CATHARSIS, jason grace¹

𝟬𝟬𝟰. you need a pedicure, johnny bravo

JASON CONSIDERED JUMPING OFF the railing of the Grand Canyon Skywalk to save Aera the craziest thing he'd done in his life until he separated the fight between her and that scary blonde. He never expected so much as a "thank you" from Aera for risking his life to save hers, but he thought it would at least exempt him from being at the other end of her violent tendencies. Of course, he was wrong, as he was about a multitude of things that morning.

"Reinforcements," Jason informed them, watching the chariot lap around the dwindling storm clouds. For some inexplicable reason, the sight of flying horses was vaguely familiar to him. "Hedge told me an extraction squad was coming for us."

"Extraction squad?" Leo reiterated. "That sounds painful."

Piper nodded in agreement, rubbing her arms. "And exactly where are they extracting us to—"

It all happened so fast, Jason had no time to react. One minute, the four of them were standing idly on the cracking skywalk, waiting for the chariot in the sky to land. The next, Aera had snatched the gold coin out of Jason's hand with blinding speed and was marching toward the chariot at a mile a minute.

"Hey!" he protested, "what are you—"

"Annabeth Chase." Aera seethed the name with so much hatred, her voice dropped a few octaves.

Jason tried to get his coin back, but Aera flipped it into the air. Before gravity could do its work, she shot her hand up and caught the coin in her palm at its highest point. Unfaithfully, the gilded ridge of Jason's sword materialized in her grip. Aera shoved her fan into Jason's chest and stomped toward the landing chariot with unbreakable fervor, his sword swinging at her side.

"Do you know them?" Piper asked, tailing her. "Who is that? Aera, wait!"

Left behind by the girls, Jason and Leo exchanged bewildered looks.

"Dude." Leo shook his head in disbelief. "You just got robbed by Aera."

They hurried over to the far end of the skywalk. The flying horses tucked in their wings and cantered nervously across the glass as if they sensed how fragile it was. Two teenagers operated the chariot—a tall blond girl maybe the same age as Aera, and a bulky dude with a shaved head and a rough face like a pile of bricks. Both were wearing jeans and orange T-shirts, with shields tossed over their backs like they were ready to ride into battle after their first period pegasi-riding class.

The girl leaped off the chariot before it could even finish moving. She pulled a knife and ran towards them while the bulky dude reined in the horses.

Aera met her halfway.

"Annabeth Chase," she snarled again, leveling the golden blade at the other girl's chest. "What did you do to me?"

Annabeth didn't even flinch. In fact, she closed in on Aera, despite the difference in the length and girth of their blades.

"You first!" the blonde girl shot back at Aera with just as much ferocity, if not more. "Where's Percy?"

She readied her dagger like she was preparing for a knife fight. Jason surged forward to stop them, but Piper caught his arm.

"No, don't," she discouraged. "Aera doesn't like it when we get in her way."

You don't know her, Jason almost said out loud. You don't know how dangerous she is.

Apart from her strange heart-controlling abilities, Jason could still picture Aera's murderous look and the blood dripping from her hands in his fragmented memory. Piper's voice was so calm and soothing, it was hard not to listen to her.