▬▬▬▬ CHAPTER NINETEEN ▬▬▬▬

Alright, next chapter is the long awaited chapter 20, hurray!

But just to make this clear: EVERYONE HAS TO READ IT!

I've said this many times before, but the actual smut will NOT be in this series! So there's no actual sex going on in the next chapter! The full smutty scene will be in the Church of Essie, okay? SO YOU ALL STILL HAVE TO READ THE NEXT CHAPTER!

The only thing happening next chapter is a suggestive scene just like all the other suggestive scenes I've written before. The ending of chapter 20 is just a makeout scene that leads to the smut, BUT THERE'S NO SEX OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT

Once you've finished reading the whole chapter THEN you can go over to the Church of Essie and read the actual smut, OKAY???

So I don't wanna read any of your comments saying "I'm skipping chapter 20 cuz I don't like smut" SWEETIE, FOR HUNDREDTH TIME, THERE'S NO FUCKING SMUT IN THAT CHAPTER SO YOU STILL GOTTA READ IT!!!!! THE SMUT'S IN THE CHURCH OF ESSIE so smut lovers go there while everyone else can just avoid it! Easy as that!

Got it? Good!

WHILE EVERYONE WAS DISTRACTED BY Piper's claiming and Ethan's show of emotions (why were people so surprised by that second thing anyways? They acted as if her boyfriend was some robot...), Esmerelda used that chance to slink away from the amphitheater to go back to her cabin.

This day was a disaster. She had never felt so stressed before and she could feel her brain short-circuiting from... well, everything. She was pretty sure her brain had never worked so hard even for her many, many exams from Hogwarts.

Jason was a Roman demigod from Camp Jupiter. He had some weird connection with Hera/Juno/whatever and had her memories stolen from her. And now he was here... in Camp Half-Blood. Coincidentally, Percy was also missing from Camp Half-Blood and just so happened to disappear just recently as well.

She remember Hera talking about having something planned for the Greeks and Romans, but she hadn't expected that her plan consisted of kidnapping two leaders of rivaling camps (she was pretty sure Jason had some sort of leadership role back at Camp Jupiter, because why would Hera kidnap some random demigod?), wiping their memories, and sending them to each other's camps.

Nor did she expect Hera to start her plan so soon.

We just finished a war not even a year ago, she fretted as she made hurried steps away from the amphitheater. Why is she doing this now?!

Was Percy already at Camp Jupiter? Wait no, he would have to go through the Wolf House, wouldn't he? Maybe he met Étienne... unless her half-brother already finished his training before Percy went missing. Either way, her stomach churned at the thought of Percy alone at the Roman camp. The Romans were always known to be more stricter compared to their Greek counterparts. She wouldn't be surprised if Camp Jupiter worked more similarly to a military than an actual camp.

...Wait was there a chance Nico was there too? Could it all be connected? She knew he wasn't alone. He was somewhere surrounded by a group of people who supposedly didn't trust him. Could those be the Romans? It would certainly explain why Hades forced him to swear an oath of secrecy, just like Hera had done with her. They weren't supposed to know of the other's existence after all.

Ugh, she wished Nico would just call her already so she could confirm her suspicions. Maybe she could find a way to see if Percy was there too.

She just managed to reach the bridge crossing through the lake when she heard a voice calling out for her.

"Wait!"

Dread pooled in her stomach.

Jason.

Noooooo, no, no, no, no, nooooooooo, Esmerelda internally wailed as she stiffly turned around.

The blonde jogged up to her, looking nervous about something. Their expressions matched.

"I know we know each other," he began.

"No we don't." She squeaked.

"You and Ethan, I recognize you guys... somehow. All I know is that you two are vaguely familiar to me," he continued. "I just need some answers, please."

He recognized Ethan? She hadn't been expecting to hear that, since (from what she knew) the two had never interacted.

But that wasn't important right now.

"I..." She swallowed thickly, trying to avoid the desperate look in his eyes. She slowly shook her head. "I'm so sorry," she said, genuinely meaning it. "I can't... I don't know anything."

She knew a lot, actually, and she was pretty sure she and Chiron were the only ones here who had an inkling of whatever the fuck was going on. But she swore an oath to keep silent—Chiron was probably on the same boat too.

Gods she wanted to tell them so badly, but this stupid oath was keeping her from it. Every time she was questioned and she wanted to tell them the truth, a feverish sensation would course through her body, as if the Fates were warning her that if she tread any further she'd spontaneously combust on the spot.

