Sea Green Eyes

Chapter 23

Cressida hugged Percy tighter as if she was cold all of a sudden.

"You think the giants would use our blood...the blood of two of us— the line in the prophecy -"

"I don't know," Percy said, cutting off Piper. "But until we figure it out, I suggest we all try to avoid getting captured."

Jason grunted. "That I agree with."

"But how do we figure it out?" Hazel asked. "The Mark of Athena, the twins, Ella's prophecy...how does it all fit together?"

Annabeth pressed her hands against the edge of the table. "Piper, you told Leo to set our course for Atlanta."

"Right," Piper said. "Bacchus told us we should seek out...what was his name?"

"Phorcys," Percy said before he met Cressida's eyes and he nodded. It meant that he was feeling a bit better now that he had some food and some answers as he squeezed her hand.

"You know him?" Annabeth asked, surprised that Percy would have the answers.

Percy shrugged. "I didn't recognize the name at first. Then Bacchus mentioned salt water, and it rang a bell. Phorcys is an old sea god from before my dad's time. Never met him, but supposedly he's a son of Gaia. I still don't understand what a sea god would be doing in Atlanta."

Leo snorted. "What's a wine god doing in Kansas? Gods are weird. Anyway, we should reach Atlanta by noon tomorrow, unless something else goes wrong."

"Don't even say that," Annabeth muttered. "It's getting late. We should all get some sleep."

"Wait," Piper said. Once more, everyone looked at her, but it was Cressida's eyes she met as she remembered what they had left to discuss, and she jumped off Percy's lap.

"What's wrong?" he asked, and it seemed her actions only fed into his fear that he hurt her.

"There's just one last thing," Piper said, drawing his attention back to her. "The eidolons—the possessing spirits. They're still here, in this room."

Finally, Hazel exhaled. "Piper is right."

"How can you be sure?" Annabeth asked.

"I've met eidolons," Hazel said. "In the Underworld, when I was... you know."

Dead.

"So..." Frank rubbed his hand across his buzz-cut hair as if some ghosts might have invaded his scalp. "You think these things are lurking on the ship, or—"

"Nope," Cressida said. "They're inside some of us."

Jason clenched his fist. "If that's true—"

"We have to take steps," Piper said. "Cressida and I can do this."

"Do what?" Percy asked, even more nervous now.

"Just listen, okay?" Piper took a deep breath. "Everybody listen." Piper met their eyes, one person at a time. "Eidolons," she said, using her charmspeak, "raise your hands."

There was a tense silence.

Leo laughed nervously. "Did you really think that was going to—?"

His voice died. His face went slack. He raised his hand. Jason and Percy did the same. Their eyes had turned glassy and gold.

Hazel caught her breath. Next to Leo, Frank scrambled out of his chair and put his back against the wall.

"Oh, gods." Annabeth looked at Cressida imploringly. "Can you cure them?"