Vortex

II

[ad astra per aspera]

"Eli? Eli, are you still there?"

Kiara's voice was faraway in Eli's ears as the son of Ahklys stared at the computer screen before him. Files, documents, attachments, videos, and more blossomed onto the screen revealing the early plans of Project Maelstrom. And while he had practically uncovered everything they needed to gain the upper hand, Eli still felt like something was wrong.

Eli found his voice, clearing his throat. "I'm here."

"What'd you find?" Kiara asked.

"Everything," Eli's voice was soft. "Cosmic spells for portals like Orion's. Strategies for the Masks. Shit, everything really must have been connected."

Carefully, Eli waded through the multitude of files on his screen. Sure enough, just about everything that had given him and his friends a headache in the past few years was displayed before him in its entirety. He even found security footage from Reese and Tessa's break-in during a bomb threat. Everything was here, and Eli only hoped that he could maneuver his way through it all in time.

"Kiara, how fast can you get back to Camp Jupiter?" Eli asked, his eyes still glued to his screen.

"Pretty fast. Why?"

"I think you know why. Just get here quickly." Eli ended the call and with shaking hands, grabbed his phone and typed a mass text message to his friends. As soon as it was sent, he set his phone down and leant back in his chair, watching the files and pop-ups continue to stream onto his screen.

If everything the General had on Project Maelstrom was truly sitting right before him, they'd finally have a chance to stop Vinny and Menoetious and Typhon before they caused more destruction. But something wasn't sitting right with Eli. Maybe it was his head playing tricks, or maybe it was a true gut feeling, but Eli knew that whether he liked it or not, he'd find out what was wrong.

~~

Despite it being the middle of the night, Eli's friends—and Alex—assembled themselves rather quickly. Before Eli knew it, he was staring at the serious faces of Alex Deven, Kaya Blackwood, Lukas Abbott, Charlie Bowman, and Kiara Fairwolf. He'd sent messages to the others at Camp Half-Blood, but given the time difference, he understood why no one had portaled over.

"The General's flashdrive contains all the secrets of Project Maelstrom when it was first being developed three years ago. It also contains various files and plans for spells, missions, and blueprints that have and probably will continue to give us headaches." Eli explained, meeting the gazes of everyone in the room.

"But do we have the location of Luke Knight's files?" Kaya asked, her dark eyes intense. "According to Tessa, Vinny has access to them and they contain the location of Typhon's sources of power.

"Lucky for you," Eli smiled thinly, holding up a finger. "We do."

He crossed over to the central monitor, tapping at a few commands until plastered across the various monitors were three files. A different location was featured on each one.

"Thankfully, our good pal Vinny didn't think much to delete his digital footprint before taking his own version of this flash-drive. The locations you see around you hold Typhon's three sources of power. On the west coast," Eli pulled up one slide. "Mount St. Helens."

"Most active volcano in the continental United States," Charlie folded his arms, raising an eyebrow. "Fitting."

"In the Midwest, the Badlands. And on the east coast, the cliffs of Acadia." Eli listed. "Given their location, should these sources be powered...civilization wouldn't stand a chance."