▬▬▬▬ CHAPTER TWENTY ▬▬▬▬

⚠️ WARNING ⚠️

✨ FORBIDDEN TANGO! ✨

YES, YOU READ IT RIGHT! IT'S HAPPENING! IT'S HAPPENING EVERYONE, JUST STAY CALM!

The forbidden tango... is happening at last. The scene starts at the end of the chapter, but of course, you can't actually read the full thing on here. So yeah, no smut is gonna actually happen here, SO PLEASE READ THE FULL CHAPTER OR ELSE YOU WILL MISS SOME SHIT.

The smut will be available in the Church of Essie, so Wattpad readers, just ignore the notification if it tells you that the book updated. Wait until you finish the chapter and then you can go read it. As for my quotev readers, ignore the notification too, a link will be available at the end of the chapter in the author's note, so read everything here first.

Wattpad readers... I am especially excited to read your comments in that smut chapter. I just know you guys are gonna crack me tf up 😂 😂 😂

IT'S ALSO MY FIRST TIME WRITING SMUT. I HAD TO GO THROUGH A BUNCH OF GUIDES, SO YOU THIRSTY BITCHES BETTER BE GRATEFUL.

Anyways, enjoy! :D

"GIVE ME MORE NACHOS," ÉTIENNE ordered the waitress. The waitress' eyes turned blank and she listlessly walked away, disappearing behind the counter of the Mexican restaurant they were stopping at for lunch.

Alabaster sat across from him, half dead from the journey. He had tried shadow traveling themselves as far as he could, but the teleportation ended up sputtering and he and Étienne were spat out just a couple towns away from where they originally were. For the next several hours they spent the time on the run when they finally reached the state of Arizona.

I suck at umbrakinesis, he thought to himself, head laying limply against the wall behind him.

Manipulating the shadows was something completely new to him. He had always been able to do it, but his stronger affinities laid within his magic and the Mist. The only time he had actively used his umbrakinesis was when he was helping his younger siblings train with it, so his abilities were pretty weak.

But he had to get better. His mother had personally requested him to train his umbrakinesis because apparently it would be 'important for his future' and he had to take pride in the fact that he was one of her only well-rounded children when it came to powers.

Alabaster had inherited all of Hecate's abilities, something that none of his siblings, not even Esmerelda, had done. He wished she was here so he could gloat to her face about it, maybe smack her around a little, and watch her cower and cry.

"Ally," Étienne brought him out of his dark thoughts.

He looked up at him. "Huh?"

"You bent all the forks," the younger boy murmured, picking up one of the forks from the table. The metal cutlery was bent back, courtesy to his anger triggering his telekinesis.

"Sorry," he muttered, and with a wave of his hand, all the forks were back to normal.

"I wish I could do that," Étienne said.

"Do what?"

"Wandless magic," he replied, pulling out his own wand. It was a grey alder wood wand, eight inches long with a thestral hair as a core. It was also extremely sturdy, which Alabaster knew since he witnessed the boy stab a monster's eye out. "The only time I can do wandless magic is on accident..."

(Which never really ended well.)

"Don't worry about it," Alabaster assured. "Demigods tend to inherit certain aspects of their godly parent's abilities. I had some siblings that could only do magic and the Mist, some who could do necromancy or just umbrakinesis. Since Trivia's better known for being a death goddess of some sorts, it's only natural that you would have a stronger affinity for death instead of magic."

"And what about you?" He asked curiously, with a pair of wide green eyes. "What affinities do you have?"

"Apparently all,*" Alabaster replied, trying not to feel a bit of pride over it. "But I suck at umbrakinesis and I've never attempted any necromancy either."

"What about Essie?" Étienne asked, perking up like a cute little puppy. "Can she do all of that too?"

Alabaster had to force himself not to scowl once her name was mentioned. He had tried so hard to never mention the girl because he knew he would just end up going on a tirade about how much he hated her which Étienne definitely wouldn't appreciate since, according to their mother, he was 'fiercely fond' of her.

But 'fiercely fond' wasn't the phrase Alabaster would use to describe Étienne's relationship with Esmerelda.

The boy was obsessed.

Esmerelda was all he ever wanted to talk about, all he ever wanted to know about. Ever since Alabaster accidentally slipped up and confirmed that he knew the girl, Étienne just kept pestering him about questions about her.

"Where's Essie right now?"

"Why can't we go to Camp Half-Blood?"

"Does Essie ever talk about me?"

"When am I going to see her again?"

"Has she forgotten me?"

The questions just kept going on and on to the point where Alabaster started to get the feeling that he was being interrogated. Étienne just wanted to know everything about Esmerelda, and it was honestly starting to creep him out. It got so bad that he even actually started to obscure some of his answers just for Esmerelda's sake.

He spoke about her as if he had known her all his life, as if she had always been his big sister. He never even talked about his own family, it was just 'Essie this' and 'Essie that'. His tone of voice was always light and happy too whenever he talked about her, yet for some reason Alabaster's stomach would churn with discomfort.

Because while his tone seemed innocent enough, there was just something about the look on Étienne's face every time the topic of their sister came up. He looked like he was a priest talking about an angel, a worshiper if you will. His green eyes would dilate as he spoke, his smile would be wider than normal—it was almost deranged looking. It was chilling.

He seemed so clingy over her and she wasn't even around.

Then the worst thing happened: Étienne started to become clingy with him.

