[dies irae]

Surprisingly, no one questioned Tessa and her comrades as they emerged from the Labyrinth. They strode their way through the archer-dotted clearing, predators on the prowl. Judging from the looks on their faces and the blood on their hands, the Greek demigods of Camp Half-Blood knew better than to confront them.

The path back to the heart of camp was imprinted into Tessa's memory, and as she walked it once more, she could almost imagine that it was just another day at camp. She'd been on a walk from one of her activities, greeting the nymphs that lived in the wood, and on her way to see her friends.

But reality was anything but her fantasies.

As she and her friends emerged from the forest, Tessa spotted countless demigods dressed in their bronze armor. Everywhere she looked, she spotted racks of weapons at the ready, in case of a sudden attack. There was no laughter, no constant din of chatter, no sense of camaraderie or home.

Tessa set her jaw, fastening her pace. The Regiment hadn't even attacked camp but they were still destroying her home.

"Where exactly are we going?" Sophia asked, jogging to keep up with Tessa's brisk walk.

"To find the commander of the defense." Tessa responded, scanning the mobilizing valley surrounding them.

People pointed and stared at her and her friends as they wove their way through camp—a feeling that Tessa had grown accustomed to in the past few years—but she ignored them now. The group arrived in the central green of cabins, where from out of a tent set up for the battle, emerged a dark haired girl flanked by a boy with nearly white hair. Tessa stopped in her tracks, her heart twisting painfully at the sight of her sister.

"Madi," She called, her own voice scratchy and tainted with the hours of tears and battle cries.

Madi turned, and her hazel eyes widened. "Tessa?" She asked.

Despite herself, Tessa allowed her signature smirk to lace her lips. She sauntered forward, stopping before her sister and her companion—Eli, one third of the rogue Regiment soldiers. Tessa took him in from head to toe: he was tall, had piercing blue eyes, and white hair like the glow of a newborn star. However the look of sheer awe—or was that fear?—on his face was enough to make Tessa feel right at home.

"So you must be Eli," Tessa folded her arms. "Afraid of me yet?"

Eli's skin paled but he smiled sheepishly. "It's nice to finally meet you, Tessa."

Tessa arched an eyebrow but nodded. She turned back to her friends, who were watching her expectantly. Tessa felt her heart soften at the glimmers of longing in their eyes; they hadn't been home in weeks, she couldn't cut them off from their friends and siblings.

"Go see your siblings," She told them. "Then get you and whoever was pinned as head councilor in your spot back to the Big House for a war council."

Kaden, Reese, and Sophia didn't need to be told twice, apparently. They sprinted off in different directions, booking it to go see the people they'd left behind. When they'd disappeared out of sight, Tessa turned back to Madi and Eli, quickly pulling the former in for a hug.

"You had me worried sick," Madi said, squeezing her tightly.

Tessa shut her eyes, exhaling softly. "The feeling's mutual."

The daughters of Poseidon pulled away from their embrace and Tessa took a ragged breath. The full severity of the situation at hand seemed to hit her at that moment. There wasn't any time for reunions, not in times like this. They needed to plan and act. Fast.

"Walk and talk," Tessa said. "I need to be up to date on everything before we get to the Big House."

Madi hurried after her, but Eli stood awkwardly in the dust. Tessa sighed, glancing over her shoulder at the boy.

"You too," She called.

"Me?" Eli looked taken aback.

Tessa's eyes glinted mischievously. "How else are we going to know exactly how to ambush the Regiment?"

~~

By the time Tessa, Madi, and Eli reached the Big House, the rec room was already full. The head councilors of every cabin sat around the ping-pong table, watching her expectantly as she entered. Kaden, Sophia, and Reese stood at the head of the table, with Chiron on the opposite end.

Tessa inhaled slowly, straying from Madi's side to go join her task force at the head of the table. Silence filled the room like a sudden storm had broken above them, and as Tessa thought about it, in a way it had.

"I bet you're all wondering why we've gathered you here," She spoke, straightening her posture. "I'm happy to tell you, and it's as simple as this: war is eminent."

"We figured that," A voice in the crowd drawled, but before Tessa could light them up for rebuffing her, Kaden stepped forward. And as he spoke, Tessa could see how the Romans had named him praetor. His stance radiated power; his eyes flickered with a muted fire; each word was laced lightly with charmspeak so as to sway the crowd before him.

"No, you didn't," The son of Venus retorted. "Tessa's command to keep an eye on the Labyrinth was only for those she had selected. To the rest of you, the Labyrinth was the only issue as word got around. And now that we're here, and Camp Jupiter out west is in ruins because of those that plan to use the maze's powers to destroy us as well, a much larger threat is on the horizon." Kaden gave Tessa a sideways glance, and she stepped forward.

"The Regiment is a group consisting of halfbloods and other people who have been recruited by their immortal leader, Orion. Their goal is to destroy the camps that supposedly betrayed them, and then tear Olympus apart brick by brick. They've taken people hostage, and if we don't get to them, they'll either be killed or submitted to a fate worse than death." Tessa eyed the faces of the demigods before her, watching as the full effect of her words sunk in. "We have to act as soon as possible."

"Tessa, my dear, slow down." Chiron held up a hand. "We'll need time to deliberate this—"

"With all due respect, we don't have time," Tessa interjected, her green eyes flaring. She felt guilt in the pit of her stomach for cutting off the person who had been her father figure for the past three years, but she needed to make her point clear. "Camp Jupiter has been attacked, and we don't know how many casualties there are. Two officials sacrificed themselves to help save their camp, and I left it in ruins. We left it in ruins. We need to act. Now."

Chiron pursed his lips in thought, weighing Tessa's words. "How was the Roman training ground attacked?"

Reese stepped forward and recounted the tale of the Battle of Camp Jupiter. As the son of Apollo spoke, Tessa forced herself to stray from the stabbing pain of the memories. She found herself wiping her hands on her shorts, as if Alex's blood still coated them.

"Before Vinny disappeared, he told Tessa that we had until Orion's power was strongest. Part of the reason we're here instead of heading straight to New Orleans is to determine when that could be. In the Labyrinth, after facing him again, we figured out that his source of power was his constellation." Reese concluded, dragging a hand through his blond hair.

"So you believe this deadline to be whenever Orion's constellation is above New Orleans?" Chiron clarified.

"Yes, sir," Sophia confirmed. "But as Tessa said before, the Regiment is taking hostages. They're kidnapping innocent people as leverage, so we have even less time than usual."

"Like who?"

"Alexia Prinz, Sera Brennan, Dale Alcander, and Mark Akagi." If the room could be hushed anymore, it would have been at Sophia's words. The daughter of Athena scanned the room, as if daring anyone to say that Mark was dead.

Maybe it'd be better if he was, Tessa thought. She looked away, wincing.

"I see," Chiron said, his voice gravelly. His gaze darted to where the three rogue members of the Regiment stood, all looking as if they were about to be put on trial. "So if the Regiment has everyone brainwashed, how are you three here?"

Eli rocked back and forth on his feet. "I wouldn't necessarily say brainwashed," He corrected softly. "Orion has his own ways of recruiting soldiers, but he doesn't know that they don't always work."

Aspen glanced from Eli to Chiron, her arms folded across her chest. "His most common form of recruitment is to find someone who's in desperate need of something, then keep appearing to them. At one point or another, that person will be so weak that Orion is able to promise them the opposite of what they're going through. Then...it's essentially game over for that person."

"Hold on," Nova held up a hand from her seat at the table. "So you're telling me that Orion promises these people something and that makes them loyal to him? I'm not following."

"Well, there's a little more to the story than that," Lukas chimed. "Most of the time, the person is holding something that has a lot of value to them. As soon as that person accepts Orion's words, he'll bind the promise to that object, and the next time that person touches it, they...change."

"It's like a transformation, but over time, it begins to wear off. Memories start to resurface, loyalties change, all until the person touches their binder again and they fall under the spell again." Eli continued.

As Tessa listened to the three rogue soldiers speak and explain, a thought began to formulate in her head. Her eyes widened in realization, but by the time she'd turned to her friends, they'd gotten the message too.

Mark had gone back for his katana in the cavern. What if Orion appeared to him then, made him the sort of promise he'd made Vinny, and cursed Mark's katana?

