LEO.
——- The central area of Aeolus' fortress was jaw-dropping. It was the size of a cathedral, with a soaring domed roof covered in silver. Television equipment randomly floated through the air; cameras, potted plants, set pieces, spotlights.
Oh, and there also was no floor. Leo had absentmindedly began walking and almost slipped into the chasm before Y/n grabbed the collar of his sweater and pulled him back.
"Holy — !" Leo exclaimed, "Hey, Mellie. A little warning next time!" Y/n patted his back once he was stable again as if to say "You're good now," and retracted her left hand back to her side.
The chasm he had almost been swallowed by was an enormous circular pit that plunged half a mile deep into the heart of the mountain. It was honeycombed with caves, and Leo assumed that some of the tunnels must have led straight outside.
Leo recalled the winds blasting out from them when he looked at the fortress from the top of Pikes Peak. It looked like other caves had been sealed with some sort of glistening material, like glass or wax. The whole cavern bustled with aurai, harpies, and paper airplanes. For someone who couldn't fly, like Leo, it would've been a very long, fatal fall.
Leo considered thanking Y/n again, but felt like a broken record from the number of times he'd thanked her after she'd saved his life with her supernatural reflexes. He felt embarrassed that he hadn't had his shining knight moment for her yet.
"Oh, my," Mellie gasped, "I'm so sorry."
She reached into her robes and I clipped a walkie-talkie 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."
An army of harpies rose from the pit a few seconds later; three dozen or so of the chicken ladies all carried various squares of building material. They quickly got to work hammering and gluing pieces together and using large amounts of duct tape. Leo's eye twitched as he watched it all unfold — the safety concerns were up in the millions.
In no time there was a makeshift for snaking around the pit made of plywood, marble blocks, carpet squares, wedges of grass sod, and just about anything else. There were no real supports and it gave Leo a stomach ache.
"That can't be safe," Jason worried.
"Oh, it is!" Mellie assured him, "The harpies are very
good."
She said, drifting away without touching the floor. Easy for you to say, Leo thought. He watch as Jason took the first step, probably since he could fly, and the floor amazingly held. But could it hold four teenagers was the question.
Piper gripped his hand and followed him, "If I fall, you're catching me."
"Uh, sure," Jason said nervously.
Leo stepped out next, "You're catching me too, Superman. But I ain't holding your hand."
"Knowing you I'll be the one to catch you," Y/n quipped as she followed.
Mellie led them all toward the center of the chamber, where a loose sphere of flat-panel video screens hovered around a sort of control center. A man floated inside, reading paper airplane messages and checking monitors. He paid no attention to Leo and his friends as Mellie brought them closer. 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."
Y/n grinned, "You wanna be my guy in the chair?"
"I'd love to be your guy in the chair."
All sorts of television programs played on the floating screens. Some news broadcasts, but most of them were pretty strange — demigods battling monsters, gladiators fighting. Maybe they were movies, but Leo thought they looked more like reality TV shows.
At the very far end of the sphere was a silky blue backdrop like a cinema screen, with studio lights and cameras hovering around it.
The man in the center of it all was talking into an earpiece.
He held a remote control in each of his hands and pointed them at various screens, presumably at random. He wore a sky-like business suit — mostly blue but dappled with clouds that darkened and changed as they moved across the fabric. He looked like he was in his sixties.
His piercingly sky-blue eyes darted back and forth from screen to screen, as if he were trying to absorb everything all at once. He kept muttering things into his phone, and his mouth crazily twitched. He was either amused, psycho, or both.
Mellie floated toward him, "Ah, sir, Mr. Aeolus, these demigods — "
"Hold it!" His hand shot up to silence her, and then he pointed at one of the screens, "Watch!"
It was one of those storm-chasing programs, where adrenaline junkies tail tornados. Leo could see a Jeep plow straight into the center of a funnel cloud and be tossed into the sky, and Aeolus delightfully shrieked.
"The Disaster Channel. People do that on purpose!" He madly grinned and turned toward Jason, "Isn't that amazing? Let's watch it again."
"Um, sir," Mellie interrupted, "this is Jason, son of — "
"Yes, yes, I remember," Aeolus waved a hand at her, "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 loudly, "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 interjected, "Two minutes to air."
"Air!" Aeolus exclaimed, "I love air. How do I look?
Makeup!"
An immediate small tornado of brushes, cotton balls, and blenders descended on Aeolus. They blurred across his face in a flurry of flesh-colored smoke until his complexion was even less human than before. Wind swirled his hair until it looked 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 Jason, and he 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, then 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 shook his head, "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?"
Swooping from nowhere, a harpy appeared in front of Jason and snatched the golden bag, spiraling down into the abyss.
Aeolus grinned at Jason, "Now, sorry about that kill-on-sight business. But gods, I really was mad, wasn't I?"
Suddenly, his face darkened. And so did his suit, as the lapels flashed 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."
Leo noticed Jason and Y/n both tense abruptly. "A... um, voice in your head, sir?" Jason asked.
"Yes. How odd. Mellie, should we kill them?"
"No, sir," she answered 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!" Newscast music started to play as Aeolus flew off toward the blue screen.
Jason turned to his friends, who seemed just as confused as Leo was. Leo looked to both Piper and Y/n, the first in a similar state of confusion, and the latter donning her usual furrowed eyebrows as if she were piecing together another memory. After she had brought up that memory of hers back at Pikes Peak, Leo wasn't sure he wanted her to remember anything else.
"Mellie," Jason inquired, "is he... always like that?"
The aurai 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 continued, "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?"
Y/n turned to Leo with a skeptical look as a voice blared from floating speakers: "And now, weather every twelve minutes! Here's your forecaster for Olympian Weather — the OW! channel — Aeolus!"
Aeolus was quickly illuminated by blazing lights, while standing in front of a blue screen. His smile was uncannily white and he looked like he'd just consumed so much caffeine that he was on the verge of exploding.
"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 motioned to a blue screen, but Leo glanced at the monitors and saw that Aeolus was being green-screened (or, blue-screened?) so it looked like he was standing in front of a U.S. map with animated smiley suns and friend 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's forecast continued like that as each prediction of the weather changed two to three times in each area as he got messages from his earpiece. The gods were, 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..."
Mellie trailed off, but Leo know what she meant: crazy. Aeolus was a complete psycho.
"And that's the weather," Aeolus concluded. "See you in twelve minutes, because I'm sure it'll change!"
The light shut off, video monitors went back to their default, and for a moment, Aeolus's face sagged with weariness. He then suddenly remembered he had guests, and the fake smile returned.
"So, you brought me some rogue storm spirits," Aeolus began, "I suppose... thanks! And did you want something else? I assume so. Demigods always do."
Mellie spoke, "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."
Acolus looked stunned. Then he laughed so abruptly, Leo thought he might have a heart attack. "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 the God of the Winds because the benefits are so much better. Can we start with that?" Jason looked at his friends, mystified.
"Dude," Leo started, "you think we're here to promote you?"
"You are, then?" Aeolus grinned. His business suit turned completely blue, and the clouds dissipated. "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 grimaced before Leo saw Mellie frantically shaking her head.
"Nonsense," Aeolus grinned. "Mellie, they're biographies of me, aren't they?"
"Absolutely, sir," she squeaked quickly.
"There, you see? I don't read. Who has time? But obviously the mortals love me. So, well change my official title to God of the Winds. Then, about salary and staff — "
"Sir," Jason butt in, "we're not from Olympus."
Aeolus blinked. "But — "
"I'm the son of Zeus, yes," Jason explained, "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 shouted, "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?"
"No," Jason agreed, "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 mortified. "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 floated into his palm. He handed it to her, and Piper gasped. Leo recognized it as her and her dad.
Piper took the photo, hands shaking. "This is from his wallet."
"Yes," Aeolus nodded. "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's heart stopped. It was a crayon drawing he'd made when he was a child. He took it as if it might be coated in poison, and staggered backward.
"Leo?" Jason questioned. "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." But it wasn't nothing; his mind raced erratically.
Aeolus laughed. "Really? Just the key to your success."
The master of winds then turned to Y/n, "And you."
He pointed to her jacket, "I have nothing for you; I've already sent it. Too bad it fell in the river, it was a pretty important message."
Y/n furrowed her eyebrows, "What?"
Aeolus waved a hand and a piece of paper fluttered from her pocket. Had that always been there? Leo thought.
The note landed in her palms and unfolded by itself. "Such a shame you forgot to read it — it's from your brother. He'd be disappointed if he knew you were ignoring him."
Y/n held the paper like it was on fire. She quickly read it, her eyes going wide, and crumpled it up and shoved it back into her pocket. He noticed Jason who stood behind her with a shocked expression, and Leo worried about what the note said.
And more importantly... brother? As in, her brother brother, or another child of her godly parent? Besides, what could her own brother have said to elicit that sort of reaction from both Y/n and Jason?
Y/n turned to look at Jason, and she whispered something in his ear, to which he nodded. Her mortified look never left.
"Now, where were we? Ah, yes, you wanted information. Are you sure about that? Sometimes information can be dangerous." Aeolus added.
He smiled at Jason like he was issuing a challenge. Behind him, Mellie shook her head in warning.
"Yeah," Jason continued. "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 shook his head, "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 informed.
"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," Jason finished.
Acolus's eyebrows crept up. "A promotion — and all you want from me is the giant's location?"
"Transportation would be nice, too," Y/n added.
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 corrected, "But about that help."
Aeolus tilted his head as if thinking, but Leo quickly realized he 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. Hold on... I'm getting a message from Poseidon..."
Jason gleamed at his friends, and Leo felt a surge of relief. Their godly parents were finally standing up for them; them and Poseidon for some odd reason. Leo prayed that the good luck would last.
Leo heard a loud belch from the entrance, and when he turned he saw Coach Hedge waddle in from the lobby, his face covered in grass.
Mellie caught her breath as she saw him coming across the makeshift floor, "Who is that?"
Jason stifled a cough, "That? That's just Coach Hedge Uh, Gleeson Hedge. He's our.." He hesitates, "Our guide."
"He's so goatly," Mellie murmured.
Behind her, Piper poofed out her cheeks, pretending to
vomit as Y/n covered her mouth to suppress a laugh.
"What's up, guys?" Hedge trotted over. "Wow, nice place. Oh! Sod squares."
"Coach, you just ate," Jason snarled. "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.
"Oh gods," Leo muttered.
"And Aeolus here was just about to help us," Jason informed.
"Yes," the wind lord mumbled. "It seems so. You'll find
Enceladus on Mount Diablo."
"Devil Mountain?" Leo asked, "That doesn't sound good."
"I remember that place!" Piper exclaimed. "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 — "
His face suddenly went slack. He leaned over and tapped his earpiece like it was malfunctioning, and Leo almost offered to fix it for him. Before he could say anything, Aeolus straightened again with wild eyes. Despite the makeup, he looked like an old man — at this moment, a very frightened old man.
"She hasn't spoken to me for centuries. I can't — yes, yes I understand."
He swallowed, looking at Jason as if he had suddenly turned into a cockroach. "I'm sorry, son of Jupiter. New orders. You all have to die."
"No!" Y/n shouted, "Don't listen to her!"
Her?
Mellie squeaked. "But — but, sir! Zeus said to help them. Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Poseidon — "
"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 questioned, "Zeus will fire you if you don't help us!"
"I doubt it." Aeolus flicked his wrists and down in the pit, a cell door opened far below them. Storm spirits screeched as they spiraled up towards them, howling for blood.
"Even Zeus understands the order of things," Aeolus explained, "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."
Coach Hedge pulled out his club and Jason summoned his sword. Mellie the aura yelled, "No!"
And she dived at their feet just when the storm spirits hit with hurricane force, blasting the floor into pieces and shredding the carpet samples, linoleum, and marble. The debris, which was supposed to be lethally projected at the demigods was stopped by Mellie's spread-out robes which acted like a shield and took the brunt of the impact.
The floor, now destroyed, could not hold the demigods and satyr, and the six of them fell into the pit. Above them, Aeolus screamed, "Mellie, you are so fired!"
As they fell, Y/n let out a screech similar to that of when she had been attacked earlier.
" 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. The storm spirits were following them down with a cloud of deadly shrapnel.
Jason grabbed Piper's hand. "Group hug!"
Hedge, Leo, Y/n, and Piper tried to huddle together, hanging on to Jason and Mellie as they fell.
"This is NOT GOOD!" Leo yelled. Y/n grabbed his arm with her injured one and held on to him for dear life, and he used his free hand to hold her stable — on the healthy part of her arm. For a second Leo thought it was stupid to maneuver himself so he wouldn't hurt the girl, but he couldn't help himself.
"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 agreed.
Jason and Mellie channeled the wind so their fall turned into more of a tumble into the nearest open chute. Yet, they still slammed into the walls of the tunnel at a painful speed and went rolling over each other down a steep vent, obviously not designed for people; no matter how much of a fraction of god they were. There was no way to stop the fall.
Mellie's dress billowed around her as they all cling to her desperately, and they began to slow down. But behind them, the storm spirits followed close by.
"Can't-hold-long," she warned, "Stay together! When the winds hit — "
"You're doing great, Mellie," Hedge praised. "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.
"Can't hold them," Mellie warned. "But I'll try to shield you, do you one more favor."
"Thanks, Mellie," Jason smiled. "I hope you get a new job?"
She smiled, and then dissolved and wrapped them in a warm gentle breeze. Then the real winds hit, shooting them into the sky so fast that Leo passed out.
(unedited.)