I'M BACK! Happy 2021! Finally. But oh my gosh. Editing those chapters took SO much longer than I anticipated. Mika1303, thank you. It was probably your review that made me finish that editing and start this chapter. Thank you for sticking with this story, even if some of the chapters were absolute crap. Speaking of which, I have revised almost all of the chapters, but not the last ones as much. The story has changed some, so I would probably go back and reread. Thank goodness all my embarrassing mistakes are gone! Anyways, enjoy this chapter. It's not as long as I promised, but I will be updating this story a lot more often from now on.

Chapter Eleven: Piper

I knew it. I knew there was something strange about Algos. This should explain it; he's a spirit from Pandora's Box. But there's still something eating at me. The images I saw in my knife obviously show that Percy was captured and brought to the giants, and then forced to work for Gaea. But how would they even do that? Would Gaea herself possess his body? Or would they brainwash him?

What I really need is to talk to Annabeth. Now that we have a plan, she seems much more put-together and, well, stable. It's been two days since Dolos left, and we've been doing nothing except train, review the plan, and fight the occasional monster. We're all itching for new information, and I don't know what will happen if he doesn't have any. Nothing good, that's for sure.

At about noon, Jason and I were sparring on the deck. The heat wasn't bad, considering that it was July.

"You want to go again?" Jason asked. He'd just beaten me again, but I'd lasted longer than usual. My skills with Katoptris were definitely improving.

"Sure," I said. Wiping the sheen of sweat from my forehead, I shifted my stance into a more relaxed one, like Annabeth had taught me. We circled each other, watching for an opportunity. Jason saw one first and attacked, lunging forward and stabbing at my gut. I parried, and returned the favor. He blocked the strike with the hilt of his sword, raising a slightly impressed eyebrow.

I ducked and rolled as he sliced the air where I'd been standing, coming into a crouch and jabbing at his leg. He side-stepped and cleaved downward, and I had to jump out of the way.

He wasn't going easy on me anymore, so obviously I'd have to think my way out of this one. Charmspeak? Maybe.

I blocked his sword with my knife and slid to the left, trapping his sword beneath my dagger, for the moment. "Drop your sword," I said, dancing out of the way as he freed his blade. He hesitated at my words, and I attacked, slicing down at his sword hand. Instinctively, he moved it out of the way, giving me the chance to grab his wrist with my free hand and put my knife to his throat.

"Give up?" I said, slightly out of breath. He smirked. "Not a chance."

He used his free hand to knock Katoptris out of my grasp, effectively rendering me defenseless. Then his sword point was an inch away from my throat.

"Oh, come on," I complained. "I almost had you."

"You did not!" he argued playfully. "But you did way better than when we started. Interesting use of charmspeak, too."

"Well, thank you."

He lowered his sword, and we both went below deck for water.

That night, the whole crew gathered on the deck, watching the remainders of the sunset slip below the horizon. The tension in the air was palpable. We all wanted to see if we'd made a huge mistake.

We'd been waiting for about ten minutes, and nervous glances were starting to be exchanged. Next to me, Annabeth was silent. She may as well have been a statue.

After another five minutes, we were all starting to give up. Dolos wasn't coming back. We'd been duped.

Then, the air in front of us started to solidify, becoming darker and thicker until the spirit himself stood in front of us. He looked a little surprised to see us all standing there, waiting for him, but he just conjured up a bunch of chairs and sat down.

"What is it that you need to know?" he asked, crossing one leg over the other.

Annabeth sat, and the rest of us did the same. "Is there any way we can get in contact with Percy?"

Dolos thought for a moment, mulling it over. "I suppose, if you know how to guide your dreams."

Annabeth shook her head impatiently. "We've already tried that. Is there any other way?"

He studied her. "There may be something I can do. But you won't like it."

"Fine. What do you know about the giants' plan to wake Gaea?"

"Gaea plans to wake on August first, ten days from now, using the blood of a male and a female half-blood. They already have the boy, and they believe that you will come to them." He spoke the last part directly to Annabeth, which worried me. My dad has done countless movies where his co-star gets captured and the only way to save them is to sacrifice himself. But this isn't a movie. We don't have any reinforcements. We don't know if any of us will get out alive. The last thing we need is our leader thinking she needs to turn herself in.

Annabeth's jaw tightened. "Well, we already knew they could have another demigod. Where's the entrance to the underground tunnels you mentioned last time? Will they be guarded?"

Dolos scratched his chin before he answered, "The entrance is concealed, but your friend over there should be able to find it." He gestured to Hazel, who blushed. "And the tunnels won't need guards. That far down, Gaea controls everything that happens. I've never even been down there, but I've heard rumors. They've probably taken your friend to the deepest parts of the fortress. Yes, it is a fortress. Those parts are called Area D. No one is sure what the 'D' stands for, at least, none of the other spirits."

Beside me, Jason leaned forward in his chair. "How many spirits are working for Gaea?"

"Ah," Dolos said, tapping his temple. "The better question is, which spirits are working for her. You see, many spirits have limited power, depending on what happens in the mortal world." He rolled his eyes. "The Spanish Flu was so arrogant. But eventually, mortals move on, focus on different things. No one cares about Common Cold, or Overgrown Fingernails anymore. Humans came up with solutions to their problems, so those particular spirits chose to fade. The important ones are the ones like Sickness, Death, and Hunger. They group all their tiny subcategories into one, and that is where they draw power from. Those are the ones you need to watch out for."

He raised his chin. "My brother is among these few. He, unlike me, wields pain as a weapon. Even if I wanted to, I could not do the same with my element. Betrayal is common, as you can see from my being here, but it is not something that is controlled."

Jason spread his hands. "Okay, so how many of those kinds of spirits are working for Gaea?"

"Very few," Dolos said. "My brother, Anger, Greed, and, oddly enough, Potty Training. I guess mortals haven't quite figured that one out yet."

"That… could be worse." Annabeth said in surprise.

"If there are any guards, it'll be them. No one could get past them, and even if you managed to, you'd be in the Earth Mother's grasp. Your friends on the surface would have to deal with Gaea's entire army, all by themselves."

"We'll figure it out." Annabeth said firmly. "And you don't know where Percy is, other than that he's somewhere in the deepest tunnels?"

Dolos nodded. "However…"

He hesitated. "Go on," Annabeth said.

"I know someone, who knows someone, who could get me in touch with Nightmares. She could potentially help you communicate through your dreams.

"But I have to warn you," he added quickly. "It would not be pleasant, nor can I assure you she will help."

"Is she working for Gaea?" Frank asked.

"No, she remains neutral in this war."

Annabeth nodded, and stood. "Okay. Thanks for the information. When do you think you'll be back?"

"Give me another two days," Dolos said. "It would also be helpful if I knew what information you need."

Annabeth gave Dolos details on what we needed, and he drifted off the ship in a flurry of black particles.

Annabeth turned to face the group. "We need to talk."

"I love all these team-building strategy talks we've been having!" Leo said enthusiastically.

Annabeth walked around the table to her chair, glancing at the one Percy usually occupied. Instead of sitting down, she began to pace. "I need to tell you all something."

She glanced at me, and all of a sudden I understood what she meant.

"A few days ago," I started, "I saw something in my knife. I showed Annabeth, but we haven't really gotten to talk about it."

Annabeth took a deep breath. "The knife confirmed that Percy was brought to the giants. But it also showed him leading the giants' army through what looked like Camp Half-Blood." She took a shaky breath. "And we were not winning. But it wasn't him, I think he was possessed somehow, but I don't know who did it, or how to fix him, I just… I really don't know this time."

She sniffed, and I realized that Annabeth Chase was about to cry. Without hesitating, I got up from my seat and went to give her a hug. She stopped pacing, but she didn't hug me back.

I heard Hazel get up, too, and we hugged it out.

"Should we…" Jason asked.

"Nope." Leo said immediately.

I stepped back from the group hug, and Annabeth wiped at her eyes. "Thanks," she said. I nodded, and Hazel and I sat down.

Annabeth turned to face the table, steely-eyed. "So." She clapped her hands together, making the boys flinch. "We have to consider the possibility that Percy isn't actually going to be sacrificed. If I remember correctly, they only need his blood. If they somehow got him under their control, they could wake up Gaea and still use Percy as a weapon against the camps."

Leo's nose caught fire, and he gave a small yelp. He quickly put it out, trying to disguise it as itching. "That would be… very bad."

"Agreed," Frank said. "Getting him out should be our first priority. That way, Gaea couldn't use his blood, or possess him. Annabeth, maybe we should all go rescue Percy early, that way we can all fight the giants on the first."

Annabeth began to pace. "There might be some advantage to that. The problem is, if we get captured then no one will be able to fight the giants and stop Gaea. Make no mistake, I don't trust Dolos as far as I can throw him. I have no doubt that he'd double-cross us as soon as things got hairy."

Leo scratched his chin thoughtfully. "You know, you could probably throw him farther than most people."

Annabeth shot him a dirty look.

"Alright," Jason interrupted. "Let's say we move forward with Frank's idea. Leo would still stay here, right? We need someone to monitor the giants, let us know if they start moving."

"Yeah, good idea. If we were to do this, it'd need to be early, but not early enough for them to have time to chase us. Maybe the day before the ceremony? July thirty-first?" Frank proposed.

Hazel shook her head. "No, that's when the security would be the tightest. What about really, really early morning on the first? That way we'd still have the cover of darkness, and no one would expect it."

Annabeth grinned, maybe for the first time since Percy was taken. "I like that idea."

"Whoa, hold on," Leo said, holding his hands up. "What about those spirit things? The ones Dolos told us about? We couldn't even beat one."

"Well, we didn't know about them before. Now we do, and we can prepare accordingly." Annabeth countered.

"But we don't even know where he is! Plus, apparently he's in Gaea's territory now. If you all go down there, you probably won't come back out." Leo protested. "Shouldn't we wait until they move him? If we could get the drop on them-"

"Then what?" Annabeth said forcefully. "We don't even know their plan anymore. The one thing we were sure of isn't sure anymore!"

She stopped herself and took a breath. "Sorry. What we need is to talk to Percy. He is the only one we have inside that base that we can trust."

"Annabeth," I said, joining the conversation for the first time. "That's just it. We don't know if we can trust him. What if Gaea already has him under her control?"

I thought for a moment that she was going to fry me with her eyes. But she looked away, and said, "We have to try and contact him. We don't have any other options until we know more."

Then she was silent. No one else said anything, until Jason broke the growing uncomfortable tension. "Well, um, meeting adjourned, then."

Annabeth was the first one out, and we all pretended not to see the tear running down her face.

Phew. Wow, it's been a while. Happy New Year, and good riddance to 2020. If you didn't read the note at the top, I'll say again that you should probably go back and reread. I've changed some stuff, and boy did I have a lot to fix. But it's done now! Enjoy!

Don't forget to favorite, follow, and review!

Peace out,

LadyHW