A/N: Hi everyone! Whew have I been busy, but yay that I managed to get a chapter up within the month! Hopefully I can do the same for April and then get back in a better swing for the summer (unless, of course I get the camp counseling job, which might block up my schedule in a different way.) I hope this chapter was good enough to wait for and, of course, I will likely be posting around this time in April. I love you guys and thank you for hanging on and still reading when I have had a lot of difficulty posting as rapidly as I once did.

Read, review, but I most of all hope you enjoy : )

The two snow angels flew toward them, and Leo had to do some pretty fancy flight work to avoid them, which did nothing good to Reyna's stomach. Swooping around and then stopping quickly in front of them, Festus paused unexpectedly. Reyna launched forward and nearly flatted Leo and Piper with her off balanced fall.

"Whoa! Okay, you two," Leo said, pointing ahead to Festus' head and behind him to Reyna, "calm down."

"I'm trying to!" said Reyna, adjusting herself so she was no longer squashing Piper. "You try being calm being thrown around without expecting it. And besides, your dragon is the only one actually causing trouble."

Flying toward them still were the two unattractive little snow things. They appeared to be regular teenagers, but for their wings and ice-hair. They had a familial resemblance – one only a mother could love, in Reyna's opinion.

One was huge, the size of an ox, and looked just about like a really dissatisfied, bad at fighting hockey fan, with black eyes and really unflattering clothing. The second looked like a rock star, but one who has seriously missed the memo about mullets being out of fashion. Reyna could tell he thought he was the king of looking hot, but, frankly, she wanted to do nothing but make him be out of her sight. He was also fairly small – like a middle schooler who desperately wanted to be grown up.

The two brothers-of-unfortunate-looks floated right up in front of Festus, pausing to stare at the dragon and the three demigods. "No access, not even to the hot one," said the rockstar wannabe. Reyna, thinking he was talking about Leo and kidding about the accent, was about to giggle amiably at the fake French accent until she realized that it may have been real.

Leo chuckled. "Well, I'm not going in without the ladies," he joked. "But, seriously, we need to talk to –"

"This is restricted airspace," said Rockstar. "You have no flight plan. You're breaking the rules."

"Destroy them?" asked the hockey angel, sounding strangely excited.

Reyna pulled her hair clip out of the tip of her braided ponytail, preparing to send it into sword mode, and she could sense Festus preparing to defend them as well.

"Wait!" cried Leo. "Come on, boys, be kind to your guests. Can I get the name of those who have the honor of, um, destroying us?"

The ox grinned broadly. "I am Cal!" he pronounced, sound very pleased with himself.

"That's short for Calais," Rockstar clarified. "He is unable to say words with more than two syllables –"

"Pizza! Destroy," Cal looked very excited, "HOCKEY!"

"- which, in fact, includes his own name," concluded Rockstar. "I, on the other hand, am –"

"I am Cal! He is Zethes! Zethes is brother!"

Rockstar, or Zethes, turned around to glare at Cal. "You're too stupid to pronounce your own name, yet you never cease to interrupt and annoy me."

"Hey, he almost made it to three real sentences," said Leo. "I'm impressed."

Cal nodded and smiled.

Zethes rolled his eyes. "Well, idiot, you clearly can't tell that they're mocking you. But, yes, I am Zethes. But the ladies," he leered at Piper and winked at Reyna, "you can call me whatever you want."

That immediately made Reyna desire a long, boiling hot shower where she curled up in the corner and cried for half an hour of it. She cringed involuntarily, shuddering.

Piper seemed to be experiencing the same disgust, because she made a sound like gagging on a cough drop. "Good god," said Piper, "That's the most terrifying thing I think I've ever heard."

Zethes, apparently taking their reactions the opposite way of how they were intended, nodded. "Yeah, girls, we Boreads are quite the romantic people, with a touch of French. You know what the French have done to love?" He wiggled his eyebrows. "We invented the ménage –"

As Piper appeared to be contemplating throwing herself off of Festus and Reyna was literally twitching, Leo interrupted, "Boreads?"

Reyna, calming down slightly, said, "as in the sons of Boreas?"

Zethes' creepy leer increased. "So the lady has heard of us."

"They lady will skewer you through the gut if you don't stop hitting on her," deadpanned Reyna.

Zethes coughed. "Oh, I get it." He winked again, looking like he was having a spasm. "You're playing hard to get. Well, if it helps with the cred, Cal and I are our father's gatekeepers, which means that, no matter how pretty two thirds of them are, we simply cannot authorize unlicensed," he looked down at Festus, "um, metalwork to flying above our palace scaring the mortals."

He pointed below, and Reyna noticed people staring up at them. Knowing the mist the assumption was probably just a helicopter, she wasn't too worried, but it was still making her uncomfortable.

"Which is why, unless there is an emergency landing, we are simply unable to allow you to live and are required to kill you painfully."

"Destroy!" yelled Cal jubilantly.

Piper shifted. "But this is an emergency landing," said Piper, sounding convincing to even Reyna's ears.

Cal looked like someone just deflated his favorite birthday balloon. "Aw."

Zethes took another stare at Piper, and Reyna got halfway overwhelmed with the desire to introduce his face to her knee. She took a deep breath, though, and made the effort not to react at all. "How does the lovely lady decide this is an emergency?"

Reyna was almost overwhelmed with the desire to hit Zethes until Piper spoke. "We simply must see Boreas. It's totally urgent!" She batted her eyelashes. "Please?" The smile on her face was forced, but despite that, she was still radiant, and it had the desired effect on Zethes.

"I mean, we would let you through," clarified Zethes, playing with his silk shirt. "But, um, you see, lovely lady, it's our sister, she'd absolutely storm if we let you –"

"Well, our dragon's also malfunctioning, so if you want us plummeting to earth and scaring the bejesus out of all the mortals."

Piper's matter-of-fact tone was funny enough to Reyna that she almost laughed and gave it all away.

Festus, unlike Reyna, was on his A game with helping out the situation, coughed, and leaked a strange amount of black fluid out onto a Mercedes below.

"No destroy?" Cal murmured, looking horribly depressed.

Zethes briefly pondered the situation, then sighed. "Well, if it is an emergency, who am I to prevent you from finding safety?"

"But destroy later?" Cal asked.

Zethes shrugged. "We'd have to do some serious explaining, but I guess we can take your faulty dragon and you down. I warn you, though. Our father hasn't been fond of visitors lately."

"Oh, don't you worry," said Piper, "you'll find I can charm even the coldest of hearts."

Zethes snorted at that, and Cal said, "Try hard."

Reyna had no idea what that meant.

"Come on, guys!" said Leo. "Let's follow them. What's the worst that can happen?"

"Boreas could be a level of unkind to us visitors that could make us very, very dead," Reyna offered.

"Pshaw," said Leo, waving off the worry. "Who wouldn't love us?"

And they flew after the flashlights, getting closer and closer. Reyna briefly was worried they were about to crash into a tower, until a secret compartment that made her pretty uncomfortable was opened in the roof. She immediately tensed. "This doesn't feel right," she murmured, a wave of discomfort flooding over her.

The landed in a room that, once upon a time, would have been the more elite of penthouses, but this one looked like a portal to Antarctica. Reyna stepped off the dragon and almost slipped to the floor, had it not been for Piper catching her around the waist and setting her on her feet.

Reyna forced herself to ignore the flood of something rushing to her heart.

"Hey, guys," said Leo, landing on the carpet heavily. "Check the thermostat. I think your heat might be broken."

"Something feels wrong," said Reyna, completely ignoring Leo. "Really, really wrong."

"I got snow in my pants," groaned Piper, shaking her boot.

Interrupting everyone's thoughts came Festus, groaning and shivering as ice began to slowly coat his skin.

"Well, you've got to get the dragon deactivated. There is no fire allowed in this room." He fluffed his unfortunately styled mullet. "Heat wrecks my hair."

Festus growled as his jaw chattered, and Leo rested a comforting hand on his head. "Shh, it's okay boy." Turning to Zethes, he said, "Alright, the dragon's a bit sensitive about getting deactivated, so we need to be careful about the terminology, okay?" He grinned. "But I've got the perfect solution, so there's no need to worry."

"Destoy," said Cal authoritatively, nodding.

Leo rolled his eyes. "No, but good use of your limited vocabulary. Try to say 'cake' or 'sauna' or 'television' next time – something that doesn't imply my death."

"Leo," said Piper cautiously, "are you sure you're –"

"Don't doubt my skills, beauty queen," said Leo. "Last night during my repairs I found some fancy buttons. Some? You don't want to know. But others?" He shrugged. "I'll let you see for yourselves." Leo maneuvered himself around the dragon's foreleg, pulled a switch, and like lightning the dragon began to fold himself like origami. His plating staked together neatly and he collapsed into a carryon-sized cube. Leo swaggered over to the box and went to pick it up before Reyna could remind him of how dense it would be.

He grunted unattractively as he tried to pull it up, and coughed uncomfortable. "Right, no lifting. Um. Hold on." He fiddled with the box for a few moments, and a handle popped out.

"Ta da!" he announced.

"Every single law of physics is screaming in agony," said Reyna. "That's not even halfway possible."

"Psh," said Leo, "that's what I always used to say about gods, and look where we are now!" He shrugged. "We're demigods, Reyna. Impossible doesn't exist for us anymore."

Zethes, interrupting them, drew his sword, Cal not far behind. "Who are you?" he demanded.

"What'd I do?" Leo asked. "What'd I do?!"

"What are you? A child of the South Wind?" he growled. "I knew those jerks were out to spy on us again."

"Hate south," grumbled Cal.

"Nope," said Leo, shaking his head rapidly. "No South and no Wind in me. I'm just a little ol' son of Hephaestus. "Blacksmith buddy, not meaning any harm!"

"Fire," said Cal. "Smell fire."

Leo, to Reyna's surprise, changed expression, looking almost guilty. "Well, yeah, I've been working with oil and my hair's a bit singed –"

"No," said Zethes, poking Leo with his sword, "the fire – we smell it. On you."

"Thought dragon," said Cal.

"But now the dragon is a suitcase," said Zethes, "so the smell of fire is on you."

Leo looked like he was a mouse caught between a cat and a hard place. "Hey, I don't, it's not. I don't know," he turned to Reyna and Piper. "Help a guy out, you two?" he asked, sounding pitiful.

Reyna still had the hair clip in her hand, and stepped forward. "If I were you, I'd quit freaking my friend out. Leo's not a fire demon or whatever you're trying to claim he is. The guy's clean."

"Lies," said Zethes.

"Oh, come on!" said Piper, trying to appear joyful but actually looking as if she feared for her life. "We're friends here, right? Let's put the swords down and talk things out."

Her voice, though the power was weakened, and it appeared to be affecting everyone in the room. Even Reyna found herself pinning her hair clip back into place.

"The beautiful one is right, and can't help being attracted to me," said Zethes. Reyna shuddered and was halfway to hiding Piper away from his creepy gaze. He looked like he wanted to do what Piper was asking, but like something else was speaking to him that he couldn't ignore. "But I simply cannot oblige." His icy cold sword pressed against Leo's chest, and Leo looked terrified.

"Destroy?" asked Cal.

Zethes nodded. "And now, I believe –"

Reyna, now having shaken off the haze of Piper's voice, pulled the clip out again, messing up her braid, and stepped up in front of Zethes, triggering her clip into a sword, and got right into Zethes' face. "We're not a threat," she said calmly. "He's a son of Hephaestus, she's a daughter of Aphrodite, and I'm a –"

"Wait," said Zethes. "I know you."

Reyna was floored. That was not how she was expecting this to go. "No you don't," she said. "Do you? No, you don't." She paused. "Do you?"

Cal shook his head. "No," he said, "this one too short."

"Hey!" said Reyna. "I'm five foot six, I'm not –"

"Not the time, Rey," said Piper from behind her.

"Right," said Reyna, focusing. "What do you mean, you know me?"

"You can't be her," said Zethes. "It's not – you can't."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," said Reyna slowly. "And I can assure you, I've never met either of you before." But can I? Can I assure them I've never been here when I don't even know my last name? Reyna thought. She could have been here daily as a kid, for all she knew. She could have come here on field trips, and with this memory loss she never would have known that.

"You do not strike me as a queen," said Zethes. "You are not her."

"I agree with that," said Reyna, still confused out of her mind. "And nope. Not a queen." She paused. "Queens tend to hate me." Where did THAT gem of information come from?

"Well, perhaps we will get to know you more," suggested Zethes. "Because there is something at work here I am not familiar with." He looked over Reyna in a different way than before. Not checking her out, but sizing her up – checking his enemy for their weakspots.

"Why?" asked Leo. "What'd Reyna do? Are we in trouble?"

"That," said the icy voice of Reyna's nightmares, "depends on the will of my father."

All three demigods stared up the staircase, and Reyna felt like somebody was stabbing her in the mind with frozen, unbreakable, liquid fear.

Aha, said the voice in Reyna's head, the ice princess' appearance matching her cold, cruel tone, I see you recognize me from that night. Surprise, surprise, little demigod.

Reyna could hardly move.

"Rey?" Piper muttered, slipping her hand into Reyna's. "It's okay, there's no need to be scared."

Leo looked over at Reyna, and his face flooded with confusion as he realized that the generally strong-willed, brave Reyna looked as if she were about to pee her pants with fear. I'm a regular fearly quest leader, thought Reyna sarcastically

Khione's face looked even more malicious. Oh, well, would you look at that, Khione whispered into Reyna's head. Your princess is protecting you and you protect her. The most brave of relationships, and it isn't even real. The cold voice laughed in Reyna's head as memories that existed only in Piper's mind appeared briefly in Reyna's. The two of them, slow dancing on the roof of a building, watching the stars. A time where Piper made Reyna dance to some ridiculous pop song in one of their dorm rooms. A kiss – a kiss that existed as a fake in Piper's mind, but had never been put into Reyna's. The false memories were agony, and the expression on Khione's face was joy. Yes, those are just a taste of some memories that she knows but you don't. Isn't that sweet? She thinks so highly of you. It would be such a tragedy if…Something happened to the beautiful angel on your left before you could truly have these memories as something real. She could simply disappear, and might never know you were real.

"Over my dead body," vowed Reyna, her voice as quiet yet forceful as she could make it, "you won't touch her."

"What?" muttered Piper. "Reyna, are you okay? You seem…Uncomfortable or something."

"It was her," muttered Reyna into Piper's ear, "she was the voice in my ear the other night."

Piper looked up at Khione and glared at her with all of her effort. "Well then," said Piper loudly, in Khione's direction. "You're threatening Reyna? Because if you are, you've got to get through me."

"Do you know her?" Leo asked, looking enamoured. "Because you should totally introduce me."

Khione scoffed, ignoring Leo, as if Piper were so far below her the idea of Khione spending time thinking about her was simply laughable. "Threatening Reyna?" Khione said. "The girl doesn't care an ounce for herself like she does another." The ice cold smile hardened and the grin reached those evil eyes. "No, I do not threaten her," she folded her hands. "I threaten you, daughter of beauty."