▬▬▬ CHAPTER TWENTY ONE ▬▬▬

If you skipped the previous chapter because of the forbidden tango, then you didn't read my instructions clearly 😤

The full forbidden tango is in the CHURCH OF ESSIE, okay??? I've stated multiple times that there won't be full smut in this series and all the spicy goodness shall be put in the Church of Essie instead, so if you skipped chapter twenty... THEN GET UR ASS BACK THERE, READ THE INSTRUCTIONS, AND READ THE GODDAMN CHAPTER.

Other than that, have a good day :)

AFTER THE BEST NIGHT EVER, Ethan was pleased to say that his morning was equally as amazing. His lover was nestled in his arms, the birds were chirping outside, and the best part of it?

Nico di Angelo was all the way on the other side of the country—unable to interrupt this beautiful moment.

He had to bit back the vicious urge to start cackling because Esmerelda was sleeping right next to him and he didn't want to wake her up. Instead, he looked down to admire her. Her hair was a mess from when he constantly grabbed it last night, there were love marks littered over her delicate skin, and she was tightly gripping onto him like she didn't want to let him go.

Everything about this was perfect. He wanted to wake up to this scene every day.

Slowly, he pulled away from her and maneuvered himself so he positioned over her slumbering body. Judging by the clock on the wall, it was actually way past the morning so he figured he should wake her up right about now.

"Angel," he murmured sweetly, peppering soft kisses on her bare shoulder. "You gotta wake up now."

When that didn't work, he started tickling her side.

A small giggle came from her lips and her eyes finally started to crack open.

The first thing she felt was hunger... And then the ache came next. There was an unbearable soreness that she could feel throughout her body, but it was especially worse between her legs.

"Morning," Ethan drawled lazily.

She hummed in reply. She would've lifted her head up to greet him properly but her body felt way too sore to even move.

"What time is it?" She mumbled sleepily, eyes fluttering shut when she felt his hand toy around with the strands of her hair.

"It's 2 PM," he said casually, and her eyes flew open. "We missed breakfast and lunch, by the way."

She looked up at him incredulously. "Why didn't you wake me up sooner?"

He merely blinked. "Uh, 'cause I was also dead asleep? I just woke up, like, two minutes ago. Besides," he trailed off, his hand creeping down her back and disappearing under the blanket. "I was hoping we could go another round..."

At first she had no idea what he was talking about, but then her face flushed once she finally realized it.

"No!" She rejected the idea vehemently. "You—we did more than enough rounds, Ethan! My entire body hurts, you jerk. And I'm starving...! We missed last night's dinner too, remember?"

"Okay, okay, fine," he sighed in disappointment. "You wanna shower together?"

She was about to say 'yes' until the ache between her legs made her rethink that decision. "Um, how about just a bath? I don't wanna stand..."

Ethan started to laugh as he nodded his head in agreement. She tried to smack him with a nearby pillow but he rolled off the bed and evaded the hit.

"Stay here, I'll get the bath ready." He said, still snickering at her misfortune, though there was a smug look on his face as he disappeared into the bathroom.

"Wait!" She called out to him.

He came back, "Yeah?"

"Do you have any bath bombs?" She asked hopefully.

"No."

"Bath salts?"

"Also no."

"Any bubble bath products?"

"Nope."

"...Do you have anything cool?" She despaired. "Do you just sit in a tub with plain clear water? No glitter? Color? Bubbles? Anything?"

"Babe, I don't even take baths, I shower." He said bluntly.

Her shoulders slumped. "That's so boring... I'll buy you a lot of proper bath products for Christmas so you can understand how cool they are."

His lips quirked up into an amused smirk, "Thanks. I'll make sure to leave the best ones for when you come over."

She blushed at what he was implying, and he snickered at her reaction once more before resuming his task. After the bath was ready, he helped Esmerelda out of the bed. Her body burned in protest, but there was no way she was going to show any weakness—it would just make him more smug over last night's events.

So she took it like a champ and walked to the bathroom like there was nothing wrong with her. Ethan went in first and she slid in next right between his legs. The second her body sank into the warm water, she instantly relaxed.

Ethan's bath products were lame, but she kind of expected that (no offense to him, of course). Even his soaps weren't any cool looking, but they at least smelled good!

For the next twenty or so minutes, they spent the time cleaning each other up and splashing one another with water. When they finished, she used a spell to easily dry themselves both up, but there was still one other problem.

"Just wear my clothes, I don't really care," Ethan shrugged, grabbing a shirt, boxers, and sweatpants from his dresser. "Just shrink them if they don't fit you."

Esmerelda eagerly slipped them on. His sweaters were also so warm and soft. Once she was done dressing, she slipped back under the covers, only her eyes and the top of her head being shown.

"Can you grab me food too? I'm hungry..."

"Got it. I'll be right back, don't go anywhere... not like you can," he joked.

She would've thrown a pillow at him, but he already darted out of the room.

Ethan exited his cabin, heading straight for the kitchens to steal two meals for the both of them when he was suddenly intercepted by a familiar pair of brothers. Both Stoll brothers stood before him, eyes narrowed with suspicion.

He sighed in annoyance. "Can I help you?"

"We missed you and Essie last night," Connor began to explain. "According to Harley, he last saw you with Essie during capture the flag, but... neither of you guys were seen after that."

"And you were gone for dinner, then breakfast today, and lunch," Travis continued. "Now here you are... and Essie's nowhere around."

He rolled his eye in annoyance. "She's in my cabin."

"Why's she in your cabin?" Connor asked stupid before realization dawned on him. "Oh my gods, wait..."

Travis' jaw dropped. He was speechless.

Ethan smiled at them both. "Now if you'll excuse me..." He shoved his way between them, resuming his walk.

He stole two good meals from the kitchens before leaving. The Stolls were still outside where he left them, gawking at him with stupefied faces. He flashed them another friendly smile before heading back to the Nemesis cabin but this time, Lou Ellen stopped him.

