Daughter of Neptune, Book one

XXX

Jason's pov

I had found my sister and lost her in less than an hour. As we climbed the cliffs of the floating island, I kept looking back, but Thalia was gone.

Despite what she'd said about meeting me again, I wondered. She'd found a new family with the Hunters, and a new mother in Artemis. She seemed so confident and comfortable in her life, I wasn't sure if he'd ever be part of it. And she seemed so set on finding her friend Percy. Had she ever searched for me that way?

Not fair, I told myself. She thought you were dead.

I could barely tolerate what she'd said about their mom. It was almost like Thalia had handed me a baby—a really loud, ugly baby—and said, Here, this is yours. I didn't want to carry it. I didn't want to look at it or claim it. I didn't want to know that I had an unstable mother who'd gotten rid of me to appease a goddess. No wonder Thalia had run away.

Then I remembered the Zeus cabin at Camp Half-Blood—that tiny little alcove Thalia had used as a bunk, out of sight from the glowering statue of the sky god. Our dad wasn't much of a bargain, either. I understood why Thalia had renounced that part of her life too, but I was still resentful. I couldn't be so lucky. I was left holding the bag—literally.

The golden backpack of winds was strapped over my shoulders. The closer we got to Aeolus's palace, the heavier the bag got. The winds struggled, rumbling and bumping around.

The only one who seemed in a good mood was Coach Hedge. He kept bounding up the slippery staircase and trotting back down. "Come on, cupcakes! Only a few thousand more steps!"

As we climbed, Tori, Leo, and Piper left me in my silence. Maybe they could sense my bad mood. Piper kept glancing back, worried, as if I were the one who'd almost died of hypothermia rather than she. Or maybe she was thinking about Thalia had said on the bridge—how we could save both her dad and Hera—but I didn't really understand how we were going to do that, and I wasn't sure if the possibility had made Piper more hopeful or just more anxious.

Tori was quiet. She slipped up sometimes on the climb up, maybe that water vapor thing took a lot of energy. Her eyes were paler than usual. I had a protective instinct when it came to her, like a brotherly protectiveness. I still wanted to know what was going on between Tori and Leo. Those two have been weird since Festus broke down.

Leo kept swatting his own legs, checking to signs that his pants were on fire. He wasn't screaming anymore, but the incident on the ice bridge had really freaked me out. Leo hadn't seemed to realize that he had smoke coming out his ears and flames dancing through his hair. If Leo started spontaneously combusting every time he got excited, were going to have a tough time taking him anywhere. I imagined trying to get food at a restaurant. I'll have a cheeseburger and—Ahhh! My friend's on fire! Get me a bucket!

Mostly, though, I worried about what Leo said. I didn't want to be a bridge, or an exchange, or anything else. I just wanted to know where I'd come from. And Thalia looked so unnerved when Leo mentioned the burned-out house in my dreams—the place the wolf Lupa had told me that was Tori's and my starting points. How did Thalia know that place, and why did she assume I could find it?

The answer seemed close. But the nearer I got to it, the less it cooperated, like the winds on his back.

Finally we arrived at the top of the island. Bronze walls marched all the way around the fortress grounds, though I couldn't imagine who would possibly attack this place. Twenty-foot-high gates opened for us, and a road of polished purple stone led up to the main citadel—a white-columned rotunda, Greek style, like one of the monuments in Washington, D.C.—except for the cluster of satellite dishes and radio towers on the roof.