Amoriel was glad when they finally broke the camp and started to walk down a tunnel. It twisted and turned, and seemed to go on forever. She wasn't really sure what to expect at the end-a dungeon, a mad scientist's lab, or maybe a sewer reservoir. Instead, they found polished steel elevator doors, each one engraved with a cursive M. Next to the elevator was a directory board like they have in shopping malls.

"M for Macy's?" Piper guessed. "I think they have one downtown in Chicago."

"Or Monocle motors still?" Leo asked. "Guys, look at the directory, it's messed up."

And indeed it was.

Parking, Kennels and Main entrance-sewer level

Furnishings and Cafe M:1

Women's fashion and magical appliances:2

Men's wear and weaponry:3

Cosmetics, potions, poisons, and sundries:4

"Kennels for what?" Piper asked stupidly. "And what sort of department store has their entrance in a sewer?"

"Or sells poisons?" Leo continued. "What do sundries even mean, is it like, underwear?"

Amoriel took a deep breath. "When in doubt, start at the top."

The doors slid open on the first floor, and Jason stepped out sword ready.

"Guys?" he called. "You have got to see this." And they stepped out, one by one. They caught their breaths.

"This is not Macy's," Piper said, awestruck. Amoriel rolled her eyes.

"Oh, really piper? What gave you the idea?"

The department store looked like the inside of a kaleidoscope. The entire ceiling was a stained glass mosaic, with astrological signs around a giant sun. The daylight streaming through it washed everything inside a thousand different colors. The upper floors made a ring of balconies around a huge central atrium, so we could see all the way down to the ground floor. Gold railings glittered so brightly, they were hard to look at. Amoriel's instincts flared up. This place was so calm and beautiful. She looked around. Apart from the elevator and the roof, there were no other entrances and exits, but there were two sets of glass escalators ran between the levels. She looked down The carpeting was a riot of oriental patterns, and colors and the racks of merchandise were just as bizarre. There was too much to take at once, but I also did see racks of normal stuff like shirts, and shoe trees, but they were mixed in with armored mannequins, beds of nails, and fur coats...were they...moving?! Leo stepped to the railing and looked down.

"Check it out!" In the middle of the atrium, a fountain sprayed water twenty feet into the air, changing color from red to yellow to blue. The pool glittered with gold coins-drachmas, Amoriel realized with a jolt. She gritted her teeth. They were in the lair of a Greek legend. And she was pretty sure it wasn't a good one. On either side of the fountain stood an oversized canary cage. In one, there was a miniature hurricane swirled, and lightning flashed. In the other, frozen like a statue, was a short, buff satyr, holding a tree branch club.

"Coach hedge!" Piper yelled. "We need to get down there!"

"May I help you find something?" a cool female voice said behind them. All four of them jumped back. She smiled.

"I'm so happy to see new customers! How may I help you?" Amoriel gulped.

"We've walked right into the trap," she muttered under my breath. No-one heard her. Leo glanced at Jason, like 'all yours'.

"Um..." Jason started. "Is this your store?"

The woman nodded. "I found it abandoned, you know. I understand so many stored are, these days." She said these days like she hadn't been around in this time frame. Amoriel's mind was working overtime, to try and figure out, who she was.

"I decided it would make the perfect place," the woman continued. "I love collecting tasteful objects, helping people, and offering quality goods at reasonable prices. So this seems a good...how do you say it...first acquisition in this country." She spoke with a pleasing accent, but not American. Amoriel felt like she should know her, but her mind was drawing a blank. She figured she would try to kill them at the first opportunity, though, so her hand went straight to the sword charm on her bracelet. She looked around. Piper was on the alert like her, but Jason and Leo...they were starting to relax. Amoriel realized that the woman was a charm speak user.

"So you're new to America?" Jason asked conversationally. Amoriel was mentally slapping him. No! She was yelling in her thoughts. No, don't do it, you idiot!

"I am...new," the woman said. Again, Amoriel got the feeling that she was around long before them. "I am the princess of Colchis. My friends call me your highness. Now, what are you looking for?"

Piper poked Jason in the ribs. "Jason..."

"Um right, actually, your highness..." he pointed down to the gilded cage on the first floor. "That's our friend down there, Gleeson Hedge. The satyr. Could we, um...have him back, please?" Amoriel wanted to slap him in the forehead. Real smooth Jason.

"Of course!" the princess agreed at once, "I would love to show you my inventory. First, may I know your names?"

Amoriel could see Jason thinking. She began to say,

"Jason, maybe it's not the best-"

"This is Piper, and Amoriel," he gestured towards the girls. "This is Leo, and I'm Jason."

