▬▬▬ CHAPTER SEVENTEEN ▬▬▬

THEY MANAGED TO CROSS SEVERAL more states and finally reached Arkansas all the way from Georgia through tons of walking, 'free' bus rides, and a couple of surprisingly safe hitch hiking trips.

While crossing through a small town, they found a diner selling good old fashion cheeseburgers and milkshakes and decided to stop there for the day. Since Esmerelda had been feeling lazy lately, she was in her dog form, immediately catching the attention of the dog lovers, which was basically everyone in the diner.

"She's such a cute thing~" The waitress cooed.

Ethan grunted, glaring at the puppy who was wagging her tail. Whenever there was a group of people around, Esmerelda always shifted into her dog form knowing that everyone would fawn over her like a bunch of mindless idiots. He didn't know whether she did that to annoy him or because she genuinely enjoyed the attention.

"Ahem," he cleared his throat loudly since the waitress was too busy awwing over Esmerelda to pay him any attention. "I'll have two cheeseburgers, one chocolate smoothie, and one vanilla with a side of curly fries."

"Coming right up kid," the waitress said, dutifully writing the order down before finally leaving.

He gave Esmerelda a withering look. "Can you change back already? You can't seriously expect to be able to eat a whole cheeseburger while you're that small. The burger's probably gonna be bigger than you!"

She made a weird noise in her throat, one that suspiciously sounded like a harrumph.

He gave her an offended look. "Are you—did you seriously just sass me as a dog?"

She stuck her tongue out.

"I'm gonna push you off this table," he grumbled, but didn't really do anything.

The waitress returned a few moments later with their order, and the whole diner got to enjoy watching a pomeranian attempt to eat a whole cheeseburger while Ethan sat at the side, forgotten and aggravated beyond belief. It got worse when he had to lift her up so she could drink from the straw which only earned them another round of 'aw!'s.

It was so annoying.

It got worse when a bunch of kids—ugh—approached their table and asked if they could pet her. Ethan said no and gave them a glare that should've sent them running for the hills, but puppy Esmerelda just had to steal the show yet again and laid down on her back invitingly.

Ethan suppressed the urge to groan as the kids giggled and gave her belly rubs. Instead, he just rolled his eyes and went back to his burger.

By the time they finished their breakfast, Esmerelda was thoroughly blissed out from all the affection she had been given as a puppy. He wondered if this was all to compensate for the lack of love and care she had in her childhood, but didn't bother asking.

When they left, Esmerelda insisted on staying as a puppy, and Ethan just barely allowed it but after the eleventh stranger stopped to give her belly rubs, he snapped.

"Essie!" He growled once they reached the bottom of an unused overpass. "Stop letting strangers give you belly rubs!"

The little puppy turned back into an angry girl. "Why not?! You never give me any belly rubs!"

"Because I know it's actually you!" He cried out.

"So?" She sniffed. "People at camp love giving me belly rubs and head pats. Just admit that you hate dogs!"

His jaw dropped. What?

"What?" He spluttered.

"You hate dogs." She frowned. "I mean, it's obvious. You're always angry whenever I switch to dog form and not to mention that cage you put me in!"

"I don't hate dogs!" He couldn't believe he was having this conversation with her. "I don't hate dogs, okay? I like them."

"But you always get so irritated whenever I shift." She pointed out.

"I'm not irritated because of you," he huffed. "It's... the people."

"The people..." She repeated, giving him a lost look.

He sighed. "It just annoys me when they stop to obsess over you all the time, as if we have time to deal with that. Plus, isn't it... weird? Like, you don't feel uncomfortable at all when they start... petting you everywhere?"

"I mean, if they were doing that when I'm a human, then yes, I'd feel very uncomfortable," she said with a red face. "But it's different when I'm a dog. It just feels so nice... Especially when people scratch me behind the ears, oh gods, you have no idea how amazing that feels—"

"—Essie," he stopped her before she could rant any further.

She smiled sheepishly. "Sorry. But does me being in puppy form bother you so much?"

"Sort of," he grumbled. "I get uncomfortable just watching them pet you. I dunno how you deal with it."

She mumbled something under her breath about him maybe needing a therapy dog, but he didn't pay much mind to it.

"I'll try not to switch to that form then, at least whenever the mortals around." She promised. "I don't think I can go a day without anyone giving me head pats so you better compensate."

He choked on his spit. "Y-you want me to give you head pats and everything! No way!"

"Oh come on!" She whined. "Pleeeeaaase? I thought you said I was a cute puppy!"

"You are," he admitted begrudgingly. "But—"

"—Pleeeeeaaase? I can't last a day without any affection!" She begged.

He rolled his eyes. "Honestly, those mortals are spoiling you too much. You're like Tinker Bell now. If nobody gives your puppy form any attention, you'd die."

"You're absolutely right," she agreed, looking serious.

"Drama queen," he snorted. "But fine. Whatever."

She beamed. "Wonderful. I'm officially your therapy dog."

He shoved her on the shoulder. "I don't need a therapy dog."

"Oh yes you do," she chuckled, nodding her head. "Locking up girls in cages isn't something sane people do, Ethan."

He dipped his head back and groaned. "The was an act of desperation, alright? Plus, that cage appeared out of nowhere—"

"—Uh huh."

They continued their trek on the side of the highway until their legs began to grow tired. Esmerelda was quick to try and turn into a dog until Ethan told her that he'd get someone to let them hitch a ride with.

"How far do you think we have left?" She asked as Ethan stuck his arm out.

He shrugged. "Dunno. Still a lot of states to cross. We're still in Arkansas, that's not even half way through the country."

She groaned aloud. "This is gonna take forever. Curse those stupid cercopes for trashing the yacht..." She really missed that yacht. Even though she spent most of her time there stuck in a stupid cage, traveling via yacht would've been a lot quicker and safer than the alternative that they were going through.

A heavily rusted truck slowed down in response to Ethan's signal. Relieved that they had a ride, the two kids approached it only to immediately recoil when they saw the driver's face.

He was ugly. Like, seriously ugly. He had skin so sun burnt that it almost hurt to look at, he had a bushy unibrow full of wild brown hair, a pair of brown eyes that were placed a little closer to the middle of his face, and a huge nose that took up a good portion of his head.

"You kids need a ride?" He asked with a rough-sounding voice.

"Y-yes." Ethan replied. Even he was taken aback by his appearance.

"Where to?"

"California," Ethan's voice was steady now. "But we're fine if you can take us as close as you can get."

"California, huh?" The man smiled, and Esmerelda tried not to flinch when she saw the inside of his mouth. There were dark spots on his tongue, as if they had rotted over, and he only had a couple of yellow teeth left. "Luckily for you two, we got the same destination. Jump in."

They walked to the back and Ethan opened the door. There were a bunch of junk littered at the back seats. Junk like backpacks, opened snack bags, broken tools and whatnot. There was so much of it that only one of them was able to fit.

The man glanced at them through the rear view mirror. "Sorry 'bout all the crap I got. One of yous can sit up here with me." He patted the seat and a bunch of dust coughed out of it.

Ethan and Esmerelda exchanged a wary looks.

"I'll do it..." Ethan offered himself up.

Esmerelda climbed into the back seat as Ethan did the same at the passenger. After they buckled up, the man began driving down the road.

"So whatcha goin' to Cali for?" The man hummed, eyes plastered on the road.

"We're visiting family." Ethan answered.

"Ah," he nodded. "Same here. No parents?"

"Not really."

"I feel ya, I really do." The man said, and Esmerelda saw his eyes harden on the rear view mirror. Suddenly, they locked eyes but for a brief second she saw them blur together...

"You doin' okay there, girly?" He asked her.

She swallowed thickly and nodded her head.

He chuckled. "Quiet huh? Sorry about the mess back there. I always feel too lazy to clean up."

"These are all... yours?" She asked hesitantly, eyeing all the junk scattered about. She wondered why one guy would need so many backpacks.

He smiled slyly. "They are now."

Well that didn't sound suspicious at all. The drive began quiet as he reached out to turn on the radio. Some country song was playing but she paid mind to it as she observed all the objects around her.

Some of backpacks were long and stuffed to the brim like for camping. Some were school bags and she only knew that because a few of them were unzipped and she could see textbooks and binders peeking out from them. A couple had girly patterns that she doubted the man were into. She even saw some purses.

There was no way they could all belong to him. He most likely stole them—no, he definitely stole them.

He suddenly made a sharp turn right towards Ozark Mountains and one of the backpacks on the floor topped over her feet. It was heavy, so she bent down to straighten it back up. As she lifted the bag, she nearly dropped it from fright.

There was a dried bloodstain on it.

Ohhhhh man, she thought, gulping down her fear and sitting back up again as if nothing happened.

They definitely picked the wrong man to hitch hike from.

She licked her lips and tried to think of what to do. Was this guy a monster? Or just a mortal who just happened to be a serial killer? At this point, she honestly didn't know which was worse.

She looked towards the back of Ethan's head, wishing she could communicate with him that they were in extreme danger at the moment, but he wasn't able to see her. The driver was, though, and he glanced over at her through the mirror.

"You okay, kid?"

"Yeah," she hoped her voice didn't sound too high. "Just, um, car sick. Can I lower a window?"

"Sorry," he didn't sound sorry at all. "Controls are broken on this old thing. Can't move the windows at all."

"Oh, okay. Um, d-do you mind we stop at a gas station or something? To grab some medicine for my... car sickness?"

"Essie, are you okay?" Ethan asked, and then finally turned around to look at her.

NO I'M NOT, WE'RE IN DANGER! She hoped she was able to convey the message with her eyes. His own widened in realization. Finally, he seemed to understand. That, or he genuinely thought she had car sickness. Gods, she prayed it wasn't the latter.

He turned back to the driver. "Maybe we should stop, she looks a little sick."

The man barely spared her a glance. "We'll make a quick stop then."

"A stop where?" Ethan asked with narrowed eyes. They hadn't realized it until now, but they were no longer on the road they were before. They were following a dirt path and all around them were bunch of rocky mountains.

"You ask too many questions," he grunted, then before they knew it, he had a gun out and was pointing it right at the side of Ethan's temple.

"Ethan—" Esmerelda nearly jumped to her feet.

"—Settle down, settle down," he grinned wryly. "Or I might bash his brains in."

She registered his words in her brain. Bash his brains in? The threat didn't exactly match his choice of weapon. It sounded more like he was going to use that gun to whack Ethan silly rather than shoot him. As she stared more at the gun, the more she started to notice it's weird, shimmery form.

"You," she gasped. "You're not a mortal!" She realized, and then she willed the Mist to go away.

It only made the situation worse. Now that the Mist was gone, his true form was no longer being hidden. He was a hundred times uglier than before, if that was even possible, and she instantly regretted taking the Mist away.

His skin was still red and wrinkled, but he was bald now. His unibrow was gone, leaving behind a row of creases on his fatty forehead and below it was a single eye. He was a cyclopes, an oddly short one though. His gun had changed to a bronze club with a few spikes jutting out. One of them was close to poking Ethan's eye out.

He must have realized that the Mist was gone because he scowled and said, "Ah rats. Daughter of Hecate, huh? Should've realized it from the damn eyes." He gave her an evil grin. "Oh well. I wouldn't try any magic tricks on me, wouldn't want your friend to die wouldja?" He pushed his club further, making Ethan back away until his head was smushed against the window. Several spikes poked at his skin, making him hiss.

Esmerelda's eyes darted down to the heaps of backpacks and other belongings. "You killed all these people, didn't you? A-and then you stole their stuff!"

"Yep!" He said proudly. "That's what I do. Back then, I'd roam the roads from Athens to Trozen, robbin' travelers and terrorizin' villages. It was a blast, I tell ya. Not much of a challenge now. People willingly go to me for help—directions and free rides and all that jazz. It got kinda boring but their loot? Worth it. Some of those bags back there are full o' drachmas, nectar, and ambrosia."

"What?" Ethan looked lost. "But monsters can't use those—"

"—I ain't no monster, kid!" He barked. "And keep your hands up where I can see 'em! I know you're armed."

With gritted teeth, Ethan did as he was told.

"You're not a monster?" Esmerelda asked skeptically, because he looked a lot like a cyclops.

"No," he growled at her. "Not completely at least."

He didn't elaborate any further and turned his attention back on the road. They were driving in some sort of forest now, the rocky mountains becoming closer and closer. She wondered where he was taking them.

"Where are you taking us?" She asked.

He smiled sickeningly. "Back home. I feel more comfortable killing people there."

How pleasant.

His home turned out to be somewhere deep in the woods. After some driving, he finally stopped a few meters a shallow river. Past it was a cave entrance.

"Out!" He barked at her before grabbing a hold of Ethan and practically throwing him out the car. Ethan growled in annoyance, this was the second time he had been manhandled by monsters, or whatever the Hades this guy called himself.

Esmerelda jumped out of the car, and he grabbed her by the hair and started dragging her towards the cave. She immediately noticed that one leg was limp, which reminded her of Hephaestus who was also lame in the leg.

Wait a second. Hephaestus.

This 'not monster' was able to digest nectar and ambrosia like a demigod. Didn't Hephaestus have a son who looked like a cyclops? Periphetes, she was sure was his name. And didn't he go around killing travelers too just like this guy?

This is him, she realized, then began to grow hope. From what she could remember from her lessons, his skin was so tough that barely anything could scratch it. He was killed by Theseus who hurled a large boulder right onto his head, crushing his skull instantly.

Before she could plan anything she was roughly thrown into the water, coldness immediately seeping into her bones. Gods did she hate the cold.

"Essie—" Ethan stepped forward to help her but a club was shoved at his throat.

"'Essie' wouldn't be short for Esmerelda, would it?" Periphetes asked, and they both froze. "'Cause that'd be a funny coincidence. I remember hearing some kid named Luke saying he required an 'Esmerelda'."

"Are you from the Titan army?" She asked harshly.

He flashed her an ugly smile. "I'm one of their newest recruits," he stated. "Yeah, I got contacted by that son of Hermes just a few weeks ago. That's the whole reason I'm headin' off to California."

"But your father is Hephaestus!" Esmerelda exclaimed, and Ethan looked at her in shock. "Why would you want to join the enemy?"

"The only enemy here are the Olympians, witch," he snarled. "You think I wanted to live my whole life lookin' like this?"

Esmerelda winced. "Er, no..."

"Exactly." He growled, chest rumbling.

"I'm part of the Titan army too, dumbass!" Ethan barked, and Esmerelda wanted to smack him. Now was not the time to insult someone who clearly had the upper hand on them.

Periphetes blinked at him and lowered his club. "You are?"

"YES!" Ethan roared. "I was sent on a mission to get her!" He motioned to Esmerelda, who was slowly rising from the water. As the two boys argued back and forth, she began to think of a plan. Periphetes had thick looking skin and was insanely strong, so she doubted either of them could last in a close combat fight. She could always kill him the way he had been killed originally, but the boulders all looked heavy...

She looked up at the mountain and saw a bunch of decently sized boulders and tried to levitate them off the rocky wall. Neither of them glowed green and after several seconds, her head began to pound so she gave up. Breathing deeply from the exertion, she tried to think of something else.

A spell came to mind, but she had never attempted it before. It was too risky, especially in the Forbidden Forest but here maybe she could...

"Are you an idiot?!" Ethan snapped impatiently, catching her attention. "You're not supposed to kill me, we're on the same side!"

Periphetes only shrugged. "Luke won't mind."

"You son of a—"

"—Ethan will fight you." Esmerelda cut in.

Both of them turned to her. "Huh?"

She faced Periphetes. "If Ethan wins, you have to let us go. If he loses, than you get to kill us both."

Periphetes broke out into booming laughter. It was so loud that the nearby birds flew away in protest.

"What are you doing?" Ethan whispered while Periphetes was too busy laughing.

"His skin is too tough for you to cut him with the sword, so find a way to get him close to the cave." She whispered back, eyeing the large boulders just above the entrance.

He followed her line of sight and nodded. He removed his earring, shifting it into a sword and faced Periphetes who finally stopped laughing.

"That what you want, kid? Your friend to die?" He said, wiping a tear from his single eye. "Well who am I to turn down the offer?! Alright, boy, come at me!" He raised his club like a baseball player preparing to bat.

Ethan gave him a cold look, but didn't strike first. Periphetes laughed and swung forward, but Ethan rose his sword and blocked the attack. She could tell how powerful the blow was since Ethan's stance nearly faltered from it.

They started exchanging heavy blows, Periphetes more than Ethan, but that was to be expected. Ethan was always on the defensive, in fact he was amazing at it. She had no idea how hard Luke had been training him but he was noticeably ten times better than before. Despite Periphetes's strong attacks, Ethan had yet to lower his guard and still stood strong.

Even better was the fact that Ethan was pushing Periphetes back, closer to the cave, and he had yet to realize it. Or maybe he did and just didn't realize that it was all part of a plan.

They were just a foot away from the cave now. Ethan bent low to dodge a swipe to the head, but then Esmerelda noticed that his other hand went for his waist where his knife was located. Then in a movement so quick that she barely saw it, he snatched it from his sheath and stabbed him right between the legs, smirking cruelly.

Periphetes let out an agonized cry, falling to his knees. Turns out that she was wrong about his whole body being near-indestructible. Like every man, he still had that one weak spot.

"Y-y-you...." Periphetes seethed. Instead of backing down, he raised his club and let out an angered roar. That was when Esmerelda reacted.

"BOMBARDA!" She screamed, and a burst of energy shot out from her hand. It was so powerful that it knocked her to the ground.

There was a loud booming sound as the rocks were blasted from the spell. Boulders came tumbling down and Ethan had to scramble away to avoid getting crushed.

"No!" Periphetes shouted, trying to stand only to fall flat on his face.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Boulders crashed all around him, one colliding on his arm, then his legs, then his other arm and soon enough he was buried under all the boulders.

Ethan yanked Esmerelda to her feet, and she swayed on the spot.

"Nice!" He commended her. "You—"

BOOOOOOOOOM!

The rocks wouldn't stop falling. A whole bunch of them were raining down on them. Weakly, Esmerelda looked up and saw the problem. There was a large crater where the blast was, and it had weakened the mountain enough for everything to start falling down.

Ethan cursed in Ancient Greek, hauled her over his shoulder, and began running across the river towards the car. He practically threw her into the passenger's seat before climbing behind the wheel. Luckily for him, the keys were still in the ignition so without wasting a second, he went on reverse and slammed his foot on the gas pedal before switching forward.

The ground was rumbling underneath them as they sped through all the trees.

"Holy Hera," Ethan breathed out, occasionally glancing at the mirror to survey the chaos going on behind them. "Holy Hera, Essie, you just blew up a mountain!"

"I feel like I was the one who got blown up," she complained, squeezing her eyes shut.

He glanced at her wearily. She looked a bit pale. "You're not gonna throw up, are you?"

"No, I—you're bleeding!" She suddenly exclaimed. He looked down at the side of his shirt where blood was pooling around.

He gave her a sheepish look. "Um. I guess I opened my stitches during the fight."

"We need to heal that, didn't Periphetes say he had a bunch of nectar and ambrosia in here?" She asked aloud, turning around to rummage through all the bags at the back. She went through all them in a matter of minutes. "That jerk! There's only a half-full bottle of nectar left and, like, three squares of ambrosia!"

"I'll take it later. We'll have to remove the stitches first," he told her, followed by a loud BOOM! from behind. "In the meanwhile, we need to get as far away from this place as possible. You blew up that mountain good."

Ethan didn't stop driving until they got far away from Ozark Mountains, driving past several police cars as he did so. He parked at the side of the road and the two of them immediately went to work. Esmerelda easily found a stash of ambrosia squares from one of the bags, but Ethan refused to eat it until he got rid of the stitches.

"It won't seal itself until the stitches are gone," he informed her.

"How the heck do we remove them?" She asked.

"Er, well, there's usually a pair of tweezers and scissors involved."

"I doubt we have any of those. Or at least, ones that aren't all old and rusty."

"Can't you use your levitation to undo them?" He asked her. "I mean,  Alabaster—the lazy shit—uses it to tie his shoes all the time."

"The most I can do is pick stuff up and throw them around. I don't have enough concentration and skill to do complex stuff like that." She explained, hoping she didn't sound too jealous and bitter. She couldn't help but be jealous of her older brother nowadays. He was a lot more powerful than her. She could never get on his level.

Ethan stared at her, as if he could read her thoughts. "Hey, I doubt Alabaster could blow up a mountain like you just did."

Okay, he had a point.

She snorted and cracked a grin. "You're right."

"So," he looked back down at his bleeding wound. "You got any ideas?"

She pursed her lips. "Um, sort of."

"Sort of?"

"I mean, I got a spell that could definitely help you."

"Okay..."

"But if I do it wrong, I might accidentally cut you open or something."

"Wonderful." He sighed heavily. "Just do it."

She gave him a worried look. "You sure?"

He nodded. "I trust you." He gave her a small smile that she timidly returned.

"Okay," she said, moreso to herself. "Um, recline the seat back so you're laying down."

He did as he was told and lifted his shirt up to show the wound.

Esmerelda breathed deeply, and the sutures began to glow green. Slowly, the first knot began to rise up.

Diffindo, she thought, praying to god she didn't accidentally slice him in half or something equally as awful. Thankfully, the little suture was sniped in half instead. She breathed a sigh of relief. She had done it. Now she just had to cut everything else.

Ever so carefully, she began to snip the remaining loops until they were all gone. She tossed the suture away and shoved the bag of ambrosia squares at his face. "Hurry up and eat one." She urged.

He began to nibble on a piece and slowly, his injury began to heal. Once it fully sealed shut, he leaned against his seat and let out a long breath. There was a silence between them until:

"...Why can't we be normal?" He murmured, looking at the hood of the car.

"Probably 'cause we're demigods." She said bitterly.

"Well, sometimes I wish we weren't. Imagine how less of a mess our lives would be if we were... mortal." He said thoughtfully.

"We wouldn't have met," she pointed out, and sometimes she couldn't help but think that perhaps that would've been a good thing.

Pain flickered in his eyes before he schooled his expression. "You're right," he said, facing her. "Forget I said anything."

Then, without another word he started the car up and drove away.

— author's note —

Like an hour after I finished with this chapter I realized I could've just had Essie use Expelliarmus on Periphetes 🙃 She already practiced it before too, I totally should've used that but oh well, too late. Plus the fighting scene would've been pretty quick and lame so I just stuck to her accidentally blowing up a mountain

Let's just say that she's a bit... slow when it comes to thinking of spells. Like that one time when the yacht sank and she had to go around in soaked clothes in the freezing cold weather when she could've used Tergeo to suck out all the water... (I forgot about that too oops. I wouldn't be a good witch, my dumb ass would just keep forgetting all the spells lmao)