O C E A N U S

C H A P T E R   E I G H T

( welcome to the windy city )

⟶⬩⬥⬩⟵

          JASON DREAMED HE was wrapped in chains, hanging upside down like a hunk of meat. Everything hurt—his arms, his legs, his chest, his head. Especially his head. It felt like an overinflated water balloon.

"If I'm dead," he murmured, "why does it hurt so much?"

"You're not dead, my hero," said a woman's voice. "It is not your time. Come, speak with me."

Jason's thoughts floated away from his body. He heard monsters yelling, his friends screaming, fiery explosions, but it all seemed to be happening on another plane of existence—getting farther and farther away.

He found himself standing in an earthen cage. Tendrils of tree roots and stone whirled together, confining him. Outside the bars, he could see the floor of a dry reflecting pool, another earthen spire growing at the far end, and above them, the ruined red stones of a burned-out house.

Next to him in the cage, a woman sat cross-legged in black robes, her head covered by a shroud. She pushed aside her veil, revealing a face that was proud and beautiful—but also hardened with suffering.

"Hera," Jason said.

"Welcome to my prison," said the goddess. "You will not die today, Jason. Your friends will see you through—for now."

"For now?" he asked.

Hera gestured at the tendrils of her cage. "There are worse trials to come. The very earth stirs against us."

"You're a goddess," Jason said. "Why can't you just escape?"

Hera smiled sadly. Her form began to glow, until her brilliance filled the cage with painful light. The air hummed with power, molecules splitting apart like a nuclear explosion. Jason suspected if he were actually there in the flesh, he would've been vaporized.

The cage should've been blasted to rubble. The ground should've split and the ruined house should've been leveled. But when the glow died, the cage hadn't budged. Nothing outside the bars had changed. Only Hera looked different—a little more stooped and tired.

"Some powers are even greater than the gods," she said. "I am not easily contained. I can be in many places at once. But when the greater part of my essence is caught, it is like a foot in a bear trap, you might say. I can't escape, and I am concealed from the eyes of the other gods. Though, that daughter of Poseidon almost managed to reveal me to her father, but something stopped her. Only you can find me, and I grow weaker by the day."

"Then why did you come here?" Jason asked. "How were you caught?"

The goddess sighed. "I could not stay idle. Your father Jupiter believes he can withdraw from the world, and thus lull our enemies back to sleep. He believes we Olympians have become too involved in the affairs of mortals, in the fates of our demigod children, especially since we agreed to claim them all after the war because of those Jackson siblings. He believed this is what has caused our enemies to stir. That is why he closed Olympus."

"But you don't agree."

"No," she said. "Often I do not understand my husband's moods or his decisions, but even for Zeus, this seemed paranoid. I cannot fathom why he was so insistent and so convinced. It was. . . unlike him. As Hera, I might have been content to follow my lord's wishes. But I am also Juno." Her image flickered, and Jason saw armor under her simple black robes, a goatskin cloak—the symbol of the Roman warrior—across her bronze mantle. "Juno Moneta they once called me—Juno, the One Who Warns. I was guardian of the state, patron of Eternal Rome. I could not sit by while the descendants of my people were attacked. I sensed danger at this sacred spot. A voice—" She hesitated. "A voice told me I should come here. Gods do not have what you might call a conscious, nor do we have dreams; but the voice was like that—soft an persistent, warning me to come here. And so the same day Zeus closed Olympus, I slipped away without telling him my plans, so he could not stop me. And I came here to investigate."

"It was a trap," Jason agreed.

The goddess nodded. "Only too late did I realize how quickly the earth was stirring. I was even more foolish than Jupiter—a slave to my own impulses. This is exactly how it happened the first time. I was taken captive by the giants, and my imprisonment started a war. Now our enemies rise again. The gods can only defeat them with the help of the greatest living heroes. And the one whom the giants serve. . . she cannot be defeated at all—only kept asleep."

"I don't understand."

"You will soon," Hera said.

The cage began to constrict, the tendrils spiraling tighter. Hera's form shivered like a candle flame in the breeze. Outside of the pool—lumbering humanoids with hunched backs and bald heads. Unless Jason's eyes were tricking him—they had more than one set of arms. He heard wolves too, but not the wolves he'd seen with Lupa. He could tell from their howls this was a different pack—hungrier, more aggressive, out for blood.

"Hurry, Jason," Hera said. "My keepers approach, and you begin to wake. I will not be strong enough to appear to you again, even in dreams."

"Wait," he said. "Boreas told us you'd made a dangerous gamble. What did he mean?"

Hera's eyes looked wild, and Jason wondered if she really had done something crazy.

"An exchange," she said. "The only way to bring peace. The enemy counts on our divisions, and if we are divided, we will be destroyed. You are my peace offering, Jason—a bridge to overcome millennia of hatred."

"What? I don't—"

"I cannot tell you more," Hera said. "You have only lived this long because I have taken your memory. Find this place. Return to your starting point. Your sister will help."

"Thalia?"

The scene began to dissolve. "Good-bye, Jason. Beware Chicago. Your most dangerous mortal enemy waits there. If you are to die, it will be by her hand."

"Who?" he demanded.

But Hera's image faded, and Jason awoke.

⟶⬩⬥⬩⟵

His eyes snapped open. "Cyclops!"

"Whoa, sleepyhead." Malia sat behind him on the bronze dragon, holding his waist to keep him balanced. Leo sat in front with Piper, driving. They flew peacefully through the winter sky, as if nothing had happened.

"D-Detroit," Jason stammered. "Didn't we crash-land? I thought—"

"It's okay," Leo said. "We got away, but you got a nasty concussion. How you feeling?"

Jason's head throbbed. He remembered the factory, then walking down the catwalk, then a creature looming over him—a face with one eye, a massive fist—and everything went black.

"How did you—the Cyclops—"

"Leo ripped them apart," Piper said. "He was amazing. He can summon fire—"

"It was nothing," Leo said quickly.

Piper laughed. "Shut up, Valdez. I'm going to tell him. Get over it."

And she did—how Leo single-handedly defeated the Cyclopes family; how they freed Jason, then noticed the Cyclopes starting to re-form; how Leo had replaced the dragon's wiring and gotten them back in the air just as they'd started to hear the Cyclopes roaring for vengeance inside the factory.

The entire time Piper was talking, Malia fiddled with the hem of his shirt, which kinda made it hard for him to concentrate on anything Piper was saying. He didn't know what made him do it, maybe a sudden burst of confidence or something, but he found himself reaching down with one hand and taking hers, locking their fingers together. To his surprise, she didn't pull away, instead holding his hand back and resting her forehead against his back.

Jason was impressed by Leo. Taking on three Cyclopes with nothing but a tool kit? Not bad. It didn't exactly scare him to hear how close he'd come to death, but it did make him feel horrible. He'd stepped right into an ambush and spent the whole fight knocked out while his friends fended for themselves. What kind of quest leader was he?

When Piper told him about the other kid the Cyclopes claimed to have eaten, the one in the purple shirt who spoke Latin, Jason felt like his head was going to explode. A son of Mercury. . . Jason felt like he should know that kid, but the name was missing from his mind.

"I'm not alone, then," he said. "There are others like me."

"Jason," Malia said softly, "you were never alone. You've got us."

"I—I know. . . but something Hera said. I was having a dream. . ."

He told them what he'd seen, and what the goddess had said inside her cage.

"An exchange?" Piper asked. "What does that mean?"

Malia stiffened behind him, and Jason had a feeling she had an idea. Out of all of them, he didn't expect anything less from the girl who seemed to know everything. He wondered if she'd read up on most of it or if she had experienced it all. He hoped it was the first one.

Jason shook his head. "But Hera's gamble is me. Just by sending me to Camp Half-Blood, I have a feeling she broke some kind of rule, something that could blow up in a big way—"

"Or save us," Piper said hopefully. "That bit about the sleeping enemy—that sounds like the lady Leo told us about."

Leo cleared his throat. "About that. . . she kind of appeared to me back in Detroit, in a pool of Porta-Potty sludge."

Jason wasn't sure he'd heard that right. "Did you say. . . Porta-Potty sludge?"

Leo told them about the big face in the factory yard. "I don't know if she's completely unkillable," he said, "but she cannot be defeated by toilet seats. I can vouch for that. She wanted me to betray you guys, and I was like, 'Pfft, right, I'm gonna listen to a face in the potty sludge'."

"She's trying to divide us," Malia said bitterly. Jason felt Piper stiffen in front of him. He could sense her tension without even looking at her.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"I just. . . Why are they toying with us? Who is this lady, and how is she connected to Enceladus?"

