THE HOUSE OF MEMORIES [J. GRACE]

SEVENTEEN

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ THE HOUSE OF MEMORIES ༉‧₊˚.[THE HEROES OF OLYMPUS]

P I P E R
chapter seventeen: stories of hercules under the stars & don't forget the magic hedgehogs

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PIPER DIDN'T feel the weight melt off her shoulders, and her muscles relax until the unnerving glow of quebec city faded far into their background.

"you guys were amazing," jason complimented from behind her. ordinarily, a simple positive comment from the honey blonde should've made her day, her week even. but instead, she could only focus on the warning from zethes, and cal. the warning of the dangers that waited for them in the journey ahead. evil things, horrible evil things were stirring, and she'd known it first hand. the closer the days dragged on to the summer solstice, the less time the aphrodite girl had to commit to a decision.

after a moment of hesitation, she gave jason a bit of a forced, grimaced smile as she told him in french, "if you knew the truth about me," for a moment, she was shocked that her words had actually came out in the language she willed, but she continued, taking it in stride, "you wouldn't think i was so amazing."

piper couldn't help but feel thankful for aphrodite in that moment for the gift of the language of love, as chandler, or jason spoke a word of french — well, not fluently. apparently the hephaestus girl knew few phrases, but the honey blonde was completely oblivious, and wasn't aware of what the true meaning of her words were. instead of being suspicious of her as she should've, he blinked those big, electric blue eyes at her in a way that was almost breathtaking, "what'd you say?" his eyes were rounded in beautiful curiosity that piper adored.

a bit panicked, piper threw in a shrug to come off as nonchalant as she lied, "i said 'i only talked to boreas,'" she turned, not too quickly as to not raise any eyebrows, to face the front once again, not daring to look back. she didn't want jason, and those rounded blue eyes, to see through her façade, and know of the facility that was her. no, that's not what she wanted at all. instead, she wanted to imagine him smiling at her, and her modesty of her great feats, and bravery. "it wasn't so amazing."

what piper learned about fake jason was that he was kind, and instantly, he was assuring her. his hand rested on her shoulder, a bit hesitatingly as if he wasn't sure he wanted to touch her. the aphrodite girl was sure it was because she tried to convince him that he was her boyfriend when he woke up with no memories. it tended to make things a bit weird, she guessed. though, she still appreciated the sentiment in his tone, "hey, you helped save me from joining khione," there was some laughter in his tone, and piper felt bitterness creep in her as his voice faded in volume for a moment as he continued. he must've been sharing a smile with chandler. "and her subzero hero collection. i owe you one."

well, piper could admit that was the easy part of their visit with boreas, and his frost-bitten children. the aphrodite girl knew there was absolutely no way chandler would've let the snow goddess keep jason – she was sure the hephaestus demigoddess would freeze over hell, ironically, before that happened. though, that bothered her a bit, there were other details to their visit that kept her distracted from those feelings of jealousy. such as when boreas changed form. he changed from boreas to someone else — someone else that chandler, and jason seemed to know. someone who had also known of the tattoos on the mysterious honey blonde, and assumed he was some sort of roman, and didn't mix with greeks.

or, another thing; the way boreas seemed so awed, so astounded to meet chandler. of course, she'd heard little things about the hephaestus girl here, or there mentioned by annabeth, or some other camper in passing. but, it never seemed like too much of a big deal coming from those close to her in age, supposed to be her peers. it could've been fresh, like gossip, so of course everyone was talking about it. it didn't seem to be the case as the literal north wind, a god, an immortal, knew of her by name, and was relaying her feats to them as if chandler were some celebrity among heroes, some icon to be admired.