"Ethan!" She called out. "Was Essie with you last night? She didn't come back to our cabin after the game..."

"Oh, um," this time, Ethan winced. This was his girlfriend's little sister he was talking to, he couldn't be as ruthlessly blunt to her like with the Stolls. "Yeah, she's at my place. We had a, um, sleepover."

Lou Ellen stared at him expressionlessly.

"Did you two have sex?" She asked bluntly.

His shoulders sagged. "Was it that obvious?"

"There's hickies on your neck," she pointed out.

"Oh." Well shit, this was awkward. "Um..."

She heaved a sigh. "Gods, I regret everything. Look I'm just gonna... go..."

Ethan nodded shortly, watching as she walked away looking slightly disturbed by what she just found out.

Sorry Essie, I traumatized your sister, he thought apologetically as he slipped back into his cabin. Esmerelda was still buried under the covers of his bed, exactly as when he left her.

"We got pan-friend tilapia," he announced, setting both plates on the nightstand. "Also, don't panic, but the Stolls kinda figured out what we were up to. The entire camp's probably gonna be aware in less than five minutes."

Esmerelda was horrified. "What?"

"And your sister pieced it together too," he added.

"What?!" She shrieked. "The whole camp knows now?!"

"It's not that big of a deal," he shrugged. "Now come on, eat your tilapia."

"I can never show my face around here!" She moaned in distress, hugging his pillow against her chest tighter.

"Essie, I'm pretty sure more than half of the camp already expected this to happen," he told her gently. "I wouldn't be surprised if people were making bets on this."

"Don't say that!" She cried out, face redder than Rachel's hair. "Oh gods... Ethan what do we do? What are people going to say?"

"Uh, I imagine half of them will thank us for helping them win the bet."

"Ethannnnn!"

"Essiiieeee," he mimicked. "Who cares what people say? If anyone gives us any problems, well..." There was a bloodthirsty smile on his face, which told her all she needed to know.

But the poor girl was still embarrassed. With a small whine, she threw the duvet over her head and stayed there. Ethan simply yanked it away and gave her a deadpanning look, "Are you gonna eat your tilapia or not?"

"I'm never gonna leave this room," she continued to mope. "I'll hide out here for the rest of my life."

Ethan actually didn't mind that, but he couldn't help but snort at her theatrics.

"You're such a drama queen," he said fondly.

"I'm serious!" She cried out, her face falling. Her lips started to tremble, like she might cry any second and Ethan immediately tensed up. "What if... what if they start talking like in school...?"

"No," Ethan told her, shaking his head. "No, that would never happen here, Essie. Nobody's gonna treat you like that at camp. Ever."

Because here was the thing: people may hate and/or fear him, but Esmerelda was very much well-loved throughout the camp. The kids adored her, the newbie campers were quick to latch themselves onto her because of her warm and friendly personality, and the senior campers had all watched her grow up to be the beautiful person she was today. Nobody in camp had a mean thing to say about her. Zeus would become a kinder god before the camp could ever turn their backs to her.

So there was absolutely no way anyone here would treat her like the wizards had.

"Essie, listen to me," he said softly. "Everyone here loves you too much to ever treat you like that. They might tease you a little, yeah, but they would never be cruel to you."

Esmerelda hugged his pillow tightly against her chest. "I just don't wanna go through that again," she whispered.

"You won't," he said firmly. "They'll probably just tease you and give us annoying smirks or whatever."

She allowed herself to relax. Ethan was right. The people here had never treated her so poorly. The last time it had ever happened was so many years ago back when her siblings first defected from the Olympian side, and even then it was mostly just that one son of Ares bullying her (and that person was dead now thanks to Ethan...).

"You're right," she mumbled. "They'll just tease me... that's not that bad."

"Exactly," he nodded. "If you want, we can stay here until dinner. Not like we have any classes today anyways."

Oh that was such a relief. She would be so ashamed of herself if she ended up missing a class with the kids... Poor things would've been so disappointed and sad...

For the next couple of hours they just spent their time in his room rambling about things. Apparently half of Ethan's teachers decided to give him homework over the break, including this one presentation he had to prepare for in his history class. There was also going to be another debate tournament over at Saratoga Springs.

In return, she told him all about her missed assignments and how busy she had been dealing with that. When the topic of Sirius came up, he just scoffed and sneered at the very mention of him.

"It's good that you finally stood up for yourself," he commended. "And seriously, don't feel about it. You didn't do or say anything wrong."

"I pushed him, like, a bunch of times," she replied worriedly. "Gods, what if I really hurt him?"

"You should've punched him in the face." He said bluntly. "And who cares if your pushes hurt? He's been hurting you for a lot longer with the way he's been treating you, and that's a lot worse than any physical pain you gave him."

"It felt good to let it all out... I can't wait for the year to be over so I can finally transfer to Goode," she smiled at him. "Even though you would've already graduated..."

"We'll still be living with each other," he grinned.

"Yeah, and the Stolls too!" She added cheerfully, and his face dramatically fell. "And Percy'll be in Goode once we get him back! Nico will be with us as well!"

"Yippee," he said in a dry tone.

Esmerelda suddenly gasped. "Oh my gods, I just realized something!"

"What?" He grew concerned.

"Today's the last day for Jason, Leo, and Piper's quest! And they're not back yet!" She exclaimed, eyes growing wide with horror.

"They're probably dead," he shrugged. "Which is a damn shame. Leo was cool. Jason and Piper were... well, they won't be missed."

"That's a terrible thing to say," she said, though she had been expecting the lackluster reaction. "They still have until tonight though..."

"If they're not here by dinner, they're probably somebody else's dinner," he said mercilessly. "And Hera's probably dead too, which is even better."

Well... she couldn't say anything against that last part...

When another hour passed and it was finally time for dinner, the pair of them headed out for the dining pavilion only for Essie to give up not even three steps out of the cabin later. 

"I'm dying," she wheezed, her body aching all over. "Ethan, just go without me and let me starve..." 

"You are so over-dramatic, you know that?" Ethan rolled his eye. 

"This is all your fault," she moped. "I never should've believed you when you said you were gonna go for 'one more round'."

Ethan wasn't even ashamed of himself. There was a wide grin when he remembered that time Esmerelda so naively believed his promise. 

"Alright, I'm sorry," he said without an ounce of guilt. "Here, I'll piggyback you there, okay?"

She sent him a withering look, "Fine. But once we get close enough, you can put me down." 

She didn't want people to see her being carried after all, their teasing would become worse. 

And so, she climbed onto his back and let him piggyback her towards the dining pavilion. Once she saw the lights and heard the loud chatter, she slowly eased off his back and braced herself to walk. 

She took one step and felt like dying all over again. 

"Ohhhh the painnnnn," she moaned in despair, wanting to curl up in a fetal position and just give up on life. "I'm never having sex with you again." 

Ethan just snorted. Yeah, sure, we'll see how that goes. He thought in amusement. 

As normally as she could, she forced herself to continue on walking while her evil boyfriend just watched, snickering under his breath. 

A good majority of the camp was already there by the time they arrived, and Esmerelda's face turned read when she saw a couple campers send them looks.

Like Ethan said, none of them were really judging her or anything equally as terrible. Instead, they were... embarrassingly suggestive. Several kids were waggling their brows at them, some were shooting them shit eating grins, and good gods the Aphrodite kids were going crazy over their excited gossiping. She even spotted Drew lifting up her glass as if to give her congratulatory cheers. Clarisse was leaning back, arms crossed, and a smirk plastered over her face. The Stolls were snickering to themselves and elbowing each other.

Other than that, there were also a bunch of other campers grumbling and handing money over to people. Those were probably the ones who lost the, um... bet.

The only one who seemed to have no idea what was going on was Chiron, who was distractedly playing a game of pinochle with a satyr (it was weird not seeing him play with Mr. D instead). The younger kids too, didn't understand what was going on, which was a relief because if any of the older kids mentioned it to them she would've fainted from the horror.

It was still embarrassing, but at least nobody was trying to emotionally harm them.

"Told you, it'd be fine." Ethan muttered to her ear once they entered the pavilion.

She gave him a sheepish look before reaching up to peck him on the cheek and grabbing her food. Even better was that today they were having pizza! A rarity!

Lou Ellen was staring at her with deadpanning eyes once she came to the Hecate table. Esmerelda tried to not to look too suspicious as she slowly sat down on her seat, hiding back a grimace as she did so.

"Sooo," the younger girl drawled. "You two finally got laid?"

"Lou!" She grew flustered. "Lower your voice!"

"Dude, everyone in camp knows you two fucked." She snorted in amusement. "The Stolls told Katie, who told Mabel, who told me—even though I already knew—then she told Clarisse in passing, then she told Drew, who told her siblings, and they all told everyone."

Esmerelda sank in her seat.

"Plus," she continued on mercilessly. "Some people were already suspicious when neither of you guys showed up for dinner after the game."

Her face burned hot. At this point, she was just begging that the walls of the Nemesis cabin were thick enough to block out their... noises last night.

Thankfully, Lou Ellen didn't mention anything about hearing suspicious sounds the night prior, so Esmerelda was able to eat her pizza in peace (somewhat, people were still waggling their eyebrows at her and Ethan). Annoyingly enough, Ethan was completely unfazed by their teasing. She even heard one conversation that went like this:

"Hey, Ethan!" One brave dude from the Ares cabin whispered over to him, a shit eating grin plastered on his face. "Where were you last night, huh?"

"Getting laid, unlike you." Was Ethan's swift and callous reply.

The boy's face fell, and his siblings had to pat him on the back and shove food in his mouth to distract him from the burn.

How does he do it? Esmerelda wondered, watching the scene curiously. Did Ethan just have tougher skin than her? That was probably it...

She was just about to reach out for pizza when Drew's shriek suddenly caught her attention. She whirled around, certain that a monster had somehow reached the pavilion area, only to freeze at the scene.

Jason, Leo, and Piper were back from their quest. 

Without any warning, they had just appeared in the middle of the dining pavilion, standing on top of the Aphrodite cabin. Piper had one foot in Drew's pizza (which was probably why she screamed), Jason had tipped over a boy's goblet of mango juice, and Leo was already leaping off the table. He ran to the nearest bronze brazier and threw up in it—which was probably not a great burnt offering for the gods.

"I knew there was a reason why I liked you," Ethan muttered to himself, nodding in approval at Leo's actions.

"Jason?" Chiron trotted forward, looking flabbergasted. "What—How—?"

"Hi," Piper greeted them weakly. "We're back."

Jason, Leo, and Piper were bombarded with questions, and the second Jason mentioned gaining some of his memories back, Esmerelda quickly gobbled up the rest of her pizza and Mist traveled away because nope! She wasn't gonna deal with that!

When he gets his memories back, I'll have to apologize, she told herself before slipping into bed and falling asleep.

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Drew woke up early as usual. She freshened up, got dressed, and put on her makeup. She did everything a lot slower than her normal pace and by the time she finished putting on her favorite pink eyeliner and eyeshadow combination, most of her siblings were already up and ready.

"Drew," Mitchell said pointedly. "You know what you have to do, right?"

"Hmm."

He rolled his eyes. "Drew."

"Yes, okay," she hissed, snatching her shimmery lip gloss off the vanity. "I'm apologizing to Piper."

Even though she had tried to do that the night before. Drew internally cringed at the memory of it. When dinner ended and everyone filed back to their cabins, she had tried to approach the girl, but chickened out and said "sweet dreams, hon!" instead. Ugh. Embarrassing.

