Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“QUICK,” MELLIE YELLED.  “Son of Zeus, do you have any power over the air?”

“A little!”

“Then help me, or you’re all dead!”

Mellie grabbed his hand, and an electric charge went through Jason’s arm.

He understood what she needed.

They had to control their fall and head for one of the open tunnels.

The storm spirits were following them down, closing rapidly, bringing with them a cloud of deadly shrapnel.

Jason grabbed Leo’s hand. A spark when up his arm when he did and he was pretty sure it wasn’t Mellie doing that.

“Group hug!” He shouted.

Hedge, Leo, and Piper tried to huddle together, hanging on to Jason and Mellie as they fell.

“This is so NOT GOOD!” Leo yelled.

“Bring it on, gas bags!” Hedge yelled up at the storm spirits. “I'll pulverize you!”

“He’s magnificent,” Mellie sighed.

“Concentrate?” Jason prompted.

“Sorry!” she said.

They channeled the wind so their fall became more of a tumble into the nearest open chute.

Still, they slammed into the tunnel at painful speed and went rolling over each other down a steep vent that was not designed for people. There was no way they could stop.

Mellie’s robes billowed around her.

Jason and the others clung to her desperately, and they began to slow down, but the storm spirits were screeching into the tunnel behind them.

“Can’t—hold—long,” Mellie warned.

“Stay together! When the winds hit—”

“You're doing great, Mellie,” Hedge encouraged her.

“My own mama was an aura, you know. She couldn’t have done better herself.”

“Iris-message me?” Mellie pleaded.

Hedge winked.

“Could you guys plan your date later?” Piper screamed. “Look!”

Behind them, the tunnel was turning dark. Jason could feel his ears pop as the pressure built.

“Can't hold them,” Mellie warned. “But I’ll try to shield you, do you one more favor.”

“Thanks, Mellie,” Jason said. “I hope you get a better job.”

She smiled, and then dissolved, wrapping them in a warm gentle breeze.

Then the real winds hit, shooting them into the sky so fast, Jason blacked out.

Chapter Text

LEO DREAMED HE WAS BACK at the wilderness school dorm room. The dorm room weren’t exactly the best.

It was old and the school didn’t even bother to fund it as the cracks between the floors and the weird stains on the corners of the wall, looked very visible.

The room was basically half of a big square, the bunk beds were lined up against the wall horizontally, two rows of it and Leo slept on the left. The floors were made of red wood that have been worn down over time.

Oh and the walls were pink. Because apparently prisons does this to keep the inmates in a ‘peace state of mind.’ As if that would work here.

Man, color theory was weird. And this adds further proof that this school is more like grown men owning their sentences more then a teenagers acting out. But hey at least the school doesn’t care about gender roles!

It was summer and the night was unfortunately hot and sticky. But did that stop Leo from running away from his problems again? Of course not.

He woke up around 1 am and lights were out by 8 pm.

So Leo assumed nobody was awake. Although even if somebody was awake he doubted that they would care enough to stop him or even get out of bed to do it. But hey, this school is for troubled delinquents.

Not exactly a prestigious boarding school.

Leos eyes quickly shot up as he immediately checked under his bed for his navy blue backpack which he packed days earlier.

It contained basic items like water and food. Things necessary such as chocolate bars and a gameboy Leo was sure he can fix.

He slipped out of bed being very quiet not to make even the slightest noise or anything as little as a peep.

The window was obviously already opened, Leo wasn’t an idiot and always planned ahead, (the window just so happened to be open, he totally forgot.)

Slowly though he began creeping to the window but seriously who thought it would be a good idea to let a frequent runaway sleep next to a window?

Leo stepped on a creek. Oh yeah somebody definitely heard that, he thought.

And a voice slowly groaned. “Leo?” A sleepy voice mumbled.

Leo stopped in his tracks basically frozen, he could feel his heart pounding out of his chest, he was so nervous he didn’t even bother to even check who it was.

But he didn’t need to. He already knew who it was.

“What on earth are you doing at this hour?” He sat up from his bed which was right across Leo’s. Jason frowned as he tilted his head slightly.

And Leo broke into cold sweat. “Uh. This is all just dream.” He blurted out. “I’m not really here and certainly not going to exit through this window.”

Leo gulped. Oh great one he’s for sure gonna believe that.

“Yeah sure and my dad is an all powerful god.” He replied totally not buying what Leo’s selling.

Darn it.

He cleared his throat nervously. “See this is all just in your head. When I snap my fingers you’re gonna go right back to sleep and forget this even happened.”

He snapped his fingers unsurely. Hoping this can go away but sadly Jason just blinked at him, he was still wide awake.

“Leo seriously what are you doing?” He rubbed his eyes like a stressed single dad fed up with his kids.

Leo sighed, no point in hiding it now.

“What does it look like I’m doing genius,” He continued walking slowly, “I’m running away.”

He whispered. And Jason simply stared at him like he was going crazy.

“Well if you don’t mind, I’m going out now.” He said as he was ready to put a leg out the window frame.

“Leo wait. Stop.”

He got up from his bed suddenly the sheets crinkled loudly that Leo was afraid someone might hear it or worse see him.

“Why? Why are you running away?”

He said his voice laced with genuine concern. Leo almost spilled the beans. Almost. Leo hesitated before speaking up.

“I .. It doesn’t matter.”

Jason put his hand on his wrist.

“Well it matters to me. And it seriously matters when my best friend is trying to run away.”

Thank god for it being nighttime because Leos burning face was clearly visible if it were daytime.

“How do I say this without sounding stupid.” He looked at Jason’s hand placement.

“You guys don’t really need me anymore. I’m just there..” He muttered. “And honestly this place sucks.” He finished.

Jason stood quiet for second, Leo was beginning to think he fell asleep on the spot.

“Seriously? Piper and me want you here. No scratch that we… I need you here.” His eyebrows knitted together.

“You know if you weren’t for you I would’ve ran away from here long ago because ‘it sucks’. “

It was finally Leos turn to look at Jason like he was the one going ballistic.
Was Leo the one dreaming? Because no way he heard that right.

Leo chewed on his lip.

“But you guys are dating and all. I don’t want to interrupt.”

“Yeah so? That doesn’t change anything. She’s my girlfriend and you’re still my friend.”

He shrugged as it was obvious. Leo looked at him.

“What?” He raised his eyebrow.

“Nothing.” He said as he put his leg right back down. “Fine I’ll stay.”

He mumbled. Oh how Jason’s words had such a quick effect on him.

“Good because I would’ve ran away with you if you didn’t agree.”

He let go of his wrist. And Leo felt tingles as he pulled away.

He dropped his backpack landing with a thump.

“I’m sleeping with you.”

And Leo looked at him with disbelief.

“Say you’re kidding.”

“I have to make sure you’re actually keeping your word.” He said as he sat down on Leo’s bed.

“You don’t have to-“

Before he could even finish Jason already made himself comfortable.

“Hold it what if somebody sees you? You’re gonna get in trouble.”

Honestly Leo couldn’t care less if someone caught him but this.. this was something.

Leo hoped his face wasn’t as pink as these walls.

“I’ll make sure you fall asleep before me and in the morning I move to my bed like nothing happened.”

He said it so casually, it was infuriating.

“Fine. But don’t make this a… thing.”

He mumbled as he got into bed himself as Jason scooted over.

“I won’t.” And the corners of his lips tugged.

Leo remembered sleeping peacefully that night.

With both boys faces facing each other and cuddling as friends just friends.

Honestly no one ever showed such determination for Leo.

His heart fluttered just thinking about it. And it was something between them.

A secret that they both didn’t told Piper.

Too bad it was a cruel trick of The Mist. Fake memories of fake Jason.

A horrible prank on Leo’s fragile feelings but if these memories were false then also were his feelings.

Right?

As he was looking at Jason’s face, smiling his vision was slowly dimming. His warm face was fading. Then darkness fell.

Chapter Text

PIPER WOKE AT A TABLE AT A SIDEWALK CAFE. For a second, she thought she was still dreaming. It was a bright morning.

The air was brisk but not terrible for sitting outside. At the other tables, a mix of bicyclists, business people, and college kids sat chatting and drinking coffee along with their pastries.

She could smell eucalyptus trees. Lots of foot traffic passed in front of quaint little shops. The street was lined with bottle-brush trees and blooming azaleas as if winter was a foreign concept.

In other words: she was in sunny California.
Her friends sat in chairs around her—all of them with their hands calmly folded across their chests, dozing pleasantly. And they all had new clothes on.

Piper looked down at her own outfit and gasped horrified. “Mother!”

She yelled way louder than she meant. Jason flinched, bumping the table with his knees, and then all of them were awake.

“What?” Hedge demanded. “Fight who? Where?”

“Mist! Wait no falling!” Leo grabbed the table. “No—not falling. Where are we?” He looked around swiftly. Piper bit her tongue holding back a comment about the napkin stuck on Leo’s cheek.

“Mist?” Jason blinked, trying to get his bearings. 

Leo looked embarrassed, “Er.. something. Had a dream. Irrelevant.”

Piper raised an eyebrow she was about to ask when Jason focused on Piper and made a little choking sound.

“What are you wearing?”

Piper probably blushed. She was wearing the turquoise dress she’d seen in her dream, with black leggings and black leather boots.
She had on her favorite silver charm bracelet, even though she’d left that back home in L.A., and her old snowboarding jacket her dad gave her, which amazingly went with the outfit pretty well.

She pulled out Katoptris, and judging from the reflection in the blade, she’d gotten her hair done, too.

“It's nothing,” she said. “It's my—“ She remembered Aphrodite’s warning not to mention that they'd talked. “It’s nothing.”

Leo grinned as he peeled off the napkin. “Aphrodite strikes again, huh? You’re gonna be the best-dressed warrior in town, beauty queen.”

“Hey, Leo.” Jason nudged his arm. “You look at yourself recently?”

Leo flinched as if Jason had always scared him.“What ... oh.”

All of them had been give a makeover. Leo was wearing pinstriped pants, black leather shoes, a white collarless shirt with suspenders, and his tool belt, Ray-Ban sunglasses, and a porkpie hat.
“God, Leo.” Piper tried not to laugh. “I think my dad wore that to his last premiere, minus the tool belt.”

“Hey, shut up!” 

“I think he looks good,” said Coach Hedge. “Course, I look better.” 

“Yeah sure whatever you say Coach.” Leo snorted.

The satyr was a pastel nightmare. Aphrodite had given him a baggy canary yellow zoot suit with two-tone shoes that fit over his hooves. He had a matching yellow broad-brimmed hat, a rose-colored shirt, a baby blue tie, and a blue carnation in his lapel, which Hedge sniffed and then ate.

“Well,” Jason said, “at least your mom overlooked me.”

Piper knew that wasn’t exactly true. Looking at him, her heart did a little tap dance.
Jason was dressed simply in jeans and a clean purple T-shirt, like he’d worn at the Grand Canyon. 

He had new track shoes on, and his hair was newly trimmed. His eyes were the same color as the sky. Aphrodite’s message was clear: This one needs no improvement.
And Piper agreed.

“Anyway,” she said uncomfortably, “how did we get here?”

“Oh, that would be Mellie,” Hedge said, chewing happily on his carnation.

“Those winds shot us halfway across the country, I’d guess. We would’ve been smashed flat on impact, but Mellie’s last gift—a nice soft breeze—cushioned our fall.”

“And she got fired for us,” Leo said. “Man, we suck.”

“Ah, she'll be fine,” Hedge said. “Besides, she couldn’t help herself. I’ve got that effect on nymphs. I'll send her a message when we’re through with this quest and help her figure something out. That is one aura I could settle down with and raise a herd of baby goats.”

“I’m going to be sick,” Piper said. “Anyone else want coffee?” 

“Coffee!” Hedge’s grin was stained blue from the flower. “I love coffee!” 

“Um,” Jason said, “but—money? Our packs?” 

Piper stiffened and looked down. Their packs were at their feet, and everything seemed to still be there. She reached into her coat pocket and felt two things she hadn’t expected. One was a wad of cash.
The other was a glowing vial—the amnesia potion. She left the vial in her pocket and brought out the money.

Leo whistled. “Allowance? Piper, your mom is awesome!”

 “Waitress!” Hedge called. “Six double espressos, and whatever these guys want. Put it on the girl’s tab.”

It didn’t take them long to figure out where they were. The menus said “Café Verve, Walnut Creek, CA.” And according to the waitress, it was 9 a.m. December 21, the winter solstice, which gave them three hours until Enceladus’s deadline.

They didn’t have to wonder where Mount Diablo was, either. They could see it on the horizon, right at the end of the street. After the Rockies, Mount Diablo didn’t look very large, nor was it covered in snow.

It seemed downright peaceful, its golden creases marbled with gray-green trees. 
But size was deceptive with mountains, Piper knew. It was probably much bigger up close. And appearances were deceptive too.

Here they were— back in California—supposedly her home—with sunny skies, mild weather, laid-back people, and a plate of chocolate chip scones with coffee. And only a few miles away, somewhere on that peaceful mountain, a superpowerful, super-evil giant was about to have her father for lunch.

Leo pulled something out of his pocket—the old crayon drawing Aeolus had given him. Aphrodite must’ve thought it was important if she’d magically transferred it to his new outfit.
“What is that?” Piper asked.

Leo folded it up gingerly again and put it away. “Nothing. You don’t want to see my kindergarten artwork.” 

“It's more than that,” Jason guessed. “Aeolus said it was the key to our success.”

Leo didn’t look at Jason. “Not today. He was talking about... later.”

“How can you be sure?” Piper asked.

“Trust me,” Leo said. “Now—what’s our game plan?” Piper could tell he doesn’t want to talk about this. 
She didn’t push it.
Coach Hedge belched. He’d already had three espressos and a plate of doughnuts, along with two napkins and another flower from the vase on the table.

He would’ve eaten the silverware, except Piper had slapped his hand.

“Climb the mountain,” Hedge said. “Kill everything except Piper's dad. Leave.”

 “Thank you, General Eisenhower,” Jason grumbled.

“Hey, I’m just saying!”

“Guys,” Piper said. “There’s more you need to know.”

It was tricky, because she couldn’t mention her mom; but she told them she’d figured some things out in her dreams. She told them about their real enemy: Gaea.

“Gaea?” Leo shook his head. “Isn’t that Mother Nature? She’s supposed to have, like, flowers in her hair and birds singing around her and deer and rabbits doing her laundry.”

“Leo, that’s Snow White,” Piper said.

“Okay, but—”

“Listen, cupcake.” Coach Hedge dabbed the espresso out of his goatee. “Piper's telling us some serious stuff, here. Gaea’s no softie. I’m not even sure I could take her.”

Leo mocked a gasp. “Really?”

Hedge nodded not noticing the sarcasm. “This earth lady—she and her old man the sky were tough cookies.”

“Ouranos,” Piper said. She couldn't help looking up at the blue sky, wondering if it had eyes.

“Right,” Hedge said.

“So Ouranos, he’s not the best dad. He throws their first kids, the Cyclopes, into Tartarus. That makes Gaea mad, but she bides her time. Then they have another set of kids—the twelve Titans—and Gaea is afraid they'll get thrown into prison too. So she goes up to her son Kronos—”

“The big bad dude,” Leo said. “The one they defeated last summer.”

“Right. And Gaea’s the one who gives him the scythe, and tells him, ‘Hey, why don’t I call your dad down here? And while he’s talking to me, distracted, you can cut him to pieces. Then you can take over the world. Wouldn't that be great?”

Nobody said anything. Piper’s chocolate chip scone didn’t look so appetizing anymore. Even though she’d heard the story before, she still couldn’t quite get her mind around it. She tried to imagine a kid so messed up, he would kill his own dad just for power.

Then she imagined a mom so messed up, she would convince her son to do it.
“Definitely not Snow White,” she decided. 

“Definitely.” Both Leo and Jason said sync which earned a breathless laugh from Piper.

“Nah, Kronos was a bad guy,” Hedge said. “But Gaea is literally the mother of all bad guys. She’s so old and powerful, so huge, that it’s hard for her to be fully conscious. Most of the time, she sleeps, and that’s the way we like her—snoring.”

“But she talked to me,” Leo said patting his tool belt pockets. “How can she be asleep?”

Gleeson brushed crumbs off his canary yellow lapel. He was on his sixth espresso now, and his pupils were as big as saucers.

“Even in her sleep, part of her consciousness is active—dreaming, keeping watch, doing little things like causing volcanoes to explode and monsters to rise. Even now, she’s not fully awake. Believe me, you don’t want to see her fully awake.”

“But she’s getting more powerful,” Piper said. “She’s causing the giants to rise. And if their king comes back—this guy Porphyrion—”

“He'll raise an army to destroy the gods,” Jason put in.

“Starting with Hera. It'll be another war. And Gaea will wake up fully.”

Gleeson nodded. “Which is why it’s a good idea for us to stay off the ground as much as possible.”

“So ... climbing a mountain.” Leo looked warily at Mount Diablo. “That would be bad.”

Piper’s stomach dropped. First, she’d been asked to betray her friends. Which she had shamelessly considered. Now they were trying to help her rescue her dad even though they knew they were walking into a trap.
The idea of fighting a giant had been scary enough.

But the idea that Gaea was behind it—a force more powerful than a god or Titan ... well that idea terrified her. 
“Guys, I can’t ask you to do this,” Piper looked at them. “This is too dangerous.”

She couldn’t possibly do that to her friends.

“You kidding?” Gleeson belched and showed them his blue carnation smile. “Who’s ready to beat stuff up?”

Chapter Text

LEO HOPED THE TAXI COULD TAKE THEM all the way to the top. No such luck. The cab made lurching, grinding sounds as it climbed the mountain road it was clearly struggling, and halfway up they found the ranger’s station closed, a chain blocking the way.

“Far as I can go,” the cabbie said. “This is where you guys want to be heading? Gonna be a long walk back down, and my car’s sure is acting up. I can’t wait for you.”

“We're sure.” Leo was the first one out. He desperately wanted to get out of there, partially being the reason he was squeezed next to Jason.

But he also had a bad feeling about what was wrong with the cab, and when he looked down he saw he was right.

The wheels were sinking into the road like it was made of quicksand. Not fast—just enough to make the driver think he had a transmission problem or a bad axle—but Leo knew what it truly was.

The road was hard-packed dirt. No reason at all it should have been soft, but already Leo’s shoes were starting to sink. Gaea was messing with them.

While his friends got out, Leo paid the cabbie. He was generous—heck, why not? It was Aphrodite’s money.

Plus, he had a feeling he might never be coming off this mountain.

“Keep the change,” he said. “And get out of here. Quick.” 

The driver didn’t argue, he snatched the money and turned on the engine. Soon all they could see was his dust trail. 

The view from the mountain was pretty amazing.
The whole inland valley around Mount Diablo was a patchwork of towns—grids of tree-lined streets and nice middle-class suburbs, shops, and schools.

All these normal people living normal lives—the kind Leo will never experience.

“That’s Concord,” Jason said, pointing to the north. “Walnut Creek below us. To the south, Danville, past those hills. And that way ...”

Leo followed his gaze. He pointed west, where a ridge of golden hills held back a layer of fog, like the rim of a bow.

