Casey didn't want to help make Jase's shrine. She didn't want to decorate it or make it stand up or put it in the boat or saw a few words. So she elected Max to speak instead. He was Jase's best friend, surely he would be able to think of something better than her. After all, it seemed Casey didn't know her brother as well as she thought she did. She was numb. Anger, sadness, grief, more anger. She was angry at Jase for making the plan that lead to this, she was angry at him for jumping after Charlie, she was angry at him for not coming back home. She was angry at him for not surviving. He said he would. He promised Casey they'd all have dinner together again, and he told Adora he'd come back to tuck her in. He said he would cheer louder than anybody on the day that Casey graduated high school, and that he would always be there to mouth the words to Adora's part when she was on stage or in a play at school. But he wasn't.
The shroud was beautiful. Jon and Katrina did most of the work. It took them all day. They thought that if they took longer, it might delay the truth. But you can't procrastinate death as easy as you can homework.
Max stood in the center of the crowd. He was shaking. He stared at the small dingy that held Jase's shroud as it was pushed into the lake.
"He was my best friend," he said. He was already choking on his words. After the first sentence, he couldn't continue. He dropped the cue cards he'd spent the whole day writing. "I can't do this." And he walked off. Hazel and Frank were waiting on the sidelines with open arms. Hazel, now almost seven months pregnant, cried almost has hard as Max did.
Casey couldn't let her brother go without a speech. Somebody had to say something. But nobody stepped up. Their heads were bowed, hands firmly pressed together. So Casey pulled away from her parents' grip and ran to the center of the crowd where Max had stood. She was tempted to pick up Max's cards, but they didn't have the words she wanted to say.
"Jason was the best brother I could have asked for. He helped me with homework, made breakfast every morning, scared off school bullies. Before we lost him, I'd never been on a quest by myself. He was always by my side, more concerned about my failing math grade than he was about the monster about to kill him. He never talked about his future. He never spoke of falling in love or getting a job or even getting his diploma. He once told me that demigods didn't have long life spans, so why should he worry about planning his future when he can help others achieve theirs?"
There were some mumbles of agreement in the crowd. A few of the younger kids shuffled anxiously, remembering Jase telling them they should go to school instead of staying year long at Camp.
"He was a lot of things. A brother was only one of them. He was a son, a cousin, a nephew, a godson, a friend. He was a trainer, a teacher. He was an idiot at using the toaster."
A few people laughed.
"But he was a genius at battle strategy. He was great at making plans. He was the best babysitter, and the only person I know who could beat Mr. D at poker or program the lava wall to throw rocks at you. He knew how to build a treehouse, how to program twinkle lights, how to fight with one hand behind his back and his eyes closed. Every single person here will remember him a different way. Maybe you'll remember his classes, maybe you'll remember him throwing blue cake across the pavilion on Dad's birthday last year. Or perhaps you'll remember him as a warrior who gave up everything under the small chance that he could save the life of somebody he'd only known for a few weeks. But no matter what way you remember him, at least you will remember him at all. We won't let him be forgotten. Remember what you've learned from him, what you wished you learned, what you never learned but knew he wanted you to know. Don't let my brother be just another shrine to sink to the bottom of this lake." Casey took the bow and flame-lit arrow from Chiron. Her hands were shaking almost too much to let it go. There was a moment of silence in the camp before Casey let the arrow go. It flew across the water and landed on the boat. It burned greedily.
Casey wondered if Jase knew his shrine was being burned. She wondered if his soul had indeed died with him, or if it was still trapped in Tartarus. Casey wondered how he had died, but that made her think about how he'd lived. He was alive for months. Over six months he had been walking through that place, trying to get home. It seemed to unfair that he had survived so long just to die that far in.
"Casey, you ok?" Nate whispered. Casey hadn't realized that she was still standing in the center of the group. She swallowed her grief and nodded. She let Nate lead her away. She closed her eyes and leaned into him.
"He's actually dead," she said.
Nate nodded and hugged her into his side. "Yeah, he is." He lead her shivering form to the beach, stopping when the waves tickled their feet and caused them to sink into the sand.
"Why are we here?" Casey asked softly. She was too upset to be angry, which was a whole new low for Casey.
"You can't talk to Jase's spirit because it's not in Hades' realm, and I think this is the closest thing. When you were on your quest, the water reached out and helped you in a way that Jase would have, maybe some part of him is out there. Maybe not his soul, but his spirit or something. Think of it as talking to a tombstone," Nate suggested.
"Spirit isn't a real thing."
Nate rolled his eyes. Beside him, Casey said down in the sand and curled her arms around herself. She sniffed quietly, no longer trying to hold back the tears. Nate took a step back to give her privacy. He walked a few yards down the beach and sat on a rock. He took his feet off so the sand could run between his toes. He glanced at Casey, who was mumbling incoherently to the waves.
"I don't know what we're going to do," Nate said to the waves. They said nothing back.
"I've never had to deal with something like this. Nobody told me what to do when my best friend's brother jumps into Hell. I've been with her when she's angry before, but never like this. I think she's going to say she's mad at you, but she's not. She's just upset. I'm going to try to help her, but I don't know how. I wish you were here, maybe you could tell me what to do." Nate paused. The waves were too calm. But Jase would have been calm too if he were there. Closing his eyes, Nathan could imagine Jase sitting in the water in front of him, calmly folding his arms over his legs with that funny smile he always wore when somebody was talking to him.
"What should I do? I miss you, Jase. I never got the chance to join the quest where you disappeared. I've never really done a big quest at all, but somehow I still feel guilty. I wish I would have been on that quest with you and Casey. Maybe I could have done something, you know? Casey is angry that you jumped. But I think I get it. If somebody I cared about was in danger, I would have done the same thing." He looked up at Casey again. She was throwing small stones into the water. The sun was just going down. Its light reflected off of her hair, the breeze caused it to wave slightly. She looked so sad, but the sight of her still caused Nate to blush, even if she wasn't looking at him. He looked back to the ocean, trying not to picture Jase standing in front of him.
"Jase, I wish you were here, because I really don't know what to do. I'm in love with your sister."
AU: What do you dear readers wish to have included in this story? BTW the next chapter will be of the boys downstairs
