Chapter 10
They climbed in mostly silence. Jason was lost in ugly thoughts and pensive, though he did blush at one thought that crept in about how they might need to keep a fire extinguisher in the bedroom if Leo always lit himself on fire if he got excited. Piper kept looking back at him concerned. Her thoughts at war with themselves as she wanted to trust Thalia’s plan, but not wanting to hope for it while thinking of Thalia and Jason being siblings. Meanwhile Leo spent more time worrying if he was going to light himself on fire again. Only coach Hedge was happy as they climbed the cliffs of the floating island, he kept bounding up the slippery staircase and trotting back down. “Come on, cupcakes! Only a few thousand more steps!”
Jason was having the most issues climbing as the golden backpack of winds was strapped over his shoulders with the winds struggled, rumbling and bumping around inside. The closer they got to Aeolus’s palace, the heavier the bag got due to them trying to resist.
Arriving at the top of the island was bizarre. Bronze walls marched all the way around the fortress grounds. Twenty-foot-high gates opened for them, and a road of polished purple stone led up to the main citadel, a Greek style white-columned rotunda with a cluster of satellite dishes and radio towers on the roof. All surrounded by a quarter-mile of the seasons equally cut like a quartered pie for the four cardinal points. They all felt relief when they sent Coach Hedge to the spring pasture. The three demi-gods walked down the road to the steps of the palace.
They passed through the front doors into a white marble foyer decorated with purple banners that read Olympian weather channel, and some that just read OW!
“Hello!” A woman floated up to them. Literally floated. She was pretty in that way only a nature spirit could be. Petite, slightly pointy ears, and an ageless face that could’ve been sixteen or thirty. Her brown eyes twinkled cheerfully. Even though there was no wind, her dark hair blew in slow motion, shampoo-commercial style. Her white gown billowed around her like parachute material. Jason couldn’t tell if she had feet, but if so, they didn’t touch the floor. She had a white tablet computer in her hand. “Are you from Lord Zeus?” she asked. “We’ve been expecting you.”
Jason tried to respond, but it was a little hard to think straight, because he’d realized the woman was see-through. Her shape faded in and out like she was made of fog. “Are you a ghost?” he asked. He was more used to that then anything else so far.
Right away they all knew he’d insulted her. The smile turned into a pout. “I’m an aura, sir. A wind nymph, as you might expect, working for the lord of the winds. My name is Mellie. We don’t have ghosts.”
Piper came to the rescue. “No, of course you don’t! My friend simply mistook you for Helen of Troy, the most beautiful mortal of all time. It’s an easy mistake.” Piper was brilliant, the compliment seemed a little over the top, but Mellie the aura blushed.
“Oh ... well, then. So you are from Zeus?”
“Er,” Jason said, “I’m the Son of Zeus, yeah.”
“Excellent! Please, right this way.” She led them through some security doors into another lobby, consulting her tablet as she floated. She didn’t look where she was going, but it didn’t matter as she drifted straight through a marble column with no problem they had to dodge around. “We’re out of prime time now, so that’s good,” she mused. “I can fit you in right before his 11:12 spot.”
“Um, okay,” Jason said.
The lobby was a very distracting place. It was all wind related from getting pushed around, paper airplanes flying by getting read before being sent off again. Then there were doors opening or slamming shut. If they didn’t randomly see the Aurai they might have thought the place incredibly haunted. That’s when they spotted the Harpy too… Millie attempted to flirt with Jason, but all she got was his mouth twitching in a ‘I don’t know how to respond’ smile.
“So,” Piper prompted, “you were taking us to see Aeolus?”
Mellie led them through a set of airlock doors. Above the interior door, a green light blinked. “We have a few minutes before he starts,” Mellie said cheerfully. “He probably won’t kill you if we go in now. Come along!”
They all didn’t have time to exchange panicked looks before they were awed by what they walked into next. The central section of Aeolus’s fortress was as big as a cathedral, with a soaring domed roof covered in silver. Television equipment floated randomly through the air… there was no floor. Leo almost fell into the chasm before Jason pulled him back.
“Holy—!” Leo gulped. “Hey, Mellie. A little warning next time!”
