The Lost Heroine (Heroes of Olympus/Kane Chronicles crossover) [2016]

Chapter 17: Zia

I WAS PRETTY SCARED TO HEAR THE PROPHECY. Sure, the girl with glowing eyes was creepy enough, but the things she said were weirder. The line about losing the one Isis holds dear scared me, and the last line was terrifying. Did I want to go on a quest where only twelve of us would come back? No. But was it the right thing to do? Yes. Piper was in trouble. She'd seemed nice when I first met her, and I wasn't ready to give up on her. Plus, Jason seemed pretty set (no, not Set!) on saving her. Whatever that oath meant, it wasn't good.

When Leo and Jason started being all mysterious, I was freaked out. I didn't say anything, because it was clear that both boys were already scared. Then both of them looked at each other and said, "Khione."

I'd never heard the name before, but it sent chills down my spine.

"Who's Khione?" I asked hesitantly.

"Evil Elsa," Leo explained. "Super pretty girl--ow!" He rubbed his arm where Calypso had punched him. "It's true! Not as pretty as you!" he said hastily to Calypso. "But yeah, and she's got ice and snow powers. She's the goddess of snow. I beat her once, and Piper beat her once. 'An old foe defeated twice.' And also, a jealous girl. She had a crush on Jason when we first met her."

"A crush on Jason?" Zia repeated. "No wonder she went for Piper."

"We have to go to Antarctica," Jason said. "It would make sense for her to go there, since it's the coldest place on Earth."

"Jason, we can't just go to Antarctica!" Annabeth protested. "We need a plan! An efficient way to get to Antarctica, a way to protect ourselves from the cold. And how do we expect to find the right place? Antarctica is five point four million square miles in area! How can we possibly find a snow goddess in that place?"

Jason groaned. "I just want to get moving! My girlfriend is trapped in a frozen wasteland with Evil Elsa! Can you blame me for freaking out?"

"I don't blame you for freaking out, Jason. I know how it feels to have someone I care about go missing," Annabeth told him. "But we can't go right away."

"What are we going to do, make a new Argo II?" Leo demanded. "We don't have time! Khione will kill Piper before we even leave!"

"She's not going to kill Piper," I guessed.

Leo stared at me. "Zia, you clearly don't know Khione. She can turn people into ice just by touching them!"

"You didn't let me finish," I said impatiently. "She's not going to kill Piper right away. She's waiting for us. She knows we care about Piper and she cares about us, so she'll probably either kill Piper in front of us, or us in front of Piper. She's going to make herself known. She wants us to find Piper so that we'll have gone all that way, straight into her territory, to lose what we came for. So we find the coldest part, with the most snowstorms."

Leo stared at me. "Zia, you think like a bad guy!" he said with admiration.

"You're smart," Annabeth admitted. "That's a great plan. I think that's exactly what Khione has in mind."

"Wait," Carter said. "You guys think we should do exactly what this girl wants us to? Don't you think we should try to do something unexpected, instead of walking straight into a trap?"

"We've had experience with Khione," Jason retorted.

"And I've been training as a demigod for nearly ten years," Annabeth added. "Percy's been at camp for five years. We know what we're doing."

Carter sighed. "Okay, fine. But I still think it's a bad idea."

Annabeth sat down on the bed in our room of the Big House and grabbed the remote. She turned on the Olympian Weather Channel. A guy with a blue suit with moving clouds on it was speaking into a headset, with a map of the world projected behind him. "And the Midwest better expect some violent hurricanes, because Poseidon's in a bad mood today..."

"There's a godly meteorologist?" Carter asked skeptically.

"Don't ask," Leo advised.

"Aeolus is his name. He's the master of the winds."

"Um, okay."

"That's it for America! On to Europe..." Aeolus continued.

"This is useless!" Jason complained.

"Oh, wow. Looks like Khione's pretty mad. Antarctica is going to have some serious storms, especially the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. I feel bad for anyone there." Aeolus brushed off his jacket as if he hadn't just delivered critical information. "And that's all! We'll see you in twelve minutes on OW!" The television shut off, leaving us staring at each other in surprise.