chapter twelve

─── ice and electricity doesn't seem to be the best combination

          ℑ didn't like leaving a person behind.  It wasn't a good plan, there weren't enough of us to be able to do it. If something happened, then Leo had no one to cover his back. I could only hope that the dragon would cover him.

Zethes stayed behind us, his blade drawn. Cal stayed behind with Leo, which left Piper and I with the Ice Princess. 

Every so often she would turn and smile at me, but it wasn't warm or pleasant, it just froze my insides even more than the temperature could. She looked at Piper like she was dirt on the bottom of her shoe, and then looked at me like she couldn't wait to dissect me like some frog in a science lab.

Luke had said that Boreas was the friendliest of the wind gods, but did that just mean they weren't going to kill us as quickly as the others. This was a frosty reception.

Piper's hand found mine, squeezing as I turned to her. She looked a little scared, though she was trying to put on a brave face at all of this. I forgot that not everyone was built for this unlike me. Though I didn't know how I was built for this.

"It'll be alright." I squeezed her hand. "Just a little talk. Alright?"

The ice princess turned and noticed that I was holding Piper's hand. Her eyes narrowed and smile faded as my hand turned ice cold. Piper and I yanked apart as I shook my hand out. It was smoking from ice, and I huffed, my breath coming out cold.

"Warmth is not a good idea here." The princess advised, narrowing her eyes at me as I hummed in annoyance. "Especially when I am your best chance of staying alive. Please, this way."

A prod in the back had me moving forward once more, down a hallway decked in frozen tapestries. This was accompanied by freezing cold winds and I huffed.

I didn't understand this, any of what was going on and this time, only part of it was due to the amnesia. The picture of the other girl, Thalia, my sister, was burning a hole in my pocket beside the coin. I mean, one part of me found that it was comforting to know that I had family, that I had a sister but if I had a sister, then why wasn't she in my dreams, searching for me with the others. Luke had said that I had gone missing, but had she not looked for me?

Also, we looked nothing alike. In fact, the only thing that looked vaguely familiar was the eyes, which I supposed, electric blue eyes would be from the god of lightning. But she was sharper, colder and different. Hera had left enough memories for me to get the whole related thing, but nothing else.

She'd stolen everything else from me, every little thing about my past, and where I'd been and who my friends were. She'd taken it all.

One part of me was pondering on my previous conversations with Luke and Annabeth. Was it even worth me getting her out of the cage? I knew that it was my duty, but I was so angry at the situation I was stuck in, so maybe I should have considered leaving her stuck.

"Hey, Cress." I paused. My face automatically switched from the frown it had on to one that was calmer, more befitting of a leader. "You with me still?"

"Yeah, sorry." I smiled at Piper gently. She was a nice girl, kind and warm, but I was sure that I didn't know her before the Grand Canyon. My entire friendship with her, in Piper's mind, had to be because of the Mist. It was hard to think of which was worse; having no memories, or having fake memories of a person.

Once again, this then dragged me back to the two people that I'd seen in my dreams. Were they waiting for me? Where were they? Would they have mixed with Camp Half-Blood and most importantly, what were they to me?

At the end of the hallway, our little group found ourselves in front of a large set of oaken doors, carved with a map of the world.  It was complete with four faces n the corner, blowing wind in different directions and I could have sworn that I'd seen it before.

Working out when I'd seen it was proving to be difficult though considering I was still an amnesiac.

"This is the throne room." The princess had twisted to regard me again, her brown eyes glittering cruelly. "Be on your best behaviour, Cressida Grace. My father can be chilly. I will translate for you, and try to encourage him to hear you out. I do hope he spares you. We could have such fun."

My lips curled upwards in disgust. Our definitions of fun were most definitely not the same thing.

"We're just here for a chat. We'll leave afterwards." I corrected.

"I love heroes. So blissfully ignorant."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I cocked an eyebrow. Piper's hand came to rest on my arm, her eyes shooting me a warning. 

"You say you're going to translate for us, and we don't even know who you are. What's your name?" Piper tried to placate as quickly as possible.

