▬▬▬▬ CHAPTER EIGHTEEN ▬▬▬▬

ESMERELDA WAS CERTAIN THAT SHE would have to say goodbye to her career of being Camp Half-Blood's tour guide. 

After whatever it was that happened with Rachel, she finally snapped out of it, but it was already too late. Piper was on the ground, unconscious and neither of the girls knew what the fuck to do other then to take her to see Chiron.

So now she, Annabeth, and Rachel were rushing to the Big House, Piper's unconscious body floating behind them with the Mobilicorpus spell. Ethan was already there, relaxing on the porch, but his body shot up when he saw the panic written all over his girlfriend's face.

"What happened?" He demanded, rushing down the steps. That was when he finally spotted Piper and his stance relaxed. "Oh. Is she dead?"

Rachel made a weak noise in the back of her throat. "Oh gods," she moaned in despair. "I killed her, didn't I?"

"She's still alive," Esmerelda reassured, but the panic in her face didn't disappear. "...For now, I mean."

"Forget that!" Annabeth snapped. "Ethan, where's Chiron?!"

"Calm down," he rolled his eye, leading them up the steps. "He's in here with Jared."

"You mean Jason?" Esmerelda asked.

His eye twitched. "Whatever." He pushed open the door of the Big House, and the girls flooded in with Piper's floating body.

"What happened?" Jason rushed over. "What's wrong with her?"

"Hera's cabin," Annabeth gasped. "Vision. Bad."

They laid Piper down on the couch while Annabeth rushed down the hall to get a med kit.

Chiron put his hand on her forehead and grimaced. "Her mind is in a fragile state. Rachel, what happened?"

"I wish I knew," she said. "As soon as I got to camp, I had a premonition about Hera's cabin. I went inside. Annabeth, Essie and Piper came in while I was there. We talked, and then—I just blanked out. They said I spoke in a different voice."

"You did," Esmerelda confirmed. "But it wasn't your 'Oracle' voice. You sounded like an older woman, and the way you acted... it was like you were being possessed."

"It wasn't a prophecy you spoke of?" Chiron asked as Annabeth returned with a leather pouch.

"I don't know what I said," Rachel said, staring helplessly at Annabeth and Esmerelda.

Annabeth frowned. "Chiron, what happened back there—I've never seen anything like it. Rachel grabbed Piper's shoulders and told her—"

"—To free her from a prison?" Jason guessed.

Annabeth stared at him. "How did you know that?"

Chiron made a three-fingered gesture over his heart, like a ward against evil. "Jason, tell them. Annabeth, the medicine bag, please."

Chiron trickled drops from a medicine vial into Piper's mouth while Jason explained what had happened when the room froze—the dark misty woman who had claimed to be Jason's patron.

"So does this happen often?" He asked. "Supernatural phone calls from convicts demanding you bust them out of jail?"

"Your patron," Annabeth said. "Not your godly parent?"

"No, she said patron. She also said my dad had given her my life."

"Wait, your dad..." Esmerelda trailed off. She spoke so quietly that none of them heard her save for Ethan since he was right beside her. Ethan watched intently as Esmerelda's gaze turned to Jason, then dropped down to his hand. Her eyes widened in shock as if she was remembering something about him.

She knows him, Ethan thought, nails digging into his palm.

Annabeth started to speak again, and he was brought back to the conversation.

"I've never of heard anything like that before. You said the storm spirit on the skywalk—he claimed to be working for some mistress who was giving him orders, right? Could it be this woman you saw, messing with your mind?"

"I don't think so," Jason answered. "If she were my enemy, why would she be asking for my help? She's imprisoned. She's worried about some enemy getting more powerful. Something about a king rising from the earth on the solstice—"

"—Kronos?" Annabeth interrupted, and her stormy grew eyes immediately turned to Ethan. She quickly rose from her kneeling position, her face angry as she strode towards him, hand reaching out for her dagger. "If you did anything again—"

Ethan whipped out a painfully familiar knife and Annabeth froze.

"Remember this?" He taunted quietly. "Take another step closer and I'll drive this back into your shoulder."

"Hey," Jason said in a warning tone. His hand instinctively went into his pocket, only to realize his sword was gone. He glanced up and spotted it at the table, but the distance was too far for him to reach it in time. But he couldn't let that deter him now because he was pretty sure that a deadly fight was about to break out and he needed to find some way to stop it.

Their reprieve came in the form of a daughter of Hecate who hurried over to Ethan's side. But the look on her face wasn't furious. It was... almost mildly exasperated?

Jason stiffened up at her interference. His eyes screamed at her to get away because he half-expected the boy to either push her away or worse—stab her. Instead, all Ethan did was scowl, shoulders dropping.

