III

PIPER

Disclaimer: I don't own anything in these stories except the plotlines and those characters I have introduced myself.

Piper wandered through the halls of the ship, marvelling at the sheer size of it. The shape was identical to the Argo II; but the size was a good three times larger and the style much more militaristic. Gaius obviously hadn't asked Leo to build it for a pleasure cruise. Piper went up on deck to see if the weather had let up. The storm was still blowing, rocking the beached ship. Her brown hair billowed around her head with the force of the wind, and she wisely decided to head below-decks.

Although she hated to admit it, something evil was stirring inside her. She could feel it. She felt an unreasonable anger – almost a rage, whenever she saw Jason and Annabeth sitting together. She knew that Jason loved her like a sister, but she just couldn't keep her anger at bay. She'd nearly lashed out at Jason when she'd seen him hugging her on the bunk bed a while ago.

Though she realised the anger was baseless, that Jason would never see Annabeth as anything other than a sister, and she him as a brother; Piper couldn't stop it. She couldn't shake off the feeling that something was wrong, someone was controlling her.

Eidolons? she wondered. No, they swore on the Styx. It could be other eidolons though...

Piper shook herself out of her reverie when she felt a hand rest itself on her shoulder. Turning around, she saw piercing electric-blue eyes staring back at her. "Hey, Pipes," Jason smiled at her. Piper forced a smile to her face. "Hey, Jace."

Jason's smile fell from his face. "What's wrong, Piper?" he asked worriedly. When she didn't reply, he placed his hands on her shoulders and turned Piper around to face him. "Piper?"

Piper shrugged his hands off her shoulders, eliciting a raised eyebrow. "Nothing," she mumbled. Snap out of it, idiot, she mentally chastised herself. Even if she couldn't control her anger, she didn't have to let Jason see it.

Piper forced another smile. "Nothing," she said again. "It's not nothing, Pipes," Jason growled. Although she hated to do this, she layered her voice with charmspeak. "I said it was nothing!"

For a moment, Jason left her shoulders and his eyes glazed over. He took a step back. Then he shook his head violently. "Piper..." he trailed off, betrayal evident in his eyes. Piper couldn't bear to look into those eyes. The eyes she'd once loved, but they now loved another.

SNAP OUT OF IT!

"Pipes," Jason croaked, his eyes shimmering slightly. "If it's something I did, please tell me." Piper couldn't bear it any more. She hung her head, tears falling from her eyes. She heard Jason move forward, but then he decided better of it and stayed where he was.

"Jason," she croaked. "Do you love her?" Jason's eyes narrowed in confusion. "Who?" he asked. "Anna – Annabeth," Piper stammered. She looked up and saw such a look of pure rage in his eyes that she'd never seen before. He looked ready to slap her all the way to Kathmandu.

"It's just, you spend so much time with her now," Piper continued. "I know it's stupid, but I just can't help it. When I see you with h – her, it just makes me so an – angry." She was blubbering now, gods, Piper. When did you start blubbering?

Before she could continue any further, Jason had walked over to her and engulfed her in a bear-hug. Piper leaned into him and felt her breathing ease. He tilted her head up and pulled her closer. Without any warning, he pulled her into a kiss that left her gasping for breath. When he pulled away, his eyes were still serious.

"Piper Mclean," he said. "I swear on the River Styx, that I love you, and only you." Thunder rumbled overhead as he finished and Piper felt a huge surge of warmth and love for him. She hugged him and the two stood there for what must have been minutes but felt only like seconds before they were interrupted by a cough.

Piper turned around to see Frank awkwardly looking anywhere except at the two of them. "Umm, guys?" he said. "Sorry to interrupt, but Nico and Hazel think you should see this."

Piper groaned inwardly but followed when Jason took her by the hand and started walking after Frank. She followed him down the steps and turned right to the place where the Argo II's common room had been. She gasped as she emerged into a huge room with rows of seating extending upwards till the walls, like an amphitheatre. At one end, a huge screen was laid, with a podium and a table in front of it. But what caught Piper's attention was the image plastered on the screen in front of them.

"Camp," Piper muttered. "Yup," she heard Annabeth say from behind her. Despite her anger against Annabeth still being there, her curiosity got the better of her. "What's happening?" she asked. Hazel coughed and pointed to a corner of the screen where a series of numbers was flashing. As Piper focused on them, she realised with a shock that it was a –

"Countdown," Jason gasped beside her. "And there's only 5 hours left."

Piper followed Jason to the top of the deck, her lungs screaming for air by the time she'd climbed the two flights of stairs and caught up with him. The winds of the storm were still fast, and waves were dashing against the side of the ship which still was, Thank the Fates! unharmed.

Piper saw Jason withdraw a gold coin from his pocket and toss it into the mist curling up from the waves. "Oh Fleecy," he began; "Do me a solid, show me Chiron." The mist shimmered for a while before it seemed to solidify into a screen and an image appeared on it. Chiron's white body came into view as he was talking to a camper. Piper recognised the camper; Clarisse from the Ares Cabin. The camper noticed the Iris Message and motioned to Chiron. Chiron turned around and smiled in genuine pleasure as he recognised Jason.

"Jason," he exclaimed. "Is everything alright?" "Chiron," Jason gasped out. "You need to prepare for evac, the camp's rigged to blow!"

Piper saw Chiron's eyes widen as he began stammering. "Jason, I assure you that's impossible." "Well, then it's gonna be attacked," Jason cried out. "Whatever, just prepare to get out of there within 3 hours!" Chiron seemed to want to argue further, but seemed to think better of it. He turned to Clarisse. "You heard him, go start preparations!" Clarisse nodded and ran out of the Big House. Jason waved his hand through the message and the 'screen' dissolved.

"We need to get Annabeth up here," he said to Piper. The anger came back. The rage, the envy. Jason saw it in her eyes and took her by the shoulder. "She's the only one who can fly the ship," he said, looking deep into her eyes. Piper nodded, suppressing her baseless anger and went down the stairs to call Annabeth.

Annabeth had them airborne within twenty minutes, but every second felt like an hour to Piper when faced with the potential destruction of Camp Half-Blood; her only viable home. Jason was crouching at the prow, regaining his breath after using the winds to lift the ship off the beach. Piper knelt down next to him and smiled at him. He smiled back and pulled her close to him. She leaned onto his shoulder and shut her eyes, allowing herself to become comfortable.

"Pipes?" Jason suddenly said in a low voice. Piper hummed lightly in acknowledgement. "I've been thinking, you remember how we got Percy and Annabeth out last time?"

Piper visibly tensed at Annabeth's name, but decided to suppress her anger. "Yeah," she began; "the Doors of Death." Jason nodded. "But they're not there anymore." Realisation hit Piper. The Doors of Death had been removed by Percy and Annabeth, and now they were zooming all over the world, with no one knowing where they'll show up next.

"So, I'm beginning to think," Jason croaked, a single tear appearing in his eyes. "There may be no way..." he trailed off. Piper sat up and cradled his face in her hands. He avoided her eyes but she forced him to look at her. "We'll get them back," she said forcefully. "No matter what, we will get them back."

Jason nodded and smiled at her. He leaned forward, his eyes closing. Piper leaned forward too, their noses almost touching.

That's when the ship rocked like a meteor had hit it.