The Lost Hero

―The Wolf House! Oakland is good; you‘re not too far. We‘re holding off the giant‘s minions, but we can‘t
hold them forever. Get here before sunset, or it‘s all over.‖
it.
―Then it‘s not too late?‖ Piper cried. Hope surged through her, but Thalia‘s expression quickly dampened
―Not yet,‖ Thalia said. ―But Jason—it‘s worse than I realized. Porphyrion is rising. Hurry.‖
―But where is the Wolf House?‖ he pleaded.
―Our last trip,‖ Thalia said, her image starting to flicker. ―The park. Jack London. Remember?‖
This made no sense to Piper, but Jason looked like he‘d been shot. He tottered, his face pale, and the Iris
message disappeared.
―Bro, you all right?‖ Leo asked. ―You know where she is?‖
―Yes,‖ Jason said. ―Sonoma Valley. Not far. Not by air.‖
Piper turned to the ranger pilot, who‘d been watching all this with an increasingly puzzled expression.
―Ma‘am,‖ Piper said with her best smile. ―You don‘t mind helping us one more time, do you?‖
―I don‘t mind,‖ the pilot agreed.
―We can‘t take a mortal into battle,‖ Jason said. ―It‘s too dangerous.‖ He turned to Leo. ―Do you think you
could fly this thing?‖
―Um …‖ Leo‘s expression didn‘t exactly reassure Piper. But then he put his hand on the side of the
helicopter, concentrating hard, as if listening to the machine.
―Bell 412HP utility helicopter,‖ Leo said. ―Composite four-blade main rotor, cruising speed twenty-two
knots, service ceiling twenty-thousand feet. The tank is near full. Sure, I can fly it.‖
Piper smiled at the ranger again. ―You don‘t have a problem with an under-aged unlicensed kid borrowing
your copter, do you? We‘ll return it.‖
―I—‖ The pilot nearly choked on the words, but she got them out: ―I don‘t have a problem with that.‖
Leo grinned. ―Hop in, kids. Uncle Leo‘s gonna take you for a ride.‖
FLY A HELICOPTER? SURE, WHY NOT. Leo had done plenty of crazier things that week.
The sun was going down as they flew north over the Richmond Bridge, and Leo couldn‘t believe the day
had gone so quickly. Once again, nothing like ADHD and a good fight to the death to make time fly.
Piloting the chopper, he went back and forth between confidence and panic. If he didn‘t think about it, he
found himself automatically flipping the right switches, checking the altimeter, easing back on the stick, and
flying straight. If he allowed himself to consider what he was doing, he started freaking out. He imagined his
Aunt Rosa yelling at him in Spanish, telling him he was a delinquent lunatic who was going to crash and burn.
Part of him suspected she was right.
―Going okay?‖ Piper asked from the copilot‘s seat. She sounded more nervous than he was, so Leo put on
a brave face.
―Aces,‖ he said. ―So what‘s the Wolf House?‖
Jason knelt between their seats. ―An abandoned mansion in the Sonoma Valley. A demigod built it—Jack
London.‖
Leo couldn‘t place the name. ―He an actor?‖
―Writer,‖ Piper said. ―Adventure stuff, right? Call of the Wild? White Fang?‖
―Yeah,‖ Jason said. ―He was a son of Mercury—I mean, Hermes. He was an adventurer, traveled the
world. He was even a hobo for a while. Then he made a fortune writing. He bought a big ranch in the country
and decided to build this huge mansion—the Wolf House.‖
―Named that ‘cause he wrote about wolves?‖ Leo guessed.
―Partially,‖ Jason said. ―But the site, and the reason he wrote about wolves—he was dropping hints about
his personal experience. There‘re a lot of holes in his life story—how he was born, who his dad was, why he
wandered around so much—stuff you can only explain if you know he was a demigod.‖
The bay slipped behind them, and the helicopter continued north. Ahead of them, yellow hills rolled out as
far as Leo could see.
―So Jack London went to Camp Half-Blood,‖ Leo guessed.
―No,‖ Jason said. ―No, he didn‘t.‖
―Bro, you‘re freaking me out with the mysterious talk. Are you remembering your past or not?‖
―Pieces,‖ Jason said. ―Only pieces. None of it good. The Wolf House is on sacred ground. It‘s where
London started his journey as a child—where he found out he was a demigod. That‘s why he returned there. He