Gladiators

Chapter Twenty

Percy woke up, surrounded by Jason and Nico. Jason's arms were still around him, and Nico had gotten impossiblely closer during the night. Percy was uncomfortable, fighting with his body to not react to the two the most gorgeous demigods nestled into him.

Percy tried to move slightly to get up without waking Jason or Nico, but Jason's arms tightened on him and Nico moved in closer, as if both were thinking the same thing- don't let Percy move. Percy groaned, knowing they had to begin their journey. "Jason, Nico, get up." Percy said, wiggling around to wake the two up. Nico groaned, snuggling deeper into Percy's chest as Jason mumbled incoherently and stuffed his face into Percy's neck.

"Wake up!" Percy shouted, and Jason's head shot up. "Wha-?" Jason asked in confusion, his eyes blurry as he looked around. Percy pushed Jason's arms off himself and got up, but Nico just buried himself more in the blankets. Jason rubbed his eyes groggily, staggering up. Percy shook Nico's shoulders, and he groaned in response, but didn't move. Percy took away the blankets, and Nico curled up in a ball, shivering slightly.

"Get up, now, or you won't get a good morning kiss." Percy said, a hand on his hip. I'm using this only as a last resort, he thought to himself. Nico shot up, looking wide awake. Jason ran over, his eyes pleading. "Where's my kiss?" Nico asked. "And mine?" Jason said, pouting.

Percy sighed and leaned in, kissing Nico's cheek. Nico smiled cheekily at Percy, who just rolled his eyes. Percy did the same to Jason, who winked at Percy flirtatiously. Percy again rolled his eyes and walked away from the two. Percy picked up his bag, Jason and Nico doing the same.

"Let's get out of here." Percy said, walking out of the cave. The snow had mostly melted and was now in huge clumps on the ground. The sun was shining down, wispy clouds floating by listlessly. "We have to travel farther north." Percy said, not exactly sure where to go.

They traveled north, Percy leading them over hills and across meadows without any sense of direction. All of their feet ached, and they were covered in sweat. When a cold breeze would blow on their faces, it was a welcome relief. When they finally stopped for rest on some giant rocks under a tree, it seemed as if they had been traveling for hours. They all felt as if their legs were limp noodles and that if they took one more step, they would collapse.

"We have to keep going." Percy finally said after a long break when he finally felt his legs could hold him up once more. "What are we even doing out here? What woman who put a guy in a cage? This isn't making an sense!" Jason finally shouted after holding in how he had felt all day, but still got up and continued to follow Percy and Nico.

"I'm not sure who, okay, but I know she's a goddess. Aphrodite's lover was thrown off Olympus by Hephaestus and Ares because they were both jealous, and Hecate tried to save him, but something happened and the snow storm seemed to drag him away." Percy replied, still walking forward.

"That makes absolutely no sense. A storm dragging someone away?" Nico muttered under his breath, just as frustrated as Jason. "I saw it in a dream, okay? And Hecate told me to keep going north." Percy replied, still moving forward. Suddenly, a cold gust of wind shot in his face, making him stumble backwards and fall backwards onto the ground.

"What the Hades?" Percy shouted as he landed on the ground. "Percy, are you okay?" Nico asked frantically, getting down on his knees next to Percy. Jason did the same, quickly looking over Percy.

"I'm fine, just banged up a bit." Percy muttered, rubbing his backside. Then, all of a sudden, a strong warm wind blew from the west, and it suddenly curved upwards and lifted them off the ground. Nico screamed and grabbed onto Percy as the wind kept pushed them upwards. They kept going up and up, and Jason grabbed onto Percy and Nico.

"Hold onto me." Jason winked at Percy and Nico, and suddenly the three were flying faster than they had been a second ago. Percy and Nico instantly clung to Jason as if their lives depended on it. "What's happening?" Nico shouted fearfully. "A trick that I've been perfecting." Jason said in amusement.

"I think it's time we met this man in the clouds." Jason said, making them go even faster, and they broke through the clouds. Nico shut his eyes tightly, but Percy stared around them in wonder. Percy stuck out his hand and it went through the clouds, and Percy giggled as the clouds slipped through his fingers.

"Ah, yes, son of Zeus. I agree." A man said, floating on the clouds. Percy noticed that he had white feathered wings and black curly hair. He wore a white chiton that was shorter, a gold girdle, and brown sandals. Suddenly he started flying around on the clouds, looking as if he was dancing almost. Nico's eyes shot open at the sound of his voice and stared.

"Who are you?" Jason asked cautiously.

The man smiled as he stopped flying around, floating as his wings flapped to keep him up. "I am Zephyros, the west wind. Or Zephyr, or Zephyrus. You could even call me Favonius. But anyways, I need to talk to you." The winged man said.

"What do you need to talk to us about?" Nico asked, tilting his head. Percy wanted to squeal (manly, of course) at how cute Nico looked when he was confused. "My brother, Boreas, has been captured. By his daughter." Zephyros said, crossing his legs as if he was sitting while his wings still flapped.

"Yeah, well, we already have our own quest going on." Percy replied irritably. It's bad enough that they're already fixing one goddess's problems, they don't need another problem to fix.

"Well, you kind of have to, Percy Jackson, because the same woman that captured my brother captured Aphrodite's lover." Zephyros replied with a smirk of triumph. "Where are they?" Jason asked, not letting Percy respond.

"They are in the Thracian mountains closest to us. You have to go just east of here. It's a big, snowy castle, and the closer you get, the worse the snow storm will become worse yet. You can't miss it. Good luck, boys." Zephyros told them before flying away.