Piper's POV
Piper didn't want to use the knife. But sitting in Jason's cabin, waiting for him to wake up, she felt alone and helpless. Jason's face was so pale, he might've been dead. She remembered the awful sound of that brick hitting his forehead.
An injury that had happened only because he'd tried to shield her from the Romans. Even with the nectar and ambrosia they'd managed to force-feed him, Piper couldn't be sure he would be okay when he woke up.
What if he'd lost his memories again—but this time, his memories of her? That would be the cruelest trick the gods had played on her yet, and they'd played some pretty cruel tricks.
She heard Gleeson Hedge in his room next door, humming a military song—"Stars and Stripes Forever," maybe? Since the satellite TV was out, the satyr was probably sitting on his bunk reading back issues of Guns & Ammo magazine.
He wasn't a bad chaperone, but he was definitely the most warlike old goat Piper had ever met. Of course she was grateful to the satyr. He had helped her dad, movie actor Tristan McLean, get back on his feet after being kidnapped by giants the past winter.
A few weeks ago, Hedge had asked his girlfriend, Mellie, to take charge of the McLean household so he could come along to help with this quest. Coach Hedge had tried to make it sound like returning to Camp Half-Blood had been all his idea, but Piper suspected there was more to it.
The last few weeks, whenever Piper called home, her dad and Mellie had asked her what was wrong. Maybe something in her voice had tipped them off. Piper couldn't share the visions she'd seen. They were too disturbing.
Besides, her dad had taken a potion that had erased all of Piper's demigod secrets from his memory. But he could still tell when she was upset, and she was pretty sure her dad had encouraged Coach to look out for her.
She shouldn't draw her blade. It would only make her feel worse. She had been debating it for what felt like hours when (Y/N) showed up. Seeing him made her stomach turn. Not from disgust but discomfort.
She was happy to see him, but also couldn't get the image of him attacking Leo out of her head. This was not how she had imagined the reunion with him would end up. When he offered to help Jason, she almost jumped at the chance.
But there was that little voice in the back of her mind that warned her against it, what if this grey magic, whatever it was, did more harm than good to Jason? Or worse, what if (Y/N) had been turned against them by the Romans.
After going after Leo was this his attempt at hurting Jason too? The moment that thought dared cross her mind, she knew she had gone too far, she hadn't known (Y/N) long, but he wasn't the kind of person to ever do that.
Still even as he left after 'healing' Jason, telling her that he wanted to have a talk with her later, Piper felt uneasy, so uneasy in fact she did something slightly drastic. Finally the temptation was too great. She unsheathed Katoptris.
It didn't look very special, just a triangular blade with an unadorned hilt, but it had once been owned by Helen of Troy. The dagger's name meant "looking glass." Piper gazed at the bronze blade. At first, she saw only her reflection.
Then light rippled across the metal. She saw a crowd of Roman demigods gathered in the forum. The blond scarecrow-looking kid, Octavian, was speaking to the mob, shaking his fist. Piper couldn't hear him, but the gist was obvious: We need to kill those Greeks!
Reyna, the praetor, stood to one side, her face tight with suppressed emotion. Bitterness? Anger? Piper wasn't sure. She'd been prepared to hate Reyna, but she couldn't. During the feast in the forum, Piper had admired the way Reyna kept her feelings in check.
Reyna had sized up Piper and Jason's relationship right away. As a daughter of Aphrodite, Piper could tell stuff like that. Yet Reyna had stayed polite and in control. She'd put her camp's needs ahead of her emotions.
She'd given the Greeks a fair chance...right up until the Argo II had started destroying her city. She'd almost made Piper feel guilty about being Jason's girlfriend, though that was silly. Jason hadn't ever been Reyna's boyfriend, not really.
Maybe Reyna wasn't so bad, but it didn't matter now. They'd messed up the chance for peace. Piper's power of persuasion had, for once, done absolutely no good. Her secret fear? Maybe she hadn't tried hard enough.
Piper had never wanted to make friends with the Romans. She was too worried about losing Jason to his old life. Maybe unconsciously she hadn't put her best effort into the charmspeak.
Now Jason was hurt. The ship had been almost destroyed. And according to her dagger, that crazy teddy-bear-strangling kid, Octavian, was whipping the Romans into a war frenzy. The scene in her blade shifted.
There was a rapid series of images she'd seen before, but she still didn't understand them: Jason riding into battle on horseback, his eyes gold instead of blue; a woman in an old-fashioned Southern belle dress, standing in an oceanside park with palm trees.
A bull with the face of a bearded man, rising out of a river; and two giants in matching yellow togas, hoisting a rope on a pulley system, lifting a large bronze vase out of a pit. Then came the worst vision: she saw herself with Jason and Percy, standing waist-deep in water at the bottom of a dark circular chamber, like a giant well.
Ghostly shapes moved through the water as it rose rapidly. Piper clawed at the walls, trying to escape, but there was nowhere to go. The water reached their chests. Jason was pulled under. Percy stumbled and disappeared.
How could a child of the sea god drown? Piper didn't know, but she watched herself in the vision, alone and thrashing in the dark, until the water rose over her head. Piper shut her eyes. Don't show me that again, she pleaded. Show me something helpful.
She forced herself to look at the blade again. This time, she saw an empty highway cutting between fields of wheat and sunflowers. A mileage marker read: TOPEKA 32. On the shoulder of the road stood a man in khaki shorts and a purple camp shirt.
His face was lost in the shadow of a broad hat, the brim wreathed in leafy vines. He held up a silver goblet and beckoned to Piper. Somehow she knew he was offering her some sort of gift—a cure, or an antidote.
"Hey," Jason croaked. Piper was so startled she dropped the knife. "You're awake!" "Don't sound so surprised." Jason touched his bandaged head and frowned. "What...what happened? I remember the explosions, and—"
"You remember who I am?" Jason tried to laugh, but it turned into a painful wince. "Last I checked, you were my awesome girlfriend Piper. Unless something has changed since I was out?"
Piper was so relieved she almost sobbed. She helped him sit up and gave him some nectar to sip while she brought him up to speed. She was just explaining Leo's plan to fix the ship when she heard horse hooves clomping across the deck over their heads.
Moments later, Leo and Hazel stumbled to a stop in the doorway, followed by (Y/N) carrying a large sheet of hammered bronze between them. "Gods of Olympus." Piper stared at Leo. "What happened to you?"
His hair was greased back. He had welding goggles on his forehead, a lipstick mark on his cheek, tattoos all over his arms, and a T-shirt that read HOT STUFF, BAD BOY, and TEAM LEO. "Long story," he said. "Others back?"
"Not yet," Piper said. Leo cursed. Then he noticed Jason sitting up, and his face brightened. "Hey, man! Glad you're better. I'll be in the engine room." "Leo! Get back here, I'm not carrying this thing the whole way to the...oh forget it." (Y/N) said.
He popped his head in to say hello, "Looking better already pretty boy. Glad to see my magic worked out for you. Anyway, I better..." He trailed off, but they heard his steps echoing down the hall as he carried the bronze to the engine room.
He ran off with the sheet of bronze, leaving Hazel in the doorway. Piper raised an eyebrow at her. "Team Leo?" "We met Narcissus," Hazel said, which didn't really explain much. "Also Nemesis, the revenge goddess." Jason sighed. "I miss all the fun."
On the deck above, something went THUMP, as if a heavy creature had landed. Annabeth and Percy came running down the hall. Behind them Zoe was toting a steaming five-gallon plastic bucket that smelled horrible.
Annabeth had a patch of black sticky stuff in her hair. Percy's shirt was covered in it. "Roofing tar?" Piper guessed. Frank stumbled up behind them, which made the hallway pretty jam-packed with demigods.
Frank had a big smear of the black sludge down his face. "Ran into some tar monsters," Annabeth said. "Hey, Jason, glad you're awake. Hazel, where's Leo? And (Y/N)?" She pointed down. "Engine room."