An enormous circular pit plunged into the heart of the mountain. It was probably half a mile deep, honeycombed with caves. Some of the tunnels led straight outside. Winds were constantly blast out of them. Other caves were sealed with some glistening material like glass or wax, or magic. The whole cavern bustled with harpies, aurai, and paper airplanes, but for someone who couldn’t fly, it would be a very long, very fatal fall.
“Oh, my,” Mellie gasped. “I’m so sorry.” She unclipped a walkie-talkie from somewhere inside her robes ordering a solid floor for the demi-gods to use.
The ‘floor’ appeared in seconds from an army of harpies. The makeshift floor snaking out over the chasm made of squares of just about anything, from plywood, marble blocks, carpet squares to wedges of grass sod, all hammed and glued, duck taped together.
Millie just drifted across without touching the floor. Jason decided he had the best chance at surviving, since he could fly, so he stepped out first. Amazingly, the floor held. Piper gripped his hand and followed him. “If I fall, you’re catching me.”
“Uh, sure.” Jason was holding her steady
Leo stepped out next. “You’re catching me, too, Superman. But I ain’t holding your hand.” That lasted until his foot shifted from one material to the next, he was hugging Jason’s arm moments later staring at the floor uncomfortable as he could see the faults in everything… The duck tape was the least of his concerns.
Mellie led them toward the middle of the chamber, where a loose sphere of flat-panel video screens floated around a kind of control center. A man hovered inside, checking monitors and reading paper airplane messages. The man paid them no attention as Mellie brought them forward. She pushed a forty-two-inch Sony out of their way and led them into the control area.
Leo whistled. “I got to get a room like this.” He was in heaven
The floating screens showed all sorts of television programs. News broadcasts, mostly but some programs looked a little strange: gladiators fighting, demigods battling monsters. Maybe they were movies, but they looked more like reality shows. At the far end of the sphere was a silky blue backdrop like a cinema screen, with cameras and studio lights floating around it. The man in the center was talking into an earpiece phone. He had a remote control in each hand and was pointing them at various screens, seemingly at random.
He wore a business suit that looked like the sky. It was mostly blue dappled with clouds that changed and darkened as they moved across the fabric. He looked like he was in his sixties, with a shock of white hair, but he had a ton of stage makeup on, and that smooth plastic-surgery look to his face, so he appeared not really young, not really old, just wrong. He was like a Ken doll someone had halfway melted in a microwave. His eyes darted back and forth from screen to screen, like he was trying to absorb everything at once. He muttered things into his phone, and his mouth kept twitching. He was either amused, or crazy, or both.
Mellie floated toward him. She tried to interrupt his chaos but it didn’t work until he turned toward the three of them with a mad grin. “Um, sir,” Mellie said, “this is Jason, Son of—”
“Yes, yes, I remember,” Aeolus said. “You’re back. How did it go?”
Jason hesitated. “Sorry? I think you’ve mistaken me—”
“No, no, Jason Grace, aren’t you? It was—what—two years? You were on your way to fight a sea monster, I believe.”
“I—I don’t remember.”
Aelous laughed. “Must not have been a very good sea monster!” he then went off about the heroes who’d stopped by even Jason apparently.
“Sir,” Mellie interrupted. “Two minutes to air.”
They watched as Aeolus was just a whirling ball of chaos, in the worst way, he made Demi-gods look good on an ADHD trip. They seriously needed to get in and get out more then ever. “Mr. Aeolus.” Jason slipped off the golden backpack. “We brought you these rogue storm spirits.”
“Did you!” Aeolus looked at the bag like it was a gift from a fan that he really didn’t want. “Well, how nice.”
Leo nudged him, and Jason offered the bag. “Boreas sent us to capture them for you. We hope you’ll accept them and stop—you know—ordering demigods to be killed.”
Aeolus laughed, and looked incredulously at Mellie. “Demigods be killed—did I order that?”
Mellie checked her computer tablet. “Yes, sir, fifteenth of September. ‘Storm spirits released by the death of Typhon, demigods to be held responsible,’ etc... yes, a general order for them all to be killed.”
“Oh, pish,” Aeolus said. “I was just grumpy. Rescind that order, Mellie, and um, who’s on guard duty—Teriyaki?—Teri, take these storm spirits down to cell block Fourteen E, will you?”
A harpy swooped out of nowhere, snatched the golden bag, and spiraled into the abyss.
Aeolus grinned at Jason. “Now, sorry about that kill-on-sight business. But gods, I really was mad, wasn’t I?” His face suddenly darkened, and his suit did the same, the lapels flashing with lightning. “You know ... I remember now. Almost seemed like a voice was telling me to give that order. A little cold tingle on the back of my neck.”
The three demi-gods tensed. A cold tingle on the back of the neck ...It was just too familiar, there was a connection that they were getting closer to “A ... um, voice in your head, sir?” Jason asked
“Yes. How odd. Mellie, should we kill them?”
“No, sir,” she said patiently. “They just brought us the storm spirits, which makes everything all right.”
“Of course.” Aeolus laughed. “Sorry. Mellie, let’s send the demigods something nice. A box of chocolates, perhaps.”
“A box of chocolates to every demigod in the world, sir?”
“No, too expensive. Never mind. Wait, it’s time! I’m on!” Aeolus flew off toward the blue screen as newscast music started to play.
Jason looked at Piper and Leo, who were just as confused as he was. “Mellie,” he said, “is he ... always like that?”
She smiled sheepishly. “Well, you know what they say. If you don’t like his mood, wait five minutes. That expression ‘whichever way the wind blows’ was based on him.”
“And that thing about the sea monster,” Jason said. “Was I here before?”
Mellie blushed. “I’m sorry, I don’t remember. I’m Mr. Aeolus’s new assistant. I’ve been with him longer than most, but still—not that long.”
“How long do his assistants usually last?” Piper asked.
“Oh ...” Mellie thought for a moment. “I’ve been doing this for ... twelve hours?”
Lights blazed on Aeolus, who was now standing in front of the blue screen. His smile was unnaturally white, and he looked like he’d had so much caffeine his face was about to explode. That resulted in the strangest weather report any of them had ever heard.
“This can’t be right,” Jason whispered. “Weather isn’t this random.”
Mellie smirked. “And how often are the mortal weathermen right? They talk about fronts and air pressure and moisture, but the weather surprises them all the time. At least Aeolus tells us why it’s so unpredictable. Very hard job, trying to appease all the gods at once. It’s enough to drive anyone ...”
She trailed off, but Jason knew what she meant. Mad. Aeolus was completely mad.
“And that’s the weather,” Aeolus concluded. “See you in twelve minutes, because I’m sure it’ll change!”
The lights shut off, the video monitors went back to random coverage, and just for a moment, Aeolus’s face sagged with weariness. Then he seemed to remember he had guests, and he put a smile back on.
“So, you brought me some rogue storm spirits,” Aeolus said. “I suppose ... thanks! And did you want something else? I assume so. Demigods always do.”
Mellie said, “Um, sir, this is Zeus’s son.”
“Yes, yes. I know that. I said I remembered him from before.”
“But, sir, they’re here from Olympus.”
Aeolus looked stunned. Then he laughed so abruptly, Jason almost jumped into the chasm. “You mean you’re here on behalf of your father this time? Finally! I knew they would send someone to renegotiate my contract!”
“Um, what?” Jason asked.
“Oh, thank goodness!” Aeolus sighed with relief. “It’s been what, three thousand years since Jupiter made me master of the winds. Not that I’m ungrateful, of course! But really, my contract is so vague. Obviously, I’m immortal, but ‘master of the winds.’ What does that mean? Am I a nature spirit? A demigod? A god? I want to be God of the Winds, because the benefits are so much better. Can we start with that?”
Jason looked at his friends, mystified.
“Dude,” Leo said, “you think we’re here to promote you?”
“You are, then?” Aeolus grinned. His business suit turned completely blue—not a cloud in the fabric. “Marvelous! I mean, I think I’ve shown quite a bit of initiative with the weather channel, eh? And of course, I’m in the press all the time. So many books have been written about me: Into Thin Air, Up in the Air, Gone with the Wind—”
“Er, I don’t think those are about you,” Jason said, before he noticed Mellie shaking her head.
“Nonsense,” Aeolus said. “Mellie, they’re biographies of me, aren’t they?”
“Absolutely, sir,” she squeaked.
