Getting them to borrow a helicopter was easy.
Once Drew managed to break away from Ethan and got Gleeson to do a little bit more nature healing on him, she gracefully took Leo's improvised bullhorn and just went played up the entire kidnapped heiress thing. The Park Service copter was big enough for medical evacuations or search and rescue, and with Drew throwing her fit as a snooty heiress with more money than god, the very nice ranger pilot lady had readily agreed to fly them to the Oakland Airport.
Drew had sent Lea an Iris-Message to camp and Lea was flying in with a few pegasi and a few campers that would shift to play the roles of the questers while they finished their quest.
Drew's foster dad had been immediately contacted and flown out and with a little makeup and some prayers, well... the headlines for the next few days were going to be massive. Father was already getting "his people" or in other words, Mercurius and a few of the other gods, in line. Hm, 13 Years Later, Missing Toddler, Jason Grace, Found Alive! It could use some work either way, he found it a bit hilarious how much his Lea had been irritated about nepotism and yet, she continuously found herself surrounded by people that came from affluent families.
Apollō was the one to point out that they were going to have to manipulate the information those at New Roma received if they were going with whatever Iūnō's plan was shaping itself to be. Truthfully a good idea since some of them were arguing with the Senate to investigate all that roaring that Enkélados had done, and the others were glued to the television and social media to figure it out.
With the right wording and a bit of charmspeak, Mercurius was sure that they could get Jason to be fostered by the same people— Mercurius didn't even know why he bothered. Aithrios Airlines just so happened to be making a landing at the Oakland Airport which was been timed right alongside the Park Service. Iovis was already breathing life into one of the statues that Annabeth made for him to parade around as the boy's actual Father. Alongside paperwork detailing a DNA test, "letters" from Beryl Grace, recorded phone calls, to justify that he was the Father of both children alongside a "hope" that they had found his Thalia.
He was good and people wondered where Mercurius learned how to be crafty.
The pilot kept getting questions over her radio, asking her where she was going, but she ignored them. They veered away from the burning mountain and headed toward the Berkeley Hills.
Either way, all of them gave Drew and Ethan as much privacy as they could. Leo fiddled with a lug nut from his tool belt. Jason gazed at the valley below—the roads backing up as mortals stopped their cars and gawked at the burning mountain. Gleeson chewed on the stub of his carnation, and for once the satyr didn't look in the mood to yell or boast.
"Drew." Ethan grasped her hand and held on like he was afraid he'd fall. "It's you? They told me—they told me you would die. They said ... horrible things would happen. Worse than... worse than Kronos."
"I'm right here, Ethan. I'm not going anywhere," she swore.
"Mu lípis," he murmured, and Drew choked back a sob. "Kimi ga inakereba, boku wa ikite ikenai. Had to save you. Had to..." He coughed. "You deserve better than me but I had..." He took a shaky breath, then seemed to forget how to exhale. He couldn't stop shivering. "You're the reason that I will always…reason I will always believe in gentle souls, genuine intentions, and gorgeous hearts of gold. Can't die... can't let you die. Oh, Hades, take me instead. Let her live." But the words were muttered listlessly, in a semi-trance.
"No," she protested. "No! Oh, Thanny, you can't... you can't do this to me." She leaned her head against his chest. Aphrodítē cried for her child. "I'm supposed to be mad at you."
"Deserve it. I hurt you. Deserve better."
"I want you, you idiot!" She cried. Her hands cradled his face, and it went on to show how unraveled that she was to not even notice her chips nails. "I want you. As Ethan. As the boy that I feel in love with. Not the idiot that's on my skin that broke my heart gets himself kidnapped. You learned that from Lea, I swear. And yet, I don't even know the boy I fell in love with..."
"I'm still him, Aeri."
She gave an ugly snort. "Then you should remember what I said the last time you said you'd die for me."
His eye was still unfocused, a tear tracking down his cheek, but he said: "You said... you said you'd follow me into the Underworld. Not making you a widow."
Drew smiled; her eyes still coated with tears. "Je n'ai pas besoin de âme soeur, j'ai besoin de toi." And then she's crying as she held onto him. " You… you fucking idiot. I missed you. I almost… you almost…" Soft ugly sobs being ripped from her as she held onto him. "You don't understand. You don't get it. My heart… it was ripped in two, the thought of losing you was like losing myself. Don't… I… please. I love you. I love you. Íme erotevméni mazí su!."
