BABY DON'T CUT - jason grace

Chapter Five

Jason was having a talk with Chiron when footsteps reverberated on the porch outside of the big house. The front door blew open, and Annabeth and another girl, a redhead, burst in, dragging Piper between them, with Estella rushing in behind them. Piper's head lolled like she was unconscious.

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

  "Hera's cabin," Annabeth gasped, like they'd run all the way. "Vision. Bad. "

  The redheaded girl looked up, and Jason saw that she had been crying.

  "I think ..." The redheaded girl gulped. "I think I may have killed her. "

•••

  Jason and the redhead who introduced herself as Rachel, put Piper on the couch while Annabeth rushed down the hall to get a med kit. Estella leaned over Piper. Piper was still breathing, but she wouldn't wake up. She seemed to be in some kind of coma.

  "We've got to heal her," Jason insisted. "There's a way, right?"

  Seeing her sopale, barely breathing, Jason felt a surge of protectiveness. Maybe he didn't really know her. Maybe she wasn't actually one of his best friends. But they'd survived the Grand Canyon together. They'd come all this way.

  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 and Piper and Estella came in while I was there. We talked, and then—I just blanked out. Annabeth said I spoke in a different voice. "

  "A prophecy?" Chiron asked.

  "No. The spirit of Delphi comes from within. I know how that feels. This was like long distance, a power trying to speak through me. "

"Is she going to be okay?" Estella asked.

  Before anyone could answer, Annabeth ran in with a leather pouch. She knelt next to Piper. "Chiron, what happened back there—I've never seen anything like it. I've heard Rachel's prophecy voice. This was different. She sounded like an older woman. She 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.

  When he was done, no one spoke, which made him more nervous and anxious.

  "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. "

  Annabeth frowned. "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 said. "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—"