"I have a plan," Jason said as they were running. "But I'm going to need your help, Cyrus."

Valen raised an eyebrow, "What plan?"

Jason explained what he had thought of, holding up Piper's bag to emphasize his point.

"..." Valen deadpanned at him. "That's got to be the worst plan I've ever heard."

"Or the best," Leo offered. "We need to save Her Highness by tomorrow at the latest, and without Festus…" He trailed off, his thoughts returning to the bronze dragon.

Valen sighed, "Give me the bag,"

"Absolutely not!" Coach Hedge interrupted, "If you think I'm letting you get your slimy fingers on them-"

"Coach," Jason interrupted, "he's not a bad person."

"I don't trust him, and I'll be damned if I let him play with our lives."

Valen sighed, "It's fine, Jason, harness the spirits. I'll make sure none of us gets torn apart."

Leo gulped, "You make it sound like we're going to die."

He shrugged, "We might."

Jason walked to the back of the group, and held the bag ouotwards, ready to open the flap, "I'm ready when you are."

Valen nodded, spreading his arms as currents of air manifested around them in a sphere, "Do it."

"Here we go-" Jason's voice was cut off as they shot forward at speeds rivaling that of a jet plane.

Twice they hit something. It was hard to tell with their speeds, and both times Valen's shield kept up. But even he knew it could not handle another impact like that.

"I think we've gone far enough," he said. "Close the flap Jason."

Jason didn't reply, concentrating on pushing the flap back on.

"Jason?" Valen asked again.

"Guys, is it just me or is that mountain getting dangerously close?

"JASON!" Valen yelled, willing the shield to concentrate at the front. Just as it seemed collision was imminent, the wind stopped, and the flap on Pipers bag closed with the thud. They slowed down significantly, but they were still moving, and they collided with the mountain in a wet thud. Fortunately for them, they had hit a mount of snow, cushioning their 'fall'.

"Jason?" Leo asked, his voice clattering.

"Yeah?"

"Do me a favor, never do that again."

Jason grimaced, "Yeah, I've learned my lesson."

"Bicker later, we need to find shelter." Valen said, dusting the snow off of his clothes, "We'll freeze to death otherwise."

"I think I see a cave there." Piper said, shivering.

Leo lit a fire over his hand, and the two demigods flocked to him.

Valen stared at them, it wasn't that cold, right?

"Come on, move it cupcakes!" Hedge yelled.

They nodded collectively, and began climbing up to the cave.

"A storm is coming," Valen said, staring out the cave.

"You mean, it's going to get even colder?" Piper said.

Valen nodded, and looked back, they were all huddled near the fire, none of them were dressed for the harsh cold weather.

Valen looked down at his ring, wondering just how much his father had prepared for him. Could he have included some clothes too?

He snapped his fingers and a jacket flew out of his ring, upon closer inspection it seemed to be made of fur. He really did think of everything. I'll have to thank him when I talk to him next.

"Uh," he said looking at the four heads now turned to him. "I have some extra clothes? Although I don't think I have any womens clothing, sorry Piper."

As if on cue, a distinctly feminine jacket flew out of his ring, along with a note. 'If you ever change your mind, I have packed some clothes for any lady friend you may have.'

…

Valen stared at the note for a moment, before an arc of thunder from his fingertips vaporized it. I take it all back.

A few minutes later, they were all dressed aptly for the weather, and no longer needed to huddle too close to the fire. It was then that Hedge decided to attack him.

"I'll ask you again, who are you?" he said, grabbing Valen's shirt. "Who sent you?"

"Coach!" Jason yelled, getting up.

Valen stared at the satyr neutrally for a moment, before an arc of lightning electrocuted his fingers, forcing him to let him go. Fixing the creases on his shirt, Valen replied, "I told you already, I am Cyrus Delphon, and no one sent me here."

"Both of those are lies."

Valen scrunched his brows, "I'm an ally, that's all you need to know."

"I don't trust you." he retorted.

"And why exactly should I care about that?" Valen said, visibly annoyed.

"You should, or I'll cave in your head," he threatened, holding up his club.

