▬▬▬ CHAPTER SIXTEEN ▬▬▬

Another chapter title that came from a song, lol, I'm sorry 😂 If I can't think of any good chapter titles, I go to song titles for help

ETHAN WOKE UP INSIDE OF a box. No wait, a crate actually. He could tell because of the woody material and the thin slits between the boards, allowing light to enter his little area of space. 

But... it wasn't just any light. It was sunlight. Real, actual sunlight. He could feel it's gentle warmth touch his pale skin, giving him the vitamin D he had been so dangerously deprived of. And not just that. The air he breathed was lighter and fresher. It didn't hurt to inhale it, and it didn't feel like he was dying every time he breathed out. 

We're out of Tartarus, he realized, his eye growing wide with amazement. 

They were out. They were out! A hysterical laugh bubbled from his throat, but the joy faded away when his current predicament dawned on him. 

He was stuck in a box... and he had no idea why, or where Esmerelda and Nico even were. He racked his brain for answers on how he got stuck in this situation. The last thing he remembered was traveling through the heart of Tartarus with Esmerelda. There was a shit ton of monsters around them so she used the Mist to mask themselves but... but they heard Nico screaming in pain and she lost concentration... 

Then after that were the monster attacks... They were everywhere. They bit them, they slashed them, stabbed, cut, clawed, they did every horrible thing they could think of. It was a miracle he and Esmerelda lasted so long trying to fend them off. In fact, he didn't think he should even be alive after all that. 

He certainly didn't feel alive. Now that his joy had faded away, his body was now aching with pain. He could feel bandages wrapped tightly around certain parts of his body, as if someone had tried to cover the wounds up but he didn't think they actually tried to heal them. He could still feel every hit and cut he sustained littered all over his body, and he let out a low groan. 

Okay focus, he scolded himself. How the fuck did I get here? 

Right, right. Well, after he and Esmerelda alerted every monster of the vicinity of their existence and they nearly got mauled to death for it, he vaguely remembered a giant shoving their way through the crowd. One of the twin giants... Ephialtes, he guessed. All he could remember after that was the giant reaching out for them and then... blank. 

Suddenly he heard a loud sound that pulled him away from his thoughts. It sounded like a plane about to lift off. 

Am I at some sort of airport? He wondered, getting more lost by the second. 

"There they go," someone commented. They sounded close, like they were standing right next to the crate he was stuck in. "I hope those twins know how to fly a plane right because if they screw it up and destroy the special package I sorted out for them—"

"—Sorted out?" Another voice snorted. "The most you did was stuff the kid in the crate with some packing peanuts."

Ethan tensed up. Was he talking about Nico? 

"I would've used bubblewrap if someone hadn't popped all the bubbles and made them useless," the first voice grumbled in annoyance. "Now help me get these boxes up." 

"Fine," the second one sighed. 

A second later, Ethan felt his crate being lifted up with ease before being dumped somewhere and pushed back. Then he heard them lift up another crate that was placed beside him. 

"Is it just these two?" 

"Yeah. We're in charge of getting them to the sacrificial site," the other replied, his voice sounding farther away as they walked to wherever they were headed. "Gaea is expecting us to be quick, so we don't have to follow those annoying air traffic laws Zeus put up." 

"Speaking of him, is it really a good idea to use air travel?" He asked nervously. "I mean, I heard he really doesn't like these two..." 

"Don't worry," the first voice reassured. "This aircraft is being protected." 

After that, Ethan heard the sound of a door being open and shut and assumed they were finally gone.

Well fuck, he thought. They were being shipped off to their deaths and Nico was most likely in another plane with the twin giants. 

The one good thing about this was that at least they weren't trapped in Tartarus anymore. But still, he needed to get out of this stupid crate and find a way to get Nico back. 

He tried to push it open, but of course, nothing happened. So he tried to kick himself free only to wince when his knee hit the top of the box. There must have been a huge cut or a stab wound on his leg, because now it was burning with pain. 

The plane had long since lifted off from the ground by the time it took him to make some progress. He ignored the pain on his leg and kept kicking at his confines, hoping there weren't any monsters nearby who could hear him. 

