reflection ● jason grace

Daria's not superstitious, but what the heck?

Atticus kissed her before they left.

Granted, it was on the cheek. A farewell and a good luck kiss. Context still didn't change the fact that for several moments afterward, Daria had forgotten how to speak.

"You're cheerful," Ryan commented. They had just crossed the Tiber a few minutes prior which meant that for the first time since Daria was 4, she wasn't inside the walls of Camp Jupiter. Everything was duller in the real world, less magical. Sure sometimes life at camp got boring, but at least she wasn't a mortal.

"I'm excited!" Daria chirped. "It's my first quest."

"Our," Jason mumbled in correction. Daria didn't repeat herself.

"So," Ryan intervened, probably able to sense the tension. "Who can tell me the most important thing you should do on a quest?"

"Um," Daria thought. "Make a plan?"

"Not always," Ryan said. "Usually, things don't go according to whatever you plan anyway. One step at a time. Jason, do you want to give it a try?"

Jason was walking ahead of them, trying to balance as he walked across a log. They had decided to take the most forested parts until they reached Sacramento. His sky blue eyes looked around them, searching for something. "Never let your guard down."

"That's right," Ryan agreed. His straight black hair was tied back today, out of his face. Daria should have noticed; he only did that during War Games. "Always watch out for monsters. They're really good at hiding."

"Daria will hear them," Jason said with a glance at her. It was neither annoyed nor reproachful, and Daria didn't know how to read it, which was frustrating. She hated not being able to read Jason.

"You should be able to do that too, Jason," Ryan warned. "Daria might not always be there to protect you."

"I can hear them!" Jason exclaimed. "She can just hear...better."

Ryan shook his head and huffed out a laugh. "Well, work on it during the quest."

They chatted about everything and anything for a while. Well, Daria and Jason would talk to Ryan and Ryan would try his best to navigate something resembling a conversation between the three of them.

Quickly, lunch passed and they tried to find somewhere to settle a few hours outside of Sacramento. It had been a quiet quest so far, as Leila had predicted. A few more days to Redding, a few days back.

They found a small clearing surrounded by trees relatively quickly. Even the weather was nice; the sun shone down on them, more pleasant than normal for June, though, Daria attributed that to Ryan being the son of Apollo. She gazed around them as Ryan took out supplies, gathering sticks for a fire.

She wondered how much more training they would have to do to be acceptable. Leila and Ryan still treated them like children, even after they had done well in countless War Games. In fact, the only person that treated her like an adult was-

Her ears buzzed and her feet felt warm. "Trap!" She yelled, pressing herself against a tree at the edge of the clearing.

Ryan's head snapped up and he reached over to pull Jason back, but ultimately, it was too late. A net sprung up and took Jason into the air with it, where he hung, surprised and his shoulder bent in a way that definitely wasn't normal.

"Ow!" He screamed.

"Shut up," Ryan hissed at him. "There might be monsters in the area." He turned to Daria, "Daria, do you hear anything else?"

Daria hadn't even heard anything in the first place. She had just...felt it, below the ground. But there didn't seem to be any more traps that she could tell. She really hoped that she wasn't wrong. "No, I, I don't think so."