Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The porch creaked under his boots as he pushed the door open. He knew he was late, but he’d been handling another argument between Damien and Chiara on his own since Mallory found it more entertaining to watch then to help him and Sam had left to walk Jade to the Big House for this exact meeting.

Annabeth raised an eyebrow at him as he stepped into the room, tapping her pencil on her notebook as he sat next to her, obviously waiting for an explanation. Ironic how she acted like his older sister when he was older than her. Though, he supposed, you put a thirteen-year-old in charge of a cabin and it would force them to act much older than they were.

“Damien and Chiara.” He muttered, shoving his hair out of his face, shooting an unamused glance at her as she hummed.

“Whatever you say, Nakamura. We started without you.”

“Figured you would.” He glanced at Leo, who he assumed he’d interrupted coming in considering the look on his face and waved a hand at him as a gesture to continue.

“Right, okay,” He nodded. “The ship is almost done. Jake, Nys, and I are running some final tests before we can take off. But we should be gone before Thursday.” Annabeth nodded, leaning back in her seat and checking a few things off in her notebook.

“So, we still haven’t figured out the other person, correct?” Katie asked, raising an eyebrow.

Will shook his head. “No, we know Jason, Piper and Leo are going because of that whole Hera thing.” Katie nodded. “And Annabeth because of Percy, plus I’m sure Percy has a few Roman friends to bring along.”

“Then, The redeemed refers to Ethan.” Annabeth continued. “But we don’t know who the rebel is. There could be several demigods that fits, like other former members of the Titans Army who didn’t come back to Camp.” Annabeth explained.

Ethan shifted, glancing over at Lou Ellen on his other side. That line had always bothered him since they decided he was apart of the prophecy. The rebel. Lou hadn’t seemed to notice his gaze and he turned away, staring at the rune engraved ring on his finger. Rebels would apply to his allies, the army who didn’t surrender to the Olympians, and that was a wide scope of people.

But there were limited options the following line would apply to.

Amends made for screams in the night.

He didn’t argue with many of the half-bloods, and his chest seemed heavier to think about the ones he did argue with. Arguments that would call for amends to be made. There was only one person he could think of that fit the bill.

He looked over at Lou again, who’d taken to doodling on her arm with a green sharpie.

Ethan never mentioned Alabaster to the others, he didn’t know where the son of Hecate was, or if he was alive. The gods hadn’t been merciful after the war, much less to Alabaster and his siblings. He was sure the only reason he was even being allowed out of the camp was the prophecy, otherwise he’d be confined to the place like the Olympians wanted. Apparently, he was too dangerous to be allowed outside of Chiron and Dionysus’ supervision.

He jolted as Annabeth elbowed him in the arm. His head snapped over to her and he gave a half-hearted glare.

“Are you even listening to me?” She asked, returning the glare.

He blinked, shaking his head. “I must’ve zoned out, sorry.”

She gave him a weird look, though he didn’t miss the faint look of concern in her eyes, but she shook her head after a moment. “Those lines are connected to you; do you have any ideas about who our last person could be?”

A frown tugged at his lips as he twisted the green ring on his finger. “No.” He murmured. “Nothing solid.”

Annabeth narrowed her eyes at him, and he could feel Jasons eyes burning a hole in his head from across the table. Though, she sighed and turned away from him and back to Leo. “You and your siblings should get back to work.”

The son of Hephaestus grinned, nodded and hopped up. “I’ll see y’all at lunch!”

Will shot him an unamused look. “Make sure you actually show up this time, or I’m sending Kayla after you again.”

Leo’s grin turned sheepish. “Sir yes sir.”

Piper watched as he left the room with a vaguely amused expression. “You’ve scarred him with Kayla.”

Will shrugged, messing with the bandages on his wrist in a way that reminded Ethan of Lee. “Kaylas scary. She was raised by scary people.”

Annabeth snorted softly. “That’s an understatement.”

Connor hummed, taking a sip from his pop – Ethan wasn’t even sure where he’d gotten the can, they were never at camp – and shot a look at Will. “Awful hypocritical of you to get on Leo’s ass for taking care of himself.” Will threw a pencil at him in response.

Beside him, Lou laughed. “He’s not wrong- If you throw that pencil at me, I’m cursing you.” The son of Apollos hand froze where it hovered over another pencil.

Ethan glanced over at Annabeth. “Can I go?”

She raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure you don’t have any ideas?”

His gaze flickered down to the dagger on her waist; the green bracelet wrapped around the hilt and the key charm hanging off the side. “Like I said, nothing solid.”

She didn’t seem convinced, but after a moment, she sighed and nodded. “I’ll talk to you after lunch.”

“Alright, see you later Beth.” He got up, reaching his hand up to ruffle Lou’s hair, pulling her attention from Will and Connor to smack his hand away. He snorted. “Later loser.” She stuck her tongue out at him as he left the room.

The camp bustled with activity as Ethan made his way back to his cabin. A few campers called out greetings as they spotted him, mostly other former army members; he’d noticed the Olympian demigods hadn’t been exactly fond of him, despite Annabeth and Percy vouching for him.

Not that he really cared, he wasn’t the only one, he knew none of the returned army members had much respect from the campers they’d fought against. None of the campers bothered him, though, likely because he was a counselor, or because he had Percy on his side, he wasn’t sure.

Then again, it was odd to be back at camp, he hadn’t exactly planned for it to happen. However, he wasn’t expecting it to be so easy to be able to fall back into a routine, not much had changed except for the fact that he wasn’t stuck in a crowded cabin sleeping on the floor. The camp itself hadn’t changed, but the same couldn’t be said for himself, or any of the campers for that matter.

He’d been gone for years, joined Kronos, he’d resurrected Kronos. But, when he stumbled across the border with Cecil and Ellis in tow, Percy had been quick to fight for him to stay. The campers hadn’t been too interested in fighting the son of Poseidon, and Ethan hadn’t exactly done anything to make them wary of him. He followed the rules the Olympian counsel set for him; he followed the routines Chiron made for him. It was familiar and unfamiliar all the same.

He was no longer thirteen, crammed in cabin eleven, wondering if he’d find out who his mom was, if he’d be good enough for her to claim him. Now, he was seventeen, the counselor of his cabin. He knew who his mother was, what she wanted from him.

Though, with the war over, his mother had a throne, he had a cabin, along with a few other gods, he wasn’t sure what, exactly, he was meant to do anymore.

Cabin twenty – Hecates – caught his attention as he walked past. It always did, and bittersweet memories always came with it. None of her children had been at camp when it was being built, so on top of his own, Ethan oversaw the construction of Hecates cabin. Not that he minded, he knew several of her children aboard the Andromeda, he knew what they liked.

It was only recently that Lou Ellen made her way across the border, panicky and delirious. He wasn’t sure where she’d been in the months between, but she was never interested in talking about it, so he never pushed. She knew that if she ever wanted to talk about it, he’d be there to listen.  He’d always felt like he had some sort of obligation to protect her, they’d both been in the Hermes cabin, unclaimed and stuck. In the Labyrinth when Luke’s scouts had found him, he’d felt relieved when he caught sight of the young daughter of Hecate, he was glad she was safe.

Ethan had never been the one outright protecting Lou, there was no need when she was always on her older sibling’s heels. But now, she was the only Hecate kid at camp, her older siblings either dead or missing. So, he’d taken the need to protect her more seriously.

From across the green, he caught Drews eyes from where she sat on the porch of her cabin with Nyssa, she managed a small smile which he returned. He’d have to check on her before they left, his sister had been acting off ever since Piper showed up.

On the porch of his own cabin, he spotted two of his other siblings, Damien and Mallory, and considering Damiens wild gestures, they were probably bickering as usual. His suspensions confirmed by Damien calling out to him once he’d been spotted.

“Can you tell her to shut up?”

Mallory whirled around, tilting her head to the side, causing her braids to shift off her shoulders. Her dark eyes sparkled with mischief despite her innocent grin. Ethan sighed, stepping between them to get to the door, patting Mallory’s head as he opened the door. “She doesn’t listen to me.”

His younger brother groaned as the door swung shut behind Ethan. He spotted Sam sitting on one of the beanbag chairs in the back of the cabin, a sketchbook on his legs. “How was the meeting?”

“Nothing special.” Ethan responded, sitting on his bed. “What’re you drawing?”

He shrugged, shifting his notebook to show Ethan a rough sketch of what looked to be a person. What caught his eye was the figures left leg, which the small details Sam had added made it seem like a prosthetic. A very specific one.

“Is that Lenny?” He asked, glancing back up at Sam, pulling his eyepatch off.

His brother hummed quietly, turning his sketchbook around again. “Yeah, I wasn’t really planning to draw her, but that’s just kinda how it turned out.”

Ethan nodded, laying back on his bed. Sam had been one of the only other Nemesis kids in the army, he’d also been a camper. He hadn’t returned to camp until a few months after the war, with Jade, who’d become the Tyche counselor. Sam was quiet, usually keeping to himself, drawing in his notebook, not much differently from how he’d been on the Andromeda.

Lenny – Lenore – was the other, she’d been much more enthusiastic compared to Sam, or even Ethan, always on board with any plan, ready to jump on any prank suggested to her. He hadn’t come back to camp, Ethan wasn’t sure where he’d wound up, Sam mentioned he was safe, with his girlfriend, but that didn’t stop Ethan from worrying. Lenore was his youngest sibling, he’d always had a soft spot for her, the way she’d follow him around the ship, rocking on her heels – even with her prosthetic she managed to have perfect balance.

The door swung open, and Damien came in, Mallory not far behind him. Damien threw himself onto his bed while Mallory climbed up to sit on hers. “Is the ship ready?” Mallory asked, swinging her legs off the side of her bed, Damien narrowing his eyes as she did so.

“Almost,” Ethan responded, leaning over to his bag hanging off the bed post to dig out his book. “Leo and his siblings need to do a few final tests, but we’ll be leaving by the end of the week.”

“Who’re you leaving in charge?” Damien asked, a small smirk tugging at his lips.

Ethan glanced up at him with a deadpan look. “Not you, that’s for sure.”

His little brother groaned, flopping back down onto his back. “You suck.”

“That’s exactly why he wouldn’t leave you in charge.” Sam commented, not even pulling his eyes away from his drawing. “Who are you leaving in charge?”

Ethans eye flickered up, raising an eyebrow. “You.”

He blinked, finally looking up from his sketchbook. “Wait, what?”

“You think I trust either of them?” Ethan mused, waving a hand towards Damien and Mallory’s bunk.

“Hey!” Mallory complained.

“Asshole!”

“Watch it!”

Ethan snorted softly, shaking his head as his siblings bickered around him. It was a normal thing now, and he was glad to see Sam being more social, rather than keeping to himself like he did on the Andromeda. He met Damien or Mallory’s energy when they started bickering in a way he hadn’t before.

–––

“Hey.”

Ethan stopped mid swing, shifting to put his sword in its sheath on his back. “Need something?” He asked, turning to face Jason.

The son of Jupiter shifted on his feet. “You were on..Saturn’s..Kronos’ side..right?”

“Yeah.” He murmured.

He hadn’t recognized Jason at first, not until he’d started talking about the other camp. Not that much would’ve changed had he recognized Jason earlier; he wasn’t allowed to talk about the Romans; Chiron had made that extremely clear the second he realized who Jason was himself.

Ethan had never gotten particularly close to the centurion, so they never spoke. Alabaster on the other hand, found it endlessly entertaining to taunt the golden boy of Camp Jupiter. He’d made a few off-hand jokes about how Jason looked cute when he was annoyed, but Ethan wasn’t too interested in testing that theory himself.

“Did we…” Jason narrowed his eyes. “Did we ever meet?”

Ethan raised an eyebrow, tilting his head. “Not…really. Our armies fought, but I never spoke to you directly.”

“You knew about my camp?”

“Our main base wasn’t too far from you. I didn’t recognize you until you told me, though.”

“Why didn’t you say anything about Camp Jupiter?”

“I wasn’t allowed.” He crossed his arms. “I was Kronos’ lieutenant; the Olympians don’t trust me. I have a lot of restrictions when it comes to what I’m allowed to talk about. Technically, I shouldn’t be able to leave, I’m only allowed because of the prophecy.”

Jason’s eyebrows furrowed, frowning. He watched the younger boy’s eyes fall to his hand, and a quick glance told him it was Alabasters ring that caught his attention.

It wasn’t anything special, an enchanted band engraved with several runes. It’d glowed once but had since lost their power and subsequently gone dark. Alabaster made it himself, well, mostly. The band itself was made by Brigit, but the son of Hecate had enchanted it with several different spells that Ethan couldn’t remember.

“I recognize that ring.” Jason murmured.

He probably would’ve, Al never took it off, well, until he decided to put it on Ethans hand before they marched on Manhattan. He’d have been surprised if Jason never noticed the ring, it was hard not to see a glowing band on a hand that was typically grabbing your face.

“Do you?”

“I don’t know where..”

“One of my allies.” Ethan responded. “It was his, he usually wore it, and he usually bothered you when our armies’ crossed paths. He gave it to me before our siege on Manhattan.”

“Where is he?”

“No idea. Haven’t seen him since the war ended.” Ethan responded, crossing his arms. “I don’t even know if he’s alive.”

Jason blinked a couple times, opening his mouth as if he were going to say something but closed it before he could. He stared blankly past Ethan before speaking. “I’m sorry.”

“You didn’t do anything.” He responded, shifting his weight. “I think the thing that’d get him killed in the long run would be his pride.”

The son of Jupiter snorted quietly. “And you were friends with him?”

Ethan shrugged. “He’s not too bad. Most of the time. With the war…all of us were in a bad way, we argued a lot. But I’m stuck at camp and he’s probably dead. So, not much I can do about it now.” He murmured, twisting the ring on his finger.

Jason nodded slowly. “Okay..well uh..I should probably go and get ready to leave..”

He snorted. “You can go, Grace, you don’t need an excuse to run off.” The other demigod gave a sheepish grin before he left the arena.

Ethans eye fell onto the ring as he continued to twist it, he stopped after a moment, bringing his hand up to the stitching on his eyepatch. Alabaster had been so insistent on keeping him safe in the battle, he wasn’t sure how much effort the son of Hecate had put into keeping himself safe. He hoped Alabaster was alive, but knowing the Olympians, and what had followed the war, he wasn’t very confident.

Chapter Text

He watched Annabeth pace the deck in front of him as he leaned on the railing. She’d checked the ballistae at least four times, confirmed the white flag was flying and gone over the plan as well as the two backup plans with the crew. Going over plan after plan gave him a feeling of déjà vu, especially since Annabeth’s way of planning and explaining said plans wasn’t all too different from Alabaster.

On top of that, she’d sent Hedge to his cabin, which he wasn’t going to argue with; the satyr had some insane blood lust that could never be satiated, vaguely reminded him of Theo during the war. Ethan didn’t think he’d ever forget the look in the son of Apollos eyes as he talked about how badly he wanted to kill his siblings solely because they were Apollos children. Regardless, the last thing they needed was someone waving a club around yelling, especially considering the Romans would likely recognize him as a member of Kronos’ ranks, and the fact that the Argo II looked less then friendly.

Over a hundred feet long with a bronze-plated hull, mounted crossbows, two rotating ballistae that could fire explosive bolts with enough power to blast through concrete and to top it all off, their flaming metal dragon as a figurehead.

While Annabeth had tried to give the Romans a heads-up, asking Leo to send of a holographic scroll he’d invented to alert the praetors, they had no confirmation that it had been received. Or, that they would accept it regardless. Leo had wanted to paint a message on the bottom of the hull, but Ethan and Annabeth had shot the idea down immediately.

The clouds around their hill broke, revealing the Oakland Hills below them. It was odd seeing it all the way up here, he’d been here countless times, normally by foot, but there had been once or twice when he and Al took pegasi to supervise. But he’d never been up this high.

Beside him, Annabeth gripped a bronze shield that lines the starboard rail, she looked pale and about three seconds from vomiting. He placed a hand on her shoulder and gave her a small smile. He wasn’t about to tell her everything was going to okay; he didn’t want to lie to her face.

There was at least a 50% chance the Romans started attacking the second they saw him.

He glanced at the bow where Jason was, he stood on a raised crossbow platform so the Romans could spot him easily. He looked rather calm, despite the white knuckles on the hilt of his sword, for a guy who was making himself a target. Though, with enough practice, he supposed it would be easier, and Jason definitely had practice. He’d donned a toga and a purple cloak, symbols of his rank as praetor – he wasn’t sure what happened to the old praetor, Elion if he remembered correctly, last time he saw Jason, he’d been a centurion. Though, he wasn’t sure how the Romans would take the orange Camp Half-Blood shirt under the toga.

Considering he’d grown up at Camp Jupiter, Annabeth hoped his familiar face would make the Romans hesitate before blowing the ship out of the sky.

A likely carry-over from his time in Kronos’ ranks – or perhaps just his time as a demigod – was that he was always wary of new people, Jason and his friends weren’t exceptions. Leo and Piper, he’d become less wary off, maybe because they reminded him of different people. But Jason, he knew Jason. As much as the son of Jupiter didn’t remember him, Ethan couldn’t really brush off the damage he’d seen from his allies who came back from Othrys after the Romans attacked.

Not only that, but Jason also acted too perfect, always following the rules, doing the honourable thing, it reminded him of Luke before the war. As much as Annabeth tried to hide her own distrust, and to her credit, she did a good job, but Ethan knew she felt like him.

On top of how Jason acted, he’d been apart of Heras plan to introduce the two camps, plucking Percy and Jason, wiping their memories and dropping them in the others camp. Considering Percy was her boyfriend, Ethan couldn’t fault her for feeling a little bitter towards the son of Jupiter.

Annabeth placed her hand over his on her shoulder, drawing his attention back to her. “We’ve got this.” She murmured, trying to assure herself as much as him. “I mean, if anything, we just grab Percy and run, right?”

He tilted his head a little, he wasn’t sure how well that was going to go. “I guess that might work.”

Before she could respond, horns sounded in the valley below them, signaling the Romans had spotted them. Annabeth tensed and her eyes blew wide, Ethan squeezed her shoulder and pulled away, turning to the others.

It’d been a while since he’d seen the city, and no matter how many times he’d seen it before, New Rome was still breath taking. The valley was twice the size of Camp Half-Blood, a small river snaked around one side, emptying into a sparkling blue lake. Nestled at edge was the city of New Rome, he could pick out a few landmarks. Some buildings were damaged, evidence of their recent battle.

Half a mile west, there was a Roman fort stood on a hill, it looked just like he’d remembered it, with perfect rows of barracks lining the main road. Demigods emerged from the gates, armour and spears glinting as the hurried into the city. He could spot the war elephant among their ranks.

He leaned over the railing, wondering if he could spot any of his former allies, or perhaps Percy when something exploded behind them. It would’ve knocked Annabeth off the ship had Ethan not caught her. He whirled around, finding himself staring at an angry statue. Terminus, the god of boundaries, if he remembered correctly.

“Unacceptable!” he shrieked.

Sulfurous yellow smoke rolled off his shoulders and cinders popped around his curly hair. From the waist down, he was nothing but a square marble pedestal. From the waist up, he was a muscular human figure in a carved toga.

“I will not have weapons inside the Pomerian Line!” he announced in a fussy teacher voice. “I certainly will not have Greeks!”

Jason shot Ethan and Annabeth a look that said, I’ve got this. “Terminus,” he said. “It’s me. Jason Grace.”

“Oh, I remember you, Jason!” Terminus grumbled. “I thought you had better sense than to consort with the enemies of Rome!”

“But they’re not enemies–”

“That’s right,” Piper jumped in. “We just want to talk. If we could–”

“Ha!” The god snapped. “Don’t try that charmspeak on me, young lady. And put down that dagger before I slap it out of your hands!”

Piper glanced at her bronze dagger, which she’d apparently forgotten she was holding. “Um…okay. But how would you slap it? You don’t have any arms.”

“Impertinence!” There was a sharp POP and a flash of yellow. Piper yelped and dropped the dagger, which was now smoking and sparking.

“Lucky for you, I’ve just been through a battle,” Terminus announced. “If I were at full strength, I would’ve blasted this flying monstrosity out of the sky already!”

“Hold up.” Leo stepped forward, wagging his Wii controller. “Did you just call my ship a monstrosity? I know you didn’t do that.”

Ethan wanted to smack him. A god that just threatened to blow the ship up and that’s what he focused on?

“Let’s all calm down.” Annabeth raised her hands. “I take it you’re Terminus, the god of boundaries. Jason told me you protect the city of New Rome, right? I’m Annabeth Chase, daughter of–”

“Oh, I know who you are!” The statue glared at her with its blank white eyes. “A child of Athena, Minerva’s Greek form. Scandalous! You Greeks have no sense of decency. We Romans know the proper place for that goddess.”

Ethan rolled his eyes, he remembered a few of the Roman half-bloods in the army reacting to children of Athena like Belladonna or Reina, or even children of Hecate.

“What exactly do you mean, that goddess? And what’s so scandalous about–”

“Right!” Jason interrupted her. “Anyway, Terminus, we’re here on a mission of peace. We’d love permission to land so we can-”

“Impossible!” The god squeaked. “Lay down your weapons and surrender! Leave my city immediately!”

“Which is it?” Ethan deadpanned. “Surrender, or leave?”

“Both!” Terminus said, turning on. “You, son of Invidia, are especially not allowed in my city! I am slapping your face for asking such a stupid question, you ridiculous boy! Do you feel that?”

He did not, in fact, feel that.

Annabeth gave him a confused look, having registered that Terminus seemed to recognize him, but Leo spoke before she could question him.

“Wow.” Leo studied Terminus with professional interest. “You’re wound up pretty tight. You got any gears in there that need loosening? I could take a look.”

He exchanged the Wii controller for a screwdriver from his magic tool belt and tapped the statue’s pedestal.

“Stop that!” Terminus insisted. Another small explosion made Leo drop his screwdriver. “Weapons are not allowed on Roman soil inside the Pomerian Line.”

“The what?” Piper asked.

“City limits,” Jason translated. She nodded quickly.

“And this entire ship is a weapon!” Terminus said. “You cannot land!”

Annabeth glanced off the ship again, scanning the crowd forming. Ethan shifted awkwardly, waiting for some sort of command from her when her eyes softened.

“Leo, stop the ship,” She ordered.

“What?”

“You heard me. Keep us right where we are.”

Leo pulled out his controller and yanked it upward. All ninety oars froze in place. The ship stopped sinking.

“Terminus,” Annabeth said, “there’s no rule against hovering over New Rome, is there?”

The statue frowned. “Well, no…”

“We can keep the ship aloft,” Annabeth said. “We’ll use a rope ladder to reach the forum. That way, the ship won’t be on Roman soil. Not technically.”

The god seemed to ponder this. “I like technicalities,” he admitted, but then he focused on Ethan again. “But him, I will not have Saturn’s lieutenant in my city!”

Annabeth gave him another weird look, narrowing her eyes in annoyance. “We’ll leave our weapon on the ship, Ethan won’t have any weapons, and- we’ll keep an eye on him.”

“That is not-“

“Ethan isn’t loyal to Saturn anymore; the Olympians have allowed him to return to their ranks.” Jason cut in. “If he steps out of line you can punish him.”

Ethan blinked. He did not agree to this.

Terminus considered his words before sighing. “I suppose that would work..but even a hair out of line son of Invidia-“

“And I’m executed, understood.”

Annabeth furrowed her eyebrows but nodded. “I assume the Romans, even those reinforcements marching toward us, will also have to honor your rules inside the Pomerian Line if you tell them to?”

“Of course!” Terminus said. “Do I look like I tolerate rule breakers?”

Ethan rested his hand on the hilt of his katana, eyeing her cautiously. “Not to question your judgement and all,” She glanced over at him. “But you’re sure this is a good idea?”

“It’ll be fine,” She assured. “No one will be armed. We can talk in peace. Terminus will make sure each side obeys the rules.” She looked at the marble statue. “Do we have an agreement?”

Terminus sniffed. “I suppose. For now. You may climb down your ladder to New Rome, daughter of Athena. Please try not to destroy my town.”

–––

Ethan could feel eyes burning into him as he walked through the crowd of demigods, and he caught a few legionnaires glaring at him. Some seemed tense, others nervous. Several were bandaged for their recent battle, but, like Terminus said, nobody was armed.

He wished he had his katanas, even a dagger or throwing knives. Something, anything. He despised being unarmed, he hadn’t been in years, not since before he joined the army. It was like bad luck, which was ridiculous, the concept of luck was delusional. He had always had a weapon on him, the last time he hadn’t, he’d almost been killed.

Ethan could spot couples with babies, toddlers clinging to their parent’s legs, elders in some weird combination of Roman robes and modern clothes. Demigods and legacies. Legacies, the concept had perplexed Ethan from the first time he met one, usually children of other demigods. Which implied that their parent had lived long enough to have a child. At Camp Half-Blood, and even in the army, most of them were teens. He could count the amount of people over twenty in the army on two hands. He couldn’t help but feel envious of the Romans, it was an accomplishment for Greek demigods to survive long enough to graduate high school, and if they did, they stayed on as counselors – like Luke or Lee – or they left to live as best they could in the mortal world.

At the end of the crowd, he could see Tyson and Mrs. O’Leary, the first scouting party to reach Camp Jupiter. Tyson waved at them, grinning, he wore an SPQR banner like a giant bib. It’d taken time for Ethan to get used to the friendly cyclopes thing, he’d ran into one too many not friendly cyclopes during his time rogue.

The legionnaires split, making way for a girl in full armour. He recognized her almost immediately, Reyna Ramírez-Arellano, a daughter of Bellona, and a praetor. He’d run into her a few times when their armies fought, he’d even fought her once. Even without his prior knowledge, it was glaringly obvious she was the leader, the way she carried herself was a dead give away. Plus, being one of the Titan Lords right hand men gives one an aura of power; demigods, occasionally some monsters, reacted to him the way the Romans reacted to Reyna.

Despite the confidence coming off her in waves, he could see the hard set of her mouth and the deliberate way she raised her chin. A forced look of courage, he could see the mixture of hopefulness and worry and fear that she tried to hide. He knew that expression. He’d seen it everyday for years. On his own face, on Silena’s, on Alabasters, on Luke’s.

Ethan found himself on Annabeth’s left while the other three found places on her right. Reyna considered Annabeth, pointedly avoiding doing the same with Ethan. Most of the Romans were murmuring about Jason, but he caught a several words about himself, and a couple about Alabaster.

After a moment, Percy appeared at Reyna’s side. He didn’t look much different, maybe taller. But he spotted Ethan and offered a lopsided grin before his eyes settled on Annabeth.

Reyna straightened, sparing an annoyed glance at Ethan before turning to Jason. “Jason Grace, my former colleague…” She spoke the word colleague like it was a dangerous thing. “I welcome you home. And these, your…” Her nose scrunched and her eyes darted to Ethan for a beat. “friends–”

Ethan stumbled back as Annabeth surged forwards, Percy doing the same almost immediately after. Had the situation been any different, he would’ve rolled his eye. But he’d seen the way Percys disappearance had affected her, and he was glad to see her happy, even if it was only for a few moments.

Piper shot him a confused look, but he only shrugged and smiled. He felt a pang of jealousy in his chest as he watched them. It wasn’t that he wasn’t happy for them, he was, it just reminded him of his own sad love life. He missed that affection, he hadn’t thought he would, but gods did he ever.

“Gods, I never thought-” Percy started once they pulled away from each other.

But Annabeth had other plans. Planting her hands on his chest, she shoved him backwards, he nearly fell back onto the concrete, but he managed to steady himself.

“If you ever leave me again,” She threatened, “I swear to all the gods–”

Percy laughed. “Consider me warned,” Percy said. “I missed you, too.” Annabeth huffed quietly, letting him pull her into a hug.

Jason cleared his throat. “So, yeah.…It’s good to be back.”

That drew the attention back to him. He introduced Reyna to Piper, who looked a little miffed that she hadn’t gotten to say the lines she’d been practicing, then to Leo, who grinned and flashed a peace sign.

“That’s Annabeth,” Jason said. “Uh, normally she doesn’t normally shove people around.”

Reyna’s eyes sparkled. “You sure you’re not a Roman, Annabeth? Or an Amazon?”

Was that a compliment?

Annabeth held out her hand. “I only deal with my boyfriend like that,” she promised. “Pleased to meet you.” Reyna clasped her hand firmly before turning to Ethan.

He held a hand up to wave awkwardly. “Praetor.”

“Lieutenant.” She muttered in response, looking like she wished she had a weapon on her person. She turned to Annabeth, crossing her arms. “As much as I’d like to believe you come to my camp with good intentions, it is hard to believe when you bring along Saturn’s lieutenant.”

Percy stepped over, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Okay, Ethans on our side, he helped us in the war.”

The daughter of Bellona narrowed her eyes at him, looking over at Ethan before sighing. “Fine. If Percy trusts you, I suppose I can give you a chance to prove you’re trustworthy.”

The son of Poseidon grinned, stepping over to Ethan, punching his shoulder gently. “Good to see you, man.”

He offered a half-hearted grin. “Good to see you too.”

Reyna clasped her hands together. “It seems we have a lot to discuss. Centurions!”

The centurions rushed forward, two Ethan didn’t recognize taking spots at Percys sides, a boy who was about fifteen with a buzzcut and a girl who was about fourteen with curly hair. He could tell they were felt close to Percy from their body language, standing next to him almost protectively. He glanced between the two of them, if he had to guess he’d say they were dating, likely not for long. He did notice how the girl kept glancing towards Leo and Piper, as if she’d recognized one of them and wasn’t happy about it.

He turned back to Reyna who was giving orders to her officers. “…tell the legion to stand down. Dakota, alert the spirits in the kitchen. Tell them to prepare a welcome feast. And Octavian-”

“You’re letting these intruders into the camp?” He recognized the voice, the augur, Octavian. Ethan never caught his last name amongst his shouting at the children of Apollo in their ranks. “Reyna, the security risks and– and him!” He gestured wildly at Ethan. “You wouldn’t seriously allow one of Saturn’s right hand men into camp! Have you forgotten how much trouble he and that son of Trivia caused!?”

“We’re not taking them to the camp, Octavian.” Reyna flashed him a stern look. “We’ll eat here, in the forum.” She looked over at Ethan again. “And if the son of Invidia steps out of line, he will be punished.”

“Woah hold on-“ Percy held his hands up, but Octavian spoke before he could continue.

“Oh, much better. You want us to relax in the shadow of their warship with Saturn’s lieutenant.” He grumbled.

Ethans eye twitched. He wished they’d stop calling him Saturn’s lieutenant as if he still was.

“These are our guests.” Reyna clipped off every word. “We will welcome them, and we will talk to them. Invidia’s son has given us no further reason to distrust him, he will be given a chance. As augur, you should burn an offering to thank the gods for bringing Jason back to us safely.”

“Good idea,” Percy put in. “Go burn your bears, Octavian.”

Reyna looked like she was trying not to smile at his words. “You have my orders. Go.”

With that, the centurions dispersed with their legionnaires. Octavian turned to Ethan with a look of pure hatred before turning it on Percy, then he gave the rest of the crew a suspicious once-over and left.

“Don’t worry about Octavian.” Percy assured, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her against his side, kissing her temple. “Most of the Romans are good people, like Frank and Hazel here. Or Reyna. We’ll be fine.”

When she looked up at the ship, Ethan wondered if Annabeth was considering the logistics of taking Percy up and just leaving. Whatever she was thinking, she seemed to drop it as she turned to Percy with a small smile. “We’ll be fine.”

“Excellent,” Reyna said. She gave him a wary look before turning to Jason. “Let’s talk, and we can have a proper reunion.”

Sets of couches and low tables were carted into the forum until it resembled a furniture showroom, Romans lounged in groups of ten or twenty, talking and laughing while aurae swirled overhead, bringing an endless assortment of pizzas, sandwiches, chips, cold drinks, and fresh-baked cookies. Lares drifted through the crowd in togas and legionnaire armor. Around the edges of the feast fauns trotted from table to table, panhandling for food and spare change.

In the nearby fields, the war elephant frolicked with Mrs. O’Leary and children played tag around the statues of Terminus that lined the city limits, reminding him of the young demigods in the army, the few times they got to be children. It made him smile that these children had that chance.

Reyna and her centurions, including Octavian, freshly back from burning a teddy bear for the gods, sat with the crew. Percy joined them with his two new friends, Frank Zhang, and Hazel Levesque.

As a tornado of food platters settled onto the table, Percy leaned to Annabeth and whispered something. Whatever it was, Annabeth looked sick for a moment but only nodded and gave a response he couldn’t hear. Percy seemed to be in the middle of speaking when Reyna called a toast to friendship.

Ethan had spotted several legionnaires that had been in the army, though the only confirmation he received that the recognition was mutual was a small nod or a vague smile. Not that he was too surprised, some of them hadn’t been apart of the legion before the war, and it was likely that the Romans had no idea they fought for Kronos. Which was safer for them, the Romans weren’t as merciful to traitors as the Greeks were.

Once everyone had been introduced, the questers began trading stories. Jason was in the middle of telling them how he’d arrived at camp without his memories, going on a quest with Piper and Leo to free Hera from her imprisonment at the Wolf House when Octavian cut in.

“Impossible!” Octavian broke in. “That’s our most sacred place. If the giants had imprisoned a goddess there-”

“They would’ve destroyed her and blamed it on us to start a war between the camps. We’re aware.” Ethan drawled.

Piper nodded. “Now, be quiet and let Jason finish.”

Octavian opened his mouth to protest, but he was silent, gods did Ethan ever love charmspeak. In the corner of his eye, he noticed Reyna looking between Jason and Piper as if she were just beginning to realize the two were a couple.

Not that he could really blame her, the two of them had seemed close whenever he saw them on a battlefield. Colleague wasn’t the right word, considering they were practically attached at the hip, and friend seemed too light considering how they interacted which wasn’t far off from how he and Alabaster interacted. He’d honestly thought Jason was with Reyna.

“So,” Jason continued, “that’s how we found out about the earth goddess Gaea. She’s still half asleep, but she’s the one freeing the monsters from Tartarus and raising the giants. Porphyrion, the big leader dude we fought at the Wolf House: he said he was retreating to the ancient lands, Greece itself. He plans on awakening Gaea and destroying the gods by…what did he call it? Pulling up their roots.”

Percy nodded thoughtfully. “Gaea’s been busy over here, too. We had our own encounter with Queen Dirt Face.”

With that, he launched into his own recounting, talking about waking up at the Wolf House with no memories except for one name – Annabeth. Ethan pretended not to notice the way she looked close to tears after that, instead resting a hand on her shoulder. He told them how he’d traveled to Alaska with Frank and Hazel and how they’d defeated the giant Alcyoneus, freed Thanatos, and returned with the lost golden eagle standard of the Roman camp to repel an attack by the giants’ army.

When Percy had finished, Jason whistled appreciatively. “No wonder they made you praetor.”

Octavian snorted. “Which means we now have three praetors! The rules clearly state we can only have two!”

“On the bright side,” Percy said, “both Jason and I outrank you, Octavian. So, we can both tell you to shut up.”

Ethan snorted; Percy smirked at him while Octavian turned as purple as his shirt. Jason gave Percy a fist bump and even Reyna managed a smile, though her eyes were stormy.

“We’ll have to figure out the extra praetor problem later,” she said. “Right now, we have more serious issues to deal with.”

“I’ll step aside for Jason,” Percy said easily. “It’s no biggie.”

“No biggie?” Octavian choked. “The praetorship of Rome is no biggie?”

Percy ignored him and turned to Jason. “You’re Thalia Grace’s brother, huh? Wow. You guys look nothing alike.”

“Yeah, I noticed,” Jason said. “Anyway, thanks for helping my camp while I was gone. You did an awesome job.”

“Back at you,” Percy said. He jolted, as if he’d been kicked and gave Annabeth a pouting look.

“We should talk about the Great Prophecy. It sounds like the Romans are aware of it too?” Annabeth asked.

Reyna nodded. “We call it the Prophecy of Nine. Octavian, you have it committed to memory?”

“Of course,” he said. “But Reyna–”

“Recite it, please. In English, not Latin.”

Octavian sighed. “Nine half-bloods shall answer the call. To storm or fire, the worlds must fall. The redeemed and the rebel unite; amends made for screams in the night.”

“An oath to keep with a final breath, and foes bear arms to the Doors of Death.” Annabeth finished. In an instant, all eyes were on her, except Leo, who had, for whatever reason, constructed a pinwheel out of aluminum foil taco wrappers and was sticking it into passing wind spirits.

She looked about ready to sink into her chair, shooting a vaguely panicked look towards Ethan as if she hadn’t meant to speak. Before he could ask her anything, Frank leaned forward.

“Is it true you’re a child of Min–I mean, Athena?”

“Yes,” she said, her voice had an edge. “Why is that such a surprise?”

Octavian scoffed. “If you’re truly a child of the wisdom goddess–”

Ethan pursed his lips, he’d heard these sorts of things before, from Octavian. About Alabaster.

“Enough,” Reyna snapped. “Annabeth is what she says, and this wouldn’t be the first case we’ve seen of those goddesses having children. She’s here in peace. Besides…” she gave Annabeth a look of grudging respect. “Percy has spoken highly of you.”

The undertones in Reyna’s voice were unfamiliar to Ethan, but when Percy looked down, suddenly interested in his cheeseburger, he realized; Reyna had tried to make a move on Percy. That explained the tinge of bitterness, maybe even envy, in her words. Annabeth seemed to come to the same conclusion as her face flushed, she glanced towards Ethan before looking at Percy with a fond look in her eyes.

“Uh, thanks,” she told Reyna. “At any rate, some of the prophecy is becoming clear. Foes bearing arms to the Doors of Death…that means Romans and Greeks. We must combine forces to find those doors.”

Hazel picked up something next to her plate. It looked like a large ruby; but before Ethan could be sure, Hazel slipped it into the pocket of her denim shirt. “My brother, Nico, went looking for the doors,” she said.

“Wait,” Annabeth said. “Nico di Angelo? He’s your brother?” Well, that explained the ruby. Hazel nodded and Annabeth shook her head. “Okay. You were saying?”

“He disappeared.” Hazel moistened her lips. “I’m afraid…I’m not sure, but I think something’s happened to him.”

“We’ll look for him,” Percy promised. “We’ve gotta find the Doors of Death anyway. Thanatos told us we’d find both answers in Rome – like, the original Rome. That’s on the way to Greece, right?”

“Thanatos told you this?” Annabeth looked like she was trying to wrap her mind around that idea. “The death god?”

Ethan recalled meeting Thanatos once, it’d been when he was visiting Hecate’s area of the Underworld and Thanatos had paid the goddess a visit. He also recalled his children from the army.

Percy took a bite of his burger. “Now that Death is free, monsters will disintegrate and return to Tartarus again like they used to. But as long as the Doors of Death are open, they’ll just keep coming back.”

“Like water leaking through a dam,” Annabeth suggested.

“Yeah.” Percy smiled. “We’ve got a dam hole.”

Ethan frowned, giving him a weird look. “What?”

“Nothing,” he said, waving his hand. “Inside joke. The point is we’ll have to find the doors and close them before we can head to Greece. It’s the only way we’ll stand a chance of defeating the giants and making sure they stay defeated.”

Reyna plucked an apple from a passing fruit tray. She turned it in her fingers, studying the dark red surface. “You propose an expedition to Greece in your warship. You do realize that the ancient lands – and the Mare Nostrum – are dangerous?”

“Mary who?” Leo asked.

“Mare Nostrum,” Jason explained. “Our Sea. It’s what the Ancient Romans called the Mediterranean.”

Reyna nodded. “The territory that was once the Roman Empire is not only the birthplace of the gods. It’s also the ancestral home of the monsters, Titans, and giants…and worse things. As dangerous as travel is for demigods here in America, there it would be ten times worse.”

“You said Alaska would be bad,” Percy reminded her. “We survived that.”

Reyna shook her head. Her fingernails cut little crescents into the apple as she turned it. “Percy, traveling in the Mediterranean is a different level of danger altogether. It’s been off limits to Roman demigods for centuries. No hero in his right mind would go there.”

“Then we’re good!” Leo grinned over the top of his pinwheel; Ethan rolled his eye. “Because we’re all crazy, right? Besides, the Argo II is a top of-the-line warship. She’ll get us through.”

“We’ll have to hurry,” Jason added. “I don’t know exactly what the giants are planning, but Gaea is growing more conscious all the time. She’s invading dreams, appearing in weird places, summoning more and more powerful monsters. We must stop the giants before they can wake her up fully.” Ethan scowled, recalling his own nightmares.

“Nine half-bloods must answer the call,” Annabeth stated. “It needs to be a mix from both our camps. Me, Piper, Jason, and Leo.”

“And me, Hazel and Frank.” Percy said, glancing at Ethan. “Ethan is referred to directly, right? The redeemed.” He nodded. “Then that’s eight.”

Before anyone could ask about the final half-blood, Octavian shot to his feet. “What?” Ethan sighed quietly. “We’re just supposed to accept that. Without a vote in the senate? Without a proper debate? Without-”

“Percy!” Tyson the Cyclops bounded toward them with Mrs. O’Leary at his heels. On the hellhound’s back sat the skinniest harpy Ethan had ever seen – a sickly-looking girl with stringy red hair, a sackcloth dress, and red-feathered wings.

Tyson stopped by their couch and wrung his meaty hands. His big brown eye was full of concern. “Ella is scared,” he said.

“N-n-no more boats,” the harpy muttered to herself, picking furiously at her feathers. “Titanic, Lusitania, Pax…boats are not for harpies.”

Leo squinted. He looked at Hazel, who was seated next to him. “Did that chicken girl just compare my ship to the Titanic?”

“She’s not a chicken.” Hazel averted her eyes, as if Leo made her nervous. “Ella’s a harpy. She’s just a little…high-strung.”

“Ella is pretty,” Tyson said. “And scared. We need to take her away, but she will not go on the ship.”

“No ships,” Ella repeated. She looked straight at Annabeth. “Bad luck. There she is. Wisdom’s daughter walks alone-”

Ethan’s eye snapped over to the daughter of Athena who looked alarmed.

“Ella!” Frank stood suddenly. “Maybe it’s not the best time–”

“The Mark of Athena burns through Rome,” Ella continued, cupping her hands over her ears, and raising her voice. “Twins snuff out the angel’s breath, who holds the key to endless death. Giants’ bane stands gold and pale, Won through pain from a woven jail.”

Everyone stared at the harpy. No one spoke; the silence was almost deafening.

Percy was the first to recover. He stood and took Tyson’s arm.

“I know!” he said with feigned enthusiasm. “How about you take Ella to get some fresh air? You and Mrs. O’Leary-”

“Hold on.” Octavian gripped one of his teddy bears, strangling it with shaking hands. His eyes fixed on Ella. “What was that she said? It sounded like-”

“Ella reads a lot,” Frank blurted out. “We found her at a library.”

“Yes!” Hazel said. “Probably just something she read in a book.”

“Books,” Ella muttered helpfully. “Ella likes books.”

She was more relaxed, having said her piece, sitting cross-legged on the hellhounds back and preening her wings. Ethan looked to Percy and his Roman friends who were obviously hiding something. Just as obviously, Ella had recited a prophecy concerning Annabeth. He’d never seen a harpy like her. Percy’s shoot a look between him and Annabeth that said help.

“That was a prophecy,” Octavian insisted. “It sounded like a prophecy.” No one answered.

Percy’s face was enough to clue him in that whatever was happening, was something that could cause big trouble. After a moment, Ethan snorted, bringing a hand up to fix his eyepatch. “Really? I didn’t realize how different your harpies must be, ours well…they only have enough brain capacity to clean the cabins and cook lunches.” His eye flickered to Annabeth. “Right, Beth?” Her eyes widened but she nodded. “Is it normal for yours to recite prophecies? Are they consulted for auguries?”

His words did what he’d intended, the Romans glancing between each other, some laughing nervously, others sized Ella up. But eventually they seemed to conclude that a harpy issuing a prophecy was ridiculous. Even coming from someone they saw as an enemy.

“I, uh…” Octavian dropped his teddy bear. “No, but–”

“She’s just spouting lines from some book,” Annabeth added, “like Hazel suggested. Besides, we already have a real prophecy to worry about.” She turned to Tyson. “Percy’s right. Why don’t you take Ella and Mrs. O’Leary and shadow-travel somewhere for a while. Is Ella okay with that?”

“Large dogs are good,” Ella said. “Old Yeller, 1957, screenplay by Fred Gipson and William Tunberg.”

Ethan had no idea that meant, but Percy smiled like the problem was solved. “Great!” He said. “We’ll Iris-message you guys when we’re done and catch up with you later.”

The Romans looked at Reyna, waiting for her ruling. Annabeth shifted anxiously on her feet beside him, and he bit his tongue.

The praetor had an excellent poker face, but, while she studied Ella, Ethan could tell she didn’t truly believe the lie they’d spouted. However, she sighed. “Fine, go.”

“Yay!” Tyson went around the couches and gave everyone a big hug, including Octavian, who didn’t look happy about it, before climbing on Mrs. O’Leary’s back with Ella. The hellhound then bounded out of the forum diving straight into a shadow on the Senate House wall and disappeared.

“Well.” Reyna set down her uneaten apple. “Octavian is right about one thing. We must gain the senate’s approval before we let any of our legionnaires go on a quest – especially one as dangerous as you’re suggesting.”

“This whole thing smells of treachery,” Octavian grumbled. “That trireme is not a ship of peace! Their crew-”

“Come aboard, man,” Leo offered. “I’ll give you a tour. You can steer the boat, and if you’re good I’ll give you a little paper captain’s hat to wear.”

Octavian’s nostrils flared. “How dare you-”

“It’s a good idea,” Reyna said. “Octavian, go with him. See the ship. We’ll convene a senate meeting in one hour.”

“But…” Octavian stopped. Reyna shot him a look, which told even Ethan further arguing would not be good for his health. “Fine.”

When Leo got up, he turned to them, and his smile changed. It happened so quickly, he thought he’d imagined it; but just for a moment someone else seemed to be standing in Leo’s place, smiling coldly with a cruel light in his eyes, for a second, he thought he saw those familiar golden eyes staring at him. Like he was standing in the cold, dark halls of Mount Othrys, frozen in place while the titan lord paced in front of him.

But, when he blinked, he was just regular old Leo again, with his usual impish grin. He shook his head; he was probably just imagining things again.

“Back soon,” he promised. “This is gonna be epic.”

Imagining things or not, a sense of unease settled over Ethan, watching Leo and Octavian head to the rope ladder. Something about it seemed uncomfortably familiar, he felt like was back on the Andromeda, walking the halls, unaware of the impending explosion, the same feeling in the pit of his stomach like something bad, really bad, was about to happen.

“Uh, Reyna,” Jason said, “if you don’t mind, I’d like to show Piper around before the senate meeting. She’s never seen New Rome.”

Reyna’s expression hardened. Vaguely, he wondered how dense Jason was.

“Of course,” Reyna said coldly.

Percy took Annabeth’s hand. “Yeah, me, too. I’d like to show Annabeth–”

“No,” Reyna snapped.

Ethan stepped back, quirking an eyebrow at the praetor. “Sorry?” Percy asked, sounding taken aback.

“I’d like a few words with Annabeth,” Reyna said. “Alone. If you don’t mind, my fellow praetor.” Her tone made it clear she wasn’t really asking permission. “How about you catch up with…” She narrowed her eyes at Ethan, as if trying to come up with something to call him other then Saturn’s lieutenant. “Him.” She settled on, rising from her seat. “Come, daughter of Athena. Walk with me.”

Ethan watched as the two walked off before turning to Percy who frowned as he stood up. “That was weird, huh?”

Ethan snorted. “No shit, man. It’s good to see you. You look good.”

Percy grinned, bumping their shoulders. “Thanks dude, so do you. Doing good with your fancy counselor position?”

“Don’t you know it.” Ethan smiled, punching his arm.

Percy gestured for Ethan to follow him and started walking. “So, there’s only eight of us, right?” The son of Nemesis nodded. “Do you have the ninth on the ship?” He asked hopefully.

“No, we don’t even know who it is.”

Percy frowned, knitting his eyebrows together. “Was there anyone in the Titan Army that could qualify as a rebel?”

“Several.” Ethan responded. “Some officially banished by the Olympians and some who’ve just sworn to never return to them.”

He nodded even as his eyebrows knit together – Did Percy not know the Olympians banished demigods? “I think for now, we should stick to the uh…officially banished. Do you have a list of those?”

Ethan sighed quietly. “I can think of a few off the top of my head, but I don’t know how many are alive, much less where they are. Most of them aren’t even allowed to contact campers.”

Percy scowled. “Seriously?”

Ethan nodded. “They didn’t want them to ‘corrupt’ their siblings.” He explained, the son of Poseidon just seemed even more annoyed.

“Well, where can we start?”

“Dolos Benson and Saxon Medina, son and daughter of Hermes.” He waved his hand. “They’re not cut off from camp, they talk to Chris and Cecil sometimes. But they’re not allowed in New York.”

Percy nodded slowly, pondering for a moment as they walked. “Anyone else?”

Ethan nodded. “There’s Amara Mack, she’s a daughter of Eros.”

Percy faltered. “Eros? He has demigod children?”

“What you thought the other minor gods didn’t have demigods?” He smirked a little. “Kronos’s army was mismatched, children of the Olympians, children of the minor gods and goddesses, Romans too, I actually know a few of your legionnaires from the army.”

Percy narrowed his eyes. “Yeah, you knew about Camp Jupiter?”

He sighed, running a hand through his hair. “I did, but I couldn’t say anything even if I wanted to. The Olympians would’ve had my head or something I don’t know.”

“What..”

“Don’t think about it too hard.” Ethan responded, forcing a grin onto his face. “Anyways, there is…one last person I can think of.”

Percy blinked, shaking his head, shooting a look at him that said he wasn’t going to drop this conversation so fast, and they’d talk about it later. “Okay, who’s that?”

“Alabaster Torrington, he…uh..” He sighed quietly, twisting the ring on his finger.

“A friend of yours?”

He almost laughed. Friend isn’t exactly the way he’d describe his relationship with Alabaster. “We hung out a lot when we were campers, we left together, and he saved my ass a lot throughout the war.”

Percy nodded. “Right, so, who is he?”

“Son of Hecate, he was high ranking in the army like I was, the general. He led the demigods into battle and took charge planning most of the attacks. He was completely cut off from camp if I remember correctly, I haven’t seen him since the war ended, one of the other rogues mentioned she hadn’t heard from him since October the last time I talked to her.”

“Do you think it could be him?”

Ethan cringed. If he was being honest, he didn’t think it was Alabaster. He knew it was. “Realistically, it could be any of them. But, even so, I don’t know where any of them are, and I doubt its out here. I don’t even know who’s alive or not, and I don’t know how willing they’d be to help, they don’t really like either camp, or the gods.”

Percy scowled. “The camps and the gods aren’t the only things at risk.”

“I know that, I don’t know if they do. I don’t know if they’d believe you if you told them.”

“What if you told them?”

“Theoretically, yes. Realistically…I don’t know how credible I am to them anymore.”

“What does that mean?”

“Means I went back to the Olympians, and they probably won’t like that.”

Percy frowned. “Seriously?”

“Loyalty is a big thing with a lot of them, we…” He shrugged, but before he could continue he heard a mechanical whirring noise.

“What was that?”

“Uh..no idea…Leo’s probably showing Octavian-“

A shrill sound pierced the air. Light flashed and Ethan dragged Percy to the ground as a burning couch flew over them.

“Ethan what the hell!?” He yelled as other half-bloods around them began to panic.

He cursed when he reached for his swords, coming up with nothing before realizing he left them on the ship.

“What is that kid doing?” Percy snapped. Ethan wasn’t sure if he was talking about Leo or Octavian, but he didn’t get the chance to question it before Hazel and Frank appeared. They regarded Ethan with an air of caution but before either could say anything, the Argo II fired again.

A flaming spear sailed from it’s port ballista and straight through the broken dome of the Senate House, exploding inside. He was glad nobody was inside, he wasn’t exactly excited to see more bodies burnt by Greek fire.

“We have to get up there!” Ethan shouted over the arguing half-bloods around them.

“We have to get somewhere safe first!” Percy responded.

When a plate crashed to the ground beside his foot, Ethan realized he was both thankful and annoyed that weapons weren’t allowed in the city. The Romans didn’t have weapons, but they had coalesced into an angry mob, throwing plates, food and rocks at the Argo II. Which, was pointless, considering most of it bounced off the hull and fell back to the crowd.

He could vaguely hear Piper shouting, and it took him a moment to locate her and Jason surrounded by legionnaires. The daughter of Aphrodite’s charmspeak was useless against the mob of angry demigods, and he doubted his powers would do much either. Jason’s forehead was bleeding; his purple cloak ripped to shreds.

He kept pleading that he was on their side, but his orange Camp Half-Blood shirt didn’t help, nor did the warship firing flaming spears into the city.

Percy hopped into a fountain, the other three following after quickly. Ethan desperately wished he had any weapon; he’d settle for Wyns bow right now if it meant he could fight back and not count on Percy for protection. He heard Percy curse and turned to see what had caught his attention, which, he regretted as he spotted the armed legionnaires hurrying towards them, artillery crews set up catapults just outside the Pomerian Line, preparing to fire at the Argo II.

Of course, if all of that wasn’t enough, there were hundreds of lares drifting through the crowds, passing through half-bloods while wailing incoherently, the fauns were taking advantage of the chaos, swarming dining tables grabbing food or plates, and he could vaguely hear Terminus screaming at them in Latin, he could only make out a few words, having remembered some of the army members talking in the language.

Another explosion, the flash directly above him as one of the Roman catapults fired, hitting the Argo II and sending it groaning as it tilted sideways, flames bubbling along the bronze-plated hull. He spotted a figure on the ladder, Octavian he realized, clinging to the rope as he tried to climb down, his robes steaming and face covered in soot.

More water began blasting the mob and Ethan caught movement in the corner of his eye. “Beth!” He yelled as Annabeth approached. “What the hell is going on?!”

The daughter of Athena seemed panicked, but unhurt. “I don’t know!” She responded, her eyes darting across them like she was searching for injuries.

“I’ll tell you what!” Octavian cried from above them as he reached the bottom of the ladder. “The Greeks have fired on us! Your boy Leo has trained his weapons on Rome!”

Ethans heart rate picked up. Leo had done this? Had he not been imagining things? Had he really seen something? He thought the titan was gone.

“You’re lying!” Annabeth snapped. “Leo would never-“

“I was just there!” Octavian shrieked in response. “I saw it with my own eyes!”

Just then, the ship returned fire, sending the legionnaires scattering as a catapult was reduced to splinters.

“You see?!” Octavian shouted. “Romans, kill the invaders!”

It made him want to scream; they didn’t have time for anyone to figure out the truth. Their crew was outnumbered, and had Octavian been the culprit of this mess, it would be impossible to convince them of that before they were killed. His powers were useless, calming attackers for a moment or two before they were right back to their anger. They had to get out, but they’d never make it to the ship like this.

Annabeth turned to Percy with a serious look. “We have to leave. Now.”

He nodded, expression grim, as if he expected her words. “Hazel, Frank, you’ve got to make a choice, are you coming?”

The girl looked terrified, but she donned her cavalry helmet. “Of course we are.”

“We’ll never make it to the ship,” Ethan pointed out and Annabeth cringed. “there’s too many people.”

“Unless,” Hazel sighed, looking to Frank. “we buy you some time.”

“How do you plan on doing that?” He asked, narrowly dodging another plate.

Hazel smiled, whistling. Instantly, a blur of beige shot across the forum, materializing into a majestic horse beside them. The mob scattered as he reared before allowing Hazel to climb his back. The horse had a cavalry sword strapped to its saddle, and Hazel unsheathed the blade.

“Send me an Iris-message when you’re safely away, and we’ll rendezvous. Arion, ride!” With that, the horse zipped through the crowd at a speed he hadn’t even seen from the Hermes kids. Well, maybe they did have a chance of making it out of here alive.

But, of course, the second he finished that thought, he heard Jason shouting, which drew his attention to the son of Jupiter in time to see him get hit by a brick and crumple to the ground causing the crowd to surge forward.

Piper screamed, her charmspeak rolling over the mob. Ethan could see that glassy look in their eyes as their minds processed the magic, but he knew it wouldn’t last, none of them would be able to reach her in time to help them.

“Frank, it’s up to you.” Percy said. “Can you help them?”

He wasn’t sure what made Frank different from them in being able to get there, glancing between their position and Piper, there was no way they’d be able to get there.

“Okay,” Frank murmured, “sure. Just get up the ropes. Now.”

Percy and Annabeth lunged for the ladder, Ethan followed close behind after a moment of hesitation. He watched as Percy pulled Octavian from the ladder, throwing him into the mob. Legionnaires began to flood the forum as arrows whistled past Ethans head, reminding him of the war, back on the bridge under fire from the Apollo cabin. Annabeth was almost knocked off the ladder by an explosion, but she managed to stabilize herself.

When they were about half way up the ladder, he heard a roar and looked down to see Romans screaming and scattering as a dragon charged the forum. It had rough gray skin and leathery bat wings, arrows and rocks bounced off it harmlessly as it grabbed Piper and Jason, vaulting into the air.

“What is that?” Ethan hissed.

“Frank.” Percy responded. “He has a few special talents.”

“Understatement.”

“Keep climbing!” Annabeth snapped.

He saw the row of broken aerial oars as the climbed up onto the deck, which wasn’t in a better state. The rigging on fire, foresail ripped, and the ship was listing to starboard. He couldn’t find Hedge, but he spotted Leo calmly reloading the ballista.

Something was off about his movements, it wasn’t like Kronos, it was too mechanical, as if it was unfamiliar with the body.

“Leo!” Ethan yelled, but he knew that this wasn’t Leo, it was something else in his body, controlling his actions.

“Destroy them…” His voice was droning as he faced them. His eyes were glazed, shining golden in the light. “Destroy them all.”

He turned back to the ballista, but Ethan lunched forward, grabbing his arm and yanking him back, pulling them both to the deck. He barely managed to stop his head from hitting the deck. The dragon circled around the ship before landing, depositing Jason and Piper who promptly collapsed.

“Go! Get us out of here!” Percy called to Annabeth.

She looked shocked for a moment, before registering that Percy was speaking to her, shaking her head and running for the helm. She’d faltered for a moment, which, he couldn’t fault her for, he couldn’t understand the controls of this ship at all, before she grabbed the aviation throttle, yanking it straight up sending the ship groaning and tilting to a horrifying angle, then the mooring lines snapped they shot up into the clouds.

Chapter Text

“One more time,” Annabeth said. “Exactly what happened?”

Leo slumped against the mast, staring at the shambles around them. The crossbows had been turned to piles of kindling, the foresail in tatters, Festus was coughing up smoke, several of the aerial oars were damaged or had fallen off, and, to Hedges annoyance, the satellite array that powered the TV and internet had been blown to bits.

When he spoke, his voice was weak and the kid looked close to tears. “I don’t know. It’s fuzzy.”

Ethan couldn’t help but feel a little bad for him, he knew how threatening Annabeth was, and she was currently glowering at him, plus, Hedge had his baseball bat, because he always had to have the thing, and Frank was towering over him.

From most of his interactions with the son of Hephaestus, he knew the kid wasn’t good with confrontation, and he was trying to calm the crew with – as Chris liked to put it – his freaky emotional manipulation powers. While Chris always liked to dramatize powers, but he wasn’t exactly wrong, they were emotional manipulation powers.

Annabeth sighed, crossing her arms. “What do you mean, you don’t remember?”

“I…” His voice caught in his throat. “Well…I remember, but it’s like I was watching myself. I couldn’t control it, I wasn’t in my body.”

Hedge tapped his bat against the deck, with his gym clothes, he looked like he had when he’d posed as Ethans teacher a few years back, and the look on his face, he wondered if the old satyr was about to order Leo to do push-ups or something.

“Look, kid,” he said, “you blew up some stuff, you attacked some Romans. Awesome! Excellent! But did you have to knock out the satellite channels? I was right in the middle of watching a cage match.”

Ethan sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Hedge.” He muttered as Annabeth turned to face the satyr with an exasperated look. “How about you go back sure all the fires are out.”

“But I already did that.”

“Double check.” Annabeth told him.

He muttered under his breath as he trudged off, because as annoyed as he may be, he wasn’t crazy enough to defy Annabeth. Though, she sighed, kneeling beside the son of Hephaestus. “Leo,” Her voice was calm, like she was talking to one of her little siblings. “did Octavian trick you somehow? Did he frame you, or-“

“No.” Ethan could tell, as much as Leo didn’t like the fact, that it was true. “That guy was a jerk, but it wasn’t him who fired on the camp, it was me.”

Frank scowled, crossing his arms. “On purpose?”

“No!” Leo hissed, squeezing his eyes shut. “Well…yes- I mean, I didn’t want to, but I felt like I wanted to. It was…something was making me do it. There was this cold feeling-“

“A cold feeling.” Annabeth muttered, she sounded scared.

Ethan shifted, eyeing Annabeth curiously. Had she seen what he had as well?

“Yeah…why?” Leo asked.

But, before she could answer him, Percy called for her help belowdecks. As soon as they’d gotten on board, Piper had taken Jason to the medbay. The cut on his head looked pretty bad, and for Leos sake, Ethan hoped Jason would be okay. He knew first-hand how it felt to lose a friend due to your own actions, and with everything that was happening, he didn’t want Leo dealing with that.

Seeming to pick up on the look of panic flashing across his face, Annabeth’s expression softened. “He’ll be fine,” she assured softly. “and I’ll be right back. Ethan, please just…watch Leo.” He nodded.

It was silent for a few moments after she left, Leo and Frank staring at each other, Ethan was almost expecting them to start fighting or something, but, nothing happened.

Frank was the one to break the silence. “So, your name isn’t Sammy?”

Ethan frowned, raising an eyebrow at Frank, while Leo scowled. “What kind of question is that?”

“Nothing,” He said quickly, holding his hands up. “I just…never mind. About the firing on camp…Octavian he..he could be behind it, like magically or something. He didn’t want the Romans getting along with you guys.”

For a minute, Leo stared at him before sighing, shaking his head. “Look, I should talk to Festus and get a damage report.” He held a hand out to Ethan who helped him up.

Frank glanced between them, frowning. “Who’s Festus.”

“My friend,” Leo responded. “His name isn’t Sammy either, in case you’re wondering.” Ethan almost snorted, but he caught himself before he did. “Come on, I’ll introduce you.”

When they reached the bow of the ship, the figurehead turned a hundred and eighty degrees to look at them, causing Frank to yelp and jump back, to which Ethan gave him an amused look and quirked an eyebrow. “It’s alive!”

For a moment, Leo looked amused before the look of guilt took over his face again. “Yeah. Frank, this is Festus. He used to be a full bronze dragon, but we had an accident.”

“You have a lot of accidents.”

“Well, some of us can’t turn into dragons, so we build our own.” Leo murmured, arching his eyebrows. “Anyway, I revived him as a figurehead, he’s like the main interface of the ship. How are things looking, Festus?”

The dragon snorted smoke, making a series of squeaking and whirring noises that Leo could understand. He turned to Ethan with a scowl. “Uhg. It could be worse, but the hull is compromised in several places, port aerial oars have to get fixed before we can go full speed again. So, we’ll need materials for repairs, celestial bronze, tar, lime-

“What do you need limes for?” Frank asked.

Leo raised an eyebrow. “Dude, lime? Calcium carbonate, it’s used in cement and- you know what? Nevermind. The point is, the ship isn’t going far unless we fix it.”

Festus made another noise that had even Leo confused, though after a moment a look of realization crossed his eyes. “Oh…Hazel. That’s the girl with curly hair, yeah?”

Frank looked anxious. “Is she okay?”

“She’s fine, Festus says her horse is racing below, following his.”

“We have to land.” Frank insisted.

Ethan raised an eyebrow. “She your girlfriend or something?”

The boy blinked, chewing his lip. He seemed unsure as he answered, “Yes.”

“That was convincing.” Leo muttered.

“Yes, yes. She’s my girlfriend.”

The son of Hephaestus raised his hands. “Okay, fine. But we can only land once, with the condition that the hull and oars are in, we wouldn’t be able to lift off again until we repair, so we have to land somewhere we can get all the right supplies.”

Frank raised an eyebrow. “Yeah…but where can we get celestial bronze? That’s not something you can just stock up at Home Depot.”

“Festus, do a scan.”

“He can scan for magic bronze?” Frank marveled. “Is there anything he can’t do?”

Leo didn’t answer, instead peering over the ship’s bow. The Central California valley was passing below. Ethan glanced over his shoulder as the stairs creaked, Percy and Annabeth climbed up; their faces grim.

“Jason-“ Leo started but faltered when Annabeth held a hand up.

“He’ll be fine, Pipers keeping an eye on him. He’s just resting now.”

Percy narrowed his eyes. “Annabeth says you did fire the ballista?”

“Man, listen, I’m sorry I don’t-“

“Sorry?” Percy snapped, faltering when Ethan stepped forward and Annabeth put a hand on his chest.

“It wasn’t his fault, there’s something else going on.” Ethan told him, Percy didn’t seem convinced but he relaxed after a moment.

Annabeth nodded, eyeing Percy cautiously before looking to Leo. “We’ll figure everything else later, now we need a plan. What’s the situation?”

He kept his eyes on Percy, seeming anxious but eventually tore his eyes away to explain the damage to Annabeth. He’d been complaining about the lack of celestial bronze while he was telling her about the materials they’d need when Festus began squeaking and he sagged with relief.

“Perfect?”

Annabeth perked up. “I could use some perfect right now.”

Leo grinned. “Everything we’ll need is in one place.” He turned to Frank. “Why don’t you turn into a bird or something? Tell your girlfriend to meet us at the Great Salt Lake in Utah.”

–––

Ethan found himself strapped below deck in his room with different warning signals echoing through the intercom systems, he could hear Hedge stomping and shouting as well. He wasn’t quite sure what to expect when they finally landed, but it wasn’t to be lunging to catch the framed photo sitting on his nightstand when the ship listed to the side, which probably wasn’t the best idea, as he was subsequently thrown into the wall. Though, as he set the photo back on his nightstand, he found he didn’t really care.

The machinery hummed as it righted itself and the all clear bell rang throughout the ship. He dusted off his pants, fixing his eyepatch in the mirror and turning to leave the room. Frankly, all he wanted to do was sleep, but it wouldn’t be the first time, nor the last, that he’d have to postpone sleep for some sort of issue, and he found himself amused by how much he was reminded when he had to do the same on the Andromeda.

He made his way down to the mess hall, finding Percy, Annabeth and Frank already there. Leo had made the lounge as nice as he could, cupboards lined with the magic cups and plates from camp, a magical ice chest with canned drinks and cushy recliners with thousand finger massage, built-in headphones as well as sword and drink holders.

“For all your demigod kicking-back needs.” Nyssa had quoted, rolling her eyes.

There were no windows, but with Lou Ellens help, the walls had been enchanted to show real-time footage from Camp Half-Blood – the beach, the forest, the strawberry fields – and while he was glad for the familiarity, it made him wish he was back at camp. By the way Percy was staring longingly at the sunset view of Half-Blood hill, he wasn’t the only one who felt that way.

He looked over when Ethan sat down beside him, offering a small smile. “You’re okay, yeah?”

“I should be asking you that. But, with your freaky Poseidon shit, I probably don’t need to.” Percy shrugged, leaning back in his chair while Annabeth eyes Ethan with a concerned look, but he clocked Frank eyeing him as if he were some sort of threat as more important then the daughter of Athena worrying over him. “Just ask the question, Zhang.’

Frank jolted as if he hadn’t expected to be addressed, his back straightening as his eyes widened, Percy snorted as he tilted his head. “Don’t worry man, Ethan doesn’t bite.”

“Were you…really on Saturns side?”

“I was.” Ethan answered, tilting his head. “My mother didn’t have a throne on Olympus or a cabin at camp, neither did many of the deities that had helped the Olympians. They didn’t have an ounce of respect and they deserved it. That was the foundation the army started on, but when Kronos took over it changed. I will admit that I caused several issues for the Romans with my allies, but its not as if we had many choices when the immortals were valued over us. I wasn’t fighting for Kronos; I was fighting for my mother and her honour.”

A blanket of silence fell over them as all three of them processed his words, before Percy leaned against the table. “Like I said, he’s directly referred to in the prophecy. The redeemed? Is him. He bought us,” he gestured between himself and Annabeth. “some time against Kronos, and he basically saved our lives.”

Frank eyed Ethan uneasily, but ultimately decided that if Percy trusted him, he could at least learn to trust him.

“Now, about Leo,” Annabeth started, glancing at Percy who scowled in response. “Listen, he wouldn’t…do this.” She glanced over to Ethan who nodded. “There was something wrong. Something happened. Before he left, he…” She frowned.

“It was a split second but his eyes…they turned gold.” Ethan explained.

Percy’s scowl was replaced with an alarmed look as he glanced between the two of them. “Gold?”

“I don’t…whatever it was, it wasn’t Leo. I swear to you. I’ve spent a lot of time around that kid, he wouldn’t do something like this.” Annabeth nodded, fidgeting with her fingers until Percy gently took her hand.

“Okay, if you two say he wouldn’t, then I believe it. We’ll figure it out…somehow.”

Annabeth smiled softly. “Okay.”

“Right now we have bigger issues,” Ethan pointed out.

Though, before he could continue, the door opened and Leo walked in with Hazel, settling into their own seats.

“So, now that we’ve landed, whats next?” Percy asked.

“Figure out the prophecy.” Ethan mused, leaning his head against his fist. “The one your harpy friend gave us. What was up with that? Since when do harpies speak prophecies?”

“It was from the Sibylline books.” Frank answered.

“That. Does not answer my question. At all.”

Frank went on to explain how Ella was freakishly good at memorizing books and at some point in the past, she’d inhaled a collection of ancient prophecies that had supposedly been destroyed around the fall of Rome.

“That’s why you didn’t tell the Romans,” Ethan guessed. “You didn’t want them to get hold of her.”

Percy scowled as he stared at the image of camp. “She’s sensitive, she was a captive when we found her. I just didn’t want…” he clenched his jaw, Ethan got the message. “It doesn’t matter now, I told Tyson to take her to camp. They’ll be safe there.”

While he doubted that any of them would be safe now that they’d stirred up an army of angry Romans on top of their already pressing issue of Gaea and the giants, Ethan opted to keep his mouth shut.

Annabeth sighed, messing with one of her braids. “Let me think about the prophecy, right now, we have a more important matter. Leo, what do we need to fix the ship?”

He seemed glad to change the subject, nodding. “Tar would be the easiest thing, roofing supply store or something in the city. According to Festus, we can find celestial bronze and lime on an island just west of here.”

“We need to be fast.” Ethan pointed out. “Octavian is probably looking for us with his auguries, they’ll send a strike force after us.” Both Frank and Hazel narrowed their eyes at him and he sighed before elaborating. “I’ve been on the receiving end of this before.”

Hazel still seemed uneasy, but she nodded slowly. “Either way, he’s right. They’ll be on our tail. It’s a matter of honour.”

With that, everyone’s attention shifted towards Leo who seemed very interested in a wrench he’d pulled from his toolbelt. When he realized nobody was talking, he sighed. “Guys honestly, I don’t know what happened-“

Ethan rested a hand on his shoulder. “We agreed it couldn’t have been you, and I think Piper and Jason would jump at the chance to defend you as well. That cold feeling you mentioned, Annabeth and I felt it too, it was some sort of magic. Gaea or…” he frowned. “or something. But, until we know what exactly happened-“

“How can we be sure it won’t happen again?” Frank asked sharply. Ethan stared blankly at the table, feeling annoyed by the interruption but deciding not to say anything about it.

“I’m find now,” Leo told them. “But maybe we should use the buddy system; nobody goes anywhere alone. Leave Piper and Hedge here with Jason, one team goes into town for tar and another goes to the island for the bronze and lime.

“Splitting up sounds like a really bad idea.” Percy commented.

“But it’ll be quicker.” Ethan retorted.

“Besides, there’s a reason quests are usually no more or less then three demigods, right?”

Annabeths eyes sparkled a little as she regarded Hazel, a small smile on her lips. “That’s right. Nine demigods in one place will attract way too much attention from monsters, that’s why we need the ship. It’s designed to conceal and protect us, so we’ll be safe enough on board. But, if we need to go out for expeditions, it shouldn’t be in groups larger than three. Safer not to alert more of Gaeas minions than we need to.”

Percy didn’t look very happy, but he intwined his finger with Annabeths, kissing the back of her hand. “As long as you’re my buddy, I’m good.”

Hazel smiled brightly, clapping. “Oh that’s easy! Frank you were amazing turning into a dragon! You could go with Percy and Annabeth, fly them into town and get the tar?”

He opened his mouth, seeming ready to protest before his shoulders sagged. “I…guess yeah. But..what about you?”

“Sa- Leo and I can take Arion.” She said, fidgeting with the hilt of her sword when she realized her slip up. “We’ll get the bronze and lime, meet back here by sunset.”

Frank scowled, obviously not happy about Hazel going off alone with Leo, he shifted awkwardly before he leaned forward on the table. “I can go with them. Best in threes, right?”

Hazels eyes flickered to him, widening as he spoke, as if she’d forgetting he was there. “Oh. Right, of course.”

“If we get the supplies, how long will it take to fix the ship?” Annabeth asked, looking over at Leo.

“If we get lucky? A few hours.”

She sighed, messing with her hair. “Fine. We’ll meet back here as soon as possible, but stay safe. We could use some luck right about now.”

–––

As much as Hazel insisted they could make it work for three people, Ethan didn’t really want to test it out. He’d tried to say he could just shadow travel – although he wasn’t exactly good at it so he wasn’t sure it it would’ve worked out very well, but Percy opted to summon his pegasus, Blackjack, for Ethan to ride.

At first, Blackjack had been entirely uninterested in interacting with Ethan, since he’d been imprisoned on the Princess Andromeda, but once Ethan had brought him a donut after Percys disappearance, the pegasus seemed more cooperative. Even now, though, he seemed hesitant to allow the son of Nemesis to ride him, but Percy managed to convince him.

Of course, he was never fond of riding horses, much less pegasi, he never really rode them on his own, and there was always the height thing. But he managed.

Watching Arion race across the lake, emitting a salty mist. Blackjack wasn’t anywhere near as fast as Arion, but he was flying fast enough that Ethan could still see the horse. He spotted the island they were headed towards, a beach of sand so white it may have been pure table salt, behind it laid grassy dunes and weathered boulders.

Before they’d left, Percy had pulled him and Leo aside, in attempt to do them a favour, but Ethan personally thought it was more of a threat directed at Leo more then it was himself. He told them that Hazel was a daughter of Pluto, not that Ethan was surprised, and that she had died in the forties and resided in the fields of Asphodel until Nico brought her back to life a few months ago. It was clear by the way he spoke about the girl that Percy was protective of her, not that it was out of the ordinary for him.

Blackjack landed next to Hazel and Leo a few moments after Arion deposited them and took off. He hopped off the pegasus, pulling a few sugar cubes Percy had given him out of his pocket, feeding them to Blackjack who accepted them happily.

“Fast horse,” Leo commented, staring off at where Arion had run off, “and expensive to feed.”

“Not really, gold is easy for me.”

Leo blinked, frowning. “How is gold easy? Oh gods, please tell me you’re not related to King Midas-“

“Nevermind.”

Ethan eyed Hazel curiously, he had seen her with some random ruby at camp, and Pluto was the god of riches or something if he remembered correctly – he was, admittedly, rusty on the Roman deities – but, he decided to stay silent as the girl seemed uncomfortable enough.

“Well.” Leo said, staring down at his feet. “One thing down, this is lime.”

Hazel frowned, looking around them. “The entire beach?”

“Yup.” He crouched down, scooping a handful of the lime. “The granules are perfectly round, see? Not sand, it’s calcium carbonate.” He pulled out a Ziploc bag from his tool belt, beginning to shovel some of the lime into the bag.

All of a sudden, he froze and Ethan frowned, raising an eyebrow. “Everything okay?” He asked, placing a hand on the younger boys shoulder.

Leo jolted, inhaling sharply before nodding quickly. “Perfectly fine.” That wasn’t convincing, but he seemed anxious enough, so Ethan let the subject drop, he’d bring it up later.

“We should’ve brough a pail and shovels.” Hazel joked as she knelt down to help him fill the bag.

Her comment cheered him up, even pulling a smile onto his lips. “Made a sand castle?”

“A lime castle.”

Leo glanced up and their eyes locked for a second too long, making Ethan suddenly regret coming along. Though, he’d rather be here then hanging back on the ship where he wouldn’t be doing anything.

After a moment though, Hazel tore her eyes away, leaning back to sit down properly. “You are so much like-“

“Sammy?”

Hazels head snapped over to him, eyes wide. “How did you..”

“Frank asked me if I was sure that wasn’t my name, but I have no idea who Sammy is.”

She frowned. “You don’t have a twin brother or…is your family from New Orleans?”

Leo raised an eyebrow. “No, Houston. Why? Sammy some guy you knew or something?”

“I…yeah. You just look like him is all, it’s nothing forget it.”

Ethan drew one of his swords, sinking it into the ground and leaning on it to make sure nothing would sneak up Hazel and Leo as they finished filling the bag with lime. Once it was full, Leo deposited it into his tool belt, then stood and scanned the island around them.

“According to Festus there should be celestial bronze somewhere, but I’m not sure-“

Hazel pointed up the beach. “About five hundred yards that way.”

Ethan eyed her, tilting his head. “That’s oddly specific, how’d you know that?”

“Precious metals, it’s a Pluto thing.” He nodded slowly, recalling her mentioning gold was easy when he landed.

“Well ain’t that a handy talent.” Leo mused, brushing the lime off his pants. “Lead the way miss metal detector.”

The sky was painted a mix of purples and yellows as the sun began to set.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Leo asked as Hazel turned inland.

“We’re close.” She promised.

Over the dunes, Ethan spotted a woman sitting on a boulder in the middle of a grassy field. He sighed as who she was registered in his mind. Her motorcycle was parked near her, each wheels still had slices removed from them. She looked the same as she had the last time he saw her, curly black hair, bony frame, the same leather pants and boots and that same damned jacket that looked like it’d been dipped in blood or something and her whip.

Leo faltered a little as he saw her, and as much as Ethan wanted to turn around and leave, dragging the younger kids with him, he knew he couldn’t avoid this and considering Hazel was forging ahead, he didn’t have much of a choice. So, he followed.

“What are you doing?” Leo asked as the approached.

She looked up and Ethan tensed, her golden eyes bore into him just as they had the last time he saw her. He glanced over as Leo inhaled sharply, realizing both he and Hazel had twin looks of shock. He raised an eyebrow, a little confused. They’d both met gods before, what was so surprising this time? Though when Leo spoke, his question was answered.

“Aunt Rosa?”

“Is that what you see?” She asked, looking between the two, her eyes never so much as grazing over Ethan. “Interesting, very interesting. What about you, Hazel?”

The girl in question stepped back in alarm. “How did you-“ She cut herself off, shaking her head. “Mrs. Leer..you look like my third grade teacher. I hated you.”

Right, Ethan forgot about how she appeared to others.

The goddess cackled. “Excellent! You resented her, eh? She judged you unfairly?”

“You-“ Hazel caught herself. “She taped my hands to the desk, called my mother a witch, blamed me for everything I didn’t do and-“ She took a deep breath. “No. No she has to be dead, who are you?”

Leo was staring at him, as if to ask if there was something wrong with her, and he would’ve laughed if it weren’t for the goddess in front of them. For the first time, her eyes landed on him, her lips twisting into a smile as she studied the eyepatch, he worse. “You remember me, don’t you Ethan?”

He sighed, rolling his shoulders. “Of course.” He saw Hazel giving him a confused look in the corner of his eye but he kept his gaze locked with hers. “Hello, mother.”

Leo straightened. “Nemesis. You’re the goddess of revenge.”

She hummed, cracking open another cookie and wrinkling her nose as she read the fortune inside. “You will have fortune when you least expect it,” she rolled her eyes. “I hate that nonsense, someone opens a cookie and suddenly they have a prophecy that they’ll be rich!” Ethan sighed quietly, waiting for her to finish her rant and get to the point of her visit. “I blame that bitch Tyche, always dispensing good luck to people who don’t deserve it!”

Leo stared at the broken cookies around them. “Uh…those aren’t real prophecies, yeah? They’re just stuffed into the cookies-“

“Don’t try to excuse it!” She snapped, crushing another cookie in her hand. “It’s just like Tyche to get people’s hopes up. No, no. I must counter her.” She flicked a finger over the slip of paper, and he watched as the letters turned the same red as her jacket. “You will die painfully when you most expect it. There! Much better, don’t you think dear?” Ethan cringed as she turned towards him with a cruel smile, as if happy to remind him that he should’ve died. Had he died, it would have been painfully and entirely expected, if the stab wound didn’t, his falling six hundred stories from Olympus would’ve.  But despite it all, he was still here.

“That’s horrible!” Hazel cried. “You’d let someone read that in their fortune cookie, and it would come true?”

Nemesis sneered. “My darling girl, have you not wished horrible things on Mrs. Leer for the way she treated you?”

“That doesn’t mean I wanted them to come true!”

She scoffed, shaking her head as she resealed the cookie and tossed it to the basket. “Tyche would be Fortuna for you Romans, I suppose. She’s in a horrible way right now, like the others. Me? I’m unaffected. Nemesis, Invidia, I am both. I do not change, revenge is universal, there are a few like that.” She waved a hand, plucking another cookie from her bag.

Ethan sighed, crossing his arms. “With all due respect, we have a job to finish, and I know you aren’t here for a friendly chat; why are you here?”

She didn’t respond as she opened the cookie in her hand, scoffing at the paper and tossing it to the ground. “Lucky numbers, can you believe it? Ridiculous! It’s not even a proper fortune!” Ethan watched boredly as she crushed the shell beneath her shoe before sighing and looking back to him. “You are, of course, correct. I don’t come for a chat, a very smart boy you are my son.” He continued to stare blankly at her, waiting for her to continue.

Hazel and Leo shifted awkwardly beside him. “The gods, they’re in terrible shape, it always happens when a war is brewing between you Romans and Greeks; torn between their two natures, called on by both sides. They become rather schizophrenic, I’m afraid, splitting headaches, disorientation, the likes.”

“But we’re not at war.” Leo pointed out.

Ethan ran a hand through his hair. “So, blowing up part of New Rome is now a sign of peace?”

Leos head snapped over to him, giving a look that, nauseatingly, mirrored the look Alabaster had given him after the battle, the look of betrayal as if demanding to know which side he was really on.

“I didn't do that on purpose!”

His hands shot up. “I know! I know, we all know, it was just a bad joke.” He put his hands down, tucking them into his jacket pockets. “But the Romans don’t, and because of that they’ll be pursuing us in retaliation.”

His mother cackled, tossing a cookie in her hand. “Listen to your friend, Leo. War is coming, Mother Earth has seen to it with your help, and can you guess who the gods blame for this predicament?”

Leo shifted uncomfortably, drawing a deep breath as he squared his shoulders. “Me.”

Nemesis laughed, shaking her head as she absently crushed another cookie under her boot. “Don’t you have a high opinion of yourself, boy; you are merely a pawn on the chessboard of the gods, much like some of your crew members.” She shot a pointed look at Ethan. This predicament was started long before your journey to Rome, the player who set this ridiculous quest in motion, who brought your camps together. They blame Hera, or Juno for my dear Hazel. The queen has fled Olympus in a final attempt to escape the wrath of her family, I wouldn’t expect any more help from your patron.”

Ethan had some mixed feelings concerning Hera, most of the Argo crew held a strong dislike for the goddess, but she’d been fond of him, and he didn’t mind her presence whenever she seemed to appear on the Princess Andromeda for whatever reason, usually to send them to retrieve other half-bloods in unhealthy situations. She’d also aided him in his travel to Camp alongside his satyr and as much as she could in the Labyrinth.

Though, he took all her actions with a grain of salt as he wasn’t sure she’d done anything in regard to the exiled half-bloods, but as far as he knew she hadn’t dolled out any punishments, she'd been rather kind in that regard. At least, he supposed, she was on their side during this war, in her own way. Although now it seemed she was out of the picture.

He shook his head. “Mother. Why are you here.” It was less of a question, more of a demand, which she seemed to notice as she regarded him with an amused look.

Though, she grinned wickedly and straightened her back. “To offer my help of course! Why else?” He almost laughed, glancing at the other two who looked unsure.

The last time his mother had offered him help – or that he met her, he supposed – he’d left the encounter with one less eye.

“Your help.” Leo repeated, as if he didn’t believe her.

“Well, of course! I quite enjoy tearing down the proud and powerful, Gaea and her giants could use a good tearing down don’t you think?” He snorted and the other two gave him odd looks but couldn’t question him as Nemesis continued. “I must warn you that I will not suffer undeserved success. Good luck is a sham, the wheel of fortune is a Ponzi scheme, true success requires sacrifice.”

“Sacrifice?” Hazel snapped. “I lost my mother, I died and came back and now my brother is missing! Is that not enough sacrifice for you?”

No, Ethan thought, but he decided not to say anything.

Leo took a deep breath, seeming like he was trying not to punch the goddess when Ethan looked over at him. “Right now, all I want is celestial bronze.”

“Oh, that’s easy.” She responded, absently staring at her nails. “It’s just over the rise, you can find it with the sweethearts.”

“Sweethearts? What sweethearts?” Hazel asked, raising an eyebrow.

“You’ll see.” Nemesis hummed, popping a cookie in her mouth, swallowing it fortune and all. “Perhaps they’ll teach you a lesson, dear. Most heroes cannot escape their nature, even when they’re given a second chance at life.” She offered a smile, eyes flickering to Ethan before turning back to Hazel. “And, on the topic of your brother Nico, you don’t have much time. What is it? June twenty-fifth? Yes, well after today, six more days.” She shrugged. “Then he dies. Along with the entire city of Rome. Quite the spectacle if you ask me.”

Ethans lip curled, and Hazels eyes widened. “What are you-“

“As for you, child of fire.” Nemesis turned to Leo, disregarding the panicky look Hazel had. “Your hardships are yet to come, you will always be the outsider, the ninth wheel. You will not find a place among your brethren and soon you will face a problem you cannot solve. However, I can help you, for a price of course.”

Ethans eye flickered to Leo, glancing down at his hand to see his fingers were flaming. “I like to solve my own problems.”

She hummed, brushing cookie dust from her jacket. “Very well.”

Leo shifted awkwardly. “But, um…out of curiosity, what sort of price are we talking about?”

Nemesis smirked, looking to Ethan. “Well, I’m sure Ethan could give you a few ideas.”

He flinched, feeling like the scars around his left eye had been reopened under her gaze, as if she were prying his eye out of its socket again. It reminded him of running through the Labyrinth, trying to adjust and navigate properly without his eye, the blood constantly running down his face despite all the bandages until he stumbled upon Alabaster and had access to the son of Hecates magic.

His lip curled at the implication, and he glared. He wouldn’t wish that on anyone, much less Hazel and Leo who’d done nothing to deserve it.

“Absolutely not you-“

“Calm,” Nemesis cut him off, holding a hand up. “In their case, another sacrifice will suffice. However, something equally as painful.” Her tone made it clear he shouldn’t argue with her, so he didn’t and she turned to Leo, holding out an unbroken fortune cookie. “If you need an answer, simply break this, and your problem will be solved.”

He took the cookie with trembling hands. “What problem, exactly?”

“You’ll know when the time comes.”

Leos gaze hardened and he looked up to her. “No thanks.” Yet, he slipped the cookie into his toolbelt.

Nemesis plucked another cookie from her back, cracking it open and reading the fortune. “You will have cause to reconsider your choices soon. Ooh, that ones good, no changes here.” She resealed the cookie, tossing it to her basket before looking towards them. “Very few gods will be able to help you on this quest, more are incapacitated, and their conditions will only worsen from here. There is one thing that may bring unity to Olympus again, however, an old wrong finally avenged.” She chuckled, shaking her head. “Ah, it would be sweet, the scales finally balanced after all these years. But, it will not happen should you refuse my help.”

“I suppose you won’t tell us what you’re talking about.” He commented. “Or why Nico dies and Rome is destroyed in six days.”

She only smiled, standing and picking up her bag. “Oh, it’s all tied together my boy. You’ll figure it out, I’m sure, just as I’m sure you’ll find that boy as you always do.” He flinched slightly, eye widening. “As for my offer, Leo Valdez, give it some thought. You’re a good child, a hard worker. We could do business.” She swung her leg over her motorcycle, giving them a final nod. “However, I’ve detained you too long, you should visit the reflecting pool before the light fades.” She tilted her head to the side. “My poor cursed boy, he gets quite, ah, agitated come nightfall.”

He frowned, raising an eyebrow as she revved her engine before disappearing in a cloud of smoke, he stared down at the fortunes and papers as they disappeared, leaving one behind. He watched as Hazel bent down to pick up the crumbled paper, reading it out loud. “You will see yourself reflected, and you will have reason to despair.”

“Fan-fucking-tastic.” Ethan grumbled, adjusting his swords on his back. “Let’s go find out what that means.”

“Is your mom always that cryptic?” Leo muttered as they started walking.

“From my experience.” He responded. “That’s the second time I’ve ever talked to her.”

“Really?” Hazel asked softly.

He nodded, tucking his hands into his pockets. “She’s not very interactive with her children, none of the siblings I’ve met have spoken to her,” he sighed. “though she’s definitely left their mark on some of them.” He muttered, thinking back to Sam and Lenore, he definitely wasn’t the only of his siblings who’ve lost a body part.

“What does that mean?” Leo asked, staring at him weirdly.

He scowled, bringing a hand up to his eyepatch, running his hand along the faded stitching on it. “My mother makes deals, she made one with me. She guided me to Kronos, to join his army, to aid his cause, to bring respect to the minor gods; to her. She wanted me to help put the Olympians in their place, balance the scales.” The two of them followed behind him silently, waiting for him to continue. “The price for her help, was my eye.”

He heard Leo inhale sharply. “That’s…why you got upset when she implied the price for her help now was the same as yours?”

“Fighting monsters wasn’t easy, being alone without my eye was…hard. Especially in the Labyrinth, I thought I was going to die, or go insane, or both. I probably would’ve if…” He bit his tongue.

If Alabaster hadn’t found me.

He shook his head. “One of Kronos’s soldiers found me, someone I knew at camp. He helped me.”

“Who did she look like for you?” Leo asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Herself, that power of hers doesn’t work on her children.”

“Power?”

“She appears as the person you resent the most, but her children are unaffected by it, unless she wants them to be I’d assume.”

“So…” Leo paused, eyeing him. “Your dad-“

“Do not finish that question.”

“Got it.”

They walked in silence for a few moments before Hazel spoke up. “So, who’s your aunt Rosa?”

Leo didn’t answer for a few steps before sighing. “Long story. She…abandoned me after my mom died, gave me to foster care.”

Hazel frowned, messing with the hem of her shirt. “I’m sorry.”

He sighed, shrugging. He seemed rather anxious to change the subject. “Yeah, well…what about you? About your brother?”

Hazel blinked as if she’d gotten salt in her eyes. “Nico, he uh…found me in the Underworld; in Asphodel, brought me back to the mortal world and convinced Camp Jupiter to accept me. I owe him, he gave me a second time at life and if she was telling the truth. If Nico’s in danger I have to help him.”

“Obviously,” Leo responded, eyeing her curiously. “I guess you don’t know what she meant about him having six days to live or Rome being destroyed?”

“Not a clue,” she admitted, shaking her head. “but I’m afraid…” She looked over at Ethan. “I don’t suppose you have any ideas?”

He snorted. “Oh, just because she’s my mother doesn’t mean I understand her words.”

“You don’t like her very much, do you?” Hazel asked, giving him a curious look.”

He arched an eyebrow, sighing as he fixed his eyepatch. “It’s not that I don’t like her she’s just…she’s complicated. I don’t have a relationship with her like some other people I know have,” He shook his head. “It’s nothing you need to worry about.”

The two of them exchanged a look but seemed to understand they should drop the subject. Hazel climbed a large boulder, Ethan following behind her. Leo tried, but slipped, however, Hazel caught his hand and pulled him up. They were rather close to each other, even after Leo let go of her hand and thanked her, Ethan only stared at them for a moment before looking away as Hazel spoke.

“When we were talking to Nemesis,” she paused, eyeing his hand. “I saw flames.”

Leo’s face screwed up and he sighed. “It’s a Hephaestus thing, I usually manage to keep it under control. I don’t know what happened back there.”

She nodded slowly, putting a hand over her shirt as if she were protecting something. He turned away from them, gazing across the island. He could see the opposite shore from where they stood, only a few hundred yards out, there were dunes and clumps of boulders between them, but he couldn’t see a reflecting pool.

He looked over at Leo, who, judging by the look in his ye, was likely spiraling and he placed a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “Don’t take what Nemesis says to heart.”

He frowned, meeting Ethans gaze. “But what if she’s right?”

“She’s the goddess of revenge, our side or not, she likes to stir up resentment. It’s a big part of what led my siblings and I to Kronos in the first place.” Though, he knew his words wouldn’t wash away any insecurities or self doubt Leo was feeling, he did know comforting words may be able to help at least a little, and for what it was worth, he wanted to try.

“We should keep going, she said to finish before dark.” Leo said, eyeing the sun that was beginning to touch the horizon.

“And who the cursed boy she mentioned is?”

“Cursed boy she mentioned.”

His head snapped down, narrowing his eye to figure out who’d spoken before focusing on a young woman standing around ten feet from the boulder, a Greek tunic was the same colour as the rocks around them, and her hair was somewhere between brown, blond and gray, blending perfectly with the dried grass. She wasn’t invisible, more camouflaged, so she couldn’t be seen unless she moved. He found that when he blinked, he’d almost forgotten what she looked like and had to focus in on her again.

She was some mythological figure, her myth on the tip of his tongue but he couldn’t recall it.

“Hi. Who are you?” Hazel asked.

“Who are you?” The girl responded, her voice sounding weary as if she’d answer the question endlessly and was tired of it.

“Are you the cursed kid Nemesis mentioned?” Leo asked. “But you’re a girl.”

“You’re a girl.”

Leos nose scrunched up. “Excuse me?”

She sighed. “Excuse me.”

“You’re repeating.” Ethan realized, inhaling sharply. “You’re Echo.”

“Echo.” She confirmed.

“Echo?” Leo asked. “Wait is that the myth about the girl…”

“You were cursed to repeat the last thing you heard, right?”

“Right.”

 “Poor thing.” Hazel murmured. “It was a goddess who did this, wasn’t it?”

“If I’m remembering correctly, it was Hera.” Ethan responded, slipping off the boulder, she seemed even more invisible up close. “But that was thousands of years ago. You must’ve come back through the Doors of Death, huh?”

“Man, I really wish we could stop running into dead people.” Leo grumbled.

“Dead people.” Echo sounded as if she were chastising the son of Hephaestus.

Leo looked over to Hazel briefly. “Oh. Uh…sorry. Didn’t mean it that way.”

“That way.” Echo said, pointing off towards  the other end of the island.

Ethan raised an eyebrow. “You want to show us something?”

“Show us something.” Echo agreed.

“You sure you’re real? Like…flesh and blood?” Leo asked.

“Flesh and blood.” She brought a hand up to poke his cheek and he flinched back.

“And…you have to repeat everything?”

“Everything.” She responded miserably.

Leo grinned wickedly. “That could be fun.”

“Fun.” She didn’t seem excited to find out what Leos fun meant.

“Don’t tease her.” Ethan commented before he could say anything.

“Don’t tease her.” Echo agreed, nodding.

“Her curse is not a toy, yeah?”

“Okay, okay.” Leo responded, holding his hands up. He seemed like he still wanted to, but he didn’t. “So, what did you want to show us? Do you need help?”

“Help.” She said empathetically.

She gestured them to follow her and began sprinting down the slope, she blended into the grass and the shimmer of her dress changed to match the rocks. For the first time in his life, he thanked the gods for the paranoid observation skills he’d gained from his time in the Labyrinth and with Kronos, but it made it easy to track her movements and he took off after her, the other two following him to the best of their abilities.

The problem was in a grassy meadow that resembled a blast crater with a small pond in the middle, the reflecting pool he figured. Dozens of nymphs surrounded the waters edge, they looked like the ones at camp, they wore gossamer dresses and no shoes, had elfish features and slight green tinted skin.

He couldn’t see what they found so interesting, but they were crowding in one spot, facing the pond, and jostling for a better view. Several held up phones in attempt to take photos of the heads of others, it’d been a while since he’d seen anyone taking so many photos, though he’d never seen a nymph with a phone.

“What are they looking at?” Leo muttered.

“Looking at,” Echo sighed.

“She’s not going to be able to answer,” Ethan pointed out, stepping forward. “so we have to find out ourselves.” He muttered, shoving through the crowd of nymphs who cried out in protest. Though, one caught his eye as she made some comment about him not being interested in Ethan, she had large red hearts on her cheeks and a t-shirt that read OMG, I <3 N!!!!

He pursed his lips as the other two began pushing through the crowd until they begrudgingly parted to reveal a young man kneeling at the edge of the pond, gazing intently at the water, he had a chiseled face, his lips and eyes were a mix of feminine and masculine, with dark hair sweeping over his brow. It was hard to tell how old he was, somewhere between seventeen and twenty. He was built like a dancer, muscular arms and legs, a perfect posture and an air of regal calm. He wore a simple t-shirt and jeans along with a bow and quiver strapped to his back, but they clearly hadn’t been used in a while, arrows covered in dust and a spider web in the top of the bow.

Ethan noticed an unusual golden glow on the guys face as they got closer, the light of the sunset was bouncing off a large sheet of celestial bronze in the bottom of the pond, washing his face in a warm glow. He seemed fascinated with his own reflection.

Ah. Narcissus.

“He’s gorgeous.” Hazel whispered, seeming a little star struck.

Around them, the nymphs giggled and squealed, clapping in agreement.

“I am.” Narcissus murmured dreamily, his gaze fixed on the water. “I am so gorgeous.”

Ethan sighed, rolling his eye and turning away from him, silently cursing himself for not realizing who his mother meant when she’d said her cursed boy earlier. Of course it was Narcissus.

He jolted as a nymph shoved a phone in his face, scowling at he stared at the video on the screen. Just him, staring at the pond. Shocking. “His latest YouTube video got a million hits in like, an hour. I was like half of those!” She giggled, pulling her phone away.

“YouTube video?” Leo raised an eyebrow. “What does he do? Sing?”

“No,” Ethan muttered, peering back at the boy. “Just that.”

The nymph scoffed. “He used to be a prince you know!”

“Oh, I know.”

“He is sooooo hot!” Ethan stared blankly at her Mrs. Narcissus shirt.

“Narcissus?” Leo asked.

“Narcissus,” Echo agreed sadly.

“Oh, not you, again!” Mrs. Narcissus groaned, whirling around to where she thought Echo was, attempting to push her, but ended up misjudging where she was and wound up shoving other nymphs who made various sounds of protest.

“You have your chance, Echo! He dumped you four thousand years ago! You are so not good enough for him!” Another nymph complained, waving her phone.

“For him.” Echo muttered bitterly.

“Okay, hold on,” Hazel had a little trouble tearing her eyes away from Narcissus, but managed it to look at the nymphs. “What’s going on, why did Echo bring us here?”

A nymph beside Ethan, holding a pen and a crumpled poster of Narcissus, rolled her eyes. “Echo was a nymph like us, but she was, like, a total chatterbox. Gossiping blah, blah, blah all the time!”

“I know!” Another shrieked. “Like, who could stand that? Just the other day, Cleopeia – you know here, she lives in the boulder next to me – She is such a gossip! You know what I told her? I said; stop gossiping or you’ll end up like Echo. Shes such a big mouth! Did you hear what she said about that cloud nymph and the satyr?”

“Totally!” The nymph with the poster agreed, nodding adamantly. “So, anyways, as punishment for blabbing Hera cursed her and she could only repeat things, y’know, like an echo! Which was fine with us, I mean no more blabbing right? But then she fell in love with our guy,” she gestured wildly at Narcissus who paid her no attention, “as if he would ever notice her!”

“As if!”

“And now she’s got some weird idea he needs saving.” Mrs. Narcissus shot an annoyed look at Echo. “She should just go away.”

“Go away.” Echo growled back.

“I’m so glad he’s alive again.” Ethan glanced at a nymph in a black dress with NARCISSUS + LAIEA written up and down her arms. “He’s like, the best! And he’s in my territory.”

“Oh, stop it, Laiea.” Her friend said, batting her arm. “I’m the pond nymph, you’re just the rock nymph.”

“Well I’m the grass nymph.” Another protested.

“No! He obviously came here because he likes the wildflowers! Those are mine!”

Ethan looked between the mob arguing and Narcissus staring at the pond, ignoring them entirely. Though, he jolted when Leo shouted and them to stop.

“I need to ask Narcissus something.”

Slowly, the nymphs quieted down, and went back to taking pictures. Hazel quirked an eyebrow at Ethan, as if she were trying to silently ask what Leo was planning, but he shrugged, shaking his head. Leo was potentially one of the most impulsive people he knew, and he could never figure out what was going on in his head.

Still, he watched silently as Leo knelt beside the former prince. “So, Narcissus, what’s up?”

“Could you move?” He asked distractedly. “You’re ruining the view.”

Leo glanced at the water, nodding slowly. “Right, great view, happy to move. However, if you’re not using it, could I just…take that little sheet of bronze?”

“No, I love him. He’s so gorgeous.”

Ethan rolled his eye as the nymphs began to giggle, swooning and nodding in agreement. “Man, you realize you’re looking at yourself in the water, right?” Leo asked.

“I am so great,” he sighed, reaching a hand out longingly but stopped before his fingers touched the surface. “No, I can’t make ripples. That ruins the image. Wow…I am so beautiful.”

“Yeah, but if I took the bronze, you could still see yourself in the water. Or, here,” he pulled a small mirror from his belt, holding it out. “I’ll trade you.”

Reluctantly, Narcissus took the mirror, admiring himself in the reflective surface. “Even you carry a picture of me. I do not blame you; I am gorgeous.” He set the mirror down, turning back to the pond and sighing. “But this image is much better, the colour, it flatters me, no?”

At his words, the nymphs started screaming.

“Oh, gods, yes! Marry me, Narcissus!”

“No, me!”

“Would you sign my poster?”

“No, sign my shirt!”

“No, sign my forehead!”

“No, sign my-”

“Stop it!” Ethan shouted, whirling around to face the crowd to glare at them.

“Stop it,” Echo agreed, he turned to see her as she waved her hand in front of Narissus’ face to try and break his concentration, in vain, as he didn’t even blink.

The nymphs began to shove Hazel and Ethan away but scrambled back when he drew his katanas, swiping them out in front of them. “Snap out of it!” He yelled.

“He won’t sign your swords.”

“He won’t marry you, and you can’t take his bronze mirror! That’s what keeps him here!”

“You’re all ridiculous.” He muttered, sliding a sword back into its sheath on his back and shaking his head. “He’s so full of himself.” He looked back at Narcissus, rolling his eye. “How could you possibly like him?”

“Like him.” Echo sighed, continuing to wave her hand in front of his face, the other nymphs sighed along with her.

“Narcissus.” Ethan said, keeping his sword crossed in front of him. “Listen up, Echo brought us here to help you, right?”

“Right.” She agreed.

“Who?” Narcissus asked, not pulling his attention from his reflection.

“The only girl who cares what happens to you apparently.” Hazel muttered.

Ethan tapped his blade against her sheath, and she complied, drawing her sword as he hopped up beside the man. “Do you remember dying?”

He frowned. “No. That can’t be right, I am much too important to die.”

Ethan shook his head. “You died staring at yourself, you broke too many hearts and Nemesis cursed you to fall in love with your own reflection.”

“I love me so, so much.”

“That was thousands of years ago, you drowned yourself. But now, you’re alive again, you have a second chance. You can let Echo help you, get up and get on with your life, or you can stay here and stare at yourself until you inevitably drown yourself again.” The nymphs screamed at him to stay causing Ethan to cringe away from the noise, but he kept his gaze firmly on Narcissus. “So? What’ll it be?”

He shook his head. “You just want my reflection, I don’t blame you, of course, but you can’t have it. I belong to me.”

Hazel sighed exasperatedly and Ethan looked to the sun, scowling as he noticed how fast it was sinking. “Could we talk for a minute?” Hazel asked, gesturing towards the edge of the crater with her sword.

“Yeah.” Ethan muttered, nudging Leo away from Narcissus, and glancing over at Echo. “You coming?”

“Coming.” She agreed.

Once they’d stepped away, the nymphs clustered around and started recording and taking photos. “Nemesis was right.” Hazel stated once they were out of earshot. “Some demigods can’t change their nature; he’s going to stay there until he dies again.”

“No.” Leo said, Echo repeated her agreement. “We need that bronze, if we take it away…it might give him a reason to snap out of it. Echo might be able to save him.”

“Save him.” Echo murmured gratefully.

Ethan sheathed his other sword. “That’s a maybe, you know what’s certain? The several dozen nymphs we’ll anger, and we don’t know if Narcissus still knows how to shoot his bow, being on the receiving end of a skilled archers arrows is not somewhere you want to be, especially with a sheet of bronze slowing us down.” He shuddered as he recalled the flaming arrows racing through the night sky on the Williamsburg bridge.

The sun was going down, and his mom had said that he got agitated after dark, likely because he couldn’t see his reflection in the darkness. He wasn’t exactly excited to stick around to find out what she meant by agitated.

After a few moments of silence, Leo turned to Hazel. “Your power with precious metal, is it just detection or can you move it?”

She opened her mouth for a beat, then closed it and frowned, considering his words before responding. “I can summon it, sometimes. I’ve never tried with something this big, but I might be able to draw it to me underground. The thing is, I’d have to be pretty close, it would take a lot of concentration and it wouldn’t be fast.”

“Be fast.” Echo warned, which probably wasn’t helping with Hazels nerves.

“That could work.” Leo muttered. “We’ll have to try something risky; how about you try to summon the bronze to you here, once you’ve got it run for the ship.”

“That sounds like a bad idea, Narcissus is looking at it all the time.

“All the time.” Echo sighed.

“That’s where we come in. We’ll cause a distraction.” Leo stated, looking to Ethan who sighed. Leo hadn’t even told him the plan and he already hated it.

“Distraction?” Echo asked.

“I’ll explain,” he promised. “are you willing to help?”

“Willing to help.”

He looked back at Ethan who groaned. “Fine.”

The son of Hephaestus grinned, clapping. “Great, now let’s hope we don’t die.” Ethan, unfortunately, had experience with that.

For this plan, Leo started with summoning breath mints and a pair of welding goggles from his tool belt and rolling his sleeves up. As well as pulling a tin of machine oil, using that to grease his hair back, attempting to do the same with Ethan until he threatened to stab him. For reasons unknown to Ethan, he stuck a wrench in his back pocket and finally had Ethan draw tattoos on his biceps with a sharpie.

“What on earth are you think?” Hazel muttered as Ethan stepped back, rolling his eye.

“Not much, I try not to. Interferes with being nuts.” That sounds like something Lenore would’ve told him. “You just concentrate on getting the bronze, the three of us will handle the rest. Echo, you ready?”

“Ready.” She said, sounding determined.

“Great, come on.”

Ethan rolled his eye, but followed Leo as he strutted back towards the pond, sighing quietly before shouting to get the Nymphs attention. “Leo is the coolest!” Which was echoed by the girl on Leos other side.

“Yeah, baby, check me out!” Leo announced, grinning wickedly.

“Check me out!” Echo agreed.

“Make way for the king!”

Ethan bit back a small smile as he called out again. “Narcissus is weak!”

“Weak!”

The nymphs scattered, staring at Leo in a mix of confusion and annoyance, but Leo shooed them back as if they were bothering him. “No autographs girls. I know you want some Leo time, but I’m way too cool so you better just hang around that dweeb Narcissus. He’s lame!”

“Lame!” Echo shouted enthusiastically.

The nymphs began muttering angrily, demanding to know what Leo was talking about or insulting him, but he only adjusted his goggles, smiled, and flexed his biceps to show off his sharpie tattoos. While it may have been because they were stunned, he definitely had the nymphs attention, Narcissus however, was still fixed on the pond.

“Y’know how ugly Narcissus is?” Leo asked, raising an eyebrow. “He’s so ugly, when he was born, his mama thought he was a backward centaur – with a horse butt for a face!”

Frankly, Ethan had no idea where Leo was coming up with this because it was honestly ridiculous, but a few nymphs gasped and Narcissus frowned, like he was vaguely aware of a fly buzzing around his face.

Leo smirked, narrowing his eyes at the prince. “Ever notice that his bow has cobwebs? He uses it to hunt for dates, but he can’t find one!” A nymph giggled but was quickly elbowed into silence.

Narcissus looked up, scowling at Leo. “Who are you?”

“I’m the Super-sized McShizzle, man!” Ethan miraculously managed not to cringe. “I’m Leo Valdez, bad boy supreme, and the ladies love a bad boy.” Vaguely, he recalled the amount of times Leo called him a bad boy in the week he returned from the quest alone, and how it was more then enough to tire him out, not to even mention the amount of times he’d said it overall.

He produced a pen from his belt and autographed a nymphs arm, she only stared at the ink in shock. “Narcissus is a loser! He’s so weak, he can’t even bench press a tissue. He’s so lame, when you look up lame on Wikipedia, it’s got a picture of him. Only, the pictures so ugly and no one ever checks it out!”

Narcissus’ eyebrows furrowed, as he turned his attention away from the pond, Ethan could see the bronze sinking into the sand. “What are you talking about?” He snapped. “I am amazing, everyone knows this.”

“Sure,” Leo agreed, “amazing at pure suck. If I was as suck as you, I would drown myself.” He snorted. “Oh wait. You already did that!”

A couple other nymphs began giggling and Narcissus growled, his face scrunching up in a way that didn’t compliment him well. All the while, Leo was positively beaming as he wiggled his eyebrows and spread his hands to gesture for applause. “That’s right!”

“Team Leo for the win!” Ethan yelled.

“Team Leo for the win!” Echo had wriggled into the mob of nymphs, and with how hard it was to see her, they’d assumed it was one of them.

“Oh my gods, I am so awesome!” Leo declared.

“So awesome!”

“He is funny.” A nymph murmured.

“And cute, in a scrawny way.”

“Scrawny? Baby, I invented scrawny. It’s the new hot and I got the scrawny.” Leo grinned. “Narcissus is such a loser the Underworld didn’t even want him. He couldn’t get the ghost girls to date him!”

“Ew.”

“Ew!” Echo agreed.

“Enough!” Narcissus stood and Ethan shifted his position so he could grab his swords easily. “This is not right! This person is obviously not awesome, so he must be…” He struggled for the words, seeing as it’d probably been a long time since he’d talked about anything but himself. Though, to his credit, he wasn’t entirely stupid as realization dawned on his face. “He must be tricking us.” He whirled around to the pond. “The bronze mirror! My reflection! It’s gone!” He turned back to Leo, glaring. “Give it back to me!”

The nymphs had fallen silent, besides one squeaking out a quiet Team Leo. as Narcissus took a step forwards. “I’m the beautiful one! He’s stolen my mirror, and I am going to leave unless it is returned!”

That got the nymphs panicking, and Ethan thought maybe they could handle them, until one gasped and pointed. “There!”

He cursed quietly, sparing a glance over his shoulder at Hazel who was running as fast as she could with the bronze at the top of the crater.

“Get it back!”

He vaguely clocked Echo muttering the words back, likely against her will, but he was more concerned about Narcissus who had unslung his bow and drew and arrow from his quiver. “The first one who gets that bronze, I will like you almost as much as myself. Perhaps I will even kiss you, after I kiss myself, of course.” The nymphs screamed, swooning slightly, but Narcissus glared at Ethan and Leo. “And kill those demigods! They are not as cool as me!”

Thankfully, Ethan had practice running from someone trying to kill him, and apparently so did Leo as  they overtook Hazel. Though, he supposed that was to be expected considering she was lugging about fifty pounds of bronze. Leo took a side of the sheet while Ethan watched their backs with his swords.

He could see Narcissus nocking an arrow, but since it was so old and brittle, it broke, causing him to yell.

Now, normal nymphs were fast, however, these were burdened with various Narcissus merchandise. On top of that, they weren’t great at teamwork, stumbling over each other, pushing and shoving. Echo running through the crowd, tripping and tackling probably wasn’t helping either.

“Arion!” Leo gasped.

“Called him!”

They ran for the beach, making it to the edge of the water where they could see the ship but not get to it. It was too far to swim, even without the bronze, and Ethan couldn’t spot Blackjack anywhere. The mob was coming over the dunes with Narcissus in the lead, holding his bow up while the nymphs had found various weapons like rocks or wooden clubs. Some had squirt guns, which wasn’t super intimidating.

“Oh, man. Straight up fighting isn’t my thing.” Leo muttered.

“Hold the bronze.” Ethan instructed, he complied, freeing Hazels hands so she could draw her sword. “Get behind me.”

“Get behind me!” Echo appeared in front of them, standing in front of Leo with her arms spread like she were going to shield him.

“Echo?” Leo asked, blinking a couple times. “Wow, you’re one brave nymph.”

“Brave nymph?” It sounded more like a question then it did an echo.

“I’m proud to have you on our team. If we survive this, you should forget Narcissus.”

“Forget Narcissus?”

“You’re way too good for him.”

Ethan spun his swords around as the nymphs surrounded them in a semicircle. “Trickery!” Narcissus accused. “They don’t love me! We all love me,  yes?” The nymphs screamed in agreement and Narcissus pointed towards them. “Kill them!”

The nymphs surged forwards, Ethan crossed his swords in front of himself, prepared to strike when the sand in front of them exploded. Arion raced out of nowhere, kicking up sand as he raced around the mob, creating a sandstorm and showering the nymphs in lime.

“I love this horse!” Leo shouted.

Blackjack appeared in the sky, landing beside Ethan and butting his head against the son of Nemesis’ shoulder as if telling him to get on. The mob was a mess, nymphs coughing and gagging, Narcissus stumbling around blindly while Hazel climbed onto Arions back, hoisting up the bronze with help from Ethan and Leo.

“We can’t leave Echo!”

“Leave Echo.”

Leo’s eyes widened. “Why? You don’t think you can still save him…”

“Save him.” She stated confidently, and despite it only being an echo, she was clearly determined. Like him, she’d been given a second chance at life, and she wanted to save the guy she loved from meeting the same fate he’d suffered before.

Before Leo could protest, Echo leaned forward and kissed his cheek before gently pushing him away.

“Leo, come on!” Hazel called.

The nymphs were starting to recover, wiping lime out of their eyes, which were now glowing in anger. For a moment, he hesitated, but he sighed and nodded, climbing on Arions back while Ethan swung his leg over Blackjacks, and they took off. Leaving the nymphs and Narcissus shouting behind them.

Chapter Text

Hedge took the helm once Leo had repaired the ship enough to get moving which allowed the demigods to gather in the mess hall below. Which, would be the first time they all sat down alone, and while the sight should’ve been reassuring, it only made the anxiety he was feeling worse. Not only were they missing someone rather important – though the subject seemed taboo as nobody mentioned it – but this was the confirmation that the quest was underway. The tension in the hall was like an electrical storm brewing, though, that was entirely plausible with Percy and Jason.

Awkwardly, the two boys had tried to sit in the same chair at the head of the table and sparks flew from Jason’s hands. Though, after a brief staring contest as if they were waiting for the other to back down, they surrendered the chair to Annabeth and sat on either side of the table.

As they compared notes on what happened in the city, Leo told the story of how he tricked Narcissus, but it wasn’t enough to cheer everyone up. “So, where to now?” Leo asked, Ethan rolled his eyes at his mouthful of pizza. “I did a quick repair job to get us out of the lake, but there’s still a lot of damage so we should put down again and do a proper repair job before we cross the Atlantic.”

The sight of Percy eating an entirely blue piece of pie eased his nerves just a little. “We need to put some distance between us and the Romans, Frank spotted some eagles over the city so we figure they aren’t far behind us.”

“You don’t think we could go back and try to reason with them?” Piper asked. “Maybe I didn’t try hard enough-“

“It wasn’t your fault.” Jason assured, taking her hand. “Or Leos,” he added quickly, “Whatever happened, it was Gaea trying to drive our camps apart.”

She still looked uneasy. “Maybe if we could explain-“

“We have no proof.” Ethan stated. “And we don’t even know what happened. They won’t believe us unless we can explain exactly what happened and even then they probably wouldn’t believe us, I’m an enemy to them and this is probably only confirmation that I still am. Going back now is suicide.”

“He’s right.” Hazel said, sighing, she looked a little seasick but was eating a few crackers to help. “Reyna may listen, but Octavian wouldn’t. The Romans have honour to think about, they’ve been attacked so they’ll shoot first and ask questions second.”

“You’re right.” Piper sighed. “We need to keep going, and not just because of the Romans, we need to hurry.”

“Nemesis said we have six days until Nico dies and Rome is destroyed.”

“And that’s….Rome, Rome, not New Rome, yeah?” Jason asked, frowning.

Ethan nodded. “Likely, but we don’t have much time to get there.”

“Why six days, and how are they going to destroy Rome? Also, who are they?”

Nobody answered.

After a few beats of silence, Piper leaned forward. “There’s more. I’ve been seeing some things in my knife.”

Frank, who was in the middle of bringing food to his mouth. “Like…?”

“Nothing that makes sense, just garbled images.” She explained. “But I…I saw these two giants, They looked similar, maybe twins.”

Annabeth stared past Leo at the video feed of camp, currently showing the living room in the Big House. “Twins,” she murmured. “like Ella’s prophecy. Figuring out those lines, it might help.”

“Wisdom’s daughter walks alone. The Mark of Athena burns through Rome.” Ethan recited. “Those have to be about you, Annabeth.”

“Juno…” Percy frowned. “She told me you had a hard task ahead of you, in Rome. She said she doubted you could do it, but I know she’s wrong.”

Annabeth sighed, resting her head in her hands for a moment. “Reyna…before the ship fired on us, she was going to tell me something. This old legend among the praetors, it was something about Athena – maybe even the reason Romans and Greeks never got along.”

“An old wrong.” Ethan muttered, gaining a confused look from Annabeth. “My mother, she mentioned something about an old wrong finally being avenged, one that could fix this split between the gods natures. She didn’t tell me what…” He frowned, drumming his fingers on the table, vaguely wondering if Alabaster may know, he had his nose in history books often enough.

Ethan watched as Percy made a frowny face with his whipped cream. “Well, I wasn’t praetor for very long. Jason, you ever hear a legend like that?”

Jasons shoulders slumped. “I…uh..I’m not sure. I’ll have to give it some thought.”

“You’re not sure?” Percy asked, narrowing his eyes.

The table fell silent for a minute and Ethan vaguely wondered if Percy knew Jason’s memories hadn’t returned the way his own had.

Hazel was the one to break the silence that settled over them. “What about the other lines? Twins snuff out the angels death. Who holds the key to endless death.”

“Giants’ bane stands gold and pale. Won through pain from a woven jail.” Frank added.

Honestly, Ethan wished there was an Apollo kid in their midst, if there was a prophecy that was floating around, Lee or Amber were always good at understanding what they meant.

“Giants bane sounds like a good thing.” Leo commented. “It’s probably what we need, if it’ll help the gods get their act together, right?”

“Plus, we can’t kill the giants without the help of the gods.”

Jason tilted his head, looking to Frank and Hazel. “I thought you killed a giant without a gods help, just you guys.”

“Alcyoneus was…different,” Frank explained. “he was only immortal in Alaska – where he was reborn – but not Canada. It would be pretty easy if we could just kill them by getting them to Canada but, we can’t. Percy’s right. We’ll need the gods.”

The other lines bounced around Ethan’s head, a woven jail, twins snuffing an angels breath, and a key to endless death wasn’t exactly hope inspiring.

“So,” Leo pushed his chair away from the table, “first things first, we need to put down somewhere in the morning so I can finish my repairs.”

“Close to a city but out of the way, in case we need supplies and so the Romans can’t find us easily.” Annabeth suggested. “Anyone have an idea?”

Pipers’ nails clicked against the table. “What about Kansas?”

–––

Hedge had set a curfew for them, not that it was something Ethan wasn’t used to, but since all their rooms were in the same hall, the satyr walked back and forth through the hall so he couldn’t exactly sneak out if he wanted to, and he wanted to. But, Hedge was also banging on their doors, telling them to go to sleep whenever he heard a noise, which, obviously, prevented them from sleeping. Not that he’d be the one to tell him that.

His cabin was pretty cozy, Leo programmed each cabin so they adjusted to a comfortable temperature for each of them, had the mattresses and pillows stuffed with pegasus down and hung a bronze lantern from the ceiling that was whatever brightness they wanted.

He had…several questions, and because of it, falling asleep was near impossible even without Hedge banging on the doors. His mothers words ran rampant in his head, You’ll figure it out, I’m sure, just as I’m sure you’ll find that boy as you always do. As much as she knew, he wasn’t sure she knew Alabaster as well as she may think, he was certain the last person Alabaster wanted to see was him.

Though, he supposed that was confirmation that the son of Hecate was the rebel the prophecy mentioned, which raised a whole other problem as he doubted Alabaster would be, well, willing to help the Olympians. His mind drifted to Hecate, she was the goddess of crossroads, she knew when a prophecy was spoken and when it was in motion. She must know Alabaster was apart of this prophecy, maybe she could convince him to help them.

The more he thought about Alabaster, the more questions came to his mind. He wouldn’t be willing to help the campers, but would he be willing to help him? Was he even alive, what happened to him after the war? All he knew was the Olympians didn’t allow him back into camp. Even if he was alive or willing to help, there was no way to find him, since he was probably still in New York. There definitely weren’t any gods willing to bless them with the luck that he’d wind up somewhere in their path to Rome.

He wanted to hate how he found comfort in the rocking of the boat, how it reminded him of the Princess Andromeda, how that was comforting for him. But, spending years on the run, sleeping on rocky grounds or wooden floors, the bed he slept in on the Andromeda felt like the most comfortable thing in the world. The way the ship rocked helped him fall asleep in the end, and for the first time in years, his sleep wasn’t plagued by nightmares.

The breakfast bell woke him, followed by an incessant knocking on his door and Percy calling his name. “We’re landing!”

“Landing?” He muttered groggily, rubbing his eye and grabbing his eyepatch off the nightstand.

The door opened, and Percy stepped inside. “Awake enough to function?”

Ethan hummed, brushing his hair out of his face. “Do I have a choice?”

Percy snorted, patting his shoulder. “We’ll get you some coffee, and then you’ll be alright.”

“Okay, Will.” Ethan teased.

“Someone has to be the medic.”

Ethan raised an eyebrow. “You, Percy Jackson, are the last person I’d trust with my life. You’d sooner get me killed then save me.”

The son of Poseidon scoffed, rolling his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Nice Pokémon pants.”

“Shut up.”

“Yeah, yeah. We’re setting down a few miles out of Topeka.”

Ethan nodded, grabbing a hoodie off his chair and pulling it on. He heard Hedge yelling above them, “Thar she blows! Kansas, ahoy!”

“Good gods,” he muttered, “he needs to work on his ship speak, Silena was better at it.”

A look flashed on Percys face before Ethan could process it, but he nodded. “Come on.”

The fresh air helped to clear his mind, and the smell of flowers hit him like a truck. Sunflowers, one of Drews favourites. He watched silently as the oars retracted and the gangplank lowered, glancing over at Percy and Annabeth. He was dressed in his typical outfit, camp shirt and jeans, and Annabeth seemed happier then she had in months. The sight it made him feel better, even if only a little.

“So,” Annabeth plucked a bagel from Pipers hand, taking a bite. “Now that we’re here, what’s the plan?”

Piper hummed, taking her bagel back. “I want to check on the highway. A sign that says Topeka 32.”

Leo spun his controller in a circle, which caused the sails to lower. “That shouldn’t be fair, calculated the landing as best we could. What are you expecting to find?”

She pursed her lips, drumming her fingers on her dagger. “In my knife, I saw…this man. He had a purple shirt, a hat with vines on it. Got the feeling I should find him, seemed important.”

“Sounds like Dionysus.” Ethan murmured.

“Gods. If we came all the way here to see Mr. D-“

“It sounds more like Bacchus.” Jason interjected. “He’s not so bad. His followers…” he shuddered, “different story. But, the god himself is okay. I did him a favor once up in the wine country with…” he frowned. “A friend…I think.”

Percy looked appalled, but he shook his head, scoffing. “Whatever, man…maybe he’s better on the Roman side. But, still, why would he be hanging around here? Zeus ordered the gods to cut contact with us?”

Frank snorted. “The gods haven’t been very good at following that order.”

Ethan rolled his eye. “The gods haven’t been good at following any order. Even an oath on the Styx wouldn’t even get them to listen.”

Frank gave him an odd look, along with several of the rest of the crew. “I…anyways…if the gods have gone schizophrenic like Hazel said-”

“Hazel, Leo and Ethan said.” Leo corrected, earning a scowl from Frank.

“Then who knows what’s going on with the Olympians? Could be some pretty bad stuff out there, we don’t know.”

“Sounds dangerous!” Leo announced cheerfully. “So, you guys have fun. I gotta finish repairs on the hull, Coach is working on the broken crossbows and…I could uh..really use your help Annabeth. You’re the only one that really understands engineering.”

Annabeth glanced over at Percy with an apologetic look. “He’s right, I should help.”

He nodded, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “I’ll come back, promise.” She smiled, leaning her head on his shoulder.

Ethan glanced over the railing as Frank propped his bow against it. “Think you could do some recon Zhang? Eagles might be close.”

He blinked, looking over at him but nodded. “Uh…yeah. I can turn into a crow, fly around.

“Why a crow?” Leo asked, snorting, “Man, if you can turn into a dragon, why not do it all the time? It’s the coolest.”

Frank looked annoyed, and when he opened his mouth Ethan held a hand up. “Something like that takes effort, its not easy. Besides, you really think a dragon is a good idea when we’re trying not to be noticed by the Romans?” He looked towards Frank. “A crow works.”

“I’ll help you, Frank.” Hazel said, stepping towards him, “I can summon Arion, scout below.”

“Yeah, okay. Thanks.”

“Be careful in those fields, lots of crops. Could be karpoi on the loose.” Hazel advised, glancing at Percy who nodded.

“Karpoi?”

“Grain spirits. They’re…something.” Ethan muttered.

Percy raised an eyebrow. “You’ve…met them?”

“Had a couple Demeter kids who summoned them as aids during fights.”

He nodded slowly. “Like…as pets?”

“Something like that.”

“Well, that still leaves to check the mile marker.” Percy said, looking to Ethan who shook his head.

“I’m gonna let you three handle that. Threes a sacred number, yeah? Don’t need more attention drawn to us then necessary.”

Percy raised an eyebrow but nodded. “Alright, then the three of us’ll go. I’m not exactly excited to see Mr. D again, guys a pain, but if you’re on better terms-“

“Yeah, if we find him, I’ll talk to him.” Jason assured. “But, you should take the lead, Pipes, it was your vision.”

“Right.” She had a painfully forced upbeat tone that reminded him uncomfortably of Silena. “Let’s find the highway.”

The five of them left on their tasks without much more conversation, and Annabeth turned to him. “How are you with engineering?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Probably not the man for that job,” he mused, glad to see a smile tugging at her lips, “but I have some calls I want to make.”

“Calls? To who?”

He sighed quietly, running a hand through his hair. “Some old friends. I…I think I know who out last person is.”

Her eyes widened. “Who?”

“This wouldn’t have been prompted by what Nemesis said, would it?” Leo asked as he hopped down to stand beside Annabeth who raised an eyebrow.

“What…did she say? You didn’t tell me about that.”

“He’ll find that boy. Like he always does. Super ominous.”

Annabeth looked over at him. “Boy? What boy? From…” She trailed off, noticing his gaze on her dagger. More specifically the bracelet that was wrapped around the hilt. She placed her hand on the hilt, covering the bracelet as if she didn’t like Ethan staring at it. “She was  talking about Alabaster. Wasn’t she?”

Leo looked between them. “Alabaster. Like…like the rock?”

Ethan snorted softly. “Yeah, like the rock. He’s…we were friends. I haven’t seen him since the war ended but…that’s who my mom was talking about. We’ve gotten separated a dozen times and yet we always ended up finding each other. I thought the last time was…well the last time. But I guess not. I was gonna call around to some of the rogues, see if any of them know where he is.”

“Well, it can’t be that hard.” Leo mused.

“You don’t know Alabaster.” Ethan muttered. “He is…tricky. You can’t find him unless he wants you to find him and I don’t think I’m very high up on the list of people he wants to see right now.”

–––

“Wasn’t expecting to hear from you.” Dolos mused as he appeared in the mist. It looked like he was sitting in some living room, with a mug in his hand.

“Wish it was for a better reason.” Ethan responded, sitting down on his bed.

Dolos hummed, taking a sip of whatever was in his mug – if he had to guess tea, Edward had gotten him hooked on the stuff – before sighing. “What do you need?”

“Have you heard from Alabaster? Recently, and would you know where he is?”

The son of Hermes shook his head. “Haven’t heard from the kid since October. Last I heard about him was from Lorelai, said he was having issues with a monster. She’d be your best bet. Or Callie, but…”

“Callies harder to track down the Alabaster is. I know. You know where Lorelai is?”

“Pottersville, its in New York.”

“She’s still in New York?” Ethan murmured, he’d thought she would’ve left; there was nothing for her in New York, her mom lived in Maine.

“Callies in Manhattan, working at the Empire State building of all places. Lorei didn’t want to go far.”

He nodded slowly, that made more sense. “Callies working where?”

“Her own spite project I’d guess. Zeus tried to kill her, Hera saved her, he doesn’t know.”

“That does sound like Callie. I’ll leave you alone then, I should call Lorelai.”

Dolos nodded. “Before you do, can I ask what you need Alabaster for? Most you’ve asked as far as I’ve been told is if hes alive?”

“Prophecy stuff.” Ethan responded, running his hands through his hair and pulling his eyepatch off. “After the titan war ended, there was another great prophecy. And its…happening. Right now. Gaea-“

“She opened the Doors of Death and is causing havoc?”

Ethan blinked. “Yeah…how did you…”

“Lorelai mentioned the doors, her dad was missing. Plus, with the doors open monsters weren’t getting killed properly, Gaea was bringing them back, it’s the issue Alabaster was having, I think. Tricky monster kept going after him. We all figured something was going on. You’re apart of the prophecy then? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. On a giant warship and fired on the Romans.” Dolos blinked, opening his mouth to say something before closing it and nodding. “We’re in Kansas right now, trying to get to Rome to save one Nico di Angelo. But I’m okay. As safe as I can be right now.”

Dolos nodded. “Good. Call me if you need anything, yeah? And if you find Alabaster.”

“Will do.” Ethan smiled, waving his hand through the mist and falling onto his back, groaning softly. He figured Dolos wouldn’t be a huge help, Alabaster hardly spoke to him after everything with Edward. But, it was a good start at least, he supposed.

Lorelai was his only other viable option. None of his siblings were available, and if he’d been off the radar for months being chased by some monster, he probably wasn’t all too interested in talking to anyone else. But Lorelai wasn’t one to let anyone disappear like that.

She looked rather unamused when she appeared, staring at Ethan with a blank expression, scythe laid across her shoulders and an eyebrow raised. “Nakamura. Haven’t heard from you in months, beginning to think the Olympians decided you weren’t worth their while.”

He scoffed softly. “Hello to you too.”

“What do you need? I’ve got things to do, I don’t have all day Nakamura.”

Ethan nodded, drumming his fingers on his knee. “Do you know where Alabaster is?”

She raised an eyebrow. “You know he wouldn’t want me telling you that.”

“Do you, or do you not?”

Lorelai was silent for a moment before she nodded. “He was staying in Keeseville. Not far from here, but he took it off not to long ago; some job for his mom. Hasn’t told me anything about it or where he is. But he’s alive. If that’s anything to you.”

Ethan sighed, running a hand through his hair. “And you have…no idea where he might be going? Nothing…no hints? About what his mom would want him to do?”

She narrowed her eyes. “What game are you playing right now? Since the war ended, you haven’t asked where he was, what he’s doing. Only if hes alive and around. What changed?”

He pursed his lips, fidgeting with his fingers. “I’d love to stay out of his life, because I know that’s what he wants. But…” he drew a long breath, leaning his head in his hands. “you know about Gaea?”

“No, Ethan, my dad went missing because of her but I know nothing about Gaea.”

“Ookay…there’s a prophecy about her. It’s…what I’m doing, where I am. It’s a great prophecy like-“

“Last year?” She scoffed. “Gods, not even last year, of course there’s another war.”

He nodded. “You don’t have any ideas of where he could be going?”

She shifted her weight, groaning as she swung her scythe down to the ground. “He said something about the Doors of Death, so…I don’t know, maybe Greece?”

“Like…”

“The original Greece. The temple, where the doors are, its in Epirus. So maybe that’s where he’s going.”

He frowned. “We’re on our way to Rome. You remember that Hades kid?”

“di Angelo? Yeah, kid went to Camp Jupiter with his sister, dropped off the radar.”

“He was kidnapped, Gaea. He’s trapped in Rome; we’re trying to save him.”

Lorelai sighed; her scythe dissolved into shadows as she spun it before she crossed her arms. “I’d wish you luck, but I think we both know there’s nothing to come of it. So…be careful.”

He snorted softly, nodding. “Yeah. Thanks. And – thank you for telling me about Alabaster.”

“Didn’t help that much, but you’re welcome. If you can get a hold of Hecate-“

“Not gonna happen. She hasn’t spoken to me since the war.” Lorelai raised an accusatory eyebrow. “Nothing- personal. I think she just knows I’d ask her about Alabaster. And I think we both know that’s not good for either of us.”

She hummed, nodding. “Fair enough. Is that everything you need from me?”

He smiled a little. “Yeah, that’s everything. Thanks, Lorei.”

“Anytime. If I get anything else out of him, I’ll let you know.”

–––

“So, he awakens.” Leo mused, quirking an eyebrow. “Have a good nap?”

“I wasn’t sleeping.” Ethan told him, glancing at Annabeth, who pushed herself off the railing and walked over to him.

“Did you find anything?”

Hazel and Frank exchanged looks of confusion while Ethan sighed. “Well…his mom sent him on a mission. Something about the Doors of Death.”

“Okay, who are we talking about?” Frank asked, holding his hands up.

Ethan glanced at him and opened his mouth to answer when Annabeth cut in. “What would she want him to do at the Doors?”

“I…I don’t know? Investigate? She always sent him on odd jobs, nothing I could understand. She isn’t exactly someone…outsiders could understand.”

“Outsiders?”

“She had an odd way of working, a way only her children or followers would understand. Her kids…they have this hierarchy thing too. It’s a long story.”

“Who. Are we talking about?” Frank asked again.

Ethan held his hand up to stop before Annabeth could push for him to tell her the long story. “Alabaster Torrington-“

“The witch?” Hazel asked, looking shocked.

Ethan raised an eyebrow. “Uh…forgot about that nickname. Yeah. That’s him. He’s the last person we need for the quest. The rogue? That’s him.”

Leo looked between them. “The…witch? Doesn’t…seem promising is he someone bad?”

“He caused mayham at Camp Jupiter constantly, he attacked centurions and legionnaires, he attacked a praetor-“

“Didn’t your praetor literally have one of your centurions cut her own girlfriends head off?”

“I’m sorry what?” Annabeth hissed.

“The witch destroyed buildings-“

“And the legion murdered my allies.”

“Your allies were defending-“

“What they thought was right. Just like the legion was. Just like Camp Half-Blood was.”

Silence settled over them, Annabeth glancing between the two of them with her eyebrow raised. “Okay. You know what. Can we get back to Alabaster?”

Leo nodded slowly. “Can I ask how he got the nickname witch?”

“Son of Hecate.” Ethan responded. “He can control the mist, illusions, magic. He messed with the legion, and because Hecate, Trivia, is a maiden goddess, they didn’t think about how that would work, and of course didn’t know about the Greek side of things, so a maiden goddess having children was out of the question. They didn’t know how he knew magic, so. Witch.”

“Hecate? The…magic goddess? He’s Lou’s older brother?”

Ethan nodded. “He is.”

“And his name is actually Alabaster?” Leo asked.

Ethan turned to him with a blank look. “Yes.”

“His dad named him after a rock.”

“Something like that. Can you please stop asking me about his name, there’s literally nothing special about-“

He jumped, stepping back as Blackjack landed on the ship, beside him, Annabeth made a strangled, panicked noise and surged forward. He spotted Percy and Jason, unconscious, draped over the pegasus’ back. He stepped forward, helping Annabeth pull Percy from Blackjacks back while Piper and Leo pulled Jason off. They brought the boys to the sick bay, leaving Hazel and Frank to tend to Blackjack.

“We’re going to run out of ambrosia at this rate,” Hedge grumbled, “how come I never get invited on these violent trips?”

“Not our main concern.” Ethan muttered, handing Piper a small cup of nectar and some water. “Valdez, ready to set sail?”

“Well, yeah, but-“

Pipers head snapped up. “Atlanta. Set course for Atlanta. I’ll explain later.”

“But…” Leo stared at her, narrowing his eyes but shaking his head. “Okay.”

Annabeths hand ghosted over the horseshoe dent on the back of Percys head, Ethan leaned over her shoulder. “Did…Blackjack kick him?” He asked.

“Yes.”

The daughter of Athena blinked a couple times, staring at Piper as if she’d spoken another language. “I’m sorry. Blackjack did this?”

Ethan watched quietly as Hedge applied healing paste to the boy’s heads, and Piper explained what happened on their outing. Not that he’d doubted the satyrs healing ability, but he wasn’t expecting them to wake up as fast as they did. So, either Hedge did something right, or the spirits that possessed them had made the extra resilient. Within a few minutes both boys were sitting up and able to speak, and although they had fuzzy memories, they managed to add a few things to Pipers stories.

“Knocked out twice in the last two days…some demigod.” Jason mumbled, glancing at Percy. “Sorry man. I didn’t mean to blast you like that.”

The other boy snorted, shaking his head. “Nah, it’s all good. Wouldn’t be the first time, your sister got me good at camp once.”

“Well…yeah, but I could’ve killed you.”

“Or,” He shrugged. “I could’ve killed you.”

“If there’d been an ocean in Kansas, maybe.”

“I don’t need an ocean-“

“Boys,” Annabeth said, holding her hands up, “I’m sure you would’ve been wonderful at killing at each other. But that doesn’t matter anymore, right now you need to rest.”

“Food first.” Percy said, Annabeth raised an eyebrow. “Please? Plus, we need to talk, Bacchus said some things that don’t-“

She raised a hand again. “Fine, we need to talk. Mess hall, ten minutes. Also, you two should probably change.”

Once they’d settled in the dining hall, Piper explained the entire encounter – their conversation with Bacchus, Gaeas trap, the eidolons that possessed the boys.

“Of course!” Hazel slammed her hands on the table, causing Frank to jump. “That must’ve been what happened to Leo!”

“So, it wasn’t my fault.” Leo murmured. “I didn’t start World War Three. I just got possessed by an evil spirit! That’s a relief!”

“But the Romans don’t know that.” Ethan told him. “And they wouldn’t believe us.”

“We could get in contact with Reyna.” Jason suggested. “She would believe us.”

Ethan raised an eyebrow. “Would she?”

Jason ignored him, looking at Piper. “You could convince her; I know you could.”

Annabeth stared over at Jason with a baffled look, as if she couldn’t believe he had said that, Ethan shook his head and Hazel winced, Piper looked vaguely annoyed, but she was rather good at hiding it.

“I can try,” she murmured half-heartedly, “but Octavian is who we need to worry about. I saw him, in my dagger. He was taking control of the Romans, I…I don’t think Reyna can stop him.”

“Always heard the augur was stubborn.” Ethan murmured, drumming his fingers on the table.

Jason’s expression darkened, but the other two nodded. “She’s right,” Frank said, “this afternoon we saw eagles while we were scouting. They weren’t close, but they’re closing in fast. Octavians on the warpath.”

“This is exactly what he’s wanted, a chance to seize power. Reyna hasn’t been at camp long, he’s been there longer and has connections within the legion and city. If she objects, he’ll say she’s soft on Greeks, use the fact that she hasn’t told anyone much about her life before camp against her. And the eagles, its…its like they could smell us.”

“They can.” Ethan muttered. “They hunted us on the Andromeda and Othrys.”

Jason nodded. “They hunt demigods by their magical scent, better than monsters. This ship conceals us, but barely, and not for long.”

Leo drummed his fingers on the table. “Great, should’ve installed something that makes the ship smell like a giant chicken nugget. Someone remind me to invent that next time.”

“What…is a chicken nugget?” Hazel asked, frowning.

“Oh, man,” Leo shook his head, “forgot you’ve missed the last like, seventy years. Well, my apprentice, a chicken nugget-“

“That isn’t important right now.” Ethan interrupted.

“He’s right,” Annabeth agreed, “the point is, it’ll be hard explaining what really happened to them. Even if they believe us-“

“You’re right.” Jason sighed, leaning forward. “We should keep going, the legion will leave us alone once we’re over the Atlantic.”

“Why wouldn’t they follow us?” Leo asked.

“You heard Reyna talking about the ancient lands, they’re too dangerous. Roman demigods have been forbidden to go there for decades. Even Octavian couldn’t get around that.”

Frank swallowed hard, as if his food had turned to cardboard. “So…if we go-“

“We’ll be outlaws on top of being traitors.” Jason confirmed grimly. “Any legionnaire would have the right to kill us on sight. But, I wouldn’t worry about that too much, once we get across they’ll give up chasing us. They’ll assume we’ll die in the Mediterranean.”

Percy pointed a pizza slice at Jason. “You sir. Are a ray of sunshine.” Ethan vaguely remembered Azrael doing something similar at Lux during a meeting.

Regardless, an uncomfortable silence settled over them as they stared at their plates. “So, we plan ahead and make sure we don’t die.” Percy suggested. “Mr. D – Bacchus – uhg does that mean I have to call him Mr. B now? Actually, forget it, nevermind. Anyways, he mentioned twins. From Ella’s prophecy. Two giants, Otis and…uh, something…”

“Ephialtes?” Ethan asked.

“Yeah, that.”

“I remember a story about twin giants. They tried to reach Olympus, piled up some mountains.” Ethan nodded along.

“Well, that’s great.” Frank choked out. “Giants who use mountains like building blocks. And Bacchus..he killed them with- with a pinecone on a stick?”

“Something like that,” Percy murmured, “we shouldn’t count on his help this time, he wanted a tribute. He made it pretty clear it wasn’t something we could handle.”

As silence fell over them, Ethan could hear Hedge singing from above deck, but clearly he didn’t know most of the words and was mostly singing blah blah blah.

So, the twin giants were in Rome, keeping something they needed in a jar. He had a feeling that whatever it was, it was the answer to sealing the Doors of Death, he frowned. Maybe that was what Hecate sent Alabaster to do. Lorelai had said Greece, but what if he was going to Rome?

“She wants two of us.” Pipers voice pulled him from his thoughts.

“What?” He asked.

“Today. On the highway. She told me she needed the blood of two demigods. A boy and a girl. She’d…she wanted me to choose which boy would die.”

Jason grabbed her hand, squeezing it gently. “But neither of us died. You saved us.”

“I know. I know, I just…why would she want that.”

“Hey…remember the Wolf House?” Leo asked, tapping his fork against his plate. “And Khione, our favourite ice princess? She talked about spilling Jason’s blood. How it would taint the place for generations, do you think…demigod blood has some kind of special powers?”

“Oh…” Percy set his pizza down, suddenly looking rather sick, as if Blackjacks kick just registered.

“Percy?” Annabeth asked gently, taking his hand.

“Oh, bad,” he mumbled, shaking his head, “bad, bad. You guys remember Polybotes?”

“The giant who invaded Camp Jupiter, anti-Poseidon you wacked with a Terminus statue. Yes, I think I might remember him.” Hazel responded.

“I had this dream, when we were flying to Alaska. Polybotes was talking to the gorgons, he said he wanted me taken prisoner, not killed. He said my blood will wake Gaea.”

“So, you think..the giants would use our blood…the blood of two of us-“ Pipers breath hitched, looking close to vomiting.

“I don’t know,” Percy responded, “but until we figure it out, we probably shouldn’t get kidnapped.”

“Probably a good idea.” Ethan murmured, taking a drink of his tea.

“Then how do we figure it out?” Hazel asked. “Ellas prophecy, this mark of Athena, how does everything to fit together?”

Annabeth pressed her hands against the table and Percy placed a hand on her forearm. “Piper, you told Leo to set our course for Atlanta.”

“Right, uhm, Bacchus told us to seek out…” she pursed her lips, “what was his name?”

“Phorcys.” Percy responded, Annabeth looked vaguely shocked but offered him a soft smile and leaned her head against his shoulder.

“You know him?”

“I didn’t recognize his name, but when Bacchus mentioned salt water, it rang a bell. He’s this old sea god from before Poseidon. Never met him, but I guess he’s Gaeas son. I don’t know why a sea god would be in Atlanta, but…”

“What’s a wine god doing in Kansas, Percy? The gods are weird. We’ve been over his.” Percy rolled his eyes.

Leo snorted. “Anyways, we should reach Atlanta by noon, unless something else goes wrong.”

“Don’t. Even say that.” Annabeth muttered, sighing before clasping her hands. “Ethan? You have something to share?”

He blinked, setting his mug down. “Oh. Uh. I figured out our last person.”

Percys eyes widened. “Seriously? Who? How do we get them?”

