✦ ༉‧₊˚⋆˚( ⁿᵒᵗ ᶠʳⁱᵉⁿᵈˢ )˚⁺✧₊˚.*♡
🍪 — 016. freefall.
ISA HAS TO ADMIT that the Hunters knew how to survive in these horrible conditions. Piper, Isa and Gleeson left Jason and Thalia to talk, and Leo was there as a moral support for the blonde, and the three were welcomed in a cozy camp. The inside was a kerosene heater keeping them toasty warm and a bunch of comfy throw pillows. Hunter had offered them some new clothes, which Isa agreed right away and was now dressed in silver parka and some new pants and sweater. Piper looked back to normal, decked out in a new parka too, gloves, and camo pants like a Hunter. Isa, Piper, Hedge and Phoebe were kicking back, drinking hot chocolate.
"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!"
Phoebe sniffed. "Boys," she said, like it was the worst insult she could think of.
"Agree." Isa said.
"It's all right, Phoebe," Thalia said. "They'll need extra coats. And I think we can spare some chocolate."
Phoebe grumbled, but soon Leo and Jason were also dressed in silvery winter clothes, given hot chocolate too.
"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 Phoebe, 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."
That sentence seemed to made Jason uncomfortable.
"We're not. . ." the blonde said.
"Oh," Thalia said awkwardly, giving her brother a tight-lipped smile.
"Hey, I could run ten miles too," Leo said, trying to change the subject. "Tough Hephaestus kid here. Let's hit it."
Naturally, Thalia ignored him.
"What does each color mean?" Piper asked.
Thalia ran uphill through the snow, hugging a tiny little path on the side of the mountain. Coach Hedge leaped around like a happy mountain goat, coaxing them on 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 in Kalamazoo ─ "
"Let's not," Thalia snapped.
"What?" Isa asked. The two girls were near the front, away from Leo and Jason so they could speak without them hearing.
"Your eyes. They change color, so what do they all mean?"
"Oh!" Isa realized what the girl asked, "Wait," she held up a finger, before looking through her bag and pulling out a small pink colored notebook.
Piper laughed slightly, "You keep it in a notebook?"
"There are too many colors to remember," Isa puffed out, "Like, for example, green means jealousy and envy, while teal means alert and nervous."
Daughter of Aphrodite reached forward and took Isa's chin between her thumb and pointer finger, turning her head and looking at her eyes. Isa could feel her face burning at the bold move, but she didn't say anything, as, she too, looked at Piper's ever so changing eyes.
"One is teal, I think. . . so that means nervous," Piper muttered, letting go of Isa's chin gently, "And the other is dark pink. What does that mean?"
Oh.
She could feel her face definitely burning.
"I don't know," Isa said, putting the notebook back in her bag, "They were never pink before."
Piper raised an eyebrow, "Odd."
Isa hummed, but said nothing in return.
They continued to run for a bit longer, until, finally, they stopped. Leo, who who seemed was so lost in thought, didn't realize the Hunters had stopped and slammed into Thalia and nearly sent them both down the side of the mountain the hard way. Fortunately, 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 thin, Isa could see that everyone was struggling to breathe. Night had set in, but a full moon shone 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 Isa 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 a fortress. The only thing connecting Pikes Peak to the floating island was a narrow bridge of ice that glistened in the moonlight. Then she realized the bridge wasn't exactly ice, because it wasn't solid. As the winds changed direction, the bridges naked around ─ blurring and thinning, in some places even breaking into a dotted line like the vapor trail of a plane.
"We're not 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."
"Is the fortress always hanging there?" Piper asked. "How can people not notice it sitting on top of Pikes Peak?"
"The Mist," Thalia said. "Still, mortals do notice it 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?"
"Most of us who fought in the war did," Isa said.
Thalia 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 I'd want to try. Thalia, you mean. . . you can't fly?"
For a second, Thalia looked genuinely afraid. "Truthfully," she 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, Isa, come on, girls. I'll give you a hand."
"No, that's okay," Piper started to say, but the coach grabbed her hand, to which she grabbed onto Isa and dragged them up the bridge.
"Come on, cupcakes! Only a few thousand more steps!"
As they climbed, Isa, Leo and Piper left Jason in his silence. Honestly, Isa wouldn't know what to tell the poor boy. He lost his sister yet again. Piper kept glancing back, worried, as if he were the one who'd almost died of hypothermia rather than she. Or maybe she was thinking about Thalia's idea. They'd told them what Thalia had said on the bridge ─ how they could save both her dad and Hera ─ but Isa didn't really understand how they were going to do that. She didn't want to let Piper's spirits go down.
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 Isa 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.
Finally they arrived at the top of the island. Bronze walls marched all the way around the fortress grounds, though Isa 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, D.C. ─ except for the cluster of satellite dishes and radio towers on the roof.
"That's bizarre," Piper said.
"Guess you can't get cable on a floating island," Leo said. "Holy shit ─ 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.
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, there were two more areas 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 ahead," Jason said.
While the satyr ran off to attack springtime, Isa, Jason, Leo, and Piper walked down the road to the steps of the palace. They passed through the front doors into a white marble foyer decorated with 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 appearance that remined Isa of 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, shampoo-commercial style. Her white gown billowed around her like parachute material. She had a white tablet computer in her hand.
"Are you from Lord Zeus?" she asked. "We've been expecting you."
"Are you a ghost?" Jason asked.
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."
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 them 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 Isa felt like he was pushing through an invisible crowd. Doors blew open and slammed by themselves.
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. A 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. It was amazing she could fly at all. She kept drifting around and bumping into things like a parade balloon.
"Not an aura?" Jason asked Mellie as the creature wobbled by.
Mellie laughed. "That's a harpy, of course. 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 in now. Come along!"
The central section 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 Jason pulled him back.
"Holy ─ !" Leo gulped. "Hey, Mellie. A little warning next time!"
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 unclipped 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, 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 them. In no time there was a makeshift floor snaking 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. Amazingly, the floor held. Isa gripped his hand and followed him, with Piper on her other side.
"If I fall, you're catching me." Isa said, glaring at him.
"You have Red, though." the blonde said.
Isa looked offended.
Leo stepped out next, "You're catching me, too, Superman." he gripped the blonde's arm. Piper held onto Isa's hand.
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. 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 atone of the screens. "Watch!"
It was one of those storm-chaser programs, where insane thrill-seekers drive after tornados. As they 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 ─ "
"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."
Aelous 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, pish," 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, wasn'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."
Isa felt like a wind was blowing against the back of her neck.
"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 chocolates, 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 off toward the blue screen as newscast music started to play. Jason looked at Isa, Piper and Leo, who seemed just as confused as he was.
"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 ─ not 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 now, 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, but when they checked the monitors, they saw that a digital image was being projected behind Aeolus, so it looked like he was standing in front of a U.S. map with animated smiley suns and frowny storm clouds. "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 temperatures 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 this 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 they knew what she meant. Mad. Aeolus was completely mad.
"And that's the weather," Aeolus concluded. "See you in twelve minutes, because I'm sure it'll change!"
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 assume 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 hereon 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 his city, he escaped to Italy, where he founded the kingdom that would eventually become Rome, blah, blah, blah. That's what I meant."
"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?"
"Why Roman names?" Isa mumbled, "Juno? Neptune?"
"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 four 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. His face did look familiar. 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 asked, "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!" he said, and his eyes turned towards Isa, "And you, daughter of Iris, boy, do I feel bad for what will happen. . . but you also have this."
"Excuse me?" she said and felt a piece of paper fall into her hands. The girl unfolded it and instantly regretted it. It was a photo of herself and her father before she ran away, before everything became so complicated. Isa folded the photo back, placing it in the back pocket of her pants, a scowl settled on her face.
"Now, where were we? 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 to 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!" Aelous 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," Piper 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," Isa 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," Jason said. "But about that help. . ."
Aelous tilted his head as if thinking. Then Isa realized the wind lord was listening to voices in his earpiece. "Well. . . Zeus approves," 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. Hmm. Very rare they agree on anything. Wait, there is a message from Iris. . . She also agrees. . . Hold on. . ."
Back toward the entrance, Isa heard a loud belch. Coach Hedge waddled in from the lobby, grass all over his face. Mellie saw him coming 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. . . guide."
"He's so goatly," Mellie murmured. Behind her, Piper poofed 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 winningly. "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 tome 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."
Mellie squeaked. "But ─ but, sir! Zeus said to help them. Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Iris ─ "
"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 us!"
"I doubt it." Aeolus flicked his wrist, and far below them, a cell door opened in the pit. Isa 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. Good-bye, heroes. I'm terribly sorry, but I'll have to make this quick. I'm back on the air in four minutes."
Jason summoned his sword. Coach Hedge pulled out his club. Mellie the aura yelled, "No!" she dived at their feet just as the storm spirits hit with hurricane force, blasting the floor to pieces, shredding the carpet samples and marble and linoleum into what should've been lethal projectiles, had Mellie's robes not spread out like a shield and absorbed the brunt of the impact. The six of them fell into the pit, 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!"
"Then help me, or you're all dead!"
Mellie grabbed his hand, and an electric charge went through Jason's arm. The storm spirits were following them down, closing rapidly, bringing with them a cloud of deadly shrapnel. Jason grabbed Piper's hand.
"Group hug!"
Isa, Hedge, Leo, and Piper tried to huddle together, hanging on to Jason and Mellie as they fell.
"This is NOT GOOD!" Leo yelled.
"No shit!" Isa yelled, "Red! Red! Please!"
Suddenly, white mist appeared, swirling around them, helping Jason and Mellie to keep them from hitting the ground. That was something new.
"Bring it on, gas bags!" Hedge yelled up at the storm spirits. "I'll pulverize you!"
"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 the 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. Everyone clung to her desperately, and they began to slow down, but the storm spirits were screaming into the tunnel behind them.
"Can't ─ 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. Isa could feel her ears pop as the pressure built.
"Can't hold them," Mellie warned. "But I'll try to shield you, do you one more favor."
"Thanks, Mellie," Jason said. "I hope you get a new job."
She smiled, and then dissolved, wrapping them in a warm gentle breeze. The white mist disappeared too. Then the real winds hit, shooting them into the sky so fast, Isa blacked out.
niki speaks!
that isa and piper moment !!
hello!!??
nice to meet u, officially dead
i love them sm u have no clue
my two little gay beans
have a nice day/night!
bye!