Silver | HoO

SIX

Emilio had just stopped panicking when Leo said, "Shut up, me."

"What?" Emilio asked, fear creeping back up again.

"Nothing," he said. "Long night. I think I'm hallucinating. It's cool."

Emilio gripped the harness tighter, his entire body tensing in fear. He wasn't even sure if he was breathing.

"Just joking."

Emilio let out a deep breath, "Oh, I'm going to kill you when we land."

Leo chuckled nervously, unsure on whether he meant it. "So what's the plan, bro? You said something about catching wind, or breaking wind, or something?"

As they flew over New England, Jason laid out the game plan: First, find some guy named Boreas and grill him for information—

"His name is Boreas?" Leo had to ask. "What is he, the God of Boring?"

Second, Jason continued, they had to find those venti that had attacked them at the Grand Canyon—

"Can we just call them storm spirits?" Leo asked. "Venti makes them sound like evil espresso drinks."

And third, Jason finished, they had to find out who the storm spirits worked for, so they could find Hera and free her.

"So you want to look for Dylan, the nasty storm dude, on purpose," Leo said. "The guy who threw me off the skywalk and sucked Coach Hedge into the clouds."

"That's about it," Jason said. "Well ... there may be a wolf involved, too. But I think she's friendly. She probably won't eat us, unless we show weakness."

Jason told them about his dream—the big mother wolf and a burned-out house with stone spires growing out of the swimming pool. Emilio knew the story already. The wolf house. Lupa.

"Uh-huh," Leo said. "But you don't know where this place is."

"Nope," Jason admitted, he then glanced at Emilio, "Have you heard anything like that before?"

"No," Emilio lied. He was still unsure as to whether or not Jason knew he was lying. Emilio had always been a good liar, it came with being a Mercury kid, but Jason had always seen through his tricks.

"There's also giants," Piper added. "The prophecy said the giants' revenge."

"Hold on," Leo said. "Giants—like more than one? Why can't it be just one giant who wants revenge?"

"I don't think so," Piper said. "I remember in some of the old Greek stories, there was something about an army of giants."

Emilio nodded, "There are hundreds of giants but I have a feeling I know which ones we'll be facing. After the first war with titans and Gaea being separated from Ouranos, she took Tartarus as a second husband and they got busy creating a giant army, one for each Olympian. Minus Hestia."

"Great," Leo muttered. "Of course, with our luck, it's an army. So you know anything else about these giants?"

"Not much other than that," Emilio lied, shaking his head. He wasn't sure how much he could say without crossing the lines.

"What about you Pipes? Didn't you do a bunch of myth research for that movie with your dad?"

"Your dad's an actor?" Jason asked.

Leo laughed. "I keep forgetting about your amnesia. Heh. Forgetting about amnesia. That's funny. But yeah, her dad's Tristan McLean."

The name was familiar to Emilio but he couldn't place where. He assumed he was from one of Elle's mom, Aria, movies.

"Uh—Sorry, what was he in?"

"It doesn't matter," Piper said quickly. "All I know is that they are huge, almost impossible to kill. They could throw mountains and stuff. I think they were related to the Titans. They rose from the earth after Kronos lost the war and they tried to destroy Olympus."

"Chiron said it was happening again," Jason remembered. "The last chapter. That's what he meant. No wonder he didn't want us to know all the details."

Leo whistled. "So ... giants who can throw mountains. Friendly wolves that will eat us if we show weakness. Evil espresso drinks. Gotcha. Maybe this isn't the time to bring up my psycho babysitter."

"Is that another joke?" Emilio asked, frowning.

Leo told them about Tía Callida, who was really Hera, and how she'd appeared to him at camp. He told us how the machine shop collapsed on his mother and killed her. And he told them about the strange woman in earthen robes who seemed to be asleep, and seemed to know the future.

It was a long time before anyone spoke after that. Emilio couldn't help but feel pity for him.

"That's ... disturbing," Piper said.

"'Bout sums it up," Leo agreed. "Thing is, everybody says don't trust Hera. She hates demigods. And the prophecy said we'd cause death if we unleash her rage. So I'm wondering ... why are we doing this?"

"She chose us," Jason said. "All four of us." Emilio wanted to interject and tell him he was in fact not chosen by Hera but had been offered to the wolves on a platter by Annabeth and Elle but he didn't, "We're the first of the nine who have to gather for the Great Prophecy. This quest is the beginning of something much bigger."

The nine, of course he was part of the nine. Emilio felt slightly bitter about being pushed to go on this quest but he knew he would have done it anyway. If Jason and Elle were part of the nine then he would throw himself right in it with them.

"Besides," Jason continued, "helping Hera is the only way I can get back my memory. And that dark spire in my dream seemed to be feeding on Hera's energy. If that thing unleashes a king of the giants by destroying Hera—"

"Not a good trade-off," Piper agreed. "At least Hera is on our side—mostly. Losing her would throw the gods into chaos. She's the main one who keeps peace in the family. And a war with the giants could be even more destructive than the Titan War."

Jason nodded. "Chiron also talked about worse forces stirring on the solstice, with it being a good time for dark magic, and all—something that could awaken if Hera were sacrificed on that day. And this mistress who's controlling the storm spirits, the one who wants to kill all the demigods—"

"Might be that weird sleeping lady," Leo finished. "Dirt Woman fully awake? Not something I want to see."

"But who is she?" Jason asked. "And what does she have to do with giants?"

Good questions and only Emilio had the answers to. Gaea, mother earth, soon to be a real bitch and a half to deal with if they don't stop her waking.

"What about those final lines?" Leo asked and both Piper and Emilio tensed. "The traitor's choice to save a friend. An uncovered lie to show the end."

Emilio had a feeling the traitor in question was him. He may have been pardoned but it seems the Queen of the Heavens was giving him this quest to prove himself. He didn't like that, a conditional pardon. Emilio knew if he messed up, he would be smited? smote? smitten? on the spot.

"I don't know, maybe it's not even one of us. Maybe we meet someone who betrays us on the way. Who really knows with prophecies," Emilio said, he was not ready to come clean. He was not ready to have Jason glaring at him with a look so full of hatred again.

"Maybe," Jason said with a far off tone. He didn't sound very convinced.

Festus kept flying. The wind got colder, and below them snowy forests seemed to go on forever. Emilio had finally relaxed a bit, feeling exhausted. The panicking and the disturbed sleep making him feel sleepy.

"Why don't you get some sleep?" Jason said in his ear, a shiver shooting down his spine.

Emilio wanted to protest, terrified of falling off, but the word sleep sounded really good. "You won't let me fall off?"

Jason smiled as his hand wrapped around his waist. "Trust me, Emilio, I've got you."

"Right," he muttered. He allowed himself to relax fully even with Jason touching him, and closed his eyes.