Selene stared disdainfully at the two battered demigods. "You're nothing but a waste of my time."
Nico got to his feet and lifted his sword. "I could do this all day."
"You think you can stand up to me just because you wield your father's sword?" Selene sneered. "You're a mortal. You can only wield a fraction of the sword's full power. Nowhere near enough to defeat me."
Nico smiled. "Good thing I brought some friends too."
A portal opened in front of the goddess, a swirling circle of green energy the size of a house. Alabaster stepped through, glowing a brilliant green like he'd been supercharged with Demeter's magical chlorophyll pack. "'Sup."
Selene threw back her head and laughed. "You think a son of Hecate can defeat me?"
"I'm offended." Alabaster frowned. "But honestly, I'm just the doorman."
He stepped aside just as a second figure came hurtling through the portal, a tall, muscular young man in a purple winter jacket, holding a two-metre javelin crackling with electricity aimed straight at her.
"Stulti carcer," Alabaster yelled.
Caught off-guard and slowed by the spell, Selene only managed to raise her swords before Jason Grace drove the javelin into the centre of her chest.
The impact shook the entire castle from bottom to top. Cracks appeared across the towering walls. Blinding light exploded out. Everybody reeled away, deafened and senseless. In the distance, snow trickled down the side of the mountains, dislodged by the force of the explosion.
The explosion lasted only a second, leaving leaving their eyes burning and their ears ringing. Slowly, their senses returned. Jordan, whose helmet had automatically shut its eyeholes and earholes upon registering the massive blast, cracked his eyes open, taking in the scene on the roof.
Selene was gone, vaporised, presumably, by the power of the explosion. Nico and Alabaster, shielded by the sword of Hades and a magical aura respectively, were standing like statues, blinking spots out of their eyes.
Jason Grace hovered above the centre of the roof like a blond Superman, looking every inch the poster-boy son of Zeus he was. An Imperial gold gladius hung by his side. His whole body crackled with electricity. The javelin in his hands shone so brightly that Jordan had to avert his gaze. His eyes widened.
"That isn't-"
"The Master Bolt." Alabaster grinned. "I stole the most powerful weapon in the universe from under Zeus's nose."
Jordan shook his head in disbelief. "He's going to kill you for that."
"He already wants to kill me," Alabaster scoffed.
"Looks like we're done here," Jason turned in the air, like he was searching for something. "Where's my sister?"
Lanesra, who'd taken cover behind the altar, suddenly leaped out. "Look out!" she screamed.
Selene materialised at the exact spot where she'd vanished, murder in her eyes. Before any of them could react she leapt toward Jason, swords outstretched.
Jason spun around, swinging the javelin out blindly.
A second thunderous discharge shook the Alaskan plain. Selene went flying into the side of the opposite wall so hard that she stuck in it, cracks spiderwebbing across the icy surface.
"Good one," Jordan said, then he spotted the two swords sticking out of Jason's chest. "Oh, no."
Jason fell to his knees, his mouth open in a silent scream. The Master Bolt clattered out of his hands.
"No!" Nico ran to his side, slid to the ground beside him. "No, no, no."
Thunder shook the air. The Javelin materialised directly above them. The platform lowered and Thalia ran out of the ship. She dropped to the ground beside him, cradling his head in her hands.
"Jason, stay with me." she begged.
But Jason's eyes were glassy and unseeing. He slumped against her.
"No, Jason, you can't go," Thalia gasped. "You can't go." She raised her eyes to Nico, pleading silently.
"Nectar and ambrosia," Nico barked. "Now!"
"Move." Alabaster pushed Nico aside, kneeling beside the fallen demigod.
"Can't believe I'm doing this for a son of Zeus." he muttered. He placed a glowing green hand on Jason's chest. "I've managed to slow the bleeding, but we need to get him to an infirmary."
"I have medical equipment on my ship." Jordan took charge. "Let's get him inside."
Thalia and Nico lifted him up, careful to avoid the wound.
"Heads up, she's still moving." Alabaster stared at the side of the wall, where Selene was starting to pull herself out of the hole she'd made in the wall.
