Jason gives me the short version of what I missed while I slept: his dream with the giant she-wolf, Hera's cage, Leo's psychotic babysitter, Earth Woman, and Piper's dad being Tristan McLean. If I have a visible reaction to Earth Woman, Jason doesn't mention it. Giants plus a woman made of dirt has to equal Gaea, which means we're on the brink of the Second Giant War. Makes sense, considering we just had the Second Titan War, but couldn't Gaea have waited a few years? I'm pretty sure I've filled my apocalypse quota.

I decide not to mention Gaea to my new friends because typically people get scared when they hear the word war.

"Why do you guys wait to have an interesting conversation after I fall asleep?" I complain.

"Tell me that's Quebec and not Santa's workshop," Leo says. I follow his gaze. Below us kind of looks like Santa's village had a baby with Hogwarts. It's gorgeous. Man, I wish I had a camera with me.

"Yeah, Quebec City," Piper confirms. "One of the oldest cities in North America. Founded around sixteen hundred or so?" I raise my eyebrows, impressed. I haven't known Piper long — I don't even think we've technically hit the 24-hour mark yet — but I didn't get the vibe she's a trivia kind of person.

Leo has a similar expression on his face. "Your dad do a movie about that too?"

Piper scowls. "I read sometimes, okay? Just because Aphrodite claimed me, doesn't mean I have to be an airhead." I narrow my eyes. What the fuck does that mean?

"Are you saying all children of Aphrodite are airheads?" I snap.

She looks over her shoulder at me, eyes wide. "No—"

"Lacey is one of the smartest demigods I know," I growl, "and Silena...Silena was fucking brilliant. Even Drew, as much as I hate to say it, is smart. That girl is cunning and manipulative, she has to be. They may seem shallow to you, but aren't you the shallow one for making those assumptions about them?"

Silena. Fuck. I don't want to cry, I really don't, but now I'm thinking about Silena. Silena Beaureguard, who took me under her wing when I first came to camp, who taught me how to apply makeup, who introduced me to Lacy, who was a big sister to everyone at camp, who had no obligation to but cared for me nonetheless because I was a traumatized little kid who needed a friend. Shit, I'm crying. I try to hide my tears by turning away from everyone.

When I turn away, I catch a glimpse of two winged figures heading our way. "Fuck. We have company." Festus comes to as close as a screeching halt as a flying dragon can manage. It sounds like he's moments away from roasting the approaching angels.

"Steady, boy," Leo murmurs.

Jason makes a face. "I don't like this. They don't look like storm spirits."

"Because they're not," I chime in. "We're heading to Boreas, right? Those are probably his kids. Fuck, I can't remember their names." They're getting closer now. They kind of look like one of us — teenagers, but with purple wings and Jack Frost's hair. Their swords are icicles. One of them looks like a hockey fan and the other one looks like a rock star who can't decide which century he belongs to.

"No clearance," the hockey fan grunts.

Leo furrows his brow. "'Scuse me?"

"You have no flight plan on file," the rock star says in a pathetically bad French accent. "This is restricted airspace."

I scoff. "How would we even send you a flight plan? Do you guys have like a website or something?"

The hockey fan doesn't seem to care for my biting wit. "Destroy them?" Jason summons his sword, but I gesture for him to stand down. He quirks an eyebrow, silently asking for an explanation. I mouth, Leo's got this.

"Hold on!" Leo exclaims, proving my point. "Let's have some manners here, boys. Can I at least find out who has the honor of destroying me?" I smirk. Despite this only being his first quest, Leo already knows how to deal with divine beings. All immortals love talking about themselves. Well, not Hestia. Hestia's dope.

The hockey fan identifies himself as Cal. His brother the rock star elaborates, "That's short for Calais. Sadly my brother cannot say words with more than two syllables—"

"Pizza! Hockey! Destroy!"

"—which includes his own name," the rock star brother finishes.

"I am Cal," he repeats. "And this is Zethes! My brother!" I smack my forehead. Right! Calais and Zethes, the Boreads. I'd read about them before. The sound of my palm connecting with my forehead catches everyone's attention.

I grin awkwardly. "Sorry. Uh, Jason, Piper, Leo, these are the Boreads, Boreas's sons. They're his gatekeepers."

"Ah, so you've heard of us!" Zethes crows. He looks rather pleased with himself. "So you understand, we cannot have unauthorized people flying in his airspace on creaky dragons, scaring the silly mortal peoples." He points to the ground where a bunch of mortals look concerned. Oops.

"Which is sadly why, unless this is an emergency landing, we will have to destroy you painfully," Zethes continues. To his credit, he does look a bit reluctant to smite us. Unlike Cal.

Piper's eyes light up. "Wait! This is an emergency landing."

Cal pouts. "Aww." I know I should be more concerned that this guy so clearly wants us dead, but I can't help but feel bad that we're harshing his vibe. I mean, murderous immortal beings will be murderous immortal beings, right? Can't exactly blame him for that.