"I love you, too," he muttered, holding her hands tightly. "Ópu ke na kitákso mu thimízi tin agápi su. Íse o kózmos mu. I'm sorry I hurt you, Drew. I'll spend the rest of my life making it up to you however you want me to."
"Just stay with me," she sniffed. "Please. Anata no soba ga, watashi no okiniiri no basho desu."
"Always," Ethan swore. "Always."
There was a moment of silence before Huákinthos said, "If he hurts her again, I'm killing him." Apóllōn and Árēs raised their chalices in agreement.
As they passed over the hills into the East Bay, Jason tensed when Drew began explaining their quest and the adventures that they had gone on to get to him. He leaned out of the doorway, pointing towards New Roma even if it was obvious, he couldn't actually remember it. "What is that?"
The others looked down, but New Roma was hidden from any that didn't have the spirit of Roma running through their veins. All they would see would be hills, woods, houses, little roads snaking through the canyons. A highway cut through a tunnel in the hills, connecting the East Bay with the inland towns.
"Where?" Leo asked.
"That road," he said, catching Drew's attention. "The one that goes through the hills."
Drew picked up the com helmet the pilot had given her and relayed the question over the radio.
"She says it's Highway 24," Drew 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 Ethan's. Veritas groaned in angst, but like Mercurius, she was under close watch by their Father.
Air traffic control didn't want to let an unscheduled helicopter land at the Oakland Airport—until the higherups reported just who was on that helicopter and then Drew also go on the radio. And then it turned out to be no problem.
They unloaded on the tarmac, and everyone looked at Drew just as a bright flare of green overtook the entire thing. The entire airport was seemingly frozen in time except for the four demigods and satyr.
Once the green light settled, Leaneíras was standing at Drew's side, arms wrapped tightly around Ethan as if he would disappear again if she let him go. Lou Ellen Blackstone and Aphrodítē's triplets that Lea called the RowdyRuff Boys were at their sides.
"What now?" Jason asked.
Lea didn't turn away from her friends. "Right now? You need to finish your quest. Hedge, they want you back at Camp. For your mission report and so we can know what you did to E."
"Elle?," Ethan questioned shakily, trembling in her and Drew's embrace. The girl cursed, running a soothing hand of mageia over him. There were tears in her eyes and Hermês wanted nothing more than to hunt down every giant and monster and make them scream for each tear that she shed.
"I'm here, E," she sniffled. "I'm here. We're going to get you somewhere safe."
"I'm sorry," he said as if she hadn't spoken. "I hurt you. I hurt Drew."
"And I forgive you," she croaked. Hermês couldn't even tell if that was a lie.
"Leaneira," Lou Ellen said, eyeing the airport workers that were heading their way. It took a little bit longer for Drew and Lea to pull away from the boy.
"Right," she said, nodding sharply. "You have to finish your quest." She turned towards the sons of Aphrodítē who looked the group over once before their forms were shifting until two carbon copies of Jason, Leo, and Ethan were standing in the terminal. The shapeshifters manipulated their forms until they looked a lot more malnourished than what they were while Lou Ellen took on Gleeson's form.
Leaneíras whistled loudly.
A tear appeared at her side, glowing green. Salome stepped out, claws still sparking with the teleportation spelled polish that she and Hermês kept on her. The sabertooth tiger roared.
"Salome, take him back to Mom's then get Lee Fletcher, Chiron, and Will Solace over there," she ordered, helping Ethan onto the back of the tiger. Gleeson climbed on next. "I'll be there as soon as I finish up here. Gleeson, protect them with your life." And they all watched as her form shifted, mageia swirling about her body until she looked like a weakened version of Drew. Hermês clenched his hand around his throne because once he looked past the face, it reminded him very much of seeing her after been kidnapped by Luke and Trent.
"Huh," Drew mused. "I'm really pretty."
"Yeah, yeah, the most beautiful girl in the world," Lea drawled as Salome tore into reality once more to leave. "Go save my auntie."
Drew nodded sharply. "Alright, let's go. Shit, wait. What about Piper?"
Lea raised a brow. "What about her? She's at camp and Lucas was signing her up for the defense classes that Cabin Six hosts so she can learn to use that dagger of hers."
