~Playlist: "Everything Has Changed" by Taylor Swift ft. Ed Sheeran~

"Your eyes look like coming home, all I know is a simple name, everything has changed"

Piper's POV

Four days after Reyna got wounded, I find myself standing alone in the middle of a garden. It's peaceful, the only noise being the wind hitting a set of delicate wind chimes, sending a pleasant noise drifting among the flowers. And there are a lot of flowers.

Though it's such a cliché, my favorite of all the flowers are the roses, especially the red ones.

So that's where I drift over to: the rose bushes in front of the arched gazebo. They're ever so carefully pruned, the thorns clipped so short that they're hardly even there. And the petals are all embracing the sky, drinking in the golden sunlight. Not a single one is drooping or out of place. I shudder at the un-naturalness of it all, even as my hand reaches out to stroke one of the impossibly red petals. Perhaps it'll feel as velvety as it looks.

"Piper."

I jump, and my hand naturally retracts. I squint my eyes to look in the direction of the Sun, from where the voice came from.

Jason Grace, looking as official as always in his guard uniform, walks out of the Sun's light, and towards me. My heartbeat involuntarily flutters, and my hand reaches up to fidget with my necklace. But I don't leave.

I let him walk over to me. I watch as the golden sunlight reluctantly releases its possessive grip on his already tanned skin, as if it can't bear to let him go. But it does as he ducks under the gazebo and into the shade.

"I heard that you were out here," he says as an introduction with an easy grin.

I can't help but return it. "Aren't you supposed to be working?"

Jason shakes his head. "I'm on break right now."

The smile stays on my face. "Of course. How dare I even think that Jason Grace would be abandoning his job."

He laughs. "I'm not that much of a rule follower."

"Yes, you are."

Out of the corner of my eye, I look at Jason. I look at the way his eyes are unable to look at me, how he's fiddling with a button on the cuff of his shirt.

"What's wrong?" I say while reaching out for the rose petals once again. I stroke them gently.

"Does anything have to be wrong?" Jason asks back, but his eyes dart towards me too quickly to be passed as normalcy.

"No, but you're messing with that button," I gesture to his restless hand on his wrist, "and you can't look me in the eye. So what's wrong?"

He sighs, and leans against the tall white pole of the gazebo. "How can you read me so well?"

I shrug. "Consider it my talent."

A faint smile plays across his lips, and my eyes are drawn to the small white scar that rests beneath his nose. "It's about Reyna," Jason finally says, ripping my attention from his scar to his eyes.

"Oh." Disappointment crashes over me. I knew that they had grown up together, and I've seen them talking together several times before, but why does that bother me? Leo talks with Hazel all the time, and I could care less. Jason can talk with whomever he wants; I shouldn't care. But I do.

"I was with her when...you know what happened," Jason continues. "We were fighting. It was stupid, really, but I guess all fights are when you look back on them."

"Is that what you wanted to talk about?" I ask, playing nonchalant.

"Not all of it. I want you to help me find out who did it."

I blink. Jason's eyes are wide and persistent, silently begging me. I doubt he even knows how persuasive his eyes are.

"Who threw the knife at Reyna," Jason says.

I laugh at him. "I didn't need clarification, Jason. I know what you mean."

"That kind of rhymed," he says thoughtfully. "'Clarification' and 'Jason'. It works."

I bite my lip to keep myself from laughing again. I focus solely on fiddling with the green stem of a rose, pressing the pad of my finger against the full thorns.

"Careful," he says softly while peeling himself off of the pole, walking out of the gazebo, and squatting next to the plant beside me. Jason's hand dives into the rose bush, and carefully wraps his hand around my wrist. Gently, he pulls it out.

I stare at him breathlessly as his hand opens my own. Jason's eyes are hidden from the angle of his bent head, but I know from memory what they look like: slightly narrowed as he concentrates, his pale eyebrows drawn together, only a sliver of blue visible.

I blink, surprised at my own thoughts and how quickly I was able to sketch a mental image. What am I even doing? Where is this coming from?

"My hand is fine." I try to keep my voice level and undisturbed, but even I can't keep a note of breathlessness out of it. "They cut the thorns."

Jason's mouth stretches out into a grin. "You don't like that."

It isn't a question. I was so busy trying to sound normal and not like my heart was pounding louder than thunder in my chest that I didn't notice the hint of malice in my voice. I bite my lip, hard, to try and keep the blush from my face.

"No, I don't like it, but that doesn't matter."

"Why?"

His question takes me by surprise. I make an unintelligent noise. "Huh?"

"Why don't you like it?"

My mouth opens, but then shuts again. His blue eyes glance up me, full of laughter and curiosity.

"Why do you...I just don't...I thought we were talking about Reyna!" I sputter.

Jason leans his head back, and laughs, his Adam's apple bobbing. Unable to help myself, I join in with him. Our laughs chorus together and drift above the flowers.

"I didn't know that would get you so flustered," Jason says after his laughter fades.

"They were wild at some point, right? Now, they're here just for decoration. Trimmed and monitored into perfection, and kept that way by cutting off the imperfections. It's like the Selection, really."

"I didn't know you felt so strongly against it." All laughter is gone from Jason's voice, and refilled with solemnity.

I shrug. "I wasn't faced with much of a choice when I came. It was this, or live the life of a forgotten Two. Either way, I'd be trapped behind wealthy walls. I figured by coming here, at least I could be trapped with other girls as well."

"Do you really feel trapped."

I glance up at the palace walls behind me. "Like a once wild animal," I say, my eyes not leaving the graceful designs on the walls.

"Let me be your distraction."

My eyes widen, and I whirl around to face him. Oh my God, why did he just say that?

"I thought you were innocent!" I exclaim loudly.

"What?" Jason asks, his own eyes widening in confusion. "What did I say?"

I slowly exhale in relief. "Oh good. Oh good, good, good. For a second I thought you were offering...you know what, never mind what I thought. What did you mean?"

Though he still looks confused, Jason continues. "Help me find out who tried to kill Reyna. That will distract you, right?"

Relief continues to settle over me like a refreshing, gentle wave of water. "Right. Okay, let's do it."

"Really?"

"Really. We can be like detectives, you know? Get a bunch of cool gear, like walkie talkies. We could make cool nicknames for when we use them!" I exclaim, getting more and more excited as I think about it deeper. "I don't think you understand how awesome that would be. You can be something standard and official, like Eagle. Since you're a bird, I'll be a bird." Jason chuckles, but I talk over his laughter. "Um, Parrot sounds dumb, so that's out."

"Swan?" Jason offers, fighting, and failing, to keep the smile from his face.

"No, swans are just glorified geese, and geese are gross," I state matter-of-factly. "Hawks are pretty cool. Or falcons. I don't know, what do you think-"

Both my breath and rambling thoughts dissipate as Jason leans in towards me, and presses his lips against mine. He smells like roses and dirt and a scent that I only identify with Jason. I press my lips against his, but it's only for a moment before he pulls away again.

"Wow," he says breathlessly.

"Wow," I repeat in the same fashion. "Not that I'm protesting, but where did that come from?"

He blushes a deep crimson. "I don't know. You were so concentrating on thinking of birds, and all I wanted to do was kiss you."

"Do you still?" I ask, ignoring my thumping heart.

Jason nods, blushing as he does so.

This time, I'm the one who leans in. We share the same breath for a second before our lips are together. His hand is gently pressed against my back. Without him even knowing it, Jason is anchoring me to the ground. Without him holding me, I'd be floating miles off the ground.

Another fleeting kiss. He pulls away, but happiness shines in his eyes. "We shouldn't have done that," Jason whispers, but he doesn't look filled with either worry or rue.

I pause, knowing all too well what could happen now. Silena's screams echo through my mind. But some force pushes them out, and my mind decides to instead focus on Jason's hand easing off my spine.

"I know," I respond, whispering as well. "But I don't regret it."

"Me neither." A silence follows, but it is filled with happiness, and I feel safe. "Anyways, I should probably be going. I have to work and stuff."

"Yeah, I should be going, too."

I stand up, brushing off the pieces of brown dirt that cling firmly to the material of my dress. Tucking a strand of hair behind my ear, I straighten up, my legs protesting through the aching.

"Bye, Jason."

"Piper," Jason starts hesitantly as I start to leave. I stop, and pivot slightly on my heel so that I can face him. His face is a mosaic of amusement and bashfulness and genuineness. "Did you think I was offering sex earlier?"

I turn around, my face torn between smiling and blushing. I do both as I say, "I said bye, Jason."

His laughter escorts me out of the garden, and back into the castle. And the memory of Jason's lips against my own lingers, even long after I'm gone, and lying on my bed. I can still feel the ghost of his lips.

Authors Note

That was pretty bad. Sorry.

Anyways, my birthday is on Monday (November 14) and as my birthday gift to everyone (can I do that?), I'm going to try and update all my books. It'll take a while, but it will be done.

(New) Author's Note
I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. It has a lot of this raw Piper I haven't really been able to get to in a while. Also, this song is my favorite Taylor Swift song because Ed Sheeran is in it. Anyways, I hope you're enjoying the new version of Waiting on You, and I hope that you check out In Between Shadows, which is another Demigod Selection book. I love to hear your thoughts on each chapter!