𝐎𝐂𝐄𝐀𝐍 𝐄𝐘𝐄𝐒 ! [jason grace]¹

C H A P T E R ⬩ S I X T E E N

O C E A N U S

C H A P T E R   S I X T E E N

( her royal bitchiness )

⟶⬩⬥⬩⟵

          MALIA WAS PRETTY sure she never wanted Leo to fly a helicopter ever again. At least, not while she was in the back of it, holding onto Jason's arm for dear life. Of course, it wasn't completely his fault, considering the conditions they were working with. That and they'd all been through hell, which was bound to screw with someone.

The sun was going down as they flew north over the Richmond Bridge, and Malia couldn't believe the day had gone so quickly. Once again, nothing like ADHD and a good fight to the death to make time fly.

Malia kept her eyes on the horizon, trying not to look down since she knew that would cause her to freak out almost as much as Leo was. Sure, she'd flown on the back of a dragon, and yeah, she'd been in a plane before, but a fear of heights doesn't just go away on its own. Especially when you're the daughter of the sea god traveling in the sky god's domain. She was bound to get shot down soon.

"Going okay?" Piper asked Leo from the copilot's seat. She sounded nervous, and Malia could barely hear her.

"Aces," Leo said. "So, what's the Wolf House?"

Jason knelt between their seats. "An abandoned mansion in the Sonoma Valley. A demigod built it—Jack London."

"He an actor?" Leo asked.

"Writer," Malia said. "Adventure stuff, right? Um, Call of the Wild? White Fang?"

"Yeah," Jason said. "He was a son of Mercury—I mean, Hermes. He was an adventurer, traveled the world. He was even a hobo for a while. Then he made a fortune writing. He bought a big ranch in the country and decided to build this huge mansion—the Wolf House."

"Named that 'cause he wrote about wolves?" Leo guessed.

"Partially," Jason said. "But the site, and the reason he wrote about wolves—he was dropping hints about his personal experience. There's a lot of holes in his life story—how he was born, who is dad was, why he wandered around so much—stuff you can only explain if you know he was a demigod."

The bay slipped behind them, and the helicopter continued north. Ahead of them, yellow hills rolled out as far as Malia could see.

"So Jack London went to Camp Half-Blood," Leo guessed.

"No," Jason said. "No, he didn't."

"Bro, you're freaking me out with the mysterious talk. Are you remembering your past or not?"

"Pieces," Jason said. "Only pieces. None of it good. The Wolf House is on sacred ground. It's where London started his journey as a child—where he found out he was a demigod. That's why he returned there. He thought he could live there, claim that land, but it wasn't meant for him. The Wolf House was cursed. It burned in a fire a week before he and his wife were supposed to move in. A few years later, London died, and his ashes were buried on the site."