Before the sun crashed into the yard, Leo was having a great day.

  It was early morning. The borders had let a gentle snowfall in, and so the camp was freshly coated in white. Leo had just finished breakfast and was minding his own business waiting for Percy and Annabeth to arrive, hopefully with the Di Angelos in tow.

  And arrive, they did.

  Now, Leo was used to dramatic entrances. He himself was an expert in making a hot first impression, usually involving flames, explosions, and a general lack of care for fire safety codes.

  But the sun chariot?

  That was a whole other level.

  The bright yellow shuttle bus came screeching out of the sky, landing not-so-smoothly on the strawberry fields. It skidded around twice before coming to a halt, melting the snow and leaving a ring of charcoal on the grass below. The trees nearby were now smoking slightly.

  They were lucky it wasn’t gardening season. Katie Gardner would have been livid.

  Although, Leo couldn’t help but be a little impressed. He wondered who was driving.

  As he walked toward the smoking bus, teenagers began to stumble out. They all had varying degrees of frazzled expressions on their faces. Leo spotted Annabeth and Percy get out last.

  A handsome young man with golden hair that Leo could only assume was Apollo was laughing heartily, in direct contrast to the uneasy and semi-nauseous faces of the others.

  “That was pretty good for your first time!” Apollo slapped Percy on the back. “Might want to work on your braking, but hey, even crash landings have their charm, right?”

  Percy looked sheepish. “This wasn’t really a crash. Just a little bumpy.”

  Leo jogged up to him and Annabeth. “Pretty cool entrance, either way.”

  “Leo, there you are!” The son of Poseidon greeted him with a grin. “You gotta back me up here, man. Tell Annabeth this doesn’t count as a crash landing.”

  Leo shrugged. “Hey, I’ve got some experience with crashes, but it’s not like I know how to drive.”

  “And you do!” Annabeth accused Percy. “I thought you had gotten your license!”

  “Yes, but the last time I drove, it was to get away from cannibal Canadians,” Percy defended himself. “It’s been a while.”

  Leo didn’t even want to know the context behind that. He decided to change the subject back to what was important.

  “So, how’d the rescue mission go?”

  Percy and Annabeth exchanged awkward, downcast looks.

  “Well,” Percy sighed. “Things didn’t really go according to plan.”

  Leo was disappointed, but not surprised. “What else is new?”

  “F-first things first,” Annabeth decided. “We have some new arrivals.”

  A bunch of girls in silver parkas were making a point to stand a good distance away from them.

  “Leo, those are the Hunters,” Percy said.

  “Hey there,” Leo grinned, extending a hand toward the one with the silver circlet. “The name’s Leo Valdez.”

  The huntress looked at him like he was a piece of trash. Predictably, she left him hanging.

  “I do not care.”

  “That’s Zoe Nightshade,” Annabeth interceded. “Lieutenant of the Hunters. Zoe, Chiron should be at the Big House. Let’s–”

  “We know Chiron. Tell him we will be in Cabin Eight,” Zoe said stiffly, looking like she wanted to be anywhere but here. “Hunters, follow me.”

  “I’ll show you the way,” Grover offered.”

  “We know the way.”

  “Oh, really, it’s no trouble. It’s easy to get lost here if you don’t–” Grover tripped over a canoe and came up still talking. “Like my old daddy goat used to say! Come on!”

  Zoe just sighed. She and the Hunters grabbed their bows and packs and headed off to the cabins with a distinct air of haughty authority.

  “Take care, sweethearts!” Apollo called after the Hunters. He grinned at Percy. “Watch out for those prophecies, Percy. I’ll see you soon.”

  Percy waved as Apollo got back into the sun chariot and took off in a blast of heat. The car soared higher over the woods, eventually disappearing into the sun's glare.

  “You know,” Leo put his hands on his hips. “He’s kinda grown on me.”

  Annabeth snorted. “You just met him.”

  “But we were basically best buds in the last life. Remember the Valdezinator?”

  “Oh, right. Your short-lived music career,” Percy said.

  “Hey, he recognized my talent.” Leo proclaimed. “I could have been a star. A revolutionary!”

  “But you don’t look like a musician,” Another voice accused.

  Leo turned around to find a young boy, maybe ten years old, staring at him with pitch-black eyes. Leo had just been joking just now, but the kid was looking at him so skeptically that it was hard not to be offended.

  “Almost forgot,” Percy muttered. “Leo, this is Nico di Angelo.”

  “That’s Nico ?!”

  Nico looked grumpy. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  Leo stared at the son of Hades. Now that he knew who he was looking at, it actually started to make sense. The dark hair, olive-pale skin, and eyes that were like black holes were definitely the same as he remembered.

  But for the entire time that Leo knew Nico, those eyes were filled with sadness and anger as if he had stared into Tartarus (which he had). But now, they were just the normal, innocent eyes of a child.

  During their quest, Nico used to creep him out just by being there. He felt like a vengeful ghost, haunting and skulking around the ship aimlessly day by day.

  Was this kid really that Nico?

  “Uh, never mind,” Leo decided. “Nice to meet you, Nico.”

  “Hmph,” The son of Hades huffed. “So who’s Chiron? I don’t have his figurine.”

  “Our activities director,” Percy explained. “He’s…well, you’ll see.”

  “If those Hunter girls don’t like him, that’s good enough for me. Let’s go.”

  They set off, trekking through the snow. As the four of them walked to the Big House, they passed by the volleyball courts (now a snowball battleground), the climbing wall, and the mostly deserted cabins. Leo noticed the Hunters entering Cabin Eight, which he had never seen used before.

  Speaking of the Hunters…

  “You know, I thought Thalia was cold, but this leader is on a whole other level,” Leo said. He looked around, realizing something. “Wait, where is Thalia…?”

  Annabeth flinched, looking guilty. “Thalia…Thalia was captured.”

  Leo swallowed tightly. That was pretty terrible news.

  Nico was walking behind them, playing with figurines in his hands. He wasn’t paying a lot of attention, slowly falling behind as he followed. Quickening his pace slightly, Leo lowered his voice so the son of Hades couldn’t hear.

  “So Jason…”

  “We’ll have to tell him,” Percy nodded unhappily.

  “He won’t be happy,” Leo pointed out the obvious. “He’ll try to rescue her. He’ll try to join the quest.”

  Annabeth shook her head. “That’s not a good idea.”

  Percy seemed hesitant to decide so quickly. “But he’s on vacation, Annabeth. It’s not like he has to return to Camp Jupiter anytime soon.”

  “Yes, but there’s more to that,” The daughter of Athena scowled. “As much as I hate to say it, Hera had a point keeping us separate. Bringing Jason along to Orthys, which is so close to the other Romans, is way too risky.”

  “But–” Percy tried.

  “I don’t like it either, Percy. But with the winter solstice so close…” Annabeth bit her lip, distressed. “Artemis is captured, Thalia’s captured, and Luke and Kronos are about to begin their plan. The war is so close…there’s too much to mess up.”

  Leo looked at Percy, who still looked like he wanted to argue. It was never a good sign when these two disagreed.

  He sighed, turning to Annabeth. “You’re worried it’ll complicate things.”

  “Among other things. I don’t want to change too much.”

  “But isn’t the whole point of coming back to change things?” Percy clenched his jaw, grinding his sharpened teeth.

  “But there’s so much changing already,” Annabeth’s voice quavered dangerously. “T-Thalia took my place. If we keep things relatively the same, then we can save her. But if we start changing big things, there’s no guarantee.”

  The son of Poseidon kicked at the snow. “Is that why you didn’t stop Artemis from going off by herself?”

  Leo didn’t quite understand what he meant, but he didn’t dare interject. Annabeth took a shaky breath, looking frazzled. It was rare (and frankly worrying) to see the daughter of Athena so distressed.

  “Yeah. It was the…the safest choice,” she said quietly.

  Percy sighed and relented, clearly not wanting to press Annabeth any further when she was visibly agitated. Leo would bet that Thalia being captured affected her more than she would probably admit.

  Still, Leo kind of understood where Annabeth was coming from. She relied heavily on her knowledge and information of the past when it came to tackling these quests. Small changes were okay, as long as the main course stayed the same. For example, she agreed to save Reyna and Hylla from Circe’s Island but made sure the two were sent to Camp Jupiter as they would have normally.

  But bringing Jason on the quest would not be a small change. It would definitely shake things up. Questions would be asked, and some things would have to be revealed. And going to Orthys, which was right next to Camp Jupiter, wasn’t exactly comforting to the Greek-Roman schism either.

  “Hey, let’s think about this later, alright?” Leo told them, trying to change the subject. “Let’s tell Chiron what happened right now and worry about these things later.”

  “Worry about what things?” They all turned around. Nico had finally caught up to them.

  “Nothing, just grown-up stuff. You don’t have to worry about it,” Leo quickly said. “Here we are: The Big House. Let’s get you to Chiron.”

  They walked up the steps of the Big House and finally got indoors. Flames crackled in the hearth. The air smelled like hot chocolate. Mr. D and Chiron were playing cards in the parlor.

  Chiron was in wheelchair mode, a blanket on his lap. He swiveled over as they opened the door, smiling.

  “Percy, Annabeth, Leo! And behind you…this must be–”

  “Nico di Angelo,” Percy answered. “He and his sister Bianca are half-bloods.”

  Chiron nodded in relief. “So you succeeded, then.”

  Annabeth grimaced. “About that.”

  Chiron’s gaze flitted between them, quickly noticing the missing element. The centaur always had an uncanny ability to sense when something was wrong.

  “Where’s Thalia?”

  “She was captured,” Percy said bluntly.

  “Oh, dear,” Mr. D droned. “Another one lost. Is there any new news?”

  As if summoned by the question, Grover threw open the doors and trotted in. He had a big grin on his face that did not match with his black eye and slap mark.

  “The Hunters are all moved in!”

  Mr. D looked the satyr up and down, amused. “Now that’s a little more interesting.”

  Chiron seemed less amused. “The Hunters, huh? We have much to talk about. Grover, Leo, please take our young friend upstairs and show him our orientation film.”

  Leo coughed. “ The orientation film? Uh, are you sure–”

  “Orientation film?” Nico tilted his head. “Is it G or PG? Bianca is kinda strict–”

  “It’s PG-13,” Grover said.

  “Cool!” Nico grabbed Grover’s hand (he seemed to like the satyr a lot) and dragged him toward the stairs. “Let’s go!”

  Leo sighed. He patted Percy and Annabeth on the shoulder and followed after Nico, heading up the stairs. He caught up to Grover–who was being harassed by Nico about his attack and defense points–and managed to pry the son of Hades off of him.

  “Grover can play Mythomagic with you later, Nico,” Leo said. “There’s a lot to explain first.”

  The old projector Chiron had was in the first room on the second floor. Only one tape was on the shelf beside it. A few wooden old-school-style chairs were propped up against the wall.

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  As Grover began to set up the projector, Nico asked, “So, what’s the orientation about?”

  Leo hesitated. “Uh…”

  He had watched the orientation last year, for the first time. It had made him laugh, cry, and groan, and very quickly earned a spot in his long list of traumatic memories.

  It was also directed by Apollo, which meant it wasn’t just an orientation, but a musical. And maybe it was just his first time directing or something, but it had turned out really…really bad.

  “It’s something you have to experience for yourself,” Leo decided. “I’ll be waiting outside.”

  He had no reason to watch that outdated thing, really. So Leo left Grover and Nico inside the room as the black-and-white film began to play, and Apollo’s voice began to sing the intro. Leo resisted the urge to plug his ears.

  Downstairs, he could hear Percy arguing with Mr. D. The son of Poseidon’s voice was growing angrier and angrier.

  That wasn’t good. Percy talking back to Mr. D happened every so often, and with how high tensions were right now, he might even get himself killed this time.

  So, Leo had a choice. He could go down there and try to break up a fight between the son of Poseidon and the god of wine, possibly getting blown up or turned into a dolphin in the process. Or, he could stay here and listen to Apollo sing and dance in a black-and-white film.

  “It lets the demigods in, it shuts the monsters out!” Inside the TV room, Apollo’s voice chanted to the tune of the Hokey-Pokey. “ It keeps the half-bloods safe, but turns mortals all about! It’s Misty, and it’s magic, and it makes me want to shout: the border is all about!”

  Frankly, it was an easy choice.

  Leo abandoned Grover and went back downstairs, mentally preparing for his new life as a dolphin.

  “Wow. Beautiful.”

  “You’re right. I’ve never seen Camp so snowy before,” Piper exhaled, enjoying how she could see her breath. “Usually, the snowfall just parts around us.”

  “I was talking about you, actually.”

  She rolled her eyes, unable to keep a smile off her face. “Jason.”

  “What?” The son of Jupiter looked innocently at her. “I’m not lying.”

  Piper shook her head with a laugh. The air around her was chilly, yet she still found her face heating up.

  Camp Half-Blood looked completely different than she remembered. Since the borders protected it from weather, cold fronts, and everything in between, Piper had never seen Camp without its rolling green hills and sunny atmosphere.

  The two of them stood on a hill just outside the woods. Jason had flown them the long way around to avoid being seen. This gave them a great view of the winter wonderland that was now Camp Half-Blood.

  “Let’s go to Bunker 9,” she said. “Leo said he’ll meet us there.”

  Jason nodded, picking up the bags that held Christmas presents they had brought for their friends. A gentle breeze picked them up and slowly carried them down the hill and over the trees.

  “You’re getting really good at that,” Piper smiled, relaxing on what was essentially a bed of wind. “This is so comfortable. I wish I could travel like this all the time.”

  Jason shrugged, but she could tell he was proud. “I’ve been practicing.”

  As they flew, Piper took some time to just look at Jason. His short blond hair that fluttered in the wind, his electric blue eyes, the faint golden lines across his arms and neck…in all honesty, it was unfair how handsome he was.

  She felt so lucky that they were together again. That she had the best boyfriend in the world by her side–

  (“It never even happened. That deceitful goddess used you, toyed with your emotions, manipulated your memories. It was all fake.”)

  The air suddenly felt even colder. Piper shivered as she thought about Enceladus’ words. It was years ago, yet she still remembered every cold, cutting word in the revelation. Piper wasn’t one to hold grudges, but this was an exception. She just…couldn’t forget.

  Even now, just thinking about how Hera had manipulated her made her angry. Not only did she trick her memories, but she also messed with Piper’s emotions. Her feelings. The one thing that Piper relied on the most, the one thing she trusted above all else.

  Piper had always followed her heart.

  And Hera manipulating her made Piper feel like an idiot for doing that, for trusting her heart. That kiss on the rooftop…it still felt so real, as real as her memories on the Argo II. How could Piper have faith in her feelings when she had been shown that they could be a complete farce, a fake in every sense?

  Piper turned away from Jason, pulling the hood of her puffy jacket over her head as she suddenly felt self-conscious. What if her feelings for Jason were still just from Hera? Not wholly true, just an extension of lingering effects from Hera manipulating the Mist around her memories.

  Maybe she was overthinking things.

  But remembering how Hera–and to an extent Aphrodite–kept trying to push her and Jason together made her stomach churn.

  Piper hated it when people told her what to do. She hated how Jason’s relationship with her started.

  But she didn’t hate Jason.

  Piper glanced sideways at him. His face was tight with focus as he concentrated on controlling the wind and not dropping the presents at the same time. It made her smile softly.

  She was still angry. A small part of her wanted to give a big ‘ screw you’ to Hera and break up with Jason. An irrational urge to prove them wrong, that her feelings couldn’t be manipulated.

  But Piper wanted this so bad . Whether that was because of false feelings or not, she wanted Jason at her side, to be with her forever.

  Ugh, she was a mess.

  They suddenly touched down on the snow, and Piper was not at all prepared. Her train of thought was snapped as solid ground appeared at her feet and the wind holding her vanished. Her legs buckled, and Piper fell backward with a yelp of surprise.

  Fortunately, Jason caught her. Piper felt her heartbeat flutter rebelliously as strong arms wrapped around her back, propping her up.

  “Sorry, I thought you were prepared,” he said, looking at her in concern. Piper quickly got lost staring into those shining blue eyes. “Are you okay?”

  Gods, this was so unfair.

  “...Yeah,” she snapped out of stupor, standing up straight. “We’re here?”

  The stone cliff that housed Bunker 9 loomed above them, as solid as ever. Piper pressed a hand to where she knew the hidden door, and it obediently slid open, disturbingly quiet for a huge slab of rock.

  Jason’s breath hitched at the sight of Bunker 9. “It’s been a while.”

  The lights were flickered on, meaning they weren’t the first ones here. The main hall was filled with machine equipment and Leo’s unfinished inventions: a table full of prototype spheres, a strange array of suspended steel mirrors, and even a huge grabber-arm machine.

  “Leo’s been busy,” Piper noted. She hadn’t visited the bunker for a few months, so she didn’t recognize any of these new projects.

  Jason’s eyes widened with excitement. “Leo!”

  In the corner of the room, studying blueprints on the table, was Leo Valdez. At Jason’s voice, he snapped his head around, a huge grin forming on his face. But before he could say anything, Jason flew over and swept him into a huge hug.

  “Oof–!” Leo grunted in surprise. “It’s good to see you too, man. A little warning next time, though?”

  Piper laughed as Jason swung Leo around like a ragdoll. It wasn’t often that the son of Jupiter got this excited. She picked up the bags Jason had dropped and jogged toward them, careful not to trip over the machinery.

  Jason finally released Leo, grinning widely. “It is good to see you again, Leo.”

  “You missed me that much?” Leo smirked.

  “Yes, actually,” Jason bluntly said. “Even that annoying, impish grin of yours.”

  The son of Hephaestus snorted. He turned to Piper as if just realizing she was here. She put the bags of presents on the table and gave him a hug now that he was freed from Jason.

  “You all are just in time. Percy and Annabeth should be here soon.” Leo said.

  “Awesome,” Jason sighed contently. He looked around the Bunker, finally giving himself a moment to take it all in. “I forgot how amazing this place actually is. But there’s a lot of stuff here that I definitely don’t remember.”

  Leo spread his hands modestly. “Well, you know, I’ve made a couple of upgrades and renovations”

  “Why are the walls scorched?” Jason wondered.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Jason,” Leo said a touch too quickly. “Those burn marks have always been here.”

  Jason looked perplexed. “They have?”

  Thankfully, Annabeth and Percy chose that moment to arrive. Piper waved them over to the table.

  “You guys!” Annabeth ran down and gave Piper a big hug.

  Percy walked after her, smiling widely. “Looks like Lightning McLean is finally here.”

  Piper rolled her eyes. “I told you to stop calling us that.”

  Percy gave Jason a bro hug. “It’s been way too long.”

  “That it has,” Jason agreed.

  Piper could feel the pure, genuine joy radiate through the Bunker. Her friends’ emotions were so happy right now that Piper’s senses felt overloaded, making her feel giddy. This was the biggest gathering of their second life.

  They talked about meaningless things for a while, catching up on things that happened in the last few months, like school. Percy and Annabeth were finishing up their last year in middle school and were preparing for high school, while Piper still had one more year left.

  On the other side of the spectrum were Leo and Jason, who spent almost their entire time at camp. They certainly had more interesting lives, in Piper’s opinion.

  Jason also told them a bit more about his quest two months ago, with Reyna and Frank. It was good to hear that they were doing well. Unfortunately, it seemed that Hylla had left soon after getting to Camp Jupiter…but something told Piper that the future Queen of Amazons would be able to handle herself.

  Eventually, they got back to business. Percy and Annabeth explained that the Hunters were here, which meant they would be leaving soon for yet another quest. If things stayed the same, they would get the prophecy tonight and set out tomorrow morning.

  “Well, there’s not much time before Thalia leaves, but we’ll just have to make do,” Jason said after they finished explaining.

  Immediately, Annabeth flinched. Percy looked away, and Leo bit his lip nervously. The air suddenly went from jovial to gloomy. It was abundantly clear that something was terribly wrong.

  Piper swallowed, dread building in her stomach. “What happened?”

  Percy started to say something, but Annabeth stopped him.

  “I’ll tell him,” she said, looking down in shame. She took a deep breath before continuing. “Jason, just a few hours ago, Thalia, Percy, Grover, and I were at Westover Hall to extract Nico and Bianca.”

  “Right, I remember,” Jason nodded slowly, paling slightly. “Y-you said you were kidnapped last time during that mission. But you’re fine now, right?”

  “I am,” Annabeth admitted. Her voice dropped to a whisper. “But…when we were fighting Thorn…Thalia jumped on him to save Nico and Bianca. And then Thorn threw himself off the cliff…and disappeared.”

  Piper’s eyes widened. She knew something must have happened to Thalia, but the way it happened…it was almost as if Thalia took Annabeth’s place in this life. Like this capture was destined to happen, and someone had to fill that role.

  Jason stared at Annabeth blankly, swaying slightly as if he was about to collapse. “You mean…she’s…”

  “She’s captured, Jason,” Percy quietly said. “We’re going to get her back, but–”

  The fluorescent lights flickered. Then, every lightbulb in the Bunker exploded, sending sparks everywhere. The hall fell into darkness. All that Piper could see was the golden glow of Jason’s shining veins, which looked even more alien and unnatural in the dark.

  Leo silently caught his hand on fire, illuminating their circle once again. For a brief second, Piper saw Jason’s expression of pure anguish. In the flame’s red glow, it was almost scary.

  Then in the next moment, it was gone. Jason’s face was stony, deathly calm. “ But what , Percy?”

  Piper shivered at how cold his tone was, completely in contrast to his distressed expression. But Percy didn’t seem fazed.

  “But you can’t come,” he told Jason.

  Jason’s hands were gripping the table’s edge tightly. Sparks flew off his fingers.

  “You can’t expect me to do that,” he said slowly.

  Percy placed his hands on Jason’s shoulders. There was an audible zap of static electricity, but Percy barely flinched.

  “I’m not going to. But I am asking.”

  Jason looked down, struggling to keep his voice steady. “You’re going to ask me to step aside? To do nothing, while my sister is…”

  Piper watched him put his hands over his face, covering his expression. She recognized it, his way of dealing with stress–to hide it. Jason always tried to act calm, rational, and cool under pressure when he was suffering the most.

  If Piper was honest, she didn’t think this was technically a bad thing. He was very good at it, and it usually worked. She actually admired Jason's strong, unshakable attitude that had saved them in many tough situations.

  The problem was that he didn’t know when to stop. Jason never willingly let himself be vulnerable. It was like a defense mechanism. He would instinctively set walls and walls to block the hurt, the sadness, the anger–like reinforcing a dam as the flood grew.

  In most cases, Jason didn’t, couldn’t , show weakness. He would just keep on hardening his heart, refusing to give even a little.

  But if something that can’t bend faces too much pressure, it will shatter completely.

  In her past life, Piper had learned to slowly break those walls down. To get Jason to accept his feelings around her, and let himself be vulnerable with her and his friends. To get him to bend, before he broke.

  So as Piper stared at Jason bury his face in his hands, she prayed those efforts weren’t in vain.

  “We will get her back, Jason,” Annabeth sounded like she was pleading. “But you can’t go to Orthys with us. There’s too much at stake.”

  “I know,” Jason gruffly said, voice trembling. “The Hunters, the Titans, Luke–if I go, it’ll mess so much up.”

  “T-then, will you–”

  “But I want to,” the son of Jupiter whispered, dropping his hands. “I want to go help her. She almost died this summer, and I couldn’t do anything. Why…why can’t I ever do anything for her?”

  His eyes were brighter than normal. Teary, too. Piper reached over and gently took his hand. A small static shock ran through her fingers, but she ignored it.

  “I’m sorry, Jason. I’m so sorry,” Annabeth said.

  “No. It’s my fault,” Percy declared, gritting his teeth. He sounded so angry…angry at himself, Piper thought. “I got distracted and lost my head.”

  He told them about how he had seen Annabeth in danger and immediately abandoned the di Angelos to help her. According to him, it was the reason why Thalia had to step in and why she ended up captured.

  Leo frowned, the flame on his hand glowing brighter. “Percy, it’s not your fault at all. You couldn’t have known.”

  Percy just shook his head. He looked at Jason with a pained expression.

  “It’s just like in the fight with Gaia, Jason. It’s my fault. I’m so sorry.”

  Jason visibly flinched at Percy’s words. He tried to hide it by looking down, but it was too late.

  “Hey…” Piper quietly said. “Let’s not bring up old arguments, okay? The past is past. We all agreed that it wasn’t any one person’s fault.”

  Annabeth nodded. “She’s right. This isn’t the time to be blaming people.”

  Jason let go of the table. There was a slight indent in the metal. He took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.

  “Okay. I…I won’t go. I’ll stay here,” he murmured sadly, gaze downcast. “As long as you get her back.”

  “We will,” Annabeth promised. Her voice grew a little stronger. “I want her back just as much as you do, Jason. We won’t fail.”

  Jason nodded listlessly. Piper squeezed his hand, begging for a reaction. He barely stirred.

  There were torches on the walls of the Bunker, and Leo took a moment to light them all up. Soon, Bunker 9 was illuminated again. But even though the darkness was mostly gone, the mood was still in the gutter. They fell into an awkward silence, the happy ambiance that they had just minutes ago completely gone.

  Percy sighed. “It’s getting late. We should get to the pavilion for dinner.”

  “Y-yeah,” Leo agreed. “I’ll have to fix the lights later.”

  They walked to the door and exited the Bunker. The sun had just set, and the last rays of sunlight were disappearing fast.

  “We’ll go ahead first,” Annabeth told her.

  She looked worriedly at Jason, then exchanged a significant look with Piper. Piper nodded. Jason obviously couldn’t come with them…and besides, Piper doubted he wanted to right now.

  Annabeth, Leo, and Percy left for the pavilion, their tracks quickly disappearing as the snow continued to fall. As they disappeared, Piper gently grabbed Jason’s arm.

  “Hey. Are you okay?” She asked. “Jason…say something.”

  Jason sighed quietly. “I don’t know what to do. It’s just so unfair. Why does something always have to go wrong? Why does it have to be Thalia…?”

  His voice grew terse, anger growing under the surface. Piper wasn’t sure what to say, because he was right. It was very unfair. It always felt like they were dealt a bad hand, even when they got a second chance at life.

  Jason’s jaw was clenched firmly. He carefully took her hand off his arm, surprising Piper. Then he looked up at the sky hesitantly, brow furrowing.

  “You should go with them,” Jason muttered. “I’m going to get some air…I think I need some time to clear my head.”

  Piper swallowed, not really liking the idea. Jason was clearly hurting right now, and she didn’t know if space would actually help him. There was a good chance once he was alone, he’d try to push it all down, bottle up all the weakness.

  “Wait,” she said. “I–”

  The wind picked up, making Piper stumble. By the time she caught her balance again, Jason had floated into the air and was soaring away.

  “Jason!”

  She sighed worriedly as he vanished into the clouds. Piper wanted to follow him, but she wasn’t sure if that would help. Would that really be the right choice?

  Piper was starting to feel drained. All those turbulent emotions of her friends…it wasn’t exactly pleasant. She leaned against the open door of Bunker 9, staring blankly inside, wondering what to do.

  On the table where they were just talking, two bags of Christmas presents were still resting patiently. The gifts were still waiting to be opened, forgotten in the tense situation.

  It made Piper’s heart ache. She stared in the direction where Jason had flown sadly.

  She wanted to follow him. Even though he wanted to be alone, Piper wanted to help him through this.

  Or did she really? Maybe she only felt like she wanted to, because of how much Hera had messed with her mind. Maybe she only felt obligated to intervene because of the lingering feelings of their forced relationship. As a friend, shouldn’t she respect Jason’s privacy?

  Piper groaned aloud, resting her forehead on the stone wall. How much of a hypocrite was she, to want to help others with their emotions when she could barely understand her own?

  “But…” she mumbled to herself, looking at the sky again. “I still really want to. I don’t want to give up.’”

  At this point, Piper wasn’t sure what feelings were real or not. Maybe they were all still fake. Maybe at some point, her feelings had turned genuine.

  But right now, she didn’t care. Piper’s instincts were telling her that Jason needed support right now, not isolation. And she wanted to go after him–no, she needed to go after him.

  Piper put two fingers in her mouth and gave her best taxicab whistle. Hopefully, he would answer her call…

  She squinted at the horizon, waiting. Eventually, a black-winged shape spiraled into view, much too big to be a bird.

  Blackjack landed in front of her, kicking up snow right in Piper’s face.

  “Geez, watch it.”

  The winged stallion whinnied inquisitively at her.

  “Yeah, it’s me. Jason’s not here,” Piper sighed.

  Jason had rescued Blackjack from the Titans a few months ago, and from then on, Blackjack stayed close to him, helping him out here and there out of gratitude. But if Piper remembered correctly, he was Percy’s pegasus in the last timeline. She wasn’t quite sure why it changed.

  She had met Blackjack once or twice with Jason but never tried summoning him before. Thankfully, even though Blackjack usually responded to the son of Jupiter, he still recognized Piper’s whistle.

  Said pegasus snorted impatiently, as if asking why she called him here.

  “He flew away, and I need to find him,” Piper said. “Care to help me?”

  Blackjack nodded, letting her climb on him. Piper tried to remember everything Hazel had taught her about horseback riding. When she was six, Piper broke her arm falling off a horse. That same arm ached slightly as Blackjack rose into the air as if it were reliving the phantom pain.

  Blackjack snorted, asking where to go.

  Piper thought for a second. Where would Jason go? He couldn’t have been too far, but he wouldn’t go into camp and risk being seen.

  Would he?

  After a moment, Piper nodded. She had a good idea of where he might be, and she knew where to go.

  “Giddyup!”

  Blackjack huffed, clearly unimpressed. Piper ignored him as they began to soar over the woods of Camp Half-Blood.

  She still didn’t know if this was the right choice. Honestly, Piper couldn’t tell if she was even thinking straight. With all the emotions, feelings, and doubts in her mind…it was almost impossible not to overthink things.

  But just for this time, she would trust in her heart once more. Even though she wasn’t quite sure of it. Even if she would end up regretting it later.

  Even if her feelings were fake, maybe Piper could still enjoy them.

  Perhaps just for this…she could be a little selfish.