▬▬▬ CHAPTER FOURTEEN ▬▬▬

Hope you enjoyed the last two chapters cuz fun time's over! We're back to trauma now :)

FOR SOME ODD REASON, ESMERELDA was dreaming of Nico, who was nowhere near where he was supposed to be and he was even fighting someone too.

But that couldn't be it, because Nico was supposed to be with her, right? Right.

...Oh who was she kidding.

Nico was at the top of some shiny bronze fortress, facing off against an ugly looking monster. She would've mistaken it for one of the gorgons, except this one was lacking boar husks and had way too many teeth.

The creature was this purple abomination (no, not Barney) with hair that reminded her of Davy Jones' tentacle beard from Pirates of the Caribbean, bones sticking out from her legs, and a hyperactive tail that looked like it could pierce through brick walls.

Who is that? Esmerelda wondered worriedly. She had never seen this particular monster before, and she was pretty sure Nico hadn't either.

She watched as they fought closely, and then she saw the monster's tail strike upwards to stab Nico in the back. The sight of it made her gasp, but Nico barely even flinched before slicing it clean off.

The monster let out a hiss of anger and flew towards him for another attack, but he slapped her across the face with her own severed tail.

"Hah!" If Esmerelda could jump with joy, she would. "Take that, you ugly hag! Go Nico!"

"INSOLENT CHILD!" The monster roared. "DO YOUR MOTHER A FAVOR AND JUST DIE ALREADY!"

Esmerelda cocked her head back in offense. Who was this monster who thought she could speak for her? She didn't want her son dead, what the fuck?!

The monster came back with a vengeance, her attacks faster and more lethal than ever. Esmerelda wanted nothing more than to wake up now she could Mist travel to Nico's side. He didn't look like he was having an easy time right now. He had went on the defensive, trying fruitlessly to block or parry her attacks, but she was too fast for him.

Esmerelda was starting to feel sick in the stomach watching the fight and being unable to do anything. More and more cuts were showing on his skin with every swipe of the monster's claws, blood was spilling down on the ground, and she knew Nico wouldn't be able to last any longer, not when he was already so exhausted.

And then came the final hit.

"DIE!" Mormo yelled out.

Her hand moved up so fast it was like a blur. It smacked Nico in the face, and he went flying to the side of the fortress.

Esmerelda watched as he crashed through the banister and plummeted downwards, and then she felt her heart drop along with him.

"Nico!" She cried out in terror, her eyes opening wide as she sat up ramrod straight.

When she looked around, all she saw were the four deadly rivers flowing towards the Delta of Despair, but there was no Nico in sight. All that was left of him was his brown jacket now laying over her lap and the backpack he gave her to use as a pillow.

Nico was gone.

Her dream was real, and the last she saw of him was when he was falling down a fortress that could've been over a hundred feet tall for all she knew.

What if he was dead? She knew he could always shadow travel himself to safety, but they spent hours on end suffering from brutal attacks to the point that they had both over-exerted themselves. Even worse, Nico didn't even have a chance to go to sleep yet! It was a miracle he was even standing up straight during his fight with that awful monster!

She hastily scrambled up to her feet, shouldering his lightweight backpack and grabbing his fallen jacket. Then she hurried over to the lake to swallow down as much fire from the Phlegethon as she could.

She was pretty sure the taste of it alone was enough to kill her (it was a miracle she still had tastebuds actually), but the quick healing of her smaller injuries were worth it. It gave her enough energy to reach Nico, so she squeezed her eyes shut and thought of the archaic looking bronze fortress and Mist traveled away.

She landed at the very top of the fortress, her free hand immediately going for the brooch pinned to her chest since she was expecting a fight.

But nothing was there. It was eerily silent. There were no sounds of fighting, but there were definitely signs of it.

There were blood splatters on the ground. Nico's. Seeing it made her almost grow faint, remembering how viciously that female monster slashed at him with her claws. Then she turned her gaze to the side, where she saw the broken bannister. That was the place where Nico fell through.

She didn't waste a second to hurry towards it, standing just a few inches away from the edge. She dared to peer down, scared to death that she'd see Nico's broken body splayed on the ground, but much to her relief, there was nothing there.