Jordan turned to the Javelin, saw the platform lift into the underbelly, bearing Thalia, Jason and Nico safely into its armoured hull.
"Lisa, fire!" Jordan pointed at the struggling goddess. "Fire everything!"
"Take cover!" Alabaster erected a barrier of green energy, shielding them from the impending wave of shrapnel.
The Javelin swung towards the wall, weapons unfolding out of its hull. A volley of missiles, artillery shells and tracer rounds streaked towards the goddess, demolishing the wall in a series of thunderous explosions. Lisa continued to fire even as the wall came crashing down, pounding the pile of collapsed ice with rockets and shells.
The wind howled in response. The Javelin's engines roared, fighting to remain upright against the sudden gale.
"Khione." Jordan growled.
"I've got it this time." Alabaster thrust his fist up toward the sky. "Persequor vestigium!"
A flash of green lit up the sky. Khione materialised on the rooftop, looking surprised. "How-"
Jordan blew her head off with a shotgun blast, an explosion of snow rolling out from where her head used to be. He drew his sword and charged.
Khione's head reformed, her features contorted with fury.
"Back!" she screamed.
A wave of sleet hit Jordan in the face, knocking him off his feet. He smacked into the parapet running along the edge of the roof, almost crashing through it. The blast was so powerful that even the Javelin was knocked out of the air. Jordan gaped in disbelief as his precious aircraft careened into the nearest wall, bouncing off with a giant CRACK. The Javelin crashed to the ground several hundred metres from the outer wall in an avalanche of snow and broken ice.
"You insufferable demigods," Khione snarled. "I'll-"
A blast of green energy hit her in the chest, throwing her to the ground.
"Bitch!" Alabaster yelled. He took a flying leap, bringing his fist down onto her with the force of a pile-driver. The disintegrating roof gave way under the impact and they both fell through to the floor below.
Khione's eyes rattled in her head. Alabaster punched her in the face, cracking the floor under her. Khione brought her arm up to swat him away just as Alabaster lined up a massive energy blast.
Twin blasts of white and green illuminated the castle from within. A series of cracking noises echoed across the castle as Khione fell through the remaining floors of the ice building. Alabaster came flying out of the hole in the roof and crashed down onto the remains of the destroyed altar, looking stunned.
"What happened?" Jordan picked himself up, walked over to stare down at his friend.
"What d'you think?" Alabaster's brilliant green aura dimmed significantly as he sat up, grimacing. "I punched the lights out of her."
"Not the other way around?" Jordan gave him a hand up.
"No," Alabaster rolled his shoulders, testing them. "She won't be getting up anytime soon."
"It's not her I'm worried about." Jordan looked from the pile of rubble where they'd buried Selene under, to the Javelin steaming in the middle of the Alaskan plain.
"Don't suppose your missiles did the trick." Alabaster joined him to stare at the collapsed wall.
"Not likely." Jordan shook his head.
"We'd best get back to your ship then." Alabaster picked up the Master Bolt and teleported them over.
The large aircraft, quite unsurprisingly, had landed on its belly. Stuck in the snow for the moment, the platform could not be lowered; the four demigods inside had no way of exiting the ship. Jordan patched himself into the ship's communication system.
"Everyone all right in there?"
"More or less," Nico's replied from inside. "Lisa broke her ankle when we went down."
"Engage a second core and fire the vertical thrusters." Jordan instructed. "That will lift the ship off the ground."
A dull boom came from the ice castle. Jordan and Alabaster turned to see chunks of ice the size of houses tossed into the air like Lego bricks. They shared a look.
"That's from the collapsed wall," Jordan guessed.
"Actually, could you guys come outside for a second?" Alabaster asked through his comlink. "We might need a hand."
Nico materialised beside them in a swirl of black. "What seems to be the problem?"
"That is." Jordan pointed to the castle.
Monsters were marching out of the castle gate: gryphons and giants, six-armed Earthborn and shaggy grey wolves. Storm spirits gathered above the emerging army, transparent flying horses crackling with lightning. The enemy army would reach their position within minutes.
Alabaster gave Jordan a glance. "Don't suppose you have any more friends to call up."
