Chapter 1: The Boy on the Roof
Summary:
"I wouldn’t mind playing Hide-and-Seek, but I think you’d have better luck finding a decent pick-up line.”
Notes:
Heyo! Thanks so much for reading! I was starved for Leo content, so I figured why not make it myself? I'm kinda posting this for me, but I thought it'd be nice to share with other people who might also be starved for Leo content lmao.
This chapter is from Ziya's POV.
Word Count: 1275
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
In the moment, I couldn’t help but imagine taking my pencil and shoving it so far up Alice’s nose that she had splinters coming out of her ears. I resorted to rapidly tapping it on the table.
She droned on and on over some arbitrary concept for the algebra class I was in. Technically, I wasn’t even qualified to be in that class, but it was the lowest option they had. Because rather than just have adults admit that math is something I will never be able to do, they insist on torturing me and making me feel like shit for not understanding ‘simple’ concepts.
A two-note whistle slipped out between my gritted teeth. Alice snapped her fingers in front of my face. “Pay attention, Zi ya.”
“It’s Zi ya ,” I muttered.
She rolled her eyes. “Whatever. In this formula, ‘x’ represents...”
I zoned out again. I didn’t really mean to, it just happened sometimes. I looked around the tutoring/special needs room, studying the only other kid.
Piper, my roommate, sat with the English composition tutor. She tugged at tears in her jacket, her leg bouncing like a jackhammer. She muttered furiously, though her tutor didn’t appear to hear her.
The bell for lunch rang, releasing me and my fellow inmate from prison. I immediately grabbed my bag, following Piper out the door with barely a goodbye.
“Jesus. Fucking. Christ.”
“Agreed,” I said. “I’ve accepted that I’ll never— punk —be able to do math, why can’t they?”
“Because they’re all ableist pieces of shit!” Piper snarled. “Honestly, how many times do I have to say, ‘Hey, I don’t understand, can you explain it this way?’” She looked at me, eyes wide. “And then they literally explain it in the exact same way !”
“Happened at least twice yesterday— cheese .”
Piper sighed. “I hate this goddamn school. Anyway, I’m thinking pasta for lunch, how ‘bout you?”
“Probably...” I trailed off, looking down a deserted hallway. I could’ve sworn I’d heard something.
“Ziya?” Piper looked past me into the hallway. “You good?”
I nodded absently. “Yeah. You go ahead.” I started down the hall, pausing at each door.
At the end of the hall, a set of stairs led up to the roof. The only thing that kept kids from getting up there was a locked door—that was now cracked open. I crept up the stairs, hearing a voice growl, “Hand it over, Clown Boy.”
‘Clown Boy’ answered in a southern drawl. “I’m telling you, man, I’m broke as shit, same as you. I don’t know why—” The second boy let out an ‘oof’.
Alright, that’s it. I opened the door, taking in the scene. Near the edge of a roof, an elfish Latino boy was bent over and had his arms curled over his stomach while a much larger white boy loomed over him. They both looked up at the sudden intrusion.
I smiled. “There you are! Dude, I’ve been looking everywhere for you.” I pushed past the bully, ducking down slightly to look the boy in the eye. “What are you doing up here? They’re gonna run out of apple pie.”
“Who the hell are you?” I looked over my shoulder at the dickwad. He crossed his arms over his Dallas Cowboys jumper. He had a thick Minnesotan accent. “This is a personal conversation.”
I turned fully, tilting my head and donning a curious smile, standing in his personal space to throw him off. “Really? What about? Are you two friends?”
The boy backed up slightly, looking at me like I was crazy, but I just followed him. His nose twitched, his face for a split second looking like swirling storm clouds. “Whatever.” He looked past me to the cowering boy. “We’ll finish our talk later.” He turned and walked back through the door.
I dropped the grin. “Are you okay?” I looked back at the boy.
“Are you some kind of angel?” He gazed at me, still slightly hunched over. “Where have you been all my life?” He grinned. The small scar in his eyebrow twitched as he winked.
I glared. “Hiding from you.” I turned to walk back inside.
“Looks like you’re not very good at it then.”
I clicked my jaw. This guy... I turned back around. The boy had stood up fully, just barely two inches taller than me. “Guess I’ll have to try harder. I wouldn’t mind playing Hide-and-Seek, but I think you’d have better luck finding a decent pick-up line.”
“I could always pick you up instead.”
I studied him for a moment before holding out my hand. “Ziya. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“Leo.” The boy hesitantly smiled, taking my hand and lightly kissing my knuckles. “Believe me, the pleasure is all mine.”
I quirked an eyebrow, fighting a smile. “Flirt.”
He shrugged. “Guilty. Thanks for that, by the way.”
“Of course. What was he going on about anyway?”
Leo rolled his eyes. “Damn fool wanted some pot and he thought I had cash.”
“In this hellhole?”
Leo laughed. “That’s exactly what I said!”
I looked back at the door. “Do you want to sit with me and my friend at lunch? Just so that guy steers clear?”
Leo blinked. “Uh, yeah. Sure, if that’s okay.”
“I just suggested it, so yeah, it’s okay.”
Leo bit his lip, huffing out a laugh. “Right, yeah.” He gestured to the door. “Lead the way, hermosa .”
I raised an eyebrow. “What does that mean?”
Leo just shrugged while grinning.
Okay. Weird (potentially funny) kid who seemingly gets beat up on the reg is now flirting with me in a different language (probably; he seems like the type).
I like him.
“Come on. I think you’ll like Piper.”
~*~
I dropped my binder on the table, Leo and Piper jumping at the impact.
“I have a plan.”
They glanced at each other. “For what?” Leo asked.
I blinked at them. “For the— punk —meteor shower.”
“What about the meteor shower?”
I gaped. “What do you mean, ‘what about the meteor shower’? Meteor showers are one of the most beautiful natural phenomena able to be seen by the naked eye–don’t laugh–and tonight the Orionid shower–caused by dust and debris from the Comet 1P/Halley–is going to be visible at 4:33 AM and since there are no nearby buildings, light pollution will be very minimal. A viewing party on the roof would be absolutely perfect!”
“Sounds awesome!” Piper grinned.
“I know, that’s why I’m telling you about it.” I flipped open my binder. “Anyway, since the shower’s not ‘til the early morning, I’m thinking we head up around 3:30-ish so that we can play some games or something. I also commandeered the Home Ec room to make brownies, so there’s that as well. What do you guys think?”
Leo stared at me, a smile slowly creeping onto his face. “You. Are. A nerd.”
I balked. “How dare you.”
“It’s true!” Leo grinned. “What? Can’t take the heat?”
“She can dish it, she just can’t take it,” Piper said.
“I can take plenty of heat, thank you very much.”
“So, me saying that ‘my heart only beats for you’ or ‘the stars could never compare to your beauty’—” Leo grinned, perching his chin on his knuckles, “ wouldn’t get you all hot and bothered?”
I stared at his shit-eating grin, letting out a slow breath. I put my forehead to my binder cover and tried to keep my shoulders from shaking. “I fucking hate you.”
A gentle hand rested on my arm and I looked up. Leo smiled at me. “In all honesty, this sounds like a great idea, Angel."
Notes:
This chapter was originally well over three thousand words, so I split it up. Enjoy the next one, it was one of my absolute favorites to write in terms of fluff/slight angst.
Chapter 2: The Girl on the Roof
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Summary:
"You... want to give me a makeover?"
Notes:
Merry Christmas, ya filthy animals (lol), and Happy Holidays to everyone else! Enjoy my favorite chapter that I've written so far.
I found a beta reader: my hooligan little brother, jam-jam. I mentioned I posted the first chapter of my fic and he immediately found it so... yeah.
I've decided I will try to upload on Saturdays, and I have a nice stockpile worked up in case my ADHD decides to smack me with a baseball bat.
This chapter is a bit longer than the last one (a bit I say, as if I didn't write any extra 2k). Chapter lengths will vary anywhere from 1100 words to 2400 depending on chapter content.
This chapter is from Leo's POV.
CW in the end notes in case of spoilers.
Reminder to drink water!!
Word Count: 2115
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Trying to stay quiet while sneaking onto the roof at three AM is nearly impossible. Especially when I won't stop cracking jokes, Piper won't stop giggling, and Ziya's shushing only made Piper laugh harder.
"Hey, guys," I whispered. "Don't you hate it when you're woken up in the middle of the night for sex?"
"I—what?" Ziya looked at me confused.
"I can't wait to get out of prison."
She choked on air. "Leo!"
I wheezed silently while Piper had a hand clamped over her mouth.
"I can never take you two anywhere," Ziya lamented.
Finally, we reached the roof, which did not have enough security—not that we were complaining. While Ziya laid out a quilt and blankets, Piper and I pulled out the snacks Ziya had made during Home Ec and the few I'd swiped from the teachers' lounge.
"What was this game you wanted to play?" I plopped onto the quilt, pulling at least three blankets around my shoulders.
"Don't hog the blankets, asshat," Piper said, tugging at the top layer.
"No! I'm cold!"
"The game—" Ziya said, distracting me long enough for Piper to steal a blanket, "is basically just Truth or Dare with another category: Bet."
"How does that work?" Piper asked while eating some pretzels.
"You just bet someone that they can't do something and they try to prove you wrong."
"Cool." I looked around for another blanket. "So, who gets to go first?"
Ziya shrugged and snapped her fingers twice. "Rock, paper, scissors?"
I lost a frustrating four times in a row to Piper. "Come on, how do you always win?"
"You always pick paper."
"No I don't!"
Que rapid-fire rounds where I consistently chose paper. "Dammit! This is some reverse psychology bullshit!"
Ziya laughed her cute giggly laugh. "All right, Leo. Admit defeat."
"Fine!" I groaned.
Piper smiled. "Great! Now, truth, dare, or bet?"
I squinted at her. "Dare."
"I dare you to eat five brownies at once."
I scoffed. "Easy peasy." I grabbed a stack and crammed them into my mouth.
Huh.
"Leo?"
I looked at Ziya as I finished my mouthful. "Is that nutmeg?"
She laughed. "Yeah, actually. What do you think?"
I grabbed another stack. "Pretty good. It'd be better with some vanilla ice cream." Ziya smiled so wide her cheeks dimpled. "What?" She reached into her bag, bringing out a thermos and some spoons. I gasped. "You didn't!"
She cracked open the lid. "I did. Am I a god or what?"
I grabbed a spoon.
"Careful!" Ziya snorted. "You're going to choke."
"Best way to go," I mumbled through chocolatey paste and vanilla cream. Dear god, please let her make brownies every day. "Anyway, your turn, Angel. Truth, dare, or bet?"
"Don't call me that," Ziya said with a smile. "Um... truth." She made a popping sound.
I stared off into the distance, chewing on the inside of my cheek. Dare I ask the most cliché question? "Do..." I cleared my throat. "Do you have a crush on anyone at the moment?"
"No, I don't, Piper."
"Hey!" We chorused.
"Am I wrong?"
Piper blew hair out of her eyes. "No." I pouted.
Ziya looked back at me. "Truth, dare, or bet?"
I blinked. "Uh, aren't you supposed to ask Piper?"
"That was never specified in the rules."
I squinted at her. "This feels like a trap... Dare."
"Ooh! I have an idea!" Piper leaned over and whispered into Ziya's ear.
That can't be good.
"Oh, that's good!" Ziya turned back to me. "I dare you to submit to a makeover by yours truly."
...That's not too bad actually.
"You... want to give me a makeover?" Ziya nodded, eyes sparkling. "Okay."
Piper pulled out the makeup bag that she seldom used... she was prepared for this! I scooted closer while Piper sat back to watch, spooning ice cream between yawns. "All righty," Ziya said, pulling out seemingly random things.
"Do you know what you're doing?" I grinned, leaning back onto my hands.
"Nope. This is going to be an adventure for both of us." Ziya pulled out eyeshadow and immediately started going at my eyes.
I couldn't help but move out of the way—basic instinct to protect my peepers. "Okay, this isn't going to work," Ziya muttered after a minute of dodging and weaving.
"What do you—"
Ziya abandoned the spot next to me, moving to straddle my hips.
One of my arms buckled. "Um... what are you doing?"
She grabbed my jaw. "You keep moving and I don't want to poke your eyes."
Oh. Naturally.
After she'd finished with eyeliner, Ziya let go of my face—Why do I miss it?—and grabbed a dark red matte lipstick. "Pucker up, pretty boy." She winked, grinning like the Cheshire Cat.
I cleared my throat as quietly as I could and did as she asked. "Is that it?"
"Yep." She got off of me—I could barely keep from grabbing her hips to keep her there—and cleaned up Piper's stuff. I grabbed the compact mirror to distract myself. "Here you are, Bird—ugh, seriously?"
"What?" I looked over. "Did she fall asleep?"
Ziya grabbed a blanket and draped it over Piper. "Yeah. More brownies for us, I guess."
Shit what do I do? Oh! Comfort her! Um...
"I'm sorry, Ziya." I hesitated before lightly rubbing her shoulder. Is this the right move?
"For what? You didn't do anything." She started to chew on her worn hoodie string, something she only did when she felt sad.
I shrugged. "Still."
She sighed. "Anyway, I believe it's your turn to ask. I'm going with Truth."
"Oh. All right. Um..." I puffed out my cheeks. What do I even ask?
"OH! Ziya clapped her hands, eyes sparkling again. "Since Piper's out, how about we spice things up a little?"
I leaned back on my hands as Ziya straddled my hips, arms draped over my shoulders and warm breaths ghosting over my face. Her lips curved into a teasing smile as they danced millimeters away from mine.
I laughed nervously. "Uh, depends on what you mean by that, hermosa."
She furrowed her eyebrows before it dawned on her. "Get your mind out of the gutter, pervert!" I snickered, trying to purge the image from my mind. "I mean, what if we both do the truth or dare?"
"Uh huh, uh huh. Interesting... What about the bets?" My legs started to get restless, so I stood up, two blankets still wrapped around my shoulders, and started pacing, mindlessly flapping my hands.
"Well, that's already a homebrew, so."
"Fair enough. Alrighty then, I accept the terms."
"Alrighty then," Ziya parroted and took a bite of ice cream. "Truth."
"What... is... your full name?"
She quirked an eyebrow. "Really? That's the best you could come up with?"
"Well, sorry I don't have the best imagination under pressure."
She laughed and smiled reassuringly. "No, it's fine. My full name is Ziya Aamira Rayyan."
I couldn't stop a smile from spreading. "That is absolutely beautiful." I gasped. "I just realized you don't have a name-based nickname!"
Ziya blinked. "You don't have one either..."
"My full name is Leonidas Valdez."
She blinked again. "That is so cool."
I smiled again. "Thanks! Um... what about Mira?" Ziya tilted her head. "For your nickname?"
"Oh. Um..." she hesitated. "Aamira was my mom's name."
"Oh." I winced. So we both have mom issues. That's... something. "Okay, forget that, then. I'll just stick to Angel." I winked, trying to diffuse the tension. I picked up another brownie, still thinking. "Dear Lord, this is amazing."
"One teaspoon of nutmeg and a pinch of cinnamon. It's a family recipe." Ziya smiled softly.
"Ah. My mom favored only cinnamon."
Ziya wrinkled her nose and cleared her throat. "Why would anyone do that?"
I laughed. "Yeah, I didn't like them much, either. But still, they were hers, and that's what really mattered."
Ziya seemed to catch the wistfulness in my voice. "Yeah, I know what you mean."
A moment of understanding passed between us. "So, it's your turn to ask, and I'm going with the truth."
Ziya thought for a moment. "What is your favorite flower?"
"Planning for Valentines?" I grinned.
"You wish."
"I really like sunflowers. They're just so..." I waved my hand around, trying to find the right word. "Radiant."
Ziya grinned and cracked her knuckles. "I adore roses, especially red ones. Kinda cliché, but whatever."
"No, it suits you." I smiled softly. "Truth, dare, or bet?"
"Truth?"
An idea popped into my head. "All right. Who was your first crush? I'll even go first. My absolute favorite character—which I later figured out was a crush—was Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender."
Please don't let this blow up in my face.
Ziya burst out laughing. "That is amazing!" She wheezed. "Oh my god, I definitely had a crush on him, too!"
A small part of me breathed a sigh of relief. "It's definitely weird, right?"
"Only if my first crush being Ariel from The Little Mermaid is weird." She wiped a tear from her eye. "Oh, I needed that."
"Happy to be of service!" I bowed jokingly.
"All right, all right," Ziya took a deep breath, holding her stomach. "Ow, I laughed too hard."
"Do you know what else—"
"NO." She pointed a finger at me, glaring at smiling at the same time. "Don't. Even."
I pressed my lips together, trying not to laugh. "Okay, okay."
Ziya licked her lips, still trying to breathe properly. "Okay. Truth, dare, or bet?"
"You know what? Bet."
Ziya's grin spread as she started cackling. "YES! FINALLY!"
I knew that look. "Oh no. No no no! Ziya, please!"
"I bet! TWENTY DOLLARS!" She crowed. "That you can't go without cursing! FOR THREE MONTHS!"
"NO!" I crumpled to the ground. "How could you do this to me?!"
"Very easily," Ziya said, clearly enjoying my suffering. "And that includes cursing in Spanish, by the way."
"You're awful," I mumbled into my blankets.
"Aren't I?" She said cheerfully. "Anyway, I'm going with truth."
I huffed, propping my chin up on my hand. "And why should I continue this charade of inevitable pain?"
"Because it's fun and if you abandon me like Piper you will live to regret it."
"Fair enough." I sat up. "Um..." My eyes locked onto the scar above her eye. "How'd you get that scar? The one over your eye?"
Ziya's eyes unfocused for a split second, and the scar twitched. "Oh. I just kind of—pop—tripped over a coffee table and—" her stressed whistle cut her off, followed by shrugging. "Dammit! I just—smile!—tripped." She blinked hard.
"You tripped, got it?" Teresa's grip on his wrist tightened. Blood trickled into Leo's eye.
Even at eight years old, Leo knew this wasn't okay. His mom had never done anything like this.
I held my breath. "The first foster mom I had was the absolute worst. The first time I forgot to do my homework, she smacked me so hard her wedding ring left a scar." I gestured to the cut on my brow. "I ran away that night."
I stared off to the side, waiting for Ziya to say something. Dammit, why am I such an idiot? Why would you tell her about that, she clearly doesn't want to talk about what happened. I should just—
Ziya sniffed and hiccupped. I looked up. Tears poured down her cheeks as she bit her lower lip; she'd obviously been trying to stay quiet. "Crap, I'm sorry," I said. I crawled over to her, and she immediately caved.
Her sob-ridden speech was difficult to understand. "I'm-I'm sorry, I just—I sh-should be comforting you-ou and—"
"Hey, hey, it's okay." I drew her into a hug. "I'm the one who's sorry, all right? I shouldn't have asked, and I shouldn't have pushed."
"No, no, you didn't push." Ziya took in a shuddering breath. "It's just—"
"I understand." I rubbed her shoulder. "I completely understand. You don't have to say anything, okay?"
She nodded, hugging me tighter. "I'm so-orry that happened."
The sentiment felt different coming from Ziya. "I'm sorry, too."
New sobs broke through. We stayed like that for a long while. Eventually, she stopped crying, opting to share the blankets while we waited in a comforting silence.
"Leo," she whispered. "It's started."
I looked up through my blurry vision. "Oh my god."
"I know, right?" Her head dropped to my shoulder. "Right—pop—on time."
I looked at my watch—she was right. Exactly 4:33 AM. I looked back at the sky, watching the meteors whisk by.
Make a wish, mijo.
What am I supposed to wish for, Mamá?
"Beautiful, isn't it?" Ziya asked.
I glanced down. The entire galaxy reflected in her eyes. Oh. "Yeah. Absolutely radiant."
Notes:
CW: implied child abuse, flashback to child abuse, sex jokes, Ziya had a minor tic attack
I originally wrote this from Ziya's POV, and then at 2 AM I thought 'what if...?' And then this happened.
Kudos and comments are always appreciated <3
Happy holidays!
Here's the shady recipe my hooligan little brother came up with for Ziya's brownies:
(Note from j-j: don't use too much nutmeg or something disastrous may happen and I shan't be sued for any awful sneezing or anything like that)
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and HOT
1 tablespoon cooking oil (olive/coconut oil acceptable for substitutions)
1 1/8 cup superfine sugar (caster/white granulated)
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tsp nutmeg
"the smallest possible dash" cinnamon
Preheat oven to 350 (Fahrenheit), mix oil, butter, and sugar until smooth-ish. Add eggs one at a time, and then vanilla extract. Mix in flour, cocoa powder, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt. Do not mix too much or they will be d r y. Spray 9x9 (inch) dish w/ nonstick spray and bake for 20-25 minutes. Eat with whipped cream/ice cream, I promise it tastes better. Yeehaw -Jam
Chapter 3: The Woman on the Bus
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Summary:
"I just had the weirdest dream.”
“‘Dingo ate my baby’ weird?”
I snorted. “Something like that.”
Notes:
Happy New Year! See y'all in 2023!
Word Count: 1321
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Sitting with Leo on the bus was a bad idea. Taking a nap for the three hour trip was somehow worse.
A late December field trip to the Grand Canyon certainly sounded like a great idea, and it was–for regular kids. Pile a bunch of delinquents onto a hot bus, occasionally stuff three in the same seat, and frame the trip as ‘educational’, and suddenly it’s like being an egg in a microwave one second away from exploding.
Dylan was trying to woo Piper by regaling her with a (bullshit) tale of how he stole fifty cars in one day, Isabela and the rest of the Plastics loudly judged everyone else’s fashion, and Leo had already used the entirety of his paper for spit wads.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I adore Leo. But there comes a point when a girl has had enough. That moment is when Leo pokes you for the ninth time asking what time it is.
“It has not even been a minute.” I tried not to snap at him, but my fuse was getting shorter. “Please, I beg of you, stop asking.” I pulled out my earbuds. “I’m going to take a nap, so don’t poke me unless it’s an emergency.”
Leo blinked. “Oh, crap. Sorry, I didn’t realize I was being–”
“You’re not annoying, it’s just some slight touch aversion right now,” I cut him off, giving him a knowing look. “I know how you feel, I hate being in here, too.”
Leo sighed, resting his forehead on the seat in front of us. “Yeah, I’ve got the zoomies, but I can’t get up, so… basically Hell.”
“I’ll let that one slide.” I grinned as he glared at me out of the corner of his eye. “I’m assuming fiddling with pipe cleaners isn’t going to help right now?”
“Nope. Already tried that. And I forgot my fidget cube. And my monkey noodle. And my pop-it.”
“Ouch. Yeah, I forgot all of my stuff, too.” We both let out humorless laughs.
“Ah, the duality of ADHD and autism,” Leo said.
“Music?” I offered one of the earbuds.
“As long as it’s not Taylor Swift.”
“Don’t pretend like I didn’t catch you belting ‘Fifteen’ in the shower.”
Leo stuck his tongue out.
“Whatever,” I laughed. “How’s Green Day?”
“That works.” He leaned back as ‘Holiday’ started playing.
I leaned against the window and let my drowsiness lull my eyes closed.
And in that instant, everything went to shit.
Through my eyelids I saw a blast of white light. My eyes snapped open in time for the bus to screech to a stop. I slammed into the seat in front of me, bruising my forehead.
“Ow!” I rubbed at the mark and looked around. No one else reacted to the world exploding. In fact–
“What the fuck?” I stood up, taking in the scene. Leo was peeking around the seat, straw poised to shoot another spit ball with a piece from my paper. Dylan was making an exaggerative gesture for his story, Isabel was applying makeup, and Coach Hedge was waving his club around and yelling at some poor kid in the front row. Except they were all frozen in time. “Leo?” I tried to shake his shoulder, but he didn’t even budge.
The bus shook with the force of a 7.0 earthquake, and the doors flew open. I ducked down behind the seat as someone climbed the steps.
Oh, god, I’m going to die.
Something like a cane stomped on the rubber floor, growing closer.
Shit shit SHIT what do I do?
I noticed Leo’s screwdriver. It would have to do.
“I know you’re awake, child.” A woman’s serene voice floated over the seats.
Fuck.
I stood up slowly, keeping the screwdriver hidden. The woman stood tall and regal, white dress adorned with a cape of peacock feathers and gold jewelry and long black hair braided over her shoulder. She carried a gold staff with a pointed tip–the source of the cane noises.
As soon as I registered her appearance, she flickered like a hologram, becoming a withered old woman dressed entirely in black, with a shawl covering her hair and framing her wrinkled face.
And then she flickered again, and rather than returning to the almost queenly appearance, she appeared in black robes with some sort of animal cloak over her shoulders.
“Who–what’s going on?”
She smiled placatingly. “All in good time, dear. Now, time for some… reshuffling.” She waved a hand, and with a flash of white light, students had been moved around the bus. Dylan was closer to the front, and a blond white boy appeared in his place. Who the fuck? “And some modifications…” She waved her hand again, and a thick white fog surrounded everyone’s head.
“What are you doing?” I tried to wave off the clouds around Leo, but my hand passed through like nothing was there.
“As I said, child, modifying.”
“Modifying what?”
She looked at me like I was an idiot. “Their memories. It wouldn’t do well for Jason if most people were to think we just appeared.”
I had so many questions. “What do you mean you’re modifying their memories? Why aren’t you modifying mine? Who’s Jason? Who’s that kid that just appeared? Who are you?!”
The woman blinked. “I’m afraid I can only answer one question, dear, so choose wisely.”
I blinked. What? “Who are you?”
She smiled again. “I have many names.” I opened my mouth to protest. “However, I believe you would know me best as Juno.”
The name was vaguely familiar. “Like, the goddess?”
She smiled again– she really likes to smile as an answer . Rather than say anything, she raised a hand. “I’ll see you soon, Ziya Rayyan.” She snapped her fingers.
I sat up with a gasp. I was still on the noisy bus, sandwiched between Leo and the window. The world hadn’t exploded. I sat back with a sigh.
Leo looked over, pausing in his efforts to hit Isabel with a spit wad. “You good?”
“Yeah, I just had the weirdest dream.”
“‘Dingo ate my baby’ weird?”
I snorted. “Something like that.”
Hedge started giving out instructions. “We’ll be arriving in five minutes! Stay with your partners and don’t lose your worksheet. And if any of you little cupcakes cause any trouble on this trip, I will personally send you back to campus the hard way.” He picked up his club and swung it like he was hitting a home run. Classic Hedge.
Leo leaned over and whispered, “I hope Jason has his paper, cause I used mine for spit wads ages ago, and yours is half gone.”
I felt like I’d been punched in the gut. There wasn’t anyone named Jason on the trip. “What?”
“I said–”
“You don’t understand, this is some kind of mistake; I’m not supposed to be here!” Dylan was supposed to be sitting next to Piper, behind us, but that boy didn’t sound like Dylan.
What the fuck is going on?
Leo scoffed and popped up, looking over the back of our seat. “Yeah, right, Jason. We’ve all been framed! ” He said in a nasally voice. “I didn’t run away six times, Piper didn’t steal a BMW, and Ziya… You know, I don’t think you ever said how you ended up here.”
“That’s my business,” I said, grinning and trying to stave off the building anxiety broiling in my stomach.
“All right, all right. Keep your secrets.” Leo raised his hands in mock surrender.
“I didn’t steal that car, Leo!” I sighed and put away my earbuds.
“Oh, I forgot, Piper. What was your story? You just ‘talked’ the dealer into lending it to you?” He gave me a look like ‘ Can you believe her? ’
“Leo, if Piper says she didn’t steal it, then she didn’t steal it.” I got up on my knees so I could see Piper–and the boy next to her. “You!”
Notes:
Drink water, bitches /affectionate
--your local hypocrite
Chapter 4: Superman on the Bus
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Summary:
“You’re trying to get back at me for the shaving cream on the Jell-O thing, aren’t you?”
“Actually, I already have a revenge plot,” I said.
Chapter Text
“You!” The boy balked at my accusing finger. “You were in my dream! What are you doing here?!”
“Woah, you’re having dreams about Jason? Should I be jealous?” Leo joked.
“What? No, I–” I paused, realizing how crazy I must have sounded.
“Wait, wait. Do you know who I am?” The boy, Jason, asked.
Piper laughed nervously. “Of course she knows who you are! You two have been friends longer than me and Ziya.”
“That’s literally impossible,” I said. “I have never seen him before today.”
“Yeah,” Jason agreed. “I don’t know any of you.”
Leo smiled a crocodile grin. “Right. I’m not your best friend, I’m his evil clone.”
“I’m being serious, Leo. Something’s wrong here,” I said. I started chewing on my nails.
Leo furrowed his eyebrows. “What do you–”
“Leo Valdez!” Coach Hedge yelled from the front. “Problem back there?”
“He never picks on you,” Leo muttered at me before turning and yelling back at the coach. “Sorry, coach! I was having trouble hearing you. Could you use your megaphone, please?”
“You are evil ,” I whispered, feeling sorry for the kids in the front row.
“Oh, just wait.” Leo grinned and held back a snicker.
Coach Hedge unclipped the megaphone from his belt, clearly eager for an excuse to be louder than the one hundred decibels he was already at. But the second he opened his mouth, he sounded like Darth Vader. He smacked the side as the bus erupted in laughter, and this time the megaphone spoke of its own accord: “The cow says moo!”
“Valdez!”
Leo twirled a small Phillips head screwdriver just out of Coach’s eyesight. “Impressed?”
“Immensely, Mr. Valdez,” I said in a news anchor voice, “Tell me, how do you do it?”
“What can I say? I’m a special boy,” Leo said with a shrug.
“Guys, seriously,” Jason cut in. Oh, shit. I forgot he was here. “What am I doing here? Where are we going?”
Piper knit her eyebrows. “Are you two… are you joking?”
I shook my head, going back to bite my nails.
“No, I have no idea–”
“Aw, yeah, they’re joking.” Leo’s smile didn’t quite reach his eyes, and he looked nervous. “You’re trying to get back at me for the shaving cream on the Jell-O thing, aren’t you?”
“ Actually , I already have a revenge plot,” I said. “And I can promise you it has nothing to do with this boy that I’ve never seen before.”
“Yeah, I think they’re being serious,” Piper said. She reached for Jason’s hand, but he pulled away.
“I’m sorry,” he said, looking around like he was planning his escape. “I don’t–I can’t–”
“That’s it!” Coach yelled. “The back row has volunteered to clean up after lunch!” The rest of the kids cheered.
“There’s a shocker.” Leo pursed his lips.
“God dammit.”
“Hey! No cursing!”
“That’s a rule for you , Leo.”
Piper ignored us, keeping her eyes trained on Jason. “Did you hit your head or something? You really don’t know who we are?”
Jason shrugged helplessly. “It’s worse than that. I don’t even know who I am.”
***
The bus dropped us off in front of a red stucco complex in the middle of nowhere. The small museum somehow hid the expanse of the canyon, which wasn’t visible from where we were standing. A freezing wind blew across the desert, blowing bits of sand into my eyes–irritating to say the least. I tried not to shiver in my thick jeans and fleece jacket.
Convinced that Jason and I were pulling his arm, Leo prattled on about the Wilderness School: “–a lovely prison–sorry, ‘boarding school’, in Armpit, Nevada where you learn valuable nature skills such as running ten miles a day through the cacti–which only Ziya can do without sweating a river–and weaving daisies into hats! And for a ‘special treat’–” Leo started speaking in a voice like he was talking to a five-year-old. “–we go on ‘educational’ field trips with Coach Hedge who keeps order with a baseball bat!” Bit generous to call it that. “Is it all coming back to you now?”
“Leo, don’t be a dick,” I said.
“What?! How was that being a di–” He cut himself off, glaring at me. “Nice try.”
“I wasn’t ‘trying’ anything,” I said seriously before grinning. “Although I’ve had my eyes set on a new iPod, so keep up the not-so-good work.”
“Screw you.”
“Maybe later, pretty boy,” I said with a wink. Leo looked away quickly and cleared his throat.
“If you two could stop flirting for five minutes!” Piper cut in.
“Right, yeah!” Leo cleared his throat again. “Anyway, the four of us started here this semester. We’re all super close. You do everything I say and give me your dessert and do my chores–”
“Leo!” Piper chided.
“Fine, ignore that last part,” Leo huffed. “But we are friends. Well, Piper’s a bit more than a friend. These past few weeks–”
“Leo, stop it!” Piper clenched her hands and bit her lip while Jason flushed like a tomato. “He and Ziya have got amnesia or something. We’ve got to tell somebody!”
“I feel fine, thank you,” I said.
“Who are we going to tell?” Leo ignored me. “Coach Hedge? He’d just whack them both upside the head and then Ziya’d have an even bigger bruise!”
I furrowed my eyebrows. “What do you mean ‘an even bigger bruise’?”
“Dude, the one on your forehead is the size of a hockey puck.”
I felt my forehead, hissing at the slight bump–which was in the exact spot where I’d hit my head during my dream. But that would mean –
“Guys, Jason needs help,” Piper pleaded. “He’s got a concussion or–”
“Yo, Piper!” Dylan appeared out of nowhere as the rest of the group started moving towards the museum. He wedged himself between Jason and Piper, inadvertently shoving Leo to the ground. “Don’t talk to these bottom-feeders. You’re my partner, remember?”
“Watch it, asshole,” I snarled as I helped Leo up. “Next time this ‘bottom-feeder’ is going to cut off your dick.”
“Charming.” Dylan sneered, his face flickering to storm clouds. “Let’s go, Birdie.” I bristled.
“You don’t get to call me that.” Piper glared. “I didn’t ask to work with you, so fuck off.”
“Ah, that’s no way to be. This is your lucky day!” He hooked his arm through Piper’s and dragged her towards the museum. Piper shot one last look over her shoulder, begging someone to rescue her.
“I swear to God, when we get back I’m filing for harassment.”
“I’ll back you up on that.” Leo glowered.
“Were you being serious about that threat?” Jason asked.
I scoffed. “Of course not. I’m a pacifist, thank you very much.”
Leo furrowed his eyebrows. “I don’t think you know what pacifist means.”
“I absolutely do. I choose not to commit violence, but that doesn’t mean I’m not able to threaten people or act in self defense.”
“Fair enough. Anyway!” Leo turned back to Jason. “If it wasn’t obvious, we hate that guy.” He offered his arm to me like we were about to go skipping. “‘I’m Dylan! I’m so cool and good-looking I want to date myself, but I can’t figure out how! You want to date me instead? You’re so lucky!”
“Oh, the luckiest!” I said in an exaggerated valley accent, twirling a piece of hair around my finger. “Like, oh my god, you are so hot I literally can’t. Like, I usually have standards, but for you , I would do anything!”
“You two are weird,” Jason said. My eye twitched.
“Yeah, you say that a lot.” Leo flashed a fake grin. “But if you don’t remember me, that means I can reuse all my old jokes!”
“Oh, god no.”
“God has nothing to do with it, Angel.”
“Do you even realize how contradictory that sounds?” I said as we walked towards the museum.
“I try not to think about anything.”
I gaped sarcastically. “Really?! I never would have noticed!”
He smacked my arm. “Jerk.” But he was genuinely smiling, so all was right with the world, even if it was only for a little bit.
Notes:
Me: Why would Jason and Ziya be friends? They have almost nothing in common.
Also me: ThEy'Re BeStIeS, yOuR hOnOrTheir dynamic will be fun to mess with :).
Chapter 5: The Storm Gathers
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Summary:
“I swear to God, Leonidas Valdez, I am going to skin you alive.”
“Ooh, kinky!”
Notes:
Even 1200, babey! Did I add words just for that? Yes. Do I care? No.
Drink water, have a snack, etc.This chapter is from Ziya's POV.
Word Count: 1200
CW: Isabel, racist comments, fatphobic comments, self-deprecation, Leo's sex jokes
Chapter Text
Leo was fiddling with spare bits as Hedge led us through the museum, his megaphone alternating between making him sound like a Sith Lord and blurting out things like ‘the pig says oink’.
I tried to focus on the exhibits of geological rocks, but–oh, who am I kidding, why would I focus on geology . I did try to focus on info about the Hualapai tribe, but it was getting increasingly difficult the more Isabel and the rest of the Plastics taunted Piper.
“Hey, Piper!” Isabel grinned evilly. “Does your tribe run this place? Do you get in free if you do a rain dance?”
“Fucking racist bitch,” I muttered. She can fight her own battles. I repeated that mantra in my head.
The other girls laughed loudly. Even Dylan suppressed a smirk. The long sleeves of her snowboarding jacket hid Piper’s no-doubt-clenched fists.
“My dad’s Cherokee, not Hualapai. Of course, you’d need a few brain cells to know the difference, Isabel.”
Knock-off Regina George widened her eyes in mock surprise, looking like an owl with a makeup addiction. “Oh, sorry! Was your mom in this tribe? Oh, wait. You never knew your mom.”
Piper charged her, but before she could punch Isabel’s lights out, Coach Hedge barked, “Enough back there! Set a good example or I’ll break out my baseball bat!”
We shuffled on to the next exhibit, but the posse kept calling out little comments to Piper.
“Good to be back on the rez?” Jordyn asked in a sickly sweet voice.
“Dad’s probably too drunk to work,” Tammi said with fake sympathy. “That’s why she turned klepto.”
Piper ignored them, but Jason was bright red. He started towards them, but Leo caught his arm. “Be cool. Piper doesn’t like us fighting her battles. Besides, if those girls found out the truth about her dad, they’d be all bowing down to her and screaming, ‘We’re not worthy!’”
“Why? What about her dad?”
Leo scoffed. “You’re seriously not kidding? You really don’t remember that your girlfriend’s dad–”
“Look, I wish I did, but I don’t even remember her , let alone her dad.”
“He’s just some famous movie star,” I explained. “Piper doesn’t really like to talk about it.” Jason nodded, something flickering in his eyes.
Leo looked between us. “You guys seriously aren’t kidding.”
I blinked at him. “When did you figure that out, Sherlock?”
“Okay, okay, I’m sorry for doubting you, but you have to admit it sounds crazy!”
“I didn’t say it wasn’t!”
“Hey, guys? Maybe you should keep your voices down,” Jason interjected, nodding at some of the kids who were now trying to not obviously stare at the three of us.
“I have no idea what’s going on,” I continued, whispering. “But I think it has to do with that weird dream I had on the bus.”
We reached the far end of the exhibit hall, where glass doors led out to a terrace.
“All right, cupcakes,” Coach Hedge announced. “You are about to see the Grand Canyon. Try not to break it. The skywalk can hold the weight of seventy jumbo jets, so you featherweights should be safe out there.”
“Maybe we should leave Ziya, then,” Isabel whispered loudly to her friends. “I mean, that fatass alone–”My jaw tightened, embarrassment broiling in my stomach.
“If possible,” Hedge continued, “try to avoid pushing each other over the edge, as that would cause me extra paperwork.”
“Oh, damn,” I deadpanned in Isabel’s direction. “There go all my plans for the afternoon.”
She scowled at me before going back to making racist comments at Piper.
“I swear to God, I am going to put orange hair dye in all of her products,” Leo muttered.
“It’s fine, Leo,” I said. “I mean, she’s not wrong.”
“Hey!” Leo turned to me, offended on my behalf. “Nuh uh. You’re talking like that’s a bad thing and it very much is not.”
“And why is that? ‘Cause last I checked every doctor I’ve ever been to says otherwise, so.”
“I’ll tell you why.” Leo grinned mischievously. “More cushion for the pushin’.”
I lightly smacked his arm, face warm. “I swear to God, Leonidas Valdez, I am going to skin you alive.”
“Ooh, kinky!” He waggled his eyebrows.
“Is this a normal thing for you guys?” Jason asked bewildered.
“Unfortunately,” I said with a smile.
“Oh, hush. I’m a joy to be around.”
We stepped outside, the Grand Canyon spread before us. Extending over the edge was a horseshoe-shaped walkway made of glass.
I swallowed thickly. Oh, God. This is going to suck. I took a deep breath and kept walking along the glass. It didn’t crack, thankfully, and a small part of me relaxed.
“Wicked.” Leo grinned.
I would have agreed if I weren’t so terrified that the glass was going to collapse underneath me. The canyon was bigger and wider than any picture could ever capture. Birds circled below the skywalk, and five hundred feet below us a river snaked along the canyon floor. Banks of storm clouds had moved overhead while we were inside, casting shadows like angry faces across the cliffs. In every direction, red and gray ravines cut through the desert like some crazy god had taken a knife to the earth from on high.
Jason winced, suddenly pale and clammy. He grabbed the railing, breathing heavily.
“You all right?” Leo asked. “You’re not going to throw up over the side, are you? ‘Cause I should’ve brought my camera.” I lightly smacked his arm again. “What?”
“I’m fine,” he said. “Just a headache.”
“Yeah, my ass.” I gently pulled him to the floor. “Sit down before you pass out.”
Leo sat down next to me, squinting up as thunder rumbled overhead. “This can’t be safe. I mean, the storm’s right over us, but it’s clear all the way around. Weird, huh?”
“All right, cupcakes!” Coach Hedge yelled. He frowned at the storm like it bothered him, too. “We may have to cut this short, so get to work! Remember, complete sentences!”
Jason leaned back onto his hands while Leo pulled out a pencil and half-attempted to start the worksheet. But he quickly got bored and started building a helicopter out of pipecleaners.
Jason watched him for a moment before digging into his pocket, pulling out what looked like a solid gold coin.
“Holy shit!” I snatched it out of his hand. “Dude, where did you get this? Never mind, you can’t answer that.” I showed it to Leo. It was uneven, one side stamped with a battle-ax and the other a guy with a laurel wreath. It was inscribed with ivlivs . “Julius?” I murmured.
“You’ve been holding out on us!” Leo stared at Jason for a split second before going back to his helicopter.
“Sorry for snatching it,” I said, handing the coin back to him.
“You know what that says?
“Yeah? It’s Latin 101. There’s no ‘j’ or ‘u’ so sometimes you have to improvise. Like ‘Jupiter’ is spelled i-v-p-i-t-e-r.”
“Huh.”
“I wonder where you got it.”
“Yeah, me too.” Jason tucked the coin back into his pocket.
Leo looked up and then over to the edge before nudging me. “Dare you to spit over the edge.”
Chapter 6: Trying to Figure Stuff Out... It's Not Going Well
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Summary:
“About what Isabel said earlier. You know that kind of stuff doesn’t matter, right?”
“Yeah, I know. It’s just… difficult sometimes.”
Notes:
Sorry for the late update! I had a six hour rehearsal today for Indoor Percussion Ensemble, so that was fun /sarcastic.
This chapter is from Ziya's POV.
Word Count: 1255
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
We didn’t try very hard on the worksheet. Geology was never my strong suit (why would it be anybody’s?), and Leo was busy with his pipe cleaner helicopter. Jason seemed lost in his own thoughts, no doubt trying to figure out why he and I were the only ones who knew what was going on. Except maybe Coach Hedge. He kept glancing at Jason and glaring.
I tried to wave off the clouds around Leo’s head, but my hand passed through like nothing was there.
“As I said, child, modifying.”
“Modifying what?”
The woman looked at me like I was an idiot. “Their memories. It wouldn’t do well for Jason if most people were to think we just appeared.”
“Ziya? You good?” Leo brought me out of my head.
“I think… I think I might know what’s going on. Or at least, part of it.”
Jason sat up straight. “What do you mean?”
“Before you appeared on the bus, I took a nap and had this freaky dream. This lady came onto the bus and said she ‘modified everyone’s memories’ so they would think you’d always been here.”
Leo and Jason stared at me. “That is definitely a freaky dream,” Leo said. “Are you sure–”
“Yes, I’m sure it wasn’t a regular dream, Leo. For one, it was way too vivid. Second,” I pulled back my hair to reveal the bruise. “I got this when the bus stopped out of nowhere. I remember my head slamming onto the seat in front of us.”
Leo frowned. “Okay. Concerning.”
“What did the woman look like?” Jason asked.
I shrugged. “That kind of depends. When she first got on the bus, she was in a white dress with dark ringlets, peacock feathers, and gold everything. And then she kind of flickered and became this little old lady in black with a shawl–” Leo looked up from his helicopter like he’d been shocked, “–and then she was young again, but in black with what looked like a cowhide cloak.” Jason frowned, slowly getting up and walking over to Coach Hedge. “Well that’s not worrying.”
Leo looked over his shoulder. “Yeah, I have no idea what’s going on. I don’t think I made up my friendship with Jason, but at this point…” He trailed off, hands coming to a stop. “How could I have done something like that and not realize it?”
I frowned. “I don’t know. But we’ll figure it out.”
Leo smiled softly. “Yeah.” He thought for a moment before changing the conversation. “About what Isabel said earlier. You know that kind of stuff doesn’t matter, right?”
“Yeah, I know. It’s just… difficult sometimes.”
“Do you really need that second helping, dear? I mean,” Ms. Carson chuckled and gestured to my stomach. “You’ve clearly already had plenty.”
“I know what you mean.” Before I could ask what he was talking about, lightning cracked overhead. The wind picked up with a vengeance and worksheets flew into the canyon. The entire bridge shuddered, and Coach Hedge yelled into his microphone” “Everyone inside! The cow says moo! Off the skywalk!”
In an instant, the storm turned into a mini hurricane. Funnel clouds snaked toward the skywalk like the tendrils of a monster jellyfish. Kids screamed and ran for the building. The wind snatched at notebooks, jackets, hats, and backpacks. While Leo and I tried to get up the wind pushed with the force of a pro-wrestler. Through the pouring rain, I caught sight of Piper and Dylan holding the doors open as kid after kid ran through.
Jason slid across the wet glass towards us, nearly slamming into Leo. A gust of wind almost sent Leo over the railing, but Jason managed to grab the back of his army jacket before he could become a pancake.
Hair that wasn’t plastered to my scalp whipped around in a frenzy as Coach Hedge kept yelling at straggling kids to get to the doors.
I grabbed Leo and Jason’s hands and tried to pull them towards the doors, but it was like swimming in quicksand. Every time we made an advance, the wind would push us back across the glass, shoes squeaking across the surface.
Piper pushed another kid inside before she and Dylan lost their holds on the doors. They slammed shut with a bang, closing off the skywalk and our last chance at escape. A ghostly hand squeezed my heart and tangled up my intestines.
Piper tugged at the handles while kids inside pounded on the glass, but the doors stuck. “Dylan, help!”
Dylan just stood there with an idiotic grin, Cowboys jersey rippling in the wind. His face flickered again, as dark as the storm clouds above, before flickering back. “Sorry, Piper, I’m done helping.” He flicked his wrist, and Piper flew backward, slamming into the doors and sliding to the skywalk.
“Oh, so not only is he an asshole, he’s magic !” I screamed, trying desperately to reach my best friend.
“Piper!” Jason let go of my hand and tried to charge forward, but the wind pushed against him. Coach Hedge finally reached us, pushing Jason back to me and Leo. “Coach, let me go!”
“Kids, stay behind me,” the coach ordered. “This is my fight. I should’ve known that was our monster.”
“What?” Leo demanded. A rogue worksheet slapped him in the face. He swatted it away. “What the heck are you talking about?”
Coach’s cap blew off, and sticking up above his curly hair were two bumps–like the knots cartoon characters get when they’re hit over the head. He lifted his crudely shaped tree-branch club, twigs and leaves still attached.
Dylan gave him that psycho happy smile. “Oh, come on, Coach. Let the boy attack me! After all, you’re getting too old for this. Isn’t that why they retired you to this stupid school? I’ve been on your team the entire season, and you didn’t even know. You’re losing your nose, grandpa.”
The coach made an angry sound like an animal bleating. “That’s it, cupcake. You’re going down.”
“You think you can protect four half-bloods at once, old man?” Dylan laughed. “Good luck.”
“Half-bloods? What is he talking about?” Leo yelled.
Dylan only sneered, pointing a finger at Leo. A funnel cloud materialized around him. Leo flew off the skywalk, falling towards the canyon floor.
And then Leo was back on the sidewalk. Dylan smirked again and pointed his finger at Leo. Another funnel cloud materialized around him, but before it could throw him over the railing I grabbed his hand to try and pull him out of the twister. Except it was already throwing him over the edge, and now I was being dragged with him.
I shoved Leo towards the canyon wall, barely managing to see him slam onto a ledge before I plummeted past him. I tried to twist to hit the wall, fingers scrabbling for a purchase.
Skidding down the wall, my fingers caught a small outcropping. I panted, trembling and trying to not let go. My hands shook, fingers bloody and nails torn. I blinked up through the rain, catching sight of Leo several feet above me.
“Somebody throw down a rope or something!”
After a moment, Coach Hedge jumped over the railing, landing on the wall. He started to expertly jump down the canyon. He reached Leo first, but Leo refused to move.
“Get Ziya first!”
I tried to reach up for another lip in the face of the wall, but my other hand slipped, and suddenly I was skidding down the wall again.
Notes:
Reminder from a hypocrite to drink some water and have something to eat :)
Chapter 7: Trying to Not Die
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Summary:
I looked at Jason. “What did you do?”
“Uh, I kinda…” He looked at his sword. “I might have killed some venti.”
I squinted at him. “You… killed coffee?”
Notes:
Oh. My. Goodness. 101 hits. I--
Whomst?!Seriously, thanks :D
Drink some water!!
This chapter is from Ziya's POV.
Word Count: 2232
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
I shrieked and tried to grab something, anything. A warm hand grabbed mine, and then Coach Hedge threw me onto his back like a sack of potatoes. “Stop squirming!” I tried to not cry as he picked his way back up the cliffside to Leo. “I can only carry one of you!”
“I’m fine, get Ziya back up there!” Leo yelled over the howling wind. And with that, Hedge kept going up, depositing me on the glass before going back down for Leo.
I shivered as I took in the scene. Dylan’s body had dissolved into smoke, as if his molecules had come unglued. He had the same face, the same brilliant white smile, but his whole form was composed of swirling black vapor, his eyes like electrical sparks in a living storm cloud, exactly like I’d seen whenever Dylan got pissy. Black smoke wings spread behind him, giving him the image of being an evil angel.
Gold dust had settled onto the glass, slowly being washed away by the rain. Jason was holding a solid gold sword, taking quick breaths like he’d sprinted ten miles.
“Who are you, half-blood?” Dylan gaped at Jason. Piper dropped Coach Hedge’s club out of shock.
I looked at Jason. “What did you do?”
“Uh, I kinda…” He looked at his sword. “I might have killed some venti .”
I squinted at him. “You… killed coffee?”
“ Venti are storm spirits; I thought you took Latin?!”
“That doesn’t mean I pay attention!”
“Hey!” Dylan shouted. “Pay attention to me, half-wits!”
“Sorry, could you hold off for a second?” I made a gesture to wave him off. “We’re kind of in the middle of something here.”
“Yeah, just hold your horses for a minute,” Jason echoed with a grin. “So, anyway–”
Coach Hedge leaped back onto the glass and dumped Leo onto the wet floor like a sack of flour. “Spirits, fear me!” Hedge bellowed, flexing his short arms. He looked around and realized there was only Dylan. “Curse it, boy! Didn’t you leave some for me? I like a challenge!”
Leo got to his feet, breathing hard. He looked completely humiliated. “Yo, Coach Supergoat,”– Wait, what. – “Ziya and I just fell down the freaking Grand Canyon! Stop asking for challenges!”
Jason, Dylan, and Coach Hedge continued their conversation as Leo pulled me aside, materializing gauze out of his jacket.
I stared at him in wonder. “How…? Why?”
“Well, you know what they say,” he laughed breathlessly. “‘Always prepared’ and all that b.s.” I pulled my Swiss Army knife out of my pocket to cut the gauze, Leo simply staring. “Where did you get a knife?”
“I know a guy.” I finished wrapping my hands and flexed my fingers. “There! Good as new!”
“I don’t think that counts as ‘new’,” Leo said.
In that instant, the storm exploded into a full-force hurricane. Cracks expanded in the skywalk as sheets of rain poured down amidst the gusts of wind.
A hole opened in the clouds–a swirling vortex of black and silver. “The mistress calls me back!” Dylan shouted with glee. “And you, demigod, will come with me!”
He lunged at Jason, but Piper tackled the monster from behind. Even though he was made of smoke, she managed to make contact and both of them went sprawling. The spirit screamed with rage and he let loose a torrent that knocked us all backward. I landed on my tailbone, keeping a tight grip on my knife; Jason’s sword clattered across the glass; Leo hit the back of his head and curled onto his side, dazed and groaning.
Piper got the worst of it. She was thrown off Dylan’s back and hit the railing, tumbling over the side and hanging by one hand over the abyss.
Jason started toward her, but Dylan screamed, “I’ll settle for this one!” He grabbed Leo’s arm and began to rise, towing a half-conscious Leo below him. The storm spun faster, pulling them upward like a vacuum cleaner.
“NO!” With what I can only call pure instinct, I threw my knife at Dylan. I doubted it would go far, but it managed to stick directly in one of his eyes. He yelled in pain, his grip on Leo slipping but still holding on.
And then Piper screamed as her hold on the skywalk failed.
“Jason, go!” Hedge yelled. “Save her!”
The coach launched himself at the spirit with some serious goat fu–lashing out with his hooves, knocking Leo free from the spirit’s grasp–and my knife from Dylan’s eye. Leo dropped safely to the floor and Dylan started grappling with the coach instead. Hedge tried to head-butt him before kicking him and calling him a “shitty motherfucking cupcake”. They rose into the air, gaining speed before Hedge and the ‘storm spirit’ spiraled into the clouds and disappeared.
I looked around for Jason, but he was nowhere to be seen. “He didn’t,” I muttered. I cautiously walked over to the edge, trying not to crack the glass any further. I peeked over the side and nearly had a heart attack. Jason and Piper had not, in fact, fallen to their deaths, but were hovering about a hundred feet above the river.
Before I could call out to them, they shot up, Piper nearly shrieking. Jason landed gracefully, setting Piper down. She tried to detangle her hair as I stomped over to Jason.
I pointed a finger at him, making him go cross-eyed. “I don’t know who the fuck you are, but if you ever do that again, I will filet you into a billion tiny pieces, got it?”
“Uh, yeah. Won’t happen again.” He smiled tentatively.
I hugged Piper, who was shaking a little bit– mild shock, make sure she keeps breathing –before going over to check on Leo.
I turned him over carefully, checking his pulse– holding steady . He groaned, his eyes slightly crossed and irregularly dilated– possible mild concussion, conduct memory and balance tests to be sure . His jacket was soaked through, and his curly hair glittered gold from rolling around in monster dust. Jason and Piper sighed with relief.
“Stupid… ugly… goat,” he muttered.
“Where did he go?” Piper asked.
Leo pointed straight up. “Never came down. Please tell me he didn’t actually save my life.”
“Twice.” I said.
Leo groaned even louder. “What happened? Dylan turned into a tornado, the gold sword…” He looked at me. “I hit my head. That’s it, right? I’m hallucinating?”
“No, but you might have a concussion. Are you having any trouble breathing?”
While Leo went through my triage of questions, Jason walked over to where his sword was lying and picked it up. He flipped it, and midspin the sword shrank back into the coin he had earlier and landed in his palm.
“Oh, definitely hallucinating,” Leo said.
“No, that actually happened.” I laid down next to Leo, trying to get my heartbeat back to normal.
Piper shivered in her rain-soaked clothes. “Jason, those things–”
“You called them venti ,” I remembered.
Jason nodded. “Storm spirits.”
“Okay… You acted like… like you’d seen them before. Who are you?”
Jason laughed humorlessly. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you guys. I don’t know.”
The storm dissipated, letting the sun shine directly onto the skywalk. I felt better almost instantly, my hands starting to itch under the gauze.
“Coach Hedge said he had to protect four people,” Jason said. “I think he meant us.”
“And that thing Dylan turned into…” Piper shuddered. “God, I can’t believe it was hitting on me. He called us… what, demigods?”
Leo let his arms flop next to him, one of his hands coming to rest next to mine. “Don’t know what demi means, but I’m not feeling too godly. You guys feeling godly?”
“It’s a prefix meaning ‘half’ or ‘partially’,” I murmured. “And no. Not even close.”
A brittle sound, like dry twigs snapping, reached my ears, and the cracks in the skywalk widened. I sat up. “Shit shit shit !”
Jason looked around. “We need to get off this thing. Maybe if we–”
“Ohhhh-kay,” Leo interrupted. “Look up there and tell me if those are flying horses.” I glanced up, doubting that Leo was as concussion-free as I thought, and caught sight of a pair of winged animals–gray, four-legged, exactly like horses–except each one had a twenty-foot wingspan. And they were pulling a brightly painted box with two wheels: a chariot.
It took a moment before anyone said anything. “Reinforcements,” Jason said. “Hedge told me an extraction squad was coming for us.”
“Extraction squad?” Leo struggled to his feet. “That sounds painful.”
“And where are they extracting us to?” Piper asked.
Leo helped me up as the chariot landed on the far end of the skywalk. The flying horses tucked in their wings and paced nervously across the glass, like they could sense it was near breaking.
Two teenagers stood in the chariot–a tall blonde girl maybe a little older than me, and a bulky dude with a shaved head, a craggly face, like bricks, and a rainbow tattooed on his bicep. They both wore jeans and orange T-shirts, with shields tossed over their backs. The girl leaped off before the chariot had even stopped, pulling a knife and running towards our group while the big guy reigned in the horses.
“Where is he?” the girl demanded, her gray eyes fierce, startling, and carrying heavy bags underneath.
“Woah, there, lady. Put the knife down, and we can talk like rational, non-knife-wielding people,” I said, standing slightly in front of Leo, who still looked a bit dazed, and glancing around trying to find my own knife in case I needed to fight the blonde girl. “We’ve got a Jason and a Leo–” I gestured to each of them in turn, “–if either of them are who you’re looking for.”
She frowned like my answer was unacceptable. “What about Gleeson? Where is your protector, Gleeson Hedge?”
I blinked. Fucking Gleeson?!
Leo cleared his throat. “He got taken by some… tornado things.”
“ Venti ,” Jason said. “Storm spirits.”
The blonde girl arched an eyebrow. “You mean anemoi thuellai ?” The words sounded grating, more so than even Dylan had sounded when he was being a creep. “That’s the Greek term. Who are you, and what happened?”
Jason did his best to explain, though he seemed really distracted; he kept leaving out bits that I would have to fill in. About halfway through the story, George from Rampage came over and glared at us, his arms crossed.
When Jason finished his story, the blonde girl didn’t look satisfied. “No, no, no! She told me he would be here. She told me if I came here, I’d find the answer!”
“Annabeth,” the bald guy grunted. “Check it out.” He pointed at Jason’s feet. He was missing his left shoe, and his bare foot–
“Dude… looks like something Santa’d put in a kid’s stocking,” I muttered. Leo snorted.
“The guy with one shoe,” said ‘George’. “He’s the answer.”
“No, Butch,” the girl insisted. “He can’t be. I was tricked.” She glared at the sky as though it had done something wrong. “What do you want from me?!” she screamed. “What have you done with him?!”
The skywalk shuddered, and the horses whinnied urgently.
“Annabeth,” said Butch, “we gotta leave. Let’s get these four back to camp and figure it out there. Those storm spirits might come back.”
“I’m all for that plan,” I said, trying not to panic at the fact that the skywalk, which should have been able to hold a few elephants, was breaking underneath our feet.
The girl fumed for a moment. “Fine.” She fixed Jason with a resentful look. “We’ll settle this later.” She turned on her heel and marched toward the chariot.
I blinked at her. “Why is she pissed at us? What’s going on?”
“We have to get you out of here,” Butch said. “I’ll explain on the way.”
“I’m not going anywhere with her.” Jason gestured toward the girl. “She looks like she wants to kill me.”
“Yeah, her purposefully angry face is worse than Ziya’s resting bitch face, and that’s saying something,” Piper said. I hit her arm jokingly before going to grab my knife.
Butch hesitated. “Annabeth’s okay. You gotta cut her some slack. She had a vision telling her to come here–”
“Oh! I had a vision thing I think!” I said.
Piper and Butch stared at me. “What?”
“Oh, yeah! I forgot about that,” Leo said.
“So, basically,” I started to explain the whole thing to Butch and Piper, Annabeth clearly listening in. “ –and then she said, ‘I’ll see you soon, Ziya Rayyan’ and she snapped her fingers and everything went back to normal.”
“Right…” Butch trailed off, looking back at Annabeth. “That is definitely something Chiron needs to hear, so we’ll get that sorted out.”
“Anyway, you were saying?” I asked Butch. “Sorry for cutting you off.”
“It’s fine,” he said. “Happens all the time around camp. Pretty much everyone has ADHD or something like it. Like I was saying, Annabeth had a vision telling her to find a guy with one shoe. That was supposed to be the answer to her problem.”
“What problem?” Piper asked.
“She’s been looking for one of our campers, who’s been missing three days,” Butch said. “She’s going out of her mind with worry. She hoped he’d be here.”
“Who?”
“Her boyfriend,” Butch said. “A guy named Percy Jackson.”
Notes:
PeRcY jAcKsOn?!?! *le gasp*
Fun fact! It takes less than six seconds to fall 500 feet, so Piper should have become a pancake in the first book. Physics. :|
Also, btw, George from Rampage is a mild reference to Wreck-It Ralph. WIR the Disney movie wasn’t released until 2012, 2-3 years after this takes place, BUT it was based on this old game called Rampage where the player was basically WIR instead of Felix. George was basically King-Kong. I wanted to make the WIR reference, but I am a stickler for timelines, so… Now we have a Ziya who canonically plays old arcade games. :D
[ I'm seriously considering posting on Wednesdays as well, but Jam won't let me :( ]
Chapter 8: Trying to Not Pass Out
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Summary:
The cold nothingness pressed in on all sides. I opened my eyes, trying to find a source of light to swim towards, but it felt so nice, why don’t we just stay here?
Notes:
Surprise, shawty! I convinced hooligan little brother to let me update Wednesdays, too! Updates will now be Wednesday and Saturday.
This chapter is from Ziya's POV.
CW: Drew Tanaka
Word Count: 1867
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
After a morning of goat men and angry sky spirits, I should have been questioning my sanity. But, the fatigue was taking over, and it said “worry about it tomorrow”. I kept ticcing, alternating between snapping my fingers, making a popping sound with my mouth, and clearing my throat.
I stood in the back of the chariot with Piper, Leo, and Jason while Butch handled the reins and Annabeth messed with a metal navigation thing. We rose over the Grand Canyon and headed east, an icy wind ripping straight through my jacket. Behind us, more storm clouds gathered.
The chariot lurched and bumped, and with no seatbelts and a back wide open, I desperately hoped that Jason would be able to catch anyone if they fell. Piper was spaced out, staring at Jason who was spaced out staring over the horizon.
Meanwhile, Leo was being… Leo.
“This is so cool!” He spit a pegasus feather out of his mouth. “Where are we going?”
“A safe place,” Annabeth said. “The only safe place for kids like us. Camp Half-Blood.”
“Half-Blood?” Piper bristled, half concealed anger simmering beneath the surface of a calm façade. “Is that some kind of bad joke?”
“She means we’re demigods,” Jason said. “Half god, half mortal.”
Piper huffed. “It still sounds racist.”
Annabeth looked back. “You seem to know a lot, Jason. But, yes, demigods. My mom is Athena, goddess of wisdom. Butch here is the son of Iris, the rainbow goddess.”
Leo choked on air. “Your mom is a rainbow goddess?”
“Got a problem with that?” Butch growled.
“No, he doesn’t,” I said, elbowing Leo in the ribs before he could insult the very buff guy who could–and would–probably snap Leo like a twig. “It’s very– pop –cool.”
“Yeah,” Leo added. “Rainbows: very macho.”
“Butch is our best equestrian,” Annabeth said. “He gets along great with the pegasi.”
“Rainbows, ponies,” Leo muttered.
“I’m gonna toss you off this chariot,” Butch warned. I put my hand over Leo’s mouth.
“Demigods,” Piper said. “You mean you think you’re… you think we’re –”
Lightning flashed, and the chariot shuddered.
“Left wheel’s on fire!” Jason yelled.
I jumped, looking over, and sure enough it was burning white hot, flames lapping up the side of the chariot. It took a second for my brain to respond, and its response was to start cursing.
The wind roared, messing my hair up again. I glanced back and saw dark shapes forming in the clouds, more storm spirits spiraling towards the chariot–except these looked more like horses than dark wrathful angels.
Piper started to say, “Why are they–”
“ Anemoi thuellai come in different shapes,” Annabeth said. “Sometimes human, sometimes horses, depending on how chaotic they are. Hold on, this is going to get rough.”
Butch flicked the reins. The pegasi put on a burst of speed, and the chariot blurred. My stomach gurgled, and I resisted the urge to puke. When the world righted again, we were in a completely different place.
A cold gray ocean stretched out to the left while snow-covered fields, roads, and forests spread to the right. Directly below us was a green valley, like an island of springtime, rimmed with snowy hills on three sides and water on the other. A cluster of buildings like ancient Greek temples, a big blue farmhouse mansion, ball courts, a lake, and a climbing wall that seemed to be on fire dotted the fields of grass.
And then the wheels came off, and the chariot dropped out of the sky.
Butch tried to maintain control, but the pegasi were exhausted after their burst of speed. Bearing the chariot and the weight of six people was too much for them.
“The lake!” Annabeth yelled. “Aim for the lake!” I stumbled to the front of the chariot and pulled out my knife. “What are you doing?”
I cut through the leather reins, watching as the pegasi flew away from the water. I remembered something about hitting water from high enough that it felt like cement and then–
The cold nothingness pressed in on all sides. I opened my eyes, trying to find a source of light to swim towards, but it felt so nice, why don’t we just stay here?
My lungs started to burn. Oh yeah. I tried kicking in one direction, but everything looked the same. This would be a stupid way to die.
Faces appeared through the green murk–girls with long black hair and glowing yellow eyes. They smiled at me before grabbing my shoulders and tossed me out of the lake.
I landed flat on my back, gasping and shivering. Butch stood next to the lake, dripping wet and cutting the rest of the wrecked harnesses off the pegasi. Fortunately, the horses looked okay; me cutting the reins didn’t send them into a panic.
Fuck, my knife! The girls had not tossed my knife out after me.
Jason, Piper, Leo, and Annabeth were already on the shore, surrounded by kids giving them blankets and asking questions.
Something felt… off. I’m not supposed to be here.
A tall boy with curly blond hair and a bow and quiver on his back grabbed my arms and helped me stand. Apparently, kids fell into the lake a lot, because a band of campers ran up with big bronze leaf-blower things and blasted me with hot air. In about two seconds, my clothes were dry, though my hair was still damp.
There were at least twenty campers milling around–the youngest maybe nine, the oldest college age, eighteen or nineteen–and all of them had orange T-shirts like Annabeth’s. I looked back at the water and saw the strange girls just below the surface, their hair floating with the current. They waved with a little toodle-oo and disappeared into the depths. I dazedly waved back. A second later the wreckage of the chariot was tossed from the lake and landed with a wet crunch.
“Annabeth!” The boy who helped me up pushed through the throng of people. “I said you could borrow the chariot, not destroy it!”
“Will, I’m sorry,” Annabeth sighed. “I’ll get it fixed, I promise.”
“Is there anything to fix?” Will scowled at his broken chariot before looking at Piper, Leo, Jason, and me. “These are the ones? Way older than thirteen. Why haven’t they been claimed already?”
“Claimed?” Leo asked.
Before anyone could explain, Will asked, “Any sign of Percy?”
“No,” Annabeth admitted. The campers muttered, disappointed. Whoever this Percy guy was must have been a big deal.
Another girl stepped forward–tall, East Asian, dark hair in ringlets, plenty of jewelry, and perfect makeup. Somehow she managed to make jeans and an orange T-shirt look glamorous. She would have looked nice if it weren’t for the disgusted grimace on her face as she looked over Piper, the almost possessive smirk at Jason, and the ignoring glances at me and Leo.
“Well,” the girl said, “I hope they’re worth the trouble.” I bit my tongue to keep any rude–but true–comments to myself.
Leo snorted. “Gee, thanks. What are we, your new pets?”
“No kidding,” Jason said. “How about some answers before you start judging us? Like, what is this place, why are we here, and how long do we have to stay?”
“Jason,” Annabeth said, “I promise we’ll answer your questions. And Drew–” she frowned at the glamor girl, “–all demigods are worth saving. But I’ll admit, the trip didn’t accomplish what I hoped.”
“Hey!” Piper said. “We didn’t ask to be brought here.”
Drew sniffed. “And nobody wants you, hon. Does your hair always look like a dead badger?”
My mouth responded without my brain’s input. “Does your face always look like a five-year-old's coloring sheet?” Shit.
Piper snorted. “Enough,” Annabeth said. “We need to make our new arrivals feel welcome.” Annabeth shot another pointed look at Drew. “We’ll assign them each a guide, give them a tour of camp. Hopefully by the campfire tonight, they’ll be claimed.”
“Would somebody tell me what ‘claimed’ means?” I asked.
Suddenly there was a collective gasp, and the campers nearest to me backed away. What did I do?
Everyone was bathed in a strange red light, as if someone had lit a torch. I turned and almost forgot how to breathe.
Floating over Leo’s head was a blazing holographic image–a fiery hammer.
“What’d I do?” Leo backed up towards the lake. Then he glanced up and yelped. “Is my hair on fire?” He ducked, but the symbol followed him, bobbing and weaving so it looked like he was trying to write something in flames with his head. I snorted at the thought.
“That,” Annabeth said, “is claiming.”
“This can’t be good,” Butch muttered, “The curse–”
“Butch, shut up,” Annabeth said. “Leo, you’ve just been claimed–”
“By a god,” Jason interrupted. “That’s the symbol of Vulcan, isn’t it?” All eyes turned to him.
“Jason,” Annabeth said carefully, “how did you know that?”
“I…” Jason hesitated, eyes vacant. “I’m not sure.”
“Vulcan?” Leo demanded. “I don’t even like Star Trek. What are you talking about?”
“Vulcan’s the Roman name for Hephaestus,” I said. “He’s the god of blacksmiths and fire, right?” Annabeth nodded.
The fiery hammer faded, but Leo kept swatting the air like he was afraid it was following him. “The god of what? Who?”
Annabeth turned to Will. “Would you take Leo, give him a tour? Introduce him to his bunk-mates in Cabin Nine.”
“Sure, Annabeth.”
“What’s Cabin Nine?” Leo asked. “And I’m not a Vulcan!”
“Come on, Mr. Spock, I’ll explain everything.” He put a hand on Leo’s shoulder, steering him off toward the cabins. Leo glanced back, catching my eye.
‘You’ll be okay,’ I signed. He sent a nervous grin back.
Annabeth turned her attention back to Jason, studying him like he was a particularly complex Rubik’s cube. Finally, she said, “Hold out your arm.”
I raised an eyebrow. Jason had taken off his windbreaker after his dip in the lake, leaving his arms bare. On the inside of his right forearm was a tattoo, darkly etched: a dozen straight lines like a barcode, and over that an eagle with the letters SPQR.
“ The Senate and People of Rome ,” I said. Annabeth looked over at me. “It’s the Roman motto, sort of.”
“I’ve never seen marks like this,” Annabeth murmured. “Where did you get them?”
Jason sighed. “I’m getting really tired of saying this, but I don’t know.”
The other campers pushed forward, trying to catch a glimpse. Those who did looked disturbed, like the mark was a declaration of war. “They look… burned into your skin,” Annabeth noted.
“They were,” Jason said. Then he winced like he had a migraine. “I mean, I think so. I don’t remember.”
No one said anything, waiting for Annabeth’s verdict.
“He and Ziya need to go straight to Chiron,” Annabeth decided. “Drew, would you–”
“Absolutely!” Drew laced her arm through Jason’s. “This way, sweetie. I’ll introduce you to our director. He’s an… interesting guy.” She flashed Piper a smug look and led Jason toward the big blue house on the hill.
I rolled my eyes, following them. I looked back at the gathered group of campers, feeling even more isolated than I had in a long time.
Notes:
BTW, signed conversations will not have ASL accurate grammar. Just thought I'd clear that up.
Chapter 9: The (Hopefully Not) Haunted Bunk
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Summary:
“You didn’t hear about Mount St. Helens erupting, or the freak storms across the country, or that building collapsing in St. Louis?”
I shrugged. “I guess I was busy.”
Notes:
So, I woke up at 4:30 EST after going to bed at 1:00 because I had an event. So now I'm going to bed at 8:00 like an old man :D
This chapter is from Leo's POV. Enjoy!
CW: Hera/Callida, canon-typical Leo angst
Word Count: 1818
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
The tour was going great until I learned about the dragon.
The archer dude, Will Solace, seemed pretty cool. Everything he showed me was so mind-blowingly amazing it should’ve been illegal. Real Greek warships moored at the beach that sometimes had practice fights with flaming arrows and explosives? Sweet! Arts and crafts sessions where you could make sculptures with chain saw and blowtorches? Sign me up! The woods were stocked with dangerous monsters, and no one should ever go in there alone? Just try and stop me!
And Ziya was here, too, somewhere. But the whole related-to-gods business seemed a bit dicey. It would be beyond awkward (not to mention majorly suck ) if Ziya and I ended up being cousins or something.
…God, now I feel like a creep.
Will showed me around the cabins, the dining pavilion, and the sword arena.
“Do I get a sword?” I asked.
Will glanced at me like he found the idea disturbing. “You’ll probably make your own, seeing as how you’re in Cabin Nine.”
“Yeah, what’s up with that? Vul can?”
“Usually we don’t call the gods by their Roman names,” Will said. “The original names are Greek. Your dad is Hephaestus.”
“Festus?” I was pretty sure I’d heard someone say that before, but it still sounded like it sucked. “Sounds like the god of cowboys.”
“ He -phaestus,” Will corrected, “God of blacksmiths and fire.”
It definitely sucks .
“So the flaming hammer over my head,” I said. “Good thing, or a bad thing?”
Will took a long time to answer. “You were claimed almost immediately. That’s usually good.”
“‘Usually’? That Rainbow Pony guy, Butch–he mentioned a curse.”
“Ah… look, it’s nothing. Since Cabin Nine’s last head counselor died–”
I grimaced. “Died? Like, painfully?”
“I ought to let your bunkmates tell you about it,” Will said carefully.
Definitely painfully. “Yeah, where are my home dawgs? Shouldn’t their counselor be giving me the VIP tour?”
“He, um. Can’t. You’ll see why.” Will forged ahead before I could ask anything else.
“Curses and death,” I muttered. “This just gets better and better.”
I froze halfway across the green when I spotted my old babysitter. And she was not the kind of person I expected to see at demigod camp.
“What’s wrong?” Will asked.
Tía Callida. That’s what she’d called herself, but I hadn’t seen her since I was five. She was just standing there, in the shadow of a big white cabin at the end of the green, watching. She wore her black linen widow’s dress, with a black shawl pulled over her hair. Her face hadn’t changed–leathery skin, piercing dark eyes. Her withered hands curled into claws. She looked ancient, but no different than I remembered.
There was no doubt in my mind that she was one of the woman’s forms Ziya had seen on the bus.
“That old lady… What’s she doing here?”
Will tried to follow my gaze. “What old lady?”
“Dude, the old lady. The one in black. How many old ladies do you see over there?”
Will frowned. “I think you’ve had a long day, Leo. The Mist could still be playing tricks on your mind. How about we head straight to your cabin now?”
I almost protested, but when I looked back toward the big white cabin, Tía Callida was gone. I was sure she’d been there, almost as if thinking about Mom had summoned Callida back from the past.
And that wasn’t good, because she’d tried to kill me.
“Just messing with you man,” I said with what I hoped was a joking and not-nervous-at-all grin. I pulled some gears and levers from my pockets and started fiddling with them. Having people think I was crazier than I actually was wouldn’t be good. “Let’s go see Cabin Nine. I’m in the mood for a good curse.”
~*~
From the outside, the Hephaestus cabin looked like an oversized RV with shiny metal walls and metal-slatted windows. The entrance was like a bank vault door, circular and several feet thick. It opened with lots of brass gears turning and hydraulic pistons blowing smoke.
I whistled. “They got a steampunk theme going on, huh?”
Inside, the cabin seemed deserted. Steel bunks were folded against the walls like high-tech Murphy beds. Each had a digital control panel, blinking LED lights, glowing gems, and interlocking gears. Each camper probably had their own combination lock to release their bed, likely with an alcove behind it with storage, maybe some traps to keep out unwanted visitors. At least, that’s the way I would’ve designed it.
A fire pole came down from the second floor, even though the cabin didn’t appear to have a second floor from the outside. A circular staircase led down into some kind of basement. The walls were lined with every kind of power tool I could imagine plus a huge assortment of knives, swords, and other implements of destruction. A large workbench over-flowed with scrap metal–screws, bolts, washers, nails, rivets, and a million other machine parts. The urge to shovel them all into my coat pockets was difficult to resist. Unfortunately, I’d need at least a hundred more coats to fit it all.
It looked almost exactly like Mom’s machine shop. Not the weapons, maybe, but the tools, the piles of scrap, the smell of grease and metal and hot engines. She would’ve loved this place.
Nope. Not going to go there. Ziya would say something about at least acknowledging my feelings if I couldn’t deal with them, but at this point pushing them down was my way of dealing. ‘Keep moving’–that was my motto. Don’t dwell on things. Don’t stay in one place too long. Your feelings can’t catch up to you if you keep running.
I picked up a long implement from the wall. “A weed whacker? What’s the god of fire want with a weed whacker?”
A voice from the shadows said, “You’d be surprised.”
At the back of the room, one of the bunk beds was occupied. A curtain of dark camouflage material retracted, and I could see the guy who’d been invisible a second before. It was hard to tell much about him because he was covered in a body cast. His head was wrapped in gauze except for his face, which was puffy and bruised. He looked like the Pillsbury Doughboy after a beat down.
“I’m Jake Mason,” the guy said. “I’d shake your hand, but…”
“Yeah, don’t get up,” I said.
The guy cracked a smile, then winced like it hurt to move his face. I was too afraid to ask what happened.
“Welcome to Cabin Nine,” Jake said. “Been almost a year since we had any new kids. I’m head counselor for now.”
“For now?”
Will cleared his throat. “So, where is everybody, Jake?”
“Down at the forges,” Jake said wistfully. “They’re working on… y’know. That problem.”
“Oh.” Will changed the subject. “So, you got a spare bed for Leo?”
Jake gave me a look. “You believe in curses, Leo? Or ghosts?”
I just saw my evil babysitter, who has got to be dead after all this time. And I can’t go a day without thinking about my mom and the fire. Don’t talk to me about ghosts, doughboy.
“Ghosts?” I scoffed. “Nah, I’m cool. A storm spirit chucked me and my friend down the Grand Canyon this morning, but you know, all in a day’s work.”
Jake nodded. “That’s good. Because I’m giving you the best bed in the cabin–Beckendorf’s.”
“Whoa, Jake,” Will said. “You sure?”
Jake called out, “Bunk 1-A, please.”
The whole cabin rumbled. A circular section of the floor spiraled open like a camera lens, and a full-size bed popped up. The bronze frame had a built-in game station at the footboard, a stereo system in the headboard, a glass-door fridge in the base, and a whole bunch of control panels running down the side.
“Holy crap!” I jumped onto the mattress, laying back with my arms behind my head. “I could get used to this.”
“It retracts into a private room below,” Jake said.
“Oh, heck, yes! See y’all. I’ll be down in the Leo Cave. Which button do I press?”
“Hold on,” Will protested. “You guys have private underground rooms?”
Jake tried not to smile. “We’ve got lots of secrets, Will. You Apollo guys can’t have all the fun. Our campers have been excavating the tunnel system under Cabin Nine for almost a century. We still haven’t found the end. Anyway, Leo, if you don’t mind sleeping in a dead man’s bed, it’s yours.”
What. I sat up slowly, careful not to touch any of the buttons. “The counselor who died… this was his bed?”
“Yeah,” Jake said. “Charles Beckendorf.”
My mind ran off to images of blades coming through the mattress, or maybe a grenade sewn inside the pillows. “He didn’t, like, die in this bed… did he?”
“No,” Jake said. “In the–In the Titan War, last summer.”
“The Titan War,” I repeated. The hell is that? “Which has nothing to do with this very fine bed?”
“The Titans,” said Will in the patented Tired Dad™ voice. “The big powerful guys that ruled the world before the gods. They tried to make a comeback last summer. Their leader, Kronos, built a new palace on top of Mount Tam in California. Their armies came to New York and almost destroyed Mount Olympus. A lot of demigods die-ied trying to stop them.”
“Oh.” I wasn’t sure what to say about that. Heavy subjects weren’t my forte, that was more Ziya’s thing. “I’m guessing this wasn’t on the news?”
Will shook his head in disbelief. “You didn’t hear about Mount St. Helens erupting, or the freak storms across the country, or that building collapsing in St. Louis?”
Well, I was on the run from another foster home, picked up by a truancy officer in New Mexico, and sent to the Wilderness School. So no.
I shrugged. “I guess I was busy.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Jake said. “You were lucky to miss it. The thing is, Beckendorf was one of the first casualties, and ever since then–”
“Your cabin’s been cursed,” I guessed.
Jake didn’t answer. Then again, the dude was in a full-body cast. That in and of itself was an answer. Little things around the cabin started to stick out–an explosion mark on the wall, a stain on the floor that could have been oil or blood or maybe both. Broken swords and smashed machines kicked into the corners of the room.
Jake sighed halfheartedly. “Well, I should get some sleep. I truly hope you like it here, Leo. It used to be… really nice.”
He closed his eyes, and the camouflage curtain drew itself across the bed.
“Come on, Leo,” Will said softly. “I’ll take you to the forges.”
I glanced back at my new bed, picturing a dead counselor sitting there–another ghost who wasn’t going to leave me alone.
Notes:
Leo's got the real priorities here: making sure he's not related to his cute best friend.
Chapter 10: Dad Sure Gets Around…
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Summary:
Any camper who figured it out would be a hero.
Notes:
Posting this from my phone, so if formatting’s goofy, that’s why.
Also, not me going back and finding three typos in the first chapter 🫠
This chapter is from Leo’s POV.
TW: blink-and-you’ll-miss-it suicidal ideation
Drink some water, have a snack, and take care of yourselves 💖
Word Count: 1993
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
The question sat on the tip of my tongue. “How did he–how did Beckendorf die?”
Will Solace stared straight ahead. “Explosion. Beckendorf and Percy Jackson blew up a cruise ship full of monsters. Beckendorf didn’t make it out.”
There was that name again–Percy Jackson, Annabeth’s missing boyfriend. That guy must’ve been in everything around here.
“So, Beckendorf was pretty popular?” I asked. “I mean–before.”
“He was awesome.” Will smiled. “It was hard on the whole camp when he died. Jake, he became head counselor in the middle of the war. Same as I did, actually.” He let out a quiet, pained laugh, playing with his beaded leather necklace. “Jake did his best, but he never wanted to be leader. He just likes building stuff. Then after the war, things started to… fall apart. Cabin Nine’s chariots blew up. Their automatons went haywire. Their inventions started to malfunction. It was like a curse, and eventually people started calling it that–the Curse of Cabin Nine. Then Jake had his accident–”
“Which had something to do with the problem he mentioned.”
“They’re working on it,” Will said without enthusiasm. “And here we are.”
The forge looked like a steam-powered locomotive had smashed into the Greek Parthenon and they had fused together. White marble columns lined the soot-stained walls. Chimneys pumped smoke over an elaborate gable carved with a bunch of gods and monsters. The building sat at the edge of a stream, with several water wheels turning a series of bronze gears. Machines grinded inside, fires roared, and hammers rang on anvils.
We stepped through the doorway, and a dozen kids who’d been working on various projects all froze. The noise died down to the roar of the forge and the click-click-click of gears and levers.
“‘Sup, guys,” Will said. “This is your new brother, Leo–um, what’s your last name?”
“Valdez.” I looked around at the other campers. Are we really all related? Growing up, it’d only ever been me and Mom, but my cousins usually had pretty big families. Kids came up and started shaking hands and introducing themselves. Their names blurred together: Shane, Christopher, Nyssa, Harley (yeah, like the motorcycle). There were way too many to keep straight. My foot started tapping the floor, trying to relieve some stress.
None of them looked like the others–all different face types, skin tones, hair color, height. The only thing they had in common across the board were powerful hands, rough with calluses and stained with engine grease. Even little Harley, who couldn’t have been more than eight, looked like he could go six rounds with Chuck Norris without breaking a sweat.
And all the kids shared a sad kind of seriousness. Their shoulders slumped like life had beaten them down pretty hard. Several looked like they’d been physically beat up, too. I counted two arm slings, one pair of crutches, an eye patch, six Ace bandages, and about seven thousand Band-Aids.
“Well, all right!” I said. “I hear this is the party cabin!”
Nobody laughed. They all just stared.
Will patted my shoulder. “I’ll leave you guys to get acquainted. Somebody show Leo to dinner when it’s time?”
“I got it,” one of the girls said, Nyssa, if I remembered correctly. She wore camo pants, a tank top that showed off her buff arms, and a red bandana over a mop of dark hair. Except for the smiley-face Band-Aid on her chin, she looked like one of those female action heroes, like any second she was going to grab a machine gun and start mowing down evil aliens.
“Cool,” I said. “I always wanted a sister who could beat me up.”
Nyssa didn’t smile. “Come on, joker boy. I’ll show you around.”
~*~
Growing up around grease monkeys and power tools made it easy to know my way around a workshop. Mom used to joke that my first pacifier was a lug wrench.
But the camp forge was completely different.
One guy (Lawrence?) was working on a battle-ax. He kept testing the blade on a slab of concrete, and each time he swung, the ax cut into the slab like it was warm cheese. But, each time, he looked unsatisfied and went back to honing the edge.
“What’s he planning to kill with that thing?” I asked Nyssa. “A battleship?”
“You never know. Even with Celestial bronze–”
“That’s the metal?”
She nodded. “Mined from Mount Olympus itself . Extremely rare. Anyway, it usually disintegrates monsters on contact, but big powerful ones have notoriously tough hides. Drakons, for instance–”
“You mean dragons?”
“Similar species. You’ll learn the difference in monster-fighting class.”
“Monster-fighting class.” I tried to process that information. “Yeah, I already got my black belt in that.”
She didn’t crack a smile. Is everyone always this serious?
We passed a couple of guys making a bronze windup toy. At least that’s what it looked like. It was a six-inch-tall centaur armed with a miniature bow. One of the campers cranked the centaur’s tail, and it whirred to life. It galloped across the table, yelling, “Die, mosquito!” and shooting everything in sight.
Apparently, this had happened before, because everybody knew to hit the floor except me. Six needle-sized arrows embedded themselves in my shirt before a camper grabbed a hammer and smashed the centaur to pieces.
“Stupid curse!” The camper waved his hammer at the sky. “I just want a magic bug killer! Is that too much to ask?!”
I looked down at the bits of bronze sticking out of me. They hurt more than expected. “Ouch.”
Nyssa pulled the arrow needles out. “Ah, you’re fine. Let’s move on before they rebuild it.”
I rubbed at the marks as we walked. “That sort of thing happen a lot?”
“Lately,” Nyssa said, “everything we build turns to junk.”
“The curse?”
Nyssa frowned. “I don’t believe in curses. But something’s wrong. And if we don’t figure out the dragon problem, it’s gonna get even worse.”
“The dragon problem?” Please be a little baby dragon, please be a little baby dragon, please be a little baby dragon!
Nyssa led me to a big wall map that a couple of girls were studying. The map showed the camp–a semicircle of land with Long Island Sound on the north shore, the woods to the west, the cabins to the east, and a ring of hills to the south.
“It’s got to be in the hills,” the first girl said.
“We looked in the hills,” the second girl argued. “The woods are a better hiding place.”
“But we already set traps–”
“Hold up.” I tried to gather my thoughts in one place. “You guys… straight-up lost a dragon? A real , full-size dragon?”
“It’s a bronze dragon,” Nyssa corrected, “but yes, it’s a life-size automaton. Hephaestus cabin built it years ago. Then it was lost in the woods until a few summers back, when Beckendorf found it in pieces and rebuilt it. It’s been helping protect the camp, but, um… it’s a little unpredictable.”
“‘Unpredictable’.”
“It goes haywire and smashes down cabins, sets people on fire, tries to eat the satyrs.”
“Oh. Yeah, naturally.”
Nyssa nodded. “Beckendorf was the only one who could control it. Then he died, and the dragon just got worse and worse. Eventually it went berserk and ran off. Occasionally it shows up, demolishes something, and runs away again. Everyone expects us to find it and destroy it–”
“ Destroy it?! You’ve got a life-size bronze dragon, and you want to-to destroy it ?!”
“It breathes fire,” Nyssa explained. “It’s deadly and out of control.”
“But it’s a dragon . Dude, that’s so awesome! Can’t you try talking to it, controlling it?”
“We tried. Jake Mason tried. You saw how well that worked.”
“Still–”
“There’s no other option,” Nyssa cut me off. “Let’s try more traps in the woods–here, here, and here. Bait them with thirty-weight motor oil.”
“The dragon drinks that?” I asked.
“Yeah.” Nyssa sighed regretfully. “He used to like it with a little Tabasco sauce, right before bed. If he springs a trap, we can come in with acid sprayers–should melt through his hide. Then we get metal cutters and… and finish the job.”
They all looked sad. They didn’t want to kill the dragon any more than I did.
“Guys, there has to be another way.”
Nyssa looked doubtful, but a few other campers stopped what they were working on and drifted closer to hear the conversation.
“Like what?” Addison(?) asked. “The thing breathes fire. We can’t even get close.”
Fire. Oh, man. “Well…” I hesitated. “Hephaestus is the god of fire, right? So, don’t any of you have, like, fire resistance or something?”
Nobody acted like it was a crazy question, which was a relief, but Nyssa shook her head gravely.
“That’s a Cyclops ability, Leo. Demigod children of Hephaestus… we’re just good with our hands. We’re builders, craftsmen, weaponsmiths–stuff like that.”
“Oh.” Shit.
A guy in the back said, “Well, a long time ago–”
“Yeah, okay,” Nyssa conceded, and my spirits rose. “A long time ago some children of Hephaestus were born with power over fire. But that ability was very, very rare. And always dangerous. No demigod like that has been born in centuries. The last one…” She trailed off, looking at one of the other kids to help.
“Sixteen sixty-six,” the girl offered. “Guy named Thomas Faynor. He started the Great Fire of London, destroyed most of the city.”
“Right,” Nyssa said. “When a child of Hephaestus like that appears, it usually means something catastrophic is about to happen. And we don’t need any more catastrophes.”
Motherfucking– “I guess I see your point,” I said, trying to sound nonchalant. “Too bad, though. If you could resist flames, you could get close to the dragon.”
“Then it would kill you with its claws and fangs,” Nyssa said, starting to sound impatient. “Or simply step on you. No, we’ve got to destroy it. Trust me, if anyone could figure out another answer…”
She didn’t finish, but the message was clear. The cabin’s big test: killing the dragon. If they succeeded at something only Beckendorf could do, maybe their curse would be lifted, but they were out of ideas.
Any camper who figured it out would be a hero.
A conch horn blew in the distance. Campers started putting up their tools and projects. I looked out the windows and saw the sun going down–it had gotten late without me noticing.
ADHD. A fifty minute class became six hours, and a few hours long tour was over in seconds.
“Dinner,” Nyssa said. “Come on, Leo.”
“Up at the pavilion, right?”
She nodded.
“You guys go ahead. I just need a minute.”
Nyssa hesitated before her expression softened. “Sure. It’s a lot to process. I remember my first day. Come up when you’re ready. Just… don’t touch anything. Almost every project in here can kill you if you’re not careful.”
Promise? I forced a smile. “No touching.”
My cabinmates filed out of the forge. In seconds, I was alone with the sounds of the bellows, the waterwheels, and small machines clicking and whirring.
I stared at the map of camp–the locations where my newfound siblings were going to put traps to catch a dragon. It was wrong. Plain wrong.
‘Very rare and always dangerous’.
I studied my fingers. They were long and thin, not callused like the other Hephaestus campers’. Being the biggest or the strongest kid was not my thing. Being the quiet kid only worked for so long. Being the court jester, on the other hand, was a tried and true method of getting the assholes to leave you alone.
And it was a good way to hide the pain.
If that didn’t work out, there was always Plan B: run away.
Over.
And over.
My fingers tingled, itching to try it. I held out my hand, pins and needles racing up and down my spine.
Flames flickered to life, and curls of red-hot fire danced across my palm.
Notes:
Me: *writing*
Door: *creaks open*
Leo: *lurking* PrOmIsE?
Me: WHAT THE FU—I swear, I don’t know how that happened.
Chapter 11: The Stuffed Leopard
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Summary:
“May I ask…” Chiron paused. “How are you handling this so well?”
I raised a finger. “A, I am bone-dead tired. B, I’ve had a long morning. And C, I’ve seen a lot of weird shit.”
Notes:
Holy. Shit. We're almost at 200 hits. 15 kudos. And the first bookmark. I... Thank you all. So much!
Anyways, this chapter is from Ziya's POV.
Word Count: 2387
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
As soon as I saw the house, I knew I was as good as dead.
“Here we are!” Drew said cheerfully. “The Big House, camp headquarters.”
It didn’t look threatening, just a four-story manor painted a baby blue with a white trim. The wraparound porch had lounge chairs, a card table, and an empty wheelchair. Wind chimes shaped like nymphs turned into trees as they spun. I could imagine old people coming here for summer vacation, sitting on the porch and sipping prune juice while they watched the sunset.
And yet, the windows glared down at me, while the wide-open doorway looked about ready to swallow me. On the highest gable, a bronze eagle weathervane spun in the wind and pointed straight in my direction, as if telling me to turn around.
Every atom in my body told me I was on enemy ground.
“I am not supposed to be here,” Jason said.
Same, my dude.
Drew circled her arm through his. “Oh, please. You’re perfect here, sweetie. Believe me, I’ve seen a lot of heroes.”
Jason tried to squirm out of her grip. “Look, I appreciate–”
“Is it that girl?” Drew pouted. “Oh, please, tell me you are not dating the Dumpster Queen.”
“You mean Piper? Um…” Jason cut himself off.
“It doesn’t matter if he’s dating her, or anyone for that matter,” I said. “He’s clearly uncomfortable, so how ‘bout you back off?”
“Can it, Emo Wannabe.” Drew rolled her eyes. “Let me help you decide, sweetie. You can do better. A guy with your looks and obvious talent?” Except she wasn’t looking at him; she was staring at the spot right above his head.
“You’re waiting for a sign,” Jason guessed. “Like what popped over Leo’s head.”
“What? No!” Catching the look on his face, Drew started to backtrack. “Well, yes. I mean, from what I’ve heard you’re pretty powerful, right? You’re going to be important at camp, so I figure your parent will claim you right away. And I’d love to see that. I wanna be with you every step of the way! So is your dad or mom the god? Please tell me it’s not your mom. I would hate it if you were an Aphrodite kid.”
“Why?”
“Then you’d be my half brother, silly. You can’t date somebody from your own cabin. Yuck!”
“But aren’t all the gods related?” Jason asked. “So isn’t everyone here your cousin or something?”
“Aren’t you cute! Sweetie, the godly side of your family doesn’t count except for your parent. So anybody from another cabin–they’re fair game. So, who’s your godly parent–mom or dad?”
Jason didn’t answer. He looked up, like he was expecting a symbol to appear randomly. At the top of the Big House, the weathervane still pointed in our direction, the bronze eagle almost glaring. ‘Turn around, kids, while you still can’ .
I heard footsteps on the front porch.
“Chiron!” Drew called. “This is Jason. He’s totally awesome!” Drew glanced over at me, nose scrunched up. “And this is, uh, Zika or something.”
I glared at her. “Ziya, actually. Nice to meet you, Chiron.” I threw up a peace sign.
Jason backed up and nearly tripped. Rounding the corner of the porch was the famous centaur. From the waist up he was human: medium brown skin with curly brown hair and a well-trimmed beard. He wore a T-shirt that said ‘World’s Best Centaur’, and he had a quiver and bow strapped to his back. His head was so high up he had to duck to avoid the porch lights, because from the waist down, he was a white stallion.
Chiron started to smile before his eyes flared like a cornered animal’s. “You… You should be dead.”
~*~
Chiron ordered Jason and me–well, invited, but it sounded like an order–to come inside the house. He told Drew to go back to her cabin, which Drew didn’t look happy about.
The centaur trotted over to the empty wheelchair on the porch. He slipped off his quiver and bow and back up to the chair, which opened like a magician’s box. Chiron gingerly stepped into it with his back legs and began scrunching himself into a space that should have been much too small. The centaur’s lower half disappeared and the chair folded up, popping out a set of fake human legs covered in a blanket, so Chiron appeared to be a regular mortal guy in a wheelchair.
Smart. Magic disguise.
“Follow me,” he ordered. “We have lemonade.”
The living room looked like it had been swallowed by a rainforest. Grapevines curved up the walls and across the ceiling. Plants didn’t grow like that inside, especially in the winter, but these were leafy green and bursting with bunches of red grapes.
Leather couches faced a stone fireplace with a crackling fire. Wedged in one corner, an old-style Pac-man arcade game beeped and blinked. Ooh, I gotta play that later.
Mounted on the walls were an assortment of masks–smiley/frowny Greek theater types, feathered Mardi Gras masks, masks with big beaklike noses, and carved wooden masks from different tribes and cultures in Africa. Grapevines grew through their mouths so they seemed to have leafy tongues. Some had red grapes bulging through their eyeholes.
The weirdest thing in the room, however, was the stuffed leopard’s head above the fireplace. Its eyes seemed to follow me across the room. Then it snarled, and Jason nearly jumped out of his skin.
I raised an eyebrow. Cool.
“Now, Seymour,” Chiron chided. “Jason and Ziya are friends. Behave yourself.”
“That thing is alive!”
“Excellent observation, Jason.” Jason glared at me.
Chiron rummaged through the side pocket of his wheelchair and brought out a package of Snausages. He threw one to the leopard, who snapped it up and licked his lips.
“You must excuse the decor,” Chiron said. “All this was a parting gift from our old director before he was recalled to Mount Olympus. He thought it would help us to remember him. Mr. D has a strange sense of humor.”
“It’s cool,” I said. “Very ‘California Vineyard Chic’.”
“Um, you said ‘Mr. D’,” Jason noted. “So that would be Dionysus?”
“Mm-hm.” Chiron poured lemonade with trembling hands. “As for Seymour, well, Mr. D liberated him from a Long Island garage sale. The leopard is Mr. D’s sacred animal, you see, and Mr. D was appalled that someone would stuff such a noble creature. He decided to grant it life, on the assumption that life as a mounted head was better than no life at all. I must say it’s a kinder fate than Seymour’s previous owner got.”
My eyes widened. “What happened to him?”
“You don’t want to know.”
Seymour bared his fangs and sniffed the air, as if hunting for more Snausages.
“If he’s only a head,” Jason said, “where does the food go when he eats?”
“Better not ask,” Chiron said. “Please, sit.”
Jason took some lemonade, but I declined, leaning back into the surprisingly comfy leather. My drowsiness came back with a battering ram.
Chiron sat back in his wheelchair and tried for a smile; his eyes looked as deep and dark as wells.
“So, Jason,” he said, “would you mind telling me–ah–where you’re from?”
“I wish I knew.” Jason told him the whole story, from waking up on the bus to crash-landing at Camp Half-Blood.
Chiron was a good listener; he didn’t react to the story, other than to nod encouragingly for more. When Jason was done, the old man sipped his lemonade.
“I see,” Chiron said. “Before I answer any questions, Ziya,” I rapidly blinked, trying to stay awake, “what gave Annabeth reason to send you here?”
“I had this weird dream on the bus before Jason showed up.”
“‘Showed up’? Meaning you remember when he wasn’t there.”
“Yep.” I explained the dream as well as I could remember, trying not to drop off in the middle of a sentence. “So, yeah. Basically, a lady poofed Jason onto the bus and made everyone else think he’d always been there.”
Chiron took another sip of lemonade. “You two must have quite a few questions for me.”
“Only one,” Jason admitted.
“I have several, actually.”
“ I have one question,” he amended. “What did you mean when you said that I, er, we should be dead?”
Chiron studied him with concern, as if he expected Jason to burst into flames. “My boy, do you know what those marks on your arm mean? The color of your shirt? Do you remember anything?”
Jason looked at the tattoo on his forearm. “No, nothing.”
“Do you know where you are?” Chiron asked. “Do you understand what this place is, and who I am?”
You’re Chiron the centaur,” Jason said. “I’m guessing you’re the same one from the old stories, who used to train the Greek heroes like Heracles. This is a camp for demigods, children of the Olympian gods.”
“So you believe those gods still exist?”
“Yes,” Jason answered immediately. “I mean, I don’t think we should worship them or sacrifice chickens to them or anything, but they’re still around because they’re a powerful part of civilization. They move from country to country as the center of power shifts–like they moved from Ancient Greece to Rome.”
“ I couldn’t have said it better ,” Chiron said. “ So, you already know the gods are real. You have already been claimed, haven’t you? ”
“ Maybe ,” Jason answered. “ I’m not really sure .”
“ Could someone fill me in? ” I asked. They both looked at me with wide eyes. “ I’m a bit too tired to follow along so if you wouldn’t mind… ”
And then it clicked. Jason and I exchanged weirded out looks. “ What was– ” Jason faltered and cleared his throat. “What was that?”
“Both of you know Latin,” Chiron observed. “Most demigods recognize a few phrases, of course. It’s in their blood, but not as much as Ancient Greek. None can speak Latin fluently without practice.” Chiron looked at me, asking a silent question.
“One of my classes the past few months has been Latin, but I’ve never busted out a full-ass sentence. I mean, we were just starting to get into conjugating nouns.”
“And you have all of your memories, correct?” I nodded, too tired to be overwhelmed. The feeling of dread persisted, but Chiron didn’t seem overly threatening. In fact, the centaur seemed concerned for Jason’s and my safety.
“May I ask…” Chiron paused. “How are you handling this so well?”
I raised a finger. “A, I am bone-dead tired. B, I’ve had a long morning. And C, I’ve seen a lot of weird shit.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Such as?”
“Well just this morning, a freaky lady appeared on the bus and gave a me a massive bruise on my forehead, there were storm spirits that threw me down the Grand Canyon, I fell into a lake from a height that should have broken some bones, and my hands are super itchy from the gauze after I scraped my hands falling down the Grand fucking Canyon. Take your pick!”
I collapsed back into the leather, finally giving into the urge to pick at my hands.
“May I?” I looked back to see Chiron with an outstretched hand. I let him examine the wrappings before he pulled a first aid kit out of the side of his wheelchair.
He began redressing my wounds and continued his conversation with Jason. “I taught your namesake, you know. The original Jason. He had a hard path.” My hands look remarkably less banged up than earlier… Maybe all the blood just made it look worse. “I’ve seen many heroes come and go. Occasionally, they have happy endings. Mostly, they don’t. It breaks my heart, like losing a child each time one of my pupils dies. But you–you two are not like any pupils I’ve ever taught. Your presence here could be a disaster.”
“Gee, thanks,” I deadpanned as Chiron finished rewrapping my hands. “You must be a really inspiring teacher.”
“I am sorry, children, but it’s true. I had hoped that after Percy’s success–”
“Percy Jackson, you mean,” I interrupted. “Annabeth’s boyfriend, the one who’s missing.”
Chiron nodded. “I hoped that after he succeeded in the Titan War and saved Mount Olympus, we might have some peace. I might be able to enjoy one final triumph, a happy ending, and perhaps retire quietly. I should have known better. The last chapter approaches, just as it did before. The worst is yet to come.”
That’s not ominous at all . In the corner, the arcade game made a sad pew-pew-pew-pew sound, like Pac-Man had just died.
“Ohh-kay,” Jason said. “So–the last chapter happened before, the worst yet to come. Sounds fun, but can we go back to the part where I’m supposed to be dead? I don’t like that part.”
“I’m afraid I can’t explain, children. I swore on the River Styx and on all things sacred that I would never…” Chiron frowned. “But you two are here, in violation of the same oath. That too, should not be possible. I don’t understand. Who would’ve done such a thing? Who–” Seymour coughed on a hairball, “–would dare to bring you here?”
“Probably the lady in the mist,” Jason offered.
“What the–!” I jumped.
Chiron looked up in surprise. “Weren’t you just sitting… Why do you have a sword drawn?”
“I hate to tell you this,” Jason said, “but I think your leopard just ate a goddess.”
Jason began to explain how a woman calling herself Juno appeared in dark robes and a goatskin cloak–
“That’s the lady I saw!” I exclaimed, suddenly wide awake. “I just remembered, she said her name was Juno! That cloak was goatskin, not cowhide.”
“Oh, dear,” Chiron murmured. “That does explain a lot.”
“Then why don’t you explain a lot?” Jason said.
Before Chiron could say anything, footsteps reverberated on the porch outside. The front door blew open. Annabeth and another girl with bushy red hair burst in, dragging Piper between them. Piper’s head lolled like she was unconscious.
“Piper?!”
“What happened?” Jason and I rushed over. “What’s wrong with her?”
“Hera’s cabin,” Annabeth gasped, like they’d run all the way. “Vision. Bad.”
The other girl looked up, eyes red and bloodshot as if she’d been crying. “I think…” the girl gulped. “I think I may have killed her.”
Notes:
Thanks for reading! And drink water, dudes!
Chapter 12: Trying to Figure Stuff Out... Again
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Summary:
“I’m sorry,” Jason said. “I think me being here–I don’t know.”
“We’ve messed things up coming to camp, somehow. Chiron said he’d sworn an oath and couldn’t talk about it,” I finished.
Notes:
Happy birthday to meee~!
Also, I just got the hiccups, and they're the kind that hurts, so that's great.
This chapter is from Ziya's POV.
CW: Ziya suppresses/harmfully redirects a tic for a hot minute followed by a brief tic attack
Word Count: 1435
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Jason and the redhead, who introduced herself as Rachel, put Piper on the couch while Annabeth rushed down the hall to get a better equipped med kit. Piper was still breathing, but she wouldn’t wake up. She seemed to be in some kind of coma.
Elevate her feet. If her feet needed elevated, Chiron would do it.
“We’ve got to heal her,” Jason insisted. “There’s a way, right?” Piper’s lips were turning gray and she was barely breathing.
Elevate her feet. I started making quiet popping noises to keep from blurting anything.
Chiron put his hand on her forehead and grimaced. “Her mind is in a fragile state. Rachel, what happened?”
“I wish I knew,” she said. “As soon as I got to camp, I had a premonition about Hera’s cabin, so I went inside. Annabeth and Piper came in while I was in there. We talked, and then–I just blacked out. Annabeth said I spoke in a different voice.”
“A prophecy?” Chiron asked. Piper’s cheeks turned ashen. I bit my tongue as the voice persisted and tried scratching my arm to stave it off. Elevate her feet elevate her feet ELEVATE–
“No. The spirit of Delphi comes from within. I know how that feels. This was like long distance, a power trying to speak through me.”
Annabeth ran in with a leather pouch. She knelt next to Piper. “Chiron, what happened back there–I’ve never seen anything like it. I’ve heard Rachel’s prophecy voice. This was different. She sounded like an older woman. She grabbed Piper’s shoulders and told her–”
“To free her from a prison?” Jason guessed.
Annabeth stared at him. “How did you know that?”
Chiron made a three-fingered gesture over his heart. “Jason, tell them. Annabeth, the medicine bag, please.”
ELE– “ Elevate–elevate her feet–her feet ,” I ticced. Everyone looked at me. “She’s turning gray– smile! –you need to elevate her feet– elevate her feet –to give her brain more oxygen. Elevate her feet–her feet .” I kept pacing, tapping my collarbone and whistling two-note patterns.
Jason immediately sat down on the couch, holding Piper’s legs at twelve inches like was recommended for people who’d fainted. The gray faded almost immediately, and the voice in my head shut up.
None of the other three reacted to my minor tic attack. Thank Allah for small mercies. Instead, Jason explained his vision of his ‘patron’ while Chiron trickled drops from a medicine vial into Piper’s mouth.
When Jason was done, no one was quite sure what to say. “So does this happen often?” he asked. “Supernatural phone calls from convicts demanding you bust them out of jail?”
“Your patron,” Annabeth repeated. “Not your godly parent?”
“No, she said patron. She also said my dad had given her my life.”
Annabeth frowned. “I’ve never heard of anything like that before. You said the storm spirit on the skywalk–he claimed to be working for some mistress who was giving him orders, right? Could it be this woman you saw, messing with your mind?”
“I don’t think so,” Jason said. “If she were my enemy, why would she be asking for my help? She’s imprisoned and worries about some enemy getting more powerful. Something about a king rising from the earth on the solstice–”
Annabeth turned to Chiron. “Not Kronos. Please tell me it’s not that.”
The centaur looked miserable. He held Piper’s wrist, checking her pulse. At last he said, “It is not Kronos. That threat is ended. But…”
“But what?” Annabeth asked.
Chiron closed the medicine bag. “Piper needs rest. We should discuss this later.”
“Or now,” Jason said. “Sir, Mr. Chiron, you told Ziya and me the greatest threat was coming. The last chapter. You can’t possibly mean something worse than an army of Titans, right?”
“Oh,” Rachel said in a small voice. “Oh, dear. The woman was Hera. Of course. Her cabin, her voice. She showed herself to Jason at the same moment.”
“Hera?” Annabeth’s snarl was even fiercer than Seymour’s. “ She took you over? She did this to Piper?”
“I think Rachel’s right,” I said. “The woman I saw on the bus–pop–she seemed like a goddess, plus she called herself Juno. Jason’s description of her matches to a ‘t’.”
“Right,” Jason said. “The goatskin cloak is a symbol of Juno.”
“It is?” Annabeth scowled. “I’ve never heard that.”
Chiron nodded reluctantly. “Of Juno, Hera’s Roman aspect, in her most warlike state. The goatskin cloak was a symbol of the Roman soldier.”
“So Hera is imprisoned?” Rachel asked. “Who could do that to the queen of the gods?”
Annabeth crossed her arms. “Well, whoever they are, maybe we should thank them. If they can shut up Here–”
“Annabeth,” Chiron warned, “she is still one of the Olympians. In many ways, she is the glue that holds the gods’ family together. If she truly has been imprisoned and is in danger of destruction, this could shake the foundations of the world. It could unravel the stability of Olympus, which is never great even in the best of times. And if Hera has asked Jason for help–”
“Fine,” Annabeth grumbled. “Well, we know Titans can capture a god, right? Atlas captured Artemis a few years ago. And in the old stories, the gods capture each other in traps all the time. But something worse than a Titan…?”
I looked at the leopard’s head. Seymour was smacking his lips like he’d had a particularly delicious Snausage.
“Ju–er, Hera,” Jason corrected himself, “said she’d been trying to break through her prison bonds for a month.”
“Which is how long Olympus has been closed,” Annabeth said. “So the gods must know something bad is going on.”
“But why use her energy to send me here?” Jason asked. “She wiped my memory, plopped me into the Wilderness School field trip, made sure Ziya was aware that something was up, and sent you a dream vision to come pick me up. Why am I so important? Why not just send up an emergency flare to the other gods–let them know where she is so they bust her out?”
“The gods need heroes to do their will down here on earth,” Rachel said. “That’s right, isn’t it? Their fates are always intertwined with demigods.”
“That’s true,” Annabeth said, “but Jason’s got a point. Why him? Why take his memory?”
“And Piper’s involved somehow,” I said. “Juno sent her the same message: ‘free me’. And, Annabeth, I think–no, I know this has some thing to do with Percy’s disappearance.”
Annabeth fixed her eyes on Chiron. “Why are you so quiet, Chiron? What is it we’re facing?”
The old centaur’s face looked like it had aged ten years in a matter of minutes. The lines around his eyes were deeply etched. “My dear, in this, I cannot help you. I am so sorry.”
Annabeth blinked. “You’ve never… you’ve never kept information from me. Even the last great prophecy–”
“I will be in my office.” His voice was heavy. “I need some time to think before dinner. Rachel, will you watch the girl? Call Argus to bring her to the infirmary, if you’d like. And Annabeth, you should speak with Jason. Tell him about–about the Greek and Roman gods. As for Ziya, have one of the Stoll brothers help her settle in the Hermes cabin, for now.”
“But…” The centaur turned his wheelchair and rolled off down the hallway. Annabeth’s eyes turned stormy. She muttered something in Greek, and I got the feeling it wasn’t complimentary toward centaurs.
“I’m sorry,” Jason said. “I think me being here–I don’t know.”
“ We ’ve messed things up coming to camp, somehow. Chiron said he’d sworn an oath and couldn’t talk about it,” I finished.
“What oath?” Annabeth demanded. “I’ve never seen him act this way. And why would he tell me to talk to you about the gods…”
Her voice trailed off. She gingerly touched Jason’s sword which was lying on the coffee table. “Is this gold? Do you remember where you got it?”
“No,” Jason said. “Like I’ve been saying, I don’t remember anything.”
Annabeth nodded, like she’d just come up with a rather desperate plan. “If Chiron won’t help, we’ll need to figure things out ourselves. Which means… Cabin Fifteen.” She looked at me and said, “We’ll drop you off at the Hermes cabin before then,” and then looked at Rachel. “You’ll keep an eye on Piper?”
“Sure,” she promised. “Good luck.”
“Remember to keep her feet elevated,” I said.
“Hold on,” Jason said. “What’s in Cabin Fifteen?”
Annabeth stood, pulling Jason to his feet as well. “Maybe a way to get your memory back and to figure out why you’re here.”
Notes:
Thanks for reading!
Chapter 13: Cabin 11
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Summary:
“I mean, I nailed a storm spirit in the eye with a steel Swiss Army knife.” The knives glinted in the setting sunlight. “Imagine what I could do with these babies.”
“You are terrifying.”
“Thank you.”
Notes:
I can't believe I'm almost at 250 hits. That's insane. Thank you all so much!!
This chapter is from Ziya's POV.
Word Count: 1640
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Annabeth literally dropped me off at the steps of Cabin Eleven with barely a goodbye before she ran down towards the newer wing of cabins. Jason nearly had to sprint to keep up with her.
The building was what you’d expect from any old summer camp–emphasis on old , by the way. The threshold was worn down, the brown paint peeling, and the symbol over the door was faded. It looked like a pole with two snakes wrapped around it–a caduceus.
Snakes. Great.
I knocked on the door, and it instantly flew open. “You’re here!” A boy, a few years older than me, tall, dark hair, with a mischievous smirk stood at the door. “Hey! I’m Travis Stoll, head of Hermes cabin.”
“Ziya.” I tentatively shook his hand and jumped.
Travis laughed and revealed his hand buzzer. “Sorry, I couldn’t resist!”
“You are definitely a Mercury kid.”
Travis raised an eyebrow. “You a regular or undetermined?”
“Um… Annabeth just kind of. Left me here?”
“Ah. Undetermined, then. Not to worry!” He pulled me inside. “Hermes is the god of travelers, so we host all the kids who haven’t been claimed yet. How old are you?”
“Fifteen.” The inside of the cabin also looked like a typical summer camp. There were about a dozen bunk beds, and over three-quarters of them had someone’s stuff littered in their designated space. “Where’s everyone else?”
“Connor, my brother, has them at arts and crafts, I think. Didn’t want to overwhelm anyone.”
“Yeah, thanks for that.”
“Fifteen, huh? Shouldn’t take too long, then. The gods promised to claim kids by thirteen,” Travis said. “We were expecting more of you. Are you the only unclaimed?”
“No, but Piper’s passed out and Jason’s with Annabeth trying to figure out why he’s an amnesiac. As for Leo, he got claimed by Vulcan in five minutes, so it’s just me for now.”
Travis blinked. “Fun.” He led me over to an unoccupied bunk. “Top or bottom, your choice. Cabin rule, we don’t curse around anyone younger than eleven. We’ve got a welcome bag for you–” He grabbed a backpack. “All the essentials. Deodorant, toilet paper, some fresh clothes, nectar and ambrosia, all that shit. I think there’s a flashlight? We weren’t sure what hair products you used, so it’s just the basic curly hair stuff.”
“Oh, wow. Thanks!” I sat down on the lower bunk. “Today has been… very long.”
“I can imagine. Butch came by earlier, told us all what happened,” Travis said. “Nice move with the Army knife, by the way.”
“What?” I looked up at him before I remembered. “Oh, yeah. Right.” I fought the urge to vomit. “I, uh, lost it, so.”
“Oh, not to worry!” Travis smiled, oblivious to my existential crisis. “We can head down to the weapons shed after dinner.”
“Um. Yeah, about that. I’m kind of a pacifist?”
He blinked and burst out laughing. Travis wiped a tear from his eye. “Dude, you’re a demigod, that ain’t gonna last long.”
“What do you mean?”
“Monsters,” he said simply, taking a deep breath and holding his stomach. “You’re going to have to defend yourself and others if you’re going to keep living.”
“Well, I was thinking I could just… not.”
Travis snorted. “Again, that ain’t gonna last long.” He shook his head at me. “Why are you a pacifist anyway? From what Butch said, you are a very violent person.”
“Threatening someone and following through are two completely different things,” I said.
“You are so weird.”
“Gee, thanks.” Travis looked at me expectantly. I sighed. “Last I saw her, my mom was Muslim, and it was really important to her that, you know, people be kind to one another. I haven’t seen her in… a long time. I’m not Muslim anymore, so I guess this is a way I can stay close with her. That and forgoing pork.”
Travis nodded thoughtfully before sitting next to me on the bed. “Correct me if I’m wrong, ‘cause I don’t know shit about Islam, but isn’t one of the rules ‘don’t commit violence except in self-defense or the defense of others’?”
“I mean, that’s the gist of it.”
“And the knife thing was after the storm spirit chucked you down the Grand Canyon.”
“Yeah.” I could see where he was going with it. “So, I was technically defending myself and my friends.”
“Exactly! Besides, I’m sure your mom wouldn’t want you to roll over and take shit from anyone.”
“That…” I paused. “That was actually something she said, once. I completely forgot. She said, ‘Do no harm, but take no shit’.”
“Poetic,” Travis said. “I’m gonna get that embroidered on a pillow.”
I picked at my nails. “It’s just… I’ve never…”
“You’ve never hurt anyone before.”
Screams filled my ears as blood soaked through the floor. It dripped dripped dripped off my fingers and slipped slipped slipped down my neck as iron danced across my tongue.
“...Yeah. That.”
He rubbed my shoulder. “You did what was needed. I know for a fact that if you hadn’t done anything, and one of your friends had gotten hurt, you never would have forgiven yourself.”
I leaned onto his shoulder. “Thanks.”
A rumble of footsteps on the porch was the only warning before the door burst open and nearly a dozen little kids poured into the cabin yelling about how their miniature catapult was better.
They all stopped in their tracks when they saw me. “Hey, newbie!” A boy in the back who looked eerily similar to Travis pushed his way to the front. “I’m Connor.”
“Ah, the brother.” I shook his hand, immediately jumping at the small shock. “God da–” I cut myself off, glancing at a little five-year-old girl, “–ng it. That is the second time I’ve fallen for that.”
Connor laughed and pulled off the hand buzzer. “Yeah, don’t trust anyone in here who offers a handshake.”
Travis and Connor started a rapid-fire introduction to everyone, but I only caught a few names: Cecil Markowitz (half-sibling), Aurora Jamison (undetermined), and Alice Miyazawa and Julia Feingold (pranksters extraordinaire).
“We’ve got a bit of time ‘til dinner, so you can relax for a little bit,” Travis said after everyone dispersed.
“Thanks. I’ll probably take a nap or something.”
“Oh!” Travis grabbed a blanket from the top bunk. “Cool trick: if you tuck this blanket in between the mattress and the side panel…” The sheet hung down like a curtain, blocking out most of the light from the setting sun. “Voilà! Sweet dreams!”
“Nice! Thanks, Travis!” I laid back, ready to finally let my drowsiness overtake me when the blanket curtain pulled back. I cracked an eye open to see little five-year-old Aurora standing next to my bunk. “What’s up?”
Aurora picked at her nails nervously before she started signing. ‘Do you know ASL?’
‘Yeah. I’m a little rusty, though’.
She brightened. ‘That’s okay! The other kids know a lot, so I have other people to talk to. I was just wondering.’
I smiled. ‘That’s okay. It’s nice to meet you.’
Aurora smiled back. ‘You, too! I’ll let you sleep now.’
‘Later, squirt.’ She smiled and closed the curtain, letting the darkness envelop me. For a brief moment, I imagined she was Evan.
With that thought, I drifted off.
What seemed like five minutes passed before Connor shook me awake. “Dinner, newbie!”
I tried to tame my curls as the cabin lined up to go to the pavilion.
The pavilion was an open-air building designed to look like a Greek temple, with large picnic tables spread out along the marble floor. At one end of the ‘room’ was a long table where Chiron, a few satyrs, and some nymphs sat, and at the other end a raging fire in a fireplace that sent smoke up into the heavens.
Aurora tugged on my jacket sleeve. ‘We have to burn part of our food for the gods. They like the smell.’
I nodded. ‘Weirdos.’ She giggled and grabbed a plate, holding it out to me. ‘Thank you.’
She then grabbed her own and finger-spelled ‘cheese pizza’. It appeared cut up in little tiny squares.
Huh. I looked at my plate. “ Ful medames and kisra .” A small bowl appeared on my plate, filled with the fava bean stew, accompanied by the bread my mom used to make. “Nice!”
Aurora and I joined the line to the fire. Aurora scraped off a few pieces of her pizza into the flames and signed ‘dad’.
I followed suit, scooping out some of my beans and tearing off a chunk of kisra . “Dad, I guess.”
Aurora led me to the Hermes table where everyone else was already sitting and goofing off. I kept an eye out for Leo, Piper, Jason, and Annabeth, but none of them had appeared by the time Travis pulled me away to the weapons shed.
I’ll talk to them later, I guess.
“All right, newbie,” Travis said, opening the shed door. “Take your pick!”
Row upon row of weapons filled the tiny space. Most of them were swords, but bows cluttered one corner, accompanied by quivers of arrows, and there was even a section of guns.
“I wouldn’t recommend those,” Travis said. “They tend to not work well for demigods.”
“I wasn’t even considering it,” I said, veering toward the daggers. A set of six thin throwing knives caught my eye. “Now these, on the other hand…”
Travis quirked an eyebrow. “Do you know how to use those?”
“I mean, I nailed a storm spirit in the eye with a steel Swiss Army knife.” The knives glinted in the setting sunlight. “Imagine what I could do with these babies.”
“You are terrifying.”
“Thank you.”
A conch shell blew in the distance. “Damn. No time to test them; it’s time for the campfire.”
“Please tell me there aren’t any cheesy songs.”
Notes:
Travis being a good big brother fills an empty part of my soul I didn't know existed. Maybe it's cause I'm the oldest. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Thanks for reading!
Chapter 14: The Campfire
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Summary:
The campers began to stir and mutter, looking at each other nervously, until a drowsy voice in the crowd called out, “I’m here! Oh… were you calling roll?”
Notes:
Heyo, happy Wednesday!!
Thank you all so much for /289/ hits holy hell.
Stay hydrated!!
Word Count: 1820
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
There were cheesy songs.
Travis led me down the steps, which were carved into the side of a hill, facing a stone-lined fire pit. Fifty or sixty kids filled the rows, clustered into groups under various banners. Jason sat near the front with Annabeth, Leo with a bunch of burly-looking campers under a steel gray banner emblazoned with a hammer, Piper with the other unclaimed kids, and Rachel under the Mercury banner.
“Piper!” I sat between her and Aurora. “Dude, I feel like I haven’t seen you in ages! Are you feeling okay after earlier?”
“Much better. Have you gotten claimed yet?”
“Nah. You?” She shook her head. “Oh, just wait. The Mercury cabin is pretty cozy. Just don’t shake anyone’s hand.” Connor looked offended. “Don’t pretend like you weren’t gonna try it!”
A half dozen Apollo campers and Louis Garter (one of Mercury’s kids) stood in front of the fire and started leading a song about pieces of armor and their grandma getting ready for war, Louis interpreting into ASL for kids like Aurora. Everybody was singing with them and making gestures for the pieces of armor and joking around.
It was quite possibly the weirdest thing I had ever seen– one of those campfire songs that would’ve been completely embarrassing in daylight, but in the dark, with everybody, even Piper, participating, it was kind of corny and fun. As the energy level got higher, the flames did too, turning from red to orange to gold.
Finally, the song ended with a lot of rowdy applause, and the Apollo kids went to sit down. Louis stayed standing to interpret as Chiron trotted up, brandishing a spear impaled with about a dozen toasted marshmallows. “Very nice! And a special welcome to our new arrivals! I am Chiron, camp activities director, and I’m happy you have all arrived here alive and well and with most of your limbs attached. In a moment, I promise we’ll get to the s’mores, but first– ”
“What about Capture the Flag?” somebody yelled. Grumbling broke out among some kids in armor, sitting under a red banner with the emblem of a boar’s head.
“Yes,” the centaur said. “I know the Ares cabin is anxious to return to the woods for our regular games.”
“And kill people!” one of them shouted. They take the ‘war god’ thing a bit far…
“However,” Chiron said, “until the dragon is brought under control– ”
“They’ve got a dragon?” I muttered.
“–that won’t be possible. Cabin Nine, anything to report on that?”
Chiron turned to Leo’s group. Leo winked at Piper and me, shooting us with a finger gun. I rolled my eyes, smiling slightly. The girl next to him stood uncomfortably. She wore an army jacket a lot like Leo’s, with her hair covered in a red bandana. “We’re working on it.” More grumbling.
“How, Nyssa?” a Mars kid demanded.
“Really hard,” the girl said. Nyssa sat down to a lot of yelling and complaining, and the fire sputtered chaotically.
“Hey!” I stood up, and suddenly everyone looked at me. Oh, Jesus. Okay, deep breaths. “They are doing their best.” I looked at the Mars kids. “Have any of you offered to help? Or are you just sitting around waiting for them to change your diapers?” They all looked pissed as hell, but no one said anything. “That’s what I thought. So how about we all shut up and be patient?” I sat down with a huff. Nyssa gave me a look of gratitude.
“As Ziya said,” Chiron continued, “we must have patience. In the meantime, we have more pressing matters to discuss.”
“Percy?” someone asked. The fire dimmed even further.
Chiron gestured to Annabeth. She took a deep breath and stood. “I didn’t find Percy,” she announced. Her voice caught a little when she said his name. “He wasn’t at the Grand Canyon like I thought. But we’re not giving up. We’ve got teams everywhere. Grover, Tyson, Nico, the Hunters of Artemis– everyone’s out looking. We will find him. Chiron’s talking about something different. A new quest.”
“It’s the Great Prophecy, isn’t it?” a girl called out. The voice had come from a group in the back, sitting under a rose-colored banner with a dove emblem. They’d been chatting among themselves and not paying much attention until their leader stood up: Drew. Everyone else looked surprised. Apparently Drew didn’t address the crowd very often.
“Drew?” Annabeth said. “What do you mean?”
“Well, come on!” Drew spread her hands like the truth was obvious. “Olympus is closed. Percy’s disappeared. Hera sends you a vision and you come back with four new demigods in one day. I mean, something weird is going on. The Great Prophecy has started, right?”
Piper whispered to Rachel, “What’s she talking about– the Great Prophecy?” But everyone else was looking at Rachel, too.
“Well?” Drew called down. “You’re the oracle. Has it started or not?”
Rachel’s eyes looked scary in the firelight, but she stepped forward calmly and addressed the camp. “Yes,” she said. “ The Great Prophecy has begun.” Louis faltered.
Pandemonium broke out.
I cringed, trying to block out the yelling with my hands. I glanced over at Leo, who was very visibly anxious, fiddling with paper clips he’d grabbed from a teacher’s desk a few days ago.
When the noise finally subsided, Rachel took another step towards the audience, and fifty-plus demigods leaned away from her, as if one skinny redheaded mortal was more intimidating than all of them put together.
“For those of you who have not heard it,” Rachel said, “the Great Prophecy was my first prediction. It arrived in August. It goes like this: ‘Eight half-bloods shall answer the call. To storm or fire the world must fall– ” Jason shot to his feet, eyes wild like he’d been tasered. Even Rachel seemed caught off guard. “J-Jason?” she said. “What’s– ”
“‘ An oath to keep with a final breath ’,” he chanted, “‘ And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death ’.”
I heard English, even though I knew he was speaking Latin. The ‘final breath’ bit already freaked me out. An uneasy silence settled on the group. I could tell from their faces that several of them were trying to translate the lines.
“You just… finished the prophecy,” Rachel stammered. “‘An oath to keep with a final breath, And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death. How did you– ”
“I know those lines,” Jason winced and put his hands to his temples. “I don’t know how, but I know that prophecy.”
“In Latin, no less,” Drew called out. “Handsome and smart.”
There was some giggling from the Venus cabin. I glared at them, but unfortunately, they didn’t light on fire. For a brief moment I was tempted to curse Drew out in Latin, but figured that it wouldn’t help the situation. The campfire burned a nervous shade of green.
Jason sat down, looking embarrassed. Annabeth put a hand on his shoulder and muttered something. Rachel still looked a little shaken, looking back at Chiron for guidance, but the centaur stood grim and silent, as if he were watching a play he couldn’t interrupt– a tragedy that ended with a lot of people dead onstage.
“Well,” Rachel said, trying to regain her composure, “yeah, that’s the Great Prophecy. We hoped it might not happen for a few years, but I fear it’s starting now. I can’t give you proof, it’s just a feeling. And like Drew said, some weird stuff is happening. The eight demigods, whoever they are, have not been gathered yet. I get the feeling some are here tonight, and some are not.”
The campers began to stir and mutter, looking at each other nervously, until a drowsy voice in the crowd called out, “I’m here! Oh… were you calling roll?”
“Go back to sleep, Clovis!” someone yelled, and a lot of people laughed distractedly.
“Anyway,” Rachel continued, “we don’t know what the Great Prophecy means. We don’t know what challenge the demigods will face, but since the first Great Prophecy predicted the Titan War, we can guess the second Great Prophecy will predict something at least that bad.”
“Or worse,” Chiron muttered.
Evidently, he didn’t mean for everyone to overhear, but the fire immediately turned dark purple, showing the fear that was rolling through the campers.
“What we do know,” Rachel said, “is that the first phase has begun. A major problem has arisen, and we need a quest to solve it. Hera, the queen of the gods, has been taken.” Louis hesitated before finishing interpreting.
Shocked silence. And then fifty demigods started yelling at once. Chiron pounded his hoof, but Rachel still had to wait before she could get their attention. She started with my vision of Hera on the bus, and then the incident on the Grand Canyon skywalk– how Gleeson Hedge had sacrificed himself when the storm spirits attacked, and the spirits had warned it was only the beginning. They apparently served some great mistress who would destroy all demigods.
Then Rachel told everyone about Piper passing out in Hera’s cabin. I squeezed Piper’s hand reassuringly as Drew pantomimed fainting, her friends giggling. Finally, Rachel talked about Jason’s vision in the living room of the Big House.
“Jason, um…” Rachel said. “Do you remember your last name?” He looked self-conscious, but shook his head. “We’ll just call you Jason, then.” She turned to the rest of the group. “It’s clear Hera herself has issued you a quest.”
Rachel paused, as if giving Jason a chance to protest his destiny. Everyone’s eyes were on him. I would have vomited by that point. Yet he looked brave and determined. He set his jaw and nodded. “I agree.”
“You must save Hera to prevent great evil,” Rachel continued. “Some sort of king is rising. For reasons we don’t yet understand, it must happen by the winter’s solstice, only four days from now.”
“That’s the council day of the gods,” Annabeth said. “If the gods don’t already know Hera’s gone, they will definitely notice her absence by then. They’ll probably break out fighting, accusing each other of taking her. That’s what they usually do.”
“The winter solstice,” Chiron spoke up, “is also the time of greatest darkness. The gods gather that day, as mortals always have, because there is strength in numbers. The solstice is a day when evil magic is strong. Ancient magic, older than the gods. It is a day when things… stir.”
They way he said it, stirring sounded absolutely sinister–like it should be a first-degree felony, not something you did to cookie dough.
“Okay.” Annabeth said, glaring at the centaur. “Thank you, Captain Sunshine. Whatever’s going on, I agree with Rachel. Jason has been chosen to lead this quest, so– ”
“Why hasn’t he been claimed?” somebody yelled from the Mars cabin. “If he’s so important–”
“He has been claimed,” Chiron announced. “Long ago. Jason, give them a demonstration.”
Notes:
Thanks for watching! And now, a special announcement from my co-host, Jam!
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Chapter 15: The Prophecy
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Summary:
Annabeth nodded. “Then, Jason, you only need to choose the fourth quest member. The dove–”
“Oh, absolutely!” Drew was on her feet and flashing Jason a smile. “The dove is Aphrodite. Everybody knows that. I am totally yours.”
“Absolutely not,” I said. “Jason, I will slit your throat myself.”
Notes:
HI! Happy Saturday and thanks for reading!!
This chapter is from Ziya's POV.
Word Count: 2051
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Jason looked confused for a moment as he stepped into the firelight. He glanced towards me and Piper, and she mimicked flipping a coin.
Jason reached into his pocket. His coin flashed in the air, and when he caught it in his hand, he was holding a lance–a rod of gold about seven feet long, with a spear tip at one end. I raised an eyebrow. That is not a sword.
The other demigods gasped. Rachel and Annabeth stepped back to avoid the point, which looked sharp as an ice pick.
“Wasn’t that…” Annabeth hesitated. “I thought you had a sword.”
“Um, it came up tails, I think,” Jason said. “Same coin, long-range weapon form.”
“Dude, I want one!” yelled somebody from Ares cabin.
“Better than Clarisse’s electric spear, Lamer!” one of his brothers agreed. That’s a strange name for a spear, but okay.
“Electric,” Jason murmured. “Back away.”
Annabeth and Rachel got the message. Jason raised the javelin, and thunder broke open the sky. Every hair on my arms stood straight up. I tucked Aurora into my side. Lightning arced down through the golden spear point and hit the campfire with the force of an artillery shell.
When the smoke cleared, and the ringing in my ears subsided, the entire camp sat frozen in shock, half blind, covered in ashes, staring at the place where the fire had been. Cinders rained down everywhere. A burning log had impaled itself a few inches from the sleeping kid Clovis, who hadn’t even stirred.
Jason lowered his lance. “Um… sorry.”
Chiron brushed some burning coals out of his beard. He grimaced as if his worst fears had been confirmed. “A little overkill, perhaps, but you’ve made your point. And I believe we know who your father is.”
“Jupiter,” Jason said. “I mean, Zeus. Lord of the Sky.”
Apparently, the rest of the camp wasn’t so sure. Everything broke into chaos, with dozens of people shouting questions until Annabeth raised her arms.
“Hold it!” she said. “How can he be the son of Zeus? The Big Three… their pact not to have mortal kids… how could we not have known about him sooner?” Chiron didn’t answer, but I got the feeling that he knew.
“The important thing,” Rachel said, “is that Jason’s here now. He has a quest to fulfill, which means he will need his own prophecy.”
She closed her eyes and swooned. Two campers rushed forward and caught her. A third ran to the side of the amphitheater and grabbed a bronze three-legged stool, like they’d been trained for this duty. They eased Rachel onto the stool in front of the ruined hearth. Without the fire, the night was dark, but I could still see the green mist that started swirling around Rachel’s feet. When she opened her eyes, they glowed a radioactive green, and emerald smoke issued from her mouth. The voice that came out was raspy and ancient– the sound a snake would make if it could talk:
Child of lightning beware the earth,
The giants’ revenge the eight shall birth,
Child unclaimed, Wolf Reaper
Eye of Heaven stolen by brother’s keeper
Forge and dove shall break the cage,
And death unleashed through Hera’s rage
On the last word, Rachel collapsed, but her helpers were waiting to catch her. They carried her away from the hearth and laid her in the corner to rest.
“Is that normal?” Piper asked. She seemed to realize she’d spoken into the silence, and everyone was looking at her. “I mean… does she spew green smoke a lot?”
“Gods, you’re dense!” Drew tried to sneer, but she just looked terrified. “She just issued a prophecy–Jason’s prophecy to save Hera! Why don’t you just–”
“Drew!” Annabeth snapped. “Piper asked a fair question. Something about that definitely isn’t normal. First of all, there are at least four demigods mentioned, which always spells disaster. Second, if breaking Hera’s cage unleashes her rage and causes a bunch of death… why would we free her? I might be a trap, or-or maybe Hera will turn on her rescuers. She’s never been kind to heroes.”
Jason rose. “I don’t have much choice. Hera took my memory. I need it back. Besides, we can’t just not help the queen of the heavens if she’s in trouble.”
Nyssa stood up. “Maybe. But you should listen to Annabeth. Hera can be vengeful. She threw her own son–our dad–down a mountain just because he was ugly.”
“ Real ugly,” snickered someone from Aphrodite.
“Shut up!” Nyssa growled. “Anyway, we’ve also got to think– why beware the earth? And what’s the giant’s revenge? Or the ‘eye of heaven’? What are we dealing with here that’s powerful enough to kidnap the queen of the gods?”
No one answered, but I noticed Annabeth and Chiron having a silent argument. It seemed that Chiron won, and Annabeth took a deep breath. “It’s Jason’s quest,” she announced, “so it’s his choice. Obviously, he’s the ‘child of lightning’, and per the wording of the prophecy, he may choose any three companions.”
“But there are only supposed to be three campers per quest!” Someone called out. “The last two times there were more than three things went to crap!”
“I realize that, Will, but the prophecy clearly calls for four,” Annabeth reasoned.
Everyone muttered amongst themselves before Travis yelled, “Well, you obviously, Annabeth. You’ve got the most experience.”
“No, Travis. Every time I’ve tried, she’s deceived me, or it’s come back to bite me later. Forget it. No way. Secondly, I’m leaving first thing in the morning to find Percy.”
“It’s connected,” Piper blurted out. “You know that’s true, don’t you? This whole business, your boyfriend’s disappearance–it’s all connected.”
“How?” demanded Drew. “If you’re so smart, how?”
Piper tried to form an answer, but she couldn’t. Drew smirked.
Annabeth saved her. “You may be right, Piper. If this is connected, I’ll find out from the other end–by searching for Percy. As I said, I’m not about to rush off to rescue Hera, even if her disappearance sets the rest of the Olympians fighting again. But there’s another reason I can’t go. The prophecy says otherwise.”
“It says who I pick,” Jason agreed. “The ‘child unclaimed’...” Jason looked at me. “Ziya, I have a feeling it’s you. You and Piper are the only unclaimed children old enough to go on a quest, and you had the first vision of Hera even before the storm spirits attacked.”
Aurora squeezed my hand. I squeezed back reassuringly before standing up. “I agree. It seems like this prophecy is talking about me. I’m in.”
Jason flashed a relieved smile before turning back to the other demigods. “All right then. ‘The forge and dove shall break the cage’. The forge is the symbol of Vul–Hephaestus.”
Under the Cabin Nine banner, Nyssa’s shoulders slumped, like she’d just been given a heavy anvil to carry. “If you have to beware the earth,” she said, “you should avoid traveling over land. You’ll need air transport.”
Jason can fly…
“The flying chariot’s broken,” Nyssa continued, “and the pegasi, we’re using them to search for Percy. But maybe the Hephaestus cabin can help figure out something else. With Jake incapacitated, I’m senior camper. I can volunteer for the quest.” She didn’t sound enthusiastic.
Then Leo stood up. He’d been really quiet the whole night, which was totally not like Leo. “It’s me,” he said. His cabinmates stirred. Several tried to pull him back to his seat, but Leo resisted. “No, it’s me, I know it is! I’ve got an idea for the transportation problem. Let me try, I can fix this!”
Jason studied him for a moment. “We started this together, Leo,” he said. “Seems only right you come along. You find us a ride, you’re in.”
“Yes!” Leo pumped his fist.
“It’ll be dangerous,” Nyssa warned him. “Hardship, monsters, terrible suffering. Possibly none of you will come back alive.”
Leo blinked. “Oh, cool! Suffering? I love suffering! Let’s do this.”
Annabeth nodded. “Then, Jason, you only need to choose the fourth quest member. The dove–”
“Oh, absolutely!” Drew was on her feet and flashing Jason a smile. “The dove is Aphrodite. Everybody knows that. I am totally yours.”
“Absolutely not,” I said. “Jason, I will slit your throat myself.”
Drew huffed and looked at Jason.
Piper’s hands clenched, and she stepped forward. “No.”
Drew rolled her eyes. “Oh, please, Dumpster Girl. Back off.”
“ I had the vision of Hera, not you. I have to do this.”
“Anyone can have a vision,” Drew said. “You were just at the right place at the right time.” She turned to Jason. “You’ve already got the unclaimed kid. And, look, fighting is all fine, I suppose, and people who build things…” she looked at Leo in disdain. “Well, someone has to get their hands dirty. But you need charm on your side. I can be very persuasive. I could help a lot.”
The campers started muttering about how Drew was pretty persuasive. I growled, wanting to punch her in her stupid face. I could see Drew winning them over. Even Chiron was scratching his beard, like Drew’s sudden participation suddenly made sense to him.
“Well…” Annabeth said. “Given the wording of the prophecy–”
“No!” Piper’s voice sounded strange–more insistent, and richer in tone. “I’m supposed to go.” The weirdest thing happened–everyone started nodding, muttering that ‘hmm, Piper’s point of view makes sense, too’. Drew looked around, pissed as hell. Even some of her own campers were nodding.
“Get over it!” Drew snapped at the crowd. “What can Piper do?” Piper tried to respond, but it looked like her voice got caught in her throat. “Well,” Drew said smugly, “I guess that settles it.”
Suddenly there was a collective gasp as a reddish glow surrounded Piper. Her hair and clothes changed as everyone stared at her like she exploded.
“What?” she demanded.
She looked above her, but there was no burning symbol like the one that appeared over Leo. Then she looked down and yelped. Piper was now sporting brand-new hiking boots, stylishly ripped jeans, a thick black leather jacket, and a dusty rose colored T-shirt. The shirt, hilariously and accurately, said ‘try me’ in comic sans. Her choppy hair was neater now; it still looked messy, but purposefully so. What little makeup she had simply accented her natural features. And the pimple she’d named Bob had disappeared.
“Um… What?” she said. “What’s happened?” A stunned Annabeth pointed at Piper’s dagger, which was now oiled and gleaming, hanging at her side on a leather cord. Piper hesitated before unsheathing the weapon and stared at her reflection in the polished metal blade. “Oh. My. God.” She started to smile.
Drew’s face was full of horror and revulsion. “No!” she cried. “Not possible!”
The smile slipped off Piper’s face. “What? I–I don’t understand.”
Chiron folded his front legs and bowed to her, and all the seasoned campers followed his example.
“Hail, Piper McLean,” Chiron announced gravely, as if he were speaking at her funeral. “Daughter of Aphrodite, lady of the doves, goddess of love.”
~*~
While everyone admired Piper’s makeover, I saw someone sneaking off into the dark. Leo .
I crouched down next to Aurora. ‘Stick with Travis until you get back to the cabin, okay?’
She nodded. I stood back up and tapped Travis on the shoulder. “Hey, I’m pretty tired. I’m going to head back to the cabin.”
“Do you want someone to walk you?”
“No, I’ve got it. Good night!”
I walked off with a wave. The second I was out of eyeshot, I sprinted back to Cabin Eleven. Rooting through everyone else’s stuff, I managed to scrounge up a flashlight, extra batteries, and a few unopened water bottles. I stuffed them in my backpack before grabbing extra pillows from the closet to put under my bed sheets. Classic pillow dummy fakeout. I even grabbed the welcome kit they’d prepared for Piper and set it next to my bed.
I drew the curtain closed, certain it would at least take a few minutes for anyone to figure out I was gone. And by the time they did, I would have already vanished.
With everything settled, I took a deep breath before running towards the edge of the woods.
Notes:
I. Spent. Hours. Writing those extra lines. I hope they work out lol.
I never liked Piper's claiming scene, it just felt uncomfortable. So, yeah. Honestly, I feel like this fits better with her character as well as her interactions with Aphrodite.
Also, I'm almost done writing TLH! I've got like, four? chapters left, but they're all entirely original plot, so it's going to be a pain to write :D
Chapter 16: Childhood Sucks
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Summary:
“I cannot destroy you yet,” the woman murmured. “The Fates will not allow it. But they do not protect your family, and they cannot stop me from breaking your spirit. Remember this night, little hero, when they ask you to oppose me.”
Notes:
Roughly 50 chapters to go, and we’re finally picking up steam, story-wise!
CW: canonical Leo angst
This chapter is from Leo’s POV.
Word Count: 2300
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
I didn’t stick around after Piper turned into a punk goddess. Sure it was amazing and all– She’s got makeup! It’s a miracle! –but I had problems to deal with. I ducked out of the amphitheater and ran into the darkness.
What did I get into?
I stood up in front of a bunch of stronger, braver demigods and volunteered– fucking volunteered –for a mission that would likely get me and my friends killed.
I hadn’t mentioned seeing Tía Callida, but Jason and Ziya’s descriptions of the lady in the black dress and shawl… Tía Callida was Hera. My evil babysitter was the queen of the gods. Stuff like that could really deep-fry your brain.
I trudged toward the woods and tried no to think about my childhood–all the messed-up things that had led to my mother’s death. But those thoughts followed me like fire.
Tía Callida setting me to sleep in a fireplace, giving me knives to play with, encouraging me to poke a rattlesnake with a stick. The last time she babysat me, I was five. She brought a pack of crayons and a pad of paper, and we sat together at the picnic table in the back of the apartment complex, under an old pecan tree.
While Tía Callida sang her strange songs, I drew a picture of a boat I’d seen in the flames of the fireplace, with colorful sails and rows of oars, a curved stern, and an awesome masthead.
I was almost done, about to sign my name like I’d learned in kindergarten, but the wind snatched the picture away. It flew into the sky and disappeared.
I wanted to cry. I’d spent so much time on that picture–but Tía Callida just clucked with disappointment.
“It isn’t time yet, little hero. Someday, you’ll have your quest. You’ll find your destiny, and your hard journey will finally make sense. But first you must face many sorrows. I regret that, but heroes cannot be shaped any other way. Now, make me a fire, eh? Warm these old bones.”