She was getting that same burning feeling right now as Jason continued to look at her pleadingly, desperate for answers.

"You have to know something," he pressed on. "Please. Anything. Even—even my last name would do."

She shook her head. "I don't know that," she really didn't. "Please just stop talking to me."

He stepped forward. "But—"

"—Jason!" Piper entered the scene. "Jason, why did you just leave—oh."

Piper spotted Esmerelda and a deep frown appeared on her face. "What are you doing with her?"

Neither Jason or Esmerelda heard the distaste in her voice, too tense and anxious about the current situation to notice anything amiss.

"I wanted to talk to her," Jason mumbled. "Ask her some questions."

"Like what?" Piper said.

"It's nothing," he said. "Just forget it."

Her frown deepened, "No, I—"

"—It's a little personal, Piper," he told her, wincing.

"Personal," she repeated, her face straight. "Between you and her."

"I wanted to... ask her some things about the Ju—Zeus cabin," Jason lied. Esmerelda nodded excessively in agreement beside him.

Piper was not buying it, but before she could snap another person entered the scene, and it was the last person Esmerelda wanted to see right now.

"Oh great," Ethan scowled, storming towards them. Jason and Piper seemed to shrink as he approached, and Esmerelda shared the sentiment. Her boyfriend did not look happy right now. "My least two favorite people and my girlfriend... I don't know what's going on here, but I don't care. Essie, we need to talk."

Usually those words were basically a warning that a breakup was going to happen, but Esmerelda knew better. Ethan wanted to question her on all the forbidden knowledge she had, which was a shame because all the knowledge was... well, forbidden.

Ethan was terrifyingly sharp. He suspected that she knew what was going on—about Jason, about Percy—and he wanted answers that she just couldn't give him.

When Ethan finally reached them, Esmerelda honestly considered jumping into the lake to avoid any confrontation.

...But he would probably fish her out anyways.

"Uh, talk?" She laughed nervously. "Um... sorry, I gotta go walk the fish bowl!"

Ethan knew immediately what she was going to do next. "Essie, don't you dare—"

But it was too late, she Mist traveled away.

"I knew she was gonna do that," Ethan sighed.

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

The next morning, Esmerelda woke up extra early to steal a quick breakfast, then ran to the forest in hopes to avoid any more confrontation. Luckily, she didn't have any classes to teach, but she didn't exactly enjoy aimlessly walking around the forest doing nothing.

Which was why she decided to test out her spell once more to pass the time.

It probably wasn't a good idea for various reasons.

One, she was just recovering from her last attempt yesterday, where her eyes ended up bleeding and and she nearly passed out.

Two, the head of the Apollo cabin, Will, literally told her to take it easy.

And three, he also told her to have someone with her in case any more incidents happen. Right now, she was alone.

This totally won't end in badly for me, Esmerelda tried to convince herself as she trekked through the forest. I'll take it easy like Will said.

Unfortunately, she didn't have her notebook or pen with her and she didn't want to waste any energy going back and forth trying to retrieve it. But that was okay! She could write everything down later, it was more important to practice after all.

For next two hours, she spent most of her time scouring the forest, testing her spell on whichever monsters she could find. For some odd reason, the amount of monsters around here were scarce and it was the same with the animals. She only managed to find a couple of bears and wolves, and—disappointingly enough—only three monsters.

The creatures here were all skittish, monsters and animals alike. They all seemed to be hiding for some reason, and the ones she did see would all run away from her. Usually, monsters wouldn't deny themselves a chance for a yummy demigod snack, but even the monsters were more agitated than hungry.

And then she stumbled upon a kobalos, the only monster who wouldn't run away from her.

The kobalos' wide, creepy eyes landed on the tanzanite ring in her finger.

"Oh no you don't," Esmerelda said, noticing where it's gaze was at. "We're not going through this again."

"Shiny!" The kobalos cried out gleefully, jumping at her. She shot the impedimenta jinx at it, and the monster froze in mid-air, it's movements slowed down thanks to the spell.

"Hah!" She grinned victoriously. It would've been nice if she knew of this spell the first time she and Ethan encountered the kobaloi years ago...

She snatched the kobalos from the scruff of it's neck and placed it on the ground, kneeling before it.

She placed her hands over the monsters eyes and said aloud, "Communis oculos!"

