Wanna know the quickest way to make all of your friends uncomfortable?
How about drawing power from the fact that their siblings are dead.
In the week following the Battle of the Labyrinth, Juliette has spent more time as a wyvern than a human. Not entirely by choice. But, she's put her wings to good use in the recouperation efforts, volunteering to haul the larger debris from the makeshift battlefield to the camp junkyard. She's flown in lumber from the Demeter kids' new grove to help build the funeral pyres. She's even delivered boxes of belongings to the parents of fallen campers in Hermes' stead.
Percy says he's proud of her for helping out. Julie doesn't have the heart to tell him she's just trying to use up as much power as possible so she can stop feeling like there's lightning in her veins whenever she passes the Apollo cabin. Or the Athena cabin. Or Ares. Or Hermes. She hasn't seen Will or Annabeth in days. She's not sure she knows how to look them in the eyes.
Nico heads out a few days after the battle. Their goodbye is pained and awkward. He comes to her bedroom and says he has some things to look into in the Underworld, but that he'll be back. If she wants him to be. She smiles and tells him to stay safe and to visit. He agrees that he will, and Juliette tries desperately to believe him.
Sleep is simultaneously the worst and best part of her days. Most nights, her dreams are plagued by images of Lee Fletcher's collapsed skull, Castor's blood soaked and broken form limp his twin brother's arms. She wakes every night to a horrible rush like she's falling again from the sky and loses whatever she'd eaten at dinner to the toilet in the half-bath of the Big House. She won't be able to return to sleep. She spends those nights on the roof and watches the stars and wonders why none of their parents have dropped by to see their children off to the Underworld.
Some nights, though, she opens her eyes to a familiar bedroom and a crooked, scarred smile.
"Hey, soldier," Juliette greets softly. The boy whips around so fast his glasses slide down his nose.
"Oh, thank the gods," He breathes out, bounding across the room. He reaches out as if to hug her and frowns when his hand passes through her shoulder. She looks down, feeling oddly ashamed.
"Sorry for the, uh, scare." She clears her throat. "And thanks for the save. With Kelli. That probably would've ended badly if it weren't for you."
He's silent for a while. Julie forces herself not to look up at his face. Finally, he asks softly, "What happened?" and she breaks down in tears before him.
Everything spills out. Percy's disappearance, her cruel words to Annabeth, Kelli's threats to bring her back to Luke, Nico, and the Battle of the Labyrinth. By the end of it, they're both on their knees, face to face, his hands as close to her shoulders as they can be without fading through. For a while, they just sit, and he waits patiently for her body to stop trembling. Eventually, she catches her breath and steels herself enough to meet his gaze.
He looks focused. Those bright blue eyes are scanning her face like it's a complicated equation, taking in both the messy whole and looking smaller to figure out where exactly he should start. She laughs a little and wipes at her nose.
"Did you get any of that?"
He nods. "Bits and pieces." Settling back to sit criss-cross, the blonde takes a deep breath. "Most of what I got was that someone - your cousin? brother, maybe? - went missing, you found him, but then there was a big fight and you lost some friends. Am I on the right track?"
"You're on fire."
He purses his lips grimly and runs a hand through his hair. His eyes look nervous. Thoughtful. Concerned. But, Juliette doesn't think it's directed at her. She scrunches her brow.
"What is it?" She asks.
He looks over at her and sighs. "I don't want to keep you from talking about your thing, but..." He trails off. She raises her eyebrows at him, and he slumps. "Some of the things you're describing are ringing a bell. The explosion from Mount St Helens...that was connected, wasn't it?" He asks cautiously.
Julie tries to respond, even to nod, but she can't focus. Her mind blanks out for a second. There's a faint buzzing sound in the room. Where's that coming from? Is there a fly in here? What were they talking about?
"Sorry, I forgot what I was going to say," She laughs. He frowns at her, then something like understanding dawns in his eyes. What's that about? "You okay?" She asks him.
He smiles at her. "I'm good. Now, tell me about this old friend you ran into."
The last few weeks at camp are a blur. Not really in a good way. More of an "every day sucks, so they all feel the same" way.
Silena is around. She and Charlie Beckendorf seem to have a thing starting. Juliette's not sure. Every time she approaches her sister, Silena makes an excuse to be somewhere else. Julie isn't sure what she did wrong. Neither is Charlie. He keeps saying he'll talk to Silena for her to try and get her to explain what happened, but Julie doesn't know if he ever does. Silena just keeps avoiding her.
And, she's not the only one. Will hasn't looked Julie in the eye since that day on the battlefield. She tried to show up to the infirmary a few times to offer help. Austin and Kayla ended up awkwardly asking her to leave after the second time she came, saying Julie's aura was disturbing the patients. Will never looked up from the stitches he was removing. Juliette decided she probably shouldn't come back.
So, when she shows up to Cabin 3 to tell Percy she'll be going home to Sally's early, he isn't surprised. He just gives her a hug, tells her he'll be there in a week or two, and sends her on her way. Julie takes the scenic route on the flight there. Maybe if she uses up the all of her energy, Sally won't be affected by what Julie's feeling. Maybe she won't look at her like the other campers have been ever since the Labyrinth.
"You have a sister?"
He looks sad at the question, but also nostalgic. "Yeah. Well, 'had.' Her name was T_. I don't remember much about her. Just her face, really. I was little the last time I saw her."
Julie turns and places her legs on either side of the wooden bleachers she's perched on. "What about the rest of your family? I assume our eavesdroppers probably won't let me have details, but like general picture."
Soldier Boy leans his weight against his golden spear. Julie's eyes follow a drop of sweat as it falls from his forehead and soaks into the collar of his purple t-shirt.
"My mom was in movies, I think." He says.
Julie frowns. Uh oh. He's very pretty, isn't he. It isn't possible that...
"And your godly parent?" She asks nervously.
Thunder rolls above them and he tenses, glancing upwards. "I, uh, don't think they want us discussing that."
Juliette rolls her eyes. "Fine. Fine. Just give me a hint. God or goddess?"
He quirks an eyebrow at her. "God. I said 'mom' a minute ago, didn't I?"
"Well, I wasn't gonna be heteronormative. Not when Apollo, like, exists." She wrinkles her nose. "It's not Apollo, is it?"
He laughs, short and light. "If you'd ever seen me shoot a bow, you wouldn't be asking that." He runs a hand through his hair and Julie's eyes catch on a dark shape on his forearm.
A black tattoo of an eagle sits above a multitude of dark hash marks. Julie sees only a flash of it before it goes blurry, her eyes refusing to refocus on the shape no matter how hard she blinks. Thunder crashes again in the sky, and the boy glances upwards, but this time there's a flash of exasperated confusion in his gaze.
Julie looks at him quizzically. An eagle? Eagles are Zeus' symbol, aren't they? But, that's not possible because...Right?
Juliette stares at the boy. The first time she'd dreamed of him, there had been a storm raging like nothing she'd ever seen. Could it be...?
She goes pale. Right now, Percy is a week out from fifteen. If she's right...
"How old are you?" She blurts out suddenly. He looks puzzled, but answers.
"I just turned fourteen. Why, what about you?" He asks in return.
Julie breathes out a shaky sigh of relief. Wait, relief? Wouldn't him taking the prophecy be a good thing? Percy could be free. He'd live a (somewhat) normal life. So, why isn't she feeling disappointed? "Just curious," She deflects. "And, I'm thirteen."
He nods. All of the sudden, things feel awkward. He glances to the entrance of the blurry arena he's standing in as two teenagers in similar clothes come strolling in. He looks back down at Juliette.
"I'm probably going to have to stop responding. No one but me can see you, right?" He asks apologetically.
She hums. "Yeah, you're probably right. Don't mind me," She sighs dramatically, flopping her back down on the bench. "I'll just be here. Desperately awaiting your companionship."
He snorts, but smiles, turning back to continue wreaking havoc on the poor training dummy he's picked out to hack apart today. Juliette lays back and watches him. She doesn't get bored.
Sally welcomes her home with open arms and zero questions. Apparently, Percy had Irised his mom for her, so Julie had been expected. She spends the first few days locked in her and Percy's room.
She mostly people watches. It's strange to see mortals go into the coffee shop across the street and come out with a box of scones when, at camp, her demigod friends are grieving. There's a man on the street below her spinning a sign for a nearby bookshop like Lee Fletcher isn't ashes in the wind right now. Like his little brother didn't try to fit the pieces of Lee's skull back together with his bare hands. Like he wasn't burned on a pyre wrapped in an unembroidered shroud because his siblings were too busy keeping the wounded alive to properly grieve for their head counselor.
She thinks of her friend from her dreams and wonders if he would have comforted her like he did those few nights ago if he'd known what she was. What she is. That she's cursed. That the pain of her loved ones is like sweet nectar to her powers.
No wonder Aphrodite is disgusted by her creation. Juliette thinks she's disgusted too.
When it's her turn for a dream visitor, Juliette's not as lucky as him. She's in the middle of cracking an egg for the blue birthday cake Sally's baking.
Soldier Boy appears directly beside her between one blink and the next. She releases a strangled shriek of surprise, wielding the egg like a missile weapon that leaves a yellow splatter on the window of the oven. Sally looks at her in bewilderment.
"What was that? Are you okay?" The woman asks worriedly. She rushes over and uses a rag to stop the yolk from dripping between the oven doors.
Julie cringes and glares at the translucent blonde beside her. "I'm fine! Sorry, haa! Just," She bites her lip in thought. "Umm...just practicing my aim for...uh.." Why is lying to Sally Jackson actually impossible?
Sally looks at her with raised eyebrows and an unconvinced frown, and Juliette caves.
"I'm hallucinating a random blonde boy from my dreams who visits me whenever he naps throughout the day." She admits flatly. Defeatedly, she gestures at the boy beside her. "Say hi, Soldier Boy." She sighs.
He blinks at her in surprise, and then turns to Sally. "Hi?"
Sally studies her, probably deciding if she's joking (or crazy) or not. Then, she takes a deep breath, and apparently decides she's dealt with weirder things in her life. Gods, Julie loves this woman.
"Okay," Sally accepts, tossing the dirty rag into a hamper by the pantry. "Why don't you start from the beginning while you finish mixing that batter? And, try to get the eggs into the bowl this time, please."
Julie laughs nervously and nods. "Yeah. You got it."
So, she tells Sally everything (Well, almost everything. She can't bring herself to speak about her suspicion of the boy's heritage), pausing to translate for her invisible companion from time to time. Sally takes it in stride, nodding along studiously as Juliette explains their weird censorship problem and, by extension, lack of knowledge about anything not told in the vaguest of words or pantomime. Including names.
Sally laughs at her when she says that. "So, what, you've just been calling him your 'dream boy' this whole time?"
Julie goes red (or purple, she guesses) as said boy turns to her with a grin and raised eyebrows. "No!" She squeaks. Sally smirks. "He's 'Soldier Boy' in my head." The woman laughs loudly at her like that's not much better. Julie's cheeks must be steaming. "But, anyways, it doesn't really matter cause he could totally not be real anyway."
Soldier Boy looks strangely hurt at that. "Ouch?"
She glares at him. "What? Like you haven't thought that about me?" She challenges.
His ears go pink and he shrugs, not meeting her eyes. "You seem real to me." He says quietly.
Her chest does weird things at those words. Juliette doesn't want to think about why. She dismisses them and goes back to stirring the cake. Sally's looking at her strangely.
"This boy is a demigod?" She asks.
Julie nods.
"And he has demigod friends?"
"Yep."
"And he's three hours behind us in time-zones. So, West Coast?"
"Correcto."
Sally frowns thoughtfully. "Does he know about Kronos?"
The biggest blast of thunder yet shakes the whole apartment building. Julie snatches the flour and sugar before they can slide off the counter. She hears Percy yelp from the bathroom, the shower shutting off as a shampoo-bottle maelstrom undoubtedly starts pelting him. Soldier Boy looks at Julie fearfully, his form flickering.
She sees his lips form one word as his shape fizzles out of the apartment.
"Kronos?"
Percy's birthday party went off without a-okay, no. Considering Poseidon's surprise visit, Paul's proposal eyes at Sally, and Percy bribing Tyson into distracting Julie while Percy smashed cake into her hair, there were several "hitches" in the party. It was fun anyway, though.
When she comes back from washing out her hair, which is now (hopefully temporarily) stained blue at the bangs from the stupid cake frosting, Percy's sitting outside on the fire escape. He's perched beside the little planter box Sally keeps out there, his feet dangling over the edge while he blinks down at a tiny glowing sapling. Huh, that's new.
He looks over when Julie pushes open the window and flashes her a small smile.
"What are you doing out here?" She asks him blandly. He gestures to the plant.
"Fulfilling a promise." He says.
She frowns irritably and plops onto the fire escape beside him. "Well, that's not cryptic at all." Julie stares at him pointedly. His eyes are downturned, melancholy. She kicks their socked feet together to get his attention. "Drachma for your thoughts?" She asks.
He smirks and holds out his hand. When she doesn't react, he looks up at her and raises his eyebrows expectantly. Oh.
"Asshole." She scoffs, reaching into her pocket and flicking a drachma into the air. He catches it without any effort, and his eyes turn a bit nervous.
"Annabeth kissed me."
Well, that's not what she was expecting.
"WHAT? When?" She asks emphatically. He cringes at her enthusiasm.
"In the Labyrinth. Before I..." He mimes an explosion with his hands.
Julie's jaw is on the alley pavement. "How could you not tell me this? This is important information!"
Percy rolls his eyes and snorts. "Well, I was a little busy, y'know being unconscious. And then, I was stuck on Ogygia with Calypso, and she kissed me-"
"WHAT?"
A new voice sounds. "Am I interrupting something?"
Both of them jump about six inches into the air and yelp. Nico di Angelo is standing on the stairs of the fire escape with a vaguely amused glint in his eye.
"I'll take that as a yes." He nods at the planter. "Nice plant."
"Nico!" Julie beams and shoots up to greet him. She hesitates before she gets to him, a question on her lips, but he rolls his eyes and nods. She throws her arms around him and squeals. "It's so good to see you! Where have you been? Do you want to come inside?"
"Jeez, Jules, let the kid breathe." Percy laughs from behind her. Julie remembers herself and steps back quickly, but she can't wipe the smile from her face.
Nico straightens his jacket back out and squirms. "Actually, I can't stay. I just needed to talk to Percy about something." He looks at her meaningfully, and his eyes flick to the window.
Juliette's heart falls. She tries not to let it show on her face. "Oh. Okay, yeah." She shifts a little and bounces on her toes. "I'll just...Do you want some pizza? I'll get you some pizza." She turns back to the window and meets Percy's worried frown on the way. She forces her expression into a teasing smirk. "Don't think this conversation is over."
He raises his hands in surrender as she climbs back through the window and shuts it behind her.
She has to reheat the pizza three times in the hour that Nico and Percy are talking outside. When they finally join her in the kitchen, Percy's face is pale and tinged green, but Nico seems to be cheerier than he has been since his first week at camp. The role reversal is very confusing for Julie, but she chooses to focus on the positive.
Nico scarfs down two pieces of pizza and four slices of cake. Julie boxes two more of each up for him in some of the Tupperware Sally always complains she hates, and the soft look he gives her when she hands it to him makes Julie want to wrap him in a blanket and make him stay inside where it's safe and warm and vanilla birthday cake scented forever. Instead, she settles for squeezing his hand tightly on his way out of the window and asking him to Iris her if he gets the chance.
She and Percy lay in their respective beds after Nico leaves, and he tells her the full story: Hephaestus' quest, his kiss with Annabeth, washing up on Ogygia, meeting Calypso, and the end of Annabeth's prophecy. She giggles through so much of it that he ends up throwing his stinky socks at her to get her to pay attention. When they finally settle to sleep for the night, though, Julie's smile is slipping. There's something nagging at her about one detail he'd mentioned.
Kronos' scythe.
She's seen Luke's sword, Backbiter, before. It was freaky, sure, but nothing she didn't expect from a supervillain in the making. So, what about Percy's story is making her want to smooth out the wrinkles of her brain and take a better look inside?
The scythe.
The scythe.
She almost feels like she's seen it before. Somewhere. But, that wouldn't make sense. Percy said it had just been crafted. She couldn't have seen it.
But, the thought sends churning through her gut that she can't explain. And, she can't tamp down the instinct that something about this is all very wrong.