My Boyfriend is a Dead Roman Hero | Jason Grace

I Make An Offering

Julie stares at the dark brown patch on the concrete steps before her.

The city really needs to rent a power-washer. Bloodstains are a real mood killer for a day spent at the library.

"This is where it happened?" Annabeth asks softly.

A heavy sigh leaves Julie's lungs. She nods. "Yup. Knife to the gut. Right in front of his ten year old. Nothing like watching your dad get carved like a jack-o-lantern to really make a kid's childhood."

Annabeth gives her a horrified look. Juliette grins and snorts.

"I'm kidding! Well, not really, that did happen," She shrugs. "But, the kid's eleven now! Who amongst us demigods wasn't thoroughly traumatized by that age? I'm sure she'll turn out just fine."

"Like you did?" Annabeth asks bemusedly, arms crossed.

Julie beams at her. "Exactly!"

She turns back to the place it happened, though, and the smile slips from her lips.

Julie's funny (Well, she thinks so, anyway). And, enough shitty things have happened to her in life that adding one more heartbreak to the pile isn't much other than another punchline to throw around. That doesn't mean Phil wasn't important to her, though.

She hands her crutches off to her friend and lowers herself to the stairs so she can scoot up closer. Julie lays her hand against the stain. The place where her father took his final breaths.

She doesn't understand what happened. She doesn't really understand who Phil was. Honestly, not much in her really cares. But, he helped her once. He was kind. Whatever went down between him and Julie's mother, Phil didn't deserve the end that he got.

Annabeth approaches slowly and gently sets down the bundle of purple asters she and Julie picked out at the store. She lays a hand on Juliette's shoulder and gives it a gentle squeeze. "You okay?"

The younger girl takes a deep breath. "Yeah. I'm good."

Closing her eyes, Juliette says goodbye to the mental image of her father's face. She holds up a hand for Annabeth to help her up.

"Now, let's get researching. I've got to figure out who's going around stabbing local plant enthusiasts."

--

"I hate to say it, Julie, but I don't know if we're going to find anything," Annabeth sighs, setting down what's probably the fiftieth file on a Philip McCaffery they've found. "Are you sure he lived here?"

Juliette groans. "No! I mean, I know he spent time here. This is where Meg went missing, and it's where he died, so it must have some significance."

"Do you know who her godly parent is?" asks Annabeth.

Julie huffs. "No."

"Okay, well," The older girl frowns. "Since he's not in any university yearbooks even, we don't have anything to go off of except his name. And, that's not yielding anything. I'm not sure what else there is to look for."

Panic seizes Juliette. She taps her fingers frantically on the table. "No. This cannot be a dead end. Meg is out there, and I have to find her."

"I get that, Julie," Annabeth insists. "But, maybe we're going about this the wrong way."

Julie huffs and drops her chin tiredly onto the stack of phonebooks in front of her. "Well, what do you suggest?"

Annabeth bites her lip. She suddenly looks nervous, glancing away to look out the window. The spike of discomfort Julie feels makes her lift her head.

"You have an idea," She states. "Tell me."