▬▬▬ CHAPTER SEVEN ▬▬▬

LMAO I loved reading the difference of reactions between Wattpad readers and Quotev readers. To my Wattpad readers, sorry if the last chapter pissed you off/confused you. That was my way of giving you time to brace yourself for the upcoming tragedies that are going to come, but I forgot that only my Quotev readers would understand what the ":)" meant.

I'm more active in Quotev when it comes to replying to people's comments and sometimes I tend to comment ":)". It's come to the point where my Quotev readers call it 'the smiley face of doom' because nothing good happens when I comment ":)" (for example, me killing Essie off, me ruining Essie and Alabaster's relationship, me revealing Regulus to be abusive, etc).

I feel a lil bad since my Quotev readers had time to brace themselves while my Wattpaders were clueless, so I'll just tell you this: What's going to happen in the this chapter, and the next chapters to come, are going to psychologically worsen the characters for the rest of their miserable lives if I have them live that long. It's going to leave lasting impacts so I hope you're ready for it because my characters certainly aren't!

:)

ESMERELDA MISSED WASHING THE DISHES with lava. Roman punishments were harsh. Octavian couldn't decide between having them scrub the streets with a toothbrush or sewing them inside a sack full of angry weasels and dumping them into the Little Tiber. He settled with making them clean the bull pens at the coliseum, which wasn't the greatest of options. 

Having to listen to Ethan and Étienne's argument for the past three hours only made it worse, in Esmerelda's opinion. 

"Would you watch where you're waving that fucking shovel?!" Ethan snapped.

"Why don't you just watch where you're going?! You still have one eye left, you're not completely blind!" Étienne hissed, his face covered in sweat. He was not used to physical labor, even after all the harsh training he went through in the Wolf House. 

"Guys," Esmerelda sighed. 

Neither of them were listening. Ethan tossed his shovel to the side and stormed over to the younger boy. Étienne ditched his shovel too and straightened up, readying himself for a fight until the eagles swooped in on the scene and started pecking at them. 

"Gods dammit!" Ethan fumed in frustration, trying to swat the birds away. "Alright, alright! We'll stop fighting!" 

"Go away!" Étienne cried out, covering his face. 

Esmerelda watched them, feeling another sigh leave her lips. 

They had been stuck cleaning the bullpens for three hours now, and the only ones in the coliseum were them. Their weapons had been confiscated by Terminus which was good thinking because Ethan and Étienne would've killed each other by now, and Octavian had put the eagles in charge of watching them. If they tried to leave, used their powers, or attacked each other, the eagles would come and peck them to death. Other than that, they would perch themselves on the roofs of the bullpens and watch them through the gaps between the wooden beams. 

The eagles decided that they had pecked the two boys enough and flew away, resting back on the roof like they've been doing since this punishment started. 

Ethan and Étienne were left fuming, little peck marks all over their face and arms. 

"Let's get back to work, and please try not to fight," Esmerelda begged them. 

"I fucking hate this," Ethan muttered, picking up his shovel and scooping up all the bull shit (literally) that littered the ground. 

"This is all your fault," Étienne muttered scathingly.

"My fault?" 

Oh come on, Esmerelda dipped her head back, withholding the urge to cry. They didn't even last a second! 

"No one told you to leave your class to warn us, that was all on you," Ethan sneered. 

"I wouldn't have left if you hadn't made Essie skip! You're nothing but a terrible influence on her!" Étienne exclaimed. 

"Terrible influ—?!" The son of Nemesis cocked his head back in bewilderment. "Dude, you murdered your entire family!" 

Esmerelda winced at the reminder, and she was glad that nobody else was around to hear him say that. Well, the eagles were here but thankfully they didn't have the ability to tell anyone (hopefully). 

"Can you stop fighting for one minute?" She said loudly, and both boys froze as if they were remembering that she was with them. "We're not allowed to leave until we finish cleaning this whole place, so let's stop fighting and get back to work. We already missed breakfast, I don't want us to miss out on lunch too." 

Their shoulders drooped. She was right. 

"Sorry," Ethan mumbled. 

"Sorry," Étienne also mumbled, looking like a kicked puppy. 

They went back to work, the insults and arguments finally stopping. Esmerelda felt like crying tears of joy now that her ears were no longer being abused by their scathing remarks towards one another. The bulls resting behind their stalls also seemed to share her relief. 

Camp Jupiter had ten bulls, which they used for war games like bull fighting or siege. They had names too; Tank, Howard, Taurus, Duke, Booboo, Otis, Big Mac, Angus, Conrad, and Elvis. She had no idea who named the bulls, but she had to admit, the names were super cute. 

Right now she was standing outside of Big Mac's pen. The bull was walking around his enclosure boredly before settling on the ground, probably to go to sleep. Esmerelda wished she could do the same thing, but she was too busy trying to sweep the hay away. 

