BABY DON'T CUT - jason grace

Chapter Twelve

Estella was sitting behind Jason, who was still unconscious, looking peaceful and adorable. Estella's heart was pained, and not just because her entire relationship with Jason ended up being fake.

Estella wanted to grab the razor from her backpack, or even the knife, to slice her skin open, to make her bleed. But she knew that she couldn't—not with Piper and Leo and Jason there. Estella wants this quest to be over so she could go back to her path of self destruction

You're such a fucking disgrace of a daughter, Estella remembered her mom telling her as she slammed her head hard enough against a brick wall that she needed stitches.

Maybe she's a disgrace of a friend, too.

Maybe when this quest is over, her friends won't want anything to do with her—especially Jason.

Jason's eyes snapped open. "Cyclops!"

Estella jumped at the sudden voice.

"Whoa, sleepyhead," Piper chuckled. She sat right in front of him on the bronze dragon. Leo sat in front, driving. They flew peacefully through the winter sky, as Estella's arms wrapped around Jason to keep him balanced.

"D-Detroit," Jason stammered. "Didn't we crash-land? I thought—"

"It's okay," Leo said. "We got away, but you got a nasty concussion. How you feeling?"

"How did you—the Cyclops—" Jason questioned.

"Leo ripped them apart," Piper said. "He was amazing. He can summon fire—"

"It was nothing," Leo said quickly.

Piper laughed. "Shut up, Valdez. I'm going to tell him. Get over it."

And she did—how Leo single-handedly defeated the Cyclopes family; how they freed Jason, then noticed the Cyclopes starting to re-form; how Leo had replaced the dragon's wiring and gotten them back in the air just as they'd started to hear the Cyclopes roaring for vengeance inside the factory.

Estella smiled as Piper recounted the story. Leo truly was amazing, like Piper had stated.

Piper got to the part of the story about the Latin boy in the purple shirt.

"I'm not alone, then," he said. "There are others like me."

"Jason," Piper said, "you were never alone. You've got us."

"I—I know ... but something Hera said. I was having a dream..."

He told them what he'd seen, and what the goddess had said inside her cage.

"An exchange?" Piper asked. "What does that mean?"

Jason shook his head. "But Hera's gamble is me. Just by sending me to Camp Half-Blood, I have a feeling she broke some kind of rule, something that could blow up in a big way—"

"Or save us," Piper said hopefully. "That bit about the sleeping enemy—that sounds like the lady Leo told us about."

Leo cleared his throat. "About that ... she kind of appeared to me back in Detroit, in a pool of Porta-Potty sludge."

"Excuse me? Did you say porta-potty?" Estella spoke up, scrunching her nose.

Leo told them about the big face in the factory yard. "I don't know if she's completely unkillable," he said, "but she cannot be defeated by toilet seats. I can vouch for that. She wanted me to betray you guys, and I was like, 'Pfft, right, I'm gonna listen to a face in the potty sludge.'"

"Well, thanks, Leo," Estella says.

"She's trying to divide us," Piper said, looking uncomfortable.

"What's wrong?" Jason asked.