ANTI-HERO, j.grace

THIRTY

The opposing spire was much smaller and only loosely woven, though it seemed the space between them was too thin for any of the demigods to stick their arms through. But they could still see straight inside, and standing smack in the middle of the cage stood the Queen of the Gods herself.

Hera.

Under different circumstances, the Maddox girl would have made some kind of joke.

Okay, she absolutely started to make a joke - Jason was quick to stop her.

Leo however, looked exceptionally amused and dropped into the pool to approach the cage holding his old psychotic babysitter. "Hola, Tía. Little bit of trouble?"

"Don't inspect me like I'm one of your machines, Leo Valdez! Get me out of here!" Hera scowled, crossing her arms over her chest.

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

"Ohhh, Thalia Grace. When I get out of here, you'll be sorry you were ever born."

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

"She was disrespectful!"

Klein shrugged, "She was kind of-"

"You dropped a statue on my legs."

"It was an accident!"

"And you took my brother!" Thalia wasn't backing down. "Here - on this spot. You ruined our lives. We should leave you to Gaea!"

"Thalia, hey... I know." Jason was finally able to intervene. "But this isn't the time. You should help your Hunters."

"Fine. For you, Jason. But if you ask me, she isn't worth it."

With that, Thalia stormed off. She disappeared from view after leaping out of the pool, successfully leaving the group simmering in awkwardness.

Leo turned back to the goddess, "Intestinally challenged cows?"

"I mean, it was a little funn-"

"Focus on the cage, Leo." Hera grumbled before actively rolling her eyes at the Maddox girl and turning to Jason Grace. "And Jason, you are wiser than your sister - I chose my champion well."

"I'm not your champion, lady." Jason immediately denied, "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 gestured to the other spire that almost seemed to be taller than it was when the group arrived a few moments prior. Hera eyed the giant concrete looking body bag with distaste, "That, Jason, is the king of the giants being reborn."

Klein pulled a face, "Freaky."

"Indeed. Porphyrion, the strongest of his kind. Gaea needed a great deal of power to raise him again - my power." Hera gestured to herself as Jason and Klein shared a look following the girls hum of 'someone's confident'. "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 noted.

Klein nodded, "Or fertilizer."

"Joke all you wish." Hera clipped at the two, undoubtedly regretting her decision to fate them both into this quest. "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 awaken."