Chapter Text
London, 1877
“This is a terrible idea,” Jason Reed muttered to his companion, Percy Jackson as the two boys stood outside Harris the Pieman’s shop.
“Oh, come on, Jace! I’m starving. And I am pretty sure you are too,” Percy whined in his ear, “This guy sells the best pies in all of Covent Garden Market.”
“I really don’t think I should be stealing with these weird powers, Perce.” Jason muttered, still unsure how Percy had managed to convince him into coming here at all, “What if they are the work of the devil?”
“Pish, there’s no such thing as the devil,” Percy shot back, rolling his eyes, “ Hurry up and get the pie, Jace. We had nothing to eat for two days except for that apple core we snatched from that hansom cabdriver’s horse.”
“I don’t know, Perce,” Jason replied uncertainly, “I still feel bad about this.”
Percy rolled his beautiful sea green eyes again, even with his sooty cheeks and dirty clothes, he was still an extremely handsome boy. “You and your conscience are going to be the death of us.”
“Percy-”Jason started but his best friend interrupted him.
“Please, Jason! I’m so hungry. My family didn’t let me eat anything yesterday,” he flashed him those puppy dog eyes that made Jason’s knees feel weak and Jason knew he had lost. It was not his fault that his best friend was somehow so handsome and adorable at the same time.
He knew if anyone found out that he was thinking about his best friend in that way, or any boy for that matter, he would most likely get arrested or even hanged. But he couldn’t bring himself to care. After all, both him and Percy had been thrown into prison for stealing more times than they both cared to admit.
Being an orphan living on the streets of Victorian London was difficult to say the least. And trying to hide the fact that he was interested in other boys was the least of Jason’s concerns. As long as he didn’t act on it, he would be fine.
He sighed, giving in to his best friend’s stare, “Alright, Perce. You win.”
He gave his hand a discreet wave and a mincemeat pie floated off the shelf, out of the back door and into his waiting hands. Neither the Pieman nor any of the customers noticed the strange phenomenon, preoccupied as they were.
Percy smiled at him so fondly like Jason had just presented him the world on a silver platter and Jason felt his cheeks heat up. Gently, Percy took his hand that wasn’t holding the pie and gave it a squeeze. “Thanks, Jace,” he said softly.
“No problem, Perce,” Jason replied, his previous guilt had completely disappeared when Percy smiled at him like that.
However, as he had learned from trial and error, using his weird powers usually led to headaches and nosebleeds. Already, he could feel pain building up behind his eyes.
He gave a small groan and stumbled. Luckily, Percy reached out and steadied him.
“Whoa, careful. You okay?” Percy asked, his voice filled with concern.
Jason nodded, “Yeah.”
“I’m sorry, Jace. I wouldn't have made you do that if you feel sick afterwards.” Percy said gently, rubbing his back.
Jason took a deep breath, “That’s alright, Percy. I’m hungry too. Now let’s get out of here before we’re caught, okay?”
Percy nodded, “You sure you’re all right?”
Jason nodded, hiding the pie under his coat and led him out of the alley, “Come on.”
Jason and Percy had been living in the rookery for almost their entire lives. Jason had been an orphan all his life and had no idea who his parents were. He had run away from the orphanage a few years back and had been living on the streets since. He had tried hard to make money for food by selling apples but most of the time he had to steal to survive. Even though it weighed on his conscience.
Percy, on the other hand, had no qualms about stealing whatsoever, and was known to be a master pickpocket by many who lived in the rookery. He was smart, charismatic and handsome, but that didn’t stop his stepfather and stepbrothers from abusing him and treating him like their slave. Jason felt angry every time he thought about it. Percy deserved much more than that.
Just this week, Jason had started to be able to do strange things, things that shouldn’t have been possible. Move things around with his mind without touching them and seeing ghosts. And Percy had encouraged him to use them to get them food. Jason wanted to be more careful about it but Percy had just shrugged and told him that as long as it kept them well-fed, who cared where the powers came from.
With that, the two boys dodged through the colourful chaos of the market and nobody paid them any mind.
All around them, there were stalls, shops, barrows and hand-carts. Hawkers and vendors chanted, trying to get people to buy whatever they were selling.
Jason and Percy woved through the crowd, trying to get out of the market and head to their little hideout.
Suddenly Jason felt a tug on the sleeve of his dirty coat.
“Mister Jason!”
He glanced down to find a little orphan boy in dirty overalls. “Aye, what is it, Travis?” he mumbled, hoping the little boy hadn’t seen him and Percy stealing. He didn’t want to set a bad example for the six year old.
“There’s some people over there looking for you, Jason!” Travis informed him.
“Looking for me?” Jason wondered out loud, “Who?”
“I don’t know, sir. But they don’t seem right. See them? Over there.”
“ Probably Constable Blofis,” Percy remarked, eyes widening in panic,"We'd better run for it, Jace.”
“No, sir. Not the bobbies. Those blokes over there. They’ve been asking all the kids if they have seen you.” Travis said.
Jason and Percy peered at the direction that Travis was pointing at and Jason frowned.
The strangers looked extremely out of place so he noticed them at once. There was a tall elegant gentleman and a trio of thugs.
Percy glanced at Jason in worry, “What do they want?”
Travis shrugged, “Did one of them used to be your apprentice master, Jason. That factory owner that used to beat you?”
Jason shook his head with an ominous feeling, he didn’t like this. “I have never seen them before.” he murmured. He knows he shouldn’t go looking for trouble, but his curiosity won over.
He turned to Percy, “Take this and go to our hideout. I’ll meet you there after I find out what these toffs want.” He carefully took the pot pie out of his coat and transferred it to Percy’s.
Percy nodded, “Be careful. You better come back to me safely, Jason Reed.”
Jason smiled, “I will.”
“Good,” Percy’s voice softened, “You are the only person in this god awful world that I can tolerate.” He turned and disappeared into the crowd.
Jason turned to Travis, “I’m going to try and eavesdrop on those blokes. You stay out of their way, okay? I don’t like the look of them.”
The little boy nodded and slipped through the crowd much like Percy had a few moments ago.
When it seemed safe, Jason stealthily sneaked closer to the mysterious men, trying to make out what they were saying through the noise the crowd was making.
Suddenly, the tall gentleman spotted him and without meaning to, Jason locked eyes with him. The stranger startled forward with a look of shocked recognition. “Jason?” he yelled.
Jason’s eyes widened.
“There he is! Bring that boy to me! Go!” the gentleman shouted, pointing.
In the next moment, the three thugs were charging at him, and Jason went motionless in pure shock.
“Blimey,” he breathed.
Then he ran for his life.
……………………..
Abandoning all attempts at stealth, Jason tore through the market, leaping over obstacles and ducking behind crates.
“Stop that boy! Stop, thief!”
He glared over his shoulders as Harris the Pieman joined the goose chase. Rushing out of his stall, he pointed at Jason. “Constable Blofis! It’s that blasted Reed boy again. If he’s here, it means that the Jackson boy is somewhere around here too!”
The next thing he knew, the bobbies were blowing their whistles fiercely and chasing after him. Jason cursed and ran faster, spurred on by the thought of him and Percy in Newgate Prison.
‘Seriously, Percy. You owe me after getting me in this much trouble for a pie,’he thought, ‘You are so going to be the death of me.’
He zipped through the stalls and finally reached the wide, open square around the market. Surely, the strangers would not dare follow him into the rough rookery neighbourhood.
It was a treacherous place to go if you didn’t belong, with many shady people lurking around. Here, the tall apartment buildings crowded together, turning the narrow streets into dim, shadowed canyons.
His footsteps echoed off the brick walls. Only a few people were around, but when the rookery folk sensed trouble, they shut their doors and curtains.
“Jason!” the gentleman’s voice rang out from behind him, “It’s you, isn’t it?”
‘Blazes, why are they still following me?’ he thought, inwardly panicking.
“Jason, please, I only want to talk!
“Leave me alone!” he hollered back, “I have somewhere I need to be!” The image of Percy holding the pie waiting in their hideout seared in his mind.
He started to run again, causing the man to shout, “Get back here, brat!”
Jason panted, his head starting to pound again from using his powers earlier and the exertion from running.
He tried to blink the throbbing pain away but the dizziness was getting worse. There was no Percy here to catch him this time if he stumbled.
At a four-way intersection, he ducked onto the alley on the right. Just around the corner, he pressed his back against the wall, chest heaving. He glanced around. He needed some kind of distraction to shake off his pursuers.
He wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to use his powers again, knowing it would make the sick feeling worse. But he didn’t have a choice, didn’t he?
He brought up his hand just like when Percy had helped him practice back at their hideout, the envy clear in his eyes. The memory brought a smile to his face. And he concentrated on a distant garbage bin and focused on it with newfound strength.
Pah! He flung his fingers like you might flick water droplets off your hand. Instantly, the garbage bin clattered onto the side as if someone had kicked it and a dog barked at the disturbance.
The ruse worked and his pursuers raced off in the direction of the noise. At once, he pushed off the wall and continued running down the alley to the right.
Unfortunately, the strangers were not fooled for long. The chilling, elegant voice of the gentleman echoed off the maze of brick alleyways, “We are not dealing with an ordinary boy here, fools. Find him!”
It sounded like the strangers already knew about his strange abilities. But how was that possible? Aside from Percy, Jason had told no one and he knew the Seaweed-Brain would rather die before he betrayed Jason’s secrets, especially something like this.
“There he is! After him! Go!”
Uttering a curse, he raced on, dashing down another alley. By now, the piercing headache was so strong that it was hard to ignore and he was starting to feel queasy.
In one last desperate attempt, he drew on his powers one last time to knock over a pile of barrels, creating a blockade behind him. He knew it would not stop his pursuers, but hopefully it would slow them down.
Jason knew he had to find a place to hide but he wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep running and he couldn’t help wishing that he had asked Percy to come with him. He was one of the most notorious pickpockets around. He could probably shake these guys off with ease.
The world began to spin and the walls were beginning to close in on him. He staggered on, pushing off the brick walls. His chest was heaving, his head was pounding and his vision was becoming blurry.
Suddenly, an old beggar appeared in front of him without warning and Jason almost let out a startled shriek.
“Wait!” it moaned, holding up its bluish- gray, transparent hand to stop him.
Jason ignored the spirit, nearly running through it. He had no time for conversation with the dead right now.
His second odd ability was that he was able to see ghosts, or rather lares as they had called themselves. It didn’t give him headaches but it wasn’t exactly normal.
Percy had been a lot less interested in that power, but Jason had found that chatting with wise old spirits could be an insightful experience. Talkative bunch, they were, and they were everywhere in London.
But right now was not exactly the time for listening to a long lecture by a particularly knowledgeable spirit, so Jason tried to pretend he had not seen the ghost and forced himself to keep running. The lare materialised again a few feet ahead of him, an old homeless beggar with icicles hanging off his nose.
“Not that way, boy!” the spirit warned. But it was too late. Jason had already stumbled into the nearest turn and had found himself in a dead end.
The brick wall was too high to climb and the back doors of the alley were blocked up. There was no way out except for the way he came in.
Jason whirled around to find the biggest of the thugs appearing in the opening.
“We got him now, sir!” he cried and Jason gulped. The man was slightly intimidating.
The other two thugs soon arrived and they stood on either side of the first one, blocking the mouth of the alley. He was trapped.
“Well, well. You are a slippery one, aren’t you? You led us on a merry chase.” The elegant gentleman was the last one to appear, his dirty blonde hair was messed up from the chase and now that Jason could study his appearance, he realised how much the gentleman looked like him.
“What do you want with me?” Jason demanded, trying his best to sound brave.
The gentleman just laughed, “Ah, well. I suppose I just wanted to have a look at my closest kin before we kill you, lad.”
Jason’s jaw dropped, he heard the death threat of course, but what did the man mean by ‘kin’?
The stranger stepped forward, “That was impressive. I see you inherited the power of telekinesis.”
“Tele-ka-what?” he echoed, thoroughly confused.
“Tele: Latin, meaning ‘at a distance’. Kinesis: Greek for ‘motion’.” the gentleman said with a sneer,“I should have known that you’d get the power, just like your father. Tell me, do you have your mother’s gift as well? See any ghosts around?”
Jason couldn’t stop himself from letting out a gasp, utterly overwhelmed, “You knew my parents? Who were they? Tell me! Please!”
If there was one thing that Jason wanted more than anything all his life was a family, to have his parents back. And he would give anything to even just know his real parents’ names.
The director of the orphanage where he had spent most of his childhood had had no information about them, not even their names. But the thing that Jason most wanted to know was why they hadn’t kept him. Had they not loved him, or had something terrible happened to them? Jason wasn’t sure which one was worse.
Whoever they were, he had no clue of his origins except for the baby bib with his first name, Jason embroidered on it, as well as a necklace, a simple black cord with a small seashell on it. It was draped around his neck when he had been found fourteen years ago.
Some fishermen had spotted him, a baby in a basket, floating down the River Thames, happily gurgling to himself.
The basket had been made of willow reeds, which was why the orphanage staff had thought it funny to give him the last name ‘Reed’. His real last name was anyone’s guess.
“Do you know me?” he cried, hearing the desperation and the pain in his own voice, “Please tell me who I am!”
The gentleman smirked, “Only the son of the most arrogant fool I’ve ever known. I have nothing personal against you, dear nephew. You seem nothing like your terrible excuse of a father. But alas, you are much too dangerous for me to leave alive. Trust me, it’s better this way.”
He turned to the biggest thug, “Carry on.”
“Aye, milord.”
“What about his powers, sir?” one the others asked nervously.
“Oh, he’s out of steam,” the gentleman scoffed,“ Look at him. Rather green about the gills, Jason? Oh, I know all about it. Pity you won’t live long enough to learn how to control it.
“Wait!” Jason cried, at a loss, “You called me nephew! Is it true? Are you really my uncle?”
“Do I look like someone who would lie to a doomed soul, lad?” he countered sarcastically.
Anger flashed through Jason at the man’s cruelty, “Fine! Whatever! I don’t want to be related to you anyway, you mumper!” he shouted, borrowing Percy’s favourite insult.
The man frowned but smiled in curious amusement, “You have some spirit, lad. I will give you that. Almost like myself when I was your age, but it doesn’t change my mind. Vale!” He continued strolling away.
“Hey!” Jason yelled, growing increasingly nervous. “Where are you going?”he demanded, trying to stall and delay his doom.
The gentleman turned back and gave him another cruel smirk, “Why, I am going back to enjoy my life as the sixth Earl of Griffon, actually. You didn’t think I would give up all that power and privilege just because you somehow managed to survive all these years, no way. Sorry, boy, but there can only be one Lord Griffon at a time and I am more worthy than you.”
“Give my regards to your parents, Jason. You’ll be seeing them in the underworld soon.” and with that the gentleman turned and marched out of the alley.
When he was gone, the three henchmen drew out large gleaming knives and started closing in on Jason.
Jason gulped, knowing that his life was about to end. What a terrible way to die, being killed in an alley by thugs that worked for the man that claimed to be his uncle. Just his luck that his only living relative wanted to kill him upon making his acquaintance.
He closed his eyes, accepting his fate. His powers were completely out of steam. He was so tired that he felt like puking, completely out of bravado and the only thing he could think of was Percy.
Would he notice that Jason was gone for way too long and come looking for him? Would he grieve for Jason once he realised that he was dead? He hoped so.
As the thugs stalked closer and closer, Jason only allowed himself to think of his best friend in his last moments, and waited for death to claim him.