Jason
Jason knew he shouldn't have expected a break.
How could he? The gods were having personality problems, Percy and Annabeth were in Tartarus fighting for their lives, Gaea was waking, the giants were rising, the world would be destroyed in a month, the ship had been attacked by kobaloi, and they'd cursed him with a terrible fear of losing Piper to Gaea. It was hard to believe anything else could go wrong.
Scratch that, Jason thought. It wasn't hard to believe at all.
Every second he looked at Piper, Jason wanted to scream. He couldn't see her; instead, he saw the burnt, bleeding, dead image of her, breathing her last broken cry for him. Every minute he saw her, her lips seemed to say, How could you have let this happen? I thought you cared about me.
And every time he heard that, Jason wanted to die. Yes! he wanted to scream. Yes, I do care about you!
"Hey, Jason." Jason looked up, hoping it wouldn't be Piper. He couldn't stand to see the horrible picture of her he saw every time he looked at her.
Instead, it was Hazel. Her golden eyes analyzed him uncertainly, as if she was nervous to be with a sixteen year old, being only thirteen herself.
"Oh, uh, hey, Hazel. Come in."
Hazel stepped in. She was wearing a white skirt and a white shirt, covered by a buttoned up denim jacket. Very old timey schoolgirl-ish, Jason thought.
"Hey, um," she sniffled, "I just want to talk to you, about, you know, what happened."
Jason understood immediately. Percy was like her big brother, and he knew she had grown to like Annabeth. Losing them must've been awful for her.
"Look, what happened happened. It's not your fault. We will get them back." Jason tried to sound encouraging, like a leader, but he sounded pathetic, even to himself.
Hazel sniffled. "Yeah, you're right. We will. But… I'm worried about Leo. He's been crushing himself ever since it happened, and," Hazel's voice broke, "I can't let him do that. You have to help me convince Leo that it wasn't his fault."
"Oh, yeah, of course! But why does Leo think it's his fault? I mean, I've heard stuff about a fortune cookie, but…"
Hazel wiped her eyes with her sleeve. "Well, you remember when he and I went to find Celestial bronze for the ship? Well, on the way, we met Nemesis, and she gave him a fortune cookie. She said that it would give him an answer when he needed it, but it would come with a price much worse than an eye." Hazel began to choke up, but regained some of her composure. "So, when Frank and I were shocked by those eidolons, and we were unconscious, he saved us by activating the spheres, but he needed a pass code, so he had to break open the cookie to get it. And now he thinks that because he broke the cookie, Percy and Annabeth were the price." With that, she broke into tears.
Jason had trouble following all that, but he got the overall message. "Oh. I get it. I can't believe out of all the people, Leo thinks it's his fault. Hazel, I promise, we'll help Leo. And we will get Percy and Annabeth back, no matter what happens."
Hazel only nodded.
Her silence made Jason uneasy. Didn't she trust him? He knew that Annabeth didn't really trust him, hard as he tried to make her. This entire journey, he had been leaning on Percy to help him lead, because he couldn't imagine having to shoulder that weight by himself. When he thought about it, he didn't even want to be leader, but there was nobody else who would do it. Piper and Hazel wouldn't want to, Leo would be busy with the ship and the spheres, and Frank… well, Frank was more of a shy person. Jason didn't think he'd be up to the challenge.
So that left him.
"Well, I'll be leaving then. I'm gonna check up on Frank, you know, see how he's doing." Hazel said.
Jason nodded. "See you at dinner."
Hazel acknowledged him and left.
Maybe I should check on Piper, and see how she is, Jason thought. Maybe that'll help me clear my thoughts.
He walked over to Piper's cabin, and found her sitting on her bed, thinking. As hard as he tried, he couldn't help seeing the awful image of her. Her beautiful features and rosy cheeks were whisked into a mess of ash. Her luscious chocolate brown hair was blackened, eagle feather nothing but a stem in her hair, skin torn and bleeding.
Jason froze.
"Jason? What's wrong?" The dead image was speaking now, tears streaming out of its eyes, but speaking like regular Piper. "What happened?"
Jason could barely force the words out. "Uh, I, I just…" Jason stumbled through the words. "Um, it's time for lunch."
He turned and promptly bumped into the door frame, gathered himself, and left.
