Mark of Athena

A/N- Sorry for the long wait between updates. I haven't had a whole lot of time to write. Next chapter should be up a lot sooner!

-kaitie

Chapter 3: Jason

After Percy managed to get them lost, Jason took over and led the group to the Senate.
"Seriously Percy? You managed to get lost? What kind of praetor are you?" Annabeth scolded. Wait... Was that a joke? From Annabeth? As in, Don't-joke-with-me-or-I-will-cut-you-Annabeth?
Percy laughed. "Hey, give a guy a break! I've only been here for a few days!" That caught her attention.
"A few days? Percy, you've been missing for eight months!"
"I may have taken a small nap..." Percy replied. A nap? For eight months?
Beside him, Annabeth echoed his thoughts. "You took an eight month nap?" she asked incredulously.
"It, uh, wasn't my fault?" he said, trying to explain.
Annabeth snorted. "Typical seaweed brain. I leave you alone for one minute, and you disappear for an eight month nap!" Maybe that wasn't the best way to explain it Percy. Now you're never going to hear the end of this. Being the nice guy he was, Jason decided to give the guy a reprieve.
"You're never going to hear the end of it now," Jason told him.
"Trust me, I know. She's still going on about the time I told her I got lost," Percy replied. He'd seemed resigned to having Annabeth mad at him, but took this as a way out.
"That doesn't seem so bad..."
From beside Percy, Travis Stoll butted in laughing." Oh, you should have seen it! It was right after he blew up Mt. St. Helens, and-"
"You blew up Mt St Helens?"
Percy, turning redder by the second, nodded, and Travis continued his story. "So, he walks into the amphitheater, after being gone for two weeks, and the camp's burning his shroud."
Leo, who had been listening silently, for a change, beside them, broke in with, "Burning his shroud? Is that-"
"It's what a body's buried in. Kind of a tradition for demigods," Annabeth interrupted before Leo could go on one of his longwinded questions.
"As I was saying," Travis broke in, "Percy walks in, and Annabeth's crying, and setting the shroud on the fire. Then she turns around and says, 'he was probably the bravest friend I ever have.' Then she sees him and-" He burst out laughing again.
"Shut up Travis!" Annabeth gave Travis a shove, face red.
"C'mon Percy, let's go catch up with Grover and leave Travis to his story," Annabeth pulled Percy back to where Grover was talking with Rachel, Katie, and another guy- Frank? - from Camp Jupiter.
When Travis stopped laughing, he finished his story. "So, she's all broken up about him 'dying', and she sees Percy, alive and walking, and she yells, 'he's right there!', and practically throws herself at him," he started laughing again, but continued after Jason elbowed him. "She's all like, 'where have you been!' and 'we thought you were dead!' Then Percy says, 'I got lost...' and Annabeth freaks out. It was awesome- I mean... She wasn't mad at us for a change!" Jason and Leo started laughing too.
The laughing was stopped by a girl's voice asking, "Sammy?"
Jason turned to meet Hazel's gaze. "Hazel!" he cried. He hugged her, and introduced her to Leo and Travis. "Leo, Travis, this is Hazel Levesque, daughter of Pluto. Hazel, these are my friends Leo Valdez, son of Vulcan, and Travis Stoll, son of Mercury."
Hazel looked crestfallen as she shook Leo's hand. "Oh... I thought you were someone else..."
"Really? There's another smoking hot son of Hephaestus 'round here?" Hazel looked confused. That's Leo for you. Confusing as always.
"Umm... No. You just reminded me of someone I used to know. Are you related to a Sammy Valdez, by any chance?" Okay then...
"Uh... I think he was my grandfather." How in hades would she know Leo's grandpa? "Yeah, that's it! Grandpa Sammy! My mom used to tell stories about him..." he trailed off.
Hazel, oblivious to Leo's discomfort, asked, "Do you know if he-"
Jason interrupted, knowing this was a sore subject with him. "C'mon Hazel- I want you to meet someone." He grabbed her arm and gently pulled her away, leaving Leo alone with Travis. Leaving those two together probably wasn't the best thing, so he yelled over his shoulder, "Behave, you two! If find explosives in the toilet again, you are dead!"
"Explosives in the toilet?" Hazel asked, confused.
"Our resident pranksters. Watch out for Conner too- he's the guy who looks exactly like Travis."
Hazel nodded. "Okay. So, who did you want me to meet?"
Jason led Hazel to the back of the group, where Piper was walking with, surprisingly, Clarisse. "Hey! Piper!" Jason called. She turned, and when she saw Jason, she smiled,

"Hey Jason!" she called. "Who's that?" she asked, gesturing to Hazel.

"Piper, meet Hazel Levesque, daughter of Pluto, or Hades. Hazel, meet Piper Mclean, daughter of Aphrodite-Venus-, and my girlfriend."

"Girlfriend? What about Reyna?" Hazel asked. Uh oh…

"Reyna? That prator-"

"Praetor!" Jason interrupted.

"That Praetor girl?

Hazel looked uncomfortable. She should be, Jason seethed. Hazel just HAD to bring Reyna up.

"Piper, I told you. I'm with you now. And Hazel," he looked at her, "I was never with Reyna. If I hadn't left, then we might have gotten together, but there's no point thinking of all the what ifs."

Piper and Hazel shook hands.

"Pleased to meet you Piper," Hazel told her.

"Same," Piper replied.

"So, Hazel… What've I missed? Besides Percy becoming Praetor, that is," Jason asked with a hint of bitterness in his voice.

"We got our eagle back!" she said, bursting with excitement.

If Jason'd had a drink, he would have spewed it all over Hazel. "WHAT!"

Hazel repeated, "We got the eagle back!"

"I heard…" Hazel looked at him oddly, so he moved on. "When?"

"Yesterday!"

"WHAT!" Hazel looked at him again. "Yeah, yeah I know. But seriously? Yesterday?"

Hazel nodded. "We, that is, Percy, Frank, and I, went on a quest to Alaska-"

"Alaska? Are you crazy?" Jason asked, stunned. Alaska wasn't called the land beyond the gods for a reason. Bad things happened to people who quested in Alaska…

"No, I'm not crazy!" Hazel said, insulted. Then, with a gleam in her eye, she added. "You might want to ask Percy that, though."

Piper burst out laughing. "From what I've heard, that may be a good thing!" Jason agreed with Piper. All the stories featuring Percy back at Camp Half-blood usually had him doing something crazy. Sure, most of his stunts worked out in the end, but still. This guy was insane!

"So…" Piper said in the uncomfortable silence that followed. "What's the eagle?"

Jason explained, "In simplest terms, it's a golden eagle on top of a pole that gives the holder the power to call down lightning. It's been lost for years, ever since an expedition to Alaska went wrong."

"It was a huge help in the battle yesterday," Hazel put in mildly.

"What battle?" Piper and Jason asked simultaneously.

"Gaea's army attacked Camp yesterday, and we were able to fight them off, barely."

"You know, I'm getting tired of yelling 'what!'" Jason said mildly. "So, explain please."

Hazel nodded. "I'll explain the whole thing, but NO MORE INTERRUPTIONS!" When Jason and Piper nodded, Hazel continued. "It all started when…"

A/N- Im not going to summarize that, seeing as you all should know what happened in SoN. And if you dont... READ IT BEFORE CONTINUING!

MY grand total of reviews for the last chapter- 0 :( Was it really that bad? If it was, please tell me what I need to improve.

-kaitie