▬▬▬▬ CHAPTER SEVENTEEN ▬▬▬▬

Okay so my group rescheduled again... so our presentation's still today, it's just gonna be at three o'clock (which is like five hours away) and I'm not gonna make you guys wait any longer so I'm publishing it right now! 

ALSO THIS WILL BE THE LAST PRESENTATION OF THE SEMESTER SO MY ORAL COMMUNICATION CLASS IS OVER!!!

 🥳 🥳 🥳 🥳

ESMERELDA'S LAST BRAIN CELL (IF she even had one left) was probably sick and tired of her right now.

The poor thing was most definitely overworked with how fast her mind was spinning, because the second the blonde boy lifted up his head, she knew exactly who he was.

Jason, the boy she first met three years ago in San Francisco when Ethan kidnapped her. She met him once more the year after while ordering at In N Out. She had learned a couple more things about him that time, how he was a demigod who went to camp, but she hadn't realized which 'camp' he was talking about until now.

Camp Jupiter. Jason, a Roman demigod, was here in Camp Half-Blood, a camp for Greek demigods only. And in that next second she knew immediately where Percy Jackson had gone and just who was the cause of this entire mess.

Hera, what the fuck have you done?! She internally screeched.

Jason's grip on her hand tightened a little bit, his eyes growing wider. "You," he breathed out again. "I... I know you... don't I?"

She yanked her hand back and stepped away from him, eyes wide with terror. "Um, no." She lied terribly.

He frowned and stepped forward. "No... no, I... you look familiar..."

Before he could get any closer, Ethan stepped into his path and that was when Jason stumbled back a little. The look the older boy was giving him was practically murderous.

"Sorry," Jason apologized, swallowing slightly. He stole a glance over at Esmerelda, who ducked behind Ethan and wished the ground would swallow her.

"Annabeth!" Will cried out, which caught everyone's attention. Jason was just glad he wasn't being glared at anymore.

Will pushed through the crowd, staring at the chariot in dismay. "I said you could borrow the chariot, not destroy it!"

"Will, I'm sorry," Annabeth sighed. "I'll get it fixed, I promise."

Will scowled at his broken chariot. Then he sized up three new arrivals. "These are the ones? Way older than thirteen. Why haven't they been claimed already?"

"Claimed?" The boy with wild curly hair asked.

Before Annabeth could explain, Will said, "Any sign of Percy?"

"No," Annabeth admitted. The campers muttered in disappointment.

That was when Drew decided to make her entrance, glamorously dressed as always. She barely glanced at the curly haired boy, rose a brow at Jason, and curled her lip when she saw the girl. 

"Well," Drew said. "I hope they're worth the trouble."

The curly haired one snorted. "Gee, thanks. What are we, your new pets?"

"No kidding," Jason said. "How about some answers before you start judging us—like, what is this place, why are we here, how long do we have to stay?"

"Jason," Annabeth said. "I promise we'll answer your questions. And Drew—" She frowned at her. "—All demigods are worth saving. But I'll admit, the trip didn't accomplish what I hoped."

"Hey," the girl glared. "We didn't ask to be brought here."

Drew sniffed. "And nobody wants you, hon. Does your hair always look like a dead badger?"

The girl stepped forward, but Annabeth said, "Piper, stop." and she obeyed. 

"We need to make our new arrivals feel welcome," Annabeth shot a pointed look at Drew. "We'll assign them each a guide, give them a tour of camp. Hopefully by the campfire tonight, they'll be claimed."

"Would somebody tell me what claimed means?" Piper asked.

Suddenly there was a collective gasp. The campers backed away. Floating over the curly boy's head was a blazing holographic image—a fiery hammer.

"That," Annabeth said. "Is claiming."

"What'd I do?" The boy backed toward the lake. Then he glanced up and yelped. "Is my hair on fire?" He ducked, but the symbol followed him, bobbing and weaving so it looked like he was trying to write something in flames with his head.

"This can't be good," Butch muttered. "The curse—"

"—Butch, shut up," Annabeth interrupted. "Leo, you've just been claimed—"

"—By a god," Jason interrupted. "That's the symbol of Vulcan, isn't it?"

