Jason had nearly forgotten about what started all this that morning. The Grand Canyon debacle and Percy's fit over those books seemed as far away as the bottom of the ocean, but still as they flew low over and circled around in confusion before banking off to follow an actual road, it all came trickling back.

Porkpie was following leisurely behind. An unpleasant feeling, like the ghosts they'd left that weren't on that white stallion were sneering at this detour, but he knew that was all in his head. The only ghost he'd known before Alex and Magnus was his own mother.

There were others though. He'd felt it as he looked upon the battlefield, then off to where Mount Othrys loomed in the far distance. Alex and Magnus had been buried with honors, but it never felt like enough when all you wanted was one more moment before it was all too much and you couldn't even look anymore.

Percy nor Blackjack seemed particularly sure of where they were going from the one sided argument they could hear, and with no satyr at hand it seemed they were only going to find this Wilderness School to start looking for Piper and Leo by a combination of sheer dumb luck, their steeds insisting the kids would be found at the nearest donut shop, and a few logical leaps. The usual.

After a few towns and a dozen donuts each (Will had sweet talked the cashier while Percy and Annabeth broke in the back of the store and made sure to note the name of the palace to send a few apology dollars to later), they finally found it mid-morning. Phone books still existed if you asked the right sleazy hotel, who knew?

A building that had once been an old asylum had been converted to 'a school.' There were bars on every window, most of which looked half broken or shattered anyways. Three stories tall of eroded brickwork stood the test of time through sheer stubbornness in an empty lot way out on the outskirts of a dusty town in Nevada nobody knew existed except the people who lived there. Messily painted over graffiti smothered the lowest floor. An abandoned ladder and a few empty cans showed another already in progress in hot pink. The parking lot was nearly empty, the snow falling in light dusty dirty patches filling in where people must have recently been trying to have snowball fights and build forts, but had clearly been abandoned when it all turned to mud. The sign outfront had the words 'Where Kids Are the Animals' scratched in red underneath the name.

They landed on the roof, a huge open space they were sure was the nicest part of the building just for being untouched. Even the lock on the door had a fine layer of dust.

"Kids have died here," Nico stated in a way only he could. Jason personally hoped he meant some crazy cult thing among mortal teenagers they might walk in on that would make it the police's problem, not monsters, like Dylan tossing kids off this roof for funsies until he showed up; but he'd brace himself for anything today.

Percy pulled his pen out of his pocket and uncapped it without further question. He looked as healthy as the dying grass. They knew he'd tried to catch some sleep on Blackjack with his girlfriend and the pegasus keeping him supported, but it hadn't been nearly long enough to recover from exerting all that energy, and Nico wasn't looking any better, the darkness thrumming around their feet like a hungry mouth waiting politely to chew and swallow.

"Will and I will scope the place out and look for them," Jason decided.

Percy opened his mouth to protest, "I've been kicked out of more places like this than you can name! I should-"

"You two should rest," Will agreed with him. Nico hadn't even drawn his sword, nor was he looking at Will. He just slid off Zeta, then the rest of the way to the ground, shadows dancing around him merrily as if happy to have him join, but that's all they were doing, for now. He stayed on the cold roof and went back to looking up at the sky while Will's heart lodged in his throat.

"Leo and Piper might already have false memories of me." Jason reminded. "If they don't, it won't matter who finds them, they'll think we're nuts and we'll need backup if Dylan and those storm spirits are around. Will whistling is the signal that everything's gone to hell, but until then, just," he didn't need to finish, Percy's fist knotted up in Blackjack's mane and Annabeth's hand on his shoulder was all that was keeping him upright until he nodded and slumped to the ground too.

Annabeth's eyes alone promised she'd watch the two as they went to the door. It was locked, but Jason just gave his coin a flip without care. It came out a sword, and he slipped it in with a silent 'shnick' through the crack of ice. With an easy pop of his wrist, it cleanly cut through the lock and the door swung open.

"Subtle," Will nodded in approval as he began following him down the stairs. It was a rickety thing that felt about as safe as the laval wall at camp, every creaking step they made was sure to alert someone of their presence. Will was clinging to Jason's back a little too much, knowing if he slipped down through a rusted grate it would only be this guy to stop him hitting the bottom.

