Daughter of the Sea || HoO

CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

(A/N: I changed a little bit from the last chapter. Piper doesn't go with Leo, Hazel, and Frank, she stays on the ship with Tori and Jason.)

Tori tried to make the best of the situation. 

Once she and Jason had gotten tired of pacing the deck,listening to Coach Hedge sing "Old MacDonald" (with weapons instead of animals), they decided to have a picnic in the park. They asked Piper if she wanted to join, but she decline trying to focus on seeing something in Katoptris.

Hedge grudgingly agreed. "Stay where I can see you."

"What are we, kids?" Jason asked.

Hedge snorted. "Kids are baby goats. They're cute, and they have redeeming social value. You are definitely not kids."

They spread their blanket under a willow tree next to a pond. Tori borrowed Piper's cornucopia and it spilled out an entire meal—neatly wrapped sandwiches, canned drinks, fresh fruit,and (for some reason) a birthday cake with purple icing and candles already lit.

She frowned. "Is it someone's birthday?" 

Jason winced. "I wasn't going to say anything."

"Skyboy!" 

"There's too much going on," he said. "And honestly...before last month, I didn't even know when my birthday was. Thalia told me the last time she was at camp." 

Tori wondered what that would be like—not even knowing the day you were born. Jason had been given to Lupa the wolf when he was only two years old. He'd never really known hismortal mom. Tori could relate, but at least Sally took her in and adopted her. He'd only been reunited with his sister last winter.

"July First," Tori said. "The Kalends of July."

"Yeah." Jason smirked. "The Romans would find that auspicious—the first day of the month named for Julius Caesar. Juno's sacred day. Yippee." 

Tori didn't want to push it, or make a celebration if he didn't feel like celebrating. 

"Sixteen?" she asked.

He nodded. "Oh, boy. I can get my driver's license." 

Tori laughed. Jason had killed so many monsters and saved the world so many times that the idea of him sweating a driving test seemed ridiculous. She pictured him behind the wheel of some old Lincoln with a STUDENT DRIVER sign on top and a grumpy teacher in the passenger seat with an emergency brake pedal.

"Well?" she urged. "Blow out the candles."

Jason did. Tori wondered if he'd made a wish—hopefully thathe and all their friends would survive this quest. She decided not to ask him. She didn't want to jinx that wish, and she definitely didn't want to find out that he'd wished for something different.

Since they'd left the Pillars of Hercules yesterday evening, Jason had seemed distracted. Tori couldn't blame him. Hercules had been a pretty huge disappointment as a big brother, and the old river god Achelous had said some unflattering things about the sons of Jupiter.

Jason plucked an extinguished candle from his cake. "When's your?"

"What?" 

"When is your birthday?" Jason asked. "It's only fair that I know, since you now know mine."

Tori raised her brow. "What if I want to keep it a mystery?"

"Well I know you're a Scorpio," he stated matter of factly, "that limits the dates between October 22 and November 21."