-ˏˋ°•*⁀➷
THEY kept climbing, but Jason looked back for his sister. Nobody spoke, except Coach that seemed to be in a good mood, somehow.
Finally they arrived at the top of the island. Bronze walls marched all the way around the fortress grounds, though Rebecca 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.
"That's an odd front yard." Mumbled Rebecca.
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.
It was pretty, but a bit macabre.
"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. Rebecca was relieved he wouldn't be going with them.
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, Rebecca, 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 Rebecca associated with nature spirits; 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."
"Are you a ghost?" he asked.
Rebecca facepalmed. "She's an aura- a wind nymph."
The aura smiled at her. "Indeed, my name is Mellie. So, are you from Lord 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 Rebecca felt like he was pushing through an invisible crowd.
Doors blew open and slammed by themselves.
The things they 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.
It was a harpy.
Mellie smiled at them. "He probably won't kill you if we go in now. Come along!"
And if that wasn't reassuring, Rebecca didn't know what was.
-ˏˋ°•*⁀➷
THE central section of Aeolus's fortress was as big as a cathedral, equipment floated randomly through the air-cameras, spotlights, set pieces, potted plants.
And there was no floor. Leo almost fell into the chasm before Rebecca pulled him from the back of his shirt.
"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.
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 Rebecca.
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.
"We are so going to die." Added Rebecca.
"Oh, it is!" Mellie assured him. "The harpies are very good." Easy for her to say.
Jason went first since he could fly and all, she went second.
"If I fall you're catching me."
"What makes you think I would catch you?"
"You would miss me too much ."
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.
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 Rebecca 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.
She wondered if there was a greek version of the Kardashian's.
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.
He reminded Rebecca of her dad, he used to twitch his mouth like that too.
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.
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."
Aeolus looked at Rebecca, "I remember someone like you- not quite you though."
Her friends turned to her, she ignored her stares. "You must've mistaken me for someone else."
Aelous bummed and proceeded as if nothing. "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 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.
She continued to ignore her friend's stares.
"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 id the same the lap sis Mashink with listening telling me to give that order. A little cold tingle on the back of my neck."
Rebecca tensed. A cold tingle on the back of his neck ... "A ... um, voice in your head, sir?" She asked cautiously.
"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.
Rebecca looked at Jason, Piper and Leo, who seemed just as confused as she was.
"Mellie," Rebecca 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 elve minutes lis, your forecaster for Olympian Weather the 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 Rebecca 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.
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.."
Mad, Aeolus was 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, Rebecca 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?"
Rebecca didn't smile. "Of course they are. What else could it be?"
"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," Rebeca 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-"
"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."
Rebecca knew the story, since she was originally from the Roman side but got involved with the Greeks.
"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 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."
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 looked at Rebecca, his mouth twitching from a smile to a frown. "You... you are dead."
"Yeah, no shit."
He looked weirdly at her but pulled out a drawing from thin air. A ripped out drawing of a picture book. "Here."
Rebecca didn't recognise it at first, but slowly the memory came back.
From when she and her father had left in boat, when she drew that drawing under deck.
For all of her life she could only remember going below deck and then waking up in the island.
But watching the picture... soon the memories came back to her in a blur.
Her father had gone crazy, literally insane, he crashed the boat.
But it wasn't him, was he? The tea he drank every night, it was made of leaves.
Leaves her mother could easily influence.
She stared in horror at the picture of a badly coloured pony.
____________________________
- basically her mom possessed her
dad to crash their boat
- who do you think her mother is?
i left a couple of clues
flo <3