SAFE . . . reyna ramirez-arellano

51 - power ( less )

BRIAR COULDN'T EXPLAIN how she knew.

She'd learned to trust her gut feelings a long time ago — they were usually right, she knew it, as the perceptive daughter of Venus with years of legion training to accompany it. It's how she survived most of her battles, especially her battle with Koios.

She internally shivered when she remembered that battle. It was one of the first memories she'd truly gotten back, and she'd screamed out when she got it and nearly went to the Apollo cabin to temporarily cure her trauma, but she'd used her charmspeak to make them leave her alone. The only reason she was still alive after that battle was because of her gut feelings, and because the gods favored her. They wouldn't have let her die in that battle. And emotions were the only thing she could use to outsmart the smartest Titan.

Briar had a gut sense that the eidolons were still present, simply because no one had told them to go away.

When she was done explaining, the others looked at her uncomfortably. Up on deck, Hedge sang something that sounded like "In the Navy" while Scipio and Blackjack stomped their hooves, whinnying in protest.

Finally Hazel exhaled. "Briar is right."

"How can you be sure?" Annabeth asked.

"I've met eidolons," Hazel said. "In the Underworld, when I was . . . you know."

Dead.

Briar had forgotten that Hazel was a second-timer. In her own way, Hazel too was 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," Briar said. "We don't know."

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

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

"Do what?" Percy asked.

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

Briar met their eyes, one person at a time.

"Eidolons," she said, using her charmspeak, "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 raised his hand.

Reyna, Jason, and Percy did the same. Their eyes had turned glassy and gold. 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 Briar imploringly. "Can you cure them?"

Briar bit her lip sharply. She wanted to whimper and hide under the table, but she had to help Reyna. She couldn't believe she'd done the most embarrassing PDA with . . . no. She refused to think about it.

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

"No," he said in a hollow voice. "The Earth Mother sent four. The strongest, the best. We will live again."

"Not here, you won't," Briar snorted. "All four of you, listen carefully."

Reyna, Jason, and Percy turned toward her. Those gold eyes were unnerving, but seeing them like that fueled Briar's anger.

"You will leave those bodies," she commanded.

"No," Percy said.

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