"Together? Oh gods." Suddenly the entire ship listed to port. The demigods stumbled. Zoe almost spilled her bucket of tar. Percy looked around "Uh, what was that?" he demanded. "Oh..." Hazel looked embarrassed. "We may have angered the nymphs who live in this lake. Like...all of them."
"Great." Percy said, Zoe sighed, "Water nymphs have never been fond of me regardless. I wall try and...negotiate with them." She handed the bucket of tar to Frank and Annabeth and held her bow as she jogged off.
Percy frowned, "Zoe don't kill them for gods-" He sighed and turned to them, "You guys help Leo. We'll hold off the water spirits as long as we can." "On it!" Frank promised. The three of them ran off, leaving Hazel at the cabin door.
The ship listed again, and Hazel hugged her stomach like she was going to be sick. "I'll just..." She swallowed, pointed weakly down the passageway, and ran off. Jason and Piper stayed below as the ship rocked back and forth.
(Y/N)'s POV
"Ok, here's your bronze, do with it whatever you were going to do with it." (Y/N) said to Leo as he entered the engine room, still marvelled by the fuel source. Or at least a part of it, the scent of it alone brought up some horrible memories.
"How did you even get water from the Styx?" He asked Leo, who was currently attaching the bronze somewhere or other, this whole engineering thing was lost on (Y/N), building a gun from parts was one thing, a warship, no thanks, he could barely scrape together a chariot.
"Very carefully. Look man, I don't mean to be rude, but if you're not going to help, can you get outta here?" Leo said, his hands whizzing around so fast (Y/N) only saw them when they reached into his toolbelt.
"Right yeah, I'll help, what do I need to do?" For the next minutes or so Leo ordered him around like a drill instructor, telling him to check dials, flip switches, hammer pipes and all that fun stuff.
After an exhausting few minutes that made (Y/N) feel like he had ran from Marathon to Athens and back, Leo cheered, "And that should about do it until we get the tar, which is when the real fun starts." Leo sighed, wiping his brow, "Good job." They high fived.
"I've been meaning to ask. How good is the soundproofing for the rooms?" Leo's eyebrow raised suspiciously, "Why do you need it, in fact don't tell me, keep that stuff-" (Y/N) smacked him in the head.
"Not like that you little freak. I swear you are the type of kid that bakes one too many warm apple pies." Leo just seemed confused, "Apple pies? What do apple pies have to do with...what?"
"Just...look, I ain't catching a case or a baseball bat to the head for nobody. I just mean, if you were in your room, would you hear anything on the deck?" Leo rubbed his head and shrugged, "Well it depends, a bomb going off, yeah, but a conversation, not likely."
"What if the conversation gets a little heated." "Well the sound dampener only really kicks in after lights out, but probably not. Were warned by the ship if there are any other issues like a fire-"
Leo kept babbling about the safety precautions that Chiron insisted he 'unnecessarily' grafted onto his ship. But (Y/N) had heard all he needed to. "So we could have a fight on the top deck, nobody would hear anything?
"Well, not as long as the suppression system is working." "Is it?" Leo looked over his shoulder at what looked like a steaming control panel built into the wall. "Uhhh...sure, it can be." "Good. Thanks."
"So is Annabeth mad at you or something?" Leo asked curiously before banging at a pipe with a hammer. "What? No. Well, yes, but that's not who I wanted this for I actually-" He never got to explain his plan because the door opened.
"Oh, speak of the devil and she will...oh my gods what happened to you?" "Tar monster." Annabeth said bluntly, setting down a bucket next to Leo, "Hope it was worth it." Frank walked in after her looking equally smothered. "How can we help?"
Leo set them to work, again taking absolute charge of the engine room, if (Y/N) thought Leo was harsh to him before the others arrived, he was sorely mistaken, (Y/N) thought he was tired after the beating he took, Leo had shown him what tired really meant.
Frank had turned himself into some sort of desert fox thing and was sprawled out belly up. (Y/N) wouldn't have been surprised if he had gone into some form of hibernation. Annabeth's hair had stuck to her so completely her eyes were almost entirely hidden.
In fact, the only one of them that looked halfway decent and seemed to have no problem with the labour was the boy who was called scrawny less than an hour ago, after checking some dials and other more complicated stuff Leo cheered, "I knew we could do it." He held up a hand for another high five.
"Forget a high five, I need a shower." Annabeth said, walking away to do just that, so (Y/N) gave Leo a high ten in her stead and followed after her. "Why Miss Chase, you are looking radiant this morning." He said teasingly. Looking at the tar stains across her clothes, hair and face.
"Is that so?" She said. Turning towards him and smiling, she used her hand to push her hair from her eyes, "Give me a hug then." She spread her arms wide so he could clearly see the tar slathered across her body.
"On second thought, best to leave you to wash up." He reasoned, she faked a look of betrayal. "Are you saying...you don't want to hug me?" She said with a fake quiver to her lip, taking a quick step forward, closing the distance between them a little more.
"Yes." He said quickly, taking a step backward. She raised an arm to cover her eyes as if she were hiding tears, but (Y/N) could tell she was biting back a smirk as she howled, "Has all this time away made you lose your attraction to me?"
As she 'cried' dramatically like a telenovela actress he sighed, lifting her off her feet and crushing her in a hug, he could feel the sticky, foul smelling tar smear across his entire body as he looked onto her eyes and said "I don't think that's possible."
She finally let her smirk go. Freeing her arms from covering her eyes she instead wrapped them around him, covering his back in tar too. "Is that a promise?" She said with a giggle, "That's a guarantee." Before pulling her into a kiss.
Normally, Annabeth wasn't into much PDA, but after years it seems (Y/N) had finally worn her down little by little and now she was more comfortable with it. Plus, they had yet to fully have a moment to themselves since her arrival in New Rome.
It was because of this and another reason he tried to carry her to her room, but she jumped down as they reached the door, he frowned, "What I can't wait in your room while you have a shower?" He asked, she raised an eyebrow.
"Not happening ghost boy. I'm showering in peace. Go use your shower, we're having a meeting in an hour, but I'll meet you back here in twenty minutes. We can talk about stuff then."
He was shocked, "Wow, I see, you can come into my room and use my bed whenever you want but I can't do the same? Double standards...I expected more of you Annabeth. For shame" She just laughed.
"What you mean by that is 'can I not snoop through your room while you shower and rifle through your clothes.'" He was offended by the assumption, "Hey, I am not rifling through anything, I am reclaiming what's mine."
She smirked and unlocked her door, "So you admit that was your plan all along, I knew it. For shame." She pushed him forward, kicked the door open with a quick boot backwards and retreated into the room, before he could react he heard the door slam and lock accompanied by his girlfriend laughing at him.
Piper's POV
For a hero, Piper felt pretty useless. Waves crashed against the hull as angry voices came from above deck—Percy shouting, Coach Hedge yelling at the lake. Festus the figurehead breathed fire several times.
Down the hall, Hazel moaned miserably in her cabin. In the engine room below, it sounded like Leo and the others were doing an Irish line dance with anvils tied to their feet. After what seemed like hours, the engine began to hum.
The oars creaked and groaned, and Piper felt the ship lift into the air. The rocking and shaking stopped. The ship became quiet except for the drone of machinery. Finally Leo emerged from the engine room.
He was caked in sweat, lime dust, and tar. His T-shirt looked like it had been caught in an escalator and chewed to shreds. The TEAM LEO on his chest now read: AM LEO. But he grinned like a madman and announced that they were safely under way. "Meeting in the mess hall, one hour," he said. "Crazy day, huh?"
After a few more minutes, (Y/N) arrived, freshly showered, he poked his head in the door, "Hey, I don't know if it'll help but I'm getting Hazel some Pepto, do you guys want anything? Soda? Stick of celery? Tums?"
Piper just shook her head, Jason said "No thanks man, I think I'll wait until evening must-I mean, until the meeting." (Y/N) nodded, "Fair enough, see you there." He smiled, before walking off to help Hazel.
(Y/N)'s POV
"You're late." Annabeth said, shaking her head while looking at her wristwatch as he opened the door to her room. He nodded, "Yeah sorry, Hazel couldn't exactly hold her lunch so I had to change my shirt again. She's all good now though. Frank's with her."
"Soda?" He said, chucking one to her. She caught it expertly and smiled, cracking it open with a smirk. For a moment he wondered why she was so joyful until he noticed she was wearing his 'I'm dead serious' shirt.
"You!" He said in faux anger, shaking a fist at her, she smiled at him, looking victorious as he sat on her bed. "One of these days Chase, I'm gonna get my revenge on you I swear." "And how do you plan on doing that huh? Stealing my hair ties?"
"I'll think of something." He promised, lying down beside her, he was about to kiss her until she said "Point." He played back their conversation in his head, "Hang on you cheated, that doesn't count!" "Does too, you just suck."
He sighed and reluctantly gave her the point in exchange for a kiss. Annabeth smiled at him. "So you went to help Leo huh? That was big of you, I half expected him not to make it back." (Y/N) sighed, he knew Annabeth was aware how hard that part of himself always was to control.
"No, it was me that almost didn't make it back. Leo saved my life, I think that sort of cancels out the whole vengeance thing, seeing as I only have the urge to kill him when he does something inappropriate or makes a bad joke now."
He then explained what happened with Nemesis to her. "-They do this thing where they make you think something terrible has happened, it's so strong it makes you feel as if it actually happened." He held his stomach, remembering the pain of having his torso shredded.
"Eris is a nightmare with it." He shuddered, "She gave me a wet-willy every day for almost a year without even moving. I honestly thought about giving myself to Olympus just to get away from it."
Annabeth chuckled. "Maybe that was the point." She reasoned, before taking his hand, "Ethan's death is still hard on you huh? It wasn't your fault you know." "Yes it was." He said quietly. "And Nemesis knows it."
"Not to mention the countless promises I broke coming back to the land of the living after offering myself up for peace. Nemesis especially would have a problem with that. Nyx as well probably, but that's why I'm worried."
"What if she's right? Gaea's bad enough but if Nyx comes knocking too we're in big trouble. I mean, I saw her before when I was shadow travelling once or twice, and I made a deal with Somnus, so I knew they were aware I was back, but that wasn't even when I was...me...me."
He looked off into the mid distance, trying to come to terms with it as something struck him. He looked at Annabeth worriedly. "But if both sides of me were always me, was I always me? Am I me?" He blinked a few times and trailed off.
"Don't overthink it." Annabeth said. He nodded. "You're right. Questions for when I'm trying to fall asleep, but what I'm saying is, I don't want to risk any of the seven getting hurt because of my baggage."
"Bit late for that I'm afraid." She said, "And it's eight now remember, you're along for the ride with us now your father's free of his chains." "Yeah I guess." (Y/N) said, but something still didn't sit right with him.
Following that, Annabeth took his mind off his worries by sharing her experiences with the tar monster and telling him a few stories about what he missed from back home. It cheered him up immensely, but something still grated on him.
They finished their conversation right as the time for the meeting hit. "Piper is annoying me." He said offhandedly, collecting his things, Annabeth seemed confused, "Piper? She hasn't done anything." He sighed. "Exactly."
Piper's POV
After everyone had cleaned up, Coach Hedge took the helm and the demigods gathered below for dinner. It was the first time they'd all sat down together—just the nine of them. Maybe their presence should've reassured Piper, but seeing all of them in one place only reminded her that the Prophecy of Seven was unfolding at last.
No more waiting for Leo to finish the ship. No more easy days at Camp Half-Blood, pretending the future was still a long way off. They were under way, with a bunch of angry Romans behind them and the ancient lands ahead.
The giants would be waiting. Gaea was rising. And unless they succeeded in this quest, the world would be destroyed. The others must've felt it too. The tension in the mess hall was like an electrical storm brewing, which was totally possible, considering Percy's and Jason's powers.
In an awkward moment, the two boys tried to sit in the same chair at the head of the table. Sparks literally flew from Jason's hands. After a brief silent standoff, like they were both thinking, 'Seriously, dude?'
"Yes girls you're both very pretty, now go sit down." (Y/N) said which riled them up further. "Oh please, don't even try to pretend either of you is the leader here." He said, and for a moment, Piper thought he might have tried to sit at the head of the table.
But he slumped down in the seat beside it and ceded the chair to Annabeth as Percy and Jason sat at opposite sides of the table. The crew compared notes on what had happened in Salt Lake City.
But even Leo's ridiculous story about how he tricked Narcissus wasn't enough to cheer up the group. "So where to now?" Leo asked with a mouthful of pizza. "I did a quick repair job to get us out of the lake, but there's still a lot of damage."
"We should really put down again and fix things right before we head across the Atlantic." Percy was eating a piece of pie, which for some reason was completely blue —filling, crust, even the whipped cream.
"We need to put some distance between us and Camp Jupiter," he said. "Frank spotted some eagles over Salt Lake City. We figure the Romans aren't far behind us." That didn't improve the mood around the table.
Piper didn't want to say anything, but she felt obliged...and a little guilty. "I don't suppose we should go back and try to reason with the Romans? Maybe—maybe I didn't try hard enough with the charmspeak." Jason took her hand.
"It wasn't your fault, Pipes. Or Leo's," he added quickly. "Whatever happened, it was Gaea's doing, to drive the two camps apart." Piper was grateful for his support, but she still felt uneasy. "Maybe if we could explain that, though—"
"With no proof?" Annabeth asked. "And no idea what really happened? I appreciate what you're saying, Piper. I don't want the Romans on our bad side, but until we understand what Gaea's up to, going back is suicide."
"She's right," Hazel said. She still looked a little queasy from seasickness, but she was trying to eat a few saltine crackers. The rim of her plate was embedded with rubies, and Piper was pretty sure they hadn't been there at the beginning of the meal.
"Reyna might listen, but Octavian won't. The Romans have honor to think about. They've been attacked. They'll shoot first and ask questions post hac." Zoe added, "The Romans are a proud people, they will not take this lightly, explanation or not."
"I mean, we could just double back, stab Octavian for good measure. I'll do it." (Y/N) said, Annabeth frowned at him. Piper stared at her own dinner. The magical plates could conjure up a great selection of vegetarian stuff.
She especially liked the avocado and grilled pepper quesadilla, but tonight she didn't have much of an appetite. She thought about the visions she'd seen in her knife:
Jason with golden eyes; the bull with the human head; the two giants in yellow togas hoisting a bronze jar from a pit. Worst of all, she remembered herself drowning in black water. Piper had always liked the water.
She had good memories of surfing with her dad. But since she'd started seeing that vision in Katoptris, she'd been thinking more and more of an old Cherokee story her granddad used to tell to keep her away from the river near his cabin.
He told her the Cherokees believed in good water spirits, like the naiads of the Greeks; but they also believed in evil water spirits, the water cannibals, who hunted mortals with invisible arrows and were especially fond of drowning small children.
"You're right," she decided. "About stabbing Oct-" (Y/N) was silenced by a deadly kick to the shin. "We have to keep going. Not just because of the Romans. We have to hurry." Hazel nodded. "Nemesis said we have only six days until Nico dies and Rome is destroyed."
Jason frowned. "You mean Rome Rome, not New Rome?" "I think," Hazel said. "But if so, that's not much time." "Why six days?" Percy wondered. "And how are they going to destroy Rome?" No one answered.
Piper didn't want to add further bad news, but she felt she had to. "There's more," she said. "I've been seeing some things in my knife." The big kid, Frank, froze with a forkful of spaghetti halfway to his mouth.
"Things such as... ?" "They don't really make sense," Piper said, "just garbled images, but I saw two giants, dressed alike. Maybe twins." "Definitely twins, they kicked the crap out of me in my dream." (Y/N) said.
"What do you remember about them?" Annabeth asked him, he spent the next few minutes describing them in detail, right down to their eye colour." "Where you fighting them or admiring their eyes?" Jason said.
"Both." (Y/N) retorted uncaringly. He was clearly too concerned about Nico to see that Jason's comment was meant to be an insult, "I keep trying to go back into my dream, see if I could find anything else, but I'm no Clovis, I keep getting pulled out...wait. Brain blast."
"Could we do that thing you did to me? The wire? If I iris-message Clovis and explain, maybe he could help me go back. Maybe I could free Nico before we even reach him." Annabeth shrugged, "Worth a shot."
Annabeth stared at the magical video feed from Camp Half-Blood on the wall. Right now it showed the living room in the Big House: a cozy fire on the hearth and Seymour, the stuffed leopard head, snoring contentedly above the mantel.
"Twins, like in Ella's prophecy," Annabeth said. "If we could figure out those lines, it might help." "Wisdom's daughter walks alone," Percy said. "The Mark of Athena burns through Rome. Annabeth, that's got to mean you."
"Juno told me...well, she said you had a hard task ahead of you in Rome. She said she doubted you could do it. But I know she's wrong." Annabeth took a long breath. "Reyna was about to tell me something right before the ship fired on us."
"She said there was an old legend among the Roman praetors—something that had to do with Athena. She said it might be the reason Greeks and Romans could never get along." Leo and Hazel exchanged nervous looks.
"Nemesis mentioned something similar," Leo said. "She talked about an old score that had to be settled—" "The one thing that might bring the gods' two natures into harmony," Hazel recalled. "'An old wrong finally avenged.'"
Percy drew a frowny face in his blue whipped cream. "I was only a praetor for about two hours. Jason, you ever hear a legend like that?" Jason was still holding Piper's hand. His fingers had turned clammy.
"I...uh, I'm not sure," he said. "I'll give it some thought." Percy narrowed his eyes. "You're not sure?" Jason didn't respond. Piper wanted to ask him what was wrong. She could tell he didn't want to discuss this old legend.
She caught his eye, and he pleaded silently, Later. Hazel broke the silence. "What about the other lines?" She turned her ruby- encrusted plate. "Twins snuff out the angel's breath, Who holds the key to endless death."
"Giants' bane stands gold and pale," Frank added, "Won through pain from a woven jail." "Giants' bane," Leo said. "Anything that's a giants' bane is good for us, right? That's probably what we need to find."
"If it can help the gods get their schizophrenic act together, that's good." Percy nodded. "We can't kill the giants without the help of the gods." Jason turned to Frank and Hazel. "I thought you guys killed that one giant in Alaska without a god's help, just the two of you."
"Alcyoneus was a special case," Frank said. "He was only immortal in the territory where he was reborn—Alaska. But not in Canada. I wish I could kill all the giants by dragging them across the border from Alaska into Canada, but..." He shrugged.
"Percy's right, we'll need the gods." "I find it odd, for angels to be referenced in Prophecy." Zoe said, "Angels in both Greek and Roman history, true angels that is, are few and far between, if there is a specific 'angel' we must find, perhaps they are the one to help us defeat our foes?"
"Iris, Eros, Nike among others are all said to be winged, but who among them could be called an angel?" "Not to beat a dead horse here...no pun intended, but my family has a fair few angels." (Y/N) said.
"I mean hell, I've been called an angel before, maybe the prophecy's talking about me?" Annabeth nodded, "Maybe, I mean, Nemesis did try to kill you, if she wants us to fail that might be why." She reasoned but he shook his head.
"I told you. That wasn't why." Piper gazed at the walls. She really wished Leo hadn't enchanted them with images of Camp Half-Blood. It was like a doorway to home that she could never go through.
She watched the hearth of Hestia burning in the middle of the green as the cabins turned off their lights for curfew. She wondered how the Roman demigods, Frank and Hazel, felt about those images.
They'd never even been to Camp Half-Blood. Did it seem alien to them, or unfair that Camp Jupiter wasn't represented? Did it make them miss their own home? (Y/N) spoke, breaking her thought process.
"I don't know what this endless death thing could be, but who better to ask than the man himself right? I'll see if I can get into contact with my dad for any clues regarding the prophecy, but with everything going on, he's pretty busy, so no promises."
The other lines of the prophecy turned in Piper's mind. What was a woven jail? How could twins snuff out an angel's breath? The key to endless death didn't sound very cheerful, either. "So..." Leo pushed his chair away from the table.
"First things first, I guess. We'll have to put down in the morning to finish repairs." "Someplace close to a city," Annabeth suggested, "in case we need supplies. But somewhere out of the way, so the Romans will have trouble finding us. Any ideas?"
No one spoke. Piper remembered her vision in the knife: the strange man in purple, holding out a goblet and beckoning to her. He'd been standing in front of a sign that read TOPEKA 32. "Well," she ventured, "how do you guys feel about Kansas?"
(Y/N)'s POV
As much as (Y/N) wanted to go with his original plan for the night, he wasn't sure if Leo had finished the sound thingy, and figuring out the prophecy was much more important than what he had planned.
He had spent hours trying to contact his father, trying to get more information regarding the prophecy, but nothing seemed to work, even searching for his father's soul was pointless, prayer was his last option.
Praying to your own dad seemed a little weird as you could probably imagine. But even with all of (Y/N)'s efforts to reach out it was like he was hitting a brick wall, he didn't know the cause. It could have been a few things.
Nyx had cut off their connection in the past, or perhaps Olympus had forbidden it, or even the Roman and Greek sides of his father colliding were interfering, but regardless, (Y/N) couldn't make contact. So he moved on to his next course of action.
So in the early hours of the morning he first said "Oh Iris goddess of the rainbow, accept my offering, show me Clovis at Camp Half Blood...you might need to wake him up, good luck." he said as he pressed the shower head from his bathroom to his mirror.
From the small mirror, he heard the voice he expected, but in a much angrier tone than he expected, "WHAT!" Clovis said in a slightly less tired voice than usual, still barely a mumble. Quite shocking to (Y/N)
"Hey Clovis, I need your help with something." (Y/N) said cheerfully, trying to calm him, Clovis sighed and turned his head over in the pillow, unfortunately the image followed him to the other side too.
Looking very irritated, he sat up. "When do you not? Someone better be dying, because you woke me up for this." "Well, yeah, someone is. Kinda." (Y/N) explained the situation with Nico and the giants as well as what he wanted to do.
"That creepy skeleton kid? Fine but only because he helped us with that whole Labyrinth thing and during the battle for Manhattan. You're lucky I even accepted this call, you didn't even use my full name." "Hey Clovis, now I think of it, what is your last name?"
He yawned, "Oh it's..." He passed out before he answered, and the Iris message dissolved with his lack of consciousness. (Y/N) had faith that he and his cousin would reconvene in his dreams. But first (Y/N) now had to clean up the water soaking his bathroom.
His dream started suddenly, almost the moment he closed his eyes, he expected partially due to Clovis, and partially due to his own exhaustion. "Thanks for doing this man I really appreciate it." (Y/N) said as Clovis appeared before him.
The son of Hypnos shrugged, "I'm sure Mariah won't mind if I miss the concert tonight." "And I can't remember if I said it before, but I'm sorry for hitting you" Clovis yawned, "No problem, didn't even hurt, you punch like a...b..."
He nodded off, even while asleep somehow. "Clovis!" "M'up" He said, jolting awake again. "Let's get this done." He said, before pressing his hands to (Y/N)'s head. They were very soft, like pillows.
"Don't move or you'll mess this up...again..." Clovis warned. (Y/N) frowned. "You're acting different man. What's up? This isn't just about the punch, or waking you up is it?" Clovis shook his head.
"It's because of dad...people in my cabin are pretty...stirred up with this whole Greek and Roman thing...normally we're pretty much just go with the flow, but with dad shifting so much, we get pulled in too sometimes, even if we're Greek."
"Kinda like a shared dream, should only be us though, we are most in tune with our father's nature." (Y/N) nodded but was still a little lost. "Now close your eyes, think back to the beginning of that dream."
(Y/N) did, imagining that dream once more, the room he was in, the smell of it, the dim lighting, everything, and after a moment (Y/N) and Clovis were stood there. "Clovis you are a genius."
"Glad someone finally noticed." Clovis said tiredly, his eyes drooping. Together they walked towards the thing that was not in fact an egg, (Y/N) whispered, "Nico, Nico are you in there?" Looking around for the twins.
He didn't dare draw his weapons in case it alerted the giants to their presence. He waited to hear Nico's voice. "He's asleep, but there." Clovis whispered. "This place is strange...I can't quite get a grip on the layout."
"It's like someone's building on it, changing it all the time." (Y/N) nodded. "We're going to find you little buddy, don't worry, just hold on a little longer." He promised Nico, before putting his hands on the bowl.
As quietly as he could he tried to dig his hands into the floor and lift the thing containing his friend, but even with all his strength, he couldn't budge it. Clovis warned, "You aren't as strong in nightmares as you are in reality, unless you're lucid."
"Am I not lucid? Can you make me lucid?" He shook his head, and he himself tried to lift the bowl but he had very little physical strength to begin with so it was a no go. "Dam it!" (Y/N) said, before getting the idea to try and faze through the bowl as a shadow.
Luckily, Clovis made a clutch save by pulling him back before he did. "You can't do that. The magic around that thing is like the Styx, it'll trap you under there too, and then there's half as much time to save him, I wouldn't risk it."
(Y/N) cursed under his breath, "What do I do then? I'm not just leaving him in there." But before Clovis could answer, something swiped towards (Y/N) only cutting his cheek thanks to Clovis. The son of Hypnos threw (Y/N) to the ground.
(Y/N) didn't even see what had attacked him, he looked for the twins but found nothing. "I don't think you have a choice." Clovis said. Suddenly the dream began to collapse, the walls shrinking inwards like an approaching shadow.
All (Y/N) could focus on in his dreaming state was the pain radiating from his cheek, no matter how much he tried to avoid thinking of it. The two of them were pulled from the dream, meeting back at the space behind (Y/N)'s eyelids as he liked to think of it, a room that was dark, but not entirely.
"Well, that could have gone better." (Y/N) sighed, holding his cheek but finding no wound or blood this time. "Could've gone worse you could have gotten your head cut off if I wasn't there, trust me, you would have felt that."
"What was that thing that attacked?" "No idea. Dream wasn't clear enough for me to get a good enough view of it, but it knew we were there which isn't good." "But that was the right place." (Y/N) said.
"Can you tell me where it is? I'll shadow travel there and get Nico out in reality." "No can do cuz, it's just a dream sparked by a memory, if you don't know, neither do I. I'll keep an eye out in the dreamscape for it though. Giants have to sleep too right?"
"I'll see if I can come across Nico too, if I do I'll try to keep him strong and let him know you're coming, but I don't know if I can, that place was...strange, like my magic didn't want to be there."
"And sorry, but I had to skim through some recent memories to get to the dream, I'll try and give Chiron a heads up about your...incident with the Romans, we can at least be prepared. Also tell Piper she need to sleep more." (Y/N) nodded. "Working on that."
"Thanks man, I owe you big time." Clovis smiled, "What else is new. Oh, and how's Annabeth sleeping?" "What?" "Is she sleeping okay, or is she still having trouble?" He asked genuinely, "Uhhh...fine I guess?" "Ask her next time you-"
"UP YA GET CUPCAKE! Don't make me come in there!" Came the booming choice of Gleeson Hedge, and for the second time, it pushed (Y/N) out of his dream. He grit his teeth and hurriedly got washed and dressed. Walking out of his room to grab breakfast.
(Y/N) sighed as he came out of his room, "You sleep okay? Also, why Hedge?" He asked Annabeth as she walked past yawning. "Huh?" She blinked tiredly. "Why did you have to bring Hedge as the chaperone?" "We needed a responsible adult according to Chiron."
"I'm responsible." (Y/N) said. "Yeah, for most of my headaches, also barely an adult." He sighed, "Well why not ask Grover? I miss him, and he's like...forty right?" "Not is Satyr years, besides, he's busy saving the wild." (Y/N) frowned. "Actually why didn't Chiron just come? Or Argus?"
"I mean, if anyone was going to keep an eye on us. It's that guy." "They were needed at camp obviously, look I know you and Gleeson don't always see eye to eye, but try your best to work with him, please."
"Fine, but I've already warned him once, if he swings that bat at me again, or barges into my room unannounced once more, I'm going to take that bat of his and do something unpleasant to him with it."
Piper's POV
Piper had trouble falling asleep. Coach Hedge spent the first hour after curfew doing his nightly duty, walking up and down the passageway yelling, "Lights out! Settle down! Try to sneak out, and I'll smack you back to Long Island!"
He banged his baseball bat against a cabin door whenever he heard a noise, shouting at everyone to go to sleep, which made it impossible for anyone to go to sleep. Piper figured this was the most fun the satyr had had since he'd pretended to be a gym teacher at the Wilderness School.
She stared at the bronze beams on the ceiling. Her cabin was pretty cozy. Leo had programmed their quarters to adjust automatically to the occupant's preferred temperature, so it was never too cold or too hot.
The mattress and the pillows were stuffed with pegasus down (no pegasi were harmed in the making of these products, Leo had assured her), so they were über-comfortable. A bronze lantern hung from the ceiling, glowing at whatever brightness Piper wished.
The lantern's sides were perforated with pinholes, so at night glimmering constellations drifted across her walls. Piper had so many things on her mind, she thought she'd never sleep. But there was something peaceful about the rocking of the boat and the drone of the aerial oars as they scooped through the sky.
Finally her eyelids got heavy, and she drifted off. It seemed like only a few seconds had passed before she woke to the breakfast bell. "Yo, Piper!" Leo knocked on her door. "We're landing!" "Landing?"
She sat up groggily. Leo opened her door and poked his head in. He had his hand over his eyes, which would've been a nice gesture if he hadn't been peeking through his fingers. "You decent?" "Leo!" "Sorry." He grinned.
"Hey, nice Power Ranger jammies." "They are not Power Rangers! They're Cherokee eagles!" "Yeah, sure. Anyway, we're setting down a few miles outside Topeka, as requested. And, um..." He glanced out in the passageway, then leaned inside again.
"Thanks for not hating me, about blowing up the Romans yesterday." Piper rubbed her eyes. The feast in New Rome had been only yesterday? "That's okay, Leo. You weren't in control of yourself." "Yeah, but still...you didn't have to stick up for me."
"Are you kidding? You're like the annoying little brother I never had. Of course I'll stick up for you." "Uh...thanks?" From above, Coach Hedge yelled, "Thar she blows! Kansas, ahoy!" "Holy Hephaestus," Leo muttered.
"He really needs to work on his shipspeak. I'd better get above deck." By the time Piper had showered, changed, and grabbed a bagel from the mess hall, she could hear the ship's landing gear extending.
She climbed on deck and joined the others as the Argo II settled in the middle of a field of sunflowers. The oars retracted. The gangplank lowered itself. The morning air smelled of irrigation, warm plants, and fertilized earth.
Not a bad smell. It reminded Piper of Grandpa Tom's place in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, back on the reservation. Percy was the first to notice her. He smiled in greeting, which for some reason surprised Piper.
He was wearing faded jeans and a fresh orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirt, as if he'd never been away from the Greek side. The new clothes had probably helped his mood—and of course the fact that he was standing at the rail with his arm around Zoe.
The daughter of Artemis smiled brightly at her, raising what looked like a cup of coffee in a silent cheers as a good morning gesture. It was wonderful to see her in such a cheerful mood, up until recently she had been tormenting herself, her every waking moment consumed with the search for Percy.
Now they were back together, Piper could see why, they seemed to content in each other's company. Them being together sort of oozed positivity to the room, both their smiles were contagious.
Piper was smiling widely as Annabeth walked up behind her, greeting her shortly, followed by (Y/N) who ruffled Piper's hair, chuckled at her annoyed expression, and then sat down. Annabeth frowned at him quickly.
He just winked at Annabeth in response, Piper saw her friends mouth twitch into a sort of frustrated smile. Piper was happy to see Annabeth with a sparkle in her eyes, because Piper had never had a better friend.
For months, Annabeth had been suffering because of the death of her boyfriend, while still managing to help the camp and aid in the search for Percy, putting such a huge burden on her own shoulders.
But despite that she had welcomed Piper into the camp, helped her settle down, helped her through some of the toughest realizations of her life, first off, that her relationship with Jason was fake, second that she was a demigod daughter of Aphrodite. Piper's near polar opposite.
As it turns out, her boyfriend wasn't dead, and it was during her quest to free Juno that Piper managed to convince him to meet with Annabeth, leading to the happy couple that she saw before her.
Piper tried not to take credit for that part though. Mostly because it wasn't all a happy ending, the two were parted from each other again after only a short reprieve. With him being sent to Rome and all.
But even while going through that pain again, Annabeth kept focused, she was an excellent friend to Piper and a great leader. Now, despite the dangerous quest they were facing, at least she had her boyfriend back.
"So!" Annabeth plucked the bagel out of Piper's hand and took a bite, but that didn't bother Piper. Back at camp, they'd had a running joke about stealing each other's breakfast. "Here we are. What's the plan?"
"I want to check out the highway," Piper said. "Find the sign that says Topeka 32." Leo spun his Wii controller in a circle, and the sails lowered themselves. "We shouldn't be far," he said. "Festus and I calculated the landing as best we could."
"What do you expect to find at the mile marker?" Piper explained what she'd seen in the knife—the man in purple with a goblet. She kept quiet about the other images, though, like the vision of Percy, Jason, and herself drowning.
She wasn't sure what it meant, anyway; and everyone seemed in such better spirits this morning, she didn't want to ruin the mood. "Purple shirt?" Jason asked. "Vines on his hat? Sounds like Bacchus."
"Dionysus," Percy muttered. "If we came all the way to Kansas to see Mr. D —" "Bacchus isn't so bad," Jason said. "I don't like his followers much...." Piper shuddered. Jason, Leo, and she had had an encounter with the maenads a few months ago and almost gotten torn to pieces.
"But the god himself is okay," Jason continued. "I did him a favor once up in the wine country." Percy looked appalled. "Whatever, man. Maybe he's better on the Roman side. But why would he be hanging around in Kansas? Didn't Zeus order the gods to cease all contact with mortals?"
Frank grunted. The big guy was wearing a blue tracksuit this morning, like he was ready to go for a jog in the sunflowers. "The gods haven't been very good at following that order," he noted. "Besides, if the gods have gone schizophrenic like Hazel said—"
"And Leo said," added Leo. Frank scowled at him. "Then who knows what's going on with the Olympians? Could be some pretty bad stuff out there." "Sounds dangerous!" Leo agreed cheerfully.
"Well...you guys have fun. I've got to finish repairs on the hull. Coach Hedge is gonna work on the broken crossbows. And, uh, Annabeth—I could really use your help. You're the only other person who even sort of understands engineering. Zoe too, if case we need to lift stuff."
Zoe frowned, "How typical, I am now being used as cheap manual labour. How excellent, really suits my skills as a hunter, truly the greatest of honours. I can hardly wait." She rolled her eyes as Percy squeezed her hand.
"Don't worry I'm sure you can help in other ways too." Leo said cheerfully but it didn't help much as she slumped over the rail. Annabeth looked apologetically at (Y/N) who was in a shirt that read 'Fresh to Death' he glared at Leo, playfully this time.
"C'mon man. Really? Can't you use Jason as a battery or something instead?" But Annabeth spoke. "He's right. I should stay and help." "I'll come back to you." He kissed her on the cheek. "Promise."
They were so easy together, it made Piper's heart ache. Jason was great, of course. But sometimes he acted so distant, like last night, when he'd been reluctant to talk about that old Roman legend.
So often he seemed to be thinking of his old life at Camp Jupiter. Piper wondered if she would ever be able to break through that barrier. The trip to Camp Jupiter, seeing Reyna in person, hadn't helped.
Neither did the fact that Jason had chosen to wear a purple shirt today—the color of the Romans. Frank slid his bow off his shoulder and propped it against the rail. "I think I should turn into a crow or something and fly around, keep an eye out for Roman eagles."
"Why a crow?" Leo asked. "Man, if you can turn into a dragon, why don't you just turn into a dragon every time? That's the coolest." Frank's face looked like it was being infused with cranberry juice.
"That's like asking why you don't bench-press your maximum weight every time you lift. Because it's hard, and you'd hurt yourself. Turning into a dragon isn't easy." "Yeah, but as my gym partner always says, 'But it makes you look bad-ass...punk.'" (Y/N) defended Leo.
Annabeth frowned at him, as if to say 'don't encourage them' But he shrugged, "What? I mean, I'll admit lifting your max isn't the safest thing, and I'm no pushover, but Clarisse benches like twice my max. And, in Leo's defence, it does look pretty dope."
Leo nodded. "I wouldn't know. I don't lift weights." Frank grunted, "Yeah. Well, maybe you should consider it, Mr.—" Hazel stepped between them. "I'll help you, Frank," she said, shooting Leo an evil look. "I can summon Arion and scout around below."
"Sure," Frank said, still glaring at Leo. "Yeah, thanks." Piper wondered what was going on with those three. The boys showing off for Hazel and razzing each other—that she understood. But it almost seemed like Hazel and Leo had a history.
So far as she knew, they'd met for the first time just yesterday. She wondered if something else had happened on their trip to the Great Salt Lake—something they hadn't mentioned. Hazel turned to Percy.
"Just be careful when you go out there. Lots of fields, lots of crops. Could be karpoi on the loose." "Karpoi?" Piper asked. "Grain spirits," Hazel said. "You don't want to meet them." Piper didn't see how a grain spirit could be so bad, but Hazel's tone convinced her not to ask.
"That leaves four of us to check on the mile marker," Percy said. "Me, (Y/N), Jason, Piper. I'm not psyched about seeing Mr. D again. That guy is a pain. But, Jason, if you're on better terms with him—"
"Yeah," Jason said. "If we find him, I'll talk to him. Piper, it's your vision. You should take the lead." Piper shivered. She'd seen the three of them drowning in that dark well. Was Kansas where it would happen? That didn't seem right, (Y/N) wasn't there, but she couldn't be sure.
"Of course," she said, trying to sound upbeat. "Let's find the highway." Leo had said they were close. His idea of "close" needed some work. After trudging half a mile through hot fields, getting bitten by mosquitoes and whacked in the face with scratchy sunflowers, they finally reached the road.
An old billboard for Bubba's Gas 'n' Grub indicated they were still forty miles from the first Topeka exit. "Correct my math," Percy said, "but doesn't that mean we have eight miles to walk?"
Jason peered both ways down the deserted road. He looked better today, thanks to the magical healing of ambrosia and nectar plus whatever (Y/N) had done. His color was back to normal, and the scar on his forehead had almost vanished.
The new gladius that Hera had given him last winter hung at his belt. Most guys would look pretty awkward walking around with a scabbard strapped to their jeans, but on Jason it seemed perfectly natural.
"No cars..." he said. "But I guess we wouldn't want to hitchhike." "No," Piper agreed, gazing nervously down the highway. "We've already spent too much time going overland. The earth is Gaea's territory."
"Hmm..." Jason snapped his fingers. "I can call a friend for a ride." Percy raised his eyebrows. "Oh, yeah? Me too. Let's see whose friend gets here first." Jason whistled. Piper knew what he was doing.
He'd succeeded in summoning Tempest only three times since they'd met the storm spirit at the Wolf House last winter. Today, the sky was so blue, Piper didn't see how it could work. Percy simply closed his eyes and concentrated.
Piper hadn't studied him up close before. After hearing so much at Camp Half-Blood about Percy Jackson this and Percy Jackson that, she thought he looked...well, unimpressive, especially next to Jason.
Percy was more slender, about an inch shorter, with slightly longer, much darker hair. He wasn't really Piper's type. If she'd seen him in the mall somewhere, she probably would've thought he was a skater—cute in a scruffy way, a little on the wild side, definitely a troublemaker.
She would have steered clear. She had enough trouble in her life. But she could see why Zoe liked him, and she could definitely see why Percy needed her in his life. If anybody could keep a guy like that under control, it was Zoe.
Thunder crackled in the clear sky. Jason smiled. "Soon." "Too late." Percy pointed east, where a black winged shape was spiraling toward them. At first, Piper thought it might be Frank in crow form.
Then she realized it was much too big to be a bird. "A black pegasus?" she said. "Never seen one like that." The winged stallion came in for a landing. He trotted over to Percy and nuzzled his face, then turned his head inquisitively toward Piper and Jason.
"Blackjack," Percy said, "this is Piper and Jason. They're friends." The horse nickered. "Uh, maybe later," Percy answered. Piper had heard that Percy could speak to horses, being the son of the horse lord Poseidon, but she'd never seen it in action.
"What does Blackjack want?" she asked. "Donuts," Percy said. "Always donuts. And for (Y/N) to leave but that's normal. He can carry all three of us if—" Suddenly the air turned cold. Piper's ears popped.
About fifty yards away, a miniature cyclone three stories tall tore across the tops of the sunflowers like a scene from The Wizard of Oz. It touched down on the road next to Jason and took the form of a horse—a misty steed with lightning flickering through its body.
"Tempest," Jason said, grinning broadly. "Long time, my friend." The storm spirit reared and whinnied. Blackjack backed up skittishly. "Easy, boy," Percy said. "He's a friend too." He gave Jason an impressed look.
"Nice ride, Grace." Jason shrugged. "I made friends with him during our fight at the Wolf House. He's a free spirit, literally, but once in a while he agrees to help me." Percy and Jason climbed on their respective horses.
Piper had never been comfortable with Tempest. Riding full gallop on a beast that could vaporize at any moment made her a bit nervous. Nevertheless, she accepted Jason's hand and climbed on.
Percy looked at (Y/N) and reluctantly offered him a hand but (Y/N) laughed. "Let me guess, you two are going to race to see who's the 'alpha male?' Because honestly, that's a little pathetic." Both Jason and Percy frowned at him
"Okay guys, calm down. Because we both know I could smoke both of you." (Y/N) said, floating above the ground on his wings. The three boys all shared a glance, and before Piper could facepalm at their immaturity they were off.
Tempest raced down the road with Blackjack and (Y/N) soaring overhead. Fortunately, they didn't pass any cars, or they might have caused a wreck. In no time, they arrived at the thirty-two-mile marker, which looked exactly as Piper had seen it in her vision.
Blackjack landed. Both horses pawed the asphalt. Neither looked pleased to have stopped so suddenly, just when they'd found their stride. Blackjack whinnied. "You're right," Percy said. "No sign of the wine dude."
"I beg your pardon?" said a voice from the fields. Tempest turned so quickly, Piper almost fell off. The wheat parted, and the man from her vision stepped into view. He wore a wide-brimmed hat wreathed in grapevines, a purple short-sleeved shirt, khaki shorts, and Birkenstocks with white socks.
He looked maybe thirty, with a slight potbelly, like a frat boy who hadn't yet realized college was over. "Did someone just call me the wine dude?" he asked in a lazy drawl. "It's Bacchus, please. Or Mr. Bacchus. Or Lord Bacchus. Or, sometimes, Oh-My-Gods-Please-Don't-Kill-Me, Lord Bacchus."
Percy urged Blackjack forward, though the pegasus didn't seem happy about it. "You look different," Percy told the god. "Skinnier. Your hair is longer. And your shirt isn't so loud." The wine god squinted up at him.
"What in blazes are you talking about? Who are you, and where is Ceres?" "Uh...what series?" "I think he means Ceres," Jason said. "The goddess of agriculture. You'd call her Demeter." He nodded respectfully to the god.
"Lord Bacchus, do you remember me? I helped you with that missing leopard in Sonoma." Bacchus scratched his stubbly chin. "Ah...yes. John Green." "Jason Grace." "Whatever," the god said.
"Some things never change." (Y/N) said as he landed beside them. Bacchus regarded him for a moment, "Oh, the errand boy. How you've grown dog." (Y/N) sighed, then nodded, "Never getting rid of that am I?" He asked rhetorically.
"Did Ceres send you, then?" "No, Lord Bacchus," Jason said. "Were you expecting to meet her here?" The god snorted. "Well, I didn't come to Kansas to party, my boy. Ceres asked me here for a council of war."
"What with Gaea rising, the crops are withering. Droughts are spreading. The karpoi are in revolt. Even my grapes aren't safe. Ceres wanted a united front in the plant war." "The plant war," Percy said. "You're going to arm all the little grapes with tiny assault rifles?"
The god narrowed his eyes. "Have we met?" "At Camp Half-Blood," Percy said, "I know you as Mr. D—Dionysus." "Agh!" Bacchus winced and pressed his hands to his temples. For a moment, his image flickered.
Piper saw a different person—fatter, dumpier, in a much louder, leopard-patterned shirt. Then Bacchus returned to being Bacchus. "Stop that!" he demanded. "Stop thinking about me in Greek!" Percy blinked.
"Uh, but—" "Do you have any idea how hard it is to stay focused? Splitting headaches all the time! I never know what I'm doing or where I'm going! Constantly grumpy!" "That sounds pretty normal for you," Percy said.
The god's nostrils flared. One of the grape leaves on his hat burst into flame. "If we know each other from that other camp, it's a wonder I haven't already turned you into a dolphin." "It was discussed," Percy assured him. "I think you were just too lazy to do it."
Piper had been watching with horrified fascination, the way she might watch a car wreck in progress. Now she realized Percy was not making things better, and Zoe wasn't around to rein him in.
Piper figured her friend would never forgive her if she brought Percy back transformed into a sea mammal. "Lord Bacchus!" she interrupted, slipping off Tempest's back. "Piper, careful," Jason said.
She shot him a warning glance: I've got this. "Sorry to trouble you, my lord," she told the god, "but actually we came here to get your advice. Please, we need your wisdom." She used her most agreeable tone, pouring respect into her charmspeak.
The god frowned, but the purple glow faded in his eyes. "You're wellspoken, girl. Advice, eh? Very well. I would avoid karaoke. Really, theme parties in general are out. In these austere times, people are looking for a simple, low-key affair, with locally produced organic snacks and—"
"Not about parties," Piper interrupted. "Although that's incredibly useful advice, Lord Bacchus. We were hoping you'd help us on our quest." She explained about the Argo II and their voyage to stop the giants from awakening Gaea.
She told him what Nemesis had said: that in six days, Rome would be destroyed. She described the vision reflected in her knife, where Bacchus offered her a silver goblet. "Silver goblet?" The god didn't sound very excited.
He grabbed a Diet Pepsi from nowhere and popped the top of the can. "You drink Diet Coke," Percy said. "I don't know what you're talking about," Bacchus snapped. "As to this vision of the goblet, young lady, I have nothing for you to drink unless you want a Pepsi."
"Jupiter has put me under strict orders to avoid giving wine to minors-" "Technically-" (Y/N) began. Bacchus frowned at him, "Are you 21?" He sighed, "No..." "Then shut up...where was I? Oh yes."
"Bothersome, but there you have it. As for the giants, I know them well. I fought in the first Giant War, you know." "You can fight?" Percy asked. Piper wished he hadn't sounded so incredulous. Dionysus snarled.
His Diet Pepsi transformed into a five-foot staff wreathed in ivy, topped with a pinecone. "A thyrsus!" Piper said, hoping to distract the god before he whacked Percy on the head. She'd seen weapons like that before in the hands of crazy nymphs, and wasn't thrilled to see one again, but she tried to sound impressed.
"Oh, what a mighty weapon!" "Indeed," Bacchus agreed. "I'm glad someone in your group is smart. The pinecone is a fearsome tool of destruction! I was a demigod myself in the first Giant War, you know. The son of Jupiter!"
Jason flinched. Probably he wasn't thrilled to be reminded that the Wine Dude was technically his big brother. Bacchus swung his staff through the air, though his potbelly almost threw him off balance.
"Of course that was long before I invented wine and became an immortal. I fought side by side with the gods and some other demigod...Harry Cleese, I think." "Heracles?" Piper suggested politely.
"Whatever," Bacchus said. "Anyway, I killed the giant Ephialtes and his brother Otis. Horrible boors, those two. Pinecone in the face for both of them!" Piper held her breath. All at once, several ideas came together in her head.
The visions in the knife, the lines of the prophecy they'd been discussing the night before. She felt like she used to when she was scuba diving with her father, and he would wipe her mask for her underwater. Suddenly, everything was clearer.
"Lord Bacchus," she said, trying to control the nervousness in her voice. "Those two giants, Ephialtes and Otis...would they happen to be twins?" "Hmm?" The god seemed distracted by his thyrsus-swinging, but he nodded.
"Yes, twins. That's right." Piper turned to Jason. She could tell he was following her thoughts: Twins snuff out the angel's breath. In the blade of Katoptris, she'd seen two giants in yellow robes, lifting a jar from a deep pit.
"That's why we're here," Piper told the god. "You're part of our quest!" Bacchus frowned. "I'm sorry, my girl. I'm not a demigod anymore. I don't do quests." "But giants can only be killed by heroes and gods working together," she insisted.
"You're a god now, and the two giants we have to fight are Ephialtes and Otis. I think...I think they're waiting for us in Rome. They're going to destroy the city somehow. The silver goblet I saw in my vision—maybe it's meant as a symbol for your help."
"You have to help us kill the giants!" Bacchus glared at her, and Piper realized she'd chosen her words poorly. "My girl," he said coldly, "I don't have to do anything. Besides, I only help those who give me proper tribute, which no one has managed to do in many, many centuries."
Blackjack whinnied uneasily. Piper couldn't blame him. She didn't like the sound of tribute. She remembered the maenads, the crazed followers of Bacchus, who would tear up nonbelievers with their bare hands. And that was when they were in a good mood.
Bacchus stepped towards Piper, Jason scooted Tempest a little closer to the god, Percy's hand shuffled to his sword, but it was (Y/N) who earned the gods ire, by actually daring to step between the two.
As if to acknowledge how insulted he was, the god thrashed his thrysus forward, as if to whack (Y/N) on the head, but the son of Thanatos caught the staff with one hand before it impacted. "My powers have doubled since last time." He warned. Piper heard the wood creak.
Percy voiced the question that she was too scared to ask, breaking the tension. "What kind of tribute?" Bacchus waved his hand dismissively. "Nothing you could handle, insolent Greek. But I will give you some free advice, since this girl does have some manners."
He pulled the staff free of (Y/N)'s grip. "Seek out Gaea's son, Phorcys. He always hated his mother, not that I can blame him. He didn't have much use for his siblings the twins, either. You'll find him in the city they named after that heroine—Atalanta."
Piper hesitated. "You mean Atlanta?" "That's the one." "But this Phorcys," Jason said. "Is he a giant? A Titan?" Bacchus laughed. "Neither. Seek out the salt water." "Salt water..." Percy said. "In Atlanta?"
"Yes," Bacchus said. "Are you hard of hearing? If anyone can give you insight on Gaea and the twins, it's Phorcys. Just watch out for him." "What do you mean?" Jason asked. The god glanced at the sun, which had climbed almost to high noon.
"It's unlike Ceres to be late, unless she sensed something dangerous in this area. Or..." The god's face suddenly went slack. "Or a trap. Well, I must be going! And if I were you, I'd do the same!"
"Lord Bacchus, wait!" Jason protested. The god shimmered and disappeared with a sound like a soda-can top being popped. The wind rustled through the sunflowers. The horses paced in agitation.
Despite the dry, hot day, Piper shivered. A cold feeling...Annabeth and Leo had both described a cold feeling.... "Bacchus is right," she said. "We need to leave—" Too late, said a sleepy voice, humming through the fields all around them and resonating in the ground at Piper's feet.
Percy and Jason drew their swords. Piper stood on the road between them, frozen with fear. The power of Gaea was suddenly everywhere. The sunflowers turned to look at them. The wheat bent toward them like a million scythes.
'Welcome to my party,' Gaea murmured. Her voice reminded Piper of corn growing—a crackling, hissing, hot and persistent noise she used to hear at Grandpa Tom's on those quiet nights in Oklahoma.
'What did Bacchus say?' the goddess mocked. 'A simple, low-key affair with organic snacks? Yes. For my snacks, I need only two: the blood of a female demigod, and the blood of a male. Piper, my dear, choose which hero will die with you.'
"Gaea!" Jason yelled. "Stop hiding in the wheat. Show yourself!" 'Such bravado,' Gaea hissed. 'But the other one, Percy Jackson, also has appeal. Choose, Piper McLean, or I will.' Piper's heart raced.
Gaea meant to kill her. That was no surprise. But what was this about choosing one of the boys? Why would Gaea let either of them go? It had to be a trap. "You're insane!" she shouted. "I'm not choosing anything for you!"
Suddenly Jason gasped. He sat up straight in his saddle. "Jason!" Piper cried. "What's wrong—?" He looked down at her, his expression deadly calm. His eyes were no longer blue. They glowed solid gold.
"Percy, help!" Piper stumbled back from Tempest. But Percy galloped away from them. He stopped thirty feet down the road and wheeled his pegasus around. He raised his sword and pointed the tip toward Jason.
"(Y/N) what do we do?" She asked, noticing he was the only one of the three not affected by the magic of Gaea. But only realizing why when she turned to him to see that his hand was sort of hanging on his wrist.
Piper immediately felt queasy, she realized that the sound she heard earlier hadn't been the wood straining, it had been (Y/N)'s wrist breaking. The pain was the only thing that kept him from being controlled too. "No time to heal it." He hissed, looking at the horses.
But he grit his teeth and raised his arms, suddenly the shadows cast by the two horses began to lift from the ground beneath them, tying up both their owners and their riders "It won't hold them for long." (Y/N) said, gritting his teeth.
Piper couldn't imagine how much pain he had to be in, as she watched his already broken wrist being pulled by the force of the two horses trying their best to charge one another. "Piper, listen to me."
"We need to stop them or your boyfriend is about to get his head ripped off." Piper looked at him in horror "Jason's good but he's not Percy level good. I mean, Percy can fight me to a draw, and I beat Jason to a pulp while getting stabbed at and having wrenches chucked at my head."
His hand made a horrible snapping noise but he held on, the shadows used as restraints almost buckled but held strong for a moment or two longer. "(Y/N) stop them." Piper said desperately, "What does it look like I'm doing Piper?" He shouted, looking like he was about to pass out.
"You're the only one who can do it!" "No I'm not!" He said. Piper was reluctant to act, fearing that any misstep could get one of them killed, and it would be all her fault. "I can't. I'm not a fighter."
"You've been a fighter since the day we met Piper. You just charmed a god. Just hold them off from attacking each other for a while, get them close together, I'll handle the rest I promise. You. Can. Do. This."
He said it slowly, Piper thought it was for dramatic affect, or to spur her on, until his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he passed out from the pain. That was the moment she heard the 'SNAP' of the shadow tethers.
"One will die," Percy said, but the voice wasn't his. It was deep and hollow, like someone whispering from inside the barrel of a cannon. "I will choose," Jason answered, in the same hollow voice.
"No!" Piper yelled, knowing there was no time left, like it or not, she had to act. All around her, the fields crackled and hissed, laughing in Gaea's voice as Percy and Jason charged at each other, their weapons ready.