Piper pov
I didn't relax until the glow of Quebec City faded behind us.
"You were amazing," Jason told me.
The compliment should've made my day. But all I could think about was the trouble ahead. Evil things are string, Zethes had warned us. I knew that firsthand. The closer we got to the solstice, the less time I had to make my decision.
I told Jason in French: "If you knew the truth about me, you wouldn't think I was so amazing."
"What'd you say?" He asked.
"I said I only talked to Boreas. It wasn't so amazing."
I didn't turn to look, but I imagined him smiling.
"Hey," he said, "you saved me from joining Khione's sub-zero hero collection. I owe you one."
That was definitely the easy part, I thought. There was no way I would've let that ice witch keep Jason. What bothered me more was Boreas had changed form, and why he'd let us go. It had something to do with with Jason and Tori's past, those tattoos on their arms. Boreas assumed they were some sort of Roman, and Romans didn't mix with Greeks. I kept waiting for Jason to offer an explanation, but he clearly didn't want to talk about it.
Until now, I 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 was an enemy? I couldn't stand that idea any more than I could stand Khione.
Leo passed us some sandwiches from his pack.
"Not hungry." Said Tori, who had been silent and looking at the stars, then I noticed that her eyes looked more navy blue and purple than sea green.
Jason looked at her and that turned into a silent conversation
Jason: I know you're mad at him at what he did but you can't ignore him forever.
Tori: Challenge accepted
Jason: Tori, eat the sandwich
Tori was going to protest, but her hunger got to her and she took a sandwich.
"I still can't believe Khione," Leo said. Tori's eyes when almost completely blue, like her eye color reflected her feelings and emotions. "She looked so nice."
"Trust me, man," Jason said. "Snow may be pretty, but up close its cold and nasty. We'll find you a better prom date."
I smiled, but Leo didn't look pleased. He hasn't said much about his time in the palace, or why the Boreads had singled him out for smelling like fire. I 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. I 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 we might find in Chicago, we 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. My eyes started to feel heavy. The encounter with Boreas and his children had scared me more than I wanted to admit. Now that I had a full stomach, my adrenaline was faded.
Suck it up, cupcake! Coach Hedge would've yelled at me. Don't be a wimp!
I had been thinking about the coach ever since Boreas mentioned he was alive. I'd never liked Hedge, but he'd leaped off a cliff to save Leo, and he sacrificed himself to protect us on the skywalk. I now realized that all the time at school the coach had pushed me , yelled at me to run faster or do more push-ups, or even when he'd turn his back and let her fight my own battles with the mean girls, the old goat man had been trying to help me in his own irritating way--trying to prepare me for life as a demigod.
On the skywalk, Dylan the storm spirt 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. I wondered what that was about, and if it explained why the coach was always so grumpy. Whatever the truth, now that I knew Hedge was alive, I had a strong compulsion to save him.
Don't get ahead of yourself, I chided. You've got bigger problems. This trip won't have a happy ending.
I was a traitor, just like Silena Beauregard. It was only a matter of time before my friends found out.
I looked up at the stars and though about a night long ago when my dad and I 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.
We'd gone back for a few days, with the idea of fixing it up to sell it, although I 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--Dad suggested we sleep outside.
We'd spread their sleeping bags and listen to the cicadas buzzing in the trees. I pointed out the constellations I'd been reading about--Hercules, Apollo's lyre, Sagittarius the centaur.
My 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 bull. 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?" I asked.
My dad laughed. "I think Grandpa Tom was full of bull, too, just like the Greeks. But it's a big sky. I suppose there's room for Hercules and hedgehogs."
We sat for a while, until I got the nerve to ask a question that had been bugging me. "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. I was still trying to figure out why. He'd played all kinds of roles--a Latino teacher in a rough 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 will 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 me. "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."
I looked at the stars, trying to imagine them as glowing hedgehogs. All I saw were the stick figures I 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," I 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."
I blinked, shaking myself out of the memory. I realized I'd been falling asleep on the dragon's back. How could my dad pretend to be so many things he wasn't? I was trying to do that now, and it was tearing me apart.
Maybe I could pretend for a little while longer. I could dream of finding a way to save my father without betraying my friends--even if right now a happy ending seemed about as likely as magic hedgehogs.
I leaned back against what I thought was Jason chest.
"You want to switch spots?" Tori asked me.
"Sure." I answered and we switch.
I leaned on Jason's warm chest. He didn't complain. As soon as I closed my eyes, I drifted off to sleep.
In my dream, I was back on the mountaintop. The ghostly purple bonfire cast shadows across the trees. My eyes stung from the smoke, and the ground was so warm, the soles of my boots felt sticky.
A voice from the dark rumbled, "You forgot your duty."
I couldn't see him, but it was definitely my least favorite giant--the one who called himself Enceladus. I looked around for any sign of my father, but the pole where he'd been chained was no longer there.
"Where is he?" I demanded. "What've you done with him?"
The giant's laugh was like lava hissing down a volcano. "His body is safe enough, though I fear the poor man's mind cant take much more of my company. For some reason he finds me--disturbing. You must hurry, girl, or I fear there will be little of him to save."
"Let him go!" I screamed. "Take me instead. He's just a mortal!"
"But, my dear," the giant rumbled, "we must prove our love for our parents. That is what I'm doing. Show me you value your father's life by doing what I ask. Who's more important--your father, or a deceitful goddess who used you, toyed with your emotions, manipulated your memories, eh? What is Hera to you?"
I began to tremble. So much anger and fear boiled inside me, I could hardly talk. "You're asking me to betray my friends."
"Sadly, my dear, you're friends are destined to die. Their quest is impossible. Even if you succeed, you heard the prophecy: unleashing Hera's rage would mean your destruction. The only question now--will you die with your friends, or live with your father?"
The bonfire roared. I tried to step back, but my feet were heavy. I realized the ground was pulling me down, clinging to my boots like wet sand. When I looked up, a shower of purple sparks had spread across the sky, and the sun was rising in the east. A patchwork of cities flowed in the valley below, and far to the west, over a line of rolling hills, I saw a familiar landmark rising from a sea of fog.
"Why are you showing me this?" I asked. "You're revealing where you are."
"Yes, you know this place," the giant said. "Lead your friends here instead of their true destination, and I will deal with them. Or even better, arrange their deaths before you arrive. I don't care which. Just be at the summit by noon on the solstice, and you may collect your father and go in peace."
"I can't," I said. "You can't ask me--"
"To betray that foolish boy Valdez, who always irritated you and is now hiding secrets from you? To give up a boyfriend and friend you never really had? Is that more important than your own father?"
"I'll find a way to defeat you," I said. "I'll save my father and my friends."
The giant growled in the shadows. "I was once proud too. I thought the gods could never defeat me. Then they hurled a mountain on top of me, crushed me into the ground, where I struggled for eons, half-conscious in pain. That taught me patience, girl. It taught me not to act rashly. Now I've clawed my way back with the help of the waking earth. I am only the first. My brethren will follow. We will not be denied our vengeance--not this time. And you, Piper McLean, need a lesson in humility. I'll show you how easily your rebellious spirit can be brought to earth."
The dream dissolved. And I woke up screaming, free-falling through the air.