ALL RIGHTS TO THE CHARACTERS (except Celeste, she's mine.) BELONG TO THE AMAZING RICK RIORDAN. I DO NOT OWN THE PJO/HoO SERIES!!!

Chapter 19 - Jason

No one realized Celeste was in trouble until they heard the scream. It was definitely Celeste's scream.

The first one to react was Percy. He shot straight out of the room, his sword already in his hand.

The others had no choice but to follow him. Jason was the last one out the door. Piper was beside him, holding her cornucopia.

"Gonna pelt the old lady with some pineapples, Pipes?" Jason teased. She shoved him lightly.

"No." She said.

"Why don't you use your knife?" Jason asked.

Piper shrugged and unsheathed her dagger, Katropis.

"Annabeth said it's never seen battle. Maybe I'm keeping the tradition." Piper said.

Jason nodded, smiling. Then, Celeste's scream came again, and his smile melted. He didn't really know Celeste, or really trust her, but she didn't deserve to die. Jason had the urge to help Celeste, even though that girl could fight pretty well on her own.

Jason wondered how Celeste got captured in the first place. She was such a great fighter. He had seen her take out Percy with a few blows. He figured she wasn't paying attention and was weak from being unconscious for several hours.

Suddenly, Piper grabbed Jason's arm.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"I feel them again." Piper muttered.

Jason shook his head, confused. "Who?"

"The Eidolons." She said.

Jason froze. He remembered the Eidolons. They had possessed him along with Percy and Leo.

It wasn't a fun time then.

"Are you sure?" Jason asked. "Didn't you make them promise to leave us alone?"

Piper nodded, her face pale. She was biting her lip. "But I made them promise to leave us alone. I never said for them to leave Celeste alone and I definitely never said to leave the lady alone."

Jason nodded grimly. "Oh. Right."

Ahead of them, the others were walking, scattered out in different directions, but still walking in a group.

Leo's fire on his hand and Percy's glowing sword were the only light sources as they descended down the super-long staircase. In fact, the stairs seemed to go on forever. Jason hated to think what it would be like to walk back up.

All of a sudden, Percy, ahead of everyone else, stopped abruptly.

Annabeth ran straight into him.

"Percy what's wrong?" She asked. Her voice echoed throughout the staircase.

Jason readied his sword for an attack.

"Split up." Percy said. Everyone silently agreed. There were two hallways on the sides of the staircase that lead to separate rooms. The stairs, on the other hand, kept going down. Percy and Annabeth went down the steps, Frank, Hazel, and Leo went left, and Piper and Jason went right.

The hallway Jason and Piper were in was cold and dark. Water dripped from the ceiling and it smelled like a sewer.

Jason felt Piper grasp his hand. He gave her an encouraging smile, but it didn't work. They were both scared, they had to admit it.

They had no light source now. Leo was with Frank and Hazel, and Percy was with Annabeth. That left Jason and Piper in the dark.

However, they continued to walk, following the sound of Celeste's muffled cries.

Then, they found her.

She was tied to a pole. Ironic, no?

Her mouth was gagged with a rope and gold streaks were all over face and body. Jason suddenly realized it was her blood. "Ichor" Jason thought.

Celeste's head was lolling and it took her a moment to realize that Jason and Piper were there. When she finally did see them, she started to struggle, her voice muffled through the rope at her mouth.

Piper knelt next to Celeste and started to cut the ropes. Jason helped.

Piper then pulled him back. "Jason stop!" She shouted.

"What, what's wrong?" Jason asked.

Celeste's eyes were wide and pleading.

They couldn't just leave her there.

What was wrong with Piper?

"Her eyes. Look at them." Piper whispered. Jason noticed Celeste's eyes were a faint gold. No longer green like Percy's.

That's when Jason noticed the lady lying on the floor a few feet away, unconscious and bloody.

However, Celeste wasn't acting possessed, she was acting like she had been earlier. But she looked scared out of her mind. She was begging to be let out.

"Come on, we'll find the others." Piper said, getting ready to leave. "I'm sorry Celeste, I can't get that thing out of you. I did it once, I don't think I can do it again."

Celeste began to thrash helplessly. She screamed through the ropes. Then, all of a sudden, Percy and Annabeth ran into the room.

"Celeste!" Percy yelled. He ran up to her and began to cut the ropes.

"Percy wait!" Piper yelled.

But the ropes were free. Celeste cried with joy and relief and threw herself into Percy's arms.

She turned to Jason and Piper, her eyes green again.

Jason was incredulous. Then, he noticed her eyes flicking back and forth, green to gold.

Celeste dropped like a stone, clenching her head in agony.

"Celeste!" Percy yelled again. Annabeth ran over to help. Jason realized Celeste was fighting the Eidolon from inside her mind. And she was losing.

"There's an Eidolon in her. She's fighting it." Jason quickly explained.

Percy turned to him with wide eyes.

"What!?" He screamed. He seemed generally concerned. He cared about Celeste a lot. Jason didn't know why, but he wasn't worried about that at the moment.

"We have to help her!" Jason said.

Percy looked desperate. "How?"

Jason then turned to Piper. Piper sighed and walked up to Celeste, charm-speaking softly.

Then, Celeste jerked and fell onto the ground right before Percy caught her.

The others rushed in, shocked at what had happened. Percy was sitting on the ground, holding Celeste in his arms.

Her eyes were wide and she was looking around, confused.

"I-what happened?" She stuttered.

Percy helped her sit up straight. Her face was pale and her lips were blue.

She was completely drained of color.

"Percy." Celeste mumbled. She leaned over and whispered something into his ears. Jason couldn't make out what Celeste said.

As soon as Celeste stopped whispering, Percy looked up at the others. "I should tell you guys something." He said. "It's about Celeste."

Jason suddenly found himself interested.

"She's my sister." Percy said.

There was a stunned silence. However, Jason noticed that Leo, Hazel, nor Annabeth looked surprised.

"And she has this curse." Percy continued. Celeste snuggled closer to him, closing her eyes and sighing.

Percy gave her a faint smile. Annabeth was at his side, holding his shoulder for encouragement.

Percy began to explain everything about Celeste. Apparently, she was Percy's twin sister, kicked out of her house by her own mother at the age of 4 to go live with Poseidon, her dad.

Then, when she was 7, a curse was placed on her by Poseidon that said that no living creature would be able to see or hear her. So, she ran away and followed Percy around for 5 years until he went to Camp-Half Blood. She went with him there, still following around and living at camp like a normal camper. Then, not soon after she escaped from Tartarus with Annabeth and Percy (apparently she had jumped in there on purpose. Jason didn't know why.) she awoke on the Argo 2, and all of a sudden her curse was lifted.

When Percy was finished talking, this time, only Hazel didn't look surprised. Everyone else was to shocked to speak.

Percy had also mentioned Celeste's "godly-abilities" that were probably more powerful then anyone in the room at the moment. Jason realized that explained Celeste's golden blood, ichor.

Celeste began to stir in Percy's arms. "I should go." She muttered. Percy's head whipped to her.

"What do you mean go!?" He asked, his eyes wide.

"I'm obviously just going to cause more problems, so I'll just leave." Celeste said. And she started to get up.

Percy automatically pulled her back.

"Percy, let go of me." She ushered.

"Stay here." Annabeth said, coming in to Percy's rescue.

"We need you." Leo chimed in.

"Your curse wasn't lifted for no reason." Hazel said as well.

Celeste looked around at everyone. She looked genuinely confused.

"Let me get this straight. You all just decide to trust me and you only just met me like a day ago?" She said.

"Celeste, it's obvious you aren't lying. You have that sense of truthfulness." Percy said.

Celeste ripped her arm from Percy's grasp, startling him. "No." She snapped.

"Celeste." Piper said.

"NO!" Celeste screamed. Jason saw pure anger in her eyes. Anger morphed from years of torture.

"No." She said softer. And she ran out of the room.

Percy immediately ran after her.

"Percy!" Annabeth cried desperately, chasing after her boyfriend. Everyone else filed out of the door, hoping to catch up with them.

As they walked, Jason walked to Hazel.

"Hazel?" He asked.

She turned to him. "Yes, Jason?"

Jason rubbed the back of his neck.

"Well, I just wanted to know...Did you know about Celeste already? Like when she arrived, did she tell you or something?"

Hazel stiffened at the question, but answered calmly. "Yes. She told me. I don't know why she told me, but she told me."

Jason nodded. Hazel gave him a weak smile and jogged away to catch up with Frank.

It had been awhile, no luck of finding Percy, Annabeth, or Celeste.

Suddenly, Jason found Leo at his side.

Jason glanced up ahead at Piper, who looked tired, but he still managed to focus talking to his friend.

"Hey." Jason said.

Leo nodded in response. He was fumbling with his fingers again. He looked deathly tired. His eyes were sagging, his cheeks were sunken, and his hair was in tangles.

"Are you alright Leo?" Jason asked.

Leo shook his head. "It's Celeste. She seems nice and all, but I'm not sure about her. She's so different, yet, it just make's her a challenge."

"Like a machine part?" Jason asked, trying to tune in to Leo's interests.

Leo smiled weakly. "Yeah sort of." Then his eyes went blank, like he was thinking hard. "I've got to tell you something."

"What is it?" Jason asked.

"I think I like Celeste. And not like as a friend, but actually like." Leo said. His face looked pale as he talked like he was uncomfortable with sharing this information.

"Well-" Jason began.

"Do not breath a word to anyone. Especially not Celeste." Leo interrupted.

Jason nodded. "Of course. I won't tell."

Leo nodded thankfully. Jason looked at the others. Frank and Hazel were talking, and Piper was holding her dagger, staring at her reflection which was very unlike her.

Then, Annabeth burst in front of them, holding Percy, who was yelling at her to turn around.

Annabeth was a mess.

"I had to wrestle him to stop chasing her. We lost her hours ago. And he won't stop-" Annabeth started to say.

She was cut off by Percy. "Annabeth please. You don't understand. She's my sister!"

Annabeth shook her head and grabbed him by the shoulders. "Percy. I know. I'm sorry. The best thing we can do right now is plan to fight this war. We don't have time to chase after Celeste."

She leaned in and gave him a small kiss on the lips. The tension in his shoulders relaxed a little.

Percy sighed. "Alright. You're right. We need to focus."

Annabeth turned to the others. "We have to go."

Leo cut in. "Wait, we're going to leave Celeste on this crazy place!?"

Percy's eyes bulged again.

Jason nudged Leo. "Good going." Jason murmured.

Leo sighed. "Sorry." He said back.

Percy began arguing with Annabeth again. Eventually, she had to drag him all the way back up the stairs, Percy protesting the whole way.

They left the hut in a hurry and made there way. They had no idea where they were going, they just walked.

Piper walked beside Jason, smiling up at him every once in a while.

Jason sighed and wondered what would happen after this war. If they even won the war. Or if they even survived the war.