Warning: Certain ancient Greek names matches words use of foul language but no foul language was intentionally used. Also if you haven't read them yet read 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Early Adventures' 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief' 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters' 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Olympians: The Titan's Curse' and 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Olympians: The Magical Labyrinth' as well as the one shots 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Stolen Chariot' The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Sword of Hades', 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Bronze Dragon' 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Olympians: The Last Olympian' and 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Staff of Hermes' before reading this story as stuff that happened in them will be mentioned. Lastly, any one who wants to do a Demigods and Olympian reads story using 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon' is allowed as long as you inform me about it.

A/N: I'm going to MAKE THIS CLEAR. Just like I mention on my bio page about every other fanfiction I done: I DON'T OWN THE PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIAN SERIES OR IT'S CHARACTERS as the rights goes to Rick Rioran. Also I suggest you guys start paying attention to the Author notes and my warnings that I left on EVERY chapter of EVERY story. Because I KNOW I warn all of you about the first chapter before it started.

Sorry if this chapter is too much like the book

Piper's POV Part VII

I wasn't able to relax until the glow of Quebec City faded behind us.

"You were amazing," Jason told me, which would of made my day.

However, all I could think about was the trouble ahead. Evil things are stirring, Zethe had warned us. I knew that first hand. As we got closer to the solstice, the less time I had to make my decision.

"Si vous saviez la vérité sur moi, vous pensez pas que ju suis tellemente incroyable," I told Jason in French, which basically meant: If you knew the truth about me, you wouldn't think I was so amazing.

"What did you say?" he asked.

"I said I only talked to Boreas. It wasn't so amazing.

I didn't turn to look at him, but I guess he was smiling.

"You did more than that. You made sure Boreas listen to what we have to say," Jason said. "If you haven't, I would probably end up one of Khione's subzero hero collection."

I wouldn't allow that, I thought. There was no way I would've let that ice witch keep Jason. Still, I was bothered by how Boreas changed form, and why he'd let us go. It had something to do with Jason's past, those tattoos on his arm. Boreas assumed Jason was some sort of Roman, and Romans didn't mix with Greeks. I have expected Jason to explain, but either he didn't want to talk about it, or didn't know how to explain it, or both. It seems that the more we learn about Jason's past, the easier it is to forget that the reason we're looking for his past in the first place is because he has amnesia.

Still, I'm starting to get the feeling that Jason was right about him not belonging in Camp Half-Blood. What if he really was an enemy? I can't stand the idea any more than I could stand Khione.

Leo passed us some sandwiches from his pack. He'd been quiet ever since we told him what happened in the throne room. "I still can't believe Khione," he said. "She looked so nice."

"Trust me, man," Jason said, "Snow may be pretty, but up close it's cold and nasty. We'll find you a better prom date."

I couldn't help but smile, but at the same time Leo didn't looked pleased. He hadn't said much about his time in the palace, or why the Boreads had singled him out for smelling like fire. I knew Leo had some secrets since we met when he wouldn't tell me what happened to his mother and why he was in put in the foster system. But now it seems his secrets are coming out and he still doesn't want to talk about it.

Whatever it was, his mood seemed to be affecting Festus as well. The Bronze dragon grumbled and steamed as he tried to keep himself warm in the cold Canadian air.

We ate our sandwiches as we flew. I had no idea how Leo stocked up on supplies—even with Beckendorf's help, but he'd even remembered to bring veggie rations for her. The cheese and avocado sandwich was awesome.

None of us talk. Whatever we might find in Chicago, we all knew Boreas had only let us go because he figured it was already a suicide mission.

The moon rose and stars turned overhead. My eyes started to feel heavy. The encounter with Boreas and his children scared me more than I would admit. Now that my stomach was full, the adrenaline rush I had started to fade.

Suck it up, cupcake! Coach Hedge would've yelled at me. Don't be a wimp!

I been thinking about the coach ever since Boreas told us he was still alive. I never really like Hedge, but he leaped off a cliff to save Leo, and he'd sacrificed himself to protect up back at the skywalk. I now realized that all the times at school when the coach had pushed me, yelled at me to run faster or do more push-ups, or even when he'd turned his back and let me fight my own battles with the mean girls, the old goat-man had be trying to help me in his own irritating way—trying to prepare me for the life as a demigod.

On the skywalk, Dylan the storm spirit had said something about the coach, too: how he'd been retired to Wilderness School because he was getting too old, like it was some sort of punishment. I wonder what that was about, and if it explained why the coach was always so grumpy. Whatever the truth, now that I know Hedge was alive, I had a strong compulsion to save him.

Don't get ahead of yourself, I chided to myself. You've got bigger problems. This trip won't have a happy ending.

I was a traitor, and it was only a matter of time before my friends found out.

I looked up at the stars and thought about a night long ago when my dad and I camped out in front of Grandpa Tom's house. Grandpa Tom died years before, but Dad had kept his house in Oklahoma because it was where he grew up.

We went back for a few days, with the idea of getting the place fixed up to sell, although I wasn't sure who'd want to buy a run-down cabin with shutters instead of windows and two tiny rooms that smelled like cigars. The first night was so stifling hot—no air conditioning in the middle of August—that Dad suggested we sleep outside.

We spread our sleeping bags and listened to the cicadas buzzing in the trees. I pointed out the constellations I read about—Hercules, Apollo's lyre, Sagittarius the centaur.

Dad crossed his arms behind his head. In his old T-shirt and jeans he looked like just another guy from Tahlequah Oklahoma, a Cherokee who might've never left tribal lands. "Your grandpa would say those Greek patterns are a bunch of bull. He told me the stars were creatures with glowing fur, like magic hedgehogs. Once, long ago, some hunters even capture a few in the forest. They didn't know what they'd done until nighttime, when the star creatures began to glow. Golden sparks flew from their fur, so the Cherokee released them back into the sky."

"You believe in magic hedgehogs?" I asked.

Dad laughed. "I think Grandpa Tom was full of bull, too, just like the Greeks. But it's a big sky. I supposed there's room for Hercules and hedgehogs."

We sat for a while in silence until I got the nerve to ask a question that been bugging me. "Dad, why don't you ever play Native American parts?"

The week before, he'd turned down several million dollars to play Tonto in the remake of The Lone Ranger. Piper was still trying to figure out why. He'd played all kinds of roles—a Latino teacher in a tough L.A. school, a dashing Israeli spy in an action-adventure blockbuster, even a Syrian terrorist in a James Bond movie. And, of course, he would always be known as the King of Sparta. But if the part was Native American—it didn't matter what kind of role it was—Dad turned it down.

He winked at me. "Too close to home, Pipes. Easier to pretend I'm something I'm not."

"Doesn't that get old? Aren't you ever tempted, like, if you found the perfect part that could change people's opinions?"

If there's a part like that, Pipes," he said sadly, "I haven't found it."

I looked at the stars, trying to imagine them as glowing hedgehogs. All I saw were the sticks and figures I knew—Hercules running across the sky, on his way to kill monsters. Dad was probably right. The Greeks and the Cherokee were equally crazy. The stars were just balls of fire.

"Dad," I said, "If you don't like being close to home, why are we sleeping in Grandpa Tom's yard?"

He laughed, which echoed in the quiet Oklahoma night. "I think you know me too well, Pipes."

"You're not really going to sell this place, are you?"

"Nope," he sighed. "I'm probably not."

I blinked and shake myself out of the memory. I quickly realized I'd been falling asleep on the dragon's back. How could my dad pretend to be so many things he wasn't? I was trying to do that now, and it was tearing me apart.

Maybe I could pretend for a little longer. I could dream of finding a way to save my father without betraying my friends—even if right now a happy ending seemed about as likely as magic hedgehogs.

I leaned against Jason's warm chest. He didn't complained as I drifted off to sleep.

…

In my dream, I was back on the mountaintop. The ghostly purple bonfire cast shadows across the trees. My eyes stung from the smoke, and the ground was so warm, the soles of my boots felt sticky.

A voice from the dark rumbled, "You forget your duty."

I couldn't see him, but it was definitely my least favorite giant—the one who called himself Enceladus. I looked around for any sign of my father, but the pole where he'd been chained was no longer there.

"Where is he?" I demanded. "What've you done with him?"

The giant's laugh was like lava hissing down a volcano. "His body is safe enough, though I fear the poor man's mind can't take much more of my company. For some reason he finds me—disturbing. You must hurry, girl, or I fear there will be little left of him to save."

"Let him go!' I screamed. "Take me instead. He's just a mortal!"

"But, my dear," the giant rumbled, "we must prove our love to our parents. That's what I'm doing. Show me you value your father's life by doing what I ask. Who's more important—your father, or the deceitful goddess who used you, toyed with your emotions, manipulated your memories, eh? What is Hera to you?"

I began to tremble with anger and fear that was boiling inside me. "You're asking me to betray my friends."

"Sadly, my dear, your friends are destined to die. Their quest is impossible. Even if you succeed, you heard the prophecy: unleashing Hera's rage would mean your destruction. The only question now—will you die with your friends, or live with your father."

The bonfire roared. I tried to step back, but my feet were too heavy. I realized the ground was pulling me down, clinging to my boots like wet sand. When she looked up, a shower of purple sparks had spread across the sky, and the sun was rising in the east. A patchwork of cities glowed in the valley below, and far to the west, over a line of rolling hills I saw a familiar landmark rising from the sea of fog: the Golden Gate Bridge. We were at San Francisco—well at least near it.

"Why are you showing me this?" I asked. "You're revealing where you are."

"Yes, you know this place," the giant said. "Lead your friends here instead of their true destination, and I will deal with them. Or even better, arrange their deaths before you arrive. I don't care which. Just be at the summit by noon of the solstice, and you may collect your father and go in peace."

"I can't," I responded. "You can't ask me—"

"To betray that foolish boy Valdez, who always irritated you and always hiding a secret from you? To give up a boyfriend you never really had? Is that more important than your father?"

"I will find a way to defeat you," I said. "I'll save my father and my friends."

The giant growled in the shadows. "I was once proud too. I thought the gods could never defeat me. Then they hurled a mountain on top of me, crushed me into the ground, where I struggled for eons, half-conscious in pain. That taught me patience, girl. It taught me not to act rashly. Now I've clawed my way back with the help of the waking earth. I am only the first. My brethren will follow. We will not be denied our vengeance—not this time. And you, Piper McLean, need a lesson in humility. I'll show you how easily your rebellious spirit can be brought to earth. But before I do, keep this in mind. The one you called your sister: Silena Beauregard, she was in your shoes at one time. Maybe for not the same reason, but—well, you'll find out."

"What?" I asked, "What do you mean?"

The giant laughed as the dream dissolved.

…

When I woke up, I was free-falling through the air, and did the one thing that came natural, screaming for my life.