Wild ― Piper McLean

―ix. a life in seven facts

"CLOSE RANKS!" a voice shouted, tone clear and full of authority. She heard the clamor of footsteps, but her own feet were glued—frozen—in place. She couldn't move.

Birds soared down from the sky—ravens, crows, vultures. The owls that had followed them the whole way, silent but watching, now began to fly away. They knew what was coming—they had known it all along.

How could she not have realized it sooner?

"What do we do?" she asked, her voice trembling.

"We fight," that same voice answered, but it wavered just a bit—just enough for anyone with a keen enough ear to catch.

"There's too many," another voice whispered.

A hush falls, broken only by the sound of dozens of breaths, ragged and terrified.

Then the first voice again, grim but sure: "Then we fight until we can't anymore."

🌿

Verona gasped awake on Festus's back. "Cyclops!"

"Hey, that's what Jason said," Leo said from somewhere in front of her.

Verona blinked, disoriented. "Wha—the Cyclops. We—"

"We're okay," came Piper's voice, very close behind. She realized then that the girl was behind her, holding her waist to keep her balanced. Be still my beating heart. Jason and Leo sat in front of her, the former looking like he'd only just woken up a minute ago.

Verona frowned. "We—we crashed," she said. "And there was a Cyclops."

"It's all good," Leo said. "We got away. I mean, not scot-free—you two ended up with some nasty concussions. How're you feeling, Roni?"

Verona touched the back of her head, where some blunt object had struck her. It didn't hurt as much as she thought it probably should, but there was still a dull ache. "Crummy," she settled on. "What'd I miss?"

"So much," Piper said brightly. "Leo ripped the Cyclopes apart. It was amazing. He can summon fire—"

"It was nothing," Leo said quickly.

Piper laughed, and Verona's heart started doing triple time. "Shut up, Valdez. I'm going to tell them. Get over it."

And she did—she told Verona and Jason how Leo single-handedly defeated the Cyclops family; how they freed Jason and Verona, then noticed the Cyclopes starting to reform; how Leo had replaced the dragon's wiring and gotten them back in the air just as they'd started to hear the Cyclopes roaring for vengeance inside the factory.

Verona was impressed. Taking out three Cyclopes with nothing but a tool belt? Not bad.

When Piper told them about the other kid the Cyclopes had claimed to have eaten, the one in the purple shirt who spoke Latin, Verona felt like her head was going to explode.

"We're not alone, then," Jason said. "There are others like Verona and me."

"Jason," Piper said, "you guys were never alone. You've got us."

"I—I know... but something Hera said. I was having a dream..."

He told them about his dream—about Hera in her prison, about how she'd slipped away the day Zeus closed Olympus and went to the place she would be tricked and captured. He told them about a sleeping enemy stirring, and the exchange she'd made—how Jason was her peace offering, a way to bring peace and end a millennia of division. He told them about how his sister, Thalia, was supposed to help, and how their greatest mortal enemy waited for them in Chicago.