✦ ༉‧₊˚⋆˚( ⁿᵒᵗ ᶠʳⁱᵉⁿᵈˢ )˚⁺✧₊˚.*♡

🍪 — 019. snow covered tears.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL DIDN'T WANT TO let an unscheduled helicopter land at the Oakland Airport ─ until Piper got on the radio. Then it turned out to be no problem. They unloaded on the tarmac, and everyone looked at Piper.

"What now?" Jason asked her.

Piper looked at them, a bit uncomfortable. Isa knew she was having a conflict between herself about what to do ─ go with her dad or save the goddess. Today was the solstice. They had to save Hera. They had no idea where to go or if they were even too late. 

"First thing," she said. "I-I have to get my dad home. I'm sorry, guys."

Their faces fell.

"Don't worry, Pippy," Isa said with a small smiled, "He needs you right now. We can take it from here."

"Pipes, no." Piper's dad had been sitting in the helicopter doorway, a blanket around his shoulders. But he stumbled tohis feet. "You have a mission. A quest. I can't ─ "

"I'll take care of him," said Coach Hedge. 

"You?" Piper asked.

"I'm a protector," Gleeson said. "That's my job, not fighting." then Hedge straightened, and set his jaw. "Of course, I'm good at fighting, too." he glared at them all, daring them to argue.

"Yes," Jason said.

"Terrifying," Leo agreed.

"So scary." Isa said.

The coach grunted. "But I'm a protector, and I can do this. Your dad's right, Piper. You need to carry on with the quest."

"But. . . Dad. . ." he held out his arms, and she hugged him. 

"Let's give them a minute," Jason said, and they took the pilot a few yards down the tarmac.

When the plane was heading down the runaway, Piper started to cry. She'd been holding it in too long and she just couldn't anymore. Before Isa's brain registered what her body was doing, she hugged the crying girl. She was patting her head softly, and, despite the slight height difference, Piper hid her face in the crook of Isa's neck, holding onto her like her life depended on it.

"It's okay," Isa said, "Your dad's in good hands. And you did amazing, really amazing."

Piper sobbed into Isa's cardigan, before she took in deep breaths, calming herself down, "Thank you, guys," she said. "I-I really appreciate you and everything you've done for me so far."

"Always," Isa smiled, wiping the tears from Piper's cheeks, "We're always here for you."

Red slowly nuzzled himself ( back in his cat form ) onto Piper's leg, when right next to them, the air began to shimmer. An Iris message. An image appeared in the air ─ a dark-haired girl in silver winter camouflage, holding a bow.

Jason stumbled back in surprise. "Thalia!"

"Thank the gods," said the Hunter. The scene behind her was hard to make out, but Isa heard yelling, metal clashing on metal, and explosions. "We've found her! Where are you?"

"Oakland," he said. "Where are you?"

"The Wolf House! Oakland is good; you're not too far. We're holding off the giant's minions, but we can't hold them forever. Get here before sunset, or it's all over."

"Then it's not too late?" Piper cried. 

"Not yet," Thalia said. "But Jason ─ it's worse than I realized. Porphyrion is rising. Hurry."

"But where is the Wolf House?" he pleaded.

"Our last trip," Thalia said, her image starting to flicker. "The park. Jack London. Remember?" 

This made no sense to Isa, but Jason looked like he'd been shot. He tottered, his face pale, and the Iris message disappeared.

"Dude, you all right?" Leo asked. "You know where she is?"

"Yes," Jason said. "Sonoma Valley. Not far. Not by air."

Piper turned to the ranger pilot, who'd been watching all this with an increasingly puzzled expression. "Ma'am," Piper said with her best smile. "You don't mind helping us one more time, do you?"

"I don't mind," the pilot agreed.

"We can't take a mortal into battle," Jason said. "It's too dangerous." he turned to Leo. "Do you think you could fly this thing?"