He gave one final kick and the crate burst open. He waved away the cloud of sawdust that showered over his face and carefully sat up, groaning as he did so. His whole body was sore and aching, but he forced himself to climb out of the crate anyways. 

He looked down on himself and bit back a grimace.

Whoever dressed his wounds did a shitty job on it. Some of his bandages were wrapped too tightly or too loosely, the gauze was too thin so blood was bleeding through, and did someone seriously place a Hello Kitty bandaid over a stab wound? 

They need to get fired, he thought in annoyance before lifting his head up to analyze his surroundings. 

He must have been inside some cargo aircraft because all he could see were packages. They all had the same logo on them too. A caduceus with the words 'HERMES EXPRESS' stamped over it. 

They must have highjacked the plane, he surmised. Not that he cared. He had more important matters to deal with, like finding Esmerelda and getting Nico back. 

Fortunately for him, the first part wasn't so hard. There was one other crate in the room identical to the one he had been stuck in and it was right next to his. 

"Essie, are you in there?" He tried to call out. He still wasn't entirely sure if she was the other half of the 'special package' that one guy mentioned, but it wouldn't hurt to check. 

He banged his hands against the crate when he heard no reply. "Essie! Essie!" 

He heard a soft noise come from the inside, like a light groan. He banged his hands against the crate some more. 

"Essie! Is that you? It's me Ethan! You're trapped inside some crate, can you get out? Essie!" He called out to her again. 

"...Ethan...?" He heard her murmur. 

Ah shit, he cursed. She sounded too out of it to think straight. He doubted he would be able to free herself on her own. 

"Yeah, it's me," he replied. "I'm gonna try and get you out of here. Stay awake, okay?"

She murmured something incoherent in response and he hoped she wasn't passing out again. 

His first idea was to just smash the crate open like he did, but he would probably risk hurting her in the process so he wasn't going to risk that. So, he put his fingers into the tiny gaps between the boards and tried to pry it open with his bare hands. He dug his nails in hard into the wooden surface and started to pull the boards apart one by one until he was finally able to see her. His fingers were bleeding, but he didn't care. 

Laying inside the crate was Esmerelda. She was on her side, looking like a person who was slowly about to succumb to a zombie bite. 

Thankfully, she didn't pass out. Unfortunately, she sure as hell was close to it. 

There was a bleeding bruise on her head, just near the hairline. All the blood was dried out, but judging by the size of it, it must have came from one of the giant twins. There was also a few visible bandages, gauze, and bandaids he could see, but they looked sloppily done just like his. Strangulation marks marred her pale neck, at least three different hand prints each belonging to different people. He would've thought she was dead if it hadn't been for her eyes blinking slowly. 

"Essie," he breathed out in relief, bending over to help her up. "Come on, we gotta get you outta here." 

She was very sluggish when he pulled her out of the crate, and usually he would be able to lift her up with no problem, but he probably had, like, ten stab wounds all over his body right now so he could barely pull her up in a standing position. 

"Essie," he said when she nearly leaned backwards and nearly fell back into the crate. He grabbed her by the shoulders to keep her steady. "Essie, listen, we're inside an airplane right now. We made it out of Tartarus." 

"I know," she groaned lightly, eyes squinting as if the already piss poor lighting was too bright for her to handle. "Sorry, my head's just hurting."

"Yeah I can tell, you got a huge bruise on your head," he said worriedly. 

"Where's Nico?" She suddenly asked, an alarmed look on her face. "He's not... no... Oh gods, please don't tell me he's still in Tartarus." 

"I don't know where he is," he struggled to say. "But I know he's not in Tartarus anymore. I overheard this conversation... Look, there's at least two other people here with us—monsters most likely. They probably know where he is, so I'll ask them but right now, they're shipping us over to some location where we can be sacrificed. Think you're up for a fight?" 

"Um," she grimaced. 

Ethan understood the sentiment. He didn't think she could even hold a knife at this state. She'd probably stab herself on accident instead. 

"I'll handle it," he offered. "You wait here. I'll be right back..." 

