Wildfires, Heroes of Olympus ₂

048, mulan DON'T pmo right now

CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
FINLEY                  BRIGGS

Finn didn't know how to make the best of an absolutely miserable situation.

Sylvie had gone off on her solo death quest, and the last time Finn saw her, she'd forgotten everyone except for Percy. Finn couldn't shake the sight of seeing Sylvie so scared of them—so paranoid about who they were. If Percy hadn't calmed her down, Finn had a feeling she genuinely would've tried fighting them all.

There was no amount of pacing on the deck that could force Finn to be calm and chill about everything. She was so discouraged that she was even too scared to drink wine—and that... well, that was saying a lot. At one point she'd grown so irritable that she yelled at Coach Hedge, singing "Old MacDonald" (with weapons instead of animals), and told him to get lost. Piper had understood this tension, asking Hedge to go eat in the mess hall with her.

Now it was just her and Jason. A miserable situation to be in, really.

"You might've been a little harsh on him," Jason told her.

"Shut the fuck up, or you're next," she responded.

Finn expected him to let out that pathetic frown he'd been sending her throughout the quest. She was almost eager to see it—proof that he was hurting just as much as her. But Jason blindsided her completely when his mouth curled up into a stupid grin.

"Always so nice to me, Briggs."

Finn's head whipped over, eyes incredulous. She stared at him longer with that insane glare of hers, but Jason wasn't deterred. In fact, he met her gaze as if it was a challenge and he was the most-qualified competitor.

Agitation flared up in her quickly, and the emotion almost made her lash out.

"No," she declared, more so to herself than anything. "No, this? This is not how it's supposed to go. I'm supposed to antagonize you, and you're supposed to get annoyed."

But she was annoyed as she said it. That just amused Jason further.

"Well, if that's how it's supposed to be, then go ahead." Jason nodded at her. "Antagonize me."

"If you don't shut up, I will put a bullet through your head," Finn threatened.

Jason, in reaction to this, crossed his arms and leaned against the side of the ship with a beaming grin.

"Do it."

Finn faltered, hand stuttering over her thigh holster. "I'm serious."

"Yeah, I believe you."

"Grace!" she snapped.

Finn hated him. She hated him. Every day of her life, he tortured her, and he didn't have the slightest idea. When they were little, when they were enemies, when he disappeared, when he came back. There had always been something about being around Jason Grace that felt like she was the punchline of some cruel joke. 

"Sorry, sorry," Jason said, not sounding sorry in the slightest.

"I fucking hate you," she spat, because she needed to hear herself say it. "And if it wasn't your birthday today, I really would pull the trigger."