"Um. . ." Leo's expression didn't exactly reassure Isa. But then he put his hand on the side of the helicopter, concentrating hard, as if listening to the machine. "Bell 412HP utility helicopter. Composite four blade main rotor, cruising speed twenty-two knots, service ceiling twenty-thousand feet. The tank is near full. Sure, I can fly it."

Piper smiled at the ranger again. "You don't have a problem with an under-aged unlicensed kid borrowing your copter, do you? We'll return it." 

I ─ " the pilot nearly choked on the words, but she got them out: "I don't have a problem with that."

Leo grinned. "Hop in, kids. Uncle Leo's gonna take you fora ride."

Isa decided she much preferred riding on Red's back and any pegasi at that point then in a helicopter. But alas, she sat in the back with Jason, Piper in the copilot seat, and Leo flying the helicopter. How much experience he had? None, but Isa trusted him as a son of Hephaestus; they knew their way around machines.

"Going okay?" Piper asked.

"Aces," Leo said. "So what's the Wolf House?"

Jason knelt between their seats and Isa got on his back so, she too, could see the pair in the front. "An abandoned mansion in the Sonoma Valley. A demigod built it ─ Jack London." 

"He an actor?"

"Writer," Piper said. "Adventure stuff, right? Call of the Wild? White Fang?"

"Yeah," Jason said. "He was a son of Mercury ─ I mean, Hermes."

"Oh, Vivi's brother," Isa said.

"Yeah, he was an adventurer, traveled the world. He was even a hobo for a while. Then he made a fortune writing. He bought a big ranch in the country and decided to build this huge mansion ─ the Wolf House."

"Named that 'cause he wrote about wolves?" Leo guessed.

"Partially," Jason said. "But the site, and the reason he wrote about wolves ─ he was dropping hints about his personal experience. There're a lot of holes in his life story ─ how he was born, who his dad was, why he wandered around so much ─ stuff you can only explain if you know he was a demigod."

The bay slipped behind them, and the helicopter continued north. Ahead of them, yellow hills rolled out as far as Isa could see.

"So Jack London went to Camp Half-Blood," Leo guessed.

"No," Jason said. "No, he didn't."

"What do you mean 'no'?" Isa asked, "Where else would he train?"

"Are you remembering your past or not?" Leo asked.

"Pieces," Jason said. "Only pieces. None of it good. The Wolf House is on sacred ground. It's where London started his journey as a child ─ where he found out he was a demigod. That's why he returned there. He thought he could live there, claim that land, but it wasn't meant for him. The Wolf House was cursed. It burned in a fire a week before he and his wife were supposed to move in. A few years later, London died, and his ashes were buried on the site."

"So," Piper said, "how do you know all this?"

A shadow crossed Jason's face. Probably just a cloud, but Isa could swear the shape looked like an eagle.

"I started my journey there too," Jason said. "It's a powerful place for demigods, a dangerous place. If Gaea can claim it, use its power to entomb Hera on the solstice and raise Porphyrion ─ that might be enough to awaken the earth goddess fully." 

The helicopter shuddered. Metal creaked. Leo leveled out the chopper, and the creaking stopped.

"Thirty minutes out," Leo told them. "If you want to get some rest, now's a good time." 

Jason strapped himself into the back of the helicopter and passed out almost immediately. Isa, Piper and Leo stayed wide awake. After a few minutes of awkward silence, Leo said, "Your dad'll be fine, you know. Nobody's gonna mess with him with that crazy goat around."

"My dad," Piper said thoughtfully. "Yeah, I know. I was thinking about Jason. I'm worried about him."

Leo nodded. "He's starting to remember. That's got to make him a little edgy."

"But what if. . . what if he's a different person?" 

"Nah," Isa said, "I may not know him from your Mist memories, but he doesn't seem like a type to suddenly attack us out of nowhere. I know the Jason I met when you all fell in that lake. I trust him. After all we've been through? I can't see it. We're a team. Jason can handle it."

"I hope you're right. I need to trust him," Piper said.

"Don't worry," Leo said. "Piper, you're the strongest, most powerful beauty queen I, we, have ever met. You can trust yourself. For what it's worth, you can trust us too. Right, Isa?"

