Chapter 7
Down at the end of the fountain tunnel hidden by the mist was Medea’s Department store. There were multiple ways to get into the store, for those that knew where to look or lucky enough to stumble upon the elevator doors scattered around. Anyone looking would be incapable of missing Medea’s cursive letter ‘M’ monogram.
The directory was also an easy place to look to know exactly where you were and find what you were looking for. Medea’s Store had everything. Furnishings, Women’s Fashion, Magical Appliances, Men’s Wear and Weaponry, with a café to rest, there was also Cosmetics, Potions, Poisons & Sundries all on the four floors. There was even parking and kennels by the main entrance for convenience, after all it was bad practice to leave pets in cars or improperly tied up outside.
The department store itself looked like the inside of a kaleidoscope due to the entire ceiling being a stained-glass mosaic with astrological signs around a giant sun. The daylight streaming through it washed everything in a thousand different colors. After all Medea was a princess and didn’t do things in half measure. Aside from the stained-glass ceiling and the elevator, there wasn’t any other windows or doors. The upper floors made a ring of balconies around a huge central atrium, making the ground floor visible from every part of the place. Gold railings glittered so brightly; they were hard to look at. The carpeting was a riot of oriental patterns and colors, and the racks of merchandise were just as bizarre. There were two sets of glass escalators that ran between the levels. In the middle of the atrium a fountain sprayed water twenty feet into the air, changing color from red to yellow to blue. The pool glittered with gold coins, and on either side of the fountain stood a gilded cage, exactly like an oversize canary cage. Inside one, a miniature hurricane swirled, and lightning flashed making the cage shudder from the imprisoned the storm spirits attempting to escape. In the other, frozen like a statue, was a short, buff satyr, holding a tree-branch club.
The three demi-gods stood at the railing of the top floor stunned. All of their weapons hung limp at their sides in awe and confusion. They’d landed in the perfume, potions, and poison section.
“May I help you find something?”
All three of them jumped back. Leo was the one that embarrassingly let out a squeaky yelp. They all stared at the woman who had just appeared in front of them. She wore an elegant black dress with diamond jewelry, and she looked like a retired fashion model, she looked maybe fifty years old but hadn’t lost her beauty. Her long dark hair swept over one shoulder, and her face was gorgeous in that surreal super-model way. Not dissimilar to the models in a magazine she looked thin, haughty and cold, not quite human. Her fingers looked more like talons with their long red-painted nails.
She smiled. “I’m so happy to see new customers. How may I help you?”
Leo glanced at Jason not wanting anything to do with this woman. She was too eerily not human in a human way. “Um,” Jason started, “is this your store?”
The woman nodded. “I found it abandoned, you know. I understand so many stores are, these days. I decided it would make the perfect place. I love collecting tasteful objects, helping people, and offering quality goods at a reasonable price. So, this seemed a good... how do you say... first acquisition in this country.” She spoke with a pleasing accent, something he remembered hearing from Nico when he was excited but not quite. Her voice was rich and exotic. Jason wanted to hear more. Jason started to relax.
“So, you’re new to America?” he asked.
“I am... new,” the woman agreed. “I am the Princess of Colchis. My friends call me Your Highness. Now, what are you looking for?”
Jason felt like he’d been electrocuted as he recognized that tone… he’d heard it… Danger… that voice meant danger. This was pissed off Child of Pluto. Piper had been about to elbow him when Jason had jolted. She looked confused at the ever so subtle tremor in his hand. Piper poked him in the ribs to restart his brain. “Jason ...” she muttered too softly to be heard.
“Um, right. Actually, Your Highness...” He pointed to the gilded cage on the first floor keeping his voice calm. “That’s our friend down there, Gleeson Hedge. The satyr. Could we... have him back, please?”
“Of course!” the princess agreed immediately. “I would love to show you my inventory. First, may I know your names?”
Jason hesitated. “I’m Blaise, this is Ginny and Neville” Jason said having absolutely no idea where the names had popped up but like he’s yelled them one too many times that they’d naturally slipped out. Piper looking really worried then startled looking at Leo who shrugged at their new names. Completely unable to say who they were.
