Chapter XXV: Piper

"Not again." Piper mutters.

Sitting on her bed, Piper glares at the stainless Katropris. "Bloody dagger," she curses and sends it flying across the room where it lodges itself on Piper's dressing table. Piper closes her eyes, unable to get rid of the image printed on her eyelids. Leo, in a small raft, disappearing further into a dark abyss. Then, she saw him tumble from the sky, his hands on fire. It was impossible. Leo would never leave the Argo II.

Yet, her mind doubts it. She rings the bell and watches the demigods pile in, obviously ruffled on being woken up from one of the rare dreamless sleeps they got. She counts all heads, including hers and totals them upto six. Oh, no.

"No, no, no. This isn't happening." she whispers.

"Piper?" asks Hazel, sounding genuinely concerned "Are you okay?"

"It's Leo. Where's Leo?" she asks, getting more frantic by the minute.

Everyone turns around slowly, the truth dawning on them. Piper tries to grasp anything from the other's faces, any chance that Leo might've have told them something which they might be hiding, absolutely anything. Her eyes land on Jason. He looks like a cornered cat, ready to leap.

" Jason!" she exclaims out of the blue. "You're hiding something, aren't you?"

"Look guys," Jason begins, looking guilty. "Leo had this life saving trip that he needed to go on and left yesterday night. I'm sorry for not telling you but I didn't know where he was going. I promised him I wouldn't say anything till you found out. He conveys his love and he told me he would come back. I feel miserable about it, too."

Percy and Hazel share looks of shock and understanding. Piper was tired of all the secrets and shadows, but she decided not to push it. If they thought they should tell them, they would have already. She slumps down on a seat and covers her face.

"Ugh!" Annabeth said, "Why are we falling apart? We need ALL seven of us to win! But, I suppose, Leo wouldn't have left us if he didn't think it was essential."

"Yup," Percy agreed, "Okay, everyone down in ten for some breakfast and rigorous practice. This earned him a lot of groans and moans but he didn't budge.

But, as usual, the plan didn't go as planned.

"According to Leo's GPS, we are exactly five minutes away from Troy." Annabeth announced once they had all freshened up and were up on deck.

"So, how about we split up? Three can go gather supplies and the others can visit museums or libraries to find any sort of information on Gaea's weakness, if there are any, and the sorts." Percy suggested.

Annabeth smiled at him gratefully for the plan. "That's a clever idea and very Un-Percy like."

"Hey!" Percy says "You don't have to insult the size of my brain just because your head is humongous. " Annabeth frowns and Percy bursts into laughter.

"Getting back on track" Piper replies enthusiastically, "Who's up for the research?" She put her own hand up and was joined by Annabeth and Frank.

"Decided then! Hazel, Percy and I shall head down to town!" Jason concludes.

Annabeth, Frank and Piper were the first to leave the ship. They wandered around the barren, yet beautiful roads of Troy before Annabeth stops at 'THE LITERARY MUSEUM OF ACCOLADES'. The inside is not too glamourous. Small sofas decorated the place along with white lights. Annabeth continues to a sign board which read 'LIBRARY'.

So after about another two minutes, Piper found herself in a library of a museum surrounded by books trying to learn anything about Gaea. Annabeth was lying on the ground, reading some other book. Frank was on a computer, researching about Mother Earth.

Piper turns the next page and exclaims in confusion. "Look at this load of poop!"

Annabeth comes over and narrates the passage aloud. "Mother Earth, commonly referred to as the goddess Gaea, is a personification of the Earth. Gaia was the great mother of all: the primal Greek Mother Goddess, the creator and giver of birth to the Earth and all the Universe; theheavenly gods, the Titans, and theGiants were born to her. Her equivalent in the Roman pantheon wasTerra. Mother Earth is the soul of our planet. Gaia animates the planet, gives it purpose and makes life on Earth possible. "

"Wow, mortals can really be blonde," Frank exclaims. Annabeth shoots him a glare to which he corrects his sentence. "I meant b-b-blind, not blonde." he stammers nervously.

"Either ways, she's a horrible grandmother." Piper finishes.

"Yes, but that passage of 'poop' as you so eloquently put it, Piper, is not helping!" Annabeth says frustratedly.

"Anyways, I think she's Percy and Jason's grandmother and our great grand mother, if I'm not mistaken." Annabeth says letting a small smile creep up onto her face. "Though...I'm not exactly over the moon to be related to her."

Piper groans loudly as Frank and Annabeth get into a debate about Gaea. She browses through the rest of the books in hope to find something useful. She comes across a fat mythology book and lifts it up. She begins to read it, mesmerized. "Annabeth! This book states that 'What harms the Earth harms Gaia'. Any ideas?"

Annabeth pauses. "Global warming, destruction of nature...there's lots. But harming the Earth will be dangerous for us too."

Piper sighs and reads on. "She was the third to rise from her father, Chaos. Her sisters are Nyx and Akhlys and her brother is Erebos. Her husband is Tartarus and ex husband is Ouranos. The Titans, Giants, Pontus and Karpoi are her children. In many ways, Gaea is the ideal mother, loving her children first and foremost. She will do anything to protect them, even if it means taking the most extreme measures. It is because of this protectiveness that she is known to be very cruel to anyone who threatens them."

Annabeth and Frank's face whiten noticeably at the mention of Gaia's relations. When they recover, Annabeth snatches the book out of Piper's hands. "I agree. Cruel, she is! May I borrow it?

"Ex-husband, huh? I didn't know Gaea was the cheating types!" Frank grins mischievously.

"Well, you already have, haven't you?" Piper nods amiably answering Annabeth as Annabeth gives her an apology grin. Piper watches Annabeth's face change expressions with every page she read. "The book's helpful. I think we should take it. I'll read the rest on the ship and maybe come up with something. It has different opinions in third person."

Frank peeks over the book and smiles. " Here it says, 'In some books, Gaea is portrayed as the villain. She has evil followers and trustworthy servants won by fear."

Annabeth laughs, "She sounds a lot like Voldemort, like a default antagonist. I kinda like this book. Not going to part with it easily." Annabeth picks the book up and hums a tune as Piper and Frank follow her out, pretending they had not just stolen a book.

Piper had a weird tingling radar in her head which was beeping like crazy.

Her instincts told her something was wrong before they even reached the ship. She runs up quicker and stops a few feet before the Argo II. The ship has been bombarded with slimy purple rooster-like creatures with serpent tails that slithered on deck.

Annabeth curses in Ancient Greek, "How could I leave the ship unguarded like that?"

"What are they?" Piper asks "Modified empousai?"

"No, much worse. They're call basiliskos. They kill man just by sight." Annabeth pulls out her dagger. "Whatever happens, don't look at their eyes and try avoiding their venom."

The three charge on deck, eyes shut. Piper has to fight solely with her ears. She senses some hissing noises behind her and she stabs her dagger wildly into the air a few times before successfully stabbing it right through a body. She hears a soft groan and feels the disgusting basilisk remains at her feet. She whimpers at the touch and heads towards another sound. She killed another basiliskos with her dagger but not before it scratched her face with its tentacles.

"Turns out, their tails were sharp." She thought disdainfully before screaming out in pain.

She senses more than hears someone approach her. That person catches her before she hits the ground. She opened her eyes only to see another basiliskos looking directly at her The person holding her drops her, alarmed and rushes at the creature. Piper falls to the ground feeling a sense of dread wash over her. A sense of dread that made her wonder if this was her last moment, if this was the moment that she was actually dying.

Terror floods all over her and she faints.