She Mist traveled to the ground, looking around desperately. She saw a pile of golden dust and knew that the monster he was fighting against was dead at least, but there were more splatters of blood that concerned her.

"Nico!" She called out to him, hoping that maybe he was hiding somewhere nearby. "Nico! Nico!"

Her heart was racing at the lack of reply, but she forced herself to calm down and stay rational. There was still another way for her to find him.

The tracking spell. His backpack would probably be useless, but she had his favorite brown aviator's jacket—the one he rarely went anywhere without. He was so attached to it that even during the summer season he wore the thing.

It was the perfect object to use.

She looked down at the jacket she was clutching and whispered the incantation, "Persequor vestigium."

The jacket glowed a faint green, and Esmerelda felt her spirits lift. Now all it had to do next was show her the way to Nico and she could finally be reunited with him.

But that wasn't what happened. A second after the jacket began to glow, it started to die out. As she watched the color dim away, Esmerelda could hear a faint ringing in her ears.

No, she thought. No.

The spell failed. That only ever happened if the person she was looking for was—

No, no, no!

She closed her shut in denial. That couldn't be it. Nico couldn't be dead. Her son was alive. Not dead.

She remembered when Percy went missing and she and Lou Ellen had tried to use the tracking spell to find him and that failed too. There was also the fact that they were stuck in the Tartarus, so maybe her magic was just acting weirdly because of that. It had to be it. It just had to be. Because there was no way she was ever going to accept that Nico was dead.

Stubborn tears were spilling down her eyes, but she wiped them away and continued on her search. She walked, and then broke out into a run, screaming Nico's name while his jacket was tightly clutched in her hand.

He isn't dead, he isn't dead, he isn't dead. The words echoed in her head like a never ending mantra. At this point, those words were probably the only thing keeping her sane.

Unfortunately, it wasn't keeping her sane enough.

Fear was coursing through her veins the longer she couldn't find him and her breathing was becoming heavier from the hysteria and panic. Then came the tingling feeling in her hands and the slow movements of her eyes, as if they couldn't quite catch the details she was seeing fast enough.

At first she thought that maybe she was dying again, maybe the toxic air was killing her again like last time and she needed to hurry on back to the River Phlegethon and drink the fire to heal, but she had just done it not even an hour ago so she knew that couldn't be it. But when she stopped running and noticed the dizziness in her vision, it finally dawned on her: she was on the verge of a panic attack.

She slowly got down on her knees, her breathing turning harsher and harsher as she hugged Nico's jacket close to her chest.

She tried to imagine Ethan kneeling beside her, instructing her to copy his breathing patterns like he had done numerous times before, but all she kept thinking about was Nico and that he was here somewhere possibly dead and all her efforts to keep calm went flying out the window.

Her heavy breaths turned into whimpers, then the whimpers turned to sobs, and then she finally let loose a gut-wrenching scream. It echoed throughout the dark pit, and the agony in her voice was enough to shaken Tartarus.

Or maybe that was just the wave of magical energy that burst from her body, destroying everything near her in a ten-foot radius. The ground cracked underneath her, creating a thick ring of broken earth. Large rocks were pushed back, and even the metallic bronze wall of the fortress dented.

Once all of that pent up emotion was released, she started to sob, her face buried in Nico's jacket. Unbeknownst to her, her loud weeping was beginning to attract some attention. The sound of hoofs and metal clinking on the ground were registered in her head almost too late.

"I can't believe we're stuck on foot soldier duty," a feminine voice grumbled. "This is all Kelli's fault! If it hadn't been for her piss poor persuasion skills, we could've been out in the mortal world guarding the statue! I would've liked to kill the daughter of Athena, but nooo, the job was given to that freak instead!" 

"Coco," another girl sighed. "It's only natural she was given that task. I mean, she's been waiting years to get her revenge!" 

"But still!" The first voice was outraged. "We're always stuck doing the menial stuff! I just want to—" 

The voice stopped, and that was when Esmerelda knew they had spotted her. 

"Oh my," drawled the feminine voice, and Esmerelda was in too much pain to hear the amusement laced in it.

She looked up, wiping her eyes so she could see clearly. Standing before her was a group of five empousai. Their hair on fire, their eyes a bloodthirsty red, and judging by their attire, they were empousai born from the modern times.

