▬▬▬ CHAPTER TWENTY SIX ▬▬▬

ESMERELDA HAD BEEN ON A warpath ever since Nico was abducted from Ikea, much to Ethan's great concern. He had never seen her look so scarily determined, let alone furious. He was pretty certain she wasn't even this mad when he betrayed her.

"Essie," he tried to speak to her.

She kept storming forward.

He chased after her and grabbed her arm. "Essie," he said more firmly. "Essie, we've been searching for hours."

"So you just want to stop looking for him? He could be dead!" She fretted.

"He's not," he told her, hoping his tone sounded gentle enough. "Remember what you said? That man—Minos—needs him to kill Daedalus. He needs him alive."

That seemed to have lessened the tension on her shoulders.

"We will find him, okay? But right now, we need to rest. We won't be able to get him back if we're dead on our feet." He advised.

Esmerelda's expression turned uneasy, and she looked ahead of them where the tunnel continued, probably for miles. Not to mention there were so many other paths in their way—and they didn't even know if one of them would lead to Nico. The paths had changed since they've last been here.

"We need to rest," Ethan said softly.

"Okay," she agreed, her voice equally as soft.

"We'll sleep here then," he decided, looking around. They were in a dark corridor with hard ground and dirt walls. Not exactly a very pleasant place to sleep, but they've slept in worse conditions. This would have to do.

They laid down on the floor, using their backpacks as pillows. It was chilly in the Labyrinth, but they didn't really have anything to remedy that.

He glanced over at her. Her face was still white and her body was trembling slightly. He had no idea if it was from the cold or the anxiety she was feeling. He was almost tempted to hold her hand, but he knew better than to do that.

"We'll find him," he assured her instead. "He'll be okay."

"I hope so," she whispered back.

It took him a while to fall asleep, but when he woke up in a dream and felt that awful alertness, he knew he should've just stayed awake.

He was standing back at the top of Mount Tamalpais, which already wasn't a good sign. The glowing golden sarcophagus he was standing before was an even worse indication that something was not right.

Two telekhines were kneeling beside him. One was holding the worst weapon he had ever seen. A scythe. Of course, he had seen worse weapons, but there was something sinister surrounding this particular one.

That was when it clicked in his head. This was Kronos' scythe.

"You have done good, half-blood!" The telekhine holding the weapon grinned wickedly. "Our lord shall awaken now!"

"What do you mean?" He asked. "What did I do?"

The telekhine at his left hissed at him to shut up. "Silence! He will awaken any second now! Kneel!"

Ethan dropped to his knee without really wanting to. He stared apprehensively at the glowing sarcophagus, which was pulsating with power more and more. Then, the lid was magically pushed back and landed on the ground with a loud BOOM!, making him flinch.

A pale hand appeared from the sarcophagus, pulling itself up. Ethan's heart stopped. That hand was painfully familiar to him, and way too small to belong to Luke.

"No..." He whispered, as the body rose up. "No!" He jumped to his feet, staring with mounting horror as the face of his friend smiled back at him. Her eyes were a divine gold now, unclean and full of destruction. The gentle green eyes he knew before was gone. 

"Son of Nemesis," Esmerelda crooned, her voice chilling and evil. "Thank you for helping me rise."

"Not you," he said, his voice laced with despair. "Not you...! It wasn't supposed to be you!"

"You have been of great service to me, Ethan Nakamura," she continued on as she climbed out of the coffin. Her movements were as graceful as a predator's, which didn't match  Esmerelda's innocent face that always seemed to draw people to her. With such a deadly combination like that, she could easily act as bait to lure in prey. 

But not Ethan. No, he knew this was no longer his best friend. Right now, rather than wanting to get closer to her, he wanted to run far, far away, something he would never feel with the real Esmerelda.

"This is a dream," he said with a trembling voice, stumbling back. "None of this is real. I-I'm just dreaming."

"You are," she—no, Kronos agreed. "But that does not mean this could soon be your reality. Time is not on your side, but then again, when has it ever?"

