After they came back to camp, there was immediately an uproar for a council meeting, but before Kia could join, she felt a tug on the cuff of her jacket. She looked back, and saw Ethan looking at her like he had a million things to say. Swimming in his eyes were a thousand unsaid words, and he opened his mouth to say something, but Kia cut him off, "Sure."
He made a sound, kind of like a sigh of relief, but also like he'd rather she had ripped her arm out of his grip and walked away.
Kia turned around, and looked to Percy, who was already looking at her. She whispered to him, "I'll be back in a sec. Cover for me, 'kay?"
Percy nodded, warily looking at Ethan as if he expected him to pull a knife out of nowhere and stab Kia, but breathing out in resignation anyway. "Okay. Just... just don't take too long."
"I'll be back before you know it."
Ethan led her into a clearing—the clearing they'd gone to the night before Kia's quest; it was still as beautiful as ever, this time, the sun rays dancing cheerfully on the surface of the water like Helios had played a flute on these waters, chrysanthemums and petunias surrounding the lake, Kia being able to identify them far more readily than she had during the night.
A log, oddly perfectly placed so that one could see his own reflection in the lake if he sat over it and leaned forward, looked idle and misplaced amongst the lovely trees and gentle, sparkling waves. Ethan sat on it, heaving a small sigh, and Kia followed his movements, resting next to him.
"So?" Kia prompted.
"So."
"Care to share why you brought me out here?"
He didn't say anything for a moment, and he stared at the blackness of his eyes in the reflection in the water. "How was your quest?"
Kia knew that with the intensity and manner of his speech, the restraint of each word, the way he's brought her all the way out here, that this wasn't all he'd meant to ask, but something told her she shouldn't prod further either. So, she said, "Eventfully."
Ethan chuckled a little. "A vague answer, huh?"
"I'm a vague girl."
He made a sour face, like he'd been sucking on a lemon rime. "Please don't say that again."
Kia slowly started laughing, snorting behind her palm, a little hysterically. It wasn't actually all that funny, but it seemed like such a contrast from just a day ago when she was fighting monsters and facing gods; the hilarity of it wasn't something her delirious mind could ignore. After watching her for a few moments, Ethan couldn't help himself—he started laughing too. Their laughter echoed and bounced off the bark of the trees harmoniously and fed it back to them, to which they laughed even louder and more boisterously. It became so bad that they found themselves clutching at their stomachs, the other hand wiping tears from their eyes.
"Why are we laughing?" Ethan managed.
"I have no idea."
Somehow, this seemed to intensify their need for laughter. Eventually, their laughter receded to small giggles here and there, until they were left simply staring at each other.
"Thanks," Kia said.
"For?"
"I don't know."
They helped each other up, and brushed themselves clean of whatever large particles of dirt and grass they could. Kia looked at Ethan. "Is there anything specific you wanted to tell me?"
He hesitated, like there were many things he wanted to, but couldn't. His lips moved in a mimic about to pronounce 'Sorry,' but Kia held up a hand. "No, it's fine." She smiled warmly. "You can tell me when you feel like it."
Ethan nodded uneasily, but didn't say anything else.
She hadn't realised yet just how much she'd regret saying that.
Together, they walked backed to the Big House, chatting idly about random things. They talked about mundane things like what each other's favourite colour was, what they thought was the best flower, the prettiest bird, who could make the best treehouse, what the proper steps were to make the ultimate friendly (or in Ethan's case, bitter) snowman—all the things little children would speak about while discussing their shared favourite fairy tale (of course, the conversation obviously included one of Ethan's top of the line snarky remarks from time to time; read: every single topic).
"Maybe you'll fly away on a bird one day and I won't have to hear your annoying voice ever again nagging me to get up at three in the morning," Ethan said hopefully, in the rueful way he would whenever he joked.
"That wasn't one time! Get over it, besides," Kia said, waving him off, "who would annoy you and bring out your core's most irritable nature?"
"No one. That's kind of the point. Were you even listening to what I said—"
Just then, they heard voices, one urgent and pleading and the other hateful and angry. They took a look at each other, and in silent agreement, they came closer to where the voices were. At one point, they came close enough to hear the voices distinctly. One was Percy, desperate and urgent, and the other was a younger kid with brown eyes that tugged at Kia.
"—should've known it earlier," the kid said. "She's in the Fields of Asphodel, standing before the judges right now, being evaluated. I can feel it."
Connecting the dots, Kia realised this was Nico, Bianca's younger brother. The one she had told Kia to take care of.
"What do you mean, you can feel it?" Percy asked Nico.
As Kia was about to come into their view, she heard hissing and chattering noises, ones that made her already pale skin ink with further white.
Percy drew his sword and Kia went for her bows, but Ethan halted her, handing her a bronze dagger, maybe sixteen inches long, with a brown leather hilt worn down with finger indents; ironically, it fit her hand almost perfectly. It didn't look very special, but it seemed so natural in her hands that she immediately felt the need to twist it around and use it.
"Arrows won't be useful in close combat," Ethan said. He looked a little eager, like he wanted to try and kill these things, but he made sure Kia was properly armed first.
"What are you gonna use?" Kia said unsurely; she couldn't leave him undefended at her expense.
He patted the side of his thigh, where suddenly a scabbard was, with a wicked sword, a tip as sharp as an ice pick.
He drew it and said, "Now, come on. No time for chit chat."
With that, they jumped in and stood protectively in front of Percy and Nico, both of who gasped at the sudden entry.
In total, there were four skeleton warriors, which would have been easy to defeat if they weren't dead already and couldn't be wounded. This could be a problem, even with two and a half trained demigods and one angry child.
"You're trying to kill me!" Nico screamed, which Kia thought was kind of stupid. Why on Earth would they be trying to kill him? "You brought these... these things?"
Ethan gritted his teeth. "No one's trying to kill you, kid. Just be quiet and stay back or run. We'll handle this."
"No!"
"Is this kid trying to die?" Ethan muttered under his breath, his stance rigid and attentive, ready for any course of action or plan of attack.
"They followed me—us. Nico, run! Go get help!" Percy said, trying to get him to safety.
"I don't trust you!"
Kia supposed it was her turn to try and get Nico to get help, but she was busy keeping the point of her dagger steady on whatever skeleton warrior that was getting too close; each time one got back, another on the other side got closer. It seemed that they were realising that the celestial bronze wouldn't hurt them; they weren't Greek anymore, if they even were in the first place, they were now the property of the dead—celestial bronze wouldn't do anything to them.
"No!" Nico shouted louder, clenching his eyes shut persistently. "Go away!"
Like an earthquake, the ground rumbled, shaking them all to and fro. The demigods tries huddling together to stay upright, but the skeletons froze.
"Look out!" Ethan pushed Kia out of the way right before a crack that grew in the ground swallowed her up whole. The skeleton warriors didn't share the same luck. Flames erupted from the fissure in the ground, and it gobbled them up like a Venus flytrap snapping its lips.
It was silent. All of them were too stunned to say anything. It seemed like there was no sign that the skeleton warriors had even been there, if not for the twenty-foot scar across the marble floor of the pavilion.
Kia looked to Ethan, who was staring wide-eyed at the fissure, with his arms around her like shielding her from an explosion. Her face felt warm, and she coughed.
Ethan realised, and quickly withdrew his hands looking terribly embarrassed. "Uh—"
"Go away!" Nico yelled. "I hate you! I wish you were dead!"
He ran down the steps of the pavilion, running into the woods. Percy tried to chase after him, but he slipped and feel on the ice. Kia instinctually tried to help him up, but gestured for Ethan to go on without them.
"Go! Go before he gets too far!"
With a moment of hesitation, something passed over his face, and he nodded, staring at her for a moment, as if he was looking for something. And then, he ran off in the direction Nico went.
Apparently, it wasn't the ice Percy had slipped on; it was the figurine Bianca had stolen from the junkyard. The melted and disfigured face could finally be made out: it was Hades, the Lord of the Dead.
Annabeth and Grover had joined them, trying to look for Nico, and Ethan, as well. She'd expected him to turn up even if he didn't find Nico, but there was no sign of either of them.
"We have to tell Chiron," Annabeth said, out of breath.
"No," Percy said.
"What?" Kia said sharply.
Percy winced, realising with the lack of elaboration how it might sound. "I mean, we can't let anyone know. I don't think anyone realizes that Nico is a—"
"A son of Hades," Annabeth breathed in astonishment.