"So a member of the Regiment can ultimately break their bond to Orion if they go a while without touching that object?" She found herself speaking.

Eli made a considerate face. "Pretty much," He said. "There'd have to be some more magic at work too, but ultimately, I'd say so."

From his seat next to Nova, Calum frowned. "So you three broke your bonds?"

The three rogue soldiers met one another's gazes before turning back to the room of demigods staring back at them. Lukas cleared his throat to cut off the silence. "We were victims to Orion's other form of recruitment."

"We were kidnapped," Aspen deadpanned. "And when we wanted to leave, he knocked us out and had us tortured until we complied."

Tessa's eyes widened, her heart pounding in her chest. She tightened her hands into fists at her side, and made a silent vow to herself that the next time she saw Orion, she'd tear him limb from limb.

"Our lives within the Regiment was mostly playing a part. If we went with the flow, no one would question our true intentions. Then one day the Lieutenant gave us our mission, and we were out of there." Eli continued. He bit down on his lip, then turned to where Tessa and the other members of her task force stood.

"I know when your deadline is." He said, the words rattling Tessa like an earthquake.

"When?" Kaden asked.

The apologetic look in Eli's eyes was enough for Tessa to have a pretty good guess of what was to come. "Tomorrow."

The room erupted into an outcry. Tomorrow meant war, bloodshed, chaos. Tomorrow meant that they all would be stripped of their home, witness to an invasion that they didn't know how to stop. Tomorrow meant the end of life as they knew it.

"We can stop Orion," Tessa shouted. "Whether it's on the homefront, or on the battlefield. We can stop him and the Regiment and save our two camps and Olympus."

"How?" A voice cried out.

Tessa took a ragged breath. She scanned the crowd until her eyes fell upon the face she needed to see. "Amelie," She said, making the daughter of Hecate jolt. "I need you and Adhara to do everything you can to find Orion. Track him through his exponential use of asterokinetic power and then give us the coordinates."

Amelie nodded, meeting Adhara's gaze from across the room. They glanced to Chiron, but the centaur only smiled wryly and pointed to Tessa.

Tessa didn't know if she should feel happy or sad that he had surrendered command to her. "That's an order," She grinned to the girls, who tore out of the room within the next moment.

"Can I get a map please?" She asked. Within moments, Ben had sprawled one across the table, and Tessa shuffled to see over it. Her mind split into two planes: one to figure out what jobs to assign and the other to decide who to assign them to.

"Ben, Sophia, Bree; divide up your siblings around the northern and southern borders." Tessa met the children of Athena and Ares' glances. "Should battle come, you are to defend those borders and nothing else. Understand?"

Ben, Sophia, and Bree harmonized, "Understood." Sophia waved her hand and Ben and Bree took off.

Tessa glanced back down at the map. "Reese, Sierra, Flynn, divide up the Apollo cabin along the eastern and western borders." She decided, biting her lip as she thought. "Also, Flynn, outfit the infirmary with as many supplies as possible. Recruit some of the nymphs to serve as battlefield medics."

"On it," Flynn flashed a grin and took off with Sierra.

Tessa took a deep breath. "Alright, what next," She mused. "Calum and Nova, see to it that the armory is fully stocked. No demigod leaves their cabin without a weapon and a shield. Hecate cabin, sustain the borders with as much magic as possible." Tessa continued rambling off commands and orders until every cabin had been accounted for, and the only people remaining in the room were herself, her task force, the rogue Regiment members, and Chiron.

"Tessa, this is all great, but we kind of need to attack the Regiment, not wait for them to attack us." Reese hissed to Tessa, but she only gave him a steely look that read Trust Me?

Reese stared at her blankly. Should I?

Tessa glared at him but the son of Apollo only smiled weakly. She turned back to Chiron, taking a breath. "As for my final command, I need recruits to go into the Labyrinth to help me face the Regiment."

"How many people are you thinking, Tessa?" The centaur asked.

"About ten," She answered. "I have recruits from Rome coming in as well, so ten should be enough to divide and conquer among the Regiment's base."

