▬▬▬ CHAPTER THIRTY ▬▬▬

JUJUTSU KAISEN FANS LISTEN UP!

I did it :D

Remember when I talked about making a jjk fic with various yandere love interests? Well, I fucking did it! It's out now, so go check it out! I only have the foreword posted, but I already wrote a couple of chapters! I'm planning on posting the first one once I've written more!

Go check it out once you're done here!

Now... back to the story...

⚠️ WARNING ⚠️

Étienne :)

HAZEL COULD ALREADY TELL THAT this wasn't going to be a sweet mother-daughter reunion. If Piper meeting Aphrodite was bad, then this was going to be a hundred times worse. Except, it seemed like the roles had switched.

Hecate immediately switched forms. Her blonde tresses turned black, like watching an ink spill over light colored parchment. Her pitch black eyes swirled with green. Now she looked more like Esmerelda's mother with her new appearance.

Hecate plastered on the most dazzling smile Hazel had ever seen. "Esmerelda! My daughter, hello! It's been so long!"

Esmerelda stepped forward so she was standing beside Hazel. The younger girl could see her green eyes narrow warily.

"Mother," she acknowledged. Then she turned to Hazel with a face full of worry. "Are you okay?"

"Um... yes," she answered carefully, her eyes darting between mother and daughter. "How did you know I was here? Did the others wake you up?"

Esmerelda shook her head. "No, actually. I woke up on my own, but before that I had a dream that this conversation was taking place... I didn't get to witness the entire thing, but it worried me enough that I came here the second I woke up."

Oh, Hazel thought. She remembered when Hecate stopped speaking to look at something off to the side. She hadn't been able to see anything, but the goddess must have realized that her daughter was dreaming of this exact moment. It certainly explained why she was so quick to suddenly end the conversation.

(And it was also very suspicious because why didn't Hecate want her own daughter to know that they were talking?)

Anyways, she hoped that Esmerelda at least informed Ethan about this beforehand. He had the tendency to freak out if he didn't know where she was. It was cute and concerning at the same time.

The older girl turned back to her mother. The suspicious look on her face didn't disappear. "So... what are you doing with Hazel?"

Hazel recognized the look on the goddess' face. It practically screamed 'uh oh' until it faded away a nanosecond later. The smile on her lips brightened up some more if that was possible. She and her daughter certainly shared the same dazzling looks.

"Hazel and I were having an important discussion about her future," Hecate answered primly. She sounded like a career guidance counselor, except this counseling session was more about death and suffering rather than choosing between a job as a teacher or a chef.

"And about how you wanted her to learn the Mist to fight Clytius and that woman," Esmerelda added dryly. "Mother... what exactly are you planning here?"

Hecate looked politely confused. "You speak as if you don't trust me, my daughter..." She let out a small laugh. "I merely summoned Hazel here so I can help her."

"Help her."

"Yes," she smiled.

Judging by the blank look on Esmerelda's face, the girl wasn't buying it.

"Let me get this straight," she began, looking more and more doubtful by the second. "You brought Hazel here to tell her that she needed to learn how to control the Mist so that she can fight your two biggest enemies on her own... and you call that helping her?"

Hecate nodded. "That's exactly it."

"She also told me that I have very limited paths to choose from," Hazel added. "Neither of them are good, by the way."

Hecate shot her a sharp glance like she was saying 'oh my gods, stop talking!'.

She felt like a tattle-tale, but with Esmerelda around, she doubted the goddess would try to smite her. Or turn her into some furry little rodent...

"Oh my gods, you're doing the crossroads thing again?" Esmerelda dipped her head back and groaned. "Mother, you know those things are defective!"

"They are not defective, they're just... slightly limited," Hecate said defensively. "It's imperative that Hazel does as I tell her, alright? It's crucial to your quest. If you want, you can teach her how to wield the Mist! I know you're a good teacher."

Esmerelda didn't let the flattery get to her. She gave her mother another flat look. This was the weirdest interaction between godly parent and demigod child Hazel ever had the misfortune to witness.

"I don't know what you're planning... but fine," Esmerelda agreed after a few seconds of hesitation. "I'll help her. But she's not fighting them alone, you got that? Those guys are... they're brutal. I won't put Hazel through that alone. Plus, I want my vengeance too."

There was a disturbed look on Esmerelda's face as she tried to describe her killers. It was a look that Hazel had never seen before. It was a cross of fear, pain, and pure anger. It was enough to tell her just how terrible they were. If they managed to kill Esmerelda, a very powerful witch, then Hazel doubted she would stand much of a chance with her lack of magical ability.

Honestly, she couldn't help but think. Just what is that goddess thinking?

Hecate's smile wavered when she heard her daughter say she would face her previous murderers. But a second later, she was back to normal again and nodding in acceptance.

"Fine then... if that's your wish," Hecate agreed, though there was an odd glint in her emerald green eyes that neither of the girls noticed.

Hazel's shoulders sank with relief. She was glad that Esmerelda would extend a helping hand and she certainly didn't have any doubts her teaching skills (Nico told her that she was a very sweet teacher who had a penchant for baking sweets for her students), but she still wanted to know why Hecate initially wanted her to go through all of this alone.

"So then Hazel," Hecate turned her attention to her. "I take it you'll use the pathway I gave you?"

"I'll go north," Hazel agreed. "We'll take your secret pass through the mountains."

Hecate nodded, the slightest hint of satisfaction in her face. "You have chosen well, though the path will not be easy. Many monsters will rise against you. Even some of my own servants have sided with Gaea, hoping to destroy your mortal world."

Esmerelda grunted in annoyance. She remembered the group of extremely rude empousai that she ran into back in Tartarus. She was glad she blew them up into smithereens.

The goddess took her double torches from their stands. "Hopefully we shall see each other soon, my daughter. As for you, Hazel. Prepare yourself. If you succeed against the witch, we will meet again.

"We'll succeed," Hazel promised, making sure to say 'we' because Hecate was creepily determined to make her do this alone. "And Hecate? I'm not choosing one of your paths. I'm making my own."

The goddess arched her eyebrows. Her polecat writhed, and her dog snarled.

But at Hazel's side, Esmerelda shot her a small grin.

"We're going to find a way to stop Gaea," Hazel continued. "We're going to rescue our friends from Tartarus. We're going to keep the crew and the ship together, and we're going to stop Camp Jupiter and Camp Half-Blood from going to war. We're going to do it all."

The storm howled, the black walls of the funnel cloud swirling faster.

"Interesting," Hecate said, as if Hazel were an unexpected result in a science experiment. "That would be magic worth seeing."

A wave of darkness blotted out the world. When it all cleared out, the storm, the goddess, and her minions were gone. The two girls stood on the hillside in the morning sunlight, alone in the ruins except for Arion, who paced next to them, nickering impatiently.

"Not yet," she told the horse. "Just give us a few more minutes."

Arion nodded before moving elsewhere to give them some privacy.

"Are you sure you're okay, Hazel?" Now that Hecate was gone, Esmerelda's face was a lot more expressive now. Her face was full of worry for the younger girl. "My mother didn't do anything to you? How's your head? Did she mess with your mind?"

"I don't think she did any of that," Hazel said, though she wondered how she would even know. "Your mom... she just... well..."

"She what?"

Hazel swallowed thickly. "Your mom... she ruined my life."

Esmerelda's face fell. "What?"

She went on to explain everything. How her family supposedly came from a line of squibs—a fact that she had just recently learned—and upon learning that magic was real, her mother became desperate to get her hands on it. Hecate had been so impressed with her fierce determination that she offered her a visit and granted her enough magic to summon Pluto.

As a result of that meeting, they had her... Pluto had sworn on the River Styx that Marie could have anything she wanted, and Marie had grown greedy and wished for all the wealth of the Underworld. She got exactly that, but the greediest wishes came with a curse and that curse was Hazel.

Well, it was her powers really, but it was all the same to her.

Hazel knew it wasn't really Hecate's fault. Not entirely at least. Her mother was the greedy one, she was the one who tried to make Pluto give up his riches. But Hecate was the reason they had met. None of this would've happened if it hadn't been for Hecate helping Marie Levesque.

By the end of the explanation, Esmerelda's face was pale.

"Hazel..." Her lips were trembling. "I'm so sorry. My mother, she's..."

"Why would she do that?" Hazel despaired. "I don't understand. My mother's just some mortal—there's lots of squibs, aren't there? Why did she have to pay attention to my mother out of all of them? And now she's here and she wants me to learn the Mist..."

It was all so outrageous. None of it made sense to her. Her head was still reeling at the fact that Hecate was the cause of all of this and that apparently her family used to have magical connections to the wizarding world Hecate created.

She could barely think straight at this point.

She looked up at Esmerelda, desperate for answers.

Esmerelda's face was grim.

