annais min was the god among mortals, the death that came along with life. now more than ever, she knew the cost of her existence, of what hades had done when he chose to pursue her mother. everything came down to her and the four other min girls, t...
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CHAPTER EIGHT: SHADOW OF MINE
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LATER THAT NIGHT, AS Annais slept, Jason almost died again. It was his turn to take watch, and… certain events of the day had encouraged his eyes to rest in exhaustion, his body then slumping over the side of the mainmast. If it wasn't for Piper coming to take over, he would've hit the water hard enough to break every bone in his body. Annais was woken in the mess of it; Piper screaming WAKE UP! using her charmspeak to command him -- and the rest of the boat by default -- to come to his senses.
Jason was sitting bleary-eyed at the dining table when Annais entered the Mess Hall. He smiled sheepishly at her, curling his arms around her waist in a beseeching gesture. She merely sighed back, hugged him for a moment, then sunk into the chair beside him. Instinctively, Jason's fingers played with the hem of her shirt.
"This seems familiar," he whispered so only she could hear.
Annais smirked. "I don't know where it came from, but I'm keeping it now."
Jason shrugged slyly. "Looks better on you anyway."
He went quiet as the rest of their friends joined them, packing in around the table to eat breakfast in the early hours of the morning. The moon was out and fading, reflected in the walls Leo had changed from scenes of Camp Half-Blood to their surroundings. For security reasons, he insisted, but Annais could tell that, like the rest of them, he was missing home too much.
As Annais dug into her food -- a stacked plate of pancakes that Mel had drowned in syrup -- Jason reported on the dream/vision he had while falling. The others were quiet, confused, but Annais easily noticed the tremor in Jason's hands, the way a muscle ticked in his jaw, right where she'd left the smallest of hickeys, barely visible unless you were searching for the discoloration of skin where the jaw met the ear.
Annais wasn't sure what to believe. Apparently, Grover and Rachel visited Camp Jupiter, encouraging Reyna to seek out the Argo II so she could bring the Athena Parthenos back to Camp Half-Blood. This was the only way to patch the frayed relationship between the Greeks and Romans, according to Rachel and her foresight. Annais didn't want to admit it, especially not to Jason, but she didn't understand it. Why Reyna, of all people? Jason also explained that, somehow, Annabeth managed to get a note to Camp Half-Blood. Hence why Grover and Rachel went to Camp Jupiter in the first place.
"A note from Annabeth," Piper repeated in amazement.
"I don't see how that's possible," said Hea, deep in thought and, for once, completely serious. "But if she did somehow send a message…"
