𝐆𝐎𝐋𝐃 𝐑𝐔𝐒𝐇 [Jason Grace]

22

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐨𝐝𝐬 𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 for dinner. It was the first time they'd all sat down together—just the eight of them. The fact that he agreed to sit at the table meant he was accepting his role in the prophecy. He didn't want to acknowledge what that meant yet, what he was risking here.

They were under way, with a bunch of angry Romans behind them and the ancient lands ahead. The giants would be waiting. Gaea was rising. And unless they succeeded in this quest, the world would be destroyed.

The others must've felt it too. The tension in the mess hall was like an electrical storm brewing, which was totally possible, considering Percy's and Jason's powers. In an awkward moment, the two boys tried to sit in the same chair at the head of the table. Sparks literally flew from Jason's hands. After a brief silent standoff, like they were both thinking, Seriously, dude?, they ceded the chair to Annabeth and sat at opposite sides of the table.

Dante sat down between Frank and Percy, Hazel on Frank's right. So the demigods were essentially all Roman on one side, and Greeks on the other and yes Dante counted Jason as a Greek now. 

He had long since changed out of his toga and into a t-shirt and sweatpants provided to him by both Jason and Percy. The t-shirt made him look too small and he was practically drowning in the sweatpants. The only guys on board were either far too tall or far too short for them to share clothes.

He had to suffer through looking at Jason's intolerable and smug face the whole dinner. But exactly opposite to him was Jason's girlfriend Piper, whom Dante liked more than Jason. So he managed.

Jason was smug for two reasons, one: he got Dante to say Please, and two: Dante decided to stick around like he wanted.

Dante scowled.

The crew compared notes on what had happened in Salt Lake City, but even Leo's ridiculous story about how he tricked Narcissus wasn't enough to cheer up the group.

Pinning personalities and assessing people were second nature to Dante. A demigod always had to learn it one way or another. Leo struck him as more of a mad genius than the class clown he was trying to be.

"So where to now?" He asked with a mouthful of pizza. He certainly didn't look scary enough to be the one who fired on New Rome. "I did a quick repair job to get us out of the lake, but there's still a lot of damage. We should really put down again and fix things right before we head across the Atlantic."

Percy was eating a piece of pie, which for some reason was completely blue—filling, crust, even the whipped cream. "We need to put some distance between us and Camp Jupiter," he said. "Frank spotted some eagles over Salt Lake City. We figure the Romans aren't far behind us."

That didn't improve the mood around the table. Piper looked guilty as she spoke. "I don't suppose we should go back and try to reason with the Romans? Maybe— maybe I didn't try hard enough with the charmspeak."

Jason took her hand. "It wasn't your fault, Pipes. Or Leo's," he added quickly. "Whatever happened, it was Gaea's doing, to drive the two camps apart."

"Maybe if we could explain that, though—"

"With no proof?" Annabeth asked. "And no idea what really happened? I appreciate what you're saying, Piper. I don't want the Romans on our bad side, but until we understand what Gaea's up to, going back is suicide."

Dante hadn't really assessed the daughter of Minerva— sorry, Athena. All he knew about her was that she was Percy's girlfriend. Also she judo-flipped him the moment they met.