The Soldier and the Singer, chapter 7
A/N: Hey, guys! Thanks for the reviews! (Mostly percabeth1414 andjlyjackson!) I have to warn you guys...ONLY THREE MORE CHAPTERS LEFT OF THIS STORY. (I could be a liar. I'm just saying) This chapter is going to be a bit heavy, so brace yourself. Also, love to thank everybody who's put this on their favorite/following lists! I plan on writing another early 1900's based story when this one is finished, so get ready!
Level with you-Be honest with you
Bulge-The advantage
Caper-Crime
Bull sessions-Gossip sessions, sometimes stories of sexual escapades
Card-Caucasian
Shmeck-Drugs
There is heavy air on the Hooverville, as her citizens slowly rouse themselves from their sleep. They all wake from their newspaper pillows, and pulling on the warmest clothes they still own, and peeking their head out past their door, to see if anyone else is awake. Everybody slowly makes their way to the central bonfire, where a wooden platform has been set up, and sitting on it is their leader, the newfound Percy Jackson, couple Piper and Jason Grace, and Hazel Levesque, who worriedly plays with the holes in her sleeve. Immediately taking seats in front of the bonfire, they begin to whisper as soon as they catch sight of Percy, noting the dark scratches that still line his face and his body. They see the way Jason watches him with concern, and immediately assume what is not true. Everybody has heard the rumours now, and it would seem that everybody has believed it as well: Jason Grace is a murderer.
"Chrissake, mind settling down?" Frank hollers, as the noise level begins to grow as more people join the makeshift audience. Everybody has stop their conversations to look up at Frank, and immediately quiet down. Frank, nodding in approval, sighs, and stands up with purpose, glancing at Jason quickly, then at Percy, and only maintaining eye contact with Hazel, before beginning to speak again.
"Thank you. As we all know, well known people our town-" Frank gestures around to the shacks, the worn down people, and the children who watch him with wide eyes, "-have been getting bumped off by some mysterious grifter, an egg or some no good goon. And we are fortunate enough, to have seen Percy Jackson return to us." He gestures to Percy Jackson, who waves half heartedly to the crowd, and is returned with ear splitting applause. He laughs, and gestures for them to calm down, and though they are happy about his return, Frank's face never splits into a smile.
"Unfortunately, however, we have accounts that Percy was taken by none other," he pauses, bracing himself for the words that were about to exit his mouth, knowing how much this would affect the Hooverville's citizens trust in one another "then one of our own."
Whispers immediately break out into the crowd, men turning their heads to talk trash to another, women whispering urgently to their neighbor about who it could be. There had been a seamless trust among the citizens of the Hooverville, that couldn't have been broken before Frank said those words. When you lived in Hooverville, you had to relate and appreciate those around you, because nobody decent would. But now, they were all suspicious of each other, that sacred trust broken. Frank had just broken their trust as well, telling them this. But he raises his hands for them to calm down, and takes a seat on the edge of the platform, staring down at his gloves.
"And the accused..." Frank hesitates, swallowing the lump in his throat, nervously twiddling his fingers together, as though it would ease the tension that was surrounding them, "is our own Jason Grace."
As soon as those words escape his lips, roars of outrage suddenly begin to rise amongst the watchers. They scream, they shout for his innocence, or call out for Jason's neck. There are two reactions, either Jason is innocent, screaming the close to the accused, or that he is as guilty as the sun. (Though, Frank realizes, that doesn't make any sense.) Anyhow, old glass bottles are thrown towards the accused, Jason only narrowly avoiding them as the crowd begins to think as one. Frank can only calm them down thanks to the help of their old leader, Percy Jackson, who only manages to stand up and with an intense deep look in his eyes, his more then quiet snap is heard amongst the frantic crowd, and everybody falls silent, either looking worried or downright murderous.
"Now, now, why don't you all calm down?" Percy says, crossing his arms, "It's a caper, what's been done to me, but Frank over here has decided to give the chance to both Jason and I to tell our stories, and then, when that's all done and doozy, we're gonna have you vote, yes, everybody, not just the negroes or the men, everybody, vote. On if Jason Grace is innocent, or a murderer. Now," Percy sits down on thhe edge of the platform, a small smile on his face, "Imma be level with you...I think Jason is as guilty as Herbert Hoover for letting us fall like this, but I learned something or two before this, and that's having the bulge isn't as good as you think it feels. I have the bulge over Jason here, and I think maybe, maybe, some deep part in me thinks he might be innocent. But, I'll tell my story and let you decide."
