CHAPTER SEVENTEEN:
ACHILLES HEEL

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IT WASN'T OFTEN THAT Annais could say she was happy to be a demigod, but she'd take near certain death any day over being a serving maiden. Don't get her wrong, Annais had nothing against them! In all honesty, she'd never had a reason to look twice, but by the Gods were their dresses and their sandals and their amphoras ridiculously uncomfortable! It was bad enough that she had to wear a silk white gown like some trussed-up young bride on the way to her wedding, but having to navigate a rocky path — at that, a path that was going uphill? Annais had never tripped over her own feet so many times in a row. It was embarrassing, dehumanising, downright f—

"Almost there, guys," Piper smiled, looking the picture of glowing youth in her matching dress with her mahogany hair pinned in an intricately braided spiral. Piper hadn't tripped once. Nor had Annabeth, which Annais found almost offensive. "You're doing great."

"Shut," Annais wheezed. "Up!"

Of course, Piper's frustrating smile refused to waver. She merely patted Annais on the arm and winced in sympathy when she stumbled, again, her amphora — this tall ceramic wine jar that Annabeth had insisted she use to conceal her sword; for some reason, she couldn't just use her ring. Oh, no. It seemed Annabeth liked seeing Annais struggle — rocking around haphazardly. Annais glared as Annabeth snorted. (Case in point!)

At least she wasn't the only one suffering. Jason lagged several yards behind them, wheezing like an accordion in his old-man disguise. With his wrinkled skin and bony limbs jutting in uncomfortable angles, Annais couldn't recognise her boyfriend in this state; which, really, was what they were going for. Still, that didn't mean she had to love the old-man odour that now filled the air every time he drew near. Or the thought of letting him anywhere close to her.

"Worst idea ever," he panted as he leaned against a nearby cedar tree. Annais had to take a step back, nose scrunched, her life flashing before her eyes when the hem of her dress dragged through the rocks. She was sure Aphrodite would be wailing in dismay at the sight of the dirt-brown hem, even more so at Annais' attempts to embrace her femininity. "Hazel's magic is too good. If I have to fight, I'll be useless."

"It won't come to that," Annabeth promised, glancing from Jason to Annais like she could hear the doubtful thoughts that sprang to Annais' brain in response. "We infiltrate the palace, we get the information we need, and we get out."

Annais huffed out a breath. "Easier said than done."

"Why don't we rest for a second?" Piper suggested, thankfully setting down her own amphora before Annabeth could refuse. Annais could've cried in relief. She slumped down on a nearby rocky ledge, the state of her dress be damned. Hopefully, the palace wouldn't pay her appearance much attention, so long as she could plaster on a pretty smile and look meek for a few minutes. "Jason can catch his breath. Annais—"

"Can find my dignity," she cut in. "Are you sure we can't make this dress just a bit shorter? I really don't think Jason can move quick enough to catch me if I go flying down this hill."

Jason was already glowering down below them where Afales Bay glittered in the warm sunlight, but his mood seemed to pop and deflate like a balloon at the reminder. "Stupid Ithaca," he grumbled, and Annais followed his gaze to where the Argo II was anchored, its white sails waving like flags of surrender on the horizon. Annais could picture her friends and her sisters now, taking turns with Leo's spyglass to watch old-man Jason Grace hobble around while Annais tripped over her own legs like a baby deer learning how to walk for the first time. She was certain they were the laughing stock of the day.

"Are you sure this is the right hill?" Jason questioned after a moment, prompting Annais' brows to furrow.

"What do you mean?" she asked, suddenly wary she'd missed something.

He shrugged. "Seems kind of... I don't know... quiet. Don't you think so?"

But for once, Annais hadn't been complaining about the silence. In fact, she hadn't even noticed just how quiet it was until Jason pointed it out. For days now, she'd been longing for even a millisecond of peace; ever since Hea had left with Nico, Reyna and Hedge, since Penelope decided she needed to be some kind of figurehead for the group as the eldest. It was... unsettling in a way that Annais was desperate to escape.

"The ruins are up there," Piper promised, and Annais didn't doubt her. "I saw them in Katoptris' blade. And you guys heard what Hazel said. 'The biggest—'"

"'The biggest gathering of evil spirits I've ever sensed,'" Annais repeated word-for-word. She could feel it, too, like a hand wrapped around her throat. Gently squeezing just enough to remind her how dangerous it could be, if it came to it.

"Yeah," Jason grimaced. "Sounds awesome!"

It wasn't like they had much of a choice. Piper's dagger, Hazel's magical senses and Annabeth's trusty instincts were in agreement for once — the answer to their problems was hidden in the hills of Ithaca, at the ancient place of Odysseus, where a horde of evil spirits just so happened to have gathered in wait for Gaea's next orders. Fantastic! There was nothing Annais enjoyed more than sneaking around the dead and hoping for the best.

Annabeth cleared her throat, shooting Annais a pointed look that she pretended not to see. "I just hope our disguises hold up okay. The suitors were nasty customers when they were alive. If they find out we're demigods..."

Something was bound to go wrong, and they would surely find out they were demigods, but Annais wouldn't — couldn't — be shocked at this point.

"Hazel's magic will work," Piper insisted, but it sounded like she was trying to convince herself more than the rest of them.

When Jason forced himself onto his feet again, Annais took this as a sign to do the same, glowering at her amphora with vicious contempt. "If I look as old as I feel," Jason muttered under his breath. "Then my disguise must be perfect. Let's get going."

As they climbed, Annais let her mind wander to the suitors. They were the greediest of monsters to prowl the foulest parts of the world. A hundred ruthless men with blood on their mind and staining their hands. When Odysseus went missing after the infamous Trojan War, it was the suitors who invaded his palace in the hopes of marrying Queen Penelope in his absence. With the favour of the Gods on his side, Odysseus managed to return in secret and slaughter them one-by-one, but now, if Piper's vision was right (spoiler alert; it was) then they were back and just as smarmy as ever.

"We're almost there," Annabeth said, and Annais was amazed to realise she was right. "Let's—"

All of a sudden, the hillside rumbled, and Annais was struck by an unmistakable stab of terror. She searched frantically, instinctively reaching for the ring that was absent from her finger as, somewhere over the ridge, loud voices roared their approval. No attack came, as Annais anticipated. No monster or other life-threatening danger. Still, the sound made Annais' skin crawl. She dreaded to think what it was.

"I don't like this," she said.

At the same time, Jason spoke, "Was that an explosion?"

Piper sighed. "I don't know, but it sounds like they're having fun. Let's go make some dead friends."

As Annais expected — and warned everyone, just in case you forgot — the dead made for incredibly shitty friends (and sisters, oddly enough.) These wild spirits had commandeered Odysseus' ruins as their own; the dusty courtyard was practically bursting at the seams with the undead, who were throwing themselves a 'congratulations on escaping the afterlife!' frat party. They didn't seem phased by the flickering reflection of the palace that happened to hover over the ruins like a scarily realistic hologram. For a second, even Annais wondered if she was imagining things.

Whitewashed stucco walls rose several storeys high, housing overcrowded balconies that looked down on the large central fountain. Everywhere else they turned, there was a stuffed banquet table with food Annais wouldn't dare touch. Ghouls hung from the balcony bannisters, crowded the benches, laughing and eating and making a huge mess.

At the centre of everything was a familiar grey-skinned ghoul who carried a marble bust over his head like some kind of trophy. As she watched his friends cheer and slap him on the back like nearly every dumb teenage boy Annais had ever come across, she decided then and there that this ghoul would only be trouble. It was as he drew closer that she noticed the arrow that had pierced his throat. Old blood stained his neck, dripping down his skin like a crimson waterfall. Some of it stained the marble statue, too, smeared across the face of Zeus like mud.

"Our next offering!" shouted the ghoul, confirming Annais' suspicions. The crowd yelled in response, pounding their cups and dancing around in utter glee. "Let us feed the Earth Mother!"

How lovely.

With every eye, both dead and alive, on him, Antinous (if Annais remembered his name right) chucked the statue of Zeus into the fountain without hesitation. As soon as the marble passed through the water — which, Annais quickly realised, wasn't actually water at all but pale white sand — it exploded into hundreds of jagged pieces. The sand lit up a warm gold colour, pooling at the bottom of the fountain as the ruins shook with fervour. This was it, then. The explosion they had heard. It didn't seem nearly as terrifying up close.

"Any more statues?" maybe-Antinous quizzed the crowd, who whined their disapproval. "No? Then I guess we'll have to wait for some real Gods to sacrifice!"

Jason's eye twitched as he openly glared at the scene. His wrinkled hands clenched around his walking stick. He rounded on the others furiously. "That guy just disintegrated my dad. Who does he think he is?"

"He's not the first to want to disintegrate a God," Annais scoffed, which wasn't exactly comforting. "He'll have to get in line."

"I'm pretty sure that's Antinous," Annabeth explained when Jason merely frowned at his girlfriend, too caught up in defending his dad's honour as the unsettling scene before them continued to grow rowdier. "He was one of the suitors' leaders. If I remember right, it was Odysseus who shot him through the neck with that arrow."

"Deserved," Annais muttered.

Piper grimaced. "You'd think that would keep a guy down. But what about all the others? Why are there so many?"

"There must be a lot of pissed off dead people who want to give the Gods a piece of their mind," Annais shrugged. "I imagine Gaea will bring back anyone if it means she has more numbers."

"And some aren't just regular spirits, they're ghouls," explained Jason. "See the ones with the gaping wounds and the grey skin, like Antinous? I've fought their kind before."

They were far from pleasant, Annais agreed with a wince. But the dead were just the dead to her, and it was her job to send them back where they came from. Where they rightfully belonged.

"Can they be killed?" Piper asked, swallowing nervously.

Jason hesitated before answering. He wasn't sure she'd like what he had to say. "Not easily. They're strong and fast, not to mention intelligent. Also, they eat human flesh."

"Fantastic," Annabeth muttered under her breath. "I don't see any other option except to stick to the plan. Let's split up, infiltrate, find out why they're here. If things go bad..."

"We use the backup plan," nodded Piper.

Annais loved the backup plan.

Jason, of course, hated it the second Leo gave each of them an emergency flare and warned 'take cover and I'll make things go boom.' Not that Annais trusted she wouldn't be one of the things to explode in a million tiny fleshy pieces, but she'd take the risk if it meant getting to leave Ithaca and its demons in the dust.

"Be careful down there," Jason told them. He shot Annais one last soft look for good measure, which was odd considering his face wasn't his (and the wrinkles were just a bit too off-putting), then separated from them to hobble towards the ruins.

"Come on," Annabeth said once he was far enough away. "Piper, you go that way. Annais, come with me."

"Ma'am, yes, ma'am," Annais grunted, but she didn't complain as Piper inched around one side of the ridge they'd been hiding behind, leaving the two of them to creep the other way.

The distance between them and the spirits was closing rapidly. Annais, despite the tightness in her chest, managed to pull herself together so that she wasn't tripping nearly as much as before. It required just a bit too much focus, though, and she was quick to lose Annabeth in the crowd despite the blonde's insistence she stick close.

One impatient spirit thrusted his empty wine glass her way, the first in a long line to want his drink refilled. Annais froze up, tearing her eyes off her feet (just one in front of the other, she'd been thinking in her head, over and over like some kind of motivational mantra) to search around for something, anything.

"Here you go, sir," Piper appeared then, smiling passively, like she'd somehow heard Annais' thoughts shift from 'don't you dare trip' to 'oh shit, oh fuck, my cover's blown already!'

The ghost grumbled to himself but accepted Piper refilling his drink instead. This gave Annais a second to slip away. She snatched up the nearest jug of whatever, prayed it was something alcoholic and ghost-appropriate, then set off through the crowd with a tight smile on her face. She had no doubt she looked even more ridiculous, if Jason's incredulous expression as he caught sight of her was anything to go by, but no other spirits looked twice and Piper seemed pleased once she passed Annais and disappeared again.

"Iros!" a raspy voice cried out nearby. Subtly, Annais shifted in that direction. She was careful not to let her gaze linger for too long on Antinous, but he was fortunately too busy gaping at Jason to notice her keen-eyed stare. "Is that you, you old beggar?"

Well, at least the Mist and Hazel's magic really had worked.

"That's me!" Jason exclaimed, coughing and putting on his best cranky old man voice as a dozen more ghosts turned to look at him. Some were frowning, others glowered in contempt, but Jason didn't let this phase him. "Guess I'm late to the party. I hope you saved me some food?"

"Hey!" a spirit snapped, waving his goblet in Annais' face.

She snapped to attention, grinned extra pretty and batted her lashes as she poured him some wine. He marched away with a huff after that, leaving Annais to exhale sharply in momentary relief. She needed to pay more attention. Jason could look after himself.

She spent the next few minutes serving tables. Poured drink after drink until her jug had emptied. Most of the ghosts stared through her like she was just another undead thing, but she caught one or two pause oddly, like they could sense the dread of Hades in her.

Maybe she should've thought of this before throwing herself to the wolves.

She started cleaning tables then, clearing bits of food (yuck!) and wine away while stacking a few golden plates and cups into her arms. Each table she cleaned was one more closer to Jason. He'd just picked up the nearest steak knife and stabbed into the tabletop. He glared at the ghosts as they jumped and went silent.

"Why would you welcome me? Because I'm still running messages, you stupid wretches! I've just come from the house of Hades to see what you're up to!"

At that, Antinous tensed. "You expect me to believe Gaea sent you, a beggar, to check up on us?"

Jason scoffed, as if amused. "I was among the last to leave Epirus before the Doors of Death were closed. I saw the chamber where Clytius stood guard under a domed ceiling tiled with tombstones! I walked the jewel-and-bone floors of the Necromanteion!"

Every word set a fire within the ghosts. They had grown restless, glancing eagerly between Antinous' steely expression and Jason, who'd successfully managed to wield Iros' face.

"So, Antinous," he continued. "Maybe you should explain to me why you're worthy of Gaea's favour. All I see is a crowd of lazy, dawdling dead folk enjoying themselves and not helping the war effort. What should I tell the Earth Mother?"

If he wasn't an old man, Annais could've kissed him! Instead, she risked a proud smile as she passed his table, her stomach twisting in knots when she had to move past Antinous. At this proximity, he reeked of death more than any other ghost present in the courtyard. As if to prove her point, he yanked the steak knife from the table and dragged it across his palm. Rotting brown liquid spilled from the cut shimmering with the unmistakable haze of Annais' shadows, drying on his skin like spilled ink. Jason stared in thinly veiled disgust, having been distracted for a second by Annais' smile.

The ghostly conversation continued. Annais missed chunks of it, but the growing dread in Jason's gaze was unmistakable. "The Acropolis," Annais managed to catch him saying as one particularly annoying ghost asked for her to cut his food up for him. Useless, even in death, these suitors. "The most ancient temples to the Gods, in the middle of Athens. That is where Gaea will wake."

"Of course!" Much to Annais' shock, a spirit she identified to be Eurymachus replied to Jason with a laugh. "And to get there, those meddlesome demigods will have to travel by sea, eh? They know it's too dangerous to fly over land."

"Which means they'll have to pass this island," Jason pieced together.

Annais held her breath in wait for Eurymachus' response. She hoped against hope they weren't aware of their presence just yet, and sure enough, "at that point, they'll have to make a choice, eh?"

"Why don't you take a seat with me, love?" It took Annais a second to realise the question was aimed at her. The spirit she'd been serving was grinning with brittle teeth, his yellow eyes raking over her form eagerly. She grimaced, unable to keep her smile in place when he patted his lap encouragingly. Couldn't he see she was trying to eavesdrop? Or, at the very least, ignore his greasy presence? "Come on. You can even feed me."

"I'll pass," she said, unable to stomach the polite pretences anymore. She marched off before he could protest, finally managing to find Annabeth in the crowd. "There you are! Can we please leave—"

Behind her, Eurymachus let out a horrified scream. Annais whirled around, gaze landing on Jason, but he was sitting unharmed next to the empty spot where Eurymachus had been seconds before. Antinous brushed off his hands, sitting back in his chair with ease while the other suitors at that table — and every other table surrounding him — watched in stunned silence. Nothing remained of Eurymachus but a pile of dust. It was like he'd never been there at all.

"Apologies, Iros," Antinous sneered. "But all you need to know is this. The ways to Athens are well guarded, just as we promised. The demigods would either have to risk the stairs, which are impossible, or sail around the entire Peloponnese, which is hardly much safer. In any event, it's unlikely they'll survive long enough to make that choice, protectors be damned. Once they reach Ithaca, we will know. We will stop them here and Gaea will see how valuable we are. You can take that message back to Athens."

Pale-faced, Annais turned back to Annabeth, who looked just as concerned. "Signal Piper," the blonde said, agreeing with Annais. "You're right. We need to leave, now."

But the daughter of Aphrodite was already watching them, waiting with furrowed brows. When Annais nodded, she departed from the ghost she was serving with a pretty smile, a smile that dropped the second her back was turned.

This was worse than any of them could've possibly thought. Antinous and Jason were still talking, and from the sounds of it, not only was Athens locked up like Fort Knox but Delphi was no longer in Apollo's control either. Their options were grim, of course, they nearly always were, but this just seemed dire.

"And if the demigods sail the long way around the Peloponnese?" Jason asked, beginning to edge out of his seat.

Antinous, oblivious, chuckled. "You worry too much. That journey is never safe for demigods, and it's much too far. Besides, Victory runs rampant in Olympia. As long as that's the case, there is no way the demigods can win this war."

Jason nodded slowly. "Very well. I will report as much to King Porphyrion. Thank you for the... er, meal."

But it wouldn't be that easy. Annais' hope crashed and burned, rotting just like teeth of that ghost who tried it on with her, when the spirit of a dead Roman praetor suddenly stepped into the limelight. "Wait," he called out, his deep-set eyes like sinkholes as he kept them locked on Jason. "You must stay."

Antinous huffed. "What's the problem, legionnaire? If Iros wants to leave, let him. He smells bad."

Piper caught Annais' gaze again and frowned. Annabeth palmed a carving knife from the nearest plate of meat. Annais removed the lid of her amphora, keeping her sword within reach as she sized up the dead praetor. Of all the spirits she expected to see amongst the rowdy bunch today, a Roman demigod, a young one too, wasn't one of them.

"I lost my cohort twice in Alaska," he was saying. "Once in life, once in death, to a Graecus named Percy Jackson."

Oh.

Shit.

"Still, I have come here to answer Gaea's call. Do you know why?"

"Stubbornness?" Jason offered.

"Treachery," Annais muttered.

"This is a place of longing," continued the praetor. "All of us are drawn here, sustained not only by Gaea's power but also by our strongest desires. Eurymachus' greed. Antinous' cruelty."

"You flatter me," blinked Antinous.

"Hasdrubal's hatred. Hippia's bitterness. My ambition. And you, Iros. What has drawn you here? What does a beggar most desire? Perhaps a home?"

"I should be going," Jason said, giving up and shoving his chair back. Antinous raised an eyebrow, casual but increasingly curious as he scanned his reaction. "Messages to carry."

All of a sudden, the spirit drew his sword, prompting Annais to grab the handle of her own. The crowd gasped and muttered amongst themselves, listening attentively. "My father is Janus, the God of two faces. I am used to seeing through masks and deceptions. Do you know, Iros, why we are so sure the demigods will not pass our island undetected?"

Jason turned to Antinous, trying his best to cast doubt on his fellow Roman. "Look, are you in charge here or not? Maybe you should muzzle your Roman."

"Ah, but this might be entertaining. Go on, Varus."

Varus raised his sword, the golden blade casting a warm glow on his sallow-skinned complexion. "Our desires reveal us. They show us who we really are. Someone has come for you, Jason Grace."

In time, the crowd parted to reveal the shimmering ghost of a woman. She was smiling, her eyes blue like the sky, hair running like liquid sun past her shoulders. Her face was shaped like Jason's. Jason, who seemed to crumble at the sight of her, the thin line of his mouth slackening.

"My dearest," the woman, Jason's mother, spoke in a soft, whispery voice. "You have come home."

Varus smirked. Annais longed to run him through with her sword, if only someone else hadn't done the job for her already. For a long moment, no one spoke. The ghost of Jason's mother drifted across the cobblestones like it was her who passed to Jason the gift of flying, not Jupiter.

"Dearest," she held out her arms to him.

Jason stumbled back. In the blink of an eye, Hazel's magic collapsed like one of Leo's emergency flares had struck it. The wrinkles peeled away to reveal youthful, sun-kissed skin. The reedy stature of his body faded as his posture straightened and strength returned to his arms. Grey hairs bled into blonde. Standing opposite his mother was like staring into a mirror.

"Mum?" he croaked.

"Yes, dearest. Come, embrace me."

"But... you're not real."

Annais couldn't stand it anymore. She despised the pain in his voice, the river of agony that ran deep. She snatched up her sword and abandoned her amphora, pushing through the crowd with a scowl while Annabeth followed at her back.

"Of course she is real," Varus taunted, sparing a glance at the three girls who came to stand on Jason's other side, opposing him. "Do you think Gaea would let such an important spirit languish in the Underworld? She is your mother, Beryl Grace. Star of television, sweetheart to the king of Olympus. The king, who rejected her not once but twice, in both his Greek and Roman aspects. She deserves justice as much as any of us."

The crowd circling them muttered their agreement. Jason's throat bobbed. His jaw clenched. He barely managed to meet Piper's eyes as she stepped in front of him, her smile long gone. "Jason, look at me. That isn't your mother. Her voice is working some kind of magic on you. Like charmspeak, only more dangerous. Can't you sense it?"

Piper's own charmspeak washed over him in war with Beryl's. Slowly, Jason blinked at her, the haze in his eyes beginning to clear and harden. He clung to Annais' wrist as she stepped up to his side, grip harsh, like she was the only physical thing rooting him to the present. To what was real and true. Annais let him be even as her wrist twinged in protest.

"This is only a remnant of your mother, Jason," added Annabeth, who had climbed onto the nearest table and kicked aside a platter. "You know, like an ara, or—"

"A remnant," Beryl sobbed, sounding truly, convincingly broken-hearted. "Yes, look what I have been reduced to and it's Jupiter's fault! He abandoned us. He wouldn't help me! I didn't want to leave you in Sonoma, my dear, but Juno and Jupiter gave me no choice. They wouldn't allow us to stay together. Why fight for them now?"

Annais had no doubt that, in some aspect, what Beryl said wasn't a lie. Juno and Jupiter would've forced her to give up Jason, but this wasn't the Beryl whose son was taken from her all those years ago. This was a spirit wearing her face. Driven into madness' cruel clutches, reduced to nothing but the injustices she'd faced. She fed off the emotions of her son, the flash of pain, even when Annais put the pieces together on what she was.

"Jason, this isn't your mother, not anymore," she said. "It's a mania."

Having driven herself to tears, Beryl shouted over her, "Join these suitors, son. Lead them. We can be a family again!"

"You left me," Jason snapped, voice raising for just a second, but as Beryl's doe-eyed gaze glistened and the first of her tears trailed down her skin, the anger wobbled and faded. "That wasn't Jupiter or Juno. That was you."

"Dearest, I told you I would come back. Those were my last words to you. Don't you remember?"

Antinous, who had so far watched the scene unfold with a ruthless gleam of glee in his eye, chose this moment to speak up. "So pleased to meet you, son of Jupiter. Listen to your mother. You have many grievances against the Gods. Why not join us? I gather these three serving girls are your friends? We'll spare them."

"Bullshit," scoffed Annais as Piper and Annabeth glared at him.

Antinous merely glanced back at Jason, who hadn't quite come back to himself yet. "You wish to have your mother remain in the world, don't you? We can do that. You wish to be a king—"

"No! No, I don't belong with you!"

Varus regarded him for a long instant before retorting. "Are you so sure, my fellow praetor? Even if you defeat the giants and Gaea, would you return home like Odysseus did? Where is your home now? With the Greeks? With the Romans? No one will accept you. And, if you get back, who's to say you won't find ruins like this?"

For a split second, both Jason and Annais were taken back to a different day. It wasn't long after Reyna, Nico, Hea and Hedge had left with the Athena Parthenos. Annais had taken to sleeping in Jason's cabin, finding it hard to sleep with Penelope resting her head on the other side of the wall. On that night, Annais had laid under Jason's arm, cold fingers tracing circles on the skin of his chest.

"You'll stay with me, won't you?" she asked, pressing her forehead to his breastbone so she didn't have to look at him as the words registered.

They'd been on her mind, in some way, pretty much since the very beginning. But now, he was no longer a praetor. Something had changed. He'd given up this integral part of himself, leaving himself to drift. She didn't want this flicker of hope in her heart to flare only to be doused out so cruelly. He could love her and still find a way to leave.

"We can go wherever you want," she said, before he had a chance to respond. "If that's still New Rome, even though you're not a praetor anymore, then I can live with that. If it's Camp Half-Blood, then that's okay too. But I don't want to be without you. I really don't."

Softly, Jason guided her head back with his fingers tangled in her hair. He let his lips graze her forehead, easing the pounding of her heart. "I don't know where I belong anymore, but I do know I want you with me wherever that is. You're not getting rid of me that easily."

Annais beamed. She couldn't contain it. "Maybe we can travel together."

Jason hummed at the thought. "We'd have to finish school first."

"Ugh," her smile almost immediately dimmed. "The few months I did at the Wilderness School were more than enough, I think."

They laid there until dawn that night, talking about a future they might never get. For once, reality didn't fill Annais with dread; rather, it fuelled her determination. Even if life lead them back to school (Hades, kill her now!) Annais would be happy just knowing she had him by her side. 

In the present, Jason cleared his throat and focused on Varus again. "You were a legion officer. A leader of Rome."

"So were you. Loyalties change."

"You think I belong with this crowd?" Jason frowned, incredulous. "A bunch of dead losers waiting for a free handout from Gaea, whining that the world owes them something?"

Annais smirked. Around the courtyard, the spirits rose to their feet and drew their weapons in protest, though they were quick to turn on each other instead when Piper yelled at them using her charmspeak. In the midst of the chaos, Beryl pushed her way to Jason.

"Dearest, be sensible. Give up your quest. Your Argo II could never make the trip to Athens. Even if it did, there's the matter of the Athena Parthenos."

Jason paused. "What do you mean?"

"Don't feign ignorance, my dearest. Gaea knows about this girl's sister, Hea." Beryl scanned Annais curiously, eyes sharp like icy blades. They reminded her of Khione, then, rather than Jason. "She's with your friend, Reyna and Nico, that son of Hades, and the satyr, Hedge. To kill them, the Earth Mother has sent her most dangerous son. The hunter who never rests. But you don't have to die."

The hunter who never rests.

Annais' senses clouded with panic. It was her turn to grip onto Jason, to keep herself steady. At last, the remaining bits of doubt in Jason's expression faded. He glared at his mother, this stranger, demanding of her, "What do you want? What brought you here?"

"I want life!" she cried desperately. "Youth! Beauty! Your father could have made me immortal. He could have taken me to Olympus, but he abandoned me. You can set things right, Jason. You are my proud warrior!"

Beryl didn't care about Jason, not really. He was a pawn in her game, one of the many pieces she could control and use up. That was what mania spirits searched for. Weaknesses to manipulate.

"Annais was right. You're a mania," Jason shook his head at her. "A spirit of insanity. That's what you've been reduced to."

"I am all that remains," Beryl agreed with a grim sneer. "Embrace me, son. I am all you have left."

That's not true, Annais immediately thought.

"No," Jason murmured, squeezing her hand one last time before letting go. "My loyalties haven't changed. My family has just expanded. I'm a child of Greece and Rome. I'm no child of yours."

With that, he made the ancient sign of warding off evil. Instantaneously, Beryl Grace's form flickered and disappeared, like she was never there in the first place. Her absence gave Jason no relief, but at least she was gone.

"Well, then," Antinous sighed. He studied them with a look of contempt that Annais returned, raising her sword in preparation. "I suppose we'll just kill you."

"Go on," she urged. "Try it."

All at once, the spirits attacked.

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A/N: happy birthday -trojanwar!! hope you like the update <33