The helicopter dipped in a wind shear, and Isa almost jumped out of her skin. Leo cursed and righted the chopper.

Piper laughed nervously. "Trust you, huh?"

"Agree," Isa mumbled, "I think I'm gonna be sick."

"Ah, shut up, already."

Then they hit the storm clouds.

"An ice storm?" Piper shouted over the engine and the wind. "Is it supposed to be this cold in Sonoma?" 

Isa wasn't sure, but something about this storm seemed conscious, malevolent ─ like it was intentionally slamming them. Jason woke up quickly. He crawled forward, grabbing their seats for balance. "We've got to be getting close."

Suddenly it wasn't so easy to drive the chopper. Its movements turned sluggish and jerky. The whole machine shuddered in the icy wind. The helicopter probably hadn't been prepped for cold-weather flying. The controls refused to respond, and they started to lose altitude. Below them, the ground was a dark quilt of trees and fog. The ridge of a hill loomed in front of them and Leo yanked the stick, just clearing the treetops.

"There!" Jason shouted.

A small valley opened up before them, with the murky shape of a building in the middle. Leo aimed the helicopter straight for it. All around them were flashes of light that reminded Leo of the tracer fire at Midas's compound. Trees cracked and exploded at the edges of the clearing. Shapes moved through the mist. Combat seemed to be everywhere.

Leo set down the helicopter in an icy field about fifty yards from the house and killed the engine. They were about to relax when they heard a whistling sound and saw a dark shape hurtling toward them out of the mist.

"Out!" Leo screamed.

They leaped from the helicopter and barely cleared the rotors before a massive BOOM shook the ground, knocking Isa off her feet and yelling loud, "Shit!" 

When she got up, Isa saw that the world's largest snowball ─ a chunk of snow, ice, and dirt the size of a garage ─ had completely flattened the Bell 412.

"You guys all right?" Jason ran up to them, Piper at his side. They both looked fine except for being speckled with snow and mud.

"Yeah." Leo shivered. "Guess we owe that ranger lady anew helicopter."

Piper pointed south. "Fighting's over there." then she frowned. "No. . . it's all around us."

She was right.

The sounds of combat rang across the valley. The snow and mist made it hard to tell for sure, but there seemed to be a circle of fighting all around the Wolf House. Behind them loomed Jack London's dream home ─ a massive ruin of red and gray stones and rough-hewn timber beams. Leo could imagine how it had looked before it burned down ─ a combination log cabin and castle, like a billionaire lumberjack might build. But in the mist and sleet, the place had a lonely, haunted feel.

"Jason!" a girl's voice called. Thalia appeared from the fog, her parka caked with snow. Her bow was in her hand, and her quiver was almost empty. She ran toward them, but made it only a few steps before a six-armed ogre ─ one of the Earthborn ─ burst out of the storm behind her, a raised club in each hand.

"Look out!" Leo yelled.

They rushed to help, but Thalia had it under control. She launched herself into a flip, notching a narrow as she pivoted like a gymnast and landed in a kneeling position. The ogre got a silver arrow right between the eyes and melted into a pile of clay.

Thalia stood and retrieved her arrow, but the point had snapped off. "That was my last one." she kicked the pile of clay resentfully. "Stupid ogre."

"Nice shot, though," Leo said.

Thalia ignored him as usual. She hugged Jason, gave Isa a side hug and nodded to Piper. "Just in time. My Hunters are holding a perimeter around the mansion, but we'll be overrun any minute." 

"By Earthborn?" Jason asked.

"And wolves ─ Lycaon's minions." Thalia blew a fleck of ice off her nose. "Also storm spirits ─ " 

"But we gave them to Aeolus!" Piper protested.

"Who tried to kill us," Leo reminded her. "Maybe he's helping Gaea again."

