▬▬▬ CHAPTER TWENTY THREE ▬▬▬

(You're welcome for that gif by the way ❤️‍🔥)

Okay, now before I let you guys read the chapter... I have good??? news. I had this riveting convo with CuteTrash in Quotev because she mistook my new Wattpad profile pic as a new Ethan faceclaim and the convo just spiraled down into making this dude an Essan baby because he radiates so much Ethan energy.

And honestly, she's absolutely fucking right because LOOK AT HIM:

The resting bitch face?? The 'ew don't touch me'??? The eyE PATCH??? THE FACT THAT MOST OF HIS GIFS CONSIST OF HIM BEATING PPL UP OR JUST BEING AN ASSHOLE IN GENERAL??? He would make the perfect Essan baby, he's practically "like father like son" asjdfjhawf

(If I found out about him earlier, I probs would've casted him as Ethan lol)

He's honestly so perfect and I'm hella tempted to making him an Essan baby BUT THEY ALREADY HAVE TEN FUCKING KIDS (8 biological) SO LIKE ??? SHOULD I MAKE AN ELEVENTH??? 

The actor is Goki Maeda btw, and he plays this cool character called Todoroki Yosuke from the HIGH&LOW series. Todoroki's basically a cocky asshole who goes around beating ppl up to amass power 😍

SHOULD I MAKE HIM AN ESSAN BABY?? ELEVEN SEEMS LIKE SO MUCH BUT THIS IS ESSAN WE'RE TALKING ABOUT SO...

(Plus I might add another kid too because eleven is a weird number and twelve gives me better vibes so shefwagf)

What shall it be...??? I need to stop adding so many kids omfgggg 💀

A KNOCK CAME AT THE door.

Esmerelda whipped her head to face it, her face pale. "Shit."

She smacked a hand over her mouth to keep silent, even though she knew it wouldn't be necessary thanks to the soundproofing system.

She prayed to the gods that whoever was on the other side of the door would just leave already, but not even a second later, the knocking returned.

"Oh my gods," she whispered, scrambling for her fallen clothes and underwear on the floor. "Oh my gods, please don't let it be Coach Hedge!"

The poor girl was hastily putting her clothes back on whereas Ethan did so more calmly, only getting irritated when the knocks came back for a third time.

"I fucking swear if they knock one more time...!" He grumbled under his breath, zipping up his pants and leaving his shirt discarded on the floor. He stormed over to the door and swung it open. "What do you want?"

Esmerelda plastered herself against the wall, mortified. Fortunately for her, whoever it was wouldn't be able to see her from that angle.

"Hey man!" Leo greeted him with a grin.

Ethan gave him a flat look and repeated, "What do you want?"

"Just came to check up on you guys," Leo said slyly. "Hazel was worried when you didn't show up on the deck with the rest of us, but I figured Essie took the two of you here and—"

"—Leo, can you get to the point?" He sighed impatiently.

His grin widened. "Breakfast is nearly over and we're about to start the meeting soon. Better come up quick before Coach gets suspicious."

Esmerelda lightly banged her head against the door. Well shit. They really sucked at quickies.

"Oh and," Leo added, looking even more amused than ever. "Nice scratch marks, Ethan."

Ethan rolled his eye. "Shut up, virgin."

That silenced him immediately.

"Ethan!" Esmerelda hissed at him from her spot against the wall.

Ethan plastered on a sickening sweet smile that made Leo shiver. "Thanks for the warning. We'll come up in a bit."

Leo grumbled some profanity under his breath before walking away, but not before flipping the older boy off.

"Just for that, I'm not making any nachos for you!" He called out as he disappeared up the stairs.

"You didn't need to call him out like that," Esmerelda commented, cracking a small smile.

He shrugged before closing the door. "He tried to shame me so I shame him back. It's called equality, babe."

Esmerelda just shook her head in amusement before looking down at herself. Even though they were dressed, they certainly didn't look decent enough to be out in public. Their clothes were still in disarray, their hair was a mess, and their skin was flushed and littered with fresh pink hickies (and in Ethan's case, scratch marks on his back and shoulders).

With a snap of her fingers, their appearances became more appropriate. Their clothes were wrinkle-free and their hair was styled back to perfection. Unfortunately, she couldn't do much about their skin, but hopefully they would cool down before they reached the mess hall. As for the... love marks, well, she would just have to cover it with her hair. Ethan, on the other hand, was the type to proudly show them off.

"Okay," she mumbled to herself, readjusting her hair so none of the marks could be seen. "I think we look presentable."

Ethan snorted. "Dude, everyone is probably already aware of what we were doing in here."

