▬▬▬ CHAPTER TWENTY SIX ▬▬▬

Guys I found the PERFECT song for Piper while listening to the radio. It's called "All Your Exes" by Julia Michaels and everything about it SCREAMS "Piper":

https://youtu.be/o_KeXsOIRpo

Here are the lyrics that remind me of her the most:

"I know where you've been, what you've done
Who you loved is a part of who you are
But that maturity ship sails when I hold you in my arms
There's a spot on your chest just for me, it's personally addressed
And anyone there before me should be a criminal offence"

"I want to live in a world where all your exes are dead
I want to kill all the memories that you save in your head
Be the only girl that's ever been in your bed"

"Spare your past life specifics, oh"

"Don't tell me to make nice, that I should try to empathize
I'm confident I've got them accurately demonized
You tell me not to worry, I'm the only thing you see
Well, yeah, I fucking better be"

ETHAN WAS GOING TO ABSOLUTELY murder these C-3PO wannabes and then dump their bodies into a metal shredder.

After his girlfriend, Hazel, and Frank were tasered, the two armored manikins came to life, cornering them with their swords.

He eyed the two manikins warily, sizing them up. He had a feeling they wouldn't be easy for him to destroy. These guys weren't made out of soft flesh and easy-to-sever arteries. They were machines, and not even the normal kinds that mortals create. These guys were made out of hard magical metals, and they were covered head to toe in even harder armor. He doubted that even Leo's fire would be strong enough to melt them.

On their right, the suit of armor with a lion's head helmet creaked its wiry neck and regarded Esmerelda, Hazel, Frank, who were still lying unconscious.

"A male and female demigod," said the Lion Head. "Esmerelda Black will do for the female. As for the male..."

He looked up, staring at Ethan. "The Earth mother insisted on you."

"Well you're not getting me," he practically snarled. "And you're not getting her either."

"That's fine," he said simply. "If we fail to capture you, there's still the back up. He is coming."

At first, Ethan thought he was talking about Frank or maybe even Leo—they were the only other male demigods in the room with them after all. But the last sentence caught him off guard. 'He is coming'? Did that mean the backup was someone else? Percy? Jason?

Its hollow face mask turned back to Leo. "As for you, Leo Valdez, we do not need you."

"Oh, hey!" Leo tried for a winning smile. "You always need Leo Valdez!"

He spread his hands and hoped he looked confident and useful, but in Ethan's opinion, he looked the most terrified he had ever seen him be.

The suits of armor weren't convinced.

The one with the wolf-headed helmet snarled, "I have been in your mind, Leo. I helped you start the war."

Leo's smile crumbled. He took a step back.

"That was you? You made me fire the ballista?" He demanded. "You call that helping?"

"I know how you think," said Wolf Head. "I know your limits. You are small and alone. You need friends to protect you. Without them, you are unable to withstand me. I vowed not to possess you again, but I can still kill you."

"This is the most pitiful attempt of emotional manipulation I've ever seen," Ethan spat out (and he would know all about emotional manipulation).

What moron would try to emotionally destroy a person when there was a friend right there to give them the support they needed? These guys were supposed to be super old, but they hadn't learned a thing. Maybe it was their stupidity that got them killed.

He glanced over to Leo and told him, "Don't listen to these metallic furries. I mean, yeah you're kind of small and scrawny, and you do need your friends to protect you most of the times since you're still inexperienced with this—"

"—Dude, how is this supposed to help me?!" Leo stared at him incredulously.

"I was getting there," he glared at him. "Anyways, you have your flaws. Like, a lot of them. But your friends need you just as much, okay? You're one of the only few people in that ship with a brain so you're not as useless as you think you are."

Leo looked touched. He actually reached out to place a hand over his heart. "Wow, bro, that... that was so kind of you. I think I'm finally beginning to see why Essie always calls you 'sweet'—"

"—Enough of this!" Wolf Head ruined the beautiful moment. "I know you better than the boy, Leo Valdez. I know how you feel and how you think."

The armored dudes stepped forward. The points of their swords hovered a few inches from their faces.

"First: you don't know me," he told Wolf Head. "And second: Bye. RUN, ETHAN!"

Ethan didn't hesitate to follow, trusting whatever plan the boy thought of (though he really didn't want to leave his girlfriend behind). They lunged for the stairs and bounded to the top. Luckily for them, the suits of armor weren't that fast.

The loft had doors on either side like folding metal gates. The operators probably would've wanted protection in case their creations went haywire... like now. They burst through and worked together to slam the gates shut. Leo even summoned fire in his hands to fuse the locks.

The suits of armor closed in on either side. They rattled the gates, hacking at them with their swords.

"This is foolish," said Lion Head. "You only delay your deaths."

"Delaying death is one of my favorite hobbies." Leo replied cheekily.

"You got a plan, right?" Ethan asked. "Because we left Essie, Hazel, and Frank behind."

"I know," he said, breathing hard. "I... I got something..."

