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Chapter Text

Eden awoke late in the afternoon to the sun shining in the window of the Hermes cabin. Nearly all of the other campers were already out and about doing their daily activities. Eden, however, preferred to stay in and get her beauty sleep.

She groggily got out of her bed and stumbled towards the bathroom to get ready. Seeing as most campers had been claimed after the war, she had moved from her spot on the floor to a recently vacant bed. Most campers, meaning everyone but her.

After Percy Jackson made his deal with the gods, all of the unclaimed became claimed by their godly parents, but for some reason, her parent decided to go against their oath and leave her ignored.

After dressing in some stylish two-toned jean shorts and a striped halter top, Eden walked out of cabin eleven and stood in front of the door.

Camp Half-Blood had been her home since she was eleven, when her dad had been brutally murdered by some homophobic hooligans lurking around the pride parade. Yes, her dad was bisexual, and if you had a problem with that then go away.

While Eden wasn't too emotionally attached to the place, she did appreciate how homey it was. The new omega shape of cabins was far more aesthetically pleasing than a regular old U, and the Big House radiated safety (except for the attic where the Oracle used to reside, she had heard from other campers that it was creepy). The dining pavilion and amphitheater had some good memories, she supposed. Her favorite part of camp, though, was the strawberry fields.

Her father was all about strawberries, so the smell that lingered around camp always gave her a sense of safety.

The sound of swords clanging brought Eden out of her thoughts, making her flinch. Swords were scary in her opinion, and even though she had heard the sound countless times, it still made her flinch.

"Look out!"

"Hey, what's that?"

"It's headed for the lake!"

"Hey Will, isn't that your chariot?"

Eden looked up into the sky and saw something hurdling down at an alarming rate, aiming for the lake. She realized with a start that it was the Apollo cabin's chariot, and that half of it was on fire. Eden ran towards the edge of the lake to join the already large crowd.

The chariot hit the water with a large splash! and splattered the front row with droplets. A burly kid Eden recognized to be Butch from the Iris cabin resurfaced immediately and began to cut the pegasi free from their reins. Annabeth Chase, a muscular tan teenager with bright blonde hair and striking blue eyes, and a slender latino boy with curly brown hair and brown eyes were thrown out of the lake and dried off with giant blow dryers. A moment later, a native american girl with choppy brown hair and multicolored eyes was hurled onto shore and also dried,

The three unknown people looked at the crowd apprehensively, like the campers were going to attack them.

The wrecked chariot was thrown up by the naiads, landing on the shore and making a bunch of noises that were probably not good.

"Annabeth!" Will Solace, head of Apollo cabin, pushed passed me. "I said you could borrow the chariot, not destroy it!"

"Will, I'm sorry," Annabeth sighed. "I'll get it fixed, I promise."

Will scowled at his broken chariot. Then he sized up the newbies. "These are the ones? Way older than thirteen. Why haven't they been claimed already?"

Eden wanted to pipe in that she was definitely older than thirteen and she was not claimed, but the attention that would give her would be scary.

"Claimed?" The elf asked.

Before Annabeth could explain, Will said, "Any sign of Percy?"

"No," Annabeth admitted.

Percy Jackson was the camp hero, for he had saved the demigods too many times to count. Around three days ago, he had mysteriously disappeared from his cabin overnight and sent the camp into a frenzy. The crowd grumbled and whispered underneath their breaths. Everyone was hoping he would be found after Annabeth claimed Hera sent her a dream, for it would mean everyone could be at peace again.

Drew Tanaka, the camp mean girl and daughter of Aphrodite, stepped forward. "Well," the girl said, "I hope they're worth the trouble."

The elf snorted. "Gee, thanks. What are we, your new pets?"

"No kidding," Blondie said. "How about some answers before you start judging us—like, what is this place, why are we here, how long do we have to stay?"

"Jason," Annabeth said, "I promise we'll answer your questions. And Drew"—she frowned at the glamour girl—"all demigods are worth saving.But I'll admit, the trip didn't accomplish what I hoped."

"Hey," The girl with feathers in her hair 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?"

Feather girl stepped forward, raising her arm as if to smack her, but Annabeth said, "Piper, stop."

Piper stopped, because no one in their right mind would disobey the stern daughter of Athena.

"We need to make our new arrivals feel welcome," Annabeth announced, with 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?" Piper asked. Suddenly there was a collective gasp. Eden backed up, startled. The whole group was bathed in a red orange light. Floating over elf boy's head was a blazing holographic image—a fiery hammer.

"That," Annabeth said, "is claiming."

"What'd I do?" Elf boy backed toward 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 inflames with his head.

"This can't be good," Butch muttered. "The curse—"

"Butch, shut up," Annabeth said.

Butch was right, of course. Hephaestus cabin had been struggling ever since the titan war. Nearly all of their inventions had failed, and each child had at least one injury to show it.

"Leo, you've just been claimed—"

"By a god," Jason interrupted. "That's the symbol of Vulcan, isn't it?"

Vulcan? Eden recognized the name from when she accidentally picked up a book on the Roman gods, and that had been the first page.

"Jason," Annabeth said carefully, "how did you know that?"

"I'm not sure."

"Vulcan?" Leo demanded. "I don't even LIKE Star Trek. What are you talking about?"

"Vulcan is the Roman name for Hephaestus," Annabeth said, "the god of blacksmiths and fire."

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 the son of Apollo. "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." Will put a hand on his shoulder and steered him off toward the cabins.

Eden giggled at the joke- she wasn't a fan of star trek herself, but it was funny nonetheless- but stopped when the campers around her sent dirty looks.

Annabeth turned her attention back to Jason. She studied him more like he was a complicated blueprint. Finally she said, "Hold out your arm."

Eden had to stand on her tippy toes look at the boys arm. The tattoo didn't look familiar in any sense. It was a dozen straight lines in a bar code fashion, an eagle, and the letters SPQR. They were colored a very dark black. Whatever they were, they made Eden uncomfortable.

"I've never seen marks like this," Annabeth said. "Where did you get them?"

Jason shook his head. "I'm getting really tired of saying this, but I don't know."

"They look burned into your skin," Annabeth noticed.

"They were," Jason said. Then he winced as if his head was aching. "I mean...I think so. I don't remember."

"He needs 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."

Seeing as there was nothing interesting left in the conversation, Eden walked off to start her day.

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Eden went to dinner sweaty from her workout. If there was one thing she wasn't afraid of, it was being sweaty in front of other people. She was at an outdoor camp where everyone was constantly testing their strength, everyone else would be sweaty too.

Eden sat next to one of the new campers, Jason Grace, at the Hermes cabin. He looked awkward, almost out of place. Eden was sure that was how he felt, at least, because who didn't feel that way when they found out Greek myths were actually true and they were a child of a god?

When everyone stood up to offer a portion of their meal to the gods, Jason looked around confused.

"We offer some of our food to the gods every meal. It seems weird, but they like the smell." Eden told him shyly. He gave her a nod of thanks and they didn't talk for the rest of the meal.

Eden's least favorite part of the day had to be the campfire. The whole camp gathered in the small Amphitheater to sing to a magical fire pit. It made her uncomfortable to be so close to the other campers when it was full during the summer, and the growing fire seemed far to close. Usually she sat at the very top row, despite her fear of heights, as far away from the other campers as possible. She snatched her spot underneath the caduceus banner and settled in to listen.

Eden watched the rest of the campers sing about a grandma getting dressed in armor with a sickened look on her face. When the song was over, however, she joined in on the claps because it was finally over.

Chiron the centaur trotted up to the middle to make the daily announcements. "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 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 the kids who were dressed in full 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.

"However," Chiron said, "until the dragon is brought under control, that won't be possible. Cabin Nine, anything to report on that?"

"We're working on it." More grumbling.

"How, Nyssa?" an Ares kid demanded.

"Really hard," the girl said. Nyssa sat down to a lot of yelling and complaining, which caused the fire to sputter chaotically. Eden felt for Nyssa, because she certainly wouldn't have had the guts to stand up and deliver bad news to a bunch of angry teenagers.

Chiron stamped his hoof against the fire pit stones— bang, bang, bang —and the campers fell silent. "We will have to be patient," Chiron said. "In the meantime, we have more pressing matters to discuss."

"Percy?" someone asked.

The fire dimmed even further. Eden hoped the boys disappearance didn't mean anything too bad, because Eden couldn't take any more danger. The titan war had been the worst day of her life, and she still had terrible nightmares about the large army of monsters.

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?" Drew called out from the Aphrodite section. This surprised Eden, because Drew was never one to even pay attention, much less say something intelligent.

"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 three new demigods in one day. I mean, something weird is going on. The Great Prophecy has started, right?"

Eden looked down at Rachel Elizabeth Dare, the new oracle. If anyone knew the answer to the question, it was her.

"Well?" Drew called down. "You're the oracle. Has it started or not?"

Rachel's eyes looked scary in the firelight. She stepped forward calmly and addressed the camp. "Yes," she said. "The Great Prophecy has begun."

Eden was sure her heart had stopped. The only thing to make it start beating again was the fact that it wouldn't involve her. Why should it, when she had stood around unnoticed while Percy and his crew saved the world?

When the talking finally subsided, Rachel took another step toward the audience, and fifty-plus demigods leaned away from her, Eden included, 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. His eyes looked wild, like he'd just been tasered .Even Rachel seemed caught off guard. "J-Jason?" she said. "What's—"

"Ut cum spiritu postrema sacramentum dejuremus," he chanted. "Et hostes ornamenta addent ad ianuam necem."

Eden shifted in her seat. Jason had obviously spoken Latin, but she was only fluent in ancient Greek.

"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 Aphrodite cabin. But it didn't do much to break the tension. The campfire was burning a chaotic, nervous shade of green. Jason sat down, looking embarrassed, but Annabeth put a hand on his shoulder and muttered something reassuring.

Rachel Dare still looked a little shaken. She glanced 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. "So, yeah, that's the Great Prophecy. We hoped it might not happen for 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. Some are not here."

'Not you' Eden thought to herself. 'You aren't that important'

"I'm here! Oh...were you calling roll?"

"Go back to sleep, Clovis," someone yelled, and a lot of people laughed.

"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 murmured.

Maybe he didn't mean everyone to overhear, but they did. The campfire immediately turned dark purple.

"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."

Shocked silence. Then fifty demigods started talking at once. Eden's mind was shouting at her, 'You aren't important, this doesn't involve you!'

Chiron pounded his hoof again, but Rachel still had to wait before she could get back their attention. She told them about 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 them about Piper passing out in Hera's cabin. Finally Rachel told them about Jason's vision in the living room of the Big House.

So there was going to be a quest, Eden guessed. Probably with Jason and Piper, and most likely Annabeth. Eden would stay safely at camp and the threat would be gone soon enough. Eden told herself not to worry, but a dark feeling hovered over her.

"Jason," Rachel said. "Um...do you remember your last name?" He looked self-conscious, but he shook his head.

"We'll just call you Jason, then," Rachel said. "It's clear Hera herself has issued you a quest."

Rachel paused, as if giving Jason a chance to protest his destiny. He set his jaw and nodded. "I agree."

"You must save Hera to prevent a great evil," Rachel continued. "Some sort of king from rising. For reasons we don't yet understand, it must happen by the winter 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."

The 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 Ares cabin."If he's so important—"

"He has been claimed," Chiron announced. "Long ago. Jason, give them a demonstration."

At first, Jason didn't seem to understand. He stepped forward nervously, and Eden nearly felt bad for him. She didn't though, because she was bitter that he was already claimed.

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. 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."

Eden was no good with long range weapons, or most short range weapons for that matter. The few times she used a blade, she used a dagger that felt awkward in her hands.

"Dude, I want one!" yelled somebody from Ares cabin.

"Better than Clarisse's electric spear, Lamer!" one of his brothers agreed.

"Electric," Jason murmured, like that was a good idea. "Back away." Annabeth and Rachel got the message. Jason raised his javelin, and thunder broke open the sky.

Lightning arced down through the golden spear point and hit the campfire with the force of an artillery shell.

Eden shrieked, and brought her hands up to protect her body. When the smoke subsided, she had to blink the spots out of her eyes to see the destruction. Cinders rained down everywhere, and everyone was covered in a layer of ash from the extinguished fire.

Eden looked down at her shirt, seeing that the white lines were tinted gray. "I liked this shirt.." She muttered. If you knew Eden, which no one here did, you would know that the girl is a huge fashionista. Eden's closet could easily rival that of a child of Aphrodite. Some days she dressed in an alternative style, with baggy pants, crop tops, button downs and jackets and other days she wore dressed, skirts and flowery tops.

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."

Eden could hardly refrain from shouting out questions of her own. 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 Eden got the feeling he knew. The old centaur loved to be secretive that way.

"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 green mist started swirling around Rachel's feet. When she opened her eyes, they were glowing. 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,

The forge and dove shall break the cage,

Daughter of bones, help death unleash 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. Eden turned to her, much like the rest of the group. "I mean...does she spew green smoke a lot?"

"Gods, you're dense!" Drew sneered. "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 prophecy definitely isn't normal. If breaking Hera's cage unleashes her rage and causes a bunch of death...why would we free her? It 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."

A girl from Hephaestus cabin stood up—Nyssa, the one with the red bandanna. "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 giants' revenge? What are we dealing with here that's powerful enough to kidnap the queen of the heavens?"

Annabeth took a deep breath. "It's Jason's quest," she announced, "so it's Jason's choice. Obviously, he's the child of lightning. According to tradition, he may choose any two companions, but this prophecy makes it sound like he needs three."

Someone from the Hermes cabin yelled, "Well, you, obviously, Annabeth. You've got the most experience."

"No, Travis," Annabeth said. "First off, I'm not helping Hera. 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?"

"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 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 overland. You'll need air transport. The flying chariot's broken," Nyssa continued, "and the pegasi, we're using them to search for Percy. But maybe Hephaestus cabin can help figure out something else to help. With Jake incapacitated, I'm senior camper. I can volunteer for the quest."

"It's me," Leo stood up and said. His cabin mates 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. Then he smiled. "We started this together, Leo. 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."

"Oh." Suddenly Leo didn't look so excited. Then he remembered everyone was watching. "I mean...Oh, cool! Suffering? I love suffering! Let's do this."

Annabeth nodded. "Then, Jason, you need to choose the third 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."

"No." Piper stepped forward.

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. "Look, fighting is all fine, I suppose. And people who build things..." She looked at Leo in disdain."Well, I suppose 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 murmuring about how Drew was pretty persuasive. While Eden didn't like her, Drew was right. Piper wasn't even a daughter of Aphrodite as far as anyone knew.

"Well..." Annabeth said. "Given the wording of the prophecy—"

"No!" Piper shouted "I'm supposed to go. "

Of course! Drew was useless anyways, and a right pain.

"Get over it!" Drew snapped at the crowd. "What can Piper do?"

Piper was silent.

"Well," Drew said smugly, "I guess that settles it."

Eden frowned as she looked at Piper again, who was now bathed in a reddish glow. Two claimings in one night, and neither was her.

"What?" Piper demanded. She was adorned in a beautiful white sleeveless gown that went down to her ankles, with a V-neck that showed quite a bit of cleavage. Delicate gold armbands circled her biceps. An intricate necklace of amber, coral, and gold flowers glittered on her chest, and her hair was perfect: lush and long and chocolate brown, braided with gold ribbons down one side so it fell across her shoulder. She even wore makeup, subtle touches that made her lips cherry red and brought out all the different colors in her eyes.

"Beautiful," Jason exclaimed. "Piper, you...you're a knockout." He took the words out of everyone's thoughts.

Drew's face was full of horror and revulsion. "No!" she cried. "Not possible!"

"This isn't me," Piper protested. "I—don't understand."

Chiron the centaur folded his front legs and bowed to her, and all the 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."

"Well that settles it, Piper must be the dove. There's still one line left, and it's a little unsettling." Annabeth spoke out. "Daughter of bones must be Hades, but Hades doesn't have any demigod daughters."

Chiron frowned, then sniffed the air. He gazed at the campers, looking at each before settling on Eden. The intensity of his gaze made her squirm.

"I had suspicion, but I would have never thought... it does make sense..." He muttered.

Many campers had followed his gaze, and Eden couldn't stand the attention. Annabeth looked at her before turning back to Chiron. "Chiron? What do you mean?"

And then the strangest thing happened. A small hole opened up in the ground, and a skeletal hand reached out. Another followed, and soon a human skeleton crawled out of the hall and was standing in the middle of the Amphitheater.

A couple campers screamed, while others stood up and drew their weapons.

"Wait," Chiron announced. "Stand down."

The skeleton turned to the stairs, and started climbing up to the top row in my direction. Eden's heart was racing, and her breaths were shallow.

The skeleton creaked and clattered as it made higher, until it was finally standing right in front of the girl.

A dark glow consumed her, and the skeleton held something out. With shaky hands, Eden reached out and picked up what it held. It was a black bracelet, one that would be a perfect fit around her pale wrists. It was nothing much, only a simple skull etched into the metal.

No no no no no... Of all the gods, Eden feared this one the most.

An eerie silence had fallen on the camp. The only thing you could hear was the chirping of bugs in the forest and Eden's quick pants.

"No... this can't be... I-I.." Eden stuttered.

Chiron folded his front legs once again and bowed in her direction.

"Hades," Chiron's tone was grim. "God of the dead, the Rich One, the Silent One. Hail, Eden Duncett, daughter of the Lord of the Underworld."

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first chapter, hope y’all enjoy. i’m new to the website so i’m not sure if i’m doing this right

its also on wattpad

Chapter Text

Eden awoke up to her skull shaped alarm clock that she didn't recall setting blaring at her. She reached out blindly and smacked buttons until it stopped. When she sat up, she looked down confusedly at the blood red sheets until last nights events came rushing back to her.

After the campers reluctantly bowed down to her, they quickly filed out of the Amphitheater, leaving Eden paralyzed from shock, but she still caught snippets of their gossip.

"Who even is she?" from one of the Aphrodite girls.

"She's been in the Hermes cabin so long, I thought she was one of us!" obviously from a Hermes kid.

"Makes sense that she's related to Nico." snickered one of the Apollo kids. ("Hey, I don't think Nico's bad!" said Will Solace)

Chiron briefly spoke to her about something, but she was in too much of a daze to remember what it was about.

One thing she did remember, though, was Annabeth helping her gather her things and move them into cabin thirteen. Though she had never once talked to Eden in her life, she helped the dazed girl sort out her things and pack her for the quest. She probably set the alarm too, because she couldn't have known that Eden slept late.

Now that she had slightly recovered, she was able to finally get a good look around. The room was so dark it made Eden slightly uncomfortable. There were no windows cut into the dark obsidian walls and the only light came from the torches lit with green Greek fire. There were six coffin shaped beds covered in blood red velvet sheets and made out of mahogany wood with brass railings. Each bed had unique carvings, hers with different arrangements of bones. Each coffin had mahogany shelving above it, and cubbies underneath. In one corner there was a shrine covered in bones and jewels, but that was as far as decoration went. Only one other bed seemed in use, and there were a couple camp tees in the shelves above it.

The daughter of Hades dressed in baggy black cargo pants, a striped long sleeve shirt and an orange camp tee on top.

'Wow, really fitting the Hades aethstetic' She thought, looking in the bathroom mirror.

She had just been about to go to the armory to find an okay dagger when Eden remembered the bracelet. Her father didn't seem like the type to give his children random gifts, so it had to have a purpose.

She pulled the jewelry off of her wrist, wanting to examine it. Except as soon as it left Eden's skin, it started to to morph.

Rather than a black skull bracelet, in Eden's hand was a six foot tall black weapon. The very bottom sat nearly flat on the ground, but if you inspected it closely you could see six razor sharp spikes. About five feet up, the metal rod split off into three prongs sitting in a fork fashion. The taller middle prong sat straight while the other two curved. In the middle, the rod curved perfectly to fit her large hands.

Eden hoped to never be on the receiving end of the Stygian Iron trident, because it was terrifying. When she looked closer, she noticed Greek name was carved underneath a skull. αναζητούν οστά it read, which in English meant 'looking for bones'

"Well, a trident doesn't seem very Hades-y but bone-seeker works." Eden said aloud. "Erm, thank you, father." Nothing noticeable happened, but she could've sworn one of the bones on the shrine rattled.

As soon as she touched the trident to her left wrist, it transformed back into the bracelet.

Eden grabbed her packed bag, went to the bathroom, and walked outside her cabin just as an alarm blared. She debated walking back into her cabin, but even her scared self couldn't ignore the satyrs running around screaming 'Don't kill me!'

Half the camp ran out of their cabins, all in a mixture of armor and pajamas. Then Eden saw what the commotion was about- Leo was sitting atop the missing bronze dragon.

She ran into the crowd, muttering apologies as she pushed her way next to Piper.

Leo yelled, "It's cool! Don't shoot!"

Hesitantly, the archers lowered their bows. The warriors backed away, keeping their spears and swords ready. They made a loose wide ring around the metal monster. Other demigods hid behind their cabin doors or peeped out the windows. Nobody seemed anxious to get close.

The dragon was huge. It glistened in the morning sun like a living penny sculpture—different shades of copper and bronze—a sixty-foot-long serpent with steel talons and drill-bit teeth and glowing ruby eyes. It had bat-shaped wings twice its length that unfurled like metallic sails, making a sound like coins cascading out of a slot machine every time they flapped. In other words, it was the epitome of fear. Eden stepped a little behind Piper, admiring the girl for her bravery.

"It's beautiful," Piper muttered. And now Eden stopped admiring the bravery and wondered if the girl was suicidal.

The dragon reared its head and shot a column of fire into the sky. Campers scrambled away and hefted their weapons, but Leo slid calmly off the dragon's back. He held up his hands like he was surrendering, except he still had that crazy grin on his face.

"People of Earth, I come in peace!" he shouted. He looked like he'd been rolling around in the campfire. His army coat and his face were smeared with soot. His hands were grease-stained, and he wore a new tool belt around his waist. His eyes were bloodshot. His curly hair was so oily it stuck up in porcupine quills, and he smelled strangely of Tabasco sauce. Not that Eden would ever admit it, but Leo looked slightly attractive.

"Festus is just saying hello!"

"That thing is dangerous!" an Ares girl shouted, brandishing her spear. "Kill it now!"

"Stand down!" someone ordered. Eden turned to see Jason, Annabeth and Nyssa pushing through the crowd. Jason gazed up at the dragon and shook his head in amazement. "Leo, what have you done?"

"Found a ride!" Leo beamed. "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!" Leo said. "I found them and reattached them."

"But it never had wings. Where did you find them?"

"In...the woods," Leo said. "Repaired his circuits, too, mostly, so no more problems with him going haywire." It didn't seem likely that the wings had just been laying around in the woods, but who was Eden to question?

"Mostly?" Nyssa asked. The dragon's head twitched. It tilted to one side and a stream of black liquid—maybe oil, hopefully just oil—poured out of its ear, all over Leo.

"Just a few kinks to work out," Leo said.

"But how did you survive...?" Nyssa was still staring at the creature in awe. "I mean, the fire breath..."

"I'm quick," Leo said. "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?"

The dragon twitched and shuddered and flapped his wings."That's a yes, bro!" Leo said. "Now, um, I'd really suggest we get going, guys. 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 one 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. Then he smiled at Piper. "You ready, partner?"

Piper looked at the dragon. "You bet."

Then Jason looked to Eden. "Eden, right? Are you in?"

Before she could answer, Leo cut in. "Wait, who's she?"

Eden blushed. "E-Eden, daughter of Hades." She mumbled incoherently.

Jason looked at Leo. "This is Eden, she's a daughter of Plu- Hades. Were you not there when she was claimed?"

Leo just smiled. "Must've forgotten. I don't know who Hades is, but I like your style. You ready, Goth Girl?"

And suddenly Eden regretted her clothing choice. Shrinking under the stares of her fellow campers, all she could do was nod.

ッ

The only thing Eden could think of as they soared through the sky was how much she should not be flying right now. Lord Zeus was probably extremely furious at Hades, all because of her existence. It was one thing for Hades to have broken the old oath, but it was another for her to have been two weeks away from being the child in the first Great Prophecy. The only thing keeping her alive right now was the fact that she was traveling with Zeus's son.

Actually, scratch that. She could also think about how high they were, and that one wrong move would send all four demigods plummeting to their death. The only comforts were the warmth radiating off of the bronze dragon and the hidden leather harnesses keeping them slightly in balance.

Eden refused to be in the back, so they sat in single file. Leo in front, with Eden gripping very tightly onto him, Piper and Jason bringing up the rear.

Leo used the reins to steer the dragon into the sky like he'd been doing it all his life. The metal wings worked perfectly, and soon the coast of Long Island was just a hazy line behind them. They shot over Connecticut and climbed into the gray winter clouds. Leo grinned back at them.

"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."

"You sure about that?"

"No," he admitted.

"I am." Eden spoke up. Leo slightly jumped, probably because that was the loudest she had talked, but she had no choice but to fight the roaring wind. "Mortal minds are weak, only a handful can see through it. Even if the Mist didn't cover us, we're probably too high for people to understand it's a dragon."

"We're making good time. Probably get there by tonight." Said Jason

"Where are we heading?"

"To find the god of the North Wind," Jason said. "And chase some storm spirits."

The thought terrified Eden. She'd had few encounters with monsters, only fighting the occasional at camp and then the ones with the titan army, but she had never directly sought them out.

ッ

"Shut up, me," Leo said aloud.

"What?" Piper asked.

"Nothing," he said. "Long night. I think I'm hallucinating. It's cool."

Eden gripped Leo's waist so hard, the dragon stumbled a bit. She was not about to have her driver hallucinate and crash.

"Just joking." Still, Eden did not loosen her grip. "So what's the plan, bro? You said something about catching wind, or breaking wind, or something?"

As they 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 ?" Leo had to ask. "What is he, the God of Boring?"

Second, Jason continued, they had to find some venti that had apparently attacked the other three at the Grand Canyon—

"Can we just call them storm spirits?" Leo asked. "Venti makes them sound like evil espresso drinks."

And third, Jason finished, they had to find out who the storm spirits worked for, so they could find Hera and free her.

"So you want to look for Dylan, the nasty storm dude, on purpose," Leo said. "The guy who threw me off the skywalk and sucked Coach Hedge into the clouds."

"That's about it," Jason said. "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 told them about his dream—the big nasty mother wolf and a burned-out house with stone spires growing out of the swimming pool.

"Uh-huh," Leo said. "But you don't know where this place is."

"Nope," Jason admitted.

"There's also giants," Piper added. "The prophecy said the giants'revenge."

"Hold on," Leo 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."

"Great," Leo muttered. "Of course, with our luck, it's an army. So you know anything else about these giants? Pipes, didn't you do a bunch of myth research for that movie with your dad?"

"Your dad's an actor?" Jason asked.

Leo laughed. "I keep forgetting about your amnesia. Heh. Forgetting about amnesia. That's funny. But yeah, her dad's Tristan McLean." The name sounded vaguely familiar.

"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—"

"I don't know a lot, but yes, there are multiple kinds of giants. There's Cyclops, Laistrygonian, Hyperborian, and a couple others. Dangerous, yes, but not too big of a threat. the ones you're talking about, well, it's best we don't think that way. I don't think I could-" Eden couldn't finish her sentence. Just the thought sent her heart racing.

"Chiron said it was happening again," Jason remembered. "The last chapter. That's what he meant. No wonder he didn't want us to know all the details."

Leo 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?" Eden asked, no, hoped.

Leo told them about Tía Callida, who was really Hera, and how she'd appeared to him at camp. He explained the night his mother died, saying that a machine shop collapsed. And he told them about the strange woman in earthen robes who seemed to be asleep, and seemed to know the future.

Eden wished she was as lucky as the others, to not know Greek Mythology. Her body was physically shaking from the combination of the cold and her disturbing thoughts. Luckily, Leo and his dragon were warm.

"That's...disturbing," Piper said.

"'Bout sums it up," Leo agreed. "Thing is, everybody says don't trust Hera. She hates demigods. And the prophecy said Eden and her would cause death if we unleash her rage. So I'm wondering...why are we doing this?"

Eden had been trying to ignore that part of the prophecy. She didn't want to kill anyone, much less help a goddess do it. It was bad enough that she could feel each of her companions life forces, something she had only noticed last night.

"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 was another thought Eden was avoiding. She hadn't even done anything on this quest, and she was already looking forward to it being over. She hated being a part of a Great Prophecy, and wondered how Percy had handled all of this pressure.

"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," Leo 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?"

"Eden, do you know?" Piper asked.

Eden thought for a moment. "I might, but I don't want to think that way. If it's what I think it might be, Hera killing people won't be our worst problem."

And with that, they sat in silence. Eden felt bad not sharing her knowledge, but it simply terrified her. Not that fear was a foreign emotion, but this was a whole new level. Even worse than the titans.

Eden's heart dropped when she realized that she could no longer smell the familiar strawberry scent of camp, but it picked up a bit when she remembered her strawberry scented shampoo. There was hardly a day that went by that Eden didn't miss her father jokes or his hugs.

She could sure use one of his famous pep talks right now- but that wasn't possible. Her father was dead... and she was the daughter of the Lord of the Underworld. Could she raise the dead? She remembered Percy telling the campers once of Nico's great abilities. How he could travel through shadows, walk through the Underworld, raise skeleton armies. Could Eden do that? If only she had been claimed just a bit sooner, she could've explored her powers.

Leo's body was shaking, and reluctantly Eden loosened her grip.

Festus kept flying. The wind got colder, and below them snowy forests seemed to go on forever. Eden wasn't quite sure if Leo knew where they were going.

She decided that It was probably best if the driver had slept in the past twenty four hours, so Eden decided to be nice. "Why don't you get some sleep?" She whispered in Leo's ear. "You were up all night."

"You won't let me fall off?" Leo asked. She didn't blame him for doubting.

"I can't make any promises, but we should be safe."

"Right..." Leo muttered, and he leaned forward against the warm bronze.

Chapter Text

Eden thought it would be best to wake Leo when they approached the city. It was a beautiful sight, really. The cramped buildings sat on a cliff overlooking a river, and snow lightly dusted everything in sight. The city was surrounded with tall walls, completing the medieval aesthetic. In the middle of it all was an actual castle, with red brick walls and a green gabled roof.

"We're here." She whispered in the sleeping boy's ear, gently shaking him.

"Tell me that's Quebec and not Santa's workshop," Leo said.

"Yeah, Quebec City," Piper confirmed. "One of the oldest cities in North America. Founded around sixteen hundred or so?"

Leo raised an eyebrow. "Your dad do a movie about that too?"

She made a face at him, which Leo was used to, but it didn't quite work with her new glamorous makeup. "I read sometimes, okay? Just because Aphrodite claimed me, doesn't mean I have to be an airhead."

"Feisty!" Leo said. "So you know so much, what's that castle?"

"A hotel, I think."

Leo laughed. "No way."

Of course, Piper 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?" Leo said. "That can't be—"

"Heads up, guys," Jason interrupted. "We got company!"

"Gods are odd, you'll learn that eventually." Eden grumbled.

Rising from the top of the tower were two winged figures—angry angels, with nasty-looking swords. Festus didn't like the angel guys. He swooped to a halt in midair, wings beating and talons bared, and made a rumbling sound in his throat.

"I don't like this," Jason said. "They look like storm spirits."

"No," Eden disagreed. "They're too solid."

They looked like regular teenagers except for their icy white hair and feathery purple wings. Their bronze swords were jagged, like icicles. Their faces looked similar enough that they might've been brothers, but they definitely weren't 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 both his eyes were black, and when he bared his teeth, several of them were missing. The other guy looked like he'd just stepped off one of one of Eden's 80's phase album covers- Journey, maybe, or Hall & Oates. 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, and he had a bad case of acne. The angels pulled up in front of the dragon and hovered there, swords at the ready.

The hockey ox grunted. "No clearance."

"'Scuse me?" Leo said.

"You have no flight plan on file," explained the groovy love god. "This is restricted airspace."

"Destroy them?" The ox showed off his gap-toothed grin.

he dragon began to hiss steam, ready to defend them. Jason summoned his golden sword, and Eden reached for her bracelet, but Leo cried, "Hold on! 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," Leo 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. But no matter. I am Zethes, which is short for Zethes. And the lady there—" He winked at Eden, but the wink was more like a facial seizure. "She can call me anything she likes. Perhaps she would like to have dinner with a famous demigod before we must destroy you?"

Eden's face was horrified. She shook her head back and forth like she was trying to shake water out of her hair. Ever since she was catcalled as a ten year old, she had been wary of strange men. "No.. No thanks, I'm good."

"The offer still stands." 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."

Down below, the mortals were gathered in a crowd and pointing up at the dragon. Their faces didn't look worried, though, rather confused. The mist was working, just like Eden said it would.

"Which is sadly why, unless this is an emergency landing," Zethes said,brushing his hair out of his acne-covered face, "we will have to destroy you painfully."

"Destroy!" Cal agreed, with a little more enthusiasm than Leo thought necessary.

"Wait!" Eden said. "This is an emergency landing."

"Awww!" Cal looked so disappointed.

Zethes studied Eden, which of course he'd already been doing. "How does the pretty girl decide this is an emergency, then?"

Eden hadn't thought her plan through. She didn't even know why the man thought she was pretty, and she didn't know how to use her 'charm'. Thankfully, Piper did.

"We have to see Boreas. It's totally urgent! Please?" She forced a smile, so Eden did the same. Ugh, pleasing men was gross.

"Yes, very urgent." Eden even used her puppy dog eyes, pulling them out after not using them for 7 years.

Zethes picked at his silk shirt, probably making sure it was still open wide enough. "Well...I hate to disappoint a lovely lady, but you see, my sister, she would have an avalanche if we allowed you—"

"And our dragon is malfunctioning!" Eden added. "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 Eden another spasmodic wink. "Well, you 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 has not been kind to visitors lately. But, yes. Come, faulty dragon people. Follow us."

The Boreads sheathed their swords and pulled smaller weapons from their belts. Then the Boreads switched them on, and rather than weapons they were 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.Leo turned to the group. "I love these guys. Follow them?"

Immediately after they turned, Eden dropped her act. Her face was worried, and she was shaking again. She didn't want to follow them, but they had no choice.

"I guess," Jason decided. "We're here now. But I wonder why Boreas hasn't been kind to visitors."

"Pfft, he just hasn't met us." Leo whistled. "Festus, after those flashlights!"

As they got closer, Eden worried they'd crash into the tower. She gripped onto Leo again, and didn't breathe until they were safely on the ground.

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 Leo spurred the dragon downward, and they swooped in after the Boreads .They 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 they reached the ground, Eden got off the dragon quickly and could barely refrain from kissing the icy ground. 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.

"Guys," Leo 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, looking a bit like a sixth grader. "The dragon must be deactivated. We can't have fire in here. The heat ruins my hair."

Festus growled and spun his drill-bit teeth."'S'okay, boy."

Leo 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, man. You gotta stop with the destroy talk. Just wait."

"Leo," Piper said nervously, "what are you—"

"Watch and learn, beauty queen. 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."

Leo searched Festus a bit, pulled something, and immediately the dragon shuddered. Everyone backed away as Festus folded like origami. His bronze plating stacked 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.

Leo tried to lift it, but it was no use. "Um...yeah. Hold on. I think—aha."He pushed another button. A handle flipped up on the top, and wheels clicked out on the bottom."Ta-da!" he announced. "The world's heaviest carry-on bag!"

"That's impossible," Jason said. "Something that big couldn't—"

"Stop!" Zethes ordered. He and Cal both drew their swords and glared at Leo.

Leo raised his 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 Leo's chest. "A child of the South Wind, spying on us?"

"What? No!" Leo said. "Son of Hephaestus. Friendly blacksmith, no harm to anyone!"

Cal growled. He put his face up to Leo's, "Smell fire," he said. "Fire is bad."

"Oh. Yeah, well...my clothes are kind of singed, and I've been working with oil, and—"

"No!" Zethes pushed Leo 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—" He glanced at his friends desperately. "Guys, 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, "but the other is prettier. Tell me, what is your verdict?"

Eden hated being put on the spot. "No, of course Leo isn't the fire guy! We're just innocent demigods!"

Zethes looked troubled. "The girl is beautiful, and of course she cannot help being attracted to my amazingness; but sadly, I cannot romance her at this time."

"Destroy him now?" Cal asked his brother.

Zethes nodded. "Sadly, I think—"

"No," Jason insisted. He sounded calm enough, but they were all on edge. "Leo's just a son of Hephaestus. He's no threat. Piper here is a daughter of Aphrodite. Eden is a daughter of Hades. 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 millennia 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!" Cal 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?" Leo asked. "You mean like in a good way: you'll shower him with fabulous prizes? Or watching for like in a bad way: he's in trouble?"

A girl's voice said, "That depends on my father's will."

Great, because they needed another scary person. At the top stood a girl in a white silk dress. Her skin was unnaturally pale, the color of snow, but her hair was a lush mane of black, and her eyes were coffee brown. She studied each of them."Father will want to see the one called Jason."

"Then it is him?" Zethes asked excitedly.

"We'll see," the girl said. "Zethes, bring our guests."

Leo grabbed the handle of his bronze dragon suitcase. Eden took a step forward, but the girl's face snapped towards the two. They froze.

"Not you, Leo Valdez," she said. "Nor you, Eden Duncett."

"Why not?" Leo sounded like a whiny kindergartner. Eden simply stepped back, relieved she wouldn't have to face a god.

"You cannot be in the presence of my father," the girl said. "Fire and ice—it would not be wise."

"What about Eden?" Leo asked.

"She reeks of death." The girl crinkled her nose. "We cannot have it spread."

Cal and Zethes sniffed the air for a second, then seemed embarrassed that they hadn't noticed before.

Eden covered her body. Did she really smell that bad? Sure, she hadn't showered since camp, but she could still faintly smell her strawberry shampoo.

"We're going together," Jason insisted, putting his hand on Leo and Eden's shoulders, "or not at all."

Eden quickly shrugged the hand off, not liking being touched without her permission.

The girl tilted her head, like she wasn't used to people refusing her orders. "They will not be harmed, Jason Grace, unless you make trouble. Calais, keep Leo Valdez and Eden Duncett here. Guard them, but do not kill them."

Cal pouted. "Just a little?"

"No," the girl insisted. "And take care of his interesting suitcase, until Father passes judgment."

Jason and Piper looked at Eden and Leo, asking a silent question with their faces: How do you want to play this?

Eden was surprised if anything. She wasn't used to having people care, and it warmed her heart to have them offer to fight for her. She would've accepted, but she was too frightened. The four against three powerful presences and possibly more did not have good odds.

"It's fine, guys," Leo said. "No sense causing trouble if we don't have to. You go ahead."

Eden nodded in agreement.

"Listen to your friend," the pale girl said. "Your companions will be perfectly safe. I wish I could say the same for you, son of Zeus. Now come, King Boreas is waiting."

The other two went up the stairs, while Cal led them to some bathrooms.

Eden scrubbed her skin raw, not wanting to smell like death in any sense. Sadly, they didn't have any strawberry soap, but they did have pomegranate, which she had to admit smelled amazing.

Her clothes sat on the counter looking freshly washed, but she put them back in her bag and changed, determined to get rid of the 'goth girl' nickname. She dressed in a soft pink knit sweater and black ripped mom jeans, then pinned her hair wavy hair back with butterfly clips.

She found Leo sitting on a couch in the lobby, also freshly showered and changed. He whistled when he saw her, making her blush.

"Wow, first goth and now soft girl? You sure are a fashionista."

Eden just sat down and ignored him. She didn't make jokes, so it was hard not to take everything Leo said literally.

Leo must've been dying from the silence. He shifted around and fiddled with something from his tool belt before he couldn't take it any more. "So, what's your story?"

Eden froze. Never, except maybe Chiron when she arrived at camp, had ever asked for her story. Nor had she offered to share, for she wasn't one for opening up on sight. No one had ever gotten through her walls, and she planned on it staying that way.

"I don't have a story." Was all she said, expecting Leo to leave it."

But he didn't. "Oh, come on. Everyone has a story! Piper, her dad's a movie star and she stole a car. Jason lost his memories. I burnt down the building my m- I accidentally set my kitchen on fire once. So, you must have some kind of story."

So much for not letting people through her walls. She sighed and fiddled with her new bracelet. "I got to camp when I was eleven. A nature spirit found me where I lived in Texas, and she contacted a camp satyr to come get me. My dad- he had just died from-"

"Woah woah woah," Leo cut in. "I thought Hades was your pops?"

Eden's expression hardened. "Gods are powerful in many ways, I'd thought you would've learnt that by now. Don't ask me how, but gods can have children with the same gender. I'll admit, I wasn't sure if my godly parent was a male or female, but as soon as I found out I didn't doubt it."

Leo looked confused, and shocked, but just mumbled, "Continue."

"My dad, he left me at home to go to a Pride parade. That night, the cops came to my house and told me what happened. Some homophobic pieces of trash ganged up on my dad and beat him to death." And with, Eden turned away from Leo to hide the tears that were gathering in her eyes.

That night was when Eden's fear problem was born. It was like a reality check in a way, like the universe snapping in her face and saying "Bad things can happen to you!"

Eden flinched away when Leo out his hand on her shoulder, and hoped he wasn't hurt by her wariness.

Leo thought it would be best to change the subject. "So, when's your birthday?" he asked.

Eden turned around again. "I turned sixteen September first." It just hit her that she was two weeks away from being the prophecy child.

Leo nodded. "Nice. I'll turn sixteen July seventh."

Cal alerted them that Jason and Piper were back, and Eden couldn't be more relieved to be out of the awkward situation. Thankfully, Leo was now distracted by the beautiful girl, as he was smoothing his hair back. Eden didn't like that, she thought his wild curls were much more attractive. Wait, no she didn't! Nothing about him was attractive.

At the bottom step, the girl 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 you around, ice princess."

She stormed back up the stairs—literally. Halfway up, she turned into a blizzard and disappeared. Eden wondered what had happened up there for Jason to upset the girl so much.

"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?"

Leo looked devastated. "What happened up there? You made her mad? Is she mad at me too? Guys, that was my prom date!"

Part of Eden's heart broke. But then Eden fixed it, because she had no attraction to Leo Valdez in any way! None at all!

"We'll explain later," Piper promised

"Yeah," Jason agreed, "we'll explain later."

"Be careful, pretty girl," 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 would make a lovely ice statue, in which I could check my reflection."

Eden's expression hardened. She wouldn't be afraid of this guy, somehow her talk with Leo taught her that. "Thanks, but I'd sooner play hockey with Cal."

"Hockey?" Cal's eyes lit up.

"Joking," Eden said.

"The storm winds aren't our worst problem,are they?" Piper asked.

"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 the dragon stomped his feet, anxious to fly.

"Ask Aeolus what is worse," Zethes said darkly. "He knows. Good luck."

Cal patted Leo and Eden 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 go to Chicago and try not to get destroyed."

And Eden's fear came rushing back.

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Chapter Text

Leo passed them some sandwiches from his pack, which made Eden realize how fatigued she was. She was used to getting at least ten hours of sleep and eating three meals a day.

He'd been quiet ever since they'd told him what happened in the throne room. "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. We'll find you a better prom date."

Eden didn't see Leo glance briefly at her, but Piper did.

The group was silent, each thinking on their own.

Eden thought about how even though their trip was extremely terrifying, but she also enjoyed the rush it gave her. She'd been doing the same thing for about six years- train. She had never been good at sword fighting or archery, so she mostly stuck to hand-to-hand combat. It paid off, too. Eden might not look it, but she was extremely strong. She could bench press up to one hundred ninety pounds, and had a sturdy six-pack. In her mind, she wasn't training to defeat Greek monsters. She was training to defeat mortals, like the ones who killed her dad.

Up until the Titan war, she never found monsters too intimidating. Sure, they were described as scary, but she had never actually fought one. But facing the army, that was a whole knew fear. She'd started training more with her dagger after, and she was even getting better, but she packed a better punch. She wondered if they had any knuckle spikes in the weapons shed- that is, if her trident didn't work out. It wasn't a common weapon at camp, and there was probably only one in the shed.

The trident felt like it was made for her. Her hand fit in the grip well, and the weapon was perfectly balanced. It barely even felt like she was holding anything. The only thing that worried her was that she had never used anything like it. If it came down to a battle, that would be her only weapon.

"Hey Eden, why don't you go to sleep? You can lean against me." Leo whispered to her.

Her mind said 'No, don't lay against him! You're too vulnerable!' but her body begged. With a full belly and no real excitement, her body felt sluggish.

So Eden gently lay her head against Leo's hunched back and quickly fell asleep.

Now, Eden never really experienced the famous informative demigod dreams. Which honestly surprised her, because whether she had known or not, she was kind of important as a child of the Big Three.

Yet here she was, staring at some place bustling with teenagers. It reminded her of of Camp Half Blood, in a way. People were sword fighting with odd gold weapons, ghosts were floating around, in the architecture was weird.

She inspected one of the fighting pairs. They looked pretty normal. They were fit, tan, and very skilled in their fighting. But they were wearing purple t-shirts like the one Jason showed up in, and upon further inspection, they also had tattoos similar to his. Maybe this was where Jason was from?

Then dream her was whisked away further into the place, to a hill that had a bunch of temples. One in particular stood out to her, though, and somehow she knew it was for her father. Her godly one, that is.

Near the shrine, there was a boy. He look vaguely familiar, perhaps someone from Camp Half-Blood? Maybe there was a second Camp Half Blood in a different place , and it was just never mentioned.

Then she realized who it was. It was her brother, Nico Di Angelo.

ツ

Eden woke up falling through the air. She freaked out immediately, flailing around as if she were trying to fly.

She barely heard Leo over her own screams, but he flew past screaming "Not cooooool!"

Below her was a collection of warehouses, slowly getting closer and closer.

"Eden, calm down! I'm- trying-" And then a group of bodies shot past her.

All four of them were tumbling to their dooms, but Eden was slightly apart from the group.

She braced herself as the hard concrete neared, expecting to go splat. But splat never happened. Instead, she found herself getting a mouthful of grass.

"Plegh." She spit the earth out of her mouth, then sat up. "Piper. Jason. Leo?"

But looking around, Eden wasn't in a warehouse at all. She was surrounded by stones, all lay out in a pattern in the dirt. A few trees were planted, but the sun still escaped and beat down on her from the cloudless sky. She was in a graveyard. She scrambled out of the shadow of a grave, her heart racing.

Why was she in a graveyard? Where were the others? Why had they been falling? Where was this graveyard?

Eden look around again, but she couldn't shake the feeling that this place was familiar. She looked at the grave she had been laying on, and almost had a heart attack.

Ollie Finn Duncett

Loving Son, Brother and Father.

May he rest in peace.

That's why this place was familiar. She had only been here once, and briefly, but this was the cemetery her father was buried in.

Eden wiped the tears that had crept out of her eyes. 'Now is not the time to be scared, Eden.'

She allowed herself ten seconds of panic. Panic for her friends, panic for herself, and panic for how she would leave this place.

A memory crept up on her. Percy, telling about how Nico could travel through the shadows. The must've been what she had done, her bodies panic took her to somewhere she felt safe.

She stepped back into the shadow and closed her eyes. She thought of the warehouse and imagined herself there. When she opened her eyes, she was still in the same place.

So she tried again, and again, and again. But she still stood in the same spot.

'Please, father. Assist me.'

Eden stepped into the shadow once more. She squeezed her eyes shut and thought of the most vivid image of the warehouse she could. She thought of Jason, of Piper, and of Leo, and how worried they would be right now. Well, she hoped they would.

This time she felt it. It was like Eden actually became a shadow. Her stomach lurched a bit, but after the sucking sensation was gone, it was extremely cool. She felt energized and at home.

Then the sensation was gone, and she nearly collapsed. When she opened her eyes, she saw Leo crouched next to her, fiddling with something in his hands.

"Wha-"

Leo looked up, his eyes wide. He quickly put his hand over Eden's mouth and put a finger over his own. Then he looked behind Eden.

She followed his gaze, and her eyes bulged. Piper and Jason were tied up over a fire, and three cyclopes were talking to them.

"Sump, Torque, Ma Gasket." Leo whispered and pointed, then went back to work.

"—eat her last, Ma?" Sump was saying

"Idiot!" Ma Gasket yelled, leading Eden to believe that the cyclopes were somehow related, "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!"

"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 me to eat these demigods without salsa!"

"Yes, Ma," Sump said. "I mean no, Ma. I mean—"

"Go get it!" Ma Gasket picked up a nearby truck chassis and slammed it over Sump's head. Sump crumpled to his knees. Sump apparently got hit by trucks a lot. He managed to push the chassis off his head. Then he staggered to his feet and ran off to fetch the salsa.

Eden watched Leo do his work, fascinated with how fast his fingers were moving. She looked up when Piper gasped, having saw them.

"What's the matter, girl? So fragile I broke you?"

Thankfully, Piper was a quick thinker. She looked away from Leo and Eden 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."

Purple shirts, like Jason.

Apparently, Piper was having the same thought she was, because she asked, "Purple shirt? 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."

More purple shirted people, like Jason and the kids from her dream. Her theory of a second camp seemed more and more believable.

Piper kept talking, laying on the praise. "Oh, I've heard about the northern Cyclopes! 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."

Eden wished these cyclopes were stupid, because they were making Piper's job a lot harder.

"Oh, no," Piper sympathized. "I'm sure you made some amazing weapons."

Torque 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."

"Hey, wait," Piper said, trying to get the Cyclopes' attention. "Hey, can I just ask—"

The wires sparked in Leo's hand. The Cyclopes froze and turned in their direction. Then Torque picked up a truck and threw it at them.Leo rolled to one side and Eden dove to the other as the truck steamrolled over the machinery. Leo and Eden stood, and Ma Gasket spotted the two. She yelled, "Torque, you pathetic excuse for a Cyclops, get him!"

Torque barreled toward them. Eden tore off her bracelet, almost excited to use her new trident. Leo frantically gunned the toggle on his makeshift remote.

Torque was fifty feet away. Twenty feet.Then the first robotic arm whirred to life. A three-ton yellow metal claw slammed the Cyclops in 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.

"AHHHHH!" 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, Eden 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 Leo 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. Leo spun the remote's toggle, and the second robotic arm whacked Sump in the chest. The salsa case exploded like a piñata and Sump flew backward, right into the base of Leo's third machine. Sump may have been immune to getting hit with 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 of the Cyclopes were down, and Eden felt some of her fear slip away. Both her and Leo could easily take down the third.

Ma Gasket 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!"

Leo 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 Jason by an inch. Then Ma Gasket let it go—spinning it toward Leo and Eden. Eden narrowly missed getting hit, but she rolled swiftly to the side, surprisingly well for someone wielding a six foot tall weapon.

"Any more tricks, demigod?" Ma Gasket demanded.

In a weak attempt, Eden threw her trident. She'd never had very good aim with a bow, but this weapon just felt right. It flew through the air and landed smack in the center of Ma's stomach. The cyclops stumbled back a bit, but then smirked. The chain mail was stronger than it looked.

"Heck, yeah, I got tricks!" Leo raised his 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 the two. They landed all around their feet."You missed," Leo said incredulously.

Then Ma Gasket grinned and picked up a barrel next to the truck. Eden figured they'd had too many things thrown at them and too much luck, so she ran. She was just far enough away when she felt heat lick at her skin. She fell to the ground, then looked back to see a tower of flames and no Leo.

"Leo!" She screamed at the same time Piper shouted "No!"

Ma Gasket shrieked with delight.

The kerosene burned off, dying down to small fiery patches on the floor. In the middle of it all, Leo was standing, with his clothes slightly singed, but alive.

Piper gasped. "Leo?"

Ma Gasket looked astonished. "You live?" Then she took that extra step forward. "What are you?

"The son of Hephaestus," Leo said. "And I warned you I'd destroy you with fire."

He pointed one finger in the air and shot a bolt of white-hot flames at the chain suspending the engine block above the Cyclops's head. The flames died. Nothing happened.

Ma Gasket laughed. "An impressive try, son of Hephaestus. It's been many centuries since I saw afire 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," Leo 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?" Leo said. "Boo-yah!"

