"We're here."
I don't know how I know, but I do. I swoop down and through the clouds, and below us, a city sits on a cliff overlooking a river. The plains around it are dusted with snow, but the city itself glows warmly in the setting sun.
"Tell me that's Quebec and not Santa's Workshop." Leo sounds genuinely worried. He woke up when I spoke.
"Yeah, Quebec City." Piper confirms. "One of the oldest cities in North America. Founded around sixteen hundred or so?"
"July third, 1608." I confirm.
Leo makes a weird sound. "What, did your dad make a movie about that too? Or are you guys just super mega nerds?"
"I read sometimes." Piper informs him. "Just because Aphrodite claimed me doesn't mean I have to be an airhead."
"I spend a lot of time watching things and reading about the world outside of camp." I tell him. "I know a lot about places I'll probably never see."
"Feisty!" Leo says, turning to grin at me. "If you guys know so much, what's that castle?"
"That's a hotel." I tell him. I saw it in a walking tour of Quebec on Youtube.
Leo laughs. "No way."
As we get closer, he sees that I'm right. "The North Wind is staying in a hotel?"
"Heads up guys," Jason cuts him off. "We've got company."
I squint my eyes and see two winged figures. They almost look like cold, angry angels.
Festus sees them too. He stops abruptly in midair, making a rumbling sound. The sound he makes before he blows fire.
"Festus, don't." I reach forwards and pat his neck comfortingly.
"Steady boy." Leo agrees.
"I don't like this." Jason says. "They look like storm spirits."
I've never seen a storm spirit. But as the angels get closer, they look more like people. One is enormous, built like an ox and dressed like a hockey player. The other is slim, and looks like he came off of one of the albums that Chiron never plays but I love. Journey, or something. They both have icy white hair and and deep purple wings.
The bigger angel-man points his sword at us. "No clearance."
"'Scuse me?" Leo replies.
"You have no flight plan on file." The other angel-man speaks. His silk shirt is unbuttoned at the top, as if he is trying to look cool, but he can't weigh more than ninety pounds, and his face is covered in acne. He's like a high school kid trying to look like he's hot stuff. A pubescent nightmare. "This is restricted airspace."
"Destroy them." The big ox angel man smiles happily.
"Hold on!" Leo and I both yell. I push them back with a nice, gentle gust of wind, and put my hand on my dagger. Jason draws his sword.
"Let's have some manners, boys." Leo insists. "Can I at least find out who has the honor of destroying me?"
"I am Cal." The chucky ox man declares proudly.
"That's short for Calais." The groovy-love-god looking guy explains. "Sadly, my brother cannot say words with more than two syllables-"
"Pizza! Hockey! Destroy!" Cal smiles proudly.
"-which includes his own name." The other one finishes.
"I am Cal." Cal says again. "And this is Zethes! My brother!"