The first floor they found seemed to be dorms, but every room they checked was empty, and depressing. Few had decorations up, most of them had at least one piece of broken furniture each, nearly all of them had flickering over hang lights embedded into the ceiling with bolts that were sure to give someone tetanus just by looking at them too long. The shiny new, industrial locks on the outside of each gleamed. The beds were deeply tempting, but neither of them suggested they should rest here for the night, nor would the others agree. Not a place where they already knew monsters had lingered. Not when home was still so far away.

The second floor was clearly the place for classrooms, but to call them that felt generous. Four doors cut into walls that were sectioned off by giant pieces of thin plywood, as if this area had all once been hollow. The noise would be disastrous cramming on either side of it, with half cobbled together desks, chairs that had nails poking through them, and chalkboards with spelling errors and wrong math equations on each half, along with at least three states that had the wrong capitals labeled on an old map on the hall. Nobody was there either.

There was yet another set of stairs heading farther down as they reached a clamor of voices, and Will was kind of disturbed he hadn't seen any bathrooms yet. What kind of medieval plumbing did they have down in the basement?

Finally as they neared the next floor they heard sounds of life, Will saw Jason look back at him in hesitation, probably regretting bringing him along right now. He had no weapons, and Alex and Magnus's deaths were doubly his fault. This guy probably thought him useless at worst and a useless door watcher at best.

He seemed to be waiting on something though, so Will nodded he was ready for whatever. Jason went to the door and eased it open, peaking out.

Will could only see a sliver over his shoulder, but he could tell it was much the same as the other floors. Whatever walls had once been here had been knocked out, the place was open so no trouble making could be had behind any unwatched corners. There was a meshed off gated area where a line of phones were. It was some mash of shelving for office supplies and security weapons and lunch tables crammed into the far side where all the kids seemed to be now.

Coach Hedge was there, Will's heart instantly leapt with relief. He was leaning on his cudgel and chewing on a block of cheese on a stick smothered with hot sauce. As they watched he took a mega goat bite and polished off half, stick and all.

There were only two security guards on each door that had metal detectors, leaving both boys to wonder if Jason's sword would be a problem, but neither looked very interested on keeping an eye out for trouble with their nose in their phones. Will's heart did stutter in fear for several moments as he spotted the holsters on their hips, but then realized they were taser guns. Hopefully. At least it looked more like the one Travis had given Connor for his birthday than the old fashioned kind Will liked to clean in the weapons shed.

There were no other teachers around. Jason's eyes clearly clocked the parking lot out one window and the empty 'wilderness' out the other as likely exit points, his sword would cut through the bars no problem. Will was studying the kids. Like Jason had once described, they all seemed normal. Any one of them would have blended right in at camp. They were laughing, one boy had a flower crown on his head and was shoving cheese cubes up his nose. He couldn't imagine what wretched crimes they all would have done to be at a place like this.

Jason kept his sword out, clearly relying on the Mist as he kept it low to the ground but close to his hip as he eased into the room further, eyes scanning with excitement among the three dozen or so 'students.'

They spotted Leo first, chattering with someone in a cluster. Some odd looking colored chips were exchanging hands among the group as Leo's nimble fingers blurred through something to do with a whisk and a cheese grater. Piper was only harder to distinguish because she was one of the few not in the crowd, but alone off to the side, pushing her cheese cubes around on her tray without interest and staring listlessly at the gouged out table like Hedge had been using them for snacks.

Dylan wasn't in sight, Cowboy jersey or otherwise, so they began cautiously edging towards Piper with hope this could work out, as Hedge's eyes landed on them. He sniffed the air, then narrowed his eyes curiously, but didn't intervene as he studied Will with vague familiarity in his eyes, his Camp shirt clearly coming in handy right now.

Whatever Leo was doing caused a spark, and then somehow Hedge's pants were on fire.

Hedge bellowed, swatting at the small flames while cheers and groans alike filled the room when Leo jumped on the table and took a bow. Hedge beat out the smoke and then reached out, yanking him off his pedestal and dragging him towards the stairwell, shouting about detention for life and ignoring Leo's half-hearted protests about them being on winter break as the kids left behind laughed and finished collecting their winnings from the losers.

Piper watched though. Her head whipped up to follow his progress with dark circles under her eyes and a concerned frown.

