The pilot said the plane couldn't wait for them , but that was okay with Daria. If they survived till the next day, she hoped they could find a different way back — anything but a plane.
She should've been depressed. She was stuck in Alaska, the giant's home territory, out of contact with anyone from Camp Jupiter, her home for the last thirteen years.. Plus, tomorrow evening was the Feast of Fortuna. She, Percy, Frank, and Hazel had an impossible task to complete before then. At best, they would unleash Death, who might take Daria's two friends and her only relative to the Underworld. Not much to look forward to.
Still, Daria felt strangely invigorated. Her training with Gaea was teaching her how to be increasingly more powerful. The goddess had taught her how to use her powers without significant restraint from the Gods. It was all in the practice, once she got used to the pain, it couldn't hold her back.
The second question was Percy. Juno had stolen his memory and sent him to Camp Jupiter for a reason. She understood that now. Daria still wanted to punch her in her godly face, but at least she got her reasoning. If the two camps could work together, they stood a chance of stopping their mutual enemies. Separately, both camps were doomed.
And then there was Jason. She couldn't stop thinking about him, how she would see him in a couple of days. After the last few months, this final stretch should've been nothing to her. Instead, it was everything. She had no doubt in her mind that he felt the same way; she knew him too well to think anything different.
As they took a taxi into downtown Anchorage, Percy told them about his dreams. Daria was anxious but not surprised when he told them about the giant's army closing in on camp.
Frank choked when he heard about Tyson. "You have a half-brother who's a Cyclops?"
"Sure," Percy said. "Which makes him your great-great-great — "
"Please." Frank covered his ears. "Enough."
"As long as he can get Ella to camp," Hazel said. "I'm worried about her."
The taxi turned on Highway One, which looked more like a small street to Daria, and took them north toward downtown. It was late afternoon, but the sun was still high in the sky.
"I can't believe how much this place has grown," Hazel muttered.
The taxi driver grinned in the rearview mirror. "Been a long time since you visited, miss?"
"About seventy years," Hazel said.
The driver slid the glass partition closed and drove on in silence.
According to Hazel, almost none of the buildings were the same, but she pointed out features of the landscape: the vast forests ringing the city, the cold, gray waters of Cook Inlet tracing the north edge of town, and the Chugach Mountains rising grayish-blue in the distance, capped with snow even in June. Dari had never smelled air this clean before. The town itself had a weather-beaten look to it, with closed stores, rusted-out cars, and worn apartment complexes lining the road, but it was still beautiful. Lakes and huge stretches of woods cut through the middle. The arctic sky was an amazing combination of turquoise and gold.
Then there were the giants. Dozens of bright-blue men, each thirty feet tall with gray frosty hair, were wading through the forests, fishing in the bay, and striding across the mountains. The mortals didn't seem to notice them. The taxi passed within a few yards of one who was sitting at the edge of a lake washing his feet, but the driver didn't panic.
"Urn..." Frank pointed at the blue guy.
"Hyperboreans," Percy said. He looked like he was amazed he remembered that name. "Northern giants. I fought some when Kronos invaded Manhattan."
Daria hummed, "Like when Krios invaded Mount Tam."
"Yeah, probably. Anyway, these guys look...1 don't know, peaceful."
"They usually are," Hazel agreed. "I remember them. They're everywhere in Alaska, like bears."
"Bears?" Frank said nervously.
"The giants are invisible to mortals," Hazel said. "They never bothered me, though one almost stepped on me by accident once."
That sounded fairly bothersome to Daria, but the taxi kept driving. None of the giants paid them any attention. One stood right at the intersection of Northern Lights Road, straddling the highway, and they drove between his legs. The Hyperborean was cradling a Native American totem pole wrapped in furs, humming to it like a baby. If the guy hadn't been the size of a building, he would've been almost cute.
The taxi drove through downtown, past a bunch of tourists' shops advertising furs, Native American art, and gold. Daria hoped Hazel wouldn't get agitated and make the jewelry shops explode.
As the driver turned and headed toward the seashore, Hazel knocked on the glass partition. "Here is good. Can you let us out?"
They paid the driver and stepped onto Fourth Street. Compared to Vancouver, downtown Anchorage was tiny — more like a college campus than a city, but Hazel looked amazed.
"It's huge," she said. "That — that's where the Gitchell Hotel used to be. My mom and I stayed there our first week in Alaska. And they've moved City Hall. It used to be there."
