2 Demigods with 1 Arrow (Leo Valdez)

Gone with the wind

Finally, they arrived at the top of the island. Bronze walls marched all the way around the fortress grounds. Twenty-foot-high gates opened for them, 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.

"That's bizarre," Piper said.

"Guess you can't get cable on a floating island," Leo said. "Dang, check this guy's front yard. "

The rotunda sat in the center of a quarter-mile circle. The grounds were amazing in a scary way. They were divided into four sections like big pizza slices, each one representing a season.

The section on their right was an icy waste, with bare trees and a frozen lake. Snowmen rolled across the landscape as the wind blew, so Amoriel wasn't sure if they were decorations or alive, but with their luck, it's probably alive.

To their left was an autumn park with gold and red trees. Mounds of leaves blew into patterns—gods, people, animals that ran after each other before scattering back into leaves.

In the distance, Amoriel could see two more areas behind the rotunda. One looked like a green pasture with sheep made out of clouds. The last section was a desert where tumbleweeds scratched strange patterns in the sand like Greek letters, smiley faces, and a huge advertisement that read: watch Aeolus nightly!

"One section for each of the four wind gods," Jason guessed.

"Four cardinal directions. " Amoriel said.

"I'm loving that pasture. " Coach Hedge licked his lips. "You guys mind—"

"Go ahead," Jason said. Amoriel was actually relieved he had sent the satyr off. It would be hard enough getting on Aeolus's good side without Coach Hedge waving his club and screaming, "Die!"

While the satyr ran off to attack springtime, Jason, Amoriel, Leo, and Piper walked down the road to the steps of the palace. We passed through the front doors into a white marble foyer decorated with purple banners that read Olympian weather channel, and some that just read OW!

"Hello!" A woman floated up to them. Literally floated. She was pretty in that elfish way Amoriel associated with nature spirits at Camp Half-Blood—petite, slightly pointy ears, and an ageless face that could've been sixteen or thirty. Her brown eyes twinkled cheerfully. Even though there was no wind, her dark hair blew in slow motion, shampoo-commercial style. Her white gown billowed around her like parachute material. Amoriel couldn't tell if she had feet, but if so, they didn't touch the floor. She had a white tablet computer in her hand.

"Are you from Lord Zeus?" she asked. "We've been expecting you. "

"Are you a ghost?" Was, of course, the son of Zeus' most intelligent answer that made Amoriel want to facepalm.

Amoriel lightly —not lightly at all— hit his arm in a reprimanding way when she saw girl pout. "She's an aura, not a ghost. You idiot."

The aura nodded in confirmation, but her lips remained to be pouting."I'm an aura, sir. A wind nymph, as you might expect, working for the lord of the winds. My name is Mellie. We don't have ghosts. "

Amoriel came to the rescue. "No, of course, you don't! My stupid friend simply mistook you for Helen of Troy, the most beautiful mortal of all time. It's an easy mistake." She winked at Mellie and the aura turned pink.

For some reason, the more time passed the more flirty she gets. "Oh ... well, then. So you are from Zeus?"

"Er," Jason said, "I'm the son of Zeus, yeah. "