Blood of Olympus FanFic {completed}

33: PIPER

CH 33- PIPER

Helen stared at the ex-Queen of Libya, waking slowly but certainly, stirring. "That isn't possible," Helen said. "That's not possible," she repeated.

Under them, the Earth seemed to rumble, and Helen shot up. "Gaea!" she demanded. "Why are you doing this to me?"

Piper's arm felt like it was on fire. She crawled to Helen's Gucci bag and extracted a flask of what she assumed must be nectar. She hesitated, then downed the whole thing. Her arm felt instantly better, completely healed though there was suddenly a mild pain in her stomach, which she dismissed.

"Oh, Helen," crooned the voice of the Earth. "I expected so much from you, and so little from Lamia, however you have disappointed me and she has pleasantly surprised me."

"That's because I'm smarter than her," Helen countered, throwing a quick glance in the direction of Lamia, whose hands were twitching. "I realised your ideas were flawed sooner than her."

The Earth seemed to hiss, sending little clodpoll's of mud flying.  "My ideas are far from flawed, dear Helen. You will come to realise that in your own time."

"So, why are you waking her?" asked Helen.

"My dear, it has become obvious you are now unfaithful to me. I have decided to dispose of you," Gaea informed Helen.

Helen stood very still for a moment. Then, she said clearly. "Okay, Gaea. But you won't get rid of me that easily."

That's when Lamia stood up, a knife in her hand. She started to move towards them. Piper was frozen in time: she assumed this had something to do with Gaea. But then Helen's iPhone buzzed: it read "Text from Unknown: Message: DUCK!"

Without thinking, Piper plunged into the Earth which complied by swallowing her. She screamed but only gulped dirt as maniacal laughter grew louder around her.

She was going to suffocate... she was...

"AGHHHHHHH!" 

"Sorry!" Frank stood with his hand covering his mouth. "I didn't mean to pull you out by your hair!"

Piper groaned and rolled over. Her hair felt like it had been electrified. 

"How did you get here?" she demanded of Frank.

"Well, I eventually transformed back and I got this Iris-Message kind of vision from... your mom. I guess she transported me to the olive grove and gave me an iPhone." Frank held the white phone up in front of his face, looking puzzled in a cute way. "She told me to text Helen then fly in as a vulture and kill Lamia."

Piper could hardly reply... Aphrodite had done all of this? For her? She swallowed, then stared at Frank again. Then, propulsed by a sudden feeling of affection, she rushed towards him and threw herself into his arms, like a blubbering mess.

Frank simply hugged her back. He didn't say anything, just hugged her until she finally pulled away and apologized. "Sorry, I guess..."

"Emotion overload?" Frank suggested.

Piper coughed out a strangled laugh and nodded, a mix of hysteria and mental unstability. 

"I deal with that a lot. Especially when my mom..." Frank trailed off. His big black eyes looked incredibly sad.

Piper sat down, feeling tired and absolutely drained. But then, jumping up, she remembered, "Helen!"

"Oh no!" Frank cried immediately. "She's still under!"

"WHAT?" Piper shrieked.

Without another word, Frank had transformed into a mole and disappeared under the Earth. A moment later, Piper shrieked as a tunnel appeared and a hand protruded from it. Nevertheless, she grabbed the hand and yanked. A few minutes later, there was another hand and part of Helen's head that were revealed. Piper, with the help of Frank-the-mole heaved her out. As soon as her whole body was de-earthed, Helen began to cough violently, dirt spewing out of her mouth.