Seeing the Beauty (Piper McLean x Fem!Jackson!Reader) - Chapter 13
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"Wolves," Piper says. "They sound close."
Jason and (Y/n) rise, drawing their swords. Leo and the Coach get to their feet too. Piper tries, but black spots dance before her eyes.
"Stay there," (Y/n) tells her. "We've got you."
Piper grits her teeth, hating feeling helpless. She doesn't want anyone to protect her. First her stupid ankle, and then stupid hypothermia. She wants to be on her feet, with her dagger in her hand.
Then, just outside the firelight, at the entrance of the cave, she sees a pair of red eyes glowing in the dark.
Okay, she thinks. Maybe a little protection is fine.
More wolves edge into the firelight — black beasts bigger than Great Danes, with ice and snow caked on their fur. Their fangs gleam, and their glowing red eyes look disturbingly intelligent. The wolf in front is almost as tall as a horse, his mouth stained as if he'd just made a fresh kill.
Piper pulls her dagger out of its sheath.
Then Jason steps forward and says something in Latin.
Piper doesn't think a dead language would have much effect on wild animals, but the alpha wolf curls his lip. The fur stands up along his spine. One of his lieutenants tries to advance, but the alpha wolf snaps at his ear. Then all of the wolves back into the dark.
"Dude, I gotta study Latin." Leo's hammer shakes in his hand. "What'd you say, Jason?"
Hedge curses. "Whatever it was, it wasn't enough. Look."
The wolves are coming back, but the alpha wolf isn't with them. They don't attack. They wait — at least a dozen now, in a rough semicircle just outside the firelight, blocking the cave exit.
The coach hefts his club. "Here's the plan. I'll kill them all, and you guys escape."
"Coach, they'll rip you apart," Piper says.
"Nah, I'm good."
Then Piper sees the silhouette of a man coming through the storm, wading through the wolf pack.
"Stick together," Jason advises. "They respect a pack. And Hedge, no crazy stuff. We're not leaving you or anyone else behind."
Piper gets a lump in her throat. She's the weak link in their "pack" right now. No doubt the wolves can smell her fear. She might as well be wearing a sign that says free lunch.
The wolves part, and the man steps into the firelight. His hair is greasy and ragged, the color of fireplace soot, topped with a crown of what looks like finger bones. His robes are tattered fur — wolf, rabbit, raccoon, deer, and several others Piper can't identify. The furs don't look cured, and from the smell, they aren't very fresh. His frame is lithe and muscular, like a distance runner's. But the most horrible thing is his face. His thin pale skin is pulled tight over his skull. His teeth are sharpened like fangs. His eyes glow bright red like his wolves' — and they fix on Jason with absolute hatred.
"Ecce,"he said, "filli Romani."
"Speak English, wolf man!" Hedge bellow.
The wolf man snarls. "Tell your faun to mind his tongue, son of Rome. Or he'll be my first snack."
Piper remembers that faun is the Roman name for satyr. Not exactly helpful information. Now, if she can remember who this wolf guy is in Greek mythology, and how to defeat him, that she can use.
The wolf man studies their little group. His nostrils twitch. "So it's true," he muses. "A child of Aphrodite. A son of Hephaestus. The Jackson girl. A faun. And a child of Rome, of Lord Jupiter, no less. All together, without killing each other. How interesting."
You were told about us?" Jason asks. "By whom?"
The man snarls — perhaps a laugh, perhaps a challenge. "Oh, we've been patrolling for you all across the west, demigod, hoping we'd be the first to find you. The giant king will reward me well when he rises. I am Lycaon, king of the wolves. And my pack is hungry."
The wolves snarl in the darkness.
Out of the corner of her eye, Piper sees Leo put up his hammer and slip something else from his tool belt — a glass bottle full of clear liquid.
Piper racks her brain trying to place the wolf guy's name. She knows she'd heard it before, but she can't remember details.
Lycaon glares at Jason's sword. He moves to each side as if looking for an opening, but Jason's blade moves with him.
"Leave," Jason orders. "There's no food for you here."
"Unless you want tofu burgers," (Y/n) offers.
Lycaon bares his fangs. Apparently he isn't a tofu fan.
"If I had my way," Lycaon says with regret, "I'd kill you first, son of Jupiter. Your father made me what I am. I was the powerful mortal king of Arcadia, with fifty fine sons, and Zeus slew them all with his lightning bolts."
"Ha," Coach Hedge says. "For good reason!"
Jason glances over his shoulder. "Coach, you know this clown?"
"I do," Piper answers. The details of the myth come back to her — a short, horrible story she and her father had laughed at over breakfast. She isn't laughing now.
"Lycaon invited Zeus to dinner," she says. "But the king wasn't sure it was really Zeus. So to test his powers, Lycaon tried to feed him human flesh. Zeus got outraged —"
"And killed my sons!" Lycaon howls. The wolves behind him howl too.
"So Zeus turned him into a wolf," Piper continues. "They call . . . they call werewolves lycanthropes, named after him, the first werewolf."
"The king of wolves," Coach Hedge finishes. "An immortal, smelly, vicious mutt."
Lycaon growls. "I will tear you apart, faun!"
"Oh, you want some goat, buddy? 'Cause I'll give you goat."
"Stop it," Jason says. "Lycaon, you said you wanted to kill me first, but . . .?
"Sadly, Child of Lightning, you two" – he nods to (Y/n) – "are spoken for. Since this one" – he waggles his claws at Piper – "has failed to kill you, you are destined to be delivered alive to the Wolf House. One of my compatriots has asked for the honor of killing you herself."
"Who?"
The wolf king snickers. "Oh, a great admirer of yours. Apparently, you two made quite an impression on her. She will take care of you soon enough, and really I cannot complain. Spilling your blood at the Wolf House should mark my new territory quite well. Lupa will think twice about challenging my pack."
Piper's heart tries to jump out of her chest. She doesn't understand everything Lycaon had said, but a woman who wants to kill Jason and (Y/n)? Medea, she thought. Somehow, she must've survived the explosion.
Piper struggles to her feet. Spots dance before her eyes again. The cave seems to spin. "You're going to leave now," Piper says, "before we destroy you." She tries to put power into the words, but she is too weak. Shivering in her blankets, pale and sweaty and barely able to hold a knife, she can't have looked very threatening.
Lycaon's red eyes crinkle with humor. "A brave try, girl. I admire that. Perhaps I'll make your end quick. Only the son of Jupiter and daughter of Poseidon are needed alive. The rest of you, I'm afraid, are dinner."
At that moment, Piper knows she is going to die. But at least she'd die on her feet, fighting next to (Y/n).
(Y/n) takes a step forward. "You're not killing anyone, wolf man. Not without going through me."
Lycaon howls and extends his claws. (Y/n) slashes at him, but her bronze sword passes straight through as if the wolf king isn't there.
Lycaon laughs. "Gold, bronze, steel — none of these are any good against my wolves, child of the Sea."
"Silver!" Piper cries. "Aren't werewolves hurt by silver?"
"We don't have any silver!" Jason replies.
Wolves leaps into the firelight. Hedge charges forward with an elated "Woot!"
But Leo strikes first. He throws his glass bottle and it shatters on the ground, splattering liquid all over the wolves — the unmistakable smell of gasoline. He shoots burst of fire at the puddle, and a wall of flames erupts.
Wolves yelp and retreat. Several catch fire and have to run back into the snow. Even Lycaon looks uneasily at the barrier of flames now separating his wolves from the demigods.
"Aw, c'mon," Coach Hedge complains. "I can't hit them if they're way over there."
Every time a wolf comes closer, Leo shoots a new wave of fire from his hands, but each effort seems to make him a little more tired, and the gasoline is already dying down. "I can't summon any more gas!" Leo warns. Then his face turns red. "Wow, that came out wrong. I mean the burning kind. Gonna take the tool belt a while to recharge. What you got, man?"
"Nothing," Jason replies. "Not even a weapon that works."
