reflection ● jason grace

Oh. Oh!

Jason made his way through New Rome with minimal bully encounters.

He left his friends alone for a bit. Reyna, being a psychopath, wanted to train. Dakota, also pretty insane, offered to teach her how to shoot at the range. Every muscle in Jason's body was screaming. He thought he heard Clara and Nathan say they were going to take a nap.

Leila had given them two days off, which Jason should probably use to study or learn something useful. He thought about the last line of the prophecy, At 16 young, the die is cast. He had a feeling that the next few years would pass by quicker than he expected.

Jason needed advice, and since Leila was upset with him and Daniel was Daniel, that left one person. His grandmother. An angel of a lady who he didn't talk to enough. He was probably going to get a scolding, but at least he wouldn't have to eat bread and cheese for lunch.

"Where are you going, Grace?" A voice that he didn't recognize taunted him. Jason turned to see a stocky teenager with muscles the size of baseballs. There were no weapons allowed inside the city, but Jason didn't need any if it came down to it.

"Uh, to my grandma's house?" Jason raised an eyebrow. He vaguely recalled seeing the guy's face around camp. Maybe from the Fourth Cohort. "Is there a problem?"

"Is there a problem?" He mocked in a high-pitched voice that definitely didn't resemble Jason's. "Yeah, kinda worried you might trip and blow up half of the city."

Jason scoffed, turning to walk away. "Go fuck yourself, dude."

Even Nathan was smart enough not to instigate someone that was a good six feet tall and was built like the statues of Mars on Temple Hill. "What did you just say to me?"

Jason sighed. "Don't you have anything better to do than pick on someone who's like, five years younger than you?"

"Randy!" A woman's voice shouted. "Come help your sister with her math homework!"

"Saved by the bell," The person that Jason assumed was Randy muttered. "But you've got more coming. I'm not the only one that hates your guts." He raced off, kicking up dust in Jason's eyes.

"That's right," he muttered. "Run back to mommy." As if he wasn't doing the same thing.

If Jason was an outcast before the siege, then he didn't know how to describe himself now. Being the son of Jupiter got you angry grunts and eye rolls, being the son of Jupiter who got a bunch of people killed got you hissed comments and roughhousing, and Jason wasn't too keen on either.

He trudged the rest of the way to Nani's house in a bad mood. He did this to himself, but it was still miserable. The only thing he was grateful for was Daria's absence. If she or Michael had been here, Randy would be a goner.

Their childhood home was quaint. The outside was white marble and there was a purple flag hanging on top of the doorframe, which was standard, but Nani loved to garden. The window sills were overflowing with plants and there were garden gnomes in the dirt. Jason stepped on the ceramic tiles and rang the doorbell.

It opened almost immediately and Jason felt guilty. He really should try and visit more often. Nani's hair was grayer and the smile lines beside her eyes were deeper, but she looked overjoyed to see him, making Jason's heart swell.

"Jason," she said in an old lady voice. "What a wonderful surprise!"

He bent down to hug her, feeling weird. Was he always this tall? "You should really ask who's at the door before you open it."

Nani sniffed. "I can defend myself, you know." She moved to let him come inside. "I'm not that old."

"No, you are," Jason commented with a grin. "You should be lucky that there are no weapons allowed in the city." He breathed in the scent of the house. Something was cooking.