"I thought you had this covered." Jordan replied.
"Not after banging Khione through her castle. Hecate only gave me one potion." He winced. "That came out wrong."
"So wrong." Nico shook his head.
"So what are we going to do about that?" Jordan pointed at the approaching monsters.
"Fire up the Javelin and blow them to bits," Alabaster suggested.
"Not enough time," Jordan said. "The vertical thrusters are buried in snow."
"We'll have to do it the old fashioned way then." Alabaster raised his arms into a fighting stance.
Nico sighed. "You simpletons. You forget who you're travelling with."
He stabbed the sword of Hades into the snow. "Rise."
A crevice opened in the earth between them and the approaching army, a fifty-metre fissure that grew wider each second. The advancing monsters slowed to a stop as skeletons clawed their way to the surface, hundreds of undead warriors carrying swords, spears and shields. They formed up in front of the fissure, standing shoulder-to-shoulder in a classic Greek phalanx, spears bristling over the top of a shield wall.
A streak of silver came hurtling down at the head of the monster army, landing on the ground so hard that it threw up an explosion of snow.
"There she is," Alabaster said laconically.
Selene stepped out of the small crater she'd created, glaring through the ranks of skeletons straight at them. Despite being a hundred metres away the message in her eyes was clear: she would kill them right here and now.
"ATTACK!" Her howl echoed across the plain like a war horn. A roar went up from the monster army as they surged forward.
Nico raised his sword in response, pointing it straight at the enemy force. As one, his skeleton phalanx broke into a fast march forward. A thousand spears went up on both sides as the two armies closed, a rain of death that battered down the first eager ranks.
"What idiots," Nico muttered.
Lacking flesh, his skeleton army was completely immune to spears and arrows. All along the line, skeletons pulled spears out of their empty ribcages and sockets, sending them back at the monsters with deadly aim.
The artillery on the castle walls opened fire. A wave of ballistae bolts and iron balls crashed into the skeletons' closely-packed ranks, sending them flying like rag dolls. Explosions erupted where each projectile landed, gouging craters in the snow that burned with a familiar green flame.
"Everyone has Greek fire these days," Jordan sighed.
Nico thrust his sword at the enemy line and his skeletons broke into a fast run, covering the last few metres before the artillery could reload.
The monsters howled enough to fill the world and raced at the skeletons. The two sides clashed in an explosion of noise that seemed to dull the sounds after.
The monster army's mixed force gave way against the skeletons' organised ranks. Skeleton archers fired at the gryphons and storm spirits. The skeleton line ground forward, pushing the monsters back towards the castle wall.
Hyperborean giants entered the battle, trampling smaller monsters underfoot as they charged forward. Each one carried a massive club made from tree trunks. They smashed the skeletons aside with powerful blows, opening great gaps in their shield wall.
"Shoot them!" Nico ordered.
The skeletal archers switched their aim. The Hyperboreans stumbled backwards, suddenly overwhelmed by the hundreds of flying shafts that stung like hornets. Several disintegrated. Others were swarmed by the skeletons and hacked apart.
With the sky free of arrows, the gryphons and storm spirits swooped in to strafe the skeletons. The undead ranks broke into chaos as the monster army counterattacked, fighting their way through the broken shield wall. The skeleton army was overwhelmed, but continued to fight, clawing at the monsters with swords, spears and anything else they could get their hands on, even pulling out their own ribs to stab at the enemy.
More skeletons continued to crawl out of the fissure. Some ran like banshees straight into the fight. Others lined shoulder-to-shoulder in front of the crevice to form a new shield wall.
"Nice." Jordan nodded approval at Nico's tactics. The running banshees would keep the monsters occupied while the new line formed. Once that line was ready, they would march in to finish the monsters off.
But they had not taken Selene into account. The Titan of the moon shot straight through the battle toward them, ploughing through monsters and skeletons out of her path indiscriminately. The new skeleton line levelled their spears, but she blasted through the formed ranks like a bowling ball, scattering a dozen skeletons like rag dolls.
"Oh boy," Nico raised his sword. Alabaster's fists blazed with green energy. Jordan raised his half-broken shields.