“That's the Berkeley Hills. The East Bay. Past that, San Francisco.”

“Jason?” Piper touched his arm. “You remember something? You’ve been here?” 

“Yes ... no.” He gave her an anguished look. “It just seems important.”

Leo couldn’t help but feel kinda bad for Jason. This guys whole life was taken away from him.

“That's Titan land.” Coach Hedge nodded toward the west.

“Bad place, Jason. Trust me, this is as close to Frisco as we want to get.”

But Jason looked toward the foggy basin with such longing that Leo felt uneasy. 

Why did Jason seem so connected with that place—a place Hedge said was evil, full of bad magic and old enemies?

What if Jason came from here? Everybody kept hinting Jason was an enemy, that his arrival at Camp Half-Blood was a dangerous mistake.
No, Leo thought. Ridiculous. Jason was their friend.
Impossible, Leo trusted Jason. Or did he trusted the one in the mist Jason?

The one who always got out of his way for Leo.. Well this one saved him way more than once which was way better then... Leo shook his head and gritted his teeth. 

Leo tried to move his foot, but his heels were now completely embedded in the dirt.

“Hey, guys,” he said. “Let’s keep moving.”
His voice wasn’t steady. The others noticed the problem. 

“Gaea is stronger here,” Hedge grumbled. He popped his hooves free from his shoes, then handed the shoes to Leo.

“Keep those for me, Valdez. They’re nice.”

Leo snorted. “Yes, sir, Coach. Would you like them polished?” 

“That's smart thinking, Valdez.” Hedge nodded approvingly.
“But first, we’d better hike up this mountain while we still can.” Coach was really oblivious to sarcasm.

“How do we know where the giant is?” Piper asked.

Jason pointed toward the peak.

Drifting across the summit was a plume of smoke. From a distance, Leo had thought it was a cloud, but it wasn’t. Something was burning.

“Smoke equals fire,” Jason said.

“We’d better hurry then.” Piper was the first to move.

The Wilderness School had taken Leo on several forced marches.He thought he was in good shape.

But climbing a mountain when the earth was trying to swallow his feet was like jogging on a flypaper treadmill.

In no time, Leo had rolled up the sleeves on his collarless shirt, even though the wind was cold and sharp.

He wished Aphrodite had given him walking shorts and some more comfortable shoes, but he was grateful for the Ray-Bans that kept the sun out of his eyes.

He slipped his hands into his tool belt and started summoning supplies—gears, a tiny wrench, some strips of bronze.

As he walked, he built—not really paying much attention about it, just fiddling with pieces.

Who knew some platonic feelings about nobody specific, could keep you thinking?

By the time they neared the crest of the mountain, Leo was the most fashionably dressed sweaty, dirty hero ever. His hands were covered in machine grease.

The little object he’d made was like a windup toy—the kind that rattles and walks across a coffee table. Very useful.

He wasn’t sure what it could do, but he slipped it into his tool belt.

He missed his army coat with all its pockets. Even more than that, he missed Festus. He could use a firebreathing bronze dragon right now.

But Leo knew Festus would not be coming back—at least, not in his old form.
He patted the picture in his pocket—the crayon drawing he’d made at the picnic table under the pecan tree when he was five years old.

He remembered Tia Callida singing as he worked, and how upset he’d been when the winds had snatched the picture away.

It isn’t time yet, little hero, Tia Callida had told him.

Someday, yes. You'll have your quest. You will find your destiny, and your hard journey will finally make sense.

Now Aeolus had returned the picture. Leo knew that meant his destiny was getting close; but the journey was as frustrating as this stupid mountain.

Every time Leo thought they’d reached the summit, it turned out to be just another ridge with an even higher one behind it.
First things first, Leo told himself.
Survive today. Figure out crayon drawing of destiny later.

Finally Jason crouched behind a wall of rock. He gestured for the others to do the same. Leo crawled up next to him. Didn’t make his heart flutter at all. Piper had to pull Coach Hedge down.

“I don’t want to get my outfit dirty!” Hedge complained.

“Shhh!” Piper put a finger over her lips.
Reluctantly, the satyr knelt.

Just over the ridge where they were hiding, in the shadow of the mountain’s final crest, was a forested depression about the size of a football field, where the giant Enceladus had set up camp.

Trees had been cut down to make a towering purple bonfire.

The outer rim of the clearing was littered with extra logs and construction equipment—an earthmover; a big crane thing with rotating blades at the end like an electric shaver—must be a tree harvester, Leo thought—and a long metal column with an ax blade, like a sideways guillotine—a hydraulic ax.

Why a giant needed construction equipment, Leo wasn’t sure. He didn’t see how the creature in front of him could even fit in the driver's seat.

The giant Enceladus was so large, so horrible, Leo didn’t even want to glance at him.
But he forced himself to do a full look on the monster.

To start with, he was thirty feet tall—easily as tall as the treetops. Leo was sure the giant could’ve seen them behind their ridge, but he seemed intent on the weird purple bonfire, circling it and chanting under his breath. 

From the waist up, the giant appeared humanoid, his muscular chest clad in bronze armor, decorated with flame designs.

His arms were completely ripped. Each of his biceps was bigger than Leo.
His skin was bronze but sooty with ash. His face was crudely shaped, like a half-finished clay figure, but his eyes glowed white, and his hair was matted in shaggy dreadlocks down to his shoulders, braided with bones.

From the waist down, he was even more terrifying. His legs were scaly green, with claws instead of feet— like the forelegs of a dragon.

In his hand, Enceladus held a spear the size of a flagpole. Every so often he dipped its tip in the fire, turning the metal molten red. Leo wasn’t exactly eager to do a death match with this guy.

“Okay,” Coach Hedge whispered. “Here’s the plan—” Glad to see Coach already planning his funeral.

Leo elbowed him. “You’re not charging him alone!”

“Aw, C’mon.”

Piper choked back a sob. “Look.”

Just visible on the other side of the bonfire was a man tied to a post. His head slumped like he was unconscious, so Leo couldn’t make out his face, but Piper didn’t seem to have any doubts.

“Dad,” she said.

Leo swallowed. He wished this were a Tristan McLean movie. Then Piper’s dad would be faking unconsciousness.

He’d untie his bonds and knock out the giant with some cleverly hidden anti-giant gas. Heroic music would start to play, and Tristan McLean would make his amazing escape, running away in slow motion while the mountainside exploded behind him.

But this wasn’t a movie. Tristan McLean was half dead and about to be eaten. The only people who could stop it—two fashionably dressed teenaged demigods, a very handsome dude with amnesia and a megalomaniac goat.

“There’s four of us,” Hedge whispered urgently. “And only one of him.”

“Did you miss the fact that he’s thirty feet tall and could step on us like bugs?” Leo asked.

“Okay,” Hedge said. “So you, me, and Jason distract him. Piper sneaks around and frees her dad.” They all looked at Jason.

“What?” Jason asked. “I’m not the leader.”

“Yes,” Piper said. “You are.”

They'd never really talked about it, but no one disagreed, not even Hedge. 

Coming this far had been a team effort, but when it came to a life-and-death decision, Leo knew Jason was the one to ask. Even if he had no memory, Jason had a kind of balance to him. 

You could just tell he’d been in battles before, and he knew how to keep his cool. Leo wasn’t exactly the trusting type, but he trusted Jason with his life.

“I hate to say it,” Jason sighed, “but Coach Hedge is right. A distraction is Piper's best chance.”

Not a good chance, Leo thought. Not even a survivable chance. Just their best chance. But still whatever Jason approved he’ll do it in a heartbeat.

Leo had trouble believing he actually thought that.

They couldn't sit there all day and talk about it, though. It had to be close to noon—the giant’s deadline— and the ground was still trying to pull them down. Leo’s knees had already sunk two inches into the dirt. 

Leo looked at the construction equipment and got a crazy idea. He brought out the little toy he’d made on the climb, and he realized what it could do—if he was lucky, which he almost never was.

“Let’s boogie,” he said. “Before I come to my senses.”

Chapter Text

THE PLAN WENT WRONG ALMOST IMMEDIATELY. Piper scrambled along the ridge, trying to keep her head down, while Leo, Jason, and Coach Hedge walked straight into the clearing.

Jason summoned his golden lance.

He brandished it over his head and yelled, “Giant!” Which sounded pretty good, and a lot more confident than Leo could’ve managed. Honestly Leo could’ve fangirled about it but the life or death situation kept him focused. 

Instead of Jason’s very confident yell, he was thinking more along the lines of, “We aren’t worthy! Don’t kill us!”

Enceladus stopped chanting at the flames. He turned toward them and grinned, revealing fangs like a saber-toothed tiger’s.

“Well,” the giant rumbled. “What a nice surprise.”

Leo didn’t like the sound of that. His hand closed on his windup gadget. He stepped sideways, edging his way toward the bulldozer.

Coach Hedge shouted, “Let the movie star go, you big ugly cupcake! Or I’m gonna plant my hoof right up your—”

“Coach,” Jason said. “Shut up.”

Enceladus roared with laughter. “I’ve forgotten how funny satyrs are. When we rule the world, I'll keep your kind around. You can entertain me while I eat all the other mortals.”

“Is that a compliment?” Hedge frowned at Leo. “I don’t think that was a compliment.”

Enceladus opened his mouth wide, and his ugly teeth began to glow.

“Scatter!” Leo yelled.

Jason and Hedge dove to the left as the giant blew fire—a furnace blast so hot even Festus would’ve been jealous.

Leo dodged behind the bulldozer, wound up his homemade device, and dropped it into the driver’s seat. Then he ran to the right, heading for the tree harvester.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jason rise and charge the giant. Coach Hedge ripped off his canary yellow jacket, which was now on fire, and bleated angrily.

“I liked that outfit!” Then he raised his club and charged, too.

Before they could get very far, Enceladus slammed his spear against the ground. The entire mountain shook.

The shockwave sent Leo sprawling. He blinked, momentarily stunned.

Through a haze of grassfire and bitter smoke, he saw Jason staggering to his feet on the other side of the clearing. Damn, Leo wished he looked that good standing on his feet.

Coach Hedge was knocked out cold. He’d fallen forward and hit his head on a log.      His furry hindquarters were sticking straight up, with his canary yellow pants around his knees—a view Leo really didn’t need to see.

The giant bellowed, “I see you, Piper McLean!” 

He turned and blew fire at a line of bushes to Leo’s right. Piper ran into the clearing like a flushed quail, the underbrush burning behind her. Enceladus laughed.

“I’m happy you’ve arrived. And you brought me my prizes!”

Leo’s gut twisted. This was the moment Piper had warned them about. They'd played right into Enceladus’s hands. What else could’ve happen Enceladus lets them go skipping into the hills?

The giant must’ve read Leo’s expression, because he laughed even louder.

 “That's right, son of Hephaestus. I didn’t expect you all to stay alive this long, but it doesn’t matter. By bringing you here, Piper McLean has sealed the deal. If she betrays you, I’m as good as my word. She can take her father and go. What do I care about a movie star?”

Was could his horrified expression that obvious?

Leo could see Piper’s dad more clearly now. He wore a ragged dress shirt and torn slacks.

His bare feet were caked with mud and Leo hoped that was ketchup too. He wasn’t completely unconscious, because he lifted his head and groaned—yep, Tristan McLean all right.

Leo had seen that face in enough movies. But he had a nasty cut down the side of his face, and he looked thin and sick—not heroic at all.

“Dad!” Piper yelled. 

Mr. McLean blinked, trying to focus. “Pipes ... ? Where ...” 

Piper drew her dagger and faced Enceladus. “Let him go!”

“Of course, dear,” the giant rumbled. “Swear your loyalty to me, and we have no problem. Only these others must die.”

Piper looked back and forth between Leo and her dad.

“He'll kill you,” Leo warned. “Don’t trust him!” He better have sounded convincing. 

“Oh, come now,” Enceladus bellowed.

“You know I was born to fight Athena herself? Mother Gaea made each of us giants with a specific purpose, designed to fight and destroy a particular god. I was Athena’s nemesis, the anti-Athena, you might say. Compared to some of my brethren—I am small! But I am clever. And I keep my bargain with you, Piper McLean. It’s part of my plan!”

Jason was on his feet now, lance ready; but before he could act, Enceladus roared—a call so loud it echoed down the valley and was probably heard all the way to San Francisco.
At the edge the woods, half a dozen ogre-like creatures rose up.

Leo realized with nauseating certainty that they hadn’t simply been hiding there. They'd risen straight out of the earth.

The ogres shuffled forward. They were small compared to Enceladus, about seven feet tall.

Each one of them had six arms—one pair in the regular spot, then an extra pair sprouting out the top of their shoulders, and another set shooting from the sides of their rib cages.

They wore only ragged leather loincloths, and even across the clearing, Leo could smell them. Six guys who never bathed, with six armpits each.

Leo decided if he survived this day, he’d have to take a three-hour shower just to forget the stench.

Leo stepped toward Piper. “What—what are those?” 

Her blade reflected the purple light of the bonfire. “Gegenees.”

“In English?” Leo asked.

“The Earthborn,” she said. “Six-armed giants who fought Jason—the first Jason.” 

“Very good, my dear!” Enceladus sounded delighted.

“They used to live on a miserable place in Greece called Bear Mountain. Mount Diablo is much nicer! They are lesser children of Mother Earth, but they serve their purpose. They’re good with construction equipment—”

“Vroom, vroom!” one of the Earthborn bellowed, and the others took up the chant, each moving his six hands as though driving a car, as if it were some kind of weird religious ritual. “Vroom, vroom!”

“Yes, thank you, boys,” Encedalus said. “They also have a score to settle with heroes. Especially anyone named Jason.”

“Yay-son!” the Earthborn screamed. They all picked up clumps of earth, which solidified in their hands, turning to nasty pointed stones. “Where Yay-son? Kill Yay-son!”

As funny as that was Leo couldn’t let them kill Jason. 

Enceladus smiled.

“You see, Piper, you have a choice. Save your father, or ah, try to save your friends and face certain death.” Piper stepped forward.

Her eyes blazed with such anger it was scary even the Earthborn backed away. She radiated power and beauty, but it had nothing to do with her clothes or her makeup.

“You will not take the people I love,” she said. “None of them.” Leo definitely would not hurt her friends. But then he remembered that he was the friends.

Her words rippled across the clearing with such force, the Earthborn muttered, “Okay. Okay, sorry,” and began to retreat.

“Stand your ground, fools!” Enceladus bellowed. He snarled at Piper.

“This is why we wanted you alive, my dear. You could have been so useful to us. But as you wish. Earth-born! I will show you Jason.”

Leo’s heart sank. But the giant didn’t point to Jason. But his feeling of relief was short lived when he pointed to the other side of the bonfire, where Tristan McLean hung helpless and half conscious.

“There is Jason,” Enceladus said with pleasure. “Tear him apart!”

Leo’s biggest surprise: One look from Jason, and all three of them knew the game plan. When had that happened, that they could read each other so well?

Jason charged Enceladus, (Please don’t let him die, Leo prayed.) while Piper rushed to her father, and Leo dashed for the tree harvester, which stood between Mr. McLean and the Earthborn.

The Earthborn were fast, but Leo ran like there was no tomorrow which he found ironic as he would probably not make it through today.

He leaped toward the harvester from five feet away and slammed into the driver's seat. His hands flew across the controls, and the machine responded with unnatural speed—coming to life as if it knew how important this was.

“Ha!” Leo screamed, and swung the crane arm through the bonfire, toppling burning logs onto the Earthborn and spraying sparks everywhere.

Two giants went down under a fiery avalanche and melted back into the earth—hopefully to stay for a while. Like a few centuries while.

The other four ogres stumbled across burning logs and hot coals while Leo brought the harvester around. He smashed a button, and on the end of the crane arm the wicked rotating blades began to whir.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Piper at the stake, cutting her father free. On the other side of the clearing, Jason fought the giant, somehow managing to dodge his massive spear and blasts of fire breath. Woah. Ok Leo was getting distracted.

Coach Hedge was still heroically passed out with his goat tail sticking up in the air.
The whole side of the mountain would soon be ablaze. The fire wouldn’t bother Leo, but if his friends got trapped up here—No. He had to act quickly.

One of the Earthborn—apparently not the most intelligent one—charged the tree harvester, and Leo swung the crane arm in his direction.

As soon as the blades touched the ogre, he dissolved like wet clay and splattered all over the clearing. Most of him flew into Leo’s face. That wasn’t pretty.

He grumbled. “Ew..” He wiped the muck off his face and turned the harvester toward the three remaining Earthborn, who backed up quickly.

“Bad vroom-vroom!” one yelled.

“Yeah, that’s right!” Leo yelled at them. “You want some bad vroom-vroom? Come on!”

Unfortunately, they did. Three ogres with six arms, each throwing large, hard rocks at super speed—and Leo knew he was a goner.

Somehow, he launched himself in a backward somersault off the harvester half a second before a boulder demolished the driver's seat. Rocks slammed into metal.

By the time Leo stumbled to his feet, the harvester looked like a crushed soda can, sinking in the mud.

“Dozer!” Leo yelled. The ogres were picking up more clumps of earth, but this time they were glaring in Piper’s direction.

Thirty feet away, the bulldozer roared to life. Leo’s makeshift gadget had done its job, burrowing into the earthmover’s controls and giving it a temporary life of its own. It roared toward the enemy.

Just as Piper cut her father free and caught him in her arms, the giants launched their second volley of stones. The dozer swiveled in the mud, skidding to intercept, and most of the rocks slammed into its shovel. The force was so great it pushed the dozer back.

Two rocks ricocheted and struck their throwers. Two more Earthborn melted into clay.

Unfortunately, one rock hit the dozer’s engine, sending up a cloud of oily smoke, and the dozer groaned to a stop. Another great toy broken.

Piper dragged her father below the ridge. The last Earth-born charged after her.
Leo was out of tricks, but he couldn't let that monster get to Piper.

He ran forward, straight through the flames, and grabbed something—anything—from his tool belt.

“Hey, stupid!” he yelled, and threw a screwdriver at the Earthborn. Well that was stupid. 

It didn’t kill the ogre, but it sure got his attention. The screwdriver sank hilt-deep into the Earthborn’s forehead like he was made of Play-Doh. The Earthborn yelped in pain and skittered to a halt.

He pulled out the screwdriver, turned and glared at Leo. Sadly, this last ogre looked like the biggest and nastiest of the bunch. Gaea had really gone all out creating him—with extra muscle upgrades, deluxe ugly face, the whole package.

Oh, great, Leo thought. I’ve made a friend.

“You die!” the Earthborn roared. “Friend of Yay-son dies!” The ogre scooped up handfuls of dirt, which immediately hardened into rock cannonballs.

Leo’s mind went blank. Why did he bring himself in this situation.

He reached into his tool belt, but he couldn’t think of anything that would help. He was supposed to be clever—but he couldn’t craft or build or tinker his way out of this one. He didn’t feel very clever.

Fine, he thought. I'll go out blaze-of-glory style.

He burst into flames, yelled, “Hephaestus!” and charged at the ogre barehanded. He never got there.

A blur of turquoise and black flashed behind the ogre. A gleaming bronze blade sliced up one side of the Earthborn and down the other.
Six large arms dropped to the ground, boulders rolling out of their enormous hands.