He reached out for his earring—which he luckily still had—and shifted it into his sword. He glanced over at Esmerelda who chose to lean sit against one of the boxes. It was labelled 'fragile' and usually she would take a warning like that seriously, but she was probably too out of it to care. 

He walked over to the cockpit and laid his hand on the handle, hesitant. Maybe he should just kill one of them and keep the other alive so he could threaten him to turn the plane around. Yeah, that was probably a good idea because if he killed both pilots then they were fucked. 

Keeping a tight grip on his sword, he swung the cockpit door opened, startling the two monsters inside. It was a pair of laistrygonians who barely managed to squeeze into the seats. They both whirled around to face him, but he beheaded the co-pilot before either of them could do anything. 

The other pilot gasped in horror. "No! Jimmy!"

Ethan pointed the tip of his blade at his neck. 

"Nido di Angelo," he said in a hard voice. "Where is he?" 

"He's long gone," the monster spat. "You'll never reach him in time." 

"Then turn the plane around and go find him," he ordered. 

The laistrygonian looked infuriated. "After you just killed Jimmy?! Go to Tartarus!" He ripped through his seatbelt and lunged at him, trying to grab him by the neck. 

"Already went there!" Ethan snarled, shoving him away. And then, without thinking since he had terrible anger issues, he sliced the guy's head off just like he did with 'Jimmy'. 

It was only until the golden dust showered his shoes did he realize what he had just done. His sole eye grew wide, and he wanted nothing more than to punch himself in the face. 

Oh shit, he thought. I just killed the pilots. 

Well this was just great. He killed the only two people who knew how to fly the damn thing and now they were stuck in the air with no idea how to land properly. 

He felt like screaming, but Esmerelda was waiting for him right outside the door and he had to keep calm for her sake. So he breathed in and out to calm his nerves as much as he could and walked out of the cockpit with a strained smile. 

Esmerelda was none the wiser. She was still leaning against the door, looking a little more awake than last time. When she looked up to see him, there was a relieved expression on her face. 

"I killed the pilots," he admitted. 

"Oh," she said. "Did—did they say anything about Nico?" She asked hopefully. 

His face turned stony. "No, he's long gone. I think he might be in another plane though, with the twin giants. They... they must be taking him somewhere else..." 

"No," her face fell to despair. "We have to go get him back then!" 

"We will," he promised. "But there's really nothing we can do at this point. We have no idea where his plane's at or where he's being taken—the only choice we have is to get back to Camp Jupiter... Maybe they can help. The rest of the Nine must have assembled by then too." 

It was all he could think of. Neither of them knew what else to do and even if they did find Nico, neither of them were in the best condition to go fighting two giants. 

"Then we have to hurry," Esmerelda said breathlessly, already hobbling past him and into the cockpit. She sat down at the co-pilot spot and put on one of the aviator's headsets. "You know how to fly the plane, right?"

"Yeah," he lied smoothly, sitting down beside her. 

"Thank gods," she let out a heavy. "You can fly us back to Camp Jupiter then?"

"I think so." Another lie. 

While Esmerelda was settling herself nicely at the co-pilot seat, Ethan was left staring at the many foreign buttons on the control panel. All the symbols, letters, and numbers were swirling around in his head and he couldn't decipher them at all. 

Slowly, he reached up to turn off the autopilot and turned the control wheel to the left in order to turn around. 

Esmerelda peered into the primary flight display and announced, "It says here that this plane's supposed to go to Athens, Greece. That must be the sacrificial site you were talking about... Oh wow, we're not too far from there..." 

Ethan shot a glance at it. "Does that thing work like a GPS? Can it give us directions to San Francisco?"

"I don't think it does," she murmured in disappointment. He could see her lip trembling as hopelessness washed over her in waves. It was clear she was still thinking of Nico and wanted nothing more than to find him. 

"It's fine," he quickly assured her. "There's a magnetic compass here, we can use that instead. Greece is at the east of North America, so all we gotta do is go west and... hopefully we reach it..."

He winced at his piss poor wording. That did not sound reassuring in the slightest. 

"Don't worry, angel, we're gonna get Nico back, I promise. We're taking him back home." He vowed. 

