The House of Hades (The Heroes of Olympus #4)(80)

“Guys,” she said, “I’ve been thinking about the Prophecy of Seven.”

It took a lot to get Leo’s attention away from his work, but that did the trick.

“What about it?” he asked. “Like…good stuff, I hope?”

She readjusted her cornucopia’s shoulder strap. Sometimes the horn of plenty seemed so light she forgot about it. Other times it felt like an anvil, as if the river god Achelous was sending out bad thoughts, trying to punish her for taking his horn.

“In Katoptris,” she started, “I keep seeing that giant Clytius—the guy who’s wrapped in shadows. I know his weakness is fire, but in my visions, he snuffs out flames wherever he goes. Any kind of light just gets sucked into his cloud of darkness.”

“Sounds like Nico,” Leo said. “You think they’re related?”

Jason scowled. “Hey, man, cut Nico some slack. So, Piper, what about this giant? What are you thinking?”

She and Leo exchanged a quizzical look, like: Since when does Jason defend Nico di Angelo? She decided not to comment.

“I keep thinking about fire,” Piper said. “How we expect Leo to beat this giant because he’s…”

“Hot?” Leo suggested with a grin.

“Um, let’s go with flammable. Anyway, that line from the prophecy bothers me: To storm or fire the world must fall.”

“Yeah, we know all about it,” Leo promised. “You’re gonna say I’m fire. And Jason here is storm.”

Piper nodded reluctantly. She knew that none of them liked talking about this, but they all must have felt it was the truth.

The ship pitched to starboard. Jason grabbed the icy railing. “So you’re worried one of us will endanger the quest, maybe accidentally destroy the world?”

“No,” Piper said. “I think we’ve been reading that line the wrong way. The world…the Earth. In Greek, the word for that would be…”

She hesitated, not wanting to say the name aloud, even at sea.

“Gaea.” Jason’s eyes gleamed with sudden interest. “You mean, to storm or fire Gaea must fall?”

“Oh…” Leo grinned even wider. “You know, I like your version a lot better. ’Cause if Gaea falls to me, Mr. Fire, that is absolutely copacetic.”

“Or to me…storm.” Jason kissed her. “Piper, that’s brilliant! If you’re right, this is great news. We just have to figure out which of us destroys Gaea.”

“Maybe.” She felt uneasy getting their hopes up. “But, see, it’s storm or fire…”

She unsheathed Katoptris and set it on the console. Immediately, the blade flickered, showing the dark shape of the giant Clytius moving through a corridor, snuffing out torches.

“I’m worried about Leo and this fight with Clytius,” she said. “That line in the prophecy makes it sound like only one of you can succeed. And if the storm or fire part is connected to the third line, an oath to keep with a final breath…”

She didn’t finish the thought, but from Jason’s and Leo’s expressions, she saw that they understood. If she was reading the prophecy right, either Leo or Jason would defeat Gaea. The other one would die.

LEO STARED AT THE DAGGER. “Okay…so I don’t like your idea as much as I thought. You think one of us defeats Gaea and the other one dies? Or maybe one of us dies while defeating her? Or—”

“Guys,” Jason said, “we’ll drive ourselves crazy overthinking it. You know how prophecies are. Heroes always get in trouble trying to thwart them.”

“Yeah,” Leo muttered. “We’d hate to get in trouble. We’ve got it so good right now.”

“You know what I mean,” Jason said. “The final breath line might not be connected to the storm and fire part. For all we know, the two of us aren’t even storm and fire. Percy can raise hurricanes.”

“And I could always set Coach Hedge on fire,” Leo volunteered. “Then he can be fire.”

The thought of a blazing satyr screaming, “Die, scumbag!” as he attacked Gaea was almost enough to make Piper laugh— almost.

“I hope I’m wrong,” she said cautiously. “But the whole quest started with us finding Hera and waking that giant king Porphyrion. I have a feeling the war will end with us too. For better or worse.”

“Hey,” Jason said, “personally, I like us.”

“Agreed,” Leo said. “Us is my favorite people.”

Piper managed a smile. She really did love these guys. She wished she could use her charmspeak on the Fates, describe a happy ending, and force them to make it come true.

Unfortunately, it was hard to imagine a happy ending with all the dark thoughts in her head. She worried that the giant Clytius had been put in their path to eliminate Leo as a threat. If so, that meant Gaea would also try to eliminate Jason. Without storm or fire, their quest couldn’t succeed.

And this wintry weather bothered her too.… She felt certain it was being caused by something more than just Diocletian’s scepter. The cold wind, the mix of ice and rain seemed actively hostile, and somehow familiar.

That smell in the air, the thick smell of…

Piper should have understood what was happening sooner, but she’d spent most of her life in Southern California with no major changes of season. She hadn’t grown up with that smell…the smell of impending snow.