Author's Note: Hey, it's me Readingqueen811 (or Reyna-impersonator) as you tumblr people might know me. Sorry this wasn't updated sooner, but I had finals and the holidays and well… you know how that is. So, anyway, yeah, here is the second chapter of the House of Hades (readinqueen811's version)
Stunned silence filled the room, leaving Jason with a cold feeling inside of his stomach. "Oracle of Death; what was that supposed to mean?" He'd met the current Oracle of Delphi, Rachel Dare, at Camp Half Blood, before his quest with Piper and Leo, but never had anyone mentioned the term "Oracle of Death" to Jason.
Nico disappeared back into the shadows of the chair he'd been sitting in "refusing" to speak anymore as Jason thought, but everyone was still looking at him expectantly- except for Hazel, who walked towards Leo.
"Leo, can you set a course for Epirus, Greece?" She asked a glazed-eyed Leo, who was playing with some green and red copper wires as he stared intensely at Nico.
"Leo!" Piper waved her hand in front of his face and shook him by the shoulders. Leo showed no response; Piper continued to shake him by his shoulders, but she used charmspeak."Set the course for Epirus, Greece!"
"Wh..what?' Leo stuttered and kept furiously blinking his eyes in surprise. Leo took a shaky breath and raised a hand, calling out to Festus. "Got it; Epirus, Greece. Hear that Festus?"
The dragon masthead gave a snort from above, telling them that he'd heard Leo. Tendrils of smoke drifted into the air as the dragon screeched some more; Leo gave a reply- huh, hmm, ah- with each screeching noise.
Questions buzzed in Jason's mind, he wanted to know why they were going there, and what that had to do with the doors of death, but neither of the children of the death god was giving any information about what lay there. Jason figured they'd have time to discuss it later.
Jason went up to the deck to mull over his thoughts. He was up there for no more than fifteen minutes when he saw another boat coming towards them. It was a much smaller boat than the Argo II- kind of like the ferries that used to come around San Francisco that you could hear at night from Camp Jupiter. The boat was white, with a bright gold lettering on the side that screamed out violently into Jason's sight; Jason couldn't read in the morning sun. A young woman stood at the front of the boat, as if she was re-enacting that scene from Titanic, but there wasn't anyone holding her, and she was far closer to the water. The young woman's dark hair flowed behind her in the breeze, and although a floppy sunhat covered her facial features, Jason easily thought that she was a beautiful woman.
The other boat honked to the Argo, and a voice came over the ferry's loudspeakers. "Attention…what does that say? Attention Argo II, our captain would like to speak with your captain. We are looking for some recruits for our group. If you refuse, we will assume you are a hostile ship and contact the Sicilian coast guard. Thank you."
The rest of the demigods, except for Coach Hedge, who was watching cage fighting on the TV, ran up to the deck as they heard the message. If the ship belonged to mortals, they would have definitely not used the name "Argo II". Leo anchored the ship, but stayed close to the controls, clutching his Wii nun chucks and other devices tightly. Jason figured this was because he assumed this was a trap and that Leo was far from excited to bring more friends into death's realm, but they really had no choice but to stop.
The demigods looked at Jason, looking for some reassurance. He gave a short, confident smile and turned to face the ferry.
As the ferry approached, a long ramp stretched out from the approaching boat and connected the two ships; the young woman walked up the ramp to meet up with the demigods. Her brilliant green eyes sparkled underneath her floppy hat, and she had a woven a black wrap worn like a skirt over her bikini. Her familiar appearance made Jason very suspicious, if not more; she looked like trouble. Judging by Piper's distasteful expression, Jason figured she was thinking the same thing, but maybe she was closer to the answer.
"Hello." The woman said, her Mediterranean accent ringing in Jason's ears like bells. "I presume you are the captain."
