Piper
Being zonked out by an automatic hammer was definitely not Piper's idea of fun. But as Piper regained consciousness, she figured it could be worse. She glared at Leo, who was in the lower deck, frantically twisting the knobs and who-knows-what on his Archimedes sphere. The sun is just rising.
"I'm sorry, Pipes. The hammer likes you too much" He would have sound apologetic if he was not suppressing a grin.
"Yeah, nice morning greeting. Clears my head up. Can you please remove it away from my head?" Piper grumbled. She glanced at the huge hammer, which was emitting purple smoke. The smell of sulfur made Piper want to gag. The cursed hammer drifted down leisurely as Piper strode down the stairs, following her head happily.
"I'm working on it" Leo bent down to inspect the base of the sphere, and experimentally jabbed down a button. Mozart blared loudly from one of the crook. Symphonic notes saturated the deck, loud enough to give Piper headache for the rest of the week.
Piper sighed. She had seen Leo accomplish amazing things with the ancient relic, but unleashing giant hammer and playing Mozart pieces weren't one of them.
Leo cursed. " This baby has not been working well since our awesome debut in the House of Hades. It's almost as if someone powerful is meddling with it."
"Gaia." Piper guessed.
The air seemed to drop to ten degrees. A gust of wind whistled past Piper's ear, as if whispering manevolent curses her mind.
A few days ago, Piper and her friends managed to reach Epirus and find the House of Hades, with the help of Nico Di Angelo. They had worked together and kicked lots of monster butts , and a giant. They even got Percy and Annabeth back from Tartarus ( thank the gods.) , which deemed impossible at that time. After all that, Piper doubted Gaia would send a Thank You note to the crews of Argo 2 for thwarting her doomsday plan.
"Our dear friend was not very happy since our last booty kicking session, wasn't she?" Leo agreed, as if he could read Piper's mind.
Piper didn't answer. She was too busy staring at Leo.
Since Leo's mysterious isolation during Khione's attack, Piper noticed undeniable changes in him. Leo seemed more distant, more preoccupied like he's brooding over some...matters. He still made light jokes, but occasionally his voice broke in the end of his punches, as if something inside him could not be mended. Piper couldn't help wondering who or what caused him to be like this. She was worried. She preferred the old annoying Leo over the miserable Leo, certainly. Before she could dwell on it longer, Leo yelped. His hand caught fire and he quickly smothered it down. "Uh, Piper" He pointed behind her.
Piper turned, and did a double take. Right behind her stood an iris-message of Reyna. She muttered, " I don't like this thing the Greeks use. Too unpredictable."
Reyna was covered in cuts and bruises. Her braids are wild and tangled. In the background, the low rumbling growls of a cyclope could be heard. Coach Hedge sprung at the giant. " Take that, you snot" he bellowed. He lashed out his furry goat legs, which didn't seem intimidating- until he karate-chopped the Cyclope. It roared in pain.
Reyna's voice jerked Pipers's attention back. " McLean!" Reyna yelled, " can you hear me? I've got serious news to share."
That is the first chapter. It's uneventful, but I'm trying to progress steadily. Hope you like it. Reviews? Are you kidding? I feed on reviews.
I do not own Rick Riordan's work.