Every arrow Julie shoots passes right through the ghosts without a snag.
Meg and Percy are slashing their respective swords on either side of the clearing, and they don't seem to be having any more luck than her. Apollo is clinging to Julie's back, still trying to convince her to hand over her bow, and Juliette is getting very close to just tossing him to the nosoi so they can all go home.
"Don't let them touch you!" Apollo cries.
Julie sees both Meg and Percy hit the deck, rolling under swipes from the smoky black plague spirits to avoid ending up with chicken pox or something. Julie snatches Lester's arm and tugs him along behind her as she darts to the edge of the clearing for a better vantage point.
"We need to run!" shouts Meg, gold swords flashing in the moonlight.
Percy disengages from the spirit he's fighting long enough to point to the hill that rises on the other side of the orchard they're crashed in. "That's the western border of camp! We just need to make it there!"
The four of them take off (well, three. Julie's still hauling Apollo behind her like a detachable travel trailer). Thanks to the stumbling mess of a former god lagging behind her and the aching in her right shin from all this running, Juliette and Apollo end up falling behind.
Julie curses colorfully as two of the plague spirits start reaching for the back of Lester's borrowed band tee. Thankfully, the irrigation tank they're darting past erupts into a geyser that washes the ghosts away so they can keep darting forward towards the barrier to camp. Percy waves her off when she shouts a quick 'thank you!'
"I didn't even know we grew peaches in this state!" Julie shrieks as they weave through the rows of trees.
"Over 2,000 acres!" Meg shouts back.
Julie sends her a bewildered look. "Why do you know that?!"
Her sister's response is cut off when the four of them have to screech to a halt. The three spirits are manifesting right in their path again, and this time they're bigger. Towering humanoid forms of black and green gas stand over them. One immediately sucks Percy forward into its depths.
"PERCY!"
"Don't breathe!" Apollo warns.
Juliette spins on him with a snarl. "Oh, wow, great advice, is this your first day as a human?!"
"It's been a few centuries, yes."
"WE HAVE TO BREATHE, YOU FUCKING MORON!"
"THERE IS NO NEED TO SHOUT AT ME!"
Percy falls into a kneeling position, clutching at his throat as Riptide clatters to the dirt. Panic seizes Julie's chest. She looks around desperately for an option as the other two spirits advance on Meg and Apollo.
Maybe this makes her an irresponsible hero, but she really doesn't give a slippery cyclops what happens to either of them. She runs forward to Percy. "Hang on!"
Completely out of ideas, Juliette just decides to take a running stab at the spirit with the recurve of her bow. She expects it to phase right though, maybe distract the creature long enough for Percy to pry himself away.
Instead, her jaw drops as the Stygian Ice of her bow starts to shine.
The weapon is glowing white in her hands - brighter than she's ever seen before. It makes Julie's heart skip a beat, but she doesn't have the time to inspect it right now. She thrusts it forward to pierce the cloud of smoke holding Percy and, shockingly, she actually feels a resistance.
It goes sort of like she's poking a needle into the side of a full balloon. The cloud of gas bends with the strike of her weapon. The nosoi screams out a piercing howl. Then, the ice shines blinding white, and Juliette is suddenly holding a bow-shaped handheld ghost vacuum. The black and green smoke is drawn into the ice between her fingers, screeching in protest all the way until it disappears totally beneath the surface of her bow.
Juliette's jaw is on the ground. She blinks in awe as the bow gives one last brilliant flash of white light. When it dims again, there's a new face of a tortured soul carved in a previously empty spot.
Her brother's coughing fit pulls Julie out of her reverie. She runs to his side and helps him back to his feet.
"Did you know it could do that?!" Percy asks, voice high pitched.
Julie flushes. "No!"
"How long have you had that thing?!"
"Well, I don't really go ghost hunting very often, Percy!"
"Well, go hunt some more, please," He requests, shoving her back towards where Meg and Apollo are being overtaken by the other two spirits.
Julie decides she should probably save the Olympian first. He is a god, and she would like to stay on Artemis' good side. Plus, he, y'know...didn't recently try to make her into the world's most dangerous meat puppet.
So, just as the nosoi attacking Apollo sinks itself beneath the former god's skin, Juliette skids to her knees to kneel over him. She frowns at the new green tinge to his pimply face and urgently hovers her Stygian Ice bow over his chest, closing her eyes in concentration.
She has no idea why she's acting like she knows how this works. Usually, Nico closes his eyes before he vacuums up ghosts, though, so it seems like the right thing to do.
When Julie peeks an eye back open, the weapon is glowing again, and a stream of black smoke is being pulled from the center of Lester's Led Zeppelin shirt (name five songs, Percy. You fake fan) into the surface of the ice. The bow flashes white, a new screaming face appears above the crystalline grip, and Apollo's eyes blink open.
"You alright?" Julie asks.
He smiles dreamily at her. "You are magnificent..."
"Ugh."
Meg's voice rings through the clearing. "GET DOWN!"
Julie gasps and flattens herself onto the grass beside Apollo. Both of them watch in awe as the frozen carcasses of fallen peaches begin to hover off the ground all around them. In a horrifying machine-gun like fashion, the fruits are all propelled forward into the final standing nosoi. They pepper the spirit with holes, making it resemble a human shaped piece of very moldy Swiss cheese. The ghost teeters over and falls to the grass with a crunch.
For a moment, everything is still. Meg falls to her knees, gasping for breath and visibly sweaty. Julie and Apollo look at each other in bewilderment as Percy uncovers his head with wide eyes.
"What just happened?" He mumbles, narrating everyone else's thoughts too.
Meg continues to pant, hands on her knees.
Then, the spirit twitches. Julie groans and bonks her forehead softly on the ground in frustration when the cloud of smoke reforms back into a solid standing entity. A bone-rattling rasp like a laugh echoes from it as it floats towards Meg again.
"You are strong, child," It chuckles. "But, not strong enough. I will finish you now...Your guardian will be so disappointed."
The way Meg's face drops in horror and heartbreak pushes Juliette back up to her knees. She grips her bow and starts darting over to her rescue.
The spirit is a little too close for comfort, but Julie can make it.
Wait, why is she making it? What is she doing?
This kid tried to capture her just weeks ago.
Julie, stop. Stop running back in to help her - what are you doing?
She doesn't stop, though. Julie jumps forward just in time to snag Meg around the shoulders and roll them both out of harm's way. She holds her sister's small form protectively to her chest as she kneels on the ground and raises her Stygian Ice bow up to pierce the vaporous entity before them.
It howls in surprise and outrage, but the pull of Julie's weapon is too great. It sucks the final plague spirit in, shining bright like a star until every trace of their enemies has disappeared and the clearing is quiet once more.
Julie relaxes, leaning her head back to breathe in sweet un-plague spirity-y air. She hears Percy and Apollo both let out audible sighs of relief. In her arms, Meg starts to squirm. Julie releases her immediately. She backs away for good measure, too, not even sparing the kid a glance.
She doesn't know why she just did that. Honestly, it was kind of stupid. A lot of her problems probably would have gone away if Meg hadn't made it.
Julie's very confused.
She doesn't look at Meg as she goes to offer Percy a hand up. She hopes the kid gets the hint to leave her alone for now and doesn't do something annoying like thank her.
"Well, that was fun," Percy grumbles, dusting off the back of his jeans.
Apollo sits up too, looking between Julie and Percy in surprise. "You are lucky," He notes. "Normally, the touch of a nosoi would strike you down with a deadly illness."
Percy grimaces. Julie smirks in self satisfaction, twirling her handy new ghost-busting tool. "You're welcome," She chirps at him. "I expect to be compensated for my ass-saving abilities, though, Mr. Jackson."
He rolls his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, lunch is on me next time."
Julie grins. Then, she turns to Apollo expectantly, eyebrow quirked.
He blinks at her. She stares.
He blinks again. Julie purses her lips and taps her foot.
He blinks a little more decisively, and his eyes light up in realization. "Ah...thank you."
Julie nods her approval. "You're welcome. Was that so hard?"
"I do not understand the question."
A wee-woo from a police siren startles the whole group. They all start scrambling back in the direction they left the car, and Percy groans when they get to it and find a police cruiser pulling up to the gap where they busted through the chain link fence.
"Crap," He grumbles. "If they tow the Prius, we're dead." Percy looks at Julie with an apologetic frown. "I gotta..." He gestures at the car.
"You're good." She nods. "I'll take them from here. You go handle-" She points at the officer approaching the fence. "That."
Percy sighs and turns to her with a more serious frown, putting his hands on both of her shoulders so she'll look right at him. "Be careful, though, okay? The western border is wilder than the east. It's all-"
"Hills and myrmeke dens," She finishes with an indulgent smile. "I got this, Perce."
"Alright, alright," He gives in with a huff, tugging her forward into a hug. "I'll go keep us from getting grounded for the next six months. No getting roped into another quest, you hear me?" Percy asks sternly.
Julie chuckles. "Who, me?"
"Yes, you," He snorts. Percy drops a kiss on the top of her head before she straightens back up to her (superior) full height. He starts backing towards the car as he points at Meg and Apollo. "You guys try to survive until the weekend. I'll come check on you then, if I can. Be careful."
"Go!" Julie urges with a laugh.
Percy nods, looking very reluctant to leave them. He eventually turns around and heads to chat with the police officer, though. Once he makes it past the fence and out of sight, Julie lets the fake smile slip from her face and the hand she was waving with fall to her side.
She can feel the presence of her two companions behind her like vengeful specters hanging over each shoulder. She hears Apollo sigh and shuffle around on the crunchy, frozen grass, probably taking in their surroundings, gauging how far they are from camp.
"Well, shall we?" He leads. "You mentioned flying?"
Julie doesn't turn around. Her thoughts are speeding a mile a minute.
There's a girl standing behind her. A girl who knows everything - definitely more than Julie does. She's a girl who has proven she's loyal to Nero. Who has placed Juliette into the most precarious situation of her life thus far.
Is this girl an enemy?
If she's a spy, does Julie end this right now - either send her packing or...worse...to prevent anyone else that she loves from getting hurt? How could she bring someone like Meg to a sanctuary like camp?
But, how couldn't she?
What if the girl standing behind her is just a girl? Just her little sister who is scared and stuck in a situation she doesn't know how to escape? Juliette knows what it's like to live under the thumb of evil. She also knows what it's like to want nothing more than that evil's acceptance.
What does she do?
Lester clears his throat. Julie realizes the extent of the tension that has arisen since Percy headed out. She finally turns around to face her two companions.
Then, with a speed Julie didn't even know she possessed, she has Meg up off the ground and against a tree by the front of her shirt.
Apollo cries out in alarm. Meg gasps and grasps at Julie's hand, her swords scattered about at the base of the peach tree. Juliette can feel scales across her cheeks. She leans into that feeling, letting her pupils slit and her fangs poke at her bottom lip for a nice boost in the intimidation department. From the surge of terror she feels from the child currently at her mercy, they're effective touches.
"What are you doing here?"
Gods, Julie's never sounded like this before. This voice she's using isn't coming from her head. It's guttural and low, growling out from a deep pit in her chest where she's been keeping all of her fear and resentment stored away for years. The hissing tone kind of scares even her.
She utilizes it, though. Because Meg looks like she's going to cry, and that's good. Juliette needs a straight answer. There is no other way she's bringing this girl into her family's only safe space. She needs to know.
"What in Olympus are you doing?!" Lester's panicked question comes with weak hands pulling at Julie's shoulders, trying to remove her from Meg. It's honestly kind of pathetic how little it fazes her. Julie just ignores him like he's an annoying little gnat in her ear.
Tears start spilling from Meg's eyes. They drip onto Julie's clawed hand.
"I-I-" The girl stutters. Julie relishes in the guilt floating through the connection they've made. "I'm sorry..."
Juliette just leans closer with a snarl and tightens her grip on the girl's shirt. "What. Are. You. Doing. Here?"
Meg squeezes her eyes shut and shakes her head. "I left, okay?! I ran away."
Julie scoffs. "You expect me to believe that?"
"It's the truth!"
Apollo lets out a frustrated grunt. "What are you two talking about?!"
"I want to know why he sent you and what Apollo has to do with it," She demands. Meg's aura flickers with annoyance. The girl starts kicking at Julie's chest.
"I told you," She insists. "I ran away! He didn't send me!"
"And I told you bullshit."
Meg starts digging her shoes into Juliette's ribs, looking royally pissed off. "I'm not a liar!"
"No, just a traitor."
The younger girl slumps in Julie's grip, then. The tears are returning, the shame creeping back into the squiggly lines of exhaustion all around her. She hiccups a sob and sniffs in the snot running out of her nose.
"...Did you really know my dad?" She whispers.
There's a twisting in Julie's stomach. Suddenly, threatening this little girl doesn't make sense anymore. She draws her powers back in and lowers Meg back down onto her feet, removing the clawed hand from the front of her overalls.
She stares down at the kid. Gods, Julie really doesn't know what she's supposed to do.
"I knew him," She confirms. "He was my dad too."
Meg looks up at her with big brown eyes, tears tracked down the bit of dirt on her face and nose running like a faucet. There's a leaf stuck to her cheek. "So...you're my sister?"
Julie holds on tightly to her suspicion. She can feel it trying to wrestle itself away from her. She's leaving claw marks in it. She can't let it escape just yet.
"If you don't get me killed," She replies.
Meg's head bows again. She shuffles her feet in the dirt.
Julie is surprised Apollo has been silent this long. Maybe he understands sibling stuff, being a twin and all. She appreciates him staying the Hades out of it.
Just as Juliette is about to ask the kid another question, Meg finds her gaze again, and there's a new fire in her eyes. Julie raises her eyebrows. Molten amber is staring earnestly up at her, a hand reaching back to dig through the strawberry print backpack Sally must have gotten from Juliette's closet. She prepares herself to have another weapon drawn on her. Or to be presented with some kind of squashed snack Meg buried at the bottom of the bag for safekeeping. She seems like the type.
But, no. Meg holds out her hand, and in it is a golden cuff the width of a coffee mug. On the side, there's an etching of an axe wrapped in rods.
Apollo makes a choking sound behind Julie. Julie herself just stares, petrified in place from the ice cold terror running through her veins. She forgets how to breathe. She finds herself stuck, unblinking and frozen in place at the sight of the remaining Tiberii donum.
Slowly, Meg lowers down to the ground and sets Tiberius' Gift into the dirt.
"I took it," She explains. Then, she shrugs. "Well, I mean, I already had it. But, I'm giving it to you. I don't want the Beast to have it. That made me feel..." Meg turns a little green. She puffs out her cheeks and looks away. "I just want you to have it."
Julie's eyes are glued to the piece of gold sitting in the dirt. The three of them seem to be at a standstill. Nobody is sure of their own next move.
Is this real? Is Julie really being...handed the key to her freedom right now? Is that even the real one?
"Apollo," She chokes.
The god looks at her. She isn't sure what his expression is. She's still staring at the cuff on the ground.
"Will you...will you bring that to me, please?" She asks softly.
She needs to take a closer look. But, her body won't move.
Julie expects the god to sniff at her and spout something about being Meg's servant, not hers. He doesn't, though. The pimply teenager wearing Percy's clothes does what she asks him to. He bends down to pick up the shackle, something haunted in the squint of his eyes and the hunch of his shoulders. Apollo seems to stare down at it for a very long time.
Then, he starts to approach Julie with it. She accidentally stumbles backwards.
"I-..." She can feel herself shaking from head to toe. The band on her left arm starts to prickle under her sleeve. "Is it real?"
Apollo looks up at her gravely. He nods.
"It is."
Holy shit. Fuck. Higgly diggly ding dong dookie, what is the proper response to this situation?
Julie probably stands there gaping like a fish for an embarrassingly long time. Then, she glances back to Meg and finds the girl looking at her pleadingly.
"I ran away," She insists. Behind her red cat eye glasses, her eyes are wide and honest.
And, you know what...Juliette believes her.
"Okay," She breathes out shakily. She holds out a hand to Apollo, and the god lowers the Tiberii donum into her outstretched palm.
As opposed to the warm, pulsing cuff around her arm, the one in her hand is cold. Lifeless. Even as the mark on the side of it glows red in response to her contact. Julie shivers in disgust, feeling seconds away from throwing up, and squeezes her eyes shut while she stuffs the bracelet into her jacket pocket.
The weight of it there is extremely uncomfortable. She finds it to be better than the absence of it, though.
Julie nods at Meg. "Alright. Let's get going, then."
She turns back towards the western barrier of camp. She freezes. They all do.
"Um...Is that peach wearing a diaper?"
"Peaches."
"Why's it glaring at me?"
"Peaches. Peaches!"
"Meg, is this you?" "No?" "I believe that is a karpos." "A what?"
"PEACHES!"
"A spirit of agriculture. Oh yes, he looks quite angry with you." "What did I do?"
"PEACHEEEEEEEES!"
"AHH!" "MEG!" "Peaches, no!"
When the door slams behind Jason, he nearly gets his fingers squashed.
He pulls them back at the last second, and then he's staring at the locked front door of Piper's mansion, suitcase haphazardly filled and tossed onto the porch beside him. There's lead in his stomach. It feels like an anchor slowly, painfully digging its way through his organs as gravity pulls it downwards.
Eyes shut and swallowing his pride, Jason raises his hand to knock very lightly.
Maybe Piper will change her mind. Maybe she'll understand.
After two minutes of silence and staring at the broken doorbell, Jason lets himself realize that she's probably not coming back. He turns to his things, lifting his suitcase back into a rolling position and shouldering his duffel.
It's okay. Jason understands why she wants him gone. Gods, if he were her, he wouldn't want to look at him either.
Walking the streets of Malibu in the middle of the night is quiet. At least, it is in January. Jason figures it probably gets busier during the summer, but right now, it's just him and the incline of the rolling hills around him.
He doesn't really know what to do next. He could go back to Camp Jupiter. He likely still has an apartment there somewhere. But, Piper has already told them what a coward Jason is. He isn't sure he's ready to look Reyna and Frank in the eyes.
Besides. Jason has a job to do. He isn't sure what exactly that job is, but Herophile said he needs to be close by for Apollo to find.
Juliette is safe - Tempest made sure of that. As desperately as everything in him wants to be back home curled up in bed around her, Jason made a vow. He can't leave California.
He's a coward. He'll admit to that. He doesn't want to explain to Piper why he won't help her go after Caligula for ruining Tristan McLean. Piper is stubborn. She doesn't believe in prophecies, and she hasn't been proved wrong painfully enough yet to understand where Jason is coming from. If he tells her what Herophile said, she'll just brush him off. She'll go after the emperors anyway.
Piper and Leo are his best friends. He can't lose them both.
So, Jason will push forward on his own. He'll find a new place to live. Somewhere near enough to the Maze that he's easy to find. He'll be a teenager - a normal teenager - for as long as he can until his destiny finds him.
Prophecies come to pass, and Jason understands them.
He understands what's coming to him. But, it's not here yet.
So, for now, the night is just him and the incline of the rolling hills of Malibu. Jason closes his eyes, presses the pads of his fingers into the charm hanging from his neck, and keeps walking forward.
"Is he really Apollo?"
"Yeah."
"And Meg. She's your sister?"
"Mhm."
"And, this is-"
"Yup."
Julie and Nico stand side by side, staring down at the gold cuff sitting in the center of his bed in Cabin 13. Juliette is chewing on her nails. She's going to regret it later, but right now she needs something to fidget with or she's going to stress vibrate right out of her shoes.
"Where's the other one?" Nico asks.
Julie stills and glances at him nervously. "Um."
He turns to her, already looking exhausted. "Julie."
"Well, you see-"
"What did you do?"
She winces. "Remember when Will was all pissy about me getting shot during archery practice a few weeks ago?"
Nico nods.
"It may not have been archery practice."
Julie punctuates the statement with a grimace. She shrugs off her letterman jacket so Nico can see her arms and bites her lip guiltily at the 'what the fuck, Julie' groan he lets out at the sight of the other cuff secured around her bicep.
"What the fuck, Julie?"
Oh wow, look at that verbalization of his thoughts. Will really is a positive influence on Nico, isn't he?
"In my defense, Chiron told me not to tell anyone," Julie throws out there. She groans herself, though, and scrubs at her face with the heels of her hands, walking backwards to plop down onto Hazel's bed. She glares up at the twinkling gems in the base of the top bunk.
"So, Chiron knows?"
"Yeah."
"What about-"
"Percy? Do you think I'm an idiot?"
"..."
"Rude."
Nico sighs, his footsteps approaching until he's standing over her. Julie looks at him. She's emotionally burnt out at this point. The uncomfortable twitch of his face means he sees the tears gathering in her eyes. For once, he doesn't shy away, though. He just stares down at her worriedly as Julie starts to cry.
Again. For, like, the hundredth time in the last two months. Gods, when did she become such a whiner?
"What do I do, Nico?"
He frowns. "Destroy it, obviously."
"How?" She asks, voice getting a little shrill in her desperation to keep from totally losing it. "It's Imperial Gold. I can't melt it. I can't break it. I can't even dissolve it with my blood."
"How did they destroy it last time?" Nico asks.
"My mom did it, I guess," Julie grumbles. "Like she'd ever want to help me."
"Maybe she would."
"Yeah, and maybe I fart Chanel No.5."
"I don't know what that means." Nico rolls his eyes and kicks at her fake leg in impatience. "There has to be a way."
Julie sighs and sits back up to glare at the Tiberii donum on the other bed, one hand clutching the one stuck to her arm. She feels like she's contracted every stomach bug known to man. She's shocked she hasn't started spewing nervous chunks all over the black tiles in here. "Maybe we could, like, set it in concrete and stash it on the bottom of the ocean."
Nico sits down beside her and leans his elbows onto his knees, spinning his skull ring. "Maybe. But, we're dealing with gods, you said. I don't know if it's the best idea to have this thing out of your sight."
Juliette looks at him like he's crazy. "You want me to keep this thing on me?!"
Nico shrugs. "I don't think you should just leave it somewhere. I think it needs to stay accounted for until we can figure out how to destroy it."
A groan later, Julie is flopped back onto the bed again. "Yeah, you're probably right."
She stares irritably up at the gems.
"How many of these are even real?" She asks.
Nico quirks an eyebrow. Julie points up at the emeralds embedded in the bunk.
"Nyssa said some of them are fake, but some of them Hades sent up. Which are which?"
Nico frowns thoughtfully and lays on his back too so he can study them as well. She snorts a little when his face screws up in focus.
"I'm not sure," He admits.
Juliette grins and nods. "Damn. That's pretty impressive. I'll have to tell her."
They're both silent for a while, just staring up at the twinkling green gems. Then, suddenly enough to startle Julie into jumping, Nico sits up off the bed and bolts across the room. Julie sits up too and looks at him in bewilderment.
"What? What is it?"
Nico ignores her. He ends up kneeling down next to the alter to Hades. Juliette watches him run long fingers down the carvings of Hades' palace, eyes scanning over them like they hold some kind of secret message.
"Nico? You good, buddy?" She asks nervously.
He looks at her sharply. "You did these."
Julie blinks. "Um...yes?"
Nico stands urgently enough that it spurs Julie to follow his example, rising from the bed like a soldier greeting her commanding officer. Nico crosses his arms.
"I have an idea."
Oh, thank gods.
"You're going to hate it."
Never mind.
Julie presses her lips together and cringes. She nods, though. "Okay, well, that means it'll probably work." She shrugs. "Hit me."
Nico was right. She is not pleased.