And with that, Ethan woke up. He shot straight up, cold sweat leaking out of every pore in his skin and his whole body shaking. He felt bile rise up his throat and just when he thought he was about to lose it, he heard a shuffling sound.

His head jerked to the left, and everything froze once he saw who was sleeping beside him. Esmerelda was still with him, and that sickening aura her dream-self radiated with was absent.

Esmerelda was here. She was alive, and she certainly wasn't being possessed by Kronos.

Those thoughts were the only things keeping sane for the rest of the night. Still shaking, he rested his back against the wall of the tunnel and hugged himself. 

Meanwhile, Esmerelda was dreaming too.

She was at the top of Mount Tamalpais and her body shivered with the unpleasant memories this place brought her. Kronos' golden sarcophagus was there too, and it was wide open and empty. Fully in control of herself, she approached the coffin and stared down at it's empty bed.

She sensed the other person's presence before she heard him.

"You shouldn't be here," he whispered.

"Is this not what you wanted, Luke?" She said gently, her eyes never leaving the empty bed. One of them would be laying here. Who would it be?

Luke joined her side and looked down.

"This isn't what I wanted," he replied, and the evident anguish in his voice made her believe him. "I never wanted to hurt anyone."

She stayed quiet and listened to him. She didn't know Luke personally before he betrayed them, but something told her that this was probably the most open he had ever been with anyone. A part of her wondered if this was the real Luke or something her mind had conjured up instead. 

She hoped this was real.

"The purpose of this whole thing was to stop demigods like me from being hurt! From being used! But—but that's exactly what I'm doing now... I'm hurting people. I'm using kids to fight for me. I'm no better than the gods." He said bitterly. "When Kronos told me he would help me achieve my goal, I never expected for this to be the outcome."

Esmerelda felt an overwhelming sadness for him.

"Do you think I'm evil, Essie?" He asked her, his voice tired and resigned, like he was already expecting her to say 'yes'.

"No." She answered instead, much to his surprise. "I never did. I know you never meant to hurt anyone. You have very good reasons to hate the gods, Luke. They are cruel, destructive, and neglectful, but the Titans are much worse. You are not evil, but you've made a lot of mistakes and trusting the Titan Lord was your biggest one."

"I wanted so badly to be a hero," he admitted with a trembling voice. His knuckles turned white as he clenched the edge of the casket that would soon be their undoing. "Thalia and Annabeth... when I first met them, I wanted to protect them with everything I had. They were just like me, abandoned and scared. Then Thalia died when we made it to camp and I found even more people like us. The Hermes cabin was a mess. It never felt like home to me. How could it be, when I saw so many sad faces? I wanted—wanted to do good for them."

How many times had he seen demigods younger than him die because of their godly parent? Watched them suffer and rot away? Camp Half-Blood wasn't a safe haven, it was a slaughterhouse. Chiron was there to mold the kids into perfect little soldiers—obedient, loyal, and ready to die—who would then become sacrificial lambs for the sake of the gods who would give nothing in return.

Rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat. It was a never-ending cycle that started thousands of years ago from the very first Greek hero to today. The gods were never going to stop. 

And the atrocities they had committed against innocent mortals... The cruel games they played... What Hermes had done to his mother...

He couldn't let it go on. He had to end it. He had to. He was willing to go through great lengths to stop this cycle of abuse.

We're just kids, he thought with despair. We shouldn't have to go through this.

"I couldn't stand it anymore, Essie." He gritted out. "How could I stay loyal to the gods when they've never done anything for us? It's not hard to acknowledge your kids. To make them feel loved and accepted. I never understood why we had to keep dying for a bunch of people who would never care for us."

Esmerelda couldn't understand it either. The gods were awful beings with too much power in their hands, but if she had to pick between them or the Titans, then she would have no choice but to pick the gods. They were the lesser of two evils.

"The final battle is approaching," he breathed out, staring at the bed as if he was already imagining either one of them laying there. "Hundreds of kids will be dying and it'll be all my fault."

