{LORELAI}

Air traffic control didn't want to let an unscheduled helicopter land at the Oakland airport until Piper got on the radio and used her magic.

They unloaded on the tarmac, and everyone looked at the daughter of Aphrodite.

"What now?" Jason asked the McLean girl as he brushed Garfield's fur with his hands.

Piper looked uncomfortable. Today was the solstice. They had to save Hera and get back to camp. Lorelai wondered what would happen if they didn't find Hera.

From the looks of it, Zeus didn't seem to care about his wife's absence, would he kill them for not bringing her back or reward them?

"First thing," Piper finally spoke up, "I—I have to get my dad home. I'm sorry, guys."

Lorelai frowned.

"Oh," Leo said. "I mean, absolutely. He needs you right now. We can take it from here."

"If that is what you wish for," Evangeline said as pulled down the sleeve of her sweater. "Then it's okay."

"Pipes, no," Her dad had been sitting in the helicopter doorway, a blanket around his shoulders. But he stumbled to his mission. "You have a mission. A quest. I can't—"

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

Piper stared at him. "You?" she asked.

"I'm a protector," Gleeson said. "That's my job, not fighting."

He sounded crestfallen. Lorelai would hug him, but he really didn't seem to like hugs.

Then Hedge straightened and set his jaw. "Of course, I'm good at fighting, too," He glared at them, almost daring them to argue.

"Yes, you are," Jason nodded.

"Terrifying," Leo added.

"The most scariest satyr in the world," Lorelai agreed.

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

"But..." Piper looked like she was about to cry. "Dad..."

Tristen held out his arms, and the daughter of Aphrodite hugged her father.

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

Lorelai glanced to the front where Jason was talking to Garfield as he fixed his bowtie. Aphrodite had given Garfield a black bowtie around his neck, and in her opinion, the cat looked very dashing.

Then she heard some shuffling behind them and saw Piper's dad collapse, they all ran to help. Piper had caught her father.

"Got him," Hedge said. The satyr stumbled, but he was strong enough to hold the man upright. "I already asked our ranger friend to call up his plane. It's on the way now. Home address?"

The daughter of Aphrodite checked her father's pockets and pulled out a BlackBerry. "Everything's on here," she said. "Address, his chauffer's number. Just watch out for Jane."

Hedge's eyes lit up like he sensed a possible fight. "Who's Jane?"

By the time the girl explained, her dad's sleek white Gulf stream had taxied next to the helicopter.

Hedge and the flight attendant got Piper's dad onboard. He hugged Piper and came up to the blonde. He patted her arm. "You kick some monster butt, got it, Warner?"

"Yes, sir, Coach Hedge," she nodded.

He took a sharp breath, he held his chin up high like a proud goat. Then he pulled her in for a tight hug. "You grew up so fast," he sighed.

"You've known me for seven months, Coach Hedge," she patted his back.

"That's a long time," he sniffled.

"Are you crying?"

"No," he pulled away, wiping his eyes. He puffed out his chest, "Someone's cutting onions nearby that's all." He cleared his throat. "Make me proud, kid."

"I will,"

Then he glared at the children of Hades, Zeus, and Hephaestus. "You cupcakes take care of these girls, you hear? Or I'm gonna make you do push-ups."

"You got it, Coach," Leo said, a smile tugging at his mouth.

"No push-ups," Jason promised.

"You have our words" Evangeline nodded.

Piper gave the satyr one more hug. "Thank you, Gleeson. Take care of him, please."

"I got this, McLean," he assured her. "They got a root beer and veggie enchiladas on this flight, and one hundred percent linen napkins—yum! I could get used to this."

"Wait, Coach Hedge," Lorelai said, as she took Garfield from Jason's arms. "Can you take him with you, I don't want him in danger when we fight?"

"Of course," Hedge took the cat. "Come on, Garfield,"

Trotting up the stairs, he lost one shoe, and his hoof was visible for just a second. The flight attendant's eyes widened, but she looked away and pretended nothing was wrong.

When the plane was heading down the runway, Piper started to cry, Lorelai hugged her, and Leo and Evangeline stood uncomfortably nearby. The son of Hephaestus pulled Kleenex out of his toolbelt and bandages for Evangeline.

"Your dad's in good hands," Jason said. "You did amazing."

She sobbed into the blonde's cardigan. Piper stayed in Lorelai's arms for some time before pulling away.

"Thank you, guys," the daughter of Aphrodite said. "I—"

Then Lorelai shivered.

"What's wrong?" Jason asked. "Are you cold?"

"No," The daughter of Iris glanced next to him and reached her hand out.

"What are you doing?" Leo asked.

Lorelai swiped her fingers through the air which began shimmering immediately.

An image appeared in the air—a raven-haired girl in silver winter camouflage, holding a bow.

Jason stumbled back in surprise. "Thalia!"

"Thank the gods," said the Hunter. The scene behind her was hard to make out, but the blonde heard yelling, metal clashing on metal, and explosions.

