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DOROTHY HAD NO idea how beautiful the Earth could look from up high, if she wasn't afraid of it flying away from her, she would have pulled out the book Lou Ellen lent her to get started on practicing the magic she's learned to have. For now, she's settling with forming a small purple ball of glowing mist in her hand. The use of her power felt odd like there was a ripple running through her forearms to her hands and fingers. When she began using her powers, she nearly jumped out of her seat due to how odd it felt. After that, the feeling was pushed to the back of her mind. She was too determined to try and recreate what she did in her room that morning.

"Shut up, me," Leo said aloud, breaking Dorothy's concentration. The purple ball dissipated in the wind, her arms became still.

"What?" Piper asked.

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

Dorothy raised an eyebrow and looked back at Jason who shared a look of concern with her, she didn't like the idea of the guy steering the flying dragon if he was hallucinating. As if Leo could feel his passengers unease, he spoke up again.

"Just joking." He said, though from his tone, Dorothy didn't believe him, she narrowed her eyes as Leo glanced back at Jason. "So what's the plan, bro? You said something about catching wind, or breaking wind, or something?"

As they flew over another unrecognizable state, Jason explained his plan: First, find some guy named Boreas and interrogate him—

"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."

Dorothy held back the urge to ask what kind of drink that was, she could sense Jason's tone getting irritated with each interruption, and she figured a question like that could be asked once Hera was free and they didn't have to worry about the Earth being destroyed anymore.

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."

"I don't know, Jason," Dorothy spoke up, shaking her head, "I've personally never met a wolf that hasn't wanted to eat me, visible weakness or not."

Jason gave her a look and shook his head. He told them about his dream the big, stern, 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 giant's 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? Didn't you do a bunch of myth research for that movie with your dad?"

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

Dorothy is still processing the idea that moving pictures have advanced beyond drawings. Her eyebrows furrowed as she thought about the intense advancement of technology. It was starting to give her a headache, so she decided to pretend that Piper's father performed plays on stages, not in moving pictures.

Leo laughed.

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

"Uh, Sorry, what was he in?"

"It doesn't matter," Piper said quickly. "The giants— well, there were lots of giants in Greek mythology. But if I'm thinking of the right ones, they were bad news. Huge, almost impossible to kill. They could throw mountains and stuff. I think they were related to the Titans. They rose from the earth after Kronos lost the war— I mean the first Titan war, thousands of years ago and they tried to destroy Olympus. If we're talking about the same giants."

"Chiron said it was happening again," Jason remembered. "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 the woman who watched after him, Tia Callida, who was Hera, and how she'd appeared to him at camp. He told them about how his mother's machine shop collapsed. Dorothy held back on asking what machines she built. Leo avoided their gaze and seemed to get choked up about the whole ordeal, so she knew that asking a question like that wouldn't do anything but earn a glare.

And he told them about the strange woman in earthen robes who seemed to be asleep and seemed to know the future.

It was silent for a long time as the rest of the group processed his story. Leo was so young when this happened, to be on his own for so long...

Dorothy's heart ached and she reached across Piper, giving the boys arm a sympathetic squeeze.

"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 unleashed her rage. So I'm wondering... why are we doing this?"

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

"Maybe we should take the future into consideration here too," Dorothy shrugged, "maybe I'm being extremely optimistic here, but if we make up half of the prophesied eight here, then when we complete this mission, I'm guessing that she'll spare us, though..."

She stopped shamefully as the thought crossed her mind. Dorothy frowned as she scolded herself for thinking that way.

"Though, what?" Piper asked, glancing over her shoulder confused. Dorothy locked eyes with Piper before looking back at Jason. His eyebrows pinched together in confusion.

"Jason, you're a bastard child of her husband," Dorothy watched as his face seemed to turn a little grim at the realization, "maybe, if the fight allows you the chance, you should clear out ahead of us when she's released so whatever rage-fueled thing she does— doesn't affect you too."

