but it was resting in her backpack in its dormant form.

            Tessa wasn't the only one who noticed the possible meaning of the augury. Her friends all glanced at her warily, wearing matching visages of puzzlement, shock, and amusement.

            Kaya arched an eyebrow, watching her quizzically. "Are you alright, Tessa?"

            The daughter of Poseidon met the praetor's gaze, and upon seeing the son of Mars calculating one, she straightened her posture. "Forgive my presumptions, but the augury might have meant the arrival of myself, followed by my task force."

            "Oh? And why would that be?" Alex asked, as if entertaining her idea.

            "Because I'm the daughter of Poseidon," Tessa recounted, the strength in her voice surprising her. "And the name of my weapon, given to me and blessed by my father, is named Tempest."

            Kaya seemed astonished by this news, but as she glanced at her colleague, Alex's smile only grew as if that was what he had been expecting. The sight made Tessa narrow her eyes at him ever so slightly; something struck her as odd about Kaya's co-praetor.

            "Is that so?" He asked softly.

            Tessa nodded. "Would you like me to test it out?" She asked sweetly, the sugar in her voice turning into venom.

            Alex chuckled darkly, meeting Tessa's challenging gaze full on. "Then it looks like you're the answers to our prayers, Tessa."

            Tessa's smile only grew. "I'll try not to unleash my wrath, then."

            Before the tension in the room could get any stronger, Dale stepped forward, her eyes glittering like the banners hanging around the room. "The auguries mentioned troubling times to come," She noted. "Do you think this could be referring to the eidolons and their forces?"

            Kaya exhaled. "It's difficult to tell," She decided. "Our scouts have noted a decrease in the eidolon's attacks, which only opens the door for a possibly larger threat."

            "Like what?" Sophia piped up, tying her curly red hair up. "Another runaway god?"

            Alex shook his head, dragging a hand through his dark hair. "Not from what we've recollected," He answered. "This force that the eidolons either lead or are a part of...it's unsettlingly large. The only weird thing is we don't have a fixed location on them. It's like they keep showing up in different parts of the country."

            Sophia knit her eyebrows together in confusion, her eyes sparkling with strategy. "But that doesn't make any sense," She mused. "How close together are the activity spikes?"

            Kaya glanced at Alex, and the both of them ensued in some sort of telepathic debate. "A few times a day, in about every major city in the nation."

            "An army can't travel that fast," Kaden countered.

            Alex held up a finger. "Unless they have a very intriguing mode of transportation." He motioned for the group to follow, towards the room where Julius had emerged from earlier.

            The demigods entered a room that seemed to be made of red and gold, with desks and Smartboards scattered around it. Papers, files, and scrolls dotted the tables, and maps hung along the walls.

            "Our scouts have reported no mythological activity on typical mortal means of transportation. No planes, trains, cars, nothing." Alex reported, walking over to a file cabinet. He fiddled with the lock on it as he spoke. "At first, we didn't know what to make of it, until recently, a minor battle with one of the eidolons led us to this."

            He pulled the file cabinet open and rifled through it, killing the suspense in Tessa's opinion. However, the son of Mars returned to meet around the large table in the center of the room with a dusty manila folder in his hand, titled Operation: Delta. He dropped it down onto the center of the table, a small cloud of dust brushing up from it.

            Kaden squinted at the folder. "Operation Delta?" He recited. "What's that?"

            Kaya reached for the file, opening it. Inside were various reports written on standard pieces of loose-leaf, and a series of old-fashioned photographs. The daughter of Trivia fanned the reports and pictures out on the table, and instantly, Tessa and her comrades picked up pieces of it.

            Tessa reached for a cluster of pictures, and as they were in black-and-white, it was somewhat difficult to make out what the picture was of. Glowing eyes in the darkness, a group meeting in a valley under the cover of darkness, things of that sort.

            "What are these?" Dale unfolded a crumpled report, glancing at the two praetors.

            "Operation: Delta was a task-force issued to investigate suspicious behavior around camp around this time a century ago. The reports are from the members of the task-force, back to the praetors at the time. The photos are of their missions, and are regarding the evidence they could scrounge up on the matter." Kaya reported, passing around more of the folder's contents.

            "Which was?" Kaden mused, scanning his report.

            "A rebellion led by what was believed to be a key figure of ancient myth," Alex answered. "We were never able to decipher who the figure could be, because after a key battle, the task-force disappeared."   

            "So you think that whatever this force is now, it could be the same one or derived from the one regarding Operation: Delta?" Sophia asked, looking up from her papers.

            Alex nodded. "And it's the final piece of evidence that could be the key to both the disappearance of the task-force in 1916, and the means of transport of the rebels."

