Julie's never eaten fish before. She's never even been tempted - having been raised chanting "meat is murder" the first ten years of her life. Being the sibling of a son of Poseidon definitely doesn't make the idea of cooking Nemo seem any less horrifying.

But, that sea monster made sushi make sense to her.

Now that Frank, Leo, and Hazel are confirmed to have not drowned to death in the middle of the Atlantic, Julie can take a break from frantically searching the skies with Jason to collapse into a sweaty and panting heap on the bow and let some of the less aerodynamic members of the crew do the heavy lifting. Which basically means she swapped cleaning duty for watch duty with Piper so she can lounge on the deck and brood.

Seriously...The surprise visit with Mommy Dearest, Annabeth basically fist fighting Reyna (who Julie STILL hasn't met), Percy and Jason whipping up that crazy storm so they could get away...Well, that was pretty cool.

Julie's frowning at the sunset when someone's footsteps approach her, and it feels like the merciful thing to do when she huffs out, "I'm grumpy. Go away, or I'll be mean to you."

Annabeth laughs lightly. "Thank you for the communication, but I think I can handle it."

She settles down next to Juliette and rests her elbows on her bent knees. Julie glances at her. Annabeth looks...weirdly at peace for someone about to go on a solo quest tomorrow, veteran quester or not. When was the last time Annabeth even went on a quest?

Oh, yikes. Now, she remembers. Did Julie ever apologize for yelling at her that time?

She returns her eyes to the horizon and shrugs. "Your funeral."

Annabeth shakes her head with a small smile. "Are you going to be okay when we get to Rome tomorrow?"

Julie arches an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I know you've been worried about Nico," shrugs Annabeth. "We've all noticed that you haven't been sleeping much. I just want to check that you'll be alright. That you won't be...distracted, I guess."

Juliette rolls her eyes, reaching over to flick Annabeth on the shoulder affectionately. "You aren't the only one here who's been on a quest before. And you aren't the only one finishing up a solo one tomorrow. I know what I'm doing, Chase, chillax."

"I know you do." Annabeth says firmly.

When Julie turns to face her, there's a funny gleam in her eye. The older girl is smiling at her - gentle, but pulling at her cheeks. The same way that Percy looks whenever he watches Juliette put her makeup on in the morning or beat all the Ares boys to the top of the climbing wall.

It makes her stomach go fuzzy, so she quickly returns her gaze to the orange light touching the top of the sea instead. "So, your mom put you up to this, huh? This Mark of Athena thing?" She asks, clearing her throat to signify the subject will be changing now.

She sees Annabeth nod out of the corner of her eye. "Yes, she did. If you could call it that. She was pretty out of it at the time."

Julie snorts. "I hear that."

"More so than Aphrodite."

"Wow. Being less stable than the Goddess of Love. That's gotta be great for Athena's ego."

"Please, don't make her hate you too. I already have to pray daily just so my mother won't smite Percy out of sheer dislike."

"Gods, I can't wait for your wedding. That seating chart is going to be phenomenal."

Annabeth laughs, punching Julie on the shoulder. There's a happy little twinkle to her eye that makes Juliette smile, though, despite the abuse. "I think you're getting a bit ahead of yourself."

Julie shrugs, rubbing her arm with a mock glare. "You guys are endgame. I can tell. Daughter of Aphrodite, and all."

Annabeth shakes her head with a smile, and Julie sighs dramatically, leaning sideways to rest her head heavily on the blonde's shoulder. Annabeth tugs playfully on a strand of her hair. "Is Miss Daughter of Aphrodite in the mood to talk about what happened at the gazebo?"

Julie freezes. She schools her face into an innocent expression and raises the pitch of her voice. "Whatever do you mean?"

Annabeth winds an arm around her. "I mean: Philip McCaffery? That's the guy whose obituary you had me pull up, isn't it? He's your father?"

Julie grimaces, squirming. She probably should have seen this interrogation coming. Somewhere between Venus being weirdly nice to her and her dramatic tea party tantrum, her brain sort of decided to stop being aware of who was listening when she spoke. "I mean...He was."

Annabeth winces. "Right. Deceased. I'm sorry."

"It's fine."

"No, really, I know I can be insensitive sometimes. I don't mean to pry. I was just curious."

"Annabeth, you're fine, really." Julie assures her. She sits up and stretches, a thoughtful frown in place. "I only met him once, anyway. It's not like it was some great tragedy for me. Besides, I have Paul."

The blonde studies her, the orange of the sunset lighting up her cheeks pink and gold. Her shoulders slump a little, and her eyebrows furrow in concern. "Still...I know what it's like to lose family."

The intensity of that statement makes Julie uncomfortable. She ends up just looking away and nodding. Annabeth shifts a little closer, trying to catch her eye. "What was he like?"

Juliette grimaces. "I dunno. I only talked to him for a few hours. I guess he was..."

Blood. It's spilling through his fingers where they clutch at the gaping wound in his stomach. Her father falls to the concrete.

She grits her teeth. "He was nice."

If it were Percy that Julie was talking to, he'd probably say something good natured like "Are you sure he's your dad then?" to diffuse the tension.

Jason, even though he still surprises Julie with his responses sometimes, would probably be infuriatingly optimistic, saying something like, "At least you got to be with him for a little while at the end, if nothing else."

Nico, ever the cynical one, would likely make some wise-ass crack like "If you want to know if he was really nice, I can check the Fields of Punishment for you."

But, Julie's never talked about anything serious with Annabeth before. She's not sure what to expect here. Rather than any of those (honestly, sort of terrible - Julie needs better friends) options, Annabeth goes with something Juliette didn't expect. Something she hasn't really thought about yet.

"So, what are you going to do?" She asks.

Furrowing her eyebrows, Julie studies Annabeth in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Annabeth tilts her head. "Well, I read that obituary, Julie. Phil didn't die of natural causes. Do you know what happened?"

There's drops of him trickling down each step. Drops of him on the blade being wiped halfheartedly on a stained purple handkerchief a few feet away.

Julie squeezes her eyes closed. "Yeah. I know what happened."

"Okay. So, what do you want to do next?"

She opens her eyes and huffs in frustration. "What do you mean? He's dead. What else can I do?"

Annabeth raises an eyebrow and gives a little smirk, squeezing Julie's shoulder in a pointed fashion. "Don't you want to find out who this guy was? What happened to make him disappear on you? Is the great Juliette Aster, Gossip Queen of Cabin 10 really going to let go of a backstory this juicy?"

Julie sputters, reeling back with wide eyes. "You want me to dig into my dead father's past to try and get dirt on the Olympians?"

Annabeth grins. "Didn't you read what I read? He has another daughter."

"I know, but-"

"A demigod daughter."

"Hey, I knew that. How do you know that-"

"And, I highly doubt she's an Aphrodite kid if he ended up with a Heartbreak. No offense."

Julie's mouth clicks shut. Huh. That's true.

Did her dad boink more than one god? Phil McCaffery? Pulled two goddesses?

Or gods. Gender-neutral. Julie's lot's of things, but heteronormative isn't one of them. And, from the look of that hat he'd been wearing...

Oh, gods, what if it's Apollo? Did her dad get it on with Apollo? OH GODS, IT BETTER NOT BE APOLLO-

"Okay, I can see in your eyes that I've given you plenty to think about," smirks Annabeth. Julie sputters, looking up at her with horrified eyes as the older girl hops to her feet and starts making her way back to the inner cabins. She throws an amused glance over her shoulder as Julie makes a sound of protest. "Goodnight, Julie. Wake up Hedge and Jason for their shift on time so you can get some rest, please. We're sailing past the Pillars of Hercules tomorrow, and I know how you get about sons of Zeus."

Choking on her own spit would be a very embarrassing way to die. Juliette needs to be more careful.

With a confident spunk in her step, Annabeth crosses to the cabins and disappears down the staircase towards her quarters. Julie huffs, eyes drifting down to study the splintered boards of the deck.

What should she do? Hades, Julie just found out this guy existed less than a year ago. She found out he was her dad a matter of days ago. Does she really have to do anything?

"Now, look what you've made me do, Meg."

A hot coal of anger slides, sizzling, down her throat, and Juliette's face sours.

Yeah. She's going to have to do something. Hang in there, Meg. She'll be home soon. And, then, Julie'll find her.

In her fevered determination, Julie's attention is almost too occupied to notice the sweeping of white cloth floating across the deck before it disappears. She frowns.

Who's up right now? She thought it was just her and Piper still awake.

Julie looks over to follow the movement with her eyes, but just the empty, darkened surface of the bow greets her. She tilts her head in puzzlement and turns towards the cabins again.

There.

Just a flash of movement, white and heading for the starboard lifeboats. Julie narrows her eyes in suspicion and gets up to follow it.

She creeps along the side of the ship, hand clasped around the charm on her bracelet as she leans against the railing and searches for another sign of motion. Maybe it's just a bird that landed on the ship. They've seen a million white seabirds since leaving Charleston. Or maybe it's a small monster that Julie will just send packing back to Tartarus really quick so she can go back to spending her watch-shift alone and brooding like she'd planned.

It's not a bird. Monster's still up in the air, though.

Sitting with her legs dangling over the edge of a lifeboat, hands folded neatly in her lap, is a young woman with dark skin and long, black hair. Her white dress is thin and torn, hanging from her shoulder by a bronze clasp in the shape of a lion. The Nemean Lion.

Sitting atop her curls, resting against the smooth surface of her forehead, is a crown of rubies and sapphires.

Julie's heart skips a beat. Her blood thins in her veins. In a flash of white light, a silver bow carved with the faces of lamenting souls is clutched in her white knuckled grip as she glares down at her uninvited guest.

"What are you?" She hisses.

The woman makes a small sound sort of like a sad little laugh. Then, she turns her head, and Juliette's stomach does a roley poley.

"I am Deianira," She says softly. "But, you already knew that."

Yeah, she did. But, she wasn't expecting this.

Deianira's face looks nothing like the last time Julie saw it. Granted, the last good look she'd taken at the woman had been when she was still a girl just a little older than Julie is now. Back then, she'd been all youthful glow and rosy lips. Now, there are spidery purple veins cutting jagged lines across her regal features. Deianira's once caramel colored eyes are black as night and ringed with violet. Her lips, once the color of roses, are pale and cracked, dripping a foul smelling, smoking liquid down onto her burn riddled chin.

There's an aura about her. A dangerous one that Nico has spent years drilling into Julie's head to be wary of. It makes cold pins and needles spiderwalk down her spine.

"You're a mania..."

Julie's aim lowers slightly in her horror. Deianira takes notice. "Dear, you should keep your guard up until you know I am not a threat."

She lifts her bow anew and tries to swallow down her fear. "What happened to you?"

The princess makes that sad little sound again, and her gaze flits down to where her fingers are toying with a tear in her fine dress. "Only what I inflicted upon myself."

What?

Julie shakes her head. "What does that mean?"

Deianira smiles, a grotesque, heart wrenching sight as the action further cracks her dry lips and sends a new trickle of purple blood trailing down her chin. She winces at the sting, and Julie purses her own lips in sympathy.

"You'll see soon enough," Deianira says, still smiling at her sadly. She looks Juliette over, head to toe, and nods in approval. "I wanted to see you. Our lingering brothers and sisters hold you in high regard. I hope you know that."

The tip of her arrow drops again as Juliette blinks in confusion. "Brothers and sisters?"

"I needed to lay eyes on you myself in this moment of lucidity. I wished..." Deianira struggles for a moment. Then, she looks away and stares at the stars above. At the constellations. One in particular. "You will meet my husband tomorrow. I hoped that you might...pass on my apologies."

Julie frowns. "Your apologies?"

"Yes," The princess nods. "I did a terrible thing, and it cost Heracles his life. In our respective eternities, he has never wished to see me. I have never had the chance to make the deed right. The Lord of the Sky ensured my punishment was befitting of my crime, but the guilt has not faded with time. All I wish...All I have ever wished for is to make things right."

A little dazed, still alarmed, and very confused, Juliette just nods weakly. "Um...okay. I guess I can tell him you said that."

Deianira nods back. "Thank you, Juliette. And...May you accept my apologies as well."

The moonlight is glinting off of Deianira's face at just the right angle to make her look almost human again. It sends a pang of protectiveness through Juliette, and it makes her frown. "I don't know what you're apologizing for, but stop. I don't need it."

Her words make the princess laugh. Deianira's voice bounces off the water below like a song, lively and melodic regardless of the woman's state of being. When she's done, she smiles up at Juliette like a mother looking down on her child for the first - or last - time. "You have a kind heart, Julie. You truly are the best amongst our kind. I do apologize for how my actions in life have brought you strife in the past, and I wish you the best of luck for the strife still to come."

Deianira lifts from her position on the edge of the lifeboat, turning to face Juliette head on. Her dress is still sheer, still as thin and useless as it was in life, but something about the way the purple of her blood is staining its edges makes it look ethereal. Looking at the princess no longer makes Julie uncomfortable. She looks...right. Like this is more Deianira than she's been in any of Juliette's dreams so far.

"Live a good life for us, Juliette Aster. Out of any of us who came before you, it is you who deserves it the most."

With one final smile, Deianira steps backwards off of the lifeboat and sinks beneath the water without making a ripple.

"I told you to get some sleep," Annabeth snips, rolling her eyes.

"'I told you to get some sleep,'" Juliette mimics under her breath, earning herself a slap on the back of the head from the blonde that makes Percy bark out a laugh. She yelps and rubs at her hair, glaring at Annabeth. "It's not my fault my brain hates me. I got demigodiness sent to me again."

Annabeth raises a skeptical eyebrow. "Demigodiness?"

"Yes!"

"And what did this demigodiness tell you?"

"That I'm supposed to apologize to Hercules apparently." Julie murmurs, playing with the avocado on her plate tiredly.

Percy drops his fork and scowls. "Well, that's a load of bull."

"It's true!"

"Please. Like that guy could ever deserve an apology."

"That's what I'm saying! He's terrible. Even for a god," groans Julie.

"He's a god?" Piper asks as she enters, reaching down to steal some of Julie's apple slices and smirking when she squawks in protest. "I thought he was one of us."

Jason sets down his coffee and pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "He was a son of Zeus, but when he died, he became a god. So, we'll need to be careful. There's no telling if he'll be on our side or not."

Juliette huffs, reaching out with her fork to try and stab Piper's hand away when she steals one of her mini muffins next. She misses. "What are we supposed to do if he's not? We can't fight him."

"We could take him!" shouts Hedge across the dining room. They ignore him.

Annabeth knits her fingers together and leans forward. "I'd say we send ambassadors over. A small group - one or two at most. Try and talk to him." She looks to Juliette. "You said you have to speak with him, right?"

"I guess," Julie shrugs. "From what I've seen of him, though, he kinda seems like an assho-"

"Yeah, maybe Miss No Filter shouldn't be going alone," Piper suggests drily, popping another stolen apple slice into her mouth.

Jason sits up straighter. "I'll go!"

The group pauses mid-bite at his enthusiasm, glancing at him oddly. He turns a bit pink.

"I'm just...I mean, I'm a son of Jupiter. He's a son of Zeus. Maybe he'll be nice to me."

"Or maybe he'll hate you," Percy contradicts. He points a sausage at Jason. "Half brothers don't always get along."

Jason's eyebrow twitches in annoyance. "Thank you, Mr. Optimism."

"It's worth a shot," Annabeth pipes in. She shoots a stern look over at Juliette, who smiles innocently. "Besides, Jason's got plenty of Julie-wrangling experience," Annabeth ignores Julie's offended jaw-drop and looks to Jason with raised eyebrows. "If she sicks an angry Hercules on our ship, you'll be taking responsibility."

"I'm not going to-!"

"Understood," Jason nods.

"I'm just a toddler playing in traffic to you people, aren't I?"

At least on her way over to dealing with the dude whose dead ex wife has been literally haunting Juliette's dreams, she gets to be carried by a hot guy. Jason glances down at her in his arms as they fly between the ship and their target island. He quirks an eyebrow when he sees her staring up at him.

"What?"

Julie grins. That seems to concern him greatly.

"What?" He asks with more suspicion.

Juliette shrugs. "I just need to start making you fly me places more often. It's a good view."

Jason looks away to take in their surroundings. "Oh, yeah...Is it any different from flying yourself?"

Juliette grins wider, eyes sparkling with mischief. Feeling bold, she reaches up and snags his chin, pulling it so he's looking back down at her. Their faces are close, noses nearly brushing. She throws some suaveness into her voice to cover up the pitter patter of her heartbeat.

"It is from this angle," She smirks.

The air leaves Jason's lungs rather audibly, and they make a sudden drop in altitude. Juliette squeaks in surprise as Jason holds her tighter and laughs nervously, evening their flight path back out. "Sorry! Sorry, I don't know what I was...I'm good. We're good. All good."

Looking resolutely forward at where they're flying to, Jason clears his throat and swallows thickly. Spotting his steaming red cheeks, Juliette smirks and makes a mental tally mark in her column of their little scoreboard for the week.

They come in for a landing on the beach, and it's pretty hard to miss the glaring purple robes wrapped around the dude waiting for them by the water. Listen, Julie gets it, okay? Purple. Rome. Rich people dyes and the symbolism of conquest, blah, blah, blah. But, seriously, could they not wear any other color? She is getting tired of it.

Julie sets off towards the man without hesitation, and she hears Jason let out a quiet curse and hustle to catch up with her. The man in front of them is surprisingly young. He doesn't look much older than them and resembles what Julie would imagine a laid back high school history teacher to look like. Other than, y'know, the huge muscles. His close cropped black hair and beard are well groomed, and his eyes are that same startling blue she gets lost in when she looks at Jason.

The glint behind them is different, though. Darker. Angrier. It's already rubbing Juliette the wrong way.

He doesn't even blink as they come to a stop in front of him, staring at them boredly with his arms crossed. Julie decides he needs an ego check.

"Are you Hercules?" She asks, unimpressed.

He finally blinks. Amusement flits across his face as he looks down, glances pointedly at the purple robes and giant club resting on the sand by his feet before looking back up at Julie with a small grin. "Sure looks like it," He quips casually.

His voice is strangely modern - way different from how he sounded in her dreams. It gives Julie the heebie-jeebies.

She nods. "Cool. I'm Julie. This is Jason. Anyway, we want to sail through your little-"

"Where's your lion skin?" Jason interrupts. Julie glances back at him. He's almost...pouting.

Hercules seems to find this just as funny as she does judging by the indulgent chuckle he lets out. "It's ninety degrees out here. Why would I wear my lion skin? Do you wear a fur coat to the beach?"

The blonde slumps. He looks like a kid whose hotdog got snatched by a seagull. "I guess that makes sense. The pictures just always show you with the lion skin."

Hercules rolls his eyes, glaring at the sky accusingly.

Word. Julie feels that frustration in her soul.

"Don't believe everything you hear about me. Being famous isn't as fun as you might think," He sighs.

Juliette rolls her own eyes now, tossing her long hair over her shoulder. "Yeah, yeah, boohoo. Anyway, can we pass through here?"

Jason elbows her in the side, and Julie winces, glaring at him. Hercules looks a little intrigued now, eyebrows raised and an amused smirk pulling at the side of his mouth.

"Who are you again?" He asks.

Julie crosses her arms, and Jason steps up in front of her, shooting back a pleading frown and widening his eyes pointedly. Then, he turns to the god.

"I'm Jason. This is Juliette. We're on a quest, and we just need to get passage into Rome."

Hercules studies them. He looks Jason up and down. "Son of Zeus, huh?"

Jason shifts uneasily. "Jupiter," He corrects.

Hercules shrugs. "Whatever. Tomato, tomahto. Dad's annoying in either form. Me? I've been Heracles, I've been Hercules...Thinking about both just gives me splitting headaches nowadays, though." To punctuate this statement, the god flinches as his toga flickers between purple and white for a moment. He shakes his head as if to clear it once it settles. "At any rate, if you're Jupiter's son, you might understand. It's a lot of pressure. Enough is never enough. Eventually it can make a guy snap."

Jason doesn't seem to have a response to that. It makes Julie's heart hurt to see the way he looks down at the sand for a moment, eyes seeming lost, before he gets ahold of himself and returns to his polite decorum. Hercules looks over at her instead and tilts his head.

"As for you, my dear..." His eyes narrow. "A Heartbreak, are we?"

"Yup," confirms Julie casually. His shoulders square, jaw hardening, so she quickly motions to the ship floating in the distance. "So, can we go?"

"Juliette!" Jason chastises. She huffs in impatience.

Hercules, successfully distracted, turns to look at their ship and sighs. "Welp, I guess that's why I'm here, isn't it? After I died," He cuts his eyes at Julie. "Dad made me the doorkeeper of Olympus. So, I spend eternity stuck by myself on some stupid beach waiting for travelers to need to pass through. I gotta give them quests to prove their worth, blah, blah, blah... I try to give out easy stuff cause, after the Labors, I don't want to be that guy, y'know. But, it's basically TSA customs for centuries. Lots of fun."

Julie scoffs. "Better than the Fields of Punishment."

Poor Jason looks like he's gonna throw her across the island as Hercules' amusement evaporates. He straightens up to tower over them, fingers twitching in the direction of his club. He fixes icy blue eyes on her, and Juliette matches his venomous expression.

"You talk a lot," Hercules growls. She crosses her arms and shrugs.

Jason looks between them nervously. He clears his throat. "Lord Hercules, sir, we don't mean any-"

"I do. I mean plenty of harm."

"Juliette, please just-"

"No, I've got some things to say, and he's gonna hear them." She declares. She pushes past Jason to march up closer, and Hercules tenses, eyes dangerous. She ignores the look and pokes a finger into his purple clad chest. "Deianira sent me."

Well, that certainly makes an impact. Hercules seems to grow twice as imposing just from the look he gives her alone, lip curling in disgust. He leans closer to her with a snarl.

"How dare you say that name to me?"

"What name?" Julie asks, eyes wide and innocent. "Deianira? Deianira, Deianira, DeianiraDeianiraDeianir-"

"Enough!" Hercules orders, a hand darting out to snag her wrist and pull her finger from his sternum. Julie hears the telltale sound of a sword being unsheathed behind her. The god's eyes flick back at Jason, and his mouth curls into an ugly smirk. "Put the sword down, kid. This one's not worth dying for, and I'd rather not kill any more family in this lifetime."

"That's a first," Julie hisses. Hercules returns his dangerous glare to her.

"Do you want to die, girl?"

"Not particularly," Julie quips, teeth gritted as she feels the bones in her forearm crack under his iron grip. She squares her shoulders in defiance. "I'm just here to pass on a message before we sail through."

"You won't be sailing anywhere without my say so-"

"Deianira," Julie interrupts. Hercules flinches at the name again. It brings a vague satisfaction to her, but she still has to take a deep breath before she can speak the foul tasting end of her sentence. "Wants to apologize."

His eyes widen. His grip on her arm loosens.

"She...what?"

Juliette hears Jason shifting closer behind her. After a moment of tense silence, his hand comes to rest bracingly on her waist, and Hercules glances at his half brother before slowly releasing Julie's wrist. He glares down at her suspiciously as she steps back into Jason and holds the injured appendage to her chest.

"Speak." He commands.

Juliette huffs. "Look, she's been sending me dreams for weeks. Last night, she showed up and asked me to do her a favor and pass on her apology. I'm just doing what she asked."

Hercules puffs up again, and Jason's hand on her waist ends up pushing her backwards so he can take a step in front of her. His attempt at a meat shield doesn't seem to phase the god.

"Impossible," hisses Hercules. "Deianira's in Elysium. Just another reason my lovely stepmother and I don't typically do family dinners."

Juliette scowls. "She's not. I don't know what happened between you two, but whatever it was was enough to make her into a mania. She's gone crazy with how badly she wants to apologize to you. So, just accept it so she can move on, alright?"

The god's eyes widen at that, and he falters. A flash of hesitance crosses his face. A flash of sadness. Then, the unapproachable edge returns to his posture, and he continues to glower. "She isn't my responsibility anymore."

"Like you ever took responsibility to begin with."

"My marriage," Hercules snaps. "Is not your business. Maybe you think you can hold off the draw of your powers, but my wife was not as sure and strong as you. That crazy bitch got what was coming to her, and so did the rest of your kind afterwards."

Julie bares her teeth and exclaims a frustrated sound. Jason has to close a hand around her upper arm to keep her from brushing past him again. "Rosa, please-!"

"All she wanted was for you to care about her! Was that really so hard to do?!"

"I don't need a lecture on love from some teenager with a savior complex. You want through my passageway?" Hercules spits, face contorted in ugly rage. "I've got the perfect quest for you."

Juliette growls, but Jason finally manages to turn her around to face him. She looks up to tell him off for interrupting, but the fear he's feeling - fear for her - washes over her the second their eyes connect. His face is pale, his heartbeat fluttering wildly in his wrists as he grips her shoulders and looks at her pleadingly.

"Shut up. Please. I'm begging you." He mutters.

Julie considers snapping at him, but the earnestness in his expression sways her. She sighs and glares down at her hot pink converse defeatedly. Jason turns back to the angry god.

"I'm sorry, Lord Hercules. It's been a long journey from Olympus. Tensions have been high," Jason tries to deescalate. Hercules just scowls at him. "Of course, we'd be honored to complete your quest."

The god scoffs. "Honored, huh? Take a piece of advice from me, kid. Zeus kids and Heartbreaks don't mix. Save yourself a short life of nagging and a painful death by dumping this beast back where you found it."

Juliette balls her fists. Jason's teeth creak where they're clenched in his mouth. He glances back at her apologetically before replying. "I'll take it into consideration. Thank you."

Gee, thanks. She looks away to hide the hurt that she can't keep off her face.

"What stupid goose chase are you sending us on, then? Run out of beard oil? Need us to make a run to the mall?" She mocks.

Hercules' lips twitch, an evil shadow passing across his eyes. "No. I think I'll have you pay a visit to another old friend of my lovely wife's."

Fabulous.

A/N

Hey, guys! Sorry for the wait! I broke my laptop last week and had to wait to get a new one before I could access my writing files. Let me just say that I LOVE seeing your comments, so thank you so much for your interactions! Nothing feels better than seeing someone make a ship name for your OC (I see you, DaughterOfApollo *chef's kiss*). I adore you guys.

More to come sooner than later! Hopefully, there won't be another long pause like that again. Can you tell I don't like Hercules very much? Percy and I were so on the same page with that in HoO. I think he's a pretty dynamic character, though, so stay tuned because I have plans. So close to the end of MoA! I can't decide if I'm excited or terrified. Let me know what you're feeling!