𝕺𝖕𝖕𝖔𝖘𝖎𝖙𝖊𝖘 𝕬𝖙𝖙𝖗𝖆𝖈𝖙 - 𝕱𝖊𝖒𝕺𝕮 𝖃 𝕷𝖊𝖔 𝖁𝖆𝖑𝖉𝖊𝖟

Kiera

Sleet pelted the windshield as frost built up around the edges of the glass.

I slightly unfolded my paper that Aeolus had given to me. I didn't want Piper or Leo seeing it, especially if I hadn't seen it.

Familiar hand writing was scribbled onto the old paper, and I froze. The writing was scrawled messily, like they were in a rush writing it.

The same person had written those files in Bunker Nine.

"What's that?" Piper asked.

I folded the paper back up and dropped it in my void pocket. "Nothing important. Just uh—an old birthday letter."

Leo looked at me out of the corner of his eye. He definitely didn't believe me. But that didn't quite change anything because we couldn't even finish our conversation from earlier. He glanced down at my arms, which I was rubbing absentmindedly due to the cold.

He sighed and took his army jacket off, handing it to me once more. It didn't compliment my outfit at all, but I could care less.

I sent him a grateful smile and tugged it on.

The jacket smelled like it always had. Like a warm bonfire and the forges back at camp.

Jason gripped onto the headrest of my chair. "We've got to be getting close."

Leo was too busy wrestling with the stick to reply. Suddenly it wasn't so easy to drive the chopper. Its movements turned sluggish and jerky. The whole machine shuddered in the icy wind. The helicopter probably wasn't prepped for cold weather flying. The controls refused to respond, and we started to lose altitude.

Piper grinned. "Kiera, where are we?"

I clamped a hand over my mouth and flipped her off.

She pouted as I turned away.

"There!" Jason shouted.

I put another hand over my ear, "Damn, dude, do you really have to shout? We're all within a few feet from each other."

He smiled sheepishly.

A small valley opened up before us, with the murky shape of a building in the middle. Leo aimed the helicopter straight for it. All around us there were flashes of light that reminded me of the trace fire at Midas's compound. Trees cracked and exploded at the edges of the clearing. Shapes moved through the mist. Combat was everywhere.

"Out!" Leo screamed.

I pulled on my handle, but it was frozen shut.

"Bitch-ass door," I scowled, trying to open the door.

"Kiera!" Piper shouted.

Leo jumped back in the helicopter and tore me from my seat, dragging me out his side of the helicopter. My back hit the entire control panel as he tried to pull me out.

He leaped from the helicopter and barely cleared the rotors before a massive BOOM shook the ground, knocking Leo off his feet and splattering ice all over us.

I laid face first in the snow for a moment 

"Thought you're meant to be smart," Leo said from next to me, brushing the snow off himself.

I stumbled to my feet. "Okay, just because I was trying to open my door—which was frozen shut, mind you—doesn't mean I was stupid. It would've taken longer for me to try and get out through your side."

"It took me less than a few seconds," Leo grumbled.

"You took the whole control panel with," I pointed out, getting frustrated.