Percy takes a deep breath, looking back at Frank, then at Jason, and finally making eye contact with Annabeth in the crowd, before weaving a tale about his year that's been absolute hell. And when he says hell, the crowd can believe it. He tells him what he remembers, fuzzy memories about a blonde man, another woman, and fire glowing in their eyes. The purposeful experiments, where they took his blood painfully and flooded his veins with another's, somehow. The way that the woman's voice always commanded the man what to do, but there was always another woman, a quieter one. The beatings, the bruisings, being handed to the Five Points several times as a practice target, before being brought back. They starved him, burned him, even branded him with a metal mark, just a dark circle on his lower back, which he raises his shirt for the crowd to see. How he had no idea where he was, how afraid he had been, how he had thought of all of them as a way to keep going, and then how much he missed Annabeth. He told them his torture usually happened at night, how the day was when he was still recovering from the beatings and usually passed out. By the end of his story, many women have burst into tears, except Annabeth and Hazel, and how many men were holding their wives or their dames hands, looking at Jason with murderous eyes. When Percy steps back to let Jason speak, Jason must wait about ten minutes for the crowd to stop their jeering and taunts, before he finally gives his defense. About how he has been at Piper's side non stop, ever since they found out that Piper was pregnant.
The story is not as riveting as Percy's, but the men with families and the wives all sympathise with Jason, the fact that Anna Joy was born out of wedlock not mattering, for one moment. Jason told his story with such sincerity, honesty and passionately as a true man would. He describes how his absences during the night was to find food and proper supplies for the baby, having to negotiate with grifters, gangs and even an occasional owl. Trading his clothes, his money, what he had, all for small supplies such as milk, blankets, or bread, food Piper and the baby could have, and that he had been telling the truth. Concluding his story by alluding back to his days in the service, he only steps back and nods, taking his seat next to Piper once more, who quickly pecks his cheek.
Frank, having been listening carefully, stands up from his spot on the platform, and glances at Hazel, who smiles encouragingly. Remembering their kiss the night before, he finds his voice louder, more confident then before, as he clears his throat.
"Now that you've heard it from the men themselves, we will have a vote. All in favor that Jason stays in the Hooverville, raise your hand and keep it up there."
Hands tentatively begin to go up, most of them friends or citizens who sympathise with the couple sporting smiles as they did. Out of the 150 or so citizens, Frank only estimates about 74 or 75 of them raise their hand. He is not surprised, then, when the others who have not raised their hand in favor of Jason's stay raise their hand when he asks who wants Jason to leave. The crowd disperses after Frank informs them there will be further discussion on the matter, and he hears men beginning to have bull sessions, theories being swapped on whether Jason is guilty or not. Sighing, he walks with Jason, Piper, Hazel and Percy back to his own shack, which resides right next to the bonfire. Helping them all in, Hazel quickly squeezes his hand as he shuts the wooden door behind him.
"As we can see, that didn't help at all," Frank sighs, covering his face, "That's about half and half for each side. We still can't boot Jason out, but at the same time, we still have to think about our own citizens..."
"Why can't Jason simply stay in the shack with me?" Piper proposes from the corner, and all eyes turn to the starry eyed woman who holds her baby close to her chest, "I mean, that way, he can't cause harm to anyone, and if that...that bastard, whoever is taking our people, tries again, people will know it wasn't Jason."
"Good idea, Piper," Frank says, brightening up considerably, "It's better then Jason being thrown out, and it works. Listen up, boys, cause that's what's gonna happen."
Hazel walks alongside Reyna, as the sun begins to set on the west side of the coast. Mumbling responses to Reyna's ranting, she can only think of other things. Such as Frank, for instance.
"-I mean, he kept saying he'll neck me if I don't give in! How horrid is that? I really think Leo should be spaded, and neutered, don't you think, Hazel?"
"Wha? I...I mean yeah, spaded and cootered, yeah..." She barely manages to stop herself from crashing into an annoyed Reyna, but when Reyna doesn't begin to yell at her for not listening, she suddenly snaps herself back into the reality, to see Reyna running off into the distance by herself. Without a single word. Hazel, seeing this, takes off as well, ignoring the dubious looks the nearby family gives her. All she knew is that if Reyna was running off into the woods, there was deep trouble. She considers running back to Frank, to ask him to go after her, but she knew that would be a horrid idea. Frank was much too busy, and most likely much too tired to deal with this. Taking a deep breath, she stops in front of the entrance of the woods, gazing into the darkness, before taking off in the direction Reyna went.