A few minutes later, Mom came out and shrieked with horror. Tía Callida was gone, but I sat in the middle of a smoking fire. The pad of paper was reduced to ashes. Crayons had melted into a bubbling puddle of multicolored goo, and my hands were ablaze, slowly burning through the picnic table. For years afterward, people in the apartment complex wondered how someone seared impressions of a five-year-old’s hands an inch deep into solid wood.
I was certain that Tía Callida, my psychotic babysitter, had been Hera all along. That made her, what–my godly grandmother?
Did mom know? I remembered after that last visit, mom took me inside and had a long talk, but I only understood some of it.
“She can’t come back again.” Mom had a beautiful face with kind eyes, and curly dark hair. But she looked older than she was because of all her hard work. The lines around her eyes were deeply etched, and her hands were callused. She was the first person from our family to graduate from college. She had a degree in mechanical engineering and could design anything, fix anything, build anything.
But no one would hire her. No company would take her seriously, so she ended up in the machine shop, trying to make enough money to support the two of us. She always smelled of machine oil, and when she talked with me, she switched from Spanish to English constantly—using them like complementary tools. It took years for me to realize not everyone spoke that way. She’d even taught me Morse code as a kind of game, so we could tap messages to each other when we were in different rooms: I love you. You okay? Simple little things.
“I don’t care what Callida says,” Mom had told me. “I don’t care about destiny or the Fates. You’re too young for that. You’re still my baby.”
She checked my hands for burn marks, but of course, there weren’t any. “Leo, listen to me. Fire is a tool, like anything else, but it’s more dangerous than most. You don’t know your limits. Please, promise me—no more fire until you meet your father. Someday, mijo , you will meet him. He’ll explain everything.”
Mom had said that for as long as I can remember. Someday, I would meet my dad. Mom wouldn’t answer any questions about him. She didn’t have any pictures, I had never even seen him, but she talked like he’d just gone to the store for some milk and he’d be back any minute. I tried to believe her.
It all came apart when I was eight. By then, I was spending all of my free time at the machine shop with Mom. I knew how to use most of the machines, and I could measure and do math better than most adults. I learned to think three-dimensionally, solving mechanical problems in my head the way Mom did.
One night, we stayed late because Mom wanted to finish designing a drill bit design she hoped to patent. If she could sell the prototype, it would change our lives. She’d finally get a break.
As she worked, I passed her supplies and told corny jokes to keep her spirits up. I loved it when she laughed. She’d always smile and say, “Your father would be proud of you, mijo . You’ll meet him soon, I’m sure.”
Mom’s workspace was at the very back of the shop. It was kind of creepy at night, because we were the only ones there. Every sound echoed through the dark warehouse, but I didn’t mind as long as I was with Mom. If I did decide to wander through the machines, we could keep in touch with Morse code taps. Whenever we were ready to leave, we had to walk through the entire shop, through the break room, and out to the parking lot, locking the doors behind us.
That night after finishing up, we’d just gotten to the break room when Mom realized she didn’t have her keys.
“That’s funny.” She frowned. “I know I had them. Wait here, mijo . I’ll only be a minute.”
She gave me one last smile and she went back into the warehouse.
She’d only been gone for a few heartbeats when the interior door slammed shut. The exterior door locked itself.
“Mom?” My heart was pounding in my ears. Something heavy crashed inside the warehouse. I ran to the door, but no matter how hard I pulled or kicked, it wouldn’t open. “MOM!” Frantically, I tapped a message on the wall: You okay?
“She can’t hear you,” a voice said.
I turned and found myself facing a strange woman. At first I thought she was Tía Callida. She was wrapped in black robes with a veil covering her face.
“ Tía ?”
The woman chuckled, a slow gentle sound, as if she were half asleep. “I am not your guardian. Merely a family resemblance.”
“What—What do you want? Where’s my mom?”
“Ah… loyal to your mother. How nice. But you see, I have children too… and I understand you will fight them someday. When they try to wake me, you will prevent them. I cannot allow that.”
“I don’t know you. I don’t want to fight anybody.”
She muttered like a sleepwalker in a trance, “A wise choice.”
A chill ran down my spine. The woman was, in fact, asleep. Behind the veil, her eyes were closed. Even stranger, her clothes were not made of cloth. They were made of earth – dry black dirt, churning and shifting around her. Her dark, sleeping face was barely visible behind a curtain of dust, and I had a horrible sense that she’d just risen from the grave. If the woman was asleep, I wanted her to stay that way. Somehow I knew that if she ever woke up, she would be even more terrible.
“I cannot destroy you yet,” the woman murmured. “The Fates will not allow it. But they do not protect your family, and they cannot stop me from breaking your spirit. Remember this night, little hero, when they ask you to oppose me.”
“Leave my mother alone!” I yelled. Terror crept up my throat as the woman shuffled forward. She moved more like an avalanche than a person, a dark wall of earth shifting towards me.
“How will you stop me?” she whispered.
She walked straight through a table, the particles of her body reassembling on the other side.
She loomed over me, and I knew she would pass right through me, too. I was the only thing between her and Mom.
My hands caught fire.
A sleepy smile spread across the woman’s face, as if she’d already won. I screamed and my vision turned red. Flames washed over the earthen woman, the walls, the locked doors. And I passed out.
I came to in an ambulance.
The paramedic tried to be kind. She said the warehouse had burned down. Mom hadn’t made it out. The paramedic said she was sorry.
I was hollow. I’d lost control, just like Mom had warned. Her death was my fault.
Soon the police came to get me, and they weren’t as nice. The fire had started in the break room, they said, right where I was standing. I’d survived through some miracle, but what kind of child locked the doors of his mother’s workplace, knowing she was inside, and started a fire?
Later, neighbors at the apartment complex told the police what a strange boy Esperanza Valdez’s son was, about the handprints in the picnic table.
None of my relatives would take me in. Aunt Rosa called me a diablo and shouted at the social workers to take me away. So I went to my first foster home: Miss Teresa’s. A few days later, I ran away. Some foster homes lasted longer than others. I’d joke around, make a few friends, pretend that nothing was wrong.
But I always ended up running sooner or later. Moving was the only thing that made the pain feel better– feeling like I was getting farther and farther away from the ashes.
I made a promise to myself that I would never play with fire again. I hadn’t thought about Tía Callida or the sleeping woman wrapped in earthen robes for a long time.
I was almost to the woods when I imagined Tía Callida’s voice: ‘It wasn’t your fault, little hero. Our enemy wakes. It’s time to stop running.’
“Hera,” I muttered, “you’re not even here, are you? You’re in a cage somewhere.”
There was no answer.
At least now I understood something. Hera had kept an eye on me my entire life. Somehow, she’d known that one day she would need me. Maybe those Fates she mentioned could tell the future.
I wasn’t entirely sure about any of that.
But I knew I was meant to go on this quest. Jason’s prophecy warned us to beware the earth, and I knew it had something to do with that sleeping woman in the shop, wrapped in robes of shifting dirt.
‘You’ll find your destiny’, Tía Callida had promised, ‘and your hard journey will finally make sense’.
I might find out what the flying boat in my dreams means, or meet my dad.
I might even get to avenge Mom’s death.
But first things first. I’d promised Jason a flying ride.
Not the boat—not yet. There wasn’t time to build something that complicated. I needed a quicker solution.
I needed a dragon.
I hesitated at the edge of the woods, peering into absolute blackness. Owls hooted, and something far away hissed like a chorus of snakes.
I remembered what Will Solace had told me: ‘No one should go in the woods alone, definitely not unarmed’. I had nothing—no sword, no flashlight, no help.
I glanced back at the lights of the amphitheater. I could turn around right now and tell everyone I was just joking around. Psych! Nyssa can go on the quest instead. I could stay at camp and learn to be part of the Hephaestus cabin, but part of me wondered how long it would take to look like the rest of my siblings—sad, dejected, convinced of my own bad luck.
‘They cannot stop me from breaking your spirits’, the sleeping woman had said. ‘Remember this night, little hero, when they ask you to oppose me’.
“Believe me, lady,” I muttered, “I remember. And whoever you are, I’m gonna face-plant you hard, Leo-style.”
I took a deep breath, spared one glance back at the cabins—
What the—?
I ducked behind a tree as Ziya came running up to the edge of the woods.
She glanced around, chest heaving. “Goddammit!” she said breathlessly before muttering to herself, “Leo, I swear to God if you’re already dead—”
“I’m not!”
“JESUS—” Ziya jumped as I appeared, laughing. I walked over to her and she started hitting my arm repeatedly. “ FUCKING. CHRIST.”
“Sorry,” I said without being sorry.
“If you ever do that again,” she panted. “I will gut you and hang your intestines on a tree like Christmas tinsel.”
“Graphic,” I deadpanned. “You wanna help me find a giant metal dragon?”
“The dragon that’s gone AWOL?” I nodded. “Hells yeah.”
We turned to the forest, and Ziya dug around in her backpack. “What’s that?”
“Welcome bag from the Mercury cabin,” she said, pulling out a flashlight. “Aha!” She turned it on, the light flickering a little bit. She hit it on the side of her thigh, and the light steadied. “There we go!” Ziya nodded at the woods. “Ready?”
I huffed out a laugh. “Nope.”
I took a deep breath and followed Ziya into the forest.
Notes:
Thanks for reading!
Chapter 17: Into the Woods
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Summary:
I heard a grinding snort, like steam forced out of a metal barrel.
Notes:
Waking up at 8:00am sucks.
Anyway, enjoy this chapter, it’s definitely lighter than Wednesday’s.
This chapter is from Leo’s POV.
Word Count: 1656
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
The woods weren’t like any place I’d been before. I had been raised in a north Houston apartment complex. The wildest things I’d ever seen were that rattlesnake in the cow pasture and Aunt Rosa in her nightgown, until I was sent to Wilderness School and saw Ziya’s bedhead.
Even there, the school had been in the desert. No trees with gnarled roots to trip over. No streams to fall into. No branches casting dark, creepy shadows and owls looking down at me with their big reflective eyes. This was the Twilight Zone.
Ziya and I stumbled along until she was sure no one back at the cabins could see us, and then she turned on the flashlight. She hadn’t brought an extra, and I did not want to explain why I could summon fire, so she led the way through the woods.
We kept walking, looking for dragon-type clues: giant footprints, trampled trees, swaths of burning forest. Something that big couldn’t exactly sneak around, right? But there was nada . Once, the flashlight passed over a large, furry shape like a wolf or a bear, but it stayed away from the light. Ziya looked over her shoulder, like Dear God, that was close.
Then, at the bottom of a clearing, I saw the first trap—a hundred-foot-wide crater ringed with boulders.
I ran out ahead of Ziya to examine the trap. I had to admit, it was pretty ingenious. In the center of the depression, a metal vat the size of a hot tub had been filled with bubbly dark liquid–Tabasco sauce and motor oil. On a pedestal suspended over the vat, an electric fan rotated in a circle, spreading the fumes across the forest. Could metal dragons smell?
The vat seemed to be unguarded, but when the flashlight hit it just right, I could see the glint of metal beneath the dirt and leaves–a bronze net lining the entire crater. Or maybe see wasn’t the right word–I could sense it there, as if the mechanism was emitting heat, revealing itself. Six large strips of bronze stretched out from the vat like the spokes of a wheel.
“Pressure sensitive,” I explained to Ziya. “As soon as the dragon steps on one, the net’ll spring closed and voilà—one gift-wrapped monster.”
“That is not a present I’d like for Christmas.”
I edged closer and put my foot on the nearest trigger strip. As I expected, nothing happened. “It’s set for something really heavy. I doubt there’s anything heavier than that dragon in here.”
“Let’s hope so.”
“Stay up here and follow me with the flashlight,” I said. Ziya nodded, and I started to pick my way down the crater. I approached the vat, the fumes almost overpowering. My eyes started watering. I remembered a time when Tía Callida had made me chop jalapeños in the kitchen and I’d gotten the juice in my eyes. Serious pain. But of course she’d been like, “Endure it, little hero. The Aztecs of your mother’s homeland used to punish bad children by holding them over a fire filled with chili peppers. They raised many heroes that way.”
A total psycho, that lady. I’m so glad I’m on a quest to rescue her.
Tía Callida would’ve loved this vat, because it was way worse than jalapeño juice. I looked around for a trigger– something that would disable the net, but I didn’t see anything.
I had a moment of panic. Nyssa had said there were several traps like this in the woods, and they were planning more. What if the dragon had already stepped on another one? Could Ziya and I even find them all?
“Find anything?” Ziya called out.
“Not yet.”
I continued to search, but I didn’t see any release mechanism. No large button labeled off. There might not even be one. I was about to ask Ziya to come down and help when I heard it.
It was more of a tremor—the deep sort of rumbling you hear in your gut rather than your ears. It gave me the jitters, but I didn’t look around for the source.
It has to be a long way off. It’s pounding its way through the woods, and I gotta hurry .
“Leo?” Ziya’s voice sounded thin.
I looked up at her. “Yeah?”
Then I heard the grinding snort, like steam forced out of a metal barrel.
My neck tingled. I exchanged a look with Ziya before I turned slowly. At the edge of the pit opposite Ziya, fifty feet away, two glowing red eyes were staring at me. The creature gleamed in the moonlight, and I couldn’t believe that something that huge had sneaked up on us so fast.
Ziya still had the flashlight trained on the pit, and the dragon was staring at the patch of ground lit up. “Turn it off!” I hissed. The light immediately extinguished.
I could still see the dragon just fine. It was about sixty feet long, snout to tail, its body made of interlocking bronze plates. Its claws were the size of butcher knives, and its mouth was linked with hundreds of dagger-sharp metal teeth. Steam came out of its nostrils. It snarled like a chainsaw cutting through a tree. It could’ve bitten me in half, easy, or stomped me flat.
It was one of two of the most beautiful things I’d ever seen, except for one problem that completely ruined my plan.
“You don’t have wings,” I sighed.
The dragon’s snarl died. It tilted its head as if to say, Why aren’t you running away in terror?
“Hey, no offense,” I said. “You’re amazing! Good god, who made you? Are you hydraulic or nuclear-powered or what? But if it was me, I would’ve put wings on you. What kind of dragon doesn’t have wings? I guess maybe you’re too heavy to fly? I should’ve thought of that.”
The dragon snorted, more confused now. It was supposed to trample pesky humans. This conversation thing wasn’t part of the plan. It took a step forward, and I shouted, “No!”
The dragon snarled again.
“It’s a trap, bronze brain,” I said. “They’re trying to catch you.”
“Uh, Leo?” Ziya said. “Maybe don’t insult the fifty-ton metal dragon that could barbeque us without a second thought?”
“Maybe don’t give it ideas?” I yelled back.
The dragon loved the idea Ziya gave it. It opened its mouth and blew fire. Ziya screamed. A column of white-hot flames billowed over me, more than I’d ever tried to endure before. I felt as if I were being hosed down with a powerful, very hot fire hose. It stung a little, but I stood my ground. When the flames died, I was perfectly fine. Even my clothes were okay, which I didn’t quite understand, but for which I was grateful. I liked my army jacket, and having my pants seared off would’ve been pretty embarrassing, especially in front of Ziya.
I glanced back at her. She was crouching at the edge of the pit, evidently trying not to cry, and looking absolutely furious.
Oh, I am definitely going to get it.
I looked back at the dragon, which was staring at me. Its face didn’t actually change, being made of metal and all, but I thought I could read its expression: Why no crispy critter? A spark flew out of its neck like it was about to short-circuit.
“You can’t burn me,” I said, trying to sound stern and calm. I’d never had a dog before, but I was pretty sure talking to the dragon the way I thought people talked to dogs would work. “Stay, boy. Don’t come any closer. I don’t want you to get caught. See, they think you’re broken and have to be scrapped. But I don’t believe that. I can fix you if you’ll let me–"
The dragon creaked, roared, and charged. The trap sprang. The floor of the crater erupted with a sound like a thousand trash can lids banging together. Dirt and leaves flew, metal net flashing. I was knocked off my feet, turned upside down, and doused in Tabasco sauce and oil. I was sandwiched between the vat and the dragon thrashed, trying to free itself from the net that had wrapped around us both.
The dragon blew flames in every direction, lighting up the sky and setting trees on fire. Boiling hot oil and sauce was everywhere.
“Will you stop that!” I yelled.
The dragon kept squirming. I’m gonna get squished!
“Oi!” Ziya yelled. “You gotta move!”
“I’m trying!” I yelled back. I tried to wriggle my way through the net. Fortunately the holes were plenty big enough for a skinny kid.
I dropped to the ground and was immediately tackled by Ziya. She lightly punched my arm with each word. “EVERY. FUCKING. TIME.” She bearhugged me despite all the oil and sauce. “Fucking tell me things, asshat! I thought you were fucking dead!”
“Sorry. The fire… resistance is a Hephaestus thing. Nysa told me earlier.” Not yet. Soon, I promise. I heard Ziya sniff. “Are you crying?”
She shoved me away and wiped at her cheek, leaving a trail of oil. “No. Shut up and fix the dragon.” I stared at the mark. “What?”
“You’ve got a…” I trailed off. “Never mind.”
I jogged to the dragon’s head, Ziya close behind. It tried to snap at us, but its teeth were tangled in the mesh. It blew fire again, but seemed to be running out of energy. This time the flames were only orange. They sputtered out before they even reached my face.
“Listen, man,” I said, “you’re just going to show them where you are. Then they’ll come and break out the acid and the metal cutters. Is that what you want?”
The dragon’s jaw made a creaking sound, like it was trying to talk.
“Okay, then,” I said. “You’ll have to trust me.”
I set to work.
Notes:
I love it when characters who aren’t used to giving/receiving affection are paired with characters who ALSO aren’t used to giving/receiving affection, and yet give them all the attention in the world :)
Thanks for reading!
Chapter 18: The Bunker
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Summary:
“Hm. Well, do what you can, and we’ll worry about the rest later.”
“You’re really good at that.”
“Good at what?”
“Making people feel better.”
Notes:
435 hits. Holy shit. Thank you all so much!!
Also, shout out to little_miss_human_being for all the amazing comments! Jam and I love reading them!
This chapter is from Leo's POV.
Word Count: 1928
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
It took me almost an hour to find the control panel. It was right behind the dragon’s head, which made sense. I elected to keep the dragon in the net, because it was easier to work with the dragon constrained, but the dragon didn’t like it.
“Hold still!” I scolded.
The dragon made another creaking sound that might’ve been a whimper.
I went to examine the wire inside the dragon’s head, but a sound in the woods distracted me. I looked over to see a tree spirit—a dryad—putting out the flames in her branches. Fortunately, the dragon hadn’t started an all-out forest fire, but still. The dryad wasn’t too pleased; the girl’s dress was smoking. She smothered the flames with a silky blanket, and when she saw Ziya and me looking at her, she made a gesture that was probably rude in Dryad. Ziya made a similar gesture, and the dryad looked a bit scandalized before disappearing in a green poof of mist. I snickered.
“What?”
“You just flipped off a dryad!” I wheezed.
Ziya snorted. “Well, what else was I supposed to do? Say, ‘Sorry about Puff, he’s got indigestion’?” I burst out laughing. It took a minute before I managed to calm down enough to look at the wiring.
It was ingenious, definitely, and it made sense to me. This was the motor control relay. This processed sensory input from the eyes. This disk…
“Ah ha,” I said. “Well, no wonder.”
Creak? the dragon asked with its jaw.
“You’ve got a corroded control disk. Probably regulates your higher reasoning circuits, right? Rusty brain, man. No wonder you’re a little… confused.” I just barely caught myself from saying crazy. “I wish I had a replacement disk, but… this is a complicated piece of circuitry. I’m gonna have to take it out and clean it. Only be a minute.” I pulled out the disk and the dragon went absolutely still, the glow dying in its eyes. I slid off its back and began polishing the disk.
I mopped up some oil and Tabasco sauce with my sleeve, which helped cut through the grime. Ziya peeked over my shoulder to see what I was doing and grimaced as the cleaning revealed the damaged circuits.
“That doesn’t look good.”
“It’s not,” I admitted. “Some of the circuits are beyond repair. I can make it better, but not perfect. For that, I’d need a completely new disk, and I have no idea how to build one.”
“Hm. Well, do what you can, and we’ll worry about the rest later,” Ziya said with a reassuring smile.
“You’re really good at that,” I said, trying to work quickly. I wasn’t sure how long the dragon’s control disk could be off without damaging it—maybe forever—but I didn’t want to take chances.
“Good at what?”
“Making people feel better,” I said simply. I climbed back up to the dragon’s head and started cleaning the wiring and gearboxes, getting myself filthy in the process.
“Clean hands, dirty equipment,” I muttered, something my mom used to say. By the time I was through, my hands were black with grease and my clothes looked like I’d just lost a mud-wrestling contest, but the mechanisms looked a lot better. I slipped in the disk, connected the last wire, and sparks flew. The dragon shuddered and its eyes began to glow.
“Better?” I asked.
The dragon made a sound like a high-speed drill. It opened its mouth and all its teeth rotated.
“I guess that's a ‘yes’. Hold on, we’ll free you.”
Ziya joined in the thirty minute process of finding the release clamps for the net and untangling the dragon, but finally it stood and shook the last bit of netting off its back. It roared triumphantly and shot fire at the sky.
“Seriously,” Ziya said. “Could you not show off? You’re going to bring the Mars kids screaming bloody murder.”
Creak? the dragon asked.
“You need a name,” I decided. “I’m calling you Festus.” Ziya snorted. “What?”
She waved me off and tapped her collarbone. “Nothing.”
“Ohh-kayy.”
The dragon whirred its teeth and grinned. At least I hoped it was a grin. “Cool. But we still have a problem, because you don’t have wings.”
Festus tilted his head and snorted steam. Then he lowered his back in an unmistakable gesture. He wanted us to climb on.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
But I was too excited to wait for an answer. I climbed onto the dragon’s back, Ziya close behind with an exasperated/amused eye roll, and Festus bounded off into the woods.
~*~
I lost track of time and all sense of direction. It seemed impossible the woods could be so deep and wild, but the dragon traveled until the trees were like skyscrapers and the canopy of leaves completely blotted out the stars. Even the flashlight couldn’t have lit the way, but the dragon’s glowing red eyes acted like headlights.
Finally we crossed a stream and came to a dead end, a limestone cliff a hundred feet tall—a solid, sheer mass the dragon couldn’t possibly climb.
Festus stopped at the base and lifted one leg like a dog pointing.
“What is it?” I slid to the ground, Ziya stayed on the dragon’s back completely engrossed in examining the seams in the dragon’s hide. I walked up to the cliff— nothing but solid rock. The dragon kept pointing.
“It’s not going to move out of your way,” I told him.
The loose wire in the dragon’s neck sparked, but otherwise he stayed still. I put my hand on the cliff. Suddenly my fingers smoldered, and lines of fire spread from my fingertips like ignited gunpowder, sizzling across the limestone. The burning lines raced across the cliff face until they had outlined a glowing red door five times as tall as me. I backed up, glancing at Ziya. She was still focused on Festus’ scales; she hadn’t seen anything. I looked back at the cliff and the door swung open, disturbingly silent for such a big slab of rock.
“Perfectly balanced,” I muttered. “That’s some first-rate engineering.”
The dragon unfroze, bringing Ziya back to Earth, and marched inside as if he were coming home.
I stepped through, and the door began to close. For a moment I panicked—What if I got locked in here again? What if Ziya got hurt? What if—
And then the lights flickered on—a combination of electric fluorescents and wall-mounted torches. When I saw the cavern, I forgot about leaving.
Ziya slid off Festus' back, landing on her feet next to me. “Festus,” she muttered. “What is this place?”
The dragon stomped to the center of the room, leaving tracks in the thick dust, and curled up on a large circular platform.
The cave was the size of an airplane hangar, with endless work tables and storage cages, rows of garage-sized doors along either wall, and staircases that led up to a network of catwalks high above. Equipment was everywhere—hydraulic lifts, welding torches, hazard suits, air-spades, forklifts, plus something that looked suspiciously like a nuclear reaction chamber. Bulletin boards were covered with tattered, faded blueprints. And weapons, armor, shields—war supplies all over the place, a lot of them only partially finished.
Hanging from chains far above the dragon’s platform was an old tattered banner almost too faded to read. The letters were Greek, but I somehow knew what they said: Bunker 9.
Did that mean nine as in the Hephaestus cabin, or nine as in there were eight others? I looked at Festus, still curled up on the platform. Oh. He is home.
“Do the other kids know…?” Ziya’s question died as she asked it. Clearly, this place had been abandoned for decades. Cobwebs and dust covered everything. The floor revealed no footprints except for ours and the huge pawprints of the dragon. We were the first ones in this bunker since… since a long time ago. Bunker 9 had been abandoned with a lot of projects half finished on the tables. Locked up and forgotten. But why?
“Leo, come look at this.” I looked over at Ziya, who was examining a map on the wall—a battle map of camp, but the paper was as cracked and yellow as onion skin. “Is that supposed to be a year?”
“1864,” I said. “Civil War.”
“Damn.”
Then I spotted a blueprint on a nearby bulletin board, and my heart almost leaped out of my throat. I ran to the worktable, Ziya close behind, and stared up at a white-line drawing almost faded beyond recognition: a Greek ship from several different angles. Faintly scrawled words underneath it read: prophecy? Unclear. Flight?
It was the ship I’d seen in my dreams—the flying ship. Someone had tried to build it here, or at least sketched out the idea. Then it was left, forgotten… a prophecy yet to come. And weirdest of all, the ship’s masthead was exactly like the one I had drawn when I was five—the head of a dragon. “Looks like you, Festus,” I murmured. “That’s creepy.”
I glanced over at Ziya, and for a moment, her eyes looked gold in the torch light. And then she was reaching out to touch the paper. It crackled under her fingertips.
“We should probably leave that alone,” I said.
“Right.”
The whole abandoned bunker gave me an uneasy feeling, the masthead especially, but my mind spun with too many other questions to think about it for long. I looked around for other clues. No boats. No pieces that looked like parts of this project, but there were so many doors and storerooms to explore.
Festus snorted like he was trying to get my attention, reminding me we didn’t have all night. It was true. Morning would come in only a few hours, and I’d gotten completely sidetracked. Ziya and I had saved the dragon, but it wasn’t going to help us on the quest. We needed something that would fly.
Festus nudged something towards me—a leather tool belt that had been left next to his construction pad. Then the dragon switched on his glowing red eye beams and turned them toward the ceiling. I looked up to where the spotlights were pointing, and yelped when I recognized the shapes hanging above us in the darkness.
“Ziya,” I said in a small voice. “We’ve got work to do.”
Ziya raised her hand slightly. “I don’t know anything about engineering.”
“I could probably teach you a little bit.”
“Or…” Ziya walked back towards the front of the bunker. “I could read this.” She held up a book titled ‘Engineering for Beginners and Idiots’.
“That works.” I set to work, getting Festus’ wings down from the rafters.
In the meantime, Ziya changed her bandages before plopping down on a couch and reading.
A few hours later, I pulled myself out of my head long enough to notice that Ziya had drifted off, the book splayed out on the ground, open about three quarters of the way through.
I smiled softly. I marked the page for Ziya to pick up where she left off whenever she woke up and grabbed a blanket that was covering a random project. I dusted off the blanket and made sure she was comfortable.
I couldn’t help but watch her snore softly, and an idea sparked.
“I wonder…” I looked down at my belt. “Can I have a sharpie?”
One of the pockets produced a marker, and an evil grin spread across my face.
Notes:
Thanks again for reading! Happy Wednesday!
Chapter 19: Happy the Dragon
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Summary:
“What’s on your face?”
I slowly turned to Leo. “What the fuck did you do.”
Notes:
I remember writing this a few weeks ago, and it was so difficult to start it 🥲. Now I’m having the same problem with the last 2-3 chapters of this installment. Time really flies, huh?
This chapter is from Ziya’s POV.
Word Count: 1145
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
The thing about riding a giant metal dragon is that it’s a good idea in theory, but in practice, it makes your ass sore as hell . At least Festus, a.k.a. Happy, kept that ass warm.
I spotted Piper on the grass, looking both shocked and pissed. “Leo?! ZIYA?!”
Before the aforementioned dragon even landed on the green, the conch alarm went off and fauns ran around screaming, “Don’t kill me!” Half the camp ran outside in their pajamas, still putting on armor.
As Festus landed, the Apollo cabin aimed at the mass of metal. “Don’t shoot!” Leo yelled hastily. “It’s cool!”
Hesitantly, the archers lowered their bows. The warriors backed away, keeping their spears and swords ready. They made a loose, wide ring around Festus. Other demigods hid behind their cabin doors or peeped out the windows. Nobody seemed anxious to get close.
To be honest, I was a little on their side. Festus was fucking scary , dude. He glistened in the morning sun like a living penny sculpture—all different shades of copper and bronze—a sixty-foot-long serpent with steel talons and drill-bit teeth and glowing ruby eyes. The second he appeared out of the woods I nearly shit my pants. And then he almost barbequed Leo, which would have majorly sucked.
And then, because he had to fly to be effective, Leo stuck on bat-shaped wings twice his length that unfurled like metallic sails, making a sound like coins cascading out of a slot machine every time they flapped.
“It’s beautiful,” Piper muttered.
“Damn right he is!” I said.
Festus reared his head and shot a column of fire into the sky. Campters scrambled away and hefted their weapons, but Leo slid calmly off the dragon’s back. I followed suit, only stumbling slightly, and already dreading having to get back on.
Leo held up his hands like he was surrendering, except he still had that crazy grin of his.
“People of Earth, I come in peace!” he shouted. I snorted.
He looked like he’d been rolling around in a campfire. His army coat and face were smeared with soot, his hands grease-stained, and his new tool belt around his waist. His eyes were bloodshot from staying up all night, and his curly hair was so oily it stuck up in porcupine quills. And he smelled strongly of oil and Tabasco sauce. But he looked absolutely delighted. “Festus is just saying hello!”
“That thing is dangerous!” A Mars girl shouted, brandishing her spear. “Kill it now!”
“Stand down!” someone ordered.
Jason pushed through the crowd, flanked by Annabeth and Leo’s sister, Nyssa.
Jason gazed up at the dragon and shook his head in amazement. “What have you two done?”
“Oh, please, Leo did all the work,” I said. He smiled wide.
“We found a ride! You said I could go on the quest if I got you a ride. Well, I got you a class-A metallic flying bad boy! Festus can take us anywhere!”
“It—has wings,” Nyssa stammered. Her jaw looked like it might drop off her face.
“Yeah,” I said as nonchalant as I could. “We found ‘em and Leo reattached them.”
“But it never had wings. Where did you find them?”
Leo hesitated. “In the woods,” he said, sticking to the agreed-upon plan of showing off the bunker after we save the world. “Repaired his circuits, too, mostly, so no more problems with him going haywire.”
“Mostly?” Nyssa asked.
Festus’ head twitched. It tilted to one side and a stream of black liquid—maybe oil, hopefully just oil—poured out of its ear and all over Leo. “Just a few kinks to work out,” he said, wiping sludge out of his eyes.
“But how did you survive…?” Nyssa was still staring at Festus in awe. “I mean, the fire breath…”
“Leo’s—"
“I’m quick,” Leo said with a nervous grin. I furrowed my brows. “And lucky. Now, am I on this quest, or what?”
Jason scratched his head. “You named him Festus? You know that in Latin, ‘festus’ means ‘happy’? You want us to ride off to save the world on Happy the Dragon?”
Leo looked over his shoulder at me. “Did you know this?” I shrugged, smiling slightly. The dragon twitched and shuddered and flapped his wings. “That’s a yes, bro! Now, um, I’d really suggest we get going, guys. Ziya and I already picked up some supplies in the—um, in the woods. And all these people with weapons are making Festus nervous.”
Jason frowned. “But we haven’t planned anything yet. We can’t just—"
“Go,” Annabeth said. She was the only person who didn’t look nervous at all. Her expression was sad and wistful, like this reminded her of better times. “Jason, you’ve only got three days until the solstice now, and you should never keep a nervous dragon waiting. This is certainly a good omen. Go!”
Jason nodded and turned to Piper. “You ready, partner?”
Piper looked at the bronze dragon nervously. “You bet.” She stared at me.
“What?”
“What’s on your face?”
I whipped around to look at Festus' reflective scales. A handlebar mustache, a monocle, and a sharpie monobrow had been scribbled onto my face, and a streak of oil covered my right cheek. I slowly turned to Leo. “What the fuck did you do.”
He quickly scrambled onto Festus. “I don’t know what you’re talking about!”
“Bullshit!” I followed him up, Piper quickly behind me, and Jason after her.
“Don’t worry, I’ve got wet wipes in my bag,” Piper said.
“Oh, I’m not worried or mad. I’m impressed.” Leo looked back at me nervously.
“Really?”
“Yeah. It takes guts to fuck with me. Congrats.” He grinned. “But if you ever do it again…”
“Yup, got it.”
Leo grabbed the reins, and Festus took off like a rocket. I shrieked and grabbed onto Leo’s waist.
It was a solid minute before I was able to breathe somewhat normally. “Bad flier?” Leo asked.
“Something like that.” It wasn’t that I didn’t trust Leo’s mechanical capabilities. It was that I only had a seat belt to stop me from falling to my death.
Ignoring the height, the view was pretty nice. Winter clouds stretched across the mid-morning horizon, soft and gray. In minutes, the coast of Long Island was just a hazy line behind us. Festus shot over Connecticut and climbed higher.
Leo grinned back at the other two. “Cool, right?”
“What if we get spotted?” Piper asked.
“The Mist,” Jason said. “It keeps mortals from seeing magic things. If they spot us, they’ll probably mistake us for a small plane or something.”
I glanced over my shoulder. “You sure about that?”
“...No,” he admitted.
I huffed and faced forward again, tightening my grip on Leo.
“Where are we heading?” Piper asked.
“To find the god of the North Wind,” Jason said. “And chase some storm spirits.”
Notes:
Thanks for reading!
(the urge to post everything I have written is so strong lmao)
Chapter 20: Be Still My Beating Heart… Seriously, Stop.
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Summary:
I hoped Ziya couldn’t feel me shaking.
Notes:
Happy Wednesday (even though it feels like a Monday)!
This chapter is from Leo’s POV (damn, already?).
CW: Canon Leo angst 🥲
Word Count: 1511
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
I was buzzing like I’d had three cups of coffee. The expressions on everyone’s faces when I flew the dragon into camp? Priceless! My cabinmates looked like they were going to bust a lug nut.
Festus had been awesome too, of course. He hadn’t blowtorched a single cabin or eaten any satyrs, even if he did dribble a little oil from his ear.
Okay, a lot of oil. I could fix that later.
And maybe I didn’t tell everybody about Bunker 9 or the flying boat design, and Ziya was no doubt going to bring up my “fire resistance” later.
I needed time to think. I could tell the others everything when we came back.
If we come back.
No, shut up. I’ve got a sweet magic tool belt from the bunker, a shit load of cool new supplies in my backpack, and a fire-breathing, only slightly leaky dragon on my side. What could possibly go wrong?
Well, the control disk could bust. Festus could eat you. Or Ziya.
You—
Yeah, the dragon wasn’t quite as fixed as I’d let on. I spent all night reattaching Festus’ wings, and I couldn’t find a single extra dragon brain anywhere.
But most of the circuits were good! I’d cleaned it pretty well; it should be enough to hold it together until we got back because we will make it back.
Yeah, but what if—
“Shut up , me.”
“What?” Ziya asked, face returned to its former unmarked beauty and arms still wrapped around my waist.
“Nothing,” I said, trying to keep my heart from busting out of my chest. “Long night. I think I’m hallucinating. It’s cool.”
“Do you need me to drive for a bit?”
“Nah, I’m just joking. All good.” I glanced back at Jason. “So what’s the plan? You said something about catching wind, or breaking wind, or something?”
As we flew over New England, Jason laid out the game plan: First, find some guy named Boreas and grill him for information—
“His name is Boreas ?” I had to ask. “What is he, the God of Boring?”
Second, Jason continued, we had to find those venti that attacked us at the Grand Canyon—
“Can we just call them storm spirits?” I asked. “ Venti makes them sound like evil espresso drinks.”
And third, Jason finished, we had to find out who the storm spirits worked for, so we could find Hera and free her.
“So you want to look for Dylan, the nasty storm dude, on purpose ,” I said. “The guy who threw Ziya and me off the skywalk and sucked Coach Hedge into the clouds.”
“You know, I wouldn’t mind. I’d like to knock him down a few pegs,” Ziya said, cracking her knuckles ‘threateningly’.
I laughed. “I think you already did with that knife shot.”
“That was so badass, right?”
“Anyway,” Jason cut in. “That’s the basic gist. Well… there may be a wolf involved, too. But I think she’s friendly. She probably won’t eat us, unless we show weakness.”
Jason shared his dream of the big nasty mother wolf and a burned-out house with stone spires growing out of the swimming pool. Ziya’s grip tightened.
“Uh-huh. But you don’t know where this place is,” I said.
“Nope.”
“There’s also giants,” Piper added. “The prophecy said ‘the giants’ revenge’.”
“Hold on,” I said. “Giants—like more than one? Why can’t it be just one giant who wants revenge?”
“I don’t think so,” Piper said. “I remember in some of the old Greek stories, there was something about an army of giants.”
“Oh, that sounds fun,” Ziya deadpanned.
“Yeah. Of course with our luck it’s a freaking army. Do you know anything else about these giants? Didn’t you do a bunch of myth research for that movie with your dad?”
“Your dad’s an actor?” Jason asked.
I laughed. “I keep forgetting about your amnesia. Heh. Forgetting about amnesia. That’s funny.” Ziya lightly tapped my arm. “But yeah, her dad’s Tristan McLean.”
“Uh—sorry, what was he in?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Piper said quickly. “The giants—well, there were lots of giants in Greek mythology. But if I’m thinking of the right ones, they were bad news. Huge, almost impossible to kill. They could throw mountains and stuff. I think they were related to the Titans. They rose from the earth after Kronos lost the war—I mean the first Titan war, thousands of years ago—and they tried to destroy Olympus. If we’re talking about the same giants—"
“Chiron said it was happening again.” Ziya’s voice was a hushed whisper, but we were still able to hear her clearly. “The last chapter. That’s what he meant. No wonder he didn’t want us to know all the details.” She leaned further into me.
I whistled. “So… giants who can throw mountains. Friendly wolves that will eat us if we show weakness. Evil espresso drinks. Gotcha. Maybe this isn’t the time to bring up my psycho babysitter.”
“Is that another joke?” Piper asked.
I told them about Tía Callida, who was really Hera, and how she’d appeared at camp.
I didn’t bring up my ‘talent’ with fire.
I didn’t tell them the truth about my mom’s death.
I told them the machine shop collapsed with her inside, and the strange sleeping woman in earthen clothes who seemed to know the future. For a brief second, Ziya’s fingers dug into my sides. I didn’t look back at the others. This was already hard enough.
Ziya fully hugged me, burying her face in my shoulder. The pure understanding nearly broke down the emotional wall I’d built.
The whole of Massachusetts passed below us before anyone else spoke.
“That’s… disturbing,” Piper said.
“‘Bout sums it up,” I agreed. “Thing is, everybody says don’t trust Hera. She hates demigods. And the prophecy said we’d cause death if we unleash her rage. So I’m wondering… why are we doing this?”
“She chose us,” Jason said. “All four of us. We’re the first of the eight who have to gather for the Great Prophecy. This quest is the beginning of something much bigger.”
That didn’t make me feel better.
But, I couldn’t argue with Jason’s point. It did feel like this was the start of something huge. I just wished the four other demigods would show up sooner rather than later.
“Besides,” Jason continued, “helping Hera is the only way I can get back my memory. And that dark spire in my dream seemed to be feeding on Hera’s energy. If that thing unleashes a king of the giants by destroying Hera—"
“Not a good trade-off,” Piper agreed. “At least Hera is on our side—mostly. Losing her would throw the gods into chaos. She’s the main one who keeps peace in the family. And a war with the giants could be even more destructive than the Titan War.”
Jason nodded. “Chiron also talked about worse forces stirring on the solstice, with it being a good time for dark magic and all—something that could awaken if Hera were sacrificed on that day. And this mistress who’s controlling the storm spirits, the one who wants to kill all the demigods—"
“Might be that weird sleeping lady,” I finished. “Dirt Woman fully awake? Not something I want to see.”
“But who is she?” Jason asked. “And what does she have to do with giants?”
Good questions. No answers.
Part of me wondered if it was a good thing, sharing so much. I’d never told anyone about that night, and even the half-truth felt like I’d opened up my chest and taken out all the gears that made me tick.
I hoped Ziya couldn’t feel me shaking.
‘The forge and dove shall break the cage’. The prophecy line was pretty obvious in my opinion—Piper and I would have to figure out how to break into that magic rock prison, assuming we could find it. Then we’d unleash Hera’s rage, causing a lot of death. That sounded like fun! Tía Callida in action meant knives, snakes, and putting babies in roaring fires.
Yeah, let’s definitely unleash her rage. Great idea.
Festus kept flying. The wind got colder, and below us snowy forests seemed to go on forever. I wasn’t sure exactly where Quebec was, but I’d told Festus to take us to the palace of Boreas, and Festus kept going north. Hopefully, the dragon knew the way and we wouldn’t end up at the North Pole.
I yawned for the third time in a minute. “Why don’t you get some sleep?” Ziya said in my ear. “You were up all night.”
I wanted to protest, but the word sleep sounded really good. “You won’t let me fall off?”
She patted my shoulder. “Trust me, Valdez. Would I ever lie to you?”
“Yes.”
She laughed. “I won’t let you fall. Promise.”
“Okay.” I started to lean forward, intending to sleep on Festus’ neck, but a hand gently pulled me back to rest on Ziya. I was too tired to be flustered, and in seconds I fell asleep listening to her steady heartbeat.
Notes:
Thanks for reading! 💖
Chapter 21: Snow Miser Jrs.
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Summary:
Something hot burned in my stomach and crept up my throat. I was tempted to blow my cover and melt Zethes into a puddle.
Notes:
We just placed 3rd at WGI regional prelims!! We’ve got finals tomorrow 😅😮💨 Anyway, enjoy!
CW: Zethes
This chapter is from Leo’s POV.
Word Count: 1411
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
It seemed like I slept for only seconds, but when Ziya gently shook me awake, the daylight was already fading.
“We’re here.”
I rubbed the gunk out of my eyes. Below us, a city sat on a cliff overlooking a river. The plains around it were dusted with snow, but the city itself glowed warmly in the winter sunset. Buildings crowded together inside high walls like a medieval town, way older than any place I’d seen before. In the center was an actual castle— at least I assumed it was a castle— with massive red brick walls and a square tower with a peaked, green gabled roof.
“Tell me that’s Quebec and not Santa’s workshop,” I said.
“Why? Worried the old man’s gonna complain about you not being in to work this close to Christmas?” Ziya teased. I stuck out my tongue.
“Yeah, that’s Quebec City,” Piper said. “One of the oldest cities in North America. Founded around sixteen hundred or so?”
I raised an eyebrow. “Your dad do a movie about that too?”
She made a face, which didn’t quite work with her new glamorous makeup. “I read sometimes, okay?”
“Yeah, sure,” Ziya said. “But why a city in Canada ?”
Piper tried to glare at her. “Just because Aphrodite claimed me, doesn’t mean I have to be an airhead.”
“Feisty!” I said. “If you know so much, what’s with the castle?”
“I think it’s a hotel, actually.”
I laughed. “There’s no way.”
But as we flew closer, I saw she was right. The grand entrance was bustling with doormen, valets, and porters taking bags. Sleek black luxury cars idled in the drive. People in elegant suits and winter cloaks hurried to get out of the cold.
“The North Wind is staying in a hotel?” I said. “That can’t be—"
“Heads up, guys,” Ziya interrupted. “We’ve got company!”
I looked up and saw two figures rise from the top of the tower. The winged figures looked like angry angels, with nasty-looking swords.
Festus didn’t like the angels. He swooped to a halt in midair, wings beating and talons bared, and made a rumbling sound in his throat that I recognized. Fire.
“Steady, boy,” I muttered, putting a hand on his neck. Something about the angels said they would not take kindly to getting torched.
“I don’t like this,” Jason said. “They look like storm spirits.”
“No, they’re more solid than venti ,” Ziya said. “I mean, they almost look like regular teenagers— except for the white hair and purple wings. And the swords.”
I squinted at the angels. How was she able to make out that much detail?
As they flew closer, I saw that Ziya was right. Icy hair, purple wings, and icicle-looking swords. Their faces were really similar, too. Enough to be siblings, but not twins.
One was the size of an ox, with a bright red hockey jersey, baggy sweatpants, and black leather cleats. The guy clearly had been in too many fights, because he had two black eyes and several missing teeth from his open-mouthed growl.
The other guy looked like he’d just stepped off of a 1980s rock album cover. His ice-white hair was long and feathered into a mullet. He wore pointy-toed leather shoes, designer pants that were way too tight, and a god-awful silk shirt with the top three buttons open. Maybe he thought he looked like a groovy love god, but the guy couldn’t have weighed more than ninety pounds soaking wet. The bad case of acne wasn’t helping him either.
The angels pulled up in front of the dragon and hovered there, swords at the ready.
The hockey ox grunted. “No clearance.”
“‘Scuse me?” I said.
“You have no flight plan on file,” explained the groovy love god in a horrendously fake French accent. I kinda felt bad for the French. “This is restricted airspace.”
“Destroy them?” The ox showed off his gap-toothed grin.
Festus began to hiss steam, ready to defend us. Jason summoned his golden sword, and Ziya’s hand drifted to her hip.
“Hold on!” I said. “Let’s have some manners here, boys. Can I at least find out who has the honor of destroying me?”
“I am Cal!” the ox grunted. He looked very proud of himself, like he’d taken a long time to memorize that sentence.
“That’s short for Calais,” the love god said. “Sadly, my brother cannot say words with more than two syllables—"
“Pizza! Hockey! Destroy!” Cal offered.
"—which includes his own name,” the love god finished.
“I am Cal,” Cal repeated. “And this is Zethes! My brother!”
“Wow,” I said. “That was almost three sentences, man! Way to go.”
Cal grunted, obviously pleased with himself.
“Stupid buffoon,” his brother grumbled. “They make fun of you.”
Ziya lightly smacked the back of my head. “Sorry about that. We’re trying to train him to keep his sarcastic comments to himself.”
“It’s no matter. I am Zethes, which is short for Zethes. And the ladies there—" He winked at Piper and Ziya, but it looked more like a facial seizure. “You are welcome to call me anything you like. Perhaps you two would like to have dinner with a famous demigod before we must destroy you?”
Something hot burned in my stomach and crept up my throat. I was tempted to blow my cover and melt Zethes into a puddle.
Piper made a sound like she was gagging on a cough drop. “That’s… a truly horrifying offer.”
“Oh, uh… thanks, but I don’t really go on—" Ziya gagged, "—dates with someone who’s planning to kill me.”
“It is no problem.” Zethes wiggled his eyebrows. “We are a very romantic people, we Boreads.”
“Boreads?” Jason cut in. “Do you mean, like, the sons of Boreas?”
“Ah, so you’ve heard of us!” Zethes looked pleased. “We are our father’s gatekeepers. So you understand, we cannot have unauthorized people flying in his airspace on creaky dragons, scaring the silly mortal peoples.”
He pointed below at the mortals that were starting to take notice. Several were pointing up— not with alarm, yet— more with confusion and annoyance, like the dragon was a traffic helicopter flying too low.
“Which is sadly why, unless this is an emergency landing,” Zethes said, brushing hair out of his acne-covered face, “we will have to destroy you painfully.”
“Destroy!” Cal agreed, with a little more enthusiasm than I thought was necessary.
“Wait!” Ziya said. “This is an emergency landing!”
“Awww!” Cal looked so disappointed, I almost felt sorry for him.
Zethes studied Ziya, which of course he’d already been doing. “How does the pretty girl decide this is an emergency, then?” My stomach burned hot again.
“We have to see Boreas. It’s totally urgent! Please?” Piper forced a smile, which I figured must have been killing her; no one wants to flirt with creepy guys, but she still had the Blessing of Aphrodite which worked both with and against her in this scenario. Something about her voice, too— I found myself believing every word. Jason was nodding, looking absolutely convinced.
Zethes picked at his silk shirt, probably making sure it was still open wide enough. “Well… I hate to disappoint such lovely ladies, but you see, my sister, she would have an avalanche if we allowed you—"
“And our dragon is malfunctioning!” Ziya added. I shot her a glare. “It could crash any minute!” Festus shuddered helpfully, then turned his head and spilled gunk out of his ear, splattering a black Mercedes in the parking lot below.
“No destroy?” Cal whimpered.
Zethes pondered the problem. Then he gave Ziya and Piper another spasmodic wink. “Well, you two are pretty. I mean, you’re right . A malfunctioning dragon— this could be an emergency.”
“Destroy them later?” Cal offered, which was probably as close to friendly as he ever got.
“It will take some explaining,” Zethes decided. “Father had not been kind to visitors lately. But, yes. Come, faulty dragon people. Follow us.”
The Boreads sheathed their swords and pulled out some flashlights with orange cones, like the ones traffic controller guys use on a runway. Cal and Zethes turned and swooped toward the hotel’s tower.
I turned to my friends. “I love these guys. Follow them?”
The others didn’t look eager.
“It’s not like we have a choice,” Ziya said.
“Yeah,” Jason agreed. “Besides, we’re here now. But I wonder why Boreas hasn’t been kind to visitors.”
I scoffed. “He just hasn’t met us.” I whistled. “Festus, after those flashlights!”
Notes:
Thanks for reading!
Chapter 22: Aww, I Have Friends!
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Summary:
“Back. Off.”
Notes:
We’re, like, four hits away from 550. I— Whomst?! Love you all so much!
This chapter is from Leo’s POV.
Word Count: 1622
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
As Festus flew closer, I was slightly worried we’d crash into the tower. The Boreads made right for the green gabled peak and didn’t slow down. Then a section of the slanted roof slid open, revealing an entrance easily wide enough for Festus. The top and bottom were lined with icicles like jagged teeth.
“This cannot be good,” Jason muttered, but I spurred the dragon downward, and we swooped in after the Boreads.
We landed in what must have been the penthouse suite, but the place had been hit by a flash freeze. The entry hall had vaulted ceilings forty feet high, huge draped windows, and lush oriental carpets. A staircase at the back of the room led up to another equally massive hall, and more corridors branched off to the left and right. But the ice made the room’s beauty a little frightening. When I slid off the dragon, the carpet crunched under my feet.
A fine layer of frost covered the furniture. The curtains didn’t budge because they were frozen solid, and the ice-coated windows let in weird watery light from the sunset. Even the ceiling was furry with icicles. As for the stairs, I was one hundred percent certain I’d slip and break my neck if I tried to climb them.
“Guys,” I said, “fix the thermostat in here, and I would totally move in.”
“Not me.” Jason looked uneasily at the staircase. “Something feels wrong. Something up there…”
Festus shuddered and snorted flames. Frost started to form on his scales.
“No, no, no.” Zethes marched over, though how he could walk in those pointy leather shoes, I had no idea. “The dragon must be deactivated. We can’t have fire in here. The heat ruins my hair.”
“He purposefully styles his hair like that?” Ziya snickered.
Festus growled and spun his drill-bit teeth. “‘S’okay, boy.” I turned to Zethes. “The dragon’s a little touchy about the whole deactivation concept. But I’ve got a better solution.”
“Destroy?” Cal suggested.
“No, dude. You gotta stop with the ‘destroy’ talk. Just wait.”
“Leo?” Ziya questioned. “What are you—"
“Watch and learn, Angel. When I was repairing Festus last night, I found all kinds of buttons. Some, you do not want to know what they do. But others… Ah, here we go.”
I hooked my fingers behind the dragon’s left foreleg. I pulled a switch, and the dragon shuddered from head to tail. Everyone backed away as Festus folded like origami, his bronze plating stacking together. His neck and tail contracted into his body. His wings collapsed and his trunk compacted until he was a rectangular metal wedge the size of a suitcase.
I tried to lift it, but the thing weighed about six billion pounds. “Um… yeah. Hold on. I think— aha.”
I pushed another button. A handle flipped up on the top and wheels clicked out on the bottom. “Ta-da! The world’s heaviest carry-on bag!”
“That’s impossible!” Ziya said, smiling wide. “Something that big couldn’t—"
“Stop!” Zethes ordered. He and Cal both drew their swords and glared at me.
I raised my hands. “Okay… what’d I do? Stay calm, guys. If it bothers you that much, I don’t have to take the dragon as carry-on—"
“Who are you?” Zethes shoved the point of his sword against my chest. “A child of the South Wind, spying on us?”
“What? No! Son of Hephaestus, friendly blacksmith, no harm to anyone!”
Cal growled. He put his face up to mine, and he definitely wasn’t any prettier at point-blank, with his bruised eyes and bashed-in mouth. “Smell fire,” he said. “Fire is bad.”
Shit. My heart raced. “Yeah, well… my clothes are kind of singed, and I’ve been working with oil, and—"
“No!” Zethes pushed me back at sword point. “We can smell fire, demigod. We assumed it was from the creaky dragon, but now the dragon is a suitcase. And I still smell fire… on you .”
“Hey, look… I don’t know—" I glanced at Ziya. “A little help?”
Jason already had his gold coin in his hand. He stepped forward, his eyes on Zethes. “Look, there’s been a mistake. Leo isn’t a fire guy. Tell them, Leo. Tell them you’re not a fire guy.”
“Um…”
“Zethes?” Piper tried her dazzling smile again, though she looked a little too nervous and cold to pull it off. “We’re all friends here. Put down your swords and let’s talk.”
“The girl is pretty,” Zethes admitted, “and of course she cannot help being attracted to my amazingness; but sadly, I cannot romance her at this time.” He poked the sword point farther into my chest. I could feel the frost spreading across my shirt. My skin numbed.
“Destroy him now?” Cal asked his brother.
Zethes nodded. “Sadly, I think—"
A bronze knife cut his cheek, and in the next second, Ziya had another knife at Zethes’ throat. “Back. Off,” she growled. The first knife had flown across the room, impaling a wooden dresser next to the staircase.
Holy shit, that’s hot.
Zethes slowly backed away, motioning for Cal to follow him. Ziya stood in front of me, following them with the knife.
“Leo’s a son of Hephaestus,” Jason said. “Ziya’s unclaimed, Piper’s a daughter of Aphrodite, I’m the son of Zeus. We’re on a peaceful…”
Jason’s voice faltered, because both Boreads had suddenly turned on him.
“What did you say?” Zethes demanded. “You are the son of Zeus?”
“Um… yeah,” Jason said. “That’s a good thing, right? My name is Jason.”
Cal looked so surprised, he almost dropped his sword. “Can’t be Jason,” he said. “Doesn’t look the same.”
Zethes stepped forward and squinted at Jason’s face. “No, he is not our Jason. Our Jason was more stylish. Not as much as me— but stylish. Besides, our Jason died millenia ago.”
“Wait,” Jason said. “ Your Jason… you mean the original Jason? The Golden Fleece guy?”
“Of course,” Zethes said. “We were his crewmates aboard his ship, the Argo , in the old times, when we were mortal demigods. Then we accepted immortality to serve our father, so I could look this good for all time, and my silly brother could enjoy pizza and hockey.”
“Hockey!” Al agreed.
“But Jason— our Jason— he died a mortal death,” Zethes said. “You can’t be him.”
“I’m not,” Jason agreed.
“So, destroy?” Cal asked. Clearly the conversation was giving his two brain cells a serious workout.
“No,” Zethes said regretfully. “If he is a son of Zeus, he could be the one we’ve been watching for.”
“Watching for?” I asked. “You mean like in a good way: you’ll shower him with fabulous prizes? Or in a bad way: he’s in trouble?”
A girl’s voice said, “That depends on my father’s will.”
I looked up the staircase. My heart nearly stopped. At the top stood a girl in a white silk dress. Her skin was unnaturally pale, almost the color of snow, but her hair was a lush mane of black, and her eyes were coffee brown. Where Ziya was a warm summer’s night, she was a cold winter day.
She focused on me with no expression, no smile, no friendliness. But it didn’t matter. She was one of the most dazzling girls I’d ever seen.
Then she looked at the others, and seemed to understand the situation immediately. “Father will want to see the one called Jason.”
“Then it is him?” Zethes asked excitedly, a trickle of gold blood running down his face.
“We’ll see,” the girl said with a soft French accent (much prettier than Zethes’). “Zethes, bring our guests.”
I grabbed the handle of the bronze dragon suitcase. I wasn’t sure how I’d lug it up the stairs, but I had to get next to that girl and ask her some important questions— like her email and phone number.
Before I could talk a step, she froze me with a look. Not literally froze, but she might as well have.
“Not you, Leo Valdez,” she said.
In the back of my mind, I wondered how she knew my name; but mostly I was just concentrating on how crushed I felt.
“Why not?” I probably sounded like a whiny kindergartner, but I couldn’t help it.
“You cannot be in the presence of my father,” the girl said. “Fire and ice— it would not be wise. Ziya Rayyan… that might be troublesome, but manageable.”
Her knowing Ziya’s name somehow bothered me more than her knowing my own.
“We’re going together,” Jason insisted, putting his hand on my shoulder, “or not at all.”
The girl tilted her head, like she wasn’t used to people refusing her orders. “He will not be harmed, Jason Grace, unless you make trouble. Calais, keep Leo Valdez here. Guard him, but do not kill him.”
Cal pouted. “Just a little?”
“No,” the girl insisted. “And take care of his… interesting suitcase, until Father passes judgment.”
Ziya still had her knife in hand as she, Piper, and Jason looked back at me. How do you want to play this?
A warmth settled over my heart. They were ready to fight for me. They wouldn’t leave me alone with the hockey ox. Part of me wanted to go for it, bust out my new tool belt and see what I could do. Maybe even summon a fireball or two and warm this place up. But the Boread guys were terrifying. That gorgeous girl even more so, though I still wanted her number.
“It’s fine, guys,” I said. “No sense causing trouble if we don’t have to. You go ahead.”
“Listen to your friend,” the pale girl said. “Leo Valdez will be perfectly safe. I wish I could say the same for you, son of Zeus. Now come, King Boreas is waiting.”
Notes:
Thanks for reading!! 💖
Chapter 23: The OG Snow Miser
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Notes:
How did we jump from 530 to 590 in three days. I’m on spring break, but I still have stuff due so… yay /sarcastic.
This chapter is from Ziya’s POV.
Word Count: 2021
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Based on the temperature alone, I’m pretty sure staying with Leo and Cal the hockey jock was the least dangerous option in this place.
As we climbed the staircase, Zethes followed with his blade drawn. He might have looked like a disco reject, but there was nothing funny about his sword (or blatant, creepy ‘flirting’).
And then there was the ice princess. She knew all our names, separated Leo from the rest of us, and every once in a while, she’d turn and give Jason a cold smile, or Piper a frigid sneer, or glare at me with the force of a thousand blizzards.
If these were the north god’s kids, I did not want to meet Papa Snow.
Annabeth told Jason the North Wind was the friendliest of the wind gods. Her term of ‘friendly’ must be flexible. My guess was that at minimum we’d get to talk to the guy before getting skewered.
Jason gently grabbed Piper’s hand. Oop.
She raised her eyebrows, but didn’t let go. “It’ll be fine,” she promised. “Just a talk, right?”
Just a talk.
At the top of the stairs, Ice Princess looked back and noticed them holding hands. Her smile faded and her eyes flashed white. They let go instantly, hands curling with steam.
“Warmth is not a good idea here,” she advised, glancing scathingly at me, “especially when I am your best chance of staying alive. Please, this way.”
We followed the princess down a massive hallway decked in frosty tapestries. Freezing winds blew back and forth across the hall. I shivered and zipped up my jacket.
At the end of the hallway, we found ourselves in front of a set of oak doors carved with a map of the world. In each corner, a man’s bearded face blew wind across the map. Unlike other versions I’d seen, all of the men were Winter, blowing ice and snow over the entire world.
The princess turned, brown eyes glittering as she regarded Jason like a particularly large Christmas present she was hoping to open.
“This is the throne room,” she said. “Be on your best behavior, Jason Grace. My father can be… chilly. I will translate for you, and try to encourage him to hear you out. I do hope he spares you. We could have such fun.”
“Um, okay,” Jason managed. “But really, we’re just here for a little talk. We’ll be leaving right afterward.”
The girl smiled. “I love heroes. So blissfully ignorant.”
My hand drifted to the knife sheaths at my waist.
“Well, how about you enlighten us?” Piper asked, hand also on her dagger. “You say you’re going to translate for us, and we don’t even know who you are. What’s your name?”
The girl sniffed with distaste. “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised you don’t recognize me. Even in ancient times the Greeks did not know me well. Their island homes were too warm, too far from my domain. I am Khione, daughter of Boreas, goddess of snow.”
She stirred the air with her finger, and a miniature blizzard swirled around her— big, fluffy flakes as soft as cotton.
Firelight flickered against rock walls. The shallow cave didn’t offer much protection from the howling wind or the snow that blew sideways. It might have been day or night. The storm made it too dark to tell.
“Now, come,” Khione said. The oaken door blew open, and cold blue light spilled out of the room. “Hopefully you will survive your little talk.”
~*~
If the entry hall had been cold, the throne room was like a meat locker.
A light mist filled the room, and our breaths hung in the air like smoke. Along the walls, purple tapestries showed scenes of snowy forests, barren mountains, and glaciers. High above, ribbons of colored light— the aurora borealis— pulsed along the ceiling. A layer of snow covered the floor. All around the room stood life-size ice sculpture warriors— some in Greek armor, some medieval, some in modern camouflage— all frozen in various attack positions, swords raised, guns locked and loaded.
At least, they looked like sculptures. Jason tried to step between two Greek spearmen, and they moved with surprising speed, their joints cracking and spraying ice crystals as they crossed their javelins to block his path.
From the far end of the hall, a man’s voice rang out in French. The ice guards uncrossed their javelins.
The room was so long and misty, it was a miracle I could see the other end. A man sat on a throne in a stylish white suit that seemed woven of ice and snow, with dark purple wings spread out to either side. His long hair and shaggy beard were encrusted with icicles. I wasn’t sure if he’d gone gray or if he was white from frost. His arched eyebrows made him look angry.
“It’s fine,” Khione said. “My father has ordered them not to kill you just yet.”
“Super,” Jason said.
Zethes prodded him in the back with his sword. “Keep moving, Jason Junior.”
“Please don’t call me that.”
“My father is not a patient man,” Zethes warned, “and the beautiful Piper, sadly, is losing her magic hairdo very fast. Later, perhaps, I can lend her something from my wide assortment of hair products.”
“Thanks,” Piper grumbled.
The mist parted, and I was able to see the man more clearly. He still looked angry, but his eyes twinkled more warmly than his daughter’s— as if he might have a sense of humor buried under the permafrost.
“ Bienvenu, ” the king said. “ Je suis Boreas le Roi. Et vous? ”
Khione opened her mouth to speak, but Piper stepped forward and curtsied.
“ Votre Majesté ," she said.
“ Vous parlez français? Très bien! ”
“Piper, you speak French?” I asked.
Piper frowned. “No. Why?”
“Because you just spoke French.”
Piper blinked. “I did?” The king said something else, and Piper nodded. “ Oui, Votre Majesté. ”
The king laughed and clapped his hands, obviously delighted. He said a few more sentences, then swept his hand toward his daughter as if shooing her away.
Khione looked miffed. “The king says—"
“He says I’m a daughter of Aphrodite,” Piper interrupted, “so naturally I can speak French, which is the language of love. I had no idea. His Majesty says Khione won’t have to translate now.”
Behind us, Zethes snorted, and Khione shot him a murderous look. She bowed stiffly to her father and took a step back.
Jason bowed. “Your Majesty, I’m Jason Grace. Thank you for, um, not killing us. May I ask… why does a Greek god speak French?”
Piper had another exchange with the king.
“He speaks the language of his host country,” Piper translated. “He says all gods do this. Most Greek gods speak English, as they now reside in the United States, but Boreas was never welcomed in their realm. His domain was always far to the north. These days he likes Quebec, so he speaks French.”
The king said something else, and Piper turned ashen.
“The king says…” She faltered. “He says—"
“Oh, allow me,” Khione said with a simpering smirk. “My father says he has orders to kill you. Did I not mention that earlier?”
I wished I’d taken time to dig my knife out of the wooden dresser. The king was still smiling amicably, like he’d just delivered great news.
“Kill us?” Jason said. “Why?”
“Because,” the king said in heavily accented English, “my lord Aeolus commanded it.”
The king rose. He stepped down from his throne and furled his wings against his back. As he approached, Khione and Zethes bowed. Jason, Piper, and I quickly followed suit.
“I shall deign to speak your language,” he said, “as Piper McLean had honored me in mine. Toujours , I have a fondness for the children of Aphrodite. As for you, Jason Grace, my master Aeolus would not expect me to kill a son of Zeus… without first hearing you out.”
I really wished I’d grabbed the other knife. If we had to fight, it was highly likely we’d end up popsicles. I was down to five knives against a god, two of his children, and an army of freeze-dried warriors.
“Aeolus is the master of the winds, right?” Jason asked. “Why would he want us dead?”
“You are demigods,” the king said, as if this explained everything. “Aeolus’ job is to contain the winds, and demigods have always caused him many headaches. They ask him for favors. They unleash winds and cause chaos. But the final insult was the battle with Typhon last summer…”
The king waved his hand, and a sheet of ice like a flat-screen TV appeared in the air. Images of a battle flickered across the surface— a giant wrapped in storm clouds, wading across a river toward a city skyline. Tiny, glowing figures— probably the gods— swarmed around him like angry wasps, pounding the monster with lightning and fire. Finally the river erupted in a massive whirlpool, and the smoky form sank beneath the waves and disappeared.
“The storm giant, Typhon,” the king explained. “The first time the gods defeated him, eons ago, he did not die quietly. His death released a host of storm spirits— wild winds that answered to no one. It was Aeolus’ job to track them all down and imprison them in his fortress. The other gods— they did not help. They did not even apologize for the inconvenience. It took Aeolus centuries to track down all the storm spirits, and naturally this irritated him. Then, last summer, Typhon was defeated again—"
“And his death released another wave of venti ,” Jason guessed. “Which made Aeolus even angrier.”
“ C’est vrai ,” the king agreed.
“But, Your Majesty,” I said, “the gods had no choice but to battle Typhon. He was going to destroy Olympus! Besides, why punish demigods for that?”
The king shrugged. “Aeolus cannot take out his anger on the gods. They are his bosses, and very powerful. So he gets even with the demigods who helped them in the war. He issued orders to us: demigods who come to us for aid are no longer to be tolerated. We are to crush your little mortal faces.”
There was an uncomfortable silence.
“That sounds… extreme,” Jason ventured. “But you’re not going to crush our faces yet, right? You’re going to listen to us first, ‘cause once you hear about our quest—"
“Yes, yes,” the king agreed. “You see, Aeolus also said that a son of Zeus might seek my aid, and if this happened, I should listen to you before destroying you, as you might— how did he put it?— make all our lives very interesting. I am only obligated to listen , however. After that, I am free to pass judgment as I see fit. But I will listen first. Khione wishes this also. It may be that we will not kill you.”
Jason breathed a sigh of relief. “Great. Thanks.”
“Do not thank me.” The king smiled. “There are many ways you could make our lives interesting. Sometimes we keep demigods for our amusement, as you can see.”
He gestured around the room to various ice statues.
Piper made a strangled noise. “You mean— they’re all demigods? Frozen demigods? They’re alive?”
“An interesting question,” the king conceded, as if it had never occurred to him before. “They do not move unless they are obeying my orders. The rest of the time, they are merely frozen. Unless they were to melt, I suppose, which would be very messy.”
Khione stepped behind Jason and put her fingers on his neck. “My father gives me such lovely presents,” she murmured in his ear. “Join our court. Perhaps I’ll let your friends go.”
“What?” Zethes broke in. “If Khione gets this one, then I deserve the girls! Khione always gets more presents!”
It felt like Zethes was dragging a claw down my spine.
“Now children,” the king said sternly. “Our guests will think you are spoiled! Besides, you moved too fast. We have not even heard the demigods’ story yet. Then we will decide what to do with them. Please, Jason Grace, entertain us.”
Notes:
Thanks for reading!
Chapter 24: Snow Miser 2
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Notes:
Not me being at Disney World all week and having (undone) homework due today. We’ve been at parks open to close I’ve had no time to do it 🥲
This chapter is from Ziya’s POV.
Word Count: 2384
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Jason looked panicked. Khione purred and stroked the back of his neck. There was a loud pop , and Khione flew backward, skidding across the floor.
Zethes laughed. “That is good! I’m glad you did that, even though I have to kill you now.”
For a moment, Khione was too stunned to react. Then the air around her began to swirl with a micro-blizzard. “You dare—"
“Stop,” Jason ordered. “You’re not going to kill us. And you’re not going to keep us. We’re on a quest for the queen of the gods herself, so unless you want Hera busting down your doors, you’re going to let us go.”
Khione’s blizzard swirled to a stop. Zethes lowered his sword. They both looked uncertainly at their father.
The king’s eyes twinkled, but I couldn’t tell if it was from anger or amusement. “A son of Zeus, favored by Hera? This is definitely a first. Tell us your story.”
Jason looked like his mouth had been frozen shut, so Piper and I jumped in.
“Your Majesty.” Piper curtsied, I a bit more clumsily, and we told him our story, from the Grand Canyon to the prophecy.
“All we ask for is guidance,” Piper concluded. “These storm spirits attacked us, and they’re working for some evil mistress. If we find them, maybe we can find Hera.”
The king stroked the icicles in his beard. Out the windows, night had fallen, and the only light came from the aurora borealis overhead, washing everything in green and purple.
“I know of these storm spirits,” the king said. “I know where they are kept, and of the prisoner they took.”
“Do you mean Coach Hedge?” I asked. “He’s alive?”
The king waved aside the question. “For now. But the one who controls these storm winds… It would be madness to oppose her. You would be better staying here as frozen statues.”
“Hera’s in trouble,” Jason said. “In three days, she’s going to be— I don’t know— consumed or destroyed or something. And a giant is going to rise.”
“Yes,” the king agreed. He sent a cursory glare at Khione. “Many horrible things are waking. Even my children do not tell me all the news they should. The Great Stirring of monsters that began with Kronos— your father Zeus foolishly believed it would end when the Titans were defeated. But just as it was before, so it is now. The final battle is yet to come, and the one who will wake is more terrible than any Titan. Storm spirits— these are only the beginning. The earth has many more horrors to yield up. When monsters no longer stay in Tartarus, and souls are no longer confined to Hades… Olympus had good reason to fear.”
What the hell does that mean? Khione was smiling like that was her definition of fun.
“So you’ll help us?” Jason asked the king.
He scowled. “I did not say that.”
“Please, Your Majesty,” Piper said.
Everyone’s eyes turned toward her. She had to be scared out of her mind, but she looked beautiful and confident— and it had nothing to do with the blessing of Venus. She looked like herself again, in day-old traveling clothes with her choppy hair and no makeup. I’m proud of you, Birdie.
“If you tell us where the storm spirits are, we can capture them and bring them to Aeolus. You’d look good in front of your boss. Aeolus might pardon us and the other demigods. We could even rescue Gleeson Hedge. Everyone wins.”
“She’s pretty,” Zethes mumbled. “I mean, she’s right.”
“Father, don’t listen to her,” Khione said. “She’s a child of Aphrodite. She dares to charmspeak a god? Freeze her now!”
The king seemed to consider this. I settled a hand on a knife, and Jason slipped his hand in his pocket.
The movement caught the king’s eye. “What is that on your forearm, demigod?”
Jason’s coat sleeve had gotten pushed up, revealing the edge of his tattoo. Reluctantly, he showed the king his marks.
The god’s eyes widened. Khione actually hissed and stepped away.
The king laughed so loudly an icicle cracked from the ceiling and crashed next to his throne. The god’s form began to flicker, like Juno’s had on the bus. His beard disappeared, and he grew taller and thinner. His clothes changed to a Roman toga, lined with purple. His head was crowned with a frosty laurel wreath, and a sword like Jason’s hung at his side.
“Aquilon,” Jason and I said.
The god inclined his head at Jason. “You recognize me better in this form, yes?”
Jason shifted his feet. “Uh… yes, Your Majesty.”
Aquilon looked at me. “And you… The unclaimed. You prefer the Roman forms. You are quite warmer compared to your companions.”
“Um… I don’t know what you mean by that, Your Majesty.”
He smirked. “Soon enough, le fils .”
Aquilon looked back at Jason. “And yet you said you came from Camp Half-Blood?”
We nodded.
“And Hera sent you there…” Aquilon’s eyes were full of mirth. “I understand now. Oh, she plays a dangerous game. Bold, but dangerous! No wonder Olympus is closed. They must be trembling at the gamble she has taken.”
“Jason,” Piper said nervously, “why did Boreas change shape? The toga, the wreath. What’s going on?”
