Hurricane ~ L. Valdez

2.10 - Caught

       Everyone stopped talking. I gripped Leo's hand, shaking in his jacket. 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. Sometimes I forget that Hazel was, in her own way, a ghost reborn.

       "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." Ok, um... that's not scary at all.

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

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

       "Do what?" Percy and I asked.

      "Just listen, okay?" Piper took a deep breath. "Everybody listen." Piper met our eyes, one person at a time. "Eidolons," she said, and I could hear her charmspeak dripping from her voice, "raise your hands." There was tense silence.

      Leo laughed nervously. "Did you really think that was going to—?" His voice died. His face went slack. He let go of my hand and raised his. Jason and Percy did the same. Their eyes had turned glassy and gold.

      My breath caught in my throat and I tensed up, looking at the boys on either side of me. Hazel caught her breath. Next to Leo, Frank scrambled out of his chair and put his back against the wall.

       "Oh, gods." Annabeth looked at Piper imploringly. "Can you cure them?" Piper took a deep breath, turning to Leo.

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

       "No," Leo said in a hollow voice. "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." Jason and Percy turned toward her. "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." Now I don't know what in Hades that meant but Frank staggered back 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 that's Leo!" I warned.

        Hazel rose, hoping to stop her boyfriend as well. Next to her, Jason drew his sword.

       "Stop!" Piper ordered, but her voice quavered.

      "Listen to Piper." Hazel said, and 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 as if to restrain him, but I quickly gestured for her to stop.

       "Listen, eidolons," Hazel said sternly, "you do not belong here. I may not command you, but Piper does. Obey her." She turned toward Piper, her expression clear: Try again. You can do this.