𝑮𝒍𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑮𝒐𝒓𝒆－ 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐲 𝐉𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐬𝐨𝐧

𝑬𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒆𝒆𝒏

I 018. I

𝑮𝒍𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑮𝒐𝒓𝒆

❝ king ❞

     HE FIGURED HE HAD THE WORST LUCK. A thousand years from now, when this quest was being told around a campfire, he figured people would talk about brave Jason, beautiful Piper, powerful Ariadne, and their sidekick Flaming Valdez, who accompanied them with a bag of magic screwdrivers and occasionally fixed tofu burgers.

Ariadne has to jump back before she was trampled by the excited Huntress. For a minute, Jason and Thalia faced each other, stunned. Then Thalia rushed forward and hugged him.

"My gods! She told me you were dead!" She gripped Jason's face and seemed 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 laughed. "Seriously?"

Hedge nodded like he approved of Jason's taste. "Staplers—excellent source of iron."

"W-wait," Jason stammered. "Who told you I was dead? What happened?"

At the cave entrance, one of the white wolves barked. Thalia looked back at the wolf and nodded, but she kept her hands on Jason's face, like she was 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 did better than that. She collapsed. She would've cracked her head on the cave floor of Hedge hadn't caught her.

Thalia rushed over. "What's wrong with her? Ah—never mind. Hypothermia. Ankle." She frowned at the satyr. "Don't you know nature healing?"

Hedge scoffed. "Why do you think she looks this good? Cant you smell the Gatorade?"

Thalia looked at Leo for the first time, and of course it was an accusatory glare. As if it was Leo's fault.

"You and the satyr," Thalia ordered, "take this girl to my friend at the entrance. Hailee's an excellent healer."

"It's cold out there!" Hedge said. "I'll freeze my horns off."

But Leo knew when they weren't wanted. "Come on, Hedge. These two need time to talk."

"Humph. Fine," the satyr muttered. "Didn't even get to brain anybody."

Hedge carried Piper toward the entrance. Leo was about to follow when Jason called, "Actually, man, could you, my, stuck around?"

Leo grinned. "Sticking around is my specialty."

Ariadne glanced between the three. "I'll go help Hedge, make sure he doesn't try to flirt with Hailee, that'll end badly." Thalia looked a bit miffed, but the brunette smiled. "You need to catch up."

She headed toward the entrance, shaking her head at Coach Hedge who was trying to talk to the annoyed blonde leaning against the wall. Hailee rolled her eyes at the short satyr.

"Hedge, I suggest you don't do that unless you want an arrow through your eye," Ariadne said.

Hailee grinned. "There's my favorite troublemaker." She gave her a fist bump. "How are you?"

There was a softness in her voice. She knew it was about how she was handling Percy's disappearance, which she didn't really have time to worry about with their quest.

"I'm fine," she muttered. Ariadne picked at her nail. "Just worried."

Hailee nodded.

They set up the the silver tent pavilion right outside the cave. Hailee did it incredibly quick, even without Ariadne's help. Inside was a kerosene heater keeping them toasty warm and a bunch of comfy throw pillows. Piper was brand new by the time Thalia, Jason, and Leo exited the cave. She was decked out in a new parka, gloves, and camo pants like a Hunter. She and Hedge and Hailee were kicking back, drinking hot chocolate.

Ariadne was pacing back and forth while holding her cup of the steaming drink. She couldn't sit down comfortably. Hailee had given her a new black parka due to hers being torn. She had on a pair of black gloves with a pair of new pants.

"Oh, no way," Leo said. "We've been sitting in a cave and you get the luxury tent? Somebody give me hypothermia. I want hot chocolate and a parka!"

Hailee sniffed. "Boys," she said, rolling her eyes at him. She didn't think all boys were bad—Percy was a good guy—but many annoyed her.

"It's all right, Hailee," Thalia said. "They'll need extra coats. And I think we can spare some chocolate."

Hailee narrowed her eyes, but soon Leo and Jason were also dressed in silvery winter clothes that were incredibly lightweight and warm. The hot chocolate was first rate.

"Cheers!" said Coach Hedge. He crunched down his plastic thermos cup.

"That cannot be good for your intestines," Leo said.

Thalia patted Piper on the back. "You up for moving?"

Piper nodded. "Thanks to Hailee, yeah. You guys are really good at this wilderness survival thing. I feel like I could run ten miles."

Thalia winked at Jason. "She's tough for a child of Aphrodite. I like this one."

"Hey, I could run ten miles too," Leo volunteered. "Tough Hephaestus kid here. Let's hit it."

Naturally, Thalia ignored him. Ariadne knew it was a pointless effort.

It took Hailee exactly six seconds to break camp, which Leo didn't seem to fathom, as his shock was written all over his face.

Thalia ran uphill through the snow, hugging a tiny path on the side of the mountain, and soon the Hunters and Ariadne left the others in the dust.

Coach Hedge leaped around like a happy mountain goat, coaxing them in 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 on Kalamazoo—"

"Let's not," Thalia snapped.

So they ran in silence.

Ariadne took short breaths while running next to Thalia. In all her time as a demigod she had gotten great at running for a long time, it was a skill she had picked up easily.

They eventually were able to stop, but Leo was so lost in thought, he didn't realize they had stopped. He slammed into Thalia and nearly sent them both down the side of the mountain the hard way. Four tuna fly, the Hunter was light on her feet. She steadied them both, then pointed up.

"That," Leo choked, "is a really large rock."

They stood near the summit of Pikes Peak. Below them the world was blanketed in clouds. The air was so thing, Ariadne could hardly breathe. Night had set in, but a full moon done and the stars were incredible. Stretching out to the north and south, peaks of other mountains rose from the clouds like islands—or teeth.

But the real show was above them. Hovering in the sky, about a quarter mile away, was a massive free floating island of glowing purple stone. It was hard to judge its size, but Leo figured it was at least as wide as a football stadium and just as tall. The sides were rugged cliffs, riddled with caves, and every once in a while a gust of wind burst out with a sound like a pipe organ blast. At the top of the rock, brass walls ringed some kind of fortress.

The only thing connecting Pikes Peak to the floating island was a narrow bridge of ice that glistened in the moonlight.

The Ariadne realized the bridge wasn't exactly ice, because it wasn't solid. As the winds changed direction, the bridge snaked around—blurring and thinning, in some places even breaking into a dotted line like the vapor trail of a plane.

"We're hot seriously crossing that," Leo said.

Thalia shrugged. "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."

"The Mist," Thalia said. "Still, mortals do notice if 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 said.

Thalia laughed. "You should see Olympus, little brother."

"You're serious? You've been there?"

Ariadne grimaced as if it wasn't a good memory. "We should go across in two different groups. The bridge is fragile."

"That's reassuring," Leo said. "Jason, can't you just fly us up there?"

Thalia laughed. Then she seemed to realize Leo's question wasn't a joke. "Wait...Jason, you can fly?"

Jason gazed 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 if want to try. Thalia, you mean...you can't fly."

Her purple eyes winced. Thalia was terribly scared of heights, had been since she had met her years ago.

"Truthfully," Thalia said, "I've never tried. Might be better if we stuck to the bridge."

Coach Hedge tapped the ice vapor trail with his hoof, then jumped onto the bridge. Amazingly, it held his weight. "Easy! I'll go first. Piper, come on, girl. I'll give you a hand."

"No, that's okay," Piper started to say, but the coach grabbed her hand and dragged her up the bridge.

When they were about halfway, the bridge still seemed to be holding them just fine.

Thalia turned to her Hunter friend. "Hailee, I'll be back soon. Go find the others. Tell them I'm on my way."

"You sure?" Hailee gave Thalia and Ariadne a look.

"It's fine," Ariadne promised. "It was good to see you."

Hailee smiled and nodded reluctantly, then raced down the mountain path, the white wolves at her heels.

"Jason, Leo, just be careful where you step," Thalia said. "It hardly never breaks."

"It hadn't met me yet," Leo muttered, but he and Jason lead the way up the bridge."

Halfway up, things went wrong. Piper and Hedge had already made it safely to the top and were waving at them, encouraging them to keep climbing, but Leo got distracted.

"Why do they have a bridge?" he asked.

Ariadne frowned. "Leo, this isn't a good place to stop. What do you mean?"

"They're wind spirits," Leo said. "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 asked.

Thalia shook her head. "The wind spirits don't like to anchor to the earth, but sometimes it's necessary. Like how. They know you're coming."

"Leo?" Jason said. "What are you thinking?"

"Oh, gods," Thalia said. "Keep moving. Look at your feet."

Leo shuffled backward. His pants steamed in the cold air. His shoes were literally smoking and the bridge didn't like it. The ice was thinning.

"Leo, stop it," Jason warned. "You're going to melt it."

"I'll try," Leo said. "Listen, Jason, what did Hers call you in that dream? She called you a bridge."

"Leo, seriously, cool down," Thalia said. "I don't know what you're talking about, but the bridge is—"

"Just listen," Leo insisted. "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 background. You had to be somewhere before this, right? And Hers said you were an exchange."

"An exchange." Ariadne's eyes widened. "Oh, gods."

Jason frowned. "What are you talking about?"

Ariadne murmured something like a prayer. "I get it. Why Artemis dents the Hunters here. Jason—you and Percy were switched. Wherever it is that you came from, Percy's there. She took two heroes and swapped their places. Artemis wanted Thalia to meet so she could hear your story."

"I don't understand," he protested. "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 snapped his fingers. "Jason, what did you call that place in your dream? That ruined house. The Wolf House?"

Thalia nearly choked. "The Wolf House? Jason, why didn't you tell me that! That's where they're keeping Hers?"

"You know where it is?" Jason asked.

Then the bridge dissolved. Leo would've fallen to his death, but Jason grabbed his coat and Ariadne's and pulled him to safety. The three then scrambled to the bridge, and when they turned, Thalia was on the other side of a thirty foot chasm. The bridge was continuing to melt.

"Go!" Thalia shouted, backing down the bridge as it crumbled. "Find out where the giant us keeping going Piper's dad. Save him! 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 shouted.

"You know where it is, little brother!" She was so far away now that they could barely hear her voice over the wind.

Then she turned and raced down the dissolving bridge.

The three had no time to stand around. They climbed for their lives, the ice vapor thinning under their feet. Several times, Jason grabbed Leo and Ariadne and used the winds to keep them aloft, but it was more like bungee jumping than flying.

When they reached the floating island, Piper and Coach Hedge pulled them aboard just as the last of the vapor bridge vanished. They stood gasping for breath at the base of a stone stairway chiseled into the side of the cliff, leading up to the fortress.

Ariadne looked back down. The top of Pukes Peak floated below them into a sea of clouds, but there was no sign of Thalia. And Leo has just burned their only exit.

"What happened?" Piper demanded. "Leo, why are your clothes smoking?"

"I got a little heated," he gasped. "Sorry, Jason. Honest. I didn't—"

"It's all right," Jason said, but his expression was 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.

Ariadne felt for Jason. She understood his frustration. He had found his sister and lost her in less than an hour. She had given him a few small smile but it didn't do anything to ease his emotions.

As they climbed the cliffs of the floating island, he kept looking back, but Thalia was gone.

The golden backpack of winds was strapped over Jason's shoulders. The closer they got to Aeolus's palace, the heavier the bag got. The winds struggled, rumbling and bumping around.

The only one who seemed in a good mood was Coach Hedge. He kept bounding up the slippery staircase and trotting back down. "Come on, cupcakes! Only a few thousand more steps!"

As they climbed, Leo and Ariadne and Piper left Jason in his silence. Maybe they could sense his bad mood. Piper kept glancing back, worried. As if he were the one who'd almost died of hypothermia rather than she.

Leo kept swatting his own legs, checking for signs that his pants were 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.

Ariadne was lost in her own thoughts. She was thinking of the exchange, where Jason had come from, where Percy was now. Her heart leaped at the thought that maybe Jason knew exactly where he was.

Finally they arrived at the top of the island. Bronze walls marched all the way around the fortress grounds, though Jason couldn't imagine who would possibly attack this place. Twenty-foot-high gates opened for them, and a road of polished purple stone led up to the main citadel—a white columned rotunda, Greek style, like one of the monuments in Washington, DC.—except for the cluster of satellite dishes and radio towers in the roof.

"That's bizarre," Piper said.

"Guess you can't get cable on a floating island," Leo said. "Dang, check this guy's front yard."

The rotunda sat in the center of a quarter mile circle. The grounds were amazing in a scary way. They were divided into four sections like big pizza slices, each one representing a season.

The section on their right was an icy waste, with bare trees and a frozen lake. Snowmen rolled across the landscape as the wind blew, so Ariadne wasn't sure if they were decorations or alive.

To their left was an autumn park with gold and red trees. Mounds of leaves blew into patterns—gods, people, animals that ran after each other before scattering back into leaves.

In the distance, Ariadne could see two more ares behind the rotunda. One looked like a green pasture with sheep made out of clouds. The last section was a desert where tumbleweeds scratched 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 guessed. "Four cardinal directions."

"I'm loving that pasture." Coach Hedge licked his lips. "You guys mind—"

"Go," Ariadne said. She was 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 ran off to attack springtime, Ariadne, Jason, Leo, and Piper walked down the road to the steps of the palace. They passed through the fronts doors into a white marble foyer decorated with some purple banners that read olympian weather channel, and some that just read ow!

""Hello!" A woman floated up to them. Literally floated. She was pretty in that elfish way Ariadne associated 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 twinkled cheerfully. Even though there was no wind, her dark hair blew in slow motion. Her white gown billowed around her like parachute material. If she had feet, they couldn't tell, they didn't touch the floor. She had a white tablet computer in her hand. "Are you from Lord Zeus?" she asked. "We've been expecting you."

Ariadne realized the woman was see through. Her shape faded in and out like she was made of fog.

"Are you a ghost?" Jason asked.

Right away they knew he'd insulted her. The smile turned 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 came 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."

The compliment seemed a little over the top, as she was no where near Ariadne's level of beauty, which could be considered more than Helen in an argument, but Mellie the aura blushed. "Oh...well, then. So you are from Zeus?"

"Er," Jason said, "I'm the son of Zeus, yeah."

"Excellent! Please, right this way." She led the  through some security doors into another lobby, consulting her tablet as she floated. She didn't look where she was going, but apparently it didn't matter as she drifted straight through a marble column with no problem. "We're out of prime time now, so that's good," she mused. "I can fit you in right before his 11:12 spot."

"Um, okay," Jason said.

The lobby was a pretty distracting place. Winds blasted around them, so Ariadne felt like she was pushing through an invisible crowd. Doors blew open and slammed by themselves.

The things Ariadne could see were just as bizarre. Paper airplanes of all different sizes and shapes sped 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.

An ugly creature fluttered past. She looked like a mix between an old lady and a chicken on steroids. She had 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.

"Not an aura?" Jason asked Mellie as the creature wobbled by.

Ariadne shook her head. "That's a harpy. We have a few at camp."

Mellie laughed. "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 batted her eyes at Jason.

"Course you are," he said.

"So," Piper prompted, "you were taking us to see Aeolus?"

Mellie led them through a set of doors like an airlock. Above the interior door, a green light blinked.

"We have a few minutes before he starts," Mellie said cheerfully. "He probably won't kill you if we go now. Come along!"

The central station of Aeolus's fortress was as big as a cathedral, with a soaring domed roof covered in silver. Television equipment floated randomly through the air—cameras, spotlights, set pieces, potted plants. And there was no floor. Leo almost fell into the chasm before Ariadne pulled him back.

"Holy—!" Leo gulped. "Hey, Mellie. A little warning next time!"

Ariadne elect a hand on his arm to make sure he was okay. Leo appreciated it.

An enormous circular pit plunged into the heart of the mountain. It was probably half a mile deep, honeycombed with caves. Some of the tunnels probably led straight outside. Other caves were sealed with some glistening material like glass or wax. The whole cavern bustled 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 gasped. "I'm so sorry." She I clipped a walkie-talkie from somewhere inside her robes and spoke 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 rose from the pit—three dozen or so demon chicken ladies, all carrying squares of various building material. They went to work hammering and gluing—and using large quantities of duct tape, which didn't reassure Ariadne. In no time there was a makeshift floor shaking out over the chasm. It was made of plywood, marble blocks, carpet squares, wedges of grass sod—just about anything.

"That can't be safe," Jason said.

"Oh, it is!" Mellie assured him. "The harpies are very good."

Easy for her to say. She just drifted across without touching the floor. Jason stepped out first, since he could fly. Amazingly, the floor held.

Piper gripped his hand and followed him. "If I fall, you're catching me."

"Uh, sure."

Leo stepped out next. "You're catching me, too, Superman. But I ain't holding your hand."

"Make that a third person," Ariadne said nervously. She didn't trust the materials below their feet.

Mellie led them toward the middle of the chamber, where a loose sphere of flat panel video screens floated around a kind of control center. A man hovered inside, checking monitors and reading paper airplane messages.

The man paid them no attention as Mellie brought them forward. She pushed a forty-two inch Sony out of their way and led them into the control area.

Leo whistled. "I got to get a room like this."

The floating screens showed all sorts of television programs. Some Ariadne recognized—news broadcasts, mostly—but some programs looked a little strange: gladiators fighting, demigods battling monsters.

At the far end of the sphere was a silky blue backdrop like a cinema screen, with cameras and studio lights floating around it.

The man in the center was talking into an earpiece phone. He had a remote control in each hand and was pointing them at various screens, seemingly at random.

He wore a business suit that looked like the sky—blue mostly, but dappled with clouds that changed and darkened and moved across the fabric. He looked like he was in his sixties, with a shock of white hair, but he had a ton of stage makeup on, and that smooth plastic surgery look to his face, so he appeared not really young, not really old, just wrong—like a Ken doll someone had halfway melted in a microwave. His eyes darted back and forth from screen to screen, like he was trying to absorb everything at once. He muttered things into his phone, and his mouth kept twitching. He was either amused, or crazy, or both.

Mellie floated toward him. "Ah, sir, Mr. Aeolus, these demigods—"

"Hold it!" He held up a hand to silence her, then pointed at one of the screens. "Watch!"

It was one of those storm chaser programs, where insane thrill seekers drive after tornados. As Jason watched, a Jeep plowed straight into a funnel cloud and got tossed into the sky.

Aeolus shrieked 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."

"Um, sir," Mellie said, "this is Jason, son of—0

"Yes, yes, I remember," Aeolus said. "You're back. How did it go?"

Jason hesitated. "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."

Aeolus laughed. "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 interrupted. "Two minutes to air."

"Air!" Aeolus exclaimed. "I love air. How do I look? Makeup!"

Immediately a small tornado of brushes, blotters, and cotton balls descended on Aeolus. They blurred across his face in a cloud of flesh tone smoke until his coloration was even more gruesome than before. Wind swirled through his hair and left it sticking up like a frosted Christmas tree.

"Mr. Aeolus." Jason slipped off the golden backpack. "We brought you these rogue storm spirits."

"Did you!" Aeolus looked at the bag like it was a gift from a fan—something he really didn't want. "Well, how nice."

Leo nudged him, and Jason offered 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 laughed, and looked incredulously at Mellie. "Demigods be killed—did I order that?"

Mellie checked 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, push," Aeolus said. "I was just grumpy. Rescind that order, Mellie, and um, who's on guard duty—Teriyaki?—Teri, take these storm spirits down to cell block Fourteen E, will you?"

A harpy swooped out of nowhere, snatched the golden bag, and spiraled into the abyss.

Aeolus grinned at Jason. "Now, sorry about that kill-on-sight business. But gods, I really was mad, didn't I?" His face suddenly darkened, and his suit did 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."

Ariadne tensed. "A...um, voice in your head, sir?"

"Yes. How odd. Mellie, should we kill them?"

"No, sir," she said patiently. "They just brought us the storm spirits, which makes everything all right."

"Of course," Aeolus laughed. "Sorry. Mellie, let's send the demigods something nice. A box of chocolate, 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 flew toward the blue screen as newscast music started to play.

"Mellie," Jason said, "is he...always like that?"

She smiled 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 said. "Was I here before?"

Mellie blushed. "I'm sorry, I don't remember. I'm Mr. Aeolus's new assistant. I've been with him longer than most, but still—boy that long."

"How long do his assistants usually last?" Piper asked.

"Oh..." Mellie thought for a moment. "I've been doing this for...twelve hours?"

A voice blared from floating speakers: "And nos, weather every twelve minutes! Here's your forecaster for Olympian Weather—the OW! channel—Aeolus!"

Lights blazed on Aeolus, who was now standing in front of the blue screen. His smile was unnaturally white, and he looked like he'd had so much caffeine his face was 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 gestured at the blue screen. "Along the eastern seaboard—oh, hold on." He tapped 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 temperament and sunny skies."

Aeolus kept going like that—forecasting each area of the country and changing his prediction two or three times as he got messages over his earpiece—the gods apparently putting in orders for various winds and weather.

"This can't be right," Jason whispered. "Weather isn't that random:"

Mellie smirked. "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 trailed off, but Ariadne knew what she meant. Mad. Aeolus was completely mad. She bet her father was having a field day with that one.

The lights shut off, the video monitors went back to random coverage, and just for a moment, Aeolus's face sagged with weariness. Then he seemed to remember he had guests, and he put a smile back on.

"So, you brought me some rogue storm spirits," Aeolus said. "I suppose...thanks! And did you want something else? I asume so. Demigods always do."

Mellie said, "Um, 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 looked stunned. "Then he laughed so abruptly, Jason almost jumped 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!"

"Um, what?" Jason asked.

"Oh, thank goodness!" Aeolus sighed 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 looked at his friends, mystified.

"Dude," Leo said, "you think we're here to promote you?"

"You are , then?" Aeolus grinned. His business suit turned 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 said, before he noticed Mellie shaking her head.

"Nonsense," Aeolus said. "Mellie, they're biographies of me, aren't they?"

"Absolutely, sir," she squeaked.

"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 said, "we're not from Olympus."

Aeolus blinked. "But—"

"I'm the son of Zeus, yes," Jason said, "but we're not here to negotiate your contract. We're on a quest and we need your help."

Aeolus's expression hardened. "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 asked. "You mean, demigods?"

"Oh, please!" Aeolus said. "I mean your line of demigods. You know, Aeneas, son of Venus—the only surviving hero of Troy. When the Greeks burned down this city, he escaped to Italy, where he founded the kingdom that would eventually become Rome, blah, blah, blah. That's what I mean."

"I don't get it," Jason admitted.

Aeolus rolled 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 said in her most calming voice. "We hear you know everything."

Aeolus straightened his lapels and looked slightly mollified. "Well...that's true, of course. For instance, I know that this business here"—he waggled his fingers at the three 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 held out his hand, and a scrap of paper fluttered into his grasp. It was a photo of Piper with a guy who must've been her dad.

Piper took the photo. Her hands were shaking. "This—this is from his wallet."

"Yes," Aeolus said. "All things lost in the wind eventually come to me. The photo blew away when the Earthborn captured him."

"The what?" Piper asked.

Aeolus waved aside the question and narrowed his eyes at Leo. "Now, you, son of Hephaestus...yes, I see your future." Another paper fell into the wind god's hands—an old tattered drawing done in crayons.

Leo took it as if it might be coated in poison. He staggered backward.

"Leo?" Jason said. "What is it?"

"Something I—I drew when I was a kid." He folded it quickly and put it in his coat. "It's...yeah, it's nothing."

Aeolus laughed. "Really? Just the key to your success!"

Slowly, a large paper fluttered toward him. He gazed at it confusingly, before his eyes held understanding. Aeolus handed her the paper. "I believe this belongs to you."

She gingerly took it in her hands. The paper had small tear stains on it, but there was Percy's undeniable chicken scratch. He had always struggled to write, but he did it for her. The last set of words she had of him.

Ariadne blinked away her sudden tears. She needed to stay strong for them.

"Now, where were we?" Aeolus questioned. "Ah, yes, you wanted information. Are you sure about that? Sometimes information can be dangerous."

He smiled at Jason like he was issuing a challenge. Behind him, Mellie shook her head in warning.

"Yeah," Jason said. "We need to find the lair of Enceladus."

Aeolus's smile melted. "The giant? Why would you want go there? He's horrible! He doesn't even watch my program!"

Piper held 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 said. "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 said.

"Hold on!" Aeolus put a hand to his forehead and closed 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," Ariadne persisted. "If you help us find him, we could get the location of the goddess—"

"Yeah," Leo said catching on. "And if we save her, she'd be really grateful to you—"

"And Zeus might promote you," Jason finished.

Aeolus's eyebrows crept up. "A promotion—and all you want from me is the giant's location?"

"Well, if you could get us there, too," Jason amended, "that would be great."

Mellie clapped her hands in excitement. "Oh, he could do that! He often sends helpful winds—"

"Mellie, quiet!" Aeolus snapped. "I have half a mind to fire you for letting these people in under false pretenses."

Her face paled. "Yes, sir. Sorry, sir."

"It wasn't her fault," Ariadne said, getting angry at the god. "Now, are you gonna help or—"

Aeolus tilted his head as if thinking. He was listening to voices in his earpieces.

"Well...Zeus approved," Aeolus muttered. "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. Even Dionysus seems interested. Very rare they agree on anything. Hold on..."

While Jason smiled, Ariadne felt her eyes downcast toward her feet. The mention of her father was still a bit sore since their fight.

Back toward the entrance, she heard a loud belch. Coach Hedge waddled in from the lobby, grass all over his face. Mellie saw him coming from across the makeshift floor and caught her breath. "Who is that?"

Jason stifled a cough. "That? That's just Coach Hedge. Uh, Gleeson Hedge. He's our..."

"Our guide."

"He's so goatly," Mellie murmured.

Behind her, Piper pooped out her cheeks, pretending to vomit.

"What's up, guys?" Hedge trotted over. "Wow; nice place. Oh! Sod squares."

"Coach, you just ate," Jason said. "And we're using the sod as a floor. This is, ah, Mellie—"

"An aura." Hedge smiled winning LG. "Beautiful as a summer breeze."

Mellie blushed.

"And Aeolus here was just about to help us," Jason said.

"Yes," the wind lord muttered. "It seems so. You'll find Enceladus on Mount Diablo."

"Devil Mountain?" Leo asked. "That doesn't sound good."

"I remember that place!" Piper said. "I went there once with my dad. It's just east of San Francisco Bay."

"The Bay Area again?" The Coach shook his head. "Not good. Not good at all."

"Now..." Aeolus began to smile. "As to getting you there—"

Suddenly his face went slack. He bent over and tapped his earpiece as if it were malfunctioning. When he straightened again, his eyes were wild. Despite the makeup, he looked 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 swallowed, 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. And the Daughter of the Vines must be taken to the Wolf House."

Mellie squeaked. "But—but, sir! Zeus said to help them. Aphrodite, Dionysus, Hephaestus—"

"Mellie!" Aeolus snapped. "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 said. "Zeus will fire you if you don't help up!"

"I doubt it." Aeolus clicked his wrist, and far below them, a cell door opened in the pit. Ariadne could hear storm spirits screaming out of it, spiraling up toward 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. Goodbye, heroes. I'm terribly sorry, but I'll have to make this quick. I'm back on the air in four minutes."

Ariadne summoned Lunacy. Coach Hedge pulled out his club. Mellie the aura yelled, "No!"

She dived at their feet just as the storm spirits hit the hurricane force, blasting the floor to pieces, shredding the carpet samples and marble and linoleum into what should've been lethal projectiles, and Mellie's robes not spread out like a shield and absorbed the burnt of the impact. The six of them fell into the out, and Aeolus screamed above them, "Mellie, you are so fired!"

"Quick," Mellie yelled. "Son of Zeus, do you have any power over the air?"

"A little help!"

"Then help me, or you're all dead!" Mellie grabbed his hand, and an electric charge went through Jason's arm. He understood what she needed. They had to control their fall and head for one of the open tunnels. The storm spirits were following them down, closing rapidly, bringing with them a cloud of deadly shrapnel.

Jason grabbed Piper's hand. "Group hug!"

Leo attached himself to Ariadne tightly. They all tried to huddle together, hanging on to Jason and Mellie as they fell.

"This is NOT GOOD!" Leo yelled right in her ear.

"Bring it on, has bags!" Hedge yelled up at the storm spirits. "I'll pulverize you!"

"Hedge, shut up!" Ariadne shouted.

"He's magnificent," Mellie sighed.

"Concentrate?" Jason prompted.

"Right!" she said.

They channeled the wind so their fall became more of a tumble into the nearest open chute. Still, they slammed into a tunnel at painful speed and went rolling over each other down a steep vent that was not designed for people. There was no way they could stop.

Mellie's robes billowed around her. Ariadne and the others cling to her desperately, and they began to slow down, but the storm spirits were screaming into the tunnel behind them.

"Cant—hold—long," Mellie warned. "Stay together! When the winds hit—"

"You're doing great, Mellie," Hedge said. "My own mama was an aura, you know. She couldn't have done better herself."

"Iris-message me," Mellie pleaded.

Hedge winked.

"Could you guys plan your date later?" Piper screamed. "Look!"

Behind them, the tunnel was turning dark. Ariadne could feel her ears pop as the pressure built.

"Cant hold them," Mellie warned. "But I'll try to shield you, do you one more favor."

"Thank you, Mellie," Ariadne said. "I really hope you get a new job."

She smiled, and then dissolved, wrapping them in a warm gentle breeze. Then the real winds hit, shooting them into the sky so fast, Ariadne blacked out.

authors note:

I'm back. This is so long but you guys deserved it for dealing we me being inconsistent with writing and for it being crappy lately

I also got the job! Imma be earning my money!

It's been over a year since quarantine started. Please make sure everyone is wearing a mask and social distancing, hopefully this vaccine will help us!

Hope everyone is doing well

Q: If you could be a superhero, what would the name be?
A: Solstice

Love you guys and please tell me what you're wanting to happen next

Tell me your favorite parts

Love you guys!