𝙄𝙉𝙁𝙇𝘼𝙈𝙀𝘿; heroes of olympus

acne angels

ERITH JAY
ERITH WOKE TO Piper's gentle hand on her shoulder, shaking her. She shuddered slightly, shaking herself awake

Erith didn't feel well-rested by any means, but that wasn't a shock, seeing as she had slept on the back of a dragon in midair after not sleeping in over twenty-four hours. She nearly shook with exhaustion.

She noticed she was leaning into Leo's warm body. She pulled away, too groggy to feel much about it, as Piper's soft voice said, "We're here. Can you wake up Leo?"

So Erith did, poking his back and shaking his sides until he woke up. He rubbed his eyes as she said, "Wake up." She definitely wasn't as nice to wake up to as Piper had been.

Erith took her time to look around as Leo shook the sleep away. Daylight was fading. 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 Erith had seen in person before. In the center was what looked like an actual castle with massive red brick walls and a square tower with a peaked, green gabled roof.

"Whoa," Erith breathed. But the castle also left her feeling uneasy.

"Tell me that's Quebec and not Santa's workshop," Leo said. Erith rolled her eyes. She should've been prepared for another one of his dumb jokes. She almost wished she hadn't woken him up.

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

Leo turned, raising an eyebrow. "Your dad do a movie about that too?"

Piper made a face at him, and Erith giggled. Piper looked at her and Erith smiled, surprised that it was genuine. Maybe Piper had slipped her a potion while she was sleeping, or something. "I read sometimes, okay?" Piper cut in, looking back at Leo. "Just because Aphrodite claimed me, doesn't mean I have to be an airhead."

"Feisty!" Leo said, and Erith grinned. "So you know so much, what's that castle?" Erith was glad she wasn't the only one who thought of a castle when she looked at the building.

"A hotel, I think," Piper replied, looking back down.

"Big hotel," Erith commented.

"No way." Leo laughed.

But as they got closer, Erith saw the grand entrance was bustling with doormen, valets, and porters taking bags. Sleek 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 asked. Erith wasn't surprised, she knew entities often stayed in places you wouldn't expect. Hell, Mount Olympus was on top of the Empire State Building. But Leo was new, so she wasn't really shocked by his reaction. "That can't be―"

"Heads up, guys," Jason, who had been silent and observing, cut through Leo's words. "We got company!"

Erith looked below, in the direction Jason was looking, and she felt a jolt of something hit her. 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. Erith gripped Leo's sides to keep herself from losing her balance.

Thankfully, Leo was focused on the dragon. "Steady, boy," Leo muttered. He looked tense.

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