𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐀𝐄𝐓𝐇 》 LEO VALDEZ ¹

―twenty. about fifty adopted wolves

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𝐃𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐨
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CHARLIE WAS EVEN MORE COLD, AND IT WAS NOT APPRECIATED. Despite how much ambrosia she was fed, her abdomen was still on fire. And not the 'oh no, I ate too much and now I'm going to explode' type either. Which was rather unfortunate, because no one agreed to putting her 'out of her misery' when asked, so she was running low on options.

Next to her, a campfire blazed, turning the air sharp with smoke. Firelight flickered against rock walls. They were in a shallow cave, but it didn't offer much protection. Outside, the wind howled. Snow blew sideways. It might've been day or night, the storm made it hard to tell.

''Charlie, we don't know what to tell you,'' Jason shook his head. ''We risked as much nectar as we could. Coach Hedge did a little nature magic—''

''Sports medicine.'' The Coach's face loomed over her. ''You remember it. An old hobby of mine. Your breath might smell like wild mushrooms and Gatorade for a few days, but it'll pass. You won't die. Probably.''

''Thanks, Coach, that's really inspiring.'' She turned to Jason again, longing for a distraction. ''How did you defeat Midas anyway, did the dagger help at all?''

Jason told her the story, putting most of it down to her idea and luck.

The Coach snorted. ''Kid's being modest. You should've seen him. Hi-yah! Slice! Boom, with the lightning!''

''Coach, you didn't even see it,'' Jason said. ''You were outside eating the lawn.''

But the satyr was just warming up. ''Then I came in with my club, and we dominated that room. Afterward, I told him, 'Kid, I'm proud of you! If you could just work on your upper body strength—'''

''Coach,'' said Jason.

''Yeah?''

''Shut up, please.''

''Sure.'' The Coach sat down at the fire and stared chewing his cudgel.

Charlie sneezed. ''Leo, can you add some more flames?''

''On it,'' Leo summoned a baseball-sized clump of flames and lobbed it into the campfire.

''Where've we stopped?''

''Pikes Peak,'' Jason said. ''Colorado.''

''Oh. Why?''

Jason gazed into the storm as if watching for something. ''That glittery wind trial we saw yesterday? It was still in the sky, though it had faded a lot. I followed it until I couldn't see it anymore. Then — honestly, I'm not sure. I just felt like this was the right place to stop.''

'''Course it is.'' Coach hedge spat out some cudgel splinters. ''Aeolus's floating palace should be anchored above us, right at the peak. This is one of his favourite spots to dock.''

''Maybe that was it.'' Jason knot his eyebrows. ''I don't know. Something else, too...''

''The Hunters were heading west,'' Piper remembered. ''Do you think they're around here?''

Jason rubbed his forearm as if the tattoos were bothering him. ''I don't see how anyone could survive on the mountain right now. The storm's pretty bad. It's already the evening before the solstice, but we didn't have much choice except to wait out the storm here. We had to give Charlie some time to rest before we continued.''

Charlie tapped the side of her fist to her chest from where she laid down staring at the ceiling, twice, before extending her arm to the sky and holding up a peace sign. ''Appreciate it.''