Heroes with Wands

Chapter 36

Ginny

I sat with Neville in front of the fireplace. It was really starting to get cold here. It was the middle of January, and for some reason it was just getting cold.

The door to the Argo II swung open and the demigods entered, all but Nico and Thalia. Everyone stopped to look at them. I had to admit, they looked quite intimidating.

Percy and Jason were throwing punches, and they were obviously angry with each other. Piper and Hazel were slouched together. Frank was gripping his bow tightly. Leo couldn't keep his fingers from lighting up. And Annabeth was throwing her knife in the air and catching the handle every time.

"Boys, enough," Piper said tiredly, pacing the common room. Jason and Percy were on the ground now. Percy's nose was bleeding and Jason's eye was turning purple.

"Beaten by a son of Poseidon," Jason spat. His voice was...strange. "What a shameful son of Zeus."

Piper stopped. "What did you just say?"

"Something about being shameful," mumbled Hazel. "But he said Zeus, not Jupiter. Could it be-?" She looked quizzically at her friends.

"No," Frank said. "Piper made them swear on the Styx not to possess any of us ever again." I hopped over the couch and joined them, being the only wizard of the prophecy there.

"What?" I stood next to Annabeth as she stared at Percy and Jason, who continued to fight.

"Eidolons," Annabeth replied. "Possessing spirits from the Underworld. We encountered them a while ago, after leaving Camp Jupiter, but Piper made them swear not to come back."

"Can't they break a promise?" Dean asked, joining us. I kept my distance. "Anybody can, right?"

Piper shook her head. "Not exactly," she said over the noise. The boys were beating each other to a pulp. Annabeth and Piper didn't seem to mind. "If you make a swear on the River Styx, it's unbreakable, unless you want to die."

Neville jerked up. "Kind of like the Unbreakable Vow," he said. "The same thing, except it's with wizards."

I nodded. "Neville's right. Is there anything about the eidolons you know for sure you'd recognize about them?"

Piper snapped her fingers. "Gold eyes. When they were possessed in Kansas, their eyes were gold. So were Leo's at Camp Jupiter. But their eyes aren't gold now."

"Then it's not eidolons," I said. "Unless there are any other Greek or Roman possessing spirits, I think this is a wizard's doing. Let's just figure out who's screwing with the boys."

"I agree." Annabeth stalked over to Percy, who's face was bleeding and purple, and grabbed his shoulder, jerking him over to her. "Percy. What did I see when we were attacked by the Sirens?"

Percy looked up at her, blinking blankly. "Um, your mum and dad?" His voice wasn't his-it was deeper, older. And British. Annabeth flinched. Had he guessed correctly?

Annabeth tightened her grip on him. She was pale and shaky. What did her mum and dad have to do with anything? "What did you do on Mount Saint Helens?"

Piper tapped Jason's shoulder. "When was our first kiss?"

Neither of the boys replied.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked in, laughing. Then they saw that scene, with the two boys bruised and beaten, Annabeth and Piper grabbing them, Hazel glaring at the boys with her arms crossed, and Frank and Leo staring in astonishment, and silenced, approaching.

"What's going on?" asked Ron. "Why are they bleeding?"

"We'd like to know the answer to that, too," Hazel said, her jaw set tightly. Her eyes were hard.