"Hazel, I don't have the answers you're looking for. I'm sorry, and this probably isn't what you want to hear either, but you can't trust my mother."

Hazel tensed up.

"I don't know why my mother is doing all this or why she wants you to learn the Mist so badly, but I'm going to help you from now on, okay?" She promised, and Hazel had a feeling she wasn't just talking about Mist lessons. "My mother's planning something and I'm sure you're aware of it too. She's... she's ruined a lot of lives, and she's quite manipulative so I know she's definitely scheming something with this."

"She was really insistent that I do everything on my own," Hazel mumbled. "The only reason she changed her mind was because you came..."

"I noticed that too," Esmerelda said seriously before her face softened. "We'll figure this out together, Hazel. You won't go through this alone."

Hazel inhaled deeply as she nodded her head. She reached up to wipe her face, briefly unaware of the stray tear that escaped her eyes. This whole day had been so emotionally exhausting for her...

Esmerelda must have noticed how tired she was because she smiled weakly. "We should get back to the ship. Everyone must be waiting for us."

"Ethan's probably tore the whole place down looking for you," she tried to joke.

Esmerelda's smile disappeared, her eyes widening slightly. She must have forgotten to inform Ethan of where she had been going. Oops.

Now they definitely had to hurry back to the Argo. Hazel summoned Arion and the two of them rode him all the way back to the ship.

Hazel glanced back at the ruins on the hill.

She wasn't going to let Hecate mess with her life any further.

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Lou Ellen had never felt so terrified before. She was pretty sure she hadn't been this scared for her life since the Second Titan War.

All around her she could hear nothing but loud cranking noises as she got closer to her doom. She could hear the harsh breathing patterns of others, but her wide blue eyes were plastered to what was in front of her.

She quietly flinched as her whole body was enveloped in darkness. She could feel the wind whipping through her hair violently and knew what was coming next.

And then it happened.

She was suddenly dragged down.

Lou Ellen let out a bloodcurdling scream full of terror, "AHHHHHHHHH!"

The rollercoaster made a dramatic dip downwards as they exited the faux mountain of the Expedition Everest ride.

Beside her, Mabel raised her hands up and let out a happy yell. Out of everyone on the ride, she was probably the least scared. She was smiling widely and screaming her lungs out. Lou Ellen would've called it cute if she hadn't been so busy clinging onto the bars of the cart for dear life.

The other mortals on the ride were either shrieking in terror like she was, or cheering with their arms up like Mabel. Lou Ellen didn't get them.

When the ride was over, she was all too eager to get off.

"That was crazy," she breathed out, wiping away the sweat that gathered around her forehead.

"What are you talking about?! That was awesome!" Mabel emphasized. "Come on, let's go to Mission: SPACE next!"

"People died on that ride," Lou Ellen informed her, but didn't pull away when Mabel started dragging her to the direction of the (in her opinion) deathly ride.

Mabel snorted. "People die on lots of rides. We'll be fine. We can stop to eat afterwards. It's getting late anyways."

The sky was turning into a murky shade of blue, a clear indication that night was falling. Lou Ellen couldn't be any more relieved. For the last few days they had done nothing but go on freaky rollercoaster rides. Of course, she really enjoyed the date-week and it was Mabel's fifteenth birthday (well, it was two days ago), but her heart couldn't handle roller coasters. Fighting against bloodthirsty monsters was fine, but rides with twists, turns, and dips? No thanks.

As they were walking to the ride, a familiar buzzing sound could be heard coming from the inside of the redhead's shoulder bag. None of the mortals could hear it, but the demigods' sharp ears picked up on the noise instantly.

Lou Ellen groaned. "Gods, I should just turn this off before a monster comes."

She had been getting several text messages since they came to Orlando, Florida, but she always ignored them until later. But then every time she did check the screen, the messages and missed calls would be lost amongst all the TikTok notifications.

"I don't think they'll be coming," Mabel said. "I mean, we're surrounded by hundreds of sweaty, stinky mortals. We'll be fine."

Lou Ellen pulled out her phone nevertheless to turn it off. Before she did, she spotted the text message that had been sent to her. It was from Travis Stoll. He must have used the microphone option to say his message, because it was grammatically correct and everything.

Travis: Hey we're getting ready for war lol. You guys should come back 🤪

Lou Ellen blinked. She had to read the message several times over to make sure she was reading it correctly.

She knew that they were on the cusp of the Second Giant War but surely the battles weren't starting this soon, were they?

