▬▬▬ CHAPTER TWENTY TWO ▬▬▬

Amour Fou means 'crazy love' or 'uncontrollable or obsessive passion' btw

⚠️ WARNING ⚠️

FORBIDDEN TANGO AGAIN HAHAHAHA!

Yes you heard me right! The second forbidden tango scene in this book, you're all very welcome! Again, the full smut is in the separate book. The steamy scene happens in the middle of the book so if you wanna read the full thing you got two choices:

A) You can wait until you finish the whole chapter and then go to the Church of Essie to read the smut

or B) You can leave the middle of the chapter to go to the Church of Essie for the smut scene, and then come back to read the rest of the chapter. 

Your choice!

(Also, since Essie's gonna be going back to Hogwarts soon, there won't be another smut scene in a while I'm sorry 😔)

AND UM, TO CUTETRASH WHO MENTIONED THAT ESSAN DIDN'T GET THE PLAN B IN THE LAST CHAPTER UHHHHH LET'S JUST PRETEND THEY DID, OKAY?? 😳😳😳

FOR THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS, the entire camp had been working overtime to help Leo build the Argo II. Campers were spread around to gather supplies, mainly Celestial bronze. Thanks to Esmerelda's handy ability of Mist traveling, she was almost always tasked with gathering the magical metal.

She was grouped in with some other kids, Ethan (naturally), Leo, Piper, and Jason because someone thought that would be a funny idea. 

They were all the way at the New Jersey Shore, split up into smaller groups, with her and Ethan paired together. They pretty much just busied themselves on picking up the metal scraps (while also enjoying the stores). It was snowing and freezing cold, but the two of them were walking around like it was still summer time thanks to the really useful heating charms she used on their clothes.

Celestial bronze wasn't easy to find. They usually entered the human world whenever Hephaestus got frustrated with his works and would throw the scraps away—and they would always land somewhere random. So they could literally be anywhere.

You would think the mortals would notice chunks of bronze metal laying around, right? Except, the Mist was covering them up too. To the mortals, the Celestial bronze would look like pieces of litter, which was helpful because at least they didn't have to worry about mortals picking them up (unless they were purposely picking up the "trash" for the good of the environment—then good for them!).

"Found one!" Esmerelda cheered, hurrying forward to dig out a large chunk of bronze from the snow. She shrunk it down to the size of a marble before stuffing it into the pockets of her skirt where the other scraps were.

"We've got about forty now," Ethan mumbled, counting the shrunken Celestial bronze he had. "And three hours have already passed. We should meet over to Blaze Pizza—everyone's probably already there."

And he was right. Leo, Piper, and Jason were already over at the restaurant, sitting outside probably because there were no longer any spots left in the building.

"It's freezing," Jason muttered, obviously not used to the weather. He was a California boy after all. He looked at the couple incredulously once they joined them. "How are you guys wearing that but not cold?"

"Heating charms!" Esmerelda said brightly.

He blinked. "Huh?"

"She put a spell on our clothes to heat them up, that way we wouldn't feel cold." Ethan explained in a dull tone, before adding an unnecessary, "Duh."

She pinched his side, and he barely flinched.

"Hold on," Piper spoke up, a scowl on her face. "This entire time you had the ability to warm us up and you never bothered to mention it?"

Esmerelda felt embarrassed at the realization. "O-oh, I'm sorry, I just forgot—"

"—It's not her job to fix your problems," Ethan sneered. "Not like she can, though. You'd need a whole team of specialists to help you deal with your issues."

Leo cleared his throat up, "So, uh, who wants pizza?"

That was enough to cease the increasing banter... for just a couple of minutes. Ever since Piper's quick loss against Drew for the senior counselor role, she had been bitter and snappy about anything mildly annoying. Esmerelda couldn't blame her, she was practically humiliated in front of the entire camp. 

They were in the middle of enjoying their lunch when Jason asked, "So how much Celestial bronze did you guys found? Piper and I found six. They're in our bags right now."

"I found four," Leo grunted in disappointment. "There was a fifth one, but it was way too heavy for me to carry. Essie, Ethan, what about you guys?"

"Forty in all," Ethan said smugly. "Essie shrunk them down so they were lighter and we can carry them in our pockets."

"So you can shrink stuff too," Piper said flatly, and Ethan's face went back to his scowl.

Jason sighed, "Piper, please—"

"—Can someone pass me a napkin?" Leo interrupted loudly.

"Here," Esmerelda joined in, equally as loud, before handing him a napkin. "So, uh, you guys enjoying the pizza?"

Piper huffed, but fell silent, while Ethan aggressively shoved more pizza into his mouth. Jason and Esmerelda shot each other despairing looks, but while doing that, she noticed that Jason was seriously shivering. He didn't have anything but the clothes on his back when he arrived at camp, and he was able to get some warmer clothes at the camp store, but he obviously underestimated the weather...

Nervously, she cleared her throat, "Um, Jason, if you want, I can putting a heating charm on your clothes right now. I can tell that you're freezing."

"Yes please," he said quickly.

She reached out to touch his arm, and the second her fingers tapped the sleeve of his jacket, a warm sensation coursed through his body, like there was a built in heater somewhere within his clothes. Slowly, he stopped shivering and finally relaxed.

"Awesome," he grinned, looking down at his clothes. He put his palm over his jacket and could feel the heat emitting from it. Warm enough to keep him feeling nice and toasty, but not too warm to make him a gross, sweaty mess.

"Isn't it?!" She perked up. "There's sooo many spells for day-to-day things—there's even a spell that lets me cool my clothes for the summer!"

"Can you make things float?" He asked eagerly.

"Yeah!"

Ethan sat in-between them, listening as they talked about magic and fuming with jealousy. He knew his girlfriend would never pick anyone else over him, but the way Jason kept behaving towards her always irked him.

He was always a lot more casual and friendly with her—like right now, where he was literally geeking out over her magic—and Ethan was pretty damn sure Jason was under the impression that Esmerelda needed 'saving' from him.

He glared as Jason scooted closer to watch Esmerelda unshrink one of the Celestial bronze scraps she found. As annoyed as he was with the scene, he decided not to say anything. Esmerelda looked so happy to show off and talk about all the spells she learned at school, and he wasn't going to do anything that would dim that pretty smile of hers.

Jason though... well, as long as Jason stayed in his lane, then he wouldn't have to do anything too drastic.

Piper however, she was a different story. While Jason stood behind the boundary line, Piper was stepping right on it, her toe just dangerously scraping the other side. 

Ethan really wanted to kill her. Like, for real. He wanted to gauge her eyes out every time he saw her give Esmerelda scathing looks, he wanted to slit her throat every time she spoke rudely to her or used a passive-aggressive tone, hell, just seeing her anywhere near Esmerelda made him want to throw a knife between her eyes. 

He knew why Piper hated her so much. Esmerelda was everything she hated: feminine and proud of it. She could kick ass too, which was just pouring more salt into the wound since Piper had it engraved in her head that femininity equaled weakness. 

But the one thing Piper hated the most about her? Jason was a lot more comfortable around her. It was the same reason why Ethan was so jealous, but for Piper it was worse because while Jason was comfortable with Esmerelda, he was the exact opposite with her. 

Ethan was quick to notice it. Jason always looked uncomfortable whenever Piper shot him goo-goo eyes or touched any part of his body. Perhaps his words had actually gotten into the boy's head. As much as he hated him, Ethan figured he should at least be aware that he didn't have to play along with Piper's delusions and that their relationship was based off of fake Mist memories. 

Esmerelda, being so cutely naive, didn't notice Piper's growing animosity towards her. Ethan was perfectly fine with that, he didn't mind shielding her from it. He was actually starting to prefer it more. For months on end, her mood had been plummeting thanks to Hogwarts. It only started to improve once she returned to camp. Camp was supposed to be her safe place (aside from their house) and Ethan intended to keep it that way. 

If she realized how much Piper really hated her, she would be crushed. Her mood would go down once more. Images of how depressed she used to be flashed through his head, and Ethan just couldn't allow that to happen again. He'd kill Piper first before that could happen. 

(Esmerelda would probably feel a little saddened if Piper were to die, but that was okay. She wouldn't be devastated anyways. Plus, he was always good at covering up his tracks.)

Once they finished up with their lunch, it was finally time to head back to camp. Jason called forth Tempest to carry him and Piper, while Ethan and Leo relied on Esmerelda to Mist travel them back. 

"Thank gods," Leo sighed in relief as they walked over to the forges to drop off the Celestial bronze. "I can't wait to get rid of this heavy weight..." 

"I should've shrunk them for you, sorry," Esmerelda apologized sheepishly. 

He shook his head. "Nah, it's fine. I'm just glad we separated from those two. Ethan, you really hate those guys, huh? I would've found it entertaining, but I had a feeling you were gonna snap... Surprised you didn't." 

"Oh trust me, I was gonna," Ethan muttered darkly. "They're lucky I focused more on the pizza instead." 

"Shocking," Leo grinned. "Hey Essie, did you realize how jealous your man was when you and Jason started talking?" 

"Leo!" Esmerelda gasped. "You don't just announce things like that. A-and Ethan, you know we didn't mean anything of it. Jason and I are just friends..." 

"I always thought he had a crush on you," Leo rambled, and Ethan grew more tense. "The dude's, like, always staring at you and—"

"—Okay, that's enough," Ethan bit out. 

Leo snickered, "Come on, man, you can't deny that he's—"

"—We're leaving," Ethan announced, grabbing Esmerelda's hand and beginning to pull her away. "We'll drop off the Celestial bronze later, Leo." 

She let out a breathless giggle as Ethan dragged her away.

"Ethan, come on, you know he was just messing with you," she said good-naturedly. "I'm sure Jason doesn't really have a crush on me, and even if he did, it doesn't matter. I'm with you, remember?"

"Leo's right," he fumed as they drew closer to the armory. "Jason's always fucking looking at you... and did you see how close he got to you back at the pizza place? I'm sick of him never understanding any boundaries!" 

He burst into the armory, which was completely empty save for the unused weapons. He pulled her inside, his mind burning with rage, jealousy, and a craving for her. 

"You're so cute when you're jealous," she cooed, reaching out to cup his cheek. She was oblivious to what she had done, only realizing her mistake a little too late when Ethan snatched her by the wrist, his eye dark.

"W-what's—"

"—Enough," he growled, backing her against the farthest wall.

Her heart rate quickened. Her eyes flickered with fear and excitement.

"Ethan..." She laughed nervously, her face turning a pretty pink. "You can't be serious. We already did... t-that last night, and I'm still so sore...!"

But he obviously was too pissed about the teasing to care. He whirled her body around and pressed her front against the wall, one hand pinning her there while the other undid his pants.

She could feel his hand creeping up her skirt. His fingers slid her underwear to side and something hard prodded her entrance.

"Someone can walk in here!" She panicked.

"I know," he murmured, his lips latched onto the side of her neck, and she began to care less about who could see them.

"Ethan, please...!" She quietly whined, desperately pushing back against him for more.

"Just shut up," he said in a menacing tone that made the lower part of her stomach go hot. "And take it."

He thrust himself all the way in, and Esmerelda knew she was going to be spending the next hour trying to hold back her moans.

(Options: continue on reading or head on over to the Church of Essie 😉)

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

Ethan was hoping the morning after that would be as peaceful as the last time, but he was rudely woken up by someone splashing water at his face. 

He nearly fell off the bed. "Wha—Essie, what are you doing?!"

She stopped using the water conjuring spell to glare at him, but her face was too flushed with embarrassment that she looked more cute than genuinely angry. 

"It hurts to walk," she admitted, growing redder. 

A satisfied smirk crawled over his face. 

"It's not funny, you asshole!" She whined. "I have a class to teach in the next hour! Oh gods, the kids'll be so disappointed..."

Ethan was going to regret this, but the words were already slipping out of his mouth, "I'll teach them for the day." 

Her face lit up. "You will?!" 

"I'm not gonna give them any cupcakes or cookies or whatever the hell you feed them after every lesson," he grumbled. 

"Awww, but Ethan, they'll be so happy..." She frowned, looking at him pleadingly. 

"I'll tell them 'good job' if they manage to hit the bullseye," he offered dully. "Now come on, do you want me to help you walk to the bathroom?" 

She blushed, "Yes please..."

After they both bathed (this time with a bath bomb that she was really excited about), they both dressed up. The amount of times Esmerelda ended up staying the night at the Nemesis cabin had prompted the pair of them to just transfer some of her clothes into his room just in case (though she did enjoy wearing Ethan's oversized sweaters from time to time). 

"Be nice to the kids!" Esmerelda said, pecking him on the cheek after he delivered her some breakfast. 

He grunted in reply before pecking her back and leaving the cabin. 

Lou Ellen was right outside the door waiting for him.

He froze. "Uh..."

"She's in there, isn't she?" Lou Ellen asked knowingly. 

"Yeah. Um, sorry." He apologized awkwardly. 

She shook her head. "No, dude, it's perfectly fine. Better you guys do that in your cabin then in ours," she said with a shiver. 

Ethan didn't have the heart to tell her that they practically did it almost everywhere, so he just nodded and avoided eye contact. 

"Is she just gonna stayed holed up in there, though?" Lou Ellen asked, frowning slightly. "'Cause she's got a class to teach in a couple of minutes."

"I'm substituting for her," he explained. 

Her face fell in realization. "Oh... because of... oh. Okay. I, uh... I'll see you later then..." 

She scurried out of there, shuddering as she did so. 

Whoops, Ethan thought as he watched her leave. My bad. 

He hurried on over to the training area where a familiar group of young kids were waiting for him. They watched him curiously as he stood before them. 

"Essie's not feeling well," he began. "So I'm substituting for her." 

He didn't even get a chance to finish what he was saying when one of the kids raised their hand in the air. 

"Yeah?"

"What's your name?" The little boy asked in a high pitched voice. 

"Ethan Nakamura—"

"—Who's your godly parent?" He asked eagerly. 

He sighed. "Nemesis." 

The kids ooh-ed and ahh-ed at that. 

A little girl raised her hand. Ethan vaguely recognized her as one of the youngest Aphrodite members.

"Yes?" He said impatiently. 

"Is Miss Essie your giiiiiiiirrrrlfrriiiiieeeeend?" She sang in a teasing voice. 

The kids looked around each other withed dropped jaws, giggling, and whispering excitedly. Oh great, he was stuck with the gossipy kids. Figures Esmerelda would have them as students... Unless they were gossipy because of her... Yeah, he could see that.

"How'd you know that, Cece?" Another girl asked. 

"I saw them do lot's of stuff together!" Cece, the Aphrodite kid, answered proudly. 

Ethan immediately stiffened. "Hold on, what sort of 'stuff' are you talking about?"

Gods, if Esmerelda found out that one of her own students saw them doing it, she would be so ashamed... and then she'd get over it and hunt him down. 

"I always see you guys holding hands and kissing and stuff!" Cece replied, and he relaxed. 

"Oh, okay," thank fucking gods, he thought with relief. "Right, okay. Yes, we're dating. That's all you need to know, so get your knives out and we can start the lesson." 

Ethan wasn't used to teaching kids so young, but surprisingly, it wasn't that bad. They weren't absolute disasters at knife throwing—Esmerelda had certainly taught them well—and some were actually pretty close to striking the bullseye. 

Even better was that they weren't bratty like a certain son of Hades. Hell, he was sure if he gave them all untoasted sandwiches with the crusts still on them that they would all take it gratefully. A good majority of them were younger than the brat too, yet they were still so well-behaved. 

Essie's gotta stop spoiling that evil little gremlin, he thought. If he's at Camp Jupiter, then I hope they serve him untoasted sandwiches with the crust on. 

Anyways, the kids were great. There was just one problem. Because of how young they were, some of them needed... extra help on certain things. 

Like right now: 

He looked down when he felt someone tap his arm. It was the youngest of the bunch, four year old little Tanvik. 

"Yeah?" He quirked a brow. 

"I gotta go pee," the kid said, doing his own little pee-pee dance. 

"You can go, then," he replied. 

Tanvik just blinked up at him. "I need you to go with me." 

"What." 

"I can't use the restrooms because there's no stool or potty seat, so I gotta go to my cabin," he explained. 

Ethan just stared at him, struggling to compute his words. "And... why do I have to go with you?"

"My cabin's far," he replied. "I don't wanna walk alone..." 

Ethan finally sighed in defeat. 

"Alright fine, just hold on..." He trailed off, looking around. There was no way he was going to leave a bunch of knife-wielding children unsupervised, so he needed someone to temporarily watch over them while he walked the kid back to his cabin. 

He spotted a lone Hermes kid hacking away at a dummy and barked, "HEY!

The kid jumped, nearly dropping his sword onto his foot. He whirled around and stared at Ethan fearfully. 

"Over here," he ordered, and the kid scrambled forward. 

"Y-yes?" The boy stammered. 

"I need you to watch over them while I'm gone," he said curtly. "Give them a ten minute break. I don't wanna see any knife-throwing when I come back, got it?" 

The boy nodded quickly. 

Ethan gave him one last warning scowl before gesturing Tanvik to follow after him. They just managed to leave the training grounds when he felt a tiny hand grasped his. 

Ethan stared down at the kid, who was peering back up at him. 

"What are you doing." He said. 

"Holding your hand?" Tanvik blinked. "You walk too fast." 

Ethan had to slow down, but even then the kid wouldn't let his hand go. He would try to sneakily slip his hand off, but the son of Euphrosyne had a good grip on him. 

Fine. Whatever. 

They reached the Euphrosyne cabin, and Ethan couldn't help but ask warily, "You're potty trained, right?" 

"Yeah!" He answered. 

