When Leo and the three siblings left the cave, Piper was already awake and well thanks to Ciara's treatment. The two girls were siting inside the silver tent, drinking hot chocolate.
"Oh, no way." Leo said. "We've been sitting in a cave and you get the luxury tent? I want hot chocolate too! Somebody give me hypothermia."
Layla smirked. "There's a river with cold water over there. Come on, let's take a dive."
"Changed my mind." Leo gulped.
"Boys." Ciara blurted out as glaring sideways at Jason and Leo. She spoke the word in a way, as if it was the worst insult she could think of.
"It's all right, Ciara. They're friends." Thalia reassures her fellow hunter. "They'll need extra coats. And I think we can spare some chocolate."
Ciara signed but got them winter clothes anyway. The hunter coats were warm enough and incredibly light at the same time. She also gave them a mug of hot chocolate each.
"This stuff's good." Leo said. "I would join the Hunt just to drink hot chocolate when I feel cold."
Ciara glared. "We don't want boys in the hunt."
The son of Hephaestus was visibly disappointed. "No? I want hot chocolate, though. Can I at least get some for the way?"
"No time. We have to get going." Thalia said. "Piper, you up for moving?"
"Thanks to Ciara, yeah. You guys are really good at this wilderness survival stuff. I feel like I could run ten miles."
"She's tough for a child of Afrodite. I like this one." Thalia said winking at Jason.
"Hey, I could run ten miles, too," Leo volunteered. "Tough Hephaestus kid here. Let's hit it."
Thalia ignored him as expected.
Ciara only needed 6 seconds to turn the tent into a pack in the size of a match box. After she did, she and Thalia started running uphill leaving them behind.
"You seem a lot better." Layla tald Piper who was running next to her.
"I am a lot better." Piper said. "I don't know what Ciara did but it helped so much. How about you?"
"I'm fine."
"No, you're not." Piper disagreed. Curse kids of Afrodite and how good they are at reading people.
"Well, I guess it's a lot to prosses." Layla replied. When she saw the confused look in Piper face she realized that the daughter of Afrodite had missed their previous interaction in the cave. She explained to the girl what had happened as simply as she could. She also told her their suspicions about the existence of another safe place for demigods apart from camp half blood.
"It's possible." Piper agreed. "I mean, the hunters can't have explored the whole country, right? There's must be a place they missed."
They were so focused on their conversation that they didn't notice that the hunters in front of them had stopped. Fortunately, Layla managed to slow down just in time to avoid hitting Ciara.
Leo wasn't so lucky. Not being able to stop on time he slammed into Layla's back and fell backwards to the snow. She just rolled her eyes and gave him a hand to stand up.
They had nearly reached the summit of Pikes Peak.
The view in front of them was breathtaking, not only because it was amazing but also because the air was so thin they could hardly breath. It was still dark but in the dim moonlight they could distiguish the summits of the other mountains below them. They looked like islands in a sea made of clouds.
"That," Leo commented. "Is a really large rock."
Between them and the summit, or the large rock as Leo had put it, was a huge canyon. You couldn't tell how deep it was because of the clouds but it had the size of a football pitch. The only thing that connected them with Aeolus palace was a narrow bridge made of ice.
"Is the fortress always hanging there?" Piper asked. "How can people not notice it sitting on top of Pikes Peak?"
"The mist." Thalia replied. "Still, mortals do notice it indirectly. Some days, Pikes Peak looks purple. People say it's a trick of the light, but it's actually the colour of Aeolus's palace, reflecting off the mountain's face."
"It's enormous," Jason said.
Layla laughed. "You should see Olympus."
"You're serious? You've been to Olympus?" Layla turned her head the other way and didn't reply.
"We should go across in two different groups. The bridge is fragile." Thalia changed the subject, something Layla was grateful for.
"That's reassuring," Leo said. "Can't you just fly us up there?"
Thalia laughed loudly. Until she saw that nobody else was laughing she realized that this probably wasn't one of Leo's joke. "Wait... you can fly?"
"Well, sort of. More like control the winds." Layla said.
"But the winds up here are so strong, I'm not sure we'd want to try." Jason added. "Thalia, you mean... you can't fly?"
"Truthfully," she said. "I've never tried. Might be better if we stuck to the bridge." There was something weird in Thalia's gaze. To Layla it seemed like her sister was never afraid of anything, but her eyes full of fear.
"You don't have to come with us if you don't want." Layla offered. "We'll be fine on our own. Don't leave your hunters waiting."
"No, no it's okay. Ciara, go find the others. I'll be back soon." Thalia refused her offer but still muttered a small 'thank you' to Layla when no one was looking.
"So, who will cross Elsa's bridge first?" Leo said enthusiastically.
"Elsa's bridge?"
The boy snapped his head to Layla's direction. "It's made of ice like Elsa's bridge. You know, from Frozen. Wait. Don't tell me you haven't watched frozen. First, you don't know Tristan McLean and now Frozen. Seriously, Layla did y-"
"Or we could just get going." Thalia raised her voice slightly.
Piper and Jason crossed the bridge first. Layla went next. Once they were across Leo started climbing.
"Gods." Layla pinched the bridge of her nose with her fingers. "Did we just leave fire boy to cross a bridge made of ice in his own?"
"He'll be fine." Jason reassured her.
At that exact moment Leo leaned over on the bridge's railing, looking down. Immediately, he panicked, children of Hephaestus weren't the biggest fan of heights either (that had something to do with their dad falling from olympus when he was young). Flames shot from his hands melting the railing and he fell screaming into the void. Layla signed, looked at her brother with a 'I told you so' look and jumped of the cliff as well.
Even though the clouds were blocking her vision, Layla was able to find Leo thanks to his screams. She avoided his kicks and punches and grabbed him from his waist. And now for the hard part. Fly them both up. Last time she tried to do that she had broken her ancle. This time it would be even harder because they were flying upwards.
Jason had been right about the winds in the summit being too strong to be controlled. However they had fallen much lower and the winds there were gentler. Still, she needed a lot of willpower to control them.
When they reached the summit, even she was surprised by her accomplishment. She let go of Leo and collapsed in the snow panting loudly. Leo sat next to her a said something she didn't hear, probably thanked her.
"Great. Now I can cross jumping of a cliff from my to do list, too." She said. "And before you ask Jason, it's just a figure of speech." Layla said referring to their conversation in Midas's yard.
She heard no reply from Jason. How would she if Jason wasn't there? Instead of flying where Jason and Piper were Layla had led them to the other side of the canyon where Thalia was waiting. She cursed loudly for her mistake making Thalia laugh.
Leo rubbed his slightly bruised arm. "Why do they even have a bridge for?" Leo asked.
"What do you mean?" Thalia frowned.
"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?"
Thalia shook her head. "The spirits don't like to anchor to earth, but sometimes it's nesecery. Like now. They knew you were coming."
Layla could feel Leo's teprature raising. Not like how our temperature raises when we have fever but like he was about to burst into flames. She had noticed that every time that happened Leo was, for unknown reasons, excited.
"Leo? What crazy idea did you think of this time?" She asked.
"It's not crazy, hear me out. What did Hera call Jason in that dream? She called him a bridge. If Jason is as bridge, what's he connecting? Maybe two different places that normally don't get along- like the air palace and the ground. He had to be somewhere before all these, right? And Hera said he was an exchange?"
"An exchange." Thalia's eyes widened. "Oh, gods."
"What are you two talking about?" Layla frowned looking back and forth between the two of them.
"I understand why Artemis sent me here. She told me to hunt for Lycaon and I would have a clue about Percy. Jason is the clue. Artemis wanted us to meet so I could hear his story."
"I still don't get it." Layla scratched her head. "What story? He has amnesia."
"True, but Leo's right." Leo beamed in pride at the Thalia's words. "It's all connected. The two places. Jason is the key. If we just knew where Her-"
"I know." Leo said. "What did Jason call that place in his dream? That ruined house. The wolf house?"
"The wolf house? Why didn't you tell me that! That's where they're keeping Hera." Thalia snapped her fingers.
"You know where it is?" Layla asked.
"Oh, you know where it is, too, little sis." Thalia said with a smile. "Now go. Don't keep the others waiting. Looks like I won't be going across after all. Go to the wolf house and we'll meet you there. I promise." She said and left running before Layla could say that she had understood nothing.
"Just try not to melt it more." Layla warned Leo as they crossed the already half-melt bridge.
"What happened?" Piper demanded once the two of them where at the other side. "Leo, why are your clothes smoking?"
"It got a little heated." Leo said making Layla chuckle. "Literally."
"Okay..." Jason unsurely replied. "So, we've got less that 24 hours to rescue a goddess and Piper's dad. What are we waiting for? Let's go see the kings of the winds."