LOST AT SEA | jason grace

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐢𝐱.

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐢𝐱. 𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑛

"𝚃𝙷𝙰𝚃 𝙻𝙾𝙾𝙺𝚂 nothing like a parrot!" Lorna argued.

"It's literally a parrot! See the head? And the wings!" Jason argued back.

"What kind of parrot looks like a 300 pound man weightliftng a chicken wing?"

Jason laughed heartily. It resounded through the still morning air. Jason and Lorna lay on the deck, their fingers right beside each other. 

Lorna's fingers stinged. She felt the need to move closer to Jason, to intertwine her fingers with Jason's. But she didn't have to because Jason did it first.

It made Lorna feel relieved. All of a sudden, they didn't need to defeat Gaea, they didn't have to go to Charleston. A huge weight was lifted from Lorna's heart. Jason was her sanctuary in this messed up world.

But the feeling of being safe made Lorna uneasy. She hadn't felt safe for a long time. Most of her life was spent fighting monsters or bullies, being out of harm's way was unfamiliar to her.

Lorna let go of Jason's hand. He propped himself up on his elbows, looking at Lorna with his eyebrow raised.

"We can't." Lorna said. "Not with everything that is going on right now. We have to focus on one thing and that's saving the world. If this happens, we won't be able to."

"If this happens?" Jason asked incredulously. "Lorna this," he pointed to Lorna and himself, "is happning. It has already happened- if that's what you want to call it. Do you not remember all the days back at camp? What were we doing then? Leading each other on?"

Lorna licked her lips to keep them from drying out. "Jason, that was camp. It's different."

"How is it different? Whatever we're having isn't something that can change when we're at a different place."

"Yes, it is." Lorna reasoned. "Because now, everything feels real. Everything is real. We have to save the world now. Do you not realise that?"

Jason scoffed. "Yes, of course I realised it." He said 'realised it' as if he were mocking someone. "I've known since a few months ago."

Lorna sighed and her shoulders sulked in. 

"Lorna," Jason put his hand on Lorna shoulder. "It's alright if you don't want to have a relationship now, I... I understand. But the prophecy is happening, you can't run away from it."

"I'm not going to run away from it." Lorna laughed lightly.

Jason sighed, as if he felt hopeless. "Okay." He got up and entended his arm towards Lorna. "Come one, let's have breakfast."

𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙶𝙷𝙾𝚂𝚃 of battery was not a ghost.

She shimmered white and floated on the water, moving smoothly, making a straight line toward the girls. As it got closer, Lorna could tell it was the figure of a woman.

"The ghost," Annabeth said.

"That's not a ghost," Hazel said. "No kind of spirit glows that brightly."

"Thank the Gods," Lorna said. "I wasn't excited to meet a ghost."

As if in a trance, Piper walked across the street toward the edge of the seawall, narrowly avoiding a horse-drawn carriage.

"Piper!" Annabeth called.

"We'd better follow her," Hazel said.

By the time Annabeth, Hazel and Lorna caught up to her, the ghostly apparition was only a few yards away. Piper glared at it like the sight offended her. "It is her," she grumbled.