Disclaimer: I don't own PJO, just the plot is mine.
Piper's POV:
Kidnapped. The word echoed around her head.
"Um, Piper, are you okay?"
The voice brought back a flood of memories in her head.
Electric blue eyes, full of intensity.
"You should stop dating me! It's dangerous for you."
"This is no place for a Hollywood starlet."
"We have to stop them!"
"My friends are in danger."
A gunshot.
Hysterical laughing.
The horrible scent of blood.
Gas filling her nose and mouth.
Unbearable pain in her legs.
Piper screamed, but she was back in the world again, strong arms holding her up.
"Are you okay, Piper?" Annabeth said.
Piper nodded shakily. "Yeah, I just, well, had some weird flashbacks there. Um, the good news?"
Annabeth still looked concerned, but said, "Well, everybody else is alive. We tried to go where the stormers told us, but somebody ambushed us."
Piper furrowed her eyebrows. "Who?"
"Couldn't tell," Percy said. "They had dark purple shirts and some sort of tattoo maybe?"
Jason started shaking. "I don't know why... but that seems so familiar. Like, flashbacks overtook me when we were attacked. "
"Same," Piper said. "About the flashback part, I mean."
Tattoos and dark purple shouldn't have triggered anything. It was the most random combination, ever! So why was it so.... recognizable. Piper pushed, pushed for something useful....and a flashback overwhelmed her.
"I was recruited when I was thirteen."
"They're good people!"
A wolf icon.
A blur of purple.
The flash of a gold knife.
A gold splotch.
Silver and gold dogs barking erratically.
Piper gasped, and the scenes dissolved.
"Are you okay? Like, seriously," Hazel said.
On the other side of the room, Jason was getting up too.
"I don't know, I... saw more weird things," Piper said.
"Should we go to sleep?" Frank said, yawning.
"It's only seven fifteen, though," Piper said, holding back a yawn.
Annabeth sighed. "We got up at five am, so maybe it's time for sleep."
Piper shrugged. "Okay."
A few minutes later, they were all settled, except for Piper. She could hear the gentle snoring, but she herself couldn't sleep. She stared at the ceiling, kept awake by something she didn't know.
Finally, a few hours later, she finally fell asleep, hoping for quiet solace in her dreams. But no such thing happened. In fact, her dreams were a bit more chaotic.
Piper was running. For some reason, she was hurrying towards the beach. Oh right, she loved the beach. She loved the warm sand and the sensation of being in the water.
She threw off her wispy white cover up, probably something she might get in trouble for. But oh well. As long as it didn't hit anyone, then it was fine. She undid her messy ponytail, letting her dark hair cascade down her back.
Piper wasn't sure about her swimsuit yet. Yeah, it was okay. A white two-piece, covered in blue flowers. Her main issue was that it was a consolidation present about the one year anniversary of Jane and her dad's relationship.
Piper was so lost in her thoughts that when she bumped into someone, she was thoroughly embarrassed.
A pink flush spread over her cheeks, intensifying when she saw how handsome the guy was- not that it mattered.
"Oh, sorry!" Piper said.
He laughed, showing off a beautiful smile. "It's fine."
He returned to the girl he'd been talking with. Something about both of them looked familiar, from his mesmerizing blue eyes and blond hair to her glossy braid and dark eyes. They both wore purple. He had on purple swim shorts, and she had a one piece purple swimsuit. In fact, all around them, several other kids wore purple too. And they had some sort of tattoo, with several lines. Piper figured they were a summer camp or something. Either way, the water awaited!
Piper was crying, huge tears that rolled down her face. Gone again. They were both gone again. Piper slowly got up, wiping her tears, when a glint caught her eye.
Piper opened the box. When she found all the notes and gifts she was tempted to call Annabeth or Lacy, but they were both off at camps, so Piper figured it wasn't the time to bother them.
Instead, she got a chauffeur to drive her to the mall. She did have her driver's license, but she probably would get in an accident if she was driving, so chauffeur it was.
She ended up at the spa, getting a summer manicure. She liked the teal nails, mostly because they felt very summery and even though they didn't quite match her floral romper, well, who cares.
On her way out, she bumped into a person for the second time this week. It was especially embarrassing that it was the same guy.
"You again!" he said.
"What are you doing here?" Piper said.
"Um, Reyna comes every week, mostly to pay her respects." He pointed to the girl she'd seen him with at the beach.
"Paying her respects to who?" Piper was being nosy, but honestly she didn't care.
"Her former guardian, Circe."
Circe, didn't that name seem familiar? Where had Piper heard it? Maybe it was the true crime documentary? Piper wasn't sure, but she was sure she'd heard it somewhere.
Before Piper could say anything though, Reyna came up, flipping her dark hair, and the guy followed her. Piper shook her head and left.
Piper was tired, and well, the beach called to her, so here she was. When she saw the boy again, she wasn't even surprised.
"How do I keep running into you?" Piper said.
He shrugged. "I don't know. Um, okay, this is kind of awkward, but will you be my date to a party?"
"Sorry, what?" She barely knew the guy.
"Well, the truth is, um, my best friend is kind of interested in me, and well, I don't really like her back, so I kind of need a fake date basically."
"Well, I sympathize with that, but sorry, I barely know you."
"Well, what do you want to know?"
"Your name at least."
"I'm Jason, Jason Grace."
Piper recognized the name. "Oh, you've got to be kidding. I'm Piper Mclean. You go to the same school as me, don't you?"
"Goode High School for Gifted Students, right?"
"Yeah."
"See, we're classmates, at least."
Piper knew it was stupid, but oh well. "Fine."
The party was in full swing, and well, it wasn't that bad. By the end, Piper had had a pretty good time as Jason drove her back.
"Thanks for doing this," he said.
Piper smoothed down her black top and jean shorts in a pretense to not meet his eyes. "Of course. And is the breakup sequence ready?"
They'd already planned out a whole breakup scheme to make it seem like he wasn't ready to date.
Jason smiled. "Yeah. Thanks for everything, Piper."
They had reached her house. Piper wanted to stay a little more... but she had to go now.
"Well, I'll see you around, I guess," she said, forcing some enthusiasm into her tone.
"Of course," he said. "I mean, I'll see you at school, won't I?"
Piper smiled at the thought of seeing him again. "Of course."
She got out of his car, but looked back. And well, he looked so beautiful in the moonlight, like a roman god from the statues.
So, well, she pressed her lips to his, and gave him a goodbye kiss, fully expecting him to not kiss back.
But, he did. He kissed back, and, wow, he was a really good kisser.
"Real relationship?" she said when they pulled apart.
He flashed his perfect grin. "Real."
Dating somebody in a summer haze was beautiful. Not pretty, gorgeous, or hot(in temperature wise, yes though), but beautiful. Beauty in its simplicity, and the way they just worked so well together.
It was all Piper could think about as she got ready for the day. She put on an army green overall dress, and a black shirt, outfits she'd found from what her mother had left her. Kind of surprisingly stylish outfits.
Piper still wasn't sure who is was, but she was figuring it out. She'd found old emails on her dad's email to some woman about modeling. Her mother had to be some sort of model. Maybe it had been a fling, or maybe, there was the possibility her mom had been using him for clout... either way, she was going to find out who her mom was.
The doorbell ringed and Piper ran to greet Jason, but the sight she saw was enough to make her scream. She'd been expecting Jason for a picnic date, but Jason was passed out on her doorstep, splattered with blood and covered in small cuts and gashed like he'd been thrown through glass. A flashy gold gun peeked out of his pant pocket.
A few hours later, Jason had somehow healed himself and cleaned up, and was now hammering out the dents in his car outside. He loved that gold car, calling it his 'eagle,' whatever that meant. He'd brushed off all her concerns and questions, saying that he'd answer all them later.
Piper was currently making her vegetarian mash bake, potatoes and broccoli. She'd already finished the tomato soup to complement the fried cheese rolls that Jason had brought, along with the cheesy vegetarian sausage corndogs and frittata sandwiches. Jason had also brought mini mushroom calzones, pizza bagels(cheese for Piper, pepperoni for Jason), creamy pesto broccoli based pasta, banana cinnamon muffins, and chocolate chip cookies. They were definitely going to have a feast.
They sat in her big backyard, sitting down on a checkered picnic blanket.
Jason sighed. "You want to know, don't you?"
"Of course." Obviously she wanted to know.
Jason leaned back. "I was recruited when I was thirteen."
"Recruited to what?"
"The Wolves."
Piper gasped. She recognized that name. The Wolves? Wasn't that that gang who'd vandalized their school? "You're part of that gang."
"Yeah. When we were sent here, I got lost when we were leaving the airport, and was taken in by them. And, well, we didn't have much, but we made it work. And for a while, we didn't do well. Eventually, we got us some small jobs for a bunch of shady businesses, and we were okay. I was eventually found by my father, and I wanted to quit. But, well, it's hard to leave that life. And, I've been stuck in it ever since."
That was a huge confession. And Piper didn't really know how to unpack it.
So she said, "How did you get injured?"
Jason absentmindedly traced his tattoo. "We're helping another gang spread this drug. They stole it from a government agent, and well, it's very bad. I protested against it, and got ambushed later, which is how I ended up so battered."
Piper wasn't sure what to say to that either.
Jason met her eyes. "I understand if you don't want to be the girlfriend of a gang leader."
Piper didn't want to be involved in the mess, but she couldn't just stand by. There was no way Jason could stop the spread of the Mist on his own, no way. She had to help him.
"No, I want to be the girlfriend of a hero." Piper kissed his head.
Jason looked down. "I'm no hero, Piper. You should stop dating me! It's dangerous for you.""
"Not yet hero, but we will be when we steal back the drug." It felt good to take a stand. And so, they spent the rest of the afternoon outlining their plan.
A knock woke Piper from her dreams. "Are you there?"
Piper rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. "Yeah?"
Annabeth peeked in. "Come to breakfast. Jason thinks he knows how to help us."
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Jason's POV:
Jason's dreams were very strange.
His mom was going crazy again. Throwing pots and pans all over the place.
Thalia gripped him harder. "It's okay, Jason. We'll be okay."
Eventually, after hours and hours of hiding in their room, the banging stopped. Thalia slowly peeped out.
"It's safe now," she said.
Jason was young at the time, but he toddled forward like the four-year old he was, stumbling out of the room.
His mom was lying on the couch, looking at a magazine. Ah. So that's what caused it. The magazine sported a nasty headline of:
BERYL GRACE: WHERE SHE WENT
Jason knew his mom had been an actress, but was retired now. They had just enough money to live, but his mom always wanted more money, needed more attention.
Her real name was Georgia Beryl Grace, but her stage name was just Beryl Grace, so she could be the gem of the stage, beautiful and unattainable. She'd died her caramel brown hair to a light beach blond and covered up her freckles with makeup. Jason missed seeing those freckles. It was one thing that he wished he'd inherited. They were like little stars, all across her face!
His mom glanced at them, and for a second, they locked eyes. Her eyes were blue like his, the only trait they shared across his whole family. Slightly different shades though. His mom's eyes were like the ocean, calm and peaceful at times, but far too often crashing down on the earth, full of anger and hysteria. They also matched the color the waves got in the bay, when a storm came. Jason and Thalia's eyes were different. They were more bright, more like their dad's eyes. Their dad that was never there, but Jason didn't really know that.
"Are you okay?" a female voice said. Jason couldn't recognize it. His vision was too hazy, and all he saw was a fuzzy silhouette.
"Yeah. Just, well, I think we should celebrate!" Jason said.
The girl laughed, and he heard a squeaky laugh too. "Yes, Jason. We got our first gig! No more living on the streets."
A shrill voice said, "Yeah, with the money, we'll be able to properly feed all of the Wolves!"
Jason felt a strong sense of irritation at the voice, though he couldn't quite place why. Either way, they spent the rest of the night talking and laughing.
Soft lips pressed against his. Jason felt amazing inside. When they pulled apart, he saw the love of his life, Leila. Jason loved everything about her. The way he felt when he was around her, the way she curled her light brown hair around her finger, the sparkle her blue eyes shone with whenever she was talking about plants, and the way she was the one who planted the seeds of all of their plans.
Bang! The sound of a gunshot. Leila and Jason immediately ducked down.
"What happened?" Jason said.
"I don't know," Leila said. She looked through the darkness, then ran forward.
"Come back!" Jason shouted. But Leila was already hidden by the smoke.
Bang! Bang! A blurry face appeared above him. A girl with dark hair and regal beauty pulled him up.
"They found us!" she said.
Smoke swirled through the air.
"Them?" Jason said.
"Yeah, they're not too happy about the raid," she said.
Bang! Bang! The smog started to clear up, and Jason saw Leila fighting against three men.
"Leila!" he shouted.
He pulled out his gun and tried to shoot, but his hands were shaking too much. He nailed one of them, the girl beside him took down another, and Leila's kick knocked the other one to the ground.
"Why did you run off?" Jason said, running up to her.
Leila smiled. "Nothing went wrong, Ja-"
She choked as her shirt turned scarlet. The scent of blood filled the air. She fell, but Jason caught her. Behind her, one of the men held a wet knife. Jason shot him a moment later, but Leila was too far gone.
"I'm sorry, Jason."
"No, no, no. It's not your fault. We'll get you to a doctor, w-we'll get you to Pranjal. He'll fix this!"
A small smile flitted across Leila's face. "I l-love y-yo-"
She collapsed to the floor, dead. In that moment, Jason felt the most loss he'd ever felt in his life. He let out a scream, ignoring the comforting pats on the shoulder and the hushed whispers. His eyes were closed, but all he saw was Leila, dying.
"She's dead." That was all Thalia said.
"Who?" Jason said.
"Mom."
Oh. Well, he didn't feel much sadness, though he knew he should. He felt.... numb.
"How?" Jason said wearily.
"Car accident. She was drunk, collided with someone, and fell off the bridge. They can't retrieve the body because it's still pretty deep, but they're pretty sure it's her. The funeral's next week."
"Do we have to go?" Jason didn't want to go
"Of course not. Dad and Hera are going for the publicity... but it might be good if we're there. That way, the magazines can't dig up any dirt."
Well, when she put it that way, it made sense to go. "I guess."
Thalia startled him with a hug, wrapping her arms around him. "Thanks, Jason."
She let go and walked out.
Jason woke to the pitter-patter of rain. For a second, he wasn't sure where he was. Then he remembered. His dreams, his past- oh. He'd been so clueless!
He got up, and woke everyone he saw up.
"What?" Percy said blearily.
"I remembered something. A lot, in fact. I think I know what's going on!" Jason said.