𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊 𝐓𝐎 𝐃𝐄𝐂𝐄𝐌𝐁𝐄𝐑 - jason grace ¹

ix. one single blow

IX. JASON !
⋆ ★
one single blow

Jason didn't want to leave Leo, but he was starting to think that hanging out with Cal the hockey jock might be the least dangerous option in this place.

As they climbed the icy staircase, Zethes stayed behind them, his blade drawn. The guy might've looked like a disco-era reject, but there was nothing funny about his sword. Jason figured one hit from that thing would probably turn him into a Popsicle.

Then there was the ice princess. Every once in a while she'd turn and give Violet a smile, but there was no warmth in her expression. Violet didn't say a word and kept staring at the ice princess like she knew who she was. Occasionally the princess regarded Jason like he was an especially interesting science specimen one she couldn't wait to dissect.

If these were Boreas's kids, Jason wasn't sure he wanted to meet Daddy. Violet had told him Boreas was the friendliest of the wind gods. Apparently that meant he didn't kill heroes quite as fast as the others did. She didn't really specify if he baked them warm cookies with a glass of milk.

Jason worried that he'd led his friends into a trap. If things went bad, he wasn't sure he could get them out alive. Without thinking about it, he took Violet's hand for reassurance. It was frigid the way she usually was but he didn't dare pull back. He needed to know he was right there with her. They were where she thrived the most — the cold, freezing winter. If anyone could keep them safe if was her.

She raised her eyebrows, but she didn't let go.

"It'll be fine," Piper promised while she walked next to Violet. "Just a talk, right?"

At the top of the stairs, the ice princess looked back and noticed them holding hands. Her smile faded. Suddenly Jason's hand in Violet's turned ice cold-burning cold. He let go, and his fingers were smoking with frost. Violet's was perfectly fine. She didn't even seem to notice anything wrong until she looked at Jason's hand. Her dark eyes widened at the sight of the frost.

"You can't get any warmth from him, Sujin," the princess advised. Violet looked like she had just been shot. "You and I both know. Please, this way."

Piper gave Jason a nervous frown like, What was that about?

Jason didn't have an answer. Zethes poked him in the back with his icicle sword, and they followed the princess down a massive hallway decked in frosty tapestries.

Freezing winds blew back and forth, and Jason's thoughts moved almost as fast. He'd had a lot of time to think while they rode the dragon north, but he felt as confused as ever.

Thalia's picture was still in his pocket, though he didn't need to look at it anymore. Her image had burned itself into his mind. It was bad enough not remembering his past, but to know he had a sister out there somewhere who might have answers and to have no way of finding her that just drove him up the wall.

In the picture, Thalia looked nothing like him. They both had blue eyes, but that was it. Her hair was black. Her complexion was more Mediterranean. Her facial features were sharper--like a hawk's.

Still, Thalia looked so familiar. Hera had left him just enough memory that he could be certain Thalia was his sister. But Violet had acted completely surprised when he'd told her, like she'd never heard of Thalia's having a brother. Did Thalia even know about him? How had they been separated?

Hera had taken those memories. She'd stolen everything from Jason's past, plopped him into a new life, and now she expected him to save her from some prison just so he could get back what she'd taken. It made Jason so angry, he wanted to walk away, let Hera rot in that cage: but he couldn't. He was hooked. He had to know more, and that made him even more resentful.