For the first hour riding a giant eagle was awesome, but it was still March, so flying through Canada got pretty cold pretty quickly. If the bird hadn't generated so much heat, Jason was sure he would have frozen. Even still, he could feel Annabeth shivering in front of him.
"I could take the front for a while," he told her. "You're getting hit with all the wind."
"No, that's okay," Annabeth replied. "I like it. It sounds silly, but sitting up front makes me feel just a few feet closer to my goal… like I'm doing as much as I possibly can. You know?"
Honestly, Jason had no idea. But Annabeth seemed to be precariously balanced on her sanity's rusted lifeline, and telling her she was crazy just didn't seem like the thing to do.
"Yeah, I know what you mean," he said.
After that, Annabeth fell silent. It was a little difficult to talk when the wind whistled in their ears.
At some point Piper's head rested on Jason's shoulder and he knew she was asleep. It wasn't like he should have been tired or anything since it was probably only about 3 in the afternoon, but empty stomachs tend to drain people. Finally, Jason could no longer resist, and he succumbed to sleep as well.
Suddenly he returned to a place he knew he had been before. He stumbled up from the cement floor that he had been lying on and helped a girl up: Reyna. Jason was sure that was her name.
"Where's Cal?" she asked Jason. Together they scanned the room. They appeared to be in some sort of rundown factory. The place was covered in shelves and piles of merchandise, but there was no sign of their friend Calvin.
"What happened?" Jason asked Reyna after a moment of trying to make sense of the past few hours.
"We… we found the necklace just like Lady Juno asked you to. It was all completely undetected, though. The monsters shouldn't have found us. It was your lightning that caused the explosion. The monsters were killed, but… you don't think Cal could've been with them during the explosion do you?"
Jason felt a pool of guilt rise in his chest. When he used the lightning bolt to blow up that section of the factory he had been trying to save their lives. If Calvin had died because of him, Jason would never be able to forgive himself.
Reyna reached for Jason's hand and he let her take it. After all that Lady Juno had told him about remaining single, he still wanted to be with Reyna. Juno promised him that his future was too great, and that he had no time for relationships, but Juno was not his mother. At that moment Jason vowed that if he ever finished his quest alive he would ask Reyna out.
"Cute," said a voice Jason recognized from behind. It was familiar, yet much more menacing than it should have been.
Jason and Reyna dropped hands and spun around to face the speaker. In a second, Jason had his sword ready and Reyna had an arrow notched in her bow.
"Calvin," Reyna said in relief when she saw his face, but Jason didn't relax. There was something odd about the way he looked at the two of them.
"Where've you been, Calvin?" Jason asked. Calvin laughed, making the scar that marred his otherwise handsome face bounce and finally everything fell into place. Calvin had warned the monsters that they would be coming. He had been the one to set the trap.
"I was with my friends, of course." As he spoke, three disgusting giants turned a corner and stood beside him. Reyna shot an arrow at the forehead of the nearest one, but it just bounced off its smelly gray skin.
The giant laughed and mumbled, "Stop it; that tickles."
"Shut up," Calvin told it, and the giant looked down at him with a grudging expression.
"Why are you doing this, Calvin?" Reyna asked.
"Don't call me that anymore, I only used that name to protect my true identity. I've never been like you Romans. I just came to your camp to kill you." Calvin—or whatever his name was—pointed at Jason and smiled. "Or to convert you. Your father never loved you, he gave you to Hera. Fight with the Titans and get back at him. Join my master's cause and you can live like a king."
"I'll never join you or your stupid master." Jason tried to spit the words out with as much malice as he could muster, but there was something that Calvin said that bothered him. Like a ring of truth.
"Fine. Then you'll die like a pathetic weakling." Calvin made a gesture with one of his hands and the three giants stepped forward, drawing clubs, while he whistled a sharp note. A beautiful black steed flew in from somewhere nearby. He jumped onto it and flew away.
"Coward!" Reyna shouted at him. She shot an arrow at his shrinking figure, but he was already well out of range.
"Don't waste your arrows," Jason advised. "We have bigger things to worry about." That's when the giants attacked.
"Almost there." Annabeth's voice brought Jason back to reality.
"Did you see a sign?" Piper asked her.
"No, but the eagle is descending. That must mean we're getting close."
"Thank goodness," Piper said.
As Annabeth foretold, buildings began to appear and a giant sign read "Welcome to Alaska!"
"Okay, take us to Iris, boy," Annabeth said to her new pet bird. The eagle flew for about twenty-five more minutes and arrived at an island.
Piper was eager to get both her feet on the ground, and Jason was happy to leave the bird as well, since it smelled like chicken… well… it didn't smell good. Annabeth was a little more reluctant to leave the feathery friend, though. It bent its face down and she rubbed it just above the beak. If eagles could purr, this one was definitely doing it.
"I'm going to have to go talk to Iris, now," she told it.
"Liver?" the giant bird replied, which Jason interpreted to mean, "Are you coming back?"
"Don't worry, we'll be back in a little bit," Annabeth said. "Why don't you go find some nice vegetarian things to eat, okay?"
The eagle nipped playfully at her hair, then spread its giant wings and took off.
Annabeth sighed and pretended not to notice the strange looks Jason and Piper were giving her.
"Shall we?" Annabeth pointed toward a large house made almost entirely of glass. It reflected the sunlight and gave off rainbows, which Jason thought would've been pretty cool if it hadn't been too bright to look at.
The three of them staggered for about two steps when Annabeth said, "Hang on. I think I have sunglasses in my bag."
As she knelt down to pull out three pairs of shades, a necklace fell from inside Annabeth's shirt.
Jason looked at Piper and her multi-colored eyes flashed with suspicion.
"I know that necklace," Jason said. He wasn't sure how, but the pendant reminded him of something he had seen long ago.
Annabeth stuffed it back into her shirt before Jason could study it any longer.
"Of course you don't. Percy gave this to me," she said. "Let's keep going."
Annabeth tossed both Jason and Piper a pair of sunglasses, which made it much easier to walk toward the cabin. He refused to forget about the pendant, but there were more pressing matters at hand.
Before they had even reached the front door an image began to form in front of them.
"Leo?" Jason asked. He could see the face of his best friend floating in a cloud of mist, but there was something off about his face. Usually, Leo looked pretty happy, but now he looked determined and sleepy—and strange combination in Jason's opinion.
"Hey, guys, nice sunglasses. Sorry to interrupt your little quest thing, but there's a lot going on back at camp. Something is causing people to fall asleep and disappear." Leo stopped talking just long enough to take a swig of what looked like Coke. "If you don't get a move on, I'm afraid we're all going to sleep walk right to the enemy."
"We leave you guys alone for just a couple days, and all Hades breaks loose," said Piper.
Annabeth grimaced as if she were in pain. "Campers are disappearing?" Leo nodded. "That's what Percy said about the Romans, too. We're all going through the same stuff."
"And whoever was on that airplane when it crashed must be the one making everyone fall asleep."
Leo, Annabeth, and Piper all gave Jason quizzical looks and Jason realized he had never actually filled anyone in on the exact details of the crash. Quickly, Jason went through the story, all the while wondering how he could have forgotten to tell anyone what had happened.
"That isn't good," Annabeth informed him, which Jason thought was a little obvious. "Back in the Titan War, Morpheus put the entire city of Manhattan to sleep. But something is still bothering me…"
"What?" asked Leo, "The part where people are going missing, the part where your boyfriend is with the Romans, the part where we're being forced to sleep against our will—?"
"Shut up, you know what I meant." Annabeth scowled at Leo. "What's bothering me is that Jason said that this guy is trying to kill off the demigods in exchange for the safety of his own children. Morpheus doesn't have any kids at Camp Half-Blood."
"So?" Piper said. "He might have Roman kids."
"I guess…"
"Insert one gold drachma, please." said a cool woman's voice on Leo's end.
"That was my last one. I have to go guys. Just hurry!"
The image fluttered out of sight and the three were left alone. Jason felt a little longing in his chest. It had only been a couple days, but already Jason was missing Camp Half-Blood. He was busy picturing a plate full of barbecue in the comfort of the camp when he was interrupted by Annabeth and Piper gasping.
Jason looked up and saw the outline of a woman past the light reflecting off of the glass cabin.
"Hello, children," she said. "You must be hungry."