ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ THE HOUSE OF MEMORIES ༉‧₊˚.[THE HEROES OF OLYMPUS]
l e o
chapter thirty-seven: gaea doesn't appreciate us hiking her mountain in new outfits
LEO HOPED the taxi could take them all the way to the top.
there was no such luck. the cab began to make lurching, grinding noises as it climbed the coarse mountain road. halfway up, they found the ranger's station closed with a chain keeping the rest of the way blocked off. "far as i can go," the cabbie said, not sounding particularly concerned as to why four teenagers were trying to get to the top of a closed off mountain. "you sure about this? it's gonna be a long walk back, and my car's actin' funny. i can't wait for you."
"we're sure," leo said quickly, opening the door, and stepping out fluidly. he'd been the first one to get out, a bad feeling eating at his stomach as to why the car had suddenly been acting up. when he inspected the tires, he found he was right. the wheels were sinking into the road like it was made of quicksand. it wasn't quickly enough to make them worry, but just enough to make the driver think he had some sort of transmission problem, or a bad axle, but leo knew different.
the road was hard-packed dirt, there was no reason at all it should have been soft enough to sink tires, but even leo's chucks had already starting to sink into the mush. gaea was messing with them – no surprise there. while his friends got out, leo paid the cabbie, and rather generously because why not? it was aphrodite's money, plus, he had a feeling it was the last time he'd need money either way. he didn't picture himself leaving the mountain.
"keep the change," leo told the man, "and get out of here, man. quick." the cabbie driver didn't argue. he pulled off without an argument, and pretty soon, the only thing left of the driver was his dust trail.
the view from the mountain was pretty amazing despite the circumstances of their visit. the entire inland valley around mount diablo was a patchwork of towns – grids of tree-lined streets, and nice, middle-class suburbs, shops, and schools. all filled with normal people leading normal lives, the kind of lives leo had never known to exist.
"that's concord," jason explained to them, pointing north. "walnut creek is right below us. to the south is danville, past those hills. and that way. . ." he pointed west where a ridge of golden hills held back a layer of fog like the rim of a bowl, "that's berkeley hills. the east bay. past that, san
"jason," chandler looked to him with a soft, attentive look leo couldn't say he'd ever seen before from her. she studied his expression, encouraging him to say what he was thinking, "do you remember something? maybe you've been here before?" and leo could understand where the questions were coming from, the honey blonde felt awfully familiar with the area. either that, or he went above and beyond in his geography studies.
"yes. . ." he started, then hesitated, "no. i. . . it just seems really important, i don't know why." the look he gave her was anguished.
"titan land," hedge nodded toward the west. his expression was grim, "bad place, jason. trust me. this is as close to 'frisco as we want to get."
at coach hedge's words, and the looks of confusion going around, leo was glad that chandler decided to give them a bit of a better explanation. "we're near mount tam, where the titan's palace used to be," she told them, the silver in her hair seemed to catch the sunlight. "it's where atlas holds the sky, where artemis, and annabeth was kept prisoner, forced to hold the weight of the sky."
despite the depressing story as to what had gone down back in the west, jason still looked toward the foggy basin with such a longing, it made leo feel uneasy. the zeus demigod seemed so connected to the place his sister had described as evil. it was full of bad magic, and old enemies. the hephaestus boy couldn't help but think, what if jason had came from there? everyone kept hinting, insinuating that he was some kind of enemy, and that his arrival at camp half-blood was a dangerous mistake. he tried to shove those thoughts away. it was ridiculous to even consider, jason was their friend.
leo tried to move his foot, but his heels had been completely embedded into the softened dirt. "hey, guys," he called out to them, snapping them all from different thoughts, stuck in their heads. "let's keep moving." the others noticed the problem immediately.
"gaea is stronger here," hedge mumbled, completely unhappy with it. he pulled his hooves free from the shoes aphrodite had given him, and handed them off to leo. "keep those for me, valdez. they're nice."
leo gave a sarcastic smile, "yes, sir, coach!" his tone was much too sugary to be genuine, "would you like them polished as well?"
"that's varsity thinking, valdez," hedge nodded approvingly, as if he were proud leo was suddenly taking initiative in keeping his shoes clean. "but first, we'd better hike up this mountain while we still can."
"but, how do we know where the giant is?" piper casted a skeptical look around as if she expected the giant to suddenly pop out of nowhere, and surprise them.
chandler pointed toward the peak of the mountain, having already picked out where she believed him to be. drifting across the summit was a plume of smoke. from a distance, leo might've thought it was some regular cloud, but the dark color gave it away. it was smoke from something burning. "smoke equals fire," his sister told them, "meaning, we'd better hike quickly."
the wilderness school had taken leo on several forced marches, so it was fair of him to think he was in good shape. but climbing a mountain when the earth was trying to swallow his feet was like jogging on a flypaper treadmill. in no time, he'd rolled up the sleeves on his collarless shirt, even though the wind was cold and sharp. he wished aphrodite had given him walking shorts and some more comfortable shoes, but he was grateful for the ray-bans that kept the sun out of his eyes.
he slipped his hands into his tool belt and started summoning supplies; gears, a tiny wrench, some strips of bronze. as he walked, he built, not really thinking about it, just fiddling with pieces. by the time they neared the crest of the mountain, leo was the most fashionably dressed sweaty, dirty hero ever. his hands were covered in machine grease. the little object he'd made was like a windup toy, the kind that rattles and walks across a coffee table. he wasn't sure what it could do, but he slipped it into his tool belt.
he missed his army coat with all its pockets. even more than that, he missed festus. he could use a fire-breathing bronze dragon right now. but leo knew festus would not be coming back, at least, not in his old form. he patted the picture in his pocket, the crayon drawing he'd made at the picnic table under the pecan tree when he was five years old. he remembered callida singing as he worked, and how upset he'd been when the winds had snatched the picture away.
it isn't time yet, little hero, tía callida had told him. someday, yes. you'll have your quest. you will find your destiny, and your hard journey will finally make sense.
now, aeolus had returned the picture. leo knew that meant his destiny was getting close; but the journey was as frustrating as the stupid mountain. every time leo thought they'd reached the summit, it turned out to be just another ridge with an even higher one behind it. first things first, leo told himself. survive today. figure out crayon drawing of destiny later.
finally, jason crouched behind a wall of rock. he gestured for the others to do the same. chandler and leo crawled up next to him. piper had to pull coach hedge down. "i don't want to get my outfit dirty!" he tried to complain, but an evil eye from chandler was all it took before reluctantly, the satyr knelt.
just over the ridge where they were hiding, in the shadow of the mountain's final crest, was a forested depression about the size of a football field, where the giant enceladus had set up camp. trees had been cut down to make a towering purple bonfire. the outer rim of the clearing was littered with extra logs and construction equipment: an earthmover; a big crane thing with rotating blades at the end like an electric shaver, must be a tree harvester, leo thought, and a long metal column with an ax blade, like a sideways guillotine, a hydraulic ax.
why a giant needed construction equipment, leo wasn't sure. he didn't see how the creature in front of him could even fit in the driver's seat. the giant enceladus was so large, so horrible, leo didn't want to look at him, but he forced himself to focus on the monster.
to start with, he was thirty feet tall, easily as tall as the treetops. leo was sure the giant could've seen them behind their ridge, but he seemed intent on the weird purple bonfire, circling it and chanting under his breath. from the waist up, the giant appeared humanoid, his muscular chest clad in bronze armor, decorated with flame designs. his arms were completely ripped. each of his biceps was bigger than leo. his skin was bronze but sooty with ash. his face was crudely shaped, like a half-finished clay figure, but his eyes glowed white, and his hair was matted in shaggy dreadlocks down to his shoulders, braided with bones.
from the waist down, he was even more terrifying. his legs were scaly green, with claws instead of feet, like the forelegs of a dragon. in his hand, enceladus held a spear the size of a flagpole. every so often he dipped its tip in the fire, turning the metal molten red.
"okay," coach hedge whispered, "here's the plan–"
leo elbowed him, shooting him an expression of absolute disbelief, "you're not charging him alone!"
"awe, c'mon," the satyr complained, but silenced after a well-aimed glare from chandler. the single look had him not speaking another word about trying to attack alone.
piper choked back a sob, "look!" just visible on the other side of the bonfire was a man tied to a post. his head slumped like he was unconscious, so leo couldn't exactly make out his face, but piper was sure without a single doubt. "dad," she said softly.
leo felt his stomach drop. he wished he was watching a tristan mclean movie, and piper's dad would be faking unconsciousness. he'd untie his bonds, and knock out the giant with some cleverly hidden anti-giant gas. heroic music would start to play, and tristan mclean would make his amazing escape, running away in slow motion while the mountainside exploded behind him in a wide angle.
but, reality set in. it wasn't a movie. tristan mclean was half dead, and was about to be eaten by a giant. the only people that could stop it was four fashionably dressed teenaged demigods, and a megalomaniac goat. leo wasn't liking their chances all that much.
"there's five of us, alright?" hedge started, "and only one of him."
"did you miss the part where he's thirty feet tall?"
hedge didn't seem keen on giving up, simply explaining his newer strategy to them, "okay," he said, pointedly acknowledging leo's doubt. "me, you, beckendorf, and jason distract him. piper sneaks around, and frees her dad." then, they all look to chandler, and jason, who blink at them in return.
"what?" jason says plainly, confused why all of a sudden so many eyes are focused on himself, and chandler all of a sudden. "i'm not the leader."
"yes," piper disagreed, "you are. you, and chandler have been leading us the entire time. you're the leaders of this quest." they'd never really talked about it, but no one had disagreed. as far as they'd come, it'd been a team effort, but not when it came to the life-and-death situations. leo knew jason, and chandler were the ones to ask. even if the blonde had no memory, he had the kind of sureness, and balance to him that was hard to ignore. you just knew he'd been in battles before, and knew how to keep his cool. leo wasn't the easy trusting kind, but trusted jason with his life.
chandler, on the other hand, was completely different. there was nothing subtle about her power, her leadership, or her experience. she wasn't perfect, not in the slightest. she was easy to approach, to talk to. she was easygoing, and sarcastic until her temper sparked, and she was a monster-killing machine. it went without saying that she knew what she was doing even without all the questing experience she had under her belt.
"i hate to say it," jason sighed after sharing a nod with chandler, they'd come to a quick agreement before leo even understood what was happening, "but coach hedge is right. a distraction is piper's best chance."
not a good chance, leo thought. not even a survivable chance. just their best chance. they couldn't sit there all day and talk about it, though. it had to be close to noon, the giant's deadline, and the ground was still trying to pull them down. leo's knees had already sunk two inches into the dirt.
he looked at the construction equipment and got a crazy idea. he brought out the little toy he'd made on the climb, and he realized what it could do, if he was lucky, which he almost never was. "let's boogie," leo said, his eyes pinned on the equipment, mentally mapping out what he had to do. "before i come to my senses."