And he was absolutely right.

The second they stepped into the mess hall, all eyes were on them. Leo and Percy were snickering to themselves and waggling their eyebrows suggestively, Piper was looking away from them, Annabeth gave Ethan a disgusted stare, and Hazel, Frank, and Jason were beet red. Coach Hedge was fuming, holding his bat threateningly like he was ready to beat the abstinence into them.

Esmerelda froze like a deer in the headlights. Ethan greeted them all with a smug look before gently pulling her into the room. He pulled open a chair for her like a gentleman and she would've internally swooned at the act had she not been so busy dying on the inside.

"So glad you can finally join us," Annabeth said dryly.

"In all my days," Coach Hedge began loudly. "I have never once met such an overly hormonal pair of teenagers! I should send you both to a military school! That oughta deal with your outrageous horny-ness!"

Esmerelda sank into her chair, wanting to melt into a puddle of shame and stay like that forever. She was so dead inside that Ethan had to fill up her plate with food (and of course, he picked the healthiest options).

Ethan popped a stuffed zucchini into his mouth and spoke with his mouth full, "No thanks."

Coach Hedge began to stand but Annabeth started to speak up again to catch everyone's attention.

"Can we get back on topic?" She said, annoyed. "Now that everyone's here, can you all finally explain what happened after the monster—"

"—Shrimpzilla," Percy corrected.

"Actually, it's real name is Skolopendra," Leo chimed.

Annabeth gave them a hard look and they clamped their mouths shut.

"After Skolopendra attacked us," she corrected herself.

Leo took that chance to fuss over his helm controls, leaving Ethan, Frank, and Hazel to do all the explaining with Esmerelda giving them her own piece on how she found them. Everyone else was throwing so many questions at them in the middle of it that Esmerelda and Ethan were able to finish all of their breakfast by the time the explanation ended.

"Incredible," Jason said. "These are really good brownies."

"That's your only comment?" Piper demanded.

He looked surprised. "What? I heard the story. Fish-centaurs. Merpeople. Letter of intro to the Tiber River god. Got it. But these brownies—"

"—I know," Frank said, his mouth full. "Try them with Esther's peach preserves."

"That," Hazel said. "Is incredibly disgusting."

"Pass me the jar, man," Jason said.

"I'll take a brownie too!" Esmerelda said giddily, the picnic basket Aphros gave to Leo was already floating over to her side of the table. "Ethan, do you want any?"

"Yeah sure," he shrugged.

Percy, for his part, wanted to hear every detail about the aquatic camp. He kept coming back to one point: "They didn't want to meet me?"

"Can you blame them?" Ethan snorted, shoveling a second brownie into his mouth. "You're you."

Percy gave him a pout. "What's wrong with me?"

"Absolutely nothing," Esmerelda said soothingly before her boyfriend could go on an hour long tirade listing out all of Percy's flaws. "Here, Percy, have a brownie. It'll make you feel better."

He sullenly took one of the floating brownies.

"Yeah, it had nothing to do with you," Hazel tried to appease the son of Poseidon. "Just... undersea politics, I guess. The merpeople are territorial. The good news is they're taking care of that aquarium in Atlanta. And they'll help protect the Argo II as we cross the Atlantic."

Percy nodded absently. "But they didn't want to meet me?"

Annabeth swatted his arm. "Come on, Seaweed Brain! We've got other things to worry about."

"She's right," Hazel said. "After today, Nico has less than two days. The fish-centaurs said we have to rescue him. He's essential to the quest somehow."

"Two more pomegranate seeds left," Esmerelda mumbled. She suddenly lost all of her appetite for the rest of the day.

Her son was quite literally dying and here she was stuffing her face with brownies without a care in the world. She quickly set her unfinished brownie down, feeling ashamed of herself. She thought back to the hallucination she had earlier in the morning, the cruel words her son and brother spoke to her. Was it all true?

She shook her head slightly, trying to push the memory away. It was always going to be one problem after another. She deserved the chance to be momentarily happy after getting Ethan back. She couldn't just spend her time stressing herself out (even though that was exactly what she was doing right now).

Don't worry Nico, she thought to herself. We'll save you soon.

"How close are we to him?" She asked Leo.

"What?" He tore his eyes away from the controls. "Oh, yeah. We should reach the Mediterranean tomorrow morning. Then spend the rest of that day sailing to Rome, or flying, if I can get the stabilizer fixed by then..."

Jason suddenly looked as though his brownie with peach preserves didn't taste so good. "Which will put us in Rome on the last possible day for Nico. Twenty-four hours to find him—at most."

