Rockland - Jason Grace

9. Crash landing in Detroit

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Chapter 9
Crash landing in Detroit

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Tessa only relaxed once Quebec City had completely faded away behind them. She was hugging around Jason's waist listening to him compliment Piper and resisting the urge to roll her eyes.

"You were amazing," Jason told her.

Piper said something in French. Now, Tessa wasn't irrational. But something made her think that she was using a language no one understood on purpose. If only German was the language of love. Then Tessa could call her out on any potential bullshit. But it was French and Tessa did not speak French.

"What'd you say ?" Jason asked.

"I said I only talked to Boreas," Piper said. "It wasn't so amazing."

Seeing as Piper's previous, incomprehensible statement did not include the word 'Boreas' or 'parler'—'parley', whatever, Tessa was inclined to believe the daughter of Aphordite was lying.

That made her stiffen up. The last time someone had lied to her like this, her girlfriend had ended up being a spy for the titans. Tessa wasn't sure she could deal with more betrayals.

"Hey," Jason, completely oblivious, said, "you saved me and Tessa from joining Khione's subzero hero collection. We owe you one."

"Do we ?"

"Tessa."

"Fine," she rolled her eyes. "We owe her one."

Though if Khione had tried to actually keep them as ice statues, there was no way Tessa would have let that happen without a fight. She would have used her bow and awesome plant powers to get them out of there.

But that meeting was definitely strange. The way Boreas had changed forms when he saw Jason's tattoo. The ones Tessa had seen a few years ago. Whatever they meant, it was dangerous enough that a goddess wiped her memory.

Leo passed them some sandwiches from his pack. He'd been quiet ever since they'd told him what happened in the throne room. "I still can't believe Khione," he said. "She looked so nice."

"Trust me, man," Jason said. "Snow may be pretty, but up close it's cold and nasty. We'll find you a better prom date."

"Worst case, I'll go with you," Tessa offered.

Leo gave her a small smile over his shoulder but didn't look pleased. He hadn't said much about his time in the palace, or why the Boreads had singled him out for smelling like fire. He was hiding something too, which honestly made Tessa quite wary. Travis and her sister had been singled both Leo and Piper out as mentally unstable. Tessa didn't think that was the case, but they were both definitely hiding something.

Whatever it was, Leo's mood seemed to be affecting Festus, who grumbled and steamed as he tried to keep himself warm in the cold Canadian air. Happy the Dragon was not so happy.

They ate their sandwiches as they flew. Tessa had no idea how Leo had stocked up on supplies. Or where but she figured that it was not the time to complain since the sandwich was pretty damn good.

Nobody talked. Whatever they might find in Chicago, they all knew Boreas had only let them go because he figured they were already on a suicide mission.

Tessa found herself thinking of Gleeson Hedge of all people. The old satyr had found her and Katie when they were ten. It had been a random day, the beginning of Summer. Liam had decided to take his girls to the park to celebrate the end of school, to have a picnic and just spend the day together. None of them had been expecting to be attacked by a flock of Stymphalian Birds. Coach Hedge had jumped in whacked the life out of them before explaining everything to the Gardner family. Liam Gardner was one of those unlucky saps who hadn't known the mother of his girls had been a goddess. He took the news relatively well though, more than happy to make sure his girls were safe. He let Gleeson take them to camp and promised he would be there to pick them up at the end of the summer and that they would find a solution and routine for the rest of the year.