"Ethan!" Esmerelda hissed, grabbing the boy by the wrist and forcing him to lower his dagger. "I didn't buy you that dagger as a Christmas present so you can go around stabbing my friends!"

"Sorry," he muttered, tucking the knife away.

Jason stared at them in disbelief. A Christmas present? Seriously?

Esmerelda turned to Annabeth next, her face guilty. "Annabeth... Ethan wouldn't—"

"—You can't know for certain, Essie. He brought Kronos out of Tartarus once, I wouldn't be surprised if he did it a second time!" Annabeth shouted.

Jason looked between them in horror. Ethan did what?

"Everyone stop," Chiron said firmly. "It is not Kronos. That threat has ended."

Nobody relaxed.

Rachel looked at him nervously. "If it's not Kronos... then who is it?"

Instead of answering, Chiron closed the medicine bag. "Piper needs rest. We should discuss this later."

"Or now," Jason said. "Sir, Mr. Chiron, you told me the greatest threat was coming. The last chapter. You can't possibly mean something worse than an army of Titans, right?"

"Oh," Rachel said in a small voice. "Oh, dear. The woman was Hera. Of course. Her cabin, her voice. She showed herself to Jason at the same moment."

"Hera?" Annabeth's snarl was even fiercer than Seymour's. "She took you over? She did this to Piper?"

"I think Rachel's right," Jason said. "The woman did seem like a goddess. And she wore this—this goatskin cloak. That's a symbol of Juno, isn't it?"

"You seem pretty fond of using the gods' Roman names," Ethan pointed out sharply, looking between him and Esmerelda. He had noticed that the last time Jason had done the same thing with Hephaestus, Esmerelda had turned pale.

The same thing was happening now.

The second he made his statement, Esmerelda looked like she wanted nothing more than to make a run for it. She kept glancing over at Jason with panic in her eyes before locking gazes with Ethan, and that was when she froze.

I know you know something, Ethan wanted to tell her, but he was certain his stare alone was enough to transfer that message to her.

Then he looked over to Jason, expecting an answer. The boy looked nervous too.

"I..." He said. "I..."

"You do realize this is a Greek camp, right?" Ethan barreled on. "Yet you keep going on using Roman terms."

"Hold on," Rachel spoke up. "Who's Juno?"

"That would be Hera's Roman aspect," Chiron answered smoothly, obviously wanting to turn the attention away from Jason. Ethan was irked. So Chiron knew something too?

"So Hera is imprisoned?" Rachel asked. "Who could do that to the queen of the gods?"

Annabeth crossed her arms. "Well, whoever they are, maybe we should thank them. If they can shut up Hera—"

"—Annabeth," Chiron warned. "She is still one of the Olympians. In many ways, she is the glue that holds the gods' family together. If she truly has been imprisoned and is in danger of destruction, this could shake the foundations of the world. It could unravel the stability of Olympus, which is never great even in the best of times. And if Hera has asked Jason for help—"

"—Fine," Annabeth grumbled. "Well, we know Titans can capture a god, right? Atlas captured Artemis a few years ago. And in the old stories, the gods captured each other in traps all the time. But something worse than a Titan... ?"

A Primordial, Ethan thought, growing tense.

Jason looked at the leopard's head. "Hera said she'd been trying to break through her prison bonds for a month."

"Which is how long Olympus has been closed," Annabeth realized. "So the gods must know something bad is going on."

"But why use her energy to send me here?" Jason asked. "She wiped my memory, plopped me into the Wilderness School field trip, and sent you a dream vision to come pick me up. Why am I so important? Why not just send up an emergency flare to the other gods—let them know where she is so they bust her out?"

"The gods need heroes to do their will down here on earth," Rachel said. "That's right, isn't it? Their fates are always intertwined with demigods."

"Don't sugar coat it," Ethan scoffed, before turning to face Jason. "Look, the gods love using their children to do the dirty work for them. She's obviously using you to do her bidding—whatever the hell that is. You're nothing but a tool to her."

Everyone winced, but didn't deny his words. Not even Chiron.

"Oh," Jason said weakly. "But... why me? What was the point in taking my memory?"

"And Piper's involved somehow," Rachel added. "Hera sent her the same message—Free me. And, Annabeth, this must have something to do with Percy's disappearing."

Esmerelda started getting really fidgety at this point. Ethan had half a mind to tell the poor girl to just give it up because she was so painfully obvious, but he decided to save it for a discussion at a later time.

Annabeth fixed her eyes on Chiron. "Why are you so quiet, Chiron? What is it we're facing?"

The old centaur's face looked like it had aged ten years in a matter of minutes. The lines around his eyes were deeply etched. "My dear, in this, I cannot help you. I am so sorry."

