no matter how many times a snake shed its skin, it would always be a snake. no matter how hard kit dempsey tried to prove he was no longer a traitor, camp half-blood would always view him as the boy who betrayed them for kronos. but not leo valdez...
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CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: VIOLENT DELIGHTS
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AFTER WATCHING PIPER CHARM apilot into offering them a ride in their helicopter, Kit came to the conclusion that Piper McLean was an absolute powerhouse. Of course, she'd already shown the signs, but this topped everything Kit had seen her do to date. Each word came without hesitation, sickly sweet and unable to be denied. Just five minutes later, they were carrying Tristan towards the bay doors where the bleary-eyed pilot waited.
"What's wrong with him?" the woman slurred, flickers of suspicion breaking through her confused haze.
"Smoke inhalation," Jason said with a not-so-subtle glimpse around the destroyed clearing. He shuddered at the giant-sized crater and turned his back on the scene. "Or heat exhaustion..."
She followed his gaze and grimaced. "We should get him to a hospital."
"It's okay," Piper cut in calmly. "The airport is good."
Kit half-expected the pilot to argue, but she merely smiled and nodded. "Yeah, the airport is good." A brief frown tugged at her eyebrows. She stared at Tristan for a moment, a minute too long to be considered unimportant. "Isn't he Tristan McLean, the movie star?"
"No," Piper denied, her jaw clenching the slightest bit. She held her dad's arm tighter, defensive almost. "He only looks like him. Forget it."
"Right... only looks like him..." As the charmspeak washed over her once again, her frown faded into an unbothered smile. "I forgot what I was saying. Let's get going."
With that, she stepped aside to let them through, merely waiting by the door for her next instructions. Her blank, unexpecting expression sent uneasy chills down Kit's spine, and miserable ones down Piper's. This wasn't something she was proud of, being able to warp people's minds, forcing them into agreeing with decisions they wouldn't have willingly made. If given the opportunity, this pilot wouldn't have hesitated to flee. But under Piper's command, she didn't have a choice anymore. She'd do whatever Piper wanted, her conscience trapped too deep to hear.
Once, Kit would've made a joke about it.
Now, he just felt sick.
The second they had Tristan settled across one of the benches, Piper commanded the pilot to get behind the controls. She did so without question, her knuckles bone white as she death-gripped the wheel. They left the burning mountain behind. The only evidence they'd even been there in the first place was their smoke-scented clothes and the blood slowly drying across Kit's face.
He would've tried to wipe it away, but his limbs felt heavy, weighed down by exhaustion and anticipation.
"Piper," Tristan suddenly gasped, his voice sharp and horrified in the silence. He sounded like he was about to cry. Piper's own eyes went glassy. "It's you? They told me... they told me you would die! They said... horrible things would happen."