"We've found her," Thalia said. "Where are you?"

"Oakland," Evangeline said. "Where are you, sparky?"

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

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

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

"But where is the wolf house?" Jason pleaded.

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

Jason looked like he was hit in the head with a rock, again. He tottered, his face paled, and the Iris message disappeared.

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

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

Piper turned to the ranger pilot, who'd been watching all this with an increasingly puzzled look.

"Ma'am," Piper said with her best smile. "You don't mind helping us again, do you?"

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

"We cannot take a mortal to battle," Evangeline said.

Jason turned to Leo. "Do you think you could fly this thing?"

"Um..." Leo's expression wasn't exactly reassuring. But then he put his hand on the helicopter's side, concentrating hard as if listening to the machine.

"Bell 412HP utility helicopter," he said. "Composite four-blade main rotor, cruising speed twenty-two knots, service ceiling twenty-thousand feet. The tank is nearly full. Sure, I can fly it."

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

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

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

"So what's the wolf house?" Leo asked.

Jason scratched his head. "An abandoned mansion in Sonoma Valley. A demigod built it—Jack London."

"He's an actor?" Leo asked.

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

"Yeah," Jason said. "

"Okay, well, Jack was an adventurer, he was a son of Hermes, traveled the world. He was even a hobo for a while. Then he made a fortune writing. He bought a big ranch in the country and decided to build this huge mansion—"

"The Wolf House," Jason finished. He had a weird expression written across his face.

"Jason, what's wrong?"

"Jack wrote about his own experience," he said. "There's a lot of holes in his life story—how he was born, who his dad was, why he wandered around so much—stuff you can only explain if you know he was a demigod."

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

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

"You're starting to freak me out here, dude," Lorelai said.

"Sorry," he said. "The Wolf House is on sacred ground. It's where London started his journey as a child—where he found out he was a demigod. That's why he returned there. He thought he could live there, and claim that land, but it wasn't meant for him. The Wolf House was cursed. It burned in a fire a week before he and his were supposed to move in. A few years later, London died, and his ashes were buried on the site."

"So," Piper said. "How do you know all this?"

A shadow crossed Jason's face. It looked like the shape of an eagle.

"You remember that boy from my dream I told you guys about?" Jason asked.

"Yeah," Evangeline said. "The boy whose face you couldn't see."

"I think he was with me when I started my journey there too," The blond told them. "It's a powerful place for demigods, a dangerous place. If Gaea can claim it, use its power to entomb Hera on the solstice and raise Porphyrion—that might be enough to awaken the earth goddess fully."

"That sounds terrifying," Lorelai murmured.

"Have you had any more dreams about him, the boy, I mean?" Evangeline asked.

The son of Zeus rubbed his temple, a frown on his face. "I did, back at Midas's," he said. "but it wasn't that helpful."

"What do you mean?" Piper asked.

"What did you see?" Leo added.

"I—uh, he was leaving. He was angry at me, at some guys named Xander and Octavian, and he was mad at everyone. He kept saying how he didn't belong there,"

"Belong where?" Lorelai asked.

"I don't know," he said. "We were wearing purple togas, they had this written on them," he showed them the SPQR tattoo on his forearm.

"Jason," Evangeline said. "Who's Lorelai's mother?"

"Iris," He shook his head. "Why?"

The brunette watched him with an unreadable expression. "What about my father, who is he? Only say the name you know."

"Uh," Jason scrunched his eyebrows together. "Pluto, Evangeline."

The daughter of Hades watched him carefully, then her eyes trailed down to the tattoos on his wrist.

"Why do you ask?" Piper asked.

"No reason," she murmured. "That boy from your dream?" She asked. "Did you find out his name, yet?"

"No,"

"Why are we playing twenty questions?" Lorelai asked.

"Yeah, it's not like it's going to help with anything," Leo said.

"I—just give me some time," Evangeline said leaving no room for an argument.

Falling from another high surface was another thing Lorelai never wanted to experience again.

The sounds of combat rang across the valley. The son and mist made it had to tell for sure, but there seemed to be a circle of fighting all around the Wolf House.

Behind them loomed Jack London's dream home—a massive ruin of red and gray stones and rough-hewn timber beams.

"Jason!" A girl's voice called.

Thalia appeared from the fog, her parka caked with snow. Her bow was in her hand, and her quiver was almost empty. She ran toward them, but only made it a few steps before an Earthborn burst out of the storm behind her, a club raised in each hand.

"Look out!" Leo yelled.

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

The daughter of Zeus stood and retrieved the arrow, but the point had snapped off. "That was my last one." She kicked the pile of clay resentfully. "Stupid ogre."

"Show off," Evangeline said.

Thalia shot her an annoyed look. The raven-haired girl hugged Jason, nodded at Piper, and patted Lorelai's arm. "Just in time. My Hunters are holding a perimeter around the mansion, but we'll be overrun any minute."

