the great wave | percy jackson

𝑥𝑥𝑣𝑖 - leonidas

At first, Leo thought some storm spirits were throwing rocks at them or something. Then he realized it was sleet.

"An ice storm?" Piper shoved her head into his peripherals. "Is it supposed to be this cold in Sonoma?"

Leo wasn't sure, but something about this storm seemed conscious, malevolent. Behind them, Jason woke up quickly from where he'd just lost his pillow (AKA Piper), crawling forward to join them. "We've got to be getting close. Can someone wake up Del?"

"Sleeps like the dead, this one," Leo muttered, reaching over to shake her, but suddenly the helicopter jerked and he had to use all his hands plus a foot to wrestle the joystick into submission. The whole machine was shuddering in the icy wind, unprepared for cold-weather flying. The controls refused to respond and they started to lose altitude. Below them, the ridge of a hill loomed in the fog and Leo yanked the stick, barely clearing the treetops.

"There!" Jason shouted.

A small valley opened up before them, with the murky shape of a building in the middle. Leo aimed the helicopter straight for it. Combat seemed to be all around, flashes of light going off everywhere, trees cracking and exploding, shapes darting through the mist. He set them down in an icy field about fifty yards away and killed the engine. He was about to relax when he heard a whistling sound and saw a dark shape hurtling at them out of the gloom.

"Out!" Leo screamed, hastily undoing Ash's seatbelt and just managing to tackle her outside and out of range of the rotors before a massive BOOM shook the ground.

Well, that finally seemed to wake Ash up. She groaned and attempted to sit, finding a 5'7 Latino kid in her way. Helping each other up shakily, they saw what had flattened their ride–the world's largest snowball. No, like seriously, get the Guiness people out here.

"You all right?" Jason ran up to them, Piper at his side. They both looked fine except for being speckled with snow and mud.

"Yeah." Leo shivered. "Guess we owe that ranger lady a new helicopter."

"Not it!" Ash said.

Piper pointed south. "Fighting's over there." Then she frowned. "No... it's all around us."

She was right. The snow and mist made it hard to tell for sure, but there seemed to be a circle of fighting all around the house that loomed in the background.

"Jason! Fields!" a girl's voice called.

Thalia appeared from the fog, bow in hand, quiver almost empty. She ran toward them, but made it only a few steps before one of those ugly-ass Earthborn burst out of the storm behind her, a club raised in all six of his hands.

"Look out!" Leo yelled. They all started forward to help, but Thalia launched herself into a flip, notching an arrow as she pivoted and perfectly stuck the landing , dropping to kneeling position. The ogre got a silver arrow right between the eyes and Leo swore he almost swooned.

Holding the remains of her arrow in her hand, Thalia stomped up to them. "That was my last one." She kicked the pile of clay resentfully. "Stupid ogre."

"Nice shot, though," Leo said.

Thalia ignored him, playing hard to get as usual, he loved that about her. She hugged Jason and Ash, giving a nod to Piper. "Just in time. My Hunters are holding a perimeter around the mansion, but we'll be overrun any minute."

"By Earthborn?" Jason asked.

"And wolves–Lycaon's minions." Thalia blew a fleck of ice off her nose. "Also storm spirits–"

"But we gave them to Aeolus!" Piper protested.

"Who tried to kill us," Leo reminded her. "Maybe he's helping Gaea again."