A New Nightmare

The story continues, now with Piper's weekend and what that looks like, particularly the conversation she wants to have with her dad.

Disclaimer: I don't own PJO

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"Well," Billy said simply. "This makes things interesting."

Piper couldn't help but swallow. Interesting was not the way she would've worded it. She'd just come tearing through the school to escape whatever monster that owl was, after overreacting and freaking Shel out after the girl had asked her if she was available to date based on the assumption she was a lesbian because of her haircut, and now, right after all that, here was Shel, sitting next to Billy, because they all had First Period Geometry together.

The awkwardness just went from a seven to a solid twelve.

"You have class in here too?" Shel asked, her voice level.

"Yeah," Piper answered. "Hey, I'm sorry about earlier. I overreacted. You just surprised me is all."

Visible relief crossed Shel's face. "Oh, good."

"But she's not available," Billy informed. "She has decided to cut herself off from the world of dating."

Piper blinked. The way Billy spoke implied Shel had told him what had happened, but why would Shel have told Billy, someone who was a complete stranger, about their encounter barely two minutes ago? Actually, more than that, why were Shel and Billy sitting that close to each other? Billy had been less than thrilled when Piper sat next to him her first day because that had screwed up his routine, but he had warmed up to her soon enough. Shel had only been sitting next him for what couldn't have been any longer than sixty seconds, and the classroom was completely empty sans Billy, and since this was her first day in this school, there's no way she'd know which seats were available and taken.

Unless she'd asked Billy beforehand, but Billy was more likely to lie and say his table was occupied so he didn't have to talk to another new person.

Piper asked, "Do you two know each other?"

"We went to the same church back in Texas," Billy answered.

For the second time within three minutes, Piper's brain short-circuited and she couldn't form thoughts. "Uh…"

"Yes, yes," Shel sighed. "Christian lesbian. Ironic, I know."

"And a sin," Billy offered.

"We are not having this debate again."

Billy shrugged. "That's because you know I'll kick your ass."

Shel flipped him off.

"That's also a sin."

Shel proceeded to flip him off with her other hand as well. "Like I give a shit."

It seemed like a heated exchange, but they were both smiling.

"Uh, well, I'm glad you know someone else here, Shel," Piper said.

"Yeah, and of all the people in the whole wide world, it had to be this asshole."

Billy's grin got a lot bigger. "I wouldn't call you God's gift to mankind either, Shelby."

"Whatever, William."

Watching them go back and forth made Piper's heart ache just a bit, because Billy and Shel reminded her of Leo and herself. The crass, sibling-like banter. Piper hoped Leo had made it back to Indianapolis safely. She didn't know if what she'd do if she found out Leo had been intercepted by the emperors, and either killed or captured.

Piper decided standing in the doorframe looked weird, so went and took her seat on the other side of Billy, putting him between the girls.

Shel smiled at Piper. "Sorry for assuming your sexuality based on your haircut."

Billy snorted. "Don't be. Funniest shit I've heard all week."

"It's okay," Piper said. "I'm sorry I screamed at you like that. It's just…ah…"

"She's still getting over her ex-boyfriend," Billy helpfully chimed in. "He died during a surfing accident, and now she has that scar on her lip to remind her of him every time she looks in the mirror. She's also been having these really bad nightmares about-"

"Billy!" Piper shouted.

Billy shrugged. "She's bound to find out eventually. Might as well fill her in on all the details now."

Piper's mouth set in a thin line. She'd already told Shel about her mommy and daddy issues, and she'd been about to tell her about Jason on the bus earlier. Seeing as she and Shel were apparently going to be bus buddies on top of classmates, it did make sense to go ahead and tell Shel about Jason. It would even make potentially dating a lot easier, because then Shel would have context on why Piper didn't want to date right now.

"Alright, fine," Piper conceded. She looked at Shel. "My boyfriend died about a month ago. We were doing some nighttime surfing, and he fell off his board and got stuck under water. The waves pounded him against a rock just right, and he was impaled. I was lucky enough just to get my lip busted. I got us out of the water before sharks could arrive, but…yeah. He died, and I've been having nightmares about it. I don't want to date anyone right now."