Suddenly she heard a choking sound and turned to see Étienne sputtering. At first she thought that maybe Ethan was strangling him or something, but that wasn't the case. 

"What the bloody hell are you doing?!" Étienne exclaimed, horror written all over his face. 

Ethan had removed his shirt and placed it over the metal fence. It was understandable. It was summer, they were working their asses off in a bullpen, and she couldn't use any magic to cast a cooling charm over any of them. 

"What?" Ethan scowled at him. 

"You—you—put your shirt back on! You're indecent!" Étienne squawked like some scandalized Victorian child. He even hurried over to Esmerelda to cover her eyes. "In front of a girl, no less! How shameless are you?! Are all Americans like this? Is this a muggle thing? Essie, look away!" 

Ethan's jaw dropped like he couldn't believe what he was saying, and then he burst out into laughter. 

"Dude, what the fuck?" He cackled. "What are you, from the Victorian era?"

"Stop laughing at me!" Étienne snapped, his hands still over his sister's eyes. 

"Ethan," Esmerelda pried his hands off, a small amused smile on her face. "Leave him alone. And Étienne, it's fine. It's nearly ninety degrees here anyways." 

He stared at her in a mix of confusion and fear. "N-ninety degrees?" 

"In Fahrenheit," she corrected quickly, forgetting that he was more used to celsius instead. "Sorry. Now come on, let's get back to work so I can use my magic again and put cooling charms over us." 

The promise of cooling charms was all the incentive they needed to get back to work and finish things up as quickly as they could. For another hour they worked diligently. Ethan and Étienne even stopped fighting and were working together, which was a miracle in Esmerelda's opinion. 

After four straight hours of sweating their asses off, they had finally managed to clean the entire pen and feed all the bulls. 

"We're done!" Esmerelda cheered. There was sweat running down her face, her tied up hair was sticking to the back of her neck, and she wanted nothing more than to take a relaxing trip to the bathhouse. 

"Finally," Ethan grumbled as he set his shovel on the rack. 

The three of them walked out of bullpen, but they only made it about three steps out when they heard a sharp cry. 

It didn't belong to the eagles. It sounded louder, more sharper. 

Esmerelda was just barely able to register the large shadows setting above her when she was suddenly picked up by a pair of sharp claws. A scream left her lips when she felt her feet no longer touching the ground and she could hear Ethan and Étienne let out panicked shouts of her name. 

Wind kept rushing to her eyes, giving her no choice but to squint. She looked to her sides and spotted not claws, but talons. Eagle talons. At first she thought maybe one of the eagles supervising them had captured her, but the eagles' talons weren't this huge. 

She looked up and saw a pure black beast. It had the body of a lion, but the face and feet of an eagle on their front legs. Up ahead, she could see a long sharp beak, paired with beady red eyes. The monster had a pair of large wings, also colored black. 

She knew what this creature was. It was a gryphon*. She had never seen a gryphon before, not even in the wizarding world, but she knew they had existed there. She knew enough to recognize them though, she just hadn't been expecting them to look so dark and creepy... They were more like flying hyenas (and sounded like them too) rather than majestic soaring eagle-lion hybrids.

But now wasn't the time to focus on their appearances. Now she had to try and escape because this monster was digging it's talons so deeply into her shoulders it felt like it was trying to sever her arms. 

Her hand instinctively went for her wrist where her charm bracelet was supposed to be, but then it dawned on her that all of her weapons had been confiscated by Terminus. Quickly going for her second instinct, she pried the talons off of her shoulders, brought her legs up and gave the gryphon a good kick on the stomach. Then, she let go and plummeted down about a hundred feet into the air, Mist traveling herself to safety once she was halfway down. 

When she got back on the ground, she realized it hadn't been just one gryphon that had came here. There was a whole flock of them, maybe ten or so. They were flying around the coliseum, diving down to attack Ethan and Étienne who were fending them off as much as they could without their weapons. Étienne was shooting them down with shadows while Ethan was... pretty much just punching them out of sheer anger. 

But the gryphons seemed to have something against her because when they noticed she was safely back on the ground, a majority of them went for her. 

What the fuck?! She thought as she dove to the side to avoid one of their vicious swoops. 

"Where the hell did these things come from?!" She heard Ethan shout. 

"I don't know! Maybe they managed to get through the borders!" She called back. They had been weakening after all. After what happened with Stheno and Euryale, she wasn't surprised if a flock of gryphons managed to get in too.  

Étienne looked up at the eagles. They had left their spots on the roof and were now trying to join the fight, swooping down to peck at the gryphons. But the gryphons were stronger and much more bigger. Some of them bit down on the eagles while others viciously stabbed at them with their sharper beaks. 