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

Esmerelda fell asleep not too long after that, and Ethan felt more comfortable with letting his panic show. 

He... had no idea what the fuck he was doing. 

The controls made no sense to him. He was pretty sure airplanes were supposed to have something like a GPS on them but he was too scared to try and press anything to find it. All he really knew was how the wheel worked, but anyone with a braincell could do that. 

The one thing that worried him the most was that he had no idea how to actually land the fucking thing. Even worse, he didn't have much time to figure it out since the plane moved freakishly fast. 

It moved faster than the regular aircrafts mortals flew. It only took him a few minutes of flying to reach France (and he knew it was France because he saw the Eiffel Tower), and maybe ten or so minutes to cross the Atlantic Ocean. That sort of feat wouldn't have been possible with a normal plane, but then again this plane was owned by the Hermes Express so everything was probably enhanced. 

At this rate, we'll be back in Camp Jupiter in less than half an hour, he thought to himself, calming down just a smidge. He turned on the autopilot and relaxed against the plush seats. 

Now that things were calmer again, the revelation that they were actually out of Tartarus crept back to him. He didn't think he would ever come to appreciate the clear blue skies and the warm sunlight as much as he did now. He almost wanted to exit the plane just to bask in it, but that would get him killed. 

(That, and it would inflate Apollo's already huge ego, so no thanks.)

After everything he had been through, he was never going to step foot back into Underworld ever again, not when that was the place where he had dropped into Tartarus. Esmerelda was still an employee there, but he would get her to quit her job. Then again, she'd probably be too afraid to go back either way, so that was good. 

But things aren't over yet, he reminded himself. Nico's still missing, the quest is still going on, Gaea's still here, and another war was soon to come. 

The thought of all of that made his breathing quicken. He knew any second now he was going to go through a mental breakdown, but Esmerelda was sleeping right next to him and he wouldn't dare to wake her up. She deserved the rest. 

But when he closed his eye and was left in darkness, all he could see were flashes of Tartarus. He was back in hell all over again. He saw its poisoned air, its glowing red hues, and all the blood he spilled trying to travel across it. He thought of the time he had to burn himself to stay alive, the time Esmerelda fell into the River Cocytus, and the time all three of them were forced to separate. 

Something was crawling up his throat. He didn't know if it was bile or if he was about to scream, but that didn't matter because Esmerelda was suddenly shrieking at his ears and trying to shake him awake. 

His eye snapped open. He didn't know what was going on but the alarm was blaring, Esmerelda was freaking out, and the whole plane was going down. 

"Oh, shit—!" He shouted, panic seizing his veins. 

He grasped the wheel and tried to pull it up, but the plane refused to obey. It kept lurching downwards, like the air was trying to pull it down. He had no idea if it was Gaea or one of her minions, or even Zeus—all he knew was that if he didn't get this plane in control soon, they would both be dead. 

"What happened?!" He asked.

"I don't know!" Esmerelda replied, grasping tightly on to her seatbelt. "The plane was already falling when I woke up, but you were still asleep!" 

"What?!" 

That couldn't be right. He never fell asleep, he just closed his eyes for a few seconds! He never once lost consciousness, he was certain of that! 

The plane lurched some more and Esmerelda screamed. Behind them, he could hear something crash in the other room. Probably some of Hermes' fragile deliveries. Whoops. 

The view in front of them was blurring. All he could see was green. They must be close to crashing against a grassy field. 

"I can't get us to go back up," he told her, his heart racing. "Are you strong enough to Mist travel us to the ground safely?" 

"I'll try," Esmerelda cried out, reaching out to grasp his hand. 

"You need to take us away from the crash zone—" 

"—I know!" She replied, clenching her eyes shut. She started to de-materialize slowly, and soon enough, so was he. A light feeling entered his stomach and a second later, they were both gone. 

They were thrown into a soft ground, blades of grass tickling their battered skin. Behind them, they heard a loud CRASH sound followed by a small explosion. They covered their heads, but when nothing hit them, they calmed down. 

"We're safe," Esmerelda said, breathing heavily. "Ethan, are you—" 

When she turned to face him, she froze, her eyes growing wide. 

