𝟬𝟮𝟲. a city she longs to forget

"I ASKED IF YOU WERE HAPPY," Aera sneered at the gates of the windy cemetery. Her hand was trembling slightly as she swiped a piece of hair out of her face. "Now that you've seen how horrible of a person I am, do you feel better? Is this what you wanted?"

"You knew I was following you the whole time," Jason realized, clenching his fists. "You led me here on purpose."

"Only because you wouldn't stop accusing me of murdering someone."

"So you brought me to a cemetery."

Aera narrowed her eyes at him. "I heard you talking to that Hazel girl. She can sense death, can't she? The time she felt your friend die doesn't line up with your little hunch."

"My accusation wasn't baseless. You were found armed and standing over his body. I did what was necessary."

"Oh, yeah? And what was s-o-o necessary about treating me like a monster and not the most fabulous demigod you've ever met?"

"You're a lone half-blood," Jason listed. "You won't give your identity. You won't let us help you. You—"

"You are such an idiot!" Aera cut him off with enough venom to cut down an elephant. "Do you really think I don't see past your crappy defender of the helpless act? I'm getting bored. Let's drop the serenade, m'kay?"

"Charade," Jason corrected. "Let's drop the charade."

"Whatever," she said sharply. "You wouldn't go through all this trouble just for one demigod, no matter how hot she is. Tell me the truth. Why are you so threatened by me?"

Jason wet his lips as he fidgeted with his mother's necklace hanging around his neck. The longer Aera stared at him with that piercing gaze, the less confident he felt. Why did she have to be so smart? And cute?

"Is it because I'm a pretty girl who can fight?" she began vicariously, when he lagged on an answer. "Is it because I refuse to wear that gods-awful shade of purple? Is it because my dad's from South Korea? I swear to the gods, what is your damage?"

"The pearl in your hair," Jason blurted.

Aera blinked. "The what?"

"The saltwater pearl in your hair." Jason's heart began to pound, just mentioning it. "You shouldn't be wearing it."

Aera let out a strangled breath and Jason couldn't tell if it was a scoff or a sob. "Let me get this straight. You chained me up like some kind of rabid animal and have been hunting me down for the past three days because of a hair comb?" Aera yanked the saltwater pearl hair comb out of her hair. "Why didn't you just tell me it didn't go with my outfit?"

"It's not like that," Jason clarified, running a hand through his own hair in frustration. "It's...it's been prophesied that the graecus who wears a saltwater pearl in her hair will destroy our legion and uproot our lives as we know it." Aera continued to stare blankly at him. Jason rubbed the back of his neck. "It's also just disrespectful. In ancient times, only the absolute elite could afford such a luxury. You haven't even began your service or earned any honors or—"

"So what?" Aera asked. Jason held back a wince, not because her voice was loud or furious but because of how utterly devoid of emotion it was. "The person I swore to protect is dead and I couldn't do anything to stop it. Do you really think I care about whatever freakshow future this pearl has in store for you and your stupid legion?"

Jason cocked his jaw. Stupid legion?

"What's left of the Roman empire has survived because our every move has been carefully planned out. My comrades have given their all for the good of the legion. They've sacrificed their childhoods, their skin and blood, and at times, even their lives to preserve our traditions. And yet here you are, doing whatever you please. Are you even worthy of being a descendant of the gods?"

"Oh, you really wanna talk about worthiness?" Aera goaded. "How about we start with the fact that you're the leader of a bunch of gladiators? You would rather ambush an innocent person than have a civil conversation. And you—Jason of what's left of the great Roman empire—You're totally cornered. Scared out of your muscles. You just want to find anyone to blame so you don't have to admit that you have absolutely no idea what to do next. Did your little prophecy tell you that, huh?"

Jason's patience thinned out. Something in him snapped. "Even if you didn't kill Nathaniel, your hands aren't clean. You're responsible for the death of somebody's daughter. You ruined that mortal family back there. You disgrace the name of the gods."

Aera closed the gap between them. They were now inches apart, their shadows merging and their breaths connecting, but the distance between them seemed to have grown vaster than an open sky. Jason felt a rushing sensation similar to the adrenaline coursing through his veins as he led the charge on Mount Tam. The glare in Aera's eyes was beyond deadly. If looks could kill, he would already be six feet under. Neither of them were armed but Aera could have killed him then and there. Or she could have kissed him.

"You don't know anything," she seethed.

Jason nodded. "I know the Beauregard's hate you. Doesn't seem like they'll ever forgive you. Save yourself the humiliation and give up. You can't rebuild a bridge you lit on fire."

From their proximity, Jason half-expected Aera to draw a knife and drive it through his heart. Or maybe she would plunge her hand into his ribcage and pull it out herself.

Instead, Aera lowered her eyes to the pearl hair comb in her hand. "Silena had a snow globe."

Jason almost didn't catch it. "Sorry?"

"Silena loved that snow globe more than her Miss Dior perfume. Which was a lot. Her father got it for her in Paris. It was her lucky charm. Silena would watch it for hours. She couldn't sleep without it by her bed. One time, I was curling my hair and the cord got tangled and knocked the snow globe off her nightstand. It shattered into, like, a million pieces. Just like that. That was the first day I ever truly feared for my life. I hid all my designer purses. I thought she was going to take a knife to them or worse—replace them with knockoffs.

Instead, Silena stayed up all night gluing the pieces back together one-by-one. The next day, she took me to a spa so we could get deep tissue massages. She pretended nothing had happened, but I heard her crying in the bathroom that night when she thought I was asleep. That snow globe never sparkled the same again. In all the years I've known her, Silena's never gotten mad at me once, no matter what ugly or terrible thing I did. If I could, I would have traded places with her in a heartbeat. We only shared one godly parent but it never felt like we were half-anything. She was my sister. And I couldn't save her. Or Luke."

Jason registered the name. "Your boyfriend?"

Finally, Aera met his gaze and a hundred sparks seemed to shoot through his body. The fire in her eyes was still there, but it was flickering. The wind seemed to change directions. He saw something else in her eyes he didn't expect. Anguish.

"Greeks and Romans have one thing in common, you know," Aera said wistfully. "We're supposed to defend the mortals from the things they can't understand. But how am I supposed to protect this world when I couldn't even protect the people I love? How do I do the right thing?"

Jason's heart twinged. He reminded himself that she had control over other people's emotions. He needed to keep a cool head.

"You can start by telling me where you came from," he entreated. "Are there others like you? Do all graecus wear this pearl in their hair?"

"Jason," she said softly yet firmly. "I can't help you. I can't give you what you want."

"Why is that?"

Aera turned away.

"You're right," Jason admitted, swallowing his pride. "It was wrong of me to treat you as a criminal without hearing your side. I was raised to put duty first. To honor tradition and follow the old ways. I've never met anyone like you. The effect you have on me has no precedent. Please, help me understand you."

Aera shook her head. "I won't go back."

"Go back where?"

She closed her hand in a fist and squeezed the pearl comb hard. So tight, it left four parallel scratches on her hand.

"Fearing the words of prophecies. Worshipping gods that can't remember your name. Going on quests for five minutes of fame and a lifetime of scars. Training for a tomorrow that never comes. I've fought too long and too hard to get to where I am now. If I'm going to write my own fate, I have to stand on my own. Getting involved with you and your legion means I might lose the freedom to do that. Do you get it now?"

Aera dropped the comb in his palm. "I am never going back there."

‧₊˚♡

"MOTHER!" Piper yelled so loud that Jason jolted awake and slammed his knee into the table.

Jason found himself sitting at a sidewalk café. It was a fresh, sunny morning. Not too cold to sit outside but brisk enough to enjoy the early breeze. At the other tables, a mix of bicyclists, business people, and college kids sat chatting and drinking coffee. Jason could smell the minty scent of eucalyptus trees. Lots of foot traffic passed in front of quaint little shops. The street was lined with bottle-brush trees and blooming azaleas as though winter wasn't a thing here. In other words: they were in California.

His friends sat in chairs around him—all of them seemed to have woken up to Piper's outburst. And all of them had new clothes on.

"What?" Hedge demanded. "Fight who? Where?"

"Falling!" Leo grabbed the table. "No—not falling. Where are we?"

Jason blinked, trying to adjust. He focused on Aera and a little choking sound came out of his throat. "Aera, you—"

Aera wasn't wearing any makeup. Even without it, her skin was still glowing. Her brown eyes appeared thinner under a fan of faint eyelashes. There were slight bags lining the underside of her eyes. Aera's glossy black hair was straight, tucked neatly behind her ears and flowing behind her shoulders. Her cheeks were round and pink.

She donned what appeared to be a school uniform: white shirt, navy blue blazer, red and blue tie, pleated skirt, and a name tag in Korean pinned on the blazer next to the school crest.

Aera looked a lot less like a 25-year-old supermodel. She looked more like a pretty teenage girl, one Jason and his friends at school would all have a crush on.

Aera was already checking out her reflection before Jason came to, clutching a compact mirror and patting what appeared to be a bottle of sunscreen on her face. She had a new manicure too, with shiny little crystals on each nail that sparkled each time they hit the sunlight.

What really snatched Jason's attention, though, was the hair comb laced in her hair. The saltwater pearl seemed to glow menacingly at him in the morning sunlight, warning him to tread carefully.

"I know," Aera said grouchily. She set the mirror on the table and covering her face with both hands. "I know. I look gross. Stop staring at me."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Jason told her, once he stopped gaping like an idiot. "You're beautiful with and without makeup."

Aera huffed. "You're just trying to make me feel better."

"Is it working?"

"...maybe."

Leo snickered. "What happened?"

"Do you even need to ask?" Aera snapped, her usual intensity returning. "Who else would mug our clothes and take my makeup off without asking me?" She ducked behind her hands again.

"It's my-our—" Piper cut herself short at the sight of Aera cowering in her chair. "It's nothing."

So it was Aphrodite. The goddess must have secretly reached out to Piper the way Hephaestus did for Leo.

Lowering her hands only slightly, Aera slitted her eyes at Piper. Jason would have thought Aera would press her for more information but she only stayed silent, glaring at Piper, almost enviously. Jason wondered if Aera felt jealous that Aphrodite had contacted Piper and not her. Apparently, Aera had prayed to Aphrodite before and had never gotten a response. Or maybe Aera was just jealous Piper got a more glamorous outfit than her: a turquoise dress and a snowboarding jacket.

Leo had a toothy grin on. "Aphrodite strikes again, huh? You're gonna be the best-dressed warriors in town, beauty queens."

"You can't be serious," Aera whined.

"You're fine," Piper assured her, attempting to coax Aera into putting her hands down. "You look great."

"For sure," Leo agreed, "it's not like you were hiding some kind of big ugly secret under all that makeup—"

Aera's eyes went misty. Piper kicked Leo's foot under the table so hard he yelped. Even Coach Hedge motioned two fingers over his mouth, gesturing for Leo to zip it.

"Hey, Leo." Jason nudged his arm, trying to take the attention off Aera. "You look at yourself recently?"

"What...oh." All of them had been give a makeover. Leo was wearing pinstriped pants, black leather shoes, a white collarless shirt with suspenders, and his tool belt, Ray-Ban sunglasses, and a porkpie hat.

"God, Leo." Piper forced a laugh. Jason got the feeling she caught on to his plan. "I think my dad wore that to his last premiere, minus the tool belt."

"Hey, shut up!"

Aera peeked through her fingers.

"I think he looks good," said Coach Hedge, puffing up his chest. "'Course, I look better."

The satyr was a pastel nightmare. He had been given a baggy canary yellow zoot suit with two-tone shoes that fit over his hooves. He had a matching yellow broad-brimmed hat, a rose-colored shirt, a baby blue tie, and a blue carnation in his lapel, which Hedge sniffed and then ate.

Aera snickered a little.

"Well," Jason said, shrugging, "at least your mom overlooked me."

He was dressed in just jeans and a clean purple T-shirt, like he'd worn at the Grand Canyon. He had new track shoes on, and his hair felt like it was newly trimmed.

"I guess Aphrodite thinks you're perfect," Aera said. Jason couldn't discern if that was pride or envy in her voice, but she wasn't covering her face anymore, which was a good sign.

For some reason, Piper smiled smugly at the two of them. Jason swore he almost heard her utter under her breath, "For you."

"What was that, Piper?"

"Nothing. Just something my-our-never mind." Piper smiled. "Anyway," she continued, abnormally cheerful, "how did we get here?"

Leo shrugged. "Dunno."

"Oh, that would be Mellie," Hedge said, chewing happily on his carnation. "Those winds shot us halfway across the country, I'd guess. We would've been smashed flat on impact, but Mellie's last gift—a nice soft breeze—cushioned our fall."

"And she got fired for us." Leo sighed. "Man, we suck."

Aera sniffled. "I miss her already."

"Ah, she'll be fine," Hedge assured. "We'll see her again. She couldn't help herself, after all. I've got that effect on nymphs. I'll send her a message when we're through with this quest and help her figure something out. That is one aura I could settle down with and raise a herd of baby goats."

"I'm going to be sick," Piper said the same time Aera said, "She is so out of your league, Coach."

They decided to eat at the café. Their packs were at their feet, and everything seemed to still be there. Piper dug through her pockets and brought out money to order coffee, courtesy of Aphrodite (which again, Aera didn't seem so happy about). Jason had to coax her into getting a chocolate croissant to fill her stomach with something.

On the bright side, it didn't take them long to figure out where they were. The menus said "Café Verve, Walnut Creek, CA." According to the waitress, it was 9 a.m. on December 21, the winter solstice, which gave them three hours until Enceladus's deadline.

They didn't have to wonder where Mount Diablo was, either. They could see it on the horizon, right at the end of the street. After the Rockies, Mount Diablo didn't look very large, nor was it covered in snow. It seemed pretty peaceful, its golden creases marbled with gray-green trees. And somewhere on that peaceful mountain, a very powerful, very evil giant was about to have Piper's father for lunch.

They had no game plan.

Coach Hedge belched when the topic came up. "We climb the mountain. Kill everything except Piper's dad. Leave."

No realistic game plan.

"Thank you, General Eisenhower," Jason grumbled.

"Actually," Aera said, "not bad."

Half of her face was now covered by a large pair of black sunglasses she'd convinced one of the old ladies sitting at the table behind them to give her in exchange for some ageless skincare secrets. Now she looked back to being a celebrity. The sunglasses were too big for her face and she had to re-adjust them on the bridge of her nose every few minutes.

Piper stared pointedly at her. "You just wanna get this over with so you can get another facial."

"Okay, and?" Aera said, fixing her sunglasses again. "I'm totally breaking out. Besides, the giants are, like, giant. How else can you defeat something that big without killing them before they kill you?"

"Well, there's more you need to know."

Piper told them what she figured out in her dreams. That their real enemy was the sleeping woman in the earth: Gaea.

"Gaea?" Leo shook his head. "Isn't that Mother Nature? She's supposed to have, like, flowers in her hair and birds singing around her and deer and rabbits doing her laundry."

"Leo, that's Snow White," Piper said.

Aera shuddered. "I hate Snow White."

"Listen up, cupcakes." The old satyr dabbed the espresso out of his goatee. "Piper's telling us some serious stuff, here. Gaea's no softie. I'm not even sure I could take her."

"No, really?" Aera said sarcastically.

Hedge nodded. "This earth lady—she and her old man the sky were nasty customers."

"Ouranos," Piper said. She peered up warily at the blue sky as if expecting there to be eyes.

"Oh, I know him!" Aera chimed. "He got chopped up by Kronos."

Leo's eyebrows shot to the sky. "Kronos? As in that old evil guy you used to work for?"

Jason ate in silence. Was that resentment in Leo's voice?

"Mm-hmm!" Aera answered, awfully bright for the dark topic they were on. "Gaea was mad Ouranos threw their first sons, the ugly Cyclopes, into Tartarus for being, like, really ugly, so Gaea gave her favorite son Kronos, the iconic silver scythe and told him to go chop up his dad and take over the world."

Nobody said anything. Jason's everything bagel with cream cheese didn't taste so appetizing anymore. Even though Jason was sure he had heard the story before, he still couldn't quite get his mind around it. He tried to imagine a kid so messed up, he would kill his own dad just for power. Then Jason imagined a mom so messed up, she would convince her son to do it.

"Definitely not Snow White then," Piper decided.

"Oh, no," Aera said. "They used to call Kronos the titan of evil but Gaea is, like, evil with a capital Y."

"Evil starts with the letter e," Jason reminded.

"Evil with a capital E," Aera amended.

Hedge nodded again, even more grimly this time. "She's so old and powerful and so huge that it's hard for her to be fully conscious. Most of the time, she sleeps, and that's the way we like her—snoring."

"But she talked to me," Leo mused. "How can she be asleep?"

Gleeson brushed crumbs off his canary yellow lapel. He was on his sixth espresso now, and his pupils were as big as quarters. "Even in her sleep, part of her consciousness is active—dreaming, keeping watch, doing little things like causing volcanoes to explode and monsters to rise. Even now, she's not fully awake. Believe me, you don't want to see her fully awake."

"But she's getting more powerful," Piper pointed out. "She's causing the giants to rise. And if their king comes back—this guy Porphyrion—"

"He'll raise an army to destroy the gods," Jason put in. "Starting with Hera. It'll be another war. And Gaea will wake up fully."

"Gaea's no joke," Hedge stated. "Which is why it's a good idea for us to stay off the ground as much as possible."

Leo peered up cautiously at Mount Diablo. "So...climbing a mountain. That would be bad."

Piper sank into her chair, drained of hope. "Guys, I can't ask you to do this. It's too dangerous."

"You kidding?" Gleeson belched and showed them his blue carnation smile. "Who's ready to beat stuff up?"

Naturally, like an instinct, Jason's eyes found their way to Aera again. She had went quiet toward the end of their conversation. Her attention was locked on another table, which seated two teenage girls excitedly posing and taking selfies with their mugs of coffee and chocolate croissants. Jason couldn't see her eyes, but Aera's shoulders were slumped in defeat.

"Is it still that painful?" Hedge suddenly asked, catching Jason off guard. "Do you think avoiding it forever will make you feel better?"

Jason realized he wasn't the only one who had been watching Aera.

Aera slammed her hands on the table. "Keep your smelly goat senses off me."

"Uh, I hate to interrupt another great team bonding moment but..." Leo shifted in his chair. "Um, are we ever gonna talk about that little video Aeolus showed us?"

Jason's eyes instantly swept over to Aera, and he knew Piper did the same.

"Aeolus just wants more people to watch his weather program," Piper said, busying herself with her chocolate croissant. Maybe she was hoping Leo would take the hint and drop it. No such thing.

"I mean, don't get me wrong. It's just that..." Leo scratched the top of his head. "I don't get it. Aera, do you want the evil earth lady to wake up or not?"

Saying nothing, Aera sunk back in her chair and folded one leg over the other. Jason couldn't read Aera's expression with those big sunglasses on. The saltwater pearl in her hair seemed to gleam even brighter under the sunlight, saying, DANGER! DANGER! YOU ARE IN DANGER!

"Hey, if it's a joke, that's cool," Leo said. "But if you're serious about trying to destroy the world again, well, I just wanna know before we hike up the Devil Mountain together."

"You're wondering if I'm on Gaea's side," Aera said coldly, lacing her fingers together on the table. "You're doubting my loyalties."

"That's not what he meant," Piper said quickly. "Leo, tell her that's not what you meant."

"Choose your words wisely, cupcakes," Hedge advised as though mediating.

Leo blinked. Piper's charmspeak didn't seem to work this time. "Look, all I'm saying is...you did some shady work for Kronos. If Gaea were to give you the same opportunity again—"

"That's enough," Jason broke in. He couldn't stand any more of Leo's insinuations. This wasn't the right time for them. "Our mission is dangerous, as is. And we're short on time. If we start fighting among ourselves right now—"

"We're not fighting," Aera said sagely. "We're having a civil conversation." She leaned forward and Jason still couldn't tell what she was thinking. "Leo's right. How do you know you can trust me? You can't. But I'm not going to sit here and do nothing while the giants tear up Tristan McLean. It's a total waste of mortal blood and a DILF—"

"Still weird," Piper muttered.

"—and I'm the only one who has experience with something as powerful and as hideous as the giants. So trust the hot traitor or not, you need me."

Hedge crossed his arms and grunted. "You got a plan, glamour girl?"

"Do I?" Aera smiled deviously. "Well, Jason said, in the boring history of this boring universe, the giants were defeated by the gods and demigods working together. Well, I doubt none of us have a god on speed dial, so a distraction's the best choice we got. Lucky for you guys, the world's best distraction is sitting right in front of you." Aera flipped her hair majestically over her shoulder. It took Jason a second to process what she meant.

"You're joking."

"I never joke about my beauty," Aera said seriously, laying her hand on her chest. "If we can't kill them before they kill us, we'll have to go around them. It's super simple. I distract the giant. You guys get Piper's super hot dad and we escape before I miss my spa appointment."

"Offer you up as bait?" Jason asked in disbelief. "No way. That's too risky."

"Also, can you please stop calling my dad hot?" Piper grumbled.

Aera narrowed her eyes at Jason. "Well, unless the gods stop leaving your prayers on read, it's the only option we have. Or we all die. Without having taken a proper shower in days. And without a real moisturizer beyond the sweat and failure of us letting an innocent mortal get gobbled up like—"

"Okay, okay," Piper interjected, holding her hands out. "No more gruesome images, please."

Leo fiddled with a couple screws in his palm. Jason hadn't even realized when he pulled those out. "Um, Aera...You know, I'm not trying to point fingers, right? I just don't want any of us to end up like-like—" Leo seemed to finally realize the cliff he was driving himself off of. He pulled the brakes on his words but it was too late.

"Like one of my siblings that died?" Aera offered when their table went silent. The corners of her mouth curved in a confident smile, but Jason could see the pain in her eyes. "Don't worry. My victims are all drop dead gorgeous." She scooted her chair back and stood. "I'll go find us a ride. I'm not hiking up another stupid mountain in this skirt."

Piper set down her coffee. "Wait, are you sure you should—"

Aera flipped her hair and left the table.

"Alright, she's sure," Piper grumbled.

Leo scratched his head, looking guilty. "Ah, maybe I should—"

"Let her go," Hedge said the second he started to get up. "San Francisco is a city she longs to forget. She won't wander around here for long."

Piper sighed. "I knew I should've packed her more face masks."

"Your mom didn't put any in the pack?" Leo asked.

Jason scowled. "How do you know, Coach?"

"It's this place," Hedge said, shaking his head mournfully. "Her sister Silena Beauregard used to live here. Her grandmother also rests in one of the cemeteries here. Aera was really close with her grandmother. I doubt that cupcake will chum around here with all these bad memories."

Piper turned to Leo with a scowl. "You shouldn't have brought the video up. It's a sensitive topic for her."

"I wasn't trying to be mean," he said, flushing bright red. "Honest. Pipes, the giants have your dad. I just want to make sure we can save him."

"And we will," Jason declared, rising to his feet. "I'll go with her."

The look on Jason's face must have been severe because no one protested. Not even Coach Hedge, who started chewing on the napkins. As Jason left the table, he could hear them still talking behind him.

"You're not gonna send him off with a peace offering this time?" Leo asked.

"He won't need them."

"Huh?"

"Jeez, you seriously have to start working on your social skills, Leo. Just trust me."

Jason wasn't sure where Piper got all that confidence from. Jason found Aera trying to hijack a shiny gray Mercedes parked next to the sidewalk by gently coaxing it with her voice.

"Open door," she crooned in a mystifying voice. "Reveal keys."

"What are you doing?"

Aera jumped. "Gods, you scared me. I thought you were Piper. That would've been awkward. For her, of course." She beckoned him over. "Here, you try. Maybe this car is into golden retriever white boys."

Jason was puzzled. Did she just compare him to a dog? He shook his head. "How about we call a taxi instead?"

Aera's eyebrows rose. "All the way to Mount Diablo where the super disgusting and super ugly giant has the movie star Tristan McLean held hostage?"

Jason considered this. "We could leave a generous tip."

Aera cracked a smile.

Part of the conversation Jason remembered while he was unconscious rose to the surface of his mind.

"The Beauregard's hate you. Doesn't seem like they'll ever forgive you. Save yourself the humiliation and give up. You can't rebuild a bridge you lit on fire."

Jason wanted to hit himself on another table. He owed Aera a godly apology.

"Hey, um, I—"

"My tattoos are gone." Aera rolled up her sleeve and showed him her forearm. Jason checked. Sure enough, where the 9 bars used to be was slowly being eaten away by the skin growing back on the inside of her arm.

"That's good, right?" Jason said, trying to hide the nervousness in his voice. "You said they didn't go with your complexion."

Aera's eyebrows rose. "You're taking it better than I thought."

Jason gulped. Truth be told, he wasn't even sure if she was supposed to have those tattoos in the first place. He didn't want her to suffer the consequences of having them either. She had suffered enough.

"Leo has a point," Aera said. "He's right to be concerned. This tattoo fading is just another indication that I don't belong anywhere. Now the Fates have forced me back here and I don't know what I'm going to do next. I just feel like I'm going to take off again."

Jason couldn't forget how shattered Aera had looked when Aeolus displayed that video on the television screen. He knew she felt remorse for what she had done. As horrible as they were, they were still her siblings. Aera had grown up with them, lived in a cabin together, and shared the same identity. That kind of kinship could only be understood by someone who belonged to that bond. This, Jason knew. No matter how bad things got between him and his cohort, they would still die for each other. Jason had the intuition that if anyone, Aera was the same way.

"Let bygones be bygones," Jason said, putting his hand on her shoulder. "You survived the war, but holding onto that guilt and preventing yourself from moving on...that's not living. That's punishment. You have to let it go. You can't keep tormenting yourself like this."

Aera's eyes shined in the sunlight as she smiled sadly at him. "It's a shame."

"What is?"

"You were raised to be loyal and kind. If someone like you had been there for Luke instead of me, would he have survived? Would he have still gotten in that coffin if he had better people around him?"

What coffin? Jason wanted to ask. What did Luke have anything to do with this?

The anguish on her face stopped him. Jason wished he could take all of her sadness and all of her guilt and disperse it in the wind. But things weren't that simple. "Aera, this isn't about Luke or his death. This is about—"

Aera avoided his eyes. "Me. I know. But Ethan Nakamura wasn't lying. The only thing I know how to do is run away. I am a coward. I still don't have the courage to face it yet."

"You don't have to do it alone."

"Thanks."

"Aera," Jason said, a sense of urgency coursing through him. "I mean it. I want to be the first person you think of when you're in trouble. The next time you feel like running away, run to me instead. I'll be there."

Aera studied him. Jason got the eerie feeling she could see right through him, past his skin, past his reputation as the son of the king of the gods, and straight into his heart where all his flaws and all his vices resided. It was a terrifying thought.

"Look," Jason said with a heavy heart, "there's something I need to tell you. It's about these tattoos and that weeklong gap in your memory—"

"Don't." Aera shook her head and turned away. "I don't want to know."

"Aera—"

"Jason, if you value me as an ally and as a friend, you won't allow whatever past we have define our partnership now. Let bygones be bygones."

Jason didn't know about this one. "But..."

"Hey, next time, I'll run to you. Promise. Just...don't make it too hard to find you. I honestly can't run that fast in heels." Aera wrinkled her nose. "Don't you dare tell anyone that. It'll totally ruin my reputation."

That thought was even more terrifying. Not because of the scandal, but because she was finally starting to accept him into her walls. As Aera waited for his reply, the saltwater pearl in her hair was all Jason could look at.

Jason thought back to the harsh words he said and the cruel way he treated Aera. She was willing to forget all of that and leave it behind them. He wondered if he deserved that after all he did. He didn't have enough time to fully deliberate.

"Miss Aera?" another voice broke in.

There was a man standing next to the parking meter, dressed in an expensive suit, a black tie, and clean leather shoes. He was Asian, with fair skin and square-rimmed glasses. He looked like a businessman from Silicon Valley.

The second Aera saw him, she started speaking in Korean. They exchanged a few words of conversation. Jason couldn't understand what was being said, but the way Aera started growing more and more tense couldn't be a good sign. Jason stuck close to Aera and kept alert for any signal or indication that she needed backup. He hoped this man wasn't bothering her.

Eventually, their conversation ended. The man bowed his head slightly and then turned around to begin walking down the street. The expression on Aera's face was peeved, as though she had been delivered the news that they discontinued her favorite skincare product.

"What happened?" Jason asked.

"Looks like it's our lucky day," Aera said, though she didn't sound very happy or celebratory at all. "We got a free ride up Devil Mountain."