OPHELIA WOKE UP at a patio table surrounded by her friends, startled awake by someone's knee banging against the underside of the table.
"What?" Hedge demanded. "Fight who? Where?"
"Falling!" Leo grabbed the table. "No—not falling. Where are we?"
"Does anyone else smell coffee or am I having a stroke?" Ophelia asked, going to run a hand through her hair only to realize it had somehow been braided to the side. She frowned. "Who did my hair?"
Piper groaned, clearly displeased. She was in a completely new outfit—a turquoise dress, black leggings, and black leather boots, with a silver charm bracelet on her wrist, an old snowboarding jacket that looked a little big on her, and her hair done in two French braids. "Sorry," she muttered. She looked like she was about to say something else, but she must have thought better of it.
Leo grinned. "Aphrodite strikes again, huh? You're gonna be the best-dressed warrior in town, beauty queen."
"Hey, Leo." Jason nudged his arm. "You look at yourself recently?"
"What... oh."
It seemed all of them had been given makeovers. Leo was wearing pinstriped pants, black leather shoes, a white collarless shirt with suspenders, and his tool belt, Ray-Ban sunglasses, and a porkpie hat.
"God, Leo." Piper suppressed a laugh. "I think my dad wore that to his last premiere, minus the tool belt."
"Hey, shut up!"
"I think he looks good," Coach Hedge interjected. "'Course, I look better."
The satyr was a pastel nightmare. He had on a baggy canary-yellow zoot suit with two-tone shoes that fit over his hooves. He had a matching yellow broad-brimmed hat, a rose-colored shirt, a baby blue tie, and a blue carnation on his lapel, which Hedge sniffed and then ate.
Ophelia was almost afraid to look down at herself, but to her relief, Piper's mom hadn't gone overboard. She was in a pair of light-wash mom jeans, cuffed at the ankle, along with the black boots she'd woken up on the Wilderness School bus with—though now they were clean and scuff-free, which was nice. Aphrodite had let her keep Jason's stolen sweatshirt, though it was now half tucked into her jeans and the sleeves had been rolled up to her elbows. She could feel a pair of sunglasses perched on her head, and her lips felt sticky, which made her wonder if she had on lipstick or lip gloss. A pat on her pockets confirmed her compass and switchblade were still there, safely tucked away but right within reach.
She felt something cold across the back of her neck, and she realized she'd woken up with the locket from her dream. She clicked the locket open, just to make sure, and swallowed hard at the memory of her dream.
"Wow," she muttered, looking under the table at her newly-cleaned boots. "Piper's mom gives us makeovers and my grandmother just tells me I need to work on my stamina."
Piper frowned. "Huh?"
Ophelia remembered Trivia's warning not to tell anyone about their meeting until the quest was over. She shook her head. "Later," she mumbled, hoping her friends would take mercy and drop the subject.
Luckily, Jason seemed to pick up on her desire not to be interrogated, and cleared his throat. "Well, at least Aphrodite overlooked me."
Ophelia knew that wasn't true. Aphrodite had put him in a simple pair of jeans and a clean purple t-shirt, just like he'd woken up in at the Grand Canyon. He had on new tennis shoes and his hair looked newly trimmed, and the only accessory he had was a black hair-tie around her wrist. Why he would need a hair tie, Ophelia couldn't say, but Aphrodite's overall message was clear: This one needs no improvement.
Ophelia was inclined to agree.
"Anyway," Piper said, "how did we get here?"
"Oh, that would be Mellie," Hedge said, happily chewing on his carnation. "Those winds shot us halfway across the country, I'd guess. We would've been smashed flat on impact, but Mellie's last gift—a nice soft breeze—cushioned our fall."
"And she got fired for us," Leo said. "Man, we suck."
"Ah, she'll be fine," Hedge said. "Besides, she couldn't help herself. I've got that effect on nymphs. I'll send her a message when we're through with this quest and help her figure something out. That is one aura I could settle down with and raise a herd of baby goats."
"I'm going to be sick," Piper said. "Anyone else want coffee?"
"Coffee?" Hedge's grin was stained blue from the flower. "I love coffee!"
"Um," Jason said, "but—money? Our packs?"
Their packs were at their feet, and everything seemed to still be there. Piper reached into her pocket and brought out a wad of cash.
Leo whistled. "Allowance? Piper, your mom rocks!"
"Waitress!" Hedge called. "Six double espressos, and whatever these guys want. Put it on the girl's tab."
❖
It didn't take them long to figure out where they were. Their menus read Café Verve, Walnut Creek, CA, and according to their waitress, it was nine a.m. on December twenty-first—the winter solstice. That gave them three hours until Enceladus's deadline.
They could see Mount Diablo on the horizon, right at the end of the street. After the Rockies, Mount Diablo didn't look very large, nor was it covered in snow. It seemed downright peaceful, its golden creases marbled with gray-green trees. But Ophelia had learned how deceiving looks could be.
As they all sipped on their coffees and snacked on chocolate chip scones, Leo pulled something out of his pocket—the old crayon drawing Aeolus had given him.
"What is that?" Piper asked.
Leo folded it up gingerly again and put it away. "Nothing. You don't want to see my kindergarten artwork."
"It's more than that," Jason guessed. "Aeolus said it was the key to our success."
Leo shook his head. "Not today. He was talking about... later."
"How can you be sure?" Ophelia asked.
"Trust me," Leo said. "Now—what's our game plan?"
"Climb the mountain," Hedge said. "Kill everything except Piper's dad. Leave."
"Thank you, General Eisenhower," Jason grumbled.
"Hey, I'm just saying!"
"Guys," Piper said. "There's more you need to know." She told them some things she'd figured out in her dreams, and who their real enemy was: Gaea.
"Gaea?" Leo shook her head. "Isn't that Mother Nature? She's supposed to have, like, flowers in her hair and birds singing around her and deer and rabbits doing her laundry."
"Leo, that's Snow White," Piper deadpanned.
"Okay, but—"
"Listen, cupcake." Hedge dabbed the espresso out of his goatee. "Piper's telling us some serious stuff, here. Gaea's no softie. I'm not even sure I could take her."
Leo whistled. "Really?"
Hedge nodded. "The earth lady—she and her old man the sky were nasty customers."
"Ouranos," Piper said, looking nervously at the sky like it might be eavesdropping.
"Right," Hedge said. "So Ouranos, he's not the best dad. He throws their first kids, the Cyclopes, into Tartarus. That makes Gaea mad, but she bides her time. Then they have another set of kids—the twelve Titans—and Gaea is afraid they'll get thrown into prison too. So she goes up to her son Kronos—"
"The big bad dude," Leo said. "The one they defeated last summer."
"Right. And Gaea's the one who gives him the scythe, and tells him, 'Hey, why don't I call your dad down here? And while he's talking to me, distracted, you can cut him to pieces. Then you can take over the world. Wouldn't that be great?'"
Nobody said anything for a few moments.
"That's... brutal," Ophelia commented.
"Definitely not Snow White," Piper agreed.
"Nah, Kronos was a bad guy," Hedge said. "But Gaea is literally the mother of all bad guys. She's so old and powerful, so huge, that it's hard for her to be fully conscious. Most of the time, she sleeps, and that's the way we like her—snoring."
"But she talked to me," Leo said. "How can she be asleep?"
Hedge brushed crumbs off his canary yellow lapel. He was on his sixth espresso now, and his pupils were as big as quarters. "Even in her sleep, part of her consciousness is active—dreaming, keeping watch, doing little things like causing volcanoes to explode and monsters to rise. Even now, she's not fully awake. Believe me, you don't want to see her fully awake."
"But she's getting more powerful," Piper pointed out. "She's causing the giants to rise. And if their king comes back—this guy Porphyrion—"
"He'll raise an army to destroy the gods," Jason put in. "Starting with Hera. It'll be another war. And Gaea will wake up fully."
Coach Hedge nodded. "Which is why it's a good idea for us to stay off the ground as much as possible."
Leo looked warily at Mount Diablo. "So... climbing a mountain. That would be bad."
Piper shook her head, looking distraught. "Guys, I can't ask you to do this. This is too dangerous."
Ophelia put her hand over Piper's, squeezing it lightly. "We're going to get your dad back, Piper."
Gleeson belched and showed them his blue carnation smile. "Yeah," he agreed. "Who's ready to beat stuff up?"
❖
After a cab ride halfway up the mountain, they were stuck going the rest of the way on foot. Which proved treacherous, with the way the dirt beneath them kept sticking to their feet.
Ophelia found herself studying the valley underneath them, and the horizon itself. She felt strangely familiar with the area, as if she'd been there before—as if she knew the area well enough to forgo a map or travel directions.
Is this where we came from? The thought was sudden, full of wonder, full of hope.
Was this home?
Jason seemed to know the area, too. "That's Concord," Jason said, pointing north. "Walnut Creek is below us. To the south, Danville, past those hills. And that way..." He pointed west, where a ridge of golden hills held back a layer of fog.
"Berkeley Hills. The East Bay," Ophelia said. "Past that, San Francisco."
Piper touched Ophelia's arm. "You guys remember something? You've been here?"
"Yes... no." Jason shared an anguished look with Ophelia. "It just seems important."
"That's Titan land." Coach Hedge nodded toward the west. "Bad place, guys. Trust me, this is as close to 'Frisco as we want to get."
That didn't feel right, though, not to Ophelia. She wasn't afraid of the place. She didn't get a bad feeling as she looked out at the horizon, toward San Francisco. She felt like she was on the edge of something important—some memory or feeling that might explain why she felt like she was meant to go toward San Francisco.
"Hey, guys," Leo said, pulling Ophelia's attention away from San Francisco and her muddled thoughts. "Let's keep moving."
Ophelia tried to take a step, but she found it harder than it should have been. She nearly stumbled as she pulled her foot free of the quicksand-like dirt, and Jason was there to steady her.
"Gaea is stronger here," Hedge grumbled. He popped his hooves free from his shoes, then handed them to Leo. "Keep those for me, Valdez. They're nice."
Leo snorted. "Yes, sir, Coach. Would you like them polished?"
"That's varsity thinking, Valdez." Hedge nodded approvingly. "But first, we'd better hike up this mountain while we still can."
"How do we know where the giant is?" Piper asked.
Jason pointed toward the peak. Drifting across the summit was a plume of smoke. From a distance, it looked like a cloud, but it wasn't. Something was burning.
"Smoke equals fire," Jason said. "We'd better hurry."
❖
The hike up the mountain was hot and exhausting. Ophelia was grateful Piper's mom had given her sunglasses, and she wore them happily as they climbed. It didn't take long for her to pull off Jason's sweatshirt—after ensuring Aphrodite had given her an undershirt—and tie it around her waist to expose her arms to whatever slight breeze came their way.
Halfway up, Jason asked her about her grandmother.
Ophelia was careful not to mention the fact that Trivia had actually visited her, instead framing as a weird memory-dream. As they walked and she talked, she fidgeted with the locket, tracing the engraving with her fingernail.
"My mom and my aunt were both demigods," she said quietly, still not quite believing it. It seemed like an impossible thing, to survive life as a demigod long enough to start a family. But, then again, her aunt died when she was nineteen, and her mother six years after. They hadn't lived much longer than Ophelia had so far.
Growing old didn't seem like an option for those with ichor in their mortal veins.
"And they're both dead," she sighed. "Just like Matt. Just like gods' know how many more people in my old life. I'm starting to wonder if Hera was doing me a favor taking my memories. It doesn't seem like there's anyone waiting for me—wherever we came from."
Jason reached for her hand, their fingers tangling together like the spaces between were made for them. He didn't say anything, but the message was still clear: You've still got me.
And for now, that was enough.
After what felt like an eternity of walking, Jason crouched down behind a wall of rock, pulling Ophelia down with him and gesturing for the others to crouch, too. Leo crawled up next to Ophelia. Piper had to pull Hedge down.
"I don't want to get my outfit dirty!" Hedge complained.
Piper shushed him, and 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, and a long metal column with an ax blade, like a sideways guillotine.
The giant Enceladus was huge. He was easily as tall as the trees around him, focusing intently on the weird purple bonfire. He circled it, chanting under his breath. From the waist up, he looked human—his muscular chest clad in bronze armor, decorated with flame designs. His skin was bronze but sooty with ash. His face looked 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 somehow more terrifying. His legs were scaly green, with claws instead of feet—like the forelegs of a dragon. He held a spear the size of a flagpole in his hand, and 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. "You're not charging him alone!"
"Aw, c'mon."
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 Ophelia couldn't make out his face, but Piper didn't seem to have any doubts.
"Dad," she breathed.
"There's five of us," Hedge whispered urgently. "And only one of him."
"Did you miss the fact that he's thirty feet tall?" Leo asked.
"Okay," Hedge said. "So you, me, Ophelia, and Jason distract him. Piper sneaks around and frees her dad."
They all looked at Jason.
"What?" Jason asked. "I'm not the leader."
"Yes, you are," Ophelia said, knowing it was the truth. Even without her memory, Ophelia knew Jason was a born leader. He had a natural balance to him—he knew how to keep a level head and make the right decisions in a split second.
"I hate to say it," Jason sighed, "but Coach Hedge is right. A distraction is Piper's best chance."
They were all quiet for a few seconds, letting their near-suicidal plan sink in. But they didn't have time to dwell or come up with a better plan—it had to be close to noon, Enceladus's deadline.
It was now or never.
"Let's boogie," Leo said. "Before I come to my senses."
❖
happy monday! if you live in the US & are eligible to vote and haven't already, GO VOTE TOMORROW (11/03/2020)!
if you're not from the US, pray to whatever god/power you believe in because... it's gonna be wild no matter who wins.