"I don't know," Thalia said. "But the monsters keep reforming almost as fast as we can kill them. We took the Wolf House with no problem: surprised the guards and sent them straight to Tartarus. But then this freak snowstorm blew in. Wave after wave of monsters started attacking. Now we're surrounded. I don't know who or what is leading the assault, but I think they planned this. It was a trap to kill anyone who tried to rescue Hera."

"Where is she?" Jason asked.

"Inside," Thalia said. "We tried to free her, but we can't figure out how to break the cage. It's only a few minutes until the sun goes down. Hera thinks that's the moment when Porphyrion will be reborn. Plus, most monsters are stronger at night. If we don't free Hera soon ─ "

She didn't need to finish the thought. Isa, Leo, Jason, and Piper followed her into the ruined mansion. 

Jason stepped over the threshold and immediately collapsed.

"Hey!" Leo caught him. "None of that, man. What's wrong?"

"This place ..." Jason shook his head. "Sorry. . . It came rushing back to me."

"So you have been here," Piper said.

"We both have," Thalia said. Her expression was grim, like she was reliving someone's death. "This is where my mom took us when Jason was a child. She left him here, told me he was dead. He just disappeared."

"She gave me to the wolves," Jason murmured. "At Hera's insistence. She gave me to Lupa." 

"That part I didn't know." Thalia frowned. "Who is Lupa?"

An explosion shook the building. Just outside, a blue mushroom cloud billowed up, raining snowflakes and ice like a nuclear blast made of cold instead of heat.

"Maybe this isn't the time for questions," Leo suggested. "Show us the goddess."

Once inside, Jason seemed to get his bearings. The house was built in a giant U, and Jason led them between the two wings to an outside courtyard with an empty reflecting pool. At the bottom of the pool, just as Jason had described from his dream, two spires of rock and root tendrils had cracked through the foundation.

One of the spires was much bigger ─ a solid dark mass about twenty feet high. Underneath the mass of fused tendrils she could make out the shape of a head, wide shoulders, a massive chest and arms, like the creature was stuck waist deep in the earth. No, not stuck ─ rising.

On the opposite end of the pool, the other spire was smaller and more loosely woven. Each tendril was as thick as a telephone pole, with so little space between them that Isa doubted she could've gotten her arm through. Still, she could see inside.

"Hola, Tía. Little bit of trouble?" Leo said.

She crossed her arms and sighed in exasperation. "Don't inspect me like I'm one of your machines, Leo Valdez. Get me out of here!"

Thalia stepped next to him and looked at the cage with distaste ─ or maybe she was looking at the goddess. "We tried everything we could think of, Leo, but maybe my heart wasn't in it. If it was up to me, I'd just leave her in there."

"Ohh, Thalia Grace," the goddess said. "When I get out of here, you'll be sorry you were ever born."

"Save it!" Thalia snapped. "You've been nothing but a curse to every child of Zeus for ages. You sent a bunch of intestinally challenged cows after my friends Annabeth and feathers everywhere around Vivi ─ "

"They were disrespectful!"

"You dropped a statue on my legs."

"It was an accident!"

"And you took my brother!" Thalia's voice cracked with emotion. "Here ─ on this spot. You ruined our lives. We should leave you to Gaea!"

"Hey," Jason intervened. "Thalia ─ Sis ─ I know. But this isn't the time. You should help your Hunters."

Thalia clenched her jaw. "Fine. For you, Jason. But if you ask me, she isn't worth it."

Thalia turned, leaped out of the pool, and stormed from the building. Leo turned to Hera with grudging respect. "Intestinally challenged cows? Feathers?"

"Focus on the cage, Leo," she grumbled. "And Jason ─ you are wiser than your sister. I chose my champion well."

"I'm not your champion, lady," Jason said. "I'm only helping you because you stole my memories and you're better than the alternative. Speaking of which, what's going on with that?" 

He nodded to the other spire that looked like the king-size granite body bag. Was Isa imagining it, or had it grown taller since they'd gotten here?

"That, Jason," Hera said, "is the king of the giants being reborn."

"Gross," Isa said. 