"Actually," Leo said, turning from the controls, "I am the captain here…." He stopped once he saw the woman. Her hat had fallen back as she turned to Leo, so Jason couldn't exactly see her face, but he figured Leo was having his 'instant-girl-attraction' problem again. Leo combed his hair back with his fingers. "Supreme Commander of the Argo II at your service." Leo said in a voice that Jason guessed was supposed to sound manly, but ended up sounding kind of like Cal the Boread they'd met in Quebec. Then Leo bowed to the woman.
"Charmed." The woman said distastefully, turning to the girls- Piper and Hazel. "I'm here to talk to you girls about becoming trainees in my business. We have branches all over the world, so you can work from… I presume you are American…?"
Piper and Hazel nodded slowly, confused expressions on their faces. "Yeah… America." Piper said slowly as her eyes narrowed.
"The two branches closest to there are in New York, San Francisco, and a small island in the Carribean. Do either of you live close to those?"
"Sort of." Hazel replied, suddenly shy under the woman's gaze.
"Excellent. Of course, you'd both need small makeovers. The usual; braids, more makeup, the white dress…" The woman trailed off, sounding wistful.
"Um," Piper started, "I'm sorry, we never got your name."
"My name?" The woman asked. "Well, I go by many things- I feel no need to go through those-, but you young children can call me C.C."
That name got Jason's mind moving. He remembered hearing about this woman at Camp Jupiter when he was about fourteen. Something told him she was dangerous, but also that she wouldn't harm Piper or Hazel. The conversation he'd had about her brought back to him the smell of coffee and someone crying, someone who didn't usually cry. He had no idea who that might've been, but he kept his guard up just the same.
"What business would they be getting into?" Frank asked, being ever-protective of Hazel.
"The spa business!" C.C. exclaimed, as if it were obvious. "Wow, you guys are really dense for dem… demure teenagers." Jason was almost sure she was about to say demigods. "I'd thought your friends would have told you about me.
"Do you mean Percy and Annabeth?" Frank asked, "because they're not here right now." He said choking back a sob, but holding his stone expression.
"Hmmm," C.C. paused, thinking, "well, I do remember an Annabeth visiting my spa about three years ago, but I was talking about someone else. I believe her name started with an R… her older sister Hylla and was quite the wonderful manager of the Caribbean location…"
Jason felt like he'd just swallowed an ice cube. That was who told him the story. Reyna had, the day she came staggering across the Tiber River crying and about to pass out from exhaustion. The day Jason had been the only one on sentry duty brave enough to approach the startled girl who somehow had a spear that she threatened to pierce through anyone who came near her. C.C.'s spa! No, that didn't sound right….
"Oh." Jason said quietly, the ice cube slowly sinking into his stomach. Everyone turned to look at him. Frank and Hazel obviously knew it was Reyna and Hylla, but they didn't know how C.C. connected to the sisters.
"You're Circe." Jason said quietly, half-hoping she wouldn't hear him, but Circe had ears of a rabbit, and she turned to him, her hat falling off in the process, revealing a cruel and beautiful face.
"My, my, my." Circe sneered, "took you long enough to figure that out." She turned back to the girls. "So, Piper what do you say. You'd already be a sales associate with that lovely voice of yours, but I'm afraid you'd have to leave this lovely son of Zeus behind."
"Why would I do that?" Piper asked, clutching Jason's hand in hers, "I'm not leaving Jason, or any of the rest of my friends. In fact, none of us is leaving this boat for anyone."
"Don't you realize that you're always standing in their shadows dears?" Circe purred, slowly moving towards Hazel like a lion stalking her prey. "Female demigods never get any of the credit. How many famous ones can you name?"
"Marie Antionette, Cleopatra, Atalanta.." Hazel listed quietly, but Circe continued her rant.
"I knew the first Jason you know," Circe boldly retorted. "My niece Medea came with him to my island, begging me to remove the curse that had been placed on them. Medea would do anything to be with Jason. Even kill her own brother, which was how she got the curse in the first place. Would you do that Piper?" Medea asked. Jason could feel Piper shifting nervously under the pressure, so he squeezed her hand, letting her know that she shouldn't choose him over her siblings. Medea continued.
"Medea even poisoned the girl that Jason really loved, a lovely princess, just so she could be with him. Jason only promised to marry her for the sake of his quest. I'm sure someone else knows how that feels, being led on by a guy just so a team can work together, just so they can kill a monster, just so they can share a job…" Circe paused and turned back to Hazel, but Jason couldn't hear her over his string of thoughts.
At first, Jason had thought she was talking about Piper, but now it seemed like she was talking about someone she knew better. Was she possibly talking about Reyna? Jason didn't think he'd ever led her on. They were friends and that was it. Someone like her would never have feelings for someone like him. Then again… there had been a time, when they'd been fighting Krios… Jason pushed those thoughts from his mind, he had to stay focused, he could think about this later. You've been saying that for almost a year, Jason's conscious reminded him, when are you going to re-live that day?
"My dear Piper," Circe said turning back to Piper and showing her a small pout, "you must've heard by now that sons of Zeus, Jupiter, whatever, are very, very bad news. Join me; you'll never have to fall prey to your mother's game again."
"You know," Piper replied. "The Hunters of Artemis offered me something similar last winter, and I wasn't even dating Jason yet. That kind of goes against my genetics. So if you don't mind…"
"Perhaps this might help then. The real reason the Romans are taking measures against your voice is that their beautiful leader Reyna trained with me when she was about fourteen. She learned charmspeak in two months. She knows how to detect it. Jason, you of all people should know how far Reyna will go to protect her home. By not joining me, the girls put themselves at risk, risk of heartbreak, and of terror. Just a small memo, dear."
"No." Piper said drawing her dagger.
The witch summoned green fire that danced along her arms, and she started to condense it into a fireball, when she was knocked on the head by a giant club.
Coach Hedge stood over Circe's unconscious body, smiling like he'd just won the whole Giant War altogether. "And that is how you do sorcery, Hedge style." Coach Hedge said, about to run over to Circe's ferry to go hit all of her handmaidens with the club, but Leo stopped him, a devilish grin on his face.
"Hold up Coach," He said, still brandishing a horribly wicked grin, "I have a better idea."
Circe's ferry was given a warning by Leo for them to abandon ship if they didn't want to get shot by ballistae. Most of the handmaidens escaped. Circe's ferry sank under the waves in a beautiful display of fireworks. Leo had fun drawing mustaches and stuff on Circe's face before dumping her in one of the lifeboats.
"You think she'll have amnesia when she wakes up because of Coach's club?" Jason asked Hazel jokingly.
"Hopefully," Hazel replied dryly while looking downwards at the almost sunken ship.
Suddenly, Nico appeared from the doorway, rubbing sleep out of his eyes. "Where were you when all this happened?" Jason demanded of the younger boy.
"Shadow traveling." Nico yawned. "Talked to a friend who may be able to help Percy and Annabeth. Was tired. Took a nap."
"You should've been helping us!" Jason protested.
"I was helping!" Nico objected.
"Look," Jason muttered. "I don't trust you. I don't like how you knew about both camps and didn't tell us. I don't like how you keep disappearing. If you want to be on this ship, you better start acting like part of the team."
"Of course I should help as much as you do! It's not like I have been shoved into a jar and relieved of air for seven days! Things are hard enough as it is. I don't want to make an enemy out of you." Nico replied, shrugging his shoulders, but a strong expression took over his pale features. "I never really stay in one place for long. You can guarantee that as soon as we meet up with Percy and Annabeth (if- no- when they show up at the doors of death) I'll be out of there as quickly as a person says after giving his best tidings. It pains me to be restrained, if you try to keep me locked up on this ship without doing anything, you can guarantee I'll be gone before you can look back, but we need to work together, so I'll try my best. Think you can do that?"
"Deal." Jason agreed, and they shook on it.