They figured he was in safe hands for the moment as the two went up and carefully over to Piper, who didn't even look around in all the excitement as the other students began taking their seats, just two more now in the crowd as they sat across from her.

She did look at that, and her eyes narrowed in instant suspicion, but obvious curiosity as she took them in silently. There wasn't a trace of recognition as she looked upon Jason. A part of him was disappointed in that. A part of him was relieved. He had a good feeling which would win in the end as he thought of his friends and the books, an answer he could pick for himself.

"Is it true you asked for that BMW and they just gave it away?" Will asked pleasantly.

Piper stared at him with her mouth open.

"Listen," Jason whispered urgently, "will you come and talk with us on the roof. It's about your dad, kind of." He still had his sword out, there was something of an order in his tone that prickled Will's inner teenager against being told what to do.

Her eyes went from shrewd suspicion to outright anger as she hissed, "go away! No you can't have an autograph! Why does everyone think I just carry those around-"

"No, no, nothing like that," Will cut in patiently, giving Jason a very stern 'please stop helping' look. "Look, we know something weird happened at the Grand Canyon and you've been having nightmares. I'm kind of an expert on weird and we just want to talk about some options outside of this place, I promise."

She looked from one, then the other with those wondrous kaleidoscope eyes of hers. That book had really undersold how beautiful she was, and Jason hadn't exactly been stingy with the compliments. There was something about her that exuded a desire to be near her, some confidence buried deep under that ragged jacket and cutaway hair hiding half her face. One of those out going people who could have smiled and made you comfortable with ease if she wanted.

She clearly didn't want to now.

But she also looked at where Hedge had just dragged off Leo, then her uneaten lunch, and something of all this had clearly gotten through to her enough that she nodded and stood up to follow them.

"I don't think I'm very good with people," Jason decided as they began climbing back up the stairs, glancing hesitantly over his shoulder at Piper like he expected her to run.

"I think you're too blunt sometimes," Will shrugged. "Relax a little, talk to her like you would Percy, or maybe not him exactly. Look, try not to stare random people down like you're going to chop them in half," he managed to say it as a gentle joke, enough that Jason gave him a grateful smile and another apologetic look at Piper, who was still following with pursed lips and keeping five stairs behind them with her eyes on that golden sword.

When they got back to the roof, Piper took in the empty space and pitch dark night, somehow unphased by Leo already astride Porkpie and bouncing eagerly to get a move on. Will got the impression he didn't really care where he was going next so long as it wasn't here and he wasn't clapping erasers in detention.

Piper balked at everyone gathered around, then threw out her voice in a way Jason never could to tell them, "I'm not going."

Will lost all expectation of her returning to Camp with them. He turned away as if this were a done deal and went back where Nico was and had jumped back on the pegasi before he realized it was a strange thing to be doing without Hedge and Piper astride their own.

Annabeth shivered as if chasing off a cold chill that had nothing to do with the sharp breeze and nodded of her own will. "Of course, nobody's going to force you. We just wanted to explain your options, I promise."

And so she did. Piper listened in silence as Annabeth explained being a demigod, Camp, and Hedge going to California to check in on her dad. She was so precise and candid, they were pretty sure she'd been practicing that speech in her head the whole way here.

"I want to go with Coach Hedge. I want to go home," Piper said firmly, her eyes flickering from Leo to Annabeth. Leo was still on Porkpie, his smile slipping for the first time.

Annabeth was clearly trying to make herself weigh this as an option and explain to Piper how dangerous it could be, but the words seemed to be getting lost on her as determined as Piper was.

"It should be safe enough," Jason said. "I think the whole thing about you guys in California is just some Greek nonsense anyways," he said with a pleasant enough smile and an obvious look at Annabeth, who'd spent months out there with her dad with nary a monster sighting.

Piper seemed to think the matter was decided and stalked back down the stairs, shoulders stiff. She hesitated and looked back at Leo, who gave her an understanding nod and a finger gun salute. Her grin was reluctant, but her chin held high as she departed. She hadn't asked a single question about half-bloods and only gawked at the pegasi for the first few seconds.

Only when she was gone did they all exchange perplexed looks at what just happened.

Of course she wouldn't be thrilled to go to Camp if she was still considering betraying them for that voice that could easily whisk her dad off again. Just because they'd defeated one giant didn't mean more weren't going to be ready to take their place all too soon.

"I'll keep an eye on her," Hedge promised as he followed to the doorway, but pausing there to look back at Annabeth. "I'll get a hold of camp at the first sign of trouble, I scared off those cupcakes once and I'll do it again!" Nobody bothered to correct him on their theory as their eyes darted to Jason and away. They were pretty sure nobody had been attacked because they were waiting to get the jump on Jason. The black clouds gathering above them now was only reinforcing that. "The gym equipment sucks here anyways."

"Thank you," Annabeth nodded, "and when she's sure her dad is safe, try to convince her to come again. I don't know why she still hasn't been claimed or what else could be coming."

"I've got an idea," Jason said grimly as he jumped onto Guido's back as the storm spirits began descending. "Let's get out of here guys."

"Porkpie, get Leo to camp," Percy snapped as he whirled around onto his steed.

The largest stallion took off, Leo babbling in protest that he had no idea how to work this thing, keeping a chokehold on the poor animal until he was a white speck.

Hedge yelled in delight and hefted his club, but the wind slammed the door shut in his face. Will wasn't quite sure if it was Dylan or Jason, but he was grateful either way as he took Nico's hand and hefted his weight into place again. Percy and Annabeth were just as ready to go when Jason slammed his heels down and cried, "heya!"

His sword cut through three of them before they'd even finished corporealizing, and it made the cloud take chase of them at once, not a single speck left over the Wilderness School.

The wind tried its best to unseat them and Jason tried his best to counterbalance while swerving, using his pegasus's fancy flying to its best use slashing at any of the demons that got too close to them. Even when the venti began to retreat the demigods were hesitant to break off and run, or these things could still decide to circle back for Piper and Hedge.

Will and Percy easily took charge of the horses, steering and corralling Dylan and his friends wherever they wanted them as Jason cut through the wind on horse and sword like he was living the thrill of a lifetime. Percy tried how he could to help, but the celestial bronze only speared through the back of two, and they quickly learned not to turn their backs on him for anything, until Jason swept in and killed them anyways.

Annabeth was doing what she could to be heard in the torrent of noise when and where another one was taking shape. Nico didn't draw his sword, he kept his hands tight in their mares mane and was chanting something under his breath that kept giving Will cold flashes but was clearly making it harder by the moment for the shapes to become anything less than solid as Will put the anemoi thuellai through their paces riding them down, the celestial bronze horse hooves coming in occasional handy.

The concentration broke into a wild grin on Jason's face as the last three wailed something lost to the wind. He shouted back in Latin and sent down volts of lighting that hit each target, dispersing two into wisps of nothing like so many smaller fish scattering in the sea of the sky, but the last clung stubbornly to its four legged form trying to retreat.

Jason leaped off Guido right towards it, the atmosphere itself bending around him for a moment. He didn't land, he seemed to melt with the miniature tempest swirling in a vortex of hatred. It should have been terrifying, but it wasn't. Jason wasn't being spun around, he was doing the spinning. The creature wasn't bucking, Jason was saddling him, and before their eyes, he was astride a spirit of pure dark wind, lightning still crackling from his flank in sparks of fury, but docile beneath Jason's heaving breaths and proud smile. Four legs, blazing pools of red where eyes should be like dying stars, the mane and tail were an essence of power that only clung to the horse-like shape without even wings for support, the body's shape there through pure will of the rider.

He gave his new little friend a pat on the part where his neck was, mostly.

Then his eyes rolled into the back of his head, and he passed out from exhaustion as the horse dissipated into the darkness of the night with a soft whinny that almost sounded like an apology.

Guido dived, doing an excellent job keeping him balanced on his back while Annabeth braced herself and lept from one to the other like a hop across a puddle. The poor horse grunted, but Annabeth promised him extra sweet oats as she gently settled Jason more safely in place.

"I warned him!" Percy groaned.

"You know better," Annabeth told her boyfriend fondly as she gently brushed away sweat and caked in mud from Jason's eyes and mouth. The act felt maternal, she was doing it as much for Thalia who wasn't here as she was for her new friend. "Wait until he's awake for the I told you so's, I thought I taught you better."

Percy wasn't looking much better, his hands shaking in Blackjack's mane as he told him, "take us home." Nico passed out against Will before they'd even finished gathering speed.