The Blazing Fate

Chapter Eleven

'Cyclops!'

Jason's screaming voice made Astrid snap her eyes open. She didn't know she had closed them. Jason sat behind her, and Piper behind him to keep him balanced. Astrid didn't know if she had actually fallen asleep sitting up, but she didn't feel any better.

'Whoa, sleepyhead,' Piper said.

'D—Detroit,' Jason stammered. 'Didn't we crash-land? I thought—'

'It's okay,' Astrid said. 'We got away, but you got a nasty concussion. I did all I could do, right now. How do you feel?'

'How did you—the Cyclops—'

'Leo ripped them apart,' Piper said. 'He was amazing. He can summon fire—'

'It was nothing,' Leo said, quickly.

Piper laughed. 'Shut up, Valdez. I'm going to tell him. Get over it.'

Astrid had heard the story as she kept Jason asleep. He needed rest more than anyone else. Leo was amazing. He took down three cyclops all by himself. Astrid felt guilty, she left him. She made him have to do that.

Then, Piper told Jason a new part of the story. How the cyclops had eaten a kid in a purple shirt who spoke Latin. A son of Mercury. Astrid's worst fears were starting to come true, and she could barely breathe.

'I'm not alone, then,' Jason said. 'There are others like me.'

'Jason,' Piper said, 'you were never alone. You've got us.'

'I—I know... but something Hera said. I was having a dream...'

Jason told them what Hera had said in her cage. How sending Jason to Camp Half-Blood was her gamble. An exchange. A leader for a leader, Astrid thought.

'An exchange?' Piper asked. 'What does that mean?'

Jason shook his head. 'But Hera's gamble is me. Just by sending me to Camp Half-Blood, I have a feeling she broke some kind of rule, something that could blow up in a big way—'

'Or save us,' Piper said, hopefully. 'That bit about the sleeping enemy—that sounds like the lady Leo told us about.'

Leo cleared his throat. 'About that... she kind of appeared to me back in Detroit, in a pool of Porta-Potty sludge.'

'Did you say... Porta-Potty?' Jason asked.

Leo told them about the big face in the factory yard. 'I don't know if she's completely unkillable,' he said, 'but she cannot be defeated by toilet seats. I can vouch for that. She wanted me to betray you guys, and I was like, "pfft, right, I'm gonna listen to a face in the potty sludge".'

'She's trying to divide us,' Piper said.

'What's wrong?' Jason asked her.

'I just... Why are they toying with us? Who is this lady, and how is she connected to Enceladus?'

'Enceladus?' Astrid asked. That name hadn't come up before.

'I mean...,' Piper's voice quivered. 'That's one of the giants. Just one of the names I could remember.'

Astrid knew there was more bothering her. Piper's heart rate had increased just slightly.

Leo scratched his head. 'Well, I dunno about Enchiladas—'

'Enceladus,' Piper corrected.

'Whatever. But Old Potty Face mentioned another name. Porpoise Fear, or something?'

'Porphyrion?' Astrid asked. 'He was the giant king. In the old stories, Porphyrion kidnapped Hera. That was the first shot between the giants and the gods. But... those myths are really garbled and conflicted. It's almost like nobody wanted that story to survive, which is entirely plausible. The giants were almost impossible to kill, that was the same in every story.'

'Heroes and gods have to work together,' Jason said. 'That's what Hera told me.'

'Kind of hard to do,' Leo grumbled, 'if the gods won't even talk to us.'

They flew west, and Astrid became lost in thought. All of it was bad. Hera needing help from Heroes was never good. Astrid prayed this wouldn't end in every demigod's doom. She was starting to zone out, or just pass out, when the dragon dove through a break in the clouds, and below them, glittering in the winter sun, was a city at the edge of a massive lake. A crescent of skyscrapers lined the shore. Behind them, stretching out to the western horizon, was a vast grid for snow-covered neighborhoods and roads.

'Chicago,' Jason said.

'One problem down,' Leo said. 'We got here alive. Now, how do we find the storm spirits?'

'How about we follow that one,' Jason suggested, 'and see where it goes?'