"Even if we reach Rome, the city's huge. Twenty four hours doesn't sound like a lot of time to find him," Ethan said worriedly. "Essie, can you use the spell you used to find me, to track him down too?"

"I need something personal of his," she despaired. "I don't have any of that. His favorite jacket is somewhere in Tartarus and he's currently wearing his skull ring. Those are the two things he's most connected to, I can't think of anything else."

"Dammit..." He cursed.

"I'm sorry..."

"No, it's not your fault," he assured her right away. "This situation's just pure shit."

Percy leaned forward. "And that's only part of the problem. There's the Mark of Athena, too."

Annabeth didn't seem happy with the change of topic. She rested her hand on her backpack, which, since they'd left Charleston, she always seemed to have with her.

She opened the bag and brought out a thin bronze disk the diameter of a donut. "This is the map that I found at Fort Sumter. It's..."

She stopped abruptly, staring at the smooth bronze surface. "It's blank!"

Percy took it and examined both sides. "It wasn't like this earlier?"

"No! I was looking at it in my cabin and..." Annabeth muttered under her breath. "It must be like the Mark of Athena. I can only see it when I'm alone. It won't show itself to other demigods."

Frank scooted back like the disk might explode. He had an orange juice mustache and a brownie crumb beard. Esmerelda telekinetically handed him a napkin to wipe his face with.

"What did it have on it?" Frank asked nervously, taking the floating napkin absentmindedly. "And what is the Mark of Athena? I still don't get it."

Annabeth took the disk from Percy. She turned it in the sunlight, but it remained blank. "The map was hard to read, but it showed a spot on the Tiber River in Rome. I think that's where my quest starts... the path I've got to take to follow the Mark."

"Maybe that's where you meet the river god Tiberinus," Piper said. "But what is the Mark?"

"The coin," Annabeth murmured.

Percy frowned. "What coin?"

Annabeth dug into her pocket and brought out a silver drachma. "I've been carrying this ever sinceI saw my mom at Grand Central. It's an Athenian coin."

She passed it around.

"Is this that one meeting you told me about?" Esmerelda asked randomly.

Annabeth winced. "Yeah. It... didn't really go well, but I got a coin out of it."

"A coin with an owl on it," Leo noted. "Well, that makes sense. I guess the branch is an olive branch? But what's this inscription, αθε—Area Of Effect?"

"It's alpha, theta, epsilon," Annabeth clarified. "In Greek it stands for Of The Athenians...or you could read it as the children of Athena. It's sort of the Athenian motto."

"Like SPQR for the Romans," Piper guessed.

Annabeth nodded. "Anyway, the Mark of Athena is an owl, just like that one. It appears in fiery red. I've seen it in my dreams. Then twice at Fort Sumter."

She described what had happened at the fort—the voice of Gaea, the spiders in the garrison, the Mark burning them away.

Percy took Annabeth's hand. "I should have been there for you."

"But that's the point," Annabeth said. "No one can be there for me. When I get to Rome, I'll have to strike out on my own. Otherwise, the Mark won't appear. I'll have to follow it to... to the source."

"We can't help you?" Esmerelda was understandably horrified. "Like... at all?"

She shook her head grimly. "First line of the prophecy, Wisdom's daughter walks alone. I have to do this on my own without the help of anyone else. You can't come with me, you can't even cast a cooling charm on me, and you can't have Ethan grant me any good luck either."

Ethan scoffed. "Oh don't worry, I wouldn't do that regardless."

"Ethan, please," Esmerelda gave him a beseeching look.

He scowled and crossed his arms, but thankfully didn't try to argue.

Esmerelda sent Annabeth an apologetic look before inwardly sighing. Ethan never got along with the daughter of Athena, even since they were kids. Back then, he always regarded her indifferently, but then the animosity grew after he betrayed camp. Then the war happened, he stabbed her (while aiming for Percy), and his dislike for her only grew even after the war ended.

Infighting between the crew was the last thing they needed right now, but Esmerelda had a feeling that they would never get along.

She turned her attention back to the conversation. Frank had the coin now.

"The giants' bane stands gold and pale, Won with pain from a woven jail." He looked up at Annabeth. "What is it... this thing at the source?"

Before Annabeth could answer, Jason spoke up.

"A statue," he said. "A statue of Athena. At least... that's my guess."

Piper frowned. "You said you didn't know."

