I wasn't really the biggest fan of department stores, or beautiful maidens from ancient time who wanted us shopping for our deaths. It reminded me of our second quest in the Sea of Monsters, on Circe's island. Percy made a cute rodent.
"And here," the princess said, "Is the finest assortment of magical mixtures anywhere."
The counter was crammed with bubbling beakers and smoking vials on tripods. Lining the display shelves were crystal flasks—some shaped like swans or honey bear dispensers. The liquids inside were every color, from glowing white to polka-dotted. And the smells—ugh! Some were pleasant, like fresh-baked cookies or roses, but they were mixed with the scents of burning tires, skunk spray, and gym lockers.
The princess pointed to a blood red vial—a simple test tube with a cork stopper. "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. I could feel her putting charm speak into every word. "We've got a job to do, remember?"
"Job to do," Jason muttered. "Sure. But shopping first, okay?"
The princess beamed at him. "Then we have potions for resisting fire—"
"Got that covered," Leo said. I snorted.
"Indeed?" The princess studied Leo's face more closely. "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?" I jolted. Then I realised, Piper wanted it for Jason. And at this point, I found myself admiring her. She wanted Jason getting his memories back. However much she liked him, she would sacrifice her feelings, even for a girlfriend in his other life.
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 I could tell she was torn...she had that 'do-i-really-need-this' face. But I could tell...if this vial could cure Jason's memory...
"How much?" Piper asked. I wasn't sure whether I wanted to slap her 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. My mind began working overtime, trying to figure out who this 'princess' was.
"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. I 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 …" 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. I clenched my fists. She was using Piper's feelings against her. A nagging voice in my mind told me she could read our thoughts.
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. I could understand what he felt. The myth was there, lingering at the back of my mind. Now I was seriously starting to regret having paper airplane fights with Ezra, from the Hermes cabin rather than listening to Annabeth in Greek Mythology.
"That's messed up," Leo said. I wanted to yell back at him, 'Your mind is messed up!' but for some reason, I didn't.
Her Highness patted his cheek affectionately. Rage was boiling in me, along with hatred. That witch! Only then did I realise 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 me, as if using me as a bargaining chip.
"Would you give anything for it, my dear?" the princess asked. "I sense that you would. "
The words washed over me as soon as she said it. Immediately, I wanted to pay any price, even that of death, to get that vial. I fought it and fought it. I looked over at Piper, who seemed to be going through the same thing. For a dreadful moment, I thought she would give in, but then she came to her senses.
"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.
I wanted to scream, but the princess tilted her head, examining us with newfound respect.
"Impressive," the princess said. "Not many people could resist my suggestions. Are you a child of Aphrodite, my dear? 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, I didn't really think Piper stood a chance. "Would you like to see more?"
"Sure," Jason said.
"Okay," Leo said.
"Oh come on," I muttered under my breath, so nobody but myself could hear me.
"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. I though about it. Now I realised, 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. I thought it was first quest jitters, but now I thought, What if there was something more behind this?
"The Bay Area?" Piper said. "Why the Bay Area?" Though I had a feeling she already knew.
The princess smiled. "Well, that's where they'll die, isn't it?" I found myself grimacing. I had heard that phrase many times, but surprisingly, I wasn't too fond of it.
Then she led us toward the escalators, Jason and Leo still looking excited to shop to their doom.
We cornered the princess, as Jason and Leo went off to check out the living fur coats.
"You want them shopping for their deaths?" Piper demanded.
"Mmm. " The princess blew 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. " My mind instantly flared up. This little daughter-of-a-b*tch.
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.
I 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, but a bad feeling started settling over me—something Annabeth told us, about an evil sorceress from Colchis. I couldn't remember her name. But what did that matter, she was supposed to be dead!
"How old are you?" I 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.
My mouth tasted like that time the Stolls had gotten me to suck on metal(it was a dare). "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, I thought. I looked at Piper. We have to get out of here.
But before I could even turn my 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 yours," Piper said. "Now we really have to leave. " But I wasn't sure he could even hear her anymore through the princess's enchantment.
"Nonsense," the princess said. "The boys aren't done, are they? And yes, my dear. Those shirts are very popular—tradeins 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." I 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. I rolled my eyes. They were literal big babies.
The princess flashed Piper an irritated look. I smirked. Piper:1, Evil sorceress with magical powers who is also really annoying:0.
"Oh, one will do strange things for love, Piper. 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," I remembered. "Didn't he, Your Highness? He married you just as he promised. "
The look in the princess's eyes made me want to apologize, but I didn't back down.
"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 me 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 get away. All this, I did for my husband. And he forgot our bargain. He betrayed me in the end. "
Jason still looked uncomfortable. I wanted to kick him in the podex, 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 an 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!" I rolled my 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. I could feel the sorcery washing over them, taking control more firmly than ever.
"Wouldn't you do the same for someone you loved, my dears?"
"Oh, sure," Jason said.
"Okay," Leo said.
"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 we could stop him, he hopped off the escalator and ran over to a big oval oven that looked like a barbecue on steroids.
When they 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. I wanted to scream, 'Yes, your freakin' sword!'. "Imperial gold?"
The princess nodded. "Yes, my dear. Like that weapon so cleverly concealed in your pocket. 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.
"Leo, don't!" Piper and I 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.
I 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. I pouted. I 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, I had taken my complete focus off Leo. I 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. "
"No, she's worse! She's—"
"Children."
The princess was back with Leo in tow. "If you please, we will now see what you came for. That is what you want, yes?"
I had to choke back a battle cry. I was awfully tempted to pull out my sword, or quiver, and take on this witch myself, but I didn't really like my chances—not in the middle of Her Highness's department store while the boys were under a spell. I couldn't even be sure they'd take her side in a fight. We had to figure out a better plan.
We took the escalator down to the base of the fountain. For the first time, I 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. I hated it when he did that. His curly hair stuck up at odd angles. If I just concentrated on certain details—the bright orange polo shirt, the wispy goatee, the whistle around his neck—I could imagine Coach Hedge as his good old annoying self.
"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 us girls a shrewd look. "That's better than starting unpleasantness, isn't it, dears?"
Don't trust her, warned a voice in my head. If I 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 my friends were looking at us, nodding urgently and mouthing, Say yes! We needed more to time to think.
Longest chapter yet! I think I can say I've uploaded 20 chapters now. I know the last one wasn't really a chapter, buuuut...this one counts as two. So...Yeah! 20 chapters! Milestone!
Yours,
MilkandCheez
p.s- I need a Pjo and Ben 10 crossover. Please tell me somehow if you find one.
pps-pleeeeaaaase.