Oh thank gods, he thought, allowing the boy to run to his cabin. He wondered what Esmerelda was doing right now. Probably having a helluva lot more fun than he was. He could picture her redecorating his entire bedroom right now. 

After several minutes, Tanvik came running back out with a bright grin on his face. 

"I did it!" He cheered. "I peed!" 

"Congrats," Ethan said dryly. "Now let's go back." 

When they got back, he was glad to see that the kids weren't throwing around any knives. Instead, they were circling around the son of Hermes like a pack of bloodthirsty hounds, most likely asking him uncomfortably personal questions. 

"Why are you still single?" Cece asked savagely. "You're already so old." 

"I am not!" The Hermes kid squawked. 

"Maybe he's just shy," another kid suggested. "Is that it? You don't know how to talk to people?" 

"You spend one hour with Ethan and he's already turned you into miniature jerks," he grumbled under his breath. 

"What was that?" Ethan said, standing right behind him. 

The boy whirled around. "Hey!" He greeted. "I watched over the kids for you, so I'll just get going now..." 

Ethan didn't bother to stop him as scrambled away, turning back to the kids instead and clapping his hands to gain their attention. 

"Back to work, everyone!" He announced. "But I want you standing a foot back. We're gonna try a long distance throws now." 

He whipped out his favorite poisoned knife—the one Esmerelda gave him as a Christmas present. 

He stood before one of the targets as everyone watched him. 

"Keep your wrist unbent," he instructed. "This is gonna keep the knife from turning over too much in the air. Now why is this important?" 

"Because there's a longer distance between us and the target!" The kids exclaimed in unison. 

He nodded. "Good. Now watch my arm as I throw." 

He lifted his arm over his head, keeping his wrist unbent, and swung forward. The knife whizzed through the air and struck the very center of the target with a THUD.

The kids were cheering and jumping up and down at the demonstration. It was a little flattering, he had to admit. 

"There," he said, after retrieving his knife from the target. "See how my arm was positioned? Now go on and try it. Just make sure to go back a foot longer. No complaints, get to it!"

"Yes, Mr. Ethan," the kids chimed. He had told them a million times to stop calling him that... but he was beginning to get the feeling that they were calling him that on purpose. Turns out they were a lot closer to Nico than he thought...

The kids moved back a little farther before starting to throw. As expected, they were having a little more trouble with long distance. Some of the knives weren't hitting the target or sticking to it anymore. A couple kids would get it, but he would have them practice more until they all mastered it. 

They can do it, he thought, sharpening his knife. 

But then in the corner of his eye, he spotted someone that made him groan in annoyance. 

Piper was storming towards the training grounds, only to pause once her rainbow eyes spotted their little area. She looked a little surprised to see him, which made him think that she came here looking for Esmerelda instead. 

Uuuuuugh, what does she want? He thought to himself as she drew closer to him. 

"Where's Essie?" She asked. 

"In my cabin," he answered bluntly, motioning the curious kids to keep throwing. "Why?"

"I want to talk to her," she replied firmly. "But that's fine, I need to talk to you too anyways. I think you should know that your girlfriend's been making passes at Jason." 

Ethan snorted in amusement. "Oh she has?"

"What, are you blind?" She snapped. "You saw how she was like yesterday when we were looking for Celestial bronze. She was all over him." 

"She wasn't," he droned. "The dude was cold, she enchanted his clothes. Then they both geeked out about magic like a bunch of nerds. You should be more worried about your boyfriend since he's the one constantly trying to talk to her. Oh wait... he was never your boyfriend. You're just obsessed with him." 

"I'm not—I'm not obsessed with Jason!" Piper spluttered, looking incredulous at the accusation.

But Ethan just rolled his single eye like he was dealing with some over-dramatic teenage girl. "Who the fuck are you trying to kid? You think I haven't noticed how ridiculously jealous you get whenever someone as much as looks at your boy toy? You're a crazy bitch."

"If I'm crazy then what are you?" She snorted.

He shrugged. "Crazier, but that's the thing. Unlike you, I don't bother hiding it. Almost everyone here knows to stay away from me because of how dangerous I can get, but you? You're nothing but a fake; a sad little girl with internalized misogyny to make things worse. You like to think you're not like other girls? Well you're right on that one, since most girls are actually sane."

She started growing angry, "I'm not—"

"—Enough," he said darkly and she quieted down. "I'm tired of this. You came here to tell me to keep Essie away from your precious Jason right? How about you chill the fuck out and realize that Essie's innocent in all this? Since day one, Jason's the one always trying to talk to her, she's been trying to get away. You get it now?"

Piper didn't speak.

Ethan stopped sharpening his knife and walked towards her. She couldn't help but take giant steps back.

The look on her face must have amused him because he let out a sadistic scoff before his expression turned dark. "You're both pissing me off, but at least Jason's a decent brat. You though? You're just fucked up in the head. So if I were you, I'd get your delusions under control before I show you just how crazy I can get—and trust me, I am so much worse then you."

It felt like he was glaring into her very soul. Piper was beginning to get it now. This guy wasn't just crazy, he was I-need-to-be-locked-up-in-an-asylum kind of crazy. How he managed to get a girlfriend was beyond her understanding—though she wouldn't be surprised if Esmerelda was equally as crazy too, everyone here seemed to be.

"Now," Ethan said lowly, and she was brought back to reality, or more specifically, the dangerously sharp knife he was still holding. "I suggest you leave, before I have the kids use you for target practice."

Piper didn't waste a second to bolt out of there.

"Who was that?" One of the kids asked as they watched her scurry away.

"That's Piper," Cece grumbled. "She's my sister. I don't like her. She's mean." 

"Piper is a walking example of what not to be," Ethan educated them. "Girl's got issues—delusional, toxic masculinity, and internalized misogyny. Don't be like her."

Little Tanvik rose his hand. "What's that mean?"

"It means she's crazy and looks down on anything feminine," he replied. "She thinks being feminine or doing 'girly' things are weak and pathetic when she's the weak and the pathetic one."

(Her sad excuse of a duel against Drew was evidence of that.)

Tanvik made a little 'o' with his mouth. "My older stepbrother makes fun of me for watching Doc McStuffins instead of playing his scary video games." He said sadly.

"Then beat the shit out of him and throw his video games out the window," Ethan advised wisely.

The kid beamed. "Okay!"

"Great, now back to class everyone." 

Ethan continued teaching them and soon enough, they were starting to get the hang of long distance throwing. He would've moved on to teaching them how to hit moving targets, but the class was beginning to end. 

But then he got an idea. A wicked smirk grew over his face. "Gather around kids, I have an... extra assignment for you all. Do you like cookies?" 

The second he said the magic word 'cookies', he was suddenly surrounded by a bunch of wide-eyed, hyperactive children all screaming 'cookies! Cookies! Where?!'. 

He raised a hand to quiet them down. "I don't have them with me now."

"Awww." Their faces fell. 

"But I will give them to you if you manage to do this," he offered, and they all began to listen intently.

"What is it?! What is it?!" They asked eagerly. 

His smirk broadened. "Now that you're all getting better on long distance throws, I feel like you're ready to start aiming at moving targets. Unfortunately, your next class doesn't start until the weekend. Do you remember that very mean girl who interrupted our lesson?"

"Yeah!" They chimed. 

"Every time you see her, throw a knife at her," he instructed. "And for every bloody knife you show me, I will give you one cookie. Keep doing this until your next lesson, got it?" 

They all erupted into ear-piercing cheers. 

"YAY! COOKIES!" Tanvik screeched. "You're the best, Mr. Ethan!" 

"I know, I know," Ethan lips curled up in satisfaction as they all grabbed their knives and went Piper-hunting. 

Dealing with little kids? Easy peasy. 

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

For Alabaster, however, things were not so easy peasy.

Every night he spent on this cruise ship was infested by nightmares. His sleep was invaded by vicious memories of when the Princess Andromeda blew up. Everywhere he looked, he would see his siblings either drowning or already dead, sinking lifelessly into the sea, and there was no Ethan to pull him out of the water so he would sink with them. 

Being awake was just as worse because almost everything reminded him of the Princess Andromeda. Both ships were just too painfully similar. 

He tried to hide his uneasiness from his brother, but Étienne was starting to notice and grow concerned. He would always feel bad whenever he waved him off, but it was better that way. Étienne didn't need to know about how their previous siblings died, and it wasn't like he was ready to talk about it either... 

Getting off the ship was the best part of their trip. They spent the next few days traveling through France until they finally reached Yevre-le-Chatel, the place Étienne used to live. 

Yevre-le-Chatel was just as beautiful as the rest of France. It was a little village and everything about it made him feel like he had been thrown back in the better parts of the Medieval Era. Houses were made of stone, there were ruins from several castles (or "châteaux" as Étienne called it), and all the roads were narrow. 

Currently, they were staying over the Chambres d'Hôtes while they planned for a rest stop. 

"You should stay here while I go visit my family," Étienne suggested.

"Alright," Alabaster was pretty fine with that. "How long will you be gone?" 

"Pretty long," he replied. "This visit won't be short. There's, ah, a lot I want to say to them before I finally leave for good." 

That was understandable. "Take as much time as you need," he said seriously. "Goodbyes are always the hardest..." 

Strangely enough, Étienne just smiled. 

"I'll order dinner while you're out. They got a pizza place around here?" Alabaster asked as he glimpsed out the window. 

"I don't know," Étienne said honestly. "All of my food came from home and I rarely went outside. Mother wouldn't allow me." 

Alabaster paused and turned back to him inquisitively, and that was Étienne realized he had accidentally let that part slip out. 

"I think it's because she knew about the monsters," he lied. "If I left the house, I wouldn't be protected by the barriers anymore." 

"Oh," Alabaster muttered, but his stomach was churning with discomfort. "Well, at least you know she'll take the Camp Jupiter talk easily." 

Étienne smiled nervously. "I should get going now." 

"Where exactly do you live?" Alabaster asked sharply, before adding, "In case anything happens." 

"I live in Palais Rosier. It's just beyond the ruins we passed by," he explained vaguely before standing up, flashing him a smile. "I've got to go now. I don't want to keep them waiting."

Alabaster said nothing as he watched him go. 

Something about the way Étienne had been behaving was seriously bothering him. He had been pushing the feelings aside ever since, but now that they were finally in France, his instincts were screaming at him to stop whatever future disaster there would be before it was too late. 

You would think... that a guy so desperate to see his family again would at least talk about them a couple of times... He recalled the few times Étienne would speak about his family, and each instance was always in a moment of weakness. 

Even then, the things he said weren't nice. They weren't exactly awful, but they were ominous enough to make him worry. It honestly didn't seem like Étienne's family treating him all too great, and it made him wonder why he would want to come back to them so badly, fake smiles and all...

When night fell and it was completely dark outside, the dreadful feeling in Alabaster's stomach increased. 

It had already been hours since Étienne left, and he still wasn't back yet. 

Oh gods, he rose to his feet, already rushing out the door. He had no idea what was happening, but he knew he had completely fucked up by letting Étienne leave. 

He sprinted through the village. It was completely empty now, so nobody was in his way as he ran around. 

Beyond the ruins, he remembered Étienne's words. His house was just beyond the ruins they had passed by. 

He finally reached the ruins and darted passed them. He could see a shimmery layer in the air and waved his hand over it, revealing the biggest fucking house he had ever seen. It was seriously huge, bigger than all the castles he had seen while traveling here. No wonder it was called the Palais Rosier because it was literally a palace. 

Holy shit, he thought, impressed. These guys are rich rich. 

But he didn't have time to admire the massive house. Instead, he blasted the gates (which he was pretty sure was made out of pure fucking gold) and rushed into the building. 

The second he stepped into the lavish foyer, he immediately sensed it. 

Death. 

No, he thought. This couldn't be happening. The thought of Étienne being dead didn't even cross his mind, because he could sense more than one death and knew exactly who was the cause of it. 

He could sense three dead bodies inside the house, and one more soul was close to being deceased. 

Oh gods. What had Étienne done? And what he done by letting him come here? 

As quietly as he could, he hurried past the nearest door and came across a living room. There was what looked to be the remains of a fireplace at the farthest wall. It had been completely destroyed, like someone had thrown a grenade into it and let it explode. There was rubble all over the room, but nobody was here. But he could still sense it, just behind the other door he would find a dead body. 

He crossed the living room and opened the door, entering a dining room. At first, he didn't see anything, but over at the other side of the grand table, he could see a pair of legs sticking out from behind a chair. 

Slowly, he crept forward, the metallic smell of blood lingering in the air. 

He reached the end of the table and looked down, feeling sick to his stomach. There was a beautiful teenage girl with blonde hair sprawled out on the floor, her glassy eyes staring up at him. There was a large, gaping hole in the center of her stomach where she had bled out. 

Was this one of Étienne's sisters? She looked nothing like him, but still...

Fuck, he had to find him. 

The next body he found was another blonde woman, a few years older than the previous one. There was a snapped wand just a couple of feet from where her body laid, and another similar stab wound in her gut. 

The abdomen area was where the intestines, colon, spleen, liver, kidneys, pancreas, and major blood vessels were located. A stab there wouldn't be instantaneously fatal, but it would be painful. Étienne wasn't just killing them, he was intentionally letting them bleed out and suffer.

There was no other body in the first floor, so he hastily sped up to the second. There were bloody hand prints on the bannister and droplets of blood on the staircase, like someone was trying to climb the stairs while heavily injured. 

