{LEO}

Leo hoped the taxi could take them all the way to the top of Mount Diablo.

No such luck. The cab made lurching, grinding sounds as it climbed the mountain road and hallway up they found the ranger's station closed, a chain blocking the way.

"Far as I can go," The cabbie said. "You sure about this? Gonna be a long walk back, and my car's acting funny. I can't wait for you."

"We're sure," Evangeline passed the driver some cash that Aphrodite had given them along with the makeovers. "I would suggest you get out of here quickly."

The driver didn't argue, and as soon as the others got out, he drove off. Soon all they could see was his dust trail.

Leo glanced over at the brunette. Aphrodite had given her a better makeover than him. She wore a black sweater tucked neatly into dark blue jeans with her hair pulled up into a high ponytail, paired with boots. Lorelai had gotten a better makeover too.

The daughter of Iris wore a purple dress with a white cardigan, paired with tights and white converse. Her blonde hair was styled in a half up, half down way, and the part that was being held up was tied up with a sky blue ribbon. Aphrodite was clearly playing favourites here.

The view from the mountain was pretty amazing. The whole inland valley around Mount Diablo was a patchwork of towns—grids of tree-lined streets and nice middle-class suburbs, shops, and schools. All these normal people living normal lives—the kind he'd never known.

"That's Concord," Jason said, pointing to the north. "Walnut Creek below us. To the south, Denvile, past those hills. And that way..."

He pointed west, where a ridge of golden hills held back a layer of fog, like the rim of a bowl. "That's Berkeley Hills. The East Bay. Past that San Francisco."

"Jason?" Lorelai asked.  "You remember anything?"

"Yes...no." He scrunched his eyebrows. "It just seems important."

"It is important," Evangeline said. "It's a special place, we found Bessie here too."

"Who's Bessie?" Leo asked.

"Percy's cow."

"Oh, cool,"

"It's also Titan land," the brunette added. "Bad place to be, last time I was here, everything went wrong."

"Is that how you got the white streak?" Lorelai asked pointing to the streak of white between Evangeline's brown hair, sticking out like a sore thumb.

"I got that from holding up the sky," the brunette explained. 

Jason looked toward the foggy basin with such longing that Leo felt uneasy. Why did Jason seem so connected with that place—a place that Evangeline said was a bad place?

What if Jason came from here? Everybody kept hinting Jason was an enemy, that his arrival at Camp Half-Blood was a dangerous mistake.

No, Leo thought. Ridiculous. Jason was their friend.

The son of Hephaestus tried to move his foot, but his heels were now embedded in the dirt.

"Hey, guys," he said. "Let's keep moving."

They noticed the problem too.

"Gaea is stronger here," Hedge grumbled. He pooped his hooves free from his shoes, then handed the shoes to Lorelai. "Keep those for me, Warner. They're nice."

"Would you like them polished and shined too, Coach Hedge?" She arched a brow.

"That's varsity thinking, Warner," Hedge nodded approvingly. "But first, we'd better hike up this mountain while we can."

"How do we know where the giant is?" Piper asked.

The son of Zeus pointed toward the peak. Drifting across the summit was a plume of smoke. From a distance, Leo had thought it was a cloud, but it wasn't.

Something was burning.

"Smoke equals fire," Jason said.

"Shall we?" Evangeline motioned toward the mountain.

"We shall," Lorelai said.

By the time they neared the crest of the mountain, Leo was the most fashionably dressed sweaty, dirty hero ever. His hands were covered in machine grease. The little object he'd made on his way up was like a windup toy—the kind that rattles and walks across a coffee table. He wasn't sure what it could do, but he slipped it into his tool belt.

He missed his army coat with all its pockets, instead of the coat, he now wore a white collarless shirt with suspenders, his tool belt, black leather shoes, pinstriped pants, Ray-Ban sunglasses, and a porkpie hat.

Even more than that, he missed Festus. He could use a fire-breathing bronze dragon right now. But he knew Festus would not be coming back—at least not in his old form.

He patted the picture in his pocket—the crayon drawing he'd made at the picnic table under the pecan tree when he was five years old. He remembered Tía Callida singing as he worked, and how upset he'd been when the winds had snatched the picture away.

It isn't time yet, little hero, Tía Callida had told him. Someday, yes. You'll have your quest. You will find your destiny, and your hard journey will make sense.

Now Aeolus had returned the picture. Leo knew that meant his destiny was getting close, but the journey was as frustrating as this stupid mountain.

