Rebecca hoped the taxi could've taken them all the way to the top.
No such luck. The cab made lurching, grinding sounds as it climbed the mountain road, and halfway up they found the ranger's station closed, a chain blocking the way.
"Far as I can go," the cabbie said. "You sure about this? Gonna be a long walk back, and my car's acting funny. I can't wait for you."
"We're sure." Leo was the first one out. Rebecca followed him out and saw what was wrong with the cab. The wheels were sinking into the road like it was made of quicksand. Not fast—just enough to make the driver think he had a transmission problem or a bad axle—but it clearly wasn't the case.
The road was hard-packed dirt. There was no explanation as to why it happened, but already Rebecca's shoes were starting to sink. While Jason, Piper, and Hedge got out, Leo paid the cabbie. He was generous, but since it was Aphrodite's money, Rebecca figured, why not?
"Keep the change," Leo said. "And get out of here. Quick."
The driver didn't argue. Soon all they could see was his dust trail.
The view from the mountain was amazing. The whole inland valley around Mount Diablo was a patchwork of towns—grids of tree-lined streets and nice middle-class suburbs, shops, and schools. All these normal people living normal lives—the kind Rebecca had never known.
"That's Concord," Jason said, pointing to the north. "Walnut Creek below us. To the south, Danville, past those hills. And that way ..."
He pointed west, where a ridge of golden hills held back a layer of fog, like the rim of a bowl. Rebecca held her breath. He knew. "That's the Berkeley Hills. The East Bay. Past that, San Francisco."
"Jason?" Piper touched his arm. "You remember something? You've been here?"
"Yes ... no." He gave her an anguished look. "It just seems important."
"That's Titan land," Rebecca said.
Coach Hedge nodded toward the west. "Bad place, Jason. Trust me, this is as close to 'Frisco as we want to get."
But Jason looked toward the foggy basin with such longing that Rebecca felt guilty. Maybe she should've told him the moment she recognized him. It would've made it easier for him, and he wouldn't feel so anguished whenever he tried to remember something. They also could've figured out where Hera was the moment he had his dream about her. At the very least, it could've been one less secret Rebecca had to keep from him.
"Hey, guys," Leo said. "Let's keep moving."
Rebecca tried to take a step forward, but she'd sunk two or three inches into the dirt. She yanked her foot out and cursed. "Gaea is stronger here. She's messing with us."
Hedge popped his hooves free from his shoes, then handed the shoes to Leo. "Keep those for me, Valdez. They're nice."
Leo snorted. "Yes, sir, Coach. Would you like them polished?"
"That's varsity thinking, Valdez." Hedge nodded approvingly. "But first, we'd better hike up this mountain while we still can."
"How do we know where the giant is?" Piper asked.
Jason pointed toward the peak. Drifting across the summit was a plume of smoke. From a distance, Rebecca had thought it was a cloud, but it wasn't. Something was burning.
"Smoke equals fire," Jason said. "We'd better hurry."
Rebecca was used to running for long distances. Sometimes she had to in order to get away from a monster. She'd also gone through plenty of forced runs at Wilderness. But climbing a mountain when the earth was trying to swallow her feet was like jogging on a flypaper treadmill.
Leo rolled up the sleeves on his collarless shirt, even though the wind was cold and sharp. He slipped his hands into his tool belt and started summoning supplies—gears, a tiny wrench, some strips of bronze. As he walked, he built—not really thinking about it, just fiddling with pieces.
Rebecca slowed down to match his pace. "So, what was the drawing about?"
Leo looked at her, his fingers still fiddling with the pieces he'd brought out. He sighed and got out the piece of paper again. Rebecca looked at it and gasped softly. It was a ship with a dragon's head on a mast. Not only that, it was identical to the blueprints she and Leo had found in Bunker Nine. How had Leo known to draw this when he was younger?
"We're going to use this ship to go somewhere," Leo said. "I don't know where exactly, but it'll be somewhere we can't take normal transportation, which is why we'll need this."
Rebecca recalled the last line of the Great Prophecy: and foes bear arms to the doors of death. That was where they needed to go. That was why the cyclopes had started reforming so quickly, and why Medea, Lityerses, and Midas had been able to come back to life. The Doors of Death had been opened. Usually Thanatos was supposed to monitor them, but something must've happened to him, which was how they'd been opened in the first place.
"The Doors of Death," she murmured out loud.
"What?" Leo said.
Rebecca mentally kicked herself. He couldn't know yet — not before Rebecca had a chance to test her theory. "It's — it's nothing. Just an idea."
Leo looked at her like he was waiting for her to elaborate, but she kept her mouth shut. It wasn't time for that yet.
Still, Rebecca couldn't help thinking more about it. She knew there were two sides to the Doors of Death. The mortal side was in Epirus, which was across the ocean in Greece. The other side was in Tartarus. Rebecca knew that not even the gods were up for journeying through Tartarus, but it would be considerably easier to find the Doors of Death there instead of having to travel halfway across the world. If anyone could do it, she and Nico could. Unless there was some way to convince her father. He was, after all, a god. It would be easier for him to do it.
She scoffed to herself. Get real. As if he would actually go to Tartarus and close the Doors of Death.
No, it would have to be her and Nico. She added this to her mental checklist of things to do once they got back to Camp. Step One: go to Camp Jupiter and find Percy. Once that was done, it was on to Step Two: Find the Doors of Death in Tartarus and close them.
Gah, she was spending too much time with Annabeth. She had a plan and everything.
Finally Jason crouched behind a wall of rock. He gestured for the others to do the same. Leo and Piper crawled up next to him. Rebecca had to pull Coach Hedge down.
"I don't want to get my outfit dirty!" Hedge complained.
"We can find you a new zoot suit later!" Rebecca hissed. "Get down!"
"Shhh!" Piper said.
Reluctantly, the satyr knelt.
Just over the ridge where they were hiding, in the shadow of the mountain's final crest, was a forested depression about the size of a football field, where the giant Enceladus had set up camp.
Trees had been cut down to make a towering purple bonfire. The outer rim of the clearing was littered with extra logs and construction equipment—an earthmover; a tree harvester, and a long metal column with an ax blade, like a sideways guillotine—a hydraulic ax.
Enceladus was thirty feet tall—easily as tall as the treetops. Rebecca was sure the giant could've seen them behind their ridge, but he stared intently at the bonfire, circling it and chanting under his breath. From the waist up, the giant appeared humanoid, his muscular chest clad in bronze armor, decorated with flame designs. His arms were completely ripped. His skin was bronze but sooty with ash. His face was crudely shaped, like a half-finished clay figure, but his eyes glowed white, and his hair was matted in shaggy dreadlocks down to his shoulders, braided with bones. His legs were scaly green, with claws instead of feet—like the forelegs of a dragon. In his hand, Enceladus held a spear the size of a flagpole. Every so often he dipped its tip in the fire, turning the metal molten red.
"Okay," Coach Hedge whispered. "Here's the plan—"
Leo elbowed him. "You're not charging him alone!"
"Aw, c'mon."
Piper choked back a sob. "Look."
Just visible on the other side of the bonfire was a man tied to a post. His head slumped like he was unconscious, but seeing as there was nobody else around, it had to be him.
"Dad," Piper said.
"There's four of us," Hedge whispered urgently. "And only one of him."
"Did you miss the fact that he's thirty feet tall?" Rebecca asked. "Listen. Hedge, Leo, Jason, and I will distract him. Piper, you sneak around and free your dad."
They all looked at Jason.
"What?" Jason asked. "I'm not the leader."
"Yes," Piper said. "You are."
"Don't even try to deny it," Rebecca agreed.
They'd never really talked about it, but no one disagreed, not even Hedge. Coming this far had been a team effort, but when it came to a life-and-death decision, Rebecca knew Jason was the one to ask. Even if he had no memory, Jason had a kind of balance to him. You could just tell he'd been in battles before, and he knew how to keep his cool. Rebecca wasn't the trusting type, but she knew she trusted Jason with her life.
If only the feeling was mutual. Jason may have trusted her now, but as soon as he remembered everything — including her — Rebecca doubted it would last.
Jason sighed. "Rebecca is right. A distraction is Piper's best chance."
Not a good chance. Not even a survivable chance. Just their best chance.
They couldn't sit there all day and talk about it, though. It had to be close to noon—the giant's deadline—and the ground was still trying to pull them down. Rebecca's knees had already sunk two inches into the dirt.
"Let's boogie," Leo said. "Before I come to my senses."
The plan went wrong almost immediately. Piper scrambled along the ridge, trying to keep her head down, while Rebecca, Leo, Jason, and Coach Hedge walked straight into the clearing.
Jason summoned his golden lance. He brandished it over his head and yelled, "Giant!" Which made him sound confident. A good start. Enceladus stopped chanting at the flames. He turned toward them and grinned, revealing fangs like a saber-toothed tiger's.
"Well," the giant rumbled. "What a nice surprise."
Leo stepped sideways, edging his way toward the bulldozer.
Coach Hedge shouted, "Let the movie star go, you big ugly cupcake! Or I'm gonna plant my hoof right up your—"
"Coach," Jason said. "Shut up."
Enceladus roared with laughter. "I've forgotten how funny satyrs are. When we rule the world, I think I'll keep your kind around. You can entertain me while I eat all the other mortals."
"Is that a compliment?" Hedge frowned at Rebecca. "I don't think that was a compliment."
Enceladus opened his mouth wide, and his teeth began to glow.
"Scatter!" Leo yelled.
Jason and Hedge dove to the left as the giant blew fire—a furnace blast so hot even Festus would've been jealous. Leo and Rebecca dodged behind the bulldozer. Leo wound up the device he'd made on the way up the mountain and dropped it into the driver's seat.
"Help Jason and Hedge," He said. Then he ran to the right, heading for the tree harvester.
Jason rose and charged the giant. Coach Hedge ripped off his canary yellow jacket, which was now on fire, and bleated angrily. "I liked that outfit!" Then he raised his club and charged, too. Rebecca drew her swords and joined them.
Before they could get very far, Enceladus slammed his spear against the ground. The entire mountain shook.
The shockwave sent Rebecca sprawling. Through a haze of grassfire and bitter smoke, she saw Jason staggering to his feet on the other side of the clearing. Coach Hedge was knocked out cold. He'd fallen forward and hit his head on a log.
The giant bellowed, "I see you, Piper McLean!" He turned and blew fire at a line of bushes. Piper ran into the clearing like a flushed quail, the underbrush burning behind her.
Enceladus laughed. "I'm happy you've arrived. And you brought me my prizes!"
Rebecca's gut twisted. They'd played right into Enceladus's hands.
The giant laughed even louder. "That's right, son of Hephaestus." At this Rebecca whirled around and saw Leo with a fearful expression. "I didn't expect you all to stay alive this long, but it doesn't matter. By bringing you here, Piper McLean has sealed the deal. If she betrays you, I'm as good as my word. She can take her father and go. What do I care about a movie star? But my mother will be most pleased to see that I've captured the infamous Rebecca di Angelo. She will be a powerful ally."
"You say that like I'm planning on joining you," Rebecca said, her swords ready in case he tried to grab her.
"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. Rebecca di Angelo will join us, and only these others must die."
Piper looked back and forth between Rebecca, Leo, and her dad.
"He'll kill you," Rebecca warned. "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. Rebecca realized with 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, Rebecca could smell them. Six guys who never bathed, with six armpits each.
"You've got to be kidding," Rebecca said. "The Gegenees."
"In English?" Leo asked.
"The Earthborn," she said. "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 said. "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."
Rebecca tensed, ready to defend Jason. 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 said with pleasure. "Tear him apart!"
The biggest surprise: One look from Jason, and all four of them knew the game plan. After everything that had happened, Rebecca supposed it only made sense that they could read each other so well.
Jason charged Enceladus, while Piper rushed to her father, Leo dashed for the tree harvester, which stood between Mr. McLean and the Earthborn, and Rebecca ran for the Earthborn.
"Hey, rockheads!" She shouted. "I'm Jason, not him!"
The Earthborn turned around, confused. "Yay-son?"
"Yeah, that's right!" Rebecca readied her swords. "I'm the one you want. Try and keep up!"
She ran towards Leo and the tree harvester, the ogres following her and yelling for vengeance.
"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.
Leo brought the harvester around to Rebecca, kicking open the passenger door. "Get in!"
Rebecca jumped and caught hold of one of the safety handles. Throwing herself inside, she didn't even bother with the seatbelt.
The other four ogres stumbled across burning logs and hot coals while Leo brought the harvester around. He smashed a button, and on the end of the crane arm the wicked rotating blades began to whir.
It was undoubtedly the most fun Rebecca had had in a long time. She kept taunting the ogres and causing them to draw close enough for Leo to end them.
Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Piper 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.
The whole side of the mountain would soon be ablaze. The fire wouldn't bother Leo, but if the rest of them got trapped up here, it wouldn't end well.
One of the Earthborn—apparently not the most intelligent one—charged the tree harvester, and Leo swung the crane arm in his direction. As soon as the blades touched the ogre, he dissolved like wet clay and splattered all over the clearing. Most of him flew into Leo and Rebecca's faces.
"Gross," Rebecca said, wiping the clay off her face.
Leo spit clay out of his mouth and turned the harvester toward the three remaining Earthborn, who backed up quickly.
"Bad vroom-vroom!" one yelled.
"Yeah, that's right!" Leo yelled at them. "You want some bad vroom-vroom? Come on!"
Unfortunately, they did. Three ogres with six arms, each throwing large, hard rocks at super speed. Leo and Rebecca exchanged glances. Yep, it was over. They launched themselves off the harvester half a second before a boulder demolished the driver's seat. Rocks slammed into metal. By the time Rebecca landed on her feet and turned around, the harvester looked like a crushed soda can, sinking in the mud.
The ogres were picking up more clumps of earth, but this time they were glaring in Piper's direction.
"Dozer!" Leo yelled.
Rebecca glanced at him. "What?
Thirty feet away, the bulldozer roared to life. Leo's makeshift gadget had done its job, burrowing into the earthmover's controls and giving it a temporary life of its own. It roared toward the enemy.
"Oh," Rebecca said. "Nice."
"Thanks."
Just as Piper cut her father free and caught him in her arms, the giants launched their second volley of stones. The dozer 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.
Piper dragged her father below the ridge. The last Earth-born charged after her.
Leo ran forward, straight through the flames. Rebecca knew it was a bad idea, but she charged after him, summoning gold to cover her so she wouldn't get burned. Fortunately, it worked.
"Hey, stupid!" Leo 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.
"You die!" the Earthborn roared. "Friend of Yay-son dies!"
The ogre scooped up handfuls of dirt, which immediately hardened into rock cannonballs. Leo stared blankly at the giant, before bursting into flames and bellowing, "Hephaestus!"
The giant threw his rocks. Rebecca shook her head in disbelief before charging. She jumped in front of Leo and slashed at the rocks, reducing them to pebbles.
"Nice," Leo said, imitating Rebecca.
"Seriously?" Rebecca smirked. "That doesn't even sound like me."
" 'That doesn't even sound like me.' " Leo grinned. "Of course it does."
Rebecca rolled her eyes. They were in the middle of an intense battle and they were debating what Rebecca sounded like. "We'll continue this later."
There was no way they'd get close to the giant if he kept throwing rocks. Even with Rebecca slicing them apart, it would be almost impossible. Which meant they either had to sneak up on him, or they had to figure out a way to get him from afar. The silver throwing knives were too small to do any damage, and Rebecca didn't want to use them all in case the wolves returned.
So she hurled her swords at him. One lodged in his chest while the other sliced off all three of his right arms.
"Arms go bye-bye," the ogre said disappointedly before melting into a pile of clay. Rebecca retrieved her swords, wiping the clay off her blades, and ran to help Piper get her dad out of harm's way. They got him to the ridge, where he sat dazed and confused, but still alive.
But the battle wasn't even close to over. Jason was still battling Enceladus — and it wasn't going well.
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~~~~Alcyone~~~~