II- Jason
Jason packed up his stuff. He kept his Roman gladius with him, as he decided to take it on the boat. Jason was preparing to go on the second quest of his life- or, rather, his new life. They were going to rescue Percy Jackson and restore his memory. Wherever that Percy kid was, he was as helpless as Jason had been at first- completely out of place and no memory whatsoever. In the back of Jason's head, he wondered what Percy would be like. From the way Annabeth described him, he was a mega-buff demigod Son-of-Poseidon superhero with 'amazing hair' and 'amazing eyes' and 'amazing poise' and 'amazing battle skill' and a billon other 'amazing's. Jason wondered how much of Annabeth's description was actually true. Also, in the very back of his mind, he wondered if Piper would refer to him like that.
But there was one thing that was bothering Jason. So… Percy was at this camp for the kids of Roman gods. Would Jason have to stay at that camp? As much as he'd like to be at a camp where everyone was like him, he wasn't sure he could. He couldn't just abandon the people he'd gone on the quest with. Leo would probably let him go, but Jason was pretty sure he'd miss the comic relief of hearing terrible jokes. Piper, on the other hand, wouldn't let him stay at another camp in a million years.
Leo interrupted his thoughts. "Hey, Jason, you done packing?"
Jason whirled around to see all the people that were going on his quest with him: Leo, Annabeth, and, of course, Piper.
"Hurry up," said Annabeth. "We're wasting valuable time that we could be using to save Percy."
Leo snorted.
"Alright, I'm coming," said Jason, grabbing his bag. "Let's go."
They walked outside into the courtyard in the center of the cabins.
"Isn't this great?" Leo said. "We're going on another quest!"
"Hey, Leo," said Annabeth. "Please tell me you got around to attaching the masthead.
"Done and done," he replied.
Jason felt Piper grab his hand. He wasn't quite sure why, but he broke free. One thought appeared in his head.
That girl… Reyna…
"What did I do?" Piper asked. She seemed hurt.
"It's- it's nothing," Jason said, fast-walking away from her.
The names of his old friends were floating around in his head all summer. It was really weird- one day he would sit as far away from Leo as possible, because he felt like he was betraying Bobby- and yet, the next day, he would be rejecting Piper because he was feeling disloyalty to Reyna.
"There it is, the beauty," said Leo, admiring his own work on the ship. "Festus… you'll live on."
"Great," said Piper. "We'll be riding on 'Happy the Death Ship'."
"Exactly," said Leo. "So, anyway… we've got the cannons loaded and ready to go."
"Are they placed exactly where I said?" Annabeth asked.
She didn't seem to trust Leo too much. Jason wondered if it was because he joked a lot. Did Percy Jackson ever joke around?
"Yup," said Leo, now checking the figure of the metal dragon's head.
"And, Jason," said Annabeth. "We'll be covering melee combat, okay?"
Jason nodded, and looked at the gladius that Juno had given him lying in his hands.
"Piper," said Annabeth. "First of all, did you bring all of the Ambrosia and Nectar rations?"
Piper nodded.
"Now," Annabeth continued, "in case of a ship invasion, we want you to charmspeak the invaders and convince them to leave. If you can't convince them, that's when Jason and I will take over. At that point, we want you to stay down in the bunker. Can you do that?"
Piper nodded lightly, although she looked as though she was annoyed that she had to miss out on the action.
"Leo," said Annabeth. "I want you to man the cannons. Make sure the enemies don't have time to get to us."
Leo laughed. "Bethy, it sounds like you're protecting us against pirates, not monsters."
Annabeth frowned. "Listen, just man the cannons and don't talk. Really, don't talk. It'll… um… attract monsters. By the way, call me 'Bethy' again, and I'll slit your throat."
Leo took a step backwards.
"Ready to go, everyone?" Annabeth asked.
"Yeah," the three friends chorused.
Jason saw Piper's hand close in around her dagger. What was it called? Cleopatra? Kaleidoscope? Jason couldn't really remember. On his left, Leo pulled out a tin of breath mints from his magical tool belt and popped a mint in his mouth.
"This is gonna be a weird journey, I know it," said Jason.
He sat down next to Piper and got ready for the quest to rescue Percy Jackson.