At the last second, Selene vanished, reappearing directly above them. Jordan yelled and rolled aside as she brought her sword down with the force of a pile-driver. Alabaster blasted her with green energy and she slashed at him, opening a deep gash across the protective energy on his chest and sending him flying backwards.
Nico darted around Alabaster and brought his sword down. Selene parried and riposted fast. The blades clashed and sparked, sending shockwaves through the air every time they met.
Jordan ran to one side and opened fire with his assault rifle, trying to draw her attention. Selene whipped her sword at him. A burst of silver energy blasted out from the tip of her blade and hit him in the chest, throwing him to the ground. Selene kicked Nico in the face, sending him sprawling.
Alabaster came rocketing in Superman-style behind Nico, crashing his fist into Selene's face. Both of them went tumbling into the snow. Alabaster blasted Selene with green energy. Selene grabbed hold of him and flung him against the Javelin's hull. He twisted aside as she brought her blade down, half-managing to avoid the blow; her sword pierced through the protective energy encasing his side, grazing his ribs.
Jordan brought his tomahawk down on her helmet, sending a shock running down his arm. It felt like he was hacking at a chunk of rock, but he ignored the pain, trying to stab her with the jagged edge of one of his shields. Selene swatted him away, sending him flying into the snow. She kicked Alabaster in the crotch, punched him in the gut and threw him into the side of the nearest engine. Alabaster flopped to the ground like a rag doll.
Jordan sprang to his feet in time to meet Selene's first strike. A jagged chunk of metal flew from his shield as it intercepted Selene's sword. The force of the blow forced him to his knees. Selene parried his tomahawk, twisted it out of his hand and hacked down again. Jordan slammed the blade aside with his broken shield and drove the jagged chunk of metal into her midsection. Selene punched him in the face so hard that his helmet cracked. Jordan reeled backwards, half-stunned by the powerful blow.
"Jordan!" Alabaster had managed to lever himself to his feet. "Catch!" He slid a sword across the snow towards him.
Selene hacked down and Jordan threw up his left arm, grunting as the shock ran up his shoulder. With his other hand he caught the sword.
The moment his hand closed around the hilt, everything changed. His thoughts cleared. His senses sharpened. The pain vanished from his arms. A rush of energy went through him as if he'd been plugged into a human power socket.
He brought the sword up in time to intercept Selene's next strike. To both their surprise, he stopped Selene's blade cold.
"What?" The Titan looked stunned. "How-"
Jordan twisted her blade aside, surged to his feet and lunged. All his previous attacks had done no more than scratch the surface of her armour, but this time the blade pierced her helmet, drawing blood. The sword felt perfectly weighted in his hand, flickering with a powerful aura.
He went on the attack, lunging with the sword. Selene parried and riposted fast. Jordan threw up his damaged shield and cried out in alarm as the blade pierced through it, sticking in the shield like kebab skewer.
Counterattack, Athena's voice spoke in his mind. Every move can be exploited.
A rush of confidence filled his veins. He twisted his arm outwards, wrenching the sword out of Selene's grip, and slashed down, opening her exposed upper arm to the bone. Selene howled as golden ichor ran down her arm. Jordan struck again, forcing Selene to duck under the glowing blade. He pressed forward relentlessly, each strike flowing into the next, shifting into the fluid Greek fighting style that he'd spent all his life practicing but had never been able to master.
You are my son, Athena's voice seemed to fill him with strength. My sword.
All his life, he'd struggled for her approval. He'd fought through the second Titan and Giant wars, served in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria, trying to prove himself. He'd always felt inadequate, even when he moved to Alaska and made his home in the land where an entire Roman legion had died.
Now he realised: Athena was proud of him. There had never been any need to prove himself. His mother had believed in him from the beginning. The thought filled him with new strength, tripling his skill. He lunged onto one knee, trying to hamstring Selene. Selene batted his attack away with one sword, struck with the other. Jordan deflected the counter-strike with his left shield, then Nico di Angelo materialised behind the Titan and stabbed her in the back.
