The Blazing Fate

Chapter Twenty-One

Unfortunately, the taxi couldn't take them all the way to the top. The cab made lurching, grinding sounds as it climbed the mountain road, and halfway up they found the rangers station closed, a chain blocking the way.

'Far as I can go,' the cabbie said. 'You sure about this? Gonna be a long walk back, and my cars acting funny. I can't wait for you.'

'We're sure,' Leo said.

He was the first one out of the cab. Astrid slid out after him and could feel something was off with the ground.

Leo paid the cabbie. 'Keep the change. And get out of here, quick.'

The driver didn't argue. Soon all they could see was his dust trail.

The view from the mountain was pretty amazing. The whole inland valley around Mount Diablo was a patchwork of towns—grids of tree-lined streets and nice middle-class suburbs, shops, and schools. All these normal people living normal lives. Astrid was jealous of them.

'That's Concord,' Jason said, pointing to the north. 'Walnut Creek below us. To the south, Danville, past those hills. And that way...' He pointed west, where a ridge of golden hills held back a layer of fog, like the rim of a bowl. 'That's the Berkeley Hills. The East Bay. Past that, San Francisco.'

'Jason?' Piper touched his arm. 'You remember something? You've been here?'

'Yes... no.' He gave her an anguished look. 'It just seems important.'

'That's Titans land.' Astrid nodded toward the west. 'Bad place. At least... that's what I've been told all my life.'

'Trust me, Jason,' Hedge said, 'this is as close to 'Frisco as we want to get.'

But Jason looked toward the foggy basin with such longing that Astrid felt uneasy. Why did Jason seem so connected with that place—a place she'd been told her whole life was evil, full of bad magic and old enemies? What if Jason came from there? Everything made alarms bells ring inside of her head. Was Jason an enemy?

No, Astrid thought. Ridiculous. Jason was a friend. Not only that, he was Thalia's brother. They could trust him.

'Hey, guys,' Leo said. 'Let's keep moving.'

Astrid tried to move but her heels were completely embedded in the dirt.

'Gaea is stronger here,' Hedge grumbled. He popped his hooves free from his shoes, then handed the shoes to Leo. 'Keep those for me, Valdez. They're nice.'

Leo snorted. 'Yes, sir, Coach. Would you like them polished?'

'That's varsity thinking, Valdez.' Hedge nodded, approvingly. 'But first, we'd better hike up this mountain while we still can.'

Leo sent Astrid an exasperated look. She smiled despite herself.

'How do we know where the giant is?' Piper asked.

Jason pointed toward the peak. Drifting across the summit was a plume of smoke. From a distance, Astrid thought it was a cloud, but it wasn't. Something was burning.

'Smoke equals fire,' Jason said. 'We'd better hurry.'

----

Astrid was in good shape, really, she was. But climbing a mountain when the earth was trying to swallow her feet was like jogging on a fly paper treadmill.

Astrid wished she could rip the tight dress off her body. She had already torn up her tights and the converse had no give with the earth. She never really liked Aphrodite but at that moment she wanted to kill the goddess.

She kept patting the picture in her pocket. The boy in the picture was two years older than her. He was a cute boy, nice and sweet. He was normal, pure human. But there was no doubt in Astrid's mind that he was special. He died when he was 6. In a car crash. Astrid couldn't save either one of them.

Astrid missed camp. She missed Annabeth and Will. She missed Connor, though she didn't know if she was allowed to. She found herself praying to Aphrodite. Asking for her advice. Asking for her guidance. She stopped herself once she figured out that's what she was doing.

Finally, Jason crouched behind a wall of rock. He gestured for the others to do the same. Leo crawled up next to him, and Astrid followed Leo. Piper had to pull Coach Hedge down.

'I don't want to get my outfit dirty!' Hedge complained.

'Shhh!' Piper said.

Reluctantly, the satyr knelt.

Just over the ridge where they were hiding, in the shadow of the mountain's final crest, was a forested depression about the size of a football field, where the giant Enceladus had set up camp.

Tress had been cut down to make a towering purple bonfire. The outer rim of the clearing was littered with extra logs and construction equipment—an earthmoving, a big crane thing with rotating blades at the end like an electric shaver, and a long metal column with an axe blade, like a sideways guillotine.

Why a giant needed construction equipment, Astrid wasn't sure. She didn't see how the creature in front of her could even fit in the driver's seat. The giant Enceladus was so large, so horrible, Astrid didn't want to keep looking at him.

The giant was thirty feet tall—easily as tall as the treetops. Astrid knew the giant could've seen them behind their ridge, but he seemed intent on the weird purple bonfire, circling it and chanting under his breath. From the waist up, the giant appeared humanoid, his muscular chest clad in bronze armor, decorated with flame designs. His arms were completely ripped. Each of his biceps were bigger than all of them combined. His skin was bronze but sooty with ash. His face was crudely shaped, like a half-finished clay figure, but his eyes glowed white, and his hair was matted in shaggy dreadlocks down to his shoulders, braided with bones.

From the waist down, he was even more terrifying. His legs were scaly green, with claws instead of feet—like the forelegs of a dragon. In his hand, Enceladus held a spear the size of a flagpole. Every so often he dipped its tip in the fire, turning the metal molten red.

'Okay,' Coach Hedge whispered. 'Here's the plan—'

Astrid elbowed him. 'You're not charging him alone!'

'Aw, c'mon.'

Piper choked back a sob. 'Look.'

Just visible on the other side of the bonfire was a man tied to a post. His head slumped like he was unconscious, so Astrid couldn't make out his face, but Piper didn't seem to have any doubts.

'Dad,' she said.

Astrid took a shaky breath. She wished this were a Tristan McLean movie. Then Piper's dad would be faking unconsciousness. He'd untie his bonds and knock out the giant with some clever hidden anti-giant gas. Heroic music would start to play, and Tristian McLean would make his amazing escape, running away in slow motion while the mountainside exploded behind him.

But this wasn't a movie. Tristan McLean was half dead and about to be eaten. The only people who could stop it—four fashionably dressed teenaged demigods and a megalomaniac goat.

'There's five of us,' Hedge whispered urgently. 'And only one of him.'

'Did you miss the fact that he's thirty feet tall?' Leo asked.

'Okay,' Hedge said. 'So, you, me, Jason, and Astrid distract him. Piper sneaks around and frees her dad.'

They all looked at Jason.

'What?' Jason asked. 'I'm not the leader.'

'Yes,' Piper said. 'You are.'

They'd never really talked about it, but no one disagreed, not even Hedge.

'Astrid... You've been leading us this entire time,' Jason said. 'I think that distraction is the best bet. What do you think?'

Astrid felt all their eyes turn to her. She took a shaky breath. 'I agree. It's the best chance.'

Not a good chance, Astrid thought. Not even a survivable chance. Just their best chance.

They couldn't sit there all day and talk about it, though. It had to be close to noon—the giant's deadline—and the ground was still trying to pull them down. Astrid's knees had already sunk two inches into the dirt.

'Let's boogie,' Leo said. 'Before I come to my senses.'