The breath was knocked out of her. Her head jerked back and her vision turned black. Then she lowered her hands and saw... herself?

It's working! She thought cheerfully. She was seeing through the kobalos' eyes and... Wow, I look really cute today!

Her hair looked great, her clothes weren't that messy despite the fact that she had been walking around this forest for nearly three hours now and—

—and her eyes were bleeding again.

"Oh shit," she said, scrambling up to her feet only to pause because she didn't exactly know what to do.

...How exactly do I stop this spell? She thought to herself, panicking.

Oh dear gods, she did not think this through.

Okay, okay, Essie, just think! Use your negative brain cells and think! Ethan... killed the myrmeke last time, right? And the connection ended!

All she had to do was kill the monster and this would all end! Easy enough! Blindly, she unpinned her brooch (nearly pricking her own fingers since she could no longer see through her own eyes), and swung downwards.

Through the kobalos' vision, she hadn't swung low enough and completely missed. At this point, the jinx had faded away and the monster was now free to move. It whirled around and darted away—and Essie had no idea where it was going other than the fact that it was flitting through the trees like fast.

"WAIT!" She shrieked, trying to run after it only to smack head-first into a tree.

HOW DO I DEACTIVATE THIS?! She screeched in her head as she got up to her feet, stumbling around the forest like an idiot with her arms out to keep her from smacking into any more trees. All she could see were blurry trees as the kobalos created more and more distance between them.

There was no use chasing after it. She wasn't seeing through her own eyes and the monster was getting farther away anyways. What she had to focus on first was ending the connection between their vision and doing it fast because her eyes were hurting like hell.

She placed her hands over her own eyes. "Communis oculos!" When that didn't work she added a feeble, "Please?"

Nothing.

OH MY GODS, WHAT HAVE I DONE?! She wanted to rip her hair out and cry, but she already was crying. Blood, to be more specific. Could she bleed out and die from this? This would be such an embarrassing way to die! Lou Ellen would shake her head in disappointment, Ethan would probably lose his mind, and her poor Nico would be so devastated and—

"Need some help?" A faraway voice called from... above?

She snapped her head up, only to remember that she couldn't exactly see what was going on. All she could really see right now was what the kobalos was seeing, and the damned thing was still running away from her.

When she looked up, the same voice let out a string of Spanish curses that she was glad Nico wasn't around to hear.

"What the heck happened to your eyes?!" He yelled.

"Are they that bad?!" She wailed.

"Girl, you look like Bloody Mary!" He replied, equally as freaked out. "Hold on, I'm going down!"

Esmerelda figured the guy must have been on some sort of air glider or whatever because she heard the loud creaking of metal before something seriously heavy landed on the ground. There was a whooshing sound as if a pair of wings were flapping, and her hair was blown back by the strong gust of wind.

Then she heard the sound of someone jogging towards her.

"Oh my god, are you dying?!" He asked.

"I'm dying?!" She fretted.

"I mean, no!" He corrected himself. "You're totally fine! Your eyes are bleeding like crazy, but you're totally fine! Wait, hold on... Can you not see me?!"

"I screwed up my spell! All I can see are stupid blurry trees!" If she wasn't already crying blood, she would've been crying actual tears right about now.

"Okay, okay, let's just calm down," he sounded very nervous as he said this. "What spell are you talking about?"

"I made my own spell so I could see through somebody else's eyes! The kobalos I was testing it out on ran away and I don't know how to undo it!" She explained hurriedly.

"Kobalos? The heck is that?" He asked.

"Think of Gollum from The Lord of the Rings," she answered.

"Ah, okay," he muttered. "Festus! Think you can find that kobalos here in the forest? It couldn't have gotten that far!"

There was a creaky noise followed by the sound of wings flapping as whatever it was took off into the air. Then it let out a roar that made Esmerelda freeze up. Was that... the dragon the Hephaestus cabin had been looking for? This guy managed to find and tame it?!

"Was that—was that the dragon? And you named it Festus?" She sputtered.

"Yep!" He said proudly. She could imagine him giving her a bright grin while doing this.

"Who are you?" She said in utter amazement.

"Who am I? Who am I? You don't know who I am?!" He gasped, sounding scandalized.

Her eyes widened. "Are you, like, a famous singer or something?" She asked excitedly.

"...No," he replied. "But I wish. It's me! Leo Valdez! The Vulcan guy! Brave hero who will save Hera?"