"You are right," she agreed, and he flinched back as if she had slapped him. "But it doesn't have to end that way. You can still change things."

He shook his head. "No. I can't. I tried, you know? When I found out what I had to do, I tried to leave everything behind. I went to Annabeth for help. I begged her to come with me, but she refused. I don't blame her. I've done so many awful things. I've hurt her and Thalia too much."

"Thalia is hurt and angry with the choices you've made, but Annabeth still sees hope for you," she told him. "If you cared for her, then you would stop this."

"I've gone too far." He said regretfully. "I've started this mess. I... I have to see this through. Annabeth would never forgive me, but maybe that's for the best. Do you forgive Ethan for everything he's done?"

She fell silent.

"Ethan loves you a lot," he murmured.

She snapped her head up at him, astonished.

He caught her surprised look and snorted in amusement, the upper corners of his lips rising up to a small smile. "What? You seriously haven't realized it? He's devoted to you."

"He betrayed me," she pointed out.

He nodded in agreement. "He did, yes, but he was never fully loyal to me. He willingly joined us and believed in our cause, but whenever you were so as much mentioned, his loyalty would waver. You always made him hesitate, made him grow doubtful."

She didn't know what to say to this revelation, so he continued, "I used you. Both of you. I used you as a tool to manipulate Ethan. I wanted you brought to me, and I knew Ethan would have the highest chance to do it, that's why I kept pushing him to get to you, telling him that you'd be safe and happy."

"But that was a lie," she murmured. "You want me to die, and Ethan found out."

There was guilt in his eyes, but also fear, as if the two emotions were fighting against each other.

"If I hadn't done all this, then the two of you would be happy together right now. I'm sorry for hurting the both of you." He said earnestly.

"Are you willing to hurt us even more?" She questioned him. "You still wish for me to be the one laying in this coffin, don't you?"

He looked down at the empty bed, his face growing pale.

"I wonder," she whispered softly. "If we will feel any pain. I hope it doesn't hurt... because I don't deserve that, and I don't think you do either, Luke."

He looked at her with a sadness and desperation that rivaled her own, and then their whole world dissolved all around them.

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

Both Esmerelda and Ethan were somber that morning, and neither of them were willing to talk about why. But that didn't mean the silence was appreciated. No, instead, the atmosphere was heavy and almost oppressive, and Ethan couldn't handle it anymore.

"About Nico... is he a son of Hades?" He asked.

She looked at him with alarm. "How did—"

"—The Stygian Iron sword kind of gave him away," he sighed. "Plus, he didn't look like he could be a son of Hecate. Too gloomy."

"He used to be so happy and sweet, but... but he went through something painful last winter," she explained vaguely, a sad expression on her face as she remembered Bianca. "He hasn't been the same since, and I don't think he ever will be. Right now, he needs someone to give him care and patience, but this place is..."

"I know," he said gently. "We'll find him. The kid's tough."

He shouldn't have to be, she thought. She pictured all the other eleven year olds in Hogwarts. Their happy faces spun around her mind as if to taunt her. Nico would never be like them, and honestly, she didn't think any demigod would ever experience that blissful happiness. It just wasn't fair that their chances of a normal and healthy childhood had to be stripped away from them because of what they were—half-bloods.

Luke was right, and she knew she was treading on dangerous territory, but if she had to be honest, had Luke not joined arms with the Titans, she would've wholeheartedly followed his cause.

"So what have you been up to lately?" She asked with forced friendliness, wanting to change the subject. Her mind was wandering down a dangerous topic and she was desperate to talk about anything else.

Thankfully, Ethan seemed to have needed a change of topic too because he responded smoothly, "Well, after I helped you escape the Princess Andromeda, Luke kinda grounded me for a few weeks."

She snorted. "He grounded you?"

"Something like that. It kinda surprised me since I was expecting a worse punishment, but I guess he understood why I did that. Anyways, I met my mom, she ripped my eye out, and I spent months trying to cope with it. I could barely enter a room without slamming my shoulder against the doorway, let alone sword-fight." He said bitterly.

