Piper's POV:
Aphrodite was crying. Huge, heaving sobs that consumed all sound and sight. Well, not sight. Piper could still clearly see the wall she'd been staring at all morning. But she'd seen Aphrodite bury her head into that pink billow, so likely Aphrodite couldn't see anything.
But certainly sound. Piper couldn't focus at all. She was so close to coming up with a plan that would get them out of there, but no, Aphrodite's crying kept on distracting her.
Piper didn't even get why she was crying. It had been a mostly normal morning, eating the food one of the guards had dropped off. An apple for Piper, a banana for Aphrodite, and, well, Piper had no idea what Hera had eaten, as she'd left for her work already.
Unfortunately, according to last night's talk, Porphyion, was getting really close to waking, though it was taking a huge physical toll on Hera. Huge bags underlined her eyes, her eyes were swollen from lack of sleep, and Hera was always tottering, almost falling over when she came back from working on him. Gaia had her working way way way too much. Piper would have totally protested it, if she actually could do anything. After all, she was kidnapped.
Then, as it was Wednesday, the guard also dropped off outfits, thoroughly disputing Piper's blackmail theory about Aphrodite.... though, Piper figured she just wanted someone to blame, honestly.
Piper was given her usual seven outfits, smart looking but simple clothes. No accessories except a few hair ties. Everything she needed, not that that was totally not creepy....
Either way, Aphrodite got her bundle of pink outfits as usual, but she also got tons of accessories. Mostly expensive jewelry. But one of them had to be something bad, as she gasped loudly and ran out of the room, still clutching whatever it was. Piper only caught a glimpse of it, but it looked something like a ring.
After finishing eating her apple and unsuccessful talking to guards, Piper went back to her room, still trying to brainstorm a way out of here. She'd tried to go out the window, tried to get through the bars, but, yeah, nothing had worked.
But, maybe, Piper had been collecting the utensils they'd given her. And, they'd given her a knife yesterday. And, maybe, if it was just in-between guard shifts....yes, they could get out of there. If only she could now focus, without the sound of Aphrodite crying!
Piper sighed and got out of bed to find Aphrodite.
She found said person crying out her heart into the pink sheets and pillows of her bed. In her hand, she clenched a pearl ring.
"Aphrodite?"
Aphrodite held up three things of pink lip gloss. "Do you want some lip gloss?"
Piper definitely didn't. "No thanks."
Aphrodite dropped them and resumed her crying. Piper sat down the sheets, avoiding her mess of curls. "Why are you crying?"
Aphrodite held up the pearl ring she'd been holding. "Because of this!"
Piper studied the ring. It had a silver band with green and clear jewels surrounding the pearl. It was simple and classy, and kind of reminded- wait, no, it couldn't be. Could it?
"Is that-" Piper hesitated.
Aphrodite looked up, her makeup somehow still perfect and her eyes still dripping with tears. "Yes. That's the ring your father planned to propose to me with. Except, I said no, and then we had you, and then I left."
Piper wasn't really sure what to say. Then she remembered the packages she'd found in her dad's office.
"What did you leave me?" she asked.
Aphrodite sighed. "Mostly presents."
Well, that didn't give her much to work with. But, well, Piper didn't really want to fix their relationship... but, well, maybe it would help get them out of there. And that meant she had to ask the hard questions.
"Why did you leave us.." Piper didn't want to lose, but here she was saying it. "...Mom."
Aphrodite tucked a strand of hair behind her perfectly shaped ear. "I wanted to stay, believe me. Well, Olympians aren't meant to start families."
Piper didn't get that. "Why?"
"The world we live in is too dangerous for kids to be involved in," Aphrodite said. "Too many shady things happening, too much money in our pockets to not be targeted. I mean, look what happened here!"
Piper supposed that was kind of true. "But what about Percy and Annabeth? Thalia and Jason? They came so much earlier than I did."
"Percy and Annabeth were special cases, in a way, and they got involved when they were younger."
"Special cases?"
"Annabeth ran away, and her father called us for help, so we sent Grover, and actually, they turned out mostly fine."
"Mostly?" Annabeth was her best friend... had Piper not realized any trauma?
"Well, Thalia ran away a few times when she came here, and Luke was just making his way, so they banded together, and eventually Grover found them."
Ah, right. Piper kind of remembered Annabeth telling her that a long time ago. Probably something she'd forgotten. "What about Percy?"
"Percy and his mom managed for a while, but after an attack on Percy, his mom sent him here, and Grover helped him over too," her mom said. Wow, it was weird to think of her that way.
"Well, what about Thalia and Jason, oh, and also Leo?" Piper said. She'd forgotten about Leo.
"Leo's mom died, and Thalia and Jason's mom wasn't stable."
What was it with moms?
"Well, their mom still isn't stable," Piper said. She'd seen how much their mom was affecting Jason.
"She's still alive?" her mom said.
Oh right, her mom had been kidnapped before they'd found her. And somehow, Piper still hadn't told her. "Yeah, we found her."
Piper looked at the sheets, anything to get away from those probing eyes. She felt like a kid again, caught with her hand in the cookie jar.
"Wow," her mom eventually said. Yeah, no, Aphrodite. She'd refer to her as Aphrodite still in her head.
"There's a lot of things I haven't told you," Piper said.
Aphrodite leaned back. "Well, no time like the present."
And so, the rest of the day was spent, having an actual maternal relationship in her life. They talked about everything, from everything they'd learned(wow, you kids are crazy!) and the tiniest about her fake dating situation(oh, honey).
So, by the time Dakota came, Piper was not expecting anything like this. She expected the mostly cheerful boy drinking Kool-aid, not the broken boy with shadows under his eyes and bruises on his knuckles.
"Dakota? Are you okay?" Piper said.
Dakota ignored her. He didn't say a word until at least an hour and a half had gone by. Then, he spoke.
Dakota sighed. "I'm going to regret this.... but here."
He looked at the hallway, where his new partner had yet to come back from the bathroom, then shoved his phone through the bars. Piper caught it out of reflex.
She stared at him stunned, but the footsteps were starting to get closer, so she ran into her bedroom at his wave of a hand, trying to hide it from the cameras.
When she was safe, in the bathroom, where there were hopefully no cameras, someone was calling her. She accepted the call and waited as it connected. Communication to the outside world.... who could it be?
"Hello?"
"Piper?" Piper recognized that voice!
"Jason?"
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Jason's POV:
A horrible day, yet again. First off, it started with another one of Mommy Dearest's attempts. Luckily, Thalia was there, so they engaged in a shouting match instead. It ultimately still led to them running away in Grover's car.
Then, once they got to school, Hazel told him that something weird had happened in the car between Leo and Frank... which he was not looking forward to resolving.
Homeroom was fine as usual... but Piper wasn't there. Lacy was, however. Piper's other best friend, and she always wanted to know if there was any progress on the investigation. And Jason always had to say no, because he'd been poring through all the journals in the globe... and so far, all he'd found were a bunch of architectural drawings. Everyone had taken home a few to try to find anything useful, but so far nothing.
AP Physics and AP History was the same as usual. Hard but okay. But then something weird happened. Dakota, one of the kids in AP History was talking, and something hit Jason.
"Why do you drink so much Kool-aid, Dakota?" Jason said.
Dakota rolled his eyes. "It helps calm the nerves down. Especially since us Wolves are doing it soon."
A blurred figure approached them. "Boys, boys, what's the-"
And then he was back in the classroom once again. Nobody seemed to know that he'd zoned out, so he could have imagined it....
There was a possibility that he'd talked to Dakota during school or something... but it seemed unlikely. His voice had sounded higher, and Dakota's face had been round with youth.
Also, the Wolves? Wasn't that the name of the gang he'd been in?
So, Jason followed him after AP History. "Dakota?"
Dakota looked scared as he turned around- though he did try to hid it with a look of nonchalance. "Um, yes?"
Jason sighed and decided to be direct for once. "You can cut the act. I know you are in the Wolves."
Dakota looked down. "Fine, I am. But we can't talk."
"Why not?" Jason said. Did Dakota have someone being held against him, too?
Dakota met his eyes, wavering blue eyes. "Sierra and Gwen."
It was like Dakota had flipped a switch in him.
"We have to leave, Dakota," Jason said.
Dakota shook his head furiously. "You don't understand! Gwen won't leave with us."
"Why not?" Jason said. Gwen was one of his oldest friends in the Wolves.
"Lupa knows about Sierra," Dakota whispered.
It was like a punch to the gut. Lupa had taken him in when he was a kid, had taught him so much.... yet, she was dangerous, and they all knew it.
Sierra was the result of Dakota and Gwen's teen pregnancy. Gwen had had to lay low for a long time, and their whole friend group had worked to hide Sierra. If Lupa had found her...
Jason gasped, back into the world of the living. "But.. Gwen's dead."
Dakota smiled bitterly. "Yes, I know."
"Then.. well, can't you help me?" Dakota's gaze didn't waver. "Please. So many people have already been taken. Piper, Aphrodite, Hera, Athena-"
"Fine." Dakota took out his phone. "Call me at 4:00. You have my number. Don't tell anyone."
And with a flourish of his blue jacket, Dakota was gone.
True to his word, Jason didn't tell anybody. But he hated keeping secrets. It weighed down on him the whole day.
Unfortunately, he had Student Council right after that. And since Gwen was now dead, there were new candidates to be running. And Annabeth and Hazel were both there, so secret keeping was going great. He hated lying to his friends... but, well, oh well.
After that, Spanish seemed pretty boring in comparison, so it was really Musical Theatre where things got dicey. First, since Piper was gone, Khione was his Sarah Brown at the moment. Their performance was coming up and while they weren't in Tech Week yet, somehow, they had to practice the 'I'll Know' scene, which included the kiss.
And, in high school, they actually kissed.
Of course.
After he sang the last note, he was supposed to kiss Khione... and, well, when he did... it was... weird. She wasn't that bad of a kisser.... but like, it was weird.
First off, Khione was Drew's best friend. So he was kissing his girlfriend's best friend.
Second, Khione had showed that she was interested in him a lot. So there was that.
Third, Jason wanted to break up with Drew, so that would be interesting.
Either way, by the end of the day, after football practice, Jason was tired, physically and emotionally. So, again, his wonderful luck that Drew was there.
She looked nice in her cheerleading outfit, her dark hair pulled back, and pearly makeup glistening... but Jason had too much on his plate. He'd forgotten about her, admittedly, and he had a call to make.
"Listen, Drew-" he started.
"You're breaking up with me, aren't you?" Drew said.
Jason was taken back. His jaw dropped with shock. He'd been planning to break up with her, yes, but probably not in such a public setting like this. Already, every student was staring at them.
"Drew, I-" Jason said, but Drew interrupted again.
"Fine. Let me guess, it's because of Piper."
"No, I was-"
Drew was crying now, large tears dropping from her face. "I c-can't believe this. Y-you said you'd never break up with me."
Jason didn't remember saying that. "I'm sorry, Drew, but I, I just don't feel it anymore."
Drew looked so sad and Jason wanted to take it all back, everything he'd said... but he couldn't take back the truth.
Drew smiled through her sadness. "Well, I hope she appreciates you for who you are."
She cupped his face gently, then kissed him one last time. Her salty tears mixed on their lips, creating an interesting combination. Then she pulled away and slapped him.
Jason was left standing there for a moment, a sting across his face, a heavy feeling in his stomach. Sure, he hadn't really liked her, but he still felt bad. And he hadn't meant for it to end that way.
So, when he got home, he was ready for the call. He wanted to hear Piper's voice again. He wanted to see his friend again. Even if it was only for a phone call.
But Thalia and his mom were still fighting.
"You can't just walk back into our life!" Thalia shouted.
Jason ran past them and called Dakota's number, something he somehow still remembered. It rang a few times, and every ring was a second fraught with worry. What if something had gone wrong?
But then he heard it. "Hello?"
That voice.. how he'd missed it. He could barely talk pst the lump of emotions rising in his throat, but he managed to say, "Piper?"
Poor Jason. What a horrible day for him. Piper, however, finally reconciled with her mom. Yes, and finally called her mom too. Victories and losses.
Soo, I was going to have Piper escape in this chapter... but, sorry, yeah, no. She won't escape for a little bit... so be ready!