( STEPHANIE PHẠM )

⤹⋆⸙͎۪۫｡˚۰˚☽˚⁀➷｡˚⸙͎۪۫⋆ ༄

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*𝐄𝐌𝐁𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐀𝐒𝐒𝐄𝐃 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐀𝐍 𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓. after waking up with her head in jasons lap, stephanie tried her best to avoid the blonde. after finally breaking camp they started down the tunnel.

it twisted and turned and seemed to go on forever. none of them were sure what to expect at the end-a dungeon, a mad scientist's lab, or maybe a sewer reservoir where all porta-potty sludge ends up, forming an evil toilet face large enough to swallow the world.

instead , they found polished steel elevator doors, each one engraved with a cursive letter m. next to the elevator was a directory, like for a department store.

"m for macy's?" piper guessed. "i think they have one in downtown chicago."

"or monocle motors still?" leo said. "guys, read the directory. it's messed up." parking, kennels, main entrance: sewer level.

 furnishings and café. 1

women's fashion and magical appliances: 2

men's wear and weaponry: 3

cosmetics, potions, poisons sundries: 4

"kennels for what?" piper said. "and what kind of department store has its entrance in a sewer?"

"or sells poisons," stephanie said weirded out. "i don't even know what 'sundries' are?"

jason took a deep breath. "when in doubt, start at the top ."

"no one in their right mind has ever said that" stephanie shook her head but pressed the elevator door button anyway.

𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐨𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝 on the fourth floor, and the scent of perfume wafted into the elevator. jason stepped out first, sword ready. "guys," he said. "you've got to see this."

piper joined him and caught her breath. "this is not macy's."

the department store looked like the inside of a kaleidoscope. the entire ceiling was a stained glass mosaic with astrological signs around a giant sun. the daylight streaming through it washed everything in a thousand different colours. the upper floors made a ring of balconies around a huge central atrium, so they could see all the way down to the ground floor. gold railings glittered so brightly, they were hard to look at.

aside from the stained glass ceiling and the elevator, jason couldn't see any other windows or doors, but two sets of glass escalators ran between the levels. the carpeting was a riot of oriental patterns and colours, and the racks of merchandise were just as bizarre. there was too much to take it at once, but jason saw normal stuff like shirt racks and shoe trees mixed in with armoured manikins, beds of nails, and fur coats that seemed to be moving.

leo stepped to the railing and looked down. "check it out." in the middle of the atrium a fountain sprayed water twenty feet into the air, changing color from red to yellow to blue. the pool glittered with gold coins, and on either side of the fountain stood a gilded cage-like an oversize canary cage.

inside one, a miniature hurricane swirled, and lightning flashed. somebody had imprisoned the storm spirits, and the cage shuddered as they tried to get out. in the other, frozen like a statue, was a short, buff satyr, holding a tree-branch club.

"oh my god, is that-?" stephanie was cut off from her shock by piper who also looked over.

"coach hedge! we've got to get down there" the girl said as she pulled away from the edge.

a voice said, "may I help you find something?" all four of them jumped back.

a woman had just appeared in front of them. she wore an elegant black dress with diamond jewellery, and she looked like a retired fashion model-maybe fifty years old, though it was hard for any of them to judge. her long dark hair swept over one shoulder, and her face was gorgeous in that surreal super-model way-thin and haughty and cold, not quite human. with their long red-painted nails, her fingers looked more like talons.

stephanie felt herself staring for a second too long as if she'd known the woman who stood in front of her. like they had a history, good or bad she didn't know. but there was something in the pit of her stomach telling her she knew her well.

she smiled. "i'm so happy to see new customers. how may I help you?" leo glanced at jason as if to say 'all yours'

"um," jason started, "is this your store?"

the woman nodded. "i found it abandoned, you know. i understand so many stores are, these days. i decided it would make the perfect place. i love collecting tasteful objects, helping people, and offering quality goods at a reasonable price. so this seemed a good, how do you say- first acquisition in this country."

she spoke with a pleasing accent, but stephanie couldn't guess where from. clearly she wasn't hostile, though. jason started to relax. her voice was rich and exotic. jason wanted to hear more. the boys stance dropping next to stephanie made her glance at him.

