BABY DON'T CUT - jason grace

Chapter Sixteen

     "Why are we here?"

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

     "And me," Estella added.

     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."

     He didn't need to convince her. The wind howling outside the cave scared her, and she couldn't stop shivering.

     "We have to get you warm." Jason sat next to her and held out his arms a little awkwardly. "Uh, you mind if I ..."

"I suppose." She tried to sound nonchalant, avoiding looking at Estella.

Estella sighed. "No, Jason. I-I'll do it."

Jason glanced at Estella who scooted closer and started cuddling Piper.

"That works," Jason said, sitting beside the girls.

Piper tried not to feel disappointed. She shouldn't have a crush on someone Estella was thought to have been dating, even though it was never real.

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 thought Leo was just joking, but when he looked up from his burgers, his expression was deadly serious, which was unlike him.

"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. Piper 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.

She tried to concentrate on something good, but she was terrified. "I don't understand. 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. 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."