Julie watches the Greek-Roman standoff from the deck of the ship, bitterness smoking in her chest like a sticky, bubbling witch's brew.

She can see the glint of Jason and Annabeth's blonde hair in the sun as they approach the Romans. She watches a figure break towards the crowd, sparking some kind of altercation that sends shockwaves of defensiveness through the Roman camp. For a moment, she thinks she's going to have to arm the Argo II's canons to get them the Hades out of there, but then a dark haired figure raises a hand, and everyone relaxes.

They only talk outside for a minute. Then, the group travels into some dining hall, and Juliette gets to spend the day getting sunburned by herself on the deck of the ship.

She passes the time by angrily bouncing Annabeth's paperclips off Terminus' face in the barrier.

"INSOLENCE! SKURGE! DAMNABLE WEAPON, CEASE THESE RIDICULOUS ACTIONS AT ONCE!"

Julie scowls. Her next clip bounces right between his eyes.

"Unbelievable! I would think an honorable Roman Praetor would have a better hold on his servants!"

She throws a whole hand full of paperclips this time. "Stop calling me that! I'm not his servant!"

Terminus scoffs. "His slave, then? His concubine? A barbaric practice in my opinion, but sometimes such measures are necessary-"

"I AM NOT HIS CONCUBINE!" Juliette yelps, face burning. She glares at the floating face and chucks the clip container right at his forehead. It collides and falls down into the city below. Someone's going to be very confused on their afternoon walk today. "I am a free person. Independent entrepreneur! I'm my own boss. Why would you just assume otherwise?" She gestures wildly. "Also, why am I the one you've got a grudge against?! Leo can literally set things on fire! With a thought! That seems way more dangerous to me."

Julie crosses her arms like a child as Terminus sniffs dismissively. If he were anything more than a floating head in the sky, she can imagine he'd have turned his nose up at her. "A masterless cordolium. What this world has come to...I suppose next everyone's going to be having beach parties and eating olives and other perilous Greek behaviors." He spits.

Julie squints up at him. "Those are the 'perilous Greek behaviors' you're worried about?"

"OLIVES ARE A GATEWAY TO PHILOSOPHY AND DEMOCRATIC PRACTICES!"

"Uh...Right." She clears her throat and averts her eyes. Alright, this god really is one head short of a hydra. She makes a mental hashmark under the Greek column on her 'Greece vs Rome: Where to Vacation' chart. Peleus is a much cuter guardian. Terminus sucks. What he just said to her fully sinks in, and she blinks up at him rapidly. "Wait, what was that you just called me?"

"A CORDOLIUM! AN EGO-SPAWN! A WEAPONESS OF THE EMPERORS!"

Ooh, that last one sounds pretty cool. It almost balances out being called a concubine a minute ago. Before she gets the chance to comment such, though, there's a tugging at the rope ladder from below. Julie gasps in excitement. She leaps from her seat on the ledge to crouch and poke her head down below to see who's approaching.

She deflates. Oh. Just Leo.

Okay, that sounded mean. She loves Leo. She just loves Percy more, and if she doesn't see he's okay in the next twenty minutes, she might have to summon an entire paperclip army to take down Terminus so she can go search for him herself.

Because she's a wonderful friend, Julie pushes back her disappointment and starts pulling up the rope ladder to help Leo board quicker. Once he reaches the deck, she offers him a hand up. He brushes past it.

"Which room has the controls?" He asks.

Julie frowns. "Uh...Hi to you too?"

Leo turns sharply and stares at her. His face is unnervingly blank. "Controls." He demands.

"Didn't you build this ship? Also, tone check, maybe?" Julie snaps.

Leo's eyes darken. The sight sends uneasy prickling down to Julie's tummy. She finds herself taking a nervous step backwards under the guise of kicking the rope back down for the rest of the crew's use.

She forces a laugh. "Is it cool if I tie this back down? Or are you going to go back down soon?" Julie asks.