The roar that followed made the Master Bolt look like a firecracker. The very air was blasted back from Selene, throwing them all backwards. Jordan and Nico went flying. The Javelin, which had just started to lift out of the snow, was sent flipping end-over-end like a toy.
"Bollocks," Nico yelled. He shadow-travelled out of the air, landing on his feet, then Jordan collided into him and they both went sprawling.
Alabaster righted himself in midair, landed safely on the ground beside them.
"You should learn to fly."
"You should learn to catch us." Nico groaned.
"Yeah," Alabaster stumbled slightly. "Still working on that." The protective energy encasing his body was barely visible, flickering faintly like a faulty neon sign. Blood from his wound soaked the side of his shirt and trouser leg. He was clearly struggling. "Er, where's your sword?"
Jordan raised his hands, baffled. "Must've dropped it in the explosion."
"I've lost mine too." Nico turned in place. "Don't see it anywhere."
"Oh," Alabaster's voice was suddenly small. "I think I've found it."
They all turned to follow his gaze.
Fifty metres away, Selene pulled both blades out of her body, doubling over with agony.
"I thought your sword was supposed to send her to Tartarus," Jordan growled.
"Unless she now wields that sword, yeah." Nico swallowed. "Any other weapons you managed to get from Olympus?" he asked Alabaster."
Alabaster struggled to think through his exhaustion. "Um, yeah. But I need a hunter."
"Thalia, get out here, we need you." Jordan spoke through the ship's intercom.
"Tell her to hurry up." Alabaster said.
Selene was hefting the two swords in her hand, as if judging their usefulness. Then she turned to them. "I'm going to-"
She was abruptly cut off as a missile struck the ground right next to her, enveloping her in a glowing green fireball. The Javelin steadied itself, levelled its cannon barrel straight at the centre of the flames. The platform lowered, Thalia standing in its centre. But instead of leaping off she hesitated, staring down at the snow.
"Get over here!" Alabaster yelled. "I've got a present for you!" He lifted the weapon, a large silver longbow.
Still Thalia hesitated, still as a statue.
"What in the world is she doing?" Jordan growled.
"Look out!" Nico yelled.
A beam of silver energy lanced out from the centre of the green flames, striking the Javelin's hull. The aircraft wobbled in the air and Thalia screamed as she fell off the platform.
The Javelin returned fire with its cannon, churning the ground around Selene into an inferno of fire and soot.
"We need to help." Nico said.
"Without those swords we're as good as dead." Jordan argued.
"So we get them back before she uses them to kill us." Nico grabbed Jordan's shoulder. "You're immune to fire. I'll shadow-travel you into the flames so you can sneak up behind her."
"And do what? Tickle her?"
"You have a better idea?"
"No." Jordan snarled.
"Then shut up." Nico tightened his grip on his shoulder and his surroundings vanished into darkness.
He appeared behind Selene just as the goddess fired again. This time her energy beam struck the Javelin's cannon, blowing it up.
Selene raised the two swords and laughed. "With these swords, I am invincible!" She plunged the sword of Hades into the snow. "Come forth, my legions!"
The snow shifted. Hands grasped their way to the surface, some large and monstrous, others clawed like animals'. Nico's eyes widened as the entire Alaskan plain started to sprout monsters like grain.
"She's using the sword to summon armies out of Tartarus!" He made a grabbing motion toward her, trying to wrest the sword from her grasp.
The sword of Hades responded, pulling itself out of the snow towards Nico, dragging Selene off her feet. Selene pulled back, snarling.
Sensing an opportunity, Jordan ran in the opposite direction and thrust his hand out. The glowing sword responded and caught Selene by surprise, almost yanking itself out of her grip.
Alabaster flew to Thalia's side, handed her the bow. "Shoot her!"
Thalia's eyes widened in surprise. "This is Artemis's bow!"
"Just shoot her!" Alabaster pointed towards Selene, who, unwilling to relinquish either of the swords, was effectively pinned in place by Jordan and Nico's tug-of-war.
Thalia lifted the bow into a shooting position. She flexed her arm, trying to pull back the string, but it didn't move. "I can't draw it."
"What do you mean, you can't?" Alabaster couldn't process her words. "You're Artemis's hunter! Her Lieutenant!"
"I…" A tear ran down Thalia's face. "I'm not a hunter anymore."
"What?" Alabaster had no idea what she was saying. "Why?"
"For Olympus's sake, just do something!" Jordan yelled. The of monsters were clawing their way to the surface. Within seconds they'd be overwhelmed.
A short distance away, half-buried in the snow, lay the Master Bolt, forgotten by everyone amidst the chaos of battle. It lifted out of the snow, crackling with electricity, then shot towards them, whizzing past Selene's ear like a large, buzzing insect. Everybody's eyes followed it as it flew straight towards Thalia, who noticed it just in time to drop the bow and catch it out of the air.
"Oh, this shit's about to get real." Nico muttered.
The Master Bolt's electric current seemed to transfer itself to Thalia. Her whole body crackled with electricity. Her eyes turned blinding white like lightning, and turned to stare straight at Selene. The Titan swallowed.
Thunder shook the sky. With blinding speed, Thalia covered the ten metres between her and Selene in a single leap and brought the lightning bolt down on her head.
The blast lit up the world. The entire plain shook. Jordan and Nico looked away, grimacing, then out of the blinding flash, their swords came flying into their hands. When the light faded, Selene was gone.
"Where'd she go this time?" Jordan roared.
"There!" Alabaster pointed to the ice castle far in the distance. Jordan zoomed in on the wall using his helmet's zoom function and realised that Selene had been blasted all the way back into the wall, lodged in its surface like a stone in a sandcastle. As he watched, she started to pull her way out.
"She's getting away!" he yelled.
"Throw the bolt," Nico suggested.
Thalia shook her head. "It won't go that far. We need to use Artemis's bow."
"But who-" Jordan's argument was cut off by the sound of the Javelin's platform lowering once more, this time bearing Lisa van Staal, leaning heavily on her good leg.
"The last hunter," Jordan suddenly remembered what Selene had mentioned on the rooftop. She'd wanted all the hunters dead. Now Jordan knew why. With Artemis herself unavailable in Alaska, only her hunters had the power to destroy Selene, and now the only hunter left was about to deliver the finishing blow.
Alabaster handed the bow to Lisa. Lisa raised it into a firing position, drew back the string, then shook her head. "The platform's shaking too much. It's affecting my aim."
"Stand on the ground." Alabaster trudged through the snow to the platform and held his hands up to her. "I'll help you down."
Lisa swallowed and stepped off the platform. Alabaster caught her easily, but a strangled gasp left her lips as her broken ankle landed in the snow. She clung to Alabaster instinctively.
"What is it?" he asked.
"My ankle." Lisa's voice was ragged with pain. "I can't. It's too painful."
Alabaster pulled her back, looked into her face. "You can. You have to."
Gently, he extricated himself from her, held her by the shoulders. "Make the shot. I'll support your weight."
Lisa swallowed hard, her jaw trembling. She lifted her arm, pulled the bow back. Three arrows appeared in the rest, flickering with silver flames.
"It hurts," she whimpered. Her body was rigid with pain.
"It's alright." Alabaster kissed her cheek, muttered a healing spell. "Do it for your sisters."
Lisa straightened minutely. She fired.
The three arrows screamed across the Alaskan plain, leaving blazing silvery trails like fireworks. A collective oooh went up from all the monsters as they stopped to stare at the sparkling lines.
Jordan stared at Selene through his helmet visor, saw her pull herself out of the broken wall with one arm.
Then the three arrows struck her chest in a starburst of silver sparkles.
"YES!" he clenched his fists in triumph.
The wall imploded under the force of the explosion, crumbling to the ground in an avalanche of cascading ice. The monster army howled in fury as they saw their mistress disappear beneath the ice. Slowly, their thousands of gazes turned to the group of demigods beside the hovering aircraft.
"Six of us against six thousand of them," Jordan used his helmet's scanner to tally the numbers of the enemy.
"Bad odds," Thalia said. "For them."
The monsters charged towards them from all sides, waving clubs and spears.
Nico raised his sword, looking extremely irritated under his helmet. "What a big waste of my time."