The Fleece Job (Olympus Drive Chronicles)

Chapter 23: The heist Part 13

Jason

"The dragon wanted the jacket---don't," the little girl stops me from running after Ev and Penny.

"First of all, we call it the fleece. Second of all, I also want it," I say, tugging my arm away from her, annoyed.

"Why?"

"I don't' know! I just do. Who are you anyway?" I ask, folding my arms.

She glares at me and says nothing.

"I'm Jason," I say, a little nicer, because she reminds me of (our?) dad when she goes quiet like that.

Then the house behind us mostly explodes.

Spider girl (who can apparently fly?) flies down out of it to land standing next to us.

"We don't have long they will not be happy----are you okay?" she asks me, frowning.

"Kind of ---who are you?" I ask, annoyed now.

"Bronte," she says, "Who are you?"

"My name's Jason---and I was trying to get the fleece except they ran off with it now it's in the dragon's mouth," I say, as the dragon spirals overhead, the fleece in its mouth, "We'll never get it now!"

"No shit---wait a minute," Bronte walks up to me and puts a hand on my forehead. I try to push her away, then heat floods my brain. "You're under one of my mother's spells. I'm sorry---this is going to hurt."

She says 'this is going to hurt' just as my head is filled with searing pain.

"What?" I clutch my head, staggering away, "What did you just do?"

"Do you have a new memory now?" Bronte asks, gently.

"Yes," I say, quietly.

So I cut out of boarding school because I was mad at my dads. Both of them. My father didn't show up to even see me off for the year. So I was pissed. The last time he was home, I took his wallet. I wanted to see where he lived when he wasn't with us. It wasn't hard. He's off guard around us and I'd never stolen money (from him) before. I sneaked into their room at night once they were both asleep, and looked in his wallet. He had a driver's license and address.

I thought I would go surprise him with whatever other family he had. I was mad. I thought he'd been cheating on my dad (he has been clearly, but we'll move on). I ran away and grifted my way across the United States to go and find him.

And when I did. I found an old house at the end of a drive, with a Bernese Mountain dog guarding the door. The Bernese Mountain dog wound up just wanting to be petted and not actually guarding anything.

I knocked.

A woman answered the door. Short, and terrifying looking, a woman of no particular age, with a pixie cut and a simple necklace.

"Can I help you?" she asked, standing in the door.

"Um---I'm looking for my dad," I said, because then I was angry and I wanted her to know if he'd been cheating on her too.

"Of course you are, poor baby," she pinched my cheek. "Who do you think your daddy is?"

"Gale Rhea—he is my dad. He lives at this address?"

"No. He doesn't live anywhere. Poor little scrap," she laughed at me.

"Do you know where he might be?" I asked, since she was being moderately helpful. "I need to talk to him. He's not answering his phone."

"Course he's not. No that's not what you want at all. You want to steal the Golden Fleece," she whispered the last part in my ear.

And that's exactly what I went and did.

"I'm sorry, Jason, my mother mind controls people for fun. She did it to you, you were under her spell. If it makes you feel any better that girl who had you tied up in there was under a spell as well—but I don't know whose," Bronte says, waking me from my thoughts.

"Shit---we need to get out of here," I say, just as the dragon swoops back down. Penny barely stops us from being incinerated.

"It's not happy," Ev says, running up to us.

"We need to go," Bronte says.

"You're my dad's sister," Penny observes.

"Yeah. Hi again. We need to go now," Bronte says, "Angelica, can you run to the beach?"

"Why are we going to the beach?" I ask.

"Because there is a 99% chance our chaperone just straight up called the Coast Guard and the state troopers to come collect us because he doesn't feel like doing it himself," Bronte says, holding out her hands.

Angelica nods.

"We can run," Ev says, glancing at Penny who nods, "We're pretty durable."

"I'll take him," Bronte says, pointing at me.

"Take me?" I ask.

"I'll come back for you two, but we need to go--- those Titans are going to be pissed I trapped them in a hex spell," Bronte says, grabbing me around the middle. She's insanely strong for such a small escapee from Hot Topic looking person.

"Jason!!" I turn to look. Running out of the burning house is poor Maddy. She's a little on fire and her hair is a wreck. But her eyes—she's so sad. Like she thinks I'm actually abandoning her. Like she really believed all that stuff she said. Like she expects me to be coming running back for her just because she called my name.

I myself would have paused to tell her, that while she seems nice, I don't want to be dead.

But Bronte does not pause, instead tugging us up into the air and away.

And Maddy collapses on the deck, sobbing.