A look at what's to come in Maelstrom...
Tessa panted, straining against the zip-ties holding her to the chair. She gritted her teeth as they bit into her wrists, but she wouldn't break. She glared through the thin curtain of her hair falling before her face, shooting daggers at Menoetious as he stood before her.
"That's all you've got?" Tessa hissed, her chest heaving. "I'd at least expect more from the Titan of violence."
Menoetious smirked, raising a hand from the pocket of his pants to hold up a finger. "You think that was the torture? Oh, Tessa." He chuckled. "You don't know me at all."
"Oh, really? Because I think I've got your number," Tessa managed. One of her torturers grabbed her hair, pulling her head back and she fought a yelp, still burning. "You're a coward."
Menoetious held her gaze. "You know, Tessa? When I was told about you, all those years ago, I expected a stone cold warrior. I expected a girl with no emotion. And that's your weakness. Because as powerful and skilled as you are, you'd break if something played at your emotions."
Tessa barked a wry laugh. "You're hilarious."
"No," Menoetious watched her, and that familiar maniacal look in his eyes returned. "I'm right."
The door swung open, and two more torturers walked in...with Kaden in between them.
Tessa's eyes widened fractionally, meeting Kaden's blazing eyes. She understood his look, Don't do it.
The torturers forced Kaden onto his knees, his hands tied behind his back. His shirt was torn, and sweat glistened on his skin from the high temperatures of the torture chamber.
"Kaden Thomas Gray," Menoetious spoke, his voice reverberating across the stone walls. "Son of Venus. Former Praetor of the Twelth Legion. Drakon Slayer."
"That's my name," Kaden managed. "Don't wear it out."
A torturer punched Kaden across the face, and Kaden spat out a bit of blood. "That the best you've got?"
"I see why you like him," Menoetious winked at Tessa. "So this next part should be fun."
Tessa held Kaden's gaze, reassurance passing over her. She could handle being tortured by herself, with pain inflicted on her, but she couldn't let this new form of pain show.
"So, Tessa, here is what you'll do," Menoetious began as a torturer grabbed a blade from his belt and walked over to Kaden. " You'll give me the control I need. Give me this, and your little boyfriend here leaves safe and sound."
"Tessa, don't do it—" Kaden began, but the torturer slashed the blade across his chest. He let out a strangled scream, no doubt trying to keep it locked up
Tessa pressed her lips together, feeling tears form. She shook her head, although to what she wasn't sure. "What control do you need? Project Maelstrom can create natural disasters on its own. What do you need me for?"
Menoetious shoved his hands into his pockets, sauntering around the room like he owns the place. "You're the most powerful demigod of the age, Tessa. Your control over your father's domain is impeccable. Lives will be lost, but not too many. You can clear your conscience."
Tessa, breathing heavily, glared at him. "Nice try."
Menoetious frowned. "You really want to do that? Hurt your charming lover?" He waved his hand, and the torturer advanced again.
"Kaden's seen a lot of wounds," Menoetious announced as the blade neared his throat. "But he's managed to evade some tricky wounds. What happens if we pierce his lungs? His intestines? His heart?"
"No!" Tessa exclaimed as the blade lowered to Kaden's heart.
"Tessa, don't do it," Kaden breathed, the desperation in his voice and the sad smile on his face breaking her heart. "It's okay. I'm okay."
Tessa shook her head, straining against her ties. She was breathing heavily, watching as they continued to drag blades tauntingly over Kaden's skin, drawing blood and eliciting hisses of pain from the son of Venus. The whole time, he locked eyes with Tessa, forcing her to remain resolute.
But she couldn't.
"You've already seen what we've done to Mark," Menoetious announced. "Lukas and Madi. Your mother. Kaden would be another casualty on your conscience, Tessa. Do you really want that?"
Tessa held Kaden's gaze, tears slipping down her cheeks. He grit his teeth as they dug the blade into his side, and blood began to flow. His emerald eyes shot down to her ankle, and Tessa remembered. The weight of the gun had disappeared in all of this, but now, it had come back. If she kept them talking, if she broke her ties...
"What do you need?" Tessa demanded, straining against her ties as subtly as she could.
Menoetious grinned. "Everything."
"Tessa, don't do it—" Kaden's voice was cut off as the torturer slashed the blade back across his chest. Twin streaks of blood began to ooze, and Tessa felt the pain as if it were her own.
Mark. Lukas. Madi. Her mother. Kaden.
"It's your choice, Tessa. Save Kaden and watch the rest of the world fall. Or spare those you love."
Dale. Reese. Flynn. Sierra. Eli.
"So, what's it going to be?"
Tessa wanted to fight. She wanted to strain against her ties until her wrists bled, she wanted to tear down every monster in this building, starting with the one watching her with beady eyes.
She wanted to be weak. She wanted to give in. Maybe she could live in those realities she kept seeing, the ones of a life so far from here, where she wasn't a demigod and there were no wars to fight. She could live with Kaden, she could live with her friends, she could live.
Something must have shifted on her face, because the next thing Tessa knew, Menoetious' face turned to stone and he barked at the torturer, "Do it!"
The torturer raised the blade towards Kaden.
Tessa's eyes widened, but by the time her lips formed the word 'no', her bloodcurdling scream was in vain.
