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Chapter 8 – The Boreads visits

HAZEL

Hazel cursed herself for being so stupid. Why hadn't she taken her spatha with her?! It was still down in her cabin, and she definitely hadn't time to go there and get it.

So she just dodged the winged god's attack. She rolled on the floor and got up.

"So, exactly who are you two?" Hazel asked.

The thinner one smiled coldly. He had weird clothes, but Hazel had seen stranger. She was used to see modern people wear odd outfits now.

The other god was bigger. He wore a t-shirt that read I LOVE HOCKEY and hold a bag of chips in his arms.

Both of them had icy white hair, and wings sprouting out from their backs. They radiated some kind of cold, icy power that made Hazel shudder. She didn't really know if it was because of the gods or just the cold.

But before any of them could answer, Leo shot fire toward the gods. They both screamed and dodged it. The fire spluttered before it could reach the other side of the ship, and Hazel suspected that Leo was careful and tried to avoid setting the ship on flames again.

"I knew I smelled fire on you, Leo Valdez!" The thin one said in a triumphant voice.

"Fire is bad." The bigger god added.

The thin one smiled and shot ice from his hand toward the helm. Leo's expression turned angry. Hazel felt how the temperature dropped.

"Stop that." He said and tried to sound calm. "Don't even think about freezing my ship."

"You know these two, Leo?" Hazel asked and gulped when the god started to freeze the floor.

Leo shot fire again, this time on the floor. The ice melted.

It wasn't like a fight at all. The gods just stood there and smiled, one of them freezing the ship calmly. Leo shot small columns of fire to melt the ice, but no one attacked. The calm mood scared Hazel more than a fight would have done.

"Let's just say we've met before." Leo answered, his expression grim. "This is Zethes and Calais."

The names didn't help Hazel too understand who they were, but she didn't say anything.

"A new sidekick, Valdez?" The thinner one's cold smile grew bigger. "What happened with the dragon-suitcase of yours?"

These words apparently meant much. Leo's eyes got as dark as the blackest night, his expression turned from grim to terribly mad. Suddenly columns as tall as Hazel of white, hot fire shot from his hands.

"Don't you dare speaking of him, Zethes." Leo said, his voice trembling with anger. "If it wasn't for your sister, he would still have a body."

"I say whatever I want, Fire Boy." Zethes said coldly. "And, actually, it wasn't Khione who knocked him out the second time."

"If she hadn't knocked him out the first time, maybe the second time never happened!"

Hazel slowly started to understand.

"Are you… Are you speaking about Festus?!" She asked.

Leo didn't respond. He was trembling with anger, and his hands were burning with white, hot fire.

"Of course, daughter of Pluto." Zethes said and smiled to Hazel. "But the dragon was given a second chance of life, exactly like you."

Hazel stiffened.

So this was why the figure mast-head was a dragon. It was Festus, but just the head. He had been a full-size bronze dragon before. It made Hazel fuzzy to think about how big he had been. Someway Leo had attached the head to the ship and given Festus life again.

"Kill them!" Calais said impatiently.

"You're right, my brother. I'm getting bored of this conversation too. Let's just kill them."

"Yay!" Calais said happily.

"Khione sent you, didn't she?" Leo suddenly said. "You weren't interested in killing us when we were in Québec, but your sister hated us at first sight. Why would you suddenly want to kill us?"

Both Calais and Zethes stiffened. Zethes eyes were dangerously dark when he looked at Leo.

"No one sent us, Fire Boy. We control our actions ourselves, the opposite to you puny demigods."

"You were demigods before you became gods." Leo reminded Zethes, who got even angrier.

"Doesn't matter!" He snapped. "You demigods are being played with, don't you see that?! The gods are using you to close the Doors. They don't care if you will die or not, they just want Gaea back to sleep so they can get back to rule the world in peace from Olympus."

Hazel spoke up.

"Do you want to live in a world where Gaea is destroying everything and everyone?!" She asked him.

"Destroy!" Calais said and clapped his hands.

Zethes looked a little uneasy.

"She will reward us. Khione was right from the beginning, our father is foolish. Boreas just want to look good in Aeolus eyes. He doesn't see the whole picture."

"But you do." Hazel said. "You see it. Gaea will destroy the world if she wakes up. How will you get rewarded if the world doesn't exist?"

The gods looked uncertain.

"Destroy?" Calais asked.

"I guess you're right, demigod." Zethes looked impressed. "But that doesn't mean we are on your side. I will speak with Gaea about our reward. But watch your backs, demigods, if she gives us a better offer we will come back."

And in a swirl of cold wind and snow they were gone.

The fire in Leo's hands spluttered. He looked embarrassed.

"Are you okay?" He asked Hazel.

"I'm fine." She said and tried to smile. "Just a little cold. Who were they?"

"The Boreads. They are sons of Boreas, god of the North Wind. I don't know his Roman name…"

"Aquilon, I think." Hazel said.

Leo looked really shaken. He fiddled with some machine parts really fast, put together them and took apart it in the matter of seconds.

"Are you okay?" She asked him, frowning. "You got really upset when he spoke about Festus."

He didn't answer. Hazel walked to him and touched his arm.

"It was nothing." Leo tried to grin, but it looked more like a grimace. "Just something that happened a while ago. So, you hungry?"

Hazel got annoyed. It was something that bothered him, why couldn't he just tell her?

Because he is smart, he know I am Frank's girlfriend and he don't want to destroy my relationship by getting too close to me, the sane part of her thought.

But at the same time, a small part of her said: He is THAT amazing. Just give in, girl, I like Leo.

"Please, Leo." Hazel pleaded. "Just tell me."

Leo hesitated, but then opened his mouth to say something. But before he could say something, Nico came running.

"It's time for lunch. Are you coming?" He asked them.

His eyes fell on Hazel's hand, which was still holding Leo's arm. Hazel blushed and let go of it.

"Sure. Er, what are the other doing?"

Nico shrugged.

"I just woke up. I think Jason and Piper are done tidying, and Coach Hedge is still in his cabin watching TV."

"Okay." Leo said. He didn't grin or anything. "Let's go."

They followed Nico to the mess hall. Leo was still fiddling with his mechanical things, looking down at his hands. Hazel's heart ached. He hadn't been that sad or shocked the past day. Now, he was slowly gliding back to that sad and quiet Leo that Hazel detested.

Jason and Piper were already in the mess hall. Nico, Hazel and Leo sat down and ordered their plates to give them what they wanted to eat. The table was silent.

It felt so empty. Hazel knew everybody was thinking about Percy and Annabeth. It was too quiet, too tense to pretend that nothing was wrong.

It struck Hazel that Frank wasn't there. Didn't he know it was dinner? Or was he asleep? He maybe didn't want to eat. She decided to not go and find him, he would come to the mess hall if he got hungry.

But I would have gone and found Leo if he wasn't here, a little voice whispered in her ear.

Shut up!

Then Coach Hedge entered the room.

"Alright, cupcakes! What's going on?" He asked and started to eat. "Any monsters visiting yet?"

Leo looked troubled.

"Well, Hazel and I kinda' met Zethes and Calais." He said.

Jason dropped his fork, Piper said: "What?!", Nico barely looked up and Coach Hedge yelled: "Why didn't you call for me?!"

"What happened?!" Piper asked. The need of telling her everything washed over Hazel, but Leo spoke up.

"Nothing. Hazel convinced them that it was a bad idea to serve Gaea, so they left."

"You really mean Zethes and Calais? Boreas' sons?" Coach Hedge asked.

Jason shifted uneasily in his chair.

"Yeah, we met them before. When we was on our quest and tried to save you."

Coach Hedge frowned.

"They just left? Without fighting?! You should have called for me, I could have convinced them to fight and then hit them with my bat…"

"But we didn't need to fight!" Hazel protested. "They agreed that serving Gaea was stupid, and they won't attack again…"

"…If Gaea won't convince them again…" Leo added.

Hazel glared at Leo.

"It doesn't matter, right now they are on our side…"

"…Mostly."

"Leo!"

"So they just left?" Nico interrupted. "Without fighting or anything? Is it just me or does that sound a little weird?"

Hazel wanted to say that it was perfectly fine, but her brother was right. It had been a little too easy.

"Maybe…" She said uncertainly. "But it's still good that they left, right?"

No one answered. Everybody looked uneasy.

"If you wanna hear my opinion, I think that they just are cowards." Coach Hedge said. He didn't look uneasy at all.

"Coach! Don't call gods cowards." Piper said.

The coach shrugged.

"They gotta be cowards if they run away after a demigod tells them too. No offense."

Boring, I know. Please review and tell me what I can do better! Thanks :)