If it wasn't for Jasper I would've died.
Jason and Percy charged each other, straight toward me. Jasper shot up and tackled me to the ground out of the way.
We rolled to the edge of the road. Jasper used himself to cushion our fall and I landed on top of him with his arms around me.
"Are you okay?" Jasper asked immediately. I nodded still dazed.
"Y-You saved me..?" I said it almost as a question sounding unsure.
"Of course." Jasper said as if he was confused as to why I think he wouldn't.
I looked back, dazed and horrified, as the boys crossed swords, gold against bronze. Sparks flew. Their blades blurred—strike and parry—and the pavement trembled. The first exchange took only a second, but I couldn't believe the speed of their sword fighting. The horses pulled away from each other—Tempest thundering in protest, Blackjack flapping his wings.
"We have to stop them." I said quickly. Jasper nodded. I began to stand up but he pushed me back down.
"You're a long ranged fighter, you won't win this battle." He said summoning his spear again. "Leave this to me."
Jasper got up and walked back out to the road.
"Stop it!" He yelled.
For a moment, Jason heeded his voice. His golden eyes turned toward him, and Percy charged, slamming his blade into Jason. Thank the gods, Percy turned his sword—maybe on purpose, maybe accidentally—so the flat of it hit Jason's chest; but the impact was still enough to knock Jason off his mount. Blackjack cantered away as Tempest reared in confusion. The spirit horse charged into the sunflowers and dissipated into vapor. Percy struggled to turn his pegasus around.
"Percy." Jasper commanded. "Jason's your friend. Drop your weapon." He voice was calm but yet still held authority and command. He sounded like a leader.
Percy's sword arm dipped. For a second I thought he might have been able to bring him under control, but unfortunately Jason got to his feet.
Jason roared. A bolt of lightning arced out of the clear blue sky. It ricocheted off his gladius and blasted Percy off his horse. He nearly blasted Jasper as well if he hadn't summoned a shield to protect himself.
I was starting to think those rings he wore were different assortments of weapons.
Blackjack whinnied and fled into the wheat fields. Jason charged at Percy, who was now on his back, his clothes smoking from the lightning blast.
For a horrible moment, I felt as if I couldn't speak. I looked at Jasper who seemed to be under the same effect. Gaea seemed to be whispering to us: You must choose one.
Why not let Jason kill him?
I don't know what I was thinking but I loaded my bow and fired it at Jason. I hadn't been aiming for his actual body but just close enough to get his attention.
He froze, his sword six inches from Percy's face. Jason swirled around.
"Jason please!" I begged. "You have to stop! It's just in your head! Gaea's controlling you!"
Jason turned, the gold light in his eyes flickering uncertainly. "I cannot stop. One must die."Something about that voice...it wasn't Gaea. It wasn't Jason. Whoever it was spoke haltingly, as if English was its second language.
"Who are you?" Jasper demanded hearing the difference as well.
Jason's mouth twisted in a gruesome smile. "We are the eidolons. We will live again."
"Eidolons... ?" My mind raced. I'd studied all sorts of monsters at Camp Half-Blood, but that term wasn't familiar. "You're—you're some sort of ghost?"
"He must die." Jason turned his attention back to Percy, but Percy had recovered more than either of us realized. He swept out his leg and knocked Jason off his feet.
Jason's head hit the asphalt with a nauseating conk.
Percy rose.
"Stop it!" Jasper commanded. He froze. He spoke with such authority not even I wanted to defy his orders. "Focus on me."
The edge to his voice reminded me of the night before. Percy face contorted and turned toward Jasper looking furious. He was forcing Percy's emotions of anger and hatred to be stronger than the need to kill Jason.
The son of the sea god turned. His eyes were gold instead of green, his face pale and cruel, not at all like Percy's.
"You have not chosen, so this one will die. " he said. "He's not the son of the king of the gods but the son of war itself isn't too bad either."
Percy launched at Jasper. I had seen Percy's sword skills in action before but he seemed on a new level now. But Jasper match him. I would even go as far to say Jasper was better. He easily knocked him off balanced and pushed him to the ground making it look like he had used minimal effort.
Percy's face was full of hatred as Jasper pointed his spear in Percy's face towering over him.
"You're a spirit from the Underworld," Jasper guessed. "You're possessing Percy Jackson. Is that it?"