"I don't. But the more I think about it... there's only one artifact that could fit the legend." He turned to Annabeth. "I'm sorry. I should have told you everything I've heard, much earlier. But honestly, I was scared. If this legend is true—"

"—I know," Annabeth said. "I figured it out, Jason. I don't blame you. But if we manage to save the statue, Greek and Romans together... Don't you see? It could heal the rift."

"Hold on." Percy made a time-out gesture. "What statue?"

Annabeth took back the silver coin and slipped it into her pocket.

"The Athena Parthenos," she said. "The most famous Greek statue of all time. It was forty feet tall, covered in ivory and gold. It stood in the middle of the Parthenon in Athens."

The ship went silent, except for the waves lapping against the hull.

"Okay, I'll bite," Leo said at last. "What happened to it?"

"It disappeared," Annabeth answered.

He frowned. "How does a forty-foot-tall statue in the middle of the Parthenon just disappear?"

"That's a good question," Annabeth mused. "It's one of the biggest mysteries in history. Some people thought the statue was melted down for its gold, or destroyed by invaders. Athens was sacked a number of times. Some thought the statue was carried off—"

"—By Romans," Jason finished. "At least, that's one theory, and it fits the legend I heard at Camp Jupiter. To break the Greeks' spirit, the Romans carted off the Athena Parthenos when they took over the city of Athens. They hid it in an underground shrine in Rome. The Roman demigods swore it would never see the light of day. They literally stole Athena, so she could no longer be the symbol of Greek military power. She became Minerva, a much tamer goddess."

"And the children of Athena have been searching for the statue ever since," Annabeth nodded along. "Most don't know about the legend, but in each generation, a few are chosen by the goddess. They're given a coin like mine. They follow the Mark of Athena... a kind of magical trail that links them to the statue... hoping to find the resting place of the Athena Parthenos and get the statue back."

"So if we—I mean you—find the statue...what would we do with it? Could we even move it? Essie, can you do that with your abilities?" Percy asked.

Esmerelda grimaced, picturing herself using her telekinesis to heave up a forty foot tall statue. She doubted she could shrink it either, not with its close ties to divinity.

"Not unless you want my head to explode from the pressure," she said, shuddering at the thought.

Percy cringed. "Right. Sorry. Any other ideas?"

He looked around the room, but all he got were head shakes or shrugs.

"I'm not sure how to handle that part," Annabeth admitted. "But if we could save it somehow, it could unite the two camps. It could heal my mother of this hatred she's got, tearing her two aspects apart. And maybe... maybe the statue has some sort of power that could help us against the giants."

"This could change everything," Piper said. "It could end thousands of years of hostility. It might be the key to defeating Gaea. But if we can't help you..."

Annabeth squared her shoulders. "I have to succeed. The risk is worth it."

Hazel twirled her hair pensively. "I don't like the idea of you risking your life alone, but you're right. We saw what recovering the golden eagle standard did for the Roman legion. If this statue is the most powerful symbol of Athena ever created—"

"—It could kick some serious booty," Leo offered.

Hazel frowned. "That wasn't the way I'd put it, but yes."

"Except..." Percy took Annabeth's hand again. "No child of Athena has ever found it. Annabeth, what's down there? What's guarding it? If it's got to do with spiders—?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Ethan said slyly, shooting Annabeth a vindictive look that made Esmerelda's skin crawl. "It's got to do with spiders. Come on, you guys should've learned this in your monster lessons. A child of Athena's greatest fear—"

"—That's enough now, Ethan," Annabeth cut him off, her face as white as paper.

Esmerelda looked between them. She wasn't surprised that Ethan pieced it together so quickly, but judging by the terrified look on Annabeth's face, she must have known what awaited her too. Whatever it was must have scared her so badly that she didn't even want to talk about it.

"Do you have a problem or something?" Piper demanded, glaring at Ethan.

Ethan rolled his eye and looked down on her as if she was some irrelevant bug. "Have I ever told you how annoying your voice is?"

"Can we please stop fighting?" Esmerelda rubbed her forehead. "Look, whatever it is that Annabeth is going to face, she can handle it on her own. I doubt some statue guardian is going to take her down. I mean, it's Annabeth."

"Yeah," Percy agreed. "I learned a long time ago: Never bet against Annabeth."

Annabeth looked at them both gratefully.

The others still felt uneasy, but Leo managed to shake them out of it. He pushed a button, and a loud blast of steam exploded from Festus' mouth, making everyone jump.

"Well!" He exclaimed. "Good pep rally, but there's still a ton of things to fix on this ship before we get to the Mediterranean. Please report to Supreme Commander Leo for your super fun list of chores!"

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The chores had been a hassle to deal with, but Esmerelda would honestly rather deal with that than with the feud between Ethan and Annabeth.

