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ELECTRIC LOVE

CHAPTER FOURTEEN
[ L E O ]

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LEO FIGURED HE had the worst luck in the group, and that was saying a lot. Why didn't he get to have the long-lost sister or the movie star dad who needed rescuing or a band of basically-siblings who shot arrows? All he got was a tool belt and a dragon that broke down halfway through the quest. Maybe it was the stupid curse of the Hephaestus Cabin, but Leo didn't think so. His life had been unlucky way before he got to Camp.

A thousand years from now, when this quest was being told around a campfire, he figured people would talk about brave Jason, beautiful Piper, intimidating Natalia, and their sidekick Flaming Valdez, who accompanied them with a bag of magic screwdrivers and occasionally fixed tofu burgers.

If that wasn't bad enough, Leo fell in love with every girl he saw — as long as she was totally out of his league.

When he first saw Thalia, Leo immediately thought she was way too pretty to be Jason's sister. Then he thought he'd better not say that or he'd get in trouble. He liked her dark hair, her blue eyes, and her confident attitude. She looked like the kind of girl who could stomp anybody on the ball court or the battlefield, and wouldn't give Leo the time of day — just Leo's type!

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, and Natalia snorted into her hand. "Seriously?"

Hedge nodded like he approved of Jason's taste. "Staplers — excellent source of iron."

"W-Wait," Jason stammered. "Who told you I was dead? What happened?"

At the cave entrance, one of the white wolves barked. Thalia looked back at the wolf and nodded, but she kept her hands on Jason's face, like she was afraid he might vanish. "My wolf is telling me I don't have much time, and she's right. But we have to talk. Let's sit."

Piper did better than that. She collapsed. She would've cracked her head on the cave floor if Hedge hadn't 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, and of course it was an accusatory glare, like Why did you let the goat be a doctor? As if that was Leo's fault.

"You and the Satyr," Thalia ordered, "take this girl and Nat to my friend at the entrance. Phoebe's an excellent healer. Natalia will help you."

"It's cold out there!" Hedge said. "I'll freeze my horns off."

But Leo knew when they weren't wanted. "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. Natalia gave the two a small smile, and Leo was about to follow when Jason called, "Actually, Leo, Nat, could you, um, stick around?"

Leo saw something in Jason's eyes he didn't expect: Jason was asking for support. He wanted somebody else there. He was scared.

Leo grinned. "Sticking around is my specialty."

Natalia looked between the two. "Of course."

Thalia didn't look too happy about it (well, except that Natalia was there), but the four of them sat at the fire. For a few minutes, nobody spoke. Jason studied his sister like she was a scary device — one that might explode if handled incorrectly. Thalia seemed more at ease, as if she was used to stumbling across stranger things than long-lost relatives. But still she regarded Jason in a kind of amazed trance, maybe remembering a little two-year-old who tried to eat a stapler. Leo took a few pieces of copper wire out of his pockets and twisted them together.

Finally he couldn't stand the silence. "So . . . the Hunters of Artemis. This whole not dating thing — is that like always, or more of a seasonal thing, or what?"

Thalia stared at him as if he'd just evolved from pond scum. Yeah, he was definitely liking this girl.

"Gods, Leo," Natalia said. "They join the Hunters for a reason."

Jason kicked him in the shin. "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, one that looked a little like Natalia's. In the firelight, in her winter camouflage, she almost looked like Khione the snow princess — just as cold and beautiful.

"Do you remember anything?" she asked.

Jason shook his head. "I woke up three days ago on a bus with Leo and Piper. Then Natalia came and rescued us."

"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 — the Prophecy at Camp, Hera getting imprisoned, 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.

Thalia was a good listener. Nothing seemed to surprise her — the monsters, the Prophecies, the dead rising. But when Jason mentioned king Midas, she cursed in Ancient Greek, once again, another thing Natalia did.

"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. "I'd forgotten about that. I left it in Cabin One, didn't I?"

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. "We were absolutely destined to meet your hot sister."

Thalia ignored him. Probably she just didn't want to let on how much Leo impressed her.

"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."

Natalia scoffed. "That's an understatement."

"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, like her immortality wasn't working so well. "Jason . . . I'm not sure how to say this. Our mom wasn't exactly stable. She caught Zeus' eye because she was a television actress, and she was beautiful, but she didn't handle the fame well. She drank, pulled stupid stunts. She was always in the tabloids. She could never get enough attention. Even before you were born, she and I argued all the time. She . . . she knew Dad was Zeus, and I think that was too much for her to take. It was like the ultimate achievement for her to attract the Lord of the sky, and she couldn't accept it when he left. The thing about the Gods . . . well, they don't hang around."

Leo remembered his own mom, the way she'd assured him over and over that his dad would be back someday. But she'd never acted mad about it. She didn't seem to want Hephaestus for herself — only so Leo could know his father. She'd dealt with working a dead-end job, living in a tiny apartment, never having enough money — and she'd seemed fine with it. As long as she had Leo, she always said, life would be okay.