The kid never wanted to leave his side. Ever. Alabaster would've thought that it was cute, like how his younger siblings used to trail after him like baby ducklings, but he still couldn't fight off the creepy feeling that maybe his brother was more dangerous than he looked.

But he always pushed that thought away. It made him guilty thinking that the kid would ever try to hurt him. Étienne was harmless... and also very sensitive.

It had happened a couple hours after he promised to help him find a way back home to France. Étienne had been so happy that day, but also behaved somewhat oddly at the same time. Alabaster didn't know how to describe it, other than that he was just... off. Then when they were traveling that night, they had been attacked by some monster. Étienne hadn't been able to fight it right away and Alabaster had to save him. And that was when Étienne had burst into tears of gratefulness, but there was one thing he said that wouldn't escape his head:

"Thank you...!" He had sobbed, trembling from head to toe from the close call. "You're so much kinder than Maxence... H-he'd never protect me..."

Étienne was inconsolable that night, and Alabaster had a feeling it wasn't because of the attack. Alabaster protecting him had caused him to get emotional. As for Maxence, well, he had no idea who the guy was—maybe a friend or a relative—but he sounded like a complete jerk so he was glad to be nothing like him.

But anyways, Étienne was seriously sensitive (which greatly reminded him of a certain girl that he didn't like to think about) and Alabaster just couldn't imagine him being a major threat because of it. So yeah, he may be extremely clingy, but there was no way he could be a danger.

He was just a lonely, mistreated kid who needed someone to care for him and that was what Alabaster was going to do. He wasn't about to fail another one of his siblings.

"Ally?" Étienne suddenly said.

Alabaster snapped out of it. "W-what?"

"I was asking about Essie," he repeated his question, "Does she have all of our mothers affinities like you do?"

"No," Alabaster answered smugly. "Essie's only good at magic and the Mist. Her necromancy's extremely limited and I don't think she can even do any umbrakinesis at all."

"Oh," he seemed a little disappointed by that answer. "No wonder she's so good at wandless magic. I was... I was hoping to ask if she can help me train though... do you know where she—"

"—You don't need her help," Alabaster snapped, and the boy's face fell. He swallowed thickly, feeling bad. "I mean... Essie's over at New York, you can't reach her over there and you're a Roman anyways. They'd never allow you in the camp... It doesn't matter anyways. I can teach you."

His green eyes lit up. "You can?"

Alabaster smiled, "Yeah! You gotta work real hard though since we're on a time crunch, but I think you can manage it."

Étienne's face dimmed again, as if remembering that their time together would be short. Alabaster didn't like it either, but there was no way he was going to Camp Jupiter, especially since it sounded so much worse than Camp Half-Blood.

They take the kids to a place where they would be murdered if they showed 'weakness', what kind of fucked up shit was that? Alabaster grew angrier at the thought of it.

Suddenly he spotted something in the glass window just over Étienne's shoulder. The restaurant they were at was stationed right next to a dock, so he could see the massive white cruise ship sailing the waters.

He thought of the Princess Andromeda and his sibling, and suddenly felt like throwing up.

That was when he got an idea.

No, he thought, turning pale. No, there's gotta be another way...

But so far, he was all out of ideas except for that particular one.

I have to help Étienne, he tried to convince himself. He hated the idea, but he had to help his brother.

"Étienne," he said quickly, rising to his feet. "Our lesson starts now. I'll be training you in umbrakinesis."

"W-wait, what?" Étienne also stood up, but he was confused.

"Come on!" Alabaster exclaimed, before starting to usher him out of the restaurant. Étienne quickly grabbed his plate of unfinished nachos and allowed himself to be dragged away.

"Where are we going?" He asked as they jogged towards the dock.

"There!" Alabaster jutted his chin forward.

Étienne spotted the large white ship, which was bigger and more modern looking than the ones the Durmstrang students used to travel to Hogwarts. It was pretty easy for him to piece together that Alabaster wanted them to board the ship, except there was one problem: the ship was already in the water, sailing much too far away for them to reach.

"How are we going to get there? It's already leaving," he pointed out once they reached the edge of the docks.

"Simple. We're gonna shadow travel there. You're gonna help me."

He looked at him. "Pardon?"

Alabaster snorted in amusement at the fancy talk. What teenager uses the word 'pardon' these days?

"You heard me," he said. "Now just focus on the ship and hold on to your nachos."

"But—"

Alabaster dragged him towards the closest sizable shadow that was being cast by a smaller fishing boat. The shadows started to reach out for them, as if they were sensing their presences.

"I-I've never shadow traveled before," the younger boy stammered. "What if we end in the bottom of the sea?"

"Then I guess you can't finish those delicious nachos of yours," he joked. "Now come on. Concentrate on landing on the ship."

"Ally," he squeaked. "This isn't gonna—"

"—Let's go!" Alabaster reached out for the shadows and the pair of them were immediately sucked in. The nachos, unfortunately, were left behind.

It was like being sucked inside a freezing cold vacuum. Both boys were struggling to stay within the shadows, not wanting a repeat of what happened the last time Alabaster lost concentration and they got stranded in some random neighborhood. By the time they finally reached the end of their travel they were thrown out of the shadows.

They crashed into a hard surface and heard a bunch of startled shrieks upon their entrance. Then, something cold and wet splattered onto the top of Alabaster's head.

