ENTRAPPED ₂

49

BEFORE THE ROOM HAD EVEN FULLY FORMED AROUND THEM, ETHAN HAD HIS MOTHER IN A CHOKEHOLD.

Ethan didn't have to see the room to know it. He recognized the sour, acrid scent in the air: dried blood. It was soaked into the carpet. A sagging leather couch crept into the corner of Ethan's periphery. It was dark, but light from a street lamp outside crept in.

Ethan's father's old apartment, the place he had died. Nemesis had met Ethan here last time, too.

His pulse beat so fast that he was sure his mother could feel it through his fingertips. He figured it was from a mix of adrenaline, fear, and anger. He felt more alive than he had in months, maybe years. A scary kind of alive. The kind of alive he felt when his father had a gun to his temple.

"You can't kill me," Nemesis snarled. Her voice came out raspy. Her long nails dug into Ethan's fingers, but his grip didn't falter.

Since their last meeting, Ethan had seen many things. He had watched Pan fade away completely. He had been in the room when Luke Castellan had killed himself and blown Kronos to pieces in the process. He had watched Madeleine and Percy bash Hades into the ground.

Gods couldn't die, but there were worse things than death.

Ethan stepped away from his mother. For a moment, she stood against the wall, gasping.

"You are strong," she finally croaked. "Stronger than you were."

Ethan just regarded her coldly, gripping the handles of his knives. "What do you want?"

Nemesis's mouth twitched like she was tempted to smile. "I don't want your other eye, if that's what you're worried about, Ethan Nakamura."

"Fuck you," Ethan told her.

"I would have liked to meet your girlfriend, though," Nemesis continued. "Is she keeping secrets from you?"

Ethan was tempted to take a swing at his mother, but he had learned patience. He took a deep, steadying breath.

"What do you want?" he asked again.

Nemesis regarded him with the same cold, stoic look he saw in the mirror. He had many of her features: the rumpled dark hair, the unimpressed stare, the thin lips.

"Would it be so absurd to think that I want to help you?" Nemesis finally asked him.

"Don't make me laugh," Ethan replied, in a tone that indicated he wasn't at all close to laughing.

"Would it be so absurd to think that I don't want to destroy the world?" Nemesis continued. She straightened herself, throwing her hands up into the air. Ethan tried very hard not to flinch. "Ethan, I've grown to care about you in my own twisted way. I may not be like Hermes, may the gods bless his eternally weak soul, but I want you to live."

"Don't bullshit me," Ethan snarled. He could feel his emotions slipping away from him. "You took my eye so I could die in the war. That was how I was going to make a difference. That was your plan."

Nemesis studied him, the amusement dying in her face. "Was it?"

They stared at each other. Nemesis didn't have the ability to soften, but something about her seemed less threatening.

"Three questions," she told him. "I will do three things for you. I will answer whatever you wish."

"What are you, a genie?" Ethan snapped. "You're a liar."

"I swear on the River Styx," Nemesis said calmly.

Outside, the street light flickered. This time, Ethan really did flinch.