"I mean..." Drew said pointedly. "She was on that bridge with us."
"Can't we just say she died."
"Lea," Drew scolded, hands on her hips though her eyes moved back to where Salome had left as if she would tear the world apart to follow along. "You're not that mean."
"She's meaner," one of the triplets muttered.
Lea and Drew stared at each other before the daughter of Poseidón scoffed. "Fine, whatever. You sound like my mother." A twirl of her finger and a copy of Piper was standing at her side, looking just as tortured as the rest of them.
Then, right next to Jason, the air began to shimmer. 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 daughter of Ζεύς. One peek towards her showed that they were battling at the Wolf House, Apóllōn holding onto his sister while Huákinthos grabbed Dáphnē as if they were to stop them from joining the other hunters. There was a bunch of yelling, metal clashing on metal, and explosions.
And for the first time, they could see Hḗrē's prison clearly, see the way that she was sinking into the earth and how her divinity was being drained from her. In that same instance, Father crashed out of his seat, fingers ripping at the suit that he was wearing, his true form seeping out of the vessel that he was in. Trailing clouds: a storm, with lightnings in the squalls, and thunder and the bolts that never miss. Even so Father tried, as far as he had power, to curb his might, and would not wield the fire with which he's felled Typháōn but even he could not hold back the tumult of the heavens as ichor began to spread from across his body, and the roaring of thunder soften to mimic the softest claps of an infant.
"My wife," he murmured before everything else was drowned out by the sound of every single last one of his kids screaming over each other. It was even worse for that he shared with Hḗrē as they were panicking about both parents and the rage that was coming from the other children of Krónos was distracting to the point that by the time Apóllōn had screeched in rage and told everyone to SHUT THE FUCK UP!
When they glanced back down at the children, they were already at the Wolf House. The house was built in a giant U, and Jason was leading them between the two wings to an outside courtyard with an empty reflecting pool. At the bottom of the pool, 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 like a stone body bag. Underneath the mass of fused tendrils, there was 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.
Porphuríōn.
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 and in the center of the cage stood Hḗrē; reduced to the equivalent of a beggar. Her dark hair that made her the envy of most of the goddesses was covered with a shawl, a black dress as if khaos was pulling at every heavenly essence and pulling her back to before the universe came to be, a wrinkled face with glinting eyes.
Nothing like the Queen of the Heavens, the goddess whose rage could make the world tremble.
It was a disturbing sight to see her that way, so it wasn't a surprise that most of them looked away.
When they turned back, Hḗrē was pacing 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. I barely had enough power to get the three of you together! I am losing more power by the instance. I cannot even feel my khaos-mate!" A true fear for them all honestly. Hērmês wished that pain on no one. "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 Olympos."
"Sounds fair," Leo said.
Hḗrē gave him the godly stink-eye. "I've watched you since you were a child, son of Hḗphaistos, 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 ..." Leo trailed off before looking to the side. "Hold on. I do have an idea. Drew, I'm going to need your help. And we're going to need time."
There was a surge of divine power; one that Poseidón knew intimately well. The air around the quartet turned brittle with cold. Ártemis shot to her feet, bow in hand and eyes crackling with divinity when the sight of her hunters froze against the ground appeared in their vision.
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 gēgenēs.
Drew pulled out her bow, taking on the rearguard point as she stationed herself behind the boys and directly in front of Hḗrē. Protecting the asset as she had been taught. The arrows in her hand were all sparkling with Lea's mageia with small decorative items so that she would be able to know which of the Divine Twins that she invoked.
Leo reached into his tool belt, but he was so shaken up, all he produced was a tin of breath mints. He shoved them back in, hoping nobody had noticed, and drew a hammer instead.
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.
There was a growl of anger from both Ártemis and Ζεύς and Hērmês could not help his own anger.
"Thalia!" Jason rushed forward, but Drew and Leo pulled him back quickly with Drew taking back arms once she was assured that he wouldn't run off again. The ground around Thalia's statue was already webbed with ice.
"Who did this?" Jason yelled. His body crackled with electricity. "I'll kill you myself!"
Lo and behold, Khiónē in her snowy white dress, a silver crown atop her long black hair stood before them. And somehow, her eyes seemed colder than usual.