After breakfast, Ethan's animosity for the blonde made another return all too soon. It had gotten so bad that Percy and Esmerelda had to step in, with Percy even getting aggressive as well.

Esmerelda just felt terrible about it since her boyfriend was clearly being the aggressor and although Annabeth did make a few jabs at him here and there, she certainly wasn't as bad as Ethan.

So when the day ended, she finally tried to get to the bottom of things.

"Why do you hate Annabeth so much?" She blurted out suddenly as she and Ethan got ready for bed that night.

Ethan paused, and she knew he wouldn't tell her. A hard look appeared over his face, but to her surprise, he answered her anyways.

"...At first, I was jealous," he admitted, which came as a shock to her.

"Jealous?" She repeated incredulously.

"Yeah," he replied, a faraway, bitter look in his eye. "Back when we were kids, I used to be so jealous of people like her. Kids who were claimed by their godly parents, kids whose parents were Olympians and were revered and seen as important. They had everything I wanted; respect, identity... I wanted to be like them, to have my own siblings, my own cabin and bed to sleep in, I wanted to matter."

She opened her mouth to tell him that he did matter, but no voice came out.

That was right... Back then, Ethan didn't matter. She didn't matter either. He was unclaimed and she was just some daughter of a minor goddess nobody cared about. The unwanted leftovers of cabin eleven.

"I grew out of my jealousy though," he went on. "I started to hate people like her, with their privilege and ignorance."

"And Annabeth?" She asked.

"She aggravated me the most," Ethan answered simply, slipping off his shirt.

She gave him a confused look, to which he clarified, "She's like a fucking elitist. Have you noticed that she never once gave a shit about the 'minor gods'? Fuck, even Percy and Jason understand their importance, but her? All she cares about is the fact that she's got an Olympian mom and all the privileges she got from it."

She never once tried to go against the status quo either, even though she had been so close to Luke and Thalia, two people who had been destroyed by the gods—well, not so much anymore for Thalia since she was alive now, but she still nearly died because of them. Who goes through all of that and still decides to side with the gods?

Obviously, joining Kronos wasn't exactly a great idea on his part, but it was the cause that he cared about. The same cause Annabeth never once agreed with.

That was what irritated him the most. Percy understood what the gods had done, he understood that the minor gods were important and that some weren't even 'minor gods' to begin with, he accepted their kids, he made the gods vow to accept them as well, and many many more things Ethan begrudgingly appreciated.

Annabeth? From what he had seen, she only went along with it because things changed. Now minor gods were okay, so she could be okay with them too. It wasn't that she treated them badly, she just never gave a shit. She saw all the kids crowding the floors of the Hermes cabin and the unclaimed being bullied and turned her head away.

And why would she do anything? What was happening to the unwanted leftovers in the Hermes cabin wasn't affecting her. She got a nice Olympian mom, got to live in her own cabin with cozy beds, got respect from the campers due to her mother's status, and so forth.

That was why he chose to follow Luke. Here was a child of an Olympian trying to give recognition to unwanted leftovers like him, who wanted minor gods to be given proper respect, who wanted kids to be treated better.

So yeah, Ethan was bitter, he wasn't going to deny that. He was also pretty damn sure that Annabeth, like many of the Olympian kids back at the Camp Half-Blood had just been brainwashed to accept everything the gods had done to them. Seeing her now, at the brink of insanity after everything that had been thrown at her, gave him a rush of sadistic satisfaction. He wondered how long it would be until she opened her eyes and broke.

A slight movement caught his eye, and he pulled away from his thoughts to give Esmerelda his attention. She looked uncomfortable by his words, which was understandable. She always tried to see the best in people after all.

"Ethan, that's..." She trailed off, fidgeting under his stare. "That's a little harsh, don't you think? I mean, I'm a daughter of a minor goddess and Annabeth and I are kind of close."

"No," he said. "You're the daughter of a powerful Titan, not some minor goddess. And I'm not saying that Annabeth looks down on people like us. She's not that much of a brat. She just... never cared."

None of them ever do, he thought.

He looked back at Esmerelda and his face softened. She looked conflicted. He hadn't meant to make her that way, especially since she was already going through a lot of stress and worries. He didn't want to add on to that.

"I'll lay off on Annabeth tomorrow," he promised.

She lit up a little bit. "You will?"

He scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, sure. She's about to face Arachne anyways, so I might as well give her a break."

She blinked. "Who?"

He stared at her. "Arachne."

"...?"

"Did you not—?"

"...?"

