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Jason jumped.

Behind him, standing with her eyes wide open was Gwen.

“That’s one way of getting rid of an unwanted presence, huh?” She said with a grin. “The lightning might’ve been a little extra, though.”

Jason nodded. He’d felt his energy drop with his little trick, and now wanted nothing more than to sleep for a million years. It was the downside to the Lightning Method, as his friends called it, but he’d been told it was less tiring the longer he practised, and the older he got —and he was only nine after all—.

“What’s a craisse?”

“A what?” Gwen put her arm around Jason, one hand under his armpit, keeping him upright and walking.

“A craisse,” Jason repeated. “You just said it.”

He saw Gwen’s place some fifty yards away. They weren’t officially his family, but he’d been looked after by her parents more times than he could count. They’d let him sleep off his exhaustion.

Gwen frowned. “Craisse? I only said… Oh, ‘Christ’ you mean!”

Jason nodded drowsily. “Yeah, sure, that.”

Gwen laughed. “You’re really smashed, aren’t you? Come on, then, you. Let’s get you to rest. Mam’s made some cacennau cri for when you wake up.”

Jason went with it, he was too tired to care. Besides, ‘Fucking Christ’ was probably less bizarre a phrase than that time Gwen had yelled, ‘Fucking pickle in a pop-tart’.

The air was knocked out of Jason’s lungs when his back hit the wall behind the training mat.

“Jesus, I’m sorry!”

He stood shakily and stretched, cracking his back properly.

“That’s all right,” he said.

Reyna looked skeptic, and a little shaken herself, as if she was afraid to have hurt him badly. “You hit your head against a wall, Jason, you’re not all right.”

“I’ve had worse,” he assured her. “No worries, let me get some water and I want a rematch.”

That didn’t completely smooth the worry lines in Reyna’s forehead, but she seemed to be certain he wouldn’t die on her, at least.

“Christ, Jason!” She rolled her eyes. “You won’t get better if you die of a concussion. Let’s take a break.”

There it was again, that word.

“Where does that come from?” He asked.

Reyna looked at him. “The worry? From the fact that you seem to want to destroy yourself out of social pressure when you’re only fourteen, I think.”

It was Jason’s turn to look unamused. “No, that word.”

“I said many words.”

Jason guessed she wasn’t in the right mood for questions. He just shrugged and accepted the water she was handing to him.

Jason was enjoying a short break, sitting by the Argo’s mast, eyes closed, listening to the wind, the birds, and, every so often, one of his crewmates’ voices calling for something in the background.

He felt, rather than saw, Percy slump next to him.

He turned to see a giant bruise on his cousin’s temple.

He must’ve made a face, for Percy huffed. “You don’t look too good yourself, y’know?”

Jason smiled, if a bit warily. “Not our proudest moment.”

“No shit.”

They remained quiet for a bit, but Jason felt the tension in Percy’s arm next to his. 

“What is it?” 

Percy let out a long breath, slouching forward as if deflating. He looked around, as if trying to avoid being overheard. 

“Fuckin’ Christ, Jason, it hasn’t been a week and we’ve already tried killing each other. We’re already suspecting everybody’s motives, we’ve… I don’t know, it doesn’t feel like it’s going well. I’m just tired.”

Jason didn’t have the heart to disagree. “Whatever happens will happen. We’ll work on getting along, all of us. We’ll learn to fight together.”

“I sure hope so.” Percy leaned back on the mast. He didn’t look at ease, but he seemed to be a bit relieved, as if getting that off his chest had helped his blood pressure levels.

After a minute, Jason wondered: “That phrase, ‘Christ’... where does it come from?”

Percy turned his head towards him slowly. 

“...From Jesus,” he muttered, as if he wasn’t sure Jason was messing around with him. Seeing his perplexed expression, he added. “Jesus Christ. Y’know, he’s possibly the best known…” He tilted his head, as if considering his next words. “...demigod to ever exist.”

It wasn’t that Jason hadn’t considered that before. People used that expression a lot, and he’d even met some demigods called Jesús. Since he’d also met a couple of Ulises, and even children named after gods, he’d arrived at the conclusion that Jesus must’ve left a mark.

It did irk him that people were wary about the guy in Camp Jupiter, as if he was a taboo.

All the same, Percy was staring at him as if he’d sprouted two hydra heads, so he just nodded and got up. He had first watch that night, and he’d rather have some dinner before his turn.

It was hard to ignore the lump in his throat when he thought about Leo. They’d searched everywhere. Everywhere in Camp, everywhere around, everywhere they could think of! They had even called a boon or two with the gods —they’d managed minimum communication, now that their godly worries were over, the great big… No, Jason needed to breathe—, yet, no Leo.

The only thing left of his friend —and Jason had the inappropriate urge to laugh— was a massive crater below the spot where Gaea had exploded, or whatever it was she had done. Trust Leo to go out in an unforgettable blast strong enough to leave a hole, like it was a meteorite hitting the Earth, or something.

Despite consciously trying to avoid the place, Jason tended to stray towards the edge of the crater when he wasn’t paying attention. 

He felt his eyes sting with unshed tears, and was content to give himself a few minutes to cry until he heard somebody behind him.

“Jesus fucking Christ,” said Nico, his eyes wide, watching the crater. “That was from the blast?”

Jason was about to retort that how had he not seen this before, when he remembered they’d kept his cousin doing extra hours with the funeral rites, and in the infirmary.

Reyna was right behind Nico, when she saw Jason, she took a couple of steps closer to him and put a hand on his arm —crying was not appreciated in Camp Jupiter, but if anybody knew when Jason was about to crack, it had to be Reyna—.

Jason sniffed snot back up his nose, elegance be damned.

“I never found out,” he said, looking at Nico, who looked notably better than the last time Jason had laid eyes on him. “That phrase…”

Nico seemed confused. Perhaps it was a line he’d picked up without quite knowing what it meant. Jason had heard Percy say that a million times in their quest.

“Jesus?” Reyna asked. “Jesus Christ?”

Jason nodded. “Yeah, that.”

To say both his companions were bemused was an understatement.

“Do you not know who…?” Nico began. “How the hell do you not know who Jesus is? Your people killed him! It was… I mean, it was a big thing that happened!”

“Oh, yeah, no, I know he was a demigod,” Jason said. It didn’t quite sound like a Greek name, so he’d assumed the guy had been posterior, but who was he to judge? “Was he, like, one of those Egyptians in Cleopatra’s court, or…?”

Reyna snorted. 

Nico appeared to be overwhelmed by Jason’s stupidity. He cleared his face. “No, he was one of Odysseus’ pals.”

Jason frowned. “Odysseus was before my people.”

“He’s joking.” Reyna made a face at Nico, who shrugged.

“I suppose you could say he’s a demigod,” Nico said. “Well, was, then the Romans decided he was a bit too popular, and they crucified him.”

“Ah, yes,” Jason winced. “Rome did crucify some of its enemies.”

“This one was surprisingly memorable.” Nico nodded, his lips twitching.

It was very annoying to be condescended by a runt who didn’t reach his shoulders, but Jason didn’t have the energy to snap at him.

“Jesus is Christianity’s main character, Jason,” Reyna explained. “Christians’ Achilles.”

Oh, that explained things. He knew Christians were a thing, Gwen had a phase in which she made fun of Mormons often, but he never considered a demigod could’ve been mixed up into it.

Nico scoffed. “Scusame, but Jesus was way less whinny than Achilles!”

“I know, I only mean that he’s the most well known figure.”

Evidently, Nico was still offended by the comparison. “I’d say being crucified and then walking it off is more impressive than being taken out by Paris of Troy’s shit aim!”

“He did what?” Jason pressed.

“He took down Achilles,” Reyna said. “You know that, he never actually made it into Troy.”

“Not Paris, the Jesus guy!”

“He resuscitated after he…” Reyna took a deep breath and ran a hand over her face. “Jason, how have you reached this point in your life without knowing who Jesus was?”

Jason shrugged. “Not many Christians in Camp Jupiter, evidently. And everybody treats that religion as if my father would come down to blast us all if it’s so much as mentioned!”

“Fair enough,” Nico said. “Jesus did sort of destroy polytheism in the West. Or, cioè, his legacy did.”

Jason frowned. “Sounds lovely…”

“He walked on water, multiplied bread and fish, turned water into wine,” Reyna explained. “He was God’s kid —capital G God— and after he died, his dad didn’t want full custody and—”

“That’s not how it went!” Nico interrupted, he looked mildly miffed with Reyna’s words. “He went around telling people about capital G God, the Romans were angry, they killed him, he took a weekend off, and then came back and scared the absolute shit out of Ponzio Pilato.”

“And because of that, now Catholics feel guilty,” Reyna gave Nico a pointed look, “and David Bisbal sings about Mary.”

“You made me listen to that song,” Nico said. “That song is not about Virgin Mary. It’s heresy.”

“Was she like a Hunter?” Jason asked.

“No, she was Jesus’ mother.” Nico waved his hand impatiently.

“But you just called her a—”

“Yeah, I know.” Nico considered it for a second. “It’s a long story.”

Reyna let out an uncharacteristic giggle. “I can’t believe you don’t know any of this.”

“Guess I’ll just burn in hell, then.” Jason crossed his arms. It still peeved him a bit to be the center of their joke. It wasn’t his fault Camp Jupiter was afraid of a guy who got CPRed back to life. Hazel had done that! What’s more, he had died for like a minute, too, it wasn’t such a big deal.

Nico studied Jason for several seconds. Then, he took a necklace from under his shirt. It had beads in intervals and a little cross on a bit of string —with even more beads!— hanging from the main circle.

“Here,” he said handing it over to Jason. “Don’t worry, I’ll pray for your eternal soul. Let the many years of catechismo I did count for something.”