CHAPTER THIRTEEN

PIPER

What is the point of charmspeak if it doesn't even work against monsters? So far, the only thing my particular gift has done is kept Percy and Jason from killing Octavian - who had rested below decks pretty much since we found him, he was very weak form his imprisonment - and kept Nico from assassinating our prisoners. I suppose all of that was pretty important, but it would be so much more helpful if I could, say, charmspeak a monster into killing itself. No that would make it on my list of Top Ten Times Piper Felt Useful. Unfortunately, I had yet to fill it up all the way.

I was glad Thalia was there, because if it had not been for her hawk eyes - no pun intended - we'd been reptile food. Or was it bird food?

Before it was my turn to take watch, I had - obviously - been trying to sleep. Unfortunately, for demigods like me, sleep did not come easily. So instead I occupied myself by looking into my dagger's blade and hoping to see something useful. As usual, I all I saw was the typical doom-saying stuff. When I glanced at it first, I saw a man whose top half was a normal human, with a curling gray beard and hair, with rather large eyebrows. His bottom half, however, was a snake, with scales scattering randomly up his torso has the serpentine part of him gradually turned into human. He frowned fiercely, and holding a staff up defensively. Thalia was under him with Leo and Annabeth, the last of them with a disgusted look on her face.

I glanced away quickly. I closed my eyes, steeling myself to look back. Well, that wasn't too bad.

I mentally begged, please, something good, or helpful? I looked down at the blade again. This time it showed something like an enormous crater, and inside of it was something blood-red, coiled up and shifting around. I leaned over the blade a little more, squinted to see it better. I saw Carter and Sadie at the edge of the crater, both ashen pale. Carter had his khopesh ready, and Sadie had her staff and wand in hand. They both seemed to collect themselves, like all the demigod children of the gods had to do before we challenged Gaea for the last battle. They looked pensive, clearly down-right dreading this. Behind them about twenty or thirty other kids - magicians - were getting ready for battle.

"Right," I muttered, looking away from the blade and sheathing Katoptris. "Not helpful. I'll try again later."

Jason was arguing with Ivan about the usefulness of storm magic - Ivan and Aiden were a little obsessed with calling our powers 'magic', even though we clearly stated that it wasn't. Zia was asleep, along with Sadie, and Octavian was asleep all the time. Nico had curled up 'sleeping' (I really don't think that kid ever sleeps) in the crow's nest. That left Carter, Jason and Felix, the last of who absolutely refused to stay asleep. Leo kept coming every so often to check on the ship, until I threatened to gut him if he didn't go to sleep for good. He had not tried to sneak up since. Since Jason was in a heated fight (ahem 'debate') with Ivan, that left Carter, Felix and Thalia to keep me awake.

I walked over to the railing of the ship and sighed, listening to Thalia mutter about how truly brainless boys acted all the time. But of course, I could also see Carter frowned and grumbling to himself: why are girls so blasted complicated?

I stifled a laughed and leaned against the railing, taking in the warm breeze. The moon was high in the sky, and judging by the faint light in the horizon, the sun was about to raise. I closed my eyes. That meant we only had a few hours until we made it to Deos-Natale, or the Birthplace of the gods. I knew that feeling excited about that would probably jinx it when we got there, but I could not help it. Who wouldn't be excited? We were going to supposedly the purist, most magic-filled place on Earth! You would have to be crazy not to look forward to that opportunity . . . or maybe I was crazy for looking forward to it.

A few wispy clouds passed through the Argo II, filling the air with heavy, damp, whiteness. A weird, thick silence hung, only broken by the muffled arguing of Jason and Ivan. But then, even his voice suddenly went hushed. I could hear him whispering something, and then Ivan whispering back harshly. He sounded urgent. I froze, a feeling like being watched came over me. A garbled caw! rang out and I tensed. Then I heard weird hissing from behind me, but when I started to turn I stopped when Ivan shouted: "Nobody move! Close your eyes!"

I froze. The hissing got intense, and then I heard return hissing. It was odd, as though they were speaking in a coherent language of hisses, like a snake. I kept my eyes closed tightly, and nearly yelped went Ivan said in a whisper-shout, "get the others out here! We have a very large cockatrice on board."

I sucked in a breath, remembering them from monster-fighting classes. "You mean like a snake-rooster thing that has wings and can kill you with one look, and petrify you if you look with a mirror?"

"Yes," Ivan's voice answered from a different direction. Was he free of his bonds? "Now get Annabeth and the others up. Carter and Jason have been petrified."

