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<strong>The</strong> golden backpack of winds was strapped over his shoulders. <strong>The</strong> closer they got to Aeolus‘s palace,<br />
the heavier the bag got. <strong>The</strong> winds struggled, rumbling and bumping around.<br />
<strong>The</strong> only one who seemed in a good mood was Coach Hedge. He kept bounding up the slippery staircase<br />
and trotting back down. ―Come on, cupcakes! Only a few thousand more steps!‖<br />
As they climbed, Leo and Piper left Jason in his silence. Maybe they could sense his bad mood. Piper<br />
kept glancing back, worried, as if he were the one who‘d almost died of hypothermia rather than she. Or maybe<br />
she was thinking about Thalia‘s idea. <strong>The</strong>y‘d told her what Thalia had said on the bridge—how they could save<br />
both her dad and Hera—but Jason didn‘t really understand how they were going to do that, and he wasn‘t sure<br />
if the possibility had made Piper more hopeful or just more anxious.<br />
Leo kept swatting his own legs, checking for signs that his pants were on fire. He wasn‘t steaming<br />
anymore, but the incident on the ice bridge had really freaked Jason out. Leo hadn‘t seemed to realize that he<br />
had smoke coming out his ears and flames dancing through his hair. If Leo started spontaneously combusting<br />
every time he got excited, they were going to have a tough time taking him anywhere. Jason imagined trying to<br />
get food at a restaurant. I‟ll have a cheeseburger and—Ahhh! My friend‟s on fire! Get me a bucket!<br />
Mostly, though, Jason worried about what Leo had said. Jason didn‘t want to be a bridge, or an exchange,<br />
or anything else. He just wanted to know where he‘d come from. And Thalia had looked so unnerved when Leo<br />
mentioned the burned-out house in his dreams—the place the wolf Lupa had told him was his starting point.<br />
How did Thalia know that place, and why did she assume Jason could find it?<br />
<strong>The</strong> answer seemed close. But the nearer Jason got to it, the less it cooperated, like the winds on his<br />
back.<br />
Finally they arrived at the top of the island. Bronze walls marched all the way around the fortress grounds,<br />
though Jason couldn‘t imagine who would possibly attack this place. Twenty-foot-high gates opened for them,<br />
and a road of polished purple stone led up to the main citadel—a white-columned rotunda, Greek style, like one<br />
of the monuments in Washington, D.C.—except for the cluster of satellite dishes and radio towers on the roof.<br />
―That‘s bizarre,‖ Piper said.<br />
―Guess you can‘t get cable on a floating island,‖ Leo said. ―Dang, check this guy‘s front yard.‖<br />
<strong>The</strong> rotunda sat in the center of a quarter-mile circle. <strong>The</strong> grounds were amazing in a scary way. <strong>The</strong>y<br />
were divided into four sections like big pizza slices, each one representing a season.<br />
<strong>The</strong> section on their right was an icy waste, with bare trees and a frozen lake. Snowmen rolled across the<br />
landscape as the wind blew, so Jason wasn‘t sure if they were decorations or alive.<br />
To their left was an autumn park with gold and red trees. Mounds of leaves blew into patterns—gods,<br />
people, animals that ran after each other before scattering back into leaves.<br />
In the distance, Jason could see two more areas behind the rotunda. One looked like a green pasture with<br />
sheep made out of clouds. <strong>The</strong> last section was a desert where tumbleweeds scratched strange patterns in the<br />
sand like Greek letters, smiley faces, and a huge advertisement that read: watch aeolus nightly!<br />
―One section for each of the four wind gods,‖ Jason guessed. ―Four cardinal directions.‖<br />
―I‘m loving that pasture.‖ Coach Hedge licked his lips. ―You guys mind—‖<br />
―Go ahead,‖ Jason said. He was actually relieved to send the satyr off. It would be hard enough getting on<br />
Aeolus‘s good side without Coach Hedge waving his club and screaming, ―Die!‖<br />
While the satyr ran off to attack springtime, Jason, Leo, and Piper walked down the road to the steps of<br />
the palace. <strong>The</strong>y passed through the front doors into a white marble foyer decorated with purple banners that<br />
read olympian weather channel, and some that just read ow!<br />
―Hello!‖ A woman floated up to them. Literally floated. She was pretty in that elfish way Jason associated<br />
with nature spirits at Camp Half-Blood—petite, slightly pointy ears, and an ageless face that could‘ve been<br />
sixteen or thirty. Her brown eyes twinkled cheerfully. Even though there was no wind, her dark hair blew in slow<br />
motion, shampoo-commercial style. Her white gown billowed around her like parachute material. Jason couldn‘t<br />
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<br />
from Lord Zeus?‖ she asked. ―We‘ve been expecting you.‖<br />
Jason tried to respond, but it was a little hard to think straight, because he‘d realized the woman was seethrough.<br />
Her shape faded in and out like she was made of fog.<br />
―Are you a ghost?‖ he asked.<br />
Right away he knew he‘d insulted her. <strong>The</strong> smile turned into a pout. ―I‘m an aura, sir. A wind nymph, as<br />
you might expect, working for the lord of the winds. My name is Mellie. We don‘t have ghosts.‖<br />
Piper came to the rescue. ―No, of course you don‘t! My friend simply mistook you for Helen of Troy, the<br />
most beautiful mortal of all time. It‘s an easy mistake.‖<br />
Wow, she was good. <strong>The</strong> compliment seemed a little over the top, but Mellie the aura blushed. ―Oh …<br />
well, then. So you are from Zeus?‖<br />
―Er,‖ Jason said, ―I‘m the son of Zeus, yeah.‖<br />
―Excellent! Please, right this way.‖ She led them through some security doors into another lobby,<br />
consulting her tablet as she floated. She didn‘t look where she was going, but apparently it didn‘t matter as she