"Do you know what to say?" Lacy chimed.

"I was supposed to prepare beforehand? What is this, a high school presentation?" She scoffed. "I got this, alright?"

She actually didn't. For the second time since her confrontation on spa day, she was nervous and worse, scared. She was very much aware that she was a huge bitch to everyone, but she was a bitch that cared... she just didn't like to show that soft, mushy side of her.

And now she was going to apologize, which was like, one of the softest and mushiest things ever. Gross.

But Piper did deserve an apology, even if something about her seriously got on her nerves (maybe it was the look of disgust she sent at one of her brothers when he walked into the cabin with a pastel pink sweater, or maybe it was the way she rolled her eyes when one of her sisters broke out into tears because of a bad breakup).

Either way, Drew treated her wrong and she needed to do the right thing and apologize.

After applying her lip gloss, Drew finally rose from her vanity. Piper was already stirring awake. She waited until the younger girl finished stretching and approached her.

"Morning." Piper sat up and smiled. "Beautiful day."

"Yeah, um," she muttered, and she could feel Piper's confusion from the uncharacteristic timid attitude. "First off, I'm, uh, glad that you and your friends came back from the quest alive. And secondly... well, I'd like to apologize."

Piper stared at her dumbly. "What?"

"You heard me," she grumbled, her face heating up. This was already so hard to do, and it didn't help that the rest of their siblings were watching them with bated breaths. "I treated you like shit when you came here, even worse when I found out we were sisters. I'm sorry about that."

Piper was still dumbfounded, and it took her a few seconds to recover from the shock of Drew actually apologizing.

"Well it's too late," she finally responded. "You can take your apology and shove it, Drew."

Drew blinked. "Excuse me?"

"You didn't just treat me like shit, you treat your own siblings like shit! The Rite of Passage? Are you kidding me?" She glared.

"Actually," one of their siblings entered the conversation. "Drew already apologized to us and we forgave her."

"She also took down the Rite of Passage," another added.

Piper was stunned, but she wasn't quite finished yet. "You still tried to steal Jason from me!"

Drew gawked at her. "What are you talking about? Jason was never yours to begin with! Your relationship's not real remember? Gods, I should've realized you were delusional when Essie told me you refused to get your true memories back!"

"She told you what?!" She shrieked. "I'm not delusional!"

"I'm the one who said that, Essie just mentioned that you didn't want your real memories," Drew snapped in her friend's defense.

"You know what Drew," Piper said through gritted teeth. "You're a complete bitch and I'm taking your role as senior counselor."

She busted out laughing. "You're gonna what?"

"You heard me," she replied, lifting her chin up defiantly. "I'm challenging you for it. Camp rules: I've been claimed by Aphrodite. I've completed a quest, which is one more than you've completed. If I feel I can do a better job, I can challenge you. Unless you just want to step down. Did I get all that right, Mitchell?"

"Uh... yeah..." Mitchell replied, clearly uncomfortable with how this was going. In fact, none of their siblings were happy with this.

"There's no way I'm stepping down!" Drew exclaimed angrily.

"A duel, then," Piper said cheerfully. "If you don't want to wait until noon, now is fine. You've turned this cabin into a dictatorship, Drew. Silena Beauregard knew better than that. Aphrodite is about love and beauty. Being loving. Spreading beauty. Good friends. Good times. Good deeds. Not just looking good. Silena made mistakes, but in the end she stood by her friends. That's why she was a hero. I'm going to set things right, and I've got a feeling Mom will be on my side. Want to find out?"

Drew couldn't believe the sort of shit she was spewing. How dare she preach about what her mother was about when she spent the entire time degrading her and everything she stood for?! And talking about Silena as if she knew her personally?!

Piper must have taken her silence as a sign of defeat because she got bolder.

"Oh, and Drew, honey?"

Drew gave her the most deadliest look.

"In case you think I'm not a true daughter of Aphrodite," Piper began. "Don't even look at Jason Grace. He may not know it yet, but he's mine. If you even try to make a move, I will load you into a catapult and shoot you across Long Island Sound."

The other kids were glancing at each other in wide-eyed horror.

Look, it was one thing to be boy crazy, but it was completely different to be crazy over a boy. Threatening someone over a boy who didn't even know her let alone had fake memories of was just plain crazy.

Piper McLean, they were beginning to realize, was genuinely not right in the head.

That was when Drew finally snapped. As quick as a lightning bolt, she had her hand wrapped around the younger girl's throat so tightly that she was gasping for air.

"You are absolutely fucking delusional," she said with growing fury, her sharp nails digging into Piper's skin. "How dare you fucking threaten me! And how dare you talk to me as if you knew Silena better than everyone in here! I've realized my mistakes and I'm trying to own up for it. But you want to challenge me? You think because you've gone on one quest—with zero training might I add—that you're hot shit all of a sudden?"

The confident look in Piper's was replaced by desperation as she tried to pry the hands off her neck. Drew finally granted her mercy and released her, pushing her back onto the bed.

"I may not have gone on any quests," Drew continued lowly. "But I've been here longer than you have, I've trained here longer than you have and I went through a fucking war to keep this world safe. You want to fight me? Then fine. Just make sure to put on some waterproof mascara for when you cry after I humiliate you."

Drew backed away and coolly addressed the rest of her siblings, "To breakfast everyone, we're already late."

Everyone was more than happy to shuffle out of the cabin. Drew was about to join them, but stopped at the door.

"Oh, and Piper, honey?" She said mockingly, turning back to face her. "You're no true daughter of Aphrodite. You don't represent anything about her. In fact, you've openly badmouthed everything we represent. Mom made a mistake with you."

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

Breakfast was interesting, to say the least. Esmerelda was just enjoying her eggs when the entire Aphrodite cabin finally filed into the dining pavilion, ten minutes late to breakfast. Rather than joining her siblings at the food table, Drew strode up to Chiron to angrily mutter something to him.

