𝗪𝗔𝗜𝗧 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗠𝗘 ━━ l. valdez

xvi ━━ if you want to break my cold cold heart (just say you've always wondered)

01. chapter sixteen

━━━━━━━━ ( 💫 ) ━━━━━━━━

IT SEEMED I SLEPT ONLY FOR SECONDS, but when piper shook me awake, the daylight was fading.

i nearly jumped off the dragon when i realized i had fallen asleep against leo's back. then i remembered he told me to. i wasn't sure if that made it any better...

"we're here," piper said.

i rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. below us, 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 i had seen before (and that was saying something). in the center was an actual 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 in front of me.

"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, but it didn't quite work with her new glamorous makeup. "i read sometimes, okay? just because aphrodite claimed me, doesn't mean I have to be an airhead."

"feisty!" leo said. "so you know so much, what's that castle?"

"a hotel, i think."

leo laughed. "no way."

as we got closer, i 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.

it all reminded me of what i was told the big cities were like during my childhood. i lived in the rurals of pennsylvania, so i had never seen it in person before. but i was told due to the boom in the economy, huge glamorous parties were hosted in hotels and mansions. i always wondered what it would be like to be someone worthy of being invited to one. when i was about nine, i used to imagine myself, in my twenties, smoking cigarettes and partying. i knew my grandparents would've shunned me for it, but it all seemed so mature and alluring at the time.

"the north wind is staying in a hotel?" leo said. "that can't be—"

"heads up, guys," jason interrupted. "we got company!"

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

festus the dragon 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 i
recognized from the other night. he was getting ready to blow fire.

"steady, boy," leo muttered.

"i don't like this," i said. "they look like storm spirits."

as the angel things got closer, i could see they were much more solid than venti. they looked like regular teenagers except for their icy white hair and feathery purple wings. their bronze swords were jagged, like icicles. their faces looked similar enough that they might've been brothers, but they definitely weren't twins.

one was the size of an ox, with a bright red hockey jersey, baggy sweatpants, and black leather cleats. the guy clearly had been in too many fights, because both his eyes were black, and when he bared his teeth, several of them were missing.