Julie thinks she has a right to say she's lived a weird life.
Still, nothing could have prepared her for seeing the soldierly, straight backed love of her life hanging over a cyclops' stove like a blonde rotisserie chicken.
She's a little ashamed to admit that, before leaping to Jason's and Piper's aid, she and Leo sit crouched behind a pile of boxes, holding their breath and slapping each other furiously on the arms as they struggle to keep from losing their shit and giving themselves away.
The situation becomes significantly less funny when the three cyclops start talking about eating said rotisserie chicken. The first move one of the male cyclops makes towards Jason is met with a lethal snake bite to the throat, and his family is left staring in horror at a pile of golden dust at the feet of a spitting angry wyvern.
"MY SON!" Ma Gasket cries, gaping at Juliette's hissing form. "You...you..."
With ear piercing shrieks, the two remaining cyclops charge Juliette with various improvised weapons from their kitchenette. She bats them both away with powerful swipes of her wings and vaults over to where her friends are hanging to bite through the bonds holding Piper. Her sister falls, arms still chained to her sides, from the ceiling with a scream and lands caged in Julie's waiting claws.
Ma Gasket howls in anger and leaps into the air, bodyslamming down on Juliette's back and sending all three of them crashing to the floor. Julie struggles in her hold, thrashing her head and wings back to smack against the cyclops' face. The remaining male cyclops rears back with a kitchen knife, and Julie braces to be thoroughly skewered. Last second, the arm of a crane comes out of nowhere and collides with the monster's head. He dissolves into sawdust, and she hears Leo cheer in triumph.
Enraged, Ma Gasket reaches out an enormous hand and grabs onto Juliette's serpentine neck. Julie starts to choke, hissing and thrashing, but the monster only tightens her grip. She can't quite reach the cyclops' arm with her fangs, and her back feet are busy keeping Piper from being squashed in the struggle. Black dots start dancing in her eyes.
She hears a metallic creaking come swooshing closer, and suddenly she's being flung across the room, Ma Gasket's grip broken. She collides with a line of old car frames, and pain explodes through her torso. The injuries knock her out of her transformation, leaving her to shrink down, groaning, beside Piper. The both of them look up blearily at the cyclops on the other end of the room.
She's getting up too, standing between a defiant looking Leo and the still-captive Jason.
"Any more tricks, demigod?" The cyclops spits down at him.
Leo grins. "Heck yeah, I got tricks! Take one more step, and I'll destroy you with fire."
No, you dummy.
Julie struggles to sit up, choking on the pain crackling up her extremely broken ribs. She squeezes as much air into her protesting lungs as possible and tries to call out to him. "Immune...to fire!"
Leo glances over at her (stupid, stupid idiot), and Ma Gasket takes the opportunity to snatch up a handful of red hot coals from the stove.
"You want to play with fire?!" Laughs the cyclops as she raises her prize over her head. "Let me help!"
She chucks the coals at Leo, and he dodges them lazily, quirking an eyebrow at her. "You missed." He taunts.
Then, the cyclops grins at him grotesquely and holds up a barrel. A barrel that says "kerosene" on the side. Ribs forgotten, Julie hoists up onto her hands and knees and lets out a horrified scream as the monster slams the barrel down at Leo's feet, and the whole area erupts into flames.
"I'm just saying, it would've been nice to know you're fireproof."
"Well, now you know, so chillax monster-girl."
Julie huffs and leans back against Piper where they're loaded onto the newly repaired Festus. Julie's partially healed ribs feel like they're made of cracked glass, and her head's still spinning from the hit it took during their crash landing. Piper reaches over her shoulders and pulls Julie's shirt up her stomach to see black bruises splotched all across her chest.
"Man, that bites." Piper winces in sympathy. Julie tries to scoff, but the action just makes her start coughing instead. Piper swats her gently on the head and pulls her back down to rest against her. "No more talking. I know that must be very difficult for you." Julie glares at her, and Piper rolls her eyes. "Go to sleep - we'll wake you up when we get to Chicago."
Grumbling, Julie relents and closes her eyes. She has to fight a smile when, seconds later, her sister's fingers start to comb through her hair, gently pulling out knots as they go.
She'll fall out of the sky every so often if it means she can have nights like this.
By the time they've chased around some wind spirits and dismounted into a sewer, of all places, Julie has about had it with this day. "Nice" as Piper described it or not, every step makes her want to cry tears of grief for her poor beloved shoes. Eventually, Piper's ankle is hurting her too much to continue, and Jason suggests they make camp down here for the night. Julie looks at him with pure betrayal in her eyes, but the other three just laugh at her.
Jerks. They'd better replace these clothes for her when they get home, because she will be burning them at the next campfire. The clothes, not her friends. Although...
"Hey, chica, wanna help me make some dinner?" asks Leo as they lay out blankets from his tool bag on the bricks.
"Oooh," Julie winces. "You probably don't want that. Not if you want it to be edible, anyway."
Leo turns to her with a teacherly finger in the air. "Nonsense, monster-girl. As that rat in that movie once said, 'Anyone can cook!' And with Supersize McShizzle as your teacher, you'll be gourmet in no time."
Without giving her the chance to protest, Leo starts pulling random ingredients out of his toolbelt and piling them into Julie's arms until she's carrying so much she's forced to sit down. The mountain of items in her lap wobbles dangerously as Leo sets up and lights a small grill in front of them.
As it turns out, Chef Supersize McShizzle is not a miracle worker. Within ten minutes, Julie has accidentally dropped the bag of cheese into the grill, sliced her fingers trying to cut an onion, and misunderstood the difference between "heads" and "cloves" of garlic. Leo has given up and just tasked her with holding a plate out for him to put finished tacos onto.
Julie watches in awe as he slices up veggies at the speed of light. "Where did you learn how to cook like this?"
He beams at her. "My mom! It's my abuela's recipe, but Ma always made them better. She taught me when I was a kid."
Julie smiles at the adoration in his voice. She leans forward and takes a whiff of the cooking tofu happily.
"She must be a genius." sighs Julie with a smile.
Leo's knife stalls. A powerful wave of grief hits Julie, stronger than she's felt since the war, and she kicks herself at what it must mean. But, before she can open her mouth to apologize, the wave vanishes without a trace, and Leo's chopping continues as he grins at her.
"She was."
He starts to whistle as he works. Julie watches him in interest. The way he moves, the way he's ripped the sleeves off of his camp shirt to show off his (nonexistent, in Leo's case) biceps...It's all very familiar. The thought brings a fond smile to her face, which he raises an eyebrow at.
"Falling for me already, princesa?" He smirks, raising his skinny arms to flex. Julie laughs.
"Oh, absolutely." She nods with wide, earnest eyes. "It's so hard to keep my eyes off you."
"Well, that's why I'm here. Jason's the brawn - I'm the sweet sweet eye candy."
Leo winks at her and bites his lip so aggressively that Julie barks out a laugh and covers her face in second-hand embarrassment.
"Oh, gods, please never do that again." She pleads, but she's giggling too hard to sound very convincing. He sighs, high pitched and dramatic, and plops another taco onto the plate she's holding. Julie peeks back at him around her fingers and smiles. "No, you just...remind me of Charlie."
Leo pauses again, and his eyes flick to her in interest before focusing back on the food. "Oh, yeah? That's Festus' first Papa, right?"
"Yeah," Julie nods. A nostalgic smile creeps in. "He was nothing like you."
Leo looks at her with a comical expression of confusion. "Then, huh?"
She snorts at the look on his face and reaches out to flick his bare shoulder. "He used to wear his shirts like this. And, I dunno, the way you move. The way you handle Festus..." She studies him fondly. "I think he would have liked you."
The thought seems difficult for Leo to process. He looks a bit like a squirrel that can't decide which side of the road to run to. Eventually, he huffs and sets down the next taco onto the grill.
"I keep hearin' about this guy. I'm even sleeping in his bed. It's kinda weird. I don't even know what he looks like."
Julie blinks thoughtfully at that. Then, she reaches behind her neck and unclasps the gold necklace that's resting on her chest beside her four camp beads. The necklace that's been there for months, burning her and comforting her with its weight all at once. She nudges Leo to get his attention and holds it out to him. He quirks an eyebrow when he sees it.
"Uh, chica, I don't think that's really my color."
Julie rolls her eyes. "It's a locket, dumbass. Look inside."
Leo pouts, but wipes his hands on his pants and accepts the heart shaped necklace from her. He pops the locket open and grins.
"Oh, man." He laughs, studying the picture inside. "What, did he sneeze or something?"
Julie gapes at him. "No! He just...looked like that."
"And you're saying I remind you of him? I feel like my feelings should be hurt."
Julie's jaw is on the floor. "Leo, he's dead! You can't just-"
"Hey, he was my brother, right? Not my fault he got dad's genes worse than I did."
"Oh my gods, you are actually horrible."
Leo throws his head back and cackles. Julie kicks him, fighting down a smile very unsuccessfully. Once he calms down, he looks at her strangely. "Why're you carrying around a picture of him, anyway?"
She rolls her eyes. "It's not mine. My sister, Silena, and him used to date." She says simply.
Leo's gaze softens. He looks back down at the locket with a small smile. After a beat, he chuckles. "Man...He bagged an Aphrodite girl looking like that. Mad respect."
Julie chucks the bag of tortillas at his head, and he laughs. "You're terrible. They were very happy, for your information."
"Hey, I said respect, didn't I?" He defends. "Besides, any guy who helped to give me my baby boy is my hero for life."
Juliette's gonna assume he's referring to Festus. She snatches back the locket from Leo and replaces it around her neck. Julie grins despite herself and shakes her head in exasperation. "He'd be glad Festus got fixed up. Beck wouldn't have wanted him just rusting in the woods somewhere."
Leo hums and pours an ungodly amount of hot sauce onto one of the tacos. Julie makes a mental note to make sure that one doesn't end up on her plate. "How'd he die, anyway?"
Oof. Julie purses her lips. "Kronos."
"Ah. What about..." Leo puckers his lips and nods at Julie's necklace. She smiles sadly.
"Kronos."
"Well, at least that's romantic?"
Juliette snorts and rolls her eyes at him. "If you say so." A funny smile crosses her lips, and Leo raises his eyebrows.
"What? I got something on my face?" He asks, smearing hot sauce on his cheek in the process of checking.
Julie shakes her head. "'Romantic,' you said...My best friend, he's a son of Hades. He said that Charlie waited by the gates of Elysium. Wouldn't go inside until Silena showed up. He waited a week. Nico told me Charlie said he'd have waited centuries."
Leo puts down the hot sauce with wide eyes. "Damn..."
"Yeah." She sighs with a grin. "He was a great guy. You remind me of him."
Leo blinks at her. Some conflicting emotions brush her arms tentatively, hesitantly. His lips twitch into a smile, and Julie returns it.
Then, the taco on the grill catches fire, and the son of Hephaestus gets distracted stringing together curse words in Spanish and patting uselessly at the burning tortilla and tofu. Julie just laughs herself hoarse and watches him struggle.
Juliette's always been a morning person in the past. She's rethinking that now.
Waking up in a sewer is not, in Julie's opinion, a five star experience. She doesn't even want to know what they all smell like at the moment. So, when their next stop ends up being a shopping mall - Julie's "home base" of sorts, she's overwhelmingly relieved.
"Oh, thank the gods!" She whines pitifully, running up to the directory to hug the sign that says 'Women's Fashion.' "I'm so glad I packed extra drachmas!"
"What does M stand for?" asks Jason with a tilt of his head, pointing to the label reading 'Cafe M.'
"M for Macy's?" guesses Piper. "I think they have one in downtown Chicago."
Leo shrugs. "Maybe Monocle Motors still? Man, what does 'sundries' even mean? Is that, like, underwear?"
They exchange a look. Piper smirks over at Juliette. "This is your 'turf,' right? Where to next, oh seasoned quester?"
Julie can't be offended if Piper's right. She turns back to the mall entrance with a manic gleam in her eye. "When in doubt, start at the top!"
All Julie wanted was a change of clothes. Now, she's running for her life from fire breathing dragons.
Honestly, this is her second fire-fight and third hostage situation in 24 hours, and Julie is getting really tired of her friends being stolen and her armpits being sweaty. She plants another arrow between the toes of one of the dragons, sending it stumbling into a rack of suspiciously alive-looking fur coats. She's not sure where Piper and Medea have run off to, but Jason's fighting right by her side, spear sparking uselessly off the scales of the second dragon. Leo's standing behind them, incessantly blowing a whistle for some godsforsaken reason, and if Julie dies in a shopping mall of all places, she's never going to believe in love again, because that's just cruel.
Fed up with how little progress they're making, Julie slings her bow back onto her shoulder and transforms. She's feeling a little woozy from how much she's been using her powers lately, but there's no time to worry about that. Sensing the larger threat, both dragons zero in on her, and Juliette finds herself in a dogpile of wings, claws, and teeth.
She thinks she's doing pretty good. At one point, she manages to bite down and tear a wing off of one of the dragons. It backs off just long enough for her to pounce on the other and sink her fangs into its torso. Unfortunately, that gives her enemies the same great idea, and there are teeth in her own wing seconds later. She's ripped off her victim and thrown onto the tile floor.
Leo's whistling grows more frantic. The dragons seem to be just as irritated by it as Julie is. One of them turns away from Julie's wyvern and makes for the son of Hephaestus instead, who squeals in terror and takes off for the other end of the store. Shaking off the dizziness, Julie struggles to her feet. Jason leaps in front of her and deflects the next strike of the dragon's talons for her while she recovers, but there's not much else he can do.
They're stuck. They need a way out.
Almost exactly on cue, the glass ceiling of the mall shatters, and Festus comes sweeping down like a big bronze angel of death. He snatches up both dragons in his mighty claws and throws them into the pits Medea released them from, which slam closed an instant later. With a laugh of relief, Juliette relaxes out of her transformation and falls to her knees to catch her breath. Jason rushes up to her.
"Are you alright?!" He asks frantically, supporting her by the shoulders.
Julie grimaces. Her wounds are weird whenever she gets hurt on 'wyvern-only structures.' She's pretty sure that bite to her wing translated into a massive gash across her right shoulder blade. That's gonna feel great next time she draws her bow.
"I'm fine," She pants with a pained grin. "Just bleeding."
He doesn't look relieved. Glancing around quickly, Jason snatches a neon green hoodie off a nearby rack and shoves it over Julie's head in lieu of her now tattered camp shirt. The moment her wounds are covered, he sweeps her off her feet like a princess and takes to the air. Julie yelps when her weight presses against the wound on her shoulder. Jason winces apologetically and sets her down in front of him onto Festus' back as gently as possible.
"Where's Piper?" He shouts to Leo, who shrugs with a distressed look on his face.
Two female voices raise a ways above them, and they look up just in time to watch Piper take a running leap off one of the higher balconies. Leo yelps and guns it, steering Festus right underneath Piper's falling path. Jason catches her by the hands, slings her onto the dragon behind him, and they soar out of the broken ceiling just as the building erupts into rainbow explosions behind them.
There's a minute of silence when they get to the sky. The adrenaline is coming down out of everybody's systems. Everyone's heart rates are calming, and breathing patterns are going back to normal.
Then, Juliette bursts out laughing.
They all stare at her like she's insane. It just makes her laugh harder.
"What is so funny?" Piper snaps.
Julie gasps for breath. "I just-What was that?!" She cackles, leaning back into Jason's chest as he desperately tries to keep her from sliding off Festus in her hilarity. "The weirdest shit keeps happening to us! I just-How are you guys not losing it?"
Leo snorts then. He collapses forward against Festus' neck and loses it too, guffawing like an idiot right along with Juliette.
"You guys are morons." snarks Piper, but Julie can hear the smile in her voice.
Jason sighs in amusement behind her and leans away, hands moving to the hem of Julie's fashionable new sweatshirt. "You got yourself hurt again." He chides.
Julie rolls her eyes. "Ugh, you sound like Will Solace. Sorry, I didn't feel like getting eaten by a dragon today." She grumbles. Leo hands back her backpack when she gestures for it, and Julie rifles through it for antiseptic and nectar. She passes the supplies back to Jason and removes the sweatshirt. "How does it look?"
They all chat, surprisingly casually for four teens that probably just killed a person, as Jason cleans and bandages up Juliette's shoulder for her. Once he's done and the acceptable amount of skin is covered for a proper young lady, Julie turns to Piper.
She decides just to be blunt.
"Your dad's being held captive, isn't he? In the Bay Area?"
Piper's face drops. She goes pale. Julie holds her hands up placatingly.
"It's okay! I'm...We're going to help you, alright?"
"Yeah, Piper." "Duh!"
Piper looks like she's going to cry. She shakes her head. "Medea said Leo and Jason would die in the Bay Area. Plus, it's huge. No, first we need to get to Aeolus to drop off the wind spirits. Maybe...Maybe, he can tell us where to go next."
Julie, Jason, and Leo exchange a frustrated look of concern.
"Pipes-"
"Don't call me that."
Leo huffs. "Okay, fine. You don't like any of the names I make up for you. But, if your dad's in trouble, we can help-"
"No. You can't." Piper snaps. She shakes her head in annoyance and shuffles around to get comfortable. "Now, I'm tired. If you don't mind..." She slumps over against Festus' back and shuts her eyes resolutely. The rest of them sigh.
Once Leo and Jason get them on the right course following some magical wind trail that Julie is half certain is a hallucination, they convince the son of Hephaestus to get some sleep too. Julie looks back at Jason over her shoulder. He's focused on the path ahead of them. Silent.
Not the comfortable, companionable silent she's accustomed to. Julie feels like she's in the principal's office.
She attempts to deflect. "Are you sure this 'trail' isn't just a fingerprint on your glasses?" She jokes.
Jason doesn't respond. He clenches his jaw and looks down at her.
Julie swallows nervously. His eyes are intense. She has to look away. "Because magical trails seem a little too convenient. I mean, when have we had good luck like that? If this is another trap, I'm coming out of this with major trust issues."
"So, you don't have them now, then?"
"Have what?"
"Trust issues."
"Y'know in my makeup bag of 'unhealthy traits from parental neglect,' I don't think that's a tool I use very often."
Jason's hands tighten on the reins, and he shakes his head. Julie glances at him worriedly. She very much feels like she's in trouble. Like the time Sally got mad at her for spilling nail polish on their brand new couch. Only, this time, she isn't sure what she's in the doghouse for.
"Jason, what's...What's going on?"
The boy behind her softens a bit at her hesitant tone. He steers Festus a little to the side, and then sets the reins down. He turns to look fully at her. She forces herself to glance up at his face. He's frowning at her in consideration.
"You've been keeping something from us."
The accusation is gentle, but Julie's chest seizes in fear.
"Ever since Quebec, something's been on your mind. And, then, back there with Medea..." Jason trails off. He looks afraid to finish his sentence.
Then, his back straightens, and his jaw locks. Walls come up behind his eyes.
"She said 'our mistress' to you."
Oh.
"Jason-"
"I don't know what's going on with you. If you were going to tell us, you'd have done it by now - same as Piper. All I'm going to say is,"
He leans forward, towering over her. Julie's heart starts to race, but not like it usually does when they're close together. There's something wolfish in Jason's expression. A fierce defensiveness that sends alarm bells clanging through Julie's fight or flight. He looks terrifying.
"I trust you, Juliette. I care about you. But, Piper and Leo are my responsibility."
There's an inferno in his blue eyes. Julie can't breathe. Or blink. Her limbs feel frozen, and she suddenly understands why Zeus is the King of the Gods.
"Hurt them, and it won't matter what you are to me."
He searches her face. Whatever he sees there must satisfy him. He lets out a heavy breath and sits back into his previous position, picking the reins back up and correcting Festus' path.
Julie stays frozen. Guilt is burning through her. There are tears building in her eyes. The tickle of the first one on her cheek snaps her out of her trance, and she wipes it away quickly, sitting back up to face forward as well.
She can't bring herself to explain. She wants to. But, she thinks she understands Piper's situation better now that she's being offered the opportunity to come clean.
This is her problem. She won't involve the others.
"I won't let them get hurt." Is what she finally settles on.
Jason shifts behind her and sighs. She sees him nod out of the corner of her eye. "Okay." He accepts.
There's a space between them now. She isn't sure where they stand. Closing it feels like pulling teeth, but Julie makes herself relax back against Jason again. His hand comes to rest around her waist without hesitation, and the relief is so staggering Julie feels like her bones are unknotting themselves inside her.
He runs a thumb across the base of her ribs. They're still tender from the previous day, but Julie welcomes the dull ache it causes. She hears Jason take in a breath.
"Please don't get hurt either. You."
A small smile grows on Julie's face. She clears her throat. "When do I ever get hurt?"
Jason snorts. Then pokes her pointedly in the bruised ribs. She yelps and slaps him away, and the two of them settle into a more comfortable conversation after that.
They're right in the middle of discussing what foods Jason needs to try next time they aren't running for their lives when Festus makes a weird sputtering noise.
"I think you ate brownies after, like, every meal. If you don't remember what they taste like, I think you're missing an essential part of your identity right there."
"What was that?" asks Jason nervously.
Julie sits up. "Was that Festus?"
Another gurgling creak echoes from below them, this time accompanied by a short drop in height. Julie and Jason gasp and look at each other in fright.
"Uh, oh."
With no further warning, they're freefalling.
A/N
Hey, guys! Gonna be honest, I have no idea how to respond to comments, so I'm just gonna say it here - Thanks so much for all of your responses! They're super encouraging, and I love seeing your suggestions and predictions. Thanks for interacting :)
These middle chapters of TLH are my least favorites in the entire Riordanverse ngl, so bear with me if they come a little slower than the others. Writers block be real with these middle parts, but we keep up the hustle.
Love you guys! Let me know what you're all thinking!