"There is never a time or place for true love. It happens accidentally, in a heartbeat, in a single flashing, throbbing moment."
–Sarah Dessen
Jason grasped Piper's hand firmly in his. Her fingers were cool and smooth. He hoped she didn't notice the sweat that coated his, or the nervous beads that had popped up on his forehead and slid down the sides of his face. She always made him feel a little nervous and way too excited when she was with him. His heart felt like it was trying to pound out of his chest.
She walked cheerfully beside him, smiling, the sun's rays casting off of her face, making her maple-syrup skin glow like bronze. They walked down a street in New Rome. Jason was grateful that Reyna had granted him permission to show Piper his home; Piper seemed to be enjoying it, too.
"Ooh, look, Jason!" she cried excitedly, pointing to a nearby coffee shop. Jason stared at her happy, eager face, marveling at how beautiful she was, even in the everyday jeans and sweet Hello Kitty tank top she wore. Her feet were clad in sneakers, and an eagle's feather was braided into her long, chocolate-brown hair. Her multi-colored eyes sparkled as she smiled.
"Should we each get a cup?" he offered.
Piper turned to look at him and bobbed her head in reply, still smiling.
They walked to the coffee shop, taking their time, admiring all of New Rome's beauty. Even Jason found the old streets, through which he'd walked numerous times before, fascinating, being back after all this time. Maybe it was even more amazing now because he had Piper at his side.
Inside the coffee shop, Jason was disappointed that the young boy behind the counter was new, a face he didn't know from before. He'd been excited, walking through the streets, recognizing old faces, and had been hoping for a chance to speak with an old friend, catch up on what had happened while he'd been gone, and introduce Piper as his new girlfriend. But Jason put on a smile for the boy, anyway, and ordered two cups of coffee—black for him, milk and sugar stirred into Piper's, but no whipped cream for her, thank you very much.
"What?" Jason asked, startled. "Since when don't you like whipped cream?"
"Since when do sane people put whip on their black coffee?" Piper shot back.
Jason grinned and raised an eyebrow. "I must be crazy, then. It's delicious." He took a long slurp from his cup, and ate some whipped cream with a spoon just for her benefit.
She stuck out her tongue and made a "Bleh!" sound.
The boy had disappeared into the back to retrieve a few paper napkins that Piper had requested. While they waited, Jason looked around the shop, trying to recall sometime he'd been in here. The shop was empty, not surprising, since most people were in the forum, where all the excitement of Jason and the others arriving on the Argo II was happening.
His memory came up blank.
Sure he'd come in here sometime, at least once before, Jason became frustrated and racked his brain. Finally the boy came back with the napkins.
Jason thanked him, handed the napkins to Piper, and fished around in his jeans pocket before bringing out a couple of denarri. When the boy shook his head, embarrassed, that it wasn't enough, Jason looked helplessly at Piper, who rolled her eyes and brought out the rest of the money from her pocket to pay.
"Seriously, though," Jason continued, glancing at Piper as they strolled out of the shop. "Why don't you like whipped cream? I've heard of people who don't enjoy chocolate, but . . ." He shook his head dubiously.
"Everyone's entitled to their own taste buds," Piper joked, slapping his arm playfully.
She suddenly reached over and took his hand, entwining her slender fingers with his, which somehow seemed to fit perfectly together, like a jigsaw puzzle.
"Let's find somewhere to sit," she suggested, and Jason could hardly ignore her beautiful voice.
They carried their drinks over to a bench in front of a fountain and sat down; the water splashing behind them was noisy, but somehow comforting. Jason looked around. It was so strange that there were hardly any people out in the streets; he'd only spotted one couple at the end of a road to his right. They were also out of sight from the coffee shop thus the clerk's view from inside, so as far as Jason knew, he and Piper were completely alone.
He looked over at her and saw her looking frustrated, trying to put the plastic lid back on her cup, which had somehow popped off. Jason watched, smirking, not bothering to hide his amusement, as she struggled. Eventually she caught him staring and gave a huff before finally popping the lid back on. Raising both eyebrows, she looked at him as she gave a loud slurp of her drink.
Jason turned his attention to his own drink and scooped up some whipped cream with the end of his straw. Slipping his straw out of his lid, he held out the clump of whipped cream to Piper, one palm open underneath to catch the drips. "Here," he said.
"Nuh-uh, I told you, I don't like it," Piper replied.
Jason gave her a look. "Take it. I didn't drink out of my straw yet and I promise you the whipped cream in New Rome is the best you'll ever taste," he insisted. "You probably don't even really dislike it, you just had a bad first experience or something."
Piper sighed and gave him a withering glare that just looked too cute for Jason to take seriously. "You don't want me sucking all over that," she pointed out.
Jason shrugged. "I really don't mind. Argentum and Aurum licked from my lunch and dinner plates when I ate in the Principia all the time."
"Really? Gross! From what you've told me, they seem too well-trained to do that," Piper said, wrinkling her nose.
"Oh, yeah. I fed them jelly beans out of my hand every morning before I started work; and I'm pretty sure your saliva would taste a whole lot better than theirs." He gave a disgusted look at remembering the dog flavor he could never seem to get out of his meals.
"Jelly beans?" Piper's smile faltered. She looked down at the cup of coffee in her lap and whispered, "Those are Reyna's favorite candy."
"She probably picked it up from the dogs," Jason replied quickly—probably too quickly, his voice light. He didn't get why Piper was so upset about Reyna lately. There had never been anything between them, despite what people assumed. He'd just have to keep trying to raise Piper from her doubts. "Seriously, they ate so many I had to buy pounds of jelly beans every night before I went to bed so they wouldn't maul me in my sleep."
Piper laughed.
Jason grinned, continuing. "And I was always picked on by Octavian for poorly managing the Coherts' and New Rome's taxes—but most of the money was probably spent on those dumb dogs. I probably could have gone broke just by feeding them." Jason shook his head, smiling because Piper was smiling again.
His thoughts started to wander about Argentum and Aurum, and back to when he was a praetor in the Principia. He'd called them dumb, but the pair of dogs were actually very smart, and sort of his friends, in their own way. He hoped he could see them again while he was here, before they left to continue their quest.
He was so lost in his thoughts he practically jumped out of his skin in surprise when Piper leaned forward and licked the now-melting glob of whipped cream off his straw. He watched in suspense as she slowly swallowed, looking up at the sky, deciding on its flavor. When she finally dropped her head to look at him, smiling, Jason practically sighed in relief.
"It's delicious, by far the best whipped cream I've ever tasted. It's got to be homemade," she decided.
Jason grinned and was about to cross his arms smugly when Piper leaned forward and planted a kiss on his cheek. Her lips were coated in cold whipped cream—and Jason was sure his cheek would be left with a white, sugary mark on it when she pulled away—but he could still feel the warmth of her soft skin underneath, and with his nose close by her hair, smell her lotus shampoo.
Piper pulled back, grinning. She always smiled after she kissed him, sort of goofily, and had a dreamy look in her eyes. Jason probably looked a lot worse. He noticed she had a cute whipped cream mustache above her upper lip and wanted to kiss it away—the whipped cream would taste doubly delicious that way, for sure.
"But—" Piper finished, holding up a finger, "—whipped cream still isn't a favorite of mine, and unless it's New Rome's, I still won't be getting it on my coffee."
Jason took his straw back and dipped it in his cup to scoop out more whipped cream, then began blotting it all over and around his mouth, like an Aphrodite girl doing her lipstick.
"What are you doing?" Piper asked, laughing, but sounding a little nervous at her boyfriend's strange behavior.
"Showing you that you love whipped cream, that it's a favorite of yours, and that you'll definitely be getting it on your coffee in the future," Jason answered.
Piper laughed. "Why are you being so insistent about this?"
"Dunno, it's probably Jupiter's genes in me or something." Jason shrugged.
He figured he had to look stupid talking with white cream all over his mouth, so he quickly leaned forward and heard an intake of breath from Piper before completing his plan, kissing her full on the mouth.
