|kick names, take ass|
—Piper tumbled through the sky. Far below she saw city lights glimmering in the early dawn, and several hundred yards away the body of the bronze dragon spinning out of control, its wings limp, fire flickering in its mouth like a badly wired lightbulb.
A body shot past her—Leo, screaming and frantically grabbing at the clouds. "Not coooooool!"
Camilla was just screeching, though it sounded like she was enjoying herself (not the time!)
Piper tried to call to the two of them, but they were already too far below.
Somewhere above her, Jason yelled, "Piper, level out! Extend your arms and legs!"
It was hard to control her fear, but she did what he said and regained some balance. She fell spread-eagle like a skydiver, the wind underneath her like a solid block of ice. Then Jason was there, wrapping his arms around her waist.
Thank god, Piper thought. But part of her also thought: Great. Second time this week he's hugged me, and both times it's because I'm plummeting to my death.
"We have to get Leo and Camilla!" she shouted.
Their fall slowed as Jason controlled the winds, but they still lurched up and down like the winds didn't want to cooperate.
"Gonna get rough," Jason warned. "Hold on!"
Piper locked her arms around him, and Jason shot toward the ground. Piper probably screamed, but the sound was ripped from her mouth. Her vision blurred.
Camilla screeched in Piper's ear when they slammed into her. Somehow, she managed to grab hold of Jason's arm and not stray away from them.
And then, thump! They slammed into another warm body—Leo, still wriggling and cursing. Camilla was holding onto Jason and Leo both, trying to keep the group from separating.
"Stop fighting!" Jason said. "It's us!"
"My dragon!" Leo yelled. "You gotta save Festus!"
Jason was already struggling to keep the four of them aloft, and Piper knew there was no way he could help a fifty-ton metal dragon. But before she could try to reason with Leo, she heard an explosion below them. A fireball rolled into the sky from behind a warehouse complex, and Leo sobbed, "Festus!"
Jason's face reddened with strain as he tried to maintain an air cushion beneath them, but intermittent slow-downs were the best he could manage. Rather than free-falling, it felt like they were bouncing down a giant staircase, a hundred feet at a time, which wasn't doing Piper's stomach any favors.
They were all just a mess of limbs and bodies. Someone's elbow dug into Piper's stomach as she cursed, Jason's head banged against Camilla's sword hilt, Leo's accidentally kicked Jason in his shins... it wasn't an easy going.
"Fucker" Camilla cursed.
"Sorry" Leo blurted, "Full disclosure, I have no interest in you tits"
"Yeah, right, they're amazing, don't even lie"
"No seriously, I don't like tits"
Piper wasn't sure why all of a sudden the cold had given away to warmth and her face felt like it was on fire. Leo must have accidentally bumped into Camilla by the sounds of it. But was now really the time to focus on things like this? Were Camilla's tits really the thing they should focus on?
Jason's face, much like Piper's own, was bright red and she wasn't sure if it was because of the strain of keeping them from falling or from the conversation.
As they wobbled and zigzagged, Piper could make out details of the factory complex below—warehouses, smokestacks, barbed-wire fences, and parking lots lined with snow-covered vehicles. They were still high enough so that hitting the ground would flatten them into roadkill—or skykill—when Jason groaned, "I can't—"
And they dropped like stones.
They hit the roof of the largest warehouse and crashed through into darkness.
Unfortunately, Piper tried to land on her feet. Her feet didn't like that. Pain flared in her left ankle as she crumpled against a cold metal surface.
—For a few seconds she wasn't conscious of anything but pain—pain so bad that her ears rang and her vision went red.
Then she heard Camilla's voice somewhere to her right, echoing through the building. "McLean? Where's Piper?"
"Ow, bro!" Leo groaned from somewhere below. "That's my back, Jason! I'm not a sofa! Piper, where'd you go?"
"Here," she managed, her voice a whimper.
She heard shuffling and grunting, then feet pounding on metal.
Her vision began to clear. She was on a metal catwalk that ringed the warehouse interior. Leo and Jason had landed on ground level and were now coming up the stairs toward her.
