𝐅𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒 - jason grace

04. A FRIENDLY TITAN

MAIA GLARED AT THE DEMON as she grinned at the pair, smiling like she'd been let into the Pizza Hut all you can eat buffet. This was not happening. Maia was not about to get murdered by some monster cheerleaders with her almost-boyfriend.

She glanced at Jason momentarily, trying to figure out some sort of way to get them out of the shitty situation they were in, when she noticed it. A small glimmer behind Kelli.

Tucked into one of the empousa's cheer skirts was a bronze blade Maia had found herself somewhat emotionally attached to. Cassie's dagger.

Maia remembered watching it topple over the ledge of the chasm as she tried to free Annabeth from Arachne's web. The empousa must've found it on her journey through Tartarus.

Maia almost laughed at the realization. She just needed to figure out how to get it back.

Jason, ever so brilliant, seemed to have noticed too, because he immediately squeezed Maia's arm and subtly gestured at the blade. They made eye contact, and Maia almost smiled. Everything between them was so effortless–they knew exactly what the other meant. They weren't just Jason and Maia. No, at that moment, they were more than that. They were Roman legionaries, trained to fight together, perfectly in sync.

So, Maia knew to trust the son of Jupiter completely when he started spouting absolute nonsense at the empousa.

"That's not very nice." Jason frowned. "Here I thought you'd at least be polite."

"What?" The demon lady hissed.

"I mean, come on, from all that we've heard about you, you know, 'Kelli the killer Empousa,' I don't know, I'd have figured you'd be a lot more impressive."

"You dare–"

"And those cheer uniforms?" Jason questioned, trying to piss them off even more, "so last season."

The son of Jupiter was a genius. Maia almost laughed when she realized what he was doing. If he distracted them long enough, Maia could take back the knife, and then, the real party could begin.

The daughter of Fortuna took her chances, slightly shifting further away from Jason, and closer to her target. It was a slow move, baby step after baby step. Maia moved across the floor, almost like she was stepping across a chess board, each move calculated and precise.

It wasn't obvious yet that she was inching toward the monsters, but it would be soon. She just hoped Jason could talk the cheerleaders' ears off as much as he did hers.

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥

"So..." he started, "I guess you're wondering what we're doing in Tartarus."

Kelli snickered. "Not really. I just want to kill you."

"Too bad," Jason said. "Because you have no idea what's going on in the mortal world."

The other empousai circled, watching Kelli for a cue to attack; but the ex-cheerleader only snarled.

"We know enough," Kelli said. "Gaea has spoken."

"You're heading toward a major defeat." Jason boasted, quite confidently, might Maia add. Jason glanced at the other empousai, one by one, then pointed accusingly at Kelli. "This one claims she's leading you to a victory. She's lying. My friend Annabeth Chase told me all about you." He laughed, "The last time she was in the mortal world, Kelli was in charge of keeping Hermes' son, Luke Castellan, faithful to Kronos. In the end, Luke rejected him. He gave his life to expel Kronos. The Titans lost because Kelli failed. Miserably."

Kelli growled as Jason continued, "Now Kelli wants to lead you to another disaster."

The other empousai muttered and shifted uneasily.