Things don't stay light for long.
Julie wakes up to a frantic Annabeth banging at her door clutching her blue flip phone. Just like that fateful day in December, she's dragged from her bed in her pajamas and pulled across camp, this time to her usual takeoff area. A hasty explanation from the blonde later, Juliette's in the air, passenger clinging tightly to her back spines as her powerful wings carry them over the strawberry fields at max speed.
Normally, the flight to the Jackson apartment takes about twenty minutes. They make it there in eight.
The fear pouring out of Annabeth and pumping through Juliette's own body is enough to fuel her beyond even being out of breath when they land heavily on the creaky old fire escape. Paul is already waiting at the window to let them in. He pushes it open, and both girls vault inside without losing pace, making a break for the kitchen towards the sound of desperate, gut-wrenching sobs.
Sally is on her knees on the tiles, clutching the phone to her chest.
Julie doesn't know what to do. The grief and terror in the air is too much for her. Her skin starts to buzz, her vision tinting green. She has to freeze in place to keep her human form. Annabeth sends her an understanding nod and steps up instead.
"Mrs. Jackson?" She asks gently.
Sally gasps, whipping around in surprise. Julie feels her own tears start to burn at the sight of her stepmother's puffy eyes. She feels Paul wrap an arm around her from behind and melts back into her stepdad's embrace. Annabeth drops to her knees beside Sally and gently pries the phone from her grasp.
The woman takes in a deep breath, seemingly trying to collect herself. She closes her eyes and gives them the ghost of a smile. "He called." She whispers.
Julie's heart stops.
"I didn't hear it. We were asleep. He left a message." Sally mumbles, voice trembling.
Annabeth looks down at the phone in her hand like it's a live grenade, eyes wide and face white. The anxiety in the air is so potent, Juliette's legs start feeling like they're being stabbed by acupuncture needles. Paul helps her lower to the ground and keeps a steady arm around her shoulders as they watch Annabeth steel herself.
Finally, with trembling fingers, the blonde pushes the button.
"Mom?"
Hearing Percy's voice again almost makes Julie throw up. In a good way. Sort of. Relief courses through her so powerfully that her legs buckle, and she's pulled tighter into Paul's arms, bundled up like a sad little Julie-burrito as she sobs freely into his shoulder. She can hear Sally strangling back her own tears again. Annabeth is silent, stone faced, staring straight ahead.
The voicemail is only about a minute long. It's the best, most agonizing minute of Julie's short life yet.
"I'll make it home. I promise. I love you."
The dial tone stays ringing throughout the apartment for twenty minutes after the message ends while Percy Jackson's family sits numbly on the cold floor of their kitchen.
"Do you have everything?" Julie asks nervously.
Annabeth sighs and rolls her eyes fondly. "Yes, Mom, I'm all packed. You've gone over it three times by now."
Juliette nods, chewing on her lip as she watches the older girl zip up her grey suitcase. She hops on the balls of her feet and glances through the window at where the Argo II is docked. "I really think I should go with you tomorrow."
"Julie, we've talked about this-"
"I know, I know...But, I just have this feeling that you're going to need me. Besides, I can be helpful. I'm a healer-"
"You aren't a healer, Juliette. You're a medic. There's a difference."
Julie huffs, crossing her arms. "Like, barely. Besides, it's more than any of you can do. You saw Leo try to do compressions during Will's class last week."
Annabeth winces at the memory. Julie had managed to convince the members of the Seven to attend a basic first aid class with the Apollo kids before setting off on their journey. Annabeth and Jason had been decent at it, but Piper and Leo's version of "helping" would probably be more likely to kill their patient than whatever ailment they were treating to begin with.
Sensing she may have gained some ground, Julie latches onto that. "You can't just chug nectar and ambrosia every time. You'll need me!"
Annabeth sighs and sets down the pair of socks she's packing into a duffel bag. She turns to Juliette with a sad expression. "Julie, I know you want to help. But, you've got a death omen hanging over your head."
Julie deflates.
Annabeth places a hand on her shoulder and gives her a small, encouraging smile. "Stay here with Sally. She'll need the support, anyway. None of us want you getting hurt."
Having said her piece, the daughter of Athena zips up her duffel bag and slings it over her shoulder. She offers Julie one last pat on the back, and then heads out of the cabin toward the ship. Julie stares down at the duvet sourly, anxiety itching at her skin, and sighs.
Juliette knows nightmares are a normal part of being a demigod, but better timing would really be appreciated.
When she first realizes she's dreaming, Julie's standing on a familiar New York City sidewalk.
There's a man standing in front of her. A man that Julie recognizes. His dark curls are free of his tacky safari-style hat, but they're still sweaty. His face is flushed, body trembling where he's planted firmly on the steps to the New York Public Library.
He has a gun in his hand, but the darting of his apple green eyes tells Julie it's a bluff. Her friend Phil is terrified.
"Oh, you silly girl," tuts a raspy voice from behind Juliette. She turns to see a pudgy man in nauseating amounts of purple stalking slowly up the stairs towards them. For a moment, she thinks he's talking to her - that he can see her in this dreamscape. Then, she notices the form pressed tightly into Phil's back, edging closer to him with every step the creepy man takes. "Cease this foolish rebellion. You wouldn't want to wake the Beast, would you? He won't be pleased to see you behaving so childishly, after all."
A metallic clicking signals that Phil has let the safety off of his weapon. He grips it tighter, and Julie can see him squeezing a protective hand onto the shoulder of the little girl behind him.
"You're never going to touch her again." He snaps. Even trembling, a bit of Papa Bear comes out in the usually gentle man. He sounds almost confident.
It doesn't phase the Purple Man, though. He just smiles in amusement and looks through Phil like he's made of glass. "Meg, my dear," He sighs. "I'm going to give you until the count of five to come down these stairs. If you don't, I won't be able to hold the Beast at bay any longer. I won't be able to protect you from him. You or your father."
"Just leave us alone!" Phil orders, nudging his child backwards so they can continue climbing towards the library.
In the fading light of the sun, the angles of his scared features are more apparent. They seem familiar somehow. Like his face is one that Julie knows by heart, despite only meeting once before. That strange, foreboding feeling from their first encounter returns, and she looks between her friend and his pursuer fearfully.
The Purple Man grins grotesquely and takes a step to follow them.
"One."
"Meg, we need to go. The car is parked down the street. Run to it! I'll catch up."
"Two."
"Blossom, I know you're scared, but we have to go."
"Three."
"I'm so sorry that I left you for so long. But, we're going to be together again, I swear-"
"Four."
"Meg, please, just run. I'll hold him off, just go! I love yo-"
Before Juliette can blink, before she can scream, there's a knife slicing across Phil's gut.
A shot rings out from the pistol, but the bullet finds a home in the wall of a building across the alley. A horrible gurgling sound chokes from Phil's throat. He stumbles backwards and trips. The little girl freezes as she watches the Purple Man grab her father by the shoulder, look her in the eyes, and drag his blade slowly across his midsection again.
Julie's never been sick in a dream before. There's a first time for everything. She vomits onto the steps of the library as she watches her friend - that kind man with the bright green eyes, who helped a lost teenager reset her broken arm - fall to the pavement and choke on his own blood, clutching at his spilled organs in a desperate last attempt to stay alive and save his daughter.
"Now, look what you've made me do, Meg." sighs the man.
The little girl just stands there and watches as her father's blood drips down the concrete steps.
When you wake up screaming in a cabin full of children of Aphrodite, you're more likely to get shoes thrown at you than words of concern.
When you wake up screaming to find the King of the Dead standing over your bed, all ghostly white skin and endless black eyes, you throw shoes yourself.
Hades scowls at her as a fuzzy pink slipper goes soaring through his face. Julie pulls the covers up to her chin and screams at him. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"
He scowls at her tone. "You do realize you're speaking to a god?"
Juliette throws the other slipper. It passes through his nose. "Get! Out! You creep! Were you watching me sleep?"
"I am not interested in watching mortals sl - Throw another shoe at me, and I will ensure you spend eternity in the Fields of Pun - Gods of Olympus, child, how many do you own?!"
Julie readies another shoe (Her high heeled black boots. Heavy artillery.) and glares at the god harshly. "What are you doing in here? And what did you do to my siblings?"
Hades rolls his eyes and gestures half heartedly at Julie's passed out brothers and sisters. "I am a sleep god, you buffoon. They are sleeping."
"What are you-"
"-Doing here? Yes, I heard you the first two times. Your screeching carries, unfortunately. If you would stop speaking for five seconds, I will get to that."
"You're the one invading a teenage girl's bedroom-"
"I implore that you not make this any stranger than it already is. Your mother is already going to curse me for setting foot in her cabin." Hades groans, pinching the bridge of his nose. He shakes his head and takes a deep breath, this conversation apparently having been very taxing for him so far, and then fixes Juliette with a more intensely serious expression. "I require something of you."
She scowls. "Oh, do you now? And, how do we ask for things?"
"I swear, if you were not my only hope in this matter, I'd smite you to ash for your insolence."
Julie raises a skeptical eyebrow. Then, she frowns in concern. "Your only hope?" She asks.
Hades sighs, long and tired, and runs a hand down his face. He looks significantly older than the last time she saw him, and Juliette wonders absently if gods can get sick. He crosses his arms stiffly and glares down at her.
"My son." He says slowly. Julie freezes, eyes wide, and dread creeps through her. Hades nods at her expression. "Nico is in danger. Beyond my realm's reach."
Julie's blood runs cold. The boot in her hand drops back onto the covers. "What do you mean, 'beyond your reach'?"
Hades' face is grim. He clenches his jaw before responding. "My foolish child has ventured into a realm where not even gods dare dwell. I cannot help him now."
Julie's chest feels tight. Her mouth is dry.
Nico, what did you do?
"I have begged a favor of the Fates." Hades continues. "They have granted me a single glance into the pattern Lachesis intends to spin."
The god steps forward, and Juliette feels frozen in place by the intensity of his gaze. His dread aura amps up, but not in the intimidating way it did in the Underworld during their first meeting. He seems genuinely anxious.
"Nico will emerge from Tartarus a prisoner. In three days. He will be held in Rome by Gaea's forces."
Tartarus? He's in Tartarus?
"I come to you with this charge at great risk. The Underworld is in disarray at this time. You will rescue him. The other heroes will never find worth in such an effort." Hades scoffs, lip curling. "Save my son, Juliette Aster. It is my will. Do not displease me."
He doesn't wait for her response before disappearing in a flurry of shadow.
Julie sits there, reeling. Her eyes are frozen to the spot where Hades just stood. Her siblings are starting to stir in their beds now, and it makes her thoughts feel scrambled.
That was real, right? Was that real? Is Nico...?
Terror grips her chest. Julie leaps out of bed and scurries to the window. She has to clamber on top of Piper to rip open the curtains, and her sister yelps in surprise when she takes Julie's knee to the chest in her haste.
"What are you doing, you crazy woman?!"
Julie ignores her, standing upright on Piper's bed and tearing off her necklace. She holds her Iris charm to the light and snatches Lacy's coin purse off the side table.
The younger girl sits up in bed with a frown. "Hey, that's min-"
"OhIris,GoddessoftheRainbow,pleaseacceptmyoffering!" Julie rambles. She chucks the drachma into the rainbow with shaking hands. "Show me Nico di Angelo!"
A pause.
Then, the ringing of a coin dropping back onto the bedside table.
Julie's going to be sick again. She chucks another coin. "Show me Nico di Angelo!"
It falls to the carpet.
"NICO DI ANGELO!"
This time, the coin shoots back at her face. She ducks, and it soars out the window.
Piper groans and pulls the pillow over her eyes. "Julie, what are you doing? It's barely dawn-"
"I need my bags."
She peeks out at Juliette. "What?"
Julie steps on her again on the way off the bed, and Piper yelps and sits up with a scowl. Juliette doesn't even glance back. She runs to her wardrobe and slings the doors open. In one fluid motion, she snatches up the pink suitcases she'd already packed in advance and darts out the door of Cabin 10 still in her socks and pajamas.
From her own bed, Drew sits up and delicately removes her eye mask, smirking at Piper across the room. "Sounds like she's your problem now." She sighs happily. Piper glares at her, and Drew smiles, yawns, and cuddles back down into her covers as the other girl pulls herself out of bed in pursuit of their insane little sister.
"What do you mean, Nico's in danger?" Annabeth asks, holding out her hands like she's talking down a feral racoon. Julie grunts in frustration.
"I don't know! I just know Hades showed up and said Nico's stuck in Tartarus-"
"Tartarus?!"
"-And, he's going to end up captured in Rome. So, I'm going with you." She finishes with a determined frown. The group all look at each other uneasily, and indignation swells up in Julie's chest. She loses control on some of her powers, eyes narrowing into dangerous slits as she stares them down. "You can either let me on that ship, or I will fly across the Atlantic on my own. Either way, I'm going to Rome."
They all frown at her. Jason and Leo look guilty. Annabeth looks annoyed. Piper seems mostly suspicious. She speaks up next, tapping her combat boots against the deck of the Argo II thoughtfully.
"How do we know you didn't just make this up so we'd let you come with us?" She asks.
Julie swells with rage. Little scales pop up onto her cheeks. Her nails lengthen. Leo and Jason both start inching back from her nervously, but Piper and Annabeth stand their ground.
That's fine. She can take them both in a fight, if that's what it comes to. She is getting on this ship.
Thankfully, a fight doesn't end up being necessary. At that moment, the ground shakes beneath their feet, and a skeletal hand erupts from the sand. All of them startle, leaping back a few feet as a skeleton clad in an orange life vest and a fisherman's hat pries itself out of the lakebed. It turns its head to look at them, sand spilling comically from every joint in the process, and creaks its way over to stand before them.
After a second of riffling around in its ribcage, it holds out a pitch black envelope to Juliette. She accepts it with wide eyes, and the skeleton drops into a bow so deep that its jaw bone falls off. Then, it crumbles into the sand again, and the group stares at the beach in awe.
"Well," Leo pipes up. They all look at him. He shrugs. "I guess that clears that up?"
Piper grumbles. Annabeth glares harshly at the bones on the beach and storms off into the inner cabins. Jason lets out a breath, laughing away the tension in the group, and reaches down to sling one of Julie's bags onto the deck of the Argo.
Juliette sighs in relief and looks down at the envelope in her hand. She tears it open recklessly and removes a small sheet of parchment. On it, scrawled in elegant, blood red calligraphy, is a sentence that makes her grin stupidly.
Don't break it this time.
Excitedly, Julie turns the envelope over, and a small, pale blue charm in the shape of an arrow falls into her palm. It feels colder than last time, thrumming with power. She almost whines in relief to feel its weight click back onto the bracelet on her left wrist.
"You weren't kidding." Jason mutters, voice high. He and Leo are staring at her with completely shocked expressions.
Leo makes a choked sound of disbelief. "Hades actually likes you."
Julie grins at them smugly. She hops up beside them and pats them both on the shoulder, shooting Jason a wink as she saunters by. "All aboard?" She calls back.
Jason grins at her, cheeks coloring, and heaves up her other suitcase as well. "Aye aye, Captain." He chuckles.
Leo sputters behind them.
"Hey, I'm the captain. Okay? We gotta get that hierarchy settled now. My ship, I'm the Captain. I designed it and everything. So, I'm the captain. Captain Leo. Capiche?...I said capiche? Stop ignoring me! Don't walk away from me, you scallywags, I'm talking to you-!"
Eight months ago, if you'd asked Julie where she'd be next summer, she'd probably have said "tanning on the beach in Montauk" or "cheer camp." Perched on the crow's nest of a flying ship on her way to a hostile demigod camp to rescue Percy probably wouldn't have been her third guess either.
They're probably somewhere in the center of the country by now. To be honest, Julie's been more focused on the sky than the land around them as they've flown. She's been pretty lost in her own head since takeoff. It's hard not to be, with everything that's happened over the previous week.
Phil. She had Annabeth look him up for her this afternoon. She was unsurprised to find his obituary waiting for her in the smallest print at the back of today's New York Times.
Philip McCaffrey.
Age: 42
Ethnicity: Caucasian and Puerto Rican.
Profession: Known and respected in the fields of agronomy and botany. Held a Masters in AgroEcology from the University of California.
Survived by his ten year old daughter, Meg McCaffrey: whereabouts unknown.
Heart aching, Julie reaches into her back pocket, and her fingers close around the polaroid picture Aeolus gave her all those months ago. She pulls it out and squints down at the faces forever smiling there.
Purple Aster and...Meg. Meg, whose family helped Julie at one of her lowest points. Meg, who was apparently just as loved by Juliette's surrogate mother as she was. Meg, who looks so much like her father.
Who looks so much like her.
It didn't click until tonight - where Julie has seen those cheekbones before. Of course, they'd be familiar to her. She's painted blush across them a thousand times. She's traced the corners of those catlike eyes with eyeshadow every morning since she was twelve. She's pinned her hair behind those slightly pointed ears. She's polished that gleaming, but almost unnoticeably crooked smile.
For so long, Juliette considered herself pretty much an orphan. She had Aster, but Julie was one of dozens of saplings being raised by the dryad. When she moved in with Sally and Paul, all of that changed. She suddenly had a family. A place where she was supposed to be.
What is she supposed to feel now that she knows Phil McAffrey existed all along?
And, what is she supposed to do about Meg?
When they see the Roman camp on the horizon for the first time, Julie lives up to Piper's airheaded expectations of her.
She gets excited. Sue her.
Truthfully, the moment they cross the peak of a mountain and see all of what Jason introduces as New Rome spread out below them, the sheer size of it shocks her so deeply that Julie is just desperate for confirmation they're in the right place. Ignoring the shouts of alarm behind her, Juliette leaps off the edge of the ship and lets her limbs stretch into wings and claws.
The wind catches her in its welcoming embrace, and Julie soars towards the city with hope blossoming and blooming from every pore and hair follicle.
Because she can feel him. Percy's here. Alive and so close. Her excitement helps her pick up speed until she's almost a blur in the sky.
Y'know what excitement doesn't help with? Crashing face first into an invisible barrier. An invisible barrier that yells at you.
Yup. The moment her entire body collides at top speed with what feels wonderfully similar to a brick wall, a gigantic face pops up in the sky just to let her know she's not only stupid, she's also now in danger.
"UNACCEPTABLE!" The face screams at her. "NO WEAPON WILL CROSS THE POMERIAN LINE!"
Julie's too dazed to even comprehend what he's screaming about. She's also freefalling after being knocked right out of her transformation by the impact. So, naturally, her response is:
"Huh?!"
Mid-fall, another body collides with Julie's, causing her to groan at the shockwaves of pain leftover from her bug-on-a-windshield moment, and her descent stops. She looks up at the ticked off face of Jason Grace from where she's being cradled like a princess in his arms.
"What part of stay on the ship is so hard to understand?" He barks at her.
There's still little harpies circling Julie's head. Through the TV static in her brain, all she can think is ooh, muscles, which pretty much translates to "Uhhhh..." out loud.
Jason rolls his eyes and zooms them back to the deck of the ship, where the face reappears in statue-form from a cloud of stinky yellow gas. He plops Julie down none too gently (she screams in surprise and lands on her butt), and turns to address the angry hitchhiker on their ride.
"Terminus, it's me, Jason Grace." He says, voice clipped and formal. The crew all gather behind Jason with their weapons, looking nervous.
The statue scoffs angrily. "Oh, I remember you. I will not have weapons within my barriers. I certainly will not have Greeks within. I thought you knew better than to consort with the enemies of Rome!"
Jason grits his teeth. "But, they're not-"
"That's right!" Piper steps up with a smile, hips sashaying expertly. Aww, her training is complete. Julie's so proud of that girl. "We just want to talk. If we could-"
"Oh, don't you try that charmspeak with me, young lady!" interrupts Terminus. "And put down that dagger before I slap it out of your hands. This monstrosity will not be entering New Rome-"
"Monstrosity?! Oh, I know you didn't just call my baby a monstrosity-!"
"Okay, Leo, everyone, just calm down. Lord Terminus, I am-"
"Oh, I know who you are! A child of Athena! Scandalous! We Romans know the proper place for that goddess."
"Now, hang on, just what do you mean by the proper place-?"
"Right!" Jason interrupts, shooting them all a harsh glare that makes them fall silent in an instant. He clears his throat and addresses Terminus with a straight back. Julie, still dizzy, giggles a little. Now, there's her Soldier Boy. "Terminus, we are here on a mission of peace. Please grant us permission to land so we may-"
"Impossible! Lay down your weapons and surrender! Leave my city!"
Leo frowns at the statue. "Which is it? Leave or surrender?"
"Both!" Shrieks Terminus. "Surrender, then leave! I am slapping your face for asking such stupid questions, insolent boy! Do you feel that?"
"Wow..." Leo breathes out in fascination, apparently thoroughly interested in just what makes this strange statue tick.
"This entire ship is a weapon! That girl who flies is a weapon! Weapons are not allowed inside the Pomerian Line! You cannot land!"
"Wait, what?" Julie asks, sitting up sharply. "What did you just call me?"
"Weapon! I do not speak to weapons! Praetor Grace, silence it now!"
"Now, listen here, you glorified hunk of marble-"
"Juliette, please-"
"Leo, stop the ship!" Annabeth blurts. The desperation in her voice draws everyone's attention. She's leaning half over the edge of the railing, grey eyes wide, bottom lip trembling. Julie's heart gets stuck in her throat.
"What?" Leo yelps.
Annabeth turns to him and swipes away a stray tear, face set in a determined line. "You heard me. Keep us right where we are."
Leo looks to Jason for guidance, and the blonde boy shrugs and nods. Leo picks up his Wii remotes and flourishes them in some ridiculous pattern that apparently means "stop." The ship slows to a halt, and Annabeth turns to Terminus.
"Terminus, there's no rule against hovering over New Rome, is there?"
"Well, no..."
She nods. "Our ship will stay aloft. We'll use a rope ladder to reach the Forum. That way, our ship will never touch Roman soil."
Terminus seems to ponder this. "Well, I do like technicalities...Still..."
"All of our weapons will stay aboard the ship, including live ones." Annabeth promises. Julie opens her mouth to protest, and Annabeth holds up a hand to silence her, glaring. "Can I assume that those Roman soldiers approaching will also have to obey your rules within the Pomerian line?"
"Well, of course!" scoffs the statue.
"Uh, Annabeth," Leo mumbles nervously. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"
There's a mania in Annabeth's eyes that Julie's never seen before. Julie's hands start to shake. She doesn't want to be left behind.
"It'll be fine. No one is armed." Annabeth assures them. She turns to Juliette and purses her lips guiltily. "Will you stay with the ship?"
Everything in Julie wants her to scream NO! But, then, she notices the trembling in Annabeth's own fingers. The reddened corners of her eyes. The dark circles beneath them. The fight drains out of her, and she nods, gaze dropping down to the boards of the deck.
Annabeth lets out a breath and turns back to the statue. "Do we have an agreement, then?" She asks.
Terminus harumphs. "I suppose. For now. You may climb down your ladder to New Rome, daughter of Athena. Please try not to destroy my city."
As the statue disappears and Juliette watches her friends hoist down the rope ladder, she finds herself glad that none of them swore that to him on oath.