the great wave | percy jackson

𝑖𝑖 - jason

Jason helped Piper into the chariot, giving a hand up to Leo as well. Ash was curled up against the front, eyes staring into nothing. Her wings had disappeared. Butch stood on one side of her, holding the reins, while Annabeth stood at the other. One of her hands rested on the sitting girl's shoulder while the other moved skillfully across a bronze navigation device. Jason, Piper, and Leo stood awkwardly in the back, looking uneasily at the other passengers and each other.

The pegasi flapped their wings, and they flew into the air, heading east over the Grand Canyon. Piper jumped a bit, and Ash looked up with watery eyes to give her a small but comforting smile. Jason was curious about the girl. Ash and Annabeth seemed to be both very close and very different. They were certainly taking the situation at hand differently; Annabeth appearing to be wound extremely tight, Ash on the verge of a breakdown. And while Annabeth hadn't spared a non-angry glance or word for them, Ash seemed to be trying her best to put them at ease.

And then there was Leo, who was being his usual annoying self.

"This is so cool!" He exclaimed, spitting a pegasus feather out of his mouth. "Where are we going?"

"A safe place," Annabeth said. "The only safe place for kids like us. Camp Half-Blood."

"Half-Blood?" Piper said, a bit angrily. "Is that some kind of bad joke?" Jason remembered the racist remarks the other girls at the Grand Canyon had been making to her.

"It's not a race thing," Ash inputted quickly.

"She means we're demigods," Jason said automatically. "Half god, half mortal."

Annabeth turned to him suspiciously while Ash raised an eyebrow. "You seem to know a lot, Jason. But yes, demigods. My mom is Athena, goddess of wisdom. Butch here is the son of Iris, the rainbow goddess."

Leo gagged. "Your mom is a rainbow goddess?"

"Got a problem with that?" Butch said without looking back.

"No, no," Leo cleared his throat. "Rainbows. Very macho."

Ash giggled a bit and stood, stretching, as Annabeth gave her a questioning look. She just smiled softly, briefly covering the blonde's hand with her own before letting it drop.

"Butch is our best equestrian," Ash informed them. "He gets along great with the pegasi."

"Rainbows, ponies," Leo muttered.

"I'm gonna toss you off this chariot," Butch warned. Ash looked like she was holding back another laugh.

"And you?" Jason questioned, looking at Ash.

She shifted a bit. "My father is Thanatos, god of death."

His eyes widened. Letus, something in the back of his brain whispered. Not exactly what he expected, although the wings made sense now. For what might have been the millionth time that morning, he wondered why he thought that.

Leo's brow furrowed, looking equally surprised. "Isn't Hades the death god?" He questioned.

"Common misconception," Ash replied. "Hades is god of the dead, Thanatos is the god of death. Peaceful death, specifically."

"Right," Leo nodded. "That clears that up perfectly." She smiled at him.

"Demigods," Piper spoke up in a shaky voice. "You mean you think you're... you think we're--"

Lightning struck somewhere behind them. Jason's head whipped around to the back of the chariot.

"Left wheel's on fire!" He yelled.