Home|| Leo Valdez

14

—It seemed Alex had slept only for a few seconds, but when Piper shook her awake, the daylight was fading.

"We're here," she said and then added, "Leo slept too so don't worry about him"

Alex rubbed the sleep out of her 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, way older than any place Alex had seen before. In the center was an actual castle-at least Alex assumed it was a 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 said.

"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?"

She made a face at her, which Alex was used to, but it didn't quite work with her new glamorous makeup. "I read sometimes, okay? Just because Aphrodite claimed me, doesn't mean I have to be an airhead."

"Feisty!" Leo said. "So you know so much, what's that castle?"

"A hotel, I think."

Leo laughed. "No way."

But as they got closer, Alex saw she was right. The grand entrance was bustling with doormen, valets, and porters taking bags. Sleek black luxury cars idled in the drive. People in elegant suits and winter cloaks hurried to get out of the cold.

"The North Wind is staying in a hotel?" Alex said. "That can't be-"

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

Alex looked below and saw what Jason meant. Rising from the top of the tower were two winged figures-angry angels, with nasty-looking swords.

Festus didn't like the angel guys. He swooped to a halt in midair, wings beating and talons bared, and made a rumbling sound in his throat that Leo recognized. He was getting ready to blow fire.

"Steady, boy," Leo muttered. Something told Alex the angels would not take kindly to getting torched.

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

At first Alex thought he was right, but as the angels got closer, she could see they were much more solid than venti. 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, several of them were missing.

The other guy looked like he'd just stepped off a 1980s rock album covers-Journey, maybe or something even lamer. His ice-white hair was long and feathered into a mullet. He wore pointy-toed leather shoes, designer pants that were way too tight, and a god-awful silk shirt with the top three buttons open. Maybe he thought he looked like a groovy love god, but the guy couldn't have weighed more than ninety pounds, and he had a bad case of acne.

The angels pulled up in front of the dragon and hovered there, swords at the ready.

The hockey ox grunted. "No clearance."

"'Scuse me?" Leo said.

"You have no flight plan on file," explained the groovy love god. On top of his other problems, he had a French accent so bad Alex was sure it was fake. "This is restricted airspace."

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

The dragon began to hiss steam, ready to defend them. Jason summoned his golden sword, 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," the love god said. "Sadly, my brother cannot say words with more than two syllables-"

"Pizza! Hockey! Destroy!" Cal offered.

"-which includes his own name," the love god finished.

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

"Wow," Alex said. "That was almost three sentences! Way to go Cal"

Cal grunted, obviously pleased with himself, clearly missing the sarcasm in the girl's voice.

"Stupid buffoon," his brother grumbled. "They make fun of you. But no matter. I am Zethes, which is short for Zethes. And these ladies there—" He winked at Piper and Alex, but the wink was more like a facial seizure. "They can call me anything they like"

"You're not impressing anyone" Alex said. Zethes' face contorted, but he brushed it off and continued. 

"Perhaps you would like to have dinner with a famous demigod before we must destroy you?""

Piper choked, unsure whether to laugh or make a retching sound. "Thats... a truly horrifying offer"

"It is no problem." Zethes wiggled his eyebrows at Alex, Leo glared at him. "We are a very romantic people, we Boreads."

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

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

He pointed below, and Alex saw 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 acne-covered face, "we will have to destroy you painfully."

"Destroy!" Cal agreed, with a little more enthusiasm than Leo thought necessary.

"Wait!" Alex said. "This is an emergency landing."

"Awww!" Cal looked so disappointed, Alex almost felt sorry for him.

Zethes studied Alex and then Piper, which of course he'd already been doing. "How do the pretty girls decide this is an emergency, then?"

"We have to see Boreas. It's totally urgent! Please?" Piper forced a smile, which Alex figured must've been killing her; but she still had that blessing of Aphrodite thing going on, and she looked great. Something about her voice, too-Alex found herself believing every word. Jason was nodding too, looking absolutely convinced.

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

"Please?" Alex batted her eyelashes and twirled her hair around her finger. "I'm sorry about what I said earlier, maybe we can have some dinner some time"

"Well... since you insist" Zethes flashed her an ugly smile but Alex didn't speak her mind. 

Leo looked at her over his shoulder and whispered, "Who are you and what have you done with Lex?" His voice didn't have the mischievous tone despite his grin (which Alex knew was fake) and his voice sounded almost strained. 

"Come on follow us" Zethes said after a while, and soon Festus landed inside the penthouse suite.