The Battle Has Just Begun

6 - An Offer and Her First Time

Jason:

Something seemed to have snapped inside of Jason. He had Leo pinned against the wall with his sword pressed on his neck. If he added any more pressure, he'd draw blood for sure.

Calypso was begging him to let Leo go, while said boy was looking at him horrified. Hylla just stood there, looking bored and somewhat curious. After a few agonizing minutes, Thalia and Piper rushed to pry Jason away from Leo.

"Come on, Jace, let him go," Piper said in a shaky voice.

Thalia carefully took his sword away from him while Piper led him back to the bed.

He tried to get a hold of Leo, but even though Piper seemed scared, her grasp on him was firm. He sat, fuming, not having released all his anger on the son of Hephaestus yet.

Calypso hurried to Leo and hugged him. "Don't worry, Sunshine, I'm fine." He murmured. Sunshine, Jason mentally snorted. What kind of nickname was that? As if reading his thoughts, Piper nudged him gently.

He looked at her, and she nodded her head towards Leo, a begging look on her face. He knew what she wanted. He was to apologize. He knew what he did was messed up, but still, Leo deserved it.

Even though he was his friend, but, was he still? Would Leo hold him to this forever? Would he put it between their friendship? He couldn't risk it. "I'm sorry," Jason grumbled.

"Nah, it's okay. Honestly, I deserved that. I should've found a way to tell you guys." Leo answered gravely.

"Yeah, you did," Jason muttered quietly. Apparently not so quietly though, as Piper elbowed him, hard. Gods, that girl is strong.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry. For real. You happy?" Jason asked her, frustrated.

"Nope." She responded, popping the "p" at the end. Jason sighed.

"Well," Hylla started. "Jason, Piper, we're going to make you an offer." The attention of said boy and girl were on her now.

"What kind of offer?" Piper asked.

"Let me explain," Hylla said, somewhat irritably. "We'll give you guys, let's say, until tomorrow morning, to decide. You guys can sleep it off, as the sun is close to setting. If you say yes and help us, things will be in your favor. If not, you give us no choice but to, well, lock you up, and I'm telling you now, things won't be pleasant for you. At all."

"Why lock us up?" Jason asked. Absurd, he thought.

"Because this whole thing is still a secret. If we let you two go, you'll end up back at Camp Half-Blood, and everyone will ask where you were. And you'll tell them everything. Even if you swear not to, it's too risky."

"Well, look, I think this is ridic-"

"Um, hold up, Jace. We'll think about it and give you an answer tomorrow."

Muteness followed Piper's words until Jason broke it with a grunt, which was the result of her nudging him, hard.

"Right, yeah. Whatever." He flinched when Piper gave him the stink eye because of it.

"Wait," Jason stopped them before they turned to leave. "You said that if we agree, things will be in our favor, right?"

"Precisely," Hylla replied coldly.

"Care to be more specific?" Jason returned.

"Simple, you'll each be promised the position of praetor." With that, Hylla beckoned for the other three people to follow her out the door, leaving a gaping and wide-eyed couple staring after them.