chapter twenty-three

─── grand auto theft is the least of my worries; shocking

         𝖂e stole a helicopter. Not sure what else to say about that really. It wouldn't have been my first port of call to commit grand theft auto, but you know, sometimes sacrifices have to be made.

It had taken a fair amount of time to get Piper's dad into the helicopter, but once we did, I settled by the window and clammed up. Everything hurt, but mostly, I just wanted to cry or be left alone.

Leo slumped down by me, grabbing my hand and wrapping me in a hug. He left me be, not prying into my thoughts, but I appreciated the company as we flew towards Berkeley Hills. As we passed over them into East Bay, I tensed, approaching the window as I felt a familiar feeling of home filling my chest. Looking down, I pointed.

"What is that?" 

"What?" Piper and Leo leant forward.

"The road, the one that goes through the hills." Piper seemed to ask the pilot, before turning back to me.

"She says it's Highway 24. That's the Caldecott Tunnel, why?" I watched it until we disappeared from view, slumping backwards. I had this strange feeling that Octavian was there, but I didn't know where or how.

We had a bit of a struggle getting into the airport, but managed it all the same with Piper's charm speak.

"I have to get my dad home. I'm sorry guys." I tuned back in to Piper, watching her as she spoke.

"Absolutely." Leo nodded. "He needs you right now. We can take it from here."

"Pipes, no." Her dad stumbled to his feet, a blanket wrapped tightly around his shoulders. "You have a mission. A quest. I can't-"

"I'll take care of him." Hedge piped up. 

"You?" Piper's eyes had gone wide, as had the rest of ours.

"I'm a protector." Hedge nodded. "That's my job, not fighting. Of course I'm good at fighting."

We all nodded our heads quickly, not wanting to argue.

"Yup. Very good."

"Terrifying." Leo and I chorused.

"But I'm a protector and I can do this. Your dad's right, Piper. You need to carry on with the quest." Hedge explained gently. Piper looked like she was about to cry, turning to her dad, as Leo and I backed off, giving her some space.

She said goodbye, another ten minutes or so passing before a large private plane turned up. Piper and Hedge got Piper's dad situated, before he came back to see us. Piper got a hug, I got a knowing look and Leo got a glare.

"You take care of each other, you hear?" Hedge warned as all of us nodded.

"Got it, Coach." Leo saluted, before Hedge trotted up and into the plane. Piper began to cry, as I wrapped an arm around her shoulder, Leo handing her a tissue as we watched the plane take off.

"Your dad's in good hands." I muttered. "You did amazing."

She began to cry into my shirt as I rubbed up and down her back. We stood like that for a few minutes before she pulled away.

"Thank you guys," Piper smiled at both of us. "I-"

She trailed off, as the air beside me began to shimmer. My eyebrows furrowed, before the image of Thalia appeared.

"Thalia?"

"Thank the gods." Thalia sighed in relief. The image behind her was hard to make out, but we could hear yelling, metal clashing with metal and explosions. "We've found her. Where are you?"

"Oakland. Where are you?" I called back.

"The Wolf House." Well, that explained a lot. "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?" Hope surged through us at Piper's words. 

"Not yet." Thalia shook her head. "But Cressida, it's worse than I realised. Porphyrion is rising. Hurry."

"But where is the Wolf House?" I called back, wondering why no one could give me straight answers.

"Our last trip." Thalia shouted back, but her image was starting to flicker. "The park. Remember?"

I didn't, but then something clicked in my head. I knew where she was talking about, a mixture of her words and some deep rooted part of my memory.

"You know where it is?" Leo patted my shoulders.

"Yes. Sonoma Valley, not far by air." I explained as Piper turned to the pilot, who was watching everything with a puzzle expression.

"Ma'am." Piper gave her an innocent grin. "You don't mind helping us one more time, do you."

"I don't mind." The pilot agreed.

"No." I shot that idea down. "We're not taking a mortal into battle. Leo, can you fly this thing?"

"Um..." Leo pulled a face, putting his hand on the side of the helicopter, thinking deeply. "Bell 312HP utility helicopter. Composite four-blade main rotor, cruising speed 22 knots, service ceiling 20,000ft. The tank's near full. Sure. Piece of cake."

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

The pilot choked as Piper spoke, but still managed to form a grin.

"I don't have a problem with that."

Leo beamed, and I wonder a bit belatedly whether this was a good idea.

"Hop in, kids. Uncle Leo's gonna take you for a ride."

I regretted all life choices.

∘☽༓☾∘

"Going okay?" Piper called from the co-pilot's seat. She was nervous, her fingers grasping onto her seat until they turned white. Piper and Leo were sitting in the front, with me standing behind them. I at least could fly, so made more sense that I didn't wear a seatbelt.

"Aces." Leo did not sound confident. "So, what's the Wolf House?"

"An abandoned mansion in the Sonoma Valley. A demigod built it." I shrugged. "Look, I went there when I was three, four years old, I don't remember a lot of it. Think he was a son of Mercury-Hermes, sorry, Hermes. He was an adventurer, made a lot of money, built the house to honour his dad and the gods."

