Jason

Jason walked silently with Percy out to the parking lot. Jason didn't have a solid plan in place for how they were going to create an Iris Message since it was still dark outside, but he wanted to get Percy some fresh air. Jason knew that Percy tried to keep a tight leash on his powers, as well as his emotions, but Jason was starting to see that when it came to his mother, Percy lost all control. Jason was sort of jealous that Percy had such a loving mother, someone he could turn to for anything, but Jason was also feeling deep sadness for the position Percy was in.

Jason had never really known his mother, and when he did learn about her, she had died in a car crash caused by her drinking. He was almost ashamed of her; she had never raised Jason, it was always Thalia who took care of him. But Jason would never have wished her dead; he still wished he could have at least met her.

Jason stole a glance at Percy as they continued walking. He was still slightly angry, Jason could see it in Percy's eyes. He was tense and Jason knew to tread lightly. While Jason and Percy had gotten over the son of Jupiter vs. son of Poseidon issue last year, they'd become really good friends, and close cousins. But Jason also knew that sometimes they disagreed, to a much lesser extent than Percy and Thalia, but it was still making Jason nervous to imagine setting Percy off right now.

"Think we can use that street lamp to create the Iris Message? It's far enough away that mortals shouldn't walk by and see it." Jason pointed to a lone street lamp at the edge of the parking lot. Percy shrugged indifferently, and Jason led the way.

When they stood beneath the dim, yellow glow, Percy closed his eyes and moments later a thin stream of water met the light. Percy continued to manipulate it until a fine mist appeared, creating a small rainbow. Percy pulled a drachma out of his pocket and tossed it through the mist. "O Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow, please accept my offering. Show me Thalia Grace."

Jason watched as silver tents surrounding a small camp fire appeared in the message. Girls of various ages, all dressed in silver shirts and black shorts, meandered around camp, tending to white wolves and beautiful falcons. The Iris Message zoomed in on one girl in particular. She was dressed like all the other girls, but her short, spiky hair which adorned a silver circlet set her apart from the others. She was deep in discussion with another girl, but Percy didn't seem to care.

"Thalia!" Percy called into the Iris Message. Both girls turned towards the message, and the dark haired girl smiled sadly.

"Excuse me, Erica, I need to take this." Thalia said politely, and she approached the Iris Message. "Hey little brother, hey Percy."

Jason smiled at Thalia, but cringed the next second when he felt a minor earthquake come from Percy, who was glaring angrily at Thalia.

Percy met Thalia's eyes. "Any good hunting Thalia? Perhaps something that crashed into a car out on Long Island?"

Thalia sighed tiredly, and ran her hand down her face. "Percy, I'm really sorry. I didn't know that your mom and step-dad were in that car. I thought it was regular mortals, so we called 911 to come and help them."

Jason shook his head furiously at Thalia. That was the wrong thing to say. Jason decided to step in at Percy's outraged expression. "Look Thalia, we're not here to accuse you of anything." Jason shot Percy a stern look, telling him to stay quiet. "We need information on the monster that attacked them. It may help us connect the dots and help Sally."

Thalia looked between Percy and Jason for a long while. She looked deeply pained, and also a sliver of fear settled into her electric blue eyes. "Percy, please make sure you control your temper. You don't want to set off an earthquake while they're trying to save your mom, okay?"

Jason frowned. Why would Thalia need to remind Percy that? His earthquake earlier was confined to just a few feet, he should be alright now. Jason looked at Percy and found that he too looked confused, which was welcome relief to Jason. He was getting tired of seeing angry Percy and sad Percy.

"Okay…I can do that." Percy said slowly, obviously thrown for a loop. "But why are you prefacing with that?"

Thalia chuckled slightly. "I see you've been spending time with Annabeth. 'Prefacing' is not a word you usually use, Kelp Head."

"Pinecone Face," Percy teased back lightly. He sobered up quickly, "But what monster was it Thalia?"

Jason felt like the three of them sat in silence for hours. Thalia was extremely reluctant to tell Percy what had attacked his mom. Then finally, Thalia spoke.

"It was the Minotaur."

Jason didn't see what the big deal was. The Minotaur was a tough mythological creature, but he wasn't completely sure why Percy would need to remember to be calm about it.

"We killed him, sent him back to the Underworld. But we don't know why he was in the area. There were no demigods for him to track, and I've never seen monsters attack cars before." Thalia looked deeply pained. "I tried contacting Artemis, but she didn't respond, which is not like her. Maybe you two should try contacting some of the other Olympians."

Jason was still confused, but one look at Percy, and he knew that Percy had no more to say on the matter. "Alright, thanks Thalia. We'll let you know how Sally is once we hear from the doctors. Love you."

"Love you little brother." With one last sad smile, Thalia swiped through the Iris Message. Jason looked at Percy's distress and didn't know what to do. He reached a hand out cautiously and gripped Percy's shoulder.

Jason sighed quietly. "I know that you aren't okay, and that you're bothered and upset. But we need to go back in there and tell the others. Based on what Thalia said, this doesn't seem random. Annabeth and Frank are our war strategists, they may be able to think of some reasoning for why this happened."

Percy didn't move for awhile before he met Jason's eyes. "Someone intentionally sent the Minotaur after my mom to get to me. I've defeated the Minotaur twice: once when I was 12, and again when I was 15. This is not random, and when I find out who did it, it's not going to be pretty."

As Percy spoke, his tone got darker and his eyes looked menacing. Jason could understand why he would be so upset, but Percy looked downright scary. Jason did the one thing he thought would remind Percy to relax- he hugged him. Jason didn't feel awkward, he felt good for trying to help his cousin. It took a second before Percy hugged him back tightly.

"Why did it have to be her?" Percy said quietly, still hugging Jason. "She hasn't done anything to anyone, and her life has finally started looking bright, and this happens. Why?"

Jason didn't release Percy, but he looked up at the stars, hoping some Olympian was watching them and trying to find a way to help. "I don't know man, but we're here for you, and Paul, and your mom. We'll do everything we can to help you guys."

With that, the two boys let go of each other, and walked back towards the ER, praying to all the Olympians that Sally would pull through the night.