“It’s his Roman form,” Jason said. “But what’s going on— I don’t know.”
Aquilon laughed. “No, I’m sure you don’t. This should be very interesting to watch.”
“Does that mean you’ll let us go?” Piper asked.
“My dear,” Aquilon said, “there is no reason for me to kill you. If Hera’s plan fails, which I think it will, you will tear each other apart. Aeolus will never have to worry about demigods again.”
That’s not worrying at all.
“I don’t suppose you could explain?” Jason asked.
“Oh, perish the thought! It is not for me to interfere in Hera’s plan. No wonder she took your memory.” Aquilon chuckled, apparently still having a great time imagining demigods tearing each other apart. “You know, I have a reputation as a helpful wind god. Unlike my brethren, I’ve been known to fall in love with mortals. Why, my sons Zethes and Calais started as demigods—"
“Which explains why they are idiots,” Khione growled.
“Stop it!” Zethes snapped back. “Just because you were born a full goddess—"
“Both of you, freeze,” Aquilon ordered. Apparently, that word carried a lot of weight in the household, because the two siblings went absolutely still. “Now, as I was saying, I have a good reputation, but it is rare that Boreas plays an important role in the affairs of gods. I sit here in my palace, at the edge of civilization, and so rarely have amusements. Why, even that fool Notus, the South Wind, gets spring break in Cancun. What do I get? A winter festival with naked Quebecois rolling around in snow!”
“I like the winter festival,” Zethes muttered.
“My point,” Aquilon snapped, “is that I now have the chance to be the center. Oh, yes, I will let you go on this quest. You will find your storm spirits in the windy city, of course. Chicago—"
“Father!” Khione protested.
The king ignored his daughter. “If you can capture the winds, you may be able to gain safe entrance to the court of Aeolus. If by some miracle you succeed, be sure to tell him you capture the winds on my orders.”
“Okay, sure,” Jason said. “So Chicago is where we’ll find this lady who’s controlling the winds? She’s the one who’s trapped Hera?”
“Ah.” Aquilon grinned. “Those are two different questions, son of Jupiter.”
That’s… weird.
“The one who controls the winds,” the king continued, “yes, you will find her in Chicago. But she is only a servant— a servant who is very likely to destroy you. If you succeed against her and take the winds, then you may go to Aeolus. Only he has knowledge of all the winds on the earth. All secrets come to his fortress eventually. If anyone can tell you where Hera is imprisoned, it is Aeolus. As for who you will meet when you finally find Hera’s cage— truly, if I told you that, you would beg me to freeze you.”
“Father,” Khione protested, “you can’t simply let them—"
“I can do what I liked,” Aquilon said, his voice hardening. “I am still master here, am I not?”
The way he glared at his daughter, it was obvious that they had some ongoing argument. Khione’s eyes flashed with anger, but she clenched her teeth. “As you wish, Father.”
“Now go, demigods,” Aquilon said, “before I change my mind. Zethes, escort them out safely.”
We all bowed, and the god of the North Wind dissolved into mist.
~*~
Back in the entry hall, Cal and Leo were waiting for us. Leo looked cold but unharmed. He’d even gotten cleaned up, and his clothes looked newly washed, like he’d used the hotel’s valet service. Festus was back in his normal dragon form, snorting fire over his scales to keep himself defrosted.
As Khione led us down the stairs, I noticed Leo’s eyes following her. He started combing his hair back with his hands. Jesus. I rolled my eyes fondly. It was just like Leo to get a crush on someone who would kill him without a second thought.
At the bottom step, Khione turned to Piper. “You have fooled my father, girl. But you have not fooled me. We are not done. And you, Jason Grace, I will see you as a statue in the throne room soon enough.”
“Boreas is right,” Jason said. “You’re a spoiled kid. See around, ice princess.”
Khione’s eyes flashed pure white. For once, she seemed at a loss for words. She stormed back up the stairs— literally. Halfway up, she turned into a blizzard and disappeared.
“Be careful,” Zethes warned. “She never forgets an insult.”
Cal grunted in agreement. “Bad sister.”
“She’s the goddess of snow,” Jason said. “What’s she going to do, throw snowballs at us?”
I stood in a courtyard covered in snow, a frozen corpse at my feet. An old brownstone mansion loomed out of the mist.
Leo looked devastated. “What happened up there? You made her mad? Is she mad at me, too? Guys, that was my prom date!”
“Trust me, Leo, you do not want to take her to prom,” I said, pulling my knife from the dresser.
“We’ll explain later,” Piper promised, glancing at Jason.
He looked away from her, face agitated. “Yeah,” he agreed. “We’ll explain later.”
“Be careful, pretty girls,” Zethes said. “The winds between here and Chicago are bad-tempered. Many other evil things are stirring. I am sorry you will not be staying. You two would make lovely ice statues, in which I could check my reflection.”
I shuddered, and Leo took my hand reassuringly.
“Thanks,” Piper said. “But I’d sooner play hockey with Cal.”
“Hockey?” Cal’s eyes lit up.
“Joking,” Piper said. “And the storm winds aren’t our worst problem, are they?”
“Oh, no,” Zethes agreed. “Something else. Something worse.”
“Worse,” Cal echoed.
“Can you tell me?” Piper gave them a smile.
This time, the charm didn’t work. The purple-winged Boreads shook their heads in unison. The hangar doors opened onto a freezing starry night, and Festus stomped his feet, anxious to fly.
“Ask Aeolus what is worse,” Zethes said darkly. “He knows. Good luck.”
He almost sounded like he genuinely cared about what happened to us, even though a few moments ago he’d wanted to make me and Piper into ice sculptures.
Cal patted Leo on the shoulder. “Don’t get destroyed,” he said, which was probably the longest sentence he’d ever attempted. “Next time— hockey. Pizza.”
“Come on, guys.” Jason stared out at the dark. “Let’s get to Chicago and try not to get destroyed.”
~*~
I tried to relax, but the image of the frozen corpse kept reappearing in my mind. Jason and Piper became white noise as they told Leo about what happened in the throne room.
Zethes’ warning could have meant anything from the giants to a giant spider. I had no idea what it was going to be, but it was going to be bad.
Leo passed out some sandwiches from his bag. He’d been quiet through the whole retelling. “I still can’t believe Khione,” he said. “She looked so nice.”
“Trust me, man,” Jason said. “Snow may be pretty, but up close, it’s cold and nasty.”
Piper smiled, trying to reassure Leo.
Leo didn’t look reassured. He didn’t say much about his time in the palace, or why the Boreads had singled him out for smelling like fire. His mood seemed to be affecting Festus, who grumbled and steamed as he tried to keep himself warm in the cold Canadian air. Happy the Dragon was not so happy.
Nobody talked as we ate our sandwiches. Whatever we found in Chicago, Aquilon had only let us go because he figured we were already on a suicide mission.
The moon rose and stars turned overhead. My eyes started to feel heavy. The adrenaline high from dealing with the Boreads had worn off, and now with sustenance, my brain was starting to shut down. I could practically hear Coach Hedge yelling at me: Suck it up, cupcake! Don’t be such a wimp!
I missed the Coach. Sure he was loud, but he was kind of nice sometimes. He was like the weird, eccentric, overbearing uncle no one wanted around until he was gone. Y’know, that uncle.
On the skywalk, Dylan had said something about the coach, too: how he’d been retired to Wilderness School because he was getting too old, like it was some sort of punishment. That might have explained why the coach was always so grumpy. Whatever the truth, now that I knew Hedge was alive, I had to save him.
Don’t get your hopes up, Ziya. This is a suicide mission. ‘Death unleashed’ and all that shit.
I tried to sit up straight again; I’d started to slump over. I yawned, my eyes slipping closed. I couldn’t open them again. I slumped forward again, resting against Leo. If he minded, he didn’t say. For a few peaceful moments, I bathed in the black ink of my subconscious.
I woke up screaming, free-falling through the air.
Notes:
Ziya: *refuses to name Boreas*
Also Ziya: *names Aquilon instantly*
Ziya: This is completely normal.Thanks for reading!! 💖
Chapter 25: I Knew that First Aid Seminar Would Pay Off!
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Summary:
I let out a shaky breath. “I think I should try to set your foot.”
Piper unrelaxed. “Have you ever done that before? Did they cover that in the class?”
“Totally,” I lied.
Notes:
Currently on my way to an IPE competition!! I’m so tired 🥲
This chapter is from Ziya’s POV.
CW: Piper’s broken ankle, untrained medical treatment
Word Count: 1466
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Falling down the stairs in your house isn’t fun. Free-falling with no way to get to safety sucks just a bit more.
I truly don’t know how people can enjoy sky-diving.
Far below, city lights glimmered in the early dawn, and several hundred yards away, the body of our bronze dragon spun out of control, wings limp and fire flickering in his mouth. Somebody shot past me— Leo, screaming and frantically grabbing at the clouds. “Not coooooooooool!” I tried to call out to him, but the rushing air stole my breaths from my lungs.
I remembered something from the ‘Engineering for Beginners and Idiots’ chapter on the mechanics of airplanes: wind resistance and drag. The more space an object takes up, the more air can push against gravity. I tried to lay down in the air, desperately Jason would catch me and the others.
The wind roared in my ears. I felt someone grab my arm and pull me close— Piper. She screamed something about Leo, and our fall slowed.
“...rough!” Jason yelled. What?
And then we shot through the air like a bullet. I could see the ground getting closer. Another warm body slammed into me. I grabbed Leo, but he was still wriggling and pseudo-cursing.
“Stop fighting!” I yelled. “It’s me!”
“...dragon! …gotta…Fest…!”
I felt rather than heard the explosion below us. A fireball rolled into the sky from behind a warehouse complex.
Jason’s face darkened to a shade between red and purple. The intermittent slow-downs felt like bouncing down a giant staircase, a hundred feet at a time.
The factory complex below was made up of warehouses, smokestacks, barbed-wire fences, and parking lots lined with snow-covered vehicles.
We were still high enough to be considered roadkill when Jason groaned, “...can’t—"
We dropped like stones through the roof of the largest warehouse and crashed through the darkness.
A twist of pain shot up my leg as the clang of metal rang out underneath me. “OW. Mother fucker !”
“Ziya?!” Leo called out.
“Piper! Where’s Piper?” Jason’s voice echoed throughout the building.
“Ow, bro!” Leo groaned. “That’s my back! I’m not a sofa! Ziya?! Piper, where’d you go?”
“Here,” Piper whimpered, a few feet away from me. I carefully crawled over to her.
“Piper?” She sat against the railing of the catwalk, trying not to look down at her feet. One of them was pointing the completely wrong way. Shit.
I heard footsteps come up the metal stairs. Leo started to ask, “You two okay…?” He froze as he saw Piper’s foot. “Ohh, no you are not.”
“Thanks for the reassurance,” Piper groaned.
“You’ll be fine,” Jason said, voice ever so slightly betraying his worry.
Gauze tape ambrosia splint
“Hey, Leo, can you see if you can get duct tape out of that belt?” I asked while rooting through my bag for the first aid kit Travis packed.
“Y-Yeah. Yeah, sure.” He dug around in his tool belt and pulled out a roll of heavy-duty duct tape— which seemed too big for the belt’s pockets.
“How did you—" Piper tried to move her leg and winced. “How did you pull that from an empty belt?”
“Magic,” Leo said. “Haven’t figured it out completely, but I can summon just about any regular tool out of the pockets, plus some other helpful stuff.” He reached into another pocket and pulled out a little tin box. “Breath mint?”
Jason snatched away the mints. “That’s great, Leo. Now, can you fix her foot?”
“I’m a mechanic, man. Maybe if she was a car…”
“Well, then, it’s a good thing I took that first aid class this past semester,” I said. I organized my supplies: gauze, tape, ambrosia squares (the magical remedy to just about everything)…
Ambrosia ambrosia ambrosia
I broke off a piece of one of the smashed ‘lemon’ bars and fed it to Piper.
She seemed to relax. “More.”
Jason frowned. “Piper, we shouldn’t risk it. They said too much could burn you up.”
I let out a shaky breath. “I think I should try to set your foot.”
Piper unrelaxed. “Have you ever done that before? Did they cover that in the class?”
“Totally,” I lied. Leo found an old piece of wood, broke it in half for a splint, and prepped the tape and gauze. “Jason, hold her leg still. Piper, this is going to hurt.”
Count of three, go on one. Count of three, go on one.
“Count of three,” I said. Piper nodded. “One.” I twisted her foot, popping it back in place. Piper shrieked, punching Leo in the arm. He let out a screech that was at least an octave higher than Piper’s.
“Not— a— word,” he growled at me, catching my snickers. Together, we wrapped Piper’s foot in gauze and duct tape.
“Ow,” she said. “I thought you said three?”
“You never go on three,” I said.
“Jeez, beauty queen!” Leo rubbed his arm. “Glad my face wasn’t there.”
“Sorry,” she said. “And don’t call me ‘beauty queen’, or I’ll punch you again.”
“You both did great.” I found a canteen in my pack and gave her some water.
Hand wrappings. Hand wrappings. Change your hand wrappings.
“Oh, shit!”
“What?” Leo asked.
“It’s been almost a full day since I changed my bandages fuck .” I quickly unwrapped the old gauze. “...Huh.” I held up my fully healed hands. “That’s weird, right? Even by demigod standards?”
Jason shrugged. “I have no idea.”
I rewrapped my hands anyway. No harm in being safe against blood poisoning and infection, even if there wasn’t a visible wound anymore (or scars for that matter). I ate a piece of ambrosia that tasted like my mom’s crème caramela, and the throbbing in my (probably twisted) ankle subsided.
“Alright, we need to find Festus,” I said, looking around the dirty and dusty warehouse. It had obviously been abandoned for years, maybe even decades. “What happened, anyway?”
Leo’s mouth pinched into a thin line. “I don’t know. He just jerked sideways like he’d hit an invisible wall or something and sta-arted to fall.” He gestured to a logo on the wall. “As far as where we are…” It was hard to see through all the graffiti ( Nobody needs to know you were here, D-Dawg ), but I could make out a large red eye with the stenciled words: Monocle Motors, Assembly Plant 1.
Leo and I crouched behind some machinery in the dark. There was a snap, and a bonfire flared up.
“Closed car plant,” Leo said. “I’m guessing we crash-landed in Detroit.”
“How far is that from Chicago?” Piper asked.
Jason handed her the canteen. “Maybe three-fourths of the way from Quebec? The thing is, without the dragon, we’re stuck traveling overland.”
“No way,” I said. “It isn’t safe.”
“She’s right. Besides, I don’t know if I can walk,” Piper said. “And four people— Jason, you can’t fly that many across the country by yourself.”
“Definitely not,” he agreed. “Leo, are you sure the dragon didn’t malfunction? I mean, Festus is old, and—"
“And he might not have repaired him right?” I interrupted, fixing Jason with my patented Seriously, You’re Going There?™ look.
“I didn’t say that,” Jason protested. “It’s just— maybe he can be fixed.”
“I don’t know.” Leo sounded crestfallen. He pulled a few screws out of his pockets and started fiddling with them. “I’d have to find where he landed, if he’s even in one piece.”
“It’s my fault,” Piper said. I frowned.
“Piper,” Jason said gently, “you were asleep when Festus conked out. It couldn’t be your fault.”
“Yeah, you’re just shaken up,” Leo agreed. He didn’t even try to make a joke to lighten the mood. “You’re in pain. Just rest.”
Piper looked like her words got caught in her throat. “Hey.” She looked at me. “You can tell us later when we’re not stranded in an abandoned car plant, okay?” She nodded reluctantly.
Leo stood, pulling me up with him. I tried to not wince at the weight on my foot. “Look, um, Jason, why don’t you stay with Piper? Ziya and I’ll scout around for Festus. I think he fell outside the warehouse somewhere. If we can find him, maybe we can figure out what happened and fix him.”
“It’s too dangerous,” Jason said.
“Nah, I got duct tape and breath mints. Not to mention Sunflower, here.” Leo slung an arm over my shoulder. “We’ll be fine,” Leo said, a little too quickly. His hand gently held onto my arm like he wasn’t sure if I was real. He was a lot more shaken up than he was letting on. “You guys just don’t run off without us.” Leo reached into his magic tool belt, pulled out a flashlight, and led me down the stairs, leaving Piper and Jason alone on the catwalk.
Notes:
We love protective besties 💖
Chapter 26: The Dirt La— Wait, Sorry. QUEEN Dirt Lady
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Summary:
“Do you like that sort of thing?”
“Eh. I’m invested ‘cause you are, if that makes sense.”
My heart stuttered again.
Notes:
I’m currently at the hair salon 😀
Enjoy!
This chapter is from Leo’s POV.
Word Count: 1923
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Ziya and I walked out of the warehouse and into the snow, looking for signs of wreckage and debris. Ziya suddenly stopped, looking at me.
“What?”
“Did you just call me ‘Sunflower’?”
What? It dawned on me. Oh. “I, uh… I guess I did. Sorry.”
“No, it’s… it’s fine.” The corner of her mouth twitched into an amused smile, and she resumed walking, passing me. “I like it.”
It felt like my heart stuttered. Fuck.
“Hey, get movin’! We gotta find Festus!”
“Right! Coming!” I ran through the snow after Ziya, rounding the corner and faced a travesty. “Porta-Potties?! Oh, come on!”
A dozen of the blue plastic boxes had been set up in the factory yard, and Festus had flattened them all. Fortunately, they hadn’t been used in a long time, and the fireball from the crash incinerated most of the contents; but still, there were some pretty gross chemicals leaking out of the wreckage.
Ziya pinched her nose. “God, it smells like a sewer.”
I scoffed. “Trust me, sewers don’t smell this bad.”
She raised an eyebrow. “What sewer did you stay in? I’ve half a mind to be jealous.”
Another plot point for my string board of Ziya’s past. I looked back at the sludge. “Bet you twenty bucks we end up in a sewer on this trip.”
Ziya laughed. “I’ll take that bet, Repair Boy .”
I looked at her with fake offense. “Wow. Just— wow. Is that all I am to you?”
“Pretty much.” She giggled. “Climbing through that is going to suck.” Don’t— She patted my shoulder. “Good luck.”
I stuck my tongue out at her and started picking my way through. The snowfall got heavier, but it just sizzled and evaporated on Festus’ scales. I carefully spent the next few minutes examining every seam, nut, and bolt on Festus’ hide. Not a single scratch.
“Did you find the problem?”
“No! He’s perfectly fine! Not a scratch or dent at all!”
“Do you think the explosion was from built-up gasses or whatever?”
“Yeah, probably. I mean, his wings are intact, nothing seems broken. There’s no reason he should have stopped!” I started making my way up to Festus’ head. “Not my fault,” I muttered. “Festus, you’re making me look bad.”
Then I opened the control panel on the dragon’s head, and my heart sank. “Oh, Festus, what the heck?”
“What?” Instead of waiting for an answer, Ziya started making her way through the toxic sludge and climbed up Festus. “Sweet mother of mercy! Jesus, Festus, why?!”
The wiring had frozen over. I knew— I knew that it was fine yesterday. I worked so hard to repair the corroded lines, but something had caused a flash freeze inside the dragon’s skull, where it should’ve been too hot for ice to form. The ice made the wiring overload and char the control disk. There was no reason that would have— could have happened. Sure, the dragon was old, but it didn’t make sense.
I could replace the wires, that wasn’t a problem. But the charred control disk was a problem. The Greek letters and pictures carved around the edges, which probably held all kinds of magic, were blurred and blackened.
The one piece of hardware I couldn’t replace— and it was damaged. Again.
Most problems look worse than they are, mijo. Nothing is unfixable.
“Nothing is unfixable,” I repeated. I was not walking from Detroit to Chicago in a snowstorm, and I was not going to be responsible for stranding us. I brushed snow off my shoulders. “Gimme a nylon bristle detail brush, some nitrile gloves, and maybe a can of that aerosol cleaning solvent.”
The tool belt obliged.
I couldn’t help but smile as I pulled out the supplies. The belt’s pockets did have limits. They wouldn’t give me something magic, like Jason’s sword, or anything huge, like a chainsaw. I’d tried asking for both. And if I asked for too many things at once, the belt needed a cooldown time before it could work again. The more complicated the request, the longer the cooldown. But anything small and simple like you might find around a workshop— all I had to do was ask.
“Better make that double.” I looked up at Ziya. “You do what you can for the control disk, and I’ll replace the wiring.”
I squinted at her. “Do you know how to do that?”
She shrugged. “The ‘Engineering for Beginners and Idiots’ was surprisingly in-depth. I’ll ask if I’m not sure about something.”
“But you only got, like, half way through it.”
“I finished on the way to Quebec, after you fell asleep.” She grinned. “Now I’ll know what you’re talking about when you talk hydraulics and thermodynamics and shit.”
“Do you like that sort of thing?”
“Eh. I’m invested ‘cause you are, if that makes sense.”
My heart stuttered again. Stop it. “That’s…” I wasn’t sure what to say, so I looked back at Festus. “Make that double.”
The tool belt obliged.
I started cleaning off the control disk, and Ziya set to work on the wires. While we worked, snow collected on the cooling dragon. With Ziya here, I couldn’t melt it with fire, so I brushed away what was in our immediate area and let the rest collect. Other than that, I was on autopilot, letting my hands work while my thoughts wandered.
I could not believe how stupid I acted back at Boreas’ palace. I should’ve figured a family of winter gods would hate me on sight. Son of the fire god flying a fire-breathing dragon into an ice penthouse— maybe not the best move. Still, I hated feeling like a reject. Jason and Piper, even Ziya , who Khione had said might be a problem, got to visit the throne room. I got to wait in the lobby with Cal, the demigod of hockey and major head injuries.
Fire is bad, Cal said.
That pretty much summed it up. I wouldn’t be able to keep the truth from the others for much longer. Ziya already knew about my invulnerability to fire.
And ever since Camp Half-Blood, that one line of the Great Prophecy haunted me: To storm or fire the world must fall.
And I was the fire guy, the first one since 1666 when London had burned down. If I told anyone what I could really do, if I told Ziya— Hey, guess what, guys? I might destroy the world! — why would anyone welcome me back at camp? I’d have to run. Again.
The idea was depressing, to say the least.
Then there was Khione. Damn , that girl was fine. I knew I acted like a total fool— and in front of Ziya, too, to make matters worse. I’d gotten my clothes cleaned with the one-hour valet service— which was totally sweet, by the way. I’d detangled my hair— a nearly impossible job— and even discovered the tool belt could make breath mints, all in hopes that I could get close to her. Naturally, no such luck. (Though from what the others said, maybe that was a good thing.)
Getting frozen out was pretty much the story of my life. All my relatives, foster homes. Even at Wilderness School, the last few weeks felt a little bit more like hell each day. Ziya and I became third wheels to Jason and Piper, not that she was ever bothered by it.
And Ziya was either incredibly oblivious or had no interest in me or maybe even both. If it was the second, I wish she’d just tell me so I could move on, because every flirty joke shared between us made it a little harder to ignore the butterflies in my lungs.
Of course, then I’d found out that Jason’s whole time at school had been an illusion— a kind of memory burp— and I got excited. It was a chance for a reset. But now Jason and Piper were heading toward being a couple again— that was obvious from the way they’d acted in the warehouse just now, like they wanted to talk in private without me or Ziya around.
Honestly, what did I expect? I would be the odd man out. Again. Khione was just a bit quicker than most to give the cold shoulder.
“Enough, Valdez. Nobody’s going to play any violins for you just because you’re not important. Fix the stupid dragon.”
“...Leo? You okay?”
I looked up. “Did I say that out loud?”
“Yeah.” Ziya hesitated. “Do you want to talk about it?”
Yes. “No. It’s nothing.”
“You sure?”
No. I nodded.
“Okay. But… you can talk to me, or at me if you need to.” I kept working. “And you are important. To me, at least.”
The emotional wall almost broke down again.
I wasn’t sure how much time had passed before we heard the voice.
Your friend is right, Leo , it said.
I fumbled with the brush and dropped it into the dragon’s head. Ziya was on her feet in an instant, a knife brandished. I stood up, looking to see who’d spoken. Ziya gently grabbed my hand, pointing at the ground with her knife.
Snow and chemical sludge from the toilets, even the asphalt itself, was shifting like it was turning to a liquid. A ten-foot-wide area formed eyes, a nose, and a mouth— the giant face of a sleeping woman.
She didn’t exactly speak. Her lips didn’t move. But I heard her voice in my head, as if the vibrations were coming through the ground, straight into my feet and resonating up my spine.
They need you desperately, she said. In some ways, you are the most important of the eight— like the control disk in the dragon’s brain. Without you, the power of the others means nothing. They will never reach me, never stop me. And I will fully wake.
“You.” I was shaking so badly I wasn’t sure I’d spoken aloud. I hadn't heard that voice since I was eight, but it was her: the earthen woman from the machine shop. “You killed my mom.”
Ziya inhaled sharply and squeezed my hand.
The face shifted. The mouth formed a sleepy smile like it was having a pleasant dream. Ah, but Leo. I am your mother too— the First Mother. Do not oppose me. Walk away now. Let my son Porphyrion rise and become king, and I will ease your burdens. You will tread lightly on the earth. I will even allow Ziya to join you.
I grabbed the nearest thing I could find— a Porta-Potty seat— and threw it at the face. “Leave me alone!”
The toilet sank into the liquid earth. Snow and sludge rippled, and the face dissolved.
I stared at the ground, waiting for the face to reappear. But it didn’t. I wanted to think I’d imagined it.
Ziya’s death grip said otherwise.
From the direction of the factory, I heard a crash— like two dump trucks slamming together. Metal crumpled and groaned, and the noise echoed across the yard. Piper and Jason.
Ziya instantly jumped off Festus and started running back, stopping after she realized I was not following. She looked worried, like I might take the dirt lady up on her offer.
Walk away now , the voice had urged.
“Not likely,” I growled. “Gimme the biggest hammer you got.”
I reached into my tool belt and pulled out a three-pound hammer with a double-faced head the size of a baked potato. Then I jumped off the dragon’s back and ran with Ziya toward the warehouse.
Notes:
Thanks for reading! 💖
Chapter 27: Monocle Motors’ Fashion Extravaganza
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Summary:
This is what the sleeping earth lady had been talking about. She wanted me to walk away and leave my friends to die.
That decided it. I wasn’t going to let her make me feel powerless— never again.
Notes:
Hey hey! Happy Saturday and happy reading!
This chapter is from Leo’s POV.
Word Count: 2356
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
I stopped at the doors and tried to control my breathing. The voice of the earth woman still rang in my ears. With my mother’s death still echoing, the last thing I wanted to do was plunge into another dark warehouse. Suddenly I felt eight years old again, alone and helpless as someone I cared about was trapped and in trouble.
“Hey,” Ziya whispered. I looked at her. “We’ll make that thing pay, but right now, we gotta save Piper and Jason. Okay?”
I took a deep breath and nodded. I didn’t feel any less terrified.
Ziya and I peeked inside. Nothing looked different. Gray morning light filtered through the hole in the roof. A few lightbulbs flickered, but most of the factory floor was still lost in shadows. I could make out the catwalk above, the dim shapes of heavy machinery along the assembly line, but no movement. No sign of our friends.
Ziya’s light touch on my arm stopped me from calling out. Something was off, just outside my awareness. The smell. It was like burning motor oil and sour breath.
Something extremely not human was inside the factory. My body shifted into high gear, all my nerves tingling.
Somewhere on the factory floor, Piper’s voice cried out: “Leo, help!”
Ziya’s hand gripped the knife. How could Piper get off the catwalk with her broken ankle?
We slipped inside and ducked behind a cargo container, slowly working our way towards the center of the room, hiding behind boxes and hollow truck chassis. We reached the assembly line and crouched behind the nearest piece of machinery— a crane with a robotic arm.
Piper’s voice called out again: “Leo? Ziya?” Less certain this time, but very close.
I peeked around the machinery. Hanging directly above the assembly line, suspended by a chain from a crane on the opposite side, was a massive truck engine— just dangling thirty feet up, as if it had been left there when the factory was abandoned. Below it on the conveyor belt sat a truck chassis, and clustered around it were three dark shapes the size of forklifts. Nearby, dangling from chains on two other robotic arms, were two smaller shapes— maybe more engines, but one of them was twisting around as if it were alive.
Ziya’s nails dug into my skin at the sight.
Then one of the forklift shapes rose. It was a massive humanoid. “Told you it was nothing,” the thing rumbled. Its voice was too deep and feral to be human.
One of the other forklift-sized lumps shifted, and called out in Piper’s voice: “Ziya, help me! Help—" Then the voice changed, becoming a masculine snarl. “Bah, there’s nobody out there. No demigod could be that quiet, eh?”
Ziya started tapping Morse code on my hand. C— Y— C—
The first monster chuckled. “Probably ran away, if they know what’s good for them. Or the girl was lying about other demigods. Let’s get cooking.”
Snap. A bright orange light sizzled to life— an emergency flare— and my vision went white. I ducked behind the crane until the spots cleared from my eyes. I looked back at the nightmarish scene.
The two smaller things dangling from crane arms weren’t engines— they were Jason and Piper. Both hung upside down, tied by their ankles and cocooned with chains up to their necks. Piper was flailing around, trying to free herself. Her mouth was gagged, but at least she was alive. Jason didn’t look so good. He hung limply, his eyes rolled up in his head. A red welt the size of an apple had swollen over his left eyebrow.
On the conveyor belt, the bed of the unfinished pickup truck was being used as a fire pit. The emergency flares had ignited a mixture of tires and wood, which, from the smell of it, had been doused in kerosene. A big metal pole was suspended over the flames— a spit, which meant this was a cooking fire.
Most terrifying of all were the cooks.
Monocle Motors : that single red eye logo. That’s what Ziya had been trying to tell me.
Three massive cyclopes gathered around the fire. Two were standing, stoking the flames. The largest one crouched with his back to us. The two facing our hiding place were each ten feet tall with hairy muscular bodies and skin that glowed red in the firelight. One of the monsters wore a chainmail loincloth that looked really uncomfortable. The other wore a ragged fuzzy toga made of fiberglass insulation, which also would not have made my top ten wardrobe ideas. Other than that, the two monsters could’ve been twins.
My legs wouldn’t stop shaking. I’d seen some weird things so far— storm spirits and winged gods and a metal dragon that liked Tabasco sauce. But this was different. These were actual, flesh-and-blood, ten-feet-tall living monsters who wanted to eat my friends for dinner.
I couldn’t think. If only we had Festus. A fire-breathing sixty-feet-long tank would have been nice right about now. But all Ziya and I had was a tool belt and our backpacks. My three-pound hammer looked awfully small compared to those Cyclopes, and Ziya’s knives could barely be considered toothpicks.
This is what the sleeping earth lady had been talking about. She wanted me to walk away and leave my friends to die.
That decided it. I wasn’t going to let her make me feel powerless— never again.
I slipped off my backpack and quietly started to unzip it.
The cyclops in the chainmail loincloth walked over to Piper, who squirmed and tried to head-butt him in the eye. “Can I take her gag off now? I like it when they scream.”
The question was directed at the third cyclops, the apparent leader. The crouching figure grunted, and Loincloth ripped the gag off Piper’s mouth.
She didn’t scream; she took a shaky breath like she was trying to keep herself calm.
Meanwhile, I’d found what I wanted in the pack: a stack of tiny remote control units I’d grabbed in Bunker 9.
Ziya tapped my arm. ‘What are you doing?’
I clumsily signed back, ‘I’ve got a plan. Setting up a remote for the cranes. I’ll show you.’
The robotic crane’s maintenance panel was easy to find. I slipped a screwdriver from my tool belt and went to work, but I had to go slowly. The leader cyclops was only twenty feet in front of us. The monsters obviously had excellent senses. Pulling off the plan without making noise was going to be difficult, to say the least.
The cyclops in the toga poked at the fire, which was now blazing away and billowing noxious black smoke toward the ceiling. His buddy Loincloth glowered at Piper, waiting for her to do something entertaining. “Scream, girl! I like funny screaming!”
When Piper finally spoke, her tone was calm and reasonable, like she was correcting a naughty puppy. “Oh, Mr. Cyclops, you don’t want to kill us. It would be much better if you let us go.”
Loincloth scratched his ugly head. He turned to his friend in the fiberglass toga. “She’s kinda pretty, Torque. Maybe I should let her go.”
Torque growled. “I saw her first, Sump. I’ll let her go!”
Sump and Torque started to argue, but the third cyclops rose and shouted, “Fools!”
I nearly dropped my screwdriver. The third cyclops was female . She was several feet taller than Torque and Sump, and even beefier. She wore a tent of chainmail cut like one of those sack dresses Aunt Rosa used to wear— a muumuu. Her greasy black hair was matted in pigtails, woven with copper wires and metal washer. Her nose and mouth were thick and smashed together, like she spent her free time ramming her face into walls; but her single red eye glittered with evil intelligence.
She stalked over to Sump and pushed him aside, knocking him over the conveyor belt. Torque backed up quickly.
“The girl is Venus spawn,” she snarled. “She’s using charmspeak on you.”
Piper started so say, “Please, ma’am—"
The lady cyclops roared and grabbed Piper around the waist. “Don’t try your pretty talk on me, girl! I’m Ma Gasket! I’ve eaten heroes tougher than you for lunch!”
I thought Piper would get crushed, but Ma Gasket just dropped her and let her dangle from her chain. Then she started yelling at Sump about how stupid he was.
My hands worked furiously, twisting wires and turning switches. Ziya watched intently, miming my actions with her own hands. I finished attaching the remote. Then Ziya and I crept over to the next robotic arm.
I pulled out more supplies for Ziya, and she ducked behind crates and barrels of kerosene to the third crane while the cyclops were talking.
“—eat her last, Ma?” Sump was saying.
“Idiot!” Ma Gasket yelled. “I should’ve thrown you out on the streets when you were babies, like proper cyclops children. You might have learned some useful skills. Curse my soft heart that I kept you.” Oh. They’re her sons… Ugly must run in the family.
“Soft heart?” Torque muttered.
“What was that, you ingrate?”
“Nothing, Ma. I said you got a soft heart. We get to work for you, feed you, file your toenails—”
“And you should be grateful!” Ma Gasket bellowed. “Now, stoke the fire, Torque! And Sump, you idiot, my case of salsa is in the other warehouse. Don’t tell me you expect to eat these demigods without salsa!”
“Yes, Ma,” Sump said. “I mean no, Ma. I mean—”
“Go get it!” She picked up a nearby truck chassis and slammed it over Sump’s head. Sump crumpled to his knees. I was sure a hit like that would kill him, but Sump apparently got hit by trucks a lot. He managed to push the chassis off his head, stagger to his feet, and run off to fetch the salsa.
Now. While they’re separated.
I finished wiring the second machine and started to move towards the third, where Ziya was still working. I took a step between robotic arms, and though none of the cyclopes saw me, Piper did. I ducked back at her gasp.
Ma Gasket turned to her. “What’s the matter, girl? So fragile I broke you?”
Thankfully, Piper was a quick thinker. She looked away from the cranes and said, “I think it’s my ribs ma’am. If I’m busted up inside, I’ll taste terrible.”
Ma Gasket bellowed with laughter. “Good one. The last hero we ate— remember him, Torque? Son of Mercury, wasn’t he?”
“Yes, Ma,” Torque said. “Tasty. Little bit stringy.”
“He tried a trick like that. Said he was on medication. But he tasted fine!”
“Tasted like mutton,” Torque recalled. “Purple shirt. Talked in Latin. Yes, a bit stringy, but good.”
Wait.
“Purple shirt?” Piper questioned. “Latin?”
“Good eating,” Ma Gasket said fondly. “Point is, girl, we’re not as dumb as people think! We’re not falling for those stupid tricks and riddles, not us northern cyclopes.”
Torque turned to face the robotic arms. Shit! He didn’t seem to see me or Ziya, but now I couldn’t get to the other crane.
I looked around for other options. The engine block suspended right above the cyclopes’ campsite would’ve made a great weapon, but the crane holding it was on the opposite side of the conveyor belt. There was no way I could get over there without being seen.
Ziya was almost done, so I started to enact the last part of my plan. I summoned wires, a radio adapter, and a smaller screwdriver from my tool belt and started to build a universal remote. For the first time, I said a silent thank-you to Hephaestus for the magic tool belt. Get us out of here and maybe you’re not such a jerk.
Piper kept talking, laying on the praise. “Oh, I’ve heard about the northern cyclopes!” Which I figured was bull, but she sounded convincing. “I never knew you were so big and clever!”
“Flattery won’t work either,” Ma Gasket said, though she sounded pleased. “It’s true, you’ll be breakfast for the best cyclopes around.”
“But aren’t cyclopes good?” Piper asked. “I thought you made weapons for the gods.”
“Bah! I’m very good. Good at eating people. Good at smashing. And good at building things, yes, but not for the gods. Our cousins, the Elder Cyclopes, they do this, yes. Thinking they’re so high and mighty ‘cause they’re a few thousand years older. Then there’s our southern cousins, living on islands and tending sheep. Morons! But we Hyperborean cyclopes, the northern clan, we’re the best! Founded Monocle Motors in this old factory— the best weapons, armor, chariots, fuel-efficient SUVs! And yet— bah! Forced to shut down. Laid off most of our tribe. The war was too quick. Titans lost. No good! No more need for cyclops weapons.”
I looked over to Ziya. She held up a thumbs-up before signing ‘I’ll try to get Piper and Jason down’. She snuck out the other side of the crane where Torque couldn’t see. Nearly all the pieces were ready.
“Oh, no,” Piper sympathized. “I’m sure you made some amazing weapons.”
Toque grinned. “Squeaky war hammer!” He picked up a large pole with an accordion-looking metal box on the end.
He slammed it against the floor and the cement cracked, but there was also a sound like the world’s largest rubber ducky getting stomped.
“Terrifying,” Piper said.
Torque looked pleased. “Not as good as the exploding ax, but this one can be used more than once.”
“Can I see it?” Piper asked. “If you could just free my hands—"
Torque stepped forward eagerly, but Ma Gasket said, “Stupid! She’s tricking you again. Enough talk! Slay the boy first before he dies on his own. I like my meat fresh.”
No! My fingers flew, connecting the wires for the remote. Just a few more minutes!
“Hey, wait!” Piper tried to get the cyclopes’ attention. “Hey, can I just ask—"
The wires sparked in my hand. The cyclopes froze and turned in my direction.
Then Torque picked up a truck and threw it at me.
Notes:
Thanks for reading! Adiós for now 🙃
Chapter 28: The Plan
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Summary:
As if on cue, Sump lumbered into the firelight with a case of salsa. “Ma, I got the extra-spicy—”
Notes:
For some reason, it’s been saying that I haven’t posted since April 1, so I’m hoping that fixes itself lmao.
EDIT: I found the problem. I forgot to update the year from 2022 to 2023. ( :| )
This chapter is from Leo’s POV.
Word Count: 1300
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
I rolled as the truck steamrolled over the machinery. If I’d been a half-second slower, I would’ve become a pancake.
I got to my feet, and Ma Gasket spotted me. She yelled, “Torque, you pathetic excuse for a cyclops, get him!”
Torque barreled towards me. I frantically gunned the toggle on my makeshift remote.
Torque was fifty feet away. Twenty feet.
The first robotic arm whirred to life. A three-ton yellow metal claw slammed the cyclops on the back so hard, he landed flat on his face. Before Torque could recover, the robotic hand grabbed him by one leg and hurled him straight up.
With a scream, Torque rocketed into the gloom. The ceiling was too dark and too high up to see exactly what happened, but judging from the harsh metal clang , I guessed the cyclops had hit one of the support girders.
Torque never came down. Instead, yellow dust rained to the floor. Torque had disintegrated.
Ma Gasket stared at me in shock. “My son… You… You…”
As if on cue, Sump lumbered into the firelight with a case of salsa. “Ma, I got the extra-spicy—”
He never finished his sentence. I spun the remote’s toggle, and the second robotic arm whacked Sump in the chest. The salsa case exploded like a pinata, and Sump flew backward, right into the base of the third crane. Sump may have been immune to getting hit with a truck chassis, but he wasn’t immune to robotic arms that could deliver ten thousand pounds of force. The third crane arm slammed him against the floor so hard, he exploded into dust like a broken flour sack.
Two cyclops down. I was considering renaming myself Commander Tool Belt when Ma Gasket locked her eye on me. She grabbed the nearest crane arm and ripped it off its pedestal with a savage roar. “You busted my boys! Only I get to bust my boys!”
I punched a button, and the two remaining arms swung into action. Ma Gasket caught the first one and tore it in half. The second arm smacked her in the head, but that only seemed to make her mad. She grabbed it by the clamps, ripped it free, and swung it like a baseball bat. It missed Piper and— where did Jason go? Then Ma Gasket let it go, spinning it towards me. I yelped and rolled to one side as it demolished the machine next to me.
I was only just starting to realize that an angry cyclops mother was not something you wanted to fight with a universal remote and a screwdriver. The future for Commander Tool Belt was not looking so hot.
She stood about twenty feet from me now, next to the cooking fire. Her fists were clenched, her teeth bared. She looked ridiculous in her chainmail muumuu and greasy pigtails— but given the murderous flare in her huge red eye and the fact that she was twelve feet tall, I wasn’t exactly laughing.
“Any more tricks, demigod?”
I glanced up. The engine block suspended on the chain— if only I’d had time to rig it. If only I could get Ma Gasket to take one step forward. The chain itself… that one link… I shouldn’t have been able to see it, especially from so far down, but I could practically sense the metal fatigue.
“Heck yeah, I got tricks!” I raised my remote control. “Take one more step, and I’ll destroy you with fire!”
Ma Gasket laughed. “Would you? Cyclopes are immune to fire, you idiot. But if you wish to play with flames, let me help!”
She scooped red-hot coals into her bare hands and flung them at me. They landed around my feet.
“You missed,” I deadpanned. Then Ma Gasket grinned and picked up a barrel next to the truck. The stenciled word stood out in white on the side as Ma Gasket threw the vat of kerosene. Fuck .
Coals sparked. Piper screamed somewhere overhead.
Ma Gasket shrieked with delight, but I didn’t offer the fire any fuel. The kerosene burned off, dying down to small fiery patches on the floor.
Ma Gasket looked astonished. “You live?” She took that extra step forward. “What are you?”
“The son of Hephaestus,” I said. “And I warned you I’d destroy you with fire.”
I pointed one finger in the air and summoned all my will. I’d never tried to do anything so focused and intense— but I shot a bolt of white-hot flames at the chain suspending the engine block above the cyclops’ head— aiming for the link that looked weaker than the rest.
The flames died.
“Holy shit .” Ziya’s ‘whisper’ came from somewhere to my right.
Nothing happened. Ma Gasket laughed. “An impressive try, son of Hephaestus. It’s been centuries since I saw a fire user. You’ll make a spicy appetizer!”
The chain snapped— that single link heated beyond its tolerance point— and the engine block fell, deadly and silent.
“I don’t think so,” I said.
Ma Gasket didn’t even have time to look up.
Smash! No more cyclops— just a pile of dust under a five-ton engine block.
“Not immune to engines, huh? Boo-yah!”
I felt my knees give out, my head buzzing. Someone leaned over me, nearly haloed in a glowing gold. “Am I dead? Are you an angel?”
Their familiar giggle brought me back to my senses. “Not if I can help it. And haven’t you already used that line?”
I smiled at Ziya. “What can I say? It’s a good one. Not to mention accurate.”
She snorted. “You…”
Piper appeared next to her, untied and unharmed. “Leo! Are you alright? Can you move?”
I sat up carefully, Ziya keeping a hand on my arm. “How did you get them down?”
“I rewired the crane and swung them over the catwalk. It was easier to get them down from there.”
“Nice.” I looked over at Jason, who was propped up against a crate. The welt on his head had started to shrink, and his face had finally drained of the extra blood.
“He’s gonna be fine,” Ziya said. “Mild concussion at most.”
“That’s good,” I said.
“Leo,” Piper said. The look in her eyes was something akin to fear. “How did you— the fire— have you always…?”
I stared at my hands. “Always. I’m a freaking menace. Sorry, I should’ve told you guys sooner but—"
“I’m going to stop you there,” Ziya said. “You were under no obligation to tell us. You are not a menace. And we’re not angry, or scared , or anything like that.”
“Seriously?”
“Dude!” Piper punched my arm, grinning. “That was amazing, Valdez! You saved our lives. What are you sorry about?”
I blinked. I almost smiled, but the sense of relief was quickly ruined.
Yellow dust— the powdered remains of one of the cyclops, maybe Torque— was shifting across the floor like an invisible wind was pushing it back together.
“They’re forming again,” I said. “Look.”
Piper scrambled up and away from the dust. “That’s not possible. Annabeth told me monsters dissipate when they’re killed. They go back to Tartarus and can’t return for a long time.”
“Well, nobody told the dust that,” Ziya said, helping me to my feet. We watched as it collected into a pile, then very slowly spread out, forming a shape with arms and legs.
“Oh, god.” Piper’s eyes widened and she turned to Ziya. “Boreas said something about this— the earth yielding up horrors. ‘When monsters no longer stay in Tartarus, and souls are no longer confined to Hades’.”
“How long do you think we have?”
I thought about the face that had formed in the ground outside— the sleeping woman who was definitely a horror from the earth. “I don’t know, but we need to get out of here.”
Notes:
Thanks for reading! 💖
Chapter 29: Caffeinated Storm Spirits
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Summary:
For the first time ever, the world went quiet. I could hear my heartbeat, my own breaths, but the wind that rustled Leo’s hair was nonexistent except for the sensation on my skin.
Notes:
I had IPE rehearsal outside today and got sunburned 😶
Also, how did we clear 800 hits without me noticing? Seriously, thank you guys!!
This chapter is from Ziya’s POV.
Word Count: 1735
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Leo and I got Festus working in time for the cyclopes to roar bloody murder at the injustice of not getting to eat us. The sun rose while we were in the warehouse, and it continued to steadily climb as we flew to Chicago.
Jason startled awake. “Cyclops!”
“Whoa, sleepyhead.” Piper sat behind him, holding his waist to keep him balanced. I sat backwards, facing Piper and Jason, to keep an eye on him, leaning back against Leo, who sat in the front driving. We flew peacefully through the winter sky as if nothing had happened.
“Morning, Sleeping Beauty,” I said.
“D-Detroit. Didn’t we crash land? I thought—"
“Relax,” I said. “We got away, but you have a concussion. How do you feel?”
Jason looked around, seemingly disoriented. “How did you— the cyclops—"
“Leo ripped them apart,” I said. “It was amazing! He can summon fire—"
“It was nothing,” Leo said quickly.
“Hush, Valdez. I’m going to tell him. Get over it.”
I detailed the adventure, skimming over how terrified I was when the cyclopes noticed Leo was there and how I nearly froze when Leo was doused in kerosene. Instead, I emphasized how awesome it was that Leo was basically the Human Torch and it was the coolest shit I’d ever seen.
Then Piper told him about the other kid the cyclopes claimed to have eaten, the one in the purple shirt who spoke Latin. Jason looked confused, scared, and delighted.
“I’m not alone, then,” he said. “There are others like me.”
“Jason, you were never alone,” Piper said. “You’ve got us.” I nodded reassuringly.
“I— I know… but something Hera said. I was having this dream…”
“An exchange?” I asked. “What does that mean?”
Jason shook his head. “But Hera’s gamble is me. Just by sending me to Camp Half-Blood, I have a feeling she broke some kind of rule, something that could blow up in a big way—"
“Or save us,” Piper said hopefully. “That bit about the sleeping enemy— that sounds like the lady Leo told us about.”
He cleared his throat. “About that… she kind of appeared to Ziya and me back in Detroit, in a pool of Porta-Potty sludge.”
“...’Porta-Potty sludge’?” Jason questioned.
Leo’s breaths shuddered against my back. I pressed against him, reaching back for his hand. He squeezed my hand, and his breathing evened out.
“Yeah,” I said. “She showed up all high and mighty, trying to get us to leave you to the cyclopes. I’m not sure if she’s completely unkillable, but she cannot be defeated by toilet seats.”
“She’s trying to divide us.” Piper drew away from Jason, shoulders tense.
“What’s wrong?” Jason asked.
“I just… Why are they toying with us? Who is this lady, and how is she connected to Enceladus?”
“Who’s that?”
“I mean…” Her voice wavered. “That’s one of the giants. Just one of the names I could remember.” Jason and I shared a look. She was hiding something.
Leo scratched his head. “Well, I dunno about enchiladas—"
“Enceladus,” I correct. “Though I could go for some enchiladas.”
Leo laughed softly, squeezing my hand again. “Either way, Old Potty Face mentioned another name. Porpoise Fear, or something?”
“Porphyrion?” Piper asked. “He was the giant king, I think.”
“I’m going to take a wild guess,” Jason said. “In the old stories, Porphyrion kidnapped Hera. That was the first shot in the war between the giants and the gods.”
“It was,” Piper agreed. “But those myths are really garbled and conflicted. It’s almost like nobody wanted the story to survive. I just remember there was a war, and the giants were almost impossible to kill.”
“Heroes and gods had to work together,” Jason said. “That’s what Hera told us.”
“Kind of hard to do if the gods won’t even talk to us,” Leo grumbled.
Or claim me.
We kept flying in silence, the sun rising higher and higher. Eventually, Festus dove through a break in the clouds, and below us, glittering in the winter sun, was a city at the edge of a massive lake. A crescent of skyscrapers lined the shore. Behind us, stretching out to the western horizon, was a vast grid of snow-covered neighborhoods and roads. I wriggled around so I was facing the front of the dragon.
“Chicago,” Jason said.
“Yep. That is definitely Chicago. Well done, Jason.” I clapped sarcastically, bringing on a playful glare from Thunder Boy.
“One problem down,” Leo said. “We got here alive. Now, how do we find the storm spirits?”
There was a flash of movement below us. At first, it looked like a drone, but it was too small, too dark and fast. The thing spiraled toward the skyscrapers, weaving and changing shape— and just, for a moment, it became the smoky figure of a horse.
“How about we follow that one,” Jason suggested, “and see where it goes?”
~*~
We chased the storm spirit through the city, with Jason being an extremely annoying backseat driver. “Speed up!”
“Bro,” Leo said, “if I get any closer, he’ll spot us. Bronze dragon ain’t exactly a stealth plane.”
“Slow down, slow down! ” I shrieked, clinging to Leo and burying my face in his shoulder.
The ventus dove into the grid of downtown streets. Festus tried to follow, but his wingspan was way too wide. His left wing clipped the edge of a building, slicing off a stone gargoyle before Leo pulled up.
“Get above the buildings,” Jason suggested. “We’ll track him from there.”
“You want to drive this thing?” Leo grumbled, but he did what Jason asked.
After a few minutes, the storm spirit reappeared, zipping through the streets with no apparent purpose— blowing over pedestrians, ruffling flags, making cars swerve.
“Oh, great,” Piper said. “There’s two.”
She was right. A second ventus blasted around the corner of the Renaissance Hotel and linked up with the first. They wove together in a chaotic dance, shooting to the top of a skyscraper, bending a radio tower, and diving back down toward the street.
“Those guys do not need any more caffeine,” Leo said.
“They’ve embraced their evil espresso ways,” I observed. Leo snorted.
“Chicago’s a good place to hang out,” Piper said. “What’s a few more evil winds?”
“More than a couple,” Jason said. “Look.”
Festus circled over a wide avenue next to a lake-side park. Storm spirits were converging— at least a dozen of them, whirling around a big public art installation.
“Which one do you think is Dylan?” I murmured. “I wanna throw something at him. Like my fist.” Leo ran his thumb over my knuckles in a soothing gesture.
We flew closer to the fountain. Two five-story monoliths rose from either end of a long granite reflecting pool. The monoliths seemed to be built of video screens, flashing the combined image of a giant face that spewed water into the pool. The image on the screens changed to a woman’s face with her eyes closed. Leo tensed up.
“Guys…” Jason said nervously.
“I see her,” Leo said. “I don’t like her, but I see her.” I squeezed his hand, and he squeezed back.
The screens went dark. The venti swirled together into a single funnel cloud and skittered across the fountain, kicking up a waterspout almost as high as the monoliths. They got to its center, popped off a drain cover, and disappeared underground.
“Did they just go down a drain?” Piper asked. “How are we supposed to follow them?”
“Maybe we shouldn’t,” Leo said. “That fountain thing is giving me seriously bad vibes. And aren’t we supposed to, like, beware the earth?” I nodded in agreement.
“Put us down in the park,” Jason suggested. “We’ll check it out on foot.”
Festus landed in an open area between the lake and the skyline. The signs said ‘Grant Park’. It was a field of ice, snow, and salted walkways. It probably looked nicer in the summer.
The dragon’s hot metal feet hissed as they touched down. Festus flapped his wings unhappily and shot fire into the sky, but there was no one around to notice. The wind coming off the lake was bitter cold. Anyone with sense would be inside.
Good thing we don’t have any.
We dismounted, and Festus stomped his feet. One of his ruby eyes flickered, so it looked like he was blinking.
“Is that normal?” Jason asked.
Leo pulled a rubber mallet from his tool bag. He whacked the bad eye, and the light went back to normal. “Yes,” Leo decided. “Festus can’t hang around here, though, in the middle of the park. They’ll arrest him for loitering. Maybe if I had a dog whistle…” He rummaged in his tool belt for a moment. “Too specialized? Okay, give me a safety whistle. They got that in lots of machine shops.”
This time, Leo pulled out a big plastic orange whistle. “Holy shit! Coach Hedge would be jealous!” I grinned.
“...I hate that you’re right.” He paused. “I wonder… do you got noise-canceling headphones?” He rummaged in the biggest pocket—"Ha!"—and turned to me. “The whistle might be pretty loud.”
I stared, dumbfounded, my heart pitter-pattering. “Wow, thanks!” I put them on, and for the first time ever, the world went quiet.
I could hear my heartbeat, my own breaths, but the wind that rustled Leo’s hair was nonexistent except for the sensation on my skin. I held up a thumbs-up, and Leo blew into the whistle.
I slipped the headphones off, and sound came rushing back. “You hear that, come find me, okay? Until then, you fly wherever you want. Just try not to barbeque any pedestrians.”
The dragon snorted— hopefully in agreement. Then he spread his wings and launched into the air.
Leo turned to me again. “Headphones work okay?”
“Better than okay, I love these, I love you , can I keep them forever?”
“I… Uh, yeah, yeah that’s fine.” Leo’s voice was distinctly higher. “Yeah, it’s not a problem. Um. We should—"
“We should get going,” Jason said.
I stared at Leo. What was that about?
Piper took a step and winced. “Ah!”
“Your ankle?” Jason asked worriedly. “That nectar we gave you might be wearing off.”
“It’s fine.” She shivered. She took a few more steps with only a slight limp, but I could tell she was trying not to grimace.
“Let’s get out of the wind,” I suggested.
“Down a drain?” Piper shuddered. “Sounds cozy.”
Notes:
I love writing little affectionate moments ☺️💖
Chapter 30: A Good Old-Fashioned Sewer Party
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Summary:
“Ziya, it’s time to get up,” Leo’s voice whispered in my ear.
I groaned, clutching my pillow tighter. “I don’t wanna.” In the back of my mind, I vaguely wondered what he was doing in my and Piper’s room.
Notes:
We’ve got World Championship prelims for IPE tomorrow!! I’m super excited 😆
Also, I added a small paragraph to chapter 13 to better fit where Ziya’s backstory went, but it’s not super important if you don’t want to go back.
This chapter is from Ziya’s POV.
Word Count: 2009
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
We wrapped ourselves up as best we could and headed toward the fountain.
According to the plaque, it was called Crown Fountain. All the water had emptied out except for a few patches that were starting to freeze.
This place seemed… wrong.
We walked to the center of the pool. No spirits came out to try and stop us. The giant monitor walls stayed dark. The drain hole was easily big enough for a person, and a maintenance ladder led down into the gloom.
Jason went first. Piper followed, then Leo, and then me. The ladder dropped into a brickwork tunnel running north to south. The air was warm and dry, with only a trickle of water on the floor.
“Are all sewers this nice?” Piper wondered.
“Definitely not,” I said.
“No,” Leo agreed. “Trust me.”
Jason frowned. “How do you know—"
“Hey, man, I ran away six times. I’ve slept in some weird places, okay?” Leo said.
“I—"
“Ziya?” My breath caught in my throat. “Ziya, are you coming?”
“Did you guys hear that?”
“Hear what?” Leo looked down the tunnel. “Ziya?”
“Ziya? Please, I miss you.”
My tongue clicked. “It’s nothing.”
“You sure?”
I nodded, my fingers snapping twice. “We should get moving.”
Jason tilted his head, listening, then pointed down the tunnel. “That way.”
“How can you be sure?” Piper asked.
“There’s a draft blowing south,” Jason said. “Maybe the venti went with the flow.” It wasn’t much of a lead, but nobody could offer anything better. Unfortunately, as soon as we started walking, Piper stumbled.
“Stupid ankle,” she cursed.
“Let’s rest,” Jason decided. “We could all use it. We’ve been going nonstop for over a day. Leo, can you pull any food from that tool belt besides breath mints?”
“Thought you’d never ask. Chef Leo is on it!”
Piper and Jason sat on a brick ledge while Leo shuffled through his pack. I wanted to keep going, but I was also glad to rest. Not to mention I was a wee bit peckish.
Leo lit a small cooking fire, humming as he pulled supplies out of his pack and tool belt. “You want some help with that?”
Leo looked up. “Sure. You know how to make tacos?” I shook my head. “I’ll teach you, then.” Leo grabbed a frying pan and dumped some peppers and tofu beef into it. “Here, hold this over the fire. The peppers will have a slight burn when they’re done, and the tofu will look like real beef.”
“All righty.”
The peppers started sizzling, letting out small pops every now and then. Leo got busy preparing some taco shells, along with some chips and salsa.
“These look good to you?” Leo abandoned the chips to come check on the tofu and peppers.
“Yeah, baby! Almost there.” I raised an eyebrow, smiling slightly. Leo cleared his throat and took the pan. He put the tofu and peppers in taco shells, stacking plates on his arms like a waiter. “And bingo! Let’s interrupt the lovebirds.”
I laughed as he walked over to Jason and Piper. I followed with my own plate, the chips, and salsa.
“Leo,” Piper said in amazement. “How did you—"
“Chef Leo and Ziya’s Taco Garage is fixing you up!” Leo announced. “And by the way, it’s tofu, not beef, beauty queen, so don’t freak. Just dig in!”
The tacos tasted as amazing as they looked and smelled. I was proud of myself for having managed to keep the tofu and peppers from burning. While we ate, Leo tried to lighten the mood with dad jokes.
(“You know, I like to tell dad jokes,” Leo said, “but I don’t have any kids. Guess I’m a faux pa.” )
These are awful , I thought affectionately.
After Piper finished eating, Jason encouraged her to get some sleep. Without another word, she curled up and put her head in his lap. In two seconds, she was snoring.
Jason looked at me and Leo, who was obviously trying not to laugh.
“Aww!” I murmured, not wanting to wake Piper up. Jason blushed a dark pink, but didn’t try to defend himself. “What do you think, Leo? I’m thinking twenty for… one week?”
“Wow, really?” Leo thought for a moment. “Three weeks. Make it thirty.” He gasped and tapped my arm repeatedly.
“What?”
He grinned, eyes shining. “We’re in a sewer!”
“...Ah, shit.” Leo wheezed. “I’m a bit short on cash right now. I’ll pay you when we get back to camp.”
Jason looked back and forth between us. I mouthed ‘long story’ and he shrugged.
We fell silent, and I tried to stifle a yawn. “You should get some sleep,” Leo whispered in my ear.
I felt my face warm. “No, I’m—" I was cut off by a yawn. “I’m good.” Leo gave me a look. “Fine. But you need some, too.”
I cracked my back, put on my new headphones, and leaned against the wall, letting out another yawn before I slipped into a half-sleep.
In the vague awareness between sleeping and waking, I heard her voice again through the headphones, a freezing touch settling on the back of my neck.
“Ziya, why haven’t you come looking for me? Ziya, I love you, why are you with him ? It’s been eight months , how dare you I have been DEAD for eight months YOU CAN’T POSSIBLY tell me you’ve MOURNED HOW MANY others HOW MANY—”
A warmth settled next to me, and a solid pressure settled my heavy breathing.
Emily’s voice went quiet.
~*~
“Ziya, it’s time to get up,” Leo’s voice whispered in my ear.
I groaned, clutching my pillow tighter. “I don’t wanna.” In the back of my mind, I vaguely wondered what he was doing in my and Piper’s room.
He laughed. “Seriously, Ziya, come on.”
“You two sure look cozy.” Piper’s voice sounded amused.
I cracked an eye open. That doesn’t look like my pillow. I looked up. Leo’s face was right there.
I jumped back, face burning. “Um. Sorry, I thought—"
“No, you’re fine.” His voice was higher pitched again. “It looked like you were having a nightmare, so…”
“Oh. Yeah, that— pop — that makes sense.” My tongue clicked again. “Sorry, I thought we were back in Nevada and you were a pillow, you are surprisingly comfortable, by the way, and I’m going to stop talking now.”
I bit my tongue and started gathering our supplies. Piper crouched down to help, wiggling her eyebrows and grinning like a madwoman. I couldn’t muster the effort to glare at her.
What the fuck is wrong with me?
We went down the tunnel, with twists and turns that seemed to go on forever. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting, maybe a dungeon, or a mad scientist’s lab, possibly a sewer reservoir where all Porta-Potty sludge ends up, forming an evil toilet face large enough to swallow the world. A bunch of mutant alligators at a stretch.
I definitely wasn’t expecting polished steel elevator doors, each one engraved with a cursive letter ‘M’. Next to the elevator was a directory, like for a department store.
“‘M’ for Macy’s?” Piper guessed. “I think they have one in downtown Chicago.”
“Or maybe it’s McDonald’s!” I suggested. “I’d like some McDonald’s. Maybe a Big Mac or a twenty piece McNugget. A milkshake.”
“Or Monocle Motors still?” Leo said. “Guys, read the directory. It’s messed up.”
Parking, Kennels, Main Entrance: Sewer Level
Furnishings and Café M: 1
Women’s Fashion and Magical Appliances: 2
Men’s Wear and Weaponry: 3
Cosmetics, Potions, Poisons, & Sundries: 4
“Kennels for what?” Piper said. “And what kind of department store had its entrance in a sewer?”
“Or sells poisons,” Leo said. “Man, what does ‘sundries’ even mean? Is that like underwear?”
I snorted. “Sundries are random things that aren’t important enough to be mentioned individually.”
Jason took a deep breath. “When in doubt, start at the top.”
The doors slid open on the fourth floor, and the scent of perfume wafted into the elevator. Jason stepped out first, sword ready.
“Guys,” he said. “You’ve gotta see this.”
Piper joined him and caught her breath. “This is not Macy’s.”
I peeked out. The department store looked like the inside of a kaleidoscope. The entire ceiling was a stained glass mosaic with astrological signs around a giant sun. The daylight streaming through it washed everything in a thousand different colors. The upper floors made a ring of balconies around a huge central atrium, so they could see all the way down to the ground floor. Gold railings glittered brightly.
Aside from the stained glass ceiling and the elevator, there weren’t any other windows or doors, but two sets of glass escalators ran between the levels. The carpeting was a riot of oriental patterns and colors, and the racks of merchandise were just as bizarre. There was too much to take in at once, but there was normal stuff like shirt racks and shoe trees mixed in with armored manikins, beds of nails, and fur coats that seemed to be moving.
Leo stepped to the railing and looked down. “Check it out.”
In the middle of the atrium a fountain sprayed water twenty feet into the air, changing color from red to yellow to blue. The pool glittered with gold coins, and on either side of the fountain stood a gilded cage.
Inside one, a miniature hurricane swirled, and lightning flashed. Somebody had imprisoned the venti , and the cage shuddered as they tried to get out. In the other, frozen like a statue, was a short, buff satyr, holding a tree-branch club.
“Coach Hedge!” Piper said.
“We’ve gotta get down there,” I said.
“May I help you find something?” All of us jumped back.
A woman appeared out of nowhere. She wore an elegant black dress with diamond jewelry. She looked like a retired fashion model— maybe, fifty, sixty years old. Her long dark hair was swept over one shoulder, and her face was gorgeous in that surreal supermodel way— thin and haughty and cold, not quite human. Long red-painted nails made her fingers look more like talons.
She smiled. “I’m so happy to see new customers. How may I help you?”
Leo gestured at Jason like, all yours . “Um,” Jason started, “is this your store?”
The woman nodded. “I found it abandoned, you know. I understand so many stores are, these days. I decided it would make the perfect place. I love collecting tasteful objects, helping people, and offering quality goods at a reasonable price. So this seemed a good… how do you say… first acquisition in this country.”
Her accent was rich and somewhat enchanting. Jason and Leo started to relax. But something about her seemed off.
“So you’re new to America?” Jason asked.
“I am… new,” the woman agreed. “I am the Princess of Colchis. My friends call me Your Highness. Now, what are you looking for?”
Colchis. That sounds familiar.
Jason zoned out. Piper poked him in the ribs. “Jason…”
“Um, right. Actually, Your HIghness…” He pointed to the gilded cage on the first floor. “That’s our friend down there, Gleeson Hedge. The satyr. Could we… have him back, please?”
“Oh, of course!” the princess agreed immediately. “I would love to show you my inventory. First, may I know your names?”
Jason hesitated. Everything about her screamed ‘ wrong ’. I wanted to get Coach Hedge and get the hell out of this crazy department store.
I started to whisper, “Guys, I don’t—"
“This is Piper and Ziya,” Jason said. “This is Leo. I’m Jason.”
The princess fixed her eyes on him and, just for a moment, her face literally glowed, blazing with so much anger that her skull was visible beneath her skin. And then ‘Her HIghness’ looked like a normal elegant woman again, with a cordial smile and a soothing voice.
Fuck fuck fuck shit shit shit we have to leave
“Jason. What an… interesting name,” she said, her eyes as cold as the Chicago wind. “I think we’ll have to make a special deal for you. Come, children. Let’s go shopping.”
Notes:
This is one of my favorite chapters, tbh. Thanks for reading! 💖
Chapter 31: The One Ring
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Summary:
“I’m sure, my dears, you understand how one might be attracted to such a hero, and want to help him.”
Notes:
Sorry for the late update. We had semis and finals for World Championships yesterday for IPE, and I am exhausted. (We placed second, btw, first time in our groups history!!)
EDIT: Also, how did this jump from 880 like, two days ago, to 930?? Thanks?? So much??
Anyway, enjoy today's chapter! 'Tis from Ziya's POV.
Word Count: 2204
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
The temptation to slit Her Highness’ throat was very strong. But, she hadn’t done anything to warrant an attack… yet.
Except maybe the glowing skull bit. That was creepy AF.
The princess gestured toward the cosmetics counter. “Shall we start with the potions?”
“Cool,” Jason said.
“Guys,” Piper interrupted, “we’re here to get the storm spirits and Coach Hedge. If this ‘princess’ is really our friend—"
“Oh, I’m better than a friend, my dear,” Her Highness said. “I’m a saleswoman.” Her diamond sparkled, had her eyes glittered like a snake’s— cold and dark. “Don’t worry. We’ll work our way down to the first floor, eh?”
Leo nodded eagerly. “Sure, yeah! That sounds okay. Right, Ziya?”
I stared at him. “No, it’s not okay!”
“Of course it’s okay.” The princess put her hands on Leo’s and Jason’s shoulders and steered them toward the cosmetics. “Come along, boys.”
Piper and I didn’t have much choice except to follow.
God, I hate department stores.
“And here,” she said, “is the finest assortment of magical mixtures anywhere.”
The counter was crammed with bubbling beakers and smoking vials on tripods. Lining the display shelves were crystal flasks— some shaped like swans or honey bear dispensers. The liquids inside were every color, from glowing white to polka-dotted. And the smells were nearly enough to give me a sensory overload. Some were pleasant, like fresh-baked cookies or roses, but they were mixed with the scents of burning tires, skunk spray, and gym lockers.
The princess pointed at a bloodred vial— a simple test tube with a cork stopper. “This one will heal any disease.”
“Even cancer?” Leo asked. “Leprosy? Hangnails?”
“Any disease, sweet boy. And this vial—” she pointed to a swan-shaped container with blue liquid inside, “—will kill you very painfully.”
“Awesome,” Jason murmured. His voice sounded dazed and sleepy.
“Jason,” Piper said. “We’ve got a job to do. Remember?” Her voice took on that richer tone, she’d called it ‘charmspeak’, but the shakiness nixed the effect.
“Job to do,” Jason muttered. “Sure. But shopping first, okay?”
The princess beamed at him. “Then we have potions for resisting fire—"
“Got that covered,” Leo said. I smacked my forehead. Why. Just why.
“Indeed?” She studied Leo’s face closely. “You don’t appear to be wearing my trademark sunscreen… but no matter. We also have potions that cause blindness, insanity, sleep, or—"
“Wait.” Piper stared at the red vial. “Could that potion cure lost memory?” Jason.
The princess narrowed her eyes. “Possibly. Yes, quite possibly. Why, my dear? Have you forgotten something important?”
Piper stood there thinking. “How much?” she asked.
‘You sure?’ I signed. She nodded.
The princess got a faraway look in her eyes. “Well, now… The price is always tricky. I love helping people. Honestly, I do. And I always keep my bargains, but sometimes people try to cheat me.” Her gaze drifted to Jason. “Once, for instance, I met a handsome young man who wanted a treasure from my father’s kingdom. We made a bargain, and I promised to help him steal it.”
“From your own dad?” Jason still looked half in a trance, but the idea seemed to bother him.
“Oh, don’t worry,” the princess said. “I demanded a high price. The young man had to take me away with him. He was quite good-looking, dashing, strong…” She looked at Piper and me. “I’m sure, my dears, you understand how one might be attracted to such a hero, and want to help him.”
Leo’s breaths shuddered against my back. I pressed against him, reaching back for his hand. He squeezed my hand, and his breathing evened out.
My heart started pitter-pattering again. …What the fuck.
“At any rate,” Her Highness continued, “my hero had to do many impossible tasks, and I’m not bragging when I say he couldn’t have done them without me. I betrayed my own family to win the hero his prize. And still he cheated me of my payment.”
“Cheated?” Jason frowned, as if trying to remember something important.
“That’s messed up,” Leo said.
Her Highness patted his cheek affectionately. The only thing that stopped me from biting her hand was the fact that she was so close to Leo. “I’m sure you don’t need to worry, Leo. You seem honest. You would always pay a fair price, wouldn’t you?”
Leo nodded. “What are we buying again? I’ll take two.” I smacked my forehead again.
Piper broke in: “So, the vial, Your Highness— how much?”
The princess assessed Piper’s clothes, her face, her posture, as if putting a price tag on one slightly used demigod.
“Would you give anything for it, my dear?” She asked. “I sense that you would.”
The words and their power washed over me like a tidal wave. She was using charmspeak.
“No,” Piper said. “I won’t pay any price. But a fair price, maybe. After that, we need to leave. Right, guys?” I nodded.
Just for a moment, her words seemed to have some effect. The boys looked confused.
“Leave?” Jason said.
“You mean… after shopping?” Leo asked.
I wanted to scream, but the princess tilted her head, examining Piper and I with a newfound respect.
“Impressive,” she said. “Not many people could resist my suggestions. Are you children of Aphrodite, my dears? No, only Piper, here. You…” She regarded me thoughtfully. “You are quite interesting. A natural resistance to charmspeak is exceedingly rare. I should have seen it. No matter. Perhaps we should shop a while longer before you decide what to buy, eh?”
“But the vial—" Piper protested.
“Now, boys.” She turned to Jason and Leo, her voice taking on that intensely rich tone. “Would you like to see more?”
“Sure,” Jason said.
“Okay,” Leo said.
“Excellent,” the princess said. “You’ll need all the help you can get if you’re going to make it to the Bay Area.”
I moved my hand to one of my daggers. “The Bay Area? What’s that?”
Her Highness smiled. “Well, that’s where they’ll die, isn’t it?” Then she led them toward the escalators, Jason and Leo still looking excited to shop.
My heart jumped to the base of my throat. We needed to leave now.
~*~
Piper cornered the princess as Jason and Leo went off to check out the living fur coats. I wandered after them, figuring that at least one person had to be responsible.
Leo laughed as he tried on a hat that seemed to be made from enchanted raccoon fur. Its ringed tail twitched, and its little legs wiggled frantically as Leo walked. Jason was ogling the men’s sportswear.
“Hey, Sunflower!” Leo called. I turned to see him holding up a giant shield that he could barely hold up. “What do you think?”
I shook my head, huffing out a laugh. “It’s too big for you, dummy.” Leo frowned and put the shield back.
Next to the shield lay a tarnished silver sword with veins of gold and bronze in the blade. Something about it was… I wasn’t quite sure. I glanced back; Piper and the princess were still in deep conversation.
The blade seemed to be weighted perfectly, and the leather grip fit comfortably under my fingers. My thumb brushed over an inscription, pernicies lupi , and the sword shrunk into a silver ring, still with the veins of bronze and gold and inscription. I slipped it into my pocket.
Jason called, “Hey, check it out!” From a rack labeled distressed clothing, he held up a T-shirt like the one he’d worn on the school field trip— God, that was two days ago. — except this shirt looked as if it had been clawed to shreds by tigers. He frowned. “Why does this look so familiar?”
“Jason, it’s like yours,” Piper said. “Now we really have to leave.”
“Nonsense,” the princess said. “The boys aren’t done, are they? And yes, my dear. Those shirts are very popular— trade-ins from previous customers. It suits you.”
Leo picked up an orange Camp Half-Blood tee with a hole through the middle, as if the previous owner had been run through with a javelin. Next to that was a dented bronze breastplate pitted with corrosion— acid, maybe?— and a Roman toga slashed to pieces and stained with what I hoped was cranberry juice.
“Your Highness,” Piper’s voice sounded strained. “Why don’t you tell the boys how you betrayed your family? I’m sure they’d like to hear that story.” Her words didn’t have any effect on the princess, but the boys turned, suddenly interested.
“More story?” Leo asked.
“I like more story!” Jason agreed.
The princess flashed Piper an irritated look. “Oh, one will do strange things for love, Piper. You should know that. I fell for that young hero, in fact, because your mother Aphrodite had me under a spell. If it wasn’t for her— but I can’t hold a grudge against a goddess, can I?” Her tone made her meaning clear: But I can take it out on you.
“But that hero took you with him when he fled Colchis,” Piper said. “Didn’t he, Your Highness? He married you just as he promised.”
The look in the princess’ eyes was wistful and sad. I quickly squashed the small bit of pity that surfaced.
“At first,” she admitted, “it seemed he would keep his word. But even after I helped him steal my father’s treasure, he still needed my help. As we fled, my brother’s fleet came after us. His warships overtook us. He would have destroyed us, but I convinced my brother to come aboard our help first and talk under a flag of truce. He trusted me.”
“And you killed your own brother,” Piper said, her voice tightening.
“What?” Jason stirred. For a moment he looked almost like himself. “Killed your own—"
“No,” the princess snapped. “Those stories are lies. It was my new husband and his men who killed my brother, though they couldn’t have done it without my deception. They threw his body into the sea, and the pursuing fleet had to stop and search for it so they could give my brother a proper burial. This gave us time to get away. All this, I did for my husband. And he forgot our bargain. He betrayed me in the end.”
Jason still looked uncomfortable. “What did he do?”
She held the sliced-up toga against Jason’s chest, as if measuring him for assassination. “Don’t you know the story, my boy? You of all people should. You were named for him.”
“Jason,” Piper said. “The original Jason. But then you’re— you should be dead!”
“Shit,” I muttered.
Medea smiled. “As I said, a new life in a new country. Certainly I made mistakes. I turned my back on my own people. I was called a traitor, a thief, a liar, a murderess. But I acted out of love.” She turned to the boys and gave them a pitiful look, batting her eyelashes. “Wouldn’t you do the same for someone you loved, my dears?”
“Oh, sure,” Jason said.
“Definitely,” Leo said, gazing fondly at me.
What kind of spell is that?
“Guys!” Piper ground her teeth in frustration. “Don’t you see who she is? Don’t you—"
“Let’s continue, shall we?” Medea said breezily. “I believe you wanted to talk about a price for the storm spirits and your satyr.”
Leo quickly got distracted on the second floor with the appliances. “No way,” he said. “Is that an armored forge?” He grabbed my arm and dragged me off the escalator, pulling me over to a big oval oven that looked like a barbeque on steroids.
When she caught up with us, Medea said, “You have good taste. This is the H-2000, designed by Hephaestus himself. Hot enough to melt Celestial bronze or Imperial gold.”
Jason flinched. “Imperial gold?”
Medea nodded. “Yes, my dear. Like that weapon so cleverly concealed in your pocket, or your friend’s bracelet. To be properly forged, Imperial gold had to be consecrated in the Temple of Jupiter on Capitoline Hill in Rome. Quite a powerful and rare metal, but like the Roman emperors, quite volatile. Be sure never to break that blade.” She smiled pleasantly. “Rome was after my time, of course, but I do hear stories. And now over here— this golden throne is one of my finest luxury items. Hephaestus made it as a punishment for his mother, Hera. Sit in it and you’ll be immediately trapped.”
Leo apparently took this as an order and began walking toward it in a trance.
“Leo, don’t!” Piper warned. I grabbed his arm and pulled him away from the throne.
He blinked. “How much for both?”
“Oh, the seat I could let you have for five great deeds. The forge, seven years of servitude. And for only a bit of your strength—" She led Leo into the appliance section, giving him prices on various items.
I ran after Leo and Medea while Piper tried to reason with Jason. “And this is a—"
I grabbed Leo’s arm. “Thanks, but we’re not interested. We just want to get our friend, the venti , and leave.”
Medea glowered. “Very well. Children,” she said, addressing Piper and Jason, “if you please, we will now see what you came for. That is what you want, yes?”
Notes:
BTW, 'pernicies lupi' is Latin, translating to 'destruction of wolves' or 'bane of wolves' :D
Chapter 32: Exploiting Trauma is NOT NICE.
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Notes:
I can’t believe we’re so close to 1k hits. That is insane. Thank you all so much for kudos and commenting and just reading!
This chapter is from Ziya’s POV.
Word Count: 2842
TW/CW: Ziya has a brief anxiety attack
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
At this point, the only things stopping me from killing Medea were my morals, the spell over Leo and Jason, and the fact that we didn’t have Hedge or the storm spirits.
So, a lot. Still.
We took the escalator down to the base of the fountain. Two large bronze sundials— each about the size of a trampoline— were inlaid on the marble tile floor on opposite ends of the fountain. The gilded oversize canary cages stood between the sundials and opposite each other, the farthest of which held the storm spirits so densely packed they looked like a super-concentrated tornado.
“Hey,” Leo said, “Coach Hedge looks okay!”
We ran to the nearest canary cage. The old satyr seemed to have been petrified at the moment he was sucked into the sky above the Grand Canyon. He was frozen mid-shout, his club raised over his head like he was ordering the gym class to drop and give him fifty. His curly hair stuck up at odd angles. If I concentrated on certain details— the bright orange polo shirt, the wispy goatee, the whistle around his neck— I could imagine Coach Hedge as his good old annoying self. But it was hard to ignore the stubby horns on his head, and the fact that he had furry goat legs and hooves instead of workout pants and Nikes.
“Yes,” Medea said. “I always keep my wares in good condition. We can certainly barter for the storm spirits and the satyr. A package deal. If we come to terms, I’ll even throw in the vial of healing potion, and you can go in peace.” She gave Piper and me a shrewd look. “That’s better than starting unpleasantness, isn’t it, dears?”
‘We shouldn’t trust her,’ I signed.
‘Do we have a choice?’
Jason and Leo were looking at us, nodding urgently and mouthing, Say yes!
‘Just be careful.’
Piper nodded. “We can negotiate.”
“Totally!” Leo agreed. “Name your price.”
“Leo!” Piper snapped.
Medea chuckled. “Name my price? Perhaps not the best haggling strategy, my boy, but at least you know a thing’s value. Freedom is very valuable indeed. You would ask me to release this satyr, who attacked my storm winds—"
“Who attacked us,” I interjected.
She shrugged. “As I said, my patron asks me for small favors from time to time. Sending the storm spirits to abduct you— that was one. I assure you it was nothing personal. And no harm done, as you came here, in the end, of your own free will! At any rate, you want the satyr freed, and you want my storm spirits— who are very valuable servants, by the way— so you can hand them over to that tyrant Aeolus. Doesn’t seem quite fair, does it? The price will be high.”
The look on Jason and Leo’s faces was that of desperation— desperate to please, desperate to offer anything, promise anything. Before they could speak, Piper played her last card.
“You’re Medea,” she said. “You helped the original Jason steal the Golden Fleece. You’re one of the most evil villains in Greek mythology. Jason, Leo— don’t trust her.”
Piper put all the intensity she could gather into those words. She was utterly sincere, and it seemed to have some effect. Jason stepped away from the sorceress.
Leo scratched his head and looked around like he was coming out of a dream. “What are we doing, again?”
“Boys!” Medea spread her hands in a welcoming gesture. Her diamond jewelry glittered, and her painted fingers curled like blood-tipped claws. “It’s true, I’m Medea. But I’m so misunderstood. Oh, Piper, my dear, you don’t know what it was like for women in the old days. We had no power, no leverage. Often we couldn’t even choose our own husbands. But I was different. I chose my own destiny by becoming a sorceress. Is that so wrong? I made a pact with Jason: my help to win the Fleece, in exchange for his love. A fair deal. He became a famous hero! Without me, he would’ve died unknown on the shores of Colchis.”
Jason— our Jason— scowled. “Then… you really did die three thousand years ago? You came back from the Underworld?”
“Death no longer holds me, young hero,” Medea said. “Thanks to my patron, I am flesh and blood again.”
“You… re-formed?” Leo blinked. “Like a monster?”
Medea spread her fingers, steam hissing from her nails like water on a hot iron. “You have no idea what’s happening, do you, my dears? It is so much worse than a stirring of monsters from Tartarus. My patron knows that giants and monsters are not her greatest servants. I am mortal. I learn from my mistakes. And now that I have returned to the living, I will not be cheated again. Now, here is my price for what you ask.”
My blood boiled. “Guys, the original Jason left Medea because she was crazy and bloodthirsty.”
“Lies!”
“On the way back from Colchis, Jason’s ship landed at another kingdom, and Jason agreed to dump Medea and marry the king’s daughter.”
“After I bore him two children!” Medea cried. “Still he broke his promise! I ask you, was that right?” Jason and Leo dutifully shook their heads.
“It may not have been right, but neither was Medea’s revenge. She murdered her own children to get back at Jason!”
“Oh, well, you would know all about that, wouldn’t you, Ziya?”
I flinched. “That wasn’t— punk — I—" My throat seized. Shit, not now!
“She poisoned Jason’s new wife and fled the kingdom!” Piper continued with only a brief glance in my direction.
Medea snarled. “An invention to ruin my reputation! The people of the Corinth— that unruly mob— killed my children and drove me out. Jason did nothing to protect me. He robbed me of everything . So yes, I sneaked back into the palace and poisoned his lovely new bride. It was only fair— a suitable price.”
“You’re insane ,” Piper snarled.
“I am the victim!” Medea wailed. “I died with my dreams shattered, but no longer. I know now not to trust heroes. When they come asking for treasures, they will pay a heavy price. Especially when the one asking has the name of Jason!”
The fountain turned blood red. Piper and I drew our daggers. “Jason, Leo,” she said, “it’s time to go. Now. ”
“Before you’ve closed the deal?” Medea asked. “What of your quest, boys? And my price is so easy. Did you know this fountain is magic? If a dead man were to be thrown into it, even if he was chopped to pieces, he would pop back out fully formed— stronger and more powerful than ever.”
“Seriously?” Leo asked. No no no no!
“Leo, she’s lying,” Piper said. “She did that trick with somebody before— a king, I think. She convinced his daughters to cut him to pieces so he could come out of the water young and healthy again, but it just killed him!”
“Ridiculous,” Medea said, every syllable charged with power. “Leo, Jason— my price is so simple. Why don’t you two fight? If you get injured, or even killed, no problem. We’ll just throw you into the fountain and you’ll be better than ever. You do want to fight, don’t you? You resent each other!”
“Guys, no!” Piper said.
But they were already glaring at each other, as if it was just dawning on them how they really felt.
I hadn’t felt this helpless since the day I watched Evan die.
Leo scowled. “Jason’s always the star. He always gets the attention and takes me for granted.”
“You’re so annoying, Leo,” Jason growled. “You never take anything seriously. You can’t even fix the stupid dragon.”
No no no!
“Stop!” Piper pleaded, but they both drew their weapons— Jason his gold sword, and Leo a hammer from his tool belt.
“Let them go, Piper,” Medea urged. “I’m doing you a favor. Let it happen now, and it will make your choice so much easier. Enceladus will be pleased. You could have your father back today!”
What?
Piper looked on the verge of sobbing. “You work for Enceladus.”
Medea laughed. “Serve a giant? No. But we all serve the same greater cause— a patron you cannot begin to challenge. Walk away, child of Aphrodite. This does not have to be your death, too. Save yourself, and your father can go free.”
Leo and Jason were still facing off, ready to fight, but they looked unsteady and confused— waiting for another order. Part of them was resisting. At least, that’s what I hoped.
“Listen to me, girl.” Medea plucked a diamond off her bracelet and threw it into a spray of water from the fountain. As it passed through the multicolored light, Medea said, “O Iris, goddess of the rainbow, show me the office of Tristan McLean.”
The mist shimmered and turned into a view of an office, presumably Piper’s dad’s. Sitting behind the desk, talking on the phone, was a woman in a dark business suit, her hair swirled in a tight bun.
“Hello, Jane,” Medea said.
Jane hung up the phone calmly. “How can I help you, ma’am? Hello, Piper.”
“You—"
“Yes, child,” Medea said. “Your father’s assistant. Quite easy to manipulate. An organized mind for a mortal, but incredibly weak.”
“Thank you, ma’am,” Jane said.
“Don’t mention it,” Medea said. “I just want to congratulate you, Jane. Getting Mr. McLean to leave town so suddenly, take his jet to Oakland without alerting the press or the police— well done! No one seems to know where he’s gone. And telling him his daughter’s life was on the line— that was a nice touch to get his cooperation.”
“Yes,” Jane agreed in a bland tone, like she was sleepwalking. “He was quite cooperative when he believed Piper was in danger.”
“I may have new orders for you, Jane,” Medea said. “If the girl cooperates, it may be time for Mr. McLean to come home. Would you arrange a suitable cover story for his absence, just in case? And I imagine the poor man will need some time in a psychiatric hospital.”
“Yes, ma’am. I will stand by.”
The image faded, and Medea turned to Piper. “There, you see?”
“You lured my dad into a trap,” Piper said. “You helped the giant—"
“Oh, please, dear. You’ll work yourself into a fit! I’ve been preparing for this war for years, even before I was brought back to life. I’m a seer, as I said. I can tell the future as well as your little oracle or Ziya.” Wait, what. “Years ago, still suffering in the Fields of Punishment, I had a vision of the eight in your so-called Great Prophecy. I saw your friend Leo here, and saw that he would be an important enemy someday. I stirred the consciousness of my patron, gave her this information, and she managed to wake just a little— just enough to visit him.”
Well, if I wasn’t already nonverbal, I definitely was then.
“Leo’s mother,” Piper said. “Leo, listen to this! She helped get your mother killed!”
“Uh-huh,” Leo mumbled, still in a daze. He frowned at his hammer. “So… I just attack Jason? That’s okay?”
“Perfectly safe,” Medea promised. “And Jason, strike him hard. Show me you are worthy of your namesake.”
“No!” PIper ordered. “Jason, Leo— she’s tricking you. Put down your weapons.”
The sorceress rolled her eyes. “Please, girl. You’re no match for me. I trained with my aunt, the immortal Circe. I can drive men mad or heal them with my voice. What hope do these puny young heroes have against me? Now, boys, kill each other!”
“Jason, Leo, listen to me!” Tears started to roll down Piper’s cheeks. “Medea is charming you. It’s part of her magic. You are best friends. Don’t fight each other. Fight her !”
They hesitated, and the spell shattered.
Oh, thank god.
Jason blinked. “Leo, was I just about to stab you?”
“Something about my mother…?” Leo frowned, then turned toward Medea. “You… you’re working for Dirt Woman. You sent her to the machine shop.” He lifted his arm, his hand shaking. Fire flickered behind his eyes. “Lady, I got a three-pound hammer with your name on it.”
Medea sneered. “I’ll simply collect payment another way.”
She stepped on one of the mosaic tiles on the floor, and the building rumbled. Jason swung his sword at Medea, but she dissolved into smoke and reappeared at the base of the escalator.
“You’re slow, hero!” She laughed. “Take your frustration out on my pets!”
Before anyone could go after her, the giant bronze sundials at either end of the fountain swung open. Two snarling gold beasts— flesh-and-blood winged dragons— crawled out from the pits below. Each was the size of a camper van. Maybe not large compared to Festus, but large enough.
“So that’s what’s in the kennels,” Leo said meekly.
The dragons spread their wings and hissed, their skin radiating heat like the sun. One turned angry orange eyes on me.
“Don’t look them in the eye!” Jason warned. “They’ll paralyze you.”
“Indeed!” Medea was leisurely riding the escalator up, leaning against the handrail as she watched the fun. “These two dears have been with me a long time— sun dragons, you know, gifts from my grandfather Helios. They pulled my chariot when I left Corinth, and now they will be your destruction. Ta-ta!”
The dragons lunged. Leo and Jason charged to intercept, fearless and with the confidence of a team who’d trained together for years.
Medea was almost to the second floor, where she’d be able to choose from a wide assortment of deadly appliances.
“Oh, no, you don’t,” Piper growled, and took off after her.
I blinked. What do I do? I tried to go after Piper, grab a dagger, do something , but my heart just raced faster and faster. My throat seized up, and my chest tightened. It was like being back in Detroit in that grimy old warehouse.
God, what do I do? They’re risking their lives and you’re just standing there! DO SOMETHING FOR FUCK’S SAKE YOU SPINELESS COWARD.
“Ziya, watch out!”
Something shoved me to the ground, knocking what little air I had out of my lungs. What just —
I struggled to my hands and knees. “Jason, help!” One of the dragons had Leo pinned to the floor, baring its fangs, ready to snap.
Right where I’d been.
Jason was all the way across the room battling the other dragon, too far away to assist.
The burning roof collapsed. Evan was still inside.
I’d done nothing to save him.
Not again.
I stood shakily, digging in my pocket for the silver ring. I brushed over the inscription, and the sword appeared in my hands. I had no idea how to use a sword, but it was too late for that. The sun dragon stepped away from Leo. I avoided its gaze, only looking at it with my peripheral vision.
It lunged, and blind panic grappled with the last of my conscious thinking. In a blur, I slashed, hitting something solid, but the sword just bounced off. Its claws raked at my stomach, but the sword blocked them.
The dragon and I traded stabs and slashes, and then the dragon hit just a bit too hard. I fell back, the sword clattering to the floor feet away from me. The dragon pinned my shoulder.
Fuck knife KNIFE KNIFE .
The dragon opened its maw, dozens of porcelain daggers poised to tear me in two. I grabbed one of the knives around my waist and jabbed upward. The dragon reeled back, taking the dagger stuck in the roof of its mouth with it. Aw, man.
Leo appeared and yanked me to my feet, pulling me away from the shrieking dragon that was becoming angrier by the second. My arm burned as I pulled out another dagger and the dragon snorted fire at us.
CRASH!
The stained glass ceiling splintered in a rain of multi-colored shards, and Festus dove into the department store, snatching up a sun dragon in each claw.
“Yeah, baby!” Leo whooped.
Festus flew halfway up the atrium and hurled the sun dragons into the pits they’d come from. Leo raced to the fountain and pressed the marble tile, closing the sundials. They shuddered as the dragons banged against them, trying to get out, but for the moment they were contained.
I grabbed my sword as Festus swooped back around, landing so Jason, Leo, and I could climb on. Festus snatched up the canary cages before climbing quickly through the air to get Piper.
The building rumbled. Fire and smoke curled up the walls, melting the railings, turning the air to acid. Piper said something to Medea before she turned and jumped over the side. She plummeted for barely a second before Leo and Jason caught her, hauling her aboard the dragon. I yanked on the reins, pulling Festus back up through the glass ceiling. Medea screamed in rage.
The department store exploded behind us.
Notes:
Thanks for reading!! Love you all so much 💖
Chapter 33: It's Time to Play: WHEEL! OF! FORTUNE!
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Summary:
“Is that me?” I asked. “Like— me right now, having this dream— looking at me having a dream?”
Notes:
Sorry again for the late update. I went to see Hadestown performed by the traveling cast (it was epic by the way) and then I forgot :| My bad.
Anywho, this is the first chapter of a THREE CHAPTER UPDATE as a surprise for getting 1k hits, so enjoy!
This chapter is from Leo's POV.
Word Count: 3086
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
I kept looking back, half expecting to see those nasty sun dragons toting a flying chariot with a screaming magical saleswoman throwing potions, but nothing followed us.
I reached around Ziya for the reins, steering the dragon toward the southwest while she shakily bandaged the puncture wound from when she’d stabbed one of the dragons in the mouth. Which was the coolest thing I’d ever seen, by the way.
I mean, she looked absolutely fearless considering she’d been having a panic attack not even a minute before.
Blood dribbled from the crook of her elbow, sizzling as the drops landed on Festus’ hide.
Eventually, the smoke from the burning department store faded in the distance, but I couldn’t relax until the suburbs of Chicago gave way to snowy fields and the sun began to set.
“Good job, Festus.” I patted the dragon’s metal hide. “You did awesome.”
The dragon shuddered. Gears popped and clicked in his neck.
That… doesn’t sound great. If the control disk was failing again— no, hopefully it was something minor. Something I could fix.
“I’ll give you a tune-up next time we land,” I promised. “You’ve earned some motor oil and Tabasco sauce.”
Festus whirled his teeth, but even that sounded weak. He flew at a steady pace, his great wings angling to catch the wind, but he was carrying a heavy load. Two cages in his claws plus four people on his back— the more I thought about it the more I worried. Even metal dragons had limits.
Ziya leaned back, resting her head on my shoulder.
“You okay?”
She nodded, taking deep breaths. “Just trying to catch my breath.”
“Leo?” Piper tapped my other shoulder. “You feeling okay?”
“Yeah… not bad for a brainwashed zombie.” I hoped I didn’t look as embarrassed as I felt. “Thanks for saving us back there, beauty queen. If you hadn’t talked me out of that spell—"
“Don’t worry about it,” Piper said.
But I worried. A lot. Medea had so easily set me against one of my best friends. And those feelings didn’t come from nowhere— slowly building resentment of how Jason always got the spotlight. He didn’t really need me. And though Ziya and I were like peanut butter and jelly, she and Jason got on like a house on fire.
Then again, those memories were fake.
Then again, something told me that if we survived this and they actually had a chance to talk, I’d be left in the dust.
No, stop it. Neither of them would do that.
What bothered me more was the news about Mom. Medea had seen the future down in the Underworld. That was how her patron, the woman in the black earthen robes, had come to the machine shop seven years ago to scare me, ruin my life. That’s how my mom had died— because of something I might do.
In a roundabout way, Mom’s death was still my fault.
And leaving Medea in that exploding store felt a little too good. The hope that she wouldn’t make it out and would go right back to the Fields of Punishment where she belonged made me sick.
“We’re going to have to put down soon,” I warned. “Couple more hours, maybe, to make sure Medea’s not following us. I don’t think Festus can fly much longer than that.”
“Yeah,” Piper agreed. “Coach Hedge probably wants to get out of his canary cage, too. Question is— where are we going?”
“The Bay Area,” I guessed. My memories of the department store were fuzzy at best, but I remembered hearing that. “Didn’t Medea say something about Oakland?”
Ziya flinched, and Piper didn’t respond for so long, I wondered if I’d said something wrong.
“Piper’s dad,” Jason put in. “Something happened to your dad, right? He got lured into some kind of trap.”
Piper let out a shaky breath. “Look, Medea said you’d all die in the Bay Area. And besides… even if we went there, the Bay Area is huge! First we need to find Aeolus and drop off the storm spirits. Boreas said Aeolus was the only one who could tell us exactly where to go?”
I huffed. “So how do we find Aeolus?”
Jason leaned forward. “You mean you don’t see it?” He pointed ahead of us, but I couldn’t see anything except clouds and the lights of a few towns glowing in the dusk.
“What?” I asked.
“That… whatever it is. In the air.”
“Right… Could you be more specific on the ‘whatever-it-is’ part?”
“Like a vapor trail,” Jason said. “Except it’s glowing. Really faint, but it’s definitely there. We’ve been following it since Chicago, so I figured you saw it.”
“It looks like the firefly trail from ‘The Princess and the Frog’,” Ziya murmured.
I looked down at her, huffing out a laugh. “Maybe Festus can sense it. You think Aeolus made it?”
“No, Leo. It’s obviously a sign from Neptune,” Ziya said.
“Hush, you.”
“That’s not even a good comeback.”
“ You’re not a good comeback.”
“I think he knows we’ve got prisoners for him,” Jason cut in. “He’s telling us where to fly.”
“Or it’s another trap,” Piper said. Her voice sounded broken, like we were heading towards certain doom and it was her fault.
“Pipes, you all right?” I asked.
“Don’t call me that.”
“Okay, fine. You don’t like any of the names I make up for you. But if your dad’s in trouble and we can help—"
“You can’t,” she said, her voice getting shakier. “Look, I’m tired. If you don’t mind…” She leaned back against Jason and closed her eyes.
All right, pretty clear signal.
Ziya sat up and stretched, occasionally ticcing with little pops or rolling her shoulder.
We flew in silence for a while. Festus seemed to know where he was going. He kept his course, gently curving toward the southwest and hopefully Aeolus’ fortress. Another wind god to visit. Hooray.
I had way too much on my mind to sleep, but now that I was out of danger, my body had different ideas. My energy level was crashing. The monotonous beat of the dragon’s wings made my eyes feel heavy.
“You should get some sleep while you can,” Ziya whispered. “Hand me the reins, it’s my turn to drive anyways.”
“Nah, I’m okay—"
“Leo,” she interrupted. “You are not a machine. I can see the vapor trail. I’ll make sure we stay on course.”
My eyes started to close on their own. “All right. Maybe just… Can I…?”
Ziya smiled. “I don’t mind.”
“Thanks, Sun…” I didn’t finish the sentence before slumping forward against Ziya’s back.
~*~
In my dream, I heard a voice full of static, like a bad AM radio: “Hello? Is this thing working?”
My vision came into focus— sort of. Everything was hazy and gray, with bands of interference running across my sight. I’d never dreamed with a bad connection before.
I seemed to be in a workshop. I could see bench saws, metal lathes, and tool cages out of the corner of my eye. A forge glowed cheerfully against one wall.
It wasn’t the camp forge— too big. Not Bunker 9— much warmer and more comfortable, obviously not abandoned.
Something was blocking the center of my view— something large and fuzzy, and so close I had to cross my eyes to see it properly. It was a large ugly face.
“Holy mother!”
The face backed away and came into focus. Staring down at me was a bearded man in grimy blue coveralls. His face was lumpy and covered with welts, as if he’d been bitten by a million bees, or dragged across gravel. Possibly both.
The man huffed. “Holy father , boy. I should think you’d know the difference.”
I blinked. “Hephaestus?”
The surge of complete annoyance after the last couple days, with cyclopes and a sorceress and a face in potty sludge completely overpowered whatever awe I should have had.
“Now you show up?” I demanded. “After fifteen years? Great parenting, Fur Face. Where do you get off sticking your ugly nose into my dreams?”
The god raised an eyebrow. A little spark caught fire in his beard. Then he threw his head back and laughed so loudly the tools rattled on the workbenches.
“You sound just like your mother,” Hephaestus said. “I miss Esperanza.”
“She’s been dead seven years.” My voice trembled. “Not that you’d care.”
“But I do care, boy. About both of you.”
“Uh-huh. Which is why I never saw you before today.”
He made a rumbling sound in his throat, but he looked more uncomfortable than angry. He pulled a miniature motor from his pocket and began fiddling absently with the pistons— just like I did when I was nervous.
“I’m not good with children,” Hephaestus confessed. “Or people. Well, any organic life forms, really. I thought about speaking to you at your mom’s funeral. Then again when you were in fifth grade… that science project you made, steam-powered chicken chucker. Very impressive.”
“You saw that?”
Hephaestus pointed to the nearest worktable, where a shiny bronze mirror showed a hazy image of me asleep against Ziya, arms around her waist.
“Is that me?” I asked. “Like— me right now, having this dream— looking at me having a dream?”
Hephaestus scratched his beard. “Now you’ve confused me. But yes— it’s you. I’m always keeping an eye on you, Leo. But talking to you is, um… different.”
“You’re scared .”
“Grommets and gears!” he yelled. “Of course not!”
“Yeah, you’re scared.” But my anger seeped away. I’d spent years thinking about what to say to my dad if we ever met— mostly how I’d chew him out for being a deadbeat. Now, looking at that bronze mirror, with the thought of my dad— god, my dad — watching my progress over the years, even my stupid science experiments…
Maybe Hephaestus was still a jerk, but I could understand where he was coming from. I knew about running away from people, not fitting in.
“So,” I grumbled, “you keep track of all your kids? You got, like, twelve back at camp. How’d you even— Never mind. I don’t want to know.”
Hephaestus might have blushed, but his face was so beat up and red, it was hard to tell. “Gods are different from mortals, boy. We can exist in many places at once— wherever people call on us, wherever our sphere of influence is strong. In fact, it’s rare our entire essence is ever together in one place— our true form. It’s dangerous, powerful enough to destroy any mortal who looks upon us. So, yes… lots of children. Add to that our different aspects, Greek and Roman—" Hephaestus’ fingers froze on his engine project. “Er, that is to say, being a god is complicated. And yes, I try to keep an eye on all my children, but you especially.”
What was that Greek/Roman bit?
“Why contact me now?” I asked instead. “I thought the gods had gone silent.”
“We have,” Hephaestus grumped. “Zeus’ orders— very strange, even for him. He’s blocked all visions, dreams, and Iris-messages to and from Olympus. Hermes is sitting around bored out of his mind because he can’t deliver the mail. Fortunately, I kept my old pirate broadcasting equipment.”
Hephaestus patted a machine on the table. It looked like a combination satellite dish, V-6 engine, and espresso maker. Each time he jostled the machine, my dream flickered and changed color.
“Used this in the Cold War,” he said fondly. “Radio Free Hephaestus. Those were the days. I keep it around for pay-per-view, mostly, or making viral brain videos—"
“Viral brain videos?”
“But now it’s come in handy again. If Zeus knew I was contacting you, he’d have my hide.”
“Why is Zeus being such a jerk?”
“He excels at that, boy.” Hephaestus said boy as if I were an annoying machine part— an extra washer, maybe, that served no clear purpose, but was kept around just in case he might need it someday.
Not exactly heartwarming. But it was better than ‘son’. I wasn’t about to start calling this big awkward guy ‘dad’.
Hephaestus got tired of his engine and tossed it over his shoulder. Before it hit the floor, it sprouted helicopter wings and flew itself into a recycling bin.
“It was the second Titan War, I suppose,” Hephaestus said. “That’s what got Zeus upset. We gods were… well, embarrassed. Don’t think there’s any other way to say it.”
“But you won.”
He grunted. “We won because the demigods of—" Again, he hesitated as if he’d almost made a slip, "—Camp Half-Blood took the lead. We won because our children fought our battles for us, smarter than we did. If we’d relied on Zeus’ plan, we would’ve all gone down to Tartarus fighting the storm giant Typhon, and Kronos would’ve won. Bad enough mortals won our war for us, but then that young upstart, Percy Jackson—"
“The guy who’s missing.”
“Yes, him. He had the nerve to turn down our offer of immortality and tell us to pay better attention to our children. Er, no offense.”
“Oh, how could I take offense? Please, go on ignoring me.”
“Mighty understanding of you…” Hephaestus frowned, then sighed wearily. “That was sarcasm, wasn’t it? Machines don’t have sarcasm, usually.” For a brief moment, I was reminded of Ziya. “But as I was saying, the gods felt ashamed, shown up by mortals. At first, of course, we were grateful. But after a few months, those feelings turned bitter. We’re gods, after all. We need to be admired, looked up to, held in awe and admiration.”
“Even if you’re wrong?”
“Especially then! And then to have Jackson refuse our gift, as if being mortal were somehow better than being a god… well, that stuck in Zeus’ craw. He decided it was high time we got back to traditional values. Gods were to be respected. Our children were to be seen and not visited. Olympus was closed. At least, that was part of his reasoning. And, of course, we started hearing of bad things stirring under the earth,”
“The giants, you mean. Monsters re-forming instantly. The dead rising again. Little stuff like that?”
“Aye, boy.” Hephaestus turned a knob on his pirate broadcasting machine. The dream sharpened to full color, but the god’s face was such a riot of red welts and yellow and black bruises, I half-wished it would go back to black and white. “Zeus thinks he can reverse the tide,” the god said, “lull the earth back to sleep as long as we stay quiet. None of us really believes that. And I don’t mind saying, we’re in no shape to fight another war. We barely survived the Titans. If we’re repeating the old pattern, what comes next is even worse.”
“The giants,” I said. “Hera said demigods and gods had to join forces to defeat them. Is that true?”
“Mmm. I hate to agree with my mother about anything, but yes. Those giants are tough to kill, boy. They’re a different breed.”
“Breed? You make them sound like racehorses.”
“Ha!” the god said. “More like war dogs. Back in the beginning, y’see, everything in creation came from the same parents— Gaea and Ouranos, Earth and Sky. They had their different batches of children— your Titans, your Elder Cyclopes, and so forth. Then Kronos, the head Titan— well, you’ve probably heard how he chopped up his father Ouranos with a scythe and took over the world. Then we gods came along, children of the Titans, and defeated them. But that wasn’t the end of it.
“The earth bore a new batch of children, except they were sired by Tartarus, the spirit of the eternal abyss— the darkest, most evil place in the Underworld. Those children, the giants, were bred for one purpose— revenge on us for the fall of the Titans. They rose up to destroy Olympus, and they came awfully close.” Hephaestus’s beard began to smolder. He absently swatted out the flames. “What my blasted mother Hera is doing now— she’s a meddling fool playing a dangerous game, but she’s right about one thing: you demigods have to unite. That’s the only way to open Zeus’s eyes, convince the Olympians they must accept your help. And that’s the only way to defeat what’s coming. You’re a big part of that, Leo. ” The god’s gaze seemed far away. I wondered if really could split himself into different parts— where else was he right now? Maybe his Greek side was fixing a car or going on a date, while his Roman side was watching a ball game and ordering pizza.
“Why me?” I asked, and as soon as I said it, more questions flooded out. “Why claim me now? Why not when I was thirteen, like you’re supposed to? Or you could’ve claimed me at seven, before my mom died! Why didn’t you find me earlier? Why didn’t you warn me about this?” My hand burst into flames.
Hephaestus regarded me sadly. “Hardest part, boy. Letting my children walk their own paths. Interfering doesn’t work. The Fates make sure of that. As for the claiming, you were a special case, boy. The timing had to be right. I can’t explain it much more, but—”
The dream went fuzzy. Just for a moment, it turned into a rerun of Wheel of Fortune . Then Hephaestus came back into focus.
“Blast,” he said. “I can’t talk much longer. Zeus is sensing an illegal dream. He is lord of the air, after all, including the airwaves. Just listen, boy: you have a role to play. Your friends are right—fire is a gift, not a curse. I don’t give that blessing to just anyone. They’ll never defeat the giants without you, much less the mistress they serve. She’s worse than any god or Titan.”
“Who?” I demanded.
Hephaestus frowned, his image becoming fuzzier. “I told you. Yes, I’m pretty sure I told you. Just be warned: along the way, you’re going to lose some friends and some valuable tools. But that isn’t your fault, Leo. Nothing lasts forever, not even the best machines. And everything can be reused.”
“What do you mean?” My heart seized. “I don’t like the sound of that.”
“No, you shouldn’t.” Hephaestus’s image was barely visible now, just a blob in the static. “Just watch out for—” My dream switched to Wheel of Fortune just as the wheel hit Bankrupt and the audience said, “Awwww!”
I snapped awake to Ziya, Jason, and Piper screaming.
Notes:
Thanks for reading! <3
Chapter 34: ...
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Summary:
BOOM
Notes:
This is CHAPTER TWO of the three chapter update for hitting 1k. Thanks again!
This chapter is from Leo's POV.
Word Count: 1344 [A bit of a shortie, but a goodie (like Leo :D)]
CW/TW: Leo has an anxiety attack, self-deprecating thoughts, Leo's self-sacrificing tendencies
Take care of yourselves! Drink some water, have a snack, and tell someone you love them <3
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
We spiraled through the dark in a free fall, still on the dragon’s back, but Festus’ hide was cold, his ruby eyes dim.
“Not again!” I yelled. “You can’t fail again!”
I could barely hold on, the wind stinging my eyes. I reached around Ziya for the panel on Festus’ neck. I tugged the wires. The dragon’s wings flapped once, but the smell of burning bronze permeated the air. The drive system was overloaded. Festus didn’t have the strength to keep flying, and I wouldn’t be able to get to the main control panel in midair. I saw the lights of a city below us— just flashes in the dark as we plummeted in circles. We had only seconds before we crashed.
“Jason! Take Ziya and Piper and fly out of here!”
“What?”
“We need to lighten the load! I might be able to reboot Festus, but he’s carrying too much weight!”
“What about you?” Piper cried. “If you can’t reboot him—"
“I’ll be fine,” I yelled. “Just follow me to the ground. Go!”
“When hell freezes over!” Ziya yelled.
Forgive me. I unbuckled her harness as Jason grabbed Piper around the waist and Piper grabbed Ziya’s arm. In a flash, they were gone, shooting into the air.
“LEO!”
“Now,” I said. “Just you and me, Festus— and two heavy cages. You can do it, boy!”
I talked to the dragon while I worked, falling at terminal velocity. I could see the city lights below me, getting closer and closer. I summoned fire so I could see what I was doing, but the wind kept extinguishing it.
I pulled a wire that I thought might be connected to the dragon’s nerve center in its head, hoping for a little wake-up jolt.
Festus groaned— metal creaking inside his neck. His eyes flickered weakly to life, and he spread his wings. The fall turned into a steep glide.
“Good! Come on, big boy. Come on!”
We were still flying in way too hot, and the ground was too close. I needed a place to land.
There was a big river— no. Not good for a fire-breathing dragon. I’d never get Festus out from the bottom if he sank, especially in freezing temperatures. Then, on the riverbanks, I spotted a white mansion with a huge snowy lawn inside a tall brick perimeter fence— like some rich person’s private compound, all of it blazing with light. A perfect landing field. I tried to steer the dragon toward it, and Festus seemed to come back to life. We could make it!
The universe loves to prove me wrong. As we approached the lawn, spotlights along the fence fixed on us, and I was blinded. I heard bursts like tracer fire, the sound of metal being cut to shreds—
BOOM
~*~
Fabric rustled in my ears, just barely louder than the dull ring. It was hard to breathe, like I’d fallen down a flight— no, three flights of stairs. A dull cold seeped through my clothes. Something tasted like wet dirt and grass.
I opened my eyes. Dark gray clouds blocked the stars.
My eyes focused on Ziya, Jason, and Piper. I opened my mouth to talk, and nearly choked. I spat out the clump of frozen grass.
“Where—"
“Just… lie still, okay?” Ziya’s voice sounded forced. “You rolled pretty hard when— when Festus—"
“Where is he?” I sat up, lightheaded. The ground swam under me; we’d landed in the compound. Gunfire echoed in my ears.
“Seriously, Leo,” Jason said. “You could be hurt. You shouldn’t—"
I pushed myself up, legs shaking. The big canary cages were fine. They’d rolled in different directions and landed on their sides, perfectly undamaged.
Festus had disintegrated.
His limbs were scattered across the lawn. His tail hung on the fence. The main section of his body had plowed a trench twenty feet wide and fifty feet long in the mansion’s yard before breaking apart. What remained of his hide was a charred, smoking pile of scraps. Only his neck and head were somewhat intact, resting across a row of frozen rose bushes like a pillow.
“ No .” The garbled sound dragged its way out of my throat. I stumbled to the dragon’s head and stroked his snout. His eyes flickered weakly. Oil leaked out of his ear.
“No, you can’t go!” My breaths shuddered. “Please, you’re the best thing I ever fixed!” ‘You can’t even fix the stupid dragon.’
Festus whirred his gears, like he was purring. The edges of my eyes felt tacky.
‘This isn’t your fault, Leo. Nothing lasts forever, not even the best machines.’
He’d known.
“It’s not fair!” My voice cracked.
Festus started clicking. Morse code.
It was a simple message, repeating over and over.
“Yeah. I understand. I will, I promise.”
Festus’ gears whirred half-heartedly. His eyes went dark.
Someone was sobbing— practically howling. My knees gave out, and my nails started to dig into my scalp. Soft touches and whispered condolences—
Poor little Leo, all alone again. I wonder who will love him now?
Not again, please not again. I can’t— God, shut up just shut up I don’t care just stop touching me DON’T TOUCH ME STOP don’t touch me stop it stop it STOP IT
“Give him space,” Ziya whispered.
“But—"
“Piper.”
Gasping breaths began to shudder.
Tears dried trails on my cheeks.
I stood on unsteady legs and opened the head panel, just to be sure. The control disk was cracked and burned beyond repair.
“What did you promise Festus?” Ziya’s soft voice brought the world back into sharp relief.
“Something my dad told me. Everything can be reused.”
“Your dad talked to you?” Jason asked. “When was this?”
I couldn’t bring myself to talk.
I worked at the neck hinges until the head was detached. I staggered under the weight in my arms. I looked up. The clouds had begun to clear; stars peeked through, winking at the unlucky few still awake at the late hour.
“Take him back to the bunker, Dad. Please, until I can reuse him. I’ve never asked you for anything.”
The wind picked up, and the dragon’s head floated out of my arms like it weighed nothing. It flew into the sky and disappeared.
“He answered you?” Piper looked on in awe.
It felt like I’d swallowed lead. My throat constricted. I looked at Ziya as another wave of grief settled on my shoulders. Her arms wrapped around me as I cried into her shoulder.
She didn’t offer any words of reassurance.
Even though she hated flying, and thought the seating was uncomfortable, she cried, too. That was better than anything she could have said.
I finally took a breath that didn’t wrack my body with shakes. I pulled away and looked around.
The large white mansion glowed in the center of the grounds. Tall brick walls with lights and security cameras surrounded the perimeter. Except now I could— once again— sense just how well those walls were defended.
“Where are we?” I asked. “I mean, what city?”
“Omaha, Nebraska,” Piper said. “I saw a billboard as we flew in. But I don’t know what this mansion is. We came in right behind you, but as you were landing, Leo, I swear it looked like— I don’t know—"
“Lasers,” I said. I picked up a piece of scrap metal and threw it toward the top of the fence. Immediately, a turret popped up from the brick wall and a beam of pure heat incinerated the bronze plating to ash.
Jason whistled. “Some defense system. How are we even alive?”
“Fe—" I cleared my throat. “He took the fire. The lasers sliced him to bits as he came in so they didn’t focus on you. I led him into a death trap.”
“You couldn’t have known,” Piper said. “He saved our lives again.”
“But what now?” Jason said. “The main gates are locked, and I’m guessing I can’t fly us out of here without getting shot down.”
I looked up the walkway. “Since we can’t go out, we’ll have to go in.”
Notes:
Thanks for reading! Love you all so much!
Chapter 35: Requiem
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Notes:
This is the THIRD CHAPTER of the three chapter update special after hitting 1k. Thanks for reading!
This chapter is from Ziya's POV.
Word Count: 1748
CW/TW: Ziya has an anxiety attack, blood, mentions of snakes, homophobic and transphobic slurs, fatphobia, ableism, past/referenced child abuse, past/referenced unspecified eating disorder, knives
Jesus this is a heavy chapter.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
We would’ve died at least five times on the way to the front door if not for Leo. First it was the motion-activated trapdoor on the sidewalk, then the lasers on the steps. Then the nerve gas dispenser on the porch railing, the pressure-sensitive poison spikes in the welcome mat, and, of course, the exploding doorbell.
He deactivated all of them. It was like he could smell the traps and picked just the right tool to disable them.
“You’re amazing, man,” Jason said.
Leo scowled as he examined the front door lock. “Yeah, amazing,” he muttered. “Can’t fix a dragon, but I’m amazing.”
“Hey, that wasn’t your—"
“Front door’s already unlocked,” Leo announced.
Piper stared at the door in disbelief. “It is? All those traps, and the door’s unlocked?”
Leo turned the knob. The door swung open easily. He stepped inside without hesitation. Jason nodded for me to go ahead.
It was Dark™ in the mansion. My footsteps echoed in the enormous entry hall, even bigger than Aquilon’s penthouse, but the only illumination came from the yard lights outside. A faint glow peeked through the breaks in the thick velvet curtains. The windows towered about ten feet tall. Spaced between them along the walls were life-size metal statues.
My eyes adjusted, and the rest of the room came into focus. Sofas were arranged in a ‘U’ in the middle of the room, with a central coffee table and one large chair at the far end. A massive chandelier glinted overhead. A row of closed doors lined the back wall.
“Where’s the light switch?” Jason’s voice echoed alarmingly loud through the room.
“Don’t see one,” Leo said.
“Fire?” I suggested.
He held out his hand, but nothing happened. “It’s not working.”
“Your fire is out? Why?” Piper asked.
“Well, if I knew that—!”
“Okay, okay,” she said. “What do we do— explore?”
Leo shook his head. “After all those traps outside? Bad idea.”
The shadows seemed to stretch into sinister shapes— storm spirits twisted in the curtains, sun dragons under the carpet, a chandelier made of lethal ice shards.
“Leo’s right,” Jason said. “We’re not separating again— not like in Detroit.”
The cyclops barreled closer and closer to Leo. None of the cranes were moving. My blood ran cold.
Do something! He’s going to die and you're just sitting here!
“Oh, thank you for reminding me of the cyclopes.” Piper’s voice quivered. “I needed that.”
Jason winced, but continued. “It’s a few hours until dawn,” he guessed. “It’s too cold to wait outside. Let’s bring the cages in and make camp in this room. Wait for daylight; then we can decide what to do.”
Nobody offered a better idea, so we rolled in the cages with Coach Hedge and the storm spirits and settled in. At least there weren’t any poison throw pillows or electric whoopee cushions on the sofas.
Leo was quiet and subdued, his mask forgotten for the moment.
With no fire to make more tacos (not that he would have been in the mood), we settled for cold rations. My tongue felt heavy, the sandwich nearly tasteless.
A stack of glossy brochures and a tea service sat on the coffee table. The big throne-like chair at the other end of the table cast a dark shadow over the room. None of us tried to sit in it.
The canary cages didn’t make the place any less creepy. The venti kept churning in their prison, hissing and spitting. As for Coach Hedge, he was still frozen mid-shout, his club raised. Leo was working on the cage, trying to open it with various tools, but the lock didn’t want to open.
Piper had already curled up on the other sofa. I wasn’t sure if she was really asleep or just dodging a conversation about her dad. Whatever Medea had meant in Chicago, about Piper getting her dad back if she cooperated— it didn’t sound good.
I could barely keep my eyes open. The sofa was actually pretty comfortable.
~*~
I lurched up with a spluttering cough as smoke filled my lungs. My eyes watered as a thick smog billowed into my room. My head split open in time with the pulsating shriek of the fire alarm. “MOM?!”
“Ziya!” She lurched into my room, trainers and dressing gown on, and a wet rag tied around her mouth. She held her favorite hijab, sopping wet, to my face. “ Come on, sweetheart, we have to go! ”
I tied the hijab around my head and pulled on my shoes. “What about Evan?”
“ I’ll get him, don’t worry, just go! ”
I ran down the stairs, nearly hacking up a lung as I passed the burning couch. I collapsed on the pavement outside. The hijab came loose, and the wind snatched it away. “No!”
I looked back at the house. There was no sign of Mom or Evan.
A firetruck screamed around the corner, followed by an ambulance. If the fire hadn’t woken the neighbors, the flashing lights and sirens did. They came pouring out in their nightclothes.
Everything was too loud too loud too loud shut up shut up shut up!
Firemen ran inside and pulled out my screaming mother. “He’s still in there! He’s deaf, he can’t hear you!”
Something massive and reptilian landed on the roof, and it collapsed under its weight. The dragon started blowing fire. The fire chief shouted more orders. The house and dragon were blasted with water, and my home was reduced to charcoal.
He can’t be— he smelled the smoke and went out the back door, that’s what happened… right? Firemen searched the rubble, returning not with my little brother, but with a burnt and crushed shell. Its skin charred black and pulled tight against its bones gave the figure a gaunt appearance. Singed hair clung to the scalp with congealed blood.
Mom let go of my hand, running to what was left of her son. She fell to her knees. “This is your fault,” she growled.
“I— what?”
She stood and turned, eyes full of fury. “This is your fault . You and your dreams ruin everything .”
I flinched. “ How— I didn’t—"
“How many times have I told you to use English?” She snapped. “It makes you sound absolutely retarded. I swear—" she started to mutter to herself, "—I knew you would be a challenge, but God truly does test me. Any other kid at that foster center, but no , it had to be you.” She looked back at me. “Honestly, you should be grateful I chose you. I’m lenient compared to others, I should know. I mean, you could have ended up with someone who beat you within an inch of your life. Or even worse, some fat bitch who stuffed you full of sugar and carbs. You’d be even worse off than you are now.” She patted my stomach. “And then where would you be, huh? Teased and bullied, no , we couldn’t have that.”
Miss Carson’s dull blue eyes stared vacantly at me. “You know, you’re lucky I decided to keep you after all the shoplifting and the running away. Not to mention that unnatural behavior your teachers told me about. Acting like a boy, getting much too close to the other girls, and—" She shuddered. “No, I will not have any trannies or faggots in this house, no ma’am!” Her grimace turned sickly sweet. “I knew, the moment I saw you, you know. God told me it was my purpose to fix you, but now I’m not so sure it’s possible. I’ll have to get rid of you. Start over with someone fresh .”
My throat seized. The little comments about how I’d be so much prettier if I was five pounds lighter, had less acne. Mocking my tics. The occasional hour in the shed whenever I spoke Arabic that turned into every other night when I forgot to run the dishwasher. The shed that was filled with snakes that bit and left marks that faded by morning. The weekly starvations until I dropped back down to seventy pounds— until I’d learned to do it myself.
“Maybe they won’t be such a disappointment. Maybe they won’t fuck up breathing.”
The pavement cracked under my feet. Thousands of bloody and broken bodies forced themselves up through the asphalt, their skeletons exposed under torn muscles.
One of them shambled to the front, and I choked back a sob. Emily’s skin rotted off her bones, torn apart by fangs. Her teeth were cracked and gray, glasses skewed and bloody. Her gorgeous brown eyes were gone. Empty sockets glared vacantly.
“It’s your fault. It’s your fault I’m dead! All your fault!”
They started chanting: “ Your fault!” Evan’s shriveled hand pointed at me, empty white eyes staring as he joined the chant. “ Your fault! Your fault! Your fault! ”
I pressed my hands to my ears, trying to block out their shouting. “ I’m sorry! I’m so sorry, please! ”
“Ziya! It’s alright, you’re okay, you’re safe! Come on, sweetheart, you need to wake up!”
“ Your fault! Your fault! YOUR FAULT! ”
“ I’m sorry! ” I gasped. “ I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry—" A chasm opened up underneath me and—
I lurched up and grabbed for a knife, chest heaving. Tears streamed down my cheeks. Something touched my hand.
I snatched it away, brandishing a knife. Leo looked at me with wide eyes, trying not to flinch at the blade at his throat. “It’s just me. It’s Leo, remember me? You’re okay, you’re safe.”
My hand trembled, and the knife clattered to the floor. I sobbed, collapsing into his warm embrace. “ I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. ”
He held me tight. “Shh, shh, it’s okay. You’re okay.” My breaths slowly steadied. “Do you want to talk about it?” Just the thought spiked my heart rate. “Okay, okay. That’s okay, you don’t have to… Do you want to try and sleep again?” I shook my head. “Okay, that’s okay. I need to finish with Coach’s cage. Do you want me to get Piper?” I shook my head again and pulled away.
‘I’m okay.’
He nodded. He squeezed my hand and kissed my forehead before going back to the canary cage. I started to Drift, only vaguely aware of Leo and Piper whispering in the background.
“ Did it happen again? ”
“ Yeah, I think so. From what it sounded like, it was pretty bad. I’ll be surprised if she isn’t nonverbal after that.”
“Did she say what—"
“Not exactly. She mentioned an ‘Emily’, while she was sleeping.”
“Emily?”
“Ahhhggggggh!"
Notes:
I just want you all to know that even though I don't know you personally or at all, you are loved SO MUCH. I wish you all the best. <3
Chapter 36: DEFCON 1
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Summary:
Lit stood behind the throne, both hands on his sword, glancing at Piper and I, flexing his muscular arms. I rolled my eyes, signing to Leo, ‘Can you believe this guy?’
Leo smiled. ‘I know, right? He thinks he’s so handsome, and I’m sitting right here!’
‘Exactly! You are so much prettier than he is.’
Notes:
Finally went and got my documents updated with my new name 🥳 I’ve been putting it off for almost a year lol
This chapter is from Ziya’s POV.
Word Count: 2757
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
I snapped off of the couch, grabbing another knife. Sunlight bathed the room and the screaming faun.
“Coach is awake,” Leo said.
Gleeson Hedge capered around on his furry hindquarters, swinging his club and yelling, “Die!” as he smashed the tea set, whacked the sofas, and charged at the throne. I put the knife away.
“Coach!” Jason yelled.
Hedge turned, breathing hard. His were wild, like an animal’s, ready to attack at a moment’s notice. He was still wearing his orange polo shirt and coach’s whistle, but his horns were clearly visible above his curly hair, and his beefy hindquarters were definitely all goat.
“You’re the new kid,” Hedge said, lowering his club. “Jason.” He looked at Leo, then me, and then Piper, who was sporting a nest for a friendly hamster on her head.
“Valdez, Rayyan, McLean,” the coach said. “What’s going on? We were at the Grand Canyon. The anemoi thuellai were attacking and—" He zeroed in on the storm spirit cage, and his eyes went back to DEFCON 1. “Die!”
“Whoa, Coach!” Leo stepped in his path, which was pretty brave, even though Hedge was six inches shorter. “It’s okay. They’re locked up. We just sprang you from the other cage.”
“Cage? What’s going on? Just because I’m a satyr doesn’t mean I can’t have you doing plank push-ups, Valdez!” Leo grimaced.
Jason cleared his throat. “Coach— Gleeson— um, whatever you want us to call you. You saved us at the Grand Canyon. You were totally brave.”
“Of course I was!”
“The extraction team came and took us to Camp Half-Blood. We thought we’d lost you. Then we got word the storm spirits had taken back to their— um, operator, Medea.”
“That witch! Wait— that’s impossible. She’s mortal. She’s dead.”
“Yeah, well,” Leo said, “somehow she got not dead.”
Hedge nodded, his eyes narrowing. “So! You were sent on a dangerous quest to rescue me. Excellent!”
“Um.” Piper got to her feet, holding out her hands so Coach Hedge wouldn’t attack her. “Actually, Glee— can I still call you Coach Hedge? Gleeson seems wrong . We’re on a quest for something else. We kind of found you by accident.”
‘Well, don’t tell him that!’ I signed.
“Oh.” The coach’s spirits seemed to deflate, but only for a second. Then his eyes lit up again. “But there are no accidents! Not on quests. This was meant to happen! So, this is the witch’s lair, eh? Why is everything gold?”
“Gold?” Jason questioned. Leo and Piper caught their breath, and I gaped at the decor. The room was full of gold— the statues, the tea set Hedge had smashed, the chair that was definitely a throne. Even the curtains— which seemed to have opened by themselves at daybreak— appeared to be woven of gold fibers.
“Nice,” Leo said. “No wonder they got so much security.”
“This isn’t—" Piper stammered. “This isn’t Medea’s place, Coach. It’s some rich person’s mansion in Omaha. We got away from Medea and crash-landed here.”
“It’s destiny, cupcakes!” Hedge insisted. “I’m meant to protect you. What’s the quest?”
Before anyone could answer, a door opened at the far end of the room.
A pudgy man in a white bathrobe stepped out with a golden toothbrush in his mouth. He had a white beard and one of those long, old-fashioned sleeping caps pressed down over his white hair. He froze when he saw us, and the toothbrush fell out of his mouth.
The hair on the back of my neck stood straight up. I moved next to Leo, drawing a knife.
He glanced into the room behind him and called, “Son? Lit, come out here, please. There are strange people in the throne room.”
Coach Hedge did the obvious thing. He raised his club and shouted, “Die!” It took all four of us to hold the faun back.
“Woah, Coach!” Jason said. “Bring it down a few notches.”
A younger man charged into the room. He was dressed in pajama pants with a sleeveless T-shirt that said ‘Cornhuskers’, and he held a sword that looked like it could husk a lot of things besides corn. His ripped arms were covered in scars, and his face, framed by curly dark hair, would’ve been handsome if he hadn’t been sporting an ugly grimace.
Lit immediately zeroed in on Jason as the biggest threat ( which, like, fair, but I’m the one holding a knife, dude ), and stalked toward him, swinging his sword overhead.
“Hold on!” Piper stepped forward, trying for her best calming voice. “This is just a misunderstanding! Everything’s fine.” Lit stopped in his tracks, but he still looked wary.
It didn’t help that Hedge was screaming, “I’ll get them! Don’t worry!”
“Coach,” Jason pleaded, “they may be friendly. Besides, we’re trespassing in their house.”
“Thank you!” said the old man in the bathrobe. “Now, who are you, and why are you here?”
“Let’s all put our weapons down,” Piper said. “Coach, Ziya, you first.”
‘Hell no.’
Hedge clenched his jaw. “Just one thwack?”
“No,” Piper said.
“What about a compromise? I’ll kill them first, and if it turns out they were friendly, I’ll apologize.”
“No!” Piper insisted.
“Meh.” Coach Hedge lowered his club.
Piper glared at me pointedly. ‘Let the record show I think this is a bad idea.’
Piper gave Lit a friendly sorry-about-that smile. Lit huffed and sheathed his sword. “You speak well, girl— fortunately for your friends, or I would have run them through.”
“Appreciate it,” Leo said. “I try not to get run through before lunchtime.”
The old man in the bathrobe sighed, kicking the teapot that Coach Hedge had smashed. “Well, since you’re here, please, sit down.”
Lit frowned. “Your Majesty—"
“No, no it’s fine, Lit,” the old man said. “New land, new customs. They may sit in my presence. After all, they’ve seen me in my nightclothes. No sense observing formalities.” He did his best to smile, though it looked a little forced. “Welcome to my humble home. I am King Midas.”
“Midas? Impossible,” said Coach Hedge. “He died.”
We were sitting on the sofas now, while the king reclined on his throne. Tricky to do that in a bathrobe. I desperately hoped that he wouldn’t forget and uncross his legs. Hopefully he was wearing golden boxers under there.
Lit stood behind the throne, both hands on his sword, glancing at Piper and I, flexing his muscular arms. I rolled my eyes, signing to Leo, ‘Can you believe this guy?’
Leo smiled. ‘I know, right? He thinks he’s so handsome, and I’m sitting right here!’
‘Exactly! You are so much prettier than he is.’
Piper sat forward. “What our satyr friend means, Your Majesty, is that you’re the second mortal we’ve met who should be— sorry— dead. King Midas lived thousands of years ago.”
“Interesting.” The king gazed out the windows at the brilliant blue skies and the winter sunlight. In the distance, downtown Omaha looked like a cluster of children’s blocks— way too clean and small for a regular city.
“You know,” the king said, “I think I was a bit dead for a while. It’s strange. Seems like a dream, doesn’t it, Lit?”
“A very long dream, Your Majesty.”
“And yet, now we’re here. I’m enjoying myself very much. I like being alive much better.”
“But how?” Piper asked. “You didn’t happen to have a… patron?”
Midas hesitated, but there was a sly twinkle in his eyes. “Does it matter, my dear?” Goosebumps rose on my skin.
“We could kill them again,” Hedge suggested. I nodded in agreement.
“Coach, Ziya, not helping,” Jason said. “Hedge, why don’t you go outside and stand guard?”
‘I don’t think that’s a good idea.’
Leo nodded in agreement. “Yeah, is that safe? They’ve got some serious security.”
“Oh, yes,” the king said. “Sorry about that. But it’s lovely stuff, isn’t it? Amazing what gold can still buy. Such excellent toys you have in this country!”
He fished a remote control out of his bathrobe pocket and pressed a few buttons— a pass code, probably.
“There,” Midas said. “Safe to go out now.”
Coach Hedge grunted. “Fine. But if you need me...” He winked at us meaningfully. Then he pointed at himself, pointed two fingers at our hosts, and sliced a finger across his throat. I sighed in exasperation, slapping my forehead.
“Yeah, thanks,” Jason said.
After the satyr left, Piper tried another diplomatic smile. “So... you don’t know how you got here?”
“Oh, well, yes. Sort of,” the king said. He frowned at Lit. “Why did we pick Omaha, again? I know it wasn’t the weather.”
“The oracle,” Lit said.
“Yes! I was told there was an oracle in Omaha.” The king shrugged. “Apparently I was mistaken. But this is a rather nice house, isn’t it? Lit— it’s short for Lityerses, by the way— horrible name, but his mother insisted— Lit has plenty of wide-open space to practice his swordplay. He has quite a reputation for that. They called him the Reaper of Men back in the old days.” As opposed to corn? Or perhaps wheat?
“Oh.” Piper tried to sound enthusiastic. “How nice.”
Lit’s smile was more of a cruel sneer. I saw Jason start to regret sending Coach Hedge outside.
“So,” Jason said. “All this gold—”
The king’s eyes lit up. “Are you here for gold, my boy? Please, take a brochure!”
I looked at the brochures on the coffee table. The title said GOLD: Invest for Eternity . “Um, you sell gold?” Jason asked.
“No, no,” the king said. “I make it. In uncertain times like these, gold is the wisest investment, don’t you think? Governments fall. The dead rise. Giants attack Olympus. But gold retains its value!”
Leo frowned. “I’ve seen that commercial.” I squinted at him. He shrugged.
“Oh, don’t be fooled by cheap imitators!” the king said. “I assure you, I can beat any price for a serious investor. I can make a wide assortment of gold items at a moment’s notice.”
“But...” Piper shook her head in confusion. “Your Majesty, you gave up the golden touch, didn’t you?”
The king looked astonished. “Gave it up?”
“Yes,” Piper said. “You got it from some god—”
“Dionysus,” the king agreed. “I’d rescued one of his satyrs, and in return, the god granted me one wish. I chose the golden touch.”
“But you accidentally turned your own daughter to gold,” Piper remembered. “And you realized how greedy you’d been. So you repented.”
“Repented!” King Midas looked at Lit incredulously. “You see, son? You’re away for a few thousand years, and the story gets twisted all around. My dear girl, did those stories ever say I’d lost my magic touch?”
“Well, I guess not. They just said you learned how to reverse it with running water, and you brought your daughter back to life.”
“That’s all true. Sometimes I still have to reverse my touch. There’s no running water in the house because I don’t want accidents”—he gestured to his statues—“but we chose to live next to a river just in case. Occasionally, I’ll forget and pat Lit on the back—”
Lit retreated a few steps. “I hate that.”
“I told you I was sorry, son. At any rate, gold is wonderful. Why would I give it up?”
“Well..." Piper looked truly lost now. “Isn’t that the point of the story? That you learned your lesson?”
Midas laughed. “My dear, may I see your backpack for a moment? Toss it here.”
Piper hesitated, but she wasn’t eager to offend the king. She dumped everything out of the pack and tossed it to Midas. As soon as he caught it, the pack turned to gold, like frost spreading across the fabric. It still looked flexible and soft, but definitely gold. The king tossed it back.
“As you see, I can still turn anything to gold,” Midas said. “That pack is magic now, as well. Go ahead— put your little storm spirit enemies in there.”
“Seriously?” Leo was suddenly interested. He took the bag from Piper and held it up to the cage. As soon as he unzipped the backpack, the winds stirred and howled in protest. The cage bars shuddered. The door of the prison flew open and the winds got vacuumed straight into the pack. Leo zipped it shut and grinned. “Gotta admit. That’s cool.” I nodded in appreciation.
“You see?” Midas said. “My golden touch a curse? Please. I didn’t learn any lesson, and life isn’t a story, girl. Honestly, my daughter Zoe was much more pleasant as a gold statue.”
“She talked a lot,” Lit offered.
“Exactly! And so I turned her back to gold.” Midas pointed. There in the corner was a golden statue of a girl with a shocked expression, as if she were thinking, Dad! My eyes widened and my chest tightened.
“That’s horrible!” Piper said.
“Nonsense. She doesn’t mind. Besides, if I’d learned my lesson, would I have gotten these?”
Midas pulled off his oversize sleeping cap, revealing long fuzzy gray ears sticking up from his white hair— like Bugs Bunny’s, but they weren’t rabbit ears. They were donkey ears.
“Oh, wow,” Leo said. “I didn’t need to see that.”
“Terrible, isn’t it?” Midas sighed. “A few years after the golden touch incident, I judged a music contest between Apollo and Pan, and I declared Pan the winner. Apollo, sore loser, said I must have the ears of an ass—” I snorted. Midas glared at me before continuing, “—and voilà. This was my reward for being truthful. I tried to keep them a secret. Only my barber knew, but he couldn’t help blabbing.” Midas pointed out another golden statue— a bald man in a toga, holding a pair of shears. “That’s him. He won’t be telling anyone’s secrets again.”
The king smiled, but it wasn’t a normal smile. His eyes had a merry glow to them— the look of a madman who knew he was mad, accepted his madness, and enjoyed it. “Yes, gold has many uses. I think that must be why I was brought back, eh Lit? To bankroll our patron.”
Lit nodded. “That and my good sword arm.” Suddenly the air in the room seemed much colder.
“So you do have a patron,” Jason said. “You work for the giants.”
King Midas waved his hand dismissively. “Well, I don’t care for giants myself, of course. But even supernatural armies need to get paid. I do owe my patron a great debt. I tried to explain that to the last group that came through, but they were very unfriendly. Wouldn’t cooperate at all.”
Jason slipped his hand into his pocket, and mine drifted to my ring. “The last group?”
“Hunters,” Lit snarled. “Blasted girls from Artemis.”
“When?” Jason demanded. “What happened?”
Lit shrugged. “Few days ago? I didn’t get to kill them, unfortunately. They were looking for some evil wolves, or something. Said they were following a trail, heading west. Missing demigod— I don’t recall.”
Midas scratched his donkey ears. “Very unpleasant young ladies, those Hunters,” he recalled. “They absolutely refused to be turned into gold. Much of the security system outside I installed was to keep that sort of thing from happening again, you know. I don’t have time for those who aren’t serious investors.”
Jason stood warily and glanced at us.
“Well,” Piper said, managing a smile. “It’s been a great visit. Welcome back to life. Thanks for the gold bag.”
“Oh, but you can’t leave!” Midas said. “I know you’re not serious investors, but that’s all right! I have to rebuild my collection somehow.”
Lit smiled cruelly. The king rose. Leo, Piper, and I moved away from him. I shifted slightly to be in front of Leo, hand resting on the handle of a knife.
“Don’t worry,” the king assured us. “You don’t have to be turned to gold. I give all my guests a choice— join my collection, or die at the hands of Lityerses. Really, it’s good either way.”
Piper tried to use her charmspeak. “Your Majesty, you can’t—"
Quicker than any old man should have been able to move, Midas lashed out and grabbed her wrist.
“No!” Jason yelled.
But a frost of gold spread over Piper, and in a heartbeat she was a glittering statue. Leo pushed me behind him and tried to summon fire, but he’d forgotten his power wasn’t working. Midas touched his hand, and Leo transformed into solid metal.
Tears pricked my eyes, and I threw a knife at Midas. He dodged and grabbed my arm.
Everything went dark.
Notes:
Thanks for reading! 💖
Chapter 37: It’s Bath Time!
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Summary:
Piper looked back over at me and Leo. “You t-two look pre-etty cozy.”
“I am enjoying my new heater.”
Notes:
Just some fluffy goodness and (not so fluffy) revelations.
This chapter is from Ziya’s POV.
Word Count: 2992
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
I lurched up, shivering from the cold water. “Sh-shi-it!”
“I got you, Ziya,” Jason said, pulling me up.
Leo stood on the shore, shivering and wrapped in a blanket. He reached for my hand and helped me climb up the muddy embankment. Leo draped his jacket, which was somehow super warm, over my shoulders, followed by a thick blanket.
“He-ere.” His breaths came out like smoke. “I’m g-going to help Jason wi-ith P-Piper.”
He walked past me to— Oh, god.
Leo pulled the gold statue of Piper into the river, Jason helping to steady him.
Coach stepped in front of me, holding a cup. “Drink up, cupcake.” I took a sip and immediately gagged. “Wild mushrooms and blue raspberry Gatorade, not to mention some pretty powerful healing magic, if I do say so myself.” He puffed out his chest, clearly proud of himself.
I looked over at Leo, who stood shin-deep in the river. He grimaced in understanding, miming pinching his nose and taking a shot.
This is going to suck . I did as Leo suggested.
It went down easier when my taste was obstructed.
Leo and Jason had to practically dunk Piper for all of the gold to melt away, and when they carried her ashore, she couldn’t stop shivering. She was also still unconscious.
“We need to get somewhere sheltered.”
“I-I need to g-go back for my kni-ife” I said.
Jason held it out. “I already grabbed it.”
“Oh. Th-thanks.”
“No problem. Anyway, I think I can use the storm spirits to fly us all.”
“That sounds like a very bad idea,” Leo and I said.
“Bring it on!” We all stared at Hedge. “What?”
“Do you have any better ideas?” Jason asked. “We don’t exactly have another option here.”
Leo flinched.
“Well, that was se-ensitive,” I deadpanned.
“Sorry.”
With no better option, we gathered around Jason. Hedge had Piper in a fireman’s carry.
“Once again,” I said, “I would like to go on record and say this is a bad idea.”
“Duly noted,” Jason said. “Everyone ready?” We nodded. He opened the bag—
~*~
Damn, this is a nice pillow. I squinted at the flickering firelight. That’s weird. Why is there a fire in my dorm? Something smelled like oil and sandalwood.
“You awake?” Leo asked.
“MOTHERFUCKER!” I shot up, hitting Leo’s chin with my forehead. “OW! SHIT FUCKING— !”
“Shh!” Jason glared at us and pointed at a still snoring Piper.
“Sorry.” I looked back at Leo. “Um… what…?”
“You passed out when Jason released the storm spirits.” He rubbed his jaw. “Ow! You can do some serious damage!”
“Shit, sorry! Here, let me see.” I gently cradled his face. “I don’t think it’s gonna bruise… Does anything hurt especially bad?”
“Uh, no. Well, I guess my lips. Maybe you could kiss them better?” Leo grinned, eyes sparkling.
I felt my face warm. I tried to laugh. “Yeah, right.” I sat back and rewrapped the blanket around my shoulders. “You are unfairly warm and comfortable, by the way.”
Leo raised an eyebrow. “Uh, thanks? I figured it was better than the ground.”
“You are correct,” I laughed and scooted up next to him, laying my head on his shoulder. He draped an extra blanket over both of us.
I glanced around the small cave. Firelight flickered against the rock walls. It was shallow and didn’t offer much protection from the snowstorm outside. Outside, the wind howled and snow blew sideways. It might’ve been day or night. The storm made it too dark to tell.
“Uh, where are we?”
“Oh, god.” Piper’s teeth chattered. “He turned me to gold!”
“You’re okay now.” Jason leaned over and tucked a warm blanket around her.
She blinked, looking around the small cave. “L-L-Leo? Z-Ziya?”
“Present and un-gold-ified,” Leo said. I waved before tucking my hand back into the folds of the blankets. “We got the precious metal treatment, too,” he said. “But we came out of it faster. Dunno why. We had to dunk you in the river to get you back completely. Tried to dry you off, but… it’s really, really cold.”
“You’ve got hypothermia,” Jason said. “We risked as much nectar as we could. Coach Hedge did a little nature magic—"
“Sports medicine.” Coach leaned over her. “Kind of a hobby of mine. Your breath might smell like wild mushrooms and Gatorade for a few days, but it’ll pass. You probably won’t die. Probably.”
Piper looked back over at me and Leo. “You t-two look pre-etty cozy.”
“I am enjoying my new heater.”
“Hey!” Leo whined. “I’m not a heater.”
“You know what, you’re right. You’re more like a blanket fresh out of the dryer,” I amended, snuggling closer to Leo.
He sighed, shaking his head before draping an arm over my shoulders.
“Anyway, um, how did you beat Midas?” Jason started talking about how he beat Lit in a sword fight, tricked Midas into turning Lit into a statue, and then blasted the entire room with lightning. He put most of it down to luck.
“That sounds awesome, dude,” I said. “Don’t undersell it.”
“Thank you!” Coach said loudly. “Kid’s being modest. You should’ve seen him. Hi-yah! Slice! Boom with the lightning!”
“Coach, you didn’t even see it,” Jason said. “You were outside eating the lawn.”
But the faun was just warming up. “Then I came in with my club, and we dominated that room. Afterward, I told him, ‘Kid, I’m proud of you! If you could just work on your upper body strength—’”
“Coach,” said Jason.
“Yeah?”
“Shut up, please.”
“Sure.” The coach sat down at the fire and started chewing his club.
Jason put his hand on Piper’s forehead. “Leo, can you stoke the fire?”
“On it!” Leo summoned a baseball-sized clump of flames and lobbed it into the campfire.
“Do I look that bad?” Piper shivered.
“Yes,” Leo and I chorused.
Jason glared at us. “No, you don’t.”
“You’re a terrible liar,” she said. “Where are we?”
“Pikes Peak,” Jason said. “Colorado.”
My eyes widened. “Colorado?! That’s, like, hundreds of miles from Omaha!”
“About five hundred,” Jason agreed. “You passed out when I harnessed the storm spirits. They brought us this far, but they did not like it— went a little faster than I wanted, almost crashed us into the mountainside before I could get them back in the bag. I’m not going to be trying that again.”
“I said it was a bad idea.”
“Why are we here?” Piper asked.
Leo sniffed. “That’s what I asked him.”
Jason gazed into the storm as if watching for something. “That glittery wind trail we saw yesterday? It was still in the sky, though it had faded a lot. I followed it until I couldn’t see it anymore. Then— honestly I’m not sure. I just felt like this was the right place to stop.”
“‘Course it is.” Coach Hedge spit out some cudgel splinters. “Aeolus’s floating palace should be anchored above us, right at the peak. This is one of his favorite spots to dock.”
“Maybe that was it.” Jason knit his eyebrows. “I don’t know. Something else, too…”
“The Hunters were heading west,” Piper contributed. “Do you think they’re around here?”
Jason rubbed his forearm as if the tattoos were bothering him. “I don’t see how anyone oculd survive on the mountain right now. The storm’s pretty bad. It’s already the evening before the solstice, but we didn’t have much choice except to wait out the storm here. We had to give you some time to rest before we tried moving.”
The wind howled even louder, almost like a pack of wolves.
“We have to get you warm.” Jason sat next to Piper and held out his arms a little awkwardly. “Uh, you mind if I…”
“I suppose.”
He put his arms around her and held her. They scooted closer to the fire. I squinted at them. They were acting weird.
…OH.
Leo gently pulled away and broke out some cooking supplies, frying burger patties on an iron skillet. “So, guys, long as you’re cuddled up for story time… something I’ve been meaning to tell you. On the way to Omaha, I had this dream. Kinda hard to understand with the static and the Wheel of Fortune breaking in—"
“Wheel of Fortune?” Piper questioned.
When he looked up from the burgers, Leo’s expression was deadly serious. “The thing is, my dad, Hephaestus, talked to me.” Leo told us about his dream. In the firelight, with the wind howling, the story was even creepier. I could imagine the static-filled voice of the god warning about giants who were the sons of Tartarus, about Leo losing some friends along the way.
I hoped that Festus would be the only one.
“I don’t understand,” I said. “If demigods and gods have to work together to kill the giants, why would the gods stay silent? If they need us—"
“Ha,” said Coach Hedge. “The gods hate needing humans. They like to be needed by humans, but not the other way around. Things will have to get a whole lot worse before Zeus admits he made a mistake closing Olympus.”
“Coach,” Piper said, “that was almost an intelligent comment.”
Hedge huffed. “What? I’m intelligent! I’m not surprised you cupcakes haven’t heard of the Giant War. The gods don’t like to talk about it. Bad PR to admit you needed mortals to help beat an enemy. That’s just embarrassing.”
“There’s more, though,” Jason said. “When I dreamed about Hera in her cage, she said Zeus was acting unusually paranoid. And Hera— she said she went to those ruins because a voice had been speaking in her head. What if someone’s influencing the gods, like Medea influenced us?”
A shiver crawled down my spine.
Leo set hamburger buns on the skillet to toast. “Yeah, Hephaestus said something similar, like Zeus was acting weirder than usual. But what bothered me was the stuff my dad didn’t say. Like, a couple of times he was talking about the demigods, and how he had so many kids and all. I don’t know. He acted like getting the greatest demigods together was going to be almost impossible— like Hera was trying, but it was a really stupid thing to do, and there was some secret Hephaestus wasn’t supposed to tell me.”
“Chiron was the same way back at camp,” Jason said. “He mentioned a sacred oath not to discuss— something. Coach, you know anything about that?”
“Nah, I’m just a satyr. They don’t tell us the juicy stuff. Especially an old—" He stopped himself.
“An old guy like you?” Piper asked. “But you’re not that old, are you?”
“Hundred and six,” the coach muttered.
Leo coughed. “Say what?”
“Don’t catch your panties on fire, Valdez. That’s just fifty-three in human years.”
“Well, you don’t look a day over a hundred and five.” I grinned.
Coach chuckled. “Thanks, kid. Still, yeah, I made some enemies on the Council of Cloven Elders. I’ve been a protector a longtime. But they started saying I was getting unpredictable. Too violent. Can you imagine?”
“Wow,” Piper said, somewhat sarcastically. “That’s hard to believe.”
Coach scowled. “Yeah, then finally we get a good war going with the Titans, and do they put me on the front lines? No! They send me as far away as possible—the Canadian frontier, can you believe it? Then after the war, they put me out to pasture. The Wilderness School. Bah! Like I’m too old to be helpful just because I like playing offense. All those flower-pickers on the Council—talking about nature.”
“I thought satyrs liked nature,” Piper ventured.
“Shoot, I love nature,” Hedge said. “Nature means big things killing and eating little things! And when you’re a—you know—vertically challenged satyr like me, you get in good shape, you carry a big stick, and you don’t take nothing from no one! That’s nature.” Hedge snorted indignantly. “Flower-pickers. Anyway, I hope you got something vegetarian cooking, Valdez. I don’t do flesh.”
“Yeah, Coach. Don’t eat your cudgel. I got some tofu patties here. Piper’s a vegetarian too. I’ll throw them on in a second.”
The smell of frying burgers filled the air. My stomach growled.
Leo plopped down next to me, holding two plates with burgers on them.
“Hey.”
“Hey.”
“...I just wanted to make sure you were okay. I mean, after the nightmare thing, I was— am — a bit worried.”
I blinked at him. “Uh, yeah. Yeah, I’m fine.”
“You don’t have to be ‘fine’ all the time.” He tilted his head. “It’s generally a good idea to talk about stuff. I’m here to listen if you want to talk.”
“...Thanks. I don’t… I don’t think I’m ready. Not yet.”
“That’s okay. I’ll be here when you are.”
I leaned against him, basking in his radiating warmth.
We sat in silence, eating our burgers and listening to the crackling fire.
“We need to talk.” Piper spoke up, sitting up so she could face Jason. “I don’t want to hide anything from you guys anymore.”
She paused. I made a motion for her to continue.
“Three nights before the Grand Canyon trip, I had a dream vision— a giant, telling me my father had been taken hostage. He told me I had to cooperate, or my dad would be killed.”
…What.
Finally, Jason said, “Enceladus? You mentioned that name before.”
Coach Hedge whistled. “Big giant. Breathes fire. Not somebody I’d want barbecuing my daddy goat.”
Jason gave him a ‘ shut-up ’ look. “Piper, go on. What happened next?”
“I—I tried to reach my dad, but all I got was his personal assistant, and she told me not to worry.”
“Jane?” Leo remembered. “Didn’t Medea say something about controlling her?”
Piper nodded. “To get my dad back, I had to sabotage this quest. I didn’t realize it would be the four of us. Then after we started the quest, Enceladus sent me another warning: He told me he wanted you three dead. He wants me to lead you to a mountain. I don’t know exactly which one, but it’s in the Bay Area—I could see the Golden Gate Bridge from the summit. I have to be there by noon on the solstice, tomorrow. An exchange.”
Piper looked at her feet, seemingly embarrassed. Jason scooted next to her and put his arm around her again. “God, Piper. I’m so sorry.”
Leo nodded. “No kidding. You’ve been carrying this around for a week? Piper, we could help you.”
She glared at us. “Why don’t you yell at me or something? I was ordered to kill you!”
I snorted. “Piper, I’ve done way worse. And besides, we know you. You wouldn’t hurt a fly. Unless it was as annoying as Leo.”
“Hey!”
“Exactly. And anyway, come on,” Jason said. “You’ve saved us all on this quest, several times. I’d put my life in your hands any day.” I nodded in agreement.
“Same,” Leo said. “Can I have a hug too?” I snorted and wrapped an arm around him.
“You don’t get it!” Piper said. “I’ve probably just killed my dad, telling you this.”
“I doubt it.” Coach Hedge belched. He was eating his tofu burger folded inside the paper plate, chewing it all like a taco. “Giant hasn’t gotten what he wants yet, so he still needs your dad for leverage. He’ll wait until the deadline passes, see if you show up. He wants you to divert the quest to this mountain, right?” Piper nodded uncertainly.
“So that means Hera is being kept somewhere else,” Hedge reasoned. “And she has to be saved by the same day. So you have to choose—rescue your dad, or rescue Hera. If you go after Hera, then Enceladus takes care of your dad. Besides, Enceladus would never let you go even if you cooperated. You’re obviously one of the eight in the Great Prophecy.”
The prospect of being one of the ‘Chosen’ loomed over our heads. “So we have no choice,” Piper said miserably. “We have to save Hera, or the giant king gets unleashed. That’s our quest. The world depends on it. And Enceladus seems to have ways of watching me. He isn’t stupid. He’ll know if we change course and go the wrong way. He’ll kill my dad.”
“He’s not going to kill your dad,” Leo said. “We’ll save him.”
“We don’t have time!” Piper cried. “Besides, it’s a trap.”
“We’re your friends, beauty queen,” Leo said. “We’re not going to let your dad die. We just gotta figure out a plan.”
Coach Hedge grumbled. “Would help if we knew where this mountain was. Maybe Aeolus can tell you that. The Bay Area has a bad reputation for demigods. Old home of the Titans, Mount Othrys, sits over Mount Tam, where Atlas holds up the sky. I hope that’s not the mountain you saw.”
Piper scrunched her eyebrows. “I don’t think so. This was inland.”
Jason frowned at the fire, like he was trying to remember something. “Bad reputation... that doesn’t seem right. The Bay Area...”
“You think you’ve been there?” Piper asked.
“I...” He looked like he was almost on the edge of a breakthrough. Then the anguish came back into his eyes. “I don’t know. Hedge, what happened to Mount Othrys?”
Hedge took another bite of paper and burger. “Well, Kronos built a new palace there last summer. Big nasty place, was going to be the headquarters for his new kingdom and all. Weren’t any battles there, though. Kronos marched on Manhattan, tried to take Olympus. If I remember right, he left some other Titans in charge of his palace, but after Kronos got defeated in Manhattan, the whole palace just crumbled on its own.” That… that doesn’t make any sense.
“No,” Jason said. Everyone looked at him.
“What do you mean, ‘No’?” Leo asked.
“That’s not what happened. I—”
Howls echoed off the mountainside. I tensed, looking toward the cave entrance. “Did you guys hear that?”
For a second, nothing. Then clearer: howls piercing the night.
Notes:
Thanks for reading! 💖
Chapter 38: Lycegenes
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Summary:
He studied our little group, nostrils twitching. “So it’s true,” he mused. “A child of Aphrodite, a son of Hephaestus, a faun. And two children of Rome, of Lord Jupiter and—" He paused, eyes widening. He took half a step back before regaining his composure. “All together, without killing each other. How interesting.”
Notes:
OH MY GOD. IT'S FINALLY HERE. MY FAVORITE CHAPTER TO DATE. :D I HOPE YOU ENJOY IT.
This chapter is from Ziya's POV.
CW: mentions of blood, a wound that goes down to bone
Word Count: 2228
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
“Wolves,” Piper said. “They sound close.”
“They’re closer than ‘close’,” I said, dread pooling in my stomach. “They’re right on top of us.”
Jason rose and summoned his sword. I pulled out two daggers, while Leo and Coach Hedge brandished a hammer and club respectively. Piper tried to get up, but she looked like she would pass out.
“Stay there,” Jason told her. “We’ll protect you.”
Piper huffed and drew her dagger anyway.
Then, just outside the firelight at the entrance of the cave, a pair of red eyes glowed in the dark. Wolves edged into the firelight— black beasts bigger than Great Danes, with ice and snow caked on their fur. Their yellow fangs gleamed, their glowing red eyes looked disturbingly intelligent. The wolf in front looked almost as tall as a horse, his mouth stained as if he’d just made a fresh kill.
Something in my stomach turned and rose up my throat. Something like anger.
Something like hunger.
Step forward, Lycegenes . It must be you.
Jason made a half-step forward, but I’d already taken my place in the front. “ Leave, now, ” I snarled, steeling my nerves. The alpha wolf curled his lip. The fur stood up along his spine. One of his lieutenants tried to advance, but the alpha wolf snapped at his ear. Then, all the wolves backed into the dark.
“Dude, I gotta study Latin.” Leo’s hammer shook in his hand. “What’d you say?”
Hedge cursed. “Whatever it was, it wasn’t enough. Look.” The wolves stepped into the firelight, but the alpha wolf wasn’t with them. They didn’t attack. They waited in a rough semicircle just outside the firelight, blocking the cave exit.
Coach hefted his club. “Here’s the plan. I’ll kill them all, and you guys escape.”
“No,” I said. “Stand down.”
“I’ll be fine—"
“I said ,” I snapped, looking at him, “Stand. Down.”
He blinked. “Yes, ma’am.”
The silhouette of a man started coming through the storm, wading through the wolf pack. “We stick together,” I said. “They respect a pack. Hedge, no crazy stuff. We’re not leaving you or anyone else behind.”
The wolves parted, and the man stepped into the firelight. His hair was greasy and ragged, the color of fireplace soot, topped with a crown of what looked like finger bones. His robes were tattered fur— wolf, rabbit, raccoon, deer, and several others I couldn’t identify. From the smell, they weren’t very fresh. His frame was lithe and muscular, like a distance runner’s.
But the most horrible thing was his face. His thin pale skin was pulled tight over his skull. His teeth were sharpened into fangs. His eyes glowed bright red like his wolves’— and they fixed on Jason and me with absolute hatred.
“ Look ,” he said. “ Roman demigods .”
“Speak English, wolf man!” Hedge bellowed.
The wolf man snarled. “ Tell you faun to mind his tongue, daughter of Rome. Or he’ll be my first snack .”
“ I don’t take orders from you ,” I growled.
He studied our little group, nostrils twitching. “So it’s true,” he mused. “A child of Aphrodite, a son of Hephaestus, a faun. And two children of Rome, of Lord Jupiter and—" He paused, eyes widening. He took half a step back before regaining his composure. “All together, without killing each other. How interesting.”
“You were told about us?” Jason asked. “By whom?”
The man looked at me, half amused. “You let your lieutenant speak for you, alpha?”
I tried to not cringe at the wording. “I speak for myself just fine. Answer his question.”
The man snarled— perhaps a laugh, perhaps a challenge. “Oh, we’ve been patrolling for you all across the west, demigods, hoping we’d be the first to find you. The giant king will reward me well when he rises. I am Lycaon, king of wolves. And my pack is hungry.”
The wolves snarled in the darkness. Out of the corner of my eyes, Leo put up his hammer and slipped something else from his tool belt— a glass bottle full of clear liquid. Gasoline.
Lycaon glared at my knives. He moved to each side as if looking for an opening. I followed him with my blades.
“Leave,” I ordered. “There’s no food for you here.”
“Unless you want tofu burgers,” Leo offered.
Lycaon bared his fangs. Apparently he wasn’t a tofu fan. “If I had my way,” Lycaon said with regret, “I’d kill you first, alpha.”
“Any particular reason why? Or are you just that scared of me?” I grinned.
Lycaon’s nose twitched. “Then. I would kill you, son of Jupiter,” he continued. “Your father made me what I am. I was the powerful mortal king of Arcadia, with fifty fine sons, and Zeus slew them all with his lightning bolts.”
“Ha,” Coach Hedge said. “For good reason!”
I glanced over my shoulder. “Coach, you know this clown?”
“I do,” Piper said. “Lycaon invited Zeus to dinner, but the king wasn’t sure it was really Zeus. So to test his powers, Lycaon tried to feed him human flesh. Zeus got outraged—"
“And killed my sons!” Lycaon lamented. The wolves behind him howled.
“So Zeus turned him into a wolf,” Piper finished. “They call werewolves lycanthropes, named after him, the first werewolf.”
“The king of wolves,” Coach Hedge said sardonically. “An immortal, smelly, vicious mutt.”
Lycaon snarled. “I will tear you apart, faun!”
“Oh, you want some goat, buddy? ‘Cause I’ll give you goat!”
“Stop it,” I ordered. “Lycaon, you said you wanted to kill me and Jason, but…?”
“Sadly, Child of Rome, you are spoken for. Since this one"—he waggled his claws at Piper—"has failed to kill you and the son of Jupiter, you are to be delivered alive to the Wolf House. One of my compatriots has asked for the honor of killing you herself.”
“Who?”
The wolf king snickered. “Oh, a great admirer of yours. Apparently, you made quite an impression on her, son of Jupiter. The alpha is a… bonus. She will take care of you soon enough, and really I cannot complain. Spilling your blood at the Wolf House should mark my new territory quite well. Lupa will think twice about challenging my pack.”
Piper struggled to her feet, brandishing her dagger. “You’re going to leave now,” she said, “before we destroy you.” She tried to put power into the words, but she was too weak. Shivering in her blankets, ashen and sweaty and barely able to hold a knife, she didn’t look very threatening.
Lycaon’s red eyes crinkled with humor. “A brave try, girl. I admire that. Perhaps I’ll make your end quick. Only the son of Jupiter and the alpha are needed alive. The rest of you, I’m afraid, are dinner.”
“You’re not killing anyone, catellus ,” I growled. Lycaon snarled. “Not without going through me.”
Lycaon howled and extended his claws. In a split second, I threw both knives, but they passed straight through (and into the storm) like he wasn’t there. Lycaon laughed. “Gold, bronze, steel— none of these are any good against my wolves, alpha.”
Shit. Not only was I down to three knives, they were also useless.
“Silver!” Piper cried. “Aren’t werewolves hurt by silver?”
“We don’t have any silver!” Jason said.
I grinned. “Think again.” I pulled the ring out of my pocket, and it transformed into the silver Wolfsbane. The wolves backed away, ears folded back and tails between their legs.
Lycaon leered at me, but he too shrunk away. “No matter, alpha. My minions are expendable.” Lycaon waved his hand, and wolves leaped into the firelight.
Hedge charged forward with an elated “Woot!”
“Leo, cover me!” I leapt forward, stabbing and slashing with a newfound confidence in my sword fighting abilities. Every wolf I cut down melted into shadows as I hacked to get to Lycaon. One of them pounced at me out of the corner of my eye, but before it could reach me, Leo struck first.
He threw his glass bottle and it shattered on the ground, splattering gas all over the wolves. He shot a burst of fire at the puddle, and a wall of flames erupted behind me. Wolves yelped and retreated. Several caught fire and had to run back into the snow. Even Lycaon looked uneasily at the barrier of flames now separating his wolves from the others.
“Aw, c’mon,” Coach Hedge complained. “I can’t hit them if they’re way over there.”
“Ziya!” Leo yelled.
“I’m fine! Stick together and don’t even think about coming over here.”
Lycaon only had a few wolves left. He shrunk back like a cornered rabbit.
Every time a wolf came closer to me I cut it down with my sword. The few that went for the fire wall got a new wave of fire to the face, courtesy of Leo, but each blast seemed to make him a little more tired, and the gasoline was already dying down. “I can’t summon any more gas!” he warned. I snorted, and his eyes widened. “Wow, that came out wrong. I meant the burning kind. Gonna take the tool belt a while to recharge.”
“Not a problem,” I said as the final wolf melted away. “Just you and me now, catellus .”
Lycaon snarled, and his face started to elongate, nose and mouth turning into a muzzle. The animal furs melted into actual fur. He dropped to all fours as he towered over me, back in wolf-horse form.
“This is gonna be fun.” I grinned and leapt at him.
We tousled in a blur of fur, claws, blade, and teeth. His claws raked across my left arm. I cut a gash across an eye, a leg, his stomach. His blood spurted across my face.
I cut off one of his paws, and it crumbled into inky shadows. Lycaon tumbled to the ground. I pinned him, holding my sword at his neck.
“ Yield ,” I snarled. Lycaon snapped at me. I cut across his other eye. “ YIELD! ”
Lycaon’s hot breaths wafted across my face before he whimpered. I let out a breath and got off him. He lay there for a moment, just trying to breathe.
Kill him. Now. He will attack kill him now now NOW
Lycaon tensed nearly imperceptibly. In a split second, I nailed him through the heart, and he dissolved into shadows with a pitiful shriek.
I panted and pulled my sword from the floor. My arm burned like hell, and my face felt sticky.
Seconds later, more wolves were baying, but the sound was different— less threatening, more like hunting dogs on the scent. A smaller white wolf burst into the cave, followed by two more.
Hedge said, “Kill it?”
“No,” I panted. “Wait.”
The wolves tilted their heads and studied us with huge golden eyes. A heartbeat later, their masters appeared: a troop of hunters in white and gray winter camouflage. All of them carried bows, with quivers of glowing silver arrows on their backs.
Their faces were covered with parka hoods, but they were all clearly girls. One, a little taller than the rest, crouched in the firelight and examined Lycaon’s shadowy remains.
“Phoebe, stay with me. Watch the entrance. The rest of you, resume our search. I’ll catch up with you.”
The other hunters mumbled agreement and disappeared.
“What happened?”
“I, uh, I killed this wolf guy,” I said.
“Really?” The girl in white stood and turned towards us, her face still hidden in her parka hood. “By yourself?”
“Lycaon, yeah. Leo helped with his pack.”
“Like, two,” Leo said. “You handled the rest alone, dude.”
I was still trying to catch my breath. “Seriously?”
“We’ve been following that demon’s trail for over a week,” the girl said. “That is quite the feat. You’d make a good Hunter. Is everyone all right? No one got bit?”
“Nah, but he clawed my arm pretty good.” I held up the wound to the firelight and winced. My skin was practically ribbons. I could even see bone in one spot.
“Are you sure? ‘Cause you look pretty wolfish right now.”
“What?” The girl dug in the pocket of her jacket and held out a mirror. “Sweet Jesus!”
My eyes had turned the same shade of gold as the white wolves’, and my teeth had sharpened considerably. Yet, the longer I looked, the more the yellow faded to brown and the more my teeth looked like they were supposed to.
Screams filled my ears as blood soaked through the floor. It dripped dripped dripped off my fingers and slipped slipped slipped down my neck as iron danced across my tongue.
I flinched. “Uh, that hasn’t happened before. I think that’s a temporary thing. None of the wolves bit me, though. I’m certain of that.”
“Who’s your godly parent?”
The same something curled hot in my chest. “I don’t know.”
“...But you’re on a quest.”
“Tell me about it.”
Jason stood frozen, staring at the girl.
“You’re her,” Piper guessed. “You’re Thalia.”
Who?
The girl tensed. She pulled down her parka hood. Her hair was spiky black, with a silver tiara across her brow. Her face had a super-healthy glow to it, as if she were a little more than human, and her eyes were brilliant blue— exactly like Jason’s.
“Do I know you?” Thalia asked.
Piper took a breath. “This might be a shock, but—"
“Thalia.” Jason stepped forward, his voice trembling. “I’m Jason, your brother.”
Wait, what?
Notes:
:D
For those wondering, 'Lycegenes' is an epithet meaning 'born of the wolf'.
'Catellus' is a Latin insult with many translations, including whelp, lap-dog, kitten, and puppy. You can decide for yourself which one Ziya used.
Chapter 39: Stapler Boy and Tree Girl
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Summary:
Woah, slow down. You don’t want to burst into flames right now, right?
That I do not. Thanks, sensible me.
No problem.
Notes:
I’ve got finals soon 😐 Good thing I’ve already finished TLH lol
This chapter is from Leo’s POV.
Word Count: 2699
CW: Leo thinking Leo thoughts lmao (self-deprecation and… other thoughts), Jason and Thalia’s backstory
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
I figured I had the worst luck in the group, and that's saying a lot. Why didn’t I get to have the long-lost sister, or the movie star dad who needed rescuing, or badass fighting skills? All I got was a tool belt and a dragon that broke down halfway through the quest. Maybe it was the stupid curse of the Hephaestus cabin, but I didn’t think so. My life had been pretty unlucky long before I got to camp.
A thousand years from now, when this quest is being told around a campfire, people will talk about brave Jason, beautiful Piper, badass Ziya, and their sidekick Flaming Valdez, who accompanied them with a bag of magic screwdrivers and occasionally fixed tofu burgers.
If that wasn’t bad enough, I also fell in love with every girl I saw— as long as she was totally out of my league. When we first met, I thought I might have a small chance with Ziya. I mean, she was one of the weirdos, too. But now —
Jesus Christ, she could kill me without a second thought and I would thank her for giving me a moment of her time. She nailed Lycaon to the floor like it was nothing. Covered in blood, most of which wasn’t her own, holding a sword that could cut through bone like butter, teeth sharp enough to rip my throat out—
Woah, slow down. You don’t want to burst into flames right now, right?
That I do not. Thanks, sensible me.
No problem.
For a moment, Jason and Thalia faced each other, stunned. Then Thalia rushed forward and hugged him.
“My gods! She told me you were dead!” She gripped Jason’s face and seemed to be examining everything about it. “Thank Artemis, it is you. That little scar on your lip— you tried to eat a stapler when you were two!”
I laughed. “Seriously?”
Hedge nodded like he approved of Jason’s taste. “Staplers— excellent source of iron.”
“W-Wait,” Jason stammered. “Who told you I was dead? What happened?”
At the cave entrance, one of the white wolves barked. Thalia looked back at the wolf and nodded, but she kept her hands on Jason’s face, like she was afraid he might vanish. “My wolf is telling me I don’t have much time, and she’s right. But we have to talk. Let’s sit.”
Piper and Ziya did better than that: they collapsed. Piper would’ve cracked her head on the cave floor if Hedge hadn’t caught her. Ziya staggered into me, looking ashen under Lycaon’s blood.
Thalia rushed to Piper. “What’s wrong with her? Ah— never mind. I see. Hypothermia. Ankle.” She frowned at the satyr. “Don’t you know any nature healing?”
Hedge scoffed. “Why do you think she looks this good? Can’t you smell the Gatorade?”
Thalia looked at me for the first time, and of course it was an accusatory glare, like why did you let the goat be a doctor? As if that was my fault.
“You and the satyr,” Thalia ordered, “take the girls to my friend at the entrance. Phoebe’s an excellent helaer.”
“No, I’m fine,” Ziya muttered.
“It’s cold out there!” Hedge said. “I’ll freeze my horns off.”
I sighed, putting Ziya’s arm that wasn’t torn to shreds around my shoulders. “Come on Hedge, These two need time to talk.”
“Humph. Fine,” the satyr muttered. “Didn’t even get to brain anybody.”
Hedge carried Piper toward the entrance. I was about to follow with Ziya when Jason called, “Actually, Leo, could you, um, stick around?”
Something in Jason’s eyes… He was asking for support. He wanted somebody else there. He was scared.
I grinned. “Sure, man. Sticking around is my specialty. Just let me get Ziya to Phoebs real quick.”
“No, I can…” Ziya took a few pained breaths. “I can do it.”
I frowned. “Are you sure?”
She pulled away, trying to stand on her own— she was only slightly shaky. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m good.” She squeezed my hand reassuringly and walked out into the snowstorm.
Thalia didn’t look too happy abuot it, but the three of us sat at the fire. For a few minutes, nobody spoke. Jason studied his sister like she was a scary device— one that might explode if handled incorrectly. Thalia seemed more at ease, as if she was used to stumbling across stranger thigns than long-lost relatives. But still, she regarded Jason in a kind of amazed trance, maybe remembering a little two-year-old who tried to eat a stapler. I took a few pieces of copper wire out of my pockets and twisted them together.
“You’d make a good Hunter.”
“So… the Hunters of Artemis,” I started. “The whole ‘not dating’ thing— is that like always , or more of a seasonal thing, or what?”
Thalia stared at me as if I’d just evolved from pond scum.
Jason kicked me in the shin. “Don’t mind Leo. He’s just trying to break the ice. But, Thalia… what happened to our family? Who told you I was dead?”
Thalia tugged at a silver bracelet on her wrist. In the firelight, in her winter camofalge, she almost looked like Khione.
I wasn’t sure how to feel about that.
“Do you remember anything?” she asked.
Jason shook his head. “I woke up three days ago on a bus with Leo, Piper, and Ziya.”
“Which wasn’t our fault,” I added hastily. “Hera stole his memories.”
Thalia tensed. “Hera? How do you know that?”
Jason explained about our quest— Ziya’s dream/vision, the prophecy at camp, Hera getting imprisoned, the giant taking Piper’s dad, and the winter solstice deadline. I chimed in to add important stuff, mostly how I’d fixed the bronze dragon.
Thalia was a good listener. Nothing seemed to surprise her— the monsters, the prophecies, the dead rising. But when Jason mentioned King Mida, she cursed in Ancient Greek.
“I knew we should’ve burned down his mansion,” she said. “That man’s a menace. But we were so intent on following Lycaon— Well, I’m glad you got away. So Hera’s been... what, hiding you all these years?”
“I don’t know.” Jason brought out the photo from his pocket. “She left me just enough memory to recognize your face.”
Thalia looked at the picture, and her expression softened. “I’d forgotten about that. I left it in Cabin One, didn’t I?”
Jason nodded. “I think Hera wanted for us to meet. When we landed here, at this cave... I had a feeling it was important. Like I knew you were close by. Is that crazy?”
“Jason,” she said, “when you’re dealing with the gods, nothing is too crazy. But you can’t trust Hera, especially since we’re children of Zeus. She despises all children of Zeus.”
“But she said something about Zeus giving her my life as a peace offering. Does that make any sense?”
The color drained from Thalia’s face. “Oh, gods. Mother wouldn’t have... You don’t remember—No, of course you don’t.”
“What?” Jason asked.
Thalia’s features seemed to grow older in the firelight, like her immortality wasn’t working so well. “Jason... I’m not sure how to say this. Our mom wasn’t exactly… stable. She caught Zeus’s eye because she was a television actress, and she was beautiful, but she didn’t handle the fame well. She drank, pulled stupid stunts. She was always in the tabloids. She could never get enough attention. Even before you were born, she and I argued all the time. She... she knew Dad was Zeus, and I think that was too much for her to take. It was like the ultimate achievement for her to attract the lord of the sky, and she couldn’t accept it when he left. The thing about the gods... well, they don’t hang around.”
I remembered my own mom, the way she’d assured me over and over that my dad would be back someday. But she’d never acted mad about it. She didn’t seem to want Hephaestus for herself— only so I could know my dad. She’d dealt with working a dead-end job, living in a shitty apartment, never having enough money— and she’d seemed fine with it. As long as she had me, she always said, life would be okay.
I watched Jason’s face— looking more and more devastated as Thalia described their mom— and for once, I didn’t feel jealous of my friend. I might have lost my mom. I might have had some hard times. But at least I remembered her.
I found myself tapping out that Morse code message on my knee: I love you.
I felt bad for Jaosn, not having memories like that— not having anything to fall back on.
“So…” Jason didn’t seem able to finish the question.
“Jason, you got friends,” I told him. “Now you got a sister. You’re not alone.”
Thalia offered her hand, and Jason took it.
Thalia offered her hand, and Jason took it. “When I was about seven,” she said, “Zeus started visiting Mom again. I think he felt bad about wrecking her life, and he seemed— different somehow. A little older and sterner, more fatherly toward me. For a while, Mom improved. She loved having Zeus around, bringing her presents, causing the sky to rumble. She always wanted more attention. That’s the year you were born. Mom... well, I never got along with her, but you gave me a reason to hang around. You were so cute. And I didn’t trust Mom to look after you.
“Of course, Zeus eventually stopped coming by again. He probably couldn’t stand Mom’s demands anymore, always pestering him to let her visit Olympus, or to make her immortal or eternally beautiful. When he left for good, Mom got more and more unstable. That was about the time the monsters started attacking me. Mom blamed Hera. She claimed the goddess was coming after you too— that Hera had barely tolerated my birth, but two demigod children from the same family was too big an insult. Mom even said she hadn’t wanted to name you Jason, but Zeus insisted, as a way to appease Hera because the goddess liked that name. I didn’t know what to believe.”
I fiddled with my copper wires. I felt like an intruder. I shouldn’t be listening to this, but it also made me feel like I was getting to know Jason for the first time— like maybe being here now made up for those four months at Wilderness School, when I’d just imagined we were friends.
“How did you guys get separated?” I asked.
Thalia squeezed her brother’s hand. “If I’d known you were alive... gods, things would’ve been so different. But when you were two, Mom packed us in the car for a family vacation. We drove up north, toward the wine country, to this park she wanted to show us. I remember thinking it was strange because Mom never took us anywhere, and she was acting super nervous. I was holding your hand, walking you toward this big building in the middle of the park, and..." She took a shaky breath.
“Mom told me to go back to the car and get the picnic basket. I didn’t want to leave you alone with her, but it was only for a few minutes. When I came back... Mom was kneeling on the stone steps, hugging herself and crying. She said— she said you were gone. She said Hera claimed you and you were as good as dead. I didn’t know what she’d done. I was afraid she’d completely lost her mind.
“I ran all over the place looking for you, but you’d just vanished. She had to drag me away, kicking and screaming. For the next few days I was hysterical. I don’t remember everything, but I called the police on Mom and they questioned her for a long time. Afterward, we fought. She told me I’d betrayed her, that I should support her, like she was the only one who mattered. Finally I couldn’t stand it.
“Your disappearance was the last straw. I ran away from home, and I never went back, not even when Mom died a few years ago. I thought you were gone forever. I never told anyone about you—not even Annabeth or Luke, my two best friends. It was just too painful.”
“Chiron knew.” Jason’s voice sounded far away. “When I got to camp, he took one look at me and said, ‘You should be dead.’”
“That doesn’t make sense,” Thalia insisted. “I never told him.”
“Hey,” I said. “Important thing is you’ve got each other now, right? You two are lucky.”
Thalia nodded. “Leo’s right. Look at you. You’re my age. You’ve grown up.”
“But where have I been?” Jason said. “How could I be missing all that time? And the Roman stuff…”
Thalia frowned. “The Roman stuff?”
“Your brother speaks Latin,” I said. “He calls gods by their Roman names, and he’s got tattoos.” I pointed out the marks on Jason’s arm. “Ziya, too, minus the tattoos.” I gave Thalia a rundown about the other weird stuff that had happened: Boreas turning into Aquilon, Lycaon calling Jason and Ziya ‘children of Rome’, and the wolves backing off when Ziya spoke Latin to them.
Thalia plucked her bowstring. “Latin. Zeus sometimes spoke Latin, the second time he stayed with Mom. Like I said, he seemed different, more formal.”
“You think he was in his Roman aspect?” Jason asked. “And that’s why I think of myself as a child of Jupiter?”
“Possibly,” Thalia said. “I’ve never heard of something like that happening, but it might explain why you think in Roman terms, why you can speak Latin rather than Ancient Greek. That would make you unique. Still, it doesn’t explain how you’ve survived without Camp Half-Blood. A child of Zeus, or Jupiter, or whatever you want to call him— you would’ve been hounded by monsters. If you were on your own, you should’ve died years ago. I know I wouldn’t have been able to survive without friends. You would’ve needed training, a safe haven—”
“He wasn’t alone,” I blurted out. “We’ve heard about others like him.”
Thalia looked at me strangely. “What do you mean?”
I told her about the slashed-up purple shirt in Medea’s department store, and the story the cyclopes told about the child of Mercury who spoke Latin.
“Isn’t there anywhere else for demigods?” I asked. “I mean, besides Camp Half-Blood? Maybe some crazy Latin teacher has been abducting children of the gods or something, making them think like Romans.”
…God, that sounds so stupid.
Thalia studied me intently. I felt like a suspect in a lineup.
“I’ve been all over the country,” Thalia mused. “I’ve never seen evidence of a crazy Latin teacher, or demigods in purple shirts. Still…” Her voice trailed off, like she’d just had a troubling thought.
“What?” Jason asked.
Thalia shook her head. “I’ll have to talk to the goddess. Maybe Artemis will guide us.”
“She’s still talking to you?” Jason asked. “Most of the gods have gone silent.”
“Artemis follows her own rules,” Thalia said. “She has to be careful not to let Zeus know, but she thinks Zeus is being ridiculous, closing Olympus. She’s the one who set us on the trail of Lycaon. She said we’d find a lead to a missing friend of ours.”
“Percy Jackson,” I guessed. “The guy Annabeth is looking for.”
Thalia nodded, her face full of concern.
I wondered if anyone had ever looked that worried all the times I’d disappeared.
I doubted it.
“So, what would Lycaon have to do with it?” I asked. “And how does it connect to us?” We need to find out soon,” Thalia admitted. “If your deadline is tomorrow, we’re wasting time. Aeolus could tell you—"
The white wolf appeared again at the doorway and yipped insistently.
“I have to get moving.” Thalia stood. “Otherwise I’ll lose the other Hunter’s trail. First, though, I’ll take you to Aeolus' palace.”
“If you can’t, it’s okay,” Jason said, though he sounded kind of distressed.
“Oh, please.” Thalia smiled and helped him up. “I haven’t had a brother in years. I think I can stand a few minutes with you before you get annoying. Now, let’s go!”
Notes:
Thanks for reading! 💖
Chapter 40: The Ice Bridge
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Summary:
“Jason, Leo, just be careful where you step,” Thalia said. “It hardly ever breaks.”
“It hasn’t met me yet,” I muttered.
Notes:
No major life updates except that I’m re-rewatching Supernatural 😐
This chapter is from Leo’s POV.
Word Count: 2190
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
I would be lying if I said I wasn’t impressed by the Hunters’ accommodations. And also a bit offended. I kinda imagined Ziya, Piper, and Hedge freezing their kiesters off in the snow, but Phoebe had set up this silver tent pavilion thing right outside the cave. I had no idea how she’d done it so fast, but inside was a kerosene heater keeping them toasty warm, and a bunch of comfy throw pillows.
Piper looked back to normal, decked out in a new parka, gloves, and camo pants like a Hunter. Ziya was dressed the same, but she had bandages peeking out under the left sleeve, and her hands looked like they’d never been scraped up. The girls and Hedge were kicking back, drinking hot chocolate.
Ziya looked up and grinned. She still had a ring of gold at the edge of her irises, and her teeth still looked really sharp. Do NOT go down that road, Leo. Do not.
“Oh, no way,” I groaned. “We’ve been sitting in a cave and you get the luxury tent? Somebody give me hypothermia. I want hot chocolate and a parka!”
Phoebe sniffed. “Boys,” she said, like it was the worst insult she could think of.
“It’s alright, Phoebe,” Thalia said. “They’ll need extra coats. And I think we can spare some chocolate.”
Phoebe grumbled, but soon Jason and I were also dressed in silvery winter clothes that were incredibly lightweight and warm. The hot chocolate was first-rate.
“Cheers!” Coach Hedge crunched down his plastic thermos.
I cringed. “That cannot be good for your intestines.”
Thalia patted Piper on the back. “You up for moving?”
Piper nodded. “Thanks to Phoebe, yeah. You guys are really good at this wilderness survival thing. I feel like I could run ten miles.”
Thalia winked at Jason. “She’s tough for a child of Aphrodite. I like this one.”
I looked over at Ziya. “How’s your arm doing?”
She rolled her shoulder. “Well, apparently werewolf injuries take forever to heal, so it’ll scar, but it’s functional, which is about all I can ask for.”
I winced. “Yeah, that doesn’t sound great.”
She shrugged. “Eh, what can I do? It’s not like I have magic healing powers or anything.”
It took Phoebe exactly six seconds to break camp. The tent self-collasped into a square the size of a pack of chewing gum. Oh, I wish I had time to get the blueprints!
Thalia ran uphill through the snow, hugging a tiny little path on the side of the mountain, and I almost instantly regretted trying to look macho, because the Hunters and Ziya left me in the dust.
Coach Hedge leaped around like a happy mountain goat, coaxing us on like he used to do on track days at school. “Come on, Valdez! Pick up the pace! Let’s chant. I’ve got a girl in Kalamazoo —"
“Let’s not,” Thalia snapped.
So we ran in silence.
I fell in next to Jason at the back of the group. “How you doing, man?”
Jason’s expression was enough of an answer: Not good.
“Thalia takes it so calmly,” he said. “Like it’s no big deal that I appeared. I didn’t know what I was expecting, but… she’s not like me. She seems so much more together. ”
“Hey, she’s not fighting amnesia,” I said. “Plus, she’s had more time to get used to this whole demigod thing. You fight monsters and talk to gods for a while, you probably get used to surprises.”
“Maybe,” Jason said. “I just wish I understood what happened when I was two, why my mom got rid of me. Thalia ran away because of me .”
“Trust me when I say it’s more nuanced than that. Whatever happened wasn’t your fault. And your sister’s pretty cool. She’s a lot like you.”
Jason took that in silence. Did I say the right thing? Making people feel better through reasoning and feelings wasn’t my thing. Making someone laugh was a lot easier.
If only I could reach inside my tool belt and pick just the right wrench to fix Jason’s memory— maybe a little hammer— bonk the sticking spot and make everything run right. That would be a lot easier than trying to talk it through. ‘Not good with organic life forms’ . Thanks for that, Dad.
In a split second, I slammed into Thalia and nearly sent us both down the side of the mountain. Fortunately, she was light on her feet. She steadied us, then pointed up.
“That,” I choked, “is a really large rock.”
We stood near the summit of Pikes Peak. Below us the world was blanketed in clouds. The air was so thin I could barely breathe. Night had set in, but a full moon shone and the stars were incredible . Stretching out to the north and south, peaks of other mountains rose from the clouds like islands— or teeth.
The real show was above us. Hovering in the sky, about a quarter mile away, was a massive free-floating island of glowing purple stone. It was hard to judge its size, but I figured it was at least as wide as a football stadium and just as tall. The sides were rugged cliffs, riddled with caves, and every once in a while a gust of wind burst out with a sound like a pipe organ blast. At the top of the rock, brass walls ringed some kind of fortress.
The only thing connecting Pikes Peak to the floating island was a narrow bridge of ice that glistened in the moonlight. Except the bridge wasn’t exactly ice, because it wasn’t solid. As the winds changed direction, the bridge snaked around— blurring and thinning, in some places even breaking into a dotted line like the vapor trail of a plane.
Ziya took a step back, voice tight. “There is no way in hell I am going near that.”
“Agreed,” I said.
Thalia shrugged. “I’m not a big fan of heights, I’ll admit, but if you want to get to Aeolus’ fortress, this is the only way.”
“Is the fortress always hanging there?” Piper asked. “How can people not notice it sitting on top of Pikes Peak?”
“The Mist,” Thalia explained. “Still, mortals do notice it indirectly. Some days, Pikes Peak looks purple. People say it's a trick of the light, but actually it’s the color of Aeolus’ palace, reflecting off the mountain face.”
“It’s enormous,” Jason said.
Thalia laughed. “You should see Olympus, little brother.”
“You’re serious? You’ve been there?”
Thalia grimaced as if it wasn’t a good memory. “We should go across in two different groups. The bridge is fragile.”
“That’s reassuring,” I said. “Jason, can’t you just fly us up there?”
Thalia laughed. Then she seemed to realize it wasn’t a joke. “Wait… Jason, you can fly ?”
Jason gazed up at the floating fortress. “Well, sort of. More like I can control the winds. But the winds up here are so strong, I’m not sure I’d want to try. Thalia, you mean… you can’t fly?”
For a second, Thalia looked genuinely afraid. Then she got her expression under control. She was a lot more scared of heights than she let on. “Truthfully, I’ve never tried. Might be better if we stuck to the bridge.”
Coach Hedge tapped the ice vapor trail with his hoof, then jumped onto the bridge. Amazingly, it held his weight. “Easy! I’ll go first. Ziya, Piper, come on. I’ll give you a hand.”
Ziya backed up further. “FUCK NO.”
“No, that’s okay,” Piper started to say, but the coach grabbed their hands and dragged them up the bridge, Ziya cursing the whole way.
They reached about halfway, and the bridge still seemed to be holding them just fine.
Thalia turned to her Hunter friend. “Phoebe, I’ll be back soon. Go find the others. Tell them I’m on my way.”
“You sure?” Phoebe narrowed her eyes and Jason and me, like we might kidnap Thalia or something.
“It’s fine,” Thalia promised.
Phoebe nodded reluctantly, then raced down the mountain path, the white wolves at her heels.
“Jason, Leo, just be careful where you step,” Thalia said. “It hardly ever breaks.”
“It hasn’t met me yet,” I muttered.
~*~
Halfway up, things went wrong, and of course it was my fault. Ziya, Piper, and Hedge had already made it safely to the top and were waving at us, encouraging us to keep climbing.
But I got distracted.
I could design something way more stable than this shifting ice vapor shit if this were my palace. Some braces and support columns—
“Why do they have a bridge?” I asked.
Thalia frowned. “Leo, this isn’t a good place to stop. What do you mean?”
“They’re wind spirits, can’t they fly?”
“Yes, but sometimes they need a way to connect to the world below.”
“So the bridge isn’t always here?”
Thalia shook her head. “The wind spirits don’t like to anchor to earth, but sometimes it’s necessary. Like now. They know you’re coming.”
My mind was racing too fast for me to process or even put into words. I could almost feel my temperature rising. I was on to something.
“Leo?” Jason said. “What are you thinking?”
“Oh, gods,” Thalia said. “Keep moving. Look at your feet!”
I shuffled backward. SHIT . My temperature really was rising, just as it had years ago at that picnic table under the pecan tree, when my anger had gotten away from me. Now excitement was causing the reaction. My pants steamed in the cold air. My shoes were literally smoking, and the bridge didn’t like it. The ice was thinning.
“Leo, stop it,” Jason warned. “You’re going to melt it.”
“I’ll try.” But my body was overheating on its own, running as fast as my thoughts. “Listen, Jason, what did Hera call you in that dream? She called you a bridge .”
“Leo, seriously, cool down,” Thalia said. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, but the bridge is—"
“Just listen,” I insisted. “If Jason is a bridge, what’s he connecting? Maybe two different places that normally don’t get along— like the air palace and the ground. You had to be somewhere before this, right? And Hera said you were an exchange.”
“An exchange…” Thalia’s eyes widened. “Oh, gods.”
Jason frowned. “What are you two talking about?”
Thalia murmured something like a prayer. “I understand now why Artemis sent me here. Jason— she told me to hunt for Lycaon and I would find a clue about Percy. You are the clue. Artemis wanted us to meet so I could hear your story.”
“I don’t understand,” he protested. “I don’t have a story. I don’t remember anything!”
“But Leo’s right,” Thalia said. “It’s all connected. If we just knew where—”
I snapped my fingers. “Jason, what did you call that place in your dream? That ruined house. The Wolf House?”
Thalia nearly choked. “The Wolf House? Jason, why didn’t you tell me that! That’s where they’re keeping Hera?”
“You know where it is?” Jason asked.
I felt the bridge dissolve under my feet, but Jason grabbed my coat and pulled me to safety before I could become a grease spot on the mountainside. We scrambled up the bridge, and when we turned, Thalia was on the other side of a thirty-foot chasm. The bridge was continuing to melt.
“Go!” Thalia shouted, backing down the bridge as it crumbled. “Find out where the giant is keeping Piper’s dad. Save him! I’ll take the Hunters to the Wolf House and hold it until you can get there. We can do both!”
“But where is the Wolf House?” Jason shouted.
“You know where it is, little brother!” She was so far away now that I could barely hear her voice over the wind, but I was pretty sure she said: “I’ll see you there. I promise.” Then she turned and raced down the dissolving bridge.
We didn’t have time to stand around. We climbed for our lives, the ice vapor thinning under our feet. Several times, Jason grabbed me and used the winds to keep us aloft, but it was more like bungee jumping than flying.
When we reached the floating island, Ziya, Piper, and Coach Hedge pulled us aboard just as the last of the vapor bridge vanished. We stood gasping for breath at the base of a stone stairway chiseled into the side of the cliff, leading up to the fortress.
“Oh, thank Allah,” Ziya muttered, dragging me into a bone-crushing hug. “Don’t you ever do that again or I’ll…” She paused. “I don’t know what I’ll do, but it’ll make you regret existing.”
I laughed breathlessly. “Got it.”
I looked back down over the edge. The top of Pikes Peak floated below in a sea of clouds, but there was no sign of Thalia. And I had just burned our only exit.
“What happened?” Piper demanded. “Leo, why are your clothes smoking?”
“I got a little heated,” I gasped. “Sorry, Jason. Honest. I didn’t—”
“It’s all right,” Jason said, but his expression was grim. “We’ve got less than twenty-four hours to rescue a goddess and Piper’s dad. Let’s go see the king of the winds.”
Notes:
Thanks for reading! 💖
Chapter 41: Jason, Buddy… Maybe Actually Tell Her Why We’re Here
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Summary:
The smoke coming out of his ears and flames dancing through his hair hadn’t been too bad, but he’d nearly fallen and become nothing more than a grease stain on the mountain side. If Leo started spontaneously combusting every time he got excited, we were going to have a tough time taking him anywhere.
I mean, imagine going in for a kiss and his lips catch on fire.
Notes:
Finals are this week! I’m so excited for school to be over lol
This chapter is from Ziya’s POV.
Word Count: 1498
TW/CW: flashbacks, discussions of phobias, veiled self-deprecation
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
While I loved hiking, climbing the cliffs of the floating island wasn’t all that great. Scaling the mountain that was actually connected to the earth was fine for the most part, but we had to haul ass up the steep stairs, and it was exhausting .
Having sore arms and blisters on my feet made it much worse.
The only one who seemed in a good mood was Coach Hedge. He kept bounding up the slippery staircase and trotting back down. “Come on, cupcakes! Only a few thousand more steps!”
We all silently agreed to let Jason have some time to think. His bad mood was almost tangible. Piper kept glancing back, worried, as if he were the one who’d almost died of hypothermia rather than her. Or maybe she was thinking about Thalia’s new idea. Leo and Jason filled us in on what Thalia had said on the bridge— how we could save both her dad and Juno.
Honestly, it didn’t seem impossible. If only the deadline wasn’t hours away.
Leo kept swatting at his own legs, checking for signs that his pants were on fire. He wasn’t steaming anymrore, but the incident on the ice bridge was scary.
The smoke coming out of his ears and flames dancing through his hair hadn’t been too bad, but he’d nearly fallen and become nothing more than a grease stain on the mountain side. If Leo started spontaneously combusting every time he got excited, we were going to have a tough time taking him anywhere.
I mean, imagine going in for a kiss and his lips catch on fire.
…Where the fuck did that come from?
“Hey.” Leo appeared at my side.
My face instantly felt warmer. “Hey! Hi. Hi… you.”
Leo raised an eyebrow. “You good?”
“Yup. I’m fine. Just, uh, tired, is all.”
He nodded. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay. I mean, you looked really… uncomfortable? Is that the right word? With the bridge back there. I didn’t know you had a problem with heights.”
I snorted. “Kind of, yeah. Though the height wasn’t really the problem with the bridge. I’m not fond of heights, but any sort of structural instability—" I shuddered, and a two-note whistles slipped out.
Leo nodded. “So… Festus was okay?”
“After I got used to it, yeah.” I smiled. “He’s way too awesome to be scared about for long.”
Leo smiled mournfully. “Festus was…”
“Badass?”
“Exactly,” he laughed. He thought for a moment. “Was there anything in particular that brought on this fear of ‘structural instability’?”
I watched the blaze rage through my house. Evan was still inside.
A crack rang out, and the roof collapsed.
“No,” I shook my head. “Just one of those random ones, y’know?”
Leo nodded softly, hesitantly, like he didn’t really believe me.
“Are you okay? After the whole bridge thing?” I asked.
“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”
“Because you almost died.”
Leo scoffed. “Please. That was…” He trailed off.
“Were you going to say ‘totally planned’?”
“Yep.”
I sighed. “It’s not your fault, you know.”
“Isn’t it?” Leo looked away. “I mean, I’m the reason Jason lost his sister again in, like, an hour. All because I can’t control my stupid powers.”
“...You’re not stupid, Leo.”
“I didn’t say—” He caught the look on my face and quickly looked away again.
We didn’t talk again.
We finally arrived at the top of the island, somewhat gasping for breath. Bronze walls marched all the way around the fortress grounds, though I couldn’t imagine who would possibly attack this place. Twenty-foot-high gates opened for us, and a road of polished purple stones led up to the main citadel— a white-columned rotunda, Greek style, like one of the monuments in Washington, D.C.— except for the cluster of satellite dishes and radio towers on the roof.
“That’s bizarre,” Piper said.
“Guess you can’t get cable on a floating island,” Leo said. “Dang, check this guy’s front yard.”
The rotunda sat in the center of a quarter-mile circle, the grounds divided into four sections like giant pizza slices, each one representing a season.
One of them was an icy wasteland, with bare trees and a bronze lake. Snowmen rolled across the landscape as the wind blew.
Opposite of it was an autumn park with gorgeous gold and red trees. Mounds of leaves blew into patterns— gods, people, animals, that ran after each other before scattering back into leaves.
In the distance, there were two more areas behind the rotunda. One looked like a green pasture with sheep made out of clouds. The last section was a desert where tumbleweeds scratched strange patterns in the sand like Greek letters, smiley faces, and a huge advertisement that read: ‘Watch Aeolus Nightly!’
“One section for each of the four wind gods,” Jason guessed. “Four cardinal directions.”
“I’m loving that pasture.” Coach Hedge licked his lips. “You guys mind—"
“Knock yourself out,” I said.
Jason looked relieved to send the satyr off. I figured it’d be hard enough getting on Aeolus’ good side without Coach Hedge waving his club and screaming, “Die!”
While the satyr ran off to attack springtime, my friends and I walked down the road to the steps of the palace.
We passed through the front doors into a white marble foyer decorated with purple banners that read ‘Olympian Weather Channel’, and some that just read ‘OW!’
“Hello!” A woman (literally) floated up to us. She was pretty in the elfish way the nature spirits were back at Camp Half-Blood— petite, slightly pointed ears, and an ageless face that could’ve been sixteen or thirty. Her brown eyes tiwnkled cheerfully, and her dark hair blew in slow motion shampoo-commercial style, despite there being no wind. Her white gown billowed around her like a parachute. I wasn’t entirely sure if she had feet, but if she did, they didn’t touch the floor. She faded in and out like she was made of fog.
She had a white tablet computer in her hand. “Are you from Lord Zeus?” she asked. “We’ve been expecting you.”
Jason’s voice caught in his throat. “Are you a ghost?”
Her smile turned into a pout. “I’m an aura , sir. A wind nymph, as you might expect, working for the lord of the winds. My name is Mellie. We don’t have ghosts.”
“No, of course you don’t!” I said, jumping in to save Jason’s ass. “My friend simply mistook you for Helen of Troy, the most beautiful mortal of all time. It’s an easy mistake.”
The complement was probably a little over the top, but Mellie blushed. “Oh… well, then. So you are from Zeus?”
“Er, I’m the son of Zeus, yeah.”
“Excellent! Please, right this way.”
“You know, I don’t think they know why we’re here,” I muttered to Jason.
“Probably not. But it got us in the door.”
“And might get us killed later.”
“It’ll be fine. Do you want to take the lead with Aeolus?”
“I figured you’d be better suited, Mr. ‘Son-of-Zeus’.”
“Whatever you say, alpha .” I lightly shoved him.
Mellie led us through some security doors into another lobby, consulting her tablet as she floated. She didn’t look where she was going, but apparently it didn’t matter, as she drifted straight through a marble column with no problem. “We’re out of prime time now, so that’s good,” she mused. “I can fit you in right before his 11:12 spot.”
“Um, okay,” Jason said.
The lobby was a pretty distracting place. Winds blasted around us, and it felt like I was pushing through an invisible crowd. Doors blew open and slammed by themselves.
The things I could see were just as bizarre. Paper airplanes of all different sizes and shapes sped around, and other wind nymphs, aurai , would occasionally pluck them out of the air, unfold and read them, then toss them back into the air, where the planes would refold themselves and keep flying.
A harpy fluttered past, looking like a mix between an old lady and a chicken on steroids. She had a wrinkled face with black hair tied in a hairnet, arms like a human but feathered like a chicken, and a fat, feathered body with talons for feet. It was amazing she could fly at all. She kept drifting around and bumping into things like a parade balloon.
“Not an aura ?” Jason asked Mellie as the creature wobbled by.
Mellie laughed. “That’s a harpy, of course. Our, ah, ugly stepsisters, I suppose you would say. Don’t you have harpies on Olympus? They’re spirits of violent gusts, unlike us aurai . We’re all gentle breezes.” She batted her eyes at Jason.
“‘Course you are,” he said, smiling nervously.
“So,” Piper prompted, “you were taking us to see Aeolus?” Mellie led us through a set of doors like an airlock. Above the interior door, a green light blinked.
“We have a few minutes before he starts,” Mellie said cheerfully. “He probably won’t kill you if we go in now. Come along!”
Notes:
Thanks for reading! 💖
Chapter 42: CAUTION! No Floor!
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Notes:
Just took my last final!! I am done with school for the next three months! I’m going to get so much writing done!
This chapter is from Ziya’s POV.
Word Count: 1860
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
The central section of Aeolus’ fortress was breathtaking. It was as big as a cathedral, with a soaring domed roof covered in silver. Television equipment floated randomly through the air— cameras, spotlights, set pieces, potted plants. And there was no floor. Leo almost fell into the chasm before I pulled him back.
“Holy—!” Leo gulped. “Hey, Mellie. A little warning next time?!”
An enormous circular pit plunged into the heart of the mountain, the sides honeycombed with caves. Some of the tunnels probably led straight outside. Other caves were sealed with some glistening material like glass or wax. The whole cavern bustled with harpies, aurai , and paper airplanes, but for someone who couldn’t fly, it would be a very long, very fatal fall.
“Yeah, don’t mean to be rude, but there appears to be a hole in your floor,” I said. “Like, all of it.”
“Oh, my,” Mellie gasped. “I’m so sorry.” She unclipped a walkie-talkie from somewhere inside her robes and spoke into it: “Hello, sets? Is that Nuggets? Hi, Nuggets. Could we get a floor in the main studio please? Yes, a solid one. Thanks.”
A few seconds later, an army of harpies rose from the pit— three dozen or so demon chicken ladies, all carrying squares of various building materials. They went to work hammering and gluing and using large quantities of duct tape. In no time there was a makeshift floor snaking out over the chasm. It was made of plywood, marble blocks, carpet squares, wedges of grass sod— just about anything.
My blood ran cold.
“That can’t be safe,” Jason said.
“Oh, it is!” Mellie assured him. “The harpies are very good.”
That was easy for her to say. She didn’t have to walk across the damn thing.
Jason stepped out first, since he could fly. Amazingly, the floor held.
Piper gripped his hand and followed him. “If I fall, you’re catching me.”
Jason blushed slightly. “Uh, sure.”
Leo stepped out next. “You’re catching me, too, Superman, but I ain’t holding your hand.”
My throat went dry. “Um, you know what? You guys go ahead, I’m just gonna wa-ait out here.”
Leo looked back at me. “Hey, you’re gonna be okay. The floor’s not going to give out. And, look, here.” Leo turned to Jason. “Jason, do you promise to catch Ziya in the unlikely event that the floor gives out?”
“Uh, yeah. Yeah, I promise.”
“There, see?” Leo looked back at me. I backed up even further. His eyes softened. He walked back over to me and took my hands. “Do you trust me?”
My answer was immediate. “Always.”
He smiled. “We’re gonna be fine. One step at a time, deep breaths. Okay?”
I nodded hesitantly. He kept a hold of my hands and stepped back out. Deep breaths. I set a foot on the duct-taped floor. It felt surprisingly solid. I stepped out onto the floor completely. It held. Leo gently led me toward the others. I had a death grip on his hand, but he didn’t complain.
Mellie led us toward the middle of the chamber, where a loose sphere of flat-panel video screens floated around a kind of control center. A man hovered inside, checking monitors and reading paper airplane messages. The man paid us no attention as Mellie brought us forward. She pushed a large Sony out of our way and led us into the control area.
Leo whistled lowly. “I gotta get a room like this.”
The floating screens showed all sorts of television programs. Some I recognized— news broadcasts, mostly— but some programs looked a little strange: gladiators fighting, demigods battling monsters.
The gods watch us risk our lives for entertainment?
At the far end of the sphere was a silky blue backdrop like a cinema screen, with cameras and studio lights floating around it. The man in the center was talking into an earpiece phone. He had a remote control in each hand and was pointing them at various screens, seemingly at random.
He wore a business suit that looked like the sky— blue mostly, but dappled with clouds that changed and darkened and moved across the fabric. He looked like he was in his sixties, with a shock of white hair, but he had a ton of stage makeup on, and that smooth plastic-surgery look to his face, so he appeared not really young, not really old, just wrong— like a Ken doll someone had halfway melted in a microwave. His eyes darted back and forth from screen to screen, like he was trying to absorb everything at once. He muttered things into his phone, and his mouth kept twitching. He was either amused, crazy, or both.
Probably both.
Mellie floated toward him. “Ah, sir, Mr. Aeolus, these demigods—"
“Hold it!” He held up a hand to silence her, then pointed at one of the screens. “Watch!”
It was one of those storm-chaser programs, where insane thrill seekers drive after tornados. As we watched, a Jeep plowed straight into a funnel cloud and got tossed into the sky.
Aeolus shrieked with delight. “The Disaster Channel. People do that on purpose!” He turned toward us with a mad grin. “Isn’t that amazing? Let’s watch it again!” Leo moved so he was slightly in front of me, and traced soothing circles on the back of my hand.
“Um, sir,” Mellie said, “this is Jason, son of—"
“Yes, yes, I remember,” Aeolus said. “You’re back. How did it go?”
Jason hesitated. “Sorry? I think you’ve mistaken me—"
“No, no, Jason Grace, aren’t you? It was— what— last year? You were on your way to fight a sea monster, I believe.”
“I— I don’t remember.”
Aeolus laughed. “Must not have been a very good sea monster! No, I remember every hero who’s ever come to me for aid. Odysseus— gods, he docked at my island for a month! At least you only stayed a few days. Now, watch this video. These ducks get sucked straight into—"
“Sir!” Mellie interrupted. “Two minutes to air.”
“Air!” Aeolus exclaimed. “I love air. How do I look? Makeup!”
A tornado of brushes, blotters, and cotton balls descended on Aeolus. They blurred across his face in a cloud of peach-tone smoke until his coloration was even more gruesome than before. Wind swirled through his hair and left it sticking up like a frosted Christmas tree.
“Mr. Aeolus.” Jason slipped off the golden backpack. “We brought you these rogue storm spirits.”
“Did you!” Aeolus looked at the bag like it was a gift from an eccentric fan— something he really didn’t want. “Well, how nice.”
Leo nudged him, and Jason offered the bag. “Boreas sent us to capture them for you. We hope you’ll accept them and stop— you know— ordering demigods to be killed.”
Aeolus laughed, and looked incredulously at Mellie. “Demigods to be killed— did I order that?”
Mellie checked her computer tablet. “Yes, sir, fifteenth of Septmember. ‘Storm spirits released by the death of Typhon, demigods to be held responsible’, et cetera… Yes, a general order for them all to be killed.”
“Oh, pish,” Aeolus said. “I was just grumpy. Rescind that order, Mellie, and um, who’s on guard duty— Teriyaki?— Teri, take these storm spirits down to cell block Fourteen E, will you?”
A harpy swooped down out of nowhere, snatched the golden bag, and spiraled into the abyss. Man, that bag would’ve been nice to keep .
Aeolus grinned at Jason. “Now, sorry about that kill-on-sight business. But gods, I really was mad, wasn’t I?” His face suddenly darkened, and his suit did the same, lapels flashing with lightning. “You know… I remember now. Almost seemed like a voice was telling me to give that order. A little cold tingle on the back of my neck.”
A cold tingle… Why does that sound so familiar? I gripped Leo’s hand tighter. He squeezed back. “A… um, a voice in your head, sir?”
“Yes. How odd. Mellie, should we kill them?”
“No, sir,” she said patiently. “They just brought us the storm spirits, which makes everything all right.”
“Of course,” Aeolus laughed. “Sorry, Mellie. Let’s send the demigods something nice. A box of chocolates, perhaps.”
“A box of chocolates to every demigod in the world, sir?”
“No, too expensive. Never mind. Wait, it’s time! I’m on!” Aeolus flew off toward the blue screen as newscast music started to play. What is happening?
“Mellie,” Jason said, “is he… always like that?”
She smiled sheepishly. “Well, you know what they say. If you don’t like his mood, wait five minutes. That expression ‘whichever way the wind blows’— that was based on him.”
“And that thing about the sea monster,” Jason said. “Was I here before?”
Mellie blushed. “I’m sorry, I don’t remember. I’m Aeolus’ new assistant. I’ve been with him longer than most, but still— not that long.”
“How long do his assistants usually last?” Piper asked.
“Oh…” Mellie thought for a moment. “I’ve been doing this for… twelve hours?”
Oh, we are so dead.
A voice blared from the floating speakers: “And now, weather every twelve minutes! Here’s your forecaster for Olympian Weather— the OW! channel— Aeolus!”
Lights blazed on Aeolus, who was now standing in front of the blue screen. His smile was unnaturally white, and he looked like he’d had so much caffeine his face was about to explode.
“Hello, Olympus! Aeolus, master of the winds here, with weather every twelve! We’ll have a low-pressure system moving over Florida today, so expect milder temperatures since Demeter wishes to spare the citrus farmers!” He gestured at the blue screen, but when I looked at the monitors, I saw that a digital image was being projected behind Aeolus, so it looked like he was standing in front of a U.S. map with animated smiley suns and frowny storm clouds. “Along the eastern seaboard— oh, hold on.” He tapped his earpiece. “Sorry, folks! Poseidon is angry with Miami today, so it looks like that Florida freeze is back on! Sorry, Demeter. Over in the Midwest, I’m not sure what St. Louis did to offend Zeus, but you can expect winter storms! Boreas himself is being called down to punish the area with ice. Bad news, Missouri! No, wait. Hephaestus feels sorry for central Missouri, so you all will have much more moderate temperatures and sunny skies.”
Aeolus kept going like that— forecasting each area of the country and changing his prediction two or three times as he got messages over his earpiece— the gods apparently putting in orders for various winds and weather.
“This can’t be right,” Jason whispered. “Weather isn’t this random.”
Mellie smirked. “And how often are the mortal weathermen right? They talk about fronts and air pressure and moisture, but the weather surprises them all the time. At least Aeolus tells us why it’s so unpredictable. Very hard job, trying to appease all the gods at once. It’s enough to drive anyone...”
She trailed off, but I got what she was implying. Crazy. Aeolus was completely batshit insane.
We are, most certainly, one hundred percent dead.
“And that’s the weather.” Aeolus concluded. “See you in twelve minutes, because I’m sure it’ll change!”
Notes:
Thanks for reading! AND DRINK WATER! 💖
Chapter 43: I Hate Being Right
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Summary:
Jason smiled at us, like we were finally having some good luck. All of their godly parents were standing up for them.
And my dad was a no show. Again.
Notes:
Sorry for the late update. I had work until 9:00 pm 🥱
This chapter is from Ziya’s POV.
Word Count: 2148
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
The lights shut off, the video monitors went back to random coverage, and just for a moment, Aeolus’ face sagged with weariness. Then he seemed to remember he had guests, and he put a smile back on.
Ha. Same.
“So, you brought me some rogue storm spirits,” Aeolus said. “I suppose… thanks! And did you want something else? I assume so. Demigods always do.”
Mellie said, “Um, sir, this is Zeus’ son.”
“Yes, yes, I know that. I said I remembered him from before.”
“But, sir, they’re here from Olypmus.”
Aeolus looked stunned. Then he laughed so abruptly, Jason almost jumped into the chasm. “You mean you’re here on behalf of your father this time? Finally! I knew they would send someone to renegotiate my contract!”
“Um, what?” Jason asked.
“Oh, thank goodness!” Aeolus sighed with relief. “It’s been, what, three thousand years since Zeus made me master of the winds? Not that I’m ungrateful, of course! But really, my contract is so vague. Obviously I’m immortal, but ‘Master of the Winds’. What does that mean? Am I a nature spirit? A demigod? A god? I want to be god of the winds, because the benefits are so much better. Can we start with that?”
Jason looked at us, eyebrows scrunched and eyes wide, his expression clearly conveying max confusion.
“Dude,” Leo said, “you think we’re here to promote you?”
“You are, then?” Aeolus grinned. His business suit turned completely blue— not a cloud in the fabric. “Marvelous! I mean, I think I’ve shown quite a bit of initiative with the weather channel, eh? And of course I’m in the press all the time. So many books have been written about me: Into Thin Air , Up in the Air , Gone with the Wind —"
“Er, I don’t think those are about you,” Jason said, before he noticed Mellie shaking her head.
“Nonsense,” Aeolus said. “Mellie, they’re biographies of me, aren’t they?”
“Absolutely, sir,” she squeaked.
“There, you see? I don’t read. Who has the time? But obviously the mortals love me. So, we’ll change my official title to god of the winds. Then, about salary and staff—"
“Sir,” Jason said, “we’re not from Olympus.”
“Please don’t piss off the guy who can make the floor disappear,” I whispered.
Aeolus blinked. “But—"
“I’m the son of Zeus, yes,” Jason said, “but we’re not here to negotiate your contract. We’re on a quest and we need your help.”
Aeolus’ expression hardened. “Like last time? Like every hero who comes here? Demigods! It’s always about you, isn’t it ?”
I was certain I was cutting off circulation to Leo’s hand at this point, but he hadn’t even winced.
“Sir, please, I don’t remember last time, but if you helped me once before—"
“I’m always helping! Well, sometimes I’m destroying, but mostly I’m helping, and sometimes I’m asked to do both at the same time! Why, Aeneas, the first of your kind—"
“My kind?” Jason asked. “You mean, demigods?”
“Oh, please!” Aeolus scoffed. “I mean your line of demigods. You know, Aeneas, son of Venus— the only surviving hero of Troy. When the Greeks burned down his city, he escaped to Italy, where he founded the kingdom that would eventually become Rome, blah, blah, blah. That’s what I meant.”
“I don’t get it,” Jason admitted.
Aeolus rolled his eyes. “The point being, I was thrown in the middle of that conflict, too! Juno calls up: ‘Oh, Aeolus, destroy Aeneas’ ships for me. I don’t like him’. Then Neptune says, ‘No, you don’t! That’s my territory. Calm the winds’. Do you think it’s easy juggling requests like that?!”
“No,” Jason said. “I guess not.”
“And don’t get me started on Amelia Earhart! I’m still getting angry calls from Olympus about knocking her out of the sky!”
“We just want information,” Piper said in her most calming voice. “We hear you know everything.”
Aeolus straightened his lapels, looking slightly mollified. “Well… that’s true, of course. For instance, I know that this business here”—he waggled his fingers at the four of us—"this harebrained scheme of Hera’s to bring you all together is likely to end in bloodshed. As for you, Piper McLean, I know your father is in serious trouble.” He held out his hand, and a scrap of paper fluttered into his grasp. It was a photo of pIper with a guy who must’ve been her dad. I’d seen his face on movie posters.
Piper took the photo, her hands shaking. “This— this is from his wallet.”
“Yes,” Aeolus said. “All things lost in the wind eventually come to me. The photo blew away when the Earthborn captured him.”
“The what?” Piper asked.
Aeolus waved aside the question and narrowed his eyes at me. “You’ve lost so many, child. Perhaps this will help ease that pain.”
A piece of off-white fabric, patterned with golden yellow sunflowers, drifted into his hand.
I let go of Leo’s hand and gently took the hijab. “ Al’umu .”
Aeolus moved on, looking at Leo. “Now, you, son of Hephaestus… yes, I see your future.” Another paper fell into the wind god’s hands— an old tattered drawing done in crayons. Leo took it as if it might be coated in poison.
“Leo?” Jason said. “What is it?”
“Something I— I drew when I was a kid.” He folded it quickly and put it in his coat. “It’s… yeah, it’s nothing.”
Aeolus laughed. “Really? Just the key to your success! Now, where were we? Ah, yes, you wanted information. Are you sure about that? Sometimes information can be dangerous.” He smiled at Jason like he was issuing a challenge. Behind him, Mellie shook her head in warning.
“Yeah,” Jason said. “We need to find the lair of Enceladus.”
Aeolus’ smile melted. “The giant? Why would you want to go there? He’s horrible! He doesn’t even watch my program!”
Piper held up her photo. “Aeolus, he’s got my father. We need to rescue him and find out where Hera is being held captive.”
“Now, that’s impossible,” Aeolus said. “Even I can’t see that, and believe me, I’ve tried. There’s a veil of magic over Hera’s location— very strong, impossible to locate.”
“She’s at a place called the Wolf House,” Jason said.
“Hold on!” Aelous put a hand to his forehead and closed his eyes. “I’m getting something! Yes, she’s at a place called the Wolf House! Sadly, I don’t know where that is.” What a—
“Enceladus does,” I persisted. “If you help us find him, we could get the location of the goddess—”
“Yeah,” Leo said, catching on. “And if we save her, she’d be really grateful to you—”
“And Zeus might promote you,” Piper finished.
Aeolus’s eyebrows crept up. “A promotion— and all you want from me is the giant’s location?”
“Well, if you could get us there, too,” Jason amended, “that would be great.”