"Get help," he ordered the eagles. "Reyna and the others are most likely gathering at the mess hall! Go to them and lead them back here!" 

They obeyed the order and flew away. Esmerelda had no idea how the eagles understood what he was saying, but she didn't particularly care at the moment since the monsters were trying to kill her. 

She blasted one of them with the reductor curse, but the monster reformed in mid-air much to her annoyance. There were about ten of them, and they were going to be impossible to kill thanks to the Doors of Death being opened. 

"ESSIE, WATCH OUT!" Étienne suddenly shrieked. 

She didn't see it in time. One of the gryphons had dove down at her from behind, its sharp beak piercing into her back. Biting back a scream, she twisted around and shot it down with the reductor curse too. When she saw that it was reforming, she did the first thing that came to her mind: 

She aimed her palm over the rapidly reforming golden dust and shouted, "Deletrius!" 

She watched in victorious glee as the golden dust further disintegrated into nothing. 

Holy shit, she thought hysterically. It actually worked!

She doubted they would be gone for good, but she had a feeling they wouldn't be reforming in a long while (unless Gaea gave them extra guidance on the way back...).

Ignoring the stab wound on her back, she shouted to the boys, "Guys! Round them all up in one place and keep them there! I have an idea!" 

They didn't bother to ask any questions and went to work right away. 

Étienne brought his hands up. Shadows rose from the ground and wrapped themselves around some of the low-flying gryphons. The other gryphons realized what was happening and flew up higher than the shadows could reach. 

There was a look of deep concentration on his face as he struggled to make the shadows rise up higher to no avail. Ethan realized what he was doing and stepped in. 

"Give me a couple of minutes," he said. "I'll get them down for you, just make sure to grab them." 

"Hurry," Étienne told him. "These powers tire me. I can't hold on to them forever." 

Ethan nodded in understanding and ran back into the bullpen. When he came back out, he had his discarded shirt in his hand.

The Roman shot him a confused look. 

"Use the Mist to make this look gold. Gryphons are suckers for gold things," Ethan explained. 

He realized what his plan was immediately and went to it. It was hard for him though. Sweat was already beading down his face and he could feel his body drain itself from energy the longer he used umbrakinesis to keep the gryphons still, but he forced himself to keep holding on while simultaneously concentrating on the shirt. 

The faded purple color turned into a silky golden fabric, bright and shiny enough to catch the gryphons' attention. 

Ethan ran to the center of the coliseum, waving the golden fabric around like an amateur matador who had no idea what he was idea what he was doing. 

Ahead of him, he could see Esmerelda climbing the seats of the coliseum stands in order to gain higher ground. He still had no idea what her plan was, but he trusted her. 

"Over here! Look what I have!" Ethan taunted them, waving the golden shirt over his head. 

The gryphons turned towards him and swooped down. Some were so desperate to grab the piece of gold that they were shoving each other around in mid-air. They were getting dangerously close to him, but before they could reach him, a massive wave of inky black tendrils rose from the ground and latched themselves onto the monsters. 

The gryphons shrieked and thrashed around their traps. Their wings strained against their bindings and some even tried to bite through it (but how the hell did one bite through a shadow?). 

Ethan turned back to Esmerelda to see her waving frantically at them, like she was trying to shoo them away. It dawned on him that she was probably going to use a big, destructive spell and didn't want either of them to be caught in the crossfire. 

"Fuck," he cursed, turning around and sprinting back for Étienne. He didn't hesitate to throw the boy over his shoulder and bolted for the stands. 

"What are you doing?!" Étienne screeched into his ear. 

"Saving your ass!" He screeched back. When he finally reached the stands, he climbed clumsily up the steps, accidentally jostling the boy over his shoulder around. "Essie, DO IT!" 

Esmerelda sucked in a breath and turned back to the center of the coliseum where the gryphons had been gathered and trapped. Now that Étienne had lost his concentration, the shadowy tendrils keeping the monsters immobilized were beginning to unravel, and she knew she had to hurry up soon. 

She aimed her hands at the monsters, and an explosion rocked the whole coliseum. 

KA-BOOM! 

The blast sent Ethan flying off his feet. He and Étienne ended up getting thrown against the seats, and they could feel something like dust and sand raining down on their backs. 

Esmerelda winced when she saw them. She was hoping to wait until they reached high enough on the stands, but she didn't want to risk the monsters breaking free... Whoops. She was sure they were fine though. 

Rather than waiting for the dust to clear, she aimed her hands at the center of the coliseum—where a mound of golden dust laid—and muttered under her breath, "Deletrius." 

It wasn't a spell she was used to using yet, and the only time she had disintegrated something in huge amounts was when she used that spell on Harpolykos—which only succeeded because she had her mother's help. 

