[act four; chapter seven - killer anime turtle]
Zara was used to feeling unhelpful and useless. She had grown used to it as she grew up in the shadow of her sister and the legacy of their family. She was used to being the second or third person asked about something; never the first. She was used to it, and she didn't necessarily mind it, either. She didn't have the answers that Andy or Jason had, she didn't have the leadership skills it took to lead an army of kids descended from gods.
She also never craved that type of power. Not once in her life had she ever wanted it.
But that also didn't mean that she liked being excluded from certain quests or missions. She could be helpful, she really could, she had just never really been given the chance to show it.
She really didn't mean to be giving Jason the cold-shoulder, really, she didn't. Yet, it happened nonetheless. He had sat next to her at breakfast that morning and held her hand, but she didn't hold his back. Her hand just sat limply in his, and she avoided his eyes at all costs. She didn't know why, but something unsettling had curled into her gut, putting her on edge.
She had stalked out of their little dining hall and made her way to Andy's bedroom, ignoring her boyfriends worried gaze and questioning glances of her friends. Pushing open the door with her hand, Zara stopped in the doorway, taking it all in. The bedroom was exactly as the red headed daughter of Dionysus had left it. The dark green bedding was neat and the varying array of pillows were leaned up against each other and the wall the bed was pushed up against. There were plants and books scattered throughout the room, and Zara couldn't help but let her eyes linger as they landed on the golden book Donnie had told them about, the one where he learned of Eden Storm's existence.
A knock on the door had Zara spinning on her heel, a gasp leaving her lips in surprise. Annabeth was standing there, hand still raised, looking exhausted. She was blaming herself, the daughter of Flora knew. She could tell by the blonde's heavy shoulders and dark eyes and the even darker circles under them. Annabeth's hair was permanently dishevelled, but her clothes were neat as ever.
Zara and Annabeth had never really had a conversation alone. She didn't think they'd ever really been alone together, just the two of them. It wasn't that she didn't like Annabeth, because she did, she just felt like there was some tension between them...the kind that reminded her that she wasn't the only person who Andromeda Storm looked at like a sister.
"Hi." Zara said quietly, waving a little.
Annabeth nodded her head in response and stepped into the doorway beside her, looking around the room in the same way Zara had moments before.
The blonde looked down, her curls falling in front of her face like a curtain, just briefly. "I know we haven't really had a chance to ever talk," so Zara wasn't alone with that thought. "But I wanted you to know that—well, I think that out of all of the people on this ship, I think I may trust you most of all."
Zara's eyes grew wide, startled by the daughter of Athena's words.
"This must be weird for you, but it's true. You know Andy really well, maybe even better than me or Percy. You're her sister and—"
"You are, too." Zara let out with a breathy smile. Annabeth looked up at her, seemingly shocked, maybe a little astounded. "You're her sister, too. Not just me."
"I guess you're right."
The younger girl couldn't help but smile. "I guess that makes us sisters, too. In a way."
Then Annabeth did something Zara had only ever seen her do when talking about a certain daughter of Hephaestus. She blushed. Like full on, red-cheeked. Annabeth blushed, and she looked down at her shoes.
"Yeah, yeah, you're right. In a way."
—🌓—
They were in the middle of cleaning up the boat when four—no, five steps of footsteps echoed on the upper deck of the Argo.
Zara and Annabeth ran for the steps, running up. It was naive, she knew, but she couldn't help but think that maybe, just maybe, the fifth set of feet belonged to Andromeda, and she could tell she wasn't the only one with that hope, because Percy joined them, his eyes wide and the small, barely there smile on his face.
They were all met with a sudden disappointment upon seeing it was only Hazel, Frank, Donnie, Nico, and someone new.
Someone with the face of a Storm and hair as dark as night.
Eden.
Perhaps that was how she had gotten her name—her beauty. Named after the Garden of Eden.
She looked mature, for one thing. Sculpted features, yet soft. Hard-set eyes and an intimidating demeanour. She was dressed in a pair of jeans, Doc Martens, a maroon tank top, and a leather jacket. Her short, curly hair barely reached her collarbones, and she looked unsure and very on edge. Her skin was the colour of honey and her eyes were dark, but not in the same sense.
Donnie stumbled towards Zara, throwing his arms around her. She couldn't help but sigh in relief, wrapping her own arms around his torso. He was breathing heavily and his body seemed heavy, which was a slight struggle for her, considering she was quite a bit shorter than him. He pulled away and stood at her side, looking cautiously between everyone on the boat—specifically Jason and Percy.
Both boys stood side-by-side, though their demeanours were different. Whereas Jason was more open, Percy was closed off. Jason was cautious, but Percy was...not. He looked angry and tired and like he had just faced the worst let-down ever.
Eden looked between them all, measuring up, trying to figure out who, if she needed to, she would have to take out first.
Her eyes landed on the son of Poseidon and she pulled something from her pocket. A piece of paper. Reaching her hand out, Percy took hesitant steps forward until he stood right in front of her. His hands, shaky and unsure, took it from her grasp, and unfolded the paper. His sea green eyes scanned it, reading whatever was written on it once and twice and three times and then four. Suddenly, as if finally releasing fully what was said, he turned to Zara and Donnie, eyes wide.
"It's from Andy." He said. "Well, not from her. But it's about her?"
"What does it say?" Jason asked, stepping up. He glanced down at the note, his eyebrows furrowing and his eyes darkening, a storm brewing in the electric blue. His mouth dropped open, almost as if trying to form words that would not escape. "It's from...it's from Apollo."
Donnie blinked rapidly from his place beside Zara, his face scrunching up uncomfortably. He became jittery within seconds. His somewhat happy demeanour vanished as if it never existed, and he became filled with anxiety, his body riddled with tension. He was so focused on whatever was going through his head that he didn't even notice Leo approach him, gripping his hand gently, running his hand over the rings on the son of Dionysus' fingers.
Zara took a deep breath and cleared her throat. "What's it say, Jay?"
He looked up, looked directly at her. "It says where we need to go and how soon we have to be there. That Andy needs us to meet her there at an exact moment, but it doesn't say what. But it says she's still alive." After a beat of silence, he looked down at the note again. "But she's walking the line somewhere between life and death. And all of the Titan's in Tartarus are hunting her."
—🌓—
It was unfortunate and really terrible circumstance wise, that Zara had gotten used to living off of only two or three hours of sleep a night. Having a group of people with semi-uncontrollable abilities and trauma with unhinged nightmares was not smart, and she was used to waking up to screams or cries of fear, no doubt brought upon by the memories plaguing the minds of all of them. Zara herself had been one of the many to wake up with her body as cold as ice, sweat covering every inch of her skin, tears on her cheeks, and cries echoing in her ears.
It was on one of the nights that she had woken up from a nightmare filled with flashes of lava and fire rivers that she was startled out of her after-nightmare exhaustion by the boat lurching forward very suddenly.
The ship rocked to port with a massive commotion, like telephone poles snapping in half, just as Zara exited her room. She ran up the stairs to the deck, hearing feet following just behind her, but she didn't stop till she reached the top.
"Gahh!" Leo yelled somewhere on the deck. "It's eating the oars!"
Zara ran for Hazel and Frank, helping them both to their feet as the boat rocked once more. The three of them stumbled, but managed to hold onto each other.
Everyone else was scrambling. Jason jumped around them, his sword drawn, and raced toward the stern. Piper was already on the quarterdeck, shooting food from her cornucopia and yelling, "Hey! HEY! Eat this, ya stupid turtle!"
Turtle?
Frank sprinted up the steps, slinging off his backpack, which instantly transformed into a bow and quiver. By the time he reached the helm, he had already fired one arrow and was knocking the second.
Leo frantically worked the ship's controls. "Oars won't retract. Get it away! Get it away!"
Up in the rigging, Nico's face was slack with shock.
"Styx—it's huge!" he yelled. "Port! Go port!"
Donnie was at his side, eyes wide, grasping onto one of Leo's arms so hard his knuckles were white.
Near the stairs, Percy, Annabeth, and Eden had just emerged, looking like they had been awake for hours talking. Maybe they had.
Coach Hedge was the last one on deck. He compensated for that with enthusiasm. He bounded up the steps, waving his baseball bat, and without hesitation goat-galloped to the stern and leaped over the rail with a gleeful "Ha-HA!"
The boat shuddered. More oars snapped, and Leo yelled, "No, no, no! Dang slimy-shelled son of a mother fucker!"
Hazel shot him a disapproving look, but said nothing.
When Zara heard the word turtle, she immediately thought of the gentle creatures—both big and small—that meandered through the oceans, which was soon joined by the memories of visiting the beach as a kid with her moms and going swimming, where one day she saw a turtle. It was a peaceful memory, a good one.
She did not, however, envision a creature the size of an island. When she saw the massive dome of craggy black and brown squares, the word turtle simply did not compute. Its shell was more like a landmass—hills of bone, shiny pearl valleys, kelp and moss forests, rivers of seawater trickling down the grooves of its carapace.
On the ship's starboard side, another part of the monster rose from the water like a submarine.
Donnie, from where he stood a few feet away, grinned. "Avatar."
Frank looked at him questionably. "Blue people?"
And all of the people who had ever been forced into watching Avatar the Last Airbender with Andy grinned. Percy threw Frank a smirk and said, "No. Anime. It's one of Andy's favourite shoes. We'll have to watch it one day together, Frank."
Frank didn't object, but he didn't look any less confused than before.
Focusing her gaze back on the turtle, Zara noticed that its gold eyes were the size of wading pools, with dark sideways slits for pupils. Its skin glistened like wet army camouflage—brown flecked with green and yellow. Its red, toothless mouth could have swallowed the Athena Parthenos in one bite.
They all watched as it snapped off half a dozen oars.
"Stop that!" Leo wailed.
Coach Hedge clambered around the turtle's shell, whacking at it uselessly with his baseball bat and yelling, "Take that! And that!"
Jason flew from the stern and landed on the creature's head. He stabbed his golden sword straight between its eyes, but the blade slipped sideways, as if the turtle's skin were greased steel. Percy had mirrored Jason's movements, and got the same reaction as his blade rebounded from the turtle's shell. Frank shot arrows at the monster's eyes with no success. The turtle's filmy inner eyelids blinked with uncanny precision, deflecting each shot. Piper shot cantaloupes into the water, yelling, "Fetch, ya stupid turtle!" But the turtle seemed fixated on eating the Argo II.
"How did it get so close?" Annabeth demanded.
Leo threw his hands up in exasperation. "Must be that shell. Guess it's invisible to sonar. It's a fucking stealth turtle!"
"Can the ship fly?" Piper asked.
"With half our oars broken off?" Leo punched some buttons and spun his Archimedes sphere. "I'll have to try something else."
"There!" Nico yelled from above. "Can you get us to those straits?"
Zara looked where he was pointing. About half a mile to the east, a long strip of land ran parallel to the coastal cliffs. It was hard to be sure from a distance, but the stretch of water between them looked to be only twenty or thirty yards across—possibly wide enough for the Argo II to slip through, but definitely not wide enough for the giant turtle's shell.
"Yeah. Yeah." Leo apparently understood. He turned the Archimedes sphere. "Jason, Percy, get away from that thing's head! I have an idea!"
Jason and Percy were still hacking away at the turtle's face, but when they heard Leo say I have an idea, they made the only smart choice. Jason grabbed onto Percy and flew away as fast as possible.
"Coach, come on!" Jason said.
"No, I got this!" Hedge said, but Percy grabbed him around the waist and took off. Unfortunately, the coach struggled so much that Jason's sword fell out of his hand and splashed into the sea.
"Coach!" Jason complained.
"What?" Hedge said. "I was softening him up!"
"Yeah, well, you can stop now!" Percy whined. He was very obviously uncomfortable with his current position, and it didn't help that Coach Hedge was thrashing in his arms.
The turtle head-butted the hull, almost tossing the whole crew off the port side. Zara heard a cracking sound, like the keel had splintered.
"Just another minute," Leo said, his hands flying over the console.
"We might not be here in another minute!" Frank fired his last arrow.
Piper yelled at the turtle, "Go away!"
For a moment, it actually worked. The turtle turned from the ship and dipped its head underwater. But then it came right back and rammed them even harder.
Zara let out a shriek as she was thrown into the rail of the boat, but hands reached out to catch her. She looked over her shoulder for a brief second, seeing it was Annabeth. Annabeth who had kept her from falling overboard and into the sea.
"Thanks."
Annabeth nodded and looked over the rail at the turtle. "Gods, I really liked the turtle from Avatar better."
Zara couldn't help but let out a laugh at that. "I agree."
Jason, Percy, and Coach Hedge landed on the deck.
Zara ran to them, practically pouncing on her boyfriend. Her hands cupped his face and her eyes checked him over, scanning him for injuries or any sight of blood. "Are you okay?" She questioned, rambling. "Of course you're not okay, what kind of question is that? Gods, that was stupid. I don't know why—"
Jason silenced her with his lips on hers. Zara's words were muffled then, and she let out a little sound of surprise, before smiling and melting into him. She kissed him back before she remembered where she was and who was around them. Her cheeks burned as she pulled away, resting her forehead on Jason's chest as his arms wrapped around her.
"I'm fine," Jason muttered, pressing a kiss to her head. "Without a weapon, but fine."
"Well, maybe Percy can find it later. I'm sure Andy has some spare sword lying around somewhere that—"
"Fire in the shell!" Leo cried, spinning his Wii controller.
Zara thought the stern had exploded. Jets of fire blasted out behind them, washing over the turtle's head. The ship shot forward and threw her to the deck again, but this time she brought Jason with her.
He hauled both of them up and Zara saw that the ship was bouncing over the waves at incredible speed, trailing fire like a rocket. The turtle was already a hundred yards behind them, its head charred and smoking.
The monster bellowed in frustration and started after them, its paddle feet scooping through the water with such power that it actually started to gain on them. The entrance to the straits was still a quarter mile ahead.
"A distraction," Leo muttered. "We'll never make it unless we get a distraction."
"A distraction," Hazel repeated from where she stood a few feet away.
Zara followed her line of sight and saw a flash of light and steam on the horizon. It streaked across the surface of the Adriatic. In a heartbeat, Arion, Hazel's new companion, stood on the quarterdeck.
Hazel climbed on his back. "Piper, I could use that charmspeak of yours."
"Once upon a time, I liked turtles," Piper muttered, accepting a hand up, throwing a peace sign at the rest of them. "Not anymore!"
The turtle was a fast swimmer, but it couldn't match Arion's speed. Hazel and Piper zipped around the monster's head, Hazel slicing with her sword, Piper shouting random commands like, "Dive! Turn left! Look behind you!"
The sword did no damage from what Zara could see. Each command only worked for a moment, but they were making the turtle very annoyed.
Eden came up beside Zara and murmured, "What's the horse's name?"
"Arion." Zara replied with a small smile. "Hazel met him a while back, before Percy had his memory."
"Oh." Eden nodded, and her face twisted a little, like she had just remembered something. "Is this the time that you told me about, the one where you were all prisoners of the Amazonians?"
"Yep."
Arion whinnied derisively as the turtle snapped at him, only to get a mouthful of horse vapour.
Soon the monster had completely forgotten the Argo II. Hazel kept stabbing at its head. Piper kept yelling commands and using her cornucopia to bounce coconuts and roasted chickens off the turtle's eyeballs.
As soon as the Argo II had passed into the straits, Arion broke off his harassment. They sped after the ship, and a moment later were back on deck.
The rocket fire had extinguished, though smoking bronze exhaust vents still jutted from the stern. The Argo II limped forward under sail power, but their plan had paid off. They were safely harboured in the narrow waters, with a long, rocky island to starboard and the sheer white cliffs of the mainland to port. The turtle stopped at the entrance to the straits and glared at them balefully, but it made no attempt to follow. Its shell was obviously much too wide.
Hazel dismounted and got a big hug from Frank. "Nice work out there!" he said.
Her face flushed. "Thanks."
Piper slid down next to her. "Leo, since when do we have jet propulsion?"
"Aw, you know..." Leo tried to look modest and failed. "Just a little something I whipped up in my spare time. Wish I could give you more than a few seconds of burn, but at least it got us out of there."
Donnie scoffed. "A little something. A little something. Since when are you so humble?"
"Since today, Grape Boy." Leo grinned, poking the older boy with his knuckles. "You got a problem with it?"
"A little bit." Donnie grinned right back and slapped the son of Hephaestus' hands away, a blush covering his cheeks. "Your confidence and mini ego is all a part of your charm. I miss it."
"And roasted the turtle's head," Jason said appreciatively, not noticing the conversation happening right in front of him. Zara nudged his side with her elbow, shooting him a look as she shook her head. "What?"
"They were flirting and you interrupted."
"Oh, sorry." His cheeks were coated with red in embarrassment. He cleared his throat and straightened his posture, looking around. "So what now?"
"Kill it!" Coach said. "You even have to ask? We got enough distance. We got ballistae. Lock and load, demigods!"
Jason frowned. "Coach, first of all, you made me lose my sword."
"Hey! I didn't ask for an evac!"
"Yeah, well, be grateful for one." Percy chided as he picked at his nails, specifically the nail polish that still coated their surface. "You could've ended up being satyr skillet or something."
Jason pointed at Percy with an expression of agreement. "Second, I don't think the ballistae will do any good. That shell is like Nemean Lion skin. Its head isn't any softer."
"So we chuck one right down its throat," Coach said, "like you guys did with that shrimp monster thing in the Atlantic. Light it up from the inside."
Frank scratched his head. "Might work. But then you've got a five-million-kilo turtle carcass blocking the entrance to the straits. If we can't fly with the oars broken, how do we get the ship out?"
"You wait and fix the oars!" Coach said. "Or just sail the other direction, you big galoot."
Frank looked confused. "What's a galoot?"
"Guys!" Nico called down from the mast. "About sailing the other direction? I don't think that's going to work."
He pointed past the prow.
A quarter mile ahead of them, the long rocky strip of land curved in and met the cliffs. The channel ended in a narrow V.
"We're not in a strait," Annabeth said, walking to the rail next to Nico. "We're in a dead end."
Zara got a cold feeling in her fingers and toes. On the port rail, Gale the weasel sat up on her haunches, staring at Hazel expectantly.
"This is a trap," Hazel said.
The others looked at her.
"Nah, it's fine," Leo said. "Worse that happens, we make repairs. Might take overnight, but I can get the ship flying again."
At the mouth of the inlet, the turtle roared. It didn't appear interested in leaving.
Zara tried to look on the bright side. "Well, at least the turtle can't follow us. We should be safe for now, right?"
Zara didn't realise that she just practically jinxed everyone. The words had barely left her mouth when an arrow sank into the mainmast, six inches from her face.
The crew scattered for cover, except for Zara, who stood frozen in place, gaping at the arrow that had almost pierced her nose the hard way.
"Zara, duck!" Jason whispered harshly, tugging on the back of her tie-dye tank top.
But no other missiles rained down.
Frank studied the angle of the bolt in the mast and pointed toward the top of the cliffs.
"Up there," he said. "Single shooter. See him?"
The sun was in her eyes, but Zara looked away from the arrow and spotted a tiny figure standing at the top of the ledge. His bronze armour glinted.
"Who the heck is he?" Leo demanded. "Why is he firing at us?"
"Guys?" The daughter of Flora said as she noticed something. "There's a note."
There was a parchment scroll tied to the arrow shaft.
Hazel stormed over and untied it.
"Uh, Hazel?" Leo said. "You sure that's safe?"
She read the note out loud. "First line: Stand and deliver."
"What does that mean?" Coach Hedge complained. "We are standing. Well, crouching, anyway. And if that guy is expecting a pizza delivery, forget it!"
Annabeth looked at him, appearing bored. "Coach, where do you expect to find a pizza delivery place out here?"
"There's more," Hazel said. "This is a robbery. Send two of your party to the top of the cliff with all your valuables. No more than two. Leave the magic horse. No flying. No tricks. Just climb."
"Climb what?" Piper asked.
Nico pointed. "There."
A narrow set of steps was carved into the cliff, leading to the top. The turtle, the dead-end channel, the cliff...Zara got the feeling this was not the first time the letter writer had ambushed a ship here.
Hazel cleared her throat and kept reading aloud: "I do mean all your valuables. Otherwise my turtle and I will destroy you. You have five minutes."
"Use the catapults!" cried the coach.
"P.S.," Hazel read, "Don't even think about using your catapults."
"Curse it!" said the coach. "This guy is good."
"Is the note signed?" Eden asked.
Hazel shook her head.
Zara heard a story back at Camp Jupiter, something about a robber who worked with a giant turtle; but as usual, as soon as she needed the information, it sat annoyingly in the back of her memory, just out of reach.
Leo studied the cliff top and muttered under his breath. "That's not a good trajectory. Even if I could arm the catapult before that guy pincushioned us with arrows, I don't think I could make the shot. That's hundreds of feet, almost straight up."
"Yeah," Frank grumbled. "My bow is useless too. He's got a huge advantage, being above us like that. I couldn't reach him."
Donnie narrowed his eyes and scanned the terrain. "We're too far below him. If we were just a little higher, I might've been able to." He looked down at his arm where there was a little white scar. "I've been hit by an arrow before, it wasn't very fun."
"And, um..." Piper nudged the arrow that was stuck in the mast. "I have a feeling he's a good shot. I don't think he meant to hit Zara. But if he did..."
She didn't need to elaborate. Whoever that robber was, he could hit a target from hundreds of feet away. He could shoot them all before they could react.
"I'll go," Hazel said.
Zara and Nico's heads snapped in her direction, shock overtaking their features.
The daughter of Flora gaped, "What? No—"
As if she needed confirmation, Gale scampered along the railing and jumped on Hazel's shoulder, ready to hitch a ride.
The others stared at her.
Frank gripped his bow. "Hazel—"
"No, listen," she said, "this robber wants valuables. I can go up there, summon gold, jewels, whatever he wants."
Leo raised an eyebrow. "If we pay him off, you think he'll actually let us go?"
"We don't have much choice," Nico said. "Between that guy and the turtle..."
Jason raised his hand. The others fell silent.
"I'll go too," he said. "The letter says two people. I'll take Hazel up there and watch her back. Besides, I don't like the look of those steps. If Hazel falls...well, I can use the winds to keep us both from coming down the hard way."
Arion whinnied in protest.
"I have to, Arion," Hazel said. "Jason...yes. I think you're right. It's the best plan."
"Only wish I had my sword." Jason glared at the coach. "It's back there at the bottom of the sea, and we don't have time to retrieve it."
Percy raised his hand, an action that looked so much like something Andromeda would do, it darked and lightened the mood at the same time. "I'll go get it. While you guys are up there, I can find it."
Hazel stretched out her arm and Zara went to protest, feeling a surge of frustration building in her chest. Hazel was risking her life and now Jason was, too. She had already lost her sister, she couldn't lose them as well, and to some ancient sniper—
And just like that, Jason's blade flew out of the water and into her hand.
"Here," she said, handing it over.
Jason's eyes widened. "How...That was like half a mile!"
"I've been practising," she said, though it wasn't true.
Percy looked between the blade and the water in bewilderment, his mouth hanging open. Annabeth reached over and tapped his chin, the boy snapping his mouth shut.
"Now, if there are no other objections, we have a robber to meet."
—🌓—
Zara found herself, during the time that Jason and Hazel were gone, sitting with Percy on the upper deck. They were leaning against the rail, watching the water. Every so often, he would point out a fish and give it a name, and he even made a little family out of them.
The big blue-green one was him. Then there was a maroon looking one, that was Andy. Then there was another one, a little smaller, and seemed like the perfect mix between the two other fishes colours—he named it Oliver. Oliver was followed by another fish that was incredibly similar named Sawyer. Then another two fish came along, these two being identical, named Ophelia and Lakyn.
He smiled softly as he watched them swim around, occasionally coming back. He frowned, however, when the maroon one never did.
Zara nudged his shoulder with her own. "What's going through that head?"
"A lot." He grumbled as he shot her a smile. "A lot."
"Good or bad?"
"Um, both?" He let out a breathy laugh, and looked down at his hands. "I had this dream last night. It started out happy, like what everything was like before."
"Before what?"
"Before this. All of this. Lea was there, and so was Donnie and Grover. And all of you. But there wasn't an impending war or anything bad. Everything was...good. And then the ground split open and it was like every bad thing that could happen came spilling out." He looked up and out at the water, his sea green eyes welling with tears. "We were fighting at Camp Half-Blood and then there was an explosion and fire. And Andy was hurt. She was dying. And then it all went away."
Percy wiped at the single tear that ran down his cheek. His face scrunched up as he fought back more tears, accompanied by all of the other emotions he was feeling, and pressed his forehead into his hands.
He rasped, "I'm so scared, Zara."
She wrapped her arms around him and laid her head on his shoulder. "I know. I am, too."
"I can't lose her. I can't. It feels like if I did—it feels like my heart would stop. Like it would just...break, but I wouldn't be dead. I'd be stuck living without her. And that feels like living without air."
Zara bit her lip and nodded. She had felt that way before, whenever she had nightmares about Jason dying. She didn't know what she would do without him, but she does know that death would be kinder than being forced to live without your heart. But there was always Death and his kindness.
"We'll find her, she'll get through Tartarus and meet us at the Doors. Just like she promised." Zara tried to reassure him. She also tried to reassure herself with her words.
"Yeah, because—" and the two of them, together, said, "Andromeda Storm never breaks a promise."
It was just then that Hazel and Jason arrived back on the ship with a story to tell, one of Sciron and Pluto's truths, and how they needed to Epirus, and all that awaited them there.
—🌓—
Zara, again, was used to being woken up in the middle of the night, but she wasn't necessarily used to it being by Jason, and it being just her. He was shaking her shoulders gently, whispering, "Zara?"
She pushed away his hands, grumbling under her breath as she sat up. Pushing her hair away from her face, she looked at his worried, wide-eyed expression. "What is it? Are you okay?"
He nodded and held onto her hand like if he let go, she would disappear. "Yeah. I am. But I had a dream, it was about Reyna and the two camps. Rachel, Andy's friend, the mortal Oracle, got in contact with reyna. Apparently Andy sent a message to her and Annabeth's girlfriend, Janaya."
"Do you know what it said?"
"Yeah, but it wasn't anything helpful. Just her reaching out to pass the note along to the two of them and her threatening the person the note was sent to." Jason looked her straight in the eyes as he spoke. "In my dream, it was Rachel, Grover, and Janaya talking with Reyna and Octavian. The other Roman's are just now learning that Andy's in Tartarus, but Ocatavian...he thinks it's a joke. He thinks all of it is a joke."
"Well, that's what Octavian does." Zara said.
"Yeah, but now he's questioning Reyna's role as praetor. He doesn't think she's right for the role."
"He never has—" that was when her eyes landed on the bruise on his arm—a new bruise. "Jay, why do you have a giant bruise?"
"I, well—I fell from the sky."
"What!?" Zara couldn't help it. Really, she couldn't. But her immediate response was to flick his forehead. The blonde boy snickered and slapped her hand with his own, ducking his head away from her. "And you didn't think to tell me this right away?"
"Well...no." He smiled at her sheepishly. "But I'm fine. I'm just tired. That's all."
"Jason, you can't keep doing that to yourself. You need sleep."
Zara knew that better than most. The reason why she had been asleep during the middle of the day? Well, it was because whenever she got too tired, ghosts and skeletons of the dead seemed to appear randomly and plants grew out of control, deciding to sprout several feet out of nowhere. She had been on watch duty the night before, making it her second night in a row without sleep, and with everything that happened with the turtle and Sciron, she hadn't really had time to take a nap. Annabeth and Eden had forced her into her room to sleep because Leo was getting seriously freaked out by the skeleton that kept following him around.
"Yeah, I know that. But I'll sleep eventually, okay? I promise." Jason smiled. He reached his hand out, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear, before he teasingly tugged on her earlobe. Zara squealed in surprise and kicked a leg out, pushing herself away from him, while also consequently pushing him off of her bed with a thud.
Jason groaned as he hit the ground, and a few seconds later, he was peeking his head over the edge of the bed with his hands in the air. "I surrender!"
Before Zara could respond, there was a knock on the door, followed by Frank's voice. "Hey, guys. We need you in the mess hall."
Five minutes later, the two found themselves sitting with their friends in the mess hall. Jason, very suddenly, felt so awake, Zara doubted he would sleep for a week. At least that was how it seemed. His hands were jittery. He couldn't stop tapping his feet. He kept smiling at her and kissing her cheek and then her hands, which he was holding in his.
But after what he had explained in his dream, Jason, nor Zara, felt much like joking.
While they ate lunch, the son of Jupiter reported on his midair vision. Their friends were quiet long enough for Coach Hedge to finish a peanut butter and banana sandwich, along with the ceramic plate.
The ship creaked as it sailed through the Adriatic, its remaining oars still out of alignment from the giant turtle attack. Every once in a while Festus the figurehead creaked and squeaked through the speakers, reporting the autopilot status in that weird machine language that only Leo could understand.
"A note from Andy." Piper shook her head in amazement. "I don't see how that's possible, but if it is—"
"She's alive," Leo said. "Thank the gods and pass the hot sauce."
Frank frowned. "What does that mean?"
Leo wiped the chip crumbs off his face. "It means pass the hot sauce, Zhang. I'm still hungry."
Frank slid over a jar of salsa. "I can't believe Reyna would try to find us. It's taboo, coming to the ancient lands. She'll be stripped of her praetorship."
"If she lives," Hazel said. "It was hard enough for us to make it this far with seven demigods and a warship."
"And me." Coach Hedge belched. "Don't forget, cupcake, you got the satyr advantage."
Jason chose not to fight his smile. Coach Hedge could be pretty ridiculous, but Zara was glad he'd come along. She thought about the satyr Jason had seen in his dream—Grover Underwood. From what she knew about Percy's best friend, she couldn't imagine a satyr more different from Coach Hedge, but they both seemed brave in their own way.
She knew that it made Jason wonder about the fauns back at Camp Jupiter, just as it did to her—whether they could be like that if the Roman demigods expected more from them. She supposed it was another thing to add to his list...She knew he hadn't been intentionally making a list, but sometimes, when it was just the two of them, he would say something about a list, and she knew he'd been thinking of ways to make Camp Jupiter more...Greek.
She had never been to Camp Half-Blood, but from what she knew, it was incredibly different from Camp Jupiter. It wasn't all just about training and preparing for wars that may never happen or surviving, but really living. It was about the relationships you made and the things you got to experience that shaped you and made you a better person. She had never known anything different, but now Jason had.
He had grown up at Camp Jupiter. He'd done well there, of course he had. But he had always been a little unconventional in the eyes of many of the camp's alumni. He chafed under the rules. He had joined the Fifth Cohort because everyone told him not to. They warned him it was the worst unit. So he'd thought, Fine, I'll make it the best. That's just who he was. He wanted to prove people wrong, he wanted to break the stereotypes.
Once he became praetor, he'd campaigned to rename the legion the First Legion rather than the Twelfth Legion, to symbolise a new start for Rome. The idea had almost caused a mutiny, but Dom had been right by his side, stating that she agreed. Dom in herself had also been a walking anti-traditionalist, but New Rome was all about tradition and legacies; the rules didn't change easily. Jason had learned to live with that and even rose to the top. And that was coming from two people who had some of the biggest legacies to live up to—the son of Jupiter and daughter of Gianna Storm. They had big shoes to fill.
But now that Jason had seen both camps, and Zara couldn't but shake the feeling that Camp Half-Blood might have taught him more about himself. It was a good thing, and it made her more and more proud of him as she watched him come into his own. She knew he had goals for when and if he made it through the war, for when he returned to Camp Jupiter as praetor. He wanted to make it a better place.
That was his duty.
Apparently Zara wasn't the only one stuck in her head, because Jason had zoned out right beside her.
"Jason?" Leo asked. "Argo II to Jason. Come in."
Zara realised her friends were looking at Jason expectantly, even Percy. They needed reassurance.
"Yeah, sorry." He touched the groove that Sciron the bandit had cut in his hair, the one that Zara had called cute when he returned to the ship. "Crossing the Atlantic is a hard journey, no doubt. But I'd never bet against Reyna. If anyone can make it, she will."
Piper circled her spoon through her bowl of soup, looking deep in thought. When she caught Zara's eyes, she smiled, though it seemed a little forced.
"Well, I'd love to see Reyna again," she said. "But how is she supposed to find us?"
Frank raised his hand. "Can't you just send her an Iris-message?"
"They're not working very well," Coach Hedge put in. "Horrible reception. Every night, I swear, I could kick that rainbow goddess..."
He faltered. His face turned bright red.
"Coach?" Leo grinned. "Who have you been calling every night, you old goat?"
"Ohhh," Percy snickered, seeming more alive than he had in the last week. "Someones got a friend."
"No one!" Hedge snapped. "Nothing! I just meant—"
"He means we've already tried," Hazel intervened, and the coach gave her a grateful look. "Some magic is interfering...maybe Gaea. Contacting the Romans is even harder. I think they're shielding themselves."
Frank drummed his fingers on the table. "I don't suppose Reyna has a cell phone...? Nah. Never mind. She'd probably have bad reception on a pegasus flying over the Atlantic."
Zara thought about the Argo II's journey across the ocean, the dozens of encounters that had nearly killed them. Thinking about Reyna making that journey alone—she couldn't decide whether it was terrifying or awe-inspiring.
"She'll find us," Jason said. "She mentioned something in the dream—she's expecting me to go to a certain place on our way to the House of Hades. I—I'd forgotten about it, actually, but she's right. It's a place I need to visit."
Piper leaned her arms onto the table, her caramel braid falling over her shoulder. Her multi-coloured eyes were dizzying, Zara noticed.
"And where is this place?" she asked.
"A...uh, a town called Split."
"Split."
"Um, yeah." Jason tapped his fingers on the table anxiously. When Zara tapped his arm and shot him a questioning look, he smiled at her sheepishly and stopped the tapping, refocusing his thoughts. "In fact, we should be getting close. Leo?"
Leo punched the intercom button. "How's it going up there, buddy?"
Festus creaked and steamed.
"He says maybe ten minutes to the harbour," Leo reported. "Though I still don't get why you want to go to Croatia, especially a town called Split. I mean, you name your city Split, you gotta figure it's a warning to, you know, split. Kind of like naming your city "Get Out!""
"Wait, wait, wait." Donnie splayed his hands out on the table. "Why are we going to Croatia? I thought we were going straight to Epirus to find the Doors."
Zara understood his hesitance with it all. They were both set on getting to Epirus to find the Doors, which meant finding Andy. And the sooner they got there, the sooner she was back with them and safe.
Leo pushed his chips and hot sauce aside and avoided Percy, Zara, Annabeth, and Donnie's eyes. "Well, technically we've been in Croatian territory for the past day or so. All that coastline we've been sailing past is it, but I guess back in the Roman times it was called...what'd you say, Jason? Bodacious?"
"Dalmatia," Nico said, making Zara jump slightly.
She loved Nico, but sometimes she really wished she could put a bell around his neck to remind her he was there, because he tended to kind of just...appear. Nico had this disturbing habit of standing silently in the corner, blending into the shadows.
He stepped forward, his dark eyes fixed on Jason. Since they'd rescued him from the bronze jar in Rome, Nico had slept very little and eaten even less, as if he were still subsisting on those emergency pomegranate seeds from the Underworld. It was worrying, but Zara knew that Nico was the kind of person to do the opposite of what you tell him to, so she would just have to give him some time.
"Croatia used to be Dalmatia," Nico said. "A major Roman province. You want to visit Diocletian's Palace, don't you?"
Coach Hedge managed another heroic belch. "Whose palace? And is Dalmatia where those Dalmatian dogs come from? That 101 Dalmatians movie—I still have nightmares."
Frank scratched his head. "Why would you have nightmares about that?"
Coach Hedge looked like he was about to launch into a major speech about the evils of cartoon Dalmatians, but Jason decided he didn't want to know.
"Nico is right," he said. "I need to go to Diocletian's Palace. It's where Reyna will go first, because she knows I would go there."
Eden raised a sceptical eyebrow. "And why would Reyna think that? Because you've always had a mad fascination with Croatian culture?"
It was safe to say that Eden was intimidating. She reminded Zara of Dom in a way, but even more so like Reyna. They both got to the point and were unapologetic about pretty much everything. It didn't help that Eden was also older than all of them and had much more knowledge than most of them—it was, at times, like having two Annabeth's around.
Jason stared at his uneaten sandwich. Zara knew it was hard for him to talk about his life before Juno wiped his memory. His years at Camp Jupiter seemed made up, like a movie he'd acted in decades before.
"Reyna and I used to talk about Diocletian," he said. "We both kind of idolised the guy as a leader. We talked about how we'd like to visit Diocletian's Palace. Of course we knew that was impossible. No one could travel to the ancient lands. But still, we made this pact that if we ever did, that's where we'd go."
"Diocletian..." Leo considered the name, then shook his head. "I got nothing. Why was he so important?"
Frank looked offended. "He was the last great pagan emperor!"
Leo rolled his eyes. "Why am I not surprised you know that, Zhang?"
"Why wouldn't he?" Eden looked around the table as everyone's eyes landed on her. Her accent was thick when she spoke, "He was the last one who worshipped the Olympian gods, before Constantine came along and adopted Christianity."
Hazel nodded. "I remember something about that. The nuns at St. Agnes taught us that Diocletian was a huge villain, right along with Nero and Caligula." She looked askance at Jason. "Why would you idolise him?"
"He wasn't a total villain," Jason said. "Yeah, he persecuted Christians, but otherwise he was a good ruler. He worked his way up from nothing by joining the legion. His parents were former slaves...or at least his mom was. Demigods know he was a son of Jupiter—the last demigod to rule Rome. He was also the first emperor ever to retire, like, peacefully, and give up his power. He was from Dalmatia, so he moved back there and built a retirement palace. The town of Split grew up around..."
He faltered when he looked at Leo, who was mimicking taking notes with an air pencil.
"Go on, Professor Grace!" he said, wide-eyed. "I wanna get an A on the test."
"Shut up, Leo."
Percy began mimicking Leo, doing the same thing, which earned him a disapproving glower from Annabeth and small glare from Jason.
Piper sipped another spoonful of soup. "So why is Diocletian's Palace so special?"
Nico leaned over and plucked a grape from one of Andy's grape vines. "It's said to be haunted by the ghost of Diocletian."
"Who was a son of Jupiter, like me," Jason said. "His tomb was destroyed centuries ago, but Reyna and I used to wonder if we could find Diocletian's ghost and ask where he was buried...well, according to the legends, his sceptre was buried with him."
Nico gave him a thin, creepy smile. "Ah....that legend."
"What legend?" Hazel asked.
Nico turned to his sister. "Supposedly Diocletian's sceptre could summon the ghosts of the Roman legions, any of them who worshipped the old gods."
Leo whistled. "Okay, now I'm interested. Be nice to have a booty-kicking army of pagan zombies on our side when we enter the House of Hades."
"Well, zombies aren't very peaceful, Leo." Zara said.
"Are they like in the movies where all they think about is brains and repopulating?"
Zara shook her head, pushing her long hair over her shoulder. "No. They more-so do what they do in search of companionship. People have played it off for centuries as them doing it for the sake of repopulating, but they're really just lonely. Plus zombies can be cruel in order to get what they want. They use fear to gain and maintain control. It takes a lot to control them."
And she would know. When they had attacked the Titan Krios, she had summoned the strength of the dead legions, a lot of whom came back in the form of zombies.
"We don't have much time," Frank warned. "It's already July ninth. We have to get to Epirus, close the Doors of Death—"
"Which are guarded," Hazel murmured, "by a smoky giant and a sorceress who wants..." She hesitated. "Well, I'm not sure. But according to Pluto, she plans to 'rebuild her domain.' Whatever that means, it's bad enough that my dad felt like warning me personally."
Frank grunted. "And if we survive all that, we still have to find out where the giants are waking Gaea and get there before the first of August. Besides, the longer Andy is in Tartarus—"
"I know," Jason said. "We won't take long in Split. But looking for the sceptre is worth a try. While we're at the palace, I can leave a message for Reyna, letting her know the route we're taking for Epirus."
Nico nodded. "The sceptre of Diocletian could make a huge difference. You'll need my help."
Piper leaned back in her chair and opened her mouth, "I'll come with. You might want some help controlling—"
But Nico shook his head. "You can't, Piper. It should only be Jason and me. Diocletian's ghost might appear for a son of Jupiter, but any other demigods would most likely...ah, spook him. And I'm the only one who can talk to his spirit. Even Hazel won't be able to do that. And Zara is better at summoning the dead, not communing with them."
Zara nodded her head in agreement. Although she could control and summon the dead, Nico was right, she wasn't able to communicate with them in the same way he was.
The ship's bell sounded. Festus creaked and whirred over the loudspeaker.
"We've arrived," Leo announced. "Time to Split."
Frank groaned. "Can we leave Valdez in Croatia?"
Donnie wrapped his arms around Leo in mock horror at Frank's words. "No!"
Jason stood. "Frank and Percy, you're in charge of defending the ship. Leo, you've got repairs to do. The rest of you, help out wherever you can. Nico and I..." He faced the son of Hades. "We have a ghost to find."
I keep forgetting how much I enjoy writing Zara and Jason when they're together (I still don't have a ship name for them😭), but they're adorable and I love them so freaking much.
This chapter is decently long, I guess, just around three hundred over 8k, so, you know🤷♀️. I actually really enjoyed writing this chapter, even though I struggled with finding the motivation to actually write and finish it. I'm proud that I pushed through that writers block, because the creative juices are flowing!
I really, really love the next chapter (from the actual book) with Nico and Jason, but I feel like if I were to write it and add another character, it would take away from it a little bit, so I won't be adding that to this book. I love the line from it, the one about how love is usually where you don't expect it.
"Where you least expect me, as love always is."
Gods, I love that quote so freaking much, I can't even explain it. Also, if you've noticed, I really like the phrase (as I repeatedly use it), "Death and his kindness", I just realised that kind of parallels another Eros quote from that chapter, "We are not so different. Except Death is sometimes kinder."
Okay, that's my little rant about quotes from one of my favourite chapters in this entire franchise. That's all, BYE!
P.s. May or may not have another chapter in the next day or so, and I don't know who's pov it will be from🤷♀️