The thing about recognizing all of the minor gods that have kids?
It's an excellent idea that would have made the war with Kronos way shorter if it had been done earlier.
Now that there are going on 20 cabins rather than just the original 12, Camp Halfblood houses demigods with such a vast array of skills that Chiron can just say the word and have an all inclusive task force ready to handle any kind of curveball the gods throw at them.
Like when Percy Jackson, Hero of Olympus and son of Poseidon, vanishes from Cabin 3 without a trace.
Juliette is pacing the Iris cabin with Annabeth as they watch Butch call up every contact they have across the country. Julie's already hung up with Nico, and a panicked Grover had called Annabeth before they even had to throw a drachma. Thalia and the Hunters have been briefed, and Chiron is out sending a messenger to alert the Party Ponies at whatever random roadside tourist attraction they're camping by for the night. Every worst case scenario imaginable is rushing through Julie's mind, and it's taking conscious effort not to chew off her opal patterned press on nails.
"You guys are sure he's not just out for a swim?" asks Butch irritably. Juliette rounds on him.
"Yes, we're sure. I told you, I've flown miles out from the coast - he's not anywhere near us." She snaps, shoving a prism into his hands. "Now, keep calling people."
"Jeez, okay, chill out."
Annabeth groans in frustration and buries her face in her hands. "Where could he have gone? I don't understand...I watched him go into his cabin for the night." Her voice trembles. Julie places her hands on the blonde's shoulders.
"We'll find him." She promises. Annabeth meets her eyes weakly and nods.
They don't find him. At least, not the first day.
Midevening on the second day Percy's been gone, Julie finds herself standing between an irate Annabeth and a crying Rachel Dare.
"Then, what use are you?!" snips Annabeth.
Rachel recoils. "I can't decide when predictions happen. I'm sorry! I really want to help-"
"Well, you aren't!"
"Annabeth, he's my friend too-"
"Then, do something helpful-"
"Okay, enough!" Juliette interrupts. Both girls look at her with varying degrees of frustration and sadness. Julie puts her hands on her hips. "Annabeth, you know that's not how prophecy works. Now, you are going to go to your cabin and take a gods damn nap while Rachel and I continue this conversation by ourselves."
Annabeth glares at Julie darkly. "I'm not going to-"
"I'm sorry, did I stutter?"
"You aren't-"
"Annabeth!"
"...Fine." Annabeth turns on her heel and stomps out of the Hera cabin, making sure to knock an idol or two off the shelves on her way out just to be petty. Juliette rolls her eyes and pinches the bridge of her nose.
"I'm sorry about her." She sighs. Rachel sniffles and shrugs.
"I get it," Rachel mumbles. "I'd be mad too. I am mad. All I have are nightmares for months, and the one time one could actually be helpful..."
Juliette hugs herself and looks up at the tile mural of Hera on the far wall. The woman's eyes seem to follow her. She shivers. "Have you heard anything from Apollo?" She asks her friend.
The redhead huffs and shakes her head. "Not a peep. For months. I don't know what's going on up there, but all of the gods seem to be ignoring us."
"Ignoring us? Hmm, wonder what that's like."
"Julie, now is not the time.'
"Right, sorry." Juliette throws back her head and lets out a frustrated little yell. Rachel chuckles tearfully. Julie's head is pounding. She hasn't slept in about 40 hours at this point. She exhales and tries to shoot Rachel a hopeful smile. "I'm gonna head out tomorrow morning to look for him myself." She declares. "Maybe I'll be able to sense him better than others. Track him down that way."
Rachel nods, but she doesn't look happy. "You're going on your own?"
"Yeah. Carrying people takes a lot out of me. I'll cover more ground by myself."
The Oracle looks like she's going to say something in concern, but the dinner horn blows and cuts her off. The two of them share a tired smile before heading towards the dining pavilion. Julie tries to blink away the images of where Percy could be right now. How he could be hurt.
They're going to find him. They have to.
Then, on the morning of Day #3, Drew is passing Julie clothes and toiletries to stuff into a backpack when Annabeth comes bursting through the door of Cabin 10. Her blonde curls are unbound for once and wild with sleep, her eyes wide and anticipatory. Julie's heart leaps into her throat.
"Annabeth? What in Hades-"
"Yes, Chase, you can come in-"
"I had a dream. My mom." The words tumble from Annabeth so fast they're barely intelligible. "He has one shoe-We have to go to Arizona!"
"Annabeth what on earth are you talking about?!"
"Ugh, she's finally cracked-"
"Just come!" Annabeth pleads, grabbing onto Juliette's wrist. Bewildered, Julie shouts a request for Drew to watch the kids and lets the older girl tug her along out of the cabin and across camp towards the stables. Butch is doing maintenance on the Apollo chariot while Will supervises, directing the son of Iris to which squeaky wheels need to be oiled. When they arrive, Annabeth leaps into the chariot without saying a word and snatches the reins.
"Umm, Annabeth?" questions Will. He and Butch give each other the side eye.
The daughter of Athena whirls on them. "I need to borrow this. Percy's in Arizona."
"Wait, you found him?" gasps Butch.
"Of course, yeah take it! Just return it in one piece." Will requests. Julie sends him a grateful smile, and he hesitantly returns it.
Annabeth just nods and turns to Juliette. "Can you pull it? You're faster than pegasi."
A tinge of irritation spurs in Julie's chest, but her concern for Percy wins over her offense. "Yeah, no problem."
She leaps into a transformation, and Will and Butch waste no time in harnessing her into the custom breast strap Nyssa made with Julie's wyvern in mind. Annabeth is tapping her foot so impatiently the whole chariot is vibrating. Julie's wings feel kind of pinched between the leather straps of the harness. They wrap all the way around her torso and connect under her joints via celestial bronze clasps. She'll need to give Nyssa some notes - the bronze is digging in between her scales. But, she ignores the discomfort and shakes out her wings for flight.
Butch hops into the chariot beside Annabeth once they finish and lashes the reins like she's a horse. Julie shows her appreciation of that by taking off so fast he falls backwards and has to be caught hastily by Annabeth. He yells out in alarm, and she hisses back unsympathetically.
Butch is not her favorite camper.
They fly for almost four hours straight. Every time Julie's stamina starts to dip, Annabeth pleads with her to keep going. Her anxiety helps fuel Juliette a little, but the dream has given the blonde hope. That's good. She's glad. But, Juliette can't eat hope, and Butch and Annabeth keep steering her against the winds. She's fading fast.
The moment they cross into Arizona, they see it. There's a storm system, dark and volatile, spinning dangerously down towards the earth. The closer they get, the more Annabeth starts to panic. Anemoi thuellai are spiraling around the area, leaving behind destruction on par with a category 4 tornado. Annabeth spurs Julie forward, and the younger demigod begs her wings to carry them faster. Her muscles are aching, trembling under the weight of the carriage. The straps of the harness are chafing, and a few of her scales are peeling up around the celestial bronze buckles. She pushes on, though.
As they approach the visitor center at the Grand Canyon, they watch a figure get lifted into the air. It's too small to be Percy, but Butch and Annabeth start shouting their concern all the same. The figure is carried into the eye of the storm by a spirit, and the whole wind system disappears.
"No..." Annabeth mutters. "No, no, no, no, no! We can't be too late!"
Butch growls in frustration, slamming down the reins against Julie's back spine. It stings a bit. "Look, there! Juliette, land by that group of kids! That guy has a sword."
Juliette does what she's told. She dips down to come in for a landing a few hundred yards away from the small group gathered by the edge of the canyon. She catches sight of them out of the corner of her eye - three teenagers in ripped clothing, the usual - and skids to a stop.
The landing kicks up enough dust to make Butch double over and cough, but Annabeth doesn't let it slow her down. She leaps over the edge of the chariot and sets off at a run. Butch recovers and follows after her to keep the frantic girl from accosting the poor random teenagers. Juliette is left behind, exhausted and still hooked up to the chariot. Typical.
She huffs and transforms back. The straps loosen, but she still has to fight with them to untangle herself. She falls a few times just from tripping over the clasps. Once she's free, Julie glares down at the death trap with satisfaction and brushes off her cutoff denim shorts.
Julie 1 : harness-of-death 0.
"Where is he?!" Annabeth is demanding in the distance.
Juliette almost sighs. These poor kids probably have no idea what's going on. Are they even sure they're demigods in the first place? They're probably just random Misted kids on a field trip who just experienced the most confusing thunderstorm of their lives and are now being screamed at by a pretty blonde girl with a knife. Julie hopes their school has good guidance counselors.
"Where's who?" echoes a male voice.
Electricity zaps through every cell in Julie's body. Her head turns so fast her mind takes a second to catch up. Julie searches the group gathered by the canyon. There's a short Latino boy in baggy clothing with a pointed face. He's leaning away from Annabeth like she's waving a machine gun at them. Next to him is a pretty Native American girl in ripped jeans and a name brand jacket studying Julie's friends like they're from a Lifetime Special. And beside her...
There he is. Solid. Speaking to Julie's friends.
Real.
Holy shit.
Juliette's feet start moving before her brain even finishes registering his face. He looks almost exactly as he did the last time she saw him. His hair is a little longer. Golden waves are brushing the tops of his square glasses. His lips are hanging open in surprise and confusion, still perfectly marred by that endearing vertical scar he'd bashfully admitted to Julie late one night to have come from toddler him chewing on a stapler. He's dressed in jeans and a purple t-shirt. Julie finally can read the letters "SPQR" on it without going cross eyed. She has no idea what that means and does not care. Because he's here.
He found her.
She pushes Butch out of her way when she gets to them. Everyone stops talking to look at her in question. Julie's heart is beating out of her chest. She has to look up to take him in. She watches him scan her in turn from head to toe, still wide eyed and gaping.
"You..." She whispers breathlessly. Those beautiful blue eyes snap to hers, and Juliette loses control.
She's taking a step forward, and then she's on her toes, her fingers in his hair and her lips on his.
There's a moment when he doesn't move. Julie's brain catches up with her body, and she starts to panic and pull away. But then, his arms are on her waist, and he's leaning in too. His lips press back against hers desperately. A strong, rough hand is splayed out on her lower back, and Julie can smell nothing but the freshness of summer wind. Neither of them know what they're doing, but he kisses her fiercely, and she melts into him, pouring out every ounce of terror and loneliness she's felt since they last parted ways before the Battle of Manhattan.
He's alive.
He's alive.
He's alive, and he's here.
He tastes like spearmint toothpaste, and this might be the best day of Juliette's life. She wants to laugh and cry all at once. They pull back only when they absolutely have to, and Juliette lets out the most deranged giggle of relief she's ever heard. A dazed smile grows on his face as he breathes with her.
"You found me." Julie forces out. Her fingers are trembling where they're carding through his hair. There's adrenaline burning through every vein in her circulatory system. It feels amazing.
"I found you...?" His words are tinged with a vague sense of confusion. Of curiosity. Julie knocks her forehead against his playfully and smiles.
"Took you long enough." She teases.
He blinks then, and his eyes seem to clear a bit. He pulls his head back from hers suddenly. "I-"
Blue eyes scan her face. Julie's smile falters. He looks...scared. Alarmed. So, so confused. Then, he turns his head to the side and blinks blearily at the girl in the ripped jeans. Julie follows his gaze.
The girl is gaping at them, tears in her eyes. She looks angry. Hurt. Betrayed.
Julie's heart drops.
Her Soldier Boy looks back down at her and flounders for a moment before choking out a question that sends everything stable left in Juliette's world spiraling into disarray.
"Do we know each other?"
Juliette is having a bad day.
Aside from the obvious "accidentally kissing another girl's boyfriend (who she didn't know was in a relationship because she never noticed a girlfriend while they've been mutually sleep stalking each other for four years) in front of her" thing, Annabeth is definitely going to kill her whenever she makes it back to camp. In Julie's panic at realizing she'd just thoroughly humiliated herself in front of her future sister in law, her least favorite camper, and three new recruits, she may have taken to the skies before anyone could say anything more and, by extension, left the entire group behind without transportation back to New York.
Well, that'll teach them to treat her like a pegasus.
Julie collapses into Percy's bunk and cuddles into the covers. The bed still smells like sea salt and sunscreen, even after days without use. Probably cause he never washes the sheets. Ew.
Still, Julie buries her face into his pillow and curls into a ball. She's so confused. She's never considered herself boy crazy - not even in the sane way her siblings get as a children of Aphrodite. Hades, she doesn't think she's ever even had a proper crush.
Except she must've. That must be what she's been feeling all these years. That fluttery sensation she'd get in her stomach whenever Soldier Boy would laugh at something she said. It always felt better to make him laugh than anyone else. It always seemed like he'd needed it. She was just happy to make him smile. To see those little crinkles pop up by his eyes.
Gods, she's pathetic, isn't she? If Percy were here, he'd be laughing his ass off.
The thought settles like a ball of lead in her gut. Julie pushes herself out of the bed and pads over to the repaired fountain at the far end of the cabin. She settles on the ground and crosses her legs, pulling out a drachma from her back pocket.
"Oh Iris, goddess of the Rainbow, please accept my offering." mutters Juliette as she flicks the drachma into the rainbow spray. The coin disappears, and she lets out a shaky breath. "Show me Percy Jackson." She pleads.
There's a brief pause. And then, the drachma rematerializes and falls to the floor with a deafening clink.
Julie's eyes sting. She grits her teeth and collects it off the ground.
"Oh Iris, goddess of the Rainbow," She repeats softly. "Please accept my offering. Show me Nico di Angelo."
This time, the coin disappears for good, and a shimmering image of a teenage boy in an aviator jacket appears. His sword is in his hand, and he's panting, hunched over to catch his breath. There's dust in his hair and a shallow scratch on his cheek, but he seems otherwise unharmed. Julie tries to call out gently so as not to startle him.
"Nico?"
Despite her efforts, he jumps. When Nico sees her image, his shoulders relax, and he sighs. "Juliette? Did something happen? Did you find him?"
Julie hates to shut down the tiny tinge of hope to his voice, but she shakes her head. "No. We thought we had a lead, but...It was something else."
Nico looks disappointed, but he nods. "What is it, then?" He asks seriously. Julie cracks a smile.
"Can't I just want to talk to you?"
"I'm surprised you aren't out of word combinations."
"Mean." She pouts. He raises an eyebrow impatiently at her. Julie huffs and blows a strand of strawberry blonde hair out of her face. "I...Did something...bad? Not bad. I don't know if it was bad, actually. I'm very confused."
Nico scowls at her irritably.
"Right. To the point. Okay." Julie takes a deep breath and tells her story - from the beginning. She starts that first night at twelve years old. That night she'd seen a scared little boy fighting a cyclops in the rain. Fighting to save someone else. How she'd reached out to him, and they'd connected. She tells Nico about the years following. The late nights spent sitting and watching the other study or laughing until they couldn't breathe as they turned their extremely censored stories into ridiculous games of Mad Libs. She tells him about the periods of absence. The raw, overwhelming fear she'd felt every time she'd go months without hearing from him. Julie tells Nico about the kiss, though she can't look him in the eye as she does, and the gut-wrenching words that had been uttered against her lips when they pulled away.
By the end of it, Nico's sitting stiffly on a concrete wall somewhere, his hands clasped in front of him and his head turned to the ground. Julie worries at her lip. She can't see his face, but his posture is tense. He's spinning his skull ring absently.
"So...?" mumbles Julie. He doesn't look up. "Are you going to say something?"
After a beat, Nico drags his eyes to her face. He doesn't meet her gaze, though. "You said Hera spoke to you on Olympus."
Julie nods, puzzled by the subject change.
Nico's eyes turn stormier. "What did she say?"
"Um..." Scrunching her face in thought, Julie tries to remember the phrasing. "Well, she wanted to know if I was Juliette Aster. I said yes. She sort of...examined me. Then, she said 'you aren't good enough' or something and walked away."
Nico wrings his hands and sighs. "And this guy...you said he had a girl with him?"
Julie frowns. "Nico, where are you going with this? What, you think Hera's involved in this somehow?"
"I don't know."
"You sound like you know something." Julie huffs. She hardens her face and glares at her friend accusingly. "Nico, tell me what's going on."
He looks anxious for a moment before schooling his features back into the practiced calm. "I can't tell you." He mutters guiltily.
Of course.
Anger starts to simmer in Julie's chest. "Why not?" She demands.
"It's too important-"
"So, you don't trust me."
"Look, I just need you to listen, okay? Stay away from Jason Grace."
Julie rears back in surprise.
Jason Grace.
"Jason Grace...?"
Nico's eyes widen in realization. Juliette's anger explodes.
"You know who he is."
Her voice is barely audible, more a growl than words, but Nico's face still drops in panic. "I can't-"
"You can't tell me? Wow, what a shocker! Nico di Angelo has a secret everybody! Who's surprised?" Julie looks around the room like she's addressing an audience. Nico scowls at her.
"Juliette, this isn't the time."
"No, you're right, my bad. This isn't important at all."
"There's something bigger going on here that you don't understand."
"Interesting. Maybe that's because you won't fucking tell me."
Nico lets out a grunt of frustration and scrubs his hands against his face. He takes a few deep breaths before looking back up to address her. "Look, I'm sorry. You just need to trust me."
"Why would I-"
"Bad things are happening. The Doors of Death-"
"Are 'being chained as we speak.' Yeah, I know." Julie spits.
Nico falters. He surveys her carefully. "You know? What do you know?"
Julie blinks at him innocently and slips into her best customer service voice. "I'm sorry. That information is 'too important' to share. If you decide to stop being a secret keeping jerkwad, though, let me know and I'll be sure to up your clearance."
Nico glares at her in frustration. "Julie-"
With a roll of her eyes, Juliette swipes through the image and breaks the connection, dousing the room back into silence.
Julie wakes up to a pillow on her face an hour later.
She screams - well, the pillow muffles it, but she tries - and throws her bodyweight upwards. After a moment of thrashing, the pillow is removed, and Julie bends over to gasp in a few breaths. Once she's upright, she looks up to see a scowling Annabeth beside the bed holding the murder weapon.
"What is wrong with you?!" She screeches at the blonde.
Annabeth glares harder. "You. Left. Me. At the Grand Canyon."
Julie shrinks back. There is danger in the daughter of Athena's voice. "Heh...About that-"
Annabeth lunges forward, and Juliette lets out a shriek, scrambling off the bed. She takes off full speed out the door of Cabin 3, vaulting down the stairs. Annabeth is close behind her, screaming curses in Ancient Greek. Julie looks over her shoulder just in time to see a stool sailing towards her face. She screams again and drops to the ground, dodging as more assorted items start becoming projectile weapons.
As she sprints for Cabin 10, she passes the two new campers she hasn't met yet. The boy is pointing at her and Annabeth, laughing so hard there are tears free flowing down his cheeks. The girl is smirking, seemingly enjoying Juliette's punishment via angry-paranoid-girlfriend-Annabeth. Soldier Boy (a.k.a. Jason Grace, apparently) is nowhere to be seen, and Julie could not be more pleased about that. She'd rather not make a fool of herself in front of him twice in one day.
Drew is exiting the Aphrodite cabin just as Julie comes launching up the stairs. She pushes her sister back inside and slams the door behind them, locking it just as Annabeth's fists come into contact with the wood.
"I'll see you at the campfire, Julie!" Annabeth threatens through the door. There's an undertone of amusement to her anger now, though, which pulls a breathless laugh out of Juliette. If nothing else, at least her suffering made Annabeth smile.
Drew looks at her like she's just announced she's going to start wearing leg warmers unironically. "Why is that crazy bitch trying to break into our cabin?"
"Watch your damn language, you asshole." Julie laughs, panting and leaning her head back against the wall.
Drew crosses her arms. "Tell me what is happening or I'm going to tell Mitchell you let the Stolls swap his hair gel for chicken fat."
A very unladylike snort escapes Julie, and she nods her acceptance. She gives Drew the rundown - mostly focused on the "I've been in love with a boy since I was twelve and just kissed him in front of his maybe sorta girlfriend. Oh, and also he doesn't remember me."
She's told this story so many times now, you'd think she'd find a way to make her actions sound less idiotic.
Drew, predictably, laughs so hard she falls on the floor. Julie glares at her flatly.
"Are you done?" She deadpans, sending Drew right into another round of hysterical giggles.
Eventually, the older girl calms down and smirks at Juliette. "Holy Hera, only you could find yourself in this situation."
"Yes, right, thank you for reminding me how ridiculous my life is."
"Oh, boohoo, I didn't say throw yourself a pity party." Drew rolls her eyes. She strides over and pushes Julie over with the ball of her foot, steering her roughly towards the bathroom. "Go fix your makeup. You look disgusting. I'll handle your hair."
She spins around gracefully and snatches up a brush and canister of argan oil. Julie watches her in bemusement. "You think I'm leaving this cabin tonight?" She scoffs. "Yeah, no. Annabeth will actually murder me, and I will not be looking Jason Grace or his beautiful girlfriend in the eyes anytime soon."
Drew lets out a disgusted sigh, spinning around to glare at her little sister. "Do you actually know she's his girlfriend?"
Julie blinks. "Well, no, but-"
"And you said he kissed you back, right?" challenges Drew. Julie stares at her wide eyed for a second.
"Yeah, he did...But-"
"So, there's a boy you've been waiting to see for four years finally sitting within a mile of you right now, and you'd rather sit on your ass in the cabin than do something about it?"
Julie's jaw drops. Drew raises a perfect eyebrow and tosses the brush back on the bed. "Fine! If you want to go back to being Ms. Aphrodite Cabin Reject, I won't stop you. Guess I'll end up Head Counselor after all, because I know Lacy and Mitchell won't forgive you for this."
"Now, hang on-"
"And that prissy new girl will have Jason all to herself." Drew smirks at Julie meanly. "Or maybe I'll take a shot at him."
A weird tightness coils in Juliette's chest. It makes anger spark all the way in her ears. Possessiveness overcomes her, and she shoots off the ground, snatching up the brush from Drew's covers. She slams it back into her sister's hands.
"Just brush." She demands as she heads into the bathroom to wash her face. She hears Drew snort mockingly behind her.
"Make sure to change your clothes too. Honestly, do you pick out your outfits blindfolded?"