Tempest

Sixteen

[mare clauseum / closed sea]

"Rise and shine, lovebirds." A voice ripped through the fabric of Tessa's sleep, causing her to groan softly and absentmindedly scooch back to Kaden's side.

A groan came from the voice, and the next thing Tessa knew was that a pillow had whacked her in the face. Her eyes flew open and her gaze settled upon Mark, who was blinking at Tessa with impertinence.

"What?" She croaked, fighting a yawn. She looked beside her to see Kaden, still sound asleep, and memories of how she had gotten into that position flooded her mind.

"Yeah," Mark said blankly, although a smirk was laced onto his lips. Tessa rolled her eyes; the son of Iris would never let either of them live this down.

She pushed off of the couch, careful not to wake Kaden, who had substituted the pillow Mark had thrown for Tessa. She had hardly felt him beside her as she slept, only aware of the hand that held her loosely to him throughout the night. The memory made her heart flutter.

"Do I want to know?" Mark asked, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

Tessa stifled a groan. "It wasn't like that. We were both up and we just crashed."

"Yeah, okay, sure." Mark smirked, running a hand through his dark hair. He sauntered over to the kitchenette, grabbing a bottle of water. "So what's the plan of attack for today?"

Tessa narrowed her eyes, watching the son of Iris carefully. "Why are you in such a peppy mood? Yesterday you could hardly look at us."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Mark said airily, taking a sip from his bottle. He glanced at Tessa as he did, and his facade fell. "Oh, alright."

"Spill." Tessa folded her arms, leaning against the wall.

Mark exhaled. 'It's just...you know how my dad summoned me yesterday, right? Well, I didn't expect it to turn out how it did. I mean, I love my dad and I visit him every summer but yesterday was just...different.

"I spent most of the time in his office, waiting for him to come back from some meeting. When he finally did come back, he didn't even bother trying to catch up or ask if I was alright. One look at me and his face fell, and he said he had something to give me tonight that would help on our quest. Then, he made me leave." Mark's gaze was distant, and Tessa could almost see the gears turning in his head as he tried to piece together what had happened into some logical explanation.

Tessa's features softened. "I'm sure he has good intentions, Mark. Our mortal parents...they know that as demigods, we're awaiting danger at all times. In times like these, they've only got a couple of minutes to say what they need to, because if they don't---" Tessa choked up, memories of her mother's last words to her echoing in her ears.

Mark met her gaze and hopped off of where he sat on the counter. He reached for Tessa but she shook her head. "I'm fine." She took a breath. "My point, Mark, is that everything will turn out okay with your dad. He'll give you this gift and we'll figure out what to do from there."

For a moment, everything was silent. Thirty seconds. A minute.

"Yeah," Mark said at last, his voice hardly above a whisper. "We will."

Tessa smiled softly at her best friend, then pulled him in for a hug. The two embraced for a moment, silently consoling one another that everything would turn out alright, even though optimism was the last thing on Tessa's mind.