"Ugh..." He groaned, rising to his feet and helping his brother up.

They ended up underneath the counter of some smoothie place, but at least they were on the ship. Their entrance, however, startled the guy making smoothies and he accidentally dropped a whole cup on Alabaster's head.

While Alabaster used the Mist on the nearby mortals, Étienne kindly helped him get rid of the smoothie spill. Then they collapsed on some nearby pool chairs with some stolen smoothies.

"So what was the plan here?" Étienne asked, playing around with his silly straw.

Alabaster took a couple sips of his mango smoothie before answering, "I'm gonna Mist the captain, get him to sail to France instead—unless that's already where these guys are going. Where in France do you live exactly?"

"Yevre-le-Chatel, it's located over at Loiret."

"Yev-what?"

"Yevre-le-Chatel. It's a department in the Centre-Val de Loire region," he answered.

Alabaster stared at him. "I have no idea what that means."

"It's in north-central France," he clarified.

He nodded, "That's better. But anyways yeah, that's pretty much it to our plan. I Mist the captain to get us to France, then we head over to Yev-whatever or Loiret so you can say goodbye to your family."

Étienne let out a shaky breath, leaning back against his chair.

Alabaster reached out to pat him on the shoulder. "You'll get to see them soon," he assured.

"Yeah," the boy breathed out, a wide smile slowly creeping up his face. "I can't wait to see them one last time."

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

"The kids are sooooo cute," Esmerelda gushed. "And they're getting a lot better! You should've seen little Tanvik, he got so excited when he managed to get the knife to hit the target! It didn't stick and it was nowhere near the middle, but it was still pretty great!"

"Oh my gods," Drew groaned in annoyance from beside her. There was a tiger face mask placed over her face. "All you ever talk about are those stupid kids. It's like you love them more than your own."

"That is NOT true!" Esmerelda gasped, aghast by the very idea. She sat up so quickly that the doggy face mask that she was wearing nearly slipped off her face. "I love Nico more than anything!"

"Can we please not fight?" Mitchell sighed. He was wearing a panda mask. "This is supposed to be a relaxing spa day."

The entirety of the Aphrodite cabin was having their weekly spa days in their cabin. The only campers who weren't Aphrodite kids were Esmerelda and Clarisse, who had always been close to them. Today's spa day consisted of these cute animal face masks which Drew supplied. They were from Korea, and everyone knew Korea was amazing when it came to beauty products.

Clarisse, who wore the penguin mask, snorted. "I wouldn't call this a fight. Essie's just five seconds away about going on a long, drawn out, passionate speech about how much she loves her 'precious baby boy'."

"What's up with the air quotes?" Esmerelda questioned.

"Your 'precious baby boy' tried to stab your boyfriend, like, multiple times." She shot.

Esmerelda couldn't really say anything about that.

"What's that like, though?" Belle, one of the younger kids, asked curiously. "Being a reincarnation and stuff? Is it weird?"

"Sort of," she answered. "Even before Nico told me who I used to be, I would get these... flashes of memory. Sensations like... when something was familiar to me, but I just couldn't pinpoint why. Now that I know, I'm starting to remember a lot more about my life as Maria."

A crude smirk crawled over Mitchel's face, "Do you remember your moments with Hades?"

The whole cabin said 'oooh' in unison. Even Clarisse was intrigued and amused.

"What was he like?" Lacy asked eagerly.

Her face turned pink at all the attention she was getting.

"Grumpy," she admitted with a tiny smile. "But very kind and gentle as well. He was always very sweet to me and our kids, and I remember that he tried to visit us as often as he could."

There was a memory in her head, of Hades sitting beside a teary-eyed, eight year old Nico. He had been crying because she told him that it was time to sleep in his own room instead of sharing the bed with her. When he tried, he came running back to her in tears because he was so scared of the dark. Hades was there to quietly comfort him and tell him that there was nothing in the shadows for him to be afraid of, and even used his powers to create little dark figures in the air to make the little boy giggle.

Everything had been so perfect back then, but now... well, now everything was different. Now Bianca was dead, Hades had fallen back into his cold shell, and Nico treated his father more like a king he had to obey rather than a parent. It was heartbreaking.

Drew brought her out of her sad thoughts with a snort.

"Are you telling me that the Lord of the Dead is that type of guy?" She said. "So he's vanilla in bed?"

"Drew!" Esmerelda gasped, appalled.

"Hold on," Lacy said carefully. "You're not still in love with him, are you?"

"Oh gods no," she answered automatically, shaking her head. "I used to be, back when I was Maria. But I certainly don't love him anymore, those feelings have faded away the second I was reincarnated. Besides, when we first met in this life, he pretty much coerced me into a child labor. So nope, definitely not. I love Ethan now."

The whole cabin burst into 'awwww's while Clarisse faked a gag.

"If I were you, I'd find a way to resign from your job," Clarisse warned. "Because Hades did not look happy when you and Ethan finally got together. You should've seen his face after the war ended."

There was a silence in the cabin the second she mentioned the war. Wary glances were sent towards Drew, who was clutching a bottle of nail polish so tightly the glass might have been cracking.

"We don't talk about the war here," Drew said snappishly.

"You never want to talk about it..." Lacy mumbled.

"Shut up, Lacy!" Drew ordered, ripping the mask off her face. "Do you want to wear the shoes of shame again?"

Clarisse and Esmerelda exchanged cautious glances.

"It's Silena, isn't it?" Lacy continued on bravely. "It's her you don't want to talk about."

"I wouldn't say that," Mitchell finally joined in, shooting Drew a scathing look. "Drew doesn't seem to mind talking about her when she's got something bad to say."

"What?" Clarisse growled, ripping off her own mask. "What the fuck does that mean?"

Ohhhhh no, Esmerelda thought, peeling off the doggy mask. This wasn't gonna end well.

"Drew's been talking shit about Silena ever since she died! She even made up this stupid Rite of Passage where we have to break people's hearts because she knew that it was something Silena wouldn't have wanted!" Someone finally spilled the beans.

"Y-you've been...?" Esmerelda felt like she had been sucker punched. She already knew about the Rite of Passage Drew was enforcing on her siblings and she knew that Drew was upset over Silena's death... but to talk so poorly of her? After everything they've been through?

Drew was shaking, looking around as if she was being backed into a corner. Nobody seemed to be defending her.

"Shut up," she heaved, breathing heavily. Her dark eyes were watering and her face was reddening. "Don't talk as if you know understand."

"Don't understand?" Mitchell's voice rose. "She was our sister too!"

"SHUT UP!" Drew shrieked, her voice laced in charmspeak. Everyone's jaws were clenched shut, save for Esmerelda who looked around her in alarm.

"Drew, stop—"

But Drew, with tears spilling from her eyes, got up to her feet and rushed out of the cabin.

"Shit," Esmerelda cursed, before releasing everyone from Drew's charmspeak. A whole bunch of them ran out the door only to see Drew disappear—most likely heading to the direction of the forest.

"She ran to the forest didn't she?" Clarisse asked knowingly. "Does she have a weapon on her?"

"She'll be fine," Mitchell grunted, but then his eyes landed on a familiar dagger with heart designs engraved on the hilt and his face turned white.

Esmerelda grabbed the dagger. "I'll go look for her," she said.

"I'll come too," Clarisse sighed, already taking out her spear. "You guys just stay here."

The Aphrodite kids looked at each other hesitantly before nodding in acceptance.

"Don't worry," Esmerelda gave them a soothing smile. "We'll get her back. She'll be fine."

Esmerelda and Clarisse hurried away, not wanting to waste any time.

Esmerelda lifted up the dagger and murmured, "Persequor vestigium!"

The dagger glowed a faint green glow before a green line appeared, heading straight for the forest. It was Drew's trail.

The girls looked at each other.

"Let's hope she didn't get too far," the shorter one said. "She was wearing stilettos anyways."

"Dude," Clarisse said. "Didn't you enchant the Aphrodite kids' shoes to be super comfy so they could wear heels anywhere they wanted without feeling any pain?"

"Fuck. You're right, she could miles in those heels. Let's hurry."

And so, they dashed into the woods.

Drew was obviously too emotionally distraught because she hadn't even bothered to cover up her tracks, which was basically one of the most important rules of survival (lessons which were available in camp, of course!). They didn't even need to use Esmerelda's tracking spell for it since Drew had left a trail of broken twigs and stiletto footprints, though the spell was still pretty useful and gave them less work to deal with.

"Did you know about it?" Clarisse asked after several minutes of silent searching. "About the things she had been saying about Silena?"

"No," Esmerelda answered quietly. "But I don't believe it at all."

"That she's been saying those things?"

"No, that she actually means what she's saying." She clarified. "Drew... she's always been close to Silena. She always followed her around, went to her for makeup tips, relationship advice... Plus, have you noticed that Drew never moved into her room?"

Camp counselors were given their own personal bedroom in their cabins, which was separated from the rest of their siblings. Esmerelda had her own room, Annabeth had her own room, Ethan, Clarisse, all cabin counselors had their own bedrooms save for the Stolls who shared their own. Silena had her own too, but then she died and Drew became the counselor.

But Drew never took over Silena's old room. She still slept in the same room as the rest of her siblings, using the same bed she had been using for years now.

Meanwhile, Silena's bedroom had never been touched since her death. All of her things were still there, the pictures of her and Beckendorf, the high school diploma she had framed on the wall, even the old diary she used to obsessively write in back when she was ten. The bed was always made too, the surfaces were dusted, everything was clean and well-taken care of.

If Drew truly hated Silena, then she would've taken over that room the second the war was over. She would've tossed away all of her sister's things in the trash and took advantage of the walk-in closet any child of Aphrodite would drool over. But she hadn't done any of that, and in Esmerelda's opinion, that told her all she needed to know.

"Death hurts people in different ways. People don't always grieve in the same way," Esmerelda murmured. "I'm sure she's been in a lot of pain since the war."

Clarisse's lips started to tremble, as if she was recalling all the memories she shared of Silena up to her death. Then, she steeled her face and sucked in a breath.

"Let's find her."

Esmerelda nodded in agreement and the two girls hastened their search.

The tracking spell led them deeper in the forest, finally stopping at a thick tree. Behind it, they could hear the sound of a girl crying. Clarisse and Esmerelda put their weapons away and carefully went around the tree.

There, they finally found her.

Drew sat against the trunk, knees pressed against her chest and her head bowed down to cover her face.

"Drew..." Esmerelda sighed in relief, dropping down to her knees beside her.

"Hey," Clarisse greeted, also sitting down.

