ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ THE HOUSE OF MEMORIES ༉‧₊˚.[THE HEROES OF OLYMPUS]
p i p e r
chapter forty-two: aunt chan & uncle leo takes us for a small ride
AIR TRAFFIC control didn't want to let an unscheduled helicopter land at the oakland airport.
well, that was until piper got on the radio. then, it turned out to be no problem. they unloaded on the tarmac, and, well, everyone looked to piper. it was jason to actually speak up, the hephaestus demigods only offering inquiring glances, "what now?"
piper felt uncomfortable. she didn't like being in charge, and it was the last thing she wanted. for her dad's sake, she wanted to appear knowing, and confident, but she had absolutely no plan. of course, she remembered he'd flown into oakland, which meant his private plane would still be there. but, it was the day of the solstice. they still had to save hera. they had no idea where to go, or even if they were too late, or not. but, piper was torn; afterall, how could she leave her father in that condition?
"first thing," she said, feeling guilty as their postures perked up, clearly waiting for whatever master plan she'd managed to throw together on the fly. "i. . . i have to get my dad home. i'm sorry, guys." she hated the way she felt as if she had disappointed them, their faces falling immediately.
"oh," leo said, then corrected his tone quickly, trying to sound more upbeat for her sake. but for the first time, piper seen through the act. "i mean, absolutely. he needs you right now. we can take things from here."
"pipes, no," her dad had been sitting in the helicopter door way, his fingers clasped tightly around the emotional support blanket daped over his shoulders. overhearing their conversation, mr. mclean stumbled to his feet, making his way over, "you have a mission, a quest. i can't–"
"i'll take care of him," coach hedge volunteered, unintentionally cutting off the movie star. piper stared, surprised. he'd been the very last person she expected to offer to step away from the fighting, and to take care of her father. "i'm a protector," hedge reminded them, his eyebrows raised, "that's my job, not fighting." he sounded a bit crestfallen, and piper realized, a bit embarrassedly, that maybe she shouldn't have recounted the way he'd gotten knocked unconscious in the beginning of the last battle. in his own way, the satyr was just as sensitive as her father.
as if he could read her thoughts, coach hedge straightened, locking his jaw, "and of course, i'm good at fighting, too." he glared at them each in turn, as if he was daring them to argue, or deny his attribute to the team.
"yes, jason said simply.
"terrifying," leo tacked on.
"you scare the living daylights out of me," chandler said finally, her tone a bit dry in amusement.
coach hedge grunted, as if he could sense they weren't being entirely genuine, but appreciated the sentiment all the same, "but i'm a protector, and i can do it. your dad is right, piper. you need to carry on with the quest."
the aphrodite demigoddess' eyes stung, as if she were back in the forest fire. she blinked, trying to rid the sensation, "dad. . ." mr. mclean held out his arms, and they hugged tightly. he felt frail, and was trembling so much, it scared her.
"let's. . ." chandler paused, turning her eyes away from the scene, "let's give them a moment." at her suggestion, the hephaestus demigoddess guided them, and the pilot a couple yards down the tarmac.
"i can't believe it," her dad, his eyes focused on nothing in particular as he blinked in disbelief. "i failed you."
"no, dad!"
"the things they did, piper, the visions they showed me..."
"dad, listen," she pulled the pink vial from her pocket, smoothing her thumb over the glass a bit nervously, "aphrodite gave me this, for you. it takes away your recent memories. it'll make it like none of this ever happened."
he gazed at her, as if translating her words from a foreign language. "but you're a hero. i would forget that?"
"yes," piper whispered, but she forced an assuring tone into her voice. "yes, you would. it'll be like. . .like before."
he closed his eyes and took a shaky breath. "i love you, piper. i always have. i sent you away because i didn't want you exposed to my life. not the way i grew up; the poverty, the hopelessness. not the hollywood insanity either. i thought. . .i thought i was protecting you." he managed a brittle laugh. "as if your life without me was better, or safer."
piper took his hand. she'd heard him talk about protecting her before, but she'd never believed it. she'd always thought he was just rationalizing. her dad seemed so confident and easygoing, like his life was a joyride. how could he claim she needed protecting from that? finally, piper understood he'd been acting for her benefit, trying not to show how scared and insecure he was. he really had been trying to protect her. and now his ability to cope had been destroyed. she offered him the vial. "take it. maybe someday we'll be ready to talk about this again. when you're ready."
"when i'm ready," he murmured, a small smile on his lips. "you make it sound like—like i'm the one growing up. i'm supposed to be the parent." he took the vial. his eyes glimmered with a small desperate hope. "i love you, pipes."
"love you, too, dad."
he drank the pink liquid. his eyes rolled up into his head, and he slumped forward. piper caught him, and her friends ran up to help. "got him," hedge said. the satyr stumbled, but he was strong enough to hold tristan mclean upright. "i already asked our ranger friend to call up his plane. it's on the way now. home address?"
piper was about to tell him. then a thought occurred to her. she checked her dad's pocket, and his iphone was still there. it seemed bizarre that he'd still have something so normal after all he'd been through, but she guessed enceladus hadn't seen any reason to take it. "everything's on here," she said. "address, his chauffeur's number. just watch out for jane."
"oh, her!" chandler recalled, a scowl immediately decorating her features. she must've been thinking about when they encountered medea, then looked to piper sharply as if she'd suddenly got an idea. "can i go, too? we need to have a word." the girl looked beyond furious, and was moving around a lot. piper guessed being angry made her adhd act up.
jason sighed, as if he expected this, and pulled the girl to his side. "let's go calm down, yeah?"
hedge's eyes lit up at chandler's reaction, like he sensed a possible fight. "who's jane?"
by the time piper explained, her dad's sleek, white gulf-stream had taxied next to the helicopter. hedge and the flight attendant got piper's dad on board. then, hedge came down one last time to say his good-byes. he gave piper a hug, then gave chandler one. when it got to the boys, hedge glared at jason and leo. "you cupcakes take care of these girls, you hear? or i'm gonna make you do push-ups."
"you got it, coach," leo said, a smile tugging at his mouth.
"no push-ups," jason promised.
piper gave the old satyr one more hug. "thank you, gleeson. take care of him, please."
"i got this, mclean," he assured her, a pat on her back for extra reassurance. "they got root beer and veggie enchiladas on this flight, and one hundred percent linen napkins – yum! i could get used to this." trotting up the stairs, he lost one shoe, and his hoof was visible for just a second. the flight attendant's eyes widened, but she looked away and pretended nothing was wrong. piper figured she'd probably seen stranger things, working for tristan mclean.
when the plane was heading down the runaway, piper started to cry. she'd been holding it in too long and she just couldn't anymore. before she knew it, chandler was hugging her, and jason and leo stood uncomfortably nearby. leo pulled a kleenex out of his tool belt. "your dad's in good hands," jason said, awkwardly trying to pitch in on the assurance. "you did amazing." she sobbed into chandler's shirt. she allowed herself to be held for six deep breaths. seven. eight.
then, she couldn't indulge herself anymore. they needed her. the helicopter pilot was already looking uncomfortable, like she was starting to wonder why she'd flown them here. "thank you, guys," piper said. "i—" she wanted to tell them how much they meant to her. they'd sacrificed everything, maybe even their quest, to help her. she couldn't repay them, couldn't even put her gratitude into words. but her friends' expressions told her they understood.
then, right next to jason, the air began to shimmer. at first piper thought it was heat off the tarmac, or maybe gas fumes from the helicopter, but she'd seen something like this before in medea's fountain. it was an iris-message. an image appeared in the air, a dark-haired girl in silver winter camouflage, holding a bow. jason stumbled back in surprise. "thalia!"
"thank the gods," said the huntress. the scene behind her was hard to make out, but piper heard yelling, metal clashing on metal, and explosions. "we've found her," thalia said, then peered into their background, trying to guage how far away they were. "where are you?"
"oakland," he answered, then did the same. "where are you?"
"the wolf house! oakland is good; you're not too far. we're holding off the giant's minions, but we can't hold them forever. get here before sunset, or it's all over."
"then it's not too late?" piper cried.
hope surged through her, but thalia's expression quickly dampened it. "not yet," the huntress said. "but jason, it's worse than i realized. porphyrion is rising. you have to hurry."
"but where is the wolf house?" jason pleaded, he had the same anguished expression he had whenever he strained to recall details from his past.
"our last trip, the park. jack london. remember?" thalia's image began to flicker in, and out. she made eye contact with chandler. "get him here in time, fire-starter. i trust you."
chandler nodded, her face grim. "we'll be there, pinecone face." the nicknames nor the information thalia provided made no sense to piper, but jason looked like he'd been shot. the iris-message flicked, and disappeared.
"you all right?" leo asked, mildly concerned with the reactions to the call. "you know where she is?"
"yes," jason murmured, his expression still cloudy. "sonoma valley. not far. not by air."
piper turned to the ranger pilot, who'd been watching all this with an increasingly puzzled expression. "ma'am," she said with her best smile. "you don't mind helping us one more time, do you?"
"i don't mind," the pilot agreed.
"we can't take a mortal into battle, it's too dangerous," the honey blonde disagreed, then, struck with a sudden idea, he looked to the hephaestus children, "do either of you think you could fly this thing?"
"um..." neither expressions didn't exactly reassure piper. but then chandler put her hand on the side of the helicopter, concentrating hard, as if listening to the machine. "bell 412hp utility helicopter," chandler hummed, moving her hand around, as if looking for more details. "composite four-blade main rotor, cruising speed twenty-two knots, service ceiling twenty-thousand feet. the tank is near full. sure, we can fly it."
piper smiled at the ranger again. "you don't have a problem with a couple under-aged, unlicensed kids borrowing your copter, do you? we'll return it."
"i—" the pilot nearly choked on the words, but she got them out: "i don't have a problem with that."
leo grinned. "hop in, kiddies. aunt chan, and uncle leo's gonna take you for a ride."