↳ chapter twenty-two ₊˚.༄
[# jason is no longer blond]
THE PLAN WENT WRONG ALMOST IMMEDIATELY. PIPER AND IANA SCRAMBLED along the ridge, trying to keep their heads down, while Leo, Jason, and Coach Hedge walked straight into the clearing.
In the corner of her eye, Jason summoned his golden lance. He brandished it over his head and yelled, "Giant!" Which sounded pretty good, considering the stakes of their current situation.
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."
Iana's hand instinctively rested on her dagger, as if the few times she's used it had suddenly binded her with the weapon
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. "I don't think that was a compliment."
Enceladus opened his mouth wide, and his teeth began to glow.
"Scatter!" Leo yelled.
The short haired girl wanted to look over her shoulder and watch over her friends, but it was their fight. Her job was to help Piper. Iana picked up her pace, impulsively grabbing her friend's hand so they could be running side by side. She felt the air grew warm with fire, the giant's roar echoing against the mountain.
But only when Enceladus slammed his spear against the ground did the mountain finally shake. Piper stumbled over and in her attempts to catch her, Iana toppled down as well. The ground was rough against her back, stunned as she blinked through the haze of bitter smoke. Before she truly regained her senses, Piper had dragged her up, pulling her to the clearing.
Iana would've questioned her if it wasn't for the spit of fire aimed at the bushes behind them. The bushes they had just escaped.
Enceladus laughed. "I'm happy you've arrived. And you brought me my prizes!"
Iana felt like throwing up and when her eyes met Leo's, his expression read the same. This was the moment Piper had warned them about. They'd played right into Enceladus's hands.
The giant must've read Leo's expression, because he laughed even louder. "That's right, son of Hephaestus. 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?"
Tristan McLean looked much clearer now. He wore a ragged dress shirt and torn slacks. His bare feet were caked with mud. He wasn't completely unconscious, because he lifted his head and groaned. This was Tristan McLean all right. Iana had seen his face in a couple of magazines and films, but his new thin and sickly look paired with the gash at the side of his face made him look like anything but heroic.
"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. Only these others must die and the other girl... Well, you know what happens to her."
Piper looked back and forth between Iana and her dad.
"Piper, don't." Iana warned, her voice desperate. "He won't keep his word."
"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!"
Iana's gaze flickered around her surroundings and saw Jason was on his feet, 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. She realized with nauseating 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, Even from her distance, Iana could smell them.
Leo stepped toward Piper. "What— what are those?"
Her blade reflected the purple light of the bonfire. "Gegenees."
"In English?" Leo asked.
"The Earthborn," Piper elaborated. "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," her voice was certain. "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."
Iana's heart dropped to her stomach. 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!"
Something clicked between the group of friends. After the countless fights they've encountered in the past few days, one look from Jason was all it took for them to know the game plan. Since when could they read each other so well, Iana didn't know, but she was glad they did.
Piper and Iana rushed toward Tristan McLean. The two girls unsheath their daggers and worked on cutting through his bounds— which were surprisingly tough and bulky. She didn't bother to look at the fight around her, or think about how much rope was left for them to get through, the only thing that was on her mind was if she sliced through enough thread, Piper could have her father back.
In the midst of her thoughts, it was only then did she take notice of the absence of Coach Hedge. She hoped he was out of the crossfire, wherever he may be.
Iana could feel the enemies glare, tempted to turn back and look. Before she could, the shadow like being— the unseen ones, her mother had called them, hovered over her in her peripheral vision.
Help us, she said to them in her heart. Please.
She only felt the disappearance of its presence and couldn't let her mind dwell on the thought for too long before the last of Tristan McLean's binds were cut through, Piper catching him in her arms. She would have rejoiced if not for the stones aimed their way.
The bulldozer that had roared to life was malfunctioning and only caught a few stones with its shovel. Iana was already up on her feet, ready to sprint away, before the stones stopped in mid air, changing its course as it aimed at the Earthborns, taking them out one by one.
Piper didn't waste a second before dragging her and Tristan McLean below the ridge and the last Earth-born charged after them.
Iana almost wanted to yell at him when she saw Leo throwing a screwdriver at the monster, the tips of her hair tinting red. She ran past Piper and her father, pulling out her dagger as she muttered a silent prayer to her mother. If the fates had chosen her to be a powerful Illusionist, they'd better stick to their words.
Before Leo could burn the monster back into dust, Iana snuck up behind it and casted a silent spell, immobilizing the Earthborn momentarily, but that was enough time for her to slash her dagger against its back. Six arms fell one by one, boulders rolling out of their useless hands. The Earthborn looked down, very surprised. He mumbled, "Arms go bye-bye."
Then he melted into the ground.
Iana stood there, heavy breaths leaving her lips, her dagger covered with clay. She whipped her head backward and found Tristan McLean sitting on the ridge, dazed and wounded, but still alive. Piper was running toward them. From the looks Leo and Piper were giving her, she thought she must have looked crazy.
Focusing a glare on the short boy, she huffed. "Don't do anything stupid again, Leo. I don't want my friends to end up dead." She glanced over to Jason's fight and found herself tightening her grip around her dagger. "This fight isn't over yet, guys. Let's go."
author's note!
i'm quite pleased with this chapter, even though it's unedited bc i'm a lazy bitch
anywaysss
have a good day pookies!! byeee