THE ONLY THING even halfway appealing about the quest, Blaire found, was the veiw from the extreme height Valdez's dragon reached. As dawn dissolved into the earliest traces of dusk, casting an eerie bout of shadows upon the snowy rooftops the quartet flew over, the aforementioned group stared down in dumbfounded awe.

    "We're here," Piper said, reaching over Blaire's shoulder to shake Leo Valdez awake. He stirred in alarm with a gnarly grunt, rubbing the remenants of sleep from his large doe brown eyes.

   Below them, 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. 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 murmured, his voice still heavy with sleep yet alight with intrest.

   "That's Quebec and not Santa's workshop," Blaire obeyed, though his command was quite rhetorical.

  He'd only just woken up and he was already cracking jokes. Great, Blaire thought. She figured it would get annoying really fast, for the boys often-times untimely humor already managed to weasel it's way beneath her skin and prod at her veins. It was as if he were picking at an exposed electrical wire, for Blaire felt like she'd too explode into an array of sparks any second if he didn't calm it on the humor.

   "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?"

  What is Valdez's obsession with Piper's dad?

    "I read sometimes, okay? Just because Aphrodite claimed me, doesn't mean I have to be an airhead."

  "Feisty!" Leo said through a half-smirk. "I like feisty."

  Suddenly, Blaire was the sweetest, most tame, and gentle person to have ever lived.

   "Since you know so much, what's that castle?" Leo continued, glancing back to his friends and Blaire, grinning wildly when he made eye contact with the latter. She didn't return the gesture though, instead her pale face scrunched up like she'd just eaten something sour, watching with concealed glee as the boy deflated.

  "A hotel, I think."

  Leo laughed in disbelief, he sounded like an amused toddler. "No way."

     But the closer they got, the more Leo seemed to believe in Piper's words. His jaw fell slack as he took in the doormen, valets and porters taking care of the bags, and helping guests from their shiny expensive cars.

    "The North Wind is staying in a hotel?" Leo murmured, mostly to himself. "That can't be—"

    "Heads up, guys," Jason interrupted. "We got company!"

    Blaire glanced down again and saw what Jason meant. Rising from the top of the tower were two winged figures—angry angels, with nasty-looking swords.

Blaire assumed the angel-guys were bad news judging by the dragons reaction to them. It halted mid-air and began quaking, a deep rumbling sound errupting from within it's throat.

    "Steady boy," Leo hummed, patting the side of the dragons head in a form of hopeful comfort. Leo's words seemed to ease the dragon slightly— which caused Blaire to roll her dark eyes. Of course Valdez was some kind of weird machine whisperer. It was very in charecter for him.

"I don't like this," Jason said. "They look like storm spirits."

Blaire had no idea what a storm spirit looked like considering she had absolutely no past experience with them, but she figured these guys were not storm spirits. They seemed way too solid to be any kind of spirit.

   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, Blaire was able to see that several of them were missing.

The other guy looked like an underpayed Elvis impersonator. He wore the skinniest jeans Blaire had ever weilded the displeasure of seeing and a half-way unbuttoned silk shirt. His ice-white hair was long and feathered into a thick mullet. He wore pointy-toed leather shoes that were evidently several sizes too small.

The angels pulled up in front of the dragon and hovered there, swords at the ready. Blaire wasn't afraid though— she really couldn't take these guys seriously when they looked like circus preformers.

    The hockey ox grunted. "No clearance."
 
  "'Scuse me?" Valdez said.

   "You have no flight plan on file," explained the Elvis-wanna-be. On top of his other problems, he had a French accent so bad, Blaire was sure it was merely a front. Though she didn't see why he'd fake a French drawl— Elvis wasn't French as far as she knew. "This is restricted airspace."

   "Destroy them?" The ox showed off his ugly gap-toothed grin.

     Their dragon friend began to hiss steam, ready to defend them if needed. Jason summoned his golden sword confidently, like he was ready to take down the angels with a single slice.

   The angels began to advance further, but Leo cried, "Hold on! Let's have some manners here, boys. Can I at least find out who has the honor of destroying me?"