Branches, odd stones and the unfamiliar surroundings hinder her from thinking straight, as she begins to lose steam. Managing to run for a bit longer, she calls Reyna's name, beginning to get scared of being alone here. It was a horrible reminder, of the night her mother was lynched and hanged on a tree. What if there were lynchers here? Hazel's heart begins to beat faster, her hands becoming sweaty as she pictures the possible scenarios. Reyna leading lynchers to her. Finding Reyna strung up in a tree. A gun to her own head and seeing Reyna's body on the ground. Her breath begins to come quicker, and she cries out, but a hand covers her mouth, and pulls her to the ground. She screams into the hand, struggling, but when she sees the familiar eyes of Reyna, she calms. Reyna removes her hand, and begins to speak again.
"Calm down, Hazel, no need to chase yourself out of here...I saw Leo Valdez, you know him, being dragged off in here, and there is no way I'm letting another good man go. You ready to catch the bums that's been taking our men?"
Hazel only finds the courage to nod, and lets Reyna lead the way as they make their way deeper and deeper into the trees of the park. As they walk, Reyna begins to talk about Leo, about how she appreciated him, didn't quite respect him, but knew that he was a good man. She was indeed, slightly infatuated. Perhaps it was that danger had found him, so she found the courage to tell someone her true feelings, Hazel thinks, as they keep making their way. After about ten minutes of trekking into the forest, they both hear voices. Making quick eye contact, they realize the voices are behind them, and both of them duck behind a bush, and hold their breaths. Footsteps begin to make their way closer and closer to the bush, and Hazel, for the first time, prays that the God that's taken her mother will not take her tonight. The voices soon become clear, and Hazel has to cover Reyna's mouth to conceal the gasps.
"-will be very angry if we don't bring anotha' one in tonight, Luke."
Luke.
"Not my fault the old lady's still holdin' a grudge, Thals. She gives good money, and we just do what we gotta."
Thalia.
"Luke, you think that nigger is here? You know, the one that Zhang's gotten a crush for? And you know, that face, Reyna?"
"Maybe. I love when you talk dirty to me, Thals. Reminds me of the good ol' days."
"You mean gettin' shot in alleys half the time and drinkin' ourselves stupid?"
"Yeah, those were good times."
Hazel and Reyna both raise their eyebrows as they hear the sounds of the couple passionately making out in the forest, unaware two of their associates could hear every word of it. Now they knew, Thalia and Luke were involved in the crime of the kidnappings, but they were doing it for someone. A woman. The sound of a belt buckle being undone makes Hazel's cheeks warm, but before it could go further, presumably Thalia stops Luke.
"Not in 'ere, Luke! We still gotta get Valdez. God, that pipsqueak is so damn annoying. Can't wait to get to him."
"Remember that time he burned down our shack?"
"Yeah, well, we're gonna brand him and burn him like the ol' lady said. Jackson will never see it coming."
"Jackson's not a genius, but his girl is. I'm sure that's the lady that Dare wants to get rid of the most."
"Oh, I love it when you talk masochistic to me."
"Same here, baby. The lady said she'll finally give us the shmeck she took from us when the market crashed. Can't believed she crashed, though."
"Well, at least we'll have our chance to get it back. Anyway, north side, remember? That's where he went last."
"On it. Got your gun?"
"Always do."
Reyna and Hazel stare at each other with wide eyes, slack jaws, as Thalia and Luke slowly make their getaway. Swallowing swears that threaten to rise out of their throats, they wait a good minute before dashing off into the opposite way that Thalia and Luke went. Hazel's heart feels like it's about to explode from trying to keep up with Reyna, and when they finally make it, Reyna's face is no longer alarmed, but determined, grim and ready.
"We gotta get back to camp. Tell Frank, Percy...everybody."
"But Reyna, it's nearly midnight! We have to rest first-"
"By the time we tell them tomorrow morning, Valdez could be dead!" Reyna exclaims, "We have to tell them now, Hazel. That, or we're gonna have another body on our hands. And you heard those two, Annabeth is next. They're not getting to Annabeth, and you know it, as long as they know beforehand what is gonna happen. You in?"
Reyna offers her hand, and in the dimness and shadows, Hazel suddenly remembers the hand Piper had extended to her the night she had arrived in Hooverville. The day when life began to make sense again, and she had hope. Piper might be kicked out of Hooverville along with Jason. It was all Thalia, Luke, and whoever this old lady was, and it was their entire fault. She remembers the smile on Jason's face the night he had helped her, remembered the kiss her and Frank had shared. Her friends, finally, she could call them that, and they were in danger. And she could stop this. They could stop this. Avenge the beau of Silena Beauregard, and save Jason Grace's name. He helped her once. It was time to return the favor. She would not allow any of her friends to be hurt anymore. Taking it, she shakes it firmly, nodding grimly. It was finally time for Hazel Levesque to rise.
