JASON
Jason opened his eyes to see Piper shaking him. "Wake up! We're almost there, and I don't want kitchen duty again. Wake up!" He looked in front of the bus and saw the building ahead of them. He straightened up and checked the seat behind him, to make sure Percy and Leo weren't goofing off. Leo had a bunch of pieces of metal in his hand and was cursing. Percy was looking at a photo, frowning. Jason turned to Leo. "Hey, Leo. Put it up, or we're gonna get kitchen duty." Leo sighed, glared at the mess in his palm, and shoved it in his jacket. Then Jason silently pointed at Percy, who was still staring at the picture. Leo grinned and nodded. He silently leaned sideways, trying to get a glimpse of whatever Percy has been obsessing about the past week. They had never seen the photo before then. Right when Leo was about to get close enough, Percy looked over and jumped, shoving the picture in his pocket; but apparently not soon enough.
"Ah ha!" Leo cried triumphantly and pumped his fist. Piper whipped her head around. "Shhh!" She knit her eyebrows at the scene- Jason staring expectantly at Leo, Percy with a guilty face, and Leo looking like he just won the lottery. "What's going on?"
Leo grinned. "I figured it out!" Piper frowned at him, and he continued with a quieter voice. "I know what's on the picture!"
"Well? Are you going to tell us?" Jason asked. Leo opened his mouth, but Percy slapped his hand over it. "Leo, don't." Normally, that would have been slightly frightening, with the seriousness in his eyes, but Leo was to excited, and he just wiggled his eyebrows mischievously. "Leo, please." Jason was started to get frustrated. He leaned forward and tugged Percy's hand away.
"Leo, just tell us!" Leo took a deep breath, trying not to laugh. "Okay. Percy's got a girlfriend!" Percy groaned and put a hand over his face. Jason thought Leo must be joking. Percy? I mean, he was a great guy, but he was exactly the most… social person Jason had ever met. None of them were- that's part of the reason they got along. When Percy joined the school last month, he fit right in with them. But Percy's reaction seemed to fit, Leo seemed sure, and Percy was already sixteen… Jason now raised his eyebrows and was trying to hold back a grin. Why was he so embarrassed? Most guys would be bragging about it. Jason glanced at Piper and saw her with a mom look that said oh-how-sweet!
"Wow. Why didn't you tell us? When did this happen? What's her name? Does she go here?" Percy looked up and stared at Piper. "Um…" He muttered.
Jason came to his rescue. "Hey, Pipes, we can talk later, Coach is coming down here." They spun around and plopped back in their seats, and all tried to look innocent. Coach came walked up, grunted at them- like, why aren't you doing something so I can punish you?- and walked back down to the front. The doors to the bus opened and everybody filed out, and the 4 of them sat there, waiting for an opening to stand. Finally it came, and they went along behind everybody. They stepped out into the cold February air, and took the worksheet that one of the guys was passing around. Jason stared at it, trying to decipher the words. With his dyslexia, and the wind making the paper flutter, it was like trying to read hieroglyphs. He sighed and gave up, look at his friends. They all seemed to not have even tried to read it. They followed the group through the doors and out the back, and saw the Grand Canyon. It was huge. It had a big skywalk on it with glass as the floor, and was at least 500 feet high.
"Whoa." Percy said. He looked at the skywalk and smiled, like it reminded him of something. They walked onto it and looked down. Percy now seemed kind of worried, and glanced up, as if he expected a meteor to fall. He took a deep breath. Leo spoke. "So… Percy. Who is she?" Percy looked over, obviously prepared to argue, but Piper's raised eyebrow, my crossed arms, and Leo's grin seemed to make him change his mind. "Her name's Annabeth." He smiled, like just the name made him happy.
"And?" Piper continued.
"Well, we met at, uh, camp, and we started dating in August." Percy said, blushing a bit. Jason didn't blame him. "We first met 4 years ago." Piper's eyes widened. "Wow. That took a long time." He laughed. It was nice- he didn't seem to do that often. "Yeah, we've heard that before."
Leo nudged him. "Hey, I didn't see the whole pic. What's she look like?"
Percy seemed to think for a moment, then reached into his pocket. "See for yourself." He took out the folded picture, snapped at it- literally snapped his fingers- and unfolded it. He handed it to Jason, and Piper and Leo leaned over his shoulders. Jason smiled. He saw Percy and a tall, dirty/golden blonde haired girl, laughing. They wore orange shirts, but he couldn't seem to make out the words on them. They were standing in front of the ocean during a sunset, and didn't seem to realize their picture was being taken. They were holding hands, and they looked on top of the world. Jason looked up at the Percy, and saw the sadness in his eyes. "You miss her, don't you?" Percy looked up, and nodded.
"Uh, guys?" They looked at Piper, who was staring at the sky. Jason looked up and saw huge storm clouds coming this way. Percy took the picture back and put it in his pocket, and he seemed to curse at the clouds. What? He shoved past them towards the building, but looked back. "Hey, guys, come on. We should, uh, get under shelter in case it rains." Jason raised his eyebrows, but followed him. The wind picked up, and Coach Hedge started herding everybody back inside. Piper rushed over to help hold the doors open, while Leo went chasing after a spring that blew out of his pocket. Jason looked around for Percy, and saw him at the railing, once again glaring at the sky.
"Percy! Come on, we've got to get inside!" Jason yelled. As if on cue, the doors slipped from Piper's grip and slammed shut. She tugged at them, but couldn't get them open. Jason was coming over to help her when she looked back. "Hey Jason can you- Oh my god! Watch out!" She shrieked. Jason spun around and saw…. he wasn't sure. They looked like mini tornadoes touching down on the skywalk. Percy heard Piper's scream and looked over. He didn't seem to freak out as much as Piper or Jason, more like I am so over this. When he saw Leo at the edge of the skywalk, picking up bolts and wires, he appeared to get more concerned about the situation. He turned and found Coach Hedge. "Gleeson! Get Leo! I can take care of the storm spirits!" Jason thought he was crazy, but started sprinting towards Leo to get him out of the way of the twisters, which were coming their way. Leo looked up and his eyes widened. He got up and started to run, but then his project blew towards the storms, and he hesitated. He decided to let it go, and started running this way, but it was to late- the winds picked him up and blew him over the side of the edge. Jason heard Piper scream, and he yelled "Leo!" Jason saw Leo twist and grab at the side of the canyon, and finally held on to a ledge about 20 feet down.
"Hedge, hurry up! GET LEO!" He heard Percy cry, but he couldn't imagine what Percy expected Coach to do. Then, he saw Coach rush to the edge of the cliff, and kick off his shoes. Jason stared at his feet- or, what should be his feet. What were actually there were hooves. Then he ripped his pants off, and Jason saw… fur? Hedge climbed down the side of the cliff, like a mountain goat. He wasn't able to see any more, because then he felt a strong gust of wind and looked up into the storms' eyes- or what looked like eyes. They were little flashes of energy, like lightning. He backed up, and bumped into Piper, who grabbed his hand. Normally he would have been embarrassed- their relationship was, well, almost-more-than-friends- but now he just felt more grounded, reassured. Then they watched the scene in front of them. Percy reached into his pocket and pulled out a pen. Jason wanted to scream at him- what was he going to do, take notes?- but then he uncapped it, and a sword unfolded. Jason stared, wide-eyed. He sprinted straight towards the tornadoes, his sword out, and slashed at one. It went right through it. He muttered something that probably wasn't a compliment to the storms, and swung at it again. Then another tornado passed them and was about to get Percy from behind- Jason felt Piper squeeze his hand- but at the last moment Percy spun around and whipped his sword through the twister, and it dissolved into dust. He widened his eyes and looked over at them. He started sprinting towards Jason and Piper, and Hedge dragged Leo up over the edge onto the ground. Percy stopped in front of the 2 of them.
"Jason, Piper, I need your help. You need to distract them. I can only kill them by surprise." When they just stared at them, mouths gaping, he seemed to understand. "I know this seems crazy, but please- I'll explain later." Jason shook out of his reverie, and nodded. "Okay, yeah. I'll help. Piper?" Jason and Percy looked at her, and she nodded. "Sure. Of course. How do we distract storms?"
"Get them to come over here, so I can get behind them. I'm gonna go over by Leo, so they won't pay attention to me. Once they are off the skywalk, I'll go around and kill them from behind. Just make yourselves easy targets."
"And if this doesn't work?" Piper asked.
"Well, then, we're probably all doomed. Ready?"
Jason didn't think that was the best pep talk, but nodded firmly. Piper did the same. Percy turned and ran over to Leo, and Piper and Jason stepped forward, and started yelling at the storms.
"Hey ugly! My bedroom fan is windier than you!" Jason cried.
"You couldn't even make a mosquito lose it's balance!" Piper yelled. Jason wasn't sure if the twisters could understand them, but it seemed to get their attention. They turned and slowly started coming towards them. Jason really wanted to turn and run, but he knew he had to stand his ground and make them get off the skywalk. One, two, three came off of glass platform- one more to go. Piper squeaked a bit as she wobbled, the wind almost knocking her off her feet. 20 feet away, 15… finally, the last tornado came off and Percy ran around behind them and immediately destroyed one. Then another. As he was going for the third, it spun around, apparently noticing the missing wind of its friends. Percy jumped back, and Jason and Piper looked at each other. What now? They came to an understanding and sprinted forward, trying to get the attention of the storms back. They ran around the first one, and it started chasing them. They went towards the second one, and it turned to face them. They turned and started to sprint back the way they came, until Piper slipped. Still holding her hand, they both tumbled off the edge, down the canyon, leaving Percy alone with 2 tornadoes. Jason saw the twisters turn to face Hedge, who was feeding Leo what looked like cornbread. Percy threw his shoe at them, trying to get their attention. It worked. The last thing Jason glimpsed was Percy facing the two twisters.
Piper started screaming, and Jason looked down. They were falling at 100 miles an hour, getting closer and closer to the ground, where they would go splat. He prayed that some force would keep them from hitting the ground, and suddenly he didn't feel the force of the wind anymore. He looked down, and saw that the ground was staying where it was, no closer than a few seconds ago. He glanced at Piper, who was staring at him.
"How did you do that?" Piper asked.
"I have absolutely no idea." Jason replied.
"Well, can you make us move?" She asked.
"I can try." He thought up! and they shot upwards. "Wait!" Piper yelled. He stopped them.
"What?" She was staring upwards, and he followed her gaze. He saw what she was looking at. Two flying horses were pulling a baby blue box with rainbows painted on it- a chariot. A guy and girl about Jason's age were landed on the far side of the skywalk and jumped out. They saw Percy, who was back up, getting the storms away from Leo, and sprinted towards him, the girl drawing a knife, the boy a bow. The girl spoke to the boy, and he turned and ran towards Leo, who still didn't look so good. He started to examine him while the girl looked at Percy, who finally noticed them. He looked relieved, and mouthed something- Attack Plan Apenanti. The girl nodded and yelled at the storm things. They turned and followed her onto the skywalk, and Percy followed them. He took one out immediately, but the other spun on him and shot lightning at him. He rolled past it towards the girl, and jumped up and stepped in front of her as if to protect her as the tornado spun back around. The girl frowned. She sprinted past Percy and around the twister, but apparently it thought killing Percy was more important. She then stabbed it in the back, and it dissolved. Jason decided it was safe to land, so he lifted Piper and him up and set them gently on the ground. When Jason looked over at the girl again, he recognized her as the girl from Percy's picture- Annabeth. She looked fiercer, and more exhausted, but definitely the same girl. She fell on the ground and started examining her ankle, which had red marks on it. Percy saw her collapse and ran to her, kneeling down to talk to her. Jason decided to leave them alone for now. He was confused, and had no idea what just happened, but went over to check on Leo, Piper right behind him. As they walked, they talked.
"What just happened? Are those horses with wings?" Piper muttered.
