[ad captandum vulgus / to capture the crowd]

Normally, the Big House was a happy sight for Tessa. It sat like a crowning jewel atop Half-Blood Hill, its windows always reflecting the sunlight pouring down on the valley. However, as Chiron led Kaden and Tessa into it, it was almost like a shadow fell upon the blue house.

Chiron trotted into the living room, and motioned for Tessa and Kaden to take a seat. "Please," he said, trying for a smile.

Tessa's heart pounded, and she tried to calm herself down. Stuff like this was normal. Kaden and Tessa normally fought together, and were respected throughout camp. Maybe it was nothing. Maybe there was a rabid raccoon in the basement that needed Kaden's charmspeak and Tessa's water powers to be removed. Definitely not anything to do with Tessa.

She took a ragged breath, her knuckles white on Tempest's hilt. "What's wrong?"

Chiron paced the floors in front of them. "As you know, our night watch here at camp is only a minor precaution every now and again, yes?"

Kaden nodded, his eyebrows knit together. "Yes," he answered. "Why, has the barrier been weakened?"

Chiron shook his head. "No, thank the gods. However, something rather...malevolent has been reported to be making small attacks recently. The scale of these attacks is growing, but the strangest part is that the campers who have faced this force say that it resembled the things they each feared most."

The gears in Tessa's brain began to turn. "So you want us to figure out what this thing is?"

Chiron nodded. "You both are two of the best fighters and strategists at camp, aside from Athena's children. Now, I won't require you to begin your shifts or planning just yet. I've set up a sort of rotation with Sophia."

Tessa suppressed a groan. Sophia was head counselor of the Athena cabin, and while Tessa normally got along with Sophia's siblings, the head honcho herself was a nightmare. Always trying to butt in on capture the flag, always trying to take the quests. She had some good strategies every now and again, but she really just got on Tessa's nerves. It didn't help that their godly parents were natural rivals.

"Wonderful." Tessa forced a smile. "Well, when Sophia is tired of guarding the camp, I trust she'll give us a ring."

Chiron frowned. The old centaur was like a second father to Tessa, considering she had never actually seen Poseidon before in her life. He knew just as well that something was up, but thankfully, he didn't push the subject.

"On a lighter note, I have good news regarding the coming weeks Capture the Flag game." He cleared his throat.

Tessa felt her nerves relax, but butterflies of excitement bloom in her stomach. The coming weekend was the Fourth of July festival that the camp always threw, and whoever got to kick off the weekend by leading Capture the Flag essentially became a great honor for three days. It was even better if you won.

"As you know, this weekend is the Fourth of July celebration. I'm fully aware of the limited popularity that comes with the title of being a captain on either team, but trust me when I say neither of you need more of that to go to your heads." His eyes glinted in amusement. "So I am trusting you both to co-lead the blue team."

Tessa's eyes widened. Instantly, strategies bloomed in her head. She would be able to choose tonight at dinner who would be on her team. She needed the Apollo kids, what with Reese's archery. The Hephaestus kids were on the red team last time, as chosen by Kaden, but now it was her turn.

"Thanks, Chiron." Kaden grinned. His emerald eyes gleamed excitedly. He shot a knowing look at Tessa before turning back to the centaur before him. "Who's leading the other team?"

Chiron smiled dryly, shooting a sorry look Tessa's way. "Sophia Ransom. Poseidon and Aphrodite will be facing off against Athena."

~~

"She's going down."

Tessa flew down the steps of the Big House, Kaden in tow. Her mind was on autopilot as she hurried down the paths towards the arena. Different cabins and campers ran through her mind, who to form alliances with at dinner, what sort of lead they should take. Anything to take down the children of the war gods.

"Woah, woah, Tess, slow down!" Kaden called from behind her. He grabbed her hand and halted her to a stop, an amused look on his face. "We're in this together, remember?"

Tessa ran a hand through her hair. "I know, it's just..." She stamped her foot. "I wanna beat Sophia."

Kaden grinned. "That's cute."

Tessa frowned. "I'm not cute, I'm fearsome. I am the night. Fear me." She turned on her heel and started off.

However, Kaden fell into step beside her. "Why do you wanna beat Sophia so badly?" A laugh was laced in his voice.

They made it to the arena, which thankfully was empty. Tessa needed to practice if she was lucky enough to come across Sophia for a one on one battle that weekend.

