Daughter of Wine

Callida

The smell of the burgers is so overwhelming. We haven't eaten since the night before, and the wine I'm sipping on to calm my nerves is not helping with the hunger. Piper, who is allegedly a vegetarian, is staring at the burgers too. She's nearly drooling. 

I'm happy that Jason saw that I'm more than just a wine-making, grape-grower. I constantly feel like people underestimate me, but I also can't hold it against them. Children of Dionysus don't usually grow up into great heroes. More often than not, they're grouped in with the demigods who are somewhat helpful side-characters. I've been trying to push that stereotype out the window back at camp, but it's hard when all the Dionysus kids want to do is drink whatever liquid they choose to summon and grow strawberries in the field. Pollux is a strong fighter, but he's been at camp almost as long as I have. The others are mostly fairly new, and upon learning how everyone sees them, they don't even try. It's frustrating, but it's not common of children of Dionysus to want to work at things. 

"Calli, are you drinking wine?" Jason asks, as if just noticing my goblet. 

I give him a blank look. "Of course not. That would be irresponsible for a child of the god of wine to do. I would never drink wine."

Piper shifts uncomfortably.

"Hardcore, mamasita. Alcoholic by the age of fourteen." Leo raises an eyebrow at me.  

Hedge spits more cudgel pieces into the fire. "Relax, you prudes. She won't get drunk. Not unless she wants to. And if she wanted to, she doesn't need wine. She just... could." 

"I like the taste." I tell them. "It helps me chill out." 

"I think we could all use some of that." Piper scoffs. 

No one gives me any more weird looks. They just return to normal. I think the idea of someone being able to drink alcohol and not get drunk is nowhere near the craziest thing they've dealt with in these past few days.

Leo finally hands out the burgers, and I try extremely hard not to snatch it out of his hands and inhale it in the corner like a starving caveman. 

"We need to talk." Piper sits up, her expression pained. "I don't want to hide anything from you guys anymore."

We all look at her, our mouths full of burger. 

"Three nights before the Grand Canyon trip, I had a dream vision. A giant, telling me my father had been taken hostage. He told me I had to cooperate, or my dad would be killed." 

The flames crackle. 

"Enceladus?" Jason asks. "You mentioned that name before." 

I frown. "What do salads have to do with anything?" 

Leo cracks a smile. "En-se-lah-dus. Not ensaladas." 

I grimace, feeling embarrassed. Leo pats my back, as if he's happy to not be the one with the stupid questions for once. 

Hedge whistles. "Big giant. Breathes fire. Not somebody I'd want barbecuing my daddy goat." 

Jason gives him a shut up look. "Piper, go on. What happened next?" 

"I-I tried to reach my dad, but all I got was his personal assistant, and she told me not to worry." 

"Jane?" Leo asks. "Didn't Medea say something about controlling her?"

Piper nods. "To get my dad back, I had to sabotage this quest. I didn't realize it would be the three of us, and Calli..." She looks at me, as if scared I'm going to turn her into a dolphin. "Then, after we started the quest, Enceladus sent me another warning: He told me he wanted you guys dead. He wants me to lead you to a mountain. I don't exactly know which one, but it's in the Bay Area. I could see the Golden Gate Bridge from the summit. I have to be there by noon on the solstice, tomorrow. An exchange." 

She can't seem to meet our eyes. 

I would expect myself to be wary. I mean, I met this girl two days ago, and now she's telling me she's being blackmailed into sabotaging this quest and sacrificing her questmates. But I'm not wary. I feel bad. 

"God, Piper. I'm so sorry." Jason puts his arm around her. 

Leo nods. "No kidding. You've been carrying this around for a week?"

"Piper, we could help you." I tell her, much to everyone's surprise. 

She glares at us. "Why don't you yell at me or something? I was ordered to kill you!" 

"Aw, come on." Jason says. "You've saved us all on this quest. I'd put my life in your hands any day." 

"Same." Leo agrees. "Can I have a hug too?"

"I've only known you for about two days, but I'd trust you to have my back." I tell her. 

"You don't get it!" She cries out. "I've probably just killed my dad, telling you this." 

"I doubt it." Coach Hedge belches. He's eating his tofu burger folded inside the paper plate, chewing it all like a taco. "Giant hasn't gotten what he wants yet, so he still needs your dad for leverage. He'll wait until the deadline passes, see if you show up. He wants to divert the quest to this mountain, right?" 

Piper nods uncertainly. 

"So that means that Hera is being kept somewhere else." Hedge reasons. "And she has to be saved by the same day. So you have to choose. Rescue your dad, or rescue Hera. If you go after Hera, then Enceladus takes care of your dad. Besides, Enceladus would never let you go even if you cooperated. You're obviously one of the eight in the Great Prophecy." 

My gut wrenches. Hera told me I was one of the eight too. I don't feel important enough to be one of the eight. Like I was thinking to myself before, children of Dionysus don't really grow up to be great heroes. 

"So we have no choice." She says miserably. "We have to save Hera, or the giant king gets unleashed. That's our quest. The world depends on it. And Enceladus seems to have ways of watching me. He isn't stupid. He'll know if we change course and go the wrong way. He'll kill my dad." 

"He's not going to kill your dad." Leo insists. "We'll save him." 

"We don't have time!" Piper cries. "Besides, it's a trap." 

"We're your friends, beauty queen." Leo tells her. "We're not going to let your dad die. We just gotta figure out a plan." 

Coach Hedge grumbles. "Would help if we knew where this mountain was. Maybe Aeolus can tell you that."

"The Bay Area has a bad reputation for demigods." I tell them. "The old home of the Titans, Mount Othrys, sits over Mount Tam, where Atlas holds up the sky." I shiver at the memory of the place. "I hope that's not the mountain you saw." 

"I don't think so." Piper frowns. "This was inland." 

Jason frowns at the fire, as if trying to remember something. "Bad reputation... that doesn't seem right. The Bay Area..." 

"You think you've been there?" Piper asks him. 

"I..." He looks frustrated, like it's on the tip of his tongue. "I don't know. Calli, what happened to Mount Othrys?" 

"Well, Kronos built a new palace there last summer. Big nasty place. It was going to be the headquarters for his new kingdom and all. There weren't any battles there, though. Kronos marched on Manhattan, tried to take Olympus. That's where the second Titan War took place. If I remember right, he left some other Titans in charge of his palace, but after Kronos got...defeated... in Manhattan, the whole place just crumbled on its own." 

"No." Jason says. 

We all look at him. 

I feel slightly annoyed. "What do you mean, 'No'?"

"That's not what happened. I-" He tenses, looking towards the cave entrance. "Did you hear that?" 

For a second, nothing. Then, I hear it. Howls piercing through the night.