A Tale of Romans and Slaves | PJO/HOO

Chapter 10: Piper

It had been a week since Jason killed Nancy.

He acted like it was no big deal, as if it was something that happened every week. But I hadn't forgotten the look in his eyes when he did it, the mixture of worry and relief that didn't match his current attitude at all.

Who knows, maybe I completely misread the situation. Maybe I only saw what I wanted to see in his eyes. But I swore, I had seen it.

"Hey, Pipes," Lou Ellen was snapping her fingers, breaking me out of my trance. "Snap out of it."

"Sorry," I said as I poked at my dinner, which was soup, with my spoon.

My little group of friends had gotten somewhat used to my little zone-outs. If I wasn't thinking about Jason, I was thinking about Nancy. Thinking about Jason was better.

"So, I heard from Lacy that Drew kissed Lee yesterday," Miranda said.

Lou Ellen snickered. "Knowing Drew, it was probably more than a kiss."

"Why do you even care?" Zoë asked. "It's not your life."

"Yeah, well my life is just cooking all day long," Lou Ellen said. "And that's boring. So I care about other peoples lives because it's interesting."

"Yeah," Rachel said. "I mean, it's not like your life is very interesting either, Zoë."

"My life is very interesting, thank you very much," Zoë said.

Just then, the guard told us to get to our jobs. Yesterday, Jason had told me to some straight to his room, so that's what I did.

I ran up the stairs. I passed the spot where Nancy had died. The blood had been cleaned up, but I knew that I'd never stop seeing it in my mind when I passed it.

Then I was at Jason's room. He was sleeping, so I just stood there until he woke up.

"Good morning, your highness," I said with a curtsy once he saw me.

"Draw me a bath," He mumbled.

I did as I was told, fetching hot water from the kitchen and throwing it into a tub along with the cold water I had dumped in it earlier. The castle had a public bath, but Jason hated it. He said that that was how disease spread, something about skin to skin contact or whatever. I didn't see the logic in that, seeing as everyone knew that God was the one who infected people, but whatever. It was not my place to ask questions.

After bathing him, I dressed him. Then I fetched him his sword and armor from the armory. After that, I followed him to the courtyard for his sword-fighting practice.

One of the many lovable things about Leo was his absolute disinterest in sword-fighting. I had become his slave when he was seven, and seeing how nine was the youngest age to start training, he hadn't started yet. When his father tried to get him to go on his birthday, Leo had refused, then ran off to chase a butterfly. Over the next six months, his father kept trying and Leo kept refusing, and eventually King Hephaestus just gave up.

But Jason was the complete opposite to Leo when it came to sword-fighting. Jason was probably the best sword-fighter I had ever seen.

After sparring for around a hour, Jason told me to go get refill his water vase. I gently picked it up and took off towards the well.

When I came back, Jason was talking to some sandy-haired boy. Something about the boy was giving me a bad feeling, and I hoped that he would ignore me.

"Can't you see that I'm doing something, Octavian?" Jason asked. I could tell that he wanted this kid to shut up and leave him alone.

"Your stupid sword-fighting can wait," The boy, who I assumed was Octavian, growled.

"So I can listen to your complaints?" Jason asked. "No, it can't."

"Yes, it can," Octavian growled. "I want that girl whipped!"

"I honestly don't know, and don't care, who your talking about," Jason said, crossing his arms.

"The red-head with freckles," Octavian said madly. "She had the nerve to ignore me when I told her to fetch me some water!"

"There are hundreds of red-headed slaves with freckles here, Octavian," Jason sighed. "And I can't punish her for not knowing who you were. How was she supposed to know that you were royalty?"

"Because of the way I'm dressed!" Octavian said, as if it was obvious. "It's clear by the way I'm dressed that I'm a royal!"

"No, you look my sister Thalia when she played with my mothers makeup when she was five," Jason said. I almost laughed.

Octavian glared at him. "Do you find this funny, Grace?"

"Extremely," Jason said. "Now, if you'd excuse me, I'm quite thirsty-"

"No I will not excuse you!" Octavian shouted, cutting him off. "Not until you have her whipped!"

"You misunderstood me, cousin," Jason said. There was a seriousness in his tone of voice that oozed authority. "That was not a request. This conversation is over."

He turned to me. "Piper, give me my water."

I handed it too him as quickly as I could, because I wanted to get as far away from his cousin as I could. Suddenly, Octavian grabbed my face, forcing me to look ino his eyes. I froze.

"Who's this?" He asked coldly. "Your personal slave? She's quite pretty, I'll give you that."

"Get your hands off her," Jason growled.

"Or what?" Octavian asked. "You'll kill me?"

"I've already killed one person this week," Jason said as he drew his sword. "I wouldn't mind making it two."

Octavian glared at him, but he realesed me.

"Now leave," Jason commanded, and he did.

Then he turned to me. "Piper, go to my room and lock yourself in it."

"What?" I asked, still slightly stunned from what just happened. Octavian hadn't held a knife to my cheek, but it had been almost as scary as my experiance with Nancy.

"He'll try to hurt you," Jason said. "Stay in my room untill he leaves. I'll have a slave bring you your meals. Now go."

He didn't have to tell me again. I spun on my heels and sprinted into the castle, up the stairs, and into his room.

Once I got there, I locked the door, just like he asked me too. Then I sat down on the wooden chair at Jason's desk.

I went over everything that just happened. For the second time in a week, Jason had saved me. But this time, there was no denying it:

Jason had worry in his eyes.