resident drew defender

Jason was in trouble. He was in big, big trouble. The biggest trouble he’d ever been in in the whole ten years of his life.

He was not supposed to be on this quest. Camp Jupiter had rules, and one of those rules was that you had to be 13 before you were allowed to go on quests, but he was special. He was the son of Jupiter, and that meant he got more responsibility than everyone else his age because he was going to be a leader one day. So, Alexios had begrudgingly agreed to let him be the third member of their questing party, and Luciana had told him specifically that he was not to go wandering off on his own because she refused to be responsible for the death of the King of Olympus’s son. 

Honestly, Jason had done a really good job on the quest. He’d stuck by Luciana’s side, fought monsters, and followed all of Alexios’s orders without fail. He’d even gotten a crooked grin and a “Good job, kid,” while the older boy ruffled his hair. Their quest was pretty much done, they were just waiting around in a cheap motel while Alexios finished writing his mission brief and Luciana slept off over-using her powers. They’d be in the black SUVs headed back home in less than an hour, and Jason decided that he’d do something nice for his quest mates and go get snacks for the trip home. 

And that was why Jason was in trouble.

He hadn’t planned on running into the Cyclopes, especially considering that he’d left his sword in the motel room, but the voice had sounded just like Luciana telling him that he needed to get to her right then, and he’d followed the order without question. That had resulted in Jason being cornered in a dead end as a Cyclopes bore down on him with a nasty grin. “My my,” he said in Alexios’s voice. “What a yummy little demi–”

The Cyclopes was interrupted by a tennis shoe bouncing off the back of his head, and Jason and the Cyclopes both looked to see a very small boy standing there, looking furious and only wearing one shoe. “You leave him alone!”

“Why you little–” the Cyclopes charged, but the boy darted away, leading the monster away from Jason. 

Jason just stood there for a moment, blinking in shock for a moment while he tried to register what just happened. Before he could though, the little boy was back, grabbing his shoe with one hand and Jason in the other. “Come on! We gotta scram before that bozo comes back!” he ordered with bright, manic eyes.

Still blinking away his shock, Jason just let himself be led through the twisting roads of Houston until the boy ducked between a pair of dumpsters and uncovered a little alcove. He was panting, but he was also grinning like he’d just won something. “Okay, I think we’re safe here.”

Jason probably should have thanked the boy for saving his life, but instead he just frowned. “Who are you?”

“I’m L–” the boy stumbled over the word before recovering. “Emil. You can call me Emil.”

Jason’s ears pricked, and he heard the half-truth, just like Lupa had taught him. That was fine. He could fib, too. “Okay. I’m Michael. Did you see anything weird about that guy?”

Emil paused for a moment, assessing before he shrugged. “Does there have to be something weird? He was a big guy picking on a smaller kid, and that’s not fair. You’re, what? Twelve?”

“Ten.”

Emil brightened considerably. “Me too!”

Jason cocked his head to the side. “Really? I thought you were eight.”

Emil scowled at him. “Next time I’m letting bad guys eat you.”

Jason ignored that, figuring that there probably wouldn’t be very many more chances for Emil to feed him to monsters. “What are you doing out here?”

“Same as you, I guess,” Emil said with a shrug. “It’s summertime, so there’s no school, and my foster mom doesn’t let me in until sundown. She doesn’t really care where I go before then.”

Jason frowned. That didn’t sound right, but he didn’t really know enough about mortal childhoods to dispute it. “Uh, yeah. Me, too. I guess.” He frowned at Emil, thinking about how he’d seemingly recognized the Cyclopes and how he’d run even faster than some of the Mercury kids at Camp. “Do you know who your mom and dad are?”

Emil puckered his face and looked away. “My mom and dad are dead.”

Jason immediately shrank in on himself, feeling very bad and more than a little dumb. “Sorry.”

“It’s whatever,” Leo muttered. “You didn’t know.”

That was true, Jason didn’t know. What he did know was that this boy saved him, and he refused to just leave him behind. “Do you like your foster mom?”

Emil looked very suspicious. “Theresa’s fine.”

“Would you like to come live with me instead?” Jason offered. “I live in a camp for special kids. I think you’d fit in really well. Plus I’d like to have a friend.”

Emil’s eyes went wide before he glanced back and forth like he was looking for a trap. Then he said in a small, shy voice, “I’d like to be your friend, too.”

“Great!” Jason beamed. He offered Emil his hand this time. “Come on. If you’ll take me back to the motel, we can go together.” Emil nodded, took his hand and led him back to the motel Jason described. Right as they rounded the corner, Jason grinned because he saw Luciana standing at the door, looking frantic. “Okay, wait right here! I’ll be right back!”

Jason ran up to Luciana, who whirled around and grabbed him, shaking him a bit. “There you are! You had me worried sick!”

“Sorry!” Jason said through laughter. She put him down, and he looked up at her with wide eyes. “Luciana, I made a friend. He saved me from a Cyclops and I told him he could live at Camp Jupiter. I think he’s a demigod. He’s waiting at the corner.”

Luciana’s eyes widened and she looked past Jason’s shoulder with a frown. “Who’s waiting?”

Jason whirled around, and was heartbroken to find that Emil was nowhere to be seen. “I– But I told him to wait. He said he’d be my friend.”

Luciana was quiet for a moment before she sighed. “I’m sorry, Jay. Maybe now just wasn’t the right time.”

Jason felt his eyes start to sting so he bit down hard on his lip. “Why not?”

“You know as well as I do that Lupa’s the one who brings in demigods to Camp,” she reminded him. “Maybe the Fates aren’t ready for the two of you to meet just yet.”

“Maybe,” Jason said morosely.

Luciana squeezed his fingers. “Come on. Al’s done with the report, so I was gonna buy some car snacks. You wanna come?”

“Okay,” he agreed softly, letting her lead him away, just like Emil had.

“Cheer up kid,” she smiled. “I bet you’ll see him again when the time’s right. Can you wait for that?”