Learning to Trust (A Leo Valdez Love Story)

Chapter 22

JASON

A wolf launched itself at Jason as he quickly turned to it, trying to recover from the shock of Kyra's revelation. Moonlight began to fill the darkness around him as his mind spun. He thought Artemis couldn't have children. What did this mean for the gods? Even more importantly, what did this mean for Kyra? He stepped back and swung his scrap wood into the beast's snout with a satisfying crack. Maybe only silver could kill it, but a good old-fashioned board could still give it a Tylenol headache.

He turned toward the sound of hooves and saw a storm spirit horse bearing down on him. Jason concentrated and summoned the wind. Just before the spirit could trample him, Jason launched himself into the air, grabbed the horse's smoky neck, and pirouetted onto its back.

The storm spirit reared. It tried to shake Jason, then tried to dissolve into mist to lose him; but somehow Jason stayed on. He willed the horse to remain in solid form, and the horse seemed unable to refuse. Jason could feel it fighting against him. He could sense its raging thoughts-complete chaos straining to break free. It took all Jason's willpower to impose his own wishes and bring the horse under control. He thought about Aeolus, overseeing thousands and thousands of spirits like this, some much worse. No wonder the Master of the Winds had gone a little mad after centuries of that pressure. But Jason had only one spirit to master, and he had to win.

"You're mine now," Jason said.

The horse bucked, but Jason held fast. Its mane flickered as it circled around the empty pool, its hooves causing miniature thunderstorms- tempests-whenever they touched.

"Tempest?" Jason said. "Is that your name?"

The horse spirit shook its mane, evidently pleased to be recognized.

"Fine," Jason said. "Now, let's fight."

He charged into battle, swinging his icy piece of wood, knocking aside wolves and plunging straight through another venti. Tempest was a strong spirit, and every time he plowed through one of his brethren, he discharged so much electricity, the other spirit vaporized into a harmless cloud of mist.

Through the chaos, Jason caught glimpses of his friends. Piper was surrounded by Earthborn, but she seemed to be holding her own. She was so impressive-looking as she fought, almost glowing with beauty, that the Earthborn stared at her in awe, forgetting that they were supposed to kill her. They'd lower their clubs and watch dumbfounded as she smiled and charged them. They'd smile back-until she sliced them apart with her dagger, and they melted into mounds of mud.

Leo and Kyra had taken on Khione herself. While fighting a goddess should've been suicide, Leo was the right man for the job, and with Kyra by his side, he was unstoppable. Khione kept summoning ice daggers to throw at them, blasts of winter air, tornadoes of snow. Leo burned through all of it. His whole body flickered with red tongues of flame like he'd been doused with gasoline. He advanced on the goddess, Kyra close behind him, using two silver-tipped ball-peen hammers to smash any monsters that got in his way. How she was able to get so close to Leo without the flames affecting her was lost to him. They were almost shoulder to shoulder, yet Kyra seemed unaffected by his blaze.

Kyra was glowing. And not just in a metaphorical way. She was beginning to emit a warm, silver glow as she traveled throughout the cave. Kyra kept the rest of the monsters away from the fight by somehow putting up a shield of moonlight. As she and Leo advanced on the goddess, she shot beams of moonlight toward her, a look of rage on her face. Tears streamed down her face as she took on the goddess with Leo, her twin daggers out to swipe at any monsters who may have gotten too close to them.

Jason realized that Leo and Kyra were the only reason they were still alive. Leo's fiery aura was heating up the whole courtyard, countering Khione's winter magic. Without him, they would've been frozen like the Hunters long ago. Wherever Leo went, ice melted off the stones. Even Thalia started to defrost a little when Leo stepped near her. Kyra's warm glow and light from the moonbeams kept the group of them safe from the darkness Khione had brought with her. The wolves blended in with the walls of the cave, and wherever Kyra went they were once more illuminated.