Chapter 10
We Meet the God of Wind
I stopped in the forest just outside the Village with the black-haired women in front of me. She was wearing a white gown-like dress; her hair was in Greek styled, her lips covered with red lips, and she had a beautiful face. The wind was blowing in every direction I can think of, making my head spin. I finally got the nerve to ask what she wanted to do with me and who the heck she is.
"Who are you?" I asked. "What do you want from me?" I demanded.
She simply smiled. "You know me, we've met before." She said smoothly.
I didn't recognize her voice at all, but I remember seeing her somewhere but where?
"We met on Olympus last summer when Zeus's lightning bolt was stolen." She explained.
"I still don't remember you." I replied.
"Silly boy, I'm Zeus's wife, goddess of marriage and children."
Now when she mentioned it I remember her from Mt. Olympus last year. She is also the goddess who doesn't have any children, since she is the goddess of marriage and must keep faithful to her husband. Now looking at her face I clearly remembered who she was.
"Now I remember you." I exaggerated. I had more questions than an explanation.
"What are you doing here?" I demanded.
"Well… it is a long story, but I decided we needed help when Aphrodite was kidnapped right before the solstice, we would have complications with Hades." She explained.
"What am I doing in another world, the solstice is tonight!" I sounded agitated.
"Calm down Percy Jackson, you'll be back with your friends in no time, but first I have to explain something."
"Ok, I'm listening." I sounded more convincing.
Hera took a deep breath and began explaining.
"When Aphrodite went missing, we Gods started panicking and needed extra help, even from other worlds. You now know about worlds beyond ours now, I decided that you and the blonde girl, child of Athena would need some help, so I transferred Naruto Uzumaki from this world into ours. After you fled from the townspeople back in Fermont I needed you to transfer here for half of the day to learn something about Naruto's world, now you know who he is more and met one of the two important people in his life you'll be closer. I am able to create portals to other worlds and dimensions." Hera explained.
I was shocked to hear that I was a part of some exchange program that I lost a good amount of time finding Aphrodite before the solstice, Hera took my time away. I couldn't speak for a few moments before I gulped down to make my throat wet since it dried up.
"Why did you waste my time for the solstice? Are Naruto and Annabeth alright? How will we-
I was caught off by Hera.
"You aren't wasting your time I have information to tell you where you'll go next and who you will meet. Naruto and Annabeth are alright I checked up on them recently, good thing they didn't notice me." Hera stated.
"That's good, but why can't you just make a prison break with Aphrodite? Where is she?" I asked.
"Silly boy, gods can't interfere with young hero's quests and it's against the Olympus rules. I'm not exactly sure where she is, but I know a god who resides in Quebec and you're not far from him. He's the wind god Boreas; sometimes he's hard to understand with French being his native language. He will guide you to where Aphrodite is." Hera explained.
"How do I know where he is?" I demanded.
"Here," Hera handed me a piece of paper.
"What am I suppose to do with a piece of paper?" I asked.
"Open it," she requested.
I opened the piece of paper which turned out to be a map; luckily for me and Annabeth it was in ancient Greek, where it will lead us to Boreas.
"Thanks."
"No problem, you'll be fine with the blonde girl-
"Annabeth," I interrupted.
"-right Annabeth, she'll guide you guys where Boreas will explain, be careful to not make him angry and follow his rules. Warning just is careful for the monsters that await you with a fight." Hera warned.
"Alright," I said.
"Good now if you excuse me I have to get back to Zeus before he thinks I is off running around with someone else."
Just like that Hera vanished and I lost all hope of returning back to my friends when all of a sudden that changed, the light was back. I went forward to the light and absorbed myself. I experienced the same thing, traveling at the speed of light until I blacked out.
I don't think I was out for too long until I realized I was shivering and lying in snow. I knew I made it back to my world, Fermont; I put my jacket on and sat there to gather my things. I made sure riptide was in my pocket, he was. I heard a familiar voice calling my name. I was Annabeth. I haven't been so happy in years since last summer my mom transformed Gabe into a statue with Medusa's head and sold it for profit. I got up and walked over.
"Percy, oh my gods, where were you? We searched everywhere." Annabeth came rushing at full speed and hugged me so tight I thought she was going to squeeze my lungs out.
"L-long s-story," I managed to get the words out, it wasn't easy.
"I'm so glad you're alright Seaweed brain." She cried.
"Y-yeah, you're squeezing me too tight… Annabeth let go." I muffled, she let go. The next thing she does is gives me a punch on my left shoulder.
"OW!" I screamed. "What was that for?"
"Don't you ever leave me again, I was worried about you. So was Naruto." She scowled me.
"S-sorry," I rubbed my left shoulder. "Where's Naruto."
"Oh he's coming."
Out of the blue Naruto appeared with the biggest smile. He came and gave me a big man-to-man hug where I dropped to the ground.
"PERCY! I'm so glad you're alright." He said with a smile.
"You can get off now." I said.
"Oh, sorry about that, where were you?" He asked.
"Before I start explaining everything, I have to give this to Annabeth." I pulled the map out of my pocket and handed it to her.
"What is it?" She asked.
"It's a map that I got from Hera." Her fingers shaking as she received the map.
"Y-you met Hera, the goddess of marriage?" Annabeth sounded surprised.
I nodded in agreement.
"No way, you met the goddess of virginity?" Naruto asked. That made me crack up, before Annabeth gave me a scary stare to stop. She gave Naruto a light punch.
"OW," he cried out in pain. "What the heck was that for?" He cried.
"For being an idiot," Annabeth turned to me, "don't laugh seaweed brain, you want another hit?"
I got terrified with those gray stormy eyes glaring at me I waved my head in a no form.
"Good, now you can tell us everything that happened." Annabeth demanded.
I began telling them what happened. I started off where I ended up at the hospital, where I met Jiraiya. I told them about his perviness for women. Annabeth's face went into disgust. I told them about the village representing the olden days of Japan. I also stated that Jiraiya was worried about Naruto. I left the part about Naruto's nine tailed fox information. I told them about Tsunade and Sakura. I told Naruto that the ramen was delicious. I finally stated my confrontation with Hera.
"Wow that's a lot you've been through." Annabeth stated.
"You met Sakura? What was she like?" Naruto asked.
"Not much she misses you, and-she really is scary." I said. We both nodded in agreement.
"But I'm not that scary as her am I?" Annabeth asked.
Naruto and I didn't reply but we gave Annabeth a fake look. Her grey eyes gave me a creep down my spine. I think Sakura still beats Annabeth at the scary contest, but who knows until the two would meet right? Anyway let's go find Boreas.
"Where do we go now Annabeth?" I asked.
Annabeth didn't respond, instead she kept studying the map fierce fully to find our next destination. Finally she looked up. "We'll head north to Boreas's palace. We must get past Fermont with a taxi and head east to Blanc-Sablon on the outskirts." She stated and showed us the map.
It was far from where we were standing. "How in the world are we going to get there by the solstice, which is tonight?" I asked.
"Don't worry seaweed brain I've got a plan."
"You do?" Naruto asked curiously.
I shouldered him to not make Annabeth go wild and gave him a look to stop. Annabeth ignored him and pulled out a bottle of water and a golden drachma. The sun was still shining and a rainbow was shining with water thrown up in the air. "Oh Iris, goddess of the Rainbow, accept my offering, show me Camp Half-Blood." Within seconds we were viewing Camp Half-Blood and Chiron was sitting in his wheelchair drinking coke and watching TV. He didn't notice us.
"Wow what is this?" Naruto looked amazed.
"This is an Iris message, a technique the ancient Greeks used to message each other." I explained. "Annabeth what are you doing."
"Shh, wait seaweed brain you're so impatient. You'll see." She told me. Chiron continued drinking coke and shouted out 'Huzzah' along the lines. "Chiron," Annabeth called. Chiron turned around and noticed us.
"Annabeth, Percy and Naruto you guys are alright, how's the quest?" He asked us with a smile.
"We don't have time to chit chat; I just want you to call the Gray sisters to take us to Boreas's palace in Blanc-Sablon." Chiron's eyes immediately went blood-shot red with fear.
"Boreas, you better watch out. He is the god of wind and winter. He isn't friendly to let you know that." Chiron stated.
"What's his story?" I asked.
Chiron took a deep sigh and explained to us. "Boreas became known after he abducted Orithyia, the daughter of king Erechtheus king of Athens. Boreas wooed Orithyia, but she declined many times. Boreas eventually decided to take her by force, covering her in a cloud, spiriting her away and transforming her into his immortal wife. She would bear him an immortal daughter, Khione, and two mortal sons, Calais and Zethes. With his brother; Zephyr, Boreas dwelt in the mountains of Thrace. Boreas' winds can be powerful and violent, causing great destruction." He explained.
"Wow," we all gasped.
"I know, now if you'll excuse me I have to call the Gray sisters for your ride to Boreas." Once Chiron was done the Iris message faded away.
"What do we do now?" Naruto asked.
"Now we just wait." I said. After waiting for minutes, out of the blue a yellow taxi appeared. We walked towards it and opened the back door. We sat down and we were off. Annabeth handed the three headed sisters a golden drachma, they took the drachma and bit into it with one month in the center and only a tooth.
"Good, this is authentic we can proceed. I'm Wasp." One of the heads said.
"Where are you guys headed? I'm Tempest." Another head asked.
"We're headed to Blanc-Sablon, can you take us there?" Annabeth asked.
"Sure, let's lead the way. I'm Anger." The left head said.
The car started and we were off. Along the way we watched as towns passed by, hopefully we were invisible to mortals due to three headed ladies always fighting about how they shared their body parts; going from teeth to a single eye is pretty creepy. I saw centaurs playing in the field, Pegasus flying across the bare land.
"I can't believe you got to talk first." Anger said with anger towards Wasp.
"What I just talked first what's the big deal, by the way the drachma tasted good." Wasp said.
"Oh don't go on bragging about how tasty the drachma was." Tempest sounded even angrier.
"I still can't believe we had to rush over here from New York." Wasp complained.
The three sisters continued fighting and bickering about their body parts and coins that I lost track. I caught some words I wouldn't repeat the smell of old people got to me where I nearly fell asleep until Naruto sitting next to my right budged me. I noticed him.
"What there deal?" He asked. "When will we get there?"
"I don't know but hopefully soon, because there fighting is getting out of control." I said.
"According to my calculations we should arrive about an hour from now. We left at precisely 1 o'clock we should be there by 9 o'clock but since we're going at a higher speed we will arrive half of the time which would be at 4 o'clock. With Winter in the way it takes at least 2 more hours for us to arrive." Annabeth explained.
"Ow, that's so many words with numbers in them." I complained.
"Agreed, my head hurts now." Naruto jumped in.
"You'll have to learn." Annabeth grumbled.
For the next hour or so we just stayed silent. Annabeth opened a book on Greek mythology and started doing research, Naruto fell asleep and I was bored out of my mind to continue listening to the Gray sisters.
"Stop right here." Annabeth commanded.
I thought we were at the spot, but when I looked around I didn't any lights coming from the houses since it was dark outside. I noticed we weren't in any town or Village but… in the middle of nowhere! I don't get why Annabeth stopped us. There was snow all over the ground, looking to my left side there is a huge mountain covered with snow that is at least 3 stories high.
"Why did we stop next to a big block of ice?" I asked.
"On the map it reads that Boreas's palace will be found on the mountain top on the left side on the outskirts of Blanc-Sablon." Annabeth explained.
We got out of the taxi and waved goodbye to the Gray sisters. The taxi drove off into the night sky and disappeared. The temperature must've dropped ten degrees. The stars were shining brightly in the night sky, totally different from viewing them in the city where you can't see anything.
"Now- how in the god's name are going to get up." Annabeth asked.
I shook my head with disbelief that we wouldn't be able to reach Boreas.
"Leave to me, Naruto has got the power. Believe it!" Naruto formed a hand sign. "Shadow clone jutsu," Naruto shouted. Two clones appeared. "Get on!" They both said. We both looked at each other dumbfounded.
"Don't look around, just get on!" Naruto yelled I haven't seen him be this serious ever. "Don't worry we can make it up there, I was trained to climb up mountains, jump trees and walk on water with my chakra. Now if you want to save Aphrodite by the God's meeting today at the solstice then you better get on!" Naruto's fiery in his eyes gave me and Annabeth to get on and not ask any questions. Once we were on the clones back we headed up at a good speed that we would make it in no time. My whole face after ten minutes felt like it was about to fall off from the frost bite.
Once we got to the top I felt like a shriveled up Popsicle, Annabeth was shaking. Naruto fell to the ground exhausted and panting with his clones disappearing and us dropping to the ground.
"T-th-thanks," Annabeth said between shivers.
"N-no p-problem," Naruto panted between breaths.
Once I felt warmed up by rubbing my hands together and Annabeth.
"Dude you seriously can walk on water?" I asked.
"Yeah," Naruto gave off a little chuckle with a big smile.
"That's so unfair!" I complained.
"Oh Gods Percy stop complaining be happy what the Gods gave you." Annabeth growled.
"Fine, smart girl," I said.
"Let's head to the palace." Annabeth said.
We turned around and I'm not kidding you, a huge ten foot story palace stood on top of the mountain, don't ask me how that's possible but it is. The palace was carved out of smooth ice, snow covered it, and the windows were rounds which were tinted with dark blue coatings of glass. The architecture was beyond any human understanding, it reminded me of the queen of England's palace. In front of the door there was a fountain which was sprinkling ice out of, and the creepiest part of the front was on the lawn there were statues what appeared to be frozen human beings. It was really creepy.
"Oh… my… GODS! THIS IS AMAZING!" Annabeth exclaimed with excitement.
I needed to calm Annabeth down before died of a heart attack from architecture.
"Calm down." I said and she did.
"Let's go." Naruto said.
We entered into the palace and it was made all out of ice. The stair case twirled like a roller coaster to at least the fifth floor. A portrait lay hanging on the right side what appeared to be a middle aged man blowing wind out of his mouth with an unshaven small beard.
"Boreas," Naruto shouted. "Come out or I'll smack you if we don't save Aphrodite on time!"
Annabeth grabbed Naruto to shut him up, since he was talking to a god.
"Shut up! We don't need a god hating us for your stupidity." Annabeth growled in raged.
Out of nowhere a blast of wind filled the entire room. When the wind was gone in mid-air stood Boreas. He was wearing black boots, blue jeans, black winter jacket and his black hair all jelled up.
"Hera sent you up here—Percy Jackson." Boreas spoke with a thick French accent.
"Y-you are Boreas?" I asked, even though that sounded stupid.
"Yes I am. Naruto Uzumaki, Hera sent you from another world to help these young demigods in getting Aphrodite back in time for the God's council meeting. Naruto—don't do anything stupid!" Boreas sounded scary.
Naruto gave off a light gulp. "Y-yeah," he barely was able to say the words.
"Why do you talk funny?" I blurted out.
Boreas looked dead serious and gave me a look. I got scared wish I didn't blurt that out. "You think I talk FUNNY! I just have a French accent, and French is the language of love which is the heart and soul language of Quebec. Hera sent you guys here since I would know where Aphrodite is being held."
"Y-you know where Aphrodite is? Can you tell us?" Annabeth asked.
Boreas laughed. "Sure I can, only on one condition."
"What's that?" Annabeth asked.
"If you here a story from… since Percy over here asked me why I'm different and not on Olympus." He looked at me; Annabeth gave me a glare that I screwed up.
"Child of Athena I'll tell you now. When Olympus moves I move. I was never a part of Olympus I always resided up North back in Greece since I'm also the God of winter. When we moved here to North America I ended up residing here in Quebec which is north and corresponds to the layout." He explained.
"Enough of a history lesson where the heck's Aphrodite!" I demanded.
Boreas looked furious with me yelling but I couldn't help.
"You're impatient child of Poseidon, I'll tell you this, and Aphrodite isn't far from here. You just need to go to Blanc-Sablon and a ship on the port that will be familiar to you." Boreas said with a smirk.
"What ship? That doesn't help at all!" Naruto said.
"It doesn't to you, but Percy knows what I mean." Boreas turned to me which made me feel uncomfortable with sweat dropping from my face. "Now if you'll excuse me, Desperate Housewives is on. I can't miss the Christmas special." Just like that Boreas disappeared with a puff of wind.
"Percy what does he mean you know where this ship is?" Annabeth turned to me. I didn't say a word.
"You know the dreams I've had with demigods building a ship for Luke." Annabeth looked startled. "I think he means we are close to Luke and we need to go to Blanc-Sablon since it is near the Atlantic Ocean on the outskirts that's where Luke has his Princess Andromeda ship building and Aphrodite is taken hostage on the ship to."
Annabeth didn't have the words for me now, neither did Naruto. Naruto clamped his left hand to his right.
"Let's find Aphrodite and take this Luke down."
Annabeth didn't look to happy about this, especially the complicated past with him how he betrayed us all. Luke and Annabeth go all the way back when they were seven years old running away from monsters until Grover found them and took them to Camp Half-Blood. I had three things to worry about, one Naruto going all crazy with the nine tails, Annabeth's painful reunion with Luke and me for the jerk friend who helped me and betrayed us all. I felt riptide in my pocket for battle.
A/N: hope you all enjoyed it and the next chapter will be out by the end of the week.