A/N: Yeah. Late. I know. I'm not gonna be updating every week, sorry! I kinda overestimated myself. I have school, dance, piano, and a ton of other things all the time, but you don't want my excuses. From now on, updates will come when updates will come. This chapter is a little rushed, but hopefully it's okay. A big thank-you to The Percy Jackson Oracle and Water Owl for reviewing and to all who followed! Also, I read BoO. This story will now have some references to the story. STOP READING NOW IF YOU HAVEN'T READ IT!(Ex. Jason has glasses) However, I don't think they'll have defeated Gaea. Yet. But I have no idea where this is going, so... yeah.
Disclaimer: Ladies and gentlemen, today's disclaimer guests are: Leo Valdez and the big HP himself!
Leo: BalletBookworm doesn't own PJO or HOO. Sorry, BB!
Me: It's okay, Leo.
Harry: She doesn't own me or my book series either!
Me: Don't remind me, Harry. You are so full of it. Don't rub it in that I couldn't prevent... *whispers* Fred.
Piper
Piper stood at the helm of the Argo II. As she toyed with the feather in her hair, she thought about Hazel's strange dream. It was really odd, hearing about a dream that didn't involve the earth goddess. She zoned out, thinking about a world with no Gaea, no schizophrenic gods, none of this craziness. Piper pondered whether she should look in Katoptris or not. The blade rarely showed what she wanted to see, but she was curious. After tossing the idea back and forth in her mind, Piper decided to look. It may not be the best experience, but hopefully it would help her learn more about Hazel's vision.
The daughter of Aphrodite took a breath and drew her dagger. She gazed into it intently, hoping it would show her good things. No such luck. Piper saw a ruined castle surrounded by mist, looking ominous. Her next glimpse, though, showed many people having a good time in what looked like the same castle, fully restored and beautiful. Then she saw the same things Hazel saw, complete with a lights show, an unusual animal, and a creepy snake man. She sighed in exasperation. Stupid knife. Why couldn't it just be useful for once?
"You okay?" Piper jumped and sheathed Katoptris, startled by the sudden materialization of Jason.
"Yeah. I guess. I just wish the gods would just give us a break once in a while, you know? Stop sending strange omens and signs."
"I know what you mean. But you know, if this hadn't started, I wouldn't have met you," he said, wrapping his arms around her waist.
"Hey!" Piper swatted him off playfully. "Hands off, Sparky. No touchy-touchy. You know Coach Hedge and Leo would kill us if we showed any PDA, gods forbid."
"Not even one little kiss?" he pouted, this time entangling his fingers with hers.
"Well, maybe," she laughed as she pecked him on the cheek. "Come on, Jason, let's go make Leo take a break from that whatever he's doing. I'm calling a meeting."
Line break infused with Jiper awesomeness
"Hey! Valdez!" Piper called to Leo. "Meeting in the mess hall in an hour, okay?"
"Beauty Queen! Wassup? Joining the Leo Party?" Leo's hands were tapping on the table.
"First of all, 'Beauty Queen' is not an acceptable nickname. Second of all, I just said we are meeting in the mess hall in an hour and I expect you to take a break and eat for once. What are you working on, anyway?" Piper asked. She was curious to see what the tinkerer of the group was doing, as his precious sphere and Festus were hooked up to the ship. As she peered closer, Piper realized that it was an astrolabe. She had read about these, but it was unlike any astrolabe she had ever seen.
"Um... nothing," Leo muttered. "Don't worry about it, Pipes. I got it covered."
Interesting, Piper thought. He has something he's hiding. I can ask him later.
Jason was wandering around, looking at all of Leo's inventions. He seemed on edge and fidgety, although Piper couldn't tell exactly why. Then she saw it. Leo had created perfect replicas of all the monsters they had faced on their quest to free Hera. There was one of the Gegenes, perched precariously on the edge of a table. But why the Hades would Leo do this?
"Leo- why all the monsters? Jason asked, pointing to a figurine of the Cyclops Ma Gasket.
"I may not be the most artistic type, but making these... I guess it just helps me focus."
"Focus?" Leo shot him a look. Jason looked away awkwardly, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Anyway, can you send out a message about the meeting to the whole ship?" he said.
"Can do, Superman." Leo said nonchalantly, acting as if the monster dolls had never happened .
"Thanks, man." Jason walked over Piper, grabbed her hand, and started walking towards the main deck.
"Get a room!" they heard Leo shout from a distance.
Yay new linebreak whoop-dee-doo! Just mindin' my own business
An hour later, Piper sat in the mess hall next to Hazel. All of the seven seemed agitated and restless.
Using just a tiny bit of charmspeak, she said, "Calm down, everyone. I have something to tell you." Immediately everyone relaxed, sitting back in their seats.
Taking out her knife and setting it next to her plate, Piper started talking. "I have some more news on the dream Hazel had. Now we know that there's a castle involved, but I can't quite seem to figure it out. The castle seemed to be in ruins but…" she searched for the words. "I had another vision where it was perfectly restored. You would love the architecture, Annabeth."
Annabeth smiled. She and Piper met each other's eyes, indicating that they would discuss the building and decorations later.
"So on the outside, the weather was pretty cold. I think that might give us a small clue to where the castle is located. The structure looked like it could've been European, but I'm no expert. Annabeth?" Piper said.
"You'll have to describe it to me later, but there are lots of places that are starting to get cold this time of year. It could possibly be somewhere in Europe."
"Okay. Maybe we'll get more hints later. And the creature I saw looked like those gryphons Percy, Hazel, and Frank saw in Alaska, but with some differences."
"That's strange," Hazel said, leaning forward. "The thing in my dream was nothing like that. Do you have any more news? How did you get more information, anyway?"
"I looked in Katoptris," Piper replied. "I only saw those things and the stuff you saw. I wish I had more news," she sighed.
"Well," Leo said, "Not much we can do now but wait. Stupid gods."
"Pipes, I don't want you to worry about this," Jason said with a worried look in his eyes. "It's not your job to handle everything."
"Don't worry," she replied. "We'll figure this out all together, okay?" Piper looked around the table at all of the demigods. After receiving some responses and consents, she nodded. "Okay."
End-of-Chapter A/N: Hope you liked this chapter! And yes, I like the ship name Jiper better than Jasper. Sue me. And also: I have 251 views! Oh my goodness! Thank you so much! So just leave a review telling me what you think!
Question of the Update(even though this has like no followers): What's your HP and HoO OTP?