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The Wolf King

Pikes Peak, Colorado
Piper's POV

Piper woke up cold and shivering.

She'd had the worst dream about an old guy with donkey ears chasing her around and shouting, You're it!

Piper: Oh, God. He turned me to gold!

Jason: You're okay now.

Jason leaned over and tucked a warm blanket around her, but she still felt as cold as a Boread.

She blinked, trying to figure out where they were. Next to her, a campfire blazed, turning the air sharp with smoke. Firelight flickered against rock walls. They were in a shallow cave, but it didn't offer much protection. Outside, the wind howled. Snow blew sideways. It might've been day or night. The storm made it too dark to tell.

Piper: L-L-Leo?

Leo: Present and un-gold-ified.

Leo was also wrapped in blankets. He didn't look great, but better than Piper felt.

Leo: I got the precious metal treatment, too. 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.

Theo: You've got hypothermia. We risked as much nectar as we could. Gleeson did a little woodland magic—

Coach Hedge: Sports magic. 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.

Piper: Thanks. How did you beat Midas?

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

Coach Hedge: (snorts) Kid's being modest. You should've seen him. Hi-yah! Slice! Boom with the lightning!

Theo: You weren't even in the room. You were too busy devouring the front lawn like a lawnmower.

Coach Hedge: 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—

Jason: Coach.

Coach Hedge: Yeah?

Jason: Shut up.

Coach Hedge: 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.

Jason: Leo, can you stoke the fire?

Leo: On it.

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

Piper: Do I look that bad?

Jason: Nah.

Piper: You're a terrible liar. Where are we?

Jason: Pikes Peak, Colorado.

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

Jason: Something like that. It was Theo's idea. He 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 Theo could get them back in the bag.

Theo: (scoffs) Won't be trying that again anytime soon.

Piper: Why are we here?

Leo: That's what I asked them.