I'll just call to make sure, she thought worriedly, already swiping through the screen to call him. She stopped walking and motioned for Mabel to give her a minute and the girl nodded in acceptance and busied herself with looking through the map to find a nearby place to eat.

It only took a few rings for Travis to answer.

"Hey!" Travis exclaimed. He sounded very happy for someone who was getting ready to die in a war. "Lou, you finally called me back! What's up, dude?"

"Please tell me you're screwing with me," Lou Ellen sighed.

"Nope!" He said cheerily. "The world's about to end again! But that's not what the message is about. Apparently Camp Juniper or whatever you call it is preparing to destroy us and they're already in Manhattan right now. So, uh, yeah. Oh, and your sister says hi."

Her jaw dropped. "They're going to attack us?!"

They couldn't have waited until after her and Mabel's date in Florida?!

"Yeah, I guess," he answered. She could imagine him shrugging in a nonchalant manner. "You and Mabel should head on back now. We're discussing strategies at the moment."

"Wait," she said before he could hang up. "How's Essie?"

"She's alive," was all he could really say. "Last I heard, they managed to rescue Nico. She and Ethan are probably going crazy over him right now."

She allowed herself to sigh in relief. At least they were okay and hopefully, they would stay that way.

"That's good to hear," she said. "Okay, I'll tell Mabel about this and I'll use the Mist to get us an early flight back to New York—oh!" She let out a soft gasp when a man accidentally bumped her in the shoulder. It was so crowded in the streets so she wasn't exactly mad.

Her phone ended up dropping on the ground, and the man didn't apologize. She leaned down to pick it up only for another hand to reach it first.

"How rude of him," said an accented voice.

Lou Ellen looked up. Standing before her was a teenage boy probably a year or two older than her. He had very familiar features; pitch black hair, green eyes, and pale skin. He looked like he could be Esmerelda's long lost twin brother.

Automatically she could feel something shift in the air. She didn't know what was going on, but her instincts were screaming at her to run.

But then he flashed her an angelic smile and she realized that she was just acting paranoid.

(Her phone was still in his hand though, and he didn't look like he would be handing it over any time soon.)

"Wow," he said breathlessly, his gleaming green eyes scanning her from head to toe. An excited smile crawled over his face. "You must be Lou Ellen. I've been wanting to meet you so badly. Gods, you're so little. You're smaller than Essie."

The little hairs in the back of her neck rose. "Um, excuse me?"

"Oh right. Where are my manners," he sent her another angelic smile that reminded her so much of her older sister. "My name is Étienne Rosier. I'm your brother."

He reached out for a handshake. Lou Ellen tentatively reached up to grab his hand.

Esmerelda had told her briefly about their Roman half-brother. From what she could remember from that conversation, he was a wizard. Esmerelda said he was sweet but slightly unstable. Right now, she couldn't see anything unstable about him though the atmosphere did seem a little unsettling.

"Lou?!" She heard someone call out. She glanced over at the side and saw Mabel looking around wildly for her.

Wait. That didn't make any sense. She was only a few feet away from her. How could Mabel not see that she was right there?

And then her breath hitched upon realization. The Mist.

She whipped her head back to Étienne. His angelic smile had turned into a sinister little smirk. Behind him, she could see the man who had bumped into her. He had his back turned to her so she couldn't see his face, but for some odd reason he was completely still.

And then his body jerked and fell to the ground. Standing before his fallen body was a shadowy tendril with a pointed tip, soaked in blood from when it stabbed him. Blood pooled under the body and no one noticed it.

Lou Ellen tried to stumble back, her eyes widening in horror.

"Sorry you had to see that," Étienne chuckled, tightening his grip around her hand so she couldn't break free. "I don't like it when people mess with my sisters. No matter. You'll be better protected once I take you back to France."

She quickly lifted up her leg to kick him in the chest. It was enough for him to loosen his hold on her hand so she hurriedly pried her hand free and started sprinting for her girlfriend.

"Mabel!" She shouted, grabbing her by the shoulder.

Mabel turned to her with wide eyes. "Where the hell have you been—"

"—Just run!" She grasped her wrist and began dragging her away from the scene.

Mabel started running alongside her, but she was terribly confused.

"What the fuck is going on?!"

"My brother's here!" Lou Ellen yelled as they shoved through thick crowds of people. "He killed someone! He wants to take me to France!"

"What?!"

"We need to get out of here!"

