It is so like a nymph to open a magic portal that just leads straight into a drainage pipe.
Is that insensitive? Sorry, if it is, Julie's feeling a little combative right now. Almost being murdered tends to put her in a grouchy mood.
She leads the way down the damp stone chute, following its twists and turns with an urgency that seems to be exhausting her friends behind her. Juliette ignores their suggestions that she take a breather. Yes, Piper, Julie knows she "Just nearly drowned to death," thanks for reminding her. Now, they'd better pick up the pace, or Juliette will leave them all behind.
When the chute opens up into a larger corridor, she hops out of it to the ground below and starts off at a jog without even pausing. She hears the group hiss their annoyance behind her, but doesn't slow down, darting down the hallway towards the vague clanking sounds that are coming from beyond the next bend in the wall.
Gods, she's so close. He must be in just the next room over. Nico, please be alive. Please still be hanging in there. She's going to get there in time.
Just as she's about to round the corner, Percy finally catches up and snatches her arm, pulling her back roughly with a glare. "Hey, Quicksilver, maybe slow down so you don't get us immediately caught," He hisses quietly. Juliette opens her mouth to retort, but he shushes her and peeks his head around the bend in the corridor. Julie watches his eyebrows shoot up in bewilderment. "What the...?"
Piper steps up behind them to look too. "What is it?"
Intrigued, Jason crowds up to them to peak around as well. His jaw drops. "What the heck?"
Inside the vast parking garage-looking area are countless whirring machines of celestial bronze. Their large gears clank and shoot steam, raising up crudely painted lifesized cutouts of gladiators, monsters, and gods through the ceiling above. Stacked in cages all around the perimeter of the space, various exotic animals lay about sadly. Zebras stand staring out at nothing through the bars, lions pace back and forth and paw uselessly at the locks on the gates. Juliette's heart bleeds for them, but her attention is pulled to the center of the space almost immediately.
On a dais at the other end of the room, nestled between two oversized, gaudy thrones, is an enormous bronze jar.
Juliette knows a trap when she sees one. That doesn't always stop her, though. With a strangled cry, Juliette leaps out from the corridor and takes to the air. She makes it about halfway to the jar before a platform lowers in her path, and she's forced to dodge the sweeping of a stop sign sized club.
She beats her wings furiously to screech to a stop and finds herself hovering before what's actually the smallest giant she's seen thus far, with purple braids decorated with silver and gold coins. Granted, it's hard to be impressive when the first one Julie ever saw was the "King of Giants," but still. Although, Julie knows better than to underestimate someone just cause they're short. She bares her teeth and hisses, talons raised for combat as the giant's eyes sparkle at her in awe.
"A cordolium! Gaea wasn't kidding! Otis, come see this!" The giant, Ephialtes apparently, calls out.
Julie senses her friends stepping up to join her in this face off. She keeps her eyes locked onto the enemy as a panel in the floor a couple yards away slides open, and a slightly larger giant climbs out. She does a double take. He's maybe 20 feet tall and wearing a ballerina tutu and tiara.
Juliette does not have the energy to be confused. She just hisses at him too.
"Gods and Titans!" Ephialtes yelps. "What are you wearing?"
Otis shrugs. "I didn't want to wear the gladiator outfit."
"It's showtime! What were you thinking?"
"I still think ballet would be perfect, you know, while Armageddon is going on. I have some extra costumes-"
"No!" Ephialtes snaps. He takes a deep breath to collect himself and turns back to address their group with a forced smile. "Please excuse my brother. His stage presence is awful, and he has no sense of style."
"Right," Percy deadpans. "Now, we're here, okay? You got us. Congrats. So, let our friend go."
Juliette emphasizes his command by arching her back like a cat, letting foul smelling venom start to drip from her fangs in warning. Otis and Ephialtes just gasp in delight.
"Would you look at that?" marvels Ephialtes.
"Very scary," Otis nods.