It didn't take him long to find a body. Slumped against the wall just past the staircase was a middle-aged man with faded blonde hair. There were dry tear stains on his face, and for some odd reason, the wound was located where his heart was—a far quicker and merciful death than the previous two. 

Is this his father? Alabaster wondered. Why was Étienne killing his whole family? 

Suddenly he stilled, hearing a faint shout from somewhere. It was hard trying to pinpoint where it was coming from since the house was so unnecessarily huge, but he knew it wasn't coming from the second floor. 

Quickly, he ran up the stairs to the third floor, the sounds getting louder. They sounded like a mix of screams and sobs, and he could even hear Étienne's voice mixed in as well. He was speaking in French, so Alabaster couldn't understand it, but he could hear the emotion in his voice. He sounded like he was in heart-wrenching pain. 

"—voulais juste que tu m'aimes! (—just wanted you to love me!)" He could hear his broken sobs. "Mais vous ne l'avez jamais fait! Je n'ai jamais été un fils pour toi, mais une tache! Une tache que vous avez toujours essayé de cacher! Je te hais... JE TE DÉTESTE, JE TE DÉTESTE, JE TE DÉTESTE! (But you never did! I was never a son to you, but a stain! A stain you always tried to hide away! I hate you... I HATE YOU, I HATE YOU, I HATE YOU!)" 

As he got closer, he could hear the familiar sound of flesh squelching as a blade was stabbed into it over and over again. 

Finally, he burst into the room. 

"Étienne!" He called out, spying him quickly. 

He was at the center of the room, laying over the body of a middle-aged woman. His Imperial gold sword had been driven straight into her torso, creating a mess of gore all over the floors. Over at the side he could see someone else—someone alive. A young man was dazedly trying to get back up to his feet, a stab wound on his side as if he had tried to dodge the attack, and blood trickling down his head. 

Étienne snapped his head towards him, his glowing green eyes streaming with tears and his face contorted with unimaginable rage. He ripped his sword out from his mother's body and pointed it at him.

"Don't you dare stop me, Alabaster," he said shakily. "These people—they—they deserved it! All my life I've been miserable because of them, there's no way I'm letting them stay alive any longer! I've been waiting for this moment for too long!" 

"Étienne," Alabaster spoke carefully, his words laced with charmspeak. There was a high chance it would fail—Étienne was too angry to think straight and he was a charmspeaker as well. "Listen to me. Drop your sword, and we can—" 

"—NO!" He howled, shaking his head furiously. "No, don't! I know what you're trying to do!" 

"Étienne—"

"—SHUT UP! You're not getting in my way!" He shouted, and turned around to face the last living member of his family. The man was still on his hands and knees, weakly trying to get up. 

Étienne lifted his sword over his head to swipe it through the man's neck, and Alabaster reacted. He dashed forward and tackled him away from the man. 

The second they hit the floor, Étienne was already trying to fight back against him, clawing at him with his nails and trying to wrap his hands around his neck and screaming at his ears—the whole scene felt very familiar to him: one of his last moments with Esmerelda. Except now he was starting to feel what she felt at that very moment. 

Alabaster wrapped his arms around him. He tried to think of a destination in mind but his head came up blank. They shadow traveled away at the end, landing somewhere completely unknown to him. 

"NOOO!" Étienne wailed, tears falling down his face. He looked completely deranged, especially with all the blood coating him. "NO, NO, NO, WHY?! WHY DID YOU GET IN THE WAY?!" He sobbed. 

Alabaster didn't answer. Instead, he summoned his sword and slammed the side of the blade against his temple. Étienne crumpled to the ground, out like a light. 

Alabaster collapsed next, eyes wide and shaking all over. And then, he covered his face and broke down into tears. 

— author's note —

Oh noooo the Rosiers are dead and Alabaster's even more traumatized... ANYWAYS!

I HAVE EXCELLENT NEWS!

I was given this excellent idea for this series from aBookWorm189 and Dot.Wazz.Here (Quotev) helped me find a way to add it to the plot (yes I can decode Dot's dot language because I'm amazing like that 😌) BUT ANYWAYS, IT'S SO BRILLIANT! So because of this, I have changed some of my plans for Book 6 AND YA'LL ARE GONNA LOVE IT OMG! I'm not gonna tell you what the idea is because DUH it's a spoiler, but if you already know what it is then please don't spoil it in the comments!

Also, -ophee once again, made me a bunch of cool shit and I love them for it:

Here's some memes!

This is what Ethan needs y'all: