***Hi all, here's Chapter 24. Also, I've added a new story, "Disguises," based on the BoO preview; it takes place just before the preview and does include some spoilers, if you haven't read the preview yet. Thanks again for the reviews! Also, since I haven't done a disclaimer in a while, I'm clearly not Rick Riordan because I never would have guessed the direction the Blood of Olympus opening went in, but I thought it was awesome! Have a great weekend! I'll be back on Monday with Chapter 25, from Annabeth's POV.***
XXIV. PIPER
A nightmare, Piper kept thinking, please, please, just let it be a nightmare. But it wasn't. Jason was gone. Annabeth was gone. And they'd left their weapons behind.
Jason's Imperial gold blade was lying in the middle of the deck, near the main mast, amidst several piles of monster dust that were already starting to blow away. Annabeth's drakon bone sword was near the helm, also surrounded by the remains of at least two or three monsters.
"So they put up a fight," Frank said dully. The rest of the crew was gathered around the helm as Leo's fingers flew over the controls, trying to find something that would indicate what had happened to their friends.
"Of course they did, it was Jason and Annabeth," Hazel said. She looked as shell-shocked as Piper felt. Hazel and Leo, coming up for second watch, had been the ones to discover that their friends were missing. Hazel had woken Piper up. One look at the other girl's face told Piper something was very, very wrong, but she'd refused to believe the truth until she'd come up and seen the empty deck for herself. They'd run a quick search over the rest of the ship, just to be sure, but it had been pointless; Jason and Annabeth were not on the Argo II.
"How could this have happened?" Percy asked. He was clutching the hilt of Annabeth's sword so hard his knuckles were white. "Why didn't we hear anything? Why didn't they sound the alarm?"
"Maybe it happened too fast," Hazel suggested. "What does Festus have to say about it?"
The dragon had left a scorch-mark on the deck, so he'd obviously tried to help, but Leo shook his head. "He isn't specific. He just keeps repeating 'bad-giants-bad' over and over again."
Piper turned cold at those words. "Which giants?"
"I don't know. Like I said, he's not big on specifics. But I'm trying to pull up the infrared scope, see if I can run it back, check the recorded data. Maybe it'll give us some information."
Suddenly, the air above the console shimmered. "Is that the data?" Piper asked.
"I'm not doing that," Leo said.
"Incoming Iris message," Percy said tersely.
The scene solidified and all five of them gasped. Jason's nose was bleeding, there was a rising bump on his forehead, and one eye was swollen almost shut. Annabeth had a cut on her forehead and a massive bruise on her cheek. Both of them were gagged, on their knees, with their hands tied behind their backs. Behind them loomed—
"Porphyrion," Piper hissed.
The giant king's skin was the color of lima-beans, his hair braided with swords and spears. His massive reptilian legs were big enough to crush Jason and Annabeth flat. His blank white eyes met Piper's and he gave her a leering grin. "Piper McLean. Good to see you again. And Leo Valdez, as well. I'm afraid I haven't had the pleasure of meeting the rest of your crew, but Gaea has told us all about you, Percy Jackson, Hazel Levesque, and Frank Zhang."
"Let them go." Percy's voice was dangerously, deadly calm, but his eyes were blazing. "If you hurt them, Porphyrion, I swear you'll wish I'd only sent you back to Tartarus."
The giant king threw back his head and gave a booming laugh. "I love a good boast. But here are the facts, demigods. We have brought these two," he gestured to Jason and Annabeth, "here to Mount Olympus, where their blood will water the stones and wake the Earth Mother. Your quest has failed. At sunrise, they will die. Gaea will rise and the reign of the giants will begin."
Piper's heart was beating fast and not just because of the horrible things Porphyrion was saying or the fact that he was holding her friends hostage. When Porphyrion said they were on Mount Olympus, Annabeth, almost imperceptibly, shook her head. He's lying, Piper thought, eyes flickering from her friend to the giant king and back.
"Enjoy your night, little heroes. It will be your last. At sunrise, your world will end." Porphyrion raised a massive hand and swiped through the message.
No one spoke as the image of Jason, Annabeth, and Porphyrion faded. All Piper could hear was the rapid breathing of the others and her own pounding heart.
"We have to rescue them," Percy said. "And not just because—because they're our friends. We can't let Gaea use them as a sacrifice."
"No, we can't," Leo agreed. He typed in some commands, then said, "Sunrise is exactly four hours from now. Which is about how long it's going to take us to get to Mount Olympus from here, assuming we're not attacked on the way."
"They're not on Olympus," Piper said through numb lips. The others turned to look at her.
"Porphyrion said Mount Olympus," Hazel told her.
"But Annabeth said no." Piper looked around at her friends. "Didn't you guys see her shake her head?"
The others, even Percy, all looked confused and Piper's stomach dropped. Could she be mistaken? But she didn't think so. She was certain she had seen Annabeth shake her head no when Porphyrion stated they were on Mount Olympus.
"We only get one shot at this," Frank said. "If we choose wrong—"
"The people we love will die and the world as we know it will end," Percy finished. "Yeah, we know."
"I'd rather trust Annabeth than Porphyrion," Hazel said quietly. "If she says they're not on Olympus, then they must still be in Athens. Besides, that's where Frank saw Porphyrion earlier today—at the Parthenon."
"But just because they're not on Olympus doesn't necessarily mean they're in Athens," Leo pointed out. "What if they're at some random location that just happens to have some old stones?"
Frank shook his head. "Gaea wants a big ceremonial sacrifice, she wouldn't choose some random spot. The problem is that using Olympus, the original Olympus, actually makes more sense than Athens, if you think about it. Olympus was the original seat of the gods' power. Athens was just sacred to Athena."
"But Athens was the heart of Greece," Piper argued. "And maybe there's something symbolic about having the sacrifice on the Acropolis. It was one of the most sacred spots in Ancient Greece."
"I'm with Piper," Percy said. "Frank, you're right that Mount Olympus makes more sense, but if Annabeth said that's not where they are, I believe her."
"Guys, I think we're missing an obvious point here," Leo said. "Why would Porphyrion try to trick us?"
Everyone got quiet. Then Hazel said, "It's a trap."
"Actually, I think it's two traps," Leo said. "I'm betting that if we were to go to Olympus, there's a trap waiting for us there. And there's probably some plan to capture or kill us if we go to the Parthenon. Think about it. Porphyrion and company had to know we'd try to rescue Jason and Annabeth."
Frank's jaw was clenched; he looked to be about halfway through a bulldog transformation. "Leo, can you bring up a diagram of the Acropolis?"
"On it," Leo replied. A moment later, a holographic image of the Acropolis blinked into existence above the controls. Frank studied it for a moment, then nodded.
"Obviously we can't use our original plan," Frank said. Piper knew he was right. Their original attack plan relied heavily on Jason's wind and lightning powers and Annabeth's ability to improvise. Plus, it had been designed for seven demigods to carry out and they were down to five. "But I have another idea. We have four hours until sunrise, right?"
"Three hours and fifty-five minutes, to be exact," Leo replied.
Frank took a deep breath. "Fine. So let's all get ready—armor, weapons, those Eleusinian torches, everything—and meet back up here in ten minutes to work on our new plan. Sound good?"
There was a general murmur of agreement, then the crew separated to gather their equipment and get ready. But as Percy started to follow Frank, Hazel, and Leo down the stairs, Piper put a hand on his arm to hold him back.
"What's up?" he asked her.
Piper met his eyes. "We're getting them back," she said. There was no charmspeak in her voice, but she saw the same determination in Percy's eyes that she herself felt.
"Yeah," he said, "we are."
He squeezed her shoulder and the two of them headed downstairs. But Piper felt better knowing that they had the same goal in mind even more fiercely than the others. There was no way they would allow the giants to use the people they loved in some horrible sacrifice to wake a demented goddess.