Watching a giant about to slice his sort-of-almost-maybe-girlfriend to bits was not the highlight of Leo's day.
As Porphyrion raised his spear, Rebecca straightened and held up her blade, but Leo knew there was no way she could take it. He wanted to stop and tackle her out of the way, but one look from Hera and he knew he had to keep sawing.
Why wasn't she moving? Leo wanted to shout at her to get out of the way, but something told him not to.
It happened in slow motion. The moment the giant's spear met Rebecca's blade, it cracked in half.
Porphyrion looked at Rebecca in surprise. Maybe Leo was seeing things, but Rebecca seemed to be glowing with black light like she had in that vision he'd had that followed the one of Nate's death. He wondered if her eyes would be completely black if she turned around.
"It can't be!" Porphyrion exclaimed. The big guy looked completely terrified. "The spirit has not appeared in decades!"
"Surprise, giant," Rebecca said, and Leo felt a chill run up his spine. The voice that left Rebecca was not hers. It was the voice of something ancient, something evil, or at least dark, and Leo understood why Porphyrion was scared.
Even Hera looked nervous. "So that is why Hades refused to let us kill her."
"What are you talking about?" Jason demanded.
"She is the host of the Malignant Spirit," Hera explained. "A dark and ancient being descended from Chaos itself. Every time its host died, the Spirit would reincarnate, finding a new host. Some of the most evil figures in history have been the hosts of the Malignant Spirit, people such as Jezebel, Caligula, Attila the Hun, Ivan the Terrible, Elizabeth Bathory--"
"Wait, so Rebecca's evil?" Leo blurted.
"No, she merely has an evil spirit dwelling inside her and possessing her."
"Oh, thanks. That's much better."
"Should she be on fire like that?" Piper asked uneasily.
It was true, Rebecca was on fire. But this fire seemed like the complete opposite of Leo's fire. While his fire was bright orange and warm, melting away the snow Khione had summoned, Rebecca's was dark purple and cold, seemingly summoning the snow back.
"Hellfire," Hera said. "More destructive than Greek fire itself."
Rebecca blasted Porphyrion with the hellfire, causing the Giant to retreat a few steps. He tried summoning his spear again, but Rebecca was too quick for him. She charged the giant, slashing at his ankles with her swords and causing the giant to roar in pain.
The giant Porphyrion backed away. He said nothing, but he gave Rebecca one last look of hatred. His message was clear: Another time. Then he slammed his spear against the earth, and the giant disappeared into the ground like he'd dropped down a chute.
Rebecca stopped glowing. The Malignant Spirit must've stopped possessing her. She stood still for a few moments, then looked around, confused. Leo realized she had no idea what had happened. The wolves seemed to notice the Malignant Spirit was no longer a threat and was in fact vulnerable. Growling and snarling, they pounced on Rebecca viciously. She could barely keep up with them.
"No!" Leo shouted. His saw ripped through the last of the earthen tendril.
"Sleep!" Piper said, so forcefully, the nearest wolves fell to the ground and began snoring.
The stone and wood cage crumbled. Leo had sawed through the base of the thickest tendril and cut off the cage's connection to Gaea. The tendrils turned to dust. The mud around Hera disintegrated. The goddess grew in size, glowing with power.
"Yes!" the goddess said. She threw off her black robes to reveal a white gown, her arms bedecked with golden jewelry. Her face was both terrible and beautiful, and a golden crown glowed in her long black hair. "Now I shall have my revenge!"
Around the courtyard, monsters began to panic and retreat, including the wolves that were attacking Rebecca, but there was no escape for them.
Hera glowed brighter. She shouted, "Cover your eyes, my heroes!"
Leo ran across the courtyard, threw his body over Rebecca's, and squeezed his eyes shut.
"JASON!"
Leo looked over and saw Piper holding Jason. His stomach did a slow roll. He'd closed his eyes, hadn't he? Then he looked down at Rebecca and nearly had a heart attack. The right side of her face was bleeding, disfigured by a large scratch that ran from her eyebrow to her cheekbone, clearly given to her by one of the wolves. Her back was bleeding, too; she had three more scratches there.
"Rebecca?" He refrained from shaking her, worrying it would only make the bleeding worse.
She didn't wake up, and Leo knew it wasn't because of Hera; she hadn't seen her in her true form.
She wasn't dead yet; she kept gasping for air. Her lips were turning blue, probably from a loss of oxygen or blood -- Leo couldn't tell.
"Stop," Hera said, and Leo jumped. She strode over to them, back in her simple black robes and shawl. "Do not disturb her."
"Don't disturb her?" Leo snapped. "Lady, she's dying!"
"She's not dying," Hera replied. "She is seizing."
"What?"
"Having a seizure."
"I know what seizing means! Is she going to be okay? Can you heal her?"
"Hush, boy," Hera said. "This is delicate work."
She touched Rebecca's forehead, and a screeching, black... thing came out of her mouth. Hera waved her hand, and the thing disintegrated with another terrible shriek. The moment it disappeared, Rebecca started breathing normally again. However, the scratches were still bleeding.
"Those will have to be mended when you return to camp," Hera said.
Leo doubted Rebecca would make it back to camp. It had taken them days to get here.
Piper kept calling Jason's name as she held him, though he'd been unconscious for two minutes now. His body was steaming, his eyes rolled back in his head. Leo couldn't tell if he was even breathing.
"It's no use, child." Hera stood over them.
Leo looked around the Wolf House. Every vestige of winter was gone from the valley. No signs of battle, either. The monsters had been vaporized. The ruins had been restored to what they were before—still ruins, but with no evidence that they'd been overrun by a horde of wolves, storm spirits, and six-armed ogres.
Even the Hunters had been revived. Most waited at a respectful distance in the meadow, but Thalia knelt by Piper's side, her hand on Jason's forehead.
Leo frowned at her. Couldn't she at least acknowledge Rebecca? Sure, Jason was her brother, but, as Thalia kept saying, she'd known Rebecca for three years.
Thalia glared up at the goddess. "This is your fault. Do something!"
"Do not address me that way, girl. I am the queen—"
"Fix him!"
Hera's eyes flickered with power. "I did warn him. I would never intentionally hurt the boy. He was to be my champion. I told them to close their eyes before I revealed my true form."
"Um ..." Leo frowned. "True form is bad, right? So why did you do it?"
"I unleashed my power to help you, fool!" Hera cried. "I became pure energy so I could disintegrate the monsters, restore this place, and even save these miserable Hunters from the ice."
"But mortals can't look upon you in that form!" Thalia shouted. "You've killed him!"
Leo shook his head in dismay. "That's what our prophecy meant. Death unleash, through Hera's rage. Come on, lady. You're a goddess. Do some voodoo magic on him! Bring him back. And while you're at it, help Rebecca."
Thalia looked at Rebecca's unconscious form. "Phoebe can help her, I think. Phoebe!"
The huntress came over and assessed Rebecca. "I don't know. She wasn't bitten, so there's no need to worry about her becoming a werewolf herself. However, werewolf scratches take a long time to heal. I can probably stop the bleeding, but it'll definitely scar."
"Do it," Thalia said.
"Jason's breathing!" Piper announced.
"Impossible," Hera said. "I wish it were true, child, but no mortal has ever—"
"Jason," Piper called. "Listen to me. You can do this. Come back. You're going to be fine."
Nothing happened. Had she imagined his breath stirring?
"Healing is not a power of Aphrodite," Hera said regretfully. "Even I cannot fix this, girl. His mortal spirit—"
"Jason," Piper said again, "Wake up."
He gasped, and his eyes flew open. For a moment they were full of light—glowing pure gold. Then the light faded and his eyes were normal again. "What — what happened?"
"Impossible!" Hera said.
Piper wrapped him in a hug until he groaned, "Crushing me."
"Sorry," she said.
Leo wished helping Rebecca was that easy. Phoebe was pouring nectar on the scratches and bandaging them, but it didn't look like Rebecca was going to wake up like that.
Thalia gripped her brother's hand. "How do you feel?"
"Hot," he muttered. "Mouth is dry. And I saw something... really terrible."
"That was Hera," Thalia grumbled. "Her Majesty, the Loose Cannon."
Leo looked down at Rebecca, half expecting her to jump up and join Thalia in roasting Hera, but no such luck.
"That's it, Thalia Grace," said the goddess. "I will turn you into an aardvark, so help me—"
"Stop it, you two," Piper said. Amazingly, they both shut up.
Piper helped Jason to his feet and gave him the last nectar from their supplies.
"Now ..." Piper faced Thalia and Hera. "Hera—Your Majesty—we couldn't have rescued you without the Hunters. And Thalia, you never would've seen Jason again—I wouldn't have met him—if it weren't for Hera. You two make nice, because we've got bigger problems."
They both glared at her, and for three long seconds, Leo wasn't sure which one of them was going to kill Piper first.
Finally Thalia grunted. "You've got spirit, Piper." She pulled a silver card from her parka and tucked it into the pocket of Piper's snowboarding jacket. "You ever want to be a Hunter, call me. We could use you." She looked over at Rebecca, glanced up at Leo, and smirked. "I'd make her the same offer if she was conscious, but I've got a feeling she'd say no."
Leo forced himself not to blush or look flustered.
Hera crossed her arms. "Fortunately for this Hunter, you have a point, daughter of Aphrodite." She assessed Piper as if seeing her clearly for the time. "You wondered, Piper, why I chose you for this quest, why I didn't reveal your secret in the beginning, even when I knew Enceladus was using you. I must admit, until this moment I was not sure. Something told me you would be vital to the quest. Now I see I was right. You're even stronger than I realized. And you are correct about the dangers to come. We must work together."
"Yeah," Leo said, "I don't suppose that Porphyrion guy just melted and died, huh?"
"No," Hera agreed. "By saving me, and saving this place, you prevented Gaea from waking. You have bought us some time. But Porphyrion has risen. He simply knew better than to stay here, especially since he has not yet regained his full power. Giants can only be killed by a combination of god and demigod, working together. Once you freed me—"
"He ran away," Jason said. "But to where?"
Hera didn't answer, but a sense of dread washed over Leo. He remembered what Porphyrion had said about killing the Olympians by pulling up their roots. Greece. He looked at Thalia's grim expression and guessed the Hunter had come to the same conclusion.
"I need to find Annabeth," Thalia said. "She has to know what's happened here."
"Thalia ..." Jason gripped her hand. "We never got to talk about this place, or—"
"I know." Her expression softened. "I lost you here once. I don't want to leave you again. But we'll meet soon. I'll rendezvous with you back at Camp Half-Blood." She glanced at Hera. "You'll see them there safely? It's the least you can do."
"It's not your place to tell me—"
"Queen Hera," Piper interceded.
The goddess huffed. "Fine. Yes. Just off with you, Hunter!"
Thalia gave Jason a hug and said her good-byes. When the Hunters were gone, the courtyard seemed strangely quiet. The dry reflecting pool showed no sign of the earthen tendrils that had brought back the giant king or imprisoned Hera. The night sky was clear and starry. The wind rustled in the redwoods.
"Jason, what happened to you here?" Piper asked. "I mean—I know your mom abandoned you here. But you said it was sacred ground for demigods. Why? What happened after you were on your own?"
Jason shook his head uneasily. "It's still murky. The wolves ..."
"You were given a destiny," Hera said. "You were given into my service."
Jason scowled. "Because you forced my mom to do that. You couldn't stand knowing Zeus had two children with my mom. Knowing that he'd fallen for her twice. I was the price you demanded for leaving the rest of my family alone. "
"It was the right choice for you as well, Jason," Hera insisted. "The second time your mother managed to snare Zeus's affections, it was because she imagined him in a different aspect—the aspect of Jupiter. Never before had this happened—two children, Greek and Roman, born into the same family. You had to be separated from Thalia. This is where all demigods of your kind start their journey."
"Of his kind?" Piper asked.
"She means Roman," Jason said. "Demigods are left here. We meet the she-wolf goddess, Lupa, the same immortal wolf that raised Romulus and Remus."
Hera nodded. "And if you are strong enough, you live."
"But ..." Leo was mystified. "What happened after that? I mean, Jason never made it to camp."
"Not to Camp Half-Blood, no," Hera agreed.
Leo wished she would just give them the answer. He was fed up with the gods always dropping mysterious remarks and vague pieces of advice.
"You went somewhere else," Piper guessed. "That's where you've been all these years. Somewhere else for demigods—but where?"
Jason turned to the goddess. "The memories are coming back, but not the location. You're not going to tell me, are you?"
"No," Hera said. "That is part of your destiny, Jason. You must find your own way back. But when you do ... you will unite two great powers. You will give us hope against the giants, and more importantly—against Gaea herself."
"You want us to help you," Jason said, "but you're holding back information."
"Giving you answers would make those answers invalid," Hera said. "That is the way of the Fates. You must forge your own path for it to mean anything. Already, you three have surprised me. I would not have thought it possible ..."
The goddess shook her head. "Suffice to say, you have performed well, demigods. But this is only the beginning. Now you must return to Camp Half-Blood, where you will begin planning for the next phase."
"Which you won't tell us about," Jason grumped. "And I suppose you destroyed my nice storm spirit horse, so we'll have to walk home?"
Hera waved aside the question. "Storm spirits are creatures of chaos. I did not destroy that one, though I have no idea where he went, or whether you'll see him again. But there is an easier way home for you. As you have done me a great service, so I can help you—at least this once. Farewell, demigods, for now."
The world turned upside down, and Leo almost blacked out.
When he could see straight again, he was back at camp, in the dining pavilion, in the middle of dinner. They were standing on the Aphrodite cabin's table. Leo was holding Rebecca, and Piper had one foot in Drew's pizza. Sixty campers rose at once, gawking at them in astonishment.
Whatever Hera had done to shoot them across the country, it wasn't good for Leo's stomach. He shoved Rebecca into Jason's arms, jumped off the table, ran to the nearest bronze brazier, and threw up in it—which was probably not a great burnt offering for the gods. Never again, Leo decided.
"Jason?" Chiron trotted forward. No doubt the old centaur had seen thousands of years' worth of weird stuff, but even he looked totally flabbergasted. "What—How—?"
"Hi," Piper said casually. "We're back."
...
So, yeah. Comment for more :)
~~~~ Alcyone ~~~~