"I have absolutely no idea what's going on, but apparently Percy does. We'll talk to him after he's… available." He glanced back, indicating him and Annabeth, now in a heated discussion. She was apparently trying to pull herself up on the railing, but Percy was simultaneously trying to get her to stay down. They were arguing, but Percy's face already looked more lively. Jason and Piper turned back and kneeled down next to Leo, who had cuts and bruises all over him. They looked at Coach Hedge.
"Coach, what happened? Is Leo okay? What- who are you?" Piper asked.
"Well, cupcake, it's complicated, and I'm not fit to explain it all. I'm a satyr. Yes, yes, the half goat half man people from Greek legends. Leo'll be fine, just got a little beat up. Will over here fixed him right up." He nodded at the boy with the bow and medicine kit, standing inside the doors and talking to the kids in the building. "Got here just in time, too. Leo would've been in really bad shape if he and Annabeth didn't show up when they did."
"Yeah, so, what just happened? Percy has a sword and just killed four tornadoes. What's going on?" Jason asked.
"They're storm spirits, kid. Fierce beings. I wish I was like them. Anyways, yeah, Percy's got a sword. Wouldn't have made it this far if he didn't. You'd think you would show more gratitude, seeing as he just saved your lives."
"We're grateful, of course, but confused." Piper consented.
"Well, they'll explain, if they'd stop making goo-goo eyes at each other." He flicked his head behind them, and they turned and saw Percy walking towards them, supporting Annabeth as she limped along beside him. They were looking at each other and had small smiles on their faces.
"Hey, love-birds! Hate to ruin the romance, but we've got some confused demigods over here!" Coach Hedge shouted at them. Demigods? Jason was pretty sure he must've heard wrong. Judging from Piper's face, though, he didn't.
Annabeth and Percy looked over at them and blushed, then started walking faster. Annabeth squeaked once when she put too much weight on her ankle, and Percy tried to make her slow down, but she rolled her eyes and sped up, tugging him along. Finally they reached the group and sat down, separating, but intertwined their hands.
Annabeth spoke first. "Coach, is he okay?" She nodded at Leo. "Yeah, just banged up a little. I'm gonna go get Will, ask if we can leave yet." He got up and walked to the building, where Jason's peers were now roaming around the gift shop as if nothing happened.
Leo finally spoke. "Do my eyes deceive me, or am I seeing horses with wings?" They all looked over at the chariot. Percy chuckled, and turned to Annabeth. "You were able to put a harness on Blackjack? I'm surprised."
"I told him we were coming to find you, and he volunteered." She responded.
Jason decided to cut in. "Can someone please explain what's going on here?"
Annabeth turned to Percy, with an accusing look in her eye. "Yeah, I think explanations are due." She agreed. Percy looked away, a guilty expression on his face. Right then, the guy named Will and Coach Hedge walked up.
"Leo looks better. I think we can leave now. Everybody ready?" Will announced.
Annabeth, Leo, Jason, and Piper all looked at Percy, like you gonna talk? He looked around, and said, "Maybe camp is a better place to explain. Let's get out of here." He stood up and then helped Annabeth, who seemed hesitant to accept assistance. Jason halted progress. "Wait. We're going in a- a flying chariot?" He asked. "How else? Now come on!" Coach said. Will helped Leo up, and Piper, Jason, and Leo all exchanged weary glances. They probably would have run away screaming for cops, but they trusted Percy, and Percy obviously trusted these people, so they followed.
They all stepped in the chariot, which had weapons from daggers to swords to bow and arrows, and at the front their were reins. Percy talked to the black horse, who almost appeared happy. Will handed Leo off to Jason, and took the reins. They shot up into the air.
Percy seemed stressed. He kept looking up at the sky like before, like a bolt of lightning might hit him. Annabeth stood by him, now using a crutch to support her instead of Percy, and took his hand. Jason watched them silently as they talked to each other and relaxed and smiled, obviously relieved to be together. He wondered if he and Piper would be like that. He looked over at her and smiled slightly, thinking about it. He hoped so. He looked down below them, at the cars and houses and rivers, wondering what was happening. He had a feeling it was something good.
