The Hidden Follower

18.

Jason, Leo, coach Hedge, and Delta were sitting by the fire when Piper woke up, teeth chattering like a maniac

  "Oh, god, He turned me to gold!"

  "You're okay now. " Jason leaned over and tucked a warm blanket around her.

  "L-L-Leo?" Piper managed.

  "Present and un-gold-ified. " Leo was also wrapped in blankets, sitting in between coach Hedge and Delta, leaning toward Delta slightly. "I got the precious metal treatment too," he said. "But I came out of it faster. Dunno why. We had to dunk you in the river to get you back completely. Tried to dry you off, but ... it's really, really cold. "

  "You've got hypothermia," Jason said. "We risked as much nectar as we could. Coach Hedge did a little nature magic—"

  "Sports medicine. " Hegde stood up and looked down at Piper. "Kind of a hobby of mine. Your breath might smell like wild mushrooms and Gatorade for a few days, but it'll pass. You probably won't die. Probably. "

  "Thanks," Piper said weakly. "How did you beat Midas?"

  Jason told her the story, putting most of it down to luck.

  The coach snorted. "Kid's being modest. You should've seen him. Hi-yah! Slice! Boom with the lightning!"

  "Coach, you didn't even see it," Jason said. "You were outside eating the lawn. "

  "Actually he was looking around for more traps that Leo might not have shit off, then he ate the lawn."

Coach Hedge ignored both of the comments and continued his story. "Then I came in with my club, and we dominated that room. Afterward, I told him, 'Kid, I'm proud of you! If you could just work on your upper body strength—'"

  "Coach," said Jason.

  "Yeah?"

  "Shut up, please. "

  "Sure. " The coach sat down at the fire and started chewing his cudgel.

  Jason put his hand on Piper's forehead and checked her temperature. "Leo, can you stoke the fire?"

  "On it. " Leo summoned a baseball-sized clump of flames and lobbed it into the campfire.

  "Do I look that bad?" Piper shivered.

  "Nah," Jason said.

  "You're a terrible liar," she said. "Where are we?"

  "Pikes Peak," Jason said. "Colorado. "

  "But that's, what—five hundred miles from Omaha?"

  "Something like that," Jason agreed. "I harnessed the storm spirits to bring us this far. They didn't like it—went a little faster than I wanted, almost crashed us into the mountainside before I could get them back in the bag. I'm not going to be trying that again. "

  "Why are we here?"

  Leo sniffed. "That's what I asked him."

  Jason gazed into the storm as if watching for something. "That glittery wind trail we saw yesterday? It was still in the sky, though it had faded a lot. I followed it until I couldn't see it anymore. Then—honestly I'm not sure. I just felt like this was the right place to stop. "

  "'Course it is. " Coach Hedge spit out some cudgel splinters. "Aeolus's floating palace should be anchored above us, right at the peak. This is one of his favorite spots to dock. "

  "Maybe that was it. " Jason knit his eyebrows. "I don't know. Something else, too ..."

  "The Hunters were heading west," Piper remembered. "Do you think they're around here?"