Author's Note:

Howdy hey everybody! Here's a new chapter, hope it finds you well.

Ummmm…..so just a little warning, there's a short flash back to one character's past. It gets a little heavy, as in "yikes that's sad" and "oh dear, she's dead now." so if that's going to get to you…then I told you now, I guess.

Cheers!

justapercyjacksonfan

Chapter 14

Jess lay in her bed at the Waystation, Leo, Georgina, and Calypso's words playing in her mind, refusing to let her sleep.

We'll help as much as fate lets us. But saving the pillars is up to you.

It's a huge maze in the middle of the Bermuda Triangle-the Sea of Monsters

You are the new heroes of the prophecy. It's a big responsibility, but it's your responsibility.

And then there was the way her team was acting. First there was Ian and his crazy madness power-up. Calypso had diagnosed the act as magic, and given she was a sorceress, Jess was inclined to believe her. However, she'd also said it was largely self-defense and self-preservation that set it off, so they couldn't count on Ian to bring down their enemies with a case of insanity whenever there was trouble. Calypso had mentioned maybe being able to coach him on how to use magic, but that their quest was more urgent. So that was a dead end.

And Jo. What was up with that girl? Jess rolled over to see the daughter of Apollo sleeping on the bed next to her. In the fight with the centaurs she had been using Apollo powers like a pro, shooting arrows without a second thought. But the moment she was needed to heal Ian, all that glowing goldness shut off. And then when she would just start speaking French for no reason? Jess didn't even want to guess what caused that.

Bri. Ugh! She couldn't stand her! The child of Zeus was snooty, and never thought the rest of them could do one thing right. Jess might not have minded so much if she could put her money where her mouth was, but she just kept saying she had been at camp her whole life, and was pretty much the best swordswoman since the guy who thought to use a sword to slice bread. And that wasn't even the weirdest thing. She kept noticing odd mannerisms, the way Bri would hesitate before giving details about herself. Something that really peaked her notice was when Georgina had announced they were to go to bed and rest. She had detailed that in the Waystation, boys and girls always slept in separate wings, it was a tradition from before even her mothers, she couldn't change it. Bri had a look on her face that Jess often wore herself. An expression contemplating if she should go along with something no matter how uncomfortable it made her, or kick up a fuss. She must have decided on the former, because Bri had allowed herself to be led to the rooms along with Jess and Jo, even if her expression said she didn't like it. Calypso must have also noticed it, because she had put the daughters of Nemesis and Apollo in a room together, before saying something to the child of Zeus, who seemed much calmer afterwards.

Then there was Caleb. Jess honestly didn't know what to think. He seemed to be the only team member who wasn't keeping any secrets. Maybe he just didn't have any to keep. He had freezing powers he could control relatively well, and was generally helpful to anyone. And Jess would be lying to herself if she said she hadn't noticed he was pretty buff too. And while she could appreciate that, she had found him to be too calm in the face of literally everything. Almost to an annoying degree.

As her opinions swirled around, making it impossible to sleep, Jess had to wonder what they all thought of her. She had presented herself to them as mostly cool and collected. No. She corrected herself. I've presented myself as a spaze who goes off on people, she thought, recalling her argument with Bri. The child of Zeus' accusations would have been hurtful either way, but they were even worse because they were true.

She hadn't been effective against the wild centaurs. She'd taken out one, and gotten knocked to the ground. Then, Jo saved her from a charging centaur, and the two of them had taken out one more centaur together. What's more, she was sure she could have done better if she'd had a chance to make some sort of plan. Even at her most rash, she had always waited a few seconds to examine her opponents and find flaws and weaknesses.

That's really why she'd gotten so mad at Bri. The things she had said were true, but they might not have been if Bri had waited and allowed them to make a quick plan and not dive in relying on instincts.

Eventually, the daughter of Nemesis fell asleep pondering the day's events.

She woke up to the sound of cupboard doors closing gently, and the scrapes and clinks of silverware on plates coming from the kitchen.

As she sat up, she noticed that Jo hadn't moved. The noises weren't loud at all. Jess was just a light sleeper. She dug through her backpack and found a fresh pair of leggings, and pulled on her favorite sweatshirt-her dad's old college sweatshirt. Maroon with a gopher embroidered on it. After tying her hair up in a ponytail, she went to find the source of the sounds.

Georgina and Leo were making breakfast. The daughter of Apollo had her back to Jess, her focus on a pan of scrambled eggs, while Leo buttered and jammed toast made from home-made bread. Further inspection of the room revealed Calypso and Ian discussing something in the living space. Both spoke in hushed tones so as not to wake anyone up, but Jess assumed it was about magic.

"Georgina-niña, we have a helper." the son of Hephaestus said, spotting Jess.

Jess dutifully, joined them in the kitchen and began cutting fresh fruit.

"Think of it this way." Leo said with a wink. "By helping us now, you don't have to help the others clean up."

"Think of it this way." Calypso said, coming up with a third way to explain how one performed magic. "One of my favorite pastimes is weaving. When I perform magic, I imagine myself weaving new threads into the fabric of reality. The more confidence you have when weaving the threads, the harder they are to distinguish from the rest of reality. If I use a quick spell, it would probably turn out as an illusion. If I concentrate, I can literally warp reality into something new and tangible."

The son of Dionysus knit his brows together. "I think I get it now. But I don't really know how to weave. And I think my powers are limited to driving people insane."

"Maybe. But if you learn how to do that on command, it will become an immense asset to you and your companions."

His face soured. "Yeah. Right."

"Is something wrong?"

"I just don't really know anything about anyone I'm traveling with. They all seem like they can take hits and dole out the damage. But me? I just fainted in my first battle. And besides I can tell almost all of them are hiding something. I don't even feel like I can trust them."

Calypso gave him a sad smile. "Ian, if you want them to start acting like a team, maybe you need to start acting like a leader."

"Me? But I'm just the son of the wine god. I can barely control my powers. Any of them would be so much better at it. Caleb is so confident, and Jo is so genuine, and Jess is so focused, and Bri is so experienced-"

"But you're a leader. I saw it last night. You had been knocked down, but everyone was still in awe of your abilities."

"Bri wasn't. She didn't like it."

Calypso hesitated a moment, almost confused by something he had said. Then, the confusion was wiped away almost as suddenly as it had appeared, and she continued.

"Bri will come around. Let's get back to magic. You say you don't weave, so what's something you enjoy?"

"Drawing." Ian answered immediately. "My mother loved drawing, she-" his voice broke, "She always told me I could draw anything." At Calypso's quizzical look, he elaborated. "She was an artist, the best there ever was. She taught me how to draw, it was what we did together...but she and my step-dad are both gone now."

...

The memory tugged at his mind. His mother's smile brightening the whole room. Her curly hair cascading down her shoulder, tickling him. He excitedly showed her the picture he had been working on. He was so proud of it. The bright yellow bird in the branches of the tree. He had tried to make it look like something she would draw, something she would even be proud of drawing.

"Ian, love, it's so beautiful! How long did it take you to make this?" she asked, fueling his enthusiasm.

"All morning, Mama. I wanted it to be just like how you draw."

"I love it Ian. I'll keep it in my purse, yes? Then I can look at it and think of how talented you are." Her smile suddenly turned serious. "But Ian, you don't need to try and draw the way I do. You should draw your way. You're an artist, Ian Malark. You can draw anything."

His step-dad's voice pierced the moment, as he called for Ian's mama to join him in the car. She had given Ian one last smile, and squeezed his hand.

And the next time he saw her. She had a bullet in her head. Her hand was clutched around a paper. There was blood splattered on it, but Ian could see the little yellow bird peeking out, looking ridiculously happy. He buried his face in his uncle's leg and sobbed, his own little hands holding another picture of a yellow bird in the branches of a tree. He had drawn it his way, instead of his mama's, just like she said he should. But she never got to see it.

...

Calypso's voice gently pulled him out of his sadness. "Ian?" She didn't ask him any questions, just quietly handed him a tissue to mop up the few tears that had run down his face. After letting him collect himself, she restarted their conversation. "Okay. When you draw, you create a picture the way you want it. The more you work at it, the better and more realistic it gets, right?"

He nodded.

"Imagine working magic is like that. You're drawing a picture on reality, painting it the way you want. If you want a monster to go mad, try imagining you're re-drawing him as crazy. Who knows? You might have other potential for magic besides madness. But if you ever give it a try, draw reality the way you want. Madness will come the easiest, obviously, but if you have the potential -and I suspect you do- the more simple, the easier it is to add to the picture."

He smiled, gratefully. "Thanks Calypso."

"It's no trouble. I like being a magic coach."

"No. Thanks for listening."

Author's Note:

Hi all!

Saturday, update day!

Important:

So there is a very specific reason Ian's parents were killed. I'm not going to mention it until later unless everyone is like, "we needs to know, give us the details."

Mostly because it's pretty dark. And I'll give the people what they want. Only if they want it.

Not Important:

Moving on, if it seems like I write this from Jess's perspective a lot it's because she's pretty important to the next bit. And I while all of the five protagonists draw from personal experiences or traits, or from people I meet, it's usually pretty minimal. Jess is the character I put the most of myself into compared to the others so I enjoy writing her. It's a me thing.

Also, I just think it's fun that Leo would call her Georgina-niña. It's another me thing. *shrugs*

Not super important, but you might find it interesting or important, so….

Lastly, I need to address something that's bugging me a lot more than it's bugging any of you-

Some eagle-eyes viewers might have noticed that the majority of the time I refer to Bri with the pronouns they and them. That's because Bri is gender neutral. HOWEVER. While some people at camp are aware of this, (Chiron, Annabeth, Percy) and I hinted that Calypso figured it out in this chapter, none of the other protagonists know this. So whenever a chapter is told from Bri's perspective, they'll refer to themself using their preferred pronouns. When another character has the reigns, they'll refer to Bri with their biological pronouns, she and her, because Bri doesn't share things easily (understatement of the century) and isn't going to tell them anything about themself unless absolutely necessary. Got it? Good. Before I decided on this format, (This chapter) I just sort of made some mistakes in the earlier chapters. Sorry 'bout that!

Update: I went back and fixed the old chapters. If you still spot a mistake, just ell me and I'll go correct it

Important (to me)

Lastly, please please, please! leave a review!

I absolutely love hearing from all you guys, it's the greatest motivator you could throw my way, and honestly makes me more happy than it should. Also, I reply to any reviews I get in the author's notes of the next chapter posted, so that's fun! So yes, please review.

Have a lovely day!

justapercyjacksonfan