All eyes turned to him and Esmerelda made a dying noise in the back of her throat.

WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! She wanted to scream. Was he trying to give himself away?! He was literally on enemy territory!

Ethan gave her a concerned glance, noticing how pale she had become.

"Essie," he whispered. "Do you know this guy?"

"No," she squeaked, paling even more.

He gave her a deadpanning stare, like he couldn't believe how shit of a liar she was.

"Jason," Annabeth said carefully. "How did you know that?"

"I'm not sure." The blonde answered uneasily.

"Vulcan?" Leo demanded. "I don't even LIKE Star Trek. What are you talking about?"

"Vulcan is the Roman name for Hephaestus," Annabeth explained. "The god of blacksmiths and fire."

The fiery hammer faded, but Leo kept swatting the air like he was afraid it was following him. "The god of what? Who?"

Annabeth turned to Will. "Will, would you take Leo, give him a tour? Introduce him to his bunk-mates in Cabin Nine."

"Sure, Annabeth."

"What's Cabin Nine?" Leo asked. "And I'm not a Vulcan!"

"Come on, Mr. Spock, I'll explain everything." Will put a hand on his shoulder and steered him off toward the cabins.

"And Essie," Annabeth turned to her next, and she tried to look calm. "Can you give Piper the tour? You're good at welcoming new demigods."

Esmerelda was just glad she hadn't asked her to give Jason the tour instead.

"Sure," she said, plastering on what she hoped was a winning smile. It was hard trying to look normal when Ethan was giving her a stony stare. She hated how he was practically a lie detector.

"Great, and..." Annabeth walked over and leaned down to whisper to her: "Piper and Leo's memories have been tampered with by the Mist. Think you can break that down to her too?"

Esmerelda quirked a brow. There were a handful of instances where such a thing had happened, like Percy with Mrs. Dodds, but something about this felt different, especially if Annabeth took the time to warn her of it.

"Okay," she agreed, before turning to face Piper and offering her a smile. The girl didn't return it, for some reason.

Annabeth focused on Jason next. "Hold out your arm."

Esmerelda saw what she was looking at. Jason had taken off his windbreaker after his dip in the lake, leaving his arms bare, and on the inside of his right forearm was a tattoo: a dozen straight lines like a bar code, and over that an eagle with the letters SPQR. She had caught a glimpse of it once when they first met, and she had almost forgotten about it. She had a feeling it had something to do with Camp Jupiter.

"I've never seen marks like this," Annabeth noted. "Where did you get them?"

Jason shook his head. "I'm getting really tired of saying this, but I don't know."

Ethan finally spoke up, "You mean you have amnesia?"

Jason turned to him and nodded hesitantly. "Yeah... I... I just woke up on the bus, but everyone seemed to know me..."

He lost his memories? Esmerelda's eyes widened.

Ethan's lips curled. "Interesting," he said stoically before glancing inquisitively at his girlfriend. 

Essie, his gaze seemed to be saying. Care to explain why the amnesiac seems to remember you?

Esmerelda pretended to stare off at the sky.

The other campers pushed forward, trying to get a look at Jason's tattoo. The marks seemed to bother them a lot—almost like a declaration of war.

"They look burned into your skin," Annabeth noticed.

"They were," Jason said. Then he winced as if his head was aching. "I mean... I think so. I don't remember."

"He needs to go straight to Chiron," Annabeth decided. "Drew, would you—"

"—No," Ethan interrupted. "I'll give him the tour."

Jason's face turned white, and he turned to Esmerelda for help. This time, she was staring at a nearby tree with feigned curiosity. That was when Jason shot a desperate look to Drew who quickly backed away as if she was saying, 'You're cute, but SO not worth dying for. Sorry, hon!'.

"...Well then," Annabeth said after some time. "Ethan will give you the tour and take you to Chiron instead."

She gave the older boy a discreet look, warning him not to kill the guy.

Ethan ignored it, gave Jason a glare, and motioned for him to follow. Jason gave everyone one last pleading look, before following after him in defeat. The other campers watched him go, trying not to seem like they were planning for a funeral.

"Back to work everyone," Annabeth announced. They all trickled away, leaving only her, Piper, and Esmerelda.