These empousai... they were her mother's creations, meaning they were technically sisters. They would help her, right? Serephone was kind enough to help her and Ethan all those years ago. Nevertheless, she was desperate. They might have seen Nico!

"I'm Essie, daughter of Hecate," she introduced herself hastily. She figured telling them of her patronage might lower their guards. "I'm looking for a boy—"

"—Aren't we all?" The one in the middle joked.

Esmerelda went on as if she never spoke, "He's thirteen years old, kind of scrawny looking, might be wearing a resting gloom face? Have you seen him anywhere around here?"

A mean look curled over their beautiful faces. "And why would we tell you?"

She blinked. "W-what? But I'm your sister...!"

"Yeah, and?" Another one chimed. "We're no longer in allegiance with Hecate, therefore, we have no allegiance with you."

"What are you talking about...?" A frown made her way to her face.

"We now follow the Earth Mother," the one in the middle chimed. "The Dark Lady, or well, Hecate, has gone soft after running back to the Olympians."

"Look," it was taking a lot of Esmerelda's self-control to not grow angry. "I don't care who you're allying with. I just want to find my son, so have you seen him or not?"

"Hmmm," one hummed thoughtfully. "I think I might have."

She turned to face her. "You have?"

"Yeah, I think I saw some other monster gobbling on a kid who looks exactly like the description you gave us!"

Something about what she said must have been funny because the rest of her sisters burst out into ugly laughter, or maybe they were laughing at the look of utter despair on Esmerelda's face.

She felt her body grow hot with rage and without meaning to, she thrust a hand out and all five of them exploded on the spot.

"You're the worst sisters ever!" She cried out hoarsely as their golden dust rained over her.

Tears of frustration welled in her eyes, but then the fear came back as the empousa's words echoed in her head.

She couldn't have been telling the truth, right? She was probably just lying to crush her spirits (even though they were already crushed). But then she thought back to the bloody scene back at the bronze fortresses. Even though Nico killed the monster he was fighting, he obviously didn't get out of it unscathed. What if another monster came by and... defeated him while he was still weakened?

The image that popped up in her head made her sick. Literally. She dropped the jacket she was carrying, turned away from it, hunched over, and vomited on the ground.

The tingling feeling returned in her hands again, but she balled them into fists and stumbled away from the mess she made.

Now was not the time to fall sick again. She picked up Nico's jacket from the ground and stuffed it into his backpack. Her stomach grumbled for food, but she ignored it like she was ignoring everything else about her health.

He's not dead, she told herself for the millionth time.

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

Esmerelda felt like she was in an alien movie. She didn't know which alien movie, but she was certain the sight she was seeing her was overused in a lot of alien movies.

She was walking down a long strip of ground that was sloping downwards with pits constantly appearing at her feet if she wasn't careful enough. To make things worse, there was an annoying dark fog obscuring her vision and the only source of light was the glimmering glow her labrys was emitting.

The sound of monsters roaring echoed in her ears. Her instincts have been on high alert since she stepped foot in this dark and gloomy path. She had no idea how many monsters were near her, but with how frenzied her senses were, there must have been hundreds. She was too scared to call out Nico's name, so she settled with trying to look for him instead.

But anyways, back to the aliens.

All around her were these... jelly looking membranes shaped like eggs. They were all over the rocky walls and littered all over the ground and she had to avoid bumping into them. They kind of reminded her of those alien eggs in the movies because she could actually see what was inside of them.

Monsters. Each membrane bubble contained a monster. The ones she saw weren't awake, but she was certain some were since she could hear them growling. Some of their forms weren't complete. She passed by familiar faces of the empousai she blew up, and all she saw were a small percentage of their heads while everything else had yet to be restored.

This is where the monsters reform*, she realized with a shudder.

She really really hoped Nico wasn't anywhere near this area, but he didn't exactly have the best of luck... There was a chance he was here, so she kept going even though every atom in her body was screaming at her to turn back.

Though it wasn't like she actually could even if she wanted to. Going down seemed to be the only direction she could go. If she turned around and tried to go back up, her body would feel tired and heavy as if gravity was trying to discourage her.

Come down here and face your doom, it seemed to be saying.

Where the fuck is my son, she wanted to say back.

Gods, she wished Ethan were here. Contrary to popular belief, his presence was actually very comforting. At least for her it was. Just having him here to give her his reassurances would be enough to keep her calm. But Ethan wasn't here—fuck she didn't even know if he was alive.

(He has to be. Because if she lost him and Nico down here, then she wouldn't know what she would do next.)

She was so preoccupied with her thoughts of Ethan and Nico that she didn't notice the ledge she was stepping over.

A startled cry escaped her lips when she felt herself fall downwards. Luckily for her, it was a very short slide down the ground. She landed on the very bottom with a quiet 'oof!' and groaned.

She got up on her feet, hoping she didn't wake any of the monsters up. But when she looked forward, her whole body froze.

There were many eggs surrounding her in the ditch she had fallen in, but one egg in particular caught her attention. Firstly, it was actually glowing. It was glowing so bright she almost thought that Apollo had somehow gotten himself trapped inside the egg.

She squinted her eyes and looked more closer.

It wasn't Apollo.

Curled inside of it was a Titan dressed in golden armor, his skin radiating with gold. His eyes were closed, but his lips were plastered into a scowl like he was on the verge of a bloodcurdling war cry.

It was Hyperion, and the worst thing? He was fully formed.

You've got to be kidding me, she thought hysterically. Isn't he supposed to be trapped in a tree back in Central Park?!

Wait... something dawned on her. Oh my gods. Don't tell me that tree actually defeated him!

She made a mental note to give Grover and the other satyrs high fives if she ever made it out of this hellhole alive. Funny moment aside, she needed to climb back up and get as far away from him as possible. Considering how shitty her luck was, he was probably very close to waking up. The increasing heat radiating from him confirmed that.

But before she could even turn around, Hyperion's golden eyes snapped open, instantly locking with hers.

She let out a cross between a choked gasp and a shriek as she stumbled back, only to hit something hard and cold. Like an ice statue.

"Got you," said a very deep and chilling voice.

Her breath hitched, but that was because of the massive hand that wrapped itself around her neck and lifted her up like a ragdoll.

The owner was most likely another Titan, one that she had never met before. He was about ten feet tall, wearing pure black (possible Stygian iron) armor with moving stars intricately drawn on them. She couldn't see what his face looked like thanks to the ram shaped helmet he wore that even came with ram horns. Strapped to his side a large sword that could probably skewer her with ease.

"Hyperion," his voice rumbled. "I think it's time for you to get out of that thing."

She couldn't see what was going on behind her, but she could hear him leaving the egg he was reforming in. It sounded like he was ripping through skin, and once he was out, the temperature of the area rose further.

"Urgh! I hate reforming in that stupid thing," came Hyperion's familiar grumble. "What is that you've got there Krios?"

Krios?! If it was possible, Esmerelda's eyes bugged out some more. He was the Lord of the South, the Titan Lord of the Stars and Constellations, and the same Titan Jason defeated during the Second Titanomachy.

This couldn't be happening to her. She was dealing with two Elder Titans. She was beginning to miss the over dramatic twin giants or the walking disco ball Ethan told her about.

"I don't know," Krios answered, squeezing her throat tighter. "I found her down here."

He threw her back on the ground and she greedily gasped for air. When she lifted her head, it was Hyperion's turn to widen his eyes.

"YOU!" His voice boomed, and she flinched, fearing that he'd awaken the other monsters. "You're that witch! The daughter of Hecate who helped defeat me!"

"Hecate?" Krios perked up. "Ah, so she's my great granddaughter then. I see the family resemblance."

"T-thanks?" She squeaked, rubbing her aching throat as she stumbled up to her feet. "So, uh, you're not gonna kill me then, right? I am your great granddaughter and all..."

She couldn't see what Krios' face looked like, but she had a feeling that he was amused by her attempts of gaining sympathy.

"Hilarious," he commented. "But you won't be the first of my grandchildren that I've killed."

This was the worst familiar reunion ever.

"Let's kill her," Hyperion grinned barbarically.

Krios nodded in agreement and unsheathed his sword.

Welp. Time to go. 

"Bye grandpa!" Esmerelda exclaimed before Mist traveling away.

It ended up taking her back up to the path she had fallen over. She didn't hesitate to break out into a sprint, but the two Titan brothers easily jumped up and blocked her way out.

Krios tried to cut her head off, but she leaped up on one of the eggs and bounced over his head, landing on another one.

Hyperion let out a battlecry, but she jumped on top of his helmet and cut him off.

"OW!" He shouted, trying to reach up to grab her ankle but she already jumped off of him and was running away.

She heard a loud pop! noise and when she glanced back, she realized she had actually broke the egg she had jumped on, and now the monster was waking up.

Oh shit, she thought.

There was another pop, and a second monster was crawling out of the damaged egg. And then another one, and another one, and another one. Soon enough, every gods damn monster in the vicinity was waking up and taking in her delicious demigod smell.

Ohhh sHIT! OH SHIT, OH SHIT, OH SHIT!

Loud beast-like roars and reptilian hisses echoed throughout the dark lands, and every monster was now out to get her along with the two titans already after her ass.

There was no point in staying quiet. Everyone was already awake now anyways, so she opened her mouth and let out the most apocalyptic screech she could make (and it was almost therapeutic for the first few seconds).

There were monsters she had never even seen before chasing her down. They were scaling the walls, spitting venom at her, trying to swipe at her with their claws, fuck she could even see a hydra starting to rise up from it's egg!

There was a pair of canine-like monsters running along the rocky walls. They weren't hellhounds, but they looked a lot bigger and deadlier than them. One jumped at her, and she cut it down with her magic, but the other one managed to tackle her to the ground.

They rolled around, the monster on top of her and trying to bite at her face.

"Get OFF!" She shouted, kicking it in the belly and sending it flying over to a group of dracaenae. It knocked them down like bowling pins and she was up and running once more.

She tried to pass by the hydra, but it sprayed at her with acid. She conjured up the shielding charm with one hand, and with the other, she blasted it down with bombarda—all without stopping her desperate flee.

"GAH!" Hyperion punched a cannibal in annoyance. "Would just get out of my WAY?!"

Titanic energy burst from his body, incinerating every monster in the area. The dark path was suddenly raining with golden dust like a dustbowl.

Esmerleda couldn't believe this.

"Oh NOW you do that?!" She screamed at him. Her voice echoed throughout the now empty cavern. "You couldn't have done that earlier?!"

"DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!" He roared back.

"Just shut up and get her!" Krios growled in frustration.

These two Titans were just newly formed, meaning they were in prime condition unlike her, so it wasn't much of a surprise that they caught up to her so quickly.

Smoke poured out of her hands, the smokescreen spell cloaking her from their sights. Or at least, she hoped it was. She doubted it would actually work on them, but she had to try and do something.

But a cold gust of wind blew by her, destroying her hopes immediately. The smoke dispersed all too easily, and the two Titans were now standing before her. Hyperion grinned wickedly and grabbed her by the neck before she could flee. 

WHY DO PEOPLE KEEP CHOKING ME?! She internally screamed. 

As she fruitlessly tried to pry at his fingers, she tried to think of a way to deal with this... little predicament she found herself in. 

The good thing was that all the monsters were dead so she didn't have to worry about that anymore. But she had a feeling an army of monsters would be much more easier for her to fight compared to going up against two very powerful Elder Titans...

Fighting them wasn't an option. It took the combined efforts of her, Percy, and the satyrs just to take down Hyperion. She had no chance of fighting him and his brother.

An idea clicked in her head.

"No weapon?" Krios inquired when she didn't make a move for her labrys. "I suppose you'll try to battle us with your magic then? Good luck with that, your mother was a lesser Titan. I doubt Hyperion and I would fall for your magic tricks."

She tried smile, her face turning blue from the lack of oxygen. "We'll... see...!" She managed to choke. 

And then she did something she had done to Hyperion before: she spat in his eye. 

"UGH!" He released her, stepping back. 

She fell to the ground, luckily landing on her feet. She pointed at the ground and shouted, "Deprimo!" 

The ground caved underneath them and as they were falling, Esmerelda used that chance to dash away as far as she could, spamming the Mist traveling repeatedly. At this point, she was finally out of the dark lands and reached this vast maze of massive rocks, spires, and fire pits. Far, far away on the other side was what looked to be a forest.

