Tempest

Nineteen

[dum spiramus tuebimur / while we breathe, we shall defend]

Tempest's bronze glow flickered along the dark walls of the tunnel as Tessa made her way down it. She wove around meandering twists and turns, up and over rock piles, and under dangling rock fixtures. All the while, she kept keeping track of how many times her heart pulsed in her chest, thankful for each one.

She glanced over her shoulder again, to make sure that no one or nothing was following her. As of now, nothing was, which both relieved and frightened her. If her dreams were recurring since before the quest, they would have to have been omens of her fate? Right?

As she walked, she took a ragged breath, trying not to get lost in thought. She would have believed that her dreams were bad omens, but what puzzled her was the fact that the vision had changed when Theseus showed it to her. Each time she had dreamt of this tunnel beforehand, she had been stabbed before reaching the clear. In Theseus' version of events, she would be stabbed when she reached an opening.

In all honesty, Tessa didn't know which was worse.

Another flare of anxiety erupted in her stomach, and Tessa forced it down. She needed to relax or else she'd be useless in the fight that was bound to ensue. Focus, focus, focus.

She focused on Mark's stupid jokes, the constant innuendos he would imply if Kaden was involved. She thought of his loyalty in battle, his lightheartedness that would ease any grave situation.

She thought of Reese's good-natured obliviousness, his realistic views on things serving as the equal to Tessa's idealist ones. She thought of his tactics in a fight, how he could go from being oblivious to a girl's advances to more knowledgeable of a battlefield than a child of Athena.

Her mind wandered to Dale's kindness, her endless support for her best friends a constant since the inception of their friendship. Tessa thought of her warm hugs and gifts, despite being a force to be reckoned with when it came to power.

And lastly, Tessa dwelled on Kaden being her anchor, his constant understanding of Tessa and her issues since they met. She thought of his lips on hers, the sparkle in his eyes, how her name on his tongue sounded like it was always full of admiration.

Tessa felt a pang of longing and determination. She could do this for them. She could end this for them.

Tessa didn't realize that the tunnel stopped until the feeling of suffocation that came with being underground dissipated. She emerged from her cloud of thoughts, looking around the cavern warily.

She stood on a platform of rock about as large as a backyard deck. Behind her was more rock, but in front of was a pool of crystalline water. She glanced at the opposite shore, where a balcony stood for tourists to admire the water. With a gasp, Tessa realized it was the same one she had stood on in desperation only minutes earlier.

She was back inside Crystal Cave, behind what she thought was the end of it. She could see the tourists looking down at the water as if it were nothing more, not interested in looking up. They wouldn't see Tessa, anyway. They'd see a wall of rock.

"Enjoying the view?" A voice drawled.

Tessa wielded Tempest, battle instincts kicking into gear. She whirled around, searching for an attacker, but found no one.

That's when the ceiling began to cave in on itself.

The wall of rock behind Tessa began to crumble and disappear, as it had outside. Tessa raised her shield above her in case of any falling rocks, but when she peered back over it, there was no debris to be found.