"Bon soir, mes amis," said Khiónē giving Leo a frosty smile. A dagger of ice grew in her hand. "Alas, son of Hḗphaistos, you say you need time? I'm afraid time is one tool you do not have."
"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.
"Ναί, my dears." Khiónē kept her eyes on Jason. "Your sister almost killed their king, you know. Lukáо̄n'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 Porphuríōn will arise, and we shall rule the world."
"Traitor!" Hḗrē shouted. "You meddlesome, D-list goddess! You aren't worthy to pour my wine, much less rule the world."
Khiónē sighed. "Tiresome as ever, Queen Hḗrē. I've been wanting to shut you up for millennia."
Khiónē 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—"
Drew huffed, twirling a quarrel in her hand before sticking it into the ice. Hērmês recognized it as one of Lea's greek fire spells.
"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 Khiónē held up her hand. "Patience, my loves. If he wants to talk, what matter? The sun is setting, and time is on our side."
"Is it now?"Apóllōn smirked darkly. "Well, I hereby declare that the sun chariot shall not move!"
"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 Aiolos'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."
"Blatant disrespect for the King of Olympos," Father drawled, still a bit pale but the rage in his heart giving him strength to rise. "Involvement in a plot to overthrow us all, and now attempts to make Porphuríōn sound authentic." He pursed his lips. "She holds such disdain for mortals that I believe it's time she lives like one far out of the reach of her Father and his court. When this is all over, Ártemis and Brĭtŏmartis, do capture her and take her to land of Nótos. The cold of Boréas' realm has clearly frozen her braincells."
"You could've killed us in Quebec," Jason said. "Why let us live?"
Khiónē 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 Ζεύς and Aiolos, but he's still powerful. Soon enough, when my new masters have awakened, I will depose Boréas 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," Drew added, eyes seemingly darkening even more. "We've been plagued by snowstorms the whole trip."
"Yes, I feel so close to all of you now!"Khiónē said.
"I'll kill you," Drew promised.
Khiónē snorted, waving her hand dismissively. Poor thing. She doesn't realize that her days were truly numbered. The girl could hold grudges almost as long as her Mother and Aphrodítē was immortal.
"Once you made it past Omaha, I decided to ask Lukáо̄n to track you down so Jason could die here, at the Wolf House." Khiónē 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."
"You'll set demigods against demigods," Jason said.
"It's so easy!" said Khiónē. "As I told you, I only encourage what you would do anyway."
"But why?" Drew asked. "Khione, you'll tear the world apart. The giants will destroy everything. She birthed a giant to replace every deity. You think she'll want some goddess that'll betray her own kin? Ha! She'll destroy you with a smile on her face. You don't want that. So, I'm giving you one last time… Call off your monsters."
Khiónē hesitated, then laughed. "Your persuasive powers are improving, girl. But I am a goddess. You can't charm-speak me."
"I don't have to charm you to see that you're an idiot."
"She gets that attitude from you," Aphrodítē hissed at Apóllōn who shrugged.
"We wind gods are creatures of chaos! I'll overthrow Aiolos 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 Akropolis in snow."
"Okay, now I know you're an idiot! Climate change is real. Humans want you to cool down the earth. What the fuck?"
"Drew…" Aphrodítē and Apóllōn groaned.
"The ancient places." Leo's eyes widened. "That's what Enceladus meant about destroy the roots of the gods. He meant Greece."
"You could join me, son of Hḗphaistos," Khiónē 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, glancing behind him in disbelief. Then he laughed so hard, he doubled over. "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 you were hot."
Khiónē'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 and Drew shot an arrow right at her, 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. Khiónē cried out in pain, the arrow piercing her arm and turning the pale skin a rotten green.
Leo grinned. "See, lady, that's what happens to snow in Texas. It—freaking—melts."
Khiónē hissed, snatching the arrow out, not seeming to notice the way the skin began to heat up. "Enough of this. Hḗrē is failing. Porphuríōn is rising. Kill the demigods. Let them be our king's first meal!"
The monsters charged and Khiónē could only scream again as the fire began merge from out of her skin.
By Phanes, Drew does not play around.
Leo had taken on Khiónē herself. While fighting a goddess should've been suicide even one as minor as she, Leo was the right man for the job. She kept summoning ice daggers to throw at him, blasts of winter air, tornadoes of snow. One hand was held onto her wound, attempting to freeze the fire that was rushing through her veins, but she couldn't focus on her pain and the way that Leo burned through all of her attacks. 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.
A wolf launched itself at Jason and the boy stepped back, swinging his wood plank into the beast's snout with a satisfying crack before summoning his gladius. He turned toward the sound of hooves and saw a storm spirit horse bearing down on him. Jason concentrated and summoned the wind. Just before the spirit could trample him, Jason launched himself into the air, grabbed the horse's smoky neck, and pirouetted onto its back.
The storm spirit reared. It tried to shake Jason, then tried to dissolve into mist to lose him; but Jason stayed on.
"You're mine now," Jason said.
The horse bucked, but Jason held fast. Its mane flickered as it circled around the empty pool, its hooves causing tempests whenever they touched.
"Tempest?" Jason said. "Is that your name?"
The horse spirit shook its mane, evidently pleased to be recognized.
"Fine," Jason said. "Now, let's fight."
He charged into battle, swinging his gladius, knocking aside wolves and plunging straight through other venti. Tempest was a strong spirit, and every time he plowed through one of his brethren, he discharged so much electricity, the other spirit vaporized into a harmless cloud of mist.
Drew was surrounded by gēgenēs; glowing with beauty and imbued by the power of the solstice as it drew closer. They'd lower their clubs and watch dumbfounded as she smiled at them. And then none of them realize when she ordered them to fight their brethren, ordered them to beat down wolves, to start clawing at Hḗrē's cage, to beat down Porphuríōn's body, and to help Leo subdue Khiónē. Those that were just a bit smarter, well... she killed those pretty quickly; Ártemis and Apóllōn glowing just a bit more each time she invoked their names.
Leo was the only reason they were still alive. His fiery aura was heating up the whole courtyard, countering Khiónē'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.
Khiónē slowly backed away. Her expression went from enraged to shocked to slightly panicked as Leo got closer.
Jason was running out of enemies. Wolves lay in dazed heaps. Some slunk away into the ruins, yelping from their wounds. Drew shot the last gēgenēs that wasn't under her charm, who toppled to the ground in a pile of sludge. Jason rode Tempest through the last ventus, breaking it into vapor. Then he wheeled around and saw Leo bearing down on the goddess of snow.
"You're too late," Khiónē snarled. "He's awake! And don't think you've won anything here, demigods. Hḗrē'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.
"If we leave now, Father," Brĭtŏmartis started. "I can have her kneeling at your feet before the day ends."
Drew was breathing hard, but she smiled up at Jason. "Nice horse."
Tempest reared on his hind legs, arcing electricity across his hooves.
Then Jason heard a cracking sound behind him. The melting ice on Hḗrē'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!"
Jason dismounted and told Tempest to stay put. The three demigods jumped into the pool and ran to the spire.
Leo frowned. "Uh, Tía Callida, are you getting shorter?"
"No, you dolt! The earth is claiming me. Hurry!"
They all winced as they saw how the ground rose around her like water in a tank. Árēs groaned, tears dotting his eyes. Aphrodítē rubbed a soothing hand against his back considering that liquid rock already covered her shins. "The sun moves not but the giant wakes!" Hḗrē warned. "You only have seconds!"
"On it," Leo said. "Drew, 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!" Drew cleared her throat and said, "Hey, Gaea. Nice night, huh? Boy, I'm tired. How about you? Ready for some sleep?"
Jason shook his head, turning to look at his stepmother. "What do you mean that the sun doesn't move?"
Hḗrē shrugged. "I imagine that Apóllōn or Hḗlios took offense to someone trying to use them for evil. If we go by your mortal sciences, the world continues to turn on its axis, but the sun has not moved, and this day will last until either of them orders it to."
"You can do that?"
Hḗrē's lips curled. "Your Father once ordered Hḗlios to not rise for three days so that he may lay with one of his whores. We are gods, my son. We can do anything that we want."
"Son?"
"I raised you. I cared for you. I loved you. You are as much as my son as those that I birthed upon Olympos."
The mud was rising more slowly. The tendrils seemed to soften just a little—becoming more like tree root than rock.
"You did all that after you forced my mother to give me up."
