Daughter of Wine

Jason

Time seems to slow down, which is really frustrating since I can't move. I don't think Calli is doing much better. Her face is contorted in pain, blood dripping from her nose, as the giant's spear moves towards her. She makes no effort to move, I assume she just... can't. She flew far. I'm surprised she's even sitting up. 

"Heads up!" I hear Leo yell. 

A large black metal wedge slams into Enceladus with a massive thunk! The giant stumbles back, barely missing stepping on me, and falls into the pit. 

"Jason, get up!" Piper calls. Her voice energizes me and shakes me out of my stupor. I sit up, my head groggy, while Piper grabs me under my arms and hauls me to my feet. Leo is checking on Calli, who I can see is trembling from here. 

"Don't die on me." Piper orders. "You are not dying on me." 

"Yes ma'am." I feel light-headed, but Piper is just about the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. 

About a hundred feet behind her, I see the construction equipment Leo used. A long cannon-like thing withh a single massive piston, the edge broken clean off. 

Then, I look down into the crater and see where the other end of the hydraulic ax has gone. Enceladus is struggling to rise, an ax blade the size of a washing machine is stuck in his breastplate. 

Amazingly, he manages to pull it free. He yells in pain and the mountain trembles. Golden ichor soaks the front of his armor, but Enceladus still stands. Shakily, he bends down and retrieves the spear. 

"Good try." He winces. "But I cannot be beaten." 

As we watch, the giant's armor mends itself, and the ichor stops flowing. The eye that Calli stabbed heals and reopens, good as new. Even the cuts on his dragon-scale legs, which I had worked so hard ot make, are now just pale scars. 

Leo comes over, carrying Calli bridal-style, who looks like she wants to scream in pain, or embarrassment, or both.  "What is it with this guy? Die already!" 

"My fate is preordained." Enceladus says. "Giants cannot be killed by gods or heroes." 

"Only by both." I tell him. The giant's smile falters, and I see what looks like fear in his eyes. "It's true, isn't it? Gods and demigods have to work together to kill you." 

"You will not live long enough to try!" The giant starts stumbling up the crater's slope, slipping on the glassy sides. 

"Anyone got a god handy?" Calli asks through gritted teeth. 

My heart fills with dread. I look at the giant below, struggling to get out of the pit, and I know what has to happen. 

"Leo," I say. "If you've got a rope in that tool belt, get it ready." 

I leap at the giant with no weapon but my bare hands. 

"Enceladus!" Piper yells. "Look behind you!" 

It's an obvious trick, but her voice is so compelling, even I buy it. The giant says "what?" and turns like there's an enormous spider on his back. 

I tackle his legs just at the right moment. The giant loses his balance. He slams into the crater and slides to the bottom. While he tries to rise, I put my arms around his neck. When Enceladus struggles to his feet, I'm riding his shoulders. 

"Get off!" Enceladus screams. He tries to grab my legs, but I scramble around, squirming and climbing over his hair. 

I pray to my father, and I begin to smell the metallic scent of a storm. Darkness swallows the sun. The giant freezes, sensing it too. 

"Hit the deck!" I yell to my friends. Every hair on my head stands straight up. I see Piper hit the floor hard, and Leo crouches down with his back to me, protecting Calli, who is still in his arms. 

Crack!

Lightning surges through my body, straight through Enceladus, and into the ground. The giant's back stiffens, and I'm thrown clear. When I regain my bearings, I'm slipping down the side of the crater. The lightning bolt has split the mountain itself. The earth rumbles and tears apart, and Enceladus's legs slide into the chasm. He claws helplessly at the glassy sides of the pit, and just for a moment manages to hold onto it's edge, his hands trembling. 

He fixes on me with a look of hatred. "You've won nothing, boy. My brothers are rising, and they are ten times as strong as I. We will destroy the gods at their roots! You will die, and Olympus will die with-" 

The giant loses his grip and falls into the crevice. 

The earth shakes, and I fall towards the rift. 

"Grab hold!" Leo yells.

My feet are at the edge of the chasm when I grab the rope, and Leo and Piper pull me up. 

We stand beside Calli, exhausted and terrified, as the chasm closes like an angry mouth. The ground stops pulling at our feet. 

For now, Gaea is gone. 

The mountainside is on fire. Smoke billows hundreds of feet into the air. I spot a helicopter, maybe firefighters or reporters, coming towards us. 

All around us is carnage. The Earthborn had melted into piles of clay, leaving behind only their rock missiles and loincloths, but I know they'll reform soon enough. Construction equipment lays in ruins. The ground is scarred and blackened, and enormous dead grape vines lay wilting in the smoke. 

Coach Hedge starts to move. He sits up with a groan and rubs his head. His canary yellow pants are now the color of Dijon mustard mixed with mud. 

He blinks and looks around him at the battle scene. "Did I do this?"

Before I can reply, Hedge picks up his club and gets shakily to his feet. "Yeah, you wanted some hoof? I gave you some hoof, cupcakes! Who's the goat, huh?"

He does a little dance, kicking rocks and making what is probably rude satyr gestures at the piles of clay. 

Leo cracks a smile, and I can't help it. I start to laugh. It probably sounds a little hysterical, but it's such a relief to be alive that I don't care. Calli tries to laugh, but cries out loudly in pain. Leo immediately crouches beside her. 

Then, a man stands up across the clearing. Tristan McLean staggers forwards. His eyes are hollow, shell-shocked, like someone who's just walked through a nuclear wasteland. 

"Piper?" He calls. His voice cracks. "Pipes, what- what is-"

He can't complete the thought. Piper runs over to him and hugs him tightly, but he almost doesn't seem to know her. 

"We need to get him out of here." I say. 

"Yeah, but how? He and Calli are in no shape to walk." Leo points out, crouching beside Calli with concern.

I glance up at the helicopter, which is now circling directly overhead. "Can you make us a bullhorn or something?" I ask Leo. "Piper has some talking to do."