AS BLAIRE EXPECTED, the Hunters of Artemis had set up temporary camp just outside the cave's entrance. Phoebe, one of the Hunters, had managed to construct a small silver tent pavilion during the short amount of time Thalia had been in the cave.

Inside of it was a kerosene heater keeping Piper, Hedge, and Phoebe toasty warm and a bunch of comfy throw pillows. Piper looked back to normal, decked out in a new parka, gloves, and camo pants like a Hunter. They were all kicked back, drinking hot chocolate and telling jokes. Blaire envied them— she was freezing and her joints were sore with exhaustion.

"Oh, no way," Leo whined, childishly stamping his foot. "We've been sitting in a cave and you get the luxury tent? Somebody give me hypothermia. I want hot chocolate and a parka!"

Phoebe sniffed. "Boys," she said like it was the worst insult she could think of. And it probably was.

"It's all right, Phoebe," Thalia reassured her comrade. "They'll need extra coats. And I think we can spare some chocolate."

Phoebe groaned as if against this idea, but pretty soon Leo, Jason, and Blaire were also garnished in thick silvery winter gear and sipping from warm mugs of hot chocolate. The clothes were lightweight yet shielded Blaire perfectly from the harsh temperatures of the outdoors.

  "Cheers!" bellowed Coach Hedge happily. He crunched down his plastic thermos cup. Blaire cringed as he swallowed a mouthful of straight plastic without even bothering to chew it.

"That cannot be good for your intestines," Leo murmured, watching Hedge in disgusted awe, just like Blaire.

Thalia patted Piper on the back. "You up for moving?"

Piper nodded. "Thanks to Phoebe, yeah. You guys are really good at this wilderness survival thing. I feel like I could run ten miles."

Thalia turned and winked at her little brother. "She's tough for a child of Aphrodite. I like this one."

"Hey, I could run ten miles too," Leo volunteered, as if anyone cared. "Tough Hephaestus kid here. Let's hit it."

Naturally, everyone ignored him.

It took Phoebe no more than six seconds to break camp, which Blaire wasn't at all surprised by. She knew the Hunters' whole thing was nature survival skills, so really, this was nothing out of the normal for them. The tent self-collapsed into a square the size of a pack of chewing gum, and for a second, Blaire honestly regretted cursing out the Hunters when they'd invited her to join them all those years ago.

Then, the newly established group took off, Thalia leading the way. She ran uphill through the thick snow, somehow not even breaking a singular sweat, while Blaire was panting and heaving for air, overheated despite the temperature.

Only Blaire and Leo seemed to be struggling with the extremities of the hike, for everyone else was getting along just fine.

Blaire didn't ever run. Unless it was from dangerous forces threatening her life. Even then, she wasn't very partial to it.

Coach Hedge leaped around like a happy mountain goat, coaxing them on with his stupid sing-songy voice. "Come on, Valdez! Pick up the pace! Let's chant. I've got a girl in Kalamazoo—"

The idea of having to listen to him singing while also trying to keep a steady pace alongside the group made Blaire want to fall off the cliff and plummet a thousand feet into a mound of frigid snow.

"Let's not," Thalia snapped.

So, they marched in silence. Blaire could hear the faint murmurings of Leo and Jason behind her, but she didn't care much to listen.

To Blaire's surprise, it wasn't long until Thalia fell back beside her.

"Good seeing you again," The Hunter began, offering the girl a curt nod.

Blaire merely looked over at her, confused as to why she was voluntarily speaking to her.

Then, she spoke again, "I was sorry to hear about Sunny. I know I hate boys and romance, but he was a great guy. The two of you were good for each other."

Blaire shoved her hands into her coat pocket, hoping to completely compact herself into the plush pouch although she knew it was impossible. It'd been a while since her best friend died, but each time someone mentioned him, the wound stung as if it were fresh.

  "Yeah," Blaire managed through the sudden thickness in her throat. "He was pretty great."

The conversation concluded at that, for neither of the girls had anything else to say to one another. They were never friends, and they never would be friends. Some things never changed.

   The Hunters stopped abruptly, seeming to have reached their destination, so Blaire, being one who wielded common sense, did as well. However, Leo didn't seem to get the hint. He rammed straight into Blaire's backside, sending them both toppling to the snowy ground below.

  The daughter of Hecate landed face first in the snow—the icy plane chilling her face— and Leo landed atop her with a gasp that was muffled by her coat.

  "Sorry," Leo apologized, scrambling off of her and to his feet. His face had taken up an ungodly shade of red, and it wasn't from the cold winter night, either. "I'm sorry!"

  Blaire grumbled, rolling over and shooting to her own feet, embarrassed beneath the unimpressed gazes of the others. She dusted off the crystalline powder that was clinging to her jeans, pretending to be unaffected by the fall and the unwanted attention it warranted.

  "Watch where you're going, Hot Stuff."

   "I said so—" Leo began, but the words died on his tongue upon looking down. Below them, the world was blanketed in a thick layer of clouds. The air was so thin, it was nearly impossible to breathe. Night had set in, but a full moon shone and the stars were incredible, mottling the inky darkness with minuscule specks of light. Stretching out to the north and south, peaks of other mountains rose from the clouds like islands—or teeth. "Woah."

    But the real show was directly above them. Hovering in the sky, about a quarter mile away, was a massive free-floating island made entirely of glowing purple stone. It was hard to judge its size, but it had to have been at least as wide as a football stadium and just as tall. The sides were rugged cliffs, riddled with hollow caves, and every once in a while, a gust of wind burst out with a sound like a pipe organ blast. At the top of the rock, brass walls ringed some kind of a fortress.

  The only thing connecting Pikes Peak to the floating island was a narrow bridge of ice that glistened in the moonlight.

  Then, simultaneously, the quartet of demigods realized that the bridge wasn't exactly ice, because it wasn't solid. As the winds changed direction, the bridge snaked around—blurring and thinning, in some places even breaking into a dotted line like the vapor trail of a plane.

  "I'm not stepping foot on that thing," Blaire huffed with a sense of finality, still staring in awe at the iridescent bridge.

  "Yeah," Leo agreed, crossing his arms over the coat adorning his chest. "We're not seriously crossing that."

  Thalia shrugged like it was no big deal to her. "I'm not a big fan of heights, I'll admit. But if you want to get to Aeolus's fortress, this is the only way."

  Blaire wanted to tell the group to go on without her.  She wasn't very partial to crossing this bridge, and she figured she could go without seeing Aeolus.

  Is the fortress always hanging there?" Piper asked in disbelief. "How can people not notice it sitting on top of Pikes Peak?"

  "The Mist," Thalia informed them. "Still, mortals do notice it indirectly. Some days, Pikes Peak looks purple. People say it's a trick of the light, but it's actually the color of Aeolus's palace, reflecting off the mountain face."

  "It's enormous," Jason said, pointing out the obvious as if the others weren't capable of seeing that.

  "Really?" Blaire cooed sarcastically with a roll of her dark eyes.

  Thalia merely laughed "You should see Olympus, little brother."

  "You're serious? You've been there?" Jason questioned.

  Of course, she'd been there. So had Blaire. And the memory, the reason behind her visit to Olympus still haunted her.

  Thalia, apparently thinking the same, grimaced. "We should go across in two different groups. The bridge is fragile."
 
  That's reassuring," Leo spoke, his voice wavering in a way that showed it truly wasn't all that reassuring to him. "Jason, can't you just fly us up there?"

  Thalia snorted. However, she quickly sobered up when she saw no one else was laughing. "Wait ... Jason, you can fly?"

  Jason gazed up at the floating fortress wistfully. "Well, sort of. More like I can control the winds. But the winds up here are so strong, I'm not sure I'd want to try. Thalia, you mean ... you can't fly?"

   Blaire, due to what she'd heard from Percy, knew of Thalia's deathly fear of heights. So, she wasn't all that surprised when her expression contorted into one of panic for the splitest of seconds.

  "Truthfully," she admitted, trembling at the mere idea, "I've never tried. Might be better if we stuck to the bridge."
 
  Coach Hedge tapped the ice vapor trail with his hoof, then jumped onto the bridge. Amazingly, it held his weight. "Easy! I'll go first. Piper, come on, girl. I'll give you a hand."

  "No, that's okay," Piper started to frantically deny his request, but the coach grabbed her hand and dragged her up the bridge before she was fully able to.

  Everyone seemed to hold their breath as the duo trudged up the bridge. Every step they took was a risk, and the group knew that. They made it about halfway across the terrifying cloud bridge and it seemed to be holding their combined weight just fine.

  Thalia turned to her Hunter friend. "Phoebe, I'll be back soon. Go find the others. Tell them I'm on my way."

  "You sure?" Phoebe narrowed her eyes at Leo and Jason— the boys like they might kidnap Thalia or something.

  "It's fine," Thalia promised.

  Phoebe nodded reluctantly, then raced down the mountain path, the white wolves at her heels.

  "You three, just be careful where you step," Thalia told them. "It hardly ever breaks."

  Blaire whipped around to face the daughter of Zeus, frantically shaking her head in disapproval. "I don't wanna go with them."

  "Blaire—" Thalia began, but was rudely interrupted by Leo.

  "Come on, Ms. Magic," Leo coaxed with a lopsided smirk, "I won't let you fall."

Thalia slightly nudged Blaire forward, "We've not got all day."

Blaire was not crossing that bridge.

Blaire crossed the bridge. And she wasn't happy about it. The others had convinced her to do so, insisting it was absolutely urgent. Up until halfway, everything was going alright. The bridge was yet to collapse beneath them. Ahead, Piper and Hedge were waving them forward in a form of hopeful encouragement, chanting their names.

And then Leo had to go and mess things up.

He paused suddenly, halting his movements, and his face scrunched up in silent question. Both Jason and Blaire turned to face him, the latter extremely impatient.

"Why do they have a bridge?" he asked. And Blaire mentally face palmed. He'd stopped them a billion feet in the air to ask them this.

"Are you serious?" Was all Blaire said.

Thalia frowned. "Leo, this isn't a good place to stop. What do you mean?"

"They're wind spirits," Leo pointed out. "Can't they fly?"

"Yes, but sometimes they need a way to connect to the world below."

Quite frankly, Blaire didn't care about the reasoning behind the bridge. She took a singular glance down and wanted to vomit.

"So the bridge isn't always here?" Leo asked.

Thalia shook her head. "The wind spirits don't like to anchor to the earth, but sometimes it's necessary. Like now. They know you're coming."

"Leo?" Jason said. "What are you thinking?"

"Who fucking cares?" Blaire snapped, turning on them. "We're a thousand feet in the air! Can't you talk about this shit later?"

"Oh, gods," Thalia gasped suddenly in horror. "Keep moving. Look at your feet."

They all looked down to his feet as she'd instructed, and a chorus of startled yelps arose. Leo was literally smoking. Silvery wisps of smoke rose from him, curling off his worn sneakers and pants. Below him, the ice was thinnning.

"Leo, stop it," Jason warned, obviously terrified. "You're going to melt it."

"I'll try!" Leo panicked, stammering over his words. "Listen, Jason, what did Hera call you in that dream? She called you a bridge."

  "Leo, seriously, cool down," Thalia demanded. "I don't what you're talking about, but the bridge is—"

  "Just listen," Leo insisted. "If Jason is a bridge, what's he connecting? Maybe two different places that normally don't get along—like the air palace and the ground. You had to be somewhere before this, right? And Hera said you were an exchange."

So, she wasn't the only one who was certain that this was a possibility. She'd thought it back in the cave, and now the others were catching on. Jason and Percy's lives were swapped, dropped amidst opposite camps.

It wouldn't be abnormal for the gods to completely ruin things for innocent mortals in order to benefit themselves. They'd done it before, whose to say they wouldn't do it again?

An exchange." Thalia's dark eyes widened by a tenfold. "Oh, gods."

Jason frowned in confusion. "What are you two talking about?"

Thalia murmured something like a prayer. "I understand now why Artemis sent me here. Jason—she told me to hunt for Lycaon and I would find a clue about Percy. You are the clue. Artemis wanted us to meet so I could hear your story."

"Can we please talk about this on the other side of the bridge?" Blaire pleaded.

They ignored her.

"I don't understand," Jason protested helplessly. "I don't have a story. I don't remember anything."

"But Leo's right," Thalia admitted. "It's all connected. If we just knew where—"

Leo snapped his fingers, his eyes widening as if stumbling upon some crucial realization. "Jason, what did you call that place in your dream? That ruined house. The Wolf House?"

Thalia nearly choked. "The Wolf House? Jason, why didn't you tell me that! That's where they're keeping Hera?"

It was great that they were piecing together the truth surrounding their situation and Percy's mysterious whereabouts, but she wished they were doing so on solid ground.

"You know where it is?" Jason asked.

Then, the bridge dissolved. If it weren't for Jason and his quick reflexes, Leo would have fallen to his death. But, before he was able to, Jason grabbed his coat hood and yanked him forward. Blaire didn't wait to see what happened next, she took off in a sprint toward the safety of solid earth.

When she turned, Thalia was on the other side of a thirty-foot chasm. The bridge was continuing to melt at a rather rapid pace.

Go!" Thalia shouted, backing down the bridge as it crumbled. "Find out where the giant is keeping Piper's dad. Save him! I'll take the Hunters to the Wolf House and hold it until you can get there. We can do both!"

"But where is the Wolf House?" Jason shouted at his sister's retreating figure.

"You know where it is, little brother!" She was so far away now that Blaire could hardly hear her voice over the raging wind and the steady thump of her heart in her head. But Blaire was pretty sure she said; "I'll see you there. I promise."

Then she turned and raced down the dissolving bridge without giving them any coherent answers.

They had no time to stand around and mope about Thalia's exit. They climbed for their lives, the ice vapor thinning under their feet. Several times, Jason grabbed ahold of their clothing, desperately clawing at the fabric to keep hold, and used the winds to keep them aloft, but it was more like bungee jumping than flying. She wasn't all too excited to be held so close by Jason, but it was either that or die.

When they finally reached the floating island, Piper and Hedge pulled them onto land, tossing them in a heap on the stone floor. Blaire was panting, her chest heaving in fear and exhaustion. Turning her head, she caught Leo's gaze locked onto her face, studying the defined ridges. He quickly looked away when he realized he'd been caught staring.

  She didn't understand what was so alluring about her red-sweaty face.

The top of Pikes Peak floated below them in a sea of clouds, but there was no sign of Thalia. And Leo had just burned their only exit.

"What happened?" Piper demanded, staring down at her breathless questmates. "Leo, why are your clothes smoking?"

"I got a little heated," he gasped. "Sorry, guys. Honest. I didn't—"

"It's all right," Jason said, but his expression was grim. "We've got less than twenty-four hours to rescue a goddess and Piper's dad. Let's go see the king of the winds."

  So, they did.
 

LYNN SAYS // sorry for the short chapter bleo nation I got caught up with roseguel who will also be updated today!!! i'm so close to moa which im incredibly excited for... anyway enjoy this unedited chap !!