Changing the Future

Chapter 60

"Woah," Piper exhaled as the six of us landed in the middle of the forest, the grass and dry leaves crunching beneath our feet as we got our bearings. "What is this place?"

"Sonoma," Thalia muttered, scowling as she gestured towards the beat up minivan her mother drove stopped in a clearing.

The world around us was hazy, signifying that we were in an older memory, but from all the little details, like the fact that there were four decently sized dents in Beryl Grace's car and that it was extremely overcast and much colder than it should've been this time of year in California, let me know that Thalia hadn't forgotten much about what happened on this day.

I stood next to Thalia and took her hand in my own, giving her it a reassuring squeeze as a show of support. She'd told me about what happened to Jason when I'd gone on a hunting trip with her and the Hunters, when I'd found her holding a small blue baby's shoe clutched to her chest, crying on July 1st, Jason's birthday.

The minivan made a weird groaning noise as it shuddered to a stop, nearly running into a tall redwood. Coach Hedge muttered some unflattering words about Beryl's recklessness but quickly shut up, just as curious as everyone else to watch the scene unfold before them.

Thalia visibly flinched when Beryl got out of her minivan, moving to grab something, or in this case, someone, out of the back seat.

Jason gasped. "Is that...is that our mother?"

Thalia didn't say anything, her eyes screwed shut.

"That was your mother," I corrected gently. "She, uh, she died a few years ago. A DUI. I'm sorry."

Jason merely frowned while Piper grabbed his hand, holding it close to her chest. Leo made a low noise in the back of his throat, almost like a whimper, and I gestured for him to come closer. I then pulled him into a side hug, feeling him release a sad sigh.

"Mom, what are you going to do with Jason?" Thalia had asked her mother, her arms still protectively wrapped around her younger brother's chest. "Why can't I come, too?"

"It'll be okay. She told me it'll be okay," Beryl Grace muttered to herself, violently yanking Jason out of Thalia's grasp, ignoring his cry of protest from the sudden action. Then, not having been fully paying Jason any attention, she bumped his head against the roof of the car, causing him to start crying.

"You hurt him!" Thalia had cried, extremely distraught. "Mom, please, let me come with you!"

"No!" Beryl snapped, setting Jason onto the ground, ignoring his cries as she tightly clutched onto his tiny wrist, which only made him wail even harder. "You. Stay. Here," she yelled at Thalia, slamming the door shut.

Thalia began pounding at the window, calling out for Jason as Beryl led the both of them deeper into the forest, disappearing out of Thalia's sight. Thalia desperately tried to get out of the car, attempting to unlock the doors, roll down the windows, or even break the windows if it came to that, but the car was so old and beat up that nothing save for the keys themselves controlled anything, and Beryl had taken those with her.

"Jason! JASON!" Thalia had screamed, tears streaming down her face as she continued banging her fists against the window.

After what felt like an interminable amount of time, Beryl Grace stumbled back into the clearing, her clothes all torn up, twigs and leaves sticking out of her once perfect hair. She whooped and wailed something awful, clawing at herself, leaving deep cuts all over her arms and face.

"She took him!" Beryl was crying, falling to her knees, beating her fists against the ground. Her entire body trembled with grief. "She took my son!"