Heroes of Olympus Series. Annabeth Chase X Male Reader Story

Measuring Our Horse Power

Piper's POV

Piper didn't want to use the knife. But sitting in Jason's cabin, waiting for him to wake up, she felt alone and helpless. Jason's face was so pale, he might've been dead. She remembered the awful sound of that brick hitting his forehead.

An injury that had happened only because he'd tried to shield her from the Romans. Even with the nectar and ambrosia they'd managed to force-feed him, Piper couldn't be sure he would be okay when he woke up.

 What if he'd lost his memories again—but this time, his memories of her? That would be the cruelest trick the gods had played on her yet, and they'd played some pretty cruel tricks.

She heard Gleeson Hedge in his room next door, humming a military song—"Stars and Stripes Forever," maybe? Since the satellite TV was out, the satyr was probably sitting on his bunk reading back issues of Guns & Ammo magazine.

He wasn't a bad chaperone, but he was definitely the most warlike old goat Piper had ever met. Of course she was grateful to the satyr. He had helped her dad, movie actor Tristan McLean, get back on his feet after being kidnapped by giants the past winter.

A few weeks ago, Hedge had asked his girlfriend, Mellie, to take charge of the McLean household so he could come along to help with this quest. Coach Hedge had tried to make it sound like returning to Camp Half-Blood had been all his idea, but Piper suspected there was more to it.

The last few weeks, whenever Piper called home, her dad and Mellie had asked her what was wrong. Maybe something in her voice had tipped them off. Piper couldn't share the visions she'd seen. They were too disturbing.

Besides, her dad had taken a potion that had erased all of Piper's demigod secrets from his memory. But he could still tell when she was upset, and she was pretty sure her dad had encouraged Coach to look out for her.

She shouldn't draw her blade. It would only make her feel worse. She had been debating it for what felt like hours when (Y/N) showed up. Seeing him made her stomach turn. Not from disgust but discomfort.

She was happy to see him, but also couldn't get the image of him attacking Leo out of her head. This was not how she had imagined the reunion with him would end up. When he offered to help Jason, she almost jumped at the chance.

But there was that little voice in the back of her mind that warned her against it, what if this grey magic, whatever it was, did more harm than good to Jason? Or worse, what if (Y/N) had been turned against them by the Romans.

After going after Leo was this his attempt at hurting Jason too? The moment that thought dared cross her mind, she knew she had gone too far, she hadn't known (Y/N) long, but he wasn't the kind of person to ever do that.

Still even as he left after 'healing' Jason, telling her that he wanted to have a talk with her later, Piper felt uneasy, so uneasy in fact she did something slightly drastic. Finally the temptation was too great. She unsheathed Katoptris. 

It didn't look very special, just a triangular blade with an unadorned hilt, but it had once been owned by Helen of Troy. The dagger's name meant "looking glass." Piper gazed at the bronze blade. At first, she saw only her reflection. 

Then light rippled across the metal. She saw a crowd of Roman demigods gathered in the forum. The blond scarecrow-looking kid, Octavian, was speaking to the mob, shaking his fist. Piper couldn't hear him, but the gist was obvious: We need to kill those Greeks!

Reyna, the praetor, stood to one side, her face tight with suppressed emotion. Bitterness? Anger? Piper wasn't sure. She'd been prepared to hate Reyna, but she couldn't. During the feast in the forum, Piper had admired the way Reyna kept her feelings in check.