DIVINE » l. valdez

xii

Hina couldn't remember moving, but when her vision refocused she was on the ground. The ground shook, and Hina realized the lightning had split the mountain in half. 

The earth rumbled and tore apart, and Enceladus's legs slid into the chasm. He clawed helplessly at the glassy sides of the pit, and just for a moment managed to hold on to the edge, his hands trembling.

He fixed Jason with a look of hatred. "You've won nothing, boy. My brothers are rising, and they are ten times as strong as I. We will destroy the gods at their roots! You will die, and Olympus will die with—"

The giant lost his grip and slid into the chasm.

The earth shook, causing Jason to fall towards the rift.

Hina scrambled to her feet with Leo and Piper tossing the end of the rope to Jason.

"Grab hold!" Leo yelled.

The three demigods worked together to pull Jason to safety. The rope tore at Hina's burnt hand, her entire body aching.

They stood as a group, exhausted and terrified, but still alive. The chasm closed and the ground stopped pulling at their feet.

For now, Gaea was gone.

The entire mountainside was on fire, dark smoke covering the sky. Above them, a helicopter circled like a vulture. 

The clearing was chaos. The Earthborn had melted backed to lumps of clay surrounded by rocks and loincloth. Hina wasn't too convinced they would be gone for long though. All the construction equipment was in ruins. The ground was scorched.

Coach Hedge had started to move. Hina was amazed the satyr hadn't been hurt in the battle. He sat up with a groan, rubbing his head where a lump sat between his horns. 

He blinked and looked around him at the battle scene. "Did I do this?"

Before anyone could reply, Hedge picked up his club and got shakily to his feet. "Yeah, you wanted some hoof? I gave you some hoof, cupcakes! Who's the goat, huh?"

He started to dance around, throwing rocks and making crude gestures towards the piles of clay.

Leo cracked a smile, and suddenly Jason was in a fit of laughter. It was hysterical and manic, but Hina couldn't blame him after nearly surviving death. 

She gave Jason and Leo a weary smile, her nerves too much to celebrate just yet. 

Then a man stood up across the clearing. Tristan McLean staggered forward. His eyes were hollow, shell-shocked, like a soldier returning from war.

"Piper?" he called. His voice cracked. "Pipes, what—what is—"

He couldn't complete the thought. Piper ran over to him and hugged him tightly, but he almost didn't seem to know her.

Hina could hardly blame him: Tristan McLean had seen too much and been through too much for any normal person. He was falling apart.

"We need to get him out of here," Jason said.

"Yeah, but how?" Leo said. "He's in no shape to walk."

Jason glanced up at the helicopter. "Can you make us a bullhorn or something?" he asked Leo. "Piper has some talking to do."

Getting the helicopter was easy, getting Piper's dad on board was a lot harder.

All it took was a few words from Piper through Leo's improvised bullhorn to get the pilot to land.

The Park Service copter was big enough for medical evacuations or search and rescue, and when Piper told the very nice ranger pilot lady that it would be a great idea to fly them to the Oakland Airport, she readily agreed.

"No," her dad muttered, as they picked him up off the ground. "Piper, what—there were monsters—there were monsters—"