Did ANYONE ever pay attention to their monster classes? He wondered. Was he the only one? For fucks sake, he didn't even stay in camp for that long, he ditched the place to go join the army so why the fuck was he the only one who knew Arachne was (aside from Annabeth though, he could tell that she knew)?!

Esmerelda's face fell. "You think I'm dumb, don't you? Because I don't know who Arachne is..."

"No, no, no, angel, no!" He hurried to her, cupping her face gently to coo. "Of course you're not dumb, baby. The teachers back at camp were just shitty—maybe they were underpaid or something. No, this is definitely not your fault. Plus, you're always going off to Hogwarts every school year, so maybe you just missed a lesson."

Those teachers needed to get fired in his opinion. Monster lessons were important, especially for demigods after all.

Her shoulders sank in relief at his reassurances. "Oh. You're so sweet."

"Only for you," he murmured, wrapping an arm around her waist to bring her closer. He kissed her on the lips sweetly, only to stop when she let out a sleepy yawn. He chuckled. "Alright, let's get to bed."

"No, wait," she grabbed his hand to keep him from crawling into bed. "I'm still confused. Who's Arachne?"

"She was a mortal woman who once challenged Athena to a weaving competition. I admit, that bitch was arrogant as fuck, but her final tapestry was brilliant. While Athena depicted the mortals honoring the gods, Arachne depicted all the horrible things the gods have done: Zeus kidnapping and raping Europa in the form of a bull, Poseidon as a stallion, chasing and raping Demeter, and so on. She knew what the gods were truly like," he sneered in disgust.

"I'm guessing Athena didn't like that," Esmerelda winced. Athena had one of the nastiest tempers out of the gods, but she definitely was nowhere near as bad as Hera.

He nodded grimly. "Yep. Athena admitted the competition was a draw, but she beat the shit out of her for daring to critique the gods. The crowd laughed and mocked her, and Arachne couldn't take it anymore. After that, she hung herself."

"And Athena turned her into a monster," she finished. It was a good guess. Athena had the tendency to turn people into literal monsters—and most of the time, she did it for the worst reasons too.

"Apparently, Athena did it as an act of pity," he scoffed. "She turned her into this huge spider so she could 'weave forever'. I doubt that was the actual reason. Athena most likely did that to mock and torture her for eternity. Ever since then, all spiders share a mutual hatred for Athena and her kids. Arachne's been like this for thousands of years, so you can imagine how strong her hate is."

"And Annabeth is going to be facing her," Esmerelda gulped nervously. "After generations of other children of Athena doing the same and dying by Arachne's hand."

"Exactly. So let's hope she doesn't die," he said, and for a second, she thought he actually cared about Annabeth until he continued on, "Because then that would mean she failed the quest and the world would be doomed and we'd be stuck having a second Civil War against the Romans. I so do not want to deal with that bullshit."

Of course, she thought fondly. What a typical Ethan thing to say.

"Let's stop talking about this. I don't want you to get any nightmares," he said worriedly.

She rolled her eyes. "I'm not a baby."

He pecked her on the forehead and started dragging her back to bed. "I know, I know. I just can't help but be overprotective over you after everything that happened. Now can we go to bed? Please?"

She let out another yawn and rubbed her eyes. "Okay."

They crawled into bed. Ethan tossed the covers over their bodies before wrapping his arms around her to bring her in closer.

"Goodnight," she mumbled sleepily. "I love you."

"I love you too," he murmured back, his lone eye dark as he scanned her face.

And he stayed that way for hours, watching for any signs of discomfort, any signs that she was having another nightmare. When she barely made a stir, he finally allowed himself to fall asleep next.

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The next morning, Esmerelda woke up refreshed. Ethan was a little groggy, but one good morning kiss and... other morning activities that he liked, was enough to get him energized again.

Right now they were one of the first of the crew to wake up, the only other person being Annabeth, Jason, and Leo. Those three had the misfortune to watch the couple act lovey dovey in the middle of the mess hall, with Esmerelda giggling on her boyfriend's lap while he shared a blueberry muffin with her.

"Ethan's smiling. I'm scared." Leo whispered to the two blondes.

"So am I," Jason whispered back.

"This is disgusting," Annabeth said blankly, staring at the pair with her arms crossed.

Ethan glanced at her and scoffed. "You're just jealous 'cause Percy's never this affectionate with you."

"Not every couple is shameless enough to make out in front of other people," she quipped.

"We're not making out!" Esmerelda squeaked. She tried to slide off of Ethan's lap, but he held her still with a scowl.

"Ignore her, angel, she's just being mean." He scoffed.

