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They got off the bus, Jason’s head was already swimming as he tried to take in his surroundings. Clay earth and steel railings protecting bystanders from the giant chasm in the earth.
Coach Hedge passed out pieces of paper to every other person, yelling loudly to the group;
“Listen up! I only have enough worksheets for half of you, so you’ll have to work in pairs, okay? No exceptions!”
As Coach shoved a paper into Jason’s hands, Piper sighed. “Dang,” she said, “how are we gonna do this? Should we ask for a group of three?”
Confused, Jason asked, “Didn’t he just say no exceptions?”
Leo sighed, patting Jason on the arm because he couldn’t reach his shoulder, “Jason, Jason, Jason, you may not remember, but we break the rules quite a bit, the three of us.”
“Don’t mess with him, Leo.” Piper chided him, “He’s got amnesia. We should be asking Coach for help. Like, a doctor or something.”
“Right, sure.” Leo responded, “Oh, I know! I can hide in Jason’s shirt! I’m probably small enough.”
“ Leo.” Piper demanded.
“Good news!” said an unfamiliar voice, a tall boy with pale skin and brown hair, “Piper, you’re my partner.”
The girl squinted angrly at him, “Actually, I’m partnering with-“
“Coach said.” Dylan pestered.
Leo grabbed onto Piper’s arm. “Oh back off, she’s in a group already.”
The boy laughed, “Okay, squirt, ” he snorted, easily shoving Leo to the side. He took Piper by the arm and she shot a glance at Jason, who- wildly uncomfortable and confused- clenched his fists at his side but ultimately, did nothing.
“What a jerk wad.” Leo remarked after the two of them had walked away.
“Who was that guy?” Jason asked.
Leo stared at him blankly, “Wow, you're really playing this whole amnesia thing out, huh?”
Jason fiddled with the loose leaf paper in his hands, “You don’t believe me.”
“In my defense,” Leo spoke, “It does sound pretty wack.” He held out his hand in a ‘gimme’ gesture, “I’ll do the paper.”
Jason raised an eyebrow.
“What?” He asked, “You know these things are complete bullshit. If I write the answers messy enough, Coach won’t even be able to read it. See that? I cheat the system.”
Despite himself, Jason laughed.
They walked around the edge of the canyon, Leo had folded the paper and put it in his pocket. Then he had taken a handful of miscellaneous items from a different pocket (some rubber bands, two popsicle sticks, and a thin wire) and started fidgeting with it. “Okay,” he began, “Lemme give you the rundown on all the things you missed. We go to a place called Wilderness School. it’s like a boarding school for the ‘bad’ kids, the ones no one really wants. It’s out in the middle of legit nowhere slash the middle of the woods. We’re constantly doing stuff like this,” Leo gestures vaguely to their surroundings, “and other outdoorsy nonsense. The teachers say it’s ‘character building’ but I think they just like to torture us. Right now, though, we’re in a field trip to the Grand Canyon.”
Absorbing the information, Jason asked, “And… who am I? Like, what am I like? How are we friends? Uh, I don’t mean that offensively I just-”
Still fidgeting, Leo grinned up at him. “You? You’re Jason. You’re a Boy Scout, basically- a total wet blanket. You’re the all American boy next door, if you will. You have an annoyingly good moral compass and you’re the only one of the three of us who isn’t constantly getting into trouble. I don’t even know how you landed yourself in this school, honestly. You don’t talk about yourself much, actually, I don’t know much about your home life. Which is fair. Most people here have awful home lives so we didn’t press you out about it. You uh, you showed up in the middle of the semester and like, blatantly ignored everybody. Like, you were super dead set on not making friends for whatever reason. We never really found out why. Anyway, Piper as I had been best buds since the start of the year and graciously decided to let you into our madness, you’re welcome. We pestered you for weeks- sitting with you at lunch and in class, following you around during free hours- until you eventually gave in. Basically, you owe us your life. Your social life, but same thing, really.”
Jason nodded, straining his memory, trying to even remember a spark- anything, but turned up blank.
“Dylan- thats that jerk whose with Piper right now- is a jerk. No questions there. Anyone will and can kill you without hesitation and if it weren’t for me and Piper, you’d probably be dead already- no offense.”
“None taken.”
“Coach Hedge is the coach, he’s a new teacher this year, and he hits us with baseball bats soft enough for it to not be classified as abuse and hard enough for us to regret whatever we did to get sent here. Piper is your girlfriend, you two have been dating since you two went to that meteor shower a few weeks ago. I’m your best buddy, you worship the ground I walk on. Is anything coming back to you yet?”
Jason strained again, racking his brain for something- anything… but it was empty.
“I… guess not.”
They stopped walking and Leo leaned against the railing, making Jason immediately nervous he might fall over.
“Watch this.” Leo says, his voice hushed. He had built a little contraption with the little trinkets in his hand. He twisted part of the wire sticking out of it and the two popsicles sticks bagan to spin like a helicopter and the tiny machine sputtered to life and started flying along the length of the canyon. Leo leaned farther over the railing, making Jason’s anxiety jump, and squinted to see how far out it was. It made it halfway across and fell.
“Dang it, so close!” Leo cursed.
Jason looked down at the other boy in awe. “Leo- that was amazing! What was that? You just built a tiny thing with popsicle sticks and rubber bands and it flew halfway across the Grand Canyon! That was- that was-“
Amazing didn’t really seem right anymore. Jason filed the information away, he wouldn't be underestimating Leo again.
Leo put his hands in his pockets, his face suddenly serious. “Hey,” he began, “If you’re, like, doing this whole amnesia thing because you’re sick of being friends with me- us-... you don’t have to. Trust me, I’ve had friends ditch me before, it’s nothing new. If you just said it now, I wouldn’t be offended. It would be way less weird than what you’re doing now.”
Jason flinched, “I’m not making this up, honest.”
“Right, okay.” said Leo, not sounding at all convinced.
The breeze picked up, and Leo tilted his gaze to the sky. “Hmmm. Got some clouds moving in.”
Just then, the Coach walked past them, Jason had been meaning to talk to him, hopefully he knew more about Jason and his situation than Leo did. And maybe he could get some help.
“I’ll be right back,” Jason said to Leo swiftly, jogging over to where Coach hedge stood…
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“... everyone alright? No one got bitten?” Asked the girl.
Something about her was strikingly familiar, Jason couldn’t place it and it was giving him a headache.
“We… are now. Thank you.” Jason managed.
“Hell yeah we are!” Leo interjected, flirting with her immediately, “Do you have a name, or can I call you ‘mine’?”
The girl scrunched her nose at him. “I’m Lieutenant Thalia Grace, hunter of Artemis. You know. The group of women who have sworn off men?”
“Of course you are.” Leo remarked.
Jason felt like a bolt of lightning crashed through his skull. Thalia?
“Hey Cupcake,” Coach Hedge said, batting Jason’s arm, “Ain’t your name ‘Grace?’”
Thalia flicked her electric blue gaze over to Jason, raising an eyebrow. Cautiously, Jason reached out his hand for a shake, “Jason,” he said.
Thalia’s eyes went wide, and she flinched away from him. Jason’s nervousness must have appeared in his face, it was overwhelming. He hadn’t even had time to even think about dealing with Thalia, or even wondering if she knew he was alive. The hunter was such a firm link to his past… introducing himself could shock her enough into running away, and that was the last thing Jason wanted. Thalia could easily reject him, say nothing, or walk away. As she stood- her eyes wide and her posture small- Jason’s arm wavered, scared and unsure if she cared to return the gesture at all. Thalia knew things about Jason that he desperately wished to know for himself. He wanted to walk over to her, take her by the shoulders and shake her until she told him everything. He wanted her to give him something to fill the gaps with, something to look back on other than the howling of wolves, yellow eyes, stitches, the bright flash of lightning.
Jason was barely aware of his friends standing confused, on either side of him, the dying ember of what remained of the fire. Thalia’s eyes searched his face. Jason couldn’t remember feeling so exposed- so raw. He hated it. Finally- after what felt like an eternity, Thalia stepped closer to him, Jason closed his hands into fists and pulled them close to his chest. She held out a hand, shakey and unsure, and touched- with just the light tips of her fingers- the scar on his top lip.
“Jason.” she repeated.
Coach Hedge looked from Jason to Thalia and back again, “I’m sorry, do y’all know each other? Should I be worried?”
Thalia’s eyes didn’t leave Jason’s face, and Jason stared back, not quite knowing what to do. A familiar sensation of desperately not wanting to disappoint creeped its way into Jason’s head.
“I don’t understand,” said Thalia, ignoring the Coach entirely, “You died. I thought you were dead.”
Everything felt weird, Jason was a head taller than Thalia and they looked nothing alike. But she knew who he was. “Funny story,” said Jason, “I lost all my memories but… we’ve come from Camp Half-Blood, we’re on a quest.”
Thalia seemed to consider that for a moment, then she pulled away, her face shifting back to indifferent neutrality. “The hunters have a camp set up a little ways up the mountain. We’ll catch up once we get there.”
And with that, she started hiking up the snowy mountain. Jason followed a bit behind her. While they thought Jason wasn’t looking, Leo and Piper made eye contact and had a silent argument before Leo jogged to catch up with Jason.
“So hey,” he began, “quick question, you know that lady?”
Jason ran a hand through his hair. “ ‘Know’ is a strong word.” Leo raised an eyebrow at him. “She’s my sister.”
…
Leo followed Jason and his weirdly hot sister and the group of hunters up the mountain without saying much else. They soon arrived at a collection of silver tents, even more hunters were with them. Leo’s head was swimming, firstly because Jason had a super hot sister and no one told him and two, he was attracted to Jason’s sister which- ew- but also ew .
And now that he could really see Thalia (the hunters had several fires going) he could see the resemblance. If you didn’t know the two were related, you’d never know. But now that Leo was looking- really looking- he could see it. They had the exact same eyes. Electric blue, almost unnaturally bright. Completely different face shapes (Jason’s was longer and rectangular while Thalia’s was smaller and heart shaped), different noses, but the same mouth. A form line, like it was meant to be in a scowl. They had the same sort of air round them, like ‘mess with me and you’ll probably die’.
He liked all those things about Thalia, what did that say about the way he felt about Jason? It’s not that Leo was against liking boys, he’s known he’s liked boys for years now, he just doesn’t tell everyone right away, and he doesn’t flirt with boys when he finds them attractive because it was way harder. But Leo wasn’t attracted to Jason, Jason was his friend, it would be weird.
Shaking himself from his thoughts, Leo let his gaze roll to Piper, who was noticed by one of the girls in silver coats- Phoebe, that was her name- who had noticed her limping.
“Hypothermia, ankle,” she said, “you need some healing attention. Fast.”
Piper let herself be guided to what Leo assumed was Phoebe’s tent. That left the three boys and Thalia. “Come into my tent where it’s warm,” she said, “We’ll talk quests and… other stuff.”
The girl turned around, walking inside one of the silver tents. “Have fun with that,” called the Coach, “I’m going to go see if they have anything to eat.” And he trotted off farther into the camp.
Jason put a hand light on Leo’s arm, “You’ll come inside with me, right?” he asked.
Leo played with the hem of his shirt, “I don’t think that invitation was meant for me, Jase.”
“She didn’t say it wasn’t, please?” Jason said, his eyes pleading and his posture unsure, “I don’t think I want to go in there alone.”
Leo had never seen Jason like this before. Scared and insecure and unsure of himself, that was supposed to be Leo’s department. But everyone gets a chance to be the scared friend, he supposed, Leo can’t always hog the spot and Jason can’t be strong forever.
“Alright,” Leo agreed, “but if she kills me, know it’s your fault.”
A small smile played in Jason’s lips and his posture relaxed, if only slightly. They followed her into the tent.
Thalia was sitting on one end of the tent, and Jason sat down in the other, Leo sitting awkwardly next to him. Thalia regarded Leo as a surprise, but said nothing. There wasn’t any furniture, just a sleeping bag (which Thalia was sitting on) and different backpacks and ration packs open and placed at random on the floor.
“So, um-“ Jason began.
“You said you lost your memory? What happened?” Thalia interjected.
“I’m not sure.” Jason told her. “I woke up on a school bus with him and Piper. They remembered things about me that had never happened, and then we went to camp Half-Blood. And sent on a quest.”
“Yeah, that sounds like camp.” Thalia agreed. “So you don’t remember me? Like, at all?”
Jason looked awkwardly at the ground, then he fished something out of his pocket and handed it to her. The space between them was so enormous Thalia had to lean forward to take it from him. It looked like a photo booth picture strip. Thalia studied it carefully, then smiled.
“I forgot about this, I can’t believe I left it back at camp.”
“You can keep it if you want.” Jason offered.
Thalia shook her head, “Nah,” she said, handing it back to him, “I can see Annabeth whenever I want, you’d better hang onto that. Don’t want you forgetting me again.”
Jason reached forward and took the photo from Thalia’s outstretched hands.
Realizing Jason wasn’t going to ask, Leo piped up; “Can I ask why you thought he was dead? That seems like an important misunderstanding to clear up.”
Thalia leaned forward, resting her hands in her chin and her elbows on her crossed legs. “Do you remember anything about mom?”
“I remember, well, I was told Dad- Zeus- offered me as a sacrifice to Hera and that mom was involved with it. But not much else.”
Thalia huffed, “Yeah, I guess… gods you… I guess you wouldn’t remember.” She ran a hand through her hair. “Okay. Our mother, her name was Beryl Grace. She was beautiful, an actress, but she didn’t handle the fame well. She got plastic surgery and fake tans, she was in the tabloids a lot. She had a lot of ‘Hollywood scandals’, she got drunk a bunch, left us alone pretty often.”
Jason’s face seemed to squeeze with distress with every word Thalia said. Leo had been jealous of his friend before, but he would never want to be Jason less than he did right now. At least Leo remembered his mom, at least she had been a good person. Not sure what to do, Leo moved his hand onto Jason’s knee and tapped on his jeans in Morse code I love you I love you I love you over and over, knowing he didn’t understand.
“When she first attracted the attention of Zues, when I was born, it was like… the ultimate achievement. But when Zues gradually stopped hanging around, she kinda went crazy. She couldn’t accept that she wasn’t perfect enough for him. She did more publicity stunts, wore crazy clothes and makeup, anything to get him back. Eventually he did come back, but he was different than I remembered. That’s when you were born. Mom and I fought a lot, I couldn’t stand her. I only stayed around at that point because of you, I didn’t trust her with you. Then Zeus left a second time, and that really did it. She went out drinking all the time, she was barely ever around. She probably scared Zeus off, she kept demanding different things. She wanted Zeus to make her immortal or eternally beautiful or whatever crap. She was just… unstable. As a person.”
She took a deep breath, looking like she wanted to reach out and comfort Jason, do something, but didn’t, like she wasn't sure she was allowed to. Leo couldn’t shake the feeling that Thalia Grace wasn’t supposed to look this way, that she was supposed to be a powerful, talk presence, not meek and scared and unsure.
“I remember, I was eight and you were two. Mom wanted us to go on some family vacation up north. We were at the beach, mom said she left something in the car and asked me to go grab it for her. I was reluctant, I didn’t want to leave you alone with her. But I did. And when I came back, mom was crying. She said Hera had come for you, and you were gone now. Mom didn’t even want to name you Jason, you know that? Dad insisted on it, saying it was Hera’s favorite name and she would be less likely to kill us if we tried to appease her. But mom said that you were a gift to Hera, you very existence was hers to give or take. I didn’t believe her, because gods don’t just come down from the heavens and murder toddlers, right? So I called the police, and there was a while investigative process but no one ever found you and Beryl was never convicted. I could stand her- I just couldn’t. So I ran away.”
“Oh.” Jason whispered. He held onto Leo’s arm, right by his wrist, which was still resting in Jason’s leg. He held on to tight it hurt, but Leo let him.
“She’s dead now,” Thalia added after a moment, “I saw it in a tabloid. She drove her car off a cliff. She was drunk, of course.”
A moment of silence lapsed. Finally, Leo broke it.
“She sounds like a jerk.”
“She was.” Thalia agreed.
“I don’t understand,” Jason said, his voice hard, “How did I survive? What does ‘Hera took me’ even mean? And all this Roman stuff…”
“Roman stuff?” Thalia asked.
“Your brother speaks Latin and has a sick Roman tattoo.” Leo supplied.
“You have a tattoo?” Thalia demanded. Jason raised his free hand- the one that wasn’t holding Leo in a death grip- and showed it to her. She squinted at it for a moment, unsure.
“Weird,” she decided. “Now that we have all that cleared up, what was it you were saying about a quest…?”
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“No.” said Jason, finally, “But I think I am good at pretending to be put together. I know what you’re trying to say. Thanks, man.”
“Of course,” Leo said, “You know I’m here for you.”
“I know.” Jason said, like it was nothing. Like it was a given. “Hey, do you ever think I’ll end up like Thalia one day?”
Leo squinted over at the huntress, then at his friend. “Nah,” he said, “you would look awful with black hair, you definitely would not rock the punk look.”
Jason looked at him blankly before smiling and giving a laugh, and Leo laughed too.
“I meant like, cool and confident and stuff.” Jason clarified.
“You kidding?” Said Leo, “You're the coolest person I know. You can fly, you’re ripped, you can fly… ”
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Leo followed behind Thalia on the ice bridge and it started cracking under his feet.
Thalia whipped her head around to look at him.
“I thought you said this bridge hardly ever cracks?” Leo accused.
“It doesn’t!” Thalia shot back, “I mean, it melts a lot but-“
“ Oh my gods ,” Leo sighed, “of course.”
“What?” Thalia asked.
“Leo controls fire.” Jason explained.
Thalia groaned. “Right. Of course he does. Can you carry him across? You said you can fly, right?”
Jason shook his head, “I can’t fly, I can control the winds. But the winds here… they seem restless and angry. I could probably get us in the air, but I don’t think they'd listen to me after that.”
Leo suddenly had a vivid vision of himself and Jason being whipped through the air like rag dolls.
“I prefer the ice bridge, thanks.”
The ice cracked under Leo’s feet once more and everyone flinched.
Leo could see the shift in Jason’s posture, the tone of his voice, shifting into Leader Mode. “Okay,” he said, sounding sure of himself for the first time since they ran into Thalia, “here’s what we’re gonna do. Thalia, you get across the bridge as fast as you can. I’ll stay here with Leo and we’ll start following you after you’ve made it to safety. If the ice melts, I’ll try flying. It probably won’t be super pleasant, but it's better than anyone plummeting to their deaths.”
Thalia looked at him, worried, but she nodded. “Try not to die.” said said. Jason nodded and Thalia bolted down the bridge.
Jason turned to face Leo, who was getting more anxious by the second. Which was super unhelpful because Leo was pretty sure that being anxious was what was making him lose control over his fire and melt the ice.
Trying to take his mind off the situation, Leo asked, “Hey, you know what this reminds me of?”
“What?” said Jason.
“Have you ever seen Shark boy and Lava Girl?”
Jason squinted, confused. “Uh… no? I guess I wouldn’t remember if I did.”
“Ah, right.” Leo remembered, “Well anyway, the movie is about this girl who's made of lava, and this boy who's a shark, right? And this kid- I don’t remember his name- they’re his imaginary friends. I don’t remember the exact details but they’re in a quest type situation in the kid’s mind. So there’s like, giant ice cream and magic and stuff.”
Still confused, Jason nodded, looking past Leo to see if Thalia had made it. “Right. Makes sense.”
“Anyway, they’re traveling through the ice kingdom, there’s an Ice princess but she’s not relevant yet. And they have to cross an ice bridge.”
“I see, it’s all coming together.” Jason commented.
“Yeah. And get this, because Lava girl is, you know, made of lava, she can’t cross the bridge or else she’ll melt it.”
“And how does Lava girl get out of this situation?” asked Jason.
“I think…” says Leo, trying to remember, “she tries sleepwalking, and it doesn’t work, she wakes up and gets really mad and chases the boys across the bridge. She does end up melting it, though.”
“Well hopefully we don’t end up like her.” said Jason, “Okay, Thalia’s made it to the other side. We can go ahead and follow her.”
“You’re right behind me?” asked Leo.
“I’m right behind you,” Jason promised.
Leo took a step forward, and the ice cracked again. Leo ignored it. He kept walking, taking deep breaths, trying to keep calm. Leo probably would have known Jason was behind him if not for his soft footprints on the ice. Leo tried to walk fast, but not too fast that he would slip, which would be just as bad as melting the ice away. Soon, he was able to see Thalia on the other side.
“Almost there,” said Jason, right behind him. But like, right behind him. So close, Leo jumped and lost whoever control he had left in his powers, and the ice cracked, nearly melting away.
“Okay, times up, I’m flying us over there.” Jason decided.
“What?” Leo shrieked, “I though you said you could control these winds?”
“Probably not, but the ledge is right there so it’s not really flying, just like, a long jump. Hang on tight!” He said, running up to Leo, and jumping towards solid ground. Leo felt the impact of harsh winds immediately, grabbing tightly to Jason’s shirt around his neck, shutting his eyes tight. The winds threw them around in the air, and suddenly they hit something hard and they both yelped, and fell about a foot straight down, landing in soft snow.
Leo open his eyes, taking in their surroundings, they made it to the other side of the bridge. They were laying just bellow a pine tree, which is what they must have hit. Also, Jason was laying sideways on top of him.
“Off off,” said Leo, batting at Jason’s bicep. Jason managed to stand, helping Leo up.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Thanks to you, yeah.” Leo said.
Thalia came over to them, worry etched onto her face. “Well that was a rough landing. The others are over there, come on, let’s catch up. You guys good?” Jason nodded.
“Yeah,” Leo agreed, “Jason’s way better than a bridge anyway.”
Then, he realized something.
“Hey, Jason, what did Hera call you in that dream you had the other day? She called you a bridge. ”
“What’re you talking about?” Thalia asked.
“Just listen,” Leo commanded, “If Jason is a bridge, what’s he connecting? Maybe two different places that normally don’t get along- like the air palace and the ground. You had to be somewhere before this, right? Between disappearing when you were two and showing up on our field trip. And Hera said you were an exchange.”
“An exchange,” Thalia’s eyes widened, “Oh, gods.”
Jason frowned, “What’re you guys talking about?”
Thalia murmured something, like a prayer. “I understand now why Artemis sent me here. Jason- she told me to hunt for Lycian and I would find a clue about Percy. You are the clue. Artemis wanted us to meet so I could hear your story.”
“I don’t understand,” he protested. “I don’t have a story. I don’t remember anything.”
“But Leo’s right,” Thalia said. “It’s all connected. If we just knew where-“
Leo snapped his fingers. “Jason, what did you call that place in your dream? The Wolf House?”
Thalia nearly choked, “The Wolf House? Jason, why didn’t you tell me that! That’s where they’re keeping Hera?”
“You know where that is?” Jason asked.
Leo turned his head, he heard footsteps in the snow. Piper, Coach Hedge and the other hunters had caught up with them.
“What happened?” One of the hunters asked. “We were looking for you. We saw the bridge go down-“
“Hold up we’re having a breakthrough.” Thalia interrupted. “You four,” she gestures to Leo, Piper, Coach Hedge, and her brother, “keep going at your quest. Find out where the giant is keeping Piper’s dad, save him. The rest of us, we need to get on that bridge. It’s fading fast but if we go now, we can make it. Then we go to the Wolf House. We’ll hold it until you guys get there.”
The hunters nodded, already running to where the bridge was melting.
“But, wait,” Jason said, “I don’t even know where the Wolf House is!”
“You know where it is, little brother!” She spoke quickly, “I’ll see you there, I promise!”
She gave him a tackle hug, too quick for him to even react, then sprinted to catch up with the other hunters, who had tied ropes to the ends of the arrows, and launched them at the melting bridge. Then they ran across the rope (something Leo could never hope to do without whatever fancy ninja training the hunters got), and onto the bridge, running along it without fear of slipping. The bridge was melting fast behind them, the arrows falling loose once the bridge melted where the arrows struck the ice. Before Leo even knew what had happened, the hunters and the bridge disappeared into the mist.
Jason held his hands in front of him, like he was about to hug Thalia back. Leo had just burned their only exit. Jason had found his sister and lost her in less than an hour, and it’s as all Leo’s fault.
“Sorry, Jason, honest. I didn’t-“ Leo began.
“It’s alright,” Jason said, but his expression was grim. “We’ve got less than twenty-four hours to rescue a goddess and Piper’s dad, like Thalia said, we’d better hurry. Let’s go see the king of the winds.”
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Start two weeks after the end of TLH
Six years old, his first day of camp. Everyone had bowed to him after he had been claimed, he hated the attention. He remembered being put in his cohort. He hated the way they said it, “Oh, you have to join the First cohort. It’s the best one.” Like he had no choice, like he was their special pet dog.
“What’s the worst one, then?”
They had paused, they being the predators, who had pulled Jason aside the second he had gotten to camp, the second he got claimed. Jenna and Karlo. They had eventually decided on the fifth cohort, and that’s where Jason decided to go.
It had been a whole day if nothing but new information and confusing faces. Everyone wanted to talk to him, everyone wanted him to do something. He could see it in their eyes. Jason couldn’t remember being around this many people before.
There was a small gap between the bunk bed and the wall, and everyone was out doing things. Jason was alone, and he was overwhelmed. He wanted to go back home, back to Lupa. But Lupa said he completed his training, he couldn’t go back now.
He tried to stop the tears from falling from his face, but he couldn’t. He didn’t notice anyone walk in until they were standing right in front of him.
Jason looked up through messy blond hair and met another pair of blue eyes. Pale blue.
Octavian was all pastel colors. Light blue shirt and eyes, pale skin, light blind hair, almost white. He looked at Jason with rounded eyes.
“I didn’t expect anyone to be here,” Octavian said.
Jason wiped away the tears, hoping the other boy didn’t see him cry. Although, the other boy looked close to Jason’s age.
“Who are you?” He asked, “I haven’t seen you around before. And I’ve seen everyone .”
“Jason,” he said.
“Like the son of Jupiter?” Octavian asked, Jason nodded. “Everyone’s talking about you.”
Jason looked away, embarrassed. “I wish they wouldn’t.”
“Why wouldn’t you?” asked the other boy, “I would love it if everyone talked about me. You’ve only been here a day and everyone loves you. I’ve been here my whole life and no one even knows who I am.”
“You’ve lived here your whole life?” Jason asked, awed. “I don’t know people could do that. How long have you been in the Fifth Cohort for?”
The boy tilted his head, confused. “I’m not in a Cohort. I’m seven, I won’t be put in the legion until I’m twelve, dad says so. I live in the city.”
“City?” asked Jason, lifted his head from his knees.
Octavian widened his eyes. “No one told you about the city?” When Jason shook his head, Octavian lit up. “Oh, it’s awesome! Camp Jupiter is only a small part of New Rome. The rest of it is a huge Roman city. Lots of people live there. Retired Demigods, descendants. Like, how my grandpa was Apollo. My family lives in an apartment downtown. There’s ships and a library, Oh! And a coffee shop. Have you ever tried hot chocolate?”
Jason shook his head, he didn’t even know what hot chocolate was.
“Oh, you’ve got to try it.” Said the boy, standing up. “C’mon, I’ll show you.”
Jason hesitated, “I don’t even know your name.”
“I’m Octavian, c’mon, the shop closes soon.”
As it turned out, hot chocolate was delicious .
…
Everyday Jason woke up, more of his memories returned. He felt like that every time he went to bed someone was spoon feeding him his repressed memories through his dreams. The more he remembered, the more he wished he didn’t.
It’s not that he wanted to remain an amnesiac, it’s that he was now remembering how stressful l his life had been.
It’s was like he was watching his life on the tv from the couch. He was looking in with a completely different prospective. He was able to look at his memories detached, and say ‘oh, that probably wasn’t a good idea, I should have done this instead.’ Or ‘oh, that wasn’t normal and it was probably unhealthy whoops.’
Jason had enough of his memories back to be able to connect the dots, he knew the general story of his life.
After Hera had taken him from his family, she dropped his off at the Wolf house, where he trained with Lupa. Lupa trained her students until she saw them fit to join the legion. Some only had to stay a few weeks, some a few months. Jason had to stay for four years. He saw other kids (much older than him) come and go, never staying long enough. He didn’t learn all his mannerisms from wolves.
“Your feet need to be farther apart.” Lupa instructed, sitting on her forepaws, watching Jason spar. “You can’t expect to make the journey to camp, much less be accepted into the legion, if you can’t even hold a sword properly!”
…
He sat with the pack, as the older, human boy taught him how to hold the fork correctly.
“Is camp much different than the Pack?” Jason asked him.
“Oh, I guess I wouldn’t know,” said the boy, dusty brown locks sweeping in his face. “I haven’t been there either. But Lupa says that she’s supposed to teach us unity and teamwork in the pack, so I guess it can’t be much different. Besides the fact that we would all use forks.”
Jason giggled.
He had been six years old, and he finally finished his training. He had to make the whole trek from the Wolf House to Camp Jupiter on his own. And he survived. It was one of those things that, at the time, he had thought it was completely normal but now, looking back, it was not. Sure, demigod normal was different than mortal normal, but he was six.
And sure, Annabeth had run away from home when she was seven, but that wasn’t normal either. But Lupa was a wolf goddess, Jason probably should really expect her to understand human development.
It probably wasn’t mortal human normal to join the legion at six, either. But when Lupa sent someone directly from the Wolf House after training to camp, the rule was that they join the legion. There wasn’t exactly an age limit, the predator’s hands were tied. The fact that Jason was the son of Jupiter probably helped them rest easy with their decision. Because a son of Jupiter must be that much more advanced and skilled than everyone else, right?
He really hadn’t been. People just expected him to be. People looked at Jason and they didn’t see him, they saw his title. And the standards for him were different from everyone else. If he was just barely passing through his training, it wasn’t good enough. He had to be better than everyone else. People expected him to be perfect, the son of Jupiter, god of the skys, lord of the universe.
Jason tried so hard at the beginning. He wanted to fight against the expectations. He tried so hard to prove to everyone he was just a person, just like them. He wasn’t anything special. It never worked. He was eight when he realized he would never change everyone’s minds. No matter what he said, no matter what he did, he would always be expected to do better, be better. The realization was disheartening, but Jason liked to think he took it in stride.
And it’s not like he enjoyed disappointing people. He wanted to meet up to their expectations. The older he got, the more he realized people weren’t putting him on a pedestal for no reason. They needed him there. The legion wanted Jason to be a leader, they needed strong demigods like him in the Legion.
Jason hadn’t embraced it, but eventually, he had been forced to accept it. He didn’t like it at all. It was stressful and he was always tired, but he tried his best to live up to what everyone wanted him to be. The legion was his home now, and he wanted to be what they wanted him to be, he couldn’t disappoint them, they needed him.
For a long time, the only person Jason was friends with was Octavian. When people put Jason up on a pedestal, it also made him look untouchable to the others. People though he was on a level they simply could not attain. But Octavian wasn’t like that.
His dad- son of Apollo- was close with Predator Karlo. In fact, Karlo had babysat Octavian when he was young. Octavian looked up to Karlo, wanted to be just like him when he grew up (well, Karlo was only nineteen but close enough). Octavian’s dream was to become Predator. Jason thought he would make a great Predator.
Octavian was decisive, he was smart. Not only did he know everyone in New Rome, but he was just good with people. He knew how they acted, he knew how to talk to them. He was polite and poised and a natural at all things political. He would make a good leader.
Octavian said it would be a good idea. Jason could feel the soft touch of his hands in his hair, hear the ‘snip’ of scissors going through it.
Jason’s hair was a wild mane. He didn’t think about cutting it, the Pack hadn’t cared whether he was messy or clean.
But the legion did. Octavian said that when his dad was in the legion, there was a mandatory buzz cut for the boys. Octavian said it would help him fit in more. Looking back now, it felt like Jason was stripping away his identity to become one soldier in a million.
When he was done, Octavian held up a mirror, letting Jason look back at himself in it.
“I hate it.” he said.
“I think it looks nice,” said Octavian. “You’ll get used to it.”
Reyna came to camp when Jason was twelve.
Well, they were both twelve. Reyna was the daughter of Bellona. She was a natural leader. She was headstrong and talented in combat. People treated her the way they treated Jason, but Reyna had earned that praise. She had worked for it. The only thing Jason had done was be born.
But Reyna had never despised him for it. Jason and Reyna didn’t get along right away, but people kept lumping them together. Whenever someone had to lead something to do some important or difficult task people would throw out suggestions. Someone would say “Jason!” And someone else would say “Reyna!” And then they’d both have to do it. Jason never said no because he didn’t want to disappoint anyone. Reyna never said no because she enjoyed the challenge, and wanted to prove herself. Jason never said his worried aloud, he didn’t want people to think he was weak or afraid; he wasn’t. Reyna must have assumed he did things for the same reason she did.
But he and Reyna did get along eventually. They were friends.
They sat in the field of Mars, Jason braided thick, black hair.
“If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?” Jason had asked, even though they had talked about it a million times. Even though he knew the answer.
“Diocletian Palace, obviously.” said Reyna. “If you could go to the ancient lands, where would you go?”
“Probably Diocletian’s Palace too.” Jason agreed. “If we ever get out there, I promise, that’s our first stop.”
Reyna had laughed, it was an impossibility. Two children who had no idea what the future would hold.
“Okay, I’ll hold you to that.” said Reyna. “When we’re predators, we’ll find a way to make it happen.”
It wasn’t something Jason liked to think about. But he was already a shoe in for Centron after Casey retired (which would be soon), and the next logical step would be Predator. That’s what everyone would be expecting him to do. He was the son of Jupiter, it just made sense. Maybe he would be good at it, great, even. But was that something he wanted? Did it matter?
Reyna said it like it was an inevitability. Maybe it was. If they asked him to be Predator right now, would he say no?
Jason swallowed thickly, feeling like he was betraying Octavian when he said;
“Yeah, we will.”
Octavian joined the First Cohort when he was eleven, two years before Reyna did, and they didn’t get along. Jason wanted his friends to be friends, but in all honesty, he didn’t get to see either of them very often anyway.
Octavian was dedicated, he wanted to become Centron of the First Cohort so he could become Predator. He met with Predator Karlo often, and would tell Jason later how Karlo really thought he would amount to something big within the legion. And Karlo can’t say who the next Predator would be, but of course, he thought it would be Octavian. And why wouldn’t it be? Octavian worked harder than anyone. Maybe he was scrawny, but he was quick and smart. Octavian would work until his fingers bled if it meant helping the legion as a whole. Octavian was dedicated.
But it also meant he didn’t have much free time anymore. But if Jason asked, Octavian would find time for him. He knew he would.
Jason was made Centron at thirteen, Casey had stepped down. His co Centron, Gwen, was a gentle soul, who could absolutely murder a full grown elephant if she wanted to. She was the kind of person who has soft smiles and warm eyes, she felt like a mother, though she was only two years older than him.
Dealing with the Fifth Cohort was… an experience. Not only did they get the bottom of the barrel in terms of recruits, but ever since some Demigod lost their septor in Alaska, the Fifth Cohort was plagued with bad luck. They hardly won anything, they were constantly getting stuck with the worst jobs. When Jason joined the fifth Cohort all those years ago, they had expected him to bring some respect to the Cohort, lift them up a bit. When Jason became Centron, it only got worse. The Cohort seemed to expect Jason to single handly carry the Cohort to greatness. It was stressfully, nearly impossible, but Jason wasn’t surprised. People expected things like this from him.
He remembered being assigned his first quest, slaying the Trojan sea monster,
“I don’t understand, this is a coin.” Jason asked.
Predator Jenna smiled down at him, “It’s name is IVLIVS.”
“It turns into a sword.” added Predator Karlo.
The quest had been a grueling task, and he had really mastered his handle in controlling the winds.
They pulled him through the wringer, one quest after another. He led a quest to help Bacchus find his missing leopard in Sonoma. He was chosen to go with Reyna on a quest she led to retrieve a stash of Imperial Gold torpedoes from the C.S.S. Hunley at Fort Sumter in Charleston. By the time Jason was fifteen, he had completed more quests than nearly anyone else in camp, and everyone knew he would be the next Predator, as is was rumored Karlo and Jenna would be stepping down soon.
It caused a rift between him and Octavian. Jason knew Octavian still desperately wanted to become Predator. And he knew every Probatio wanted Jason to be Predator, Octavian knew it too. But Octavian was still Jason's friend, and had never whispered a bad word about him in his life, and had not planned to. He never spoke against Jason being Predator, and neither did Jason. Jason knew it was what the people wanted, and he wanted to be what they wanted him to be. He wouldn’t let them down, he just couldn’t. He and Octavian did talk about it, because they knew they would end up fighting. So it went ignored.
They spent less time together, but that was fine too.
When Jason was fifteen, Octavian told him his greatest secret. Octavian had the gift of prophecy. Gods and deities and monsters whispered in Octavian’s dreams, visions of the future. The only people who knew about this were his father and Predator Karlo. If people knew, they would call for him to be the new Augur. And it wasn’t like that was a bad position, Augur’s were well respected and an important part of the legion as a whole, but Octavian couldn’t be Predator and Augur at the same time. And no one who had been Augur had become Predator before.
But Octavian was having bad dreams of late. Monsters, Titans. Octavian had seen a huge black throne that sat atop Mount Othrys, fit for a king or a Titan. He could tell something bad was going to happen soon.
Jason urged Octavian to share his dreams with the council, it could save lives. Maybe it was because Jason was so used to putting the Legion and their wants above his own, but he managed to convince Octavian to throw away his dreams. They’re could have been another way, they could have lied and said it was Jason’s dream, or asked the predators not to reveal Octavian as a seer, but Jason let Octavian throw everything away. He would never forgive himself for it.
He remembered the council meeting where Octavian had shared his information, he remembered the voting for him to become Augur, he remembered wanting to say something, but not being able to push past the fear of everyone looking at him… disappointed.
And he said nothing.
And he voted no.
And Octavian was made Augur.
Jason could tell he was unhappy, but he wasn’t sure what he should do about it, what he could do about it. If Octavian wanted him to do anything about it. They never ended up talking about it.
As Jason would later find out, Luke Calestian was waging a war in Camp Half-Blood. The Legion sent scouts to Mount Othrys. They saw Kronos and the other Titans in a small temple they had built for themselves. They saw the black throne, Kronos’s source of power. The plan the council had come up with was to wait until the temple was empty, or close to empty, or Kronos, at least, wasn’t there. Then they would lead a charge up the mountain and topple the throne over, unstabling his power so he could be defeated.
As the Legion got ready for war, Jason would later find out that Camp Half Blood had gone into battle in Manhattan. Scouts had come back, saying Kronos was no longer there, only the Titan Krois remained.
Jason and Reyna led the Twelfth Legion into battle. They weren’t predators, it wasn’t their place, but it just felt appropriate. Everyone knew they would become predators eventually, why fight fate? Jason was done fighting fate. Responsibility and leadership roles and expectation had weighted down Jason’s shoulders, he gave up fighting it. The legion wanted him to lead, they wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer, so why bother saying it?
Halfway up the mountain, the Legion was faced with an army of Scythian dracanae. Jason alone was able to make it to the temple. He remembered fighting Krois, he had nearly lost.
Drenched in sweat, his imperial gold armor weighed him down. His helmet had been cast away somewhere and yet, Jason forced himself to stand. His nose was bleeding, he didn’t care.
The Titan looked down on him, annoyed the demigod was still alive. Jason flew up into the sky, wanting to end this, needing to end this.
Father, you’ve never done anything for me, and I've never asked for anything. But please, just this once…
Thunder rumbled as lightning cracked, Jason felt the white hot lightning strike him straight at his head, where his crown was. It rattled in his brain and fell into his chest, swimming into his stomach, reaching down into his legs and out of his toes. Jason was a conductor of lightning, a weapon of justice, and he heard a loud BOOM as the lightning struck below him.
When Jason opened his eyes, he was back on the earth. Krois was nowhere to be seen, and all around him, was black, charred rubble of what used to be Kronos’s throne.
They never found Kronos. Jason now knew that was because of Percy and Annabeth. Predator Jenna had been killed in the battle, and Predator Karlo stepped down in his grief. Reyna and Jason were elected predators rather quickly and without much fanfare. Jason knew Octavian was disappointed, but Jason knew if anyone could become Predator after being Augur, Octavian could. No one was as dedicated as him. Though the fact that Jason was now standing firmly in between Octavian and his goal was too obvious to ignore. Jason knew Octavian was bitter at the situation and not at Jason, but he still felt guilty.
It was around this time Jason became incredibly aware Reyna had a crush on him.
It wasn’t as though Jason didn’t hear the comments. People knew Karlo and Jenna had been together, predators often worked closely and developed romantic relationships. People would hint at it. Do you have a girlfriend yet, Jason? But Jason didn’t feel that way about Reyna at all.
And he wasn’t quite sure what to do about it. Reyna made no move to tell him about it, he felt weird even knowing. But at the same time… it felt like that’s what people wanted him to do. And if that’s what people wanted… could it really be all that bad? He couldn’t break Reyna’s heart- she was his best friend, and he didn’t have any back up friends, he couldn’t lose her. He couldn’t risk having her hate him or making things weird. He hoped she would move on. But if she asked him, Jason wasn’t so sure he would feel comfortable saying no.
Had he ever been?
He wondered how Reyna was now. He wondered how Octavian was. They hadn’t really left things well. Did he hate Jason? Did Reyna?
…
Two weeks into making blueprints for the Argo II and Leo was already burnt out. He slumped over his desk in Bunker Nine, Annabeth pacing behind him.
“C’mon, brain,” Leo scolded himself, “Think good thoughts.”
Annabeth groaned, “I hate this.”
“Don’t you want to be an architect?” asked Leo.
“And?” Annabeth snapped back.
“Fair enough.”
This would go on for another hour before one of them had an idea about how the engine room would be constructed and then they’d get burnt out and call it a day.
And that’s what being an ADHD engineer was like.
…
Leo had stopped counting the weeks, but he had been building the Argo II for at least a month now. The weird thing was, he distinctly remembered falling asleep at his desk, and now he was waking up, laying in one of the cots in bunker nine.
Sitting up, Leo rubbed his eyes and tried to remember walking over here, but couldn’t. Swinging his legs over the side of the bed, he caught a sight on blond hair. Leaning over the side of the cot, Leo could see Jason, sitting with his back against the side of the cot, arms crossed, fast asleep.
Confusion grew to understanding as Leo connected the dots; Jason must have seen Leo asleep on the desk and carried him someplace more comfortable, then fell asleep beside him.
Leo had once been afraid that once Jason got his memories back, he would remember he had cooler Roman friends back at his cooler Roman camp, but that didn’t seem to be the case. Every day Jason’s memory grew stronger, and he hadn’t changed his behavior towards himself or Piper at all. He kept calling Leo his best friend. Which made him kind of concerned that Jason really just didn’t have any friends until the age of sixteen but mostly it made him feel warm and fuzzy inside.
Not really thinking, Leo ran a hand through Jason’s hair, waking him up. Jason opened his eyes, squinting, like he couldn’t quite see anything in front of him. He managed to look up and met Leo’s eyes, then his face softened.
“Hey,” said Leo.
“Hey,” said Jason.
…
The next thing Jason knew, he was laying in a cot at the medical wing at Camp Jupiter. Letting his eyes adjust, he saw Octavian standing to his right. Krois must have perished, or he wouldn’t be here. Right?
Octavian notice his stirring and rushed over to help him sit up. How long had he been here? Jason was glad he was, but didn’t he have more important Augur things to be doing?
“I foresaw you would get hurt in the battle,” the Augur began, “but when I saw the damage, I though you had perished.” Ah, that’s right, Octavian didn’t participate in the battle. “I would caution you against being so reckless and heroic in the future, I’d hate for you to end up a myrtr.”
Jason laughed, and Octavian tilted his head to the side, like a confused owl.
“What’s so funny?”
“ ‘You would caution me’.” Jason repeated. “Who talks like that?”
Octavian crossed his arms, “What’s so funny about the way I talk?”
“Nothing funny, so much as weird.” Jason added, “You sound like an old timey god. Detached. Like you don’t really care if I live or die.”
“I care about you, Jason,” said Octavian, sounding hurt that Jason would think anything else. “much more than just whether you live or die.”
It’s true that Jason and Octavian hadn’t been spending much time with one another, even before things went crazy with the Titans. And maybe Jason had secretly feared that Octavian didn’t want to be Jason’s friend anymore. It was plausible. Jason needed Octavian much more than Octavian needed him. Octavian had dozens of friends, Jason really only had two. But Octavian wouldn’t tell such a huge lie, directly to his face. Maybe friendships were just supposed to be that strong?
“I know,” Jason lied.
…
It was still early, and Leo suspected the other Hephaestus kids wouldn’t be down to the bunker for a while, so Leo got back to work. Jason hovered over him, holding heavy objects and fetching him tools when he needed them.
Leo could tell there was something on Jason’s mind, but didn’t pressure him to talk about it. Eventually, he asked;
“Hey man, can I ask you something?”
Leo put down his wrench and turned to face him, “‘Course. What is it?”
Jason fidgeted with his hands. Leo had slowly become used to being surrounded by demigods with ADHD and dyslexia like himself, but Jason claimed to not have either. Maybe Roman demigods were just different? Either way, the fidgeting made Leo uneasy, not much phased Leo’s friend, or made him nervous.
“You have the same fake memories Piper has, right?”
Leo nodded, confused where he might be going with this.
“So you remember what it was like when she and I dated, right?”
Leo scrunched up his nose, “I guess?” he said, “But they’re not real, why do you care?”
Jason ran an anxious hand through his hair, “I don’t, but I think Piper does. I think she still likes me the way she did then. Or, I mean, she likes the version of me she remembers… but also the me now? Or she just likes the fake me and thinks she likes the real me? I’m confusing myself.”
“Well, girls are confusing.” Leo sympathized, “So, you think she likes you?”
Jason shrugged. “I think so. Or, I think she thinks so.”
“So why do you want to know about your fake memories? Or uh, ours. I guess.” Honestly, the whole memory situation stuff confused Leo.
“I dunno,” Jason sighed, “I want to try to get into Piper’s headspace. I mean, she remembers a whole other version of me. You did too. And she liked that version of me, we literally dated. I don’t know what was different about him, or the same, but I want to know what she’s thinking of me, so I… so I’ll know what to do next. I guess.”
“Now, I have adhd, so I understand a weird train of thought when I hear one, and that is a weird train of thought.” said Leo. Jason looked sheepishly at the floor. “Dude,” Leo continued, “do you like Piper?”
The son of Jupiter looked up at him in shock, as though he was surprised he asked such a question. As though he had never been asked what he wanted before.
“I guess so.” Jason decided, “Piper’s great. She’s nice and funny, and pretty. I know we get along well because we’re already best friends. And I know she likes me, so Piper and I make sense.”
Leo snorted, “You should hear yourself talk. ‘Piper and I make sense.’ If you like her then you like her. There’s not much else to it.”
“You make it sound so easy.”
“It’s a gift.” Leo said, praising himself. “But seriously, if you like Piper, you should tell her. And if you’re worried about the whole ‘fake memories’ thing and Piper liking a fake version of you instead of the real version of you, then you should talk about it with her.”
Jason nodded, “That’s surprisingly good advice. Thanks, Leo.”
“What do you mean ‘surprising?’” Leo asked, at almost the exact time Bunker Nine’s front door creaked open, saving Jason from answering. Leo looked up to see who it was, and spotted Nysa, two of his half brothers, and Piper.
“It’s Piper!” Leo whisper-shouted at Jason as the four of them descended the stairs to where the Argo II was stationed, “Quick, act natural.”
Awkwardly and panicking, Jason leaned against a wall and put a free hand on his hip.
“Not that natural!” Leo scolded.
Jason stood upright and put both hands in his hips.
“Okay you look like a suburban dad, that’s not natural enough!”
Panicking again, Jason went to take a step toward Leo, but slipped on the wrench Leo had dropped earlier and fell on his face. Leo slapped his hands over his mouth to avoid laughing and Piper and the others found them.
“Morning, Leo.” said Piper.
“Is that Jason on the floor?” asked Nyssa.
“He has a headache.” Leo said, in a perfectly created lie. Jason from his place face down on the floor raised a thumbs up, though Leo could see his ears tinged red.
“Okay, then.” Piper said, not really wanting to know. “Where are we at with the Argo?”
…
It happened sort of suddenly. Piper was watching the other campers climb the lava wall on her break from activities and was joined by Jason, who had a free day.
They were just kinda sitting around, goofing off. Then Jason had leaned in to kiss her and Piper had let him. And then suddenly they were dating.
It wasn’t too different from how it happened in Piper’s fake memories. They had a romantic date on a rooftop and kissed and started dating. Piper could only hope that the week and a half of dating she remembered would be like the dating that would follow.
When Piper had brought up the fake memories, Jason had opened his mouth like he wanted to say something, but he hadn’t.
…
Leo wasn’t surprised when Jason and Piper started dating again. He had been working in bunker nine that whole day, and Piper had mentioned it to him in passing and Leo had said
“Piper! That kind of major news, why didn’t you start with that?!”
And Piper had laughed at him. But the thing was, Leo had a perfectly good reason to be afraid of Piper and Jason dating. If the two of them kept hanging out without Leo, they might forget about him, they might not want him around anymore. They might expect him to leave them alone. And that would be third wheeling, and that would suck.
So far (and it had only been a couple days) nothing’s changed, but Leo was still anxious.
It was still early though, and Leo was still working on the Argo. Annabeth was up early though too (Leo suspected she never slept).
“I don’t think this goes here.” Leo said, squeezed between wooden boards, standing on scaffolding, trying to attach the metal pipes together to create the plumbing system.
“Well, thats what the paper says.” Annabeth informed him.
“No, that can't be right. It makes no sense for these two to attach.”
“Sure it does,” Annabeth countered, “they’re carrying water to the same place.”
“Yeah, but the pipe isn’t thick enough for the water to be coming from two streams, here needs to be a basin in the middle.”
“What the heck is a basin?”
Leo sighed, “like a metal connecting rod thing that's a big container thingy and holds all the water so it filters through- how do you not know what a basin is?”
“It’s not on the plans,” said Annabeth.
“Oh for the love of- let me see that.”
Leo squeezed back through the structure and hopped down next to the blond, snatching the plans from her.
“Yeah, see here? That ‘x’ is supposed to be a basin.”
“No,” Annabeth argued, “that’s just the connecting point. We never agreed on putting a basin in the plumbing system.”
“I can’t really see myself agreeing to a plumbing system without basins.”
Annabeth gave a long, tired sigh. “You’re the worst.”
“Nuh uh,” said Leo, “I think I’m starting to grow on you.”
Annabeth held up her hand so her index finger and thumb were almost touching. “A teensey bit.”
“ Yesalright!” Leo said, giving himself a mental high five. “Now let’s revise these plans…”
…
“... then the bouncer said, seven year olds can’t enter the contest, which was so dumb- I could’ve beat anyone there.” Annabeth was saying.
Jason laid on the floor, feeling stupid for even coming here. But he had been doing it a lot over the past week, if he was being honest with himself.
“So Thalia said, ‘what about twelve year olds?’ Because we’d been waiting on that line for like, an hour, and one of us was getting inside that tent.”
The Athena cabin was too similar to his own cabin for him to like it. Too neat, too unlived in. He knew there were too many adhd teenagers living in this space for there not to be a really weird reason for it to be so clean. Maybe Annabeth made a chore chart. Jason didn’t have adhd himself, but he knew having solid deadlines made people more motivated.
“But Luke and I, we had no idea if Thalia was any good at Hacky-Sack or not. I was the only one who played it, and I played it on my own. But the bouncer said twelve was fine, so Thalia went in.”
He hated how empty his own cabin was, so big and empty, he felt so alone, sleeping there. Even when he was Predator, he hadn’t been sleeping so far away from other people. The only reason he could stand it was that Thalia lived there before him.
“Luke and I made sure a lot of people bet on Thalia. We were totally lying too, just making up stories about how amazing she was at Hacky-Sack. If she ended up losing, we would look like idiots. We ended up getting a bunch of people to place bets on her, so if she won, we’d be getting a lot of cash. That was probably a lot of pressure, though.”
Jason liked the idea of living in a space that Thalia had occupied. It almost felt like they were taking up the same space, which meant it was almost like they were actually living together, which was almost like they were family. And they were, on a technicality.
“The competition started, it wasn’t super organized. Just like, ‘keep the ball off the ground for as long as you can’. Thalia was doing pretty good though, at first.”
It was why he was here. In Annabeth’s room, listening to her story. Jason had never had family before, not real family. The closest thing Jason could remember to family was Lupa. She had felt like a mother to him, for years. In Camp Jupiter, he had been constantly surrounded by peers, demigods, probatio, just like him. But there had always been a distinct separation from him and the rest of them. A gap that was a constant reminder that he wasn’t one of them. He was a Son of Jupiter, he wasn’t one of them, he had to be better . Everyone expected him to be better .
“Then Luke said, he figured Thalia wasn’t actually really good at this. So he and I, he thought it would be fun if we messed with the other contestants, so Thalia would win. It was totally cheating, but we did it anyway.”
He thought- meeting Thalia- that she would be just like him. They had the same parents, she was a daughter of Zeus, she had lived in a camp just like him, and then the hunters of Artemis. Either way, she had been surrounded by demigods and hunters, they must put her up on a pedestal as well. Thought she was better than them. She must feel the same stress and pressure to be perfect that he did.
“We wolf whistled from the sidelines to make people distracted. We kicked some of the discarded balls back into the ring to trip people up. Once, Luke kicked up dust so one of the contestants couldn’t see. I was laughing so hard, the bouncers were so mad at us, but they couldn’t prove we were doing anything wrong, so they couldn’t kick us out.”
But she hadn’t. When Jason had met her, Thalia had radiated self confidence. Just by looking at her, Jason could tell she had it all figured out. She seemed so at home with the hunters, they felt like a real family, a tight knit group. Did she even need Jason? She already had a family, she didn’t need him. She had the hunters and, as Jason was finding out, she had Annabeth and Luke. Or. She used to have Luke.
“Eventually it was only Thalia and this other guy left. He was pretty big and burly. Luke had this great idea, we spat spitballs at him, and he lost his focus. But then, the bouncers had seen us do it, so they chased us out.”
It’s not that Jason wanted her to be lonely and have perfectionist issues like he did, he just thought that he would be able to relate to her. That they would be similar and comparable and she would want to get to know him. That she had missed him, maybe. Jason barely knew Thalia (he barely remembered her), but he so wanted her to like him. So badly it hurt. He wanted her to understand what he’s going through, he wanted to talk about it to someone who understood. (Not even Reyna really understood Jason, even though she was forced into leadership too. But she had wanted to become Predator, she had wanted this outcome. Jason hadn’t). He wanted Thalia to be his family. He had never had one before and he found himself longing for one. What must it be like, to know that there’s a handful of people who will always live and support you without you constantly having to prove that you deserve it?
“The judges and staff couldn’t prove we were affiliated with Thalia, though. When Luke and I were chased out, we waited a whole hour for her in the parking lot. She found us, and she had won the whole pot. She never told us exactly what went down, but she said that she ‘convinced’ them to give it to her, but I'm pretty sure she threatened them.”
Jason closed his eyes tight, trying to picture a twelve year old Thalia walking into the parking lot, cash in hand. That’s why he was here, right? He wanted to know who Thalia was, and only Annabeth had really known her. Jason hadn’t meant to, but he had made a habit of asking Annabeth for stories about her, desperately clawing at the warmth that family was supposed to come with. Jason had been in camp for months now, and Thalia had never visited. Since you had to know both someone's name and location to Iris message them, he’s been unable to reach Thalia. The hunters of Artemis didn’t have a camp, they were constantly on the move, so he couldn’t get a message through. And she hadn’t messaged him . So Iris messaging was out. And it’s not like he could visit her, even if they weren’t constantly moving, he doubted he would be allowed to visit- being a boy and all. He had hoped she would pop in and check on him, or send an Iris message, or anything at all(she must know where he is by now), but it had never happened.
“We ate good that week.” Annabeth concluded. “But I still think I should’ve been allowed in that contest.”
Jason almost thought it was weird that Annabeth had more of a sister relationship with Thalia than Jason did, or maybe ever would. Though, he supposed, it wasn’t all too weird. Even at camp Jupiter, cohorts often acted and operated like a weird found family. People usually grew close when they had to share such close quarters for that long. But not Jason, though. People had always kept their distance from him, thinking he was just too important for them to associate with. Most of Jason’s attempts to reach out and make connections were rebuffed and shot down. He really only made friends with Octavian because he wasn’t intimidated by the idea of befriending a Son of Jupiter. But then again, Octavian’s head had always worked differently than everyone else’s. In a good way. And Reyna had only been his friend because people saw her on the same “level” as Jason.
Jason hadn’t realized it until he was in an entirely new environment than the one he grew up in, but he craved connections. Real connections. In Camp Jupiter, he had two friends, and even then, they hadn’t been very close. He and Reyna had gotten to the point where they could have silent conversations, just looking at one another and just know what was going on inside their head. But there was a fine line Jason couldn’t cross, a level of comradeship that they just could have. A thick veil of professionalism they had to hide behind. They could show weakness like caring, not even to one another. They were both often sad people. They could talk about how Life Sucked for hours, and then immediately do what they were complaining about.
With Octavian, they had been close originally. Jason cited Octavian as being the only person who he could just be himself around. When they were very small, they did everything together. The more obvious it became that Jason was going to live Octavian’s dream, the more tense their interactions became. They started hanging out and talking about their feelings less. Jason remembered the horrible realization that there was nothing in his life he could talk to Octavian about without making him upset.
Camp Half-Blood’s vibe was completely different from Camp Jupiter’s. Camp Jupiter was a military encampment, where prabatio should train like there was a war coming, and they burned “S.P.Q.R.” Into your skin and there was complete organization and everyone abetted authority. There was a clear divide between those of different parents/ godly parents, different cohorts, and different rankings. Camp Half-Blood was a place to train Greek demigods but above all, it was a summer camp. They had loosely scheduled training exercises disguised as camp activities, preparing preteen demigods for any dangers they might face in the outside world. (That was another thing that shocked Jason, Greek demigods could just leave. Whenever. They didn’t have to stay, they weren’t punished. They just… could go. Camp Half-Blood’s whole purpose was preparing demigods for life on the outside. In New Rome, probatio- once they finished their required years in the legion- usually stayed within the city. They were cut off from the outside world. Leo had said that ‘sounded like a cult’). No one was treated more importantly or different from anyone else. There was like, a hazing period for new campers, but that was it. It was almost weird.
The biggest stark difference though, was how Jason had friends here. He had Annabeth, who was patient and smart and made notes of everything Jason told her about Camp Jupiter. There was Piper, pretty and sweet and badass. Leo, funny and caring and hardworking, down in bunker nine. These people actually cared about him, genuinely. He hadn’t known how much he had wanted that before now. And he had wanted that with Thalia. But did Thalia want that with him? Should he be trying harder to reach out? What was he doing wrong?
“Yeah,” Jason agreed, “You should’ve.”