I choked on my gasp. "Wh-what? Petrified?" I squeaked.

"Yes!" He snapped back irritably. Apparently it was too irritable, because the cockatrice started hissing dangerously. Again, another hissing voice answered.

I connected the dots and whirled on where I thought Ivan was. "Are you speaking to them?"

"No, just go get them!" He growled back.

"Thalia," I said. "You get Sadie and Zia. I'll go get the boys." I chewed my bottom lip nervously. "Ivan, where are they?"

There was a yelp as a reply, and then he answered in intelligible words,"I'm distracting them. You'll be fine; they're no where's near the stairs to below decks." In his obvious distress, his British accent was even thicker. "But can you still hurry up? I think the revelation is wearing off . . ."

I didn't pause to question what the 'revelation' was, and scurried to the stairs. I bumped into Thalia and had to bite back a startled shriek. We ran downstairs and I hurried down to the hall to the boys' rooms. I slammed Leo's door, "Leo! Wake up! We have a bird-snake invasion!"

Leo appeared a second later, bleary-eyed and holding his gigantic flaming hammer in hand. "Wha?" He slurred.

I quickly ran for Percy's room and kicked it. Percy would need louder noises to wake him up. "PERCY!" I yelled full-on. "We're being attacked!"

The door flew open, and Percy stumbled into the hall, and if the circumstances were different I would have laughed. It was just like when we were entering the Mediterranean - he was wearing his pajamas with a bronze breastplate, holding Riptide tightly. "Where's Felix?" He asked.

I cursed inwardly. "I think he's still above deck!" I gasped. I flew back up and ran into Thalia, Zia and Sadie. Sadie had her staff and wand out at the ready, and same with Zia. Thalia's bow was already nocked with an arrow, and she had a few hunting knives on her belt. I pulled out Katoptris, and we were demigods bent for cockatrice blood.

We burst above deck, and to my relief the clouds had thinned. I scanned the deck, and my heart leapt into my throat when I saw Felix laying still as . . . no, not going to finish that thought. Ivan the demon was standing, free of his bonds, with his eyes closed and hissing to the cockatrice in the same language I had heard. For a second I was so stunned I just stood there, but then the other twin - Aiden - snapped at us.

"Hurry up!" He snapped. "Ivan can only hold him off for so long!"

The cockatrice followed Ivan, who continued to hiss frantically. The cockatrice was very large. It was taller than Percy, in the shape of a rooster, but covered in scales. The tail was forked, each fork webbed like a fish tail. It had feathery wings folded on its back, and it's face was a strange mix of serpent and rooster. It hissed back at Ivan, cocking its head curiously. Then it let out a loud hiss. Clearly the novelty of having a kid that could speak snake was wearing off.

Percy and Annabeth started forward at the same time, looking at each other as if to say: you thinking what I'm thinking? Apparently they were on the same brain-wave length because Annabeth nodded and they circled around the cockatrice. Annabeth tilted her head slightly, and I realized she was listening to Ivan hiss. Then she closed her eyes and started hissing the same pattern of sounds. The cockatrice jerked towards her, and I could swear I saw an expression like what the heck?! on its face. It hissed back at her, and she hissed right back at it the same pattern. If possible, it looked even more confused.

Meanwhile, Percy sneaked behind it and swung his sword. The cockatrice shrieked and dissolved into golden sand, spraying out like an invisible fan was blowing it. Ivan and Aiden had twin looks of shock on their face. Clearly they had never seen a monster dissolve before.

"H-how?" Aiden spluttered.

"What were you speaking?" Annabeth demanded.

Ivan winced. "Uh, look. No ones . . ."

"Supposed to know that we -" Aiden started.

"Can do that." Ivan finished.

"So can you just keep it a secret?" They spoke in unison.

I clapped my hands. "Yep, they're definitely twins." Then another thought crossed my mind. "Felix!"

I ran to where the boy lay motionless, and shook him. This wrists were cold, very cold. Fear choked my as I shook him, and told him to wake up. I remembered vividly when Jason had laid like this after we saved Hera from her earthen cage and released her rage. I had demanded Jason to wake up, using all of my charmspeak, imaging I was reaching into the underworld and pulling him back to me. But Felix was so very cold . . .

Annabeth pressed her hand to his temple, and sat back. "He's okay. I think he's been petrified, but he's alive."

I sagged with relief. Then I spoke, imaging that I was awaking him from his frozen stupor. "Felix! Wake up!"

I think every one within a hundred mile radius woke up right then, and Felix certainly did. He gasped a deep breath and yelled, "Demon rooster!"

I laughed shakily. "No, there's no demon rooster. At least, not anymore. Percy killed it."

Felix shot to his feet. He gazed at Percy, awe written on his face. I had to bite my lip to keep back a laugh. "You killed that-that . . . whatever it's called?!"

"Um," Percy spluttered. "Well, I guess -"

"You are AWESOME!" Felix yelled.

Carter stumbled to his feet. "Piper, you could convince Sadie to not talk back to a rude teacher, and that's saying a lot. She never shuts up." That earned him a smack on the shoulder.

Percy grinned, and then stumbled. "Water," he murmured as he sagged against Annabeth. "Need . . . water."

Sadie slashed her wand through the air and muttered a spell, and water dumped on Percy's head. He immediately straightened. Annabeth, a little awkwardly, checked the rune on his chest. I smiled, imaging Hazel Levesque flushed bright red and fanning her face. Leo was fidgeting with some pipe cleaners and elastic bands, and released it. A helicopter, like the one he told me he made at the Grand Canyon, took flight. It spun around in circles, hovering remarkably well before collapsing.

Leo did not seem to succumb to the curse as much as Percy and Leo. He had gotten nicked on the shoulder, rather than the chest, so he didn't have the full brunt of it, I guess. Not to mention, I don't think Death could make Leo calm down. Since Carter was now hosting the god Horus, he was successfully keeping the curse at bay. As long as Percy was near some water, he was fine.

"Well," I didn't like being in the center of attention, but no one looked like they wanted to make any announcement, so I took the responsibility. "Since we're up - how long till we reach Deos-Natale?"

Leo spoke without even pausing his tinkering. "About -"

There was a hissing sound - the technical sound of engines, not the snake kind - and the ship slowed to a gradual stop.

"- now," Leo finished.

"We're here?" I asked. "I can't see anything."

It was true. The fog had thickened, and I could barely see the other passengers across from me. The only reason I could see Nico was because he was brooding over something, and the shadows were collecting around him. Zia seemed to have slight glow around her, but considering she had hosted the sun-god, even if it was for a little while, I wasn't very surprised.

"Someone name Cecrops will be greeting us. I saw it in a dream," she explained as we looked at her with questioning looks.

I remembered the half-man, half-snake thing I'd seen in my knife. "Did you see how Cecrops looks like?"

She shook her head. "Ra warned me about him. He said he was bitter about something."

Annabeth frowned, biting her lip thoughtfully. "I-I think I remember that from somewhere . . ."

Percy patted her shoulder. "Don't worry, Wise Girl. You have plenty of time to figure it out while we get to Dies-Nada or whatever it's called."

"Deos-Natale," she corrected under her breath.

Aiden piped up cheerfully. "Does this mean that I can get out of this ice cube now?" Felix and Percy had been quick to trap the twins in an ice cube after the cockatrice had been killed.

Ivan looked irritable. "Yes, please. I hate this bloody thing."

"Yes, when are we going to get there?" Aiden followed up quickly.

"Now, now, children," Leo said, grinning. "Uncle Leo's gonna take good care of you."

Aiden let out a loud groan. "Come on, then! When are we going to get here?!"

"We'll be there when we get there!" Thalia barked. "I don't like whining kids."

"Hey!" The twins chorused.

Annabeth rolled her eyes - I liked the way she thinks - and talked over their complaining. "It is my turn to lead whoever is going to Deos-Natale."

I frowned. "Um, I would like to think every one would be curious about the birthplace of the gods?"

She nodded. "True. So we I guess most of everyone will be accompanying me and Percy?"

I smiled to myself. Since Tartarus, they had been inseparable on all quests. While that might not sound sweet, because Tartarus was torture for them, it really was when they'd fight to make sure they were together all the time. "So it's a demigod-army quest then?" I said jokingly.

"Uh-oh," Leo cackled. "It's the end of the world . . . again." It really wasn't that funny, but we all broke down with into laughter. Honestly, it was only a matter of time before saving the world drove us all insane.

Nico smirked. "Yeah, I had better get a grand reward for helping save the world again."

Carter groaned. "The only thing I got offered was to be the king of the gods."

Percy choked. "Really? I feel for you."

Thalia's eyes glinted evilly. Uh-oh. "At least you aren't like Kelp Head here. He turned down immortality both times!"

Sadie gawked at him. "Are you bloody mad?"

At the same time the twins gasped, "mate, you're crazy!"

"Anyways," Annabeth said. "Shall we get ready to go?"

She got a bunch of 'yeahs' and two "I'm stuck in ice. I can't get ready", followed by "I hate you."

I grinned. Just another day in the life of your average demigod.

000

We set out, marching through the thick forest and cursing every time we stepped on a stick, making the forest echo with the sound. The twin demon-humans (if that makes any sense) were tied in pink ribbons that Zia called the Ribbons of Hathor. I thought it looked rather funny: two disgruntled looking demons wrapped in pink ribbons like mummy linen. Occasional they'd trip and barely catch themselves, and snap under their breath some creative curse words and grumble about cursing us to the next century when they got out. Then they spoke to each other in a language that sounded a lot like Russian, though, which was irritating. I couldn't understand what they were saying.

It was, overall, hilarious.

Leo used his pyrokinesis to light a way for us through the forest, stopping every now and then to consult to his weird little technical device that he was using to find Deos-Natale. He was also muttering under his breath, but it Ancient Greek rather than Russian. Something about Hephaestus' underpants that I really did not need to know. Before I could - jokingly - yell at him for his language, he stopped.

"Aha!" He proclaimed loudly. "We're here!"

In front of us was a low cliff-wall, like the entrance to Bunker 9, except the entrance of Bunker 9 looked more up-kept. Leo pressed his hand against the wall, and his fire powers flared - literally - and spread flames up the cliff. A section of the wall, about the size of a normal door, slid straight out. Leo stepped back as the weed-covered gray door moved to the side with a low, grating sound of stone on stone. It revealed a large cave, darker than night, with a river going through it. Something about the place was . . . off. It made the world seem slightly off-kilter, as though I was walking through multiple layers of resistance.

Sadie gave a sharp intake of breath. "The river runs right through the Duat. The only way we'll ever get through is if we sail through the Duat."

Carter frowned. "You're saying this is one of the entrances to the Duat? Like an underworld entrance?"

The younger Kane sibling scowled. "No, Carter. It's just one of the rivers through the Duat that lead to a very important place. Can we get going?"

She closed her eyes and concentrated. We all watched curiously - except for Carter and Zia, who seemed to know exactly what she was doing. She reached out, and her hand disappeared. There a few murmurs of surprise, but after everything we have seen on our travels during apocalypse, it took a lot to get us surprised. She withdrew her hand, and with it came a large duffel bag. She set it on the moist mossy ground and rummaged through it for a few seconds before holding up a small boat figurine triumphantly.

"Got it!" She exclaimed.

Nico raised a skeptical eyebrow. "I don't think we can all fit in that."

Leo snorted. "Nah, I think we might be able to squeeze in there if we tried hard enough."

Sadie glared at them, effectively shutting them up. She tossed the boat in the water, and a full-sized Egyptian-style reed boat appeared in the river. Leo choked in surprise, and the twins whooped. "Yeah! Now that's magic, mate!"

Sadie smiled proudly and marched straight onto the boat, leaving us no other choice than to follow.

We all filed onto the boat, and for a while, we sailed in silence. It was pitch dark except for Leo's small fire, which he was using to wrestle with something in his tool belt. Percy was pacing back and forth, his ADHD acting up in the enclosed space. Jason and Nico weren't much better. Nico was transporting back and forth on the ship via shadows for fun, and Jason was flipping his golden coin over and over again. Sword, coin, javelin, coin, sword, coin . . . Annabeth was staring off into space, her eyes glazed over. Zia and Sadie were tossing a glowing ball back and forth. Then Sadie tossed the ball at Carter and it bounced off his head, falling into the water. Sadie scowled at him, while the twins bickered in . . . Ancient Greek? I couldn't tell. I choked back laughter as Thalia randomly zapped people, making them yelp and jump.

Thalia cackled. "Fried kelp brains," she said as she zapped Percy. "Fired Death Breath," and a yelp from the son of Hades . . . and so on.

I sighed, just as bored as everyone else, and studied the small reed boat. It was fairly simple, one main deck, a single-sailed mast, and a small sleeping area that was closed off with some linen curtains. Leo had immediately started to pull nuts and bolts and other technical things that I didn't know the names of from his tool belt. Being on a ship with electronics seemed to be where Leo drew the line, so he started building little things here and there and sticking them on the ship. Within a few minutes the ship had a rudimentary sonar system, and a little gizmo that told you your exact coordinates. He sat back, admiring his handy work.

