ENTRAPPED ₂

22

ETHAN KNEW SOMETHING WAS WRONG AS SOON AS THE LIGHT DIED.

The room was too silent. Everything was too still. He did not hear Hera trying to kill him. He did not hear Leo pulling Jason to his feet.

Nobody even approached Ethan. He laid on his stomach, bleeding out all over the boards. No one came to him. Piper. Jason. Leo.

It was the strangest thing that had happened all quest. Even when he had been a dick, they had protected each other. They had always looked out for him.

For half a moment, he was in survival mode again, and he was screaming and tearing apart the walls. The fool again. He had been the fool. He should have trusted his first impressions of them. This had been the plan all along.

He counted seconds in his mind, too weak to lift his head. Tick. Tick. Tick. The world was muted.

Then Ethan felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Ethan," Piper murmured. Her voice wavered, broke a little. "Oh, fuck. Ethan."

Sound began to return. Ethan opened his eyes. His cheek was pressed into the ground, but he could see the Wolf House from his limited perspective. Every vestige of winter was gone from the valley. No signs of battle. The monsters had all vaporized.

Ethan could not see any people. There was a cold feeling in his heart. It was the same feeling he had felt the morning he had woken up on Madeleine's couch and she wasn't there.

"Ethan," Piper said again. "Ethan, are you awake? Ethan."

Sound returned. Ethan heard Thalia cursing at Hera. Leo was sobbing.

Something was too quiet.

It was Jason.

Ethan put his torn-up arms underneath his torn-up body and heaved himself up. It hurt. His vision tinged with red.

He looked around. The Hunters had all been defrosted. They waited a respectful distance away from Thalia, who was in Hera's face, cursing and crying.

Leo was holding Jason, crying silently. Jason himself was steaming. His eyes were rolled back, only revealing the whites.

Porphyrion was gone. Everything was too fucking quiet.

"Fuck," Ethan groaned. It hurt to move. His back had been clawed to shreds, and his shirt stuck in the open bits, making him clench his jaw. He sat up. "Take me over to him."

Piper had tears in her eyes. "Ethan―"

"Take me over to him," Ethan snarled. It was a shadow of his old anger, but it was enough. Piper tucked her arms under Ethan's armpits, doing her best not to touch the claw marks all over him.

Together, they stumbled over to Jason and Leo. Thalia was still screaming at Hera. Leo's body shook.

Piper and Ethan dropped unceremoniously next to Jason, because Piper was not willing to drop Ethan and Ethan was not willing to let go of Piper. He had a sinking feeling in his gut. The whole world was red.

"Jason," Ethan said.

Of course he didn't respond. Ethan gently shoved Leo away and put his hands on Jason's chest.

When Drew Tanaka and Lee Fletcher had both almost been murdered last summer, Ethan had learned first aid. He had asked Lee, but he had also done his own research. Now, he knew how to save someone's life, even if he was dying. Especially if he was dying.

Ethan put his finger under Jason's nose, checking for breath. It had been two minutes. There were no veins in his neck.

Ethan put his hands on Jason's chest and pumped furiously, then felt for breath again. Two minutes and twenty seconds.