“There, you see? I don’t read. Who has time? But obviously the mortals love me. So, we’ll change my official title to God of the Winds. Then, about salary and staff—”
“Sir,” Jason said, “we’re not from Olympus.”
Aeolus blinked. “But—”
“I’m the Son of Jupiter, yes,” Jason said, “but we’re not here to negotiate your contract. We’re on a quest and we need your help.”
Aeolus’s expression hardened. “Like last time? Like every hero who comes here? Demigods! It’s always about you, isn’t it?”
“Sir, please, I don’t remember last time, but if you helped me once before—”
“I’m always helping! Well, sometimes I’m destroying, but mostly I’m helping, and sometimes I’m asked to do both at the same time! Why, Aeneas, the first of your kind—”
“My kind?” Jason asked. “You mean, demigods?”
“Oh, please!” Aeolus said. “I mean your line of demigods. You know, Aeneas, Son of Venus—the only surviving hero of Troy. When the Greeks burned down his city, he escaped to Italy, where he founded the kingdom that would eventually become Rome, blah, blah, blah. That’s what I meant.”
“I don’t get it,” Jason admitted.
Aeolus rolled his eyes. “The point being, I was thrown in the middle of that conflict, too! Juno calls up: ‘Oh, Aeolus, destroy Aeneas’s ships for me. I don’t like him.’ Then Neptune says, ‘No, you don’t! That’s my territory. Calm the winds.’ Then Juno is like, ‘No, wreck his ships, or I’ll tell Jupiter you’re uncooperative!’ Do you think it’s easy juggling requests like that?”
“No,” Jason said. “I guess not.”
“And don’t get me started on Amelia Earhart! I’m still getting angry calls from Olympus about knocking her out of the sky!”
“We just want information,” Piper said in her most calming voice. “We hear you know everything.”
Aeolus straightened his lapels and looked slightly mollified. “Well ... that’s true, of course. For instance, I know that this business here” he waggled his fingers at the three of them “this harebrained scheme of Juno’s to bring you all together is likely to end in bloodshed. As for you, Piper McLean, I know your father is in serious trouble.” He held out his hand, and a scrap of paper fluttered into his grasp. It was a photo of Piper with her dad.
Piper took the photo letting go of Jason’s hand to take it. Her hands were shaking. “This—this is from his wallet.”
“Yes,” Aeolus said. “All things lost in the wind eventually come to me. The photo blew away when the Earthborn captured him.”
“The what?” Piper asked.
Aeolus waved aside the question and narrowed his eyes at Leo. “Now, you, Son of Hephaestus ... yes, I see your future.” Another paper fell into the wind god’s hands, an old tattered drawing done in crayons. Leo took it as if it might be coated in poison. He staggered backward letting go of Jason in that same instant.
“Leo?” Jason said. “What is it?”
“Something I—I drew when I was a kid.” He folded it quickly and put it in his coat. “It’s ... yeah, it’s nothing.”
Aeolus laughed. “Really? Just the key to your success! Now, where were we? Ah, yes, you wanted information. Are you sure about that? Sometimes information can be dangerous.” He smiled at Jason like he was issuing a challenge. Behind him, Mellie shook her head in warning.
“Yeah,” Jason said. “We need to find the lair of Enceladus.”
Aeolus’s smile melted. “The giant? Why would you want to go there? He’s horrible! He doesn’t even watch my program!”
Piper held up the photo. “Aeolus, he’s got my father. We need to rescue him and find out where Hera is being held captive.”
“Now, that’s impossible,” Aeolus said. “Even I can’t see that, and believe me, I’ve tried. There’s a veil of magic over Juno’s location—very strong, impossible to locate.”
“She’s at a place called the Wolf House,” Jason said.
“Hold on!” Aeolus put a hand to his forehead and closed his eyes. “I’m getting something! Yes, she’s at a place called the Wolf House! Sadly, I don’t know where that is.”
“Enceladus does,” Piper persisted. “If you help us find him, we could get the location of the goddess—”
“Yeah,” Leo said, catching on. “And if we save her, she’d be really grateful to you—”
“And The New King Hades might promote you,” Jason finished.
Aeolus’s eyebrows crept up. “A promotion—and all you want from me is the giant’s location?”
