RECLUSE ?Leo Valdez?

Two tratiors??

"Coach," Piper said. "that was almost an intelligent comment."

He huffed. "What? I'm intelligent! I'm not surprised you cupcakes haven't heard of the Giant War. The gods don't like to talk about it. Bad PR to admit you needed mortals to beat an enemy. That's just embarrassing."

"There's more though," Jason began. "When I dreamed of Hera, she said Zeus was acting unusually paranoid. And Hera— she went to those ruins because a voice told her to. What if somebody is influencing the gods like Medea did to us?"

Leo set hamburger buns on the skillet to toast. "Yeah, Hephaestus said something similar, like Zeus was acting weirder than usual. But what bothered me the most was what he didn't say. Like a couple time he was talking about the demigods, and how he had so many kids and all. I don't know. He acted like getting the greatest demigods together was going to be impossible— like Hera was trying, but it was a really stupid thing to do, and there was some secret Hephaestus wasn't supposed to tell me."

"Chiron was the same way back at camp," he said. "He mentioned a sacred oath not to discuss something. Coach, you know anything about that?"

"Nah. I'm just a satyr. They don't tell us the juicy stuff. Especially an old—" he stopped himself.

"An old guy like you?" Piper asked. "But you're not that old, are you?"

"Hundred and six," He mumbled.

Leo coughed, "Say what?"

"Don't catch your panties on fire, Valdez. That's fifty-three in human years. Still, yeah, I've made some enemies on the Council of Cloven Elders. I've been a protector for a long time. But they started saying I was getting unpredictable. Too violent. Can you imagine?"

"Wow," Piper said unconvincingly. "That's hard to believe."

Coach scowled and angrily muttered about how he couldn't fight in the Titan War, calling the council 'flower pickers' that talk about nature.

"I thought satyrs loved nature?" Piper interrupted.

"Shoot, I love nature." Coach said. "Nature means killing and eating things! And when— you know— you're a vertically challenged satyr like me, you get in good shape, carry a big stick, and take nothing from no one! That's nature." Hedge snorted. "Anyway, I hope you got something vegetation cooking there, Valdez. I don't do flesh."

"Yeah, Coach. I got tofu patties here. Pipers vegetarian too. I'll throw them on in a second."

The smell of burgers filled the air and Maisie couldn't help but feel hungry. The burger was the best she ever had; she had practically devoured it when Piper spoke up.

"We need to talk. I don't want to hide things anymore."

Everybody paused to look at her, mouths full of burger.

"Three nights before the Grand Canyon trip, I had a dream— a vision. A giant told me that my father had been taken hostage. He told me to cooperate or he would be killed."

Maisie's stomach dropped.

"Enceladus? You mentioned that name before." Jason asked.

Hedge whistled. "Big giant. Breathes fire. Not somebody I would want barbecuing my daddy goat."

Jason shot him a look and told Piper to continue.

"I— I tried to reach my dad, but all I got was his assistant. She told me not to worry."

"Jane?" Leo asked. "Didn't Medea say something about controlling her?"

Piper nodded. "To get my dad back, I had to sabotage the quest. I didn't realize it would be us four. Then after we started the quest, Enceladus sent me another warning: he wanted you three dead. He wants me to lead you to a mountain. One in the Bay Area. I have to be there by noon tomorrow or he dies."