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The skies were stormy and gray as the ship sailed forward. Jason was on top of a white stallion— with wings? He looked around him, but everything was hazy.
Suddenly the side of the ship exploded. Jason stayed balanced on the horse, confused as to where the sound came from. His eyes searched for something, anything familiar to latch on to. Finally, across the deck, they landed on two people. He knew they were his friends, but he didn’t recognize them, not yet. He squinted his eyes and realized that as some point his glasses had fallen off. The two people’s faces were barely visible to him, but he could see they were crying.
Jason tried yelling, asking what was wrong, where they were, what was happening. The two continued to cry with no response. Jason’s heart ached. Rain started to pour down and soak his shirt. He looked up at the sky where storm clouds circled him, but no rain was falling. When he brought his head back down, Jason realized that it was not rain he was drenched in— it was blood. His own blood. He tried to scream, but nothing came out. The horse below him whinnied and lightning struck in the distance. Jason’s throat strained. There was too much happening, he wanted everything to stop.
The roar of the ocean swelled around him. The waves crashed up and over the side of the boat’s hull, soaking the floor and rocking everything back and forth. There was metal creaking and groaning beneath him, and Jason realize that the ship was going down. Lightning struck again, closer this time. The two people who were watching in horror were gone. Jason was all alone.
He opened up his mouth to scream again, one final call for help, one final curse to the gods. As he did so, he felt a pain shoot through his chest. He looked down to see a spear ripped through his shirt— ripped through his body. As Jason fell, he thought of every moment before, the pain in his entire body, and every moment after that he would never get to experience. Jason hit the deck.
He shot up sweating with his hand on his chest. Jason was breathing like a mad man and trying his hardest to clam himself down, but every time he closed his eyes, he saw the raging waves below him and a spear covered in his blood. Jason shook his head and held his breath. All together, he let go of the tension that was so built up in his body. All of his weight sunk back into his bed.
Once he was still again, Jason felt the swaying of the ship. He stared at the hanging light above him, dimly lit and warm. It was rocking with him, back and forth, slowly mimicking the rhythm of the waves. To most people, the movement would be calming, like a baby in a rocking chair. But to Jason, the ocean surrounding him made him feel out of control and powerless. He watched the whole room rock, trying to move against the flow of the water, but he couldn’t. The force was too much. The entire ship and everything on it was moving as one, connected and synchronized. Jason couldn’t stand it.
The boy jumped out of bed and swung his door open. The hallway was much dimmer than his own room, and being at the very end of the hall didn’t help him feel any less disconnected from the rest of the boat. He made his way past his friends’ rooms and up the stairs to the main deck. The sky was cloudy but calm, and the sea reflected that.
Jason made his way over to the side of the ship and leaned on the safety railing. There was a chill in the air, but he didn’t mind. The wind on his body felt so refreshing, it made him miss being up in the sky. The sound of the water against the side of the ship made his stomach turn, but there wasn’t much he could do about that. As Jason dipped his head down to watch the waves roll past, he thought about his nightmare. Would his final moments really be on a boat where his powers were weakest? Or did that just mean he was too weak to survive?
“Jason?” A voice came from the other side of the deck, near the very head of the ship. The sudden noise made Jason’s entire body flood with adrenaline. He hated that how he was hardwired for a battle.
The figure walked closer and Jason realized he hadn’t put on his glasses. His body shuddered. Too many similarities to that nightmare.
When the person was finally close enough for Jason to see in the dark without his glasses, his body relaxed.
“Leo,” Jason hoped his voice didn’t sound as pathetic as he felt. “What are you doing up?”
The boy shrugged and leaned on the rail next to Jason. “Festus likes the company.”
Jason nodded. He knew that Leo preferred talking to that dragon more than anyone on this ship, but it made him wonder just how much sleep this little demigod was getting. It also made him wonder if he could find him up here at any time of night, ready to talk. But Jason wouldn’t want to bother him.
“So,” Leo looked up into the sky, then back at Jason. “What are you doing up?”
The demigod kept his eyes down. On any other day with any other person, Jason preferred to keep spirits up. He felt like he needed to be there for everyone all of the time, and he needed to be brave in order to convince everyone else that things were okay. But staring down at the ocean, full of uncertainties, he felt that maybe now, with Leo, he could let his guard down.
“I had a nightmare.” Jason’s eyes remained glued to the water.
“Like, demigod, warning, prophecy-telling nightmare?” Leo asked. “Or like a normal, mortal, teeth falling out nightmare?”
Jason blinked. He wasn’t sure how to answer that.
“I don’t know,” He told the truth. “I died.”
Leo stared at the boy. Demigods had horrible, torturous nightmares all the time. But actually dying in one? As far as he knew, Leo had never heard of that before. He wasn’t sure how to react. He cleared his throat before speaking.
“Well, that could mean a lot of things,” Leo said. “Were there any other details?”
The two stood in silence for a good minute. Jason thought about what to tell Leo. None of it was good. He thought it would be difficult for Leo to put a spin on things this time. He decided to change the subject to something else that had been on his mind.
“Do you ever wish you were normal?” Jason’s voice was harsh, saying the words like an insult. Leo flinched.
“I don’t mean, like, that you’re not normal.” Jason corrected himself. “I think… I just meant mortal. Do you ever wish you were mortal?”
“Uhm,” Leo collected his thoughts. “Well, yea. I think all demigods think about that.”
Jason nodded, then quickly shook his head. “Sometimes, after we all go to bed, I just stare at my ceiling and think about what I would be doing right now with a mortal life.”
Jason spoke into the ocean air. Leo watched him, listening to his best friend, the son of the king of the gods, finally snap. He chose not to interrupt.
“It’s, what? Two in the morning? On a school night, I might be up studying. Or maybe talking to my girlfriend on the phone or watching television. Or if it were a weekend, maybe I would be at, like, a party or something. I don’t even know what day it is!” He let out an exasperated scoff and threw his head in his hands.
The ship chugged on as the two boys fell into silence again. Leo wasn’t sure what his friend needed right now, so until he figured that out, he just stood there for him. He was glad he found him when he did. He thought about what might’ve happened if Jason was alone up here all night.
Jason’s head lifted out of his hands. It was hard to tell in the dark, but his eyes seemed puffy and red. His cheeks glistened in the starlight. Leo swallowed down the lump in his throat.
“I just…” Jason’s voice barely carried over the waves. “I’m really tired of being a hero. Is that selfish?”
His eyes caught on Leo’s and his body stiffened. They were stark blue and cut through the night like lightning, sending the message that he owned the sky. In a different context, Leo would be afraid of him. But right now, his blue eyes shined vulnerably, like a diamond ready to be cut.
Leo thought about what Jason had been through, and all of that time he spent as a praetor just to be plucked away from it all for some huge life changing quest. He was a natural leader, and Leo had always admired that from his very first day at Wilderness Academy. But now, watching him crack under the pressure, Leo realized that they were far more alike than he realized.
“No,” Leo finally answered. “Well, it’s a little selfish. But that’s alright, it’s human.”
Jason studied Leo as he spoke, trying to get used to being the one lectured rather than doing the lecturing. He didn’t mind it.
“I think that makes you more alike any mortal than anything else about you. Everyone is guilty of being selfish sometimes. It doesn’t make you any less of a hero.”
When Leo finished, he could see a tear on Jason’s cheek. They stared at each other. Leo felt like he was being searched inside and out by his eyes. Jason felt warm. He let out a sigh and straightened, turning his head to the sea once again.
“That dream felt real,” Jason admitted. “And as I was… Y’know… Dying….. I thought about everything that I didn’t do. All of the words I really wanted to say. I thought about how I would go down in battle without ever…”
Leo waited for him to finish, but he didn’t. Talking about your own death is probably hard enough. He didn’t push onward, he was just glad that Jason felt comfortable enough to share this with him.
“Hey,” Jason’s gaze flicked up to the horizon and followed the stars into the sky. “Do you think we could…” He motioned upward and Leo frowned.
“What?”
“Can we go up there? I prefer traveling by sky rather than sea.” Jason said, and Leo thought he saw a flash of a smile, but he shook his head.
“Sky’s not too clear and Festus said our route would be better if we sailed. And I do what the dragon says.” Leo pointed to the front of the ship where glowing mechanical eyes dimly lit the path ahead of them like headlights on a car. Jason stared back up at the sky.
“I don’t like feeling out of control.” The demigod was quiet again, speaking as if he were scared to anger the sea. “I feel pretty useless whenever we sail.”
“What? You’re not useless. What are you saying?”
“Well, I don’t have much of a handle on things down here than when we’re up there.” Jason said. “In the sky, I have complete control. I can sense things in every direction. I can help guide us. But on the water, I can’t seem to get a grip on anything.”
Leo watched the boy’s frustration and wondered if it went deeper than just sky versus sea.
“Plus, Percy pretty much controls everything around here when it’s time to sail. He commands the ship and it listens. He commands us and we listen. I feel like I’m letting you guys down by not doing something better for the ship.”
“Okay, hold on now,” Leo threw his hands up in defense. “Percy doesn’t command anything. Sure, he knows a bunch of fancy nautical words, but Festus is the captain of this ship.”
Jason’s eyes looked around, trying to wrap his head around a ship that steers itself and lets its own sails down. It was too far fetched, but he’d never really stopped to consider it.
“Plus, I built it so that we all have a part to play.” Leo continued. “Festus is the ship, but he couldn’t make it all this way alone. He needs all of us to help him in some way.”
The boat creaked below them as if the automaton were listening in on their conversation. Leo pat the side of the ship.
“I think the seven of us work a lot like this ship.” Leo studied the ocean in front of him.
“What does that mean?”
“We kind of all need each other to keep going. We work just fine alone, but all put together, we’re unstoppable.” Leo smiled to himself. “Like a well oiled machine.”
Jason didn’t realize he was staring at the boy until he turned and their eyes met. Wind blew through Leo’s curly hair and wafted his oily, cologne sprayed scent directly toward Jason. The smell reminded him of their time on their first quest together, with Jason and Piper riding Festus and Leo in the front.
Jason felt like he was a natural leader, but it was really Leo who made their first quest possible— and successful. He had found, repaired, and upgraded a haywire mechanical dragon to escort them first class to their destinations. He then transformed that dragon into a flying-sailing ship that could carry everything they needed for their quest. In reality, this entire thing would fall apart without him. He was making sure they got to where they needed to go, even if he was afraid. Jason respected him before, but now, watching him stand on his own wonderful creation, he admired him more than ever.
“What are you staring at?” Leo’s voice was soft and warm like a fireplace, welcoming you to sit and embrace all of its comfort. Jason chose his next words carefully.
“I’m trying to figure out what to do next.” Jason looked at his best friend, the one that had been with him through some of the most important times in his life. Maybe it was still the spell cast by Hera, but Jason really did feel like they had been friends forever.
Leo hesitated, but when he spoke, he had never been more certain of his own words.
“You take life into your own hands and you make sure you don’t regret it.”
The words seemed to resonate with Jason as they flowed through his entire body. He moved slowly but surely, letting his hands sip from the railing and onto Leo’s face. He cupped his cheeks so tenderly, like a live flame he needed to protect from the strong winds blowing. Their eyes connected like thunder, clashing harmoniously against each other. Their hearts beat fast in unison. Jason leaned closer and closer, slowly closing the gap between them. Leo didn’t know what to do, but he didn’t stop it. Their eyes shut as their mouths connected. Jason’s hands were shaking, but he didn’t want to let go.
They remained like that for some time. Leo had never felt safer, and as Jason pulled away, he thought about how he wanted nothing more than to pull him right back. He saw more tears on Jason’s face and decided to remain still. The boy’s hands slipped away, leaving Leo’s cheeks feeling cold and empty.
Leo stared as Jason turned his attention to the horizon.
“Every day, up in the air, I can see the line where the sea and the sky meet.” Jason spoke so softly, Leo almost didn’t hear him. “And every day, on the ocean, I see that same line.”
Leo didn’t want to look away from Jason. He had never seen anything so beautiful. But he turned to face the openness before him and the horizon that cut through the center of it all.
“No matter how large, how infinite the two forces are, they always meet in the middle. Every day, without fail.” Another tear fell silently down Jason’s cheek. Leo watched the boy cry and wondered how water could be both so loud and destructive and also so simple and quiet. He wanted to let Jason know that it didn’t matter how selfish he was or how tired he felt— he would be by his side no matter what, always.
Then Leo thought about the nightmare that Jason had described. He died, and he had looked so scared just talking about it, but he didn’t mention Leo at all. He wondered if it was a prophecy, the gods warning him of what is to come. Leo didn’t want to ask any more questions, but the thought of just letting Jason die like that was eating away at him. Surely he was with him, right?
“Everyone on this ship cares about you,” Leo reassured him, but Jason wouldn’t look at him now. “I care about you.”
Jason just nodded, eyes fixed on the horizon.
I won’t let anything happen to you, I promise, Leo thought, and he was never so determined to keep a promise in his life.