Where there's smoke // L.Valdez

Chapter thirty-two

"We need to talk." Piper announced when they had started digging onto their food. "I don't want to hide anything from you guys anymore."

Persephone swallowed her mouthful, realising too late that she had bitten off too much.

"Three nights before the Grand Canyon trip," She said. "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."

It was silent for a few moments, letting the information sink in.

"Enceladus? You mentioned that name before." finally spoke.

Coach Hedge whistled. "Big giant. Breathes fire. Not somebody I'd want barbequing my daddy goat."

"Dude!" Persephone hissed.

Jason shot him a 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 remembered. "Didn't Medea say something about controlling her?"

Piper nodded. "To get my dad back, I had to sabotage this quest. I didn't realise it would be the four of us. Then after we started the quest, Enceladus sent me another warning: he told me he wanted you two dead, he didn't say anything about Persephone. He wants me to lead you to a mountain. I don't know exactly 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 looked down, not daring to meet their eyes. Jason scooted next to her and put his arm around her again.

"God, Piper. I'm so sorry."

"Holy Hades, Pipes." Persephone added, shocked.

Leo nodded. "No kidding. You've been carrying this around for a week? Piper, we could help you."

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

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

"Yeah, you haven't attempted to kill us, so why wouldn't we trust you? You clearly had no intention of letting us die. I'd follow you anywhere."

"Same." Leo said. "Can I have a hug, too?" Persephone shoved him.

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

"I doubt it," Coach Hedge belched. He had his tofu burger folded in his paper plate like a taco. Persephone had no idea how that could be at all appetising, compared to the tacos Leo had made them, but she decided not to mention it; he was a satyr after all. "Giant hasn't got 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 you to divert the quest to this mountain, right?"

Piper nodded uncertainly.

"So that means Hera is being kept somewhere else," Hedge reasoned. "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 if you cooperated. You're obviously one of the seven in the Great Prophecy."

Persephone glared at the satyr. Couldn't he be a bit more gentle? Her dad's life was on the line here and Coach Hedge was speaking like it was a simple choice.

"So we have no choice," Piper said 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 said. "We'll save him."

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

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

"We've got your back, Pipes. We'll get your dad back to you." Persephone smiled.

"Would help if we knew where this mountain was. Maybe Aeolus can tell you that. The Bay Area has a bad reputation for demigods. Old home of the Titans, Mount Othrys, sits over Mount Tam, where Atlas holds up the sky. I hope that's not the mountain you saw."

"Bad place." Persephone agreed. "The sky is heavy."

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

Jason frowned at the fire, like he was on the cusp of remembering something. Persephone realised she was getting her memoires back quicker than Jason.

"Bad reputation... that doesn't seem right. The Bay Area..."

"You think you've been there?"

"I..." His eyes had a frustrated look to them. It was gone. Whatever he almost remembered was gone again. "I don't know. Hedge, what happened to Mount Othrys?"

The Coach snapped up another bite of his paper plate and burger. "Well, Kronos built a new palace there last summer. Big nasty place, was going to be headquarters for his new kingdom and all. Weren't any battles there, though, Kronos marched on Manhattan, tried to take Olympus. 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 said. Everyone turned to him.

"What do you mean 'no'?" Leo asked.

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

Persephone was about ready to call it a night. Fully ready to accept that Jason was hearing things. But, to her reluctance, she heard wolf howls pierce their cave's silence, even over the storm howling outside.