Jason could barely breath as the noose tightened inches below his Adam's apple—allowing only a shallow breath to pass his lips before he feared he would be doomed to suffocate. As he stared at himself in the bathroom mirror before him, his electric blue eyes steeled themselves as he made his resignation. "So this is how I go," he thought. "This is how it all ends." As a bead of sweat trickled down his temple from his combed blond hair, Jason let out a final sigh.
"Dude! Tighten that tie any more and you're going to kill yourself," a familiar voice chimed.
"At this point, Frank, I don't think it'd be the worst thing in the world."
"Come on, man," the muscular son of Mars pleaded as he leaned over the sinks on Jason's right and adjusted his bowtie. It was a clip-on but Jason had to admit it still looked good. "You've slain cyclopses, ghouls, and titans! Are you really saying that a dance is freaking you out?"
Jason didn't respond, instead simply staring forward with his face almost as white as his shirt. He tried to swallow his spit but it almost got caught in his throat. The thud of music coming from the ballroom outside the door was slow compared to the rapid drum of his heartbeat.
"Hey, Jason! Snap out of it!" Frank shouted, grabbing the shoulder of his friend's gray suit and turning him so they were eye to eye. "You're a praetor of Rome. If you're nervous, think about how I must feel." Jason's gaze slid to Frank's shiny black shoes, which melded perfectly with his black suit.
"I know, I know," Jason sighed. "It just has to do more with-"
"Reyna?" Frank cut him off. At the simple mentioning of her name, Jason felt a hollow pang slide down his throat into the empty pit of his stomach—leaving a trail of ice in its wake. After a second, Jason nodded his head.
"You let her down as best you could, Jason," Frank reasoned. "She said she liked you and you had to tell her you didn't feel the same way. Instead of stringing her along, you finally confronted it. You'll both be better off." Despite looking like he could go into hulk-muscle-mode at any second and burst out of his suit, Jason always admired Frank's ability to empathize with others. Still, Jason couldn't meet Frank's gaze.
"Come on, tonight is meant to be fun!" Frank grinned.
"Easy for you to say." Jason shifted his weight. "You get to spend the whole night with Hazel. You don't have to worry about who to dance with or talk to."
"Hazel AND you!" Frank chuckled. "I know you're not a huge fan of third-wheeling, but we're not going to ditch you the whole night. You're our friend too." Jason shrugged in admittance that Frank had a good point. Slowly he finally worked up the courage to look back into Frank's face and after a moment, a mischievous grin unlike he'd ever seen on Frank appeared.
"What?" Jason asked cautiously.
"I was just thinking. It's the first ever inter-camp dance, right? So there's going to be a ton of new girls and…maybe…the one for you is right out there."
The hollow pang echoed again in his chest as he felt guilt creep into his brain again, but there was a feeling he didn't expect to feel as well—his heart skipped a light, nervous beat. Perhaps Frank was right. A few days after the Titan War was over, Mercury appeared at the Forum in New Rome with a message for him and Reyna. Apparently there had always been another camp—one for Greek demigods on Long Island. At first he'd been skeptical and cautious to believe something so groundbreaking, but soon he found himself planning a trip to meet with the leaders of this Camp Half-Blood in a neutral location. Supposedly the gods believed something big was coming and united demigods were the only thing that could stop it.
Reyna's first instinct had been to approach the prospective meeting with a precise strategy and dozens of backup plans, but Jason knew that you couldn't deal with delegations like you would a battle. Sure, he'd spent several long nights in the archives of New Rome searching for information on how to approach the situation, but in the end he acknowledged it required a personal element. Luckily, when they finally met the representatives of Camp Half-Blood in Chicago, he was surprised to find how relaxed and casual the meeting felt.
As opposed to the stiff armor he and Reyna had worn, the Greek representatives—a brilliant blond girl named Annabeth Chase and a hilarious black-haired boy named Percy Jackson—wore jeans and t-shirts. He remembered how wearing a chestplate had made it hard to comfortably enjoy sitting and discussing matters over coffee, but he had been surprised by how personable the others seemed. Sitting across from them, he was amazed by how he almost felt jealous of how fun the other camp sounded. Still, they managed to get down to business and sketched out plans (much to his dismay) for what the gods had demanded they do to "introduce" the two camps—a dance.
"You have got to be kidding," Reyna had said when Mercury had first told them.
"Hey there, don't shoot the messenger," the god responded with a cunning grin that made Jason wonder if Mercury knew exactly the kind of reaction he'd receive.
"But, wise Lord Mercury," Jason began cautiously.
"Sorry kid," Mercury cut him off. "I don't make the rules."
Jason slowly turned and saw that Reyna's expression perfectly matched his own. Their eyes locked in steely reserve and Reyna's chin dipped in a silent acceptance of their plan. They'd faced threats before and, although neither of their godly parents were necessarily gods of wisdom, Jupiter and Bellona were powerful, strategic gods. Surely they could talk their way out of this. Jason took a quick breath and opened his mouth to begin talking but as soon as he turned back, Mercury had disappeared.
"Of course…" Reyna groaned.
The actual incident had occurred last Saturday—exactly one week before the dance. Jason had been walking back to his barracks, forehead glistening with sweat under the glow of torches and dusk sky. His shoulders were sore from javelin practice and all around him, Camp Jupiter was bustling with excitement, but one of the perks of being a Praetor was that he had a cabin all to himself. A drawn out yawn escaped his mouth, Jason couldn't wait to get some sleep. But just as he reached out a hand to turn the handle to the front door, he froze. The door was already cracked open.
Immediately Jason's instincts kicked in and all traces of tiredness vanished. Of course he didn't think there was any major threat, but he knew he would never have left the door ajar and that meant someone else had.
"Hello?" Jason's voice carried a stern tone as he opened the door all the way. The response he got was definitely not what he expected.
"Uh, come in," a familiar voice sounded. After a moment, Jason's eyes adjusted to the change in lighting and rested upon a curious sight. Standing in the middle of his room was Reyna. It wasn't the strangest thing to happen as they often met privately to discuss matters regarding the camp and battle strategies, but Reyna was holding something Jason had never seen her with—a flower.
"Hey," Reyna said awkwardly. Though it was such a short word, Jason could hear Reyna's voice shaking. They'd slain countless monsters before, but never before had he seen her so nervous.
"Um, hi," Jason began, taking another step into his room. "Reyna, are you okay?"
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine," she said quickly before tucking a strand of long black hair behind her right ear. She shifted her weight uncomfortably. "It's just…this dance thing…"
"I know, it's completely insane, right?" Jason laughed, trying to ease any tension. "It's just a lot to take in at once. Another demigod camp and everything…"
"Yeah, it is." Reyna's eyes darted around the room as if she wanted to look at anything except Jason.
"Do you want a soda or something?" Jason asked after a long pause.
"Oh no thank you!" Reyna said. "I'm not going to be here long. I just…" Her voice trailed off but finally her eyes flickered to meet Jason's. He could feel them almost click into place as they locked and slowly all the tension in Reyna's body language seemed to dissipate. Instead her shoulders stiffened and she clenched her chin. Jason had seen her this way many times. It was her way of composing herself before entering battle.
"Reyna?" Jason asked.
"I want you to go to the dance with me."
The words came out in one rapid-fire mush as though, despite her stern appearance, Reyna was still just as terrified as she had been moments before. Now her eyes betrayed her as they opened in a terrified gaze. Meanwhile, Jason felt his stomach turn over and contort itself. Suddenly it was as if a monster had grabbed his insides and was trying to tie it all into a knot.
"Reyna, I…" He began, but didn't know where to go. It was finally clear to him that Reyna liked him more than just as friends. But Jason knew his own feelings didn't match hers and it wouldn't be fair to her if he took her. It'd just lead her on even more. Slowly the color drained from Reyna's face, as she understood what his silence meant.
"I'm…sorry. It wouldn't be fair to you," he said.
"No, no it's okay," she gulped and shook her head rapidly. "I'm sorry for putting you in this situation. It was stupid of me." She waved her hand as if swatting at an invisible bug by her ear. She exhaled slowly and Jason watched as her muscles tightened and her spine stiffened as she returned to her authoritative demeanor. "I'll see you at the next officers' meeting."
Jason opened his mouth to say something. He wanted to scream out that she had nothing to apologize for and that she was brilliant. But he couldn't find his voice and in a second Reyna had rushed past him and out the door. He wasn't exactly positive, but looking back on it, Jason could have sworn he saw a faint glimmer of a tear run down her cheek as she crossed the threshold.
"Dude?" Frank's voice beckoned him back to the present and in an instant the vision of the past had faded and Jason was back in the bathroom with his friend. "You okay? You kind of zoned out there."
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine!" Jason said, trying to brush off the sour feelings the flashback had brought.
"Hey, tonight's going to be great. Like I said, who knows who is out there?"
"I'm not exactly searching for anyone, Frank," Jason said.
"Exactly!" Frank exclaimed. "That's perfect. It's when we least expect it, and least want it, that we find the person who we're meant for."
"That makes no sense," Jason laughed. "But thanks big guy." Frank clasped him on the shoulder.
"Hey, you're the one who normally has to pump me up or give me advice. It's nice to know I can return the favor from time to time."
Jason rolled his eyes but he realized he was actually excited to be there for the first time.
"Alright," Jason exhaled as he turned to the door leading into the ballroom. "Let's do this."