"Enceladus?" Jason didn't think he'd heard that name before.

"I mean. . ." Piper's voice quavered. "That's one of the giants. Just one of the names I could remember."

Jason got the feeling there was a lot more bothering her, but he decided not to press her. She'd had a rough morning. They all had.

Leo scratched his head. "Well, I dunno about Enchiladas—"

"Enceladus," Piper corrected.

"Whatever. But Old Potty Face mentioned another name. Porpoise Fear, or something?"

"Porphyrion?" Malia asked. "He was the giant king. The Anti-Zeus."

Jason envisioned that dark spire in the old reflecting pool—growing larger as Hera got weaker. "I'm going to take a wild guess," he said. "In the old stories, Porphyrion kidnapped Hera. That was the first shot in the war between the giants and the gods."

"From what I've read, yes," Malia agreed. "But those myths are really garbled and conflicted. It's almost like nobody wanted that story to survive. Not even the Athena cabin has enough information on it. I just remember there was a war, and the giants were almost impossible to kill."

"Heroes and gods had to work together," Jason said. "That's what Hera told me."

"Kind of hard to do," Leo grumbled, "if the gods won't even talk to us."

They flew west, and Jason became lost in his thoughts—all of them bad. He wasn't sure how much time passed before the dragon dove through a break in the clouds, and below them, glittering in the winter sun, was a city at the edge of a massive lake. A crescent of skyscrapers lined the shore. Behind them, stretching out to the western horizon, was a vast grid of snow-covered neighborhoods and roads.

"Chicago," Jason said.

He thought about what Hera had said in his dream. His worst mortal enemy would be waiting here. If he was going to die, it would be by her hand.

"One problem down," Leo said. "We got here alive. Now, how do we find the storm spirits?"

Jason saw a flash of movement below them. At first he thought it was a small plane, but it was too small, too dark and fast. The thing spiraled toward the skyscrapers, weaving and changing shape—and, for just a moment it became the smokey figure of a horse.

"How about we follow that one," Jason suggested, "and see where it goes?"

⟶⬩⬥⬩⟵

Jason was afraid they'd lose their target. The ventus moved like. . . well, like the wind.

"Speed up!" he urged.

"Bro," Leo said, "if I get any closer, he'll spot us. Bronze dragon ain't exactly a stealth plane."

"Slow down!" Malia yelled, gripping onto Jason tightly.

The storm spirit dove into the grid of downtown streets. Festus tried to follow, but his wingspan was way too wide. His left wing clipped the edge of a building, slicing off a stone gargoyle before Leo pulled up.

"Get above the buildings," Jason suggested. "We'll track him from there."

"You want to drive this thing?" Leo grumbled, but he did what Jason asked.

After a few minutes, Jason spotted the storm spirit again, zipping through the streets with no apparent purpose—blowing over pedestrians, ruffling flags, making cars swerve.

"Oh great," Piper said. "There's two."

She was right. A second ventus blasted around the corner of the Renaissance Hotel and linked up with the first. They wove together in a chaotic dance, shooting to the top of a skyscraper, bending a radio tower, and diving back down toward the street.

"Those guys do not need any more caffeine," Leo said.

"I guess Chicago's a good place to hang out," Malia said. "Nobody's going to question a couple more evil winds."

"More than a couple," Jason said. "Look."

The dragon circled over a wide avenue next to a lake-side park. Storm spirits were converging—at least a dozen of them, whirling around a big public art installation.

"Which one do you think is Dylan?" Leo asked. "I wanna throw something at him."

"Hmm. Maybe the one with the big head?" Malia asked, making Leo and Piper laugh. Jason smiled softly. She hadn't met the guy, and yet she somehow knew how much of a jerk he was just from them telling her about him.

Jason focused on the art installation. The closer they got to it, the faster his heart beat. It was just a public fountain, but it was unpleasantly familiar. Two five-story monoliths rose from either end of a long granite reflecting pool. The monoliths seemed to be built of video screens, flashing the combined image of a giant face that spewed water into the pool.

Maybe it was just a coincidence, but it looked like a high-tech, super-sized version of that ruined reflecting pool in his dreams, with those two dark masses jutting from either end. As Jason watched, the image on the screen changed to a woman's face with her eyes closed.

"Leo. . ." he said nervously.

