[memento mori]

If Tessa could murder someone through a screen, she would have taken that opportunity right then and there. Because as Vinny's malevolent grin stared back at them on all of the screens in the room, Tessa wanted nothing more than to wipe it off his face. Preferably using Tempest.

"Kaden, how he is streaming in here?" Kaya flicked her mocha gaze to her associate, fury beginning to flare in the irises.

In response, Kaden shook his head. He tore his gaze from the screen, his jaw set, and got to work at the central monitor. "He must've gotten through all of the coding somehow. I'll try and track the signal." He sat himself down and clacked away at the keyboard.

"I know you all must be missing me, but have no fear, because you should be seeing me soon," Came Vinny's voice from the screen. He looked like he was walking down a city street, holding the camera up in the way a vlogger would on YouTube. "I'm here to present you all with a little challenge."

"Kaden," Kaya stressed, her voice grit through her teeth.

"I know!" Kaden exclaimed, his emerald irises flaring. He sighed in relief. "It's a live stream, but he can't see us. He's moving through downtown San Francisco right now."

Kaya turned to Jett instantly, issuing orders. Imogen and Reese drew their bows, and Dale and Eli crowded next to Tessa to keep watching.

Tessa felt the monster within her begin to rise, its power replacing the blood in her veins with an energy so black, so thick that it felt like oil. Rage began to fester within her, and Tessa knew that the nearest body of water would be responding to her agitation.

"By now, I'm sure you all think you know what I'm up to. There's a new dawn coming, and frankly, you all won't be a part of it. Nonetheless, I know how you all like to save people so here you all go. There's a bomb somewhere in the city that myself and my associates have placed, so you have....oh, I don't know, maybe just under an hour to try and disarm it. If you don't...well, this city's seen destruction over the years, hasn't it?" Vinny's sapphire gaze seemed to darken as he looked into the camera. "Catch you on the flip side."

And with that, the video feed shut off. The screens returned to static, and with an indignant clatter of keys from Kaden's keyboard, they returned to their standard monitors.

A chill washed over the room, only quelled to Tessa by the infernal fury in her heart. Everyone looked like deer in headlights, no one seemed to know what to do.

"Jett, go prepare the legion. If Vinny's in the area, he might try and pull something on the camp. I want sentries armed and ready by all entrances into camp, especially by the Labyrinth entrance." Kaya ordered, and with that, the son of Bacchus dashed out of the room.

"What do we do?" Eli asked, his arctic blue eyes dark with worry. "We won't make it on time, and even if we did, the city is huge."

Kaden swiveled his chair over to another screen, typing away. "Vinny's still in the city. He used a cell phone of his own to broadcast the video, and the signal's coming from downtown. If we get there fast enough, we can stop him."

"But how do we stop the bomb?" Dale shot back. "We can't be in two places at once."

Tessa grit her teeth, scanning the room as if the answer was hidden somewhere within it. "I'll lead a group into the city. Kaya, you and Jett stay here to prepare the legion. Dale, contact Camp Half-Blood. Warn them of a possible attack."

The daughter of Demeter nodded, taking a seat at the head computer. At that, Kaden did a double take as the golden eyed girl broke into her own set of coding. "What do you think you're doing?"

Dale looked over her shoulder, a tired look on her face. "You're not the only hacker around here, Gray."

Kaden made a considerate face, but returned to his own work. "I'm trying to figure out the fastest routes into the city." He shook his head. "All of these, no matter what we take, we won't have enough time."

"What about the Labyrinth?" Imogen asked, her arms folded across her chest.

"NO." Tessa, Reese, Kaden, and Dale chorused.

The daughter of Cupid put her hands up in surrender.

Reese dragged a hand through his blond hair, making it stand up on end. "You know there's only one other way we can still make it there."

Eli waved his hand. "And that would be?"

Tessa met Reese's gaze, the realization dawning on her. Instantly, her body tensed. "No." She whispered.

"It's the only way and you know it," Reese stressed. "I don't like it either, but if we want to save the city, it's our only option."

Tessa set her jaw, clenching her fist. She wanted to argue that they could find another way, but even with the camp-enhanced cars that the legion owned, Kaden was right—they'd never make it into the city on time to stop the bomb and capture Vinny.

"We're wasting time!" Kaya interjected. "I'll make a portal, it's the only way."

Tessa took a deep breath, but nodded in compliance. "Alright," She began. "Kaden, Reese, Imogen, Eli; you're coming with me."

Instantly, her friends got to work. They drew their weapons and darted around the room, grabbing any necessary supplies. Reese and Imogen stocked their magical bows and quivers with more arrows, just in case; Eli drew his sword, his own silvery reflection staring back at him from the blade; Kaden snatched a tablet from the table, tapping away at it swiftly as he got up and reconvened with Tessa.

"I'll try and get us to the last place Vinny was spotted on facial recognition. From there, we can break into two teams: one to disarm the bomb, and the other to stop Vinny." The son of Venus elaborated, looking up from the tablet's screen towards Dale. "I'll need you to feed the programming into the tablet."

"On it!" Dale chimed, shutting off her Skype call with Chiron and swiveling over to another monitor.

Kaya stepped down from the central platform of their headquarters, walking over to the opposite side of the room. An incantation escaped from her lips, and with a wave of her hands, a vortex of light and energy erupted into existence. Soon enough, Tessa and her friends were staring down a portal—an all too familiar sight.

"Go," Kaya turned on her heel. "And may the gods be with you."

Tessa met her friends' gazes, and together, they filed through the expanse of light to what awaited them on the opposite side.

~~

San Francisco seemed to be shrouded in a Mist as thick as its typical fog. As soon as Tessa step foot on the opposite side of the portal, she fought the disorientation that came with teleportation, scanning the city around her. Everywhere she looked, mortals went about their daily lives—completely unaware to the threat surrounding them.

The portal hissed shut behind her, and Tessa turned to Kaden. "Where to?"

Kaden tapped away at his tablet. "Two blocks south, that's where facial recognition and his video stream line up. He can't be too far from there."

Tessa nodded, glancing at Imogen and Eli. "You guys, go with Kaden. Find and stop Vinny."

At that, Kaden looked up in disbelief. "We're splitting up that fast? You don't even know where the bomb could be."

Tessa smiled sweetly, although her eyes flickered with the frustration that came from her word being challenged. "Which is why you're going to run a city-wide scan to find any traces of explosives."

It was evident in the way that Kaden looked at her that he didn't like the thought of being separated from her in a time of crisis, but Tessa had no choice. Besides, it wasn't the first time it would have happened to them anyway.

Begrudgingly, Kaden swiped at the screen in his hands. He shook his hands, a ragged breath escaping his lips. "Nothing."

"How can there be nothing?" Eli asked, mildly panicked.

Kaden let out a frustrated sigh, staring at the empty reports popping up on the screen. Then, his emerald irises darkened in realization. "That son of a bitch."

A slight ripple of thunder shook the sky, and the demigods all stared up at the peraly gray clouds in response.

"Um, Kaden? I don't think you should call the goddess of victory that." Reese hedged, eyeing the sky.

"I doubt she minds that much given the monstrosity that shares her bloodline," Kaden retorted, and Tessa felt her heart twist. Vinny and Kaden had been childhood best friends, but when Kaden disappeared from Camp Jupiter for Camp Half-Blood, it had been a final straw for the son of Victoria. He'd pledged his allegiance to Orion and the Regiment later on, and betrayed the legion last winter. From that point forward, anything that Vinny did nowadays twisted the knife in Kaden's back even more.

"What's your idea?" Tessa asked, scanning the city around them quickly before returning her gaze to Kaden.

"He isn't using mortal explosives," Kaden reported. "The bomb's made of Greek fire. An explosion of that caliber would decimate the city."

The coil of ice around Tessa's heart sharpened, as if barbs began to grow on it. She took a quick breath and nodded, watching as Kaden held a hand up to the earpiece he'd grabbed on the way out and barked a quick command to Dale on the other line. A heartbeat later and a new view of the city popped up on the screen.

"According to Dale's calculations, the bomb's in on office building seven blocks west and one north from here." Kaden met Tessa's gaze. "If you wanna go, I suggest you do it now."

Her friends sheathed their weapons, preparing to run. Tessa stepped forward, brushing her lips against Kaden's in parting.

"I'll see you soon," She gave him what she hoped was a reassuring smile.

Kaden reached his free hand up to graze her cheek tenderly, searching her eyes. "Be careful."

"I always am," Tessa smiled. She turned on her heel, towards where Reese pulled away from the lip-lock that Imogen had dragged him into, and walked past Eli who was mumbling something about being a fifth wheel.

"Sunny-D, it's showtime," Tessa grabbed the back of Reese's jacket, dragging him away from the daughter of Cupid.

"Oh, gods," Reese groaned. "Any nickname but that one."

Despite the situation, Tessa found herself laughing as she and Reese ran off down the streets. Maybe it was that she could always find the light in a situation, or maybe it was that her own life had become so twisted that she had no choice but to laugh any chance she got.

Regardless, she and Reese bolted down the streets of San Francisco. They swerved around mortals who complained to being pushed aside indignantly, but Tessa knew that if they knew what the demigods were up to, they'd be running just as fast if not faster.

Tessa and Reese skidded to a stop at a street corner, looking up at the tall glass-paneled buildings around them. Had they run the correct way? Seven blocks west, one block north...or was it seven blocks north and one block west?

"What now?" Reese asked, catching his breath. "All of these buildings look alike."

Tessa swirled around on her heel, searching for any sign of the bomb about to go off. They had how much time left, forty-five minutes? Was that enough time to find the bomb and disarm it?

"It would have had to be somewhere that Vinny could have gotten into easily," Tessa theorized, looking up at the nearest building. She cursed under her breath, digging out her phone and swiping it open.

"Tessa, now isn't the time to make phone calls," Reese hissed, but Tessa made a face at him to shut him up.

"What do you want?" Dale asked on the other end of the line. "Did you find Vinny?"

"No, not yet. Reese and I are looking for the bomb, and we think we're by its location. I need you to hack into facial recognition in every office building in a mile's radius in all directions for Vinny or anyone with...alternate intentions." Tessa explained into the phone, her words clipped.

Dale didn't respond, but Tessa could hear the response of a keyboard being attacked on the other end. The next thing she knew, Dale spoke. "Vinny was last seen on the fourteenth floor of the building across the street from you."

"Thank you so much!" Tessa yelped into the phone, and was about to end the call if it wasn't for Dale's shriek on the other side.

"Wait!" The daughter of Demeter exclaimed. "I'm checking the cameras right now and the floor's empty, the other's aren't. You'll need to clear the building. Also, looks like Vinny's got some monstrous guards—bear-men."

Tessa rolled her eyes, cursing under her breath. "Alright, anything else?"

"Nope," Dale said. "Oh, wait!"

"Yes?"

"Pick me up a lobster roll while you're out there."

"Bye, Dale."

Tessa hung up the phone, shoving it into her pocket. She recounted the information, save Dale's take-out order, to Reese as they dashed across the street.

"Bear men?" Reese echoed, blue eyes wide with realization. "Does she mean the sons of Callisto?"

"What other mythological bear men do you know of?" Tessa grumbled, entering the building. They reached a lobby filled with people in business clothes, briefcases and PDAs galore. If every floor was like this, there was no chance that they'd be able to clear the building in time.

"What're you kids doing here?" A security guard asked from across the room.

Tessa and Reese locked gazes—time to improvise.

"We needed to use the bathroom—"

"We have a project for a class—"

The two friends glared at one another, the impact of the other's story altering their own. The security guard eyed them suspiciously, and reached for the walkie talkie on their shoulder.

"What now?" Reese hissed through grit teeth.

Their answer came in the form of a fire alarm radiating through the building. Everyone looked around in mild panic, but seeing as they were on the ground floor, they filed towards the door.

"Coincidence?" Reese asked at the same time as Tessa felt her phone vibrate.

One new text from Kaden: you're welcome.

Tessa couldn't find the smile growing on her lips at that. She shoved her phone away, and in the pulpit of people heading for the door, she and Reese darted for the stairwell. They bolted up the flights of stairs, weaving in between people as they raced out of the building.

Even with four years of combat training, fourteen flights of stairs to climb up with a bomb threat looming over your head was enough to wind you. Tessa and Reese staggered up the last flight onto the emptied fourteenth floor, just outside its entrance.

"Alright, so what's—" Reese wheezed. "—The plan?"

Tessa caught her breath, drawing Tempest. She peered through the small window on the stairwell door, and she could see the two bear-men walking through the floor, in between aisles of cubicles. They both looked bored, but Tessa knew that as soon as she and Reese stepped foot through the door, they'd spring into action.

"What kind of arrows do you have on you?" Tessa flicked her gaze to Reese, who was now holding his golden bow. His quiver of arrows was on his back, and he was halfway to reaching one.

"Uh, typical ones, explosive ones, flash-bang—" Reese recited.

"Flash-bang." Tessa interjected.

"Damn, alright, cutting me off." Reese said in mock offense. However, he still drew the flash-bang arrow, distinguished by a bright orange feather among the golden arrow's tail.

"Open the door," Reese hissed. "I'll fire the arrow once you do. After that, we'll have about five minutes before they recover."

Tessa nodded, her heart pounding in her chest. She reached for the doorknob, and ever so quietly, pulled it open the slightest of spaces. Reese drew back the arrow, blue eyes sharpening down the shaft of gold, and fired away.

The demigods looked away as a burst of light erupted in the floor beyond. Two large thuds punctuated the firing, and Tessa knew that that was their cue. She and Reese stood, swinging open the door and darting inside.

"This is a lot bigger than I thought it'd be," Reese exhaled, another arrow drawn. He glanced around the floor, at the emptied cubicles and the two unconscious bodies of the bear-men.

Tessa swung Tempest around in practice. "Then let's get to work."

She and Reese split up, taking opposite sides of the floor. Thankfully, Greek fire came in one of two forms—in a pouch filled with powder of the stuff, or vials of a foggy liquid version. The mythological substance also shimmered different colors, typically a bright green. Tessa only hoped she'd be able to see its glow.

"Tessa!" Reese called. "I found it!"

The daughter of Poseidon sprinted back to where her companion was standing, his bow lowered. A silver briefcase was propped open on a desk, the glow of the explosive it contained reflecting off the metal. A vial of the green liquid was seated in what looked like a bomb out of an action movie, with wires and a big timer surrounding it.

And to Tessa's horror, the timer was counting down from ten minutes.

"It has not been fifty minutes," Reese said, his voice crowing with fear.

Tessa clenched her fist around Tempest's hilt, eyeing the various wires surrounding the vial. "He knows we're here. He's controlling the timer manually."

"Then why not ignite it now?" Reese asked, knitting his eyebrows together.

The sound of a low growl in two-part harmony formed Reese's answer, and Tessa fought the urge to pulverize the son of Apollo for asking such a fatal question. Instead, she and Reese stood back-to-back, weapons drawn as the bear-men awoke from their slumber.

"Because he knows we'll be occupied." Tessa answered, eyeing the son of Callisto approaching her.

"Plan?" Reese asked, drawing an arrow back.

Tessa narrowed her eyes at her impending attacker. "What do you think?"

"Good point," Reese realized. And with that, he and Tessa switched sides with a spin, Reese's arrow flying towards one bear-man and Tessa slashing at the other with Tempest.

~~

The fight was a risky one. Bear-men were formidable monsters, about twice the strength and three times the size of Tessa. Not to mention the highly-sensitive bomb waiting to go off behind her, but Tessa tried not to think of that part.

She grunted as the bear-man swiped at her head, ducking and jabbing at its stomach with her blade. The monster's blood oozed from the cut, roaring in anger and pain, and ran towards her again. Tessa leapt aside, twirling back onto the scene and kicking the monster down.

"Tessa, look out!" Reese exclaimed.

The daughter of Poseidon looked up in confusion, but upon seeing the other bear-man stumbling towards her, she got the message. She leapt back out of the way into a cubicle, and watched as Reese's monster tripped over his brother and continued to stagger his way towards the ceiling-to-floor glass windows lining the floor. The bear-man fell through the glass, plummeting to the streets of San Francisco below.

"One down, one to go," Tessa muttered under her breath. At that moment, her monster began to rise from the ground, even angrier than it was before.

"Reese!" Tessa called again. "Call Dale, try and disarm the bomb!"

The son of Apollo nodded, dashing into the cubicle which held the Greek fire. Tessa, on the other hand, walked forward to meet her monster half-way.

"Shouldn't you be terrorizing a campsite?" Tessa taunted, swinging Tempest. "An office building isn't fit for something of your caliber."

The bear-man snarled in response, but either it had bad eyesight before or the realization now dawned on it. Its eyes widened, and the monster knelt.

"Uh, Tessa? Why is it kneeling to you?" Reese called, still fiddling with the bomb's wires.

Tessa watched the monster before her with shock etched onto her features. Then it hit her.

It thought she was the General.

Tessa bit her lip, lowering her sword. "You've failed me. Report back to the Regiment at once to face consequence for your actions."

The bear-man nodded, and with a flicker of light, disappeared.

"That easy? I had to shoot mine out a window," Reese huffed a breath.

Despite feeling like she'd just seen her own grave, Tessa staggered over to Reese. The bomb blinked back with five minutes left on the timer, and Tessa realized that maybe she was about to see her own demise.

"I can't disarm it entirely," Reese cursed, hands trembling. "With what Dale told me, I can only minimize the blast range."

"And what would that be?" Tessa asked.

Reese met her gaze, a grave look on his face. "Nothing good."

Now, Tessa had stared death in the face many times. She'd died and come back, for the gods' sakes. But now, as she faced a situation that she couldn't figure a way out of, a feeling of hopelessness so strong washed over her that she wasn't sure what else to do.

Tessa forced away tears as she thought of what Kaden would make of her death, of what Madi and Dale and Mark and all of her friends and family would do. Because given the time on the bomb, there was no way she'd be able to see them again.

"Minimize it," Tessa commanded Reese.

"What? But—"

"Do—it." Tessa hissed.

Reese sighed but nodded. He clipped a wire, and Tessa felt her whole body tense.

"Will they be safe?" Tessa asked, her eyes glued to the blinking red numbers reading 1:00.

Reese took a deep breath. "Yeah," He said softly. "They're out of range."

0:30.

"Good," Tessa whispered, a tear streaming down her face.

0:15.

Reese cursed under his breath and pulled Tessa to her feet. The next thing she knew, he was dragging her towards the window the bear-man had fallen out of.

"What are you doing?" Tessa sniffed, wiping away her tears.

"Shut up and hold onto me," Reese fired an arrow out the window, one with a thick rope attached to the end of it. He wrapped an arm around Tessa and while she was shaken, she wrapped her own around his neck.

And so the two demigods swung out of the building, heartbeats serving as seconds.

0:00.

~~

[Kaden's Perspective]

Why Tessa had decided to put Kaden and Imogen in a group together was beyond the son of Venus. The two charmspeakers had two much verbal power over all they encountered, so finding supplies—such as the van they'd "borrowed"—was easy.

Eli sat in the driver's seat, speeding on down the streets towards the coordinates Dale had sent Kaden. He stared at the tablet in his hands, watching as the three colored dots that represented himself, Eli, and Imogen blinked as they approached Reese and Tessa.

They hadn't succeeded in finding Vinny, much to Kaden's dismay. He wanted the honor of fighting the traitor himself, but that pleasure would have to be completed another day. However, Tessa and Reese had gone to disarm the bomb, and hopefully they'd succeeded.

"How much farther?" Imogen popped her head in between the two front seats.

"Not much," Kaden responded, his voice shaky. All he hoped was that Tessa and Reese were alright; he couldn't lose them.

Eli swerved around a corner, and soon enough, pulled to a stop outside an office building. "This is the place."

"Where are they?" Imogen asked, and Kaden could feel the pang of panic that shook her body. "They should be here by now, where are they?"

Kaden stared back down at the tablet, and felt his heart stop at seeing Tessa and Reese's dots disappear from the screen. No. No, that couldn't be right. They were still in there, disabling the bomb.

Unless it'd gone off. But if that was the case, where was the explosion?

"There!" Eli pointed out the window, and Kaden and Imogen followed his direction. Sure enough, Tessa and Reese staggered down the street.

Fast as lightning, Kaden shot out of the car, taking off to meet them halfway. Tessa, slightly scraped up and dazed, lit up at seeing him. Kaden pulled her into his embrace, the one surefire place that he knew she'd be safe and sound.

"I thought I'd lost you," Kaden whispered, exhaling raggedly.

Tessa pulled back a few inches, smiling up at him weakly. "Can't get rid of me that easily."

Kaden laughed under his breath, pressing his lips to her forehead and hugging her closer.

"Excuse me, I'm here too." Reese interjected.

"Gross," Imogen retorted, but flung herself into Reese's embrace as she emerged from the car.

"Oy, lovebirds!" Eli rolled the window down. "Let's get this show on the road."

"How did you guys disable the bomb?" Imogen asked, jade eyes wide.

Tessa knit her eyebrows. "We didn't." She looked back at Reese who met her gaze with equal confusion.

Kaden felt the gravity of the situation creep over him in that moment, and he forced the shiver down his spine away. "Let's get back to camp. Looks like our work here is done."

But even as he and the others walked back to the van, Kaden couldn't shake the lingering premonition in the back of his mind that this all was far from over. If Vinny had escaped and the bomb never went off, what other tricks did the Regiment have up their sleeves?

~~

That night, Kaden set up camp in the gym. It'd become a second place of refuge for him whenever he was stressed or angry, which nowadays had become too often. Being praetor meant a million issues to handle, and all by noon each day. Adding on the rising threat of the Regiment and their doppelgangers, Kaden wanted a day off now more so than ever.

He hammered away at the punching bag before him, his fists bound in boxing gloves. He imagined that with each punch he threw, each jab, each kick, that he was eliminating each of his problems, one by one. In his head, each one he terminated was one step closer to the story of the future he'd created for Tessa the other night.

Tessa...

The thought of the daughter of Poseidon sent a wave of peace over Kaden's mind. He stopped punching for a moment, his mind running back to his solace, his sunshine, the girl with the ocean in her eyes that became the world in his own. There wasn't anything that Kaden wouldn't do for her, and at the end of all this, he only wanted to see her safe.

The future he'd imagined for the both of them was his goal, his ultimate desire. Kaden wanted nothing more than to have a simple, mundane life with an apartment in the city, a stable career, and the girl he loved. He wanted to sit and stay up with her all night while snow fell outside their windows. He wanted to go to sleep at night, Tessa beside him, and not wonder how many moments like that they had left.

"How did I know you'd be in here?" Tessa's voice shook Kaden out of his reverie, and he turned with a smile on his face.

"You know me better than anyone," Kaden laughed under his breath. He took off his boxing gloves, tossing them aside.

Tessa met him across the gymnasium, handing him a water bottle. "It's late."

Kaden knit his eyebrows together, but as he glanced up at the windows lining the room, he saw an inky blackness outside of them. "Time flies." He shrugged.

Tessa shook her head, a ghostly smile on her lips. She cast a look around the room, the smile turning into a smirk. "The last time we were in here this late was pretty interesting."

Instantly, memories of that night flooded Kaden's mind. He could practically see the past versions of themselves, lips locked and hands roaming one another's bodies against a punching bag, if he tried hard enough. A blush coated his cheeks, and Tessa giggled.

"Come on, Rocky, let's get you to bed," Tessa nodded towards the door. "It's been a long day."

Kaden laughed, taking her hand. "Tell me about it."

The couple emerged from the gymnasium, hand-in-hand. An autumn chill ran through the night air, but neither Kaden nor Tessa seemed fazed to it.

"Do you have any idea what all of today meant?" Kaden asked.

Tessa sighed, running a hand through her silky hair. "None whatsoever. I try not to dwell on it too much. Stuff like that can drive you insane."

Kaden stopped at that, pulling Tessa slightly in order for her to face him. "Do you remember what I promised you when we started classes?"

Tessa nodded, meeting his emerald gaze with her turquoise ones. Man, just one look into her eyes and Kaden felt like he was on cloud nine. He blushed again, focusing.

"I meant what I said," He said. "No matter what happens, I promise that he won't be able to hurt you. Frankly, I'd like to see him try. He'd have a death wise with one move."

Tessa smirked. "You're damn right that he would."

Kaden grinned at that, fiddling with a strand of Tessa's hair that had cascaded over her shoulder. "That being said, let's get home."

For the rest of their walk, Tessa and Kaden remained in silence. Kaden valued moments like that between them, in which they could say nothing and still feel as content around the other as they normally would. Like clockwork, they made it back to Tessa's dorm and got ready for bed.

And when all was said and done, and Tessa rested her head against Kaden's chest and he watched with a sleepy smile as she fell asleep, Kaden shut his eyes at last, pretending that they'd made it out of their hectic lives alive. He pretended that this was just another night together, in bliss and harmony, as the autumn air changed into the snowfall of his dreams out of the windows, and the threat on the horizon melted away into the prospects of a bright future.