_Piper McLean _

_Atlantic Ocean, Off Coast of Hobucken, North Carolina _

Leo shot skywards, like he'd been launched from a catapult. He disappeared into the clouds.

"No!" I raised my knife, but there was nothing to attack. Looking desperately at the stairwell, I hoped to see my friends charging to the rescue, but a block of ice had sealed the hatch. The whole lower deck might have been frozen solid.

I wonder if I could make it to the ballista.

Then my enemy appeared, and I realized that no weapon would be enough.

Standing amidships was a girl in a flowing dress of white silk, her mane of black hair pinned back with a circlet of diamonds. Her eyes were the colour of coffee, but without the warmth.

"So good to see you again, ma chère. It's time we had a very cold reunion."

Again? What did she mean again? I'm pretty sure I'd remember someone like her, with the ability to freeze people. I glanced at Jason's frozen body, then the frozen hatch, then the jet stream of where Leo had launched in the sky. My mind clouded with so many different thoughts, I barely reacted to the ice crystal that nearly decapitated me.

I quickly dodged left, feeling the chill of the crystal blow past my ear. "Ow! What the heck, ya crazy?" I exclaimed. "Are you trying to freeze me to death?"

The lady looked at me like I'd asked Do you want to have dinner tonight? "Are you stupid, mutant? Of course I'm trying to kill you!"

"Who even are you?" I asked, crossing my arms.

"Khione, Queen of Ice and Snow!" she exclaimed. "You don't remember me?"

I studied her figure, shaking my head. "Nope, does not ring a bell." I said. "Did we fight or something?"

"Yes! In Quebec, at my home!" Khione exclaimed.

"I don't remember going to Quebec," I stated. "Anything life altering happen?"

"I tried to steal your boyfriend! How could you not remember this?"

"You know Chloe—"

"It's Khione you twit."

"Remind me when I cared?" I said. "Anyway, I do suffer from memory loss. It's where unimportant things that happened in my life just leave my brain."

I shrugged, twirling my dagger in my hand. "I guess you aren't important."

The temperature dropped around me, sending the warm September air into a chill worthy of February. Khione flared with anger, the air turning visibly frosty. "How dare you weak, puny mutant call me unimportant?"

"Mind unfreezing my boyfriend? I got things to do, you know?"

Khione fumed, stamping her foot. The floorboards beneath her feet turned frosty, like the water did when Elsa touched it in Frozen. The crystals spread out across the whole deck, creeping up my sneakers and around my legs. I was sure I'd get frostbite, but didn't even panic. Jason had once told me that, when faced with an enemy with powers you don't understand, keep your cool and don't freak out.

"You will be doing nothing, Piper McLean," Khione stated. "Once I'm through with you, those precious 'superheroes' will be trapped in the Void, your stupid little friends will be my ice sculptures, and you will be stranded at sea for ever!" Insert maniacal laugh.

I rolled my eyes, switching the leg I was leaning on. "Alright, get on with it already. I wanna defeat you already so I can get on with my life."

She chuckled evilly, shaking her head. "Oh no, ma chère, you will be doing nothing of the sort." She held up, a frozen sphere the size of a softball, covered in icy spikes.

"A bomb," she explained, "especially for you, my love."

"Uh…" I stammered. "Most people just send me flowers."

"Oh, it will not kill you, pretty girl. Well…I am fairly sure of this. But when the fragile container cracks, in…ah, roughly not very long…it will unleash the full force of the northern winds. This ship will be blown very far off course. Very, very far."

I frowned, looking at her again. "I'm confused. You want Jason and the others, to be statues in your land and whatever. Why can't I be a statue?"

"Because, stupid girl, my brothers have very special plans for you. Once The Crooked One rises, you will be Zethes bride."

"And what about Leo? What'd you do with him?"

"Mr. Valdez needed a…special punishment. Let's just say I've knocked him out of the picture, where him and his fire can do no harm. He's in a more…how you say permanent…prison" Khione explained.

Fire. I looked behind this snow queen, seeing the viles of Greek fire. They'd melt the snow queen, no doubt. The only problem was that it'd destroy everything, like its maker, Leo Valdez, intended. The only other thing that had fire, was Festus. But he was deactivated, and only Leo knew how to activate him.

"What're you doing?" Khione asked. I was tempted to pull a Percy, saying 'Water you doing! BAHAHA!' But I didn't.

"Hmm?" I asked, looking at her with a tilted head.

"You've been staring into space for like, minutes!"

Khione looked behind her, seeing the case of Greek fire. She snickered, then the frost on the deck spread to box, freezing it over. I frowned, shaking my head. "That's not my plan, Claire," I said.

"That's not my—what is your stupid plan?"

"It's a secret," I said in a sing-song voice.

Khione shouted in frustration, a blast of frost making its way to my chest. I thrust my hand up, redirecting the frost into the air, making little snowflakes fall down. "Chloe, do you want to know my plan? Cause killing me, will really thwart it."

"My name isn't Chloe!" she shouted, the temperature around her dropping as icicles spiraled away from her body. I shot my hands up I defense, an energy field—like a shield—forming in front of me.

"Okay Khione, I'm sorry for butchering your name, geez," I said. "Just don't kill me with your ice."

I let the shield falter, eyeing her. She glared at me, her eyes like ice. HA! Get it? Ice? Oh, I'm hilarious. "Mutant, tell me your secret now, or I shall take Jason Grace and the rest of your mutant crew as my ice sculptures, and leave you to perish in the Atlantic Ocean."

I gulped, nodding slowly. I cautiously walked around her in a wide arc, moving to the masthead. I stroked the bronze plates of its neck. "Khione, this is our dragon, Festus."

"Bah! This cannot be your secret! The dragon is broken, its fire, gone."

"Yes, well…" I faltered, thinking hard. Leo built Festus, Leo could fix him. But Leo was god knows where now. "But Festus is more than a machine. He's a living creature."

"Ridiculous," Khione spat. She waved her hands, making a army of ice statues. "Gather the frozen mutants from below. Then we shall break open the sphere of winds."

"You could do that, boys," I agreed. "But then you wouldn't see Khione humiliated. I know you'd like that." The statues hesitated.

'Don't listen to her!' Khione snapped.

I could feel ice forming on my lips. "You could shut me up," said quickly. "But you want to know my secret power."

Hatred seethed in Khione's eyes, but she withheld her frost. "You – have – no – power," she insisted.

I turned to Festus, running a hand behind his metal ears. "You're a good friend, Festus. No one can truly deactivate you. You're more than a machine. Khione doesn't understand that. Our secret weapon, Khione! We're not just a bunch of mutants. We're a team. Just like Festus isn't only a collection of parts. He's alive. He's my friend. And when his friends are in trouble, especially Leo, he can wake up on his own."

For a terrible moment, nothing happened. Khione glared at me, the ice statues began to come out of their daze, looking disappointed. "Never mind our plan," Khione snarled. "Kill her!"

As the statues raised their swords, the dragon's metal skin grew warm under my hand. I dived out of the way, tackling the snow goddess, as Festus turned his head one hundred and eighty degrees and blasted the statues, vaporizing them on the spot.

About twenty feet behind her, the ice sphere began to crack and hiss. There was absolutely no time for subtlety. I shouted like a banshee, raised my dagger, charging the snow lady. Khione grabbed my wrist, making ice spread over my arm. The blade of Katoptris turned white. Her face was only six inches from mine. Khione smiled, knowing she had won.

Suddenly, my chest grew warm – not with anger or fear but with love for that dragon; and Jason, who was depending on me; and my friends trapped below; and Leo, who was lost and would need my help. I growled, the ice on my blade melting as my arm steamed under Khione's grip.

"Still underestimating me," I said. "You really need to work on that."

Khione's smug expression faltered as I drove my dagger straight down. The blade sunk in her chest, and she exploded in a shower of ice before me. I collapsed on the ground, shivering and dazed from the cold. Festus was clacking and whirring behind me, making me wish I'd known Morse code or something.

Realization dawned on me, the bomb hissing and spinning ten feet away from me, the winds inside beginning to stir. "No no no," I muttered, scampering to my feet as I raced across deck. The bomb was pushed closer by the force of…whatever you call those magic red streaks I make. I dived, my fingers closing around the sphere just as the ice shattered, and the winds exploded.

A/N: Hi! Yes, I am alive! It's great, being alive, isn't it? So originally, I was going to make this chapter another Tartarus chapter, but my stupid iPad deleted that. So I decided to give you a Piper chapter. Next chapter will be another Piper chapter! Read and review!

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo