WORTH | jason grace¹

2

Their wheels came off and the chariot dropped out of the sky. Annabeth and Butch tried to maintain control. The pegasi labored to hold the chariot in a flight pattern, but they seemed exhausted from their burst of speed, and bearing the chariot and the weight of six people was just too much.

"The lake!" Lorna yelled. "Aim for the lake!"

BOOM.

Lorna tried her best to cushion the fall of her friends but she didn't know if it would work. She kicked her legs and swam toward the surface. Lorna hooked her arm with Annabeth and Jason, who looked disorientated and summoned for the water to give them a burst speed.

We got onto shore. Lorna was completely dry but Annabeth, Jason and Leo were freezing. Campers came forward with blankets. Nearby, Butch stood in the lake, cutting the wrecked harnesses off the pegasi. Fortunately, the horses were okay, but they were flapping their wings and splashing water everywhere.

Somebody took Piper by the arms and helped her stand. Campers ran up with a big bronze leaf blower–looking things and blasted Piper with hot air; and in about two seconds her clothes were dry.

A second later the wreckage of the chariot was tossed from the lake and landed nearby with a wet crunch.

"Lorna!" Will pushed through the crowd. "I said you could borrow the chariot, not destroy it!"

"Oopsie." Lorna said. 

"Will, I'm sorry," Annabeth sighed. "I'll get it fixed, I promise. "

"It looks impossible to fix, though." Lorna stated.

Will scowled at his broken chariot. Lorna got a little stunned by the similarities between Will and him. She snapped out of her thoughts. 

Will sized up Piper, Leo, and Jason. "These are the ones? Way older than thirteen. Why haven't they been claimed already?"

"Claimed?" Leo asked.

Before they could explain, Will said, "Any sign of Percy?"

"No," Annabeth admitted.

The campers muttered. Drew stepped forward—tall, Asian, dark hair in ringlets, plenty of jewelry, and perfect makeup. Somehow she managed to make jeans and an orange T-shirt look glamorous. She glanced at Leo, fixed her eyes on Jason like he might be worthy of her attention, then curled her lip at Piper as if she were a week-old burrito that had just been pulled out of a Dumpster.

"Well," Drew said, "I hope they're worth the trouble."

Leo snorted. "Gee, thanks. What are we, your new pets?"

"No kidding," Jason said. "How about some answers before you start judging us—like, what is this place, why are we here, how long do we have to stay?"

"Just ignore Drew. She has nothing better to do. Likes comparing her miserable life to others." Lorna sneered. She had tried hitting on Percy multiple times and so Lorna threw her into the lake and turned some of Drew's siblings against her.

"Jason," Annabeth said, "I promise we'll answer your questions. And Drew"—she frowned at her—"all demigods are worth saving. But I'll admit, the trip didn't accomplish what I hoped."

"Hey," Piper said, "we didn't ask to be brought here."

Drew sniffed. "And nobody wants you, hon. Does your hair always look like a dead badger?"

Piper stepped forward but Lorna said, "Piper, stop."

Piper did.

"We need to make our new arrivals feel welcome," Annabeth said, with another pointed look at Drew. "We'll assign them each a guide, give them a tour of camp. Hopefully by the campfire tonight, they'll be claimed."

"Would somebody tell me what claimed means?" Piper asked.

Suddenly there was a collective gasp. The campers backed away. Floating over Leo's head was a blazing holographic image —a fiery hammer.

"That," Annabeth said, "is claiming."

"What'd I do?" Leo backed toward the lake. Then he glanced up and yelped. "Is my hair on fire?"

He ducked, but the symbol followed him, bobbing and weaving so it looked like he was trying to write something in flames with his head.

"This can't be good," Butch muttered. "The curse—"

"Butch, shut up," Lorna said. "Leo, you've just been claimed—"

"By a god," Jason interrupted. "That's the symbol of Vulcan, isn't it?"

All eyes turned to him.

"Jason," Annabeth said carefully, "how did you know that?"

"I'm not sure."

"Vulcan?" Leo demanded. "I don't even LIKE Star Trek. What are you talking about?"

"Vulcan is the Roman name for Hephaestus—" Annabeth said.

"It is?" Lorna asked.

"—the god of blacksmiths and fire."

The fiery hammer faded, but Leo kept swatting the air like he was afraid it was following him. "The god of what? Who?"

Lorna turned to Will. "Give him a tour of camp. Introduce him to his bunk-mates in Cabin Nine."

"Sure, Lorna."

"What's Cabin Nine?" Leo asked. "And I'm not a Vulcan!"

"Come on, Mr. Spock, I'll explain everything." Will put a hand on his shoulder and steered him off toward the cabins.

Lorna turned her attention back to Jason. He could easily be a child of Aphrodite, one with great swordsmanship. Or a child of Ares. Although he seemed more of the clam type, not the I-will-kill-you-at-any-chance-you-give-me. However, he also did look like a child of Apollo or Hermes. The boy reminded Lorna of Luke Castellan, an old. . . friend.

Annabeth said, "Hold out your arm."

Lorna saw what she was looking at, and her eyes widened. Jason had taken off his windbreaker after his dip in the lake, leaving his arms bare, and on the inside of his right forearm was a tattoo. A dozen straight lines like a bar code, and over that an eagle with the letters SPQR. Lorna tried to remember where she had seen those letters before, but she couldn't.

"I've never seen marks like this," Annabeth said. "Where did you get them?"

Jason shook his head. "I'm getting really tired of saying this, but I don't know."

The other campers pushed forward, trying to get a look at Jason's tattoo. The marks seemed to bother them a lot —almost like a declaration of war.

"Ouch. They look burned into your skin," Lorna noticed.

"They were," Jason said. Then he winced as if his head was aching. "I mean ... I think so. I don't remember."

No one said anything.

"He needs to go straight to Chiron," Annabeth decided. "Drew, would you—"

"Absolutely." Drew laced her arm through Jason's. "This way, sweetie. I'll introduce you to our director. He's ... an interesting guy."

"Bad choice." Lorna told Annabeth.

The crowd began to disperse, until only Annabeth, Piper and I were left.

"Who's Chiron?" Piper asked. "Is Jason in some kind of trouble?"

Annabeth hesitated.

"Good question, Piper. Come on, we'll give you a tour. We need to talk." Lorna hooked her arm through Piper's.