Child of Chaos [On Hold]

Chapter 11: Hockey, 1980's, Icy, French Gods

Narrators POV
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It's seemed Leo slept for seconds, but when Piper shook him awake, the daylight was fading.

"We're here," she said.

Leo rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. Below them, a city sat in a cliff overlooking a river. The plains around it were dusted with snow, but the city itself glowed warmly in the winter sunset. Buildings crowded together inside high walls like a medieval town, way older than any place Leo has seen before. In the center was an actual castle— at least Leo assumed it was a castle— with massive red brick walls and a square tower with a peaked, green gabled roof.

"Tell me that's Quebec and not Santa's workshop," Leo said.

"Yep, it's Quebec City," Kenos confirmed.

"One of the oldest cities in North America. Founded around sixteen hundred or so?" Piper finished my statement. Kenos looked at her and smiled, she's pretty smart.

'Mmm very smart, it's sexy.' Kenos hears Shadow say in her head.

Leo raised an eyebrow. "Your dad do a movie about that, too?"

She made a face at him, which Leo was used to, but it didn't quite work with her new glamorous makeup.

"I Read sometimes, okay?" Just because Aphrodite claimed me doesn't mean I have to be an airhead."

'Hmm I wonder what other things she has read...maybe some smutt.' Shadow says teasingly to Kenos in their mind.

"Feisty!" Leo said. "Since you know so much, what's that castle?"

"A hotel, I think."

Leo laughed. "No way."

But, as they got closer, Leo saw she was right. The grand entrance was bustling with doormen, valets, and porters taking bags. Sleek, black, luxury cars idled in the drive. People in elegant suits and winter cloaks hurried to get out of the cold.

"The North Wind is staying in a hotel?" Leo said. "That can't be—"

"Head up, guys," Jason interrupted. "We've got company!"

Leo looked below and saw what Jason meant. Rising front the top of the tower were two winged figures— angry angels, with nasty-looking swords. Festus didn't  like the angel guys. He swooped to a halt in midair, wings beating and talons bared, and made a rumbling sound in his throat that Leo recognized. He was getting g ready to breath fire.

"Steady, boy," Leo muttered. Something told him the angels wouldn't take kindly to getting touched.

"I don't like this," Jason said. "They look like storm spirits."

At first Leo thought he was right, but as the angels neared he could see they were much more solid than venti. They looked like regular teenagers except for their icy white hair and purple wings. Their bronze swords were jagged, like icicles. Their faces looked similar enough that they might've been brothers, but definitely weren't twins. One was the size of an ox, with a bright red hockey jersey, baggy sweat pants and black leather cleats. The guy clearly had been in too many fights, because both his eyes were black, and when he bared his teeth, several of them were missing. The other guy looked like he'd just stepped off one of Leo's mom's 1980's rock album covers— Journey maybe, or Hall & Oats, or something even lamer. His ice-white hai was long and feathered into a mullet. He wore pointy-toed leather shoes, designer trousers that were way too tight and a god-awful silk shirt with the top three buttons open. Maybe he thought he looked like a groovy love or sex god, but the guy couldn't have weighed more than ninety pounds, and he had a bad case of acne. The 'angels' pulled up in front of the dragon and hovered there, swords at the ready.