Chiron nodded. Tessa could tell that he wasn't too keen on allowing ten of his pupils to go through the maze into enemy territory, but she beseeched him with her eyes. They had no other choice at that point, other than to welcome death with open arms.

"Very well," He spoke. "Who do you plan on taking with you?"

Before Tessa could speak, her task force stepped forward. "Us." They chorused.

A ghost of a smile laced over Chiron's lips. "I suppose we'll have volunteers." He joked. "But who else?"

Tessa racked her brain. "Madi, Amelie, Flynn, Orpheus," She mused, her vision focusing on Lukas, Eli, and Aspen standing awkwardly nearby. "Lukas and Eli. You guys coming?"

"What about me?" Aspen scoffed.

Tessa's eyes glinted challengingly. "I've heard you're a great fighter, Aspen. I'd like to have you help lead the defensive movements here at home."

Aspen's cheeks pinked a bit, but she nodded, scurrying from the rec room.

"Then it's settled," Tessa exhaled. She turned around, meeting her friends' gazes. She nodded, and they left the room.

"Do you think this'll work?" Sophia asked as they emerged onto the wraparound porch of the Big House.

"It will if we have it make it," Tessa decided, bracing herself against the railing. She stared out over the cabins in the near distance, watching as various demigods hurried this way and that, prepping for battle under her command. "What other choice do we have?"

"Tessa!" Amelie's voice snapped Tessa back to reality. She turned to see the daughter of Hecate dashing towards her.

"Do you have the location?" Tessa asked, urgency in her voice.

Amelie nodded. "You were right about Orion using an exponential amount of asterokinetic energy," She explained. "But a lot of it is centralized in one room."

An image of Orion's pavilion of portals came to the forefront of Tessa's memory. "His portals," Tessa figured.

"He has portals?" Amelie's eyes bugged out a bit, but she blinked the haze away. "Anyway, what's important is that the base is inside of the New Orleans Convention Center."

"Orion chose a convention center to be his evil lair?" Kaden asked, amusement in his eyes.

"Yes," Amelie confirmed. "But he's warded it with the Mist to make it seem like the place is undergoing reconstruction."

"So no one would think to enter," Reese figured, nodding. "Go on."

Amelie turned back to Tessa. "Based on this deadline, you guys should probably try to disable that room of magic—portals, whatever—before he uses its full power." She explained. "Or else things will get ugly. I'd do it myself, but I'll be here."

Tessa smiled. "Oh, Amelie, how humble you are. I'd like you to come onto the front lines with us."

For a moment, the old Amelie was back. The girl who couldn't control her powers, the girl who melted into the shadows and backs of any room she was in stared at Tessa sheepishly. "Y—you want me to what?"

"You've honed your powers, Amelie, we need that sort of strength." Tessa explained to her softly. "And besides, you're more powerful than you give yourself credit for."

Amelie blinked at Tessa, but took a deep breath. "Okay," She exhaled. "When are we leaving?"

"As soon as everyone's back. Go get whatever you'll need and meet in the clearing as soon as possible." Tessa told her, and the daughter of Hecate hurried off. "Oh! And Iris-Message Kaya at Camp Jupiter to inform her of the base's location as well."

Tessa watched her friend go, and as she watched the camp before her—her camp, her home—prepare for battle, she prayed to the gods above that she wasn't about to send them all to their graves.

~~

As Tessa stood in the clearing in the woods, she understood what people meant by 'going off to war'. Everywhere she looked, people were saying what they hoped wouldn't be goodbye; arming themselves; preparing for battle. Members of the Apollo cabin were lining the treeline, prepared to shoot should anything less than friendly come out of the Labyrinth hidden in the boulders of Zeus' Fist.

Madi approached her, and Tessa pretended not to see the disapproving look on her face. "You're doing it again."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Tessa said breathily.

"The whole Atlas thing," Madi folded her arms across her armor-clad chest. "Quit bearing the weight of the world. You're only going to stress yourself out."

Tessa took a deep breath before meeting her sister's gaze. "Madi, you don't know what I've been through these past few weeks. I've been betrayed, I've seen heartbreak, bloodshed, chaos. Someone died for me." Her voice caught as she thought of Alex, bleeding out on the cobblestones before her. "And now I'm leading nine of my closest friends into enemy territory towards what could be the end of the world, so excuse me while I bear its weight."