"Why did she do that anyways?" She asked cautiously.

He pursed his lips. "I made a deal with her."

"A deal?" She echoed.

"Yeah. She promised me she would give me whatever I wanted, but it would come with a price. 'An eye for an eye', she said, I just didn't think she meant it literally." He grumbled.

"What did you ask for?" She asked curiously.

"World domination."

She nearly tripped. "You what?!"

"Just kidding. I wanted to create balance in the world. That's what I asked for," he cracked her a sadistically amused grin.

"Gods, Ethan, don't scare me like that." She huffed.

"You seriously thought I'd ask to rule the world? Do you realize how much work that'd be? No thanks," he joked. "How about you? What have you been up to?"

She thought of everything she had been through in her third year and already felt drained just from thinking about it.

"Well," she began. "You know how I said this serial killer named Sirius Black was my dad?"

"Yeah?"

"Turns out everyone was wrong. He's actually my uncle and he's not a serial killer. My real father is his younger brother, Regulus,—who's dead by the way—and he was the real serial killer. He, uh, kinda joined this cult of genocidal maniacs when he was sixteen." She said sheepishly.

He stared at her.

"Anyways, my uncle broke out wizarding prison last summer and kept making various attempts to break into school. We all thought he was trying to kill this kid, Harry, but he was actually trying to kill this one dude's pet rat because it was actually an Animagus of Peter Pettigrew, who everyone thought he already killed. I hunted my uncle down and he admitted everything to me—he also knows that I'm a demigod—and I decided to help him find Peter, only Peter faked his death again and went into hiding. My uncle and I couldn't find him and when I went on a break to grab some lunch, my uncle decided to hold a bunch of kids hostage in this haunted house and I missed everything. I only got there in time to knock my potions professor out, but we got Peter at least. But when we were about to take him to the authorities, my other professor turned into a werewolf because it was the full moon, then Peter got away, and I got my throat slashed open. So then me and some friends decided to travel back in time to fix everything and we managed to save my uncle and this one Hippogriff that tried to attack my cousin, Draco, who's the blonde kid you threatened a few years back."

"What..." Ethan said slowly. "The fuck."

She heaved out a sigh. "Yeah."

"Dude, are you okay?"

"Somewhat," she said before continuing on with her crazy year so far. "During the summer, I prepared a house for my uncle because I didn't want him to be on the run anymore. He was all for the idea, so I tracked him down in Vietnam, but instead of Mist traveling us back to New York, I accidentally ended up in Venice and..."

"And...?"

"Uh, well, it turns out I can speak Italian?"

"What."

"Sì, anch'io sono confuso." She shrugged.

His eye popped out wide, as if hearing her speak fluent Italian was the most surprising thing he had heard today. "What the fuck. Since when did you know Italian?"

"I don't know! I literally didn't even realize I was speaking it until my uncle pointed it out. It was just... natural to me, like how speaking Ancient Greek is natural to me."

"This is all so weird... And that scrawny blonde kid is seriously your cousin? Gods, that must suck."

"I'm tolerating him," she grimaced. "He's, uh, not that bad. Just... terribly misguided..." Now that she thought about it, a lot of people she knew were terribly misguided too...

"He's a spoiled brat." Ethan deadpanned.

Okay, she couldn't deny that.

"Yeah, well, that was what you missed out on." She finished lamely.

"Very eventful," he said, though 'eventful' was an understatement. "The most stressful thing I had to deal with, aside from the eye-ripping, was your brother breaking into my room to steal my hair conditioner."

He shouldn't have mentioned the brother.

"Oh Alabaster, huh?" Her face turned sour. "Yeah, how's he doing?"

"He's doing fine," he said awkwardly. "Look, I... I don't know what's going on between you, but Alabaster loves you a lot. He was worried sick when I told him about what Luke was planning for you, and he was the one who thought of this whole thing up."

The angry scowl on her face softened to a conflicted frown.