"Angel," Leo choked on his eggs.

Annabeth rolled her eyes in annoyance. She opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off by a loud horn that blasted so loudly Esmerelda nearly fell to the floor if it hadn't been for Ethan's vice grip.

"What was that?!" She asked as they all rushed for the deck. Ethan already had his sword out, ready to stab whoever ruined his peaceful morning.

Everyone else met with them at the dock, and that was when they saw where the sound was coming from.

About a hundred yards to port, a massive cruise ship glided past. Tourists waved at them from fifteen or sixteen rows of balconies. Some smiled and took pictures. None of them looked surprised to see an Ancient Greek trireme. Maybe the Mist made it look like a fishing boat, or perhaps the cruisers thought the Argo II was a tourist attraction.

The cruise ship blew its horn again, and the Argo II had a shaking fit. Coach Hedge plugged his ears.

"Do they have to be so loud?"

"They're just saying hi," Frank speculated.

"WHAT?" Hedge yelled back.

The ship edged past them, heading out to sea. The tourists kept waving. If they found it strange that the Argo II was populated by half-asleep kids in armor and pajamas and a man with goat legs, they didn't let on.

"Bye!" Leo called, raising his smoking hand.

"Can I man the ballistae?" Hedge asked.

"No," Leo said through a forced smile.

Hazel rubbed her eyes and looked across the glittering green water. "Where are—oh... Wow."

Now that the cruise ship wasn't blocking their view, Esmerelda could see a mountain jutting from the sea less than half a mile to the north. On one side, the limestone cliffs were almost completely sheer, dropping into the sea over a thousand feet below or maybe more. On the other side, the mountain sloped in tiers, covered in green forest.

"The Rock of Gibraltar," Annabeth said in awe. "At the tip of Spain. And over there—" She pointed south, to a more distant stretch of red and ochre hills. "That must be Africa. We're at the mouth of the Mediterranean."

"The Mare Nostrum," Esmerelda bit her lip. Once they were there, they would be in ancient lands. If the legends were true—and knowing the Fates, they probably were—their quest was about to get a lot more deadlier.

"So what now?" Piper asked uncertainly. "Do we just sail in?"

"Why not?" Leo shrugged. "It's a big shipping channel. Boats go in and out all the time."

"In the old days," Annabeth began. "They called this area the pillars of Hercules. The Rock was supposed to be one pillar. The other was one of the African mountains. Nobody is sure which one."

"Hercules, huh?" Percy frowned. "That guy was like the Starbucks of Ancient Greece. Everywhere you turn—there he is."

A thunderous boom shook the Argo II.

"I think he didn't like that," Ethan commented dryly.

Percy snorted. "It's not like he's actually here."

"Don't jinx it," Esmerelda sighed. "Are the Pillars of Hercules dangerous for us?"

Annabeth stayed focused on the white cliffs, but answered, "For Greeks, the pillars marked the end of the known world. The Romans said the pillars were inscribed with a Latin warning—"

"—Non plus ultra," Percy suddenly said.

Annabeth looked stunned. "Yeah. Nothing Further Beyond. How did you know?"

Percy pointed. "Because I'm looking at it."

Directly ahead of them, in the middle of the straits, an island had shimmered into existence. It was a small hilly mass of land, covered in forests and ringed with white beaches. Not very impressive compared to Gibraltar, but in front of the island, jutting from waves about a hundred yards offshore, were two white Grecian columns as tall as the Argo's masts. Between the columns, huge silver words glittered underwater—maybe an illusion, or maybe inlaid in the sand: NON PLUS ULTRA.

"Guys, do I turn around?" Leo asked nervously. "Or...?"

"Um," Esmerelda swallowed thickly. It was her turn to point ahead now. "Who is that?"

She was pointing at a figure standing on the beach. It was a dark-haired man in purple robes, his arms crossed, staring intently at their ship as if he were expecting them. He didn't exactly look happy. In fact, he had a resting bitch face that could rival Ethan's.

Frank inhaled sharply. "Could that be—?"

"Hercules," Jason said. "The most powerful demigod of all time."

"Great," Ethan scowled at the ex-demigod. "Thanks for jinxing us Percy."

"Oh come on, man!"

"Need an answer," Leo said urgently before they could quarrel some more. They were getting closer to the island now. "I can turn, or we can take off. The stabilizers are working again. But I need to know quick—"

"—We have to keep going," Annabeth insisted. "I think he's guarding these straits. If that's really Hercules, sailing or flying away wouldn't do any good. He'll want to talk to us."

"Won't Hercules be on our side?" Piper asked hopefully. "I mean... he's one of us, right?"