Leo fell to his knees just as everything hit Eden. She, too, collapsed, and it took them both a few minutes to realize Piper was calling them,

"Leo! Eden, Are you all right? Can you move?"

They both stumbled up and worked together to slowly free Piper from her chains. Then the three lowered an unconscious Jason, who was a lot heavier.

Piper managed to trickle a little nectar into his mouth, and he groaned. The welt on his head started to shrink. His color came back a little.

"Yeah, he's got a nice thick skull," Leo said. "I think he's gonna be fine."

"Thank god," Piper sighed. Then she looked at Leo with something like fear. "How did you—the fire—have you always...?"

Leo looked down. "Always," he said. "I'm a freaking menace. Sorry, I should've told you guys sooner but—"

"Sorry?" Piper punched his arm. "That was amazing, Valdez! You saved our lives. What are you sorry about?"

"Yeah, that was pretty cool Valdez." Eden admitted. The two whirled to her, both asking what happened and where she went.

"I shadow traveled. It's a Hades thing, but I didn't mean to. It took me a second to get back."

Then she looked down and noticed movement. Yellow dust—the powdered remains of one of the Cyclopes, maybe Torque—was shifting across the floor like an invisible wind was pushing it back together.

"They're forming again," Leo said. "Look."

Piper stepped 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."

"They should be..." Eden mumbled.

"Well, nobody told the dust that." Leo watched as it collected into a pile, then very slowly spread out, forming a shape with arms and legs.

"Oh, god." Piper turned pale. "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 don't know," Leo said. "But we need to get out of here."

Eden rushed to retrieve her trident, which thankfully hadn't been damaged. "I can feel it."

Piper and Leo, who were picking Jason up, looked at her confused.

"I mean the monsters. I don't know how, but I can feel them reforming. We have about a minute."

ツ

Chapter Text

They'd been riding on the dragon for a while when Jason bolted upright and shouted, "Cyclopes!"

"Whoa, sleepyhead." Piper said.

Eden turned her head to glance at the two and offered a small smile to Jason as a way of saying 'I'm glad you're alive.'

"D-Detroit," Jason stammered. "Didn't we crash-land? I thought—"

"It's okay," Leo said. "We got away, but you got a nasty concussion. How you feeling?"

"How did you—the Cyclops—"

"Leo ripped them apart," Piper said. "He was amazing. He can summon fire—"

"It was nothing," Leo said quickly.Piper laughed. "Shut up, Valdez. I'm going to tell him. Get over it."

Piper told the story of how Leo single-handedly defeated the cyclopes (Leo tried to butt in that Eden helped but she denied it) and how they only had minutes to repair Festus before the Cyclopes reformed. She also mentioned how Ma Gasket spoke of a kid in a purple shirt.

"I'm not alone, then," he said. "There are others like me."

"Jason," Piper said, "you were never alone. You've got us."

"I—I know...but something Hera said. I was having a dream...." He told them what he'd seen, and what the goddess had said inside her cage.

"An exchange?" Piper 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."

Leo cleared his throat. "About that...she kind of appeared to me back in Detroit, in a pool of Porta-Potty sludge."

And at that moment Eden wanted to drop being a demigod. She drew the line at crazy sleeping ladies threatening people in a bunch of waste.

"Did you say...Porta-Potty?" Jason asked.

Leo told them about the big face in the factory yard. "I don't know if she's completely unkillable," he said, "but she cannot be defeated by toilet seats. I can vouch for that. She wanted me to betray you guys, and I was like, 'Pfft, right, I'm gonna listen to a face in the potty sludge.'"

"She's trying to divide us."

"What's wrong?" Jason asked. Eden thought that was cute and disgusting, that they loved each other so much they could tell when the other was upset.

"I just...Why are they toying with us? Who is this lady, and how is she connected to Enceladus?"

"Enceladus?" Jason asked, voicing Eden's question. Of course, she'd read a bit about him, but she didn't think anyone mentioned the giant. But Piper bringing him up couldn't be a coincidence, and it only heightened Eden's nerves about the evil earth woman.

"I mean..." Piper's voice quavered. "That's one of the giants. Just one of the names I could remember."

Leo scratched his head. "Well, I dunno about Enchiladas—"

"Enceladus," Piper corrected.

"Whatever. But Old Potty Face mentioned another name. Porpoise Fear, or something?"

"Porphyrion?" Piper asked. "He was the giant king, I think."

Eden decided to speak up. "Yes, Porphyrion was the giant king. In the not so mythical myths, he kidnapped Hera. It was the first part of the war between the g-giants and the gods." Eden couldn't help but stutter at the word giant; It evoked a whole new level of fear inside her.

"I think so," Piper agreed. "But those myths are really garbled and conflicted. It's almost like nobody wanted that story to survive. I just remember there was a war, and the giants were almost impossible to kill."

Thankfully Piper couldn't see Eden roll her eyes. She hated that the newbie kept trying to say her information wasn't correct. It wasn't like Eden disliked Piper, but she couldn't stand her at the moment.

"Heroes and gods had to work together," Jason said. "That's what Hera told me."

"Kind of hard to do," Leo grumbled, "if the gods won't even talk to us."

As they flew west, Eden thought of her father. She knew that it was big deal for her father to claim her. After all, he had broken a pretty serious oath. What surprised her even more was him giving her her trident bracelet, because from what she had heard, Hades wasn't the nicest god. She figured that his claiming would be the last she would hear of him for a while, not that she minded. After so many years of being ignored by him, she was used to it.

Jason spoke up from behind her. "Eden, where'd you disappear to?"

Thankfully he couldn't see her blushing face. "Oh- I did this thing called shadow traveling. I guess it was kind of an instinct, I didn't mean to. I went to Texas."

He was silent for a moment, before he asked another question. "Do you think you could do it again and get us to Aeolus after we find the spirits?"

The thought terrified her, reminded her, of how exhausted she felt after doing it by herself. "No," she said, possibly too quick, "I don't even know if I could do it again on my own."

"Oh." Was all Jason said, obviously disappointed.

Eden hated disappointing people, it was another fear of hers. If she disappointed too many people, they would gang up on her and abandon her. Before, Eden hadn't had friends to disappoint. Now, she still didn't have friends, but she had not only a bunch of demigods but also a goddess relying on her.

Time passed as each quest member got lost in their own thoughts, and soon they were diving between clouds and above a city. A group of skyscrapers line the shore of a glittering lake and neighborhoods and roads stood on the other side of the tall buildings.

"Chicago," Jason said.

"One problem down," Leo said. "We got here alive. Now, how do we find the storm spirits?"

Apparently Jason saw something, because he said, "How about we follow that one, and see where it goes?"

"Speed up!" Jason urged.

Eden finally saw the spirit riding the wind.

"Bro," Leo said, "if I get any closer, he'll spot us. Bronze dragon ain't exactly a stealth plane."

"Slow down!" Piper yelped.The storm spirit 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.

"Just do it." Eden snapped, gripping Leo's waist. She would die by crashing the dragon because Leo was stubborn.

It took a few minutes, but Eden finally spotted the storm spirit again, zipping through the streets with no apparent purpose—blowing over pedestrians, ruffling flags, making cars swerve.

"Oh great," Piper said. "There're two." She was right. A second anemoi theulli 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.

"I guess Chicago's a good place to hang out," Piper said. "Nobody's going to question a couple more evil winds."

"More than a couple," Jason said. "Look."

The dragon 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?" Leo asked. "I wanna throw something at him."

Eden didn't know who Dylan was, but obviously he wasn't a friend.

A fountain with a couple screens caught Eden's attention. As she watched, the image on the screens changed to a woman's face with her eyes closed.

"Leo..." Jason said nervously.

"I see her," Leo said. "I don't like her, but I see her."

Then 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?"

"Rule number one of being a demigod: If it gives you bad vibes, you're probably in the right place." Eden said, despite not having any experience going anywhere.

"Put us down in that 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, and it was a field of ice, snow, and salted walkways. 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.

They dismounted, and Festus the dragon 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 dragon's bad eye, and the light went back to normal. "Yes," Leo said. "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, but came up with nothing."Too specialized?" he guessed. "Okay, give me a safety whistle. They got that in lots of machine shops."

This time, Leo pulled out a big plastic orange whistle. "Coach Hedge would be jealous! Okay, Festus, listen." Leo blew the whistle. The shrill sound probably rolled all the way across Lake Michigan. "You hear that,come find me, okay? Until then, you fly wherever you want. Just try not to barbecue any pedestrians."

The dragon snorted—hopefully in agreement. Then he spread his wings and launched into the air.

Piper took one step and winced. "Ah!"

"Your ankle?" Jason questioned.

Eden hadn't been there when the other three crashed, but obviously Piper hadn't done so gracefully and had injured herself.

"That nectar we gave you might be wearing off."

"It's fine." Piper shivered, but Eden was enjoying the coolness. Her skin was always naturally cold, and she seemed to thrive in it far more than the heat. Texas had been nearly unbearable for her during the bipolar seasons.

"Let's get out of the wind," Jason suggested. Eden could be sick from how worried he was about Piper, but she had to agree with him. She was exhausted.

"Down a drain?" Piper shuddered. "Sounds cozy."

They wrapped themselves up as best they 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. They stepped to the center of the pool. No spirits tried to stop them. 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, then Piper, then Leo, and finally Eden. Eden had never wanted to be in a sewer, but you could hardly call this that. Rather than a horrible smell, it almost smelt like flowers. There was hardly any water.

"Are all sewers this nice?" Piper wondered.

"No," Leo said. "Trust me."

Jason frowned. "How do you know—"

"Hey, man, I ran away six times. I've slept in some weird places, okay? Now, which way do we go?"

Eden's heart hurt for him. No one should have to run away, much less sleep in nasty sewers.

Jason tilted his head, listening, then pointed south. "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 offered anything better. Unfortunately, as soon as they started walking, Piper stumbled. Jason had to catch her.

"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!"

Eden sat a little ways away from Jason and Piper, not wanting to be in the middle of their romantic tension.

So far Eden had contributed nothing to the quest. Piper had charmed the boreads, Jason convinced Boreas to help them, and Leo took down the cyclopes. What had Eden done? She threw her trident and didn't even puncture the target. No doubt everyone was thinking about how useless she was.

A few feet away, Leo lit a small cooking fire. He hummed as he pulled supplies out of his pack and his tool belt. Over at the fire, Leo stirred some sizzling bell peppers and meat in a pan. "Yeah, baby! Almost there."

Eden couldn't help but silently laugh at the goofy son of Hephaestus. He had a way of brightening whatever room he was in and lifting the spirits of everyone in it.

"And bingo!" Leo announced.He came over with four plates stacked on his arms like a waiter. Eden had no idea where he'd gotten all the food, or how he'd put it together so fast, but it looked amazing: pepper and beef tacos with chips and salsa. She scooted in closer to the group.

"Leo," Piper said in amazement. "How did you—?"

"Chef Leo's Taco Garage is fixing you up!" he said proudly. "And by the way, it's tofu, not beef, beauty queen, so don't freak. Just dig in!"

Eden wasn't sure about tofu. Of course Piper was vegetarian. Eden didn't understand, how could someone not love meat?

While they ate, Leo tried to lighten the mood and joke around. Eden even joined in the small conversation, contributing some of her dads (the mortal one) favorite jokes that she could remember.

Piper put her head in Jason's lap and fell asleep, but the other three stayed up with only the sound of her snores.

"Good, huh?" Leo grinned.

"You should start a stand," Jason said. "Make some serious coin." Silence, and then, "Leo...about this fire stuff you can do...is it true?"

Leo's smile faltered. "Yeah, well..." He opened his hand. A small ball of flame burst to life, dancing across his palm.

"That is so cool," Jason said. "Why didn't you say anything?

Leo closed his hand and the fire went out. "Didn't want to look like a freak."

"I have lightning and wind powers," Jason reminded him. "Piper can turn beautiful and charm people into giving her BMW's. Eden can- well, I don't know what she can do yet, but probably something cool and deathy."

'Ouch' Eden thought.

"You're no more a freak than we are. And, hey, maybe you can fly, too. Like jump off a building and yell, 'Flame on!'"

Leo snorted. "If I did that, you would see a flaming kid falling to his death, and I would be yelling something a little stronger than 'Flame on!' Trust me, Hephaestus cabin doesn't see fire powers as cool. Nyssa told me they're super rare. When a demigod like me comes around, bad things happen. Really bad."

"Maybe it's the other way around," Jason suggested. "Maybe people with special gifts show up when bad things are happening because that's when they're needed most. "

Leo cleared away the plates. "Maybe. But I'm telling you...it's not always a gift."

Jason fell silent. "You're talking about your mom, aren't you? The night she died." Leo didn't answer. He didn't have to. The fact that he was quiet, not joking around- that was answer enough. "Leo, her death wasn't your fault. Whatever happened that night—it wasn't because you could summon fire. This Dirt Woman, whoever she is, has been trying to ruin you for years, mess up your confidence, take awayeverything you care about. She's trying to make you feel like a failure. You're not. You're important."

"That's what she said." Leo looked up, his eyes full of pain. "She said I was meant to do something important—something that would make or breakthat big prophecy about the eight demigods. That's what scares me. I don't know if I'm up to it."

"Leo, I'm sure Gaea is just twisting your mind. Even if you are meant to do something important, I'm sure everyone is. We all play a part in this prophecy." Eden tried to comfort Leo, but only sparked fear in herself. Her words meant she herself would have to do something big. How was she supposed to do something heroic when she was scared of seahorses? (something about the men carrying the babies seemed sketchy)

Leo poked at the remnants of his fire, turning over red-hot coals with his bare hand. "You ever wonder about the other four demigods? I mean...if we're four of the ones from the Great Prophecy, who are the others? Where are they?"

Because that's what Eden needed- more demigods depending on her. She felt like she was carrying the whole quest on her shoulders, like everything anyone did led back to her. Some may think that selfish, take it as if she were trying to take charge of the quest. But really she was just being hard on herself, trying to task herself with saving everyone. Her own heroic thoughts surprised her. Eden wasn't used to having other people to take care of.

"I don't know," Jason said at last. "I guess the other four will show up when the time is right. Who knows? Maybe they're on some other quest right now."

Leo grunted. "I bet their sewer is nicer than ours."

Eden doubted that, because they had a pretty nice sewer.

"Get some rest, guys," Jason said. "I'll take first watch."

Eden separated herself a little and lay down on her makeshift sweatshirt pillow. The brick floor was extremely uncomfortable, and it was difficult to ignore. Eden counted sheep, made up a false scenario, and even tried humming quietly to herself. She did anything that would keep her mind off of whatever tasks were ahead of them.

Finally, her spent energy and full stomach caught up to her, and Eden' drifted away into darkness.

ッ

Chapter Text

The twisting and turning tunnel seemed to move forever. Honestly, Eden didn't even know where they were going, but Jason seemed to. She expected to end up in some kind of wasteland, or even a maintenance room. Instead, they found themselves at a set of elevator doors engraved with the letter M. Next to the doors was a directory.

"M for Macy's?" Piper guessed. "I think they have one in downtown Chicago."

Eden scoffed. "Why would they have a Macy's in a sewer? It's obviously something magical." Of course, she had hoped it was something as simple as a Macy's, but her common sense told her otherwise.

"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 has its entrance in a sewer?"

'Didn't I just say that?' Eden thought.

"Or sells poisons," Leo said. "Man, what does 'sundries' even mean? Is that like underwear?"

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 got to see this."

The others joined him and Piper caught her breath. "This is not Macy's."

Eden made a face. It was like no one could hear her.

The store looked like it came straight out of the book The Rainbow Fish. The entire ceiling was a stained glass mosaic with astrological signs around a giant sun. The daylight that streamed through it turned everything 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 brighter than the Apollo cabin, which was really saying something.

Something that struck as odd to Eden was that there were no other windows or doors besides the ceiling and elevator.

Two sets of glass escalators ran between the levels, striking fear in Eden. She was always scared the her shoes would get stuck and the machine would shred her toes. The carpeting reminded her of the skating rink near her old house; a collage of colors and patterns that made your head hurt if you looked too long.

The merchandise sold looked like it belonged at goodwill, with racks that held an assortment of items and no two the same. If it wasn't obvious before, the store was obviously magical. Mixed in with the everyday shirts and shoes were armored manikins, nail beds, and moving fur coats.

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—like an oversize canary cage. Inside one, a miniature hurricane swirled, and lightning flashed.

Somebody had imprisoned the storm spirits, 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 got to get down there."

Eden had heard a bit about the satyr from Stemia, the one that brought her to camp. She had said Gleeson Hedge was violent and war hungry, but he had a good heart where it counted. Stemia died in the Titan war.

A voice said, "May I help you find something?"

All four of them jumped back. A woman had just appeared in front of them. She wore an elegant black dress with diamond jewelry, and she looked like a retired fashion model—maybe fifty years old, maybe two thousand. Her long dark hair swept over one shoulder, and her face was gorgeous in that surreal super-model way—thin and haughty and cold, not quite human. With their long red-painted nails, her fingers looked more like talons.

She smiled. "I'm so happy to see new customers. How may I help you?"

"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 unrecognizable, but it soothed Eden. She felt her fear start to dwindle a bit.

"So you're new to America?" he 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 flared something in Eden's brain. The place probably had something to do with an old Greek myth, but it couldn't possibly have anything to do with this nice woman.

"Jason..." Piper said.

"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?"

"Of course!" the princess agreed immediately. "I would love to show you my inventory. First, may I know your names?"

Piper started to say, "Jason, I wouldn't—"

"This is Piper," he said. "This is Leo, and this is Eden. I'm Jason."

If Eden had blinked at that moment, she would've missed the split second of the princess fixing her eyes on Jason and literally glowing with fury. When she did blink, though, Eden saw the woman as normal again.

"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."

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 diamonds sparkled, and 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, Piper?"

Eden didn't understand why Piper had to be such a buzzkill. What was wrong with a little shopping? "Yeah Piper, doesn't that sound okay?" She said, her voice hard and demanding.

Piper stared daggers at the two, and Eden returned it. Eventually, she broke the annoying girl.

"Of course it's okay.

Her Highness put her hands on Leo's and Jason's shoulders and steered them toward the cosmetics. "Come along, boys. Eden, dear, grab onto Leo."

Eden wasn't too sure about touching Leo in any other way than gripping onto his waist out of fear, but if the nice woman asked, she shall receive. Eden carefully grasped Leo's warm hand and eagerly followed.

"And here," the princess 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—ugh! 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 to 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 said. His voice sounded dazed and sleepy.

"Jason," Piper said. "We've got a job to do. Remember?"

"Job to do," Jason muttered. "Sure. But shopping first, okay?"

"Then we have potions for resisting fire—"

"Got that covered," Leo said.

"Indeed?" The princess studied Leo's face more 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 was still staring at the red vial. "Could that potion cure lost memory?"

The princess narrowed her eyes. "Possibly. Yes. Quite possibly. Why, my dear? Have you forgotten something important?"

Eden wondered if there was a potion for bravery. She could definitely use that, maybe it would make her a better demigod. Make her worthy of her peers, her friends, her father.

"How much?" Piper asked.

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 asked.

"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. "I'm sure, my dear, you understand how one might be attracted to such a hero, and want to help him."

Again, something tugged the back of Eden's mind. probably something important, but look at that black potion...

"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.

"Typical of men, really." Eden said.

"That's messed up," Leo said. Her Highness patted his cheek affectionately.

"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 were we buying again? I'll take two."

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?" the princess asked. "I sense that you would."

If Piper wouldn't, Eden would. They were talking about the pretty black potion, right? She loved the way it glittered like stars, held in a moon shaped vile.

"No, I won't pay any price. But a fair price, maybe. After that, we need to leave. Right, guys?" Piper said.

The words washed over Eden, refocusing her. They had a quest to do, but it could probably wait. Maybe they could each get an item, and then continue. "We need to go?" Eden said, half question, half statement.

"Leave?" Jason said.

"You mean...after shopping?" Leo asked.

"Impressive," the princess said. "Not many people could resist my suggestions. Are you a child of Aphrodite, my dear? Ah, yes—I should have seen it. No matter. Perhaps we should shop a while longer before you decide what to buy, eh?"

"But the vial—"

"Now, boys and girl." She turned to Jason, Eden, and Leo. "Would you like to see more?"

"Sure," Jason said.

"Okay," Leo said.

Eden nodded eagerly. She had forgotten all about Piper's suggestion to leave.

"Excellent," the princess said. "You'll need all the help you can get if you're to make it to the Bay Area."

"The Bay Area?" Piper said. "Why the Bay Area?"

The princess smiled. "Well, that's where they'll die, isn't it?"

The words flew over Eden's head.

Then she led them toward the escalators, and Eden couldn't be more excited to shop.

She walked over to the clothing racks, looking for things that fit her diverse fashion sense. She flitted through the fabrics, occasionally holding up a slim fitting dress or a pair of baggy pants.

Jason called,"Hey, check it out!"From a rack a couple rows away from Eden labeled DISTRESSED CLOTHING, he held up a purple T-shirt like the one he'd shown up to camp in, except this shirt looked as if it had been clawed by tigers.

Jason 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 it had been hit by 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 something that looked disturbingly like dried blood. Eden walked over and picked up a single shoe that sprouted wings and fluttered at the touch.

"Your Highness," Piper said. "Why don't you tell the boys how you betrayed your family? I'm sure they'd like to heart hat story."

"More story?" Leo asked.

"I like more story!" Jason agreed.

Eden dropped the shoe. "Storytime!"

"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?"

"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."

"At first," Her Highness 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 ship first and talk under a flag of truce. He trusted me."

"And you killed your own brother," Piper said.

"What?" Jason stirred. "Killed your own—"

Eden frowned. She had never even met Nico Di Angelo, but she wouldn't kill him.

"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 looked about as uncomfortable as Eden felt. The story was at the surface of her brain, begging to be recognized.

"What did he do?" The princess held the sliced-up toga against Jason's chest.

"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!"

The princess 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."

The princess turned to Eden and the boys, giving the group a heartbreaking look. "Wouldn't you do the same for someone you loved, my dears?"

"Oh, sure," Jason said.

"Probably." Eden said.

"Okay," Leo said.

"Guys!" Piper exclaimed. "Don't you see who she is? Don't you—"

"Let's continue, shall we?" the princess said breezily. "I believe you wanted to talk about a price for the storm spirits—and your satyr."

Leo got distracted on the second floor with the appliances. "No way," he said. "Is that an armored forge?" He hopped off the escalator and ran over to a big oval oven that looked like a barbecue on steroids.

When they caught up with him, the princess 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 as if he recognized that term. "Imperial gold?"

The princess nodded. "Yes, my dear. Like that weapon so cleverly concealed in your pocket. 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. He began walking toward it in a trance.

"Leo, don't!" Piper warned.

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—"

Eden and Leo followed her into the appliance selection, listening to her list prices. Nothing struck Eden's fancy, though. She wanted to move back to the clothing section.

"Children." The princess led them back to Jason and Piper who seemed to be having a serious conversation. "If you please, we will now see what you came for. That is what you want, yes?"

"Hey," Leo said, "Coach Hedge looks okay!"

They ran to the nearest canary cage. The old satyr was frozen in position, probably his last movement before he was zapped away. 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.

"Yes," the princess 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. That's better than starting unpleasantness, isn't it, dear?"

Eden gave Piper a sharp look, threatening her to say yes.

"We can negotiate," Piper said.

"Totally!" Leo agreed. "Name your price."

"Leo!" Piper snapped.

The princess 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," Piper interjected.

Her Highness 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."

"You're Medea," Piper said. "You helped the original Jason steal the Golden Fleece. You're one of the most evil villains in Greek mythology. Jason, Eden, Leo—don't trust her."

Jason stepped away from the sorceress. Eden breathed a little faster. Leo scratched his head and looked around like he was coming out of a dream."What are we doing, again?"

"Boys!" The princess 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 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, and steam hissed from her nails, like water splashed on 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."

"Guys," Piper said. "The original Jason left Medea because she was crazy and bloodthirsty."

"Lies!" Medea said."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 said. "Still he broke his promise! I ask you, was that right?"

Eden shook her head.

Apparently Piper wasn't through. "It may not have been right," she said, "but neither was Medea's revenge. She murdered her own children to get back at Jason. She poisoned his new wife and fled the kingdom."

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 said.

"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!"

Eden's head bobbed back and forth, watching the two bicker like a tennis match. Her mind was torn. One second, Piper was right, and the other Medea was.

The fountain turned bright red. Piper drew her dagger. "Guys—it's time to go. Now."

"Before you've closed the deal?" Medea asked. "What of your quest, hm? 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.

"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 "Please, my price is so simple. Why don't you all 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.

Eden glared at the two boys. Who were they to stomp into her camp like they owned it, and immediately become important? She had waited so long far too long to be important, to be wanted. She was even overshadowed on this quest, she hadn't gotten her moment. Eden would show the two how much damage she could really do.

Leo scowled. "Jason's always the star. He always gets the attention and takes me for granted. Eden doesn't do anything, she hardly even talks to us."

"You're annoying, Leo," Jason said. "You never take anything seriously. You can't even fix a dragon. Eden's mean to everyone, she doesn't even pretend to like us."

"The two of you act like you're so important." Eden fumed. "Neither of you know what you are doing, you just act reckless."

"Stop!" Piper pleaded, but the three had already drawn weapons. Jason his gold sword, Eden her black trident, 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!"

Eden couldn't focus on the other's conversation. Her fury was focused on Jason and Leo, but she made no actions. Her mind was idle, waiting for the order to unleash her rage.

Evil thought flashed through her mind, things she could do to the boys. Possibly summon a couple skeletons to finish them off wile she watched, or she could skewer the with her trident and stack them like a kebab.

"Leo's mother," Piper said, loud enough to catch Eden's attention. "Leo, listen to this! She helped get your mother killed!"

"Uh-huh," Leo mumbled. He frowned at his hammer. "So...I just attack these two? That's okay?"

"Perfectly safe," Medea promised. "And Jason, strike them hard. Show me you are worthy of your namesake. Eden, show me what you can do with your shiny new weapon."

Eden started to jog forward.

"No!" Piper ordered. "Jason, Eden, Leo—she's tricking you. Put down your weapons."

