Hurricane ~ L. Valdez

1.14 - I Really Need Spanish Lessons

"Cyclops!" My brother cried out, jumping. We were sitting on Leo's dragon, flying through the air peacefully. I had eaten a small amount of ambrosia which had helped slightly with the pain, although not much.

"Whoa, sleepyhead." Piper was sitting behind Jason, holding onto his waist to keep him balanced. Leo was sitting in the front, driving, and I had my arms wrapped around his waist as always.

"D-Detroit," Jason stammered. "Didn't we crash-land? I thought—" 

"It's okay," Leo said. "We got away, but you got a nasty concussion. How you feeling?" 

"How did you—the Cyclops—" 

"Leo and Lara," Piper said. "They were amazing. Leo can summon fire—" 

"It was nothing," Leo said quickly. 

I laughed. "Shut up, Valdez, you did more than I did. Besides, Piper's going to tell him whether we like it or not, get over it." 

And Piper did— she told him how Leo defeated the Cyclopes family; how we freed Jason, then noticed the Cyclopes starting to re-form; how Leo had replaced the dragon's wiring and gotten us back in the air just as we'd started to hear the Cyclopes roaring for vengeance inside the factory. 

Finally, Piper got to the part about the 'Son of Mercury' and Jason looked both nervous and relieved. "I'm not alone, then," he said. "There are others like me." 

"Jason," Piper said, "you were never alone. You've got us." I get what Jason meant though. It's different with people you've just met than people you've known forever.

"I—I know...but something Hera said. I was having a dream...." He told us about something he'd seen, and what the goddess had said inside her cage. Bleh, stupid Hera.

"An exchange?" Piper asked. "What does that mean?"  I immediately sat up. Percy. It had to be Percy.

Jason shook his head, shrugging. "But Hera's gamble is me. Just by sending me to Camp Half-Blood, I have a feeling she broke some kind of rule, something that could blow up in a big way—" 

"Or save us," Piper said hopefully. "That bit about the sleeping enemy—that sounds like the lady Leo told us about." 

Leo cleared his throat. "About that...she kind of appeared to me and Lara back in Detroit, in a pool of Porta-Potty sludge."

"Did you say...Porta-Potty?" 

"Please, just... just don't ask." I groaned, lying my head on Leo's back.

Leo explained, while I tried to block the memory from my brain. "I don't know if she's completely unkillable," he said, "but she cannot be defeated by toilet seats. I can vouch for that. She wanted me to betray you guys, and I was like, 'Pfft, right, I'm gonna listen to a face in the potty sludge.'" 

"She's trying to divide us." Piper said, and I could tell that she was stressed.

"What's wrong?" Jason asked. Awwww he cares.

"I just...Why are they toying with us? Who is this lady, and how is she connected to Enceladus?" 

"Enceladus?" I asked, confused. I was pretty sure I had heard that name before. 

"I mean..." Piper's voice quavered. "That's one of the giants. Just one of the names I could remember."  I got the feeling that there was a lot more bothering her, and a lot she wasn't telling us.

Leo scratched his head. "Well, I dunno about Enchiladas—" 

"Enceladus," Piper and I corrected. 

"Whatever. But Old Potty Face mentioned another name. Porpoise Fear, or something?" 

"She said Porphyrion." I said, rolling my eyes while grinning.

"Porphyrion?" Piper asked. "He was the giant king, I think." 

"I'm going to take a wild guess," Jason spoke up. "In the old stories, Porphyrion kidnapped Hera. That was the first shot in the war between the giants and the gods." 

"I think so," Piper agreed. "But those myths are really garbled and conflicted. It's almost like nobody wanted that story to survive. I just remember there was a war, and the giants were almost impossible to kill." 

"Heroes and gods had to work together," Jason said. "That's what Hera told me."

"Oh gods..." I muttered. Haven't I done enough for them?

"Kind of hard to do," Leo grumbled, "if the gods won't even talk to us." 

We flew west, and I sighed, leaning against Leo again. "I'm so proud of you." I mumbled, and he turned to glance at me.

"I'm always proud of you, cariño." I really need to take Spanish lessons.

Eventually, Festus dove through a break in the clouds, and below them, glittering in the winter sun, was a city at the edge of a massive lake. A crescent of skyscrapers lined the shore. Behind them, stretching out to the western horizon, was a vast grid of snow-covered neighborhoods and roads. 

"Chicago," Jason said. 

"One problem down," Leo said. "We got here alive. Now, how do we find the storm spirits?" 

Suddenly I saw a flash of movement below them. At first I thought it could've been a small plane, but it was too small, too dark and fast. The thing spiraled toward the skyscrapers, weaving and changing shapes, and just for a moment it became the smoky figure of a horse.  "How about we follow that one," I suggested, "and see where it goes?"

(this is kinda a filler lol, sorry)