            Tessa knit her eyebrows at Alex's tale, but as she flipped to the last photograph in her pile, she felt ice grip her heart. The photograph, like the others, was captured in black-and-white, but the subject was unmistakable. A silver door with a glowing delta imprinted on it, a mechanism from another time.

            She flashed back to the quest to defeat Deimos that past summer, when she and Kaden had followed his minions to Alcatraz. They apprehended the trail of two telkhines through the prison, and she remembered hearing about how they hated going through a certain door because it could make them show up in a different place. And despite it all, she remembered her mother's necklace lying in that same hallway as the silver door with the delta, and a new possibility bloomed in her mind.

            "Oh my gods," Tessa breathed, her fingers shaking as she examined the photo.

            Alex's signature sly smile lit up his face—or rather darkened it, in Tessa's opinion. "She's got it."

            Tessa looked up as the photo fluttered to the table below, where her friends craned their necks to see it. "It's the Labyrinth," She met Alex and Kaya's gaze. "Isn't it?"

            Kaya made a considerate face. "Most likely, yes," She confirmed. "The delta was the symbol of Daedalus, the Labyrinth's creator. The maze's power would no doubt explain how the rebellion could be moving to various places, such as both of our camps in a span of days, even hours."

            Tessa's heart was pounding in her chest, and the sudden connection in her head was bringing up the symptoms of her weakness that she thought she'd quelled. The room seemed to be spinning, spinning, spinning, faces distorting.

            "Excuse me for a moment," She managed to croak out, turning on her heel and fleeing the room. She sprinted out of the Principia, into the sunlight and fresh air. She braced herself against one of the railings of the building, forcing herself to breathe.

            Could it be possible that her mother was being moved through the Labyrinth? Would it explain how Artemis hadn't been able to track her, yet Aphrodite confirmed she was alive? Maybe she had left her necklace as a hint, that she knew Tessa would somehow come across it...

            "Tessa?" A voice broke her out of her reverie.

            The daughter of Poseidon looked up, and found Reese walking towards her, a girl in his wake. She wore a purple camp shirt and shorts, and had clean-cut blonde hair down to her shoulders. There was a glint in her eyes that Tessa could recognize, but beyond that, she had no clue.

            "Reese," Tessa managed, taking a deep breath. "I see you're no longer lost."

            The son of Apollo chewed on his lip. "Yeah, well, wouldn't have gotten out if it weren't for Imogen, here." He waved a hand to the blonde girl, who only smiled in a way that made Tessa uncomfortable.

            "No problem, Reese," Imogen smirked. "Anytime."

            And with that, she winked and turned on her heel, sauntering back the way she'd come.

            Tessa blinked at the son of Apollo, who sheepishly clambered up the Principia steps. "Do I want to know?" She asked at last.

            Reese's cheeks turned red and he blew out a long exhale. "What have I missed?"

            "Even better question," Tessa turned to face him. "Will Dale want to know?"

            The archer's blue eyes flashed with panic. "Nothing happened! I got lost, and she found me. Nothing more, I swear on the Styx."

            Tessa scanned the son of Apollo for any tells that he was lying; he was very popular back at camp for his skills, his charm, and his looks. Surely, the ladies of Camp Jupiter weren't immune to Reese's capabilities any more than they were Kaden's.

            "Alright," Tessa ran a hand through her hair. "And to answer your question, we discovered what could be the source of the attacks."

            Tessa filled him in, bringing him back inside the Principia. As she finished her tale, they reached the meeting room, and she forced herself to shove her fearful thoughts aside.

            "Tessa, glad you could join us," Alex said quickly. "You must be Reese. Pull up a seat, and get listening."

            The son of Apollo glanced at Tessa warily, but stood between Dale and Kaden when he walked to the table. Tessa sighed, following in his wake.

            "As of now, we only are aware of that entrance to the Labyrinth," Kaya jabbed a finger at the photo Tessa had held earlier. "It's close enough to camp's borders that an enemy could approach in a matter of minutes, and still be far enough that our sentries couldn't spot."

            "Alright, where's it located?" Kaden asked, folding his arms across his chest.

            "San Francisco," The daughter of Trivia asked, sweeping her long dark hair over one shoulder. "Alcatraz."

            Kaden's green eyes lit up, and he turned to Tessa, who only nodded in understanding. He turned back to his superiors, biting his lip. "Tessa and I have encountered this entrance before, then."

            Alex arched an eyebrow. "How? When?"

            And so Kaden recited the short version of their mini quest to Alcatraz. To Tessa's relief, he left out the part about the spy at camp, and thankfully, about Tessa's mom as well.

            The praetors shared another knowing glance, and Tessa guessed that if she looked hard enough, she could see the gears turning in their heads. After a moment, they turned back to the Greeks surrounding the table.

            "Well, either way, it seems like a logical place to start with this month of your stay. We can send out a small group to Alcatraz in a few days, and they can investigate." Kaya decided, meeting everyone's gaze.

            And just like that, the subject matter was somehow closed. Tessa watched the praetors warily, but before she knew it, they were being escorted out of the meeting room and out of the Principia.

            "That'll be all for today," Alex decided. "We'll reconvene later to discuss the other factor as to why we are gathered here." He cast a glance at Kaden, who stood his ground.

            "I'll show you to where you'll be staying," Kaya said sunnily, skipping down the steps. The Greeks followed, and Tessa went to walk beside Kaden as they did.

            However, that didn't stop her from glancing over her shoulder at the front doors of the Principia, where Alex was still standing. She didn't turn around when she found him staring right back at her, a dark glint in his eyes like the boy in the toga of her visions.

~~

            Kaya escorted them to the building where they would be staying. It was a short walk from the Principia and the rest of Camp Jupiter, which Tessa no doubt figured was to keep an eye on them. But the building seemed nice, like a downgraded version of the Principia itself. It had multiple rooms, some taken up by centurions of the various cohorts and other senators, and the augur, Luci. Each of them would have their own room, which no one seemed to complain about.

            As soon as Kaya left, everyone seemed to go their own way. Sophia bolted out to head to New Rome, something about "did you see those hippodromes? I gotta go!". Dale and Reese crashed in their respective rooms, and before Tessa could get a chance to make a decision, Kaden swooped in and the both of them took off down the steps.

            "Where are we going?" Tessa asked as they flew down the steps.

            Kaden grinned at her. "Told you I'd show you some of my favorite places."

            Tessa's heart flipped. Despite all that had happened that day, and the worries gravitating around the situation, Kaden was always there to remind her that everything would be alright. Besides, the thought of the both of them walking through New Rome together, with no interruptions, made her smile.

            She and Kaden emerged from their new residence hall, and hand-in-hand, they started down the paths. They swung their joined hands as they walked, and the feeling was so natural, so simple, that Tessa couldn't fight the happiness blooming within her. She glanced up at Kaden, and blushed to find that he was already looking down at her with a smile on his face.

            "What?" She asked.

            Kaden smiled. "I just like looking at you," He said softly. "To remind me that you're really here."

            Something flashed in his eyes and Tessa pinpointed it immediately. It hadn't come up as much as time had gone on from the quest, but Tessa knew instantly that it regarded her short-lived death.

            "Kaden," She started, her voice soft. She stopped them, entangling her hand from his and reaching up to caress his face. "I'm okay. I'm alive."

            "I know, it's just," Kaden exhaled shakily. "I saw you, Tess. I ran into the cavern and saw you in the pool. I don't know how you got there, but all I could think of was that Deimos really did drown you. There was a nasty gash in your chest, and blood was pooling and—" His words began to speed up and instantly, Tessa knew where his fears were coming from. "I've lost a lot of people I care about, Tessa."

            "I know," She whispered, looking into his eyes.

            "I can't lose you too." Kaden whispered, his voice so vulnerable that Tessa's heart broke a bit.

            "Hey," Tessa smiled wistfully. "I'm not going anywhere. I promise." She remembered what he'd said to her after Kaya's arrival at camp. "It's you and me till the end of the line, kid."

            That lifted his spirits. Kaden smiled, and the sight lit up Tessa's heart. She loved him so much it was almost astronomical if it wasn't already. He was her other half, the calm to her storm, and Tessa made a silent vow in that moment that whatever was coming, she'd make it out with Kaden at her side.

            "You can't call me kid. I'm older than you." Kaden teased.

            "Oh, sure, by like a month."

            Kaden cut her off by pulling her into a deep kiss. He gripped her by her waist, and almost instinctively, she linked hers around his neck. He kissed her passionately, yet delicately, like too much force would cause her to break. Only Tessa was strong, and with all the love filling her from head to toe for this silly son of Venus, she didn't want to let go.

            Only, they had to separate after a while. Kaden grinned down at her, and with a final peck on her lips, slung his arm around her shoulders. "Come on, Tess," He said cheerily. "Time for your tour."

~~

            Two hours later, and Tessa apparently still hadn't seen it all. Kaden escorted her from Camp Jupiter to New Rome across the valley, and Tessa could see why Sophia had fled to its constraints so quickly. The city was beautiful, filled with intricate pieces of architecture slashed with modern shops, restaurants, and technology. Families traipsed the streets, and at just about every café, legionnaires and veterans of the legion, young and old, were seated with their comrades, laughing and chatting the day away.

            "New Rome was always one of my favorite places." Kaden informed Tessa as they walked down the streets, hand-in-hand.

            "I can see why," Tessa noted, glancing around. "It's beautiful."

            Kaden laughed. "I appreciate that now, but when I was little, Jett, Mallory, Vinny, and I would always play around on the fountain."

            Tessa glanced up at her boyfriend, despite his mention of the friends that seemed bent in her mind to win him back. "Fountain?"

            Kaden's emerald eyes shimmered, and his grin grew as his grip on Tessa's hand tightened. They barreled down the streets, Kaden scouring every which way for the path to this so-called fountain. A few minutes later, and they were skidding to a stop,

            A large intricate fountain stood before them, carved into the walls of a nearby building. Tessa recognized it as the Trevi Fountain, but given that the actual one was in Italy, this must have been a replica. However, people still lined the banks of the fountain, tossing in coins that must have been Roman equivalents of drachmas as they made wishes.

            Tessa blinked, looking from the fountain to Kaden. She tried to picture a little Kaden with bright green eyes and a purple camp shirt climbing the statues of the fountain, and the image made her smile. "So how many times did you get busted for climbing that?" She asked with a smirk.

            Kaden clutched his chest as if he'd been wounded. "Only twice," He said.

            Tessa gave him a look.

            "Four times."

            Another look.

            "Oh, come on, let's just go make a wish." Kaden pleaded.

            Tessa laughed. "Nerd," She leant up and pecked his lips, and together, they made their way to the edge of the fountain.

            Kaden dug out a silver coin, which he explained to be called a denarius, and handed it to Tessa.

            "Don't you want to make one too?" Tessa asked, twirling the coin through her fingers.

            Kaden smiled wistfully, reaching up to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. "My wish came true a long time ago," He whispered, his eyes filled with love and adoration.

            Tessa returned his smile, but fell out of it. "Well, then, more for me."

            Kaden laughed, and the sound was enough to inspire her wish. Tessa shut her eyes and turned her back to the fountain, lifting the coin to her lips. She thought of her wish clearly in her head, the images making her smile. Finally, when the images were vivid, she tossed the coin backwards into the fountain. She turned in time to see it disappear beneath the turquoise water, joining the collection of currency at the bottom.

            "What'd you wish for?" Kaden slung his arm around her waist.

            Tessa looked up at him impishly. "Can't tell you," She said simply. "Or else it won't come true."

            "Yeah, okay."

            Tessa laughed and leant up to kiss him, but just as their lips brushed, a voice made him step back.

            "Kaden!"

            Tessa turned to see a girl walking towards them, light brown hair tied into a braid. As she neared, she remembered it was Mallory, one of Kaden's old friends. Her heart twisted, but her smile only grew into what she hoped wasn't a sneer.

            "Hey, Mal, what's up?" Kaden asked kindly.

            Mal?

            Mallory smiled at Kaden, completely ignoring Tessa's presence. "The cohort's throwing you a welcome back party tomorrow, just wanted to let you know."

            "You know he's not here to stay, right?" Tessa piped up from Kaden's side. "It still has to be decided by the Senate."

            As if noticing Tessa's presence for the first time, Mallory's eyes slid to Tessa. She recognized the challenging glint in the legionnaire's eyes, and Tessa only matched it with an electric one of her own.

            "But he's still on Roman ground, so the party can ensue." Mallory said a little too cheerfully. The girl paused, and then pulled the biggest stop of her life. "Oh! I totally forgot. Vinny wants to see you. He thinks having you around him again will make him look better to this senator he angered."

            Kaden groaned. "What'd the kid do this time?" He turned to Tessa and smiled softly. "I'll see you." He leant forward and kissed her lips in parting, before turning and following Mallory down the path.

            Tessa watched them go, glaring daggers at Mallory's back as they walked. As they disappeared from sight, she glanced around, sighing. She had no idea how to get back to the Principia, and declared the next hour or two dedicated to finding her way back.

            With a brooding look on her face, Tessa departed from the fountain. She maneuvered her way down streets and around corners, but somehow, managed to wind up in a circle. She huffed a breath, and was about to start again when someone rammed into her.

She yelped, trying to regain her balance, when two strong arms wrapped around her waist, holding her up.

"I'm so sorry!" The owner of the arms said quickly. "I should have been looking. Oh my gods, are you okay?"

Tessa stared daggers up at the person, but the look faded at seeing their face. A boy with chocolate brown hair and blue-green eyes stared back at her in concern.

Tessa blinked. "Yeah," She said. "Yeah, I'm fine. No worries."

The boy smiled sheepishly, and after another moment, straightened her back up. "I'm so sorry about that," He said, sticking his hands in his pockets. However, he drew one back out in another moment, his smile growing. "I'm Charlie Bowman."