Percy sneered. "I will live again in this body. The Earth Mother has promised. I will go where I please, control whom I wish."
A wave of cold washed over me. "Leo...that's what happened to Leo. He was being controlled by an eidolon."
The thing in Percy's form laughed without humor. "Too late you realize. You can trust no one."
Jason still wasn't moving. Half of me wanted to run to protect Jason and treat his injuries but the half wanted to stay put and follow Jasper's orders.
Behind Percy, something rustled in the wheat. I saw the tip of a black wing, and Percy began to turn toward the sound.
"Ignore it!" I yelped. "Look at me."
Jasper caught my eye and saw where I was looking giving me a slight nod to show he understood.
Percy's attention landed on me once again just as I instructed. "You cannot stop me. I will kill Jason Grace."
Behind him, Blackjack emerged from the wheat field, moving with surprising stealth for such a large animal.
"You won't kill him," Jasper ordered. But he wasn't looking at Percy. He had locked eyes with the pegasus, and he poured all his power into his words. "You will knock him out."
The words washed over Percy. He shifted his weight indecisively. "I...will knock him out?"
"I wasn't talking to you."
Blackjack reared and brought his hoof down on Percy's head.
Percy crumpled to the pavement next to Jason.
"Oh, gods!" I ran to the boys. "Blackjack, you didn't kill him, did you?"
The pegasus snorted. I couldn't speak Horse, but I thought he might have said: Please. I know my own strength.
Tempest was nowhere to be seen. The lightning steed had apparently returned to wherever storm spirits live on clear days.I checked on Jason. He was breathing steadily, but two knocks on the skull in two days is not good for him. Then I examined Percy's head. I didn't see any blood, but a large knot was forming where the horse had kicked him. It would be easier to heal them both back on the Argo II
"We have to get them both back to the ship," I told Blackjack.
The pegasus bobbed his head in agreement. He knelt to the ground, so that Piper could drape Percy and Jason over his back. I started to lift Percy up when Jasper came behind me and lifted him up easily. Curse his strong muscles for out showing me. He then picked Jason up like he was nothing.
"How did you do that?" I asked.
"Do what?"
"Command the Eidolons like that." I said. "It reminds me of Piper's charmspeak."
"I guess it's a Mars thing." He said shrugging. "It's strongest when I'm on the battlefield. I just say an order and the army follows."
Blackjack dipped his back and we both got on. I felt bad as this was probably really heavy for the poor pegasus.
"You said that was in your vision. Jason's eyes turning gold." Jasper started. "Should I know about anything else?"
I had already told him that we might drown so I concluded sharing the rest of my vision with him was most likely beneficial.
"I had a vision about us drowning." I said, "Percy, Jason, Piper and both of us were there. We were standing waist-deep in water at the bottom of a dark circular chamber, almost like a giant well. " I said recounting the vision. "And ghostly shapes moved through the water. Then Percy was pulled under and then Jason and Piper and.."
"Then us." Jasper finished for me.
I nodded.
"I'm guessing you don't want to tell the others about this?"
I nodded again. He sighed.
***
The others were a little surprised when we came back on a pegasus with two unconscious demigods. While Frank and Hazel tended to Blackjack, Annabeth and Leo helped get me Jasper and the boys to the sickbay.
"At this rate, we're going to run out of ambrosia," Coach Hedge grumbled as he handed be the ambrosia. "How come I never get invited on these violent trips?"
Piper sat at Jason's side.
"Leo," I said, "are we ready to sail?"
"Yeah, but—"
"Set course for Atlanta. I'll explain later."
"But...okay." He hurried off.
Annabeth didn't argue with me either. She was too busy examining the horseshoe-shaped dent on the back of Percy's head.
"What hit him?" she demanded.
"Blackjack," I said.
"What?"
Jasper tried to explain while I applied some healing paste to the boys' heads and used my healing abilities. I must have done something right. Either that, or the spirits that possessed the boys had also made them extra resilient. They both groaned and opened their eyes.
Within a few minutes, Jason and Percy were sitting up in their berths and able to talk in complete sentences. Both had fuzzy memories of what had happened. When I described their duel on the highway, Jason winced.
"Knocked out twice in two days," he muttered. "Some demigod." He glanced sheepishly at Percy. "Sorry, man. I didn't mean to blast you."
Percy's shirt was peppered with burn holes. His hair was even more disheveled than normal. Despite that, he managed a weak laugh. "Not the first time. Your big sister got me good once at camp."
"Yeah, but...I could have killed you."
"Or I could have killed you," Percy said.
Jason shrugged. "If there'd been an ocean in Kansas, maybe."
"I don't need an ocean—"
"Do I need to remind you that I took you down within seconds-" Jasper added.
"Boys," Annabeth interrupted, "I'm sure you both would've been wonderful at killing each other. But right now, you need some rest."
"Food first," Percy said. "Please? And we really need to talk. Bacchus said some things that don't —"
"Bacchus?" Annabeth raised her hand. "Okay, fine. We need to talk. Mess hall. Ten minutes. I'll tell the others. And please, Percy...change your clothes. You smell like you've been run over by an electric horse."
Leo gave the helm to Coach Hedge again, after making the satyr promise he would not steer them to the nearest military base "for fun."They gathered around the dining table, and I explained what had happened at TOPEKA 32—their conversation with Bacchus, the trap sprung by Gaea, the eidolons that had possessed the boys.
"Of course!" Hazel slapped the table, which startled Frank so much, he dropped his burrito. "That's what happened to Leo too."
"So it wasn't my fault." Leo exhaled. "I didn't start World War Three. I just got possessed by an evil spirit. That's a relief!"
"But the Romans don't know that," Annabeth said. "And why would they take our word for it?"
"We could contact Reyna," Jason suggested. "She would believe us."
Jason turned to Piper with a hopeful gleam in his eyes. "You could convince her, Pipes. I know you could."
Annabeth looked at her sympathetically, even Hazel winced.
Boys are so clueless.
"I could try," she said halfheartedly.
I cleared my throat interrupting. "Octavian is the one we have to worry about. In my vision, I saw him taking control of the Roman crowd. I'm not sure Reyna can stop him."
Jason's expression darkened. I didn't get any pleasure from bursting his bubble, but the other Romans—Jasper, Hazeland Frank—nodded in agreement.
"She's right," Frank said. "This afternoon when we were scouting, we saw eagles again. They were a long way off, but closing fast. Octavian is on the warpath."
Hazel grimaced. "This is exactly the sort of opportunity Octavian has always wanted. He'll try to seize power. If Reyna objects, he'll say she's soft on the Greeks. As for those eagles...It's like they could smell us."
"They can," Jason said. "Roman eagles can hunt demigods by their magical scent even better than monsters can. This ship might conceal us somewhat, but not completely—not from them."
Leo drummed his fingers. "Great. I should have installed a smoke screen that makes the ship smell like a giant chicken nugget. Remind me to invent that, next time."
Hazel frowned. "What is a chicken nugget?"
"Oh, man..." Leo shook his head in amazement. "That's right. You've missed the last like, seventy years. Well, my apprentice, a chicken nugget—"
"Doesn't matter," Annabeth interrupted. "The point is, we'll have a hard time explaining the truth to the Romans. Even if they believe us—"
"You're right." Jasper leaned forward. "We should just keep going. Once we're over the Atlantic, we'll be safe—at least from the legion."
He sounded so depressed, I felt sorry for him.
"How can you be sure?" Piper asked. "Why wouldn't they follow us?"Jason shook his head. "You heard Reyna talking about the ancient lands. They're much too dangerous. Roman demigods have been forbidden to go there for generations. Even Octavian couldn't get around that rule."
Frank swallowed a bite of burrito like it had turned to cardboard in his mouth. "So, if we go there..."
"We'll be outlaws as well as traitors," Jason confirmed. "Any Roman demigod would have the right to kill us on sight. But I wouldn't worry about that. If we get across the Atlantic, they'll give up on chasing us. They'll assume that we'll die in the Mediterranean—the Mare Nostrum."
Percy pointed his pizza slice at Jason. "You, sir, are a ray of sunshine."
Jason didn't argue. The other demigods stared at their plates, except for Percy, who continued to enjoy his pizza.
Where he put all that food, I didn't know. The guy could eat like a satyr.
"So let's plan ahead," Percy suggested, "and make sure we don't die. Mr. D—Bacchus — Ugh, do I have to call him Mr. B now? Anyway, he mentioned the twins in Ella's prophecy. Two giants. Otis and, uh, something that started with an F?"
"Ephialtes," Jasper said.
"Twin giants, like Eliana saw in her vision..." Annabeth ran her finger along the rim of her cup. "I remember a story about twin giants. They tried to reach Mount Olympus by piling up a bunch of mountains."
Frank nearly choked. "Well, that's great. Giants who can use mountains like building blocks. And you say Bacchus killed these guys with a pinecone on a stick?"
"Something like that," Percy said. "I don't think we should count on his help this time. He wanted a tribute, and he made it pretty clear it would be a tribute we couldn't handle."
Silence fell around the table. I could hear Coach Hedge above deck singing "Blow the Man Down," except he didn't know the lyrics, so he mostly sang, "Blah-blah-hum-de-dum-dum."
I couldn't shake the feeling that Bacchus was meant to help them. The giant twins were in Rome. They were keeping something the demigods needed—something in that bronze jar. Whatever it was, she got the feeling it held the answer to sealing the Doors of Death—the key to endless death. She also felt sure they could never defeat the giants without Bacchus's help. And if they couldn't do that in five days, Rome would be destroyed, and Nico, would die.
On the other hand, if the vision of Bacchus offering her a silver goblet was false, maybe the other visions didn't have to come true either—especially the one of me, Jasper, Percy, and Jason drowning. Maybe that was just symbolic.The blood of a female demigod, Gaea had said, and the blood of a male. Eliana, my dear, choose which hero will die with you.
"She wants two of us," I murmured.
Everyone turned to look at her.
"Today on the highway," I said, "Gaea told me that she needed the blood of only two demigods—one female, one male. She—she asked me to choose which boy would die."
Jason gave me a supportive look. "But neither of us died. You and Jasper saved us."
"I know. It's just...Why would she want that?"
Leo whistled softly. "Guys, remember at the Wolf House? Our favorite ice princess, Khione? She talked about spilling Jason's blood, how it would taint the place for generations. Maybe demigod blood has some kind of power."
"Oh..." Percy set down his third pizza slice. He leaned back and stared at nothing, as if the horse kick to his head had just now registered.
"Percy?" Annabeth gripped his arm.
"Oh, bad," he muttered. "Bad. Bad." He looked across the table at Frank and Hazel. "You guys remember Polybotes?"
"The giant who invaded Camp Jupiter," Hazel said. "The anti-Poseidon you whacked in the head with a Terminus statue. Yes, I think I remember."
"I had a dream," Percy said, "when we were flying to Alaska. Polybotes was talking to the gorgons, and he said—he said he wanted me taken prisoner, not killed. He said: 'I want that one chained at my feet, so I can kill him when the time is ripe. His blood shall water the stones of Mount Olympus and wake Earth Mother!'"I wondered if the room's temperature controls were broken, because suddenly I couldn't stop shaking. It was the same way I'd felt on the highway outside Topeka. "You think the giants would use our blood...the blood of two of us—"
"I don't know," Percy said. "But until we figure it out, I suggest we all try to avoid getting captured."
Jason grunted. "That I agree with."
"But how do we figure it out?" Hazel asked. "The Mark of Athena, the twins, Ella's prophecy...how does it all fit together?"
Annabeth pressed her hands against the edge of the table. "Piper, you told Leo to set our course for Atlanta."
"Right," I said. "Bacchus told us we should seek out...what was his name?"
"Phorcys," Percy said.
Annabeth looked surprised, like she wasn't used to her boyfriend having the answers. "You know him?"
Percy shrugged. "I didn't recognize the name at first. Then Bacchus mentioned salt water, and it rang a bell. Phorcys is an old sea god from before my dad's time. Never met him, but supposedly he's a son of Gaea. I still don't understand what a sea god would be doing in Atlanta."
Leo snorted. "What's a wine god doing in Kansas? Gods are weird. Anyway, we should reach Atlanta by noon tomorrow, unless something else goes wrong."
"Don't even say that," Annabeth muttered. "It's getting late. We should all get some sleep."
"Wait," I said.
Once more, everyone looked at me.
I was rapidly losing my courage, wondering if my instincts were wrong, but it felt like there were multiple pairs of eyes on me, more than the eight other demigods. So I made myself speak.
"There's one last thing," I said. "The eidolons—the possessing spirits. They're still here, in this room."