"Try it fuc-"

"Enough!" Jason yelled, coming between them. "Coach, Cyrus has been helping us since Chicago, he's trustworthy." He turned towards Valen, "And Cyrus, please try not to aggravate Coach."

Valen sighed, "I'll try."

"Thank you."

"So," Leo broke the silence, dragging out the o, "Why are we here again?"

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-well, you know what happened."

"'Course it is." Coach Hedge huffed. "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 don't have much choice except to wait out the storm here."

"The Hunters will," Valen said, "They're skilled enough, have some weirdly magical equipment to help them, and are quite literally immortal unless killed in combat." He sat down beside Leo, "And something tells me fighting a storm doesn't exactly count as combat."

Leo broke out some cooking supplies and started frying burger patties on an iron skilet. "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 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.

"So wait, let me get this straight. The reason Zeus has closed off all contact with Olympus is because he's scared?" Valen asked, From what Leo told them about his dream, it seemed that the sudden activity of two primordials had really spooked Zeus.

Leo nodded, "Yeah, he says that they could not afford pissing off two primordials."

"I mean, he's not wrong, but to completely cut off contact?"

"Especially now when we need both gods and demigods to work together to kill the giants." Piper added.

"Nico and I would be the perfect candidates for that, is that why you did it, Erebus?" Valen muttered, turning over his hand and staring at the raven tattooed on the underside of his forearm.

"What was that?" Jason asked.

Valen shook his head, "Nothing,"

"I don't understand," Piper said, "if the gods need us-"

"Ha," said Coach Hedge. "The gods hate needing humans. They like to be needed by humans, but not the other way around. Things wil 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?"

Valen furrowed his brows, a primordial deity was probably the only being that could do that.

Leo set hamburger buns on the skilet to toast. "Yeah, Hephaestus said something similar, like Zeus was acting weirder than usual. But what bothered me was the stuff my dad didn't say. Like a couple of times he was talking about the demigods, and how he had so many kids and all. I don't know. He acted like getting the greatest demigods together was going to be almost impossible—like Hera was trying, but it was a really stupid thing to do, and there was some secret Hephaestus wasn't supposed to tell me."

"Chiron was the same way back at camp," Jason said. "He mentioned a sacred oath not to discuss—something. Coach, you know anything about that?"

"Nah. I'm just a satyr. They don't tel 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 fiftythree in human years. Still, yeah, I made some enemies on the Council of Cloven Elders. I've been a protector a longtime. But they started saying I was getting unpredictable. Too violent. Can you imagine?"

Probably the only time I'll agree with those meat sacks. Valen thought, staring at the satyr.

"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 offence. All those flowerpickers 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. "Flowerpickers. 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' l throw them on in a second."

The smell of frying burgers filled the air. Valen offered to help, but Leo denied saying he was almost done.

Valen continued staring at the tattoo. A raven was etched in ink with its wings wide open. A semicircle of runes hung underneath it, and a single line of them trailed down towards his elbow.

Placing a thumb over it he tried poking it with mana, but it had no effect. His mental connection with Erebus was muffled, as if something was interfering with the process. He could not prime at will, whenever he tried, it was like pulling at a mountain, no matter how much he pulled, it did not budge.

He sighed, turning his attention away from it.

After Leo handed them the food, Piper sat straight, "We need to talk. I don't want to hide anything from you guys anymore."

"Definitely didn't see that coming from a mile away," Valen muttered inaudibly.

"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. Then after we started the quest, Enceladus sent me another warning: He told me he wanted you two 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."

She couldn't meet her friends' eyes. She waited for them to yell at her, or turn their backs, or kick her out into the snowstorm.

Instead, Jason scooted next to her and put his arm around her. "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!"

"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 seven 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."

"He's not going to kill your dad," Leo said. "We'll save him."

"We don't have time!" Piper cried. "Besides, it's a trap."

"We're your friends, beauty queen," Leo said. "We're not going to let your dad die. We just gotta figure out a plan."

Coach Hedge grumbled. "Would help if we knew where this mountain was. Maybe Aeolus can tell you that. The Bay Area has a bad reputation for demigods. Old home of the Titans, Mount Othrys, sits over Mount Tam, where Atlas holds up the sky. I hope that's not the mountain you saw."

