PERI'S POV

My heart stumbled. "What? No way. It can't be-"

Hazel shook her head. "Piper is right."

"How can you be sure?" Annabeth asked.

"I've met eidolons," Hazel said. "In the Underworld, when I was . . . you know."

Dead.

"So. . ." Frank rubbed his buzz-cut hair as if some ghosts might have invaded his scalp. "You think these things are lurking on the ship, or-"

"Possibly lurking inside some of us," Piper said. "We don't know."

Jason clenched his fists. "If that's true-"

"We have to take steps," Piper said knowingly. "I think I can do this."

"Do what?" I asked.

"Just listen, okay?" Piper took a deep breath and spoke in a commanding tone. "Everybody listen."

And suddenly I was incredibly inclined to listen to her. Every part of me turned towards Piper and, ADHD or not, she had my full attention.

"Eidolons," she said, her charmspeak full force, "raise hands."

There was tense silence.

Leo laughed nervously beside me. "Did you really think that was going to-?

His voice died. His face went slack. And he raised his hand. Jason and Percy did the same. Their eyes had turned glassy and gold.

Just like before.

My breath hitched. Hazel gasped, and Frank scrambled out of his chair and put his back against the wall.

"Oh, gods." I whispered, staring at Leo's expressionless face. His eyes bored into mine, like he was looking right through me.

This was the boy I'd laughed and joked with. They boy who cried on my shoulder. The boy who felt so guilty over the Camp Jupiter ballistae shooting. When all the while there was something sinister brewing within him that he could not control.

I grit my teeth angrily.

"Can you cure them?" Annabeth looked at Piper imploringly.

For a brief moment, I saw fear flash through Piper's eyes. She was scared to death, but I saw her shake off her apprehensions.

She focused on Leo. "Are there anymore of you on this ship?"

"No," Leo said in that hollow voice that was most definitely not his. "The Earth Mother sent three. The strongest, the best. We will live again."

"Not here you won't," Piper growled, and we nodded in agreement.

"Give us our friends' bodies back!" I demanded. "You're no match for the kick-ass chicks on this ship!" I glanced over my shoulder. "And Frank. The kick-ass chicks and Frank."

He was still shrinking away from the ghosts, his whole body wracked with terror.

Eidolon Percy raised an eyebrow in a challenging manner, and my nostrils flared.

I cracked my knuckles and glared pointedly at Percy as I spoke. "I say we beat the ghosts out of them."

"NO!" Piper cried. "That would hurt the boys, too!"

"Then what should we do?" Hazel asked nervously.

Piper cleared her throat. "I've got an idea." She turned towards the possessed trio. "Listen up."

She might've just been talking to the eidolons, but her charmspeak was so intoxicating, my ears perked up too.

"You will leave these bodies." she commanded.

"No," Percy said.

Leo let out a soft hiss that gave me goosebumps. "We must live."

Frank fumbled for his bow. "Mars Almighty, that's creepy! Get out of here, spirits! Leave our friends alone!"

Leo turned towards him, and his face contorted into a twisted, wicked smirk. His golden eyes flashed dangerously.

"You cannot command us, child of war." he said. "Your own life is fragile. Your soul could burn at any moment."

I had no idea what that meant, but Frank looked like he'd just been punched in the gut.

He drew an arrow, his hands shaking. "I-I've faced down worse things than you, Valdez. If you want a fight-"

"Frank, don't." Hazel rose.

Next to her, Jason drew his sword, and Percy uncapped his pen.

I leapt up and outstretched my arms. "Hey! Everyone just calm down! Calm down! Take a break! Eat a cookie!"

Frank nocked an arrow and aimed it at Leo's chest.