AERA'S FAVORITE PART OF SHOPPING was the girl talk. After some browsing, she had finally changed out of Piper's hideous sweatpants and into what she liked to call an all-white "winter fairy outfit", consisting of an oversized snow jacket, a knitted mini dress underneath, fluffy leg warmers, and knee-high snow boots. For accessories, Aera had found an adorable pair of earmuffs and a classic tweed Chanel bag near the counter where they sold deadly poisons, toxic concoctions, and other cute goodies like that.
Following her purchase, the owner of the department store (Aera didn't get a name but she went by M—so chic, right?) invited Aera to have some complimentary tea at the café on the first level of the mall. M served Aera her favorite warm beverage—Chai—and let her help herself to some delicate desserts at a cute, little table next to the fountain.
M was the perfect lady to host a tea party. Not only was she the definition of hot and mysterious, but she had such fun stories about her distant homeland, like a never-sleeping dragon with teeth that could become soldiers when planted in the ground. She spoke with a pleasing accent that Aera just couldn't put her finger on where from. Her stories seemed familiar. M somehow made millet the most interesting topic Aera had ever heard of. Her voice was so rich and exotic Aera eagerly drank in every word. It also helped a lot that M looked rich and exotic.
Aera gasped, her hand flying to her chest. "Oh my gods, he did WHAT?!"
Half-way through her story about her absolute red flag of an ex-boyfriend, M swept her long dark hair over one shoulder. On her chest rested a brilliant diamond necklace. It complimented well with her stunning black dress. She looked like a retired fashion model—maybe fifty years old, but she didn't have wrinkles or any clear sign of aging. Her face was gorgeous in that surreal supermodel way—thin and haughty and cold, not quite human. Aera was obsessed with her classy vibes. She hoped she looked that good when she hit her 50s.
"He left me," M said plainly and without emotion.
"For the king's daughter?!" Aera exclaimed, momentarily impassioned. "After you went against your whole family for him? You basically invented him! Without your help, he never would have become a hero!"
"What is that saying?" M set down her teacup and elegantly dabbed the corner of her mouth with a handkerchief. "Behind every successful man there stands a woman." Ugh.
"But why stand behind him?" Aera frowned, nibbling on a cream puff. "You totally could have thrived on your own."
"You don't know what it was like for women in the old days," M said tersely, speaking as if she wasn't from this era. "We had no power, no leverage. Often we couldn't even choose our own husbands. But I was different. I chose my own destiny by becoming a sorceress."
"Slay," Aera praised. She took a small sip of Chai with her pinky up because she was posh like that. Sitting there with M and talking about boys made her feel her a sense of longing, though she wasn't sure what for.
"I get it," Aera said thoughtfully, pushing her plate away. "To save the world, I sacrificed my own boyfriend and some fish boy came and took all the credit. He became a hero—'the Savior of Olympus'—while everyone thinks I'm crazy for what I did." Aera crossed her arms and huffed. "Even though I looked way hotter on top of the world than he did."
A tight smile spread across M's mouth. "Time flows forever yet humanity never changes. What is a madwoman, if not a victim of her circumstances?"
Even now drinking tea, Aera could still hear Luke's voice ringing inside her head like an alarm that wouldn't stop beeping: You'll latch yourself onto anyone who makes you feel extraordinary because of how powerless you are on your own.
It was true. She could have any luxury item she wanted, but that was only possible with her father's money. Aera had relied on Luke to get her out of camp, to give her connections. Kronos' big and scary reputation kept the monsters in her army obedient to her commands. And if it weren't for Percy Jackson, she would have already been condemned to the worst cell in the Fields of Punishment and forced to wear skinny jeans for an eternity.
"I'd be lying," Aera confided, "if I said I didn't want power or respect or any of those things. I worked for it. I deserve it. And I know I'll get it one day if I try hard enough. But at the same time..." Aera's voice faltered.
When she couldn't finish the thought out loud, M did it for her in three simple words: "You are lonely."
Lonely. Is that what it was?
As popular and fabulous as she was, the truth was Aera didn't have any loved ones left. Her closest sister was dead, her boyfriend was gone from this world, and the one person who had promised to always be there for her was just someone she used to know. Camp Half-Blood was the only place on earth that was safe but she wasn't welcome there. Aera had no one in this dark, lonely tunnel she walked. And she didn't even have a vintage Ferragamo purse or BTS on the other side to show for it.
"No matter what I do," Aera said, the words just flowing out, "it feels like I'll always be ten steps behind heroes like Percy Jackson. This world was created for boys like him to become great. He doesn't even have to try. He has all the friends, all the respect a person could want. But for me, it's different. If he cheats, it was a necessary and strategic maneuver. If I do it, I'm a manipulative skank who deserves to be crushed. Every victory, small or big, he's praised. I have to make a scene just so I'm not forgotten."
Aera fingered the ridge of the porcelain teacup, wondering what it would be like to not be so fragile, so easily broken. "Is it supposed to be that way? To get what I want...I have to give up love? I have to do terrible things to get to the top? I have to be alone? Why can't I have both? Glory and love?"
M leaned back in her chair, her long, slender legs folded in a sophisticated manner. Her eyes shone with a million different possibilities. It was then Aera realized it was not her physical features that made M so beautiful, it was her confidence. M's certainty that she was she and everything she brought to the table was irreplaceable.
"It's not impossible," M mused, "but rare. Very rare. This world would sooner destroy itself than let a woman have it all." That humorless smile of hers resurfaced. "It must be afraid of us."
"Afraid of us?" Aera uttered. "Girls are so much more afraid." She thought back to her siblings in Cabin Ten. How terrified they were of the world perceiving them the wrong way. How much flesh and tears they sacrificed just to be accepted. How many friends they betrayed to feel some sort of male validation.
"Let me give you a bit of advice, darling," M said before Aera could really start feeling discouraged. "Woman to woman. You are still young. It may not be now that you understand my words so hear me with open ears... Once he has them, a man will never give up his ambitions, not even for the woman he loves. Least of all a hero. Why shouldn't you do the same?"
Aera didn't understand. "What do you mean?"
"No one is coming to save you," M said. "What you're searching for in others you must find in yourself. No love is worth more than your own. You must take your place in this world. Defend it with your life and never let it go."
"And do make sure to eat as many desserts as you can along the way," M added, eyeing the half-bitten cream puff on Aera's plate. Aera hadn't even realized she was doing that thing again. "Your body is still growing. No number can give or take away value to your beauty. Take it from a seasoned woman like me." She winked at Aera.
Aera couldn't help but smile. Slowly and then surely. M knew what it was like to be in her Louboutin shoes. There was someone in this world who saw past her flaws. Someone who understood her.
"I'll never stand behind another man," Aera decided then and there. "Never again."
M was silent. She studied Aera deeply as if she were a customer she was trying to calculate all the perfect ways to cater to. Then she reached over the table and gently wiped a bit of cream off Aera's chin the way Silena used to.
"I doubt you will."
M leaned in close, like she was about to tell Aera a secret.
"But how about a woman?" she whispered.
Aera was about to ask what she meant when all of a sudden, she heard this agitating, grating noise.
"Coach Hedge!" Leo shouted. "He's okay!"
Ugh. Of course, the repair boy had to crash their tea party.
Aera turned in her chair just to see Leo, Piper, and Jason run up to one of the canary cages on the other side of the fountain, where the coach named after a bush was being held captive. The smelly old satyr seemed to have been petrified at the moment he was sucked into the sky above the Grand Canyon. He was frozen mid-shout (a horrific sight, really), his club raised over his head like he was ordering the gym class to drop and give him fifty. His curly hair stuck up at odd angles like the spines of a sea urchin.
"Of course," M said as soon as they arrived. "I always keep my wares in good condition."
Piper's eyes teetered between Aera and M. "What's going on?"
"Tea party!" Aera squealed. She held up an éclair. "Want one? They're delish."
"No thanks," Piper said, rubbing her arm. She cast another nervous glance between the two. "So, um, Aera...we've been shopping for an hour now and it looks like you got a new outfit. Ready to grab Hedge and leave?"
"Leave?" Aera asked hotly. Why was Piper being a party pooper now, too? "But the tea party just started. Jason, come here. Try my tea—"
M stood abruptly, slamming her palms into the table. The silverware bounced, clattering from the impact.
The princess fixed her eyes on Jason and, just for a moment, her face literally glowed, blazing with so much anger, Aera could see her skull beneath her skin. Aera suddenly remembered what she was here for. There was a threat here that was going to take them down. Something wasn't right.
Then the moment passed and M looked like the normal elegant woman she was, with a cordial smile and soothing voice.
"I believe it is time to wrap up our celebrations and move on to more...business talk." M came around the table, her hands held behind her back. "You are here for the storm spirits and the satyr, yes? We can certainly barter for them. A package deal. If we come to terms, I'll even throw in the vial of healing potion, and you can go in peace." She gave Piper a shrewd look. "That's better than starting unpleasantness, isn't it, dear?
Aera hadn't even noticed that Piper had drawn her dagger for whatever weird reason.
"Piper, what are you doing?" Aera asked in a hushed voice. "You're embarrassing me in front of the MILF."
"We can negotiate," Piper said, ignoring Aera completely. Rude.
"Totally!" Leo agreed, nodding thoughtlessly. "Name your price."
"Leo!" Piper scolded.
M chuckled. "Name my price? Perhaps not the best haggling strategy, my boy."
Aera clicked her teeth in disapproval, still sitting and sipping on her tea as she spectated the scene.
"At least you know a thing's value," M said. "Freedom is very valuable indeed. You would ask me to release this satyr, who attacked my storm winds—"
"Who attacked us first," Piper interjected.
M shrugged. Aera wondered for a split second if she got her collarbones done. They were so pointy.
"As I said before," M continued, "my patron asks me for small favors from time to time. Sending the storm spirits to abduct you—that was one. I assure you it was nothing personal. And no harm done, as you came here, in the end, of your own free will! At any rate, you want the satyr freed, and you want my storm spirits—who are very valuable servants, by the way—so you can hand them over to that tyrant Aeolus. Doesn't seem quite fair, does it? The price will be high."
Aera had no idea what M was saying. The cream puffs were so fluffy and delicious and served on such beautiful, delicate plates...Aera wondered if anyone would notice if she stole the china.
"You're Medea," Piper said somberly as Aera snuck one of the tiny dessert plates into her pocket. "You helped the original Jason steal the Golden Fleece. You're one of the most evil villains in Greek mythology. Jason, Leo, Aera—guys, don't trust her."
Piper's voice was so intense Aera's head snapped up, her hand still stuffed with a plate in her pocket. It wasn't just her. Her words seemed to have some effect on all of them.
Jason backed away from the sorceress.
Leo scratched his head and looked around like he was coming out of a dream. "What are we doing, again?"
"My dear guests!" M (which was apparently short for Medea, still elegant, but not quite as chic) spread her hands in a welcoming gesture. Her diamond jewelry glittered, and her painted fingers curled like blood-tipped claws. Gods, Aera wanted to be her so bad.
"It's true, I am Medea. But I'm so misunderstood. I made a pact with Jason: my help to win the fleece, in exchange for his love. A fair deal. He became a famous hero! Without me, he would've died unknown on the shores of Colchis."
"Colchis?" Aera asked. Where did she hear that name from? "I thought you said you were the princess of Colourpop." Aera pouted. She was disappointed. She was hoping to get free, exclusive makeup out of all this.
Jason—21st century Jason—scowled. "Then...you really did die three thousand years ago? You came back from the Underworld?"
Aera frowned. "Is that even possible?"
"Oh, it is very possible," Medea said, a dangerous glint twinkling in her dark eyes. "Death no longer holds me. Thanks to my patron, I am flesh and blood once more."
"That's hot," Aera commented.
"Aera!" Piper chided.
"Wait, hold up." Leo blinked. "You reformed? Like a monster?"
"Hot..." Medea spread her fingers, and steam hissed from her nails, like water splashed on hot iron. "You have no idea what's happening, do you, my dears? It is so much worse than a stirring of monsters from Tartarus. My patron knows that giants and monsters are not her greatest servants. I am mortal. I learn from my mistakes. And now that I have returned to the living, I will not be cheated again. Now, here is my price for what you ask."
Aera got ready to take out her wallet when Piper said, "Guys, the original Jason left Medea because she was crazy and bloodthirsty."
"Lies!" Medea cried.
"On the way back from Colchis, Jason's ship landed at another kingdom, and Jason agreed to dump Medea and marry the king's daughter."
"After I bore him two children!" Medea defended. "Still he broke his promise! I ask you, was that right?"
Jason and Leo dutifully shook their heads, but Piper wasn't done talking.
"It may not have been right," she contended, "but neither was Medea's revenge. She murdered her own children to get back at Jason. She poisoned his new wife and fled the kingdom."
Medea snarled. "An invention to ruin my reputation! The people of the Corinth—that unruly mob—killed my children and drove me out. I loved my children more than my own life. Jason did nothing to protect me. He robbed me of everything. So yes, I snuck back into the palace and poisoned his lovely new bride. It was only fair—a suitable price."
"You're insane," Piper said harshly.
"I am the victim!" Medea wailed. She turned on Aera, who was suddenly not in the mood for tea or fancy plates anymore. "Surely, you must understand! How did you feel when the love of your life abandoned you and gave up his body to another?"
"Hey," Jason cut in with a scowl. "Leave her out of this."
"I died with my dreams shattered," Medea continued, staring intensely at Aera, "but you don't have to. You can learn from my mistakes. I know now not to trust heroes. When they come asking for treasures, they will pay a heavy price. Especially when the one asking has the name of Jason!"
