Chapter 9
The boys got ready to fight while Piper attempted to join them only to fall back down due to the black spots in her vision. She felt like she wanted to fight at their side until she saw what they were facing then she wasn’t so interested in joining the fight.
It started with a pair of red eyes glowing in dark. Then wolves, black beasts bigger than Great Danes, with ice and snow caked on their fur stepping into the edge of their little cave. 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 with a fresh kill.
Piper pulled her dagger out of its sheath. Leo’s grip on his hammer tightened. Coach Hedge was preparing to sacrifice himself for the other’s escape. Jason however understood fundamentally that the bigger one wasn’t the same as the others as he saw wicked intelligence. Instead, he spoke to them in Latin taking a step forward. That got a response. Wolves in general didn’t bother him, not after the nightmare of the She-wolf.
The wolves definitely understood him as 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. All of the wolves backed into the darkness outside. The others talked as Jason analyzed the situation. The wolves came back in using about a dozen pack mates to hold a rough semicircle just outside the firelight, blocking the cave exit. They weren’t attacking so much as holding them in the cave, the alpha was missing.
Any plans to escape ended when a silhouette came through the storm, wading through the wolf pack. The male humanoid figure became clearer as Jason gave quick orders; he was used to wolf mentality. “Stick together,” Jason said. “They respect a pack. And Hedge, no crazy stuff. We’re not leaving you or anyone else behind.” Jason moved to stand in front of Piper blocking her from their view as she was their weakest member meaning they may or may not hit her first, or he’d be their first target.
The wolves parted, and the man stepped into the firelight. He was lithe and muscular, built like a long-distance runner. His soot-coloured hair was greasy and ragged, topped with a crown of finger bones. Jason didn’t like the image as he couldn’t help but think only Nico should wear a crown of bones. The figure wore tattered uncured furs as clothing, the smell told them how fresh they weren’t. 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’. 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.” That caused them all to stiffen and tighten their grips on their weapons. The wolf man studied their little group. His nostrils twitched. “So, it’s true,” he mused smelling them. “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 at the audacity of this silly child never noticing the trouble he was causing. “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.” The wolves snarled in the darkness.
The group shifted. Piper was wracking her brain for this guy’s story trying to separate the roman words and put the story to the Greek ones she knew. Leo was meanwhile summoning a glass bottle full of clear liquid from his tool belt. Only know to him, it was Gasoline. Meanwhile Lycaon glared at Jason’s sword. He moved to each side as if looking for an opening, but Jason’s blade moved with him.
“Leave,” Jason ordered. “There’s no food for you here.”
“Unless you want tofu burgers,” Leo offered.
Lycaon bared his fangs in annoyance. “If I had my way,” Lycaon said with regret, “I’d kill you first, Son of Jupiter. Your father made me what I am. I was the powerful mortal king of Arcadia, with fifty fine sons, and Zeus slew them all with his lightning bolts.”
“Ha,” Coach Hedge said seeming to remember who this was. “For good reason!”
Jason glanced over his shoulder. “Coach, you know this clown?”
“I do,” Piper answered remembering now that she had more then wolves and creepy huntsman to work with. “Lycaon invited Zeus to dinner,” she said. “But the king wasn’t sure it was really Zeus. So, to test his powers, Lycaon tried to feed him human flesh. Zeus got outraged—”
“And killed my sons!” Lycaon howled. The wolves behind him howled too.
“So, Zeus turned him into a wolf,” Piper said. “They call... they call werewolves lycanthropes, named after him, the first werewolf.”
“The king of wolves,” Coach Hedge finished. “An immortal, smelly, vicious mutt.”
Lycaon growled. “I will tear you apart, faun!”
“Oh, you want some goat, buddy? ’Cause I’ll give you goat.”
“Stop it,” Jason said. “Lycaon, you said you wanted to kill me first, but...?”
“Sadly, Child of Rome, you are spoken for. Since this one” he waggled his claws at Piper “has failed to kill you, you are to be delivered alive to the Wolf House. One of my compatriots has asked for the honor of killing you herself.”
“Who?” Jason said.
The wolf king snickered. “Oh, a great admirer of yours. Apparently, you made quite an impression on her. She will take care of you soon enough, and really, I cannot complain. Spilling your blood at the Wolf House should mark my new territory quite well. Lupa will think twice about challenging my pack.”
None of them could think of who Lycaon was talking about. Piper instantly though of Medea, thinking she’d survived the destruction of her department store. They’d all forgotten about the very first woman they’d pissed off after leaving Camp Half-blood.
Piper struggled to her feet, making spots dance in her vision as she felt the room spin. Shivering in her blankets, pale and sweaty and barely able to hold a knife, she looked about as terrifying as a wet kitten. She attempted to put power in her voice only she was so weak and terrified it was useless. If she’d been asking for help it would have worked beautifully, but telling the lycanthropes to leave… they were actually amused at the attempt.
Lycaon’s red eyes crinkled with humor. “A brave try, girl. I admire that. Perhaps I’ll make your end quick. Only the Son of Jupiter is needed alive. The rest of you, I’m afraid, are dinner.”
Piper was determined that if she was going to die, it would be on her feet fighting. Hedge was just wanting to flatten them all with his club. Jason was determined to take as many of them as he could. He took a step forward. “You’re not killing anyone, wolf man. Not without going through me.” Lycaon howled and extended his claws. Jason slashed at him, but his golden sword passed straight through as if the wolf king wasn’t there.
Lycaon laughed. “Gold, bronze, steel—none of these are any good against my wolves, Son of Jupiter.”
“Silver!” Piper cried. “Aren’t werewolves hurt by silver?”
“We don’t have any silver!” Jason yelled missing his silver knife that was safely tucked… somewhere.
Wolves leaped into the firelight. Hedge charged forward with an elated “Woot!” it was enough that the wolves paused for a half second. Dinner wasn’t supposed to be excited to attack them.
Leo struck first. He threw his glass bottle and it shattered on the ground, splattering liquid all over the wolves with the unmistakable smell of gasoline. He shot a burst of fire at the puddle, and a wall of flames erupted. Leo was the one thinking about other methods of survival, he was the survivor of their group. He’d been waiting to see how Jason’s sword took them before falling to his only available plan.
Wolves yelped and retreated. Several caught fire and had to run back into the snow. Even Lycaon looked uneasily at the barrier of flames now separating his wolves from the demigods. “Aw, c’mon,” Coach Hedge complained. “I can’t hit them if they’re way over there.”
He was glared at for pouting when they knew this only bought them time to think. Every time a wolf came closer, Leo shot a new wave of fire from his hands, but each effort seemed to make him a little more tired, and the gasoline was already dying down. They started arguing about other plans that might, work, couldn’t work or risked ending the mission if they survived. Lycaon laughed. It was simply a waiting game for the wolves now.
The flames began to sputter out. Jason cursed and dropped his sword. He crouched preparing to go hand-to-hand with the wolves. Leo twisted his hammer into a more comfortable position. Piper raised her dagger. Coach Hedge hefted his club, and he was the only one who looked excited about dying. Then a ripping sound cut through the wind. A sound any Demi-god should know, an arrow in flight. The shaft of a silver arrow plunged into neck of the nearest wolf. The wolf writhed and fell, melting into a puddle of shadow.
The pack broke into confusion as more arrows felled more wolves. An arrow flashed toward Lycaon, but the wolf king caught it in midair. Then he yelped in pain. When he dropped the arrow, it left a charred, smoking gash across his palm. Another arrow caught him in the shoulder, and the wolf king staggered.
“Curse them!” Lycaon yelled. He growled at his pack, and the wolves turned and ran. Lycaon fixed Jason with those glowing red eyes. “This isn’t over, boy.” The wolf king disappeared into the night.
Seconds later, they could hear more wolves baying, but the sound was different. Theses ones were less threatening, more akin to hunting dogs on the scent. A smaller white wolf burst into the cave, followed by two more.
“Kill it?” Hedge was ready for a fight still
“No!” Piper said. “Wait.”
The wolves tilted their heads and studied them with huge golden eyes. Jason restored his sword to a coin as he remembered an owl that looked at him like that. Intelligent but not dangerous. A heartbeat later, their masters appeared: a troop of hunters in white-and-gray winter camouflage, at least half a dozen. All of them carried bows, with quivers of glowing silver arrows on their backs. Their faces were covered with parka hoods, but clearly, they were all girls. One, a little taller than the rest, crouched in the firelight and snatched up the arrow that had wounded Lycaon’s hand.
“So close.” She turned to her companions. “Phoebe, stay with me. Watch the entrance. The rest of you, follow Lycaon. We can’t lose him now. I’ll catch up with you.”
The other hunters mumbled agreement and disappeared, heading after Lycaon’s pack. Unknown but not surprisingly one of the hunters didn’t listen staying behind with Phoebe. The others were lead by a Hunter returned from the Underworld.
The girl in white turned toward them, her face still hidden in her parka hood. “We’ve been following that demon’s trail for over a week. Is everyone all right? No one got bit? The voice that came from the parka hood sounded familiar to all of them but foreign at the same time. It was Piper that caught on first. She sounded like Jason, that’s why they knew the voice from the way she spoke to how she formed her words.
“You’re her,” Piper guessed. “You’re Thalia.”
The girl tensed. There was a high chance of that bow getting pointed at them next but instead she simply pulled down her hood. Her hair was spiky black, with a silver tiara across her brow. Her face had a super-healthy glow to it, showing she were a little more than human, and her eyes were brilliant blue. She also looked at them “Do I know you?” Thalia asked.
Piper took a breath. “This might be a shock, but—”
“Thalia.” Jason stepped forward, his voice trembling. “I’m Jason, your brother.”
The kettle of worms wasn’t just opened so much as exploded all over them all. For a minute, Jason and Thalia faced each other, stunned. Then Thalia rushed forward and hugged him. “My gods! She told me you were dead!” She gripped Jason’s face and seemed to be examining everything about it. “Thank Artemis, it is you. That little scar on your lip—you tried to eat a stapler when you were two!”
Leo laughed unable to stop himself. “Seriously?” That’s how he’d gotten it? Nico was going to love this.
Hedge nodded in approval. “Staplers —excellent source of iron.”
“W-wait,” Jason stammered “who told you I was dead? What happened?”
They were interrupted when one of the white wolves barked from the cave entrance. Thalia looked back at the wolf and nodded, but she kept her hands on Jason’s face, afraid he might vanish on her again. “My wolf is telling me I don’t have much time, and she’s right. But we have to talk. Let’s sit.”
Piper collapsed. Coach saved her from cracking her head open when he caught her. Thalia rushed over. “What’s wrong with her? Ah—never mind. I see. Hypothermia. Ankle.” She frowned at the satyr. “Don’t you know nature healing?”
Hedge scoffed. “Why do you think she looks this good? Can’t you smell the Gatorade?”
Thalia looked at Leo for the first time, with an accusatory glare, like it was their fault they had an overly violent Satyr that didn’t have half an idea how to heal, two new demi-gods and an amnesiac. “You and the satyr,” Thalia ordered, “take this girl to my friend at the entrance. Phoebe’s an excellent healer.”
“It’s cold out there!” Hedge said. “I’ll freeze my horns off.”
Leo knew when they weren’t wanted, he’d dealt with that sort of thing too often not to recognize it. “Come on, Hedge. These two need time to talk.”
“Humph. Fine,” the satyr muttered. “Didn’t even get to brain anybody.” Hedge carried Piper toward the entrance.
Before Leo could follow Jason spoke up. “Actually, man, could you, um, stick around?” Leo looked and saw how scared Jason was, desperately in need of support that even their awkwardness was better then suffering this alone.
Leo grinned. “Sticking around is my specialty.” Leo sat down as Thalia and Jason also moved to sit around the fire. Thalia turned from looking unimpressed at Leo’s presence to regarded Jason in a kind of amazed trance, maybe remembering a little two-year-old who tried to eat a stapler. Jason was the opposite; he wasn’t used to stumbling across stranger things than long-lost relatives so this was just mental for him. Jason studied his sister like she was a scary device that might explode if handled incorrectly or just spontaneously if disturbed.
For a few minutes, nobody spoke. Leo moved to sit leaning against Jason. If he was being trapped like this to give Jason comfort, he was going to be stealing body heat to warm up some more. Leo took a few pieces of copper wire out of his pockets and twisted them together because the silence was getting to him now. Finally, he couldn’t stand the silence. “So ... the Hunters of Artemis… do they always wander at these heights rescuing boys?”
Thalia stared at him as if he’d just evolved from pond scum. Jason lightly elbowed him which actually make Leo smirk “Don’t mind Leo. He’s just trying to break the ice. But, Thalia ... what happened to our family? Who told you I was dead?”
Thalia tugged at a silver bracelet on her wrist. She was really nervous and sad. “Do you remember anything?” she asked.
Jason shook his head. “I woke up three days ago on a bus with Leo and Piper.”
“Which wasn’t our fault,” Leo added hastily. “Hera stole his memories.”
Thalia tensed. “Hera? How do you know that?”
Jason explained about their quest. He told her about the prophecy at camp, Hera getting imprisoned, and yes, she was some how alive after being dispersed no one was happy about it, the giant taking Piper’s dad, and the winter solstice deadline. Leo chimed in to add the important stuff: how he’d fixed the bronze dragon, could throw fireballs, and made excellent tacos. He noticed Jason’s blush so he’d take the teasing he’d get for keeping them talking so he wouldn’t suffer their silence again. Thalia was a good listener. Nothing seemed to surprise her, but being what she’d lived through… the monsters, the prophecies, the dead rising weren’t anything new. When Jason got to the part about King Midas, she cursed in Ancient Greek.
“I knew we should’ve burned down his mansion,” she said. “That man’s a menace. But we were so intent on following Lycaon—Well, I’m glad you got away. So, Hera’s been ... what, hiding you all these years?”
“I don’t know.” Jason brought out the photo from his pocket. “She left me just enough memory to recognize your face.”
Thalia looked at the picture, and her expression softened. “Annabeth took that for us, she managed to make copies for everyone.”
Jason nodded. “I think Hera wanted for us to meet. When we landed here, at this cave ... I had a feeling it was important. Like I knew you were close by. Is that crazy?”
“Nah,” Leo assured him. “It can’t be any weirder then half the crap we’ve dealt with the last few days.”
Thalia ignored Leo who hadn’t moved from his spot leaning on Jason. “Jason,” she said, “when you’re dealing with the gods, nothing is too crazy. But you can’t trust Hera, especially since we’re Children of Zeus. She hates all Children of Zeus.”
“But she said something about Zeus giving her my life as a peace offering. Does that make any sense?”
The color drained from Thalia’s face. “Oh, gods. Mother wouldn’t have ... You don’t remember—No, of course you don’t.”
“What?” Jason asked.
Thalia’s features seemed to grow older in the firelight, the years were weighing on her at that moment and it showed. Thalia had to explain what their mother was like. An attention seeking television actress who didn’t know when enough was enough nor did she handle her fame well as it got messy. She was so unstable she’s caused no end of problems driving Thalia up the wall. To their mother, attracting the Lord of the Sky was the ultimate achievement for her, but she couldn’t handle when he did what all gods did. Leave. Jason became more and more devastated as Thalia described their mom.
Leo’s face fell as he thought about his own mom. There had never really been enough money, a tiny apartment, and dead-end jobs. But they’d had each other. His mother had never been upset at being left behind or even wanted to keep his dad to herself. She was happy just having Leo himself. She only wanted Leo to know his dad. As long as she had Leo, she always said, life would be okay. Leo might have lost his mom. He might have had some hard times. But at least he remembered her. He found himself tapping out a Morse code message on his knee: Love you. He felt bad for Jason, not having memories like that, having nothing to fall back on.
“So ...” Jason didn’t seem able to finish the question.
“Jason, you got friends,” Leo told him nudging him gently. “Now you got a sister. You’re not alone.”
Thalia offered her hand, and Jason took it. He smiled softly as he felt content. Thalia then started telling him about when she was seven Zeus, but not the same Zeus started coming around again. She explained about how Zeus had given into their mother’s whims for a time as their mother loved his attention making her stable for a time. Then Jason was born which caused Thalia to gush a little about how cute he was. But that she didn’t trust their mother to take care of him so she had. Then Zeus stopped coming which caused their mother to rapidly spiral into instability again.
When the inevitable attraction of monsters started their mom had blamed Hera for it, not knowing all demi-gods suffered this. But it was also drawing them to Jason early which made their mother lose it over Hera tolerating Thalia’s presence, but Jason’s was too much for the goddess. Even though Zeus had pressured her into naming him Jason as an appeasement to his wife because she liked the original hero.
Leo fiddled with his copper wires. He felt like an intruder. He shouldn’t be listening to this, but it also made him feel like he was getting to know Jason for the first time. This was making up for that pretend time. “How did you guys get separated?” Leo asked realizing he was also here just to get them to talk not trail off to silently just exist beside each other.
Thalia squeezed her brother’s hand. “If I’d known you were alive ... gods, things would’ve been so different. But when you were two, Mom packed us in the car for a family vacation. We drove up north, toward the wine country, to this park she wanted to show us. I remember thinking it was strange because Mom never took us anywhere, and she was acting super nervous. I was holding your hand, walking you toward this big building in the middle of the park, and ...” She took a shaky breath. “Mom told me to go back to the car and get the picnic basket. I didn’t want to leave you alone with her, but it was only for a few minutes. When I came back ... Mom was kneeling on the stone steps, hugging herself and crying. She said—she said you were gone. She said Hera claimed you and you were as good as dead. I didn’t know what she’d done. I was afraid she’d completely lost her mind. I ran all over the place looking for you, but you’d just vanished. She had to drag me away, kicking and screaming. For the next few days, I was hysterical. I don’t remember everything, but I called the police on Mom and they questioned her for a long time. Afterward, we fought. She told me I’d betrayed her, that I should support her, like she was the only one who mattered. Finally, I couldn’t stand it. Your disappearance was the last straw. I ran away from home, and I never went back, not even when Mom died a few years ago. I thought you were gone forever. I never told anyone about you—not even Annabeth or Luke, my two best friends. It was just too painful.”
“Chiron knew.” Jason’s voice sounded far away. “When I got to camp, he took one look at me and said, ‘You should be dead.’”
“That doesn’t make sense,” Thalia insisted. “I never told him.”
“Hey,” Leo said. “Important thing is you’ve got each other now, right? You two are lucky.”
Thalia nodded. “Leo’s right. Look at you. You’re my age. You’ve grown up.”
“But where have I been?” Jason said. “How could I be missing all that time? And the Roman stuff ...”
Thalia frowned. “The Roman stuff?”
“Your brother speaks Latin,” Leo added to the conversation. “He calls gods by their Roman names, and he’s got a tattoo.” Leo pointed out the marks on Jason’s arm. Then he gave Thalia the rundown about the other weird stuff that had happened: Boreas turning into Aquilon, Lycaon calling Jason a ‘Child of Rome’, and the wolves backing off when Jason spoke Latin to them.
Thalia plucked her bowstring. “Latin. Zeus sometimes spoke Latin, the second time he stayed with Mom. Like I said, he seemed different, more formal.”
“You think he was in his Roman aspect?” Jason asked. “And that’s why I think of myself as a Child of Jupiter?”
“Possibly,” Thalia said. “I’ve never heard of something like that happening, but it might explain why you think in Roman terms, why you can speak Latin rather than Ancient Greek. That would make you unique. Still, it doesn’t explain how you’ve survived without Camp Half-Blood. A Child of Zeus, or Jupiter, or whatever you want to call him—you would’ve been hounded by monsters. If you were on your own, you should’ve died years ago. I know I wouldn’t have been able to survive without friends. You would’ve needed training, a safe haven—”
“He wasn’t alone,” Leo blurted out connecting the first set of dots. “We’ve heard about others like him.”
Thalia looked at him strangely. “What do you mean?”
Leo told her about the slashed-up purple shirt in Medea’s department store, and the story the Cyclopes told about the Child of Mercury who spoke Latin. “Isn’t there anywhere else for demigods?” Leo asked. “I mean besides Camp Half-Blood? Maybe some crazy Latin teacher has been abducting children of the gods or something, making them think like Romans.” As soon as he said it, Leo realized how stupid the idea sounded. Thalia’s blue eyes studied him intently, making him feel like a suspect in a lineup.
“I’ve been all over the country,” Thalia mused. “I’ve never seen evidence of a crazy Latin teacher, or demigods in purple shirts. Still ...” Her voice trailed off, like she’d just had a troubling thought.
“What?” Jason asked not sure if he should mention that Hari had told him about a Son of Mars, and whatever a legacy was…
Thalia shook her head. “I’ll have to talk to the goddess. Maybe Artemis will guide us. She’s the one who set us on the trail of Lycaon. She said we’d find a lead to a missing friend of ours.”
“Percy Jackson,” Leo guessed. “The guy Annabeth is looking for.” Thalia nodded; her face full of concern. Leo wondered if anyone would even look worried if he’d disappeared. He kind of doubted it. Then Nico’s face popped up in his mind. “So, what would Lycaon have to do with it?” Leo asked. “And how does it connect to us?”
“We need to find out soon,” Thalia admitted. “If your deadline is tomorrow, we’re wasting time. Aeolus could tell you—” The white wolf appeared again at the doorway and yipped insistently. “I have to get moving.” Thalia stood. “Otherwise, I’ll lose the other Hunters’ trail. First, though, I’ll take you to Aeolus’s palace.”
“If you can’t, it’s okay,” Jason said, though he was still distressed, but was able to hide the worst of it.
“Oh, please.” Thalia smiled and helped him up. “I haven’t had a brother in years. I think I can stand a few minutes with you before you get annoying. Now, let’s go!”
They walked outside the cave to Leo pouting about Piper and Coach Hedge being toasty warm in the tent, but mostly the hot chocolate. Phoebe instantly didn’t like the boys as a hunter, but Luna was different in way too many ways.
Luna blinked as she looked at them all then smiled cutely. “That makes sense now.”
“Luna?” Thalia looked a little started as she walked in as they did.
“Oh, do you remember when I said I’d been dreaming of Fire and Lightning lately?”
“Yes.” Thalia looked nervous, no one liked Luna thoughts or visions because they usually smacked you upside the head in the worst ways.
“It’s these two. The ghost must be Nico.”
“Luna… what are you talking about?” Thalia looked at her girlfriend confused
Luna blinked owlishly “Oh, the dream I’ve been having. I’ve seen figures of fire, lighting and a ghost all circling each other like a courting dance.”
“You’re saying my brother is trying to court Nico and this … imp?”
“Maybe?” Luna said tilting her head on confusion. “I just know it’s these two and the third has to be Nico. He was the only one I was sure of before now.”
Jason, Leo, and Piper all looked at each other. Jason and Leo both blushed while Piper looked bothered. Thalia sighed shoving it all to the side for later. Instead, she got them gear and hot chocolate. Leo was awed when it took exactly six second to collapse the warm pavilion tent and it self-collapsed into a square the size of a pack of chewing gum. He wanted the plans so badly which was why he was so startled when a small tube was handed to him by Luna and her cloudy smile. He’d look at it later as it got tucked away.
Thalia ran uphill through the snow, hugging a tiny little path on the side of the mountain, the Hunters left Leo in the dust. Coach Hedge leaped around like a happy mountain goat, coaxing them on like he used to do on track days at school until Thalia shut him up. Jason stayed at the back of the group with Leo.
Leo tried to break the tension, instead Jason admitted how out of his depths he was. Leo pointed out the obvious getting Jason to give him a sad look. Leo wanted to help, but his fixing was more inclined towards machinery… not living lifeforms. He did however point out that Jason and Thalia were very similar, they’d be fine. They just needed time they didn’t currently have.
There was a moment of panic on Leo’s part as he crashed into Thalia nearly sending them both down the mountain side the hard way when she stopped suddenly. He lucked out that Thalia was light on her feet and could steady them both. They’d arrived at the summit of Pikes Peak. Below them the world was blanketed in clouds. The air was so thin, they could hardly breathe. Night had set in, allowing the full light of the full moon and the stars to shine at their best. Stretching out to the north and south, peaks of other mountains rose from the clouds like islands or the teeth of a great monster.
Thalia pointed up. “That,” Leo choked, “is a really large rock.”
The real show was above them. Hovering in the sky, about a quarter mile away, was a massive free-floating island of glowing purple stone. It was hard to judge its size, it was figured to be at least as wide as a football stadium and just as tall. The sides were rugged cliffs, riddled with caves, and every once in a while, a gust of wind burst out with a sound like a pipe organ blast. At the top of the rock, brass walls ringed some kind of a fortress.
The only thing connecting Pikes Peak to the floating island was a narrow bridge of ice that glistened in the moonlight. The bridge wasn’t exactly ice, because it wasn’t solid. As the winds changed direction, the bridge snaked around—blurring and thinning, in some places even breaking into a dotted line like the vapor trail of a plane.
“We’re not seriously crossing that,” Leo said.
Thalia shrugged. “I’m not a big fan of heights, I’ll admit. But if you want to get to Aeolus’s fortress, this is the only way.”
“Is the fortress always hanging there?” Piper asked. “How can people not notice it sitting on top of Pikes Peak?”
“The Mist,” Thalia said. “Still, mortals do notice it indirectly. Some days, Pikes Peak looks purple. People say it’s a trick of the light, but actually it’s the color of Aeolus’s palace, reflecting off the mountain face.”
“It’s enormous,” Jason said.
Thalia laughed. “You should see Olympus, little brother.”
“You’re serious? You’ve been there?”
Thalia grimaced; it wasn’t a good memory. “We should go across in two different groups. The bridge is fragile.”
“That’s reassuring,” Leo said. “Jason, can’t you just fly us up there?”
Thalia laughed. Then she seemed to realize Leo’s question wasn’t a joke. “Wait ... Jason, you can fly?”
Jason gazed up at the floating fortress. “Well, sort of. More like I can control the winds. But the winds up here are so strong, I’m not sure I’d want to try. Thalia, you mean ... you can’t fly?”
For a second, Thalia looked genuinely afraid before she got her expression under control. She was a lot more scared of heights than she let on. “Truthfully,” she said, “I’ve never tried. Might be better if we stuck to the bridge.”
Coach Hedge tapped the ice vapor trail with his hoof, then jumped onto the bridge. It held his weight easily. “Easy! I’ll go first. Piper, come on, girl. I’ll give you a hand.”
“No, that’s okay,” Piper started to say, but the coach grabbed her hand and dragged her up the bridge.
The bridge was perfectly fine as they watched, when they were about half way across Thalia turned to her Hunters. “Phoebe, Luna, I’ll be back soon. Go find the others. Tell them I’m on my way.”
“You sure?” Phoebe narrowed her eyes at Leo and Jason, like they might kidnap Thalia or something.
“It’s fine,” Thalia and Luna promised.
Luna handed Leo something. He frowned at the chunk of ice that just appeared in his hands. “It’ll make sense in a bit. Throw it before there’s none left.” Phoebe and Luna raced down the mountain path, the white wolves at their heels.
“Jason, Leo, just be careful where you step,” Thalia said. “It hardly ever breaks.”
“It hasn’t met me yet,” Leo muttered, but he and Jason led the way up the bridge. Leo clinging to the ball of ice.
Halfway up, things went wrong, as Leo’s brain started going into hyperdrive. Piper and Hedge had already made it safely to the top and were waving at them, encouraging them to keep climbing, but Leo got distracted. He was thinking about bridges, mostly how he’d have design something way more stable than the shifting ice vapor business, he wasn’t comfortable with. He was pondering braces and support columns. Then a sudden revelation stopped him in his tracks. “Why do they have a bridge?” he asked.
Thalia frowned. “Leo, this isn’t a good place to stop. What do you mean?”
“They’re wind spirits,” Leo said. “Can’t they fly?”
“Yes, but sometimes they need a way to connect to the world below.”
“So, the bridge isn’t always here?” Leo asked.
Thalia shook her head. “The wind spirits don’t like to anchor to the earth, but sometimes it’s necessary. Like now. They know you’re coming.”
Leo’s mind was racing. He was so excited his body temperature was rising. He couldn’t quite put his thoughts into words, but he knew he was on to something important. He didn’t even notice the flames flickering in his curls. “Leo?” Jason said. “What are you thinking?”
“Oh, gods,” Thalia said. “Keep moving. Look at your feet.”
Leo shuffled backward. With horror, he realized his body temperature was rising too much, repeating an anger response, only excitement was causing this one. His pants steamed in the cold air. His shoes were literally smoking. Worst part was the bridge didn’t like it. The ice was thinning.
“Leo, stop it,” Jason warned. “You’re going to melt it.”
“I’ll try,” Leo said. But his body was overheating on its own, running as fast as his thoughts. “Listen, Jason, what did Hera call you in that dream? She called you a bridge.”
“Leo, seriously, cool down,” Thalia said. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, but the bridge is—”
“Just listen,” Leo insisted. “If Jason is a bridge, what’s he connecting? Maybe two different places that normally don’t get along—like the air palace and the ground. You had to be somewhere before this, right? And Hera said you were an exchange.”
“An exchange.” Thalia’s eyes widened. “Oh, gods.”
Jason understood ‘before it’s gone’ first as he takes the ice ball and throws it at the bridge as the ball wasn’t even sweating, it bought them time. Jason frowned as he’d still been listening but not understanding them. “What are you two talking about?”
Thalia murmured something like a prayer. “I understand now why Artemis sent me here. Jason—she told me to hunt for Lycaon and I would find a clue about Percy. You are the clue. Artemis wanted us to meet so I could hear your story.”
“I don’t understand,” he protested. “I don’t have a story. I don’t remember anything.”
“But Leo’s right,” Thalia said. “It’s all connected. If we just knew where—”
Leo snapped his fingers. “Jason, what did you call that place in your dream? That ruined house. The Wolf House?”
Thalia nearly choked. “The Wolf House? Jason, why didn’t you tell me that! That’s where they’re keeping Hera?”
“You know where it is?” Jason asked.
Then the bridge started to dissolve again, they had to move then. The two boys scrambled up the bridge, and when they turned, Thalia was on the other side of a ten-foot chasm. The bridge was continuing to melt.
“Go!” Thalia shouted, backing down the bridge as it crumbled. “Find out where the giant is keeping Piper’s dad. Save him! I’ll take the Hunters to the Wolf House and hold it until you can get there. We can do both!”
“But where is the Wolf House?” Jason shouted.
“You know where it is, little brother!” She was so far away now that they could barely hear her voice over the wind. “I’ll see you there. I promise.” Then she turned and raced down the dissolving bridge.
Leo and Jason had no time to stand around. They climbed for their lives, the ice vapor thinning under their feet. Several times, Jason grabbed Leo and used the winds to keep them aloft, but it was more like bungee jumping than flying. As Leo was embarrassed for causing so much trouble with his internal heating issue.
When they reached the floating island, Piper and Coach Hedge pulled them aboard just as the last of the vapor bridge vanished. They stood gasping for breath at the base of a stone stairway chiseled into the side of the cliff, leading up to the fortress. They looked back down. The top of Pikes Peak floated below them in a sea of clouds, but there was no sign of Thalia.
“What happened?” Piper demanded. “Leo, why are your clothes smoking?”
“I got a little heated,” he gasped. “Sorry, Jason. Honest. I didn’t—”
“It’s all right,” Jason said, but his expression was grim. “We’ve got less than twenty-four hours to rescue a goddess and Piper’s dad. Let’s go see the king of the winds.”