Daughter of Neptune, Book one

XLII

Tori's pov

A wolf threw itself at me. I stepped back and fired my arrow into the beast's snout and it disintegrated. Bring it on, bitches, I thought.

I turned toward the sound of hooves and saw a storm spirit horse bearing down on me. Just before the spirit could trample me, Jason launched himself into the air, grabbed the horse's smoky neck, and pirouetted into its back.

The storm spirit reared. It tried to shake Jason, then tried to dissolve into mist to lose him; but somehow Jason stayed on. I could feel it fighting against him. I could sense it's raging thoughts—complete chaos straining to break free. I thought about Aeolus, overseeing thousands and thousands of spirits like this, some much worse. No wonder the Master of the Winds had gone a little mad after centuries of that pressure. But Jason had only one spirit to master, and he had win. "You're mine now," Jason said.

The horse bucked, but Jason held fast. It's mane flicked as it circled around the empty pool, its hooves causing miniature thunderstorms—tempest—whenever they touched.

"Tempest?" Jason said. "Is that your name?"

The horse spirit shook its mane, evidently pleased to be recognized.

"Fine," Jason said. "Now, let's fight."

I charged into battle, firing arrows and disintegrating wolves and plunging straight through other venti.

Through the chaos, I caught glimpses of my friends. Piper was surrounded by Earthborn, but she seemed to be holding her own. She was so impressive-looking as she fought, almost glowing with beauty, that Earthborn stared at her in awe, forgetting that they were supposed to kill her. They'd lower their clubs and watch dumbfounded as she smiled and charged them. They smile back—until she sliced them apart with her dagger, and they melted into mounds of mud.

Leo had taken on Khione herself. Did I ever tell you Leo is really brave? While fighting a goddess should've been suicide, Leo was the right man for the job. She kept summoning ice daggers to throw at him, blast of winter air, tornadoes of snow. Leo burned through all of it. His whip body flicked with red tongues of flame like he'd been doused with gasoline. He advanced on the goddess, using two silver-tipped ball-peen hammers to smash any monsters that got in his way.

I realized that Leo was the only reason we were still alive. His furry aura was heating up the whole courtyard Khione's winter magic. Without him, we would've been frozen like the Hunters long ago. Wherever Leo went, ice melted off the stones. Even Thalia started to defrost a little when Leo stepped near her.

Khione slowly back away. Her expression went from enraged to shield to slightly panicked as Leo got closer.

I was running out of enemies. Wolves lay in dazed heaps and others were disintegrated. Some slunk away into the ruins, yelping from their wounds. Piper stabbed the last Earthborn, who toppled to the ground in a pile of sludge. Jason rode Tempest through the last ventus, breaking it into vapor. Then I turned around saw Leo bearing down on the goddess of snow.

"You're too late," Khione snarled. "He's awake! And don't think you've won anything here, demigods. Hera's plan will never work. You'll be at each other's throats before you can ever stop us."

Leo set his hammers ablaze and threw them at the goddess, but she turned into snow—a white powdery image of herself. Leo's hammers slammed into the snow woman, breaking into a steaming mound of mush.

I was breathing hard, but I smiled up at Jason. "Nice horse."

Tempest reared on his hind legs, arcing electricity across his hooves. A complete show-off.