"Piper, this is Essie, daughter of Hecate. She's nice so don't worry about her. Essie, this is Piper." Annabeth introduced them.

"Hi, Piper, nice to meet you," Esmerelda greeted.

"Hi," the younger girl said plainly, looking her up and down with furrowed brows. She didn't seem to like what she was looking at, which Esmerelda found understandable. The shade of orange of the camp sweater was kind of garish in her opinion and her denim skirt was a little faded too.

But that wasn't at all what Piper was thinking of. The second she saw the green eyed girl helping Jason up at the lake, alarm bells were practically ringing in her head. Everything about her was almost as bad as Drew. She was pretty, dressed in a sweater and a skirt even in this cold weather, she had this soft soprono kind of voice, and her hair was styled a little too perfectly. She reminded Piper of those dumb ingénue characters from some of her dad's movies set in the 40s.

All-in-all, she looked like one of those ditzy boy-crazy girls at the Wilderness School, and Piper just couldn't find herself to like her. Especially with the way Jason reacted to her... the way he kept gripping on to her hand and stumbling over to her like some awestruck idiot...

Does Jason know this girl? Piper wondered as Esmerelda blabbered about the camp.

Esmerelda wasn't aware of Piper's not-so-friendly opinion of her, too busy concentrating on the job. She was everyone's go-to girl for giving new campers a tour since she was one of the nicer and outgoing ones around here. She was also very patient, able to explain the world of the gods and monsters to skeptic newbies. Piper, at least, took the whole demigod thing in stride, but...

She didn't seem to like anything very much.

Esmerelda showed Piper all the cool stuff like the magic archery range, the pegasi riding, the lava wall, fighting monsters, but with how Piper behaved told her that she wasn't enjoying the tour at all. She wore this disgruntled expression the entire time she spoke.

Maybe she needed to up her tour guiding skills?

Esmerelda led her to the top of a hill at the edge of the camp so she could get an amazing view of the valley, but Piper didn't seem like the type to appreciate beautiful sights either.

"Can I ask you something?" Piper finally said.

"Sure!" She replied, a little desperate to get something out of her. The tour was so awkward, it felt like she was just talking to herself.

"How do you know Jason?" She asked. "I saw you two earlier, and I heard him. He said he found you familiar. Do you know him or something?"

Esmerelda had been hoping to avoid anything to do with Jason, but the Fates (as usual) weren't on her side.

"Oh, him..." She hoped she didn't sound nervous. "No, I've never met him before."

Piper seemed to relax a little with that answer, but there was a glint in her eyes that said she wasn't totally reassured.

"Well, Jason's my boyfriend," she began. "We went to school together, and I've known him for a long time... This whole amnesia thing's got me weirded out, especially since he's going around finding random girls 'familiar'... You sure you've never met him before?"

"I'm sure," she lied. "Also, Piper, um... about the, uh... other thing... Your memories of Jason... are, well... um, fake?"

Piper frowned at her. "Excuse me?"

"Sorry," she apologized on instinct. "But you see, you and Leo were actually given fake memories through the Mist—"

"—The Mist," Piper repeated doubtfully, her frown growing worse.

"Yes, the Mist," she explained patiently, feeling more in her element now. "My mother, Hecate, is also known as the goddess of the Mist, and well, the Mist has the ability to mess with people's memories. I don't know who or why, but someone put your entire class under the Mist to make you all believe that Jason's a student at your school."

"No," she denied, shaking her head. "That can't be. You said I'm a demigod, didn't you? The Mist... the Mist can't work on me, right?"

"They can," Esmerelda confirmed gently.

"No!" Piper nearly shouted, and the older girl jumped. "My memories aren't fake. They're so real. The time we set Coach Hedge's pants on fire. The time Jason and I watched a meteor shower on the dorm roof and I finally got the stupid guy to kiss me..."

Piper started to ramble about her whole semester at the Wilderness School. About how she'd liked Jason from the first week they'd met. How he was so nice to her, and so patient, he could even put up with hyperactive Leo and his 'stupid jokes'. How he had accepted her for herself and didn't judge her because of the stupid things she'd done. They'd spent hours talking, looking at the stars, and eventually—finally—holding hands. All that couldn't be fake.

