The Blood of Olympus

Chapter 3: Jason

Hello everyone! 

Confession time: I haven't updated in a really long time, and I don't have an excuse, except that I was busy. Cliche, I know, but still.

So, I'm really, really sorry, will all you wonderful readers please forgive me? I promise, promise that I will update with next chapter very soon.

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this chappie!

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Chapter 3: Jason

Jason was glad when Annabeth woke up. 

Almost as soon as Piper left the deck, Jason heard a voice behind him, and turned to see Annabeth smiling behind him. Considering she had collapsed less than an hour ago, she looked much better. 

"Hi Jason, need me to take over? You look like you could use some more rest," she said cheerfully,

"I'm fine. You look pretty good, compared to this morning," Jason commented. Annabeth's smile faded slightly, and her stormy gray eyes darkened,

"I still don't feel too good," she admitted, "It's like..." she hesitated.

"Like what?" Jason urged. Annabeth sighed,

"It's like an illness, like  disease. And I think I know what it is, but I keep hoping I'm wrong," her eyes were now fearful, and with a sudden thrill of foreboding, Jason realized he had absolutely no desire to know whatever it was that was. But Annabeth continued,

"I don't want to tell Percy, because he'll worry too much, but I think it's the Death Mist,"

"The what?" Jason wondered if he'd heard wrong. Annabeth motioned for him to sit down. Once they were seated, she related an anecdote from Tartarus, involving many monsters, a really messed up goddess who apparently enjoyed being miserable, as well as another, more powerful, even more messed up, self-obsessed goddess. Oh, and then there was the matter of some sort of enchantment called the Death Mist, which made her and Percy look like corpses, but concealed them from all the monsters lurking in Tartarus.

When Annabeth finished, Jason became aware that his mouth was hanging open, and he hastened to shut it. He ducked his head, feeling low and ashamed. He had been agonizing about getting squashed between two cliffs, and Annabeth had been having to relive her awful experiences in Tartarus. Just that one anecdote had sounded horrifying, and from the sound of it, that was only a small piece of what they had had to endure.

"I think that there's still some of the Death Mist in me," Annabeth finished, "when we came out of Tartarus, I think some of the Death Mist stayed with both of us. But Death Mist in the land of the living...well, death and life don't mix, and the Death Mist is winning. This morning was awful, it was like it was sapping the life out of me,"

Jason tried to wrap his mind around it, but it seemed too much to comprehend. Finally, it hit him,

"Wait...does that mean you're dying?" he yelped. Annabeth lunged forwards and clapped a hand over his mouth, effectively silencing him,

"Just announce it to the whole world, how about?" she hissed, "I said I didn't want anyone else to know yet, especially Percy!"

Jason nodded. Well, as well as he could with Annabeth practically on top of him. When she released him, he scrambled up to his feet, looking nervously at her. 

"Why are you telling me about this then?" Jason finally asked softly, after a long pause. Annabeth considered this,

'I think," she said slowly, "because your probably the only one who won't freak out,"