Slapping The Earth Mother

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Piper's POV

Piper tried to make the best of the situation. Once she and Jason had gotten tired of pacing the deck, listening to Coach Hedge sing "Old MacDonald" (with weapons instead of animals), they decided to have a picnic in the park.

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. Piper raided the cooler and the food supplies. All they could find was stuff in the fridge. Pre made meals mostly, neatly wrapped sandwiches, canned drinks, fresh fruit, and (for some reason) a birthday cake with purple icing and candles.

She frowned. "Is it someone's birthday?" Jason winced. "I wasn't going to say anything." "Jason!" "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."

"If nobody knew than how did this get here?" She first thought, but then something else knocked her train of thought off course. Piper wondered what that would be like—not even knowing the day you were born. 

Jason had been given to Lupa the wolf when he was only two years old. He'd never really known his mortal mom. He'd only been reunited with his sister last winter. "July First," Piper said. "The Kalends of July."

"Yeah." Jason smirked. "The Romans would find that auspicious—the first day of the month named for Julius Caesar. Juno's sacred day. Yippee." Piper didn't want to push it, or make a celebration if he didn't feel like celebrating.

"Sixteen?" she asked. He nodded. "Oh, boy. I can get my driver's license." Piper 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. 

She 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?" she urged, using what little magic she had to light the candles. 

"Blow out the candles." Jason did. Piper wondered if he'd made a wish—hopefully that he and Piper would survive this quest and stay together forever. She decided not to ask him. She didn't want to jinx that wish, and she definitely didn't want to find out that he'd wished for something different.

"Where'd that come from?" He aske, pointing at her fingers. Piper blushed a little "Oh, that, it's nothing." But when he kept staring at her, she relented. "I asked (Y/N) to teach me. He's been trying, but It hasn't come far."

"It is pretty cool. Why did you ask him?" Jason asked sweetly, a lump formed in Piper's throat, part of her wanted to say 'Because you and Leo can summon fire and electricity.' but the real reason, the reason (Y/N) had sat her down and had a long and difficult talk with her was not something she wanted to discuss. 

Instead she just shrugged. Since they'd left the Pillars of Hercules yesterday evening, Jason had seemed distracted. Piper couldn't blame him. Hercules had been a pretty huge disappointment as a big brother, and the old river god Achelous had said some unflattering things about the sons of Jupiter.

Jason plucked an extinguished candle from his cake. "I've been thinking." That snapped Piper back to the present. Coming from your boyfriend, I've been thinking was kind of a scary line. "About?" she asked.

"Camp Jupiter," he said. "All the years I 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 I was younger—"

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