Uniting As The Ten- Part Two Of The Conclusion To The United Series

Chapter Two

Jason's POV:

It hasn't been long before Max got controlled and left. A couple hours, actually. I told everyone my suspicion- Bryce Lawrence can somehow control people and made Max say and do those things. Percy and Leo still seem horrifically hurt about what she said, though. Gods, I wonder how horrible she's going to feel when they tell her what happened.

I wander around the penthouse aimlessly. I'm not sure where to go. I enter a random room- a regular bedroom- but someone's already sitting on the bed in the back- Ivan.

I'm about to spit a random insult at him when I notice that his head is buried in his hands. His chest is heaving and his shoulders are slightly shaking. At first I think he's laughing but I'm quickly corrected when I hear him let out a quiet, pained sob. He's crying.

"Ivan?" I call out to him, trying my best to not sound cold or harsh. I may hate him, but being rude to him while he's crying is just awful.

Ivan whips his head up to look at me. His eyes are red and puffy, tear stains on his cheeks. He quickly looks away from me, wiping away his tears.

"What do you want?" Ivan asks me. I can tell that he tries to sound harsh and cold, but he just sounds broken and in desperate need of a hug.

Instead of answering, I walk up to him and sit down next to him on the bed, avoiding his gaze. He glares at me, but it's not very intimidating when he's constantly blinking tears out of his eyes.

"What Bryce said isn't true, you know," I tell him and he chuckles darkly- a bit too darkly.

"Oh, really? You said it yourself. I didn't turn out good." His voice is bitter, turning even more cold at the words 'turn out'. I'm silent for a few moments. I don't know what to say. Gods, I really did say that.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean it," I reply honestly. I mean, I didn't mean to hurt him like this.

"Okay, you keep saying that, Grace," Ivan says. He pats my shoulder and gets up to walk out of the room.

"Look, I really am. What else do you want me to say?" I ask him. Ivan freezes and thinks for a moment. He may be cruel at times, but after meeting Max he has definitely become a deep thinker.

"I don't know. Do you have anything else you want to say?" Ivan asks me, his hand on the doorknob. I shrug my shoulders.

"It's not true. What Max said."

Ivan scoffs. "Sure, Grace." He opens the door but I stand up and slam it back closed. Ivan growls at me.

"It's not," I repeat firmly.

"What are you going to do, lecture me?" Ivan asks bitterly. It's really hard to be patient with this guy.

"No, I'm just trying to be nice for once, so if you can stop being so arrogant and idiotic about it, that'd be a nice change," I snap, almost yelling at him. Almost.

Ivan looks stunned at my sudden outburst. After a few quick moments, he goes back to his regular cold state.

"Yeah, I know. I'm arrogant and idiotic, can you leave me alone now?" Ivan asks, opening the bedroom door. I just slam it shut again. Ivan glares at me, scowling deeply.

I grab Ivan's arm and push him back onto the bed. He growls at me but sits down anyways, his legs hanging off the side. I sit down next to him and we're both silent. I look at him and he has no emotion on his face. So, I ask a question I've been wondering for a long time now.

"Why do you always wear black?"

"What?" Ivan asks, surprised at my sudden, off-topic question.