She led them in a daze for a few blocks. They didn't really have a plan beyond finding the fastest way to the Hubbard Glacier, but Daria smelled something cooking nearby — sausage, maybe? She shared a glance with Percy.
"Food," he said. "Come on."
They found a cafe right by the beach. It was bustling with people, but they scored a table at the window and perused the menus.
Frank whooped with delight. "Twenty-four-hour breakfast!"
"It's, like, dinnertime," Percy said, though you couldn't tell from looking outside. The sun was so high, it could've been noon.
"I love breakfast," Frank said. "I'd eat breakfast, breakfast, and breakfast if I could. Though, um, I'm sure the food here isn't as good as Hazel's."
Hazel elbowed him, but her smile was playful.
Seeing them like that made Daria happy. Those two definitely needed to get together.
"You know," Percy said, "breakfast sounds great."
They all ordered massive plates of eggs, pancakes, and reindeer sausage, though Daria was a little worried at the reindeer "You think it's okay that we're eating Rudolph?"
"Dars," Percy said, "I could eat Prancer and Blitzen, too. I'm hungry."
The food was excellent. Daria had never seen anyone eat as fast as Frank. The red-nosed reindeer did not stand a chance.
Between bites of blueberry pancake, Hazel drew a squiggly curve and an X on her napkin. "So this is what I'm thinking. We're here." She tapped X. "Anchorage."
"It looks like a seagull's face," Percy said. "And we're the eye."
Hazel glared at him. "It's a map, Percy. Anchorage is at the top of this sliver of ocean, Cook Inlet. There's a big peninsula of land below us, and my old home town, Seward, is at the bottom of the peninsula, here." She drew another X at the base of the seagull's throat. "That's the closest town to the Hubbard Glacier. We could go around by sea, I guess, but it would take forever. We don't have that kind of time."
Frank polished off the last of his Rudolph. "But land is dangerous," he said. "Land means Gaea."
Hazel nodded. "I don't see that we've got much choice, though. We could have asked our pilot to fly us down, but I don't know... his plane might be too big for the little Seward airport. And if we chartered another plane — "
"No more planes," Percy said, and Daria made a small sound of agreement. "Please."
Hazel held up her hand in a placating gesture. "It's okay. There's a train that goes from here to Seward. We might be able to catch one tonight. It only takes a couple of hours."
She drew a dotted line between the two X's.
"You just cut off the seagull's head," Daria noted.
Hazel sighed. "It's the train line. Look, from Seward, the Hubbard Glacier is down here somewhere." She tapped the lower right corner of her napkin. "That's where Alcyoneus is."
"But you're not sure how far?" Frank asked.
Hazel frowned and shook her head. "I'm pretty sure it's only accessible by boat or plane."
"Boat," Percy said immediately.
"Fine," Hazel said. "It shouldn't be too far from Seward. If we can get to Seward safely."
Daria gazed out the window. So much to do, and only twenty-four hours left. This time tomorrow, the Feast of Fortuna would be starting. Unless they unleashed Death and made it back to camp, the giant's army would flood into the valley. The Romans would be the main course at a monster dinner.
Across the street, a frosty black sand beach led down to the sea, which was as smooth as steel. The ground here felt different — still powerful, but freezing, slow, and primal. No gods controlled the earth here, at least no gods that disliked Daria.
A Hyperborean giant lumbered across the street. Nobody in the cafe noticed. The giant stepped into the bay, cracking the ice under his sandals, and thrust his hands in the water. He brought out a killer whale in one fist. Apparently that wasn't what he wanted, because he threw the whale back and kept wading.
"Good breakfast," Frank said. "Who's ready for a train ride?"
The station wasn't far. They were just in time to buy tickets for the last train south. As they climbed on board, Percy said, "Be with you in a sec," and ran back into the station.
She saw him try to make a phone call, waiting for a few seconds before he put down the receiver. The train whistle sounded. The conductor shouted, "All aboard." Percy ran. He made it just as they were pulling up the steps, then climbed to the top of the double-decker car and slid into his seat.
Hazel frowned. "You okay?"
"Yeah," he croaked. "Just.. .made a call."
She got that. They didn't ask for details.
Soon they were heading south along the coast, watching the landscape go by. Daria tried to think about the quest, but for an ADHD kid like her, the train wasn't the easiest place to concentrate.
Cool things kept happening outside. Bald eagles soared overhead. The train raced over bridges and along cliffs where glacial waterfalls tumbled thousands of feet down the rocks. They passed forests buried in snowdrifts, big artillery guns (to set off small avalanches and prevent uncontrolled ones, Hazel explained), and lakes so clear, they reflected the mountains like mirrors, so the world looked upside down.
Brown bears lumbered through the meadows. Hyperborean giants kept appearing in the strangest places. One was lounging in a lake like it was a hot tub. Another was using a pine tree as a toothpick. A third sat in a snowdrift, playing with two live moose like they were action figures. The train was full of tourists ohhing and ahhing and snapping pictures, but Daria felt sorry they couldn't see the Hyperboreans. They were missing the really good shots.
Meanwhile, Frank studied a map of Alaska that he'd found in the seat pocket. He located Hubbard Glacier, which looked discouragingly far away from Seward. He kept running his finger along the coastline, frowning with concentration.
"What are you thinking?" Percy asked.
"Just... possibilities," Frank said.
She figured like her, Percy didn't know what that meant, but he let it go.
After about an hour, Daria started to relax. They bought hot chocolate from the dining car, no cinnamon, unfortunately. The seats were warm and comfortable, and she thought about taking a nap.
Then a shadow passed overhead. Tourists murmured in excitement and started taking pictures.
"Eagle!" one yelled.
"Eagle?" said another.
"Huge eagle!" said a third.
"That's not an eagle, is it?" Daria groaned.
She looked up just in time to see the creature make a second pass. It was definitely larger than an eagle, with a sleek black body the size of a Labrador retriever. Its wingspan was at least ten feet across.
"There's another one!" Frank pointed. "Strike that. Three, four. Okay, we're in trouble."
The creatures circled the train like vultures, delighting the tourists. Daria wasn't delighted. The monsters had glowing red eyes, sharp beaks, and vicious talons.
Percy felt for his pen in his pocket. "Those things look familiar...."
"Seattle," Hazel said. "The Amazons had one in a cage. They're — "
Then several things happened at once. The emergency brake screeched, pitching them forward. Tourists screamed and tumbled through the aisles. The monsters swooped down, shattering the glass roof of the car, and the entire train toppled off the rails.
***
Daria went weightless.
Her vision blurred. She saw claws grabbed Percy's arms and lift him into the air. Below, train wheels squealed and metal crashed. Glass shattered. Passengers screamed.
Daria scrambled to meet Frank and Hazel at the snowbank. The two of them were standing back to back, Frank trying to get a shot at the gryphon that had a hold of Percy. There wasn't much she could do right now except draw her swords and wait until one of them reached her level. Which was quite short, unfortunately.
Frank got his shot. Percy fell, crashing through tree branches until he slammed into a snowbank. He groaned, looking up at a massive pine tree he'd just shredded.
The gryphons finally got close enough for Daria to swing at them. She went right back to her Roman techniques, shredding through monster after monster, but they kept re-forming immeadiately.
"Are you seeing this?" She asked.
Percy agreed grimly, "What are these things?" he yelled.
"Gryphons!" Hazel said. "We have to get them away from the train!"
Daria saw what she meant. The train cars had fallen over, and their roofs had shattered. Tourists were stumbling around in shock. Daria didn't see anybody seriously injured, but the gryphons were swooping toward anything that moved. The only thing keeping them away from the mortals was a glowing gray warrior in camouflage — Frank's pet spartus.
"Used your last charge?"
"Yeah." Frank shot another gryphon out of the sky. "I had to help the mortals. The spear just dissolved."
"Let's move the fight!" Percy said. "Away from the tracks!" They stumbled through the snow, smacking and slicing gryphons that re-formed from dust every time they were killed.
Daria had had no experience with gryphons. She'd always imagined them as huge noble animals, like lions with wings, but these things reminded her more of vicious pack hunters — flying hyenas.
About fifty yards from the tracks, the trees gave way to an open marsh. The ground was so spongy and icy, Daria felt like she was racing across Bubble Wrap. Frank was running out of arrows. Hazel was breathing hard. Percy's sword swings were getting slower. She realized they were alive only because the gryphons weren't trying to kill them. The gryphons wanted to pick them up and carry them off somewhere.
Maybe to their nests, Daria thought.
Then Percy tripped over something in the tall grass — a circle of scrap metal about the size of a tractor tire. It was, in fact, a massive bird's nest — a gryphon's nest — the bottom littered with old pieces of jewelry, an Imperial gold dagger, a dented centurion's badge, and two pumpkin-sized eggs that looked like real gold.
Percy jumped into the nest. He pressed his sword tip against one of the eggs. "Back off, or I break it!"
The gryphons squawked angrily. They buzzed around the nest and snapped their beaks, but they didn't attack. Hazel and Frank stood back to back with Daria and Percy, their weapons ready.
"Gryphons collect gold," Hazel said. "They're crazy for it. Look — more nests over there."
Frank nocked his last arrow. "So if these are their nests, where were they trying to take Percy? That thing was flying away with him."
Daria's arms were getting tired. "Alcyoneus," she guessed. "Maybe they're working for him. Are these things smart enough to take orders?"
"I don't know," Hazel said. "I never fought them when I lived here. I just read about them at camp." Ah, that was embarrassing, but Daria never read for her classes. It was one thing that Jason always admonished her for.
"Weaknesses?" Frank asked. "Please tell me they have weaknesses."
Hazel scowled. "Horses. They hate horses — natural enemies, or something. I wish Arion was here!"
The gryphons shrieked. They swirled around the nest with their red eyes glowing.
"Guys," Frank said nervously, "I see legion relics in this nest."
"I know," Daria said.
"That means other demigods died here, or — "
"Frank, it'll be okay," she promised
One of the gryphons dived in. Percy raised his sword, ready to stab the egg. The monster veered off, but the other gryphons were losing their patience. Percy couldn't keep this standoff going much longer.
She glanced around the fields, desperately trying to formulate a plan. About a quarter mile away, a Hyperborean giant was sitting in the bog, peacefully picking mud from between his toes with a broken tree trunk.
"I've got an idea," Percy spoke up. "Hazel — all the gold in these nests. Do you think you can use it to cause a distraction?"
"I — I guess."
"Just give us enough time for a head start. When I say go, run for that giant."
Frank gaped at him. "You want us to run toward a giant?"
"Trust me," Percy said. "Ready? Go!"
Hazel thrust her hand upward. From a dozen nests across the marsh, golden objects shot into the air — jewelry, weapons, coins, gold nuggets, and most importantly, gryphon eggs. The monsters shrieked and flew after their eggs, frantic to save them.
Daria and her friends ran. Their feet splashed and crunched through the frozen marsh. She poured on speed, but she could hear the gryphons closing behind them, and now the monsters were really angry.
The giant hadn't noticed the commotion yet. He was inspecting his toes for mud, his face sleepy and peaceful, his white whiskers glistening with ice crystals. Around his neck was a necklace of found objects — garbage cans, car doors, moose antlers, camping equipment, even a toilet. Apparently he'd been cleaning up the wilderness.
Daria hated to disturb him, especially since it meant taking shelter under the giant's thighs, but they didn't have much choice.
"Under!" Percy told his friends. "Crawl under!"
They scrambled between the massive blue legs and flattened themselves in the mud, crawling as close as they could to his loincloth. Daria tried to breathe through her mouth, but it wasn't the most pleasant hiding spot.
"What's the plan?" Frank hissed. "Get flattened by a blue rump?"
"Lay low," Percy said. "Only move if you have to."
The gryphons arrived in a wave of angry beaks, talons, and wings, swarming around the giant, trying to get under his legs.
The giant rumbled in surprise. He shifted. Daria had to roll to avoid getting crushed by his large hairy rear. The Hyperborean grunted, a little more irritated. He swatted at the gryphons, but they squawked in outrage and began pecking at his legs and hands.
"Ruh?" the giant bellowed. "Ruh!"
He took a deep breath and blew out a wave of cold air. Even under the protection of the giant's legs, Daria could feel the temperature drop. She started shivering, gods, she hated the cold.
The gryphons' shrieking stopped abruptly, replaced by the thunk, thunk, thunk of heavy objects hitting the mud.
"Come on," Percy told his friends. "Carefully."
They squirmed out from under the giant. All around the marsh, trees were glazed with frost. A huge swath of the bog was covered in fresh snow. Frozen gryphons stuck out of the ground like feathery Popsicle sticks, their wings still spread, beaks open, eyes wide with surprise.
Percy and his friends scrambled away, trying to keep out of the giant's vision, but the big guy was too busy to notice them. He was trying to figure out how to string a frozen gryphon onto his necklace.
"Percy..." Hazel wiped the ice and mud from her face. "How did you know the giant could do that?"
"I almost got hit by Hyperborean breath once," he said. "We'd better move. The gryphons won't stay frozen forever."
Thanks for reading! What's your favorite part been so far?
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~M