But golden dust was much less denser than a whole ass giant, so she watched in relief as the remnants of the gryphons faded away. 

Rather than stopping to rest, she hurried over to the direction Ethan and Étienne had been in, nearly stumbling over all the seats. 

"Ethan? Étienne?" She called out to them, trying to find them through all the dust clouding over the coliseum. "Are you guys okay?"

Much to her relief, she heard Ethan call back to her, "We're fine!" 

She followed the sound of his voice and after a couple minutes, found them. They had plopped themselves down on the seats, looking thoroughly exhausted and dead inside. Esmerelda felt the same. 

They walked down the stands, and by the time they reached the very bottom, they heard the sound of flapping wings. 

Oh not again, don't tell me I missed one! She thought in despair, turning around. 

But it wasn't another Gryphon. It was Reyna riding on Scipio. There was an alarmed look on her face and she had her Imperial gold sword drawn out like she was expecting a fight.

The dust had cleared out at this point, and Reyna flew towards them. Over at the side of the coliseum, the doors had burst open and in flooded a whole army of Roman soldiers, but they were left staring stupefied at the large crater at the center of their coliseum. 

"What happened here?" Reyna demanded. "Are you all okay?"

"We're fine," Ethan replied, wiping the sweat off his face. "And we got attacked by a bunch of gryphons. There were, like, ten of them." 

"Gryphons?" Reyna cocked her head back, like she couldn't believe it. "That... that can't be. Sentries would've sounded an alarm if another monster broke through barrier, let alone ten of them." 

"You don't believe us?" Ethan said darkly. 

"No I do," Reyna shook her head. "But I'm wondering how—"

"—They came after Essie," Étienne cut her off curtly. "One of them grabbed her and took her into the air, and when she managed to escape, the rest of them came after her." 

Reyna's frown worsened. "Gryphons don't behave that way, unless..." 

"Unless they were ordered to," Ethan finished for her, his expression turning stony when Octavian pushed through the stunned crowd. He didn't look particularly happy to see Esmerelda alive, but the displeased expression only lasted a second. 

"You're alright!" He cried out, his shoulders sinking. "What a relief. What happened here?"

"We were attacked by gryphons," Esmerelda finally spoke up, expressionless as she stared at him. "But they specifically targeted me. There's a chance they could've acted upon someone's orders." 

The blonde rose a brow, his face one of polite intrigue. "I see." 

"You wouldn't happen to know anything about this, do you?" Ethan questioned him. 

He shook his head, "No, unfortunately I don't. But if you're certain that someone's done this then perhaps we can hold an investigation—" 

"—There's no need for that," Ethan's voice turned harsh. "Because you're the one who did this. You lied. You do know something about the attack." 

The whole coliseum went silent at the accusation. 

Octavian looked bewildered. "Excuse me?"

"The gryphons tried to kill Essie on someone else's orders. If I recall, gryphons are a sacred animal of Apollo and conveniently, you're a legacy of his, aren't you? You summoned them here and ordered them to target her." Ethan accused. 

Octavian was growing enraged. "I did no such thing—"

"—You're lying again! I'm a son of Nemesis, you moron! Did you really think I couldn't tell when you lie?" He seethed. 

"What would I get out of killing her? Someone from my own cohort?" Octavian demanded, and then, without even letting Ethan answer, harrumphed. "Exactly! I have no motive, so your accusation holds no power. To accuse an augur for attempted murder... False accusations are a serious crime here, Ethan Nakamura. You're lucky I'm being merciful and choosing to reward you all instead." 

The last part took them all by surprise. 

"What?" Esmerelda blinked. 

Octavian plastered on a friendly smile. "A reward for taking down all of these monsters and proving yourself as proper Roman soldiers! You three have now risen up from the ranks of probatio." 

Esmerelda couldn't believe this. Octavian had managed to swiftly change the subject. She could see now that all the other campers had straighten up their backs as if they were witnessing a formal award ceremony where they needed to be on their best behaviors. 

Only Reyna didn't seem to be swayed. 

She frowned at him, "Octavian, we should—" 

"—Not now, Reyna," he waved her off, striding towards Esmerelda. "Your ID and arm, please?"

Esmerelda handed him her probatio tablet and then reluctantly held up her forearm. 

"Senators, if you will!" He called out to them. The senators, including a worried looking Nico went forward. 

Octavian turned back to her. "We accept Esmerelda Black, Daughter of Trivia, to the Twelfth Legion Fulminata for her first year of service. Do you pledge your life to the senate and people of Rome?" 

"Um, yes," she answered nervously. "I mean, I do." 

The senators shouted, "Senatus Populusque Romanus!" 

Esmerelda hadn't been expecting what happened next. 