The bay slipped away behind us as we headed north. Ahead of us, yellow hills rolled out as far as we could see.

"So, this demigod went to Camp Half-Blood?" Leo guessed.

"No, he didn't." 

"Cress, you're freaking me out with this cryptic talk. Are you remembering your past or not?" I hummed, shrugging.

"Bits and pieces, but nothing confirmed." I sighed. I only knew that he hadn't gone to Camp Half-Blood and that he hadn't been there, but he'd been where I had been. "Look, the Wolf House is on sacred ground. The demigod went back there, but he couldn't stay there, it was cursed. Burned in a fire before he moved in, I think."

"So, how do you know all of this?" Piper questioned, as I thought of my father, of the training that I knew I had undergone.

"I started my journey there too." I said, before shaking my head. "It's a powerful place for demigods, a dangerous place. If the giants claim it, if they use it to entomb the Queen of the Gods on the solstice and raise Porphyrion, I don't know what it could do."

"Thirty minutes out." Leo turned to us, before shrugging. 

"I'm gonna sleep for a bit." I turned to them, before strapping myself in at the back. It only took me a moment to fall asleep. I didn't have a peaceful sleep, instead, my dreams began to grow weird.

I could remember sleeping at the Wolf House, curled around the wolves in a warm bundle. I remember having to run to keep up, that my feet used to get cut up constantly from the rocks and the way that sometimes I went hungry or thirsty. I could remember leaving there at five years old and running, somewhere. I didn't know where I'd run to. 

I could think of friends, of people that I knew, but not their faces. I remembered Octavian, but he looked younger than before, and almost annoyed with me, but apparently I kept following him. I could remember Reyna showing up, wherever we were, could remember times spent in what looked like an office, eating and chatting and laughing. I could remember my friends, not fully, but partly. I had friends, family out there.

A drop in altitude had me waking up immediately with a yelp. We were in a storm, a bad one, and the others were panicking. I unbuckled myself, grasping onto the back of their seats as I pulled myself forward.

"We've got to be close." Leo grunted, but didn't reply, wrestling with the controls. The machine juddered, not prepared for cold weather flying. We started to lose altitude, dropping bits at a time as the ridge of a hill loomed in front of us.

"There." I pointed at a small valley opening up ahead of us, the murky shapes of a building appearing ahead of us.

All around us, flashes of lights were zipping around. Trees cracked and exploded at the edges of the clearing, shapes moving through the mist. Combat seemed to be everywhere. Leo managed to get the helicopter set down, before he began to yell.

"Out! Out, get out!" Leo screamed, all of us leaping from the helicopter and rushing away as something rattled the ground. All of us were sent flying, groaning as we looked at the large chunk of ice, snow and dirt that had just crashed the helicopter.

"You all right?" I hauled Piper up, doing the same for Leo as both of them groaned.

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

"Fighting's that way." Piper pointed out, before she froze. "No, it's...it's all around us."

The snow and mist made it hard to tell for sure where the combat was, but all around us seemed to be the right answer.

"Cressida!" A girl's voice called. Thalia appeared from the fog, parka covered with snow and blood, bow in her hand and quiver almost empty. She ran towards us, but only made it a few steps before an Earthborn appeared behind, club raised in each hand. 

"Look out!" Leo thundered. We rushed to help, but by the time our legs were moving, Thalia had dropped to the ground, and killed the ogre with a silver arrow right between its eyes. When she pulled the arrow free, the tip had broken off and she cursed.

"That was my last one." She kicked the pile of clay. "Stupid ogre."

"Nice shot though." Leo pointed out as Thalia brushed past him to hug me. I allowed it, though I didn't particularly like the feeling of it. Thalia pulled away, nodding at Piper.

"Just in time. My Hunters are holding a perimeter around the mansion, but we'll be overrun any minute."

"By Earthborn?" I really wished I had a functioning weapon on me, that wasn't a broken lance. 

"And wolves, Lycaon's minions." Thalia brushed some ice off her nose. "Also storm spirits-"

"We gave them to Aeolus." Piper protested.

"He did then try to kill us." Leo pointed out. "Should've known that he wouldn't uphold his end of the bargain."

"I don't know what's going on." Thalia shook her head. "The monsters keep re-forming almost as fast as we can kill them. We took the Wolf House no problem, surprised the guard, simple enough but then this snowstorm blew in and brought with it wave after wave of monsters. Now, we're surrounded. I don't know who or what is leading the assault but I think they planned this. It's a trap to kill anyone who tries to help Hera."

"Where is she?" I questioned as Thalia pointed further inwards.

"Inside." Thalia sighed. "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. Here thinks that's the moment when Porphyrion will be reborn. Plus, most monsters are stronger at night so if we don't free Hera soon-"

She didn't need to finish the thought, all of us understanding what she meant. I stepped over the threshold and immediately, my knees gave out.

I could remember everything now, the training here. I could remember how young I'd been when Lupa had found me, when she'd taken me to the house. They'd found me a place to sleep, then made me train. I'd been with them for two years before they'd sent me off to wherever I went to after this.

"Hey, hey!" Leo grabbed onto me, pulling me up. "None of that, Cress. What's wrong?"

"This place..." I shook my head, grasping onto the wood and hauling myself upwards. "Sorry, it just came rushing back to me."

"So, you have been here." Piper stated.

"This is where mom dropped you when you were a child, isn't it?" Thalia guessed as I hummed. "She left you here, told me you were dead. You just disappeared."

"She gave me to the wolves at Hera's insistence." I murmured. "She gave me to Lupa."

"That part I don't know. Who's Lupa?" Thalia frowned as another explosion shook the building.

"I don't think this is the time for questions." Leo warned. "Show us the goddess."

Once inside, I got my bearing back. I spun around, before leading them through two wings to an outside courtyard with an empty reflecting pool. The two spires, just like I'd seen in my dreams, were present.

Leo dropped down first, grinning.

"Hola, Tía. Little bit of trouble?" He was laughing as Hera closed her eyes and sighed in exasperation.

"Don't inspect me like I'm one of your machines, Leo Valdez. Get me out of here!" Hera chuckled as Thalia joined Leo's side.

"We tried everything we could think of, Leo, but maybe my heart wasn't in it." Thalia shrugged, distaste marring her face. "If it was up to me, I'd just leave her in there."

"Thalia Grace." The goddess rolled her eyes. "When I get out of here, you'll be sorry you were ever born."

I sighed, rolling my eyes as they began to argue.

"Enough. Enough!" I snapped, jumping down as I put my hand out to Thalia. "I get where you're coming from, but this isn't the time. Help the Hunters, we'll handle this."

"Fine, for you, Cressida." Thalia shook her head. "But if you ask me, she isn't worth it."

Thalia leapt out of the pool, storming from the building as Leo hummed and turned to Hera.

"Intestinally challenged cows?"

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

"Thanks." I rolled my eyes, not even bothering to argue. We didn't have time for that now. "I'm only helping you because you stole my memories and you're better than the alternative. Speaking of which, what's going on there?"

"That, Cressida." Hera sighed, both of us observing the other spire. "Is the king of the giants being reborn."

"Gross." Piper pulled a face.

"Indeed." Hera nodded. "Porphyrion, the strongest of his kind. It takes a great deal of power to raise him again, my power. There is only one being that could do this, but let us hope that I am wrong. As he has grown stronger, I have grown weaker."

"Like a heat lamp." Leo guessed. "Or fertiliser."

The goddess glared but Leo merely shrugged and continued to evaluate the cage.

"Joke all you wish." Hera's tone was clipped. "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 if I am consumed, well, once again, we have to hope that I am wrong."

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

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

"Done that once today." I pulled my braid out, before tying my hair up and into a tight ponytail.

"Just hurry up and let me out!" Hera sighed as I scratched at my head.

"Leo, can you do it?" I turned to him as Leo joined my side.

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

Hera paced furiously around her cage, cursing in Greek.

"Use your brain, Leo Valdez. I picked you because you're intelligent. Once trapped, a god's power is useless." Hera shook her head. "Your father trapped me once in a golden chair. It was humiliating! I had to beg-beg him for my freedom and apologise for throwing him off Olympus."

Piper, Leo and I shared a look.

"Sounds fair." Leo chuckled as Hera gave him a dirty look.

"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's you."

"It's not a machine though." Leo chewed on his lips as I continued to glance around. It was so weird to be here and for the wolves not to be. "I've got an idea. Piper, I'm going to need your help and we're going to need time."

The temperature dropped. My lips cracked and my breath began to appear in front of me. Frost coated the walls of the Wolf House as Venti rushed in, shaped like horses with dark storm cloud bodies and manes. Behind them, red-eyed wolves and Earthborns appeared as Piper drew her dagger.

I grabbed a plank off the pool floor. Leo appeared beside me with a hammer as one of the wolves dragged a human sized statue over by its leg. 

"Is that my sister?" My eyes narrowed as both Piper and Leo grabbed onto the back of my coat before I could lunge for the statue. "Thalia!"

They pulled me back as the ice spread from where the statue touched.

"Who did this to her?" I growled, electricity crackling through my body. "I'll kill you myself!"

Laughter sounded from behind the monsters, cold and cruel. She stepped out of the mist, her dress snowy white with a silver crown atop her hair. I recognised her in an instance, Khione.

"Bonjour mes amis." Khione smiled, but there was no ice in it. "Alas, son of Hephaestus, you say you need time? I'm afraid time is one tool you do not have."

∘☽༓☾∘

Hiya,

So, we're getting into our final battles before we move onto the next part of the book. There's 3 chapters left and a bonus chapter on this part, and then we're gonna see Andi again, yayayayay! Anyhow, make of this what you will, it's not edited because I'm about to go to work, so enjoy!!

Let me know what you think,

Love Li xx