   "I am Cal!" the ox grunted. He looked very proud of himself, like he'd taken a long time to memorize that sentence.

   "That's short for Calais," Elvis said. "Sadly, my brother cannot say words with more than two syllables—"

    "Pizza! Hockey! Destroy!" Cal offered.

   "—which includes his own name," Elvis finished.

    "I am Cal," Cal repeated. "And this is Zethes! My brother!"

"Wow," Leo said, faux amazement obvious within his words. "That was almost three sentences, man! Way to go."

Cal grunted, obviously pleased with himself.

"Stupid buffoon," his brother grumbled. "They make fun of you. But no matter. I am Zethes, which is short for Zethes. And these ladies here—" He winked at both Piper and Blaire, but the wink was more like a facial seizure. "They can call me anything they'd like. Perhaps they would like to have dinner with a famous demigod before we must destroy you?"

   Piper merely gagged, but Blaire winced aggressively like she'd been hit in the face.

"I'd rather kill myself," Blaire told Elvis with blunt honesty, her voice monotone and her stony expression not wavering for even a second.

   Leo choked out a suprised/impressed cackle, followed by an oddly suspicious sounding whistle, while Jason and Piper gasped in shock. Soon, they would come to learn Blaire was nothing if not brutally honest.

"That is... a truly horrifying offer." Piper agreed, with a frantic shake of her head.

"It is no problem." Zethes wiggled his eyebrows. "We are a very romantic people, we Boreads."

Gross, Blaire thought. These two are the opposite of romantic.

"Boreads?" Jason cut in. "Do you mean, like, the sons of Boreas?"

"Ah, so you've heard of us!" Zethes looked pleased with the knowledge of his sudden popularity. "We are our father's gatekeepers. So you understand, we cannot have unauthorized people flying in his airspace on creaky dragons, scaring the silly mortal peoples."

   He pointed to the crowd below himself, and Blaire realized that the mortals were starting to take notice. Several were pointing up—not with alarm, yet—more with confusion and annoyance, like the dragon was a traffic helicopter flying too low.

"Which is sadly why, unless this is an emergency landing," Zethes said, brushing his hair out of his face, "we will have to destroy you painfully."

"Destroy!" Cal agreed, with loads of unnecessary enthusiasm.

  "Wait!" Piper said suddenly. "This is an emergency landing."

"Awww!" Cal looked so disappointed, Blaire found it hard to hate him. She couldn't hate the pathetic. It was simply wrong.

Zethes studied Piper, which of course he'd already been doing since their arrival. "How does the pretty girl decide this is an emergency, then?"

"We have to see Boreas. It's totally urgent! Please?" She forced a smile, which Blaire figured must have been really hard. A small portion of her apluaded Piper, for no matter how dire the situation was, she'd never be able to smile at these bozos.

Obviously, Piper was one of the lucky Aphrodite kids who'd inherited charm speak, because Blaire found herself clinging onto her every word, believing her lies. Leo and Jason seemed to be doing the same, for they nodded along with dopey grins.

Zethes picked at his silk shirt, probably making sure it was still open wide enough for the girl's to see his lack of chest-hair. "Well ... I hate to disappoint a lovely lady, but you see, my sister, she would have an avalanche if we allowed you—"

   "And our dragon is malfunctioning!" Piper added desperately, waving her hand's around frantically to further the dramatics of her lies. "It could crash any minute!"

Festus shuddered helpfully, then he turned his head and spilled gunk out of his ear, splattering a black Mercedes in the parking lot below. Blaire figured whoever owned the extravagant sports vehicle wouldn't have to worry about it's new sludgy ruin— for they probably had the pocket money to just buy another one.

"No destroy?" Cal whimpered and Blaire scoffed in pity. Gods, he was just so pathetic.

Zethes pondered the problem for a second. Then he offered Piper and Blaire another disgusting wink. "Well, you are pretty. I mean, you're right. A malfunctioning dragon—this could be an emergency."

"Destroy them later?" Cal questioned, which was probably as close to friendly as he ever got.

   "It will take some explaining," Zethes decided finally. "Father has not been kind to visitors lately. But, yes. Come, faulty dragon people. Follow us."

   The Boreads sheathed their swords and pulled some sort of small metallic items from their belts, at first Blaire thought they were weapons. Then, she realized they were merely flashlights. They were the type of flashlights construction workers used, large orange cones around the top and all. Cal and Zethes turned and swooped toward the hotel's tower.

Leo turned, wearing the maniac smile that Blaire had grown to really hate, "I love these guys. Follow them?"

None of the other quest-goers looked too eager.

Blaire didn't really care much about what happened to her. She knew freeing Hera would end the same way, she couldn't escape her fate. She'd suffer the curse that tarnished her youth.

"I guess," Jason decided. "We're here now. But I wonder why Boreas hasn't been kind to visitors."

"Pfft, he just hasn't met us." Leo whistled. "Festus, after those flashlights!"

As they got closer, Blaire wondered if they'd crash into the tower. The Boreads made right for the green gabled peak and didn't slow down. Then a section of the slanted roof slid open, revealing an entrance easily wide enough for Festus. The top and bottom were lined with icicles like jagged teeth.

"This cannot be good," Jason muttered, but the stupid-unserious son of Hephaestus leading spurred the dragon downward, and they swooped in after the Boreads.

They landed in what must have been the penthouse suite; but the place had been hit by a flash freeze. The entry hall had vaulted ceilings forty feet high, huge draped windows, and lush oriental carpets. A staircase at the back of the room led up to another equally massive hall, and more corridors branched off to the left and right. But the ice made the room's beauty a little frightening.

When Blaire slid off the dragon, ignoring the hand Leo had extended in hopes of helping her, the carpet crunched under her feet. A fine layer of frost covered the furniture. The curtains didn't budge because they were frozen solid, and the ice-coated windows let in weird watery light from the sunset. Even the ceiling was furry with icicles.

The light fabric of her wind-breaker did little to protect Blaire from the sudden frigidness of the apparent hotel.

"Guys," Leo said, humor evident in his tone, like usual. "fix the thermostat in here, and I would
totally move in."

"Not me." Jason looked uneasily at the staircase.
"Something feels wrong. Something up there ..."

And Blaire had to agree. The whole ice-palace gave her terrible vibes. She just couldn't pinpoint exactly why.

Festus shuddered and snorted flames. Frost started to form on his scales.

"No, no, no." Zethes marched over, though how he could walk in those pointy leather shoes, Blaire had no idea. "The dragon must be deactivated. We can't have fire in here. The heat ruins my hair."

Festus growled and spun his drill-bit teeth.

"'S'okay, boy." Leo turned to Zethes after comforting his metallic BFF. "The dragon's a little touchy about the whole deactivation concept. But I've got a better solution."

"Destroy?" Cal suggested.

Blaire wanted to show him destroy.

"No, man. You gotta stop with the destroy talk. Just wait."

That was the first time Blaire had agreed with Leo.

"Leo," Piper cut in nervously, apparently she too knew how immature and untrustworthy Valdez was. "what are you—"

"Watch and learn, beauty queen. When I was repairing Festus last night, I found all kinds of buttons. Some, you do not want to know what they do. But others ... Ah, here we go."

Leo hooked his fingers behind the dragon's left foreleg. He pulled a switch, and the dragon shuddered from head to toe. Everyone backed away as Festus folded like origami. His bronze plating stacked together. His neck and tail contracted into his body. His wings collapsed and his trunk compacted until he was a rectangular metal wedge the size of a suitcase.

Leo tried to lift the thing, but he failed and staggered backward, nearly falling flat onto his butt. Blaire cackled as she watched the boy struggle.

"Um ... yeah," he murmured, embarrassed. "Hold on. I think—aha."

He pushed another button. A handle flipped up on the top, and wheels clicked out on the bottom.

"Ta-da!" he announced. "The world's heaviest carry-on bag!"

"That's impossible," Jason said. "Something that big couldn't—"

"Stop!" Zethes (Elvis) ordered. He and Cal both drew their swords and glared at Leo.

Leo raised his hands, glancing at his friends (and Blaire), silently pleading for help. "Okay ... what'd I do? Stay calm, guys. If it bothers you that much, I don't have to take the dragon as carry-on—"

"Who are you?" Zethes quickly shoved the point of his sword against Leo's chest, forcing his chin up. "A child of the South Wind, spying on us?"

Blaire was half tempted to tell them that they were correct. Leo was a south wind spy sent to take them down and destroy their palace. But if she did, Jason and Piper might attack her in defense of their scrawny little friend. Lord know he couldn't do it himself.

"What? No!" Leo shreiked. "Son of Hephaestus. Friendly blacksmith, no harm to anyone!"

Cal growled. He put his face up to Leo's, and the Valdez boy backed away slightly, cowering from the sight of his gnarly face. "Smell fire," he said. "Fire is bad."

Blaire wasn't an empath by any means, but she'd always been rather good at reading people's emotions based off of their physical ticks. And the way Valdez deflated, exhaling a large sigh he most likely thought went unnoticed by the group, told Blaire that the boy was most likely hiding something. Something to do with fire.

Oh." Leo spluttered. "Yeah, well ... my clothes are kind of singed, and I've been working with oil, and—"

"No!" Zethes pushed Leo back at sword point. "We can smellfire, demigod. We assumed it was from the creaky dragon, but now the dragon is a suitcase. And I still smell fire... on you."

She called it!

Leo looked like he was seconds away from vomiting, his chiseled face was pale and beaded with sweat despite the toom being a total of three degrees. "Hey ... look ... I don't know—" He glanced back at the other demigods, "Guys, a little help?"

Blaire didn't offer up any sort of response, she just stepped backwards into the shadows. She didn't know this kid, why should she sacrifice her own safety to help him? Besides, Jason already had his gold coin in his hand, ready to fight.

He stepped forward, his eyes on Zethes. "Look, there's been a mistake. Leo isn't a fire guy. Tell them, Leo. Tell them you're not a fire guy."

"Um ..."

Real helpful.

"Zethes?" Piper tried her dazzling smile again, though she looked a little too nervous and cold to pull it off. "We're all friends here. Put down your swords and let's talk."

"The girl is pretty," Zethes admitted bashfully, "and of course she cannot help being attracted to my amazingness; but sadly, I cannot romance her at this time." He poked his sword point farther into Leo's chest.

Destroy him now?" Cal asked his brother.

Zethes nodded. "Sadly, I think—"

Blaire had a feeling he wasn't too sad about it.

"No," Jason insisted. He sounded calm enough, but Blaire figured he was about two seconds away from flipping that coin and going into full gladiator mode. "Leo's just a son of Hephaestus. He's no threat. Piper here is a daughter of Aphrodite. Blaire is a daughter of Hecate— I think. I'm the son of Zeus. We're on a peaceful ..."

   Jason's voice faltered, because both Boreads had
suddenly turned on him.

  "What did you say?" Zethes demanded. "You are the son of Zeus?"

  The average reaction whenever any sane being encountered a child of the big three.

   "Um ... yeah," Jason said. "That's a good thing, right? My name is Jason."

  Cal looked so surprised, he almost dropped his sword. "Can't be Jason," he said. "Doesn't look the same."

  Zethes stepped forward and squinted at Jason's face. "No, he is not our Jason. Our Jason was more stylish. Not as much as me—but stylish. Besides, our Jason died millennia ago."

  Stylish. Blaire huffed aloud at that one.

  "Wait," Jason said. "Your Jason ... you mean the original Jason? The Golden Fleece guy?"

  "Of course," Zethes said. "We were his crewmates aboard his ship, the Argo, in the old times, when we were mortal demigods. Then we accepted immortality to serve our father, so I could look this good for all time, and my silly brother could enjoy pizza and hockey."

  "Hockey!" Cal agreed.

  "But Jason—our Jason—he died a mortal death," Zethes said. "You can't be him."

  "I'm not," Jason agreed.

  "So, destroy?" Cal asked. Clearly the conversation was giving his two brain cells a serious workout.

  "No," Zethes said regretfully. "If he is a son of Zeus, he could be the one we've been watching for."

  Watching for? That couldn't be good.

  Clearly Leo thought the same.

  "Watching for?" Leo asked. "You mean like in a good way: you'll shower him with fabulous prizes? Or watching for like in a bad way: he's in trouble?"

  Leo was new to the whole half-blood thing, so he was yet to learn seldom was in a good way with the olympians and anything that has to do with them.

   A new girl's voice suddenly joined the conversation, "That depends on my father's will."

   Everyone turned to the staircase, where a girl garnished in a white silk dress stood at the top. Her skin was unnaturally pale, the color of snow, but her hair was a lush mane of black, and her eyes were coffee brown. She was beautiful— yes— but only in a regal sort of way. Blaire figured her beauty was merely surface level and she was truly a spiteful person based on the way she glared ice daggers at Leo— though Blaire had been doing the same all day.

  Leo didn't seem to mind her apparent hatred toward him though. He stared up at the girl lustfully, with a wide toothy grin and large-brown-doe-like irises that were dialated with attraction.

     Then she looked at Jason, Piper and Blaire. Her dark eyes lingering too long on the daughter of Hecate— but not in a kind way. In a menacing way, like she was subliminally threatening her. And for a second, Blaire understood completely where Leo was coming from, the girl's scary gaze too made her heart waver. But, in fear.

  "Father will want to see the one called Jason," the girl said.

   "Then it is him?" Zethes asked excitedly.

  "We'll see," the girl said. "Zethes, bring our guests."

  The quartet began to follow Zethes up the stairs, Leo frantically attempting to lug his dragon behind him. However, the unknown girl stopped them.

  "Not you, Leo Valdez." She turned towards Leo.

  "Why not?" He sounded like a whiny kindergartner after being told no to a new toy-train in a grocery store.

  "You cannot be in the presence of my father," the girl said. "Fire and ice—it would not be wise."

  There they go with the fire again, Blaire thought. She was sure Valdez was hiding something to do with fire. But she didn't care enough to dig deeper into the matter.

    "We're going together," Jason insisted, putting his hand on Leo's shoulder, "or not at all."

   The girl tilted her head, like she wasn't used to people refusing her orders, then she studied Blaire again. "Blaire Sullivan will stay with him. My father wouldn't want to see Hecate's mistake anyway. He would strike her down on the spot. They won't be harmed. Calias, keep them here but do not kill them."

  Blaire wanted to protest, to demand she go with them. She didn't want to let this prissy ice princess boss her around— but she also didn't want to go anywhere with her. Even if that mean staying back with Valdez.

   Cal pouted. "Just a little?"

   "No," the girl insisted. "And take care of his interesting suitcase, until Father passes judgment."

   Jason and Piper looked at Leo and Blaire— mostly just Leo, their expressions asking a silent question: How do you want to play this?

  While Leo seemed to be internally debating, Blaire looked down at her shoes, which were moist from the cold climate. She didn't have much of a choice, the ice girl didn't look like she'd take no for an anwser. And Blaire also didn't mind waiting downstairs. She didn't wanna be on the quest, she didn't wanna do anything. Maybe waiting for fate to find her, while obeying the orders of those around her was the easiest way to go about the remenants if life. She'd die anyway. The prophecy said. Said it in a cryptic, toe-around-the line- sort of way. But still said it.

   "It's fine, guys," Leo said. "No sense causing trouble if we don't have to. You go ahead."

  Piper nodded and turned to Blaire, "Blaire?"

  The aforementioned girl looked up from the slate of ice she was toeing. "Just go. Don't wanna go anywhere with her, anyways." She nodded to the unnamed-scary girl, well aware she was completely able to hear their encounter, while speaking the last part aloud.

  "Listen to your friends," the pale girl said. "Leo Valdez and Blaire Sullivan will be perfectly safe. I wish I could say the same for you, son of Zeus. Now come, King Boreas is waiting."

MAX SPEAKS: for all the bleo lovers far and wide FINALLY A NEW CHAPTER!!!!! not too fond of this but the action is beggining... and I absolutely love Blaire 😭 she's so mean for no reason but it makes her so fun to write for. don't be a ghost reader I love ur comments <3 this is not edited but ENJOY!!! :)