"She means we're demigods," Jason said. "Half god, half mortal."
Annabeth looked back. "You seem to know a lot, Jason. But, yes, demigods. My mom is Athena, goddess of wisdom. Butch here is the son of Iris, the rainbow goddess."
Leo choked. "Your mom is a rainbow goddess?"
"Got a problem with that?" Butch said.
"No, no," Leo said, struggling not to smile. "Rainbows. Very cool" He faced Alex and leaned in, "I bet you're the daughter of a rainbow goddess too.. get it?"
Alex snorted and nudged him, but she too whispered back, "Dude, literally like everyone in Greek mythology was kinda fruity, I'm just glad I'm not the odd one out"
Leo grinned.
"Butch is our best equestrian," Annabeth said. "He gets along great with the pegasi."
Nah, he's just the nicest of the lot so we tolerate him
Alex nearly fell off the chariot when she heard the white talking horse.
"Did that fucking horse just talk?"
Pegasus, you uncultured swine and I have a name
"Don't call me a swine, and yeah whatever, Pegasus"
Everyone else stared at her as if her head was a giant fish bowl. She supposed the reaction was appropriate since she herself didn't know she could talk to horses.
"You can talk to the horse?" Leo asked, somehow with a straight face.
Annabeth's glare softened.
"Yeah... you guys can't hear him?" Alex guessed talking horses weren't much farther off from storm spirits and gods.
Lightning flashed. The chariot shuddered, and Jason yelled, "Left wheel's on fire!"
Alex stepped back. Sure enough, the wheel was burning, white flames lapping up the side of the chariot.
The wind roared. Alex glanced behind them and saw dark shapes forming in the clouds, more storm spirits spiraling toward the chariot— except these looked more like horses than angels.
She started to say, "Why are they-"
"Anemoi come in different shapes," Annabeth said. "Sometimes human, sometimes stallions, depending on how chaotic they are. Hold on. This is going to get rough."
Butch flicked the reins. The pegasi put on a burst of speed, and the chariot blurred. Alex's stomach crawled into her throat. Her vision went black, and when it came back to normal, they were in a totally different place.
A cold gray ocean stretched out to the left. Snow-covered fields, roads, and forests spread to the right. Directly below them was a green valley, like an island of springtime, rimmed with snowy hills on three sides and water to the north. Alex saw a cluster of buildings like ancient Greek temples, a big blue mansion, ball courts, a lake, and a climbing wall that seemed to be on fire. But before she could really process all she was seeing, their wheels came off and the chariot dropped out of the sky.
Annabeth and Butch tried to maintain control. The pegasi labored to hold the chariot in a flight pattern, but they seemed exhausted from their burst of speed, and bearing the chariot and the weight of six people was just too much.
"The lake!" Annabeth yelled. "Aim for the lake!"
"Use your powers and help us!" Annabeth yelled for Alex, except she didn't have any powers— at least not ones she knew of.
And then— BOOM!
Alex had heard that hitting water from high up was just as bad as hitting concrete, but she didn't seem to be hurt at all. In fact her energy was replenished and she felt wide awake, she felt adrenaline coursing through her and she opened her eyes.
YOU ARE READING
Home|| Leo Valdez
Fanfiction"After all those years on the streets, I finally feel like I'm home" "You're lying" Leo didn't even have to look up, he knew her better than anyone. "You're right, I was always at home with you" In which there's an unlikely friendship (... and ma...