"Oh!" She exclaimed. "Yes, I remember you! There's actually something—"

But before she could finish her sentence, the strong winds returned, indicating that the large, mechanical dragon was back. She heard it land and felt a hand tap her on the arm.

"Festus found the, uh, kobalos thing and wow you weren't kidding about it looking like Gollum." Leo commented before carefully leading her to the dragon—or Festus, as he was so endearingly named.

"Get off me, get off me!" She heard a familiar squeaky voice.

Leo yelped. "That thing talks?!"

"Unfortunately, and they can be quiet annoying with it too," Esmerelda grumbled, blindly reaching out for wherever the monster was. Leo must have taken pity on her because a heavy weight was plopped onto her hands.

"Here," he said.

"Thanks!" She chirped. "Now... uh... Have you seen my labrys?"

"This axe thing I found on the ground?"

"Labrys," she corrected before holding the monster out. "Can you please kill it for me?"

She could finally see Leo through the monster's eyes, and he was staring at her in surprise. "Uh... sure?"

Leo held her labrys awkwardly and swung it like it was a baseball bat. The kobalos let out a panicked shriek before the blade cut through it's flesh, disconnecting herself from it immediately.

"Oh thank gods," she cried out in relief once she was able to see through her own eyes. "I can see!"

"Yeah," Leo grinned. "I bet you're in awe at how good looking I am, huh?"

"Oh thank you!" She exclaimed, squeezing him into a hug. Leo let out a small squeak. When she pulled away, she looked up to admire the dragon. "Oh wow, he looks great!"

Festus made a series of creaking noises like he was saying 'thank you'.

"He says thanks," Leo translated.

"You can understand him?" She asked curiously.

He shrugged. "I guess it's a Hephaestus thing."

"Oh. Well, thank you again for helping me out here! You have no idea how much I was panicking..." Her heart was still racing from what had happened.

"Oh I saw," Leo cracked an amused grin. "I was flying around on Festus when I spotted you running around the forest like crazy. After, like, five minutes, I figured something was wrong."

"...You watched me run around in a panic for five minutes straight?"

"Anyways!" He said quickly. "Glad I could help! I always love helpin' the ladies—"

"—ESSIE!" A familiar voice growled.

Leo let out a couple of unmanly noises as the son of Nemesis came storming through the woods, sword in hand. The sight of him made Leo jump behind Esmerelda.

He had never interacted with the guy before (and he'd like to keep it that way), but during his tour of the camp he had learned some... interesting things about him.

Will was in the middle of leading him around the many cabins when Leo spotted Jason and that tall eye patch wearing dude at the other side of the area.

"Hey! There's my bro Jason—or well, not bro really—but heeeeey, Jason!" Leo called out, waving his arm out like crazy.

But Jason couldn't hear him. He looked to be more focused on whatever the other guy was saying, but there was a noticeable apprehension on his face. Meanwhile, eye patch dude was glaring at the blonde as if he had spat on his mother's grave or something equally as horrible.

The second Leo noticed him, he dropped his arm back down, hoping he hadn't heard him.

Look, Leo had met a lot of terrifying dudes throughout his life. He had bullies as foster siblings, met druggies and gangsters in the streets during his runaway days, and one time, met a guy who he was certain was a serial killer.

But this guy was different. He brought a whole other level of uneasiness to Leo. There was just way too much hate behind that single eye of his. It was intense. It was scary.

"That's Ethan, son of Nemesis," Will informed him when he saw the inquisitive expression he wore.

"Oh. He looks friendly."

The blonde snorted. "He's not. He's an okay guy, really, but he's got an attitude. I'm pretty sure he's backstabbed, like, 90% of the camp. Literally and figuratively."

Leo stared at him, chuckling nervously. "You're, uh... joking right?"

"Nope," he smiled. "But you don't have to worry. He has a soft spot for children of the minor gods—"

"—Which I'm not," he helpfully pointed out.

"As long you don't annoy him or flirt with his girlfriend, you'll be fine," Will reassured.

"A guy like that has a girlfriend?" Leo blanched. "Is she as terrifying as him? Do they have matching eye patches and all that?"

Leo could picture her in his head. A tall, terrifying, burly girl probably covered in battle scars, tattoos, and piercings. She most likely had a cold look on her face that could rival with her boyfriend's. He wouldn't be surprised if she owned a necklace made out of human bones too, either made by her or given to her by the son of Nemesis himself.

