The Blazing Fate

Chapter Twenty-Five

At first it sounded like rocks were pelting the windshield, but Astrid knew it was sleet. Frost built up around the edges of the glass, and slushy waves of ice blotted out Leo's view.

Piper and Jason woke up quickly. They both crawled forward, grabbing their seats for balance.

'An ice storm?' Piper shouted over the engine and the wind. 'Is it supposed to be this cold in Sonoma?'

Astrid wasn't sure, but something about this storm seemed conscious—like it was intentionally slamming them. They started to lose altitude.

Below them, the ground was a dark quilt of trees and fog. The ridge of a hill loomed in front of them, and Leo yanked the stick, just clearing the treetops.

'There!' Jason shouted.

A small valley opened up before them, with the murky shape of a building in the middle. Leo aimed the helicopter straight for it. All around them were flashes of light that reminded Astrid of the tracer fire at Midas's compound. Trees cracked and exploded at the edges of the clearing. Shapes moved through the mist. Combat seemed to be everywhere.

Leo set down the helicopter in an icy field about fifty yards from the house and killed the engine. They didn't have time to relax when in a second there was a whistling sound and a dark shape hurtling toward them out of the mist.

'Out!' Leo screamed.

They leaped from the helicopter and barely cleared the rotors before a massive BOOM shook the ground, knocking Astrid off her feet and splattering ice all over her. She was up in an instant and saw the world's largest snowball—a chunk of snow, ice, and dirt the size of a garage—had completely flattened the Bell 412.

Astrid raced over to Leo. 'You all right?' Jason and Piper were behind her in seconds. Everyone seemed fine except for being speckled with snow and mud.

'Yeah.' Leo shivered. 'Guess we owe that ranger lady a new helicopter.'

Piper pointed south. 'Fighting's over there.' Then she frowned. 'No... it's all around us.'

She was right. The sounds of combat rang across the valley. The snow and mist made it hard to tell for sure, but there seemed to be a circle of fighting all around the Wolf House.

Behind them loomed Jack London's dream home—a massive ruin of red and gray stones and rough-hewn timber beams. Astrid could imagine how it had looked before it burned down—a combination log cabin and castle, like a billionaire lumberjack might build. But in the mist and sleet, the place had a lonely, haunted feel. Astrid could almost feel the curse.

'Jason! Astrid!' A girl's voice called.

Thalia appeared from the fog; her parka caked with snow. Her bow was in her hand, and her quiver was almost empty. She ran toward them but made it only a few steps before a six-armed ogre—one of the Earthborn—burst out of the storm behind her, a raised club in each hand.

'Look out!' Leo yelled. They rushed to help, but Thalia had it under control. She launched herself into a flip, notching an arrow as she pivoted like a gymnast and landed in a kneeling position. The ogre got a silver arrow right between the eyes and melted into a pile of clay.

Thalia stood and retrieved her arrow, but the point had snapped off. 'That was my last one.' She kicked the pile of clay resentfully. 'Stupid ogre.'

'Nice shot, though,' Leo said.

Astrid rolled her eyes.

Thalia ignored him. She hugged Jason, then hugged Astrid, then nodded to Piper. 'Just in time. My Hunters are holding a perimeter around the mansion, but we'll be overrun any minute.'