Whew. BOO was something else. No major spoilers, so anyone that hasn't read BOO yet doesn't need to worry.

Enjoy!

"Percy, please don't ever…" Her voice broke into a sob. "Some things aren't meant to be controlled. Please."

-Annabeth Chase in House of Hades

"Thoon, destroyer of the Fates, come forward!"

Piper watched as Thoon fixed his eyes on Annabeth. He held her gaze intensely, and Annabeth increased her squirming in King Poryphyrion's hold ten-fold.

"With pleasure, my king." he said. Thoon made his way closer.

Stuck in Poryphyrion's other hand, Percy shouted. A few hundred feet away, a geyser shot it's water straight into the sky.

"You'll have to do better than that, son of Poseidon." The king laughed. Piper had to shift her stance to keep from stumbling when the scaffolding around her rumbled and tremored. "The earth is too powerful here. Even your father wouldn't be able to summon more than a salty spring. But never fear. The only liquid we require from you is your blood!" More laughter, and this time the fellow monsters below and around Piper began to join in - some even raising their weapons and giving a fierce cheer - before quieting down.

Percy went still. "Who needs salt water?" He replied back, suddenly very calm. Either Poryphrion and his followers had selective hearing or just didn't care about what a measly demigod had to say, because they seemed to ignore the response. Thoon stared at him for a moment before turning back to Annabeth and clutching the huge cleaver in his hand.

What is he- Piper suddenly remembered the conversation she'd had with Annabeth atop of a hill in Athens. She remembered the shaky retelling her friend had given her about Percy controlling Akhyls's poison lake and tears.

Piper scooted backwards from her position in the scaffolding just as Thoon took the final step forward. She cursed. Where was Jason and her friends with that backup?

Annabeth seemed to come to the same conclusion as Piper. "Percy…?" She muttered warily, taking a glance at her boyfriend quickly.

"Hah!" King Poryphyrion boomed. "See, Annabeth Chase? Even your playmate has accepted both of your fates. Observe as he does nothing but helplessly watch you get destroyed. Do not fret," he assured readily, "for he shall join you soon afterwords!" More cheering and laughter erupted from the crowd.

Thoon coughed, and Piper swore she could see a thin trail of red coming from his nose and mouth. She saw the king raise an eyebrow (or what Piper thought was an eyebrow) in recognition, but otherwise choose not to comment.

Piper stared at Percy again and saw that he looked to be either very angry or very concentrated on something. She noticed the crease between his eyebrows deepen and a snarl grow on his lips, then decided to go with anger.

Thoon coughed again, more harsh than the last one, and his eyes fluttered before rolling into the back of his head.

"Percy!" Annabeth yelled just as Thoon collapsed to the ground. Her eyes widened in horror, as most of the monsters, including King Poryphrion, widened their own in shock. Some were crushed under the giant's body, and shimmery gold dust floated out from under Thoon in a thick cloud. The remaining giants scattered and lost any semblance of organization they might've held before.

Piper took that moment of confusion as a well needed distraction and jumped into the chaos with a battle cry. On her way down she slashed her knife at Poryphrion, managing to cut fairly near the hand holding Annabeth severely.

"Ow!" He moaned, dropping both of Piper's friends to hold the already healing wrist. They both rolled before meeting the ground to avoid flattening themselves and then ran to meet Piper.

"C'mon," Percy urged, and Piper noticed the odd blank look his face was holding. Any sign of the concentration or anger from earlier seemed to have left. She took a glance at Annabeth, who looked ready to cry, and her heart reached out to her friend. "We can use the confusion to our advantage."