AN: Hey guys! Next chapter time! Enjoy! DFTBA!

Chapter 10

December 20th

The miniature army of undead knights charged Jason and his friends, the Black Knight making straight for Leo. Jason flicked his sword, switching it to lance mode. As soon as the first ghoul got to him, Jason jumped into action.

He and his friends were all doing pretty well. Piper was keeping five ghouls at bay all on her own. Calypso was running around, dodging enemy blades. Whenever she had an opening she thrust out her hand and one of her opponents would transform into a flower. Leo was going toe to toe with the Black Knight, wielding his sledgehammer one handed and shooting fireballs with the other.

Jason, meanwhile, was dueling his own opponents with relative ease. Lancelot's army was rather less than impressive. He parried two strikes, then struck one of the ghouls between the eyes with the butt of his lance. He spun around and stabbed another one through the chest. He burst apart into powder.

Jason quickly ducked a strike that would've decapitated him and switched back to gladius mode. He slashed his sword across the ghoul's face, but he didn't even stay still long enough to watch the disintegration. He rolled away to the left, dodging several other lethal sword blows. He came to his feet, spinning and destroying the last two ghouls who'd gone after him.

He turned to see if any of his friends needed help, but Piper and Calypso were just finishing off the last of their opponents. Jason was sort of surprised by how good a fighter Calypso was. He wondered if she'd ever fought before.

The only enemy left standing was the Black Knight. He was actually a really skilled sword fighter. Jason could see that from watching him fight. Leo was doing well, but he was having trouble keeping up. Nevertheless, he continued to yell insults at the Black Knight in typical Leo fashion. "Your mother was a hamster, and your father smelt of elderberries!"

"Die you knave!" yelled the Black Knight.

Jason, Piper and Calypso all dashed over towards the fight to help Leo, surrounding the Black Knight. He looked around the circle of demigods, helpless, yet still determined to fight.

"Just give it up, Black Knight," Jason said. "It's over."

"Never," growled the Black Knight. "It isn't over until the boy dies."

"This boy ain't dying so easy," Leo retorted. He shot flames at the Black Knight, who deflected them off the flat of his blade. But that left him open to the twin sword strikes that Jason and Piper left him with. The Black Knight exploded into dust.

"Score! Leo and gang one, army of the undead zero," Leo cheered.

Jason ignored him and strode back over to King Arthur's body in the center of the room. "I just don't get it. Why does the Lady of the Lake want me to take this sword? Who even is the Lady of the Lake?"

"She's the one who gave Arthur his sword," Piper said.

Jason frowned. "Annabeth didn't mention her."

Piper raised a singular eyebrow. "I know things, too."

Jason winced slightly, realizing the stupidity of his previous statement. Piper and Annabeth were best friends, that wasn't the issue. The issue was that Jason had inadvertently implied that Piper wasn't all that smart. "Sorry Pipes," he said quickly. "I didn't mean it like that. I just didn't realize you knew anything about the King Arthur legend."

"Dude, everyone knows who the Lady of the Lake is," Leo said. "Except you, apparently."

"I don't know who the Lady of the Lake is," Calypso put in. "And you said the word movie before. What's a movie?"

"Movies are those moving picture things I told you about," Leo explained briefly.

"Oh, okay," Calypso said.

"So," Jason said somewhat loudly to get everyone's attention, "the Lady of the Lake. She gave Excalibur to Arthur. I thought you had to be worthy to wield it. That's the whole point of what Lancelot is doing, isn't it? So does that mean…"

"Yes, Jason," Piper finished, smiling, though sounding slightly annoyed that it'd taken him so long to get there. "It means that you are worthy to take Excalibur. Of course that's what this is about. Why else would the Lady of the Lake summon us? She's the one who's been helping us this whole time, the Black Knight just told us."

"And it also explains how you got us into this room," Calypso said. "If the magic here was put in place so that the unworthy couldn't get to Excalibur, then it makes sense that only someone who was worthy to take it could get in."

Jason looked down at the beautiful sword in the former king's hands. Was it really his now? He certainly didn't feel especially deserving of one of the most famous swords of all time. But there was only one way to find out for sure whether the sword was supposed to be his or not.

He grabbed onto the sword and pulled it from Arthur's grasp as gently as possible. It was sort of weird taking the sword away from a dead man, but Arthur definitely didn't feel like a dead man, which made it even weirder.

Suddenly, the sword was free from Arthur's grasp. The handle felt really warm in Jason's hand. The half celestial bronze, half imperial gold blade hummed even louder. Jason hefted the sword, which was longer and heavier than what he was used to fighting with, and suddenly the still air in the small cave whipped itself into a miniature wind storm. Then the air was still again, and the sword stopped humming. Jason felt winded and energized all at once. "Whoa," he said breathlessly. "I think it worked."

Leo made a whopping sound. "Excellent! Another quest completed for the team!"

Jason and Piper shared a look. It wasn't over yet. "Afraid we're not done just yet."

Leo slouched. "You want to go send Lancelot back to the Underworld, don't you? And rescue the Lady of the Lake from his clutches?"

Jason and Piper both nodded. "I've got Excalibur now," Jason said. "It should give me an edge."

"Besides, there's a goddess with an old grudge that we've got to put a stop to once and for all," Piper added. "We can't make either of you join us, but we'd appreciate the help."

Leo chuckled. "Well I can't just walk away now, can I?"

Before Jason could stop himself, he said, "Didn't stop you before." He realized how terrible what he'd said was immediately, but his hurt feelings were only getting worse. He thought spending more time with Leo would make it easier, but it was actually making things worse. "I'm sorry," Jason said quickly, seeing the stricken look on Leo's face and the angry look from Piper. "It just… I'm gonna go back outside and get some air."

Jason stormed out of the room. Literally. There was a huge gust of wind as he exited the cave.

Jason found an empty spot on the opposite side of the hill and sat there, brooding, Excalibur lying next to him in the grass. The sun had set by the time Piper came over to talk to him. "So we figured out a plan," she said curtly. "We don't know where Lancelot is holed up, but we figure it's got to be near whatever lake the Lady of the Lake calls home. We've got Festus scanning for lakes and ponds with strong concentrations of magic. And we told him to pay special attention to any places where those line up with snow."

"Okay," Jason said.

"It will take until morning for Festus to finish the scan, so we're camping here tonight," she continued. Piper got up to leave. "One last thing. You've got to patch things over with Leo."

"Right, I'll just do that," Jason said sarcastically. "I'll just forgive his betrayal."

"He didn't betray us," Piper replied hotly. "You are being ridiculous Jason. This isn't like you at all."

Jason didn't respond. He knew he was being childish. He knew he had gone too far earlier. He knew that Leo didn't deserve all the anger and bitterness he was pushing on him. And he knew that his behavior was making his girlfriend really, really angry with him, and that was never a smart thing to do. But for some reason, he just could not shake off his bad feelings.

"Whatever," Piper said. "You've got watch from three to five in the morning. The camp fire's at the top of the hill. You're welcome to join us when you've decided to be yourself again."

"Piper, I'm sorry," Jason said sincerely. "I really am. I just can't let go of… I don't even know what to call it. I'm just really mad at Leo. Aren't you?"

"Of course I am," Piper replied. "But I'm a hell of a lot happier that he's alive than I am angry that he didn't contact us. But you're not even acting like you're happy to see him again, Jason. You're acting like you wished he'd stayed dead."

"I am happy he's alive," Jason said defensively.

"Then start acting like it," Piper said sharply.

She turned and stomped back up the hill. Jason growled in frustration. Great. He couldn't stop being angry with his best friend, his girlfriend was pissed at him, he barely knew Calypso, and tomorrow they'd be going into deadly combat against Lancelot and a goddess, assuming he and Piper were right (and they almost definitely were). Things were not looking good.

AN: Getting close to the end! I'll see you guys tomorrow!