ANTI-HERO, j.grace

EIGHT

       Lorraine Maddox's prized possession was a giant faux fur coat, white and black speckled in a way that resembled the likes of Cruella de Vil. It was the first big thing that she had purchased, a tradition of sorts for girls who worked at the club. Klein could remember the best days of her young childhood were when her mother would let her wear her giant sparkly sunglasses and the coat (which covered her entire being) over her pajamas and the two of them would throw a fashion show for an amused Kieran before the trio would jump on Lorraine's bed with loud music playing from the speaker.

Then Lorraine's boyfriend would come home, and the cheerful memories were masked by the sound of nails on a chalkboard. And that was putting it nicely.

But the fur jacket was a primal marker in her mind of her childhood. It was strange, but it simultaneously signified the life her mother was unwilling to give up - youth, beauty, minimal responsibilities, as well as signifying the days, few as they were, where the bond between mother and child shined bright.

Sitting on the back of Happy the dragon, Klein Maddox wished she had her mother's fur coat. Even Piper McLean might have had it right with the snowboarding jacket, because the flannel jacket (lent to her by Will Solace with the promise of returning it fully intact) Klein wore over her Henley shirt was doing her absolutely no justice as they soared through the winter clouds. Klein might even think of keeping the purple snowboarding monstrosity for herself after she pushes Piper off the side of the mechanical dragon if she keeps it up with the side eyes sent back in her direction.

It wouldn't have bothered the Maddox girl so much, but every time she looked away from the clouds she caught Piper's eyes. And given she was sitting at the back of the line with Jason in front of her and Piper was in front of him, it was an obnoxious feat to look around the son of Zeus in order to shoot her looks.

If that's how she wants this quest to go, then so be it.

Being a bitch was one game Klein Maddox would always win.

Each of the four demigods took to flying through the winter sky a bit differently. Leo was ecstatic, the grin that overtook his features clear as day each and every time he turned to look over his shoulder to catch everyone else's reactions. When she wasn't eying the daughter of Apollo, Piper mostly looked in awe as Long Island turned into Connecticut and then a cloudy haze beneath them. Jason doesn't seem bothered, but he also doesn't seem overly enthralled. Almost as if he'd done something of this sort before, or maybe he just felt comfortable in the sky as the son of Zeus.

Klein was bored and uncomfortable, for as warm as Festus's metal hide was, the itch in her brain just wanted her to be able to move. Jason must have mistaken her bothered look for nervousness, for he sent her a reassuring smile when he turned around at the feeling of her continued shifting in her seat.

"Cool, right?" Leo calls from the front, and Jason had to bite back his grin when he just barely hears Klein mutter 'not cool, very not cool' as her voice is swallowed by the wind.

"You don't like flying?" Jason asks her, half turned in his seat, a half grin on his face that only soured her expression further.

Klein only scowled, "If I was meant to fly I would have been born with wings."

"What if we get spotted?" Piper asked, though she wasn't exactly sure to who. Leo surely wouldn't know, and whatever knowledge it seemed Jason had was now kept behind Hera's lock and key, and she had major doubts Klein would be any kind of helpful.

"The Mist." Jason answered so quickly it seemed as though he surprised himself, "It keeps mortals from seeing magic things."

"You sure about that?" Piper's tone was almost teasing, but before Jason could muster up a 'no', Klein had begun to talk.