CATHARSIS, jason grace¹

𝟬𝟭𝟯. pemdas

"Um," Jason stammered, and Piper thought the clueless boy looked more clueless than usual, "No. That's not what I meant. Thalia's my real s—"

Aera turned her nose away before Jason could finish, effectively cutting him off. "Whatever you say, big guy." She gave Piper a sour look like, ugh, can you believe him?

Jason blinked, staring blankly at the side of Aera's face. Piper felt sorry for him. He probably didn't understand why Aera had gotten upset at him like that. Piper did, but even then, she still pitied him.

"Trouble in paradise?" Leo snickered. "Already?"

Let's hope not. Piper decided to change the subject to a safer one. "Where are we heading?"

"Oh, yeah," Leo agreed. Thankfully he seemed to catch Piper's drift immediately. "What's the plan, bro? You said something about catching wind, or breaking wind, or something?"

Piper hoped Jason would take the bait, and luckily he did. Though not without watching Aera, who stubbornly kept her eyes trained on random clouds, a few seconds more.

Poor guy, Piper sympathized. Even the son of the king of the gods doesn't stand a chance against Aera.

"We're going to find the god of the North Wind." When he finally realized Aera was not going to give him any time of the day, Jason cleared his throat. "Let's catch some storm spirits."

"Hold on," Leo interjected, doing a double take. "You want to look for Dylan, that nasty storm dude, on purpose? The guy who threw me off the skywalk?"

"And sucked Coach Hedge into the clouds?" Piper asked.

"And ruined my hair?" Aera added abashedly.

As they flew over New England, Jason laid out the game plan: First, find some guy named Boreas and grill him for information—

"His name is Boreas?" Leo just had to ask. "What is he, the God of Boring?"

"Ugh." Aera rolled her eyes, making a show of studying her fingernails. "Aren't they all?"

Second, Jason continued, they had to find those venti that had attacked them at the Grand Canyon—

"Can we just call them storm spirits?" Leo interrupted again. "Venti makes them sound like evil espresso drinks."

"Ooh, Starbucks trip!" Aera suddenly perked up. "Quick! Someone add that to the itinerary. Starbucks runs are essential for dirty demigod work. The only thing getting me through this stupid quest is a venti strawberry creme frappe."

"Aera," Piper said because she knew it would only hurt Jason if he did, "we're not making a Starbucks trip."

"Then..." Aera said, her eyes still sparkling. "...how about bubble tea?"

"No."

And third, Jason finished, before Aera could get more pumped up about refreshments, they had to find out who the storm spirits worked for, so they could find Hera and free her.

"That's about it," Jason wrapped up. "Well...there may be a wolf involved, too. But I think she's friendly. She probably won't eat us, unless we show weakness."

"You think she likes Frappuccinos?" Aera offered.

"We could get her one of those pup cups," Leo suggested, which was so not helpful to their cause. "But for wolves."

"A wolf cup!" Aera brainstormed. "Wait, no. That sounds like a menstrual product."

Piper groaned, hugging her cramping stomach. "Can we not talk about periods right now?"