"By Earthborn?" Jason asked.

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

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

"Did you just forget that he tried to kill us?" Evangeline shot the daughter of Aphrodite a look.

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

"Where is she?" Jason asked.

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

She didn't need to finish the thought. The five demigods followed after the raven-haired girl into the ruined mansion.

Jason stepped over the threshold and immediately collapsed. "Hey!" Leo caught him. "None of that, man. What's wrong?"

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

"So you have been here," Piper said.

"We both have," Thalia spoke up. Her expression was grim. "This is where my mom took us when Jason was a child. She left him here and told me he was dead. He just disappeared."

"She gave me to the wolves," The son of Zeus murmured. "At Hera's insistence. She gave me to Lupa."

"That part I didn't know," Thalia frowned.

Lorelai bit the inside of her cheek. "Who's Lupa?" she asked.

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

"We can answer the questions later," Evangeline said. "Right now we have to save Hera."

Once inside, Jason seemed to get his bearings.

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

One of the spires was much bigger—a solid dark mass about twenty feet high, and to her, it looked like a stone body bag. Underneath the mass of fused tendrils, the blonde could make out the shape of a head, wide shoulders, a massive chest, and arms like the creature was stuck waist-deep in the earth.

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

A woman with dark hair covered with a shawl, a black dress, and a wrinkled face with glinting, scary eyes. She didn't glow or radiate any sort of power. She looked just like a regular mortal woman.

Leo dropped into the pool and approached the cage. "Hola, Tía. A little bit of trouble?"

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

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

"And let her rot," The daughter of Hades finished.

"Ohh, Thalia Grace and Evangeline Merlyn," the goddess said. "When I get out of here, you both will be sorry you were ever born."

"Save it!" Thalia snapped. "You've been nothing but a curse to every child of Zeus and Evangeline for ages. You sent a bunch of intestinally-challenged cows after our friend Annabeth—"

"She was disrespectful!"

"You tricked her!" Evangeline snapped back. "And you dropped a statue on Thalia when we were literally trying to save your ungrateful asses."

"It was an accident!" The goddess said.

"Accident my as—"

"Hey," Jason intervened. "Evangeline—my dear cousin—I know that there is bad blood between you guys, but this isn't the time. Why don't you and Thalia help the Hunters."

Thalia clenched her jaw. "Fine. For you, Jason. But if you ask me, she isn't worth it." Thalia turned, leaped out of the pool, and stormed from the building.

Evangeline stayed rooted.

"You're not gonna leave are you?" Jason sighed.

"Not until she tells me where she took Landon and Percy," The daughter of Hades glared at the goddess.

Hera huffed and Leo turned to the goddess with a look.

"Intestinally challenged cows?" Lorelai asked.

"Focus on the cage, Leo," Hera grumbled. "And Jason—you are wiser than your sister and the spawn—"

"Excuse you?"

"—I chose my champion well." the goddess finished.

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

He nodded to the other spire that looked like the king-size granite body bag. Lorelai frowned, did it grow taller?

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

"Gross," Piper grimaced.

"It's kinda cool too," Lorelai tilted her head.

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

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

The goddess glared at him and Evangeline laughed. "Maybe, I judged you too quickly," she patted Leo's shoulder and his eyes lit up.

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

Leo frowned. "Can't we blow it up or something?"

"Or set it on fire and burn this place to the ground," Lorelai smiled.

They all shot her looks. "What?" she asked.

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

"Done that once today," the son of Zeus said.

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

"Maybe if you beg," Evangeline placed a finger on her chin as if thinking. "Say please,"

"I am a goddess!" Hera snapped. "I do not beg."

"Then stay here,"

Lorelai cut in, "Leo, can you do it?"

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

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

"Sounds fair," Leo said.

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

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

He jinxed them. Lorelai was getting sick of everyone jinxing them now.

The air turned brittle with cold. The temperature dropped so fast, that Lorelai could practically feel her lips turning blue. Frost coated the walls of the mansion. Venti rushed in—but instead of winged men, they were shaped like horses, with dark storm cloud bodies and manes that cracked with lightning. Some had silver arrows sticking out of their flanks. Behind them came red-eyed wolves and the six-armed Earthborn.

Piper drew her dagger, Evangeline summoned her sword and Jason grabbed an ice-covered plank off the pool floor. Lorelai pulled out the silver dagger that was strapped to her thigh and gripped the hilt tightly.

Leo drew a hammer from his tool belt.

One of the wolves padded forward. It was dragging a human-size statue by the leg. At the edge of the pool, the wolf dropped its maw and dropped the statue for them to see—an ice sculpture of...Thalia.

"Thalia!" Jason rushed forward but Evangeline yanked him back. "Who did this?" he yelled.

His body crackled with electricity. "I'll kill you myself!"

From somewhere behind the monsters, she heard the laughter, clear and cold. Lorelai tensed as the woman stepped out of the mist in her snowy white dress, a silver crown atop her long black hair.

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

"What have you done?" The son of Zeus demanded.

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

The wolves snarled appreciatively.

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

"Can't say I expected you to have some dignity," Evangeline sighed. "I suppose being the princess of frozen water makes a person lose their brain cells, but then again, you never had any to begin with so..."

The Goddess glared at the brunette who smirked back at her.

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

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

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

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

"That is not up to you," Evangeline said.

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

The wolves snarled, and the storm spirits whined, ready to attack, but Khione held up her hand.

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

"The only reason you didn't try to kill us back in Quebec is because you couldn't," Lorelai said.

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

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

"Yes, I feel so close to all of you now!" Khione said. "Once you made it past Omaha, I decided to ask Lycaon to track you down so Jason and Lorelai could die here, at the Wolf House."

Khione smiled at her. "You see, your blood spilled on this sacred ground will taint it for generations. Your demigod brethren will be outraged, especially when they find the bodies of these three from Camo Half-Blood. They'll believe the Greeks have conspired with giants. It will be...delicious."

"What about me?" Lorelai asked. "Is it because I called you Elsa?"

"You insulted my honor and reputation," Khione said. "I see it fair you suffer some kind of punishment and I think it will be quite poetic for you to die in a place that was cursed. You have a habit of dragging chaos with you everywhere don't you?"

The daughter of Iris narrowed her eyes. "Well then, I'd like to see you try and kill me again."

Leo and Piper didn't seem to understand what Khione was saying, but Evangeline looked like she'd been hit with a pile of bricks.

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

"Greeks against..." The daughter of Hades trailed off. "Oh, gods."

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

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

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

"The ancient places," The son of Hepheastus's eyes widened. "That's what Enceladus meant about destroying the roots of the gods. He meant Greece."

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

"Khione, he's fifteen, relax okay?" Lorelai held up a hand.

Leo looked stunned, then he laughed so hard, that he doubled over. "Yeah, join you. Right. Until you get bored of me and turn me into a Leosicle? Lady, nobody messes with my dragon and gets away with it. I can't believe I thought you were hot."

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

She shot a blast of wintry sleet at the demigods, but Leo held up his hand. A wall of fire roared to life in front of them, and the snow dissolved in a steamy cloud.

The son of Hephaestus grinned. "See, lady, that's what happens to snow in Texas. It—fucking—melts."

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

And with that, the monsters charged.

Lorelai had never thought she would celebrate her birthday week by fighting a goddess, but here she was.

Jason and Piper went to fight the Venti and Earthborn while Evangeline and Leo fought the wolves. It was in the prophecy: "Daughter of rainbows, your path unfolds. Where frost's embrace, your destiny holds."

Her destiny was to fight Khione, she was pretty mad at herself for not figuring it out earlier with how obvious it was.

Khione was a cheater, on the other hand, the goddess shot daggers made of ice at the blonde.

The daughter of Iris blocked the ice spikes with her dagger which had started glowing the colors of a rainbow. The light coming from the dagger had somehow melted the daggers of ice.

"Impressive," Khione said. "But you'll need more than pretty colors to beat me, girl." The Goddess sent a tornado after her next.

Lorelai rolled out of the way, her hands felt warm, she remembered what Butch had told her on the roof of the Iris Cabin, she had to trust her gut. She could do this.

She pursed her lips and light illuminated her hand, she shot it straight at the woman's eyes.

Khione raised her hand to cover her eyes, the blonde took the opportunity and charged.

She grabbed Khione's hand making her scream, smoke flowed from the goddess of snow's hands, and that's when the blonde realized, she was burning her.

Lorelai applied more pressure onto the hand and turned, her back against Khione's chest, she pulled the goddess's arm breaking her balance, and threw her over her shoulder and onto the ground.

Khione backed away as the daughter of Iris inched closer. Her expression went from enraged to shocked, to slightly panicked as she got closer.

Lorelai held the tip of the glowing dagger close to the woman's face.

"You're too late," Khione snarled. "He's awake! And don't think you've won anything here, demigods. Hera's plan will never work. You'll be at each other's throats before you can ever stop us."

Lorelai drove her dagger right down onto the goddess, but she turned into snow—a white powdery image of herself and the blonde's dagger slammed into the snow sculpture, breaking it.

The daughter of Iris glanced around and saw the battlefield. Dead wolves all around. She figured the venti turned into mist and the earthborn into clay.

And Jason had a horse.

Piper was breathing hard, "Nice horse."

The horse reared on his hind legs, arcing electricity across his hooves. Then Lorelai heard a cracking sound.

The melting ice on Hera's cage sloughed off in a curtain of slush, and the goddess called, "Oh, don't mind me! Just the queen of heavens, dying over here!"

"Sorry!" Lorelai winced as Jason dismounted his horse and they jumped into the pool and ran to the spire.

Leo frowned. "Uh, Tía Callida, are you getting shorter?"

"No, you dolt! The earth is claiming me. Hurry!" She was right, the ground was rising around the goddess like water in a tank. Liquid rock had already covered her shins.

"The giants wake!" Hera warned. "You only have seconds!"

"On it," Leo said. "Piper, Evangeline, I need your help. Piper talk to the cage, Evangeline I need you to summon some shadows and form a net over the ground."

"Okay," Evangeline said.

"What?" Piper asked.

"Talk to it. Use everything you've got. Convince Gaea to sleep while Evangeline restraints her. Lull her into a gaze. Just slow her down, try to get the tendrils to loosen while I—"

"Right!" Piper cleared her throat and said, "Hey, Gaea. Nice night, huh? Boy, I'm tired. How about you? Ready for some sleep?"

"Convincing," Evangeline rolled her eyes as she waved her hands, and tendrils of shadows wrapped around and over the mud that was rising. The shadows hardened into tight, pitch-black ropes, she lowered her hands and the ropes weighed down on the mud.

Meanwhile, the more the daughter of Aphrodite talked, the more confident she sounded and it was working.

Lorelai could feel her own eyes getting heavy. It seemed to have some effect on the cage too. The mud was rising more slowly. Evangeline's shadow ropes wrapped over the mud like snakes forming a net.

Leo pulled a circular saw out of his tool belt. Then he looked at the cord and grunted in frustration. "I don't have anywhere to plug it in!"

Jason's horse jumped into the pit and whinnied.

"Really?" Jason asked.

The horse dipped his head and trotted over to Leo. The son of Hephaestus looked dubious, but he held up the plug and a breeze whisked into the horse's flank. Lightning sparked, connecting with the prongs of the plug, and the saw whirred to life.

"Sweet!" Leo grinned. "Your horse comes with AC outlets!"

"You think I can use my curling iron with this thing?" Lorelai asked.

"We'll have to see, Laur," Jason said.

The bad news was, that their good news didn't last for very long.

On the other side of the pool, the giant's spire crumbled with a sound like a tree snapping in half. Its outer sheath of tendrils exploded from the top down, raining stone and wood shards as the giant shook himself and climbed out of the earth.

Prophyrion was even taller and even more ripped than Enceladus. he radiated a kind of strength, even magnetism as if the giant were so huge and dense he had his own gravitational field.

The king was humanoid from the waist up, clad in bronze armor, and from the waist down he had scaly dragon's legs; but his skin was the color of lime beans. His hair was green as summer leaves, braided in long locks, and decorated with weapons—daggers, axes, full-size-size swords, some of them bent and bloody.

When the giant opened his eyes, they were blank white, like polished marble. He took a deep breath.

"Alive!" He bellowed. "Praise to Gaea!"

Jason whimpered as Lorelai swallowed harshly.

"Leo," he said.

"Huh?" Leo's mouth was open. Even Piper and Evangeline seemed dazed.

Lorelai shook her head, snapping herself out of her shock. "Guys, focus, keep working, free Hera."

Piper stared at them. "You guys can't seriously—"

"Entertain a giant?" Jason said. "We don't have a choice."

"Excellent!" The giant roared as the children of Iris and Zeus approached. "Appetizers! Who are you two—Hermes? Hecate?"

"I'm Jason Grace," the blond said. "Son of Jupiter."

Lorelai shifted on her feet, she forced herself to stare into the giant's white eyes. "I am Lorelai Warner, daughter of Iris."

Behind them, Leo's circular saw whirred, Piper talked to the cage in soothing tones, trying to keep the fear out of her voice while blood dripped down from the wound on Evangeline's wrist as she used her powers.

Porphyrion threw his head back and laughed. "Outstanding!" He looked up at the cloudy night sky. "So, Zeus and Iris, you both sacrifice a son and daughter to me? The gesture is appreciated, but it will not save you."

The sky didn't even rumble. No help from above. Wow, thanks a lot. Lorelai thought.

"If you knew who we were," Jason yelled up at the giant. "you'd be worried about us, not our parents. I hope you enjoyed your two-and-a-half minutes of rebirth, giant because we're going to send you right back to Tartarus."

"Yeah," Lorelai said. "Sir."

The giant's eyes narrowed. He planted one foot outside the pool and Lorelai had to look away before she got traumatized forever. Phorphyrion crouched down to get a better look at his opponents.

"So...we'll be boasting, will we? Just like old times! Very well, demigods. I am Porphyrion, king of the giants, son of Gaea. In olden times, I rose from Tartarus, the abyss of my father, to challenge the gods. To start the war, I stole Zeus's queen." He grinned at the goddess's cage. "Hello, Hera."

"My husband destroyed you once, monster!" Hera said. "He'll do it again!"

"But he didn't, my dear! Zeus wasn't powerful enough to kill me. He had to rely on a puny demigod to help, and even then, we almost won. This time, we will complete what we started. Gaea is waking. She has provisioned us with many fine servants. Our armies will shake the earth—we will destroy you at the roots."

"You wouldn't dare," Hera said, but she was weakening. Piper kept whispering to the cage, Leo kept sawing, and Evangeline kept tightening the shadow ropes, but the earth was still rising inside Hera's prison, covering her up to her waist.

"Oh, yes," The giant said. "The Titans sought to attack your home in New York. Bold, but ineffective. Gaea is wiser and more patient. And we, her greatest children, are much, stronger than Kronos. We know how to kill you Olympians once and for all. You must be dug up like completely rotten trees—your eldest roots torn out and burned."

The giant frowned at the children of Hades, Aphrodite, and Hephaestus as he'd just noticed them.

"You said a demigod killed you," Lorelai yelled, turning the giant's attention onto herself. "How, if we're all so puny?"

"Ha! You think I would explain it to you? I was created to be Zeus's replacement, born to destroy the lord of the sky. I shall take his throne. I shall take his wife—or, if she will not have me I will let the earth costume her life force."

Lorelai tensed. "What you see before you, child, is only my weakened form. I will grow stronger by the hour until I am invincible. But I am already quite capable of smashing you a grease spot!"

He rose to his full height and held out his hand. A twenty-foot spear shot from the earth. He grasped it, then stomped the ground with his dragon's feet. The ruins shook. All around the courtyard, monsters started to regather—storm spirits, wolves, Earthborn, all answering the giant king's call.:

"Great," Leo muttered. "We needed more enemies."

"Hurry!" Hera urged.

"We know!" Evangeline snapped, she did not look good. She was losing blood, lots of it, it had started forming a tiny pool around her feet.

"Go to sleep, cage," Piper said. "Nice, sleepy cage. Yes, I'm talking to a bunch of earthen tendrils. This isn't weird at all."

Porphyrion raked his spear across the top of the ruins, destroying a chimney and spring stone across the courtyard. "So, children of Zeus and Iris! I have finished my boasting. Now it's your turn. What were you saying about destroying me?"

Lorelai shared a look with Jason. She felt just about ready to give up and join the giants.

"I'm the son of Jupiter!" He shouted and summoned the winds, making both of them rise a few feet off the ground. "I'm a child of Rome, consul to the demigods, praetor of the First Legion."

Lorelai thought Jason was speaking a bunch of gibberish but Porphyrion looked uneasy once Jason showed him the tattoos on his arms.

"I slew the Trojan sea monster," He continued. "I toppled the black throne of Kronos and destroyed the Titan Krios with my own hands. And now, I'm going to destroy you, Porphyrion, and feed you to your own wolves."

Jason shot her a look, she knew it was her turn. "Uh, I really haven't done anything like that, I just blew up a few places and committed a shit ton of crimes but you get it!"

Lorelai gripped her dagger and the two launched themselves at the giant.

The blonde landed on the ground next to the giant's leg and looked up at where Jason was, climbing to the top.

"You dare?" The giant bellowed.

Lorelai took that as her cue, she reached out and placed her palm on the giant's calf, and the light started illuminating her hands and started burning through the giant's skin. Seven colors of the rainbow shot through the giant's skin like he was a lamp.

Jason reached his shoulders and ripped a sword out of the giant's weapon-filled braids. He yelled, "For Rome!" and drove the sword into the convenient target—the giant's massive ear.

Lightning streaked out of the sky and blasted the sword, Lorelai raised her other hand as Jason was thrown free.

A defensive dome made up of light surrounded her. Jason had landed on top of it. She lowered her hand and Jason fell to the ground, but she caught him.

When she glanced up, the giant was staggering back. His hair was on fire, the side of his face was blackened from lightning, and his leg was burned badly. The sword Jason had used had splintered in his ear. Golden ichor ran down his jaw. The other weapons were sparking and smoldering in his braids.

Porphyrion almost fell. The circle of monsters let out a collective growl and moved forward their eyes fixed on the two blonds.

"No!" The giant yelled. He regained his balance but he now had a limp, and glared at them. "I will kill them myself."

The giant raised his spear and it began to glow.

"You want to play with lightning, boy? You forget. I am the bane of Zeus. I was created to destroy your father, which means I know exactly what will kill you."

This was most definitely the end for them.

"Got it!" Leo yelled.

"Fuck," Evangeline groaned.

"Sleep!" Piper said, so forcefully, that the nearby wolves fell to the ground and began to snore.

The stone and wood cage crumbled. Leo had sawed through the base of the thickest tendril and apparently cut off the cage's connection to mother nature. The tendrils turned to dust. The mud around Hera disintegrated as Evangeline's shadow ropes crushed it.

The Goddess of Marriage grew in size, glowing with power.

"Yes!" Hera said. She threw off her black to reveal a white gown, her eyes beckoned with golden jewelry. Her face was beautiful, and a golden crown glowed in her long black hair.

"Now I shall have my revenge!"

The giant backed away. He said nothing, but he gave the two children of Iris and Zeus one last look of hatred. Then he slammed his spear against the earth, and the giant disappeared into the ground like a Disney villain.

Around the courtyard, monsters began to panic and retreat, but there was no way to escape for them.

Hera glowed brighter. She shouted, "Cover your eyes, my heroes!"

Lorelai squeezed her eyes shut as a bright supernova exploded.

When she opened her eyes, dread settled over her as she stared down at the burning body of the son of Jupiter.

Lorelai had never felt grief before, she'd never gotten to see a loved one die because she always left. But right now, seeing Jason lying on the ground made her want to run away, far away, somewhere no one would be able to find her.

She felt her eyes sting as tears welled up in her eyes.

"Jason!" Piper kept calling his name as she held him. He'd been unconscious for two minutes now. His body was steaming, his eyes rolled back in his head.

"It's no use, child," She stood over them in her simple black robes and shawl.

The daughter of Iris stared up at her and then at Evangeline, the brunette looked like she was on the verge of collapsing as she clutched her wrist to stop the bleeding.

Even the Hunters had been revived. Most waited at a respectful distance in the meadow, but Thalia knelt by Piper's side, her hand on Jason's forehead. "Evangeline?" Thalia asked.

The daughter of Hades winced as she stood to her full height. "I can't tell, I'm too tired to focus,"

The raven-haired girl glared up at the goddess. "This is your fault. Do something!"

"Do not address me that way, girl. I am the queen—"

"Can you—" Lorelai choked back a sob. "Can you at least try, please?"

Hera's eyes softened almost as if like a mother looking at her child. "I would never hurt the boy intentionally, Lorelai. He was to be my champion. I told you to close your eyes before I revealed my true form."

"Um..." Leo frowned. "True form is bad, right? So why did you do it?"

"I unleashed my powers to help you, fool!" Hera cried, she was back to being angry. "I became pure energy so I could disintegrate the monsters, restore this place, and even save those miserable Hunters from the ice."

"But mortals can't look upon you in that form!" Thalia shouted. "You've killed him!"

"It's not her fault, Thalia," Lorelai sniffled. "She was just trying to protect us."

The son of Hephaestus shook his head in dismay. "That's what our prophecy meant. Death unleashes, through Hera's rage. Come on, lady. You're a goddess. Do some voodoo magic on him! Bring him back. Evangeline? Never mind you look close to death yourself."

"He's breathing!" Piper announced.

"What?" Lorelai asked.

"Impossible," Hera said. "I wish it were true, but no mortal has ever—"

"Jason," Piper called, "Listen to me. You can do this. Come back. You're going to be fine."

Nothing happened.

"Healing is not a power of Aphrodite, Hera said regretfully. "Even I cannot fix this, girl. His mortal spirit—"

"Jason," Piper tried again. "Wake up."

He gasped, and his eyes flew open. For a moment they were full of light—glowing pure gold. Then the light faded and his eyes were normal again. "What—what happened?"

"Impossible!" Hera said.

"Souls are escaping from the Underworld," Evangeline panted. "Bringing people back to life would be like a walk in the park these days."

Piper wrapped him in a hug until he groaned, "Crushing me."

"Sorry," Piper said, wiping a tear from her eye while she laughed.

Thalia gripped her brother's hand. "How do you feel?"

"Hot," He muttered. "Mouth is dry. And I saw something....really terrible."

"That was Hera," Thalia grumbled. "Her Majesty, the Loose Cannon."

"That's it, Thalia Grace," Hera said. "I will turn you into an aardvark, so help me—"

"Enough," Evangeline said. Surprisingly they both did.

Lorelai sniffled and wiped her eyes as Jason got to his feet. He offered her a weak smile once he saw the tears in her eyes. "I'm okay," he managed.

Lorelai nodded. "Yeah, I can see that."

Lorelai sat down next to Leo after Thalia had bid them goodbye and took off with the Hunters, leaving the demigods with Hera alone. "That was a weird day,"

"Tell me about it," The son of Hephaestus said as he tinkered with some bolts in his hand. "We almost died."

"Yeah," The daughter of Iris agreed. "Jason did die."

"Yeah, Evangeline looks dead. But then again, she always looks like that." Leo shrugged.

"I heard that," The brunette said as she sat down next to Leo. "But I'll let it pass because you've earned a break."

"Does that mean we're friends now?" He asked hopefully.

Evangeline rolled her eyes, the blonde could see the smile tugging on her lips. "We're not friends."

"You're right," Leo nodded. "We're best friends."

"What about me?" The blonde asked.

"You'll always be my number one best friend, Rapunzel don't worry."

Lorelai smiled. "How thoughtful of you,"

The wind rustled in the redwoods. "Jason," Piper asked. "What happened to you here? I mean—I know why your mom abandoned you here. But you said it was sacred grounds for demigods. Why?"

Jason shook his head uneasily. "It's still murky. The wolves..."

"You were given a destiny," Hera said. "You were given into my service."

The son of Jupiter scowled. "Because you forced my mom to do that. You couldn't stand knowing Zeus had two children with my mom. Knowing that he'd fallen for her twice. I was the price you demanded for leaving the rest of my family alone."

"It was the right choice for you as well, Jason," Hera insisted. "The second time your mother managed to snare Zeus's affections, it was because she imagined him in a different aspect—"

"The aspect of Jupiter." Evangeline finished.

"Yes," Hera nodded. "This had happened once before— two children, Greek and Roman, born into the same family. But that other situation was different."

"What other situation?" Lorelai asked.

"I'm getting to that. You had to be separated from Thalia, Jason. This is where all demigods your kind start their journey."

"Of his kind?" Piper asked.

"She means Roman," Jason said. "Demigods are left here. We meet the she-wolf goddess, Lupa, the same immortal wolf that raised Romulus and Remus."

Hera nodded. "And if you are strong enough, you live."

"But..." Leo looked mystified. "What happened after that? I mean, Jason never made it to camp."

"Not to Camp Half-Blood, no." Hera agreed.

"Where else did he go to then?" Lorelai asked.

Jason turned to the goddess. "The memories are coming back, but not the location. You're not going to tell me, are you?"

"No," Hera said. "That is part of your destiny, Jason. You must find your own way back. But when you do...you will unite two great powers. You will give us hope against the giants, and more importantly—against Gaea herself."

"You want us to help you," Jason said, "But you're holding back information."

"Giving you answers would make those answers invalid," Hera said. "That is the way of the Fates. You must forge your own path for it to mean anything. Already, you five have surprised me. I would not have thought it possible..."

The goddess shook her head. "Suffice to say, you have performed well, demigods. But this is only the beginning. Now you must return to Camp Half-Blood, where you will begin planning for the next phase."

"Wait," Jason said. "What about the boy in my dreams, you said he had to go home, I'm not asking where is home, I'm just asking who he is."

Hera watched him for a moment. "That boy was your friend,"

"I gathered that much," Jason shot her a look.

The goddess sighed. "You said something about another situation too," Lorelai spoke up. "about a Roman and a Greek-born into the same family. What about that?"

"The boy from your dreams," Hera said. "He's a special one, a unique boy. It was a shock when he was born, I had to take him to where you were Jason but he—"

"He left," Jason said. "He was angry, he kept saying something about failing, and being out of place there."

"He never did think he belonged there, I'm sure he's cursing my name too," Hera said. "His mother is a demigod, daughter of Fortuna, making him part Roman, but his father—his father was a Greek god,"

Lorelai blinked. "So mystery boy is both Greek and Roman?"

"Yes," Hera frowned.

"So who is he?" Evangeline asked.

Hera watched the brunette carefully. "I'm surprised you of all people haven't figured it out by now, considering he's been with you for the past eight years."

"What?" Evangeline looked stunned and confused.

"You think I took the Martin boy out of spite? Oh no, he needed to come back, it had been too long. Landon was needed."

"Wait!" The daughter of Hades held up her hands. "Landon isn't—he isn't Roman. He would've told me if he was."

"Do you think you are the only one to keep secrets?" The goddess arched a brow.

"But you said two children," Piper said. "Does that mean there's one more like Landon?"

"Not more," Hera said. "Landon's mother had one child with Hermes, him, but two others with Mercury."

"Xander," Jason blurted. "That's one of them, right?"

"Yes, it is."

"No," Evangeline shook his head. "I would've known if Landon had two other siblings I'm not stupid."

"You were too busy to notice, girl, and besides, he's a son of Hermes," Hera said. "Lying is like breathing for those kids."

The daughter of Hades froze, her eyes far away and distant.

"Now," Hera said. "As you have done me a great service, so I can help you home. Farewell, demigods, for now."

"Wait, we're not done here—" Lorelai couldn't hear the end of Evangeline's sentence as the world blacked out.

When she could see straight again, the blonde was back at camp, in the dining pavilion, in the middle of dinner. They were standing on the Aphrodite cabin's table and Piper had one foot in Drew's pizza.

Sixty campers rose at once, gawking at them in astonishment. Whatever the goddess had done had teleported them back here.

Leo jumped off the table, ran to the nearest bronze brazier, and threw up in it—which was probably not a great burnt offering to the gods.

"Jason?" Chiron trotted forward. "What—How?"

The cabin ten campers stared up at them with their mouths open. Lorelai figured they looked awful.

"You're alive!" Butch said as he made his way over to the cabin ten table.

"Hi," Piper said, "We're back."

The daughter of Iris noticed the daughter of Hades wasn't with them. "Where's Evangeline?"

------✧------

A/N: So, hopefully, the Landon explanation made sense if not, dw I'll explain it in more detail during the Son of Neptune.

Am I quick or what? Also, I'm too tired to proofread so my bad for the mistakes.

Lorelai slayed this chapter I fear.