reflection ● jason grace

Their picnic ends in disaster

 "What were you two up to earlier?" Michael asked.

They were back in the maze with Daria determined to find Dedalus if it killed her, before Atticus did. The knowledge that her rival was somewhere in this maze searching for the same person made her stomach queasy, especially after last night.

The air around them was dusty, though that could be a product of the bad mood Jason was in. She hung back with the boys as, once again, Reyna and Jason travelled in their own two-person pack. Whenever Daria and the son of Jupiter made eye-contact she found herself scowling.

He glared back, so she didn't feel too bad.

"Just talking," she murmured back, clutching onto his hand like it was a lifeline. Out of all of them, Michael was the most grounded in reality. They weren't together, but Daria still didn't want to tell him everything. "I had a dream. About Atticus."

"Did you promise to join his army or something?" He looked considerably better after the monster attack yesterday, though he still favored his left shoulder.

"No."

Michael shrugged. "Then there's nothing to it. Except I hate him just as much as I did yesterday." As if just realizing something, he turned to his left. "Nathan...you good, man?"

The son of Mercury had been silent for several minutes. Usually, he said anything that popped up in his head, no matter how meaningless. Now, he shook his head, mystified. "Everything's," he struggled to put it into words. "It's like north is south and up is down. It's driving me insane."

Michael leaned away from him slightly. "Insane like...homicidally?"

"No..." Though by the way he dragged the word out he didn't seem too sure. "At any rate, I'd kill Daria before you, Mike."

Daria raised her eyebrows in offense. "Why me?"

"You annoy me more."

"Don't be rude." Michael flicked his shoulder. The flashlight in Daria's hand flickered, but she wasn't too worried. If the battery died they just charged it by rubbing it on Jason's staticy hair.

Nathan grinned, always lightening up when he got the chance to bully one of them. "Fine," he leaned in front of Daria to antagonize her. "It's because I want Michael to myself."

Daria shrugged. "So take him."

"I'm going to pretend this conversation didn't happen," Michael said. "Because I enjoy kissing Daria and Nathan has a bad track record. Like when-"

"Please stop talking," Nathan interrupted, looking pale as Daria cackled beside him.

She looked ahead of them. There were only two flashlights available, and their group of 3 had one of them. "What do you think they're talking about?"

At her question, even Nathan's face got darker. "Nothing good. They do that a lot now."

"What?" Michael asked, creasing his eyebrow in confusion. "Ignore you?"

"Yeah." Nathan looked at her. "I mean, it's fine."

"You have us," Michael said, sounding serious and keeping his voice low. "So screw them."

Daria and Nathan shared a glance. That wasn't quite the angle they were going for, and Michael and Jason liked to argue on the best of days. "I-"

Daria...

She whipped her head to the side so fast that her neck felt hot. "Did you hear that?" Daria demanded. "Someone said my name."

"Oh great," Nathan muttered. "She's gone insane too."