Leo blinks at her. The action looks weirdly robotic. The pit in her stomach grows deeper as he nods with unfocused eyes. "That is fine. Where are the controls?"

Okay, this isn't good. He didn't even say 'That's what she said.'

"Leo," Julie says slowly. "Are you feeling okay? If you want, I can-Ah, shit."

Her question apparently doesn't interest him, because he turns on his heel and beelines for the entrance to the inner cabin. Julie ties off the rope to the tether line and jogs to catch up to him as he stalks across the deck towards the doors leading to the control room.

Okay. Not good. Shit, what should she do?

"Hey, Leo, I don't think Terminus wants us up here right now." Julie reasons. He ignores her. She huffs and walks in front of him to block his path. Leo just steps around her. "Leo! We can't move the ship - that was the entire point. Why do you need the controls?"

He continues to the doors like she'd never spoken. Julie growls in frustration and reaches out to snag Leo's shoulder. The moment she makes contact, he whirls around, and a flaming fist is heading straight for Juliette's cheek.

Oh, Hades, no. She is not in the mood for this right now.

Julie's body shifts into a towering, winged, emerald reptile, and Leo's blow lands against her scales instead. It still hurts, obviously, but probably a lot less than it would've if it were her flesh being melted off. Julie rears back on her haunches and swipes a wing at him, slamming the son of Hephaestus into the mast.

Normally, this fight would be one bite and done - spray a little venom or just get one good stomp in and turn the enemy into a demigod pancake. But, this is Leo. And, Julie still has no idea what's going on. So, instead, she keeps him pinned to the pole with her talons and tries to come up with a plan.

Maybe she can knock him out? That'd get him to stop. But, what is he doing, anyway? Why is he acting this way? What if she makes it worse?

Julie doesn't want to hurt him.

She ends up hesitating just a moment too long. Leo gets his focus back and erupts into flames. The heat is immediately too much for Juliette. She releases his shoulders and lets out a pained hiss as the column of fire follows her, burning away the entire top layer of the skin and scales on her wings.

If she transforms back and her eyebrows are gone, Juliette is going to be pissed.

Having successfully gotten away from her clutches, Leo bolts the rest of the way across the deck. He throws open the doors to the control room and disappears inside. Julie curses (hisses angrily) and bounds after him. She's too big to fit inside ('That's what she said.' says Mental Leo), so Julie, frustrated, shrinks back down into a human and sprints into the room after Leo.

She breaks through the threshold with her bow drawn, arrow nocked and aimed to stop whatever it is Leo is up to with the controls. She skids to a stop and and points her weapon at...nothing.

There's nothing here. Where did he go?

Julie has a split second to be confused. Then, something metal collides with her head, and everything goes dark.

Juliette dreams she's a princess.

The scent of lavender and chamomile is hanging in the room when she awakes. She stretches like a happy cat in the sun. This might be the comfiest bed she's ever slept in. Silk curtains are swaying gently in the breeze around the bedframe as Julie sits up. She looks around the room with a yawn.

She's in a palace somewhere. There's a golden vanity tucked against the furthest wall. Fresh flowers sit in a vase atop a bronze knobbed wardrobe. A rug of lion skin stretches the distance between the bed and the ornately carved wooden door.

Julie slips out of bed. She feels shorter than she usually is. Flowing from a golden clasp at her collarbone is a thin, white chiton. Golden bands adorn her arms and fingers, and she can feel heavy jewels hanging from her ears.

Where is she?

Shaking off the disorientation, Julie crosses the room to the door.

She tugs on the knob. It doesn't budge.

Um. Okay.

She tries twisting it. Lifting it. Banging on it and yelling for someone to let her out.

Nothing.

Julie's breath starts to pick up. Claustrophobia is getting to her. She stumbles away from the door to the window and looks down.

She's on a cliffside. Below her is a two hundred foot drop into a churning sea.

Heart pounding, Juliette moves away from the window as well. What is going on? Where is she? Is this a dream?

She glances to her left and catches sight of her scared face in the vanity mirror.

Well, not her face.

A beautiful young woman, just a little older than Julie by appearances, stares back at her. Black spiral curls flow down to her elbows, brushing gently against smooth, dark brown skin. Coffee colored eyes blink intelligently at Julie, painted with kohl and flicking in confusion across a form that is very much not her own.

Most striking of all is the crown of rubies and gold atop her head.

Looking at the girl makes Julie feel...warm. Protective. She reaches towards the mirror, blinks, and the stranger's face fizzles away into Percy's worried green eyes above her.

"Are you dead? Please don't be dead. Oh! Oh! She's opening her eyes!" Percy exclaims. Julie groans, dazed, as he hauls her up to sit against a wall. Percy leans forward to inspect her forehead. His eyes go stormy, and he glares over his shoulder at someone. "You'd better get that fucking moron out of this room if you don't want me filling his lungs with seawater."

Julie's breath gets caught in her throat as she watches him spit venom at whoever responds. A muffled sounding conversation is flowing behind him, but Juliette's limited focus is already taken up by the demigod sitting before her.

"I don't care if he built the godsdamn Statue of Liberty. He touches another person I care about, and I'll drown him in toilet water-"

Julie launches herself forward. Her weight crashes entirely onto Percy without warning, but he gasps in surprise and catches her. He always catches her.

She sobs in his arms and buries her face into the neck of his purple t-shirt. She tries to speak (to scold him, obviously), but the familiar scent of saltwater and cheap sunscreen is too overwhelming to get much out except for incomprehensible choking noises that sound somewhat close to "stupid" and "moron."

Percy just laughs at Julie's beratements and hugs her tighter. He rests his chin on the top of her head and smiles. "Sorry to keep you waiting, Jules. I missed you."

"I'm so so so sorry, Julie. Really, just punch me in the face. Right here. As hard as you can. I can take it-"

"I'm not going to punch you, Leo." Julie rolls her eyes. She adjusts the cold pack on her forehead with a wince, and the boy looks like he's going to burst into tears out of guilt, so she turns to Percy and Annabeth to change the subject. "Where's Jason and Piper? And, also, who's that?"

She points at the tall Asian kid in the corner. He looks behind himself, realizes she's pointing at him, and then flushes a bit in embarrassment. Percy grins at the interaction. He hops up and slaps the guy on the shoulder.

"This is my buddy, Frank, son of Mars." He says that last bit like he's chewing on a stinky sock. Julie beams at Frank and holds out her hand.

He shakes it eagerly. "So, you're the infamous Juliette, then?" laughs Frank.

Julie blinks in confusion. "My reputation precedes me?" She says, puzzled. Frank laughs and ducks his head a bit shyly.

"We've heard a lot about you the last couple of days. You guys must be really close. Percy blubbered like a baby when he remembered your na-" Frank cuts off with wide eyes. Julie looks back to see Percy gesticulating wildly, miming cutting Frank's throat and strangling him. When he sees Juliette looking back at him, he snaps his hands back to his sides and looks away innocently.

Julie's heart swells. Obviously, she can't let that show, though. She wrestles her touched smile into a sly smirk and fixes it on her adoptive brother. "You cried over me?"

"No!"

"He did."

"Frank, shut up, oh my gods!"

"No, no, Frank, tell me more about this sweet, cuddly, squooshy big brother of mine-"

"I lied. I didn't miss you. You're horrible."

Annabeth clears her throat pointedly, and the three of them look over. Percy escapes the conversation by scurrying back to her side like a lovesick puppy. Julie shakes her head and laughs.

If Annabeth thought he was clingy before, she'd better be ready for him to be glued to her every minute now.

Said girl sets her eyes on Juliette with raised eyebrows. "Jason's asleep in the infirmary. Unfortunately, you weren't the only one who got knocked in the head today." Julie gasps, leaping up off the couch. Annabeth holds out her hands placatingly. "He's okay! Piper's sitting with him-"

The end of her sentence is spoken to a slamming door as Juliette disappears down the hallway towards the medical bay. Annabeth sighs in fond exasperation. When she looks back at the group, Percy's looking after his sister in surprise.

"She's still doing medic stuff, then?" He asks.

"Yeah, man." Leo snickers. "That's totally what they're going to be doing in there. Mhm."

Annabeth has to purse her lips to keep from laughing with him (Stay professional, Annabeth), but the bamboozled look on Percy's face almost sends her over the edge. Instead, she turns to Frank with a curt nod.

"Frank, we'll be back. Just...watch Leo, please?"

"No problem."

"Piper, you can't just put ice directly onto his skin. You're going to burn him."

"Burn him? It's ice."

"Oh my gods, I do not feel like explaining this to you right now. Just wrap it in a cloth before I beat you with it."

"Fine, fine, jeez."

Julie rolls her eyes at Piper's grumbling as the girl goes to retrieve something to wrap the cold pack in. She frowns down at Jason's unconscious face and presses her fingertips gently against the swelled up gash on his forehead. Not too much fluid buildup underneath. It looks like Piper got all of the dirt out of the cut. There's nectar staining the insides of his lips, so she must have administered that too.

Huh. Julie's impressed. She'll have to give her older sister a pat on the back.

Piper returns with the cold pack neatly wrapped in an extra CHB shirt and places it on the bedside table as Juliette pulls some gloves on and grabs the supplies to stitch him up. Piper plops down onto an unoccupied cot and groans in exhaustion.

"Uggghhhh...I think we accidentally blew up some pretty important looking godly shrines today." She sighs, rubbing at her eyes. "Hopefully, we didn't piss off anybody too major."

Julie snorts, threading a needle. "With our luck? We probably pissed off everyone major."

The door to the infirmary slides open, and Percy and Annabeth enter. The latter comes to hover over Juliette's shoulder.

"How is he?" asks Annabeth.

Julie shrugs. "He's fine. He's got a whopping concussion, though. He'll probably be out for a while."

Annabeth sighs, but nods like she'd expected as much. As Julie starts weaving Jason's skin back together, Piper speaks up anxiously.

"How much damage did we do?" She cringes.

Percy sighs and rakes a hand down his suddenly sour expression. "A lot. Too much. I don't think we can count on the Romans for help in this fight."

"Was anyone hurt?" Julie asks. "I mean, other than..." She points at her patient. Percy nods grimly and looks down at his feet. A somber silence follows.

They all watch as Julie finishes Jason's stitches and clips the thread. She winds a bandage over the wound and then sits back, pulling off her gloves with a sigh. She looks up at the ceiling with a scowl.

"I need some hot chocolate." She states.

She swings to her feet and looks down at her friends, who manage tiny smiles. She nods at Percy. "You're a big strong young man. Carry this one to his room for me, will you?" She gestures at Jason's unconscious, limp, 6'2" and incredibly muscular form. "It's got a big lightning bolt on it. You can't miss it."

Percy gapes at her. "You want me to...Do these beds roll...? Jules, don't they roll? How do I make them roll? Hey, don't leave, I don't know how to - Julie!"

With a grin, Juliette skips down to the Mess Hall for a chocolatey pick-me-up.

When she reaches said Mess Hall and finds a familiar face sitting tiredly beside Frank and Leo, her jaw drops.

"Hazel?!" The younger girl looks up, spots her, and grins a beaming smile from ear to ear. She hops out of the recliner and leaps into Juliette's open arms, laughing happily against her shoulder. Julie shakes her head in surprise. "What are you doing here?" She exclaims.

Hazel pulls back and looks up at her with a softer smile. "I met Percy by coincidence." She explains. "When he said he knew you during our quest, I couldn't believe it! I'm here to help with the Prophecy of Seven."

That brings up conflicting feelings in Juliette. Hazel's a child of Pluto - of course Hera would find her powerful enough to be interesting. Still, she'd been hoping that maybe she'd be too young, or something. That, somehow, she'd be the one of them who got to have a semi-normal life now that she's been given a second shot at it. But, of course, such things wouldn't mean anything to the Queen of the Gods.

So, "It's good to see you." is what she settles with. Then, she struts over to the enchanted chalices and turns to Frank with a very, very serious expression. "So, when is our first dragon race?"

He blinks.

"We're heading out now."

Julie pulls her eyes from Jason's pale face. Percy is leaning awkwardly against the threshold, looking like he's unsure of what to do with this hands. He and Annabeth have agreed to go with Frank to grab some roofing tar from a nearby city to repair the Argo II with while Hazel and Leo seek out some celestial bronze, leaving Piper and Hedge to hold down the fort while Juliette cares for Jason.

Because teamwork.

Now, though, he looks like he's having second thoughts.

"Okay," Julie smiles.

Percy nods, turns like he's going to leave, hesitates, and then looks back down at her. She raises her eyebrows at him.

"Can I help you?"

Fidgeting, Percy opens and closes his mouth a few times. "I met Iris during my quest." He says. "She told me that you...called a lot."

He studies her nervously. Julie just nods. He nods back.

"That's...She told me you'd been calling, even though they never went through. That's how I remembered you." He continues, twiddling his thumbs and rocking back and forth. "I guess, I just wanted to tell you that."

Julie blinks at him. "Oh. Okay."

Percy nods. He raps his knuckles against the doorframe and shoots her a strained smile before turning down the hall to go join their crewmates on the deck.

"Hey, wait!" She stops him. He turns to her, and she tosses him a small, gleaming object. He catches it reflexively and looks down at the Iris charm in his palm. "Put it on your necklace. Return a few of those calls sometime."

Percy grins at her and pulls his camp beads over his head, walking backwards down the hall and adding the charm to the necklace at the same time. He flashes her the middle finger on his way up the stairs, and Julie shakes her head fondly.

What a dork. An alive dork whose mother she won't have to bring bad news to today. She goes back to watching over Jason with a smile.

It takes until sunset for him to stir. Once he first grimaces, Julie drops her nail file onto the bed and leans over him to cup his cheek.

"Hey, sleeping beauty," She teases. "How ya feeling?"

He groans.

"That good, huh?" laughs Julie.

Jason peeks an eye open at her and hisses when the light hits him. She chuckles and gets up to draw the curtains as he heaves himself into a sitting position against the pillows. "Gods, what happened?" He mumbles.

"You got high fived by a brick, love. In the face." Julie tells him. "You've been out for a few hours. You have a pretty monster concussion."

Jason blinks blearily a few times. Then, his eyes widen, and he slings his legs off the bed to stand. He barely makes it two steps before swaying dangerously and turning green. Julie rushes to him and pushes him back on the bed before he blows chunks everywhere. He groans again.

"Mhm. That's what you get for getting up. You're on bedrest, Soldier Boy. Don't let me catch you doing that without permission again."

He sighs, and she helps him prop up against some pillows with a shake of her head. "Yes, ma'am." He says pitifully.

Julie sighs, a smile tugging at her lips. Okay, maybe she's a little sympathetic. He just looks really cute when he doesn't feel good. Like a bear cub wrapped in a blanket. A huge bear cub. With a sword.

"So, still got all your memories?" She asks.

Jason looks up at her and accepts the glass of water she just poured him. "I mean...I have all the ones I had yesterday...I think."

"Shall we test it?" She grins, plopping down onto the cot with him criss-cross. "What's your name?"

He sighs. "Jason Grace."

"Where are you from?"

"New Rome, California."

"What's your sister's name?"

"Thalia Grace."

"Who's your bestest friend in the whole wide world?"

Jason smirks at her. "Leo."

She scoffs, offended, and hits him in the arm with a pillow. "You must not be fine. Obviously, your brain is scrambled."

"Oh, is it?"

"Absolutely." Julie snips. "You got that one wrong."

He laughs and leans forward. "What should I have said, then?"

She crosses her arms. "No! If you don't know, I can't tell you. I guess we'll just have to wait until your mind is healed."

"Well, how long could that take?" He asks with a grin.

Julie leans forward too. "Ten to fourteen days for mortals. For you, who knows? With how much you get hurt, maybe years."

"Years?"

"Years."

Jason laughs. The sound tickles Juliette's heart. He looks her over, bright blue eyes darting around her face. They settle on her own, just inches away, then she swears she sees them flick down to her lips. Julie holds her breath as he leans even closer, and their noses brush together.

"What if I don't want to wait that long?" He breathes.

Julie's skin is on fire. Her breaths don't seem to fill her lungs all the way. An enticing little smirk grows on Jason's face, and her eyes laser focus onto his mouth. She feels his hand creep up onto her knee as they lean even closer together.

"Hey, princesa, how's-WOAH!"

Jason and Juliette fly apart, the latter accidentally tumbling off of the bed and crashing onto her butt on the floor. Jason moves aside the covers to leap up and help her, but Julie holds up a hand, glaring.

"Don't you move out of that bed, Grace!"

Wincing, he complies, but still looks concerned. "You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." Julie grumbles. She looks over at Leo and Hazel in the doorway.

Hazel is glaring at her, which is a really weird expression to see on the usually cheery demigod. Leo has a hand slapped over his eyes, a shit-eating grin across his face.

"You guys done sinning?" He chirps.

Julie picks up one of Jason's shoes and chucks it at him. It collides with Leo's gut, and he stumbles back with an "oof."

"What do you want?" She hisses. Then, she notices the state of him. There's grease in his hair. Oh gods, that's more grease than she's ever seen on him at once. And what is all over his arms? Oh gods, look at the oil under his nails. Ohhhh, she's gonna be sick. "Why do you look like that?" She gags, eyes wide with horror.

Leo smirks at her evilly and flexes his stringy biceps as he approaches, very very slow. "What do you mean?" He asks in an innocent voice. "Don't ladies love a man who gets his hands dirty?"

Julie scoots back on the floor until her back hits the bedframe. "Don't you come near me, Leo Valdez."

"Why not?" He smiles widely and opens his arms. "Don't you want to give a hunk like me a big ol' hug?"

"Get that on me, and I swear to all the gods that I'll-NO!" Julie screams, high and girlish, as Leo lunges and wraps his arms around her middle, nuzzling his disgusting, greasy hair against her cheek. She kicks and flails, eventually managing to elbow him in the chest. He releases her with a grunt, and she stumbles away and looks down at herself in horror.

There's grease and oil smeared all over her clothes. She can feel the disgusting stickiness of it all over the right side of her face and in her hair. This outfit is done for. She looks over at Leo, a dangerous glint in her eye.

Jason glances between them with an amused, but also slightly terrified expression. Leo's still smirking. He doesn't seem to understand the gravity of what he's just done. Jason whispers to him, low and urgent.

"Leo...run."

And Juliette pounces.

An hour later finds Juliette in fresh clothes, manning the control center of the ship, feet kicked up on one of the consoles while she paints her toenails sunshine yellow. Annabeth pokes her head into the room with a curious expression.

"Is there a reason Leo's hanging upside down from the crow's nest?" She asks.

Julie doesn't look up from what she's doing. "Mhm."

Annabeth nods, glancing around the control room. "Are...you going to let him down?"

Julie picks up some more polish from the bottle, moving onto the next toe. "Eventually."

She nods again, puckering her lips. Then, she glances down at her watch and shrugs. "Well, uh...meeting in the Mess Hall in an hour, so..."

"We'll be there."

"Okay. Cool. I'll leave you to it then."

"Okie dokie."

Laughing to herself, Annabeth slips back out of the room to join her boyfriend in observing a pouting and yelling Leo-pinata through the window.

A/N

Percy's back! Yay! We're on the Argo II now and getting ready to take on Gaea's forces. I'm super excited to get into this section of the story. Thank you so so much for all of your kind comments. They're so encouraging, and I love hearing what you all think :)

Stay tuned! More to come.