Daughter of the Sea || HoO

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

The plan went wrong almost immediately. Piper and Leo scrambled along the ridge, trying to keep her head down, while Tori, Jason, and Coach Hedge walked straight into the clearing. 

Tori summoned Tidal while Jason summoned his golden lance. He brandished it over his head and yelled, "Giant!" Which sounded pretty good, anda lot more confident than he must have felt. She was thinking more along the lines of, "We are pathetic ants! Don't kill us!"

Enceladus stopped chanting at the flames. He turned toward them and grinned, revealing fangs like a saber-toothed tiger's.

"Well," the giant rumbled. "What a nice surprise."

Tori didn't like the sound of that. From the corner of her eye, Tori saw Leo stepped sideways, edging his way toward the bulldozer. 

Coach Hedge shouted, "Let the movie star go, you big ugly cupcake! Or I'm gonna plant my hoof right up your—"

"Coach," Tori said. "Shut up."

Enceladus roared with laughter. "I've forgotten how funny satyrs are. When we rule the world, I think I'll keep your kind around. You can entertain me while I eat all the other mortals."

"Is that a compliment?" Hedge frowned at Tori. "I don't think that was a compliment."

Enceladus opened his mouth wide, and his teeth began to glow.

"Scatter!" Leo yelled.

Jason, Tori, and Hedge dove to the left as the giant blew fire—a furnace blast so hot even Festus would've been jealous. Leo dodged behind the bulldozer, wound up his homemade device, and dropped it into the driver's seat. Then he ran to the right, heading for the tree harvester.

Both Tori and Jason rise and charged the giant. Coach Hedge ripped off his canary yellow jacket, which was now on fire, and bleated angrily. "I liked that outfit!" Then he raised his club and charged, too. 

Before they could get very far, Enceladus slammed his spear against the ground. The entire mountain shook.

The shockwave sent everyone sprawling. Tori staggered to her feet on the other side of the clearing. Coach Hedge was knocked out cold. He'd fallen forward and hit his head on a log. His furry hindquarters were sticking straight up, with his canary yellow pants around his knees—a view Tori really didn't need.

The giant bellowed, "I see you, Piper McLean!" He turned and blew fire at a line of bushes to Leo's right. Piper ran into the clearing like a flushed quail, the underbrush burning behind her.

Enceladus laughed. "I'm happy you've arrived. And you brought me my prizes!"

"Hey!" Tori yelled, gaining the giants attention, "stating the obvious and making the ground shake is my thing!"

"Ah, Victoria Sampson," Enceladus creepily grinned, "it-"

"Victoria Sampson-Jackson!" Tori interrupted, "It's Victoria Sampson-Jackson, they always forget Jackson. I was adopted four years ago for gods sake!"

 "Don't worry daughter of Poseidon, you won't be alive much longer,"Enceladus said, "Same for you son of Hephaestus. I didn't expect you all to stay alive this long, but it doesn't matter. By bringing you here, Piper McLean has sealed the deal. If she betrays you, I'm as good as my word. She can take her father and go. What do I care about a movie star?"

Tori could see Piper's dad more clearly now. He wore a ragged dress shirt and torn slacks. His bare feet were caked with mud. He wasn't completely unconscious, because he lifted his head and groaned—yep, Tristan McLean all right. Tori had seen that face enough plastered on the Aphrodite cabin's walls. But he had a nasty cut down the side of his face, and he looked thin and sickly—not heroic at all.