"And beautiful as a human to boot. My dear, have you ever considered a career as a performer? We offer benefits like free boarding and dental, although those stunning fangs of yours don't seem to need any kind of maintenance-"
Juliette loses her patience and lets out an earsplitting roar. Both giants squeeze their eyes shut and clap their hands over their ears. Juliette uses the momentary distraction to kick off the air at a blurring speed and rounds their little blockade. Without slowing down, she spins a barrel roll and allows herself to collide painfully with the side of the jar.
It tips over, the lid tumbling off with a crash, and Nico di Angelo comes spilling out onto the floor.
Julie shakes off the little harpies encircling her head, snatches his limp form into her talons, and takes off for a nice, secluded little island of boxes a hundred yards away. Maybe it's some jacked up nesting instinct cause she's still transformed, but Juliette flies all the way to the top of the pile of crates before coming in for a landing about 80 feet above the ground. She removes her transformation and slings off her backpack, hands trembling.
Turning Nico over, it takes everything in her not to burst into tears.
He's gaunt like a corpse. His skin is pale and pasty, jaundiced and stretched tightly over prominent, pointed bones. There are scabbed over scratches all down his face, and he's taller than when she last saw him. That clearly didn't do him any favors inside that jar. Every vein Juliette can see is far too dark. Swallowing down her fear, Julie reaches forward to press two fingers into Nico's neck.
Faint, but present, his pulse against her hand finally breaks her composure. Juliette erupts into hysteria and collapses on top of her friend to sob into his chest. He smells terrible - like BO, blood, and stale morning breath, but his heart is beating against her forehead and she doesn't hear any catches in his lungs when he breathes in.
Juliette can hear Jason, Piper, and Percy's voices raising in volume back by the door, Otis and Ephialtes' answering in kind. She lets them melt into background noise. Get it together, Aster.
Be a doctor right now, not a hero.
Sniffling back her tears, Julie pulls away from Nico and reaches for her bag. She can assume she's treating him for carbon dioxide poisoning, along with starvation and dehydration. Those pomegranate seeds may have kept him alive (shout out to Persephone - Julie'll be sacrificing every dessert to her for a month after this), but his body will feel the effects of the damage as soon as their magic wears off. Juliette needs to get ahead of the game before that happens.
She uncaps a serving of nectar and pours it between Nico's cracked lips, holding his nose to ensure he gets it down. Two swallows in, he starts to cough, and Julie pulls the bottle away as his brown eyes blink open in confusion. He focuses them after a second of struggle, and his mouth drops open in surprise.
"Juliette?"
His voice is rough, riddled with cracks from disuse and a little deeper than the last time they spoke. It makes her emotional again. She lunges forward, snatches his cheeks between her palms, and presses a flurry of unmerciful butterfly kisses all around his face.
Nico yelps in surprise and tries to squirm away. He is unsuccessful. "What are you doing?" He whines.
Juliette just presses one more comically loud smooch to the space between his eyebrows and pulls back with a dazzling smile. "Punishing you. With affection. Don't you ever do that to me again, Nico di Angelo. You scared me half to death."
She points a finger at his nose for good measure, and he goes cross eyed looking at it. Julie can't keep the grin off her face. She shoves the rest of the nectar into his hands. "Now, keep drinking. I need to look you over. Are you hurt?"
Nico shakes his head, but accepts the nectar and starts chugging. Regardless of what he claims, Juliette puts a hand on his shoulder to keep him lying down and lifts up his shirt by the bottom hem.
All the sound in the room starts to buzz like TV static.
If she thought his face looked thin, his torso is downright skeletal. All of his ribs are easily countable, poking through the skin of his chest so prominently that it looks painful. She can see every indentation in the surface of his sternum. What little muscle Nico did have before this is nowhere to be found, his body having consumed it during what must have been not days, but weeks of little to no food.
Juliette's eyes are glued to his chest, to the dark purple and black bruises forming there just from her talons pressing against his iron deficient blood vessels as she carried him. It's hitting her now - just how close this boy was to death.
It had been a matter of hours.
Eventually, Nico shifts uncomfortably under her scrutiny, and Juliette tears her eyes from the gruesome sight. She tries to shake away the nauseous feeling in her stomach, digging around in her bag until she finds the roll of bandages she brought along.
"I'm going to wrap these on your joints, okay? To give them some support because we're probably going to have to run soon. Do you think you can move?"
Nico nods, but Juliette knows that hesitant gleam in his eye. He's hurting more than he'll let on. He's going to be a passenger for her or Jason for sure. She doesn't humiliate him by stating as such out loud, but makes a mental note to be gentler the next time she has to lift him for flight as she finishes tucking in the padding around his knees and with a nod.
"Wait here. Nibble on some ambrosia, but only a half a serving so you'll keep it down. There's water in the front pocket. Drink slowly."
Nico looks a bit afraid as she rocks back on her heels to stand up. He reaches out and catches her hand, mouth open, but no words escape him.
She softens and squeezes his hand. "I'll be right back. I promise."
He doesn't seem distrustful, just scared. He lets go of her, though, and Juliette flashes him a soothing smile before stepping backwards off the top of the crates and allowing that anger - that rage that's been building in her chest - to explode.
Percy could probably catch flies with how wide his mouth is hanging open right now.
He's seen a lot of horrifying things in his life. He's watched an army of monsters descend on Manhattan like a tidal wave of destruction. He's seen a man made of earth have limbs severed from his body and regrow them without breaking a sweat. He's seen Grover go to town on a pan of spinach enchiladas.
None of those quite compare to watching his baby sister descend from the sky to projectile vomit purple venom down on their enemies.
He was expecting a fight. From the weapons hanging loosely from Jason and Piper's fists as they also watch Juliette brutally melt the two giants they were just talking to into smoking puddles of dust and mud, they were as well.
"Should we...?" Jason mumbles, eyes the size of dinner plates.
A startled laugh pops from Percy's chest. He blinks rapidly at the sight, torn between pride and horror as he watches the giants start to reform just to be stomped over and over again back into dust by a clawed wyvern foot. Juliette raises her head up and lets out a roar that shakes all of the chains in the room as she dances back and forth between the two piles of giant-remains like she's playing a game of Whack-A-Mole. "I'm not going anywhere near her right now," He says shakily.
"Well, this isn't what I was expecting," comments a voice from behind them.
Percy almost groans. He turns around to find Mr. D - wait, no, Mr. B standing behind them holding a pineapple with a little umbrella in it. Bacchus takes a sip from his swirly straw and watches Juliette hiss and spit as she jumps up and down on the reforming giants.
"That was a decent enough offering with the Diet coke and the ship, I guess. You kids still need help?"
Piper, Jason, and Percy blink at the god. Then, they look over to the active murder scene across the room.
"You could..." Piper starts, scratching the back of her head dazedly. "I guess, finish them off?"
Bacchus grins as Juliette lifts up the half formed head of Otis and shakes it like a dog toy as the giant screams. "I could do that," He agrees.
He takes another sip. A loud one. Percy frowns.
"Are you gonna do it?" He snips.
Bacchus shrugs. "Kid looks like she's having fun. No point in butting in just yet."
"No, NO PLEA-AAAAAHHGGGHHH!"
Juliette's hissing cuts off Ephialtes' screams. A wave of monster dust hits them all in the face.
Holy crap, this is going to give him nightmares. Man, Percy's so proud of that kid.
Jason is turning green to his right. Percy smirks at him and decides this might be a good time to kill two birds with one stone.
Or, maybe three birds.
Or, he guesses they're saving Nico too, so it could technically be four birds.
Why are they killing birds in that expression, anyway? What kind of sociopath came up with that? It was probably Ares. Sounds like Ares.
Anyway, Percy crosses his arms and catches Jason's eye, nodding at where his sister has now snagged Otis' half formed body by the ankle and is swinging him in a circle like a shot put.
"I'd give you a shovel talk, man, but-" Otis goes flying, screaming. He crashes and explodes into dust against the wall directly above where they're standing. Piper yelps as they all duck. Then, Percy clears his throat and continues as if there were no interruption, despite Jason now looking like he's going to faint. "If you screw up, I think she'll have it covered."
Percy sure hopes the mighty son of Jupiter brought extra tighty whities. He looks like he might have just dropped a log.
At their feet, Otis starts to reform. Bacchus sighs in annoyance and walks to stand over the giant's head. "Alright, here you go. One divine favor," He grumbles.
Bacchus tips over his pineapple. Shining gold nectar spills out of it and into Otis' eyes. The giant screams "NOT JALAPENO!" and crumbles back into dust for the final time. The god drops the pineapple onto the pile and turns towards Jules and her remaining victim.
"I'll go take care of the other one too, I guess," He sighs, brushing what looks to be Dorito dust off his purple robes.
They watch the god lumber over to interrupt Jules where she's smashing Ephialtes against the bronze jar over and over again. Bacchus clears his throat. Juliette pauses, glances at him, seems to understand what his impatient body language means, and sits like a dog, dropping the giant obediently at Mr. B's feet. Bacchus summons his pinecone tipped staff. Because of the state he's already in, one bonk on the forehead is enough to send the anti-Dionysus back to Tartarus for good.
Mr. B looks up at Juliette, flashes her a 'rock and roll' symbol, and vanishes into purple smoke.
Percy laughs. Loudly. Continuously. Juliette turns towards the sound and tilts her head all innocently - like she didn't just gleefully dismember her best friend's kidnappers over and over again for ten minutes. The gesture reminds him of Mrs. O'Leary and makes him laugh even harder.
Gods, if this hasn't been the strangest year of his life. And, that's saying something.
Just as Percy starts to get ahold of himself, the room rumbles. Piper and Jason gasp. Juliette takes a flying leap to stand over them protectively as the ceiling starts lifting open like a sunroof. The floor beneath their feet starts to lift up, and they're all momentarily blinded by the sun as they find themselves standing in the center of an arena.
Not just any arena. The Coliseum. Encircled by the deafening roars of a cheering audience.
For a second they are, anyway. Fairly quickly, those cheers start dying off into grunts of confusion. Probably as they notice the two piles of monster dust - one covered in coins and the other holding a tiara. The crowd slumps in disappointment. Then, they start to stand and stomp out of the aisles in an orderly fashion.
Piper and Jason make bewildered eye contact with Percy. He shrugs.
"I'm so confused. Are you guys confused?"
They nod.
"Thank gods, it's not just me."
Juliette shrinks back down into herself. She sways dangerously, and Jason jumps forward to catch her around the waist. "Did I get them?" She mumbles.
Jason snorts. "Yeah, Rosa, I'd say you got them."
Who the Hades is Rosa? Did Jason forget her name, or something?
Jules nods. "Okay. Cool."
Without another word, her eyes roll into the back of her head, and Juliette teeters over. Jason sweeps the unconscious girl into his arms and gives Percy a relieved smile, which he returns with a nod.
They turn to survey the arena.
"Hey, Nico?! You alive somewhere?!" Percy calls out.
There's a rustling sound above them. The three of them look up just as a pale hand pokes out from the top of what has to be an 80 foot pile of metal crates a little ways away. "Yeah," Nico croaks out. "Now, come get me down."
Juliette wakes up on the ship, laying on a cot beside the helm. Her eyes are only open for about two seconds before she has an armful of Hazel Levesque.
"Thank you!" The girl sobs into Julie's shoulder.
Frank winces, reaching forward to gently pry Hazel off of her. "Haz, she just woke up. Let's let her get some ambrosia down before we do hugs."
Juliette chuckles as Hazel turns to keep sobbing into Frank's chest instead, making him go wide eyed and red cheeked as he doesn't seem to know where to place his hands. He decides on Hazel's shoulders and peers down at Julie with a worried smile.
"How are you feeling?" He asks.
Stretching out her sore muscles, Julie grimaces as all of her joints crackle and pop. "Tired," She sighs.
Her eyes scan the room and land on Nico talking lowly with Percy and Jason a few feet away. Her heart pitter patters. All three of her favorite people finally all in one place. Safe. It's almost too good to be true.
She pushes herself to her knees to stand up. Frank yelps as she starts immediately toppling over. He lunges out to steady her. "Woah, there. Slow down, there's no need rush it-"
"Eat this," Hazel demands. Wiping her wet cheeks on her sleeve, she reaches over to pick up a sad looking slab of ambrosia ready to go on a paper plate.
Julie shakes her head. "I'm good, guys, just a bit sleepy-"
"Eat it."
"Hazel, I'm fine-"
"So help me, Juliette Aster, if you say another word, I'm going to fill your mattress with diamonds," Hazel warns. Julie opens her mouth to retort that that hardly sounds like a threat, but Hazel puts a finger up to silence her. "Not the spendable kind."
Fine. Julie huffs and accepts the plate, wolfing down the ambrosia as fast as possible so she can get out of this stupid hospital bed. Hazel nods in approval when she drops the empty plate into her lap and reaches out a hand to help Juliette to her feet. The two of them walk carefully over to the other makeshift bed, and the boys talking there all look over abruptly.
"Jules!" Percy cheers, darting over to give her a hug. He takes over supporting her and leads her to Nico's bedside.
She immediately drops to her knees beside him. His face is covered in bandaids - the happy, summer themed ones with big, smiling suns on them. His cheekbones are still unnervingly prominent, but there's a little more color to his skin, and his eyes are open and alert. She gives him a tearful smile.
"How are you?" Julie asks, voice quavering.
Nico frowns. There's a piercing edge to his gaze as he studies her, one that makes Juliette start questioning if she did something wrong. He sighs and rolls his eyes, then reaches out to take her hand and give it a weak little squeeze. "Thank you. I'd given up hope."
Yeah, that's all it takes to make her start bawling again. He huffs a laugh as she collapses into a sobbing heap, curled into a ball at his side. Nico pats her back obligingly as she, probably very grossly, buries her snotty, teary face into his chest and snuggles into him like he's an oversized teddy bear.
"I-You-I thought-I'm so-I was-"
"I have no idea what you're saying," Nico says flatly. Juliette snorts in her snot like a pig, at this point just a big ball of mucus and relief, and he tugs affectionately at the end of her braid before looking back up at Percy and Jason's amused expressions. "The Greek side of the Doors is in the House of Hades. It's an underground temple in Epirus."
Percy shifts somewhere to Juliette's left. "And the...the other side?"
Nico goes rigid. Julie stops crying, lifting her head off of his chest to look at him over the scarlet eruption of terror that just came pouring out around her. That ghostly complexion is back. His eyes are wide, staring ahead at nothing. Or maybe at things nobody else can see.
Julie holds onto him tighter and tugs on his fear. Even as she draws it into her reserves, the level never depletes. Nico's muscles don't unclench. "It's...In the Underworld, the Doors of Death are in-in..."
His fear feels poisonous. The longer Julie's in contact with it, the more it stings her skin. It isn't making her feel any stronger to absorb. In reality, it's taking effort to pull any from him at all. It's like it's buried into his mind like roofing nails.
"In Tartarus," Percy finishes for him.
Nico looks up at him, his face a mix of terror and relief at not having to say it out loud. He nods. "They pulled me into the Pit, Percy. The things I saw down there..."
He shudders. Julie glances to the side and sees Hazel kneeling beside her brother, appearing just as concerned as Juliette is. The daughter of Pluto takes over his explanation, back straightened in Roman formality.
"No mortal has ever been to Tartarus," She tells them. "At least, no one has ever gone in and returned alive. It's the maximum security prison of Hades, where all of the Titans and old enemies of the gods are held. It's where all monsters go when they die. It's...well, no one really knows what it's like."
Except Nico.
Julie turns to her friend with a newfound respect. She'd always known he was powerful. But this?
Hazel seems to be on the same page. She reaches over and presses Nico's black sword into his hand with a solemn nod. He swallows, his fear dimming, and accepts the blade.
"Now, I understand why my father hasn't been able to close the Doors himself. Even the gods don't go in there. Even Thanatos would never set foot in the Pit."
From over by the wheel, Leo lets out a low whistle. "So, let me guess. We'll have to go there."
Nico's face darkens further. He shakes his head. "No. It's impossible. I'm the son of Hades, and even I barely made it out alive. Gaea's forces overwhelmed me instantly. They're so powerful down there..." Something haunting passes over his face, and Juliette shivers. "No demigod stands a chance. I almost went insane."
Julie exchanges a look with Hazel. She sees her own fear reflected back at her.
Fear that, maybe, not all of Nico really made it out alive after all.
Percy runs a heavy hand down his face, exhaustion evident in the slump of his shoulders. "Then, we'll sail for Epirus. Close the Doors on our side."
"I wish it were that easy," Nico says darkly. "The Doors would have to be controlled from both ends. Even if we managed it from here, we'd need a team fighting simultaneously at the Tartarus side for closing them to work. A team powerful enough to defeat a legion of monsters in their home territory."
"There has to be a way," Jason says firmly. Julie glances back at him.
Nobody offers up any ideas.
Juliette purses her lips. "That's a problem for another day," She decides. "Right now, we need to go pick up Annabeth and get the Hades out of here."
Percy nods and turns to Leo. "Are we at the Emmanuel Building?"
"Indeed, good sir. What now?"
Percy turns to Coach Hedge. "You still got the ammo for those ballistae?"
Julie's never seen a satyr look so carnivorous.
Ever seen a glass of water tip off the edge of a table?
There's that moment where everything feels like it's in slow motion while your reflexes kick in, but in the end there's nothing you can do. You just watch it fall and shatter on the floorboards.
Percy's shoulder is definitely dislocated. He won't be holding onto that ledge for much longer. Juliette leans desperately over the edge of the chasm, reaching for him, but Hazel's arms are around her waist to tug her back.
"Hang on!" She screams. "I'll fly you out!"
Annabeth shakes her head, tears streaming down her face. "You can't, Julie. The winds will just pull you in too-"
"I'll get you out!" Julie insists. She shrieks, fighting tooth and nail to break out of Hazel's grasp, but she's still weak from her last battle, and her friend is stronger than she looks.
She's looking down at her family right now. The first two mortals who ever cared about her at all. All of this - this entire quest - it all started to bring Percy home with her. To get him back. And now, just as everyone is together again, she's going to lose him? She cannot accept that. She can't.
"Let me go, Percy," She hears Annabeth gasp from below. "You can't pull me up."
Percy's head snaps down like she'd just cursed at him, fury in his eyes. "Never."
There's a glow around him. It's pink and pulsing with gold. As Annabeth lets out a sob and smiles up at him from where she's dangling, it spreads around her too, and Juliette struggles harder. There's barely fifteen feet between them. A fifteen foot gap that's about to separate her family forever.
Percy looks back up, terrified green eyes finding Nico. His fingers start to slip, and he grimaces with the effort to keep them both hanging from the ledge. "The other side, Nico! We'll see you there. Understand?"
Nico is weeping, blunt fingernails scraping at the edge of the chasm as he desperately tries to reach down lower. Lower. He shakes his head, "But-"
"Lead them there!" Percy shouts. "Promise me!"
Nico sobs, dry and choked. He hasn't blinked since Annabeth fell.
Juliette screams again, flailing her arms back to ram her elbows into Hazel's gut. Either she's really that weak, or Hazel is that determined, because her captor doesn't even flinch.
Percy lets out a sound between a sob and a laugh as he watches her struggle. He shakes his head at her. "It's okay, Jules. I'll be okay."
A painful wail escapes Julie's throat. Tears fall down her big brother's cheeks. He laughs again, and it makes her want to punch him. At least if she's punching him, he'll be close enough to reach again. He won't be so far away. Fifteen feet that's about to change her life.
Percy looks back at Nico again, a plea in his eyes as his fingers start to tremble on the rickety ledge. "Keep her alive for me?" He asks.
The question is quiet and guilty. The vulnerability in the both of their eyes shows they understand the irony of what Percy just asked him. There's a flash of bitterness across Nico's face, but Julie lets out another heartbroken sob, and the son of Hades nods.
"I-I will. I promise."
Fresh tears spill down Percy's face. He gives Nico a grateful nod. Then, he looks down at Annabeth.
"We're staying together. You're not getting away from me. Never again."
Annabeth shakes her head, the aura around her growing even brighter. Blindingly bright. "As long as we're together."
With one more glance at Juliette, one more cheeky, sarcastic smile that has been the most stable thing in her life since she was ten years old, Percy Jackson lets go.
And, they both plummet into Tartarus.
Julie knows what you're thinking.
Wow. So sad. She must be kicking and screaming and carrying on for all to hear.
You'd be right, but she's also a smart person (if she does say so herself). So, she's doing all of that while also stealing the unsoiled Ace bandages off of Nico's limbs and stuffing them into her backpack.
"What are you doing?" He asks her. Hazel looks between them with wide eyes, probably wondering if this latest tragedy has finally made Julie crack.
She ignores them, not even bothering to wind the strips before shoving them into the largest pocket and leaning closer to the edge.
The room rumbles, the ceiling raining down even more debris and dust and making Juliette lose her balance. Nico lunges forward to snag her arm before she can topple over the edge into the pit just as Frank drops in beside them. He looks at their shellshocked expressions and pales.
"What happened?" He asks in dread.
Before anyone can respond, the room shakes again and chunks of concrete come slamming to the floor beside where they're sitting.
"We have to go!" Hazel shouts.
Juliette shakes her head, fighting with Nico as he drags her away. "Let me go! I need to give this to them!"
"What are you talking about?! We're about to get crushed!" Nico screams back at her. With an aggravated grunt, he glares up at Frank. "Take Hazel! We'll be right behind you."
Frank does not look pleased, but, even skinny and tired, Nico can be very persuasive when he brings out the scary voice. With a reluctant nod, he scoops up Hazel as a giant eagle and takes back to the sky. Julie tugs her arm out of Nico's grasp and sprints back to the edge of the pit.
As soon as she's within throwing range, she flings out her arm and tosses her heavy, lavender and smiley-face backpack over the edge and into the chasm below. It's good timing, too. Immediately after it disappears into the pit, a bus sized slab of concrete slams into what remains of the floor, sending cracks all along where she and Nico are still standing.
Just as the structure starts to give way, a strong arm loops around her waist, and Juliette is hoisted into the air to safety. She gasps and looks over, clinging to Jason's shoulders as he frowns in concentration, holding tight to both her and Nico as he dodges falling debris.
Piper and Hedge are hanging out of the ship, ready to receive. Jason launches his passengers at them, and Piper's attempt at catching her ends in them both flat on the deck of the Argo II and groaning. Hedge seems to have better luck. He's cradling Nico like a princess.
Jason crash lands beside them and looks up at the control room, shouting frantically.
"GO, GO, GO!"
"Where are Percy and Annabeth?!" Leo yells down.
Julie's face must tell the story. Jason looks at her, and his own becomes pained. He whirls back to respond. "Just go!"
Leo pales, but does as he says, raising the ship out of the broken down parking garage and gunning it for the clouds.
She spends a while patching people up. It's easy work. No one is too badly hurt. No one is trying to get her to speak anymore, either.
She ends up requiring Nico to sleep in the med bay for a while. He doesn't have a cabin, anyway. Earlier, Leo offered him Percy's, and Nico looked like he was going to be sick.
Since he's asleep in the infirmary, Juliette ends up in the dining hall. She doesn't want to go outside. Everyone decided as a group to stick to flying from now on. They don't have Percy to help them through the oceans anymore. Aside from one brief paddle-boat trip to Canada, no one has any experience with sailing, either. Most of the Argo's sail settings are automated, so they won't need to worry about manning anything now that they've lost Percy's boat controls.
They should be fine. They can carry on with the quest like they didn't leave a part of themselves behind back in Rome.
Julie slides down into one of the arm chairs, staring at the projection of Camp Halfblood on the walls. It's dinnertime back home. She can see everyone piling into the dining pavilion to sit at their respective tables.
She wonders what Paul cooked Sally for dinner tonight. Gods know the woman hasn't been up to caring for herself lately.
Something tickles at Juliette's neck. She swats at it. It's still there. Irritated, Julie snatches a fistful of her tangled hair and brings it around to eye level, ready to wreak havoc on whatever unlucky knot just drew her attention while she's in a bad mood. Instead, she sees spiderwebs.
Julie's never cared much about spiders. They were everywhere growing up, so she got used to them. Now, she thinks she hates them more than anything else in this world. Tears burning at her eyes, she rips her fingers through her hair over and over again. It hurts. Her scalp is getting pulled every which way as she tears through tangles with all of her strength. She doesn't care. She needs this stuff out of her hair.
This spidersilk.
Thrice will the Underworld steal sons of Three
When traveling by shadow, by silk, and by sea.
Nothing matters anymore except stopping this. Whatever this is. The Underworld isn't taking anyone else from her. She won't let it.
The external door slides open, a cool breeze drifting in from the deck. She looks over her shoulder as Jason comes striding in. He sheathes his sword with a sigh and runs a hand through his hair, apparently not having noticed her yet. Julie waits patiently for him to look over and see her. When he does, he jumps and puts a hand to his chest.
"Jeez, were you just sitting there?" He laughs breathlessly. She nods, and Jason sighs, rubbing his palms together. He nods back at where he'd just come from. "It's all clear out there. I've got a wind barrier up, and Leo's running the scanners. You should go get some sleep."
Gradually, her gaze drifts down to the floor, and she hears Jason let out a heavy breath as he notices the state of her. He slides the door shut, blocking out the rushing of the wind, and the silence of the empty room seems soft and cushioned. He approaches slowly.
"Hey," Jason whispers.
Julie looks up. He steps in front of the chair she's slumped in and lowers to his knees so that they're face to face.
"Can I get you anything?"
Her brother.
Julie shakes her head, and Jason nods like he'd expected that answer. He shifts uncertainly. His frown is deep enough to cause lines to pop up in between his furrowed eyebrows. Hearing Silena's scolding voice in her head, Juliette runs the pads of her fingers across the wrinkles to smooth them down. Jason's lips twitch into a soft smile, and he leans in to rest his forehead against her palm. Julie breathes in deeply, drowning herself in the smell of the night sky.
Jason breathes with her. In and out. Slow and steady. Eyes closed and fingers twisting together on Juliette's knee. It's been so long. She has waited so long to be this close to him. Why does everything in her life have to be so bittersweet?
"I want to help you."
Julie opens her eyes. He pulls his head from her hand and raises his own to brush the hair from her face. Jason purses his lips, looking lost and hesitant.
"I don't want to tell you what you need, but I also don't want to make you tell me," He sighs. She snorts a bit. He makes her sound so much more complicated than she is. She's sort of flattered he thinks there's that much complexity to her.
"I just...I want to make sure I'm not crossing any boundaries being like," He motions between them, his hand tightening on hers where they sit in her lap. "This."
Juliette raises her eyebrows, and Jason looks a bit sheepish. He looks away towards the projections on the walls, swallowing nervously. "I know things might have changed now. I don't want to push you. If you need me to back off, I will-"
Julie puts her hand across his lips. He falls silent, and she gently turns him back around to face her. She shakes her head, and the ghost of a smile crosses her face for the first time all night.
"I think I've learned my lesson by now about waiting too long," She says softly. "I'd rather not waste any more time with you."
Jason's eyes look glassy. He nods, clearing his throat. His hand returns to her cheek and he leans their foreheads together.
"We have to go save the world now," He says with a weak laugh. "We're the senior campers here. I'm going to need your help."
A small smirk grows on Juliette's face. She bumps their noses together and loses herself in the blue of his eyes. "I've got your back, Soldier Boy."
Jason smiles, fond and grateful, and kisses her.
A/N
Aaaaand, that's a wrap on Mark of Athena. Wow, this chapter hurt to write. It hurt to proofread too. Ouchy.
House of Hades is coming up next, of course, and I've got plenty in store for it. I love having Nico back, but I'm gonna miss writing Percy and Julie scenes for a while. I love love love getting comments from you guys and always want to know how you're feeling, so feel free to spam me anytime you like. Thanks for hanging with Juliette this long! She's a growing gorl and will be growing still as the story continues.
Love y'all! Stay tuned!