Every time Leo thought they'd reached the summit, it turned out to be just another ridge with an even higher one behind it.

Lorelai's cat hissed at Leo as he walked past. The tiny thing hated him for some reason.

First things first, Leo told himself. Survive today, deal with the cat, and figure out the drawing of destiny later.

Finally, Jason crouched behind a wall of rock. He gestured for the others to do the same. Leo crawled up next to Evangeline. Lorelai had to pull Coach Hedge down.

"I don't want to get my outfit dirty!" Hedge complained.

"I didn't know you had a fashion show to attend later," The daughter of Iris rolled her eyes.

"Shhh!" Piper hissed.

Reluctantly, the satyr knelt.

Just over the ride where they were hiding, in the shadow of the mountain's final crest, was a forested depression about the size of a football field, where the giant Enceladus had set up camp.

Trees had been cut down to make a towering purple bonfire. The outer rim of the clearing was littered with extra logs and construction equipment—an earthmover; a big crane thing with rotating blades at the end like an electric shaver—must be a tree harvester, Leo thought—and a metal column with an ax blade, like a sideways guillotine—a hydraulic ax.

Why a giant needed construction equipment, Leo wasn't sure. He didn't see how the creature in front of him could even fit in the driver's seat. The giant Enceladus was so large, so horrible, Leo didn't want to look at him.

But he forced himself to focus on the monster.

The giant was thirty feet tall—easily as tall as the treetops. The son of Hephaestus could've seen them behind their ridge, but he seemed intent on the weird purple bonfire, circling it and chanting under his breath.

From the waist up, the giant appeared humanoid, his muscular chest clad in bronze armor, decorated with flam designs. His arms were completely ripped. Each of his biceps was bigger than the Valdez boy.

His skin was bronze but sooty with ash. His face was crudely shaped, like a half-finished clay figure, but his eyes glowed white, and his hair was matted in shaggy dreadlocks down to his shoulders, braided with bones.

From the waist down, he was even more terrifying. His legs were scaly green, with claws instead of feet—like the forelegs of a dragon. In his hand, Enceladus held a spear the size of a flagpole.

Every so often he dipped its tip in the fire, turning the metal molten red.

"Okay," Coach Hedge said. "Here's the plan—"

"No, shut up," Lorelai said, her eye was twitching again, which meant that she was annoyed. "You're not charging alone, Piper's dad's life depends on it."

Piper choked back a sob. "Look."

Just visible on the other side of the bonfire was a man tied to a post.

The man's head was slumped like he was unconscious, so he couldn't exactly make out his face, but the daughter of Aphrodite didn't seem to have any doubts.

"Dad," she said.

Tristan McLean was half-dead and about to be eaten. The only people who could stop it—were five fashionably dressed teenage demigods and a megalomaniac goat.

"There's six of us," Hedge whispered urgently. "And only one of him."

"Do you not see the fact that he is thirty feet tall?" Lorelai snapped.

"Okay," Hedge said. "So, Leo, Evangeline, me, and Jason distract him. Piper and Warner sneak around and free Piper's dad."

They all looked at Jason.

"What?" Jason asked, "I'm not the leader,"

"Yes, you are," Piper said.

"I'm really not, though," He blinked.

"A distraction is our best chance," Evangeline said. "Not a survivable one though,"

They couldn't sit there all day and talk about it. It had to be close to noon—the giant's deadline—and the ground was still trying to pull them down. Leo's knees had already sunk two inches into the dirt.

Leo looked at the construction equipment and got a crazy idea. He brought out the little toy he'd made on the climb, and he realized what it could do—if he was lucky, which was rarely.

"Let's go," he said. "Before I come to my senses."

Lorelai placed her cat down on a rock gently. "Don't go anywhere okay?"

Garfield curled up and yawned as he started falling asleep. Lorelai found a weird cat that's for sure.

The plan went wrong almost immediately.

The daughters of Iris and Aphrodite scrambled along the ridge, trying to keep their heads down, while the children of Hades, Hephaestus, Zeus, and the satyr walked straight into the clearing.

Jason summoned his golden lance as Evangeline summoned her sword. He brandished it over his head and yelled, "Giant!" Which sounded pretty good, and a lot more confident than Leo could've managed.

He was thinking more along the lines of, "We are pathetic ants! Don't kill us!"

Enceladus stopped chanting at the flames. He turned toward them and grinned, revealing fangs like a saber-tooth tiger's.

"Well," the giant rumbled. "What a nice surprise."

The son of Hephaestus didn't like the sound of that. His hand closed on the windup gadget. He stepped sideways, edging his way toward the bulldozer.

The satyr shouted, "Let the movie star go, you big ugly cupcake! Or I'm gonna plant my hoof right up your—"

"Not now," Evangeline said as she spun the sword in her hand.

Enceladus roared with laughter. "I've forgotten how funny satyrs are. When we rule the world, I think I'll keep your kind around. You can entertain me while I eat all the other mortals."

"Is that a compliment?" Hedge frowned at the brunette. "I don't think that was a compliment."

Evangeline shrugged.

Enceladus opened his mouth wide, and his teeth began to glow.

"Scatter!" Jason yelled.

The son of Zeus and the satyr dove to the left as the giant blew fire—a furnace blast so hot even Festus would've been jealous.

The brunette swung her sword and the earth rose making the giant stumble back.

Leo dodged behind the bulldozer, wound up his homemade device, and dropped it into the driver's seat. Then he ran to the right, heading for the tree harvester.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jason rise and charge the giant with Evangeline. Coach Hedge ripped off his canary yellow jacket, which was now on fire and bleated angrily. "I liked that outfit!" Then he raised his club and charged, too.

Before they could get very far, Enceladus slammed his spear against the ground. The entire mountain shook.

The shockwave sent Leo sprawling. He blinked, momentarily stunned. Through a haze of grassfire and bitter smoke, he saw Jason and Evangeline stagger to their feet on the other side of the clearing.

Coach Hedge was knocked out cold. He'd fallen forward and hit his head on a log. His furry hindquarters were sticking up straight, with his canary yellow pants around his knees—a view the Valdez boy didn't need.

The giant bellowed, "I see you, Piper McLean!" He turned and blew fire at a line of bushes to Leo's right.

The daughters of Iris and Aphrodite ran into the clearing, the underbrush burning behind them.

Enceladus laughed. "I'm happy you've arrived. And you brought me my prizes!"

Leo's gut twisted. This was the moment Piper had warned them about. They'd played right into Enceladus's hands.

The giant must've read his expression, because he laughed even louder. "That's right, son of Hephaestus. I didn't expect you to stay alive this long, but it doesn't matter. By bringing you here, Piper McLean has sealed the deal. If she betrays you, I'm as good as my word. She can take her father and go. What do I care about a movie star?"

The boy could see Piper's father more clearly now. He wore a ragged dress shirt and torn slacks. His bare feet were caked with mud. He wasn't completely unconscious, because he lifted his head and groaned—yep, Tristan McLean all right. Leo had seen that face in enough movies. But he had a nasty cut down the side of his face, and he looked thin and sickly, not heroic at all.

"Dad!" Piper yelled.

Mr. McLean blinked, trying to focus. "Pipes...? Where..."

Piper drew her dagger and faced Enceladus. "Let him go!"

"Of course, dear," the giant rumbled. "Swear your loyalty to me, and we will have no problem. Only these others must die."

Piper looked back and forth between Lorelai and her dad.

"He'll kill you!" Lorelai said. "Don't trust him!"

"Oh, come now," The giant bellowed. "You know I was born to fight Athena herself? Mother Gaea made each of us giant with a specific purpose, designed to fight and destroy a particular god. I was Athena's nemesis, the anti-Athena, you might say. Compared to some of my brethren—I am small! But I am clever. And I keep my bargain with you, Piper McLean. It's part of my plan!"

The children of the Big Three were on their feet now, but before they could act, Enceladus roared—a call so loud it echoed down the valley and was probably heard all the way to San Francisco.

At the edge of the woods, half a dozen ogre-like creatures rose. Leo realized with nauseating certainty that they hadn't simply been hiding there. They'd risen out of the earth.

The ogres shuffle forward. They were small compared to the giant, about seven feet tall. Each one of them had six arms—one pair in the regular spot, then an extra pair sprouting out the top of their shoulders, and another set shooting from the sides of their rib cages.

They wore only ragged leather loincloths, and even across the clearing, the son of Hephaestus could smell them. Six guys who never bathed, with six armpits each. Leo decided if he survived this day, he'd have to take a three-hour shower just to forget the stench.

The boy stepped toward the girls. "What—what are those?"

Piper's blade reflected the purple light of the bonfire, Lorelai looked like she was a reflection.

"Gegenees," the McLean girl muttered.

"In English?" Leo asked.

"The Earthborn," She explained. "Six-armed giants who fought Jason—the first Jason."

"Very good, my dear!" Enceladus sounded delighted. "They used to live in a miserable place in Greece called Bear Mountain. Mount Diablo is much nicer! They are lesser children of Mother Earth, but they serve their purpose. They're good with construction equipment—"

"Vroom, vroom!" One of the Earthborn bellowed, and the others took up the chant, each moving his six hands as though driving a car. "Vroom, vroom!"

"Yes, thank you, boys," the giant said. "They also have a score to settle with heroes. Especially anyone named Jason."

"Yay-son!" The ogre screamed. They all picked up clumps of earth, which solidified in their hands, turning to nasty pointed stones. "Where Yay-son? Kill Yay-son!"

The Giant smiled. "You see, Piper, you have a choice. Save your father, or ah, try to save your friends and face certain death."

Lorelai unsheathed her dagger and brandished it as Piper stepped forward. Her eyes blazed with such rage, that even Enceladus backed away.

"You will not take the people I love," she said. "None of them."

Her words rippled across the clearing with such force, that the Earthborn muttered, "Okay. Okay, sorry," and began to retreat.

"Stand your ground, fools!" The Giant roared.

He snarled at Piper and Lorelai. "This is why we wanted you alive, my dear. You could have been so useful to us. But as you wish. Earth-born! I will show you, Jason."

Leo's heart sank. But the giant didn't point at the son of Zeus, instead, he pointed at Tristan McLean.

"There is Jason," Enceladus said with pleasure. "Tear him apart!"

The demigods exchanged looks, and all five of them knew the game plan.

Jason and Evangeline charged Enceladus while Piper and Lorelai rushed toward the movie star, and Leo dashed for the tree harvester, which stood between Mr. McLean and the Earthborn.

The ogres were fast, but Leo ran like a storm spirit. He leaped toward the harvester from five feet away and slammed into the driver's seat. His hands flew across the controls, and the machine responded with unnatural speed—coming to life as if it knew how important this was.

"Ha!" He screamed, and swung the crane arm through the bonfire, toppling burning logs onto the Earthborn and spraying sparks everywhere. Two giants went down under a fiery avalanche and melted back into the earth.

The other four ogres stumbled across the burning logs and hot coals while Leo brought the harvester around. He smashed a button, and on the end of the crane arm the wicked rotating blades began to whir.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Piper and Lorelai at the stake, cutting the man free. On the other side of the clearing, Jaosn and Evangeline fought the giant, somehow managing to dodge the giant's spear and blasts of fire breath. Coach Hedge was still heroically passed out with his goat tail sticking up in the air.

The whole side of the mountain would soon be ablaze. The fire wouldn't bother Leo, but if his friends got trapped up here—No. He had to act quickly.

One of the Earthborn—apparently not the most intelligent one—charged the tree harvester, and Leo swung the crane arm in his direction. As soon as the blades touched the ogre, he dissolved like wet clay and splattered all over the clearing. Most of him flew into Leo's face.

He spit clay out of his mouth and turned the harvest toward the remaining three Earthborns, who backed up quickly.

"Bad vroom vroom!" One yelled.

"Yeah, that's right!" Leo yelled at them. "You want some bad vroom-vroom? Come on!"

Unfortunately, they did. Three ogres with six arms, each throwing large, hard rocks at super speed—and he knew it was over. Somehow, he launched himself in a backward somersault off the harvester half a second before a boulder demolished the driver's seat. Rocks slammed into metal. By the time he stumbled to his feet, the harvester looked like a crushed soda can, sinking in the mud.

"Dozer!" He yelled.

The ogres were picking up more clumps of earth, but this time they were glaring at the daughters of Iris and Aphrodite's direction. Thirty feet away, the bulldozer roared to life.

Leo's makeshift gadget had done its job, burrowing into the earthmover's controls and giving it a temporary life of its own. It roared toward the enemy.

Just as Piper cut her father free, and Lorelai caught him, the giants launched their second volley of stones. The dozers swiveled in the mud, skidding to intercept, and most of the rocks slammed into its shovel. The force was so great it pushed the dozer back. Two rocks ricocheted and struck their throwers.

Two more Earthborn melted into clay. Unfortunately, one rock hit the dozer's engine, sending up a cloud of oliy smoke, and the dozer groaned to a stop. Another great toy is broken.

