THE HOUSE OF MEMORIES [J. GRACE]

TWENTY-SEVEN

he still felt terrible. back in medea's store, he'd said some pretty harsh stuff to leo, stuff a friend shouldn't say, not to mention the fact he'd almost skewered the help hephaestus boy with a sword. not to mention, what he said to leo must have hurt chandler also. if it hadn't been for piper, and chandler, leo, and jason would both be dead. and piper hadn't gotten out of that encounter easily, either.

"piper," he murmured, trying to come up with something to say in regard of what happened back at the store. through the haze, he'd definitely heard something important medea had been saying to her, trying to coax her into taking them somewhere, "i know i was in a daze back in chiacago, but that stuff about your dad, if he's in trouble, i want to help. i don't care if it's a trap or not."

her eyes were always different colors, but now they looked shattered, as if she'd seen something she just couldn't cope with. she blinked tears away, turning away from him curtly, "jason, you don't know what you're saying. please, don't make me feel worse. come on. we should stick together."

she ducked inside without giving him even a second glance. he followed her into the mansion, his thoughts of her vanishing the moment his mind was given some room to wander. all his thoughts swirled about in his head, how he'd made progress with the girl he liked, and how he was afraid he'd messed up all the progress he'd made during the entire quest.

jason's first impression of the house: dark.

from the echo of his footsteps, he could tell the entry hall was absolutely enormous, even bigger than boreas's penthouse; but the only illumination came from the yard lights outside. a faint glow peeked through the breaks in the thick velvet curtains. the windows rose about ten feet tall. spaced between them along the walls were life-size metal statues. as jason's eyes adjusted, he saw sofas arranged in a u in the middle of the room with a central coffee table, and one large chair at the far end. a massive chandelier glinted overhead. along the back wall stood a row of closed doors. "where's the light switch?" his voice echoed alarmingly through the room.

"don't see one," leo answered lowly, his hands skimming the walls to find some type of light source to cut on.

"fire?" piper suggested to the hephaestus boy. leo held out his hand, but nothing happened. he made a noise of strain, but still, nothing.

."it's not working, c, you try," she shrugged at her brother's suggestion, finding it pointless for her to try as well when he'd already proved that it wouldn't work. but, she found no harm in trying. the curly haired girl held up her palm, and the veins in her arm brined red brightly with the effort she put into attempting to summon fire. not even wisps of black smoke appeared as her palm glowed, but remained bare. the hephaestus girl pulled a grimace.

"your fire is out? why?" piper asked.

"gee, if i knew, piper," chandler said, her tone coated thickly with an annoyance. there was an irritable edge that she seemed to have reserved for himself, and piper that jason seemed to pick up on. he wondered when it happened, and could only trace it back to medea's department store. it seemed the sorceress was the drive of a plethora of their current problems.

piper didn't seemed to offer an ammunition for the annoyance chandler had, instead swallowing hardly. "okay," she said, her tone a bit pitched at the mood of the hephaestus girl. "so, should we explore?" she changed the subject quickly.

leo shook his head. "after all those traps outside? bad idea."

jason's skin tingled. he hated being a demigod. looking around, he didn't see a comfortable room to hang out in. he imagined vicious storm spirits lurking in the curtains, dragons under the carpet, a chandelier made of lethal ice shards, ready to impale them. "leo's right," he said, trying to fight all those dark thoughts of the danger that could be lingering in the corners of their found shelter. "we're not separating again, not like in detroit."