The House of Hades (The Heroes of Olympus #4)(82)

Zethes winced. “Alas, beautiful girl. We all are working for Gaea now. I fear these orders are from our father, Boreas himself.”

“What?” Piper didn’t want to believe it, but Khione’s smug smile told her it was true.

“At last my father saw the wisdom of my counsel,” Khione purred, “or at least he did before his Roman side began warring with his Greek side. I fear he is quite incapacitated now, but he left me in charge. He has ordered that the forces of the North Wind be used in the service of King Porphyrion, and of course…the Earth Mother.”

Piper gulped. “How are you even here?” She gestured at the ice all over the ship. “It’s summer!”

Khione shrugged. “Our powers grow. The rules of nature are turned upside down. Once the Earth Mother wakes, we shall remake the world as we choose!”

“With hockey,” Cal said, his mouth still full. “And pizza. And muffins.”

“Yes, yes,” Khione sneered. “I had to promise a few things to the big simpleton. And to Zethes—”

“Oh, my needs are simple.” Zethes slicked back his hair and winked at Piper. “I should have kept you at our palace when we first met, my dear Piper. But soon we will go there again, together, and I shall romance you most incredibly.”

“Thanks, but no thanks,” Piper said. “Now, let Jason go.”

She put all her power into the words, and Zethes obeyed. He snapped his fingers. Jason instantly defrosted. He crumpled to the floor, gasping and steaming; but at least he was alive.

“You imbecile!” Khione thrust out her hand, and Jason refroze, now flat on the deck like a bearskin rug. She wheeled on Zethes. “If you wish the girl as your prize, you must prove you can control her. Not the other way around!”

“Yes, of course.” Zethes looked chagrined.

“As for Jason Grace…” Khione’s brown eyes gleamed. “He and the rest of your friends will join our court of ice statues in Quebec. Jason will grace my throne room.”

“Clever,” Piper muttered. “Take you all day to think up that line?”

At least she knew Jason was still alive, which made Piper a little less panicky. The deep freeze could be reversed. That meant her other friends were probably still alive below deck. She just needed a plan to free them.

Unfortunately, she wasn’t Annabeth. She wasn’t so good at devising plans on the fly. She needed time to think.

“What about Leo?” she blurted. “Where did you send him?”

The snow goddess stepped lightly around Jason, examining him as if he were sidewalk art.

“Leo Valdez deserved a special punishment,” she said. “I have sent him to a place from which he can never return.”

Piper couldn’t breathe. Poor Leo. The idea of never seeing him again almost destroyed her. Khione must’ve seen it in her face.

“Alas, my dear Piper!” She smiled in triumph. “But it is for the best. Leo could not be tolerated, even as an ice statue…not after he insulted me. The fool refused to rule at my side! And his power over fire…” She shook her head. “He could not be allowed to reach the House of Hades. I’m afraid Lord Clytius likes fire even less than I do.”

Piper gripped her dagger.

Fire, she thought. Thanks for reminding me, you witch.

She scanned the deck. How to make fire? A box of Greek fire vials was secured by the forward ballista, but that was too far away. Even if she made it without getting frozen, Greek fire would burn everything, including the ship and all her friends. There had to be another way. Her eyes strayed to the prow.

Oh.

Festus the figurehead could blow some serious flames. Unfortunately, Leo had switched him off. Piper had no idea how to reactivate him. She would never have time to figure out the right controls at the ship’s console. She had vague memories of Leo tinkering around inside the dragon’s bronze skull, mumbling about a control disk; but even if Piper could make it to the prow, she would have no idea what she was doing.

Still, some instinct told her Festus was her best chance, if only she could figure out how to convince her captors to let her get close enough…

“Well!” Khione interrupted her thoughts. “I fear our time together is at a close. Zethes, if you would—”

“Wait!” Piper said.

A simple command, and it worked. The Boreads and Khione frowned at her, waiting.

Piper was fairly sure she could control the brothers with charmspeak, but Khione was a problem. Charmspeak worked poorly if the person wasn’t attracted to you. It worked poorly on a powerful being like a god. And it worked poorly when your victim knew about charmspeak and was actively on guard against it. All of the above applied to Khione.

What would Annabeth do?

Delay, Piper thought. When in doubt, talk some more.

“You’re afraid of my friends,” she said. “So why not just kill them?”

Khione laughed. “You are not a god, or you would understand. Death is so short, so…unsatisfying. Your puny mortal souls flit off to the Underworld, and what happens then? The best I can hope for is that you go to the Fields of Punishment or Asphodel, but you demigods are insufferably noble. More likely you will go to Elysium—or get reborn in a new life. Why would I want to reward your friends that way? Why…when I can punish them eternally?”