“Well, if you could get us there, too,” Jason amended, “that would be great.”
Mellie clapped her hands in excitement. “Oh, he could do that! He often sends helpful winds—”
“Mellie, quiet!” Aeolus snapped. “I have half a mind to fire you for letting these people in under false pretenses.”
Her face paled. “Yes, sir. Sorry, sir.”
“It wasn’t her fault,” Jason said. “But about that help ...”
Aeolus tilted his head as if thinking. The wind lord was listening to voices in his earpiece. There was chatter going on from the Olympian council.
“Well ... Jupiter approves,” Aeolus muttered. “He says ... he says it would be better if you could avoid saving her until after the weekend, because he has a big party planned—Ow! That’s Venus yelling at him, reminding him that the solstice starts at dawn. She says I should help you. And Vulcan... yes. Hmm. Very rare they agree on anything. Hold on ...”
Jason smiled at his friends. Finally, they were having some good luck. Their godly parents were standing up for them. Back toward the entrance, Jason heard a loud belch. Coach Hedge waddled in from the lobby, grass all over his face. Mellie saw him coming across the makeshift floor and caught her breath. “Who is that?”
Jason stifled a cough. “That? That’s just Coach Hedge. Uh, Gleeson Hedge. He’s our ...” Jason wasn’t sure what to call him: teacher, friend, problem? “Our guide.”
“He’s so goatly,” Mellie murmured. Behind her, Piper poofed out her cheeks, pretending to vomit.
“What’s up, guys?” Hedge trotted over. “Wow, nice place. Oh! Sod squares.”
“Coach, you just ate,” Jason said. “And we’re using the sod as a floor. This is, ah, Mellie—”
“An aura.” Hedge smiled winningly. “Beautiful as a summer breeze.” Mellie blushed.
“And Aeolus here was just about to help us,” Jason said.
“Yes,” the wind lord muttered. “It seems so. You’ll find Enceladus on Mount Diablo.”
“Devil Mountain?” Leo asked. “That doesn’t sound good.”
“I remember that place!” Piper said. “I went there once with my dad. It’s just east of San Francisco Bay.”
“The Bay Area again?” The coach shook his head. “Not good. Not good at all.”
“Now ...” Aeolus began to smile. “As to getting you there—” Suddenly his face went slack. He bent over and tapped his earpiece as if it were malfunctioning. When he straightened again, his eyes were wild. Despite the makeup, he looked like an old, very frightened man. “She hasn’t spoke to me for centuries. I can’t—yes, yes I understand.” He swallowed, regarding Jason as if he had suddenly turned into a giant cockroach. “I’m sorry, Son of Jupiter. New orders. You all have to die.”
Mellie squeaked. “But—but, sir! Zeus said to help them. Aphrodite, Hephaestus—”
“Mellie!” Aeolus snapped. “Your job is already on the line. Besides, there are some orders that transcend even the wishes of the gods, especially when it comes to the forces of nature.”
“Whose orders?” Jason said.
“She is waking—by all the gods—she cannot be denied. Good-bye, heroes. I’m terribly sorry, but I’ll have to make this quick. I’m back on the air in four minutes.” Aeolus flicked his wrist, and far below them, a cell door opened in the pit. Jason could hear storm spirits screaming out of it, spiraling up toward them, howling for blood.
Jason summoned his sword. Coach Hedge pulled out his club. Mellie the aura yelled, “No!” She dived at their feet just as the storm spirits hit with hurricane force, blasting the floor to pieces, shredding the squares into what should’ve been lethal projectiles, had Mellie’s robes not spread out like a shield and absorbed the brunt of the impact. The five of them fell into the pit, and Aeolus screamed above them, “Mellie, you are so fired!”
“Quick,” Mellie yelled. “Son of Zeus, do you have any power over the air?”
“A little!”
“Then help me, or you’re all dead!” Mellie grabbed his hand, and an electric charge went through Jason’s arm. He understood what she needed. They had to control their fall and head for one of the open tunnels. The storm spirits were following them down, closing rapidly, bringing with them a cloud of deadly shrapnel.
Jason grabbed Piper’s hand. “Group hug!” Hedge, Leo, and Piper tried to huddle together, hanging on to Jason and Mellie as they fell.