The Earthborn looked down, very surprised. He mumbled, “Arms go bye-bye.” Then he melted into the ground. 

Piper stood there, breathing hard, her dagger covered with clay. Her dad sat at the ridge, dazed and wounded, but still alive.

Piper’s expression was ferocious—almost crazy, like a wild animal. Leo was glad she was on his side.

“Nobody hurts my friends,” she said, and with a sudden warm appreciative feeling, Leo realized she was talking about him. 

Then she yelled, “Come on!”

Leo saw that the battle wasn’t over. Jason was still fighting the giant Enceladus—and it wasn’t going well.

Chapter Text

WHEN JASON’S LANCE BROKE, he knew he was dead man.

The battle had started well enough. Jason’s instincts kicked in, and his gut told him he’d dueled opponents almost this big before. Size and strength equaled slowness, so Jason just had to be quicker—pace himself, wear out his opponent, and avoid getting smashed or flame-broiled.

He rolled away from the giant's first spear thrust and jabbed Enceladus in the ankle. Jason’s javelin managed to pierce the thick dragon hide, and golden ichor—the blood of immortals—trickled down the giant’s clawed foot.

Enceladus bellowed in pain and blasted him with fire. Jason scrambled away, rolling behind the giant, and struck again behind his knee.
It went on like that for seconds, minutes—it was hard to judge.

Jason heard combat across the clearing— construction equipment grinding, fire roaring, monsters shouting, and rocks smashing into metal.

He heard Leo and Piper yelling defiantly, which meant they were still alive. He could’ve weeped for joy but Jason tried not to think about it. He couldn't afford to get distracted.

Enceladus’s spear missed him by a millimeter. Jason kept dodging, but the ground stuck to his feet.

Gaea was getting stronger, and the giant was getting faster. Enceladus might be slow, but he wasn’t dumb.

He began predicting Jason’s moves, and Jason’s attacks were only annoying him, making him more enraged.

“lm not some minor monster you have defeated,” Enceladus bellowed. “I am a giant, born to destroy gods! Your little gold toothpick can’t kill me, boy.”

Jason didn’t waste energy replying. He was already tired. 

The ground clung to his feet, making him feel like he weighed an extra hundred pounds. The air was full of smoke that burned his lungs.

Fires roared around him, stoked by the winds, and the temperature was approaching the heat of an oven.

Jason raised his javelin to block the giant’s next strike—a big mistake. Dont fight force with force, a voice chided him—the wolf Lupa, who’d told him that long ago. He managed to deflect the spear, but it grazed his shoulder, and his arm went numb.

He backed up, almost tripping over a burning log.

He had to delay—to keep the giant’s attention fixed on him while his friends dealt with the Earthborn and rescued Piper’s dad. He couldn’t fail. 

He retreated, trying to lure the giant to the edge of the clearing. Enceladus could sense his weariness. The giant smiled, baring his yellow fangs.

“The mighty Jason Grace,” he taunted.

“Yes, we know about you, son of Jupiter. The one who led the assault on Mount Othrys. The one who single-handedly slew the Titan Krios and toppled the black throne.”

Jason’s mind reeled. He didn’t know these names, yet they made his skin tingle, as if his body remembered the pain his mind didn't.

“W-what are you talking about?” His vision was going in and out of focus.

He realized his mistake when Enceladus breathed fire.

Distracted, Jason moved too slowly. The blast missed him, but heat blistered his back. He slammed into the ground, his clothes smoldering.

He was blinded from ash and smoke, choking as he tried to breathe. This is helpless.

He scrambled back just doing that gave him a headache, as the giant’s spear cleaved the ground between his feet. Jason managed to stand.

If he could only summon one good blast of lightning—but he was already drained, and in this condition, the effort might kill him. He didn’t even know if electricity would harm the giant.

Death in battle is honorable, said Lupa’s voice. That’s real comforting, Jason thought.

He couldn’t just give up on his friends. 

One last try: Jason took a deep breath and charged.

Enceladus let him approach, grinning with anticipation.

At the last second, Jason faked a strike and rolled between the giant’s legs.

He came up quickly, thrusting with all his might, ready to stab the giant in the small of his back, but Enceladus seem to know his every move.

He stepped aside with too much speed and agility for a giant, as if the earth were helping him move.

He swept his spear sideways, met Jason’s javelin—and with a snap like a shotgun blast, the golden weapon shattered.

The explosion was hotter than the giant’s breath, blinding Jason with golden light. The force knocked him off his feet and squeezed the breath out of him.

When he regained his focus, he was sitting at the rim of a crater.

Enceladus stood at the other side, staggering and confused. The javelin’s destruction had released so much energy, it had blasted a perfect coneshaped pit thirty feet deep, fusing the dirt and rock into a slick glassy substance.

Jason wasn’t sure how he’d survived, but his clothes were steaming. He was out of energy.
He had no weapon. And Enceladus was still very much alive.

Jason tried to get up, but his legs were burned out. His body was exhausted. He was exhausted.

Enceladus blinked at the destruction, then laughed.

“Impressive! Unfortunately, that was your last trick, demigod.”

Enceladus leaped the crater in a single bound, planting his feet on either side of Jason. The giant raised his spear, its tip hovering six feet over Jason’s chest. 

Well it’s been a good time with Leo and Piper, he thought sadly. Now I’m gonna die without knowing who I was.

“And now,” Enceladus said, “my first sacrifice to Gaea!”

Chapter Text

TIME SEEMED TO SLOW DOWN, WHICH WAS really frustrating, since Jason still couldn’t move.

He felt himself sinking into the earth like the ground was a waterbed—comfortable, urging him to relax and give up.

He wondered if the stories of the Underworld were true. Would he end up in the Fields of Punishment or Elysium?

If he couldn’t remember any of his deeds, would they still count?

He wondered if the judges would take that into consideration, or if his dad, Zeus, would write him a note: “Please excuse Jason from eternal damnation. He has had amnesia.”

Jason couldn’t feel his arms. He could see the tip of the spear coming toward his chest in slow motion. He knew he should move, but he couldn’t seem to do it.

Funny, he thought. All that effort to stay alive, and then, boom. You just lie there helplessly while a fire-breathing giant impales you.

Leo’s voice yelled, “Heads up!”

Jason’s breathing hitched when he heard Leo. Only one thing crossed his mind, hope.

A large black metal wedge slammed into Enceladus with a massive thunk! The giant toppled over and slid into the pit.

“Jason, get up!” Piper called.

Her voice energized him, shook him out of his stupor. He sat up, his head groggy, while Piper grabbed him under his arms and hauled him to his feet.

“Don’t die on me,” she ordered. “You are not dying on me.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He muttered, he felt light-headed, but she was about the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. Her hair was smoldering. Her face was smudged with soot. She had a cut on her arm, her dress was torn, and she was missing a boot. Beautiful.

About a hundred feet behind her, Leo was standing over a piece of construction equipment—a long cannonlike thing with a single massive piston, the edge broken clean off. And Jason held his breath.

Leo was slathered in mud, his curls were all over the place and his face was glistening with sweat. His fashionable clothes now looked they’ve been run through a busy street.

Jason must’ve hit his head really hard because he most certainly had a concussion.

No way he was really admiring how his friend looked. Piper looked beautiful then Leo looked perfect.

In a total normal way. 

“I’m definitely losing it.” He mumbled under his breath, still a bit dazed.

”What?” Piper responded with concern in her voice.

But before Jason could respond. He looked down in the crater and saw where the other end of the hydraulic ax had gone. Enceladus was struggling to rise, an ax blade the size of a washing machine stuck in his breastplate.

Amazingly, the giant managed to pull the ax blade free. He yelled in pain and the mountain trembled.

Golden ichor soaked the front of his armor, but Enceladus stood.

Shakily, he bent down and retrieved his spear.

“Good try.” The giant winced. “But I cannot be beaten.”

As they watched, the giant’s armor mended itself, and the ichor stopped flowing. Even the cuts on his dragon-scale legs, which Jason had worked so hard to make, were now just pale scars.

Leo ran up to them, saw the giant, and cursed. “What is it with this guy? Die, already!” 

Jason was ready to kill this dude for Leo’s liking.

“My fate is preordained,” Enceladus said. “Giants cannot be killed by gods or heroes.”

“Only by both,” Jason said.

The giant’s smile faltered, and Jason saw in his eyes something like fear.

“It’s true, isn’t it? Gods and demigods have to work together to kill you.”

“You will not live long enough to try!” The giant started stumbling up the crater’s slope, slipping on the glassy sides.

“Anyone have a god handy?” Leo asked.

Jason’s heart filled with dread. He looked at the giant below them, struggling to get out of the pit, and he knew what had to happen.

“Leo,” he said, “if you’ve got a rope in that tool belt, get it ready.” 

He leaped at the giant with no weapon but his bare hands. 

“Enceladus!” Piper yelled. “Look behind you!”

It was an obvious trick, but her voice was so compelling, even Jason was tempted to check behind him.

The giant said, “What?” and turned like there was an enormous spider on his back.

Jason tackled his legs at just the right moment. The giant lost his balance. Enceladus slammed into the crater and slid to the bottom.

While he tried to rise, Jason put his arms around the giant’s neck. When Enceladus struggled to his feet, Jason was riding his shoulders.

“Get off!” Enceladus screamed. He tried to grab Jason’s legs, but Jason scrabbled around, squirming and climbing over the giant's hair.

Father, Jason thought. If I’ve ever done anything good, anything you approved of, help me now. I offer my own life—just save my friends.

Suddenly he could smell the metallic scent of a storm. Darkness swallowed the sun. The giant froze, sensing it too.

Jason yelled to his friends, “Hit the deck!”

And every hair on his head stood straight up. Crack!

Lightning surged through Jason’s body, straight through Enceladus, and into the ground.

The giant’s back stiffened, and Jason was thrown clear.

When he regained his bearings, he was slipping down the side of the crater, and the crater was cracking open.

The lightning bolt had split the mountain itself. The earth rumbled and tore apart, and Enceladus’s legs slid into the chasm.

He clawed helplessly at the glassy sides of the pit, and just for a moment managed to hold on to the edge, his hands trembling.

He fixed Jason with a look of pure hatred.

“You’ve won nothing, boy. My brothers are rising, and they are ten times as strong as I. We will destroy the gods at their roots! You will die, and Olympus will die with—”

The giant lost his grip and fell into the crevice.
The earth shook. Jason fell toward the rift.

“Grab hold!” Leo yelled.

Jason’s feet were at the edge of the chasm when he grabbed the rope, and Leo and Piper pulled him up.

They stood together, exhausted and terrified, as the chasm closed like an angry mouth. The ground stopped pulling at their feet.

For now, Gaea was gone.

The mountainside was on fire. Smoke billowed hundreds of feet into the air. Jason spotted a helicopter— maybe firefighters or reporters—coming toward them.

All around them was carnage. The Earthborn had melted into piles of clay, leaving behind only their rock missiles and some nasty bits of loincloth, but Jason figured they would re-form soon enough. Construction equipment lay in ruins.

The ground was scarred and blackened.
Coach Hedge started to move. He sat up with a groan and rubbed his head. His canary yellow pants were now the color of Dijon mustard mixed with mud.

He blinked and looked around him at the battle scene. “Did I do this?”

Before Jason could reply, Hedge picked up his club and got shakily to his feet. “Yeah, you wanted some hoof? I gave you some hoof, punk! Who's the goat, huh?”

He did a little dance, kicking rocks and making what were probably rude satyr gestures at the piles of clay.

Leo cracked a smile, and Jason couldn’t help it—he started to laugh. It probably sounded a little hysterical, but it was such a relief to be alive, he didn’t care.

And without thinking he did the act of horror. Embracing Leo.

Leo let out a small gasp. “Uh.”

But Jason quickly pulled away. 

“I- Sorry.” He was so embarrassed. He wished he had gone down with the giant.

Leo cleared his throat awkwardly “It’s cool man. I mean I would hug me too.” He punched his arm playfully. Jason forced a laugh. Yep, Leo thinks I’m a weirdo now.

Can the earth just, he grimaced, swallow me whole right now.

Then a man stood up across the clearing. Tristan McLean staggered forward. His eyes were hollow, shellshocked, like someone who’d just walked through a nuclear wasteland.

“Piper?” he called. His voice cracked. “Pipes, what—what is—”

He couldn’t complete the thought. Piper ran over to him and hugged him tightly, but he almost didn’t seem to know her.

Jason had felt a similar way—that morning at the Grand Canyon, when he woke with no memory.

But Mr. McLean had the opposite problem. He had too many memories, too much trauma his mind just couldn’t handle. He was coming apart.

“We need to get him out of here,” Jason said.

“Yeah, but how?” Leo said. “He’s in no shape to walk.” 

Jason glanced up at the helicopter, which was now circling directly overhead.

“Can you make us a bullhorn or something?” he asked Leo.

“Er. Please?” He added in quickly as Leo tilted his head.

“Piper has some talking to do.”

Chapter Text

BORROWING THE HELICOPTER WAS EASY. Getting her dad on board was not. Piper needed only a few words through Leo’s improvised bullhorn to convince the pilot to land on the mountain.

The Park Service copter was big enough for medical evacuations or search and rescue, and when Piper told the very nice ranger pilot lady that it would be a great idea to fly them to the Oakland Airport, she readily agreed.

“No,” her dad muttered, as they picked him up off the ground.

“Piper, what—there were monsters—there were monsters—”

She needed both Leo’s and Jason’s help to hold him, while Coach Hedge gathered their supplies.

Fortunately Hedge had put his pants and shoes back on, so Piper didn’t have to explain the goat legs.

It broke Piper’s heart to see her dad like this—pushed beyond the breaking point, crying like a little boy.

She didn’t know what the giant had done to him exactly, how the monsters had shattered his spirit, but she didn’t think she could stand to find out.

“It'll be okay, Dad,” she said, making her voice as soothing as possible. She didn’t want to charmspeak her own father, but it seemed the only way.

“These people are my friends. We're going to help you. You’re safe now.” He blinked, and looked up at helicopter rotors.

“Blades. They had a machine with so many blades. They had six arms ...”

When they got him to the bay doors, the pilot came over to help. “What’s wrong with him?” she asked.

“Smoke inhalation,” Jason suggested. “Or heat exhaustion.”

“We should get him to a hospital,” the pilot offered.

“It’s okay,” Piper said. “The airport is good.”

“Yeah, the airport is good,” the pilot agreed immediately.

Then she frowned, as if uncertain why she’d changed her mind. “Isn’t he Tristan McLean, the movie star?”
“No,” Piper said. “He only looks like him. Forget it.”

“Yeah,” the pilot said. “Only looks like him. I—” She blinked, confused.

“I forgot what I was saying. Let’s get going.”

Jason raised his eyebrows at Piper, obviously impressed, but Piper felt sick.

She didn’t want to twist people’s minds, convince them of things they didn’t believe.

It felt so bossy, so wrong—like something Drew would do back at camp, manipulating others or Medea in her evil department store. And how would it help her father? How would it help her?

She couldn’t convince him he would be okay, or that nothing had happened. His trauma was just too deep.

Finally they got him on board, and the helicopter took off.

The pilot kept getting questions over her radio, asking her where she was going, but she ignored them.
They veered away from the burning mountain and headed toward the Berkeley Hills.

“Piper.” Her dad grasped her hand and held on like he was afraid of losing his grip.

“It's you? They told me—they told me you would die. They said ... horrible things would happen.”

“It's me, Dad.” It took all her willpower not to just breakdown. She had to be strong for him.

“Everything’s going to be okay.”

“They were monsters,” he said. “Real monsters. Earth spirits, right out of Grandpa Tom’s stories—and the Earth Mother was angry with me. And the giant breathing fire—”

He focused on Piper again, his eyes like broken glass, reflecting a crazy kind of light.

“They said you were a demigod. Your mother was ...” “Aphrodite,” Piper said. “Goddess of love.”

“I—I—” He took a shaky breath, then seemed to forget how to exhale.

Piper’s friends were careful not to watch. Leo fiddled with a lug nut from his tool belt.

Jason gazed at the valley below—the roads backing up as mortals stopped their cars and gawked at the burning mountain.

But for some reason he kept awkwardly glancing not in her direction but Leo’s. Piper would’ve asked but honestly she didn’t bother to care. 

Besides Piper was unfortunate to witness that er.. ‘bro’ hug. If you would even call it a hug. Piper thought it was more of an accident. 

Gleeson chewed on the stub of his carnation, and for once the satyr didn’t look in the mood to glee or boast.

Tristan McLean wasn’t supposed to be seen like this.
 
He was a star. He was confident, stylish, suave— always in control. That was the public image he projected. Piper had seen the image falter before. But this was different. Now it was broken, gone. Not the dad Piper knew.

“I didn’t know about Mom,” Piper told him.

“Not until you were taken. When we found out where you were, we came right away. My friends helped me. No one will hurt you again.” Her dad couldn't stop shivering.

“You’re heroes—you and your friends. I can’t believe it. You’re a real hero, not like me. Not playing a part. I’m so proud of you, Pipes.”

But the words were muttered listlessly, in a semi-trance.

He gazed down on the valley, and his grip on Piper’s hand went slack. “Your mother never told me.”

“She thought it was for the best.” It sounded lame, even to Piper, and no amount of charmspeak could change that.

But she didn’t tell her dad what Aphrodite had really worried about: if he has to spend the rest of his life with those memories, knowing that gods and spirits walk the earth, it will shatter him.

Piper felt inside the pocket of her jacket.

The vial was still there, warm to her touch. But how could she erase his memories? Her dad finally knew who she was.

He was proud of her, and for once she was his hero, not the other way around. He would never send her away now. They shared a secret.

Just the thought of that was enough to make her stop but.. How could she go back to the way things were?

She held his hand, speaking to him about small things—her time at the Wilderness School, her cabin at Camp Half-Blood.

She told him how Coach Hedge ate carnations and got knocked on his butt on Mount Diablo, how Leo had tamed a dragon, and how Jason had made wolves back down by talking in Latin.

Her friends smiled reluctantly as she recounted their adventures.
Her dad seemed to relax as she talked, but he didn’t smile. Piper wasn’t even sure he heard her.

As they passed over the hills into the East Bay, Jason tensed. He leaned so far out the doorway Piper was afraid he’d fall.

He pointed.

“What is that?” Piper looked down, but she didn’t see anything interesting—just hills, woods, houses, little roads snaking through the canyons.

A highway cut through a tunnel in the hills, connecting the East Bay with the inland towns.

“Where?” Piper asked.

“That road,” he said. “The one that goes through the hills.” Piper picked up the com helmet the pilot had given her and relayed the question over the radio.

The answer wasn’t very exciting. “She says it’s Highway 24,” Piper reported. “That’s the Caldecott Tunnel. Why?”

Jason stared intently at the tunnel entrance, but he said nothing.

It disappeared from view as they flew over downtown Oakland, but Jason still stared into the distance, his expression almost as unsettled as Piper’s dad’s.

“Monsters,” her dad said, a tear running down his flawless cheek.

“I live in a world full of monsters.”

Chapter Text

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL DIDN’T WANT TO let an unscheduled helicopter land at the Oakland Airport—until Piper got on the radio. Then it turned out to be no problem.

