The sun was going down as they flew north over the Richmond Bridge, and Freya couldn't believe the day had gone so quickly. Once again, nothing like ADHD and a good fight to the death to make time fly. She could tell Leo was nervous about flying, but was keeping a straight face for Pipers sake, who didn't need another fuck up after the whole ordeal with her dad.
"Going okay?" Piper asked from the copilot's seat. Her and Leo we're sitting down on the only two settles while Freya and Jason had resorted to awkwardly hang on to their seats from behind so that they wouldn't topple over at minor turbulences.
"Aces," Leo said confidently. "Don't worry, beauty queen. I got this."
"That's not even mildly assuring."
Freya cleared her throat. "So what's the wolf house?"
"An abandoned mansion in the Sonoma Valley. A demigod built it—Jack London. " Answered Jason. "He an actor?"
"Writer," Piper said. "Adventure stuff, right?"
Freya waved a hand. "Call of the Wild, White Fang, etcetera"
"Right,"
"Yeah," Jason said. "He was a son of Mercury—I mean, Hermes. He was an adventurer, traveled the world. He was even a hobo for a while. Then he made a fortune writing. He bought a big ranch in the country and decided to build this huge mansion—the Wolf House. "
"Named that 'cause he wrote about wolves?" Leo guessed.
"Partially," Jason said. "But the site, and the reason he wrote about wolves—he was dropping hints about his personal experience. There're a lot of holes in his life story—how he was born, who his dad was, why he wandered around so much—stuff you can only explain if you know he was a demigod."
"But...that makes no sense." Said Freya eyeing Jason. "If he was a demigod, he would of gone to camp-half blood. We keep records of every camper, and I would know since Annabeth made me memorize all of them. Jack London was never there."
"No," Jason said. "No, he wasn't"
"You remember something, don't you?" Said Freya.
"Bro, you're freaking me out with the mysterious talk. If you got something, spit it out." Leo said.
"I remember pieces," Jason said. "Only pieces. None of it good. The Wolf House is on sacred ground. It's where London started his journey as a child—where he found out he was a demigod. That's why he returned there. He thought he could live there, claim that land, but it wasn't meant for him. The Wolf House was cursed. It burned in a fire a week before he and his wife were supposed to move in. A few years later, London died, and his ashes were buried on the site. "
"That sounds creepy as shit." Said Piper. "How do you know all of this, anyway?"
"I started my journey there too," Jason said. "It's a powerful place for demigods, a dangerous place. If Gaea can claim it, use its power to entomb Hera on the solstice and raise Porphyrion—that might be enough to awaken the earth goddess fully. "
Freya knew immediately that all this had to do with Jason being Roman. It hadn't seemed fully possible for some reason. Until now. They were starting to get the bits to Jason's story- his life as a Roman demigod, and how he'd lived it. He was starting to remember, and at first, Freya thought that was a good thing. She wasn't so sure anymore. She knew that Hera had erased his memory to hide information that they desperately needed, but what if that information was dangerous? What if it led them into even more trouble?
"Thirty minutes out," Leo told them, though she wasn't sure how he knew. "If you want to get some rest, now's a good time. "
Her and Jason strapped themselves to the back of the copter and immediately passed out. It felt like only two minutes before she woke up again with a start. At first, she thought they were being bombarded with rocks. Then he realized it was sleet. Frost built up around the edges of the glass, and slushy waves of ice blotted out his view.
"An ice storm?" Piper shouted over the engine and the wind. "Is it supposed to be this cold in Sonoma?"
Freya and Jason we're quick to come over to the front.
Freya scowled. "No, this is intentional!"
Jason held on to the seats for balance. "We've got to be getting close then,"
Below them, the ground was a dark quilt of trees and fog. The ridge of a hill loomed in front of them and Leo yanked the stick, just clearing the treetops.
"There!" Jason shouted.
A small valley opened up before them, with the murky shape of a building in the middle. Leo aimed the helicopter straight for it. Trees cracked and exploded at the edges of the clearing. Shapes moved through the mist. Combat seemed to be everywhere. Leo set down the helicopter in an icy field about fifty yards from the house and killed the engine.
Freya was just about to relax when he screamed, "Out!"
They leaped from the helicopter and barely cleared the rotors before a massive BOOM shook the ground, knocking Freya off her feet and splattering ice all over her. She got up shakily and saw that the world's largest snowball—a chunk of snow, ice, and dirt the size of a garage—had completely flattened the Bell 412.
"You alright?" Asked Piper as she extended a hand for Freya to take. She did and pulled herself up.
"Fine," She answered as she looked around. They all seemed ok besides being flecked with snow and mud.
Leo shivered. "Guess we owe that ranger lady a new helicopter. "
Piper pointed south. "Fighting's over there. " Then she frowned. "No ... it's all around us. "
She was right. The sounds of combat rang across the valley. The snow and mist made it hard to tell for sure, but there seemed to be a circle of fighting all around the Wolf House. Behind them loomed Jack London's dream home—a massive ruin of red and gray stones and rough-hewn timber beams. In the mist and sleet, the place had a lonely, haunted feel. Freya could totally believe the ruins were cursed.
"Jason! Freya!" a girl's voice called.
Thalia appeared from the fog, her parka caked with snow. Her bow was in her hand, and her quiver was almost empty. She ran toward them, but made it only a few steps before a six-armed ogre—one of the Earthborn—burst out of the storm behind her, a raised club in each hand.
"Look out!" Freya yelled. They rushed to help, but Thalia had it under control. She launched herself into a flip, notching an arrow as she pivoted like a gymnast and landed in a kneeling position. The ogre got a silver arrow right between the eyes and melted into a pile of clay. Thalia stood and retrieved her arrow, but the point had snapped off. "That was my last one. " She kicked the pile of clay resentfully. "Stupid ogre. "
"Nice shot, though," Leo said.
Thalia ignored him as usual. She hugged Jason and Freya, then nodded to Piper. "Just in time. My Hunters are holding a perimeter around the mansion, but we'll be overrun any minute. "
"By Earthborn?" Jason asked.
"And wolves—Lycaon's minions. " Thalia blew a fleck of ice off her nose. "Also storm spirits—"
"And we went through all that trouble to get them for Aeolus too." Grumbled Freya.
"I mean, he did try to kill us," Leo added.
"Maybe he's helping Gaea again?" Suggested Piper.
"I don't know," Thalia said. "But the monsters keep re-forming almost as fast as we can kill them. We took the Wolf House with no problem: surprised the guards and sent them straight to Tartarus. But then this freak snowstorm blew in. Wave after wave of monsters started attacking. Now we're surrounded. I don't know who or what is leading the assault, but I think they planned this. It was a trap to kill anyone who tried to rescue Hera. "
"Where is she?" Jason asked.
"Inside," Thalia said. "We tried to free her, but we can't figure out how to break the cage. It's only a few minutes until the sun goes down. Hera thinks that's the moment when Porphyrion will be reborn. Plus, most monsters are stronger at night. If we don't free Hera soon—"
She didn't need to finish the thought.
Leo, Jason, Piper and Freya followed her into the ruined mansion.
Jason stepped over the threshold and immediately collapsed.
"Woah!" Freya said as she caught him under one arm.
"Hey!" Leo caught him by the other. "None of that, man. What's wrong?"
"This place ..." Jason shook his head. "Sorry ... It came rushing back to me. "
"You've been here," Freya said. It wasn't a question.
"We both have," Thalia said. Her expression was grim, like she was reliving someone's death. "This is where my mom took us when Jason was a child. She left him here, told me he was dead. He just disappeared. "
"She gave me to the wolves," Jason murmured. "At Hera's insistence. She gave me to Lupa. "
"That part I didn't know. " Thalia frowned. "Who is Lupa?"
An explosion shook the building. Just outside, a blue mushroom cloud billowed up, raining snowflakes and ice like a nuclear blast made of cold instead of heat.
"Maybe this isn't the time for questions," Freya suggested. "Show us the goddess. "
Once inside, Jason seemed to get his bearings. The house was built in a giant U, and Jason led them between the two wings to an outside courtyard with an empty reflecting pool. At the bottom of the pool, just as Jason had described from his dream, two spires of rock and root tendrils had cracked through the foundation.
One of the spires was much bigger—a solid dark mass about twenty feet high, and to Freya it looked like a stone body bag. Underneath the mass of fused tendrils he could make out the shape of a head, wide shoulders, a massive chest and arms, like the creature was stuck waist deep in the earth. No, not stuck—rising. On the opposite end of the pool, the other spire was smaller and more loosely woven. Each tendril was as thick as a telephone pole, with so little space between them that Freya doubted she could've gotten her arm through. Still, she could see inside. And in the center of the cage stood Hera.
She didn't glow or radiate any sort of power. She looked like a regular mortal woman, the good old psychotic goddess she knew.
Leo dropped into the pool and approached the cage. "Hola, Tía. Little bit of trouble?"
She crossed her arms and sighed in exasperation. "Don't inspect me like I'm one of your machines, Leo Valdez. Get me out of here!"
Thalia stepped next to him and looked at the cage with distaste—or maybe she was looking at the goddess. "We tried everything we could think of, Leo, but maybe my heart wasn't in it. If it was up to me, I'd just leave her in there. "
Freya snorted.
"Ohh, Thalia Grace," the goddess said. "When I get out of here, you'll be sorry you were ever born. "
"Save it!" Thalia snapped. "You've been nothing but a pain in the ass to every child of Zeus for ages. You sent a bunch of intestinally challenged cows after my friend Annabeth—"
"She was disrespectful!"
"You dropped a statue on my legs. "
"It was an accident!"
"And you took my brother!" Thalia's voice cracked with emotion. "Here—on this spot. You ruined our lives. We should leave you to Gaea!"
"Hey," Jason intervened. "Thalia—Sis—I know. But this isn't the time. You should help your Hunters. "
Thalia clenched her jaw. "Fine. For you, Jason. But if you ask me, she isn't worth it. "
Freya whole heartedly agreed.
Thalia turned, leaped out of the pool, and stormed from the building.
Leo turned to Freya, the grudging respect for Hera obvious. "Intestinally challenged cows?"
"It was a shit week," Freya answered.
"Focus on the cage, Leo," Hera grumbled. "And Jason—you are wiser than your sister. I chose my champion well. "
Freya rolled her eyes, but Jason wasn't having it either. "I'm not your champion, lady," He said. "I'm only helping you because you stole my memories and you're better than the alternative. Speaking of which, what's going on with that?"
He nodded to the other spire that looked like the king-size granite body bag. Was Freya imagining it, or had it grown taller since they'd gotten here?
"That, Jason," Hera said, "is the king of the giants being reborn. "
"Gross," Piper said.
"Ew," Freya resonated.
"Indeed," Hera said. "Porphyrion, the strongest of his kind. Gaea needed a great deal of power to raise him again —my power. For weeks I've grown weaker as my essence was used to grow him a new form. "
"So you're like a heat lamp," Leo guessed. "Or fertilizer. "
Freya couldn't stop herself; she chuckled. The goddess glared at them both, but neither cared.
"Joke all you wish," Hera said in a clipped tone. "But at sundown, it will be too late. The giant will awake. He will offer me a choice: marry him, or be consumed by the earth. And I cannot marry him. We will all be destroyed. And as we die, Gaea will awaken. "
Leo frowned at the giant's spire. "Can't we blow it up or something?"
"Without me, you do not have the power," Hera said. "You might as well try to destroy a mountain. "
Freya crossed her arms. "We literally just did that. Like, an hour ago."
"Just hurry up and let me out!" Hera demanded.
And then it was like a wave of emotion crashed into her. It was sudden and unwelcome, roiling and invasive. She remembered what had kept her going through this quest. The never dying flame that was hope whenever she thought of where Percy might be. It was that she'd find Hera, and the goddess would be grateful that they'd come for her and tell Freya where her brother was. Except, she was starting to realize that if Hera had taken Jason's memories, and if she hadn't told Freya where her brother was when they first met in her dream, then why would she now? Why would anything be different?
"Doesn't it ever get boring to keep getting saved by demigods?" She snapped.
Hera's eyes went wide, and Freya could sense her friends tensing around her. "How dare you-"
But she had enough of lies and half truths. She'd come on this quest to find her brother. And she will. She went on with a nonchalant voice, barely covering the anger under it. "I mean, first it was the titans, now the giants. What next, goddess?"
Hera looked ready to blow her apart. "You have no respect for those you ought to worship. Just like your brother. Bratty, irritating and snotty-"
Freya lost it. Her green eyes mirrored Hera's blazing ones. She was aware that Jason and the rest were staring at her. She didn't care. "Like my brother huh!? If you know so much about him, why don't you tell me where the hell he is? You're the one who took him, after all."
The goddess seemed to reel back at that, as if surprised with herself that she hadn't anticipated Freya's words. She spared one glance at Jason before saying, "Why would I tell you now? You're so close to figuring it out."
Freya wanted to rip all her hair off. She let desperation leak in her voice as she said, "Screw that! Where is he??"
Hera didn't say anything.
Freya backed off, her heart thundering in her chest with anger. "You're unbelievable. You drag me this entire way, make me rescue you and then don't even have the decency to tell me where Percy is." She let out a bitter laugh. "Nevermind. How stupid of me to expect a goddess to tell me that. You're not human."
She made it sound like an insult. Usually it would sound like praise when said to a goddess, but in this context, it was clear enough what Freya meant. It was enough to make Hera's eyes draw together and murderous expression to cross her face.
"You just wait, Freya Jackson." She seethed. "Once I am out of this cage, I will deal with you and your sharp tongue."
Freya drew back. "Yeah? And who'll serve as the eight member of your precious prophecy? Who'll save you?" She knew she was getting cocky. But after all Hera did, she deserved every second of it. "I'll tell you who; No one."
She stepped back and found all her friends staring at her. She met Jason's gaze expecting to find anything but understanding, but he only looked impressed. As did Leo and Piper. Freya couldn't help but feel sheepish, even though she was still jabbed about not finding out anything about Percy.
She made her way to Jason, who looked like he wanted to do a lot of things to her that weren't exactly quest appropriate. She had to repress a grin.
"You sure we can't leave her here?" She whispered.
"After all of that, I'm seriously considering it." He said back.
"I have no time for petty squabbling. If you don't get me out of here, gods and mortals alike will be done for." Hera said.
Freya focused on the fact that she said petty squabbling. The goddess made it sound like it hadn't affected her, but Freya had seen the look on her face when she'd said all those things. The hard cold truth that they all knew but no one dared to speak.
Jason scratched his head and cleared his throat. "Leo, can you do it?"
"I don't know." Leo said. "Besides, if she's a goddess, why hasn't she busted herself out?"
Hera paced furiously around her cage, cursing in Ancient Greek. "Use your brain, Leo Valdez. I picked you because you're intelligent. Once trapped, a god's power is useless. Your own father trapped me once in a golden chair. It was humiliating! I had to beg—beg him for my freedom and apologize for throwing him off Olympus. "
"Sounds fair," Leo said.
Hera gave him the godly stink-eye. "I've watched you since you were a child, son of Hephaestus, because I knew you could aid me at this moment. If anyone can find a way to destroy this abomination, it is you. "
"But it's not a machine. It's like Gaea thrust her hand out of the ground and ..." Leo looked dizzy. "Hold on. I do have an idea. Piper, I'm going to need your help. And we're going to need time. "
AN: Freya Jackson. What a queen, honestly.