Piper tried to remember the vista in her dreams. "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?"

"Kronos built his palace there, it was massive. It was supposed to be their headquarters." Valen said, remembering the time he had entered the place with Percy, "As far as I know, it crumbled after we defeated Kronos in Manhattan."

"No," Jason said.

Everyone looked at him.

"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, there was silence. And then, howls pierced through the night air.

Valen was already on his feet, stormguard held down to his side.

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

Jason rose and summoned his sword. The others stood up behind them. Then, just outside the firelight at the entrance of the cave, a pair of red eyes stared at them, glowing in dark.

More wolves edged into the firelight—black beasts bigger than Great Danes, with ice and snow caked on their fur. Their fangs gleamed, and their glowing red eyes looked disturbingly intelligent. The wolf in front was almost as tall as a horse, his mouth stained as if he'd just made a fresh kill.

Valen cursed under his breath. "Werewolves," He said, bringing his sword closer to his chest.

Then Jason stepped forward and said something in Latin. The alpha wolf curled his lip. The fur stood up along his spine. One of his lieutenants tried to advance, but the alpha wolf snapped at his ear. Then all of the wolves backed into the dark.

Valen stared at Jason as if eh had grown a second head, "The heck did you say to them to get them to back away like that?"

"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."

Then Piper saw the silhouette of a man coming through the storm, wading through the wolf pack.

"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. 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.

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

Son of Rome? Valen thought, confused. Was Jason a shade? No he would know if he was, even if he had lost his powers. Shades released a distinct aura, and he was certain their mana would be in disarray too.

The wolf man studied their little group. His nostrils twitched. His eyes dilated and he snarled when his gaze fell on Valen. "You! The Darkness' pawn, why are you here?!"

Valen raised an eyebrow, "So you know of me, eh?"

"Every monster knows of you, just as we know of the earth and the pits spawns."

Valen narrowed his eyes in thought, Spawns?

Lycaon glared at their swords, He moved to each side as if looking for an opening, but Jason's blade moved with him.

"Leave," he ordered, "there's no food for you here."

"Unless you want tofu burgers," Leo offered.

Lycaon bared his 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," Piper answered. The details of the myth came back to her—a short, horrible story she and her father had laughed at over breakfast. She wasn't laughing now.

"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—"

"His own sons' flesh to be exact," Valen added.

"So Zeus turned him into a wolf," Piper said. "They call…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. "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."

Piper stepped forward, and put as much power as she could into her next words. "You're going to leave now," Piper said, "before we destroy you."

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."

Valen scoffed, "I'd like to see you try, mutt."

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—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.

"What about thunder then?" Valen asked.

Lycaons fur stood on edge, and he jumped back just as a bolt of lightning struck the ground he was standing on.

Leo struck next. He threw his 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.

The wind bowed to Valens will, feeding the fire more oxygen and spreading it further behind. 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, a wave of fire or a burst of lightning would force them to retreat again. With each effort, they grew more and more tired. The lightning flowing through Stormguard dimmed.

"I can't summon any more gas!" Leo warned. Then his face turned red. "Wow, that came out wrong. I mean the burningkind. Gonna take the tool belt a while to recharge."

"I'm almost out of lightning to shoot too," Valen said, "We need a new plan."

"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."

Valen cursed under his breath, glaring at the tattoo under his arm, Some help right now would be really appreciated Erebus.

As always, he got no response. 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.

Valen relaxed, sheathing Stormguard back into its ring form. "The hunters are here," He said, walking back towards the fire.

Seconds later, they heard more wolves baying, but the sound was different—less threatening, more like hunting dogs on the scent. A smaller white wolf burst into the cave, followed by two more.

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?"

Valen stared at her, he'd recognize that voice anywhere.

"You're her," Piper guessed. "You're Thalia."

Thalia tensed, and pulled down her parka hood.

"Do I know you?" Thalia asked.

Piper took a breath. "This might be a shock, but—"

"Thalia." Jason stepped forward, his voice trembling. "I'm Jason, your brother."

Valen did a double take, "Wait, what the fuck?"