He watched Jason's face — looking more and more devastated as Thalia described their mom — and for once, Leo didn't feel jealous of his friend. 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 — not having anything to fall back on. Leo also noticed Natalia lace her fingers with him, and watched him visibly relax at it. That he was jealous of.

"So . . ." Jason didn't seem able to finish the question.

"Jason, you got friends," Leo told him. "Now you got a sister. You're not alone."

Thalia offered her hand, and Jason took it.

"When I was about seven," she said, "Zeus started visiting mom again. I think he felt bad about wrecking her life, and he seemed — different somehow. A little older and sterner, more fatherly toward me. For a while, mom improved. She loved having Zeus around, bringing her presents, causing the sky to rumble. She always wanted more attention. That's the year you were born. Mom . . . well, I never got along with her, but you gave me a reason to hang around. You were so cute.

"And I didn't trust mom to look after you. Of course, Zeus eventually stopped coming by again. He probably couldn't stand mom's demands anymore, always pestering him to let her visit Olympus, or to make her immortal or eternally beautiful. When he left for good, mom got more and more unstable. That was about the time the monsters started attacking me. Mom blamed Hera. She claimed the Goddess was coming after you too — that Hera had barely tolerated my birth, but two Demigod children from the same family was too big an insult. Mom even said she hadn't wanted to name you Jason, but Zeus insisted, as a way to appease Hera because the Goddess liked that name. I didn't know what to believe."

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 — like maybe being here now made up for those four months at Wilderness School, when Leo had just imagined they'd had a friendship.

"How did you guys get separated?" he asked.

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. Not even Natalia, either. It was just too painful."

Leo noticed a sad expression on Natalia's face when Thalia mentioned the name Luke. He would have to ask about that later.

"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."

"But now you've got each other," Natalia said, staring between her two friends. "That's the important thing."

Thalia nodded. "Nat'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 said. "He calls Gods by their Roman names, and he's got tattoos." 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. "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 dazzling 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.

Thalia shook her head. "I'll have to talk to the Goddess. Maybe Artemis will guide us."

"She's still talking to you?" Jason asked. "Most of the Gods have gone silent."

Natalia let out a small chuckle. "My mother likes to follow her own rules."

Thalia nodded. "But she has to be careful not to let Zeus know, but she thinks Zeus is being ridiculous closing Olympus. 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. Natalia frowned.

Leo wondered if anyone had ever looked that worried all the times he'd disappeared. He kind of doubted it.

"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 sounded kind of distressed.

"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!"

»»---------------------►

WHEN LEO SAW how well Piper and Hedge were being treated, he was thoroughly offended.

He'd imagined them freezing their hindquarters off in the snow, but the Hunter Phoebe had set up this silver tent pavilion thing right outside the cave. How she'd done it so fast, Leo had no idea, but inside was a kerosene heater keeping them toasty warm and a bunch of comfy throw pillows. Piper looked back to normal, decked out in a new parka, gloves, and camo pants like a Hunter. She and Hedge and Phoebe were kicking back, drinking hot chocolate.

"Oh, no way," Leo said. "We've been sitting in a cave and you get the luxury tent? Somebody give me hypothermia. I want hot chocolate and a parka!"

Phoebe sniffed. "Boys," she said, like it was the worst insult she could think of.

Natalia smiled at the girl, who let out a small squeal and wrapped her in a tight hug. She laughed as Phoebe began rocking them back and forth. "Hi, Pheebs."

Looked like Natalia was close with the Hunters. Duh, Leo thought to himself. They're a band of girls following her mother. Of course they're close.

"It's all right, Phoebe," Thalia said once the two stopped hugging. "They'll need extra coats. And I think we can spare some chocolate."

Natalia let out a sheepish laugh. "Yeah, I may have destroyed the last two parkas."

Phoebe grumbled, but soon Leo, Natalia, and Jason were also dressed in silvery winter clothes that were incredibly lightweight and warm. The hot chocolate was first-rate.

"Cheers!" said Coach Hedge. He crunched down his plastic thermos cup.

"That cannot be good for your intestines," Leo said.

Thalia patted Piper on the back. "You up for moving?"

Piper nodded. "Thanks to Phoebe, yeah. You guys are really good at this wilderness survival thing. I feel like I could run ten miles."

Thalia winked at Jason. "She's tough for a child of Aphrodite. I like this one."

"Hey, I could run ten miles too," Leo volunteered. "Tough Hephaestus kid here. Let's hit it."

Naturally, Thalia ignored him.

Piper looked up at Natalia. "Can you do all this stuff?"

"Yeah, if I had the supplies," Natalia said, shrugging her shoulders. "However, I'm not a Hunter, so I can't have a tent." She pointed her look at Thalia. "Rude."

Thalia raised her arms in surrender. "Hey, it's Artemis' rules, not mine."

It took Phoebe exactly six seconds to break camp, which Leo could not believe. The tent self-collapsed into a square the size of a pack of chewing gum. Leo wanted to ask her for the blueprints, but they didn't have time.

Thalia ran uphill through the snow, hugging a tiny little path on the side of the mountain, and soon Leo was regretting trying to look macho, because the Hunters plus Natalia left him 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. "Come on, Valdez! Pick up the pace! Let's chant. I've got a girl in Kalamazoo—"

"Let's not," Thalia snapped.

So they ran in silence.

Leo fell in next to Jason at the back of the group. "How you doing, man?"

Jason's expression was enough of an answer: Not good.

"Thalia takes it so calmly," Jason said. "Like it's no big deal that I appeared. I didn't know what I was expecting, but . . . she's not like me. She seems so much more together."

Natalia fell behind to talk to Jason and Leo, hearing a conversation about Thalia. "Thals has had a tough life too, Jay."

"Hey, she's not fighting amnesia," Leo said. "Plus, she's had more time to get used to this whole Demigod thing. You fight monsters and talk to Gods for a while, you probably get used to surprises."

Natalia snorted. "Ain't that the truth."

"Maybe," Jason said. "I just wish I understood what happened when I was two, why my mom got rid of me. Thalia ran away because of me."

Leo noticed Natalia take Jason's hand. He immediately laced their fingers together, and small smiles appeared on their faces.

"Hey, whatever's happened, it wasn't your fault. And your sister is pretty cool. She's a lot like you."

Jason took that in silence. Leo wondered if he'd said the right things. He wanted to make Jason feel better, but this was way outside his comfort zone.

Leo wished he could reach inside his tool belt and pick just the right wrench to fix Jason's memory — maybe a little hammer — bonk the sticking spot and make everything run right. That would be a lot easier than trying to talk it through. Not good with organic life forms. Thanks for those inherited traits, dad.

He was so lost in thought, he didn't realize the Hunters had stopped. He slammed into Thalia and nearly sent them both down the side of the mountain the hard way. Fortunately, the Hunter was light on her feet. She steadied them both, then pointed up.

"That," Leo choked, "is a really large rock."

They stood near the summit of Pikes Peak. Below them the world was blanketed in clouds. The air was so thin, Leo could hardly breathe. Night had set in, but a full moon shone and the stars were incredible. Stretching out to the north and south, peaks of other mountains rose from the clouds like islands — or teeth.

But 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, but Leo figured it was 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.

Then Leo realized 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' 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' 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 looked at Natalia intently. "You didn't tell him about visiting Olympus?"

"Kind of brings up bad memories, Thals."

Thalia grimaced as if it wasn't a good memory she was remembering. "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. Then she got her expression under control. Leo realized she was a lot more scared of heights than she was letting 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. Amazingly, it held his weight. "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.

When they were about halfway, the bridge still seemed to be holding them just fine.

Thalia turned to her Hunter friend. "Phoebe, 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 promised.

Phoebe nodded reluctantly. She gave Natalia another hug, then raced down the mountain path, the white wolves at her heels.

"Jason, Leo, Nat, 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.

Halfway up, things went wrong, and of course it was Leo's fault. 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 — how he would design something way more stable than this shifting ice vapor business if this were his palace. 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 he could almost feel his body's temperature rising. He couldn't quite put his thoughts into words, but he knew he was on to something important.

"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 really was rising, just as it had years ago at that picnic table under the pecan tree, when his anger had gotten away from him. Now, excitement was causing the reaction. His pants steamed in the cold air. His shoes were literally smoking, and the bridge didn't like it. The ice was thinning.

Natalia had a nervous expression. "Leo, you're going to melt it. Stop."

"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 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, and Natalia's did as well. "Oh, Gods."

Jason frowned. "What are you three talking about?"

"Holy fuck." Natalia then muttered something in Ancient Greek, turning to Thalia after she did so. "My mother sent you here for a reason. She told you to hunt for Lycaon to find a clue about Percy." She then turned to Jason, holding up their interlocked hands. "Jason, you're the clue. Artemis wanted you and Thalia to meet so she 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 dissolved. Leo and Natalia would've fallen to their deaths, but Jason grabbed their coats and pulled them to safety. The three of them scrambled up the bridge, and when they turned, Thalia was on the other side of a thirty-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. Leo was pretty sure she said: I'll see you there. I promise.

Then she turned and raced down the dissolving bridge.

Leo, Natalia, 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 Natalia and used the winds to keep them aloft, but it was more like bungee jumping than flying.

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. Jason wrapped his arms around Natalia, who was bent over, breathing hard, to keep her from falling.

Leo looked back down. The top of Pikes Peak floated below them in a sea of clouds, but there was no sign of Thalia. And Leo had just burned their only exit.

"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 as he stood up straight, Natalia doing so as well. "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."

★彡

yo, I can't wait to write about natalia and percy's friendship (wink wink)