Chapter 7 - Jason's Mom Doesn't Deserve a Mother's Day Gift

Jason looked at her with shock. His Mist disguise dissipated immediately. Now he was just Jason, sitting on the bench, sword at his feet.

"Mom?" He asked, his voice sounded fractured. I gasped. I had never met Thalia and Jason's mom, but Thalia had mentioned a couple stories. I knew she wasn't a healthy influence, and that was something that generally didn't improve post-death. People tend to stay the way they are in life - the good and the bad. So I didn't think she was here to help Jason along his way.

"Yes, dearest." The ghostly woman replied. "Come embrace me."

"You're… you're not real." Jason stammered, but he looked panicked.

"Of course she's real." The Roman ghost, Varus, said coldly. "Did you think Gaea would let such an important spirit languish in the Underworld? She's your mother, Beryl Grace, star of television, sweetheart to the King of Olympus, who rejected her not once but twice, in both his Greek and Roman aspects. She deserves justice as much as any of us."

The suitors crowded around Jason, looking like this was going to be a fun game. I had to climb a nearby table to still keep my eyes on him.

"Jason!" Piper called out. "Look at me!" Jason obeyed. I loved charmspeak. "That is NOT your mother." Piper insisted. "Her voice… her voice is working some kind of magic on you, like charmspeak, but more dangerous. Can't you sense it?"

"She's right!" I called out. Hey, our cover was blown at this point, no need to hide. Now if only Hazel's magic would disappear so I'd be back in comfortable clothes for the coming fight.

I kicked away a platter of various cheeses and meats. Several of the nearby ghosts fled from me, which made me feel good. "Jason, that's only a remnant of your mother, like an aura, maybe, or -"

"A remnant!" Jason's mom cried out. She began to sob. "Yes! Look what I've been reduced to! It's Jupiter's fault! He abandoned us! He wouldn't help me! I didn't want to leave you in Sonoma, my dear, but Juno and Jupiter gave me no choice!"

I sucked in a gasp. Jason's mom had abandoned him? I knew it was quite possible that Jupiter and Juno had commanded her to, but it also didn't sound like she fought for him.

"They wouldn't allow us to stay together. Why fight for them now? Join these suitors. Lead them. We can be a family again."

Everyone was watching Jason. I wasn't sure what I would do if he said yes. If he agreed to go with these suitors, well, our task was doomed. He would know everything about the Argo II, everything about our crew and how to stop us.

"You left me." Jason said slowly, clearly trying to work out what all this meant. "That wasn't Jupiter or Juno - that was you."

Jason's mom stepped towards him. I readied my knife and sword, prepared to fight the moment it broke out.

"Dearest, I told you I would come back. Those were my last words to you. Don't you remember?"

Jason shivered, clearly remembering his past and all the hurt that came with it. He looked troubled, like his whole world was rocked.

Antinous raised his goblet in a mocking toast to Jason. "So pleased to meet you, Son of Jupiter. Listen to your mother. You have many grievances against the gods. Why not join us? I gather these two serving wenches are your friends? We will spare them. You wish to have your mother remain in the world? We can do that. You wish to be a king?"

"NO." Jason said firmly and my heart lifted. "No. I don't belong with you."

The Roman ghost snarled at Jason. "Are you so sure, my fellow Praetor? Even if you defeat the Giants and Gaea, would you return home like Odysseus did? Where is your home now? With the Greeks? With the Romans? No one will accept you. And if you get back, who's to say you won't find ruins like this?"

Jason looked around, as if seeing the ruins for the first time.

"You were a Legion officer." The Roman ghost continued. "I was a Legion officer. A leader of Rome. Now, loyalties change."

"You think I belong with this crowd?" Jason asked pointedly. "A bunch of dead losers waiting for a free handout from Gaea, whining that the world owes them something?"

The ghostly crowd started to rise, looking like they were ready to attack Jason just due to the insult. We were standing on a powder keg, ready to blow at any moment.

"Beware! Every man in this palace is your enemy! Each one will stab you in the back at first chance!" Piper called out, using her charmspeak. Every ghost in the crowd looked sideways at their neighbors, clearly ready to stab them before they got stabbed. Good. We were back to possibly instigating an attack amongst the ghosts, so that we could escape.

"Dearest, be sensible." Jason's mom was saying to him, pleading with him. "Give up your quest. The Argo II can never make the trip to Athens. Even if it did, there's the matter of the Athena Parthenos."

A jolt of electricity zapped through me. What was this about that statue?

"What do you mean?" Jason asked, clearly getting scared.

"Don't feign ignorance, my dearest. Gaea knows about your friend Reyna, and Nico, the son of Hades, and the satyr, Hedge. To kill them, the Earth Mother has sent her most dangerous son, the Hunter who never rests. But you don't have to die."

The ghosts moved closer to Jason. We were in serious trouble. It was three against roughly two-hundred, and Jason looked too shaken to fight. Could Piper and I even each take a hundred ghosts by ourselves? Could they even be killed? Jason had said not easily. I wished I had asked him if there was a trick to it. I wasn't sure who this hunter was that Jason's mom mentioned, but I had some ideas. I'd need to warn Reyna and Nico before he found them, no matter which monster it ended up being.

Jason turned and met Piper and I's eyes for a moment. Then he turned back to his mom. The ghostly woman reached out her arms to Jason, trying to pull him into a hug.

"What do you want?" Jason demanded. "What brought you here?"

"I want life! Youth! Beauty! Your father could've made me immortal! He could've taken me to Olympus! But he abandoned me. You can set things right, Jason. You are my proud warrior."

I winced in sympathy. Jason's mother hadn't mentioned any of the things she wanted to do with HIM - only how he could help her.

"You're… you're a mania. A spirit of insanity. That's what you've been reduced to."

I realized that Jason was right and my heart went out to him and Thalia. Neither of my parents were the greatest, but this was some next-level bad parenting here.

"I am all that remains!" The ghostly woman agreed. "Embrace me, son! I am all you have left." She was wrong about that. Jason had Thalia and the crew of the Argo II. He had friends at both camps.

I saw Jason sit taller, a wave of calm seeming to wash over him.

"No." Jason managed. Then he looked back to Piper and I again. "My loyalties haven't changed. My family has just expanded. I'm a child of Greece and Rome."

I smiled at Jason with pride.

"I am no child of yours." He said bitterly to his mother. He made the ancient sign against evil against his mother and she dissipated.

Antinous threw his goblet to the ground then glared at Jason. "Well then. I suppose we'll just kill you."

It was stabbing time.