Annabeth's POV
As they rushed from the car, leaving it crashed, or as Zoe called it, 'quickly parked' on the curb, Annabeth had to wonder what they were chasing after, because she hadn't seen what Zoe had, and in her excitement, her companion was leaving her in the dust.
Annabeth tried to keep up as Zoe zipped through alleys and raced down sidewalks, manoeuvring her way through the city like she had lived here her whole life, but with the circlet Zoe still wore she had the strength of Hippolyta.
Artemis had gifted it to her so she could rival Heracles, it may have just been a replica, imbued with some spilled over power from Hippolyta's belt, but it worked. For lack of a better term, like a charm.
It was something that Zoe herself tended to forget when her emotions ran high, especially after thousands of years with the hunters, where those emotions were kept in check, and that strength unfortunately for Annabeth, included her legs.
"Slow down!" She voiced her concern to Zoe as they breathlessly chased down their mysterious targets, but Zoe was adamant that she had seen them, and Annabeth trusted her. "We will lose them if we do not hurry!" Zoe screamed back, desperation shaking her voice.
Annabeth knew that, she felt the same, she knew that this was a fleeting chance, but something made her weary about it, there was something wrong. How had Zoe seen the fates from a moving car, blocks away, with no line of sight, her vision was good, but not that good. It wasn't possible.
But with the answer to her questions being so close to her, she decided the risk was worth it, "Ok, let's go." Annabeth began running again too, but Zoe was clearly being slowed down by her being there.
They couldn't slow pace just for her, so she pulled something out of her backpack as they ran, luckily lent to them by the hunters of Artemis, it was Zoe's old pack, meaning that it could carry things several time it's own size. Still, part of her felt guilty about this.
She didn't really want to use it, but had no choice, as Zoe continued to race down the streets at a breakneck pace, Annabeth threw down the skateboard to her feet and stepped onto it, kicking off in one fluid motion, she grabbed onto the arm of Zoe, who caught on quickly and used her great strength to launch Annabeth forward.
For a few minutes, they tore through the city at speeds they shouldn't have been able to reach, the two of them, but every turn they had to make, every person they had to weave past, Annabeth found herself loosing speed, and every time she would try to stabilize herself, her legs would suffer for it.
After weighing her options, Annabeth just told her to go. Zoe was still too fast for even a demigod to match, save for a few of the exceptional sons and daughters of Hermes, after a few minutes of barely seeing Zoe duck around the end of blocks and catching glimpses of her as she raced across busy streets, Annabeth gave up.
By that, she meant her body did, while her mind was ready to chase after their only lead into the night if she had to, her knees were unable to meet that demand, and she paused for a few moments to rest, falling to the ground to catch her breath in a more comfortable position.
So this wasn't a waste of her time and energy, Annabeth tried to figure out what Zoe had seen, all descriptions she had of the fates were of three old women, sat, not moving, not running away from them. Annabeth propped herself up against a nearby fence and closed her eyes to think.
That was her best choice yet, because as her eyes closed, a connection seemed to be made, she didn't see anything but darkness, but heard a voice, "YOU MISSED!" It shouted, "How could you of all people miss?" Said her mother's voice
"Oh just hurry! I am new to this. You have all had years to practice, Zoe was right next to her, it was barely a miss, and of course I would connect to Zoe easier, she is my greatest hunter...Oh just hurry up, he's already interfering!" said another female voice that Annabeth wasn't quite as familiar with.
Athena seemed to shout over the woman's shoulder "Annabeth, you have to-" Suddenly he voice cut out, Athena cursed in Greek and shouted the message. "Go back!" She insisted, and Annabeth felt confused, back to the car, back to the camp?
"The fates are protecting you! They want you to find them, they're the ones who have to-" "-Oh, why don't you just tell her already!" "Quiet! You know we can't! Did Hephaestus's mishap teach you nothing?" Athena snapped back, "The fates alone must reveal what they have in store."
"Annabeth, listen to me, closely, this is my last chance, the fates cannot show you where they are, for they are everywhere, they cannot contact you directly, as we cannot, but they can show you where they shall be, eventually."
"What do you mean?" Annabeth muttered to her mother, "Why haven't you run into any monsters? Any complications? They guide you towards them, they give you the tools you need to find them." Athena posed it like a question, but Annabeth knew it was an answer. "Go back, after that I promis-"
Suddenly a huge explosion seemed to rock the room they were stood in, "WHAT IS THIS! I warned you! And Artemis you-" Shouted Zeus, and then, silence. A million thoughts ran through Annabeth's head as she got to her feet, all the tiredness in her body forgotten.
Zoe found her a few minutes later, she too was out of breath, her face contorted in anger and frustration, she hit her hand against a nearby street sign and it folded like paper. "I am sorry, I misled us. I thought I saw them, I was sure..."
"You did, don't worry. Tell me what you saw exactly." Zoe nodded, " I felt myself begin to drift off, I was about to give you a shake to wake you so we could swap-" "Zoe, gonna need you to hurry here." "As I began to fall asleep, I heard a ringing in my ears."
"I tried to discern the source, and by the time I had, I caught a glimpse of them on a nearby bench, though as I came towards it, they were gone, then again, and again, the cycle repeated, I was spurred on by a sort of madness, I do not know what came over me."
"I don't know what to tell you, it was strange. Just...I can feel them close by. But never see them" Annabeth nodded, "That's because you weren't meant to see them." Annabeth clarified, pulling the needle they found from her bag, and noticing the faint hum it let off. "I was."
(Y/N)'s POV
Even the words that came out of his own mouth shocked him. Asking about 'Zoe' like he had any real idea who that was. He knew the name and he knew the face. Plus the fact that they should have been somehow involved with this group of women.
But the name still felt empty on his tongue. Like there was no real meaning behind it. The same as his emotions. He felt angry at this girl in front of him. For some reason he felt like her being there was both wrong and right.
She annoyed him too, the fact she was pointing a weapon at him didn't surprise him really. It felt more akin to an "oh, this again" sort of feeling. He quickly pushed past that feeling because of something else and without really thinking about it he asked her. "Just how the hell are you alive?"
She took offence to that apparently and he saw her trigger finger...bow finger? Loosen, ever so slightly. It was like part of her wanted to kill him but there was more of her that was curious about the circumstances they found him in.
"You didn't answer my question. Who are you?" She stressed, he thought of how he could answer truthfully without revealing too much. "I was with the others, helping them on their quest." She sighed, some of the wolves growled, "Name, please." She asked, clearly irritated.
"What does it matter?" He asked, and suddenly he heard the terrifying sound of about thirty bows being tightened in sequence. "It matters because I asked you, and I don't like rude people."
"I don't remember." He said, she sighed in response and nodded, "So you're just like Jason." "Gods I hope not." He muttered under his breath, she frowned at him, "I am Thalia, hunter of Artemis, Daughter of Zeus."
"Well, I don't exactly remember my name, but I'm partial to...the king of rainbows." He said in response, holding out a hand to shake but getting several angry shouts in his ears as response, "I'm not calling you that." Thalia responded.
Again she looked him over, this time her expression softening, "You're hurt." He glanced down to see the scratches from twigs and tree branches, as well as several bruises along his body that were already going purple.
"My freakin' SHIRT!" He roared, looking down at his splinter filled shirt covered in blood and snow, soaked through entirely. Thalia looked at him, almost recognising that, but with a gust of wind, she blinked a few times, and quickly moved on.
"So you were foolish enough to fight Lycaon." Her remaining sisters scoffed, of course muttering something about the foolishness of men. She hushed them with a glance, reached into her pack and pulled out a square of Ambrosia.
"I'm sorry this is all we can spare. You were brave, but maybe leave the monster hunting to the professionals when it comes to beasts like him ok?" She said, and (Y/N) was suddenly quite angry she would talk down to him.
In fact he almost spilled the beans right there just to show her how wrong she was, but it made him more worried because he remembered his shock at seeing them, "How are you alive?" He asked.
"How are we alive?" Thalia scoffed, "Uhhh...the blessing of our Lady Artemis?" He shook his head, "No, she would have torn straight through all of you to get to me. Why didn't she?" He stood up, or tried to.
A few laughs found their way out of the huntresses when he fell on his face almost immediately, "Eat, quickly. Lycaon messed you up pretty bad." She insisted, pressing the ambrosia into his palm.
He shook his head, "I can't." "Listen, keep your chivalry, we won't need it as much as you do, so just-" "I'm not being chivalrous, and I'd like to point out that you thinking I was, sets you back like...at least a month."
"Sets what back?" She muttered, but he didn't have time to get into politics right now, he passed it back to her. "I can't eat it, as crazy as it sounds, a witch cursed me, I'll burn up before I fully heal, tastes gross too."
"A witch?" Thalia said, he nodded, "She's the one who did this to me." "But we saw you following Lycaon." He explained to them that the two were working together to hunt him down.
After looking around to her scouts for confirmation, the daughter of Zeus said "We didn't see any witch, just you." He nodded, standing up unsteadily with her help, "That's what I'm worried about."
It didn't make sense to him, all she needed was to kill him, so why wouldn't she take the chance to finish him off, sure he had injured the witch's eyes, but that shouldn't have stopped her for longer than a minute, she could heal herself.
This was too easy, too simple to not be something like a trap, he couldn't make sense of it, the hunters all stared at him blankly for a moment as he took internal stock of himself, he hadn't lost anything, he still felt exactly like he had before their encounter.
That was too simple, even injured, the witch would have taken something from him, she would have killed him if she could have, so why stop short for the hunters, hell, he gave them a run for their money in the past, with her power now, she should have torn right through them.
Or at least fought with them, if anything just to aid Lycaon, so what made her disappear before they even knew she was there. He looked around and noticed the felled trees she had put him through, and the trail of kicked up snow where he had landed.
So she was here, no doubt about that, and she had attacked him, but then she had just decided enough was enough and peaced out? He didn't buy it. She had too much of him in her now, she would be too vengeful to let it go like that.
Something was wrong, something had changed that took priority over everything else. He gasped, "The others, were are the others, are they safe?" Thalia nodded, explaining to him that they had crossed the bridge ands were on the way to meet the wind god.
Jason's POV
Jason had found his sister and lost her in less than an hour. As they climbed the cliffs of the floating island, he kept looking back, but Thalia was gone. Despite what she'd said about meeting him again, Jason wondered.
She'd found a new family with the Hunters, and a new mother in Artemis. She seemed so confident and comfortable with her life, Jason wasn't sure if he'd ever be part of it. And she seemed so set on finding her friend Percy.
Had she ever searched for Jason that way? "Not fair," he told himself. "She thought you were dead." He could barely tolerate what she'd said about their mom. It was almost like Thalia had handed him a baby—a really loud, ugly baby—and said, "Here, this is yours. Carry it."
He didn't want to carry it. He didn't want to look at it or claim it. He didn't want to know that he had an unstable mother who'd gotten rid of him to appease a goddess. No wonder Thalia had run away.
Then he remembered the Zeus cabin at Camp Half-Blood—that tiny little alcove Thalia had used as a bunk, out of sight from the glowering statue of the sky god. Their dad wasn't much of a bargain, either.
Jason understood why Thalia had renounced that part of her life too, but he was still resentful. He couldn't be so lucky. He was left holding the bag —literally. The golden backpack of winds was strapped over his shoulders.
The closer they got to Aeolus's palace, the heavier the bag got. The winds struggled, rumbling and bumping around. The only one who seemed in a good mood was Coach Hedge. He kept bounding up the slippery staircase and trotting back down.
"Come on, cupcakes! Only a few thousand more steps!" As they climbed, Leo and Piper left Jason in his silence. Maybe they could sense his bad mood. Piper kept glancing back, worried, as if he were the one who'd almost died of hypothermia rather than she.
Or maybe she was thinking about Thalia's idea. They'd told her what Thalia had said on the bridge—how they could save both her dad and Hera—but Jason didn't really understand how they were going to do that, and he wasn't sure if the possibility had made Piper more hopeful or just more anxious.
Leo kept swatting his own legs, checking for signs that his pants were on fire. He wasn't steaming anymore, but the incident on the ice bridge had really freaked Jason out. Leo hadn't seemed to realize that he had smoke coming out his ears and flames dancing through his hair.
If Leo started spontaneously combusting every time he got excited, they were going to have a tough time taking him anywhere. Jason imagined trying to get food at a restaurant. I'll have a cheeseburger and—Ahhh! My friend's on fire! Get me a bucket!
Mostly, though, Jason worried about what Leo had said. Jason didn't want to be a bridge, or an exchange, or anything else. He just wanted to know where he'd come from. And Thalia had looked so unnerved when Leo mentioned the burned-out house in his dreams—the place the wolf Lupa had told him was his starting point.
How did Thalia know that place, and why did she assume Jason could find it? The answer seemed close. But the nearer Jason got to it, the less it cooperated, like the winds on his back.
Finally they arrived at the top of the island. Bronze walls marched all the way around the fortress grounds, though Jason couldn't imagine who would possibly attack this place.
Twenty-foot-high gates opened for them, and a road of polished purple stone led up to the main citadel—a white-columned rotunda, Greek style, like one of the monuments in Washington, 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. "Dang, check this guy's front yard." The rotunda sat in the center of a quarter-mile circle. The grounds were amazing in a scary way.
They were divided into four sections like big pizza slices, each one representing a season. The section on their right was an icy waste, with bare trees and a frozen lake. Snowmen rolled across the landscape as the wind blew, so Jason wasn't sure if they were decorations or alive.
To their left was an autumn park with gold and red trees. Mounds of leaves blew into patterns—gods, people, animals that ran after each other before scattering back into leaves. In the distance, Jason could see 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. He was actually relieved to send the satyr off.
It would be hard enough getting on Aeolus's good side without Coach Hedge waving his club and screaming, "Die!" While the satyr ran off to attack springtime, 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 way Jason associated with nature spirits at Camp Half-Blood —petite, slightly pointy ears, and an ageless face that could've been sixteen or thirty. Her brown eyes twinkled cheerfully.
Even though there was no wind, her dark hair blew in slow motion, shampoo-commercial style. Her white gown billowed around her like parachute material. Jason couldn't tell if she had feet, but if so, they didn't touch the floor.
She had a white tablet computer in her hand. "Are you from Lord Zeus?" she asked. "We've been expecting you." Jason tried to respond, but it was a little hard to think straight, because he'd realized the woman was see-through.
Her shape faded in and out like she was made of fog. "Are you a ghost?" he asked. Right away he knew he'd insulted her. The smile turned into a pout. "I'm an aura, sir. A wind nymph, as you might expect, working for the lord of the winds. My name is Mellie. We don't have ghosts."
Piper came to the rescue. "No, of course you don't! My friend simply mistook you for Helen of Troy, the most beautiful mortal of all time. It's an easy mistake." Wow, she was good. The compliment seemed a little over the top, but Mellie the aura blushed.
"Oh ... well, then. So you are from Zeus?" "Er," Jason said, "I'm the son of Zeus, yeah." "Excellent! Please, right this way." She led 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 Jason felt like he was pushing through an invisible crowd. Doors blew open and slammed by themselves.
The things Jason could see were just as bizarre. Paper airplanes of all different sizes and shapes sped around, and other wind nymphs, aurai, would occasionally pluck them out of the air, unfold and read them, then toss them back into the air, where the planes would refold themselves and keep flying.
An ugly creature fluttered past. She looked like a mix between an old lady and a chicken on steroids. She had a wrinkled face with black hair tied in a hairnet, arms like a human plus wings like a chicken, and a fat, feathered body with talons for feet.
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!"
(Y/N)'s POV
"They're all going to die" He said, trying to think about this, "Excuse you?" Thalia asked, her voice filled with tiredness, and a bit of anger. He tried to explain without getting arrows in every orifice.
"That's the only reason she would have left me, if stopping them was more important." He stood on his own two feet, then realised, "My spear, did she take my spear?" The huntress shook her head, "No, we recovered it. But why should we trust you with it, you are sounding plenty suspicious."
"Yeah, I get that a lot, but Thalia, I am begging you, just trust me on this. I need that spear, and I need you to let me go, if you don't, Jason and his friends are going to die." He remembered the vision he had, of all his friends lying there bleeding.
He wouldn't let that happen, "Please, what can I do to make you trust me?" He asked, she studied him for a moment, and gestured to one of her sisters, who brought him his weapon, in ring form, how they had found a tiny ring in this weather was beyond him.
"You want me to trust you? Show me your tattoo, your brand." She held out the weapon for him to take, as he did, he asked, "Why?" She frowned back after glancing at it and said "That's all I need to know about you"
She reached for his arm, and began to roll up his sleeve, but before she could get a good glance of it, again, he heard their bows tense. But not because of him, instead, a howl in the distance from one of the white wolves, their priority changed.
She rolled her eyes and called out to her sisters, "Phoebe, lead them after Lycaon, I want us gone in ten" now any logical person would have figured that meant ten minutes but the Hunters of Artemis were far past logical, and in the span of ten seconds they were gone like smoke.
But the leader, the girl he found eerily familiar wasn't fooled by the tricks the world was trying to pull on her, and clearly recognised the issue, part of (Y/N) thought maybe she just wanted to talk to him alone. She put his hand down. Like she was scared of seeing the brand now, and passed him his ring.
"You have so much mist wrapped around you. The most I've ever seen. Why?" "The gods sent me on a mission, if you knew who I was, it would be a lot harder." Her voice had an edge of cautiousness, and he noticed her hands going towards a kukri on her hip as she asked "What gods?
"Hera, Iris. Among others" He said truthfully, that made her pause her reach for her weapon, she could tell he wasn't lying, but regardless she did something just as dangerous. For the both of them. Part of him remembered that Thalia could manipulate the mist
She began making a hand motion, but in a moment of speed that even shocked himself, (Y/N) caught her wrist, she looked at him both with the same shock, but also with a sort of disgust. He held her firmly, to stop her from continuing.
Her nose wrinkled as if him deeming to touch her was the worst thing she could imagine, before she could take any further offence, he simply said. "You don't want to do that, you won't like who you see." Her eyebrows arched with suspicion.
"Are you a god?" "Far from it" "A monster?" "Oh no, much worse" after that a single moment passed between them, where the tension was so high neither of them drew a breath, fearing the other might attack, but after that passed and he let go of her wrist. They moved on.
"I'm a friend, a friend of yours, and Jason's" "A friend of mine?" She picked up on the subtle subtext in his voice, he quickly played it off, "Well, the enemy of my enemy..." She looked him up and down. Then looked away.
She stared off in the distance, the way her sisters had marched, like she was debating something, and to his surprise, she broke the silence with an offer he could never imagine receiving. "You could come with us."
"We're going to the wolf house, they'll meet us there, you'd have another shot at Lycaon." But before her offer had even concluded, he was shaking his head. Looking in the other direction, "I have to help them get there first."
"Good, you're right, you'd only slow us down." She said, clearly saving face, but then she looked in his eyes, and he could tell her next request was genuine and deeply important to her. "Keep him safe for me?"
(Y/N) nodded in response. "Of course." She passed him some rope, "Take this, it will help you climb faster and you'll need it to get over the bridge," "Don't need it, I can fly." He explained, pointing to his shoes, she studied them for a moment, then his face.
She sighed, frowning at the direction of her sisters, "Of course you can, everyone but me can fly...they'll never let me live this one down" "Thalia, what are you talking about? You hate flying" He said absentmindedly, as he prepared himself.
She paused for a moment, thought about something that he couldn't remember, then smiled and said "Still, take the rope, flying in those winds is probably rough, and with any luck, you might be able to catch up." He nodded.
"You need anything else?" She asked, "I want one of your knives." He said, pointing to the one on her hip. She glared at him "No, you aren't taking one, they're mine, I just finished sharpening them." Suddenly (Y/N) felt like he was bickering.
She regarded him like he was the scum of the earth, which wasn't far off, "You have your spear and you were lucky to get that." She snapped. He frowned at her. "Oh, how gracious of you, you returned my property to me."
"Listen, if Lycaon comes back, I just want something to cut him in half with, those are silver right? Because Artemis is a stickler with all the hunting rules, pure silver and all that?" She nodded. "So...gimme."
"I'm getting this back." She said as she unhooked it from her belt, sheath and all, and chucked it at him, he caught the kukri by the handle and strapped it onto his own side, "Sure, but my memory's pretty spotty, so if I forget, don't blame..."
He looked up, and she was gone, her footprints weren't even in the snow, "Cool. She's like Batman" He nodded, admiring her skill and heading towards the floating palace at the top of a mountain. He reached the bottom in less than a minute.
He threw the rope up to the top of an overhanging rock, and it moved like a snake, almost trying itself around it, finding it's own best point to hang onto, and soon, after giving the rope a cautious tug, he found himself practically walking straight up the mountain.
It came to him when he was alone, the thought that had been bugging him all this time, the answer to his question, "Drawstring. That was the word I was looking for, drawstring." He said as he scaled the cliff side in the direction of the building Thalia had pointed him to.
Jason's POV
Jason's jaw dropped. 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. Jason remembered seeing winds blast out of them when they'd been on Pikes Peak.
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 demon chicken ladies, all carrying squares of various building material. They went to work hammering and gluing—and using large quantities of duct tape, which didn't reassure Jason.
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, but Jason decided he had the best chance at surviving, since he could fly, so he stepped out first. Amazingly, the floor held.
Piper gripped his hand and followed him. "If I fall, you're catching me." "Uh, sure." Jason hoped he wasn't blushing. Leo stepped out next. "You're catching me, too, Superman. But I ain't holding your 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. Some Jason recognized—news broadcasts, mostly—but some programs looked a little strange: gladiators fighting, demigods battling monsters.
Maybe they were movies, but they looked more like reality shows. At the far end of the sphere was a silky blue backdrop like a cinema screen, with cameras and studio lights floating around it.
The man in the center was talking into an earpiece phone. He had a remote control in each hand and was pointing them at various screens, seemingly at random. He wore a business suit that looked like the sky—blue mostly, but dappled with clouds that changed and darkened and moved across the fabric.
He looked like he was in his sixties, with a shock of white hair, but he had a ton of stage makeup on, and that smooth plastic-surgery look to his face, so he appeared not really young, not really old, just wrong—like a Ken doll someone had halfway melted in a microwave.
His eyes darted back and forth from screen to screen, like he was trying to absorb everything at once. He muttered things into his phone, and his mouth kept twitching. He was either amused, or crazy, or both.
Mellie floated toward him. "Ah, sir, Mr. Aeolus, these demigods—" "Hold it!" He held up a hand to silence her, then pointed at one of the screens. "Watch!" It was one of those storm-chaser programs, where insane thrill-seekers drive after tornados.
As Jason watched, a Jeep plowed straight into a funnel cloud and got tossed into the sky. Aeolus shrieked with delight. "The Disaster Channel. People do that on purpose!" He turned toward Jason with a mad grin.
"Isn't that amazing? Let's watch it again." "Um, sir," Mellie said, "this is Jason, son of—" "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. (L/N), oh he was a pain, broke three of my monitors, but at least he dealt with that Lemure problem. In and out before the day was done, all I had to do was give the okay to Zeus."
"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." Jason tensed. A cold tingle on the back of his neck ... Why did that sound so familiar? "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 Piper and Leo, who seemed just as confused as he was. "Mellie," he 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 Jason checked the monitors, he 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. Maybe you can have it fixed when you get out of Tartarus next month."
"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 Jason 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 here on behalf of your father this time? Finally! I knew they would send someone to renegotiate my contract!" "Um, what?" Jason asked. "Oh, thank goodness!" Aeolus sighed with relief.
"It's been what, three thousand years since Zeus made me master of the winds. Not that I'm ungrateful, of course! But really, my contract is so vague. Obviously I'm immortal, but 'master of the winds.'"
"What does that mean? Am I a nature spirit? A demigod? A god? I want to be god of the winds, because the benefits are so much better. Can we start with that?" Jason looked at his friends, mystified.
"Dude," Leo said, "you think we're here to promote you?" "You are, then?" Aeolus grinned. His business suit turned completely blue—not a cloud in the fabric. "Marvelous! I mean, I think I've shown quite a bit of initiative with the weather channel, eh?"
"And of course I'm in the press all the time. So many books have been written about me: Into Thin Air, Up in the Air, Gone with the Wind—" "Er, I don't think those are about you," Jason said, before he noticed Mellie shaking her head.
"Nonsense," Aeolus said. "Mellie, they're biographies of me, aren't they?" "Absolutely, sir," she squeaked. "There, you see? I don't read. Who has time? But obviously the mortals love me. So, we'll change my official title to god of the winds. Then, about salary and staff—"
"Sir," Jason said, "we're not from Olympus." Aeolus blinked. "But—" "I'm the son of Zeus, yes," Jason said, "but we're not here to negotiate your contract. We're on a quest and we need your help."
Aeolus's expression hardened. "Like last time? Like every hero who comes here? Demigods! It's always about you, isn't it?" "Sir, please, I don't remember last time, but if you helped me once before—"
"I'm always helping! Well, sometimes I'm destroying, but mostly I'm helping, and sometimes I'm asked to do both at the same time! Why, Aeneas, the first of your kind—" "My kind?" Jason asked. "You mean, demigods?" "Oh, please!" Aeolus said. "I mean your line of demigods."
"You know, Aeneas, son of Venus—the only surviving hero of Troy. When the Greeks burned down 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 said. "I guess not." "And don't get me started on Amelia Earhart! I'm still getting angry calls from Olympus about knocking her out of the sky!" "We just want information," Piper said in her most calming voice. "We hear you know everything."
Aeolus straightened his lapels and looked slightly mollified. "Well ... that's true, of course. For instance, I know that this business here"—he waggled his fingers at the three of them—"this hare brained 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. Jason was pretty sure he'd seen him in some movies.
Piper took the photo. Her hands were shaking. "This—this is from his wallet." "Yes," Aeolus said. "All things lost in the wind eventually come to me. The photo blew away when the Earthborn captured him."
"The what?" Piper asked. Aeolus waved aside the question and narrowed his eyes at Leo. "Now, you, son of Hephaestus ... yes, I see your future." Another paper fell into the wind god's hands—an old tattered drawing done in crayons.
Leo took it as if it might be coated in poison. He staggered backward. "Leo?" Jason said. "What is it?" "Something I—I drew when I was a kid." He folded it quickly and put it in his coat. "It's ... yeah, it's nothing."
Aeolus laughed. "Really? Just the key to your success! 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," Jason finished.
Aeolus's eyebrows crept up. "A promotion—and all you want from me is the giant's location?" "Well, if you could get us there, too," Jason amended, "that would be great." Mellie clapped her hands in excitement. "Oh, he could do that! He often sends helpful winds—"
"Mellie, quiet!" Aeolus snapped. "I have half a mind to fire you for letting these people in under false pretenses." Her face paled. "Yes, sir. Sorry, sir." "It wasn't her fault," Jason said. "But about that help ..."
Aelous tilted his head as if thinking. Then Jason 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." Jason smiled at his friends. Finally, they were having some good luck. Their godly parents were standing up for them.
"Hold on ... what is this?" Back toward the entrance, Jason 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 ..." Jason wasn't sure what to call him: teacher, friend, problem? "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 to me for centuries. I can't—yes, yes I understand." He swallowed, regarding Jason as if he had suddenly turned into a giant cockroach.
"I'm sorry, son of Jupiter. New orders. You all have to die." Mellie squeaked. "But—but, sir! Zeus said to help them. Aphrodite, Hephaestus—" "Mellie!" Aeolus snapped. "Your job is already on the line."
"Besides, there are some orders that transcend even the wishes of the gods, especially when it comes to the forces of nature." "Whose orders?" Jason said. "Zeus will fire you if you don't help us!"
"I doubt it." Aeolus flicked his wrist, and far below them, a cell door opened in the pit. Jason could hear storm spirits screaming out of it, spiralling 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."
(Y/N)'s POV
As it turns out, the rope saved his life, sure, climbing a mountain while you could fly, piece of cake, but doing that same thing as savage winds try to knock you from the sky, not as fun.
The rope kept him tethered as he rose through the sky, past the bridge, which was broken for some reason, and up to the front door. At first, he thought about knocking, it was never a bad thing to be polite, but as she winds got harsher outside, he really just wanted to hurry.
Inside wasn't much warmer, which was weird, because normally he wouldn't notice that either way, maybe because it was the wind, and not the actual cold? Either way, he wasn't ready for what he found inside.
What he could only describe as six bodyguard chickens, stood in front of him as he entered, "Sup. I'm here to see..." (Y/N)'s mind drew a blank on the dude's name, "The wind guy?" He shrugged.
"I'm with the other three...nope, four, that came here." That was probably the wrong thing to say, because three harpies swooped down at him, luckily, he still had his rope, he attached it to the end of his kukri and used the blade as a rope dart.
He probably couldn't have done it if both the items weren't so well made, but the hunters of Artemis came well equipped, the rope snagged around the blade like it knew what he wanted to do.
The blade felt weightless, as he drew it and spun to gain force he still only needed one rotation the blade was so sharp, as it stood, three harpies crumbled to dust, the blade passing through them without resistance.
"Ok, can we all admit that was awesome?" He said as the next two advanced, meeting the same fate within a minute or two, they were wise enough to at least try to dodge, but couldn't keep up for long.
The final harpy just stared at him, "Move it Teriyaki." He glared, the harpy squalked at him, as if that meant anything to him, and he felt the winds begin to spin in his direction, "Don't try it. You know I'm not a fan of Harpies, and you don't want me to find an excuse."
The scar on his wrist felt tighter all of a sudden, and without even realising he had moved, the harpy quickly turned to dust, it was only after the dust fell past his spear that he realised he had used it to impale the monster.
"What the..." he began, but didn't have time to consider what that moment meant, because he heard screaming on the other side of a large door. After that, the entire place seemed dead silent apart from the howling winds, that made him nervous.
After carefully flying over to the main room, he felt uneasy. When he finally managed to slam open the doors without falling to his death, and found himself looking at only the wind dude, surrounded by monitors, who seemed very upset, all (Y/N) could say was, "Where in Hades is everyone?"
Jason's POV
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 five 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. He understood what she needed. They had to control their fall and head for one of the open tunnels.
The storm spirits were following them down, closing rapidly, bringing with them a cloud of deadly shrapnel. Jason grabbed Piper's hand. "Group hug!" Hedge, Leo, and Piper tried to huddle together, hanging on to Jason and Mellie as they fell.
"This is NOT GOOD!" Leo yelled. "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. Jason and the others 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. Jason could feel his 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. Then the real winds hit, shooting them into the sky so fast, Jason blacked out.