Drew's shoulders noticeably tensed, but she didn't look up. "Go away." She said, but her voice sounded too broken to be considered threatening.

"We came looking for you," Esmerelda began.

Drew finally lifted up her face. "Well, you found me," she said bitterly. "What do you want, huh? You wanna beat me up for trash talking Silena?"

"We're not here to hurt you!" Esmerelda was horrified.

Clarisse heaved a sigh. "We know you don't really mean any of it."

Instead of denying it, Drew sniffed and looked down at her knees. "Silena was... she was an idiot. She used to preach about how love was everything but clearly she didn't mean it... Look at what she did... She was in love with Charles—he was the world to her—but then she... she betrays him? She was the one who said love was amazing and she goes and stomps on it like that...! And—and when he died, she just became this mess! I didn't know what to do...! She barely ate, barely slept, all she did was cry and—and if love was so great then why did it hurt her like that? Why did she continue to betray us after his death? I thought she loved us...!"

Esmerelda winced. Silena's betrayal had always been a touchy subject, and she could never fathom why she had done the things she did either.

"I just want Silena back," Drew said shakily. "I want my sister back because that girl—that stranger wasn't Silena...!"

"This is why you made that Rite of Passage, isn't it?" Clarisse realized. "You started to think love was bad because of how terribly it effected Silena." 

"She made it sound like such a beautiful thing," Drew said painfully. "...And then look what it did to her. What she became because of it... She stabbed us in the back, betrayed me... I just wanted her to be my sister again."

"Silena still is your sister," Esmerelda insisted, feeling like something was clenching around her heart. "She had her reasons for doing what she did, but I know that she never meant to hurt any of you."

"I know," Drew whispered. "I know she really loved us."

"And you shouldn't be taking your pain out on your own siblings," Clarisse added pointedly.

Drew closed her eyes shut, letting out a whimper. "I just wanted to keep them safe... I didn't want them ending up like Silena..."

Forcing them to break people's hearts in order to become 'true children of Aphrodite' wasn't the best method for protecting them, but Esmerelda could see how Drew would come to that conclusion. Love had hurt Silena and took her away from her, so she was keeping her the rest of her siblings safe by making them think love was bad.

"This isn't the right way to go about doing it," she told her gently.

"You sound like dumpster girl," Drew scoffed.

"...Who?" She whispered to Clarisse.

"That newbie, Piper or whatever," she whispered back.

"Oh." Esmerelda turned back to Drew. "Well, um, forget about Piper then. But look, love can be very painful, you're right about that, but you don't have to make it hurt more. Making your siblings do this, calling Silena a traitor..."

"You don't actually hate Silena, do you?" Clarisse asked.

"No," Drew sniffled. "I can't... even when I tried... I was just so mad and lost... but I couldn't hate her. I could never."

Esmerelda was relieved to hear her finally admit it to herself.

"I'm sorry," Drew finally breathed out. "I shouldn't have... s-said those things about her..."

Esmerelda shook her head, "It's okay, Drew. You were hurting."

Clarisse glanced upwards at the night sky. "Come on, we should head back to camp. Drew, your siblings are worried about you when your ran away."

She reached out and offered her a hand, but the daughter of Aphrodite shook her head.

"No. My siblings hate me... I know they do. I can't go back there."

"They don't hate you, they're hurt too," Esmerelda said. "Which is why you should go back and apologize. You all could use a long talk with each other."

"They'll never listen," Drew hiccuped. "They think I'm some evil bitch..."

"Evil? No. A bitch? Yes," Clarisse said. "But you're, like, the good kind of bitch. So just talk to them, okay? Trust me, talking helps. Plus, I need your entire cabin to be on good terms with each other by Friday, we're on the same team for capture the flag, remember?"

"Clarisse!" Esmerelda hissed.

"What? You're on the same team as us too, don't you wanna win?"

"Oh my gods. Not the time!"

A small laugh bubbled from Drew's lips at their mini banter.

"Sorry," she apologized again. "You guys are right though... I... I'll try to talk to them... And I'll tell them I'm sorry. Gods, I feel like shit..."

"You look like shit too," Clarisse told her. "Your makeup's all over the place."

Esmerelda fixed it up with the snap of her fingers, but she couldn't fix Drew's red and watery eyes. "There, now you look fine."

Drew finally took Clarisse's hand and got back up to her feet.

"Thanks for, well... all of this. I'll make sure to talk to my siblings, relieve all our problems before Friday... Wouldn't wanna lose against the Athena kids, right?" Drew cracked a smile.

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

After walking Drew back to the Aphrodite cabin that night, Esmerelda didn't see her again until the next morning. The Aphrodite kids were doing their daily morning job like the rest of the cabins were doing, and everything seemed like it was back to normal...

But in a good way, of course. She noticed that Drew was back to her usual bossy, mean girl self but was a lot softer than usual. She still barked orders and called her siblings 'hon' and 'sweetie', but there was no venom in her voice. She didn't even snap when her siblings teased or rolled their eyes at her.

"I take it the talk went well?" Esmerelda chirped.

Drew huffed, but her cheeks were pink. "Yeah. I poured my heart out and we all ended up crying, happy?"

"None of them were mad at you?" She asked.

"No," Drew's shoulders relaxed. "I got rid of that stupid Rite of Passage thing and I apologized for everything. I think my sobbing got them to soften up, to be honest. But they all... they actually forgave me for what I did and all the things I said... I still feel so stupid... I'm a shit counselor... and a shit sister..."

