𝙻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚕𝚢 || 𝙿𝚒𝚙𝚎𝚛 𝙼𝚌𝙻𝚎𝚊𝚗

𝕋𝕣𝕖𝕥𝕥𝕚 𝕒̊𝕥𝕥𝕖

Chapter thirty eight

(The name Thea means goddess or gift from god)

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When the girls reached the whining queen, Leo was already frowning at the cage.
"Uh, Tia Callida, are you getting shorter?"

"No, you dolt! The earth is claiming me. Hurry!" As much as Thea hated, despised, and disliked the queen with her whole being, the sight that greeted her was concerning for the fate of the entire world (she wouldn't have cared about the queen otherwise).

Not only was Hera sinking, but the ground was also rising around her like water in a tank. Liquid rock had already covered her shins.
The daughter of Hades had a feeling Gaea had something to do with that, but hey, maybe if Hera sacrificed herself to the earth, Thea would get her sword back.
An eye for an eye or something like that.

"The giant wakes!" Hera warned. "You only have seconds!"

While Thea wanted to ask how many, Leo acted the most maturely and immediately realised the seriousness of the situation.
"On it," he said. "Piper, I need your help. Talk to the cage."

"What?" The daughter of Aphrodite looked as if she wanted to ask if Leo was mad.

"Talk to it. Use everything you've got. Convince Gaia to sleep. Lull her into a daze. Just slow her down, try to get the tendrils to loosen while I-"

"Right!" Piper cleared her throat and said, "Hey, Gaea. Nice night, huh? Boy, I'm tired. How about you? Ready for some sleep?"

The more she talked, the more confident she sounded. Thea could feel the effect of her magic engulf her like a warm blanket.
She wanted to sleep. She wanted to lie down and just never wake up. She had to look away from the other girl to keep herself focused, but on the bright side, it seemed to have some effect on the cage as well.

The mud was rising more slowly. The tendrils seemed to soften just a little - becoming more like trec root than rock. Leo pulled a circular saw out of his tool belt.
How on earth he got it out of the small pockets, Thea did not know.

Then Leo looked at the cord and grunted in frustration. "I don't have anywhere to plug it in!"

Jason's new pet jumped into the pit and whinnied. It seemed to have some sort of conversation with Jason, but Thea didn't understand shit of what was being said.

"Really?" Jason asked.

Tempest dipped his head and trotted over to Leo.
Leo looked dubious, but he held up the plug and a breeze whisked it into the horse's flank.
Lighting sparked, connecting with the prongs of the plug, and the circular saw whirred to life.
"Sweet!" Leo grinned. "Your horse comes with AC outlets!"