The hidden passenger

12.

Jason didn't argue. The other demigods stared at their plates, except for Percy, who continued to enjoy his pizza.

"So let's plan ahead," Percy suggested, "and make sure we don't die. Mr. D—Bacchus— Ugh, do I have to call him Mr. B now?"

    "Does it matter what we call him? I know I can't see the difference between B and D when they're written down. I'm pretty sure Frank is the only one of us who doesn't have dyslexia." Delta pointed out.

    "Anyway, he mentioned the twins in Ella's prophecy. Two giants. Otis and, uh, something that started with an F?"

"Ephialtes," Jason said.

"See! That doesn't even start with an F, it starts with an E."

"Twin giants, like Piper saw in her blade..." Annabeth ran her finger along the rim of her cup. "I remember a story about twin giants. They tried to reach Mount Olympus by piling up a bunch of mountains."

Frank nearly choked. "Well, that's great. Giants who can use mountains like building blocks. And you say Bacchus killed these guys with a pinecone on a stick?"

"Something like that," Percy said. "I don't think we should count on his help this time. He wanted a tribute, and he made it pretty clear it would be a tribute we couldn't handle."

Silence fell around the table. Piper could hear Coach Hedge above deck singing "Blow the Man Down," except he didn't know the lyrics, so he mostly sang, "Blah-blah-hum-de-dum-dum."

"She wants two of us," Piper murmured.

  Everyone turned to look at her.

"Oh, so we are bringing that up? I thought that was just gonna be one of those things we ignored, like how Leo is traumatized from his childhood—sorry Leo—or how this prophecy mentions someone's last breath."

Everyone turned to look at Delta instead.

"Keep looking at Piper, please. This is scary." Delta gestured to the girl near her.

"Today on the highway," Piper said, "Gaea told me that she needed the blood of only two demigods—one female, one male. She—she asked me to choose which boy would die."

Jason squeezed her hand. "But neither of us died. You saved us."

"I know. It's just...Why would she want that?"

Leo whistled softly. "Guys, remember at the Wolf House? Our favorite ice princess, Khione? She talked about spilling Jason's blood, how it would taint the place for generations. Maybe demigod blood has some kind of power."

"Oh..." Percy set down his third pizza slice. He leaned back and stared at nothing as if the horse kick to his head had just now registered.

"Percy?" Annabeth gripped his arm.

"Oh, bad," he muttered. "Bad. Bad." He looked across the table at Frank and Hazel. "You guys remember Polybotes?"

"The giant who invaded Camp Jupiter," Hazel said. "The anti-Poseidon you whacked in the head with a Terminus statue. Yes, I think I remember."

"I had a dream," Percy said, "when we were flying to Alaska. Polybotes was talking to the gorgons, and he said—he said he wanted me taken prisoner, not killed. He said: 'I want that one chained at my feet, so I can kill him when the time is ripe. His blood shall water the stones of Mount Olympus and wake Earth Mother!'"

"You think the giants would use our blood...the blood of two of us—" Piper wondered.

"I don't know," Percy said. "But until we figure it out, I suggest we all try to avoid getting captured."

    Jason grunted. "That I agree with."

    "But how do we figure it out?" Hazel asked. "The Mark of Athena, the twins, Ella's prophecy...how does it all fit together?"

    Annabeth pressed her hands against the edge of the table. "Piper, you told Leo to set our course for Atlanta."

    "Right," Piper said. "Bacchus told us we should seek out...what was his name?"

    "Phorcys," Percy said.

    Annabeth looked surprised like she wasn't used to her boyfriend having the answers. "You know him?"

    Percy shrugged. "I didn't recognize the name at first. Then Bacchus mentioned saltwater, and it rang a bell. Phorcys is an old sea god from before my dad's time. Never met him, but supposedly he's a son of Gaea. I still don't understand what a sea god would be doing in Atlanta."

    "What were you doing away from Annabeth in New Roman? What was Jason doing in Camp Half-Blood away from his cohort? What were Nico and I doing in that stupid Casino away from our families? Why were any demigods being put in danger instead of with their loved ones? The Fates have no reasoning except for wanting chaos and pain for lesser beings.

    Leo snorted. "To end on a lighter bit. What's a wine god doing in Kansas? Gods are weird. Anyway, we should reach Atlanta by noon tomorrow, unless something else goes wrong."

    "Don't even say that," Annabeth muttered. "It's getting late. We should all get some sleep."

    "Wait," Piper said.

    Once more, everyone looked at her.

    "There's one last thing," she said. "The eidolons—the possessing spirits. They're still here, in this room."

    When she was done explaining, the others looked at her uncomfortably. Up on deck, Hedge sang something that sounded like "In the Navy" while Blackjack stomped his hooves, whinnying in protest.

    Finally Hazel exhaled. "Piper is right."

    "How can you be sure?" Annabeth asked.

    "I've met eidolons," Hazel said. "In the Underworld, when I was...you know."

    Dead.

    "So..." Frank rubbed his hand across his buzz-cut hair as if some ghosts might have invaded his scalp. "You think these things are lurking on the ship, or—"

    "Possibly lurking inside some of us," Piper said. "We don't know."

    Jason clenched his fist. "If that's true—"

    "We have to take steps," Piper said. "I think I can do this."

                ~~~~~~~~~~•~~~~~~~~~~

Written: who knows, not me
Published: February 3, 2022
Edited: _____ __, ____

    Hello, I am so sorry for this super long break, but I'm back and decided that I'm going to take a break from this series after finishing this book to publish another Percy Jackson series.
    In other news it's almost been a year since I published The Hidden Follower so I will do a special chapter for that.