{Piper}
"I like the winter festival," Zethes muttered.
"My point," Boreas snapped, "is that I now have a chance to be the center. Oh, yes, I will let you go on this quest. You will find your storm spirits in the windy city, of course. Chicago—"
"Father!" Khione protested.
Boreas ignored his daughter. "If you can capture the winds, you may be able to gain safe entrance to the court of Aeolus. If by some miracle you succeed, be sure to tell him you captured the winds on my orders."
"Okay, sure," Jason said. "So Chicago is where we'll find this lady who's controlling the winds? She's the one who's trapped Hera?"
"Ah." Boreas grinned. "Those are two different questions, son of Jupiter."
Jupiter, Piper noticed. Before, he called him son of Zeus.
"The one who controls the winds," Boreas continued, "yes, you will find her in Chicago. But she is only a servant—a servant who is very likely to destroy you. If you succeed against her and take the winds, then you may go to Aeolus. Only he has knowledge of all the winds on the earth. All secrets come to his fortress eventually. If anyone can tell you where Hera is imprisoned, it is Aeolus. As for who you will meet when you finally find Hera's cage —truly, if I told you that, you would beg me to freeze you."
"Father," Khione protested, "you can't simply let them—"
"I can do what I like," he said, his voice hardening. "I am still master here, am I not?"
The way Boreas glared at his daughter, it was obvious they had some ongoing argument. Khione's eyes flashed with anger, but she clenched her teeth. "As you wish, Father."
"Now go, demigods," Boreas said, "before I change my mind. Zethes, escort them out safely."
They all bowed, and the god of the North Wind dissolved into mist.
Back in the entry hall, Cal and Leo were waiting for them. Leo looked cold but unharmed. He'd even gotten cleaned up, and his clothes looked newly washed, like he'd used the hotel's valet service. Festus the dragon was back in normal form, snorting fire over his scales to keep himself defrosted.
As Khione led them down the stairs, Jason noticed that Leo's eyes followed her. Leo started combing his hair back with his hands. Uh-oh, Piper thought. She made a mental note to warn Leo about the snow goddess later. She was not someone to get a crush on.
At the bottom step, Khione turned to Piper. "You have fooled my father, girl. But you have not fooled me. We are not done. And you, Jason Grace, I will see you as a statue in the throne room soon enough." She turned to Kiara. "As for you, Kiara Morrigan, daughter of Pluto, I have the feeling your fate will be quite... exciting. And if you live—" she smiled maliciously "I will take my time killing you slowly."
"Boreas is right," Jason said. "You are a spoiled kid. See you around, ice princess."
Khione's eyes flared pure white. For once, she seemed at a loss for words. She stormed back up the stairs—literally. Halfway up, she turned into a blizzard and disappeared.
"Be careful," Zethes warned. "She never forgets an insult."
Cal grunted in agreement. "Bad sister."
"She's the goddess of snow," Jason said. "What's she going to do, throw snowballs at us?"
But as he said it, Piper had a feeling Khione could do a whole lot worse.
Leo looked devastated. "What happened up there? You made her mad? Is she mad at me too? Guys, that was my prom date!"
"We'll explain later," Piper promised, but when she glanced at Jason, he got the memo that she expected him to explain.
What had happened up there? Piper wasn't sure. Boreas had turned into Aquilon, his Roman form, as if Kiara and Jason's presence caused him to go schizophrenic. The idea that Jason and Kiara had been sent to Camp Half-Blood seemed to amuse the god, but Boreas/Aquilon hadn't let them go out of kindness. Cruel excitement had danced in his eyes, as if he'd just placed a bet on a dogfight.
You will tear each other apart, he'd said with delight. Aeolus will never have to worry about demigods again.
Jason looked away from Piper. "Yeah," he agreed, "we'll explain later."
"Be careful, pretty girl," Zethes said. "The winds between here and Chicago are bad-tempered. Many other evil things are stirring. I am sorry you will not be staying. You would make a lovely ice statue, in which I could check my reflection."
"Thanks," Piper said. "But I'd sooner play hockey with Cal."
"Hockey?" Cal's eyes lit up.
"Joking," Piper said. "And the storm winds aren't our worst problem, are they?"
"Oh, no," Zethes agreed. "Something else. Something worse."
"Worse," Cal echoed.
"Can you tell me?" Piper gave them a smile.
This time, the charm didn't work. The purple-winged Boreads shook their heads in unison. The hangar doors opened onto a freezing starry night, and Festus the dragon stomped his feet, anxious to fly. Piper noticed Kiara's dark eyes darken even more.
"Ask Aeolus what is worse," Zethes said grimly. "He knows. Good luck." He almost sounded like he cared what happened to them, even though a few minutes ago he'd wanted to make Piper into an ice sculpture.
Cal patted Leo on the shoulder. "Don't get destroyed," he said, which was probably the longest sentence he'd ever attempted. "Next time—hockey. Pizza."
"Come on, guys." Jason stared out at the dark. "Let's go to Chicago and try not to get destroyed."
Piper didn't relax until the glow of Quebec City faded behind them.
"You were amazing," Jason told her.
The compliment should've made her day. But all she could think about was the trouble ahead. Evil things are stirring, Zethes had warned them. She knew that firsthand. The closer they got to the solstice, the less time Piper had to make her decision.
"Si tu savais la vérité sur moi, tu ne penserais pas que j'étais si incroyable," she told him.
Kiara turned to face her and shot her a weird look, then turned back and looked in front of her, frowning. Piper hoped Kiara didn't know French.
"What'd you say?" Jason asked.
"I said I only talked to Boreas. It wasn't so amazing."
She didn't turn to look, but she imagined him smiling.
"Hey," he said, "you saved me from joining Khione's subzero hero collection. I owe you one."
That was definitely the easy part, she thought. There was no way Piper would've let that ice witch keep Jason. What bothered Piper more was the way Boreas had changed form, and why he'd let them go. It had something to do with Kiara and Jason's past, those tattoos on their arms. Boreas assumed Jason was some sort of Roman, and Romans didn't mix with Greeks. She kept waiting for Jason to offer an explanation, but he clearly didn't want to talk about it.
Until now, Piper had been able to dismiss Jason's feeling that he didn't belong at Camp Half-Blood. Obviously he was a demigod. Of course he belonged. But now... what if he was something else? What if he really was an enemy? And was Kiara like Jason? They had on the same purple shirt when they had first appeared on the school bus... She couldn't stand that idea any more than she could stand Khione.
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."
"One who doesn't want to make us Popsicles," Kiara added.
Piper smiled, 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. Piper got the feeling he was hiding something. Whatever it was, 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. Piper had no idea how Leo had stocked up on supplies, but he'd even remembered to bring veggie rations for her. The cheese and avocado sandwich was awesome.
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.
The moon rose and stars turned overhead. Piper's eyes started to feel heavy. The encounter with Boreas and his children had scared her more than she wanted to admit. Now that she had a full stomach, her adrenaline was fading.
Suck it up, cupcake! Coach Hedge would've yelled at her. Don't be a wimp!
Piper had been thinking about the coach ever since Boreas mentioned he was still alive. She'd never liked Hedge, but he'd leaped off a cliff to save Leo, and he'd sacrificed himself to protect them on the skywalk. She now realized that all the times at school the coach had pushed her, yelled at her to run faster or do more push-ups, or even when he'd turned his back and let her fight her own battles with the mean girls, the old goat man had been trying to help her in his own irritating way—trying to prepare her for life as a demigod.
On the skywalk, Dylan the storm spirit had said something about the coach, too: how he'd been retired to Wilderness School because he was getting too old, like it was some sort of punishment. Piper wondered what that was about, and if it explained why the coach was always so grumpy. Whatever the truth, now that Piper knew Hedge was alive, she had a strong compulsion to save him.
Don't get ahead of yourself, she chided. You've got bigger problems. This trip won't have a happy ending. She was a traitor, just like Silena Beauregard. It was only a matter of time before her friends found out.
She looked up at the stars and thought about a night long ago when she and her dad had camped out in front of Grandpa Tom's house. Grandpa Tom had died years before, but Dad had kept his house in Oklahoma because it was where he grew up.
They'd gone back for a few days, with the idea of getting the place fixed up to sell, although Piper wasn't sure who'd want to buy a run-down cabin with shutters instead of windows and two tiny rooms that smelled like cigars. The first night had been so stifling hot—no air conditioning in the middle of August—that Dad suggested they sleep outside.
They'd spread their sleeping bags and listened to the cicadas buzzing in the trees. Piper pointed out the constellations she'd been reading about—Hercules, Apollo's lyre, Sagittarius the centaur.
Her dad crossed his arms behind his head. In his old T-shirt and jeans he looked like just another guy from Tahlequah, Oklahoma, a Cherokee who might've never left tribal lands. "Your grandpa would say those Greek patterns are a bunch of bullshit. He told me the stars were creatures with glowing fur, like magic hedgehogs. Once, long ago, some hunters even captured a few in the forest. They didn't know what they'd done until nighttime, when the star creatures began to glow. Golden sparks flew from their fur, so the Cherokee released them back into the sky."
"You believe in magic hedgehogs?" Piper asked.
Her dad laughed. "I think Grandpa Tom was full of bullshit, too, just like the Greeks. But it's a big sky. I suppose there's room for Hercules and hedgehogs."
They sat for a while, until Piper got the nerve to ask a question that had been bugging her. "Dad, why don't you ever play Native American parts?"
The week before, he'd turned down several million dollars to play Tonto in a remake of The Lone Ranger. Piper was still trying to figure out why. He'd played all kinds of roles—a Latino teacher in a tough L.A. school, a dashing Israeli spy in an action-adventure blockbuster, even a Syrian terrorist in a James Bond movie. And, of course, he would always be known as the King of Sparta. But if the part was Native American—it didn't matter what kind of role it was—Dad turned it down.
He winked at her. "Too close to home, Pipes. Easier to pretend I'm something I'm not."
"Doesn't that get old? Aren't you ever tempted, like, if you found the perfect part that could change people's opinions?"
"If there's a part like that, Pipes," he said sadly, "I haven't found it."
She looked at the stars, trying to imagine them as glowing hedgehogs. All she saw were the stick figures she knew—Hercules running across the sky, on his way to kill monsters. Dad was probably right. The Greeks and the Cherokee were equally crazy. The stars were just balls of fire.
"Dad," she said, "if you don't like being close to home, why are we sleeping in Grandpa Tom's yard?"
His laughter echoed in the quiet Oklahoma night. "I think you know me too well, Pipes."
"You're not really going to sell this place, are you?"
"Nope," he sighed. "I'm probably not."
Piper blinked, shaking herself out of the memory. She realized she'd been falling asleep on the dragon's back. How could her dad pretend to be so many things he wasn't? She was trying to do that now, and it was tearing her apart.
Maybe she could pretend for a little while longer. She could dream of finding a way to save her father without betraying her friends—even if right now a happy ending seemed about as likely as magic hedgehogs.
She leaned back against Jason's warm chest. He didn't complain. As soon as she closed her eyes, she drifted off to sleep.