WORTH | jason grace¹

29

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29. Mt. Diablo

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Lorna hoped the taxi could take them all the way to the top. No such luck. The cab made lurching, grinding sounds as it climbed the mountain road, and halfway up they found the ranger's 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 car's acting funny. I can't wait for you."

"We're sure." Lorna was the first one out. She had a bad feeling about what was wrong with the cab, and when she looked down she saw he was right. The wheels were sinking into the road like it was made of quicksand. Not fast—just enough to make the driver think he had a transmission problem or a bad axle—but Lorna knew different. The road was hard-packed dirt. No reason at all it should have been soft, but already Lorna's shoes were starting to sink. Gaea was messing with them. While the others got out, Leo paid the cabbie.

"Keep the change," he said. "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—the kind Lorna had never known.

"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?" Lorna touched his arm. "You remember something? You've been here?"

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

"That's Titan land." Coach Hedge nodded toward the west. "Bad place, Jason. Trust me, this is as close to 'Frisco as we want to get."

But Jason looked toward the foggy basin with such longing that Lorna felt uneasy. Why did Jason seem so connected with that place—a place that was said to be evil, full of bad magic and old enemies? What if Jason came from here? Everybody kept hinting Jason was an enemy, that his arrival at Camp Half-Blood was a dangerous mistake.

No, Lorna thought. Ridiculous.

Jason was their friend. Lorna tried to move her foot, but her  heels were now completely embedded in the dirt.

"Hey, guys," she said. "Let's keep moving."

The others noticed the problem.

"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."

"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, Lorna had thought it was a cloud, but it wasn't. Something was burning.

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

Lorna thought she was in good shape. But climbing a mountain when the earth was trying to swallow her feet was like jogging on a flypaper treadmill.

Finally Jason crouched behind a wall of rock. He gestured for the others to do the same. Lorna crawled up next to him. 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. Trees 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 earthmover; a big crane thing with rotating blades at the end like an electric shaver —must be a tree harvester, Lorna thought—and a long metal column with an ax blade, like a sideways guillotine—a hydraulic ax. Why a giant needed construction equipment, Lorna wasn't sure. She didn't see how the creature in front of him could even fit in the driver's seat. The giant Enceladus was so large, so horrible, Lorna didn't want to look at him. But she forced herself to focus on the monster.

To start with, he was thirty feet tall—easily as tall as the treetops. Lorna was sure 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 was bigger than Lorna. 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—"

Leo elbowed him. "You're not charging him alone!"

"Aw, c'mon."

"You have a death wish?" Lorna asked.

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 Lorna couldn't make out his face, but Piper didn't seem to have any doubts.

"Dad," she said.

"There's four 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, Lorna and Jason 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. Coming this far had been a team effort, but when it came to a life-and-death decision, Lorna knew Jason was the one to ask. Even if he had no memory, Jason had a kind of balance to her. You could just tell he'd been in battles before, and he knew how to keep his cool. Lorna wasn't exactly the trusting type, but she trusted Jason with her life.

"I hate to say it," Jason sighed, "but Coach Hedge is right. A distraction is Piper's best chance."

Not a good chance, Lorna 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. Leo's knees had already sunk two inches into the dirt. Leo looked at the construction equipment and seemed to be at a realisation. He brought out a little toy he'd made.

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