"Because, my dear Kaden, she is the very embodiment of all things obnoxious. Besides, her mom and my dad don't get along," Tessa groused.

Kaden sighed. "Tessa, Tessa, Tessa, it's just a game."

Tessa whirled around sharply, jabbing a finger in his face. "Hey, stop that. That's quitter talk. I refuse to have quitters on my team."

"But I'm your co-captain."

"Exactly. Game face on or else you're demoted."

Kaden smiled. "Alright, sergeant. What's my first task?" He asked sarcastically.

Tessa thought, pulling her hair into a high ponytail. Reese would surely follow Kaden into any battle, the two were glued at the hip in combat. Dale and the Demeter kids would follow Tessa, as would Amelie and her siblings.

"Go find Calum and Nova. We're gonna need the Hephaestus kids on our team if we wanna win this," she decided

Kaden lifted his hand in a salute. "On it." And with that, he jogged out of the arena.

Tessa smiled smugly as she unsheathed Tempest. She gazed at her reflection in the bronze blade, running her thumb over the embezzled trident at the start of it, the jewels encrusted in the hilt. The longer Tessa stared into the bronze, the more memories surfaced.

When Tessa discovered she was a demigod, her mother had instantly given Tempest to her. Its dormant form had been a bronze hairpin with a single aquamarine gem. Apparently, once Tessa had been born, Poseidon gave her Tempest as a gift but her mother was never to give the pin to her until her twelfth birthday.

Tessa's powers were dormant until she turned thirteen, however. She was hardly attacked by monsters in that time, but as soon as she turned thirteen, that changed. A hydra invaded Tessa's school, and if it weren't for Tessa's unnatural bravery and instinct, the plumbing systems wouldn't have erupted, blasting the beast with such a force that it disappeared.

Tessa's mother revealed the truth that day, and took her to Camp Half-Blood personally. Tessa and her mother both knew that her powers would only culminate as she grew up, and it would be safer to stay at camp.

Now sixteen, Tessa longed to see her mother again. The last time she had seen her physically was that day when she was dropped off at thirteen.

Tessa grit her teeth and lowered the blade. Nostalgia and melancholies could wait until after she figured out a plan to defeat Sophia.

Tempest in hand, Tessa trudged towards the dummies set up from hers and Kaden's prior lessons. Feeling adrenaline surge through her veins, Tessa struck.

~~

For the rest of the afternoon, Tessa alternated between swordplay and archery, which she was surprisingly good at. She trained until she was tired, and even then, drank some water and got back at it again. The dummies were reduced to stuffed shrapnel once Tessa was done with them.

What Tessa wasn't expecting was a sudden ambush as she took a small break as the sun was starting to set. Tempest was snatched away from her, as well as the practice bow and quiver that she had borrowed from the armory.

"Hey!" Tessa protested.

Light shimmered into existence before her, until Mark and Dale stood before her.

"Where have you been, young lady?" Mark wagged Tempest at Tessa accusingly.

Tessa blinked, motioning around her. "Training." 

"Ew, what for?" He wrinkled his nose.

"Capture the Flag. Kaden and I are co-captains." Tessa shrugged simply, grabbing her water bottle from the bench.

"Oh, no, we're doomed!" Mark turned to Dale. "Our co-captains are going to be making out rather than leading us!"

"Hey!" Tessa protested. "Cool it with the false predictions. And who says you're even on our team anyway?"

Mark feigned offense. "Dale and I are your best friends and you won't have us on your team?"

Tessa tossed her head back and laughed. "Oh, no, Dale's on our team for sure. I'm just not too sure about you, Mark."

"You're kidding."

"Nope."

"C'mon."

"Show me what you've got."

Mark glanced at Tempest in his hand, his gaze flicking back to Tessa momentarily. Tessa tried to fight the knowing smile. His plan wouldn't work.

As soon as Mark tried to lift Tempest a swing, light engulfed it until it turned into its dormant form. A small hairpin fell to the sandy floor of the arena.

"What?" Mark asked in stupor.

"Idiot." Dale whacked him. "Only Tessa can use Tempest. Are you new?"

Mark shot Dale a look. "Maybe I am." He rolled his eyes, averting his gaze to Tessa. "Since when is Tempest a hairpin?" 

"Since always," Tessa responded. She bent down to pick up the pin. It almost felt alien to hold her sword in such a form. Tempest had remained in sword form, in a constant cycle of being sheathed and unsheathed, for three years. It hadn't been a pin since Tessa received it for the first time.

She tapped the gem on the end and sighed in content when it elongated back into its normal form. "That's better." She pointed it at Mark.

The son of Iris put his hands up in surrender. "Don't shoot the messenger but news flash, princess, dinner's gonna start soon."

Tessa's eyes widened. "What?" She looked up at the sky, only then noticing how dark it was getting.

"You better use some of your Poseidon powers to shower quickly because frankly, you reek." Mark said sarcastically.

Tessa groaned. "I'll see you guys later." 

She sheathed Tempest, grabbed her water bottle, and fled the arena.

She sprinted to the omega of cabins, hurrying into Cabin Three and diving into her shower as fast as humanely possible. Three minutes later, Tessa was clean, dry, and eager to see who Kaden had recruited.

As the horn sounded in the distance, signaling the start of dinner, Tessa sprinted to the pavilion. Thankfully, she wasn't late. She took a deep breath and sauntered to her lonesome table. She grabbed her plate, scraped an offering to her father, and sat back down again, preparing to eat.

Halfway through her slice of pizza, Kaden sat down across from her. Tessa's eyes widened and she looked around. Sure enough, a handful of people—excluded Kaden's entire cabin—began to watch and whisper.

"What're you doing?" Tessa hissed, dropping her pizza and grabbing a napkin.

A smile tugged at Kaden's lips. "Come on, Tessa, don't tell me you're afraid to break the rules every once in a while."

Tessa narrowed her eyes. "I'm never afraid of breaking rules, but everyone else is sitting with their cabins and you are sitting with me. People will be making assumptions."

"About what?" Kaden asked innocently.

"You know what," Tessa snapped, grabbing her goblet.

Kaden muttered something under his breath that Tessa couldn't decipher over the chatter of the pavilion. She shrugged it off.

"I take it you come on terms of business so hit me with it." She pushed aside her plate, leaning forward.

Kaden grinned. "I talked to Calum and Nova today, like you asked. They're happy to join us on the blue team."

"Yes!" Tessa fist-pumped the air, to the confusion of the people surrounding her. She ignored them and looked back at Kaden, her sea green eyes wide with anticipation. "Who else?"

"Apollo, Demeter, Hecate, Hades, Iris, Hermes, and Nemesis." Kaden listed off the names of the gods.

Tessa ran a running list in her head. It was a good group, even better with herself and Kaden leading it. The combined force and ability would hopefully give Sophia a run for her money.

"On the contrary, Red team's being led by Athena and Ares. Bad news, but I think we can handle them." Kaden smiled smugly.

"Of course we can." Tessa raised her goblet. "Here's to a future victory."

An air nymph whisked a goblet over to Kaden, which he graciously took and raised to meet Tessa's. They clinked glasses, smiling at one another like they knew exactly how the world was going to end and only shared it with each other.

As soon as they sipped from their goblets, Chiron stood. "Attention, heroes! As I'm sure you all know, the coming weekend is the Fourth of July festival! We will have a weekend of festivities, as we always do, with the first being the esteemed game of Capture the Flag, followed by the fireworks show, and then a free day!"

The campers cheered. Training to be a hero could be fun, but as teenagers, most of the campers wanted some days off.

"Regarding the game, I have chosen the captains for the teams. As tradition with each game, the captains will choose their teams now. But firstly...leading the red team for this year's Fourth of July game will be Sophia Ransom of Athena and Bree McIntire of Ares!"

The Athena and Ares cabins cheered and hollered loudly as Bree and Sophia stood proudly. Bree was a nice girl—at least when she wasn't on the battlefield—but Tessa scowled in Sophia's direction.

"And leading the blue team, Kaden Gray of Aphrodite and Tessa Brennan of Poseidon!" Chiron announced.

While Tessa didn't have anyone to cheer for her from her cabin, Kaden's siblings cheered raucously. Amelie, Reese, Dale, and Mark, and all their siblings joined the havoc as well. It was almost like they had won the game without even playing, judging by the masses of applause they got.

"Settle down, settle down." Chiron laughed good-naturedly. He locked eyes with Tessa, who smiled devilishly. "Tessa, your alliances please."

Tessa glanced up at Kaden before addressing the pavilion. "We choose Hephaestus."

Sophia gasped like she'd been slapped. "We choose Zeus."

Kaden stood up straighter at Tessa's side. "Apollo."

"Dionysus."

"Demeter."

"Nike."

Tessa's eyes widened. How had she forgotten the Nike campers? Their mother was the goddess of victory, and they were always determined to win. Tessa was competitive, sure, but those kids took it to a whole new level.

"Hermes," Tessa continued, trying to recover from her momentary lapse.

By the end of the verbal tennis match, Tessa and Kaden's team was full. Led by Poseidon and Aphrodite, the Blue soldiers consisted of Demeter, Apollo, Hephaestus, Hermes, Hades, Nemesis, Hecate, and Iris. The Red soldiers had Zeus, Ares, Athena, Dionysus, Hebe, Tyche, Hypnos, and Nike.

Shortly afterwards, as the pavilion was emptying, Tessa voiced her concerns. Mark and Dale had caught up with them, as well as one half of the Hephaestus counselors—and twins—Calum.

"How could we have forgotten Nike?" Tessa groaned. She slumped down onto a stone bench of a table.

"Tess, it'll be all right," Kaden said calmly. "We've got ten cabins, Sophia's got eight. We outnumber her."

"Yes, but Sophia has Nike."

"But Sophia doesn't have us," Calum said proudly, a smug smile on his face. He folded his dark arms. Calum wasn't normally an outgoing guy, but just like a lot of kids at camp, Capture the Flag got him riled up.

Tessa looked at the son of Hephaestus. "Please tell me you have some secret weapon to help us take down Sophia and Bree."

Calum grinned. "It's in the works."

"I love this guy!" Mark exclaimed, hopping up onto one of the benches to sling his arm around Calum. "We'll win for sure with his inventions. Y'know, if they don't backfire."

Calum slid away from Mark's awkward half-embrace. "Okay, first, please don't touch me. Second, it was one time!"

"Boys!" Dale called. "Focus please?"

Tessa sighed, standing up. She forced herself to think clearly. She had the team she wanted, with enough power and skill to be a force to be reckoned with.

"All we need now is a strategy and a division of campers." She turned to Kaden. "We can handle that, right?"

"Right," Kaden affirmed, an encouraging smile on his face. Even in the dim light of evening, his emerald eyes sparkled.

"Oy, lovebirds, do us a favor and stop staring at each other adoringly." Mark coughed.

Tessa whipped around. "Mark, I will personally skewer you with Tempest."

"Doubt you could if you tried."

"Is that a challenge?"

Tessa started forward, her hand on Tempest's hilt. Mark darted behind Calum, who simply stepped aside. Tessa smirked, releasing her grip.

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm exhausted. See you all tomorrow for planning!" She called, walking away from the group.

Tessa jogged down the hill, a skip in her step. Despite her dread at Sophia's sudden choice, she just felt...happier. She couldn't pinpoint why exactly, she just felt brighter.

As Tessa approached her cabin, she stopped in her tracks. She was a few paces from the front steps, not even a stone's throw, but she froze. Fear had began to manifest within her again.

"Relax, Brennan, you're fine. Stop being a wimp," Tessa grumbled to herself, but she unsheathed Tempest regardless. It was like the rational part of her brain was going against her instinctive side, and Tessa was caught in the crossfire.

She started for her cabin, when a flicker out of the corner of her eye made her blood turn cold. She pivoted, and found herself staring at the shrouded figure in the distance. This time, it was at the opening of the central green, on the path that led to the arena, the Big House, and the strawberry fields.

Tessa blinked, momentarily petrified. "I'll tell you what that is. That's a whole bunch of nope." She laughed weakly. "Just my imagination."

On the inside, Tessa winced. Whenever she was alone and scared, talking to herself somehow relieved her fears. It made her feel like she wasn't entirely alone if she was somehow making noise.

"I'm going to blink, and that thing is going to be gone," Tessa told herself.

So she blinked.

But when she opened her eyes, the shroud had only moved further away, down the path. Its smoky tendrils seemed to be reaching towards her, coaxing her along. Despite its appearance, Tessa got the feeling that this...thing wasn't there to hurt her. It wanted her to follow, to show her something.

"I'm probably going to regret this." Tessa sighed. She gripped Tempest like a vice and started across the green, following the shroud through the dark.