She dove right in, hoping that they would split up to search for her. Divide and conquer, as they always said.

She purposely avoided the fire pits and went straight for the jagged rocks and spires, darting around them aimlessly while listening for when the Titans would arrive.

She pressed herself against a rock and listened carefully.

"Look for her that way," she heard Hyperion order. "I'll go in this direction."

Krios grumbled something in reply before walking away.

Perfect. They decided to split up.

Gods, please let this work, she prayed.

She could hear Hyperion walking around, shouting curses and demands for her to show herself.

She waited a few seconds, her eyes glued on his shadow that was approaching her. The heat coming from his body grew stronger, and then—

"Ahah!" Hyperion snarled, grasping her by the wrist and yanking her away from her hiding place. She could feel her skin steaming from the contact. "I got you!"

"No," she said, her whole body transforming before his eyes. She became taller, brighter, and more menacing than ever. Soon enough, Hyperion was staring at an exact copy of himself.

"I... got... you." She snarled in return, her voice just like his.

In the next second, she pried her wrist away and grabbed his own. He tried to pull away, but the second he saw what his arm looked like, he let out... a girlish shriek?

"What—what did you do?!" He demanded, his voice higher than usual. When he looked down on himself, he realized what she had done: she used the Mist to switch their appearances.

"KRIOS!" Esmerelda called out, her voice threatening and booming. "I FOUND HER!"

Krios was at their side in an instant.

Hyperion's new green eyes widened. "Krios! She—

"—You deal with her," Esmerelda interrupted, muting him with the silencing charm. She tossed him on the ground in front of Krios' feet. "She's not here alone. I spotted another demigod running somewhere. I'm going after him."

She didn't wait to hear what Krios said next. She turned around and fled, the Mist disguise melting off of her once she thought it was safe. She had no idea how long Hyperion's disguise would last, but she mustered as much energy as she could to keep it on him.

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

She headed towards the forest area that was densely surrounded by dark, creepy looking trees. If she looked closer, she could actually see thorns attached to the bark, so resting against them probably wouldn't be a good idea.

Tartarus only had one forest in them, and it was called the Forest of Nightmares**. And... that was pretty much all she knew about it. Judging by the name, she expected that maybe falling asleep here wouldn't be safe. Maybe her dreams would be haunted by never ending nightmares that she couldn't wake up from.

She hadn't been expecting to see zombies instead.

The first one spooked her. It just appeared out of nowhere, blocking her path. Since she was used to seeing dead people thanks to all the time she spent in the Underworld, seeing the standing corpse didn't scare her that much.

But... she couldn't help but feel like something was off.

The dead guy wasn't doing anything threatening. He was just standing there, staring at her with his glassy blue eyes. It looked like a victim of drowning—and she knew that because her father had died the same way. He was a middle-aged man (so a mortal, maybe), dressed in soaked clothes. His skin was grey, his lips were blue, and and through his parted lips, she could see his purple tongue.

Seeing him made a shudder roll up his spine, and she didn't know why.

When she walked around him, he didn't do anything but watch her intently. He left her alone. Even when she had her back turned to him, he stayed rooted on the spot.

The zombies didn't stop there. More and more of them turned up, all victims of drowning. They were young and old, and Esmerelda couldn't recognize them. She was pretty sure she had never met these people before, so she had no idea why they were showing themselves to her. How were they connected to her nightmares?

Nevertheless, they all left her alone, so she just kept walking and hoped that maybe she could find Nico here.

"Nico!" She called out. "Nico, are you in here?!"

And then she finally saw him. There was the body of a young bow sprawled out on the ground, looking unconscious.

She didn't hesitate to hurry to his side.

"Nico! Oh gods, Nico what—AAAAAHHHHHHH!" She let out a shrill scream when she saw who was actually laying on the ground.

It wasn't Nico. This boy was far more younger, and he had fiery red hair instead of inky black. His arm was gone, like it was blasted off and half of his face was missing too, but she recognized those once shiny blue eyes anywhere.

It was Aiden, her little half-brother who went off to join the Titan Army with the rest of their siblings.

She scurried away from him, tripping on a tree root in the process. She scrambled even further, but she bumped into another body. This time, it belonged to another dead sibling.

"AHHH!" She shrieked again, jumping to her feet.

Much to her growing horror, she was completely surrounded now. Dead bodies were rising up from the ground, some familiar, some not. She saw Silena's face amongst the crowd, Beckendorf's was there too, all of her siblings had even assembled, and she could even see Luke, blue-eyed and hovering beside an open sarcophagus.

Nightmares. It finally dawned on her. These were the source of all her nightmares, and they had come to life. Her dead siblings, Luke trying to get her to become Kronos' host, Silena's death and betrayal, and as for the mortals... The drowned mortals she couldn't recognize were most likely the people she had killed when she took down the bridge during the Second Titan War.

She could hear herself seconds away from going into a panic attack as they crowded in on her. In the corner of her eye, she could see little Aiden sit up and start towards her.

She sucked in a breath. There was no way she could stay here any longer. She spotted an opening between Luke and another dead person, and booked for it. Some of them tried to grab at her, but she wrenched herself free and continued running.

This was a fucking nightmare. She never should've stepped foot in these woods.

Once she was certain they were too far to reach her, she hid herself behind a tree and took a breather. She would've leaned against it had it not been for the prickly thorns covering the whole thing.

She needed to get out of this forest. There was no way she was going to stay here any longer. She'd go crazy with all the dead bodies she caused. 

She clenched her eyes shut and tried to Mist travel away, but nothing happened. All she felt was the pure exhaustion aching throughout her body.

Fuck, she inwardly cursed. She had Mist traveled one too many times while trying to get away from Hyperion and Krios.

She looked around, trying to see if there was a way out, but she had no idea where it could be. She hadn't been paying attention to where she was running, so she had no clue how to get out of here.

Her stomach grumbled desperately, so she slipped off the backpack and rummaged around for something to eat. All she could find was a single pack of gummy bears and a chocolate granola bar. It was all she had left and she wanted to savor it all, but she ended up scarfing it all down.

Hopefully it would be enough to give her the energy to get out of here...

She tossed in the last of the gummy bears into her mouth and tossed her trash aside. She wasn't much for littering, but this was Tartarus so she doubted it mattered here.

About a few minutes later, another person appeared. This one didn't materialize like the others did. Instead, he stumbled out from the shadows as if he had been pushed into her path.

She registered the familiar head of dark hair and felt hope spark in her chest.

"Nico?" She whispered. "Is that you?"

"Mom—!" He choked out. Esmerelda nearly cried in relief when she heard his voice.

It was Nico!

But then he lifted up his head to look at her, and it was like someone drove a knife to her chest and twisted the blade.

This Nico was dead, just like the rest of them. His skin was grey, stretching out over his skeleton and almost every vein could be seen His eyes were sunken in, and it felt like she was staring into a deep abyss rather than his once glimmering brown eyes. His lips, which were downturned, were blue, and she could see his teeth rotting behind them.

This was not her Nico. This was just another fucking nightmare this cursed forest conjured up to haunt her.

"AAAAAHHHHH!" She screamed, her eyes wide with horror as she stumbled away from him.

His face fell. "N-no, mom wait—"

"—NO! YOU'RE NOT HIM! YOU'RE NOT HIM!" She shrieked, tears spilling down her face. She clenched her eyes shut, shaking her head in denial.

She couldn't take it anymore. This forest was driving her completely insane. Her siblings had been bad enough, why did it have to show her this?

"It's me!" He shouted over her screams. "Mamma, please, it's me!"

"Stop it, stop it, stop tricking me!" She wailed, placing her hands over her ears to drown him out, but even then, it wasn't enough.

"Sono io! (It's me!)" He cried out, his voice cracking. "Mamma, ti prego, non ce la faccio più! (Mamma, please, I can't do this anymore!)"

She let out another sob. She turned around and started to run away from him.

"PER FAVORE! (PLEASE!)" She could still hear him shout. "Mamma, non lasciarmi! (Mamma, don't leave me!)"

You're not my son! She wanted to shriek, but the only thing leaving her lips were her uncontrollable sobs.

She had no idea if he was chasing after her, but she hoped not. She didn't think she could fend him away. His deathly face was going to haunt her forever.

