Ransom

Chapter 19: Jason Grace

As the crew stared at Allie in shock at what she just did, Jason strode forward and embraced her. He missed her so much.

"I'm so happy to see you again." Jason said. "Me, too." Allie said.

And so, the rest of the crew followed suit.

Castor stood awkwardly to the side. Percy looked over to him and said "Nice to see you again, Castor. Your brother will be glad to see you, and you will be glad to see your niece and nephew."

Castor practically choked right there. He said "He's married, and had kids?!"

Percy let out a hearty laugh and said "Yeah, they're adorable. His wife was Haley Griffith, daughter of Demeter. Their daughter is named Isabella and their son, well, he's named Castor, after you."

Castor smiled and said "I can't wait to meet them."

Percy and Annabeth smiled in return. She held his hand and gave it a tight squeeze. "You two got together? Huh, my brother owes me thirty drachmas." Castor smirked.

Annabeth and Percy looked to each other and laughed, and so did everyone else. "Let's get going, we need to get back." Leo said.

He started the ship up.

"Jason," Allie called. He turned around, and so did everyone else. "I'm touched that you named your daughter after me." She said with a smile.

Jason smirked and said "You're welcome."

"Let's get home, I can't wait to see Camp Half-Blood again." Castor said.

"Same here, plus we all have a lot to discuss." Allie said.

And so, as Leo started to turn the ship around, everyone walked into the Mess Hall to sit and eat lunch.

"We have a lot of catching up to do." Annabeth said. Jason nodded and continued with "It's been so long, so much has happened."

"I can see that." Allie said as she looked at all of them. Jason thought to himself, it must have been so strange to see them all again after so long. She stayed the same age while the rest of them grew older. This was a weird situation for all of them.

"I know what happened to Allie." Allie said. Jason looked up to her with a blank expression. "This is an unfortunate turn of events." Allie continued.

Jason nodded and said "I just hope that everyone is okay at the end."

"Me, too." Allie said sincerely. As they ate their meals, a thought occurred to him. "Castor, how did you and Allie get out?" He asked.

Castor looked to Allie. She nodded and he took a deep breath. "Tartarus." Castor said as he looked Jason dead in the eyes.

Jason turned to Allie. She just sat there, eating her pizza, like Castor didn't just say that she relived her worst nightmare.

"How long did it take you guys to get out?" Annabeth asked. "I don't know." Allie said as she looked to Annabeth. "I don't wanna talk about it, so can we drop it?" She asked.

That's understandable. Everyone nodded their heads. Frank then asked "So how long have you two been together?"

Their heads shot up and they exchanged a glance. Jason raised an eyebrow and looked to his friends. They all wore the same expression. Frank smirked at their uneasiness. "Come on, its obvious. If Piper were here-" he started to say. Frank cut himself short.

"It's okay." Jason said. He didn't want them to talk about her as if she were dead. She was still alive. Right?

"Well, what I was going to say was that if she were here she would have asked you once you got on the ship." Frank said.

They all laughed and Allie said to Castor "She probably would."

"So, you are dating?" Annabeth asked. Allie looked to Castor again and said "Yeah."

"How long have you been dating?" Frank asked. "I don't know. Just as soon as we got out of there we started dating." Castor said. "Yeah, we kinda lost track of time while running from monsters and meeting Polyphemus." Allie said.

She continued with "He said that he saw Piper." Jason leaned forward, his interest peaked. "What did he say?" Jason asked.

"Polyphemus said that Nyx ordered for a batch of 100 of us to be let out every day, and eventually that would shrink to every hour. It didn't, though. He was one of the last batches to exit, then the she ordered that it be one batch a month, but of 500 monsters. No one knew why she changed it. Then, she brought Piper. He said that she was beautiful, but not with all of the makeup. Nyx put her in some trance. Piper was literally trapped in a bubble. She was asleep and while asleep, she was shown visions of awful things. When awake, she was questioned. Polyphemus heard that Nyx was using up too much of her magic to hold her in that state, so Piper might just be in a cage somewhere." Allie said.

"Questioned?" Percy asked her.

"Will you join me? Why haven't you yet? Do you know who I am? Do you want to die? Those types of questions." Castor replied.

"Before Polyphemus left, he was told to watch Piper while Nyx went out for a while to run an errand. He said that she was nice, nicer than anyone he had ever met. Piper asked him who the 'Mistress' was, but he was not allowed to tell her." Allie finished.

"And the 'Mistress' is Nyx." Leo stated, though it sounded more like a question. "Yeah." Castor said.

Jason groaned in annoyance. Piper hasn't lost her way. She is still beautiful and kind.

"How long until we are home?" Jason asked. "Another day at the least."

Jason looked to Allie and was going to ask her if she heard anything else, but she was staring intensely at the corner behind Percy. She was gritting her teeth and flaring her nostrils. Her eyes moved slightly as she stared at the corner.

Jason noticed that Castor noticed her weird behavior as well. He asked Castor with his eyes "What's wrong with her?"

Castor responded with a shrug. "Allie," Leo asked.

She snapped her head in his direction. Then, she said "Yeah?"

"You looked kinda pissed at the corner over there." Percy said to her.

"Sorry," she said. She continued with "I'm just being paranoid. I'm really tired."

"That's understandable. I'll show you to your room and you can take a nap." Annabeth said to her.

She nodded and stood. The bags underneath her eyes were very noticeable. Annabeth wrapped an arm around her shoulder and lead her down the hallway.

Percy looked to Jason and Castor. "She seems different, weaker." he said.

"She is." Castor said. And so, he explained to them that when she died, some of her powers lost their, well power. They had to find another word for that. "She has to rebuild them back up, and it takes a lot out of her. Plus, she's kinda paranoid that this whole situation is all her fault. You know, because Nyx wants Allie and this can all be over." He finished.

"She was always like that." Percy said with a smirk. "She always thought it was her fault and would fight as hard as she could until it was resolved." He finished.

"She's good at keeping things to herself." Jason said. He remembered when Piper told him about that rotten kid who kissed her. From what he knows, she didn't tell anyone of the event. And no one besides the three of them know that it happened.

"We all have to keep an eye on her." He finished.

"Yeah." Leo said. Frank continued with "I hope that this is all over soon."

"So do I." Annabeth said as she walked back into the room.

"Then it's settled." Castor said. Everyone looked to him for an explanation. "We keep her safe, rescue the others, take down a primordial, and restore peace." He finished.

Percy smirked and wrapped an arm around Annabeth's shoulders "It wouldn't be the first time that we've all done that."

Okay so that's chapter 19!
Vote please!
3 votes for the next chapter!
The next chapter is Allie Grace 😏
~camp_hero