It was at times like this did she wish she had the power to teleport. Even though it was already dark out, there were still so many people roaming around Disney World. Her head was buzzing with plans. The two of them should hurry back to Disney's Contemporary Resort—the hotel they were staying in—to grab their things. Luckily for them, it was connected to a shuttle and she knew they weren't too far away from the station.

They reached the shuttle just seconds away before the doors could close. It was full of mortals so Mabel switched to speaking in Ancient Greek to demand, "What the fuck is going on?!"

Lou Ellen didn't answer right away. Her wide blue eyes were darting around wildly. Among the sea of faces, neither of them belonged to the boy she met. The mortals stared back at her in confusion before going back to their business.

She glanced out the window and surveyed the station outside. She didn't see anything amiss and soon enough, the shuttle was moving and the scenery turned into a blur.

He was gone. Maybe they were safe now...

"Lou!" Mabel shook her shoulder. "Hey! What's going on?!"

"Two things," Lou Ellen panted. "Camp's expected to be attacked by the Romans soon so we need to get back there to help with the war preparations."

She sent her a stunned look. "What? I thought Annabeth and the others went there to make peace?"

"Well I guess it didn't go well," she said. "Anyways, my brother came here—"

"—The one who sided with Kronos?!"

"No the Roman one who's apparently a fucking PSYCHO!" She blew up. Several of the mortals sent her weird glances, but they didn't understand what she was saying. "Some dude bumped into me and then he just up and appears and kills the guy—"

"—That's crazy!"

"I know right?" She gave her a wide-eyed look. "He says he came here to take me to France!"

"What?!"

"I don't get it either, but that guy is out of his mind," she breathed out, leaning against the side of the shuttle train. "And the scary part? He knew what he was doing. He—he surrounded us in the Mist. That's why you couldn't see me or why nobody was freaking out about the literal dead body on the ground. Gods, he's... I thought Alabaster was bad. This guy's insane."

Mabel looked like she was about to say something, but then she looked at something behind her. Her eyes widened and she immediately yanked Lou Ellen towards her.

When Lou Ellen looked back, she almost screamed.

Leaning against the wall just inches away from where she was standing was Étienne. She had no idea how he got there.

Gods, please don't tell me he could teleport too! She thought.

He shot her a hurt look. "You think I'm insane? That's quite hurtful to say..." He looked genuinely saddened by it too. "I'll forgive you though. I understand that this whole situation is just spooking you."

"What do you want from us?" Mabel demanded. She pulled out a dagger that was strapped to her leg and pointed it at him threateningly.

Étienne blinked at her, before nodding in approval. He gave Lou Ellen a small smile. "I like her. Mabel, was it? You seem to have better taste in lovers than our sister does."

Lou Ellen almost snorted. This guy obviously met Ethan before.

"Anyways," he continued. "I'm not here to hurt any of you, I swear. I just want to take Lou Ellen to France with me. She's in danger, you see."

"In danger?" Both girls echoed in bewilderment. They were pretty sure he was the only danger around here.

He nodded, his face serious. "The Legion already assembled around your camp, haven't they? They want to destroy you all, but the leader, Octavian, is after you specifically, Lou Ellen. He wants to punish you because of something I've done. I... I'm sorry it's come to that. I didn't mean to put any of my siblings in danger because of my foolishness."

He was so genuinely miserable about it too. He honestly looked like a kicked puppy. She almost felt bad for him. Almost.

"I'm sorry," she told him earnestly. "But I can't go to France. I need to go back to New York. Your camp is trying to burn mine to the ground. I can't just leave them..."

He nodded in understanding, and both girls relaxed for a bit, thinking that maybe he would actually let them go.

They were so wrong.

"I had a feeling you'd say that," he said. "So I'll give you a choice. Either come with me, or I kill every mortal in this contraption. I'll spare your girlfriend because she's honestly just a lot better than Ethan."

Her jaw dropped. "You're crazy!"

He shook his head. "I'm really not. Our sister's boyfriend is just awful—"

"—No, not about that!" She cried out. "You can't just kill everyone here!"

He blinked owlishly. "Um, yes I can. I have a variety of ways to kill them too. And they can't even do anything about it. Look, they're completely clueless."

Lou Ellen and Mabel glanced around. Both girls paled. The mortals were being completely blinded by the Mist. They had no idea that this conversation was taking place, and they had no idea that their lives were in danger too.

Suddenly the shadows in the room started to ripple. They stretched out into the surface like thin cords and slowly wrapped themselves around every mortals' neck. Women, men, and children alike all had shadowy nooses around their throats and they couldn't even see it.

