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Whatever the ventus was – Thèrèse hated them. She was afraid they'd lose their target, and it frustrated her.
"Speed up!" she urged Leo.
"Sweetheart," Leo said, "if I get any closer, he'll spot us. Bronze dragon ain't exactly a stealth plane."
"Slow down!" Piper yelled.
The storm spirit dove into the grid of downtown streets. Festus tried to follow, but his wingspan was way too wide. His left wing clipped the edge of a building, slicing off a stone gargoyle before Leo pulled up.
"Get above the buildings," Jason suggested. "We'll track him from there."
"You want to drive this thing?" Leo grumbled, but he did what Jason asked.
After a few minutes of searching, they spotted the storm spirit again, zipping through the streets with no apparent purpose – blowing over pedestrians, ruffling flags, making cars swerve.
"Oh great," Piper spoke up, gathering their attentions. "There's two." They looked and saw a second ventus blasted around the corner of the Renaissance Hotel and linked up with the first. That only stresses Thèrèse more.
She tried to figure out the purpose of the ventus's actions, but ultimately, it didn't make any sense to her.
"Those guys do not need any more caffeine," Leo said. "I guess Chicago's a good place to hang out," Piper said. "Nobody's going to question a couple more evil winds." Jason pointed his finger out, "More than a couple," He said. "Look."
The dragon circled over a wide avenue next to a lake-side park. Storm spirits were converging – atleast a dozen of them, whirling around a big public art installation.
This large gathering of storm spirits immediately sent chills down Thèrèse' spine, this was definitely not what she wanted to see. "They're too many." She voiced out.
"Which one do you think is Dylan?" Leo asked. "I wanna throw something at him."
Two five-story monoliths rose from either end of a long granite reflecting pool. The monoliths seemed to be built of video screens, flashing the combined image of a giant face that spewed water into the pool.
The screens went dark. The venti swirled together into a single funnel cloud and skittered across the fountain, kicking up a waterspout almost as high as the monoliths. They got to its center, popped off a drain cover, and disappeared underground.
It was pretty impressive but Thèrèse didn't want to underestimate the dangerous things they would have to see if they went down there.
"Did they just go down a drain?" Piper asked. "How are we supposed to follow them?"
"Maybe we shouldn't," Leo said. "That fountain thing is giving me seriously bad vibes. And aren't we supposed to, like, beware the earth?"
"It's dangerous. We can't go down there, you shank." Thèrèse said, her senses were screaming but they had to follow. It was their only forward. They had to find Hera, and they now had only two days until the solstice.