Will looked at him like he said something hilarious, which was understandable because he was a funny guy. But he was not joking about this.

"Her name's Essie," Will informed him. "And seriously dude, don't flirt with her. The last guy who tried..." He shook his head, heaving out a sigh. "We still haven't found a way to remove all the organs from the rafters."

"You're joking right? Right?" Leo said nervously. This guy had to be messing with him.

Will finally smiled. "Of course I am! But seriously, don't flirt with Essie."

"Wait, but what does she look like?"  Leo asked desperately. 

But Will was already moving on with the tour. "And this way is our state-of-the-art public restrooms with closed gap stalls and bidets."

"Hey, hold on, who is this girl?!"

Now Leo knew who she was, and it was the worst timing ever.

YOU'RE ESSIE?! He screamed in his head, his eyes darting between the dainty, pretty girl he had helped, to the sword-wielding demon thundering towards them.

"Ethan!" Esmerelda said brightly.

"I cannot believe you," Ethan fumed. "Lou Ellen said you woke up early and she hadn't seen you since! You came to the forest to avoid me, didn't you? And you went and practiced that spell again without anyone watching over you! Are you trying to get yourself killed?!"

Esmerelda gave him a pout that Leo was sure most guys would keel over for. "I'm sorry," she said genuinely. "I just... um... well... Leo helped me!"

And that was when Ethan turned to face him.

"H-hey," Leo plastered a smile onto his face and gave him a wave.

"My spell worked on a kobalos I tested out, but the monster ran away and I couldn't see where it was going!" Esmerelda explained. "That was when Leo found me! He and Festus helped me and now I'm all better!"

Ethan fixed his stare back to the shorter boy. "You helped Essie?" He asked curtly.

"Yes." Leo hoped his voice didn't come out to squeaky.

"Oh," surprisingly, Ethan relaxed. "Thanks, then."

"No... problem," he replied, the relief evident in his voice. The older boy no longer looked like he was about to go on a murder spree.

Ethan then turned his attention onto Festus. "And you found the dragon the Hephaestus kids have been looking for?"

"Y-yeah..."

"And you added wings to it?"

"Yep."

"Huh," Ethan rose a brow, nodding appreciatively. "Cool."

"Thanks."

Despite the casual conversation they were having, Leo's heart was still racing in fear. Though it was starting to calm down now. He had seen how Ethan treated Jason and Piper, so he was surprised by how... decent he was being to him, the scrawny, hyperactive kid nobody really paid attention to other than to comment about how weird he was. Back at the Wilderness School, he was always overshadowed by Piper—who was stunningly pretty—and Jason—who was like the handsome jock, so this was pretty new to him.

"He can even understand Festus!" Esmerelda added excitedly.

"Ah, it's just a Hephaestus thing," Leo chuckled, rubbing the back of his head shyly. "All of my, uh, siblings can probably do it..."

"Still cool though," Esmerelda beamed.

"Essie," Ethan said. "You sure you're okay now?" He had walked over towards her, gingerly cupping her cheeks as if to inspect her bloody eyes. Leo found it weird seeing a guy like him being so tender.

"I'm okay, really," she assured him. "I didn't even feel like I was about to pass out. Probably because I only had one attempt. I still need to clean all this up though..."

She murmured the last part. Then she pointed a finger to the blood marks on her face, and the crimson liquid was sucked away as if her finger was a vacuum. Leo watched it in interest, wondering if she had some sort of invisible device strapped to her finger.

"Magic," she said, noticing the curious look on his face. "I'm a daughter of Hecate."

"Goddess of magic," he realized.

"Mmhmm. Oh! That reminds me, the Mist gave you fake memories too, right?"

"Yeah..."

"My mother is the goddess of Mist," she began to explain. "So I have control over it too. If you want, I can give you back your real memories."

"Sure," Leo agreed easily.

Ethan snorted. "At least this one has some sense."

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"Piper," Ethan said her name as if it were a deadly disease. "Refused to have Essie fix her memories."

"She did?" Leo had a good feeling why, but still! Who would want to walk around having the wrong memories in their head? That was just plain weird and confusing.

"I know right? What a fucking dumbass," Ethan scoffed.

"Don't be so mean to Piper," Esmerelda chided. "She's still upset about Jason not being her real boyfriend. Now hold still, Leo, I'm going to give you back your real memories..."

