HORIZON ⸺ jason grace

i. flying away on a spanking-hot-war-machine

THE SURF IN NEW YORK was nothing like in California.

For one, the water of the Atlantic remained chilly, even in June, and the water itself was duller in color, due to the algae that made its home in these seas.

Luckily, Violet Monet was the daughter of Poseidon, and these differences did not affect her in the slightest. Jason Grace just had to deal with it.

"I cannot believe you've lived in California your whole life and never once been surfing!" The brunette girl exclaimed, bobbing up and down as the waves passed under her blue and yellow surfboard.

Jason looked at her, blond hair tussled and soaked from the salt water. He wore a pair of light-pink board shorts patterned with neon pink lightning bolts (a gift from Violet, of course). To add to the picture, he was stuck using Piper's pink and white surfboard to learn.

"You don't like flying, I don't like waves," he shrugged.

"I don't like you," she snarked back, leveling herself as a tall wave came rolling toward them.

Jason rolled his eyes. "I'm starting to believe you, forcing me out here."

The wave hit, Violet riding it like a professional. Oh, the perks of being a child of the sea god, and training since infantry.

Unfortunately, Jason slipped on his way to standing up, falling into the water with a loud splash. His head broke the surface and he shook the cold water out of his hair like a puppy.

"That was rather ungraceful of you," Violet grinned.

"You did not just say that."

The young couple was cut off by a shout from the beach. Annabeth Chase stood in the sand, curly blonde hair tied into a messy ponytail that whipped wildly behind her.

"Let's get going, lovebirds!" She called. "You're gonna make us fall behind schedule!"

Violet sighed loudly as her friend stormed away.

"She doesn't seem anxious at all," Jason remarked as Violet summoned a wave to wash them ashore.

The girl shrugged, hefting her board. "I think she's scared that Percy forgot about her."

"You aren't," Jason questioned.

"Nah," Violet grinned. "I'm unforgettable." She flipped her perfectly dry hair over her shoulders. "Now, come on, before Annie decides to bite both our heads off."

The couple strolled up the marshy path that led from the cabins toward the beach, leaving the surfboards stacked on top of Percy's unused one for Leo to bring to the Argo II.

(Violet had the awesome idea to tie the boards to the back of the ship as it was sailing, so that they could ride the surf. Jason immediately opted out).

They stopped in front of the Poseidon cabin. "See you in a minute," Jason grinned, planting a soft kiss on Violet's lips before heading off to his own cabin.

She entered the cabin with a goofy smile plastered across her face, eying all the bags that she'd been neglecting to bring to the ship. Her smile dropped.

"Aw, fuck."

༄

Camp Half-Blood was in a frenzy. Demigods ran left and right as Cabin Nine busied themselves with last-minute preparations and checks.

Coach Gleeson Hedge paced the deck of the Argo II, a massive, magical, celestial-bronze Greek trireme that was about to set sail.

Chiron stood at the helm, overseeing the chaos as Leo yelled, "Get your butt aboard the ship, Monet!"

Violet chuckled at his curly hair, which stood up wildly on his head more than it usually would. She turned to face Will Solace and Nia Rivera, the only friends she had yet to say farewell to.

Will let out a sniff. "They grow up so fast." Nia punched him hard in the arm. "Ow!"

"I'm gonna miss you, Vi," Nia said, pulling Violet into a hug. "I don't know how I'm gonna deal with that dumbass without you around."

Violet laughed, squeezing her cousin tightly. "We can kick his ass together when I get back."

Will's arms wrapped around them as he joined the hug. "I heard all that. And I'm still your favorite uncle, ViVi."

She pulled away with a huff. "Still weird, still not calling you that."

"No funny business with Golden Boy," he said, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively as Jason walked past the three. The son of Jupiter turned a deep shade of crimson, making Nia laugh.

"If there is any funny business, I expect an Iris Message," Nia whispered so that Will didn't hear.

Violet giggled, giving each of them one last hug. "See you, losers," she saluted before clamoring onto the ship.

"Welcome home," Leo grinned, bowing to Violet, who shoved him, rolling her eyes.

Chiron clomped over to where they were standing, Annabeth, Jason, and Piper joining him. The centaur survived the group with a mixture of pride and wariness. These six months hadn't done much for the old man's nerves.

"Be strong," he told them. "The fate of the world rests on your shoulders, children."

"What a heartwarming goodbye, horse-man," Violet said.

He smiled at her fondly. "Farewell, Violet. You are braver than you may think."

The demigods sat in the mess hall of the Argo II as they sailed over the continental United States.

Annabeth—who was still just as, if not more, anxious than before—tapped her leg up and down with rapid speed as she picked at her strawberry salad. Violet reached over and held it in place.

Leo took the seat next to her, looking a mixture of nervous and wildly excited as he produced a scroll from his tool belt.

"Okay, okay," he said as Violet munched on her pasta. "I wanna send a little message to make sure that those Romans don't blast us right out of the sky."

Annabeth tensed even more (if that was physically possible) as Leo opened the scroll. A video recording started, and he turned it to face all the demigods.

"Hey! Greetings from your friends at Camp Half-Blood, et cetera. This is Leo. I'm the..." He looked at the rest of the group.

"What's my title? Am I like admiral, or captain, or—"

"Repair boy," Violet and Piper chorused with matching grins. They'd spent so much time together in the past six months that they often acted like twins.

"Very funny, guys," Leo grumbled. He turned back to the parchment screen. "So yeah, I'm... ah...supreme commander of the Argo II. Yeah, I like that! Anyway, we're gonna be sailing toward you in about, I dunno, an hour in this big mother warship with the smiley face on the bottom. I wanted to write 'Wassup?' on the bottom too, but Vi would only vouch for the smile, so that's what you get."

Violet picked up a noodle and threw it at him. It stuck to the side of his face, making her laugh childishly.

"Hey! Anyway, we'd appreciate it so much if you'd not, like, blow us out of the sky or anything. So okay! If you could tell the Romans that. See you soon. Yours in demigodishness, and all that. Peace out."

"Demigodishness?" Violet repeated with a grin.

"Peace out?" Annabeth asked, her voice slightly high.

Leo tried to ruffle her hair, but she dodged him. "Aw, Annabeth, lighten up! I'm sure the Romans aren't so bad."

Annabeth mumbled under her breath in annoyance as Coach Hedge yelled, "Land Ho!" from above deck.

Piper sighed. "We've been over land this whole time."

"He must mean he can see something, then," Jason reasoned. "It's probably time we joined him on deck."

Violet nodded seriously. "We definitely shouldn't leave him alone with the ballistae for much longer."