𝐏𝐄𝐀𝐂𝐄 - j. grace, ocxoc ¹ ✓

xxvii. a good day to die !

XXVII.      KAORI OKAYAMA   !
⋆ ★
a good day to die

           Kaori didn't usually get in a helicopter being flown by someone without a license, but she had done plenty of crazy things that week. The sun was going down as they flew north over the Richmond Bridge, and Kaori was too nervous about flying to think about anything else. Delilah also seemed antsy about it. Being Percy's cousin — a guy who was hated by Zeus so much he couldn't even fly — she was skeptical of getting as high as 5 inches off land. Every single jerk from the helicopter Kaori watched Delilah flinch.

"Is this safe?" Kaori whispered to Kaen. "If we still were Catholic, I'd be praying to God right now."

"Going okay?" Piper asked from the copilot's seat.

"Aces," Leo said. "So what's the Wolf House?"

"An abandoned mansion in the Sonoma Valley," said Jason. "A demigod built it—Jack London."

"He an actor?"

"Writer," Piper said. "Adventure stuff, right? Call of the Wild? White Fang?"

"Yeah," Jason said. "He was a son of Mercury—I mean, Hermes. He was an adventurer, traveled the world. He was even a hobo for a while. Then he made a fortune writing. He bought a big ranch in the country and decided to build this huge mansion—the Wolf House."

"Named that 'cause he wrote about wolves?" Delilah guessed. "A furry or something?"

"Partially— uh, not the furry part," Jason said with a blush. "But the site, and the reason he wrote about wolves—he was dropping hints about his personal experience. There're a lot of holes in his life story—how he was born, who his dad was, why he wandered around so much —stuff you can only explain if you know he was a demigod."

The bay slipped behind them, and the helicopter continued north. Ahead of them, yellow hills rolled out as far as Kaori could see.

"So Jack London went to Camp Half-Blood," Leo guessed.

"No," Jason said. "No, he didn't."

"Bro, you're freaking me out with the mysterious talk. Are you remembering your past or not?"

"Pieces," Jason said. "Only pieces. None of it good. The Wolf House is on sacred ground. It's where London started his journey as a child—where he found out he was a demigod. That's why he returned there. He thought he could live there, claim that land, but it wasn't meant for him. The Wolf House was cursed. It burned in a fire a week before he and his wife were supposed to move in. A few years later, London died, and his ashes were buried on the site."

"So," Delilah said, "Blondie, how do you know all this stuff?"

A shadow crossed Jason's face. Probably just a cloud, but Kaori could swear the shape looked like an eagle.

"I started my journey there too," Jason said. "It's a powerful place for demigods, a dangerous place. If Gaea can claim it, use its power to entomb Hera on the solstice and raise Porphyrion—that might be enough to awaken the earth goddess fully."

Kaori twirled her hair around her finger. She could see bad weather ahead—a spot of darkness like a cloud bank or a storm, right where they were going. Her mind kept going to the earth, swallowing her feet. She usually had control over her surroundings as a child of Demeter but it was the first time her powers weren't her own. For once her powers were useless. Before they had been helpful. At thirteen she managed to navigate the maze with the help of Rachel Elizabeth Dare and Kaen through their powers. At fourteen they got her to win several battles with former campers, then enemies, and even a Titan with her friends' help. But at fifteen years old, her powers had no real use with Gaea controlling the earth.