“I hate to tell you this,” Jason said, “but I think your leopard just ate a goddess. ”
He told Chiron about the frozen-in-time visit, the dark misty figure that disappeared into Seymour’s mouth.
“Oh, dear,” Chiron murmured. “That does explain a lot. ”
“Then why don’t you explain a lot to me?” Jason said. “Please. ”
Before Chiron could say anything, footsteps reverberated on the porch outside. The front door blew open, and Annabeth and another girl, a redhead, burst in, dragging Piper between them. Piper’s head lolled like she was unconscious.
“What happened?” Jason rushed over. “What’s wrong with her?”
“Hera’s cabin,” Annabeth gasped, like they’d run all the way. “Vision. Bad. ”
The redheaded girl looked up, and Jason saw that she’d been crying.
“I think …” The redheaded girl gulped. “I think I may have killed her. ”
JASON AND THE REDHEAD, WHO INTRODUCED herself as Rachel, put Piper on the couch while Annabeth rushed down the hall to get a med kit. Piper was still breathing, but she wouldn’t wake up. She seemed to be in some kind of coma.
“We’ve got to heal her,” Jason insisted. “There’s a way, right?”
Seeing her so pale, barely breathing, Jason felt a surge of protectiveness. Maybe he didn’t really know her. Maybe she wasn’t his girlfriend. But they’d survived the Grand Canyon together. They’d come all this way. He’d left her side for a little while, and this had happened.
Chiron put his hand on her forehead and grimaced. “Her mind is in a fragile state. Rachel, what happened?”
“I wish I knew,” she said. “As soon as I got to camp, I had a premonition about Hera’s cabin. I went inside. Annabeth and Piper came in while I was there. We talked, and then—I just blanked out. Annabeth said I spoke in a different voice. ”
“A prophecy?” Chiron asked.
“No. The spirit of Delphi comes from within. I know how that feels. This was like long distance, a power trying to speak through me. ”
Annabeth ran in with a leather pouch. She knelt next to Piper. “Chiron, what happened back there—I’ve never seen anything like it. I’ve heard Rachel’s prophecy voice. This was different. She sounded like an older woman. She grabbed Piper’s shoulders and told her—”
“To free her from a prison?” Jason guessed.
Annabeth stared at him. “How did you know that?”
Chiron made a three-fingered gesture over his heart, like a ward against evil.
“Jason, tell them. Annabeth, the medicine bag, please. ”
Chiron trickled drops from a medicine vial into Piper’s mouth while Jason explained what had happened when the room froze—the dark misty woman who had claimed to be Jason’s patron.
When he was done, no one spoke, which made him more anxious.
“So does this happen often?” he asked. “Supernatural phone calls from convicts demanding you bust them out of jail?”
“Your patron,” Annabeth said. “Not your godly parent?”
“No, she said patron. She also said my dad had given her my life. ”
Annabeth frowned. “I’ve never of heard anything like that before. You said the storm spirit on the skywalk—he claimed to be working for some mistress who was giving him orders, right? Could it be this woman you saw, messing with your mind?”
“I don’t think so,” Jason said. “If she were my enemy, why would she be asking for my help? She’s imprisoned. She’s worried about some enemy getting more powerful. Something about a king rising from the earth on the solstice—”
Annabeth turned to Chiron. “Not Kronos. Please tell me it’s not that. ”
The centaur looked miserable. He held Piper’s wrist, checking her pulse.
At last he said, “It is not Kronos. That threat is ended. But …”
“But what?” Annabeth asked.
Chiron closed the medicine bag. “Piper needs rest. We should discuss this later. ”
“Or now,” Jason said. “Sir, Mr. Chiron, you told me the greatest threat was coming. The last chapter. You can’t possibly mean something worse than an army of Titans, right?”
“Oh,” Rachel said in a small voice. “Oh, dear. The woman was Hera. Of course. Her cabin, her voice. She showed herself to Jason at the same moment. ”
“Hera?” Annabeth’s snarl was even fiercer than Seymour’s. “She took you over? She did this to Piper?”
“I think Rachel’s right,” Jason said. “The woman did seem like a goddess. And she wore this—this goatskin cloak. That’s a symbol of Juno, isn’t it?”
“It is?” Annabeth scowled. “I’ve never heard that. ”
Chiron nodded reluctantly. “Of Juno, Hera’s Roman aspect, in her most warlike state. The goatskin cloak was a symbol of the Roman soldier. ”
“So Hera is imprisoned?” Rachel asked. “Who could do that to the queen of the gods?”