𝐏𝐄𝐀𝐂𝐄 - j. grace, ocxoc ¹ ✓

xi. letting it snow !

XI. KAEN OKAYAMA !
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letting it snow

          Hours went by and daylight had begun to fade. Kaen's eyes were heavy but he refused to close them; knowing he would need to help Delilah with her medicine soon. He took out the pills from her backpack and placed two in his hands while Kaori held a water bottle for Delilah to drink from. With his left hand, he had a gentle grasp on her chin so he could tilt her mouth slightly and placed the pills inside. Kaen took the water from Kaori and allowed Delilah to take sips on order to swallow the pills.

"What do those do?" Leo looked back with an arched brow.

"They're just vitamins," Delilah simply stated. Kaen didn't question why she lied. He knew if there was one thing she was insecure about, it was her condition. There was no need for Delilah to explain it to people she just met. She didn't waste time in shoving the pill bottle back inside her backpack along with the water bottle. Kaen placed a hand on her shoulder and managed a small smile. He knew it wasn't exactly the easiest life Delilah had to live. She had told him about it while they were in the labyrinth, when he wasn't the most fluent in English.

Kaen refused to sleep; especially as 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 Kaen had seen before. In the center was an actual castle—at least Kaen assumed it was a castle—with massive red brick walls and a square tower with a peaked, green gabled roof.

"Tell me that's Quebec and not Santa's workshop," Leo said.

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

Leo raised an eyebrow. "Your dad do a movie about that too?"

She made a face at him, "I read sometimes, okay? Just because Aphrodite claimed me, doesn't mean I have to be an airhead."

Delilah mumbled something in Korean, though it was clearly directed towards Piper. It sounded like she was saying: Ah of course you have to be the only one whose different.

"Feisty!" Leo said. "So you know so much, what's that castle?"

"A hotel, I think."

Kaen laughed. "You have got to be joking. There's no way that's a hotel."

But as they got closer, he saw she was right. 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 said. "That can't be—"

"Heads up, guys," Jason interrupted. "We got company!"

Kaen looked below and saw what Jason meant. Rising from the top of the tower were two winged figures—angry angels, with nasty-looking swords.

"Bad feeling about this," Kaori muttered.

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 that Kaen didn't recognize but he only assumed it was ready to blow fire.

"Steady, boy," Leo muttered to the dragon. Something told him the angels would not take kindly to getting torched.

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