XLI LEO

The taxi stalls halfway up Mount Diablo as the road softens like quicksand. Recognizing Gaea’s interference, Leo urges the driver away. From the mountainside they view the East Bay, and Jason feels an inexplicable pull toward the fog-bound basin. The ground keeps trying to swallow them, forcing the group to hike on foot.

They ascend with difficulty, Leo idly assembling a small windup device from scraps as the wind bites and the soil clutches at their feet. He misses Festus and remembers the crayon drawing Tía Callida once promised would make sense when his destiny arrived, a sign he now believes is near.

Near the summit, they hide and survey a clearing where Enceladus has built a towering purple bonfire amid heavy construction equipment. The giant—thirty feet tall, armored, and part-dragon—chants and heats his spear in the flames. Beyond the fire, Tristan McLean is bound to a post, unconscious and slated for sacrifice.

Coach Hedge proposes a frontal distraction so Piper can free her father. Despite doubts about the odds, Piper and Leo look to Jason, who reluctantly accepts leadership and agrees it’s their best chance as noon approaches and the earth keeps dragging them down.

Spying the machinery, Leo realizes how his makeshift toy might help. With time running out and the ground worsening, he commits to the plan: create a diversion with the equipment while Piper attempts the rescue, and Jason and Hedge engage the giant.