The Price of Victory

The Price is Paid

Chapter 1: The Price is aid

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Italics: Rick Riordan work

Normal: The Story

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'Legion, cuneum formate!' Reyna yelled. 'Advance!'

Another cheer on Jason's right as Percy and Annabeth reunited with the forces of Camp Half-Blood.

'Greeks!' Percy yelled. 'Let's, um, fight stuff!'

They yelled like banshees and charged.

Jason grinned. He loved the Greeks. They had no organization whatsoever, but they made up for it with enthusiasm.

Jason was feeling good about the battle, except for two big questions: Where was Leo? And where was Gaia?

Unfortunately, he got the second answer first.

Under his feet, the earth rippled as if Half-Blood Hill had become a giant water mattress. Demigods fell. Ogres slipped. Centaurs charged face-first into the grass.

AWAKE, a voice boomed all around them.

A hundred yards away, at the crest of the next hill, the grass and soil swirled upward like the point of a massive drill. The column of earth thickened into the twenty-foot-tall figure of a woman – her dress woven from blades of grass, her skin as white as quartz, her hair brown and tangled like tree roots.

'Little fools.' Gaia the Earth Mother opened her pure green eyes. 'The paltry magic of your statue cannot contain me.'

As she said it, Jason realized why Gaia hadn't appeared until now. The Athena Parthenos had been protecting the demigods, holding back the wrath of the earth, but even Athena's might could only last so long against a primordial goddess.

Fear as palpable as a cold front washed over the demigod army.

'Stand fast!' Piper shouted, her charmspeak clear and loud. 'Greeks and Romans, we can fight her together!'

Gaia laughed. She spread her arms and the earth bent towards her – trees tilting, bedrock groaning, soil rippling in waves. Jason rose on the wind, but all around him monsters and demigods alike started to sink into the ground. One of Octavian's onagers capsized and disappeared into the side of the hill.

'The whole earth is my body,' Gaia boomed. 'How would you fight the goddess of –'

FOOOOMP!

In a flash of bronze, Gaia was swept off the hillside, snarled in the claws of a fifty-ton metal dragon.

Festus, reborn, rose into the sky on gleaming wings, spewing fire from his maw triumphantly. As he ascended, the rider on his back got smaller and more difficult to discern, but Leo's grin was unmistakable.

'Pipes! Jason!' he shouted down. 'You coming? The fight is up here!'

AS SOON AS GAIA ACHIEVED LIFTOFF, the ground solidified.

Demigods stopped sinking, though many were still buried up to their waists. Sadly, the monsters seemed to be digging themselves out more quickly. They charged the Greek and Roman ranks, taking advantage of the demigods' disorganization.

Jason put his arms around Piper's waist. He was about to take off when Percy yelled, 'Wait! Frank can fly the rest of us up there! We can all –'