The Lost Hero (The Heroes of Olympus #1)(133)

“JASON!”

Piper kept calling his name as she held him, though she’d almost lost hope. He’d been unconscious for two minutes now. His body was steaming, his eyes rolled back in his head. She couldn’t tell if he was even breathing.

“It’s no use, child.” Hera stood over them in her simple black robes and shawl.

Piper hadn’t seen the goddess go nuclear. Thankfully she’d closed her eyes, but she could see the aftereffects. Every vestige of winter was gone from the valley. No signs of battle, either. The monsters had been vaporized. The ruins had been restored to what they were before—still ruins, but with no evidence that they’d been overrun by a horde of wolves, storm spirits, and six-armed ogres.

Even the Hunters had been revived. Most waited at a respectful distance in the meadow, but Thalia knelt by Piper’s side, her hand on Jason’s forehead.

Thalia glared up at the goddess. “This is your fault. Do something!”

“Do not address me that way, girl. I am the queen—”

“Fix him!”

Hera’s eyes flickered with power. “I did warn him. I would never intentionally hurt the boy. He was to be my champion. I told them to close their eyes before I revealed my true form.”

“Um …” Leo frowned. “True form is bad, right? So why did you do it?”

“I unleashed my power to help you, fool!” Hera cried. “I became pure energy so I could disintegrate the monsters, restore this place, and even save these miserable Hunters from the ice.”

“But mortals can’t look upon you in that form!” Thalia shouted. “You’ve killed him!”

Leo shook his head in dismay. “That’s what our prophecy meant. Death unleash, through Hera’s rage. Come on, lady. You’re a goddess. Do some voodoo magic on him! Bring him back.”

Piper half heard their conversation, but mostly she was focused on Jason’s face. “He’s breathing!” she announced.

“Impossible,” Hera said. “I wish it were true, child, but no mortal has ever—”

“Jason,” Piper called, putting every bit of her willpower into his name. She could not lose him. “Listen to me. You can do this. Come back. You’re going to be fine.”

Nothing happened. Had she imagined his breath stirring?

“Healing is not a power of Aphrodite,” Hera said regretfully. “Even I cannot fix this, girl. His mortal spirit—”

“Jason,” Piper said again, and she imagined her voice resonating through the earth, all the way down to the Underworld. “Wake up.”

He gasped, and his eyes flew open. For a moment they were full of light—glowing pure gold. Then the light faded and his eyes were normal again. “What—what happened?”

“Impossible!” Hera said.

Piper wrapped him in a hug until he groaned, “Crushing me.”

“Sorry,” she said, so relieved, she laughed while wiping a tear from her eye.

Thalia gripped her brother’s hand. “How do you feel?”

“Hot,” he muttered. “Mouth is dry. And I saw something… really terrible.”

“That was Hera,” Thalia grumbled. “Her Majesty, the Loose Cannon.”

“That’s it, Thalia Grace,” said the goddess. “I will turn you into an aardvark, so help me—”

“Stop it, you two,” Piper said. Amazingly, they both shut up.

Piper helped Jason to his feet and gave him the last nectar from their supplies.

“Now …” Piper faced Thalia and Hera. “Hera—Your Majesty—we couldn’t have rescued you without the Hunters. And Thalia, you never would’ve seen Jason again—I wouldn’t have met him—if it weren’t for Hera. You two make nice, because we’ve got bigger problems.”

They both glared at her, and for three long seconds, Piper wasn’t sure which one of them was going to kill her first.

Finally Thalia grunted. “You’ve got spirit, Piper.” She pulled a silver card from her parka and tucked it into the pocket of Piper’s snowboarding jacket. “You ever want to be a Hunter, call me. We could use you.”

Hera crossed her arms. “Fortunately for this Hunter, you have a point, daughter of Aphrodite.” She assessed Piper, as if seeing her clearly for the time. “You wondered, Piper, why I chose you for this quest, why I didn’t reveal your secret in the beginning, even when I knew Enceladus was using you. I must admit, until this moment I was not sure. Something told me you would be vital to the quest. Now I see I was right. You’re even stronger than I realized. And you are correct about the dangers to come. We must work together.”

Piper’s face felt warm. She wasn’t sure how to respond to Hera’s compliment, but Leo stepped in.

“Yeah,” he said, “I don’t suppose that Porphyrion guy just melted and died, huh?”

“No,” Hera agreed. “By saving me, and saving this place, you prevented Gaea from waking. You have bought us some time. But Porphyrion has risen. He simply knew better than to stay here, especially since he has not yet regained his full power. Giants can only be killed by a combination of god and demigod, working together. Once you freed me—”

“He ran away,” Jason said. “But to where?”