Chapter Title: A Strange Woman Knows Who I Am
(A/N: This chapter is lengthened a bit more due to the addition of the new Camp Jupiter demigods to the story.)
As soon as Jason saw the house, he knew he was a dead man. Behind him, both Clara, Alyssa, and Bryce felt something similar. Something about this didn't seem right to them at all.
"Here we are!" Drew said cheerfully. "The Big House, camp headquarters."
It didn't look threatening, just a four-story manor painted baby blue with white trim. The wraparound porch had lounge chairs, a card table, and an empty wheelchair. Wind chimes shaped like nymphs turned into trees as they spun. Jason could imagine old people coming here for summer vacation, sitting on the porch and sipping prune juice while they watched the sunset. Still, the windows seemed to glare down at him like angry eyes. The wide-open doorway looked ready to swallow him. On the highest gable, a bronze eagle weathervane spun in the wind and pointed straight in his direction, as if telling him to turn around.
Either way, Drew's voice made Clara cover her ears. She had it up to here with Drew's voice because she just couldn't stand it all by now. Gods, she found it so annoying. Bryce meanwhile looked like he just wanted Drew to shut up completely now. Alyssa just tried to blur Drew's voice out, but was failing to be honest.
Somehow though, for some unknown reason, every molecule in Jason's, Alyssa's, Bryce's, and Clara's bodies told them that they were on enemy ground.
"I am not supposed to be here," Jason said. The other three just nodded grimly.
Drew circled her arm through Jason's. "Oh, please. You're perfect here, sweetie. Believe me, I've seen a lot of heroes." Alyssa and Clara simply fumed — because Piper was perfect with Jason. They might not have their memories, but both of them felt that Jason deserved to be with Piper more than with Drew. Bryce, for his part, harbored similar sentiments.
Drew smelled like Christmas—a strange combination of pine and nutmeg. Jason wondered if she always smelled like that, or if it was some kind of special perfume for the holidays. Her pink eyeliner was really distracting. Every time she blinked, he felt compelled to look at her. Maybe that was the point, to show off her warm brown eyes. She was pretty. No doubt about that. But she made Jason feel uncomfortable.
He slipped his arm away as gently as he could. "Look, I appreciate—"
"You mean Piper? Um ..."
Jason wasn't sure how to answer. He didn't think he'd ever seen Piper before today, but he felt strangely guilty about it. He knew he shouldn't be in this place. He shouldn't befriend these people, and certainly he shouldn't date one of them. Still ... Piper had been holding his hand when he woke up on that bus. She believed she was his girlfriend. She'd been brave on the skywalk, fighting those venti, and when Jason had caught her in midair and they'd held each other face-to-face, he couldn't pretend he wasn't a little tempted to kiss her. But that wasn't right. He didn't even know his own story. He couldn't play with her emotions like that.
Drew rolled her eyes. "Let me help you decide, sweetie. You can do better. A guy with your looks and obvious talent?"
Clara now stepped in between Drew and Jason. "It's not of your business, honey.." she said firmly. "What Jason wants, he can decide on his own. He doesn't need influences like you corrupting him."
Bryce stepped beside Clara, glaring at Drew who shuddered when looking at him. Jason honestly breathed a sigh of relief. It may not have lessened the apprehension and unease he felt right now, but at least he could count on Bryce, Clara, and Alyssa if need be. At least he had that going for him.
"What is your problem, girl?" Drew shot back at Clara, now annoyed. "This is a conversation between me and him. You don't get to butt in on this. Besides.."
Drew looked at Jason. However, she wasn't looking straight at him, though. Rather, she was staring at a spot right above his head.
"You're waiting for a sign," Jason guessed. "Like what popped over Leo's head."
Clara, Bryce, and Alyssa all sighed in frustration as Drew looked confused. "What? No! Well ... yes. I mean, from what I heard, you're pretty powerful, right? You're going to be important at camp, so I figure your parent will claim you right away. And I'd love to see that. I wanna be with you every step of the way! So is your dad or mom the god? Please tell me it's not your mom. I would hate it if you were an Aphrodite kid."
"Why?"
"Then you'd be my half brother, silly. You can't date somebody from your own cabin. Yuck!"
"At least we agree on that.." Clara muttered, and Drew simply nodded.
"I might dislike you right now, but indeed we do.." she said back.
"But aren't all the gods related?" Jason asked. "So isn't everyone here your cousin or something?"
"That just sounds wrong.." Bryce said.
Drew meanwhile just went on, to Clara's building anger. "Aren't you cute! Sweetie, the godly side of your family doesn't count except for your parent. So anybody from another cabin—they're fair game. So who's your godly parent—mom or dad?"
"We just got here — we have absolutely no clue.." Clara muttered. "Now can you please just shut up? Your voice gets on my nerves."
"Well, don't you have an attitude, missy.." Drew said back. "Seems like you might be from the Ares Cabin."
"Isn't Ares the same guy that Colton dude is a child of..?" Bryce asked.
Drew nodded. "Man.. that would suck.. having to fill his shoes.." Bryce continued. Drew now lowered her voice. "You have no idea how big those shoes are.." she said, being firmly serious with no emotion whatsoever for a moment.
Deep down in Drew's mind though, she at least had a firm gut feeling about where Alyssa and Clara might go. She had her suspicions about Jason, but they were really loose ones at that. Bryce meanwhile — she really could not get a read on him. For all she knew, he could be a Typhon kid.
As usual though, Jason didn't have an answer. He looked up, but no glowing sign popped above his head. At the top of the Big House, the weathervane was still pointing his direction, that bronze eagle glaring as if to say, Turn around, kid, while you still can.
Then he heard footsteps on the front porch. No—not footsteps—hooves.
"Chiron!" Drew called. "This is Jason. He's totally awesome!"
"What are we, chopped liver?" Bryce called out.
Jason backed up so fast he almost tripped, while Bryce, Clara, and Alyssa simply stared stunned in awe at what came up. Rounding the corner of the porch was a man on horseback. Except he wasn't on horseback—he was part of the horse. From the waist up he was human, with curly brown hair and a well-trimmed beard. He wore a T-shirt that said World's Best Centaur, and had a quiver and bow strapped to his back. His head was so high up he had to duck to avoid the porch lights, because from the waist down, he was a white stallion.
Chiron started to smile at the four newcomers. Then the color drained from his face when he looked at Jason, causing him and the other three there to get a very bad feeling.
"You ..." The centaur's eyes flared like a cornered animal's. "You should be dead."
Chiron ordered the newcomers—well, invited, but it sounded like an order—to come inside the house. He told Drew to go back to her cabin, which Drew didn't look happy about. The other three, honestly, were thankful that he did. It was nice to finally get Drew away from Jason for now.
The centaur trotted over to the empty wheelchair on the porch. He slipped off his quiver and bow and backed up to the chair, which opened like a magician's box. Chiron gingerly stepped into it with his back legs and began scrunching himself into a space that should've been much too small. Jason imagined a truck's reversing noises—beep, beep, beep—as the centaur's lower half disappeared and the chair folded up, popping out a set of fake human legs covered in a blanket, so Chiron appeared to be a regular mortal guy in a wheelchair.
"That is so weird.." Bryce muttered. Clara simply nodded along.
"Follow me," Chiron ordered. "We have lemonade."
The living room looked like it had been swallowed by a rain forest. Grapevines curved up the walls and across the ceiling, which Jason found a little strange. He wasn't alone in thinking that though, for Bryce, Clara, and Alyssa felt the same way. Jason also didn't think plants grew like that inside, especially in the winter, but these were leafy green and bursting with bunches of red grapes.
"This place isn't normal, that's for sure.." Alyssa whispered in Bryce's ear, to which Bryce whispered back, "You can say that again."
Leather couches faced a stone fireplace with a crackling fire. Wedged in one corner, an old-style Pac-Man arcade game beeped and blinked. Mounted on the walls was an assortment of masks—smiley/frowny Greek theater types, feathered Mardi Gras masks, Venetian Carnevale masks with big beaklike noses, carved wooden masks from Africa. Grapevines grew through their mouths so they seemed to have leafy tongues. Some had red grapes bulging through their eyeholes.
But the weirdest thing was the stuffed leopard's head above the fireplace. It looked so real, its eyes seemed to follow the newcomers. Then it snarled, and all four of them nearly leaped out of their skin. "Whoa!" Bryce called out.
"Now, Seymour," Chiron chided. "They are all friends. Behave yourself."
"That thing is alive!" Jason said.
Chiron rummaged through the side pocket of his wheelchair and brought out a package of Snausages. He threw one to the leopard, who snapped it up and licked his lips.
"You must excuse the décor," Chiron said. "All this was a parting gift from our old director before he was recalled to Mount Olympus. He thought it would help us to remember him. Mr. D has a strange sense of humor."
"Mr. D," Jason said. "Dionysus?"
"Mmm hmm." Chiron poured lemonade into a glass for each of them, though his hands were trembling a little. "Strange sense of humor, my ass.." Bryce muttered quietly. "That was scary as shit."
"As for Seymour, well.." Chiron continued. "..Mr. D liberated him from a Long Island garage sale. The leopard is Mr. D's sacred animal, you see, and Mr. D was appalled that someone would stuff such a noble creature. He decided to grant it life, on the assumption that life as a mounted head was better than no life at all. I must say it's a kinder fate than Seymour's previous owner got."
Seymour bared his fangs and sniffed the air, as if hunting for more Snausages.
"If he's only a head," Jason said, "where does the food go when he eats?"
"Better not to ask," Chiron said. "Please, sit."
"Fair enough.." Clara muttered, a little bit unnerved by Seymour. To be fair though, all four of them were a little bit unnerved by the one hundred percent real leopard head on the wall. Bryce, in particular, couldn't stop taking glances at it every now and then.
Jason took some lemonade, though his stomach was fluttering. Chiron sat back in his wheelchair and tried for a smile, but Jason could tell it was forced. The old man's eyes were as deep and dark as wells.
Clara wondered why that was.
"So, Jason," he said, "would you mind telling me—ah—where you all are from?"
"I wish I knew." Jason told him the whole story, from waking up on the bus to crash-landing at Camp Half-Blood. He didn't see any point in hiding the details, and Chiron was a good listener. He didn't react to the story, other than to nod encouragingly for more.
When Jason was done, the old man sipped his lemonade. Alyssa honestly found it rather odd how Chiron could be so calm after hearing a story like that. Her best guess, as much as she could gather, was probably that he's seen much weirder things here than his appearance would suggest. She had really no idea how close to the truth she even was.
"I see," Chiron said. "And you all must have questions for me."
"Only one for me," Jason admitted. "What did you mean when you said that I should be dead?"
"Yeah.." Clara added. "What exactly did you mean by that?"
Chiron studied Jason with concern, as if he expected him to burst into flames. "My boy, do you or your friends know what those marks on your arm mean? The color of your shirt? Do you remember anything?"
All four of them looked at the tattoo on their forearms: SPQR, the eagle, and a varying number of straight lines for each of them.
"No," he said. "Nothing." Alyssa, Bryce, and Clara all shrugged their heads as well.
"Do you know where you are?" Chiron asked. "Do you understand what this place is, and who I am?"
"You're Chiron the centaur," Jason said. "I'm guessing you're the same one from the old stories, who used to train the Greek heroes like Heracles. This is a camp for demigods, children of the Olympian gods." The other three simply nodded along, as they could all see that too for some reason. None of them knew why.
"So you believe those gods still exist?"
"Yes, we all do," Jason said immediately. "I mean, I don't think we should worship them or sacrifice chickens to them or anything, but they're still around because they're a powerful part of civilization. They move from country to country as the center of power shifts—like they moved from Ancient Greece to Rome."
I couldn't have said it better." Something about Chiron's voice had changed. "So you already know the gods are real. You all have already been claimed, haven't you?"
"Maybe," Jason answered. "I'm not really sure. None of us are really."
Seymour the leopard snarled, causing Bryce to jump. "Can somebody tell that leopard to chill bro, what is its problem?!" he exclaimed.
Chiron waited, and Jason realized what had just happened. The centaur had switched to another language and Jason had understood, automatically answering in the same tongue.
"Quis erat—" Jason faltered, then made a conscious effort to speak English. "What was that?"
"You know Latin," Chiron observed. "I don't believe it is much of a stretch to say that your friends do as well. Most demigods recognize a few phrases, of course. It's in their blood, but not as much as Ancient Greek. None can speak Latin fluently without practice."
All four of them tried — key word here being 'tried' — to wrap their minds around what that meant, but too many pieces were missing from their memories. They all still had the uneasy feeling that they shouldn't be here at all. It was wrong—and dangerous. But at least Chiron wasn't threatening. In fact the centaur seemed concerned for them, afraid for their safety — more so Jason in particular. Clara had to admit, at least this was a positive.
The fire reflected in Chiron's eyes, making them dance fretfully. "I taught your namesake, you know, the original Jason. He had a hard path. I've seen many heroes come and go. Occasionally, they have happy endings. Mostly, they don't. It breaks my heart, like losing a child each time one of my pupils dies. But you—you all are not like any pupil I've ever taught. Your presences here could be a disaster."
"Thanks," Jason said. "You must be an inspiring teacher."
"I am sorry, my boy. But it's true. I had hoped that after Percy and Colton's successes—"
"Percy Jackson and Colton Reynolds, you mean. Annabeth's and Kayla's boyfriends respectively, two of the ones who are missing."
Chiron nodded. "I hoped that after they had succeeded in the Titan War and saved Mount Olympus, we might have some peace. I might be able to enjoy one final triumph, a happy ending, and perhaps retire quietly. I should have known better — as reality soon showed otherwise. The last chapter approaches, just as it did before. The worst is yet to come."
In the corner, the arcade game made a sad pew-pew-pew-pew sound, like a Pac-Man had just died. It didn't help the tension all four of the newcomers felt there at all. In fact, it might as well have made it worse. Alyssa looked like she was trembling a bit now.
"Ohh-kay," Jason said. "So—last chapter, happened before, worst yet to come. Sounds fun, but can we go back to the part where I'm supposed to be dead? I don't like that part."
"Yeah.. why is Jason supposed to be dead?" Bryce asked. "What's that all about?"
"I'm afraid I can't explain, my boy. I swore on the River Styx and on all things sacred that I would never ..." Chiron frowned. "But you're here, in violation of the same oath. That too, should not be possible. I don't understand. Who would've done such a thing? Who—"
Seymour the leopard howled. His mouth froze, half open. The arcade game stopped beeping. The fire stopped crackling, its flames hardening like red glass. The masks stared down silently at the four newcomers with their grotesque grape eyes and leafy tongues.
"What the fuck?" Bryce shouted, getting up from his seat. "What the hell is going on?" He reached into his pocket and somehow, despite all logic, pulled a long sword out of it.
"Ask me if I know!" Clara shouted. "This place is going crazy!"
Clara reached into her pocket, and pulled out a pencil with what seemed like a small lever on it. She flicked the lever, and the pencil turned into a long spear.
Alyssa trembled in fear a little, but she shrugged it off and simply flicked her hair and out of it transforming from her yellow headband she was wearing came a knife. She grabbed it and held it defiantly.
"Chiron?" Jason asked. "What's going—"
The old centaur had frozen, too. Jason jumped off the couch, but Chiron kept staring at the same spot, his mouth open mid-sentence. His eyes didn't blink. His chest didn't move.
Jason, Clara, Alyssa, Bryce, a voice said.
For a horrible moment, Jason thought the leopard had spoken. Then dark mist boiled out of Seymour's mouth.
"What the fuck is that?" Bryce asked panicking.
An even worse thought now occurred to Jason: storm spirits.
He grabbed the golden coin from his pocket. With a quick flip, it changed into a sword.
The mist took the form of a woman in black robes. Her face was hooded, but her eyes glowed in the darkness. Over her shoulders she wore a goatskin cloak. The four newcomers stared at her, not sure what to expect. None of them were even sure how each of them even knew it was goatskin, but they all recognized it and knew it was important.
Would you all attack your patron? the woman chided. Her voice echoed in Jason's head. Lower your weapons.
"Who are you?" Jason demanded. "How did you—"
Our time is limited, Jason. My prison grows stronger by the hour. It took me a full month to gather enough energy to work even the smallest magic through its bonds. I've managed to bring you here, but now I have little time left, and even less power. This may be the last time I can speak to you, the woman said to them.
"The hell..?" Bryce asked, confused.
"You're in prison?" Jason decided maybe he wouldn't lower his sword. "Look, I don't know you, and you're not my patron."
You know me, she insisted. I have known you since your birth.
"She knows you from birth?" Clara asked, looking at Jason confused. Bryce and Alyssa did as well.
Jason thought this woman was crazy at this point. "I don't remember. I don't remember anything."
No, you don't, she agreed.
"None of us remember anything either.." Alyssa added. "So if you knew him, why bring us?"
That and you losing your memories for now also was necessary, dear child, the woman said as she turned to Alyssa. Should things work, you will eventually see why it was necessary in the first place.
The woman now turned back to Jason. Long ago, your father gave me your life as a gift to placate my anger. He named you Jason, after my favorite mortal. You belong to me.
"Whoa," Jason said. "I don't belong to anyone."
Now is the time to pay your debt, she said. Work with him, friends. Now is the time to pay your debt, she said. Find my prison. Free me, or their king will rise from the earth, and I will be destroyed. You will never retrieve your memories should that happen.
"Is that a threat? You took our memories?" Jason asked.
"Yeah, what the hell lady?" Bryce hollered.
You have until sunset on the solstice, Jason. Four short days. Do not fail me.
The dark woman now dissolved, and the mist curled into the leopard's mouth.
Time unfroze. Seymour's howl turned into a cough like he'd sucked in a hair ball. The fire crackled to life, the arcade machine beeped, and Chiron said, "—would dare to bring you here?"
The four of them all stared at him, weapons drawn, wondering what the hell just happened.
"Probably the lady in the mist," Jason offered.
Chiron looked up in surprise. "Weren't you just sitting ... why do you all have weapons drawn now?"
"I hate to tell you this," Jason said, "but I think your leopard just ate a goddess."
He told Chiron about the frozen-in-time visit, the dark misty figure that disappeared into Seymour's mouth.
"Oh, dear," Chiron murmured. "That does explain a lot."
"Then why don't you explain a lot to me?" Jason said. "Please."
"Yeah.. anything to understand all of that.." Clara muttered.
Before Chiron could say anything, footsteps reverberated on the porch outside. The front door blew open, and Annabeth and another girl, a redhead, burst in, dragging Piper between them. Kayla walked in behind them, looking on in horror. Alyssa screamed, while Bryce and Clara's mouths dropped open at the sight.
Piper's head lolled like she was unconscious.
"What happened?" Jason rushed over. "What's wrong with her?"
"Hera's cabin," Annabeth gasped, like they'd run all the way. "Vision. Bad." Clara and Alyssa rushed over to help Piper.
The redheaded girl looked up, and Jason saw that she'd been crying.
(** Monster King Cameo Theme starts playing **)
At this point, Bryce felt like someone was watching him. He turned his head towards the window in the direction he thought that someone was looking at him from, and for the second time today for him, time just stopped.
Gazing upon him from a tree across the clearing from the building he was in was a figure that didn't really look normal. In fact, Bryce felt such a strong aura from it that it made the definitely inhuman thing in his opinion staring at him probably the scariest thing Bryce had ever seen in his life.
The figure was completely black, with white eyes, and was about as tall as Jason if not more. The way the eyes seemed to stare at him, those completely white orbs without any trace of a normal eye's parts present in them for the most part — unblinking, it definitely creeped him completely out. Bryce felt completely frozen with fear just gazing upon on it.
And then there was that peculiar crown on top of it that only added further fear to what he was feeling. It was definitely familiar like he had seen it before or at least heard it before, he just couldn't remember how or where. Maybe that strange lady had the answer with his memories in her clutches. Bryce had no idea.
Then, he blinked.
(** Music ends **)
When Bryce opened his eyes, the figure was gone. He blinked again, confused as hell now.
"I think ..." The redheaded girl gulped. "I think I may have killed her." This confirmed to Bryce that time had also resumed, as he had been keenly aware that time had stopped even while frozen with fear.
Bryce turned from the window to Piper, wondering exactly who or what was that out there. Although he didn't know it yet, he along with Piper and Leo as well as Jason, Alyssa, Clara, Chiron, and the other demigods and people here at Camp Half Blood, except for a certain few who knew the truth, would find out all too soon. Bryce would be the first to find out, at least partially, before the next day dawned.