"I see her," Leo said. "I don't like her, but I see her."

Then the screens went dark. The venti swirled together into a single funnel cloud and skittered across the fountain, kicking up a waterspout almost as high as the monoliths. They got to its center, popped off a drain cover, and disappeared underground.

"Did they just go down a drain?" Piper asked. "How are we supposed to follow them?"

"Maybe we shouldn't," Leo said. "That fountain thing is giving me seriously bad vibes. And are't we supposed to, like, beware the earth?"

Jason felt the same way, but they had to follow. It was their only way forward. They had to find Hera, and they now had only two days until the solstice.

"Put us down in that park," he suggested. "We'll check it out on foot."

Festus landed in an open area between the lake and the skyline. The signs said Grant Park, and Jason imagined it would've been a nice place in the summer; but now it was a field of ice, snow, and salted walkways. The dragon's hot metal feet hissed as they touched down. Festus flapped his wings unhappily and shot fire into the sky, but there was no one around to notice. The wind coming off the lake was bitter cold. Anyone with sense would be inside. Jason's eyes stung so badly, he could barely see.

They dismounted, and Festus the dragon stomped his feet. One of his ruby eyes flickered, so it looked like he was blinking.

"Is that normal?" Jason asked.

Leo pulled a rubber mallet from his tool bag. He whacked the dragon's bad eye, and the light went back to normal. "Yes," Leo said. "Festus can't hang around here, though, in the middle of the park. They'll arrest him for loitering. Maybe if I had a dog whistle. . ."

He rummaged in his tool belt, but came up with nothing.

"Too specialized?" he guessed. "Okay, give me a safety whistle. They got that in lots of machine shops."

This time, Leo pulled out a big plastic orange whistle. "Coach Hedge would be jealous! Okay, Festus, listen." Leo blew the whistle. The shrill sound probably rolled all the way across Lake Michigan. "You hear that, come find me, okay? Until then, you fly wherever you want. Just try not to barbecue any pedestrians."

The dragon snorted—hopefully in agreement. Then he spread his wings and launched into the air.

Piper took one step and winced. "Ah!"

"You're ankle?" Jason felt bad he'd forgotten about her injury back in the Cyclopes factory. "That nectar we gave you might be wearing off."

"It's fine." She shivered, and Jason remembered his promise to get her a new snowboarding coat. He hoped he lived long enough to find her one, otherwise he'd feel bad. She took a few more steps with only a slight limp, but Jason could tell she was trying not to grimace.

"Let's get out of the wind," he suggested.

"Down the drain?" Piper shuddered. "Sounds cozy."

They wrapped themselves up as best they could and headed toward the fountain.

⟶⬩⬥⬩⟵

According to the plaque, it was called Crown Fountain. All the water had emptied out except for a few patches that were starting to freeze. It didn't seem right to Jason that the fountain would have water in it in winter anyway. Then again, those big monitors had flashed the face of their mysterious enemy Dirt Woman. Nothing about this place was right.

They stepped to the center of the pool. No spirits tried to stop them. The giant monitor walls stayed dark. The drain hole was easily big enough for a person, and a maintenance ladder led down into the gloom.

Jason went first. As he climbed, he braced himself for horrible sewer smells, but it wasn't that bad. The ladder dropped into a brickwork tunnel running north to south. The air was warm and dry, with only a trickle of water on the floor.

Piper, Leo, and Malia climbed down after him.

"Are all sewers this nice?" Piper wondered.

"No," Leo said. "Trust me."

Jason frowned. "How do you know—"

"Hey, man, I ran away six times. I've slept in some weird places, okay? Now, which way to we go?"

Jason tilted his head, listening, then pointed south. "That way."

"How can you be sure?" Malia asked.

"There's a draft blowing south," Jason said. "Maybe the venti went with the flow."

It wasn't much of a lead, but nobody offered anything better.

Unfortunately, as soon as they started walking, Piper stumbled. Malia caught her quickly, eyes swimming with worry.

"Stupid ankle," she cursed.

"Let's rest," Jason decided. "We could all use it. We've been going nonstop for over a day. Leo, can you pull any food from that tool belt besides breath mints?"

"Thought you'd never ask. Chef Leo is on it!"

Malia sat Piper down on a brick ledge while Leo shuffled through his pack. Jason sat beside them, watching as Malia dug through her bag for medical supplies to help out Piper's ankle.

Jason was glad to rest. He was still tired and dizzy, and hungry, too. But mostly, he wasn't eager to face whatever lay ahead. He turned his gold coin in his fingers.

If you are to die, Hera had warned, it will be by her hand.

Whoever 'her' was. After Khione, the Cyclops mother, and the weird sleeping lady, the last thing Jason needed was another psycho villainess in his life.

"Okay, this might hurt a little bit, but trust me. This process works." Malia's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. He turned to see her holding Piper's injured ankle. She had a thermos of nectar, a bag of ambrosia squares, and a bottle of water by her side, as well as some new bandage and some ice. "I've spent enough time in the infirmary back at camp. Seen the Apollo kids use this trick. Works wonders."

Piper nodded slowly. "How often do you get hurt?"

Malia shrugged. "Well, every summer since I've started going to camp, I've been on a quest. And then I had to hold up the sky one winter for an extended period of time, which is how I got the white streak in my hair."

"Wait! You held up the sky?" Leo asked.

Malia nodded, moving to unwrap the splint that Jason and Leo had made. "Yep. Anyway, with chariot races and the war last summer, I've had my fair share of broken bones and bruises. And water can only heal a child of Poseidon so much. So I've learned first aid, figuring I'd be on another quest at some point and have to use it."

Jason saw Malia in a new light. She'd been through so much. When he first met her, she seemed to carefree, but now he saw the truth. She had so much on her shoulders, what with her brother going missing and the memories from the Titan War last summer. He realized just how strong she was. Hell, she held the sky up! That's a serious burden to carry, and it should have crushed her, but here she is, acting like it was nothing.

He admired it. He really did. And he wanted to be the person who helped take the weight of the world off her shoulders. He wanted to make her laugh and remind her to be a teenager every once in a while. He didn't know why (maybe he did. Maybe he had the smallest little crush on her that's been growing since he first laid eyes on her back at the Grand Canyon, but that's beside the point) but he wanted to make her happy again. And he promised himself that he would.

Jason watched Malia hand Piper a square of ambrosia. "Don't eat it too fast. Too much of that stuff will make you burn up."

Piper nodded and nibbled on the square slowly. Malia got to work on her ankle, pouring some nectar on a bandage and setting it aside. She then held her hand over the bottle of water, and Jason watched with wide eyes as the water followed her movements. He'd never seen her use her abilities before.

The water flowed from the bottle and Malia directed it toward Piper's ankle. It surrounded the bruised skin and Malia closed her eyes. Suddenly, the water glowed a faint blue light, and Jason watched in amazement as the bruising on Piper's ankle began to fade. Soon, the bruises were gone, leaving behind what looked like a perfectly fine ankle. Malia opened her eye and moved the water back into the bottle, capping it.

"Whoa." Piper moved her toes with a grin. "That was insane."

Malia shrugged off the compliment with a small smile. "Perk of being a child of Poseidon. Though, Percy hasn't learned to heal others with water yet. Just me."

She then wrapped the nectar-covered bandage around Piper's ankle and re-set the splint, smiling when it was done. She packed her bag up again and moved to sit on the ledge beside Jason while Piper got up and moved over to where Leo was cooking, no longer limping when she walked.

After a moment of silence, Malia nudged Jason. "Hey, it wasn't your fault."

He frowned at her. "What?"

"Getting jumped by the Cyclopes," she said. "It wasn't your fault."

He looked down at the coin in his palm. "I was stupid. I left Piper alone to go and look for you and walked into a trap. I should've known. . ."

He didn't finish. There were too many things he should have known—who he was, how to fight monsters, how Cyclopes lured their victims by mimicking voices and hiding in shadows and a hundred other tricks. All that information was supposed to be in his head. He could feel the places it should be—like empty pockets. If Hera wanted him to succeed, why had she stolen the memories that could help him? She claimed his amnesia had kept him alive, but that made no sense. He was starting to understand why Annabeth had wanted to leave the goddess in her cage.

"Hey." Malia nudged his arm again. "Cut yourself some slack. Just because you're the son of Zeus doesn't mean you're a one-man army."

A few feet away, Leo lit a small cooking fire. He talked with Piper as he pulled supplies out of his pack and his tool belt.

In the firelight, Malia's eyes seemed to dance. Jason had been studying them for days now, and he still couldn't decide if they were fully blue or green or a mix of both. They changed color, just like the ocean, matching her moods.

"I know this must suck for you," he said. "Not just the quest, I mean. The fact that your brother is missing and I was supposed to help you find him but I have no clue where he is or who he is."

She dropped her gaze. "Yeah, well. None of us asked to be on this quest. I didn't ask for Percy to go missing. It's not your fault, Hercules. And I don't blame you."

She fiddled with the bracelet around her wrist. It was just a simple bronze-and-leather braided bracelet with a trident charm set in the middle. He had noticed it glow green back at Boreas palace, and he wondered what it was.

"You know something, don't you?" Jason asked, drawing her attention back to him. "About Dirt Woman."

He had a feeling she did. The way she kept stiffening and growing tense at the thought of this mysterious sleeping woman. She was a smart girl. She had to have an idea already.

Malia pursed her lips and sighed. She brushed her dark hair out of her face and leaned her head against the wall. He hoped she would finally tell him, since he'd already asked her this question before. Maybe she finally trusted him enough to tell him.

"Yeah, and I wish I didn't, but I do, and it's not exactly good news." Malia's eyes swam with emotions.

Jason gave her a small smile. "You can tell me. You shouldn't have to walk around with it stuck in your head. Plus, I have a lot of empty space up here to hold it."

Malia laughed softly and shook her head with a smile. "Yeah, I guess you do." She fiddled with her bracelet some more, and Jason found himself reaching over and grabbing her hand. He watched her face for any signs of discomfort, but to his surprise, her smile grew a bit and he could have sworn he saw her cheeks tinge pink. "I guess you should know. I just don't want to freak you out."

"Already freaked out."

Malia rolled her eyes. She opened her mouth to tell him, only for Leo's voice to come out. "And bingo!"

Leo came over to them with two plates stacked on his arms like a waiter. Jason had no idea where he'd gotten all the food, or how he'd put it together so fast, but it looked amazing; pepper and beef tacos with chips and salsa. Piper was already digging into her taco by the fire, where another place sat waiting for Leo.

"Leo," Malia said in amazement. "How did you—"

"Chef Leo's Taco Garage is fixing you up!" he said proudly. "And by the way, it's tofu, not beef. Beauty queen over there is a vegetarian. Just dig in!"

⟶⬩⬥⬩⟵

Jason wasn't sure about tofu, but the tacos tasted as good as they smelled. While they ate, Leo tried to lighten the mood and joke around. Jason was grateful Leo was with them. It made being on a deadly quest with a girl that had been tricked into thinking he was her boyriend and being with the girl he had a crush on much easier. At the same time, he kind of wished he was alone with Malia, but he chided himself for feeling that way.

After Malia ate, Jason encouraged her to get some sleep. Without another word, she curled up and put her head in his lap. In two seconds she was fast asleep, her hand still in his and a small smile on her lips. Piper fell asleep soon after her, passing out on her bag with snores leaving her lips every now and again.

Jason looked up at Leo, who was obviously trying not to laugh.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, drinking lemonade Leo had made from canteen water and powdered mix.

"Good, huh?" Leo grinned.

"You should start a stand," Jason said. "Make some serious coin."

But as he stared at the embers of the fire, something began to bother him. "Leo. . . about this fire stuff you can do. . . is it true?"

Leo's smile faltered. "Yeah, well. . ." He opened his hand. A small ball of flame burst to life, dancing across his palm.

"That is so cool," Jason said. "Why didn't you say anything?"

Leo closed his hand and the fire went out. "Didn't want to look like a freak."

"I have lightning and wind powers," Jason reminded him. "Piper can turn beautiful and charm people into giving her BMW's. Malia can heal people with water and speak to horses. You're no more a freak than we are. And, hey, maybe you can fly, too. Like jump off a building and yell, 'Flame on!'"

Leo snorted. "If I did that, you would see a flaming kid falling to his death, and I would be yelling something a little stronger than 'Flame on!' Trust me, Hephaestus cabin doesn't see fire powers as cool. Nyssa told me they're super rare. When a demigod like me comes around, bad things happen. Really bad."

"Maybe it's the other way around," Jason suggested. "Maybe people with special gifts show up when bad things are happening because that's when they're needed most."

Leo cleared away the plates. "Maybe. But I'm telling you. . . it's not always a gift."

Jason fell silent. "You're talking about your mom, aren't you? The night she died."

Leo didn't answer. He didn't have to. The fact that he was quiet, not joking around—that told Jason enough.

"Leo, her death wasn't your fault. Whatever happened that night—it wasn't because you could summon fire. This Dirt Woman, whoever she is, has been trying to ruin you for years, mess up your confidence, take away everything you care about. She's trying to make you feel like a failure. You're not. You're important."

"That's what she said." Leo looked up, his eyes full of pain. "She said I was meant to do something important—something that would make or break that big prophecy about the eight demigods. That's what scares me. I don't know if I'm up to it."

Jason wanted to tell him everything would be all right, but it would've sounded fake. Jason didn't know what would happen. They were demigods, which meant sometimes things didn't end okay. Sometimes you got eaten by the Cyclops.

If you asked most kids, "Hey, you want to summon fire or lightning or magical makeup or control water?" they'd think it sounded pretty cool. But those powers went along with hard stuff, like sitting in a sewer in the middle of winter, watching your friends almost get cooked, and having dreams that warned you of your own death.

Leo poked at the remnants of his fire, turning over red-hot coals with his bare hand. "You ever wonder about the other four demigods? I mean. . . if we're four of the ones from the Great Prophecy, who are the others? Where are they?"

Jason had thought about it, all right, but he tried to push it out of his mind. He had a horrible suspicion he would be expected to lead those other demigods, and he was afraid he would fail.

You'll tear each other apart, Boreas had promised.

Jason had been trained never to show fear. He was sure of that from his dream with the wolves. He was supposed to act confident, even if he didn't feel it. But Leo, Piper, and Malia were depending on him, and he was terrified of failing them. If he had to lead a group of seven—seven who might not get along—that would be even worse.

"I don't know," he aid at last. "I guess the other four will show up when the time is right. Who knows? Maybe they're on some other quest right now."

Leo grunted. "I bet their sewer is nicer than ours."

The draft picked up, blowing toward the south end of the tunnel.

"Get some rest, Leo," Jason said. "I'll take first watch."

⟶⬩⬥⬩⟵

It was hard to measure time, but Jason figured his friends slept about four hours. Jason didn't mind. Now that he was resting, he didn't really feel the need for more sleep. He'd been conked out long enough on the dragon. Plus, he needed time to think about the quest, his sister Thalia, and Hera's warnings. He also didn't mind Malia's using him for a pillow, or that she was holding tight to his hand. She had a cute way of breathing when she slept—inhaling softly through her nose, with a gentle breath out that fanned across their joined hands. He was almost disappointed when she woke up.

Finally they broke camp and started down the tunnel.

It twisted and turned and seemed to go on forever. Jason wasn't sure what to expect at the end—a dungeon, a mad scientist's lab, or maybe a sewer reservoir where all Porta-Potty sludge ends up, forming and evil toilet face large enough to swallow the world.

Instead, they found polished steel elevator doors, each one engraved with a cursive letter M. Next to the elevator was a directory, like for a department store.

"M for Macy's?" Piper guessed. "I think they have one in downtown Chicago."

"They have them everywhere, Piper," Malia commented with a grin.

"Or Monocle Motors still?" Leo said. "Guys, read the directory. It's messed up."

PARKING, KENNELS, MAIN ENTRANCE: SEWER LEVEL

FURNISHINGS AND CAFE M: 1

WOMEN'S FASHION AND MAGICAL APPLIANCES: 2

MEN'S WEAR AND WEAPONRY: 3

COSMETICS, POTIONS, POISONS & SUNDRIES: 4

"Kennels for what?" Piper said. "And what kind of department store has its entrance in a sewer?"

"Or sells poisons," Leo said. "Man, what does 'sundries' even mean? Is that like underwear?"

Jason took a deep breath. "When in doubt, start at the top."

Malia gave him a look. "What kind of saying is that? I think you just made that up."

Jason nudged her with a joking grin. "Hey, they didn't need to know that."

The four of them stepped into the elevator, Jason's nerves growing as the doors closed them in and the elevator began to move upward. It didn't take long before the elevator stopped. The doors slid open on the fourth floor, and the scent of perfume wafted into the elevator. Jason stepped out first, sword ready.

"Guys," he said. "You've got to see this."

Malia joined him and caught her breath. "Piper, this is not Macy's."

The department store looked like the inside of a kaleidoscope. The entire ceiling was a stained glass mosaic with astrological signs around a giant sun. The daylight streaming through it washed everything in a thousand different colors. The upper floors made a ring of balconies around a huge central atrium, so they could see all the way down to the ground floor. Gold railings glittered so brightly, they were hard to look at.

Aside from the stained glass ceiling and the elevator, Jason couldn't see any other windows or doors, but two sets of glass escalators ran between the levels. The carpeting was a riot of oriental patterns and colors, and the racks of merchandise were just as bizarre. There was too much to take in at once, but Jason saw normal stuff like shirt racks and shoe trees mixed in with armored manikins, beds of nails, and fur coats that seemed to be moving.

Leo stepped to the railing and looked down. "Check it out."

In the middle of the atrium a fountain sprayed water twenty feet into the air, changing color from red to yellow to blue. The pool glittered with gold coins, and on either side of the fountain stood a gilded cage—like an oversize canary cage.

Inside one, a miniature hurricane swirled, and lightning flashed. Somebody had imprisoned the storm spirits, and the cage shuddered as they tried to get out. In the other, frozen like a statue, was a short, buff satyr, holding a tree-branch club.

"Coach Hedge!" Piper said. "We've got to get down there."

A voice said, "May I help you find something?"

All four of them jumped back.

A woman had just appeared in front of them. She wore an elegant black dress with diamond jewelry, and she looked like a retired model—maybe fifty years old, though it was hard for Jason to judge. Her long dark hair swept over one shoulder, and her face was gorgeous in that surreal supermodel way—thin and haughty and cold, not quite human. With their long red-painted nails, her fingers looked more like talons.

She smiled. "I'm so happy to see new customers. How may I help you?"

Leo glanced at Jason like, All yours.

"Um," Jason started, "is this your store?"

The woman nodded. "I found it abandoned, you know. I understand so many stores are, these days. I decided it would make the perfect place. I love collecting tasteful objects, helping people, and offering quality goods at a reasonable price. So this seemed a good. . . how do you say. . . first acquisition in this country."

She spoke with a pleasing accent, but Jason couldn't guess where from. Clearly she wasn't hostile, though. Jason started to relax. Her voice was rich and exotic. Jason wanted to hear more.

"So you're new to America?" he asked.

"I am. . . new," the woman agreed. "I am the Princess of Colchis. My friends call me Your Highness. Now, what are you looking for?"

Malia had gone stiff beside him, but he wasn't aware of it as much as he should have been. Jason had heard of rich foreigners buying American department stores. Of course most of the time they didn't sell poisons, living fur coats, storm spirits, or satyrs, but still—with a nice voice like that, the Princess of Colchis couldn't be all bad.

Malia poked him in the ribs. "Jason. . ."

"Um, right. Actually, Your Highness. . ." He pointed to the gilded cage on the first floor. "That's our friend down there, Gleeson Hedge. The satyr. Could we. . . have him back, please?"

"Of course!" the princess agreed immediately. "I would love to show you my inventory. First, may I know your names?"

Jason hesitated. It seemed like a bad idea to give out their names. A memory tugged at the back of his mind—something Hera had warned him about, but it seemed fuzzy.

On the other hand, Her Highness was on the verge of cooperating. If they could get what they wanted without a fight, that would be better. Besides, this lady didn't seem like an enemy.

Piper started to say, "Jason, I wouldn't—"

"This is Piper," he said. "This is Leo. That's Malia. I'm Jason."

The princess fixed her eyes on him and, just for a moment, her face literally glowed, blazing with so much anger, Jason could see her skull beneath her skin. Jason's mind was getting blurrier, but he knew something didn't seem right. Then the moment passed, and Her Highness looked like a normal elegant woman again, with a cordial smile and a soothing voice.

"Jason. What an interesting name," she said, her eyes as cold as the Chicago wind. "I think we'll have to make a special deal for you. Come, children. Let's go shopping."

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A U T H O R S   N O T E

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Wow. Long freaking chapter. The next one will be probably somewhat as long with the fighting scenes and all that stuff. But I wanted to get through Jason's chapter in order to go through with Malia's chapter. I'm trying to decide when I will reveal something big about Malia that ties into her nickname. I'm thinking it will be when they meet Aeolus, but I don't know.

Anyways, cute moments with Jason and Malia that I live for.

Please comment and vote!

Love you all!

~ a.h.