They unloaded on the tarmac, and everyone looked at Piper. 

“What now?” Jason asked her.

She felt uncomfortable. She didn’t want to be in charge, but for her dad’s sake, she had to appear confident. She had no plan. 

She’d just remembered that he’d flown into Oakland, which meant his private plane would still be here. But today was the solstice. They had to save Hera.

They had no idea where to go or if they were even too late. And how could she leave her dad in this condition?

“First thing,” she said. “I—I have to get my dad home. I’m sorry, guys.” Their faces fell. 

“Oh,” Leo said. “I mean, absolutely. He needs you right now. We can take it from here.”

“Pipes, no.”

Her dad had been sitting in the helicopter doorway, a blanket around his shoulders. But he stumbled to his feet.

“You have a mission. A quest. I can’t—”

“I'll take care of him,” said Coach Hedge. Piper stared at him. The satyr was the last person she’d expected to offer.

“You?” she asked.

 “l’m a protector,” Gleeson said. “That's my job, not fighting.”

He sounded a little crestfallen, and Piper realized maybe she shouldn’t have recounted how he got knocked unconscious in the last battle. In his own way, maybe the satyr was as sensitive as her dad.

Then Hedge straightened, and set his jaw. “Of course, I’m good at fighting, too.” He glared at them all, daring them to argue.

“Yes,” Jason said quickly.

“Terrifying,” Leo agreed.

The coach grunted. “But I’m a protector, and | can do this. Your dad’s right, Piper. You need to carry on with the quest.”

“But ...” Piper’s eyes stung, as if she were back in the forest fire. “Dad ...”

He held out his arms, and she hugged him. He felt frail. He was trembling so much, it scared her.

“Let’s give them a minute,” Jason said, and they took the pilot a few yards down the tarmac.

“I can’t believe it,” her dad said. “I failed you.”

“No, Dad!”

“The things they did, Piper, the visions they showed me ...”

“Dad, listen.” She took out the vial from her pocket.

“Aphrodite gave me this, for you. It takes away your recent memories. It'll make it like none of this ever happened.”

He gazed at her, as if translating her words from a foreign language. “But you’re a hero. I would forget that?”

“Yes,” Piper whispered. She forced an assuring tone into her voice. “Yes, you would. It'll be like—like before.”

He closed his eyes and took a shaky breath.

“I love you, Piper. I always have. I—I sent you away because I didn’t want you exposed to my life. Not the way I grew up—the poverty, the hopelessness. Not the Hollywood insanity either. I thought—thought I was protecting you.” He managed a brittle laugh.

“As if your life without me was better, or safer.”

Piper took his hand. She’d heard him talk about protecting her before, but she’d never believed it. She’d always thought he was just rationalizing.

Her dad seemed so confident and easygoing, like his life was a joyride. How could he claim she needed protecting from that?

Finally Piper understood he’d been acting for her benefit, trying not to show how scared and insecure he was. He really had been trying to protect her. And now his ability to cope had been destroyed.

She offered him the vial. “Take it. Maybe someday we'll be ready to talk about this again. When you're ready.”

“When I’m ready,” he murmured. “You make it sound like—like I’m the one growing up. I’m supposed to be the parent.”

He took the vial. His eyes glimmered with a small desperate hope. “I love you, Pipes.”

“Love you, too, Dad.”

He drank the pink liquid. His eyes rolled up into his head, and he slumped forward. Piper caught him, and her friends ran up to help.

“Got him,” Hedge said. The satyr stumbled, but he was strong enough to hold Tristan McLean upright.

“I already asked our ranger friend to call up his plane. It’s on the way now. Home address?”

Piper was about to tell him. Then a thought occurred to her.

She checked her dad’s pocket, and his BlackBerry was still there.

It seemed bizarre that he’d still have something so normal after all he’d been through, but she guessed Enceladus hadn't seen any reason to take it.

“Everything’s on here,” Piper said. “Address, his chauffeur’s number. Just watch out for Jane.”

Hedge’s eyes lit up, like he sensed a possible fight.

“Who's Jane?” By the time Piper explained, her dad’s sleek white Gulf-stream had taxied next to the helicopter.

Hedge and the flight attendant got Piper’s dad on board.

Then Hedge came down one last time to say his good-byes. He gave Piper a hug and glared at Jason and Leo.

“You cupcakes take care of this girl, you hear? Or I’m gonna make you do push-ups.”

“You got it, Coach,” Leo said, a smile tugging at his mouth. 

“No push-ups,” Jason promised. Piper gave the old satyr one more hug.

“Thank you, Gleeson. Take care of him, please.”

“I got this, McLean,” he assured her. “They got root beer and veggie enchiladas on this flight, and one hundred percent linen napkins—yum! I could get used to this.”

Trotting up the stairs, he lost one shoe, and his hoof was visible for just a second.

The flight attendant’s eyes widened, but she looked away and pretended nothing was wrong.

Piper figured she’d probably seen stranger things, working for Tristan McLean.

When the plane was heading down the runaway, Piper started to cry. She’d been holding it in too long and she just couldn’t anymore.

Before she knew it, Jason was hugging her, and Leo stood uncomfortably nearby, pulling Kleenex out of his tool belt.

“Your dad’s in good hands,” Jason said as he patted her back.

“You did amazing.”

She sobbed into his shirt. She allowed herself to be held for six deep breaths. Seven. Then she couldn't indulge herself anymore.

They needed her. The helicopter pilot was already looking uncomfortable, like she was starting to wonder why she’d flown them here.

“Thank you, guys,” Piper said. “I—”

She wanted to tell them how much they meant to her. They'd sacrificed everything, maybe even their quest, to help her.

She couldn't repay them, couldn’t even put her gratitude into words. But her friends expressions told her they understood.

Then, right next to Jason, the air began to shimmer.

At first Piper thought it was heat off the tarmac, or maybe gas fumes from the helicopter, but she’d seen something like this before in Medea’s fountain.

It was an lris message. An image appeared in the air—a dark-haired girl in silver winter camouflage, holding a bow.

Jason stumbled back in surprise. “Thalia!”

“Thank the gods,” said the Hunter. The scene behind her was hard to make out, but Piper heard yelling, metal clashing on metal, and explosions.

“We've found her,” Thalia said. “Where are you?”

“Oakland,” he said. “Where are you?”

“The Wolf House! Oakland is good; you’re not too far. We're holding off the giant’s minions, but we can’t hold them forever. Get here before sunset, or it’s all over.”

“Then it’s not too late?” Piper cried. Hope surged through her, but Thalia’s expression quickly dampened

“Not yet,” Thalia said. “But Jason—it’s worse than I realized. Porphyrion is rising. Hurry.

“But where is the Wolf House?” he pleaded. “Our last trip,” Thalia said, her image starting to flicker. “The park. Jack London. Remember?”

This made no sense to Piper, but Jason looked like he’d been shot. He tottered, his face pale, and the Iris message disappeared.

“Uh you all right?” Leo asked. “You know where she is?”

“Yes,” Jason said. “Sonoma Valley. Not far. Not by air.”

Piper turned to the ranger pilot, who’d been watching all this with an increasingly puzzled expression. 

“Ma’am,” Piper said with her best smile. “You don’t mind helping us one more time, do you?”

“Not at all,” the pilot agreed.

“We can’t take a mortal into battle,” Jason said. “It’s too dangerous.” He turned to Leo hopefully. “Do you think you could fly this thing?”

“Um ...” Leo’s expression didn’t exactly reassure Piper. But then he put his hand on the side of the helicopter, concentrating hard, as if listening to the machine.

“Bell 412HP utility helicopter,” Leo said “Composite four-blade main rotor, cruising speed twenty-two knots, service ceiling twenty-thousand feet. The tank is near full. Sure, I can fly it.”

Jason let out a sigh of relief.

Piper smiled sweetly at the ranger again. “You don’t have a problem with an under-aged unlicensed kid borrowing your copter, do you? We'll return it.”

“I —” The pilot nearly choked on the words, but she got them out: “I don’t have a problem with that.”

Leo grinned as he hopped into the helicopter.

“Hop in, kids. Uncle Leo’s gonna take you for a ride.”

Chapter Text

FLY A HELICOPTER? SURE, WHY NOT. Leo had done plenty of crazier things that week.

Like not hugging Jason back. Yes as in the Jason. Jason freakin’ Grace. Hugged him. He didn’t even believe it himself. 

He mentally cursed himself for not touching the boy back. In his defense he pulled away before Leo could even react.

But in those few seconds Leo thought for sure he was gonna faint on the spot. Melt into the ground turn into a puddle, his brain turned into goo. Even a faint spark lit up in his hair after. He put it out with his hand before Jason noticed.

He already missed the way Jason pressed his body against his. 

He was shocked when he was able to speak after.

The sun was going down as they flew north over the Richmond Bridge, and Leo couldn't believe the day had gone so quickly.

Once again, nothing like ADHD and a good fight to the death to make time fly.

Piloting the chopper, he went back and forth between confidence and panic. If he didn’t think about it, he found himself automatically flipping the right switches, checking the altimeter, easing back on the stick, and flying straight.

If he allowed himself to consider what he was doing, he started freaking out.

He imagined his Aunt Rosa yelling at him in Spanish, telling him he was a delinquent lunatic who was going to crash and burn.

Part of him suspected she was right.

“Going okay?” Piper asked from the copilot’s seat. She sounded more nervous than he was, so Leo reassured her.

“More then smooth,” he said. “So what’s the Wolf House?”

Leo felt Jason kneel between their seats. He fought the urge to glance at him.

“An abandoned mansion in the Sonoma Valley. A demigod built it—Jack London.”

Leo couldn't place the name. “He an actor?”

“Writer,” Piper corrected. “Adventure stuff, right? Call of the Wild? White Fang?”

“Yeah,” Jason said. “He was a son of Mercury—I  mean, Hermes. He was an adventurer, traveled the world. He was even a hobo for a while. Then he made a fortune writing. He bought a big ranch in the country and decided to build this huge mansion—the Wolf House.”

“Named that ’cause he wrote about wolves?” Leo arched an eyebrow.

“Partially,” Jason said.

“But the site, and the reason he wrote about wolves—he was dropping hints about his personal experience. There’re a lot of holes in his life story—how he was born, who his dad was, why he wandered around so much—stuff you can only explain if you know he was a demigod.”

The bay slipped behind them, and the helicopter continued north. Ahead of them, yellow hills rolled out as far as Leo could see.

“So Jack London went to Camp Half-Blood,” Leo guessed. 

“No,” Jason said. “No, he didn’t.”

Leo felt a tad bit concerned no full on worried.

“Bro, you’re freaking me out with the mysterious talk. Are you remembering your past or not?”

“Pieces,” Jason said.

“Only pieces. None of it good. The Wolf House is on sacred ground. It’s where London started his journey as a child—where he found out he was a demigod. That’s why he returned there. He thought he could live there, claim that land, but it wasn’t meant for him. The Wolf House was cursed. It burned in a fire a week before he and his wife were supposed to move in. A few years later, London died, and his ashes were buried on the site.”

“Jason,” Piper said, “how do you know all this?”

A shadow crossed Jason’s face. Probably just a cloud, but Leo could swear the shape looked like an eagle.

“I started my journey there too,” Jason said.

“It’s a powerful place for demigods, a dangerous place. If Gaea can claim it, use its power to entomb Hera on the solstice and raise Porphyrion—that might be enough to awaken the earth goddess fully.”

Leo kept his hand on the joystick, guiding the chopper at full speed—racing toward the north.

He could see some weather ahead—a spot of darkness like a cloudbank or a storm, right where they were going. 

Piper’s dad had called him a hero earlier. And Leo couldn't believe some of the things he’d done— smacking around Cyclopes, disarming exploding doorbells, battling six-armed ogres with construction equipment. Talking to Jason normally.

They seemed like they had happened to another person. Not him.

He was just Leo Valdez, an orphaned kid from Houston. He’d spent his life running away, and part of him still wanted to run.

What was he thinking, flying toward a cursed mansion to fight more evil monsters?

His mom’s voice echoed in his head: Nothing is unfixable. 

Except the fact that you’re gone forever, Leo thought.

Seeing Piper and her dad back together had really driven that home. Even if Leo survived this quest and saved Hera, Leo wouldn’t have any happy reunions.

He wouldn’t be going back to a loving family.

He wouldn't see his mom.

The helicopter shuddered. Metal creaked, and Leo could almost imagine the tapping was Morse code: Not the end. Not the end.

He leveled out the chopper, and the creaking stopped.

He was just hearing things. He couldn’t dwell on his mom, or the idea that kept bugging him—that Gaea was bringing souls back from the Underworld—so why couldn’t he make some good come out of it? Thinking like that would drive him crazy. He had a job to do.

He let his instincts take over—just like flying the helicopter. If he thought about the quest too much, or what might happen afterward, he’d panic.

The trick was not to think—just get through it as long as he had Jason and Piper, all was well.

“Thirty minutes out,” he told his friends, though he wasn’t sure how he knew.

“If you want to get some rest, now’s a good time.”

Jason strapped himself into the back of the helicopter and passed out almost immediately. It was actually kinda cute.

Piper and Leo stayed wide-awake.

After a few minutes of awkward silence, Leo said, “Your dad’ll be fine, you know. Nobody’s gonna mess with him with that crazy goat around.”

Piper glanced over, and Leo was struck by how much she’d changed. Not just physically. Her presence was stronger. She seemed more... here.

At Wilderness School she’d spent the semester trying not to be seen, hiding out in the back row of the classroom, the back of the bus, the corner of the lunchroom as far as possible from the loud kids.

Now she would be impossible to miss. It didn’t matter what she was wearing —you’d have to look at her.

“My dad,” she said thoughtfully. “Yeah, I know. I was thinking about Jason. I’m worried about him.”

Leo reluctantly nodded. The closer they got to that bank of dark clouds, the more Leo worried, too. 

“He’s starting to remember. That’s got to make him a little edgy.”

“But what if ... what if he’s a different person?”

Leo had had the same thought. If the Mist could affect their memories, could Jason’s whole personality be an illusion, too? As much he hated thinking about it he couldn’t rule out the possibility.

If their friend wasn’t their friend, and they were heading into a cursed mansion—a dangerous place for demigods—what would happen if Jason’s full memory came back in the middle of a battle?

“Nah,” Leo decided. “After all we’ve been through? | can’t see it. We’re a team. Jason can handle it.” At least he hoped he could.

Piper smoothed her blue dress, which was tattered and burned from their fight on Mount Diablo. 

“I hope you're right. I need him ...” She cleared her throat. “I mean I need to trust him...”

“I know,” Leo said.

After seeing her dad break down, Leo understood Piper couldn't afford to lose Jason as well.

Like Leo couldn’t afford to lose Jason.

She’d just watched Tristan McLean, her cool suave movie star dad, reduced to near insanity. Leo could barely stand to watch that, but for Piper—Wow, Leo couldn’t even imagine.

He figured that would make her insecure about herself, too. If weakness was inherited, she’d be wondering, could she break down the same way her dad did?

“Hey, don’t worry,” Leo said. “Piper, you’re the strongest, most powerful beauty queen I’ve ever met. You can trust yourself. For what it’s worth, you can trust me too.”

The helicopter dipped in a wind shear, and Leo almost jumped out of his skin. He cursed and righted the chopper.

Piper laughed nervously. “Trust you, huh?”

“Ah, shut up, already.” But he grinned at her, and for a second, it felt like he was just relaxing comfortably with a friend, another ‘friend’ sleeping in the back.

But the calm feeling vanished when they hit the storm clouds.

Chapter Text

AT FIRST, LEO THOUGHT ROCKS WERE pelting the windshield.

Then he realized it was sleet. Frost built up around the edges of the glass, and slushy waves of ice blotted out his view.

“An ice storm?” Piper shouted over the engine and the wind. “Is it supposed to be this cold in Sonoma?”

Leo wasn’t sure, but something about this storm seemed conscious, malevolent—like it was intentionally slamming them.

Jason woke up quickly. He crawled forward, grabbing their seats for balance. “We've got to be getting close.”

Leo was too busy wrestling with the stick to reply. 

Suddenly it wasn’t so easy to drive the chopper. Its movements turned sluggish and jerky. 

“Do you need help?” Jason asked as he tried standing on his feet but the force made him stumbled back.

“Hey— No it’s totally cool-“ Leo said that as the controller slammed him against the helicopter door.

The whole machine shuddered in the icy wind. The helicopter probably hadn’t been prepped for cold-weather flying. The controls refused to respond, and they started to lose altitude.

Below them, the ground was a dark quilt of trees and fog. The ridge of a hill loomed in front of them and Leo yanked the stick, just clearing the treetops.

“There!” Jason shouted.

A small valley opened up before them, with the murky shape of a building in the middle. Leo aimed the helicopter straight for it.

All around them were flashes of light that reminded Leo of the tracer fire at Midas’s compound.

Trees cracked and exploded at the edges of the clearing. Shapes moved through the mist.

Combat seemed to be everywhere.
He set down the helicopter in an icy field about fifty yards from the house and killed the engine.

He was about to relax when he heard a whistling sound and saw a dark shape hurtling toward them out of the mist.

“Out!” Leo screamed.

They leaped from the helicopter and barely cleared the rotors before a massive BOOM shook the ground, knocking Leo off his feet and splattering ice all over him.

He got up shakily and saw that the world’s largest snowball—a chunk of snow, ice, and dirt the size of a garage—had completely flattened the Bell 412.

“You all right?” Jason ran up to him which made Leo’s face burn despite the cold.

Piper at his side. They both looked fine except for being speckled with snow and mud.

“Yeah.” Leo shivered. “Guess we owe that ranger lady a new helicopter.”

Piper pointed south. “Fighting’s over there.” Then she frowned.

“No ... it’s all around us.”

She was right. The sounds of combat rang across the valley.

The snow and mist made it hard to tell for sure, but there seemed to be a circle of fighting all around the Wolf House.

Behind them loomed Jack London’s dream home—a massive ruin of red and gray stones and rough-hewn timber beams.

Leo could imagine how it had looked before it burned down—a combination log cabin and castle, like a billionaire lumberjack might build.

But in the mist and sleet, the place had a lonely, haunted feel. Leo could totally believe the ruins were cursed.

“Jason!” a girl’s voice called.

Thalia appeared from the fog, her parka caked with snow. Her bow was in her hand, and her quiver was almost empty.

She ran toward them, but made it only a few steps before a six-armed ogre—one of the Earthborn—burst out of the storm behind her, a raised club in each hand.

“Look out!” Leo yelled.

They rushed to help, but Thalia had it under control.

She launched herself into a flip, notching an arrow as she pivoted like a gymnast and landed in a kneeling position.

The ogre got a silver arrow right between the eyes and melted into a pile of clay.

Thalia stood and retrieved her arrow, but the point had snapped off. “That was my last one.”

She kicked the pile of clay resentfully. “Stupid ogre.”

“Nice shot, though,” Leo said.

Thalia ignored him as usual (which no doubt meant she thought he was as cool as ever. If he couldn’t score with Jason maybe he could Thalia.)

She hugged Jason and nodded to Piper. “Just in time. My Hunters are holding a perimeter around the mansion, but we'll be overrun any minute.”

“By Earthborn?” Jason asked.

“And wolves—Lycaon’s minions.” Thalia blew a fleck of ice off her nose. “Also storm spirits—”

“But we gave them to Aeolus!” Piper protested.

“Who tried to kill us,” Leo reminded her.
“Maybe he’s helping Gaea again.”

“I don’t know,” Thalia said.

“But the monsters keep re-forming almost as fast as we can kill them. We took the Wolf House with no problem: surprised the guards and sent them straight to Tartarus. But then this freak snowstorm blew in. Wave after wave of monsters started attacking. Now we’re surrounded. I don’t know who or what is leading the assault, but I think they planned this. It was a trap to kill anyone who tried to rescue Hera.”

“Where is she?” Jason asked.

“Inside,” Thalia said.

“We tried to free her, but we can’t figure out how to break the cage. It’s only a few minutes until the sun goes down. Hera thinks that’s the moment when Porphyrion will be reborn. Plus, most monsters are stronger at night. If we don’t free Hera soon—”

She didn’t need to finish the thought. Leo, Jason, and Piper followed her into the ruined mansion.

Jason stepped over the threshold and immediately collapsed. 

“Hey!” Leo caught him which again totally did not make his heart do a 360. “None of that, man. What’s wrong?”

 “This place ...” Jason shook his head. “Sorry ... It came rushing back to me.” 

“So you have been here,” Piper said.

“We both have,” Thalia said. Her expression was grim, like she was reliving someone’s death.

“This is where my mom took us when Jason was a child. She left him here, told me he was dead. He just disappeared.”

“She gave me to the wolves,” Jason murmured.

“At Hera’s insistence. She gave me to Lupa.” 

“That part I didn’t know.” Thalia frowned.

“Who is Lupa?”

An explosion shook the building. Just outside, a blue mushroom cloud billowed up, raining snowflakes and ice like a nuclear blast made of cold instead of heat.

“Maybe this isn’t the time for questions,” Leo suggested. “Show us the goddess.”

Once inside, Jason seemed to get his bearings. The house was built in a giant U, and Jason led them between the two wings to an outside courtyard with an empty reflecting pool.

At the bottom of the pool, just as Jason had described from his dream, two spires of rock and root tendrils had cracked through the foundation.

One of the spires was much bigger—a solid dark mass about twenty feet high, and to Leo it looked like a stone body bag.

Underneath the mass of fused tendrils he could make out the shape of a head, wide shoulders, a massive chest and arms, like the creature was stuck waist deep in the earth.

No, not stuck—rising.

On the opposite end of the pool, the other spire was smaller and more loosely woven. Each tendril was as thick as a telephone pole, with so little space between them that Leo doubted he could’ve gotten his arm through. Still, he could see inside.

And in the center of the cage stood Tia Callida.

She looked exactly like Leo remembered: dark hair covered with a shawl, the black dress of a widow, a wrinkled face with glinting, scary eyes.

She didn’t glow or radiate any sort of power. She looked like a regular mortal woman, his good old psychotic babysitter.

Leo dropped into the pool and approached the cage. “Hola, Tia. Little bit of trouble?”

She crossed her arms and sighed in exasperation.

“Don’t inspect me like I’m one of your machines, Leo Valdez. Get me out of here!”

Thalia stepped next to him and looked at the cage with distaste—or maybe she was looking at the goddess.

“We tried everything we could think of, Leo, but maybe my heart wasn’t in it. If it was up to me, I’d just leave her in there.”

“Ohh, Thalia Grace,” the goddess said. “When | get out of here, you’ll be sorry you were ever born.”

“Save it!” Thalia snapped.

“You’ve been nothing but a curse to every child of Zeus for ages. You sent a bunch of intestinally challenged cows after my friend Annabeth—”

“She was disrespectful!”

“You dropped a statue on my legs.”

“It was an accident!”

“And you took my brother!” Thalia’s voice cracked with emotion. “Here—on this spot. You ruined our lives. We should leave you to Gaea!”

“Hey,” Jason intervened. “Thalia—Sis—I know. But this isn’t the time. You should help your Hunters.”

Leo was a-bit taken aback, if he was Jason he would so not stick up for the lady who stole quite literally his life and memory.

Thalia clenched her jaw.

“Fine. For you, Jason. But if you ask me, she isn’t worth it.”

She definitely has a point.

Thalia turned, leaped out of the pool, and stormed from the building.

Leo turned to Hera with grudging respect.

“Intestinally challenged cows?”

“Focus on the cage, Leo,” she grumbled. “And Jason—you are wiser than your sister. I chose my champion well.”

“I’m not your champion, lady,” Jason said. “I’m only helping you because you stole my memories and you're better than the alternative. Speaking of which, what’s going on with that?”

He nodded to the other spire that looked like the king-size granite body bag. Was Leo imagining it, or had it grown taller since they'd gotten here?

“That, Jason,” Hera said, “is the king of the giants being reborn.” 

“Gross,” Piper said.

“Indeed,” Hera said. “Porphyrion, the strongest of his kind. Gaea needed a great deal of power to raise him again —my power. For weeks I’ve grown weaker as my essence was used to grow him a new form.”

“So you're like a heat lamp,” Leo guessed. “Or fertilizer.”

The goddess glared at him, but Leo didn’t care. This old lady had been making his life miserable since he was a baby. He totally had rights to rag on her. Also it earned him a small smile from Jason. Score.

“Joke all you wish,” Hera said in a clipped tone. “But at sundown, it will be too late. The giant will awake. He will offer me a choice: marry him, or be consumed by the earth. And I cannot marry him. We will all be destroyed. And as we die, Gaea will awaken.”

Leo frowned at the giant’s spire.

“Can’t we blow it up or something?”

“Without me, you do not have the power,” Hera said. “You might as well try to destroy a mountain.”

“Done that once today,” Jason said. 

“Just hurry up and let me out!” Hera demanded.

Jason scratched his head. 

“Leo, can you do it?”

“I don’t know.” Leo tried not to panic.

“Besides, if she’s a goddess, why hasn’t she busted herself out?”

Hera paced furiously around her cage, cursing in Ancient Greek.

“Use your brain, Leo Valdez. | picked you because you're intelligent. Once trapped, a god’s power is useless. Your own father trapped me once in a golden chair. It was humiliating! I had to beg—beg him for my freedom and apologize for throwing him off Olympus.”

“Sounds fair,” Leo said.

Hera gave him the godly stink-eye.

“I’ve watched you since you were a child, son of Hephaestus, because I knew you could aid me at this moment. If anyone can find a way to destroy this abomination, it is you.”

“But it’s not a machine. It’s like Gaea thrust her hand out of the ground and ...” Leo felt dizzy.

The line of their prophecy came back to him: The forge and dove shall break the cage.

“Hold on. I do have an idea. Piper, I’m going to need your help. And we’re going to need time.”

The air turned brittle with cold.

The temperature dropped so fast, Leo’s lips cracked and his breath changed to mist. Frost coated the walls of the Wolf House.

Ventirushed in —but instead of winged men, these were shaped like horses, with dark storm-cloud bodies and manes that crackled with lightning.

Some had silver arrows sticking out of their flanks. Behind them came red-eyed wolves and the six-armed Earthborn.

Piper drew her dagger. Jason grabbed an ice-covered plank off the pool floor.

Leo reached into his tool belt, but he was so shaken up, all he produced was a tin of breath mints. He shoved them back in, hoping nobody had noticed, and drew a hammer instead.

One of the wolves padded forward.

It was dragging a human-size statue by the leg. At the edge of the pool, the wolf opened its maw and dropped the statue for them to see—an ice sculpture of a girl, an archer with short spiky hair and a surprised look on her face.

“Thalia!” Jason rushed forward, but Piper and Leo pulled him back.

The ground around Thalia’s statue was already webbed with ice. Leo feared if Jason touched her, he might freeze too.

“Who did this?” Jason yelled. His body crackled with electricity. “I'll kill you myself!”

Leo felt shivers go down his spine, so glad he wasn’t the one who turned his sister into an ice cube.

From somewhere behind the monsters, Leo heard a girl’s laughter, clear and cold.

She stepped out of the mist in her snowy white dress, a silver crown atop her long black hair.

She regarded them with those deep brown eyes Leo had thought were so beautiful in Quebec. 

“Bon soir, mes amis,” said Khione, the goddess of snow.

She gave Leo a frosty smile. 

“Alas, son of Hephaestus, you say you need time? I’m afraid time is one tool you do not have.”

Chapter Text

AFTER THE FIGHT ON MOUNT DIABLO, Jason didn’t think he could ever feel more afraid or devastated.

Now his sister was frozen at his feet. He was surrounded by monsters. He’d broken his golden sword and replaced it with a piece of wood.

A very heroic piece of wood.

He had approximately five minutes until the king of the giants busted out and destroyed them. 

Jason had already pulled his biggest card, calling down Zeus’s lightning when he’d fought Enceladus, and he doubted he’d have the strength or the cooperation from above to do it again.

Which meant his only assets were one whiny imprisoned goddess, one sort-of girlfriend with a dagger, and a very good best friend, Leo. Who pulled out breath mints, maybe it’s their fatal weakness, and quickly stuffed them back in his tool belt. 

Breath mints, Jason blinked, cute.

Before Jason could even breathe, the wolves were already a few feet from just ripping them apart.

And right on time Jason’s worst memories were flooding back.

He knew for certain he’d done many dangerous things in his life, but he’d never been closer to death than he was right now.

If I am gonna die, he thought, at least it was with these two. 

He glanced at Leo longer than he was suppose to.

The enemy was beautiful. He noticed Leo basically gawking at her.. Jason’s stomach felt weird.

He couldn’t quite put a finger on what this feeling was whatever this was, it does not feel nice.

Khione smiled, her dark eyes glittering, as a dagger of ice grew in her hand. 

He pushed this strange feeling aside.

“What’ve you done?” Jason demanded.

“Oh, so many things,” the snow goddess purred.

“Your sister’s not dead, if that’s what you mean. She and her Hunters will make fine toys for our wolves. I thought we’d defrost them one at a time and hunt them down for amusement. Let them be the prey for once.”

The wolves snarled appreciatively.

“Yes, my dears.” Khione kept her eyes on Jason.

“Your sister almost killed their king, you know. Lycaon’s off in a cave somewhere, no doubt licking his wounds, but his minions have joined us to take revenge for their master. And soon Porphyrion will arise, and we shall rule the world.”

“Traitor!” Hera shouted. “You meddlesome, D-list goddess! You aren’t worthy to cut my bread, much less rule the world!” 

Khione sighed.

“Tiresome as ever, Queen Hera. I’ve been wanting to shut you up for millennia.”

Khione waved her hand, and ice encased the prison, sealing in the spaces between the earthen tendrils.

“That's better,” the snow goddess said. “Now, demigods, about your death—”

“You’re the one who tricked Hera into coming here,” Jason said. “You gave Zeus the idea of closing Olympus.”

The wolves snarled, and the storm spirits whinnied, ready to attack, but Khione held up her hand.

“Patience, my loves. If he wants to talk, what matter? The sun is setting, and time is on our side. Of course, Jason Grace. Like snow, my voice is quiet and gentle, and very cold. It’s easy for me to whisper to the other gods, especially when I am only confirming their own deepest fears. I also whispered in Aeolus’s ear that he should issue an order to kill demigods. It is a small service for Gaea, but I’m sure I will be well rewarded when her sons the giants come to power.”

“You could’ve killed us in Quebec,” Jason said. “Why let us live?”

Khione wrinkled her nose.

“Messy business, killing you in my father’s house, especially when he insists on meeting all visitors. I did try, you remember. It would’ve been lovely if he’d agreed to turn you to ice. But once he’d given you guarantee of safe passage, I couldn’t openly disobey him. My father is an old fool. He lives in fear of Zeus and Aeolus, but he’s still powerful. Soon enough, when my new masters have awakened, I will depose Boreas and take the throne of the North Wind, but not just yet. Besides, my father did have a point. Your quest was suicidal. I fully expected you to fail.”

“And to help us with that,” Leo said, “you knocked our dragon out of the sky over Detroit. Those frozen wires in his head—that was your fault. You’re gonna pay for that.”

“You’re also the one who kept Enceladus informed about us,” Piper added. “We've been plagued by snowstorms the whole trip.”

“Yes, I feel so close to all of you now!” Khione said.

“Once you made it past Omaha, I decided to asked Lycaon to track you down so Jason could die here, at the Wolf House.”

Khione smiled coldly at him.

“You see, Jason, your blood spilled on this sacred ground will taint it for generations. Your demigod brethren will be outraged, especially when they find the bodies of these two from Camp Half-Blood. They'll believe the Greeks have conspired with giants. It will be ... delicious.”

Piper and Leo didn’t seem to understand what she was saying.

But Jason knew.

His memories were returning enough for him to realize how dangerously effective Khione’s plan could be.

“You'll set demigods against demigods,” he said.

“It’s so easy!” said Khione. “As I told you, I only encourage what you would do anyway.”

“But why?” Piper spread her hands. “Khione, you'll tear the world apart. The giants will destroy everything. You don’t want that. Call off your monsters.”

Khione hesitated, then laughed.

“Your persuasive powers are improving, girl. But I am a goddess. You can’t charm-speak me. We wind gods are creatures of chaos! I'll overthrow Aeolus and let the storms run free. If we destroy the mortal world, all the better! They never honored me, even in Greek times. Humans and their talk of global warming. Pah! I’ll cool them down quickly enough. When we retake the ancient places, I will cover the Acropolis in snow.”

“The ancient places.” Leo’s eyes widened. “That’s what Enceladus meant about destroy the roots of the gods. He meant Greece.”

“You could join me, son of Hephaestus,”

Khione said.

“I know you find me beautiful. It would be enough for my plan if these other two were to die. Reject that ridiculous destiny the Fates have given you. Live and be my champion, instead. Your skills would be quite useful.”

Leo looked stunned. He glanced behind him, like Khione might be talking to somebody else.

For a second Jason was worried. He figured Leo didn’t have beautiful goddesses make him offers like this every day. But if he was a beautiful goddess he to would ask Leo any day.

Then Leo laughed so hard, he doubled over. “Yeah, join you. Right. Until you get bored of me and turn me into a Leosicle? Lady, nobody messes with my dragon and gets away with it. I can’t believe I thought you were hot.”

Khione’s face turned red. “Hot? You dare insult me? I am cold, Leo Valdez. Very, very cold.”

She shot a blast of wintry sleet at the demigods, but Leo held up his hand.

A wall of fire roared to life in front of them, and the snow dissolved in a steamy cloud.

That.. that was impressive. Jason thought in complete awe. Sure he seen Leo’s fire powers but in action.. it was almost as awesome as Leo.

Leo grinned. “See, lady, that’s what happens to snow in Texas. It—freaking—melts.”

Khione hissed. “Enough of this. Hera is failing. Porphyrion is rising. Kill the demigods. Let them be our king’s first meal!”

Jason hefted his icy wooden plank—a stupid weapon to die fighting with and hopefully he looked intimidating, he heavily doubted it—and the monsters charged

Chapter Text

A WOLF LAUNCHED ITSELF AT JASON. He stepped back and swung his scrap wood into the beast’s snout with a satisfying crack.

Maybe only silver could kill it, but a good old-fashioned board could still give it a Tylenol headache. 

He turned toward the sound of hooves and saw a storm spirit horse bearing down on him. Jason concentrated and summoned the wind. Just before the spirit could trample him, Jason launched himself into the air, grabbed the horse’s smoky neck, and pirouetted onto its back.

The storm spirit reared. It tried to shake Jason, then tried to dissolve into mist to lose him; but somehow Jason stayed on.

He willed the horse to remain in solid form, and the horse seemed unable to refuse.

Jason could feel it fighting against him. He could sense its raging thoughts—complete chaos straining to break free.

It took all Jason’s willpower to impose his own wishes and bring the horse under control.

He thought about Aeolus, overseeing thousands and thousands of spirits like this, some much worse.

No wonder the Master of the Winds had gone a little mad after centuries of that pressure.

But Jason had only one spirit to master, and he had to win.

“You're mine now,” Jason said.

The horse bucked, but Jason held fast. Its mane flickered as it circled around the empty pool, its hooves causing miniature thunderstorms—tempests—whenever they touched.

“Tempest?” Jason said. “Is that your name?”

The horse spirit shook its mane, evidently pleased to be recognized.

“Fine,” Jason said. “Now, let’s fight.”

He charged into battle, swinging his icy piece of wood, knocking aside wolves and plunging straight through other venti.

Tempest was a strong spirit, and every time he plowed through one of his brethren, he discharged so much electricity, the other spirit vaporized into a harmless cloud of mist.

Through the chaos, Jason caught glimpses of his friends. Piper was surrounded by Earthborn, but she seemed to be holding her own.

She was so impressive-looking as she fought, almost glowing with beauty, that the Earthborn stared at her in awe, forgetting that they were supposed to kill her.

They’d lower their clubs and watch dumbfounded as she smiled and charged them.

They’d smile back—until she sliced them apart with her dagger, and they melted into mounds of mud.

Leo had taken on Khione herself.

While fighting a goddess should’ve been suicide, Leo was the right man for the job. Honestly he looked as good as Piper fighting. 

She kept summoning ice daggers to throw at him, blasts of winter air, tornadoes of snow. Leo burned through all of it. His whole body flickered with red tongues of flame like he’d been doused with gasoline.

He advanced on the goddess, using two silver-tipped ball-peen hammers to smash any monsters that got in his way.

Jason realized that Leo was the only reason they were still alive.

His fiery aura was heating up the whole courtyard, countering Khione’s winter magic. Without him, they would’ve been frozen like the Hunters long ago.

Wherever Leo went, ice melted off the stones. Even Thalia started to defrost a little when Leo stepped near her.

Khione slowly backed away. Her expression went from enraged to shocked to slightly panicked as Leo got closer.

Jason was running out of enemies. Wolves lay in dazed heaps. Some slunk away into the ruins, yelping from their wounds.

Piper stabbed the last Earthborn, who toppled to the ground in a pile of sludge.

Jason rode Tempest through the last ventus, breaking it into vapor.

Then he wheeled around and saw Leo bearing down on the goddess of snow.

“You're too late,” Khione snarled. “He’s awake! And don’t think you’ve won anything here, demigods. Hera’s plan will never work. You'll be at each other’s throats before you can ever stop us.”

Leo set his hammers ablaze and threw them at the goddess, but she turned into snow—a white powdery image of herself.

Leo’s hammers slammed into the snow woman, breaking it into a steaming mound of mush.

Piper was breathing hard, but she smiled up at Jason. “Nice horse.”

Tempest reared on his hind legs, arcing electricity across his hooves. A complete show-off.

Then Jason heard a cracking sound behind him.

The melting ice on Hera’s cage sloughed off in a curtain of slush, and the goddess called, “Oh, don’t mind me! Just the queen of the heavens, dying over here!”

Jason dismounted and told Tempest to stay put. The three demigods jumped into the pool and ran to the spire.

Leo frowned. “Uh, Tia Callida, are you getting shorter?”

“No, you dolt! The earth is claiming me. Hurry!”

As much as Jason disliked Hera, what he saw inside the cage alarmed him.

Not only was Hera sinking, the ground was rising around her like water in a tank. Liquid rock had already covered her shins.

“The giant wakes!” Hera warned. “You only have seconds!”

“On it,” Leo said. “Piper, I need your help. Talk to the cage.” 

“What?” she said.

“Talk to it. Use everything you’ve got.

“Convince Gaea to sleep. Lull her into a daze. Just slow her down, try to get the tendrils to loosen while I—”

“Right!” Piper cleared her throat and said, “Hey, Gaea. Nice night, huh? Boy, I’m tired. How about you? Ready for some sleep?”

The more she talked, the more confident she sounded.

Jason felt his own eyes getting heavy, and he had to force himself not to focus on her words.

It seemed to have some effect on the cage.

The mud was rising more slowly. The tendrils seemed to soften just a little—becoming more like tree root than rock.

Leo pulled a circular saw out of his tool belt. How it fit in there, Jason had no idea. 

Then Leo looked at the cord and grunted in frustration. 

“I don’t have anywhere to plug it in!”

The spirit horse Tempest jumped into the pit and whinnied.

“Really?” Jason asked.

Tempest dipped his head and trotted over to Leo. Leo looked dubious, but he held up the plug, and a breeze whisked it into the horse’s flank. Lighting sparked, connecting with the prongs of the plug, and the circular saw whirred to life.

“Sweet!” Leo grinned. “Your horse comes with AC outlets!”

Jason felt warmth spread to his neck. He wasn’t sure why. Jason didn’t like how Leo’s impressions made him feel.

Unfortunately the good mood didn’t last long. On the other side of the pool, the giant’s spire crumbled with a sound like a tree snapping in half.

Its outer sheath of tendrils exploded from the top down, raining stone and wood shards as the giant shook himself free and climbed out of the earth.

Jason hadn't thought anything could be scarier than Enceladus. He was wrong.

Porphyrion was even taller, and even more ripped.

He didn’t radiate heat, or show any signs of breathing fire, but there was something more terrible about him—a kind of strength, even magnetism, as if the giant were so huge and dense he had his own gravitational field.

Like Enceladus, the giant king was humanoid from the waist up, clad in bronze armor, and from the waist down he had scaly dragon’s legs; but his skin was the color of lima beans. His hair was green as summer leaves, braided in long locks and decorated with weapons—daggers, axes, and full-size swords, some of them bent and bloody—maybe trophies taken from demigods eons before.

When the giant opened his eyes, they were blank white, like polished marble. He took a deep breath.

“Alive!” he bellowed. “Praise to Gaea!”

Jason made a heroic little whimpering sound he hoped his friends couldn’t hear.

He was very sure no demigod could solo this guy. Porphyrion could lift mountains. He could crush Jason with one finger.

“Leo,” Jason said.

“Huh?” Leo’s mouth was wide open. 

Even Piper seemed dazed. 

“You guys keep working,” Jason said. “Get Hera free.”

“What are you going to do?” Piper asked. “You can’t seriously—” 

“Entertain a giant?” Jason said. “I’ve got no choice.”

“Jason-“ Leo spoke up but Jason cut him off.

“Don’t worry, free Hera and save yourselves if I don’t come back.” 

“Excellent!” the giant roared as Jason approached. “An appetizer! Who are you—Hermes? Ares?” Jason thought about going with that idea, but something told him not to.

“I’m Jason Grace,” he said. “Son of Jupiter.”

Those white eyes bored into him. Behind him, Leo’s circular saw whirred, and Piper talked to the cage in soothing tones, trying to keep the fear out of her voice.

Porphyrion threw back his head and laughed.

“Outstanding!” He looked up at the cloudy night sky.

“So, Zeus, you sacrifice a son to me? The gesture is appreciated, but it will not save you.”

The sky didn’t even rumble. No help from above. Jason was on his own.

He dropped his makeshift club. His hands were covered in splinters, but that didn’t matter now. He had to buy Leo and Piper some time, and he couldn't do that without a proper weapon.

It was time to act a whole lot more confident than he felt.

If you knew who I was,” Jason yelled up at the giant, “you’d be worried about me, not my father. I hope you enjoyed your two and a half minutes of rebirth, giant, because I’m going to send you right back to Tartarus.”

The giant's eyes narrowed.

He planted one foot outside the pool and crouched to get a better look at his opponent.

“So ... we'll start by boasting, will we? Just like old times! Very well, demigod. I am Porphryion, king of the giants, son of Gaea. In olden times, I rose from Tartarus, the abyss of my father, to challenge the gods. To start the war, I stole Zeus’s queen.”

He grinned at the goddess’s cage.

“Hello, Hera.”

“My husband destroyed you once, monster!” Hera said. “He'll do it again!”

“But he didn’t, my dear! Zeus wasn’t powerful enough to kill me. He had to rely on a puny demigod to help, and even then, we almost won. This time, we will complete what we started. Gaea is waking. She has provisioned us with many fine servants. Our armies will shake the earth—and we will destroy you at the roots.”

“You wouldn't dare,” Hera said, but she was weakening.

Jason could hear it in her voice. Piper kept whispering to the cage, and Leo kept sawing, but the earth was still rising inside Hera’s prison, covering her up to her waist.

“Oh, yes,” the giant said.

“The Titans sought to attack your new home in New York. Bold, but ineffective. Gaea is wiser and more patient. And we, her greatest children, are much, much stronger than Kronos. We know how to kill you Olympians once and for all. You must be dug up completely like rotten trees—your eldest roots torn out and burned.”

The giant frowned at Piper and Leo, as if he’d just noticed them working at the cage. Jason stepped forward and yelled to get back Porphyrion’s attention.

“You said a demigod killed you,” he shouted. “How, if we’re so puny?”

“Ha! You think I would explain it to you? I was created to be Zeus’s replacement, born to destroy the lord of the sky. I shall take his throne. I shall take his wife—or, if she will not have me, I will let the earth consume her life force. What you see before you, child, is only my weakened form. I will grow stronger by the hour, until I am invincible. But I am already quite capable of smashing you to a grease spot!”

He rose to his full height and held out his hand.

A twenty-foot spear shot from the earth. He grasped it, then stomped the ground with his dragon’s feet.

The ruins shook. All around the courtyard, monsters started to regather—storm spirits, wolves, and Earthborn, all answering the giant king’s call.

“Great,” Leo muttered. “We needed more enemies.”

“Hurry,” Hera said.

“I know!” Leo snapped.

“Go to sleep, cage,” Piper said. “Nice, sleepy cage. Yes, I’m talking to a bunch of earthen tendrils. This isn’t weird at all.”

Porphyrion raked his spear across the top of the ruins, destroying a chimney and spraying wood and stone across the courtyard.

“So, child of Zeus! I have finished my boasting. Now it’s your turn. What were you saying about destroying me?”

Jason looked at the ring of monsters, waiting impatiently for their master’s order to tear them to shreds.

Leo’s circular saw kept whirring, and Piper kept talking, but it seemed hopeless. Hera’s cage was almost completely filled with earth.

“l’m the son of Jupiter!” he shouted, and just for effect, he summoned the winds, rising a few feet off the ground.

“I’m a child of Rome, consul to demigods, praetor of the First Legion.”

Jason didn’t know quite what he was saying, but he rattled off the words like he’d said them many times before.

He held out his arms, showing the tattoo of the eagle and SPQR, and to his surprise the giant seemed to recognize it.

For a moment, Porphyrion actually looked uneasy.

“I slew the Trojan sea monster,” Jason continued.

“I toppled the black throne of Kronos, and destroyed the Titan Krios with my own hands. And now I’m going to destroy you, Porphyrion, and feed you to your own wolves.”

“Wow, dude,” Leo muttered. “You been eating red meat?”

Jason didn’t know if that was a compliment or not but he’ll take it.

Jason launched himself at the giant, determined to tear him apart.

The idea of fighting a forty-foot-tall immortal bare handed was so ridiculous, even the giant seemed surprised.

Half flying, half leaping, Jason landed on the giant’s scaly reptilian knee and climbed up the giant’s arm before Porphyrion even realized what had happened.

“You dare?” the giant bellowed.

Jason reached his shoulders and ripped a sword out of the giant’s weapon-filled braids.

He yelled, “For Rome!” and drove the sword into the nearest convenient target—the giant’s massive ear.

Lightning streaked out of the sky and blasted the sword, throwing Jason free. He rolled when he hit the ground. When he looked up, the giant was staggering.

His hair was on fire, and the side of his face was blackened from lightning. The sword had splintered in his ear. Golden ichor ran down his jaw.

The other weapons were sparking and smoldering in his braids.

Porphyrion almost fell.

The circle of monsters let out a collective growl and moved forward—wolves and ogres fixing their eyes on Jason.

“No!” Porphyrion yelled. He regained his balance and glared at the demigod. “I will kill him myself.”

The giant raised his spear and it began to glow. “You want to play with lightning, boy? You forget. I am the bane of Zeus. I was created to destroy your father, which means I know exactly what will kill you.”

Something in Porphyrion’s voice told Jason he wasn’t bluffing.

Jason and his friends had had a good run. The three of them had done amazing things.

Yeah, even heroic things. But as the giant raised his spear, Jason knew there was no way he could deflect this strike.

“Got it!” Leo yelled.

“Sleep!” Piper said, so forcefully, the nearest wolves fell to the ground and began snoring.

“Yes!” the goddess said.

She threw off her black robes to reveal a white gown, her arms bedecked with golden jewelry.

Her face was both terrible and beautiful, and a golden crown glowed in her long black hair.

“Now I shall have my longing revenge!”

The giant Porphyrion backed away. He said nothing, but he gave Jason one last look of hatred.

His message was clear: Another time.

Then he slammed his spear against the earth, and the giant disappeared into the ground like he’d dropped down a chute.

Around the courtyard, monsters began to panic and retreat, but there was no escape for them. Hera glowed brighter.

She shouted, “Cover your eyes, my heroes!”

But Jason was too much in shock. He understood too late.

He watched as Hera turned into a supernova, exploding in a ring of force that vaporized every monster instantly.

Jason fell, light searing into his mind, and his last thought was that his body was burning.

Chapter Text

“JASON!”

Piper kept calling his name as she held him, though she’d almost lost hope. He’d been unconscious for two minutes now. His body was steaming, his eyes rolled back in his head.

She couldn't tell if he was even breathing.

“It’s no use, child.” Hera stood over them in her simple black robes and shawl.

Piper hadn't seen the goddess go nuclear. Thankfully she’d closed her eyes, but she could see the aftereffects. Every vestige of winter was gone from the valley. No signs of battle, either. The monsters had been vaporized.

The ruins had been restored to what they were before—still ruins, but with no evidence that they’d been overrun by a horde of wolves, storm spirits, and six-armed ogres.

Even the Hunters had been revived.

Most waited at a respectful distance in the meadow, but Thalia knelt by Piper’s side, her hand on Jason’s forehead.

Thalia glared up at the goddess. “This is your fault. Do something!”

“Do not address me that way, girl. I am the queen—”

“Fix him!”

Hera’s eyes flickered with power. “I did warn him. I would never intentionally hurt the boy. He was to be my champion. I told them to close their eyes before I revealed my true form.”

“Are you insane!” Leo raised his voice. “True form is bad, right? So why did you do it?” 

Piper felt scared for Leo, not a good idea to call the queen of the heavens insane.

“l unleashed my power to help you, fool!” Hera cried. “I became pure energy so I could disintegrate the monsters, restore this place, and even save these miserable Hunters from the ice.”

“But mortals can’t look upon you in that form!” Thalia shouted. “You've killed him!”

Leo shook his head in disbelief. “That’s what our prophecy meant. Death unleash, through Hera’s rage.” His voice cracked, “Come on, lady. You’re a goddess. Do some voodoo magic on him! Bring him back!”

She wanted to reassure Leo but mostly she was focused on Jason’s face looking for any signs of life.

“He’s breathing!” she announced.

“Impossible,” Hera said. “I wish it were true, child, but no mortal has ever—”

“Jason,” Piper called, putting every bit of her willpower into his name. She could not lose him. “Listen to me. You can do this. Come back. You’re going to be fine.”

Nothing happened. Had she imagined his breath stirring?

“Healing is not a power of Aphrodite,” Hera said regretfully. “Even I cannot fix this, girl. His mortal spirit—”

“Jason,” Piper said again, and she imagined her voice resonating through the earth, all the way down to the Underworld. “Wake up.”

He gasped, and his eyes flew open. For a moment they were full of light—glowing pure gold. Then the light faded and his eyes were normal again. “What—what happened?”

“Impossible!” Hera said.

Piper wrapped him in a hug until he groaned, “Crushing me.”

Leo patted his shoulder awkwardly as if welcoming him back. Jason smiled weakly at him as if saying he was glad to be back.

“Sorry,” she said, so relieved, she laughed while wiping a tear from her eye.

Thalia gripped her brother’s hand. “How do you feel?”

“Hot,” he muttered. “Mouth is dry. And I saw something... really terrible.”

“That was Hera,” Thalia grumbled. “Her Majesty, the Loose Cannon.”

“That’s it, Thalia Grace,” said the goddess. “I will turn you into an aardvark, so help me—”

“Oh stop it, you two.” Piper said. Amazingly, they both shut up.

Piper helped Jason to his feet and gave him the last nectar from their supplies.

“Now ...” Piper faced Thalia and Hera. “Hera—Your Majesty—we couldn't have rescued you without the Hunters. And Thalia, you never would’ve seen Jason again—wouldn’t have met him—if it weren’t for Hera. You two make nice, because we’ve got bigger problems.”

They both glared at her, and for three long seconds, Piper wasn’t sure which one of them was going to kill her first.

Finally Thalia grunted.

“You've got spirit, Piper.” She pulled a silver card from her parka and tucked it into the pocket of Piper’s snowboarding jacket.

“You ever want to be a Hunter, call me. We could use you.”

Hera crossed her arms. “Fortunately for this Hunter, you have a point, daughter of Aphrodite.”

She assessed Piper, as if seeing her clearly for the time. “You wondered, Piper, why I chose you for this quest, why I didn’t reveal your secret in the beginning, even when I knew Enceladus was using you. I must admit, until this moment I was not sure. Something told me you would be vital to the quest. Now I see I was right. You’re even stronger than I realized. And you are correct about the dangers to come. We must work together.”

Piper’s face felt warm. She wasn’t sure how to respond to Hera’s compliment, but Leo stepped in.

“Yeah,” he said, “I think don’t suppose that Porphyrion guy just melted and died, huh?”

“No,” Hera admitted. “By saving me, and saving this place, you prevented Gaea from waking. You have bought us some time. But Porphyrion has risen. He simply knew better than to stay here, especially since he has not yet regained his full power. Giants can only be killed by a combination of god and demigod, working together. Once you freed me—“

“He ran away,” Jason said. “But to where?”

Hera didn’t answer, but a sense of dread washed over Piper. She remembered what Porphyrion had said about killing the Olympians by pulling up their roots.

Greece.

She looked at Thalia’s grim expression, and guessed the Hunter had come to the same conclusion.

“I need to find Annabeth,” Thalia said. “She has to know what's happened here.”

“Thalia ...” Jason gripped her hand. “We never got to talk about this place, or—”

“I know.” Her expression softened. “I lost you here once. I don’t want to leave you again. But we'll meet soon. I'll rendezvous with you back at Camp Half-Blood.” She glanced at Hera. “You'll see them there safely? It's the least you can do.”

“It’s not your place to tell me—”

“Queen Hera,” Piper interceded.

The goddess sighed. “Fine. Yes. Just off with you, Hunter!”

Thalia gave Jason a hug and said her good-byes. When the Hunters were gone, the courtyard seemed strangely quiet.

The dry reflecting pool showed no sign of the earthen tendrils that had brought back the giant king or imprisoned Hera.

The night sky was clear and starry. The wind rustled in the redwoods. Piper thought about that night in Oklahoma when she and her dad had slept in Grandpa Tom’s front yard.

She thought about the night on the Wilderness School dorm roof, when Jason had kissed her—in her Mist-altered memories, anyway.

“Jason, what happened to you here?” she asked. “I mean—I know your mom abandoned you here. But you said it was sacred ground for demigods. Why? What happened after you were on your own?”

Jason shook his head uneasily. “It’s still murky. The wolves ...”

“You were given a destiny,” Hera said. “You were given into my service.”

Jason scowled. “Because you forced my mom to do that. You couldn’t stand knowing Zeus had two children with my mom. Knowing that he’d fallen for her twice. I was the price you demanded for leaving the rest of my family alone.”

“It was the right choice for you as well, Jason,” Hera insisted. “The second time your mother managed to snare Zeus’s affections, it was because she imagined him in a different aspect—the aspect of Jupiter. Never before had this happened—two children, Greek and Roman, born into the same family. You had to be separated from Thalia. This is where all demigods of your kind start their journey.”

“Of his kind?” Piper asked.

“She means Roman,” Jason said. “Demigods are left here. We meet the she-wolf goddess, Lupa, the same immortal wolf that raised Romulus and Remus.”

Hera nodded. “And if you are strong enough, you live.”

“But ...” Leo looked mystified. “What happened after that? I mean, Jason never made it to camp.”

“Not to Camp Half-Blood, no,” Hera agreed.
Piper felt as if the sky were spiraling above her, making her dizzy. “You went somewhere else. That’s where you’ve been all these years. Somewhere else for demigods—but where?”

Jason turned to the goddess. “The memories are coming back, but not the location. You’re not going to tell me, are you?”

“No,” Hera said. “That is part of your destiny, Jason. You must find your own way back. But when you do… you will unite two great powers. You will give us hope against the giants, and more importantly—against Gaea herself.”

“You want us to help you,” Jason said, “but you’re holding back information.”

“Giving you answers would make those answers invalid,” Hera said. “That is the way of the Fates. You must forge your own path for it to mean anything. Already, you three have surprised me. I would not have thought it possible ...”

The goddess shook her head. “Suffice to say, you have performed well, demigods. But this is only the beginning. Now you must return to Camp Half-Blood, where you will begin planning for the next phase.”

“Which you won't tell us about,” Jason grumped. “And I suppose you destroyed my nice storm spirit horse, so we'll have to walk home?”

Hera waved aside the question. “Storm spirits are creatures of chaos. I did not destroy that one, though I have no idea where he went, or whether you'll see him again. But there is an easier way home for you. As you have done me a great service, so I can help you—at least this once. Farewell, demigods, for now.”

The world turned upside down, and Piper almost blacked out.

When she could see straight again, she was back at camp, in the dining pavilion, in the middle of dinner.

They were standing on the Aphrodite cabin’s table, and Piper had one foot in Drew’s pizza.

Sixty campers rose at once, gawking at them in astonishment.

Whatever Hera had done to shoot them across the country, it wasn’t good for Piper’s stomach.

She could barely control her nausea. Leo wasn’t so lucky.

He jumped off the table, ran to the nearest bronze brazier, and threw up in it—which was probably not a great burnt offering for the gods.

“Leo, are you okay?” Jason stumbled off the table and rushed to Leo’s side as he gripped unto the brazier for support and he looked green almost ready to puke alongside Leo.

“Jason?” Chiron trotted forward. No doubt the old centaur had seen thousands of years’ worth of weird stuff, but even he looked totally flabbergasted. “What—How—?”

The Aphrodite campers stared up at Piper with their mouths open. Piper figured she must look awful.

“Hi,” she said, as casually as she could. “We’re back.”

Chapter Text

PIPER DIDN’T REMEMBER MUCH ABOUT the rest of the night. They told their story and answered a million questions from the other campers, but finally Chiron saw how tired they were and ordered them to bed.

It felt so good to sleep on a real mattress, and Piper was so exhausted, she crashed immediately, which spared her any worry about what it would be like returning to the Aphrodite cabin.

The next morning she woke in her bunk, feeling reinvigorated.

The sun came through the windows along with a pleasant breeze.

It might’ve been spring instead of winter. Birds sang. Monsters howled in the woods.

Breakfast smells wafted from the dining pavilion—bacon, pancakes, and all sorts of wonderful things.

Drew and her gang were frowning down at her, their arms crossed.

“Morning.” Piper sat up and smiled. “Beautiful day.”

“You're going to make us late for breakfast,” Drew said, “which means you get to clean the cabin for inspection.”

A week ago, Piper would’ve either punched Drew in the face, or hidden back under her covers.

Now she thought about the Cyclopes in Detroit, Medea in Chicago, Midas turning her to gold in Omaha.

Looking at Drew, who used to bother her, Piper laughed.

Drew’s smug expression crumbled.

She backed up, then remembered she was supposed to be angry. “What are you—”

“Challenging you,” Piper said. “How about noon in the arena? You can choose the weapons.”

She got out of bed, stretched leisurely, and beamed at her cabinmates.

She spotted Mitchell and Lacy, who’d helped her pack for the quest.

They were smiling tentatively, their eyes flitting from Piper to Drew like this might be a very interesting tennis game.

“I missed you guys!” Piper announced. “We’re going to have a great time when I’m senior counselor.” 

Drew turned bug juice red. Even her closest lieutenants looked a little nervous. This wasn’t in their script. 

“You—” Drew spluttered. “You ugly little witch! I’ve been here the longest. You can’t just—”

“Challenge you?” Piper said. “Sure, I can. Camp rules: I’ve been claimed by Aphrodite. I’ve completed a quest, which is one more than you've completed. If I feel I can do a better job, I can challenge you. Unless you just want to step down. Did I get all that right, Mitchell?”

“Just right, Piper.” Mitchell was grinning.

Lacy was bouncing up and down like she was trying to achieve liftoff.

A few of the other kids started to grin, as if they were enjoying the different colors Drew’s face was turning.

“Step down?” Drew shrieked. “You're crazy!”

Piper shrugged. Then fast as a viper she pulled Katoptris from under her pillow, unsheathed the dagger, and thrust the point under Drew's chin.

Everybody else backed up fast. One guy crashed into a makeup table and sent up a plume of pink powder.

“A duel, then,” Piper said cheerfully.

“If you don’t want to wait until noon, now is fine. You’ve turned this cabin into a dictatorship, Drew. Silena Beauregard knew better than that. Aphrodite is about love and beauty. Being loving. Spreading beauty. Good friends. Good times. Good deeds. Not just looking good. Silena made mistakes, but in the end she stood by her friends. That’s why she was a hero. I’m going to set things right, and I’ve got a feeling Mom will be on my side. Want to find out?”

Drew went cross-eyed looking down the blade of Piper’s dagger.

A second passed. Then two. Piper didn’t care.

She was absolutely happy and confident. It must've shown in her smile.

“I... step down,” Drew said no lower then a whisper. “But if you think I’m ever going to forget this, McLean—”

“Oh, I hope you won't,” Piper said. “Now, run along to the dining pavilion, and explain to Chiron why we’re late. There’s been a change of leadership.”

Drew backed to the door. Even her closest lieutenants didn’t follow her.

She was about to leave when Piper said, “Oh, and Drew, honey?”

The former counselor looked back reluctantly.

“In case you think I’m not a true daughter of Aphrodite,” Piper said, “don’t even look at Jason Grace. He may not know it yet, but he’s mine. If you even try to make a move, I will load you into a catapult and shoot you across Long Island Sound.”

Drew turned around so fast, she ran into the doorframe. Then she was gone.

The cabin was silent.

The other campers stared at Piper.

This was the part she was unsure of. She didn’t want to rule by fear. She wasn't like Drew, but she didn’t know if they’d accept her.

Then, spontaneously, the Aphrodite campers cheered so loudly, they must've been heard all across camp.

They herded Piper out of the cabin, raised her on their shoulders, and carried her all the way to the dining pavilion—still in her pajamas, her hair still a mess, but she didn’t care.

She’d never felt better.

By afternoon, Piper had changed into comfortable camp clothes and led the Aphrodite cabin through their morning activities.

She was ready for free time. Some of the buzz of her victory had faded because she had an appointment at the Big House.

Chiron met her on the front porch in human form, compacted into his wheelchair.

“Come inside, my dear. The video conference is ready.”

The only computer at camp was in Chiron’s office, and the whole room was shielded in bronze plating.

“Demigods and technology don’t mix,” Chiron explained.

“Phone calls, texting, even browsing the Internet—all these things can attract monsters. Why, just this fall at a school in Cincinnati, we had to rescue a young hero who Googled the gorgons and got a little more than he bargained for, but never mind that. Here at camp, you’re protected. Still ... we try to be cautious. You'll only be able to talk for a few minutes.”

“Got it,” Piper said. “Thank you, Chiron.”

He smiled and wheeled himself out of the office. Piper hesitated before clicking the call button.

Chiron’s office had a cluttered, cozy feel.

One wall was covered with T-shirts from different conventions—party ponies 09 vegas, party ponies ’10 honolulu, et cetera.

Piper didn’t know who the Party Ponies were, but judging from the stains, scorch marks, and weapon holes in the T-shirts, they must’ve had some pretty wild meetings.

On the shelf over Chiron’s desk sat an old-fashioned boom box with cassette tapes labeled “Dean Martin” and “Frank Sinatra” and “Greatest Hits of the 40s.”

Chiron was so old, Piper wondered if that meant 1940s, 1840s, or maybe just A.D. 40.

But most of the office’s wall space was plastered with photos of demigods, like a hall of fame. One of the newer shots showed a teenage guy with dark hair and green eyes.

Since he stood arm in arm with Annabeth, Piper assumed the guy must be Percy Jackson.

In some of the older photos, she recognized famous people: businessmen, athletes, even some actors that her dad knew.

“Unbelievable,” she muttered.

Piper wondered if her photo would go on that wall someday.

For the first time, she felt like she was part of something bigger than herself.

Demigods had been around for centuries.

Whatever she did, she did for all of them.

She took a deep breath and made the call. The video screen popped up. Gleeson Hedge grinned at her from her dad’s office.

“Seen the news?”

“Kind of hard to miss,” Piper said. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”

Chiron had shown her a newspaper at lunch. Her dad’s mysterious return from nowhere had made the front page.

His personal assistant Jane had been fired for covering up his disappearance and failing to notify the police.

A new staff had been hired and personally vetted by Tristan McLean’s “life coach,” Gleeson Hedge.

According to the paper, Mr. McLean claimed to have no memory of the last week, and the media was totally eating up the story.

Some thought it was a clever marketing ploy for a movie—maybe McLean was going to play an amnesiac?

Some thought he’d been kidnapped by terrorists, or rabid fans, or had heroically escaped from ransom seekers using his incredible King of Sparta fighting skills.

Whatever the truth, Tristan McLean was more famous than ever.

“It's going great,” Hedge promised.

“But don’t worry. We’re going to keep him out of the public eye for the next month or so until things cool down. Your dad’s got more important things to do—like resting, and talking to his daughter.”

“Don’t get too comfortable out there in Hollywood, Gleeson,” Piper said.

Hedge snorted.

“You kidding? These people make Aeolus look sane. I'll be back as soon as I can, but your dad’s gotta get back on his feet first. He’s a good guy. Oh, and by the way, I took care of that other little matter. The Park Service in the Bay Area just got an anonymous gift of a new helicopter. And that ranger pilot who helped us? She’s got a very lucrative offer to fly for Mr. McLean.”

“Thanks, Gleeson,” Piper said. “For everything.”

“Yeah, well. I don’t try to be awesome. It just comes natural. Speaking of Aeolus’s place, meet your dad’s new assistant.”

Hedge was nudged out of the way, and a pretty young lady grinned into the camera.

“Mellie?” Piper stared, but it was definitely her: the aura who'd helped them escape from Aeolus’s fortress. “You're working for my dad now?”

“Isn't it great?”

“Does he know you’re a—you know—wind spirit?”

“Oh, no. But I love this job. It’s—um—a breeze.”

Piper couldn’t help but laugh. “I’m glad. That’s awesome. But where—”

“Just a sec.” Mellie kissed Gleeson on the cheek. “Come on, you old goat. Stop hogging the screen.”

“What?” Hedge demanded. But Mellie steered him away and called, “Mr. McLean? She's on!”

A second later, Piper’s dad appeared.

He broke into a huge grin. “Pipes!”

He looked great—back to normal, with his sparkling brown eyes, his half-day beard, his confident smile, and his newly trimmed hair like he was ready to shoot a scene.

Piper was relieved, but she also felt a little sad. Back to normal wasn’t necessarily what she’d wanted.

In her mind, she started the clock.

On a normal call like this, on a workday, she hardly ever got her dad’s attention for longer than thirty seconds.

“Hey,” she said weakly. “You feeling okay?”

“Honey, I’m so sorry to worry you with this disappearance business. I don’t know ...” His smile wavered, and she could tell he was trying to remember—grasping for a memory that should have been there, but wasn’t.

“I’m not sure what happened, honestly. But I’m fine. Coach Hedge has been a godsend.”

“A godsend,” she repeated. Funny choice of words.

“He told me about your new school,” Dad said. “I’m sorry the Wilderness School didn’t work out, but you were right. Jane was wrong. I was a fool to listen to her.”

Ten seconds left, maybe. But at least her dad sounded sincere, like he really did feel remorseful.

“You don’t remember anything?” she said, a bit wistfully.

“Of course I do,” he said.

A chill went down her neck. “You do?”

“I remember that I love you,” he said. “And I’m proud of you. Are you happy at your new school?”

Piper blinked. She wasn’t going to cry now. After all she’d been through, that would be ridiculous.

“Yeah, Dad. It’s more like a camp, not a school, but ... Yeah, I think I'll be happy here.”

“Call me as often as you can,” he said. “And come home for Christmas. And Pipes ...”

“Yes?”

He touched the screen as if trying to reach through with his hand.

“You’re a wonderful young lady. I don’t tell you that often enough. You remind me so much of your mother. She’d be proud. And Grandpa Tom’—he chuckled—“he always said you’d be the most powerful voice in our family. You’re going to outshine me some day, you know. They're going to remember me as Piper McLean’s father, and that’s the best legacy I can imagine.”

Piper tried to answer, but she was afraid she’d break down. She just touched his fingers on the screen and nodded.

Mellie said something in the background, and her dad sighed. “Studio calling. I’m sorry, honey.” And he did sound genuinely annoyed to go.

“It’s okay, Dad,” she managed. “Love you.”

He winked. Then the video call went black.

Forty-five seconds? Maybe a full minute.

Piper smiled. A small improvement, but it was progress.

At the commons area, she found Jason relaxing on a bench, a basketball between his feet.

He was sweaty from working out, but he looked great in his orange tank top and shorts. His various scars and bruises from the quest were healing, thanks to some medical attention from the Apollo cabin.

His arms and legs were well muscled and tan—distracting as always. His close-cropped blond hair caught the afternoon light so it looked like it was turning to gold, Midas style.

“Hey,” he said. “How did it go?” It took her a second to focus on his question.

“Hmm? Oh, yeah. Fine.”

She sat next to him and they watched the campers going back and forth.

A couple of Demeter girls were playing tricks on two of the Apollo guys—making grass grow around their ankles as they shot baskets.

Over at the camp store, the Hermes kids were putting up a sign that read: flying shoes, slightly used, 50% off today!

Ares kids were lining their cabin with fresh barbed wire. The Hypnos cabin was snoring away.

A normal day at camp. Meanwhile, the Aphrodite kids were watching Piper and Jason, and trying to pretend they weren't. Piper was pretty sure she saw money change hands, like they were placing bets on a kiss.

“Get any sleep?” she asked him.

He looked at her as if she’d been reading his thoughts. “Not much. Dreams.” “About your past?”

He nodded.

She didn’t push him. If he wanted to talk, that was fine, but she knew him better than to press the subject.

She didn’t even worry that her knowledge of him was mostly based on three months of false memories.

You can sense possibilities, her mother had said. And Piper was determined to make those possibilities a reality.

Jason spun his basketball. “It’s not good news,” he warned. “My memories aren’t good for—for any of us.”

Piper was pretty sure he’d been about to say for us—as in the two of them, and she wondered if he’d remembered a girl from his past. But she didn’t let it bother her.

Not on a sunny winter day like this, with Jason next to her.

“We'll figure it out,” she promised.

He looked at her hesitantly, like he wanted very much to believe her. “Annabeth and Rachel are coming in for the meeting tonight. I should probably wait until then to explain ...”

“Okay.” She plucked a blade of grass by her foot. She knew there were dangerous things in store for both of them.

She would have to compete with Jason’s past, and they might not even survive their war against the giants.

But right now, they were both alive, and she was determined to enjoy this moment.

Jason studied her warily. His forearm tattoo was faint blue in the sunlight.

“You’re in a good mood. How can you be so sure things will work out?”

“Because you're going to lead us,” she said simply. “I’ll follow you anywhere.”

Jason blinked. Then slowly, he smiled. “Dangerous thing to say.”

“Im a dangerous girl.”

“That, I believe.”

She smiled as she got up and brushed off her pants. She offered him a hand. “Leo says he’s got something to show us out in the woods. You coming?”

“Wouldn't miss it for the world.” He took her hand and stood up.

Chapter Text

LEO HADN’T FELT THIS JUMPY SINCE HE offered tofu burgers to the werewolves. When he got to the limestone cliff in the forest, he turned to the group and smiled nervously.

“Here we go.”

He willed his hand to catch fire, and set it against the door. His cabinmates gasped.

“Leo!” Nyssa cried. “You're a fire user!”

“Yeah, thanks,” he said. “I know.”

Jake Mason, who was out of his body cast but still on crutches, said, “Holy Hephaestus. That means—it’s so rare that—’”

The massive stone door swung open, and everyone’s mouth dropped. Leo’s flaming hand seemed insignificant now, his flames flicked as his eyes landed on Jason.. and Piper too.

Even Piper and Jason looked stunned, and they’d seen enough amazing things lately. 

Only Chiron didn’t look surprised.

The centaur knit his bushy eyebrows and stroked his beard, as if the group was about to walk through a minefield.

That made Leo even more nervous, but he couldn’t change his mind now.

His instincts told him he was meant to share this place—at least with the Hephaestus cabin—and he couldn't hide it from Chiron or his two best friends.

“Welcome to Bunker Nine,” he said, as confidently as he could. “C’mon in.”

The group was silent as they toured the facility.

Everything was just as Leo had left it—giant machines, worktables, old maps and schematics.

Only one thing had changed. Festus’s head was sitting on the central table, still battered and scorched from his final crash in Omaha.

Leo went over to it, a bitter taste in his mouth, and stroked the dragon’s forehead. “I’m sorry, Festus. But I won't forget you.”

Jason put a hand on Leo’s shoulder.

“Hephaestus brought it here for you?”

His ears warmed up but he managed to nod.

“But you can’t repair him,” Jason guessed.

Thanks for the words of support Jason.

“Well no,” Leo said. “But the head is going to be reused. Festus will be going with us.”

Piper came over and frowned. “What do you mean?”

Before Leo could answer, Nyssa cried out, “Guys, look at this!”

She was standing at one of the worktables, flipping through a sketchbook—diagrams for hundreds of different machines and weapons.

“I’ve never seen anything like these,” Nyssa said. “There are more amazing ideas here than in Daedalus’s workshop. It would take a century just to prototype them all.”

“Who built this place?” Jake Mason said. “And why?”

Chiron stayed silent, but Leo focused on the wall map he’d seen during his first visit.

It showed Camp Half-Blood with a line of triremes in the Sound, catapults mounted in the hills around the valley, and spots marked for traps, trenches, and ambush sites.

“It’s a wartime command center,” he said. “The camp was attacked once, wasn’t it?”

“In the Titan War?” Piper asked.

Nyssa shook her head. “No. Besides, that map looks really old. The date ... does that say 1864?”

They all turned to Chiron.

The centaur’s tail swished fretfully.

“This camp has been attacked many times,” he admitted. “That map is from the last Civil War.”

Apparently, Leo wasn’t the only one confused. The other Hephaestus campers looked at each other and frowned.

“Civil War ...” Piper said. “You mean the American Civil War, like a hundred and fifty years ago?”

“Yes and no,” Chiron said. “The two conflicts—mortal and demigod—mirrored each other, as they usually do in Western history. Look at any civil war or revolution from the fall of Rome onward, and it marks a time when demigods also fought one another. But that Civil War was particularly horrible. For American mortals, it is still their bloodiest conflict of all time—worse than their casualties in the two World Wars. For demigods, it was equally devastating. Even back then, this valley was Camp Half-Blood. There was a horrible battle in these woods lasting for days, with terrible losses on both sides.”

“Both sides,” Leo said. “You mean the camp split apart?”

“No,” Jason spoke up. “He means two different groups. Camp Half-Blood was one side in the war.”

Leo wasn’t sure he wanted an answer, but he asked, “Who was the other?”

Chiron glanced up at the tattered bunker 9 banner, as if remembering the day it was raised.

“The answer is dangerous,” he warned. “It is something I swore upon the River Styx never to speak of. After the American Civil War, the gods were so horrified by the toll it took on their children, that they swore it would never happen again. The two groups were separated. The gods bent all their will, wove the Mist as tightly as they could, to make sure the enemies never remembered each other, never met on their quests, so that bloodshed could be avoided. This map is from the final dark days of 1864, the last time the two groups fought. We've had several close calls since then. The nineteen sixties were particularly dicey. But we’ve managed to avoid another civil war—at least so far. Just as Leo guessed, this bunker was a command center for the Hephaestus cabin. In the last century, it has been reopened a few times, usually as a hiding place in times of great unrest. But coming here is dangerous. It stirs old memories, awakens the old feuds. Even when the Titans threatened last year, I did not think it worth the risk to use this place.”

Suddenly Leo’s sense of triumph turned to guilt.

“Hey, look, this place found me. It was meant to happen. It's a good thing.”

”Mr er.. sir. I trust Leo and I think no I know if this place called his name then it’s way more then worthy.” Jason chimed in.

Leo could’ve bursted into fire on the spot if he didn’t have better control with over his ability.

Instead he met Jason’s eyes and shot him a ‘Thanks bro’ look at least he hoped he did.

Jason’s warm smile confirmed it.

“I hope you guys are right,” Chiron said.

“We are!” Leo pulled the old drawing out of his pocket and spread it on the table for everyone to see.

“There,” he said proudly. “Aeolus returned that to me. I drew it when I was five. That’s my destiny.”

Nyssa frowned. “Leo, it’s a crayon drawing of a boat.”

“Look.”

He pointed at the largest schematic on the bulletin board—the blueprint showing a Greek trireme.

Slowly, his cabinmates’ eyes widened as they compared the two designs. The number of masts and oars, even the decorations on the shields and sails were exactly the same as on Leo’s drawing.

“That's impossible,” Nyssa said. “That blueprint has to be a century old at least.”

“Prophecy—Unclear—Flight,’” Jake Mason read from the notes on the blueprint. “It's a diagram for a flying ship. Look, that’s the landing gear. And weaponry—Holy Hephaestus: rotating ballista, mounted crossbows, Celestial bronze plating. That thing would be one spankin’ hot war machine. Was it ever made?”

“Not yet,” Leo said. “Look at the masthead.”
There was no doubt—the figure at the front of the ship was the head of a dragon.

A very particular dragon.

“Festus,” Piper said. Everyone turned and looked at the dragon’s head sitting on the table.

“He’s meant to be our masthead,” Leo said. “Our good luck charm, our eyes at sea. I’m supposed to build this ship.

“I’m gonna call it the Argo II And guys, I'll need your help.”

His heart thumped in his ears, he in fact did named it after Jason.

And he intended to put his all in this ship. Blood sweat and freaking tears.

“The Argo II.” Piper smiled. “After Jason’s ship.” Piper of course noticed. 

Jason was shuffled his feet, didn’t meet Leo’s eyes but he nodded. “Leo’s right. We need it for our journey… together.” 

Together, he thought, he obviously meant Piper too. But a guy can hope.

“What journey?” Nyssa said. “You just got back!”

Piper ran her fingers over the old crayon drawing. “We've got to confront Porphyrion, the giant king. He said he would destroy the gods at their roots.”

“Indeed,” Chiron said. “Much of Rachel’s Great Prophecy is still a mystery to me, but one thing is clear. You three—Jason, Piper, and Leo—are among the seven demigods who must take on that quest. You must confront the giants in their homeland, where they are strongest. You must stop them before they can wake Gaea fully, before they destroy Mount Olympus.”

“Um ...” Nyssa shifted. “You don’t mean Manhattan, do you?”

“No,” Leo said. “The original Mount Olympus. We have to sail to Greece.”

Chapter Text

IT TOOK A FEW MINUTES FOR THAT TO settle in. Then the other Hephaestus campers started asking questions all at once.

Who were the other four demigods? How long would it take to build the boat? Why didn’t everyone get to go to Greece?

“Heroes!” Chiron struck his hoof on the floor. “All the details are not clear yet, but Leo is correct. He will need your help to build the Argo II. It is perhaps the greatest project Cabin Nine has even undertaken, even greater than the bronze dragon.”

“It'll take a year at least,” Nyssa guessed. “Do we have that much time?”

“You have six months at most,” Chiron said. “You should sail by summer solstice, when the gods’ power is strongest. Besides, we evidently cannot trust the wind gods, and the summer winds are the least powerful and easiest to navigate. You dare not sail any later, or you may be too late to stop the giants. You must avoid ground travel, using only air and sea, so this vehicle is perfect. Jason being the son of the sky god ...”

His voice trailed off, but Leo figured Chiron was thinking about his missing student, Percy Jackson, the son of Poseidon.

He would’ve been good on this voyage, too.

Jake Mason turned to Leo. “Well, one thing’s for sure. You are now senior counselor. This is the biggest honor the cabin has ever had. Anyone object?”

Nobody did. All his cabinmates smiled at him, Jason gave him a gentle squeeze on the shoulder (that Leo would never forget.) And Leo could almost feel their cabin’s curse breaking, their sense of hopelessness melting away. 

“It’s official, then,” Jake said. “You’re the man.”

For once, Leo was speechless. Ever since his mom died, he’d spent his life on the run. Now he’d found a home and a family. He’d found a job to do. And as scary as it was, Leo wasn’t tempted to run—not even a little.

“Well,” he said at last, “if you guys elect me leader, you must be even crazier than I am. So let’s build a spankin’ hot war machine!”

Chapter Text

JASON WAITED ALONE IN CABIN ONE.

Annabeth and Rachel were due any minute for the head counselors’ meeting, and Jason needed time to think.

His dreams the night before had been worse than he’d wanted to share—even with Leo. Or Piper.

His memory was still foggy, but bits and pieces were coming back.

The night Lupa had tested him at the Wolf House, to decide if he would be a pup or food. Then the long trip south to ... he couldn’t remember, but he had flashes of his old life.

The day he’d gotten his tattoo.

The day he’d been raised on a shield and proclaimed a praetor. His friends’ faces: Dakota, Gwendolyn, Hazel, Bobby. And Reyna.

Definitely there’d been a girl named Reyna. He wasn’t sure what she’d meant to him, but the memory made him question what he felt about Piper—and wonder if he was doing something wrong.

The problem was, he liked Piper a lot.

But thing is.. why did he feel so flattered when Leo named the ship after his surname. He didn’t even name it after him specifically. But still.. the gesture even if it wasn’t towards him.. was pretty romant- nice. The gesture was very nice.

I am just being appreciative to my friend that’s all, He corrected himself, Nothing else.

He sighed heavily as he started moved his stuff, with his thoughts nagging him, he pushed the corner alcove where his sister had once slept.

He put Thalia’s photograph back on the wall so he didn’t feel alone.

He stared up at the frowning statue of Zeus, mighty and proud, but the statue didn’t scare him anymore. It just made him feel sad.

“I know you can hear me,” Jason said to the statue.

The statue said nothing. Its painted eyes seemed to stare at him.

“I wish I could talk with you in person,” Jason continued, “but I understand you can’t do that. The Roman gods don't like to interact with mortals so much, and—well, you’re the king. You've got to set an example.”

More silence. Jason had hoped for something—a bigger than usual rumble of thunder, a bright light, a smile. No, never mind. A smile would’ve been creepy.

“I remember some things,” he said. The more he talked, the less self-conscious he felt.

“I remember that it's hard being a son of Jupiter. Everyone is always looking at me to be a leader, but I always feel alone. I guess you feel the same way up on Olympus. The other gods challenge your decisions. Sometimes you've got to make hard choices, and the others criticize you. And you can’t come to my aid like other gods might. You’ve got to keep me at a distance so it doesn’t look like you’re playing favorites. I guess I just wanted to say ...”

Jason took a deep breath.

“I understand all that. It’s okay. I’m going to try to do my best. I'll try to make you proud. But I could really use some guidance, Dad. If there’s anything you can do—help me so I can help my friends. I’m afraid I'll get them killed. Leo-“ He gulped. “And Piper I don’t know how to protect them.”

The back of his neck tingled.

He realized someone was standing behind him. He turned and found a woman in a black hooded robe, with a goatskin cloak over her shoulders and a sheathed Roman sword—a gladius—in her hands.

“Hera,” he said.

 
She pushed back her hood. “To you, I have always been Juno. And your father has already sent you guidance, Jason. He sent you Piper and Leo. They’re not just your responsibility. They are also your friends. Listen to them, and you will do well.”

“Did Jupiter send you here to tell me that?”

“No one sends me anywhere, hero,” she said. “I am not a messenger.”

“But you got me into this. Why did you send me to this camp?”

“I think you know,” Juno said. “An exchange of leaders was necessary. It was the only way to bridge to gap.”

“I didn’t agree to it.”

“No. But Zeus gave your life to me, and I am helping you fulfill your destiny.”

Jason tried to control his anger. He looked down at his orange camp shirt and the tattoos on his arm, and he knew these things should not go together.

He had become a contradiction—a mixture as dangerous as anything Medea could cook up.

“You’re not giving me all my memories,” he said. “Even though you promised.”

“Most will return in time,” Juno said. “But you must find your own way back. You need these next months with your new friends, your new home. You're gaining their trust. By the time you sail in your ship, you will be a leader at this camp. And you will be ready to be a peacemaker between two great powers.”

“What if you’re not telling the truth?” he asked. “What if you’re doing this to cause another civil war?”

Juno’s expression was impossible to read—amusement? Disdain? Affection? Possibly all three. As much as she appeared human, Jason knew she was not.

He could still see that blinding lignht—the true form of the goddess that had seared itself into his brain. She was Juno and Hera.

She existed in many places at once. Her reasons for doing something were never simple.

“l am the goddess of family,” she said. “My family has been divided for too long.”

“They divided us so we don’t kill each other,” Jason said. “That seems like a pretty good reason.”

“The prophecy demands that we change. The giants will rise. Each can only be killed by a god and demigod working together. Those demigods must be the seven greatest of the age. As it stands, they are divided between two places. If we remain divided, we cannot win. Gaea is counting on this. You must unite the heroes of Olympus and sail together to meet the giants on the ancient battlegrounds of Greece. Only then will the gods be convinced to join you. It will be the most dangerous quest, the most important voyage, ever attempted by the children of the gods.”
Jason looked up again at the glowering statue of his father.

“It’s not fair,” Jason said. “I could ruin everything.”

“You could,” Juno agreed. “But gods need heroes. We always have.”

“Even you? I thought you hated heroes.”
The goddess gave him a dry smile. “I have that reputation. But if you want the truth, Jason, I often envy other gods their mortal children. You demigods can span both worlds. I think this helps your godly parents— even Jupiter, curse him—to understand the mortal world better than I.”

Juno sighed so unhappily that despite his anger, Jason almost felt sorry for her. 

“l am the goddess of marriage,” she said. “It is not in my nature to be faithless. I have only two godly children—Ares and Hephaestus—both of whom are disappointments. I have no mortal heroes to do my bidding, which is why I am so often bitter toward demigods—Heracles, Aeneas, all of them. But it is also why I favored the first Jason, a pure mortal, who had no godly parent to guide him. And why I am glad Zeus gave you to me. You will be my champion, Jason. You will be the greatest of heroes, and bring unity to the demigods, and thus to Olympus.”

Her words settled over him, as heavy as sandbags.

Two days ago, he’d been terrified by the idea of leading demigods into a Great Prophecy, sailing off to battle the giants and save the world.

He was still terrified, but something had changed. He no longer felt alone. He had friends now, and a home to fight for.

He even had a patron goddess looking out for him, which had to count for something, even if she seemed a little untrustworthy.

Jason had to stand up and accept his destiny, just as he had done when he faced Porphyrion with his bare hands.

Sure, it seemed impossible. He might die. But his friends were counting on him.

“And if I fail?” he asked.

“Great victory requires great risk,” she admitted. “Fail, and there will be bloodshed like we have never seen. Demigods will destroy one another. The giants will overrun Olympus. Gaea will wake, and the earth will shake off everything we have built over five millennia. It will be the end of us all.”

“Great. Just great.”

Someone pounded on the cabin doors. Juno pulled her hood back over her face.

Then she handed Jason the sheathed gladius.

“Take this for the weapon you lost. We will speak again. Like it or not, Jason, I am your sponsor, and your link to Olympus. We need each other.”

The goddess vanished as the doors creaked open, and Piper walked in.

“Annabeth and Rachel are here,” she said. “Chiron has summoned the council.”

Chapter Text

THE COUNCIL WAS NOTHING LIKE Jason imagined. For one thing, it was in the Big House rec room, around a Ping-Pong table, and one of the satyrs was serving nachos and sodas.

Somebody had brought Seymour the leopard head in from the living room and hung him on the wall.

Every once in a while, a counselor would toss him a Snausage.

Jason looked around the room and tried to remember everyone’s name.

He was so relieved by Piper and Leo being at his side—it was their first meeting as senior counselors.

Clarisse, leader of the Ares cabin, had her boots on the table, but nobody seemed to care.

Clovis from Hypnos cabin was snoring in the corner while Butch from Iris cabin was seeing how many pencils he could fit in Clovis’s nostrils.

Travis Stoll from Hermes was holding a lighter under a Ping-Pong ball to see if it would burn, and Will Solace from Apollo was absently wrapping and unwrapping an Ace bandage around his wrist.

The counselor from Hecate cabin, Lou Ellen something-or-other, was playing “got-your-nose” with Miranda Gardiner from Demeter, except that Lou Ellen really had magically disconnected Miranda’s nose, and Miranda was trying to get it back.

Jason had hoped Thalia would show.

She’d promised, after all—but she was nowhere to be seen.

Chiron had told him not to worry about it. Thalia often got sidetracked fighting monsters or running quests for Artemis, and she would probably arrive soon. But still, Jason worried.

Rachel Dare, the oracle, sat next to Chiron at the head of the table.

She was wearing her Clarion Academy school uniform dress, which seemed a bit odd, but she smiled at Jason.

Annabeth didn’t look so relaxed. She wore armor over her camp clothes, with her knife at her side and her blond hair pulled back in a ponytail.

As soon as Jason walked in, she fixed him with an expectant look, as if she were trying to extract information out of him by sheer willpower.

“Let’s come to order,” Chiron said. “Lou Ellen, please give Miranda her nose back. Travis, if you’d kindly extinguish the flaming Ping-Pong ball, and Butch, I think twenty pencils is really too many for any human nostril. And Leo it would be very appreciated if you stopped gawking by the person on your side.” Leo slumped in his chair looking reddened. Jason’s chest felt weird. He made a mental note to check that out.

“Thank you. Now, as you can see, Jason, Piper, and Leo have returned successfully... more or less. Some of you have heard parts of their story, but I will let them fill you in.”

Everyone looked at Jason. He cleared his throat and began the story.

Piper and Leo chimed in from time to time, filling in the details he forgot.

It only took a few minutes, but it seemed like longer with everyone watching him.

The silence was heavy, and for so many ADHD demigods to sit still listening for that long, Jason knew the story must have sounded pretty wild.

He ended with Hera’s visit right before the meeting.

“So Hera was here,” Annabeth said. “Talking to you.”

Jason nodded. “Look, I’m not saying I trust her—”

“That's smart,” Annabeth said.

“—-but she isn’t making this up about another group of demigods. That’s where I came from.”

“Romans.” Clarisse tossed Seymour a Snausage. “You expect us to believe there’s another camp with demigods, but they follow the Roman forms of the gods. And we’ve never even heard of them.”

Piper sat forward. “The gods have kept the two groups apart, because every time they see each other, they try to kill each other.”

“I can respect that,” Clarisse said. “Still, why haven’t we ever run across each other on quests?”

“Oh, yes,” Chiron said sadly. “You have, many times. It’s always a tragedy, and always the gods do their best to wipe clean the memories of those involved. The rivalry goes all the way back to the Trojan War, Clarisse. The Greeks invaded Troy and burned it to the ground. The Trojan hero Aeneas escaped, and eventually made his way to Italy, where he founded the race that would someday become Rome. The Romans grew more and more powerful, worshipping the same gods but under different names, and with slightly different personalities.”

“More warlike,” Jason said. “More united. More about expansion, conquest, and discipline.”

“Yuck.” Travis put in.

Several of the others looked equally uncomfortable, though Clarisse shrugged like it sounded okay to her.

Annabeth twirled her knife on the table. “And the Romans hated the Greeks. They took revenge when they conquered the Greek isles, and made them part of the Roman Empire.”

“Not exactly hated them,” Jason said. “The Romans admired Greek culture, and were a little jealous. In return, the Greeks thought the Romans were barbarians, but they respected their military power. So during Roman times, demigods started to divide—either Greek or Roman.”

“And it’s been that way ever since,” Annabeth guessed. “But this is crazy. Chiron, where were the Romans during the Titan War? Didn’t they want to help?”

Chiron tugged at his beard. “They did help, Annabeth. While you and Percy were leading the battle to save Manhattan, who do think conquered Mount Othrys, the Titans’ base in California?”

“Hold on,” Travis said. “You said Mount Othrys just crumbled when we beat Kronos.”

“No,” Jason said as he glanced at Leo, he was tinkering with something. 

Then he remembered flashes of the battle—a giant in starry armor and a helm mounted with ram’s horns.

He remembered his army of demigods scaling Mount Tam, fighting through hordes of snake monsters.

“It didn’t just fall. We destroyed their palace. I defeated the Titan Krios myself.”

Annabeth’s eyes were as stormy as a rainstorm. Jason could almost see her thoughts moving, putting the pieces together.

“The Bay Area. We demigods were always told to stay away from it because Mount Othrys was there. But that wasn’t the only reason, was it? The Roman camp—it’s got to be somewhere near San Francisco. I bet it was put there to keep watch on the Titans’ territory. Where is it?”

Chiron shifted in his wheelchair. “I cannot say. Honestly, even I have never been trusted with that information. My counterpart, Lupa, is not exactly the sharing type. Jason’s memory, too, has been burned away.”

“The camp’s heavily veiled with magic,” Jason said. “And heavily guarded. We could search for years and never find it.”

Rachel Dare laced her fingers. Of all the people in the room, only she didn’t seem nervous about the conversation.

“But you’ll try, won’t you? You'll build Leo’s boat, the Argo II And before you make for Greece, you'll sail for the Roman camp. You'll need their help to confront the giants.”

“Bad plan,” Clarisse warned. “If those Romans see a warship coming, they'll assume we're attacking.”

“You're probably right,” Jason agreed. “But we have to try. I was sent here to learn about Camp HalfBlood, to try to convince you the two camps don’t have to be enemies. A peace offering.”

“Hmm,” Rachel said. “Because Hera is convinced we need both camps to win the war with the giants. Seven heroes of Olympus—some Greek, some Roman.”

Annabeth nodded. “Your Great Prophecy—what’s the last line?”

“And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death.”

“Gaea has opened the Doors of Death,”Annabeth said. “She’s letting out the worst villains of the Underworld to fight us. Medea, Midas—there’ll be more, I’m sure. Maybe the line means that the Roman and Greek demigods will unite, and find the doors, and close them.”

“Or it could mean they fight each other at the doors of death,” Clarisse pointed out. “It doesn’t say we'll cooperate.”

There was silence as the campers let that happy thought sink in.

“I’m going,” Annabeth said. “Jason, when you get this ship built, let me go with you.”

“I was hoping you’d offer,” Jason said. “You of all people —we'll need you.”

“Wait.” Leo frowned. “I mean that’s cool with me and all. But why Annabeth of all people?” 

Jason admired how Leo said it nicely. 

Annabeth and Jason studied one another, and Jason knew she had put it together. She saw the dangerous truth.

“Hera said my coming here was an exchange of leaders,” Jason said. “A way for the two camps to learn of each other’s existence.”

“Yeah?” Leo said. “So?”

“An exchange goes two ways,” Jason said. “When I got here, my memory was wiped. I didn’t know who I was or where I belonged. Fortunately, you guys took me in and I found a new home. I know you’re not my enemy. The Roman camp—they’re not so friendly. You prove your worth quickly, or you don’t survive. They may not be so nice to him, and if they learn where he comes from, he’s going to be in serious trouble.”

“Him?” Leo said. “Who are you talking about?”

“My boyfriend,” Annabeth said grimly. “He disappeared around the same time Jason appeared. If Jason came to Camp Half-Blood—”

“Exactly,” Jason agreed. “Percy Jackson is at the other camp, and he probably doesn’t even remember who he is.”