CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE:
LIGHT SWITCH

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WHEN JASON OPENED HIS eyes, he feared that Death had finally caught up with him. Annais was nowhere to be found. He was entirely alone, the room around him untouched save for the rumpled blue sheets of the bed he was lying on. For a moment, he stayed there, head pounding along with the routine hammering of his heart.

Okay, so clearly he wasn't dead. That was good to know.

On the other side of the heartbeat, the past morning returned to him in flashes. Control spilling out of him like an overflowing sink. Percy's normally sea-green eyes shimmering gold beneath the sweltering sun. Ezra's blood coating the soil a shocking red. Annais' undeniably horrified expression as he struck her in the throat with his fist...

Annais.

Like a switch turned on, she was the only thing on his mind.

Annais looking at him with terror in her eyes, fear created by his own heavy hands and uncontrollable intent. Annais' terrified shouts as his head swum with shadows. Annais, Annais, Annais. Right, then. It was official. He couldn't sit there a moment longer, wasting time they didn't have to begin with. He had to find her.

And, of course, find the others...

Everyone was above deck when he re-emerged, even Percy and Ezra. Percy was hovering as close as the Min girl would let him, an irritated bump on his head from where Annais must've knocked him out. His eyes were green again, swimming in horror, not once leaving the bandage wrapped around Ezra's torso. For someone who was stabbed by their closest friend, she seemed completely put together, like the turn of events hadn't even happened.

Jason didn't know what to make of that. Nor did he know what to think of Annais' pointed absence.

"Where's Annais?" he asked, finding his voice with a spark of worry swelling in his chest. Did something happen to her? Had he done something to hurt her and he just didn't remember it? At first, no one answered, his sudden presence in the dining room scaring the wits out of them. Jason felt impatience trickle in, brows furrowing into a prominent scowl. "Guys? Hello? Where is she?"

"I'm right here," a voice, her voice, murmured from behind him, followed by a soft touch to his shoulder as Annais Min shuffled past. It took Jason a second to see the bruises that lined the skin of her neck, but when he did, Annais was quick to hike up the collar of her shirt, insisting with a hasty inhale, "I'm fine."

Jason didn't believe her for a second. If she noticed, she said nothing. Instead, she turned to the empty space beside Melanie at the table and made herself comfortable. Eventually, Jason sat down on her other side, instinctively reaching over to intertwine their fingers on her lap. Annais didn't want to question his sudden longing for intimacy, squeezing his hand tight in her grasp.

She wasn't ready to lose it again so soon.

They sat that way throughout the entirety of Piper's explanation about what happened. Every now and then, Annais would add in a detail that the other girl had missed, but Jason and Percy remained completely silent, expressions stoic as they glowered at each other across the table.

"So it wasn't my fault," Leo said once Piper went quiet. He released a shaky exhale, a sound he hadn't meant to give, but it was brimming with the release of guilt. "I didn't start World War Three. I just got possessed by an evil spirit. That's a relief!"

"Yes, but the Romans don't know that," Annabeth pointed out. The blonde girl was sitting on Ezra's side, stubborn eyes refusing to meet Percy's over the Min girl's shoulder. "And why would they take our word for it?"

"We could contact Reyna," Jason suggested, hand slipping from Annais' suddenly. "She would believe us."

He had so much faith in her, so much respect. Annais didn't blame him. As much as she didn't like her, Reyna wasn't a bad person. And for the leader of an enemy camp, she was good. But that didn't make this feeling any easier.

Gods, sometimes Annais wished she could just let go. It would be so much easier to feel nothing than everything at once.

And just to make things worse, Jason turned to Piper with a hopeful gleam in his eyes, like the thought of Reyna had brought life back to him. "You could convince her, right, Piper? I know you could."

Piper, with a carefully schooled expression of indifference, shrugged and looked at Annais. Even Ezra winced across the table, shaking her head at the sound of the boy's voice. Jason didn't seem to notice, for he sat back and tried to reach for Annais' hand again. She was quick to nudge him away, gaze locked on the wall behind an unnaturally sympathetic Annabeth.

"I could try," Piper muttered at last, clearly not interested in entertaining the topic. "But Octavian is the one we have to worry about. In my dagger blade, I saw him taking control of the Roman crowd. I'm not sure Reyna can stop him."

Before Jason could question her, could protest that he knew Reyna wouldn't let that happen, and whatever other bullshit that would only piss Annais off, Frank and Hazel spoke up in agreement.

"She's right," the son of Mars declared. "This afternoon when we were scouting, we saw eagles again. They were a long way off, but closing in fast. Octavian is on the warpath."

The daughter of Pluto grimaced, face pale beneath the dim dining room lights. "This is just the sort of opportunity Octavian has always wanted. He'll try to seize power. If Reyna objects, he'll say she's soft on the Greeks." Maybe not the Greeks, but definitely Jason. Everyone but Jason seemed to know it, too, for their attention turned to Annais once before flickering away uncomfortably at the sight of her thunderous expression. If looks could kill... "Uh, as for those eagles... It's like they could smell us."

"They can," Jason said, to which Hazel frowned. "Roman eagles can hunt demigods by their magical scent even better than monsters can. This ship might conceal us somewhat, but not completely, not from them..."

At that, Leo made a sound of dismay, anxiously beginning to drum his fingers on the table-top. "I knew I should've installed a smoke screen that makes the ship smell like a giant chicken nugget." He spared a glance Mel's way, saying offhandedly, "Remind me to invent that, next time."

Mel smiled, prompting Leo's frown to momentarily fade into a grin of triumph. Progress. That had to count for something, right?

Then, of course, Hazel just had to speak and Annais watched Mel's face drop like a heavy stone. "What's a chicken nugget?"

On this episode of The Bold and the Beautiful...

Leo spun around to gape at her, wide-eyed and oblivious. "Oh, man, that's right. You've missed the last, like, seventy years. Well, my apprentice, a chicken nugget--"

"Doesn't matter," Annabeth interrupted with an air of impatience. "The point is, we'll have a hard time explaining the truth to the Romans. Even if they believe us..."

"You're right," Jason sighed. It clearly pained him to say it, but there was too much of a risk in contacting Reyna. As much as Annais hated to admit it, a small part of her was glad to avoid the Roman girl for just that bit longer. "We should just keep going. Once we're over the Atlantic, we'll be safe, at least from the legion."

"How can you be sure?" Piper frowned. "Why wouldn't they follow us?"

"You heard Reyna talking about the ancient lands." If Annais took a shot every time Jason Grace mentioned Reyna like she was a holy gift from the Gods, she'd be well on her way to getting shit-faced. "They're much too dangerous. Roman demigods have been forbidden to go there for generations. Even Octavian couldn't get around that rule."

For a moment, no one said anything, eating their dinner and mulling over the turn of events. Annais had begun picking at her food, needing an excuse not to hold Jason's expectant hand. He kept looking at her like a kicked puppy, and it was beginning to grate on her nerves. The audacity of him to mention Reyna, to her face, then look hurt when she rightfully reacted with anger...

She knew Jason Grace was an idiot, but she'd always thought he was her idiot. Well, until now.

"So, if we go there..."

"We'll be outlaws as well as traitors," Jason confirmed for Frank. "Any Roman demigod would have the right to kill us on sight. But I wouldn't worry about that. If we get across the Atlantic, they'll give up on chasing us. They'll assume that we'll die in the Mediterranean, the Mare Nostrum."

Percy pointed his pizza slice at Jason, completely unphased by the depressing thought. It brought a brief grin onto Annais' face. At least one of them seemed to be doing okay, you know, despite the bump on his head and the fact he'd stabbed his closest friend... That kind of threw a spanner in the works. "You, sir, are a ray of sunshine."

"So let's plan ahead," he continued when Jason didn't contradict him. "And make sure we don't die. Mr. D, Bacchus-- Ugh, do I have to call him Mr. B now? Anyways, he mentioned the twins in Ella's prophecy. Two giants. Otis and, uh, something that started with an F?"

"Ephialtes," Jason provided, to which Percy nodded and looked at Annabeth, just assuming she'd recognise the names...

Of course, he was right and she did. "Twin giants, like Piper saw in her blade... I remember a story about twin giants! They tried to reach Mount Olympus by piling up a bunch of mountains."

"Well, that's great," Frank let out a terrified chuckle at just the thought. "Giants who can use mountains like building blocks. And you say Bacchus killed these guys with a pinecone on a stick?"

"Something like that," Percy shrugged, like he was doing everything in his power not to think of the blasted wine God. Annais knew the feeling. "I don't think we should count on his help this time. He wanted a tribute, and he made it pretty clear it would be a tribute we couldn't handle."

For a while, they sat in silence, only vaguely listening to Gleeson Hedge patrolling the decking above. He was singing 'Blow the Man Down' except he didn't know the lyrics, so much to Annais' amusement, he began to make up some interestingly colourful replacements for them.

"She wants two of us, you know," Piper suddenly blurted, shaky hands wrapping around the glass of juice she'd poured to have with her food. She hadn't taken a sip, nor had she touched the cooling tofu burger on her plate. For a second, she met Annais' eyes, knowing and terrified. Ezra's blood had spilled across the land. It wasn't much, but would it be enough to begin re-awakening Gaea? "And I think she already has one."

"Who?" Annabeth demanded, brows furrowing in a combination of fear and denial.

Swallowing thickly, Annais muttered, "Ezra..."

The silence lingered for only a second before shattering. Suddenly, everyone was speaking over each other at once, demanding some kind of explanation. Ezra, to give her credit, remained stony-faced and quiet, head bowed with Percy's hand squeezing hers and Annabeth's hot gaze burning daggers into the side of her jaw.

At last, Piper cut over the chaos, exclaiming, "Today on the highway, Gaea told me that she needed the blood of only two demigods -- one female, one male. She... She asked me to choose which boy would die. And she asked me and Annais to fight to the death."

"But none of us died," Jason pointed out in confusion. "You both saved us."

"Maybe, but Ezra was stabbed," Annais countered, shrugging when everyone turned to her next. "What if she didn't mean that we had to die? What if she just meant blood?"

"Surely it wouldn't be that easy," Annabeth insisted stubbornly, though even she didn't seem certain. "We're on a life-threatening quest. How are we supposed to avoid bleeding?"

The question hung, left unanswered.

"Guys, remember the Wolf House?" Leo muttered, glancing from the Min girls to Jason and Piper inquisitively. Annais nodded, wary but encouraging him to continue. "Our favourite ice princess, Khione? She talked about spilling Jason's blood, how it would taint the place for generations... Maybe demigod blood had some kind of power..."

Mel frowned at him. She was struggling to hide her doubt. "A power we've never known about?"

At the same time, though, Percy let out a shaky gasp; a sound that reminded Annais of realisation. Annabeth, frowning too, called his name.

"This is bad," he said in response, shaking his head back and forth like he could change whatever it was that he knew. He turned to Frank and Hazel then, prompting them to lean forward in the seats with matching expressions of weariness. "Do you guys remember Polybotes?"

"The giant who invaded Camp Jupiter?" Hazel recalled after a moment. "The anti-Poseidon you whacked in the head with a Terminus statue? Yes, I think I remember."

Annais would be asking about that story later. But for now, she sat in contemplative silence, listening as Percy replied, "I had a dream. When we were flying to Alaska. Polybotes was talking to the gorgons, and he said... he said he wanted me taken prisoner, not killed. He said: 'I want that one chained at my feet, so I can kill him when the time is ripe. His blood shall water the stones of Mount Olympus and wake Earth Mother.'"

When a familiar chill scraped its way down Annais' spin, sudden and jarring, Annais knew they were no longer alone in the room. Perhaps it was a Daughter of Death thing, or maybe it was something possessing her that recognised a spirit when it saw one, but Annais was quick to sit forward, her urgency mistaken for terror at what Jason had just said. She met Hazel's eyes for a moment, catching the way she frowned, but Hazel said nothing.

Annais let out a shallow breath, glancing around them slowly, but bit her tongue for the moment. Maybe it was just her imagination, like walking into the unknown for the first time and fearing every sound and shadow she didn't recognise. She forced herself to tune back into what the others were discussing, catching Piper responding to something Annabeth had said.

"Bacchus told us we should seek out...what was his name?"

"Phorcys," Percy clarified upon Piper turning towards him.

In a state of surprise, Annabeth asked, "You know him?"

Clearly, she wasn't used to the roles being reversed. Normally, it was her in control, the one with every answer somebody might need. Now it was Percy, and Annabeth was warming his role as the clueless one. Annais smothered a laugh as, triumphant, Percy shrugged and said, "Well, I didn't recognize the name at first. Then Bacchus mentioned salt water, and it rang a bell. Phorcys is an old sea God from before my dad's time. Never met him, but supposedly he's a son of Gaea. I still don't understand what a sea God would be doing in Atlanta."

Leo let out an incredulous scoff, like Percy should've known better. "What's a wine god doing in Kansas? Gods are weird, dude."

"Ain't that the truth," Ezra snickered, her first words, much to Annais' surprise, being in agreement with Leo.

The boy in question grinned like Ezra had just professed her undying love for him. "I think that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me, Ezra Min."

Ezra snorted. "Wow, that's pathetic."

"And the moment's over, thanks a lot."

From where she sat between them, Mel gave a pointed cough, her face pale as she murmured, "Leo? You were saying?" Perhaps it was just the poor lighting, but Annais couldn't shake the feeling that she'd felt it too, the strange inkling that there were more than just ten demigods in the dining room.

"Oh. Right. I was saying we should reach Atlanta by noon tomorrow, unless something goes wrong."

"Don't even say that," Annabeth scowled at him. When Leo merely grinned, she rolled her eyes. "Look, it's getting late. We should all get some sleep."

Right on que, another cold shiver warped Annais' senses, poking at the weak spots of her mind, testing them. Annais winced, one of her fingers tracing the rim of her ring almost threateningly. The cold feeling went away right as Piper spoke.

"Wait," she exclaimed, hand catching hold of Annabeth's just as the blonde went to leave the table. "There's one last thing. The eidolons... the possessing spirits... you feel it too, right, girls? I can see it on your faces."

"Feel what?" Annabeth and Ezra muttered in unison, then subconsciously grinned in the aftermath. But Annais couldn't bring herself to smile. Neither could Melanie, with her eyes closed in concentration or Hazel with her eagle-eyed glower.

"They're still here, in this room," Mel murmured after a tense moment, eyes slowly opening. "Piper's right. I can feel them."

At first, no one said anything, too stunned to speak. Only the girls, the ones who'd sensed it before, sat with grim but determined expressions on their faces. Annais' jealousy was long forgotten as she analysed Jason's face. His eyes weren't gold, but there was something distant there, like the tide of the ocean was slowly pulling him away from her, replacing him with something else, something different. Annais didn't like it one bit.

"How can you be so sure?" Annabeth asked at last, legs trembling as she lowered herself back into her chair.

"I've met eidolons," Hazel explained. "In the underworld, when I was... you know..."

"Dead?" Ezra filled in for her. Hazel frowned, clearly not expecting her to say it with such blatant amusement. The others sighed, but each of them were used to it by then, even Frank much to Annais' surprise.

"So..." the boy in question said, rubbing a hand across his buzz-cut like he'd somehow be able to scratch the spirit out of him. "You think these things are lurking on the ship, or..."

"Possibly lurking inside some of us," Piper filled in the blanks. "We don't know."

"I think they are," Annais murmured. Then, upon seeing their looks of confusion, "I don't know how to describe it, but for me, it's kind of like when a hacker's trying to get into your bank account. You see the alerts lighting up, you know you have to change the password, otherwise they'll get in. I can feel them poking at my brain, wanting control."

"We have to take some steps," Piper agreed, then glanced towards the girl sitting beside Leo. "With Mel's help, I think we can do this."

"Do what?" Percy frowned.

Piper didn't answer at first, just continued to stare at Mel like they were communicating in their heads. At last, Mel nodded, then turned to catch Percy's eyes in hers, sea against soil.

"Eidolons," she said, in a monotone voice that Annais didn't hear from her cousin often. Mel's voice was always soft and sweet, but she supposed soft and sweet wouldn't work on demons only she knew how to command. "Raise your hands for me."

Nothing happened for a moment. Annais felt a twitch in her palm, like the urge to raise her hand up loud and proud, but the feeling disappeared just as quick as it came. Leo laughed nervously, clearly finding amusement in his girlfriend's antics.

"Mel, I love you, but did you really think this was going to--"

Several things seemed to happen at once. Mel gasped, hanging off the words I love you just as he, Jason and Percy raised their hands, eyes turning that sickening shade of gold Annais hated so much. The ones that remained unaffected were quick to lurch from their seats. Once again, Annais had found herself holding hands with the devil, testing her fucking luck against Death itself.

"Oh, gods," Annabeth murmured, helping an unphased Ezra to her feet. She glanced over her shoulder at Piper, then at Melanie and Annais like they would somehow be able to draw them out for good. "Can you cure them?"

Piper shrugged, clearly uncertain, but tried her best not to waver as three pairs of cat-like eyes peered towards her. "Are there more of you on this ship?" she demanded, voice trembling but stern at the same time.

"No," a voice that was certainly not Leo's replied. "The Earth Mother only sent three. The strongest, the best. We will live again."

Despite the what the fuck kind of feeling that occurred upon seeing her friends possessed, Annais was relieved that it wasn't her who was possessed. It was just the Hades part of her sensing them close.

"Not here, you won't," Mel said with a surprising amount of anger. "I won't let you."

"Spawn of Melinoe--"

"You're going to leave these bodies," she snapped, refusing to let the voice controlling Jason waver her confidence. Despite everything, Annais smiled. "Hey! Did you hear me?"

"We won't," not Percy Jackson growled in protest.

"We must live," hissed not Leo Valdez.

Frank ran a shaky hand over his head again, but this time, the action was stressed, like he was doing everything in his power not to turn and flee the room. "Mars Almighty, that's creepy," he stuttered. "Get out of here, spirits! Leave our friends alone!"

With a cackling kind of laugh, Leo turned to look him up and down with distaste. "You cannot command us, child of war. Your own life is fragile. Your soul could burn at any moment."

Annais wasn't sure what to make of that, but Frank didn't give them the chance to question it before he drew an arrow and knocked it in his bow, snapping, "I've faced down worse things than you. If you want a fight--"

"Frank, don't," Hazel warned at the same time as Piper cried out using her charmspeak. Frank froze, eyes wide and glassy. Hazel stepped closer to him, a protective hand on one of his arms while the other pointed towards Jason's summoned sword. "Put that down, Jason."

Percy scoffed, despite the fact she hadn't been referring to him. "Daughter of Pluto, you may control gems and metals, but you do not control the dead."

"She might not," Annais exclaimed before she could change her mind. "But I do."

"So do I," Mel smirked. "So do as I say, eidolons. Leave my friends alone."

Piper repeated her words, charmspeak rolling out across the room. Jason let out a gasp, nose scrunching up like the sound had pained him. "We will leave these bodies," he repeated, his voice croaky, caught between his regular tone that Annais loved so much and this strange vibration.

"Not only that," Melanie continued. "But you'll vow on the River Styx that you'll never return to this ship or to anyone on board the ship. You hear me?"

Leo and Percy struggled, at war with their own minds. At last, their conscious' won out, and the three of them, including Jason, chanted, "We promise on the River Styx."

"You're dead," Piper insisted.

"We are dead."

"Now, leave."

Just like that, the three boys lost consciousness. Percy landed face-first into his pizza, Annabeth pulling away from Ezra to bring him into her arms. At the same time, Jason slipped from his chair, head almost catching the corner of the table. If it weren't for Annais forcing her arms around his neck, he would've given himself yet another concussion.

As for Leo. Well, he landed at Melanie's feet, groaning when his nose smacked against the tiles.

"Are you alright?" Hazel asked when Melanie remained tight-lipped.

Leo groaned like he wasn't sure, then forced himself up onto his feet. Annais spared him a glance, deciding he was definitely fine when she spotted him picking out spaghetti from his hair and sniffing it like he was debating whether or not to eat it. Instead, she tugged Jason to his feet, a worried hand ghosting over his jaw as she guided his head this way and that, searching for any new injuries.

"Did it work?" Leo asked, snapping her out of her obvious lapse in judgement.

"It worked," Mel confirmed, and as much as Annais could deduce, she was right. "I don't think they'll be back."

Jason, head still leaning into Annais' touch, grinned and murmured, "Does that mean I can stop getting head injuries now?"

In a blink, Annais snatched her hand back, like his skin was lava and she was made of ice. He frowned, but Annais turned away, her stomach twisting with a combination of resentment, both at him and at herself. She was the first one out of the room, ignoring the silence that followed the slam of the door behind her. Everything felt suffocating. The walls around her as she took the stairs up to the deck. The sky melting from a pale pink to a soft lavender shade. Gleeson's singing echoing in the open but stifling air. Even Annais' own body felt suffocating, like she was trapped in a skeleton that wasn't her own.

She was quick to flee to her own room, ignoring the thudding footsteps behind her. They could wait. She needed a way to breathe.

But Jason wasn't about to let her slip away. Not again.

"What's your problem?" he frowned, Annais' bedroom door slamming behind him. Annais sighed into her hands. She had known he would follow, but knowing something and it actually happening were two very different things. She had no idea what to say, couldn't bring herself to face him. However, Jason had other plans, and his hand caught her elbow to spin her around. "Hey, what's the matter? Did I say something?"

"I don't know, did you?" Annais scoffed, then sighed to herself when she realised how stupid she was being. She couldn't let him get to her. She didn't want to see his face when he realised. "I'm fine, Jason. Nothing's wrong."

"I don't believe you," he retorted, but there was something about the way he said it. Like puzzle pieces slowly falling into place. "You got weird the second I mentioned Reyna..."

Annais couldn't help rolling her eyes. It was instinctive. But it also cost her, for Jason's eyes almost immediately brightened with realisation.

"You're jealous," he said, a grin tugging at his lips. It wasn't a question. He knew Annais like the back of his hand. He could see it on her face, in her furrowed brows, in the stricken expression of someone who didn't understand why they were feeling a certain way.

Annais let out a scoff at his words, spitting out an 'I'm not' that felt like the biggest lie she'd ever told. Defensively, she crossed her arms over her chest like she was warding off an enemy, refusing to say the words on the tip of her tongue. You're right, Jason. I am jealous, and I fucking hate it. There. Does that make you happy?

"It's okay," he said, and for a heart-stopping moment, Annais feared that she'd said her thoughts aloud. When his grin morphed into a smirk, though, she breathed a momentary sigh of relief. Jason wasn't the type of person to hear pain in someone's voice and relish in it. He didn't know. Yet. "You have nothing to be jealous of."

The sudden exposure was not what Annais was used to. Stripped bare to the rawest of emotion, feelings she'd kept smothered since the war, since Ezra, since realising she was capable of caring about someone as much as she cared about him. Jason picked at the seam holding everything together, then stood back and watched it unravel. That soft look she had feared she'd see before took hold of his eyes. Slowly, he reached out, until one hand had curled around the back of her neck and the other was pushing her jaw up.

"Do you think, if I asked to kiss you again, we'd get interrupted?"

Carefully, she let her own hands graze his shoulders, gaze falling to his mouth. She knew he was waiting for an answer, an indication that she was okay with him kissing her. But the words failed, and Annais' heart ached at the doubt that took over his features. He was so sure she wanted him, that part of her would be able to love him too, even if that day wasn't today.

How had he gotten that wrong?

"I'm sorry... I shouldn't have--"

"Kiss me," she blurted then, prompting his hand to tighten around her jaw.

He wasn't certain if she was just doing this to make him happy, or if she really did feel the same. Annais wasn't sure either. One of his hands had returned to the back of her neck, grip rigid. It felt like a stand-off. Jason could've tightened his grip and killed her. Or he could've kissed her. Was there even a difference between the two?

But as she angled her head up, lips brushing his, Jason knew.

Annais Min had no idea what she was doing, had never brushed so close with Death and love at the same time. She'd never kissed someone, never even entertained the thought of actually pursuing romance and intimacy. It just never interested her. But he was different. She knew him, and she liked what she saw, even the broken parts, for they fit against her own jagged edges with surprising ease. They were cut from the same cloth, two sides of the same coin.

Through every doubt, every fear, she didn't want to let him slip away.

"Kiss me," she repeated.

So he did just that.

Like that last breath of air before the lungs withered, a sharp inhale before the tide clogged your body, the Underworld welcoming a water-logged version of on the other side.

In other words; it was love, just how Annais Min knew it.

A flicked light switch.