Annabeth blinked. "You've never... you've never kept information from me. Even the last great prophecy—"

"—I will be in my office." His voice was heavy. "I need sometime to think before dinner. Esmerelda, will you watch the girl? Call Argus to bring her to the infirmary, if you'd like. And Annabeth, you should speak with Jason. Tell him about—about the Greek and Roman gods."

"But..."

The centaur turned his wheelchair and rolled off down the hallway. Annabeth's eyes turned stormy. She muttered something in Greek.

"I'm sorry," Jason said. "I think my being here—I don't know. I've messed things up coming to the camp, somehow. Chiron said he'd sworn an oath and couldn't talk about it."

"What oath?" Annabeth demanded. "I've never seen him act this way. And why would he tell me to talk to you about the gods..."

Her voice trailed off. Apparently she'd just noticed Jason's sword sitting on the coffee table. She touched the blade gingerly, like it might be hot.

Ethan straightened up. "That metal...! It looks like Alabaster's..."

The second the words left his mouth, he immediately regretted it. If Esmerelda didn't look nervous before, she definitely was now. Ethan harshly bit his tongue for the slip-up.

He and Alabaster had been close for years, but then his siblings were killed and the older boy had retreated in on himself. Then he went and tried to brutally murder his sister and everything went downhill after that.

Now he was the source of Esmerelda's nightmares.

"I mean, um," he swallowed thickly, staring at the pale girl in worry.

"Annabeth," she said with forced calmness. "You should probably take Jason to cabin fifteen, Clovis might be able to help him out."

Annabeth nodded, but not before shooting Ethan a dirty look like she was saying, 'Nice job, now look what you've done'.

"Hold on," Jason said. "What's in Cabin Fifteen?"

"Maybe a way to get your memory back." Annabeth answered.

Everyone filed out of the Big House after that, leaving only Esmerelda, Ethan, and an unconscious Piper in the living room. Neither of them spoke, instead, Esmerelda stood up and was about to use the Mobilicorpus spell on Piper again when Ethan stepped in to offer his help.

"I'll do it," he murmured, picking the girl up. He wasn't very gentle with her at all, especially now that he knew she was mostly okay. He tossed her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes as Esmerelda led the way to the infirmary. Then, he basically just tossed Piper onto the nearest hospital bed.

The silence between them was deafening.

"I'm sorry," Ethan said quietly. "That was stupid of me. I shouldn't have mentioned him—"

"—No, no, it's okay." Esmerelda shook her head. "You were close friends with him, I get it."

She gave him a small smile for reassurance, but the feebleness of it made him feel like a jerk.

"So how was Jason's tour?" She changed the subject.

"Probably as disastrous as yours," he answered, eyeing her carefully to make sure she was really okay. "I don't trust him."

She said nothing about that.

"And I know you and Chiron know something about what's going on," he continued.

The color drained from her face once more. "Ethan," she said in a pleading voice. "I-I can't—"

There was a low groan and both looked down to see Piper stirring to consciousness.

Esmerelda waited until Piper's colorful eyes opened.

"How are you feeling?" She asked.

Piper's hand reached out for the hilt of her dagger, eyes barely in focus.

"Where—" Piper began to speak only to freeze up at the sight of Ethan.

Ethan glared back.

"You're in the infirmary of the Big House," Esmerelda explained. "We brought you here after you collapsed."

"Rachel grabbed me," Piper remembered. "Hera's voice—"

"—She's really sorry about that. Rachel, I mean. Not Hera, she never regrets anything." She clarified. "Do you remember your vision?"

"Something's wrong with the goddess," Piper said, looking away from Ethan's unnerving stare. "She told me to free her, like she's trapped. She mentioned the earth swallowing us, and a fiery one, and something about the solstice. What exactly happened to her?"

"She got kidnapped, good riddance," Ethan snorted. "Oh, and she was the one who wiped away Jason's memories and gave you and your friend all those fake ones."

She stiffened. "It was her?"

"Yeah," Esmerelda winced. "I have no idea why she felt the need to give you those particular memories, but I really feel like it's best to give you back your real ones. You'll just end up confused."

"I told you I don't want that," Piper said tensely.

"But—"

"—I don't want you messing with my head," Piper cut her off, only to shrink when she Ethan's glare intensified.

"She's trying to help you," he said harshly. "You want to walk around with the wrong memories in your head? Unless... that's what you actually want."

Piper hoped she didn't glance away from him too fast.

"Ethan," Esmerelda laughed nervously. "Of course that's not what she wants. Piper's just being cautious. I get it, especially after what already happened... It's totally understandable, Piper. I hope you manage to get your real memories back soon."

But Ethan's glare didn't lessen, and Piper was still too scared to look at him.

"W-well," Esmerelda desperately tried to think of something to say to get rid of this oppressive atmosphere in the room. "I'm sure Jason and Annabeth are done with what they're doing. Do you want me to bring him and Leo over here so you guys can talk?"

"What do you mean...? What are Jason and Annabeth doing?" Piper asked, and Ethan noticed how that was her only concern. There was a flare of jealousy in her voice and eyes.

"They went to cabin fifteen," Esmerelda answered.

"Cabin fifteen."

"Yeah, the Hypnos cabin. We're hoping Clovis—the only child of Hypnos, by the way—can help get Jason's memories back." She explained.

Piper gripped the bed tightly, panic in her eyes. "Get his memories back? Is that—is that possible? I mean, a goddess was the one who took them away in the first place..."

And that was when it finally started to dawn in Ethan's head. Piper didn't want Essie to get rid of the fake memories because she still wanted to cling onto the belief that Jason was her boyfriend, and she didn't want Jason to get his memories back either for that same reason. He was a blank slate for her, if she just kept pushing him a little more than their nonexistent relationship could actually become true. 

But not if he got his memories back. 

Ethan nearly busted out laughing as all the pieces lined up. Oh gods. This was going to be so much fun.

A sadistic smile curled up on his lips, "Well, we gotta try whatever options we have available, you know? We can't just let the poor kid go around clueless. He might have a family back home who misses him... or a girlfriend."

Piper glared at him, but it was a pitiful attempt at most. He had seen scarier looks from his girlfriend when she realized he wasn't cutting the crusts off of Nico's sandwiches.

Esmerelda—bless her sweet heart—had no idea what was going on. "Exactly," she beamed. "Jason must have a lot of loved ones looking for him, just like how Percy has us looking for him. It's best we get him his memories back quickly so he can go home and see them again."

"You want to help him go back home, don't you?" Ethan asked innocently.

Piper's face was white, but there was an anger burning in her eyes. "...Right," she said reluctantly.

"Great!" Esmerelda smiled. "Let's hope the Hypnos cabin works. Now all we have to worry about is when you'll get claimed."

"You mean if?" Piper grumbled bitterly.

"No, no, you'll get claimed," Esmerelda reassured sweetly. "By the end of the day, I know you will. The gods have always claimed their kids since the end of the Second Titan War. Who do you think is your godly parent?"

"I don't know, but I hope it's Athena," Piper said.

Ethan snorted, "You'd actually have to be smart for that."

Esmerelda discreetly nudged him with her elbow.

"Maybe it's Hecate!" She said excitedly.

Piper's face twitched into one of brief disgust. It made Ethan's lips press together in a flat line. Was it Hecate that she didn't like... or was it Esmerelda? It better not be latter...

"I don't think so," Piper denied, more politely now with Ethan nearby.

"How about Aphrodite then? You're quite pretty, and your eyes seem like something Aphrodite would approve of," Esmerelda complimented.

This time, she didn't bother to hide the disgust in her face. "God, I hope not. I'd have to live in that hellhole."

"Actually, it's pretty nice there. The Aphrodite cabin's always the most cleanest and organized," Ethan piped in, having done a couple cabin inspections throughout his time at camp.

"It's pink," Piper scowled.

"It's a color. Get over it." Ethan said flatly. Great. So she was desperately pining after a dude who didn't even know her and she's got internal misogyny. That would explain the unreasonable attitude she had towards Esmerelda.

"The Aphrodite cabin's just way too girly for me," Piper said. "And the people there..."

Esmerelda frowned, "What's wrong with them?"

"Drew's a huge bitch," Piper told her, looking at her like she was crazy for not thinking the same thing. "If she's the one in charge of that cabin, then I don't ever want to meet the other kids."

"You seem to have it out for the Aphrodite kids," Ethan noted. He already knew why, but he wanted to see what sort of stupid excuse she would come up with.

"I saw a couple of them during the tour," Piper scoffed. "Is that all they do? Sit around and obsess over their looks? One guy even had on a pink sweater, what the heck?"

Oh gods, this girl was so pathetic, Ethan inwardly snickered.

"A guy wearing pink, oh the horror," he said sarcastically. "And the Aphrodite kids are badass in their own right. They train just as much as everyone else here, after all."

"They're very deadly," Esmerelda nodded in agreement, reminiscing in the happier times where Silena put Travis in a choke hold because he attempted to shave her eyebrows in her sleep as a dare.

"Right," Piper said, but Ethan had a feeling that she would've been rolling her eyes at them if they had their backs turned.

Suddenly, the conch horn sounded in the distance.

"Dinner?" Piper asked.

"Actually no, that's long since passed," Esmerelda said. "It's time for the campfire. Let's go."

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

When they reached the amphitheater, Esmerelda sat as far away from Jason as she could—which was about a couple feet away (there weren't many spots left available, unfortunately). So she, Ethan, and Piper sat close by, and she tried to ignore the stare coming from the blonde.

Ethan, however, couldn't ignore it.

"He's staring at you," he grumbled.

Piper looked up, realized he was talking about Jason, and her face went stony.

Ethan didn't give a shit about what Piper felt—she didn't exactly have a right to feel jealous since Jason wasn't even her boyfriend. But Ethan was Esmerelda's boyfriend and that weird connection she and Jason seemed to have was seriously grating on his nerves. He couldn't wait until the night was over so he could finally question her about it.

(Plus, her attempts at trying to be inconspicuous were so bad that it was honestly painful to watch.)

After the singalongs, Chiron finally trotted up to the center and everyone fell silent.

"Very nice! And a special welcome to our new arrivals. I am Chiron, camp activities director, and I'm happy you have all arrived here alive and with most of your limbs attached. In a moment, I promise we'll get to the s'mores, but first—"

"—What about capture the flag?" Somebody yelled. Grumbling broke out amongst the Ares cabin.

"Yes," Chiron said. "I know the Ares cabin is anxious to return to the woods for our regular games."

"And kill people!" One of them shouted.

"However," he continued. "Until the dragon is brought under control, that won't be possible. Cabin Nine, anything to report on that?" He turned to Leo's group.

"We're working on it." Nyssa said, clearly uncomfortable with the attention.

More grumbling.

"How, Nyssa?" An Ares kid demanded .

"Really hard," the girl said.

Nyssa sat down to a lot of yelling and complaining, which caused the fire to sputter chaotically. Chiron stamped his hoof against the fire pit stones and the campers fell silent.

"We will have to be patient," Chiron said. "In the meantime, we have more pressing matters to discuss."

"Percy?" Someone asked.

The fire dimmed even further to represent their anxiety.

Chiron gestured to Annabeth. She took a deep breath and stood.

"I didn't find Percy," she announced. Her voice caught a little when she said his name. "He wasn't at the Grand Canyon like I thought. But we're not giving up. We've got teams everywhere. Grover, Tyson, Nico, the Hunters of Artemis—everyone's out looking. We will find him. Chiron's talking about something different. A new quest."

"It's the Great Prophecy, isn't it?" Drew called out.

"Drew?" Annabeth said. "What do you mean?"

"Well, come on," Drew spread her hands like the truth was obvious. "Olympus is closed. Percy's disappeared. Hera sends you a vision and you come back with three new demigods in one day. I mean, something weird is going on. The Great Prophecy has started, right?"

Everyone turned to Rachel expectantly.

"Well?" Drew called down. "You're the oracle. Has it started or not?"

Rachel calmly rose to her feet and addressed the camp.

"Yes," she said. "The Great Prophecy has begun."

Pandemonium broke out. Rachel made another step forward and people quieted down.

"For those of you who have not heard it," she began. "The Great Prophecy was my first prediction. It arrived in August. It goes like this: Nine half-bloods shall answer the call. To storm or fire the world must fall—"

Jason shot to his feet. His eyes looked wild, like he'd just been tasered. Even Rachel seemed caught off guard.

"J-Jason?" She said. "What's—"

"—Ut cum spiritu postrema sacramentum dejuremus," he chanted. "Et hostes ornamenta addent ad ianuam necem."

Esmerelda let out a long sigh and closed her eyes, as if Jason had just signed up for his own funeral.

"You just... finished the prophecy," Rachel stammered. "—An oath to keep with a final breath, And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death. How did you—"

"—I know those lines." Jason winced and put his hands to his temples. "I don't know how, but I know that prophecy."

"In Latin, no less," Drew called out. "Handsome and smart."

There was some giggling from the Aphrodite cabin.

"God, what a bunch of losers,*" Piper mumbled.

"Would you shut up?" Ethan scowled at her. She was lucky Esmerelda was too busy giving Jason a look of pure despair to hear what she had said.

The campfire turned green as everyone muttered anxiously. Chiron stood grim and silent, as if he were watching a play he couldn't interrupt—a tragedy that ended with a lot of people dead onstage.

"Well," Rachel said, trying to regain her composure. "So, yeah, that's the Great Prophecy. We hoped it might not happen for years, but I fear it's starting now. I can't give you proof. It's just a feeling. And like Drew said, some weird stuff is happening. The nine demigods, whoever they are, have not been gathered yet. I get the feeling some are here tonight. Some are not here."

The campers began to stir and mutter, looking at each other nervously, until a drowsy voice in the crowd called out, "I'm here! Oh...were you calling roll?"