The princess fixed her eyes on him, and for a moment, her face glowed with anger, literally. It was blazing with so much anger, Amoriel could actually see her skull. The ravenette looked at Piper. She had seen it too. Amoriel's memory was fuzzy, but she was sure she should know the princess! Then the moment passed, and Her Highness looked like a normal, elegant woman again.

"Jason. What an interesting name..." she said, her voice as cold as the Chicago wind. "I think we'll have to make a special deal for you. Come, children. Let's go shopping."

Amoriel wanted to run for the elevator. Her second option was to attack this woman then and there, but she had the boys under her trance, and Amoriel doubted they would be too happy with her if she killed her. The princess gestured towards the cosmetics counter.

"Shall we start with the potions?"

"Cool," Jason said. Amoriel was starting to panic. She knew a fight was coming, but if she attacked, which side would the boys take? If they took the princess's side, she doubted her and Piper would be able to do that.

"Guys," Piper interrupted. "We're here to get the storm spirits, and Coach hedge. If this...princess...is really our friend-"

"Oh, I'm better than a friend my dear. I'm a saleswoman." Her diamonds glittered, and her eyes glittered like a snake's, cold and dark. Piper looked at Amoriel for guidance. She narrowed her eyes at the woman and tensely shrugged.

"Don't worry," She continued. "We'll make our way down to the first floor, eh?"

Leo nodded eagerly. "Sure yeah! That sounds good. Right, Piper, Amorie?" Something was clearly wrong with Leo. Amoriel contemplated going up to him and shaking his shoulders, but then this sorceress would know that they were onto her. If she didn't already. Piper did her best to stare daggers at Leo. 'No, it's not okay!'.

"Of course it's okay!" Her Highness gushed. She put a hand on Leo and Jason's shoulders and steered them towards the cosmetics section.

Amoriel and Piper looked at each other helplessly, and they had no choice but to follow.


Amoriel wasn't really the biggest fan of department stores or beautiful maidens from an ancient time who wanted her and her friends and boyfriend shopping for their deaths.

MEN were seriously dumb.

This was what was going through Amoriel's head as she watched Jason and Leo follow the princess. They see a pretty girl and they follow like a bunch of little kids discovering candy for the first time. like so many other people does to her.

The princess' voice snapped her out of her thoughts. "This one will heal any disease. "

"Even cancer?" Leo asked. "Leprosy? Hangnails?"

"Any disease, sweet boy. And this vial"—she pointed to a swan-shaped container with blue liquid inside—"will kill you very painfully. "

"Awesome," Jason said. His voice sounded dazed and sleepy.

"Jason," Piper said. "We've got a job to do, remember?" Amoriel knew that piper had put her charmspeak on thickly but Jason didn't seem so convinced.

"Job to do," Jason muttered. "Sure. But shopping first, okay?"

"No," Amoriel snapped, itching to turn her sword to the stupid glow in the dark princess. "We have to go. Now!" She used her own charmspeak.

Jason seems to have become disoriented, turning to Amoriel and for a moment he looked like himself again but then he shook his head. "Shopping first."

The princess beamed at him. "Then we have potions for resisting fire—"

"Got that covered," Leo said.

"Indeed?" The princess studied Leo's face more closely, much to Amoriel's dismay. "You don't appear to be wearing my trademark sunscreen ...but no matter. We also have potions that cause blindness, insanity, sleep, or—"

"Wait. " Piper was still staring at the red vial. "Could that potion cure lost memory?" Amoriel jolted. Then she realized, Piper wanted it for her and Jason. And at this point, she found myself admiring her. She wanted Jason to get his memories back. However much she liked him, she would sacrifice her feelings, even for a girlfriend in his other life. Now that's true love. But she doubted anything that came from a weird glow in the dark princess was safe.

The princess narrowed her eyes. "Possibly. Yes. Quite possibly. Why, my dear? Have you forgotten something important?"

Piper tried to keep her expression neutral, but Amoriel could tell she was torn...she had that 'do-i-really-need-this' face. But she could tell...if this vial could cure her and Jason's amnesia...

"How much?" Piper asked. Even though she was touched she wasn't sure whether she wanted to slap piper in the face or knock her up on the head.

The princess got a faraway look in her eyes. "Well, now ... The price is always tricky. I love helping people. Honestly, I do. And I always keep my bargains, but sometimes people try to cheat me. " Her gaze drifted to Jason. "Once, for instance, I met a handsome young man who wanted a treasure from my father's kingdom. We made a bargain, and I promised to help him steal it."