Ethan immediately grew worried. "What is it?"

She opened her mouth, but before she could answer, a loud "moo!" interrupted her, followed by someone trying to eat his hair. 

He forced himself up in a sitting position, his face red with embarrassment as he tried to gently swat away the invasive cow. 

"Seriously?" He grumbled when all it did was nuzzle its head against his. 

Esmerelda burst into giggles and he couldn't help but smile at the sweet sound. He hadn't heard her laugh like that in what felt like years. Tartarus was the sort of place that sucked out any semblance of happiness, it was no place for laughing. But they were out of it now, and hearing her laugh like that grounded the idea in his head. 

They survived Tartarus. They may not be the same people as before, but all three of them made it out of that hellhole. 

He scooted closer to her once she sat up, the annoying cow following. Esmerelda didn't seem to mind though, she was having a lot of fun playing around with the cow anyways. 

Speaking of cows... there seemed to be quite a bit of them. Did they crash on some sort of ranch? 

He looked around spying a few cows grazing around the ruined airplane, acting pretty nonchalant to the destruction. Large parts from the plane littered the field, patches of grass were on fire, and smoke was rising into the air. When he looked behind him, he saw a small colonial styled house in the distance and tensed up. 

Fuck. He forgot about the mortals. Would they see a plane crash or would the Mist make them see something different? 

The peaceful tranquility they had for only a few minutes died out instantly when reality sank back on him. 

As much as he wanted to lay here in the middle of some random ranch with Esmerelda, they still had work to do. 

He stood up abruptly, wincing at the injuries that protested at the sudden movement. "We can't stay here," he said. 

Esmerelda looked up at him, the lighthearted smile on her face disappearing. 

"Huh?"

"We need to find out where we are and—urgh...!" He cut himself off with a pained groan. He looked down and saw that he was bleeding through the side of his tattered shirt. He must have opened a wound or something. 

Esmerelda hurried up to her feet, her eyes darting between the blood dripping down his side to the house not too far away. 

"Let's go inside, maybe they have a med kit or something," she said, tugging him towards the house. "We can use the chance to properly clean our wounds too. I doubt whoever did this did it right..." 

He nodded in agreement and walked with her, the cow mooing sadly in the background. 

The house wasn't so hard for them to break into. Esmerelda merely used the unlocking charm and bam, they were in. The house seemed to be empty too. The lights were off, the TV was off, and the AC wasn't even on. 

Esmerelda had him sit on the couch to wait while she scrambled around for a first aid kit. While he was waiting for her he spotted a pile of an unopened mail. According to all the addresses he read, they were somewhere in Topeka, Kansas.

While reading through it for more information on the date, the front door swung open. A confused looking man wearing hospital scrubs stepped inside and then immediately locked eyes with the boy sitting on his couch. 

"Who—?!"

Ethan was on him in an instant before he could even finish the sentence. He pulled out the poisoned knife strapped to his ankle and shoved him against the wall, the blade inches away from his neck. It would just go through him since he was mortal but it wasn't like the mortal would know that. 

"Don't scream," he warned darkly. "The second you try, I'm slitting your throat. You got that?" 

The man nodded shakily, before his eyes trailed over to his arm, like he was seeing something there. Then his gaze traveled over to his neck and the fear in his face increased even more for some reason. 

"Are you a nurse?" Ethan asked curtly, bringing the attention back to him. 

He nodded. 

"You ever stitched a wound before?"

Another nod. 

"Good. I need you to patch us up, and you're gonna do just that, right?" He glowered. 

"U-u-us?" The poor nurse stuttered.

"My girlfriend," Ethan clarified. "Now look, you may not be bound by the Hippocratic Oath, but I won't hesitate to ruin your life if you mess anything up so you better not try anything," he threatened. 

"I won't! I swear I won't!" He squeaked. 

"Good," Ethan spat before harshly releasing him. 

"Are you—are you the Yakuza?" The nurse asked fearfully, near hyperventilating at this point. 

Ethan stared at him in bewilderment. 

"The yakuza?" He repeated, and then realized how that would've explained why he was staring so intently at his neck and arms. The Mist must have made him see yakuza tattoos. Of fucking course. 

