Freezing {Jason Grace}

One Big Cold Family Reunion

The effect of Kat's words was immediate. 

Cal stopped and looked dazed for a second before he started yelling "Yay! New sister!" 

Zethes however, seemed to take the news more seriously. He studied Katerina closely which he had already done before but with more intensity. He looked as if he was searching for any evidence that proved her statements. His eyes finally settled on the circlet she was holding up for him to see.  

It was the very circlet that was placed on top of her head when she was claimed. 

"Very well, that is the emblem of father all right. Father has not been kind to visitors lately, but he would like to see you. Follow us."

Cal and Zethes turned and swooped towards the hotel's tower. 

Leo turned to his friends. "I love these guys. Follow them?"

Jason and Piper didn't look eager while Kat remained expressionless. 

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

"Maybe he'll be a little more favorable to us since I'm related to him?" Kat asked though she looked doubtful.  

***

They landed in what must have been the penthouse suite, but the place had been hit by a flash freezer. 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. Kat stepped of the dragon and felt the carpet crunch 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 which reminded her of her house in Russia. The uncanny difference was the ceiling that was furry with icicles and the stairs, which were frozen solid and glistened in the minimal lighting. 

"Guys," Leo said, "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..."

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

"No, no, no." Zethes marched over. "The dragon must be deactivated. We can't have fire in here. The heat ruins my hair. 

Kat genuinely was disgusted at how insufferable he was. Then she remembered that he was actually related to her. No.. she definitely didn't want to go there.

Festus growled and spun his drill-bt teeth. 

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

"Destroy?" Cal suggested.

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

"Leo," Piper said, nervously, "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 is 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.