The Heroes Of Olympus & The Surrounding Darkness

Alright. This chapter was really hard to write so I just wanted to point out that I don't mean for it to suck so bad. Sorry for anything stupid I might write :-P

Piper McLean P.O.V.

He's a vampire.

"Get off him now!" I scream, but it's no use. He isn't going to stop.

"Jason," Leo pleads. "Please, listen to me. You don't know what your doing."

"Yes, I do." Jason replies. He looks evil. Nothing like himself. I see his fangs, he's about to sink them into Leo's neck. But I notice something else. Something that I've seen before. It infuriates me, that painful memory. With his eyes glowing gold, I remember: the eidolons.

"He's been posessed by an eidolon again!" Annabeth confims.

Percy jumps onto Jason's back and Jason stifles backwards. With Percy still on his back, he twists and knocks Percy onto the ground. Jason jumps on top of Percy, but I notice Percy doesn't look quite like himself either. He's in his werewolf form again, probably not even realizing that he is.

"Boys, sleep!" I shout at them, but they don't do so much as blink. Instead, about a dozen boys across the cafeteria trying to make their escape collapse to the floor. "Crap, that's not what I wanted to happen." I explain to Annabeth who only glares at me.

Jason raises his fist and punches Percy hard in the face. Percy spits blood and tries desperately to get up.

My mind is racing. I can't let either of them get hurt. I do the only thing that comes to mind: I run to Jason and I kiss him. I know, I know- lame, cheesy, not very smart on my part. But what Jason does shocks me and I'm sure everyone else watching. He hits me. He smacks me across the face and I stumble back, tripping over my own foot and landing on my butt.

Leo is by my side faster than I would imagine possible in his condition. "Are you alright?" He asks me and I nod.

I turn back to Jason, and he's intently staring at me. His expression looks guilty, like a kindergardener who accidentally broke his friend's new crayon. But more than that, he looks unsure of himself, like he can't make up his mind.

Percy jumps to his feet behind Jason, but Jason doesn't notice. Jason, watches me with content eyes, his expression turning dull. Then he shakes himself out of it. "Piper, I am-"

Percy grabs Jason by the shoulder and spins him around. Percy, with his own fist raised next to his cheek, looks Jason in the eyes, ready to strike. But he doesn't. Instead, he lowers his arm and unclenches his hand. He releases Jason's shoulder and Jason turns around to face me again. I see now that his eyes are no longer glowing gold.

"Piper, I swear, I didn't mean to hurt you. I'm so sorry about this... about everything." He smoothly walks towards me and kneels beside me. He looks to Leo and clearly states, "I'm sorry to you too, man. I don't know what came over me. I just got so hungry out of nowhere, and I could smell the blood on your shirt. I'm guessing it's because of the bite." He looks at his arm and raises the sleeve, revealing a slight scar in the place where Lamia had bitten him.

"It's okay." Leo answers. "You're a vampire now. That must've been your first blood lust." Jason and I look at him curiously. "What? There is nothing wrong with a grown boy reading vampire romance novels." He grins jokingly, but I have a feeling what he just said wasn't really a joke.

"What now?" Percy walks over and asks us. "Repeat of last time? Piper uses her charmspeak to get the eidolons out of whoever they're in?"

"That's probably the best idea." I answer. "How about we do this somewhere else. Somewhere private."

"The woods." Percy announces. "We can go to the woods and get rid of these freaking eidolons... again."

Nico steps forward. "I say we do it. It's worth a try, right?"

Nico DiAngelo P.O.V.

We just left those sleeping boys on the floor of the mess hall. I thought we should have at least told someone to help them but I guess we were all in a hurry to get rid of these eidolons again. Though I wasn't around the first time, of course. Instead, I was having a wonderful time stuffed in a jar by a couple of giants with no food, water, and hardly enough oxygen to survive. Lucky that I have my friends to help me out whenever I get into stupid situations like that. I'd be dead if they didn't get to me when they did.

We walk through the woods in silence. Nobody has anything to talk about, I guess. Though I would be happy to oblige. "Anyone know what time it is?" Sure, maybe not the best way to start off a conversation, but I couldn't think of anything else to say.

"I think it's 7:30 but I'm not sure." Annabeth answers. "Somewhere you need to be?"

I don't know where the sudden edge in her voice came from but I decided to answer her honestly. "No, no. I was just curious." Quick, if I want to get this conversation started, I gotta think of things to say. "So, how's your day been going?"

Oh, my gods. I did not just say that.

She looks at me as if I just punched her between the eyes. "Nico, what are you doing?"

"What? I don't know what you mean."

"Why are you acting strange? I've never seen you so... upbeat before. Especially in the situation we're in."

Hmmm... she's completely right. And I have absolutely no idea why I'm acting like this. "I guess I'm kind of tired. And a little nervous." I answer. "I just have such a bad feeling about this. Something is about to go horribly wrong. I know it."

No one replies. I have a good idea they feel the same way.

We keep walking for only a few minutes, then we reach Zeus' Fist.

"This seems like a good enough place, if you ask me." Frank says.

"Yeah," Hazel agrees. "Let's just do this and get back to camp. It's going to get dark soon."

"Okay." Piper says. "Eidolons, raise your right hand now."

Nothing happens.

"Eidolons." Piper says with more power than before. "Raise your right hand. Now."

Everyone pauses, waiting for any reactions. Still, nothing happens.

"Eidolons." Piper says with so much power, I feel it working... on me. "Show yourselves."

I raise my right hand into the air. Crap, this is just fantastic. There's some sort of ghost possessing me. Can this day get any better?

Just then, a loud shout coming from a male echoed through the woods. Then came the sound of battle cries and shrieks began all around us.

I turn my head to see my friends. Everyone's right hand is raised into the air besides Hazel's and Leo's. Even Piper raises her hand.

"I forgot," Leo says, "tonight is capture the flag."

Everything begins getting fuzzy at this point, kind of like my brain keeps turning on and off at random times. When everything is finally clear to me, I look around and I'm drenched in water, sitting on my butt, with Clarisse holding a spear point inches from my face.

"Clarisse, what are you-" I'm cut off by Clarisse driving her spear into the ground at her feet. She paces for a moment, glancing at me every few seconds.

She finally walks towards me again and asks, "What was that?"

I don't quite understand the question because I have no idea what happened while I was drifting in and out of consciousness. "I don't know. What happened? What did I do?"

"It wasn't just you." She answers. "It was your whole group of losers. All of you except Leo and Hazel just tried to kill a bunch of campers and each other. You seriously don't remember that?"

I shake my head. She reaches out a hand to help me up and I accept it. "Thanks." I mutter.

She yanks her spear free from the dirt at our feet. "We should go help the others. Only a few campers were hurt, but I'm sure they could use the extra help in the infirmary." She turns to face me, looking directly into my eyes. "Are you sure you're better? You aren't going to go crazy on us again?"

"No, I don't think I will." I answer. I hear another battle cry coming from not too far from where I stand. "Is the game still going on?"

"Yeah." Clarisse nods. "Most of the camp doesn't know about your little episode, trying to kill whoever crosses you. I talked to Hazel and Leo and they're keeping an eye out for the campers that are still in the game. The only problem is... we don't know where Annabeth, Jason, Percy or Piper are. I saw Jason not far from here about five minutes ago but I couldn't keep up with him. Then I saw you. You were about to stab a girl from the Athena cabin."

I try to remember but can't. I don't remember doing any of this. This must be what it feels like to be controlled by an eidolon. "Gods, I'm sorry."

"Why are you apologizing to me?" Clarisse taunts. "There are other campers out there who could be getting hurt and we need to go help them."

I nod. "Maybe we should split up? You help the injured and I'll go looking for the others."

"Alright. I think Jason is that way, but I can't be sure." She points down the river which flows smoothly behind me. "I'll be hanging around Zeus's Fist, since that's where this all got started." She runs in the opposite direction that I'm headed.

I've been searching for them for about fifteen minutes. Suddenly, a heavy force pushes me into a bush. I jump to me feet and reach for my sword, only to find that it's not there. Where is that stupid thing now?

My offender runs at me again, but I tuck and roll out of the way. I can't see their face because it's hidden behind a helmet. It's definitely a guy, judging by his burly figure. He holds a sword so big, it must weigh a ton. This guy isn't going to be easy to beat.

"Please, I'm not in the game. Just let me-" Just then, searing pain bolts through my right side and I fall to my knees, wailing in agony. I look to my side and an arrow is lodged into my rib cage. Blood begins to stain my shirt. I look up to see the boy, who was just attacking me, staring at me in shock. Then, an arrow appears in his left leg and he falls backwards, clutching at his left calf.

I look to the direction the arrows had come to see a hooded figure lurking on a tree branch. They wear a dark green cloak with the hood covering their face. They slip behind the base of the tree and are gone.

I look back to the boy and say, "We need to get out of here. Can you move?"

He grunts once, then replies in a low voice, "I think so. Not very fast but I think I can."

"Good." I try my best to stand but can't. "I can't do it. You need to get help. I have a friend treating the injured at Zeus's Fist. She'll help you. I'll be fine here."

"No, you won't. You could get killed."

"Don't worry about me. You can tell her to send help to find me. For now-" I spot a large stick that should be a good size for this guy, "use that branch as a cane and get to her. You have to go now."

He nods. He throws off his helmet and tosses it to me, along with his sword. "Use those. Keep yourself safe." He grabs the branch and stands. He begins to walk forward, away from me, down the river, towards Clarisse.

I watch him as he limps away, and once he's out of sight, I lay down my head and close my eyes.

Am I really going to survive this?