The boat came to a sudden stop. "What's going on?" Will wondered. I got up to ask Charlie what why we stopped. The ship started going in the opposite direction. I opened the door and shivered. It was cold.
"Charlie?" I called. The control room was empty, but it was covered in ice. "Oh Hades." I ran in the other direction, back towards the group.
"Jase, what's going on?" Kat was standing in the doorway about to go after me.
"Khione. Control room is covered in ice, not sure where Charlie is," I answered. Jonathan and Kat exchanged a glance, being reminded of their mother.
"If Khione knows who Charlie's parents are, she's going to kill him," Nico commented. Khione hated Leo. She sent him to Ogygia, but he ended up saving and marrying Calypso. If Khione finds that out, she's going to be pissed. I went to the deck to find him. It was the only open space on the ship, the best place for an ice goddess.
Charlie was on the deck with a sword to his neck. He saw me and smiled cheekily. "Sorry, Jase. I still don't know how to fight?"
I didn't reply to him. "Khione," I called. "What are you doing here? Your beef is not with us." I glanced over Charlie but he didn't look injured. Good.
She laughed shrilly. "You're a Jackson. Of course I have issues with you. I know the children of the child of Aphrodite are here as well. Bring them to me or I kill the small one," she said.
Charlie frowned. "I'm not that small!" he protested. She stared at him as if she were trying to figure something out. The deck door opened behind me and the others piled out.
"Get back!" I yelled. Khione frowned as Will tried to get everybody back inside and she shot a canon of ice forward. It hit me and I was knocked backwards. Then I began to freeze. It reminded me of the dream I'd had recently and I began to panic. I managed to calm myself down, but I still couldn't move. I was frozen in place, literally. Completely useless. Casey didn't look at me but her jaw clenched in anger. Khione rose her hand and snow flocked to her fingertips.
"Where are your brothers?" Katrina asked.
Khione grimaced. "They are weak!" she hissed.
Kat shrugged. "I don't know, I think they're ok." She got out her dagger and got into a fighting position. In retaliation, Khione shot another ray of ice, this one hitting Nico and turning him into ice.
"Nico!" Will screamed and ran to him, which resulted in him being turned into ice as well, his hand still reaching for Nico.
"Stop!" Jon shouted, standing beside his sister. Khione did stop, but only for a moment.
"So there's two of you? Won't your mother be so heartbroken when she's learned I've killed you both," Khione raised her hand to kill them but Kat threw her dagger. It pierced the goddesses arm and she cried out in pain and annoyance. "You menace!" She tried to freeze Adora, but Casey pushed her out of the way and took the brunt of the attack. I should have left them at Camp. What kind of idiot was I to think my little siblings would be safer with me? Oscar was with Max, who was trying to hide behind the group. I hadn't even been in the fight and I was already useless.
"But then we wouldn't die painfully!" Jonathan blurted. Khione looked at him in interest. "Do you know where we're going?"
"I don't exactly care where you're going," she answered. Charlie looked frantically towards the twins, begging them to do something.
"We're going to the doors of the death to fight Tartarus's worst monsters. It's not very likely we're going to win. We're probably going to die, slowly and painfully," Jon said. He was using charmspeak, so I nearly believed him myself. I knew he was trying to get rid of Khione, but he was making the others nervous. "If you let us go, then you won't have to do the work of killing us."
Khione was knocked back to her senses by this. "I want to be the one to kill you! I want the child of Aphrodite to suffer!"
"She won't be alive to know you've killed us if you don't let us go!" Jon insisted. Khione paused, contemplating this. Kat made faces at Charlie to get him it understand something, but it wasn't working.
"She will see it in the afterlife," Khione insisted. She raised her hands for a final strike when Kat suddenly yelled,
"FLAME ON!"
Charlie, whether in fear or because he actually listened, burst into flames. He flailed his arms and screamed. Not only did he injure the goddess with his fire, he also scared the Hades out of her. Charlies only defensive mechanisms were literally sarcasm and bursting into fire. Kat took this opportunity to attack. Jon tossed her his dagger and she plunged it forward with deadly accuracy. It landed smack dab in the middle of Khione's chest. She staggered back and gasped, the snow around her evaporating. She cursed us a couple more times. "You will feel the cold, you will feel the wrath of my cold!" Then she melted into a puddle on the deck, no doubt to return to her castle and heal.
Your price has been paid. Said Hecate's voice in my head.
I said that I would pay the price! Me personally! I protested.
A price for you is to watch those you care for in peril. I have used the power you would have used in this fight to serve myself.
Then she was gone. Charlie had begun melting the others, starting with me. Once I was free, he began working on Will and Nico.
"I'm sorry," I said to Casey, who had approached me.
"What for? It's not your fault Khione froze you," she replied.
"It's my fault she came. I told Hecate I would pay her price for covering us with the mist in Orlando. She said my only price would be to watch those I care for in peril. She must have tipped Khione off."
Casey shook her head. "Still not your fault, Jase. This is obviously not what you had in mind when you said you'd pay a price."
I shook my head. "Cas, I hate being that helpless. I didn't do anything to help, I'm sorry."
She hugged me, resting her head on my shoulder. "It's ok. We handled it, right? We're all ok," she comforted. I smiled and patted her head.
"I think something's sending the monsters after us. We've been attacked once a day like clockwork, something must be targeting us," I told her, changing the subject.
She shrugged. "Yeah, but we are the Seven's descendants. Plus, there are ten of us here, we've got a pretty strong scent," she countered. She was probably right. I sighed and headed to the control room, I wanted to talk to Charlie.
