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She shot a blast of wintry sleet at the demigods, but Leo held up his hand. A wall of fire roared to life in<br />
front of them, and the snow dissolved in a steamy cloud.<br />
Leo grinned. ―See, lady, that‘s what happens to snow in Texas. It—freaking—melts.‖<br />
Khione hissed. ―Enough of this. Hera is failing. Porphyrion is rising. Kill the demigods. Let them be our<br />
king‘s first meal!‖<br />
Jason hefted his icy wooden plank—a stupid weapon to die fighting with—and the monsters charged.<br />
A WOLF LAUNCHED ITSELF AT JASON. He stepped back and swung his scrap wood into the beast‘s snout<br />
with a satisfying crack. Maybe only silver could kill it, but a good old-fashioned board could still give it a Tylenol<br />
headache.<br />
He turned toward the sound of hooves and saw a storm spirit horse bearing down on him. Jason<br />
concentrated and summoned the wind. Just before the spirit could trample him, Jason launched himself into the<br />
air, grabbed the horse‘s smoky neck, and pirouetted onto its back.<br />
<strong>The</strong> storm spirit reared. It tried to shake Jason, then tried to dissolve into mist to lose him; but somehow<br />
Jason stayed on. He willed the horse to remain in solid form, and the horse seemed unable to refuse. Jason<br />
could feel it fighting against him. He could sense its raging thoughts—complete chaos straining to break free. It<br />
took all Jason‘s willpower to impose his own wishes and bring the horse under control. He thought about<br />
Aeolus, overseeing thousands and thousands of spirits like this, some much worse. No wonder the Master of<br />
the Winds had gone a little mad after centuries of that pressure. But Jason had only one spirit to master, and<br />
he had to win.<br />
―You‘re mine now,‖ Jason said.<br />
<strong>The</strong> horse bucked, but Jason held fast. Its mane flickered as it circled around the empty pool, its hooves<br />
causing miniature thunderstorms—tempests—whenever they touched.<br />
―Tempest?‖ Jason said. ―Is that your name?‖<br />
<strong>The</strong> horse spirit shook its mane, evidently pleased to be recognized.<br />
―Fine,‖ Jason said. ―Now, let‘s fight.‖<br />
He charged into battle, swinging his icy piece of wood, knocking aside wolves and plunging straight<br />
through other venti. Tempest was a strong spirit, and every time he plowed through one of his brethren, he<br />
discharged so much electricity, the other spirit vaporized into a harmless cloud of mist.<br />
Through the chaos, Jason caught glimpses of his friends. Piper was surrounded by Earthborn, but she<br />
seemed to be holding her own. She was so impressive-looking as she fought, almost glowing with beauty, that<br />
the Earthborn stared at her in awe, forgetting that they were supposed to kill her. <strong>The</strong>y‘d lower their clubs and<br />
watch dumbfounded as she smiled and charged them. <strong>The</strong>y‘d smile back—until she sliced them apart with her<br />
dagger, and they melted into mounds of mud.<br />
Leo had taken on Khione herself. While fighting a goddess should‘ve been suicide, Leo was the right man<br />
for the job. She kept summoning ice daggers to throw at him, blasts of winter air, tornadoes of snow. Leo<br />
burned through all of it. His whole body flickered with red tongues of flame like he‘d been doused with gasoline.<br />
He advanced on the goddess, using two silver-tipped ball-peen hammers to smash any monsters that got in his<br />
way.<br />
Jason realized that Leo was the only reason they were still alive. His fiery aura was heating up the whole<br />
courtyard, countering Khione‘s winter magic. Without him, they would‘ve been frozen like the Hunters long ago.<br />
Wherever Leo went, ice melted off the stones. Even Thalia started to defrost a little when Leo stepped near her.<br />
Khione slowly backed away. Her expression went from enraged to shocked to slightly panicked as Leo got<br />
closer.<br />
Jason was running out of enemies. Wolves lay in dazed heaps. Some slunk away into the ruins, yelping<br />
from their wounds. Piper stabbed the last Earthborn, who toppled to the ground in a pile of sludge. Jason rode<br />
Tempest through the last ventus, breaking it into vapor. <strong>The</strong>n he wheeled around and saw Leo bearing down on<br />
the goddess of snow.<br />
―You‘re too late,‖ Khione snarled. ―He‘s awake! And don‘t think you‘ve won anything here, demigods.<br />
Hera‘s plan will never work. You‘ll be at each other‘s throats before you can ever stop us.‖<br />
Leo set his hammers ablaze and threw them at the goddess, but she turned into snow—a white powdery<br />
image of herself. Leo‘s hammers slammed into the snow woman, breaking it into a steaming mound of mush.<br />
Piper was breathing hard, but she smiled up at Jason. ―Nice horse.‖<br />
Tempest reared on his hind legs, arcing electricity across his hooves. A complete show-off.<br />
<strong>The</strong>n Jason heard a cracking sound behind him. <strong>The</strong> melting ice on Hera‘s cage sloughed off in a curtain<br />
of slush, and the goddess called, ―Oh, don‘t mind me! Just the queen of the heavens, dying over here!‖