Camilla was the first to reach since they had landed on the same level. Her hair looked like it had turned into a birds nest and her clothes looked rumpled, but otherwise, she looked okay. Concern washed her features as she dropped next to Piper.
"Gods, McLean, you look like shit"
Piper managed a shaky smile, "Thanks, your flirting skills are superior, you truly know how to make a girl feel special"
But Camilla didn't laugh, she was looking at Piper's foot.
She looked at her foot too, and wave of nausea swept over her. Her toes weren't supposed to point that way, were they?
Oh, god. She forced herself to look away before she threw up. Focus on something else. Anything else. Camilla's hand on her shoulder, maybe.
The hole they'd made in the roof was a ragged starburst twenty feet above. How they'd even survived that drop, she had no idea. Hanging from the ceiling, a few electric bulbs flickered dimly, but they didn't do much to light the enormous space. Next to Piper, the corrugated metal wall was emblazoned with a company logo, but it was almost completely spray-painted over with graffiti. Down in the shadowy warehouse, she could make out huge machines, robotic arms, half-finished trucks on an assembly line. The place looked like it had been abandoned for years.
Jason and Leo reached her side as well.
Leo started to ask, "You okay... ?" Then he saw her foot. "Oh no, you're not."
"Thanks for the reassurance," Piper groaned.
"You'll be fine," Jason said, though Piper could hear the worry in his voice.
"Leo, you got any first aid supplies?" Camilla asked him.
"Yeah—yeah, sure." He dug around in his tool belt and pulled out a wad of gauze and a roll of duct tape—both of which seemed too big for the belt's pockets. Piper had noticed the tool belt yesterday morning, but she hadn't thought to ask Leo about it. It didn't look like anything special—just one of those wraparound leather aprons with a bunch of pockets, like a blacksmith or a carpenter might wear. And it seemed to be empty.
"How did you—" Piper tried to sit up, and winced. "How did pull that stuff from an empty belt?"
"Magic," Leo said. "Haven't figure it out completely, but I can summon just about any regular tool out of the pockets, plus some other helpful stuff." He reached into another pocket and pulled out a little tin box. "Breath mint?"
Jason snatched away the mints. "That's great, Leo. Now, can you fix her foot?"
"I'm a mechanic, man. Maybe if she was a car..." He snapped his fingers. "Wait, what was that godly healing stuff they fed you at camp—Rambo food?"
"Ambrosia, Valdez," Camilla ruffled his hair, though she kept looking between Piper's face and her foot. It hurt worse than it looked. "There should be some in Piper's bag, if it's not crushed."
Jason carefully pulled her backpack off her shoulders. He rummaged through the supplies the Aphrodite kids had packed for her, and found a Ziploc full of smashed pastry squares like lemon bars. He broke off a piece and fed it to her.
The taste was nothing like she expected. It reminded her of Dad's black bean soup from when she was a little girl. He used to feed it to her whenever she got sick. The memory relaxed her, though it made her sad. The pain in her ankle subsided.
"More," she said.
Jason frowned. "Piper, we shouldn't risk it. They said too much could burn you up. I think I should try to set your foot."
Piper's stomach fluttered, but it wasn't with butterflies. Set her foot? What the fuck did that even mean?. "Have you ever done that before?"
"No" Jason admitted.
Camilla brushed past him and put a hand on Piper's knee. "I have... well technically, my dad did it for me. I hurt my leg falling off a two storey building"
"How-" Piper began to say but then shook her head, "Nevermind, just do it"
Leo found an old piece of wood and broke it in half for a splint. Then he got the gauze and duct tape ready.
"Hold her leg still," Camilla told Jason and Leo. "McLean, this is going to hurt."
When Camilla set the foot, Piper flinched so hard she punched Leo in the arm, and he yelled almost as much as she did. When her vision cleared and she could breathe normally again, she found that her foot was pointing the right way, her ankle splinted with plywood, gauze, and duct tape.
"Ow," she said.
"Jeez, beauty queen!" Leo rubbed his arm. "Glad my face wasn't there."
"Sorry," she said. "And don't call me 'beauty queen,' or I'll punch you again."
"That's right, she prefers principessa" Camilla flicked Leo's forehead.
"Oooh, principessa" Leo teased, his eyebrows wiggling, "In Spanish it's Princesa"
"Shut up Leo" Piper grumbled. For some reason, she liked it when Camilla called her that, but not Leo.
"You three did great." Jason found a canteen in Piper's pack and gave her some water. After a few minutes, her stomach began to calm down.
Once she wasn't screaming in pain, she could hear the wind howling outside. Snowflakes fluttered through the hole in the roof, and after their meeting with Khione, snow was the last thing Piper wanted to see.
"What happened to the dragon?" she asked. "Where are we?"
Leo's expression turned sullen. "I don't know with Festus. He just jerked sideways like he hit an invisible wall and started to fall."
Piper remembered Enceladus's warning: I'll show you how easily your rebellious spirit can be brought to earth. Had he managed to strike them down from so far away? It seemed impossible. If he were that powerful, why would he need her to betray her friends when he could just kill them himself? And how could the giant be keeping an eye on her in a snowstorm thousands of miles away?
Leo pointed to the logo on the wall. "As far as where we are..." It was hard to see through the graffiti, but Piper could make out a large red eye with the stenciled words: monocle motors, assembly plant 1.
"Closed car plant," Leo said. "I'm guessing we crash-landed in Detroit."
Piper had heard about closed car plants in Detroit, so that made sense. But it seemed like a pretty depressing place to land. "How far is that from Chicago?"
Jason handed her the canteen. "Maybe three-fourths of the way from Quebec? The thing is, without the dragon, we're stuck traveling overland."
"No way," Camilla said. "It isn't safe. Child of Lightning, beware the earth, remember?"
Piper thought about the way the ground had pulled at her feet in the dream, and what King Boreas had said about the earth yielding up more horrors. "She's right. Besides, I don't know if I can walk. And four people—Jason, you can't fly that many across country by yourself."
"No way," Jason said. "Leo, are you sure the dragon didn't malfunction? I mean, Festus is old, and—"
"And I might not have repaired him right?"
"I didn't say that," Jason protested. "It's just—maybe you could fix it."
"I don't know." Leo sounded crestfallen. He pulled a few screws out of his pockets and started fiddling with them. "I'd have to find where he landed, if he's even in one piece."
"It was my fault." Piper said without thinking. She just couldn't stand it anymore. The secret about her father was heating up inside her like too much ambrosia. If she kept lying to her friends, she felt like she'd burn to ashes.
Then again, the giant's words came back to her, specifically what he had said about Camilla... Piper looked at the girl now. She was trying to comb through her hair to no avail.
"Piper," Jason said gently, "you were asleep when Festus conked out. It couldn't be your fault."
"Yeah, you're just shaken up," Leo agreed. He didn't even try to make a joke at her expense. "You're in pain. Just rest."
She wanted to tell them everything, but the words stuck in her throat. They were both being so kind to her. Yet if Enceladus was watching her somehow, saying the wrong thing could get her father killed.
Leo stood. "Look, um, Jason, why don't you stay with her, bro? I'll scout around for Festus. I think he fell outside the warehouse somewhere. If I can find him, maybe I can figure out what happened and fix him."
"It's too dangerous," Jason said. "You shouldn't go by yourself."
"I'll go with him" Camilla volunteered, but Leo shook his head. He gave her a look and Piper realized the two of them were a lot closer than Piper had first thought.
"Ah, I got duct tape and breath mints. I'll be fine," Leo said, a little too quickly, he was a lot more shaken up than he was letting on. "You guys just don't run off without me."
Leo reached into his magic tool belt, pulled out a flashlight, and headed down the stairs, leaving Piper, Camilla and Jason.
Jason gave her a smile, though he looked kind of nervous. It was the exact expression he'd had on his face after he'd kissed her the first time, up on the Wilderness School dorm roof—that cute little scar on his lip curving into a crescent. The memory had been fake of course, and now just the thought of kissing Jason just felt... wrong for some reason. It had to be some of the lingering magic. She liked Jason, right? She did.
"You look better," Jason offered.
Piper wasn't sure if he meant her foot, or the fact that she wasn't magically beautified anymore. Her jeans were tattered from the fall through the roof. Her boots were splattered with melted dirty snow. She didn't know what her face looked like, but probably horrible.
She decided to focus on her ankle instead. As long as she didn't move it, the pain wasn't bad. "You did a good job," she told Camilla. "Now can I ask about the building thing?"
"Oh yeah, we were sneaking into some politician's house because he was laundering money" Camilla shrugged as if it was a completely common daddy-daughter date idea. Then she noticed the way Jason and Piper were staring at her, "What? That guy was pure evil, I'm telling you. And all we did was make a few emails public and entirely ruined his image"
"How..." Jason began, quirking his head to the side, "How old were you?"
"Eight or something" Camilla shrugged, "It was fun, the press had a field day after that and it was the first house I broke into so it's always had a special place in my heart"
"You are the absolute weirdest person I've ever met" Piper told her. Sometimes it was hard to look at Camilla and remember the fact that this was the same girl that had gone to fricking juvie.
She giggled like a drunk teenager, she made stupid jokes and she was a little too insane at times. But it was a good kind of insane, the kind of insane that helped them with Boreas.
But if Piper could trust what Enceladus had said, that meant Camilla was the only person she could tell about her dad being taken, because she might be going through the same thing.
She couldn't talk about it with Jason right there, though.
"That photo in your pocket," Piper said. "Is that someone from your past?"
Jason pulled back.
"I'm sorry," she said. "None of my business. Forget it."
"No—it's okay." His features relaxed. "Just, I'm trying to figure things out. Her name's Thalia. She's my sister. I don't remember any details. I'm not even sure how I know, but—um, why are you frowning?"
"Nothing." Piper tried to kill the frown. Not an old girlfriend. She should have felt happy. Why wasn't she feeling happy. "Um, it's just—that's great you remembered. Annabeth told me she became a Hunter of Artemis, right?"
Jason nodded. "I get the feeling I'm supposed to find her. Hera left me that memory for a reason. It's got something to do with this quest. But... I also have the feeling it could be dangerous. I'm not sure I want to find out the truth. Is that crazy?"
"No," Piper said. "Not at all."
She stared at the logo on the wall: monocle motors, the single red eye. Something about that logo bothered her.
Maybe it was the idea Enceladus was watching her, holding her father for leverage. She had to save him, but how could she betray her friends?
"Jason, you should—"
She didn't get the chance to say anything more. Somewhere below, metal clanged against metal, like a door slamming shut. The sound echoed through the warehouse.
Camilla took out her sword and Jason stood. He took out his coin and flipped it, snatching his golden sword out of the air. He peered over the railing. "Leo?" he called.
No answer.
He crouched next to Piper. "I don't like this."
"He could be in trouble," Piper said. "Go check."
"I can't leave you two alone." Jason looked between the two girls.
"We'll be fine" Camilla assured him, "Don't worry, I'll take care of her and don't underestimate Piper, you should see her in dodgeball, the woman is crazy"
Piper and Jason chuckled a little while Camilla looked between them and swallowed. Piper wasn't sure if Camilla still liked Jason or what, but she seemed reluctant at the idea of the two of them together again. Not again. Fake memories. She reminded herself.
Jason hesitated. "I'll leave you the pack. If I'm not back in five minutes—"
"Panic?" Piper suggested.
He managed a smile. "Glad you're back to normal. The makeup and the dress were a lot more intimidating than the dagger."
"Get going, Sparky, before I skewer you."
"Sparky?"
Jason made his way down the metal steps and Piper strained to listen to his footsteps until she couldn't hear them anymore.
It was just the two of them together now.
Camilla looked down at Piper, concern flicking in her expression.
Neither of them seemed keen to start up a conversation until Camilla sighed and sat down in front of Piper, "The makeup was great, Jason was lying. If it's some sort of Aphrodite power, can you do mine sometime? Or teach me?"
"It doesn't make you feel fake?" Piper asked, "Like you're trying to be someone you're not?"
"Nah, I like it. When I was around five, before my dad got... doesn't matter" Camilla shook her head. "He used to get me those Barbie make-up pallets." She smiled fondly at the memory. "And once a guy made fun of me for putting on eyeshadow so I punched him so hard a milk tooth fell out"
Piper choked on air, as she gaped at Camilla. The girl was really full of surprises. She just flipped her hair and gave Piper a dazzling smile.
"My dad high-fived me for it. Told me I can be girly and kick ass. I grew up watching Legally blonde, Charlie's angels, and my dad let me do his makeup whenever I wanted. I think it was a bit weird for him to raise a daughter all alone, but he did a great job. Look, I'm not saying you have to run around with a full face of makeup always, but maybe don't shit on the girls who do wear makeup. Just because Drew likes to dress up and put effort into her appearance doesn't mean she's dumb. That's the most important thing my dad ever taught me"
"He sounds like a great guy" Piper said, because he did. Everytime Camilla talked to her about stiff like this, it struck a cord inside her. Camilla was infuriating and obnoxious and dangerous but also caring and kind and smart and she knew exactly what to say.
Piper wanted to bang her head against the walls. This was all so stupid.
She debated asking Camilla about the dreams and then made up her mind, "You said he's in jail. Your dad I mean. He isn't, is he?"
Camilla narrowed her eyes at Piper like she had just said something wrong.
"You had a dream" Piper said more confidently this time. "About a giant. And your dad tied to a stake"
Camilla's eyes widened like saucers as she looked around to see if someone was over hearing them. "How did you know that?" She hissed.
"Because I had a dream too" Piper said, relief spreading in her chest. There was someone else she could talk to about this, she didn't have to keep it bottled up. So she told Camilla everything from the first dream she'd had telling her they would come for her. Of course "they" turned out to be Annabeth and Butch.
By the time Piper narrated the entire story, including seeing Camilla's dad in her dream, the girl looked like she didn't know whether to trust Piper or not.
"So our dads are kidnapped" Camilla repeated.
"Yes"
"And a giant called enchilada whatever wants us to betray our friends to save them"
"Yes"
"I'm not asking, I'm simply stating all the facts" Camilla told her, "So what do we do?"
"I don't—"
Then something in the warehouse went bang!
The echo died. Piper's heart pounded, but she didn't call out. Her instincts told her it might not be a good idea.
"Jason" Camilla whispered, "Leo. Shit"
She stared at Piper's splinted ankle. They couldn't run. And if whatever overpowered Jason came for them next, Piper wasn't sure Camilla would be able to take the monster.
Piper looked up again at the Monocle Motors sign. A little voice in her head pestered her, warning of danger. Something from Greek mythology...
Her hand went to her backpack. She took out the ambrosia squares. Too much would burn her up, but would a little more fix her ankle?
Boom.
The sound was closer this time, directly below them. Before Camilla could protest, Piper dug out a whole square of ambrosia and stuffed it in her mouth. Her heart raced faster. Her skin felt feverish.
Hesitantly, she flexed her ankle against the splint. No pain, no stiffness at all. She cut through the duct tape with her dagger and heard heavy steps on the stairs—like metal boots.
"Stay down" Camilla hissed, "I'll check it out"
"Are you crazy?" Piper whispered back. "Have you seen any horror movie at all?"
Camilla just gave her an amused smile.
How long ago had Jason and Leo left? Had it been ten minutes? Longer? The steps didn't sound like Jason, but maybe he was carrying Leo.
Camilla stood in front of Piper, but she didn't look very eager to go down and see the threat on the stairs.
Her fingers flexed on the grip of her sword.
Piper gripped Katoptris as Camilla called out, "Jason?"
"Yeah," he said from the darkness. "On my way up."
Definitely Jason's voice. So why did all her instincts say RUN?
With effort, she got to her feet, Camilla still shielding her.
The steps came closer.
"It's okay," Jason's voice promised.
At the top of the stairs, a face appeared out of the darkness—a hideous black grin, a smashed nose, and a single bloodshot eye in the middle of his forehead.
"It's fine," the Cyclops said, in a perfect imitation of Jason's voice. "You're just in time for dinner."
I believe in aro ace Leo supremacy in this fic 😤
Camilla's dad: