𝙼𝚎𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚘𝚒𝚊 (𝙇𝙚𝙤 𝙑𝙖𝙡𝙙𝙚𝙯 𝙓 𝙊𝙘)

δεκαπέντε

***
THE TRIP TO THE WOLF HOUSE WAS UNEVENTFUL. Until the snow storm hit that is. Leo had just about enough time to kill the helicopter switch and give Elena a flirtatious wink before they had to ditch the helicopter to save themselves. The world's largest snowball—a chunk of snow, ice, and dirt the size of a garage—had completely flattened the Bell 412.

"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. Where's Ellie?"

A head popped out from the snow. "I'm here." She said, spitting out a mouthful of snow. "Blegh." She'd fallen face first into the snow and had made a deep indent of her face in the snow. Under different circumstances, Leo might have laughed but Elena's face was too stiff and serious to do much laughing.

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

She was right. The sounds of combat rang across the valley. The snow and mist made it hard to tell for sure, but there seemed to be a circle of fighting all around the Wolf House.

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

Thalia appeared from the fog, her parka caked with snow. Her bow was in her hand, and her quiver was almost empty. She ran toward them, but made it only a few steps before a six-armed ogre—one of the Earthborn—burst out of the storm behind her, a raised club in each hand.

"Look out!" Leo yelled. They rushed to help, but Thalia had it under control. She launched herself into a flip, notching an arrow as she pivoted like a gymnast and landed in a kneeling position. The ogre got a silver arrow right between the eyes and melted into a pile of clay.

Thalia stood and retrieved her arrow, but the point had snapped off. "That was my last one." She kicked the pile of clay resentfully.

"I can make more arrows," Leo said, putting his hand up .

"It's fine. Stupid ogre." Leo wasn't exactly sure if she was calling him an ogre or she was talking about the actual ogre.

"Nice shot, though," Leo replied.

Thalia ignored him as usual (which no doubt meant she thought he was as cool as ever). She hugged Jason and Elena and nodded to Piper (his existence was not acknowledged but because he had eyes on another, he didn't mind) . 

"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," Elena reminded her. "Maybe he's helping Gaia again."

"I don't know," Thalia said. "But the monsters keep re-forming almost as fast as we can kill them. We took the Wolf House with no problem: surprised the guards and sent them straight to Tartarus. But then this freak snow storm blew in. Wave after wave of monsters started attacking. Now we're surrounded. I don't know who or what is leading the assault, but I think they planned this. It was a trap to kill anyone who tried to rescue Hera."

"Where is she?" Jason asked."Inside," Thalia said. "We tried to free her, but we can't figure out how to break the cage. It's only a few minutes until the sun goes down. Hera thinks that's the moment when Porphyrion will be reborn. Plus, most monsters are stronger at night. If we don't free Hera soon—"