Fire blazed on her arm. Her eyes widened in terror and she could hear Ethan shout in alarm, though it was probably blocked out by her own scream. After a few seconds, the smoke and the flames died out, and a mark was seared onto her skin: SPQR, an image of crossed torches, and a single stripe to represent her first year of service. 

She had basically been given a tattoo.

The only thing that crossed her mind was, Oh my gods. My dad's gonna kill me.

He went on to do the same thing with Étienne and Ethan. Her half-brother, naturally, ended up with a mark identical to hers. Ethan was more reluctant to get the mark, but did so anyways since he realized arguing would be fruitless (and suspicious). He ended up getting black scales, a symbol of his mother. 

"Now that we're done here," Reyna gave Octavian a pointed glance. "Let's get you all healed up. Medics!" 

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Fortunately, they had been given their weapons back after the medics checked them over. Ethan and Étienne's injuries were minimal, so the medics didn't have to do much to heal them. Esmerelda, however, had to be sent to the infirmary for the stab wound on her back. After patting some unicorn powder on the wound and covering it up with gauze, she was good to go. 

But before she could leave, Reyna entered the room. 

"I need to have a word with you," she began. "About what happened. I'd like to hear the full story." 

She retold the entire thing. How Octavian decided to make them clean up the bullpens under the supervision of the eagles, how they were attacked immediately after they finished, and how the gryphons seemed to be more interested in targeting her instead of the boys. 

The whole time, Reyna listened on intently, her face expressionless. Esmerelda would occasionally glance at her curiously. She had seen the look on her face whenever Jason was so much as mentioned. There would be a look of pain and anguish in one second, before she hid it with her usual cool demeanor. 

Was this the possible girlfriend Jason had talked about when he sorta kinda didn't 'dump' Piper? She doubted they were dating though, since someone would've mentioned that. They probably had a similar relationship that Percy and Annabeth did before they got together: super close romantic friends that had yet to confess their feelings to each other. 

Awww, she thought, her legs swinging cheerily on the bed she was sitting on. They seem like they could be such a cute couple! 

"Esmerelda," Reyna called her attention back. "You were saying?"

Oh yeah. She was in the middle of talking about the attempted murder on her life. Oops. 

"Right, sorry," she said sheepishly. "Anyways, I hadn't really connected the dots that Octavian could be the one behind it all, but what Ethan said does make sense." 

"Is it true that he can see lies?" The praetor asked. 

She nodded. 

Reyna pursed her lips. "So then... Octavian tried to kill you." 

She looked at her in surprise. "You believe us?" 

"Yes. The things Ethan brought up were suspicious. When we punish someone, we don't have eagles watch over them, their centurion is usually there to supervise them. And the fact that the sentries never reported sightings of a monster breaching through the barrier..." She sighed. 

"And gryphons are sacred animals to Apollo," Esmerelda reminded her of what Ethan had said. "It wouldn't surprise me if Octavian somehow knew how to summon them here within the barriers." 

"Exactly. I just don't know why he would target you. At first I thought he might have seen a pawn in you..." Reyna trailed off. "And maybe he did, but obviously he's decided that you're too much of a threat to keep alive." 

There was a particular look on her face when she said that, as if she was stuck between deciding if Octavian had done the right thing or not. Esmerelda certainly didn't miss the way she would glance over at the brooch pinned to the front of her shirt, like she was picturing her using her labrys to take down Olympus. It was enough to make Esmerelda tense up with wariness. 

"Was Gwen a threat?" She asked in hopes to take the attention off of her. "Because I have a pretty good feeling he was the one who killed her too. If you haven't noticed, that pilum belonged to the First Cohort and he was the only one without a weapon." 

"I know," Reyna closed her eyes, and in that moment she could see how terribly stressed the girl was. She was just a teenager, but the stress lines on her face and the tired expression she wore made her seem ten times older. 

Esmerelda felt for her. She was just a kid and she was literally in charge of a whole military and a whole fucking government too. 

"I want Octavian out of here as much as you do, but I just don't have enough proof to bring him to court on any of this," Reyna explained, and Esmerelda was briefly shocked that they actually had a court for these sort of things. Back in Camp Half-Blood, they would just try to kill or grievously injure each other. 

"Put Ethan there," she suggested. "He's really good at those kind of things. Like, really good." 

"I don't doubt that," Reyna cracked a satisfied smirk, as if she was reliving the moment Ethan had brazenly accused Octavian in front of the whole Legion. "But he just became a proper legionnaire. Someone so new wouldn't be allowed to work there." 

She deflated. 

"Be careful from now on," Reyna warned her, turning serious again. "I don't think Octavian would try another attempt at your life—at least not so soon—but I definitely believe you'll be in danger whenever you're around him. 

Esmerelda just let out a heavy sigh. Of fucking course. 

