THEY WERE FUCKED.
Perfect Jason and Percy charged each other, but Tempest and Blackjack balked long enough for Piper to leap out of the way.
Eden looked on, dazed and horrified, as the boys crossed swords, gold against bronze. Sparks flew. Their blades blurredโ strike and parry โ and the pavement trembled. The horses pulled away from each other โ Tempest thundering in protest, Blackjack flapping his wings.
"Stop it!" Piper yelled.
For a moment, Perfect Jason heeded her voice. His golden eyes turned toward her, and Percy charged, slamming his blade into Perfect Jason. At least Percy turned his sword โ maybe on purpose, maybe accidentally โ so the flat of it hit Perfect Jason's chest; but the impact was still enough to knock him 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. Eden was just telling Blackjack, don't do it, don't do it, please, you've never wanted to listen to me anymore than in this moment.
"Percy!" Piper yelled. "Jason's your friend. Drop your weapon!"
Percy's sword arm dipped. Piper might have been able to bring him under control, but unfortunately Perfect Jason got to his feet. Fucking jerk.
Perfect Jason roared. A bolt of lightning arced out of the clear blue sky. It ricocheted off his gladius and blasted Percy off his horse.
Blackjack whinnied and fled into the wheat fields. Perfect Jason charged at Percy, who was now on his back, his clothes smoking from the lightning blast.
"Piper!" Eden called, talking to Blackjack in her mind. Please stay, stay calm, I promise, we'll figure this out.
Will you?
She's my owner, bitch, Techno cut in, and Eden almost let a smile grace her face. With her and lover girl, they could probably do it. Maybe with dying.
Fabulous, thanks.
"No!" Piper screamed. "Jason, stop!"
He froze, his sword six inches from Percy's face.
Perfect 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 Perfect Jason. Whoever it was spoke haltingly, as if English was its second language.
"Who are you?" Piper demanded.
Perfect Jason's mouth twisted in a gruesome smile. "We are the eidolons. We will live again."
"Eidolons . . . ?" Kaleidoscope looked over at Eden, who shrugged. "You're โ you're some sort of ghost?"
"He must die." Perfect Jason turned his attention back to Percy, but Percy had recovered more than either of them realized, and Eden had just forgotten about him. He swept out his leg and knocked Perfect Jason off his feet.
Perfect Jason's head hit the asphalt with a nauseating conk.
Percy rose.
"Stop it!" Piper screamed again, shouting in sheer desperation.
Percy raised Riptide over Perfect Jason's chest.
Eden started lashing her whip when Piper said, "Eidolon, stop."
Percy froze.
"Face me," Piper ordered.
Eden's brother turned. His eyes were gold instead of green, his face pale and cruel, not at all like Percy's normal ugly face.
"You have not chosen," he said. "So this one will die."
"You're a spirit from the Underworld," Piper 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."
Piper shivered. "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."
Perfect Jason still wasn't moving. Eden couldn't go over to him because Percy was still there, solid brute he is, so she called on Blackjack to come forward. Percy looked over at the sound.
"Ignore it!" Kaleidoscope yelped. "Look at me."
Percy obeyed. "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.
Just knock him out. Eden said, and looked over at Piper and nodding at her.
"Stand still," Piper charmspoke to Percy, who stayed still.
Blackjack reared and brought his hoof down on his head.
Percy crumpled to the pavement next to Perfect Jason.
"Hell yeah!" Eden grinned, patting Blackjack then running over to where Piper was bent over the boys. "They'll be fine, but we probably need to get back to the ship."
Perfect Jason was breathing steadily, but two knocks on the skull in two days was not good for him. Then she examined Percy's head. She didn't see any blood, but a large knot was forming where the horse had kicked him. Eh, take an aspirin and he'll be fine.
"Yeah," Piper breathed. "I'll take Blackjack?"
"You can take Techno, he likes you," Eden looked around. Tempest was nowhere to be seen. The lightning steed had apparently returned to wherever storm spirits live on clear days. "You think you could put Percy on him?"
Blackjack knelt to the ground so that Eden could drape Perfect Jason over his back, secured him, then ran to help Piper do the same thing. Then they took off for the ship.
The others were a little surprised when Eden and Piper came back on pegasi with two unconscious demigods. While Frank and Hazel tended to Techno and Blackjack, Annabeth and Leo helped get Eden, Piper, and the boys to the sickbay.
"At this rate, we're going to run out of ambrosia," Coach Hedge grumbled as he tended their wounds. "How come I never get invited on these violent trips?"
Piper took a swig of nectar from Eden's cup, putting her head on her shoulder. Eden reached over to yeet the cup away and then lean back.
"Leo," Kaleidoscope said, "are we ready to sail?"
"Yeah, butโ"
"Set course for Atlanta. We'll explain later."
"But . . . okay." He hurried off.
Annabeth didn't argue with Piper either, because who would? She was too busy examining the horseshoe-shaped dent on the back of Percy's head.
"What hit him?" she demanded.
"Blackjack," Eden said, examining her perfect nails, thank god.
"What?"
Piper tried to explain while Coach Hedge applied some healing paste to the boys' heads. Eden had never been impressed with Hedge's nursing abilities before, but he 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, Perfect 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 Kaleidoscope described their duel on the highway, Perfect 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. And Eden's gotten me good multiple times."
"Or I could have killed you," Percy said. "She's gotten me good, too."
Eden scoffed, running her fingers through her girlfriend's hair. "Don't talk about me as if I'm not in front of y'all."
Perfect Jason shrugged, rolling his eyes at her. "If there'd been an ocean in Kansas, maybe."
"I don't need an oceanโ"
"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'tโ"
"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 Piper explained what had happened at TOPEKA 32 โ 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 poor burrito. RIP to it. "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," Perfect Jason suggested. "She would believe us."
He turned to Kaleidoscope with a hopeful gleam in his eyes. "You could convince her, Pipes. I know you could."
"I could try," she said. "But Octavian is the one we have to worry about. In my dagger blade, I saw him taking control of the Roman crowd. I'm not sure Reyna can stop him."
Perfect Jason's expression darkened. Hazel and Frank nodded.
"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," Perfect 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 โ 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 nuggetโ"
"Doesn't matter," Annabeth interrupted. "The point is, we'll have a hard time explaining the truth to the Romans. Even if they believe usโ"
"You're right." Perfect Jason leaned forward. "We should just keep going. Once we're over the Atlantic, we'll be safe โ at least from the legion."
"How can you be sure?" Piper asked. "Why wouldn't they follow us?"
He 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," Perfect 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 โ the Mare Nostrum."
Percy pointed his pizza slice at Perfect Jason. "You, sir, are a ray of sunshine."
"Just like your sister," Eden took a sip out of her cherry coke. "God, you two are not alike at all. I hate you."
"You always say that," Perfect Jason noted.
Eden rolled her eyes. "Because I'm right in my thinking. Anyway, I'm not the smartest, but we should be strategizing instead of talking about your hot sister."
Percy nodded. "And make sure we don't die. Mr. D โ Bacchus โ 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," Perfect Jason said.
"Twin giants, like Piper saw in her blade . . ." 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. Eden 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." Noob.
"She wants two of us," Piper murmured.
Everyone turned to look at her.
Eden pulled her hand closer over to her on the table, so she could take it and squeeze it. She did just that, fidgeting with her hand as if she didn't already know to by heart. At least, Eden hoped she did.
"Today on the highway," Kaleidoscope said, "Gaea told me that she needed the blood of only two demigods โ one female, Eden, one male. She โ she asked me to choose which boy would die with her."
Eden squeezed her hand, fidgeting with her soup. She loved soup. "But none of us died. You 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 โ 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!'"
Piper frowned. "You think the giants would use our blood . . . the blood of two of usโ"
"I don't know," Percy said. "But until we figure it out, I suggest we all try to avoid getting captured."
Perfect Jason grunted. "That I agree with."
"For once," Eden let out a small snort.
"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," Piper said. "Bacchus told us we should seek out . . . what was his name?"
"Phorcys," Eden said.
Piper looked over at her inquisitively. "You know him?"
Eden examined their intertwined hands, and god did she love the sight. "I didn't recognize the name at first. Then Bacchus mentioned salt water, and it rang a bell, surprisingly enough. Phorcys is an old sea god from before 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." She looked up. "At least . . . that's what my mind's telling me. Maybe I wouldn't know, not being a true daughter of Poseidon."
Percy flinched. As he should have. "Yeah, that's right," he choked out.
The silence was broken by Leo. "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," Piper said.
Once more, everyone looked at her.
"There's one last thing," she said. "The eidolons โ the possessing spirits. They're still here, in this room."
i've written all of mark of athena & started house of hades now ๐ i'm thinking after i get halfway through blood of olympus i'll probably publish every day just so there's less time between finishing this book and publishing my next one !!
<3 maybel