Chapter 7: Attack and defense

As they reached the dining hall where Hestia's fire was burning, they saw a few kids gathered and Chiron towering over them with his bow and quivers on his back.

''Healer! We need a healer!'' someone shouted and Will hastily pushed people aside to get there.

''What happened?'' Piper asked a thirteen-year-old boy from the Hermes cabin who was breathing hard looking terrified at his bleeding friend.

''They came out of no where, we were on guard patrol. Chiron said they would be here by tomorrow, we didn't expect anything…'' the boy shook his head. ''Thank gods that the border line was so close…''

''How many of them?'' Reyna stepped towards the boy who looked up at her in disbelief before finally stuttering a response.

''I…I don't know, we didn't manage to see the whole army…''

''They were enough to feel ready to attack a camp full of demigods.'' Malcolm, Annabeth's half-brother who was second in charge after her answered, coming towards them. ''We're outnumbered, we have to make a plan immediately!''

''But aren't we protected by the pine tree? They can't enter the camp's territory, right?'' Jason's voice sounded from right behind Piper and she resisted the urge to jump in the air from surprise. She hadn't noticed him.

''Yes, but that doesn't mean that they won't try.''

Just then, a roar came from the woods not far away. Everything was quiet. No one could move while trying to beat the confusion. Because they all knew that monsters couldn't be so close. That territory was in camp, protected by Thalia's pine. Unless…Piper's blood froze.

''That's not good.'' She whispered with her hand reaching for her dagger.

The same thought must have hit the rest of the demigods because they all started running towards Half-blood hill, weapons ready for a fight. They hadn't reached half up the hill when they had to stop. The monsters had indeed broken through the barrier which could mean only one thing.

''Go check the tree, see what the problem is! We have to stop the monsters from coming!'' Chiron shouted towards them and Piper nodded before following a small group up the hill, dodging strikes and attacks coming from various monsters.

''Oh gods, no!'' Annabeth shouted as they reached the top, which was followed by a few colorful swears on ancient Greek from Percy. Boy, this guy was surely son of the sea.

Piper was about to ask what was wrong when she saw it. The tree wasn't visibly damaged, it was still standing tall and proud. Peleus, the dragon was still chained to it but he wasn't moving, a golden spear pointing from his head. The Golden Fleece was gone. And without it, the protection couldn't last long with so many monsters attacking and so many demigods on the land.

''Piper, stay with the rest and arrange a defense. Percy, Thalia and I are going to retrieve the fliece.'' Annabeth said hurriedly and with that, the three ran forward, out of the camp's borders.

The daughter of Aphrodite nodded but as soon as they hid behind the hill, Piper was overwhelmed by monsters coming towards her and the rest of their squad. They didn't have time to arrange any plans, they just defended themselves and tried to kill anything that would try to reach past them.

She didn't have time to think much, letting her demigod nature guide her swipe after swipe. Duck, roll and then swipe again. It was a complete chaos and the monsters were getting more and more. Where were they coming from anyway?

She felt the tiredness trying to crawl up inside of her and she pushed it away. She couldn't afford to stop and catch her breath now, there was no time. This wasn't training, this was real. Lives depended on her and she refused to let anyone down.

A strangled cry came from behind her and on instinct she turned around, momentarily forgetting about the battle she was involved in. Her eyes widened at the sight of her sister Lacey wobbling backwards with an arrow pointing out of her right shoulder. Her vision got blurry with fear…and anger. Lacey was just a kid for gods' sake!

''Piper, behind you!'' a familiar voice shouted from the other way and she only managed to duck before the ax flew just above her, where her neck had been a second ago.

She only managed to look up at the cyclops that was standing in front of her before something gold appeared in its abdomen. She quickly rolled away before the creature could fall on her. Someone pulled out the golden spear from its back befpre it turned into dust.

''Are you okay Pipes?'' Jason's voice reached her and she looked up to notice him standing there, with the golden weapon in one hand and the other reaching for her. His face was stony, showing only concentration but his eyes, the blue orbs that always gave him away, were shining with worry. She took the hand, hoisting herself up quickly and shaking her head to get rid of the dizziness.

''Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks.'' She answered, not letting go of his hand and squeezing it a little.

He was about to say something but Piper didn't let him. Her eyes grew wide and she quickly pointed behind him, realizing with a second delay that it was too late, that she had noticed the pointed at his back sword too late for him to turn around and dodge it.

''No'' she thought and a strangled sound escaped her. Maybe he hadn't realized what was going on because he let her go and encircled her waist firmly.

''Hold on!'' he managed to say before they were shooting up. In the air. Piper couldn't tell what surprised her more, the fact that they were flying or the one that he looked so comfortqable with it. Like he had done it milions of times before.

''What the…?'' she heard her own voice say before even realizing her mouth was moving.

''No time, I'll tell you later. Right now, we have to stop them!'' he said and they both looked down.

They weren't up that high, only around fifteen to twenty feet up. She had climbed trees taller than that. But still, the knowledge that there was nothing under her feet beside thin air made her nervous. She was glad for Jason's arm, protectively circling her waist. Even though she didn't know where they stood right now, it made her feel warm inside to know that he was still there for her.

''They don't stop coming. We have to find a way to take more than one at once.'' She said out loud, looking at the horde of telchines that was trying to break through a line of Greek and Roman demigods.

''I can electrocute them but it'll take too much energy and when the next come, I'll be weaker. We need a plan.'' He said nervously sliding a hand through his close-cropped blond hair.

''I don't…'' Piper started before something further away exploded and a green light illuminated the trees. ''Leo…we need to find Leo, the Hephaestus cabin! Now!''

Jason looked at her with scrunched eyebrows, trying to decide what idea had occurred to her. Eventually, he decided to not loose time and glided them towards the way she was pointing, the green light.

''What are you thinking?'' he managed to ask, not breaking his concentration on the winds.

''Greek fire!'' were her only words as they entered a small clearing.

Jason lowered them both to the ground and got his spear ready. Piper however, didn't have time for this. She ducked and side-stepped, trying to reach Nyssa, Leo's half-sister.

''Nyssa, do you have Greek fire?'' she asked urgently.

''Yeah, Jake went to bring more from the cabin, why?'' the other girl answered while brushing her forehead, smearing mud and blood there.

''I have an idea to protect the border line!''

''Are you sure you can do this?'' Piper asked him, concern lacing her voice as she gripped the jars with green flames carefully in her hands. ''Maybe we shouldn't do it, what if it takes too much energy of you?''

''I'm going to be fine Pipes. I've been through worse.'' Jason managed a crooked smile surprising even him. How could he smile at a time like this? ''Just stay away until I say so or you can get fried.''

She nodded and turned to run away but in the last minute changed her mind and turned to face him again. He was too stunned to move when she smacked her lips on his, one of her hands gripping his upper arm desperately like he was going to go somewhere. Not if it depended on him.

''Just be careful Sparky, okay?''

''Sparky?'' he managed to ask despite the situation. She grinned which he found as beautiful as ever despite the blood, sweat and mud she had on her face.

''You prefer Pikachu? I'm okay with both.'' She said but then the smile wavered and after one last glance at him, she ran towards the inside of the line of dirt that was piled a few feet behind them, forming a barrier of non-burning mud.

Jason's gaze shifted away from her and he looked ahead of him. He stood there, alone in the small clearing just waiting for the attackers to come, his spear ready. Then he saw them, the horde of various monsters, some with fur, others with flakes, thirds with shining skin like armor and so on.

''Come on.'' He mumbled to himself while he was waiting for them to get close enough. ''Dad, don't fail me now.'' He whispered again before suddenly, rising his spear to the sky and looking up. ''For Jupiter!'' he called and felt the familiar tingle, the air around him filling with electricity.

He brought down the spear with much force and in the same time a loud thunder sounded, immediately followed by blinding lightning that struck everything around him.

He was panting hard when he looked up again, leaning on his spear. The summoning of that was quite hard. He wished he could stay still for a few more seconds to regain his posture but he could see more monsters coming. Arrows started flying around him and he grunted before finally turning back towards the line and forcing his feed to run. He could already see Piper's kaleidoscope eyes widening as she spotted him and he thought for a second that she would drop the jar at her feet.

''Now!'' he shouted at her, trying to figure out why she looked so scared. Surely, the army wasn't that big from before.

She snapped out of whatever daze she was in and threw the jar. Around five more campers followed her example and the grass behind Jason lighted up in sickeningly green flames as he jumped swiftly over the line. Something at his stomach twisted and he scrunched his face in pain. His armor was digging rather painfully in his stomach. Other than that, he didn't felt anything.

''Oh gods, Jason!'' Piper shouted and rushed towards him with her eyes wide as before. What was all the fuss about.

''What? What's going on? Is someone hurt?''

Piper looked up in his eyes before looking down at his body. With scrunched eyebrows yet again, he looked down to see what was making her so scared. And he saw it.

''Oh gods, that's not good.'' He managed to say before the pain hit him and he crumbled down, feeling Piper trying to help him by tucking his hand around his shoulder and easing him on the ground.

His hand went and touched the arrow that was pointing from his stomach. How had it managed to break his armor he didn't know and didn't care right now. All he could think of was the pain and the warm blood that was oozing out of the wound. His vision was blurring by the second as were his ther senses.

The sounds from around him melted away as the darkness surrounded him completely and he blacked out.

A\N: Okay, I know this is a major cliffhanger but please don't kill me! Otherwise, you won't know what happens next right? Right. So please review and let me know what you think. Thank you so much for the support guys, you are the best! I hope you had a very Merry Christmas and I wish you Happy New Year!