"Stop wiggling."
"It tickles!"
"Did I ask? I said, stop wiggling!" Julie commands, pushing Meg's shoulders down so she'll sit still on the porch of Cabin 7. She's smoothing Bratz bandaids onto the cuts on the girl's arms while Austin and Kayla hover behind them, grinning.
"About time you got a taste of our side of the gurney, Aster," Kayla snickers.
"Oh, hush. I'm an excellent patient," Julie waves off.
Austin snorts incredulously. Julie balls up a bandaid wrapper and chucks it at him.
"Don't you two have a creepy dad in there to check on?" asks Julie, gesturing irritably at the cabin door.
Austin and Kayla both cringe. Meg looks a little disgusted. "He's really your dad?"
"Unfortunately," sighs Kayla. She pats her brother on the back and jerks her head towards where Will is probably still standing vigil at Apollo's bedside. "C'mon. Let's go get Will to take a fricken nap or something."
Austin groans, but follows his sister up into the cabin, leaving Meg and Julie still perched on the top porch step. It's early morning - before most people start getting up for breakfast. Most of camp is still partially shadowed and chilled by winter air.
They'd made a complete spectacle of themselves landing in the middle of the dining pavilion at dinner last night, but Apollo had suddenly started seizing on Julie's back when they entered the camp barrier, so she figured express delivery to his magical children was a good call. Since then, Will has been holed up in the cabin with his suddenly-younger-than-him father in an attempt to figure out how to help him regain godhood. Judging by the lack of news, Julie's assuming he hasn't had any luck.
Meg shifts next to her, pulling on the laces of her red shoes like she's lashing an unruly pegasus. There's a new awkwardness in the air. One that reminds Juliette that this is the first time they've been alone together since...events...transpired.
She taps her pink nails on the wooden porch, nodding her head to music that isn't there. "So..."
Crap, why'd she say that? She doesn't have anything to follow it with, and now Meg is side-eying her.
"So, what?" The girl asks flatly, still pulling on her laces.
Julie puffs up her cheeks and blows an awkward raspberry. "Do you...uh...have, like...a favorite animal? Or...something?"
Meg lets her foot fall back onto the step. She turns to look at Juliette like she's gone insane. "Huh?"
Julie flushes.
HOW DO YOU TALK TO CHILDREN?
"Well, I just thought we could - I dunno - get to know each other, since we haven't...I mean since we aren't ...anymore, you know? And, so..." She groans and covers her burning face. "It seemed better than 'What's your favorite color,' alright?"
Meg snorts and sticks a finger up her nose. "You're weird."
"Thanks," Julie grumbles, grimacing as she watches her sister wipe snot down one of the railing posts.
Once she's satisfied that all the pickable boogers are out of her nostrils, Meg sniffs and turns to Juliette with a frown serious enough to startle the older girl into fixing her posture. She crosses her arms. "Why didn't I know you?"
Julie's brain buffers for a second. "Like...growing up?"
One of Meg's eyebrows goes up like 'duh.'
"Honestly, I don't really know," Julie laughs awkwardly. "I, um...Purple Aster raised me."
Meg blinks at her in bewilderment. "Who?"
Julie frowns. "Purple Aster."
"...?"
"Purple Aster," Julie repeats again, getting annoyed. "The dryad?"
Meg just stares at her. Irritated, Julie reaches into the inside pocket of her jacket to draw out the polaroid picture within. The one of Meg and Aster that Aeolus gave her. She hands it to her sister and watches her face light up in recognition. "Oh, I remember her! She was nice."
Julie shakes her head in amusement. "If you did what you were supposed to."
"Where is she now?"
Sadly, Juliette accepts the picture back and tucks it back inside her jacket. "I don't know. Our home got burned down a few years ago."
Meg's eyebrows go up. "No way! Mine too!"
The bright way she says that makes Julie burst out laughing.
Meg grins and rocks forward to grab her feet like a toddler. "So, is this place like a superhero camp?"
"Kinda," Julie nods. "Not everyone has powers, of course. A lot of us do. If you mean are you going to get to beat people up at some point, I'd say most definitely."
The wicked smile that grows across Meg's face makes Julie snort again.
The tension between them seems to have mostly melted away. They end up in companionable silence, Julie studying her new sibling's features and Meg digging holes in the dirt with her fingernails, pulling out earthworms when she finds them.
It's actually insane to Juliette how different the two of them are. Especially considering the similar things they've both gone through.
There's one question she still needs to ask, though.
"Meg," She calls softly. The little girl looks at her, expectant. Julie tries to give her a gentle smile. "Are you really here to stay? Or are you a spy?"
Meg stares at her. There's not a flicker in her emotions to give Julie any tell of what she's thinking. The moment seems to stretch on for hours.
Juliette is about to ask again when the door to Apollo's cabin swings open, and Will Solace hops onto the deck from the threshold. Trailing behind him, dressed in what Julie recognizes to be some spare clothes of Will's, is Lester Papadopoulos.
Meg is quick to speak everyone's thoughts.
"You look like yuck."
Efficient. Eloquent. Descriptive.
This is a kid after Julie's whole heart.
"And you, Meg," Apollo sighs. "Are as charming as ever."
Juliette chuckles and stands up, hands on her hips and clad in her letterman jacket and a white ruffly miniskirt she stole out of Drew's closet. She brushes her ponytail off her shoulder and scowls at the former god. "So, you're not dead," She notes, trying to sound uninterested. "I started to wonder. You sorta had a fit on my back right before we flew through the barrier."
"You were almost a pancake," Meg adds, smirking. "I saved you. You're welcome."
"It's a good thing you guys flew in instead of walking," Will says, approaching with his hands tucked into his shorts pockets. "The woods lately have been..." He winces.
Julie nods grimly. "Yeah, Nico told me."
The disappearances. Cecil. Ellis. Miranda.
Something must be very wrong here.
"Who told you what?" Apollo asks.
The four campers exchange a look.
"Let's go see Chiron," Julie suggests instead of answering. "I'd rather not be the one to have to answer all of Meg's thousands of questions."
"Mr. D still isn't here?" Julie asks, frowning.
Chiron trots ahead of them, leading the way into the den as he shakes his head. "He is not. He has not returned to camp since before the battle with Gaea."
Julie grumbles, a hand coming up to rest on the left side of her chest where she knows the end of her tether to be hooked. She's been trying to get into contact with the camp director for weeks now. With him away gods know where and most forms of communication down, her only option at this point if she wants to ask him about her dream and...tethers is to burn him an offering in prayer.
Yeah, right. As if. She'll wait, thank you very much.
"Mr. Dee?" Meg asks around a mouthful of cookie.
Apollo grimaces and pointedly holds out a napkin. Meg ignores it.
"Dionysus," He explains. "The god of wine. And, the director of this camp."
Chiron turns to the three of them with a grim expression. He nods at Meg and Apollo. "Please, make yourselves comfortable. Juliette," He focuses onto her, and Julie straightens her back in response. "If you would not mind stepping into my office, I need a word with you."
"Oooooohhh," Meg giggles, smirking. "You're in trouble!"
Juliette swats the back of her head. Meg just cackles and skips over to start climbing up the grapevines on the wall. Rolling her eyes, Julie nods at her mentor. "Sure, Chiron."
The centaur holds open the door to his small office, and Julie steps inside. Chiron's office is one of Juliette's least favorite places in camp. Mostly because it does usually mean she's in trouble. This time, though, Chiron pulls out a chair for her to sit across his desk from him and settles down into his wheelchair. He laces his hands together in front of his chin, gazing at her with concern.
"How are you?"
Julie shrugs. "I'm not currently enslaved, so...y'know, can't complain."
He shakes his head at her, but she can see that reluctant smile he's fighting off. Chiron sighs and rests his arms on top of the desk. "You are handling this extraordinarily well."
Julie thinks back to last night when she was seconds away from strangling her twelve year old sister in the woods.
"Thanks."
"If you think yourself up to the task," Chiron continues. "I have a request for you."
Oh? Julie raises an eyebrow and leans forward in interest. "Like a quest-request, or like a grocery-list-request?"
He smiles bemusedly. "A bit of both. You are close with Miss Dare, are you not?"
Julie frowns. "Yeah?"
Nodding, Chiron leans back, and the grave expression returns to his face. "How familiar are you with the location of her winter home?"
Julie's familiar. She ends up saying a mental apology to Percy for already breaking their 'no more quests' agreement, but she figures he might make an exception for this one little mini errand.
Apparently, Rachel was supposed to show up to talk with Chiron about Delphi over winter holidays, but she never made it. With Iris Messages down, there wasn't any way to call her, so he sent some satyr protectors to make sure everything was alright.
They never got back. So, it probably wasn't. Isn't. So, this is a quest Julie doesn't mind accepting.
Getting to not participate in Harley's Three Legged Death Race is a nice bonus too. Julie was going to argue she should be allowed to compete without being tied to a partner since she's only got one leg to add to their two anyway. She foresaw that becoming a fight.
The Dare winter mansion is up in Maine. Juliette has been there once before to go skiing with Rachel and Percy (she drank cocoa comfy in the lodge while the other two fell all the way down the mountain). Around lunchtime, Julie gets her first glimpse at the mountain chalet. It's significantly less 'modern' than their main place back on Long Island. The cliffside view is incredible.
The giant snowball wielding Laistrygonians on the lawn are new, though.
After a brief game of to-the-death dodgeball, Julie's pretty smug about how quickly she takes care of them all. It's amazing what fighting in two separate wars against two separate evil relatives will do for your KO time in everyday combat. With the help of a few venomous loogies and her lovely filed talons, Julie makes quick work of the forces trying to break into Rachel Elizabeth Dare's home.
She finds her friend hunkered down in her barricaded bedroom. After a relieved exchange of "GIRL!" "Girl!" "Girl..." "Girl." Julie helps Rachel pack up what little clothes she has with her, and then they're taking off back into the sky.
Seeing as Juliette and winter go together about as well as firecrackers and hydrogen balloons, by the time Rachel Dare is shivering in Julie's saddle on their flight out of the mountain valley, she's had about enough adventure for one day.
They end up passing through a snowstorm on the way back down to New York too, through which Rachel yells the story down to Juliette: How her visions of the future have totally stopped. How she went up to Maine to clear her head, only to end up surrounded by Nero's forces. How she's been doing digging on Triumvirate Holdings, and she's realized they were the ones to fund Octavian's coupe during the last war. Julie can't do much to respond while transformed, but she hopes the hissing and spitting she lets out is enough to convey her outrage.
"Thank the gods you came when you did," Rachel tells her. "I don't want to know what Nero would have done with me if they'd gotten inside."
Well, Julie doesn't plan on them finding out.
When they come in for a landing atop Halfblood Hill, it's sunset, and Juliette feels like her wings are about to snap off from exhaustion and the cold. Which means she isn't properly braced for the small parade that marches up to meet them by the pine tree.
"Um...Hey?" Julie says hesitantly, exchanging a concerned look with Rachel.
"You're back," Nico notes.
Behind him are Chiron, Apollo, Meg, and one of the older Demeter kids, Billie. Lester's face crumbles in relief at the sight of the redhead, and he leaps forward to embrace her.
"Miss Dare! Oh, thank Olympus!"
"Rachel," Chiron nods with a small smile. "It is good to see you unharmed."
The Oracle smiles and nods at Julie, glancing nervously at the brown haired teenager sobbing into her shoulder. "Thanks to this one. Thought I was toast until she turned up."
"The satyr protectors did not find you?" asks Chiron.
The smile on Rachel's face fizzles out. "Oh...no, they-they found me..."
Oh.
There's a heavy silence. Julie uses it to close her eyes and send a quick prayer to Persephone to guide the fallen satyrs' souls into rebirth come spring. When she opens them again, she notices the grimness on Meg's face and the slump of Nico's shoulders.
The camp down below seems to be humming with lowered voices. Unease settles into her chest.
"What's going on?" Julie asks.
The group that greeted them exchanges a look. Nico sighs.
"During the race earlier," He tells her. "Austin and Kayla disappeared."
The Big House is in shambles. Members of every cabin are rushing in and out, talking in quiet, urgent tones that just make Juliette's nerves rattle even more uncomfortably against her bones. The head counselors are gathered around the ping pong table. No one seems surprised that Julie has claimed a space in the room as well.
"How could they have just vanished?" Travis asks, bewildered. "We were all out there, and it was brought daylight!"
Julie looks over the table at Chiron. He's already looking back at her with a troubled expression. They both know who's behind this.
"It doesn't matter how," Julie sighs. "What matters is that we find them. And Cecil. And Ellis. And Miranda."
"Well, duh," Drew grumbles. "But, if we could do that, don't you think they'd be home by now?"
Nyssa steps up to the table and leans her palms against it, facing Juliette. "What about your tracking thing? Could you use that to find them?"
Julie chews on her lower lip. "Maybe. I really only pick up signatures when I'm particularly close with someone, and well," She glances quickly at Will. He's stonefaced at the back of the room. "Austin and Kayla and I aren't close."
The way the whole room seems to slump, disheartened, makes Julie scramble to take back her words.
"But, I can try!" She declares. "As soon as it's not dark anymore, I'll go."
The circle seems to nod. Chiron crosses his arms. "Very well. But, not by yourself. Uphold the buddy system."
Julie looks to Nico. He nods in agreement.
"Then, that's where we'll start. Lord Apollo has made plans to venture into the woods in the morning as well." Chiron addresses Nico and Juliette specifically. "Gather what information you can, but do not place yourselves at risk. If you find sign of the missing campers, return here for reinforcements."
Julie and Nico nod, both definitely aware that they'll be disregarding those instructions if they do actually manage to track down their friends. It's enough for Chiron, though. With a nod and a wave of his hand, he dismisses the council.
Dinner that evening is solemn. Juliette has never been more thankful for Nico's 'doctor's note.' Will and him sit in silence through the meal, the only ones at a table set for five, and Julie doesn't think she sees the blonde eat even a single bite. Once the sun starts to set, he just gets up without a word and returns to the infirmary. Nico looks hopelessly lost as he watches him go.
Julie doesn't feel lost. She's seen this before. She knows what's going on in Will's head.
Will is used to losing family. He's already grieving. He's preparing himself for another empty cabin.
But, as Julie passes the darkened windows of what's usually the sunniest spot in all of camp, her hand laced with Meg's as she walks the girl home, she feels something harden in her chest.
That's not happening again.
No fucking way.
"So," Julie begins, gesturing grandly towards the squat little cottage wrapped in ivy. "Cabin 4. Demeter."
There are voices floating out of the tree bark door, which is hanging ajar and casting the porch in pale yellow light from what Julie knows to be a colony of fireflies that live inside. Meg's hand tightens on hers, drawing her attention downwards in amusement.
"You're holding hands with someone who threatened to stab you yesterday, and you're nervous about meeting your siblings?" She teases.
Meg glares up at her. "You're my sibling."
"Oh, yeah."
Julie studies the angry little demon of a child with fondness. It makes so much sense that she's a child of Demeter. Honestly, Juliette feels kind of dumb for not figuring that out sooner. Especially considering the message-of-divine-intervention that lead her to finding Meg in the first place was literally written into a leaf.
So...Aphrodite and Demeter, huh, Dad? Now, that's gotta be one hell of a story.
"You'll be fine," She soothes, squeezing Meg's hand with a smile. "Billie and Douglas are really nice. They'll help you get adjusted until Miranda gets back."
"Can't I just stay with you?" Meg grumbles, kicking at the rocks on the trail.
Julie snorts. "Trust me, you would not enjoy Cabin 10. This is the right place for you, Meg."
The girl doesn't look convinced. She's staring at the entrance to the cottage like she's expecting a herd of elephants to come rushing out and trample her. Julie squats down onto one knee so they're face to face.
"Hey," She says softly. "If you need me, I'm just a few doors down. My cabin is kinda hard to miss. It's bright pink. And, if you really don't like it in there, there's a bedroom I used to stay in on the second floor of the Big House. I'm sure Chiron wouldn't mind letting you use it if you need to."
Meg sniffs and picks at one of the rhinestones on her glasses. "Really?"
"Really."
She shuffles a bit. Then, to Julie's surprise, her little sister pitches forward and lands heavily against her chest. Juliette catches her without hesitation. The kid smells like sweaty peaches. Who would have thought such a thing could make Julie smile like an idiot?
"Goodnight," Meg mumbles into Julie's shirt.
Juliette chuckles and drops a kiss onto her hair. "Goodnight, dove."
She waits until the girl has shuffled fully inside her new cabin and the door is shut before she turns to head to bed herself. As she walks the short distance between Cabins 4 and 10, her previous train of thought returns to her.
Kayla and Austin.
Rachel had hypothesized to Juliette earlier that all of these disappearances could be linked back to the silencing of Delphi. The Oracle seems to think that some magical grove of trees could be behind everything - luring the campers in with charmspeak laden whispers of prophecy. After facing the reality of there being three undead Roman emperors possibly out for demigod blood right now, it's surprising that the 'magical trees' explanation can make Juliette feel so uneasy.
Maybe it's cause Julie can't fight magical trees. Which means that the lives of her friends might really be resting in the hands of Lester Papadopoulos.
Said ex-god is still at the edge of the woods.
He's been there since before dinner. Julie isn't sure he's even changed position. Apollo is sat on his butt in the grass, knees to his chest, staring into the forest that his missing children are trapped in.
Julie wants to be annoyed at him. She wants to say 'well, you caused all of this,' shrug, and go to bed knowing everything that's currently going wrong for Camp Halfblood is totally the Sun God's fault.
But, he's just...sitting there.
Apollo is just sitting by the woods, and it's more acknowledgment of a demigod child than Juliette has ever seen from an Olympian before. Without her even realizing it, Juliette's feet have carried her to stand just behind him.
"Staring at the trees isn't going to bring them back, you know."
Lester startles a bit. He turns around to face her, sad eyes looking so much like Jason's that Julie has to turn her head away.
"I know," He says quietly. "But, it's the least I can do for them."
She glances back at the boy. Every word he breathes summons a cloud of condensation in the air. Julie's stiff fingers are cold in her pockets. She pulls her jacket tighter around her. "It's, like, thirty degrees out here. You should go inside."
Apollo breathes a laugh through his nose. It sounds a bit bitter. "The cold is a new feeling to me. I may as well experience it while I can."
Juliette frowns at that. She isn't sure why. It could just be her own dislike of winter, but something about him talking about the human sensation of it as temporary...It's pushing her buttons. Lester's gaze has returned to the woods. Julie's stays on the back of his chocolate curled head.
"Why are you doing this?" She asks.
Apollo looks over his shoulder in confusion. "Doing what?"
Julie huffs, looking for the right words. She can feel some kind of disgruntlement itching in her chest. "Caring, I guess. Why do you care now?"
He blinks at her, resting a hand back for balance so he can take in her stiff form standing five feet behind him and huddled in an oversized jacket marked with his father's symbol. He seems genuinely puzzled. "They're my children," Apollo answers.
Maybe it's the stress of the last couple weeks. Maybe it's how desperately Juliette misses Jason. Maybe it's the weight of the hunk of gold resting in her jacket pocket or the blank, sickened pallor of Will Solace's face as he stared earlier at his younger siblings' empty seats. Maybe it's all of it thrown together in this total shitshow that is Juliette's sophomore year.
Something sends a spark of anger down Julie's spine, and she decides that she's going to let it set Apollo alight.
"I watched Michael Yew's pyre burn without a body on it."
The statement lingers in the air between them.
Apollo doesn't move a muscle. Juliette stares. She nods to herself.
"And, Lee Fletcher died in his little brother's arms."
She meets Apollo's eyes. They're less familiar than she thought.
"Where were you then?"
Lester doesn't seem to have an answer for her. Even if he did, Julie likely wouldn't have heard it. She turns back towards her cabin and heads home for the night. She'll need to be rested for tomorrow. She plans to come home with five more demigods than she leaves with.
Apollo stays out by the woods all night. She hopes he enjoys feeling the cold.
Nico and Julie leave at first light. Apollo heads out then too, and Juliette is not pleased to see he's taking Meg with him.
"I have to go," The girl insists, hands on her hips. "I'm his master!"
Apollo scowls. "You are not my-"
"He's my slave! He can't be without me!"
"Again, I really prefer the term cooperator-"
"Meg," Julie groans. "You don't have to go out. You're twelve! Go hang out at the archery range or help Billie trim the roses."
Meg gives her a look like she just suggested she eat dog poop for breakfast.
Juliette sighs and rubs the heels of her hands into her eyes. She looks to Nico for help, but he just smirks and shrugs. "Welcome to my world," He snorts.
Julie shoves his arm and looks back down at her sister. "Fine. But, Meg, I swear to the gods, if you get hurt-"
"I'll be fine!" She rolls her eyes. "Stop being so dramatic."
"I am not dramatic."
"You're dramatic," Nico argues flatly. Juliette glares at him. He shrugs and turns to kiss Will on the cheek. "We'll be back soon," He tells him softly.
Julie looks away. The trembling in the blonde's fingers as they grip Nico's sleeve makes her feel like this is a private moment.
Paolo jogs up as they're saying goodbye to wrap his lucky bandana around Apollo's head and give him two sloppy kisses on his cheeks. Julie grimaces at the sight and luckily jumps back just in time to turn her own offered kisses into a friendly handshake. She loves Paolo, but that doesn't mean she feels like getting slobbered on this early in the morning. At least, not by someone who isn't 6'3", blonde, and a former commander of a Roman army.
Know anyone like that? Let Julie know if one turns up.
Apollo clasps a hand on his son's shoulder and gives him an encouraging smile. "We'll be back by dawn," He assures.
Will is holding Nico's hand so tightly, Julie wouldn't be shocked if his fingers are numb. "How can you be sure?"
Apollo falters a little. He catches himself, though, and forces that toothy smile back on. "I'm the Sun God! I always return at dawn."
Juliette summons her bow and nods at Will as well. "I bring him back to you," She smiles, gesturing at Nico. "Hopefully, with everybody else too."
Will stares at her for a moment, looking doubtful. Nico tugs on his hand, though, presses a quick kiss to his lips, and shoots him a rare genuine smile. The rate at which Will's whole aura softens from a raging torrent to a soft nervous buzz is dizzying. He smiles back at his boyfriend, and Nico slips their hands apart and leads Juliette into their side of the woods.
Jason thinks Hecate might have taken pity on him. When he walks himself into the main office of the first boarding school he comes across in Pasadena, he's surprised to be able to turn right back around in under ten minutes with an admissions packet and a room assignment clutched in his fist.
'We've been expecting you, Mr. Grace,' the headmaster had said.
Since Jason never actually applied, that sure doesn't seem likely. Thank gods for the Mist, he supposes.
Just in case that's actually what happened, Jason makes sure to sacrifice the goddess a bit of the cold mashed potatoes and chicken they serve them all in the cafeteria that night. It's not much, but he doesn't have any money, so it's the best he can do. He hopes it's the thought that counts. And that she isn't a vegetarian like Juliette.
There goes that thought again. Juliette Aster.
It's hard not to think about how much he misses her. Especially since he's enrolled at an all boys school, so naturally the only topic the other students want to talk about is girls. Jason's terrible at talking to mortals. He finds himself tripping up in every conversation as he tries to remember what topics are safe and what topics will make him look like a lunatic if he forgets to play them off as a joke.
He ends up hanging out alone usually. That's okay. For all the time in his life that Jason has spent in the spotlight, he's starting to realize that he's not very outgoing. Juliette, Piper, and Leo are good with people, and Jason loves his friends, but it's nice sometimes to just sit by himself.
To be alone with his thoughts with no eyes on him...It's a new feeling. He makes the most of it, even with a hand in his pocket, clenched around his wallet like he's scared someone is going to come rob him in the middle of the lunchroom. If they did, they'd be disappointed to find he doesn't have any cash on him. No, the only thing inside is a picture of a pretty girl with long rose gold hair and a devilish smile.
Sometimes, Jason likes high school.
Being able to learn about things that have nothing to do with the gods, getting to find out what his talents might have been if he were born mortal and never ended up with so much responsibility...It feels like a better glance into the lives of the people he loves. For so many of his friends at Camp Halfblood, mortal school was their childhood. Sitting in a classroom for seven hours a day, doing algebra and reading plays that may as well be in another language from the way things are spelled.
It can get boring. When that happens, he thinks he understands Leo and Juliette a little better. Neither of them have ever been capable of sitting still for very long. Imagining them in the desks by his side, passing notes and stealing gum from each other's backpacks helps Jason get through the slower days. Imagining what might have been if they'd all kept that pinky promise they made on the Argo II.
Sometimes, Jason thinks he's ready.
He'll look at the notebooks on his desk - the detailed plans scribbled in the margins to make it easy for Annabeth or Reyna or...whoever to figure out his thought process with each design. He's sure they'll make adjustments. Jason's not exactly a licensed architect. He hopes that they might keep the general picture of some of them, though. He thinks he's proud of what he's made.
He'll look at the walls of his dorm. They've stayed bare since he moved in. He hasn't bothered trying to decorate because, like everywhere else he's ever lived, Jason knows his stay here is temporary. He wonders what it might have changed if he'd ever found a place where he could feel settled. He wonders if, maybe, a place like that might have existed in the memories he still can't retrieve out of the murky rapids of his cacophonous thoughts. It doesn't matter much anymore, of course. But, it's hard not to wonder.
Jason will lay awake at night and use his eyes to trace the patterns of his friends' faces into the popcorn ceiling. He'll think about Piper and wonder how she'll do living out of the city for the first time in her life. He'll think about Leo, off visiting new places with an immortal sorcerous on his arm. He'll think about Nico and smile to know that that scared, lonely boy he watched fall apart in Croatia has found the home that Jason never could.
Thinking about all of them will make Jason believe that he's ready. That everything is happening the way it was meant to. That they'll all be okay, and this is for the better.
But then, he'll open his wallet, and her smile will send it all reeling.
And, Jason won't know if he's ready anymore.