𝐅𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆 》 JASON GRACE ¹

ᶜʰᵃᵖᵗᵉʳ ᵗʷᵉⁿᵗʸ ˢⁱˣ

''NICE HORSE.''

When Noelani had finally bought herself a moment of free time, she had not been expecting to turn and see Jason on his own wind spirit.

He paused, the horse trotting around in a circle to allow him to look back at her with a smirk before resuming his fighting. ''Glad you noticed!'' He swung his icy piece of wood, knocking aside wolves and plunging straight through other venti. Tempest was a strong spirit, and every time he plowed through one of his brethren, he discharged so much electricity, the other spirit vaporized into a harmless cloud of mist.

He turned around to gloat again. Noelani picked up a stray arrow and threw it like a javelin. A wolf had pounced at him as he became distracted, he could feel the leftover dust fall on his shoulder. ''Aren't you glad I stayed?''

Jason flushed red. ''I didn't mean to upset you!''

Noelani smiled, it had taken some figuring out, but she had learnt that Jason's intentions were pure - and though she would never forget the way he told her to go home, at least now she knew it was in some 'protect you' way. She hated that trope in movies.

''I know!''

Through the chaos, Noelani caught glimpses of her 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 the 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 at them. They'd smile back - until she sliced them apart with her dagger, and they melted into mounds of mud.

Leo had taken on Khione herself. 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, blasts of winter air, tornadoes of snow. Leo burned through all of it. His whole body flickered 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.

Noelani realised that Leo was the only reason they were still alive. Khione was backing away. Her expression ranging from enraged, to shocked, to slightly more panicked, as Leo got closer. His fiery aura was heating up the whole courtyard, countering Khione's winter magic. Without him, they would've been frozen like the Hunters long ago. Wherever Leo went, ice melted off the stones. Even Thalia started to defrost a little.

She was beginning to run out of enemies. Wolves lay in puddles. 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 vapour. Then he wheeled around and 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 it into a steaming pile of mush.

''Well, that was fun,'' Noelani said, panting as she wiped a small gash on her cheek.

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

Then Noelani heard cracking from behind them. The melting ice on Hera's cage sloughed off in a curtain of slush, and the goddess smiled. ''Oh, don't mind me! Just the queen of the heavens, dying over here!''

Jason dismounted and told Tempest to stay put. The four demigods jumped into the pool and ran to the spire. Leo frowned, ''Uh, Tía Callida, are you getting shorter?''