"I think I'll settle with strangling them," Étienne smiled and Lou Ellen's whole body was shaking with fear. "So what will it be? Will you come with me willingly and I let all these innocent mortals go? Or will you refuse and I kill everyone and take you back to France by force anyways?"

"Y-you're fucking sick," Mabel whispered shakily. The terror on her face matched her girlfriend's.

Despite the fact that her mind was running a mile a minute and her heart felt like it could blow up from the adrenaline, Lou Ellen weighed her options.

She could always remove the Mist from the mortals so they could see what was going on. They could try and pry the shadowy nooses away... but she doubted that would work. They wouldn't be strong enough to do so and she was sure Étienne would find other ways to kill them instead.

Refusing wasn't an option either. She had a feeling Étienne could kill everyone here with a snap of his fingers the second the word 'no' left her lips.

But fuck, she didn't want to go anywhere with him! He supposedly had her safety in mind, but he was so unstable that his very presence freaked her out. She had no idea how Esmerelda was able to talk about him without an ounce of fear in her voice. Then again, her sister was very strong. Étienne probably wasn't much of a threat to her.

(That, and her sister was just used to crazy.)

I don't want these people to die, she thought, staring at every face that surrounded them. She looked at the kids happily talking to their parents, the teenagers snapping pictures of each other, and the babies sleeping in their little strollers. They would die if she refused to come.

She locked eyes with Mabel. The daughter of Demeter's eyes were watering. She knew what she would decide.

She turned back to Étienne, who was watching them with a pleased look on his face like he already knew what would happen next.

"Okay," she told him. "I'll come with you."

His smile widened. Lou Ellen couldn't believe how angelic he looked when he smiled. His appearance was so deceptive that it made her sick.

"I knew you'd say that," he beamed at her. He reached out for her hand. "Alright, let's go. Say goodbye to Mabel. You'll see her later once all of this is over. Don't worry."

At this point, Lou Ellen didn't know what to believe anymore.

She turned to Mabel, fear and sadness written all over her face.

"I'm sorry," she whispered brokenly.

"It's okay," Mabel lowered her dagger and wiped her eyes. "I... I guess we'll see each other later, right?"

She wanted to believe that Étienne was telling her the truth, that she would see her loved ones again, but she didn't know anything.

She nodded anyways and tried to give her a reassuring smile. "Yeah. I love you, you know?"

Mabel looked like she wanted to scream and fight Étienne right then and there, but her face was full of defeat.

"I love you too." Mabel said back, trying to smile.

Lou Ellen looked back to Étienne. His hand was still outstretched. She took it, and he grasped hers tightly.

He sent her a warm grin. "Don't worry, I'll keep you safe and you'll see each other again afterwards."

"Let everyone go," she told him.

"Right, of course," he said sheepishly.

The shadows tying themselves around the necks of innocent mortals finally receded back to the walls and floors.

Lou Ellen relaxed.

"You're going to love France." Étienne promised her.

And then after that, she was swallowed up by the darkness.

She just hoped she would see her loved ones again after this.

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

Alabaster used to live in Florida, but that was years ago, back when he was just a little boy with no siblings to warm his heart and a dead dad that kept haunting him.

It had been so long since he'd been here that he no longer recognized the streets around him. All he could remember about Orlando, Florida was that Disney World was here but he never went (they couldn't afford it).

Speaking of Disney World, the tracking spell he was using to search for Étienne was sending him to the direction of the grand resort. He didn't even know how the kid knew about Disney. Hell, the guy was so sheltered that he didn't even know cheeseburgers existed.

He looked down at the green trail in front of him with furrowed brows. He was using the two halves of Étienne's wand to track the kid down. He snapped it last winter after witnessing him brutally murder his family. He kept it since then in case he ever needed to track the little psycho down and thankfully, his instincts were correct.

He reached the entrance of Disney World only to freeze up on the spot.

Red and blue flashing lights bombarded his vision. There were police cars parked in front of the entrance along with an ambulance.

Oh no, he thought. What the fuck did he do...?

He spotted several EMT wheel in a stretcher. A person was occupying it, but he couldn't see who it was since the white blanket had been thrown over the face. His stomach sank. Was he too late? Did Étienne already kill one of the girls he had been looking for?

He tried to approach the stretcher, ready to cloak himself with the Mist until a flying trashcan came at him out of nowhere and smacked him right in the face.