“This is NOT GOOD!” Leo yelled.
“Bring it on, gas bags!” Hedge yelled up at the storm spirits. “I’ll pulverize you!”
“He’s magnificent,” Mellie sighed.
“Concentrate?” Jason prompted.
“Right!” she said.
They channeled the wind so their fall became more of a tumble into the nearest open chute. Still, they slammed into the tunnel at painful speeds and went rolling over each other down a steep vent that was not designed for people. There was no way they could stop. Mellie’s robes billowed around her. Jason and the others clung to her desperately, and they began to slow down, but the storm spirits were screaming into the tunnel behind them.
“Can’t—hold—long,” Mellie warned. “Stay together! When the winds hit—”
“You’re doing great, Mellie,” Hedge said. “My own mama was an aura, you know. She couldn’t have done better herself.”
“Iris-message me?” Mellie pleaded. Hedge winked.
“Could you guys plan your date later?” Piper screamed. “Look!”
Behind them, the tunnel was turning dark. Jason could feel his ears pop as the pressure built.
“Can’t hold them,” Mellie warned. “But I’ll try to shield you, do you one more favor.”
“Thanks, Mellie,” Jason said. “I hope you get a new job.”
She smiled, and then dissolved, wrapping them in a warm gentle breeze. Then the real winds hit, shooting them into the sky so fast, they all blacked out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The desert night was cold, but Piper had brought blankets, and with Jason next to her, she didn’t need any more warmth. The air smelled of sage and burning mesquite. On the horizon, the Spring Mountains loomed like jagged black teeth, the dim glow of Las Vegas behind them.
The stars were so bright, Piper had been afraid they wouldn’t be able to see the meteor shower. She didn’t want Jason to think she’d dragged him up here on false pretenses. (Even though her pretenses had been totally false.) But the meteors did not disappoint. One streaked across the sky almost every minute—a line of white, yellow, or blue fire. Piper was sure her Grandpa Tom would have some Cherokee myth to explain them, but at the moment she was busy creating her own story.
Jason took her hand—finally—and pointed as two meteors skipped across the atmosphere and formed a cross. “Wow,” he said. “I can’t believe Leo didn’t want to see this.”
“Actually, I didn’t invite him,” Piper said casually.
Jason smiled. “Oh, yeah?”
“Mm-hmm. You ever feel like three would be a crowd?”
“Yeah,” Jason admitted. “Like right now. You know how much trouble we’d get in if we got caught up here?”
“Oh, I’d make up something,” Piper said. “I can be very persuasive. So, you want to dance, or what?”
He laughed. His eyes were amazing, and his smile was even better in the starlight. “With no music. At night. On a rooftop. Sounds dangerous.”
“I’m a dangerous girl.”
“That, I can believe.”
He stood and offered her his hand. They slow danced a few steps, but it quickly turned into a kiss. Piper almost couldn’t kiss him again, because she was too busy smiling.
Piper’s dream changed. With the curious thought of maybe she was dead in the Underworld because she found herself back in Medea’s department store. “Please let this be a dream,” she murmured, “and not my eternal punishment.”
“No, dear,” said a woman’s honey-sweet voice. “No punishment.”
Piper turned, afraid she’d see Medea, but a different woman stood next to her, browsing through the fifty-percent-off rack. The woman was gorgeous. This lady was different, she was elegant without trying, fashionable without effort, stunning without makeup. There was nothing artificial about her. Yet as Piper watched, the woman’s appearance changed. Piper couldn’t decide the color of her eyes, or the exact color of her hair. The woman became more and more beautiful, as if her image were aligning itself to Piper’s thoughts. Getting as close as possible to Piper’s ideal of beauty.
“Aphrodite,” Piper realized swiftly. “Mom?”
The goddess smiled. “You’re only dreaming, my sweet.”
“I—” Piper wanted to ask a thousand questions, but they all crowded together in her head.
Aphrodite held up a turquoise dress. Piper thought it looked awesome, but the goddess made a face. “This isn’t my color, is it? Pity, it’s cute. Medea really does have some lovely things here.”
“This—this building exploded,” Piper stammered. “I saw it.”
“Yes,” Aphrodite agreed. “I suppose that’s why everything’s on sale. Just a memory, now. And I’m sorry to pull you out of your other dream. Much more pleasant, I know.”
Piper’s face burned. She didn’t know whether she was more angry or embarrassed, but mostly she felt hollow with disappointment. “It wasn’t real. It never even happened. So why do I remember it so vividly?”
Aphrodite smiled. “Because you are my daughter, Piper. You see possibilities much more vividly than others. You see what could be. Not that it’s possible anymore. The Ghost King got to him first after all. Unfortunately—” The goddess gestured around the department store. “You have other trials to face, first. Medea will be back, along with many other enemies. The Doors of Death have opened.”
“What do you mean?”
Aphrodite winked at her. “You’re a smart one, Piper. You know.”
A cold feeling settled over her. “The sleeping woman, the one Medea and Midas called their patron. She’s managed to open a new entrance from the Underworld. She’s letting the dead escape back into the world.”
“Mmm. And not just any dead. The worst, the most powerful, the ones most likely to hate the gods.”
“The monsters are coming back from Tartarus the same way,” Piper guessed. “That’s why they don’t stay disintegrated.”
“Yes. Their patron, as you call her, has a special relationship with Tartarus, the spirit of the pit.” Aphrodite held up a gold sequined top. “No ... this would make me look ridiculous.”
Piper laughed uneasily. “You? You can’t look anything but perfect.”
“You’re sweet,” Aphrodite said. “But beauty is about finding the right fit, the most natural fit. To be perfect, you have to feel perfect about yourself —avoid trying to be something you’re not. For a goddess, that’s especially hard. We can change so easily.”
“My dad thought you were perfect.” Piper’s voice quavered. “He never got over you.”
Aphrodite’s gaze became distant. “Yes ... Tristan. Oh, he was amazing. So gentle and kind, funny and handsome. Yet he had so much sadness inside.”
“Could we please not talk about him in the past tense?”
“I’m sorry, dear. I didn’t want to leave your father, of course. It’s always so hard, but it was for the best. If he had realized who I actually was—”
“Wait—he didn’t know you were a goddess?”
“Of course not.” Aphrodite sounded offended. “I wouldn’t do that to him. For most mortals, that’s simply too hard to accept. It can ruin their lives! Ask your friend Jason—lovely boy, by the way. His poor mother was destroyed when she found out she’d fallen in love with Zeus. No, it was much better Tristan believed that I was a mortal woman who left him without explanation. Better a bittersweet memory than an immortal, unattainable goddess. Which brings me to an important matter ...”
She opened her hand and showed Piper a glowing glass vial of pink liquid. “This is one of Medea’s kinder mixtures. It erases only recent memories. When you save your father, if you can save him, you should give him this.”
Piper couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “You want me to dope my dad? You want me to make him forget what he’s been through?”
Aphrodite held up the vial. The liquid cast a pink glow over her face. “Your father acts confident, Piper, but he walks a fine line between two worlds. He’s worked his whole life to deny the old stories about gods and spirits, yet he fears those stories might be real. He fears that he’s shut off an important part of himself, and someday it will destroy him. Now he’s been captured by a giant. He’s living a nightmare. Even if he survives ... if he has to spend the rest of his life with those memories, knowing that gods and spirits walk the earth, it will shatter him. That’s what our enemy hopes for. She will break him, and thus break your spirit.”
Piper wanted to shout that Aphrodite was wrong. Her dad was the strongest person she knew. Piper would never take his memories the way Hera had taken Jason’s. But somehow, she couldn’t stay angry with Aphrodite. She remembered what her dad had said months ago, at the beach at Big Sur: If I really believed in Ghost Country, or animal spirits, or Greek gods... I don’t think I could sleep at night. I’d always be looking for somebody to blame. Now Piper wanted someone to blame, too.
“Who is she?” Piper demanded. “The one controlling the giants?”
Aphrodite pursed her lips. She moved to the next rack, which held battered armor and ripped togas, but Aphrodite looked through them as if they were designer outfits. “You have a strong will,” she mused. “I’m never given much credit among the gods. My children are laughed at. They’re dismissed as conceited and shallow.”
“Some of them are.”
Aphrodite laughed. “Granted. Perhaps I’m conceited and shallow, too, sometimes. A girl has to indulge. Oh, this is nice.” She picked up a burned and stained bronze breastplate and held it up for Piper to see. “No?”
“No,” Piper said. “Are you going to answer my question?”
“Patience, my sweet,” the goddess said. “My point is that love is the most powerful motivator in the world. It spurs mortals to greatness. Their noblest, bravest acts are done for love.”
Piper pulled out her dagger and studied its reflective blade. “Like Helen starting the Trojan War?”
“Ah, Katoptris.” Aphrodite smiled. “I’m glad you found it. I get so much flack for that war, but honestly, Paris and Helen were a cute couple. And the heroes of that war are immortal now—at least in the memories of men. Love is powerful, Piper. It can bring even the gods to their knees. I told this to my son Aeneas when he escaped from Troy. He thought he had failed. He thought he was a loser! But he traveled to Italy—”
“And became the forebear of Rome.”
“Exactly. You see, Piper, my children can be quite powerful. You can be quite powerful, because my lineage is unique. I am closer to the beginning of creation than any other Olympian.”
Piper struggled to remember about Aphrodite’s birth. “Didn’t you ... rise from the sea? Standing on a seashell?”
The goddess laughed. “That painter Botticelli had quite an imagination. I never stood on a seashell, thank you very much. But yes, I rose from the sea. The first beings to rise from Chaos were the Earth and Sky—Gaea and Ouranos. When their son the Titan Kronos killed Ouranos—”
“By chopping him to pieces with a scythe,” Piper remembered.
Aphrodite wrinkled her nose. “Yes. The pieces of Ouranos fell into the sea. His immortal essence created sea foam. And from that foam—”
“You were born. I remember now. So you’re—”
“The last child of Ouranos, who was greater than the gods or the Titans. So, in a strange way, I’m the eldest Olympian god. As I said, love is a powerful force. And you, my daughter, are much more than a pretty face. Which is why you already know who is waking the giants, and who has the power to open doors into the deepest parts of the earth.”
Aphrodite waited, as if she could sense Piper slowly putting together the pieces of a puzzle, which made a dreadful picture. “Gaea,” Piper said. “The earth itself. That’s our enemy.”
She hoped Aphrodite would say no, but the goddess kept her eyes on the rack of tattered armor. “She has slumbered for eons, but she is slowly waking. Even asleep, she is powerful, but once she wakes ... we will be doomed. You must defeat the giants before that happens, and lull Gaea back into her slumber. Otherwise, the rebellion has only begun. The dead will continue to rise. Monsters will regenerate with even greater speed. The giants will lay waste to the birthplace of the gods. And if they do that, all civilization will burn.”
“But Gaea? Mother Earth?”
“Do not underestimate her,” Aphrodite warned. “She is a cruel deity. She orchestrated Ouranos’s death. She gave Kronos the sickle and urged him to kill his own father. While the Titans ruled the world, she slumbered in peace. But when the gods overthrew them, Gaea woke again in all her anger and gave birth to a new race—the giants—to destroy Olympus once and for all.”
“And it’s happening again,” Piper said. “The rise of the giants.”
Aphrodite nodded. “Now you know. What will you do?”
“Me?” Piper clenched her fists. “What am I supposed to do? Put on a pretty dress and sweet-talk Gaea into going back to sleep?”
“I wish that would work,” Aphrodite said. “But no, you will have to find your own strengths, and fight for what you love. Like my favored ones, Helen and Paris. Like my son Aeneas.”
“Helen and Paris died,” Piper said.
“And Aeneas became a hero,” the goddess countered. “The first great hero of Rome. The result will depend on you, Piper, but I will tell you this: The seven greatest demigods must be gathered to defeat the giants, and that effort will not succeed without you. When the two sides meet ... you will be the mediator. You will determine whether there is friendship or bloodshed.”
“What two sides?” Piper’s vision began to dim.
“You must wake soon, my child,” said the goddess. “I do not always agree with Hera, but she’s taken a bold risk, and I agree it must be done, Hades still mutters it could have been done in a smarter way. Zeus kept the two sides apart for too long. Only together will you have the power to save Olympus. Now, wake, and I hope you like the clothes I picked out.”
“What clothes?” Piper demanded, but the dream faded to black.