He was scanning the new room they were in. Overlooking the workshop was a single table like a control board. It was crowded with junk like a diagram for a human catapult, a large bronze mirror, a set of tools that someone had broken, and a black sword—

Ethan turned his focus back to the sword and suddenly it was like the world stopped.

He knew that sword, he had trained with the owner, nearly got killed by that sword numerous times before.

"No..." He whispered, stumbling towards it. "No, no, no..."

As he drew closer, his suspicions were confirmed. A glowing pitch black falcata sword that radiated with dark power. He almost reached out to touch it until he remembered that it was made out of Stygian Iron.

It all clicked in his head. Hazel hadn't really been tracking down Nico himself, but the metal of his sword instead. And the giants must have realized that and used it to their advantage to trick them.

Nico wasn't here.

He was jolted back to reality by a hard slam.

"You two!" The spirit howled. "Open this gate or I will kill you!"

"A fair and generous offer!" Leo said, his eyes planted on some sphere at the center of the table. "Just let me finish this. A last request, all right?"

Ethan couldn't allow himself to get distracted now. They were still being attacked after all, and Esmerelda, Hazel, and Frank were still in danger.

He hurried over to Leo, not knowing why he was so focused on that thing.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"I'm reassembling Archimedes' sphere," Leo mumbled in concentration. "All the bronze cables are connected to the metal plate under it. This sphere's like the heart of everything in here. I can sense the Celestial bronze running throughout the workshop."

"And it all leads here, to the heart," Ethan realized. "You think you can use it to control everything?"

He nodded wordlessly, and Ethan left him to focus.

The eidolons started pounding on the gates again.

"Who is it?" Leo called.

"Valdez!" Wolf Head bellowed.

"Valdez who?" Leo asked.

Ethan knew eventually that the eidolons would realize they couldn't get in. They'd turn their attention to their friends soon enough to force their cooperation. He couldn't let that happen.

"Tell me what to do," he said quickly. "Let me help you."

"Set up the starter coil—that brown thing over there. Yeah that one," he instructed. "Put it over there and help me get the gears in place. Then when I say 'go', wound the coil up."

Ethan barely understood what he was saying, but he managed to do what he was told. His hands were shaking even harder than Leo's and he kept fumbling up with the gears.

"Go, go, go!" Leo exclaimed, and Ethan wound the starter coil.

The gears began to turn. Leo closed the top of the sphere and studied its concentric circles—similar to the ones on the workshop door.

"Valdez! Nakamura!" Wolf Head pounded on the gate. "Our third comrade will kill your friends!"

Ethan cursed. He was hoping they wouldn't go there.

"Who's their third comrade? I only saw two manikins," he asked Leo.

"I don't know, I—wait," Leo paused. "Aw shit."

He glanced through the clear screen that overlooked the rest of the workshop, his eyes wide. Ethan followed his gaze and found out who the third comrade was: the spindly-legged Taser ball that had knocked out Esmerelda, Hazel, and Frank. The third eidolon must have been inside that thing.

"Open the gate!" The manikins demanded.

"Yeah, okay," Leo called. "You got me. Just... just give us a sec."

"Leo...!" Ethan muttered worriedly,

Leo was already panicking. "I know, I know! I need to deduce the right sequence to activate this control sphere and we should be good to go!"

"No more seconds!" Wolf Head shouted. "Open this gate now, or they die."

The possessed Taser ball lashed out with its tendrils and sent another shock through Esmerelda, Hazel, and Frank. Their unconscious bodies flinched. That kind of electricity might have stopped their hearts.

Ethan almost dropped the tools he was holding. If they were still alive even after that, there was no chance they would survive another shock.

"Leo, please—!" He begged.

"I don't know the code!" Leo's voice shook. Tears were streaming down his face. "I can't—I can't do this...!"

"Again!" Lion Head ordered.

Another loud ZAP! was heard and both boys flinched.

Ethan's breathing was growing harsher. He wanted to turn and see the screen, but his neck refused him. He knew he wouldn't like what he saw. Would Esmerelda still be breathing? Would any of them?

"No, no, no," Leo muttered, jamming his hand into his pocket. He pulled out a fortune cookie that was still miraculously intact.

Ethan stared at it. He knew what that cookie was. He stopped Leo just before he could break it.

"That's from my mom, isn't it?" He asked knowingly.

"Sh-she gave it to me back at the Great Salt Lake," Leo told him.

His face turned serious. "And you know that nothing good will happen after you break it open, right? Everything always comes with a price when it comes to my mom. She doesn't do things for free."

"I know," Leo whispered. "But I have to do this."

Ethan removed his hand from his arm and nodded in understanding.

"I need the access code for this sphere," Leo said to the cookie.

Then he broke it open. He unfurled the little strip of paper. Written in Ancient Greek were the words:

THAT'S YOUR REQUEST? SERIOUSLY?

On the back, the paper said: YOUR LUCKY NUMBERS ARE: TWELVE, JUPITER, ORION, DELTA, THREE, THETA, OMEGA.

(WREAK VENGEANCE UPON GAEA, LEO VALDEZ.)

With trembling fingers, Leo turned the rings.

Outside the gates, Wolf Head growled in frustration. "If friends do not matter to you, perhaps you need more incentive. Perhaps I should destroy these scrolls instead—priceless works by Archimedes!"

The last ring clicked into place. The sphere hummed with power. Magical and electrical pulses coursed via the Celestial bronze cables, and surged through the entire room.

Leo had full control now.

An intact gold sphere down in the main room began to shudder. It grew a tripod of legs and clattered over to the Taser ball. A tiny circular saw popped out of the gold sphere's head, and it began cutting into Taser ball's brain.

He activated another orb next. This one burst in a small mushroom cloud of bronze dust and smoke.

"Oops," he muttered. "Sorry, Archimedes."

"What are you doing?" Wolf Head demanded. "Stop your foolishness and surrender!"

"Oh, yes, I surrender!" Leo said. "I'm totally surrendering!"

He tried to take control of a third orb. That one broke too.

The fourth try went better. A ruby-encrusted orb popped its top and helicopter blades unfolded. It spun into the air and sailed straight for the cubbyholes. Thin golden arms extended from its middle and snapped up the precious scroll cases.

"Enough!" Wolf Head yelled. "I will destroy the—" He turned in time to see the ruby sphere take off with the scrolls. It zipped across the room and hovered in the far corner.

"What?!" Wolf Head cried. "Kill the prisoners!"

He must have been talking to the Taser ball. Unfortunately, Taser ball was in no shape to comply. Leo's gold sphere was sitting on top of its sawed-open head, picking through its gears and wires like it was scooping out a pumpkin.

At that moment, Esmerelda, Hazel, and Frank began to stir.

"Bah!" Wolf Head gestured to Lion Head at the opposite gate. "Come! We will destroy the demigods ourselves."

Ethan perked up. "I'll get to them. Leo?"

"Already on it," the younger boy grinned. "I don't think so, guys!" He called out to the manikins. His hands worked the control sphere.

Lion Head shuddered and lowered his sword.

Leo's grin widened. "You're in Leo World, now! Ethan, go to them!"

Ethan burst through the gate. Wolf Head tried to grab at him, but Lion Head whacked his arm away before he could make contact. Ethan ducked underneath their arms and practically jumped over the staircase to reach the bottom floor.

"What are you doing?" Wolf Head demanded. "We have to—"

BLONG!

Lion Head slammed his shield into Wolf Head's chest. He smashed the pommel of his sword into his comrade's helmet, so Wolf Head became Flat, Deformed, Not Very Happy Wolf Head.

"Stop that!" Wolf Head demanded.

"I cannot!" Lion Head wailed.

Ethan would've stopped to enjoy the scene, but he was too concerned with the three kids on the floor. Esmerelda was the first one to sit up and judging by the dazed look in her eyes, she wasn't completely 100% yet.

"Are you okay?" He asked her worriedly.

"I hate electricity," she mumbled groggily, her head drooping against his shoulder. "Don't tell Jason I said that."

"What is going on?" Frank moaned, barely keeping his eyes open.

"Uuuuuugh," was all Hazel could say.

Ethan saw a baggie of ambrosia peeking out from Hazel's pocket and pulled it out to feed them.

Meanwhile, Leo was having the time of his life. He was getting the hang of the controls now. He commanded both suits of armor to drop their swords and shields and slap each other repeatedly.

"Valdez!" Called Wolf Head in a warbling voice. "You will die for this!"

"Yeah," Leo called out. "Who's possessing who now, Casper?"

The machine men tumbled down the stairs, and Leo forced them to do some weird old fashioned dance from the 1920s.

"Oh I know that dance," Esmerelda said groggily. "That's the, uh... the, uh, the jitterbug!"

Ethan patted her on the head. "Good job."

Hazel must have been capable of speech now because she suddenly said, "Do you guys smell fire?"

Everyone looked around. The manikins' joints began smoking, but that wasn't all. The other spheres in the room began to pop. Too much energy was surging through the ancient system.

"Guys!" Leo shouted. "Take cover!"

Esmerelda and Hazel were still staring in amazement at the jitterbugging metal guys, probably thinking back to the old days in the 1920s, so Ethan and Frank had to grab them, yank them under the nearest table, and shield them with their bodies.

A second later, the armored warriors blew apart. Rods, pistons, and bronze shards flew everywhere. On all the tables, spheres popped like hot soda cans. It was like a bunch of fireworks going off all at once.

It took forever for it all to calm down. The room was quiet except for a few random sparks and sizzles. The air smelled like burning car engines.

Leo raced down the stairs.

"Are you guys okay?!"

The four of them crawled out from under the table.

"You're alive!" He cried out in relief.

Hazel's left eye twitched, maybe from the Taser shock. Otherwise she looked okay. "Uh, what exactly happened?"

"Archimedes came through!" Leo exclaimed. "Just enough power left in those old machines for one final show. Ethan helped me reassemble the sphere and once I had the access code, it was easy."

Esmerelda lit up. "You guys saved us!"

She brought Ethan in for a hug and pecked him on the cheek. Then she did the same with Leo (but minus the kiss because duh).

Ethan smiled weakly at her. He would've kissed her back, but his mind was still weighing heavily on the sword in the other room. He still needed to tell them about it...

"The eidolons," Frank said. "Are they gone?"

Leo grinned. "My last command overloaded their kill switches—basically locked down all their circuits and melted their cores."

"In English?" Frank asked.

"I trapped the eidolons inside the wiring," he explained. "Then I melted them. They won't be bothering anyone again."

"Thanks for saving us," Frank said to Leo and Ethan.

"Leo did most of the work," Ethan shrugged.

Leo, remembering the nice things he had said, happily nudged him with his elbow with a shit-eating grin on his face.

"Shut up," he scowled.

Leo laughed and looked around the room. "Too bad all this stuff got wrecked, but at least I salvaged the scrolls. If I can get them back to Camp Half-Blood, maybe I can learn how to recreate Archimedes's inventions."

Hazel rubbed the side of her head. "But I don't understand. Where is Nico? That tunnel was supposed to lead us to Nico."

Ethan swallowed thickly.

"He's not here," he stated grimly.

The hopeful look on Esmerelda's face dropped immediately.

"What?" She said. "What do you mean?"

"Hazel," he turned to the younger girl. "You were using your metal-finding senses to track his sword, right?"

"Yes, why are you asking...?"

Rather than saying anything, he motioned them to follow him up the stairs to the control room. The second Esmerelda saw the familiar black sword on the table, Esmerelda let out a sound of despair.

"No...!" She moaned, rushing towards it. "No, no, no...!"

Hazel nearly collapsed. "But that's impossible! Nico's sword was with him in the bronze jar. Percy saw it in his dream!"

"Either the dream was wrong," Leo began. "Or the giants moved the sword here as a decoy."

"So this was a trap," Frank said. "We were lured here."

"But why?" Hazel cried. "Where's my brother?"

A hissing sound filled the control booth. At first, they thought the eidolons were back, but then they saw that the bronze mirror on the table was steaming.

Ah, my poor demigods. The sleeping face of Gaea appeared in the mirror. As usual, she spoke without moving her mouth, which could only have been creepier if she'd had a ventriloquist puppet.

You had your choice, Gaea said. Her voice echoed through the room. It seemed to be coming not just from the mirror, but from the stone walls as well.

Esmerelda tensed up, realizing that she was quite literally all around them. They were underground, surrounded by nothing but the earth. They'd gone to all the trouble of building the Argo II so they could travel by sea and air, and they'd ended up in the earth anyway. Now they were doubly trapped.

I offered salvation to all of you, Gaea said. You could have turned back. Now it is too late. You've come to the ancient lands where I am strongest—where I will wake.

Leo pulled a hammer from his tool belt. He whacked the mirror. Being metal, it just quivered like a tea tray, but it must have felt good to smash Gaea in the nose.

"In case you haven't noticed, Dirt Face," he glared. "Your little ambush failed. Your three eidolons got melted in bronze, and we're fine."

Gaea laughed softly. Oh, my sweet Leo. You five have been separated from your friends. That was the whole point.

The workshop door slammed shut.

You are trapped in my embrace, Gaea cooed. Meanwhile, Annabeth Chase faces her death alone, terrified and crippled, at the hands of her mother's greatest enemy.

The image in the mirror changed. They saw Annabeth sprawled on the floor of a dark cavern, holding up her bronze knife as if warding off a monster. Her face was gaunt. Her leg was wrapped up in some sort of splint. They couldn't see what she was looking at, but it was obviously something horrible.

The others, Gaea said, Jason Grace, Piper McLean, and my dear friend Percy Jackson—they will perish within minutes in a failed attempt to save the son of Hades.

The scene changed again. Percy, Jason, and Piper—the three people who were supposed to be on the ship, were now leaving it.

Their powers will betray them, Gaea said. They will die in their own elements. I almost hoped they would survive. They would have made a good sacrifice. But Esmerelda and Ethan are far more suitable for my needs. My minions will collect you shortly and bring you to the ancient place. Your blood will awaken me at last. Until then, I will allow you to watch your friends perish. Please... enjoy this last glimpse of your failed quest.

Leo couldn't stand it. His hand glowed white hot. Everyone scrambled back as he pressed his palm against the mirror and melted it into a puddle of bronze goo.

The voice of Gaea went silent.

"Sorry," he told his friends, breathing shakily. "She was getting annoying."

"What do we do?" Frank asked. "We have to get out and help the others."

"And we still need to find Nico..." Esmerelda murmured, her eyes glinting with determination as she stared at his sword.

And then she got an idea.

She looked around the room and found a pair of heavy duty gloves. She summoned them to her and quickly put them on, and then she picked up the sword.

"I'm going to use this to track Nico down," she told them all hurriedly. "Percy, Piper, and Jason are looking for him too, so I'll most likely run into them."

"I'll come with you," Ethan said immediately. "Leo, Hazel, Frank—"

"—I got it," Leo said, nodding in understanding. "I've got an idea too. You guys hurry on, we'll be right behind you."

They all exchanged confirmative looks. Then Esmerelda grabbed Ethan's hand and Mist traveled back to the surface.

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

Thankfully, none of the mortals seemed to notice the glowing green line that had appeared in the middle of the street. They were more concerned about the pair of teens rudely shoving through them.

The streets were so crowded that Esmerelda almost wanted to use her magic to push everyone out of their way. Turns out she didn't need to. All it took was for one person to see the sword Esmerelda was carrying, scream 'gun!' and the whole street was cleared within seconds.

"I think Piper knows something," Ethan said out of the blue. His breathing was hard from all the running, but at least they had Esmerelda's cooling charm to keep them safe from passing out from the heat.

"What do you mean?"

"Earlier this morning," he began. "Before we boarded off, I asked her specifically if she's been checking the knife for any visions and if she saw anything that could help us with Nico."

"And she said 'no'," Esmerelda trailed off. "You're saying she lied?"

He nodded. "That little bitch saw something."

But she didn't say anything. Why the fuck didn't she say anything? Esmerelda was suddenly filled with a burning anger. What did Piper see? Why didn't she tell any of them anything? How long had she even known?

"I don't understand..." She mumbled. "Why... why would she just keep it to herself?"

"Fuck if I know," he scowled fiercely. "I don't know what goes through that girl's head other than Jason, Jason, Jason."

Speaking of Jason, she could see him right now. The green line led them to an abandoned stretch of hillside overlooking the ruined Forum. Jason, Percy, and Piper were there too, and they were examining the line the tracking spell conjured.

In front of them was a padlocked metal gate. Behind it was a stone staircase that spiraled down into darkness.

"Piper!" Ethan barked when he saw her.

Piper jumped three feet into the air. When she looked up, she saw the terrifying image of Ethan storming towards her, his face a hundred times angrier than usual. Even worse, Esmerelda looked just as mad so there was definitely no chance of her being the peacemaker.

Percy blinked. "Essie, Ethan, what—"

Ethan didn't listen. He whipped out his sword and pointed it at Piper's neck.

"The vision you saw. Spit it out." He ordered.

Jason swiveled his head towards her. "So you did see something important."

"You guys saw it too?" Esmerelda asked.

Percy nodded. "Yeah, back at the ship we had Piper check on things. We saw Camp Jupiter setting up base in Manhattan. There was another vision too but Piper wouldn't let us see it." He frowned at the girl. "Piper, tell us."

Piper's eyes were darting around for an escape route, but with Ethan's sword aimed at her throat and three other unhappy demigods surrounding her, there was nowhere for her to run.

"I'm sorry," she said pleadingly.

"Answer the fucking question!" Ethan's voice rose.

"I didn't know how to tell you!" Her breath hitched as the blade pushed deeper against her skin. Any further and Ethan would draw blood. "I didn't know how to tell you. I saw the room down there filling with water. I saw the five of us drowning."

"And you didn't tell us any of this?!" Jason's eyes grew wide.

Percy's frown deepened. "How long did you know about this?"

Piper's lips were shaking. "...Since before we went to Kansas." She admitted.

Esmerelda's jaw dropped. It was taking her all of her willpower to not reap her soul with Nico's sword. "Are you kidding me?! That was days ago! Why are you only telling us this now?!"

"I didn't know how to tell you guys!" She repeated.

"That's the dumbest thing I ever heard!" Ethan shouted. He pushed against the sword and Piper stumbled back hastily. "You didn't think that maybe we needed to know something like this?! Give us a heads up so we know what to expect?! Use your fucking brain, Piper!"

"I thought—"

"—You weren't thinking at all," he seethed, pushing the blade harder until a trail of blood started dribbling down her neck. "You've been on thin ice since day fucking one, you got that? The only reason you're alive now is because you're apparently important for this quest, but I don't know how you could be useful if the only thing you can do here is tell us visions that your knife shows you! That's literally you're only fucking job here, Piper! Stop fucking it up, and don't you EVER put my son at risk again! Do you fucking understand me?!"

Esmerelda faced him so quickly that she nearly snapped her neck.

Did she hear him right? Did he just call Nico... his son?

She nearly passed out from the realization. She would've burst into happy tears too, but watching him viciously rip into Piper with his fatherly rage was too good to miss out on.

Piper was breathing heavily, her words barely able to come out.

"Enough," Jason said. "Let's just stop fighting. We need to focus on Nico. Piper, you..."

She looked at him hopefully.

He gave her a disappointed look. "Next time, tell us about your visions. Don't keep them to yourself. Are there any more visions you've been hiding from us?"

She flinched at his tone. "N-no."

He looked at her with a pinched expression, like he didn't quite trust her answer. He turned to Ethan.

"Is she telling the truth?" He asked, which was like a punch to the gut for her.

Ethan scowled at her. "Yeah."

Jason nodded and faced the others.

"So what's the plan?" He asked. "Apparently we drown."

"I don't know how that's even possible for me," Percy frowned.

"I'll use the bubble-head charm on us," Esmerelda spoke up. "It'll allow us to breathe underwater. There's also this other spell I can use..."

They looked at her expectantly.

"I've never used it before, and it was never taught in my classes either. I just saw it in my books a couple of times. It's called the Drought Charm*."

Their faces lit up.

"The Drought Charm?" Percy repeated. "That's perfect! I mean, droughts are terrible, but that could help us out!"

She tried to smile. "Except, I've never used it before. It usually takes me a while to perfect a new spell."

"We don't need perfect, we just need good enough," Ethan reassured her. "Is it a complicated spell?"

"Well, not really, I just gotta say 'siccitas' and hope for the best. But since I've never—"

"—You'll be fine," he told her. "We're so close to finding Nico, but we're running out of time. We have to keep going."

And that was exactly what they did. Now that they knew what to expect, they felt a little less paranoid as they descended down the steps.

Percy took the lead, with Riptide drawn. Esmerelda and Ethan followed, then Piper, and lastly Jason who was guarding their backs. The stairwell was a cramped corkscrew of masonry, no more than six feet in diameter.

"What happened to the others?" Jason asked as they walked down.

"They stayed behind," Esmerelda answered. "But Percy, we ran into Gaea down there. She showed us what's going on with Annabeth, but it's not good."

Percy stopped and turned around. "Not good as in she got lost?" He asked hopefully. "Or... or do you mean she's—"

"—She's alive," she said. "But she's really hurt. From what we saw, she was in some kind of cave..."

There was a loud gulp. "Alright," he said shakily. "That... that doesn't sound so good."

"We'll save her," Jason assured him. "Once we rescue Nico, we'll go looking for her next."

Percy managed a stiff nod.

As they continued to wound their way underground, they saw old graffiti gouged into the stones: Roman numerals, names and phrases in Italian. That meant other people had been down here more recently than the Roman Empire. She wondered where they were now.

Finally, they reached the bottom.

Percy turned. "Watch this last step."

He jumped to the floor of the cylindrical room, which was five feet lower than the stairwell. Esmerelda had no idea why someone would design a set of stairs like that. Maybe the room and the stairwell had been built during different time periods.

They all clamored down after him.

The room they were in was perfectly dry, but they knew better than to lower their guards. The curved walls had once been painted with frescoes, which were now faded to eggshell white with only flecks of color. The domed ceiling was about fifty feet above.

Around the back side of the room, opposite the stairwell, nine alcoves were carved into the wall. Each niche was about five feet off the floor and big enough for a human-sized statue, but each was empty.

The air felt cold and dry. There were no other exits.

Percy stepped to the middle of the room.

Instantly, green and blue light rippled across the walls. She could hear the sound of a fountain, but there was no water. There didn't seem to be any source of light except for Percy's and Jason's blades. Nico's sword wasn't radiating with darkness so it wasn't doing much to help.

"It smells like the ocean," Ethan noted.

The scent of salt water and storm was getting stronger, like a summer hurricane approaching.

"An illusion?" Piper asked.

"Is it like the Mist?" Jason asked Esmerelda.

She shook her head. "No I'm not sensing any Mist but..." She gingerly touched her throat. She didn't know why, but she suddenly felt thirsty.

"I feel like there should be water here—lots of water," Percy frowned. "But there isn't any. I've never been in a place like this."

Jason moved to the row of niches. He touched the bottom shelf of the nearest one, which was just at his eye level. "This stone... it's embedded with seashells. This is a nymphaeum."

"A what?" Piper asked, her voice a little raspy.

"We have one at Camp Jupiter," Jason explained. "On Temple Hill. It's a shrine to the nymphs."

The alcove was studded with cowries, conches, and scallops. The seashells seemed to dance in the watery light. They were ice cold to the touch.

"Weird..." Esmerelda mumbled. She met tons of nymphs before. They were always so friendly and lively, but nothing about this place screamed 'nymph'. Everything about it was dark, dull, and gloomy, kind of like Grimmauld Place. It felt unnatural and very very dry. It was like someone already cast the drought charm all over the place.

Jason stepped back and examined the row of alcoves. "Shrines like this were all over the place in Ancient Rome. Rich people had them outside their villas to honor nymphs, to make sure the local water was always fresh. Some shrines were built around natural springs, but most were man-made."

"So... no actual nymphs lived here?" Piper asked hopefully.

"Not sure," he shrugged. "This place where we're standing would have been a pool with a fountain. A lot of times, if the nymphaeum belonged to a demigod, he or she would invite nymphs to live there. If the spirits took up residence, that was considered good luck."

"For the owner," Percy guessed. "But it would also bind the nymphs to the new water source, which would be great if the fountain was in a nice sunny park with fresh water pumped in through the aqueducts—"

"—And this place is the exact opposite of that," Ethan finished, scanning the area with a deep frown. "Whatever's their water source is also considered their life source. So if this place is a piece of shit then..." He trailed off, something clicking in his head.

"What?" Piper asked him. "What would happen to the nymphs?"

The sound of water changed to a chorus of hissing, like ghostly snakes. The rippling light shifted from sea blue and green to purple and sickly lime. Above them, the nine niches glowed. They were no longer empty.

Standing in each was a withered old woman, so dried up and brittle they looked like they could be the previous Oracle's sisters. Their eyes were dark purple, as if the clear blue water of their life source had condensed and thickened inside them. Their fine silk dresses were now tattered and faded. Their hair had once been piled in curls, arranged with jewels in the style of Roman noblewomen, but now their locks were disheveled and dry as straw.

"What would happen to the nymphs?" Mocked the creature in the center niche.

She was in even worse shape than the others. Her back was hunched like the handle of a pitcher. Her skeletal hands had only the thinnest papery layer of skin. On her head, a battered wreath of golden laurels glinted in her roadkill hair.

She fixed her purple eyes on Piper. "What an interesting question, my dear. Perhaps the nymphs would still be here, suffering, waiting for revenge."

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

So yeah, it was a trap. After Hagno—the leader nymph—randomly spouted out the whole sob story about how their master abandoned them to rot for thousands of years, they disappeared and summoned some water to drown them.

Thankfully, they were a lot better prepared for it since they forced Piper to spill the beans about the vision she saw in Katoptris so neither of them were freaking out. Esmerelda had already cast the bubble-head charm on them so they wouldn't drown.

The bad news? The water wasn't normal. It was the life force of the nine nymphs that were trapped here, and it was so poisonous and malicious that not even Percy could control it.

It was quite literally draining them of their life and energy so Esmerelda couldn't even Mist travel themselves out, nor did she have much energy to cast a strong spell, let alone one she had never actually used before.

As if to make things worse, Jason tried to blow up the roof to escape, but all it did was create another waterfall of poisoned water to rain down on them.

"I told you we shouldn't have come here!" Piper shouted.

"Shut up!" Everyone shouted back.

Esmerelda tried to climb up on one of the niches now that the nymphs were gone (probably watching them all flounder around like idiots), but everything was too slippery. The water was already near her knees now, and if she let it touch her any longer, she'd be completely drained.

Wait a second, she suddenly got an idea.

"Ebulio!" Esmerelda shouted and all five of them were trapped in some sort of protective bubble.

"What the heck is this?" Ethan asked, tapping at the surface.

"It's the Ebulio Jinx*," she explained. "It basically keeps us trapped in these bubbles that can't be popped by a physical force. The water won't be able to touch us anymore, so it won't drain us either."

"It won't pop?" Percy asked.

"Not easily."

"But now we're still trapped," Jason pointed out. "These bubbles are just going to rise to the top and break under the pressure from the water and the ceiling."

"Yes, I'm aware of that," Esmerelda mumbled, kneeling down at the bottom of her bubble to try the drought charm again.

"Siccitas. Siccitas. Siccitas!" She kept repeating over and over again. The water receded a bit, but it would stop and come back.

She was pretty sure this charm only worked on small bodies of water like ponds and puddles. She doubted it would work against larger bodies like lakes and such. If she didn't accomplish this now, then the whole room would flood and would be too late by then.

It was rising past three feet now.

"Uh, Essie!" Percy yelled.

"Let me concentrate!"

"Okay, okay!"

"Siccitas!" She shouted again. She made shooing motions at the water like it was some sort of rowdy dog. She was almost tempted to try and stab at it with Nico's sword, but she doubted that would help.

"For fuck's sake, siccitas!" She cursed.

Finally, the water levels started to shrink. But barely. It dropped back down to the three feet, but she could feel herself struggling to lessen it even more.

"Hey Hagno!" Ethan suddenly called out. "You better get us out of here now or else we'll dry out this whole place! Then you'll suffer even more!"

Esmerelda shot him a look of panic. What was he saying? There was no way she could do that! She was barely able to do the spell in the first place!

But then Percy started to join in. "Yeah!" He chimed. "Essie here is known for making droughts back at camp! The nymphs fear her! She's the number one nymph killer!"

WHAT?!

She and Jason were exchanging bewildered looks.

He mouthed at her, 'You're the WHAT?!'.

Her eyes were screaming 'I swear I've never killed a nymph before!'.

"Look at what she's doing!" Ethan pointed at her like she was a criminal. "The water's receding! She's drying out your shrine! Let us out now before she decides to kill you all!"

Then it finally dawned on her what they were really doing. They were purposely bluffing—they knew she couldn't really kill them, especially since she just barely managed to use the drought charm. But the nine nymphs didn't know that. They could see that the water was beginning to dry out, but they didn't know how much she was actually struggling to keep the spell going.

At last, Hagno's haggard voice cried out, "FINE!"

All at once, the water began to drain away rapidly and they were left standing on the damp floor. With a snap of her fingers, Esmerelda popped the protective bubbles around their bodies.

The nine nymphs reappeared in their niches, all wearing angry scowls, but shooting Esmerelda wary looks.

"You're free to leave," Hagno hissed. "Now go! And never come back here! Especially you! You wicked nymph killer!"

Esmerelda shot Percy and her boyfriend an annoyed look for that.

Jason looked sympathetic. "Look, we're really sorry about what happened to you guys—"

"—Just go!"

"How about we help you," he offered.

The nymphs quieted down, staring at him with narrowed eyes.

"Um," Percy leaned close to whisper. "How are we gonna do that?"

"Piper here has an enchanted cornucopia," he began. "If we work together, we can use it to summon clean water for you all."

Esmerelda nearly gasped and said 'oh my gods, that's a great idea!', but she kept her mouth shut. She figured they wouldn't want to hear the opinion of the 'nymph killer'.

"The horn of plenty...!" One of the other nymphs rasped, looking at the cornucopia with wide, almost hopeful eyes. "Hagno, the boy's plan can work."

Hagno dropped from her niche and approached them, scrutinizing the horn and the kids wearily.

"Fine." She agreed. "Let's do it."

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

The plan worked a little too well.

With the help of Hagno, all six of them were able to bring out clean pure water for the nymphs to enjoy. Everything changed almost instantly. After nearly drowning (again), the niches glowed.

Nine figures appeared, but they were no longer withered creatures. They were young, beautiful nymphs in shimmering blue gowns, their glossy black curls pinned up with silver and gold brooches. Their eyes were gentle shades of blue and green.

Eight of the nymphs dissolved into vapor and floated upward. Only the nymph in the center remained.

Esmerelda could no longer hold it in.

"I'm not a nymph killer!" She blurted out.

Hagno, surprisingly enough, smiled. "I know, my dear. Now that my mind is clear, I was able to realize that your friends were lying."

She sighed in relief. "Oh thank gods."

"I apologize for the harsh treatment," Hagno said. "My sisters and I were not in our right minds."

That sounded like something that would come out of a YouTuber's apology script, but neither of them pointed it out.

She pointed to the other side of the room. The stairs to the surface reappeared. Directly underneath, a circular opening shimmered into existence, like a sewer pipe, just big enough to crawl through.

"You may return to the surface," Hagno said. "Or, if you insist, you may follow the waterway to the giants. But choose quickly, because both doors will fade soon after I am gone. That pipe connects to the old aqueduct line, which feeds both this nymphaeum and the hypogeum that the giants call home."

"Ugh." Percy pressed on his temples. "Please, no more complicated words."

"Oh, home is not a complicated word." Hagno sounded completely sincere. "I thought it was, but now you have unbound us from this place. My sisters have gone to seek new homes... a mountain stream, perhaps, or a lake in a meadow. I will follow them. I cannot wait to see the forests and grasslands again, and the clear running water."

"Uh," Percy said nervously. "Things have changed up above in the last few thousand years."

Esmerelda felt bad now. Hagno and her sisters were probably expecting to see a planet full of nature and all that nice stuff. She thought of the paved streets, the toxic fumes, and the polluted waters up in the surface and winced.

"Nonsense," Hagno smiled. "How bad could it be? Pan would not allow nature to become tainted. I can't wait to see him, in fact."

Aaaaand now she felt even worse than before.

Oh gods, she thought, exchanging a horrified look with Percy. They didn't even know Pan had faded.

"Good luck, Hagno," Jason said. "And thank you."

The nymph smiled one last time and vaporized.

Briefly, the nymphaeum glowed with a softer light, like a full moon. They could smell exotic spices and blooming roses. They could hear distant music and happy voices talking and laughing. It was like they were listening to hundreds of years of parties and celebrations that had been held at this shrine in ancient times, as if the memories had been freed along with the spirits.

"Alright," Ethan said, walking to the drainage pipe. "Let's go kill some giants and save Nico."

— author's note —

My readers and Essie when Ethan called Nico his son:

Piper thinking nobody would get angry at her for hiding a very important vision because she had such a "great excuse":

Ethan and Percy: Essie's a nymph killer!

Essie:

Jason:

THIS CHAPTER WITH THE NYMPHS ALWAYS CONFUSED ME AS A KID CUZ EVERY TIME I READ THE WORD 'NICHE', MY DUMB ASS WOULD ALWAYS THINK OF THE NICHES I LEARNED IN BIOLOGY:

BUT THIS WHOLE TIME RICK WAS TALKING ABOUT THE ARCHITECTURAL NICHES! LIKE THE SHIT ON WALLS:

Oops 🤡🤡🤡

Also, I looked it up and this is what a nymphaeum looks like so just imagine this, but underground and dark looking: