Something good is coming up very soon so I hope you're looking forward to that- after all, you all know who we're gonna see again.
Replies:
Undeath9087: I mean, with the coach Hedge thing, I suppose you could look at it like Grover, his first mission went bad and Thalia got turned into a tree, and he was given a chance to go out again and he found Percy and the Di Angelos in canon which made him one of the most successful seekers, and Coach Hedge might have been sent off somewhere they didn't have to worry about him but then he did find three of the most powerful important demigods of that generation. And he does have the ties with TLH trio because of the quest so they trust him.
The Official Clarisse: *Me sat there considering causing one of our favorite relationships extreme pain and possibly a temporary break up* What? Me, of course not!

Leo felt like ice when he woke up- which was not nice. He let out a groan as he slowly opened his eyes, he could feel a blanket wrapped around him tightly, though his jacket and tee were gone, though there were fresh bandages on his wounded back and shoulder and a sling around his right arm. He could hear voices- Piper's voice. "-He turned me to gold- god I-"

"It's okay Pipes." and that was Jason's voice, soft and soothing, and Leo shifted slightly, pushing himself so that he was sat up- he let out a breath, looking around slowly. He'd been set down next to a campfire which turned the air sharp with smoke. Firelight flickered against rock walls. They were in a shallow cave, but it didn't offer much protection. Outside, the wind howled. Snow blew sideways. It might've been day or night. The storm made it too dark to tell.

His movement drew his friends attention and Piper let out a relieved sob- she was wrapped in blankets too, and she looked pale and horrible- and she scrambled towards him, hugging him tightly, "Leo! You tried to protect me-"

"Of course I did." Leo managed to manoeuvre his good arm out of the blankets so that he could wrap it around his friend, letting her pressed her face into his left shoulder. "I'm fine Pipes, I've been through worse- though I gotta say, I feel cold-"

"Join the club." Jason's smile was tight and tired. "Thankfully we managed to turn you both back to normal-"

"Both?"

"He got me too." Piper pulled a face, "It happened so fast, I wasn't able to get away from him in time." she looked incredibly unhappy, "I'm sorry Leo. I know you tried so hard to protect me but I couldn't even move fast enough to get away even when you-"

"Woah- woah breath Pipes." Leo gave her a worried look, "It's okay. You're okay. No need to say sorry to me, you're doing pretty well all things considered.
When I found out I was a demigod I was like, totally useless, nearly got my sister killed."

Piper's expression shifted slightly and her shoulders slumped, "I- thanks."

"So." Leo shifted, "How did we get in here? Jason, did you kick Midas' ass or something?" and Jason flushed faintly, a slight smile on his lips as he told them the story of how he took out Lit and Midas- though Leo did notice that he put most of it down to luck- which was probably not accurate. Leo had known Jason long enough to see that the son of Jupiter had a lot of skill.

The coach snorted. "Kid's being modest. You should've seen him. Hi-yah! Slice! Boom with the lightning!"

"Coach, you didn't even see it," Jason said. "You were outside eating the lawn. "

But the satyr was just warming up. "Then I came in with my club, and we dominated that room. Afterward, I told him, 'Kid, I'm proud of you! If you could just work on your upper body strength—'"

"Coach," said Jason.

"Yeah?"

"Shut up, please."

"Sure." The Satyr sat down at the fire and started chewing his cudgel.

"So." Leo shifted slightly, getting closer to the fire- he was not a fan of the cold- especially not since Mount Tam, not since his time as a captive. It had been traumatic to say the least. "Where actually are we guys?"

"Pikes Peak," Jason said. "Colorado. "

"But that's, what—five hundred miles from Omaha?" Piper's voice was surprised.

"Something like that," Jason agreed. "I harnessed the storm spirits to bring us this far. They didn't like it—went a little faster than I wanted, almost crashed us into the mountainside before I could get them back in the bag. I'm not going to be trying that again. "

"Why are we here?" Leo tilted his head, a curious look on his face.

Jason gazed into the storm as if watching for something. "That glittery wind trail we saw yesterday? It was still in the sky, though it had faded a lot. I followed it until I couldn't see it anymore. Then—honestly I'm not sure. I just felt like this was the right place to stop. "

"'Course it is. " Coach Hedge spit out some cudgel splinters. "Aeolus's floating palace should be anchored above us, right at the peak. This is one of his favorite spots to dock. "

"Maybe that was it. " Jason knit his eyebrows. "I don't know. Something else, too…"

"Didn't Midas say something about the Hunters heading west?" Piper's voice was curious, "Maybe they're around here- you've met them before right?" she turned her gaze to Leo, who nodded.

"Yeah, I'm friends with one of them."

Jason rubbed his forearm as if the tattoos were bothering him. "I don't see how anyone could survive on the mountain right now. The storm's pretty bad. It's already the evening before the solstice, but we didn't have much choice except to wait out the storm here. We had to give you some time to rest and wake up before we tried moving. Being turned to gold knocked you out big time. Both of you but you worse Leo- I guess it's because you were already hurt." Jason gave him an annoyed look. "And by the way, next time don't pretend you're not really badly hurt because you really are really badly hurt- those dragons clawed up your shoulder and back real good."

"Right, but we're on a quest and I've had worse." Leo pulled a face, "Well, it's safer here for now I guess. Don't worry about me." the storm was not nice- going out in it would be incredibly dangerous he knew that much.

And so they all settled in- Leo getting out some food from his belt and cooking it up, enlisting Piper and Jason to help him- it was definitely awkward to do one handed but his shoulder and arm were aching horribly and even with some ambrosia it didn't go away entirely- and he was real worried about taking too much. The last thing he wanted was to burn up.

As they talked and cooked Leo did tell his friends about his dream- Jason's expression was one of pure relief that their theory had been confirmed by a god.
Leo could understand that. Jason had been pretty sure that their theory was right- but still, having the confirmation, knowing for sure that he was Roman.

Understanding why he was so similar but also different at the same time.

Then they talked about Piper's situation- about what to do next- Coach Hedge was somewhat surprised by it- though he was more stunned when they explained that their real enemy was Gaea herself, but he took it in stride- it was very obvious that Piper had no desire to betray them. They had to make their plans after all, figure out what to do next- they'd all agreed that they had to save Piper's dad- and Coach Hedge pointed out that they didn't even know what mountain it was that Piper had been shown in her dreams. Though he did suggest that Aeolus might know before his eyes strayed to Leo and he added;

"The Bay Area has a bad reputation for demigods. Old home of the Titans, Mount Othrys, sits over Mount Tam, where Atlas holds up the sky. I hope that's not the mountain you saw."

"Yeah, I doubt it." Leo reached up and tugged at the gray streak in his hair, his brows furrowing, "That place is pretty distinctive, and Atlas is very loud."

"You-" Piper hesitated, "You've actually-"

"I got this." he tugged at the streak again, "Holding up the sky. I was taken prisoner by Alabaster Torrington. The crazy stalker guy. He uh- he tricked me into it. Anyway, I feel like you'd know if it was mount Tam."

And Jason was frowning at the fire, like he was trying to remember something.

"Bad reputation … that doesn't seem right. The Bay Area …"

"You think you've been there?" Piper asked.

"I …" He looked like he was almost on the edge of a breakthrough. Then the anguish came back into his eyes. "I don't know. Hedge, what happened to Mount Othrys?"

Hedge took another bite of paper and burger. "Well, Kronos built a new palace there last summer. Big nasty place, was going to be the headquarters for his new kingdom and all." his eyes flicked to Leo again, "Not a good place-"

"Yeah I know." Leo huffed the words, "You don't have to be all careful, when I was there it was only just started, it's Percy who you'd have had to worry about."

"Right." Hedge nodded, "There weren't any battles there, though. Kronos marched on Manhattan, tried to take Olympus. If I remember right, he left some other Titans in charge of his palace, but after Kronos got defeated in Manhattan, the whole palace just crumbled on its own. "

"No," Jason said.

Everyone looked at him.

"What do you mean, 'No'?" Leo demanded, "You think you know something different?"

"That's not what happened. I—" He tensed, looking toward the cave entrance. "Did you hear that?"

"And they sound close." Piper breathed out, surging to her feet as Jason did the same, and Coach Hedge followed them.

"Ugh." Leo managed to drag himself to his own feet, a grimace on his lips, "And the hits just keep coming."

"Leo you should wait here- Piper can you guard-"

"I can come-"

"Leo you're hurt." Jason's expression was worried as he glanced back at Leo, "You need to rest, even with the ambrosia it was bad-"

"I am fine." Leo held out his left hand and it ignited, "Fire is good right?"

Then, just outside the firelight at the entrance of the cave, Leo saw a pair of red eyes glowing in dark.

Leo blinked slowly, "Oh that does not look good."

More wolves edged into the firelight—black beasts bigger than Great Danes, with ice and snow caked on their fur. Their fangs gleamed, and their glowing red eyes looked disturbingly intelligent. The wolf in front was almost as tall as a horse, his mouth stained as if he'd just made a fresh kill.

Piper pulled her dagger out of its sheath as Jason held his sword at the ready.

Then Jason stepped forward and said something in Latin.

And really, Leo wasn't sure why whatever Jason said had such an effect on the wild animals, but the alpha wolf curled his lip. The fur stood up along his spine. One of his lieutenants tried to advance, but the alpha wolf snapped at his ear. Then all of the wolves backed into the dark.

"Dude." Leo breathed out, "You have got to teach me that. What'd you say Jason?"

Hedge cursed. "Whatever it was, it wasn't enough. Look. "

The wolves were coming back, but the alpha wolf wasn't with them. They didn't attack. They waited—at least a dozen now, in a rough semicircle just outside the firelight, blocking the cave exit.

The coach hefted his club. "Here's the plan. I'll kill them all, and you guys escape. "

"Coach, they'll rip you apart," Piper said.

"Nah, I'm good."

Leo's eyes narrowed, he could see the silhouette of a man coming through the storm, wading through the wolf pack.

"Stick together," Jason said. "They respect a pack. And Hedge, no crazy stuff. We're not leaving you or anyone else behind."

And Leo felt a surge of warmth at that- he was the injured one after all, he was the one who was most likely to slow them down.

The wolves parted, and the man stepped into the firelight. His hair was greasy and ragged, the color of fireplace soot, topped with a crown of what looked like finger bones. His robes were tattered fur—wolf, rabbit, raccoon, deer, and several others Piper couldn't identify. The furs didn't look cured, and from the smell, they weren't very fresh. His frame was lithe and muscular, like a distance runner's. But the most horrible thing was his face. His thin pale skin was pulled tight over his skull. His teeth were sharpened like fangs. His eyes glowed bright red like his wolves'—and they fixed on Jason with absolute hatred.

"Ecce," he said, "filli Romani. "

"Speak English, wolf man!" Hedge bellowed.

The wolf man snarled. "Tell your faun to mind his tongue, son of Rome. Or he'll be my first snack."

"Oh, you're a Roman then." Leo muttered, "Yeah, you definitely need to be in charge Jason.

The wolf man studied their little group. His nostrils twitched. "So it's true," he mused. "A child of Aphrodite. A son of Hephaestus. A faun. And a child of Rome, of Lord Jupiter, no less. All together, without killing each other. How interesting. "

"You were told about us?" Jason asked. "By whom?"

The man snarled—perhaps a laugh, perhaps a challenge. "Oh, we've been patrolling for you all across the west, demigod, hoping we'd be the first to find you. The giant king will reward me well when he rises. I am Lycaon, king of the wolves. And my pack is hungry. "