"Go back to sleep, Clovis," someone yelled, and a lot of people laughed

Anyway," Rachel continued. "We don't know what the Great Prophecy means. We don't know what challenge the demigods will face, but since the first Great Prophecy predicted the Titan War, we can guess the second Great Prophecy will predict something at least that bad."

"Or worse," Chiron murmured.

"What we do know," Rachel said. "Is that the first phase has begun. A major problem has arisen, and we need a quest to solve it. Hera, the queen of the gods, has been taken."

There was a shocked silence, and then everyone started talking at once. Chiron pounded his hoof to get everyone to shut up. That was when Rachel told them about the incident on the Grand Canyon skywalk—how Gleeson Hedge had sacrificed himself when the storm spirits attacked, and the spirits had warned it was only the beginning. They apparently served some great mistress who would destroy all demigods.

Shocker.

Then Rachel told them about Piper passing out in Hera's cabin. Finally, she finished off with Jason's vision in the living room of the Big House.

"Jason," Rachel said. "Um... do you remember your last name?"

He looked self-conscious, but he shook his head.

"We'll just call you Jason, then," she said. "It's clear Hera herself has issued you a quest."

He set his jaw and nodded. "I agree."

"You must save Hera to prevent a great evil," she continued. "Some sort of king from rising. For reasons we don't yet understand, it must happen by the winter solstice, only four days from now."

"That's the council day of the gods," Annabeth said. "If the gods don't already know Hera's gone, they will definitely notice her absence by then. They'll probably break out fighting, accusing each other of taking her. That's what they usually do."

"The winter solstice," Chiron spoke up. "Is also the time of greatest darkness. The gods gather that day, as mortals always have, because there is strength in numbers. The solstice is a day when evil magic is strong. Ancient magic, older than the gods. It is a day when things... stir."

"Okay," Annabeth said, glaring at him. "Thank you, Captain Sunshine. Whatever's going on, I agree with Rachel. Jason has been chosen to lead this quest, so—"

"—Why hasn't he been claimed?" Somebody yelled from the Ares cabin. "If he's so important—"

"He has been claimed," Chiron announced. "Long ago. Jason, give them a demonstration."

Jason reached into his pocket and pulled out a coin. Then he tossed it up, and it shifted into a seven foot long golden lance in midair.

"Wasn't that..." Annabeth hesitated. "I thought you had a sword."

"Um, it came up tails, I think," Jason said. "Same coin, long-range weapon form."

"Dude, I want one!" An Ares kid yelled.

"Better than Clarisse's electric spear, Lamer!" One of his brothers agreed, only to yelp when said girl whacked him on the head.

"Electric," Jason murmured, like that was a good idea. "Back away."

"Oh shit..." Esmerelda muttered, shrinking in her seat. She looked like she was bracing herself for what was coming up next.

Jason raised his javelin, and thunder broke open the sky. Lightning arced down through the golden spear point and hit the campfire with the force of an artillery shell.

When the smoke cleared, the entire camp sat frozen in shock, half blind, and covered in ashes, staring at the place where the fire had been. Cinders rained down everywhere. A burning log had impaled itself a few inches from the sleeping kid Clovis, who hadn't even stirred.

Jason lowered his lance. "Um... sorry."

Chiron brushed some burning coals out of his beard. He grimaced as if his worst fears had been confirmed. "A little overkill, perhaps, but you've made your point. And I believe we know who your father is."

"Jupiter," Jason said. "I mean Zeus. Lord of the Sky."

Everything broke into chaos, with dozens of people asking questions.

Ethan quickly turned to Esmerelda. "Did you know about this?!" He whispered.

Esmerelda was still pale from the display of lightning.

"I... um..." She said hesitantly. He wasn't blind to the way she would glance up at the sky, as if she was looking up for permission.

Wait. Permission.

The gears in his head were turning.

"Essie..." He said slowly, growing horror in his voice. "Did you—"

"—Hold it!" Annabeth shouted, and all talk ceased.

Ethan closed his mouth, but he shot Esmerelda a look that said that they would be talking about this later.

"How can he be the son of Zeus?" Annabeth questioned. "The Big Three... their pact not to have mortal kids... how could we not have known about him sooner?"

Nobody answered, but Ethan knew that Chiron knew the answer. And so did Esmerelda.

"The important thing," Rachel said. "Is that Jason's here now. He has a quest to fulfill, which means he will need his own prophecy."

She closed her eyes and swooned. A bunch of campers worked together to catch her and grab a seat to ease her onto it. Green mist started swirling around Rachel's feet. When she opened her eyes, they were glowing. Emerald smoke issued from her mouth and the Oracle's ancient voice was heard:

"Child of lightning,

Beware the earth,

The giants' revenge

The nine shall birth,

The forge and dove

Shall break the cage,

And death unleash

Through Hera's rage."

On the last word, Rachel collapsed, but her helpers were waiting to catch her. They carried her away from the hearth and laid her in the corner to rest .

"Is that normal?" Piper asked aloud. "I mean... does she spew green smoke a lot?"

"Gods, you're dense!" Drew sneered. "She just issued a prophecy—Jason's prophecy to save Hera! Why don't you just—"

"—Drew," Annabeth snapped. "Piper asked a fair question. Something about that prophecy definitely isn't normal. If breaking Hera's cage unleashes her rage and causes a bunch of death... why would we free her? It might be a trap, or—or maybe Hera will turn on her rescuers. She's never been kind to heroes."

Jason rose. "I don't have much choice. Hera took my memory. I need it back. Besides, we can't just not help the queen of the heavens if she's in trouble."

Nyssa stood up next. "Maybe. But you should listen to Annabeth. Hera can be vengeful. She threw her own son—our dad—down a mountain just because he was ugly."

"Real ugly," snickered someone from Aphrodite.

"Shut up!" Nyssa growled. "Anyway, we've also got to think—why beware the earth? And what's the giants' revenge? What are we dealing with here that's powerful enough to kidnap the queen of the heavens?"

Annabeth took a deep breath. "It's Jason's quest," she announced. "So it's Jason's choice. Obviously, he's the child of lightning. According to tradition, he may choose any two companions."

Someone from the Hermes cabin yelled, "Well, you, obviously, Annabeth. You've got the most experience."

"No, Travis," Annabeth said. "First off, I'm not helping Hera. Every time I've tried, she's deceived me, or it's come back to bite me later. Forget it. No way. Secondly, I'm leaving first thing in the morning to find Percy."

"It's connected," Piper blurted out."You know that's true, don't you? This whole business, your boyfriend's disappearance—it's all connected."

"How?" Drew demanded. "If you're so smart, how?"

Piper tried to form an answer, but she couldn't.

Annabeth saved her. "You may be right, Piper. If this is connected, I'll find out from the other end—by searching for Percy. As I said, I'm not about to rush off to rescue Hera, even if her disappearance sets the rest of the Olympians fighting again. But there's another reason I can't go. The prophecy says otherwise. "

"It says who I pick," Jason agreed. " The forge and dove shall break the cage. The forge is the symbol of Vul—Hephaestus."

Under the Cabin Nine banner, Nyssa's shoulders slumped, like she'd just been given a heavy anvil to carry.

"If you have to beware the earth," she said. "You should avoid traveling overland. You'll need air transport. The flying chariot's broken, and the pegasi, we'reusing them to search for Percy. But maybe Hephaestus cabin can help figure out something else to help. With Jake incapacitated, I'm senior camper. I can volunteer for the quest."

She didn't sound enthusiastic.

Leo suddenly stood up.

"It's me," he said. His cabin mates stirred. Several tried to pull him back to his seat, but he resisted. "No, it's me. I know it is. I've got an idea for the transportation problem. Let me try. I can fix this!"

Jason studied him for a moment before breaking out into a smile. "We started this together, Leo. Seems only right you come along. You find us a ride, you're in."

"Yes!" Leo pumped his fist.

"It'll be dangerous," Nyssa warned him. "Hardship, monsters, terrible suffering. Possibly none of you will come back alive."

"Oh." Suddenly Leo didn't look so excited. Then he remembered everyone was watching. "I mean... Oh, cool! Suffering? I love suffering! Let's do this."

Annabeth nodded. "Then, Jason, you only need to choose the third quest member. The dove—"

"—Oh, absolutely!" Drew was on her feet and flashing Jason a smile. "The dove is Aphrodite. Everybody knows that. I am totally yours."

Piper's hands clenched. She stepped forward. "No."

Drew rolled her eyes. "Oh, please, Dumpster girl. Back off."

"I had the vision of Hera; not you. I have to do this."

"Anyone can have a vision," Drew said. "You were just at the right place at the right time."

She turned to Jason. "Look, fighting is all fine, I suppose. And people who build things..." She looked at Leo in disdain. "Well, I suppose someone has to get their hands dirty. But you need charm on your side. I can be very persuasive. I could help a lot."

Ethan closed his eye and let out a groan of annoyance, feeling the effects of Drew's charmspeak try and invade his mind. It took him a couple seconds to fight it off, but he managed. Back on the Princess Andromeda, Alabaster would always charmspeak him into doing the most dumbest things. One time, he tried to force him to do the WAP in the middle of the cafeteria and that was the first time he actually snapped out of it.

(He also punched Alabaster that day too.)

But anyways, ever since then, it had become a lot easier for him to free himself of any mind control. When Esmerelda asked how he got so good, he lied and blurted something about doing a bunch of super strenuous mind exercises. Naturally, she was amazed. He felt bad for lying but it sounded a lot cooler then the truth...

He felt a small hand on his shoulder. "You okay?"

Esmerelda's voice.

"Yeah," he grunted, relaxing his body. "Her charmspeak's irritating. Almost as bad as having to listen to her actual voice."

"No!" Piper suddenly cried out. "I'm supposed to go!"

Ethan grimaced. "Actually, scratch that. Listening to her voice is a lot worse."

"Wait," Esmerelda murmured, eyes wide as she looked around. "Piper... Piper has charmspeak."

He blinked. "What?" He turned and, to his greatest disbelief, people were actually nodding along. The only one—other than them—who wasn't doing that was Drew. She was looking around incredulously.

A bright grin appeared over Esmerelda's face. "She has charmspeak! Maybe she's my sister!"

Ethan stared at her with a pinched expression. "Babe... no... you wouldn't want that."

She blinked at him. "What do you mean?"

"Essie, sweetie, trust me, you do not want someone like her as a sister. You and Lou Ellen deserve better," he told her gently.

"Ethan, that's mean," she said, pouting slightly.

Oh you poor, sweet, clueless thing, he thought.

"Get over it!" Drew snapped at the crowd. "What can Piper do?"

Everyone snapped out of their weird daze and looked over at Piper expectantly. She didn't speak, and Ethan hoped it would stay that way. As much as he disliked Drew, she had a better résumé then a girl who literally just arrived to camp several hours ago and spent most of her time passed out. Drew might not have been in any quests, but she had been here for years and participated in the Second Titan War. She took charge of her cabin after Silena died. She survived.

"Well," Drew said smugly after no one spoke up. "I guess that settles it."

Suddenly Piper was surrounded in a red glow. Everyone gasped. In less than a second she had been given a makeover. Her clothes had changed into a fancy gown, her hair and makeup was perfect, and her skin was clear. She scrambled for her dagger and stared at her reflection, her face contorting into horror.

She was a daughter of Aphrodite. The very goddess whose children she mocked.

Ethan couldn't hold it in anymore. He burst out into laughter, effectively scaring the shit out of everyone nearby him. Even Esmerelda was looking at him as if he had grown two heads.

"Oh gods," he wheezed, feeling his eye water from how hard he was laughing. "Now this is what you call poetic justice."

— author's note —

* So the part where Piper said "God, what a bunch of losers" when the Aphrodite kids started giggling actually happened in CANON! The only difference is that she thinks it, whereas in my book I make her say it out loud.

The best thing about writing Piper is that I don't even have to do much to make her look bad, she does it on her own 😂 Seriously you guys, literally half of the things you read her say and do (and will continue reading about) are taken directly from the canon books. I barely have to make any changes 😂 😂 😂

Hera realizing she entrusted her big secret to Essie, one of the dumbest demigods alive and the worse secret-keeper ever: 

Piper, who has very obvious internalized misogyny and has openly dissed the Aphrodite kids: *is claimed by Aphrodite*

Ethan:

GOT ANOTHER GIF YOU GUYS 🥰

This one was made by Lunar Eclipse (from Quotev):

Okay but for real guys, Piper is so.... ugh. And about that comment about guys wearing pink, SHE IS DEFINITELY THE TYPE TO GET WEIRDED OUT BY THAT!!! Just look at this quote from the The Lost Hero chapter fifteen:

"The campers kept working, though Piper couldn't see why the cabin needed much cleaning. It was a life-size dollhouse, with pink walls and white window trim. The lace curtains were pastel blue and green, which of course matched the sheets and feather comforters on all the beds.

The guys had one row of bunks separated by a curtain, but their section of the cabin was just as neat and orderly as the girls'. Something was definitely unnatural about that."

And when I read it I was like ?!?!?!?!?!

So boys can't be neat and orderly, Piper??? Because they're boys, their side of the room MUST be messy and gross because it's just the MANLY thing to do??? Boys who are neat and orderly are just sooooo unmanly and too feminine, is that it??? What, are you saying you live like a godamn slob cuz you're nOt LiKe oTheR gIRls????

Omg I hate her so much, I wouldn't be surprised if she was the type of person to use 'gay' as an insult smh. And yeah yeah, I know she turns out to be bi in TOA, but I highly doubt that was planned because Piper did NOT show any signs of being bi throughout HOO. Rick most likely made her bi to make her more likable 🙄

So yeah, her bashing a random boy for wearing pink seems pretty on point with her shitty character