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"At least when Octavian gets killed, he'll go straight to the Fields of Punishment," Nico smiled thinly, and neither Esmerelda or Ethan missed the way he said 'gets killed' instead of 'died'. 

"That's only if he doesn't escape and come back to life," Ethan snorted, though he felt no humor after what had happened. 

Esmerelda, Nico, and Ethan were relaxing against a large tree that provided them with shade, the cooling charms Esmerelda had cast over them keeping them nice and chilly against the summer heat. The gryphon attack had only happened two hours ago and people were still talking about it, or more specifically, they were talking about Ethan's very public accusation about Octavian. 

"Actually, that's..." Nico hesitated. "That's what I wanted to talk to you guys about." 

"Octavian dying and resurrecting himself?" Esmerelda blinked. 

"No, I mean," he lowered his voice to a quiet whisper. "The Doors of Death. That situation." 

Esmerelda and Ethan exchanged uncomfortable looks. 

"Um, but aren't Percy, Hazel, and Frank going on a quest to rescue Thanatos? Once that's done, the doors will close, won't they?" She hoped that was the case, but knew better than to think life would be that easy. 

"Not exactly." 

Ethan groaned. "Of course not." 

"Rescuing Thanatos is like putting a band aid over the problem at best, but it won't fix the whole issue," Nico began to explain. "The Doors of Death are his personal doors, his fast lane between Life and Death. Only he knows where they are, and the location shifts over the ages. If I understand correctly, the Doors of Death have been forced open. Gaea's minions have seized control of them, so now she controls who can come back from the dead."

"He doesn't have power over them anymore," Esmerelda realized grimly. "So the most he can do is catch the escaped souls and send them back." 

"Will the monsters at least stay dead like they used to?" Ethan asked. 

"Somewhat," Nico answered. "What I'm trying to say here is that Thanatos and the Doors of Death are two completely different things. With Thanatos chained up, nobody can really die. Those monsters can come back instantly. The Doors of Death is a whole other matter. Even if Thanatos is freed, the Doors of Death are still locked up. Those monsters can still die, but instead of reforming instantly, they'll be sent to Tartarus like they used to... except now they have a shortcut." 

"The Doors of Death," Ethan said. 

"Exactly," he confirmed. "The good thing is that if Percy and the others succeed in freeing Thanatos, the monsters will at least actually die and be sent to Tartarus, but as long as the Doors are left chained, those monsters can still come back earlier than usual. It might not be instant anymore, but we're looking at a ten minute respawn time." 

Ethan snorted. Figures he'd use video game terms in this conversation. 

"Or as long as it takes them to find the Doors," Nico concluded. 

"What are you proposing here?" Esmerelda asked warily. She did not like where this was going. 

"The Doors of Death must be located somewhere in Tartarus. It makes the most sense since the monsters are the ones who are coming back faster. That and... I think I can close them," he said, and naturally, they didn't like what they heard. 

"Absolutely not!" Esmerelda snapped.

"Are you out of your fucking mind?!" Ethan shouted, scaring the birds away from them. 

"Guys—"

"—No, Nico," Esmerelda said firmly. "You're not going to Tartarus, you're not going anywhere near it." 

"I can do this!" Nico's voice rose. "I'm the son of Hades. I should be able to venture through Tartarus, find the Doors of Death, and close them myself." 

Esmerelda was shaking her head, not wanting to hear any of it. "No. No, no, no. Nico, stop it. Enough, okay? You're not going to Tartarus—" 

"—Please," he begged her. "I know what I'm doing." 

"Do you have any idea what's going to be waiting for you down there?" Ethan said in a low whisper, his voice shaking with rage and disbelief. "A shit ton of monsters who would be happy to devour a son of Hades, and let's not forget to mention that there's gonna be some Titans and Primordials there too." 

"Then come with me," Nico suggested desperately. "A team of three, just to be safe." 

"Nico..." 

"Please, mom," he pleaded with her. "I-I know what I'm doing. Trust me on this. Nothing's going to happen to us. I'm the son of Hades, remember? My father rules the Underworld and Tartarus is located there. I can safely roam the kingdom and Tartarus is still part of the kingdom." 

Surprisingly, it was Ethan who first started to loosen up. "...You're certain about that?" 

"Ethan!" Esmerelda turned to him, eyes wide. 

"This is a serious problem, Essie," he murmured to her. "The Doors need to be closed and freed from Gaea's control. Remember what happened with the gorgons? Or the gryphons this morning? He's right, freeing Thanatos only alleviates the issue a little bit." 

Nico's shoulders relaxed. "Thank you," he told him. "And yes, I'm certain. I know what I'm doing." 

Esmerelda looked between him and Ethan, and saw the determined looks on their faces. She heaved out a sigh.

