𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝔾𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕥 𝕎𝕒𝕣||HoO

𝐗𝐗𝐈𝐕

TO MAISIE'S surprise, she actually woke up. She felt worse than she had before, but her wound had stopped bleeding. Jason and wrapped her sweatshirt around her waist so she couldn't see the bloodstained shirt, which she was grateful for.

Piper and Jason explained how they had defeated Enceladus, then gotten Piper's dad to the Oakland airport via a ride from a park ranger with a helicopter, which Leo was now flying. They explained how Thalia had Iris messaged them at the airport, and told them wear to go. Now, they were flying to Sanoma Valley, where Hera was imprisoned. 

The sun was going down as they flew north over the Richmond Bridge. Maisie took a large gulp of nectar.

"Maybe you should stop," Piper put her hand to Maisie's forehead. "You're starting to get a fever."

"I'll be fine," Maisie's voice came out more as a croak. But she did put the nectar back inside her bag. She probably would have exploded if she took any more. That's the one problem with eating the food of the gods. Yes, it heals demigods, but it could also cause you to spontaneously combust.

Piper went over to Leo and asked, "Going okay?"

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

Jason knelt between their seats, "An abandoned mansion in the Sonoma Valley. A demigod built it - Jack London."

Maisie furrowed her eyebrows. She knew quite a few famous people were demigods, but Jack London was not one that she recognized.

"He an actor?" Leo asked.

"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?" Leo guessed.

"Partially," Jason said. "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 passed behind them, and the helicopter continued north. Ahead of them, yellow hills rolled out as far as Maisie 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," Piper said, "how do you know all this?"

A shadow crossed Jason's face.

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

As Maisie looked out the window, she saw dark clouds surrounding the area where they were heading. She wasn't that surprised. The universe always made everything in demigods' lives harder than it needed to be.

Like now. The quest that could determine the fate of the entire world had to happen on the day that Maisie was dying, so she would be of little help to her friends.

The helicopter shuddered. Leo managed to level out the chopper. 

"Thirty minutes out," Leo told them. "If you want to get some rest now's a good time."

Maisie wasn't sure if she should. She wasn't even sure if she'd wake up in time to help her friends. Or if she would wake up at all. But exhaustion overruled, and she fell asleep almost immediately. 

༺-----☆-----༻

Maisie dreamed something was trying to pull her down. Hands sprouted out of the ground, wrapping around her legs pulling her down.

She tried to fight it, but she was too weak. There was nothing she could do to stop it. The earth itself was trying to swallow her, and she couldn't do anything about it. She closed her eyes as the earth started to cover her face, not even trying to fight it anymore.

She was going to die. There was no point trying to fight it anymore. Part of her always knew that. Knew that she wouldn't make it through this quest alive. Even if she did save Hera, she wasn't going to make it. Hera brought her back for one reason, to save her, and Maisie couldn't even complete that. She was a failure.

"Please don't leave me, Maisie!" someone shouted. Maisie could barely hear them over the earth covering her ears, but it sounded like they were in pain.

"Please don't leave me!" it screamed.

Maisie opened her eyes. Instead of being in the dark forest she had been before, there was a light shining from above. Lina stared down at Maisie from the light. She had tears streaming down her face and she was reaching down, trying to reach her.

"Lina," Maisie said weakly. 

"Come on," Lina sobbed. "Take my hand."

"I...can't," Maisie felt her own tears filling her eyes. "I'm sorry."

"Take my hand," Lina begged, leaning further down, trying to reach her. "Please, just take it. I can't loose you again!"

Maisie forced her arm free of the dirt, and Lina took her hand, pulling her free and into the light.