[2] 𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐑𝐘 𝐁𝐀𝐁𝐘 ― l.valdez ✓

022.

「022. under the influence (sort of) 」

"AN ICE storm?" cherry complained, glaring at the glass. frost had built up around the edges of the glass, and the slushy waves of ice blotted everywhere, "why does everything bad happen to us?"

"it's fuckin' freezing!" complained piper, shouting over the engine and the wind, "is it even meant to be this cold in sonoma?"

cherry had no idea, but she had a very bad feeling about the ice, with a loud bang, cherry turned around to see that barbie had hit her head whilst trying to lift her head up, letting out a loud curse worde in ancient greek. "quite frankly: what the fuck?"

barbie's yelling seemed to wake up jason too. which meant they were now all awake, panicked and deeply agitated.

"perhaps this is a good sign," jason said. they all turned to him (bar leo, he was still trying to pilot them) and gave him a: are you sure about that? look. "it means we're getting close!"

the whole machine shuddered in the icy wind. the helicopter probably hadn't been prepped for cold-weather flying. the controls refused to respond, and 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 cherry 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. he was about to relax when he heard a whistling sound and saw 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 cherry off her feet causing her to yell, "crap!"

she got up almost immediately, only to see the largest chunk of snow, ice and dirt completed flatten the helicopter.

"you guys alright?" jason spoke, lifting out a hand for leo (which he took gratefully. piper and barbie stood by his side, the two of them looking perfectly fine (cherry suspected that perhaps the two of them had gotten their outfits charmed by their mother).

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.

"jason!" 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."