↳ chapter eight₊˚.༄
[# iana's fear of heights]
IANA FELT HER TENSE SHOULDERS DROP WHEN THE GLOW OF QUEBEC CITY finally fell behind them. Her mind had been hopping between two things that had been told to her. Zethes' warning about evil things stirring, and Khione's hope in her making the correct decision. But what decision did she have to make? Why was it so important to Khione for her to choose carefully?
"You were amazing," Jason told Piper, finally breaking the silence.
Piper told the group something in French none of them could decipher.
"What'd you say, Pipes?" Iana wondered as she turned back to face her.
"I said I only talked to Boreas. It wasn't so amazing." the girl shrugged.
"Hey," Jason said, "you saved me from joining Khione's subzero hero collection. I owe you one."
Leo passed them some sandwiches from his pack. He'd been quiet ever since they'd told him what happened in the throne room. "I still can't believe Khione," he said. "She looked so nice."
"Trust me, man," Jason said. "Snow may be pretty, but up close it's cold and nasty. We'll find you a better prom date."
Iana gave him a reassuring smile, but Leo didn't look pleased. He hadn't said much about his time in the palace, or why the Boreads had singled him out for smelling like fire (he was definitely hiding something). Whatever it may be, his mood seemed to be affecting Festus, who grumbled and steamed as he tried to keep himself warm in the cold Canadian air. Happy the Dragon was not so happy.
They ate their sandwiches as they flew. Nobody talked. Whatever they might find in Chicago, they all knew Boreas had only let them go because he figured they were already on a suicide mission. Accompanying the silence was Iana's constant wonder; what exactly had happened in the throne room? Why had Boreas changed to his Roman form? Why did Jason know?
In situations like this, it is always better to ask why instead of how. So why had Jason ended up at Camp Half-Blood, a camp for Greek demigods, when all this time he had gravitated toward the Roman side of things? She kept waiting for Jason to offer an explanation, but he clearly didn't want to talk about it.
The moon rose and stars turned overhead. Iana felt her eyes grow heavier and heavier by the minute. The night hadn't been kind to her, keeping her up late for reasons she could only speculate about. A small sigh left her lips as she subconsciously leaned into Piper's chest, unaware if the girl would find it uncomfortable or not. The pair of arms that had locked around her waist killed her doubts almost instantly, the brown haired girl letting her own head rest on Iana's shoulder.
Iana felt heat rising in her cheeks and her stomach churning, like it was excited, or nervous. Calm down, Iana. She's doing this with no meaning. You're not dating her anymore.
As if sensing her uneasiness, Piper intertwined their hands together before whispering, "You can fall asleep, I'll probably do the same on your shoulder."
Gods help her.
• ────── ✾ ────── •
Iana woke up with a scream leaving her throat. Far below she saw city lights glimmering in the early dawn, and several hundred yards away the body of the bronze dragon spinning out of control, its wings limp, fire flickering in its mouth like a badly wired lightbulb.
A body shot past her— Leo, screaming and frantically grabbing at the clouds. "Not coooooool!"
The short haired girl squeezed her eyes shut, heart thumping in her chest like it was going to explode. She was falling. She was gonna die. A logical thing to do in this situation would've been to cast some sort of spell to slow her fall, but the shock was far too heavy to overcome. Somewhere around her, there was a faint call for her name. But Iana could hardly make out the words when her chest felt like squeezing itself and bursting at the same time.
A familiar hand took hold of hers and she risked a glance. Beside her was Piper, with Jason's arm wrapped around her waist. She felt a small flare of jealousy in her but quickly extinguished it and readjusted her grip, clinging onto Piper by hugging her shoulder. Her heart was still beating faster than it should be, for more reasons than one now.
"We have to get Leo!" Piper shouted.
Their fall slowed as Jason controlled the winds, but they still lurched up and down like the winds didn't want to cooperate.
"Gonna get rough," Jason warned. "Hold on!"
The two girls clutched each other tighter and Jason shot toward the ground. Iana held in a scream as she tucked her head into the crook of Piper's neck. Her vision blurred but she could make out a growing figure the closer they got to it. And then, thump! They slammed into another warm body— Leo, still wriggling and cursing.
"Stop fighting!" Jason said. "It's me!"
"My dragon!" Leo yelled. "You gotta save Festus!"
Jason was already struggling to keep the three of them aloft, and Iana knew there was no way he could help a fifty-ton metal dragon. But before she could try to reason with Leo, she heard an explosion below them. A fireball rolled into the sky from behind a warehouse complex, and Leo sobbed, "Festus!"
Jason's face reddened with strain as he tried to maintain an air cushion beneath them, but intermittent slow-downs were the best he could manage. Rather than free-falling, it felt like they were bouncing down a giant staircase, a hundred feet at a time, which wasn't doing any favors for the anxious pool bubbling in Iana.
As they wobbled and zigzagged, Iana could make out the larger details of the factory complex below— parking lots lined with snow-covered vehicles, warehouses, smokestacks, and barbed-wire fences she desperately hoped they wouldn't crash into. They were still high enough so that hitting the ground would give each of them long term damages— when Jason groaned, "I can't—"
And they dropped like stones, crashing through the roof of the largest warehouse and into the darkness.
Iana had the sudden instinct of protecting her skull, placing both hands above her head as she squinted her eyes shut once again and tucked her knees closer to her chest. Spontaneously, she also decided to put her powers to good use, muttering a request of sorts in Greek (which she learned she was naturally fluent in during her first night at camp) to minimize the impact of her fall. Iana hadn't performed an actual spell during her entire time at camp, so she only hoped Lou Ellen's quick explanation of spell casting was enough. She landed on her side, which was better than landing face first, she supposed. The spell didn't entirely work out in her favor, a hint of soreness and pain shooting through the left side of her body. But it could've been worse.
Mustering up enough strength to sit up, Iana blinked slowly as she took in her surroundings. The place looked like it had been abandoned for years. The hole they'd made in the roof was a ragged starburst thirty feet above, snowflakes fluttering into the building. A few electric bulbs flickered dimly from the ceiling. Even in the dark, she could make out huge machines, something along the lines of robotic limbs and half-finished vehicles on the assembly line.
Somewhere in the warehouse, she could feel the presence of the shadow-like figure near, the one that had been following her ever since she got to camp. Feeling far too frightened and shaken up to meet the shadow-like figure, Iana started to search for the rest of her friends. Taking note of the two boys that had landed on top of each other, the three of them had landed on the ground level of the warehouse, thankfully still breathing.
Wait, the three of them?
Iana shot to her feet as her eyes went wide, her voice echoing throughout the building. "Piper! Where the fuck did you go?"
"Where is Piper?" Jason joined in on her confusion, attempting to sit up from Leo's back.
"Ow!" Leo groaned. "Jason, bro, that's my back! I'm not a damn sofa! Piper, where'd you go?"
"Here," Piper whimpered, her voice coming from the floor above.
Iana hurried over to the stairs with Jason and Leo trailing behind her. Her eyes scanned the area for anything out of the ordinary. The corrugated metal wall caught her eye, emblazoned with a company logo. A single red eye with the name written underneath; monocle motors, assembly plant 1. Perhaps she had been looking at it for too long, partly because most of it was almost completely spray painted over with graffiti, but something about the sign irked her, made her uneasy. But that shouldn't be her focus now.
No, her focus should be drawn toward her best friend laying on the ground, feet dislocated and toes pointing in all the wrong directions.
"Oh, Piper..." Iana quickly reached her side, wrapping an arm around her shoulder to help the girl sit up.
Leo started to ask, "You okay... ?" Then he saw her foot. "Oh no, you're not."
"Thanks for the reassurance," Piper groaned.
"You'll be fine," Jason said, worry peaking through his voice. "Leo, you got any first aid supplies?"
"Yeah— yeah, sure." He dug around in his tool belt and pulled out a wad of gauze and a roll of duct tape— both of which seemed too big for the belt's pockets. Iana had noticed the tool belt yesterday morning, but she hadn't thought to ask Leo about it. It didn't look like anything special— just one of those wrap-around leather aprons with a bunch of pockets, like a blacksmith or a carpenter might wear. And it seemed to be empty.
"How did you—" Piper tried to support herself, and winced. "How did you pull that stuff from an empty belt?"
"Magic," Leo said. "Haven't figured it out completely, but I can summon just about any regular tool out of the pockets, plus some other helpful stuff." He reached into another pocket and pulled out a little tin box. "Breath mint?"
Jason snatched away the mints. "That's great, Leo. Now, can you fix her foot?"
"I'm a mechanic, man. Maybe if she was a car..." He snapped his fingers. "Wait, what was that godly healing stuff they fed you at camp— Rambo food?"
"Ambrosia, dummy," Piper said through gritted teeth. "There should be some in my bag, if it's not crushed."
Jason carefully pulled her backpack off her shoulders. He rummaged through the supplies and found a Ziplock full of smashed pastry squares like lemon bars. He passed the plastic bag to Iana and she broke off a piece, feeding it to Piper before breaking a smaller piece for herself.
The taste took her off guard, reminding her of the tteokbokki her dad would make for her when the fridge was half empty because he had forgotten to stop by the grocery store. Iana remembered complaining to him because he had done exactly that on Chuseok because they couldn't go back to Korea, her dad failing to get a few days off of work. They had spent the night with takeout from the local Korean barbeque and a portion of rice cakes each she and her father had thrown together.
The memory gave her a warm feeling as the pain on her left body subsided, no longer needing the healing spell her siblings had provided.
"More," Piper said.
Iana handed the bag back to Jason, shaking her head softly. "Too much could burn you up, Pipes. We can't risk it. I'm pretty sure my cabinmates left a few notes for healing spells in my bag, maybe one of them can help your foot."
The short haired girl took off her bag and rummaged around, grabbing the small sheet of paper her sisters had provided. But as she scanned through, none of them were for dislocated feet, only ones on preventing blood loss and rapidly healing big wounds, stabs, she presumed. The rest were more practical spells.
Her friends seemed to notice her disappointment, since Jason offered. "I could try setting her foot," Though it sounded more like a question.
Piper snapped her head toward him. "Have you ever done that before?"
"Yeah... I think so."
Leo found an old piece of wood and broke it in half for a splint. Then he got the gauze and duct tape ready.
"Hold her leg still," Jason told the two. "Piper, this is going to hurt."
Piper's hand searched for Iana's, clutching it tightly while Jason set her foot. The poor girl had flinched so hard she punched Leo in the arm, and he yelled almost as much as she did. When the initial shock had worn off and she could breathe normally again, Piper's foot was pointing the right way, her ankle splinted with plywood, gauze, and duct tape. "Ow," she said.
"Jeez, beauty queen!" Leo rubbed his arm. "Glad my face wasn't there."
"Sorry," she said. "And don't call me 'beauty queen,' or I'll punch you again."
"The three of you did great." Jason found a canteen in Piper's pack and gave her some water.
Iana rubbed her friend's shoulder as she turned to face Leo. "Do you know where we are?"
"Yeah, what happened to the dragon?" Piper asked.
Leo's expression turned sullen. "I don't know with Festus. He just jerked sideways like he hit an invisible wall and started to fall." He pointed to the logo on the wall. "As far as where we are.... Closed car plant," he said. "I'm guessing we crash-landed in Detroit."
Iana had read about the closed car plants in Detroit, so it made sense. Still, it didn't make their situation any better. "So, how far have we gotten to Chicago?"
"Maybe three-fourths of the way from Quebec?" Jason estimated. "The thing is, without the dragon, we're stuck traveling overland."
"No way," Leo said. "It isn't safe."
Piper nodded. "He's right. Besides, I don't know if I can walk. And four people— Jason, you can't fly that many across the country by yourself."
"No way," Jason agreed. "Leo, are you sure the dragon didn't malfunction? I mean, Festus is old, and—"
"And I might not have repaired him right?"
"I didn't say that," Jason protested. "It's just— maybe you could fix it."
"I don't know." Leo sounded crestfallen. He pulled a few screws out of his pockets and started fiddling with them. "I'd have to find where he landed, if he's even in one piece."
"It was my fault." Piper said.
"And how would that make sense?" Iana questioned before dropping her gaze to a softer one. "It's not your fault, Pipes. There's no way you could've sabotaged a mechanical dragon in your sleep."
"Yeah, you're just shaken up," Leo agreed. He didn't even try to make a joke at her expense. "You're in pain. Just rest."
Leo stood. "Look, um, Jason, Iana, why don't you stay with her? I'll scout around for Festus. I think he fell outside the warehouse somewhere. If I can find him, maybe I can figure out what happened and fix him."
"You really think it's a great idea going alone?" Iana knit her brows.
"It's too dangerous," Jason agreed. "At least let one of us go with you."
"Ah, I got duct tape and breath mints. I'll be fine. And for the last time, EJ, I don't need mothering." Leo said, a little too quickly, and Iana realized he was a lot more shaken up than he was letting on. "You guys just don't run off without me."
Leo reached into his magic tool belt, pulled out a flashlight, and headed down the stairs, leaving the three of them alone.
Jason gave the two girls a smile, though he still looked worried. "You look better," he offered.
She glanced at Piper and silently agreed. Her foot was better, but the rest of her wasn't the best. Her jeans were tattered from the fall through the roof and her boots were splattered with melted dirty snow. Iana guessed she looked worse if she still managed to look pretty.
Not dating, she told herself. Get over it.
"You did a good job," Piper told Jason. "Where'd you learn first aid?"
He shrugged. "Same answer as always. I don't know."
"But you're starting to have some memories, aren't you? Like that prophecy in Latin back at camp, or that dream about the wolf."
"It's fuzzy," he said. "Like déjà vu. Ever forgotten a word or a name, and you know it should be on the tip of your tongue, but it isn't? It's like that— only with my whole life."
"That photo in your pocket," Piper mentioned. "Is that someone from your past?"
Iana looked between the two of them, brows furrowed. "What photo?"
Jason pulled back.
"I'm sorry," the brown haired girl hastily apologized. "None of my business. Forget it."
"No— it's okay." His features relaxed. "Just, I'm trying to figure things out. Her name's Thalia. She's my sister. I don't remember any details. I'm not even sure how I know."
"It's still great you remembered, Jason." Iana gave him a small smile. "Progress. Lou Ellen mentioned that she joined the Hunters of Artemis, which is pretty cool."
Jason nodded. "I get the feeling I'm supposed to find her. Hera left me that memory for a reason. It's got something to do with this quest. But... I have the feeling it could be dangerous. I'm not sure I want to find out the truth. Is that crazy?"
"No," Piper said. "Not at all."
As she looked around the warehouse, Iana had a nagging feeling that Leo was in trouble. Maybe she was mothering him too much, but she couldn't shake the worry out of her head. Slipping her hand from Piper's shoulder, the girl stood up and chewed on her lip, slowly walking away from her friends. "I have a bad feeling about this place. Maybe— Maybe Leo's in trouble or something bad happened to him—"
"Wait, Iana," Piper called. "Speaking of the truth, I... I need to tell you something— both of you, something about my dad—"
She didn't get the chance. Somewhere below, metal clanged against metal, like a door slamming shut. The sound echoed through the warehouse.
Jason stood. He took out his coin and flipped it, snatching his golden sword out of the air. He peered over the railing. "Leo?" he called.
No answer.
He moved closer toward Iana, who had her dagger drawn. "I don't like this."
"Gosh, Leo..." the short haired girl said quietly.
"He could be in trouble," Piper said. "Go check."
"We can't leave you alone." the two said in unison.
"It's better if you stay, Iana." Jason met her gaze, speaking again before she could protest. "Take care of Piper, scream if you need help."
"We'll be fine." Piper assured, drawing her dagger and tried to look confident. "Two girls with knives will surely scare them."
Jason hesitated. "I'll leave you the pack. If I'm not back in five minutes—"
"Scream, we get it." Iana cut him off. "You need to be careful, too."
He managed a smile. "Glad to see you care."
She rolled her eyes at him, an amused smile making its way onto her features. "'Course, I do. Now get going, blondie, or else I'll be the one to search for Leo."
"Since when did you use nicknames for me?" He shot her a quizzical look before making his way to the stairs and disappeared into the dark.
"You know, that may be the first normal conversation you've had with him." Piper said before receiving a playful slap on her arm.
Her statement was half-true, Iana had been avoiding Jason because she was scared she would project all her pent up jealousy on him and not the goddess who had made her girlfriend forget about their relationship. The air around them soon became tense the longer he was gone. Then something in the warehouse went bang!
The echo died. Iana stepped closer toward Piper. Obviously, screaming wasn't going to get them anywhere if Jason hadn't gone back to them after the loud noise. Her instincts told her to run, like something dangerous was coming. But she couldn't just leave Piper here.
Boom. The sound was closer this time, directly below them. Her heart raced faster. Her skin felt feverish. In her peripheral vision, the shadow that had been following her glided closer, as if taunting her. Or warning her. Her eyes glanced back at the logo on the wall and her eyes widened with realization.
"Piper, we need to hide." Iana whispered, reaching down to pull her best friend up. She had cut through the duct tape with her dagger, looking anxiously below her.
"Pipes—"
"Jason?" the girl called out.
Iana clasped her hand over Piper's mouth, shaking her head. "Not another sound, you hear me?"
"Yeah," he said from the darkness. "On my way up."
They're getting closer, Iana thought. Gods, why did her middle school self have to be such a reader? With their combined effort, Piper got to her feet, wrapping an arm around the short haired girl for support. The steps came closer.
"It's okay," Jason's voice promised.
At the top of the stairs, a face appeared out of the darkness— a hideous black grin, a smashed nose, and a single bloodshot eye in the middle of his forehead.
"It's fine," the Cyclops said, in a perfect imitation of Jason's voice. "You're just in time for dinner."
author's note!
i just want to say that once i've published all the pre-written chapters for this fic, it will be a bit difficult to handle updates since once school starts i really need to be focusing on my studies + i have multiple extra curriculars scattered throughout the week so i'm very sorry if evermore doesn't get updated for a while!!
tysm for your understanding, i hope you stick around long enough to see iana and piper's story flourish <3