"There," he said smugly. "Now we have 21st century technology on a - what, 1000 B.C? - ship."

Thalia rolled her eyes. "Men. They have such big heads."

"Now, there," Jason said. "Not all of us are idiots."

Leo narrowed his eyes. "Supreme-commander Leo senses a derogatory comment offhandedly directed towards him."

Percy cracked a smile. "Supreme-commander doesn't let anything leak by."

Thalia snickered. "I think we have another dam hole."

Percy grinned. "The dam hole is letting this river in."

"Well, I want dam hole to be fixed." Thalia laughed.

I looked between the two of them, completely confused. Every one else looked equally perplexed. Percy and Thalia shrugged, "inside joke," they said simultaneously.

"A lot of profanity for a simple inside joke." A slow, deep voice spoke from the darkness, making all of us on board jump about a foot off the deck. Thalia actually sent sparks into the air. The voice continued, seemingly unaware of our shock. "I suppose this is were I asked why you are sailing to gateway of the Eternal Deos-Natale." The voice was depressed sounding, and reminded me a lot of the old river god that Heracles had forced Jason and me to steal from to gain entrance into the Mare Nostrum.

"Where are you?" I called out.

Leo brightened his fire, but a slow chuckle came from the darkness. "That is not needed, child of Hephaestus. I am able to light this place myself."

A bright light flared, and I had to cover my eyes temporarily to adjust. The light came from a long silver staff, topped with a strange bent . . . thing. But I didn't care about the staff. I stifled a shriek as I saw who carried it. It was the half-man half-snake that I'd seen on the blade of my knife. From the torso up he was an ordinary middle-aged man wearing leather Greek-style armor. He had a curly gray beard, with straggly brown hair heavily streaked with gray tied back, and the same huge bushy eyebrows from the blade vision. From the waist down, however, he was an emerald scaled snake, with a forked tail. He frowned at us, as if expecting us to remember who he was.

Surprisingly, we did. Or Annabeth and Carter did. "Cecrops!" They gasped in unison.

Sadie groaned with Percy. "There's two know-it-alls now!"

Cecrops looked pleased, though. "Good. I was afraid that I would have to introduce myself."

Annabeth gaped. "You're the Cecrops? Who founded Athens?"

Cecrops' mouth lifted in a brief smile. For a second, I thought he reminded me of Chiron (but with larger eyebrows and more gray, with the obvious snake bottom over horse). "Yes, daughter of Athena. That is me."

"You're the son of Hephaestus! Athena took his seed and planted in on Earth, where you grew!" She gushed information unabashedly.

Leo spluttered and choked, going pale. "He's a son of Hephaestus?"

"Yes, I am. May I ask you name?" Cecrops asked.

"Leo Valdez, son of . . . Hephaestus." Leo said. Oh boy, Leo's older brother was half snake.

Percy snickered behind him, but Annabeth swatted his arm. "You're one to talk, Seaweed Brain. After all, who has a horse and a cyclops for brothers?"

Percy scowled. "That's - that's"

"Exactly my point." Annabeth said with a smile.

Cecrops smiled faintly. "May I ask what has brought you to my small home?"

"We need to get into Deos-Natale." Percy blurted out.

I closed my eyes and groaned. Why, Percy, why?

The smile completely faded from Cecrops' face. "I cannot grant you access."

"This is an emergency!" Annabeth insisted. "Several of my friends, including Leo here, need you to grant access so they can cleanse themselves of a curse!"

"I will not grant you access. And if your friends are tainted by darkness, all the more reason not to allow you in." Cecrops said solemnly.

Thalia growled. "We need to get in there. We will get in there, so if you'd just move your scaly hide over and let us in, thanks."

Cecrops spun his staff impossibly fast, filling the air with the sound of it cutting through the air. "Leave. Now." He ground out.

Thalia and Percy narrowed their eyes. "We can't do that." They said, pretty much at the same time.

Cecrops looked grim. "Then I will have to force you to leave."

A/N:

Finally, Piper gets a word in! I hope all you guys still reading this liked the update. If you did, review. If you didn't, review. If you didn't care, review.

Basically? Review.

So I've narrowed down the choices of names for Nico's sword to: Skia-Nychta (skee-a Neek-ta), Greek for Night-Shadow or Tenebris (a loud thanks to ... for the name!) which means "Darkness of Death" in Latin.