It felt like Leo had been asleep for only seconds, but when they agreed for Piper to shake Leo awake, the daylight was fading. Aria's back was sore. Not that she cared though, Leo deserved some sleep.
"We're here," Aria heard Piper say.
Below them, 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 Aria had seen before, well, other than Tartarus, but that didn't count. In the center was an actual castle- at least Aria 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 asked.
"If it were, you'd fit right in, Leo." Aria grinned and Leo playfully slapped her arm.
"I found Goldy Locks so where's the three bears?" Leo smirked and she faked being offended.
"Well, for your information, sir, they're in the underworld. I can show you how to get there. It's straight below you." She laughed and Leo gasped.
"I think Piper and Jason are judging us." Leo whispered in her ear and Aria jumped, surprised by the sudden closeness.
"They are not!" She gasped, recovering from the shock.
"They are too, they just exchanged looks behind our backs!" He said, sounding serious.
"Yeah, Quebec City," Piper confirmed into the silence. "One of the oldest cities in North America. Founded around sixteen hundred or so?"
Aria made a noise of agreement. She had read a bit about Quebec as she was interested in the wind gods after hearing about them not joining her father.
"Your dad do a movie about that too?" Aria could almost hear Leo's raised eyebrow in his tone.
"I read sometimes, okay? Just because Aphrodite claimed me, doesn't mean I have to be an airhead."
Aria snorted. Gods, she sounded exactly like Silena. Aria could have sworn that Silena had said the exact same thing when Aria had asked the daughter of Aphrodite how she knew something about a war strategy.
"Feisty!" Leo said and Aria elbowed him in the side. "So you know so much, what's that castle?"
"A hotel, I think."
Leo laughed. "No way."
"She's semi right," Aria murmured, flying closer to the castle. As they flew closer, the details were becoming clearer. The grand entrance was bustling with doormen, valets, and otters taking bags. Sleek black luxury cars idled in the drive. People in elegant suits and winter cloaks hurried to get out of the cold. "This is the kind of place Rachel's dad would go."
"Who?" Jason asked.
"Just a friend, her dad is like mega rich and I was thinking how she would hate it but her dad would totally drag her here." She replied.
"The North Wind is staying in a hotel?" Leo said and Aria spun around in the seat. "That can't be-"
"Heads up, guys." Jason interrupted. "We got company!"
Aria looked below and gasped as she saw what Jason meant. Rising from the top of the tower were two winged figures- angry angels, with nasty-looking swords. What was worse was, she knew they were gonna kill her. They hadn't joined her father and more than likely thought she was with him, convincing them to join him.
—---------
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 Aria recognized. He was getting ready to blow fire.
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𝐎𝐮𝐭 𝐎𝐟 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞
Fanfiction"We've all got both light and dark inside of us. What matters is the part we choose to act on. That's who we really are." Aria, daughter of Kronos, has spent her entire life in Tartarus, taught to hate the gods and everything they stand for. But whe...