Jason nodded.

"Knowing how things have been so far, I don't think that'll work, but it's nice to think of that," Jason shrugged.

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

"Not a good trade-off." Piper agreed. "At least Hera is on our side mostly. 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. "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?"

Dorothy didn't have the answer, she remembered bits and pieces of a story Uncle Arthur told her a long time ago about the giants and their creation, and even though she's got her memories back, she was still far too young to remember everything about the giants.

Piper and Dorothy could see Leo struggle to stay awake and although Festus seemed to know what he was doing, Dorothy's seen men die on their horses after falling asleep on them. The two girls shared a look before Piper leaned forward into Leo's ear.

"Why don't you get some sleep?" Piper said. "You were up all night."

Dorothy wasn't even the one Piper was talking to but even her eyes were starting to droop. She furrowed her brows in confusion as she looked back at Jason who seemed to be facing a similar issue.

"You won't let me fall off?" Leo asked.

Piper patted his shoulder.

"Trust me. Valdez. Beautiful people never lie."

"Right," he muttered. He leaned forward against the bronze of the dragon's neck and closed his eyes.

A few hours had gone by, and Dorothy only guessed that based on the sun's position. She reached into her satchel, unsure of how to pull her watch out considering how much stuff she had in there. Though that problem solved itself when she felt the familiar cool metal in her hand.

She pulled out her watch, frowning at the time. It needed to be adjusted. Again. And she was sure that if they were going further west, she was only going to have to adjust the time even more. Dorothy groaned, shoving the watch back into her satchel and closing it.

"Everything okay?" Jason asked.

"Yeah, just frustrated about this whole time thing," Dorothy sighed, "I feel bad for saying this but honestly I wonder if I would've been better off staying in that saloon."

"Saloon? They brought you and that horse out of a casino," Jason frowned, confusion etched onto his face, "Leo thought you won the horse by gambling."

"Oh, no that run-down town was not going to afford a casino, it was a saloon when I entered it in 1862," Dorothy explained, "They had a stable for Prudence to rest in, I was only going in to steal back the money that my father's gang robbed from a train."

Jason blinked back his surprise after that, he opened his mouth to say something but was cut off when Piper leaned forward and shook Leo's shoulder. Dorothy finally started to pay attention to her surroundings, noting the strange buildings that were on their way to becoming covered in snow.

"We're here," Piper said.

Leo sat up straight, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. Below them, Dorothy could see a city sitting 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, they seemed to be as old as Dorothy. In the center was a building that Dorothy could only compare a castle to. With massive red brick walls and a square tower with a peaked, green gabled roof, Dorothy would assume a royal family loved that, maybe one does.

"Tell me that's Quebec and not Santa's workshop," Leo said. Dorothy furrowed her eyebrows.

"You think Santa's real?" She asked. "Leo..."

"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?"

"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."

"I have never seen a hotel this fancy," Dorothy leaned further out to see everything below her.

Dorothy saw that she was right. The grand entrance was bustling with doormen, valets, and porters taking bags. Sleek black machines sat in rows in front of the buildings. 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!"

Dorothy looked up above the hotel and saw what Jason meant. Rising from the top of the tower were two winged figures angry angels, with nasty-looking swords.

She could tell that 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 that sent a chill down Dorothy's spine, she doesn't know much about dragons let alone mechanical ones, but this noise was unmistakable. He was getting ready to blow fire.

"Steady, boy." Leo muttered. It was a good thing he did, Dorothy figured it wouldn't be helpful to their job if the angels got charred.

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

Dorothy seriously wondered what these storm spirits looked like, she felt like she missed out on a crazy fight. These flying creatures looked more like strange humans as they got closer. They looked like regular teenagers except for their snow-white hair and feathery purple wings. Their bronze swords were jagged, like icicles. Dorothy noted that the two of them were definitely related, but couldn't possibly be twins.

One was the size of an ox, with a bright red loose shirt, dotted with tiny holes, an animal was printed on his shirt with a number on the front, was this a sports uniform? This large brut of an Angel-teenager wore cloth pants and black leather cleats. The guy clearly had been in a fight recently or played a particularly rough game of whatever sport was associated with his shirt, and when he bared his teeth, Dorothy noted that a number of them were missing. Josephine could have him fixed up with a snap of her fingers.

Maybe, if it gets the four of them in the angel's good graces, Dorothy could find a spell in her book to fix this large teenager's face.

The other guy looked completely insane to Dorothy. She'd seen some ridiculous clothes since she had gotten out of the Lotus Saloon, but this guy topped it all. His ice-white hair was cut oddly, it seemed to be shorter in the front, and the back of his head didn't get the same treatment, it was long in the back. He wore pointy-toed leather shoes, strange pants that were way too tight, and a godawful silk shirt with the top three buttons open. He may think that this is the peak of looking good, but Dorothy couldn't help her face when looking at him. He looked underfed; like he wouldn't survive a winter from her time, 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 bigger Angel grunted. "No clearance."

"'Scuse me?" Leo said.

"You have no flight plan on file," explained the sickly Angel. Dorothy could barely understand this one, his French accent was so odd. "This is restricted airspace."

"Destroy them?" The big guy showed off his gap-toothed grin.

The dragon began to hiss steam, ready to defend them. Jason summoned his golden sword at the same time Dorothy reached for her holstered guns, but Leo cried, "Hold on! Let's have some manners here, boys. Can I at least find out who has the honor of destroying me?"

"Am Cal," the big guy grunted. He looked very proud of himself, like he'd taken a long time to memorize that sentence.

"That's short for Calais," the smaller one said. "Sadly, my brother cannot say words with more than two syllables-"

"Pizza! Hockey! Destroy!" Cal offered. Dorothy only knew what that last word was. She really wished she had gotten a chance to catch up with the world before being thrown into this mission.

"Which includes his own name," the love god finished.

Dorothy squinted as she looked at Calais, she had met only a handful of people like him in her life. People who were born and unfortunately didn't seem to develop enough in their mother's womb. Those were the type of people who could somehow grow to be an adult but never truly be one, they lived at the whims of their family until that family grew tired of it or they passed. Dorothy was grateful to have a mind developed enough to take care of itself.

"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. Dorothy glared at Leo for the lack of empathy but the glare was short-lived, these are people that are planning on killing them, after all.

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

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

Dorothy cringed from behind Piper, looking Zethes over again. She had never heard of him before in her life, not even in any of the stories she'd heard from her father's gang members.

"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 our father's gatekeepers. So you understand, we cannot have unauthorized people in his airspace on creaky dragons. scaring the silly mortal peoples."

He pointed below, and Dorothy looked over and saw that people were starting to take notice. Several were pointing up not with alarm, but more with confusion and annoyance. Dorothy wondered what the mist could be showing them. If she saw anything in the sky that wasn't a bird, she'd be alarmed.

"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 Leo thought necessary

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

"Aww." Cal looked so disappointed. Dorothy curled her lip in disgust at how quick he was to kill, though she caught herself, she had become a little trigger-happy in her past couple of months, though she liked to think she demonstrated a little more restraint than this feller.

Zethes studied Piper. Which of course he'd already been doing. "How does the pretty girl decide this is an emergency then?"

"We have to see Boreas. It's totally urgent! Please?" She forced a smile, Dorothy didn't know much about Piper since both girls seemed to alternate in who would be conscious at any given time, but she could tell that the girl in front of her didn't enjoy having to smile for this ratbag, but she seemed to know that her looks are a toll when working this guy over, and Dorothy is grateful that Piper was quick enough to realize that. There was something about her voice too. Dorothy was believing every word. In the corner of her eye, Jason was nodding,