GOLDEN DAYS |JASON GRACE| {1}

XLVIII

Kyra could see Piper's dad more clearly now from the height she was at. 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. Kyra had seen that face in enough movies and from the walls in the Aphrodite cabin. 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 have no problem. Only these others must die."

Piper looked back and forth between the others and her dad.

"He'll kill you," Kyra warned before knocking an arrow, "Don't trust him!"

"Oh, come now," Enceladus bellowed. "You know I was born to fight Athena herself? Mother Gaea made each of us giants 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!"

Jason was on his feet now, lance ready; but before he 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 the woods, half a dozen ogre-like creatures rose up. Kyra realized with nauseating certainty that they hadn't simply been hiding there. They'd risen straight out of the earth.

The ogres shuffled forward. They were small compared to Enceladus, 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, Kyra could smell them. Six guys who never bathed, with six armpits each. Kyra decided if she survived this day, she'd have to take a three-hour shower just to forget the stench.

Leo stepped toward Piper. "What—what are those?"

Her blade reflected the purple light of the bonfire. "Gegenees."

"In English?" Leo asked.

"The Earthborn," Kyra answered, "Six-armed giants who fought Jason—the first Jason."

"Very good, my dear!" Enceladus sounded delighted. "They used to live on 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, as if it were some kind of weird religious ritual. "Vroom, vroom!"

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

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

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

Piper stepped forward. Her eyes blazed with such rage, even the Earthborn backed away. She radiated power and beauty, but it had nothing to do with her clothes or her makeup, "You will not take the people I love," she growled, "None of them."

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

"Stand your ground, fools!" Enceladus bellowed. He snarled at Piper. "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."

Kyra's heart sank. But the giant didn't point to Jason. He pointed to the other side of the bonfire, where Tristan McLean hung helpless and half conscious.

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

Kyra's biggest surprise: One look from Jason, and all four of them knew the game plan. When had that happened, that they could read each other so well?

Jason charged Enceladus, while Piper rushed to her father, and Leo dashed for the tree harvester, which stood between Mr. McLean and the Earthborn while Kyra used her exploding arrows on the Earthborn to buy some time for Leo.

The Earthborn 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!" Leo 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—hopefully to stay for a while.

A few more Earthborn exploded from Kyra's arrows and they retreated back into the mud. Once she saw that Leo could handle them, Kyra scanned the clearing. 

Piper was at the stake, cutting her father free. On the other side of the clearing, Jason fought the giant, somehow managing to dodge his massive spear and blasts of fire breath. Coach Hedge was still heroically passed out with his goat tail sticking up in the air and Leo was using the crane arm to smack the Earthborn.

But soon, the whole side of the mountain would be ablaze. She needed to act quickly. Kyra aimed for Enceladus and fired a few arrows, trying to distract him from Jason. The giant turned towards the blonde girl and growled, "You are a pain in my backside, child of Apollo!"

His mouth opened wide and Kyra panicked. Fire burst from his mouth and Kyra jumped from the rock, narrowly missing the flames.

She hit the ground hard and the air was knocked from her lungs. Enceladus turned back to Jason and Kyra looked back towards Piper.

Just as Piper cut her father free and caught him in her arms, the ogres launched a volley of stones. The dozer Leo was in 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 oily smoke, and the dozer groaned to a stop. Another great toy broken.

Piper dragged her father below the ridge. The last Earth-born charged after her. Kyra struggled to sit up and aim her arrow, her hands shaking too much to get a clean shot.

Suddenly, Leo ran forward, straight through the flames, and grabbed something from his tool belt, "Hey, stupid!" he yelled, and threw a screwdriver at the Earthborn.

It didn't kill the ogre, but it sure got his attention. The screwdriver sank hilt-deep into the Earthborn'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 Leo. Sadly, this last ogre looked like the biggest and nastiest of the bunch. Gaea had really gone all out creating him—with extra muscle upgrades, deluxe ugly face, the whole package.

"You die!" the Earthborn roared. "Friend of Yay-son dies!" The ogre scooped up handfuls of dirt, which immediately hardened into rock cannonballs.

He burst into flames, yelled, "Hephaestus!" and charged at the ogre barehanded. Kyra knew he wouldn't last and fired her arrow, which lodged itself into the ogre's chest. 

The Earthborn looked down at the arrow protruding from him, "Uh oh." He muttered before exploding.

"Nobody hurts my friends," Kyra growled, standing up fully. She looked over at Piper, "Pipe, stay with your father." Kyra turned to Leo, "Come on!"

They saw that the battle wasn't over. Jason was still fighting the giant Enceladus—and it wasn't going well.