A/N: Enjoy and leave a review! Shoutout to all the readers around the world~

Chapter 3

Piper fell past him, screaming as she pummeled down. Jason grimaced before tucking his head down and following her. He urged the winds to fly him down quicker.

Below him the troops were disintegrating from their neat and organized lines to merge into a mess of orange and purple banners. From his position in the sky, he could tell a horde of monsters were rushing down the hill to greet the Roman and Greek soldiers. It was an ambush.

Jason was pissed to say the least. First, his steed had been shot with an arrow. Then he had accidentally dropped a Greek soldier who was currently falling to her death. So much for trying to strike a friendship, even if he didn't completely trust her.

Within seconds, he tackled Piper, mindful of her flailing arms. His arms enclosed around her waist immediately, slowing their descent.

"Oh my gods, Jason!" Piper's arms latched around him. She was in shock, her brunette hair escaping her braid and flying into the wind. "You can fly?"

Jason grunted in agreement but that was all the sound he could make. It wasn't that Piper was heavy. No, he had more than enough strength to hold them both comfortably. Suddenly, as soon as he had grabbed Piper, his body was overtaken with a familiar feeling of lust, the same feeling as when he had faced her on the battlefield.

A ripple of pleasant warmth spread throughout his body until a certain part of his anatomy began to stiffen. His arms involuntarily wrapped around Piper and the feeling intensified. Jason's intuition told him that if it were not for their armor putting some distance between their bodies, he would be completely incapacitated.

"W-what? Jason!" Piper cried out.

Since the power washed over him, he was losing control of his winds. The ground rushed quickly to them, much faster than they wanted. Suddenly, all he could think of were the smell of Piper's hair, like lavender and fresh air, and her soft arms wrapped around his shoulders. He briefly wondered if the rest of her body was soft and pliant underneath the armor.

"Jason, focus!"

Piper closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to stay calm despite the fact that they were hurtling to their deaths in the air. Jason was mesmerized by her long dark eyelashes, casting shadows underneath her hypnotizing and pretty eyes. As swiftly as the feelings of lust had overtaken his body, the sensation vanished. Jason managed to command his winds just in time for Piper and he to land safely on the ground. He tumbled to the ground, rolling a few times before coming to a stop.

"Come on, we have to help!" Piper clambered up to her feet first. Drawing her knife, she headed straight to a circle of empousai that surrounded two Apollo soldiers.

Jason shook his head, then followed. But what the hell had happened?

There was no time for such thoughts. He whipped out his golden sword, gleaming in its wicked sharpness. He called for the winds to lift him over a group of soldiers attacking to where the fighting needed support most. He landed as a spinning tornado of wind and debris in the middle of horde of harpies harassing a circle of Ceres children.

Splat! Two unfortunate harpies went down and three more erupting into a flurry of golden dust when they met the blade of his sword.

"Show off," someone yelled. He saw the elfish young man from earlier. He was the one who once threw a fart bomb at him. Leo, wasn't it? He rode atop of a bronze metal dragon that blew flames from its mouth. The dragon charred five harpies into blackened feathers and chomped on another happily.

"Seriously, and I'm the show-off?" Still, he was glad to not be on the recipient of one of Leo's specially crafted devices again.

Leo let out an exuberant war-cry as the dragon shot several jets of fire in the air. "Let's get those monsters. Ten points for every monster you get!" He charged off.

Jason stabbed and parried a few spear strikes, then followed Leo. He didn't see Piper again.

In another half-hour, the monster army's surprise assault had turned into a poor decision on their part. The fields were scattered with monster dust. Casualties were light, with no deaths fortunately. Still, there were a few soldiers with heavy wounds. Jason appreciated that the Greeks had a large battalion of Apollo children, much more than the five the Romans had, who were very effective as both archers and battle medics. Within seconds the small injuries he had gained vanished into healthy skin as one Apollo medic muttered a healing blessing on him.

"What was that?" Reyna demanded when he came out of the medic tent.

"What was what? Reyna, you should get that shoulder healed." An ugly red slash was on her collarbone but it didn't seem to bother the praetor.

She waved his concerns off. "No, I meant flying with that-that Greek soldier. What were you thinking? You could have given our position away."

Jason sighed. He was not in the mood for this. "You're right. I wasn't thinking logically. But we would have taken a surprise-attack from the monsters regardless. It was like they knew what position we were coming from and exactly where to hide. An army of that size was fairly well-organized."

Reyna's brows furrowed. "You're right. I don't like that they knew where we were going."

Jason let out an inward sigh of relief, having gotten Reyna to forget her initial question. Somehow he didn't think it was appropriate to bring up the power that he had felt from Piper.

Why did he fly with Piper? No one had gotten that privilege. Even Reyna had only ridden on his horse once in a time of emergency, but he had never taken her flying on his horse at all. She often flew on her own pegasus.

But with Piper? She had seemed so free, so full of laughter when they flew. And the way her body felt pressed up against his...

Jason pulled his fingers through his hair, unsure of what was going on.

Piper didn't see Jason for a few days after that fiasco. Didn't look for him, didn't want to see him.

After all, she'd accidentally let loose her power, causing him to drop her. It was all her fault, really. She had been so surprised when the horse had lifted off into the air. She'd flown once or twice, but was never confident enough to fly on a pegasus by herself. She preferred fighting on foot mainly.

"I'm a little worried," Annabeth was saying over the campfire she shared with Piper as they ate their dinner. "It was like those monsters knew exactly where we were going. And now that there were sightings of the monsters, now they vanish completely."

"I suppose they expected reinforcements to come," Percy mused. He took a bite of grilled sea bass. Once she had asked if it was okay for a son of Poseidon to eat a creature of the sea. Just the criminal ones, he had said seriously. Piper wondered what crime the poor sea bass had committed. This was why she was vegetarian, less animals to hurt and less politics of the sea she had to think about. She took the baked apple and bread Leo offered gratefully. "Hermes children are fast messengers. The monsters probably knew once word got out that they were pillaging in the area that we would come."

"I suppose." But Annabeth didn't sound convinced. Her grey eyes eventually landed on Piper, who tried not to look suspicious. Annabeth had asked Piper what was going on with Jason. Piper gave her the abridged version of the truth, but not the part where she had let loose her power. She would be a certified crazy witch if the truth got out.

But she was discovering that it was harder to control her power around people carrying sexual tension. And gods, did Percy and Annabeth have a lot between them. Even now, Piper caught Percy sneaking looks at Annabeth here and there. The daughter of Athena's cheeks would flush whenever she felt his gaze on her. Not to mention, the pair were nearly inseparable. During battles they would stay at least somewhat near each other, helping each other out. Piper's brow furrowed. It had been nearly two years since that incident. Percy stayed by Annabeth's side whenever he could since then.

Piper and Leo exchanged mutual smirks when Percy and Annabeth started arguing again. On the surface, their arguments seemed petty. But a more detailed observer would note how the pair's eyes sparkled with warmth and their tones were laughing and amused. Piper even thought that Percy's eyes looked more lovingly at Annabeth than usual. It was around this point that she and Leo would usually make a hasty getaway, hoping that perhaps the pair would finally get together.

Perhaps they needed a little push. She was a daughter of Aphrodite after all.

She and Leo made some excuse about turning in. The other pair bade their good nights and went straight back into arguing. Just before the two were out of sight, Piper focused on her power, then let just a little float inside Percy and Annabeth. With a small smirk, she followed Leo.

"Ugh, I stink." Leo grimaced, looking at his oil-splattered pants.

"Didn't Percy say something about a large river nearby?" She wouldn't mind a nice bath herself. Percy had mentioned that he had struck a deal with the naiads living in the river so the armies could use the water in exchange for driving off some ogres that were building dams in the river.

"Ooh, that's right. I like the way you think, Beauty Queen. I'll heat up the bathtubs at once." Leo quickly scurried off, laughing as she yelled at him for calling her Beauty Queen again.

Piper soon made her way down the river. The river bubbled cheerfully, and a naiad with floating brown hair waved hi to her. As much as Piper wanted to bathe right then and there, she never liked bathing with others, even if Leo's hot water bathtub was extremely tempting. Soon, she approached a little cove. A small stream branched off of the main river, gathering into a cheerful pool before the water headed away in another small creek. Thankfully, the water was running so the pool was nice and clear instead of being murky. Trees and bushes surrounded the pool, making for a nice curtain that was perfect for a private dip.

Piper stripped off her clothes, leaving them on the shore and shivering a little when her feet dipped into the cool water. With the stink of travelling and fighting, she didn't smell any worse than the other soldiers. But it was nice to wash herself. Clean water, even if a bit chilly, was always much appreciated.

She swam a few laps in the pool before floating on her back. The stars were beautiful and she easily located quite a few constellations.

She never liked exposing her body too much. Not with the whip scars still marring her back. It had been ten years and the scars hadn't faded completely. Piper lifted one foot out of the water. A small circle of scar tissue was still visible around her ankle, though it was a lot better than when she had first gotten those scars.

The unmistakable sign of someone wading in the stream caught her attention. Piper cursed. She was on the other side of the pool and her clothes happened to be from the opening of the stream where the intruder was approaching. Piper made a quick decision to swim out to the other little creek instead. She could hide for a bit and then use her charmspeak to get the person away.

The bushes parted, and a male ventured out.

A/N: Who's the male?