XXXVI LEO

At Pikes Peak, Phoebe outfits Piper and Coach Hedge in a warm, rapidly assembled Hunter camp, then breaks it down in seconds. Thalia leads the group up the mountain toward Aeolus’s domain. Jason struggles with what Thalia revealed about their past; Leo tries to lighten the mood but worries about Jason’s lost memories.

They reach a floating purple stone island—Aeolus’s fortress—linked to the peak by a wavering wind-ice bridge. Crossing in two teams, Coach Hedge drags Piper safely across first. As Jason, Leo, and Thalia follow, Leo fixates on the bridge’s design and Aeolus’s need for a tether to the ground.

Leo’s excitement triggers his latent fire, heating his clothes and thinning the bridge. While trying to explain his insight—Hera calling Jason a “bridge,” an exchange that connects two worlds—Thalia realizes Artemis sent her to learn Jason’s story as the key to Percy: the Wolf House is crucial.

The bridge begins collapsing. Jason hauls Leo upward with gusts; Piper and Hedge pull them onto the island as the last span vanishes, stranding them above Pikes Peak. Across a widening gap, Thalia shouts that she will take the Hunters to the Wolf House and hold it.

With their exit gone and less than a day to save Hera and Piper’s father, Leo, Jason, Piper, and Coach Hedge climb toward Aeolus’s brass-walled fortress to demand answers and aid, while Thalia races to secure the Wolf House.