It sent him sprawling on the ground and he let out a cry of pain.

"What the fu—?!"

"—YOU!" A female voice growled. Someone grabbed him by the front of his shirt and placed a dagger at his throat.

Alabaster had never seen this person before. She was a teenage girl several years younger than him, wearing a shirt full of sunflowers and denim shorts that were painted on with even more sunflowers. She had curly dark hair, brown eyes, and slightly tanned skin. Judging by the Celestial bronze dagger she had on her, she was most likely a demigod. A daughter of Demeter possibly too.

He was not at all daunted by the blade pushing against the column of his throat. He was more confused because who the fuck was this girl, and why did she have to throw a metallic trash can at him? She couldn't have thrown a brick or something? That would've been less humiliating.

Before he could say anything, she was shoving the blade hard enough to draw some blood.

"You're Alabaster Torrington," she growled. "Traitor to Olympus. Leader of the enemy demigod army, and number one ass kisser of Kronos, right?"

He scowled at her for the last part. "Listen kid, I don't know who you are—"

"—My name is Mabel," she said fiercely, jostling him around with his shirt tightly grasped in her fist.

It was then that Alabaster noticed something. Behind that angry expression, she actually looked... distraught. Her cheeks had dry tear marks on them and her eyes were red and puffy as if she had been crying for hours.

"Hey... are you okay?"

"Shut up!" She said harshly. "You're working together with that psycho, aren't you? Where is he? Where's Lou Ellen?!"

The second she said the word 'psycho', he instantly knew who she was talking about.

"Hold on... are you—are you talking about Étienne Rosier?" He asked sharply.

Her eyes widened. She became angrier. "So you are working with him!"

He brought his hands up. "No! I'm not! I'm here looking for him, but I'm not working with that fucking maniac, I swear."

"Swear it on the River Styx," she snarled, looking seconds away from stabbing him.

"I swear it on the River Styx that I'm not working with Étienne Rosier," he swore.

She looked up at the sky for a few seconds, as if she was waiting for a lightning strike to come down and hit him. When nothing happened, she actually looked disappointed.

"Damn," she muttered before finally pulling the dagger away and getting off of him. "Sorry about that. I'm Mabel by the way."

"Look," Alabaster sighed as he got back up on his feet. "Can you just tell me what happened? Who... who's dead?"

Mabel glanced back at the body on the stretcher and grimaced. "That psychopath killed a mortal man—"

"—Hold on, what?" Alabaster leaned forward a little. "Did—did you just say a mortal man?"

Was he wrong this entire time? He was certain that Étienne's goal was to kill two girls! Maybe the man just got in the way instead?

Mabel nodded her head. "Yeah, your psycho brother killed a guy and then threatened to kill everyone in the train!"

"Can you start from the beginning?"

"Lou Ellen—she's your sister by the way—"

"—Yes I know who she is." He was sent to recruit (kidnap) her several years ago after all and he spent about a week trying to hunt her down only to fail thanks to Esmerelda and her friends. They met each other several years later in the war where she attacked him in order to save Esmerelda.

"Right, anyways, we were just walking around Disney World but she stopped to make a call. But then she just vanished out of thin air and I later found out it was because that fucking psycho used the Mist to hide themselves and then he killed a dude for bumping into her! She got away, found me, and we ran to the shuttle to try and get back to the hotel but he was there too! He kept going on about wanting to take her to France or whatever—"

"—France?" Alabaster repeated, his eyes growing wide.

She groaned. "Yes, now let me finish!"

He cocked his head back. Children these days were so rude.

"Apparently, he wanted to bring her to France to keep her safe but he was crazy! So Lou Ellen was like 'no', but then he was like 'if you don't come with me I'll kill everyone on the train' and then he controlled the shadows and threatened to strangle all the mortals on board and they didn't notice a single thing because of the Mist! So Lou had to go, and he just—he just took her and I couldn't...!"

She started to break down into tears.

Meanwhile, Alabaster was too deep in his thoughts to realize that she was sobbing. Now he knew what this all meant. He had been wrong all along. Étienne didn't want to kill these girls, he wanted to kidnap them back to France.

But who was the second girl he was looking for?

He was pulled out of his thoughts when Mabel let out another loud sob.

He was now very much aware of all the stares they were garnering. A lot of frowns were sent his way, and he realized that this wasn't looking good for him.

"Hey," he whispered, a little panicked. "Can you just, um, stop crying for a minute? You're making me look bad."

She cried harder, burying her face into her hands.

