The Altered Seven

The Lord of the Winds

Jason tried to respond, but it was a little hard to think straight, because he'd realized the woman was see-through. Her shape faded in and out like she was made of fog.

"Are you a ghost?" He asked.

Right away he knew he'd insulted her. The smile turned into a pout. "I'm an aura, sir. A wind nymph, as you might expect, working for the lord of the winds. My name is Mellie. We don't have ghosts."

Aelin glared at Jason for insulting the nymph. "Please excuse my friend, he is new to the whole godly world. It is a pleasure to meet you, Mellie." She said kindly.

"Oh..." Mellie said surprised before she smiled. "No problem. So you are from Zeus?"

"Um..." Jason said awkwardly, "I'm the son of Zeus, yeah."

"Excellent!" Mellie said. "Please, right this way." She led them through some security doors into another lobby, consulting her tablet as she floated. She didn't look where she was going, but apparently it didn't matter as she drifted straight through a marble column with no problem. "We're out of prime time now, so that's good," she mused. "I can fit you in right before his 11:12 spot."

"Um, okay," Jason said.

The lobby was a pretty distracting place. Winds blasted around them, so it felt like he was pushing through an invisible crowd. Doors blew open and slammed by themselves.

The things they could see were just as bizarre. Paper airplanes of all different sizes and shapes sped around, and other wind nymphs, aurai, would occasionally pluck them out of the air, unfold and read them, then toss them back into the air, where the planes would refold themselves and keep flying.

An ugly creature fluttered past. She looked like a mix between an old lady and a chicken. She had a wrinkled face with black hair tied in a hairnet, arms like a human plus wings like a chicken, and a fat, feathered body with talons for feet. It was amazing she could fly at all. She kept drifting around and bumping into things like a parade balloon.

"Not an aura?" Jason asked Mellie as the creature wobbled by.

Aelin snorted. "They're harpies. We have them at Camp Half-Blood. If you stay out past curfew, they'll be the ones who try to eat you."

Mellie led them through a set of doors like an airlock. Above the interior door, a green light blinked.

"We have a few minutes before he starts," Mellie said cheerfully. "He probably won't kill you if we go in now. Come along!"

Jason's jaw dropped. The central section of Aeolus's fortress was as big as a cathedral, with a soaring domed roof covered in silver. Television equipment floated randomly through the air-cameras, spotlights, set pieces, potted plants. And there was no floor. Jason almost fell into the chasm before Aelin pulled him back.

"Careful," Aelin said with an amused grin. "The falls here can be quite...dangerous."

An enormous circular pit plunged into the heart of the mountain. It was probably half a mile deep, honeycombed with caves. Some of the tunnels probably led straight outside. Other caves were sealed with some glistening material like glass or wax. The whole cavern bustled with harpies, aurai, and paper airplanes, but for someone who couldn't fly, it would be a very long, very fatal fall.

"Oh, my," Mellie gasped. "I'm so sorry." She unclipped a walkie-talkie from somewhere inside her robes and spoke into it: "Hello, sets? Is that Nuggets? Hi, Nuggets. Could we get a floor in the main studio, please? Yes, a solid one. Thanks."

A few seconds later, an army of harpies rose from the pit-three dozen or so demon chicken ladies, all carrying squares of various building material. They went to work hammering and gluing-and using large quantities of duct tape, which didn't reassure Jason. In no time there was a makeshift floor snaking out over the chasm. It was made of plywood, marble blocks, carpet squares, wedges of grass sod -just about anything.