"Ethan, I found a med kit!" Esmerelda exclaimed, running back to the living room only to pause at the random mortal man who looked ready to shit himself. 

He pointed a shaky finger at her. "A-and you're the mafia girl!" 

Her face fell. "I almost forgot about that." 

"The mafia and the yakuza..." He muttered under his breath, his eyes wide. "What sort of fucked up love story is this...?!"

Ethan swatted him in the back of the head. "Shut the fuck up and focus on fixing us up. Remember, if you do anything—" 

"—Ethan, don't threaten him," Esmerelda sighed. "We already broke into his house, the least we can do is be nice." 

"A little too late for that," he droned, before shooting the mortal man a glare. "Why the fuck are you still standing there? Essie's got the med kit so get to work!" 

"Y-y-y-yes sir," he stammered. 

Even though Ethan was the one bleeding out, the nurse worked on Esmerelda first, most likely because she was the nicest and easiest to deal with. Ethan didn't mind. He always put her first before anything anyways so it was good that he patching her up first. 

"So what's your name?" Esmerelda asked him nicely, her legs dangling on the stool she was perched on. 

The man stole a glance at Ethan as if he was asking for permission to talk to her.

"U-uh, I'm—I'm Christopher," he answered nervously. 

"Oh, I'm Essie," she smiled, and then her eyes caught sight of a picture frame on the counter beside her. "Is... is this your family?"

"Yeah..." He replied. "That's my wife and my son." 

Esmerelda's eyes began to water. "I have a son too... But now he's MISSING!" She cried out before bursting into loud sobs. 

(It was safe to say that Christopher nearly got killed on the spot for that.)

When it was Ethan's turn, the nurse (naturally) got nervous. His hands were trembling so much that he had to threaten to cut them off, but apparently that only made the shakiness grow worse. 

All in all, it took a painstakingly long time for the man to clean their wounds, restitch them, and cover them up and it didn't help that Ethan was glaring daggers into Christopher's soul the entire time while Esmerelda was still crying on the couch and hugging a pillow. 

"Can you give us a minute?" Ethan asked Christopher. 

Before the older man could reply, he was already helping Esmerelda walk down the hallway and into the master bedroom. It probably wasn't a good idea to leave the mortal unsupervised since he could call the cops or whatever, but Ethan was too focused on taking care of his girlfriend. 

When he closed the door behind him, he heard Christopher's horrified voice wail, "MY RANCH!" 

Oh well. 

"I'm sorry," Esmerelda hiccuped, wiping the stray tears off her face. "I'm just so—I can't—I just want him back...!" 

He hugged her close, leaning his back against the door as her body racked with sobs. Tears started rolling down his face and he could feel something rip his heart in two at thought of Nico's capture. He wondered if she was feeling the same thing too. 

Nico... was all alone out there with only the giant twins to keep him company, and they weren't exactly good company. He had just made it out of Tartarus, the trauma from that alone would be enough to break anyone. It was completely breaking him and he had Esmerelda at his side. 

Nico had nobody. 

They had to find him. They needed to save him and take him back home. Make sure he was properly cared for and spoil the kid a little since he definitely deserved a bit of spoiling (but not too much of course). At this point, Esmerelda and Nico were all Ethan could care about right now and he would be damned if anything happened to them. 

He pulled away from the hug and rested his forehead against hers. "We're gonna save him, we're gonna finish this stupid war, and then we're gonna bring the brat home, okay? You can make him his favorite pasta and I'll buy him that gelato that he likes so much, and we still gotta take him to a farm, remember?"

She let out a small laugh, her eyes still watering. 

"Yeah," she agreed, her lips tugging upwards. "And we can give him a late birthday party since we couldn't before." 

"Good idea," Ethan smiled, kissing her on the forehead and then leaning down to kiss her on the lips. 

Their faces were wet with tears but neither of them cared. His hand cupped her cheek as he put as much love and desperation into his kiss, wanting to convey how much he needed her in his life. He could her feel her hands snake behind his head but then—

Loud police sirens ruined the moment. 

The couple jumped away, their eyes wide. 