"Fine." 

They agreed to leave once night fell when everyone was asleep. Esmerelda was still hesitant about going. The thought of Tartarus always made her queasy and who could blame her? It was literally Hell. The Fields of Punishment had nothing on Tartarus.

Nevertheless, she made sure to pack her things before setting off for dinner.

She sat down next to Étienne, who was busy glaring daggers at Octavian to notice her odd behavior until he was nearly done with eating. 

"Are you alright?" He whispered to her. "Did Octavian try to kill you again?"

She winced. "No, but um... I need to talk to you. It's important." 

Étienne deserved to know what she was planning on doing. She didn't think leaving him to wake up with her gone would be such a good idea (she shuddered at the thought of what he would do), so after dinner was done and they were left to do their own thing, she told him everything. 

"Can't I come with you?" He asked her desperately. 

"No," she said immediately. "Tartarus is—it's the worst place imaginable. I don't want you anywhere near there, it's already bad enough that—that—!" That her boyfriend and son were going to go there with her. 

Gods, this was going to be a nightmare. 

"I'll be back soon, I promise." She gave him a reassuring smile, and when he didn't return it she stepped forward to squeeze him a hug. She could feel his arms wrap around her, but he didn't hug her as tightly as he used to.

"How soon?" He asked her when they pulled away. 

"Hopefully before Percy, Hazel, and Frank come back from their quest," she answered. 

"And if you aren't?" He frowned. 

"We'll try, but if we don't... just tell them that we'll be fine," she said. 

He nodded quietly, but the uncertain look on his face didn't disappear. Her expression probably mimicked his too.

"And there's another thing," she added carefully, remembering what her mother told her before she went back to life. "Our mother mentioned that she was concerned about you."

Rather than looking worried about the news, he actually looked happy.

"She—she was worried about me? She cares?" He said breathlessly, looking giddy at the prospect of a parent genuinely caring for him.

"Yes, but anyways," she went right to the point. "She told me that she couldn't see your future clearly. Something's... wrong. So she asked me to keep an eye on you, but well, I can't really do that since I'll be in... you know. I just need you to stay here, okay? Wait here until I come back."

"Alright," he said. "Easy enough. I just have to stay in camp." 

She nodded. "Right. Just stay in camp."  

(Easier said than done.)

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

After that, it was time for everyone to go to bed. Rather than dressing into her pajamas behind the privacy curtains, she put on a new set of clothes and pretended to fall asleep. She waited about an hour before quietly Mist traveling to the outside of the barracks. 

Ethan and Nico were already waiting outside for her. 

"Won't people be suspicious if we just disappear all of a sudden?" Esmerelda wondered. 

"Yeah, but that's the least of our concerns," Nico said, which she had to agree with.

"So do we just teleport ourselves to the Underworld?" Ethan asked as he shouldered his backpack. 

"No, it's still under lockdown," Nico explained. "We'll go in the same way I went in when I brought Hazel." 

"Wait, what?" Ethan stared at him. 

"Oh, Hazel's like Essie," he explained dismissively. "She was from the 1940s too. Anyways, hold on to me."

Ethan was barely able to voice out his confusion when Nico grabbed the two of them and shadow traveled away. 

Esmerelda immediately recognized where they were the second they shot out of the shadows. 

"We're in Central Park?"

"Just north of the Pond," Nico confirmed, jutting his chin forward. "That's where we need to go." 

Just a few feet away from them was a cluster of boulders. 

"This is the Doors of Orpheus, the smallest and hardest to find path in and out of the Underworld," he stated. 

Ethan quirked a brow. "Wait... you need to play music to open them, right? Don't tell me you sang." There was a grin on his face when he said this. 

Nico rolled his eyes. "Shut up." 

He walked over to the boulders, the two older teenagers following after him. He reached into his pocket and pulled out... a kazoo? It was one of those cheap ones that you could get in a set at Party City. 

Ethan's face turned stony. "Are you kidding me."

"You wanna sing a song, Ethan? Be my guest," he retorted.

When no arguments came up, he put the kazoo to his lips and started to play Old MacDonald. Ethan looked like every note killed him while Esmerelda stared at him with great awe, as if he was a professional musician. 

The boulders trembled as he played. Several seconds later, they cracked open, revealing a triangular crevice. Esmerelda could see steps leading down and could smell the familiar scent of mildew and death. 

Yep. This was definitely the way to the Underworld. 

Nico stopped playing, his face a little red. 

"Alright, let's go in." 

The way to Tartarus was just to the right of Hades' Palace. The Underworld wasn't a pleasant place, but Ethan (who had only been here once) was taking everything in stride. All the dead people didn't seem to bother him which... wasn't much of a surprise. 

The slope got steeper the closer they came to Tartarus. The cavern walls grew narrower once they reached some kind of side tunnel. No more black grass or trees now, just a rocky underfoot and stalactites hanging above them. 

It increasingly became more and more uncomfortable the more they walked. It smelled evil in that tunnel, and visions of brutal massacres and genocide kept flashing in their heads and they couldn't push it out no matter how hard they tried. 

Ethan stopped walking, grasping the wall with his hand. His face was unnaturally pale and his pupil was dilated like he was prey being surrounded by predators. 

"What the fuck is going on?" He breathed out shakily. He pressed a hand over his chest where he could feel his heart beat erratically. 

"It's the effects of Tartarus," Nico explained, the little hairs on his arms raising. "Just ignore it." 

"Kind of hard to ignore," Esmerelda muttered. The inside of her stomach was doing flips and sweat was beading down her face from the fear. 

Nevertheless, they trudged onwards. Soon enough, the tunnel widened into a huge dark cavern, and in the middle was a chasm as big as a city block. 

Esmerelda didn't want to go any further. She really didn't. She had a feeling this was a bad idea and she had no idea if it was because her instincts were genuinely telling her that or if it was the effects of Tartarus. 

"Alright," Nico swallowed thickly. "This is it. We should—whoa!"

He was suddenly pushed forward by an invisible force. He brought his hands up to catch himself, but it had stopped. 

Ethan started forward. "What was that?"

Nico turned back to look at them, "I don't know—AHHH!" He was pushed forward again, but this time it didn't stop. It was like there was an invisible rope tied around him, dragging him to the edge of the chasm. It knocked him down, and then he began to get dragged away by the legs. 

"Nico!" 

Esmerelda ran for him, grasping his hand and trying to pull him back. Ethan grabbed his other hand, trying to pull him back as well, but they were fruitless efforts. 

"Hold on," Esmerelda ordered, squeezing her eyes shut and thinking of Central Park. When neither of them Mist traveled away, she knew they were doomed. 

"Try to shadow travel!" Ethan shouted. 

"I can't! I can't do anything!" Nico cried out, terror written all over his face. He tried to concentrate on the shadows, willing them to grasp onto him and pull him away from the edge but that didn't work either. 

"Just leave me! I'm the one being sucked in!" He told them as his feet got dangerously closer to the edge. 

"No!" Ethan grunted. The fear wasn't hidden in his voice. "There's gotta be something—something we can do! Essie?!"

"I got nothing," she shouted. Whatever was pulling Nico into Tartarus was nearly succeeding in doing just that. Their powers weren't working. There was no chance of escaping. He was going to fall. 

But she wouldn't let him go through it alone. 

"This pull is relentless," she heaved. "Nico, it's going to take you down to Tartarus. We can't do anything about it. But you won't fall alone." 

"No," he rasped. "Mom, don't—" 

"—Oh fuck," Ethan cursed. "We're really jumping?"

"It was part of our plan to go inside anyways," she tried to shrug, but it was kind of hard since she had a vice grip on Nico. 

They were three feet closer to the edge now. 

"You guys ready?"

"Guys," Nico's voice shook. "Don't. Don't do this—" 

"—Shut up," Ethan said. "This isn't your fault okay? We're going down there with you and we're finding the Doors of Death." 

Two feet. 

"We'll be okay," Esmerelda whispered to him. 

One foot. 

Ethan inhaled. "Here it comes." 

They reached the edge, and then they jumped straight down into Tartarus. 

— author's note —

* So I was always used to the spelling 'griffin' being used, but in PJO, they used 'gryphon' instead so I just used that. In addition to that, I found several sites that saw griffins/gryphons were also considered a sacred animal of Apollo and that they were sometimes used to pull Apollo's chariot.

At this time, I don't think Nico was aware that there were two sides of the Doors of Death (the mortal side and the Underworld side), which probably explains why he thinks he can close them on his own when in actuality, it needs to be closed on both sides at the same time).

Anyways, I tossed them into Tartarus, yaaaay! 🤗

Remember how I told you guys that I made separate plans for Ethan or Jason and that I picked Ethan mainly because his plan was the most painful??? Yeah, this is one of the reasons why it was considered painful. Had I gone with Jason, Essie would've avoided Tartarus and she wouldn't have gone to Camp Jupiter at all. She would've stayed in CHB with Jason while the Argo II was being built and that would've been LAAAAME. Like I said, the Jason route was just too nice and sweet 🤮 It mostly just followed the canon storyline with little changes.

I've already written the chapters about their stay in Tartarus so let's play a guessing game! Who do you think is going to break first, Ethan, Essie, or Nico?

Essie and Étienne's mark:

Ethan's mark:

Now onto memes:

How Nico and Ethan see Essie and Étienne:

From el: