[ophidia in herba]

Tessa threw her hands before her, the water at her feet obeying her whim. It flew forward, hitting the figures of light that Kaya had created for their training purposes. Some of them dissipated, but the rest continued advancing.

Tessa's battle senses sharpened, her turquoise eyes scanning her surroundings. She was unarmed, given the fact that they were training their powers rather than their swordsmanship, so using Tempest was out of the question. She couldn't move from the platform that Kaya had created, or else her control on water would be limited. The object of the training was to defend the platform, using only her powers.

"They're getting closer," Kaya hedged from the side-lines, her voice floating above the sound of Tessa's racing heartbeat.

"Really? I couldn't tell!" Tessa retorted, gritting her teeth. She yelled out in defiance, willing the water at her feet to materialize into a ring around her. It did, and with that, Tessa manipulated it into individual arcs to take down her opponents one by one. Thankfully, her plan was working. The figures of light disintegrated.

Tessa smiled, catching her breath. She glanced at the sidelines, where Kaya, Imogen, and Dale were watching. "That was easy."

Kaya smirked, an eyebrow quirked. "Oh, really? Because you aren't finished."

Tessa furrowed her eyebrows together, but with a flourish of Kaya's hands, an entire army of light figures erupted into existence. They stood in rings around Tessa's small metal platform, and were beginning to advance.

"You've gotta be kidding me," Tessa mumbled under her breath, but she didn't miss a beat. She swept her hands around, the water at her feet shooting up and freezing at her will. She threw her make-shift icicles forward, watching as they plunged through light figures one by one.

The figures continued to advance, and were getting closer. Tessa racked her brain for a way to take them all out, and with a split moment of hesitation, she slammed her foot down onto the platform. The earth shook at the force, sending a tremor out across the figures. More of them dissolved, but at this point, Tessa had an idea.

She shut her eyes, spreading her battle senses around her. The mental bond between herself and the water at her will strengthened, and she waited until the pressure building up within it was like a volcano about to erupt before letting go. With explosion-like force, the water erupted at Tessa's will, sweeping around her like a tidal wave. It washed over all of the remaining figures of light, until nothing remained.

Tessa took a deep breath, her hands on her hips as she averted her gaze back to her friends. "As I was saying," She breathed, stepping off of the platform. "That was easy."

Dale snorted from her seat on the sidelines, fiddling with the end of her braid. "Gotta say, the look of sheer panic on your face at that last bit was monumental."

Tessa rolled her eyes, snatching her water bottle off of the bench and taking a swig from it. "Say what you want, I still won."

"Yeah, sure." Dale met her gaze, before breaking into a laugh.

"Are we done here? Because I really don't like being sweaty," Imogen wrinkled her nose, tying her hair up into a short ponytail.

Kaya shrugged. "Just about." The daughter of Trivia stood, beginning to gather her stuff. The rest of the girls followed suit, considering the fact that they'd spent most of their Saturday within the gymnasium, training and pushing their endurance to the limits. However, Tessa stayed put, taking calm sips of her water.

"Tessa?" Imogen asked, halfway to the door already. "You coming?"

The daughter of Poseidon shook her head. "Nah, I'm gonna stay a little longer. I'll see you guys later, though!"

Her friends didn't seem fazed, to Tessa's relief. They gathered their things, said their goodbyes, and continued on their way out of the gym. Tessa didn't move until she was sure they were gone, and once the coast was clear, she snatched Tempest off of the bench. She made her way towards one of the dummies in the corner, took a deep breath, and struck.

Tessa didn't hold anything back as she trained, her sword acting not as a weapon but as an extent of her own ability and strength. She swung the blade around swiftly, in arcs of bronze and turquoise, slashing until the dummy before her was marked with her progress. Adrenaline pumped through her veins like the power of the sea, and with each strike, Tessa allowed herself to imagine each of her worries as the target of her abilities.

Vinny and the prophecy, destroyed with a swipe of Tempest's blade.

The mystery of Madi, gone alongside the arm of the dummy.

Haunting look-a-likes, stabbed through the heart.

Tessa took a deep breath, pulling Tempest out of the dummy. Stuffing and shrapnel fell to the ground, like blood dropping from a wound. And for a moment, Tessa felt that coiled monster within her--the one that came through in times of extreme peril and desperation—blink its bleary eyes, as if it were awakening from its slumber.

Tessa shivered, staggering away from the dummy, and as she moved, she wondered if her shivers and shudders were results of the monster's satisfied purr. She was finally allowing it to come through, but the question was, at whose will?

~~

The rest of the day began to pass in a blur, as Tessa was to otherwise occupied to make anything of the dreariness. After her training, she managed to get some work done in the library, and was walking out of the goliath-like building when she spotted Ben King, the son of Athena, hurrying towards her.

"Hey, Tessa, can I talk to you for a second?" The tall blond boy asked, slowing to a stop.

Tessa quirked an eyebrow, but nodded. "Sure, what about?" She folded her arms across her chest and leant against the wall outside the library.

Ben took a deep breath, resting a hand on the strap of his backpack. "It's about Madi. Has she seemed a little...distant to you?"

Maybe it was the chill in the air, but shivers ran down Tessa's spine at the mention of her half-sister and her mysterious predicament.

"She has," Tessa confirmed. "Why, did something happen?"

Ben shook his head. "Not that I'm aware of. I don't know, but it's beginning to scare me. She's cold, she's distant, she won't let me help her with whatever's wrong. I was thinking that maybe you could help her see reason?"

Memories of Madi's distraught visage came to the forefront of Tessa's mind, how she'd asserted that nothing was wrong and bolted off before anything else could come out of the conversation. Ben was the second person to confront Tessa about Madi, and if that was the case, something had to be up.

"I can try," Tessa said, despite everything. "I'll let you know when I do."

Ben nodded, a look of relief in his blue eyes. "Thank you so much. I'm just really worried about her, y'know?"

Tessa sighed, looking down. "I do."

With that, Ben hurried into the library, the large wood and gold doors swinging shut around him. Tessa managed her way off of the steps, beginning her trek back to the residence hall. Hopefully, Madi would be open about what was happening with her, because if she wasn't...Tessa could only imagine what the severity of the situation was that prevented her from speaking.

In silence, Tessa hurried back to her residence hall. Madi's room was a floor beneath her own, and while Tessa should have called ahead to see if her sister was actually home, she barreled up the stairs regardless. In a matter of moments, she wove her way through Madi's floor, and froze in place when she rounded the corner.

The door to Madi's room was ajar, as if its resident had forgotten to shut it in a rush. Nerves flared within Tessa's figure as she approached her sister's room, her heart pounding as she knocked on the door.

"Madi? You home?" Tessa called, waiting for a reply. However, nothing followed in answer.

Tessa inhaled sharply, one hand wrapped around Tempest in her pocket and the other pushing the door open. She waited for some sort of ambush, but there was nothing. Madi's room was entirely empty, radiating silence and something eerie that Tessa couldn't place.

For the most part, nothing appeared to be off about Madi's room. Her bed was slightly rumpled, with a few articles of clothing dotting the floor before her closet. Her desk was covered in textbooks and schoolwork, with photographs of herself and her friends lining the shelves. Nothing seemed out of place, but why did Tessa feel so on edge?

Tessa's senses sharpened, and she snagged a sudden flicker of light out of the corner of her eye. She found herself staring at Madi's bathroom door, but Tessa's blood ran cold when she saw a rusty red handprint on the white wood.

"Madi, what is going on?" Tessa murmured under her breath. She drew Tempest, a small rush of reassurance flowing through her at being armed. Slowly, she approached the bathroom door, heart pounding. Like the front door, it was ajar. There were no sounds from within, so Tessa kicked the door in, prepared to strike.

But what she found only startled her even more.

"Oh my gods," Tessa muttered in horror, her turquoise eyes widening as she scanned the bathroom.

Blood covered the porcelain counters of the sink, dripping onto the tile below. Crumpled pieces of cardstock, stained with blood as well, dotted the trashcan, making a sort of trail. Tessa picked one up, recognizing it as a photo that Madi once had back in Cabin Three at camp. Madi and three other girls stood in the photo, smiling and laughing. Tessa would have wondered why Madi had thrown it out, when she turned it over, and felt her stomach flip.

'MURDERER' was scrawled on the back in blood.

Tessa tossed the photograph away from her, her own panic most likely mirroring Madi's. She looked around in astonishment, and froze again at seeing the mirror covered in a similar message: THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT.

It felt like a scene out of a horror movie, and Tessa wasn't sure what to do. Scream? Panic? Run? Where was Madi when she needed her most? What was all of this about?

Tessa fumbled for her phone, her brain feeling as if it was short-circuiting from the panic blazing on around her. She snagged a quick photo of the mirror in blood, tucked her phone away, and got to work. She used her abilities to wash away the blood from the mirror, watching as the mix of water and blood rushed down the drain. She didn't dare touch the bloody photographs near the trash bin; the blood on the back of the one she'd picked up earlier still staining her hands.

Before Tessa could be found at the scene, she hurried from her sister's dorm-room, heart pounding. Whatever her sister was going through, she needed to get to the bottom of it before whoever was behind all this struck again.

~~

[Camp Half-Blood]

Mark stared out the windows of the Big House, watching as storm clouds rolled in around the valley. He'd been sitting in camp's archives for about an hour now, and was bored out of his mind. His only entertainment? Watching life at camp outside the window.

It had been nearly a week since his blackout, and his healer, Adhara, still hadn't found a reasonable explanation for his episodes. Thankfully, Mark hadn't seen anything weird in the past week, but that only put his nerves on edge. What if it happened again? And what if this time, he didn't wake up?

The sound of books slamming onto the table he was seated at shook him out of his reverie. Adhara stood behind the stack that was nearly as tall as her, a frustrated look in her violet eyes and a permanent scowl on her lips.

"Anything?" Mark asked, glancing up at the daughter of Nemesis.

The violet-eyed girl gave him a tired look, pointing at the books. "What do you think all of these books are for?"

"Some light reading," Mark figured, reaching for one of them. He frowned at the title, a scripture in some mixture of Greek and Latin that he couldn't translate. "Never mind."

Adhara snorted, snatching the book out of his grip. "Typical."

Mark frowned, watching as the Nepalese girl sat down beside him and opened the book. She began to read, and Mark felt more useless in that one moment than all of the embarrassing instances in his life combined. He fiddled with his thumbs, the hedge of his bright orange shirt, just about anything to keep him occupied. He wasn't sure if he was supposed to help or stay put, and the option he went with proved to be the wrong one.

"Well?" Adhara glared at him.

Mark blinked. "Well, what?"

Adhara shut her eyes, inhaling slowly as if drawing upon strength. "Why are you so frustrating and cute at the same time?"

A sheepish smile played at Mark's lips, his heart fluttering despite himself. "You think I'm cute?"

Adhara's eyes shot open, violet irises troubled. "Not at all." She deadpanned, returning to her book. "Get to reading, or else we'll be here for a while."

Mark sighed, the moment fading. He begrudgingly grabbed the next book off of the stack, flipping it open and beginning to skim the pages. However, he couldn't fight the turmoil within his heart and head that seemed to present itself wherever Adhara was concerned.

She was elusive, he knew that much. Sometimes, his idiocy and smart comments would catch the Nepalese girl off guard, and she'd actually smile, or on occasion, laugh. Both instances were enough to make Mark feel a pang of longing that he'd never felt before, and wanted to keep feeling. And yet, just like that, the moment would disappear and Adhara was back to treating him like the human equivalent of a pesky fly that she couldn't quite squash.

Mark didn't want to be a fly. He wanted to be something to this girl, but he wasn't sure how to make it happen.

His thoughts were interrupted by Adhara shooting straight up, slamming her book down on the table. "That's it!"

"What is?" Mark asked, his heart recovering from its momentary lapse of panic.

"We've gotta talk to Amelie, she can help. Either her or the Hypnos kids." Adhara's words were strung together, the way they normally were when she had a sudden idea or was about to start conspiring in Nepali.

"Then what're we waiting for? Let's go!" Mark stood from the seat, and together, and Adhara ran from the large room in the Big House. They raced down the front steps, but as Mark stole one quick glance at the sky above them, he froze.

"What?" Adhara asked, slowing to a stop. "What could you possibly be stopping for?"

Mark knit his eyebrows, pointing up at the dark storm clouds above the valley. The weather in the valley was controlled by the campers and their desires, and most of the time, a sunny climate was maintained. With the turn of the seasons came gentle fluxes of autumn air, winter flurries, or spring showers, but never in Mark's years had a storm such as this been called upon. Thunder clouds always skirted around the valley, so why were they lingering ominously above them?

Adhara seemed to figure it out, because she too seemed startled. "It's probably nothing. It won't hit us, storms never do." She sounded like she was assuring herself, rather than Mark.

Mark opened his mouth to speak, but his eyes were still glued on the storm clouds above them. His voice was cut off as a blanket of heavy rain fell through the barrier, as if it wasn't even there. Mark prepared to move, but at that moment, an arc of white-hot lightning ripped down from the Heavens, straight for him.

What happened next seemed to be in slow motion to Mark.

The lightning continued on its way to the ground, and as Adhara's scream filled the air, something else ignited above Mark's head. A shield of bright blue energy erupted into existence, the lightning bouncing off of it and disappearing.

Mark took a deep breath, patting himself down as if to make sure he was still alive. He mumbled a silent prayer to the gods, but at that moment, he faced his savior.

Amelie stood in the heat of the storm, droplets of rain hitting her porcelain skin and wetting her brown hair. Her hands were outstretched before her, and when the lightning disappeared, she lowered them to her sides. The daughter of Hecate glanced at Mark tiredly.

"You're welcome," She deadpanned.

"Amelie," Mark breathed. "Thank you so much."

The dark-haired girl waved her hand, as if it were nothing. "Don't worry about it."

Adhara rushed to Mark's side, helping him up. She faced Amelie, a desperate look on her face despite the storm raining down around them. "Amelie, we need your help."

The daughter of Hecate nodded, casting a suspicious look around them. From Cabin Twenty came the other children of the goddess of magic, hurrying towards the borders of camp to rebuild the barrier. "Get back inside the Big House, I'll meet you there."

And with that, Amelie ran off, completely unfazed to the rare storm blazing on around her. Mark and Adhara were left to obey her commands, and with wary looks at the sky and droplets of rain running down their bodies, they hobbled back to the Big House, hearts pounding.

"Think it was just some freak coincidence?" Adhara asked, her voice small.

Mark wanted to think that was the case, but if it was one thing he knew for sure, it was that nothing in their lives was some freak coincidence. "Let's hope so."