DEVIL TOWN ━━ jason grace²

iv. golden bones

CHAPTER FOUR:
GOLDEN BONES

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ANNAIS AND JASON. JASON and Annais. Two halves of the same coin; two fractured shards of one broken, bruised heart. They had each other's names etched into their veins, a predestined tragedy shot into their bloodstreams where one lover hoped too much and the other lost themselves in the hopelessness.

Jason, her Golden Boy, with his curly hair made from sunlight; the blunt set of his jaw memorised by his lover's chapped lips, his whole body mapped out for Annais' mind to dwell and decay over. He was strong, and he helped people, helped her. He was made of lightning and stardust. He loved her. Annais knew what she had, this amazingly beautiful boy who would've flown into Tartarus to catch her if he had to.

(That is, if he had known of the turmoil occurring beneath his feet on that dreaded day Ezra, Annabeth and Percy fell into Tartarus. She couldn't blame him, not reasonably, try as she might.)

Annais Min was the darkness to his light, the death to his life, the hairline fracture that shattered through bone and sinew. She was made of dark, inky shadows and memories buried in shallow graves. She loved him, but Annais never meant for it to get that far. She never thought she'd deserve him and truly be able to mean it; irrevocably, she couldn't take it back. He wouldn't let it go without a fight.

Maybe she resented him. She resented the warmth of his skin in close proximity, despised the comfort it brought her when she wanted to tear her hair out at the roots from sheer frustration. Annais wanted so desperately to be Penelope Min, to be the girl who turned back time. Ironic when turning back time was the root of their pain, their unholy curse from the fates. Stubborn, she'd pause at the moment she foolishly decided to let Jason kiss her and erase it from existence. Claw it to shreds with her own fingers if she had to. Curses and the fates be damned.

It hurt like a double-edged sword to love him but hold him at arm's length. Despite the severity of the situation, on any other day, she would've taken advantage of a fragment of alone time cooped up in a net. Sure, it might've been uncomfortable, but she'd have thrown her arms around his neck, knowing she could trust him to kiss her like she truly deserved it. Like the space between them never existed.

Annais was forever stuck hanging, bloody-nailed and breathless, on the precipice of Hell itself. She didn't know how to escape it, the sudden loss of weight as three bodies lost their balance and tipped over into the depths. She didn't think she would ever find a way off that ledge. Jason was so, so far out of reach--

"Annais," he began.

"Don't."

Jason paused. "I was going to say your elbow is digging into my hip."

"Oh. That sucks." She didn't move. It wasn't like she could go anywhere.

"Okay then."

Hades, kill her now. (Please! Help your abandoned daughter out, Dad!) It never used to be like this, where being Jason and Annais was like pulling teeth and drowning in the bloody aftermath. Annais bit her lip hard enough to taste the bitterness of metal on her tongue. She prayed Jason didn't see her glance at him, desperate and desolate in a second of weakness.

He turned and smiled at her. That damn smile. She wanted to trace her fingers over his lips and imprint the shape of her into his skin. He'd be forever attached to her then, their very own red string of fate. She settled for a brush of her hand on his arm instead, sickened by the guilt she hated.

What did she have to be guilty for?

What was wrong with her mind?

What was wrong with her?

"Do you hate me?" she asked before she could stop herself.

"Of course not," he said, faithful as always. Twisting at an odd angle, he grazed his fingers against Annais' palm; she did not intertwine them, but the glint in his eye never wavered. It shone through age-old hurt, the maiming only a lover could cause. "I could never hate you, Annais. And you know why."

"I don't deserve it," she whispered, air exhaling sharply from her lungs. In an instant, her body went heavy, exhausted to the bone. "I really wish you'd just hate me."

"... I mean, I can lie if it makes you feel better."

She laughed. For the first time since Ezra dropped into Tartarus, her lips remembered how to smile. Jason clutched her jaw in his hand. He kissed her like she was worthy, and with a brush of those familiar lips, sweet and forgiving, both for the mind and for the soul, something was healed between them. She tugged on golden hair and let some of the golden warmth seep into her.

Their problems, fleetingly, were forgotten.

"I don't think I'm okay, Jason," she murmured, the closest she'd come to admittance. "I don't know what to do anymore, and I'm--"

Sorry. In love with you. Scared beyond belief.

She hesitated.

"It's okay," he said, jaw clenched in determination. "I've got you."

Something settled then. His hand grazed Annais' hip, sending shivers across the exposed skin where her shirt had ridden up, only to pull back holding Penelope's pin.

Annais' brows furrowed. She scoffed to herself as he started slashing through the netting. "That's never going to--"

They hit the ground with a crash, Jason knocking the air out of her lungs as he landed on her back. Above them, grey clouds opened in craters of gold, bits of blue swallowed whole in the depths.

"... Okay then."

As time continued to dwindle, Annais headed for the drain and Jason scanned their surroundings, taking watch. He spared a grin over his shoulder as Annais, gagging, reached into the slimy rainwater to pluck out the gunmetal ring somehow miraculously resting on the ledge. Rubbing most of the muck on her jeans, she slipped the ring back on its usual finger, just relieved to have it back in place.

Jason reached for her other hand as she neared him. Annais let him, suddenly unable to meet his eyes as he turned his own softened gaze towards her. "You trust me?"

Annais answered without a second thought. "With my life."

Part of her always would. No matter how much she destroyed those good things around her.

"Then hold on tight," he smirked, hooking one arm beneath her legs and the other around her back.

Annais frantically shook her head, gripping his shoulders beneath white-knuckled fists. "No. Don't you dare--"

"You said you trusted me."

"Jason--"

Without further ado, Boy Superman took to the sky.

"It's the quickest way to find him," he squeezed her waist in justification, even then wanting to comfort her. "Hey. I've got you. You're okay."

Those were the words imprinted on her heart next to his name. Jason Grace; he was tooth-rotting in his sweetness. As Annais went quiet, tucking her head into his neck, he scanned the rooftops and grinned to himself. Annais felt the air suddenly bend around them as he dropped, now hovering over the red-tiled roofs. Peeking down below, Annais spotted the same thing; the obvious trail of screws and bolts the Kerkopes had left for them and Leo.

Annais scoffed, "Looks like we've got Hansel and Gretel on our hands."

Jason's bared teeth were bright but furious. In the distance, they heard several distinct popping sounds. "Wanna put on a show?"

She grinned. "A dramatic entrance? I'm in."

For just a second, she sounded like Ezra, thought of Ezra without wanting to be sick. That second came and went, and her stomach swooped uncomfortably as Jason tracked the trail to where two ancient stone towers jutted into the sky like exposed bones.

Calling the thunder, Jason directed lightning towards one of the windows where several iron bars blocked their so-called dramatic entrance. The metal boiled and peeled away, leaking onto the sandstone walls, and Jason ducked Annais' head back beneath his chin in time for the two of them to shoot through the window. Miraculously, the son of Zeus managed to make the landing, lowering Annais to her feet and wielding his smoking golden sword to where both the Kerkopes were… hog-tied?

Leo blinked at them, amazed. “Man, you just wasted an awesome entrance.”

He winced and ducked as Annais then aimed a smack at the back of his head. "You hog-tied them without me?"

"Dang, sorry, Coach Min," he smirked, proud of himself for his joke, even though Annais had narrowed her eyes dangerously at him. "I did this all by myself. I'm special that way. How did you find me?"

"We noticed Hansel and Gretel's little trail," Annais sneered at the same time as Jason said, "We heard the popping noises. Were you having a gunfight in here?"

Annais snorted. "Leo… in a gunfight? Where he makes it out alive?"

Now it was her turn to avoid his swinging fist.

"Something like that," Leo muttered as he pouted childishly at Annais.

In the meantime, he crossed over to the opposite side of the room where Akmon and Passalos the Shithead kept their collection of stolen goods. He pocketed Piper's familiar dagger, a few coins and bits of gold, but kept coming back to this one hunk of bronze that Annais didn't recognise. Typical Leo was in awe of its intricacies.

"Take it," Passalos offered desperately. He seemed miserable in captivity, with no strength to so much as wink in Annais' direction. Good, she thought vindictively. Serves him right, the little bitch. "Oddysseus made it, you know! Just take it and let us go."

"Odysseus?" Jason frowned at the familiar name. "Like, the Odysseus?"

"Yes," Passalos nodded. "Made it when he was an old man in Ithaca. One of his last inventions, and we stole it."

"You must be so proud of yourselves," Annais deadpanned.

"How does it work?" Leo, once again, was more interested in the inventions. Annais didn't trust for a second that the Kerkopes wouldn't somehow pull the wool over his eyes. Again.

"Oh, it doesn't," Akmon sighed. What a tragedy. "Something about a missing crystal?"

"'My biggest what-if,'" Passalos confided in the trio. Gaining some life back, he wriggled his eyebrows at Annais, who grimaced and nudged Jason when he snickered to himself. "'Should've taken a crystal.' That's what he kept muttering in his sleep, the night we stole it. No idea what he meant, but the shiny is yours! Can we go now?"

Leo turned away for a moment, returning with a leather bound book he waved in their faces cautiously. "What's this?"

"A book," Annais said at the same time as Leo glared and Akmon stammered, "Nothing! Just a book. It had a pretty gold cover, so we took it from him."

"Him?"

Bingo.

The Kerkopes paused. "Minor God," admitted Passalos. "In Venice. Really, it's nothing."

"Venice. Isn't that where we're supposed to go next?" Jason asked Leo.

Here we go again, Annais thought to herself with a sigh as Leo nodded. He examined the book for a while, wasting precious time while he traced the golden symbols on the front, some familiar and some not.

And then, "Where exactly can we find this minor God?"

"Leo, no--"

But Akmon's terrified shriek drowned Annais' own protests out. "No! You can't take it back to him! If he finds out we stole it--"

"He'll destroy you," Jason presumed, hitting the nail on the head.

Akmon gulped. Annais sought pleasure in the way that Jason held his sword to Passalos' throat. "Sounds like a plan to me."

"Which is what we'll do if you don't tell us," said Jason. "And we're a lot closer."

"La Casa Nera!" Akmon blurted; if possible, his furry face would've gone as white as a sheet. "Calle Frezzeria!"

"Is that an address?" Leo frowned.

"Oh, please don't tell him we stole it," Passalos pleaded as Akmon nodded in answer to Leo. The former was pouting at Annais, still holding out hope she'd have a change of heart. Fat chance of that happening. "He isn't nice at all, you know."

"Unlucky for you then," she shrugged.

But Jason the Golden Boy had to pause, asking them, "Who is he? What God?"

"Please don't say Bacchus."

"I -- I can't say," Passalos mumbled.

"You'd better," Leo scowled as he messed with the bronze hunk of metal curiously. "Or I'll let Annais 'skin your furry ass' as she put it."

"No," Passalos groaned, finally staring at her in betrayal. "I mean, I really can't say it because I can't pronounce it." But Annais didn't budge. She folded her arms across her chest. The first warning. "Tr-- tri-- oh, it's too hard!"

Annais shrugged. "Hand me the pin, Jason."

His brother then tried to add on helplessly, "Truh-- tru-toh-- please, it's too many syllables!"

Much to her bemusement, they both started to cry. Her eyes widened as Jason suddenly lowered his sword, asking, “What do you want to do with them, Leo? Send them to Tartarus?”

"Please, no!" Akmon wailed, and Annais winced at the guttural sound. "It might take us weeks to come back."

"And those weeks will be so peaceful," she sighed.

"Assuming Gaea even lets us," Passalos continued for his brother. “She controls the Doors of Death now. She’ll be very cross with us.”

"Nothing can slow them down," Leo muttered to himself. "I wonder…"

Leo Valdez using his brain for, well, anything was a mixed bag. Annais had a feeling she was going to hate whatever idea he was coming up with.

"What?" Jason asked him warily.

Leo turned to the dwarf-monkeys. "I'll make you a deal."

"No," Annais groaned as Akmon gasped and exclaimed, "Thirty percent?"

"We'll leave you all your treasure," it wasn't just Annais questioning Leo now, but Jason too. Leo shot them both his signature stubborn I've got this look that Annais responded to with a sharp glare. "Except the stuff that belongs to us, and the astrolabe, and this book which we'll take back to the dude in Venice."

Annais' brows furrowed then, but she didn't have much of a chance to think let alone question his motives as Passalos began to cry again.

"But he'll destroy us!"

"We won't say where we got it," Leo promised. Annais shrugged, neither agreeing or disagreeing with him in front of the Kerkopes. Jason's lips twitched as he glanced at her, ducking his head down to avoid laughing. "And we won't kill you--" Passalos, for once, shot Annais a look that wasn't flirtatious; rather, it was fearful and filled her with Ezra-Min-worthy delight. "Okay, she won't kill you. We'll let you both go free."

"I knew you were as smart as Hercules," Akmon sighed happily, content now that their safety was secure. "I will call you Black Bottom the Sequel."

"Yeah, no thanks," Leo grimaced, face flushing as his friends laughed. "But in return for us sparing your lives, you have to do something for us. I’m going to send you somewhere to steal from some people, harass them, make life hard for them in any way you can. You have to follow my directions exactly. You have to swear on the River Styx."

"We swear!" Passalos nodded, still somewhat frantic. “Stealing from people is our specialty! And flirting with women—"

"No," Annais scowled, arms folded over her chest.

At last, Passalos the Pest gave his sigh of defeat. Akmon, as Leo untied his hands, reached out to pat a fury fist on his brother's shoulder, somewhat boosting his morale as he declared jovially to Leo, "I love harrassment! Where are we going?"

Leo glanced at his friends and grinned. "Ever heard of New York?"

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MEL WAS NERVOUSLY PROWLING the deck of the Argo II when Annais, Jason and Leo returned to the ship. Bottom lip caught between anxiously gnawing teeth, Mel paused, waiting with bated breath as Jason dropped Leo then carefully lowered Annais to the ground, his hands soft on her waist like he feared she would push him away again now that they'd returned to reality. When she didn't, instead grazing her own hands across his chest before heading towards Mel, he smiled.

"What was that?" Mel demanded, pausing in her pacing as she glanced from Jason -- now whispering with Leo, who wore a similar expression of curiosity and amusement -- to Annais, whose cheeks glowed with the faintest hues of pink, the first signs of life dawning again. Gesturing between herself and Hea, who was fiddling with Leo's ship controls without him noticing, she added, "What have we missed?"

Annais shrugged, shy as she attempted to distract Mel by handing her the pin. It was greasy from being handled by the Kerkopes in the hot, sunny streets, but otherwise was unharmed. Just as Ezra had kept it. "I was trapped in a net for this, Melanie, so you better be grateful."

"Doesn't seem like you were complaining too much," teased Leo in passing. "Actually, ladies -- or should I say, lady and Hea--" Hea sneered at him, and Leo waved, trusting the distance between them to be enough protection, "--Annais had an admirer that, for once, wasn't Jason."

He narrowly dodged Annais' leg stretching out to trip him, ducking behind Mel to kiss her on the cheek and murmur something warm but hesitant in her ear. When she nodded, starry-eyed as she clutched the pin to her chest, relief cracked open on his face and he allowed himself to part from her and head towards the controls. Hea backed away with her usual string of insults, though hovered close enough to watch as he kicked the boat into gear.

"I think they're starting to get along," Mel commented, somewhat distracted now while watching them talk to (insult) each other. "You'll tell me what's happening with Jason, won't you? I know things are… different now, but we can still tell each other about the good things."

As much as Mel hated it, the world was moving forward. Time slipping through their fingers like water, impossible to catch. A flicker of life had appeared in her eyes seeing Jason hold her sister like that; like nothing had really changed, as if they hadn't spent the better part of a week stubbornly trying to avoid each other. She looked at Annais and hoped the brightness, the Golden Boy morsels, would stay.

(Soon, they would find Ezra and the others, and she would join them in the light. And everything would be okay again, just as it should be.)

Annais managed the barest of smiles. She stared at the pin cradled in Mel's hand with uneasiness. It had bought Mel comfort knowing it was back, and in some ways Annais was relieved by its familiarity. But a small part of her now revealed in the harsh eve of a day pretty much wasted by battling with the Kerkopes couldn't help but view it as a bad omen.

The good things would become distant memories when the bad things rolled in like thunderclouds.

"I'll tell you as soon as I know what's going on myself," she promised when Mel's stubborn and expectant silence lingered.

Satisfied with that answer, the daughter of Melinoe wandered off to watch Leo and Hea argue once more.

All the while, Annais watched on, caught between the fading warmth of reconciling with Jason and the familiar darkness of Death, of her bloodline boiling to breaking point.

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A/N: Okay I know it's been, like, four chapters but I had a new idea and I just didn't want to keep Annais and Jason broken up anymore 😭 I missed them way too much, so now we have hopeful Annais again... let's see how long that lasts lol. But apart from that, I'm loving where she's at in her journey. Ironically, she's a lot more like Ezra than she thinks. Do y'all see it? Let me know if you enjoyed the chapter! I wanted to include another scene in this one but it was already getting way too long, so hopefully part two is coming soon! Thanks so much for reading <3