When You're Gone

Tears of War

Jason thought the chaos would end as soon as he left Camp Jupiter.

He imagined his friends and the Fates laughing and saying: Pah-LEASE. Where did he get that expression in the first place?

As soon as the view of Camp Half-Blood came into view, he saw a raging game of Capture The Flag going on, and it seemed both sides were equally disorganized. From the people he knew, he saw Nico, Will, Annabeth, Piper and Malcolm in the same team along with the Aphrodite, Athena, Apollo and the Hermes cabin against the rest.

"They've got it! They've got the flag!" cried Katie, who was on the enemy team. "Connor, Cecil, disrupt the left flank!"

The two Hermes kids smirked and raised their swords.

"Sure thing, Katie," Connor teased. "Don't get too close, okay? I want a niece soon enough!"

He was bidded farewell by a flying shield sent towards him. Cecil flinched.

"We'll be going, see ya!" Cecil said quickly.

Jason didn't see what was wrong at first, then he noticed that Annabeth wasn't fighting like she used to. Instead of parrying blades with her ivory sword, she was silently and deathly attacking campers from behind without a sound. Even without her magic Yankees cap, she was as stealthy as Hades.

And, bless her, each strike was powerful enough to knock out even Nyssa.

Nico and Kayla was running back with the enemy flag back to their base. Will was a few feet away from them barking at Nico to not use his Underworldly-magic. Nico kept yelling back.

"I can just shadow-travel back!" Nico protested. "Those two Hermes kids are going to catch up!"

"No!" Will barked. "Doctor's orders."

"Will!"

"I said no!"

Unfortunately for Jason - despite being in air and pratically safe from anything but arrows or ventus or random pegasi - a shield managed to make it onto his head.

Great. In Camp Jupiter, he gets hit on the head by a brick. In Camp Half-Blood, he gets hit in the head with a shield.

Losing focus, the winds under his control broke and he fell towards the ground. Of all of the places to land, he landed on the most dangerous thing in Camp Half-Blood.

"Get off of me!" Clarisse screeched. That couldn't have felt too good. "Who the heck is that?"

"Jason?" Piper said, pushing herself to the front through the crowd. "Why are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be busy at New Rome?"

Jason groaned. "I'll explain everything," he promised. "But . . . but I think Clarisse could use an ice pack or two."

* * *

When Jason told Chiron - in private - that Camp Jupiter is waging war against Camp Half-Blood, the look on the centaur's face was as horrified as ever. It was so ridiculously serious that everyone had to force Clovis to stay up and listen.

"We've made peace," Annabeth murmured, "after the Giant War. Why - ?"

The words died heroically in Jason's throat. How is he supposed to explain that Annabeth and Leo are the ones who started it? It was the Eidolons . .. no doubt, but Camp Jupiter nor Reyna wants to hear it.

"There was an attack," Jason started, "a machine, designed by the Greeks, um, Camp Half-Blood there, attacking and almost killing the . . . praetor."

Leo's eyebrows raised. "You mean someone stole our cool-ass weapon and attacked Reyna? Dang, how did someone manage that?"

"Is Reyna okay?" Piper demanded. "Is she alive and well?"