ONE LAST TIME . . . heroes of olympus

3

KAT STOOD WITH Butch while he handled the reins and Annabeth, helping her adjust a bronze navigation device because of her daughter of Hermes-ness. Leo, Piper, and Jason stood in the back. They rose over the Grand Canyon and headed east, icy wind whipping on Kat's skin, and she almost regretted not taking Jason's windbreaker. Behind them, more storm clouds were gathering.

She sent Piper a smile because she looked down. That was probably because Jason was looking in the distance, looking troubled.

Meanwhile, Leo was being annoying, as usual. "This is so cool!" he spit a pegasus feather out of his mouth. "Where are we going?"

"A safe place," Annabeth said. "The only safe place for kids like us. Camp Half-Blood."

"Half-Blood?" Piper snapped defensively. Kat understood her pain. Well, she's known about demigods her entire life, so she's never been defensive about being a half-blood in that way, but with her race . . . yeah, she definitely understood the struggles of being mixed. "Is that some kind of bad joke?"

"She means we're demigods," Jason said. "Half god, half mortal."

Annabeth looked back. "You seem to know a lot, Jason. But, yes, demigods. My mom is Athena, goddess of wisdom. Kat's the daughter of Hermes, the messenger god. Butch here is the son of Iris, the rainbow goddess."

Leo choked. "Your mom is a rainbow goddess?"

"Got a problem with that?" Butch said.

"No, no," said Leo. "Rainbows. Very macho."

"Butch is our best equestrian," Kat added. "He gets along great with the pegasi."

"Rainbows, ponies," Leo muttered.

"I'm gonna toss you off this chariot," warned Butch.

"Demigods," said Piper. "You mean you think you're . . . you think we're—"

Lightning flashed. The chariot shuddered, and Jason yelled, "left wheel's on fire!"

Kat looked back. Sure enough, the wheel was burning, white flames lapping up the side of the chariot.

The wind roared. She glanced up and saw dark shapes forming in the clouds, more storm spirits spiraling toward the chariot — except these looked more like horses than angels.

Piper started to say, "Why are they—"

"Anemoi come in different shapes," Annabeth said. "Sometimes human, sometimes stallions, depending on how chaotic they are. Hold on. This is going to get rough."

Butch flicked the reins. The pegasi put on a burst of speed, and the chariot blurred. Kat barely stayed conscious. They didn't start to slow down until they could see Camp Half-Blood below. Naturally, as they got there, their wheels came off and the chariot dropped out of the sky.

Annabeth and Butch tried to maintain control. The pegasi labored to hold the chariot in a flight pattern, but they seemed exhausted from their burst of speed, and bearing the chariot and the weight of six people was just too much.

"The lake!" Annabeth yelled. "Aim for the lake!"

Well. Now this was going to be how Kat died. She cheated death once, she probably couldn't do it twice.

And then — BOOM.

The biggest shock was the cold. She was underwater, so disoriented that she didn't know which way was up. She was probably going to turn into an ice sculpture the way this was going.

Miraculously, faces appeared in the green murk — naiads. They smiled at her, grabbed her shoulders, and hauled her up.

They tossed her, gasping and shivering, onto the shore. Nearby, Butch stood in the lake, cutting the wrecked harnesses off the pegasi. Fortunately, the horses looked okay, but they were flapping their wings and splashing water everywhere. Jason, Leo, and Annabeth were already on shore, surrounded by kids giving them blankets and asking questions, and Piper was getting dried by some more campers.