Bianca di Angelo & The Olympians

Piper Is Always Third Wheeling

Annabeth POV

"Just- pose as my uncle on the way there," Piper shoved money into the man's hand, "And you can have all this." I stood to the side with my blue Yankees cap on.

The man looked poor, like the kind of person who only had enough money for lower class flights. The perfect person to bribe. He was a bit sketchy, but we would ditch him as soon as we got on.

He looked at the 1000$ roll in his hand. "Great! Sure. I'll do it." He said quickly. Mortals with no morals. It's sad how common that was.

Although I had a gradually growing theory as to why he might have agreed. But I would wait until we got to camp to be guessing godly mothers.

Piper followed him as he got in line. They handed him the tickets saying "We bought late, so we couldn't get seats next to each other." The desk man accepted it.

We got on the plane quickly. I shuffled quietly behind Piper so as to not alert anyone to my presence. Eventually we both made it on, the visible of us waving the man thanks, and he went to his seat.

The flight was fairly uneventful, other than me having to move around sometimes to avoid being caught. The invisibility cap really came in handy for that. The takeoff was turbulent, but I think that was Zeus getting lectured by three male demigods rather than him trying to crash us.

I prayed it was that.

We did the same pattern on the ground, posing as a niece and invisible human duo. Two for one! We then jumped in a taxi and beelined to camp. "Here!"

The driver looked at me oddly. "Are you sure? There's nothing here."

I nodded and he finally let us go. We ran up Half-Blood Hill, "Wait..." Piper said, "Hate to agree with the taxi guy, but there is nothing here."

I smiled and waved my hand towards me, signalling her to follow me. She did reluctantly. We finally came over the crest of the hill, passing Thalia as I heard a shocked gasp come from my left. The camp probably was unbelievable to her, but what concerns me is that I didn't see anyone celebrating Percy's return, or even the daughter of Hades's likely shocking appearance. Piper seemed to catch up to my thinking, "I'm sure they're fine. It's not like The Camp looks like a war zone. We just beat them here." I nodded, knowing she had a point.

"Annabeth!" I heard a voice call.

"Luke!"

I ran up to him and jumped into his arms. "Gods, we thought..."

"I'm not sure what happened with Percy and Grover, we got separated. But I know they made it to New York before the summer solstice ended."

"Oh" He sighed in what I assumed was relief, "That's good."

"Hate to be a third wheel...."

I jumped back from Luke's arms, "Right- er- this is Piper, a demigod we found on our quest. She's unclaimed."

Luke nodded, gaining his smile that made most girls his age swoon, "Piper, how about I show you around, while Annabeth goes to alert Chiron of her arrival." she looked worried, but I sent her a reassuring nod.

I made my way to The Big House; thankfully the sun hadn't risen yet, so no one was up. I finally opened the door, to see Chiron standing warily over by his window. "Chiron?"

He turned quickly, and I saw relief in his eyes. "Annabeth!" He trotted over to me quickly. "We thought that the quest had failed."

I smiled, but it came out as more of a grimace. "Me and Percy got separated. But they should have been here in time to prevent the war." I then said under my breath, "As long as Zeus didn't get trigger-happy." I quoted. I know Chiron heard it, but he didn't say anything.

"You should tell me of your quest."

I was weary of telling him about Bianca (and Nico, but she was more notable thanks to her age) but I should before things went wrong.

So I did. I talked about everything, and he didn't interrupt, even when I talked about The Children of Hades. Instead he just gained a notable furrow in his eyebrows. I finished after a while, and I could see out the window that people were starting to awaken.

He shook his head in exasperation. "Go tell the others you've arrived. I-" I wanted to discuss Bianca's fate a bit more, but I could tell that protesting would get me nowhere, "-need to... think on this." I nodded solemnly.

I stepped outside, and saw Travis spot me. "Annabeth's back!" Everyone began crowding me, and I told everyone that we were safe, even if I was lying, I didn't want panic. I stood around for a while before I sent a begging glance to Piper. Get me out of here.

She yelled out, "Look, a son of Hephaestus is trying to use a bow!" Everyone turned, because that would be hilarious to watch (It's rare). I quickly snatched my cap from my pocket and vanished, crawling under everyone's legs. I made my way to the Athena cabin.

"You okay?" Piper asked from the doorway.

I nodded, my cap now off, "I'm fine with the attention but... I'm lying to them really." The brunette came from her spot in the doorway, "What if we are doomed? What if-"

"-Percy, Nico and Grover are fine?" she finished. "Look, they seem smart, maybe not as smart as you, but..." I chuckled, now realising I had a tear running down my cheek. "If anyone is going to save the world, it's them."

Surprisingly, the speech actually made me feel a bit better. But there was something about the way she spoke...

"Besides, you survived being attacked by Hades, various monsters, a hypnotising hotel, and more right?"

The hotel... "Charmspeak!"

Piper looked at me like I was crazy, "What?"

"No- your voice!" I stood up and began pacing around the cabin. "You're using charmspeak! It's how you convinced that guy to play as you Uncle, how you got the police to leave you alone, heck, how you got everyone to look away from me."

She put her hands up, "Whoa. Back up. What do you mean?"

"Charmspeak is like a hypnotising thing. You, if you were powerful enough, could control people's minds."

She looked slightly fearful, but confused as well. "Why can't I just do that to Jane or my Dad whenever, like accidentally?"

"You do, but you're still 11. Most powers amplify by 13. And it would make you really tired."

"Do you..." Piper hesitated, "Do you know who my mother is?"

I nodded. "Aphrodite."

"Won't she claim me now, or?"

I shrugged. "She doesn't really claim her kids till they get old enough to go from 'Cute!' to 'Drop Dead Gorgeous!' you know?"

"I guess that makes sense." I saw her look down in a blush.

I thought for a moment. "You don't really seem the type to stay in the Aphrodite cabin-"

"Yeah that place is gonna give me some kinda breathing problems with all the perfume concoctions."

I laughed, "So until you're officially claimed, you can stay in the Hermes cabin. They take all unclaimed, so it's a bit cramped, but other than that." I shrugged my shoulders.

She nodded, "I'll do that then. Thanks."

"Other than that, you should talk to Silena Beauregard. She can charmspeak as well." Piper nodded.

I heard shouts from outside, and we both made our way to the door. "Whoa, that girl just teleported!" I heard Travis say. Only one girl could qualify for that.

Bianca.