"You want to let go of the chance to find Ethan?" Kia added harshly, disregarding Nico for a moment. "He's a camper too, Percy."
"No, that's not what I meant," Percy addressed Kia. "But Kia, a lot of things could go wrong if we told Chiron. We'll find him, and Nico. Just... not now."
Kia wanted to yell about how there might not be a later time when they find Ethan alive, but she held her tongue.
"Percy, do you have any idea how serious this is? Even Hades broke the oath! This is horrible!" Annabeth said.
There was a lot of talk about Nico, and how his sister and him were born before World War II and the Lotus Casino and other things, but their voices sounded distant, like they were submerged under water. Kia's mind was only focused on Ethan. All the bad possibilities started piling up in her head; each one was worse than the last, and it felt like they were snickering and mocking her: Ha ha! Look at that. Can't even save someone so close to her fingertips! What a hero!
She was going to be sick. Kia felt vertigo coming over her, feeling the solid ground below her start to sway. She tried to get her mind off of him and where he might be, what might happen to him, what might've already happened to him, trying to focus her sights on Percy, Annabeth and Grover in front of her, but she couldn't. Their faces kept solidifying and long blurry; it happened repeatedly, and it was making her head hurt. She shut her eyes, and she felt a dull pain at the back of her head, slowly spreading to the front, and then on the under the skin of where her eyebrows were.
Percy noticed this, and instantaneously stopped talking. Kia stumbled, and Percy jumped to catch her. She was cold to the touch, and she was sweating all over. Her eyes were closed, but the muscles on her face were twitching and writhing as if she was enduring some sort of pain.
"Woah!"
"What happened to her?" Grover asked worriedly.
Annabeth pursed her lips and put a hand on her forehead to check for her temperature. "She's burning up. C'mon, we have to get her to the Big House!"
They rushed her there, and Chiron took one look at her and ordered for them to put her on the couch. Percy gently placed her on the couch, his eyebrows furrowed in worry. Words poured out of his mouth without his brain's involvement. "What happened to her? Is she okay? Will she be okay? Why does she have a fever?"
Annabeth stepped on his foot and gave him a look that said 'shut up.' Chiron answered none of the questions, putting a hand over her forehead and his jaw twitched as he murmured words in ancient Greek. He pulled his hand away, and stared at her intently as of waiting for her to jolt back awake, but she didn't.
"So? Is she alright?"
Chiron looked at Percy for the first time since they came in with Kia. He grimaced. "Her powers come with a price. Her mind is weak."
His mind completely went over the fact that Chiron somehow knew about her powers, burn Percy was ready to protest that Kia was in no way weak, but Chiron continued before he could say anything. "The cause may be intense emotional distress. Is there anything that happened that might've caused it?"
Annabeth, Grover and Percy exchanged looks. Silently, they decided they wouldn't tell Chiron about her connections to Ethan. While they explained what they'd made up to him, Percy couldn't help but feel guilty, and his eyes would occasionally slide to Kia during the conversation. He was the one who'd stopped her from going after Ethan; maybe if he hadn't, she wouldn't be in this state.
Meanwhile, Kia was in a dark room, smoke curling off the walls, but not becoming thicker or intensifying at all. She spun around, trying to find where she was. Kia started to panic; she had no idea where she was or how to get out. She tried running in one direction, trying to find a wall, a door—anything, but there was nothing except for smoke and ground.
She was about to try and use the ground to navigate, but then she heard a voice chuckling. The same chuckles she'd heard in her nightmare on the freight train, the same snickers that taunted her mind when she couldn't save Ethan.
She spun around, a wild light of panic in her eye, and emerging from the shadows was a man with white hair like spun from silk, wearing a spotless white suit, a singular red handkerchief in his breast pocket. The blood drained from her face when she saw his face, or more accurately, faces.
The man with shifting faces said, spreading his arms out like a welcoming gesture that set of all the possible alarms in Kia's head. "Nice to finally meet you, my daughter."
Note: Anyone noticing the parallels between this scene and a certain scene in HOO? Anyway, so yes, Kia finally meets Morpheus. I bet you thought that was it for The Titan's Curse. Ho ho ho ho ho, the suffering has not ended yet! You may be wondering what my OCs have done to me to deserve this, and the answer is: absolutely nothing! I'm just a sadist.