LOST AT SEA | jason grace

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧.

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧. 𝑃𝑜𝑟𝑝ℎ𝑦𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑛

𝙰𝚃 𝙵𝙸𝚁𝚂𝚃, Lorna thought rocks were pelting the windshield. Then she realized it was sleet. Frost built up around the edges of the glass, and slushy waves of ice blotted out his view.

"An ice storm?" Piper shouted over the engine and the wind. "Is it supposed to be this cold in Sonoma?"

Lorna wasn't sure, but something about this storm seemed conscious, malevolent- like it was intentionally slamming them. 

Jason woke up quickly. He crawled forward, grabbing their seats for balance. "We've got to be getting close."

Leo was too busy wrestling with the stick to reply. The chopper's movements turned sluggish and jerky. The whole machine shuddered in the icy wind. The helicopter probably hadn't been prepped for cold-weather flying. The ridge of a hill loomed in front of them and Leo yanked the stick, just clearing the treetops.

"There!" Jason shouted.

A small valley opened up before them, with the murky shape of a building in the middle. Leo aimed the helicopter straight for it. All around them were flashes of light that reminded Lorna of the tracer fire at Midas's compound. Trees cracked and exploded at the edges of the clearing. Shapes moved through the mist. Combat seemed to be everywhere. He set down the helicopter in an icy field about fifty yards from the house and killed the engine. Lorna was about to relax when she heard a whistling sound and saw a dark shape hurtling toward them out of the mist.

"Out!" Lorna screamed.

They leaped from the helicopter and barely cleared the rotors before a massive BOOM shook the ground, knocking Lorna off her feet and splattering ice all over her. She got up shakily and saw that the world's largest snowball- a chunk of snow, ice, and dirt the size of a garage- had completely flattened the Bell 412.

"You all right?" Jason ran up to her, Piper and Leo at his side. They looked fine except for being speckled with snow and mud.

"Yeah." Lorna shivered.

"Guess we owe that ranger lady a new helicopter." Leo said.

"Not if we don't make it." Lorna said.

Piper pointed south. "Fighting's over there." Then she frowned. "No ... it's all around us."

She was right. The sounds of combat rang across the valley. The snow and mist made it hard to tell for sure, but there seemed to be a circle of fighting all around the Wolf House. Behind them loomed Jack London's dream home- a massive ruin of red and gray stones and rough-hewn timber beams. Lorna could imagine how it had looked before it burned down- a combination log cabin and castle, like a billionaire lumberjack might build. But in the mist and sleet, the place had a lonely, haunted feel. Lorna could totally believe the ruins were cursed.

"Lorna!" a girl's voice called.

Thalia appeared from the fog, her parka caked with snow. Her bow was in her hand, and her quiver was almost empty. She ran toward them, but made it only a few steps before a six-armed ogre- one of the Earthborn- burst out of the storm behind her, a raised club in each hand.

"Look out!" Leo yelled.

Lorna raised her arms, and the snow wrapped around the Earthborn, creating a pile of snow in the middle of the field. 

Thalia hugged Jason and Lorna and nodded to Piper. "Just in time. My Hunters are holding a perimeter around the mansion, but we'll be overrun any minute."