Jason Grace: After the Burning Maze

To Storm or Fire, the World must Fall

"Go! Remember!" I cried holding Apollo's gaze a second too long. A searing pain shot up my back in between my shoulders, forcing me to slump forward on Tempest.

This was it. This was the end. As my eyelids sank shut and muscles relaxed, an ancient line appeared in my mind. "To storm or fire the world must fall." Leo avoided his destiny within the prophecy, finding a loophole with the physician's cure. Now the curse had been redirected onto me. An eye for an eye. A life for a life.

"Get them to safety," I mumbled one last time before slumping to the ground, gladius cluttering away. Hot blood gushed out of my back as the spear was plucked out and thrust in again with more strength.

An unseen force began to tug at me. Starting at my toes, I lost all feeling as a white, whiskey version of me dressed in a white Roman toga floated upwards. Gradually my spirit separated from my body, traveling past my calves, my knees until it got to my fingertips. Desperately, I tried to cling on to the little bit of life left in me, trying to control that limited mortal body. If only I could stand up, or fight again, everything could be different. I had to save them. I couldn't let Piper, Apollo, and Meg go without me. I tried to move my hands or my arms, but it was as impossible as controlling another person. The spirit kept peeling away until it rose to my shoulders.

I remember faintly my final thought on that fateful day 70 years ago. I remember seeing Piper thrash and howl, fighting off her captures and causing mass destruction. I remember her light washed shorts, orange camp shirt, and bright blue braided harpy feather. Seeing her beautiful eyes blurred with tears as she slashed around the air wildly. I remember how sorry I was that I never told Piper I loved her. I remember a million years ago in Arizona. Waking up next to a beautiful girl who was willing to work with, to love, and to be patient with a clueless, manipulated boy. I remember in Rome. when we were drowning the well. I remember how she sacrificed her youth, her light, and her beauty to save us. I remember how she had pulled me in and kissed me, telling me she loved me before the water consumed us. I remember after the war in New Rome, how we had kissed under the stars, vowing to start our relationship over with a clean slate. I remember the look in her eyes when she broke up with me. I remember seeing her sadness, her desperation, her fear. I remember how much guilt and remorse I felt, having never told her that I still loved her, even after we parted ways.

Wave after wave of anger, remorse, and guilt plagued me as electricity filled the air. Tempest circled around Piper, Apollo, and Meg, pulling them away from my corpse. When the last bit of me floated off, a painful, guttural howl came from Piper as the wind spirit carried her away.

Now that Piper was gone, I had no reason to stay. And that in itself was a good reason to go. Taking a deep breath, I let myself drift off.

Up and up I floated, spinning and turning back to see my body behind. Pale and parchment like white school shirt stained with crimson blood, SPQR tattoo facing upwards.

Caligula stood above my body, shaking his head as he examined me. Tracing a finger alongside the 13 bars, picking up my shattered glasses and trying them on. A black and blue shape whisked past, kicking him in the face before taking me and leaving.

Smiling a little in satisfaction, I turned again and floated upwards. Not with any particular destination in mind, but somehow knowing where to go. I went upwards past the beach and alongside the highway to Los Angeles. Outside a small shopping center, I saw another spirit. A bald, old man, probably in his 70s or 80s who too seemed to gravitate towards a shop labeled "DOA Recording Studios".

Passing through the door, I stood behind the old man as he approached a tall, elegant, and handsome, man with chocolate-colored skin and bleached-blond hair, shaved military style. He wore tortoise-shell shades and a silk Italian suit that matched his hair. A black rose was pinned to his lapel under a silver name tag that read "CHARON".