"That little shit...!" Ethan growled. "He called the fucking cops!"

 Without another word, he grabbed her hand and bolted out of the room. Christopher was nowhere to be found—which was wise on his part—but Ethan could hardly care. He kicked the front door down, only to be blinded by bright red and blue lights from the cop cars. 

"This way!" Ethan darted to the left. All this running was jostling up his injuries, but at least they were properly tended to by an actual professional so he wasn't too worried about that.

But the cops had guns aimed at them so he needed to get them out of here fast before they gained even more injuries. 

"Can you Mist travel?" He asked Esmerelda, who was breathing hard and clutching her side where a bad injury laid. 

"Not now!" She huffed. "I'm too tired, I'll need to concentrate extra hard and I can't exactly do that with cops shooting at us!" 

At least they knew they were definitely in America. No sane police officer would be so trigger happy in the middle of a goddamn neighborhood. He and Esmerelda were definitely not going to be moving to this state anytime soon. 

"Over here!" Esmerelda said before suddenly dragging him into a (thankfully empty) park and hiding amongst one of the many trees. 

"Come on, come on, come on," she muttered to herself. Her eyes were shut with concentration while bullets whizzed by them. 

"Essie," Ethan warned, flinching when a bullet hit the tree they were hiding behind. "Any time now, please." 

"Shhh!" She shushed him, keeping a tight grip on his hand. 

Another bullet whizzed by. 

"THEY'RE OVER THERE!" Someone shouted. 

A bullet shot at one of their heads, but they were already gone before it could touch them.

Esmerelda had been thinking of Camp Jupiter the entire time, but she knew she had no such energy to make the travel so she wasn't expecting to actually arrive there. 

But she certainly hadn't been expecting this. 

She hit the ground hard, Ethan following after her a second later and clonking out from the collision. She could feel something wet seep into her shirt and when she looked down, she saw blood. So much of it that she thought she might have opened one of her wounds again. 

But that wasn't it.

She had landed on a floor covered with markings written in blood. It drew some sort of weird circle with lit up candles surrounding it. Beyond the circle was a group of hooded people, their faces staring at them in awe. 

Did she... did she just Mist travel themselves into a Satanic summoning circle? 

She muttered something deliriously in Ancient Greek before finally passing out next.

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

When Esmerelda opened her eyes to see herself standing inside a dark temple that reminded her way too much of the Mansion of Night, she felt like crying in despair, thinking that she was still trapped in Tartarus. 

But then her mother's face showed up and she realized she was just in a dream. 

"Oh dear gods," Hecate breathed out. "You made it out... all three of you!" 

"Mother, what is...?"

"I don't have a lot of time," Hecate said hurriedly. "Zeus' paranoia has grown worse so I need to make this quick. The rest of the Nine have already left Camp Jupiter and they're traveling through the Argo II right now. Nemesis will meet up with them soon, and she will direct them your way. You and Ethan are currently in Topeka, Kansas. Stay there. Do not leave. The rest of the Nine shall retrieve you." 

"What about Nico?" Esmerelda asked desperately. "Mother, please, you have to do something to help him...!" 

She shook her head. "I cannot. That is a quest you all will face. Nico will be fine for now, so do not fret too much."

"Mother... mother please—"

"—I'm sorry," Hecate whispered, looking genuine. "But you'll have to believe me when I say he will be fine. For now, you must stay where you are and wait for them to find you. I have to go now. I'm so sorry you all had to go through that, if I was allowed to stop it then..." 

"Please don't lie to me," Esmerelda begged. "Please, I just want to know about Nico. You promise he'll be okay?"

"He will be, but his time is limited." Hecate stated grimly. "In order to save him, you need to stay put and wait for everyone else to find you. You cannot save him on your own, and they cannot save him without you. Wait for them."

She said her final words and the dream finally ended. 

Someone was shaking her shoulder. When her eyes fluttered open, she saw Ethan's tense face. 

"Ethan," she began. "My mother contacted me through a dream. She said Nico was okay, but we have to stay here and wait for the rest of the Nine to pick us up. I kept asking if she could—" 

"—Essie," Ethan interrupted her, his voice uncharacteristically quiet. "Where the fuck are we." 