It was a longer kiss of theirs, and new and strange with the whipped cream idea of Jason's, but somehow lovely in its own way. When Jason pulled back, they were both panting slightly.
"So, was it worth it, Beauty Queen?" he asked, grinning, using Leo's favorite nickname for her.
"Yes—but that's cheating!" Piper laughed, looking a little embarrassed. She tossed her long braid behind her, which had fallen over her shoulder sometime during their kiss. "I also heard kissing burns calories—so, yeah, I guess it was probably worth it." She was still smiling and began drawing calming little circles with her finger on her leg. Jason thought he heard her mutter, "I'll never be able to think of whipped cream the same again. . . ."
"Where did you hear that—about kissing burning calories?" Jason asked, raising an eyebrow.
Piper waved a hand. "Trust me, you hear everything about that stuff when you live in the Aphrodite Cabin."
This was why Jason loved being around Piper so much—she made him feel normal, like an everyday guy with his girlfriend, not some demigod trying to find time to scrounge up a date with his partner in fighting monsters.
But he never quite forgot that demigod part of them, either, and it connected them even more.
He realized he'd been staring into Piper's eyes for too long, and she was starting to look uncomfortable, so he quickly looked away and muttered, "Um, yeah, sure."
Piper sipped some of her coffee.
"So, is whipped cream a new favorite of yours?" Jason asked.
She tapped her chin with a finger. "Mmm . . . nope," she decided, then hopped up from her seat.
They'd hardly drank any of their coffee, but Jason stood up as well and offered her a hand. "Come on, I'll show you the rest of New Rome," he said, wiping the remains of whipped cream from his mouth and gesturing that she should do the same.
They passed the Principia, after Jason gave Piper a quick tour of it (he still remembered where Reyna always hid the key, under the shoe mat outside), and continued on until they were walking through the empty marketplace of New Rome. They'd tossed their half-finished coffee cups in a garbage outside of a pastry shop, and each taken a cookie off the plate with a sample sign on the counter, and were munching on them as they strolled by grocery stores and weapon shops with the sign, Rome's Finest Weaponry!
"Mmm, my peanut butter cookie's great," Piper muttered dreamily. "How's your chocolate chip . . . ? Jason?" She broke off, sounding worried, as he gasped beside her.
Jason couldn't answer her. The breath had left his lungs, leaving his body utterly airless.
He was staring up at a statue of a famous Roman general, who'd won countless battles, astride a horse and wielding a mighty sword. But the statue wasn't important. Recognizing it, Jason had suddenly been hit by a wave of memories containing the statue. He recalled a War Game he and the Fifth Cohort had won, his teammates cheering and hoisting him on their shoulders. Jason had laughed, and as they paraded through the streets and passed under the statue, the Roman general's stone scabbard had grazed his head.
He remembered organizing quests as a praetor under the monument, a notebook and pencil in his lap. He'd always felt frustrated and restless while doing paperwork, and had the habit of chewing on the ends of his pencils, which Reyna hated.
Overcome by all the sudden memories, Jason staggered to his knees, feeling dizzy.
"Jason!" Piper cried. She knelt beside him and grabbed his shoulders. "Are you not feeling well? Where does it hurt?"
"I . . . remember the statue," Jason managed to gasp out, pointing.
Piper immediately understood and began to console him, brushing the hair out of his eyes.
"Are you all right, Jason?" she asked gently, holding his head to her chest.
"I think so," Jason answered.
"It must be strange being back after all this time," Piper offered.
He managed a nod.
"And . . . Jason?" Piper took a deep breath. "I . . . I'm sorry I've been so sensitive about Reyna. I get it, you don't like her, it's just hard not to feel jealous . . ." She looked down, embarrassed, then muttered under her breath, "Stupid Aphrodite."
Jason laughed. "It's okay, Piper. Thanks for understanding." He stood up, his legs shaking slightly. "I'm feeling fine now. Let's keep walking."
He was showing her a street of houses for families staying in New Rome, and they were about to reach the shrine of Jupiter, which he was excited to show off, when he heard the commotion. Shouting and huge blasting sounds filled the air.
"What the heck?" Piper murmured beside him, both of them turning toward the sound.
"We should probably go check it out," Jason said, narrowing his eyes, his natural leading side as a son of Jupiter stepping in.
Piper looked regretful about her tour not getting completed, but she knew how Jason felt about these kind of things, so she followed him dutifully.
When they reached the forum, it was chaos. More explosions sounded nearby, and Piper gasped as she must have realized at the same time Jason did that they were being emitted from the Argo II. Jason remembered that Leo had shown Octavian on board after the feast. He balled his hands into fists. If that scrawny, pale-faced, murderous scarecrow had so much as touched a hair on Leo's head or put a dent in the ship . . . but Octavian firing on his own home didn't make any sense.
Jason swallowed hard. That only left one person.
Leo.
Leo was the only one who knew how to fire the ballistae, anyway. But why was he firing on Camp Jupiter? Maybe Octavian had put him up to it, for some strange reason, or . . .
Jason shook off his thoughts for now. Whatever the reason, it better be good when he next spoke with Leo. The whole thing screamed "suspicious" and "crazy."
He looked around and realized the forum was worse off than he'd thought. There was yelling and fistfights (no weapons allowed in New Rome, on Terminus's strict orders, thank the gods), and Jason thought he saw a burning sofa fly through the air.
"Leo?" Piper whispered, looking at Jason, her face white, lips barely moving.
Jason nodded tightly.
"Why would he do this? What do we do?" Piper asked fearfully.
"I'm sure it's not Leo's fault. We have to stop all of this," Jason decided, and strode forward.
Piper followed him as he came to a small clearing, a bit higher off the ground, so people could see him. When the Roman citizens recognized him, they turned to him and immediately screamed, "Traitor! You are a disgrace to the Romans!"
"Yeah, which side are you on, anyway?" someone else shouted.
Jason felt his face blanch and his hands started shaking. This was not the way he'd hoped things would go.
It went from bad to worse when the crowd started to pelt food, dishes, and rocks at him and Piper.
"Romans! Please stop and listen! I'm on your side!" Jason pleaded. He looked over at Piper. "We're both with you! We're not traitors! None of us! Please!"
His pleading didn't work, and almost seemed to make the crowd grow angrier. One Roman girl whom Jason didn't recognize surged forward and threw a rock, which hit him on the side of his head. Jason felt warm blood beginning to seep through his hair and trickle down his cheek.
Piper gasped, her hands flying to her mouth, and immediately turned to the Romans in front of them and tried charmspeaking them to calm down and back away. It worked for a few of those closest to them, but most just kept advancing, and as Piper got more scared and nervous, her voice lost its magical touch.
"Romans! Please!" Jason kept repeating. He felt that the orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirt he was wearing wasn't helping matters, and wished that he could somehow cover it up, maybe wrap his purple Roman cloak around it . . .
"Traitors!" the crowd screamed, though some shouted the word singularly. They seemed a lot more mad at Jason than Piper, which Jason was actually thankful for. He was worried that the crowd might try to hurt her.
"You come home to us and lie, saying that you're our friend, but you've brought these enemies with you to destroy our city!"
Jason felt sick as he recognized the shouting boy's face as Bobby, one of his old friends.
He saw more people bending down to pick up rocks and bricks, and he jumped in front of Piper, trying to shield her, but her back was still unprotected. Piper started up the lame attempt of trying to charmspeak the crowd again.
"Please!" Jason shouted. "This is all a misunderstanding! Where is Reyna? We can talk this over!"
He didn't think he could be heard by even Piper above all the din. Angry faces swirled together in front of him. There was nothing they could do. They were doomed. He felt hopelessness well up in his chest.
Jason didn't see the brick, but some dark-red object sailed toward him, in the corner of his vision, and he turned to look at it.
Then something clunked him on the head, and he barely heard Piper's screams before everything turned black and his body slumped to the ground, unconscious.