The Blood of Olympus

Chapter 5: Piper

Hello everyone, I am so sorry for making you all wait two and a half weeks for an update. In my defense, I was away, but still...anyways, please enjoy chapter 5, my last update of the year!

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Chapter 5: Piper

It took Piper a second to realize that charging at a rocky giant without any weapons may not be the best move. At least Frank was smart enough to change into a huge gorilla like monster that bore a certain resemblance to King Kong, but Jason was charging straight at the pile of rocks that was Symple, as if determined to crush it with his bare hands.

Boys, Piper sighed inwardly. She stopped running, and took a deep breath, determined to come up with an actual plan besides a kamikaze charge.

Hazel was still using the mountain of precious metals to keep Symple down, so Piper decided to make herself useful and find their weapons. Hopefully Jason could hold out a couple minutes without knocking himself out on Symple.

She gazed around the shrine, but nothing caught her eye. The entire shrine was made of smooth white marble, and there was no where for, say, a secret door to another cellar.

A hand grasped Piper's shoulder, and she turned around to see a weak Annabeth, being supported by Percy and Leo.

"Piper," Annabeth groaned, "I - " a coughing fit overtook her.

"She thinks she knows where the weapons are," Percy supplied. Piper could see how worried he was about Annabeth, so she decided to take matters into her own hands.

Piper knelt down besides Annabeth as a huge boulder soared past her head. Apparently Frank had scored a hit,

"Where are the weapons?" she asked nervously,

"Altar....inside...." Annabeth groaned. Her face was sickly pale, and sweat was beading at her forehead. Piper nodded, then said, pouring charmspeak into her voice,

"Okay, now I want you to go away from the shrine, find that hole near the hill, remember? Okay, go into that hole, and go to sleep, and we'll come get you later,"

Annabeth frowned, "Um - Piper, that's - "

"A great idea!" Percy intervened, shooting Piper a grateful look,

"Yeah, Annabeth you should go there!" Leo interjected, "like, right now,"

"Yes, Annabeth go," Piper put so much charmspeak into that last word, Annabeth immediately got up and obediently walked out of the shrine. Hopefully if they got out of the shrine alive, they could find her. If not...well then it wouldn't really matter what happened...

"Okay, let's go find the weapons," Percy said to Piper and Leo, looking relieved now that Annabeth was out of harm's way, "Annabeth said something about...inside the altar?"

They rushed over to the altar as Frank grappled with Symple in bear form, and Jason flew overhead, alternately blasting Symple with lightning and using the winds to make him go off balance. Hazel was somehow holding her own against Gade, who had made an untimely appearance. She was basically holding together a gigantic mound of gold and silver in the shape of a club and was bashing Gade around with it, while using it to deflect his strikes. Where she was finding the strength, Piper had no idea. There was a lot more to Hazel than met the eye.

There wasn't really anything special about the altar. It was smooth, made out of pure gold, on a white marble pedestal. The only unusual thing about it was the carvings at the base. They weren't in Ancient Greek, something older...and more powerful.