Between Sea and Sky -AAThanatos

Chapter 15: Tears

A/N: trigger warnings! Mentions of rape! Adult themes! Blood! Hate speech!

Jason's POV

Percy was a little shy the morning after Nicos birthday. Not really about me, but with Nico and Will. Nico of course noticed right away and put his shyness out of its misery by giving him a peck on the cheek and reassuring him that it was just fun and to relax. I told him that, but your significant other never believes you. I was off to classes the next day when Will messaged me that I had a package that he had to sign for. Since I had a little time I made my way back to the apartment to see what it was. I couldn't even imagine who could possibly be sending me anything. Percy was already off to his part time job and Nico was hitting the gym this morning trying to work off the toxins he put in his body last night. I don't blame him, he drank a lot.

Will was lounging on the couch with the box in hand shaking it trying to guess what it was.

"Trying to see if prophecy is a secret strong suit of yours?"

"I don't know why but I get a bad feeling about this thing. You should throw it away." Will looked concerned, part of me wanted to listen to him. Another part, the stronger part wanted to know what it was. I didn't get gifts often, the ones I did get were from Thalia. Taking the box in hand I found a box cutter in the drawer and opened it. Inside was a single piece of paper with the words "Because I can" written on it in a curvy scroll that had flourishes and bold heavy ink. Turning the paper over in my hands I looked at the box to see who sent it only to find no return address.

Will looked at the paper but refused to touch it. He couldn't figure out what it was either. Crumbling up the paper I threw it in the dust bin and started back off to my classes.

(Timebreak)

The whole walk over to the university I could feel my hands tingling, I figured it was just the heat and dehydration from the night before. As I got closer to the classroom I felt my eyes start to burn a little. I got the Eyedrops out of my bag and used them in the bathroom before heading to the classroom, maybe I was coming down with something?

I got an hour into the class when I felt dizzy and the burning in my eyes started to travel all over my body. My lab partner was giving me weird looks. I felt my throat start to close and my knees buckled, all I saw was my lab partners shocked eyes before I blacked out.

Percy's POV

I got an emergency Iris message from the New Rome hospital. Jason had some sort of fit in the middle of his Bio 101. I took my apron off and told my boss I had a family emergency and rushed to down town. I tried getting a hold of Nico and Will on the way but iris couldn't find them. It took less than 20 minutes running at full speed to reach the emergency entrance.

"Hi! I-need j-Jason g-grace please!" I stuttered out at the receptionist desk. I was out of breath and nearly out of my mind with worry. Jason wasn't allergic to anything so the idea of him just dropping out in class was concerning. Especially since we both experimented with drugs last night. Now I was paranoid that I would be the next one on the floor and that maybe similar things happened to Nico and Will since I couldn't get a hold of them. The lady told me he was in recovery room 203. Going up the elevator felt like an eternity, I should have taken the stairs. Sitting outside the room was Will and the kid I figured was Jason's lab partner Sky. Mid height, hair and eye color that changed with whoever he was looking at, feminine type, yeah that was Sky.

"What happened?" I cried out and ran into Wills arms.

"They think it's a poison. He got a weird package with a piece of paper. I brought it with me and didn't touch it, kept it in the bin. They are testing it now."