"Nothin,'" (Y/n) says. "Unless we're gonna fuckin' box some wolves."
"Lightning?" Piper asks, glancing at (Y/n) with amusement.
Jason concentrates, but nothing happens. "I think the snowstorm is interfering, or something."
"Unleash the venti!" Piper offers.
"Then we'll have nothing to give Aeolus," Jason replies. "We'll have come all this way for nothing."
Lycaon laughs. "I can smell your fear. A few more minutes of life, heroes. Pray to whatever gods you wish. Zeus did not grant me mercy, and you will have none from me."
The flames begin to sputter out. Jason curses and drops his sword. He crouches like he is ready to go hand-to-hand. Leo pulls his hammer out of his pack. Piper raises her dagger — not much, but it is all she has. Coach Hedge hefts his club, and he is the only one who looks excited about dying.
Then a ripping sound cuts through the wind — like a piece of tearing cardboard. A long stick sprouts from the neck of the nearest wolf — the shaft of a silver arrow. The wolf writhes and falls, melting into a puddle of shadow.
More arrows. More wolves fall. The pack breaks in confusion. An arrow flashes towards Lycaon, but the wolf king catches it in midair. Then he yells in pain. When he drops the arrow, it leaves a charred, smoking gash across his palm. Another arrow catches him in the shoulder, and the wolf king staggers.
"Curse them!" Lycaon yells. He growls at his pack, and the wolves turned and ran. Lycaon fixed Jason with those glowing red eyes. "This isn't over, boy."
The wolf king disappears into the night.
Seconds later, Piper hear more wolves baying, but the sound is different — less threatening, more like hunting dogs on the scent. A smaller white wolf bursts into the cave, followed by two more.
Hedge says, "Kill it?"
"No!" Piper replies. "Wait."
The wolves tilt their heads and study the campers with huge golden eyes. One of the wolves steps forward, sniffing around (Y/n), and (Y/n) kneels down, stroking the wolf's ears. Piper watches as (Y/n)'s expression softens as she talks quietly to the wolf, as though missing her own dog.
A heartbeat later, their masters appear: a troop of hunters in white-and-gray winter camouflage, at least half a dozen. All of them carry bows, with quivers of glowing silver arrows on their backs.
Their faces are covered with parka hoods, but clearly they are all girls. One, a little taller than the rest, crouches in the firelight and snatches up the arrow that had wounded Lycaon's hand.
"So close." She turns to her companions. "Phoebe, stay with me. Watch the entrance. The rest of you, follow Lycaon. We can't lose him now. I'll catch up with you." (Y/n)'s head snaps up, and she watches the girl, as though she recognized the voice. A possible girlfriend, Piper wonders, feeling a little disappointed.
The other hunters mumble agreement and disappear, heading after Lycaon's pack.
The girl in white turns toward them, her face still hidden in her parka hood. "We've been following that demon's trail for over a week. Is everyone alright? No one got bit?"
Jason stands frozen, staring at the girl. Piper realizes that something about her voice sounds familiar. It's hard to pin down, but the way she speaks, the way she forms her words, reminds her of Jason.
"You're her," Piper guesses. "You're Thalia."
The girl tenses. Piper is afraid she might draw her bow, but instead she pulls down her parka hood. Her hair is spiky black, with a silver tiara across her brow. Her face has a super-healthy glow to it, as if she's a little more than human, and her eyes are brilliant blue. She is the girl from Jason's photograph.
"Do I know you?" Thalia asks.
Piper takes a breath. "This might be a shock, but —"
"Thalia." Jason steps forward, his voice trembling. "I'm Jason, your brother."
For a minute, Jason and Thalia face each other, stunned. Then Thalia rushes forward and hugs him.
"My gods! She told me you were dead!" She grips Jason's face and seems to be examining everything about it. "Thank Artemis, it is you. That little scar on your lip — you tried to eat a stapler when you were two!"
Leo laughs. "Seriously?"
Hedge nods like he approved of Jason's taste. "Staplers — excellent source of iron."
"W-wait," Jason stammers. "Who told you I was dead? What happened?"
At the cave entrance, one of the white wolves barks. Thalia looks back at the wolf and nods, but she keeps her hands on Jason's face, like she's afraid he might vanish. "My wolf is telling me I don't have much time, and she's right. But we have to talk. Let's sit."
Piper does better than that. She collapses. She would've cracked her head on the cave floor if (Y/n) hadn't caught her.
Thalia rushes over. "What's wrong with her? Ah — never mind. I see. Hypothermia. Ankle." She frowns at the satyr. "Don't you know nature healing?"
Hedge scoffs. "Why do you think she looks this good? Can't you smell the Gatorade?"
The wolf at (Y/n)'s feet lifts her front paws after she helps Piper back onto the ground.
"You always were good with dogs, Jackson," Thalia's eyes twinkle with mischief. She parts with Jason, and wraps (Y/n) in a bear hug. Then her gaze turns slightly angry. "Where've you been?"
The wolf at (Y/n)'s feet barks, staring at Piper.
Thalia looks at Leo. "You and the satyr," Thalia orders, "take this girl to my friend at the entrance. Phoebe's an excellent healer."
It's cold out there!" Hedge retorts. "I'll freeze my horns off."
But Leo knows when they weren't wanted. "Come on, Hedge. These three need time to talk."
"Humph. Fine," the satyr mutters. "Didn't even get to brain anybody."
Hedge carries Piper towards the entrance. Leo is about to follow when Jason calls, "Actually, Leo, could you, urn, stick around?"
Leo sees something in Jason's eyes he doesn't expect: Jason is asking for support. He wants somebody else there. He's scared.
Leo grins. "Sticking around is my specialty."
Thalia doesn't look too happy about it, but the four of them sat at the fire – (Y/n) in between Leo and Jason. For a few minutes, nobody speaks. Jason studies his sister like she is a scary device — one that might explode if handled incorrectly. Thalia seems more at ease, as if she's used to stumbling across stranger things than long-lost relatives. But still she regards Jason in a kind of amazed trance, maybe remembering a little two-year-old who tried to eat a stapler. Leo takes a few pieces of copper wire out of his pockets and twists them together.
Finally Leo can't stand the silence. "So . . . the Hunters of Artemis. This whole 'not dating' thing — is that like always, or more of a seasonal thing, or what?" (Y/n) lets out a snort of laughter, stroking the wolf's snout – the wolf had put her head in (Y/n)'s lap.
Thalia stares at Leo as if he'd just evolved from pond scum. Yeah, definitely liking this girl.
Jason kicks him in the shin. "Don't mind Leo. He's just trying to break the ice. But, Thalia . . . what happened to our family? Who told you I was dead?"
Thalia tugs at a silver bracelet on her wrist. In the firelight, in her winter camouflage, she almost looks like Khione the snow princess — just as cold and beautiful.
"Do you remember anything?" Thalia finally asks.
Jason shakes his head. "(Y/n) and I woke up three days ago on a bus with Leo and Piper."
"Which wasn't our fault," Leo adds hastily. "Hera stole their memories."
Thalia tenses. "Hera? How do you know that?"
Jason explains about their quest — the prophecy at camp, Hera getting imprisoned, the giant taking Piper's dad, and the winter solstice deadline. Leo chimed in to add the important stuff: how he'd fixed the bronze dragon, could throw fireballs, and made excellent tacos.
Thalia's a good listener. Nothing seems to surprise her — the monsters, the prophecies, the dead rising. But when Jason mentions King Midas, she curses in Ancient Greek.
"I knew we should've burned down his mansion," she says. "That man's a menace. But we were so intent on following Lycaon — Well, I'm glad you got away. So Hera's been . . . what, hiding you all these years?"
"I don't know." Jason brings out the photo from his pocket. "She left me just enough memory to recognize your face."
Thalia looks at the picture, and her expression softens. "I'd forgotten about that. I left it in Cabin One, didn't I?"
Jason nods. "I think Hera wanted for us to meet. When we landed here, at this cave . . . I had a feeling it was important. Like I knew you were close by. Is that crazy?"
Nah," Leo assures him. "We were absolutely destined to meet your hot sister."
Thalia ignores him. Probably she just didn't want to let on how much I impress her.
"Jason," she begins, "when you're dealing with the gods, nothing is too crazy. But you can't trust Hera, especially since we're children of Zeus. She hates all children of Zeus."
"But she said something about Zeus giving her my life as a peace offering. Does that make any sense?"
The color drains from Thalia's face. "Oh, gods. Mother wouldn't have . . . You don't remember — No, of course you don't."
"What?" Jason asks.
Thalia's features seem to grow older in the firelight, like her immortality isn't working so well. "Jason . . . I'm not sure how to say this. Our mom wasn't exactly stable. She caught Zeus's eye because she was a television actress, and she was beautiful, but she didn't handle the fame well. She drank, pulled stupid stunts. She was always in the tabloids. She could never get enough attention. Even before you were born, she and I argued all the time. She . . . she knew Dad was Zeus, and I think that was too much for her to take. It was like the ultimate achievement for her to attract the lord of the sky, and she couldn't accept it when he left. The thing about the gods . . . well, they don't hang around."
Leo remembers his own mom, the way she'd assured him over and over that his dad would be back someday. But she'd never acted mad about it. She didn't seem to want Hephaestus for herself — only so Leo could know his father. She'd dealt with working a dead-end job, living in a tiny apartment, never having enough money — and she'd seemed fine with it. As long as she had Leo, she always said, life would be okay.
Leo watches Jason's face — looking more and more devastated as Thalia describes their mom — and for once, Leo doesn't feel jealous of his friend. Leo might have lost his mom. He might have had some hard times. But at least he remembers her. He finds himself tapping out a Morse code message on his knee: Love you. (Y/n), who had seen the movement of Leo's fingers, smiles gently at him, also decoding the message – one of the cons of being best friends with the smartest girl at Camp Half-Blood, you learned stuff, like Morse Code.
Leo feels bad for Jason, not having memories like that — not having anything to fall back on.
"So . . . " Jason doesn't seem able to finish the question.
"Jason, you got friends," (Y/n) tells him gently, reaching out to squeeze his hand in a sisterly fashion. "Now you have a sister. You're not alone."
Thalia offers her hand, and Jason takes it in his free one. The wolf in (Y/n)'s lap nudges her hand again, and (Y/n) takes her hand from Jason's, and starts petting the white canine's ears again.
"When I was about seven," Thalia begins, "Zeus started visiting Mom again. I think he felt bad about wrecking her life, and he seemed — different somehow. A little older and sterner, more fatherly toward me. For a while, Mom improved. She loved having Zeus around, bringing her presents, causing the sky to rumble. She always wanted more attention. That's the year you were born. Mom . . . well, I never got along with her, but you gave me a reason to hang around. You were so cute. And I didn't trust Mom to look after you. Of course, Zeus eventually stopped coming by again. He probably couldn't stand Mom's demands anymore, always pestering him to let her visit Olympus, or to make her immortal or eternally beautiful. When he left for good, Mom got more and more unstable. That was about the time the monsters started attacking me. Mom blamed Hera. She claimed the goddess was coming after you too — that Hera had barely tolerated my birth, but more demigod children from the same family was too big an insult. Mom even said she hadn't wanted to name you Jason, but Zeus insisted, as a way to appease Hera because the goddess liked that name. I didn't know what to believe."
Leo fiddles with his copper wires. He feels like an intruder. He shouldn't be listening to this, but it also makes him feel like he's getting to know Jason for the first time — like maybe being here now made up for those four months at Wilderness School, when Leo had just imagined they'd had a friendship.
"How did you guys get separated?" Leo asks.
Thalia squeezes her brother's hand. "If I'd known you were alive . . . gods, things would've been so different. But when you were two, Mom packed us in the car for a family vacation. We drove up north, toward the wine country, to this park she wanted to show us. I remember thinking it was strange because Mom never took us anywhere, and she was acting super nervous. I was holding your hand, walking you toward this big building in the middle of the park, and . . ." She takes a shaky breath. "Mom told me to go back to the car and get the picnic basket. I didn't want to leave you alone with her, but it was only for a few minutes. When I came back . . . Mom was kneeling on the stone steps, hugging herself and crying. She said — she said you were gone. She said Hera claimed you and you were as good as dead. I didn't know what she'd done. I was afraid she'd completely lost her mind. I ran all over the place looking for you, but you'd just vanished. She had to drag me away, kicking and screaming. For the next few days I was hysterical. I don't remember everything, but I called the police on Mom and they questioned her for a long time. Afterward, we fought. She told me I'd betrayed her, that I should support her, like she was the only one who mattered. Finally I couldn't stand it. Your disappearance was the last straw. I ran away from home, and I never went back, not even when Mom died a few years ago. I thought you were gone forever. I never told anyone about you—not even Annabeth or Luke, my two best friends. It was just too painful."
"Chiron knew." Jason's voice sounds far away. "When I got to camp, he took one look at me and said, 'You should be dead."'
"That doesn't make sense," Thalia insists. "I never told him."
"Hey," Leo says. "Important thing is you've got each other now, right? You two are lucky."
Thalia nods. "Leo's right. Look at you. You're my age. You've grown up."
"But where have I been?" Jason says. "How could I be missing all that time? And the Roman stuff . . ."
Thalia frowns. "The Roman stuff?"
"Your brother speaks Latin," Leo says. "He calls gods by their Roman names, and he's got tattoos." Leo points out the marks on Jason's arm. Then he gives Thalia the rundown about the other weird stuff that had happened: Boreas turning into Aquilon, Lycaon calling Jason a "child of Rome," and the wolves backing off when Jason spoke Latin to them.
Thalia plucks her bowstring. "Latin. Zeus sometimes spoke Latin, the second time he stayed with Mom. Like I said, he seemed different, more formal."
"You think he was in his Roman aspect?" Jason asks. "And that's why I think of myself as a child of Jupiter?"
"Possibly," Thalia replies. "I've never heard of something like that happening, but it might explain why you think in Roman terms, why you can speak Latin rather than Ancient Greek. That would make you unique. Still, it doesn't explain how you've survived without Camp Half-Blood. A child of Zeus, or Jupiter, or whatever you want to call him — you would've been hounded by monsters. If you were on your own, you should've died years ago. I know I wouldn't have been able to survive without friends. You would've needed training, a safe haven —"
"He wasn't alone," Leo blurts out. "We've heard about others like him."
Thalia looks at him strangely. "What do you mean?"
(Y/n) tells her about the slashed-up purple shirt in Medea's department store, and the story the Cyclopes told about the child of Mercury who spoke Latin.
"Isn't there anywhere else for demigods?" Leo asks. "I mean besides Camp Half-Blood? Maybe some crazy Latin teacher has been abducting children of the gods or something, making them think like Romans."
As soon as he says it, Leo realizes how stupid the idea sounds. Thalia's dazzling blue eyes study him intently, making him feel like a suspect in a lineup. "I've been all over the country," Thalia muses. "I've never seen evidence of a crazy Latin teacher, or demigods in purple shirts. Still . . ." Her voice trailed off, like she'd just had a troubling thought.
"What?" Jason asks.
Thalia shakes her head. "I'll have to talk to the goddess. Maybe Artemis will guide us."
"She's still talking to you?" Jason asks. "Most of the gods have gone silent."
"Artemis follows her own rules," Thalia says. "She has to be careful not to let Zeus know, but she thinks Zeus is being ridiculous closing Olympus. She's the one who set us on the trail of Lycaon. She said we'd find a lead to a missing friend of ours."
"Percy," (Y/n) finishes; Thalia nods, her face full of concern.
Leo wonders if anyone had ever looked that worried all the times he'd disappeared. He kind of doubts it.
"So what would Lycaon have to do with it?" Leo asks. "And how does it connect to us?"
"We need to find out soon," Thalia admits. "If your deadline is tomorrow, we're wasting time. Aeolus could tell you —"
A white wolf appears again at the doorway and yips insistently.
"I have to get moving." Thalia stands. "Otherwise I'll lose the other Hunters' trail. First, though, I'll take you to Aeolus's palace."
"If you can't, it's okay," Jason says, though he sounds kind of distressed.
"Oh, please." Thalia smiles and helps him up. "I haven't had a brother in years. I think I can stand a few minutes with you before you get annoying. Now, let's go!"
When Leo sees how well Piper and Hedge are being treated, he is thoroughly offended. He'd imagined them freezing their hindquarters off in the snow, but the Hunter, Phoebe, had set up this silver pavilion right outside the cave. How she'd done it so fast, Leo has no idea, but inside is a kerosene heater keeping them toasty warm and a bunch of comfy throw pillows. Piper looks back to normal, decked out in a new parka, gloves, and camo pants like a Hunter. She and Hedge and Phoebe are kicking back, drinking hot chocolate, but when Phoebe catches sight of (Y/n), she stands up and comes over to give her a quick hug.
"Jackson," Phoebe says.
"Phoebe," (Y/n) replies, smiling slightly.
"Oh, no way," Leo says. "We've been sitting in a cave and you get the luxury tent? Somebody give me hypothermia. I want hot chocolate and a parka!"
Phoebe sniffs. "Boys," she says, like it's the worst insult she can think of.
"It's all right, Phoebe," Thalia smiles slightly. "They'll need extra coats. And I think we can spare some chocolate."
Phoebe grumbles, but soon Leo, (Y/n), and Jason are also dressed in silvery winter clothes that are incredibly lightweight and warm. The hot chocolate is first-rate.
"Cheers!" says Coach Hedge. He crunches down his plastic thermos cup.
"That cannot be good for your intestines," (Y/n) jokes.
Thalia pats Piper on the back. "You up for moving?"
Piper nods. "Thanks to Phoebe, yeah. You guys are really good at this wilderness survival thing. I feel like I can run ten miles.
Thalia winks at (Y/n). "She's tough for a child of Aphrodite. I like this one."
Piper can see (Y/n)'s cheeks redden, but she can't tell whether she's flustered or just warm.
"Hey, I could run ten miles too," Leo volunteers. "Tough Hephaestus kid here. Let's hit it." Naturally, Thalia ignores him.
It takes Phoebe exactly six seconds to break camp, which Leo cannot believe. The tent self-collapses into a square the size of a pack of chewing gum. Leo wants to ask her for the blueprints, but they don't have time.
Thalia runs uphill through the snow, hugging a tiny little path on the side of the mountain, and soon Leo is regretting trying to look macho, because the Hunters leave him in the dust.
Coach Hedge leaps around like a happy mountain goat, coaxing them on like he used to do on track days at school. "Come on, Valdez! Pick up the pace! Let's chant. I've got a girl in Kalamazoo —"
"Let's not," Thalia snaps.
So they run in silence.
Leo falls in next to Jason at the back of the group. "How you doing, man?"
Jason's expression is enough of an answer: Not good.
"Thalia takes it so calmly," Jason says. "Like it's no big deal that I appeared. I didn't know what I was expecting, but . . . she's not like me. She seems so much more together."
"Hey, she's not fighting amnesia," Leo says. "Plus, she's had more time to get used to this whole demigod thing. You fight monsters and talk to gods for a while, you probably get used to surprises."
"Maybe," Jason says. "I just wish I understood what happened when I was two, why my mom got rid of me. Thalia ran away because of me."
"Hey, whatever's happened, it wasn't your fault. And your sister is pretty cool. She's a lot like you."
Jason takes that in silence. Leo wonders if he'd said the right things. He wants to make Jason feel better, but this is way outside his comfort zone.
Leo wishes he can reach inside his tool belt and pick just the right wrench to fix Jason's memory — maybe a little hammer — bonk the sticking spot and make everything run right. That would be a lot easier than trying to talk it through. Not good with organic life forms. Thanks for those inherited traits, Dad.
He is so lost in thought, he didn't realize the others had stopped. He slams into (Y/n), who slams into Thalia, and nearly sends the three of them down the side of the mountain the hard way. Fortunately, the Hunter is light on her feet. She steadies them, then points up.
"That," Leo chokes, "is a really large rock."
They stand near the summit of Pikes Peak. Below them the world is blanketed in clouds. The air is so thin, Leo can hardly breathe. Night had set in, but a full moon shone and the stars are incredible. Stretching out to the north and south, peaks of other mountains rises from the clouds like islands — or teeth.
But the real show is above them. Hovering in the sky, about a quarter mile away, is a massive free-floating island of glowing purple stone. It is hard to judge in size, but (Y/n) figures it's about half the length of a football stadium, and just as tall. The sides are rugged cliffs, riddled with caves, and every once in a while a gust of wind bursts out with a sound like an organ blast. At the top of the rock, brass walls ring the fortress.
Piper leans over, her mouth next to (Y/n)'s ear, "It's really pretty."
"Just like you," slips out of (Y/n)'s mouth.
Piper pulls away, raising an eyebrow. "That was smooth, Jackson."
(Y/n) flushes, looking at the only thing connecting Pikes Peak to the floating island – a narrow bridge of ice that glistens in the moonlight.
Then (Y/n) realizes the bridge isn't exactly ice, because it isn't solid. As the winds changed direction, the bridge snakes around — blurring and thinning, in some places even breaking into a dotted line like the vapor trail of a plane.
"We're not seriously crossing that," Leo says.
Thalia shrugs. "I'm not a big fan of heights, I'll admit. But if you want to get to Aeolus's fortress, this is the only way."
"Is the fortress always hanging there?" Piper asks. "How can people not notice it sitting on top of Pikes Peak?"
"The Mist," Thalia says. "Still, mortals do notice it indirectly. Some days, Pikes Peak looks purple. People say it's a trick of the light, but actually it's the color of Aeolus's palace, reflecting off the mountain face."
"It's enormous," Jason says.
Thalia laughs. "You should see Olympus, little brother."
"You're serious? You've been there?"
Thalia grimaces, exchanging a look with (Y/n) – as if it isn't a good memory. "We should go across in two different groups. The bridge is fragile."
"That's reassuring," Leo says. "Jason, can't you just fly us up there?"
Thalia laughs. Then she seems to realize Leo's question isn't a joke. "Wait . . . Jason, you can fly?"
Jason gazes up at the floating fortress. "Well, sort of. More like I can control the winds. But the winds up here are so strong, I'm not sure I'd want to try. Thalia you mean . . . you can't fly?
For a second, Thalia looks genuinely afraid. Then she gets her expression under control. Leo realizes she is a lot more scared of heights than she is letting on. "Truthfully," she says, "I've never tried. Might be better if we stuck to the bridge."
Coach Hedge taps the ice vapor trail with his hoof, then jumps onto the bridge. Amazingly, it holds his weight. "Easy! I'll go first. Piper, (Y/n), come on, girls. I'll give you a hand."
"No, that's okay," Piper starts to say, but the coach grabs her's and (Y/n)'s hands and drags them up the bridge.
When they are about halfway, the bridge still seems to be holding them just fine.
Thalia turns to her Hunter friend. "Phoebe, I'll be back soon. Go find the others. Tell them I'm on my way."
"You sure?" Phoebe narrows her eyes at Leo and Jason, like they might kidnap Thalia.
"It's fine," Thalia promises.
Phoebe nods reluctantly, then races down the mountain path, the white wolves at her heels.
"Jason, Leo, just be careful where you step," Thalia says. "It hardly ever breaks."
"It hasn't met me yet," Leo muttered, but he and Jason lead the way up the bridge.
Halfway up, things start going wrong. Piper, (Y/n), and Coach Hedge had already made it safely to the top, and are waving at them, encouraging them to keep climbing, but Leo gets distracted. He is thinking about bridges – how he would design something way more stable than this shifting ice vapor business if this was his palace. He is pondering braces and support columns. Then a sudden revelation stops him in his tracks.
"Why do they have a bridge?" he asks.
Thalia frowns. "Leo, this isn't a good place to stop. What do you mean?"
"They're wind spirits," Leo says. "Can't they fly?"
"Yes, but sometimes they need a way to connect to the world below."
"So the bridge isn't always here?" Leo asks.
Thalia shakes her head. "The wind spirits don't like to anchor to the earth, but sometimes it's necessary. Like now. They know you're coming."
Leo's mind is racing. He is so excited he can almost feel his body's temperature rising. He can't quite put his thoughts into words, but he
knows he's onto something important.
"Leo?" Jason says. "What are you thinking?"
"Oh, gods," Thalia says. "Keep moving. Look at your feet."
Leo shuffles backwards. With horror, he realizes his body temperature really is rising, just as it had years ago at that picnic table under the pecan tree, when his anger had gotten away from him. Now, excitement is causing the reaction. His pants steam in the cold air. His shoes are literally smoking, and the bridge doesn't like it. The ice is thinning.
"Leo, stop it," Jason warned. "You're going to melt it."
"I'll try," Leo says. But his body is overheating on its own, running as fast as his thoughts. "Listen, Jason, what did Hera call you in that dream? She called you a bridge."
"Leo, seriously, cool down," Thalia says. "I don't what you're talking about, but the bridge is —''
"Just listen," Leo insists. "If Jason is a bridge, what's he connecting? Maybe two different places that normally don't get along—like the air palace and the ground. You had to be somewhere before this, right? And Hera said you were an exchange."
"An exchange." Thalia's eyes widen. "Oh, gods."
Jason frowns. "What are you two talking about?"
Thalia mutters something like a prayer. "I understand now why Artemis sent me here. Jason—she told me to hunt for Lycaon and I would find a clue about Percy. You are the clue. Artemis wanted us to meet so I could hear your story."
"I don't understand," he protests. "I don't have a story. I don't remember anything."
"But Leo's right," Thalia said. "It's all connected. If we just knew where—"
Leo snaps his fingers. "Jason, what did you call that place in your dream? That ruined house. The Wolf House?"
Thalia nearly chokes. "The Wolf House? Jason, why didn't you tell me that! That's where they're keeping Hera?"
"You know where it is?" Jason asked.
"Something's wrong," (Y/n) realizes, watching as Jason grabs Leo's coat. (Y/n) goes to step back onto the bridge to help, but Piper pulls her back.
"Don't," she says. "You might make it worse."
Then Jason and Leo start scrambling up the bridge. (Y/n) grabs the boys' hands, pulling them onto the floating island. When they turn, they see Thalia backing down the bridge as it crumbles.
"Find out where the giant is keeping Piper's dad! Save him!" she shouts. "I'll take the Hunters to the Wolf House and hold it until you can get there. We can do both!"
"But where is the Wolf House?" Jason shouts.
"You know where it is, little brother!" She is so far away now that they can barely hear her voice over the wind. Leo is pretty sure she says: "I'll see you there. I promise."
Then she turns and races down the dissolving bridge.
Leo looks back down. The top of Pikes Peak floats below them in a sea of clouds, but there is no sign of Thalia. And Leo had just burned their only exit.
"What happened?" Piper demands. "Leo, why are your clothes smoking?"
"I got a little heated," Leo gasps. "Sorry, Jason. Honest. I didn't —''
"It's all right," Jason says, but his expression is grim. "We've got less than twenty-four hours to rescue a goddess and Piper's dad. Let's go see the king of the winds."
. . .
I found my sister and lost her in less than an hour, Jason thinks miserably. As they climb the cliffs of the floating island, he keeps looking back, but Thalia is gone.
Despite what she'd said about meeting again, Jason wonders; she's found a new family with the Hunters, and a new mother in Artemis. She had seemed so confident and comfortable with her life, Jason isn't sure if he'd ever be a part of it. And she'd seemed so happy when she'd found (Y/n), and so set on finding Percy. Did she ever search for me like that?
Not fair, Jason retorts. She thought you were dead.
He could also barely tolerate what Thalia had said about their mom. It was like she'd handed him a baby – a really loud, ugly baby – and said, Here, this is yours. Carry it. He doesn't want to carry it. He doesn't want to look at it or claim it. He hadn't wanted to know she had an unstable mother who'd gotten rid of him to appease a goddess. No wonder Thalia ran away.
And then he remembers the Zeus cabin at camp – the tiny little alcove Thalia had used as a bunk, out of sight from the glowering statue of the sky god. Dad isn't much of a bargain either, Jason thinks, understanding why Thalia had renounced that part of her life, though he's still resentful. I can't be so lucky. I get stuck holding the bag – literally.
The golden backpack of winds is strapped over his shoulders, and the closer they get to Aeolus's palace, the heavier they get. The winds keep struggling, rumbling and bumping around.
The only one who seems to be in a good mood is Coach Hedge. He keeps bouncing up the slippery staircase and trotting back down. "Come on, cupcakes! Only a few thousand steps."
As they climb, Leo, (Y/n), and Piper leave Jason in his silence. Maybe they can sense my bad mood. Piper keeps glancing back, worried, as if he were the one who'd almost died of hypothermia rather than she. Or maybe she is thinking about Thalia's idea. Jason doens't really understand how they were going to save Piper's dad and Hera, and he isn't sure if the possibility had made Piper more hopeful or just more anxious.
Leo keeps swatting his own legs, checking for signs that his pants are on fire. He wasn't steaming anymore, but the incident on the ice bridge had really freaked Jason out. Leo hadn't seemed to realize that he had smoke coming out his ears and flames dancing through his hair. If Leo started spontaneously combusting every time he got excited, they were going to have a tough time taking him anywhere. Jason imagines trying to get food at a restaurant. I'll have a cheeseburger and—Ahhh! My friend's on fire! Get me a bucket!
Mostly, though, Jason worries about what Leo had said. Jason doesn't want to be a bridge, or an exchange, or anything else. He just wants to know where he'd come from. And Thalia had looked so unnerved when Leo mentioned the burned-out house in his dreams — the place the wolf Lupa had told him was his starting point. How did Thalia know that place, and why did she assume I could find it?
The answer seems close. But the nearer Jason gets to it, the less it cooperated, like the winds on his back.
Jason keeps catching (Y/n) glancing back at him, as though trying to find something to say.
They arrive at the top of the island. Bronze walls march all the way around the fortress grounds, though Jason can't imagine who would possibly attack this place. Twenty-foot-high gates open for them, and a road of polished purple stone leads up to the main citadel — a white-columned rotunda, Greek style, like one of the monuments in Washington, D.C. — except for the cluster of satellite dishes and radio towers on the roof.
"That's bizarre," Piper mutters.
"Guess you can't get cable on a floating island," Leo says. "Dang, check this guy's front yard."
The rotunda sits in the center of a quarter-mile circle. The grounds are amazing in a scary way. They are divided into four sections like big pizza slices, each one representing a season.
The section on their right is an icy waste, with bare trees and a frozen lake. Snowmen roll across the landscape as the wind blows, so Jason isn't sure if they were decorations or alive.
To their left is an autumn park with gold and red trees. Mounds of leaves blew into patterns — gods, people, animals that run after each other before scattering back into leaves.
In the distance, Jason can see two more areas behind the rotunda. One looks like a green pasture with sheep made out of clouds. The last section is a desert where tumbleweeds scratch strange patterns in the sand like Greek letters, smiley faces, and a huge advertisement that read: watch aeolus nightly!
"One section for each of the four wind gods," Jason guesses. "Four cardinal directions."
I'm loving that pasture." Coach licks licked his lips. "You guys mind —"
"Go ahead," Jason says. He is actually relieved to send the satyr off. It would be hard enough getting on Aeolus's good side without Coach Hedge waving his club and screaming, "Die!"
While the satyr runs off to attack springtime, Jason, Leo, (Y/n), and Piper walk down the road to the steps of the palace. They pass through the front doors into a white marble foyer decorated with purple banners that read olympian weather channel, and some that just read ow!
"Hello!" A woman floats up to them. Literally floated. She is pretty in that elfish way Jason associates with nature spirits at Camp Half-Blood — petite, slightly pointy ears, and an ageless face that could've been sixteen or thirty. Her brown eyes twinkle cheerfully. Even though there is no wind, her dark hair blows in slow motion, shampoo-commercial style. Her white gown billows around her like parachute material. Jason can't tell if she has feet, but if so, they don't touch the floor. She has a white tablet computer in her hand. "Are you from Lord Zeus?" she asks. "We've been expecting you."
Jason tries to respond, but it is a little hard to think straight, because he'd realizes the woman was see-through. Her shape fades in and out like she is made of fog. "Are you a ghost?" he asks.
Right away he knows he'd insulted her. The smile turns into a pout. "I'm an aura, sir. A wind nymph, as you might expect, working for the lord of the winds. My name is Mellie. We don't have ghosts."
Piper comes to the rescue. "No, of course you don't! My friend simply mistook you for Helen of Troy, the most beautiful mortal of all time. It's an easy mistake."
Wow, she's good, (Y/n) thinks.
The complement seems a little over top, but Mellie blushes. "Oh . . . well, then. So you are from Zeus?"
"Er," Jason starts. "I'm the son of Zeus, yeah."
"Excellent! Please, right this way," she leads them through some security doors into another lobby, consulting her tablet as she floats. She doesn't look where she is going, but apparently it doesn't matter as she drifts straight through a marble column with no problem. "We're out of prime time now, so that's good," she muses. "I can fit you in right before his 11:12 spot."
"Urn, okay," Jason says.
The lobby is a pretty distracting place. Winds blast around them, so Jason feels like he is pushing through an invisible crowd. Doors blow open and slam by themselves.
The things Jason can see are just as bizarre. Paper airplanes of all different sizes and shapes speed around, and other wind nymphs, aurai, would occasionally pluck them out of the air, unfold and read them, then toss them back into the air, where the planes would refold themselves and keep flying.
A creature flutters past. She looks like a mix between an old lady and a chicken on steroids. She has a wrinkled face with black hair tied in a hairnet, arms like a human plus wings like a chicken, and a fat, feathered body with talons for feet. It's amazing she could fly at all. She keeps drifting around and bumping into things like a parade balloon.
"Not an aura?" Jason asks Mellie as the creature wobbles by.
Mellie laughs. "That's a harpy, of course. Our, ah, ugly stepsisters, I suppose you would say. Don't you have harpies on Olympus? They're spirits of violent gusts, unlike us aurai. We're all gentle breezes." She bats her eyes at Jason.
"'Course you are," he replies.
"So," Piper prompts, "you were taking us to see Aeolus?"
Mellie leads them through a set of doors like an airlock. Above the interior door, a green light blinks.
"We have a few minutes before he starts," Mellie says cheerfully. "He probably won't kill you if we go in now. Come along!"
. . .
(Y/n)'s jaw drops. The central section of Aelous's fortress is as big as a cathedral, with a soaring domed roof covered in silver. Television equipment floats randomly through the air – camera, spotlights, set pieces, potted plants. And there's no floor. Leo almost falls into the chasm before Jason pulls him back."
"Holy —!" Leo gulps. "Hey, Mellie. A little warning next time!"
An enormous circular pit plunges into the heart of the mountain. It is probably half a mile deep, honeycombed with caves. Some of the tunnels probably led straight outside. (Y/n) remembers seeing winds blast out of them when they'd been on Pikes Peak. Other caves is sealed with some glistening material like glass or wax. The whole cavern bustles with harpies, aurai, and paper airplanes, but for someone who couldn't fly, it would be a very long, very fatal fall.
"Oh, my," Mellie gasps. "I'm so sorry." She unclips a walkie-talkie from somewhere inside her robes and speaks into it: "Hello, sets? Is that Nuggets? Hi, Nuggets. Could we get a floor in the main studio, please? Yes, a solid one. Thanks."
A few seconds later, an army of harpies rises from the pit — three dozen or so demon chicken ladies, all carrying squares of various building material. They go to work hammering and gluing – and using large quantities of duct tape, which doesn't reassure (Y/n). In no time there is a makeshift floor snaking out over the chasm. It was is of plywood, marble blocks, carpet squares, wedges of grass sod — just about anything.
"That can't be safe," Jason comments.
"Oh, it is!" Mellie assures him. "The harpies are very good."
Easy for her to say. She just drifts across without touching the floor, but Jason decides he has the best chance at surviving, since he can fly, so he steps out first. Amazingly, the floor holds.
Piper follows, then (Y/n), and then Leo.
Mellie leads them towards the middle of the chamber, where a loose sphere of flat-panel video screens floats around a kind of control center. A man hovers inside, checking monitors and reading paper airplane messages.
The man pays them no attention as Mellie brings them forward. She pushes a forty-two-inch Sony out of their way and leads them into the control area.
Leo whistles. "I got to get a room like this."
The floating screens show all sorts of television programs. Some Jason recognizes — news broadcasts, mostly — but some programs look a little strange: gladiators fighting, demigods battling monsters. Maybe they're movies, but they look more like reality shows.
At the far end of the sphere is a silky blue backdrop like a cinema screen, with cameras and studio lights floating around it.
The man in the center is talking into an earpiece phone. He has a remote control in each hand and is pointing them at various screens, seemingly at random.
He is wearing a business suit that looks like the sky — blue mostly, but dappled with clouds that change, darken, and move across the fabric. He looks like he's in his sixties, with a shock of white hair, but he has a ton of stage makeup on, and that smooth plastic-surgery look to his face, so he appears not really young, not really old, just wrong — like a Ken doll someone had halfway melted in a microwave. His eyes dart back and forth from screen to screen, like he's trying to absorb everything at once. He mutts things into his phone, and his mouth keeps twitching. He is either amused, or crazy, or both.
Mellie floats towards him. "Ah, sir, Mr. Aeolus, these demigods —"
"Hold it!" He holds up a hand to silence her, then points at one of the screens. "Watch!"
It's one of those storm-chaser programs, where insane thrill-seekers drive after tornados. As Jason watches, a Jeep plows straight into a funnel cloud and gets tossed into the sky.
Aeolus shrieks with delight. "The Disaster Channel. People do that on purpose !" He turned toward Jason with a mad grin. "Isn't that amazing? Let's watch it again."
"Urn, sir," Mellie says, "this is Jason, son of—"
"Yes, yes, I remember," Aeolus interupts. "You're back. How did it go?"
Jason hesitates. "Sorry? I think you've mistaken me —"
"No, no, Jason Grace, aren't you? It was — what — last year? You were on your way to fight a sea monster, I believe."
"I — I don't remember."
Aelous laughs. "Must not have been a very good sea monster! No, I remember every hero who's ever come to me for aid. Odysseus — gods, he docked at my island for a month! At least you only stayed a few days. Now, watch this video. These ducks get sucked straight into —"
"Sir," Mellie interrupts. "Two minutes to air."
"Air!" Aeolus exclaims. "I love air. How do I look? Makeup!"
Immediately a small tornado of brushes, blotters, and cotton balls descend on Aeolus. They blur across his face in a cloud of flesh-tone smoke until his coloration is even more gruesome than before. Wind swirl through his hair and left it sticking up like a frosted Christmas tree.
"Mr. Aeolus." Jason slips off the golden backpack. "We brought you these rogue storm spirits."
"Did you!" Aeolus looks at the bag like it's a gift from a fan — something he really doesn't want. "Well, how nice."
Leo nudges him, and Jason offers the bag. "Boreas sent us to capture them for you. We hope you'll accept them and stop — you know — ordering demigods to be killed."
Aeolus laughs, and looks incredulously at Mellie. "Demigods be killed — did I order that?"
Mellie checks her computer tablet. "Yes, sir, fifteenth of September. 'Storm spirits released by the death of Typhon, demigods to be held responsible,' etc . . . yes, a general order for them all to be killed."
"Oh, pish," Aeolus says. "I was just grumpy. Rescind that order, Mellie, and urn, who's on guard duty — Teriyaki? — Teri, take these storm spirits down to cell block Fourteen E, will you?"
A harpy swoops out of nowhere, snatches the golden bag, and spirals into the abyss.
Aeolus grins at Jason. "Now, sorry about that kill-on-sight business. But gods, I really was mad, wasn't I?" His face suddenly darkens, and his suit does the same, the lapels flashing with lightning. "You know . . . I remember now. Almost seemed like a voice was telling me to give that order. A little cold tingle on the back of my neck."
Jason tenses. A cold tingle on the back of his neck . . . Why does that sound so familiar? "A . . . um, voice in your head, sir?"
"Yes. How odd. Mellie, should we kill them?"
"No, sir," she says patiently. "They just brought us the storm spirits, which makes everything all right."
"Of course." Aeolus laughs. "Sorry. Mellie, let's send the demigods something nice. A box of chocolates, perhaps."
"A box of chocolates to every demigod in the world, sir?"
"No, too expensive. Never mind. Wait, it's time! I'm on!"
Aeolus flies off towards the blue screen as newscast music starts to play.
Jason looks at Piper, (Y/n), and Leo, who seem just as confused as he is.
"Mellie," he says , "is he . . . always like that?"
She smiles sheepishly. "Well, you know what they say. If you don't like his mood, wait five minutes. That expression 'whichever way the wind blows' — that was based on him."
"And that thing about the sea monster," Jason says. "Was I here before?"
Mellie blushes. "I'm sorry, I don't remember. I'm Mr. Aeolus's new assistant. I've been with him longer than most, but still — not that long."
"How long do his assistants usually last?" Piper asks curiously.
"Oh . . ." Mellie thinks for a moment. "I've been doing this for . . . twelve hours?"
A voice blares from floating speakers: "And now, weather every twelve minutes! Here's your forecaster for Olympian Weather — the OW! channel — Aeolus!"
Lights blaze on Aeolus, who is now standing in front of the blue screen. His smile is unnaturally white, and he looks like he'd had so much caffeine his face is about to explode.
"Hello, Olympus! Aeolus, master of the winds here, with weather every twelve! We'll have a low-pressure system moving over Florida today so expect milder temperatures since Demeter wishes to spare the citrus farmers!" He gestures at the blue screen, but when (Y/n0 checks the monitors, she sees that a digital image is being projected behind Aeolus, so it looks like he's standing in front of a U.S. map with animated smiley suns and frowny storm clouds. "Along the eastern seaboard — oh, hold on." He taps his earpiece. "Sorry, folks! Poseidon is angry with Miami today so it looks like that Florida freeze is back on! Sorry, Demeter. Over in the Midwest, I'm not sure what St. Louis did to offend Zeus, but you can expect winter storms! Boreas himself is being called down to punish the area with ice. Bad news, Missouri! No, wait. Hephaestus feels sorry for central Missouri, so you all will have much more moderate temperatures and sunny skies."
Aeolus keeps going like that — forecasting each area of the country and changing his prediction two or three times as he gets messages over his earpiece — the gods apparently putting in orders for various winds and weather.
"This can't be right," Jason whispers. "Weather isn't this random."
Mellie smirks. "And how often are the mortal weathermen right? They talk about fronts and air pressure and moisture, but the weather surprises them all the time. At least Aeolus tells us why it's so unpredictable. Very hard job, trying to appease all the gods at once. It's enough to drive anyone . . ."
She trails off, but Jason knows what she meant. Mad. Aeolus is completely mad.
"And that's the weather," Aeolus concludes. "See you in twelve minutes, because I'm sure it'll change!"
The lights shut off, the video monitors go back to random coverage, and just for a moment, Aeolus's face sags with weariness. Then he seems to remember he has guests, and he puts a smile back on.
"So, you brought me some rogue storm spirits," Aeolus says. "I suppose . . . thanks! And did you want something else? I assume so. Demigods always do."
Mellie says, "Urn, sir, this is Zeus's son."
"Yes, yes. I know that. I said I remembered him from before."
"But, sir, they're here from Olympus."
Aeolus looks stunned. Then he laughs so abruptly, Jason almost jumps into the chasm. "You mean you're here on behalf of your father this time? Finally! I knew they would send someone to renegotiate my contract!"
"Urn, what?" Jason asks.
"Oh, thank goodness!" Aeolus sighs with relief. "It's been what, three thousand years since Zeus made me master of the winds. Not that I'm ungrateful, of course! But really, my contract is so vague. Obviously I'm immortal, but 'master of the winds.' What does that mean? Am I a nature spirit? A demigod? A god? I want to be god of the winds, because the benefits are so much better. Can we start with that?"
Jason looks at his friends, mystified.
"Dude," Leo says, "you think we're here to promote you?"
"You are, then?" Aeolus grins. His business suit turns completely blue — not a cloud in the fabric. "Marvelous! I mean, I think I've shown quite a bit of initiative with the weather channel, eh? And of course I'm in the press all the time. So many books have been written about me: Into Thin Air, Up in the Air, Gone with the Wind —"
"Er, I don't think those are about you," Jason says, before he notices Mellie shaking her head.
"Nonsense," Aeolus says. "Mellie, they're biographies of me, aren't they?"
"Absolutely, sir," she squeaks.
"There, you see? I don't read. Who has time? But obviously the mortals love me. So, we'll change my official title to god of the winds. Then, about salary and staff —"
"Sir," Jason says, "we're not from Olympus."
Aeolus blinks. "But —"
"I'm the son of Zeus, yes," Jason says, "but we're not here to negotiate your contract. We're on a quest and we need your help."
Aeolus's expression hardens. "Like last time? Like every hero who comes here? Demigods! It's always about you, isn't it?"
"Sir, please, I don't remember last time, but if you helped me once before —"
"I'm always helping! Well, sometimes I'm destroying, but mostly I'm helping, and sometimes I'm asked to do both at the same time! Why Aeneas, the first of your kind —"
"My kind?" Jason asks. "You mean, demigods?"
"Oh, please!" Aeolus says. "I mean your line of demigods. You know, Aeneas, son of Venus — the only surviving hero of Troy. When the Greeks burned down his city, he escaped to Italy, where he founded the kingdom that would eventually become Rome, blah, blah, blah. That's what I meant."
"I don't get it," Jason admits.
Aeolus rolls his eyes. "The point being, I was thrown in the middle of that conflict, too! Juno calls up: 'Oh, Aeolus, destroy Aeneas's ships for me. I don't like him.' Then Neptune says, 'No, you don't! That's my territory. Calm the winds.' Then Juno is like, 'No, wreck his ships, or I'll tell Jupiter you're uncooperative!' Do you think it's easy juggling requests like that?"
"No," Jason said. "I guess not."
"And don't get me started on Amelia Earhart! I'm still getting angry calls from Olympus about knocking her out of the sky!"
"We just want information," Piper says in her most calming voice. "We hear you know everything."
Aeolus straightens his lapels and looks slightly mollified. "Well . . . that's true, of course. For instance, I know that this business here" — he waggles his fingers at the four of them — "this harebrained scheme of Juno's to bring you all together is likely to end in bloodshed. As for you, Piper McLean, I know your father is in serious trouble." He holds out his hand, and a scrap of paper flutters into his grasp. It's a photo of Piper with a guy who must've been her dad. His face does look familiar. Jason is pretty sure he'd seen him in some movies.
Piper takes the photo. Her hands are shaking. "This — this is from his wallet."
"Yes ," Aeolus says. "All things lost in the wind eventually come to me. The photo blew away when the Earthborn captured him."
"The what?" Piper asks.
Aeolus waves aside the question and narrows his eyes at Leo. "Now, you, son of Hephaestus . . . Yes, I see your future." Another paper falls into the wind god's hands — an old tattered drawing done in crayons.
Leo takes it as if it might be coated in poison. He staggers backwards.
"Leo?" Jason says. "What is it?"
"Something I — I drew when I was a kid." He folds it quickly and put it in his coat. "It's . . . yeah, it's nothing."
Aeolus laughs. "Really? Just the key to your success!" Aeolus then looks at (Y/n). He waves his hand, and a photograph flies down, falling into the daughter of Poseidon's hands.
(Y/n) chokes back a sob as she studies the photo. It was a picture of herself, Percy, and their parents, Sally and Paul, and Percy's arm is wrapped around Annabeth's waist – and everyone looked happy.
(Y/n) clears her throat, and shoves the picture into her pocket, she aggressively wipes at her eyes and Leo, Jason, and Piper avoid her gaze.
Aeolus shrugs it aside, "Now, where were we? Ah, yes, you wanted information. Are you sure about that? Sometimes information can be dangerous." He smiles at Jason like he's issuing a challenge. Behind him, Mellie shakes her head in warning.
"Yeah," Jason says. "We need to find the lair of Enceladus."
Aeolus's smile melts, "The giant? Why would you want to go there? He's horrible! He doesn't even watch my program!"
Piper holds up the photo. "Aeolus, he's got my father. We need to rescue him and find out where Hera is being held captive."
"Now, that's impossible," Aeolus says. "Even I can't see that, and believe me, I've tried. There's a veil of magic over Hera's location—very strong, impossible to locate."
"She's at a place called the Wolf House," Jason says.
"Hold on!" Aelous puts a hand to his forehead and closes his eyes. "I'm getting something! Yes, she's at a place called the Wolf House! Sadly, I don't know where that is."
"Enceladus does," Piper persists. "If you help us find him, we could get the location of the goddess —"
"Yeah," Leo adds, catching on. "And if we save her, she'd be really grateful to you —"
"And Zeus might promote you," (Y/n) finishes.
Aeolus's eyebrows creep up. "A promotion — and all you want from me is the giant's location?"
"Well, if you could get us there, too," Jason amends, "that would be great."
Mellie claps her hands in excitement. "Oh, he could do that! He often sends helpful winds —"
Mellie, quiet!" Aeolus snaps. "I have half a mind to fire you for letting these people in under false pretenses."
Her face pales. "Yes, sir. Sorry, sir."
"It wasn't her fault," Jason says, "But about that help . . ."
Aelous tilted his head as if thinking. Then Jason realized the wind lord was listening to voices in his earpiece.
"Well . . . Zeus approves," Aeolus mutters. "He says . . . he says it would be better if you could avoid saving her until after the weekend, because he has a big party planned — Ow! That's Aphrodite yelling at him, reminding him that the solstice starts at dawn. She says I should help you. And Hephaestus . . . yes. Hmm. Very rare they agree on anything. Poseidon agrees . . . Hold on . . ."
Jason smiled at his friends. Finally, they were having some good luck. Their godly parents were standing up for them.
Back towards the entrance, Jason hears a loud belch. Coach Hedge waddles in from the lobby, grass all over his face. Mellie sees him coming across the makeshift floor and catches her breath. "Who is that?"
Jason stifles a cough. "That? That's just Coach Hedge. Uh, Gleeson Hedge. He's our . . ." Jason wasn't sure what to call him: teacher, friend, problem? "Our guide."
"He's so goatly," Mellie murmurs.
Behind her, Piper poofs out her cheeks, pretending to vomit.
"What's up, guys?" Hedge trots over. "Wow, nice place. Oh! Sod squares."
"Coach, you just ate," Jason says. "And we're using the sod as a floor. This is, ah, Mellie —"
"An aura." Hedge smiles winningly. "Beautiful as a summer breeze."
Mellie blushes.
"And Aeolus here was just about to help us," Jason explains.
"Yes," the wind lord mutters. "It seems so. You'll find Enceladus on Mount Diablo."
"Devil Mountain?" Leo questions. "That doesn't sound good."
"I remember that place!" Piper says. "I went there once with my dad. It's just east of San Francisco Bay."
The Bay Area again?" The coach shakes his head. "Not good. Not good at all."
"Now . . .''Aeolus began to smile. "As to getting you there —"
Suddenly his face goes slack. He bends over and taps his earpiece as if it were malfunctioning. When he straightened again, his eyes are wild. Despite the makeup, he looks like an old man — an old, very frightened man. "She hasn't spoke to me for centuries. I can't — yes, yes I understand."
He swallows, regarding Jason as if he had suddenly turned into a giant cockroach. "I'm sorry, son of Jupiter. New orders. You all have to die."
Mellie squeaks. "But — but, sir! Zeus said to help them. Poseidon, Aphrodite, Hephaestus —"
"Mellie!" Aeolus snaps. "Your job is already on the line. Besides, there are some orders that transcend even the wishes of the gods, especially when it comes to the forces of nature."
"Whose orders?" Jason says. "Zeus will fire you if you don't help us!"
"I doubt it." Aeolus flicks his wrist, and far below them, a cell door opens in the pit. Jason could hear storm spirits screaming out of it, spiraling up towards them, howling for blood.
"Even Zeus understands the order of things," Aeolus said. "And if she is waking — by all the gods — she cannot be denied. Good-bye, heroes. I'm terribly sorry, but I'll have to make this quick. I'm back on the air in four minutes."
Jason summons his sword. Coach Hedge pulls out his club. Mellie the aura screams, "No!"
She dives at their feet just as the storm spirits hit with hurricane force, blasting the floor to pieces, shredding the carpet samples and marble and linoleum into what should've been lethal projectiles, had Mellie's robes not spread out like a shield and absorbed the brunt of the impact. The six of them fall into the pit, and Aeolus screams above them, "Mellie, you are so fired!"
"Quick," Mellie yells. "Son of Zeus, do you have any power over the air?"
"A little!"
"Then help me, or you're all dead!" Mellie grabs his hand, and an electric charge goes through Jason's arm. He understands what she needs. They have to control their fall and head for one of the open tunnels. The storm spirits are following them down, closing rapidly, bringing with them a cloud of deadly shrapnel.
(Y/n) grabs Piper's hand. "Group hug!"
Hedge, Leo, (Y/n), and Piper tried to huddle together, hanging onto Jason and Mellie as they fall.
"This is NOT GOOD!" Leo yells.
"Bring it on, gas bags!" Hedge screams up at the storm spirits. "I'll pulverize you!"
"He's magnificent," Mellie sighs.
"Concentrate?" Jason prompts.
"Right!" she says.
They channel the wind so their fall becomes more of a tumble into the nearest open chute. Still, they slam into the tunnel at painful speed and go rolling over each other down a steep vent that is not designed for people. There's no way they can stop.
Mellie's robes billow around her. Jason and the others cling to her desperately, and they begin to slow down, but the storm spirits are screaming into the tunnel behind them.
"Can't — hold — long," Mellie warns. "Stay together! When the winds hit —"
"You're doing great, Mellie," Hedge says. "My own mama was an aura, you know. She couldn't have done better herself."
"Iris-message me?" Mellie pleads.
Hedge winks.
"Could you guys plan your date later?" Piper screams. "Look!"
Behind them, the tunnel is turning dark. Jason can feel his ears pop as the pressure builds.
"Can't hold them," Mellie warns. "But I'll try to shield you, do you one more favor."
"Thanks, Mellie," Jason says. "I hope you get a new job."
The aurai smiles, and then dissolves, wrapping them in a warm, gentle breeze. Then the real winds hit, shooting them into the sky so fast, Jason blacks out.
Word Count: 12090 words
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