“Alabaster, I don’t know if you remember me talking about him.”

“Hecate kid?” Ethan nodded. “Right, okay. So, he’s our guy?”

“Yup.”

Jason narrowed his eyes. “I know that name.”

Ethan let out a humorless laugh. “Yeah. You would.”

“What does that mean?”

“You remember someone called the witch?”

Jason frowned. “Yeah. He…terrorized the camp…I think.”

“Yup. That’s Alabaster.”

“And…you’re sure he’s the final person?” Percy asked, seeming wary.

“He would classify as a rebel, he refused to come back to camp, fought against the Olympians when the war had ended and tried to get his mother to keep fighting. Plus, we didn’t leave off on…the best terms.”

“Amends.” Annabeth murmured. “You’re supposed to make amends?”

Ethan sighed heavily. “Somehow. I’m probably one of his least favourite people now.”

“Do you know where he is?”

“Uh…no? Lorelai said he’d still been in New York, but he left.”

“Left, where?” Percy pressed.

“I don’t know. He’d told Lorei something about the Doors of Death, so she thought he was on his way to Greece.”

Leo hummed quietly, drumming his fingers on the table. “So. He’s a former army member?”

“Yeah, he was the general. Held more authority then me.”

“Is there anything you tell us about what to expect?” Percy asked.

“He hates you?”

“…what?”

“He hates you.”

Percy blinked. “I’m confused.”

“There was a lot. Of things. He doesn’t really like anyone at Camp, he hates the Olympians in general. But. You very specifically.”

“Okay…but I don’t even know him.”

“Well. But he knows you, and you hurt a lot of people he cared about.”

“That wasn’t intentional-“

“And I stabbed Annabeth unintentionally, but you still broke my nose. His fatal flaw is also loyalty.”

Percy opened his mouth but paused and closed his mouth, Annabeth placed her hand on his, eyeing Ethan closely. “Will he help us?”

“I don’t know. If his mom asked him, probably? But I haven’t spoken with Hecate since the war ended. So, I have no way of knowing what she’s telling him.”

“Do you think he’ll attack anyone?” Piper asked anxiously.

“No. He’s not an idiot. Plus, he’s more bark then he is bite. He doesn’t like hurting people. Usually.”

“Usually. Didn’t he stab you during capture the flag?” Annabeth muttered and Ethan snorted.

“Didn’t you also stab him?”

“Shut up?”

“So, hates the Olympians, hates Percy but he won’t attack us?” Leo summarized.

“Basically.”

“Why is he so anti Olympian?”

“Honour stuff, with his mom. She helped them a lot in the first war against Kronos, uh, helped Demeter when Persephone went missing, stuff like that. She was loyal. But she didn’t have a cabin at camp. He was stuck in the Hermes cabin for, what?” He glanced at Annabeth. “Five years? Because Hecate couldn’t claim him. He was loyal to Kronos, sure, but nothing could ever come close to his loyalty to Hecate.”

“Mamas boy.” Annabeth muttered under her breath. Percys head snapped over to her with a vaguely offended look. “Whatever, we can handle Torrington if we come across him. It’s getting late and we should get some sleep.”

“Wait.” Piper said sharply, pulling everyone’s attention to her. “One last thing. The eidolons, the spirits. They’re here. They’re in the room.”

Chapter Text

Ethan leaned back in his chair while the others stared at Piper uncomfortably. Above them, Hedge was singing…something and Blackjack was stomping his hooves, whinnying in protest.

After a few minutes of silence, Hazel placed her hands on the table. “She’s right.”

“How can you be sure?”

“I’ve met eidolons. In the Underworld.”

“So…” Frank ran a hand over his head. “You think they’re…what, lurking inside the ship? Or-“

“Or inside of one of us.” Ethan mused. Franks eyes flickered to him, rather panicked, but Piper stared at him as if questioning why he’d suggested it and he shrugged. “Army had dealt with them, Alabaster mentioned they tended to hide out in the bodies of their hosts to avoid getting caught.”

Jason clenched his fists. “If that’s what’s happening-“

“We have to take steps. I think I can do this.”

“Do what?” Percy asked.

“Just listen,” she took a deep breath, “everybody. Listen.” The room fell silent as she looked between everyone, meeting everyone’s eyes one at a time. “Eidolons, raise your hands.”

After a beat of tense silence, Leo let out an anxious laugh. “Did you seriously think-“

His voice died in his throat and his face went slack. He raised his hand.

When Jason and Percy did the same, he realized their eyes had turned glassy and gold. Ethan had to restrain himself from getting as far away from Leo as he could, Frank on the other hand, didn’t restrain himself as he scrambled out of his chair and to the wall. Those eyes were familiar, too familiar and he felt like throwing up.

“Oh, gods.” Annabeth whispered, looking similarly nauseous. She tore her eyes away from Percy, staring at Piper imploringly. “Can you fix it?”

Piper looked just as horrified as the rest of them did, but she took a deep breath and focused on Leo. “Are there any more of you here?”

“No,” his voice was hollow, “the Earth Mother sent three. The strongest, the best, we will live again.”

“Not here, you won’t.” Piper snapped. “All of you, listen carefully.”

Percy and Jason turned to her, and even though they weren’t looking at Ethan, he could still feel the way their golden eyes bored into him.

Her eyes hardened. “You will leave these bodies.”

“No,” Percy responded, Leo letting out a soft hiss. “We must live.”

“Mars Almighty, that’s creepy!” Frank fumbled to grab his bow. “Get out spirits! Leave them alone!”

Leo turned towards him. “You, child of war, cannot command us. Your life, it is fragile, a soul that can burn away at any moment.”

Ethan wasn’t sure what that meant, but Frank sure did, drawing an arrow with shaking hands. “I’ve faced down worse than you, if it’s a fight you want-“

“Frank, don’t.” As Hazel rose, Jason drew his sword.

“Stop!” Piper ordered; her voice wavered.

“Listen to Piper.” Hazel demanded, pointing at Jasons sword. The blade seemed to grow heavy in his hand, before clunking to the table and Jason sank into his chair.

Percy growled in a way that was not him. “Daughter of Pluto, you may control gems and metals, but you do not control the dead.”

Hazel waved Annabeth off when she reached over to restrain him. “Listen, you do not belong here. While I may not command you, Piper does. You obey her.” Hazel gave Piper a reassuring look.

Piper took a deep breath, looking straight at Jason. “You will leave these bodies.”

Jasons face tightened, his forehead beaded with sweat. “We…we will leave these bodies.”

“You will vow on the River Styx never to return to this ship,” she continued, “and never to possess any member of this crew.” Percy and Leo hissed in protest. Annabeth’s hand grabbed Ethans, meeting his gaze with a panicked look. “You will promise on the River Styx.” Piper repeated.

There was a beat of tense silence, and then all three of them spoke, “We promise on the River Styx.”

“You are dead.” She nodded when they agreed. “Good, now leave.”

When all three boys slumped forward, Percy fell face-first into his pizza, causing Annabeth to panic, Jason slipped out of his chair while Piper and Hazel grabbed his arms, and Leo fell towards Frank, who made no move to catch him, so Ethan had to rush to catch him before he hit the ground. Leo groaned as his forehead smacked against Ethans shoulder, and he shot Frank a look, though he didn’t look very apologetic.

“Are you alright?” Ethan asked as Leo pushed himself up.

“Did it work?” He asked, offering the son of Nemesis a small grin as thanks.

“It did,” Piper responded, “I don’t think they’ll be back.”

Jason glanced at her with a tired look. “Does that mean I can stop getting head injuries now?”

Piper laughed, patting his shoulder. “C’mon lightning boy. You need some fresh air.” Ethan watched quietly as the two left the room with Leo trailing behind them. Hazel and Frank also left, saying their goodnights, leaving Ethan with Percy and Annabeth.

“It wasn’t just me who got bad memories from that, right?” Annabeth asked, looking at him.

He snorted, brushing his hair out of his face. “Nope.”

“You two okay?” Percy asked, glancing between them with a worried look.

Ethan hummed, getting up from his seat. “Will be, just need to sleep.” He waved them off when they shot him worried looks and made his way back to his cabin.

He almost didn’t bother with changing, but sleeping in jeans was never comfortable, plus his face would be irritated if he slept with his eyepatch on. So, he changed. He rolled onto his back, staring at the dots of star shaped light on his ceiling, vaguely reminding him of all the times he’d stared at the real stars on the Andromeda with Alabaster, which made him wonder how they were going to get the son of Hecate on the ship to begin with. They didn’t know where he was, they didn’t know where he was going and there was no way he was going to agree to help the Olympians.

He probably wouldn’t even be willing to help Ethan himself.

–––

While his sleep the previous night was dream free, tonight, it wasn’t. He found himself in a living room, feeling extremely out of place. The room was meticulous; everything polished, straightened and dusted, the furniture looking like it hadn’t been touched. It would’ve look like nobody lived here if it weren’t for a mug holding coffee that had long gone cold and a journal with scribbles all over the cover. It felt familiar, and yet he recognized nothing about it.

He wandered around the room, trying to find any other indication that someone may have lived here, but he came up with nothing. No pictures, no personalization, all perfect whites and greys. It didn’t feel homey.

A door slammed and Ethans head snapped over to look at it. A person had come in, slumped against the door and buried their head in their knees, muttering something. Ethan was slow walking over to them, as if they could see him, although with dream-walking he never knew what was present and what was past.

Something slammed against the door and the person jolted, scrambling to their feet which let Ethan see their face. Alabaster. His eyes were blown wide and panicked, he tapped something on his hip and after a beat, mist swirled around his hand, condensing and materializing into a golden sword. There was another slam and Alabaster cursed, spinning his sword and walking into the living room.

“She won’t leave me alone, won’t die,” he muttered under his breath, jumping as another slam came. “Incantre: Magia Occultandi.” Ethan hadn’t heard that spell before, enchantment of hiding. Alabaster took a deep breath, pressing a hand against one of the many runes on his clothes. “Incantre: Vŏcor obice.” Now that one was a spell he’d heard, a barrier spell. Looking out the window, he watched the familiar green dome settling around the house.

He looked back at Alabaster as he slumped on the couch, picking the journal up, taking a moment to study the other demigod. He looked…bad. He was skinnier, as if his diet had gotten worse, and paler then normal. The bags under his eyes were worse, more prominent than Ethan had ever seen them before, he looked painfully exhausted. Not to mention the countless cuts and bruises and new scars that adorned his skin.

He knew Alabaster had been on his own for a while, at least six months, which was never a good idea. But this seemed worse then normal, what did he mean she won’t leave me alone? He watched the boy tap his pen against the journal pages almost frantically as he murmured a prayer in Latin repeatedly.

–––

He jolted awake to a bat slamming against his door and Hedge yelling a wakeup call, making him groan as he sat up and pulled himself out of bed. Frankly he wanted to go back to sleep, maybe he could finish the dream and get more of an idea of what was after Alabaster, Lorelai hadn’t mentioned anything about something – or someone being after him, only that he’d been having trouble with a monster. Though, it wouldn’t be out of character for him to have kept that information from her. But one thing he knew, was that Alabaster was hiding from it, which was out of character for him, so whatever this was, it was dangerous.

The bat connected with his door again and he groaned louder. He got dressed, fixing his eyepatch to his head as he opened the door, narrowly avoiding a bat to the face. “It’s way to early for this shit, can’t you let us sleep in a little?” He grumbled, rubbing his eye as Piper and Jason emerged from their cabins, in similar states of annoyance.

Hedge, of course, ignored him, slamming his bat against Annabeth door for what was likely the third time. Ethan frowned. “Is she not awake yet? She rubs it in my face how she’s always up before me.” He muttered, walking over to her door and knocking. “Beth?” He frowned; Piper shot him a worried look when they received no response. “Beth, I’m coming in!”

He pushed the door open, stepping into the room. He frowned, eye falling on her empty bed, so he moved over to the bathroom door and knocked, but it creaked open. “Ethan?” Piper called from the doorway.

“She’s not here.”

Piper stared at him. “What do you mean she’s not here?”

His lips tugged into a frown as he walked towards Percys room. “Probably with her boyfriend.” He hoped she was, at least.

Hedge looked the least bit impressed with his conclusion, but he’d stopped hitting the doors, so that was a win in Ethans books. He walked over to Percy’s door when Hazels knocking came up with no answer. “Jackson, you don’t answer the door, I’m kicking it open.” He earned a few weird looks, but nobody said anything as Ethan knocked again. “Percy!”

“I don’t think he’s answering.” Piper mumbled, sounding anxious.

Ethan rolled his eye and pushed the door open, frowning as, again, it was empty. He checked the bathroom but eventually returned to the hallway with a familiar uneasy feeling settling over him. “He’s not in here.”

“Did they get kidnapped or something?” Hazel asked, eyes wide.

Ethan held a hand up. “Let’s not jump to conclusions,” he told them, “lets search the ship, they wouldn’t have gone far. Meet in the dining hall when we find them.”

He wandered around the ship aimlessly for a while until he came across the couple in the stables, of course they were together. The scene reminded him of the night May and Lou found him and Alabaster on the roof of the Andromeda, tucked against each other having fallen asleep stargazing the night before. He almost felt bad waking them up.

Almost.

He coughed, jolting Percy and Annabeth awake, scrambling off the ground and dusting themselves off. “You two,” he mused, a smirk playing his lips, “are in so much trouble.”

“What?” Percy yawned, rubbing his eyes. “Oh, we just fell asleep.”

“Uh-huh. You gave us quite a scare,” Annabeth frowned at him, “everyone thinks you’ve been kidnapped, we’ve been scouring the ship.” He snorted. “Holy Hecate, have you been here all night?”

“Ethan!” Annabeth hissed, her face red as strawberries.

“Oh, my gods Hedge is gonna be pissed.”

“We just came down here to talk, and we accidentally fell asleep. That’s it.”

“We kissed a couple times.” Percy added.

“Percy!” Annabeth hissed while Ethan cackled.

“Come on, lovebirds,” he teased, snickering as the got up, “we’re supposed to meet for breakfast.” Annabeth shot him a half-hearted glare, and he started laughing. “You must atone for your sins Chase.”

“Shut your mouth, jackass.” She shoved his shoulder as she walked past.

When they arrived, the others were relieved, but Leo couldn’t stop grinning while Hazel seemed scandalized and couldn’t meet their eyes. Hedge, naturally, went ballistic but Ethan had to stifle a laugh as he was barely five feet tall and the couple were considerably taller than him. “Never in my life!” He bellowed, waving his bat and knocking over a plate of apples. “Against the rules! Irresponsible!”

“Coach,” Annabeth mumbled, running a hand through her hair, “it was an accident. We were just talking, and we fell asleep.”

“Besides,” Percy hummed, “you’re starting to sound like Terminus.”

Hedge narrowed his eyes at him. “Is that an insult, Jackson? ‘Cause I’ll terminus you, buddy!”

The son of Poseidon stifled a laugh. “It won’t happen again, Coach, promise. Now, don’t we have other things to discuss?”

“Fine!” He snapped, glaring at them. “But I’m watching you, Annabeth Chase, I thought-“

Ethan cleared his throat, cutting him off. “Let’s grab some food and get started.”

The meeting was familiar, a bunch of teenaged demigods sitting around a table with food. In the army, the higher ups – commanders, as Kronos called them, alongside himself and Alabaster – were a bunch of teenagers or barely adults so they weren’t exactly productive when the titans weren’t around, which often resulted in a slew of insults and food being thrown around. Meetings at camp weren’t much different, the counselors were all teenagers – or younger – and their serious discussions were all around a ping-pong table in the rec room with crackers and Cheez Whiz.

Percy explained his dream from the night before, twin giants planning some party for them in an underground parking lot with rocket launchers, Nico trapped in a bronze jar slowly dying with pomegranate seeds at his feet.

Hazel’s hand covered her mouth to stifle a sob. “Nico…Oh gods, the seeds.”

“You know what they are?” Annabeth asked.

“He showed them to me once; they’re from our stepmothers garden.”

“Stepmoth…ohh Persephone.” Percy mumbled.

Ethan recalled meeting her a couple times, accompanying Lou on some job for her mother he couldn’t remember very well, as well as her daughter in the army. She’d been kind, doting on Lou and himself while they wandered through her garden of crystal trees and flowers blooming bloodred and ghostly white.

“The seeds…they’re a last resort, only children of Hades can eat them,” Hazel murmured, the silverware on the table quivered on the table, sliding towards her slowly, Ethan opted not to comment on the fact that Persephone’s children could also eat them. “Nico, he…he always kept some in case he got stuck. If he’s really imprisoned-”

“Then they’re trying to lure us.” Ethan murmured.

Annabeth nodded, playing with her hair. “They’re assuming we’ll try and rescue him.”

“Of course we will!” Hazel shouted, looking around the table, her confidence looked to be crumbling. “Right?”

“Of course we will.” Ethan assured, cutting Hedge off before he could yell in response, something about violence he was willing to guess.

“How long…how long do we have?” Frank asked, placing a hand on her shoulder.

“One seed a day,” she mumbled miserably, “if he puts himself in a death trance.”

“A death trance?” Annabeth’s nose scrunched up. “That doesn’t sound very funny.”

“It keeps him from consuming all his air,” Hazel explained, “like hibernation, or a coma. One seed can sustain him one day, barely.”

“And he has five seeds left,” Percy murmured, “that’s five days, including today. The giants must have planned it that way, so we’d have to arrive by July first. Assuming Nico is hidden somewhere in Rome-”

“That’s not much time,” Ethan summed up, placing a hand on Hazel’s shoulder. “We’ll find him. At least we know what the lines of the prophecy mean now. ‘Twins snuff out the angel’s breath, who holds the key to endless death.’ Your brother’s last name: di Angelo. Angelo is Italian for ‘angel.’”

“Oh, gods,” Hazel muttered, bringing a hand up to her mouth, “Nico…”

Ethan easily recalled the son of Hades, it is rather hard to forget a child bringing three gods and a skeleton army into battle. He was quite fond of the younger demigod, while closed off and cold, he’d warmed up to Ethan. That may have been because both were something of outcasts. ‘Children of the Underworld gravitate to each other.’ Lorelai once told him. The boy certainly didn’t deserve slow suffocation in a bronze jar.

“We’ll rescue him,” Percy promised, “we have to. The prophecy says he holds the key to endless death.”

“That’s right,” Piper said encouragingly, “he went searching for the Doors of Death in the Underworld, right? He must’ve found them.”

“He can tell us where the doors are,” Percy said, “and how to close them.”

Hazel took a deep breath. “Yes. Good.”

“Uh…” Leo shifted in his chair. “One thing. The giants are expecting us to do this, right? So, we’re walking into a trap?”

Hazel looked at Leo like he’d made a rude gesture. Ethan was tempted to throw a piece of tofu at the son of Hephaestus. “We have no choice!”

“Don’t get me wrong, Hazel. It’s just that your brother, Nico…he knew about both camps, right?”

“Well, yes,”

“He’s been going back and forth,” Leo said, “and he didn’t tell either side.”

Jason sat forward, his expression grim. “You’re wondering if we can trust the guy. So am I.”

Hazel shot to her feet. “I don’t believe this! He’s my brother. He brought me back from the Underworld, and you don’t want to help him?”

Frank put his hand on her shoulder. “Nobody’s saying that,” he glared at Leo, “nobody better be saying that.”

Leo blinked. “Look, guys. All I mean is-”

“Hazel,” Jason said, “Leo is raising a fair point. I remember Nico from Camp Jupiter. Now I find out he also visited Camp Half-Blood. That does strike me as…well, a little shady. Do we really know where his loyalties lie? We just have to be careful.”

Hazel’s arms shook. A silver platter zoomed toward her and hit the wall to her left, splattering scrambled eggs.

“That’s enough!” Ethan snapped, watching as they relaxed, powers coming off him in waves, Hazel sat back down. “Nico is a child; he doesn’t deserve to die. It doesn’t matter if we can trust him or not, we have to save him. He could be working for Gaea, and I’d still save him.” Hazel nodded adamantly. “Percy, I know you have a rocky history with the kid, but he saved your asses in Manhattan. Don’t forget that.” The son of Poseidon nodded slowly.

“We don’t know why he was going between camps, yes. But we also don’t know why he wasn’t telling anyone. I knew about both camps too, remember? I wasn’t allowed to tell anyone, the Olympians made me swear on it. I mean you saw what happened.” He sighed quietly. “Nico’s a good kid, we’re going to save him. Got it?”

Ethan glanced at Hazel who sighed. “I’m going to get some air.” She told them, getting out of her chair.

Frank went to follow her, but Piper caught his arm. “Let her cool off.”

Before Frank could argue, a whirring sound like a large drill came from upstairs. “That’s Festus,” Leo said, “I’ve got him on autopilot, but we must be nearing Atlanta. I’ll have to get up there…uh, assuming we know where to land.”

Everyone turned to Percy. Jason raised an eyebrow. “You’re Captain Salt Water. Any ideas from the expert?”

“I’m not sure,” Percy admitted. “Somewhere central, high up so we can get a good view of the city. Maybe a park with some woods? We don’t want to land a warship in the middle of downtown. I doubt even the Mist could cover up something that huge.”

Leo nodded. “On it.” He raced for the stairs.

“When we land, I’ll scout around in Atlanta,” Percy said, “Frank, I could use your help.”

“You mean turn into a dragon again? Honestly, Percy, I don’t want to spend the whole quest being everyone’s flying taxi.”

“No, I want you with me because you’ve got the blood of Poseidon. Maybe you can help me figure out where to find salt water. Besides, you’re good in a fight.”

That seemed to make Frank feel a little better. “Sure. I guess.”

“Great,” Percy said, “we should take one more. Annabeth-”

“Oh, no!” Coach Hedge barked. “Young lady, you are grounded.”

Ethan almost choked on his coffee and Annabeth stared at him like he was speaking a foreign language. “Excuse me?”

“You and Jackson are not going anywhere together!” Hedge insisted. He glared at Percy, daring him to mouth off. “I’ll go with Frank and Mr. Sneaky Jackson. The rest of you guard the ship and make sure Annabeth doesn’t break any more rules!”

Annabeth turned to Ethan with an offended look, and he hid another bubbling laugh into his mug.

“This,” Percy said, “is going to be so much fun.”

Chapter Text

Annabeth was trying to cheer up Hazel by telling her stories about Percy, Ethan was sitting on the floor beside the bed, chiming in with a few additions of his own. She was in the midst of telling them about a fight between Percy and Thalia during a game of capture the flag against the hunters when Frank stumbled down the hall and bust into the cabin.

“Leo?!” He gasped. “We need to go! Take off!”

Ethan scrambled off the ground while the girls got off the bed. “Where’s Percy?” Annabeth demanded. “And the goat?”

Frank doubled over, leaning on his knees and trying to breath, his clothes were damp and looked stiff as if they’d been washed in starch. “Deck. Fine. Followed.”

Annabeth shoved passed him, Ethan on her tail as she rushed up the stairs, he was vaguely aware of Hazel and Frank following them. When they emerged, Percy and Hedge were splayed out on the deck, looking exhausted. Hedge was missing his shoes, grinning and muttering. Percy’s skin was littered with cuts as if he’d jumped through a window, he was quiet, but he grabbed for Annabeth’s hand.

The other three, who’d been in the mess hall eating, came up not long after. Leo was holding a half-eaten grilled cheese sandwich, looking vaguely distressed. “What is the problem!? Can I not even take a lunch break?”

“Followed!”

Jason stared at him, holding his hands out. “By what!?”

“I don’t know!” Frank groaned. “Whales? Sea monsters? Kate and Porky?”

Annabeth looked seconds away from strangling him, but she composed herself. “That makes zero sense. Leo, get us out of here.” He obliged, sticking his sandwich between his teeth and running for the helm.

A few minutes passed, and the Argo was rising, with Annabeth manning the crossbow, reporting no signs of pursuers but the others didn’t seem to calm until the skyline was nothing more then a smudge below them.

“Charleston” Percy told them, hobbling over to try and stand with Annabeth until Ethan pulled him onto the ground to make him sit, “set course for Charleston.”

“Charleston?” Jason murmured, his voice seeming haunted. “What did you find in Atlanta.” It was less a question, more of demand.

It reminded Ethan of the centurion he was during the war.

Stil, Frank unzipped his bag and pulled out a plethora of random souvenirs, peach preserves, t-shirts, snow globe, Chinese handcuffs. Again, Annabeth seemed like she wanted to hit him upside the head. “Start from the top. Of the story. Not the backpack.” Ethan gritted out.

They gathered on the quarterdeck, so Leo was able to listen in while he navigated, and so Percy and Frank took turns relaying their story of what happened at the Aquarium, Hedge interjected occasionally to call something awesome or let them know he kicked someone in the head. Annabeth, at least, seemed somewhat relieved by the fact he’d forgotten her and Percy falling asleep in the stables the night before.

Percy’s bad mood was explained as he talked about the sea creatures being held captive in the aquarium and Annabeth took his hand, brushing a hand through his hair to comfort him. “We need to help them.” She said.

“We will,” he promised, leaning into her hand “in time. But I need to figure out how, I just wish…” he sighed, closing his eyes, “never mind. First things first, we need to deal with these bounties.”

Ethan shifted on his feet, messing with the hilt of his knife. “A bounty, huh? As if we didn’t attract enough monsters.”

“Do we get wanted posters?” Leo asked, peering over his shoulder. “And are our bounties like…broken down on a price list?”

“What are you talking about?” Hazel asked, wrinkling her nose.

He shrugged. “Y’know, just curious how much I’m worth! I mean, I can understand if Percy or Jason are pricier, but am I worth, like, two Franks?” Frank made a noise of protest. “Or maybe three Ethans?” Ethan kicked him in the leg.

“Knock it off,” Annabeth hissed, “at least we know our next step is going to Charleston to find this map.”

Piper leaned against the control panel; _her hair was braided with red ribbons that complimented her dark hair; Ethan wondered how she had the time. “A map. But a map to what?”

“The Mark of Athena.” Ethan said, ignoring the annoyed look Annabeth shot him. “Whatever it is,” he continued, nudging her shoulder with his foot, “we know it leads to something important in Rome, something that could heal the rift between Romans and Greeks.”

“The giants’ bane.” Hazel mumbled.

Percy hummed, nodding. “In my dream, those twin giants, they said something about a statue.”

“Uhm,” Frank rolled his Chinese handcuffs between his fingers, “according to Phorcys, we’d have to be insane to try and find it. But what is it?”

Ethan noted everyone looking to Annabeth and he sighed, moving to sit down beside her. “Whatever it is, it doesn’t matter. We’d be insane to try and find it? Y’all know three of us fought in a war less then a year ago?”

“And you tried to decapitate a man who was invincible.” Annabeth muttered.

“So, shut the fuck up actually. The point is, we’re plenty insane, so we’re going.”

Annabeth nodded. “Besides, I’ll know more if we find this map.” She looked to Jason. “The way you reacted to the name Charleston, have you been there before?”

Jason glanced uneasily at Piper, though Ethan wasn’t quite sure why. “Yeah,” he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. “Reyna and I, we did a quest there about a year ago. Salvaging these imperial gold weapons from the C.S.S. Hunley.”

Piper cocked her head to the side. “The what?”

“Woah!” Leo whirled around to stare at Jason. “That’s the first successful military submarine! From the Civil War! I always wanted to see that!”

“It was designed by Roman demigods,” Jason explained, “it held this secret stash of gold torpedoes – until we took them and brought them back to Camp Jupiter.”

“So,” Hazel crossed her arms, “the Romans fought on the Confederate side? As a girl whose grandmother was a slave, can I just say…not cool?”

Jason held his hands up in surrender. “I personally was not alive then, and it wasn’t all Greeks on one side and Romans on the other. But yes! Not cool!” He gave her a sheepish look. “Sometimes demigods make bad choices. Like being too suspicious and speaking without thinking.”

Hazel stared blankly at him, and Ethan realized he was trying to apologize, which seemed to dawn on her as well. Leo yelped when Jason elbowed him in the ribs.

“Ow!” He pouted, shooting Jason an offended look. “I mean, yeah. Bad choices. Like not trusting people’s brothers who, you know, might hypothetically speaking need saving.”

Hazel eyed them, pursing her lips. “Fine, back to Charleston, are you saying we should check that submarine?”

Jason shrugged, shifting on his feet. “Well, I can think of two places we could search; there’s the museum where they keep the Hunley, lots of relics from the Civil War, a map could be hidden in one. I know the layout, so I could lead a team inside.”

“I’ll go! Sounds cool.” Leo grinned.

Jason nodded with a smile and turned to Frank. “You should come too, we’ll need you.”

The son of Mars blinked at him. “Why? I wasn’t much help at the aquarium.”

“Oh please,” Percy scoffed, “you did fine! It took all three of us to break that glass.”

“Besides,” Ethan mused, “you’re a child of Mars, ghosts of defeated causes? They’re bound to serve you. A museum like that has plenty of ghosts from the Confederate sides. You’ll be able to keep them in line.”

Frank looked anxious but eventually nodded. “Okay, sure.” He frowned at his fingers, trying to pull them out of his Chinese trap. “Uh, how do you…”

Leo chuckled. “Man, you’ve never seen those before? There’s a simple trick to getting out.”

Frank tugged again with no luck, and Ethan placed a hand on his arm. “Push in, then pull out.”

The other demigod blinked, but followed the instructions, pushing into the trap and slipping his fingers out. “Oh. Thanks.”

“No problem. Those sorts of things can be tricky if you’ve never dealt with them before.” He offered a small smile. “My oji-san had a bunch in his house, so he taught me, messed with my cousins a bunch.” He nodded and Ethan pat his arm before turning to Jason. “Now, the museum is one place, but the other one is?”

Jasons eyes got a distant look to them, but he nodded slowly. “Yeah, the other place is called the Battery. It’s this park by the harbour. The last time I was there, I was with…” he trailed off, pursing his lips and glancing at Piper, “with Reyna.”

He drew a quick breath and then hurried on. “We saw something there, a ghost or…something, a spirit maybe? Like…a Southern belle from the Civil War, glowing and floating along. We tried to approach her, but she disappeared whenever we got close and then Reyna had this feeling that she should try to talk to her alone, like maybe she’d only talk to a woman. Sure enough, when she approached her alone, she spoke.”

There was a brief silence among them, before Annabeth seemed to realize Jason wouldn’t elaborate, and she pressed. “What did she say?”

“Reyna wouldn’t tell me,” he admitted sullenly, “but it must have been important. She…she seemed shaken up, I don’t know if she got a prophecy, or bad news or something, but she never acted the same around me after that, it was weird.”

Annabeth hummed, considering his words, Ethan could practically see the gears turning in her head – she got the same damn look Alabaster did – and he sighed, nudging her arm. “What’s going on in that head, Beth?”

She huffed softly, shooting him a look, but responded regardless. “After the eidolons, I’m not too anxious to go approach another ghost, especially if she gives bad news or prophecies or something, but bad or not it is still knowledge, and it could be valuable! I can’t just turn something like that down.”

He nodded. “So?”

“So, Piper, Hazel and I go. A girls adventure.”

The other girls nodded, but Hazel looked anxious, no doubt having had enough ghost experiences in the Underworld for her lifetime. On the other hand, Piper looked more determined, as if the mention that Reyna had done this was fueling her.

Annabeth glanced between Percy and Ethan, as if debating the logistics of leaving them behind with Hedge, they both nodded when she met their eyes, and it seemed to quell whatever worry had bubbled in her chest.

“Now that all of that’s settled,” she turned to Leo at the console, listening to the creaks and clicks over the intercom, “how long until we get to Charleston?”

Leo huffed softly. “Good question, Festus just detected a large group of eagles behind us – on the long-range radar, so they’re not in sight.”

“Are you sure they’re Roman?” Piper asked, leaning over the console.

“No, it could just be a totally random group of giant eagles flying in perfect formation – of course they’re Roman Piper!” He flicked her forehead, and she recoiled with an offended noise. “I suppose we could turn around and fight-“

“Bad idea,” Jason murmured, “it’d only solidify us as enemies of Rome.”

“-or I’ve got another idea. If we went straight there, we’d be there in a few hours. But the eagles would overtake us, and it’d get complicated. So, what we could do is send out a decoy to trick the eagles, take the ship on a detour and then arrive tomorrow morning.” He held his hand up before Hazel could protest. “I know, I know, Nico, we have to hurry.”

“It’s the twenty-seventh. Four more days after today, then he’s dead.” Hazel said, crossing her arms.

“I know!” He said. “But this might throw the Romans off our trail. We should still have enough time to reach Rome.

“And when you say should have enough time,” Ethan drawled.

“Barely enough?” Leo responded sheepishly.

Hazel groaned, putting her head in her hands. Ethan pat her shoulder awkwardly. “That sounds typical for us.”

Annabeth hummed. “Okay, what kind of decoy are we talking about?”

Leo grinned wildly in a way that made Ethan anxious. “I am so glad you asked!” He moved so fast that Ethan didn’t care to keep up with the actions. “Buford? Report for duty, please!”

Frank took a step back. “There’s somebody else on the ship? Who’s Buford?”

Now, Buford tended to stay in the engine room – Leo said it was because he had a crush on the engine – and so Ethan didn’t see much of him, until he popped up from the stairwell. He was a three-legged table, with several drawers, spinning gears and a set of steam vents. Tied to one of his legs, Buford had a bag he was toting around like a mail sack. Leo seemed pleased as he clattered up to the helm and whistled.

“This is Buford!”

“You name your furniture.” Frank deadpanned.

“You’d name your furniture too if you had a table as cool as Buford.” Leo retorted. “Buford, you ready for Operation End Table?” Buford spat up steam and stepped over to the railing, Ethan assumed that was a yes, then. He watched as Buford’s top split into four slices and extended into blades, which began spinning and lifted him from the ship deck.

“Helicopter table, gotta admit, that’s pretty cool.” Percy murmured. “What’s in the bag?”

“Dirty laundry,” Leo responded, shrugging, “hope you don’t mind, Frank.”

Frank sputtered, whipping around to face Leo with an offended look. “What?!”

“It’ll throw the eagles off our scent!”

“Those were my only extra pants!” Frank cried, looking ridiculously stressed.

Leos hands flew up in surrender, “I asked Buford to get them laundered while he’s out! They’ll be back before you know it.” He assured, whirling on his heel. “Anyways! With that set, I’m gonna work on a detour route now, so I’ll see you all at dinner!”

–––

Ethan was sitting in his cabin, flipping a drachma in his hand, debating trying to seek out anyone else from the army. Maybe Alastor, or Reseda…any of the chthonic half-bloods might have any sort of information on where Alabaster could possibly be.

All of a sudden, he was falling off his bed as the ship rocked. He quickly scrambled to the floor, fixing the photo frame on his nightstand, before he was running out the door. He slammed his fist into Hedges door as he ran up the stairs.

Nobody was on the deck when he reached it, but he could see giant eagles circling above the ship, Festus stopping them from landing by blowing fire whenever they got close. He could see at least a dozen flying towards Fort Sumter.

“Where are they!?” Hedge shouted as he appeared behind him. “Who do I kill?”

“Nobody. Defend the ship.” Ethan instructed, pointing at the eagles above them. “I need to figure out where everyone is..”

“But they interrupted-“

“Defend the ship, goat!” Ethan hissed in response.

He could see Annabeth, Piper and Hazel standing on the dock below, Roman soldiers blocking them from reaching the ship. That was an issue.

Or, it was, until something zipped between all of them, knocking weapons from their hands and effectively breaking their formation. The Romans panicked, dispersing as green flashes knocked their weapons away from them. Ethans gaze shifted down to his hand, his heart skipping a beat.

The runes on his ring were glowing.

Chapter Text

Scaring the Roman soldiers was nothing new, Alabaster almost found entertainment in the way the legionnaires scattered and shouted warnings of “Witch!” He almost laughed as one of them tripped over their own feet in attempt to scramble away from him as he stood over them.

“For Roman soldiers, you’re all awfully easy to scare off.” He mused, spinning his dagger in his hand. If the weapon shifted through a few different states before it settled back into its dagger form, well Alabaster wouldn’t bat an eye.

“How are you alive, witch?” Octavian snapped, disgust dripping from his tone.

Alabaster rolled his head back, sighing heavily. “Do you truly believe I would die so easily? Jupiter himself would have to strike me down.”

Though, he mused to himself, Zeus had tried to strike him down.

He jumped back as one of the legionnaires rushed forward, a wide grin spreading on his lips as they tripped over his foot, their sword clattering to the ground. “Wow. That was pathetic.” Instead of being smart and backing off without a weapon, they swung a punch towards his face.

Catching the fist wasn’t hard, and the feel of flesh tearing under his teeth as blood filled his mouth wasn’t unfamiliar. The legionnaire yanked their arm back, leaving a small chunk of bloody flesh hanging from his mouth, a wide, toothy grin splitting his face. This would be fun.

The Romans were quick and fought in formation, unfortunately there was no formation that could predict the sporadic and unpredictable way that Alabaster fought, zipping through the Mist to avoid being hit and materializing behind a solider to land his own hits.

It wasn’t until Alabaster had Octavian on the ground; sword pressed to the side of his neck that the Romans froze.

“You've gotten stronger.” Octavian spat as he rolled onto his back.

Alabaster drove the blade of his sword in the ground beside the augur’s head, slicing a lock of his hair off in the process, his foot planted on his chest to keep him down. “Did you perhaps expect me to get weaker? Not that it’s much of a challenge, beating you, you know. You're all bark, no bite.”

“I’ll show you–“

Alabaster raised an eyebrow, pressing his foot against the boy’s chest, cutting him off. “I'm sure you'll show me plenty from down there.” He drawled.

He lifted his head to stare at the other half-bloods who had circled him and grinned. He tapped the card tucked into his sleeve and Mist swirled on the ground around them, rising behind Alabaster until it formed into the shape of a sleek black Labrador. Then, the air around the dog bent and several more dogs appeared, snarling at the legionnaires.

Octavian scrambled to his feet the second Alabaster lifted his foot. He offered a wild grin and spun his sword, reality twisting until it formed a spear, and he pointed it at the augur. “I’ll give you a head start. Better get running unless you wanna be dog food.”

Now, the Romans weren’t easily scared, it just so happened that Alabaster was the son of a maiden goddess, which meant they didn’t know how his powers worked. All they knew was that he tormented them throughout the war with his ability to twist reality and create things out of nothing. Of course, the dogs chasing them was only one dog, but they didn’t know that.

Now then. He turned around, meeting the sharp grey eyes he’d known had been burning holes in his skull since he arrived.

“Torrington.”

“Chase.”

The last time Alabaster had seen the daughter of Athena, they'd been stood on the Williamsburg bridge in Manhattan, daggers to each others' throats but neither making the next move. As if they couldn't bring themselves to harm the other. Well, he couldn't bring himself to, at least. He wasn't sure what had stopped Annabeth from slitting his throat.

Though, he supposed she’d always had better morals then he did, she'd hate to kill anyone, enemy or not.

“What are you doing here?” Chase asked, crossing her arms.

At her side were two other half-bloods that Alabaster didn’t recognize. A girl who was looked about fourteen with curly hair and a girl who looked about his age with choppy brown hair.

He sighed, letting his spear change to a dagger as he looked past the girls and at the ship behind them. “Why do you have a warship?” She looked unimpressed. He rolled his eyes. “I’m doing something for my mother. I’ve seen those damn eagles everywhere, so I thought I’d have some fun.”

The younger girl looked like she was seething at his words. His lips twitched into a smile. “You’re the witch.” She snapped.

Alabaster raised an eyebrow. “You’re Roman, then?” With proper attention on her, he could tell she was a child of the Underworld. How very interesting. “I don’t recognize you. You must be new.”

“Why you–“

“Hazel.” Chase held a hand out and the younger girl shrunk back, still glaring daggers at Alabaster who only gave her a coy grin. “Why are you here, Torrington?”

“I told you, I’m doing something for my mother.” He answered. “She said Camp Half-Blood had a major quest, but I didn’t think I’d run into you.”

Chase’s eyes widened minutely as she stared at him, and the girl to her left lifted a hand to her shoulder. Alabaster blinked, staring blankly at the daughter of Athena. “There’s a spider on my shoulder, isn’t there?”

“There is.” Chase responded.

He shifted his head, staring uncomfortably at the spider sitting on his shoulder, he couldn’t be bothered to figure out what kind of spider it was, because the damn thing was too close to his face for him to not want to set himself on fire. Still though. “Mother. Must you appear to me in this form?”

The spider only crawled down his arm, settling on his hand. Alabaster only eyed the creature cautiously, unsure if it was his mother, or some sign she’d sent to him. Given its lack of response, it wasn’t her. But what reason would she have to send him a sign right now?

Wait.

He looked at Chase again, eyes narrowing slightly. “Are you going to Greece?”

She frowned. “What? No.” She tilted her head. “Rome…actually.”

“Rome? Far from home for you.”

Chase raised an eyebrow. “And I could say the same for you about Greece.”

He snorted, rolling his eyes. “Haven’t had a home for a while now.”

Before she could say anything else, a flaming spear rocketed out from the ship. Alabaster’s head snapped up in time to watch it explode over a chariot and sending the pegasi controlling it into a panic. He noticed a bald eagle – not a Roman one, and for some fucking reason there was a person hanging from its talons – and behind them, he was pretty sure he could see Jason Grace.

The eagle spiraled out of control, dropping the person. The chariot slammed into Grace, who lunged for the person the eagle dropped, but then proceeded to lose altitude and ended up disappearing behind the ramparts of Fort Sumter, the eagle tumbling after them. The chariot fell to the ground with a crack somewhere inside.

“Hedge!” Chase shouted, looking up at the ship.

“Well, that was a disaster.” Alabaster muttered, crossing his arms.

Chase groaned, waving up at the ship. “We need to go! Torrington are you coming with us?”

Alabaster raised an eyebrow. “Why on Earth would I go with you?”

“You know what? I don’t care, you’re getting your ass on the ship.” Chase grumbled, grabbing his arm.

“Wh-“ He yelped as the daughter of Athena hauled him forward and towards the ship.

“Is this a good idea?” One of the girls behind them mumbled.

“Nothing is a good idea with the Witch involved.”

“I’m flattered.” Alabaster drawled, looking at the girl over his shoulder.

“Percy!” Chase called as they got on the ship. “We need to get the ship in the air.”

Alabaster tried to school his expression as Jackson made his way over to them. He eyed the son of Hecate cautiously. “Who’s-“

“Ship in the air!” Chase responded urgently, making her way too the front of the ship. Alabaster trailed after her, if nothing other than she was the only person he knew and was willing to tolerate on this stupid war ship.

“And then what?!” The short haired girl called. “What about Jason and Leo?”

“And Frank!” The Roman girl added.

“I’ll go get them.” Chase responded.

Alabaster cocked an eyebrow. “Those guys that fell into the fort?” She nodded. “Are you insane? That place’ll be crawling with Romans.”

“So? You can fight Romans, but I can’t?” She shot back.

“I’ve fought Romans before, dimwit!” He snapped. “You haven’t!”

“Are you calling me weak?”

“I’m saying you don’t have the information needed to form a proper plan!”

Chase waved her hands in front of her face. “Then I work with what I have! It wouldn’t be the first time!”

“Gods, you’re just as delusional as always.” He grumbled, rolling his eyes.

“And you’re as obnoxious as always.” She responded, voice sharp as she picked up a remote and started moving it.

He rolled his eyes, walking over to the railing and leaning over the edge.

“Alabaster?”

He froze, tilting his head to glance over his shoulder, feeling like someone had punched him in the chest. He turned carefully, cautiously if he wanted to be honest. He knew Ethan was here, obviously. The runes connected to his tracking ring were glowing, he had to be here. Knowing it was different than seeing it.

Different than seeing him.

His eyes met Ethan's, and everything felt slower. Like the world was stuck in quicksand. Ethan hadn’t changed much. His hair was longer, he’d exchanged his single sword for a pair that sat on either hip, and his eyepatch was a deep red and stitched into it with a rose-pink thread was a dove perched on the top of a scale.

He was in better condition than Alabaster was, that’s for sure. Probably because he was at the camp and not on the streets like he was.

“Ethan.” He mumbled, looking away again.

“This is Alabaster?” Jackson asked, looking over at Ethan who nodded. “Wait you two know each other?” He asked, turning to Chase with a baffled look.

“Unfortunately.” Chase grumbled, shooting Alabaster a glare which he returned with a sneer.

“What is going on.” The short haired girl murmured.

“You are all staying here!” Chase responded. “I am going to get the other three and check out the Fort. Percy, can you make sure this ship doesn’t crash and burn when we get down?”

“Annabeth-“

“Just make sure we get down okay!”

Jackson glanced over at Ethan who only nodded with a listen to her look Alabaster recognized from when they were younger. Then, he looked back at Chase and nodded. “Yeah…yeah I can do that.”

“What exactly do you plan to find that you’re being ridiculous enough to go in there alone?” Alabaster asked, looking over at her.

She opened her mouth, then frowned and looked away. “It’s a long story. I’ll explain when I get back and your ass better be on this ship or so help me Torrington-“

“I can’t imagine any threat you have right now is worse than anything I’ve been through.” Alabaster pointed out. “And I’m only staying here because my mother sent me to you. Or something like that.”

Chase stared at him for a minute before she nodded. “Whatever the reason, you’re apart of this crew. So, if you leave I will hunt you down and nail you to the mast if I have to.”

“I’m shaking in my boots.” He drawled.

“Good.”

Chapter Text

Ethan settled beside Annabeth, watching as her and Piper tried to get their boyfriends to drink water. Leo was at the wheel while Hazel and Frank stood off to one side, looking like they were arguing. Alabaster stood to the other side, leaning over the starboard rail, seeming uninterested in what they were talking about. He noticed Annabeth glancing in his general direction occasionally, whether she was mentally cursing him out or trying to telepathically get him to come over he had no idea.

Hedge eventually pried Leo off the wheel and the others argument ended abruptly as he walked over. They gathered at the mast – or most of them did – Alabaster stayed at the rail with his back to them. Frank scowled as he and Hazel made their way over there. “No sign of pursuit.” He reported.

“Or land.” Hazel added, looking queasy. Distantly, Ethan wondered if Alabaster could do what Hecate had done to help with sea sickness that plagued the army members.

Leo scanned the horizon, nothing but ocean wherever they looked. He patted his toolbelt, like assuring himself it was still there. He looked over at Annabeth, raising an eyebrow. “Did you find the map you wanted?”

Annabeth nodded, though she seemed pale, which had Ethan wondering what happened at Fort Sumter that shook her up so badly. “I’ll have to study it,” she stated, her tone was final, as if that was the end of the subject, “how far are we from those coordinates?”

“At top rowing speed,” Leo murmured, tilting his head up to think, “about an hour. Any idea what we’re looking for?”

“No,” she admitted, glancing over at her boyfriend, “Percy?”

He lifted his head, eyes bloodshot and droopy, but he managed to speak. “The nereid..uh…said Chiron’s brothers were there, and they’d want to hear about that aquarium in Atlanta. I don’t know what that meant, but…” he paused, as if all his energy had been used up saying that, “she also warned me to be careful. Keto, the goddess at the aquarium; she’s the mother of sea monsters. She might be stuck in Atlanta, but she can still her children after us. She told us we should expect an attack.”

“Wonderful, just wonderful.” Frank muttered, shaking his head.

Jason tried to stand up, which wasn’t a good idea and Piper grabbed him to keep him upright, allowing him to slide back down the mast into a seated position. “Can we get the ship aloft? If we could fly–“

“It’d be great!” Leo agreed, snapping and pointing at Jason. “However, according to Festus, our aerial stabilizer got entirely pulverized when the ship raked against the dock at Fort Sumter.”

“We were in a hurry.” Annabeth drawled, crossing her arms. “You know. Trying to save you.”

“And saving me is a very noble cause,” Leo agreed, nodding sagely. “All I’m saying is that this takes time to fix, so until then, we can’t fly.”

“Fine with me.” Percy responded, flexing his shoulders and wincing. “Sea is good, I love the sea.”

“Speak for yourself.” Hazel muttered, looking up at the sky, the sun had almost disappeared beyond the horizon. “We need to go fast. We’ve burned another day, and Nico only has three more left.”

Ethan noticed Alabaster’s head tick towards them at the mention of Nicos name, his shoulders tensing. So, he was listening, at least.

“We can do it.” Leo promised, looking over at her. “We can make it to Rome in three days – assuming, you know, nothing unexpected happens.” Behind them, Alabaster snorted as if the expectation was delusional. Ethan agreed, to be fair.

Frank grunted. “Is there any good news?”

“Actually! Yes!” Leo said, bouncing on the heels of his feet. “Buford made it back safely while we were in Charleston, so the eagles didn’t get him.” He looked over at Frank. “He did lose the laundry bag though.”

“Fuck!” He barked, but before he could say anything else, Percy groaned.

Annabeth lurched forward as the son of Poseidon doubled over. “I feel like I’m in a snow globe that just got flipped.”

Jason pressed his hands to his head. “Yeah, and it’s being shaken…everything is yellow. Is everything supposed to be yellow?”

Annabeth and Piper looked at each other with concerned looked. “Summoning that storm must have really sapped your strength.” Piper murmured. “You should rest. Frank, can you help us get them to their cabins?”

He glanced a Leo who waved a hand. “It’s fine man, just try to not drop them on the way down?”

Once the others had disappeared below, Hazel and Leo faced each other awkwardly. Deciding Ethan didn’t want to be apart of that, he decided to go deal with the other awkward thing. He brushed his hair back and turned towards Alabaster.

“I don’t want to talk.” He stated dryly when Ethan came closer to him.

“I didn’t even say anything.”

“Don’t care.”

“Alabaster…” He murmured, crossing his arms, “come on, you can’t seriously expect to ice everyone on this ship out the entirety of this quest.”

Alabaster turned his head, looking at Ethan with a deadpan star before he turned around fully and leaned back against the rail. “I can, actually. Because I don’t even want to be here.”

“You don’t even have all the information you need to help us.”

“Who said I wanted to help you?”

“Do you think you’re just going to sit here and do nothing while you’re here?”

Alabaster snorted, rolling his eyes. “No. I think I’m going to do the jobs my mother gives to me. I’m only here because she wants me to be here, don’t get it twisted, alright? If it weren’t for her I’d be long gone.”

“You’re apart of this prophecy whether you like it or not-“

“I don’t give a shit about some stupid prophecy.” Alabaster snapped in response.

“Would you at least let me fill you in on everything that’s happened?”

The son of Hecate scowled at him and looked away. “No.”

“Come on, dude.”

He didn’t speak for a few seconds, and just as Ethan was opening his mouth to pester him further, he spoke. “What’s going on with di Angelo?”

“What?”

“That girl. She said he only had three days left. Where is he? Is he in trouble?”

Ethan blinked owlishly, a little taken off guard. What did Alabaster care about Nico? How did they even know each other?

“Uh…we…we aren’t entirely sure. Everything we’ve gotten about him has been pretty vague. But he’s trapped somewhere. In Rome. I guess he has pomegranate seeds to keep him alive, but he only has three left now.”

Alabaster hummed quietly, nodding as he turned away. “She’s an underworld kid.”

“Hazel?” He got a look that reminded him that nobody had actually bothered to introduce themselves to him because he’d been acted like a feral cat in a corner since he stepped foot on the ship and so he only knew like four names. “The…girl with the curly hair that was talking about Nico. Hazel.”

“Okay, fine. Hazel is an underworld kid.”

“Pluto. So, she’s Nicos half sister.” He made a soft noise but said nothing else. “How do…you know Nico?”

“That stopped being your business when you fucked off to Camp Half-Blood.” He muttered, a venom in his voice that made Ethan want to curl into a ball and stop existing if he was being entirely honest.

Ethan didn’t speak, just leaned back on the railing a few inches to Alabasters left, making it clear he didn’t plan to leave.

He let the silence settle over them, hanging between them like a wall, all the tension from things left unsaid. Apologies and insults tainted the air that had once been filled with affectionate teasing and laughter. Questions weighed both of them down, questions neither had the gall to voice, or maybe they were both too prideful to admit they still held even a little affection for each other.

“Can you put a protection spell on the ship?” Ethan asked after a moment.

Alabaster turned his head towards him eerily slowly, the way he did when he wanted to creep someone out. “You want me to put a protection spell. On this ship.”

Ethan stared at him, a little anxious at his response. “Yes..?”

He turned, leaning his hip against the railing and cocking an eyebrow at him. “And how, exactly, do you propose I do that Nakamura?”

“Well, I-“ he faltered, not quite sure what to say as Alabaster stared blankly at him, “You did it on the Andromeda.”

“Yeah, with my siblings. And a bunch of runes.” He deadpanned.

“I mean you already have runes everywhere-“

“On the ship you idiot!” Alabaster snapped in response, gesturing his arms out around them. “The runes need to be on the ship in order to protect it properly.

“So put runes on the ship!”

He barked a laugh. “Oh, that’s golden. Like that Hephaestus kid would let me do that.”

Ethan sighed, running a hand through his hair. “Leo would be happy to let you carve runes wherever you need if it keeps the ship from needing repairs again.”

Alabaster stared at him for a while before he snorted and shook his head. “Yeah. Whatever.”

The silence settled over them again, like a weighted blanket that was suffocating instead of comforting. But it let him take a moment to look at Alabaster, really look at him, and see how much he’d changed. How much more resentment and pain his eyes harboured compared to the last time they saw each other, how exhausted he looked, the bags under his eyes darker and more obvious, his eyes weren’t as bright.

He had new scars, small ones under his eye, on his eyebrow and his chin. He could see the burns peeking out from under Alabaster’s shirt, something that wasn’t new, they spread up his right arm, across his back and ribs and his neck. Though, what was concerning were what looked like Lichtenburg scars branching down the left side of his neck.

Distantly, he wondered if he could ask Alabaster about his time in exile, but considering how the current conversation had gone, it would be a really bad idea. So, instead, “Hey, do you remember how your mom would do that spell that helped with sea sickness?”

Alabasters head snaped over to him, eyebrows furrowed as he stared at Ethan, like he didn’t comprehend what he’d been asked. “What?”

“It’s just…Hazel gets sea sick. Like, really bad. I was wondering if you’d be willing to…do whatever it is your mom did.” He murmured, looking away. The son of Hecate stayed quiet, but he let out a quiet hum that let him know he was heard, at least. He nodded, pushing off the railing and stepping away. “Okay. I’ll leave you alone.”

Though, before he could take keep walking away, the ship lurched to one side. Festus started whirring in alarm, and flames blasted up into the night sky, the alarm bells started ringing across the ship.

“Leo!” Hedge shouted, seeming to pull the boy from some sort of trance. “One of them monsters you were worried about found us!” The ship tilted to starboard and Ethans head snapped back to Alabaster who’d stumbled away from the railing and was lighting up runes along his arms. “Valdez! Take the damn helm!” Leo gave a shaky sort of nod and started clambering towards the helm.

Although they wouldn’t do much against a sea monster, Ethan drew his katanas, and he vaguely clocked Alabaster holding a golden sword.

It was then, that the monster surfaced. It was the length of their ship, and it looked like a horrible hybrid between a giant shrimp and a cockroach. It had a flat crayfish tail, a pink shell and millipede type legs that scraped against the hull of the ship.

“Come on Valdez!” Hedge snapped. “Take the wheel so I can get my baseball bat!”

“A bat isn’t gonna do shit.” He heard Alabaster mutter behind him, still Leo was making his way up.

He looked over at the stairs as the others stumbled up. “What’s going-“ Percy faltered, staring wide-eyed up at the monster. “Gah! Shrimpzilla!”

Frank made a beeline for Hazel who was clutching the rigging, but gestured she was alright, just before the creature rammed the ship again. The hull groaned and sent Annabeth, Piper and Jason tumbling to starboard.

“How did it get so close?” Chase shouted, pulling herself up on the rail shields.

“Stupid, stupid, stupid! I forgot the sonar!” Leo yelled.

The ship tilted farther to starboard, and Ethan grabbed at the mast to keep himself on the ship. Was he ever glad the Andromeda had protection from old sea spirits, and they never had to deal with this.

“Sonar?!” Hedge snapped. “Pan’s pipes, Valdez! Maybe if you hadn’t been staring in Levesque’s eyes and holding hands for so long-“

“What?!” Frank shouted.

“It wasn’t like that!” Hazel protested.

“We have bigger problems!” Ethan snapped. “Percy, can you talk to that thing!?”

Percy looked over at him, seeming to process the question before he shook his head, looking mystified. “Maybe it’s just curious about the ship? Maybe-“ The monsters tendrils lashed across the deck fast enough that Ethan almost didn’t catch it.

One threw Percy down the stairs, and another wrapped around Piper’s leg, dragging her screaming towards the rail. In an instant, more of its tendrils curled around the masts, encircling the crossbows and ripping apart the rigging.

Hedge shouted something that Ethan didn’t quite catch, but he leapt into action, hitting the tendrils with a bat that bounced off harmlessly. Jason had his sword drawn, trying to free Piper, and as easy as slicing the tendrils were severed, more took their place. Annabeth ran through the forest of tentacles, dodging and stabbing at whatever target she could find with her dagger. Frank drew his bow, firing arrow after arrow into the creature’s body, lodging them in the chinks of the shell.

Despite all of that, the monster seemed annoyed.

It rocked the ship, bellowing and the mast created like it may snap off. Behind him, Alabaster cursed, soon followed by a green fireball sailing past his head and towards the monster.

“Open it!” Leo yelled, pulling Ethans attention to him. “Coach, take the wheel!”

Hedge jumped around the tentacles, still hitting the thing with his bat, bounding toward the helm and taking the controls. “Hope you got a damn plan!”

“A bad one.” Leo grumbled in response.

The monster pushed against the Argo, causing the deck to lurch to forty-five degrees. Despite everyone’s efforts, there were too many targets and anytime some got knocked down, more appeared. On top of that, there was no logic, the tentacles seemed to elongate however the wanted and soon the Argo would be entirely entangled.

“Frank! Buy us some time!” Leo shouted. “Can you turn into a shark or something?” Frank opened his mouth to respond, but didn’t get to as a tentacle slammed into him and threw him overboard.

“Leo!” Piper screamed, and Ethan looked over, watching as the monster grabbed Leo and Hazel.

Ethan cursed. “We’re fucked!”

“Aren’t you an optimist, Nakamura?” Alabaster muttered, Ethan only rolled his eyes. Though, when he opened his mouth to respond, but pain exploded in his chest and the ground went out from under him, and suddenly he couldn’t breathe.

The water was a shock to his system, the cool temperature making him want to gasp, but his head was underwater, and he was sinking fast. Distantly above him, he watched a green flash, and then something fell in the water. He thought he saw two smaller figures falling into the water, but the lack of oxygen was taking it’s hold on him, dragging him unwillingly into unconsciousness.

Chapter Text

Ethan didn’t spend a lot of time in water, usually it was spent in a canoe or sitting at the dock, never under the water. Of course, he’d suspected that he wouldn’t enjoy being in the water, but since he’d never been in it, he hadn’t known that he’d developed a fear of it.

It wasn’t shocking, not with the burns that marred his back and the nightmares of green flames burning across the water disturbed by a sinking ship, the screaming and crying he heard from every direction. Even with Alabasters protection spells, he’d almost drowned. The only thing that had kept them alive was his hydrokinesis, nothing near the extend of Percy’s, but it had kept their heads above water long enough for a coast guard to find them.

All that to say, he didn’t want to be underwater. But he rarely got what he wanted.

An underwater fish camp, he thought hysterically. Here he was, thinking he’d seen it all, and here he was, being proven wrong again. The creatures floating around were like…underwater centaurs. Human – more or less – from the waist up and from the waist down, the forelegs of a horse, but the back morphed into a long tail with a V-shaped fin.

Ethan was currently sitting – floating? Floating – in a cave about the size of a two-car garage. The ceiling was covered in phosphorescent moss that bathed the room in a blueish glow, the floor was a carpet of sea urchins that was uncomfortable to walk on so floating was helpful. A shell glistened in the entrance of the cave, pearl, rose and turquoise.

Leo was floating off to the side, still unconscious, while Frank levitated nearby in a meditation position, looking like he’d reached enlightenment but wasn’t thrilled about it.

“It’s about time.” Frank muttered, his voice held too much reverb, like he was speaking through several layers of plastic wrap.

Leo was awake when Ethan looked over at him. “Where are we? Where is everyone else?”

“Everyone?” Frank grumbled. “Don’t know. But, as far as I can tell, it’s just us and Hazel. But the fish-horse guys took her about an hour ago.” He side-eyed Leo. “Which leaves me with you.”

Ethan blinked, bringing a hand up to his face, brushing his fingers under his empty eye socket. His hair was covering his left eye, so it didn’t freak the others out too much. But he was a little upset about the lost eyepatch, Drew had stitched that one for him herself.

Leo patted his waist, probably searching for his tool belt which, as he found out, wasn’t there. “They searched us.” Ethan told him. “Took anything that could be a weapon.” Another thing he was really annoyed about. Those were his favourite katanas.

“Who?” Leo hissed. “Fish horse– what?”

“Fish centaurs,” Ethan clarifies, “they must have grabbed us when we fell in the water. Saved our lives if I had to guess.”

“The- the shrimp thing! The Argo- the ship is it okay?”

“I don’t know,” Frank muttered darkly, “the others might be hurt or worse. But I guess you care more about your ship than you friends.”

Ethan sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of his nose. What a stupid thing to say, but in a way, he couldn’t fault Frank for thinking that way. Ethan only knew what was going on in Leos head because he’d spent so much time around him and knew how he operated.

“What?” Leo blinked. “What kind of insane-“ he faltered, staring at Frank as a look of realization dawned on his face. “Look, I…I’m sorry. I got us into this mess, and I totally jacked things up.” He sighed, running a hand through his hair. “Us holding hands it’s…uhg, it’s not what you think. We were looking at some flashback from her past and trying to figure how I was connected to Sammy.”

Frank paused, his expression faltering as he stared at Leo. “Did she…did you figure it out?”

“Yeah. Yeah. Or, not- sort of?” Leo stammered. “He’s uh, he was, I guess, my great-grandfather. But we didn’t get to talk about it cause of the- the whole…Shrimpzilla.”

To be entirely honest, Ethan zoned out half way through Leo’s story. The concept of being shown someone else’s memories from years ago made his head hurt.

“Oh man. I don’t feel so good.” Leo muttered once he’d finished. “But I swear, on the Styx, I swear on the Styx that is all we were doing.”

Franks eyes looked glassy, his lips parted as he processed what he was hearing. “And…she… Hazel, she liked your grandfather? Great-grandfather, whatever. And that’s why she likes you?”

“Look, I…I know this is weird, really, I do. But I don’t like her. Not in the way you seem to think. I’m not hitting on her or anything, I’m not interested in her.”

“No?” Frank asked, his eyebrows knitting together.

The silence hung over them, and Ethan found himself studying the moss above them, wondering distantly how it glowed, if it was something natural or something divine.

“So, like…” Ethan looked back over at Leo as his voice floated over to him. “We need to plan. How are we even breathing down here? We’re under the ocean.”

“We’re on the ocean floor.” Ethan added, Leo didn’t acknowledge him and continued speaking.

“We’re under the ocean, so shouldn’t the water pressure be crushing us?”

“Some sort of magic. Maybe hydrokinesis. Nothing like Alabasters or Percys, though.” Ethan murmured, earning a curious look from both boys. “I do remember one of the centaurs touching my head with a dagger point. And then I could breath.”

And wouldn’t that have been handy after the Andromeda? Maybe then he wouldn’t be haunted by his friends and comrades screaming for help that would never arrive before they inevitably succumbed to their injuries or drowned.

Leo swam over to the shell-like door and started studying it, then he turned to face Frank. “Don’t suppose you could bust us out? Maybe turn into a hammerhead shark or something like that?”

Frank shook his head, a little glum. “I can’t shape-shift. I don’t know why, maybe the cursed me or maybe I’m too out of it to focus.”

“We’ve gotta get out of here. What if Hazel’s in trouble?” Leo murmured, running his fingers along the abalone just as Ethan had earlier. He figured it only opened with magic, magic that none of them had.

“Ethan already tried.” Frank stated, seeming a mix of bored and annoyed.

“Even if we get out, we don’t have weapons. Or anything that could be anything.” Ethan drawled.

Leo hummed softly, lifting a hand as he eyed the door. “I wonder…” Fire flickered over his fingers and Ethan perked up, raising an eyebrow. In an instant, though, the fire raced up his arm and shrouded his body in a veil of flames.

“Leo!” He called, scrambling to get back over the rock while Frank pushed his body against the wall to get as far away from Leo as he could. Ethan wasn’t entirely sure what to do, he had no experience with pyrokinesis, only the Hecate kids but he never had to handle those issues. Still, the Hecate kids pyrokinesis was never like this.

Turns out, he didn’t have to do anything because the fire went away as quick as it came. “Are you okay?” Ethan asked, grabbing Leos arms.

“Yeah.” He murmured, nodding shakily. “I…thanks for the assist.” He shot a look at Frank.

Frank looked horrified and vaguely ashamed. “I’m sorry. I just…what just happened?”

“Magic. Very clever magic.” Leo responded, flexing his hand. “They created a thin layer of oxygen around us, like a second skin. It’s how we’re able to breathe and stay dry. Except it also gave the fire fuel which also suffocated me.”

Frank swallowed hard, keeping his body pressed to the wall. “I don’t like that fire summoning thing you do.”

Leo laughed softly. “Dude, I’m not gonna attack you or whatever.”

“Fire.” Frank stated seriously. Ethan cocked an eyebrow, expecting him to elaborate but he didn’t. Okay then.

Leo glanced away, rubbing the back of his neck. “Look I…I’m sorry I laughed.” He said genuinely. “My mom…she died in a fire. So, I understand being afraid of it. I was too, for a long time. Did uhm…did something like that happen with you?”

Frank fell quiet for a moment, seemingly weighing what and how much to say. “My house…my grandmother’s house. It burned down; I saw it. But it’s not just that…” His gaze fell to the floor, and he sighed. “Annabeth…told me I could trust everyone. Even you.” His eyes flickered up to Leo, then drifted to Ethan and he could tell that Frank wasn’t sure he could trust Ethan.

“Even me, hey?” Leo whistled. “High praise from Miss Annabeth Chase.”

“Hey at least she hasn’t shot you in the face with a paintball gun.” Ethan mumbled, earning a weird look from Frank and an amused, but baffled, look from Leo. “No, I will not elaborate.”

 “My weakness…” Frank started, drawing Leo’s attention back, “there’s this piece of firewood—”

Before he could continue, the abalone door rolled open and Ethan turned around. He found himself face-to-face with one of the centaurs, regarding him with a disinterested look.

“I am Bythos,” he stated blandly, “I will interrogate Frank Zhang.” It was a statement, not a question.

Leo pushed himself forward, looking annoyed. “Why did you capture us?” He demanded. “Where’s Hazel?”

Bythos stared at him, a look of bewilderment at Leos voice on his face. Still, he stated, “Leo Valdez, you will go with my brother.”

“Your brother?” Leo repeated, staring blankly at him.

“Yes.” Ethan glanced over Bythos’ shoulder at the larger figure practically filling the caves entrance. “Do not make Aphros mad.”

And so, the boys were taken, not long after Hazel returned, swimming over to Ethan with a polite little smile. “Glad you’re okay.”

“Same to you.” Ethan responded, nodding. “Did you two do something with Greek fire?”

Hazel blinked, seeming surprised. “Greek fire? Oh. That green stuff?” He nodded. “Yeah. How’d you know that?”

Ethan shrugged, moving over to…well hover over a rock. “I’ve seen Greek fire explode like that from underwater.”

She stared at him for a few moments, seeming a little concerned. “Is that how you got those burns? On your back?”

Ethan offered a pained sort of smile. “The Princess Andromeda, our army’s main mode of transport and, for all intents and purposes, home. Before that final battle…” he paused. How much had Percy told them? Did they know it was him? They must not. “Two campers rigged our ship with explosives.”

Her eyes widened, bringing a hand up to her mouth. “And you were on it?”

“Yeah. So was Alabaster.” He was vaguely amused by the annoyed look that flashed on her face at his name. “There were…almost sixty casualties? Fifty-eight of ours and one camper. Alabaster and I were the only ones on the ship that survived.”

“That’s horrible.” Hazel murmured, lips pulling into a frown as she stared at him.

Ethan sighed, shrugging. “It was war. I was- well, I’m still upset about it. My friends were killed, but…I can’t say the army didn’t cause the camp quite a bit of grief.”

Hazel was quiet, after a moment floating over to settling beside Ethan. “Do you…do you mind if I ask how you managed to survive?”

Ethan glanced over to her with a bittersweet sort of smile. “Alabaster. Kronos had sent me to the engine room because I’d forgotten to check it. I don’t remember exactly, but Alabaster and I ran into each other, and we ended up checking together. Or, we tried. The explosives went off before we could and he put a protection spell over us.” Almost subconsciously, his hand reached for t he back of his neck and he almost cringed at the feeling of scarred skin under his fingers.

He sighed quietly, letting his hand drop away. “We survived, obviously. But it was a shitty recovery. For me, at least. I guess I also had a stab wound and some broken bones, though, I at least had the luxury of a proper infirmary and medics.”

Hazel offered him a small smile. “It looks like everything healed well…”

“We have some pretty good medics.” Ethan mused with a quiet laugh, looking over at her. “Anyways. How did your interrogation go?”

Hazel was quite pleased to tell him how quickly Aphros and Bythos had warmed up to her, being captivated by her story and her lineage. They were also amazed that Hazel had befriended Arion as they’d heard many stories and legends about him. She’d promised to visit them again one day with Arion, and they’d written their numbers on her arm. How that was supposed to work, Ethan had no idea, nor did he want to.

By the time she was finishing her story, the door was sliding open again and two of the creatures swam in. Instinctively, Ethan went for his side, but quickly realized that they were simply trying to lead the two of them somewhere. So, he relaxed and followed them, Hazel chatting happily and joking with their escorts as they were led through the underwater camp while Ethan stayed quiet.

“Leo!” Hazel called, paddling towards the son of Hephaestus once they spotted him with Aphros. “Isn’t this place amazing?”

Ethan kind of zoned out as Hazel relayed her story to Leo again, though he couldn’t help but draw similarities between her and one his sisters aboard the Andromeda that day. The way her hair floated around her like a cloud of earth and gold, but Hazel was animated and talking unlike Dionne’s lifeless body floating in the water.

He shook his head, pushing the thoughts from his mind. He needed to stop thinking about that or he’d give himself nightmares after he’d just gotten them to stop being so regular.

“-talked to him,” Leo was saying when Ethan managed to focus on their voices again, “told him that I wasn’t…you know, trying to cause any trouble.”

“Oh.” Hazel responded, blinking at him. “Good.”

Leo fidgeted with his fingers. “Hey, listen, there was this thing. I tried to summon my fire, and it ignited the oxygen surrounding me. And Frank…he seemed freaked out. Like really freaked out.”

Hazels eyes widened and she grabbed at the pocket of her jacket, looking vaguely horrified. “Oh, that would terrify him.”

“There was this old legend about a hero. His lifeline was tied to a piece of wood in a fireplace, and when that wood burned up…” Leo started, and Hazels eyes darkened. “Frank has that problem, and he gave you that piece of wood for safekeeping?”

Hazels hand curled around her jacket. “Leo…I can’t talk about this.”

“Is it okay down here? Like this? The water-“

“It’s fine.” She bit out. “I can’t talk about it. Just…if Frank seems afraid or uneasy around you. You need to understand it’s not personal.”

Leo nodded, but say nothing else. Aimlessly, Ethan raised a hand to his face, ensuring his eye was still covered up by his hair.

“There you are!” Ethan looked over to the centaurs floating over with Frank between them, looking pale but otherwise fine. “You are free to go.” Bythos informed them, digging through his saddlebags and retrieving their confiscated items.

Ethan was more than happy to have his katanas and knives returned to him, quickly returning them to their rightful places either hidden under layers of clothes or in plain sight. He distantly registered Frank watching him in vague horror. “I don’t suppose you have an eyepatch?” Ethan asked, looking over at them.

Bythos shook his head. “Unfortunately, not. We can provide you with bandages or-“

“No, no. It’s healed I just prefer having it covered. I have spares on our ship.” Ethan responded, waving a hand. Bythos only nodded, eyeing him curiously, but didn’t get to question him further as his brother spoke up.

“Tell Perseus Jackson not to worry.” Aphros told them. “We have understood the stories you have told us. Keto and Phorcys must be stopped, we will send a quest of heroes to defeat them and free the captives.” He looked to his brother. “Perhaps Cyrus?”

“Or Bill.”

“Yes, yes. Bill would be perfect.” Aphros agreed, nodding sagely. “At any rate, we are grateful that you brought this to our attention, give Perseus our thanks as well.”

“You could tell him in person,” Leo told them, “son of Poseidon and all.”

The brothers shook their heads. “No. It is best not to interact with Poseidon’s brood. As friendly as we are with the god himself, it is…quite complicated. We value our independence, and we will do nothing to put that at risk.” Aphros told them. “Nevertheless, give him our thanks. We will do what we can to get you across the Atlantic without further interference from Keto’s monsters. But the Mare Nostrum is dangerous, and more powerful creatures will be waiting for you.”

“Of course.” Frank murmured.

Bythos grinned, clapping the boy on the shoulder. “You will be fine, Frank Zhang! Keep practicing those sea life transformations. The koi fish is good, but try for something more intimidating, like a shark! Remember what I showed you. All in the breathing, yes?” Frank nodded but looked mortally embarrassed.

“And you, Hazel Levesque,” Aphros started, looking towards her, “come visit again, and bring that horse of yours! I know that you are concerned about the time you’ve lost spending the night here. You are worried about your brother-“

Hazels hand tightened on her cavalry sword. “Is he- do you know where he is?”

Aphros shook his head solemnly. “No, but when you get closer, you should be able to sense his presence. Never fear! You will be able to save him if you reach Rome the day after tomorrow. You must save him.”

“Yes,” Bythos agreed, nodding sagely, “he will be essential for your journey. Now, I am not sure how, but I can sense it is true.”

Aphros turned to Ethan who blinked at him. “You, son of Nemesis. You have doubt in your abilities, you shouldn’t. You have great potential and that son of Hecate friend of yours will be a great aid in your mission.” Ethan offered a small smile, having never doubted Alabaster’s importance.

 The centaur planted a hand on Leo’s shoulder. “As for you, Leo Valdez, stay close to Hazel and Frank once you reach Rome. I sense they will face…ah, mechanical difficulties that only you will be able to overcome.”

Leo frowned, looking bewildered. “Mechanical difficulties?”

Aphros beamed like that was great news. “And I have gifts for you, the brave navigator of the Argo II!”

“I like to think of myself as captain.” Leo corrected. “Or supreme commander.” Ethan smacked him in the back of the head.

“Brownies!” Aphros announced proudly, shoving a picnic basket into Leo’s arms, surrounded by an air bubble which presumably kept the brownies from turning to mush. “In this basket, you will also find the recipe. Not too much butter is the trick!” Ethan peered at the basket curiously – Drew might like a new brownie recipe. “I’ve also included a letter of introduction to Tiberinus, the god of the Tiber River. Your friend the daughter of Athena will need this.”

“Annabeth.” Ethan offered aimlessly.

“She’ll need a letter of introduction. Why?” Leo asked, tilting his head.

Bythos laughed. “Well, she follows the Mark of Athena, does she not? Tiberinus can guide her in this quest. However, he’s an ancient and proud god who can be quite difficult. But! Letters of introduction are everything to Roman spirits like him! This will convince him to help her. Hopefully.”

“Hopefully.” Ethan deadpanned. Because hope always worked for them, right?

Bythos then produced four little pink pearls from his bags, grinning widely. “And now, off with you, demigods!” He threw a pearl at each of them, and they were surrounded by shimmery bubbles of energy that began to rise through the water, slowly at first. So slow, in fact, that Ethan didn’t have time to react to how quickly they gained speed and rocketed up towards the distant glow of the sun.

Chapter Text

The bubbles dissolved once they reached the surface, thankfully the ship was nearby and the others managed to retrieve them from the water. Once they were on board and changed – Franks lost clothes had miraculously been replaced, Ethan suspected Alabaster played some part in that despite his visible annoyance – the crew gathered on the quarterdeck for a celebratory breakfast.

Except Hedge who stated they were being too cuddly and wandered off to get some dents out of the hull, and Alabaster who opted to situate himself on the railing with his back to them. Close enough to hear, far enough not to be expected to contribute, Ethan figured. He did that a lot on the Andromeda when he didn’t feel like talking.

Leo fussed over the helm controls while Hazel and Frank relayed the story of the sea creatures and their camp. “These are really good brownies.” Jason said, holding up the bitten square.

Piper stared blankly at her boyfriend, eye twitching. “Is that all you have to say?”

“What!” Jason held his hands up. “I heard their story, underwater camp, merpeople, letter of intro to the Tiber god. Got all that. But the brownies-“

“I know,” Frank said with his mouth full, “try them with Esther’s peach preserves.”

“Ew.” Ethan mumbled.

“That,” Hazel pointed at both of them, “is incredibly disgusting.”

“Pass me the jar.” Jason said, making grabby hands at Frank.

Ethan glanced over at Alabaster who was watching them with a grossed-out look.

Percy, for his part, wanted to know everything about the camp they found, though he kept coming back to one point; “They didn’t want to meet me?”

“It’s not that simple.” Hazel responded. “It was just…undersea politics-“

“Beings of the sea are territorial.” Alabaster deadpanned, turning his head away from the group and looking out over the ocean. “I’d expected a son of Poseidon would know such a thing, perhaps I should lower those expectations.”

“Oh don’t act all high and mighty, you prick.” Annabeth snapped at him.

“Anyway.” Ethan muttered. “The good news, is that they’ll be taking care of that aquarium in Atlanta, and help protect the ship as we pass through.”

“But they didn’t want to see me?” Percy asked again.

“Come on, Percy.” Ethan sighed, shaking his head. “There’s more pressing things here.”

“He’s right.” Hazel sighed, folding her hands in her lap. “After today, Nico has less than two days left. They said he was essential to the quest somehow, we have to save him.” She looked between everyone, daring anyone to argue with her. Nobody did.

Ethan couldn’t imagine how that kid was feeling, stuck there with so little to sustain him, unaware if he would be saved or if anyone even knew he was missing. It was part of the reason Ethan had no qualms about Hazels urgency to arrive in Rome.

“He must have information about the Doors of Death,” Piper murmured, “we will save him, Hazel. We can make it in time, right Leo?”

“Huh?” Leo looked over at them. “Oh. Yeah, probably. I mean- definitely! Probably.” He turned back to the controls, hands flying over them. “We should be in the Mediterranean by morning and spend the day sailing to Rome. Or…flying if I manage to fix the stabilizer up. Either way! If all goes to plan, we’ll be in Rome on the last possible day to help Nico. Twenty-four hours. At most.”

Percy glanced to Annabeth and crossed his legs. “And that’s not the only problem. There’s still the Mark of Athena to worry about.”

Ethan glanced over to Alabaster as the son of Hecate’s head snapped over to them. Annabeth, on the other hand, seemed unhappy with the topic change. Her hand fell to her backpack, which hadn’t left her side since Charleston. He glanced back at Alabaster who was staring at Annabeth with an almost unnerving intensity.

Annabeth opened her bag, slipping out a thin, bronze disk. “I found this in Fort Sumter, it should…” she faltered, staring down at the disk in her hand. “What? It’s blank!”

Percy blinked, grabbing it from her. “And it wasn’t like this before?”

“No! I was looking at it before in my cabin and…” She frowned.

“None of us are capable of seeing the Mark of Athena.” Alabasters voice rang out and Annabeth’s head snapped over to him. “Only the person your mother chooses will be allowed to see it.”

She stared at him, vaguely mystified. “How do you know that?”

Alabaster clicked his tongue, looking away. “I heard stories from the Roman demigods in the army, my mother told me more about it recently. Not much, but I do know that anyone else that set out on this quest has died.”

Percy tensed, grabbing for Annabeth’s hand. “They died?”

“You think I’ll just be added to a pile of bodies tied to this?” She asked, narrowing her eyes.

“Is that what I said?” He deadpanned.

“Not exactly-“

“When have you known me to sugar coat things like this?”

They stared at each other for a few agonizing seconds before Ethan cleared his throat. “That coin, disk thing. What did it have on it?”

“Also, what even is the Mark of Athena?” Jason asked, pulling his attention back to Annabeth while Alabaster turned his back on them.

“The coin.” Annabeth murmured.

Percy frowned at her. “Coin? What coin?”

The daughter of Athena slipped a hand into her pocket and brought out a silver drachma. “I’ve been carrying this…since I saw my mom at Grand Central. It’s an Athenian coin.”

As she passed it around, Ethan felt like he was back in school or on the Andromeda with the younger kids playing show and tell.

“An owl,” Leo noted, “I guess that makes sense. The branch is an olive tree, right? But the inscription…”

Piper leaned over, grabbing his hand and pulling the coin closer to her. “ΑΘΕ?”

“Area Of Effect?” Leo asked, looking at Annabeth who shook her head.

Alabaster was the one that spoke up, however. “Alpha, theta, epsilon. Of The Athenians.”

The daughter of Athena nodded slowly. “Or, it could be read as the children of Athena. It’s like the Athenian motto. Like SPQR for the Romans.” She gestured at the coin now in Ethans hand. “The Mark is that owl, like flames. I’ve seen it in my dreams, then twice while I was at Fort Sumter.”

She seemed uncomfortable as she described what happened, Gaea, the spiders and the Mark burning them away. Percy took her hand, looking guilty. “I should’ve been there for you.”

“No, no that’s the point, Percy, you can’t. Nobody can. Once we’re in Rome, I need to go out alone, otherwise the Mark won’t appear. And I have to follow it to the source.”

“The giants bane stands gold and pale.” Ethan murmured, drawing Alabasters attention. “Won with pain from a woven jail.”

Frank looked at Annabeth. “What is it? At the source.”

Jason opened his mouth at the same time as Annabeth but they were both cut short. “A statue of Athena.” Alabaster murmured. “The Athena Parthenos, to be exact.”

“Isn’t that statue like forty feet tall?” Leo asked, frowning.

“Yeah.” Annabeth murmured. “It’s the most famous Greek statue of all time, it was in the middle of the Parthenon in Athens.”

“It disappeared. One of the biggest mysteries in our history.” Alabaster added. “Athens was sacked several times throughout the years, but a lot of Greeks believed the statue was stolen by the Romans in an attempt to break the Greeks spirits. The theory is also backed by a legend within the Roman camp.”

“How do you know that?” Jason asked, voice sharp as his eyes narrowed at the son of Hecate.

“Because some of your precious little soldiers were on our side.” Alabaster responded snidely.

Anger flared in the son of Jupiters eyes and he moved to get up. “You-“

“Enough.” Ethan said. “Roman legends made their way through the army, and not just because we had demigods from Camp Jupiter, but because our home base was so close to your camp. Stories aren’t a secret.”

“Either way,” Alabaster gritted out, “the Romans quite literally stole Athena so that we couldn’t use her as a symbol of our military power. They turned her into Minerva, who is a much tamer goddess.”

“And her children have been searching for her statue ever since.” Annabeth murmured softly. “Most don’t know about the legend, but my mother chooses a few and gives them a coin like this. They follow the mark that will ideally lead them to the statue, so we can get it back.”

“But, everyone before you has failed.” Alabaster told her.

“Yeah. But I’m not giving up because nobody else has done this.”

“I would be disappointed if you did.”

Ethan watched the two of them, a small smile playing his lips. He hadn’t seen these two like this in years, when he left camp he hadn’t expected to see them like this ever again. They spoke like a team, without hostility or blame despite everything that had happened, despite the fact that trust should be severed between them.

Percy was watching them, seeming vaguely concerned, and perhaps a little annoyed. He obviously didn’t understand how Annabeth was flowing so well with one of Kronos’ right hands. “So…so if we- you. If you find it. What do we…do with it? Do we move it? Could we?”

“I’m not sure,” Annabeth admitted, sighing quietly, “but if we could somehow get it back to camp…we could unite the two camps. It could free my mother of this hatred, free all the gods of whatever’s tearing them apart. And maybe…maybe the statue could help us against  the giants.”

“This could change everything.” Ethan said, watching Annabeth, she had a huge responsibility, one she had to carry out by herself. And he didn’t doubt she could be the one who succeeded. “It could end thousands of years of hostility, it could even be the key to defeating Gaea.”

“But if we can’t help you…” Piper trailed off.

“She doesn’t need saving.” Alabaster muttered, rolling his eyes. “If anyone’s capable of handling this alone, it’s Chase.”

Annabeth looked over at him, the silence settling over the crew like a blanket. “The risk is worth it. I have to succeed. Maybe everybody else failed because it wasn’t the right time.”

“I don’t like the idea of you doing this by yourself.” Hazel sighed, fidgeting with her hair. “But you’re right. If this statue is to you what the golden eagle was to us…”

“It would be a game changer.” Percy murmured. “Except…it’s supposed to be something kept from children of Athena. What if it’s got something to do with spiders-“

“Won through pain from a woven jail.” Ethan mumbled. “Woven as in webs?”

“Or woven as in weaving.” Alabaster countered.

Annabeth let out a shaky breath, looking pale. “Or both.” She seemed to know what was waiting for her, and so did Alabaster, but neither said anything, just exchanged a look.

“We’ll deal with everything when we get to Rome. Whatever is going to happen, Annabeth’ll kick ass.” Ethan said, leaning back.

Everyone was still uneasy, judging by unfinished breakfasts, but Leo shook them out of it by pressing a button, causing a loud blast of steam to explode from Festus’s mouth. “Well! 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 superfun list of chores!”

Ethans chore, as it turned out, was to reinforce protection measures. Alabaster was also the protection detail, which meant talking to Leo about protection spells.

“Let me get this straight. You want to carve all those weird symbols into my ship?”

“Runes.” Alabaster corrected. “These are protection runes, they connect to a barrier spell that cover the ship and deflect any attacks. Make it safer, reduce damage going forward.”

“Less time spent on the ground doing repairs.” Ethan offered.

Leo eyed Alabaster cautiously, not seeming convinced. So, the son of Hecate sighed quietly, tapping a rune on his chest, basking the three of them in the familiar green glow. “Throw something at me.”

Leo frowned, but dug into his tool belt for a wrench, held it up for Alabaster to see, and when the other boy nodded, he threw it. Alabaster didn’t even flinch as the wrench flew through the air, bouncing harmlessly off the invisible barrier around him.

“Huh. That’s…that’s pretty cool, actually.” Leo murmured, nodding. “Yeah, go ahead.” He said, waving a hand as he returned his attention to the helm.

“Where do you need runes?” Ethan asked as Alabaster started walking away.

“North, east, west, south.” Alabaster responded.

He stopped at the top of the stairs, pulling a little box from his pocket. Ethan glanced down at the box, noticing the bracelet wrapped around it. The grey beads and owl charm striking a chord in his chest. Of course both of them still had their bracelets.

“Look.” The son of Hecate said, slipping out a card and tucking the box back into his pocket. “I don’t need you to supervise, or babysit me, or whatever you’re trying to do.”

Ethan stared at him. “That’s not what-“

“I can do this alone.” He snipped. “You have other things to do, so do them.” He tapped the card in his hand and then pulled out a knife.

“Alabaster.”

“No.” He responded sharply, the bite behind his words was so clear. A tone that Ethan had long since learned meant leave me alone. “I don’t need help. So let me do this.”

So, Ethan let him. Staying at the top of the stairs as Alabaster walked down them and disappeared into the hallway.