Waves of Fire || Leo Valdez

VI - Piper Performs Exorcism

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."

"Do what?" Percy asked.

"Just listen, okay?" Piper took a deep breath. "Everybody listen."

Piper met our eyes, one person at a time.

"Eidolons," she said, using her charmspeak, "raise your hands."

There was a tense silence. When nothing happened, I relaxed a bit. Maybe Piper and Hazel had been wrong. Maybe the eidolons had fled when they knew we were on to them.

Leo laughed nervously. "Did you really think that was going to—?"

His voice died. His face went slack. He raised his hand.

Jason and Percy did the same. Their eyes had turned glassy and gold. Hazel caught her breath. Frank and I, who'd been sitting on either side of Leo, scrambled out of our chairs. Frank put his back against the wall. I made a heroic squeaking sound and ran towards Frank. I figured since he was the largest, he would offer more protection.

"Oh, gods," I murmured. "Oh, my gods." I started remembering the worst parts of my encounter with Leo when he'd been possessed.

Annabeth looked at Piper imploringly. "Can you cure them?"

"Are there more of you on this ship?" she asked Leo.

"No," Leo said in a hollow voice, the voice he'd spoken in when he was firing on New Rome. It made me shudder. "The Earth Mother sent three. The strongest, the best. We will live again."

"Not here, you won't," Piper growled. "All three of you, listen carefully."
must've been unnerving, but seeing all three boys like that seemed fuel Piper's anger.

"You will leave those bodies," she commanded.

"No," Percy said.

Leo let out a soft hiss. "We must live."

Frank fumbled for his bow. "Mars Almighty, that's creepy! Get out of here, spirits! Leave our friends alone!"

Leo turned toward him. "You cannot command us, child of war. Your own life is fragile. Your soul could burn at any moment."

"Shut up!" I said.

Leo looked at me coldly, and I flinched. "I have fought with you before, daughter of the sea. And I have won. You cannot control us, either."

Frank staggered like he'd been punched in the gut. He drew an arrow, his hands shaking. "I—I've faced down worse things than you. If you want a fight—"

"Frank, don't." Hazel rose.

Next to her, Jason drew his sword.

"Stop!" Piper ordered.

"Listen to Piper." Hazel pointed at Jason's sword. The gold blade seemed to grow heavy in his hand. It clunked to the table and Jason sank back into his chair.

Percy growled in a very un-Percy-like way. "Daughter of Pluto, you may control gems and metals. You do not control the dead."

Annabeth reached toward him to restrain him, but Hazel waved her off.

"Listen, eidolons," Hazel said sternly, "You do not belong here. I may not command you, but Piper does. Obey her."

"You will leave those bodies," Piper repeated, even more forcefully.

Jason's face tightened. His forehead beaded with sweat. "We—we will leave these bodies."

"You will vow on the River Styx never to return to this ship," Piper continued, "and never to possess any member of this crew."

Leo and Percy both hissed in protest.

"You will promise on the River Styx," Piper insisted.

A moment of tension. Then all three eidolons spoke in unison: "We promise on the River Styx."

"You are dead," Piper said.

"We are dead," they agreed.

"Now, leave."

All three boys slumped forward. Percy fell face-first into his pizza.

"Percy!" Annabeth grabbed him.

Piper and Hazel caught Jason's arms as he slipped out of his chair.

Leo fell toward Frank and me, and I lunged to intercept him, but his weight made me fall over too. Leo and I hit the floor.

"Ow!" he groaned. I rubbed my head.