And then Eden slowed, her legs moving forward but her arm lowering her weapon.

"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. My connection is not as strong with women, but I can still do it! What hope do these puny young heroes have against me?Now, kill each other!"

Eden started to swing her trident over her head, wanting to hit Jason with the spiky bottom of the metal.

"You guys, listen to me. Medea is charming you. It's part of her magic. You are best friends. Don't fight each other. Fight her!"

Eden hesitated, and her feelings rushed back to her. The anger washed away and was replaced with fear, fear of how vulnerable she had just been.

Jason blinked. "Leo, was I just about to stab you?"

"I don't want my first use of my trident to be on Jason!" Eden complained.

"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. "Lady, I got a three-pound hammer with your name on it."

"Bah!" Medea sneered. "I'll simply collect payment another way." She pressed 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 Jason could go after her, the giant bronze sundials at either end of the fountain swung open. Three 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. Eden could feel the heat coming off their glittering skin. One turned his angry orange eyes on her.

"Don't look them in the eye!" Jason warned. "They'll paralyze you."

Eden directed her eyes somewhere else, fear of the medusa dragons flooding her system.

"Indeed!" Medea was leisurely riding the escalator up, leaning against the handrail as she watched the fun. "These three dears have been with me along 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. Eden, along with Jason and Leo, lunged to intercept.

Eden and Jason stood in front of Leo, waving their weapons and yelling to keep the dragons' attention. Behind them, Leo blew his safety whistle, the shrill sound causing Eden to flinch.

Each dragon chose a person to battle, and of course Eden got the biggest one. She rolled out of the way of its flaming breath just in time and left the floor singed. She jabbed at it with Bone-Seeker, somewhat excited to use her weapon. The prongs stuck in the beast's legs, making it rear back. It lashed out with a clawed appendage, digging into Eden's skin and leaving three bright red slashes on her side

"Gah!" Eden cried out in pain. She fell down onto the floor, and suddenly she felt everything underneath the foundations. Underneath a layer of dirt about 30 feet deep, the earth started to harden and rocks dotted around. About 90 feet to her right, there was a small uncovered cave. Even deeper, a small area was littered with gold.

Almost as a reflex, Eden thrust her hands to the sides. The ground erupted, opening a large fissure in the carpet. She felt a tug in her stomach and the world went blurry for a moment. The dragon fell down into the deep hole and the earth closed, swallowing it whole.

Leo called, "Jason, help!" Eden looked over and saw that one of the dragons had Leo pinned to the floor. It was baring its fangs, ready to snap. Jason was all the way across the room battling the other dragon, much too far away to assist. Eden tried to walk over, but her legs collapsed. Her head pounded. Her side throbbed.

CRASH! The stained glass ceiling splintered in a rain of multicolored shards, and Festus the bronze dragon dropped into the department store. He hurtled into the fray, snatching up a sun dragon in each claw.

"That's my boy!" Leo yelled. Festus flew halfway up the atrium, then 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.

Jason and Leo ran towards Eden and each slung an arm over their shoulders. Her head lolled and her feet stumbled. She was only half aware of the boys sitting her between them.

The bronze dragon flapped his mighty wings, snatched the two cages with the satyr and the storm spirits in his claws, and began to ascend.The building rumbled. Fire and the smoke curled up the walls, melting the railings, turning the air to acid.

"Not today, witch." Piper screamed and jumped over the side. She plummeted for only a second before Leo and Jason caught her, hauling her aboard the dragon.

She heard Medea screaming in rage as they soared through the broken roof and over downtown Chicago. The department store exploded behind them and Eden slumped forward, passing out.

ッ

this took literally forever to write, but yayyy eden's got cool powers!

school starts in a month so i'm gonna update as much as possible before i'm busy.

vote, comment and follow if you enjoyed

published: july 19, 3:45 am

-xoxo, author.

Chapter Text

Eden woke up to a stabbing pain in her side from someone grabbing onto her waist. She turned her head to see Jason with a pained expression and Piper with a worried one.

"Wha-" It was only then that Eden realized there was nothing under her and the wind was roaring in her ears.

Below them a river and a white mansion was approaching fast. The mansion was surrounded by a tall brick wall and the whole area was lit. Beside them, Leo was sitting atop Festus and fiddling with his controls.

Jason brought the two girls softly to the ground inside the compound.

Eden stumbled a bit and looked to her body. The pink sweater she was wearing had three slashes in the side and was stained red with blood. She lifted up the material and noticed a bandage was wrapped around her.

Before she could inspect herself further, a sound of ripping metal and a crash brought her attention. Eden, Piper and Jason ran over to see Leo passed out on the ground, the cages on their sides and bits of Festus littered throughout the snow.

"Oh." Piper gasped.

"Leo's gonna be so upset..." Eden said, joining the others in a huddle over the boy as he opened his eyes.

"Where—"

"Lie still." Piper had tears in her eyes. "You rolled pretty hard when—when Festus—"

"Where is he?" Leo sat up.

"Seriously, Leo," Jason said. "You could be hurt. You shouldn't—"

Leo pushed himself to his feet.

"No," Leo sobbed. He ran to the dragon's head and stroked its snout. The dragon's eyes flickered weakly. Oil leaked out of his ear.

"You can't go," Leo pleaded. "You're the best thing I ever fixed."The dragon's head whirred its gears, as if it were purring.

Eden went over and rested her hand on Leo's shoulder, something she wouldn't have done in a normal circumstances.

"It's not fair," Leo said.

The dragon clicked. Long creak. Two short clicks . Creak. Creak. Almost like a pattern...Morse code. Eden didn't know anything other than SOS, something her dad taught her, but Leo seemed to understand what the dying machine was saying.

"Yeah," Leo said. "I understand. I will. I promise."

The dragon's eyes went dark. Festus was gone.Leo cried.

Eden simply touched Leo as her condolences while Piper and Jason spoke comforting phrases besides her. Sometimes simply being there for a person was better than words; at least Eden felt that way.

Jason said, "I'm so sorry, man. What did you promise Festus?"

Leo sniffled. He opened the dragon's head panel, just to be sure, but the control disk was cracked and burned beyond repair. "Something my dad told me," Leo said. "Everything can be reused."

"Your dad talked to you?" Jason asked. "When was this?"

Leo didn't answer. He worked at the dragon's neck hinges until the head was detached. He looked up at the starry sky and said, "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 Leo's arms like it weighed nothing. It flew into the sky and disappeared.

"He answered you..." Eden asked in amazement.

"I had a dream," Leo managed. "Tell you later."

"Where are we?" he 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," Leo said. He picked up a piece of dragon wreckage 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 ashes.

Jason whistled. "Some defense system. How are we even alive?"

"Festus," Leo said miserably. "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."

Leo looked up the walkway at the big white mansion. "Since we can't go out, we'll have to go in."

It was a good thing Eden took the back, because Jason almost died five times if it weren't 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.Leo deactivated all of them. It was like he could smell the traps, and he picked just the right tool out of his belt to disable them.

"You're amazing, man," Jason said.

Leo scowled as he examined the front door lock. "Yeah, amazing," he said. "Can't fix a dragon right, 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.

Eden pushed herself past the couple and followed Leo, eager to get away from the frightening traps on the outside. Plus, her side hurt and blood was starting to stain the bandage.

The large house was extremely dark. A faint glow peeked through the breaks in the thick velvet curtains. The windows rose about ten feet tall. Spaced between them along the walls were life-size metal statues. As Eden's eyes adjusted, she saw sofas 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. Along the back wall stood a row of closed doors.

"Where's the light switch?" Jason's voice echoed alarmingly through the room.

"Don't see one," Leo said.

"Fire?" Eden suggested.

Leo 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."

"Leo's right," he said. "We're not separating again—not like in Detroit."

"Oh, thank you for reminding me of the Cyclopes." Piper's voice quavered. "I needed that."

Eden felt her face heat. She still felt terrible that she had left the group.

"It's a few hours until dawn," Jason guessed. "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 they rolled in the cages with Coach Hedge and the storm spirits, then settled in. Thankfully, Leo didn't find any poison throw pillows or electric whoopee cushions on the sofas. Leo didn't seem in the mood to make more tacos. Besides, they had no fire, so they settled for cold rations.

Eden took a small piece of ambrosia from their dwindling supply. The food of the gods exploded in her mouth, gifting her taste buds with the flavor of her mortal father's homemade brownies. The pain in her side eased, but the deep gashes didn't close completely.

As Eden ate her cold rations, she studied the metal statues along the walls. They looked like Greek gods or heroes, which was a bad sign. Any hope that this was an abandoned mortal vacation home was thrown away. On the coffee table sat a tea service and a stack of glossy brochures, but Jason couldn't make out the words. The big chair at the other end of the table looked like a throne. None of them 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 spinning. As for Gleeson Hedge, he was still frozen mid-shout, his cudgel raised.

Leo was working on the cage, trying to open it with various tools, but the lock seemed to be giving him a hard time.

Eden decided that since it was dark, she wouldn't have to brave finding another room to change in. After warning the boys to not look her way (Piper was curled up on a sofa asleep), she changed into a thick pair of blue sweatpants and a black turtleneck. Then she went to sit on the plush rug. Even though she had just woken up, she was exhausted. Whatever earthy move Eden had pulled back at the store, it seriously drained her.

"Get some sleep," Leo said, still working on the locked cage. "It's your turn."

Jason took a deep breath. "Guys, I'm sorry about that stuff I said in Chicago. That wasn't me. You're not annoying and you do take stuff seriously—especially your work. I wish I could do half the things you can do. And Eden, you aren't mean. You got dragged into this."

Leo lowered his screwdriver. He looked at the ceiling and shook his head like, What am I gonna do with this guy? "I try very hard to be annoying," Leo said. "Don't insult my ability to annoy. And how am I supposed to resent you if you go apologizing? I'm a lowly mechanic. You're like the prince of the sky, son of the Lord of the Universe. I'm supposed to resent you."

"Lord of the Universe?"

"Sure, you're all— bam! Lightning man. And 'Watch me fly. I am the eagle that soars—'"

"Shut up, Valdez."Leo managed a little smile. "Yeah, see. I do annoy you."

"I apologize for apologizing."

"Thank you." He went back to work

Eden shifted uncomfortably. "No- you were right. I'm just not used to being around people and others having my back." And she was telling the truth. She had been trying to be mean and hard towards the others, but it was only because she was afraid to let down her walls.

"Go to sleep, y'all." Leo ordered. "It's gonna take a few hours to get this goat man free. Then I still got to figure out how to make the winds a smaller holding cell, 'cause I am not lugging that canary cage to California."

"You did fix Festus, you know," Jason said. "You gave him a purpose again. I think this quest was the high point of his life." Eden was afraid he'd blown it and made Leo mad again, but Leo just sighed.

"I hope," he said. "Now, sleep. I want some time without you organic life forms."

Jason curled up and immediately started emitting snores, but Eden stayed up.

"It wasn't true what I said about y'all not doing anything. You both have done more than me this quest."

Leo stopped working again and turned. "Are you kidding me? That whole dragon swallowing thingy you did was epic."

Something fluttered in Eden's stomach-she blamed it on nerves. "Children of the Big Three are supposed to be super powerful, but I don't feel it at all. I can't control what I do. And I can't stop thinking about the prophecy- about how I'm supposed to help Hera unleash death," She looked up at Leo as a tear rolled down her cheek. "I- I don't want to kill anyone..."

Leo dropped his tools completely and went over to comfort Eden. He reached out to touch her, but she flinched away. Despite opening up, she wasn't ready for physical touch.

It seemed like Leo was having trouble finding his words. He licked his lips and sighed before telling her this: "Eden, nothing bad is going to happen. I promise."

She sniffled a bit. "You can't promise that."

He laughed a bit. "No, I can't, but I can do anything in my power to make sure it happens."

Eden drifted off into a dreamless sleep. It was peaceful, for just a moment, until she was woken up by screaming.

"Ahhhggggggh!"

Eden bolted upright. She blinked away the grogginess as her eyes landed on the screaming satyr.

"Coach is awake," Leo said, which was kind of unnecessary. Gleeson Hedge was capering 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.

"Coach!" Jason yelled. Hedge turned, breathing hard. His eyes were so wild, Eden was afraid he might attack. The satyr was wearing his orange polo shirt and his coach's whistle, and his horns were clearly visible above his curly hair, and his beefy hindquarters were definitely all goat. Could you call a goat beefy?

"You're the new kid," Hedge said, lowering his club. "Jason." He looked at Leo, then Piper, who'd apparently also just woken up. "Valdez, McLean," the coach said. Finally he looked at Eden. "Who're you?"

"Um," Eden stammered. "Eden Duncett, daughter of Hades."

The satyr furrowed his bushy brows. "Hades, hmph. 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? Cage? What's going on? Just because I'm a satyr doesn't mean I can't have you doing plank push-ups, Valdez!"

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 you back to their—um, operator, Medea."

"That witch! Wait—that's impossible. She's mortal. She's dead."

"Yeah, well," Eden said, "somehow she got not dead anymore."

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."

"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 said. Eden held her breath. From the way Leo and Piper caught their breath, she guessed they hadn't noticed yet either.

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 fiber.

"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?"

Eden jumped at a door opening at the far end of the room. A pudgy man in a white bathrobe stepped out with a golden tooth brush 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 them,and the toothbrush fell out of his mouth.

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!"

Eden stood back while the other three held back the angry satyr.

"Woah, coach," Jason said. "Let's bring it down few notches."

A younger man charged into the room. Eden guessed he must be Lit, the old guy's son. 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 was framed by curly dark hair. In other words, he was extremely handsome. She was a sucker for curly hair.

Lit immediately zeroed in on Jason like he was the biggest threat, 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, you first."

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."

Eden snorted and pretended she didn't see Piper shoot her an annoyed look.

"No!" Piper insisted.

"Meh." Coach Hedge lowered his club.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've 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."

They were sitting on the sofas now, while the king reclined on his throne. Tricky to do that in a bathrobe, and Eden did her best to focus on the supposed Midas' face in fear of him flashing them. Hopefully he was wearing golden boxers under there.

Lit stood behind the throne, both hands on his sword, glancing at Eden and flexing his muscular arms just to be annoying. She shifted uncomfortably- she had been hit on far too many times during this quest.

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 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?"

"We could kill them again," Hedge suggested.

"Coach, not helping," Jason said. "Why don't you go outside and stand guard? "

Leo coughed. "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, Eden guessed.

"There," Midas said. "Safe to go out now."

Coach Hedge grunted. "Fine. But if you need me..." He winked at Jason meaningfully. Then he pointed at himself, pointed two fingers at their hosts,and sliced a finger across his throat. Very subtle sign language.

"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."

"Oh." Eden tried to sound enthusiastic. "How nice."

Lit's smile was more of a cruel sneer. Eden could practically feel his eyes burning holes into her, and she could only hope he was staring at her face rather than anything else.

"So," Jason said. "All this gold—"

The king's eyes lit up. "Are you here for gold, my boy? Please, take a brochure!"

Eden looked at the brochures on the coffee table. The title said GOLD:Invest for Eternity.

"Um, you sell gold?" Jason said.

"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."

"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."

Eden silently cursed her old camp director for this moment.

"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."

"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!

Suddenly Eden felt sick to her stomach. She placed a hand over her heart to try and stop it's quick beats, but it was no use. She shifted in her seat again.

"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. Midas had 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, 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. "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."

"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."

"The last group?"

"Hunters," Lit snarled. "Blasted girls from Artemis."

Eden didn't particularly care for the group; most seemed stuck up. She had never talk to them, though, so she couldn't judge them too hard.

"When?" Jason demanded. "What happened?"

Eden furrowed her brows. Why was he so interested in the hunters?

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."

Percy Jackson, Eden thought. Unless another demigod was missing.

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 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 his friends. It was time to leave.

"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."

Lit was smiling cruelly. The king rose, and Leo and Piper moved away from him. "Don't worry," the king assured them. "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've 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 tried to summon fire, but he'd forgotten his power wasn't working. Midas touched his hand, and Leo transformed into solid metal.

Eden backed into Jason. How were the two of them supposed to take down a fast old man with golden powers and a supposed epic swordsman.

Midas smiled apologetically. "Gold trumps fire, I'm afraid." He waved around him at all the gold curtains and furniture. "In this room, my power dampens all others: fire...even charmspeak. Which leaves me only one more trophy to collect."

"Hedge!" Jason yelled. "Need help in here!"For once, the satyr didn't charge in.

Midas chuckled. "No goat to the rescue? Sad. But don't worry, my boy. It's really not painful. Lit can tell you."

Eden tried to smile, but it was weak. "Come on, Lit. You don't want to hurt a pretty girl like me, do you?"

Lit bit his lip. "Maybe we could keep this one hostage. She could be... useful."

Jason said, "We choose combat. You said I could choose to fight Lit instead."

Midas looked mildly disappointed, but he shrugged. "I said you could die fighting Lit. But of course, if you wish."

The king backed away, and Lit raised his sword."I'm going to enjoy this," Lit said. "I am the Reaper of Men!"

"Come on, Cornhusker." Jason summoned his own weapon. This time it came up as a javelin. Eden ripped off her bracelet and wielded her trident.

"Oh, gold weapon!" Midas said. "Very nice."

Eden turned to the king while Lit charged at Jason. The king's expression was unreadable.

"Now, I thought you were supposed to be fighting Lit." He said.

"I'll let Jason handle that." She replied. Eden started to charge to the king, but was intercepted by Lit's sword. He pushed her back onto the floor and went back to Jason.

"What is that style?" Lit growled. "You don't fight like a Greek."

"Legion training," Jason said "It's Roman."

"Roman?" Lit struck again, and Jason deflected his blade. "What is Roman ?"

"News flash," Jason said. "While you were dead, Rome defeated Greece. Created the greatest empire of all time."

"Impossible," Lit said. "Never even heard of them."

Eden got up just as Jason spun on one heel, smacked Lit in the chest with the butt of his javelin, and sent him toppling into Midas's throne.

"Oh, dear," Midas said. "Lit?"

"I'm fine," Lit growled.

"You'd better help him up," Jason said.

Lit cried, "Dad, no!" Too late. Midas put his hand on his son's shoulder, and suddenly a very angry-looking gold statue was sitting on Midas's throne.

"Curses!" Midas wailed. "That was a naughty trick, demigod. I'll get you for that." He patted Lit's golden shoulder. "Don't worry, son. I'll get you down to the river right after I collect this prize."

Midas raced forward. Jason dodged, but Eden wasn't so lucky. Midas' hand touched her shoulder and a cold shiver rushed over her. Slower than Leo or Piper, gold washed over her skin until she was completely turned.

ッ

Sorry if this kinda sucks, I broke my glasses so I could hardly see the screen and my anxious twitch was really acting up.

Eden is literally a fashion ICON she's based after my dream style if I had money.

I was v distracted cause I'm listening to Hamilton.

published july 20, 3:00 am

-xoxo, author.

Chapter Text

 Despite being the last to turn, Eden was the first one to come out of the golden spa treatment. She was shivering and her cut side hurt worse than ever, but she felt surprisingly okay. A little bit of nectar and she was good as new. 

Next was Leo, and with his help they dunked Piper in the river multiple times. They fed her nectar and even let Gleeson do some nature magic, but it was obvious that she had hypothermia. 

"Oh, god." Piper said when she finally woke up. "He turned me to gold!"

"You're okay now." Jason leaned over and tucked a warm blanket around her,

"L-L-Leo?" Piper managed.

"Present and un-gold-ified." Leo was also wrapped in blankets. He didn't look great, but better than Piper, "I got the precious metal treatment too," he said. "But I 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."

"In case you were wondering, I'm here too." Eden said, slightly annoyed that Piper hadn't asked about her. "I came out the fastest."

"You've got hypothermia," Jason said, ignoring Eden's comments. "We risked as much nectar as we could. Coach Hedge did a little nature magic—" 

"Sports medicine. 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."

"Thanks," Piper said weakly. "How did you beat Midas?"

Jason told her the story, putting most of it down to luck.

The coach snorted. "Kid's being modest. You should've seen him. Hiyah! Slice! Boom with the lightning!"

"Gleeson, none of us saw it. We were turned into gold and you were out eating the front lawn." Eden told the old goat. 

But the satyr 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 cudgel. Jason put his hand on Piper's forehead and checked her temperature.

"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.

"Nah," Jason said.

"You're a terrible liar," she said. "Where are we?"

"Pikes Peak," Eden said. "Colorado."

"But that's, what—five hundred miles from Omaha?"

"Something like that," Jason agreed. "I harnessed the storm spirits to bring us this far. They didn't 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."

"Why are we here?"

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."

Eden didn't remember anything about a glowing trail, so she assumed she was asleep for it. 

"'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 remembered. "Do you think they're around here?"

Jason rubbed his forearm as if the tattoos were bothering him. "I don't see how anyone could 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 sometime to rest before we tried moving." 

"We have to get you warm." Jason sat next to her and held out his arms a little awkwardly. "Uh, you mind if I..."

"I suppose." Piper was obviously trying to sound nonchalant. He put his arms around her and held her. They scooted closer to the fire.Coach Hedge chewed on his club and spit splinters into the fire. Eden was gazing into the shadows, desperately wanting to test out what kind of powers she might have. Leo broke out some cooking supplies and started 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 probably assumed Leo was kidding, but when he looked up from his burgers, his expression was deadly serious.

"The thing is," he said, "my dad Hephaestus talked to me." Leo told them about his dream. In the firelight, with the wind howling, the story was even creepier. Eden could imagine the static-filled voice of the god warning about giants who were the sons of Tartarus, and about Leo losing some friends along the way. All the evidence that was pointing to their enemy was enough to make Eden shake. Luckily she could blame it on the cold. 

 "I don't understand. If demigods and gods have to work together to kill the giants, why would the gods stay silent? If they need us—" Piper said. 

"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?" 

"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, Eden, you know anything about that?"

"I can't recall anything," Eden said, "But I never really talked to Chiron, or any other campers."

"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 inhuman years. Still, yeah, I made some enemies on the Council of Cloven Elders. I've been a protector a long time. But they started saying I was getting unpredictable. Too violent. Can you imagine?"

"You? Too violent? No, never." Eden muttered, having flashbacks to when he wanted to kill the king. 

"Wow." Piper tried not to look at her friends. "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."

It took all of Eden's being to not inhale the burger. She hadn't realized how starving she was until the smell of frying meat filled the air. 

"We need to talk." Piper sat up. "I don't want to hide anything from you guys anymore."

Eden looked up from her meal. This couldn't be good. 

"Three nights before the Grand Canyon trip," she said, "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."

The flames crackled.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 three of us."

Because apparently Eden wasn't there. 

"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."

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 them. "Why don't you yell at me or something? I was ordered to kill you!"

"I really wish you would've told us sooner, Piper." Eden was a little mad, to be honest. She knew it was too good to be true. She finally finds friends, and then one of them was told to kill her. "It could've been useful information."

"Aw, come on," Jason said. "You've saved us all on this quest. I'd put my life in your hands any day."

"Same," Leo said. "Can I have a hug too?"

"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."

"So we have no choice," she 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."

Eden didn't want to be mean, but she was in a bad mood. "Sometimes being a demigod takes sacrifices." 

"He's not going to kill your dad," Leo said, sending Eden a look. "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." 

"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 and looked at Eden.

"Kronos' new palace was built there last summer," Eden explained. "It was supposed to be the headquarters for his new kingdom. We never battled there, though. Kronos marched into Manhattan and tried to take over Olympus. I'm pretty sure he left some titans in charge of his palace. After the whole prophecy played out and Kronos sort of defeated himself, the whole palace crumbled on its own."

"No," Jason said. 

"Excuse me?" Eden asked. 

"What do you mean, 'No'?" Leo asked.

"That's not what happened. I—" He tensed, looking toward the cave entrance. "Did you hear that?"

For a moment, no sounds were made. Then she heard it: The vicious howls cutting through the night. 

"Wolves, " Piper said. "They sound close."

Jason rose and summoned his sword. Leo and Coach Hedge got to their feet too. Eden grabbed her trident. 

Piper tried to stand, but she was obviously in pain.

"Stay there," Jason told her. "We'll protect you."

Just outside the firelight at the entrance of the cave, a pair of glowing red eyes appeared. Then a couple more. and a whole pack of dark snow covered wolves edged into the cave. The wolf in front was about as tall as a horse with blood covering his muzzle like he'd just eaten an animal- or possibly a human. 

Jason stepped forward and said something in Latin. Eden only knew a bit, but apparently the alpha understood. He curled his lip the hair on his spine stood up straight, like Peter Parker's spidy sense. One of his lieutenants tried to advance, but the alpha wolf snapped at his ear. Then all of the wolves backed into the dark.

"Dude, I gotta study Latin." Leo's hammer shook in his hand. "What'd you say, Jason?"

Hedge cursed. "Whatever it was, it wasn't enough. Look."

The wolves were coming back, but the alpha wolf wasn't with them. They didn't attack. They waited—at least a dozen now, in a rough semicircle just outside the firelight, blocking the cave exit. The coach hefted his club.

"Here's the plan. I'll kill them all, and you guys escape."

"Coach, they'll rip you apart," Piper said.

"Nah, I'm good."

Eden was definitely willing to let the satyr to sacrifice himself for the group, but she knew the others wouldn't let that happen. 

Eden stumbled back a bit when a man started wading through the wolf pack. If anything scared her more than a pack of starving wild beasts, it was men. Which in some cases, they could be considered the same. 

"Stick together," Jason said. "They respect a pack. And 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 Eden didn't care about or couldn't identify. The furs didn't look cured, and 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 like fangs. His eyes glowed bright red like his wolves'—and they fixed on Jason with absolute hatred.

"Ecce," he said, "filli Romani."

"Speak English, wolf man!" Hedge bellowed.

If Eden wasn't so terrified, she would've slapped Gleeson. His aggressive mindset hadn't done them any favors. 

The wolf man snarled. "Tell your faun to mind his tongue, son of Rome. Or he'll be my first snack." 

Faun was the roman name for satyr, Eden remembered that much. She could just barely recall a tale about wolves, but it wasn't coming to her just yet. 