"And if I allowed her to raise you, either she would have killed you from her neglect or you and Thalia would have killed each other before you became teenagers. It is a dangerous thing, and I will speak no more of this. Not at this moment."
Leo pulled a circular saw out of his tool belt, looking at the cord and grunted in frustration. "I don't have anywhere to plug it in!"
The spirit horse Tempest jumped into the pit and whinnied.
"Really?" Jason asked.
Tempest dipped his head and trotted over to Leo. Leo looked dubious, but he held up the plug, and a breeze whisked it into the horse's flank. Lighting sparked, connecting with the prongs of the plug, and the circular saw whirred to life.
"Sweet!" Leo grinned. "Your horse comes with AC outlets!"
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.
Porphuríōn was even taller that Enkélados, and even more ripped. He was so huge and dense he had his own gravitational field. Like his brother, 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—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 Gaîa!"
"Leo," Jason said.
"Huh?" Leo's mouth was wide open and Drew looked unimpressed, but when your patron was Apóllōn and mother was Aphrodítē, most things tended to be that.
"You guys keep working," Jason said. "Get Hera free!"
"What are you going to do?" Leo asked as Drew looked to him in grudging respect. "You can't seriously—"
"Entertain a giant?" Jason said. "I've got no choice."
"Excellent!" the giant roared as Jason approached. "An appetizer! Who are you—Hermês? Árēs?"
Both brothers snarled, but it had nothing on the growls that their sisters gave. Seriously, Hermês didn't even know that Hebe could make that sound.
"I'm Jason Grace," the champion of Iūnō said. "Son of Iūpiter."
Those white eyes bored into him. Behind him, Leo's circular saw whirred, and Drew talked to the cage in soothing tones.
Porphuríōn threw back his head and laughed. "Outstanding!" He looked up at the cloudy night sky. "So, Ζεύς, you sacrifice a son to me? The gesture is appreciated, but it will not save you."
The sky didn't even rumble as Apóllōn continued to treat Father as the god was literally suffering khaos-mania.
"If you knew who I was," Jason yelled up at the giant, dropping his makeshift club, "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."
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 Porphuríōn, king of the giants, son of Gaîa. In olden times, I rose from Tatarus, the abyss of my father, to challenge the gods. To start the war, I stole Ζεύς's queen." He grinned at the goddess's cage. "Hello, Hḗrē."
"My husband destroyed you once, monster!" Hḗrē said. "He'll do it again!"
"But he didn't, my dear! Ζεύς 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. Gaîa 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," Hḗrē said, but she was weakening. Hērmês could hear it in her voice; could see it in the way that his Father was paling. Drew continued to charm the cage while Leo continued to saw, but the earth had crawled up to Hḗrē's waist.
"Oh, ναί," the giant said. "The Titans sought to attack your new home in New York. Bold, but ineffective. Gaîa is wiser and more patient. And we, her greatest children, are much, much stronger than Krónos. We know how to kill you Olympians once and for all. You must be dug up completely like rotten trees—your eldest roots torn out and burned."
The giant frowned at Drew and Leo, as if he'd just noticed them working at the cage, eyes lingering on Drew's form.
"Still, if Hḗrē will not have me, then I shall take the daughter of Aphrodítē as my Queen."
It was as if a record scratch as everyone paused to digest those words. Eyes moved from Drew, to her Mother, to her Stepfather, to Apóllōn and back again in a circle.
There was a darkening rage on all of their faces; a harbinger of death that cannot be explained in any other words.
"First of all," Drew sneered, her expression tinged with disgust. "EW! Secondly, no thank you. This planet is of no value to me. I wouldn't want it if it was given to me freely and that sounds like a bunch of paperwork. Thirdly, the second you even tried to touch me; I will make you feel the helm of Lord Zeus' robe before burying you so deep in the ground even Gaia will lose sight of you. Fourthly, in what world does someone as ugly as you get to speak to me as an equal. And lastly but certainly, not least… ew."
Jason stepped forward and yelled to get back Porphuríōn's attention as the giant's features morphed into offense and he glared hatefully at the child of doves. Drew only turned her nose up at him and turned away haughtily.
"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 Ζεύς's replacement, born to destroy the lord of the sky. I shall take his throne. 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 gēgenēs, all answering the giant king's call.
"Great," Leo muttered. "We needed more enemies."
"Hurry," Hḗrē said.