"It can't be fake," Piper muttered for the hundredth time. "They can't be."

"Piper," Esmerelda spoke up timidly. "Ask yourselves these questions: do you know where Jason's from? What his last name is? Or his birthday? Were you even aware of that tattoo he had?"

Piper froze, unable to speak.

Esmerelda looked at her sympathetically. She truly bad for the girl. She wouldn't be able to function either if she found out her memories with Ethan were fake. She was probably going through a whole crisis right now.

"Piper," she said gently. "I'm so sorry, but they are fake. Here, I can get rid of the effects of the Mist—"

"—No!" Piper snapped, glaring at her fiercely.

Esmerelda backed away, her brows furrowed in confusion. "But I can help you, you know, get your actual memories back. I mean... you, uh, don't seriously want to keep the fake ones... do you?"

"It doesn't matter," she replied tensely, turning away from her. "Is this tour done now?"

Ohhhh she really screwed up with this one. Great work, Essie, she mentally scolded herself.

"No, I still have to, um, show you the cabins..."

Piper nodded, and the pair of them started to walk off.

Esmerelda tried to pep her up by taking her to the armory. Surely she would like a cool new weapon, right? But even that didn't go well, because when Piper found Katoptris—the barely used dagger of Helen of Troy—the poor girl nearly had a seizure when she looked into it's reflective blade.

And then she tried giving Piper her cellphone so she could talk to her father—surely she'd feel a little better after talking to her dad, right?—but five minutes after Piper finished the call, she practically shoved the phone back in her hand.

"Here," she grunted.

"U-uh," Esmerelda said nervously, not liking the stormy look on her face. "Was he not available...?"

"No."

"Oh," she swallowed thickly. This tour was going downhill fast. "So you're name's McLean, is it? Sorry, I didn't mean to overhear but, well, it's just sounded familiar."

Piper winced, as if she had hit a sore spot and now Esmerelda was feeling even worse than before.

"He's... an actor," she admitted begrudgingly. "Tristan McLean."

Esmerelda lit up. "I know him! I've watched some of his movies. He's very talented."

"I guess," she mumbled, shrugging. "He's barely home though, thanks to his job. I'm always stuck talking to his stupid manager whenever I try to contact him."

"Oh, daddy issues then," Esmerelda said shamelessly. "It's okay! Everyone here has mommy or daddy issues—maybe even both if the Fates hate them so much. You'll fit right in!"

Piper stared at her blankly, like she couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Anyways," Esmerelda continued. "How about we take a look at the cabins? Maybe you'll get claimed then!"

But that didn't happen, and Piper's mood plummeted even more. When they reached the Aphrodite Cabin, Piper made a noise of disgust that made Esmerelda glance at her.

"Gah, is that where supermodels go to die?" She scowled.

She looked at the cabin as if it were a dumpster. Esmerelda didn't understand why she seemed so disgusted by it so much. She thought the cabin was very neat and pretty.

"No," she chirped. "This is Aphrodite's cabin. Goddess of love and beauty and all, you know? Drew's the head counselor here."

"Figures," Piper grumbled.

"Drew's nice sometimes," Esmerelda defended. "Everyone here's cool. The last head counselor was... she was a close friend of mine."

"What happened to her?" Piper asked curiously.

Esmerelda's smile fell. "She... passed away."

"Oh," Piper said awkwardly, before glancing back at the cabin. The disgust didn't leave her eyes. "So... is this your cabin?" The way she said it was judgmental, like this was a cabin where bad people went to and that she was bad for supposedly being apart of it.

Esmerelda let out a small giggle, "No, I'm a daughter of Hecate, remember?"

"Oh right," Piper frowned. "The goddess who messed with our heads."

Esmerelda blinked.

"What?" She grunted, crossing her arms. "I mean, you said she's the goddess of the Mist, right?"

"Well, yeah," Esmerelda nodded slowly, feeling a little uncomfortable with where the conversation was going. "But that doesn't necessarily mean she did it. Tons of people can manipulate the Mist after all, Hecate's just the one with divine control over it."

Piper didn't say anything, so Esmerelda quietly moved on to the rest of the cabins. She only perked up when they reached cabin sixteen, the Nemesis cabin. Even though Ethan barely involved himself in the designing of his own cabin, the Hephaestus kids did pretty good capturing Nemesis' theme.

It had a minimalist sort of feel; the walls were painted pure black, but the front door, columns, and porch were painted white. The windows were shaped like broken wheels, and there was a broken wheel over the door as well to represent Nemesis. Simple looking torches lit up the place on the outside. Esmerelda had never been in it, but she was sure the interior was just as amazing.

"This is the Nemesis cabin," she beamed. "The head counselor's Ethan Nakamura, but he's the only child so far."

"Ethan," Piper said slowly. "The scary looking dude who's giving my boyfriend the tour right now?"

Esmerelda found it a little weird she was still referring to Jason as her 'boyfriend' after she had already told her the memories were fake, but Piper was probably still trying to get used to it.

"Yeah!" She said happily. "He's also my boyfriend."

Piper was speechless for a second, staring at her with a dropped jaw and wide eyes. "H-hold on," she spluttered. "You're dating that guy?"

"Yep," she said proudly.

"No way," Piper blurted out. "A girl like you, with a guy like that?"

Something about the way she emphasized the words 'you' and 'that' made Esmerelda feel displeased, but she pushed it away to continue smiling brightly.

"He's not as scary as he looks," she reassured. "He's super sweet, honest!"

Piper's eyes darted down to her hand, where the tanzanite ring laid pretty on her finger. She seemed to grow more stunned.

She pointed at it. "Did he give you that?"

"Mmhmm!"

"What the hell," she breathed out.

"I promise you, he's a really nice guy. You might even get along with him!" She exclaimed cheerily, before continuing on with the tour.

The idea of her dating Ethan must have been a huge shock to her because Piper didn't talk at all, and would occasionally give her weird looks instead. Esmerelda didn't mind, at least the girl no longer looked upset about life. The tour was finally looking up!

...Until they reached the Hera cabin.

Annabeth was waiting outside, and there were footprint tracks leading to the slightly opened door of the cabin indicating that someone was inside.

"Essie, Piper," the blonde greeted them smoothly. "How's the tour going? I take it you told her about...?"

Esmerelda grimaced. "Yes."

Annabeth nodded and turned to the other girl. "I'm sorry, Piper. I would've told you myself, but the Mist isn't my specialty and it seemed like it would be a personal problem. I'm no good with handling other people's emotions."

"It's fine," Piper said stiffly.

Annabeth rose a brow over at Esmerelda, as if she was saying, 'so the talk didn't go well?'. Esmerelda shrunk in response, confirming her thoughts.

"I'm sorry," Annabeth apologized again. "About you and Jason, I mean. But it's better to just forget it, it wasn't real after all. Plus, I doubt Jason has the time to deal with a relationship, being an amnesiac and everything."

"Uh huh," she replied in a dull tone, before changing the subject. "So who's cabin is this?"

"This is Hera's cabin," Esmerelda answered, going back to tour-guide mode. "It's an honorary cabin, so nobody stays here."

"It looks like someone's inside though," Piper pointed out the track marks.

"That's Rachel," Annabeth said. "She's—wait, Piper!"

Piper had opened the door and took a step forward.

"Piper, this is kinda of dangerous," Esmerelda warned her. Gods usually didn't like it when someone who wasn't their kid intruded in their cabin.

"We're supposed to do dangerous stuff, right?" Piper shot.

"Well, yes, but—"

But Piper stopped listening after that. She went in, and Esmerelda and Annabeth had no choice but to follow after her.

Rachel was there, and she rushed over to Annabeth once she was done with her prayers. "I couldn't find anything," she said, despondent. "I thought for sure—oh. Who's this?"

"Rachel, this is Piper, one of the half-bloods we rescued today. Piper, this is Rachel Elizabeth Dare, our oracle." Annabeth introduced.

"So you're an oracle?" Piper asked. "You can tell the future?"

"More like the future mugs me from time to time," Rachel explained. "I speak prophecies. The oracle's spirit kind of hijacks me every once in a while and speaks important stuff that doesn't make any sense to anybody. But yeah, the prophecies tell the future."

"Oh." Piper shifted from foot to foot. "That's cool."

Rachel laughed. "Don't worry. Everybody finds it a little creepy. Even me. But usually I'm harmless."

"You're a demigod?"

"Nope," Rachel said. "Just mortal."

"Then what are you ..." Piper waved her hand around the room

Rachel's smile faded. She glanced at Annabeth and Esmerelda, then back at Piper. "Just a hunch. Something about this cabin and Percy's disappearance. They're connected somehow. I've learned to follow my hunches, especially the last month, since the gods went silent."

"Went silent?" Piper asked.

Rachel frowned at the girls. "You haven't told her yet?"

"I forgot," Esmerelda said miserably. She was doing a terrible job at this tour guide thing. She wondered idly if Ethan was faring any better. "Last month, before Percy, ah... disappeared, the gods were recalled back to Olympus. No warnings, no explanations. They don't really talk to their kids very much, but it's not normal for them to stay completely silent. They used to give us messages now and then, and some can even visit Olympus. I know Annabeth spent practically all semester at the Empire State Building."

"Excuse me?"

"The entrance to Mount Olympus," she clarified.

"Oh," Piper said. "Sure, why not?"

"Annabeth was redesigning Olympus after it was damaged in the Titan War," Rachel explained. "She's an amazing architect. You should see the salad bar!"

"Oh yeah, that salad bar was awesome," Esmerelda grinned over at the blonde. "But anyways, Olympus is completely sealed off now. The demigods still get claimed, but that's pretty much it. We don't even know if they're still watching over us... And then Percy went missing..."

"And Jason showed up on our field trip," Piper supplied. "With no memory."

"Who's Jason?" Rachel asked.

"My—" Piper stopped herself, looking pained. "My friend. But Annabeth, you said Hera sent you a dream vision."

"Right," Annabeth said. "The first communication from a god in a month, and it's Hera, the least helpful goddess, and she contacts me, her least favorite demigod. She tells me I'll find out what happened to Percy if I go to the Grand Canyon skywalk and look for a guy with one shoe. Instead, I find you guys, and the guy with one shoe is Jason. It doesn't make sense."

"Something bad is happening," Rachel agreed.

"Piper are you okay?" Esmerelda asked, because the girl had suddenly turned green, like she was sick.

"Guys," she said. "I—I need to—"

Before she could continue, Rachel's body stiffened. Her eyes began to glow with a greenish light, and she grabbed Piper by the shoulders. Piper tried to back away to no avail.

Free me, she said. But it wasn't Rachel's voice. It sounded like an older woman, speaking from somewhere faraway, down a long, echoing pipe. Free me, Piper McLean, or the earth shall swallow us. It must be by the solstice.

"Rachel!" Annabeth and Esmerelda cried out, running forward to separate them. But it was no use. Green smoke enveloped them, and Esmerelda couldn't see a thing.

During the struggle, she heard the same echoing voice once more: Our enemies stir. The fiery one is only the first. Bow to his will, and their king shall rise, dooming us all. FREE ME!

There was a thud as a body dropped to the floor.

Oh gods, Esmerelda thought in horror, looking down at Piper's motionless body. I'm the worst tour guide ever.

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

Jason's tour wasn't going so well either.

Ethan did the barest minimum by giving him a very short summary of the cabins, the history of the camp, the whole demigod spiel, etc. etc. And the entire time, Ethan never once smiled, nor did his tone of voice change from a cold disinterest.

The only time his tone changed was whenever he talked about the gods. His tone went from apathetic to bitter and resentful when he showed him the cabins. He blatantly talked shit about the gods—he hated them for how they used their kids, he hated their cruelty, he hated... well, pretty much everything. Only a few gods got his respect, which were the minor ones like Hypnos, Kratos, Hecate, and Nemesis.

"They are not minor," Ethan told him fiercely when that accidentally slipped out. "Don't ever call them that. Those so called 'minor gods' are a lot more powerful then they appear, Olympian or not, so get that bullshit out of your head."

"Sorry," Jason apologized, honestly meaning it.

Ethan obviously didn't like him, Jason could tell that much. He shared the sentiment too—sort of. He didn't dislike the guy per se, but there was something extremely uneasy about him. Ethan was scary looking, but not just because of the eye patch, but because of... well, everything.

Ever since he came to this place, he had been getting the feeling that he was on enemy territory. The wariness only increased when he was left alone with Ethan. While Ethan had this sort of aloof and quiet exterior, something about him felt almost... unhinged. Like he could snap and go on a murder spree at any moment.

Frankly, it was unnerving.

"And this is where all the monsters are," Ethan said after taking him to the deepest parts of the forest. Jason was pretty sure that he had brought him here to kill him while there were no witnesses around. They were probably far enough where his screams couldn't be heard after all.

He had no weapon on him, but Jason wouldn't be surprised if the son of Nemesis knew how to kill people with his bare hands. He seemed like the type anyways.

"It's... lovely." Jason said.

"Uh huh," he said uncaringly. "So how do you know Essie?"

"Essie?" The name didn't sound very familiar to him.

"Yeah. Esmerelda Black. The pretty girl who helped you back at the lake," Ethan glared. Jason figured the guy must have a huge crush on her or something because he really didn't seem like the type to go around openly calling girls pretty.

"Oh, um..." He felt like he needed to tread carefully with his words, but that was kind of hard to do since he honestly didn't know why she felt vaguely familiar to him. "I don't... really know."

"You don't know," Ethan repeated flatly.

He tried to correct himself, "She just seems familiar to me, somehow. And..." Now that he thought about it, so did Ethan, but he wasn't sure if he should share that part yet.

"Familiar how?" Ethan demanded.

"I don't know," he was beginning to get tired of saying that so many times. "Look, my memories are a blank slate right now. Maybe I saw her in passing or maybe in a dream—"

"—You've been having dreams of my girlfriend?" His voice turned harsher at this, and that was when Jason realized he had said the wrong thing.

Jason stepped back. "No, no, wait, I—" He stopped talking, Ethan's words just now registering in his head. "Hold on... your girlfriend?"

He felt almost horrified. The nice girl with the sweet face and sweet voice was dating this demon? His mind could barely comprehend. Esmerelda looked like the type to date polite, gentlemanly boys while Ethan looked like... well, he didn't look like he was into the whole dating scene, to be honest. He seemed more like the type of person to make a list of people he hated and then go hunt them down as a hobby.

He could not see how two completely different people could ever get into a relationship.

But... it did make sense. It explained why Ethan got so protective over her back at the lake. Why it looked like he was about to skewer him alive if he so as much took one more step towards her...

What the heck, Jason thought to himself. This was the wildest day ever—and he didn't even remember what his previous days were like.

"Do you have a problem with that?" Ethan glared, and Jason was pushed out of his thoughts.

"No, I was just, um, well—"

"—You were talking about how you've been having dreams of my girlfriend."

"No! No, I wasn't—I mean, I can't really remember anything, but I know for sure I never had dreams of her like that!"

Ethan scoffed, like he didn't believe him. "Alright then, why did you act so weird when you first saw her? You've clearly met before, since Essie looked scared when she saw you."

Oh man, this conversation was not going well.

Esmerelda's reaction clearly confirmed that they knew each other somehow, but... why did she react that way? Her eyes had gone wide and all the color had drained from her face... What exactly did he do to garner such a reaction from her?

Jason couldn't recall a thing, but he had to say something fast since he looked like he was five seconds away from getting murdered by one overprotective boyfriend.

"I don't know," he said honestly. "I'm sorry, but I really don't know."

Ethan stared him down, and even though he only had one eye, his stare was still terrifying. If looks could kill, this guy would've killed him ten times over with just his stare alone.

"You're telling the truth," Ethan scowled, as if he was disappointed. He must have been hoping for an excuse to kill him. Then he started walking away, back to the direction of the camp.

Jason stood there, blinking. "Um..."

Ethan sighed and turned back around. "Follow me. I'm taking you to see Chiron."

As soon as Jason saw the house, he knew he was a dead man.

"This is the Big House," Ethan said in usual, monotone voice. "Camp headquarters and whatever."

Jason looked up at the house. It was a four story manor, pretty simple looking, but everything about it screamed danger. Like if he stepped any closer all of his molecules would spontaneously combust.

"I am not supposed to be here," he said

"Glad that we agree on something," Ethan replied icily. Some tour guide he was.

Ethan glanced down at the SPQR mark on his arm, brows slightly pinched, and Jason got the vaguest feeling that maybe he recognized him too. Or at least, he might recognize the mark.

"You seem a little jittery," Ethan said, an almost sadistically pleased look in his eye. "You're scared of this place, aren't you? Something about the camp is freaking you out. Or maybe it's me."

Yes, and yes, though Jason would never say that.

"What? No, this place is lovely and you're..." He trailed off. "A great tour guide."

Ethan snorted in amusement, clearly seeing through his lie.

"Right. You're sweating, I see goosebumps on your skin, your breathing's quicker than what's considered normal, and I wouldn't be surprised if your heartbeat feels like it's about to burst out of your chest," he listed out the telltale signs of fear, something he had grown very used to seeing. "You're scared out of your mind. If you wanna run out of here, go ahead. I won't stop you. I don't want you in this camp either."

Again, some tour guide he was. But Jason had to give it to him, at least he was nice enough to let him bolt.

"You're... letting me go? Just like that?" Jason said skeptically.

"You're telling the truth about your amnesia, but your presence here... I don't like it. Especially not after all the other bad shit that's been going on," Ethan admitted. "But you being here is like a bad omen. You're no good for this camp."

"You don't seem to like the place either," he pointed out, remembering how lackluster his tour had been.

"Look, I used to want to burn this place to the ground, but now it's... growing on me," he shrugged. "I'm the oldest one left now. I tolerate the little shits here. You can say I got a little... protective."

Jason noticed the way Ethan would steal a glance over at the basketball court, where a bunch of kids were playing a game of ball. They were about elementary aged and they clearly had no idea how the game worked, but something about them had softened Ethan up... but there was also a pained look on his face as well, like he was remembering something bad. 

"So," Ethan continued, drawing him out of his thoughts. "This is your last chance to get out. If you choose to stay, then fine. But the second you become a threat, I'll kill you. I'm not letting anything destroy this camp."

And that was when Jason realized that Ethan didn't really give a shit about the camp itself, but the people in it. He couldn't care less for the gods they worshiped, but he cared for their children at least.

So it turned out Ethan wasn't as demonic as he initially thought, Jason had to admit. He was a pretty cool guy... if you excluded the murderous aura he always exuded.

When he realized that Ethan was still expecting an answer, he opened his mouth to say, "I'll stay," he decided. "I know I'm not a threat, and I promise I won't bring any danger here."

"That might not be something you can control," he said ominously, and Jason's stomach churned in response.

Before anything could happen, Jason heard the sound of hooves coming towards them.

"Chiron," Ethan acknowledged.

Jason turned, and that was when he knew he had a really long day. 

Rounding the corner of the porch was a man on horseback. Except he wasn't on horseback—he was part of the horse. From the waist up he was human, with curly brown hair and a well-trimmed beard. He wore a T-shirt that said World's Best Centaur, and had a quiver and bow strapped to his back. His head was so high up he had to duck to avoid the porch lights, because from the waist down, he was a white stallion.

Chiron started to smile at Jason. Then the color drained from his face. It was a reaction all too alike Esmerelda's when she saw him.

"You..." The centaur's eyes flared like a cornered animal's. "You should be dead."

There was the sound of metal in the air, and Jason turned to see Ethan with a sword in his hand, as if Chiron's words were all he needed to hear to start the execution.

Oh shit, he thought.

— author's note —

Essie is a good tour guide, honest! Piper's just a really difficult person to give a tour to 😂 😂 😂

As for Ethan though... yeah he sucks. -10/10 would NOT recommend. Poor Jason 😂 😂 😂

Piper seeing Essie and Jason:

Ethan seeing Essie and Jason:

Essie thinking she's a bad tour guide:

I ALSO GOT SOME GOOD ASS FAN-GIF THINGS FROM -awhmoons!!!

(I had to shrink them cuz Wattpad said the file size was too big tho)

(the last one is more like a banner than a gif btw)

Ya'll gotta tell me where you guys go to make your gifs cuz they're always soooo good 😩