The wolf man studied their little group. His nostrils twitched. "So it's true," he mused. "A child of Aphrodite. A son of Hephaestus. A daughter of Hades. A faun. And a child of Rome, of Lord Jupiter, no less. All together, without killing each other. How interesting."

"You were told about us?" Jason asked. "By whom?"

The man snarled—perhaps a laugh, perhaps a challenge. "Oh, we've been patrolling for you all across the west, demigod, hoping we'd be the first to find you. The giant king will reward me well when he rises. I am Lycaon, king of the wolves. And my pack is hungry."

The wolves snarled in the darkness. Lycaon glared at Jason's sword. He moved to each side as if looking for an opening, but Jason's blade moved with him.

"Leave," Jason 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, son of Jupiter. 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!"

Jason glanced over his shoulder. "Coach, you know this clown?"

"I do," Eden answered. The details of the myth came back to her—she almost got it mixed up with a couple others. The Ancient Greeks had a big problem with eating their children. "Lycaon invited Zeus to dinner," she said. "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 howled. The wolves behind him howled too.

"So Zeus turned him into a wolf," Piper said. "They call werewolves lycanthropes, named after him, the first werewolf. "

"The king of wolves," Coach Hedge finished. "An immortal, smelly, vicious mutt."

Lycaon growled. "I will tear you apart, faun!"

"Oh, you want some goat, buddy? 'Cause I'll give you goat."

"Stop it," Jason said at the same time that Eden reached over and pinched the goat. "Lycaon, you said you wanted to kill me first, but...?"

"Sadly, Child of Rome, you are spoken for. Since this one"—he waggled his claws at Piper—"has failed to kill you, you are to be delivered alive to the Wolf House. One of my compatriots has asked for the honor of killing you herself."

"Who?" Jason said.

The wolf king snickered. "Oh, a great admirer of yours. Apparently, you made quite an impression on her. 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." 

"You're going to leave now," Piper said, "before we destroy you." It was obvious that the girl was trying to use her charmspeak, but she was too weak. 

 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 is needed alive. The rest of you, I'm afraid, are dinner."

Jason took a step forward. "You're not killing anyone, wolf man. Not without going through me." Lycaon howled and extended his claws. Jason slashed at him, but his golden sword passed straight through as if the wolf king wasn't there.

Lycaon laughed. "Gold, bronze, steel, even Stygian iron—none of these are any good against my wolves, son of Jupiter."

"Silver!" Piper cried. "Aren't werewolves hurt by silver?"

"We don't have any silver!" Jason said.

"I have an earring!" Eden tried, but she knew the small stud wouldn't do anything but get her killed. 

Wolves leaped into the firelight. Hedge charged forward with an elated "Woot!" But Leo struck first. He threw a glass bottle and it shattered on the ground, splattering liquid all over the wolves—the unmistakable smell of gasoline. He shot a burst of fire at the puddle, and a wall of flames erupted. 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 demigods.

"Aw, c'mon," Coach Hedge complained. "I can't hit them if they're way over there."

Every time a wolf came closer, Leo shot a new wave of fire from his hands, but each effort seemed to make him a little more tired, and the gasoline was already dying down. "I can't summon any more gas!" Leo warned. Then his face turned red. "Wow, that came out wrong. I mean the burning kind. Gonna take the tool belt a while to recharge. What you got, man?"

"Nothing," Jason said. "Not even a weapon that works."

"Lightning?" Piper asked. 

Jason concentrated, but nothing happened. "I think the snowstorm is interfering, or something."

"Can you do that Earth thing, Eden?" Piper asked.

Eden stared hard at the ground and focused on making it crack open. The ground shuddered a bit and opened about 6 inches, but that was it. "Sorry."

"Unleash the venti!" Piper said.

"Then we'll have nothing to give Aeolus," Jason said. "We'll have come all this way for nothing."

Lycaon laughed. "I can smell your fear. A few more minutes of life, heroes. Pray to whatever gods you wish. Zeus did not grant me mercy, and you will have none from me."

The flames began to sputter out. Jason cursed and dropped his sword. He crouched like he was ready to go hand-to-hand. Leo pulled his hammer out of his pack. Piper raised her dagger—not much, but it was all she had. Eden lifted her hands, expecting to have to punch one of the creatures. Coach Hedge hefted his club, and he was the only one who looked excited about dying.

Then a ripping sound cut through the wind—like a piece of tearing cardboard. A long stick sprouted from the neck of the nearest wolf—the shaft of a silver arrow. The wolf writhed and fell, melting into a puddle of shadow. More arrows. More wolves fell. The pack broke in confusion. An arrow flashed toward Lycaon, but the wolf king caught it in midair. Then he yelled in pain. When he dropped the arrow, it left a charred, smoking gash across his palm. Another arrow caught him in the shoulder, and the wolf king staggered.

"Curse them!" Lycaon yelled. He growled at his pack, and the wolves turned and ran. Lycaon fixed Jason with those glowing red eyes. "This isn't over, boy." The wolf king disappeared into the night.

More wolves made noise, but the sound was different. Less threatening, less ferocious. A smaller white wolf burst into the cave, followed by two more.

Hedge said, "Kill it?"

"No!" Piper said. "Wait."

The wolves tilted their heads and studied the campers with huge golden eyes. A heartbeat later, their masters appeared: a troop of hunters in white and-gray winter camouflage, at least half a dozen. All of them carried bows,with quivers of glowing silver arrows on their backs. Their faces were covered with parka hoods, but clearly they were all girls. One, a little taller than the rest, crouched in the firelight and snatched up the arrow that had wounded Lycaon's hand.

"So close." She turned to her companions. "Phoebe, stay with me. Watch the entrance. The rest of you, follow Lycaon. We can't lose him now. I'll catch up with you."

The other hunters mumbled agreement and disappeared, heading after Lycaon's pack.

The girl in white turned toward them, her face still hidden in her parka hood. "We've been following that demon's trail for over a week. Is everyone all right? No one got bit?"

Jason stood frozen, staring at the girl. Eden had heard this girls voice before at camp.

"Thalia Grace of the Hunters of Artemis." Eden guessed. 

The girl tensed. She could've pulled out her bow and murdered Eden on the spot, but instead she pulled down her hood. Thalia looked the exact same since the Titan war, with her spiky black hair and glowing face with brilliant blue eyes that matched Jason's.

 "Do I know you?" Thalia asked.

"No, but I'm a camper at Camp Half Blood." Eden replied.

Piper took a breath. "This might be a shock, but—"

"Thalia." Jason stepped forward, his voice trembling. "I'm Jason, your brother."

ッ

this probably sounds mean but can you guys comment lol. it makes me so happy to be able to reply to peoples questions or funny stuff. 

published: july 23, 2:02 am

-xoxo, author.

Chapter Text

For a minute, 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!"

Leo 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 did better than that. She collapsed. She would've cracked her head on the cave floor if Hedge hadn't caught her.

Thalia rushed over. "What's wrong with her? Ah—never mind. I see. Hypothermia. Ankle." She frowned at the satyr. "Don't you know nature healing?"

Hedge scoffed. "Why do you think she looks this good? Can't you smell the Gatorade?"

Eden sniffed the air. She could not smell Gatorade. 

Thalia glared at Leo but softened her gaze at Eden. "You and the satyr," Thalia ordered to Leo, "take this girl to my friend at the entrance. Phoebe's an excellent healer."

"It's cold out there!" Hedge said. "I'll freeze my horns off." 

"Come on, Hedge. These two need time to talk." Leo said.

"Humph. Fine," the satyr muttered. "Didn't even get to brain anybody." 

Despite Leo being ordered, Eden grabbed Piper's legs and helped Hedge carry her to the temporary camp. She didn't notice Leo staying.

Immediately they were offered a new set of clothes, but Eden politely declined and kept her turtleneck and sweatpants. She did, however, take the camo pants and stuff them into her bag for future use. 

Eden had to mentally prepare herself for whatever was going to happen with Aeolus. It would be her first time confronting a god, and really her first time even in the presence of one. If she didn't watch her words, Eden could end up leaving has a small rodent, or worse, not leave at all. Gods were extremely arrogant beings; everyone knew that. 

Her admiration for Percy Jackson could only increase. He had been facing the gods since the mere age of twelve, doing their dirty work and facing death countless times. Eden had secretly hoping they could find him during their journey and he could help lead them. He probably would've known exactly where to go, what to do and how to act. 

But instead she was stuck with an amnesiac who kind of knew what he was doing but got knocked out a lot, a violent satyr whose first instinct was to kill anything that crossed his path, a lovesick girl that only cared about Jason and sometimes Leo, and a goofy guy that seriously doubted himself and had dangerous powers. Oh, and she couldn't forget herself, who knew what she was doing but was too scared, whose instinct was to be mean to anything that tried to get close, who only really cared about herself and who had dangerous powers. 

Eden had hardly touched her hot chocolate when Thalia, Jason, and Leo got back. 

"Oh, no way," Leo said. "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 all right, Phoebe," Thalia said. "They'll need extra coats. And I think we can spare some chocolate."

Phoebe grumbled, but soon Leo and Jason were dressed in silver wintry clothes like Piper's. 

"Cheers!" said Coach Hedge. He crunched down his plastic thermos cup.

"That cannot be good for your intestines," Leo said.

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."

"Hey, I could run ten miles too," Leo volunteered. "Tough Hephaestus kid here. Let's hit it." Naturally, Thalia ignored him.

"So," Thalia turned to Eden. "You're a Hades kid?"

Eden nodded. 

"Oh." Was all Thalia said, but it left Eden paranoid. Did the daughter of Zeus hate her?

It took Phoebe exactly six seconds to break camp. The tent self-collapsed into a square the size of a pack of chewing gum. Thalia ran uphill through the snow, hugging a tiny little path on the side of the mountain, with Eden running close behind. It was exhilarating, finally being able to travel on the ground. She never wanted to ride a metal dragon again. 

Coach Hedge leaped around like a happy mountain goat. "Come on, Valdez! Pick up the pace! Let's chant. I've got a girl in Kalamazoo— "

"Let's not," Thalia snapped. So they ran in silence. 

Eden was surprised to find herself paced with the two other hunters. She loved to go on runs at camp, but she never considered herself fast. 

"You said earlier you went to camp," Thalia struck. "How long?" 

Eden pulled her beaded necklace from under her shirt. It was the only jewelry she never took of, despite it never matching any of her outfits. There were four beads on the string, along with her father's mysterious black ring that she never knew who he'd gotten it from. She had a sneaking suspicion it was from her godly father, but she would never know. 

"Nearly five years. I only just got claimed, though." 

Again, Thalia just replied "Oh." 

They finally stopped running. Leo nearly ran into Eden, but she jumped out of the way and let him crash into Thalia. She steadied them and sent a look to Eden, which she pretended not to see. Eden had ignored a lot of looks lately. 

"That," Leo choked, "is a really large rock. "

They stood near the summit of Pikes Peak. Below them the world was blanketed in clouds. The air was so thin, she could hardly 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. But the real show was above them. 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 Eden 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 a fortress. The only thing connecting Pikes Peak to the floating island was a narrow bridge of ice that glistened in the moonlight. Then Eden realized 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.

"We're not seriously crossing that," Leo said.

Thalia shrugged. "I'm not a big fan of heights, I'll admit. But if you want to get to Aeolus's 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 said. "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's 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 and Eden both grimaced at the not-so-good memory. Eden had only been briefly, but the circumstances were not ideal. 

"We should go across in two different groups. The bridge is fragile."

"That's reassuring," Leo said.

Eden was uneasy. Just looking at the bridge made her want to pass out. "Jason, I don't supposed you can fly us up there?"

Thalia laughed. Then she seemed to realize Eden's question 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, a skill Eden could admire. Her fear always reflected on her face. 

"Truthfully," she said, "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. Piper, Eden, come on, girls. I'll give you a hand."

"No, that's okay," Piper started to say, but the coach grabbed her hand and dragged her up the bridge. Eden reluctantly followed. 

Surprisingly, she got off the bridge alive. Unsurprisingly. she had to sit down for a moment as soon has they got off. 

Jason and Leo were panting as the bridge vanished. Leo's clothes were smoking. 

"What happened?" Piper demanded. "Leo, why are your clothes smoking?"

"I got a little heated," he 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."

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!" 

Eden focused on her climbing and walked in silence. Her friends weren't the best bunch to be around right now, what with Leo swatting at his clothes, Piper glancing back nervously and Jason being upset about being separated from his sister. 

Finally they arrived at the top of the island. Bronze walls marched all the way around the fortress grounds, though Eden couldn't imagine who would possibly attack this place. Twenty-foot-high gates opened for them, and a road of polished purple stone 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 were amazing in a scary way. They were divided into four sections like big pizza slices, each one representing a season. The section on their right was an icy waste, with bare trees and a frozen lake. Snowmen rolled across the landscape as the wind blew, so Eden wasn't sure if they were decorations or alive. To their left was an autumn park with 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—"

"Go ahead," Jason said. 

While the satyr ran off to attack springtime, Jason, Eden, Leo, and Piper walked down the road to the steps of the palace. They 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 floated up to them. Literally floated. She was pretty in that elfish way Eden associated with nature spirits at Camp Half-Blood—petite, slightly pointy ears, and an ageless face that could've been sixteen or thirty. Her brown eyes twinkled cheerfully. Even though there was no wind, her dark hair blew in slow motion, shampoo-commercial style. Her white gown billowed around her like parachute material. Eden couldn't tell if she had feet, but if so, they didn't touch the floor. She had a white tablet computer in her hand.

"Are you from Lord Zeus?" she asked. "We've been expecting you." 

"Are you a ghost?" Jason asked. The 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."

Piper came to the rescue. "No, of course you don't! My friend simply mistook you for Helen of Troy, the most beautiful mortal of all time. It's an easy mistake." 

"Oh...well, then. So you are from Zeus?"

"Er," Jason said, "I'm the son of Zeus, yeah."

"Excellent! Please, right this way." She led them 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. Apparently Jason was having trouble speaking, because each sentence included 'er' and 'um'

The lobby was a pretty distracting place. Winds blasted around them, so it felt like pushing through an invisible crowd. Doors blew open and slammed by themselves. 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. An ugly creature fluttered past. She looked 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 plus wings 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. Eden had seen them nearly every day for the past five years. They were harpies. 

"So," Piper prompted, "you were taking us to see Aeolus?"

Mellie led them 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!"

The central section of Aeolus's fortress 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 Jason pulled him back.

"Holy—!" Leo gulped. "Hey, Mellie. A little warning next time!"

An enormous circular pit plunged into the heart of the mountain. It was probably half a mile deep, honeycombed with caves. Some of the tunnels probably led straight outside. Jason remembered seeing winds blast out of them when they'd been on Pikes Peak. 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.

"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 material. They went to work hammering and gluing—and using large quantities of duct tape, which didn't reassure Eden. 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.

"That can't be safe," Jason said.

"Oh, it is!" Mellie assured him. "The harpies are very good." Easy for her to say. She just drifted across without touching the floor,but Jason probably had the best chance at surviving, since he could fly, so he stepped out first. Amazingly, the floor held. Piper gripped his hand and followed him. "If I fall, you're catching me."

"Uh, sure." 

Leo stepped out next. "You're catching me, too, Superman. But I ain't holding your hand."

Eden finally stepped onto the platform as well. "You better catch me first, blondie." 

Mellie led them 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 them no attention as Mellie brought them forward. She pushed a forty-two-inch Sony out of their way and led them into the control area.

Leo whistled. "I got to get a room like this."

The floating screens showed all sorts of television programs. Eden didn't recognize any but a few—news broadcasts, mostly—but some programs looked a little strange: gladiators fighting, demigods battling monsters. Maybe they were movies, but they looked more like reality shows. 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, or crazy, or 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 tornadoes. As Eden 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 Jason with a mad grin. "Isn't that amazing? Let's watch it again."

"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!"

Immediately a small tornado of brushes, blotters, and cotton balls descended on Aeolus. They blurred across his face in a cloud of flesh-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 a 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 be killed—did I order that?"

Mellie checked her computer tablet. "Yes, sir, fifteenth of September. 'Storm spirits released by the death of Typhon, demigods to be held responsible,' etc....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 out of nowhere, snatched the golden bag, and spiraled into the abyss. 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, the 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...um, 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!"

"Maybe like half the demigods...?" Eden muttered to herself, but Leo heard and laughed. 

Aeolus flew off toward the blue screen as newscast music started to play. 

"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 Mr. Aeolus's newassistant. 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?"

A voice blared from 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 Eden checked the monitors, she 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 Eden knew what she meant. Mad. Aeolus was completely mad.

"And that's the weather," Aeolus concluded. "See you in twelve minutes, because I'm sure it'll change!" The lights shut off, the video monitors went back to random coverage, and just for a moment, Aeolus's face sagged with weariness. Then he seemed to remember he had guests, and he put a smile back on. "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's son."

"Yes, yes. I know that. I said I remembered him from before."

"But, sir, they're here from Olympus."

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 his friends, mystified.

"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, but Mellie was 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 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."

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's expression hardened. "Like last time? Like every hero who comes here? Demigods! It's always about you, isn't it?"

"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 said. "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's ships for me. I don't like him.' Then Neptune says, 'No, you don't! That's my territory. Calm the winds.' Then Juno is like, 'No, wreck his ships, or I'll tell Jupiter you're uncooperative!' 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 and looked slightly mollified. "Well...that's true, of course. For instance, I know that this business here"—he waggled his fingers at the four of them—"this harebrained scheme of Juno'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. His face did look familiar. Piper took the photo. Her hands were 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 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. He staggered backward.

"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! And... Aha! Daughter of two fathers, I believe this was meant for you."

Yet again, something fell into the god's hands. When he handed it to Eden, she nearly stopped breathing. The envelope was thick and covered with stamps, the only blank spot having her name written in her mortal father's handwriting. 

"Oh." Eden gasped, covering her mouth. 

"Now, where were we? Ah, yes, you wanted information. Are you sure about that? Sometimes information can be dangerous." Aeolus 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's smile melted. "The giant? Why would you want to go there? He's horrible! He doesn't even watch my program!"

Piper held up the 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!" Aeolus 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."

"Enceladus does," Piper 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," Jason 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..."

Aeolus tilted his head as if thinking. Then Eden 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. Hold on..."

The other's parents were helping them. Eden tried to her best to ignore that she hadn't heard a word from her father since her claiming, but it was still a little painful. A simple hug would suffice. 

 Back toward the entrance, there was 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 ?"

"That? That's just Coach Hedge. Uh, Gleeson Hedge. He's our..." Jason seemed to be unsure of what to call him. Eden would've gone with nuisance. "Our guide."

"He's so goatly," Mellie murmured. Behind her, Piper poofed out her cheeks, pretending to vomit.

"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.

"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.

"She hasn't spoke to me for centuries. I can't—yes, yes I understand." He swallowed, regarding Jason as if he had 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."

"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. They could hear storm spirits screaming out of it, spiraling up toward them, howling for blood. "Even Zeus understands the order of things," Aeolus said. "And if she is waking—by all the gods—she cannot be denied. Good-bye, 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. Eden reached for her bracelet. Mellie the aura yelled, "No!" She dived at their feet just as the storm spirits hit with hurricane force, blasting the floor to pieces, shredding the carpet samples and marble and linoleum into what should've been lethal projectiles, had Mellie's robes not spread out like a shield and absorbed the brunt of the impact.

The six of them fell into the pit, and Aeolus screamed above them, "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!" 

The storm spirits were following them down, closing rapidly, bringing with them a cloud of deadly shrapnel. Jason grabbed Piper's hand. "Group hug!"

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

Eden's mouth was open in a silent scream, the terror becoming too much. Surely this would be the death of her. Zeus would finally get his revenge on Hades for her existence. 

"This is NOT GOOD!" Leo yelled.

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

"He's magnificent," Mellie sighed.

"Concentrate?" Jason prompted.

"Right!" she said. 

They slammed into the tunnel at painful speed and went rolling over each other down a steep vent that was not designed for people. There was no way they could stop. Mellie's robes billowed around her. Eden and the others clung to her desperately, and they began to slow down, but the storm spirits were screaming into the tunnel behind them.

"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 them, the tunnel was turning dark. "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 them in a warm gentle breeze. Then the real winds hit, shooting them into the sky so fast, Eden blacked out. 

ッ

I am sorry for how incredibly sucky this chapter is. I am extremely tired and I'm not really motivated this week. 

apparently wattpad sold our info to the darkweb. I'm lowkey terrified. I changed my email and pass, but I wonder if I didn't do it fast enough. I'm debating taking a small break but I don't think I will. 

do any of you know a good house of hades pdf? the only one I can find has " as '

published: july 24, 2:45 am

-xoxo, author.

Chapter Text

"Mother!"

Eden awoke from her unpleasant dream of an extremely gorgeous woman shifting through a closet and tossing clothes at her, screeching things like "It won't fit!" or, "That's not your color!"

It was almost believable that she was still dreaming. The sun beamed down on her pale skin but the air was still chilly. At other tables, cyclists, business people and college students chatted and sipped coffee. Cars zoomed past the small street only to halt at the growing traffic. The road was lined with trees and beautiful flowers and the air smelled faintly of eucalyptus.

"Whatsgoingon." Eden slurred. 

"What?" Hedge demanded. "Fight who? Where?"

"Falling!" Leo grabbed the table. "No—not falling. Where are we?"

Jason blinked, trying to get his bearings. He focused on Piper and made a little choking sound. "What are you wearing?"

Piper blushed. She was wearing a turquoise dress with black leggings and black leather boots. The outfit was completed with an old snowboarding jacket. In other words, Piper looked like a fourth grader. 

"It's nothing," she said. "It's my—" and then she paused, as if remembering something. "It's nothing."

Leo grinned. "Aphrodite strikes again, huh? You're gonna be the best dressed warrior in town, beauty queen."

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

"What...oh." He'd also been given a makeover. Leo was wearing pinstriped pants, black leather shoes, a white collarless shirt with suspenders, and his tool belt, Ray-Ban sunglasses, and a porkpie hat.

"God, Leo." Piper snickered. "I think my dad wore that to his last premiere, minus the tool belt."

"Hey, shut up!"

"I think he looks good," said Coach Hedge. "'Course, I look better." The satyr was a pastel nightmare. Aphrodite had given him a baggy canary yellow zoot suit with two-tone shoes that fit over his hooves. He had a matching yellow broad-brimmed hat, a rose-colored shirt, a baby blue tie, and a blue carnation in his lapel, which Hedge sniffed and then ate.

"I think the outfit looks amazing. Very unique." Eden said honestly. It was never to be admitted out loud, but Leo looked handsome. Hot, even, if she wanted to stretch it. 

"Woah, a compliment from the fashionista herself? Well, take a look at what you're wearing." Leo said. 

Eden looked down, expecting to be disappointed. It was nearly the opposite though. 

Piper's mom had dressed her in a lacy black bralette that revealed more cleavage than she would've liked. It was covered with a fishnet style see-through black long-sleeve that let in all the cool air and provided no protection. Her blood-red pleated skirt ended at mid-thigh and was the closest thing to modesty the outfit provided. Chains hung off the material or looped on belt loops. Around her neck was a simple silver chain and her normal camp necklace. Eden looked down and saw she was wearing her white Doc Martens that she'd received shortly after arriving at camp. They were supposed to be given to her at Christmas time by her father but he'd died before he had the chance to gift them. Thankfully, her hair had been left alone besides the fact that it was silky smooth and you could run your fingers through it without problem. 

"I dig it." Eden laughed at herself. "but I kinda wish I had a jacket. I mean, seriously Aphrodite, it's winter!" and her boobs were popping out for the entire world to stare at. 

"You look great." Leo mumbled, his face turning red. 

"Well," Jason said, "at least your mom overlooked me." Jason was dressed simply in jeans and a clean purple T-shirt, like he'd worn when he arrived at camp. He had new track shoes on, and his hair was newly trimmed. His eyes were the same color as the sky. Aphrodite's message was clear: This one needs no improvement. Eden couldn't quite agree, but who was she to argue with the love goddess?

 "Anyway," Piper said uncomfortably, "how did we get here?"

"Oh, that would be Mellie," Hedge said, chewing happily on his carnation. "Those winds shot us halfway across the country, I'd guess. We would've been smashed flat on impact, but Mellie's last gift—a nice soft breeze—cushioned our fall."

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

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

"I'm going to be sick," Piper said. "Anyone else want coffee?"

"Coffee!" Hedge's grin was stained blue from the flower. "I love coffee!"

"Um," Jason said, "but—money? Our packs?"

Eden looked down. Their packs were at their feet, and everything seemed to still be there. Piper brought out a wad of cash from her pocket.

Leo whistled. "Allowance? Piper, your mom rocks!"

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

It didn't take them long to figure out where they were. The menus said "Café Verve, Walnut Creek, CA." And according to the waitress, it was 9 A.M. on December 21, the winter solstice, which gave them three hours until Enceladus's deadline. They didn't have to wonder where Mount Diablo was, either. They could see it on the horizon, right at the end of the street. After the Rockies, Mount Diablo didn't look very large, nor was it covered in snow. It seemed downright peaceful, its golden creases marbled with gray-green trees. It was probably much bigger up close.

Leo pulled something out of his pocket—the old crayon drawing Aeolus had given him. Aphrodite must've thought it was important if she'd magically transferred it to his new outfit.

"What is that?" Piper asked.

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

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

Leo shook his head. "Not today. He was talking about...later."

"How can you be sure?" Piper asked.

"Trust me," Leo said.

Eden put her plain black coffee down and reached into the waistband of her skirt. Tucked in between was the stamp covered letter from her father. She didn't open it, though. It was probably best to wait until they got back from the quest to read its contents. Instead she slipped it into her pack. 

"Now—what's our game plan?" Leo prompted. 

Coach Hedge belched (Eden started calling him that because the cover name was easier to say than Gleeson). He'd already had three espressos and a plate of doughnuts, along with two napkins and another flower from the vase on the table. He would've eaten the silverware, except Piper had slapped his hand.

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

"Thank you, General Eisenhower," Jason grumbled.

"Hey, I'm just saying!"

"Guys," Piper said. "There's more you need to know."

She told them she'd figured some things out in her dreams. She told them about their real enemy: Gaea.

Eden visibly cringed. She had feared this.

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

"Leo, that's Snow White," Piper said.

"Okay, but—"

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

Leo whistled. "Really?"

Hedge nodded. "This earth lady—she and her old man the sky were nasty customers."

"Ouranos," Piper said. 

"Right," Eden said, wanting to take over before coach twisted the story into a war movie. "Ouranos was an awful dad. He aggravated Gaea when he threw their first kids, the Cyclopes, into Tartarus. But she waited. And then they had more kids-the twelve Titans- and Gaea thinks they'll be thrown into prison as well. So she goes to her, Kronos-

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

Eden coughed a bit. "Yeah- him. So Gaea gives him a scythe and tells him to call his dad down so he can talk to her, and then while his father is distracted Kronos can cut him up. She baits him by telling him he can rule the world." 

Nobody said anything. Eden never took the old Greek tales to heart, so this one didn't phase her. They only frightened her when she thought of facing them. 

"Definitely not Snow White," Piper decided.

"Kronos was a bad guy. A very, very bad guy. But Gaea- she's literally the mother of the bad guys. She's so old and powerful that it's hard for her to be fully conscious. Most of the time, she's asleep, and that's the way she should stay." Eden took a bite of her buttered croissant. 

"But she talked to me," Leo said. "How can she be asleep?"

Gleeson brushed crumbs off his canary yellow lapel. He was on his sixth espresso now, and his pupils were as big as 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 Gaea will wake up fully."

Eden nodded and finished chewing. "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." 

"Guys, I can't ask you to do this," Piper said. "This is too dangerous."

Eden wanted so badly to accept the offer, to say "Oh, okay then! You can go save your father and I'll stay down here drinking coffee and eating pastries!" But this was what she had been training all those years for. She was born to be a hero; now she had to act on it. 

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

ツ

If only the cab could've taken them all the way to the top. That would've been much simpler than having to hike up the slope in their impractical clothing. But no... the gods didn't listen to the multiple prayers Eden sent.

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." Eden followed Leo out. She had a sneaking suspicion about what was wrong with the cab, and she 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, and Eden would've thought that if it weren't for the evil earth goddess thirsting for their blood. The road was hard-packed dirt. No reason at all it should have been soft, but Eden's clean white boots were starting to sink. If the gift from her father was destroyed, Eden would swallow all of her fear and throw some serious hands with Gaea. 

Leo told the driver to get out fast and keep the change, and thankfully he listened. Soon all they could see was his dust trail. The view from the mountain was pretty amazing. The whole inland valley around Mount Diablo was a patchwork of towns—grids of tree-lined streets and nice middle-class suburbs, shops, and schools. All these normal people living normal lives—the kind Eden had barely known.

"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 looked towards the foggy basin with such a longing that Eden felt uneasy. A thought from long ago popped into her head, a small theory, but she quickly pushed it away. If it were true then Jason would be an enemy, and Eden didn't want that. Jason was nice enough to her, she could actually call him a friend. But still, the possibility that he connected with such an evil place stuck with her. What was hiding underneath his amnesia?

"Hey, guys," Leo said. "Let's keep moving."

Eden saw that her boots were stuck in the ground. It took a lot of force to pry them from the mountain. 

"Gaea is stronger here," Hedge grumbled. He popped his hooves free from his shoes, then handed the shoes to Leo. "Keep those for me, Valdez. They're nice."

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

"That's 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. Something was burning. "Smoke equals fire," Jason said. "We'd better hurry."

Years at camp had prepared Eden for any possibility. Climbing a mountain while the earth was trying to eat you up was an exception. Thankfully she was in extremely good shape, otherwise the trek would've destroyed her. The skirt and holey shirt proved useful when Eden started to sweat profusely, and she pitied Coach who was in a suit and Leo who was in pants and a long sleeve. Piper could suffer with her leggings, though. For some reason Eden didn't like her much at the moment.

Despite what Eden thought earlier, she would open the letter now. What better time when they were left to their own thoughts as they walked to their deaths?

The multiple stamps were a bit of an inside joke. When Eden was five, she and her father went to the post office to send out a package to someone from her dad's work. While her dad signed off something, he asked her to stamp the letter. Being five, all she could think about were the stickers. She covered the paper in stamps, leaving just enough room for the name and address. 

When her dad saw what she did, he didn't even get mad. Instead he lifted her up and took her in his arms. 

"You, my little munchkin," He tickled her. "are a masterpiece. Don't you let anyone tell you different." And he sent the letter to his business partner, all 57 stamps plus the contents. 

Later he got an email saying that if he pulled something like that again, he would face suspension. Still, her father ignored her sniffled apology and ruffled her hair. 

"Hey- if they don't appreciate you, then I don't appreciate them."

Eden worked at the seal of the envelope, but it was almost like it was glued shut. They reached their destination before she could open it.

Jason crouched behind a wall of rock. He gestured for the others to do the same. Leo crawled up next to him. Eden knelt next to him, careful to keep her skirt down. Piper had to pull Coach Hedge down.

"I don't want to get my outfit dirty!" Hedge complained.

"Shhh!" Piper said. Reluctantly, the satyr knelt.

Just over the ridge where they were hiding, in the shadow of the mountain's final crest, was a forested depression about the size of a football field, where the giant Enceladus had set up camp. Trees had been cut down to make a towering purple bonfire. The outer rim of the clearing was littered with extra logs and construction equipment that Eden couldn't identify. Mortal machines weren't covered much in her studies. 

Why a giant needed construction equipment, Eden wasn't sure. She didn't see how the creature in front of them could even fit in the driver's seat.

The giant Enceladus was so large, so horrible, Eden could barely look at him. If she had been scared at all during her past troubles, it was nothing compared to the pure terror she felt now. She could die in the next hour. She could get hurt. Or possibly worse, her new friends could get hurt. It was too much. 

Eden had to force her eyes to focus on the monster. To start with, he was thirty feet tall—easily as tall as the treetops. Eden was sure the giant could've seen them behind their ridge, but he seemed intent on the weird purple bonfire, circling it and chanting under his breath. From the waist up, the giant appeared humanoid, his muscular chest clad in bronze armor, decorated with flame designs. His arms were completely ripped. Each of his biceps was bigger than Leo. His skin was bronze but sooty with ash. His face was crudely shaped, like a half-finished clay figure, but his eyes glowed white, and his hair was matted in shaggy dreadlocks down to his shoulders, braided with bones. From the waist down, he was even more terrifying. His legs were scaly green, with claws instead of feet—like the forelegs of a dragon. In his hand, Enceladus held a spear the size of a flagpole. Every so often he dipped its tip in the fire, turning the metal molten red.

"Okay," Coach Hedge whispered. "Here's the plan—"

Leo elbowed him. "You're not charging him alone!"

"Aw, c'mon."

Piper choked back a sob. "Look."

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

"Dad," she said. 

All hatred for Piper dialed down a bit. At least her own dad was dead, she didn't have to worry about any of this happening to her father. He was dead. But Piper- Piper was watching her dead live a real life movie. Instead of Tristan McLean breaking his bonds and sucker punching the giant in the face, he was helpless. His only hope was four fashionable demigods and an aggressive goat man. 

"There's five of us," Hedge whispered urgently. "And only one of him."

"Did you miss the fact that he's thirty feet tall?" Leo asked.

"Okay," Hedge said.

"So you, me, Eden and Jason distract him. Piper sneaks around and frees her dad."

They all looked at Jason."What?" Jason asked. "I'm not the leader."

"Yes," Piper said. "You are."

They'd never really talked about it, but no one disagreed, not even Hedge. Despite his memory loss, you could tell Jason was used to this. He'd obviously been in battles before, and he knew his way with strategy. One could argue that Eden was better fit, because she had been training for five years and could actually remember it, but Eden would immediately deny it. Training was nothing on actually experience, and when it came down to it, she wasn't sure if she could swallow her fear and march to her death. 

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

"Then let's go kick some giant butt." Eden tried to sound enthusiastic, but her voice was as shaky as her body.

Leo pulled something out of his tool belt. "Let's boogie," he said. "Before I come to my senses."

ツ

in love with Eden's outfit, got the top inspo from tiktok. if I had a good body, money and knew what stores to go to, I would dress exactly like Eden. 

I'm pretty sure I have the timing wrong on when Eden's got to camp because I can't remember if Percy got there when he was 11 or 12. Either way, Percy is a couple weeks older than Eden and she's been at camp for five summers. 

published july 30 2:46 am

-xoxo, author,

Chapter Text

Asking for one thing to go right on this quest was apparently pushing it. Almost immediately, the plan failed. While Piper scrambled along the ridge and kept her head down, Leo, Jason, Coach and Eden walked straight into the clearing. Jason summoned his golden lance. He brandished it over his head and yelled, "Giant!" It sounded pretty good to Eden, seeing if she was in that position she would've been quieter than a mouse and said something along the lines of "Give us the man and we'll leave," or possibly even just "Oh sorry, wrong place, We'll leave!"

Enceladus stopped chanting at the flames. He turned toward them and grinned, revealing fangs like a saber-toothed tiger's. "Well," the giant rumbled. "What a nice surprise."

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

"Coach," Jason said. "Shut up."

They probably should've left coach at the bottom of the mountain. Or at Aeolus'. Or at Midas'. Or Madea's. 

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 Leo. "I don't think that was a compliment."

"Coach." Eden gritted her teeth and didn't look away from the giant. "It was not a compliment."

Enceladus opened his mouth wide, and his teeth began to glow. "Scatter!" Leo yelled.

Jason and Hedge dove to the left, while Eden and Leo dodged behind the bulldozer. The giant blew a blast that could've rivaled Apollo in hotness.

While Leo started running to the right, Eden ran to meet with Jason in his charge to 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 everyone sprawling. 

Eden flew into Jason's chest as they smacked into the other side of the clearing. "Oh- I'm so sorry!" She scrambled off of him. 

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. 

The giant bellowed, "I see you, Piper McLean!" He turned and blew fire at a line of bushes around were Piper was.

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!"

This had been what Piper had warned them about. For a moment Eden really thought they had been betrayed- that the girl dropped Jason and Leo into the enemies hands. Why they didn't want Eden was past her. Maybe Gaea didn't know she existed, just like anyone else.

Something made Enceladus laugh even harder. "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?"

Eden looked at Leo, and then at Piper's dad. He wore a ragged dress shirt and torn slacks that could've belonged in Madea's store. His bare feet were caked with mud. He wasn't completely unconscious, because he lifted his and groaned. The face looked familiar- it was the face of Tristan McLean from one of the many posters in the Aphrodite cabin. She had been in the cabin once, to meet her friend Silena for their shopping trip. Chiron had gotten tired of the children of the love goddess complaining about the ugly orange shirts, so he let the counselor leave camp. Eden was allowed to join in only because Silena asked for her. Her only friend was dead now. Tristan didn't look so much like the posters anymore. He had a nasty cut running down the side of his face and his body was thin and sickly. 

"Dad!" Piper yelled.

Mr. McLean blinked, trying to focus. "Pipes...? Where..."

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

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

Piper looked back and forth between Leo and her dad.

"He'll kill you," Leo warned. "Don't trust him!"

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

Jason and Eden were both on their feet now- him with his lance and her with her trident. Before they could act, though, Enceladus roared- a call so loud it echoed down the valley and could probably be heard all the way to San Francisco. 

At the edge the woods, half a dozen ogre-like creatures rose up. Rather than hiding there, Eden realized, they had risen from the earth. 

The ogres shuffled forward. They were small compared to Enceladus, about seven feet tall. Each one of them had six arms—one pair in the regular spot, then an extra pair sprouting out the top of their shoulders, and another set shooting from the sides of their rib cages. They wore only ragged leather loincloths, and even across the clearing, everyone could smell them. Six guys who never bathed, with six armpits each.

Even with Eden's allergy-clogged nose, the smell was enough to make her gag. She decided if she made it back to camp alive, she would have to wash herself multiple times to get the smell away.

"What—what are those?" Leo asked. 

"Gegenees." Piper responded. 

"In English?" Leo asked.

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

"Very good, my dear!" Enceladus sounded delighted. "They used to live on a miserable place in Greece called Bear Mountain. Mount Diablo is much nicer! They are lesser children of Mother Earth, but they serve their purpose. They're good with construction equipment—"

"Vroom, vroom!" one of the Earthborn bellowed, and the others took up the chant, each moving his six hands as though driving a car, as if it were some kind of weird religious ritual. "Vroom, vroom!" It was so silly, if Eden weren't about to die she would've laughed. 

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

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

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. Earth-born! I will show you Jason."

Eden wanted to get the hell away, because she was standing right next to Jason. But the giant didn't point to Jason. 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!"

A week ago, you could've never told Eden that she could understand a plan with just one look. But here she was, understanding what the plan was for the four of them with a single glance from Jason. Whenever that had happened, when they could read each other so well, she had no clue. 

Piper rushed towards her father, resuming her previous job. Leo continued his journey towards the tree harvester for some reason. The most terrifying part, though? Eden and Jason both charged Enceladus. For some strange reason, the son of Zeus trusted the daughter of Hades to help him face the biggest threat. Adrenaline pumped through her veins, getting rid of some of the fear. All she could feel was the ground underneath her feet as she ran to the giant weapon raised.

They each took one side of him- Jason the right and Eden the left. Even two against one, they were no match for the powerful being. He was four times the size, meaning four times the strength. It also meant he had more body to guard and was slower, though. Whenever the massive spear was focused on Eden, Jason was trying hacking away at the legs. Whenever fire was being blasted onto Jason, Eden was stabbing the dragon hide appendages. 

Jason managed to pierce the thick hide when he jabbed Enceladus in the ankle. Golden ichor trickled down the clawed foot. Enceladus bellowed in pain and blasted fire, which gave Eden her chance. She leaped up onto the scaly leg and dug the Stygian iron right into his leg, making him cry out yet again. When the giant moved his leg, Eden could only hang onto the shaft of her weapon. He blew fire down, leaving her with just enough time to wrench her weapon out and tumble to the ground. She hit the ground in a sloppy roll and about broke her neck.

At the small moment she got to breath, she surveyed the scene around her. Leo was driving the construction vehicles and knocking down the Earthborn. When the creature started to throw rocks, he was defenseless. Piper, still on the way to her father, ran in to save the day. Coach Hedge was still heroically passed out with his goat tail sticking up in the air.

Jason struck again behind the knee. Eden managed to get the bottom of the foot. Sweat dripped from her body, but she could barely focus on any pain. Eden was focused on the battle in front of her. Even when the flames brushed against the side of her arm, she only stumbled a bit and kept going forward to jump at any opening. 

Enceladus' flames were eating away at the mountain. Soon the entire side would be ablaze. While Leo was fireproof, the others were not. 

The ground stuck to her feet, but Eden swiped her arm in the air and it begun to back off. Geokinesis was a power of Hades, after all. Jason wasn't so lucky. He missed getting hit by the spear by millimetres. 

Enceladus might be slow, but he wasn't dumb. He began anticipating Eden and Jason's 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 gold toothpick and black fork can't kill me."

Neither demigod replied- the battle was beginning to exhaust them. The air was full of smoke that burned her lungs. Fires roared around them, stoked by the winds, and the temperature was approaching the heat of an oven.

Jason raised his javelin to block the giant's next strike—a big mistake. He managed to deflect the spear, but it grazed his shoulder, and his arm visibly dropped. He backed up, almost tripping over a burning log. 

Eden followed his suit, retreating and trying to lure the giant to the edge of the clearing. Enceladus could sense their weariness. He 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 singlehandedly slew the Titan Krios and toppled the black throne. I don't know any thing about you, though." He added to Eden. 

Thanks a lot, she thought. 

"What are you talking about?" Jason asked. That was a big mistake. 

The giant blew fire. Eden moved out of the way in time, but Jason was distracted. He moved too slowly and nearly missed the blast. He slammed into the ground, his clothes smoldering. He scrambled back as the giant's spear cleaved the ground between his feet. Jason managed to stand.

Eden and Jason looked at each other, another plan forming. They took a deep breath and charged.

Enceladus let them approach, grinning with anticipation. Eden ran around the back of the giant and leaped to strike in the small of his back. At the same time, Jason ran through the front and at the last second, faked a strike and rolled between the giant's legs. He came up quickly and thrusted to the same spot as Eden, 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. Thankfully, Eden brought her weapon down quick enough to avoid it getting blasted into pieces. 

The explosion was hotter than the giant's breath, blinding Eden with golden light. The force knocked both of them off their feet and squeezed the breath out.

Eden's vision blurred, and when she regained focus she was sitting at the rim of a crater next to Jason. 

Enceladus stood at the other side, staggering and confused. The javelin's destruction had released so much energy, it had blasted a perfect cone shaped pit thirty feet deep, fusing the dirt and rock into a slick glassy substance. Eden had survived by sheer luck, but her injuries were taking a toll on her now. Her left arm was covered in yellow and pink blisters and was burning. Scratches covered her entire body, and blood was slowly dripping into her eye. The fishnet shirt was ripped in multiple places. 

Yet she still tried to stand. One could look at Eden and say, "Wow, she's brave!" but it was actually the opposite. As soon as she lifted her torso and pushed up, pain flared up her leg and shook her whole body. She looked down and saw that her lower leg had a small lump on it and was actually quite numb. 

Enceladus blinked at the destruction, then laughed. "Impressive! Unfortunately, that was your last trick, demigods." Enceladus leaped the crater in a single bound, planting his feet on either side of the two demigods. The giant raised his spear, its tip hovering six feet over Jason's chest. Apparently the giant wasn't a big fan of ladies first. "And now," Enceladus said, "my first sacrifices to Gaea!"

It was as if Kronos, the lord of time, had joined the party. Everything slowed, and all Eden could do was watch with horror was the giant spear made it's way towards Jason's chest. She should do something, anything, but she couldn't. Eden's body was numb and in pain. Perhaps her father would spare her, maybe offer her a place in his kingdom when she died. "Oh, you died trying to save the world? Well then you can be a princess, or maybe a janitor."

Leo's voice 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. "Eden, come on!"

Her voice was energizing, compelling. Eden and Jason both sat up and groaned. Piper lifted Jason up while Leo lifted Eden. As soon as her leg had a slight amount of pressure on it, she stumbled. Leo lifted Eden's arm over his head and supported her.

"Don't die on me," Piper ordered. "You are not dying on me."

"Yes, ma'am." Jason mumbled

"What's the fun in that?" Eden slurred. 

Inside the crater, Enceladus was struggling to rise, an ax blade the sizeof a washing machine stuck in his breastplate. Amazingly, the giant managed to pull the ax blade free. He yelled in pain and the mountain trembled. Golden ichor soaked the front of his armor, but Enceladus stood.

Shakily, he bent down and retrieved his spear. "Good try." The giant winced. "But I cannot be beaten." As they watched, the giant's armor mended itself, and the ichor stopped flowing. Even the cuts on his dragon-scale legs, which Jason and Eden had worked so hard to make, were now just pale scars.

Leo cursed. "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," Jason said. The giant's smile faltered, and Eden saw in his eyes something like fear.

"It's true, isn't it? Gods and demigods have to work together to kill you."

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

"Anyone have a god handy?" Leo asked. 

"Leo," Jason said, "if you've got a rope in that tool belt, get it ready."

Eden sat back down, knowing she would be useless for the rest of the battle. If anything happened, she could attack with rocks. 

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

"Enceladus!" Piper yelled. "Look behind you!" It was an obvious trick, but her voice was so compelling, even Eden bought it.

The giant said, "What?" and turned like there was an enormous spider on his back. Jason tackled his legs at just the right moment. The giant lost his balance. Enceladus slammed into the crater and slid to the bottom. While he tried to rise, Jason put his arms around the giant's neck. When Enceladus struggled to his feet, Jason was riding his shoulders.

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

For a moment, nothing happened. Then the metallic scent of storms, a smell unfamiliar to Eden because of camp's borders, filled the air. Darkness swallowed the sun. The giant froze, sensing it too.

Jason yelled to his friends, "Hit the deck!" and Eden flattened herself on the ground. 

Every hair on her body stood up, and energy radiated in the air. Lightning cracked down onto Jason and Enceladus. 

The lightning bolt had split the mountain itself. The earth rumbled and tore apart, and Enceladus's legs slid into the chasm. He clawed helplessly at the glassy sides of the pit, and just for a moment managed to hold on to the edge, his hands trembling.

He fixed Jason with a look of hatred. "You've won nothing, boy. My brothers are rising, and they are ten times as strong as I. We will destroy the gods at their roots! You will die, and Olympus will die with—"

The giant lost his grip and fell into the crevice. The earth shook. Jason fell toward the rift. "Grab hold!" Leo yelled.

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

Eden limped over and they stood together, exhausted and terrified, as the chasm closed like an angry mouth. The ground stopped pulling at their feet. For now, Gaea was gone.

The mountainside was on fire. Smoke billowed hundreds of feet into the air. A helicopter—maybe firefighters or reporters—was coming toward them. All around them was carnage. The Earthborn had melted into piles of clay, leaving behind only their rock missiles and some nasty bits of loincloth, but Eden sensed they would re-form soon enough. Construction equipment lay in ruins. The ground was scarred and blackened.

Coach Hedge started to move. He sat up with a groan and rubbed his head. His canary yellow pants were now the color of Dijon mustard mixed with mud. He blinked and looked around him at the battle scene. "Did I do this?"

Before anyone could reply, Hedge picked up his club and got shakily 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 satyr gestures at the piles of clay.

Leo cracked a contagious smile, and Jason started to laugh. Piper did too, and Eden giggled a bit. Here they were, covered in blood and dirt, and laughing at their goat companion for thinking he had saved the world. 

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. It was like the opposite of Jason, who had no memories. Tristan McLean had too many memories, too much trauma for his simple mortal mind. He was breaking. 

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

"Yeah, but how?" Leo said. "He's in no shape to walk."

Jason glanced up at the helicopter, which was now circling directly overhead. "Can you make us a bullhorn or something?" he asked Leo. "Piper has some talking to do."

ッ

I kinda suck at writing battle scenes whoops. but like i'm so proud of eden she's finally getting out there and learning what she can do

also fun fact- idk if most people do this but I write my chapters all at once. ik some people work on the same chapter over like a week or something but I sit down at my computer after my mom falls asleep and push through 3-4 hours of staring at a screen

published july 31, 2:56 am.

xoxo, author

Chapter Text

Eden had to hand it to Piper, it was awesome how she got the helicopter. As soon as they stepped in Eden sat down and eased her leg onto the seat beside her. While Piper talked to her dad, Eden made sure to occupy herself and not listen in. 

She asked Jason to help with her leg. He wrapped it up in a splint but there was nothing much they could do. She ate as much ambrosia as she could and let her burn wounds and leg partially heal. 

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

He pointed. "What is that?"

As far as Eden could see, there was nothing interesting. Hills, woods, houses and small roads through the canyons. A highway cut through a tunnel in the hills, connecting the East Bay with the inland towns. 

"Where?" Piper asked.

"That road," he said. "The one that goes through the hills."

Piper talked to the pilot through the coms, but the answer wasn't very exciting. "She says it's Highway 24," Piper reported. "That's the Caldecott Tunnel. Why?"

Jason stared intently at the tunnel entrance, but he said nothing. It disappeared from view as they flew over downtown Oakland, but Jason still stared into the distance, his expression almost as unsettled as Piper's dad's.

"Monsters," her dad said, a tear tracing his cheek. "I live in a world of monsters."

ツ

Air traffic control didn't want to let an unscheduled helicopter land at the Oakland Airport—until Piper got on the radio. Then it turned out to be no problem.They unloaded on the tarmac, and everyone looked at Piper.

"What now?" Jason asked her.

"First thing," she said. "I—I have to get my dad home. I'm sorry, guys."

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

"Really Piper?" Eden couldn't believe it. I mean, they'd come all this way for Piper to bail before they saved the world? "After all this, you're going to leave? I get that you care about your dad, but really-" She stopped after she saw the judgmental look on Jason's face and the heartbroken one on Piper's.

"Pipes, no." Her dad had been sitting in the helicopter doorway, a blanket around his shoulders. But he stumbled to his feet. "You have a mission. A quest. I can't—"

"I'll take care of him," said Coach Hedge.

"You?" Piper asked.

"I'm a protector," Gleeson said. "That's my job, not fighting."

 For a moment, Hedge looked very upset. Then he straightened, and set his jaw. "Of course, I'm good at fighting, too." He glared at them all, daring them to argue.

"Yes," Jason said.

"Terrifying," Leo agreed.

"I'm sure you could beat up Leo." Eden said confidently. 

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..." Piper's eyes welled up with tears. "Dad..." He held out his arms, and she hugged him. 

"Let's give them a minute," Jason said, and they took the pilot a few yards down the tarmac.

As soon as Piper was finished, they grouped up to say goodbye. 

He gave Piper a hug and glared at Jason and Leo. He moved in to give Eden a hug too, but she quickly backed up and instead offered her hand for a fist bump.

"You cupcakes take care of these girls, 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.

"Hold up, goat man. I can take care of myself!" Eden defended, even though she was lying. 

Piper gave the old satyr one more hug. "Thank you, Gleeson. Take care of him, please."

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

Eden decided to be nice and gave him a small hug, and then watched as he lost a shoe while he trotted up the stairs. 

When the plane was heading down the runaway, Piper started to cry. Jason was hugging her, and Leo stood uncomfortably nearby, pulling Kleenex out of his tool belt. Eden stood awkwardly next to Leo and fiddled with her ruined shirt. 

"Your dad's in good hands," Jason said. "You did amazing."

"I'm sorry for being insensitive..." Eden mumbled. 

"Thank you, guys," Piper said. "I—"

Eden went in to give Piper a hug. There were a lot of those these days. Then, right next to Jason, the air began to shimmer. It was the familiar beginning of 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 they 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 it."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?"

This made no sense to anyone, but 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?"

"Um..." 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." 

Eden squeezed Leo's shoulder. "You can do 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. "Hop in, kids. Uncle Leo's gonna take you for a ride."

ツ

"Going okay?" Piper asked from the copilot's seat. 

"Aces," Leo said. "So what's the Wolf House?"

Jason knelt between their seats, and Eden sat right behind him. "An abandoned mansion in the Sonoma Valley. A demigod built it—Jack London."

"He an actor?" Leo asked.

"Writer," Piper said. "Adventure stuff, right? Call of the Wild? White Fang?"

"Never heard of it." Eden said. 

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

"Named that 'cause he wrote about wolves?" Leo 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 he was a demigod."

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

"We talk about famous alumni at camp a lot, and I've never heard of him." Eden said. 

"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?"

"I started my journey there too," Jason said. "It's a powerful place for demigods, a dangerous place. If Gaea can claim it, use its power to entomb Hera on the solstice and raise Porphyrion—that might be enough to awaken the earth goddess fully." 

"Fabulous! And I'm supposed to unleash death with her." Eden said, but her voice lacked any real emotion. 

Piper placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. That was the worst, the girls who were nice to you no matter what you did. "Annabeth told me prophecies can mean all kinds of things. I'm sure it won't be too bad."

Eden mumbled a thanks.

"Thirty minutes out," Leo said. "If you want to get some rest, now's a good time."

Eden and Jason strapped themselves on opposite sides and fell asleep facing each other. 

Like usual, she dreamt of nothing. 

Eden woke up to Leo screaming, "OUT!" 

She scrambled out of her seat and limped behind Jason to exit the helicopter. Not even a second later, a giant snowball came crashing down and smashed to vehicle into a pancake. "That was close." Eden yawned. Then they ran over to Leo.

"You all right?" Jason asked.

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

Piper pointed south. "Fighting's over there." Then she frowned. "No...it's all around us."

She was right. The sounds of combat rang across the valley. The snow and mist made it hard to tell for sure, but there seemed to be a circle of fighting all around the Wolf House. Behind them loomed Jack London's dream home—a massive ruin of red and gray stones and rough-hewn timber beams. In the mist and sleet, the place had a lonely, haunted feel. 

"Jason!" a girl's voice called. Thalia appeared from the fog, her parka caked with snow. Her bow was in her hand, and her quiver was almost empty. She ran toward them, but made it only a few steps before a six-armed ogre—one of the Earthborn—burst out of the storm behind her, a raised club in each hand.

"Look out!" Leo yelled.

They rushed to help, but Thalia had it under control. She launched herself into a flip, notching an arrow as she pivoted like a gymnast and landed in a kneeling position. The ogre got a silver arrow right between the eyes and melted into a pile of clay. Thalia stood and retrieved her arrow, but the point had snapped off. "That was my last one." She kicked the pile of clay resentfully. "Stupid ogre."

"Nice shot, though," Leo said. Thalia ignored him, thankfully. Eden wouldn't want Thalia falling for Leo.

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

"By Earthborn?" Jason asked.

"And wolves—Lycaon's minions." Thalia blew a fleck of ice off her nose. "Also storm spirits—"

"But we gave them to Aeolus!" Piper protested.

"Who tried to kill us," Leo reminded her. "Maybe he's helping Gaea again." 

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

"Where is she?" Jason asked.

"Inside," Thalia said. "We tried to free her, but we can't figure out how to break the cage. It's only a few minutes until the sun goes down. Hera thinks that's the moment when Porphyrion will be reborn. Plus, most monsters are stronger at night. If we don't free Hera soon—"  She didn't need to finish the thought.

Leo helped Eden walk as them, Jason and Piper followed Thalia.

Jason stepped over the threshold and immediately collapsed. "Hey!" Leo caught him, and almost dropped Eden on her butt. "None of that, man. What's wrong?"

"This place..." Jason shook his head. "Sorry...It came rushing back tome."

"So you have been here," Piper said.

"We both have," Thalia said. Her expression was grim, like she was reliving someone's death. "This is where my mom took us when Jason was a child. She left him here, told me he was dead. He just disappeared."

"She gave me to the wolves," Jason murmured. "At Hera's insistence. She gave me to Lupa."

"That part I didn't know." Thalia frowned. "Who is Lupa?"

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

"Maybe this isn't the time for questions," Leo suggested. "Show us the goddess."

Once inside, Jason seemed to get his bearings. The house was built in a giant U, and Jason led them between the two wings to an outside courtyard with an empty reflecting pool. At the bottom of the pool, just as Jason had described from his dream, two spires of rock and root tendrils had cracked through the foundation. One of the spires was much bigger—a solid dark mass about twenty feet high. Underneath the mass off used tendrils she could make out the shape of a head, wide shoulders, a massive chest and arms, like the creature was stuck waist deep in the earth. No, not stuck— rising. On the opposite end of the pool, the other spire was smaller and more loosely woven. Each tendril was as thick as a telephone pole, with so little space between them that not even a cat could slip through. Still, she could see inside.

In the center of the cage stood a middle aged woman. Her dark hair was covered with a shawl, wearing a black dress of a widow and had a wrinkled face with glinting, scary eyes. 

Leo 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 him and looked at the cage with distaste—or maybe she was looking at the goddess. "We tried everything we could think of, Leo, but maybe my heart wasn't in it. If it was up to me, I'd just leave her in there."

"Ohh, Thalia Grace," the goddess said. "When 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 with emotion. "Here—on this spot. You ruined our lives. We should leave you to Gaea!"

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

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

"Intestinally challenged cows?" Leo asked, sparking a memory in Eden's brain. She could remember walking outside the Athena cabin one day and hearing screaming from inside, "Those damn 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. It seemed taller than when they first arrived. 

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

"Gross," Piper said. 

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

"You're telling me this guy is stronger than Enceladus?" Eden said quietly. She felt just like before he battle with Athena's rival, more terrified than ever before. 

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

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

Leo frowned at the giant's spire. "Can't we blow it up or something?"

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

"Done that once today," Jason said.

"Just hurry up and let me out!" Hera demanded.

Jason scratched his head. "Leo, can you do it?"

"I don't know." Leo tried not to panic. "Besides, if she's a goddess, why hasn't she busted herself out?"

Hera paced furiously around her cage, cursing in Ancient Greek. "Use your brain, Leo Valdez. 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," Leo said.

Hera gave him the godly stink-eye. "I've watched you since you were a child, son of Hephaestus, because I knew you could aid me at this moment. If anyone can find a way to destroy this abomination, it is you."

"But it's not a machine. It's like Gaea thrust her hand out of the ground and... Hold on. I do have an idea. Piper, I'm going to need your help. And we're going to need time."

The air turned brittle with cold. The temperature dropped so fast, Everyone's lips cracked and breath changed to mist. 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. Eden summoned her trident. Jason grabbed an ice-covered plank off the pool floor. Leo drew a hammer from his tool belt.

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

"Thalia!" Jason rushed forward, but Piper and Leo pulled him back. The ground around Thalia's statue was already webbed with ice. 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, There was a girl's laughter, clear and cold. She stepped out of the mist in her snowy white dress, a silver crown atop her long black hair. She regarded them with her demanding brown eyes that had terrified Eden back in Quebec.

"Bon soir, mes amis," said Khione, the goddess of snow. She gave Leo a frosty smile. "Alas, son of Hephaestus, you say you need time? I'm afraid time is one tool you do not have."

Eden was freaking out. In about five minutes, whenever they freed Queen Hera, she would have to unleash death. She prayed to the gods, even her father, that the death would not be one of her friends. She wanted it to be the monsters, or maybe even Khione.

"What've you done?" Jason demanded.

"Oh, so many things," the snow goddess purred. "Your sister's not dead, if that's what you mean. She and her Hunters will make fine toys for our wolves. I thought we'd defrost them one at a time and hunt them down for amusement. Let them be the prey for once."

The wolves snarled appreciatively. "Yes, my dears." Khione kept her eyes on Jason. "Your sister almost killed their king, you know. Lycaon's off in a cave somewhere, no doubt licking his wounds, but his minions have joined us to take revenge for their master. And soon Porphyrion will arise, and we shall rule the world."

"Traitor!" Hera shouted. "You meddlesome, D-list goddess! You aren't worthy to pour my wine, much less rule the world."

Khione sighed. "Tiresome as ever, Queen Hera. I've been wanting to shut you up for millennia." Khione waved her hand, and ice encased the prison, sealing in the spaces between the earthen tendrils. "That's better," the snow goddess said. "Now, demigods, about your death—"

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

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

"You could've killed us in Quebec," Jason said. "Why let us live?"

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

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

"You're also the one who kept Enceladus informed about us," Piper added.

"We've been plagued with snowstorms the whole trip." Eden finished. 

"Yes, I feel so close to all of you now!" Khione said. "Once you made it past Omaha, I decided to ask Lycaon to track you down so Jason could die here, at the Wolf House."

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

Was she spewing some lie, or was Khione telling the truth. Before the battle at the mountain, Eden could've easily attacked Jason if he betrayed them. Now... not so much. 

"You'll set demigods against demigods," he said. "It's so easy!" said Khione. "As I told you, I only encourage what you would do anyway."

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

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

"The ancient places." Leo's eyes widened. "That's what Enceladus meant about 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 two were to die. Reject that ridiculous destiny the Fates have given you. Live and be my champion, instead. Your skills would be quite useful."

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

Eden literally growled. The ground beneath her trembled, splitting apart in little cracks. Piper looked at her in surprise, then smiled a bit. Eden calmed down when Leo doubled over laughing. 

"Yeah, join you. Right. Until you get bored of me and turn me into a Leosicle? Lady, nobody messes with my dragon and gets away with it. I can't believe I thought youwere hot."

Khione's face turned red. "Hot? You dare insult me? I am cold, Leo Valdez. Very, very cold." She shot a blast of wintry sleet at the demigods, but Leo held up his hand. A wall of fire roared to life in front of them, and the snow dissolved in a steamy cloud.

Leo grinned. "See, lady, that's what happens to snow in Texas. It—freaking—melts."

"Hell yeah!" Eden cheered. Even though she was shaking from fear, she would always cheer on her home state. 

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

"Here goes nothing..." Eden muttered, and charged. 

Well, she tried to charge. Her limp slowed her down too much so it was more like the monsters charged her. 

A whole herd of storm spirits met her. She jabbed at them with her trident, and they dissipated. A smelly earthborn lumbered over to Eden, but she swung her weapon and it turned into a pile of clay. Each monster that came at her, she took down in seconds. There were too many, though. The ones she killed started to reform and the wolves simply couldn't be harmed by her Stygian iron. 

The battle seemed hopeless-she spared a glance at her friends. Jason was riding a storm spirit, whacking anything that came close with his plank. Piper was surrounded by Earthborn, but she seemed to be holding her own. She was so impressive-looking as she fought, almost glowing with beauty, that the Earthborn stared at her in awe, forgetting that they were supposed to kill her. They'd lower their clubs and watch dumbfounded as she smiled and charged them. They'd smile back—until she sliced them apart with her dagger, and they melted into mounds of mud.

Leo had taken on Khione herself. While fighting a goddess should've been suicide, Leo was the right man for the job. She kept summoning ice daggers to throw at him, blasts of winter air, tornadoes of snow. Leo burned through all of it. His whole body flickered with red tongues of flame like he'd been doused with gasoline. He advanced on the goddess, using two silver-tipped ball-peen hammers to smash any monsters that got in his way.

The building started to get darker, and Eden surged with power. She had never felt so energized before. A wolf leapt towards her, and for some reason she threw her hand out. A spear of solid, pitch black seemed to come out of her hand and smash into the wolf. It was thrown back and where it had been hit, the fur was bleeding and turning black around the edges. Eden breathed out, she had never done that before. 

A cloud of black formed around her feet. Anytime a monster came near, she would point her hand downward and then throw it out, shooting a dark projectile. Sometimes, the bolt would simply throw a wolf back. Other times, it would hit the creatures and they would explode on the spot. The dark cloud grew and seemed to be seeping from her body. Once, when she swung her arm, an Earthborn was completely enveloped in a dark mist. A second later, the cloud and the earthborn were gone. 

Leo was the only reason they were still alive. His fiery aura was heating up the whole courtyard, countering Khione's winter magic. Without him, they would've been frozen like the Hunters long ago.Wherever Leo went, ice melted off the stones. Even Thalia started to defrost a little when Leo stepped near her. Khione slowly backed away. Her expression went from enraged to shocked to slightly panicked as Leo got closer.

They were all running out of enemies. Piper stabbed the last earthborn, Jason rode through the last anemoi theulli, and Eden shot a dark bolt at the final wolf.

Breathing hard and losing energy, she turned and saw Leo bearing down on the goddess of snow. 

"You're too late," Khione snarled. "He's awake! And don't think you've won anything here, demigods. Hera's plan will never work. You'll be at each other's throats before you can ever stop us."

Leo set his hammers ablaze and threw them at the goddess, but she turned into snow—a white powdery image of herself. Leo's hammers slammed into the snow woman, breaking it into a steaming mound of mush. 

"Wow." Eden gasped. "We're so cool."

A cracking noise gathered their attention. 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!"

Eden hobbled over to 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 Hera sinking, the ground was rising around her like water in a tank. Liquid rock had already covered her shins.

"The giant wakes!"Hera warned. "You only have seconds!"

"On it," Leo said. "Piper, I need your help. Talk to the cage."

"What?" she said.

"Talk to it. Use everything you've got. Convince Gaea to sleep. Lull her into a daze. Just slow her down, try to get the tendrils to loosen while I—"

"Right!" Piper cleared her throat and said, "Hey, Gaea. Nice night, huh? Boy, I'm tired. How about you? Ready for some sleep?"

Eden really wished Piper would learn to direct her power words to a single point. She leaned against Jason to keep from falling to the ground and passing out. 

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. Then Leo looked at the cord and grunted in frustration. "I don't have anywhere to plug it in!"

Jason's spirit horse jumped into the pit and whinnied.

"Really?" Jason asked.It 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. Lightning sparked, connecting with the prongs of the plug, and the circular saw whirred to life.

"Sweet!" Leo grinned. "Your horse comes with AC outlets!"

Their 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.

Eden hadn't thought anything could be scarier than Enceladus. Well, that could be a lie. Things like ordering for yourself at Whataburger or listening to your feelings still existed.

Still, she was wrong. Porphyrion was even taller, and even more ripped. He didn't radiate heat, or show any signs of breathing fire, but there was something more terrible about him—a kind of strength, even magnetism, as if the giant were so huge and dense he had his own gravitational field.Like Enceladus, the giant king was humanoid from the waist up, clad in bronze armor, and from the waist down he had scaly dragon's legs; but his skin was the color of lima beans. His hair was green as summer leaves, braided in long locks and decorated with weapons—daggers, axes, and full size swords, some of them bent and bloody—maybe trophies taken from demigods eons before. When the giant opened his eyes, they were blank white, like polished marble. He took a deep breath.

"Alive!" he bellowed. "Praise to Gaea!" 

Eden may have squeaked- she couldn't hear much over her pounding heartbeat. 

"Leo," Jason said.

"Huh?" Leo's mouth was wide open. Even Piper seemed dazed.

"You guys keep working," Jason said. "Get Hera free!"

"What are you going to do?" Piper asked. "You can't seriously—"

"Entertain a giant?" Jason said. "I've got no choice." He turned to Eden. "You did really good at the mountain. Are you ready for this?"

Eden was a loss for words, so she nodded. They grabbed hands for each other's comfort and support, and strutted up to the giant. 

"Excellent!" the giant roared as they approached. "Appetizers! Who are you—Hermes? Ares?"

"I'm Jason Grace," he said. "Son of Jupiter."

"I'm Eden Duncett," she said. "Daughter of Hades."

Those white eyes bored into her. Behind them, Leo's circular saw whirred, and Piper talked to the cage in soothing tones, trying to keep the fear out of her voice.

Porphyrion threw back his head and laughed. "Outstanding!" He looked up at the cloudy night sky. "So, Zeus, Hades, you sacrifice your children to me? The gesture is appreciated, but it will not save you."

The sky didn't even rumble. The ground didn't. No help from their parents. 

"If you knew who I was," Jason yelled up at the giant, "you'd be worried about me, not my father. I hope you enjoyed your two and a half minutes of rebirth, giant, because I'm going to send you right back to Tartarus."

Eden shot Jason a look like What are you doing?  Apparently he had forgotten that Eden was a lame demigod whose biggest achievement was being on the winning side of capture the flag. 

The giant's eyes narrowed. He planted one foot outside the pool and crouched to get a better look at his opponent. "So...we'll start by boasting, will we? Just like old times! Very well, demigod. I am Porphyrion, king of the giants, son of Gaea. In olden times, I rose from Tartarus, the abyss of my father, to challenge the gods. To start the war, I stole Zeus's queen."

He grinned at the goddess's cage. "Hello, Hera."

"My husband destroyed you once, monster!" Hera said. "He'll do it again!"

"But he didn't, my dear! Zeus wasn't powerful enough to kill me. He had to rely on a puny demigod to help, and even then, we almost won. This time, we will complete what we started. Gaea is waking. She has provisioned us with many fine servants. Our armies will shake the earth—and we will destroy you at the roots."

"You wouldn't dare," Hera said, but she was weakening. Anyone could hear it in her voice. Piper kept whispering to the cage, and Leo kept sawing, but the earth was still rising inside Hera's prison, covering her up to her waist.

"Oh, yes," the giant said. "The Titans sought to attack your new home in New York. Bold, but ineffective. Gaea is wiser and more patient. And we, her greatest children, are much, much stronger than Kronos. We know howto kill you Olympians once and for all. You must be dug up completely like rotten trees—your eldest roots torn out and burned."

The giant frowned at Piper and Leo, as if he'd just noticed them working at the cage.

Jason stepped forward and yelled to get back Porphyrion's attention."You said a demigod killed you," he shouted. "How, if we're so puny?"

"Ha! You think I would explain it to you? I was created to be Zeus's replacement, born to destroy the lord of the sky. I shall take his throne. I shall take his wife—or, if she will not have me, I will let the earth consume her life force. What you see before you, child, is only my weakened form. I will grow stronger by the hour, until I am invincible. But I am already quite capable of smashing you to a grease spot!"

He rose to his full height and held out his hand. A twenty-foot spear shot from the earth. He grasped it, then stomped the ground with his dragon's feet. The ruins shook. All around the courtyard, monsters started to regather—storm spirits, wolves, and Earthborn, all answering the giant king's call.

"Great," Leo muttered. "We needed more enemies."

"Hurry," Hera said.

"I know!" Leo snapped.

"Go to sleep, cage," Piper said. "Nice, sleepy cage. Yes, I'm talking to a bunch of earthen tendrils. This isn't weird at all."

Porphyrion raked his spear across the top of the ruins, destroying a chimney and spraying wood and stone across the courtyard. "So, children of the gods! I have finished my boasting. Now it's your turn. What were you saying about destroying me?"

"I'm the son of Jupiter!" he shouted, and just for effect, he summoned the winds, rising a few feet off the ground. "I'm a child of Rome, consul to demigods, praetor of the First Legion." The words sounded foreign to Eden. He held out his arms, showing the tattoo of the eagle and SPQR, and to her surprise the giant seemed to recognize it. For a moment, Porphyrion actually looked uneasy. "I slew the Trojan sea monster," Jason continued. "I toppled the black throne of Kronos, and destroyed the Titan Krios with my own hands. And now I'm going to destroy you, Porphyrion, and feed you to your own wolves."

There was no way Eden could top that. She wanted to show of like Jason, though, so she used her power to break apart the earth so that she was standing on a platform. Darkness swelled in clouds around her ankles. "I'm the daughter of Hades!" she yelled, wracking her brain. "I assisted in the battle of the Labyrinth and defended my home, Camp Half-Blood! I protected Olympus during the second Titan War and even slew the telekhine Steve with only a dagger!" Eden had no idea who Steve was, but Porphyrion let his guard down for a moment and stumbled back. "I used your mother's earth to swallow one of Helios's sacred sun dragons whole! And I will do the same to you and your puny muscles!" 

When she finished, she looked to Jason wondering if she did alright. He sent her a small smile. 

"Wow, guys," Leo muttered. "You been eating red meat?"

Jason launched himself at the giant with his bare hands. 

Eden hesitated for a moment, but she couldn't leave Jason alone, even though he was crazy. 

Jason landed on the giant's scaly reptilian knee and climbed up the giant's arm before Porphyrion even realized what had happened. 

Eden rode up on her earth wave and jumped onto his shoulder. 

"You dare?" the giant bellowed.

Jason reached his shoulders and ripped a sword out of the giant's weapon-filled braids. He yelled, "For Rome!" and drove the sword into the nearest convenient target—the giant's massive ear. Eden found another hole and stuck her trident into Porphyrion's nose. 

Lightning streaked out of the sky and blasted the sword, throwing Jason free. Eden's weapon lost it's grip and she plummeted to the ground. She conveniently fell into a shadow and passed through it, landing right next to Jason. 

The giant was staggering. His hair was on fire, and the side of his face was blackened from lightning. The sword had splintered in his ear. Golden ichor ran down his jaw and out of his nostril. The other weapons were sparking and smoldering in his braids. Porphyrion almost fell.

The circle of monsters let out a collective grow land moved forward—wolves and ogres fixing their eyes on Eden and Jason.

"No!" Porphyrion yelled. He regained his balance and glared at the demigods.

"I will kill him myself." The giant raised his spear and it began to glow. "You want to play with lightning, boy? You forget. I am the bane of Zeus. I was created to destroy your father, which means I know exactly what will kill you."

"What about me, tough guy?" Eden yelled. "Forget about your bloody nose?"

Porphyrion didn't even look at her. "I'll deal with you later, you aren't a threat."

Eden turned to Jason and spoke in a normal voice. "Are you kidding me?" 

The giant raised his spear, and Jason was too weak to deflect the blade. Eden wouldn't just sit here and let him die though. She had gone too long being the lame, unseen demigod. She sat up and tried to gather her power. 

"Got it!" Leo yelled.

"Sleep!" Piper said, so forcefully, 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 Gaea. The tendrils turned to dust. The mud around Hera disintegrated. The goddess grew in size, glowing with power.

"Yes!" the goddess said.

She threw off her black robes to reveal a white gown, her arms bedecked with golden jewelry. Her face was both terrible and beautiful, and a golden crown glowed in her long black hair. "Now I shall have my revenge!"

The giant Porphyrion backed away. He said nothing, but he gave Jason one last look of hatred. His message was clear: Another time. Then he slammed his spear against the earth, and the giant disappeared into the ground like he'd dropped down a chute.

Around the courtyard, monsters began to panic and retreat, but there was no escape for them.

Eden had harnessed too much energy to let it disperse. It was flowing all around her, waiting for permission to be released. It was so much that it was starting to hurt.

Hera glowed brighter, and Eden glowed darker.

Hera shouted, "Cover your eyes, my heroes!"

Eden felt a scream rise in her throat. She yelled as loud as she could, letting the pain and darkness overcome her. 

The blackness exploded in a ring around her, combining with Hera's magic. All the monsters in the area dropped dead, either from the god or the demigod. 

As her magic dispersed, Eden dropped to the ground and let the darkness overcome her. 

ツ

I absolutely suck at writing battle scenes im so sorry. this chapter really sucks but its also my longest like ever so yayyy (7353 words)

edens such a powerful baby i love her. so like nico is kinda the ghosts and hazel is riches so i wanted eden to be like the darkness/ shadows and a lil bit of earth y'know? idk 

published august first 4:13 am

-xoxo, author

Chapter Text

When Eden opened her eyes, she was laying on the floor. She felt nothing, she thought nothing, and she was nothing. 

"I'm dead" she thought. 

"No, not dead. Not permanently," a voice drawled. "rise." 

Eden stood up and surveyed her surroundings. She was in a room made of gold and silver, with jewels embedded in the walls. Sat in front of her was a large onyx throne decorated with skulls. Sitting in it was a tall, muscular man with skin was white as snow. His black eyes seemed to dig into my soul. The only trait shared between the two was wavy dark brown hair. 

This was her father. She didn't know what to do, so she kneeled. 

"I said, RISE!" Her father boomed, and so she did. "We don't have long. Do you know why you are here."

"No, father." Eden said. 

"You are here because you are foolish. You used harnessed too much power without know how to use it."

Eden bowed her head. 

"Alas, it was fated. You and Queen Hera killed those monsters together." For a moment, the Lord of the Dead sounded proud. It vanished within seconds. "Work on gathering the shadows and using them. Do not fail me." 

Hades tapped slammed a staff that he had not been holding previously on the ground and her vision blurred. 

"Eden, wake up." The words of power resonated through her mind, kick starting the systems. She sat up quickly and nearly slammed her head into Leo's, who was leaning over her and grasping her hand tightly. Beside her, Piper was wiping her tears and rushed in for a hug. 

"Oh!" Eden gasped at the tight hug. She patted Piper's back awkwardly. 

Thalia gripped her brother's hand. "How do you feel?"

"Hot," Jason 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. 

"What happened?" Eden asked as she chewed on the final piece of ambrosia. 

"Eden, you were so cool! You were shaking and stuff, and all this black smoke was spiraling around you until you couldn't even see you anymore. I closed my eyes after that because of Hera, but I heard you yell really loud." Leo gushed. 

"You fulfilled the prophecy. By harnessing the shadows, you unleashed death on the army. I chose you well, my hero. Be careful to never do it again, though, because it will cost you." Hera nodded her head at Leo and Eden's still clasped hands. 

Eden quickly let go and gasped at what she saw. Diagonally across her left hand was an uneven stripe of pitch black. From the tip of her pointer to the beginning of her wrist, her hand gave off the illusion that she was slowly withering away. 

"Now..." Piper faced Thalia and Hera. "Hera—Your Majesty—we couldn't have rescued you without the Hunters. And Thalia, you never would've seen Jason again— I wouldn't have met him—if it weren't for Hera. You two make nice, because we've got bigger problems." 

Thalia grunted. "You've got spirit, Piper." She pulled a silver card from her parka and tucked it into the pocket of Piper's snowboarding jacket. "You ever want to be a Hunter, call me. We could use you."

Hera crossed her arms. "Fortunately for this Hunter, you have a point, daughter of Aphrodite." She assessed Piper, as if seeing her clearly for the 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." 

"Yeah," Leo said, "I don't suppose that Porphyrion guy just melted and died, huh?"

"No," Hera 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," Jason said. "But to where?"

Hera didn't answer. Eden could remember someone saying something about Greece, but her mind was too fuzzy and her body in too much pain. 

"I need to find Annabeth," Thalia said. "She has to know what's happened here."

"Thalia..." Jason gripped her hand. "We never got to talk about this place, or—"

"I know." Her expression softened. "I lost you here once. I don't want to leave you again. But we'll meet soon. I'll rendezvous with you back at Camp Half-Blood." She glanced at Hera. "You'll see them there safely? It's the least you can do."

"It's not your place to tell me—"

"Queen Hera," Piper interceded.

The goddess sighed. "Fine. Yes. Just off with you, Hunter!"

Thalia gave Jason a hug and said her good-byes. When the Hunters were gone, the courtyard seemed strangely quiet. The dry reflecting pool showed no sign of the earthen tendrils that had brought back the giant king or imprisoned Hera. The night sky was clear and starry. The wind rustled in the redwoods. 

"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," Hera said. "You were given into my service." 

Jason scowled. "Because you forced my mom to do that. You couldn't stand knowing Zeus had two children with my mom. Knowing that he'd fallen for her twice. I was the price you demanded for leaving the rest of my family alone."

"It was the right choice for you as well, Jason," Hera insisted. "The second time your mother managed to snare Zeus's affections, it was because she imagined him in a different aspect—the aspect of Jupiter. Never before had this happened—two children, Greek and Roman, born into the same family. You had to be separated from Thalia. This is where all demigods of your kind start their journey."

"Of his kind?" Piper asked.

"She means Roman," Jason said. "Demigods are left here. We meet the she-wolf goddess, Lupa, the same immortal wolf that raised Romulus and Remus."

Hera nodded. "And if you are strong enough, you live."

"But..." Leo looked mystified. "What happened after that? I mean, Jason never made it to camp."

"Not to Camp Half-Blood, no," Hera agreed. The information was too much for Eden. Her head started to pound.

"You went somewhere else. That's where you've been all these years. Somewhere else for demigods—but where?" Piper asked, 

Jason turned to the goddess. "The memories are coming back, but not the location. You're not going to tell me, are you?"

"No," Hera said. "That is part of your destiny, Jason. You must find your own way back. But when you do...you will unite two great powers. You will give us hope against the giants, and more importantly—against Gaea herself."

"Screw destiny." Eden slurred. 

"You want us to help you," Jason said, "but you're holding back information."

"Giving you answers would make those answers invalid," Hera said. "That is the way of the Fates. You must forge your own path for it to mean anything. Already, you four have surprised me. I would not have thought it possible..." The goddess shook her head. "Suffice it to say, you have performed well, demigods. But this is only the beginning. Now you must return to Camp Half-Blood, where you will begin planning for the next phase."

"Which you won't tell us about," Jason grumped. "And I suppose you destroyed my nice storm spirit horse, so we'll have to walk home?"

Hera waved aside the question. "Storm spirits are creatures of chaos. I did not destroy that one, though I have no idea where he went, or whether you'll see him again. But there is an easier way home for you. As you have done me a great service, so I can help you—at least this once. Farewell, demigods, for now."

The world turned upside down. For a moment, Eden was afraid she was returning to her father's palace, for good this time. It was hard to keep from blacking out. 

When she could see straight again, Eden was home. A week ago, Eden would have never found too much comfort here. Now, it took her all to refrain from kissing every bit of land at camp. They were standing on top of the Aphrodite table, mushing their feet into camper's food. All of the campers were stood, staring with their mouths wide. 

It was a good thing there was nothing on her stomach, because whatever kind of Hera-travel they had experience twisted her insides like taffy. Leo wasn't so lucky, because he jumped of the table and threw up into the nearest bronze brazier. 'To the gods'  Eden thought. 

"Jason?" Chiron trotted forward. No doubt the old centaur had seen thousands of years' worth of weird stuff, but even he looked totally flabbergasted. "What—How—?" 

"Hi," Piper said  "We're back."

ッ

Eden could hardly remember last night's events. They shared their story and answer about a hundred questions before Chiron realized they were exhausted and excused them to their cabins. He wouldn't let her go to bed though, before Will Solace wrapped her broken leg in a a cast. 

Oh, how good it felt to be able to sleep in. It was noon before before Eden even moved a muscle, and thirty minutes after before she left the bed to shower. 

As promised, she washed her entire self three times to erase the smell of the earthborn and any other grime attached to her body. Then Eden dressed in leggings and a sweatshirt, by far the most casual outfit she owned, and got ready to go meet Leo for whatever he had planned. 

Eden walked into the woods by herself, stumbling through trees before she finally found Jason, Piper, Leo, Chiron and the rest of the Hephaestus cabin. 

"Here we go." Leo concentrated, and set his hand aflame. Eden couldn't help but step back, flashing back to his battle with Khione. 

His cabinmates gasped. "Leo!" Nyssa cried. "You're a fire user!"

"Yeah, thanks," he said. "I know."

Jake Mason, who was out of his body cast but still on crutches, said, "Holy Hephaestus. That means—it's so rare that—"

The massive stone door swung open, and everyone's mouth dropped, Eden's included. There was a whole hidden room filled with giant machines, worktables, and maps and a dozen other objects and clutter. 

"Welcome to Bunker Nine," he said. "C'mon in."

Festus's head was sitting on the central table, still battered and scorched from his final crash in Omaha. Leo went over to it, a bitter taste in his mouth, and stroked the dragon's forehead. "I'm sorry, Festus. But I won't forget you."

Jason put a hand on Leo's shoulder. "Hephaestus brought it here for you?"

Leo nodded.

"But you can't repair him," Jason guessed.

"No way," Leo said. "But the head is going to be reused. Festus will be going with us."

Piper came over and frowned, followed by Eden. "What do you mean?"

"I've had enough of that dragon." Eden muttered. 

Before Leo could answer, Nyssa cried out, "Guys, look at this!" She was standing at one of the worktables, flipping through a sketchbook—diagrams for hundreds of different machines and weapons. "I've never seen anything like these," Nyssa said. "There are more amazing ideas here than in Daedalus's workshop. It would take a century just to prototype them all."

"Who built this place?" Jake Mason said. "And why?"

"It's a wartime command center," Leo said. "The camp was attacked once, wasn't it?"

"In the Titan War?" Piper asked.

"No, we would've known about it..." Eden muttered. One of Leo's siblings jumped when she spoke and stepped a couple feet back. 

'Great,' She thought. 'I went from unknown to feared. Ironic.'

Nyssa shook her head. "No. Besides, that map looks really old. The date...does that say 1864?"

They all turned to Chiron. The centaur's tail swished fretfully. "This camp has been attacked many times," he admitted. "That map is from the last Civil War." 

"Civil War..." Piper said. "You mean the American Civil War, like a hundred and fifty years ago?"

"Yes and no," Chiron said. "The two conflicts—mortal and demigod—mirrored each other, as they usually do in Western history. Look at any civil war or revolution from the fall of Rome onward, and it marks a time when demigods also fought one another. But that Civil War was particularly horrible. For American mortals, it is still their bloodiest conflict of all time—worse than their casualties in the two World Wars. For demigods, it was equally devastating. Even back then, this valley was Camp Half-Blood. There was a horrible battle in these woods lasting for days, with terrible losses on both sides."

"Both sides," Leo said. "You mean the camp split apart?"

"No," Jason spoke up. "He means two different groups. Camp Half-Blood was one side in the war."

Leo asked, "Who was the other?"

Chiron glanced up at the tattered BUNKER 9 banner, as if remembering the day it was raised. "The answer is dangerous," he warned. "It is something I swore upon the River Styx never to speak of. After the American Civil War, the gods were so horrified by the toll it took on their children, that they swore it would never happen again. The two groups were separated. The gods bent all their will, wove the Mist as tightly as they could, to make sure the enemies never remembered each other, never met on their quests, so that bloodshed could be avoided. This map is from the final dark days of 1864, the last time the two groups fought. We've had several close calls since then. The nineteen sixties were particularly dicey. But we've managed to avoid another civil war—at least so far. Just as Leo guessed, this bunker was a command center for the Hephaestus cabin. In the last century, it has been reopened a few times, usually as a hiding place in times of great unrest. But coming here is dangerous. It stirs old memories, awakens the old feuds.Even when the Titans threatened last year, I did not think it worth the risk to use this place."

Leo looked guilty. "Hey, look, this place found me . It was meant to happen. It's a good thing."

Eden placed her hand on his shoulder and rubbed it comfortingly, causing Leo to smile at her. 

"I hope you're right," Chiron said.

"I am!" Leo pulled the old drawing out of his pocket and spread it on the table for everyone to see."There," he said proudly. "Aeolus returned that to me. I drew it when I was five. That's my destiny."

Nyssa frowned. "Leo, it's a crayon drawing of a boat."

"Look." He pointed at the largest schematic on the bulletin board—the blueprint showing a Greek trireme. Eden started to compare the two designs. The number of masts and oars, even the decorations on the shields and sails were exactly the same as on Leo's drawing.

"That's impossible," Nyssa said. "That blueprint has to be a century old at least." 

'Prophecy—Unclear—Flight,'" Jake Mason read from the notes on the blueprint. "It's a diagram for a flying ship. Look, that's the landing gear. And weaponry—Holy Hephaestus: rotating ballista, mounted crossbows, Celestial bronze plating. That thing would be one spankin' hot war machine. Was it ever made?"

"Not yet," Leo said. "Look at the masthead."

There was no doubt—the figure at the front of the ship was the head of a dragon. A very particular dragon. "Festus," Piper said.

Everyone turned and looked at the dragon's head sitting on the table. "He's meant to be our masthead," Leo said. "Our good luck charm, our eyes at sea. I'm supposed to build this ship. I'm gonna call it the Argo II. And guys, I'll need your help."

"The Argo II." Piper smiled. "After Jason's ship."

Eden snorted. "Cheesy."

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!"

Eden looked at Nyssa like, I know right?

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, Eden, and Leo—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," Leo said. "The original Mount Olympus. We have to sail to Greece."

It took a few minutes for the information to sink in. Then the other Hephaestus campers started asking questions all at once. Who were the other four demigods? How long would it take to build the boat? Why didn't everyone get to go to Greece?

"Heroes!" Chiron struck his hoof on the floor. "All the details are notc lear yet, but Leo is correct. He will need your help to build the Argo II. It is perhaps the greatest project Cabin Nine has ever 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 Eden was thinking the same thing. Percy Jason was definitely a part of this quest. 

Jake Mason turned to Leo. "Well, one thing's for sure. You are now senior counselor. This is the biggest honor the cabin has ever had. Anyone object?"

Nobody did. 

"It's official, then," Jake said. "You're the man." 

"Well," Leo 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!"

ッ

Eden walked back to camp with Leo. 

"Congrats." She said. 

Leo smiled. "Thanks. It was a big surprise, but I don't think they made the right choice."

Eden scoffed. "Of course they did! You were great on the quest. Plus, Chiron said Nico is barely at camp, so he elected me as head counselor too. We're in this together." 

"What happened to you? I'm pretty sure you wanted to kill me the whole quest." Leo laughed. 

"What can I say? People change. Plus, the battle really upped my confidence. I'm still..." She trailed off. She had never told anyone about her fear of the world. She was scared to. 

"Still what?" Leo asked. 

"Nothing." 

"But... whatever. Hey, why shouldn't people from Texas be allowed to drive?" 

Eden frowned. "Pardon?"

Leo was laughing before he got the answer out. "Because... because they're always Texan and driving!" 

Eden just stared blankly at him, but her whole body was trying not to smile. "Very funny, Valdez."

"Can I sign your cast?" Leo pulled out a silver sharpie from his belt and signed in big bubble letters, then handed her the sharpie. 

They were almost at camp now. Leo stopped walking. 

"Hey... Eden?"

Eden turned around and stopped too. "Yeah?"

Leo turned red and started fidgeting with something in his hands. "I just wanted to tell you... I think you're really pretty."

Whatever Eden was expecting, it wasn't that. Her mind was screaming at her. "Um... I-I think you're r-really pretty too." Then she thought about what she said. "Wait! I mean- hot... wait no! You aren't hot. Handsome? You know what, I'll see you at the meeting. Bye."

Eden ran away. 

ッ

Eden had heard things about war councils. Apparently, everyone was always fighting with each other, and when they weren't everyone was in a very serious mood. 

The actual thing was pretty much the opposite. 

For one thing, it was in the Big House rec room, around a Ping-Pong table, and one of the satyrs was serving nachos and sodas. Somebody had brought Seymour the leopard head in from the living room and hung him on the wall. Every once in awhile, a counselor would toss him a Snausage. 

Eden made sure to sit as far away from Leo as possible but then she got scared of sitting next to someone unfamiliar, so she put Jason and Piper between them.

Every person that walked in wanted to sign her cast. 

Clarisse, leader of the Ares cabin, had her boots on the table, but nobody seemed to care. Clovis from Hypnos cabin was snoring in the corner while Butch from Iris cabin was seeing how many pencils he could fit in Clovis's nostrils. Travis Stoll from Hermes was holding a lighter under a Ping-Pong ball to see if it would burn, and Will Solace from Apollo was absently wrapping and unwrapping an Ace bandage around his wrist. The counselor from Hecate cabin, Lou Ellen something-or other, was playing "got-your-nose" with Miranda Gardiner from Demeter, except that Lou Ellen really had magically disconnected Miranda's nose, and Miranda was trying to get it back. Rachel Dare, the oracle, sat next to Chiron at the head of the table. She was wearing her Clarion Academy school uniform dress, which seemed a bit odd. Annabeth didn't look so relaxed. She wore armor over her camp clothes, with her knife at her side and her blond hair pulled back in a ponytail. 

"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, Eden, 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, Eden and Leo chimed in from time to time, filling in the details he forgot. It only took a few minutes, which was crazy because the quest seemed like an eternity. The silence was heavy, and for so many ADHD demigods to sit still listening for that long, the story must have sounded pretty wild. He ended with Hera's visit right before the meeting.

"So Hera was here ," Annabeth said. "Talking to you."

Jason nodded. "Look, I'm not saying I trust her—"

"That's smart," Annabeth said

 "—but she isn't making this up about another group of demigods. That's where I came from."

"Romans." Clarisse tossed Seymour a Snausage. "You expect us to believe there's another camp with demigods, but they follow the Roman forms of the gods. And we've never even heard of them."

Piper sat forward. "The gods have kept the two groups apart, because every time they see each other, they try to kill each other."

"I can respect that," Clarisse said. "Still, why haven't we ever run across each other on quests?"

"Oh, yes," Chiron said sadly. "You have, many times. It's always a tragedy, and always the gods do their best to wipe clean the memories of those involved. The rivalry goes all the way back to the Trojan War, Clarisse. The Greeks invaded Troy and burned it to the ground. The Trojan hero Aeneas escaped, and eventually made his way to Italy, where he founded the race that would someday become Rome. The Romans grew more and more powerful, worshipping the same gods but under different names, and with slightly different personalities."

"More warlike," Jason said. "More united. More about expansion, conquest, and discipline."

"Yuck," Travis put in. 

Several of the others looked equally uncomfortable, including Eden, though Clarisse shrugged like it sounded okay to her.

Annabeth twirled her knife on the table. "And the Romans hated the Greeks. They took revenge when they conquered the Greek isles, and made them part of the Roman Empire."

"Not exactly hated them," Jason said. "The Romans admired Greek culture, and were a little jealous. In return, the Greeks thought the Romans were barbarians, but they respected their military power. So during Roman times, demigods started to divide—either Greek or Roman."

"And it's been that way ever since," Annabeth guessed. "But this is crazy. Chiron, where were the Romans during the Titan War? Didn't they want to help?"

Chiron tugged at his beard. "They did help, Annabeth. While you and Percy were leading the battle to save Manhattan, who do you think conquered Mount Othrys, the Titans' base in California?"

"Hold on," Travis said. "You said Mount Othrys just crumbled when we beat Kronos."

"No," Jason said. "It didn't just fall. We destroyed their palace. I defeated the Titan Krios myself."

Eden giggled a bit, remembering their standoff with Porphyrion and how Jason listed a whole list of crazy achievements and she defeated Steve. Everyone looked at her, but Leo was smiling. 

"Sorry." She mumbled.

"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?" Annabeth put puzzle pieces together. 

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."

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?"

"Hera said my coming here was an exchange of leaders," Jason said. "Away for the two camps to learn of each other's existence."

"Yeah?" Leo said. "So?"

"An exchange goes two ways," Eden said.

"Exactly. When I got here, my memory was wiped. I didn't know who I was or where I belonged. Fortunately, you guys took me in and I found a new home. I know you're not my enemy. The Roman camp—they're not so friendly. You prove your worth quickly, or you don't survive. They may not be so nice to him, and if they learn where he comes from, he's going to be in serious trouble."

"Him?" Leo said. "Who are you talking about?"

"My boyfriend," Annabeth said grimly. "He disappeared around the same time Jason appeared. If Jason came to Camp Half-Blood—"

"Exactly," Jason agreed. "Percy Jackson is at the other camp, and he probably doesn't even remember who he is."

ッ

annnnd done with TLH! I might add one or two bonus chapters before MOA, but idk... i've also never read the demigod files or wtv so idk the maenad story or whatever else sorry. 

comment your goodreads so we can friend each other, I want to know how many books yall read and stuff. 

the letter from her dad is forgotten for now, but im thinking of writing a meet my ocs book and the letter will be in there.

published august second, 2:33 am

-xoxo, author.

Chapter Text

one week after the quest

Eden thought it was bad when no one knew who she was. It was worse when everyone did.

Everywhere she went, people were clapping her on the back, holding out their hands, and some people even tried to hug her. They were always saying things like, "Hey Eden! What's up?" or asking her to battle. She knew they were trying to be nice, but they didn't even know who she was two weeks ago.

Eden was trying to work on being nicer and having better people skills, so she went to the one person she knew wouldn't care about her being on the quest- Annabeth Chase.

The members of the Athena cabin had all gone about their daily activities except for Annabeth. So, dressed in a white tennis skirt and blue crew neck, Eden knocked on the cabin door.

The girl that answered was a mess. She was wearing an oversized pair of gray sweatpants and a blue sweatshirt that said 'Seaweed Brain' across the front. Her hair was put back in a messy ponytail and there was mascara smeared underneath her red eyes. Annabeth Chase was a grieving mess. "Eden?"

"Oh- I'm so sorry. Is this a bad time? I can leave-" Eden stammered.

"No, it's okay. Give me a second." Annabeth left the door open and walked into a back room, so Eden took that as an invitation to come in.

On the bed that she assumed was Annabeth's, a scrapbook was lying open. Eden went and sat at the foot of the bed and looked at the pictures on that open pages.

The first one was of Annabeth and Percy when they were young- probably about twelve. They were fighting, Percy with his sword and Annabeth with her knife. Eden assumed their satyr friend Grover took it, because there were small hooves visible at the bottom.

The second was of only Percy, and he was much older this time. His mouth was wide open and you could see chewed blue mush in his mouth. There were cookie crumbs all over his face.

On the second page, Percy and Annabeth were stood next to Thalia. Thalia didn't have the same supernatural glow as she had when they saw her last, so it was before she was pledged as a hunter.

Annabeth came out of the bathroom, mascara gone and hair redone. "Sorry about that. What's up?"

Eden frowned. "This is probably a stupid question, but- are you okay?"

Annabeth sighed and plopped onto her bed. "Honestly, no. But I have to be brave for everyone else."

Eden's frown deepened. "You shouldn't have be brave. Everyone understands how close you and Percy were. It's okay to show emotion sometimes." All hail Eden, queen of giving others advice but not taking it for herself.

"I'm just tired of being brave for everyone else, but I have no one that will be brave for me. Percy would, though."

Eden grabbed Annabeth's hand and squeezed. "Lay it on me."

Annabeth was quiet for a moment, then she sighed. "When Percy first went missing, I didn't believe it. I did everything I could to find him, praying he was just playing a cruel joke. And then Hera visited me and told me he would be at the Grand Canyon, and I got so hopeful. Only he wasn't there. That's when it really hit me that Percy was gone. Then I broke down once you guys left for your quest. Percy is my other half, you know? I'm a better person around him."

Eden smiled and thought of Leo. "I think I do know, actually."

Annabeth's voice broke a bit. "And then Jason figures out that Percy is at some roman camp and he doesn't have any clue who he is... he could be facing so much trouble right now, and I'm not there to help him. Even worse, he might not... he might not remember me." A couple tears trickled down her cheeks.

Eden shifted on the bed and sat right next to Annabeth. Then, after a second of hesitation, wrapped her arm around the crying girl's shoulder and squeezed a bit.

"If your love is as strong as you say it is, then I'm sure it broke any magical charms put on it. Maybe he forgot his own name, but he remembers yours."

Annabeth smiled. "Maybe. Sorry for laying all this on you, but honestly, it actually felt pretty good."

"Of course, what are friends for." The word friend sounded foreign in Eden's mouth. She had had two friends since her dad died, and they died too. She hoped any new ones she made wouldn't die because of her.

"So, what'd you come here for?"

"Honestly, this." Eden said truthfully.

ツ

two months until departure

Eden woke up one spring day to a sword pressed against her throat. Fear coursed through her veins, paralyzing her. In a sleepy haze, she tried to figure out what was going on.

A young boy, maybe about fourteen, was looking down at her with a fierce expression. He had black, shaggy hair and a paled olive complexion similar to her own. He even had a pointed chin just like Eden's.

"Who are you?" The kid demanded. Eden made a choking noise and wiggled, so the boy pressed down on her chest with his arm.

"I said, who are you!"

"Eden Duncett." She said quietly. "Daughter of Hades."

The boy looked confused for a second, then dug his sword deeper into her skin. Eden felt a sharp sting and a warm liquid and knew that he had drawn blood.

"Impossible." He said.

Eden thought for a moment. "You're- Nico-"

"How do you know that?"

"G-gone- to- camp- s-since- eleven." She stuttered.

Nico eased up. "Are you really a child of Hades?"

Eden nodded and placed a hand to her throat. It was wet. She held out her charred hand above the ground and ignored Nico's expression at the dark taint.

Her hand swirled above the ground and Eden called on her powers. She had been working on them nonstop and was getting far stronger. It was easy to welcome the chill that passed over her whenever she harnessed the shadows. A swarm of black mist gathered underneath her hand and she willed it to become a black tornado.

"Woah." Nico said.

"Yeah." Eden dropped her hand and the mini tornado went away.

The two siblings sat in an awkward silence, shifting around and staring at random things in the room.

"So," Nico said at last. "what happened to your hand?"

"Oh, that? Um, I died."

Nico looked taken aback. He stumbled back into his bed and turned as pale as a ghost. I could've sworn he said something like "why are all my siblings dead"

"You died?" He asked.

"Well, only for a couple minutes. I talked to Hades and he wouldn't tell me anything, but Japan came back to life too so something must've been wrong. Anyways, I gathered a bunch of darkness and killed a bunch of monsters with Hera."

"Oh." he said. "Weird question, but did you happen to be born any time before 1940?"

"Um... no?" Then Eden remembered why he asked that. "Oh! No, uh... our father broke the pact."

"Oh."

The sat in more silence.

"So," Eden said. "Can you do the whole darkness shadowy thing? Because that's what I'm best at. Annabeth said you can raised the dead, but I can't concentrate long enough."

"No, I've never done that. I can shadow travel though."

"Oh." Eden said. "Did that once. Wasn't fun."

"Do you want me to..." Nico said shyly. "Do you want me to help?"

Eden looked up. "Um... sure?"

"Great. Just, uh, do me a favor. I don't really want anyone to know I was here, so could you not tell anyone?"

"Sure."

Eden and Nico went and bonded in the woods. She didn't see him again after that day.

ツ

one month until departure

"Leo! Take a break, please!"

Eden, Leo, Jason, and Piper has grown closer the past five months. Piper and Jason were in a healthy relationship, Jason and Leo were best friends, and Eden simply had people to rely on. She even started to open up to Piper a bit. Her best progress, though, was letting the other three touch her without touching them first.

Eden felt like a seventh grader whenever she was around Leo. She'd started to accept that she felt more than just friendship for Leo, but she wouldn't act on it herself. No, that was too scary. She'd rather face Porphyrion again, alone this time.

Leo was working nonstop on the Argo II. Eden had caught him sleeping in Bunker Nine on multiple occasions.

"Leo, you've been at it all day. It's five PM, we promised we'd meet Piper and Jason at the beach!"

"I'm almost done, loca. Just let me-" he grunted as he tightened a bolt, and then dropped the wrench. His face and clothing were covered in sweat, grease and a little bit of blood. "I'm ready!"

Eden rolled her eyes. "Nope. We're getting you dressed, and then you'll be ready."

She forced him to walk all the way to the Hades cabin. "Let's see, you're probably my size..."

She dug around her items, tossing things on the bed. Finally Eden decided on a thin olive colored shirt that she stole from Nico's side (he wouldn't miss it anyway, she was mad at him for not showing up again), and a pair of white sweatpant material shorts that reached his mid thigh.

"Since I'm pretty sure you don't want to wear a crop top... which don't get me wrong it'd look great on you, but it just doesn't seem your style..." Eden rambled.

Low shrugged and started to take his shirt off.

"Woah! Woah, woah, woahhhh Leo! We aren't even supposed to be alone in here, go change in the bathroom!" Eden was blushing furiously because she had seen Leo's four pack abs. Him and Jason had started to work out together and it was definitely showing.

While Leo was changing, she quickly put on a bathing suit underneath her camp shirt and athletic shorts.

"I'm ready!" Leo called. He walked out of the bathroom and Eden nearly choked.

The olive tee was a just tight enough to show the definition in his body, and it made his terra-cotta skin pop. He looked very handsome.

"Here, let me..." Eden moved in to fix Leo's hair. She brushed her hands through the soft curls until it wasn't so messy. It was only when she was finished that she realized how close they were.

They both paused, blue eyes meeting brown ones. How long they stood there, Eden had no clue.

"Anyways..." Eden looked away, trying to hide her flushed face.

"Yeah, we should probably go." Leo scratched his head. They didn't move.

"Let's go." Eden hurried out of the cabin and didn't check to see if Leo was following her.

ツ

hey guys! this is just a filler before mark of athena. i'll be adding to this from time to time, so be sure to come back and check to see if new shorts have been added.

-xoxo, author