"No you're not," Esmerelda chided. "You were in pain, Drew. They understood that. They don't think you're shit."

"Not anymore, at least," Clarisse corrected.

Drew just sighed. "Now... I just have to deal with dumpster girl."

"You can start by not calling her that..." Esmerelda said awkwardly. "You, uh, do know her name, right?"

Drew looked over at Clarisse for help.

The daughter of Ares rolled her eyes. "It's Piper, you moron."

"Oh yeah... Piper McLean. She said her dad's Tristan McLean or whatever... Oh shit, she was probably telling the truth, huh?"

"She was," Esmerelda confirmed.

Drew groaned. "Fuck."

"Don't worry, you can apologize to her when she comes back from her quest." She assured.

"If she comes back from her quest," Clarisse corrected.

"Clarisse!"

"So everything's good on your end, then?" Clarisse asked.

"Yep," Drew said.

"Good, so you guys will be ready for Friday night's game of capture the flag," Clarisse grunted as she sharpened her spear, but both girls could tell that she was actually relieved to hear the good news that Drew was getting along with her siblings again. Or well, she was trying to.

Drew smirked wickedly. "Oh trust me," she purred. "We're more than ready to obliterate them."

Clarisse shared the smirk. "Good."

Esmerelda looked between the two, feeling out of place because she didn't exactly share the bloodthirsty feeling and the need to win.

"I'm having you guard the flag with Katie," Clarisse told Drew. "I'm taking advantage of her powers over nature. I'm having Will on standby at a nearby tree, he'll give you guys the signal if any of the enemy get's close. Drew, you'll be in charge of charmspeaking anyone to turn away."

"Understood," Drew nodded.

"Essie," Clarisse turned to her next. "You and Lou Ellen will act as decoys. You'll be on one side of the forest and your sister at the other. I want you both to use the Mist to create the illusion of a fake flag to trick and separate the enemies."

"Got it!"

"Don't get distracted," Drew added. "Since your boyfriend's on the other team and all."

Her face reddened. "D-Drew—!" She sputtered.

Clarisse was looking at her thoughtfully. "Maybe you can distract him instead..."

"I'm not doing any of that! Don't put me in any of your—your inappropriate schemes!"

Drew snorted, "'Inappropriate', she says. Like you two weren't caught making out in—"

"—Guys, please!" She squeaked.

The two mercilessly teased her until it was time to part ways to do the rest of camp activities.

The next few days was spent strategizing for the game until Friday finally came. Drew and Clarisse spent the preparations glancing suggestively between Esmerelda and Ethan, with the latter mouthing at her to distract him during the game.

Esmerelda turned red and pretended not to notice them. She nearly had a heart attack when Ethan approached her, battle armor already strapped onto his body.

"Ready to get your ass whooped tonight?" He taunted.

"W-what?" Her mind went straight to the gutter when she heard his words.

He gave her a weird look, "Uh, I'm asking if you're ready to lose. Are you okay? You look like you're gonna faint from a heat stroke."

"I'm fine," she squeaked, spying Drew cackling to her siblings. She had a feeling they were talking about her reaction. Assholes.

"Do I need to get Will?" He asked.

"No, no, really, I'm good!" She shook her head furiously.

The conch horn sounded, indicating that it was time for everyone to head over to the forest. Esmerelda was more than happy to scurry away, but Ethan grabbed her arm and held her back.

"Hey, wait," he mumbled, his voice falling lower. "What'd I say about lying? You're shit at it—no offense of course. Now seriously, what's wrong? Are you sick? Your face looks like a tomato."

Now she was burning up even worse.

A TOMATO?! She internally wailed. She hoped she at least looked like a cute tomato.

"It's nothing, just Clarisse and Drew messing with me—in a friendly way," she added, seeing how quickly his face darkened. "Now I gotta go. Focus on the game. Love you, bye!" She pecked him on the cheek before running away to join the rest of her team.

She grumbled when she caught Drew's smirking face and ignored her to turn to Lou Ellen instead.

"You know where to go?" She asked the younger girl.

"Yeah, I'm over at the east end," she confirmed. "Don't get distracted, okay?"

"I won't!" She said, growing flustered once more.

She was more than relieved when it was time to get to their stations. By the time she found an obvious place to put the decoy, her face had finally cooled down.

Now I can concentrate, she thought to herself. She reached out and grabbed a nearby branch before stabbing it into the ground, using the Mist to make it seem like a large flag with the Ares symbol on it.

There was a conch horn sound at the distance. The game had begun.

Esmerelda let out a small breath before unsheathing Glimmer.

Okay, she thought. Hopefully the enemy falls for this...

About ten minutes had passed and nobody came, which made her grow anxious. She could hear some fighting going on a bit far away, but no one had yet to stumble upon her and the 'flag'.

And then, there was a rustling sound.

"Found it!" Harley, an eight year old son of Hephaestus, exclaimed. He was lugging a huge sledgehammer over his shoulder and there was still a bunch of grease and oil all over his clothes. Esmerelda was almost tempted to go over and clean him up with magic.

Harley looked over his shoulder, singing, "Eeeeeethaaaaan! I found the flag! And your giiiiiirrrrlfriend's guarding it!"

Ethan arrived not even a second later. He surveyed the scene, eye taking in the flag, before narrowing suspiciously.

"Harley," he said. "Go back to your siblings. Let me handle this."

Harley pouted, "But—"

Ethan stared at him and he straightened up. "Yessir, right away, sir!" He didn't hesitate to run away after that.

Esmerelda tried not to grow nervous. He didn't look like he trusted what he was seeing at the moment, which wasn't very good.

"Not gonna take the flag?" She called out to him.

"I feel like it could be a trap," he said shrugging. "It's usually two guards per flag, yet you're here all alone."

"You don't think I can protect the flag on my own?"

"Oh I know you can," he nodded. "It's just been a little too easy. Usually there would be traps or demigods guarding the path to the flag but... so far there was none. Kinda suspicious. Essie... is this the actual flag?"

Esmerelda gulped inaudibly before replying, "Of course it is."

An amused smile crawled over his face. "You really gotta work on your lying."

All tension left her body. Her shoulders slumped over in defeat. Ethan walked over to her and reached out to poke the flag, and that was when she allowed the Mist to dissipate. It shimmered away from existence, revealing a branch sticking out from the dirt.

"Nice," he complimented. "Was this your idea?"

"No, it was Clarisse's," she replied miserably.

"And I'm guessing she had Lou Ellen do the same thing somewhere?"

She nodded, a glum look on her face.

"It was a good attempt," Ethan tried to make her feel better. "You just... I'm sorry, but you really need to work on your lying."

"I know," she sighed heavily.

Ethan glanced around. "Was anyone else stationed near you?"

"Not really, no."

He turned back to her. "So we're alone right now."

It took Esmerelda a while to realize what he was suggestive and her cheeks turned redder than ever. "Ethan," she panicked. "Are you out of your mind?!"

"Come on," he begged, wrapping his arms around her waist to pull her close. "We barely had any time together since Chiron announced that capture the flag was back."

"That's because we're on opposite teams and the Athena cabin suspected that you might feed me any information," she grumbled, also annoyed by the forced distance.

"Do you remember a couple days ago? Before Leo and those other little shits arrived?" He asked her.

"Hmm?"

"We were... in the middle of something when they arrived?" He jogged her memory. "Remember how you said we could finish what we were doing at a later time?"

Her eyes widened a little. "Oh... but we never got to..."

"Exactly," he smirked. "You promised, too. Come on, baby, please? There's no one around to see us."

Her heart was still pounding though, but it wasn't because of that. Ethan's head was already lowering itself down, and he started pressing open mouth kisses against the side of her neck. She let out a small moan, feeling any protests die in her throat as her hands crawled over his torso, magically removing his armor before doing the same with hers.

She placed her hand on the back of his neck, making him look at her before kissing him on the lips. When he parted his lips, she slipped her tongue in and eagerly roaming around his mouth.

Ethan let out an appreciative moan, bringing her closer. She could feel something hard press against her front. 

"Finally I get to have you to myself," Ethan nipped at her bottom lip before letting it go. "Everyone's been so fucking annoying."

Esmerelda let out a breathy giggle. "You didn't have any fun making battle strategies? You usually enjoy that," she said, feeling his hands travel lower. "Did you enjoy your dream?"

"The whole meeting was frustrating," he grumbled.

She grasped the bottom of his shirt, her knuckles grazing against his bare skin. She could feel him shudder at the contact, but before anything could happen, a conch horn blew.

The games were over.

Ethan clicked his tongue in annoyance, begrudgingly pulling away. "You've gotta be fucking kidding me. Your cabin or mine?"

Her eyes widened. "Wha—Ethan! That's not allowed!"

"So is making out during capture the flag, yet here we are."

"Our mothers would be furious. Gods don't usually like other demigods barging into their cabin." She pointed out.

"My mom wouldn't give a shit, you know that. Besides, you've been into my cabin before," he reminded her.

Esmerelda sighed in defeat. "F-fine... Let's go to your cabin."

Ethan stared at her, before grinning in satisfaction. She grabbed onto him tightly before Mist travelling to the living room of the Nemesis cabin. They made out a little more before Ethan began leading her upstairs to his bedroom. They nearly crashed through the doors, her lips desperately latched on to his.

"Shit..." He bit out, pressing her against his door. He felt like his entire body was on fire, and he could feel the heat emitting from her body too.

"Ethan...!" She whined, when he pulled away. She quickly brought his lips back to hers.

"You're so needy," he murmured, grabbing her hips and pulling her against him. "You already own my heart, what more can you want?"

"Everything else," she breathed out, their lips nearly touching. "I want you. All of you."

He paused for a second before his eye darkened, his pupil blown out wide with lust. She can feel his grip on her tightening.

He smashed his lips against hers desperately, his tongue already darting into his mouth as he ground his hips over hers. She could feel him stumbling back towards the bed.

"Are you sure this is what you want?" He asked when they pulled away, breathing heavily. He reached out to gingerly cup her face, his gaze full of pure love and adoration.

She matched the look with equal fervor and nodded her head. "Yes."

"I love you," he murmured. "But are you—are you really sure—?"

"I'm sure," she confirmed. "I love you, Ethan." Se craned her neck up to bring him into a sweet, desperate kiss before the previous heat came back.

"Gods," he groaned. "You're so cute. I'm gonna ruin you."

"Please," she mewled, and whatever was left of his self-control snapped as he pushed her onto his bed. He crawled over her a second later, burrowing his face into her neck, biting, licking, and sucking on whatever piece of skin he could claim as she begged and squirmed for more.

"You really are needy," she could feel him smirk as he began to undo his pants. "But I'll give you what you want. Just make sure to cancel any plans you got tomorrow because I'm gonna keep you up all night long."

( BONUS! )

( this isn't canon at all, i just thought it was funny )

Everyone in Camp Jupiter was just minding their own business when a certain owl caught their attention. Nobody had ever seen it before and, strangely enough, it seemed to be carrying a scarlet letter. Usually they had eagles deliver messages, not owls...

Nico, however, recognized that owl immediately and stood up.

"Nico?" Hazel asked.

"That's my mom's owl," he breathed out, his dark eyes shining slightly with barely contained joy. "I don't even know how she figured out I was here but—"

Suddenly his face fell as the owl flew closer, coming straight for him. Nico's eyes were zeroed in on the red envelope it was carrying.

"Hold on," he said. "Is that—is that a howler?"

Hazel stared at him. "A what?"

"A howler," he repeated. "It's basically a letter that screams at you, but... but there's no way my mom would ever send me a howler..."

His mother couldn't have been that angry with him, was she? His stomach clenched uncomfortably at the thought. He had never made her so angry before...

But then again, he really couldn't see his mother ever being so angry that she would send a howler at him. He was certain of that.

Unless... unless his mother wasn't the one who sent it to him.

His eyes widened in realization, but it was already too late. The owl released the letter and it flew right to him, freaking everyone out. Then, the letter began to scream.

"HEY SHITHEAD!" Came Ethan's uncharacteristically gleeful voice. "GUESS WHO FUCKED YOUR MOM LAST NIGHT!"

Nico froze.

"THANKS SOOO MUCH FOR ENTRUSTING HER TO ME, KID. DON'T WORRY, I'LL CONTINUE TAKING GOOD CARE OF HER WHILE YOU'RE GONE SO STAY AWAY FOR AS LONG AS YOU WANT!" Ethan said through laughs. "ANYWAYS, I HOPE YOU'RE HAVING A TERRIBLE TIME AT CAMP JUPITER! OH, AND BY THE WAY, YOUR ASS IS GROUNDED! ONCE YOU'RE DONE WITH WHATEVER THE FUCK YOU'RE DOING, I'D GO PACK SOME OVERALLS AND SUNSCREEN 'CAUSE YOUR MOM AND I DECIDED THAT YOU SHOULD BE SENT TO A FARM! BYE NOW! ENJOY THE REST OF YOUR DAY!"

The letter ripped itself apart after that.

The entire camp was silent, their eyes glued on the son of Pluto and the shreds of what was once the talking letter.

Hazel was scandalized, barely able to utter a word. Nico, however, was in a much worse state. The poor boy looked like he had his soul sucked out the second the letter said it's first sentence. She wasn't even sure if he was breathing anymore.

Reyna cleared her throat in an attempt to catch everyone's attention.

"Back to work everyone!" She announced firmly, before glancing over to Nico and wincing. "And... someone bring in a therapist from New Rome for the son of Pluto."

— author's note —

* So Alabaster being a well-rounded child of Hecate (as in he has powers over ALL of his mom's domains) was something I just recently decided on. I just like the idea of him having all of Hecate's aspects, while Essie's more on the magical side and Étienne's more towards dark and necromancy. I just feel like it evens things out between those chaotic three, lol.

I REALLY WANNA SHOW YOU GUYS THEIR POWERS AND WHICH ARE STRONGER AND SHIT BUT LIKE... I wanna try and do this thing:

^ notice the circular chart thing up there? Yeah, that's what I wanna try and make but I have no idea what it's called so I can't find a template or a maker for it... :( Anyone know what that chart's called???

Essie: *exists*

Ethan:

🥵 🥵 🥵 🥵 🥵

Well uh, this is it guys!!!

IF YOU WANNA GO READ THE FULL FORBIDDEN TANGO, HEAD ON OVER TO THE CHURCH OF ESSIE! The title of the chapter will be called: "🔞BOOK 5 CH. 20 CONTINUATION🔞"

As you can see from the emojis, it's gonna be NSFW (meaning 'not safe for work'). SO DO NOT READ THE FULL FUCKING SCENE IF YOU ARE NOT COMFORTABLE WITH SEX. FUCKING. FRICK FRACKING. COITUS. THE FORBIDDEN TANGO. YOU GET THE POINT. Plus I put in the "🔞" emojis. SO IF YOU SEE ANY CHAPTER TITLE (from the Church of Essie) WITH THAT EMOJI, THAN THAT MEANS SOME NAAAASTY SHIT IS GONNA GO DOWN THERE. So don't read any NSFW chapters if you're uncomfortable with that.

I had to read so many guides for this... And I was so paranoid writing it because I did NOT want anyone to catch me hooooly shit, it was nerve-wracking 😂 😂 😂 Most of that shit was written on my phone and I just edited it on my laptop tbh. I don't know HOW the hell smut writers could handle doing this omfg, I'm constantly looking over my shoulder even when I was reading the goddamn guides 😂

(By the way if any of you guys are planning on writing smut but don't know how, I can hit you up with the 'how to write smut' guides I have saved 😌)

(Actually, I should put them in my guide and title the chapter "SMUT RESOURCES")