CATHARSIS, jason grace¹

𝟬𝟬𝟲. don't faint. it's annoying

"WHAT DID ANNABETH MEAN?" Jason asked, trying to create some clarity in all this disarray. "When she said you convinced your siblings into bombing Mount Olympus?"

Aera trudged ahead. "What do you think she meant?"

"But how..." Jason questioned, struggling to process it, as he followed her. "...why would you do that?"

Aera's expression tightened. Jason thought she might disregard him again until she replied in a monotonous voice that resembled a robot reciting the lines programmed into its system, "The Titan's forces needed a way into the sacred city. Camp Half-Blood wouldn't surrender it, no matter how many monsters we sent, so..."

"You used them as collateral," Jason deduced. A shiver crawled down the back of his neck. "You knew they wouldn't want to hurt their own, so you sacrificed them."

Aera pitched him a bitter smile. "You're smarter than you look."

Jason wanted to say the same about Aera, whom he never would've imagined would be interested in warfare strategies, but he just couldn't wrap his head around the fact that Aera would engage in such a heartless tactic. No wonder all the campers had been so on edge since she arrived. Not only were they resentful for what she did to her own brethren, but they were also afraid of what she was capable of.

After that exchange, Aera didn't try to flirt or even speak with Jason again as they continued towards the Big House. Jason assumed she was giving him silence to thoroughly access his options. 

From the moment they had crash-landed into the lake, every molecule in his body seemed to be alerting him that he was in enemy territory. Something in his very bones told him he wasn't supposed to be here, that he was trespassing into unspeakably foreign grounds.

All things considered, it seemed to be a universally transparent fact to everyone at this camp that Jason wasn't the only intruder unwelcome here.

Every camper they passed on their way to the Big House seemed to have something to say about Aera. People would stop what they were doing and stare balefully in their direction. Jason heard all sorts of hushed speculations about why Aera was back at camp, if she was responsible for the disappearance of Percy Jackson, and what horrible punishments the gods had in store for her. Their amble through Camp Half-Blood made Jason feel more like he was transporting a convicted felon to a detention center rather than going to meet a camp director.

One group of campers even lowered their wooden swords in the middle of sparring to huddle together and disdainfully appraise Aera, whispering loud enough for her to hear.

"What's she doing here?" the first demanded.

Another shook their head. "Does she really think she can show up here and we'll forgive her just because she's got a pretty face?"

"Well, she certainly doesn't have anything else to offer."

"Do your eyes even work?" their friend chided. "She's even thinner than I remember. Looks like she hasn't eaten in days."

"And why would she get a tattoo?" the second continued. "It just make her look more pale. Her skin looks like an ataphoi's. It's just creepy."

"Guess Aera Kim's no longer the Helen of Troy of our generation," another snickered. "No wonder the gods didn't banish her. Going home to a mirror must have been enough punishment for her."

Their whole group erupted into cruel laughter.

Jason drew in a sharp breath and peered at Aera apprehensively. After watching Aera and Annabeth fight like wild animals, he braced himself to break up yet another fight or bear witness to some sort of malicious outburst.