My Boyfriend is a Dead Roman Hero | Jason Grace

I Cheat the System

Juliette has tried to hate Rachel Dare.

Out of solidarity for Annabeth, Julie has woken up early each morning she plans on hanging out with the redhead just to have time to look in the mirror and repeat a mantra to herself.

"Rachel Dare is not your friend," She'll say. "She is not welcome. You don't like her."

Then she'll nod, finish her get-ready routine, and immediately fall back in love with the girl as soon as they meet up with her.

Sorry, Annabeth. She tried.

But, Rachel is just hard not to love. Ever since discovering Juliette's passion for fashion design, Rachel's been giving her nonstop tips for her sketches. She even taught Julie how to sew on, like, their third day hanging out. Granted, Julie's pretty sure that was just so she'd be distracted practicing, and Rachel and Percy could get some alone time, but the skill has been useful and she didn't want to watch them make goo-goo eyes at each other anyway.

Sewing is exactly what she's doing when a shimmering image of Percy's face appears in their bedroom and scares the living daylights out of her.

"Jules, I need a favor."

"OW! Shit, Percy, I'm holding a needle!"

"So, put the needle down. I gotta talk to you about something." His face screws up in confusion as he looks down at her hands. "Wait, why do you have the camp breastplates?" He asks.

Julie flushes and kicks the pile of armor under her bed. "Don't worry about it. Just mending." She clears her throat awkwardly as he raises a skeptical eyebrow. "You needed something?" She reminds him.

"Oh, yeah. I need you to keep an eye on Rachel until she leaves." Percy requests with a worried frown. Julie matches it.

"Why? Is she in trouble?"

Percy sighs. "I'm not sure. I've just been having some dreams. Something's happening with her, and I'm worried."

Julie nods and crosses her legs. "Okay, yeah, no problem." She knows better than to question demigod dreams. Especially Percy's. "How did the raid go?"

His face drops.

Over the past year, Juliette had been working with Percy and Charlie Beckendorf on constructing maps from her memories of the Princess Andromeda. The plan was for the three of them to sneak on board and blow the ship up from the boiler room, but Percy had put his foot down last minute and declared Juliette was not going anywhere near that ship ever again. Honestly, Julie hadn't put up too much of a fight.

"The ship is gone. But, Beck, he..." Percy trails off. He looks tortured.

Julie closes her eyes and presses her palms to her forehead. "Crap." She mutters. She glances down at the pile of armor on the floor. "Silena?" She asks.

Percy hesitates. "Not great. She's grieving. She'll be okay, I hope."

Juliette nods and looks back up at him. Guilt and...something else is shining in his eyes. Something like dread stirs in the pit of her stomach.

"That's not all, is it?" She asks. Percy looks stricken. He seems to be considering whether he wants to share more. Julie glares at him. "Don't you dare keep secrets from me, Percy Jackson."

He sighs again and pinches the bridge of his nose. "Look, it's hard to talk about. Just..." Percy scans her face like he's committing it to memory. "If anything happens to me, look after my mom, will you? I know she's got Paul now, but...Keep her safe."

Julie blinks at him. It takes her a moment to find her words. "I-...Duh, stupid. But, nothing's going to happen to you, okay?" Her words accidentally come out more as an order than a comfort.