"𝐇𝐀𝐙𝐄𝐋!" 𝐅𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐊 𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐊 𝐇𝐄𝐑 arms, sounding panicked. "Come on, please! Wake up!"
She opened her eyes.
The night sky blazed with stars. The rocking of the boat was gone. She was lying on solid ground, her bundled sword and pack beside her. She sat up groggily, her head spinning. They were on a cliff overlooking a beach. About a hundred feet away, the ocean glinted in the moonlight. The surf washed gently against the stern of their beached boat. To her right, hugging the edge of the cliff, was a building like a small church with a searchlight in the steeple. A lighthouse. Behind them, fields of tall grass rustled in the wind.
"Where are we?" she asked.
"Lea!" Frank yelled into the breeze. The boy exhaled. "Thank the gods you're awake! We're in Mendocino, about a hundred and fifty miles north of the Golden Gate."
"A hundred and fifty miles?" Hazel groaned. "I've been out that long?"
Percy knelt beside her, the sea wind sweeping his hair. He put his hand on her forehead as if checking for a fever. "We couldn't wake you. Finally, we decided to bring you ashore. We thought maybe the seasickness—"
"That wasn't seasickness." Hazel almost whacked her head off of the ground in her fright. Pulling her lips into a tight scowl, Lea nodded stiffly down at the younger girl. Her hair was messily thrown around her shoulders and her eyes seemed to burn dangerously. Heavy breathing racked her body. She tossed a piece of ambrosia onto her chest but refused to come any closer than from where she stood behind Frank.
It was the first time Lea looked at Hazel the way Reyna did; as if she had mortally offended her. The younger girl shrank to herself. She had never seen Lea look so openly opposed to anyone.
Hazel took a deep breath. She couldn't hide the truth from them anymore. "I—I haven't been honest with you," she said. "What happened was a blackout. I have them once in a while."
"A blackout?" Frank took Hazel's hand, which startled her. "Is it medical? Why haven't I noticed before?"
"I try to hide it," she admitted. "I've been lucky so far, but it's getting worse. It's not medical... not really. Nico says it's a side effect from my past, from where he found me."
Percy's intense green eyes were hard to read. She couldn't tell whether he was concerned or wary. Lea's weren't much easier to read but the idea was clear, she was angry.
"Where exactly did Nico find you?" Percy asked.
Hazel's tongue felt like cotton. Lea's bore into her soul like a search beam. She knew something. "I'll explain," she promised. She clawed through her pack. Stupidly, she'd forgotten to bring a water bottle. "Is... is there anything to drink?"
"Yeah," Percy muttered a curse in Greek. "That was dumb. I left my supplies down at the boat."
Hazel felt bad asking them to take care of her, but she'd woken up parched and exhausted. She shouldered her pack and sword. "Never mind. I can walk...."
"Don't even think about it," Frank said. "Not until you've had some food and water. I'll get the supplies."
"No, I'll go." Percy glanced at Frank's hand on Hazel's. Then he scanned the horizon as if he sensed trouble, but there was nothing to see—just the lighthouse and the field of grass stretching inland.
"We'll go," Lea corrected, finally tearing her angry eyes away from Hazel. "It's stupid to go anywhere alone when it's this dark."
"Weren't you just—" Hazel cut herself off when Frank elbowed her.
"You two stay here. We'll be right back."
"You sure?" Hazel said feebly. "I don't want you to—"
"It's fine," said Percy. "Frank, just keep your eyes open. Something about this place... I don't know."
"I'll keep her safe," Frank promised.
Percy dashed off, Lea keeping pace with him. "I'm not the one that's afraid of the dark, y'know." He laughed, pushing her with his shoulder.
"I know that... I just thought I might be of more use here."
As they moved farther away from Frank's torch, Percy began to understand what Lea was implying. The darker the area around them was, the more Lea began to glow. It took fifteen feet before Lea's light was bright enough to outshine the nighttime around them.
Percy slowed to a jog. His jaw was practically unhinged. "You're a glowstick." He mumbled.
"A glowstick with feelings," Lea said, shrinking into herself.
"No, no! This is the coolest thing ever." The blonde smiled tightly. Percy shook his head, unable to hide his grin. "You're so cool."
The unabashed honesty in his voice made Lea want the ground to swallow her hole. When it in fact stayed solid, she settled on staring at the floor. "I have other powers." She whispered, kicking the sandy ground beneath her foot. "I just don't really find them too useful."
In her outstretched hand, a small ball of light began to grow. It took a moment but eventually, it settled on being the size of a baseball. It seemed to dance in her grasp, spitting tiny licks of fire like a mini sun.
"Let me make this clear," Percy blinked a couple of times as they reached the shoreline. "You can heal people, you can create your own mini sun, and you're a giant glowstick, and you don't think that's enough to mention?"
"And then some."
"What?" Percy cocked his head at her. "I couldn't hear you."
The daughter of Apollo shook her head. She rested against the edge of their boat awkwardly. "I just said yeah. They're nowhere near as cool as yours."
"Oh yeah, I'm so cool. I'm like a portable hose."
Lea bit her lip to muffle her laughter. "You're more than a hose."
"The Adventures of Glowstick and Hose boy." Percy laughed, slugging his pack over his shoulder. "Do you have everything?"
Lea nodded, stuffing her hands into her pockets. "Yep, you?"
Percy patted his pocket. "Got my pen, got my pack, got my torch." He grabbed Lea's hand, holding it up to the sky.
"You're unbelievable. I'm never telling you anything ever again."
"No!" He whined, batting his eyes at the blonde girl.
"Oh, shut up."
"Yes, ma'am."
Percy let Lea's hand go, but the girl did not attempt to pull away from him. As they began the trek back up the cliff path, their hands would occasionally brush against each other. Percy's gaze flickered to the side of Lea's head each time it happened. If it affected her half as much as it did Percy, she made no indication of it. Her gaze was flattering across the night sky above her. The boy couldn't help but wonder what was Lea's relationship with her aunt. He barely knew her feelings about her dad, nevermind her feelings about Diana.
Lea was still an enigma to him. Each moment he spent with her solidified his feeling. It was always one step forward and three steps back when it came to her.
Each time he placed one piece into the puzzle, its size increased exponentially.
"You're thinking too loud." Her voice broke their silence. Percy felt one of her fingers tap against his. "Not everything is worthy of analysis."
The black-haired boy bit back his thoughts. "This one is."
"And what is this?"
"Lea... Do you think—"
"Never!" Hazel's voice carried through the wind. "If I have to destroy you all, I will. I am the daughter of Pluto!"
Without even sharing a look, the two demigods broke into a full sprint. Percy felt Lea's hand encase his, dragging him behind her through the tall grass.
"Over there!" Lea waved her hand above her head wildly to catch Frank's attention.
Frank let an arrow fly from his bow.
The three demigods burst into the open and began to massacre every source of fibre they could find.
Frank shot an arrow through Barley, who crumbled into seeds. Percy slashed Riptide through Sorghum and charged toward Millet and Oats. Hazel jumped down and joined the fight.
For the first time, Lea looked out of her depth. She spun her ring anxiously but drew no weapon.
Within minutes, the karpoi had been reduced to piles of seeds and various breakfast cereals.
Wheat started to re-form, but Percy pulled a lighter from his pack and sparked aflame. "Try it," he warned, "and I'll set this whole field on fire. Stay dead. Stay away from us, or the grass gets it!"
Frank winced like the flame terrified him. Hazel didn't understand why, but she shouted at the grain piles anyway: "He'll do it! He's crazy!"
When the wheat continued stirring, Percy spun on his heel. "Lea," His voice held an edge, "can you..."
Sucking in a shaky breath, Lea screwed her eyes shut and opened her fist. "Holy..." Frank whispered, watching the ball of light grow. Flames shot out from it hauntingly. Unlike the first time Percy had seen it, it continued to grow. The light grew and grew until it was the size of Percy's head.
A spark spat from the light and drifted menacingly in the wind.
The idea of a seemingly perpetually growing fire seemed to scare the wheat more than Percy's feeble lighter. The remnants of the karpoi scattered in the wind.
Frank climbed the rock and watched them go. Percy watched as extinguished her light with a simple flick of her wrist before he turned and grinned at Hazel.
"Thanks for yelling. We wouldn't have found you otherwise. How'd you hold them off so long?"
She pointed to the rock. "A big pile of schist."
"Excuse me?"
"Guys," Frank called from the top of the rock. "You need to see this."
Percy and Hazel climbed up to join him. Lea lagged behind and Percy had to practically drag her up behind him. As soon as Hazel saw what he was looking at, she inhaled sharply. "Percy, no light! Put up your sword!"
"Schist!" He touched the sword tip, and Riptide shrank back into a pen. As soon as the light from Riptide dissolved, a new light started to seep into its place. "Lea!" Percy cursed under his breath and dove on top of her. It wasn't perfect, but it seemed to dull Lea's glow enough that the monsters wouldn't notice it. Percy kept himself propped up on his elbows, trying to avoid thinking about how awkward the situation was.
"This is cosy," Lea whispered, her breath tickling the exposed skin on Percy's neck. She made no attempt to escape his grasp. Instead, she wiggled slightly underneath to settle into a comfortable position.
Percy coughed. "Will you stop that?"
"Sorry, there was a rock under my back." Lea flushed slightly. "Oh... Well, on second thought, it's a very comfy rock."
Down below them, an army was on the move. The field dropped into a shallow ravine, where a country road wound north and south. On the opposite side of the road, grassy hills stretched to the horizon, empty of civilization except for one darkened convenience store at the top of the nearest rise. The whole ravine was full of monsters—column after column marching south, so many and so close, it was amazed they hadn't heard Hazel shouting.
Hazel and Frank crouched against the rock. Percy peered around the side, trying to keep himself from crushing Lea, at the same time as sheltering her ambient glowing. They watched in disbelief as several dozen large, hairy humanoids passed by, dressed in tattered bits of armour and animal fur. The creatures had six arms each, three sprouting on either side, so they looked like cavemen evolved from insects.
"Gegenes," Hazel whispered. "The Earthborn."
"You've fought them before?" Percy asked.
She shook her head. "Just heard about them in monster class at camp." She'd never liked monster class—reading Pliny the Elder and those other musty authors who described legendary monsters from the edges of the Roman Empire. Hazel believed in monsters, but some of the descriptions were so wild, she had thought they must be just ridiculous rumours. Only now, a whole army of those rumours was marching by.
"The Earthborn fought the Argonauts," Lea spoke from her prison. Percy closed his eyes, trying to fight the shiver that ran down his spine every time her breath brushed his ear. It was incredibly ticklish.
Hazel nodded. "And those things behind them—"
"Centaurs," Percy said. "But... that's not right. Centaurs are good guys."
Frank made a choking sound. "That's not what we were taught at camp. Centaurs are crazy, always getting drunk and killing heroes."
Hazel watched as the horsemen cantered past. They were human from the waist up, and palomino from the waist down. They were dressed in barbarian armour of hide and bronze, armed with spears and slings. At first, Hazel thought they were wearing Viking helmets. Then she realized they had actual horns jutting from their shaggy hair.
"Are they supposed to have bull's horns?" she asked.
Lea scoffed. "Great, I'm missing all the fun things."
"Well, you wouldn't have to if you weren't a shining beacon saying Hey, free dinner up here." Frank rolled his eyes. "And maybe they're a special breed. Let's not ask them, okay?"
Percy gazed farther down the road and his face went slack. "My gods... Cyclopes."
Sure enough, lumbering after the centaurs was a battalion of one-eyed ogres, both male and female, each about ten feet tall, wearing armour cobbled out of junkyard metal. Six of the monsters were yoked like oxen, pulling a two-story-tall siege tower fitted with a giant scorpion ballista.
Percy leant on one elbow and pressed a hand to his face.
"Percy?" Lea touched his arm gently. "What's wrong?"
"Cyclopes. Centaurs. This is wrong. All wrong."
The monster army was enough to make anyone despair, but it was obvious that something else was going on with Percy. He looked pale and sickly in the moonlight as if his memories were trying to come back, scrambling his mind in the process.
"Frank, I have ambrosia in my bag." Lea nudged the younger boy with his foot. He nodded seriously as if Lea had just asked him to hold the world on his shoulders.
Hazel glanced at Frank. "We need to get him back to the boat. The sea will make him feel better."
"No argument," Frank said. "There are too many of them. The camp... we have to warn the camp."
"They know," Percy groaned. "Reyna knows."
A lump formed in Hazel's throat. There was no way the legion could fight so many. If they were only a few hundred miles north of Camp Jupiter, their quest was already doomed. They could never make it to Alaska and back in time. "Come on," she urged. "Let's..."
Then Hazel saw the giant.