ONE LAST TIME . . . heroes of olympus

4

AS KAT LED Jason to the Big House, he was silent, looking around. At least, until he finally said, "You've got a jacket."

"Hmm?" she looked down at her newfound sleeves, before shrugging. "Yeah, my brother gave it to me."

She swore she could see relief flash in his eyes. "That was your brother?"

"Half-brother," she corrected. "But, yeah." She snorted. "What, did you think I was dating him? Ew, ew, ew!"

She pulled her hand away from him, swatting at his arm multiple times. "You are disgusting."

"How was I supposed to know that?" he asked indignantly.

"The thought of dating Chris . . ." she shuddered. "Ugh, I could never. He has a girlfriend, Clarisse — as to why he would date her, I have no idea, though I really can't talk because I'm desperately single. Besides, you can't date someone who has the same godly parent as you, because that's weird. Anyone else, though . . ." she winked at Jason. "Fair game."

"Uh huh," he flushed, even with the cold weather. "Are you always like this?"

"Annoying?"

"Flirty."

"That adjective doesn't contradict mine."

"Well, Kat, I don't think that you're annoying, I think you're flirty and amazing," he said. "Does that make it better?"

Kat shrugged, though she had a little smile. "I guess, if it's coming from you."

They made it to the front of the Big House, but they stood in front of it and waited for Chiron instead of her calling out to him. Also, Kat didn't want to stop talking to Jason. He was always refreshing to talk to. Or, at least, the Wilderness School him was.

"I'm serious," he insisted. "I saw you with your sword. You're good at using it."

"Not really," she shrugged again, leaning against the railing of the stairs leading up to the Big House. "I'm not nearly as talented as I should be with it, considering I've had it since I started sword fighting."

He raised his eyebrows at her. "You sliced Dylan's tornado by calling your sword to your hand," he pointed out. "And you decapitated one of the venti."

"You saw that?" she frowned.

"How could I not? It was impressive."

She felt like he was going to say another word, but he cut himself off. She wondered what that word would've been.

"Can I see it?" Jason asked instead. "Your sword?"

Kat nodded, extending her hand and saying, "Cortana," and it zipped out of her backpack to her hand, her fingers gripping the hilt like it was the most natural thing in the world.

"It's a family heirloom," she explained, spinning the sword around so she could show him the word Mikhailov engraved on it. "The gods gave it to my family, like, way back when, and it's been passed down throughout the centuries."

"And that's why you can summon it by saying its name? Because the gods gave it powers or something?"

She shrugged. "I don't know the mechanics behind it. The sword chose me when I started to fight, so it's kinda attuned to me now or whatever."

"You're great at explaining things," he told her.

"Hey!" she swatted his shoulder. "Fuck off!"

Jason winced and grabbed his shoulder. "You hit hard."

"Of course I do, did you think I wouldn't?"

Before he could answer, Kat heard hooves on the front porch.