"so you're new to america?" he asked.

"i am new," the woman agreed. "i am the princess of colchis. my friends call me your highness. now, what are you looking for?"

jason had heard of rich foreigners buying american department stores. of course most of the time they didn't sell poisons, living fur coats, storm spirits, or satyrs, but still-with a nice voice like that, the princess of colchis couldn't be all bad.

stephanie jabbed him in the ribs. "jay"

"um, right. actually, your highness" he pointed to the gilded cage on the first floor. "that's our friend down there, gleeson hedge. the satyr. could we have him back, please?"

"of course!" the princess agreed immediately. "i would love to show you my inventory. first , may i know your names?"

stephanie didn't feel it was smart to tell the woman, she had learnt not to trust people so easily throughout her life and as they stood faced with a 'princess' she knew the odds for the end were not in their favour.

piper started to say, "jason, i wouldn't-"

"this is piper," he said. "this is leo. that's stephanie and i'm jason."

the princess fixed her eyes on stephanie and them jason and, just for a moment, her face literally glowed, blazing with so much anger, jason could see her skull beneath her skin. jason's mind was getting blurrier, but he knew something didn't seem right. then the moment passed, and her highness looked like a normal elegant woman again, with a cordial smile and a soothing voice.

"jason. what an interesting name," she said, her eyes as cold as the chicago wind. "i think we'll have to make a special deal for you. come, children. let's go shopping."

"𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐚 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥" medea complimented stephanie for what felt like the hundredth time of the day, she stood besides piper and it was obvious both girls didn't want to be there anymore. medea had been staring her down like she were an animal.

 the princess gestured toward the cosmetics counter. "shall we start with the potions?"

"cool ," jason said as if he were under some trance.

"guys," piper interrupted, "we're here to get the storm spirits and coach hedge. if this-princess-is really our friend-"

"oh, I'm better than a friend, my dear," her highness said. "i'm a saleswoman." her diamonds sparkled, and her eyes glittered like a snake's-cold and dark. "don't worry. we'll work our way down to the first floor, eh?"

leo also nodded eagerly. "sure , yeah! that sounds okay. right , piper?" piper did her best to stare daggers at him: no, it is not okay!

"of course it's okay." her highness put her hands on leo's and jason's shoulders and steered them toward the cosmetics. "come along, boys."

stephanie and piper shared worried looks before following after the boys knowing they couldn't leave them.

"and here," the princess said, "is the finest assortment of magical mixtures anywhere."

the counter was crammed with bubbling beakers and smoking vials on tripods. lining the display shelves were crystal flasks-some shaped like swans or honey bear dispensers. the liquids inside were every color, from glowing white to polka-dotted. and the smells-ugh! some were pleasant, like fresh-baked cookies or roses, but they were mixed with the scents of burning tires, skunk spray, and gym lockers.

the princess pointed to a blood red vial-a simple test tube with a cork stopper. "this one will heal any disease."

"even cancer?" leo asked. "leprosy? hangnails?"

"any disease, sweet boy. and this vial"-she pointed to a swan-shaped container with blue liquid inside-"will kill you very painfully."

"awesome," jason said. His voice sounded dazed and sleepy.

"jason ," piper said. "we've got a job to do. remember?" she tried to put power into her words, to snap him out of his trance with charm speak, but her voice sounded shaky even to her. this princess woman scared her too much, made her confidence crumble, just the way she'd felt back in the aphrodite cabin with drew.

"job to do," jason muttered. "sure. but shopping first, okay?"

the princess beamed at him. "then we have potions for resisting fire-"

"got that covered," leo said. stephanie stamping on his foot for revealing himself so casually.

"indeed?" the princess studied leo's face more closely. "you don't appear to be wearing my trademark sunscreen but no matter. we also have potions that cause blindness, insanity, sleep, or-"

"wait." piper was still staring at the red vial. "could that potion cure lost memory?"

the princess narrowed her eyes. "possibly. yes. quite possibly. why, my dear? have you forgotten something important?"

piper tried to keep her expression neutral, but if that vial could cure jason's memory...
did she really want it though? she wondered as she glanced at stephanie.

"how much?" piper asked.

stephanie turned to glance at piper with creased eyes, were they really going to give jason his memory back. she didn't know if she wanted that in all honesty. what if he went back to wherever he came from and never came back? what if he had a girlfriend?

the princess got a faraway look in her eyes. "well, now, the price is always tricky. i love helping people. honestly, i do. and I always keep my bargains, but sometimes people try to cheat me." her gaze drifted to jason and stephanie.

 "once, for instance, i met a handsome young man who wanted a treasure from my father's kingdom. we made a bargain, and I promised to help him steal it."

"from your own dad?" jason still looked half in a trance, but the idea seemed to bother him.

"oh, don't worry," the princess said. "i demanded a high price. the young man had to take me away with him. he was quite good-looking, dashing, strong" she looked at piper . "i'm sure, my dear, you understand how one might be attracted to such a hero, and want to help him."

stephanie felt herself shrink back into herself and away from the woman as she felt her eyes drift to her, she felt like the woman was in her head.

"at any rate," her highness continued, "my hero had to do many impossible tasks, and I'm not bragging when I say he couldn't have done them without me. i betrayed my own family to win the hero his prize. and still he cheated me of my payment."

"cheated?" jason frowned, as if trying to remember something important .

"that's messed up," leo said.

her highness patted his cheek affectionately. "i'm sure you don't need to worry, leo. you seem honest. you would always pay a fair price, wouldn't you?"

leo nodded like a lovesick puppy "what were we buying again? I'll take two."

piper broke in: "so, the vial, you highness-how much?" the princess assessed piper's clothes, her face, her posture, as if putting a price tag on one slightly used demigod.

"would you give anything for it, my dear?" the princess asked. "i sense that you would."

piper wanted to pay any price. she wanted to say yes. then her stomach twisted. she realized she was being charm spoken. she'd sensed something like it before, when drew spoke at the campfire, but this was a thousand times more potent. no wonder her friends were dazed. was this was what people felt when piper used charm speak? a feeling of guilt settled over her.

she summoned all her willpower. "no, I won't pay any price. but a fair price, maybe. after that, we need to leave. right , guys?"

just for a moment, her words seemed to have some effect. the boys looked confused. "leave?" jason said.

"you mean after shopping?" leo asked.

stephanie wanted to scream and hit the boys, cut them out of whatever stupid trance they were in.

"impressive ," the princess said. "not many people could resist my suggestions. are you a child of aphrodite, my dear? ah, yes-I should have seen it. no matter. perhaps we should shop a while longer before you decide what to buy, eh?"

"but the vial-"

"now , boys." she turned to jason and leo . Her voice was so much more powerful than piper's, so full of confidence, stephanie knew piper didn't stand a chance. "would you like to see more?"

"sure ," jason said.

"okay ," leo said.

"excellent," the princess said. "you'll need all the help you can get if you're to make it to the bay area."

piper's hand moved to her dagger. she thought about her dream of the mountaintop-the scene enceladus had shown her, a place she knew, where she was supposed to betray her friends in two days.

"why the bay area?" stephanie asked glancing at piper.

the princess smiled. "well , that's where you'll die, isn't it?"

then she led them toward the escalators, jason and leo still looking excited to shop. stephanie only left to watch her walk away with a frozen piper at her side.

"𝐰𝐞'𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐝𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠" stephanie kept telling herself as she followed leo an jason around the department store. she didn't care what medea said, they wouldn't die. before she could even turn her thoughts into words, jason called, "hey, check it out!"

from a rack labelled distressed clothing, he held up a purple t-shirt like the one he'd worn on the school field trip-except this shirt looked as if it had been clawed by tigers.

jason frowned. "why does this look so familiar?"

"because it's like yours," stephanie said. "now we really have to leave." she tried, she knew it was no use though.

"nonsense," the princess said. "the boys aren't done, are they? and yes, my dear. those shirts are very popular-trade-ins from previous customers. it suits you."

leo picked up an orange camp half-blood tee with a hole through the middle, as if it had been hit by a javelin. next to that was a dented bronze breastplate pitted with corrosion-acid, maybe?-and a roman toga slashed to pieces and stained with something that looked disturbingly like dried blood.

"your highness," piper said, trying to control her nerves. "why don't you tell the boys how you betrayed your family? i'm sure they'd like to hear that story."

her words didn't have any effect on the princess, but the boys turned, suddenly interested.

"more story?" leo asked well jason said "i like more story!" like a child.

the princess flashed Piper an irritated look. "oh, one will do strange things for love, piper . you should've known that. i fell for that young hero, in fact, because your mother aphrodite had me under a spell. if it wasn't for her-but I can't hold a grudge against a goddess, can I?"

the princess's tone made her meaning clear: I can take it out on you.

"but that hero took you with him when he fled Colchis," piper remembered. "didn't he, your highness? he married you just as he promised."

the look in the princess's eyes made piper want to apologize, but she didn't back down. "at first," her highness admitted, "it seemed he would keep his word. but even after I helped him steal my father's treasure, he still needed my help. as we fled, my brother's fleet came after us. his warships overtook us. he would have destroyed us, but I convinced my brother to come aboard our ship first and talk under a flag of truce. he trusted me."

"and you killed your own brother," stephanie said, the horrible story all coming back to her, along with a name-an infamous name that began with the letter m. nicholas had told her it when she was around thirteen.

"what ?" jason stirred. for a moment he looked almost like himself. "killed your own-"

"no," the princess snapped. "those stories are lies. it was my new husband and his men who killed my brother, though they couldn't have done it without my deception. they threw his body into the sea, and the pursuing fleet had to stop and search for it so they could give my brother a proper burial. this gave us time to get away. all this, i did for my husband. and he forgot our bargain. he betrayed me in the end."

jason still looked uncomfortable. "what  did he do?"

the princess held the sliced-up toga against jason's chest, as if measuring him for an assassination. "don't you know the story, my boy? you of all people should. you were named for him."

"jason ," stephanie said to herself "the original jason. you're -you should be dead!"

the princess smiled. "as I said, a new life in a new country. certainly I made mistakes. i turned my back on my own people. i was called a traitor, a thief, a liar, a murderess. but I acted out of love." she turned to the boys and gave them a pitiful look, batting her eyelashes.

"wouldn't you do the same for someone you loved, my dears?"

"oh, sure," jason said thinking of steph. even under a powerful charm speak his brain was infiltrate with her.

"okay," leo said.

"guys !" piper ground her teeth in frustration. "don't you see who she is? don't you-"

"let's continue, shall we?" the princess said breezily. "i believe you wanted to talk about a price for the storm spirits-and your satyr." leo got distracted on the second floor with the appliances.

"no way," he said. "Is that an armoured forge?"

before piper could stop him, he hopped off the escalator and ran over to a big oval oven that looked like a barbecue on steroids. "leo!" stephanie called.

when they caught up with him, the princess said, "you have good taste. this is the h-2000, designed by hephaestus himself. hot enough to melt celestial bronze or Imperial gold."

jason flinched as if he recognized that term. "imperial gold?"

the  princess nodded. "yes, my dear. like that weapon so cleverly concealed in your pocket. to be properly forged, Imperial gold had to be consecrated in the temple of jupiter on capitoline hill in rome. quite a powerful and rare metal, but like the roman emperors, quite volatile. be sure never to break that blade" she smiled pleasantly. "rome was after my time, of course, but I do hear stories. and now over here-this golden throne is one of my finest luxury items"

"hephaestus made it as a punishment for his mother, hera . sit in it and you'll be immediately trapped." leo apparently took this as an order. he began walking toward it in a trance.

"leo , don't!" stephanie warned grabbing his arms

he blinked. "how much for both?"

"oh, the seat I could let you have for five great deeds. the forge, seven years of servitude. and for only a bit of your strength-" she led leo into the appliance section, giving him prices on various items.

piper didn't want to leave him alone with her, so she gave stephanie a look and she followed. piper had to try reasoning with jason. she pulled him aside and slapped him across the face.

"ow," he muttered sleepily. "what was that for?"

"snap out of it!" piper hissed.

"what do you mean?"

"she's charm speaking you. can't you feel it?"

he knit his eyebrows. "she seems okay."

"she's not okay! she shouldn't even be alive! she was married to jason -the other jason-three thousand years ago. remember what boreas said-something about the souls no longer being confined to hades? it's not just monsters who can't stay dead. she's come back from the underworld!"

jason shook his head uneasily. "she's not a ghost."

"no, she's worse! she's-"

"children." the princess was back with leo and steph in tow. "if you please, we will now see what you came for. that is what you want, yes?"

they took the escalator down to the base of the fountain. for the first time, piper noticed two large bronze sundials-each about the size of a trampoline-inlaid on the marble tile floor to the north and south of the fountain. the gilded oversize canary cages stood to the east and west, and the farthest one held the storm spirits. they were so densely packed, spinning around like a super-concentrated tornado.

"hey ," leo said, "coach hedge looks okay!"

they ran to the nearest canary cage. the old satyr seemed to have been petrified at the moment he was sucked into the sky above the grand canyon. he was frozen mid-shout, his club raised over his head like he was ordering the gym class to drop and give him fifty. his curly hair stuck up at odd angles. if piper just concentrated on certain details-the bright orange polo shirt, the wispy goatee, the whistle around his neck-she could imagine coach hedge as his good old annoying self. but it was hard to ignore the stubby horns on his head, and the fact that he had furry goat legs and hooves instead of workout pants and nikes.

"yes ," the princess said. "i always keep my wares in good condition. we can certainly barter for the storm spirits and the satyr. a package deal. If we come to terms, I'll even throw in the vial of healing potion, and you can go in peace." she gave piper a shrewd look. "that's better than starting unpleasantness, isn't it, dear?"

don't trust her, warned a voice in her head. a voice which was scarily similar to stephanie's, as if the girl were in his head.

"we can negotiate," she said.

"totally!" leo agreed. "name your price."

"valdez !" stephanie snapped at the boy

the princess chuckled. "name my price? perhaps not the best haggling strategy, my boy, but at least you know a thing's value. freedom is very valuable indeed. you would ask me to release this satyr, who attacked my storm winds-"

"who attacked us," piper interjected.

her Highness shrugged. "as I said, my patron asks me for small favours from time to time. sending the storm spirits to abduct you-that was one. i assure you it was nothing personal. and no harm done, as you came here, in the end, of your own free will! at any rate, you want the satyr freed, and you want my storm spirits-who are very valuable servants, by the way-so you can hand them over to that tyrant aeolus. Doesn't seem quite fair, does it? the price will be high."

stephanie could see that her boys were ready to offer anything, promise anything. before they could speak, piper played her last card.

"you're medea," she said. "you helped the original jason steal the golden fleece. you're one of the most evil villains in greek mythology. jason , leo-don't trust her."

there was something about the tale of jason and medea that stephanie felt she was missing, something that included her, something that tied her into all of it.

piper put all the intensity she could gather into those words. she was utterly sincere, and it seemed to have some effect. jason stepped away from the sorceress. leo scratched his head and looked around like he was coming out of a dream.

"what are we doing, again?"

"boys !" The princess spread her hands in a welcoming gesture. her diamond jewellery glittered, and her painted fingers curled like blood-tipped claws. "it's true, i'm medea. but I'm so misunderstood. oh, piper, my dear, you don't know what it was like for women in the old days. we had no power, no leverage. often we couldn't even choose our own husbands. but I was different. i chose my own destiny by becoming a sorceress. is that so wrong? I made a pact with jason : my help to win the fleece, in exchange for his love. a fair deal. he became a famous hero! without me, he would've died unknown on the shores of colchis."

jason scowled. "then you really did die three thousand years ago? you came back from the underworld?"

medea glanced at stephanie before jason " death no longer holds me, young hero," medea said. "thanks to my patron, I am flesh and blood again."

"you re-formed?" leo blinked. "like a monster?"

medea spread her fingers, and steam hissed from her nails, like water splashed on hot iron. "you have no idea what's happening, do you, my dears? it is so much worse than a stirring of monsters from tartarus. my patron knows that giants and monsters are not her greatest servants. i am mortal. i learn from my mistakes. and now that I have returned to the living, I will not be cheated again. now, here is my price for what you ask."

"you guys," stephanie said. "the original jason left medea because she was crazy and bloodthirsty."

"lies!" medea said.

"no! on the way back from colchis, jason's ship landed at another kingdom, and jason agreed to dump medea and marry the king's daughter." she explained, she remembered everything. flashes hitting her as she spoke.

"after i  bore him two children!" medea said. "still he broke his promise! i ask you, was that right?"

jason and leo dutifully shook their heads, but stephanie wasn't through with the woman in front of her.  she saw the bodies of children and she saw blood, a blue vial on the floor. she remembered it all.

"it may not have been right," stephanie continued , "but neither was medea's revenge. she murdered her own children to get back at jason.. and you- you poisoned his wife"

medea snarled in her direction "an invention to ruin my reputation! the people of the corinth-that unruly mob-killed my children and drove me out. jason did nothing to protect me. he robbed me of everything. so yes, I sneaked back into the palace and poisoned you, his lovely new bride. it was only fair-a suitable price."

her words making the other three demi gods turn to stare at stephanie who had tears brimming her eyes, red flicks leaving her fingers and blood dripping down her nose.

"wha- what?" ," piper asked. confused by the woman's words.

"it was me. i remember it all. i thought you were going to forgive me, you had even brought the children" stephanie cried as she stare at medea "you killed me and them!"

"you should've never have been allowed to have come back!" medea yelled towards the girl as she thrashed wildly in her spot, her anger and resentment building up. "i am the victim, not you!" medea wailed. "i died with my dreams shattered, but no longer. i know now not to trust heroes. when they come asking for treasures, they will pay a heavy price. especially when the one asking has the name of jason!"

the fountain turned bright red. piper drew her dagger, but her hand was shaking almost too badly to hold it. "jason, leo-it's time to go. now."

"before you've closed the deal?" medea asked. "what of your quest, boys? and my price is so easy. did you know this fountain is magic? if a dead man were to be thrown into it, even if he was chopped to pieces, he would pop back out fully formed-stronger and more powerful than ever."

"seriously ?" leo asked.

stephanie knew she were lying, she'd made the mistake of trusting medea once and didn't intend to make the same mistake again. she gripped leo's wrist and pulled the boy towards her.

"she's lying," stephanie said. "she's done that trick with somebody before-a king, i'm pretty sure .she convinced his daughters to cut him to pieces so he could come out of the water young and healthy again, but it just killed him!"

"ridiculous," medea said, and piper could hear the power charged in every syllable. "leo , jason-my price is so simple. why don't you two fight? If you get injured, or even killed, no problem. we'll just throw you into the fountain and you'll be better than ever. you do want to fight, don't you? you resent each other!"

"guys, no!" stephanie yelled, medea only glared at her before flicking her wrist and letting stephanie fall unconscious.

"enough from her" the woman rolled her eyes, piper rushing to stephanie's body. her pulse still steady. she was just knocked out.

"shit! wake up, wake up" the girl said as she tried shaking stephanie's body, not thinking she'd be able to get out of this alone.