I 08. I

𝑮𝒍𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑮𝒐𝒓𝒆

❝ icicles ❞

AFTER HER AWKWARD RANT IT BECAME QUIET. She didn't know how to not tell them about the main objectives of each of her quests, but being the only one who had ever been on an official quest ( as far as Jason new with his amnesia ) was quite difficult she had to say.

Ariadne sat on the back of Festus while fiddling with her pearl necklace. It was a painful reminder of Percy, and she felt like she was being stupid and overly complaining, but it hurt too much without him there.

Piper sat behind her with a thoughtful expression placed upon her face, the blessing still across her. In front of her sat a sixteen year old demigod who was the best fighter in the last couple hundred years, and she finally looked as good as her. She was confused on what Ariadne was thinking of.

The daughter of Aphrodite felt self-conscious with compared to Ariadne. Her ends was, in hiking boots and a winter coat, but so was Ariadne, yet the older girl looked better than she ever could.

Dressed in black hiking boots, a pair of jeans, a black turtleneck sweater, and a winter coat and she was looking like a model. It worried her to think that Jason could possibly fall for Ariadne despite her having a boyfriend.

Piper felt hurt at the thought of it.

"Shut up, me," Leo said abruptly.

"What?" Piper asked.

"Nothing," he said. "Long night. I think I'm hallucinating. It's cool."

Ariadne raised her eyebrows. As a demigod who had been at camp the longest, she didn't find that particularly comforting.

"Just joking." Leo decided to change the subject. "So what's the plan, bro? You said something about catching wind, or breaking wind, or something?"

As they flew over New England, Jason laid out the game plan: First, find some guy names Boreas and grill him for information—"

"His name is Boreas?" Leo had to ask. "What is he, the God of Boring?"

Second, Jason continued, they had to find those venti that had attacked them at the Grand Canyon—

"Can we just call them storm spirits?" Leo asked. "Venti makes them sound like evil espresso drinks."

And third, Jason finished, they had to find out who the storm spirits worked for, so they could find Hera and free her.

"So you want to look for Dylan, the nasty storm dude, on purpose," Leo said. "The guy who threw me off the skywalk and sucked Coach Hedge into the clouds."

"That's about it," Jason said. "Well... there may be a wolf involved, too. But I think she's friendly. She probably won't eat us, unless we show weakness."

Jason told them about his dream—the big nasty mother wolf and a burned out house with stone spires growing out of the swimming pool.

"Uh-huh," Leo said. "But you don't know where this place is."

"Nope," Jason admitted.

"There's also giants," Piper added. "The prophecy said the giants' revenge."

"Hold on," Leo said. "Giants—like more than one? Why can't it be just one giant who wants revenge?"

"I don't think so," Piper said. "I remember in some of the old Greek stories, there was something about an army of giants."

"Great," Leo muttered. "Of course, with our luck, it's an army. "So you know anything else about these giants? Did you do a bunch of myth research for that movie with your dad?"

"Your dad's an actor?" Jason asked.

Leo laughed. "I keep forgetting about your amnesia. Heh. Forgetting about amnesia. That's funny. But yeah, her dad's Tristan McLean."

"The one in the Aphrodite cabin?" Ariadne asked. "On the poster?"

Piper nodded.

"Well, that doesn't matter. I'm sorry, Piper," Ariadne told them. "The giants—there are a lot of giants in Greek Mythology. If they're the same ones I'm thinking of, then that's bad news for us. Huge, almost impossible to kill. And they could throw mountains and stuff. Trust me, as someone who's fought a few, it's not fun. Each made is to oppose a certain god or goddess, and they're related to the Titans. When Kronos lost the First Titan War, they rose from the depths of Tartarus and attempted to destroy Olympus. If it's happening again—"

"Chiron said it was happening again," Jason recalled. "The last chapter. That's what he meant. No wonder he didn't want us to know all the details."

Leo whistled. "So... giants who can throw mountains. Friendly wolves that will eat us if we show weakness. Evil espresso drinks. Gotcha. Maybe this isn't the time to bring up my psycho babysitter."

"Is that another joke?" Piper asked.

Leo told them about Tia Callida, who was really Hera, and how she'd appeared to him at camp. And he told them about the strange woman in earthen robes who seemed to be asleep, and seemed to know the figure.

Ariadne's blood ran cold. Her mouth went dry thinking of the right person, but she wasn't sure, she had to make sure before she spooked the group at the beginning of their quest.

"That's... disturbing," Piper said.

"Bout sums it up," Leo agreed. "Thing is, everybody says don't trust Hera. She hates demigods. And the prophecy said we'd cause death if we unleash her rage. So I'm wondering... why are we doing this?"

He had a point.

"She chose us," Jason said. "All four of us. We're the first of the eight who have to gather for the Great Prophecy. This quest is the beginning of something much bigger."

Another Great Prophecy. Why was it always her?

"Besides," Jason continued, "helping Hera is the only way I can get back my memory. And that dark spire in my dream seemed to be feeding on Hera's energy. If that thing unleashed a king of the giants by destroying Hera—"

"But a good trade off," Ariadne agreed. "Despite how much I hate Hera, losing her would throw the gods into chaos. She's the main one who keeps peace in the family. And a war with the giants could be even more destructive than the Titan War."

Jason nodded. "Chiron also talked about worse forces stirring on the solstice, with it being a good time for dark magic, and all—something that could awaken if Hera were sacrificed on that day. And this mistress who's controlling the storm spirits, the one who wants to kill all the demigods—"

"Might be that weird sleeping lady," Leo finished. Ariadne clenched her jaw. "Dirt Woman fully awake? Not something I want to see."

"But who is she?" Jason asked. "And what does she have to do with giants?"

Ariadne kept her mouth shut.

They flew in silence. The wind got colder and below them the snowy forests seemed to go on forever. Ariadne zipped up her parka and fiddled with her pack, ensuring it was still there, and checking over everything inside.

She noticed Leo's tired expression. "Why don't you get some sleep?" Ariadne said in his ear. "You were up all night."

Leo wanted to protest. "You won't let me fall off?"

Ariadne gave him a small smile. "Dude, you built a whole dragon in a night. Trust me, Batman, beautiful people never lie."

"Right," he muttered. But he perked up at her calling him 'Batman.' He leaned forward against the warm bronze of the dragon's neck, and closed his eyes.

By the time Ariadne shook Leo awake, the daylight was fading.

"We're here," Piper said.

Leo rubbed his eyes. Below them, a city sat on a cliff overlooking a river. The plains around it were dusted with snow, but the city itself glowed warmly in the winter sunset. Buildings crowded together inside high walls like a medieval town, way older than any place Ariadne had really seen before. In the center was an actual castle—with massive red brick walls and a square tower with a peaked, green gabled roof.

"Tell me that's Quebec and not Santa's workshop," Leo said.

"Yeah, Quebec City," Piper confirmed. "One of the oldest cities in North America. Founded around sixteen hundred or so?"

Leo raised an eyebrow. "Your dad do a movie about that too?"

She made a face at him. "I read sometimes, okay? Just because Aphrodite claimed me, doesn't mean I have to be an airhead."

"Feisty!" Leo said. "So you know so much, what's that castle?"

"A hotel, I think."

Leo laughed. "No way."

But as they got closer, they saw she was right. The grab entrance was bustling with doormen, valets, and porters taking bags. Sleep black luxury cars idled in the drive. People in elegant suits and winter cloaks hurried to get out of the cold.

"The North Wind is staying in a hotel?" Leo said. "That can't be—"

"Heads up, guys," Jason interrupted. "We got company!"

Ariadne looked below and saw what Jason meant. Rising from the top of the tower were two winged figures—angry angels, with nasty looking swords.

Festus didn't like the Angel guys. He swooped to a halt in midair, wings beating and talons bared, and made a rumbling sound in his throat.

"Steady, boy," Leo muttered.

"I don't like this," Jason said. "They look like storm spirits.

Ariadne shook her head, keeping a hand on her ring in case they ended up fighting. "They're not."

She was right. As the angels got closer, they could see they were much more solid than venti. They looked like regular teenagers except for their icy white shirt and feathery purple wings. Their bronze swords were jagged, like icicles. Their faces looked similar enough that they might've been brothers, but they definitely weren't twins.

One was the size of an ox, with a bright red hockey jersey, baggy sweatpants, and black leather cleats. The guy clearly had been in too many fights, because both his eyes were black, and when he bared his teeth, several of them were missing.

The other guy looked like he'd just stepped off a 1980s rock album covers—Journey, maybe, or Hall & Oates, or some other band she didn't know. His ice white hair was long and feathered into a mullet. He wore pointy toed leather shoes, designer pants that were way too tight, and a god awful silk shirt with the top green buttons open. He couldn't have weighed more than ninety pounds, and he had a bad case of acne.

The angels pulled up in front of the dragon and hovered there, swords at the ready.

The hockey ox grunted. "No clearance."

"Scuse me?" Leo said.

"You have no flight plan on file," explained the groovy love god. He spoke with such a bad French accent, Ariadne assumed it was fake. "This is restricted airspace."

"Destroy them?" The ox showed off his gap toothed grin.

The dragon began to his steam, ready to defend them. Jason summoned his golden sword, causing Ariadne to give him an annoyed look, which he smiled sheepishly at. Leo cried, "Hold on! Let's have some manners here, boys. Can I at least find out who has the honor of destroying me?"

"I am Cal!" the ox grunted. He looked very proud of himself, like he'd taken a long time to memorize that sentence.

"That's short for Calais," the love god said. "Sadly, my brother cannot say words with more than two syllables—"

"Pizza! Hockey! Destroy!" Cal offered.

"—which includes his own name," the love god finished.

"I am cal," Cal repeated. "And this is Zethes! My brother!"

"Wow," Leo said. "That was almost three sentences, man! Way to go."

Cal grunted, obviously pleased with himself.

"Stupid buffoon," his brother grumbled. "They make fun of you. But no matter. I am Zethes, which is short for Zethes. And the ladies there—" He winked at Ariadne and Piper, but the wink was more like a facial seizure. "They can call me anything they like. Perhaps they would like to have dinner with a famous demigod before we must destroy you?"

Piper made a sound like gagging. "That's a... truly horrifying offer."

"I rather like my boyfriend," Ariadne grumbled.

"It is no problem." Zethes wiggled his eyebrows. "We are a very romantic people, we Boreads."

"Boreads?" Jason cut in. "Do you mean, like, the sons of Boreas?"

"Ah, so you've heard of us!" Zethes looked pleased. "We are out father's gatekeepers. So you understand, we cannot have unauthorized people flying in his airspace on creaky dragons, scaring silly mortal peoples."

He pointed below, and Ariadne saw that the mortals were starting to take notice. Several were pointing up—not with alarm, yet—more with confusion and annoyance, like the dragon was a traffic helicopter flying too low.

"Which is sadly why, unless this is an emergency landing," Zethes said, brushing his hair out of his acne covered face, "we will have to destroy you painfully."

"Destroy!" Cal agreed, with a little more enthusiasm than necessary.

"Wait!" Piper said. "This is an emergency landing."

"She's right." Ariadne gave them a smile against what she deeply wished. "It's urgent."

"Awww!" Cal looked so disappointed.

Zethes studied Ariadne and Piper, which of course he'd already been doing. "Hoe does the pretty girl decide this is an emergency, then?"

"We have to see Boreas. It's totally urgent! Please?" Piper forced a smile. Leo and Jason seemed to be convinced as her voice turned smooth while she charmspeaked, and Ariadne narrowed her eyes on them.

Zethes picked at his silk shirt, probably making sure it was still open wide enough. "Well...I hate to disappoint a lovely lady, but you see, my sister, she would have an avalanche if we allowed you—"

"Our dragon is malfunctioning!" Ariadne cut in, gazing at Zethes while fanning her eyelashes. "It could crash any minute!"

Festus shuddered helpfully, then turned his head and spilled gunk out of his ear, splattering a black Mercedes in the parking lot below.

"No destroy?" Cal whimpered.
Zethes pondered the problem. Then he gave Ariadne and Piper another spasmodic wink. "Well, you two are pretty. I mean, you're right. A malfunctioning dragon—this could be an emergency."

"Destroy them later?" Cal offered, which was probably as close to friendly as he ever got.

"It will take some explaining," Zethes decided. "Father has not been kind to visitors lately. But, yes. Come, faulty dragon people. Follow us."

The Boreads sheathed their swords and pulled flashlight with orange cones from their belts. Cal and Zethes turned and swooped toward the hotel's tower.

Leo turned to his friends. "I live these guys. Follow them?"

Jason and Piper didn't look eager.

Eyes turned to Ariadne, who sat contemplating with a sinister expression. "We made it here, but I don't understand why Boreas isn't keen on visitors lately. He's usually the nicest of all the wind gods."

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

As they got closer, Ariadne worried they'd crash into the tower. 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 cannot 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 frees. The entry hall had vaulted ceilings forty feet high, huge draped windows, and lush ornamental 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 besitos little frightening. When Ariadne slid off the dragon, the carpet crunched under her feet. A fine layer of frost covered the furniture. The curtains didn't budge because they were frozen solid, and the ice coated windows let weird watery light from the sunset. Even the ceiling was furry with icicles. As for the stairs, she was her they'd slip and break their necks if they tried to climb them.

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

"Not me." Jason looked uneasily at the staircase.

Ariadne let out a deep breath, mist flowing out of her mouth in the cold air. "This isn't right. Something feels wrong.

Festus shuddered and snorted flames. Frost started to form on his scales.

"No, no, no." Zethes marched over. "The dragon must be deactivated. We can't have fire in here. The heat ruins my hair."

Festus growled and spun his drill bit teeth.

"S'okay, boy." Leo turned to Zethes. "The dragon ya 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. Everyone backed away 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 regular metal wedge the size of a suitcase.

Leo tried to lift it, but the thing weighed about six billion pounds. "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!"

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

"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—0

"Who are you?" Zethes shoved the pint 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."

"Oh. 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."

Leo looked ready to start sweating bullets. "Hey...look...I don't know—" He glanced at his friends desperately. "Guys, a little help?"

Jason already had his gold coin in his hand. Ariadne had her ring out ready to twist at any given moment. "Look, there's been a mistake. Leo isn't a fire guy. Tell them, Leo. Tell them you're not a fire guy."

"Um..."

"Zethes?" Piper tried her dazzling smile again, through she looked a little too cold and nervous 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 father into Leo's chest, and frost began spreading across his shirt.

"Destroy him his?" Cal asked his brother.

Zethes nodded. "Sadly, I think—"

"No," Jason insisted. Leo noticed how Ariadne was terrifying. She looked ready to whip out her sword and go all gladiator mode on them. "Leo's just a son of Hephaestus. He's no threat. Piper here is a daughter of Aphrodite. Ariadne's a daughter of Dionysus. 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. "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?"

"Of course," Zethes said. "We were his crew mates 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 agreed.

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

"I'm not," Jason agreed.

"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 watch for."

"Watching for?" Ariadne asked.

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

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

Ariadne swore her whole body froze in that very moment.

authors note:

Here's another one for you guys

I love y'all and since It's love week I'm giving you some stuff. I'm also on a spree thing where I have the compulsion to keep writing so I'm using it up

Anyways I got a finger prick and a shot today because I'm sixteen and needed to and I'm in pain

Hope y'all doing good. I may post another chapter but who knows 🤷🏻‍♀️

Q: what's emoji combination best describes you in your own opinion
Q: 🦋✨👑🦖🌙🍄

Let me know your favorite parts and what you're most excited for

Also that gif at the top has nothing to do with this part of the book I just love it because it reminds me of Ariadne running her hands through Percy's hair and that gives me butterflies I CANT

love y'all!