"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised you don't recognise me." The princess sniffed in distaste. "Even in the ancient times, the Greeks did not know me well. Their homes were too warm, too far from my domain. I am Khione, daughter of Boreas, goddess of snow."

I didn't know whether she expected applause, but all she got from me and Piper were nonplussed looks.

"Come." Khione spun on her heels, glaring at us. "Hopefully you will survive your little talk."

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I was starting to think that Khione and Boreas, in fact their entire family, should be the gods of dramaticness because their throne room was in fact a meat locker, complete with a fully functioning aurora borealis to serve as lights and frozen soldiers in different variations of armour that were positioned in various fighting positions. I would have thought they were dead, but their eyes were moving, twisting to follow us.

A voice shouted from further inside.

"Come on, father is waiting." Khione smiled.

"Yay."

"Come on Cressida Junior." I groaned at the nickname from Zethes.

"Let's not call me that." I muttered as Piper somewhat smiled. 

"My father is not a patient man." Zethes ignored my statement to continue speaking, going into a rant about hair products as Piper and I sped up to try and get away from him.

We kept walking, before the mist finally cleared to reveal a man sat on a solid ice throne. He was dressed in a white suit that seemed to be woven from snow and ice. He had long hair and a shaggy beard, encrusted with icicles that seemed to mask his eyes.

"Bienvenue." He nodded. "Je suis Boreas le Roi. Et vous?"

I recognised the language, the French echoing in my ears. There was some luck with knowing Latin, which seemed to be that most Romance languages were derived from it and I found understanding the French somewhat easier.

"Bonjour votre majesté." Piper stepped forwards. "Je suis Piper McLean, et..."

"Je suis Cressida Grace, je suis une fille de Zeus." I could see Khione's dark glare as Piper looked over at me.

"Since when did you speak French?"

"Touche."

"I thought you were an amnesiac." Piper's eyes narrowed, "and I don't speak French."

"I speak Latin, French is derived from Latin. I don't know how I learnt it but I know that my knowing Latin makes it easier." The king rattled off a few more sentences as both Piper and I hummed. "Daughter of Aphrodite? I told you that it was useful to be her daughter."

"Don't rub it in." Piper sighed. Boreas then commented on there being no need for Khione's help considering we could all understand each other and that sent Khione stomping off to join her brother after bowing stiffly at her father. 

Boreas leant forward, before his French became more rapid and I hummed as I listened. In all honesty, I was picking up on one word every three, but it was enough to have some form of context as to the situation as hand.

"Well, it is a shame that he has orders to kill us." I mused. "Pourquoi, votre majesté?"

"My Lord Aeolus has commanded it." Boreas spoke with a thick French accent, which I thought was a bit strange for a Greek god but who was I to comment, and he stood from his throne in the process. He stepped down, two huge purple wings unfolding from his back in the process as I bowed my head ad motioned for Piper to do the same. "I have always had a fondness for children of Aphrodite and as for you, Cressida Grace, my master Aeolus would not expect me to kill a daughter of Lord Zeus without first hearing you out."

The coin in my pocket grew heavier, but I knew better than to draw it. First, I had to try the diplomatic approach.

"I must admit, your majesty, Aeolus is the master of the wind gods and I am a bit confused as to why he wants us dead. Perhaps you could enlighten us?"

Piper looked at me like I'd grown two heads.

"You are demigods." I would have rolled my eyes if I could. This seemed to be a common answer as to why we all had problems. "Aeolus' job is to contain the winds and you demigods, well, you have always caused him many headaches. Asking favours, unleashing winds, causing chaos. Then to add insult to the proverbial injury, Typhon last summer."

He waved his hands, showing image of a battle. A giant, wrapped in storm clouds, wading towards New York, as tiny glowing figures (which I assumed were gods) swarmed around him like flies. Then, the river erupted in a massive, whirlpool, and the form sank beneath the waves and disappeared.

"The first time the gods defeated him, eons ago, he did not die quietly. He released hundreds of venti and other wild winds that answered to no one. Aeolus had to track them all down and the gods, they did not help. It took him centuries."

"And last summer, when Typhon was released, the same thing happened, I take it?" I sighed. "He is angry."

"You catch on quick,"

"But," Piper looked like she was trying to process it all. This was all new to her, and supposedly me but I didn't feel like it was the first time that I had heard this. "Surely Aeolus understands that the gods had no choice to battle Typhon. He was attacking New York. There's no reason to punish the demigods."

"Aeolus cannot harm the gods, child. They're his bosses but the demigods who helped them in the war. He gave us orders for them; demigods who ask for aid are no longer to be tolerated." Boreas grinned. "We are to tear you apart with all the force of the wind."

"That seems a touch excessive." I muttered. "Well, you did mention that you would hear me out first."

"Yes, yes." The king agreed. "Aeolus mentioned that a daughter of Zeus might seek my aid and that I should listen before killing you because it would make all our lives interesting, I think that was how he put it. After that, I will decide what to do. It could be that we do not kill you."

"Right, no pressure."

"There are many ways you could make our lives interesting. Sometimes we keep demigods for our amusement." He gestured to the room of ice statues.

"You mean..." Piper gulped, her face paling. "These are all demigods? Frozen demigods? Are they alive?"

"An interesting question. They do not move unless they are obeying my orders but I do wonder what would happen if they would melt."

I tensed, feeling cold fingers near the back of my neck.

"My father gives me such lovely presents. Join our court..." Khione purred. "Perhaps I'll let your friends go."

"Something about that age gap seems a little illegal." I hissed back. "I may have amnesia, but I can still remember the law."

She scowled at that, her nails digging into the back of my neck as my anger and temper began to grow.

"Please, Cressida Grace, entertain us." Words were failing me, cold entering my system, before I managed to squeeze the bird toy in my pocket. I could feel it, almost like pins and needles, starting from my back and spreading outwards to the source of Khione's fingers on mine. The electricity sparked into her, sending her flying backwards across the floor.

Zethes is the only one who laughes.

"That is good! I'm glad you did that, even if I have to kill you now!"

Khione herself is too stunned to react, before she finally comes to her senses and a blizzard begins to swirl around her.

"You dare-"

"Enough." I stunned her for the second time in a minute. "You won't kill us nor will you keep us. We are in the service of the Queen of the Gods herself. Hera has blessed us and charged us with a quest and I promise you that you will not wish to have Hera coming here when she learns that you attempted to stop us in our duty."

Considering she was in prison, Hera would most certainly not be doing that but that got their attention.

"A daughter of Jupiter, favoured by Hera? This is a first. Tell us your story."

So, I did pretty much just that, whilst leaving out a few, minor, inconsequential details that they just didn't need to know, such as Hera being in prison.

"We only come here for guidance." I clarified. "The venti who attacked us, they're working for someone else. We have been charged to find them and it would help your master Aeolus."

"I know of these storm spirits." Boreas mused. "I know where they are kept and of the prisoner they took."

"You mean Coach Hedge?" Piper shot me a look. "He's alive?"

Her question was waved away.

"But for the one who controls these venti...it would be madness to oppose her. You would be better staying frozen, your goddess would serve better staying out of it too.

"We have three days before a giant rises."

"Yes." Boreas agreed. "Many horrible things are waking. Even my children do not tell me all the news they should. The Great Stirring began with Kronos. Your father has been foolish, girl. He thought that it would end with the Titans defeated, but there is more to come. When monsters do not stay in Tartarus and souls no longer are confined to the Underworld, Olympus will crumble and fold. Venti are just the beginning."

Khione was smiling and I didn't like it.

"So, what will it be? Will you help us?"

"I did not say that." Boreas scowled.

"Please, Your Majesty." Piper's words had that element of pull again, muddling my mind to an extent. "If you tell us where the venti are, we can capture them and bring them to Aeolus. We rescue Coach Hedge, Aeolus can relax a bit, everyone wins."

"She's pretty..." Zethes mumbled. "I mean, she's pretty right, yeah."

"Father, don't listen to her!" Khione hissed.  "She's a child of Aphrodite. She dates to attempt to charmspeak a god in our home? Freeze her now!"

I slipped my hand into my pocket, grabbing the coin and yanking my sleeves up in preparation for a fight. It caught Boreas' eye.

"What is that on your forearm, demigod?" I paused, before glancing down at the brand on my arm and then holding it out for them to see. The god's eyes went wide. Khione actually hissed and stepped away. Then Boreas did something strange. 

He laughed.

He laughed so loudly in fact that an icicle crashed down next to his throne. His form began to flicker. His beard disappeared and he grew taller and thinner, his clothes changing to a Roman toga, lined with purple. A frosty laurel wreath crowned his head and a gladius hung at his side.

"Aquilon." I knew the Roman name.

"You recognise me better in this form, yes?" Boreas chuckled. "And yet you said you came from Camp Half-Blood?"

"Yes." I shifted my feet, not sure whether to run or fight.

"Hera championing a Daughter of Zeus, I did not understand. But her championing a Daughter of Jupiter?" He chuckled. "She plays a dangerous game. Bold, but dangerous! No wonder the gods ceased communication with most, they is probably infighting at her manipulations."

"Cress..." Piper said nervously, stepping closer. "Why did Boreas change shape? What's going on?"

"It's his Roman form."

"What does that mean? What does-" Piper backed up again as I stepped ahead of her.

"There is no reason for me to kill you, Cressida Grace. If Hera's plan fails, which I think it will, you will tear each other apart and Aeolus will never have to worry about another demigod again."

The dreadful feeling of anxiety and existential dread was settling in my stomach again, just like it had been at Camp Half-Blood. I didn't belong. I shouldn't have been there.

"I suppose I don't get an explanation?" I questioned.

"It is not for me to interfere in Hera's plan. No wonder she took your memory." He laughed, most likely envisioning all of our deaths or something. "I have a good reputation, girl, and I intend to keep that. It is rare that Boreas gets to play an important role in the affairs of gods. I sit here, in my palace, and so rarely have amusements. Oh yes, I will let you go on this quest, Daughter of Jupiter. You will find your venti in Chicago. If you can capture the winds, you may be able to gain safe entrance into the court of Aeolus. If by some miracle you manage to succeed, you tell him that you captured the winds on my orders."

I began to step back.

"Cress, ask about who controls them?"

"I doubt she will be in Chicago if she is as powerful as they're making her out." I gave Piper a push to keep walking.

"Go to Aeolus. Only he has the knowledge of all the winds on the earth. All secrets come to his fortress eventually but I promise you, Daughter of Jupiter, you will not like who awaits you on the other side."

"I'll take my chances." I pushed Piper back further.

"Father, you cannot just let them go." Khione protested.

"I can do what I wish." Boreas growled. "Run along now, demigods before I change my mind."

I nodded, bowing my head one last time as Zethes began to follow us out. I didn't dare turn my back on Khione and Boreas until we had left the throne room, then I urge Piper on as fast as I dare until we reach Cal and Leo once more. Leo looks cold, but clean and unharmed. Festus was defrosting as we hurried towards him.

"Leo, get ready, we're going."

"What-Where's..." I grabbed his arm as he turned to look at me with wide eyes.

"Not the time, or the place. We'll talk in the sky." Leo took one look at my face and must have seen how urgent I was, because he nodded his head, and clambered onto Festus' back. I took one final look at Zethes' knowing face, before huffing and climbing on behind Piper and Festus takes off in an instance.

It's only when the hotel has disappeared does the tension disappear from my shoulders.

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Hiya,

So, Cress is a little snarky and there are lots of little things in here. I know it's a long one, and I've been gone a while, but hopefully, this makes up for that? Sorry there's not a lot of updates, I'm currently doing my masters degree and I've got three essays to write over the next three weeks.

Let me know what you think,

Love Li xx