Jason grunted. "He was a son of Zeus, but when he died, he became a god. You can never be sure with gods."

"If anything, he'll be like any other mortal who was given immortality," Ethan said darkly. "Bitter and resentful. I doubt he'll be helping unless he gets anything out of it."

"Great," Percy said. "So it's nine of us against Hercules."

"And a satyr!" Hedge added. "We can take him."

"I've got a better idea," Annabeth suggested. "We send ambassadors ashore. A small group—one or two at most. Try to talk with him."

"I'll go," Jason volunteered. "He's a son of Zeus. I'm the son of Jupiter. Maybe he'll be friendly to me."

"Or maybe he'll hate you," Percy suggested. "Half brothers don't always get along."

Jason scowled. "Thank you, Mr. Optimism."

"It's worth a shot," Annabeth said. "At least Jason and Hercules have something in common. And we need our best diplomat. Somebody who's good with words."

Piper straightened up, but all eyes turned to Esmerelda instead.

"Oh, me?" Esmerelda blinked. "Well—"

"—No," Ethan rejected the idea immediately.

All eyes went to him next.

Annabeth pursed her lips. "Ethan, Esmerelda's charmspeak could really help us out over here."

"If she goes then I go," he snapped.

"With your gods awful temper? No chance," she snapped back. "You open your mouth, and you'll get us all killed."

"Then we both stay," he said coldly, and his lack of quip to her insult was a testament to how much he didn't want to part from Esmerelda.

"You don't get to make any choices for her," Annabeth said angrily. She turned to the daughter of Hecate. "Essie, can you go?"

Esmerelda could feel herself shrinking under their stares, but Ethan's was what bothered her the most. That, and the tight grip he had on her hand. It reminded her of their time in Tartarus, how he dragged her out of the Forest of Nightmares with a vice grip that dug into her skin, and how deranged he was back at the fallen temple of Hermes...

Looking at him now, he wore the same face as before. Desperate and unhinged. It scared and worried her at the same time, but she knew he was only scared for her. He said it himself, he was overprotective. It was just how he showed that he cared.

(Besides, she didn't want to separate from him either. Not after what happened two nights ago.)

"I'm sorry," she said meekly, genuinely meaning it. She was unable to meet Annabeth's shocked eyes. "Can anyone else go...?"

"I can," Piper said instantly, and Jason suddenly looked like he was being held at gunpoint. "I have charmspeak too, remember? I can do this. I'll make sure to convince him."

"...Alright," Annabeth nodded reluctantly. "So Jason and Piper are going. I suggest you two get ready. We're almost there."

Piper rushed off to get changed. Jason followed next, and Ethan couldn't help but feel bad for him.

"As for the rest of us," Annabeth continued, looking at the rest of the crew. "We'll just have to stay here and wait for them to come back."

Everyone was dismissed after that. Ethan, still gripping Esmerelda's hand, began to walk away. She walked alongside him, sparing Annabeth one last apologetic glance.

But the older girl was already looking at them, and her eyes were stormy and troubled.

— author's note —

I always wondered how the other campers felt about the Hermes cabin situation. It was pretty clear in the books that it was super overcrowded because of the kids of minor gods and the unclaimed, and it just made me curious if any of the Olympian kids ever cared???

I don't think we ever learned of their opinions of it other than from characters like Percy, Ethan, Luke, and Alabaster (from his short story). All the other Olympian kids mostly talked about how their godly parents were never around and their opinions on the unclaimed/minor kids were never spoken of.

So I just came to the conclusion that most of them probably didn't care. The minor god situation didn't affect them because their parents are Olympians, and their greatest concern is the fact that they're not good parents. So the Olympian kids just wanted their godly parents to be better whereas Luke, Ethan, and Percy wanted that AND for minor gods to be recognized so their kids could be recognized too.

I'm not saying that children of Olympians are cruel assholes who only care about themselves, I just think they're... ignorant to what the unclaimed and children of minor gods have been going through??? It's just an "if the issue doesn't affect me, then there's no reason for me to care" kind of thing.

Ethan, however, is not as understanding. He's not just pissed at Annabeth, but at every other Olympian kid who didn't care enough. As for whether or not his view on Annabeth is correct... I'll let you guys leave your opinion on that because I don't know either. Annabeth's views on the minor god issue was pretty vague to me (either that, or I just can't remember it).

Ethan: *being his usual asshole self*

Essie:

Essie moodboard from M. Nevermind 😍:

From espielouloudi ITS ESSAN WITH THE ESSAN BABIES EFHJHEGF: