Piper 𐤖 𐤗
Again nothing is mine
Flying on the dragon was the most amazing experience ever, Piper thought.
Up high, the air was freezing cold; but the dragon's metal hide generated so much heat, it was like they were flying in a protective bubble. Talk about seat warmers! And the grooves in the dragon's back were designed like high-tech saddles, so they weren't uncomfortable at all. Leo showed them how to hook their feet in the chinks of the armor, like in stirrups, and use the leather safety harnesses cleverly concealed under the exterior plating. They sat single file: Leo in front, then Piper, then Jason, and Piper was very aware of Jason right behind her. She wished he would hold on to her, maybe wrap his arms around her waist; but sadly, he didn't.
Leo used the reins to steer the dragon into the sky like he'd been doing it all his life. The metal wings worked perfectly, and soon the coast of Long Island was just a hazy line behind them. They shot over Connecticut and climbed into the gray winter clouds.
Leo grinned back at them. "Cool, right?"
"What if we get spotted?" Piper asked.
"The Mist," Jason said. "It keeps mortals from seeing magic things. If they spot us, they'll probably mistake us for a small plane or something."
Piper glanced over her shoulder. "You sure about that?"
"No," he admitted. Then Piper saw he was clutching a photo in his hand—a picture of a girl with dark hair.
She gave Jason a quizzical look, but he just shrugged and put the photo in his pocket. "We're making good time. Probably get there by tonight."
Piper wondered who the girl in the picture was, but she didn't want to ask; and if Jason didn't volunteer the information, that wasn't a good sign. Had he remembered something about his life before? Was that a photo of his real girlfriend?
Stop it, she thought. You'll just torture yourself.
"So where are we heading?" Leo turned around.
"Quebec," Jason responded, "To find the god of the North Wind," Jason said. "And chase some storm spirits."
Piper smiled a little, any other time she would have been enthusiastic over traveling to Canada even if it were just for a day, now however with her dream... Piper preferred not to think about it. Just a couple hundred miles closer to disaster.
"Shut up me." Leo helpfully interjected.
"What?"
"Nothing," he said. "Long night. I think I'm hallucinating."
Piper opened her mouth to respond but closed it soon after, if she was going to be driven into the side of some cliff she would rather not have her last thoughts be about if the fact that maybe it wouldn't have happened if her ADHD friend would have been able to focus.
Leo must have noticed the silence because after a few minutes of awkward silence he responded, "Just joking."
Somehow that didn't entirely reassure Piper.
"So what's the plan, bro? You said something about catching wind, or breaking wind, or something?"
As they flew over New England, Jason laid out the game plan that he, Piper, Annabeth, and Chiron went over last night and some other boring topic while Piper scanned the scenery passing them by "how many people down there are living normal lives" she thought to herself. "No famous parents, and now no parents who are thousand-year-old deities who still have never found the time to stop by for one of their daughter's birthdays."
Piper was pulled back into the conversation when Jason started talking about a dream he had but only the later end, something about wolves and mansions.
"Uh-huh," Leo said. "But you don't know where this place is."
"Nope," Jason admitted.
"wait, what about the giants?" Piper interjected. "The prophecy mentioned the giant's revenge."
"Hold on," Leo said. "Giants—like more than one? Why can't it be just one giant who wants revenge?"
"I don't think so," Piper said. "I remember in some of the old Greek stories, there was something about an army of giants."
"Great," Leo muttered. "Of course, with our luck, it's an army. So you know anything else about these giants? Didn't you do a bunch of myth research for that movie with your dad?"
"Your dad's an actor?" Jason asked.
Leo laughed. "I keep forgetting about your amnesia. Heh. Forgetting about amnesia. That's funny. But yeah, her dad's Tristan McLean."
"Uh—Sorry, what was he in?"
"It doesn't matter," Piper said quickly. "The giants—well, there were lots of giants in Greek mythology. But if I'm thinking of the right ones, they were bad news. Huge, almost impossible to kill. They could throw mountains and stuff. I think they were related to the Titans. They rose from the earth after Kronos lost the war—I mean the first Titan war, thousands of years ago—and they tried to destroy Olympus. If we're talking about the same giants—"
"Chiron said it was happening again," Jason remembered. "The last chapter. That's what he meant. No wonder he didn't want us to know all the details."
Leo whistled. "So … giants who can throw mountains. Friendly wolves that will eat us if we show weakness. A lion for some reason. Evil espresso drinks. Gotcha. Maybe this isn't the time to bring up my psycho babysitter."
Piper groaned, "Is this another joke."
Leo told them about Tía Callida, who was really Hera, and how she'd appeared to him at camp. He didn't tell them about his fire abilities. That was still a touchy subject, especially after Nyssa had told him fire demigods tended to destroy cities and stuff. Besides, then Leo would have to get into how he'd caused his mom's death, and … No. He wasn't ready to go there. He did manage to tell about the night she died, not mentioning the fire, just saying the machine shop collapsed. It was easier without having to look at his friends, just keeping his eyes straight ahead as they flew.
And he told them about the strange woman in earthen robes who seemed to be asleep, and seemed to know the future.
Leo estimated the whole state of Massachusetts passed below them before his friends spoke.
"That's … disturbing," Piper said. And one more reason why I'm the outlier she thought to herself.
"'Bout sums it up," Leo agreed. "Thing is, everybody says don't trust Hera. She hates demigods. And the prophecy said we'd cause death if we unleash her rage. So I'm wondering … why are we doing this?"
"She chose us," Jason said. "All three of us. We're the first of the seven who have to gather for the Great Prophecy. This quest is the beginning of something much bigger."
That didn't make Piper feel any better, also if there were four more adventurers she didn't know what to feel. On one hand, she wished that she knew who they were and that they were here with them. Both so that they would be able to form a protective group and on the other, if there was to be death did she really want to get to know the rest, the thought of losing one of the three now was bad enough.
Besides," Jason continued, "helping Hera is the only way I can get back my memory. And that dark spire in my dream seemed to be feeding on Hera's energy. If that thing unleashes a king of the giants by destroying Hera—"
"Not a good trade-off," Piper agreed. "At least Hera is on our side—mostly. Losing her would throw the gods into chaos. She's the main one who keeps peace in the family. And a war with the giants could be even more destructive than the Titan War." Piper grimaced, back when she studied Greek Mythology alongside her father she was never that sympathetic towards Hera but she decided to leave that part out in order not to deplete moral anymore.
Jason nodded. "Chiron also talked about worse forces stirring on the solstice, with it being a good time for dark magic, and all—something that could awaken if Hera were sacrificed on that day. And this mistress who's controlling the storm spirits, the one who wants to kill all the demigods—"
"Might be that weird sleeping lady," Leo finished. "Dirt Woman fully awake? Not something I want to see."
"But who is she?" Jason asked. "And what does she have to do with giants?"
Piper shook her head in frustration too many questions and not enough answers. Piper looked at the horizon, again worrying about her father and the role she was going to play, coerced or not, in the succus or failure of the mission.
Piper shook her head, lets not get back into that, she thought to herself and instead focused on her surroundings, or Leo to be more precise, and his shivering?
Piper ignored that, it was probably a trick of the light as her thoughts returned to the prophecy.
The forge and dove shall break the cage. Wasn't that the prophecy line? That probably meant that Leo and she would have to figure out how to free Hera from inside a rock prison.
That sounded like one of her expertise, breaking enchanted rocks. Oh well, she thought, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.
Festus kept flying. The wind got colder, and below them snowy forests seemed to go on forever and Leo's shivering seemed to intensify.
Of course, it could just be his irritability, "Why don't you get some sleep?" Piper said in his ear. "You were up all night."
Leo seemed like he wanted to protest but eventually gave in, "You won't let me fall off?"
Piper patted his shoulder. "Trust me, Valdez. Beautiful people never lie."
"Right," he muttered. He leaned forward against the warm bronze of the dragon's neck, and closed his eyes.
"I hope this thing, eh, Festus knows where it's going." Jason's voice came from behind her.
"Isn't Quebec just due north of here?" Piper responded.
Let's hope so wherever here is." Jason let out a sigh.
Piper looked down below her, more snow-covered forests as far as the eye could see. "New Hampshire is my guess."
"So, how did you sleep?" Piper asked.
"Jason audibly exhaled, not great. It still feels like I don't belong here."
At this Piper raised an eyebrow, "you feel like you don't belong there, you seem to fit right in and Leo, well, I suppose he does too with his cabin. I'm more surprised by myself."
"It's not that, it just seems, foreign to me I guess is the right word, not the idea that the gods exist but something else."
Piper smiled, "I know it seems Greek to me."
"Please stop." was the only response from Jason before they both broke out into laughter.
"That wasn't even that funny," Piper said wiping tears off
"Heh, it's just the relief," Jason said catching his breath.
"So what were you and Annabeth talking about this morning," Piper asked.
"My memories and the dream."
Piper nodded, "Yeah that makes sense. Did you learn anything?"
"Not really, just that the Tattoo I have might be some sort of form identification and that Anabeths brother is missing now."
Piper bit her bottom lip, first her boyfriend now her brother, what god had she ticked off, oh wait, it was Hera.
They flew in silence for a bit longer before a city appeared in the distance a city sat on a cliff overlooking a river. The plains around it were dusted with snow, but the city itself glowed warmly in the winter sunset. Buildings crowded together inside high walls like a medieval town.
"you should wake Leo up," Jason said, "I think we're there."
Piper nodded and gently shook Leo awake, "We're here."
Leo rubbed the sleep from his eyes, "Tell me that's Quebec and not Santa's workshop," Leo said looking down.
"Yeah, Quebec City," Piper confirmed. "One of the oldest cities in North America. Founded around sixteen hundred or so?"
Leo raised an eyebrow. "Your dad do a movie about that too?"
She glared at him "I read sometimes, okay? Just because Aphrodite claimed me, doesn't mean I have to be an airhead."
"Feisty!" Leo said. "So you know so much, what's that castle?"
"A hotel, I think."
Leo laughed. "No way."
But as they got closer Piper could tell that she was right. The grand entrance was bustling with doormen, valets, and porters taking bags. Sleek black luxury cars idled in the drive. People in elegant suits and winter cloaks hurried to get out of the cold.
"The North Wind is staying in a hotel?" Leo said. "That can't be—"
"Heads up, guys," Jason interrupted. "We got company!"
Piper looked below and saw what Jason meant. Rising from the top of the tower were two winged figures—angry angels, with nasty-looking swords.
Festus didn't like the angel guys. He swooped to a halt in midair, wings beating and talons bared, and made a rumbling sound in his throat that Leo recognized. He was getting ready to blow fire.
"Steady, boy," Leo muttered. Something told him the angels would not take kindly to getting torched.
"I don't like this," Jason said. "They look like storm spirits." Piper grimaced thinking of Dylan.
At first, Piper thought he was right, but as the angels got closer, she could see they were much more solid than venti. Thank goodness she thought to herself. They looked like regular teenagers except for their icy white hair and feathery purple wings. Their bronze swords were jagged, like icicles. Their faces looked similar enough that they might've been brothers, but they definitely weren't twins.
One was the size of an ox, with a bright red hockey jersey, baggy sweatpants, and black leather cleats. The guy clearly had been in too many fights, because both his eyes were black, and when he bared his teeth, several of them were missing.
The other guy looked like MacGyver's lethargic teenage son. He wore pointy-toed leather shoes, designer pants that were way too tight, and a god-awful silk shirt with the top three buttons open. Maybe he thought he looked like a groovy love god, but the guy couldn't have weighed more than ninety pounds, and he had a bad case of acne.
The angels pulled up in front of the dragon and hovered there, swords at the ready.
The hockey ox grunted. "No clearance."
"'Scuse me?" Leo said.
"You have no flight plan on file," explained MacGyver Jr. On top of his other problems, he had a French accent so bad Piper was sure it was fake. "This is restricted airspace."
"Destroy them?" The ox showed off his gap-toothed grin.
The dragon began to hiss steam, ready to defend them. Jason summoned his golden sword, but Leo cried, "Hold on! Let's have some manners here, boys. Can I at least find out who has the honor of destroying me?"
"I am Cal!" the ox grunted. He looked very proud of himself, like he'd taken a long time to memorize that sentence.
"That's short for Calais," MacGyver Jr. said. "Sadly, my brother cannot say words with more than two syllables—"
"Pizza! Hockey! Destroy!" Cal offered.
"—which includes his own name," the love god finished.
"I am Cal," Cal repeated. "And this is Zethes! My brother!"
"Wow," Leo said. "That was almost three sentences, man! Way to go." which earned him a glare from Piper.
Cal grunted, obviously pleased with himself.
"Stupid buffoon," his brother grumbled. "They make fun of you. But no matter. I am Zethes, which is short for Zethes. And the lady there—" He winked at Piper, but the wink was more like a facial seizure. "She can call me anything she likes. Perhaps she would like to have dinner with a famous demigod before we must destroy you?"
Piper made a sound like gagging on a cough drop. "That's … a truly horrifying offer."
"It is no problem." Zethes said, kind of bowing, Piper thought it looked more like someone who had just lost their car keys but was too lazy to actually bother to look for them.
"Boreads?" Jason cut in. "Do you mean, like, the sons of Boreas?"
"Ah, so you've heard of us!" Zethes looked pleased. "We are our father's gatekeepers. So you understand, we cannot have unauthorized people flying in his airspace on creaky dragons, scaring the silly mortal peoples."
He pointed below, and Piper saw that the mortals were starting to take notice. Several were pointing up—not with alarm, yet—more with confusion and annoyance, like the dragon was a traffic helicopter flying too low.
"Which is sadly why, unless this is an emergency landing," Zethes said, brushing his hair out of his acne-covered face, "we will have to destroy you painfully."
"Destroy!" Cal agreed, with a little more enthusiasm than Leo thought necessary.
"Wait!" Piper said scrambling to think of anything to stall. "This is an emergency landing."
"Awww!" Cal responded.
Zethes studied Piper, which of course he'd already been doing. "How does the pretty girl decide this is an emergency, then?"
"We have to see Boreas. It's totally urgent! Please?" She said forcing a smile.
Zethes picked at his silk shirt, probably making sure it was still open wide enough. "Well … I hate to disappoint a lovely lady, but you see, my sister, she would have an avalanche if we allowed you—"
"And our dragon is malfunctioning!" Piper added. "It could crash any minute!"
Festus shuddered helpfully, then turned his head and spilled gunk out of his ear, splattering a black Mercedes in the parking lot below.
"No destroy?" Cal whimpered.
Zethes pondered the problem. Then he gave Piper another spasmodic wink. "Well, you are pretty. I mean, you're right. A malfunctioning dragon—this could be an emergency."
"Destroy them later?" Cal offered, which was probably as close to friendly as he ever got.
"It will take some explaining," Zethes decided. "Father has not been kind to visitors lately. But, yes. Come, faulty dragon people. Follow us."
Leo turned to his friends. "I love these guys. Follow them?"
Piper was hesitant but Jason sealed the deal, "I guess," he said. "We're here now. But I wonder why Boreas hasn't been kind to visitors."
"Pfft, he just hasn't met us." Leo whistled. "Festus, after those flashlights!"
As they made their war towards the hotel Piper worried where they would put Festus, it's not like they could just land on the top of the building without causing serious questions being asked.
Then a section of the slanted roof slid open, revealing an entrance easily wide enough for Festus. The top and bottom were lined with icicles like jagged teeth.
"This cannot be good," Jason muttered, but Leo spurred the dragon downward, and they swooped in after the Boreads.
They landed in what must have been the penthouse suite; but the place had been hit by a flash freeze. The entry hall had vaulted ceilings forty feet high, huge draped windows, and lush oriental carpets. A staircase at the back of the room led up to another equally massive hall, and more corridors branched off to the left and right.
The ice however seemed to enhance the elegance of the room. Carefully dismounting the dragon her feet caused the carpet to crunch. A fine layer of frost covered the furniture, and ice-coated every solid surface it could scattering light as it came through the windows.
"Guys," Leo said, "fix the thermostat in here, and I would totally move in."
"Not me." Jason looked uneasily at the staircase. "Something feels wrong. Something up there …"
Festus shuddered and snorted flames. Frost started to form on his scales.
"No, no, no." Zethes marched over, though how he could walk in those pointy leather shoes, Leo had no idea. "The dragon must be deactivated. We can't have fire in here. The heat ruins my hair."
Festus growled and spun his drill-bit teeth.
"'S'okay, boy." Leo turned to Zethes. "The dragon's a little touchy about the whole deactivation concept. But I've got a better solution."
"Destroy?" Cal suggested.
"No, man. You gotta stop with the destroy talk. Just wait."
"Leo," Piper said nervously, "what are you—"
"Watch and learn, beauty queen. When I was repairing Festus last night, I found all kinds of buttons. Some, you do not want to know what they do. But others … Ah, here we go."
Leo hooked his fingers behind the dragon's left foreleg. He pulled a switch, and the dragon shuddered from head to toe. Everyone backed away as Festus folded like origami. His bronze plating stacked together. His neck and tail contracted into his body. His wings collapsed and his trunk compacted until he was a rectangular metal wedge the size of a suitcase.
Leo tried to lift it, but the thing weighed about six billion pounds. "Um … yeah. Hold on. I think—aha."
He pushed another button. A handle flipped up on the top, and wheels clicked out on the bottom.
"Ta-da!" he announced. "The world's heaviest carry-on bag!"
"That's impossible," Jason said. "Something that big couldn't—"
"Stop!" Zethes ordered. He and Cal both drew their swords and glared at Leo.
Leo raised his hands. "Okay … what'd I do? Stay calm, guys. If it bothers you that much, I don't have to take the dragon as carry-on—"
"Who are you?" Zethes shoved the point of his sword against Leo's chest. "A child of the South Wind, spying on us?"
"What? No!" Leo said. "Son of Hephaestus. Friendly blacksmith, no harm to anyone!"
Cal growled. He put his face up to Leo's, "Smell fire," he said. "Fire is bad."
"Oh." Leo said "Yeah, well … my clothes are kind of singed, and I've been working with oil, and—"
"No!" Zethes pushed Leo back at sword point. "We can smell fire, demigod. We assumed it was from the creaky dragon, but now the dragon is a suitcase. And I still smell fire … on you."
Piper and Jason exchanged a look, neither knew what was going on but neither of them were comfortable.
"Hey … look … I don't know—" He glanced at Piper and Jason desperately. "Guys, a little help?"
Jason already had his gold coin in his hand. He stepped forward, his eyes on Zethes. "Look, there's been a mistake. Leo isn't a fire guy. Tell them, Leo. Tell them you're not a fire guy."
"Um …"
"Zethes?" Piper tried her dazzling smile again, though she felt a little too nervous, not to mention cold, to pull it off. "We're all friends here. Put down your swords and let's talk."
"The girl is pretty," Zethes admitted, "and of course she cannot help being attracted to my amazingness;"
At this Piper had to bite her tongue not to respond.
but sadly, I cannot romance her at this time." He poked his sword point farther into Leo's chest.
Gosh darn, Piper thought to herself rolling her eyes, and here I was getting my hopes up.
"Destroy him now?" Cal asked his brother.
Zethes nodded. "Sadly, I think—"
"No," Jason insisted. He sounded calm, collected, mature...
No, snap out of it she said to herself.
"Leo's just a son of Hephaestus. He's no threat. Piper here is a daughter of Aphrodite. I'm the son of Zeus. We're on a peaceful …"
Jason's voice faltered, because both Boreads had suddenly turned on him.
"What did you say?" Zethes demanded. "You are the son of Zeus?"
"Um … yeah," Jason said. "That's a good thing, right? My name is Jason."
Cal looked so surprised, he almost dropped his sword. "Can't be Jason," he said. "Doesn't look the same."
Zethes stepped forward and squinted at Jason's face. "No, he is not our Jason. Our Jason was more stylish. Not as much as me—but stylish. Besides, our Jason died millennia ago."
"Wait," Jason said. "Your Jason … you mean the original Jason? The Golden Fleece guy?"
"Of course," Zethes said. "We were his crewmates aboard his ship, the Argo, in the old times, when we were mortal demigods. Then we accepted immortality to serve our father, so I could look this good for all time, and my silly brother could enjoy pizza and hockey."
"Hockey!" Cal agreed.
"But Jason—our Jason—he died a mortal death," Zethes said. "You can't be him."
"I'm not," Jason agreed.
"So, destroy?" Cal asked. Clearly, the conversation was one of the most challenging he has had for a while.
"No," Zethes said regretfully. "If he is a son of Zeus, he could be the one we've been watching for."
"Watching for?" Leo asked. "You mean like in a good way: you'll shower him with fabulous prizes? Or watching for like in a bad way: he's in trouble?"
A girl's voice said, "That depends on my father's will."
Piper looked up the staircase, and at the top was a girl in a white silk dress. Her skin was unnaturally pale, like she was a from the times when nobles would where lead paint to give them that extra shine, Or whatever it was.
She seemed to focus on Leo with no expression, no smile, no friendliness. But it didn't matter. Piper knew Leo would be smitten with her almost immediately.
"Father will want to see the one called Jason," the girl said looking directly into Piper's eyes.
"Then it is him?" Zethes asked excitedly.
"We'll see," the girl said. "Zethes, bring our guests."
Leo grabbed the handle of his bronze dragon suitcase before he was cut off by the girl.
"Not you, Leo Valdez,"
Piper narrowed her eyes, prominently she was wondering how she knew Piper's name. Of course, she thought to herself, Leo probably was more focused on her rejection to be worried about the former.
"Why not?" He sounded like a whiny kindergartner, Piper thought.
"You cannot be in the presence of my father," the girl said. "Fire and ice—it would not be wise."
"We're going together," Jason insisted, putting his hand on Leo's shoulder, "or not at all."
The girl tilted her head, like she wasn't used to people refusing her orders. "He will not be harmed, Jason Grace, unless you make trouble. Calais, keep Leo Valdez here. Guard him, but do not kill him."
Cal pouted. "Just a little?"
"No," the girl insisted. "And take care of his interesting suitcase, until Father passes judgment."
Both Jason and Piper looked over to Leo. Piper felt a twang of fear crop up in her chest, sure she didn't want to leave Leo alone but she also didn't want to get them all on the bad side of Boreas.
"It's fine, guys," he said. "No sense causing trouble if we don't have to. You go ahead."
"Listen to your friend," the pale girl said. "Leo Valdez will be perfectly safe. I wish I could say the same for you, son of Zeus. Now come, King Boreas is waiting."