―nine. there goes the prom date

Background color
Font
Font size
Line height

β—€Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  β—₯
𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐋𝐒? π–π‡π˜ πˆπ’

π˜πŽπ”π‘ π”π†π‹π˜ 𝐅𝐀𝐂𝐄 𝐎𝐍
𝐌𝐘 π‘π€πƒπˆπŽ?
β—£Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β β—’

UNFORTUNATELY, CHARLIE DIDN'T GET TO SEE THE BEAUTIFUL PRINCESS. Leo had been looking forward to pointing her out when she descended the stairs so they could gape in awe together, but Zethes had flew back over to them, sulking slightly. Apparently, his father was in a willing mood, (Charlie suspected it was because of Piper), and had granted her a room in the mortal's side of the hotel, so long as she left the next morning. That meant that the two of them had left Leo all alone, and though it had been amusing to watch Charlie turn down every single one of Zethes's lines, once she had fully gone he was bored out of his mind.

In the space of time where Charlie had left and the others had returned, a valet service had come through and dusted him off like he was a statue, somehow though, he was squeaky clean. He was looking forward to seeing the Princess again, especially now that he looked presentable.

As Khione led Jason and Piper back down the stairs, Leo's eyes followed her, sub-consciously combing his hair back with his hands. At the bottom, Khione turned to Piper. ''You have fooled my father, girl, but you have not fooled me. We are not done. And you, Jason Grace, I will see you as a statue in the throne room soon enough.''

''Boreas is right,'' Jason said. ''You're a spoiled kid. See you around, ice princess.''

Khione's eyes flared pure white. For once, she seemed at a loss for words. She stormed back up the stairsΒ β€” literally. Halfway up, she turned into a blizzard and disappeared.

''Bad sister,'' Cal grunted.

''She's the goddess of snow,'' Jason said. ''What's she going to do, throw snowballs at me?'' But even as he said it, Jason had a feeling Khione could do a whole lot worse.

''Women are power,'' Cal said, frowning at Jason's words, he knew Khione could do a lot worse than that, but he didn't seem to catch on that Jason had been joking. ''Jason don't like women.''

''Iβ€” what?''

Choosing to ignore Jason's sudden crisis as Cal glared at him and Piper raised a very amused eyebrow that came across more judgmental than teasing, Leo threw his hands into the air with a huff. ''What happened up there?'' He looked and sounded devastated. ''You made her mad? Is she mad at me too? Guys, that was my prom date!''

''We'll explain later,'' Piper promised, but when she glanced at Jason, he realized she expected him to explain.

What happened up there? Jason wasn't sure. Boreas had turned into Aquilon, his Roman form, as if Jason's presence caused him to go schizophrenic. The idea that Jason had been sent to Camp Half-Blood seemed to amuse the god, but Boreas hadn't let them go out of kindness. Cruel excitement had danced in his eyes, as if he'd just placed a bet on a dogfight.

'You will tear each other apart', he'd said with delight. 'Aeolus will never have to worry about demigods again'.

Jason looked away from Piper, trying not to show how unnerved he was. ''Yeah,'' he agreed. ''We'll explain later.''

''Something's telling me that the storm winds aren't the worst of our problem, are they?'' Piper said, ominously staring up at the hole in the roof, already preparing for them to leave.

''Worse,'' Cal echoed.

''Can you tell me?'' Piper gave them a smile.

Charm speaking didn't work this time. The purple-winged Boread shook his head. Festus stomped his feet as the hangar doors finally opened wide enough for him to fly through, eager to leave.

Cal patted Leo on the shoulder. ''Don't get destroyed. Next timeΒ β€” hockey, pizza.'' He turned to Piper. ''Watch out, Jason don't like women.''

''Where is this coming from?'' Jason asked, eyes wide with horror as he stared at the Boread. Leo patted his back, gently pushing him towards his dragon, who was only growing more anxious every second that went by.

''Don't think on it too much, bro.''

Jason sighed, shaking his head as he mounted Festus. ''Come on guys,'' Jason stared out at the dark. He was anxious to get out of that cold penthouse, but he had a feeling it was the most hospital place they'd see for a while. ''Let's go to Chicago and try not to get destroyed.''

None of them really relaxed until the glow of Quebec City had faded behind them.

Leo passed them sandwiches from his pack. He'd been quiet ever since they'd told him what happened in the throne room. ''Is still can't believe Khione,'' he said. ''She looked so nice.''

''Trust me, man,'' Jason said. ''Snow may be pretty, but up close it's cold and nasty. We'll find you a better prom date.''

Piper smiled, but Leo didn't look pleased. He hadn't said much about his time in the palace, or why the Boreads had singled him out for smelling like fireΒ β€” or why Jason was accused of disliking womenΒ β€” Piper had a feeling he was hiding something. Whatever it was, his mood seemed to be affecting Festus, who grumbled and steamed as he tried to keep himself warm in the cold Canadian air. Happy the Dragon, was not to happy.

They ate their sandwiches as they flew. Piper had no idea how Leo had stoked up on supplies, but he'd even remembered to bring veggie rations for her. The cheese and avocado sandwich was awesome.

Nobody talked. Whatever they might find in Chicago, they all knew Boreas had only let them go because he figured they were already on a suicide mission.

The moon rose and stars turned overhead. Leo's eyes started to feel heavy. The encounter with Boreas and his children had scared him more than he wanted to admit. Now that he had a full stomach, his adrenaline was fading. He wasn't tired though, not after his huge sleep on the way there, besides, what kind of captain would he be if he was always asleep on duty?

Jason and Piper, however, they were knocked out cold.

''Jodi? Jodi you there?'' After a second he added on, ''Over.'' There was no response, and he assumed she was sleeping. From what he knew, she hadn't slept last night like he had, she must've been completely worn out. Chuckling slightly, he stared up at the moon, wondering what was ahead of him. ''Night Jodi. Chrr.''

He fiddled with the radio, it worked well enough, but there was more buttons and he had no idea what any of them didΒ β€” he had found them in the Hephaestus' cabin, obviously they had to do more than what just normal radios did, right? So far, he had disassembled the whole thing and reassembled it again around four or five times, each time finding something knew. He wasn't sure what the pile of wires on his lap was from, but he was sure it wasn't important.

There was a volume button, he figured that when there was a low humming noise when he turned it. So that was what static sounded like, this whole time he had thought it was 'chrr'. How embarrassing, although he supposed Charlie didn't know either so he had gotten away with it for the most part. The other button dial tuned into different stations, but Leo didn't really care about that and unless they were suddenly on the run from the police, he doubted he ever would.

There was a button under the left dial, (the station one), and when he pressed it, the blank area above the dials and buttons, turned black. He supposed it was a screen. Facetime? Nice. Clicking off of it, he pressed another. The screen went black again, but there was a layout of map on it, two red dots showing where both the radios were, the one underneath it made his dot send out red signal waves across the mapΒ β€” an alarm. Quickly switching it off, he hoped he hadn't woken Charlie up.

It was easily another few hours until there was a sound on the other end. Getting excited, he switched the facetime button on and waited for Charlie to appear. Glancing over his shoulder, he ensured that Jason and Piper were fast asleep, they wouldn't accidentally see her face.

''Curls? Why is your ugly face on my radio?''

Leo pouted, turning to face her, he was ready with a snarky reply when he spotted her appearance and he paused. Charlie's hair was no longer gelled back into a bun, but loose and wild, her brown skin paler and her lips bright red, a tint of blue coming from her mouth. Snow was in her hair and eyelashes, and she seemed to be running through a garden, he could see the castle behind her, a snowstorm through the windows. ''What happened to you?''

''Okay, so you know that princess you told me about?'' She asked, glancing anxiously over her shoulder.

''Oh, yeah, about thatΒ β€” she's evil.''

Her gaze snapped back to the screen and she glared at him. ''And you couldn't tell me this earlier, because?'' She yelled.

''You were asleep!'' He watched as she scaled a fence and mounted a motorbike, shaking the snow from her hair as she revved the engine and took off.

''Where are you anyway?'' She asked, moving her head to try and look over his, sadly that was not how it worked.

''Just south-west of Illinois, we're headed to Chicago. And you?''Β 

''Just left Quebec, but I'm headed to Indiana,'' Charlie said, pulling her 'map of the states' knowlegde out of her ass, she hoped it was close enough that she wouldn't be suspicious if she accidentally bumped into them in case of an emergency.

They spoke for a while before they fell into a comfortable silence, Leo finding something to do as he watched the world whiz past her, coughing to hide his laughter when she stopped to yell as someone or stuck her finger up at another driver, and Charlie found something to do when she occasionally glanced away from the road to look at the clouds and how high Leo was flying.

Leo idly spoke about all the buttons he had found on their shared devices and Charlie hummed along to show she was listening, occasionally glancing down to show she was interested. At one point, Leo had thought that the antenna doubled as a selfie stick and tried to get Festus in the shot, Charlie got a view of his nostril before smoke clouded the screen. There was a yelp and she assumed he had nearly fallen because she was soon face-to-face with him again, but she chose not to say anything, only smirking at him when he awkwardly cleared his throat.

Charlie asked what had happened to Jason and Piper in the throne room, Cal had been sworn to secrecy and couldn't tell her apparently, so Leo told her all about it and they mourned the loss of a potential prom date together, sulking in silence.

Eventually, someone int he background of Charlie's screen yelled at her and she skidded to a halt, her gaze solely on that person. Leo didn't get to ask what happened, he only saw Charlie roll her sleeves up and step off the bike before the screen went blank and the line went dead.

Smiling, he laughed through his nose, rolling his eyes as he looked towards their destination again. But then something happened.

Leo tumbled through the sky. Far below, he could see the city lights glimmering in the early dawn, and several hundred meters away, the body of a bronze dragon spinning out of control, its wings limp, fire flickering in its mouth like a badly wired light bulb.

Leo shot past Piper, screaming and frantically grabbing at the clouds. ''Not coool!'' She tried to call to him, but he was already too far below.

Somewhere above her, Jason yelled, his words somehow cutting through the wind in order to reach her, ''Piper, level out! Extend your arms and legs!''

It was hard to control her fear, but she did what he said and regained some balance. She fell, spread-eagle like a skydiver, the wind underneath her like a solid block of ice. Then Jason was there, wrapping his arms around her waist.

Thank god, Piper thought. But part of her also thought: Great. Second time this week he's hugged me, and both times it's because I'm plummeting to my death.

''We have to get Leo!'' She shouted. Their fall slowed as Jason controlled the winds, but they still lurched up and down like the winds didn't want to co-operate.

''Gonna get rough,'' Jason warned. ''Hold on!''

Piper locked her arms around him, and Jason shot towards the ground. Piper probably screamed, but the sound was ripped from her mouth. Her vision blurred. And thenΒ β€” thump! They slammed into another warm body, Leo still wriggling and cursing.

''Stop fighting!'' Jason said. ''It's me!''

''My dragon!'' Leo yelled. ''You gotta save Festus!''

Jason was already struggling to keep the three of them aloft, and Piper knew there was no way he could help a fifty-ton metal dragon. But before she could try to reason with Leo, she heard an explosion below them. A fireball rolled into the sky from behind a warehouse complex, and Leo sobbed.

Jason's face hardened with strain as he tried to maintain an air cushion beneath them, but intermittent slow-downs were the best he could manage. Rather than free-falling, it felt like they were bouncing down a giant stair-case, a hundred feet at a time, which wasn't doing their stomach's any favours.

As they wobbled and zigzagged, Leo could make out the details of the factory complex belowΒ β€” warehouses, smokestacks, and car parks lines with snow-covered vehicles. They were still high enough so that hitting the ground would flatten them into roadkillΒ β€” or skykillΒ β€” when Jason groaned, ''I can'tβ€”''

And they dropped like stones. They hit the roof of the largest warehouse and crashed through the darkness. Unfortunately, Piper tried to land on her feet. Her feet didn't like that. Pain flared in her left ankle as she crumbled against a cold metal surface. For a few seconds, she wasn't conscious of anything but painΒ β€” pain so bad that her ears rang and her vision went red.

Then she heard Jason's voice somewhere below, echoing through the building. ''Piper! Where's Piper?''

''Ow, bro!'' Leo groaned. ''That's my back! I'm not a sofa! Piper, where'd you go?''

''Here,'' she managed, her voice a whimper.

She heard shuffling and grunting, then feet pounding on metal steps. Her vision began to clear. She was on a metal catwalk that ringed the warehouse interior. Leo and Jason had landed on ground level, and were now coming up the stairs toward her. She looked at her foot, and a wave of nausea swept over her. Her toes weren't supposed to point that way, were they?

Oh, god. She forced herself to look away before she threw up. Focus on something else. Anything else.

The hole they'd made in the roof was a ragged starburst twenty feet above. How they'd even survived that drop, she had no idea. Hanging from the ceiling, a few electric bulbs flickered dimly, but they didn't do much to light the enormous space. Next to Piper, the corrugated metal wall was emblazoned with a company logo, but it was almost completely spray-painted over with graffiti. Down in the shadowy warehouse, she could make out huge machines, robotic arms, half-finished trucks on an assembly line. The place looked like it had been abandoned for years.

Jason and Leo reached her side.

Leo started to ask, ''You okay...'' Then he saw her foot. ''Oh no, you're not.''

''Thanks for the reassurance,'' Piper groaned.

''You'll be fine,'' Jason said, though Piper could hear the worry in his voice. ''Leo, you got any first aid supplies?''

''YeahΒ β€” yeah, sure,'' he dug through his tool belt and pulled out a wad of gauze and a roll of duct tapeΒ β€” both of which seemed too big to fit into the belt's pockets. Piper had noticed the tool belt yesterday morning, but she hadn't thought to ask Leo about it. It didn't look like anything specialΒ β€” just one of those wraparound leather aprons with a bunch of pockets, like a blacksmith or carpenter might wear. And it seemed to be empty.

''How did youβ€”'' Piper tried to sit up, and winced. ''How did you pull that stuff from an empty belt?''

''Magic,'' Leo said. ''Haven't figured it out completely, but I can summon just about any regular tool out of the pockets, plus some other helpsul stuff.'' He reached into another pocket and pulled out a tiny tin box. ''Breath mint?''

Jason snatched away the mints. ''That's great, Leo. Now, can you fix her foot?''

''I'm a mechanic, man. Maybe if she was a car...'' He snapped his fingers. ''Wait, what was that godly healing stuff they fed you at campΒ β€” Rambo food?''

''Ambrosia, dummy,'' Piper said through gritted teeth. ''There should be some in my bag, if it's not crushed.''

Jason carefully pulled her backpack off her shoulders. He rummaged through the supplies the Aphrodite kids had packed her, and found a Ziploc full of smashed pastry squares like lemon bars. He broke off a piece and fed it to her.

The taste was nothing like she expected. It reminded her of her Dad's black bean soup from when she was a little girl. He used to feed it to her whenever she got sick. The memory relaxed her, though it made her sad. The pain in her ankle subsided.

''More,'' she said.

Jason frowned. ''Piper, we shouldn't risk it. They said too much could burn you up. I think I should try set your foot.''

Piper's stomach didn't like that idea. ''Have you ever done that before?''

''Yeah... I think so.''

Leo found an old piece of wood and broke it in half for a splint. Then he got the gauze and duct tape ready.

''Hold her leg still,'' Jason told him. ''Piper, this is going to hurt.''

When Jason set the foot, Piper flinched so hard she punched Leo in the arm, and he yelled almost as much as she did. When her vision cleared and she could breathe normally again, she found that her foot was pointing the right way, her ankle splinted with plywood, gauze, and duct tape.

''Ow,'' she said.

''Jeez, beauty queen!'' Leo rubbed his arm. ''Glad my face wasn't there.''

''Sorry,'' she said. ''And don't call me that, or I'll punch you again.''

''You both did great,'' Jason found a canteen in Piper's pack and gave her some water. After a few minutes, her stomach began to calm down.

Once she wasn't screaming in pain, they could hear the wind howling outside. Snowflakes fluttered through the hole in the roof, and after their meeting with Khione, snow was the last thing they wanted to see.

''What happened to the dragon?'' She asked. ''Where are we?''

Leo's expression turned sullen. ''I don't know. He just jerked sideways like he hit an invisible wall, and started to fall.''

Piper remembered Enceladus's warning. 'I'll show you how easily your rebellious spirit can be brought to earth'. Had he managed to strike them down from so far away? It seemed impossible. If he were that powerful, why would he need her to betray her friends when he could just kill them himself? And how could the giant be keeping an eye on her in a snowstorm thousands of miles away?

Leo pointed to the logo on the wall. ''As for where we are...'' It was hard to see through the graffiti, but he could make out a large red eye with the stenciled words: MONOCLE MOTORS, ASSEMBLY PLANT 1. ''Closed car plant. I'm guessing we crash-landed in Detroit.''

''How far is that from Chicago?''

Jason handed her the canteen. ''Maybe three-fourths of the way from Quebec? The thing is, without the dragon, we're stuck traveling overland.''

''No way,'' Leo said. ''It isn't safe.''

''He's right,'' Piper glanced down at her foot, ''Besides, I don't know if I can walk. And three people? Jason you can't fly that many across the country by yourself.''

Jason made a noise of agreement. ''Leo, are you sure the dragon didn't malfunction? I mean, Festus is old, andβ€”''

''And I might not have repaired him right?''

''I didn't say that,'' Jason protested.

You are reading the story above: TeenFic.Net