He continued to stand there awkwardly, the amount of stares mounting by the second. Usually whenever any of his little siblings cried, he'd give them a warm hug and help them deal with whatever was troubling them, but she wasn't one of his little sisters. She was just a stranger who threw a trashcan at him.

He cleared his throat. "I'm... really sorry you had to go through that. If it makes you feel better, I have a good idea where Étienne's taking her. I'm going to get Lou Ellen back and take Étienne down, okay?"

She looked up from her hands, her eyes redder and her face puffier. "I'm going with you." She decided.

He stared at her. "Uh, what? No you're not."

"Yes I am!" She said determinedly, grabbing him by the wrist. "I want to save Lou Ellen too, so you're taking me with you!"

"Étienne is an extremely dangerous person," he told her sternly, yanking his arm free. "Coming with me would be suicide, okay? And I don't exactly want to be stuck babysitting you."

"You're such an ass," she spat. "And I can take care of myself. You were the one on the loser side, remember? I'm going with you."

"Why do you even care about any of this?" He sighed in annoyance.

"Um, because I LOVE HER?" She shouted at him incredulously.

He stared at her.

Oh, he thought. She's—ohhhh. Oh. Oh.

"Oh," he said dumbly. "That's... um. I see. I'm glad that you feel... comfortable enough to tell me, a complete stranger, about this, and... I—"

She gave him a weird look. "What are you doing?"

He blinked. "Huh?"

"Why are you talking like that?"

"I just... aren't you coming out to me? I was just—"

"—What? Dude, I'm already out! I'm dating your sister? Lou Ellen's my girlfriend?"

"Ohhhh!" He felt like an idiot. "Wait, hold on, isn't she just barely fifteen? That's, like, way too young to date—"

"—Listen boomer, Essan got together when Essie was just fifteen and she lost her virginity at sixteen—"

"—I really don't feel comfortable with you discussing my dead sister's sex life—"

"—What?" The weird look returned tenfold. "Essie's not dead, dumbass."

Now it was his turn to look confused. "Um... yes she is?"

"No, she isn't," she shook her head.

"Yes she is," he insisted, growing angry now. "I was there at her funeral, I saw you guys burn the shroud—"

"—Yeah, but she came back to life a few months afterwards." She cut him off.

Alabaster almost lost balance as he registered her words.

He knew that monsters and some people were able to come back to life thanks to the Doors of Death being chained down... but it never occurred to him that Esmerelda may have been one of those people. He had been too busy grieving her to make the connection.

"She's alive?" He breathed out, feeling as if he had been sucker punched in the face.

She nodded firmly. "She's been alive for a while now. She's one of Nine?"

"One of the what?" He asked.

"Oh my gods," she stared at him with wide eyes. "You're completely out of the loop, aren't you?"

He gave her an annoyed look. "Well excuse me for being exiled."

She rolled her eyes. He ignored her. While he was glad that Esmerelda was back and he could maybe ask her for forgiveness, a horrible realization sunk in to him.

The two girls Étienne was talking about in his dream. Him taking Lou Ellen.

Étienne was kidnapping their sisters.

Esmerelda was his next target.

Alabaster knew what he needed to do now.

He looked back at Mabel. "You're gonna fill me in on everything I missed, got it? I'll let you come with me to save Lou Ellen."

"Wait seriously?!" She gave him a hopeful look.

He nodded. "Yup. Now let's get going."

— author's note —

MABEL GREENWAY
played by KIANA MADEIRA

Guys I'm dying, Rick actually had PIPER help Hazel with Mist lessons as if charmspeak is the same fucking thing. It ISN'T. Charmspeak is just one of the many abilities that the Mist can grant you. It's basically just a subcategory of Mist Control. Controlling someone with your voice is NOT the same thing as altering someone's reality ashefiywg 😂😂😂

So in the past, I've had people ask me what my plan for Hazel would be since in canon, Hecate has her learn the Mist to defeat Pasiphaë and Clitoris. I had various ideas, but I thought of one that I really liked. So in here, Hecate will still make Hazel learn the Mist, but things... are going to be a lil more evil :)

Okay not really EVIL evil, but... actually forget it, I can't explain it without spoiling 😂

As for the ending of this chapter... WE'RE GETTING CLOSE TO THE FAMILY REUNION MUAHAHAHA!

Alabaster in this chapter:

Alabaster realizing that two of his little sisters are in a relationship and one even got laid while he's still a banished, single, lil virgin: