Invisible ― Jason Grace

xvii. first date at the end of the world

AFTER THE PIRATE INVASION, they decided to fly the rest of the way to Rome. Jason insisted on taking sentry duty, along with Coach Hedge, who was still so charged up on adrenaline that every time the ship hit turbulence, he swung his bat and yelled, "Die!"

He was unlike any faun Camilla had ever met, and she hadn't yet figured out if that was a good thing or not.

Camilla got a few more hours of sleep, which were blissfully uneventful in terms of nightmares. After Gaea's dream-visit, Camilla was content to sleep without dreams for the time being, though she doubted it would last very long. Demigods always had freaky dreams.

She woke up early in the morning, when the sky was still fairly dark. She got ready for the day, slipping on one of her old Camp Jupiter shirts, worn enough that it was soft and just a little stretched at the collar. She even took the time to French braid her hair into pigtails, keeping it out of her face for the day ahead. They had to be nearly to Rome now—they'd be landing any time now.

And only the Fates knew what they'd be facing in the ancient city.

Camilla stopped by the mess hall and got two mugs of hot chocolate before making her way up to the deck. Jason was standing at the front of the ship. It was still pretty dark, but Camilla could see light at the horizon, and she knew the sun would be rising any moment now.

Jason's lips tilted up when he spotted her, and his smile grew as she handed him a mug. "Thanks, Millie," he said, wrapping his arm around her and pulling her against his side. Camilla was more than happy to lean into his warmth.

She looked out at the landmass ahead of them. She couldn't make out much of the city itself in the darkness, but she knew it had to be their destination—Rome, Italy.

"We should be landing within the half-hour, according to Leo," Jason told her, taking a sip of the hot chocolate. Somehow, his smile grows wider. "Cinnamon?"

Camilla nodded. "It's not Bombilo's, but—"

"It's better," Jason decided.

Camilla doubted that was true, but she took the compliment anyway.

"I never thought I'd actually see this place," Camilla confessed quietly, watching Rome grow closer with every passing minute. "Everyone always talks about how deadly it is here—I never thought I'd have a reason to come."

"Me neither," Jason said. "It's crazy to think that this is where our line of demigods came from. It feels kind of... full-circle, I guess."

Camilla cracked a small smile, but it didn't last. "I just wish we were here for a better reason."

"Yeah," Jason whispered. "So do I."

They watched the sunrise together, in a single moment of peace Camilla wished could last forever.

Eventually, they woke the others, and the whole crew marveled at the sight of Rome as they descended toward it.

"We're setting down in that park," Leo announced, pointing to a wide green space dotted with palm trees. "Let's hope the Mist makes us look like a large pigeon or something."

No cars veered off the road and no Romans pointed at the sky screaming, "Aliens!" The Argo II set down in the grassy field and the oars retracted.

The noise of traffic was all around them, but the park itself was peaceful and deserted. To their left, a green lawn sloped toward a line of woods. An old villa nestled in the shade of some weird-looking pine trees with thin curvy trunks that shot up thirty or forty feet, then sprouted into puffy canopies.