CHAPTER 244: CHAPTER 244: THE TRAP (1)

The city had shifted in rhythm since that morning on the balcony.

Three days had passed, enough for the news of "Poseidon’s jealousy" to trickle through the divine and mortal networks alike, whispered half in awe, half in mockery. For once, Elias didn’t mind the gossip. The rumors served their purpose: to set the stage.

From the outside, everything looked normal. The sun had climbed high above the glass skyline, turning the sea into a sheet of fractured light, and the wind carried the soft, metallic tang of salt and ether. Victor and Poseidon had disappeared to "attend negotiations," which in truth meant they were already executing their roles.

Victor was the shadow, the storm that moved unseen, his presence scattered across half a dozen ether signatures. Poseidon was the noise, the spectacle of divine tension, commanding waves to tremble just enough to draw attention. Between the two of them, the ocean had become a theater, and Elias was the bait quietly writing from its edge.

He sat on the terrace of a small seaside café designed for people who enjoy pretending they aren’t close to gods. The place was quiet at this hour, save for the sound of waves breaking softly below and the low hum of city conduits overhead.

His laptop sat open in front of him, a few windows flickering with code and energy readings as camouflage. Anyone glancing over would think he was analyzing etheric data, not baiting a dead man.

A cup of coffee steamed at his elbow. His free hand rested idly over his abdomen, the weight of new life a soothing, grounding presence.

It was the calm before something inevitable.

He felt it before he saw it.

The shift in the air was faint, like the hum of a familiar frequency brushing against his skin. Jonathan’s ether had always been distinct: cold, mathematical, and full of arrogance. But this time, something felt wrong. Fragmented.

"Fractured signatures," Elias murmured, his fingers ghosting over the laptop keys. "So you left yourself a backup. Clever."

The air in front of him rippled faintly, distorting the sunlight like heat haze. A voice followed, low and threaded with charm.

"I thought you’d appreciate the foresight."

Elias didn’t look up right away. Instead, he saved his work, closed the laptop calmly, and drank his coffee slowly. "You always did enjoy being praised for bad decisions."

Jonathan’s laughter was soft and smooth, designed to charm rather than soothe. When Elias finally raised his eyes, the man was standing a few feet away, the same easy smile on his face, though his ether told a different story. It wavered, glitching at the edges like a projection running out of power.

He was beautiful in the hollow way that all false things are, with sharp cheekbones, light-catching white hair, and eyes too bright to be human. The illusion of perfection that always hid decay underneath.

"Elias," he said, and there was warmth in it or something that imitated it. "You look... settled. Domesticity suits you."

Elias leaned back in his chair, completely unbothered. "I can’t say the same about you. You look like someone stapled your soul together with spare parts."

Jonathan’s smile didn’t falter, though his gaze sharpened. "You always did have a cruel tongue."

"I learned from the best," Elias said. "So. Which part of you am I speaking to? The real one? The ocean fragment? Or just another ghost trying to impress me?"

Jonathan tilted his head slightly, the movement precise and practiced. "A fragment, if you must know. The rest of me is... occupied. Adjusting to the new field. Poseidon’s interference has made things inconvenient."

Elias nodded slowly, his tone mild. "You mean Victor’s interference."

The faintest twitch in Jonathan’s jaw betrayed the hit. "Ah, yes. The executioner. Still playing the loyal husband, I see."

"Still pretending you’re more than a memory," Elias countered smoothly. "We all have hobbies."

Jonathan’s laughter came again, softer this time. "You’ve grown sharper since last we met. And braver. You wouldn’t have spoken to me like this before."

"That’s because before, I didn’t know you were afraid," Elias said.

The silence that followed was brief, but the ether trembled around them.

Jonathan’s smile froze. "You think I’m afraid?"

"I know you are," Elias said calmly, reaching for his coffee again. "Otherwise you wouldn’t have left a fragment here. You knew Poseidon would find you if you stayed whole. So you split yourself and diluted your essence across the ocean in order to survive.

Jonathan’s eyes glinted with something sharp and brittle. "Clever analysis, scientist. You always were a quick study."

"Not quick enough to see what you were the first time," Elias admitted. "But that’s the thing about mistakes. You don’t repeat them."

Jonathan leaned closer, the illusion of his form flickering faintly in the sunlight. "And yet here you are, waiting for me."

Elias’s lips curved in the faintest smile. "You think I’m waiting for you?"

He set the cup down, leaned forward slightly, and for the first time, let a hint of Victor’s ether bleed through his own. A pulse of crimson light glinting along the edge of his pupils.

Jonathan froze.

"Wrong calculation," Elias said quietly. "I’m not the prey this time."

For a moment, the air itself seemed to hold its breath. Then the fragment flickered violently, the illusion breaking, Jonathan’s smile vanishing into static before it could fade to fear. The sound that followed wasn’t speech, but the ocean’s own reply: a distant rumble, low and rising, as if the sea itself was about to wake.

Elias didn’t move. He simply reached for his phone, typed a single message, and hit send.

[To: Victor / Poseidon] — He’s here. Hook’s in.

He leaned back, expression calm again, the faint salt breeze tugging at his hair.

"Checkmate, you arrogant ghost," he murmured.

And beneath the café, deep under the glittering surface of the sea, something ancient began to stir, Poseidon’s domain reacting, Victor’s wrath already closing in.

The trap was set.

And Jonathan, clever as he was, had just stepped into it.