"God damn," Shel breathed. "I…oh, my God…wow. And I really…"

"Hey, relax," Piper cut her off. "You didn't know. There's literally no way you could've known. So it's okay."

"Yeah, but…damn." Shel was visibly rattled by that story, and the sad part was that wasn't even the truth.

Piper was lying to them both, but the truth, that Jason had been murdered while fighting Emperor Caligula, back from the dead as a god, couldn't be said. Not to them. Not right now, anyway. Maybe not ever. Did Piper feel bad for lying to them about her life? Yes, but it was necessary lie.

"Alright, yeah," Shel said. "No moves. But I'm here for you if you want to talk. I can be your friend that's a girl without being your girlfriend."

Billy hummed in thought. "A girl can call her friend that's a girl her girlfriend without it being gay, but a boy can't call his friend that's a boy his boyfriend without it being mega gay."

"That is true," Shel nodded.

Piper could likewise not find any argument to that observation.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Piper had to wonder if Aphrodite or some other god wasn't moving pieces around in her life right now. It was almost too perfect.

Here Piper was, questioning which way she really did swing after she came to grips with the fact that she fell out of love with Jason, finding her attention drawn more towards girls than boys, and now here was Shel, a lesbian that made it very clear that she was interested in Piper and wanted to date her, but had enough decency to recognize that Piper was trying to sort things out and wouldn't appreciate being pushed, and so respectfully kept her romantic distance.

On top of that, Shel also knew Billy from their past lives together in Texas. What were the odds of that, honestly? That Shel wouldn't just be from Texas, but also went to the same church that Billy went to, and they both ended up here in Tahlequah with Piper? Annabeth could probably calculate the exact numbers, but Piper couldn't. She just assigned the adjective astronomical and called it a day.

It was almost like getting the gang back together, which brought feelings of reservation to Piper.

The gang.

Her gang, her trio.

Herself, Leo, and Jason.

Piper was obviously still Piper, Billy fit the role of Leo more than Jason, so that made Shel Jason by default, and that was not a good thing for a lot of obvious reasons.

Piper couldn't look at it like that. Not to say that part of her life was over, but in a way, it was. Jason was…presumably dead…and Leo was beginning a new life in Indianapolis with Calypso and his new family at the Waystation. They were still best friends, but the inevitability of life was now coming into their lives. This was the part of life where things changed, where things happened and you couldn't be with the same people like you did before.

Piper had already gotten a taste of that with the Seven. They fought their way through the Giant War together, seeing each other bleed, saving each other's lives, and up until December, they got together for a monthly meeting of friends. Sans Leo. Even then, though, life was gently pulling them apart.

Percy and Annabeth were in Manhattan, Piper and Jason were in LA, and Frank and Hazel were up in Berkeley.

It was unrealistic to think they'd spend their every waking moment together, going to the same school together, living in this big house, going to the same college, getting jobs in the local area, but it was a nice thought, that they'd all remain tight after going through the Giant War, but it just wasn't so. And now, like Leo, Piper was starting her own new life.

Billy was Billy.

Shel was Shel.

And Piper was figuring out who Piper was.

Now she might just have the perfect person to help with that, at least in one regard. They only had geometry together in the morning, but they rode the bus and had each other's email through the school laptops. Shel had wanted to get Piper's phone number, and Piper had to embarrassingly explain she didn't have a phone, giving the lie that she and her dad couldn't afford one.

Shel was gay. Piper honestly didn't know if she was gay and just hadn't fully realized it and come to terms with it, or if her hormones were just getting the better of her. Piper wanted Shel's help with that. She wanted her advice and insight. Since she had no one else to talk to, and Shel apparently had tons of experience in the sexuality department, that made her the perfect person for Piper to talk to about these things.

However, it was Friday, tomorrow was Saturday, and that was the day Piper wanted to sit down and talk with Dad about work. Tell him about the nightmares, how alone she was feeling, and that she needed him more in her life than just twelve hours between Saturday and Sunday.

One thing at a time.

Fifth Period came along, and Piper almost forgot to ask Billy something. She wanted to ask him if he could start giving her a ride home, but then she remembered Shel rode the bus, and going home with Billy would deprive her and Shel of their brief time together.

"Yes?" Bill prompted, sensing that Piper wanted to ask him something.

"Uh…never mind."

Bill cocked an eyebrow and stared at her until she caved.

"Alright, fine. I wanted to ask if you could give me a ride home, but if you can, then Shel will miss me."

"You two literally met today."

"I mean, she'll miss me on the bus. Not that she'll miss me in the sense that she'll feel sad by being deprived of my presence."

"I don't think anyone would feel sad by being deprived of your presence. In fact, some of the happiest moments of my life are when you're not around."

Piper gave him the finger, and he gave her the finger back.

"Sure, I'll take you home."

Piper blinked. "Just like that?"

"Yeah." Billy produced his phone and started tapping on the screen. "Just like that. Where do you live?"

Piper gave him her address.

"I have no idea where that is."

"Oh, you just go down-"

Billy raised his hand and stopped Piper from continuing. "Behold. The power of Google Maps." He typed the address in and then he blinked. "Wow. This whole time, we've been living three miles apart from each other."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah."

Billy showed her his phone, showing the map from the high school, to Piper's house, to his house, and sure enough, the line from her house to his was denoted as being 3.2 miles apart. It was at that moment that Billy's phone received a text, and Piper saw the ID listed as "Shel from church."

The text said, "Great! See you there!"

"What's that about?" Piper asked as Billy took his phone back to look at the message.

"I asked Shel if she'd like a ride home, too. She said yes."

"O-Oh," Piper felt her face heat up. "Thanks."

"You're welcome."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The girls were in the backseat and Billy was obviously driving.

"Ah, Friday," Shel sighed in contentment. "Finally, the weekend."

Piper smiled. The weekend for her meant a hard talk with her dad. She was nervous about it, of course, and even right now, she was nervous. She got the ride home that she had wanted from Billy, and she was even spending more time with Shel which meant more time to deepen their friendship and talk about some things, but here she was, with Shel and Billy.

It still made Piper nervous hanging around them for prolonged periods of time. She didn't want her scent to rub off on them, or something like that. It was ironic and she knew it. She wanted to ride home with Billy to avoid the bus, and she wanted to spend more time with Shel to maybe get some advice and insight from her, and spend time with both of them as they were her friends, yet she didn't want to spend so much time with them that she put them in danger.

Piper racked her brain, trying to recall any conversation she'd had with Annabeth about demigod scents lingering on humans.

Annabeth had told her the story about Percy's first stepfather, Gabe Ugliano, affectionately referred to as Smelly Gabe, an appropriate title in multiple ways. He had been the embodiment of every repulsive human quality, creating a metaphysical odor so powerful that it had masked Percy's demigod scent for years on end. Even after Percy's first quest and he became aware, Annabeth reported that Grover had still been smelling Gabe on Percy for another year.

From what Percy had told Annabeth, and what Annabeth had told Piper, Gabe was greedy, able to smell money like a bloodhound, he could drink like a fish and smoke like a fire, was generally rude and couldn't ever keep a job because he stopped showing up, and treated Sally like an object. Gabe had even started hitting Sally at some point.

Percy didn't know if Gabe had always been beating her and they just did a good job at hiding it, or if he had only started hitting her his first summer at Camp Half-Blood after Sally had been rescued from the Underworld, but the bottom line was that Gabe had physically abused Sally.

And…perhaps…other things had happened.

Percy was a little boy during his tenure as Gabe's legal stepson. Not to say that Percy dumb or stupid, but he was a child. Annabeth had confessed to Piper her speculations that Gabe may very well have not just been physically abusing Sally, but sexually as well, and that he had also been hitting Percy. The reason Percy insisted that Gabe had never hit him was because his mind had locked the memories away to spare him the trauma in that way that minds did.

Piper didn't like thinking about that, though. She had never actually met Sally, but Percy described her as the greatest woman ever. Piper didn't know what she'd do if she found out for sure that Gabe had been raping and beating her. She didn't know what she'd do if she found out Gabe had also been beating Percy.

He was a great friend that had been through so much already. Knowing that he'd also been through an abusive childhood…Piper didn't know.

She might just march down to the Underworld and demand Hades give her some personal time with Gabe's soul so she could enact her own justice for her friend.

Anyway, the direction Piper was heading with this stream of consciousness was that Gabe possessed certain qualities in such quantity that he masked Percy's demigod scent with his own human stink. Piper went to a public high school. Not that she was saying she was surrounded by a bunch of rude, greedy alcoholics that beat their boyfriends and girlfriends, but she could certainly say she was not surrounded by the shining examples of humanity.

Piper couldn't be sure, but she liked to theorize that maybe there was enough human in the high school that her demigod scent was masked like Percy's had been, and she didn't have to worry about any monsters coming after her and her new friends.

But like she said, she couldn't be sure.

And that damn owl. Just what was that thing?

"Yep," Billy chirped, making Piper flinch a little. She'd gotten so deep in thought in the span of 1.2 seconds she forgot where she was. "The weekend. The two days before you go back to school for the next five days."

"Yeah, but it's a great two days," Shel said. "Two days of doing absolutely nothing besides relaxing."

"Doing nothing? Why do nothing when you can make money?"

"Not all of us are naturally gifted with the stock market, Billy."

"There's no gift to it. Buy 'em red, sell 'em green. They've got charts, so just determine the pattern. Not hard."

Shel stuck her tongue out at Billy.

"No thanks. I prefer toilet paper."

Shel pulled her tongue back and wrinkled her nose. "Yeah, I've walked behind you, and I doubt that."

"And I can't help but wonder just where you really shit out of considering how atrocious your breath smells."

"Your breath isn't any better. What do yo brush your teeth with? Essence of Ass?"

"Crest Pro-Health with Enamel Protection."

Piper could tell that Shel was caught flatfooted with that short response, but she quickly recovered and delivered her retort.

Piper could only sit there, her eyes going back and forth between Billy and Shel as they bantered as if she were watching a tennis match. She was a little jealous, if she was being honest, bearing witness to how close Billy and Shel were with each other to being making fun of their nastier bodily functions. Even she and Leo had never been so close as to Leo making fun of her butthole.

Well, there was that time back at the Wilderness School during Astronomy class that Leo started making Uranus jokes, but Piper made him stop by smacking him with a clipboard.

Other than that, Piper and Leo never joked about their bodies in the way that Shel and Billy were doing.

Piper thought it was…kind of nice. Slightly refreshing, even. Some normal teenage interaction.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Before Piper knew it, Billy had brought her home.

"Wow," Billy said. "Nice place."

It really was. The McLean house was comfortably sized, with two bedrooms, one bathroom, a kitchen, and a living room, with an awning for vehicles, though only one ever took up residence, and it was currently at Walmart right now. There was a large tree in the backyard, and surrounding the property was a simple barbed wire fence with a locked gate in front of the gravel driveway. The grass was naturally healthy, and would be mowed on Sunday by Tristan when he eventually got up.

Shel nodded. "Sweet and simple. And lots of room for a barbeque."

Piper's ears reddened slightly. "Uh, I'm a vegetarian."

Shel blinked. "Oh."

"Yes, her bloodline will die with her."

"Thanks, Billy," Piper said flatly.

"You're welcome."

Piper got out of the car and took two steps towards the gate when she stopped. A very wild thought crossed her mind. She turned back around. "Uh…you guys wanna come inside, and…I don't know…hang out? I've got juice, cokes, snacks, leftovers, TV, movies, streaming services, some videogames-"

"Dibs on the beer," Billy said.

Shel's eyes lit up. "You have beer?"

Piper stared at Billy with a flat expression. He knew she had beer because she had told him she drank too much of it and wet her bed the night before last. "I have wine coolers," she stressed, "and just two of them."

"Then I can have one," Billy said, "and you two can share the other."

Then some common courtesy popped into Shel's mind. "Your dad won't mind, will he? Us being over here?"

Piper shook her head. "Nah. He won't be home till after midnight, anyway."

"Right, three jobs."

"Yeah."

"Lemme talk to my mom real fast to make sure it's okay with her."

Shel got out her phone, and Billy shrugged, getting his phone out as well. They typed their messages, and got replies a scant few seconds later.

"Mom says it's alright as long as I'm home by ten," Shel replied.

"Same," Billy said.

Piper nodded. It was settled. She would have some actual company this evening. She unlocked the gate and pushed it open, and Billy drove up under the awning.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was honestly the greatest night Piper had in literal months. The closest second was back in March, when she and Dad had camped out on the terrace, but even that had been burdened by everything going on. This night, however, spending it with Billy and Shel, just the three of them, made Piper forget everything for a little while.

She forgot that Apollo was on a quest to fight evil emperors. She forgot that New Rome had been under assault. She forgot about Jason and how he seemingly haunted her dreams. She forgot the stress she was under. She forgot how alone she felt in the absence of her dad.

Piper forgot about all her woes for a few hours, and it was awesome.

She showed her friends around her house, helping them get familiar with where things were at, displayed the living room entertainment center that consisted of speakers mounted on stacks of books, a 36-inch TV with a Roku stick, and a few shelves filled with movies arranged in alphabetical order.

The first thing they did was binge-watch most of The Last Airbender's third season. Most as in they jumped somewhere in the middle-ish. Piper that learned that Shel didn't like the sequel series based on Korra, citing that Korra was an unworthy and insulting successor to Aang, and that her final relationship was with Asami was stupid, because the two had zero chemistry, no build up or hint of romantic feelings for each other anywhere in the show, and then wasn't even explicitly stated in the show; the directors just confirmed it after the show was over in an interview. Or a Tweet.

Shel couldn't remember accurately, and she didn't care enough to look it up on her phone.

Billy didn't care one way or the other, because he didn't really even care for Avatar.

Uncultured swine.

Midway through their binge-watching, they got hungry enough that Piper presented the dinner menu of microwaveables, to which Billy called the Hot Pockets, Shel wanted the rice and enchiladas, and Piper settled on the spaghetti. Everyone got Dr. Pepper, because Billy wasn't actually stupid enough to drink a beer before driving home, even if his curfew was four hours away, and Billy made sure Shel did not get any alcohol whatsoever.

Apparently, Billy had met Tipsy Shel, and Tipsy Shel was a shameless flirt with almost no boundaries. Billy reported that despite being gay, Shel had straight up grabbed his crotch, and he had responded by punching her in the face. Piper had no intention of meeting Tipsy Shel.

After the Avatar binge, it was barely seven-o'clock, so they still had about two-and-half hours before Billy needed to leave to take Shel home and get home himself to make their curfews. They decided to pile into Piper's room to boot up the Xbox. Piper only had one controller, so no multiplayer, but they enjoyed watching her play Assassin's Creed 3.

Of course, Billy couldn't leave the tomahawk alone.

The actual tomahawk.

Grandpa Tom had made Piper a blowgun complete with poisoned arrows and the recipe for the poison, and he had also fashioned her a real tomahawk. It was simple, the stained shaft of wood wrapped in leather leading to the wedge-shaped head made of sharp, cold steel. Piper kept it in a glass case, but she had given Billy permission to hold it.

He never let it go the whole night until it was time to leave, and he put it back in its case.

Shel was cool the whole night. Other than a quip here and there, she never did anything suggestive to Piper, and Piper never once felt uncomfortable being the presence of the lesbian that was crushing on her the first day they met. Kind of ironic, really.

Piper had known Billy for almost a month, and not once had she ever thought of inviting him to her house. Well, there was a lot more to it than just that, a whole lot of factors and details, but the fact remained that Piper had known Billy a month, Shel for a day, and here was Shel, in her house, having eaten her food and occupied her bedroom.

Was that Piper being unfair to Billy? She didn't think so; Billy had pretty much sidelined himself, and Piper had likewise kept him at arm's length because she had just met him and he was kinda off-putting. However, after a month of interaction, Billy had gotten Piper to ease up and calm down.

She hadn't invited Shel into her house on Day One because Shel was that special—she had invited her in because Billy had gotten her to open up enough to be that friendly again.

Taking her stick out of the mud, Piper realized that Billy had been a very good friend in his own way. That was why she gave him a big hug and a sisterly kiss on the cheek in thanks.

Billy had just blinked. "…you're welcome…?"

"Do I get a hug and a kiss, too?" Shel asked with a hopeful smile.

"Hmm," Piper tapped her chin in thought. "Nope!"

Shel dramatically deflated. "What a world, what a world…"

Piper rolled her eyes and hugged the girl, but she didn't kiss her. "I want to talk to you, about a lot of things, just…give me some time."

Shel nodded. "When you're ready."

Piper waved at them from the gate, then she locked it up and went back inside her house, now alone.

She leaned against the door and breathed deeply. "Awesome…"

Spending time with friends, not a worry in the world, no thoughts about monsters, Giants, or rogue gods. Just good, fun times. Piper could get used this feeling again.

Even though it wasn't ten-o'clock yet, Piper had no desire to stay up by herself for another hour, and so she went to bed early, figuring a good night's sleep would do her well for tomorrow's talk with Dad.

Naturally, her good evening had to be ruined by a horrible nightmare.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jason looked different. He had more meat on his bones this time. He also had Shel forced down to her knees, facing away from him, his rotten hands on either side of her trembling face.

"Are. You. Fucking. Kidding me?" Jason hissed. "You wanted me so badly that you barely gave me any time to breathe. Day in and day out, you were all over me. Then I finally decide to give you a chance, and it was some of the best months of my life—the best months of my life, and then you threw me out. You, who just couldn't wait to be my girlfriend. And now what are you doing? Replacing me with a fucking girl? I don't think so!"

Jason squeezed Shel's head, making her scream.

"Piper, help me!"

"Jason, no!" Piper shouted.

A kind of panic she had experienced only on very rare occasions gripped every fiber of her being, and she tried to run to them, but her foot was snagged by something, and she tripped and fell to her face. Piper looked and saw a hand gripping her ankle. She slammed her other foot onto the hand and splintered bone in such a way that jagged shards ripped through the skin and muscle.

Shel's scream reached an ear-splitting pitch, making Piper looked up, and she was horrified beyond words to see Jason crush Shel's head between his hands. Piper would've thrown up at the gory sight of brains, skull, skin, and hair flying in every direction from the implosion, but it was just a nightmare, and she couldn't actually throw up.

She hoped.

Piper couldn't stop herself from crying at everything happening. "You're not Jason! He would never do anything like this!"

Jason stepped over Shel's corpse, his decaying face contorted into an expression of anger. Blood and gooey matter covered his hands.

"Oh, I am Jason. I'm the Jason you made me to be when you ripped my heart out metaphorically, and then Caligula ripped my heart out literally. I'm the Jason that finally woke up and saw the truth, that you're just a manipulative bitch with daddy issues, who wanted me so badly she practically creamed her panties just thinking about me, and then decided to toss me out like garbage when I just didn't do it for you anymore. Well, guess what…"

Jason crouched before Piper and roughly gabbed her chin with his hand, squeezing her face. She cringed at the slimy feeling, and the stench of this rotting body in the visage of her gallant ex burned her nose.

"I'm yours forever now, Piper," Jason whispered, his single blue staring into hers. "You belong to me. I will kill that girl to remind you of that, understand?"

Tears running down her face, defeat worming through her whole being, Piper barely managed a defeated nod with Jason's gripping her face.

The corpse nodded. "Good girl." He let her go and stood up. "Good luck with your dad tomorrow. I'm rooting for you."

He raised his boot and brought it down on Piper's face, making her bolt upright in her bed with a strangled gurgle.

Her face was wet with tears, and she immediately reached under her covers to feel her bed. It was dry.

Piper just sat alone in the darkness for a few seconds, before her will crumbled and she sobbed herself back to sleep.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

And that's a wrap for this one.

Next chapter is the family drama and the introduction of the villain for this story.

How about Jason, huh? And that owl, what's that about?

Stay tuned to find out!

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