Annabeth and I were ready to go in less than an hour. Annabeth seemed more agitated than normal. She kept clapping her hands and yelling "hurry up!" Like she was trying to hustle a hers of two year olds.

I finally had enough and grabbed her arm and yanked her aside, much to her protests.

"Alright spill. There's more to this. You know more. So spill it! And no, we ain't leaving until you tell me. I care just as much about Percy's well being." I narrowed my eyes and crossed my arms, waiting.

She huffed and then finally sagged. I could see her entire body sag.

"I had a dream last night. Hera came to me as a cow-"

I snorted, she gave me a look, like she was trying hard not to laugh, but if she didn't she would cry.

"Sorry. Hera the holy cow. Continue." I snickered.

"She said, if I go to the glass pad, the answer I seek would be there. Look for the guy with one shoe has your answer."

"You think it's Percy?"

"Has to be. That's the only answer I've been searching for!"

"Okay...I had a dream about coach and the demigods. This package...must be the answer." I thought rubbing my forehead. I decided to keep the visits by Gaia and Hera (or Juno) to myself, for now. Not until I had a chance to figure it out.

"Girls? Chariot is ready!" Butch called. He was one of the newer campers. He was built like a wrestler, bulky, strong, he had a shaved head and a face like a pile of bricks. When he first arrived we all assumed he was a son of Ares, he hardly spoke, and when he did it was quiet and his voice was deep- like Raph. But then, when he was claimed, we were all shocked. He was the son of Iris, the rainbow goddess.

He stood there glaring at them, his arms crossed. He had a tattoo of a rainbow on his biceps. I smiled at the guy. I liked him quite a bit. He was gentle and kind, thoughtful and very protective. He was our best equestrian. 

I slammed my helmet on my head and nodded at Annabeth. "Come on, Blondie, let's go get our idiot back."

She nodded and we hurried over. Butch had even got Glitter ready for me.

"Thanks man. You didn't have to."

"All good. She's a good horse, a little spicy..."

"Eh," I shrugged, "why we get along." I was just about ready to jump up onto her back as Raph came over to wish us luck.

"Hey." He placed his hand on my waist and I turned towards him. I looked up at him. His eyes were dark and broody behind his helmet. He must be on his way to the training fields. "Be safe." He said quietly.

"Always." I smirked up at him. "Keep that new brother of yours in line. I don't need another repeat of last month."

He chuckled. He grabbed the strap of my helmet and yanked me closer, so I was only an inch away from him
Then he leaned in, his lips brushed mine as he whispered, "I love you Sunshine."

My stomach flip flopped and my heart skipped a beat or two.

"I love you too, Hot Head."

He kept me close, his lips just barely touching, his dark eyes digging into mine. My heart was racing and my face was burning. I swear I was starting to smoke. A smirk showed up on his face and I pulled away, but not before I'd smacked his chest. He chuckled, but held me a moment long then turned and walked away. He gave a curt nod to Butch and Annabeth. I leapt up onto Glitter's back and she kept into the sky without another word. I was super flustered all of a sudden.

"My lady...are you alright?"

"Yep." My voice even in my head sounded squeaky.

"He dose make your heart beat faster..."

"Glitter!" I scolded.

"I'm just saying, My Lady. Most people wait a life time for a connection such as yours."

"Yes. I know...trust me. I would do pretty much anything for him."

"He would burn the world if you disappeared like Percy."

"Ya...I know. And I have a feeling Hera is behind it...I just don't know why."

"Indeed?"

"Ya..."  I went on to explain how Hera showed up ony dream but she seemed confused and also said she was Juno. I didn't tell her what Hera/Juno said just that she was confused and wasn't making sense.

"Juno? Juno is the Roman version of Hera..."

"Ya...I know... Which makes me nervouse."

"Yes...this does not sit well. Have you spoke to anyone about this?"

"No. You're the first."

"I'm sorry I can not be of more help."

"That's okay. We got a 2 demi gods to save."