"How does this pretty girl decide this is an emergency, then?" Zethes presses. I really don't like the way he's looking at Piper. The only proper way to describe it is leering. Normally, when I catch guys looking at girls like that, I create a little illusion that the girl turns into a demon ready to bite their heads off so the guys back off, but I figure I probably shouldn't do that with Zethes. He's already looking for an excuse to annihilate us.

"We have to see Boreas," Piper explains. "It's totally urgent! Please?" She forces a smile, looking incredibly pained. Her voice sounds different. Like Drew's when she wants something. Oh shit. Piper must have charmspeak.

Zethes is totally buying into it. "Well...I hate to disappoint a lovely lady, but you see, my sister, she would have an avalanche if we allowed you—"

"And our dragon is malfunctioning!" Piper interjects. "It could crash any minute!" Festus plays along. He shudders, then pours more black gunk out of his ear. It hits a black Mercedes in the parking lot below us. Oof. I feel bad for the poor mortal who has to try and wash that off.

Cal looks close to tears. "No destroy?" Zethes thinks about it. I rest my hand on the hilt of the sheathed blade clipped to my belt, just in case this gets ugly.

Finally, Zethes's face twitches in what seems to be an attempt at a wink. "Well, you are pretty. I mean, you're right. A malfunctioning dragon—this could be an emergency." I nod enthusiastically.

"Destroy them later?" Cal bargains.

Zethes carries on as if Cal hasn't spoken. "It will take some explaining. Father has not been kind to visitors lately. But, yes. Come, faulty dragon people. Follow us." The Boreads sheath their swords which makes me feel a little bit better, but my mind is caught on what Zethes just said. Father has not been kind to visitors lately.

Fun fact: The only thing worse than an immortal being is an angry immortal being.

Cal and Zethes swoop toward the castle below's tower, air traffic control lights in hand. Leo turns around to look at us, grinning. "I love these guys. Follow them?"

I shrug. "I mean, it'd be rude if we didn't at this point."

"I guess," Jason says reluctantly. "We're here now. But I wonder why Boreas hasn't been kind to visitors."

"Pfft, he just hasn't met us." Leo laughs. "Festus, after those flashlights!"

*

We land in a gorgeous penthouse. It has incredible vaulted ceilings and lush drapery. It's also encrusted in ice. As I slide off Festus, I pull my coat tighter around me and silently wish Annabeth was here to see this. Oh, she'd be gushing over all the small architectural details.

"Guys, fix the thermostat in here, and I would totally move in," Leo says. I can't tell if he's joking or not. I scrunch up my nose. Even defrosted, this place is so not my style.

Jason looks unsettled. "Not me. Something feels wrong." He's eyeing the frozen-over staircase which I'm pretty sure is a total safety hazard. "Something up there..." Festus shudders and snorts flames in agreement.

"No, no, no," Zethes shouts, marching over. "The dragon must be deactivated. We can't have fire in here. The heat ruins my hair." Yeah, because his hair looks so good right now. I suppress my giggles by pretending to cough into the crook of my arm. Festus is not as amused. He growls at Zethes. I get the feeling he's wondering what Boreads taste like.

"'S'okay, boy," Leo assures our winged friend. He turns his attention back to Zethes. "The dragon's a little touchy about the whole deactivation concept. But I've got a better solution."

Cal's face lights up. "Destroy?"

Leo sighs, "No, man. You gotta stop with the destroy talk. Just wait." When Piper starts to voice her concerns, he waves a dismissive hand. "Watch and learn, beauty queen. When I was repairing Festus last night, I found all kinds of buttons. Some, you do not want to know what they do. But others...Ah, here we go."

He pulls a switch and Festus starts folding like fucking origami. Everyone else gets some distance, but I'm too shocked to remember to value my life. Luckily for me, Jason tugs me back and into his side. We watch as Festus collapses into a rectangular wedge the size of a suitcase. How the fuck did that massive dragon turn into that?

Leo goes to lift it and almost falls over. "Um...yeah. Hold on. I think — aha." With the push of a button, the wedge sprouts a handle and wheels. He looks so proud of himself. "Ta-da! The world's heaviest carry-on bag!"

"That's impossible," Jason insists. "Something that big—"

"It's magic, bro," I cut in. "Don't question it." He rolls his eyes at me. It's now that I realize he has his arm around my shoulders. I poke his arm and he too seems to realize its around my shoulders. His arm quickly snaps back to his side. Something about his touch makes my head cloudy.

"Stop!" Zethes orders. He and Cal draw their swords, narrowing their eyes at Leo. I step in front of Leo and put my hand on the hilt of my own blade.

Leo raises his hands like he's surrendering. "What'd I do? Stay calm, guys. If it bothers you that much, I don't have to take the dragon as carry-on—"

"Who are you?" Zethes jabs the point of his sword in our direction. It's the closest he can get to Leo. I'm blocking his direct access, acting as a human shield. Well, half-human shield, if we're being technical. "A child of the South Wind, spying on us?"

"What? No!" Leo rebukes. I signal for him to pipe down. Now's probably a good time for me to step in. Conversation-wise, of course. I've already stepped in front of Leo, covering him the best my shorter self can.

Cal grunts, "Smell fire. Fire is bad."

"Please, there's no need for violence," I say. "Allow us to introduce ourselves. I'm Cordelia, daughter of Iris. This is Leo. He's a blacksmith like his father, Hephaestus. He spent all night repairing our dragon, which is why he smells like fire. This is Piper, daughter of Aphrodite, and Jason, son of Zeus. We're here to speak with..." I trail off. The Boreads have whipped around to face Jason. Shit. I said something wrong.

"What did she say?" Zethes demands. "You are the son of Zeus?" Jason glances at me. I nod.

He makes eye contact with Zethes. "Um...yeah. That's a good thing, right? Like Cordelia said, my name is Jason."

Cal nearly drops his sword in shock. His brow furrows. "Can't be Jason. Doesn't look the same." Zethes takes a step closer to Jason and squints like he's a scientist examining his subject. I inch away from Leo and toward Jason.

"No, he is not our Jason," Zethes concludes. "Our Jason was more stylish. Not as much as me—but stylish. Besides, our Jason died millennia ago." Something about his wording rubs me the wrong way. Not the part about being stylish, though it's almost endearing how delusional this guy is, but the phrase 'our Jason.'

A quiet voice in the back of my mind whispers, Damn right he's not your Jason. He's my Jason.

Okay, that's weird, but we'll have to come back to that.

"Wait. Your Jason?" Jason echoes. "You mean the original Jason? The Golden Fleece guy?" I don't think I've ever heard the name Jason said this much. The more I think about it, the less it sounds like a real name.

Zethes rolls his eyes as if Jason is an absolute idiot. "Of course. We were his crewmates aboard his ship, the Argo, in the old times, when we were mortal demigods. Then we accepted immortality to serve our father, so I could look this good for all time, and my silly brother could enjoy pizza and hockey."

"Hockey!" Cal cheers.

"But Jason—our Jason—he died a mortal death," Zethes continues. "You can't be him."

"I'm not," Jason agrees. Gods, I really hope the topic of conversation switches soon before I start having another existential crisis about how words aren't real.

Word of advice: if Malcolm ever asks you if you want to see his philosophy presentation, don't agree. Run. Run as far as you can.

"So, destroy?" Cal questions.

"No," Zethes grumbles. For once, he seems as disappointed as his brother at the prospect of not killing someone. "If he is a son of Zeus, he could be the one we've been watching for." I'm already freezing, but now my blood runs cold. That really does not sound good.

Leo scratches his head. "Watching for? You mean like a good way: you'll shower him with fabulous prizes? Or watching for like in a bad way: he's in trouble?"

A voice echoes from the top of the staircase. "That depends on my father's will." We all turn to look at the source. She looks college-age maybe, wearing a white silk dress. Her skin is paler than pale, which only serves to make her black hair pop even more against the icy background. Her eyes are a dark brown, sort of like coffee, except they lack any and all warmth. She's more than beautiful. She's ethereal.

I curtsy politely. "Lady Khione." Khione, goddess of snow. During my first year at camp, I'd done extensive research on the non-Olympian gods and goddesses. My goal was to help the unclaimed campers in Cabin 11 figure out who their godly parent might be. I even made a chart with the data I collected, which was a big help when Annabeth was trying to figure out what new cabins to prioritize.

Sometimes my brain works.

Her eyes land on me. "At least one of you has manners." Then she turns her gaze onto Jason and Piper. "Father will want to see the one called Jason."

"Then it is him?" Zethes asks, his voice shooting up an octave. He's excited. That could either be really good or really bad.

"We'll see," Khione says. "Zethes, bring our guests."

Leo grabs the handle of his Festus-case to head up the staircase when Khione fixes him with a look colder than the walk-in freezer we're standing in. "Not you, Leo Valdez."

Leo pouts. "Why not?"

"You cannot be in the presence of my father," Khione replies. "Fire and ice—it would not be wise."

Jason lays a hand on Leo's shoulder. "We're going together or not at all."

Khione cocks her head like a confused puppy dog. "He will not be harmed, Jason Grace, unless you make trouble." Wait. Did she just say Jason Grace? Grace, as in Thalia Grace? Holy fucking shit. That's why he's carrying around her picture. They're not half-siblings; They're full-blooded brother and sister.

"Calais, keep Leo Valdez here," Khione orders. "Guard him, but do not kill him."

"Just a little?" Cal begs.

Khione's jaw tenses. Clearly, she's not her brother's biggest fan. "No. And take care of his interesting suitcase, until Father passes judgment." Leo, Jason, and Piper exchange looks, having a silent conversation with their eyes.

"It's fine, guys," Leo insists. "No sense causing trouble if we don't have to. You go ahead."

Jason and Piper still look uneasy, so I step up and link my arm with Leo's. "I'll stay behind with Leo. We'll be fine." He visibly relaxes.

"Listen to your friends," Khione says. "Cordelia Yorkes and Leo Valdez will be perfectly safe. I wish I could say the same for you, son of Zeus. Now come, King Boreas is waiting."

*

the way i hate this chapter but i'm posting it anyway