SAFE . . . reyna ramirez-arellano

65 - picnics

BRIAR TRIED TO make the best of the situation.

After she'd changed into some new clothes and gotten back up to the deck, she could tell that Reyna, also newly changed, and Jason were tired of being on the ship. Briar couldn't blame them. Listening to Coach Hedge sing Old MacDonald with weapons instead of animals seemed to get old after awhile.

So, naturally, Briar wanted to have a picnic. Mostly because she was hungry and her stomach was fueling her actions. Yum. Food.

Hedge grudgingly agreed. "Stay where I can see you."

"What are we, kids?" Jason asked.

Hedge snorted. "Kids are baby goats. They're cute, and they have redeeming social value. You are definitely not kids."

They spread their blanket under a willow tree next to a pond. Briar turned over her cornucopia and spilled out an entire meal — neatly wrapped sandwiches, canned drinks, fresh fruit, and ( for some reason ) a birthday cake with purple icing and candles already lit.

Reyna frowned. "Is it someone's birthday?"

Jason winced. "I wasn't going to say anything."

"Jason!" Briar hit his arm.

"There's too much going on," he said. "And honestly . . . before last month, I didn't even know when my birthday was. Thalia told me the last time she was at camp. I thought I told you this, Bri."

He winced. Briar grimaced. "Yeah, well," she said lightly. "I thought you knew that I have a horrible memory."

Jason nodded, and she rolled her eyes at him.

"July First," Reyna said, her arm around Briar's waist. "The Kalends of July."

"Yeah." Jason smirked. "We would find that auspicious — the first day of the month named for Julius Caesar. Juno's sacred day. Yippee."

Briar snorted. "Sixteen?" she asked him.

He nodded. "Oh, boy. I can get my driver's license."

Reyna and Briar laughed. Jason had killed so many monsters and saved the world so many times that the idea of him sweating a driving test seemed ridiculous. Briar pictured him behind the wheel of some old Lincoln with a STUDENT DRIVER sign on top and a grumpy teacher in the passenger seat with an emergency brake pedal.

"Well?" Reyna urged. "Blow out the candles."

Jason did. He always did anything they told him to. Unless it was something bad.

Briar stared down at the cornucopia. She wondered if Achelous was getting used to having no horns at all. She hoped so. Sure, he had tried to kill them, but Briar still felt bad for the old god. She didn't understand how such a lonely, depressed spirit could produce a horn of plenty that shot out pineapples and birthday cakes. Could it be that the cornucopia had drained all the goodness out of him? Maybe now that the horn was gone, Achelous would be able to fill up with some happiness and keep it for himself.

She also kept thinking about Achelous's advice: If you had made it to Rome, the story of the flood would have served you better. She knew the story he was talking about. She just didn't understand how it would help.

Jason plucked an extinguished candle from his cake. "I've been thinking."

"You can do that?" Briar smirked.

He went to hit her, but Reyna's arm blocked him. Briar leaned into her girlfriend more, her smirk widening at Jason.

"Camp Jupiter," Jason sighed, admitting defeat. "All the years we trained there. We were always pushing teamwork, working as a unit. I thought I understood what that meant. But honestly? I was always the leader. Even when we were younger—"