Esmerelda reached out and placed her hand over his forehead, like his mother used to do whenever she was checking for a fever. He closed his eyes, reminiscing on the older days before something cool washed over him.

His eyes shot open as a flurry of scenarios flooded into his head—his real memories. He remembered racing to the back of the classroom to get a seat there, and remembered Piper getting a seat beside him. That was how they met. Then he remembered the rest of the semester, where it was just him and Piper and Jason was nonexistent up until the field trip where he mysteriously showed up on the bus.

Holy shit, he thought, sucking in a breath. Jason truly never existed in his life until yesterday.

"How are you feeling?" Esmerelda asked, looking at him in concern.

"Weird," he said honestly. "A whole year's worth of memories just attacked me right now..."

"Do you need to sit down?"

He collapsed to the ground instead of replying, clutching his head as more memories came back to him. Ethan and Esmerelda patiently waited for him to recover and when he did, he lifted his head up weirdly.

"I'm fine," he lied.

"You look like you're gonna throw up," Ethan noted with a narrowed eye as if he was saying 'don't you dare throw up on us'.

"No, no, I'm all good now," he swallowed. "Really! It's just, ah... really hard to take in. But it's nice, sort of... Having my real memories back. I mean, Jason's still cool though, but I like having my head not messed with."

"If only your friend can feel the same," Ethan drawled, plopping down across from him as Esmerelda followed.

"You're always so mean to that poor girl," Esmerelda sighed.

"It's because she's terrible," Ethan scowled, as if Leo wasn't in front of him right now. "And annoying. Come on, even you got irritated when she bad-mouthed the Aphrodite cabin just 'cause they're all girly."

Esmerelda made a face, but didn't deny it.

"Oh yeah, she's always been kind of a 'pick-me-girl'," Leo winced, as if he was recalling something bad. "I remember sometime at the start of semester she literally said that she liked hanging out with me and Jason—or well... just me, actually—because 'guys were less drama'."

Ethan let out a groan of annoyance. "Seriously? Dude, I can't believe you had to deal with that."

"It wasn't too annoying," he shrugged.

"And you didn't call her out on it once?"

"Hell no, man!" Leo looked at him like he was crazy. "Piper would go crazy on me. I'm not dealing with that."

Esmerelda looked between them in confusion.

"What's a pick-me-girl?" She asked.

"Piper," Ethan answered with a straight face.

She frowned. "But that doesn't—"

"—Oh shit!" Leo suddenly shot up to his feet. "The quest! I need to get back to camp! Climb on, we're flying back on Festus!"

Esmerelda eagerly hopped up to her feet, but Ethan held her back.

"Is he even safe?" He asked skeptically, watching as oil spilled from Festus' ear.

"'Course he is! I spent all night fixing him up!" Leo grinned proudly.

"Well..." He sighed. "If you're sure."

Leo climbed onto Festus' back first. He offered Esmerelda a hand, but Ethan easily grabbed her by the waist and lifted her up like she was a life-sized doll before climbing on behind her.

Festus let out a mechanic sound before setting off into the air. They soared over the trees, high enough where everything looked like little dots. The weather was also freezing cold, but the dragon's metallic hide generated so much heat that neither of the riders felt fazed by the chilly winter winds.

Once they passed the forest, they heard the sound of a conch horn.

"Please tell me that's for breakfast," Leo said. "'Cause I'm kinda hungry."

"No," Ethan replied. "Those are the alarms. I'd land if I were you, before they start throwing spears."

"Got it."

Leo had Festus go towards the massive area where all the cabins were located. As they got closer, Esmerelda could see that everyone was in a frenzy. The alarms were blaring, the satyrs were all screaming, "Don't kill me!" and half the camp ran outside in a mixture of pajamas and armor.

Festus set down right in the middle of the green, and Leo yelled, "It's cool! Don't shoot!"

Hesitantly, the archers lowered their bows. The warriors backed away, keeping their spears and swords ready. They made a loose wide ring around the metal monster. Other demigods hid behind their cabin doors or peeped out the windows. Nobody seemed anxious to get close.

Festus reared its head and shot a column of fire into the sky. Campers scrambled away and hefted their weapons, but Leo, Esmerelda, and Ethan calmly slid off the dragon's back.

"Essie?!" Lou Ellen said incredulously. She had been one of the campers ready to fight Festus, but she was still dressed in pajamas and had zero armor on.

"Hi!" Esmerelda waved at her. "I rode on a dragon! And it didn't even try to eat me!"

"What the..." Lou Ellen just stared.

Leo addressed the rest of the crowd, putting his arms up but grinning like crazy.

"People of Earth, I come in peace!" He shouted. "Festus is just saying hello!"

"That thing is dangerous!" An Ares girl shouted, brandishing her spear. "Kill it now!"

"Stand down!" Jason ordered. He pushed through the crowd, flanked by Annabeth and Nyssa. Esmerelda noticed the authoritative tone in his voice, as if he was used to being in charge. It only fueled her theory that he was a leader of some sort for Camp Jupiter, just like Percy was before he disappeared.

Jason gazed up at the dragon and shook his head in amazement. "Leo, what have you done?"

"Found a ride!" Leo beamed. "You said I could go on the quest if I got you a ride. Well, I got you a class-A metallic flying bad boy! Festus can take us anywhere! "

"It—it has wings," Nyssa stammered. Her jaw looked like it might drop off her face.

"Yeah!" Leo exclaimed. "I found them and reattached them."

"But it never had wings. Where did you find them?" She asked.

Leo hesitated, and grew even more nervous when he saw that Ethan was staring at him too. Esmerelda could sympathize with his situation. It was very hard to lie with Ethan around.

"In...the woods," he managed to say. "Repaired his circuits, too, mostly, so no more problems with him going haywire."

"Mostly?" Nyssa asked.

The dragon's head twitched. It tilted to one side and a stream of black liquid—maybe oil, hopefully just oil—poured out of its ear, all over Leo.

"Just a few kinks to work out," Leo said.

"Here," Esmerelda helpfully siphoned all the oil off of him and, as added measure, even cleaned up all his clothes, skin, and hair.

"Thanks!" He said, looking down at himself in amazement. "You actually managed to make me look like a functioning member of society...!"

She smiled sweetly, "No problem."

"But how did you survive...?" Nyssa was still staring at the creature in awe. "I mean, the fire breath..."

"I'm quick," Leo said hastily. "And lucky. Now, am I on this quest, or what?"

Jason scratched his head. "You named him Festus? You know that in Latin, 'festus' means 'happy'? You want us to ride off to save the world on Happy the Dragon?"

The dragon twitched and shuddered and flapped his wings.

"That's a yes, bro!" Leo grinned. "Now, um, I'd really suggest we get going, guys. I already picked up some supplies in the—um, in the woods. And all these people with weapons are making Festus nervous."

Jason frowned. "But we haven't planned anything yet. We can't just—"

"—Go," Annabeth said. She was the only one who didn't look nervous at all. Her expression was sad and wistful, like she was remembering all the times she, Grover, and Percy went on a quest unprepared. "Jason, you've only got three days until the solstice now, and you should never keep a nervous dragon waiting. This is certainly a good omen. Go!"

Jason and Piper started forward, all geared up and everything. When they reached Ethan, they paused.

Ethan smiled at them, and it sent shivers down their spine.

"Good luck on your quest," he said in a friendly tone. "I sure hope nothing bad happens to you two."

Piper hurried past him, while Jason just gave him a nervous smile and thanked him. When it was Leo's turn to climb aboard, all Ethan did was give him a nod of acknowledgement, which, oddly enough, felt more genuine than whatever the fuck he had given Jason and Piper.

Esmerelda happily waved goodbye to them and watched as they flew away. Once the three of them disappeared, she felt a hand place itself on her shoulder and stiffened.

"Now," Ethan began lowly. "Let's have that talk we were supposed to have last night, hmm?"

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

The living room of the Nemesis cabin was cool. The interior, just like the outside, was dominated by the colors white and black. The floors were made of white marble, but most of the walls were painted black with a matching black ceiling and white columns.

Ethan had her sit on the black U-shaped couch, while he stood before her, arms crossed. This whole scenario made her feel like she was a child being sent to the principal's office all over again.

"First of all," he said. "I just want to start off by letting you know that you're a terrible, terrible liar. No offense."

Her shoulders slumped in defeat.

"I'm sorry, but it had to be said," he stated solemnly. "Secondly, I know that you've been lying about everything. You do know Jason and you do know why he's here. You know exactly what's going on, but you just can't tell me. Which brings me to my third point—"

"—Why are you talking like this is a formal debate?" She couldn't help but wonder.

He held a finger up. "Shh. My third point, is that I also know that you somehow had to swear an oath on the Styx to keep your mouth shut about whatever's going on. Am I correct?"

She wanted nothing more than to confirm, but she couldn't help but glance warily up at the ceiling, as if the Fates were listening in on the conversation right now.

"I'll take that as a yes," he said, noticing the way she glanced up. "I don't know who or why you swore this oath, but did you specifically state that someone couldn't figure it out themselves?"

Her eyes widened in realization, and Ethan smirked victoriously.

"Well, that'll make things easier then. I guess this oath has something to do with why Jason keeps spouting out Roman names instead of Greek ones?"

Oh my gods, oh my gods, oh my gods, he was getting it! She gaped in disbelief. Even better was that the Fates weren't reacting negatively to this at all!

"Essie," he said carefully. "Is Jason a Roman demigod?"

No feverish heat coursing through her body, no strike of thunder in the air, there was no warning whatsoever. Esmerelda, feeling less hesitant now because of this, finally confirmed, "Yes."

For a few seconds, they glanced up at the ceiling, as if expecting the Fates to appear and slaughter them both. When nothing happened, all the tension left their bodies.

"That was easier than I thought," Ethan sighed in relief, falling onto the spot beside her.

"I can't believe you actually figured it out!" She gaped at him.

He scoffed, "Please, I'm not dumb. Plus, your reaction to everything helped me piece things together. You're seriously an open book."

She was too amazed by his inductive skills to even feel offended by that.

"I'm so sorry that I kept avoiding you," she said apologetically. "I really didn't want to, but I knew you had questions. I was just scared because I thought I'd have to keep lying to you more."

He shook his head. "It's fine. Just please tell me how you met that Jason dude."

"I met him after you kidnapped me," she explained. "When we stopped at San Francisco. I kind of saved him from a monster. I realized he was a demigod, but I had no idea he was Roman at the time. Then I met him again the year after at In N Out and we talked a little more about our camps—we just, um... didn't realize we were talking about two completely different places."

"So there's really another camp out there? But for Roman demigods instead?" He asked.

She nodded, then told him the story about how she found out—the Malfoy New Years Eve party, Étienne and his murderous tendencies, and finally about Hera and the deal they made. Ethan listened intently the entire time.

"Even then Hera was still scheming," Ethan muttered not even caring about her having a sociopathic half-brother (it wasn't much of a surprise to him anyways). "But that explains why she suddenly offered to let all the traitors go—I remember how shocked everyone was by it. But still... challenging Hera like that and making a deal with her... Very impressive."

He grinned, wrapping his arms around her and pressing his lips against the side of her temple. She let out a pleased sigh, cuddling against him some more.

"I think Percy might be there too, Camp Jupiter I mean," she murmured quietly. "I don't really know what Hera's plan is, but I believe she took Percy and Jason since they were leaders of both of the camps. She's doing a swap."

"A swap? Like what they do on that show Wife Swap where they swap two wives from their families?" Ethan asked.

"Um, yes. I also think Nico might be there too," she said.

Ethan sat up a little straighter. "Wait, what?"

"It makes sense," she shrugged. "Why else would Hades make him swear an oath not to tell anyone of his whereabouts? I don't know how he would've figured it out though... He sneaked into the Underworld to try and find answers about the rapidly reforming monsters, not about Romans..."

"He must've stumbled upon it on accident," he replied. "But if that's true and Nico really is in the Roman Camp, then he must've seen Percy... Unless he's still stuck at—what'd you call it again?"

"The Wolf House," she answered. "So are you gonna tell anyone else about this?"

"Nah," he said, like the information he just learned was unimportant. "Leo, Jason, and Piper are already on a quest to rescue the queen bitch anyways, the plan'll probably be revealed soon. I'm sure Percy's fine too so who cares."

She rolled her eyes. "Seriously?"

"Seriously. Now come on, let's go get some breakfast."

— author's note —

NO PERCY IS NOT AT CAMP JUPITER OR THE WOLF HOUSE AT THIS MOMENT! I I don't know why, but after Hera pretty much kidnapped him, she then put him under this sleeping spell so he would be asleep for months. Percy canonically wakes up in... April I think, if my notes are correct. Then he goes to the Wolf House for a couple months and then The Son of Neptune happens (which starts in June).

Leo watching Essie panicking in the forest: