"Wolves. They sound close." Piper stated. Like, no shit sherlock, everyone had guessed that by now. Layla turned her bronze coin into a sword and stood up next Leo.
"Stay here. We'll protect you." Jason said to Piper also standing up. Piper didn't seem to like the idea but didn't protest.
A pair of glowing yellow eyes appeared in the darkness. Then another. And another. Until a dozen Wolves were starring at them hungrily. They were about to stike when Jason stepped forward. He said something in Latin that made the wolves back away into the darkness.
Leo whistled softly. "Dude, I gotta study Latin. What'd you say, Jason?"
"Whatever it was, it wasn't good enough. Look." Layla pointed at the Wolves that were slowly beginning to approach them again. "You have to go. I'll hold them as much as I can."
"They'll rip you apart." Piper argued.
"Nah. I'll be good." She shrugged.
"We'll stick together." Jason said. "We're not leaving anyone behind."
At that moment a silluete of a man appeared in the darkness. He had greasy hair and a wore crown made of finger bones. He was tall and muscular. The most disturbing thing on him was his face. It was pale and thin like a skull. His teeth were sharpened like fangs and his eyes were bright red and fixed on Jason. As he walked towards them, the Wolves parted to let him go through and some even bowed out of respect.
"Ecce, filli Romani." He said in Latin.
"In English, wolf man." Layla commanded. "It won't hurt you if you plan how to kill us in a language we know, will it?"
"Tell your friend to mind her tongue, son of Rome. Or she'll be my first snack." The man snarled. "So it's true. A child of Afrodite. A son of Hephaestus. A child of Zeus. And child of Rome, of lord Jupiter, no less. All together, without killing each other. How interesting." Nobody pointed out that the guy had reffered to Jason as son of Jupiter instead of Zeus, but it surprised Layla.
"We're you told about us? By whom?" Jason demanded.
"Oh, we've been patrolling for you all across the west, demigod, hoping we'd be the first to find you. The giant king will reward me well when he rises. I am Lycaon, king of the wolves. And my pack is hungry." The Wolves growled in agreement.
When Layla studied mythology back at camp, she did it for fun. She never thought that the things she learnt would actually be useful. They had helped her however many times already throughout the quest. For example, now she knew that Lycaon more than anything hated children of Zeus, like her and Jason, and had a very good reason to do so. Zeus was the one who turned him into the disgusting wolf-resembling thing he was. He had also killed Lycaon 50 sons with a lighting bolt.
"Leave." Jason ordered. "there's not food for you in here."
"Unless you want tofu burgers." Leo offered. Lycaon bared his teeth. Apparently he wasn't the biggest tofu fan.
"If I had a way," Lycaon said. "I'd kill you first, son of Jupiter, like your father did my sons, to give him a taste of his own medicine."
Again Layla was surprised. Lycaon didn't seem interested in killing her, even though she was a daughter of Zeus. Not that she minded, of course, but still it was suspicious. Thinking Piper's dream she realized that Enceladus hadn't mentioned killing her, either. Wasn't she part of the quest as well?
"You invited Zeus to dinner." Layla remembered. "But you weren't sure it was really him. So, to test his powers, you tried to feed him human flesh. Zeus got outraged-"
"And killed my sons!" Lycaon howled and Wolves behind followed his example.
"So Zeus turned him into a wolf," Layla continued. "They call... they call werewolves lycanthropes, named after him, the first werewolf and king of Wolves."
Jason frowned. "Lycaon, you said you wanted to kill me first, but...?"
"Sadly, son of Rome, you are spoken for. Since this one-" He pointed his claws at Piper. "Has failed to kill you, you are to be delivered alive to the wolf house. One of my compatriots has asked for the honour of killing you herself."
"Who?" Jason asked.
"Oh, a great admirer of yours. Apparently, you made quit an impression on her. She will take care of you soon enough, and really I cannot complain. Spilling your blood at the wolf house should mark my new territory quite well."
Layla didn't understand most of the things said. What was the wolf house and how would killing Jason there help the wolf man? More importantly, who was that woman who wanted to kill Jason so desperately? It could be Medea but Jason said that she had died in the explosion at her store.
Behind them, Piper tried to get up. "You're going to leave now." She struggled to say in a convincing tone. "Before we destroy you."
Lycaon snickered. "A brave try, girl. I admire that. Perhaps I'll make your end quick. Only the son of Jupiter is needed alive. The rest of you, I'm afraid, are dinner."
Jason stepped forward. "You're not killing anyone, wolf man. Not without going through me." He raised his sword and stabbed Lycaon but the weapon went right through his chest as if he was a ghost.
"Gold, bronze, steel- none of these are any good against my Wolves, son of Jupiter." Lycaon laughed.
"Silver!" Piper cried. "Aren't Wolves affected by silver?"
"Well, we don't have any silver!" Layla reminded her.
The Wolves charged. Leo was the first to react. He threw a glass bottle he had found in his belt and it shattered on the ground. The liquid that splattered the Wolves smelled like gasoline. Leo shot fire at the liquid causing flames to erupt. A few Wolves disintegrated while the rest of them, including their leader, took a step back.
Every time that a wolf managed to pass the wall of fire that separated the with the demigods, Leo shot fire from his hands causing him to burn. It would have been a great defense system if the animals weren't so many. Every time Leo shot fire, he seemed to grow more tired and the gasoline was also dying down.
"I can't summon any more gas!" He warned. "Wow, that came out wrong. I mean the burning kind. Gonna take the tool belt a while to recharge. What you got?"
"Nothing." Layla said. "Not even our weapons work.
"Lightning?" Piper suggested.
Layla consentrated but found it impossible use the power. Jason didn't do any better. "It's not working."
"I think the snowstorm is interfering or something?" Jason said.
"Unleash the venti!" Piper suggested.
"Then we'll have nothing to give to Aeolus," Jason argued. "We'll have have come all this way for nothing."
"If we don't we won't even make it to Aeolus's palace." Layla raised her voice.
Lycaon laughed. "I can smell your fear. A few more minutes of life, heroes. Pray to whatever God you wish. Zeus did not grant me mercy, and you will have none from me."
The flames died down. Jason dropped his sword and got ready for hand to hand combat. Leo pulled his hammer out of his belt. Piper raised her dagger. Layla dropped her sword, too, but she knew she couldn't do much. Without a sword she was as good at fighting as a goldfish.
Then a sound cut through the wind. A piece of wood sprouted from the neck of a nearby wolf and it melted into a puddle of shadow. Few minutes and a hundred arrows later all the Wolves were dead.
Lycaon knew he had no chance. With a "This isn't over, boy" he backed away and disappeared into the night.
And just when they thought it was finally over, more Wolves appeared. These ones seemed different, less threatening. Layla saw that the other demigods had already lowered her weapons. She found that stupid. Why let your guard down when there are clearly more Wolves around. She grabbed a rock from the ground and got ready to hit the wolf near her.
"No!" Piper said. "Wait." Layla had no choice but to stop. Charmspeak was hard to resist.
The masters of the Wolves appeared seconds later. A dozen girls in white and grey camouflage carrying bows and arrows. The hunters of Artemis had arrived.
One of them took an arrow from the ground and examined it. "So close." She said to her companions. "Ciara, stay with me. Watch the entrance. The rest of you, follow Lycaon. We can't lose him now. I'll catch up with you soon."
She then turned to face the four demigods. "We've been following that guy's trail for over a week. Is everyone all right? No one got bit?"
Seeing her for the first time after so long Layla wanted to hug Thalia, to tell her that she was not dead. Alas, no one, except Leo knew her connection to the 'leader of the Hunters'. Even Thalia herself thought that her younger sister was dead so Layla decided it would be better if she acted like she didn't recognize the hunter at least for now.
Jason in the other hand didn't even try to be subtle. His intense stare made Piper realize everything.
"You're her." The daughter of Afrodite said. "You're Thalia."
"Do I know you?" Thalia tensed up.
Piper took a breath. "This might be a shock, but-"
"Thalia," Jason said. "I'm Jason, your brother."