CHAPTER IX ——
ICE, ICE, BABY.

Mare watched as the dragon descended, coming dangerously close to crashing and she was suddenly very glad that her death had changed a lot of her bodily functions.

Peeing herself would have been really embarrassing, and it would have shattered the cool girl illusion she had going.

The Boreads made right for the green gabled peak and didn't slow down. Then a section of the slanted roof slid open, revealing an entrance easily wide enough for Festus. The top and bottom were lined with icicles like jagged teeth.

"This can't be good," Jason muttered, but Leo spurred the dragon downward, and they swooped in after the Boreads.

They landed in what must have been the penthouse suite; but the place had been hit by a flash freeze. The entry hall had vaulted ceilings forty feet high, huge draped windows, and lush oriental carpets. A staircase at the back of the room led up to another equally massive hall, and more corridors branched off to the left and right. But the ice made the room's beauty a little frightening.

Her quest mates shivered, but Mare, dead and revived, felt nothing.

Under her feet the carpet crunched, frost covered every inch of the room. The curtains were solid frozen, and the ice-coated windows let in weird watery light from the sunset. The ceiling was furry with icicles and Mare was very aware that one could easily drop on her head and pierce her skull. Those stairs though, Mare was sure she'd slip and fall if she climbed up them.

"Guys," Leo said, "fix the thermostat in here, and I would totally move in."

"The temperature is fine," Mare said. "It's your dragon that's almost too hot."

Leo sent her an offended look.

"I really, really do not agree with either of those statements." Jason looked uneasily at the staircase. "Something feels wrong. Something up there..."

Festus shuddered and snorted flames. Mare backed away from the burning heat. Frost started to form on his scales.

"No, no, no." Zethes marched over, his pointy leather shoes squeaking as he walked. "The dragon must be deactivated. We can't have fire in here. The heat ruins my hair."

Mare moved closer to Jason and whispered, "Like his hair wasn't already ruined."

Jason looked away from the top of the stairs and flashed a grin at her.

Festus growled and spun his drill-bit teeth.

"'S'okay, boy." Leo turned to Zethes. "The dragon's a little touchy about the whole deactivation concept. But I've got a better solution."

"Destroy?" Cal suggested.

"No, man. You gotta stop with the destroy talk. Just wait."

"Leo," Piper said nervously, "what are you—"

"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."

Leo hooked his fingers behind the dragon's left foreleg. He pulled a switch, and the dragon shuddered from head to toe.

Jason pulled Mare back, and they moved even further away from the metal dragon. They watched as Festus folded like origami. His bronze plating stacked together. His neck and tail contracted into his body. His wings collapsed and his trunk compacted until he was a rectangular metal wedge the size of a suitcase.

Leo tried to lift it, but the thing looked like it weighed about six billion pounds and Leo had very skinny arms. "Um... yeah. Hold on. I think—aha."

He pushed another button. A handle flipped up on the top, and wheels clicked out on the bottom.

"Ta-da!" he announced. "The world's heaviest carry-on bag!"

Mare hated to think it, but that was an insanely cool mechanism. She wondered who installed it, Charlie or Leo?

"That's impossible," Jason said. "Something that big couldn't—"

Hephaestus kids didn't know what the word impossible meant.

"Stop!" Zethes ordered. He and Cal both drew their swords and glared at Leo.

Leo raised his hands. "Okay... 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 shoved the point of his sword against Leo's chest. "A child of the South Wind, spying on us?"

"What? No!" Leo said. "Son of Hephaestus. Friendly blacksmith, no harm to anyone!"

Cal growled. He put his face up to Leo's "Smell fire," he said. "Fire is bad."

Mare's hand went to her weapon, these people were getting far too close to Leo for comfort.

"Oh." Leo looked extremely uncomfortable. "Yeah, well... my clothes are kind of singed, and I've been working with oil, and—"

"No!" Zethes pushed Leo back at sword point. "We can smell fire, demigod. We assumed it was from the creaky dragon, but now the dragon is a suitcase. And I still smell fire... on you."

"Hey... look... I don't know—" Leo glanced at Mare, Jason and Piper desperately. "Guys, a little help?"

Mare and Jason stepped forward. Mare took her sword out of her bag and brandished it. She twirled it around a couple times, her dark gaze finding the storm spirits. They looked at her and she hoped they could smell death on her, because then they'd know what they'd smell like soon.

"You should back the hell up." She said simply.

Jason already had his gold coin in his hand. He stepped forward, his eyes on Zethes. "Look, there's been a mistake. Leo isn't a fire guy. Tell them, Leo. Tell them you're not a fire guy."

"Um..."

Mare raised an eyebrow at Leo, trying to convey, you're not helping.

"Zethes?" Piper tried her dazzling smile again, though she looked a little too nervous and cold to pull it off. "We're all friends here. Put down your swords and let's talk."

"The girl is pretty," Zethes admitted, "and of course she cannot help being attracted to my amazingness; but sadly, I cannot romance her at this time." He poked his sword point farther into Leo's chest, and Mare had enough at that point.

She strode forward, prepared to stab them through the gut but Jason wrapped his hands around her waist and Mare was shocked enough that she stopped completely. She turned to look at him and he looked embarrassed with his hands' positioning but he didn't move them.

Jason shook his head at Mare, and she bared her teeth.

"Destroy him now?" Cal asked his brother.

Zethes nodded. "Sadly, I think—"

"No," Jason insisted, taking his arms away from Mare. He sounded calm enough, but his grip on his sword was tighter than even Mare's. He was just as prepared for a fight as she was. "Leo's just a son of Hephaestus. He's no threat. Mare, the redhead, is the daughter of Melinoë, Piper here is a daughter of Aphrodite. I'm the son of Zeus. We're on a peaceful..."

Jason's voice faltered, because both Boreads had suddenly turned on him.

"What did you say?" Zethes demanded. "You are the son of Zeus?"

"Um... yeah," Jason said, eyes flickering to Mare, as if to say 'What the fuck?' "That's a good thing, right? My name is Jason."

Cal looked so surprised, he almost dropped his sword. "Can't be Jason," he said. "Doesn't look the same."

Zethes stepped forward and squinted at Jason's face. "No, he is not our Jason. Our Jason was more stylish. Not as much as me—but stylish. Besides, our Jason died millennia ago."

"Wait," Jason said. "Your Jason... you mean the original Jason? The Golden Fleece guy?"

Mare looked between the two spirits suddenly even more uncomfortable, they were ancient and still flirted with her and Piper.

"Of course," Zethes said. "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."

Someone had lied to Zethes in his life, and she really wanted to smack them over the head for the confidence it gave him.

"Hockey!" Cal agreed.

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

"I'm not," Jason agreed.

"He's not as old as you."

"You're not helping." Jason said, eyes cutting to her.

"I'm not trying to help." She said simply, she wanted to run from all of this, but there was no where to go.

"So, destroy?" Cal asked. Clearly the conversation was giving his two brain cells a serious workout.

"No," Zethes said regretfully. "If he is a son of Zeus, he could be the one we've been watching for."

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

A girl's voice said, "That depends on my father's will."

Mare turned her head and looked at the top of the staircase. A girl with skin just as pale as Mare's stood there, but whilst Mare's hair fell into the red category, this girl's hair was as black as coal and her eyes were a coffee brown.

She looked at Mare and Mare stared back, this girl was beautiful and even as they stared at each other with no expression, she felt as if someone had held a distorted mirror up in front of her, and said: Hey! Look at yourself!

The girl ripped her eyes away from Mare and towards the other members of the quest, and seemed to understand the situation immediately.

"Father will want to see the one called Jason," the girl said.

"Then it is him?" Zethes asked excitedly.

"We'll see," the girl said. "Zethes, bring our guests."

Mare took a step forward, and another, and another, unable to take her eyes away from this girl in front of her, but she was looking at Leo coldly, not Mare. There was a spark on her arm as Jason passed by her, and she ripped her eyes away from the girl. Jason looked at her for a moment before he kept walking.

"Not you, Leo Valdez," she said.

Mare turned her head towards Leo, he was frozen in his spot, staring at the girl like she'd hung the stars in the sky.

"Why not?" Leo's face had fallen and his voice was annoying whiny when he spoke.

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

Mare was sure she had once read a book with that title.

"We're going together," Jason insisted, putting his hand on Leo's shoulder, "or not at all."

The girl tilted her head, like she wasn't used to people refusing her orders and Mare couldn't help but understand why people would do whatever she wanted. "He will not be harmed, Jason Grace, unless you make trouble. Calais, keep Leo Valdez here. Guard him, but do not kill him."

Cal pouted. "Just a little?"

"No," the girl insisted. "And take care of his interesting suitcase, until Father passes judgment."

Mare turned her head to Leo, blankly looking at his scared face. She wouldn't leave him alone here if he didn't want her to, and she was sure Piper and Jason wouldn't either. She'd also be happy to stick her sword into either of the spirits next to him. It was his decision.

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

"Listen to your friend," the pale girl said. "Leo Valdez will be perfectly safe. I wish I could say the same for you, son of Zeus. Now come, King Boreas is waiting."

"What a warm welcome." Mare said, and they began to follow.