Whatever she said was clearly shocking. When Drew walked back to her siblings, Chiron cleared his throat and stomped with his hoof.

Everyone fell silent.

"Attention, everyone! I've just been informed of something on such a short notice, but I'm certain we can fit it in our schedules. Right after breakfast, please head on over to the amphitheater! Piper McLean of the Aphrodite cabin has challenged Drew Tanaka to a duel for the seat of senior counselor."

There was a lot of shocked murmurs. Over at the Hephaestus table, Leo spat out his milk to look at Piper incredulously, as if she was insane. Jason, at the Zeus table, was also staring at her in astonishment.

Esmerelda was also shocked speechless. Why would Piper want to be head counselor? Hadn't Drew apologized? Or did it not go well? Inquisitively, she glanced over at Ethan, but he was too busy laughing over his bowl of oatmeal to notice her. She had no idea what he found so funny about the situation... He had such an odd sense of humor, which was kind of cute.

"Good luck to Piper," Lou Ellen muttered before shoveling more of her breakfast burrito into her mouth. "Drew's gonna destroy her."

"Don't talk with your mouth full," Esmerelda chided, bringing Lou Ellen's goblet of water closer in case the girl would choke. "I wonder why she's doing this though... I mean... It's quite bold of her. She's only been in this demigod business for about a week."

"My bet's on Drew."

"Everyone's bets are gonna be on Drew," Esmerelda replied, mentally apologizing to Piper. No offense to her, but Drew was just a much more seasoned fighter and Piper was... very very new. 

When breakfast ended, everyone was really eager to rush over to the amphitheater for the fight. Ethan joined the two daughters of Hecate on the walk there, grinning like a maniac.

"I hope Drew obliterates her," was the first thing he said when he fell into step with them.

"Yeah Drew's totally gonna win," Lou Ellen grinned.

Esmerelda nodded in agreement, "Yep. No offense to Piper, but Drew's vicious on the battlefield."

The three of them finally made it to the amphitheater. The front row seats were already full, but all Ethan had to do was glare at a couple of campers and they were suddenly more than happy to let them have their seats.

"This is gonna be good," Ethan said eagerly, knee bouncing with anticipation.

Everyone was in the amphitheater now, waiting for the duel to start. The two daughters of Aphrodite were at the very center of the arena, about ten feet away from each other. Piper was dressed pretty simply, but Drew was the opposite. The tall girl was decked out in the most stylish of clothes: a black fur-lined coat, dark jeans, and four inch suede Louboutin boots with stiletto heels.

"How is she gonna fight in those?" Ethan blinked.

"I charmed the Aphrodite cabin's shoes so they would be comfortable forever," Esmerelda said smugly. "That way, they can fight in style."

He slowly nodded, seeing the benefits of that. "Yeah..." He murmured in agreement. "They can even use the heels as a stabbing tool..."

Chiron stomped on the ground and everyone fell into a hushed silence.

"The rules of the duel are as follows: killing and maiming are not allowed, and failure to follow this rule results in dessert privileges being taken away for a whole month!" He announced, and several people shuddered in horror.

He looked at the two girls. "Are you both ready?"

They nodded.

"Weapons out..." He said, already walking back.

Both girls pulled out their daggers.

"Begin!"

Esmerelda wished she could say that both girls fought a hard battle. That the duel consisted of vicious blows and swift strikes, and that it was close fought and nerve-wracking to watch. And that the audience spent hours cheering them on in the stands and just growing crazy like football fans would do when watching a game.

But in reality, it was embarrassingly short.

The second Chiron gave the green light, Drew shot forward like a viper. She deflected Piper's slash, came up behind her and grabbed the girl's dominant arm, twisting it around until a loud 'pop!' could be heard. Piper barely had any time to scream before Drew grabbed her by the shirt and threw her face first to the ground. She then lifted up her foot and pressed the famous red soles onto the back of Piper's head, forcing her down.

"Get—off of me—!" The girl rasped, struggling to lift her head up.

"Stop trying to Charmspeak me," Drew rolled her eyes. "It's not gonna work. Just concede already."

Chiron trotted over to them. "Piper," he said. "Do you surrender?"

Piper gritted her teeth, tears of frustration welling in her eyes.

"Yes," she finally bit out, and Drew lifted her foot off.

Ethan groaned as the amphitheater erupted in cheers.

"Are you kidding me?" He grumbled in disappointment. "She had the perfect chance to stab her with her stiletto and she didn't even take it."

"Well of course not," Esmerelda exclaimed, still clapping for Drew's win. "She'd get her dessert privileges taken away!"

"This was soooo quick," Lou Ellen complained, equally as disappointed as Ethan. "Drew should've at least dragged it out a little longer..."

"I know right?" Ethan agreed.

They weren't the only ones disappointed with how the battle went, everyone was wishing it had lasted a lot longer, but they understood why it ended so quickly—Piper had zero training before leaving on her four day long quest while Drew had been in camp since she was a little girl and was a veteran of the Second Titan War.

Everyone filed out of the amphitheater and slowly, went back to doing normal camp activities. Esmerelda spotted Drew's siblings patting her on the back in congratulations while Piper stormed off.

Esmerelda, Ethan, and Lou Ellen just barely made it out of the exits when the son of Jupiter called out to them—or Esmerelda in particular.

Lou Ellen was quick to leave the scene, "I'll see you guys later!" She said before rushing off.

Ethan scowl worsened once Jason reached them. "Whatever you want to say to her, you'll be saying to me too. I'm not leaving."

"That's fine," Jason replied, lips forming a deep frown. "Because I finally know where I recognize you guys from."

Esmerelda winced.

Ethan rose a brow. "I've never met you before."

"Not personally," he agreed. "But I've seen you. Back at San Francisco. You... you kidnapped her. She asked me for help."

"Well she doesn't need your help anymore," Ethan replied smoothly.

But Jason was no longer looking at him, he was looking at Esmerelda. "You're not really dating him, are you? He's just—just forcing you or something, right?"

"Oh that kidnapping scheme, that's, um," Esmerelda was understandably uncomfortable. "Ah, water under the bridge?"

His jaw dropped. "What—?!"

"See?" Ethan said smugly, wrapping an arm around her waist. The poor boy looked even more sickened by the action.

"No way..." Jason looked faint. "Dude, if you... if you put her under some mind control or whatever then you're sick in the head...!"

"The only one being mind controlled here is you," he smirked. "How was your quest, Jason? How was Piper? Did she try guilting you by telling you stories of all the fake memories she had of you dating? Because you know they're just fake, right? You don't have a duty to continue the boyfriend act just because she's desperate."

Ethan's words clearly struck a chord in him, but Jason shook it off. "Shut up," he mumbled. "Stop changing the subject, you're—"

"—Ethan never tricked me into a relationship," Esmerelda reassured him. "We've known each other since we were kids, but he joined the opposite sides. We only recently got together over the summer when he backstabbed Kronos during the war and nearly died for it. And we've loved each other a lot longer before that."

Jason looked at her hesitantly. "...You swear you're not being hurt by him? I see... um, marks around your neck."

Esmerelda's face instantly turned red and Jason kind of felt bad for bringing it up.

"T-those marks were consensual!" She squeaked, embarrassed.

"Yeah, besides, she returned the favor too," Ethan bragged, proudly showing off his own hickies.

Esmerelda let out a dying noise from the back of her throat before snatching his wrist away and covering his neck back up.

"Stop that!" She hissed, flushed.

This guy is totally shameless! Jason thought incredulously, gawking at Ethan.

"So..." He trailed off, looking between them in defeated horror. "You guys... are seriously a thing?"

He could not imagine a more wilder couple. Esmerelda just seemed way too good for Ethan, who he was pretty sure needed to be locked far, far away from any sort of civilization.

"Yes!" Esmerelda said brightly while Ethan just gave him a dry look as if he was saying 'what do you think, dumbass?'.

"...Oh," he said weakly. "Um... congrats then."

"Thanks!" She beamed.

"So if we're done here..." Ethan drawled, already glancing over towards the direction of the cabins.

"Hold on," he said quickly. "There's still one more thing I wanna ask: I only have that one memory of you guys, but have we met each other some other times? Did you... did you..."

Did you know I was Roman? was left unsaid, but the couple knew what he wanted to ask.

"I met you one other time, the year after our first meeting," Esmerelda explained. "It was pretty short, but Jason... I, um, I know you're Roman."

He sucked in a breath. "Yeah, I figured."

"I'm sorry," she apologized. "You kept going to me for help, but I just couldn't tell you..."

"Hera made her swear an oath," Ethan said darkly. "Essie couldn't tell me either, but I figured it out."

Jason was kind of impressed at how sharp he was. It wasn't very easy to piece together that Roman gods were real when everyone here probably spent their whole lives thinking something else.

(Little did he know, Ethan only figured it out because Esmerelda was complete shit at hiding things from him.)

"I'm really sorry," Esmerelda repeated, looking so painfully guilty there was no way Jason couldn't forgive her.

"It's fine," he reassured, sending her a tiny smile. "You would've gotten in a lot of trouble if you told. But..." He then trailed over to Ethan, his smile dropping. "You found out."

"Yep."

"...And you didn't tell me?"

He shrugged. "You were already gone."

"...You couldn't have sent me a Iris Message or whatever?" Jason's shoulders slumped.

"Nah."

"Wow, okay. Thanks."

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

Once Rachel and Annabeth returned from their fruitless search of Percy, the council finally began. All senior counselors gathered in the Big House rec room around a ping pong table, with one of the satyrs serving out nachos and sodas. Somebody had brought Seymour the leopard head in from the living room and hung him on the wall. Every once in awhile, a counselor would toss him a Snausage.

Leo had been named head counselor after his quest, so he was here right now participating in his first meeting. Piper was there too, but that was only because the topic of the meeting was the quest she had been on. She wasn't looking anyone in the face, keeping her head bowed and her fists balled as Drew casually filed her nails beside her.

Clarisse had her boots on the table, but nobody seemed to care. Clovis from Hypnos cabin was snoring in the corner while Butch from Iris cabin was seeing how many pencils he could fit in Clovis' nostrils. Travis was holding a lighter under a Ping-Pong ball to see if it would burn, and Will Solace from Apollo was absently wrapping and unwrapping an Ace bandage around his wrist. Temporary Demeter counselor, Miranda, was plaiting her own hair while Esmerelda supplied her with a color changing ribbon.

The only ones who seemed to be taking the meeting seriously was Ethan, but that was most likely because he always had this cold and stern look on his face. Esmerelda could tell that he was actually bored with everything. Then there was Annabeth who genuinely cared for what the meeting was about. Rachel sat beside Chiron, chewing on her lip nervously.

The meeting finally started when Jason arrived.

"Let's come to order," Chiron said. "Travis, if you'd kindly extinguish the flaming Ping-Pong ball, and Butch, I think twenty pencils is really too many for any human nostril. Thank you. Now, as you can see, Jason, Piper, and Leo have returned successfully... more or less. Some of you have heard parts of their story, but I will let them fill you in."

Everyone looked at Jason. He cleared his throat and began the story. Piper and Leo chimed in from time to time, filling in the details he forgot. He talked about meeting Khione and Boreas over at Quebec, and then they came up to the topic of Medea and the Doors of Death.

Esmerelda and Ethan glanced at each other knowingly. So it wasn't just monsters coming back to life, but people as well. That must have been what Nico realized. He sneaked into the Underworld to bring back Bianca.

Hope blossomed in her chest—even though she knew better than to trust that.

Did he successfully bring her back? Was that the girl he heard with him in the voice mail? No, that couldn't be it, Bianca didn't sound like that... The girl's voice sounded softer...

Then she thought about her dad. Images of him alive kept flashing through her head but she shoved the thoughts away. She couldn't reach the Underworld to take him out, so he would have to find a way to escape on his own. Besides, Thanatos and Hades would never allow him to stay alive. He'd die all over again and she'd lose him a second time.

Unless Hecate pulled something...

She was brought back to her thoughts when the Hunters of Artemis were mentioned and Jason just casually mentioned that he was actually Thalia Grace's sister. Annabeth didn't look very surprised about that, so she must've realized it or been told of it earlier. Then, he went on to talk about Gaea and Porphyrion, the Giant who held Hera captive at the Wolf House. Hera ended up killing all the monsters and Jason when she transformed, but Jason's spirit was able to come back on his own. Lastly, he talked about Juno visiting him at Cabin One.

"So Hera was here," Annabeth finally spoke up once he was done. "Talking to you."

Jason nodded. "Look, I'm not saying I trust her—"

"—That's smart," Annabeth nodded in approval.

"But she isn't making this up about another group of demigods. That's where I came from."

"Romans." Clarisse tossed Seymour a Snausage. "You expect us to believe there's another camp with demigods, but they follow the Roman forms of the gods. And we've never even heard of them."

Jason looked at Esmerelda pleadingly.

She let out a sigh and everyone turned to her.

"He's telling the truth," she confirmed. "The Romans are real. I found out about them because I realized I have a Roman half-brother who was also a wizard like me..."

Annabeth blinked, looking dumbfounded. "When was this? Why didn't you tell us?"

"I found out before the war," she answered grimly. "And when Hera found out I knew, she made me swear to keep silent because she had a plan—one that she never told me of, so I had no idea this was going to happen. But, anyways, I cut a deal with her instead: I keep my mouth about the Romans only if she swore to spare the surviving traitors of the Titan War."

Everyone's jaw dropped.

"You made a deal with Hera?!" Drew shrieked.

"Are you crazy?!" Travis gaped.

"She's not crazy, she's a genius," Ethan said, smirking proudly. "Threatening the Queen Bitch herself, I knew you had it in you."

"Wait," Annabeth narrowed her eyes. "Did you know about this too?"

"Of course I did," he answered like it was nothing.

"Did you swear an oath like Essie did?"

"Nope."

Her eyes turned into saucers. "Wha—then how did you know? Essie couldn't have told you!"

"I figured it out, duh," he rolled his eye, leaning back against the chair and crossing his arms.

It was Chiron's turn to stare at him. "How long have you known?"

"Since Jason arrived," he said. "It wasn't very hard to piece it together, all you had to do was look over at Essie. Her face literally gave everything away."

"Ethan!" Said girl whined, sinking in her chair. "You didn't have to call me out like that..."

"I'm sorry, babe. I'll give you some lying lessons to make it up." He promised.

"Stop corrupting her," Annabeth deadpanned. "And why didn't you tell us any of this if you knew? You weren't bound by oath."

Ethan shrugged. "I just didn't want to."

Annabeth looked like she could stab him right then and there.

"Anyways!" Esmerelda interrupted. "I also met Jason before all this happened."

This time, Piper looked up, staring at her sharply. "You have?" She asked Jason.

Jason felt a little unnerved by her stare. "Yeah, we have, but she just couldn't tell me. That's why she was always vaguely familiar to me. We met a couple years ago when Ethan... kidnapped Essie." He fell silent after that, looking around the table and expecting them to break out into horrified gasps and screaming outrage at the son of Nemesis.

Instead, nobody did. The only ones who were shocked were Piper and Leo.

"Honey," Drew sighed. "That's such old news."

He looked at everyone, horrified. "Hold on, you guys already knew about this?!"

"Yeah," several campers replied.

What the fuck, Jason thought. He was glad that at least Leo and Piper were reacting appropriately.

"Can we go back to Essie making a deal with Hera?" Clarisse cut the conversation off, turning to the daughter of Hecate. "She could've killed you!"

Esmerelda shook her head. "No, she wouldn't. She needed me for something, that's how I knew she would have no choice but to accept the deal."

"You're part of the Nine," Rachel suddenly said. "Aren't you? That was what Hera needed you for."

She paled at the prospect. "We'll decide on that later. What's important now is that the Romans are real. Hera told me that the gods worked together to keep the Greeks and Roman apart with the Mist because every time they saw each other, they would try to kill each other."

"I can respect that," Clarisse said. "So the Mist is why we never ran into each other?"

"Yes," Chiron said sadly. "And they've had to use it many times. It's always a tragedy when both groups meet, and always the gods do their best to wipe clean the memories of those involved. The rivalry goes all the way back to the Trojan War, Clarisse. The Greeks invaded Troy and burned it to the ground. The Trojan hero Aeneas escaped, and eventually made his way to Italy, where he founded the race that would someday become Rome. The Romans grew more and more powerful, worshipping the same gods but under different names, and with slightly different personalities."

"More warlike," Jason said. "More united. More about expansion, conquest, and discipline."

"Yuck," Travis put in. Several of the others looked equally uncomfortable, though Clarisse shrugged like it sounded okay to her.

Annabeth twirled her knife on the table. "And the Romans hated the Greeks. They took revenge when they conquered the Greek isles, and made them part of the Roman Empire."

"Not exactly hated them," Jason corrected. "The Romans admired Greek culture, and were a little jealous. In return, the Greeks thought the Romans were barbarians, but they respected their military power. So during Roman times, demigods started to divide—either Greek or Roman."

"And it's been that way ever since," Annabeth guessed. "But this is crazy. Chiron, where were the Romans during the Titan War? Didn't they want to help?"

Chiron tugged at his beard. "They did help, Annabeth. While you and Percy were leading the battle to save Manhattan, who do you think conquered Mount Othrys, the Titans' base in California?"

"Wait," Ethan suddenly said, looking at Jason with a mild shock in his eye, before looking back down at the SPQR tattoo on his wrist. "You were the reason why Kronos sent half of our forces over there... And as for that tattoo..."

"You find it familiar, don't you?" Chiron questioned knowingly. "Romans have also joined Kronos' forces and you fought alongside them, except you just didn't realize it. Kronos sent them to defend Mount Othrys, to face their Roman peers while Greek demigods faced their own."

"Time out," Leo finally spoke up, looking at Ethan weirdly. "Uh, you fought along them? The bad guys?"

"Yeah," Ethan replied bluntly. "I was Kronos' lieutenant."

"Oh," he said awkwardly. "That's, uh, nice."

"Thanks."

"Anyways," Jason cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Yeah. Camp Jupiter destroyed the palace. I defeated the Titan Krios myself."

"The Bay Area." Annabeth stated. "We demigods were always told to stay away from it because Mount Othrys was there. But that wasn't the only reason, was it? The Roman camp—it's got to be somewhere near San Francisco. I bet it was put there to keep watch on the Titans' territory. Where is it?"

Chiron shifted in his wheelchair. "I cannot say. Honestly, even I have never been trusted with that information. My counterpart, Lupa, is not exactly the sharing type. Jason's memory, too, has been burned away. Unless Esmerelda knows?"

She shook her head, "Sorry, I know as much as you all do about the location."

"The camp's heavily veiled with magic," Jason said. "And heavily guarded. We could search for years and never find it."

"But you'll try, won't you?" Rachel asked. "You'll build Leo's boat, the Argo II. And before you make for Greece, you'll sail for the Roman camp. You'll need their help to confront the giants."

"Bad plan," Clarisse warned. "If those Romans see a warship coming, they'll assume we're attacking."

"You're probably right," Jason agreed. "But we have to try. I was sent here to learn about Camp Half-Blood, to try to convince you the two camps don't have to be enemies. A peace offering."

"Hmm," Rachel mused. "Because Hera is convinced we need both camps to win the war with the giants. Nine heroes of Olympus—some Greek, some Roman."

Annabeth nodded. "Your Great Prophecy—what's the last line?"

"And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death."

"Gaea has opened the Doors of Death," she said. "She's letting out the worst villains of the Underworld to fight us. Medea, Midas—there'll be more, I'm sure. Maybe the line means that the Roman and Greek demigods will unite, and find the doors, and close them."

"Or it could mean they fight each other at the doors of death," Clarisse pointed out. "It doesn't say we'll cooperate."

There was silence as the campers let that happy thought sink in.

"I'm going," Annabeth decided. "Jason, when you get this ship built, let me go with you."

"I was hoping you'd offer," Jason said. "You of all people—we'll need you."

"Wait." Leo frowned. "I mean that's cool with me and all. But why Annabeth of all people?"

"Hera said my coming here was an exchange of leaders," Jason stated. "A way for the two camps to learn of each other's existence."

"Yeah?" Leo said. "So?"

"An exchange goes two ways," Jason explained. "When I got here, my memory was wiped. I didn't know who I was or where I belonged. Fortunately, you guys took me in and I found a new home. I know you're not my enemy. The Roman camp—they're not so friendly. You prove your worth quickly, or you don't survive. They may not be so nice to him, and if they learn where he comes from, he's going to be in serious trouble."

"Him?" Leo said. "Who are you talking about?"

"My boyfriend," Annabeth said grimly. "He disappeared around the same time Jason appeared. If Jason came to Camp Half-Blood—"

"Exactly," Jason agreed. "Percy Jackson is at the other camp, and he probably doesn't even remember who he is."

— author's note —

Dun, dun, DUUUUUNNNNNNNNNNN!!!

(That last line always fucked me up, omg, I literally have shivers every time I read it)

HERE ARE MORE FAN STUFF SOME PEOPLE GAVE TO ME 💖

whimsicaImelody made me a gif of Essie THROUGH THE YEARS OMFG:

THEY ALSO MADE AN AESTHETIC:

The fucking pomeranian puppy in the corner omgggg 💕 💕 💕

SRNeva also made me this too! Look at babey Essie 🥺

-ophee made me a gif too and it's hella chilling :D

Okay, so you know how Jason died (for the first time) by looking at Hera when she transformed into her full form and shit??? Well, in here, he comes back to life on his own through the Doors of Death thing! I mainly did that to avoid the "Piper charmspeaking him back to life" BS.

Here are the boots Drew wore to step on Piper:

I'm gonna go on a mini rant so WARNING!

I HATE HOW RICK MADE THE APHRODITE KIDS LOOK SO WEAK AS IF THEY DIDN'T JUST GO THROUGH A FUCKING WAR WTF!

Also, they don't fight or train in camp??? BULLSHIT! They would be DEAD if they never trained, wanna know why? BECAUSE THEY ARE DEMIGODS, THEY ARE STILL BEING HUNTED DOWN.

Everyone in CHB trains. I doubt Chiron would let anyone, let alone a whole cabin, just slack off on that. Camp Half-Blood trains the demigods on survival! Plus, it's canon that Drew and Lacy and probably other Aphrodite kids aren't year-rounders. That means they actually go outside of camp borders where the blood thirsty monsters are! If they really 'didn't train' THEN THEY WOULD BE DEAD.

🙄 🙄 🙄 The Aphrodite kids really suffered a huge downgrade in HOO and I haaaate it!!! Which is why I refuse to do any 'children of aphrodite do nothing but stare at themselves all day' thing here. NOPE. I hate that. In this series, all children of Aphrodite are just as well-trained as every other camper, they just kill monsters with ✨style✨

(I think I might actually do a full-on rant about this bullshit in my guidebook so look out for that lmao)