The lights on the fountain turned bright red. Piper held out her dagger. "Aera—it's time to go. Now."
Aera felt like she was glued to her chair. She was regaining her senses now that Piper was by her side, talking over Medea. She remembered Boreas warning them that there was a threat here powerful enough to defeat them. Medea was about a magazine page away from jumping them, but something held Aera back from striking first. Everything they had talked about...
"Before you've closed the deal?" Medea asked, breaking Aera out of her thoughts. Medea's eyes were two black holes that invited her to jump right in. "What of your quest? And my price is so easy. Did you know this fountain is magic? If a dead man were to be thrown into it, even if he was chopped to pieces, he would pop back out fully formed—stronger and more powerful than ever."
"Seriously?" Leo asked somewhere to her right. Their presences were getting farther and farther the longer Medea stared Aera in the eyes.
"She's lying," Piper insisted. "She did that trick with somebody before—a king, I think. She convinced his daughters to cut him to pieces so he could come out of the water young and healthy again, but it just killed him!"
"Ridiculous," Medea said, and Aera could hear the power charged in every syllable. She peered at the boys. "Leo, Jason—my price is so simple. Why don't you two fight? If you get injured, or even killed, no problem. We'll just throw you into the fountain and you'll be better than ever. You do want to fight, don't you? You resent each other!"
"Guys, no!" Piper protested. But they were already glowering at each other, as if it was just dawning on them how they really felt.
Leo scowled. "Jason's always the star. He always gets the attention and takes me for granted."
"You're so annoying, Leo," Jason said. "You never take anything seriously. You can't even fix a dragon."
"Stop!" Piper pleaded, but both drew weapons—Jason his gold sword, and Leo a hammer from his tool belt.
"Let them go, Piper," Medea urged. "I'm doing you a favor. Let it happen now, and it will make your choice so much easier. Enceladus will be pleased. You could have your father back today!"
Her father? Enceladus?
Panic washed over Piper's face. Something about their prophecy tugged at the back of Aera's mind. Closest family lost by one dove, the other shall lose their greatest love.
Then everything clicked. All the scattered pieces set into place. Aera finally understood what was going on.
Medea was right. She had been right. About everything.
"You work for Enceladus," Piper said, but her voice was trembling enough for Aera to know that Medea's words had gotten to her, too.
Medea laughed. "Serve a giant? No. But we all serve the same greater cause—a patron you cannot begin to challenge. Walk away, child of Aphrodite. This does not have to be your death, too. You can save yourself, and your father by—"
The screech of Aera pushing back her chair was loud enough to put an end to their standoff, and Leo and Jason's. Aera got to her feet calmly. She walked up to her friends. Medea and Piper both watched her carefully—waiting for her word.
"You said this fountain can revive you?" Aera asked tonelessly. "Make you stronger?"
"Wait," Piper warned, her eyes flashing desperately. "Aera, don't—"
"Oh, this fountain doesn't just make you powerful, dear," Medea said smoothly, before Piper could get close enough to Aera. "Its waters are ancient magic. It shows your hidden desires. Your forgotten wishes. Come, take a look."
Medea plucked a diamond off her bracelet and threw it into a spray of water from the fountain. The diamond sunk to the bottom of the fountain, where the water shimmered and a moving image appeared.
Aera saw Camp Half-Blood. It was nighttime on the bank of the beach. Every Fourth of July, the Hephaestus Cabin would host a fireworks show for festivities. Instead of boring, lame red, white, and blue fireworks, they would shoot moving images of Greek battles and scenes in the sky. It was Camp Half-Blood's only decently romantic event of the year and when Aera was twelve, the fireworks show was everything.
"Sup, Aerie." Charles Beckendorf came up to Aera, who was sitting alone in the sand, just before the show began. "Heard you needed a weapon made."
Aera shot up at once, not even noticing that he got her name wrong. "You got my distress call?"
"This what you wanted?" Beckendorf grunted, holding up the scroll with her life's work on it. "Looks like a fairy wand."
Aera tried not to be disheartened. Beckendorf was a demigod of few words. She was certain he could make the fiercest monsters cry for their mommies just by looking at them. A permanent scowl lived on his face. He was one of the campers who had been here the longest and Aera had seen him smile maybe once in five years.
Jolina also didn't let them anywhere near the Hephaestus kids, who were apparently the least acceptable love candidates. She said their eyes would explode if they looked at them too long.
Aera's eyes were still in one piece, so she decided Beckendorf couldn't be that bad.
She cleared her throat. "It's a sword."
Beckendorf cocked a brow. "Yeah?"
"The sharp, pointy end is right there. See?"
"What you need a sharp, pointy end for?" he asked.
"Training," she answered. "I need something that can hold up in a real fight. Clarisse goes way too easy on me when we spar."
Beckendorf squinted at Aera like he didn't believe her. "La Rue doesn't pull punches for anyone."
"Well, I'm not just anyone," Aera said sharply. "Unless I give her something worth fighting, she's going to leave me on the bench until my manicure grows out. And I need her to take me seriously."
Beckendorf scratched his head. "You sure you want me to make you a sword? Don't girls in your cabin prefer jewelry or something?"
"Don't insult my cabin like that," Aera snapped. "Silena could run you over with her pegasi and that'd be the nicest way to go. Jolina would eat you alive if you crossed her."
Beckendorf held his baseball-mitt-sized hands up. "My bad."
"And Drew's a true crime expert," Aera added, still on a roll. "She knows all the best ways to murder a grown man and get away with it." Okay, so Drew definitely preferred shoujo mangas over mystery and thriller, but Aera liked the way she could make the boy four times her size surrender like that.
"Got it." Beckendorf nodded, probably just to entertain her. "So, what's that 'great, big solid' you were gonna do for me if I help you with this?"
A mischevious smile spread across her face as Aera glanced behind him. "She's walking over right now."
Beckendorf turned.
Silena, Annabeth, and Luke were making their way across the sand. Beckendorf instantly started slicking back his hair and smoothing out his wrinkled clothes. Aera tried not to laugh.
"Oh, how nice of you to finally join us after taking forever," she complained as they approached. "Guys, this is—"
"Charlie," Silena said, finishing for her. Beckendorf stared at Silena breathlessly, like he had never seen anything more beautiful in his life.
The dazed eye contact between Silena and Charlie Beckendorf made Aera giggle.
"What did you do?" Annabeth whispered to her as she and Luke sat down in the sand next to her.
Aera brushed the sand off her legs smugly. "What Aphrodite Cabin does best."
"Sit out during Capture The Flag and make the other cabins win dessert privileges for them?" Luke offered.
Aera smiled sarcastically. "Very funny."
"Hey," Beckendorf said when he finally stopped googly-eyeing Aera's sister. "I heard that if you make a wish as soon as a firework explodes in the sky, it's guaranteed to come true."
"You just made that up," Aera accused.
"I think I heard that once too," Silena broke in. "From Chiron."
Aera rolled her eyes. Of course, Silena defend her precious boyfriend. When Beckendorf wasn't looking, Aera put her lips together and made kissy faces at Silena. Silena pushed her face away. Annabeth laughed.
"We're about to launch the first fireworks into the sky," Beckendorf announced. Thanks to the earpiece he was wearing, he hadn't heard what was going on. He was holding some kind of device with multiple buttons. "We should all shout out our wishes to let it be known."
"That's embarrassing," Aera said, looking around. "What if someone hears?"
Annabeth hugged her knees to her chest. "Nobody but us can hear over the sound of fireworks."
"Well, I don't see why not," Luke shrugged. He nodded at Beckendorf, giving him the signal. Beckendorf pressed a button and the first firework launched into the empty sky.
Right as the firework popped like a kernel of corn through the darkness, Luke took in a deep breath and shouted, "I wish I could be a hero!"
"You already are a hero, Luke," Annabeth said in the aftermath. "You brought back the Golden Apple from Hesperides."
"But I want to do more than that," Luke declared. "I want to change the world. Make it a safer place for demigods like us. A place where we won't be forgotten."
Annabeth broke out in a wide grin. Another firework shot off. "Then I wish I could be the architect of Olympus! So I can help you build a better world for all of us!"
"Cool." Beckendorf's eyes sparkled with inspiration. Fireworks were continuing in uninterrupted succession, dazzling images dancing across the night sky. "I wish I could invent something that'll be a turning point for all demigods!"
Then out of the darkness, a shrill voice shouted, "I wish Charlie would be my boyfriend!"
Four sets of shocked eyes panned towards Silena.
Aera's mouth almost fell off her head. "Did she just..."
Annabeth blinked. "Can she just..."
Luke smirked. "She just did."
"You..." Charlie rubbed the back of his neck. If he could blush, Aera betted he was. "You really mean that?"
"Oh, Charlie..." Silena leaned in.
Luke physically moved Aera's body around before she could watch the good stuff unfold. She glared at him.
Luke had on a stern face but Aera could tell he was suppressing a smile. "Give them some space."
Aera curled her hand in a fist. "I'll give your teeth some space."
Annabeth laughed again. That seemed to sober up the canoodling couple next to her. Silena and Beckendorf jumped away from each other like avid rabbits.
"Oh, you haven't made a wish yet, have you, Aera?" Silena said, playing with her hair and blushing as red as sparklers.
"I'm okay," Aera said. She didn't know what she would wish for anyways.
"This is your chance to wish for anything, Aera." Annabeth grinned, reading her mind. "Whatever you want, it'll come true."
"Wish wisely," Luke warned.
"Yeah, don't be shy," Silena coaxed.
"Go for it, Aerie," Beckendorf encouraged.
Surrounded by supportive friends, Aera took a moment to think about it carefully. What would she wish for? Eternal beauty? Immortality? A date with BTS? Then she got it.
"I wish..." Aera took a deep breath as Beckendorf prepared the next firework. "I wish—"
The image dissolved. The water returned to its natural state. Aera looked a wreck in the reflection.
She heaved out the long breath she had taken in the memory. She hadn't moved an inch and yet it felt like she had just ran a mile. She hunched over and gripped the edge of the fountain, trying to catch her breath. Okay, that was freaky.
"Are you OK?" Piper asked, rubbing her back. Aera gave her a weak thumbs up. She hoped nobody noticed how much she was sweating. Gross.
"Why did you show us that?" Piper demanded, looking more enraged than ever as she glared at Medea. "You're just trying to torture her!"
"Torture her?" Medea held her hand over her mouth, holding back a laugh. "Oh, please, dear. You'll work yourself into a fit! I'm a seer, as I said. I can tell the future as well as your little oracle. I'm simply reminding your friend of what she misses."
Medea gave Aera a sideways smirk. "If my sources are correct, all but one wish from that night was fulfilled. Yours. A shame, really. It was such a beautiful wish. A perfect dream."
Aera's heart accelerate in her chest against her will. She had forgotten about that night. Aera had buried it deep inside her heart, someplace she couldn't reach, and Medea had dug it out so effortlessly with a dazzling smile on her face the whole time...
"Stop that!" Piper snapped but it was no use. "You're hurting her!"
"Oh, my damage is nowhere near as savage as The Fates' design," Medea snarled. "Years ago, still suffering in the Fields of Punishment, I had a vision of the eight in your so-called Great Prophecy. I saw your friend Leo here, and saw that he would be an important enemy someday. I stirred the consciousness of my patron, gave her this information, and she managed to wake just a little—just enough to visit him."
"Leo's mother," Piper said. "Leo, listen to this! She helped get your mother killed!"
"Uh-huh," Leo mumbled, in a daze. He frowned at his hammer. "So...I just attack Jason? That's okay?"
"Perfectly safe," Medea promised. "And Jason, strike him hard. Show me you are worthy of your namesake. Don't you want to impress Aera?"
"I do want to be impressed," Aera blurted.
"No!" Piper ordered. The desperation in her voice was a bell ringing in Aera's head. "Jason, Leo—she's tricking you. Put down your weapons. And Aera, don't listen to her. She's just trying to get inside your head."
The sorceress rolled her eyes. "Please, girl. You're no match for me. I trained with my aunt, the immortal Circe. I can drive men mad or heal them with my voice. What hope do these puny young heroes have against me? Now, boys, kill each other! Show Aera and I a good show!"
For a second, Aera was tempted. She wanted to see the boys fight. She wanted to see if boys really were stronger than girls. She wanted to see who was more worthy.
Then Piper spoke again. "Jason, Leo, Aera, listen to me. Medea is charming you. It's part of her magic. We are friends. Best friends. We trust each other. Don't fight each other. Fight her!"
Aera could hear years' worth of desperation in her voice. Piper didn't want her friends to hurt each other. Piper cared about them.
The spell shattered. Aera shook her head to snap out of it.
Jason blinked. "Leo, was I just about to stab you?"
"Something about my mother...?" Leo scowled, then turned toward Medea. "You...you're working for Dirt Woman. You sent her to the machine shop." He lifted his arm. "Lady, I got a three-pound hammer with your name on it."
"Aera, what are you doing?" Medea called. She walked behind Aera and put her hand on her shoulder, murmuring in her ear. "Are you just going to let them attack me? After everything we talked about...you know, we have both been played as fools. You and I, we are the same."
Facing her friends, Aera didn't know how to respond. Was that true? Were they really the same? It felt like there was fog clouding her brain. Smoke from the fire Medea was fanning.
"Stop talking," Jason ordered, hefting his sword. "Aera's nothing like you."
He spoke with such certainty, such confidence, some of the smoke began to clear.
"You don't want to live with your past anymore, do you?" Medea continued, staring hungrily at Aera. "That's why you went to San Francisco. To find something that could set you free."
"San Francisco..." Jason frowned, as if trying to remember something important.
Aera didn't say anything. The back of her eyes began to sting, like sleeping parts of her brain were being agitated, but everything was quickly numbed out by that floating feeling. Aera just wanted to stay there, in that floating feeling forever.
"I'm a seer, you see," Medea boasted again. "I know things I sometimes shouldn't. Private things—family secrets, your deepest, darkest convictions. My dear, you will never outrun your ghosts. Even in death."
Piper's hand on her shoulder seemed to jolt Aera into sobriety. "She's just trying to get to you. Don't let her win."
"Bah!" Medea sneered before Aera could even react. "I'll simply collect payment another way then." She pressed one of the mosaic tiles on the floor, and the building rumbled.
Aera moved out of the way. Jason swung his sword at Medea, but she dissolved into smoke and reappeared at the base of the escalator. "You're slow, hero!" She laughed. "Take your frustration out on my pets!"
Before Jason could go after her, the giant bronze sundials at either end of the fountain swung open. Two snarling gold beasts—flesh-and-blood winged dragons—crawled out from the pits below. Each was the size of a camper van, maybe not large compared to their Happy dragon, but large and ugly enough.
"So that's what's in the kennels," Leo said meekly.
"So not cute," Aera muttered, the gravity of the situation finally dragging her back to earth.
The dragons opened their wings in a hostile spread and hissed. Aera could feel the heat coming off their glittering skin. One turned his angry orange eyes on her.
"Don't look them in the eye!" Jason warned. "They'll paralyze you."
"Indeed!" Medea was casually riding the escalator up, leaning against the handrail as she watched the fun. "These two dears have been with me a long time—sun dragons, you know, gifts from my grandfather Helios. They pulled my chariot when I left Corinth, and now they will be your destruction. Ta-ta!"
"You might not like it," Leo uttered, "but you have to admit...Medea's got style."
The dragons lunged. Leo and Jason charged to intercept. For a second, Aera was almost stunned by how fearlessly the boys attacked—working like an impressive team who had trained together for years. Medea was almost to the second floor now, where she'd be able to choose from a wide assortment of deadly appliances.
"Piper, you help Jason and Leo!" Aera told her. "Medea and I have some more tea to spill."
When Medea spotted Aera heading her way, she started climbing in earnest. She was agile for a three-thousand-year-old grandma. Aera climbed with super speed, taking the steps three at a time, and still she couldn't catch her. Medea didn't stop at floor two. She hopped the next escalator and continued to ascend.
Aera remembered parts of her story, little by little. Medea was famous for her potions, so it was obvious she would go there first after unleashing her pets on them. Aera didn't want her lady friend to have any advantage so she chased her up four flights of escalators as her friends held back the dragons. Cardio was good for the heart anyway.
Down below, Aera heard the battle raging. Leo was blowing his safety whistle, and Piper and Jason were yelling to keep the dragons' attention.
Aera got to the top floor, breathing hard and resenting herself for sweating, but she was too late. Medea had reached the potions counter. The sorceress grabbed a swan-shaped vial—the blue one that caused painful death.
Aera did the first thing that came to mind.
She took the plate she'd stolen from her pocket and threw it like a frisbee.
Medea turned triumphantly just in time for the plate to hit the base of the vial and knock it out of her hand.
"No!" Medea wailed. She stretched her arm out to grab it and tripped backward, crashing over the counter, breaking vials and knocking down shelves. When the sorceress stood from the wreckage, her dress was stained a dozen different colors. Many of the stains were smoldering and glowing. It was actually quite beautiful. Aera made a mental note to try out that poison-dyed style later.
"You've doomed us all!" Medea screamed.
Now they were facing off each other. Smoke was rolling across the carpet as the stain spread, throwing sparks and setting fires in the clothing racks.
The carpet steamed under Medea's feet. "You have only seconds before this concoction consumes everything and destroys the building. There's no time—"
CRASH! The stained glass ceiling splintered in a rain of multicolored shards, and Festus the bronze dragon dropped into the department store. He hurtled into the fray, snatching up a sun dragon in each claw.
"That's my boy!" Leo whooped.
Festus flew halfway up the atrium, then hurled the sun dragons into the pits they'd come from. Leo raced to the fountain and pressed the marble tile, closing the sundials. They shuddered as the dragons banged against them, trying to get out, but for the moment they were contained. Even Aera was impressed by how big and strong their metal friend was.
Beckendorf would have loved to work on him...
Medea cursed in some ancient language that was apparently not the language of Colourpop. The whole fourth floor was on fire now. The air filled with noxious gas. Even with the roof open, Aera could feel the heat intensifying, making her pores open wide. She backed up to the edge of the railing, brought out her sword, and pointed it at Medea.
"Party's over," Aera said. "This was fun but now it's time for me to leave...with my Jason."
"Your Jason?" Medea scoffed. "Your Jason, yes. He is perfect." She sneered the word like it was an insult. "The gods are generous to him. They answer his prayers. They become his patron. Despite his mistakes, they guide him. I should have what men like your Jason have."
"But you don't," Aera said, spinning her sword. "So, get over it. You're just evil." Aera noticed the slit in her dress where the potions had burned away the fabric, uncovering her bare thigh. "And hot."
"What have I ever done except what was expected of me?" Medea bewailed. "I was used. I was cheated, defiled, and manipulated. It doesn't matter how deep your devotion is or how strong your loyalty stands. Your beauty, though praised, is nothing more than a double-edged sword used against you. You know this. You, too, sacrificed everything you had to save the world, only to have your merits stolen by a man."
"You can't talk your way out of this one," Aera said boredly. Medea's voice was now becoming a wet sock soaking her ears. "I'm leaving with my friends."
The building rumbled. Fire and the smoke curled up the walls, melting the railings, turning the air to acid. Aera didn't know how. But she would.
"You stupid, little girl!" Medea snapped, in one last frantic attempt to make Aera waver. "Are you still betting everything on a fairytale ending? You are too afraid to face what is poisoning you. That will be your downfall. You need me."
Aera grit her teeth. "I don't need anyone."
She glanced behind her. Leo, Jason, and Piper were on board Festus's back. The bronze dragon flapped his mighty wings, snatched the two cages with the satyr and the storm spirits in his claws, and began to ascend.
"You cannot abandon me here!" Medea growled. "Your friends will never understand you the way I do! My patron can give you everything you want! She can bring your loved ones back if that's what you seek. Too long have men ruled this world. Don't let them win again! Take me with you!"
For a single heartbeat, Aera thought about it. She could have her loved ones back. Luke, Silena, Beckendorf...if Medea was brought back so glamorously from the Underworld, as she claimed, so could they. This was a world of gods and monsters. Anything was possible.
Then Aera heard Piper's voice again: loud and clear through the chaos, calling her name.
Aera recalled the way Piper tensed when Medea brought up her father. Mr. McLean was in some kind of trouble. He was a mortal, just like Aera's father. She couldn't just let him die. As far as Aera could tell with her snow fairy outfit and fluffy leg warmers, doing that would really be unforgivable.
"I'm sorry," Aera said to Medea, and she meant it. "I really am."
Aera saw Medea's grim smile fall apart for a split second before she turned and jumped over the side. She plummeted for only a second before Piper and Jason caught her, hauling her aboard the dragon.
Aera heard Medea wailing in outrage as they soared through the broken roof and over downtown Chicago. Then the department store exploded behind them.
Aera was shivering when Jason helped her balance herself on the dragon.
"Do you think she somehow survived that?" Aera couldn't help but wonder as he wrapped her snow jacket tighter around her body.
"Let's hope not," Leo huffed from the front, manning the dragon as usual. "Imagine those nasty sun dragons toting a flying chariot with a screaming magical saleswoman throwing potions at us. You really want that following us?"
"She's not just a saleswoman," Aera defended. "I spoke to her. She gave me a lot of advice."
"Well, you don't have to listen to her," Leo said. "She's not your mom."
"Yeah," Piper agreed, "you don't even listen to your real mom."
Aera chewed her lip. "I mean, you're right..."
"She's not worth it," Jason told her, his gentle blue eyes reassuring her. "Medea pretended to be your friend and when your guard was down, she tried to use your emotions against you. She's evil."
"Yeah, showing you your old friends in the fountain like that?" Leo said lowly. "Talk about messed up."
Old friends?
His words itched some part at the back of her brain. They weren't just her old friends. They were her family.
"But..." Aera closed her mouth as soon as she opened it. She didn't even know why she was talking. For once, she had no idea what she was trying to say. Her words just got stuck between her mind and her mouth.
"Medea was a madwoman," Piper stated, rubbing her arms. "I'm glad we got away from her."
"Me too," Jason agreed.
"Word," Leo said. He steered the dragon toward the southwest. Eventually, the smoke from the burning department store faded in the distance. The suburbs of Chicago gave way to snowy fields, and the sun began to set before their eyes.
The whole time, Aera's thoughts lingered around Medea—Medea, whom her friends believed was a madwoman. There was a sinking feeling in her chest, as if the diamond Medea had thrown into the fountain was lodging itself in her lungs.
What is a madwoman, if not a victim of her circumstances?
Aera had killed her boyfriend with her own two hands. She had led countless demigods to their deaths. Last summer, she almost succeeded in completely destroying the world.
So, if Medea was a madwoman, what did that make Aera?