✦ ༉‧₊˚⋆˚( ⁿᵒᵗ ᶠʳⁱᵉⁿᵈˢ )˚⁺✧₊˚.*♡

🍪 — 015. isa prefers cats over wolves.

THE FIRST THING Isa saw when she woke up was Red's eyes staring into her own. The girl blinked couple of times before rubbing her eyes. She was freezing, that she knew, but where she was, that she didn't know. She tried to remember what last happened, and. . .

"That fucker turned me to gold!"

"Yes, took you long enough to turn back," Leo said opposite of her, wrapped in blankest.

Isa just then noticed that she too was wrapped in a blanket. Slowly, the warmth was coming back to her and now she could feel her fingers again. She really needs to thank Hebe for this ability to heal faster ─ looks like it also meant hypothermia. 

Next to her, a campfire blazed, turning the air sharp with smoke. Firelight flickered against rock walls. They were in a shallow cave, but it didn't offer much protection. Outside, the wind howled. Snow blew sideways. It might've been day or night. The storm made it too dark to tell. Isa saw Piper starting to move slightly; she was waking up.

"Oh, god." her teeth chattered as she spoke. "He turned me to gold!"

"You're okay now." Jason leaned over and tucked a warm blanket around her.

". . . Isa?. . . Leo?" Piper managed.

"Present and un-gold-ified I got the precious metal treatment too," Leo said. "But I came out of it faster. Dunno why. We had to dunk you and Isa in the river to get you faster. Tried to dry you off, but. . . it's really, really cold."

"You've got hypothermia, both of you." Jason said. "We risked as much nectar as we could. Coach Hedge did a little nature magic ─ "

"Sports medicine." the coach said "Kind of a hobby of mine. Your breath might smell like wild mushrooms and Gatorade for a few days, but it'll pass. You probably won't die. Probably."

"Thanks," Piper said weakly. "How did you beat Midas?"

Jason told them the story, putting most of it down to luck. The coach snorted. "Kid's being modest. You should've seen him. Hi-yah! Slice! Boom with the lightning!"

"Coach, you didn't even see it," Jason said. "You were outside eating the lawn."

But the satyr was just warming up. "Then I came in with my club, and we dominated that room. Afterward, I told him, 'Kid, I'm proud of you! If you could just work on your upper body strength ─ '"

"Coach," said Jason.

"Yeah?"

"Shut up, please."

"Sure."

The coach sat down at the fire and started chewing his cudgel. Jason put his hand on Piper's forehead and checked her temperature. He then moved then did the same to Isa, "Leo, can you stoke the fire?"

"On it." Leo summoned a baseball-sized clump of flamesand lobbed it into the campfire.

"Do we look that bad?" Piper shivered.

"Nah," Jason said.

"Even without Vivi here, I know you're lying, Jay." Isa pointed out making the blonde roll his eyes at her.

"Where are we?" Piper asked.

"Pikes Peak," Jason said. "Colorado."

"But that's, what ─ five hundred miles from Omaha?"

"Something like that," Jason agreed. "I harnessed the storm spirits to bring us this far. They didn't like it ─ went a little faster than I wanted, almost crashed us into the mountainside before I could get them back in the bag. I'm not going to be trying that again."

"Why are we here?" 

Leo sniffed. "That's what I asked him."

Jason gazed into the storm as if watching for something. "That glittery wind trail we saw yesterday? It was still in the sky, though it had faded a lot. I followed it until I couldn't see it anymore. Then ─ honestly I'm not sure. I just felt like this was the right place to stop."

"'Course it is." Coach Hedge spit out some cudgel splinters. "Aeolus's floating palace should be anchored above us, right at the peak. This is one of his favorite spots to dock."

"Maybe that was it." Jason knit his eyebrows. "I don't know. Something else, too. . ."

"The Hunters were heading west," Piper remembered. "Do you think they're around here?" 

Jason rubbed his forearm as if the tattoos were bothering him. "I don't see how anyone could survive on the mountain right now. The storm's pretty bad. It's already the evening before the solstice, but we didn't have much choice except to wait out the storm here. We had to give you some time to rest before we tried moving."

"Don't underestimate Hunters," Isa said, hugging the blanket closer to her body, "They're badass bitches who can fight anything." the girl looked at Piper. Daughter of Aphrodite kept shivering, chattering her teeth and hugging the blanket tightly. Isa cleared her throat, "Pippy, you need to get warm," the girl moved and sat behind Piper and put her arms around her, holding her tightly. She tried to ignore thumping in her heart. They scooted closer to the fire.

Coach Hedge chewed on his club and spit splinters into the fire. Leo broke out some cooking supplies and started frying burger patties on an iron skillet.

"So, guys, long as you're cuddled up for story time. . . something I've been meaning to tell you. On the way to Omaha, I had this dream. Kinda hard to understand with the static and the Wheel of Fortune breaking in ─ "

"Wheel of Fortune?" Piper assumed Leo was kidding, but when he looked up from his burgers, his expression was deadly serious.

"The thing is," he said, "my dad Hephaestus talked to me."

Leo told them about his dream. In the firelight, with the wind howling, the story was even creepier. Isa could imagine the static-filled voice of the god warning about giants who were the sons of Tartarus, and about Leo losing some friends along the way. 

"I don't understand." Piper said, "If demigods and gods have to work together to kill the giants, why would the gods stay silent? If they need us ─ "

"Ha," said Coach Hedge. "The gods hate needing humans. They like to be needed by humans, but not the other way around. Things will have to get a whole lot worse before Zeus admits he made a mistake closing Olympus."

"Coach," Piper said, "that was almost an intelligent comment."

Hedge huffed. "What? I'm intelligent! I'm not surprised you cupcakes haven't heard of the Giant War."

"Hey! I know!" Isa said defensively.

Gleeson ignored her, "The gods don't like to talk about it. Bad PR to admit you needed mortals to help beat an enemy. That's just embarrassing."

"There's more, though," Jason said. "When I dreamed about Hera in her cage, she said Zeus was acting unusually paranoid. And Hera ─ she said she went to those ruins because a voice had been speaking in her head. What if someone's influencing the gods, like Medea influenced us?" 

Isa frowned. She'd had a similar thought ─ that some force they couldn't see was manipulating things behind the scenes, helping the giants. Maybe the same force was keeping Enceladus informed about their movements, and had even knocked their dragon out of the sky over Detroit. Perhaps Leo's sleeping Dirt Woman, or another servant of hers.

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

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

"Nah. I'm just a satyr. They don't tell us the juicy stuff. Especially an old ─ " he stopped himself. 

"An old guy like you?" Piper asked. "But you're not that old, are you?"

"Hundred and six," the coach muttered.

Leo coughed. "Say what?"

"Don't catch your panties on fire, Valdez. That's just fifty three in human years. Still, yeah, I made some enemies on the Council of Cloven Elders. I've been a protector a longtime. But they started saying I was getting unpredictable. Too violent. Can you imagine?" 

"Wow." Piper tried not to look at her friends. "That's hard to believe."

Coach scowled. "Yeah, then finally we get a good war going with the Titans, and do they put me on the front lines? No! They send me as far away as possible ─ the Canadian frontier, can you believe it? Then after the war, they put me out to pasture. The Wilderness School. Bah! Like I'm too old to be helpful just because I like playing offense. All those flower pickers on the Council ─ talking about nature."

"I thought satyrs liked nature," Piper ventured.

"Shoot, I love nature," Hedge said. "Nature means big things killing and eating little things! And when you're a ─ you know ─ vertically challenged satyr like me, you get in good shape, you carry a big stick, and you don't take nothing from no one! That's nature." Hedge snorted indignantly. "Flower pickers. Anyway, I hope you got something vegetarian cooking, Valdez. I don't do flesh."

"Yeah, Coach. Don't eat your cudgel. I got some tofu patties here. Piper's a vegetarian too. I'll throw them on in a second."

The smell of frying burgers filled the air, but Isa couldn't focus on the smell of food and the angry noises her stomach was making. Her mind ventured to the prophecy Rachel told them. They had to save Hera till tomorrow, which means that the prophecy will be accomplished tomorrow. And Isa, still, didn't really understand her part of the prophecy, "Daughter of colors will brighten your day, and be the light to your darkest days."

She shook her head, putting her chin on Piper's shoulder. Leo handed out the food and Isa begun to eat, only stopping when Piper sat up so she could face all of them.

"We need to talk." she said, "I don't want to hide anything from you guys anymore."

They looked at her with their mouths full of burger.

"Three nights before the Grand Canyon trip," she said, "I had a dream vision ─ a giant, telling me my father had been taken hostage. He told me I had to cooperate, or my dad would be killed." 

The flames crackled. Finally Jason said, "Enceladus? You mentioned that name before."

Coach Hedge whistled. "Big giant. Breathes fire. Not somebody I'd want barbecuing my daddy goat."

Jason gave him a shut up look. "Piper, go on. What happened next?"

"I-I tried to reach my dad, but all I got was his personal assistant, and she told me not to worry."

"Jane?" Leo remembered. "Didn't Medea say something about controlling her?"

Piper nodded. "To get my dad back, I had to sabotage this quest. I didn't realize it would be the four of us. Then after we started the quest, Enceladus sent me another warning: He told me he wanted you all dead. He wants me to lead you to a mountain. I don't know exactly which one, but it's in the Bay Area ─ I could see the Golden Gate Bridge from the summit. I have to be there by noon on the solstice, tomorrow. An exchange."

Piper didn't meet their eyes. Isa tried to look at her eyes, at those ever so changing eyes, but she couldn't. Piper looked scared, like expected all of them to yell and her or worse. Isa pouted and scooted next to her and put his arm around her again. "Gods, Pippy. I'm so sorry." 

Leo nodded. "No kidding. You've been carrying this around for a week? Piper, we could help you."

She glared at them. "Why don't you yell at me or something? I was ordered to kill you!"

"Aw, come on," Jason said. "You've saved all of us on this quest. I'd put my life in your hands any day."

"Same," Leo said. "Can I have a hug too?"

"You don't get it!" Piper said. "I've probably just killed my dad, telling you this."

"I doubt it." Coach Hedge belched. He was eating his tofu burger folded inside the paper plate, chewing it all like a taco. "Giant hasn't gotten what he wants yet, so he still needs your dad for leverage. He'll wait until the deadline passes, see if you show up. He wants you to divert the quest to this mountain, right?"

Piper nodded uncertainly. "So that means Hera is being kept somewhere else,"

Hedge reasoned. "And she has to be saved by the same day. So you have to choose ─ rescue your dad, or rescue Hera. If you go after Hera, then Enceladus takes care of your dad. Besides, Enceladus would never let you go even if you cooperated. You're obviously one of the nine in the Great Prophecy."

"So we have no choice," Piper said miserably. "We have to save Hera, or the giant king gets unleashed. That's our quest. The world depends on it. And Enceladus seems to have ways of watching me. He isn't stupid. He'll know if we change course and go the wrong way. He'll kill my dad."

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

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

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

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

Piper seemed to think. "I don't think so. This was inland."

Jason frowned at the fire, like he was trying to remember something. "Bad reputation. . . that doesn't seem right. The Bay Area. . ."

"You think you've been there?" Piper asked.

"I. . ." He looked like he was almost on the edge of a breakthrough. Then the anguish came back into his eyes. "I don't know. Hedge, what happened to Mount Othrys?"

Hedge took another bite of paper and burger. "Well, Kronos built a new palace there last summer. Big nasty place, was going to be the headquarters for his new kingdom and all. Weren't any battles there, though. Kronos marched on Manhattan, tried to take Olympus. If I remember right, he left some other Titans in charge of his palace, but after Kronos got defeated in Manhattan, the whole palace just crumbled on its own."

"No," Jason said

 Everyone looked at him.

"No?" Isa asked, narrowing her eyes, "Jay, I fought in that war, I'm pretty sure I know what had happened."

"That's not what happened. I ─ " he tensed, looking toward the cave entrance. "Did you hear that?"

For a second, nothing. Then Isa heard it: howls piercing the night.

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

Jason rose and summoned his sword, Isa doing the same with her weapon. Leo and Coach Hedge got to their feet too. Piper tried, but black spots danced before her eyes.

"Stay there," Isa told her, kneeling beside her as she spoke, "We'll protect you. Red, stay close to Piper." the cat nodded and sat in Piper's lap.

Then they saw it. Just outside the firelight at the entrance of the cave, Isa saw a pair of red eyes glowing in dark. More wolves edged into the firelight ─ black beasts bigger than Great Danes, with ice and snow caked on their fur. Their fangs gleamed, and their glowing red eyes looked disturbingly intelligent. The wolf in front was almost as tall as a horse, his mouth stained as if he'd just made a fresh kill.

Then Jason stepped forward and said something in Latin. Isa didn't know that Latin would have much effect on wild animals, but the alpha wolf curled his lip. The fur stood up along his spine. One of his lieutenants tried to advance, but the alpha wolf snapped at his ear. Then all of the wolves backed into the dark.

"Dude, I gotta study Latin." Leo's hammer shook in his hand. "What'd you say, Jason?"

Hedge cursed. "Whatever it was, it wasn't enough. Look."

The wolves were coming back, but the alpha wolf wasn't with them. They didn't attack. They waited ─ at least a dozen now, in a rough semicircle just outside the firelight, blocking the cave exit.

The coach hefted his club. "Here's the plan. I'll kill them all, and you guys escape."

"Coach, they'll rip you apart," Piper said.

"Nah, I'm good."

"Stick together," Jason said. "They respect a pack. And Hedge, no crazy stuff. We're not leaving you or anyone else behind."

The wolves parted, and the man stepped into the firelight. His hair was greasy and ragged, the color of fireplace soot, topped with a crown of what looked like finger bones. His robes were tattered fur ─ wolf, rabbit, raccoon, deer, and several others Charlotte couldn't identify nor did she want to. The furs didn't look cured, and from the smell, they weren't very fresh. His frame was lithe and muscular, like a distance runner's. But the most horrible thing was his face. His thin pale skin was pulled tight over his skull. His teeth were sharpened like fangs. His eyes glowed bright red like his wolves' ─ and they fixed on Jason with absolute hatred.

"Ecce," he said, "filli Romani."

"Speak English, wolf man!" Hedge bellowed.

The wolf man snarled. "Tell your faun to mind his tongue, son of Rome. Or he'll be my first snack." the wolf man studied their little group. His nostrils twitched. "So it's true," he mused. "A child of Aphrodite. A daughter of Iris. A son of Hephaestus. A faun. And a child of Rome, of Lord Jupiter, no less. All together, without killing each other. How interesting."

"You were told about us?" Jason asked. "By whom?"

The man snarled ─ perhaps a laugh, perhaps a challenge. "Oh, we've been patrolling for you all across the west, demigod, hoping we'd be the first to find you. The giant king will reward me well when he rises. I am Lycaon, king of the wolves. And my pack is hungry."

The wolves snarled in the darkness. Out of the corner of her eye, Isa saw Leo put up his hammer and slip something else from his tool belt ─ a glass bottle full of clear liquid. Lycaon glared at Jason's sword. He moved to each side as if looking for an opening, but Jason's blade moved with him.

"Leave," Jason ordered. "There's no food for you here."

"Unless you want tofu burgers," Leo offered.

Lycaon bared his fangs. Apparently he wasn't a tofu fan. "If I had my way," Lycaon said with regret, "I'd kill you first, son of Jupiter. Your father made me what I am. I was the powerful mortal king of Arcadia, with fifty fine sons, and Zeus slew them all with his lightning bolts."

"Fifty?" Isa mumbled, a confused expression on her face.

"Ha," Coach Hedge said. "For good reason!"

Jason glanced over his shoulder. "Coach, you know this clown?"

"I do," Piper answered. "Lycaon invited Zeus to dinner, but the king wasn't sure it was really Zeus. So to test his powers, Lycaon tried to feed him human flesh. Zeus got outraged ─ "

"And killed my sons!" Lycaon howled.

The wolves behind him howled too.

"So Zeus turned him into a wolf," Piper said. "They call. . . they call werewolves lycanthropes, named after him, the first werewolf."

"The king of wolves," Coach Hedge finished. "An immortal, smelly, vicious mutt."

Lycaon growled. "I will tear you apart, faun!"

"Oh, you want some goat, buddy? 'Cause I'll give you goat."

"Stop it," Jason said. "Lycaon, you said you wanted to kill me first, but. . . ?"

"Sadly, Child of Rome, you are spoken for. Since this one" ─ he waggled his claws at Piper ─ "has failed to kill you, you are to be delivered alive to the Wolf House. One of my compatriots has asked for the honor of killing you herself."

"Who?" Jason said.

The wolf king snickered. "Oh, a great admirer of yours. Apparently, you made quite an impression on her. She will take care of you soon enough, and really I cannot complain. Spilling your blood at the Wolf House should mark my new territory quite well. Lupa will think twice about challenging my pack."

"Gold, bronze, steel ─ none of these are any good against my wolves, son of Jupiter."

"Silver!" Isa exclaimed, "Werewolves are hurt by silver!"

"We don't have any silver!" Jason said.

Wolves leaped into the firelight. Hedge charged forward with an elated "Woot!"

But Leo struck first. He threw his glass bottle and it shattered on the ground, splattering liquid all over the wolves ─ the unmistakable smell of gasoline. He shot a burst of fire at the puddle, and a wall of flames erupted. Wolves yelped and retreated. Several caught fire and had to run back into the snow. Even Lycaon looked uneasily at the barrier of flames now separating his wolves from the demigods.

"Aw, c'mon," Coach Hedge complained. "I can't hit them if they're way over there."

Every time a wolf came closer, Leo shot a new wave of fire from his hands, but each effort seemed to make him a little more tired, and the gasoline was already dying down. "I can't summon any more gas!" Leo warned. Then his face turned red. "Wow, that came out wrong. I mean the burning kind. Gonna take the tool belt a while to recharge. What you got, man?"

"Nothing," Jason said. "Not even a weapon that works."

"Lightning?" Piper asked.

Jason concentrated, but nothing happened. "I think the snowstorm is interfering, or something."

"Unleash the venti!" Piper said.

"Then we'll have nothing to give Aeolus," Jason said. "We'll have come all this way for nothing."

Lycaon laughed. "I can smell your fear. A few more minutes of life, heroes. Pray to whatever gods you wish. Zeus did not grant me mercy, and you will have none from me."

The flames began to sputter out. Jason cursed and dropped his sword. He crouched like he was ready to go hand-to-hand. Leo pulled his hammer out of his pack. Isa raised her spatha and Coach Hedge hefted his club, and he was the only one who looked excited about dying.

Then a ripping sound cut through the wind ─ like a piece of tearing cardboard. A long stick sprouted from the neck of the nearest wolf ─ the shaft of a silver arrow. The wolf writhed and fell, melting into a puddle of shadow. More arrows. More wolves fell.

The pack broke in confusion. An arrow flashed toward Lycaon, but the wolf king caught it in midair. Then he yelled in pain. When he dropped the arrow, it left a charred, smoking gash across his palm. Another arrow caught him in the shoulder, and the wolf king staggered. 

"Curse them!" Lycaon yelled. He growled at his pack, and the wolves turned and ran. Lycaon fixed Jason with those glowing red eyes. "This isn't over, boy." the wolf king disappeared into the night.

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

Hedge said, "Kill it?"

"No!" Isa shook her head, a wide smile appearing on her face.

The wolves tilted their heads and studied the campers with huge golden eyes. A heartbeat later, their masters appeared: a troop of hunters in white-and-gray winter camouflage, at least half a dozen. All of them carried bows, with quivers of glowing silver arrows on their backs. Their faces were covered with parka hoods, but clearly they were all girls. One, a little taller than the rest, crouched in the firelight and snatched up the arrow that had wounded Lycaon's hand.

"So close." she turned to her companions. "Phoebe, stay with me. Watch the entrance. The rest of you, follow Lycaon. We can't lose him now. I'll catch up with you."

The other hunters mumbled agreement and disappeared, heading after Lycaon's pack. The girl in white turned toward them, her face still hidden in her parka hood. "We've been following that demon's trail for over a week. Is everyone all right? No one got bit ─ hold up. . . Isa?" 

"Thalia!" Isa said happily, letting her sword turn back into necklace, bouncing over to her long time friend.

"Bae, what are you doing here?" the Hunter asked, knowing what the younger girl would do, letting her embrace her, swaying side to side.

"On a quest," Isa said as Thalia placed her down onto the ground, grinning up at the daughter of Zeus, "First one since forever!"

"Congrats! I'm so proud of you!" Thalia pulled down her parka hood. Her hair was spiky black, with a silver tiara across her brow. Her face had a super-healthy glow to it, as if she were a little more than human, and her eyes were brilliant blue. "Who are these? New campers?"

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

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

niki speaks!

long time no hear,
um,
sorry for not updating this book
been more focused on my draft
that i plan to publish soon
just really excited about the
upcoming one
it has a lot of shit
happening in it so be prepared

have a nice day/night!
bye!