Piper and I talk until we approach a city on a cliff overlooking a river.
"I think we need to wake up the boys," she says.
I sigh. "Do we have to?"
Piper laughs. "Yeah." She nods toward Jason. "I'll get this one. You can have Leo."
I look down. Leo's head is still in my lap. "This is going to be awkward."
"Have fun." Piper turns around and starts poking Jason in the back.
I don't know how to wake Leo up without him falling off the dragon or it being super weird. I eventually give up and shake his shoulder. If he falls, I'll catch him. "Leo!"
"Wha—" Leo sits up so fast that the back of his head collides with my nose on his way up.
Jason sits up, too. "Where are we?"
"First of all, ow," I grumble. "Second of all, Quebec City."
"Really? Looks more like Santa's workshop," Leo says.
"One of the oldest cities in North America," Piper says. "Founded around sixteen hundred or so, I think."
Leo raises an eyebrow. "Your dad do a movie on that, too?"
Piper makes a face at him. "I do read sometimes, okay? Just because Aphrodite claimed me doesn't mean I'm an airhead."
"Jason and I are the literal airheads," I point out.
Piper snorts. "You can say that again."
"How dare you!" I gasp.
"Anyways," Jason interjects. "Piper, do you know what that castle is?"
"A hotel, I think," she replies.
"No way," Leo says.
But as we get closer, we realize she's right. The grand entrance is bustling with doormen, valets, and porters taking bags. Sleek black luxury cars idle in the drive. People in elegant suits and winter cloaks hurry to get out of the cold.
"The North Wind is staying in a hotel?" Leo says. "That can't be—"
"Heads up, guys," I interrupt. "We have company."
Below us, rising from the top of the tower, are two winged figures—angry angels with nasty-looking swords.
Festus doesn't like the angel guys. He swoops to a halt in midair, wings beating and talons bared, and makes a rumbling sound in his throat that I recognize. He's getting ready to blow fire.
"Steady, boy," Leo mutters.
"I don't like this," Jason says. "They look like storm spirits."
"What do we do about them?" I ask.
Then they get closer, and I realize they aren't storm spirits at all. They're more solid, and they look like regular teenagers except for the fact that their hair is bright icy white and they have feathery purple wings splaying out behind them. They look like they could pass for brothers, but not twins. Their swords are an interesting design—bronze, like half of each of my daggers, but longer, and jagged on the edges.
One is the size of an ox, with a bright red hockey jersey, baggy sweatpants, and black leather cleats. The guy has clearly been in too many fights, because both his eyes are black, and when he bares his teeth, several of them are missing.
The other one looks like he just stepped off a 1980's rock album cover and got lightly freezer-burned. His ice-white hair is long and feathered into a mullet. He wears pointy-toed leather shoes, designer pants that are way too tight for anyone present's comfort, and a gods-awful silk shirt with the top three buttons open, which, in my opinion, is three too many. Maybe he thinks he looks like a groovy love god, but the guy can't weigh more than ninety pounds, and he has a bad case of acne.
YOU ARE READING
Children of Lightning (Leo Valdez x OC)
Fanfiction"Gods, Leo, why do you have to be so annoying?" "It's one of my most endearing qualities, atrevida." Jackie Grace doesn't remember who she is or where she came from. When she's thrown into a world of monsters, gods, and heroes that she's told she sh...
