Claimed by Twelve

3. Connection

"Jules?" Someone was shaking my arm. I had a splitting headache and someone shaking me wasn't helping.
I moved to brush them off. "Stop," I groaned. The shaking stopped.
"Hey." Whoever had been shaking me pulled at my arm now. "You need to get up."
"Why? It's not like I could..." I dragged off as I remembered what had happened. Chiron. The attack. My attack. Khione. Jason.
"Julian." There was more urgency in the voice now. I forced my eyes open to find Jason staring at me intently. "Get up. Now." I attempted to scramble to my feet. Jason stood with me. As I made it to my feet, a pain shot through my head. I would have fallen if Jason hadn't caught me.
"Well it looks like you two are plenty comfortable," Khione smiled from the door. I realized that we were in a cell made completely of ice.
"Oh yeah. Just like home," my voice was dry.
Khione smiled. "Good. I wouldn't want Olympus' downfall to be uncomfortable."
I forced a laugh and felt Jason's elbow in response. "Stop talking to her," Jason whispered in my ear.
Khione just smiled at his comment. "Jason Grace. One of the Seven who defeated Gaea. Too bad Valdez isn't with you." I felt Jason stiffen next to me. Leo Valdez had given his life to defeat Gaea. His body was never found.
I felt the tension in the air. "I'll–" Jason started.
"Stop talking." He was immediately cut off by Khione.
A feeling settled in my stomach. "Charmspeak." Khione gave me an interesting look. "You perfected charmspeak. How?"
Khione stepped forward. "I didn't think you knew that much about the Greek world."
I felt blush rising in my cheeks. "I don't."
Khione paused. "You have power. I can feel it in the air." She stepped closer to me before hesitating. She wrinkled her nose in disgust. "You have fire." She spit the last word at me. She spun on her heel and march out of the cell, the bars thickening as she left. I was left leaning on Jason, who was holding me up.
"Here." Jason helped me over to one of the two beds in the cell. I noticed they were probably the only metal in the whole place.
"Thanks." I leaned back against the wall. The cold seeped through my jacket and shirt and into my skin. Jason paced the cell. I swallowed. "Now what?"
Jason stopped pacing and looked at me. "Well. We've got two options. A, we can wait here for someone to come find us because I can guarantee that Chiron and Piper will notice I'm gone. Or B, we can fight our way out of here."
I swallowed again. "I can't fight."
"Sure you can. I watched you take out the monster at the Camp."
"With a bow. Khione must have taken that."
"Well then I guess you'll have to learn how to tap into your godly parent's powers."
I hesitated. "What if I don't want to?"
Jason resumed his pacing. "You'd rather die?" I shook my head. "Then you want to. You need to." I closed my eyes.
"Well wasn't that touching?" Jason spun as the image in a rainbow appeared behind him. His face broke into a smile.
"About time, Percy." The boy in the image, Percy, smiled.
"How come you can't stay out of trouble?" A girl with blond hair and stormy gray eyes frowned.
"Annabeth." Jason exhaled in relief as three other people stepped into the picture. "Piper, Hazel, Frank."
"I leave you alone for five minutes..." Piper scowled.
"It wasn't my fault," Jason interjected.
Hazel rolled her eyes. "When isn't it your fault?"
"I gotta say, man. You do tend to pick them better than us," Frank said.
"What's that mean?" Jason protested.
"Chiron filled us in. Well. Filled us in on what he knows," Annabeth settled into a serious mood. I pulled my knees against my chest and tried to make myself as small as possible.
"Care to fill us in on what happened after Chiron left?" Piper asked.
"Khione, she–"
"Talking about someone behind their back isn't very nice," Khione's voice bounced off the icy walls.