For the past ten minutes, Jason had been staring at a vending machine. He wasn't registering any of the options, since his focus was on Reyna. They had left her behind, and it had been a mistake. Jason rubbed his temples and sighed deeply. Someone tapped his arm.
"Mister, are you going to get anything?" a child asked. Jason turned his head to look at the little girl. He shook his head and stepped to the side. The little girl smiled at him and walked up to the vending machine.
Jason watched her for a moment. Honestly, he was a little jealous. This little girl probably had the childhood he would never get. She probably had a mom and dad that loved her. She probably went to school everyday.
That was something Jason never had. He had been raised by literal wolves and sent to Camp Jupiter. There was no such thing as a childhood. The innocence one would have as a child was erased by Lupa, and it had to be that way. They had to be strong.
Jason looked away from the little girl. That last thing he needed was to look like a creep. A sigh escaped as he walked back to the hotel room. It was only seven in the morning, but he had been unable to sleep for the past three hours. As Jason made it to the door, it opened in front of him. He came face to face with Reyna.
"Morning," Jason said after a moment. Reyna looked much better than she had before. The color was back to her face, and all of the blood had been cleaned up. The bruise on her neck was still there, and it seemed like it would take a few days to heal. There was also bruising around her nose. She still looked much better than she had the night before.
Jason examined Reyna's face, and he found himself lost in Reyna's black eyes. Since they were in different cohorts, they didn't interact much, but that didn't stop Jason from having a crush on the daughter of Bellona. There was a million things that Jason wanted to know about Reyna. What was her life like before Camp Jupiter? How was it being the only child of Bellona? Did she feel the crushing weight of responsibility that Jason felt everyday of his life?
"Jason," Reyna said. Jason blinked back to reality. He realized that he had completely zoned out and missed the question that Reyna asked. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Jason replied. "What about you? You got beat up pretty badly yesterday."
"Considering I won't be drinking anymore poison, I'll live," Reyna answered. Jason nodded. Then, he realized that he was the one who would be drinking poison A shiver ran down his spine, and he swallowed painfully.
"How bad was it?" Jason questioned. He watched Reyna, and his palms started to sweat. There was something about the daughter of Bellona that made him nervous. He could face down any monster in the world, but when it came to a girl, he found himself locking up.
Jason didn't even know if Reyna liked guys. Whenever he had commented that Gwen was looking really gorgeous, Reyna agreed without a second thought. She had also been flirting with some of the girls at Camp Jupiter, but Jason didn't know if she realized that.
"It was as bad as one would imagine," Reyna replied with a shrug. She stepped to the side and allowed him into the room. Jason stepped inside and saw that Gwen was making coffee.
"What is our next step?" Jason questioned. He watched Reyna glance around the hallway and close the door. She leaned on the door and watched them. The room was silent for a few moments.
"Reyna, can you tell us what happened?" Gwen asked. Reyna nodded. She told them what had happened during her time with the cult. As Jason listened, he grew angrier and angrier, and when it came to the end of the story, he wanted to go find Anna and make her pay for putting her hands on his friend.
"I don't like how Ezekiel changed his mind," Gwen muttered. She finished the coffee and poured some for all three of them. "But, I think it is our best shot. I say that we go for it."
"Should I find Ezekiel and tell him that you decided to join?" Reyna questioned. Jason glanced at Gwen as she nodded. A bad feeling settled in his gut. It felt like a trap, but there was no way that the cult could know who they were.
Reyna walked out of the room. Jason sat on a bed and spoke, "Once we are in the cult, what are we going to do?"
"We need to find Ceres," Gwen replied. "I don't know from there. We will have to improvise, and that leaves a lot of room for error."
"What if they don't have her?" Jason asked. "This could just be a bait and switch. Someone leads a trail to the cult, and we follow it. Then, we can't stop them with whatever they do."
"That is a possibility," Gwen admitted. "Either way, the cult is dangerous. If Ceres is not there, we will send a message to the praetors asking what we should do? I feel that the cult must be destroyed either way."
Jason nodded and laid back on the bed. He glanced around the room. Their weapons and armor were under the bed and in duffel bags. No one would notice them, unless they were searching the room.
The son of Jupiter sighed deeply. He allowed himself to relax. Camp Jupiter didn't afford many opportunities to lay around. Centurions had it ten times worse. They had to keep track of everyone in their cohort. Centurions were the first ones awake and the last ones asleep. They also kept up training throughout their cohort.
After a few minutes of silence, the door opened. Jason looked up as Reyna was shoved into the room. A woman followed behind. She looked around and glared.
"You two are going to join us?" the woman demanded. From her looks and manner of speaking, she had to be Anna. "You don't look like much."
"You're the one who hurt Reyna," Jason said as he stood. He didn't have to act like he was angry. Anna looked at him and smiled. A man walked in behind her, and Jason knew it was Ezekiel.
"Peace," Ezekiel said holding his hand up. "What you must understand is that you two are about to join our brotherhood. We will all become a family, and we will forge you two on a path of new life."
"If we don't, you kill us," Gwen said standing. "That's a nice opening to a new life. How do we know we can trust you?"
"We haven't kill you yet, have we?" Anna questioned. "You're little sister is alive and mostly well."
"It is fair that they have questions and doubts," Ezekiel said, as he held up a hand. "Mortals have a hard time understanding our views. If you two pass our initiation, we will explain everything about us. And, you two have no reason to trust us, but we must all take chances in our lives."
Gwen looked at Jason, and it seemed like she was hesitating. Jason thought it was because of the fact that they needed to drink poison, which he didn't blame her for. Then, he realized that Gwen was considering taking the cult members out then and there. While it was a good idea, they still didn't know where the cult's base was, so they couldn't chance it.
After a few seconds, Gwen seemed to realize that. She gave Ezekiel a slight nod and spoke, "Will you give us a safe place to stay?"
"Of course," Ezekiel replied. "We have a compound that we meet at weekly. You three can stay there, and we can help you three finds jobs and education. Once you join us, you become apart of our family."
"We'll join," Gwen said. Ezekiel smiled at them and reached into his pocket. He pulled his hand out of his pocket, and in his palm, he held four different vials. Anna grabbed the small cups they had used for coffee. She poured the coffee out and filled it up with some water. Ezekiel added the liquid from the two vials to one cup and the other two vials to the other cup.
Jason swallowed painfully. This was something that he was not looking forward to. The entire thought of drinking poison was not okay. It freaked him out. He took a deep breath.
"If you survive, you join," Ezekiel said. He handed Gwen a cup. It took a moment for Gwen to grab it, bur she drank the cup without hesitation. She immediately fell to her hands and knees coughing. Jason rushed forward, but Ezekiel grabbed his arm. "Your turn."
Jason slowly looked at the cup. He finally grabbed it and took a deep breath. Jason drank the cup in one gulp. Fire burned in the back of his throat, and it slowly spread throughout his body. He stumbled to the side, and the world disappeared into darkness.