Mellie clapped her hands in excitement. “Oh, he could do that! He often sends helpful winds—”
“Mellie, quiet!” Aeolus snapped. “I have half a mind to fire you for letting these people in under false pretenses.”
Her face paled. “Yes, sir. Sorry, sir.”
“It wasn’t her fault,” Jason said. “But about that help...” Aelous tilted his head as if he were thinking, and I realized the wind lord was listening to voices in his earpiece.
“Well... Zeus approves,” Aeolus muttered. “He says... he says it would be better if you could avoid saving her until after the weekend, because he has a big party planned— Ow! That’s Aphrodite yelling at him, reminding him that the solstice starts at dawn. She says I should help you. And Hephaestus...yes. Hmm. Very rare they agree on anything.” Their parents are all voicing their agreement. Maybe… “Hold on.” That something bubbled in my stomach.
Jason smiled at us, like we were finally having some good luck. All of their godly parents were standing up for them.
And my dad was a no show. Again.
Back toward the entrance, I heard a loud belch. Coach Hedge waddled in from the lobby, grass all over his face.
Mellie saw him coming across the makeshift floor and caught her breath. “Who is that?”
Jason stifled a cough. “That? That’s just Coach Hedge. Uh, Gleeson Hedge. He’s our...”
“Our guide,” I provided, smirking slightly.
“He’s so goatly,” Mellie murmured.
Behind her, Piper poofed out her cheeks, pretending to vomit. I smacked her arm.
“What’s up, guys?” Hedge trotted over. “Wow, nice place. Oh! Sod squares.”
“Coach, you just ate,” Jason said. “And we’re using the sod as a floor. This is, ah, Mellie—”
“An aura .” Hedge smiled winningly. “Beautiful as a summer breeze.” Mellie blushed.
“Cheesy!” I coughed. Leo stifled a laugh.
“And Aeolus, here, was just about to help us,” Jason said.
“Yes,” the wind lord muttered. “It seems so. You’ll find Enceladus on Mount Diablo.”
“Devil Mountain?” Leo asked. “That doesn’t sound good.”
“I remember that place!” Piper said. “I went there once with my dad. It’s just east of San Francisco Bay.”
“The Bay Area again?” The coach shook his head. “Not good. Not good at all.”
“Now...” Aeolus began to smile. “As to getting you there—”
Suddenly his face went slack. He bent over and tapped his earpiece as if it were malfunctioning. When he straightened again, his eyes were wild. Despite the makeup, he looked like an old man— an old, very frightened man. I stuck mom’s hijab in my pocket and grabbed Leo’s hand. “She hasn’t spoken to me for centuries. I can’t— yes, yes I understand.”
He swallowed, regarding us as if we’d suddenly turned into a giant cockroach. “I’m sorry, son of Jupiter. New orders. You all have to die.”
Mellie squeaked. “But— but, sir! Zeus said to help them! Aphrodite, Hephaestus—”
“Mellie!” Aeolus snapped. “Your job is already on the line. Besides, there are some orders that transcend even the wishes of the gods, especially when it comes to the forces of nature.” Queen Dirt Lady.
“Whose orders?” Jason said. “Zeus will fire you if you don’t help us!”
“I doubt it.” Aeolus flicked his wrist, and far below them, a cell door opened in the pit. I could hear storm spirits screaming out of it, spiraling up toward us, howling for blood. My stomach turned over.
“Even Zeus understands the order of things,” Aeolus said. “And if she is waking— by all the gods— she cannot be denied. Goodbye, heroes. I’m terribly sorry, but I’ll have to make this quick. I’m back on the air in four minutes.”
Jason summoned his sword. Coach Hedge pulled out his club. Mellie yelled, “No!”
She dived at our feet just as the storm spirits hit with hurricane force, blasting the floor to pieces, shredding the carpet samples and marble and linoleum. I let out a shriek and Leo pulled me into his chest. The rubble of the floor that should’ve been lethal projectiles were absorbed by Mellie’s robes that had spread out like a shield taking the brunt of the impact. The six of us fell into the pit, and Aeolus screamed above us, “Mellie, you are so fired!”
“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. The storm spirits were following us down, closing rapidly, bringing with them a cloud of deadly shrapnel.
Jason grabbed Piper’s hand. “Group hug!” Hedge, Leo, Piper, and I tried to huddle together, hanging on to Jason and Mellie as we fell.
“This is NOT GOOD!” Leo yelled.
“NO SHIT, SHERLOCK!” I yelled back.
“Bring it on, gas bags!” Hedge yelled up at the storm spirits. “I’ll pulverize you!”
“He’s magnificent,” Mellie sighed.
“Concentrate?” Jason prompted.
“Right!” she said.
They channeled the wind so our fall became more of a tumble into the nearest open chute. Still, we 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 we could stop.
Mellie’s robes billowed around her. We clung to her desperately, and we began to slow down, but the storm spirits were screaming into the tunnel behind us.
“Can’t— hold— long,” Mellie warned. “Stay together! When the winds hit—”
“You’re doing great, Mellie,” Hedge said. “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 us, the tunnel was turning dark. I felt my 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 new job.” She smiled, and then dissolved, wrapping us in a warm gentle breeze. Leo held me close. And then the real winds hit, shooting us into the sky.
Notes:
Thanks for reading! 💖
Chapter 44: Project Runway
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Summary:
“Everyone check your pockets for more cash,” Piper said.
Leo whistled. “Allowance? Piper, your mom rocks!”
I scoffed. “What pockets?” I dug around anyway— “Holy shit I have pockets.”
Notes:
Drink water!!
This chapter is from Ziya’s POV.
Word Count: 1842
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
“Mother!”
BANG! I shot up in my chair, breathing heavily.
“What?” Hedge demanded. “Fight who? Where?”
“Falling!” Leo grabbed the table. “No— not falling. Where are we?”
I looked around. We were at a table outside a sidewalk cafe. It was a sunny morning, the air brisk but not unpleasant for sitting outside. At the other tables, a mix of bicyclists, business people, and college kids sat chatting and drinking coffee.
The familiar smell of eucalyptus trees lingered in the air. 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.
“Southern California?” I guessed.
Jason blinked, trying to get his bearings. He focused on Piper and made a little choking sound. “What are you wearing?”
I looked over at Piper, who was now dressed in a flowy turquoise dress with black leggings and black leather boots. She also had a silver charm bracelet, and her old snowboarding jacket, which actually went with the outfit pretty well. Her hair had regained the elegant choppiness from Piper’s claiming makeover.
“Oh, wow,” Leo breathed. “Ziya, you…”
“What?” I looked down at myself. I was wearing a long-sleeved white cotton sweater with a sunflower embroidered over my heart, dark wash jeans, and brown combat boots. My remaining three knives were strapped around my waist, acting as a belt, and Wolfsbane was in ring form on my right hand.
Fabric fluttered around my face. I pulled out a knife to look at my reflection. My mother’s hijab was arranged in a side knot, a style she wore often.
“Ziya? Are you okay?” Piper asked.
“Yeah.” I cleared my throat. “Yeah, it’s just... This was my mom’s. She gave it to me before… And I lost it.”
Piper squeezed my hand. “You look beautiful.”
I gave her a watery smile. “Thanks, Birdie. You, too.”
“Aphrodite strikes again, huh?” Leo smiled softly. “I gotta say, you two are gonna be the best dressed warriors on the battlefield.”
I snorted. “You look at yourself recently?”
“What… oh.”
Apparently, all of us had been given a makeover. Leo was wearing pinstriped pants, black leather shoes, a white button-up shirt with suspenders, 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 you look nice,” I said. “Especially the suspenders.” I leaned forward and snapped one of the straps before grabbing his hat.
“Wha— Hey!”
I put it on and posed. “What do you think?”
Leo grinned playfully. “I think you should apologize for twanging my suspenders and give me my dang hat back.”
“Ziya, give him his hat back,” Jason said.
I complied, but stuck my tongue out at him. “Buzzkill.”
I took in his makeover, which was minimal. He was dressed simply in jeans and a clean purple T-shirt, like the one he’d worn at the Grand Canyon. He had new track shoes on, and his hair was freshly trimmed. Venus’ message was clear: This one needs no improvement .
“At least your mom overlooked me,” Jason said.
“A bit lackluster,” Hedge said. The faun was a pastel nightmare. Venus had given him a baggy canary yellow 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.
“Anyway,” Piper said. “How did we get here?”
“Oh, that would be Mellie,” 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?”
“Yes!” I cried. “Oh, I haven’t had a good cup in forever .”
“Coffee!” Hedge’s grin was stained blue from the flower. “I love coffee!”
“Um,” Jason said, “but— money? Our packs?”
I followed Piper’s gaze under the table. Our packs were at our feets, and everything seemed to still be there. Piper reached into her coat pockets and brought out a wad of cash,
“Everyone check your pockets for more cash,” Piper said.
Leo whistled. “Allowance? Piper, your mom rocks!”
I scoffed. “What pockets?” I dug around anyway— “Holy shit I have pockets.” I plopped another wad of cash on the table. “Piper, I have pockets . This is awesome . If we survive, I’m keeping these until the day I die.”
“What’s so great about pockets?” Jason asked.
I blinked at him. “Oh, what it must be like in your tiny, tiny mind,” I said sympathetically. “At least you’re pretty.”
Leo laughed. “Women’s clothes are typically severely lacking in pockets. It’s kind of a big deal if they can actually function.”
“Or exist,” I added. Leo nodded solemnly.
Jason squinted at him. “How do you know that?”
“I grew up with a single mom, followed by about a billion foster families. You pick up on a few things.”
“Waitress!” Hedge called. “Six double espressos, and whatever these guys want. Put it on the girl’s tab.”
~*~
It didn’t take long to figure out where we were. The menus said ‘Cafe Verve, Walnut Creek, CA’. And according to the waitress, it was 9 a.m. on December 21, the winter solstice, which gave us three hours until Enceladus’ deadline.
We didn’t have to wonder where Mount Diablo was, either. We 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. It was probably, no, definitely much bigger up close.
Here we were in California— with sunny skies, mild weather, laid-back people, and a plate of donuts with coffee. And only a few miles away, somewhere on that peaceful mountain, a super powerful, super-evil giant was about to have Piper’s dad for lunch.
Leo pulled something out of his pocket— the old crayon drawing Aeolus had given him. Venus must have thought it was important if she’d magically transferred it to his new outfit.
“What is that?” I asked, taking a bite out of a donut.
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 shook his head. “Not today. He was talking about… later.”
“How can you be sure?” Piper asked.
“Trust me,” Leo said. “Now— what’s our game plan?”
Coach Hedge belched. He’d already had three espressos and a plate of glazed donuts, 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,” he said. “Kill everything except Piper’s dad. Leave.”
“I like that plan,” I said.
“Thank you, General Eisenhower,” Jason grumbled.
“Hey, I’m just saying!”
“Guys,” Piper said. “There’s more you need to know.” Piper told us she’d figured some things out in her dreams— our real enemy: Gaia.
“Gaea?” Leo shook his head, reaching for one of my designated donuts. I smacked his hand. “Ow! Rude. 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.”
“That’s Snow White,” I 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 whistled. “Really?”
Hedge nodded. “This earth lady— she and her old man, the sky, were nasty customers.”
“Ouranos,” Piper said. She glanced up at the blue sky, looking disturbed.
“Right,” Hedge said. “So Ouranos, he’s not the best dad. He throws their first kids, the Elder 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.
Even though I’d heard the story before, I still couldn’t quite process it. I tried to imagine a kid so fucked up, he would kill his own dad just for power. Then I imagined a mom so fucked up, she would convince her son to do it.
“Definitely not Snow White,” Piper decided.
“Nah, Kronos was a bad guy,” Hedge said. “But Gaea is literally the mother of all the 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.”
“But she talked to Ziya and me,” Leo said. “How can she be asleep?”
Hedge brushed crumbs off his canary yellow lapel. He was on his sixth espresso now, and his pupils were the size of quarters. “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 Gaia 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.”
Leo looked warily at Mount Diablo. “So... climbing a mountain. That would be bad.”
“What about any of this isn’t?” I questioned.
Piper looked crestfallen. “Guys, I can’t ask you to do this,” she said. “This is too dangerous.”
“You kidding?” I drained my third latte, slamming the cup on the table and grinning at my friends. “Who’s ready to fuck shit up?”
Leo’s eyes widened. “I think you’ve had enough caffeine.” He moved to take away my last cup, but I snatched it away.
“ My precious… ” I hissed, chugging the drink while Jason, Piper, and Leo looked at me with wide eyes.
Coach Hedge, however, had a look of respect. “I like you, kid,” He said, raising his cup in salute.
“Thank you, Hedge. That means a lot,” I said, holding up my last donut in response.
“Why… Why are you like this,” Piper sighed.
Notes:
Thanks for reading! 💖
Chapter 45: Cardio Sucks
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Summary:
Ziya had this presence that made you look at her, made you want to follow her every word.
Maybe that was just me.
Notes:
HAPPY PRIDE MONTH!!!
This chapter is from Leo's POV.
Word Count: 1700
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
I’d hoped the taxi would take us all the way to the top. No such luck. The cab made lurching, grinding sounds as it climbed the mountain road, and halfway up they found the ranger’s station closed, a chain blocking the way.
“Far as I can go,” the cabbie said. “You sure about this? Gonna be a long walk back, and my car’s acting funny. I can’t wait for you.”
“We’re sure.” I was the first one out. I had a bad feeling about what was wrong with the cab, and when I looked down I saw I 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 I knew different.
The road was hard-packed dirt. No reason at all it should have been soft, but already my shoes were starting to sink. Gaea was messing with us.
While the others got out, I paid the cabbie. I was generous— hell, why not? It was Aphrodite’s money. Plus, I had a haunting feeling like I might never come off this mountain.
“Keep the change,” I said. “And get out of here. Quick.”
The driver didn’t argue. Soon all we 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. I wonder what that’s like.
“That’s Concord,” Jason said, pointing to the north. “Walnut Creek below us. To the south, Danville, past those hills. And that way…” He pointed west, where a ridge of golden hills held back a layer of fog, like the rim of a bowl. “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.”
“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— and Ziya— looked toward the foggy basin with such longing that I 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 that Jason and Ziya were enemies, that their arrival at Camp Half-Blood was a dangerous mistake.
No, that’s ridiculous. Jason and Ziya are our friends.
I tried to move my foot, but my heels were now completely embedded in the dirt. “Hey, guys, let’s keep moving.”
The others noticed the problem.
“Gaea is stronger here,” Hedge grumbled. He popped his hooves free from his shows, then handed them to me. “Keep those for me, Valdez. They’re nice.”
I snorted. “Yes, sir, Coach. Would you like them polished?”
“That’s varsity thinking, Valdez.” Hedge nodded approvingly. “But first, we’d better hike up this mountain while we still can.”
“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, I thought it was a cloud, but it wasn’t. Something was burning.
“Smoke equals fire,” Jason said. “We’d better hurry.”
~*~
The Wilderness School had taken me on several forced marches. I thought I was in good shape. But climbing a mountain when the earth was trying to swallow my feet was like jogging on a flypaper treadmill.
In no time, I had rolled up the sleeves on my shirt, even though the wind was cold and sharp. I wished Aphrodite had given me some walking shorts and more comfortable shoes, but at least the Ray-Bans and hat kept the sun out of my eyes. I slipped my hands into my tool belt and started summoning supplies— gears, a tiny wrench, some strips of bronze. As I walked, I built, not really thinking about it, just fiddling with the pieces.
By the time we neared the crest of the mountain, I was the most fashionable dressed, sweaty, dirty hero ever. My hands were covered in machine grease.
The little object I’d made was like a windup toy— the kind that rattles and walks across a coffee table. I wasn’t sure what it could do, but I slipped it into my tool belt.
I missed my army coat with all its pockets. Even more than that, I missed Festus. A fire-breathing bronze dragon would be pretty great right about now. But I knew Festus wouldn’t be coming back— at least, not in his old form.
I patted the picture in my pocket— the crayon drawing I’d made at the picnic table under the pecan tree when I was five years old. I remembered Tía Callida singing as I worked, how upset I’d been when the winds had snatched the picture away. ‘It isn’t time yet, little hero’ , Tía Callida told me. ‘ 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. My destiny was getting close; but the journey was as frustrating as this stupid mountain. Every time I thought we’d reached the summit, it turned out to be just another ridge with an even higher one behind it.
First things first, survive today. Figure out the crayon drawing of destiny later.
Finally Jason crouched behind a wall of rock. He gestured for everyone else to do the same. I crawled up next to him. Piper and Ziya had to pull Coach Hedge down.
“I don’t want to get my outfit dirty!” Hedge complained.
“Shhh!”
Reluctantly, the satyr knelt.
Just over the ridge where we 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— probably a tree harvester — and a long metal column with an ax blade, like a sideways guillotine— a hydraulic ax.
Why does a giant need construction equipment? Can he even fit in the cab? Enceladus was so large, so horrible, I didn’t want to look at him.
I forced myself anyway.
To start with, he was thirty feet tall— easily as tall as the treetops. He definitely could have seen us behind the 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 were bigger than me. His skin was a dull bronze, 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.
“Okay,” Coach Hedge whispered. “Here’s the plan—"
I 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, masking his face, but Piper didn’t seem to have any doubts. “Dad,” she said.
I swallowed. If only 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 were four fashionably dressed teenaged demigods and a megalomaniac goat.
“There’s five of us,” Hedge whispered urgently. “And only one of him.”
“Did you miss the fact that he’s thirty feet tall?” I asked.
“Okay,” Hedge said. “So you, me, Ziya, and Jason distract him. Piper sneaks around and frees her dad.”
We all looked at Ziya and Jason.
“What?” They chorused.
“I’m not the leader,” Jason said.
“You’ve got the most experience, even if you don’t remember it,” Piper said. “And Ziya’s our designated ‘alpha’.”
“Yeah, I’m not sure how to feel about that wording,” Ziya laughed awkwardly.
We’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, Jason and Ziya were the ones 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.
As for Ziya, she just had this presence that made you look at her, made you want to follow her every word.
Maybe that was just me.
Still, I trusted them with my life.
“I hate to say it,” Ziya sighed, “but Coach Hedge is right. A distraction is Piper’s best chance.”
Not a good chance. Not even a survivable chance. Just the best .
But we couldn’t sit there all day and talk about it. It had to be close to noon— the giant’s deadline— and the ground was still trying to pull us down. My knees had already sunk two inches into the dirt.
I looked over the ridge. Ooh. I pulled out the little toy I’d made on the climb. If I could… if I’m lucky enough .
“Let’s boogie,” I said. “Before I come to my senses.”
Notes:
Thanks for reading! <3
Chapter 46: Febreze—Breathe Happy (Not Sponsored or Affiliated)
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Summary:
“This is why we wanted you alive, my dear. You could have been so useful to us. But as you wish. Earthborn! I will show you Jason.”
Notes:
I was convinced it was spelled Febreeze for the longest time. smh
This chapter is from Leo’s POV.
Word Count: 2183
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
The plan went wrong almost immediately. Piper scrambled along the ridge, trying to keep her head down, while Ziya, Jason, Hedge, and I 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 I could’ve managed. I was thinking more along the lines of, “We are pathetic ants! Don’t kill us!”
Enceladus stopped chanting at the flames. He turned towards us and grinned, revealing fangs like a saber-toothed tiger’s.
“Well,” the giant rumbled. “What a nice surprise.”
That doesn’t sound good. My hand closed on the windup gadget. I stepped sideways, edging my 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,” Ziya said. “Shut up.” She summoned her sword.
Enceladus roared with laughter. “I’ve forgotten how funny satyrs are. When we rule the world, I think I’ll keep your kind around. You can entertain me while I eat all the other mortals.”
“Is that a compliment?” Hedge frowned at me. “I don’t think that was a compliment.”
Enceladus opened his mouth wide, and his teeth began to glow.
“Scatter!” I yelled.
Jason, Ziya, and Hedge dove to the left as the giant blew fire— a furnace blast so hot even Festus would’ve been jealous. I dodged behind the bulldozer, wound up my homemade device, and dropped it into the driver’s seat before running for the tree harvester.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jason and Ziya 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 me sprawling. I blinked, trying to clear the mental fog. Through a haze of grassfire and bitter smoke, I saw Jason and Ziya stagger to their feet on the other side of the clearing. 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 I really didn’t need.
The giant bellowed, “I see you, Piper McLean!” He turned and blew fire at a line of bushes to my 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!”
My gut twisted. This was the moment Piper warned us about. We’d played right into Enceladus’ hands.
The giant must’ve caught my 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?
I could see Piper’s dad more clearly now. He wore a ragged dress shirt and torn slacks. His bare feet were caked with mud. He wasn’t completely unconscious, because he lifted his head and groaned— yep, Tristan McLean, all right. I’d seen that face in enough movies. But he had a nasty cut down the side of his face, and he looked thin and sickly— not heroic at all.
“Dad!” Piper yelled.
Mr. McLean blinked, trying to focus. “Pipes…? Where…”
A chill ran down my spine.
“Or it’s another trap,” Piper said. Her voice sounded broken, like we were heading towards certain doom and it was her fault.
“Pipes, you all right?” I asked.
“Don’t call me that.”
That’s why she didn’t like the nickname.
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 me and her dad.
A small part of me felt betrayed. Do you really have to think about it? “He’ll kill you,” I warned. “Don’t trust him!”
“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. I am clever, and I keep my bargain with you, Piper McLean. It’s part of my plan!”
Ziya and Jason were on their feet now, weapons ready; but before they could act, Enceladus roared— a call so loud it echoed down the valley and was probably heard all the way to San Francisco. Ziya fell to her knees, holding her hands over her ears.
At the edge of the woods, half a dozen ogre-like creatures rose up. I 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 from the clearing, I could smell them. Six guys who never bathed, with six armpits each. I decided if I survived today, I would have to take a three-hour shower just to forget the stench. And get some Febreze.
I stepped toward Piper. “What— what are those?”
Her blade reflected the purple light of the bonfire. “Gegenees.”
“In English?”
“The Earthborn. Six-armed giants who fought Jason— the first Jason.”
“Very good, my dear!” Enceladus sounded delighted. “They used to live in 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,” Enceladus 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!”
“Your name sucks!” Ziya said loudly, still covering one ear.
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 rage, 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.”
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. Earthborn! I will show you Jason.”
My heart sank. But the giant didn’t point to Jason. Or Hedge, or even me. 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!”
~*~
The biggest surprise: one look from Jason, and all four of us knew the game plan. When had that happened, that we could read each other so well?
Jason and Ziya charged Enceladus to play a game of cat-and-mice, while Piper rushed to her father, and I dashed for the tree harvester, which stood between Mr. McLean and the Earthborn.
The Earthborn were fast, but I ran like a storm spirit. I leaped toward the harvester from five feet away and slammed into the driver’s seat. My hands flew across the controls, and the machine responded with unnatural speed— coming to life as if it knew how important this was.
“Ha!” I 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.
The other four ogres stumbled across burning logs and hot coals while I brought the harvester around. I smashed a button, and on the end of the crane arm the wicked rotating blades began to whir.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Piper at the stake, cutting her father free. On the other side of the clearing, Jason and Ziya tag-teamed fighting the giant, taking turns landing a hit before retreating and somehow managing to dodge his massive spear and blasts of fire breath. 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 me, but if my friends got trapped up here—
One of the Earthborn— apparently not the most intelligent one— charged the tree harvester. I 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 my face.
I spit clay out of my mouth and turned the harvester toward the three remaining Earthbron, who backed up quickly.
“Bad vroom-vroom!” one yelled.
“Yeah, that’s right!” I yelled at them. “You want some bad vroom-vroom? Come on!”
Unfortunately, they did. Three ogres with six arms, throwing large, hard rocks at super speed— It’s over. I somehow managed to launch myself in a backward somersault off the harvester half a second before a boulder demolished the driver’s seat. Rocks slammed into the metal. By the time I stumbled to my feet, the harvester looked like a crushed soda can, sinking in the mud.
“DOZER!”
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. My 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 Earhtborn 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 Earthborn charged after her.
I was out of tricks, but I couldn’t let that monster get to Piper. I ran forward, straight through the flames, and grabbed something— anything — from my tool belt.
“Hey, stupid!” I yelled, and threw a screwdriver at the Earthborn.
It didn’t kill the ogre, but it sure got his attention. The screwdriver sank hilt-deep into the Earthbron’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 me. 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. 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.
My heart pounded. I reached into my tool belt, but I couldn’t think of anything that would help. I was supposed to be clever— but I couldn’t craft or build or tinker my way out of this one.
Fine. I’ll go out blaze-of-glory style .
I burst into flames, yelled, “Hephaestus!” and charged at the ogre barehanded.
I 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 useless 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 cornered animal. I’m so glad she’s on our side.
“Nobody hurts my friends,” she said. Oh. She’s talking about me. I smiled. Then she yelled, “Come on!”
The battle wasn’t over. Jason and Ziya were still fighting Enceladus— and it wasn’t going well.
Notes:
Thanks for reading! Remember to hydrate 💖
Chapter 47: Godzilla VS Two Children
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Summary:
The metallic scent of a storm permeated the air. Darkness swallowed the sun.
Notes:
Sorry for posting late, I had work from 1-9 😢
This chapter is from Ziya’s POV.
Word Count: 1464
CW/TW in the end notes because spoilers ✌️😁
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
The battle had started well enough. Instincts kicked in. I could practically feel my teeth sharpen. I felt faster and stronger, like I had against Lycaon. Jason and I silently agreed on a strategy without having to utter a word. Size and strength equaled slowness, so we just had to be quicker— pace ourselves, wear out our opponent, and avoid getting smashed or flame-broiled.
Jason rolled one way, and I the other, away from the giant’s first spear thrust. Jason jabbed Enceladus in the ankle, his javelin managing to pierce the thick dragon hide. Golden ichor— the blood of immortals— trickled down the giant’s foot.
Enceladus bellowed in pain and blasted at him with fire. While the giant tried— and failed— to turn Jason into barbeque, I rolled behind the giant and struck behind his knee.
The battle blurred. Even if I didn’t have dyscalculia, it would have been hard to judge how long the battle went on. I heard combat across the clearing— construction equipment grinding, fire roaring, monsters shouting, and rocks smashing into metal. Leo and Piper were yelling defiantly, which meant they were still alive.
Enceladus’ spear missed me by a hair. Jason and I kept dodging, but the ground stuck to our feet. Gaia was getting stronger, and the giant was getting faster. Enceladus might have been slow, but he wasn’t stupid. He started anticipating our moves, and the attacks were only annoying him, making him more enraged.
“I’m not some minor monster,” Enceladus bellowed. “I am a giant, born to destroy gods! Your little toothpicks can’t kill me.”
I didn’t bother replying. I was already tired. The ground clung to my feet, and I felt like I had hundred-pound weights strapped to my limbs. The air was full of smoke that burned my lungs. Fires roared, stoked by the winds, and the temperature was approaching the heat of an oven. It didn’t hurt, but it wasn’t exactly comfortable either.
Enceladus aimed his next blow at Jason. He raised his javelin to block the giant’s next strike—a big mistake. He managed to deflect the spear, but it grazed his shoulder, nearly dislocating it by the looks of it. He backed up, almost tripping over a burning log.
We had to delay— to keep the giant’s attention fixed on us while our friends dealt with the Earthborn and rescued Piper’s dad. We— I couldn’t fail.
Jason and I retreated, trying to lure the giant to the edge of the clearing. Enceladus could sense our weariness. The giant smiled, baring his 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.”
“What are you talking about?” he asked. Enceladus breathed fire. Jason was moving too slowly. In a split second, I shoved him out of the way of the fire. The flames missed me, but the heat blistered my back. I slammed into the ground, clothes smoldering. I choked on ash and smoke, trying to breathe.
I watched as 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 anticipated the trick. 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. I blinked the spots out of my eyes. Enceladus and Jason were at opposite sides of a perfect cone-shaped pit thirty feet deep. The force of the blast had fused the dirt and rock into a slick glassy surface.
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 over Jason’s chest.
“And now,” Enceladus said, “my first sacrifice to Gaea!”
I staggered to my feet.
Leo yelled, “Heads up!”
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. Piper was running towards Jason. I reached him at the same time.
I checked his pulse. Rest he needs rest. “Get him out of here,” I told Piper. “He needs to rest.”
She stared at me for a moment before moving. “Uh, right.” 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.” Piper started to carry Jason away from the crater and towards where Mr. McLean and Coach Hedge were.
Far behind her, Leo stood over a piece of construction equipment— a long cannon-like thing with a single massive piston, the edge broken clean off.
I looked down into 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 I watched, the giant’s armor mended itself, and the ichor stopped flowing. Even the cuts on his dragon-scale legs, which Jason and I had worked so hard to make, were now just pale scars.
Leo ran up to me and saw the giant, still very much alive. ”Oh, come on ! What is it with this guy? Die, already!”
“My fate is preordained,” Enceladus said. “Giants cannot be killed by gods or heroes.”
“Only by both,” I said. The giant’s grin faltered. “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.
I took a deep breath. This is going to suck . “Leo, if you’ve got rope in that tool belt, get it ready.”
“Wait, hold on. What are you doing?”
“Something incredibly stupid.” I held out my sword. “Hold onto this, will you? I don’t want to lose it.” Leo hesitated, and then nodded firmly, taking the sword. “Father, give me strength,” I murmured, pulling out a knife and leaping at the giant.
“Enceladus!” Piper yelled. “Look behind you!”
It was an obvious trick, but her voice was so compelling, even I bought it. The giant said, “What?” and turned like there was an enormous spider on his back.
I tackled his legs at just the right moment, and the giant lost his balance. Enceladus slammed into the crater and slid to the bottom. While he tried to rise, I shoved my knife into his shoulder and bit down hard on his neck, digging my claws into his skin. Sticky honey filled my mouth. I fought the urge to vomit. When Enceladus struggled to his feet, I was riding his shoulders.
“Get off!” Enceladus screamed. He tried to grab my legs, but he couldn’t get a good hold.
Alright, Dad, whoever you are, Jupiter, Diana, Vulcan, Venus, anyone. I’m begging for help here, and I don’t beg. I don’t care what happens to me. Kill me, I couldn’t care less. Just make sure my friends are safe.
The metallic scent of a storm permeated the air. Darkness swallowed the sun. The giant froze. I ripped out a chunk of his skin and spit it out. I yelled to my friends, “Hit the deck!” Every hair on my arms stood straight up, and tears ran down my cheeks.
CRACK!
~*~
When I opened my eyes, I was standing in an office building. Everything was gray, from the floor, to the light, to the other people waiting in the lobby.
“Do you have a coin for passage?” A man in an expensive Italian suit stood near the entrance of an elevator.
“What?”
The man sighed. “Do you have a coin for passage to the afterlife?” He repeated slowly, as if talking to a small child.
“The afterlife?” I glanced around the room. There were several other shades, similar to those in the elevator, all chattering quietly. “Am I dead?”
“Yes, it would seem so.”
Leo.
“I don’t… I’m not supposed to be here.”
The man raised an eyebrow. “And yet, you are. So, I ask again: do you have a coin for passage?”
Notes:
😃
TW/CW: blood, major character death
Chapter 48: Why Does Everything Hurt?
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Summary:
“We need to get him out of here,” I said.
“Yeah, but how?” Leo said. “He’s in no shape to walk, and frankly, neither are you.”
“Rude.” I glanced up at the helicopter, which was now circling directly overhead. “Can you make us a bullhorn or something? Piper has some talking to do.”
Notes:
Sorry for not updating yesterday. I had a long day (marching band season has finally started!) and promptly Passed the Fuck Out at like, 9:00pm. For your troubles, a double update! Enjoy!
This chapter is from Ziya’s POV.
Word Count: 1702
TW/CW: vomiting, CPR
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
“I don’t think she’s breathing!”
“Try CPR!”
Liquid fire surged through my body. I lurched up, immediately vomiting, half coughing, half screaming.
“You’re okay, you’re okay!” I tried to settle my breathing, focusing on Leo’s voice.
“I died,” I muttered. “I died, I actually died .”
“Hey, hey, deep breaths for me, okay?”
“But I died, I shouldn’t be breathing!”
“It’s called CPR, sweetheart,” Leo said softly. “You’re fine.”
“I’m… I’m fine,” I repeated. “Jason… Where is he?”
“Right here.” Jason said next to me. “I had to give you a little shock to get your heart going. You feeling all right?”
“All things considered,” I muttered. I took a deep breath, ribs aching.
Piper and Leo tried to help me stand, but my knees buckled almost immediately. “Woah! I’ve got you,” Leo said, wrapping an arm around my waist. “Is this okay? Anything hurt?”
“My ribs.”
“Crap, sorry.” Leo winced.
“No no no, that’s good,” I said. “That means you did it right.”
“Oh, okay. Good, that’s good.”
The ground stopped pulling at our feet. For now, Gaia was gone. The mountainside was on fire. Smoke billowed hundreds of feet into the air. I spotted a helicopter— maybe firefighters or reporters— coming toward us. It had begun to rain, the lightning bolt from Jupiter setting off the atmosphere.
All around us was carnage. The Earthborn had melted into piles of clay, leaving behind only their rock missiles and some nasty bit of loincloth, but I figured they would reform 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 blanked and looked around him at the battle scene. “Did I do this?”
Before anyone could reply, Hedge picked up his club and shakily got to his feet. “Yeah, you wanted some hoof? I gave you some hoof, cupcakes! Who’s the goat, huh?” He did a little dance, kicking rocks and making what were probably rude faun gestures at the piles of clay.
Leo cracked a smile, and I couldn’t help it— I started to laugh. It probably sounded a little hysterical, but it was such a relief to be alive, I didn’t care, even with ribs that were probably cracked.
Then a man stood up across the clearing. Tristan McLean staggered forward. His eyes were hollow, shell-shocked, 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. He had too many memories, too much trauma. His mind couldn’t handle it. He was coming apart.
“We need to get him out of here,” I said.
“Yeah, but how?” Leo said. “He’s in no shape to walk, and frankly, neither are you.”
“Rude.” I glanced up at the helicopter, which was now circling directly overhead. “Can you make us a bullhorn or something? Piper has some talking to do.”
~*~
Borrowing the helicopter was easy. Getting Mr. McLean 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 us to the Oakland Airport, she readily agreed.
“No,” her dad muttered, as she and Jason picked him up off the ground. “Piper, what— there were monsters— there were monsters—"
Coach Hedge gathered our supplies. Fortunately, Hedge had put his pants and shoes back on, so Piper didn’t have to explain the goat legs.
“It’ll be okay, Dad,” she said soothingly. “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,” I suggested. “Or heat exhaustion.”
“We should get him to a hospital,” the pilot said.
“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.”
Leo helped me into the helicopter, and we finally got Mr. McLean on board, and the helicopter took off.
Leo held my hand as my flying anxiety kicked in.
The pilot kept getting questions over her radio, asking her where she was going, but she ignored them. The copter 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 he’d fall. “It’s you? They told me— they told me you would die. They said… horrible things would happen.”
“It’s me, Dad. 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, Tsul’kälû, 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.
Help him. You can help him. How? What can I do? Help him you can help him
The others 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. Gleeson chewed on the stub of his carnation, and for once the faun didn’t look in the mood to yell or boast.
After all, 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. But now it was broken.
“I didn’t know about mom,” Piper told him. “Not until you were taken. When we f0und out where you were, we came right away. My friends helped me. No one will hurt you again.”
Help him you can help him I need to know what to do. Tell me what to do. Images filled my mind.
Mr. McLean 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.”
Help him you can help him
Piper held her dad’s hand and started talking about our adventures. He seemed to relax as she talked, but he didn’t smile. I wasn’t sure if he could even hear her.
As we passed over the hills into the East Bay, Jason tensed. He leaned so far out the doorway, I thought he might fall out.
He pointed. “What is that?”
Piper looked down. “Where?”
“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. “She says it’s Highway 24. That’s the Caldecott Tunnel. Why?”
Jason stared intently, but said nothing. It disappeared from view as we 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 tracing his cheek. “I live in a world of monsters.”
Help him you can help him
I squeezed Leo’s hand and stood up shakily. “Piper? I think I can help.”
She looked up. “What do you mean?”
I hesitated. “I’m not sure, exactly. Can I… Can I try something?” She nodded. I sat next to them. “Hi, Mr. McLean? My name is Ziya. I’m one of Piper’s friends.”
He nodded vacantly. “I remember her talking about you. One of Piper’s friends.”
“That’s right. Can I hold your hands?” He didn’t seem to hear me. I gently took his hands into mine.
Sunlight began to filter through the clouds and into the copter. Warmth settled around me. I closed my eyes.
Focus, little flower. Concentrate on forming a connection. Then, the healing can begin.
A slight pressure settled on my ears, and the world went quiet. Thanks for that, whoever put on my headphones.
I concentrated on my own heartbeat, getting it to slow down.
I felt rather than heard another heartbeat, slow but erratic. I began to focus on it. The heartbeat grew louder. I followed the pump of blood up, up, and—
There.
~*~
I stood in a grassy field. The sky was blotted out with dark storm clouds, washing everything in gray. Doors stood in two parallel lines, like a hallway without walls. Several of the doors stood open.
The one closest to me was the battle we just escaped. From Mr. McLean’s perspective, everything was that much more terrifying. Everything was hazy, and the visages of the Earthborn and even Enceladus were like a fractured mirror. Parts of them looked as they should, and the others the Mist’s attempt at covering up the truth.
Wind blew through the field, and something on my waist jingled. A ring of keys.
I held it up, and one of the keys lifted toward the door.
Close the door, little flower.
I reached for the knob and closed the door, taking the key and locking the door. I looked down the rows of doors. There were hundreds of open doors. Hundreds of traumatic memories, all over the past few days.
I set to work.
Notes:
Thanks for reading! 💖
Chapter 49: I Don’t Think We Should Let Leo Drive.
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Summary:
It felt like someone had closed their hands around my heart. Pieces were settling into place.
Notes:
Forgot to mention in the last chapter, but I got my first testosterone shot yesterday!!
This chapter is from Ziya’s POV.
Word Count: 1558
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
I locked the last door. The doors shuddered, and the clouds parted. Slowly, color returned to the grass.
How do I leave?
Just as you arrived, little flower. Follow the flow back to his heart, and then to your own.
I walked back to the start of the doors. There was a new one, slightly open. It was Piper telling her dad what had happened over the past few days.
A river flowed past the doors. A boat drifted up and stopped in front of me.
Follow the flow, little flower. Your work here is done.
I climbed into the boat, and the current carried me to a cave, and the light from the field faded. A dull thudding echoed through the space. Still slow, but less erratic. I allowed it to fill my ears.
Gently, another heartbeat drummed. I slowly drifted back to my own heart.
I opened my eyes, let go of Mr. McLean’s hands, and pulled off my headphones. He slowly slumped into a light sleep.
“Dad?”
“He’s fine,” I croaked. My mouth was dry. “He’ll be fine.”
“What did you do?”
“I uh…” I took a deep breath. “I’m not sure exactly. I think I blocked off the memories.”
“I don’t— I don’t understand. What does that mean? Will he not remember anything?”
“I—" My throat closed off. ‘Sorry, I just need a minute.’
I stood and started pacing, twirling a knife between my fingers. I tried to take deep breaths to stave off a shutdown. Oddly, none of my previous ailments— my ribs, my arm, the blisters on my feet— hurt anymore. Curiouser and curiouser.
My heart settled. I put away the knife.
“Your dad’s gonna be fine. I put the memories behind a barrier.”
“So, he won’t remember anything that happened to him?” Piper asked.
“Yes and no. It’ll be detached, like hearing about something awful and imagining it happening to you. He’ll remember that it happened, but he won’t have any feelings toward it. It’ll be like it happened to someone else.”
“That’s a good thing, then?”
“Yes. One day, when, or if, he’s ready to process the barrier will disappear, but until then… He’ll still remember why he’s proud of you, Piper.”
She blinked tears out of her eyes. She stood and hugged me. “Thank you.”
~*~
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.
We unloaded on the tarmac, and everyone looked at Piper.
“What now?” Jason asked.
“First thing,” she said. “I— I have to get my dad home. I’m sorry, guys.”
I tried to not immediately burst into tears.
“Oh,” Leo said. “I mean, absolutely. He needs you right now. We can take it from here.”
“We’ve got this,” I said.
“Pipes, no.” Her dad had been sitting in the helicopter doorway, a blanket around his shoulders. He stumbled to his feet, still a little shaky. “You have a mission. A quest. I can’t—"
“I’ll take care of him,” said Coach Hedge.
Piper stared at him. “You?” she asked.
“I’m a protector,” he said. “That’s my job, not fighting.” He sounded crestfallen before he straightened and set his jaw. “Of course, I’m good at fighting, too.” He glared at us, daring us to argue.
“Yes,” Jason said.
“Terrifying,” Leo agreed.
I nodded solemnly.
The coach grunted. “But I’m a protector, and I can do this. Your dad’s right, Piper. You need to carry on with the quest.”
“But… Dad…”
He held out his arms, and she hugged him.
“Let’s give them a minute,” Jason said, and we took the pilot a few yards down the tarmac. Hedge and the pilot stepped away to call Mr. McLean’s private jet.
“How are you feeling?” Leo asked.
“Fine,” I said. “A little tired. I should probably change my bandages soon. But my ribs don’t hurt anymore.”
“How did you… I mean, what did you even do ?”
“I’m not sure exactly. The little voice told me to—"
“Little voice?” Jason questioned.
“Yeah, he gives me medical information from time to time. Kind of annoying, actually. Anyway, the little voice told me to just follow his heartbeat up to his head and close the memory doors, so…”
They looked at me like I was crazy.
“Okay, so I know it sounds crazy, but I promise I’m not.”
“No, that’s not…" Jason started. “That’s just not a… normal? Is that the right word? Thing for anyone , really.”
It felt like someone had closed their hands around my heart. Pieces were settling into place. Not that fucker.
“Guys,” Piper called.
We walked back over. “I already asked our ranger friend to call up his plane,” Hedge said. “It’s on the way now.”
“Great!” Mr. McLean said. “I’m so sorry, remind me who you are?”
“Dad, this is Gleeson Hedge,” Piper said. “He’s going to be taking care of you for the next few days, okay?”
“Sounds good!”
I squinted. “I might have closed one too many doors,” I muttered.
Piper pulled out a Blackberry from her dad’s pockets. “He’s a little out of it right now. Everything’s on here, though. 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 white jet 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.
“What about me?” I asked.
“I already know you will. No reason to give you some extra incentive.”
I snorted. “Thanks, Hedge.”
Piper gave the old faun 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. I figured she’d probably seen stranger things, working for Tristan McLean.
When the plane was heading down the runway, Piper started to cry. I hugged her while Jason rubbed her back and Leo stood uncomfortably nearby, pulling Kleenex out of his tool belt.
“Your dad’s in good hands,” Jason said. “You did amazing.”
She sobbed into my sweater. She allowed herself to be held for a few deep breaths before she pulled away.
“Thank you, guys,” Piper said. “I—"
I smiled in understanding.
Then, right next to Jason, the air began to shimmer. At first, I thought it was the heat off the tarmac, or maybe gas fumes from the helicopter, but I’d seen something like this before in Medea’s fountain. It was an Iris 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 I 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. Thalia’s expression quickly dampened any hope that started to flourish.
“Not yet,” she 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?”
Jason looked like he’d been shot. He tottered, his face pale, and the Iris message disappeared.
“Bro, 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?”
“I don’t mind,” the pilot agreed.
“We can’t take a mortal into battle,” Jason said. “It’s too dangerous.” He turned to Leo. “Do you think you could fly this thing?”
“Uh…” His expression didn’t exactly reassure me. 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.”
Piper smiled 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. Oh my god, he looks like a maniac. Why is that hot . “Hop in, kids. Uncle Leo’s gonna take you for a ride.”
Notes:
Thanks for reading! 💖💖
Chapter 50: I Don’t Think I Should Drive.
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Summary:
“Hey, don’t worry,” Ziya said. “Piper, you're one of the strongest, most powerful people I’ve ever met. You can trust yourself. For what it’s worth, you can trust me and Leo, too.”
Chapter Text
Fly a helicopter? Sure, why not. I’d done plenty of crazier/scarier things that week.
Like give Ziya CPR.
The sun was going down as we flew north over the Richmond Bridge, and I 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, I went back and forth between confidence and panic. If I didn’t think about it, I found myself automatically flipping the right switches, checking the altimeter, easing back on the stick, and flying straight ahead. If I allowed myself to consider what I was doing, I started freaking out. I imagined Aunt Rosa yelling at me in Spanish, telling me I was a delinquent lunatic who was going to crash and burn. Part of me suspected she was right.
“Everything going okay?” Ziya asked from the copilot’s seat. She sounded a lot more nervous than I was.
Come on, Leo. Brave face.
“Aces,” I said. “So what’s the Wolf House?”
Jason knelt between our seats. “An abandoned mansion in the Sonoma Valley. A demigod built it— Jack London.”
I couldn’t place the name. “He an actor?”
“Writer,” Piper said from behind Ziya’s chair. “Adventure stuff, right? Call of the Wild ? White Fang ?”
“What is it with you and random history facts?” Ziya teased.
“Yeah,” Jason said, answering Piper. “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?” I guessed.
“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 was a demigod.”
The bay slipped behind us, and the helicopter continued north. Ahead of us, yellow hills rolled out to the horizon and beyond.
“So Jack London went to Camp Half-Blood,” I guessed.
“No,” Jason said. “No, he didn’t.”
“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.”
“So,” Piper said, “how do you know all this?”
A shadow crossed Jason’s face. “I started my journey there, too,” he said. “It’s a powerful place for demigods, a dangerous place. If Gaia 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.”
I kept my hand on the joystick, guiding the chopper at full speed— racing toward the north. There was some weather ahead— a spot of darkness like a cloudbank or a storm, right where we were going.
Piper’s dad had called me a hero earlier. And I couldn’t believe some of the things I’d done— smacking around cyclopes, disarming exploding doorbells, battling six-armed ogres with construction equipment. They seemed like they had happened to another person, the way Ziya had described Mr. McLean’s modified memories. I was just Leo Valdez, an orphaned kid from Houston. I’d spent my life running away, and part of me still wanted to run. What was I thinking, flying toward a cursed mansion to fight more evil monsters?
Mom’s voice echoed in my head: ‘ Nothing is unfixable.’
Except the fact that you’re gone forever.
Seeing Piper and her dad back together had really driven that home. Even if I survived this quest and saved Hera, I wouldn’t have any happy reunions. I wouldn’t be going back to a loving family. I wouldn’t see my mom.
The helicopter shuddered. Metal creaked, and I could almost imagine the tapping was Morse code: Not the end. Not the end.
Ziya gasped and grabbed my arm. I leveled out the chopper, and the creaking stopped. “Sorry,” she whispered, and withdrew her hand.
“It’s okay.” She doesn’t have any of those things either. I reached back over, tracing circles on the back of Ziya’s hand.
I let my instincts take over— just like flying the helicopter. If I thought about the quest too much, or what might happen afterward, I’d panic. The trick was not to think— just get through it.
“Thirty minutes out,” I said, though I wasn’t sure how I 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. Piper, Ziya, and I stayed wide-awake.
After a few minutes of awkward silence, I said, “Your dad’ll be fine. Nobody’s gonna mess with him with that crazy goat around.”
Piper took Jason’s spot between the seats. I 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 was 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.”
I nodded. I looked out at the sky, the bank of dark clouds gave me goosebumps.
“He’s starting to remember,” Ziya said. “That’s gotta make him a little edgy.”
“But what if… what if he’s a different person?”
I had the same thought. If the Mist could affect our memories, could Jason’s whole personality be an illusion, too? If our friend wasn’t our friend, and we 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,” I decided. “After all we’ve been through? I can’t see it. We’re a team. Jason can handle it.”
Piper smoothed her blue dress, which was tattered and burned from the fight on Mount Diablo. “I hope you’re right. I need him…” She cleared her throat. “I mean I need to trust him…”
Ziya and I exchanged a look. “I know,” I said. After seeing her dad break down, I understood Piper couldn’t afford to lose Jason as well. She’d just watched Tristan McLean, her cool, suave, movie star dad reduced to near insanity. I could barely stand to watch that, but for Piper — I couldn’t even imagine. I 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,” Ziya said. “Piper, you're one of the strongest, most powerful people I’ve ever met. You can trust yourself. For what it’s worth, you can trust me and Leo, too.”
The helicopter dipped in a wind shear, and I almost jumped out of my skin. “FUCK!” I quickly righted the chopper.
Piper laughed nervously. “Trust Leo, huh?”
Ziya gasped and slowly turned to look at me. She shook my hand excitedly. “You just…!” My eyes widened. “Piper! Piper, I’ve won!” She crowed, sharp teeth flashing. “Leo, you owe me twenty bucks! I told you, I told you !”
I couldn’t stop the smile from spreading. “All right, I get it. You were right.”
“Wait, I’m sorry, what was that?” She held a hand up to her ear.
“ You were right. ”
“That’s right!” She did a little happy dance.
“Ah, shut up, already.” Warmth flooded my torso. I allowed myself to wonder what it would be like to actually kiss her.
And then we hit the storm clouds.
Notes:
Remember to hydrate!
Chapter 51: Shit Hits the Fan
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Summary:
“Without me, you do not have the power,” Hera said. “You might as well try to destroy a mountain.”
“Already did that once today,” Ziya said.
“And nearly died in the process,” I reminded her.
Notes:
In honor of marching band season: GULP GULP WATER!
This chapter is from Leo’s POV.
Word Count: 2265
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
At first, it seemed like rocks were pelting the windshield. Then I realized it was sleet. Frost built up around the edges of the glass, and slushy waves of ice blotted out my view.
“An ice storm?” Piper shouted over the engine and the wind. “Is it supposed to be this cold in Sonoma?”
I wasn’t sure, but something about the storm seemed conscious, malevolent— like it was intentionally slamming us.
Jason woke up quickly. He crawled forward, grabbing the seats for balance. “We’ve got to be getting close.”
I 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. 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 we started to lose altitude.
Below us, the ground was a dark quilt of trees and fog. The ridge of a hill loomed in front of us, and I yanked the stick, just clearing the treetops.
“There!” Jason shouted.
A small valley opened up before us, with the murky shape of a building in the middle. I aimed the helicopter straight for it. All around us were flashes of light that were reminiscient of the tracer fire at Midas’ compound. Trees cracked and exploded at the edges of the clearing. Shapes moved through the mist. Combat seemed to be everywhere.
I set down the helicopter in an icy field about fifty yards from the house and killed the engine. I was about to relax when I heard a whistling sound and saw a dark shape hurtling toward us out of the mist.
“Out!” I screamed.
We leaped from the helicopter and barely cleared the rotors before a massive BOOM shook the ground, knocking me off my feet and splattering ice all over me.
I 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?” Ziya ran up to me, Jason and Piper at her side. They all looked fine except for being speckled with snow and mud.
“Yeah.” I 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 us loomed Jack London’s dream home— a massive ruin of red and gray stones and rough-hewn timber beams. I 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. I 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 us, 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!” I yelled. We 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,” I said.
Thalia ignored me, as usual. She hugged Jason and nodded to Piper and Ziya. “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.” Ziya cursed and 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,” I reminded her. “Maybe he’s helping Gaea again.”
“I don’t know,” Thalia said. “But the monsters keep reforming 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.
We followed her into the ruined mansion.
~*~
Jason stepped over the threshold and immediately collapsed.
“Hey!” I caught him. “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 mother 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,” I suggested. “Show us the goddess.”
Once inside, Jason seemed to get his bearings. The house was built in a giant ‘U’, and Jaosn led us 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 that looked like a stone body bag. Underneath the mass of fused tendrils I 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. A chill crawled down my spine. It wasn’t stuck— it was 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 I doubted I could’ve gotten my arm through. Still, I could see inside. And in the center of the cage stood Tía Callida.
She looked exactly as I 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, my good old psychotic babysitter.
I dropped into the pool and approached the cage. “ Hola, Tía . 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 me 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.”
“Thalia Grace,” the goddess said. “When I 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. “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.”
Thalia clenched her jaw. “Fine. For you, Jason. But if you ask me, she isn’t worth it.”
Thalia turned, leaped out of the pool, and stormed from the building.
I 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. Has it gotten taller?
“That, Jason,” Hera said, “is the king of the giants being reborn.”
“Gross,” Ziya said, nose wrinkling in disgust.
“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,” I guessed. “Or fertilizer.”
Ziya snorted. The goddess glared at me, but I didn’t care. This old lady had been making my life miserable since I was a baby. I totally had the right to rag on her.
“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.”
I 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.”
“Already did that once today,” Ziya said.
“And nearly died in the process,” I reminded her.
Ziya lay at the edge of the crater, her
corpse
body smoking and charred. My throat constricted and my brain swam through a fog. She wasn’t breathing, and she didn’t have a pulse. Her hijab fluttered from the hot air of the fires.
“Just hurry up and let me out!” Hera demanded.
Jason scratched his head. “Leo, can you do it?”
“I don’t know.” I took a deep breath, trying 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. I 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.” I shrugged.
Hera gave me 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.”
“If you saw this coming, why didn’t you try to stop it from happening?” Ziya asked. Hera glared at her.
“Sometimes, dear girl, it is impossible to avoid a future already seen.”
A shiver ran up my spine.
“But it’s not a machine. It’s like Gaea thrust her hand out of the ground and…” I stopped. “Hold on... I 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, my lips cracked and my breath froze in my lungs. Frost coated the walls of the Wolf House.
Venti rushed 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. Ziya summoned her sword and pulled out one of her two remaining knives. I reached into my tool belt and brought out a hammer.
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 us 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 I pulled him back. The ground around Thalia’s statue was already webbed with ice. It was likely that if Jason touched her, he might freeze too.
“Who did this?” Jason yelled. His body crackled with electricity. “I’ll kill you myself!”
From somewhere behind the monsters, I 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 us with deep brown eyes, cold and calculating. Oh, shit.
“ Bon soir, mes amis, ” said Khione, the goddess of snow. She gave me a frosty smile. “Alas, son of Hephaestus, you say you need time? I’m afraid time is one tool you do not have.”
Notes:
Thanks for reading!!
Chapter 52: Snow Miser Jr Returns
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Summary:
I ran up to Leo, who turned off the flames just in time to catch me in a hug. “That was freaking awesome. You were freaking awesome.”
“Thanks. You were pretty awesome, too,” he laughed, grinning. His eyes darted between mine.
Notes:
Went to the pride festival in Cincinnati today with my aunt and we found fidget rings!!
This chapter is from Ziya’s POV.
Word Count: 2054
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Khione smiled, her dark eyes glittering, as a dagger of ice grew in her hand.
“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.
Khione’s eyes flickered to me. “You killed their king, you know. Lycaon’s since returned, but he’s off in a cave somewhere, no doubt licking his wounds. But his minions have joined us to take revenge for their master. They will enjoy ripping you apart, Lycegenes.”
“Let them try,” I snarled. “I will slaughter them just as before.”
“I doubt it,” Khione simpered. She smiled cruelly. “And soon Porphyrion will arise,” she continued, “and we shall rule the world.”
“Traitor!” Hera shouted. “You meddlesome, D-list goddess! You aren’t worthy to pour my wine, much less rule the world.”
Khione sighed. “Tiresome as ever, Queen Hera. I’ve been wanting to shut you up for millenia.” She waved her hand, and ice encased the prison, sealing in the spaces between the earthen tendrils. “That’s better. 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 they want 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. And your friend, Ziya, of course. I imagine it’s quite haunting to hear the voice of your dead lover.” I flinched. “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, and grinned at me. “Did you enjoy hearing from Emily?”
My throat constricted. “The voice in the tunnel.”
She smiled cruelly. “Once you made it past Omaha, I decided to ask Lycaon to track you down so Jason and Ziya could die here, at the Wolf House.” Khione smiled at us. “You see, Jason, Ziya, 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.”
The pieces clicked into place. ‘ Your line of demigods ’.
“You’ll set demigods against demigods,” I 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 destroying 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 three were to die. Reject that ridiculous destiny the Fates have given you. Live and be my champion, instead. Your skills would be quite useful.”
My heart dropped.
Leo looked stunned. He glanced behind him, like Khione might be talking to somebody else. Then Leo laughed so hard, he doubled over. “Yeah, join you. Right . Until you get bored 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 us, but Leo simply held up his hand. A wall of fire roared to life in front of us, and the snow dissolved in a steamy cloud.
Leo grinned maniacally. “See, lady, that’s what happens to snow in Texas. It. Fucking. Melts.”
Khione hissed. “Enough of this. Hera is failing. Porphyrion is rising. Kill the demigods. Let them be our king’s first meal!”
~*~
A swarm of fangs and furs descended on me. The wolves decided to make good on their promise. It was a little unfortunate that they wouldn’t get very far. Any wolves that got within reach turned to inky shadows with a blur of silver.
Through the chaos, I caught glimpses of my friends. Piper was surrounded by Earthborn, but she seemed to be holding her own. She looked so impressive 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.
Jason had managed to take control of one of the venti , and was currently riding the chaotic horse, swinging a plank of wood left and right, giving several of the rogue wolves concussions and no doubt giving himself splinters.
Leo had taken on Khione herself. While fighting a goddess should’ve been suicide, Leo was the right man for the job. 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 orange and yellow 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.
Leo was the only reason we were still alive. His fiery aura was heating up the whole courtyard, countering Khione’s winter magic. Without him, we 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.
Enemy numbers were dwindling. Piles of wet clay were everywhere, and the wolves were either shadow puddles or unconscious. I stabbed the last wolf and turned just in time to see 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.
I ran up to Leo, who turned off the flames just in time to catch me in a hug. “That was freaking awesome. You were freaking awesome.”
“Thanks. You were pretty awesome, too,” he laughed, grinning. His eyes darted between mine.
I heard a cracking sound behind me. 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!”
We jumped into the pool and ran to the spire. Leo frowned. “Uh, Tía Callida, are you getting shorter?”
“No, you dolt! The earth is claiming me. Hurry!” Not only was Juno sinking, the ground was rising around her like water in a tank. Liquid rock had already covered her shins. “The giant wakes!” she 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.
Thankfully, 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, I had no idea, nor would I question it. Then Leo looked at the cord and grunted in frustration. “I don’t have anywhere to plug it in!”
The spirit horse Jason had ‘befriended’ jumped into the pit and whinnied. “Really?” Jason asked. The horse 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!”
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.
I thought Enceladus would be the scariest thing I’d ever see. How wrong I was. Poprhyrion was even taller than Enceladus, and even more buff. He didn’t radiate heat, or show any signs of breathing fire, but there was something more terrible about him— a kind of strength, like magnets, as if the giant were so huge and dense he had his own gravitational field.
Like Enceladus, the giant king awas 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 oclor of lima beans. His hair was green like 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!”
For a moment, I thought I’d died a second time.
“Leo,” Jason said.
“Huh?” Leo’s mouth was wide open. Piper seemed dazed.
“You guys keep working,” Jason said. “Get Hera free. Ziya, you with me?”
“What the hell, why not? I’ve already died once today.”
“What are you going to do?” Piper asked. “You two can’t seriously—”
“Entertain a giant? We’ve done it before,” I said. “See y’all in hell!”
Notes:
Thanks for reading!! 💖
Chapter 53: Godzilla, King of Monsters
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Summary:
I cracked my neck. “I am the daughter of Aamira Rayyan! I slew Lycaon, supposed king of wolves, with a grin on my face, and claimed the title of Lycegenes! I faced Death to destroy Enceladus and returned solely for the pleasure of killing you!”
Notes:
I got a diamond art of rainbow trees for Christmas and I just finished it yesterday!!!
This chapter is from Ziya’s POV.
Word Count: 1488
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
We are so fucked.
“Excellent!” the giant roared as we approached. “Appetizers! Who are you two— Hermes? Ares? Athena? Artemis?”
“I’m Jason Grace, son of Jupiter.”
“Ziya Rayyan, daughter of Aamira Rayyan,” I said with a grin. “Here to kick your ass back to Tartarus.”
Leo’s circular saw whirred, and Piper talked to the cage in soothing tones, trying to keep the fear out of her voice.
Those white eyes fixed onto me. “You do not introduce yourself with your father’s title?”
“I didn’t need him the first fifteen years of my life, I don’t need him now,” I growled.
Porphyrion threw back his head and laughed. “I like your, how do you say, spunk . Claiming strength in the face of abandonment by your own father.” My face burned, my smile and resolve flickered like candles. “So, Zeus, you sacrifice these children to me? The gesture is appreciated, but it will not save you.”
The sky didn’t even rumble. No help from above. We were on our own.
Jason dropped his makeshift club. “If you knew who we were,” Jason yelled up at the giant, “you’d be worried about us, not our fathers. I hope you enjoyed your two and a half minutes of rebirth, giant, because we’re 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 opponents. “So... we’ll start by boasting, will we? Just like old times! Very well, demigods. 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!” Juno 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 provided us with many fine servants. Our armies will shake the earth— and we will destroy you at the roots.”
“You wouldn’t dare,” Juno said, but she was weakening. I could hear it in her voice. Piper kept whispering to the cage, and Leo kept sawing, but the earth was still rising inside Juno’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 Porphyrion’s attention back on us. “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, boy, 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 pair of grease spots!”
He rose to his full height and held out his hand. A giant spear shot up 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,” Juno 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, spawn of Aamira !” He said her name mockingly, and a glowering rage built in my stomach— oh. So that’s what the ‘something’ is. “I have finished my boasting. Now it’s your turn. What were you saying about destroying me?”
I looked at the ring of monsters, waiting impatiently for their master’s order to tear us 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.
I cracked my neck. “I am the daughter of Aamira Rayyan! I slew Lycaon, supposed king of wolves, with a grin on my face, and claimed the title of Lycegenes! I faced Death to destroy Enceladus and returned solely for the pleasure of killing you!” My fingernails grew into claws, and fangs filled my mouth. My muscles tensed, ready to pounce.
“I’m the son of Jupiter!” Jason 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 Twelfth Legion.” He held out his arm, showing the tattoo of the eagle and SPQR, and 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 we’re going to destroy you, Porphyrion, and feed you to your own wolves.”
“Wow, guys,” Leo muttered. “You been eating red meat?”
Jason and I launched ourselves at the giant, determined to tear him apart.
The idea of fighting a giant immortal, either bare handed or with a toothpick of a sword, 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. I launched my remaining two knives at his face to keep his attention off of Jason. The giant howled as they sunk into his eyes. Golden ichor poured down his face.
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 Jason’s sword, throwing him free. He rolled as he hit the ground. The giant staggered. His hair was on fire, and the side of his face was blackened from lightning. The sword had splintered in his ear. More 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 us. I let out a barking howl, and the wolves immediately backed off. The ogres looked uncertainly at Porphyrion.
“No!” Porphyrion yelled. He regained his balance and glared in our direction. “I will kill them myself.”
The giant raised his spear and it began to glow. “You want to play with lightning, child? You forget. I am the bane of Zeus. I was created to destroy him, which means I know exactly what will kill you.”
I readied my sword as the giant raised his spear, even though I knew there was no way I could deflect this strike. But I could keep him busy while Leo and Piper got away.
“GOT IT!”
“Sleep!” Piper said, so forcefully that the nearest wolves fell to the ground and began snoring.
The stone and wood cage crumbled. Leo had sawed through the base of the thickest tendril and apparently cut off the cage’s connection to Gaia. The tendrils turned to dust. The mud around Juno disintegrated. The goddess grew in size, glowing with power.
“Yes!” 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 revenge!”
Porphyrion backed away. He said nothing, but sent Jason one last look of hatred. His message was clear: Another time . 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. Juno glowed brighter. She shouted, “Cover your eyes, my heroes!” I crouched down, covering my head. I felt Juno go supernova, exploding in a ring of force that vaporized every monster instantly.
When I looked up, the first thing I saw was Jason’s smoking corpse.
Notes:
HYDRATE! Thanks for reading! 💖
Chapter 54: Going Home
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Summary:
She pulled two silver cards from her parka and tucked one into the pocket of Piper’s snowboarding jacket. “You ever want to be a Hunter, call me. We could use you.” Thalia held out the other to me. “Same goes to you, Ziya.”
I took it, barely glancing it over before putting it in my pocket. “Thanks. I’ll think about it.”
Notes:
I can’t believe we’re over 2000 hits 👀
This chapter is from Ziya’s POV.
Word Count: 1696
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
“Jason!” Piper kept calling his name as she held him, though he’d been unconscious for two minutes now. His body still steamed, his eyes rolled back in his head. I wasn’t even sure if he was breathing. It felt like I couldn’t breathe.
Is this how they felt when they found me?
“It’s no use, child.” Juno stood over them in her simple black robes and shawl. The aftereffects of her nuclear blast were blatant. 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!” she growled.
Juno’s eyes flickered with power. “I did warn him. I would never intentionally hurt the boy. He was to be my champion. I told him to close his eyes before I revealed my true form.”
What do I do? How do I save him? I thought to the little voice. There was no response.
“Um…” Leo frowned. “True form is bad, right? So why did you do it?”
“I unleashed my power to help you, fool!” Juno 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 blinked back tears. “That’s what our prophecy meant. ‘Death unleashed through Hera’s rage’. Come on, you’re a goddess. Do some voodoo magic on him! Bring him back!”
“He’s breathing!” Piper announced.
“Impossible,” Juno said. “I wish it were true, child, but no mortal has ever—”
“Jason,” Piper called, putting every bit of her willpower into his name. “Listen to me. You can do this. Come back. You’re going to be fine.” Nothing happened.
“Healing is not a power of Aphrodite,” Juno said regretfully. “Even I cannot fix this, girl. His mortal spirit—”
“Jason,” Piper said again. “ Wake up .”
He gasped, and his eyes flew open. For a moment they were full of light— a glowing pure gold. Then the light faded, and his eyes were normal again. “What— what happened?” I let out a breath of relief.
“Impossible!” Juno said.
Piper wrapped him in a hug until he groaned, “Crushing me!”
“Sorry,” she said, laughing while wiping away tears.
Thalia gripped his 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—”
“Stop it, you two,” Piper said. Amazingly, they both shut up. Piper helped Jason to his feet and gave him the last of the nectar from our supplies. “Now…” Piper faced Thalia and Juno. “Hera— Your Majesty— we couldn’t have rescued you without the Hunters. And Thalia, you never would’ve seen Jason again— I 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, I wasn’t sure which one of them was going to kill her first.
Finally Thalia grunted. “You’ve got spirit, Piper.” She pulled two silver cards from her parka and tucked one into the pocket of Piper’s snowboarding jacket. “You ever want to be a Hunter, call me. We could use you.” Thalia held out the other to me. “Same goes to you, Ziya.”
I took it, barely glancing it over before putting it in my pocket. “Thanks. I’ll think about it.” I wouldn’t even consider it.
Juno crossed her arms. “Fortunately for this Hunter, you have a point, daughter of Aphrodite.” She assessed Piper, as if seeing her clearly for the first 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 looked like she didn’t know what to say, but Leo stepped in.
“Yeah, I don’t suppose that Porphyrion guy just melted and died, huh?”
“No,” Juno agreed. “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,” I said. “But to where?”
Juno didn’t answer, but a sense of dread washed over me. I remembered what Porphyrion had said about killing the Olympians by pulling up their roots. Greece. I 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 Juno. “You’ll see them there safely? It’s the least you can do.”
“It’s not your place to tell me—”
“Queen Hera,” Piper interjected.
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 Juno. The night sky was clear and starry. The wind rustled through the redwoods.
“Jason, what happened to you here?” Piper 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,” Juno 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,” Juno 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,” I said. “Demigods are left here. We meet the she-wolf goddess, Lupa, the same immortal wolf that raised Romulus and Remus.”
Juno 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.”
“Jason did not go to Camp Half-Blood, no,” she agreed.
“Jason went somewhere else,” I said. “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,” Juno 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,” Juno said. “That is the way of the Fates. You must forge your own path for it to mean anything. Already, you four 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?”
Juno 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 I nearly blacked out. When I could see straight again, I was back at camp, in the dining pavilion, in the middle of dinner. All four of us were standing on the Venus cabin’s table, and Piper had one foot in Drew’s pizza. Sixty campers rose at once, gawking at us in astonishment.
Whatever Juno had done to shoot us across the country, it wasn’t good for my stomach. I could barely control my nausea, but 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.
“Jason?” Chiron trotted forward. No doubt the old centaur had seen thousands of years’ worth of weird shit, but even he looked totally flabbergasted. “What— How—?”
The Venus campers stared up at Piper with their mouths open. “Hi,” she said, casual and slightly breathless. “We’re back.”
Notes:
Thanks for reading!! 💖
Chapter 55: Blueprints
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Summary:
“...Are you actually considering joining the Hunters?”
Notes:
Finally saw Across the Spiderverse!!
This chapter is from Leo’s POV.
Word Count: 1987
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
After throwing up in an offering fire, I didn’t remember much about the rest of the night. We told the story several times over and answered a million questions from the other campers, but finally Chiron saw how tired we were and ordered us to bed.
It felt so good to sleep on a real mattress, in my own private room, and I was so exhausted, I crashed immediately. I even slept through breakfast and lunch.
When I woke up, it was early afternoon, and time to show the others Bunker 9.
The walk through the forest was long; much longer than I remembered with Festus. Then again, he was much larger and could cover more ground.
I kept pulling pipe cleaners out of my belt and putting them back. My hands wanted to do something, but I was too nervous.
Ziya took my hand and swung it between us. I instantly felt more at ease. “Thanks.”
“Of course.” She looked uneasy, like she was waiting for something to happen.
“You good?”
“Hmm? Oh, yeah, I’m fine. I think I’m still on edge after the thing with Enceladus. I could barely sleep last night. To be honest, I was kinda scared I wouldn’t wake up.”
She said it so casually, like it was normal to almost die. Maybe to her, it was.
Thanks for that concerning thought, brain.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have let you—”
“Nope,” Ziya cut me off. “I made a choice, and I paid the price. That was not your fault. I’m just sorry you had to see me… like that.”
“That wasn’t your fault either.”
Ziya stared off into the trees. “We’re both really fucked up, aren’t we?”
I choked on air as I laughed. “Definitely.” Something that sounded like a bear, but probably wasn’t, growled from somewhere in the trees. “Hey, um, I wanted to ask…” I trailed off.
“What?”
“...Are you actually considering joining the Hunters?”
She pulled a face. “What? Of course not. What gave you that idea?”
“When Thalia gave you the card, you said you’d think about it.”
“Oh, yeah. Nah, I was just being polite. That’s not really my thing,” she said, shrugging. “Besides, I’d miss you too much.” She bumped into my side.
I bumped her back. “I’d miss you, too.”
We reached the limestone cliff in the forest, and my heart rate spiked. I let go of Ziya’s hand and turned to the group, smiling nervously. “Here we go.”
I willed my hand to catch fire and set it against the door.
My cabinmates gasped.
“Leo!” Nyssa cried. “You’re a fire user!”
“Yeah, I know,” I said.
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 jaws dropped. My flaming hand seemed insignificant now. Even Piper and Jason looked stunned, and they’d seen enough amazing things lately. Only Ziya (for obvious reasons) and Chiron didn’t look surprised. The centaur knit his bushy eyebrows and stroked his beard, as if we were about to walk through a minefield.
That only made me more nervous, but I couldn’t change my mind now. My instincts told me I was meant to share this place— at least with the Hephaestus cabin— and I couldn’t hide it from Chiron or two of my best friends.
Ziya squeezed my hand reassuringly.
“Welcome to Bunker Nine,” I said, as confidently as I could. “C’mon in.”
The group was silent as we toured the facility. Everything was just as Ziya and I had left it— giant machines, worktable, old maps and schematics. Only one thing had changed. Festus’ head was sitting on the central table, still battered and scorched from his final crash in Omaha.
I went over to it, a bitter taste in my mouth, and stroked the dragon’s forehead. “I’m sorry, Festus. But I won’t forget you.”
Jason put a hand on my shoulder. “Hephaestus brought it here for you?” I nodded. “But you can’t repair him.”
“No way,” I scoffed. “But his head is going to be reused. Festus will be going with us.”
Piper came over and frowned. “What do you mean?”
Before I 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,” she said. “There are more amazing ideas here than in Daedalus’ workshop. It would take a century just to prototype them all.”
“Who built this place?” Jake asked. “And why?”
Chiron stayed silent. I focused on the wall map I’d seen during the first visit. It showed Camp Half-Blood with a line of triremes in the Sound, catapults mounted in the hills around the valley, and spot marked for traps, trenches, and ambush sites.
“It’s a wartime command center,” I 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?” We all turned to Chiron.
The centuar’s tail swished fretfully. “This camp has been attacked many times,” he admitted. “That map is from the last Civil War.” The 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,” I said. “You mean the camp split apart?”
“No,” Ziya spoke up. “He means two different groups. Camp Half-Blood was one side in the war.”
“Who was the other?” I asked hesitantly.
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 was worth the risk to use this place.”
“Hey, look, this place found me,” I said defensively. “It was meant to happen. It’s a good thing.”
“I hope you’re right,” Chiron said.
“I am!” I pulled the old drawing out of my pocket and spread it on the table for everyone to see. “There,” I said proudly. “Aeolus returned that to me. I drew it when I was five. That’s my destiny.” Ziya started bouncing excitedly.
Nyssa frowned. “Leo, it’s a crayon drawing of a boat.”
“No no no, look!” Ziya pointed at the largest schematic on the bulletin board— the blueprint showing a Greek triteme. Slowly, my 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 in my drawing.
“That’s impossible,” Nyssa said. “That blueprint has to be a century old at least.”
“‘Prophecy— Unclear— Flight’,” Jake 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,” I 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,” Ziya said. Everyone turned and looked at the dragon’s head sitting on the table.
“He’s meant to be our masthead,” I 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.”
“The Argo II.” Piper smiled. “After Jason’s ship.”
Jason looked a little uncomfortable, but he nodded. “Leo’s right. That ship is just what we need for our journey.”
“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 four— Jason, Piper, Leo, and Ziya— are among the eight 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,” I said. “The original Mount Olympus. We have to sail to Greece.”
It took a few minutes for that to settle in. Then the other Hephaestus campers started asking questions all at once. ‘Who are the other four demigods?’ ‘How long will it take to build the boat?’ ‘Why doesn’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 I figured Chiron was thinking about his missing student, Percy Jackson, the son of Poseidon. He would’ve been good on this voyage, too.
Jake turned to me. “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 of my cabinmates smiled at me. “It’s official, then. You’re the man.”
For once, I was speechless.
“Wow, you guys actually got him to be quiet!” Ziya teased. “I don’t think anyone has been able to do that in the history of ever .”
I huffed out a laugh. “Well,” I 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!”
Notes:
Thanks for reading! 💖
Chapter 56: The Council
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Summary:
“The Romans grew more and more powerful, worshiping 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. I shrunk in my chair.
Notes:
This chapter is from Ziya’s POV.
Word Count: 1493
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Even though I wasn’t a senior counselor, I was still summoned for the council meeting because I was on the quest.
The council was nothing like I could have imagined. For one thing, it was in the Big House rec room, around a Ping-Pong table, and one of the fauns 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 looking confused. Leo and Piper were sitting next to him, as they both had been promoted to senior counselor (whoo!).
Clarisse, leader of the Mars cabin, had her boots on the table, but nobody seemed to care.
Clovis, the head of the Somnus cabin, was snoring in the corner while Butch was seeing how many pencils he could fit in Clovis’ nostrils.
Travis was holding a lighter under a Ping-Pong ball to see if it would burn, and Will Solace from the Apollo cabin was absently wrapping and unwrapping an Ace bandage around his wrist.
The counselor from the Trivia cabin, Lou Ellen something, was playing ‘got-your-nose’ with Miranda Gardiner from Ceres, except that Lou Ellen really had magically disconnected Miranda’s nose, and Miranda was trying to get it back.
Thalia had yet to show. She’d promised she’d swing by eventually, but Chiron said she often got sidetracked fighting monsters or running quests for Diana, and would probably arrive later than expected.
Rachel Dare 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 me, so she was okay as far as I was concerned.
Annabeth didn’t look so relaxed. She wore armor over her camp clothes, with her knife at her side and her blonde 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. Thank you. Now, as you can see, Jason, Piper, Ziya, 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, Leo, and I chimed in from time to time, filling in the details he forgot or was unconscious for.
It only took a few minutes, but it seemed like longer with everyone watching us. The silence was heavy, and for so many ADHD demigods to sit still listening for that long, I knew the story must have sounded pretty wild. Jason 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, worshiping 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. I shrunk in my chair.
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,” I protested. “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 you think conquered Mount Othrys, the Titans’ base in California?”
“Hold on,” Travis said. “You said Mount Othrys just crumbled when we beat Kronos.”
“Oh, come on! That’s not even remotely believable!” I said.
“No,” Jason agreed. “It didn’t just fall. We destroyed their palace. I defeated the Titan Krios myself.”
Annabeth’s eyes were as stormy as a ventus . I 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 Half-Blood, 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. Eight 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.” That’s not it.
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?”
Annabeth, Jason, and I studied one another, and I knew she had put it together. She saw the dangerous truth.
“Juno said Jason’s coming here was an exchange of leaders,” I 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 showed up. If Jason came to Camp Half-Blood—”
“Exactly,” I agreed. “Percy Jackson is at the other camp, and he probably doesn’t even remember who he is.”
Notes:
Thanks for reading!
Chapter 57: Trauma Bonding! YAY!!
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Summary:
“As if you would pass up the chance to kiss me.”
Notes:
This chapter is from Ziya’s POV.
Word Count: 1989
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
It’s been two weeks since we got back from our quest. Since then, there’s been a lot of talk about the New Year’s firework show. Apparently, the Vulcan kids go above and beyond with the pyrotechnics (Leo’s refused to tell me anything, that jerk). Piper and I had planned to watch them together, but it turns out that Jason is a wonderful boyfriend and planned a surprise date for the two of them.
Great. Piper and I haven’t hung out in forever, and the first chance we get, she swans off to hang out with her boyfriend.
I wasn’t actually angry. I couldn’t blame her for wanting to spend time with Jason, but still!
Beyond that, I had a hidden string board in the Bunker, trying to figure out who my dad was. I was pretty sure I’d gotten the answer.
I tried to keep my emotions under the radar, but it evidently didn’t work. Literally everyone I talked to asked why I was sulking, to which I’d yell, “None of your business! Fuck off!”
That didn’t go over very well with the Mars kids.
I ended up spending most of New Years’ Eve in the Bunker working on the Argo II . It was the only place I could find actual solitude.
“Hey, Ziya!”
...Most of the time.
“Hi, Leo.”
He leaned up against the table I was working at. “A little Birdie told me that you’ve been mopey. What’s up?”
“Nothing. I’m fine.” Leo just stared at me. “Piper and I were going to have a girls’ night, but Jason planned a surprise date and she bailed.”
“Ouch,” Leo muttered. “Yeah, they did that a lot in my fake memories of Jason.”
“Hmm.” I went back to fiddling with a control piece.
“Anything else bothering you?”
I sighed, tapping the table repeatedly. “I think I know who my dad is. I’ve made a whole stringboard and everything.”
Leo winced. “Oof. Do you want to talk about it?”
“Not really. I kinda just want a distraction.”
“Oh, well why didn’t you say so?” Leo grinned. “Distractions are my forté! How about…” Leo trailed off.
I looked up at him. “What?”
“Well, if you want, we could watch the fireworks together? Meteors: Part Two?”
I sighed, disguising a grin. “I suppose. Might as well since I don’t really have anything else to do.”
“ Wow. I had no idea my company was so awful,” Leo deadpanned.
“The absolute worst.” Leo laughed. “Nah. You’re awesome. I’d love to watch the fireworks with you.”
He grinned. “Great!”
“Do you want to help me make brownies?” I knew the answer before he opened his mouth.
“Abso-fucking-lutely!”
“Let me just finish this up and we can get started.”
Leo looked at the circuit board I was working on. “You’re doing it wrong.”
“What? No I’m not!”
“Yeah. You are.” He leaned over. “Here.”
He plucked it out of my hands and started messing with wires. “Wha— Hey!”
He moved it out of my reach. “There!” He handed it back to me. “Now we can go make brownies.”
I shook my head. “You are such an asshole.”
He gasped. “ Moi?!”
I shoved his shoulder.
~*~
“So... it’s four tablespoons of nutmeg?”
“ One tea spoon! Do you want it to be all gross?”
“We should spike these and give them to the Ares kids.”
“I’m not making pot brownies,” I deadpanned.
“No! That’s not—” Leo’s nose caught fire. He yelped and quickly patted it out. “I meant like, paprika or something.”
I paused. “Get the measuring cups.”
~*~
“Hey, guys.” The Mars campers looked up from sharpening their weapons. “I wanted to apologize for being snappy earlier, so I made brownies!”
Clarisse raised an eyebrow. “Is this a bribe?”
I blinked. “Nooo... This is a peace offering.” They stared at me. “I’ll just... leave them here, then. See you later.” I set the plate onto a table, picked my way back through the mines, and ducked around the corner to where Leo was looking through a window.
“Did they take the bait?”
“I’m not sure,” I muttered. “Clarisse was kind of skeptical.” We both peered through the window. Clarisse had picked up the untainted brownie square. “I think we’ll be fine, though.”
After ultimately deciding that my ‘peace offering’ was safe to eat, they divided the brownies, each of them taking a massive bite. Their reaction was almost immediate. They fanned their mouths as if it would do anything, smoke practically coming out of their ears. They scrambled around to find water, which only made the burning worse.
Leo and I were giggling like madmen. I looked back through the window at the precise moment Clarisse glanced over. “Shit!”
“What?” Leo looked over the ledge to see the entire Ares cabin staring at us. He shakily waved. “‘Shit’, indeed.”
I grabbed Leo’s hand and ran for the woods. I could hear the Mars kids, whooping and hollering, banging their swords and spears on their shields.
I pulled him behind a cluster of foliage, and moments later they all ran past, fueled by the fire in their mouths. A few moments passed while we waited for the shouts to fade.
I leaned against a tree. “Oh my gods, that was the best idea ever !”
Leo collapsed onto the grass, chest heaving. “Glad that— cheered— you up.”
I stood over him. “You need to work on building stamina.” He glared at me. “What?! I’m just saying that if you want to live after you piss someone off—”
“I get it!” Leo waved his arm at me. “I get it. Just help me.”
I grabbed his hand and hauled him up. “We should probably head back if we want to get dinner.”
Leo’s stomach growled loudly. “Yeah, I could eat.”
~*~
We were in the middle of dinner when the Mars kids stumbled out of the woods.
“Piper!” She turned to look at me. “If anyone asks, specifically the Mars kids, Leo and I have left the country.”
“What did you do?”
I gasped. “I am offended that you would ever think that I , of all people—” Piper raised an eyebrow. “Okay, so Leo and I may have spiked some brownies with paprika, so now they’re gonna ‘paprika’ our asses if we don’t hide for a little while.”
Piper smirked. “Right. And this wasn’t an elaborate scheme of yours to hang out with Leo?”
“First of all, it’s not like that,” I deadpanned. “Second, it was Leo’s idea.” I looked over my shoulder to see Clarisse pointing at us, or probably just me. “Gotta go, bye!”
“Wait!” She grabbed my arm. “Seriously, you and Leo? You’re practically a match made in heaven.”
“Piper.”
She raised her hands in a ‘don’t-blame-me’ sort of way. “I’m just saying. It’s obvious you like him. He likes you too.”
“...Seriously.”
“My mom’s Aphrodite. I know these things.”
I scoffed. “Right.”
“He also told me.”
I looked at her. “You better not be joking.”
“I’m not!”
“‘Cause you are dead if you are.”
“I’m not. Promise.” She smiled reassuringly.
“Also, I don’t like Leo. Hate him, actually. I-I can barely stand his presence.”
“Sure, hon.” She laughed before looking over my shoulder. Her eyes widened. “You should definitely go, though.”
I looked behind me; Clarisse was very, very close. I ran towards the Vulcan table where Leo was still talking to some of his siblings. “Dude, we gotta go!”
“What? Why?” He looked past me. “Oh. Yep, see you later, guys!”
We ran towards the beach, occasionally glancing back to make sure no blood-thirsty teens were following.
“I think we’re safe,” I said.
“Thank— god,” Leo gasped for air. “Never— again.”
“Never again.” I grinned.
Other kids started gathering on the beach, though none of them sat near us, likely because they knew the Mars cabin was out for our blood.
Leo collapsed on the sand. “You know, this has honestly been one of the best days of my life.”
I sat down next to him. “Seriously? I think mine would have to be September 17.” Leo squinted at me. “The day we met?”
“Oh. Yeah, I got socked in the stomach. Not my favorite day.”
I snorted. “I don’t know. I kinda liked seeing you on your knees.” I winked, and Leo’s nose caught on fire.
“Shit!” He quickly patted it out while I laughed. “You can’t just say stuff like that!”
“Says who? It’s a free country.”
“Says me, the victim!”
“You do it to me all the time.”
“That’s different.”
I snorted and lay back in the sand. “Sure. Says the guy who gave me CPR.”
“I was terrified you were going to die. That was to save your life!” Leo spluttered.
“As if you would pass up the chance to kiss me,” I said. The silence was deafening. Shit, too far TOO FAR . “Sorry. Forget I said that.”
“No, it’s fine. You’re not wrong. ” He muttered the last bit under his breath; I obviously wasn’t supposed to hear it, so I didn’t say anything. I wasn’t even sure what to say. Leo laid down next to me as the fireworks started, depicting monsters and battle scenes. They threw colors all over the ocean and the sand and Leo. “You feeling better?”
“A little.” I focused on the fireworks as they started to get blurrier. “It’s just— He’s such a dick .
“Fifteen years of my life, and nothing. Not even when I got here, and it’s an oath sworn on the Styx to claim your kid by fucking thirteen . You know what happened when I was thirteen? My shitty foster mom finally managed to give me a fucking ED.” My voice caught in my throat. “Sorry.”
“You don’t have anything to apologize for.”
I took deep breaths. “ Shut up. Punk .”
Leo snorted. “Wow, okay. Thanks.”
“No, sorry. That was—”
“No, I know, I was joking. Sorry.”
I smiled. “No, it’s okay.” I took another breath. “I don’t think I’m ready to talk about anything yet.”
“That’s okay. I’m not either. But I’ll be here when you are.”
I scooted closer, resting against his side. “Me too.”
“You’ll be there, too?”
I laughed and lightly hit his chest. “You know what I meant.”
Leo smiled. “Yeah, I know. It’s just… kinda hard for me to be emotional and all. Thanks for that , dad.”
I laughed silently. “So, your terrible flirting is from your dad?”
Leo gasped and sat up. “How dare you. My flirting is impeccable.”
“Well, you flirt with me the most, and I haven’t fallen for you, so it can’t be working too well.”
Leo scoffed. “I haven’t been trying , Angel. Are you actively inviting me to flirt with you right now?”
I raised an eyebrow. “Do you want to?”
Leo opened his mouth to answer, but paused. “I feel like this is a trap.”
I laughed. “Maybe it is.” I thought for a moment. “Do you really want to prove that you’re good at flirting?”
“Duh, my pride’s at stake, here.”
“All right.” I sat up. “I’ve got a new bet.”
Leo raised an eyebrow. “Oh? Pray, tell.”
I hesitated. Is this a good idea? I heard Piper’s voice in the back of my head. ‘Go for it!’ “You really want to prove you’re good at flirting?” He nodded. “All right. My birthday is February 17. You have until then to make me fall for you. If you succeed, then you get all of the bet money you’ve lost to me, doubled , and I will announce to the entire camp that you finally managed to pull a girl.”
Leo raised an eyebrow. “And what do you get if I lose? In the extremely unlikely event?”
I shrugged. “Whatever you think’s fair.”
Leo smirked and leaned onto one hand. “So, you admit you want to be seduced by me?”
I grinned as the other campers started to count.
“Ten! Nine! Eight!”
I leaned closer. Leo’s eyes were really pretty up close.
“Three! Two! One!”
“ Absolutely .”
Notes:
Thanks for reading! 💖
Note from Jam: Well boys its been a long run. I have read maybe an eighth of this and yet i am still a beta reader (thumbs up) the mean nutmeg joke was supposedly about my overuse of cinnamon. Because im not insane i can enjoy cinnamon to a level that my sibling will simply never understand. Us cinnamon lovers must rise up against this cruel tyranny. Good day, jam.
Chapter 58: The Quest for Buford
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Summary:
Jason and Piper stared at me.
“Um…” Piper cleared her throat. “Could you make the short explanation shorter?”
Ziya palm-smacked her forehead. “One hour. Fluids mix. Bunker goes ka-boom, and a good chunk of the forest turns into a smoking crater.”
Chapter Text
I blame the Windex. I should have known better. Now my entire project— two months of work— might literally blow up in my face.
I stormed around Bunker 9, cursing myself for being so stupid , while my friends tried to calm me down.
“It’s okay,” Jason said. “We’re here to help.”
“Just tell us what happened,” Piper urged.
Thank goodness they’d answered my distress call so quickly. I couldn’t turn to anyone else. Having my best friends at my side made me feel better, though I wasn’t sure they could stop the disaster.
Jason looked cool and confident as usual— all surfer-dude handsome with his blond hair and sky-blue eyes. The scar on his mouth and sword at his side gave him a rugged appearance, like he could handle anything.
Piper stood next to him in her jeans and orange camp T-shirt, long brown hair braided down one side and her dagger, Katoptris gleaming at her belt. Despite the situation, her dark eyes sparkled like she was trying to suppress a smile. Now that she and Jason were officially together, she looked like that a lot.
Speaking of, I still owed Ziya thirty drachma for winning that bet.
I took a deep breath. “Okay, guys. This is serious. Buford’s gone, and if we don’t get him back, this whole place is going to explode.”
Piper’s eyes lost some of that smiley sparkle. “Explode? Um… okay. Just calm down and tell us who Buford is.” She, probably subconsciously, used charmspeak. I felt my muscles relax, and my mind cleared a little.
“Fine,” I said. “Come here.”
I led them across the hangar floor, carefully skirting some of the more dangerous projects. In my two months at Camp Half-Blood, I’d spent most of my time at Bunker 9. It was practically a second home, but I knew they still felt uncomfortable here.
I couldn’t blame them. It was massive . No had really been able to fully explore it, what with the time crunch. Rows of workbenches stretched into the darkness. Tool cabinets, storage closets, cages full of welding equipment, and stacks of construction material made a labyrinth of aisles so vast, I figured we’d only explored about ten percent of it so far. Overhead ran a series of catwalks and pneumatic tubes for delivering supplies, plus a high-tech lighting and sound system that I was just starting to figure out.
A large magical banner hung over the center of the production floor. I had recently discovered how to change the display, like the Times Square JumboTron, and convinced Ziya to make the banner say, ‘Happy Valentine’s! All your chocolates belong to Ziya and Leo!’
I ushered my friends to the central staging area. Decades ago, Festus had been created here. Now I was slowly assembling my pride and joy— the Argo II .
At the moment, it didn’t look like much. The keel was laid— a length of Celestial bronze curved like an archer’s bow, two hundred feet from bow to stern. The lowest hull planks had been set in place, forming a shallow bowl held together by scaffolding. Masts lay to one side, ready for positioning. The bronze dragon figurehead— formerly the head of Festus— sat nearby, carefully wrapped in velvet, waiting to be installed in its place of honor.
Most of my time had been spent in the middle of the ship, at the base of the hull, where I was building the engine that would run the warship.
Rather, we have been working on the engine.
I climbed the scaffolding and jumped into the hull, Jason and Piper following close behind.
“Anything?” I called.
Ziya popped out from the engine, her hair tied back with her sunflower-patterned hijab. “Absolutely nothing. I swear, I have checked everywhere , there’s jack.” She noticed Piper and Jason. “Oh, alhamdulillah you two are here.”
Fixed to the keel, the engine apparatus looked like a high-tech jungle gym made from pipes, pistons, bronze gears, magical disks, steam vents, electric wires, and a million other magical and mechanical pieces. Ziya moved aside and pointed out the combustion chamber.
“There’s our problem,” she announced.
It was a thing of beauty, a bronze sphere the size of a basketball, its surface bristling with glass cylinders so it looked like a mechanical starburst. Gold wires ran from the ends of the cylinders, connecting to various parts of the engine. Each cylinder was filled with a different magical and highly dangerous substance. The central sphere had a digital clock display that read 66:21 . The maintenance panel was open, and inside, the core was empty.
Jason scratched his head. “Uh… what are we looking at?”
I thought it was pretty obvious, but Piper looked confused too.
“Okay,” I sighed. “You want the full explanation or the short explanation?”
“Short,” Piper and Jason said in unison.
I gestured to the empty core. “The syncopator goes here. It’s a multi-access gyro-valve to regulate flow. The dozen glass tubes on the outside? Those are filled with powerful, dangerous stuff. That glowing red one is Lemnos fire from my dad’s forges. This murky stuff here? That’s water from the River Styx. The stuff in the tubes is going to power the ship, right? Like radioactive rods in a nuclear reactor. But the mix ratio has to be controlled, and the timer is already operational.” Ziya tapped the digital clock, which now read 65: 15 .
“That means without the syncopator,” I continued, “this stuff is all going to vent into the chamber at the same time, in sixty-five minutes. At that point, we’ll get a very nasty reaction.”
Jason and Piper stared at me.
“Um…” Piper cleared her throat. “Could you make the short explanation shorter?”
Ziya palm-smacked her forehead. “One hour. Fluids mix. Bunker goes ka-boom, and a good chunk of the forest turns into a smoking crater.”
“Oh,” Piper said in a small voice. “Can’t you just… turn it off?”
The scar in my eyebrow twitched. “Yeah, I just misplaced the switch. That’s why Ziya’s been crawling around in there for a half hour.”
“We can’t turn it off,” Ziya said patiently. “Everything has to be assembled in a certain order in a certain order of time. Once the combustion chamber is rigged like this, you can’t just leave all those tubes sitting there. The engine has to be put into motion.”
I nodded. “The countdown clock started automatically, and I’ve got to install the syncopator before the fuel goes critical. Which would be fine except… well, I lost the syncopator.”
Jason folded his arms. “You lost it. Don’t you have an extra? Can’t you pull one out of your tool belt?”
“The tool belt makes parts, not complete products,” Ziya said.
Shame broiled in my stomach. “The syncopator took me a week to make. And yes, I made a spare, I always do. But that’s lost too. They were both in Buford’s drawers.”
“Who is Buford?” Piper asked. “And why are you storing syncopators in his drawers?”
I rolled my eyes. “Buford is a table.”
“A table,” Jason repeated. “Named Buford.”
“Yes, a table.” I wondered if my friends were losing their hearing. “A magic walking table. About three feet high, mahogany top, bronze base, three movable legs. I saved him from one of the supply closets and got him in working order. He’s just like the tables Hephaestus has in his workshop. Awesome helper; carries all the important machine parts.”
“So what happened to him?” Piper asked.
I felt a lump rise in my throat. “I-I got careless. I polished him with Windex, and… he ran away.”
Jason looked like he was trying to figure out an equation. “Let me get this straight. Your table ran away… because you polished him with WIndex.”
“I know, I’m an idiot!” I moaned. “A brilliant idiot, but still an idiot. Buford hates being polished with Windex. It has to be Lemon Pledge with extra-moisturizing formula. I was distracted. I thought maybe just once he wouldn’t notice. Then I turned around for a while to install the combustion tubes, and when I looked for Buford…”
I pointed to the giant open doors of the bunker. “He was gone. Little trail of oil and bolts leading outside. He could be anywhere by now, and he’s got both syncopators!”
Piper glanced at the digital clock. “So… we have exactly one hour to find your runaway table, get back your synco-whatsit, and install it in this engine, or the Argo II explodes, destroying Bunker 9 and most of the woods.”
“Basically,” Ziya said, climbing out of the engine.
Jason frowned. “We should alert the other campers. We might have to evacuate them.”
“No!” My voice broke. “Look, the explosion won’t destroy the whole camp. Just the woods. I’m pretty sure. Like sixty-five percent sure.”
“Well, that’s a relief,” Piper muttered.
“Besides,” I said, “we don’t have time, and I— I can’t tell the others. If the find out how badly I’ve messed up—”
“Hey, hey,” Ziya cut me off. “We’re going to find him. Nothing bad’s going to happen. Deep breaths.”
I nodded, trying to not break down crying.
Jason and Piper looked at each other. The clock display changed to 59:00 .
“Fine,” Jason said. “But we’d better hurry.”
Notes:
Thanks for reading! 💖
Chapter 59: We Are So Dead.
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Summary:
Jason knelt at the banks of a stream. He pointed to some marks in the mud. “Do those look like table tracks?”
“Could be a raccoon,” Leo suggested.
I raised an eyebrow. “With no toes?”
Notes:
I don’t know how but we’ve almost got 2400 hits? Thanks? Also I’m bouncing off the walls because Good Omens 2 is less than 10 days away!!!
This chapter is from Ziya’s POV (surprise!).
Word Count: 2245
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
As we trudged through the woods, the sun started to set. The camp’s weather was magically controlled, so it wasn’t freezing and snowing like it was in the rest of Long Island, but in the shadows of the huge oak trees, the air was cold and damp. The mossy ground squished under our feet.
Valentine’s Day. A ludicrous holiday made for capitalists to profit off of people’s love for each other, but still. I couldn’t believe it was here already. Leo and I’d been working so hard in Bunker 9, we’d hardly noticed the weeks passing. The Argo II had to be ready by June if we were going to start our big quest on time. And while June seemed a long way away, I knew we’d barely have time to make the deadline.
And in three days, it would be my birthday, and I’d have to admit to everyone in camp (and myself) that I liked Leo.
Even with the entire Hephaestus cabin helping us, constructing a magic flying warship was a huge task. It made launching a NASA spaceship look easy. We’d already had so many setbacks, but all Leo or I could think about was getting the ship finished. It would be our masterpiece.
(Piper had teased us that it was practically my and Leo’s child. Somehow, she came down with three different colds in a week. I wonder how that happened.)
Also, Leo and I (mainly Leo, though, to be honest), wanted to get the dragon figurehead installed. Even if Festus would never be the same again, Leo hoped he could reactivate his brain by using the ship’s engines. I wondered if our metal friend would be capable of coming back at all.
But none of that would happen if the combustion chamber exploded. It would be game over. No ship. No Festus. No quest. No confession.
Jason knelt at the banks of a stream. He pointed to some marks in the mud. “Do those look like table tracks?”
“Could be a raccoon,” Leo suggested.
I raised an eyebrow. “With no toes?”
“Did anyone pay attention in the monster tracking class?” Jason asked.
“Definitely not,” Piper said.
“It’s probably a table,” Jason decided. “Which means Buford went across this stream.”
Suddenly the water gurgled. A girl in a shimmering blue dress rose to the surface. She had stringy green hair, blue lips, and pale skin, like she’d drowned. Her eyes were wide with alarm.
“Could you be any louder?” she hissed. “They’ll hear you!”
Leo blinked. “Are you a naiad?” he asked.
“Shh! They’ll kill us all! They’re right over there!” She pointed behind her, into the trees on the other side of the stream. Unfortunately, that was the direction Buford seemed to have walked.
“Okay,” Piper said gently, kneeling next to the water. “We appreciate the warning. What’s your name?”
The naiad looked like she wanted to bolt, but Piper’s voice was hard to resist. “Brooke,” the blue girl said reluctantly.
“Brooke the brook?” Jason asked.
Piper swatted his leg. “Okay, Brooke. I’m Piper. We won’t let anyone harm you. Just tell us who you’re afraid of.”
The naiad’s face became more agitated. The water boiled around her. “My crazy cousins. You can’t stop them. They’ll tear you apart. None of us are safe! Now go away. I have to hide!” Brooke melted into water.
Piper stood. “Crazy cousins?” She frowned at Jason. “Any idea what she was talking about?”
Jason shook his head. “Maybe we should keep our voices down.”
“Agreed,” I whispered. Not much put me on edge, but a naiad warning us about psycho cousins of hers definitely made the list of things that got the adrenaline flowing.
And besides, I was also trying to figure out what was so horrible that it could tear apart a river spirit. How do you tear up water? Whatever it was, I didn’t want to meet it. Yet I could see Buford’s tracks on the opposite bank— little square prints in the mud, leading in the direction the naiad had warned them about.
“We have to follow the trail, right?” Leo said. “I mean… we’re heroes and stuff. We can handle whatever it is. Right?”
Jason drew his new sword— a wicked Roman-style gladius with an Imperial gold blade. “Right. Of course.”
I pulled off my ring, which shimmered before becoming my silver gladius .
Piper unsheathed her dagger. She stared into the blade as if hoping Katoptris would show her a helpful vision. Sometimes the dagger did that. But if she saw anything important, she didn’t say.
“Crazy cousins,” she muttered. “Here we come.”
~*~
There was no more talking as we followed the table tracks deeper into the woods. The birds were silent. No monsters growled. It was as if all the other living creatures in the woods had been smart enough to leave.
Finally we came to a clearing the size of a mall parking lot. The sky overhead was heavy and gray. The grass was dry yellow, and the ground was scarred with pits and trenches as if someone had done some crazy driving with construction equipment. In the center of the clearing stood a pile of boulders about thirty feet tall.
“Oh,” Piper said. “This isn’t good.”
“Why?” I asked.
“It’s bad luck to be here,” Jason said. “This is the battle site.”
Leo frowned. “What battle?”
Piper raised her eyebrows. “How can you not know about it? The other campers talk about this place all the time.”
“Been a little busy,” Leo and I chorused.
We’d missed out on a lot of regular camp stuff, including the trireme fights, capture-the-flag, and the chariot races. I tried not to feel bitter about it.
“The Battle of the Labyrinth.” Piper kept her voice down, but she explained to Leo and I how the pile of rocks used to be called Zeus’s Fist, back when it looked like something, not just a pile of rocks. There’d been an entrance to a magical labyrinth here, and a big army of monsters had come through it to invade camp. The campers won— obviously, since camp was still here— but it had been a hard battle. Several demigods had died. The clearing was still considered cursed.
“Great,” Leo grumbled. “Buford has to run to the most dangerous part of the woods. He couldn’t just, like, run to the beach or a burger shop.”
“Speaking of which...” Jason studied the ground. “How are we going to track him? There’s no trail here.”
Though I would’ve preferred to stay in the cover of the trees, I followed my friends into the clearing. We searched for table tracks, but as we made their way to the pile of boulders we found nothing. Leo pulled a watch from his tool belt and strapped it to his wrist. Roughly forty minutes until the big ka-boom.
“If I had more time,” he said, “I could make a tracking device, but—”
“Does Buford have a round tabletop?” Piper interrupted. “With little steam vents sticking up on one side?”
I stared at her. “How’d you know that?”
“Because he’s right over there.” She pointed.
Sure enough, Buford was waddling toward the far end of the clearing, steam puffing from his vents. As we watched, he disappeared into the trees.
“That was easy.” Jason started to follow, but I held him back.
The hairs on the back of my neck prickled. Something felt wrong .
Voices floated out from the woods. “Someone’s coming!” I pulled my friends behind the boulders.
Jason whispered, “Guys—”
“Shh!”
Moments later, a dozen barefoot girls skipped into the clearing. They were teenagers with tunic-style dresses of loose purple and red silk. Their hair was tangled with leaves, and most wore laurel wreaths. Some carried strange staffs that looked like torches. The girls laughed and swung each other around, tumbling in the grass and spinning like they were dizzy.
Piper sighed. “They’re just nymphs, guys.”
Leo gestured frantically at her to stay down. “Crazy cousins!” he whispered harshly, and Piper’s eyes widened.
As the nymphs got closer, I started to notice odd details about them. Their staffs weren’t torches. They were twisted wooden branches, each topped with a giant pinecone, with some wrapped with living snakes. A thyrsus. That’s one of Bacchus’s weapons. But that would mean… no. No, it can’t be.
The girls’ laurel wreaths weren’t wreaths, either. Their hair was braided with tiny vipers. The girls smiled and laughed and sang in Ancient Greek as they stumbled around the glade. They appeared to be having a great time, but their voices were tinged with a sort of wild ferocity. If leopards could sing, I thought they would sound like this.
“Are they drunk?” Jason whispered.
I frowned. The girls did act like that, but there was something else going on. I was glad the nymphs hadn’t seen us yet.
Then things got complicated. In the woods to our right, something roared. The trees rustled, and a drakon burst into the clearing, looking sleepy and irritated, as if the nymphs’ singing had woken it up.
I had seen plenty of monsters in the woods. The camp intentionally stocked them as a challenge to campers. But this was bigger and scarier than most. The drakon was about the size of a subway car. It had no wings, but its mouth bristled with dagger-like teeth. Flames curled from its nostrils. Silvery scales covered its body like polished chain mail. When the drakon saw the nymphs, it roared again and shot flames into the sky.
The girls didn’t seem to notice. They kept doing cartwheels and laughing and playfully pushing each other around.
“We’ve got to help them,” Piper whispered. “They’ll be killed!”
“Hold on,” I said.
“Ziya,” Jason chided. “We’re heroes. We can’t let innocent girls—”
“Believe me, they’re far from it!” I hissed.
Finally, one of the girls noticed the drakon. She squealed in delight, as if she’d spotted a cute puppy. She skipped toward the monster and the other girls followed, singing and laughing, which seemed to confuse the drakon. It probably wasn’t used to its prey being so cheerful.
A nymph in a blood-red dress did a cartwheel and landed in front of the drakon. “Are you Dionysus?” she asked hopefully.
It seemed like a stupid question. True, I had never met Bacchus, but I was pretty sure the god of wine wasn’t a fire-breathing drakon.
The monster blasted fire at the girl’s feet. She simply danced out of the kill zone. The drakon lunged and caught her arm in its jaws. I flinched, sure the nymph’s limb would be amputated right before my eyes, but she yanked it free, along with several broken drakon teeth. Her arm was perfectly fine. The drakon made a sound somewhere between a growl and a whimper.
“Naughty!” the girl scolded. She turned to her cheerful friends. “Not Dionysus! He must join our party!” A dozen nymphs squealed in delight and surrounded the monster.
“Oh, we are fucked ,” I breathed, eyes wide.
Piper caught her breath. “What are they— oh my gods!”
I didn’t usually feel sorry for monsters, but what happened next was truly horrifying. The girls threw themselves at the drakon. Their cheerful laughter turned into vicious snarling. They attacked with their pinecone staffs, with fingernails that turned into long white talons, with teeth that elongated into wolfish fangs.
Allah, is that what I look like?
The monster blew fire and stumbled, trying to get away, but the teenage girls were too much for him. The nymphs ripped and tore until the drakon slowly crumbled into powder, its spirit returning to Tartarus.
Jason made a gulping sound. I had seen my friend in all sorts of dangerous situations, but I’d never seen Jason look quite so pale.
Piper was shielding her eyes, muttering, “Oh, gods. Oh, gods.”
“I think I’m going to puke.” I clenched my jaw and turned away from the psycho nymphs, trying to keep down my lunch.
Leo’s voice trembled slightly. “I read about these nymphs. They’re followers of Dionysus. I forget what they’re called—”
“Maenads.” Piper shivered. “I’ve heard of them. I thought they only existed in ancient times. They attended Dionysus’s parties. When they got too excited...”
She pointed toward the clearing. She didn’t need to say more. Brooke the naiad had warned us. Her crazy cousins ripped their victims to pieces.
“We have to get out of here,” Jason said.
“But they’re between us and Buford!” Leo whispered. “And we’ve only got—” He checked his watch. “Thirty minutes to get the syncopator installed!”
“Maybe I can fly us over to Buford.” Jason shut his eyes tight.
I knew Jason had controlled the wind before— just one of the advantages of being the über-cool son of Jupiter— but this time, nothing happened.
Jason shook his head. “I don’t know… the air feels agitated. Maybe those nymphs are messing things up. Even the wind spirits are too nervous to get close.”
I glanced back the way we’d come. “We’ll have to retreat to the woods. If we can skirt around the Maenads—”
“Guys,” Piper squeaked in alarm.
I looked up. I hadn’t noticed the Maenads approaching, climbing the rocks with absolute silence even creepier than their laughter. They peered down from the tops of the boulders, smiling prettily, their fingernails and teeth back to normal. Vipers coiled through their hair.
Shit.
“Hello!” The girl in the blood-red dress beamed at Leo. “Are you Dionysus?”
Notes:
Thanks for reading!! 💖
Chapter 60: The Fool
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Summary:
“An interesting form you’ve chosen, my lord.” Babette inspected Leo’s face and hair. “Youthful. Cute, I suppose. Yet… somewhat scrawny and short.”
“Scrawny and short?” Leo seemed to bite his tongue. “Well, you know. I was going for cute, mostly.”
The other Maenads circled Leo, smiling and humming. “So, my lord.” Babette ran her fingers down Leo’s arm, and I fought back a growl. “Where have you been? We’ve searched for so long!”
Notes:
I got a massive order from Barnes & Noble and it arrives today!!!
This chapter is from Ziya’s POV.
Word Count: 2156
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Leo is an idiot. An adorable idiot, but an idiot nonetheless.
“Yes!” Leo yelped. “Absolutely. I am Dionysus.” He got to his feet and tried to match the girl’s smile.
The nymph clapped her hands in delight. “Wonderful! My lord Dionysus? Really?”
Jason, Piper, and I rose, weapons ready, but I hoped it didn’t come to a fight. I’d seen how fast these nymphs could move. If they decided to go into food-processor mode, I doubted any of us would stand a chance.
The Maenads giggled and danced and pushed each other around. Several fell off the rocks and landed hard on the ground. That didn’t seem to bother them. They just got up and kept frolicking.
I nudged Leo in the ribs. “Um, Lord Dionysus , what are you doing?”
“Everything’s cool.” Leo looked at us like, ‘Everything’s really, really not cool.’ “The Maenads are my attendants. I love these guys.”
The Maenads cheered and twirled around him. Several produced goblets from thin air and began to chug... whatever was inside.
The girl in red looked uncertainly at Piper, Jason, and I. “Lord Dionysus, are these three sacrifices for the party? Should we rip them to pieces?”
“No, no!” Leo said. “Great offer, but, um, you know, maybe we should start small. With, like, introductions.”
The girl narrowed her eyes. “Surely you remember me, my lord. I am Babette.”
“Um, right!” Leo said. “Babette! Of course.”
“And these are Buffy, Muffy, Bambi, Candy—” Babette rattled off a bunch more names that all kind of blurred together. Leo glanced at Piper, most definitely thinking something along the lines of how these nymphs could’ve totally fit in with Piper’s cabin.
But Piper looked like she was trying not to scream. That might’ve been because two of the Maenads were running their hands over Jason’s shoulders and giggling.
Babette stepped closer to Leo. Her curly dark hair spilled over her shoulders and freckles splashed across her nose. A wreath of coral snakes writhed across her forehead.
Nature spirits usually had a greenish tinge to their skin from chlorophyll, but these Maenads looked like they had cherry Kool-Aid for blood. Their eyes were severely bloodshot, lips redder than normal, and skin webbed with bright capillaries.
“An interesting form you’ve chosen, my lord.” Babette inspected Leo’s face and hair. “Youthful. Cute, I suppose. Yet… somewhat scrawny and short.”
“Scrawny and short?” Leo seemed to bite his tongue. “Well, you know. I was going for cute, mostly.”
The other Maenads circled Leo, smiling and humming. “So, my lord.” Babette ran her fingers down Leo’s arm, and I fought back a growl. “Where have you been? We’ve searched for so long!”
“Where have I—?” Leo hesitated for a moment. “Oh, you know. I’ve been doing, um, wine stuff. Yeah. Red wine. White wine. All those other kinds of wine. Love that wine. I’ve been so busy working—”
“Work!” Muffy the Maenad shrieked, pressing her hands over her ears.
“Work!” Buffy wiped her tongue as if trying to scrub away the horrible word.
The other Maenads dropped their goblets and ran in circles, yelling, “Work! Sacrilege! Kill work!” Some began to grow long claws. Others slammed their heads against the boulders, which seemed to hurt the boulders more than their heads.
“He means partying!” I shouted. “Partying! Lord Ba—Dionysus has been busy partying all over the world.”
Slowly, the Maenads began to calm down.
“Party?” Bambi asked cautiously.
“Party!” Candy sighed with relief.
“Yeah!” Leo wiped the sweat off his hands. He shot me a grateful look. “Ha-ha. Partying. Right. I’ve been so busy partying.”
Babette kept smiling, but not in such a friendly way. She fixed her gaze on me. “Who is this one, my lord? A recruit for the Maenads, perhaps?”
“Oh,” Leo said. “Ziya’s my, uh, party planner.”
“Party!” yelled another Maenad, possibly Trixie.
“What a shame.” Babette’s fingernails began to grow. “We can’t allow mortals to witness our sacred revels.”
“B-But I could be a recruit!” I said quickly. “Do you guys have a website? Or a list of requirements? Uh, do you have to be drunk all the time?”
“Drunk?!” Babette said. “Don’t be silly. We’re underage Maenads. We haven’t graduated to wine yet. What would our parents think?”
“You have parents?” Jason shrugged the Maenads’ hands off his shoulders.
“Not drunk!” Candy yelled. She turned in a dizzy circle and fell down, spilling white frothy liquid from her goblet.
Jason cleared his throat. “So… what are you guys drinking if it isn’t wine?”
Babette laughed. “Behold the power of the thyrsus rod!” She slammed her pinecone staff against the ground and a purple geyser bubbled up. “Grape juice!”
Maenads rushed forward to fill their goblets. “Happy Valentine’s!” one yelled.
“Party!” another said.
“Kill everything!” said a third.
Piper took a step back. “You’re... drunk on grape juice? How is that even possible?”
“Whee!” Buffy sloshed her juice and gave Leo a frothy grin. “Kill things! With a sprinkle of fermentation!”
“But enough talk, my lord,” Babette said. “You’ve been naughty, keeping yourself hidden! You changed your email and phone number. One might think the great Dionysus was trying to avoid his Maenads!”
Jason removed another girl’s hands from his shoulders. “Can’t imagine why the great Dionysus would do that.”
Babette sized up Jason. “This one is a sacrifice, obviously. We should start the festivities by ripping him apart. The party planner girl can prove herself by helping us!”
“Or,” Leo said, “we could start with some appetizers. Crispy Cheese ’n’ Wieners. Taquitos. Maybe some chips and queso. And… wait, I know! We need a table to put them on.”
Babette’s smile wavered. The snakes hissed around her pinecone staff. “A table?”
“Cheese ’n’ Wieners?” Trixie added hopefully.
“Yeah, a table!” Leo snapped his fingers and pointed toward the end of the clearing. “You know what— I think I saw one walking that way. Why don’t you guys wait here, and drink some juice or whatever, and my friends and I will go get the table. We’ll be right back!” He started to leave, but two of the Maenads pushed him back. The push didn’t seem exactly playful.
Babette’s eyes turned an even deeper red. “Why is my lord Dionysus so interested in furniture? Where is your leopard? And your wine cup?”
Leo gulped. “Yeah. Wine cup. Silly me.” He reached into his tool bag. I prayed it would produce a cup for him, but what Leo pulled out, well, it wasn’t a goblet. Not even close.
“Hey, look at that,” he said weakly. “There’s some godly magic right there, huh? What’s a party without... a lug wrench?”
We are so dead.
The Maenads stared at him. Some frowned. Others were cross-eyed from the grape juice.
Jason stepped to his side. “Hey, um, Dionysus... maybe we should talk. Like, in private. You know... about party stuff.”
“We’ll be right back!” Piper announced. “Just wait here, you guys. Okay?” Her voice was almost electric with charmspeak, but the Maenads didn’t appear moved.
“No, you will stay.” Babette’s eyes bored into Leo’s. “You do not act like Dionysus. Those who fail to honor the god, those who dare to work instead of partying— they must be ripped apart. And anyone who dares to impersonate the god, he must die even more painfully.”
“Wine!” Leo yelped. “Did I mention how much I love wine?”
Babette didn’t look convinced. “If you are the god of parties, you will know the order of our revelries. Prove it! Lead us!”
We are fucked.
“Sure!” His voice squeaked. “Revelries. So we start with the Hokey Pokey—”
Trixie snarled. “No, my lord. The Hokey Pokey is second.”
We are so fucked.
“Right,” Leo said. “First is the limbo contest, then the Hokey Pokey. Then, um, pin the tail on the donkey—”
“Wrong!” Babette’s eyes turned completely red. The Kool-Aid darkened in her veins, making a web of red lines like ivy under her skin. “Last chance, and I’ll even give you a hint. We begin by singing the Bacchanalian Jingle. You do remember it, don’t you?”
I tried to laugh. “Of course he remembers it.” I tapped out a quick Morse code message with my foot: RUN.
Jason’s knuckles turned white on the hilt of his sword.
Leo cleared his throat and started warbling the tune of something we’d watched online together while we worked on the Argo II.
After a few lines, Candy hissed. “That is not the Bacchanalian Jingle! That is the theme song for Psych !”
“Kill the unbelievers!” Babette screamed.
And that would be our cue to exit.
Leo pulled a reliable trick. From his tool belt, he grabbed a flask of oil and splashed it in an arc in front of him, dousing the Maenads. He summoned fire into his hands and set the oil ablaze.
A wall of flames engulfed the nymphs. Jason and Piper did a one-eighty and ran. Leo and I were right behind them.
I expected to hear screaming from the Maenads. Instead, I heard laughter. I glanced back and saw the Maenads dancing through the flames in their bare feet. Their dresses were smoldering, but the Maenads didn’t seem to care. They leaped through the fire like they were playing in a sprinkler.
“Thank you, unbeliever!” Babette laughed. “Our frenzy makes us immune to fire, but it does tickle! Trixie, send the unbelievers a thank-you gift!”
Trixie skipped over to the pile of boulders. She grasped a rock the size of a refrigerator and lifted it over her head.
“Holy shit,” I muttered, and put up my sword.
“Run!” Piper said.
“We are running!” Jason picked up speed.
“Run better!” Leo yelled.
We reached the edge of the clearing when a shadow passed overhead.
“Veer left!” I yelled, grabbing Leo’s arm and pulling him with me as we dove into the trees. The boulder slammed next to us with a jaw-rattling thud, just barely missing Leo. We skidded down a ravine until Leo lost his footing. He plowed into Jason and Piper so they ended up rolling downhill like a demigod snowball. I caught up with them as they helped each other up out of Brooke’s stream, and stumbled deeper into the woods. Behind us, I heard the Maenads laughing and shouting, urging Leo to come back so they could rip him to shreds.
I pulled the others behind a massive oak tree, where we stood gasping for breath. Piper’s elbow was scraped up pretty badly. Jason’s left pant leg had ripped almost completely off, so it looked like his leg was wearing a denim cape. Somehow, we’d all made it down the hill without killing ourselves with our own weapons, which was a miracle.
“How do we beat them?” Jason demanded. “They’re immune to fire. They’re super strong.”
“We can’t kill them,” Piper said.
“There has to be a way,” Leo said.
“No, we can’t kill them,” I said. “Anyone who kills a Maenad is cursed by Bacchus. In the old stories, people who kill his followers go crazy or get morphed into animals or... well, bad stuff.”
“Worse than letting the Maenads rip us to shreds?” Jason asked.
“Yes,” I said, not bothering to elaborate. It’d take way too long.
“That’s just great ,” Jason said. “So we have to stop them without killing them. Anyone got a really big piece of flypaper?”
“We’re outnumbered four to one,” Piper said. “Plus...” She grabbed Leo’s wrist and checked his watch. “We have twenty minutes until Bunker Nine explodes.”
“It’s impossible,” Jason summed up.
“We’re dead,” Piper agreed.
I was about to voice my thoughts that we were utterly doomed when I noticed Leo’s extreme thinking face, the one he got when he had an insane idea that was so crazy it just might work.
“I’ve got it,” he said. “Jason, you’ll have to find Buford. You know which way he went. Circle back and find him, then bring him to the bunker, quick! Once you’re far enough from the Maenads, maybe you can control the winds again. Then you can fly.”
Jason frowned. “What about you three?”
“We’re going to lead the Maenads out of your way,” Leo said, “straight to Bunker Nine.”
Piper coughed. “Excuse me, but isn’t Bunker Nine about to explode?”
“Yes, but if I can get the Maenads inside, I have a way to take care of them.”
Jason looked skeptical. “Even if you can, I’ll still have to find Buford and get the syncopator back to you in twenty minutes, or you, Ziya, Piper, and a dozen crazy nymphs will blow up.”
“Trust me,” Leo said. “And it’s nineteen minutes now.”
“I love this plan!” I said. “Psycho nymphs, imminent death, twelve percent of a plan. And it’s only Sunday!”
Piper leaned over and kissed Jason. “In case I explode. Please hurry.”
Jason didn’t even respond. He bolted into the woods.
“Come on,” Leo said. “Let’s invite the Maenads over to my place.”
Notes:
I can’t believe there’s only three more chapters. 👀
Thanks for reading! 💖💖💖
Chapter 61: Party Maenads in the House Tonight~!
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Notes:
As I upload this, we are at exactly 2500 hits 🫢
Also, band camp for 13 hours a day is so much fun. 😀
This chapter is from Leo’s POV.
Word Count: 2211
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
I’d had the rare chance of playing a few games in the woods before, but even Camp Half-Blood’s full combat version wasn’t nearly as dangerous as running from Maenads. Piper, Ziya, and I retraced our steps in the fading sunlight. Our breath steamed.
Occasionally, I’d shout, “Party over here!” to let the Maenads know where we were. It was tricky, because we had to stay far enough ahead to avoid getting caught, but close enough so the Maenads wouldn’t lose our trail.
Occasionally I heard startled cries as the Maenads happened across some unfortunate monster or nature spirit. Once a blood-chilling shriek pierced the air, followed by a sound like a tree getting destroyed by an army of savage chipmunks.
I tripped. I figured some poor dryad had just gotten their life source shredded to splinters. I knew nature spirits got reincarnated, but that death cry was still the most awful thing I’d ever heard.
“Unbelievers!” Babette shouted through the woods. “Come celebrate with us!”
She sounded much closer now. My instincts told me to just keep running. Forget Bunker 9. Ziya, Piper, and I could make it to the edge of the blast zone if we ran hard and fast enough.
And then what… leave Jason to die? Let the Maenads blow up so I could suffer the curse of Dionysus? And would the explosion even kill Maenads? What if they survived and kept searching for Dionysus? Eventually, they’d stumble across the cabins and the other campers. No, that wasn’t an option. I had to protect my friends. I could still save the Argo II .
“Over here!” I yelled. “Party at my house!”
I grabbed Ziya and Piper’s hands and sprinted for the bunker.
I could hear the Maenads closing fast— bare feet running across the grass, branches snapping, juice goblets shattering against rocks.
“Almost there.” Piper pointed through the woods. A hundred yards ahead rose a sheer limestone cliff that marked the entrance to Bunker 9.
My heart felt like a combustion chamber going critical, but we made it to the cliff. I slapped my hand against the limestone. Fiery lines burned across the cliff face, slowly forming the outline of a massive door.
“Come on! Come on!” I urged.
Ziya gasped for breath, a strand of hair peeking out from under her hijab.
I made the mistake of glancing back. Only a stone’s throw away, the first Maenad appeared out of the woods. Her eyes were pure red. She grinned with a mouth full of fangs, then slashed her talon fingernails at the nearest tree and sliced it in half. Little tornadoes of leaves swirled around her as if even the air were going crazy.
“Come, demigods!” she called. “Join me in the revels!”
Her words buzzed in my ears. Whoa, boy. Golden Rule for Demigods: Thou shalt not Hokey Pokey with psychos. Still, I took a step toward the Maenad.
“Stop, Leo.” Piper’s charmspeak broke through the fog, freezing me in place. “It’s the madness of Dionysus affecting you. You don’t want to die.”
I took a shaky breath. “Yeah. They’re getting stronger. We’ve got to hurry.”
Finally, the bunker doors opened. The Maenad snarled. Her friends emerged from the woods, and together they charged.
“Turn around!” Piper called to them in her most persuasive voice. “We’re fifty yards behind you!”
It was a ridiculous suggestion, but the charmspeak momentarily worked. The Maenads turned and ran back the way they’d come, then stumbled to a halt, looking confused.
We ducked inside the bunker.
“Close the door?” Ziya asked.
“No. We want them inside.”
“We do ?” Piper questioned. “What’s the plan?”
“Plan. Right. Plan, plan, plan…” My brain was still foggy. We had thirty seconds, tops, before the Maenads poured in. The Argo II ’s engine would explode in— I checked my watch— oh, god, twelve minutes?
“What can we do? How do we help?” Ziya asked.
This was my territory. I couldn’t let the Maenads win.
From the nearest worktable, I snatched a bronze control box with a single red button. I handed it to Ziya. “I need two minutes. You and Piper climb the catwalks. Piper, distract the Maenads like you did outside, okay? When I shout the order, wherever you are, push that button. But not before I say.”
“What does it do?” Ziya asked.
“Nothing yet. I have to set the trap.”
“Two minutes.” Piper nodded grimly. “You got it.”
They ran to the nearest ladder, Ziya hesitating slightly, and began to climb while I raced off down the aisle, snatching things from tool chests and supply cabinets. I grabbed machine parts and wires. I threw switches and activated time-delay sensors on the bunker’s interior control panels. I didn’t think about what I was doing any more than a pianist thinks about where his fingers are landing on the keyboard. I just flew through the bunker, bringing all the pieces together.
I heard the Maenads rushing into the bunker. For a moment, they stopped in amazement, oohing and aahing at the vast cavern full of shiny stuff,
“Where are you?” Babette called. “My fake lord Dionysus! Party with us!”
I tried to shut out her voice. I heard Piper, somewhere in the catwalks above, call out: “How about we square dance? Turn to the left!”
The Maenads shrieked in confusion.
“Grab a partner!” Piper shouted. “Swing her around!”
More cires and shrieking and a few CLANGS as some of the Maenads apparently swung each other into heavy metal objects.
“Stop it!” Babette yelled. “Do not grab a partner! Grab that demigod!”
Piper shouted a few more commands, but she seemed to be losing her sway.
I heard feet banging on the rungs of ladders.
“Leo?” Ziya yelled. “Has it been two minutes?”
“Just a sec!” I found the last thing I needed— a quilt-sized stack of shimmering golden fabric. I fed the metallic cloth into the nearest pneumatic tube and pulled the lever. Done— assuming the plan worked.
I ran to the middle of the bunker, right in front of the Argo II , and yelled, “Hey! Here I am!” I held out my arms and grinned. “Come on! Party with me!”
I glanced at the counter on the ship’s engine. 06:32 . I wished I hadn’t looked.
The Maenads climbed down the ladders and began circling me warily. I danced and sang random television theme songs, hoping it would make them hesitate. I needed all the Maenads together before I sprung the trap.
“Sing along!” I said.
The Maenads snarled. Their blood-red eyes looked angry and annoyed. Their wreaths of snakes hissed. Their thyrsus rods gloweed with purple fire. Babette was the last to join the party. When she saw me alone, unarmed and dancing, she laughed with delight.
“You are wise to accept your fate,” she said. “The real Dionysus would be pleased.”
“Yeah, about that,” I said. “I think there’s a reason he changed his number. You guys aren’t followers. You’re crazy rabid stalkers. You haven’t found him because he doesn’t want you to.”
“Lies!” Babette said. “We are the spirits of the wine god! He is proud of us!”
“Sure,” I said. “I’ve got some crazy relatives too. I don’t blame Mr. D.”
“Kill him!” Babette shrieked.
“Wait!” I held up my hands. “You can kill me, but you want this to be a real party, don’t you?”
As I’d hoped, the Maenads wavered.
“Party?” Candy and Buffy asked.
“Oh, yeah!” I looked up and shouted to the catwalks: “Ziya? It’s time to crank things up!”
For three incredibly long seconds, nothing happened. I just stood there grinning at a dozen frenzied nymphs who wanted to dice me into bite-sized demigods cubes.
Then the whole bunker whirred to life. All around the Maenads, pipes rose from the floor and blew purple steam. The pneumatic tube system spit out metal shavings like glitter confetti. The magic banner above us shimmered and changed to read ‘WELCOME, SICO NIMFS!’
Dammit. I knew that looked wrong.
Music blared from the sound system— the Rolling Stones, my mom’s favorite band. Then the winch system swung into place, and a mirrored ball began to descend right over my head.
On the catwalk above, Ziya stared down at the chaos she’d wrought with the push of a button, and her jaw dropped. Piper looked down in awe. Even the Maenads looked impressed by my instant party.
Given a few more minutes, I could’ve done much better— a laser show, pyrotechnics, maybe some appetizers and a drink machine. But for two minutes’ work, it wasn’t bad. A few Maenads began to square dance. One did the Hokey Pokey.
Only Babette looked unaffected. “What trick is this?” she demanded. “You do not party for Dionysus!”
“Oh, no?” I glanced up. The mirrored ball was almost within reach. “You haven’t seen my final trick.”
The ball opened up. A grappling hook dropped down, and I jumped for it.
“Get him!” Babette yelled. “Maenads, attack!”
Thankfully, she had trouble getting their attention. Piper started calling down square dancing instructions again, confusing them with odd commands. “Turn left, turn right, bonk your head, sit down, stand up, fall down dead!”
The pulley lifted me in the air as the Maenads swarmed underneath me, gathering in a nice compact cluster. Babette leaped at me, her claws just missing my feet.
“Now!” I muttered to myself, praying that my timer was set accurately.
BLAM! The nearest pneumatic tube shot a curtain of golden mesh over the Maenads, covering them like a parachute. A perfect shot.
The Maenads struggled against the net. They tried pushing it off, cutting the ropes with their teeth and fingernails, but as they punched and kicked and struggled, the net simply changed shape, hardening into a cubical cage of glittered gold.
I grinned. “Ziya, hit the button again!”
She did. The music died, and the party ended.
I dropped from the hook onto the top of my newly made cage. I stomped on the roof, just to be sure, but it felt as hard as titanium.
“Let us out!” Babette shrieked. “What evil magic is this?”
She slammed against the woven bars, but even her superstrength was no match for the golden material. The other Maenads hissed and screamed and banged on the cage with their thyrsus rods.
I jumped to the ground. “This is my party now, ladies. That cage is made from Hephaestian netting, a little recipe my dad cooked up. Maybe you’ve heard the story. He caught his wife Aphrodite cheating on him with Ares, so Hephaestus threw a golden net over them and put them on display. They stayed trapped until my dad decided to let them out. That netting right there? That’s made from the same stuff. If two gods couldn’t escape it, you don’t stand a chance.”
I seriously hoped I was right about that. The furious Maenads raged around their prison, climbing over each other and trying to rip through the mesh with no success.
Ziya and Piper slid down the ladder and joined me. “Leo, you are amazing ,” Piper said.
“Correction, you are beyond amazing,” Ziya said, her eyes shining, grin spread wide. “But—”
“Yes, I know I spelled ‘psycho nymphs’ wrong,” I sighed, failing to not smile. “And I know I’m amazing, thank you.” I glanced at the digital display next to the ship’s engine, and my heart sank, “For about two more minutes. Then I stop being amazing.”
“Shit.” Ziya’s face fell. “We need to get out of here!”
I heard a familiar sound from the bunker entrance: a puff of steam, the creak of gears, and the clink-clank of metal legs running across the floor.
“Buford!” I called. The automated table chuffed toward me, whirring and clacking its drawers.
Jason walked in behind him, grinning. “Waiting for us?”
I hugged the little worktable. “I’m so sorry, Buford. I promise I’ll never take you for granted again. Only Lemon Pledge with extra-moisturizing formula, my friend. Anytime you want it!”
Buford puffed steam happily.
“Um, Leo?” Piper urged. “The explosion?”
“Right!” I opened Buford’s front drawer and grabbed the syncopator. I ran to the combustion chamber. Twenty-three seconds. Oh, good. No rush.
I’d only get one chance to do this right. I carefully fitted the syncopator into place. I closed the combustion chamber and held my breath. The engine started to hum. The glass cylinders glowed with heat. If I hadn’t been immune to fire, I was pretty sure I would’ve gotten a nasty sunburn.
The ship’s hull shuddered. The whole bunker seemed to tremble.
“Leo?” Jason asked tightly.
“Hold on.”
“Let us out!” Babette screeched in her golden cage. “If you destroy us, Dionysus will make you suffer!”
“He’ll probably send us a thank-you card,” Ziya grumbled. “But it won’t matter, we’ll all be dead!”
The combustion chamber opened its various chambers with a click, click, click . Super dangerous liquids and gasses flowed into the syncopator. The engine shuddered. Then the heat subsided, and the shaking calmed down to a comfortable purr.
I put my hand on the hull, now thrumming with the magical energy. Buford snuggled affectionately against my leg and puffed steam.
“That’s right, Buford.” I turned proudly to my friends. “That is the sound of an engine not exploding.”
Notes:
Thanks for reading! 💖💖
Chapter 62: Confessions
Chapter by RandomFanEnby
Summary:
We stared at each other, fighting laughs. Ziya’s eyes sparkled with mirth in the starlight. Her lips curled in a smirk, as if daring me to quip back. They looked so soft and— when had she put on red lipstick?
Notes:
One chapter to go! 🤩
This chapter is from Leo’s POV.
Word Count: 1492
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
I didn’t realize how stressed I’d been until I passed out.
When I woke up, I was lying on a cot near the Argo II . The entire Hephaestus cabin was there. They (and Ziya) had gotten the engine levels stabilized and were all expressing their amazement at my genius.
Once I was back on my feet, Ziya pulled me aside and promised none of them had told anyone just how close the shop had come to exploding. No one would ever know about the huge mistake that almost vaporized the woods.
Still, I couldn’t stop trembling. I’d almost ruined everything. To calm myself down, I pulled out the Lemon Pledge and carefully polished Buford. Then I took the spare syncopator and locked it in a supply cabinet that did not have legs. Just in case. Buford could be temperamental.
An hour later, Chiron and Argus arrived from the Big House to take care of the Maenads.
Argus, the head of security, seemed embarrassed to find that a dozen dangerous Maenads had infiltrated his territory unnoticed. Argus never spoke, but he blushed brightly and all the eyes on his body stared at the floor.
Chiron looked more annoyed than concerned. He stared down at the Maenads. “Oh, them again. Hello, Babette.”
“We will destroy you!” Babette shrieked. “We will dance with you, feed you yummy appetizers, party with you until the wee hours, and rip you to pieces!”
“Uh-huh.” Chiron looked unimpressed. He turned to me and my friends. “Well done, you four. The last time these girls came looking for Dionysus, they caused quite a nuisance. You caught them before they could get out of hand. Dionysus will be pleased they’ve been captured.”
“So they do annoy him?” I asked.
“Absolutely,” Chiron said. “Mr. D despises his fan club almost as much as he despises demigods.”
“We are not a fan club!” Babette wailed. “We are his followers, his chosen, his special ones!”
“Uh-huh,” Chiron said again.
“So…” Ziya shifted uneasily. “Bacchus wouldn’t have minded if we had to destroy them?”
“Oh, no, he would mind,” Chiron said. “They’re still his followers, even if he hates them. If you hurt them, Dionysus would be forced to drive you insane or kill you. Probably both. So, well done.” He looked at Argus. “Same plan as last time?”
Argus nodded. He gestured at Lawrence, who drove a forklift over and loaded up the cage.
“What will you do with them?” Jason asked.
Chiron smiled kindly. “We’ll send them to a place where they feel at home. We’ll load them on a bus to Atlantic City.”
“Ouch,” I said. “Doesn’t that place have enough problems?”
“Not to worry,” Chiron promised. “The Maenads will get the partying out of their systems very quickly. They’ll wear themselves out and fade away until next year. They always seem to show up around winter time. Quite annoying.”
The Maenads were carted off. Chiron and Argus headed back to the Big House, and my campers helped me lock up Bunker 9 for the night.
Usually, I worked into the early hours, but I decided I’d done enough for one day. After all, it was three days until Ziya’s birthday, and two days to the party. I had to make sure everything went according to plan, and that couldn’t happen if I was bone-dead tired.
Camp Half-Blood didn’t really celebrate mortal holidays, but everyone was in a good mood at the campfire. All the couples were snuggling up next to the fire.
Gross, the childish part of my brain said.
Shut up, said the part that was currently imagining snuggling with Ziya.
We listened to the sing-along songs and watched sparks from the fire curl up toward the stars.
“You saved my hide again, guys,” I said. “Thank you.”
Jason smiled. “Anything for you, Valdez. You sure the Argo II will be safe now?”
“Safe? No. But she’s not in danger of exploding. Probably.”
Ziya laughed and leaned into my side. “Great. I feel much better.” It took all my concentration not to let my hair set on fire.
We stayed at the campfire until the song leader from Apollo cabin suggested we all do the Hokey Pokey.
“Nope! I’m out!” Ziya leaped out of her seat. “Good night to you all, Happy Valentine’s or whatever. You two,” she pointed at Jason and Piper. “No funny business. If you do, use protection.”
Jason blushed bright red. I snorted, and Piper swatted her leg.
“I think I’m gonna head to bed, too,” I said. I held out my arm to Ziya. “May I escort you back to your abode, mi dulce doncella ?”
“I have no idea what you called me, but sure,” Ziya laughed, taking my arm.
We walked in silence, admiring the stars. They were much clearer than should have been possible near New York City.
“Three days,” I said.
“Hmm?”
“Your birthday is in three days,” I repeated. “Counting the day of.”
“Oh. That close, huh?” She looked off into the woods.
“You okay?”
She hesitated. “Do you ever feel like the minute you allow yourself something good, it’s going to be taken away?”
My stomach twisted. “What’s got you thinking that?”
“You didn’t answer.”
I stared at her. “Sometimes. And then you tell me the world isn’t that cruel.”
She scoffed under her breath. “Then I’m an idiot.”
“Wha— Hey, what’s going on?” She didn’t answer, pulling away from me. “Seriously, Ziya, you’re scaring me.”
“I’m sorry, I’m—”Her voice caught in her throat. She took a deep breath. “Sorry. I’m— I’m just catastrophizing. Again. It’s been a long time since I’ve felt this… safe. And I guess I feel like it’s going to go away any second.”
We reached the door of Cabin 11. “Can I ask…?”
Ziya lightly scratched her arm. “I think I was eight. Or nine. I’m not really sure. But I had a nightmare that the house caught fire, so I always made sure to check that all the candles were put out and the stove was turned off. And the one time—” Her voice caught. “The one time I didn’t check.” She took a shuddering breath. “Waking up to a shrieking fire alarm was one of the scariest things I’d ever… And then mom rushed me outside, and I remembered that Evan was deaf.”
Oh. “Jesus,” I whispered.
“And then the fucking roof collapsed!” She laughed through her sobs. “So now you know where that came from!” She wiped at her cheeks fruitlessly. “And then the firemen brought his body out and mom just… She shut down after that. She couldn’t take care of herself anymore, let alone me. Our neighbor called CPS, and I kept getting shipped around. Until Ms. Carson—” She fully broke down.
“That’s just… God, Ziya, I’m so sorry… Can I hug you?” She nodded. I pulled her in, and she buried her face into my chest, shivering. “I know exactly how you feel. My mom… Gaea showed up and I just… I lost control… It wasn’t your fault.”
“It wasn’t your fault either.” Her voice was muffled.
For the first time in years, I felt... “You know what? I think I can actually believe that.” Relief.
“Good,” Ziya murmured. “I’m going to kill her for fucking with you and killing your mom.”
“I believe that, too. It’s going to be magnificent .”
We giggled through tears.
“Thank you, Leo,” Ziya said. “You— being with you— it helps.” We stood in silence for a while. “I have to get to bed.”
“Do you?”
“Unfortunately.”
“You don’t have to sleep in the Hermes cabin. I have my own room, you know. We can have a sleepover!”
Ziya grinned, tears finally subsided. “Trying to get me alone? Sleeping in the same enclosed space ? Absolutely scandalous. What would Hedge say?”
“‘Congrats’?”
Ziya pulled away, laughing. “I think you’re confusing Hedge and Piper.” She glanced back at the cabin, frowning slightly at the soft light coming from the windows. She turned back to me with a smile. “Maybe another night. I don’t want Travis to worry.”
“Right, yeah. I should get going then. Don’t want him coming out here yelling at you for being up past your bedtime.”
“He’d yell at you for being out past curfew, young man.”
We stared at each other, fighting laughs. Ziya’s eyes sparkled with mirth in the starlight. Her lips curled in a smirk, as if daring me to quip back. They looked so soft and— when had she put on red lipstick?
My heart slammed up my throat. I coughed, finally breaking eye contact. “I should, uh… I should let you get to bed. I’ll see you tomorrow, yeah?” Without waiting for a response, I turned to leave.
Ziya’s hand wrapped around my wrist, lightly tugging me down. She kissed the corner of my mouth, smiling softly. “Good night, Leo.”
It was only after she closed the door that the moment registered, and my nose caught fire.
Notes:
A lot of stuff happens in a very small word count next chapter, so be prepared for that.
Thanks for reading! 💖
Chapter 63: Time for a Nap!
Summary:
WAKE UP WAKE UP FIND LEO WAKE UP
Notes:
Jam is a liar. He said he’d beta read for me, and then read half of the chapters after they’d been posted. smh
This chapter is from Ziya’s POV.
Word Count: 906
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
I closed the door, beaming and trying not to squeal as my heart spluttered in my chest. Piper would squeal plenty tomorrow when I told her.
A prickle settled on the back of my neck. The silence of the cabin was deafening. There should have been at least a few kids back, the little ones and a few older campers.
I summoned my sword. Something was wrong. I moved slowly through the cabin, checking under the bunks for anything suspicious. The only slightly ‘off’ thing was the bag of weed under Connor’s bed. I’ll need to have a chat with him about securing his stash better. The bathrooms were clear, too. There weren't any signs of life anywhere.
Something shifted, and my breath hitched. Juno stepped out from behind a bunk, emitting the same soft glow I’d seen from outside.
“Hello, Ziya.”
“Juno? What are you doing here?” She smiled, almost sad. Something clicked. “No. No, not that. Please .” My throat constricted.
“I’m truly sorry, my dear.”
“ Why ?” My voice came out strangled, but I plowed through anyway. “They’ve already got Percy Jackson, why can’t I stay here?”
She shook her head. “You don’t belong here, dear. Not completely. And you need to learn of your other brethren first hand. Gain their trust.”
“But…”
“I hope that despite what you’ve heard of me, you still believe that I would not ask this of you if it were not absolutely necessary. You are vital to our victory, Ziya Rayyan.”
“Why does it have to be me ? Why now ?”
“You know of your father, yes?”
I let out a shuddering breath. The strange voice giving me medical knowledge, the scary accuracy with throwing knives, even the wolf thing... “Apollo.”
She nodded. “You know, he didn’t really change much when we moved to Rome. You are in a unique position, Ziya Rayyan.”
The weight of her words settled on my shoulders. “What… what do you mean? That I’m not… I’m not Greek or Roman?”
“Apollo is…” Juno trailed off. “He is a special case amongst us gods. From what he has told me—”
“You talked to him?” Fury built in my throat. “He still doesn’t have the decency to talk to me himself? To explain anything?”
“It is not time, dear child. One day—”
“NO! I’m so sick and tired of being ignored! He did fuck-all for sixteen years, if he wants to say something to me, he can say it himself!”
Juno nodded solemnly. “Very well.”
I watched as the clock on the wall ticked to midnight. Dread settled in my stomach. “Do I get to say goodbye?”
Juno didn’t answer.
My heart swelled in my throat as tears threatened to fall for the second time that night. “Can’t I just have a few more days? Please?”
She shook her head. “I’m afraid it’s time to go, Ziya Rayyan.”
I struggled to breathe through the panic and rage and turned to the door. No no no not yet get to Leo find Leo not yet please Leo get up you have to get up Find Leo get up wake up you have to wake up Find Leo wake up wake up wake up wAKE UP WAKE UP FIND LEO WAKE UP WAKE UP FIND LEO WAKE UP–
“LEO!” I jolted up, chest heaving and red curls falling in my face. An old, ruined mansion loomed out of the mist. An empty reflecting pool sat in the middle of a courtyard, the manor framing it in a ‘u’ shape.
The hair on the back of my neck rose. Something was behind me.
In an instant, I had a sword at the boy’s throat. “Who are you?”
His bronze sword was tight in his hand. “I could ask you the same. What’s going on?”
“I–”
“I’m afraid it’s time to go.”
I lowered my sword. “No. No, that can’t be…” I looked up at the sky. “WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO ME, YOU BITCH?!”
The boy glared at me. “Do you know who did this?”
“Juno.” The name fell off my tongue. “She– she did something I don’t…”
“Who are you?” The boy leveled his sword at me. “And why can’t I remember anything?”
“I…” I reached for my name, but it wasn’t there. Nothing was there.
Leo.
“I don’t know,” I whispered. “I don’t know my own name. Why don’t I know my own name?”
“Once again, I could ask the same.” The boy finally lowered his sword. “Where are we?”
“I have no idea.”
‘Ziya Rayyan. Perseus Jackson.’
‘ Who’s there?’
A wolf stepped out of the shadows of the mansion. ‘ My name is Lupa.’
‘...What?’
“Okay, why are you staring at the wolf? Are we fighting it, or what?”
I glanced at him. “You can’t understand her?”
“You can?”
‘ That is one of your many gifts, Lycegenes.’
“Lycegenes?” I repeated.
“Is that your name?”
I hesitated. “No,” I decided. “I think it’s more of a title.”
Lupa inclined her head. ‘It was an old epithet of your father’s, now passed on to you. Your name is Ziya Rayyan. The boy is Perseus Jackson.’
“Her name is Lupa. She says my name is Ziya Rayyan, and you’re Perseus Jackson.”
“Percy,” he corrected, seemingly instinctually. “Why are we here? Why can’t I remember anything?”
Lupa tilted her head. ‘You have a great purpose. A destiny. I’m sorry children, but it must be this way. As the Fates decree. ’
Notes:
:D
The first chapter for “My Papa Taught Me How to Howl” (set during The Son of Neptune) will be posted on August 30. See you then!
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