sky blue ● jason grace

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"About three hours," Annabeth rested her elbows on the railing as she turned to face her. Evidently their micromanaging wasn't all that important.

Piper joined the conversation as well. "Have you seen Jason or Frank yet?"

"Coach Hedge did some 'nature healing' on Frank," Daria made air quotes around the term, she was still convinced that the faun was no smarter than the ones they had at Camp Jupiter. "So we'll see if he wakes up as a daisy or something. And Jason's fine," she added when she saw Piper open her mouth to bicker.

"Do you think he's going to get another scar?" Leo groaned. "He's already too rugged looking, like, let the rest of us be the effortlessly cool kid for once." Maybe jokes were Leo's way of apologizing, Daria was unsure.

Annabeth snorted, "since when is Jason cool?"

"Literally," Daria shook her head. "At least he has a cohesive story to go with this one. At Camp Jupiter, he would change it up every time someone asked him about his lip."

"He tried to eat a stapler," Piper pointed out. "At least that's what Thalia said."

Daria frowned. "Who?"

"Jason's sister," Piper said. She looked hesitant as she said it, as if it was just another day in the Piper/Daria soap opera, but Daria hadn't forgotten yesterday. No matter how much she had tried.

"Doesn't really matter," Annabeth interjected, probably fed up with the drama. "We need to discuss Rome."

Percy made his entrance then, coming around with his sarcastic smile and his infatuation with Annabeth worn on his sleeve. He put an arm around the blonde and Daria wondered if Annabeth knew she was subconsciously leaning into his touch, even with battle fire still raging in her eyes.

Daria still hadn't talked to him about her dream two nights ago. Obviously, they had been a bit preoccupied but she had hoped to confirm what her father said before they landed in Rome. Now it was looking like it had to wait until later.

"Oars are looking good again," Percy said to Leo. He sounded tired and an indecipherable accent slurred his words together, only reinforcing the idea that Daria should wait to approach him. "Now what?"

Daria looked around at their ragtag army. Piper still wore her power ranger PJs, the Cornucopia in one hand and her dagger in the other. Leo looked like he was shifting into overdrive, a rare moment when he was thinking about something bigger than himself. Percy was trying to play his emotions off, but everytime he glanced at Annabeth, Daria could see the worry flare up again.

They were all distracted and tired and anxious, but they were demigods; despite whatever they may have felt, in three hours they would be in Rome and they would have a job to do.

"Let's meet in the mess hall in fifteen," Annabeth suggested. "Take some time to...some free time." Jason, Hazel, and Frank walked in to catch the tail end of her sentence.

Despite the grim atmosphere, the certainty that whatever happened in Rome wasn't going to be fun, Leo perked up when he saw Jason. "Nice stitches, bro," he had his trademark wild grin on his face. "Really Frankenstein-esque."

Jason scowled as Annabeth pinched the bridge of her nose. "Mess hall," she said as Percy patted her placatingly on the back. "Fifteen minutes."

Daria caught Percy staring at her as everyone started to leave. Without preamble, she found herself speaking to him. "Are you going to hate me forever?"

Percy flipped his gaze on her. "The last time I trusted someone consorting with the enemy," he said sharply. "A bunch of my closest friends died. So I guess we'll see, won't we?"