HORIZON ⸺ jason grace

xxi. violet makes coach hedge proud

WAVES CRASHED against the shore of the Long Island Sound in a symphony as the stars blinked into view.

It was past curfew, but that had never stopped Violet Monet from spending nights on the beach. She sat, facing the water, a blanket spread out beneath her, breathing in the salty air. She was waiting.

He arrived quickly, a soft woosh of the winds cluing the daughter of Poseidon in to his presence.

"You sure we won't get caught out here?"

Violet tilted her head to look at Jason Grace. "Oh, this was all just a ploy to get the harpies to eat you," she rolled her eyes. "Yes, I'm sure."

"Could've just said that," he grumbled, taking a seat.

"But that's no fun!" She said.

He laughed. "I guess you're right."

They sat in silence for a few minutes, watching as the waves broke again and again. Their shoulders were close, but not quite touching; neither seemed eager to break the spell that hung in the air.

Violet turned her face to look at the boy beside her. She studied him openly, searching for any reason to distrust him. And, despite her earliest judgments, she found none.

Jason Grace was the most honest, sincere person she had ever met.

"Jay—"

"Lettie, you don't have to tell me."

Lettie? When had that happened? "Um...What?"

Their shoulders brushed. "I mean, if you don't really want to," he clarified. "I don't want you to feel forced just because I had asked questions before."

Violet smiled softly at him. "That's really considerate, Jay, but I think it's time that someone else knew."

The blond looked at her for a good long moment, searching her face. "Are you sure?"

The answer was yes. Violet had never been more sure about anything.

"Let me start from the beginning," she said, and Jason wrapped an arm around her frame. She settled into his chest. "And I mean like, thousands of years ago..."

Harmonia, goddess of harmony and concord, was born to Aphrodite—fathered by Ares. And though she herself was innocent, Harmonia would pay the price for her mother's infidelity and suffer Hephaestus' rage.

When she was grown, the goddess was betrothed to Cadmus of House Thebes. In celebration of her marriage, the god of blacksmiths gifted Harmonia with an exquisite piece of jewelry—a golden necklace, embedded with multi-colored gems; a gift the god had crafted himself.

He explained how the wearer would remain eternally young and heavenly beautiful. He did not reveal that it was cursed to bring disaster upon the wearer as well.

Harmonia and her husband were eventually turned into serpents, and the necklace passed to her daughter, Semele. It would fall into the hands of Queen Jocasta, Eriphyle, Arsinoe, and many more.

All of them would meet violent ends.

The path of the necklace is, at times, unclear. But eventually, it would fall into the hands of a misfortunate Monet woman—a woman said to have been a descendant of Harmonia herself.

The Necklace of Harmonia would find its home with the Monet family, passing to the oldest woman of every generation. Each would face a terrible curse. Some would survive. Most would not.

Some of the gods took pity on the girls. Aphrodite had always favored them, in remembrance of her daughter. Ares, too, would often assist them in their difficult journeys. But no favoritism could break the links on the golden necklace, the cold metal clasped onto their dainty throats.