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chapter twenty
( BEFORE NEW JOURNEY )
She thought she was dead for a short moment, as her own energy was drained as she feeling when she's about to dead. She awake feeling stuck in her own body and are unable to move. Her eyelids were barely open, begging her to go to sleep, but she'll never wake up in the living world again.
Then the spark travelled through her vein, she experienced her skin burning with heat again, and she began hearing voices. "Wake up, Katherine."
She gasped, and her eyes flew open. For a moment they were full of light—glowing pure gold. Then the light faded and her eyes were normal again. "What—what happened?"
"Impossible!" Hera said.
Jason wrapped him in a hug until she groaned, "Crushing me."
"Sorry," he said, so relieved, he laughed while wiping a tear from his eye.
Thalia gripped Katherine's hand. "How do you feel?"
"Hot," she muttered. "Mouth is dry. And I saw something... really terrible."
"That was Hera," Thalia grumbled. "Her Majesty, the Loose Cannon."
"That's it, Thalia Grace," said the goddess. "I will turn you into an aardvark, so help me—"
"Stop it, you two," Piper said. Amazingly, they both shut up.
Piper helped Katherine to her feet and gave her the last nectar from their supplies.
"Now ..." Piper faced Thalia and Hera. "Hera—Your Majesty—we couldn't have rescued you without the Hunters. And Thalia, you never would've seen Jason again—I wouldn't have met him—if it weren't for Hera. You two make nice, because we've got bigger problems."
They both glared at her, and for three long seconds, Kathreine wasn't sure which one of them was going to kill her first.
Finally Thalia grunted. "You've got spirit, Piper." She pulled a silver card from her parka and tucked it into the pocket of Piper's snowboarding jacket. "You ever want to be a Hunter, call me. We could use you."
Hera crossed her arms. "Fortunately for this Hunter, you have a point, daughter of Aphrodite." She assessed Piper, as if seeing her clearly for the time. "You wondered, Piper, why I chose you for this quest, why I didn't reveal your secret in the beginning, even when I knew Enceladus was using you. I must admit, until this moment I was not sure. Something told me you would be vital to the quest. Now I see I was right. You're even stronger than I realized. And you are correct about the dangers to come. We must work together."
"Yeah," he said, "I don't suppose that Porphyrion guy just melted and died, huh?"
"No," Hera agreed. "By saving me, and saving this place, you prevented Gaea from waking. You have bought us some time. But Porphyrion has risen. He simply knew better than to stay here, especially since he has not yet regained his full power. Giants can only be killed by a combination of god and demigod, working together. Once you freed me—"