Madi pressed her lips into a thin line. "Then let us help you bear it." She said softly. "Don't be an island."

Tessa shut her eyes, and the possibilities of what could be awaiting her flashed through her mind. Camp in flames, the bodies of her friends, of Kaden, of Madi, of her mother. All of it made her wince.

"Madi, right now, I need you to be my general and not my therapist."

"I see no difference between the two."

"Ha-ha, funny."

Madi cracked a grin, and it was so infectious that Tessa couldn't fight the urge to smile herself. The feeling swept away some of her worries, but the coil of ice around her heart constricted as the other members of her newly formed task-force walked towards her.

"Are you guys ready?" Tessa asked, surveying the faces of her soldiers. "Remember, it's not too late to back down."

Reese snorted from his place before her. "Please, you'd give us hell for the rest of our lives if we backed down."

"You know me so well," Tessa said sarcastically, but her voice morphed into one of pure clarity as she continued. "The Labyrinth can be a scary place. Thankfully, we know how to maneuver it. All you guys have to do is follow the group and not get too curious about what's in the rest of the maze."

"What's the battle plan?" Orpheus, the son of Hebe, spoke from his spot before Tessa.

Tessa mentally cursed herself as she spoke her unintentional catchphrase, "I'll let you know when I think of it."

"Great," Orpheus mumbled.

Tessa ran a mental headcount of the people before her. Eight faces stared back at her, weapons at the ready, but where was the other?

"Where's Lukas?" Tessa knit her eyebrows together.

"You pompous asshole!" Sierra's voice ripped through the clearing.

"Probably wherever Sierra is," Madi said from Tessa's side.

Tessa scanned the clearing, and sure enough, the Australian rogue was leaning against a tree as Sierra went off on another tirade. Tessa looked up at the sky for strength.

"I'll be back," She said flatly to the other members of her task force before marching towards the two in the midst of their brouhaha. Someone joined her, and when Tessa glanced over, the ice around her heart didn't feel so cold when she saw it was Kaden.

"Ah, Tessa, thank the gods!" Sierra exclaimed. "Please tell this buffoon that it doesn't matter if he's the freaking son of Neptune, he has to listen to orders too."

"Neptune?" Tessa and Kaden chorused, both voices laced with disbelief.

"Minor details," Lukas waved his hand in mock dismissal before pushing off the tree. "And face it, Sierra, you know you love my rebelliousness." He smirked.

Sierra glared up at him. "Can you please fall on your sword?"

"I'd rather you fell on it," Lukas winked, his smirk stretching.

"Okay!" Tessa clapped her hands together. "Lukas, Sierra's got a point, and as your apparent half-sister and head councilor, you've gotta listen when I give you an order. And right now, that order is to prepare for entry into the Labyrinth."

Lukas met Tessa's gaze, and she wondered how she didn't realize it before. He radiated the power of the sea, from the electric green of his eyes to the way he carried himself.

"Ah, well, if I must," The son of Neptune said. He glanced back at Sierra, and his face seemed to soften. "I'll see you soon?"

Despite herself, Sierra nodded. "Don't die."

Lukas smiled. "No promises," He said, his fingers slipping underneath her chin as he leant down, pressing a kiss to his lips. Then, as soon as it happened, he sauntered away.

Tessa blinked, turning from Sierra to Kaden. Together, they watched her new half-brother go in astonishment.

"Well, that's one way of saying goodbye," Tessa figured, still trying to wrap her head around what she had just seen.

"You've gotta give him style points for it." Kaden flashed her a grin so boyish that Tessa groaned.

"Boys," She mumbled, starting forward.

"You know you love me." Kaden sang as he followed.

Tessa shot him a funny look before they both reconvened with the full task-force. The demigods were a blur of black, orange, and bronze, all armed and ready for what was to come. Tessa took a deep breath before speaking, hoping that her voice reflected the confidence that she was trying to pull over her like a cloak.

"Let's move." She commanded.

And without so much as a second glance, the team moved into the Labyrinth, down its misty corridors towards the end of their world.