It took us a lot longer to get across the country than I wanted. Glitter and I could have made it a lot faster, but since we had to take a chariot for the two other demi gods, we were slower. I could tell by Annabeth's hard face and constant huffs, she also wasn't happy with how slow we were.

"Want me to go ahead?" I yelled over the wind.

She thought about it, I could see the wheels turning, weighing the pros and cons.

"Vision sight first!" She yelled back, "see what we're getting into."

I have her the thumbs up and then called up my Sight. I was getting better at calling up specific places or people. Because I had seen Coach Hedge, the girl named Piper and the boy named Leo, it was quite simple and only had to scroll a few times before I found them. What I saw wasn't good.

I saw Leo, Piper and Hedge, but there was another boy, a tall blond, who did not look familiar at all. He was facing off with another guy, with a cowboy hat and a Cowboys jersey.

The cowboy pointed at Leo, and a funnel cloud materialized around him. Leo flew off the skywalk like he’d been tossed. Somehow he managed to twist in midair, and slammed sideways into the canyon wall. He skidded, clawing furiously for any handhold. Finally he grabbed a thin ledge about fifty feet below the skywalk and hung there by his fingertips.

"Help!" he yelled up at them. "Rope, please? Bungee cord? Something?'

Coach Hedge cursed and tossed the blond kid his club. “I don’t know who you are, kid, but I hope you’re good. Keep that thing busy”- he stabbed a thumb at the cowboy- “while I get Leo.”

"Get him how?" the blond demanded. "You going to fly?"

"Not fly. Climb." Hedge kicked off his shoes. The blond kid looked like he was going to pass out

"You’re a faun," he stated kind of dumbly, pointing at Coach's hooves.

"Satyr!" Hedge snapped. "Fauns are Roman. But we’ll talk about that later."

Hedge leaped over the railing. He sailed toward the canyon wall and hit hooves first. He bounded down the cliff with impossible agility, finding footholds no bigger than postage stamps, dodging whirlwinds that tried to attack him as he picked his way toward Leo.

"Isn’t that cute!" The cowboy turned toward the blind boy 'Now it’s your turn, boy."

He threw the club. It seemed useless with the winds so strong, but the club flew right at the monster, even curving when he tried to dodge, and smacked him on the head so hard he fell to his knees.

Piper wasn’t as dazed as she appeared. Her fingers closed around the club when it rolled next to her, but before she could use it, the cowboy rose. Blood- golden blood- trickled from his forehead.

"Nice try, boy." He glared at the blond. "But you’ll have to do better."

The skywalk shuddered. Hairline fractures appeared in the glass.

The monster's body dissolved into smoke, as if his molecules were coming unglued. He had the same face, the same brilliant white smile, but his whole form was suddenly composed of swirling black vapor, his eyes like electrical sparks in a living storm cloud. He sprouted black smoky wings and rose above the skywalk.

"You’re a ventus," the blind kid said, "a storm spirit." He added like he had to reassure that he knew what he was talking about.

The storm spirit's laugh sounded like a tornado tearing off a roof. "I’m glad I waited, demigod. Leo and Piper I’ve known about for weeks. Could’ve killed them at any time. But my mistress said a third was coming- someone special. She’ll reward me greatly for your death!"

I snapped out of the vision Sight and looked at Annabeth.

"I didn't see Percy, but they're definitely in trouble. I'll meet you there!"

"Fine. Go." She yelled and waved a hand.

"We gotta hustle!"

"Yes Lady! Thought you would never ask!"

Glitter put on a burst of speed and we were speeding through the sky as fast as lighting. I saw the storm clouds from a ways away.

"I can see the spirits in the sky!"

"You want to go into the clouds instead of the half bloods?"

"Yes. I can fry them better without worrying about the demigods getting in the way."

"Yes My Lady."

She shot straight up into the storm clouds. The dark evil spirits swarmed around us. The wind was so strong my armor tugged, and my hair whipped around me. If Glitter wasn't part Ares war horse and part sun Chariot hose...we would have been tossed off course and ended up tumbling to the ground. Instead we stayed fast.

"Round 'em up and I'll roast 'em."

Glitter started running around the clouds. She was going so fast her hooves were leaving fire prints. While she ran around in wide circles, at the speed she was going the wind spirits were swept up in Glitter's wake.

"Faster..."

Glitter went even faster. We were leaving flames flickering behind us now. Once all the spirits were close enough, I finally threw up a shield of heat, I had learned this trick from Hecate when she trapped me. I trapped them all inside a box of burning heat. It was so hot it rippled and even my vision rippled. I could hear the shrieks and screams of all the
anemoi thuellai shrieked. A few tries to fly towards the wall. They were vaporized into nothing but black dust. Glitter continued to circle. I made the cafe smaller and smaller, incinerating them.

With one more yell of defiance and a flash of titan fire, I squished the box and the last few storm demons vanished in a flash of fire.

Glitter slowed, and then shot off towards the ground. Just as Piper fell down the cliff with a wild scream. I saw the lead storm demon grabbing a dazed and quite possibly knocked out Leo and start towards the sky. With a growl of frustration Glitter shot down towards the girl just as the blond leapt off the ledge.

Coach Hedge had round house kicked Leo out of the Cowboy demon's hands, but then he had grabbed Coach instead.   Leo landed with a thud back on the balcony. As Glitter got closer, I got up on her back and jumped off, yanking my knife out. I plunged it down into the deamn. I tried yanking Coach, but he was so set on trying to kick his way free he ended up kicking me.

If I didn't have the curse of Achilles still, that would have broken all my ribs. But instead it just knocked the wind from my lungs. The cowboy deamon screamed as my knife slid down his torso, yet he wouldn't die. Coach was yelling "DIE DIE DIE." He kicked again and knocked my knife loose and I plumpeted to the ground.

I tucked my body and rolled as I hit the glass porch overlooking the Grand Canyon. Just as Piper and the Blond appeared, Glitter right beside them. I hesitated for a second, they weren't on her back, so that ment... somehow the blond boy had flying powers. I didn't have time to think too hard, I crouched down beside Leo. There was a yell of protest from the other two.

I turned towards Leo and gently rolled him over, and he groaned. His army coat was soaked from the rain. His curly hair glittered gold from rolling around in monster dust. But at least he wasn’t dead.

"Stop!" The other boy cried, he didn't wait but threw something at me. I threw up my heat shield quicker. And as I turned I saw a flash of gold hit my wall and it sizzled.

"I'm trying to help." I snapped. I waved my hand and the heat wall disappear and I turned back to Leo. I laid a hand on his forehead and closed my eyes.

"Father, help me. Lend me your power." I whispered as I felt the warmth of my healing power transfer into Leo. His eyes fluttered open.

"I must have died and gone to heaven!"

"'fraid not." I sighed and sat back. I felt my energy drop.

"Then definitely hell."

"Tarterus, you mean." I corrected.

"Who are you?" The blond demanded.

"Part of the extraction team for these two. Who on Hera ugly underpanta are you?" I asked standing up, my eyes narrowed and piled this guy in the chest. "And where's Percy?"

"Umm I'm Jason...and I seriously have no clue who I am! And I don't know a Percy! I swear! You gotta believe me!"

I narrowed my eyes for a moment and then nodded.

"Wait...just like that?" Jason asked.

"I'm the daughter of Apollo. I know when I'm being lied to. But I can hold a grudge like no body's business...and I can interigate you some more...?"

"No!" He cried and then cleared his throat and tried again, "No...uh, it's fine. Thanks."

"Stupid …ugly … goat,” Leo muttered.

“Where did he go?” Piper asked.

Leo pointed straight up. "Never came down. Please tell me he didn’t actually save my life."

"Well to be fare, I did try. The old goat kicked me." I groaned.

"He did. Twice," Jason said.

Leo groaned even louder. "What happened? The tornado guy, the gold sword … I hit my head. That’s it, right? I’m hallucinating?"

Jason flipped his sword and mid turn it turned into a coin.

"Yep," Leo said. "Definitely hallucinating."

Piper shivered in her rain-soaked clothes. "Those things-"

"Venti," Jason said, looking up to the clouds "Storm spirits."

A weird sensation traveled down my spine like an electric shock, making me shiver. I glanced up to Jason, frowning. There was something different about this guy.

"Okay." Piper said slowly, "You acted like … like you’d seen them before. Who are you?"

He shook his head. "That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. I don’t know."

"He's telling the truth." I shrugged.

"I don't know...but Coach Hedge said he had to protect three people,” Jason said slowly "I think he meant us."

"Well we got a call saying he had two of you. And we knew a package was being delivered. You..." I frowned, trying hard to keep my anger inside. "Must be the package. Which doesn't make any sense."

I turned around and in a burst of anger and hurt and fear, with a scream of frustration, I flung a basketball sized fireball as far as I could. I watched it sore through the sky and then watched it plummet to the ground and fizzle out in the water below.

"Whoa. That was kinda freaky!"

"That...that thing Dylan turned into …" Piper said quietly, like she was unsure if she should talk. "I can’t believe it was hitting on me. He called us... what, demigods?"

"Ya." I said with a sniff, regaining my emotions. "Your half bloods."

"Excuse me?" Piper was immediately on guard. "Is that some kind of bad joke?"

"No. It's not a racial slur Piper." I sighed heavily. I lost my fight. Percy wasn't here. And Annabeth was gonna loose it.

"She means we’re demigods," Jason said. "Half god, half mortal."

It looked like Piper was going to argue back, when there was a brittle sound like dry twigs snapping, and the cracks in the skywalk began to widen.

"We need to get off and wait for the rest of my team-"

"Ohhh-kay," Leo interrupted. "Look up there and tell me if those are flying horses."

"Now they show up." I muttered.

"The extraction team?" Jason asked me, raising his eyebrows. I just nodded.

I watched as the chariot landed on the far end of the skywalk. The flying horses tucked in their wings and cantered nervously across the glass, as if they sensed it was near breaking. Annabeth had leapt out before it was even landed and she ran over. I shook my head but she pulled her knife and ran towards us while the Butch reined in the horses.

"Where is he?" Annabeth demanded. Her gray eyes were fierce and a little startling.

"Where’s who?" Jason asked.

Annabeth frowned like his answer was unacceptable. Then she turned to Leo and Piper. "What about Gleeson? Where is your protector, Gleeson Hedge? Nora! What happened and where is Percy?"

"He's not here. They have no clue where he is or who."

"Did...did you use-"

"Yeah. They are all telling the truth."

Annabeth cursed in ancient Greek. We both tried to hold in our tears.

Leo cleared his throat. "He got taken by some … tornado things."

"Venti," Jason said. "Storm spirits."

I felt the weird tingle down my spine again when Jason used the Roman word. This time I felt an odd tug in the pit of my stomach.

Annabeth raised her eyebrows and then glanced at me, I was as confused as her. She looked back at Jason. "You mean anemoi thuellai? That’s the Greek term. Who are you, and what happened?"

Jason did his best to explain, he had a hard time meeting Annabeth's angry stormy grey eyes and the angry fire in mine. About halfway through the story, Butch came over. He stood there glaring at them, his arms crossed.

When Jason had finished his story, Annabeth didn’t look satisfied. And I felt empty. Something wasn't right and I hated that I couldn't figure it out.

"No, no, no! She told me he would be here. She told me if I came here, I’d find the answer."

"Annabeth...Nora..." Butch said, "Check it out." He pointed at Jason’s feet.

"The guy with one shoe!" I gasped. "He's the answer..."

🔆
A fun twist on The Lost Hero- a different perspective...hope it's making sense.