THE HOUSE OF MEMORIES [J. GRACE]

FIFTEEN

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ THE HOUSE OF MEMORIES ༉‧₊˚.[THE HEROES OF OLYMPUS]

J A S O N
chapter fifteen: khione gets a little frost happy

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JASON DIDN'T want to leave leo, but he was starting to think that hanging out with cal, the hockey jock, might be the least dangerous option in the frosty hotel.

as they climbed the icy staircase, zethes stayed behind them, his blade drawn. the guy might've looked like a disco-era reject, but there was nothing funny about his sword. jason figured one hit from the blade would more than likely turn him into a popsicle.

then, there was the ice princess, zethes' older sister. every once in a while she'd turn, and grace jason with a smile, but there was no warmth in her expression. she regarded him like he was an especially interesting science specimen — one she couldn't wait to dissect. if they were boreas' kids, jason wasn't particularly sure he wanted to meet their father.

annabeth had told him boreas was the friendliest of the wind gods. apparently, that meant he didn't kill heroes quite as fast as the others did. he must've been the lesser of five other evils; the other winds, and the master of winds, aeolus. jason worried that he'd led his friends into a trap. if things went badly, he wasn't completely sure in his ability to get them out alive.

their hands were brushing against one another as they walked, but in a moment of desperation, jason briefly grabbed her hand, before realizing, and letting go. chandler gave him a look, but it wasn't angry, or disgusted like his insecurities said it would be. instead, he was surprised to receive a warm, dimpled smile. instantly, his nerves melted away at the beauty of it. of course, he'd seen her smile once, or twice before, but this was solely for him, and it made his heart thrum.

she reached down, and intertwined their fingers together, like jason was going to, but lost his nerve. she squeezed his hand, to remind him that she was there for him, and it filled him with reassurance. heat flooded his cheeks. she leaned up, though, due to their height difference, not quite meeting his ear. noting what she was trying to do, the blonde leaned down a bit. she murmured to him as they walked, "it'll be fine," she said. there was a sureness to her, a firm sureness that filled him with relief. "it's just a talk."

at the top of the stairs, the ice princess looked back. her cold gaze focused on their connected hands, and with almost practiced precised, her smile melted from her face. with hard brown eyes, she focused on their hands. a hot, burning cold pulsed through their connected hands. jason almost let go, then, something amazing happened. he looked down, and their hands glowed red, and their veins were visible underneath. heat circulated between the two of them.

"warmth is not a good idea here," the princess said firmly. her tone had a bit of a hiss to it, like a serpent. her eyes were piercing as they glared at chandler. "especially when i am your best chance at staying alive."

chandler kept her gaze steady, a small quirk of her eyebrow. "i've been doing this for years, pumpkin," she told the goddess. the was a bit of hostility in her tone, a coldness jason had never known to her eyes. "i can keep myself alive."

the blonde didn't have an response for the snow goddess, but squeezed chandler's hands a bit in appreciation. zethes poked him in the back with his icicle sword for their pause in stride, so they continued to follow the princess down a massive hallway decked in frosty tapestries.

freezing winds blew back, and forth, and jason's thoughts moved almost as fast. he'd had a lot of time to think while they rode the dragon north, but he felt as confused as ever. thalia's picture was still in his pocket, though he didn't need to look at it anymore. her image had burned itself into his mind. it was bad enough not remembering his past, but to know he had a sister out there, somewhere who might have answers, and to have no way of finding her — that just drove him up the wall.

in the picture, thalia looked nothing like him. they had the same, electric blue eyes, but that was it. her hair was black. her complexion was more mediterranean. her facial features were sharper — like a hawk's. still, thalia looked so familiar. hera had left him just enough memory that he could be certain she was his sister. but, annabeth had acted completely surprised when he'd told her, like she'd never heard of her having a brother.

did thalia even know about him? how had they been separated?

hera had taken those memories. she'd stolen everything from jason's past, plopped him into a new life, and now, she expected him to save her from some prison just so he could get back what she'd taken. it made jason so angry, he wanted to walk away, let hera rot in that cage; but he couldn't. he was hooked. he had to know more, and that made him even more resentful.

"you guys okay?" piper called softly to the pair of them.

"yeah...yeah, sorry." jason was grateful for piper. he needed a friend, and he was glad she'd started losing the aphrodite blessing. the makeup was fading. her hair was slowly going back to its old, choppy style with the little braids down the sides. he was sure now that they'd never known each other before the grand canyon. their relationship was just a trick of the mist in piper's mind. he felt bad, but now they could have a real relationship, but jason was thinking of a different one than the mist had given them. a friendship.

at the end of the hallway, they found themselves in front of a set of oaken doors carved with a map of the world. in each corner, was a man's bearded face, blowing wind. jason was pretty sure he'd seen maps like that before. but, in that version, all the wind guys were cold winter breezes, blowing ice, and snow from every corner of the world.

the princess turned. her brown eyes glittered dangerously, and jason felt like he was a christmas present she was hoping to open. "this is the throne room," she said to jason alone. she almost reluctantly threw a glance in the hephaestus girl's direction. "be on your best behavior, jason grace. my father can be...chilly. chandler, i encourage you to kept that warmth to a minimum. i will translate for you, and try to encourage him to hear you out."

the princess threw another look of disgust at his, and chandler's connected hands. she tried for a smile, and looked deeply into his electric blue eyes. he guessed the tilt of her head was supposed to be attractive, but in his mind, no one measured up to chandler. the princess swiped dark locks from her shoulder, a cold smile curled on her lips, "i do hope he spares you. we could have such fun."

"i do hope you mean board games," the hephaestus girl said offhandedly. jason liked the attitude in her tone, and the unimpressed way she quirked an eyebrow at the girl. chandler offered a half-shrug to the goddess, "call me optimistic, but i'm hoping he's not interested."

jason's cheeks flushed red, but he tried to keep the stupid smile that begged to spread across his lips to a minimum. chandler had practically called him off limits to the snow princess. it didn't seem to make the goddess like the hephaestus girl much more, but she didn't seem to care much more. "we're here for just a talk," the blonde told the princess, the flaming color on his cheeks refusing to budge. "we'll be leaving right after."

the girl smiled, like what jason had said to her was cute, in a condescending kind of way. "i love heroes. so blissfully ignorant."

piper's hand went down, and rested on her dagger. "well, how about you enlighten us? you say you're going to translate for us, and we don't even know who you are. what's your name?"

the girl sniffed with more distaste than she displayed to chandler toward piper. she gave an upturn of her nose, as if unimpressed with the aphrodite girl, "i suppose i shouldn't be surprised you don't recognize me. even in ancient times, the greeks did not know me well. their island homes were too warm, too far from my domain. i am khione, daughter of boreas, goddess of snow."

she stirred the air with her finger, and a miniature blizzard swirled around her — big, fluffy flakes as soft as cotton. "now, come," khione said to them. the oaken doors blew open, and cold blue light spilled out of the room. "hopefully you will survive your little talk."