LEGACIES

Chapter 1: Jason

Jason stared out the window as the fields and trees rolled by. They'd already left the comfort of home and the bustle of civilization that felt so familiar to Jason. He knew that he should probably be scared. He knew that all of their lives were in peril. He also knew that life would never be the same for him or his sisters. He wasn't sure exactly how he knew, he just did. He also couldn't help but miss the life that he was so quickly leaving behind.

"Dad," he said. It was so silent that his voice seemed to echo off the car walls. "You still haven't told us where we're going."

It remained silent for a while until his dad decided to answer. "Somewhere safe." He said. "We go there every summer. Hopefully-." He looked like he wanted to say more, but stopped himself short.

The car remained silent for another few minutes until Jason decided to ask more. He was frustrated that after hours of sitting in this car, he was still no closer to knowing what was going on. It was clear to him that his parents weren't going to answer any of his questions directly, so he leaned over to his sixteen year old sister Lily. He tapped her arm and she looked up from her ancient Greek book on different types of weapons and battle techniques.

"What?" she asked. She was clearly just as annoyed as he was with the lack of information they were receiving.

"Do you know what's going on?" He questioned hopefully.

"No," she hesitated, then said in a voice loud enough that Mom and Dad would hear, "They won't tell me a thing," And glared pointedly at them. And even though she had Dad's less threatening sea green eyes, her glare was just as threatening as their Mom, Annabeth's. She also looked a lot like Mom in other respects as well. She had her blonde curly hair and calm, determined composure. Her hair fell loose around her shoulders and she wore a simple purple Camp Jupiter T-shirt with light blue denim jeans and sneakers. When she smiled, her whole face lit up, showing her softer side. She could be calm, calculating, and dangerous when she needed to, but for the most part she was a strong leader like their dad Percy with a kind heart. She was also a great sister to Jason, always looking out for him. Unlike Brooke, her younger fourteen year old sister, who Jason turned to next for information.

Brooke was almost like the inverse of her sister. She had Dad's windswept black hair and constantly smelled of the ocean. She was sarcastic and could be funny when she wanted to, but her mood could change as quickly as the tide of the sea. Despite all of that, she had her Mom's fierce gray eyes and always kept herself guarded. She wore her hair in a loose braid down her back and had on a navy blue tank top with ripped bleached jeans and combat boots that used to belong to Aunt Thalia, Dad's cousin.

Jason opened his mouth to speak to her but she glared at him and he quickly turned away. He sighed in frustration and tried to turn his thoughts elsewhere, though there wasn't much else to think about. He was twelve years old and was nothing like his sisters. He looked mostly like his mom; he had her same gray eyes and blonde hair. But pretty much everything else about him was like his Dad. He had the same easygoing, slightly sarcastic, less intense attitude his dad exhibited when he wasn't angry or stressed. He had ADHD and could never focus on anything for too long. He wasn't intimidating like Brooke or friendly and leader-like like Lily. He was just like a sad mix between their most mediocre traits. At least, that's what it felt like to Jason. He felt like he'd never amount to his sisters and especially not his parents. He didn't even have powers like Brooke and Lily. Brooke had Dad's control over water and Lily had Mom's intelligence. His Dad kept telling Jason that there was still hope of his exhibiting some abilities. He was only twelve. But Brooke had started showing her powers at age eight and Lily had always had a superior intelligence.

Jason couldn't take it anymore. Being still for this long was driving him crazy. He had so much pent up energy and his questions were about ready to boil over. He looked up at his parents pleadingly and caught his Mom's eye. Her expression turned from worry to understanding as she saw that Jason was about to burst. She put her hand on Dad's shoulder gently but when Jason looked at their expressions he saw that they were having a silent battle of wills. Of course, Mom won and Dad sighed in agitation. Seeing that Dad was about to start explaining what was happening, Lily and Brooke looked up from their respective activities. All of them had been anticipating an explanation after Camp Jupiter had been attacked and they had fled. Finally, they would get one.

See, they were Legacies, the children of Greek demigods. Their parents were Percy (the son of Poseidon) and Annabeth (the daughter of Athena). Jason, Brooke, and Lily had lived at Camp Jupiter (the Roman camp for demigods in California) for all of their lives. They would go to New York in the summers and stay at Camp Half Blood, but for the most part they lived at Camp Jupiter. It was a shock when the camp had been attacked, but usually attacks could be defended against. But not this one. Even the experts at Camp had no idea what had attacked. It was unlike anything they'd ever seen. Mom and Dad had known that this force could not be defeated easily. They would have stayed and fought, as would Brooke and Lily, if not for Jason. The strange thing about the whole situation, however, was not only that Mom and Dad had decided to run so quickly, but that they seemed to know more about it than they were saying. That's the explanation that Jason, Brooke, and Lily had been waiting for.

Unfortunately, before their Dad could start speaking, the roof of the car caved in with a heavy CRASH! Dad veered the car to the side of the road. "Everybody out! Now!" He yelled and everyone obeyed without question. Dad pulled out Riptide and Mom drew her drakon bone knife. Lily and Brooke hefted their own weapons that were previously concealed in their outfits. And Jason, well, didn't have a weapon. But he put up both his fists in defense and tried to appear confident.

The monster they faced wasn't like anything any of them had ever encountered. It had a switchblade for a head and the rest of it looked like a mortal attending a costume party like an ancient Egyptian civilian.

Both Mom and Dad stood in confusion for a second, but Dad quickly shrugged it off and lunged for the monster while Mom crept to the side to make a surprise attack while the creature held Dad's attention. They worked in harmony and knew exactly what the other was going to do. It was amazing to watch. Which was, sadly, all that Jason felt he was useful for in this situation. While Brooke and Lily ran in to help Mom and Dad, Jason tried his best to avoid the fighting and stay out of the way. He felt like a spare part that was, if anything, just a nuisance.

He ran to the car to take cover, but soon found the car a pile of ashes in front of him. The demon creature had turned the car to ashes. He looked in awe at the creature, but soon found that it had also disintegrated.

After a moment of hushed silence, Dad stomped his foot, looked up at the sky and yelled, "Why?!" Mom had a calculating look on her face that softened at seeing Dad's distress. She took him but the shoulders and led him over toward where Brooke and Lily were standing. Jason sprinted over to join the conversation.

"We need a way to get to New York." Mom said. Lily looked like she was about to speak but Mom held up a hand. "All of your questions will be answered in New York. For now, we need to contact Chiron. Percy, can you communicate with Blackjack over an iris message?"

He nodded. "I think so. I'll make the calls while you go see if anything is left under that mountain of car dust." Mom nodded and they separated to complete their tasks. Meanwhile, Lily looked about ready to murder Mom but she instead went over to the curb of the road an sat down with her arms crossed. Brooke pulled out her phone, which she had obviously guarded with her life during the fight, and leaned against a nearby tree while scrolling through her Instagram feed.

Jason was still as confused as ever, but was also exhausted and sat down next to Lily. After a while, Mom walked over a declared that the car and everything in it was officially dust. So she sat down next to Jason and tried to make conversation.

"How you feeling, J.J.?" She asked.

"Mom!" Jason said in a half-hearted attempt to display his embarrassment at being called J.J. "It's Jason. You're the only one who calls me J.J."

"Sorry" she said lightly and smiled teasingly at him. "But seriously," her tone turned somber, "How are you doing? I know the last few days must've been hard on you."

Jason shrugged. "Oh, you know. My whole world has been turned inside out, but other than that I'm doing okay." He smiled at her playfully and she smiled back. Before either of them could say more, Dad returned from his calls.

"Good news and bad news," he said, "The good news is that Blackjack and a few of his buddies are flying over to pick us up. The bad news is that a lot of people from Camp Jupiter had the same idea as us, and Camp Half-Blood is overrun with people. So we're going to have to stay at Grandma's apartment until we can figure out the best course of action. So for now, we wait. Blackjack should be here in a few hours, so maybe try to get some rest."

After hearing those words, Jason realized just how tired he was. So with that, he made a pillow out of his Mom's lap and closed his eyes for some much needed sleep.