"I know!" Leo snapped.
"Go to sleep, Mother," Drew said. "Nice, sleepy Mother. Let's go to sleep."
Porphuríōn raked his spear across the top of the ruins, destroying a chimney and spraying wood and stone across the courtyard. "So, child of Ζεύς! I have finished my boasting. Now it's your turn. What were you saying about destroying me?"
Jason looked at the ring of monsters, waiting impatiently for their master's order to tear them to shreds. Leo's circular saw kept whirring, and Drew kept talking, but it seemed hopeless. Hḗrē's cage was almost completely filled with earth.
"I'm the son of Iūpiter!" he shouted, summoning the winds, rising a few feet off the ground. "I'm the Champion of Iūnō Regina! I'm a child of Roma, consul to demigods, praetor of the First Legion, the blessing of Veritas."
He held out his arms, showing the tattoo of the eagle and SPQR, and to his surprise the giant seemed to recognize it.
For a moment, Porphuríōn actually looked uneasy.
"I slew the Trojan Sea Monster, I captured the Monoceros, I traveled through the Tomb of Orcus," 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."
"Wow, dude," Leo muttered. "You been eating red meat?"
Jason launched himself at the giant, determined to tear him apart.
The idea of fighting a forty-foot-tall immortal bare handed was so ridiculous, even the giant seemed surprised. Everyone in the throne room froze. Half flying, half leaping, Jason landed on the giant's scaly reptilian knee and climbed up the giant's arm before Porphuríōn even realized what had happened.
Veritas screeched. "He gets that from his mortal side of the family!"
"You dare?" the giant bellowed.
Jason reached his shoulders and ripped a sword out of the giant's weapon-filled braids. He yelled, "For Roma!" and drove the sword into the nearest convenient target—the giant's massive ear.
Lightning streaked out of the sky and blasted the sword, throwing Jason free. He rolled when he hit the ground. When he looked up, 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. The other weapons were sparking and smoldering in his braids.
Porphuríōn almost fell. The circle of monsters let out a collective growl and moved forward—wolves and ogres fixing their eyes on Jason.
"No!" Porphuríōn yelled. He regained his balance and glared at the demigod. "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 Ζεύς. I was created to destroy your father, which means I know exactly what will kill you."
But as the giant raised his spear, he suddenly choked, hand going to his throat.
"Got it!" Leo yelled.
"Sleep!" Drew 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 Hḗrē disintegrated. The goddess grew in size, glowing with power.
"Ναί!" 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. One of her hands had already been aimed towards the giant, miming like she was choking him. "Now I shall have my revenge!"
The giant Porphuríōn backed away fear in his eyes though he said as Hḗrē's hand squeezed tighter and he bent to his knee. He gave Jason one last look of hatred. His message was clear: Another time.
Which truthfully was even worse as her scepter appeared in her hand. Iūnō was quite protective over her champion, but Porphuríōn managed to slam his spear against the earth and dropped into the ground like a chute right as the point of her scepter struck where had been standing.
Around the courtyard, monsters began to panic and retreat, but there was no escape for them.
Hḗrē glowed brighter. She shouted, "Cover your eyes, my heroes!"
She turned into a supernova, her true form exploding in a ring of force that vaporized every monster instantly. Her domains powered up as going from zero to a hundred in half a second. The stars and currents of the air swirled about her form, eyes glowing with indiscernible power.
And yet, even that pale in the cry of pain she and Veritas both gave as Jason fell, light searing into his mind, and his body burning unable to handle the tumult of the heavens.
WORD COUNT: 7429
TRANSLATIONS (That's right, baby. Sound it out.):
1) ハニー、大好きだよ (Hanii, daisuki da yo): "Honey, I love you" - Japanese
2) Μου λείπεις. | Mu lípis. | "I miss you." - Greek
3) "Kimi ga inakereba, boku wa ikite ikenai" – "Without you, I cannot live." Japanese
4) Je n'ai pas besoin de âme soeur, j'ai besoin de toi - I don't want my soulmate, I want you - french
5) Είμαι ερωτευμένη μαζί σου! | Íme erotevméni mazí su!. | "I am in love with you!" - greek
6) Όπου και να κοιτάξω μου θυμίζει την αγάπη σου. Είσαι ο κόσμος μου. | Ópu ke na kitákso mu thimízi tin agápi su. Íse o kózmos mu. | Everywhere I look I am reminded of your love. You are my world. - greek
7) あなたのそばが、私のお気に入りの場所です。| Anata no soba ga, watashi no okiniiri no basho desu. | Together with you is my favorite place to be. - Japanese
8) Bon soir, mes amis - Hello, my friends. - French
THINGS TO KNOW:
1) According to the mythographer Apollodorus, Porphuríōn was (along with Alkyoneús), the greatest of the Giants, and during the Gigantomachy, Porphyrion attacked Hēraklēs and Hḗrē, but Ζεύς caused Porphyrion to become enamoured of Hḗrē, whom Porphyrion then tried to rape, but Ζεύς struck Porphyrion with his thunderbolt and Hēraklēs killed him with an arrow.
2) According to Pindar, who calls him "king of the Giants", he was slain by an arrow from the bow of Apóllōn.
2A) Its either or with me tbh, but this was supposed to be still-mortal Hēraklēs, I dont see him actually coming to her assistance.
2B) Pindar wrote his first. And you all know how I get down about timeline accuracy.
3) Anyway, Pinder states that Porphuríōn had "provoked you beyond all measure" ... talking about Ζεύς. And that even Typháōn hadn't escaped his fate and he was destroyed by Ζεύς' thunderbolts and "even the great king of the Gigantes [Porphuríōn] was laid low by Apóllōn's shafts."
4) There are indications that there might have been a lost epic poem, a Gigantomachia, which gave an account of the war: Hesiod's Theogony says that the Moûsai sing of the Giants, and the sixth century BC poet Xenophanes mentions the Gigantomachy as a subject to be avoided at table.
4A) I personally think its because the female goddesses were out their brawling. I mean the Fates were beating the fuck out of Thóōn, Lētṓ was out there fighting alongside her children and everyone knows this trio ride and dies for each other, Thémis was out there scraping, Hḗrē was beating somebody named Harpolykos, Dēmḗtēr who wields a pair of torches against Erysichthon, Hekátē going in on Klytios, they tried to jump Aphrodítē and she was like yeah, im show yall. Hēraklēs come over here for a second.
5) Another thing there was a prophecy that the Giants could not be killed by the gods alone, but they could be killed with the help of a mortal. Hearing this, Gaîa sought for a certain plant (pharmakon) that would protect the Giants. Before Gaîa or anyone else could find this plant, Ζεύς forbade the Lights of Heaven (Ēṓs, Selḗnē, and Hḗlios) to shine, harvested all of the plant himself and then he had Athḗnē summon Hēraklēs.
5A) Which couldn't be completely true because the gods were killing giants on their own while Diónysos and Hēraklēs were killing giants on their own and/or with the help of a god.
6) And lastly, there was never an actual reason for the war. Well, there was a reason, but we dont know. We just have speculations, but in the guesses, it wasn't because of Porphuríōn. I'll talk about it more in the notes for the next chapter because this is getting too long.
COMMENTS FROM AUTHOR:
1) Ethan's devotion to Drew cannot be questioned! Even if he gave her that bs letter which is equivalent to that that bullshit that Rogers wrote Dr. Tony Stark.
1A) Anyway, he loves her. He adores her. And it's like Lea said: Ethan really loves her, but... the need to do better was something he loved more even if he went about it in the wrong way. And anyway, he plans on spending the rest of his life, no matter how long or short that may be, making it up to her. 5000 years and ten reincarnations later, "hey remember that time i betrayed you? yeah, i just bought the entire solar system to as a way to show my devotion to you."
2) Jason's boasting will show up in a future fic... hopefully. Depends on if I have time to write but if i dont, I'll post the outline. But he's a big thing okay!
2A) His coin should have been called Tempest if we really want to compare him and Percy.
3) Yall... it gets so real and researching the Gigantomachia, I don't see how Rick expects me to believe that seven demigods helped defeat all these giants that were named if they were made to be defeated by gods and demigods. Like baby, in ancient greece, they werent invincible and only two demigods helped. Now the giants are indestructible and you got only seven?
3A) STRATEGICALLY SPEAKING! While the seven of them were distracted and the gods were fluttering around helping them, I would have had a team of giants going after their seats of power to "destroy them at their roots" and then boom. its over.