She blinked in response and looked around, immediately blanching. They were in a creepy room that could've earned a spot in Tartarus. The walls were painted a blood red, the dim lights illuminating the room in the same creepy glow Tartarus had. It was enough to make her sick to her stomach and she knew Ethan was feeling the same. 

But the air they were breathing was fresh. There were no monsters growling in the distance and there were no deadly rivers anywhere around. They were out of Tartarus and back in the mortal world. 

(She had to remind herself of that multiple times though.) 

And then she remembered what she saw before she blacked out. The blood, the summoning circle, the people dressed in ritualistic robes. 

"I... I think I might have accidentally taken us to some cult meeting," Esmerelda whispered, terrified. 

"Oh," he relaxed. "Thanks gods. I thought it was something bad." 

She stared at him. "Seriously? Cults don't faze you?"

"The only cult I'm concerned about is the KKK and I'm already planning to destroy every single one of those terrorists in the future," he shrugged. "So yeah. Cults aren't really scary to me."

The door opened before she could comment on that. A woman, not dressed in a robe this time, stepped into the room, goggling at Esmerelda with big blue eyes. 

"You're awake," she said breathily. 

"...Hi," Esmerelda squeaked. 

A weird maniacal giggle escaped her lips. "And you even greeted me. I love you already...!" 

"She's taken," Ethan scowled darkly, stepping forward to shield her from her sight. "And way too young for you, so step aside, hag." 

"You've already gotten yourself a partner too?!" The woman ignored his threat, looking more amazed by the second. "This is wonderful! Oh this is just perfect! The plan's going splendidly! Come on you two, everyone wants to meet you!" 

She didn't even wait to grab them and drag them out of the room and down the hallway. They entered a large dining room occupied by middle-aged people who glued their eyes on Esmerelda the second she came in. 

The woman pushed Esmerelda down on the chair at the head of the table while Ethan sat on her right. 

"Uh," Esmerelda swallowed thickly. "What's going on?"

"We welcome you to the mortal world, my lady," a deranged looking man announced. 

My lady? Did they know she was a demigod or something? 

"Oh, um... thanks?" She said awkwardly. 

"We've been looking everywhere for you," another woman cried out. "We were so scared that we wouldn't find you and our dark lord would punish us for it!" 

"D-dark lord?" She repeated. Were they talking about Voldemort? They couldn't be Death Eaters though since they were wearing common muggle clothes... She didn't even see any of them carrying a wand. 

"Your father," the deranged man said. 

"...What." 

Since when did Regulus gain a cult?! It totally wouldn't have been surprising but still! Just how long have they been stuck in Tartarus?! 

On her right, Ethan looked like a part of him had actually died on the inside at the thought of her father having his own cult. She couldn't blame him. 

"Your father?" The man repeated. "You know... the Devil? Satan?" 

"All hail Satan!" Everyone cried out. 

And then everything just clicked in her head. 

Oh my fucking gods. 

They thought she was the Antichrist, she realized, sharing a 'what the fuck look' with Ethan.

She remembered her mother's words. Stay put. 

She swallowed nervously and plastered on a hopefully dazzling smile. 

"Y-yes," she said, raising up a glass of suspiciously red liquid. "All hail my father, Satan." 

"All hail Satan," they echoed like obedient lambs.

In the corner of her eyes, she saw Ethan burry his face in his hands. 

— author's note —

Did you guys really think I was gonna have all three of them stuck in the jar??? Ethan's 6'2" ass would never fit 😂

(Plus, he and Essie would suffocate to death early on cuz neither of them can consume the death trance seeds so Nico would just be stuck in a jar... with the dead bodies of his parents 🤗)

I COULDN'T RESIST THE CULT SCENE GUYS IM SORRY! It was inspired by Klaus from The Umbrella Academy (I 💖 Klaus, btw) and ever since I watched it back when I was writing... Book four I think(???) I've always wanted to write about Essie accidentally becoming a cult leader too or whatever. She already has her "antichrist" background thanks to Sirius anyways so it just fit 😂

From M. A. Azalea White: