The Curse of the Lost Hero

Chapter 9

I start to head back towards the party. Judging by the sound issuing from the open windows and bi-fold doors, they are playing "Party till we die". Classic song from way back in 2016. Great song. And great song for a rebirthing party. You know because we are at a party, and we are all dead, but Bianca is now living a new life. Great song and the perfect place to have it playing, I wonder if they have like a rebirthing playlist because that would be pretty cool to just spend ages just listening to that. But I manage to once again squeeze past the drunk adults who could drown in any type of liquid, including alcohol, in about a millilitre, and past if possible even more kissing couples, because the boys have gotten the Hunt drunk and they really do not know what they are doing, and it is not just under the mistletoe. It is everywhere, and now the teens have gotten the adults into it because the adults are collapsing on walls kissing their partners or cheating on them, but the partners are too drunk to notice. This is possibly one of the best parties I have been to, but it would be even better if Piper was here and we were kissing under the mistletoe. That would be the best party ever in my entire life and death life, if that makes sense, maybe in all eternity. I feel sad just thinking about Piper. I just wanted to lie down and cry about her. Tears slipped out of my eyes and I tried to wipe them out before someone noticed, but some group of guys who were not currently kissing the Hunters approached me as if trying to be friendly and kind. One of them kind of looked like Dakota, but in a less drunk and more of an, I can kill you with madness and cure your madness, with a purple fire in his eyes. I think his name was Castor. The one next to him was Ethan. I actually recognised him with his eye patch. The one next to Ethan looked like a true Apollo. He had a club mark in his head and he had died in the Battle of the Labyrinth. I remember because Piper had told me about it, while we were searching for Buford, a table that Leo had made that had walked off and if we had not found it Camp Half-Blood would have been destroyed. Anyway, back on the topic of the Battle of the Labyrinth. Dad's Fist was sitting in the forest with a labyrinth entrance behind it. The maze underground that was connected to the Life Force of Daedalus. Anyway, so he died and the labyrinth was destroyed, but while it was still alive, Luke tried to use the entrance to access Camp Half-Blood, while under the control of Kronos. His name was Lee and he was a son of Apollo. Is he my nephew, technically? Yep true fact and so is the boy next to him, Michael Yew. Michael Yew, another guy who died in the Kronos fight. He shot Kronos and stopped a whole lot of monsters, by blowing a bridge that Percy Jackson was on, and he survived because he and breathe underwater, but a lot of other people could not, including Michael and so he died. Simple. Are you confused because I am definitely confused. Because there are four of them and I spent two hundred and forty eight words explaining them and what they looked like and how they died. So let's get to what they actually said to me.

"Hey mate listen are you okay? You seem kind of shattered," offered Lee

I honestly don't know what to say to that

"Well, I am just missing my girlfriend. She is still alive. And seeing all these couples kissing, it just made me miss her."

"I mean while I was still alive, I did not have a girlfriend, but I can assume that it felt like you were the best person ever," Castor offered.

"Yeah, basically it did" I replied. These guys were starting to creep me out a little bit. They claimed that they had never had a girlfriend, yet they appeared to understand me and Piper perfectly. It was just a little bit off. As if he had read my mind, Ethan simply replied

"We never had girlfriends, but quite often we knew or we were friends with boys who had girlfriends, and they described it for us. It sounded amazing, and if majority of the girls here were not Artemis (or Diana, depends on whether you are Greek or Roman) Hunters, I would definitely be trying to date one or two of them. But unlike some of the other guys in this room, I at least have some dignity."

He nudged Michael Yew as he said this, for Michael had been trying to flirt with a couple of the other Hunters, behind the other boys' backs and he suddenly looked kind of sheepish, I guess. He had been caught doing the unforbidden which normally only Apollo dared try: flirt with Artemis' (or Diana depends on whether you are Greek or Roman) Hunters. Although the Hunt seemed to have let their guard drop a bit around boys, now. They were drinking and giggling along with everyone else and most were in the processes of kissing and being kissed by boys, and some even by the other Hunters.  I looked away and decided to try and lighten up the mood in the group by changing the topic.

"So, um I know that this may sound kind of stupid, but are you guys going to rebirth? You have been here as long as Luke, so do you know what you are going to do? "

All the four boys looked at each other, and I felt like I had instantly done something wrong. They were now suspicious of me, maybe I was a spy. So I tried to lighten up the mood by saying:

"You know, because I kind of just want to rebirth to see my girlfriend piper again, but I am unsure as to whether I should rebirth, or not. I mean, it's just for Piper, but what if she dies and comes here, just as I leave? Honestly, I'm really doubting whether my decision to rebirth will be a good one."
"You know, Jason, everything will be alright - whether you rebirth or not. I mean, if you don't, you'll always have us, and if you do, you'll see Piper again. Besides, you're awesome and I know you won't do anything silly. Also if you stay here maybe Piper will come here!" Michael looked less sheepish as he spoke those words.
When I heard this, I shook my head in disbelief. A few seconds ago, I was just about to go into a random building that smells like chocolate, even though I was meant to go to Luke's house. I can hardly walk ten metres to the house NEXT DOOR to me, let alone go and find Piper and rebirth. Honestly, I was debating whether Michael even knew me or not or whether he thought he was talking to the Jason he thought he knew, rather than the Jason I really was . I decided to just ignore Michael's opinion and so I turned on Ethan.

"What do you think?" I attempted to force out of him.

"Well.. I mean, I kind of agree with Michael. No matter what you chose, everything will be okay. If Piper is not here, and you rebirth, and then she comes to Elysium, try to live a really good life, and maybe you should sacrifice yourself or something. If Piper never comes to Elysium, well then maybe you should rebirth and try to live a fairly normal life, and then you will go to the Fields of Asphodel. And then you will see her again. Either way no matter which path you choose, you still end up rebirthing, and seeing Piper again. So I mean it is up to you, Jason. But you will have better odds if you rebirth," Ethan pointed out
I still didn't know what to do. This was really bothering me, because I really didn't know if I wanted to see Piper again, or to stay here in my awesome house.
"I guess that even if I do rebirth I'll be able to come back, won't I?"
"Yeah, you will."
"I think I might go, then, but I still don't know - is it the right decision?"

"It is up to you." Lee leaned in and continued in a whisper "But I heard that Bianca, in order to decide whether or not to rebirth, she went down to the River Lethe and thought about the consequences, so maybe you should try that?"

"Maybe I will, thanks guys, see you later, bye," I mumbled, not because I'm rude, but because thoughts were rushing through my mind too quickly.

I walked out of the party and back into the cool night breeze. I now had a plan. I could go off to the River Lethe and decide whether I should rebirth or not. Feeling better about my life - I mean death, I quickly went home to get my things, and to think about everything before I went.