"Indeed," Hera said. "Porphyrion, the strongest of his kind. Gaea needed a great deal of power to raise him again ─ my power. For weeks I've grown weaker as my essence was used to grow him a new form."

"So you're like a heat lamp," Leo guessed. "Or fertilizer."

The goddess glared at him, but Leo didn't seem to care. 

"Joke all you wish," Hera said in a clipped tone. "But at sundown, it will be too late. The giant will awake. He will offer me a choice: marry him, or be consumed by the earth. And I cannot marry him. We will all be destroyed. And as we die, Gaea will awaken."

Leo frowned at the giant's spire. "Can't we blow it up or something?"

"Without me, you do not have the power," Hera said. "You might as well try to destroy a mountain."

"Done that once today," Jason said.

"Just hurry up and let me out!" Hera demanded.

"Now I see why no one likes you." Isa mumbled.

"I heard that Louise Kang!"

Jason scratched his head. "Leo, can you do it?"

"I don't know." Leo tried not to panic. "Besides, if she's a goddess, why hasn't she busted herself out?"

Hera paced furiously around her cage, cursing in Ancient Greek. "Use your brain, Leo Valdez. I picked you because you're intelligent. Once trapped, a god's power is useless. Your own father trapped me once in a golden chair. It was humiliating! I had to beg ─ beg him for my freedom and apologize for throwing him off Olympus."

"Sounds fair," Leo said.

Hera gave him the godly stink-eye. "I've watched you since you were a child, son of Hephaestus, because I knew you could aid me at this moment. If anyone can find a way to destroy this abomination, it is you."

"But it's not a machine. It's like Gaea thrust her hand out of the ground and. . . Hold on. I do have an idea. Piper, I'm going to need your help. And we're going to need time."

The air turned brittle with cold. The temperature dropped so fast, Isa's lips cracked and his breath changed to mist. Frost coated the walls of the Wolf House. Venti rushed in ─ but instead of winged men, these were shaped like horses, with dark storm-cloud bodies and manes that crackled with lightning. Some had silver arrows sticking out of their flanks. Behind them came red-eyed wolves and the six-armed Earthborn.

Isa pulled off her necklace and her spatha appeared. Piper drew her dagger. Jason grabbed an ice-covered plank off the pool floor. Leo reached into his tool belt, but he was so shaken up, all he produced was a tin of breath mints. 

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 ─ a nice sculpture of a girl, an archer with short spiky hair and a surprised look on her face.

"Thalia!" Jason rushed forward, but Isa, Piper and Leo pulled him back. The ground around Thalia's statue was already webbed with ice. Isa feared if Jason touched her, he might freeze too.

"Who did this?" Jason yelled. His body crackled with electricity. "I'll kill you myself!"

From somewhere behind the monsters, Leo heard a girl's laughter, clear and cold. She stepped out of the mist in her snowy white dress, a silver crown atop her long black hair. She regarded them with those deep brown eyes Leo had thought were so beautiful in Quebec.

"Bon soir, mes amis," said Khione, the goddess of snow. She gave Leo a frosty smile. "Alas, son of Hephaestus, you say you need time? I'm afraid time is one tool you do not have."

"Oh, come one!" Isa yelled.

"What've you done?" Jason demanded.

"Oh, so many things," the snow goddess purred. "Your sister's not dead, if that's what you mean. She and her Hunters will make fine toys for our wolves. I thought we'd defrost them one at a time and hunt them down for amusement. Let them be the prey for once."

The wolves snarled appreciatively.

"Yes, my dears." Khione kept her eyes on Jason. "Your sister almost killed their king, you know. Lycaon's off in a cave somewhere, no doubt licking his wounds, but his minions have joined us to take revenge for their master. And soon Porphyrion will arise, and we shall rule the world."

"Traitor!" Hera shouted. "You meddlesome, D-list goddess! You aren't worthy to pour my wine, much less rule the world."

Khione sighed. "Tiresome as ever, Queen Hera. I've been wanting to shut you up for millennia."

Khione waved her hand, and ice encased the prison, sealing in the spaces between the earthen tendrils.

"That's better," the snow goddess said. "Now, demigods, about your death ─ "

"You're the one who tricked Hera into coming here," Jason said. "You gave Zeus the idea of closing Olympus."

The wolves snarled, and the storm spirits whinnied, ready to attack, but Khione held up her hand. "Patience, my loves. If he wants to talk, what matter? The sun is setting, and time is on our side. Of course, Jason Grace. Like snow, my voice is quiet and gentle, and very cold. It's easy for me to whisper to the other gods, especially when I am only confirming their own deepest fears. I also whispered in Aeolus's ear that he should issue an order to kill demigods. It is a small service for Gaea, but I'm sure I will be well rewarded when her sons the giants come to power."

"You could've killed us in Quebec," Jason said. "Why let us live?"

Khione wrinkled her nose. "Messy business, killing you in my father's house, especially when he insists on meeting all visitors. I did try, you remember. It would've been lovely if he'd agreed to turn you to ice. But once he'd given you guarantee of safe passage, I couldn't openly disobey him. My father is an old fool. He lives in fear of Zeus and Aeolus, but he's still powerful. Soon enough, when my new masters have awakened, I will depose Boreas and take the throne of the North Wind, but not just yet. Besides, my father did have a point. Your quest was suicidal. I fully expected you to fail."

"And to help us with that," Leo said, "you knocked our dragon out of the sky over Detroit. Those frozen wires in his head ─ that was your fault. You're gonna pay for that."

"You're also the one who kept Enceladus informed about us," Piper added. "We've been plagued by snowstorms the whole trip."

"Yes, I feel so close to all of you now!" Khione said. "Once you made it past Omaha, I decided to asked Lycaon to track you down so Jason could die here, at the Wolf House." Khione smiled at him. "You see, Jason, your blood spilled on this sacred ground will taint it for generations. Your demigod brethren will be outraged, especially when they find the bodies of these two from Camp Half-Blood. They'll believe the Greeks have conspired with giants. It will be. . . delicious.""

"You really don't use that head, bitch!" Isa said, "That will not only damage demigods, but gods also!"

"You'll set demigods against demigods," Jason said.

"It's so easy!" said Khione. "As I told you, I only encourage what you would do anyway."

"But why?" Piper spread her hands. "Khione, you'll tear the world apart. The giants will destroy everything. You don't want that. Call off your monsters."

Khione hesitated, then laughed. "Your persuasive powers are improving, girl. But I am a goddess. You can't charmspeak me. We wind gods are creatures of chaos! I'll overthrow Aeolus and let the storms run free. If we destroy the mortal world, all the better! They never honored me, even in Greek times. Humans and their talk of global warming. Pah! I'll cool them down quickly enough. When we retake the ancient places, I will cover the Acropolis in snow."

"The ancient places." Leo's eyes widened. "That's what Enceladus meant about destroy the roots of the gods. He Enceladus meant about destroy the roots of the gods. He meant Greece."

"You could join me, son of Hephaestus," Khione said. "I know you find me beautiful. It would be enough for my plan if these other two were to die. Reject that ridiculous destiny the Fates have given you. Live and be my champion, instead. Your skills would be quite useful."

Leo looked stunned. He glanced behind him, like Khione might be talking to somebody else. For a second Isa was worried. She figured Leo didn't have beautiful goddesses make him offers like this every day. Then Leo 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"

Khione's face turned red. "Hot? You dare insult me? I am cold, Leo Valdez. Very, very cold."

She shot a blast of wintry sleet at the demigods, but Leo held up his hand. A wall of fire roared to life in front of them, and the snow dissolved in a steamy cloud. Leo grinned. "See, lady, that's what happens to snow in Texas. It ─ freaking ─ melts."

Khione hissed. "Enough of this. Hera is failing. Porphyrionis rising. Kill the demigods. Let them be our king's first meal!"

Isa held her sword tightly just as the monsters charged.