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Piper XI

"Piper XI," Thalia hurriedly read.

She didn't pause as she moved on to the next sentence.

If not for the horses, Piper would've died.

The demigods winced.

Aphrodite paled.

Jason and Percy charged each other, but Tempest and Blackjack balked long enough for Piper to leap out of the way.

Percy grimaced. If Blackjack and Tempest hadn't stopped, Piper could have been seriously injured...

"Gods..." Mitchell muttered with a flinch.

"Thank goodness the horses have some sense." the goddess of love said to herself.

...the boys crossed swords, gold against bronze. Sparks flew.

Please don't break the gold sword. Please don't break the stupid gold sword. Thalia pleaded.

Their blades blurred—strike and parry—and the pavement trembled. The first exchange took only a second, but Piper couldn't believe the speed of their sword fighting. The horses pulled away from each other—Tempest thundering in protest, Blackjack flapping his wings.

The readers held their breaths as they listened to the fight.

Thalia's hands shook slightly as she read.

Percy sat stiffly in his chair. Maybe Blackjack can just throw me off his back? Or fly the opposite direction. He knows this is wrong, there has to be something someone can do.

He swallowed thickly.

Leo threw the paper clip chain around his neck like a necklace.

"Stop it!" Piper yelled.

For a moment, Jason heeded her voice.

Thalia, Percy, and Annabeth perked up at that.

"She needs to try to charmspeak them." Annabeth suggested, squeezing her necklace. "If it made Jason pause, then it could be strong enough to make them stop altogether."

"But how will that get rid of the eidolons?" Percy frowned. "Sure it might stop us for the moment, but there's no telling when they'll be back in control of our bodies."

Annabeth squeezed her necklace harder.

"I don't know yet..." she admitted. "But the important thing is that you two stop trying to kill each other."

Percy didn't look too happy with the answer, but he had no choice but to accept it as the huntress continued reading.

His golden eyes turned toward her, and Percy charged, slamming his blade into Jason.

Thalia flinched and sucked in air through her teeth.

Percy paled. "Please tell me Jason's going to be okay..."

"He's fine, you and Jay come back okay." Leo suddenly winced, remembering the huge bump on Percy's head and Jason being unconscious (again). "...For the most part."

The other readers were relaxing, until he added that last comment.

"For the most part?" Percy echoed with a grimace of his own. He fought back a wave of guilt. What did I do to him? 

Thank the gods, Percy turned his sword—maybe on purpose, maybe accidentally—so the flat of it hit Jason's chest;

A few readers sighed in relief.