The Veiled Legacy | PJO - Book Two

twenty

GOODBYE, FOR NOW.

At dawn, she was still awake when someone rapped at the door.

Ariana was about to leave her room when she heard the cabin door open, Nico or Hazel must've opened it.

Still, she stood by her door listening to the conversation.

"You okay?" Jason asked. "You look -"

"Fine." Nico snapped. Then he softened his tone. "If you're looking for Ariana or Hazel, they're still asleep."

Ariana opened her bedroom door slightly, to get a better look.

Jason didn't look as though he'd slept any better. His hair had a cowlick on one side and his new glasses sat crookedly on his nose.

Ariana resisted the walk over and reach to reach out and straighten them.

Jason pointed to the strawberry fields, where the Romans were breaking camp. "It was strange to see them here. Now it'll be strange not seeing them."

"Do you regret not going with them?" Nico asked.

Jason's smile was lopsided. "A little. But I'll be going back and forth between the camps a lot. I have some shrines to build."

"I heard. The Senate plans to elect you Pontifex Maximus."

Jason shrugged. "I don't care about the title so much. I do care about making sure the gods are remembered. I don't want them fighting out of jealousy any more, or taking out their frustrations on demigods."

"They're gods." Nico said. "That's their nature."

"Maybe, but I can try to make it better. I guess Leo would say I'm acting like a mechanic, doing preventative maintenance."

Ariana sensed Jasons sorrow like an oncoming storm.

"You know, you couldn't have stopped Leo. There's nothing you could have done differently. He knew what had to happen." Nico said.

"I - I guess. I don't suppose you can tell if he's still -"

"He's gone." Nico said. "I'm sorry. I wish I could tell you and Ariana otherwise, but I sensed his death."

Jason stared into the distance. "Is she okay?"

"Ariana?"

Jason nodded. "You should've seen in, Nico. Everyone on that ship could see how much they liked each other, until of course Leo met Calypso... but even then I knew he still cared for her.."

In the distance, the Romans were picking up their gear and toting it across the hill. On the other side, so Ariana had heard, a fleet of black SUVs waited to transport the legion cross-country back to California.

Ariana guessed that would be an interesting road trip. He imagined the entire Twelfth Legion in the drive-through lane at Burger King.

He imagined some hapless monster terrorizing a random demigod in Kansas, only to find itself surrounded by several dozen carloads of heavily armoured Romans.

"Ella the harpy is going with them, you know." Jason said. "She and Tyson. Even Rachel Elizabeth Dare. They're going to work together to try to reconstruct the Sibylline Books."

"That should be interesting."

"Could take years." Jason said. "But with the voice of Delphi extinguished ..."

"Rachel still can't see the future?"

Jason shook his head. "I wish I knew what happened to Apollo in Athens. Maybe Artemis will get him out of trouble with Zeus and the power of prophecy will work again. But for now those Sibylline Books might be our only way to get guidance for quests."