"From your own dad?" Jason still looked half in a trance, but the idea seemed to bother him. Amoriel grinned inwardly. Maybe her plan backfired.

"Oh, don't worry," the princess said. "I demanded a high price. The young man had to take me away with him. He was quite good-looking, dashing, strong ..."

The story was awfully familiar. As if forgetting a word but having it at the tip of your tongue. She looked at Piper. "I'm sure, my dear, you understand how one might be attracted to such a hero, and want to help him."

Piper started blushing. Amoriel clenched her fists. She was using Piper's feelings against her. This princess' story was starting to feel familiar. Something to with Jason and the Argonauts. The original Jason, so that would explain why she seemed so offended by his name.

"At any rate," Her Highness continued, "my hero had to do many impossible tasks, and I'm not bragging when I say he couldn't have done them without me. I betrayed my own family to win the hero his prize. And still, he cheated me of my payment."

"Cheated?" Jason frowned as if trying to remember something important. Amoriel could understand what he felt. The myth was there, lingering at the back of her mind.

"That's messed up," Leo said. Amoriel wanted to yell back at him, 'Your mind is messed up!' but for some reason, she didn't.

Her Highness patted his cheek affectionately. Rage was boiling in Amoriel, along with hatred. That witch! Only then did she realize the irony of that.

"I'm sure you don't need to worry, Leo. You seem honest. You would always pay a fair price, wouldn't you?"

Leo nodded. "What were we buying again? I'll take two. "

Piper broke in: "So, the vial, Your Highness—how much?"

The princess assessed Piper's clothes, her face, her posture as if putting a price tag on one slightly used demigod. Then she looked up and down Amoriel as if using her as a bargaining chip.

"Would you give anything for it, my dears?" the princess asked. "I sense that you would. "

Amoriel looked over at Piper, who seemed to be going through the same thing as the boys. For a dreadful moment, she thought she would give in, but then she came to her senses, thankfully.

"No, I won't pay any price. But a fair price, maybe. After that, we need to leave. Right, guys?"

Just for a moment, her words seemed to have some effect. The boys looked confused.

"Leave?" Jason said.

"You mean ... after shopping?" Leo asked.

Amoriel rolled her eyes in annoyance. Sure she knew that it wasn't their fault but she couldn't help but be annoyed at the fact that they were so easily controlled. "No. Leave as in now, you imbeciles."

She wanted to scream, but the princess tilted her head, examining her and piper with newfound respect.

"Impressive," the princess said. "Not many people could resist my suggestions. Are you children of Aphrodite, my dears? Ah, yes—I should have seen it. No matter. Perhaps we should shop a while longer before you decide what to buy, eh?"

"But the vial—"

"Now, boys. " She turned to Jason and Leo. Her voice was so much more powerful than Piper's, so full of confidence, Amoriel didn't really think Piper stood a chance and she didn't remember how to use her charmspeak. "Would you like to see more?"

"Sure," Jason said.

"Okay," Leo said.

"Oh come on," Amoriel muttered under her breath, so nobody but herself could hear her.

"Excellent," the princess said. "You'll need all the help you can get if you're to make it to the Bay Area. "

Piper's hand moved to her dagger. now that she thought about it. Amoriel realized, Piper had been nervous about the quest, like she didn't want to do it, but had a tugging sensation to save the world at the same time. Amoriel thought it was first quest jitters, but now she thought, What if there was something more behind this?

"The Bay Area?" Piper said. "Why the Bay Area?"

The princess smiled. "Well, that's where they'll die, isn't it?"

Then she led us toward the escalators, Jason and Leo still looking excited to shop to their doom. As Piper cornered the princess, Amoriel stayed with Leo and Jason.

"You want them shopping for their deaths?" Piper demanded.

"Mmm. " The princess blew the dust off a display case of swords. "I'm a seer, my dear. I know your little secret. But we don't want to dwell on that, do we? The boys are having such fun. " Amoriel's mind instantly flared up. This little daughter-of-a-bitch.

Leo laughed as he tried on a hat that seemed to be made from enchanted raccoon fur. Its ringed tail twitched, and its little legs wiggled frantically as Leo walked. Jason was ogling the men's sportswear. Boys interested in shopping for clothes? A definite sign they were under an evil spell. The more they looked around, the more childish they were acting, the more gullible they were.

Amoriel glared at the princess. "Who are you?"

"I told you, my dear. I'm the Princess of Colchis. "

"Where's Colchis?"

The princess's expression turned a little sad. "Where was Colchis, you mean. My father ruled the far shores of the Black Sea, as far to the east as a Greek ship could sail in those days. But Colchis is no more—lost eons ago. "

"Eons?" Piper asked. The princess looked no more than fifty.

"How old are you?" Amoriel asked, suspiciously.

The princess laughed. "A lady should avoid asking or answering that question. Let's just say the, ah, immigration process to enter your country took quite a while. My patron finally brought me through. She made all this possible. " The princess swept her hand around the department store.

Amoriel's mouth dried up for a second. "Your patron ..."

"Oh, yes. She doesn't bring just anyone through, mind you—only those who have special talents, such as me. And really, she insists on so little—a store entrance that must be underground so she can, ah, monitor my clientele; and a favor now and then. In exchange for a new life? Really, it was the best bargain I'd made in centuries. "

Run, she thought. Amoriel looked at Piper. They had to get out of here.

But before she could even turn her thoughts into words, Jason called, "Hey, check it out!"

From a rack labeled distressed clothing, he held up a purple T-shirt like the one he'd worn on the school field trip—except this shirt looked as if it had been clawed by tigers.

Jason frowned. "Why does this look so familiar?"

"Jason, it's like you and Amorie's," Piper said. "Now we really have to leave. " But I wasn't sure he could even hear her anymore through the princess's enchantment.

"Yes," Amoriel agreed. "Like right now."

"Nonsense," the princess said. "The boys aren't done, are they? And yes, my dear. Those shirts are very popular—trade-ins from previous customers. It suits you. "

Leo picked up an orange Camp Half-Blood tee with a hole through the middle, as if it had been hit by a javelin. Next to that was a dented bronze breastplate pitted with corrosion—acid, maybe?—and a Roman toga slashed to pieces and stained with something that looked disturbingly like dried blood.

"Your Highness," Piper said, trying to control her nerves. "Why don't you tell the boys how you betrayed your family? I'm sure they'd like to hear that story." Amoriel grinned. A great way to rat her out.

Her words didn't have any effect on the princess, but the boys turned, suddenly interested. "More story?" Leo asked.

"I like more story!" Jason agreed. Amoriel rolled her eyes. They were literal big babies.

The princess flashed Piper an irritated look. Amoriel smirked. Piper:1, Evil sorceress bitch with magical powers who is also really annoying:0.

"Oh, one will do strange things for love, girls. You should know that. I fell for that young hero, in fact, because your mother Aphrodite had me under a spell. If it wasn't for her—but I can't hold a grudge against a goddess, can I?"

The princess's tone made her meaning clear: I can take it out on you.

"But that hero took you with him when he fled Colchis," Amoriel remembered. "Didn't he, Your Highness? He married you just as he promised. "

The princess clearly wasn't enjoying this as she flashed Piper and Amoriel another furious look.

"At first," Her Highness admitted, "it seemed he would keep his word. But even after I helped him steal my father's treasure, he still needed my help. As we fled, my brother's fleet came after us. His warships overtook us. He would have destroyed us, but I convinced my brother to come aboard our ship first and talk under a flag of truce. He trusted me. "

"And you killed your own brother," Piper said. The story was all coming back to Amoriel now, along with a name—an infamous name that began with the letter M. The M on the elevator doors.

"What?" Jason stirred. For a moment he looked almost like himself. "Killed your own—"

"No," the princess snapped. "Those stories are lies. It was my new husband and his men who killed my brother, though they couldn't have done it without my deception. They threw his body into the sea, and the pursuing fleet had to stop and search for it so they could give my brother a proper burial. This gave us time to getaway. All this, I did for my husband. And he forgot our bargain. He betrayed me in the end. "

Jason still looked uncomfortable. Amoriel wanted to kick his ass, tell him to snap out of it."What did he do?"

The princess held the sliced-up toga against Jason's chest as if measuring him for assassination. "Don't you know the story, my boy? You of all people should. You were named for him. "

"Jason," Piper said. "The original Jason. But then you're —you should be dead!" Amoriel rolled her eyes. She had only just figured it out?

The princess smiled. "As I said, a new life in a new country. Certainly, I made mistakes. I turned my back on my own people. I was called a traitor, a thief, a liar, a murderess. But I acted out of love. " She turned to the boys and gave them a pitiful look, batting her eyelashes. Amoriel could feel the sorcery washing over them, taking control more firmly than ever.

"You don't know what love is," Amoriel found herself saying, "You acted out of your own selfish reasons. You were obsessed with Jason. You wanted him for yourself. This is not love. "

The princess ignored her, turning to the boys."Wouldn't you do the same for someone you loved ones, my dears?"

"Oh, sure," Jason said.

"Okay," Leo said.

"I said it once I'll say it again," Amoriel muttered to herself. "Men are dumb."

"Guys!" Piper ground her teeth in frustration. "Don't you see who she is? Don't you—"

"Let's continue, shall we?" the princess said breezily. "I believe you wanted to talk about a price for the storm spirits—and your satyr. "

Leo got distracted on the second floor with the appliances.

"No way," he said. "Is that an armored forge?"

Before they could stop him, he hopped off the escalator and ran over to a big oval oven that looked like a barbecue on steroids.

Amoriel groaned in frustration, turning to Piper. "You keep an eye on Jason and I'll stick with the overgrown kid over there."

When she caught up with him, the princess said, "You have good taste. This is the H-2000, designed by Hephaestus himself. Hot enough to melt Celestial bronze or Imperial gold. "

Jason flinched as if he recognized that term. Amoriel wanted to scream, 'Yes, like our freakin' swords!'. "Imperial gold?"

The princess nodded. "Yes, my dear. Like that weapon so cleverly concealed in your pocket and your lovely friend's bracelet. To be properly forged, Imperial gold had to be consecrated in the Temple of Jupiter on Capitoline Hill in Rome. Quite a powerful and rare metal, but like the Roman emperors, quite volatile. Be sure never to break that blade..." She smiled pleasantly.

"Rome was after my time, of course, but I do hear stories. And now over here—this golden throne is one of my finest luxury items. Hephaestus made it as a punishment for his mother, Hera. Sit in it and you'll be immediately trapped. "

Leo apparently took this as an order. He began walking toward it in a trance. And he would sit on it if Amoriel didn't grabbed him from his shirt pulled him back.

"Leo, don't!" Piper and Amoriel warned at the same time.

He blinked. "How much for both?"

"Oh, the seat I could let you have for five great deeds. The forge, seven years of servitude. And for only a bit of your strength—" She led Leo into the appliance section, giving him prices on various items.

Amoriel slowly started inching towards them, discreetly, just to make sure they didn't do anything stupid, and Piper had to try and reason with Jason. She pulled him aside and slapped him across the face. Amoriel pouted. She really wanted to do that.

"Ow," he muttered sleepily. "What was that for?"

"Snap out of it!" Piper hissed.

"What do you mean?"

"She's charmspeaking you. Can't you feel it?"

He knit his eyebrows. "She seems okay." Right now, Amoriel had taken my complete focus off Leo. She needed to pick up tips from Piper on how to deal with brainwashed boys.

"She's not okay! She shouldn't even be alive! She was married to Jason—the other Jason—three thousand years ago. Remember what Boreas said—something about the souls no longer being confined to Hades? It's not just monsters who can't stay dead. She's come back from the Underworld!"

Jason shook his head uneasily. "She's not a ghost. "

Amoriel groaned in frustration.' Oh my gods, Jason. I'm going to impale you.' She thought.

"No, she's worse! She's—"

"Children."

The princess was back with Leo and Amoriel in tow, Amoriel looking as frustrated as she felt. "If you please, we will now see what you came for. That is what you want, yes?"

Amoriel had to choke back a battle cry. She was awfully tempted to pull her my sword, or quiver, and take on this witch herself, but not in the middle of Her Highness's department store while the boys were under a spell, Not yet at least. She couldn't even be sure they'd take her side in a fight. They had to figure out a better plan.

They took the escalator down to the base of the fountain. For the first time, Amoriel noticed two large bronze sundials—each about the size of a trampoline—inlaid on the marble tile floor to the north and south of the fountain. The gilded oversize canary cages stood to the east and west, and the farthest one held the storm spirits. They were so densely packed, spinning around like a super-concentrated tornado, that I couldn't really tell how many there were—dozens, at least.

"Hey," Leo said, "Coach Hedge looks okay!"

They ran to the nearest canary cage. The old satyr seemed to have been petrified at the moment he was sucked into the sky. He was frozen mid-shout, his club raised over his head like he was ordering the gym class to drop and give him fifty.

"Yes," the princess said. "I always keep my wares in good condition. We can certainly barter for the storm spirits and the satyr. A package deal. If we come to terms, I'll even throw in the vial of healing potion, and you can go in peace. " She gave the girls a shrewd look. "That's better than starting unpleasantness, isn't it, dears?"

Every part of Amoriel screamed don't trust her. If she was right about this lady's identity, nobody would be leaving in peace. A fair deal wasn't possible. It was all a trick. But her stupid boyfriend and male bestie were looking at her and piper, nodding urgently and mouthing, Say yes! The girls needed more to time to think.