Her Highness looked like a normal elegant woman with a cordial smile and a soothing voice. She seemed very intrigued by them. “Blaise. What an odd name,” she said, her eyes as cold as the Chicago wind like she knew he was lying. It was actually just that they were Heroes and the princess disliked the male ones on principle. “I think we’ll can make a special deal but first, let’s go shopping.”
Piper looked confused as Jason gave them a little signal to play along. Though Leo seemed to be giving a dumb smile as her as they were guided over to potions at the cosmetic’s counter. Jason slipped close to Leo and whispered in his ear ‘Pissed of Hades Kid.’ Leo jolted as he came to and turned pale thinking of Hari looking sexy and dangerous across the fire. But Jason was right the voice was the same and set off every warning bell in their heads.
Piper was not happy even a little bit, something was obviously bothering her. Piper tired to hurry up the shopping, only their guide was very much in control of this situation. Meaning they were starting from the top, and working down to their actual target.
Leo nodded eagerly. “Sure, yeah! That sounds okay. Right, Ginny?” Piper looked so confused as Leo was rather obviously going a little too over the top.
“Of course, it’s okay.” Her Highness put her hands on Leo’s and Jason’s shoulders and steered them toward the cosmetics. “Come along, boys.”
Piper didn’t have much choice except to follow. She still stomped her foot in frustration. The longer they were here the less time they had later. She also just happened to Hate department stores.
The princess first brought them to the finest assortment of magical mixtures anywhere. The counter was crammed with bubbling beakers and smoking vials on tripods. Lining the display shelves were crystal flasks. Some were shaped like swans or honey bear dispensers. The liquids inside were every color, from glowing white to polka-dotted. Even the smells ranged from pleasant like fresh-baked cookies or roses, to the scents of burning tires, skunk spray, and gym lockers.
The princess showed off a simple blood red vial with a cork stopper. “This one will heal any disease.”
Leo questioned it of course, out of pure curiosity, and to find its weaknesses. It had none, before she pointed out the swan-shaped container with blue liquid inside, which would kill a person very painfully. Jason meanwhile was faking intrigued.
Piper almost used Jason’s name then remembered their fake names “Blaise,” Piper said. “We’ve got a job to do. Remember?” She tried to put power into her words, force him to hurry them up but her voice shook. The princess scared her too much and made her confidence crumble.
“Job to do,” Jason muttered like he didn’t care but his eyes looked sharp to her. “Sure. But shopping first, okay?”
The princess beamed at him. Once again going into saleswoman mode, giving them hints to who she was, even though none of them were knowledgeable enough to catch them just yet.
“Wait.” Piper was still staring at the red vial. “Could that potion cure lost memory?”
The princess narrowed her eyes. “Possibly. Yes. Quite possibly. Why, my dear? Have you forgotten something important?”
Jason saw the conflict on Piper’s face even as she tried to keep her face neutral, she was no doubt thinking of His memory. If it cures his memory, they had a higher survival rate, and they wouldn’t need to rescue Hera… but she also looked like she’d been hoping for something he could never give her. She was also clashing with the thoughts of what Hera had said about the reason she’d taken them. Piper came to a decision that she didn’t care about the answer, which surprised her. Jason always looked so anguished when he tried to remember things. Piper hated seeing him that way. She wanted to help him because she cared about him, even if that meant losing him. In her mind maybe it would make this trip through Her Craziness’s department store worthwhile.
“How much?” Piper asked.
The princess got a faraway look in her eyes. “Well, now ... The price is always tricky. I love helping people. Honestly, I do. And I always keep my bargains, but sometimes people try to cheat me.” Her gaze drifted to Jason, he after all looked like a ‘hero’. “Once, for instance, I met a handsome young man who wanted a treasure from my father’s kingdom. We made a bargain, and I promised to help him steal it.”
“From your own dad?” Jason was frowning as this bothered him. He looked like he was in blinding pain as he tried to force another memory.
“Oh, don’t worry,” the princess said looking intrigued now as to why Piper wanted it. “I demanded a high price. The young man had to take me away with him. He was quite good-looking, dashing, strong ...” She looked at Piper. “I’m sure, my dear, you understand how one might be attracted to such a hero, and want to help him.”
Piper tried to control her emotions, but she blushed anyway. Piper’s nerves were shot and she was stressed which was why she wasn’t picking up on the hints being laid at her feet. Worst of all she didn’t believe that the puzzle pieces could actually be what she was thinking they were. Piper’s self doubts were exactly why her mother was watching and waiting. Piper would learn, but how much pain would she suffer first? That was the burning question. Aphrodite was amused at how the boys were resisting, not that it wasn’t leaking through slowly, but the control wasn’t at the level she’d expected.
“At any rate,” Her Highness continued, “my hero had to do many impossible tasks, and I’m not bragging when I say he couldn’t have done them without me. I betrayed my own family to win the hero his prize. And still he cheated me of my payment.”
“Cheated?” Jason frowned, as if trying to remember something important.
“That’s messed up,” Leo said.
Her Highness patted his cheek affectionately. “I’m sure you don’t need to worry, Neville. You seem honest. You would always pay a fair price, wouldn’t you?”
Leo nodded. “What were we buying again? I got distracted by shiny…”
Piper broke in: “So, the vial, Your Highness—how much?”
The princess assessed Piper’s clothes, her face, her posture, as if putting a price tag on one slightly used demigod. Piper who hadn’t looked at herself in the mirror was still hoping that her mom’s blessing was Finally wearing off. It wasn’t, much to Aphrodite’s delight at the annoyance it was causing, she could be rather petty after all.
“Would you give anything for it, my dear?” the princess asked. “I sense that you would.”
The words washed over Piper as powerfully as a good surfing wave. The force of the suggestion nearly lifted her off her feet. She wanted to pay any price. She wanted to say yes. It was in that moment her stomach twisted; hit by the realization she was being charmspoken. Piper came to the sick understanding; this was what happened when she used charmspeak. A feeling of guilt settled over her. This was how she’d gotten on the quest. She would not let that guilt win. She summoned all her willpower. “No, I won’t pay any price. But a fair price, maybe. After that, we need to leave. Right, guys?”
Just for a moment, her words seemed to have some effect. The boys were reacting to her voice in a way they hadn’t before. Even the Princess was tagged ever so much by it. The princess tilted her head, examining Piper with newfound respect. “Impressive,” the princess said. “Not many people could resist my suggestions. Are you a Child of Aphrodite, my dear? Ah, yes—I should have seen it, newly blessed. No matter. Perhaps we should shop a while longer before you decide what to buy, eh?”
“But the vial—”
“Now, boys.” She turned to Jason and Leo. Her voice was so much more powerful than Piper’s, so full of confidence, Piper didn’t stand a chance. “Would you like to see more?”
“Sure,” Jason said actually reacting to the voice as her tone had turned warm.
“Okay,” Leo said effected more then Jason.
“Excellent,” the princess said. “You’ll need all the help you can get if you’re to make it to the Bay Area.”
Piper’s hand moved to her dagger. She thought about her dream of the mountaintop. The scene Enceladus had shown her, a place she knew, where she was supposed to betray her friends in two days.
“The Bay Area?” Piper said. “Why the Bay Area?”
The princess smiled. “Well, that’s where they’ll die, isn’t it?” She then led them toward the escalators, Jason and Leo still looking excited to shop. Jason had faked looking at something to show he’d caught that comment. He was still free of the control. For now.
Neither the princess or Piper had noticed Jason slip something into his pocket. A potion he’d strangely recognized and knew its effects. While Piper was arguing with the princess getting details. Piper was narrowing down who the princess was. Jason felt useless as he didn’t remember enough to know even if he had all the clues. They were looking in the clothes now and Jason saw clothing that were all damaged by monsters and belonged to dead Demi-gods, not that he knew why he knew that but others he validly knew from camp half-blood.
Jason frowned and snickered as Leo was messing around with an enchanted raccoon hat. That was when he saw winter coats. He blinked seeing one he recognized that didn’t make his head hurt by remembering. It was a fleece snowboarding jacket like Piper’s jacket but the wrong colour. He picked it up and tucked the potion he’d flinched into the pocket. Piper still needed one after all.
“Your Highness. How much for this one?” Jason asked
The argument that had hit a stalemate was broken off as she looked at it… She smiled. “That one? That one is...” She looked at Piper and smiled mischievously “That one is a Kiss.”
“A kiss where?” Jason asked blushing rather badly.
The princess tapped her cheek with one of her clawed fingers “Here”
Jason walked right up to her and kissed her cheek, it looked like a child and parent affectionate kiss. It was Piper who actually paid the price of the pain at seeing something she desperately wanted to do again with her father. She swallowed to keep from crying.
“See a fair price” The princess stated but was startled when Jason handed it to Piper.
“I promised to get you a new one.” He grinned
Piper did actually cry and hugged him. ‘don’t put your hands in the pockets yet’ he whispered in her ear. She nodded happily snuggled into her jacket, even if it wasn’t actually her original jacket… it still fit the same and made her feel almost normal again.
It was also when she clued in on how just maybe she could break this woman’s pull on the boys. Jason was getting more affected the longer they were here and Leo’s resistance had always been weak to begin with. Piper brought up The Princess’s history. She convinced the princess to tell it herself. Piper knew she was right once the saleswoman started talking. The Princess was Medea. That scared Piper but she didn’t back down even after Medea snapped at her for getting the story wrong. Now… what was she actually?
Jason kept the story going by asking “What did he do?”
“Don’t you know? You who carries Imperial gold in your pocket, how could a hero like you not know?” The Princess tormented.
Jason’s eyes flashed like lightning, he was seriously getting pissed off at Hera/Juno for taking his memories, this would be so simple to solve with them. “No, I don’t” Jason sounded angry at that fact and this only delighted the woman.
“So, you were the one that lost something important. I wonder Blaise, if you could have answered me. If a goddess didn’t manipulate you like one did me. His name was Jason.”
“Jason,” Piper said. “The Original Jason? But then you’re —you should be dead!”
The princess smiled. “As I said, a new life in a new country. Certainly, I made mistakes. I turned my back on my own people. I was called a traitor, a thief, a liar, a murderess. But I acted out of love.” She turned to the boys and gave them a pitiful look, batting her eyelashes. Piper could feel the sorcery washing over them, taking control more firmly than ever. “Wouldn’t you do the same for someone you loved, my dears?”
“Oh, sure,” Jason said pulled by her voice but his body was saying ‘terrified’ which confused all of them, Medea more so then anyone else.
“Okay,” Leo came bouncing towards her not sensing danger like Jason was.
“Guys!” Piper ground her teeth in frustration. “Don’t you see who she is? Don’t you—”
“Let’s continue, shall we?” the princess said breezily. “I believe you wanted to talk about a price for the storm spirits—and your satyr.”
Jason looked like he was fighting the steps forward, the twitch for his blade even confused Piper. They didn’t know that all Jason could see was that fake innocent look the scary ginger girl in red robes gave someone before she proceeded to rearrange their face with her fist.
They had some issues on the second floor when Leo got distracted by the appliances. Even if this hadn’t been the department store from Tartarus, he still would have gotten distracted. Jason was frowning as he was fingering something in his pocket. It wasn’t the coin as this seemed to be in his pants pocket. Medea turned to him and said something he followed her almost like a doll. Piper was without thinking hopping like a pissed off bunny after them rage yelling for a few steps before she ran after the boys. All her attempts to break the guys free were not working, if anything they were falling deeper under Medea’s control. She was at the point of just stabbing the witch just because she couldn’t think of a better plan.
Medea seemed to find her struggles amusing as she finally brought them to the first floor. Leo saw Coach Hedge and ran towards him, having a bit of a moment as he’d never actually seen satyr coach before. They could see the old satyr was petrified at the moment he was sucked into the sky above the Grand Canyon. He was frozen mid-shout, his club raised over his head like he was ordering the gym class to drop and give him fifty. His curly hair stuck up at odd angles. With stubby horns on his head, furry goat legs and hooves, he was missing his workout pants and Nikes.
“I always keep my wares in good condition. We can certainly barter for the storm spirits and the satyr. A package deal. If we come to terms, I’ll even throw in the vial of healing potion, and you can go in peace.” She gave Piper a shrewd look. “That’s better than starting unpleasantness, isn’t it, dear?”
‘Don’t trust her’ warned a voice in her head that she didn’t know was her mother pushing her. ‘You are right about her. No one will be leaving in peace. A fair deal isn’t possible.’ Piper took encouragement from the words she thought were her own. It was all a trick. But her friends were looking at her, nodding urgently and mouthing, Say yes! Piper needed more to time to think. “We can negotiate,” she said.
“Totally!” Leo agreed. “Name your price.”
“Neville!” Piper snapped using the name which made Leo frown.
The princess chuckled. That’s when the bartering started. A game of wills and words between two charmspeakers. Hints were dropped about a patron, who was the reason the storm spirits had gone after them. Medea even knew what they were planning for the spirits.
Piper tired to throw Medea off her game then told the boys “Blaise, Neville —don’t trust her.” Piper put all the intensity she could gather into those words. She was utterly sincere, and it seemed to have some effect. Jason stepped away from the sorceress. Leo scratched his head and looked around like he was coming out of a dream.
Medea tried to bring the boys back under her control which stopped when Jason scowled. Something was flowing through his mind slowly. “You die three thousand years ago. You came back from the Underworld?” This information was leaking through…
“Death no longer holds me, young hero,” Medea said. “Thanks to my patron, I am flesh and blood again.”
“You ... re-formed?” Leo blinked. “Like a monster?”
Medea spread her fingers, and steam hissed from her nails, like water splashed on hot iron. “You have no idea what’s happening, do you, my dears? It is so much worse than a stirring of monsters from Tartarus. My patron knows that giants and monsters are not her greatest servants. I am mortal. I learn from my mistakes. And now that I have returned to the living, I will not be cheated again. Now, here is my price for what you ask.”
“Guys,” Piper said. “The original Jason left Medea because she was crazy and bloodthirsty.”
“Lies!” Medea said.
“On the way back from Colchis, Jason’s ship landed at another kingdom, and Jason agreed to dump Medea and marry the king’s daughter.”
“After I bore him two children!” Medea said. “Still, he broke his promise! I ask you, was that right?”
Leo dutifully shook his heads as Jason was shaking his as if trying to clear it not dissimilar to a dog, but Piper wasn’t through.
“It may not have been right,” she said, “but neither was Medea’s revenge. She murdered her own children to get back at Jason. She poisoned his new wife and fled the kingdom.”
Medea snarled. “An invention to ruin my reputation! The people of the Corinth—that unruly mob—killed my children and drove me out. Jason did nothing to protect me. He robbed me of everything. So yes, I sneaked back into the palace and poisoned his lovely new bride. It was only fair—a suitable price.”
“You’re insane,” Piper said.
“I am the victim!” Medea wailed. “I died with my dreams shattered, but no longer. I know now not to trust heroes. When they come asking for treasures, they will pay a heavy price. Especially when the one asking has the name of Jason!”
The fountain turned bright red. Piper drew her dagger, but her hand was shaking almost too badly to hold it. “Blaise, Neville—it’s time to go. Now.”
“Before you’ve closed the deal?” Medea asked. “What of your quest, boys? And my price is so easy. Did you know this fountain is magic? If a dead man were to be thrown into it, even if he was chopped to pieces, he would pop back out fully formed—stronger and more powerful than ever.”
“Seriously?” Leo asked.
“Neville, she’s lying,” Piper said. “She did that trick with somebody before—a king, I think. She convinced his daughters to cut him to pieces so he could come out of the water young and healthy again, but it just killed him!”
“Ridiculous,” Medea said, and Piper could hear the power charged in every syllable. “Neville, Blaise—my price is so simple. Why don’t you two fight? If you get injured, or even killed, no problem. We’ll just throw you into the fountain and you’ll be better than ever. You do want to fight, don’t you? You resent each other!”
“Guys, no!” Piper said. But they were already glaring at each other, as if it was just dawning on them how they really felt. Piper had never felt more helpless. Now she understood what real sorcery looked like. She’d always thought magic meant wands and fireballs, but this was worse. Medea didn’t just rely on poisons and potions. Her most potent weapon was her voice.
Leo went to say something. Medea and Piper both let out the most shocked sounds as Jason wasn’t trying to stab Leo as they’d both expected, he was kissing him. Leo was making rather awkward noises all too happy that Jason was kissing him. Piper let out an even more embarrassing noise as she turned bright red and turned around to keep from seeing the two boys making out. Medea’s shock wore off as she burst out laughing.
“Let them go, Ginny,” Medea urged. “I’m doing you a favor. Once I regain their attention, and it will make your choice so much easier. Enceladus will be pleased. You could have your father back today!”
Medea’s charmspeak didn’t work on her, but the sorceress still had a persuasive voice. Her father back today? Despite her best intentions, Piper wanted that. She wanted her father back so much, it hurt. “You work for Enceladus,” she said.
Medea laughed. “Serve a giant? No. But we all serve the same greater cause—a patron you cannot begin to challenge. Walk away, Child of Aphrodite. This does not have to be your death, too. Save yourself, and your father can go free.”
Piper turned to see the boys flushed and now there was tongue! She ‘eeped’ and blushed even brighter turning away from them staring at the ceiling. She wasn’t even on Jason’s radar. No wonder he’d reacted like that, she wasn’t dateable, she was a friend. She could hear a very different laughter in the air. Piper suddenly realized with a crushing feeling, she was never going to be with Jason, there had never been a chance of it going well.
“Listen to me, girl.” Medea plucked a diamond off her bracelet and threw it into a spray of water from the fountain. As it passed through the multicolored light, Medea said, “O Iris, goddess of the rainbow, show me the office of Tristan McLean.”
Piper realized in that second, with Aphrodite there looking at them through a different source, saw how deeply this had gone and how long this had been plotted. If Luke had never accepted to work for Kronos, Gaea still planned on rising. Piper watched how Jane. a woman she’d always hated, had put her father into danger all under orders from Medea. Piper looked down at her dagger. The blade trembled in her hand. She couldn’t use it for a weapon any better than Helen of Troy could, but it was still a looking glass, and what she saw in it was a scared girl with no chance of winning.
Medea was showing off then turned to brag at Piper. “You lured my dad into a trap,” Piper said. “You helped the giant—”
“Oh, please, dear. You’ll work yourself into a fit! I’ve been preparing for this war for years, even before I was brought back to life. I’m a seer, as I said. I can tell the future as well as your little oracle. Years ago, still suffering in the Fields of Punishment, I had a vision of the seven in your so-called Great Prophecy. I saw your friend Neville here, and saw that he would be an important enemy someday. I stirred the consciousness of my patron, gave her this information, and she managed to wake just a little—just enough to visit him.”
“Neville’s mother,” Piper said. “Neville, listen to this! She helped get your mother killed!”
“Uh-huh,” Leo mumbled, in a daze, Piper made a sound not dissimilar to a balloon letting out air as she could see the spit string between the two very flushed boys. “So ... I just attack Blaise? That’s okay?”
“Perfectly safe,” Medea promised. “And Blaise, kiss him breathless, till he can’t breathe anymore.”
“No!” Piper ordered a little squeaky. She knew it was her last chance. “Blaise, Neville—she’s tricking you. Stop making out!”
The sorceress rolled her eyes. “Please, girl. You’re no match for me. I trained with my aunt, the immortal Circe. I can drive men mad or heal them with my voice. What hope do these puny young heroes have against me? Now, boys, kill each other!”
“Jason, Leo, listen to me.” Piper put all of her emotion into her voice, using their real names to make it even stronger. For years she’d been trying to control herself and not show weakness, but now she poured everything into her words—her fear, her desperation, her anger. She knew she might be signing her dad’s death warrant, but she cared too much about her friends to let them hurt each other, even as accidental as this way would be. “Medea is charming you. It’s part of her magic. You need to Stop Kissing and Fight her!”
They stopped, and Piper could feel the spell shatter. Jason was blinking as he had Leo flush to him and they were both embarrassingly hard. Leo was taking a little longer to come around due to being light headed. Jason turned the oddest shade of red as he separated from Leo holding him at a distance “I am soo sorry!” his eyes closed to avoid looking at Leo who was taking some time to get it together.
“Something about my mother ...?” Leo frowned, then turned toward Medea looking not very threatening as he looked a little too mussed with his lips red from kissing. “You ... you’re working for Dirt Woman. You sent her to the machine shop.” He lifted his arm no longer being held up by Jason. “Lady, I got a three-pound hammer with your name on it.” Leo turned from horny to pissed off as he grabbed his hammer from his tool belt.
“Bah!” Medea sneered. “I’ll simply collect payment another way.” She pressed one of the mosaic tiles on the floor, and the building rumbled. Jason swung his sword at Medea, but she dissolved into smoke and reappeared at the base of the escalator. “You’re slow, hero!” She laughed. “Take your frustration out on my pets!”
Before Jason could go after her, the giant bronze sundials at either end of the fountain swung open. Two snarling flesh-and-blood gold winged dragons crawled out from the pits below. Each was the size of a camper van, maybe not large compared to Festus, but large enough. The dragons spread their wings and hissed. There was heat coming off their glittering scales. One turned his angry orange eyes on Piper.
“Don’t look them in the eye!” Jason warned. “They’ll paralyze you.”
“Indeed!” Medea was leisurely riding the escalator up, leaning against the handrail as she watched the fun. “These two dears have been with me a long time—sun dragons, you know, gifts from my grandfather Helios. They pulled my chariot when I left Corinth, and now they will be your destruction. Ta- ta!”
The dragons lunged. Leo and Jason charged to intercept. Piper was amazed how fearlessly the boys attacked. They worked like a team who had trained together for years. They really were suited to each other which just fueled Piper as she took off after Medea. When Medea spotted Piper, she started climbing in earnest. She was quicker then Piper who was taking the steps three at a time. Piper couldn’t catch her due to the head start. Medea didn’t stop until she was on the top floor.
On route up Piper heard Leo’s whistle as the sounds of battle could be heard below. Jason was yelling to keep the dragons’ attention. Piper didn’t dare look mostly due to the knife in her hand even if she wanted to know the odd words that Jason was yelling and what the flashing lights were that reflected off the shield she’d grabbed in passing on the third floor.
Piper reached the top floor, breathing hard, but she was too late. Medea had reached the potions counter. The sorceress grabbed the painful death potion and Piper did the only thing that came to mind. She threw her shield. Medea turned triumphantly to gloat at Piper just in time to get hit in the chest by a fifty-pound metal Frisbee. She stumbled backward, crashing over the counter, breaking vials and knocking down shelves.
When the sorceress stood from the wreckage, her dress was stained a dozen different colors. Many of the stains were smoldering and glowing. “Fool!” Medea wailed. “Do you have any idea what so many potions will do when mixed?”
“Kill you?” Piper said hopefully.
The carpet began to steam around Medea’s feet. She coughed, and her face contorted in pain, this wasn’t faking.
Below, Leo called, “Jason, help!”
Piper risked a quick look backing up closer to the railing, she almost sobbed in despair. One of the dragons had Leo pinned to the floor. It was baring its fangs, ready to snap. Jason was all the way across the room battling the other dragon, much too far away to assist.
“You’ve doomed us all!” Medea screamed. Smoke was rolling across the carpet as the stain spread, throwing sparks and setting fires in the clothing racks. “You have only seconds before this concoction consumes everything and destroys the building. There’s no time—”
She was cut off as the stained-glass ceiling splintered in a rain of multicolored shards, with a loud crashing sound as Festus the bronze dragon dropped into the department store. He hurtled into the fray, snatching up a sun dragon in each claw. All three demi-gods appreciated just how big and strong their metal friend was. “That’s my boy!” Leo yelled happy.
Festus flew halfway up the atrium, then hurled the sun dragons into the pits they’d come from. Leo raced to the fountain and pressed the marble tile, closing the sundials. They shuddered as the dragons banged against them, trying to get out, but for the moment they were contained.
Medea cursed in her native language. The whole fourth floor was on fire now. The air filled with noxious gas. Even with the roof open, Piper could feel the heat intensifying. She backed up to the edge of the railing, keeping her dagger pointed toward Medea. Trust was not something she extended to Medea. Medea thought by grabbing the Healing potion she had a bargaining chip. Piper for a single heartbeat was tempted. The sorceress was confident in her powers of persuasion, confident that she could always make a deal, always escape and win in the end.
Behind Piper, Leo and Jason were on board Festus’s back. The bronze dragon with the two cages in his claws, and began to ascend. The building rumbled. Fire and the smoke curled up the walls, melting the railings, turning the air to acid. Piper wasn’t going to let Medea have the satisfaction of being right as she jumped over the side. She plummeted for only a second before Leo and Jason caught her, hauling her aboard the dragon. She heard Medea screaming in rage as they soared through the broken roof and over downtown Chicago. The department store exploded behind them.
Aphrodite smiled giggling like a school girl. She was never going to forget that scene with the boys. They would be so awkward from now on until they got it together. Her daughter’s reaction was better then she’d hoped actually. She’d finally figure out the true source of her power, at the same time as she’d come to understand the possibility for Jason and her relationship while it had been there, they were not suited to each other just like Aphrodite and her mortal lovers. She left her mirror to go see her uncle-in-law. She needed to tell him what she’d learned about Gaea and how long this had really been plotted, not just by Hera.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The flight after that was both nerve-wracking and embarrassing. Nerve-wracking because their dragon was carrying too much weight putting severe strain on him, then there was the issue that Piper wasn’t talking about with her dad while Leo was thinking of his mom. The embarrassment came with the blushes that couldn’t be denied as both Leo and Jason still looked kiss mussed.
Piper was frowning as she put her hands in her pocket. She pulled out a potion from her pocket. “What is this?”
Jason looked at it. “Oh, I put it in there before I gave you the coat. I figured it would come in handy.”
“This is why you said for me to keep my hands out of my pocket?”
“Yes. I got muddled so I couldn’t mention it before, when it might have been useful.” Jason explained
“What is it?” Leo asked
“A Confusing Concoction. I thought we might be able to use it on the princess if it came to that but… well we got … distracted.” Jason was blushing and Leo looked like he was ready to make his hair burst into flames from the heat coming off his face. Piper giggled a little at how embarrassed they were now, even if she was jealous of Leo and Nico now.
“So how do we find Aeolus?” Leo asked as he didn’t have a clue.
Jason had the answer to that question. A Cirrus Cloud like a vapor trail that was staying even as the winds blew like a wind tunnel wrapped around it with a very faint glow to it. Jason could see the Magic of the God, even if he didn’t know what he was looking at. Leo and Piper predictably could not see this, an argument to figure out what Jason was seeing but unable to explain ensued.
Festus had been following this trail Aeolus had made since Chicago. They thought it was the wind god showing them the way to deliver their prisoners to him. Piper thought it could be another trap. She was broken after finding out she had to kill either her father, or her friends… she couldn’t think of a way to save them both. Piper in a way to keep the boys from grilling her about it, leaned back against Jason and closed her eyes. It was a pretty clear signal she didn’t want to talk. Piper dreamt of Camp Half-blood.
Thankfully Festus knew where he was going, gently curving toward the southwest to Aeolus’s fortress. Another wind god to visit, a whole new flavor of crazy. This became more so when Leo majorly started losing to his body’s need to rest. His head was nodding as the beat of Festus’s wings, the sound of raining pennies, was oddly calming. Jason convinced Leo to hand over the reins and get some sleep. Leo slumped forward against the dragon’s warm neck dead asleep. Jason followed their trail.