She had to stop running to vomit for a second time, her whole body shaken by what transpired. Her breathing turned harsher, and that was when she knew she was hyperventilating. She collapsed to her knees, grasping the ground underneath her and digging her nails into it.

That's not Nico, she told herself. His cold dead eyes flashed into her mind, and she had to throw up again.

That's NOT Nico, she told herself again, but she could hear his familiar voice calling out to her in her head and let out a pathetic whimper.

"Please, please, please," she begged under her breath, sounding incoherent through her sobs. "Please just stop. Just stop...!"

She allowed herself to finally collapse, black dots entering her vision.

...But instead of being sucked into a peaceful dream, she received a kick to the stomach instead.

The air was knocked out of her and she was awake in an instant. Before she could even get the chance to register what happened, she was kicked again.

"Argh...!" She let out a pained cry, curling around herself.

"You piece of shit!" A voice spat at her, and it made her fear increase tenfold.

She looked up at the figure standing before her, the color drained from her face.

Out of all the nightmares this forest gave her, it finally decided to unleash her worst one.

Alabaster.

"No," she could feel herself start to cry again. "No, not you, it can't be—"

"—Thought you could run away from me, did you?" He snarled, his green eyes glowing with unbridled hate. "Thought you could run away from everything you've done?!"

She crawled backwards, her whole body trembling and tense.

He stalked after her, his face becoming more menacing the angrier he got.

"Did you see them, Esmerelda? Our siblings? Did you see how they died? I'm sure you could tell that they died brutally, and guess what? You could've saved them from that!" His voice rose.

She shook her head, her vision blurring with tears. "N-no, Ally, you—"

"—You took everything away from me!" He roared, grabbing her by the ankle and dragging her towards him.

She let out a shrill scream, but he got on top of her and started to strangle her. It was all too much like what he had done back in Olympus, and the memories flashing in her mind left her more terrorized than ever.

"Y-y-you're n... not real...!" She gasped, but the hands around her neck contradicted that.

"I'll kill you!" He growled, his face deranged. His fingers pressed deeper into her throat, and she began to wheeze, parting her mouth open in hopes for air to enter her lungs.

She tried to pry his hands off of her, but he slammed her head against the ground, and then he did it again and again. Her vision was darkening with every hit and every second that she passed unable to breath, and she could hear a sharp ringing in her ears as her body began to grow weak. Any second now she would lose consciousness.

But then something happened.

The tip of a bronze sword pierced through Alabaster's neck, and he stopped hitting her. His hold on her neck loosened until she was finally able to breath.

The sword pulled itself away, and Alabaster's blood came spilling down on Esmerelda's face as she gasped for air.

Alabaster let out a sick, gurgling sound before his body was harshly kicked to the side. He fell to the ground, blood pooling around his neck. His dead green eyes bore into hers before he finally melted away into the shadows like he was nothing more than a mere shade.

Esmerelda slowly looked up to face the owner of the sword.

"Essie," the killer breathed out, his voice full of relief and longing, and also something twisted.

There was a flicker of fear in her eyes as she looked up at Ethan's bloody face.

— author's note —

* The place where Essie was seeing all the weird "monster eggs" thingy where they reform is actually called the "Dark Lands". In House of Hades, Percabeth and Bob actually cross it and see a reforming Hyperion. Speaking of that, Hyperion completes his reformation during House of Hades, but in here I have him (and Krios) finish reforming a lot earlier. Hope you don't mind 😅

** Okay so in the Tartarus map that I showed you in a previous chapter, there's this place called the 'Forest of Curses'. Idk if Percabeth ever went there (I don't think they did cuz I couldn't even find a wiki page for it), but it was on the map and it gave me an idea anyways 🤷‍♀️ You've probably noticed that I changed the name, sorry if you care about that, but I had a better idea so I had to make some changes

Also, if anyone's wondering, no that was NOT the actual Alabaster who died. If you read the passage again, it says that after he "died" his body pretty much melted. Dead demigods don't do that. So yeah, the real one is alive. If I wanted to kill him, I would've made his death more... exciting :)

Essie in the Dark Lands, getting chased down by two Titans and an army of monsters:

From el:

From M. A. Azalea White: