𝟬𝟬𝟵. don't start swooning or anything

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Jason asked, coming up to Aera at the Victorian-style vanity. Its ivory wood gleamed with polish. Spread out on the vintage counter was an array of bottles of all shapes and sizes—a bunch of enigmatic instruments Jason wouldn't even know where to start exploring if someone asked him to.

Aera was seated on her velvet stool, busy patting some kind of formula on her cheeks. "Skincare, obvi."

"I thought you got a facial today."

"That isn't enough, Jason," Aera chided in a very stern and serious voice Jason didn't think suited the subject she was talking about. "Your skin requires constant nourishment. Otherwise, when you get old, it's just going to sag everywhere and you'll have more wrinkles than Styx."

"Well, it's getting late," Jason reminded her before she could go on another fifteen-minute tangent about the divine significance of skincare. As much as he enjoyed hearing her voice, Jason had already heard her spiel twice since they arrived at the five-star spa resort. "You should go to bed. We gotta head out first thing in the morning tomorrow."

"But do we really?" Aera asked, looking up at him with big round eyes.

"Aera," Jason said patiently, "we talked about this."

"Oh, come on!" she whined. "We've been staying at this resort for three days now and there hasn't been a single monster attack. Can't we just stay a little longer? That snowstorm doesn't look like it's going to let up any time soon anyway."

Outside their hotel room, the snowstorm raged on relentlessly as it had been for the past three nights since Aera brought Jason here to "take a break from his big boy duties". Flurries of ice and sleet pounded against the glass windows of their VIP suite as if trying to break in. The fancy chandelier above their heads started to rock back and forth. Jason yanked the gold and white drapes closed around the windows.

"The forecast says it should clear up by tomorrow morning," he told her.

"The mortal forecast, you mean?" Aera pointed out, unbudgingly seated at her vanity. "One more day isn't going to change anything. We're miles away from where we got ambushed last time."

"Aera—"

"Ple-e-e-ase?" Aera implored, taking his hand. "We can get massages tomorrow! You said your back was stiff from sleeping in that cave."

Jason's back was still feeling pretty sore but he didn't want to risk spending another day at this resort. They were too exposed here. With all the eucalyptus aromatics in the air and the zen nature music playing from every speaker, the ambiance was far too calm for Jason's liking. They were constantly set up to let their guard down. And with the outside weather acting up, it felt like they were being trapped inside.

Aera tugged at Jason's hand. Her touch caused him to look back at her, which turned out to be the ultimate glutton for punishment. Aera launched her first attack on him with the puppy eyes and before Jason could properly construct another case to convince her, Aera struck her coup de grâce: "You know, staying here for one more day would make me really, really happy."

Jason rubbed the back of his neck. Did she really, really have to do this to him?

He sighed.

"One more day," Jason decided, and quickly added: "But you have to be ready to go when I say."

Still sitting down, Aera squealed in delight and threw her arms around his waist, which Jason inwardly thought wasn't the worst punishment there was for caving in.

"I thought I told you to stop using your powers on me," Jason muttered, feeling his face burn.

He could practically hear Aera's grin against his shirt. "I'm not doing anything."

Jason pulled Aera close and left a kiss in her hair, feeling more at ease than he had ever felt. As long as she said she wasn't pulling any tricks on him, he would believe her...

Jason's eyes snapped open. It took a moment for him to regain his bearings and remember he was in Cabin Fifteen, trying to resurface his old memories through a dream. Jason was lounging in a comfortable rocking chair by the fireplace. Clovis, the head counselor of the Hypnos Cabin, and Annabeth knelt next to him, both of them appearing equally concerned.

"—serious, all right," Clovis was saying, hovering over his face.

"What happened?" Jason rubbed his eyes and sat up groggily. "How long—"

"Just a few minutes," Annabeth responded grimly. "But it was tense. You almost dissolved."

Jason didn't like the sound of that. He hoped she didn't mean literally, but her expression was solemn. The two continued talking over him, discussing the possibility of his memories being stolen.

Neither seemed to have noticed that Jason had retrieved another memory and he was okay with that. What he wasn't okay with was what kind of conclusion these memories were leading him to. He was able to hold onto one important piece of information through all the scattered impressions remaining.

Whatever their connection to each other was, Jason and Aera had been running away from something. The question was what?

‧₊˚♡

On another day, Jason might have enjoyed the campfire. He had never been to anything like it before. At least not that he could remember. Which wasn't saying much, but the amphitheater steps were carved into the side of a hill, facing a stone-lined fire pit. Fifty or sixty kids filled the rows, clustered into groups under various banners, singing along to some song about how their grandma got dressed for war and making silly gestures with their arms and legs.

It was one of those group activities that might have been embarrassing in daylight; but in the dark, with everybody participating, it was kind of corny and fun. As the energy level got higher, the flames did too, turning from red to orange to gold.

Everyone seemed to be joking around and having a good time, but all Jason could think about were the fractures of his memories and Juno's words: Free me, or the king will rise from the earth, and I will be destroyed.

As frustrated as he was about the blank spaces in his brain, Jason couldn't just ignore the queen of the gods when she asked for help. The problem was: Jason was not looking forward to meeting whatever was powerful enough to capture the queen of the gods. Fortunately, he was comforted once again by the fact that he was not the only odd one out.

In the middle of the campfire song, Aera shooed away the Demeter girl who was sitting next to Jason in the front row and dropped into the newly available seat beside him.

"Yeah, I'm here now too," Aera said tartly. "Don't start swooning or anything."

Jason assumed she was just being sarcastic again until he turned and saw a son of Apollo being carried out of the amphitheater one limb each by his siblings after fainting at the sight of her appearance. A couple of kids around them started sending death glares to Aera, but she only crossed her legs and blew them kisses.

"How'd your talk with Drew go?" Jason asked, ignoring all the campers pointing at them and whispering.

"Ugh." Aera rolled her eyes halfway through an air kiss. "You don't want to know."

With that, Jason decided he did not want to know.

In fact, there were plenty of things Jason wished not to know. What took first place on that list had to be the prophecy issued for his quest.

Green mist had started swirling around that redhead girl Rachel's feet. When she opened her eyes, they were glowing. Emerald smoke flowed from her mouth. The voice that came out was raspy and ancient—the sound a snake would make if it could talk:

"Child of lightning, beware the earth,

The giant's revenge the eight shall birth.

Closest family lost by one dove,

The other loses their greatest love.

The forge and doves shall break the cage,

And death unleash through Hera's rage."

Jason felt a bit more relieved about his odds when both Leo and freshly-claimed and makeover-ed Piper offered to be on his team, but when Aera volunteered for the quest, to say the whole amphitheater turned as unstable as the cracking Grand Canyon Skywalk was an understatement.

"You can't go on another quest!" a child of Ares spat at Aera. "You're a traitor!"

"You don't deserve to be here!" another yelled.

"Go out with me!" a shrill voice shrieked in the ongoing uproar.

Chaos brewed until the campfire became a flickering shade of dark grey and brown like it was confused about what emotions were surging through the campers.

What unnerved Jason more was how calm Aera reacted. Instead of arguing, she was sitting still and poised with a poker face while withstanding insults from every direction. Her chin was high, her nose turned towards the sky as if to say, so what?

In her lap, though, Jason could see both of Aera's fists clenched, hidden among the flimsy fabric of her red dress. He figured he wouldn't have noticed she was shivering either, if he wasn't seated directly next to her.

Then Annabeth shot to her feet with both of her arms raised.

"Hold it!" she shouted. The rest of the campers seemed to be as shocked as Jason. They shut up immediately. Annabeth turned on Aera with a stone cold expression. "Aera, you were there when Jason got his message from Hera. What did she say to you?"

Aera did a much better job hiding her surprise than everyone else. She leaned back a little with a dry smile. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

Annabeth turned red with anger. "Just answer the question, Aera."

"She said Aera had a debt to pay," Jason interjected before Aera could make things worse. All eyes shifted to him at once. The attention didn't bother him when he went overboard summoning a lightning bolt from the sky to prove he was Jupi—Zeus' son, but now it bothered him. Especially when Aera's eyes were drilling a crater in the side of his face. Still, Jason felt he owed it to her to keep going: "By freeing her, Aera's debt to Olympus would be repaid."

Murmurs broke out amongst the campers, who still seemed unconvinced and aggravated. Chiron stroked his beard in thought, but said nothing. Jason could only guess he was contemplating which decision was less disastrous to camp: forcing Aera to stay here under his watch or allowing her to go on a quest she might not come back from.

"She could betray you along the way," Nyssa, from the Hephaestus Cabin, spoke up. "How can you trust her?"

A good question Jason had only bad answers for. Luckily, Piper came to his rescue.

"It's Jason's quest," Piper said to the crowd. "He gets to pick whoever he wants."

Piper sounded so confident, and so convincing, the rest of the campers started to nod along with her. Jason caught her eye and she gave him a little thumbs up. He was happy to have her support. When he surveyed the amphitheater again, Leo was nowhere to be found.

"The prophecy says who I pick," Jason resumed, deciding to worry about where his other quest mate was later. "Closest family lost by one dove, the other shall lose their greatest love. It mentions two doves."

The Aphrodite kids avoided eye contact with him. None of them seemed eager to step up now that the prophecy talked about losing family and loves. Drew, however, was glaring murderously at Aera.

By the time the campfire wrapped up and everyone was sent to bed, Jason was ready to hit the sack. Leo was still nowhere to be found, but Jason managed to get in a few words with Piper. He gave her a blanket from first row of the amphitheater because she looked cold in her new sleeveless dress.

Piper had an eventful day. She looked beautiful with her new makeover, but she also seemed uncomfortable. It had taken a second to adjust, but Jason could see Aera and Piper being part of the same cabin. They had already acted like sisters before they knew.

Which was why Jason couldn't help but ask Piper on the way to Cabin One, "You think it's a good idea for Aera to come with us?"

"I don't think you could've stopped her," Piper answered, kicking the dirt as they walked. "Seems like she would've done anything to get out of this place."

Jason assumed Aera must have had her reasons, but it still bothered him how quickly she jumped to volunteer after her severe reaction to Hera in the Big House. Aera had tried to skewer the queen of the gods with a tube of lipstick and now she was fighting to be on the team to set her free? Whatever she was planning couldn't be good.

Still, Jason was glad at least Piper was going to be there. He had tried to act brave at the campfire, but it was just that—an act. The idea of going up against an evil force powerful enough to kidnap Hera scared him witless, especially since he didn't even know his own past. He'd need help, and it felt right: Piper had supported him since the beginning. Even if The Mist had messed up her head, Piper had been a good friend to him and to Aera.

He had just bid a good night to Piper when Aera appeared out from behind the column in front of Cabin One. She had been waiting for him, it seemed.

Aera gripped his arm. "Come with me."

"Why?"

Aera tilted her head at him curiously like she found it amusing he was questioning her. "Why not?"

"It's getting late," Jason said. "You should head to bed. We gotta head out first thing in the morning tomorrow."

"But do we really?" Aera asked.

Jason sighed. Something in his gut told him he wouldn't win this. "Where are you going?"

His tired eyes might have been deceiving him, but Aera's face seemed to fall for a split second. Then that coy and playful glimmer resurfaced.

"To do something I might regret."

Under different circumstances, Jason would have never followed a girl into the forest late at night, let alone Aera who was known for being a man-eater around camp. Annabeth had also warned him of the cleaning harpies that patrolled the campgrounds every night, eager to tear a disobedient rule-breaker to shreds for sneaking out past curfew. That was enough incentive for Jason to try and obey the rules the best he could.

But none of this seemed to bother Aera who ambled freely around like she owned the place and the harpies. Jason had his coin in his pocket in case he needed to defend himself, but the silent treatment Aera was giving him made him feel more anxious. She didn't exchange a single word with him, ducking beneath branches like she was a kid swinging on the monkey bars at the playground and humming cheerily to herself.

Her eerie behavior gave Jason the impression of a horror film where the innocent-looking, little girl turned out to be possessed by the evil spirit of a serial killer and would kill everyone off one by one with a wicked smile. Jason remembered someone asking him to watch those kinds of old-fashioned films with them whenever he had free time. It was...their name was...

It felt like Jason was trying to grab onto thin air. Who did he watch those films with?

"Hey," Aera said, breaking Jason's concentration. "We're here."

Jason shook away his thoughts to stay alert. He lifted his head and saw that they had arrived at a very large, very intimidating...pile of rocks. It was in the center of a wide dirt clearing. The stack was shaped like a fist and had two scimitars sticking out of it from the top.

Jason was completely blindsided. Aera had made him come out to the middle of the woods for this?

Traveling through the woods had already been a rough ordeal. The trees had giant gnarled roots. The streams invited him to fall in and drown. Branches casted dark, creepy shadows and owls peered down at him with their big, reflective eyes. Jason was reminded yet again that he was treading on enemy soil. And with the girl who revolted against the gods. Together, they seemed to be exactly the kind of disobedient rule-breakers the cleaning harpies were after.

As if that weren't enough danger, Aera took the top box from Jason, placed it in front of the rocks, and set the whole thing on fire with a match. She glanced over and caught Jason's bewildered reaction.

"The cleaning harpies won't find us this deep in the forest," Aera said, biting her lip like she was trying not to laugh at his expression.

"Won't the fire attract other monsters? I heard there are some strays lurking from the games."

"Yeah, but who cares?" Aera scoffed. "If we die tonight that means we won't have to go on this stupid quest to die tomorrow." Jason stared at her. She smiled at him. "Kidding. We're at Zeus' fist. Everyone thinks it's cursed after those sword-swinging losers buried Kampê here. No monsters come here unless they're really, really hungry."

Jason really, really didn't like their chances.

Aera smirked. "I know what'll help." She reached into the other pink cardboard box and pulled out something even more obscene: a wine bottle. Then Aera sat herself down elegantly in the dirt in front of the burning box and patted the spot next to her. Jason didn't know what to say.

"Oh, don't look at me like that." Aera rolled her eyes. "It's not real. It's Mr. D's 'special demigod-friendly wine'." It even sounded ridiculous to Aera, who laughed. "Mr. D used it to calm the half-bloods who got lost in The Labyrinth two summers ago and turned all loopy from the maze. The Stoll twins found a way to replicate it and sell it in their store as a 'potion that cures madness', but that's a load of centaur dung. It'll relax your nerves before a big fight but that's about it. Just treat it as Nyquil or whatever it is you boring do-gooders think is acceptable."

Jason didn't know what kind of evil poison Nyquil was, but decided to put the other pink box between them and sit down anyway. "You're nervous about tomorrow?"

"Nervous, scared, excited," Aera listed, popping open the bottle. An earthy aroma filled Jason's nostrils. "What does it matter? We're all being used anyway. You, me, Piper, Leo. We were all born to be pawns of the gods. Even if we fail this quest, they have a bazillion other kids they could replace us with."

She took a sip of the "special demigod-friendly wine" and Jason thought she almost looked a little sad staring at the flames like that.

"You know," Aera continued, "I could take this time to congratulate you for being claimed, but I'd say you claimed Zeus more than he claimed you tonight." Laughing cruelly, Aera offered the bottle to him. Jason didn't take it.

"Why did you bring me here?" he asked.

Aera retracted the bottle back to herself.

"Because I didn't want to be alone." The statement rolled off her tongue so smoothly, as if those words were easy to say. Jason knew they weren't. "And I thought you didn't want to be either."

"You're not alone," Jason told her, ignoring that second part. "Piper got claimed tonight. She's in the same cabin as you. Shouldn't you be happy? She's your best friend."

"You mean the best friend who has fake memories of us?" Aera scoffed. "See, I always knew the queen of the gods had no life, but I didn't think she'd be bored enough to uproot some random girl's life and write out a whole semester's worth of lies." Aera took another sip. "Terrible time management if you ask me. Hera's had so many millennia to become a hot MILF and here she is wearing the same ugly old goatskin cloak."

Jason was starting to realize how horrible of an idea this all was. "Aren't you afraid she'll punish you for saying that?"

"She's in jail remember?"

"Yeah, but don't you have any sense of loyalty?"

"Loyalty?" Aera repeated like he had said a bad word. "Loyalty is why everyone who died in the war is dead."

Jason frowned. "I heard that Percy Jackson guy never gave up on his friends."

"And you think Percy Jackson is saint just because he saved Olympus?" Aera scoffed again. "When he was 12, he mailed Medusa's head in a box to Mount Olympus because he was sick of the gods giving him trouble. You should've seen Annabeth's face when she came back from their quest and told me. Actually, no, don't even get me started on Annabeth. She might use a lot of big words to throw you off, but loyalty doesn't exist in her dictionary."

Aera moved to take another sip, but Jason stopped her. "I think you've had enough."

Thankfully, Aera let him take the bottle. She watched mournfully as he put it on the other side of his lap away from her. Jason decided to divert her attention so she wouldn't try reaching for it.

"So what is all this?" he asked, nodding towards the burning pink box.

"Things I should be moving on from," Aera answered, rubbing her bare arms. She must have been cold.

Jason wanted to wrap his arms around her, but he knew that wouldn't be right. Aera didn't have the same memories he did. They were both given an impossible mission. Jason didn't have time to think about this kind of stuff when he had so much at stake. And there was also the chance Aera had been watering down the effects of Mr. D's "special demigod-friendly wine". He wasn't going to try anything when she wasn't in the right state of mind.

"Well, you're doing a good job," Jason encouraged her instead. "Can't really move on more than this."

Aera gave Jason half a smile. For a second, he felt peaceful sitting in the dark with her alone in the middle of the woods. And then she said, "That girl you said I reminded you of when we were at the Skywalk..."

Jason looked away.

"She's the only person you remember from your old life, isn't she?" Aera asked, completely shattering his peace of mind without knowing it. "Why don't you want to talk about her? Is she someone you hate?"

There was a cardboard box between them but it felt like Aera had put her hands on him and was twisting up his insides again. Jason had no intentions to discuss the past with Aera until he fully understood it, but the way Aera was staring at him so pleadingly made his heart feel like mush. The hazy image of Aera smiling up at him, pleading him to stay at the resort for one more day, spiked through his mind.

"No," Jason answered without thinking twice about the consequences. "No...she was someone I liked."