Sea Green Eyes

Chapter 6

Leo couldn't believe that Cressida had beaten them to Sonoma Valley. She was on the ground, her blue parka gone as she fought with a double-ended spear. There was also no sign of the so-called ride she had. Their borrowed helicopter definitely wasn't getting returned after it was flattened by a massive snowball.

"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 not only did Thalia not need it, Cressida got there first. Since the Earthborn was focused on Thalia, she was able to do some crazy gymnastics flip as she launched herself up onto the ogres' shoulders, driving the tip of her spear through its neck as it disintegrated and she dropped to the ground.

"I had that!" Thalia insisted.

"You have one arrow left," Cressida returned as she spun her spear. "You're welcome."

"That was impressive," Leo marvelled and Cressida inclined her head.

Thalia ignored him as she hugged Jason and nodded to Piper. "Just in time. My Hunters are holding a perimeter around the mansion, but we'll be overrun any minute."

"By Earthborn?" Jason asked.

"And wolves—Lycaon's minions." Thalia blew a fleck of ice off her nose. "Also storm spirits—"

"But we gave them to Aeolus!" Piper protested.

"Who tried to kill us," Leo reminded her. "Maybe he's helping Gaia again."

"I don't know," Thalia said. "But the monsters keep re-forming almost as fast as we can kill them. We took the Wolf House with no problem: surprised the guards and sent them straight to Tartarus. But then this freak snowstorm blew in. Wave after wave of monsters started attacking. Now we're surrounded. I don't know who or what is leading the assault, but I think they planned this. It was a trap to kill anyone who tried to rescue Hera." 

"Where is she?" Jason asked.

"Inside," Thalia said. "We tried to free her, not that Grapes helped -"

"The fact that you want me to help Hera is un-freaking-believable," Cressida retorted.

" - but we can't figure out how to break the cage. It's only a few minutes until the sun goes down. Hera thinks that's the moment when Porphyrion will be reborn. Plus, most monsters are stronger at night. If we don't free Hera soon—"

She didn't need to finish the thought.

And they all headed inside.

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The house was built in a giant U, and Jason led them between the two wings to an outside courtyard with an empty reflecting pool. At the bottom of the pool, just as Jason had described from his dream, two spires of rock and root tendrils had cracked through the foundation. One of the spires was much bigger—a solid dark mass about twenty feet high, and to Leo it looked like a stone body bag. Underneath the mass of fused tendrils, he could make out the shape of a head, wide shoulders, a massive chest and arms, like the creature was stuck waist-deep in the earth. No, not stuck—rising.

On the opposite end of the pool, the other spire was smaller and more loosely woven. Each tendril was as thick as a telephone pole, with so little space between them that it seemed impossible to even stick your arm through. And in the centre of the cage, stood Hera herself.