Piper dragged her father below the ridge. The last Earth-born charged after her but Lorelai threw her dagger straight at him as she ducked to the right.

The ogre attacked her and Leo yelled. "Hey, stupid!" He threw a screwdriver at the Earthborn. It didn't kill the creature but sure got its attention.

The screwdriver sank hilt-deep into the ogre's forehead like he was made of Play-Doh.

The Earthborn yelped in pain and skittered to a halt. He pulled out the screwdriver, turned, and glared at the son of Hephaestus. Sadly, this last ogre looked like the biggest and nastiest of the bunch.

"You die!" The Earthborn roared. "Friend of Yay-son dies!"

The ogre scooped handfuls of dirt, which immediately hardened into rock cannonballs.

Leo's mind went blank. He reached into his tool belt, but he couldn't think of anything that would help. He was supposed to be clever—but he couldn't craft or build or tinker his way out of this one.

Fine, he thought. I'll go out blaze-of-glory style.

He burst into flames, yelled, "Hephaestus!" and charged at the ogre barehanded. He never got there.

A sharp light flashed behind the ogre. A silver blade sliced the Earthborn in half.

Six large arms dropped to the ground, boulders rolling out of their useless hands. The ogre looked down, very surprised. He mumbled, "Arms go bye-bye."

Then he melted into the ground.

Lorelai stood there, wiping the clay off her face, her dagger was also covered in clay but it was glowing. Piper and her father sat at the ridge, her father dazed and wounded, but still alive.

Lorelai looked like she'd finally snapped. Leo was glad she was his assistant.

"I hate Play-Doh so much," she said. "Come on!"She yelled.

Leo saw that the battle wasn't over. Jason and Evangeline were still fighting Enceladus—and it wasn't going well for Jason.

{EVANGELINE}

The brunette hated herself, she was weak and an idiot.

Her powers were working but they were sucking the life force out of her, her wrists felt like someone was writing on them with a hot blade. While the son of Zeus distracted the giant, she raised her hand, summoning tendrils of shadows from the ground and making them form a sharp and long blade.

Evangeline swung her hand, sending the blade at the giant, she managed to cut through its stomach and cut him, and golden ichor—the blood of immortals—trickled down the giant's clawed ankle.

Enceladus bellowed in pain, he cursed at her and blasted her with fire. The brunette rolled out of its way, while Jason went behind the giant, and struck behind his knee.

It went on for a while. Enceladus attacked, they dodged, they attacked, and the giant dodged.

But soon the ground stuck to her feet. Gaea was getting stronger, and the giant was getting faster.

"I'm not some minor monster," The giant bellowed. "I am a giant, born to destroy gods! Your little toothpicks can't kill me,"

She groaned and clutched her hands, when she glanced down at them she saw blood trickling down, while Jason was talking with the giant she pulled her sleeve up and froze.

The scar she'd gotten from her mother was torn right open like someone had cut it open with a knife, and bleeding heavily. A sharp sting went across her left shoulder and she grited her teeth in pain.

Her focus snapped back to the fight when she saw a golden light, blinding her momentarily.

When she glanced back, she saw Jason sitting at the rim of a crater. Enceladus stood at the other side, staggering and confused. Jason's javelin was destroyed and it had blasted a perfect cone-shaped pit.

The daughter of Hades tried to move but her feet were stuck to the ground and felt like lead.

Enceladus blinked at the destruction, then laughed. "Impressive! Unfortunately, that was your last trick, demigods."

The giant lept at the crater in a single bound, planting his feet on either side of the blond. The giant raised his spear, its tip hovering six feet over Jason's chest.

"And now," he said, "my first sacrifice to Gaea!"

Evangeline managed to cope with the sharp pain that was running throughout her body and managed to free herself from the ground's clutches.

She grabbed her sword just in time for Leo to yell, "Heads up!"

A large black metal wedge slammed into Enceladus with a massive thunk! The giant toppled over and slid into the pit.

Lorelai and Piper were pulling Jason to his feet.

About a hundred feet away, Leo was standing over a piece of construction equipment—a long cannonlike thing with a single massive piston, the edge broken clean off.

The other end of the hydraulic ax had landed in the crater. The giant was struggling to rise, an ax blade the size of a washing machine stuck in his breastplate.

He managed to pull the ax blade free. He yelled in pain and the mountain trembled. Golden ichor soaked the front of his armor, but the giant stood. Shakily, he bent down and retrieved his spear.

"Good try," he winced. "But I cannot be beaten."

The giant's armor mended itself, and the ichor stopped flowing, it was a lot like what had happened with Antaeus a few years ago.

Leo ran up to her and saw the giant. "What is it with this guy? Fuckin die, already!"

"My fate is preordained," Enceladus said. "Giants cannot be killed by gods or heroes."

"Only by both," Jason said.

The giant's smile faltered, she saw fear in his eyes. "It's true, isn't it? Gods and demigods have to work together to kill you."

"You will not live long enough to try!" The giant started stumbling up the crater's slope, slipping on the glassy sides.

"Anyone have a god handy?" Leo asked.

This would've been a great time for Apollo to show up with sunflowers like he'd done during the fall while Evangeline and Nico had taken Percy to Italy.

"Leo," Jason spoke up. "if you've got a rope in that tool belt, get it ready."

The son of Zeus leaped at the giant with no weapon but his bare hands.

"Enceladus!" Piper yelled. "Look behind you!" She was charmspeaking the giant.

The giant said, "What?" and turned like there was a spider on his back.

Jason tackled his legs at the right moment.

The giant lost his balance. Enceladus slammed into the crater and slid to the bottom. While he tried to rise, Jason put his arms around the giant's neck.

"Get off!" Enceladus screamed. He tried to grab at the blond's legs, but Jason scrabbled around squirming and climbing over the giant's hair.

Evangeline shivered as she smelled the metallic scent of a storm. Darkness swallowed the sun. The giant froze, sensing it too.

Then Jason yelled, "Hit the deck!"

Crack!

Lightning surged through Jason's body, straight through Enceladus, and into the ground. The giant's back stiffened, and Evangeline could see Jason was thrown clear.

The crater was cracked open and Jason was slipping down. The lightning had split the mountain itself. The earth rumbled and tore apart, and the giant's legs slid into the chasm. He clawed helplessly at the glassy sides of the pit and, just for a moment managed to hold onto the edge, his hands trembling.

He glanced at Jason and said something but Evangeline couldn't hear it clearly over the winds.

The earth shook and Jason fell toward the rift.

"Hold on!" Lorelai yelled. Jason's feet were at the edge of the chasm when he grabbed the rope, and the children of Hades, Iris, Aphrodite, and Hephaestus pulled him up.

They stood together, exhausted and terrified, as the chasm closed like an angry mouth. The ground stopped pulling at their feet.

"That's it," the brunette panted. "I'm retiring after finding Percy and Landon."

She glanced around. The mountainside was on fire. Smoke everywhere. All around them was carnage. The Earthborn had melted into piles of clay, leaving behind only their rock missiles and some nasty loincloths. Construction equipment lay in ruins. The ground was scarred and blackened.

The satyr had started to move. He sat up with a groan and rubbed his head. His canary yellow pants were the color of Dijon mustard mixed with mud.

He blinked and looked around him at the battle scene. "Did I do this?"

Before anyone could reply, Hedge picked up his club and shakily got to his feet. "Yeah, you wanted some hoof? I gave you some hoof, cupcakes! Who's the goat, huh?"

"You are!" Lorelai cheered.

"Yeah, I am!"

He did a little dance, kicking rocks and making rude satyr gestures at the pile of clay.

Evangeline couldn't help but smile.

Then a man stood up across the clearing. Tristan McLean staggered forward. His eyes were hollow, shell-shocked like someone had walked through a nuclear wasteland.

"Piper?" He called. His voice cracked. "Pipes, what—what is—"

He couldn't complete the thought. Piper ran over to him and hugged him tightly, but he almost didn't seem to know her.

Evangeline pursed her lips as she pressed the stone at the end of her sword, the Stygian Iron blade morphed back into the necklace and she put it back on.

She glanced at the blood dripping down her wrist. If anyone could have any answers to what was happening to her, it was going to be her father. She needed to talk to him.

"We need to get out of here," Jason said.

"Yeah, but how?" Leo said. "He's in no shape to walk."

She heard the sound of a helicopter approaching, which was now circling directly overhead. "Can you make us a bullhorn or something?" Jason asked Leo. "Piper has some talking to do."

------✧------

A/N: Why is writing fight scenes so hard like? If y'all haven't noticed I do not like writing fight scenes.

Okay so, we have three or four more chapters left of this book, I made it guys.

I was going to write this chapter yesterday but I had a really bad panic attack and it got delayed.