"He eavesdropped on Luke's conversation with Geryon. When he found out that you were stuck in the Labyrinth, he went to me immediately and figured out a whole plan." He explained. "It sounded ridiculous at first, but it's actually working. You know how he could use Mistforms?"

She nodded.

"Well, he figured out a way to use them to create illusions. These illusions are amazing, Essie, they look realistic and even feel realistic unless you hit them too hard, then they disappear. A few months ago he created a fake father. Now, he was able to create a clone of me that would stay in the Princess Andromeda while I'd be out trying to find you. Nobody would know that I left."

Esmerelda stayed silent, unable to convey any emotions after hearing all this.

"You guys may be on opposite sides of the war, but he's still your brother." Ethan told her softly. "He cares about you, and I can't let you go around thinking he doesn't."

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

Alabaster was only seventeen, but he had the stress levels of a middle-aged man. He had several problems to tackle:

One, Ethan hadn't warned him about his stupid idea with the laxatives so he was currently recovering from what the Titan Army dubbed as The Brownout*.

Two, the dude had been gone for almost a whole week now (or maybe more, or less, since the Labyrinth was confusing like that), and Alabaster was getting really tired of keeping the Ethan-clone together for several hours on end. The only break he had was when everyone was going to sleep.

And three, he was currently in the Labyrinth. Antaeus' Arena, to be more specific. Luke was here too, along with a group of demigods from the army and a shit ton of blood-thirsty monsters. If Ethan and/or Esmerelda made the mistake of entering this room, then they were all screwed.

This place was all kinds of disturbing, so he really really hoped those two wouldn't stumble upon the arena. It was set up like an ancient Colosseum with the skulls of the dead used as decorations. Apparently Antaeus used them as a dedication to his father, Poseidon, which was just ew.

He'd really rather be back in his comfy and luxurious room at the cruise ship than be here, but Luke needed Antaeus' permission to go through the room in order to make it to Camp Half-Blood. Antaeus, being the sadistic jerk he was, wouldn't let them through unless they entertained him by fighting his monsters to the death.

And that was how Alabaster found himself stuck here.

Luke had collected a group of the best fighters to participate in the tournament, and Alabaster, unfortunately, was one of the best (gods, it was so hard being as amazing as he was). And to make things worse, Ethan was easily the second best fighter they had—second only to Luke himself. It was no surprise to anyone really, since Ethan was one of the hardest worker he knew. He remembered all those sleepless nights Ethan spent dedicating himself on retraining his swordsmanship skills ever since he had his eye ripped out (#thanksmom). Ethan was outstanding and everyone, including Luke, knew it.

But anyways, because Ethan was one of the best, it was only natural Luke had the Ethan-clone come too.

That was where the fourth problem came in. Ethan was to be expected to fight soon and if any hit landed on him, the clone would disperse and everyone would realize he was nothing but an illusion. Their cover would be blown and then they'd be doubly screwed.

"Ethan Nakamura!" Luke called out, and Alabaster suppressed the urge to sink in his seat from the stands. "Ethan, you're up!"

When no one replied, Alabaster saw Luke growing more suspicious. "Where is he?" The scarred blonde asked, looking around.

"Did one of your warriors get too scared?" Antaeus boomed from his throne. The monsters in the crowd booed and laughed.

Alabaster cleared his throat loudly to gain everyone's attention.

"You know where he went?" Luke asked him impatiently.

"Yeah, he went on a bathroom break," he said, which was a lie since he actually dispersed the clone a few minutes ago. "Probably needed to take a number two." He added, just to be a little bitch. He didn't think he would ever forgive Ethan for causing The Brownout and not even bothering to give him a heads up.

Luke's face twitched, and he nodded stiffly before turning away.

Alabaster mentally sighed in relief. He was safe for the time being. All he had to do for now was to muster up enough energy to create a clone and think of something to get them out of this situation. No matter what, he couldn't let the Ethan-clone out there to fight.

And then, fifteen minutes later, the door to the arena opened.

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

Esmerelda held up their most prized treasure, sharing a grim look with Ethan.

"This... is our last cookie." She said painfully.

He sucked in a breath, looking equally as tortured as her.

"We share half," she said firmly, her tone of voice leaving no room for arguments.

He nodded in agreement and reached out for the cookie. "I'll snap it."

She pulled it away from his reach. "What? No way! I'll do it, this is my cookie anyways!"

"Listen, Essie," he said impatiently. "I'm the son of the goddess of balance, remember? I can cut the cookie evenly."

"That's a lame super power." She sassed, and he snatched the cookie from her in retaliation. "Hey!"

He snapped the cookie, perfectly in half, but he gave her the portion with the least amount of chocolate chips just to be an asshole.

"So mean," she fumed, but started nibbling on the cookie, too tired and hungry to care. Hopefully they found an exit soon because the last time they starved this badly was in Death Valley and they nearly succumbed to desert mania before running into a deadly sphinx there. Not a very fun experience.

They continued trudging along the path, trying to ignore the angry grumbles coming from their stomachs.

They were just about to give up on hope until something bright and glinting caught their eyes. They both looked ahead and spotted a pair of huge doors. They were bronze—most likely Celestial bronze—and just about towered over the two kids at ten feet tall. Emblazoned at the very front was a pair of crossed swords.

"Do you hear that?" Ethan murmured as they drew closer to it.

Esmerelda nodded in response. From behind the doors, she could hear a bunch of muffled roars, like there was some sort of football game going on. Judging from the sword design and their shitty luck, whatever was going on on the other side probably wasn't something as innocent as a sports match.

She laid a hand on the bronze surface and glanced unsurely at Ethan's direction. "You wanna risk it?"

"Fuck it," he shrugged. "I'm hungry."

Together, they pushed the doors opened and froze at the doorway.

There was no sports match going on inside the room—or, to be more specific, no humane sports match going on. Esmerelda and Ethan seemed to have interrupted a blood bath taking place on an arena full of skulls. They ringed the edge of the railing. Three-foot-high piles of them decorated the steps between the benches. They grinned from pikes at the back of the stands and hung on chains from the ceiling like horrible chandeliers. Some of them looked very old—nothing but bleached-white bone. Others looked a lot fresher.

The dirt floor was circular, just big enough that you could drive across around the rim if you pulled it really tight. There was a giant stationed at the center of the arena, carrying an over-sized flail and looking impatient, as if he had been waiting hours for an opponent to show up.

The first tier of seats was twelve feet above the arena floor. Plain stone benches wrapped all the way around, and every seat was full. There were giants, dracaenae, demigods, telekhines, and stranger things: bat-winged demons and creatures that seemed half human and half you name it—bird, reptile, insect, mammal.

The weirdest thing was the green banner on the side of spectator's wall with the symbol of Poseidon on it, his trident. Then Esmerelda's eyes trailed up and she paled. Above the banner, sitting in a seat of honor was a very stunned Luke, and standing beside him was a dumbfounded Alabaster.

Ethan and Esmerelda turned to each other.

"Shit," they said in unison.

— author's note —

* If you've watched American Vandal, then you'd recognize that I got 'The Brownout' from that show. It's on Netflix and you guys should seriously watch it.

Sì, anch'io sono confuso. = Yeah, I'm confused too.

I've said this once and I'll say it again: Ethan and Essie share one brain cell but when they're hungry, that brain cell goes flying out the window 😌

Essie: *tells Ethan what happened in her third year*

Ethan: 

Ethan and Essie by the end of the chapter: 

Essie whenever H*cate or Alabaster are mentioned:

Tbh, that's ^ actually a damn good picture that represents Essie as a whole XD

Anyways, I have an important final on Wednesday (it's Monday where I'm at) and it includes ESSAY QUESTIONS 😣 😣 😣 I won't update again until I'm done with it so a new chapter would probably come up on Thursday??? But maybe not. If you don't hear from me on Thursday then that means I failed and I'm too busy crying my eyes out to focus on this book 🙃