𝐈𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐔𝐌 • Heroes of Olympus

XVII

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐋𝐈𝐌𝐁 to Aeolus's palace was silent. Leo and Jason told Andy what had happened on the bridge. Leo had had a thought similar to Andy's, about Jason's showing up and Percy's going missing being a plan to bring two things that normally didn't get along together.

Andy pondered the possibility of a secret Roman demigod group as they ascended. Behind her, Leo kept swatting his own legs, checking for signs that his pants were on fire. He wasn’t steaming anymore, but the incident on the bridge had almost given Andy a heart attack. If he was going to start spontaneously combusting every time he got excited, things were going to get messy.

Jason hung to the back of the group, deep in thought. His backpack, the ones with the storm spirits in it, seemed to be holding him back. Andy could see them pushing at the bag, trying to escape.

The only one who seemed in a good mood was Hedge. He kept bounding up the slippery staircase and trotting back down. “Come on, cupcakes! Only a few thousand more steps!”

Finally they arrived at the top of the island. Bronze walls marched all the way around the fortress grounds, though Andy couldn’t imagine who would possibly attack this place. Twenty-foot-high gates opened for them, and a road of polished purple stone led up to the main citadel—a white-columned rotunda, Greek style—except for the cluster of satellite dishes and radio towers on the roof.

"That looks weird," Andy said.

“Guess you can’t get cable on a floating island,” Leo said. “Dang, check this guy’s front yard.”

The rotunda sat in the center of a quarter-mile circle. The grounds were amazing in a scary way. They were divided into four sections like big pizza slices, each one representing a season.

The section on their right was an icy waste, with bare trees and a frozen lake. Snowmen rolled across the landscape as the wind blew.

To their left was an autumn park with gold and red trees. Mounds of leaves blew into patterns—gods, people, animals that ran after each other before scattering back into leaves.

In the distance, Andy could see two more areas behind the rotunda. One looked like a green pasture with sheep made out of clouds. The last section was a desert where tumbleweeds scratched strange patterns in the sand like Greek letters, smiley faces, and a huge advertisement that read: watch aeolus nightly!

“One section for each of the four wind gods,” Jason guessed. “Four cardinal directions.”

"Yup," Andy confirmed. "Boreas, Eurus, Zephyrus and Notus."

“I’m loving that pasture." Hedge licked his lips. “You guys mind—”

“Go ahead,” Jason said. Andy was relieved that he send the satyr off. It would be hard enough getting on Aeolus’s good side without Coach Hedge waving his club and screaming, “Die!”

While the satyr ran off to attack springtime, Jason, Leo, and Andy walked down the road to the steps of the palace. They passed through the front doors into a white marble foyer decorated with purple banners that read olympian weather channel, and some that just read ow!

“Hello!” A woman floated up to them. Immediately, Andy knew she was a nature spirit. She was pretty in that nymphish way—petite, slightly pointy ears, and an ageless face that could’ve been sixteen or thirty. Her brown eyes twinkled cheerfully. Even though there was no wind, her dark hair blew in slow motion, shampoo-commercial style. Her white gown billowed around her like parachute material. Then Andy noticed something else. The woman was see-through. Her shape faded in and out like she was made of fog. A wind nymph?

“Are you from Lord Zeus?” the nymph asked. “We’ve been expecting you.”

Andy glanced at Jason, but the quest leader was simply staring in shock.