"Is this you?!"
"You think I'm able to cause blizzards? I can barely make ice cubes on purpose!" Julie screeches at Leo, hands still up and glowing bright white as she does her best to keep the worst of the swirling winter storm thawed out before it makes contact with the Argo II. "Maybe it's the scepter?"
Nico stands and brushes some ice from his hair. "I'll take it belowdecks just in case."
He glances at Jason, then at Piper and Leo, like he's nervous about what they all might talk about once he's gone. Julie and Jason share a look, and the son of Jupiter gives Nico a grateful smile. "Thanks, man."
"Later, Coco!"
"Don't call me that," He scowls. His shoulders relax, though, so his annoyance just puts a smile on Juliette's tired face.
Once he disappears into the hallway back towards the cabins, Jason steps up to Julie and places a bracing hand on her back. "How are you holding up?"
Julie grits her teeth and gives him an overly bright laugh, arms shaking and sweat pouring down her forehead. "Amazing! Doing great. I could part blizzards in my sleep," She shoots him an exhausted smirk. "Totally unrelated - how much further to Epirus?"
He grimaces. "About a day or so."
"A DAY?!"
Leo laughs nervously behind them. "Yurp. We'll pull in tomorrow morning. To the coast. Then another hour inland."
Julie's going to cry. Her triceps better be absolutely ripped by the end of this if she's going to have her arms raised until tomorrow morning.
"But, tomorrow we get to the House of Hades!" Leo cheers sarcastically. "Can't wait to get me a t-shirt."
"Yay," snorts Piper. Then, she lets out a sigh. "Guys, I've been thinking about the Prophecy of Seven."
"Good things, I hope."
Piper squirms. "In Katoptris, I keep seeing Clytius. I know his weakness is fire, but everywhere he goes in my visions, he snuffs out flames just by passing. Like, any kind of light just gets sucked into his cloud of darkness."
"Sounds like Nico," Leo snickers. "Think they're related?"
Irritation sparks in Julie, but before she even gets the chance to turn and bite Leo's head off, Jason whips around himself.
"Hey, cut Nico some slack," He snaps. He levels Leo with a stern glare until the younger boy raises his hands in surrender. Then, Jason turns back to Piper. "So, what about this giant?"
Whatever Piper says next gets a bit drowned out by the rushing of Julie's blood in her ears. She gapes at Jason as he just casually moves on from the topic, nodding studiously as Piper talks through whatever thoughts she has about their trials to come. It's probably important. Julie should probably listen.
But, that might have been the hottest thing he's ever done.
She's a teenage girl. Sue her.
Jason looks less and less like the Soldier Boy Julie knew with every passing day. His hair has grown, brushing his ears in windswept blonde waves rather than the military cut he'd kept growing up. There's even a streak in it - a wicked slit on the side of his head where Sciron's arrow had just grazed him. It gives Jason a wild look, one to match the confident smirks across his lips that become less rare the longer this mission goes on.
Every time she thinks she can't get more into him, he goes and surprises her again.
"Gaea," Jason's awed voice snaps Julie back to reality. She glances between her friends to try and catch herself up on the conversation. "You mean, to storm or fire Gaea must fall."
Wait, what?
"Oohh, I like your version better," Leo grins dangerously. "'Cause if Gaea falls to me, Mr. Fire, that is absolutely copacetic."
"Or to me...storm," Jason's eyes are wide as he laughs and darts forward to squeeze Piper into a tight hug, spinning her in a circle. "Piper, that's brilliant! If you're right, this is great news! We just have to figure out which one of us it is."
Piper huffs as he sets her down, her eyes grim. Grim enough to match the sinking in Juliette's stomach at her prediction.
"Maybe...But, it's storm or fire. That makes it sound like only one of you can succeed."
An oath to keep with a final breath...
The line hadn't meant much to Julie so far. From her experience, prophecies can mean literally anything. The "final breath" for all they know could be the final breath before taking a cheeky dip in the local swimming pool. It doesn't necessarily mean death. But...
Thrice will the Underworld steal Sons of Three
Julie looks at Jason, golden and gleaming even under the grey cast of this sudden cold snap that's taken over the Mediterranean. He's wearing orange today. On his arm, the proud symbol of his father's domain sits bold and black.
He glances around at all of their suddenly somber expressions and sets his jaw. "Guys, there's no point in worrying about it. We'll drive ourselves crazy. You know how prophecies are when heroes try to thwart them."
By Imperial Gold, a daughter meets Fates.
Julie gulps. "Yeah...Plus, why waste the day stressing with all this lovely weather we're heaving?" She laughs, squeezing her eyes closed to let a little more of her strength slip into shielding the ship from the storm. Leo and Jason crack a smile, but Piper still looks concerned.
"I just..." She sighs. "This quest started with the four of us finding Hera and waking Porphyrion. I can't help but feel like it's going to end with us too."
What a lovely thought.
Kinda.
Juliette looks back over at her friends as Jason throws an arm around both Leo and Piper's shoulders. "Hey, I kind of like us," He says softly.
Leo grins. "Agreed. Us is my favorite people."
Julie's palm suddenly starts to throb painfully, her control on the storm pocket wavering. She squints up at her hands and grimaces. "Us should get Julie some mittens, please. Her fingers are freezing off. Literally."
"Ah nuts, hang on princesa," Leo replies, darting out from under Jason's arm to come warm her up.
Before he can even reach her, though, the ice on Juliette's fingers spreads. In the blink of an eye, it's shoulder level, and her arms lock up entirely. Julie cries out in pain.
"Shit!" Piper gasps. "Leo, sound the alarm!"
Leo stops inches from Juliette. "But-"
"Now!"
"I can't! It's disconnected because Festus is down, remember? I need a minute to get it online."
"We don't have a minute! We need Greek fire! Vials of it!"
"Piper, what is going on?" Jason shouts, grabbing her by the shoulders.
Julie groans. Her legs shake as she feels the power in her palm squirm away. The magic is fighting against her. She's never really gotten good at using it, but for the first time, it's like the stupid snowflake on her hand has a mind of its own.
And it's hearing it's true mistress' call.
"It's her!" Piper screams. "She's back. We have to-"
The power in Juliette's hand explodes, and a force slams her frostbitten form into the nearest sail post. The ship lists to port, the frost that erupted from Juliette now spreading up the planks, sails, and even the bronze shields. Julie chokes on the pain in her ribs from her collision, but tries to push herself onto all fours. She looks desperately for her friends.
Like sister, like brother, Jason's frozen in place. Only his blue eyes are moving, darting around fearfully as the rest of his body strains against the layer of ice keeping him stuck halfway through drawing his sword.
Piper and Leo are a few feet to Jason's right, helping each other up.
"Leo, flames! Now!" Piper screams at him.
Leo lights himself immediately, the flames so hot Julie can feel them from her place sprawled on the other side of the deck.
They go out just as quickly.
Leo yelps as the winds swirl around him and lift him from the ship. He kicks his legs and clutches his Archimedes sphere to his chest. "Hey! Let me go!"
A dark voice echoes through the storm, and Julie feels herself pale even further.
"Oh yes, Leo Valdez. I will let you go. Permanently," It hisses.
Before she or Piper can scream, Leo is launched off the ship by an invisible force, and he disappears beyond the clouds.
"No!" Julie shrieks. She scrambles to the railing of the ship, searching frantically for where he may have fallen. She sees nothing.
"Oh, not to worry," purrs the familiar voice. A cold hand slides onto Juliette's shoulder, and she feels all the warmth sap from her veins. Frost coats her skin, and ice crystals crumble like sugar as frigid fingers take hold of her chin, tilting it back so she can stare, wide eyed, up at the sinister smirk on Khione's blue lips. "You'll be joining him, little dove. But, first..."
Khione snatches Julie's right hand, and a blinding pain sears cold and sharp through the center of her palm. Juliette screams, eyes shut against the white light of Khione's magic. When the pain fades, the goddess sighs in satisfaction.
"That's better. I plan to take my time with your punishment, dear. I think I'll place you where I can retrieve you later on. For safekeeping. Toodaloo!"
A hand plants itself between Julie's shoulder blades, and suddenly she's in the air.
Juliette does plenty of flying, so she would've thought getting blasted through the sky wouldn't be super hard to come back from. Well, she's never flown Air Vengeful Goddess before. If she didn't have wings to thrust out as desperate parachutes last minute before crash landing, she'd probably be a pancake on the beach right now.
That doesn't mean she doesn't get her shit rocked by the collision, though. Pretty much on impact with the hot sand of what she's pretty sure must be Neverland, Julie's vision goes black.
She wakes up sweaty. She really hates when days start like that.
It takes Julie a good minute or two of just laying there in the sand, limbs splayed out in awkward directions from the crash, to get her bearings.
At least she's alive. Honestly, she's probably lucky Khione didn't decide to just make living room art out of her on the spot. Or snowcones. But, now that she's here (wherever here is), she really needs to figure out how to get back to the crew. To Jason.
It's then that voices echo over to her. One male and one female. Screaming at each other.
Juliette rolls over and lifts painfully into a sitting position, wincing with every popping joint and unpleasant pull of a gash or scratch. She looks down at herself. The shorts she started the day in are just a little singed, but the bottom of her purple halter top is completely burned through by the acid leaking out of a decent sized slash across her abdomen. Julie winces and reaches down to brush some of the shards of partially melted seashell from the wound. Just perfect. That's totally not going to cause blood poisoning, or anything.
The voices raise in intensity, and Julie forces herself to get up and start moving in their direction.
"Hey, Sunshine, I'm right here, y'know!"
Leo?
Relief rushes through Juliette. She picks up the pace to a run, rounding the corner of some larger rocks to find a smoldering crater filled with the smoking remains of...a helicopter? And a dining table? Y'know what, it's Leo. There's no point in trying to make sense of this situation.
Standing at the bottom of the hole is Leo. In his underwear. Naturally. And, about three feet above him and practically steaming from the ears is a teenage girl with long golden brown hair and angry dark eyes. She growls like a lion. "Do not call me Sunshine! Now, get out of that hole and come with me now so I can get you off of my island!"
Leo scowls at the girl. "Well, since you asked so nicel-OOF!"
Julie leaps into the crater and lands directly on top of her friend, sending them both crashing into the pile of splinters and hot pieces of metal. "Oh, thank gods!" She cries out. She pulls Leo into a sitting position and throws her arms around his shoulders. "I thought you were dead! I thought I was dead! Oh gods, what if Jason and Piper are dead? We need to get back to the ship! Do you know where we-"
"Woah, slow down, chica. How are you even-"
"What is this?"
Leo and Julie look up at the girl at the top of the crater. Her entire demeanor has shifted, gone from angry and impatient to confused and fearful. She lets out an awed breath, eyes glued to Juliette.
"A woman?"
Julie blinks. "Um..." She looks down at herself, mostly at the swell of her chest under her tattered tank top, and then tilts her head curiously at the girl. "Yeah?"
"Like a woman and a half..." Leo mutters, eyes on her chest as well. Juliette stomps on his foot.
The girl backs up a step, shaking her head. "But...That doesn't make any..." Her face sours, and she looks up at the sky with clenched fists. "This is wrong! What do you think you are doing?!"
"Great, she's nuts."
"Leo, that's rude-"
"Both of you follow me," The girl hisses. She storms off down the beach, and Leo and Julie look at one another. He brings a finger to his ear and circles it around, and she rolls her eyes, snatching his wrist to pull him along after their mysterious host.
"Why are you naked?" She asks in annoyance.
Leo sputters, stumbling at her speed. "I'm not! I've got my tighty whities. I'm just too hot for clothes, I guess. Or, my exploding helicopter I made midair was."
"Exploding helicopter?"
"Hey, I did what I could with what I had."
"I wasn't critiquing you, Leo," Julie laughs, shaking her head with a grin. Of course he made a helicopter while he fell to his death. How Leo Valdez of him. Gods, she's so glad he's here with her. "How are we getting off this island?"
He scratches at his singed curls. "Well, I could make a-"
"Say you want to leave Ogygia," snaps the girl.
The two of them look over at her. She's stopped at a new section of the beach - one rigged with fishing nets and a water purification system. Gods, Julie didn't even realize how thirsty she is until looking at that. Their host's hands are on her hips as she glares at them impatiently.
"Tell me you want to leave Ogygia!" She repeats.
"Fine!" Leo snips back, crossing his arms. "We want to leave-Whatever you said."
"Oh-gee-gee-ah!"
"I want to leave Oh-gee-gee-ah!"
The girl glares over at Julie, and she jumps like she's being screamed at. "Uhh, yeah me too. Oh-gee-gee-ah stinks."
The girl relaxes and nods at them both. "Good. Soon, a magical raft will appear. It will take you anywhere you want to go."
"Oh," Julie says in surprise. She looks back and forth between Leo and the girl. "Well, that's convenient. Thanks."
Leo squints at her suspiciously. "Who are you?"
She opens her mouth, then her cheeks flush, and she looks down. "It doesn't matter. You'll be gone soon. You were obviously a mistake."
Juliette sees Leo flinch out of the corner of her eye. It pisses her off to probably an irrational extent.
"Excuse me?" She snaps. "The only mistake here was you deciding to wear black sandals with a beige dress."
The girl's face contorts in offense. She looks down at her clothes, then back up at Julie and scowls. "How dare you? I was not exactly expecting visitors today!"
"Yeah, I can tell," Julie scoffs.
"Ugh, you are lucky I have not blasted you across the island by now!"
"Give me your best shot, buttercup! I've seen less raggedy outfits in Oliver Twist."
"I do not know of this Oliver, but another comment in that tone, and I will unleash my wind servants upon you!"
"Ladies!" Leo interrupts. Both of them whip around to face him, red with anger, and he squeaks in fear. "Aren't we looking for a raft, or something?"
Seeming to remember they had a task at hand, the girl turns back to the ocean hopefully. When no boat is there to greet them, she slumps and covers her face with her hands. "This is wrong. This is completely wrong!"
"What is wrong?" Juliette rolls her eyes. So dramatic.
Leo clears his throat pointedly at her before smiling tensely at their host. "So...Plan B? You got a phone, or somethin'?"
"Agh!" The girl shouts in anger. She turns on her heel without another glance at them and storms off to a well lit cave system off in the distance.
Julie and Leo watch her go with perplexed expressions.
"She had a dining table," Leo says after a second.
Julie raises an eyebrow at him. Leo's stomach growls comically loud, and she gets the hint. Dining table = dining = food.
"Let's go," She sighs, leading the way into the hills after the mysterious stranger.
The girl had retreated to an area that looks sort of like a fancy permanent campground. The main living area seems to be in a cave, which is lit up but hidden mostly behind brightly dyed, shell-beaded curtains. Steam is wafting around the fabric and filling the air with the smell of beef stew. It makes Julie wrinkle her nose in disgust.
Their host herself is now working in a raised vegetable garden near the center of the campground, angrily stabbing her trowel into the soil in a manner that's definitely not very productive.
"I think you've punished that dirt enough," Leo says.
The girl just glares at them. "Go away."
"Gladly," Juliette huffs. She starts to turn around, but Leo grabs her arm to keep her there with him.
"Julie, just-She's crying, okay?" He reasons, gesturing at the girl's red eyes.
She curls her lip. "It's none of your business!"
"She's right, it's really not."
"Okay, well," Leo grimaces at the animosity between the two of them. "There's no magic raft, so...Is there another way off the island?"
"Apparently not!" The girl snaps.
"Awesome."
"So, what are we supposed to do, then? Sit in the dunes until we die?"
"That would be fine by me," The girl grumbles. She lets out an angry grunt and throws her shovel down, glaring up at the sky. "Except, they can't die here, can they?! Zeus, this is not funny!"
Can't die here? Julie and Leo exchange a nervous glance.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Juliette questions.
The girl ignores her, snatching her trowel back up and returning to stabbing at the dirt. Leo scowls in frustration and marches up to her flower bed. "Okay, we're gonna need some information here. You want us out of your face? Fine. But, we aren't planning on hanging out here forever. We want off this island, you want us off this island. There has got to be a way. Every problem has a fix."
The girl stops her stabbing and looks at him slowly, eyes haunted and filled with rage. "You must not have lived very long if you still believe that," She says softly.
Well, that's foreboding. Julie rolls her eyes. What a drama queen. Seriously, she's got a whole tropical island to herself, and never thought to build a boat? Who's that reclusive?
Juliette's eyes wander around the area while Leo and the girl continue to bicker, eventually landing back on the entrance to the cave. Curious, she wanders over and moves the curtains aside. She doesn't feel very guilty about snooping given their rather venomous welcome. What she finds sends her eyebrows through the roof, though.
Inside the cave is an assortment of handmade furniture. There's a table and chairs carved with flowers, a loom with a half completed rug hanging from it, and a pallet of what looks to be chicken feathers wrapped in soft fabrics. All across the walls and ceiling of the cave are paintings. Constellations dot the divots in the rocks, and the faces of Greek figures stare down at her. One looks familiar. A face Julie only saw briefly when she was younger.
Zoë?
It's not the paintings that surprise Julie, though. It's also not the thousands of tally marks lined neatly all along the floor. It's the vegetation.
Lining the base of the walls is a plant, short and glowing silvery white to illuminate the cave. Its leaves are spade shaped and low to the ground, the veins on them a deep midnight blue.
Julie's seen those before. On her balcony back home. Moonlace, Percy had told her.
"You're Calypso," She breathes.
The conversation behind her halts. Julie turns around to see the girl staring at her in surprise.
"Wait, like," Leo studies their host oddly. "Like, the girl Percy met?"
Calypso's face drops.
"Yeah," nods Julie. A smile warms. "You saved him after Mount St Helens."
Leo scratches his head. "But, I thought you were supposed to be-"
"Freed?" snaps Calypso.
"I was gonna say nice."
"Nice? Would you be 'nice' if the gods forgot their promise to free you? I-I thought I would be released. I dared to hope," Her voice chokes off, and she turns her back on them. "I should have known better."
"But, Percy told the gods to free you," Julie recalls, shaking her head in confusion. "They swore on the Styx. They should've-"
"Well, they did not."
"But, that doesn't make any-"
"The King of the Gods does not often play by the rules," Calypso hisses, eyes flashing dangerously. "Perseus should have known that."
She starts to storm away again, but that last comment bristles Juliette's temper. She chases after the girl, a cursing Leo on her heels. "Hey, don't you blame this on him!"
"Why shouldn't I? He left me just as the others did."
"Um, we were in the middle of a war-"
"Yes," She scoffs. "They always are. They always have something to get back to. Someone more important than I. First Drake, then Odysseus, and then your Percy Jackson."
Julie growls in frustration and snags Calypso's wrist. The girl whirls around and snatches her arm away.
"Do not touch me!"
"How about you let someone else talk, then?" Julie snaps.
Leo places himself in between the two girls. "Hey, woah, everybody calm down!" He turns to Calypso with an awkward grimace. "So, what, that's your 'curse'? The gods send you hunks, and you fall in love with them?"
"And then they leave," Calypso says angrily. She looks Leo over and then drops her gaze to the sand and squeezes her eyes shut. "Every time..."
Julie crosses her arms as she watches Leo's lips purse in sympathy. The soft expression looks odd considering he's standing there in his underwear. He shifts his weight back and forth between his feet. "How long has it-?"
"Three thousand years."
Leo lets out a low whistle.
Okay, even Julie can admit that's not a great situation. She winces.
"And now...the worst insult of all. The gods mock me by sending the both of you. So I may watch your love myself."
The choking noises and coughing fits both of her guests find themselves releasing draw Calypso's attention back up from the sand. Julie and Leo are now ten feet apart and refusing to look at one another with anything but horrified disgust.
"Yeah, no-"
"We are not-"
"That's my best buddy's-"
"Actually nasty-"
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?!"
"Well, just that we're not-"
"You'd be lucky to get this-!"
"What?! I am way out of your league, Valdez!"
"Are you kiddin' me? Have you seen these biceps?"
"What biceps?"
"Now you're just being cruel."
Calypso watches the interaction with furrowed eyebrows. Julie and Leo glare at each other, arms crossed, as their hostess raises a hand. "So, you are not in love?"
"No," Julie confirms. She cuts her eyes at her friend, who sticks his tongue out at her. "I'm not usually into guys who set fire to their friend's extensions."
"I said I was sorry!"
"You have no idea how much I paid for those."
"It's just hair, why is it expensive?"
"Because they were good quality!"
"Then, why did they burn so fast?"
"Oh my gods, I want to kill you right now."
"So, yeah, in summary - not a couple," Leo grins at Calypso. He points a thumb at Juliette's stewing form. "She's with my best buddy. Sort of like a sister-in-law situation."
"I see..." Calypso studies them, shaking her head. "But, then why would Zeus send you to me?"
"He didn't," Julie sighs. "Khione did."
"The goddess of snow?"
"Mhm."
"She isn't a fan of my hotness," Leo says seriously. "But, we do need to get back to our quest, so...magic raft?"
"You don't get it do you?" The venom is back in Calypso's voice. "The gods are laughing at us. If the raft will not appear, that means they've closed Ogygia. You are stuck here, same as me. You can never leave."