She wondered whether she could make it to the ballista.
Then her enemies appeared, and she realized that no weapon would be enough.
Standing amidships was a girl in a flowing dress of white silk, her mane of black hair pinned back with a circlet of diamonds. Her eyes were the color of coffee, but without the warmth.
Behind her stood her brothers—two young men with purple-feathered wings, stark white hair, and jagged swords of Celestial bronze.
“So good to see you again, ma chère,” said Khione, the goddess of snow. “It’s time we had a very cold reunion. ”
PIPER DIDN’T PLAN TO SHOOT BLUEBERRY MUFFINS. The cornucopia must have sensed her distress and thought she and her visitors could use some warm baked goods.
Half a dozen steamy muffins flew from the horn of plenty like buckshot. It wasn’t the most effective opening attack.
Khione simply leaned to one side. Most of the muffins sailed past her over the rail. Her brothers, the Boreads, each caught one and began to eat.
“Muffins,” said the bigger one. Cal, Piper remembered: short for Calais. He was dressed exactly as he had been in Quebec—in cleats, sweatpants, and a red hockey jersey—and had two black eyes and several broken teeth. “Muffins are good. ”
“Ah, merci,” said the scrawny brother—Zethes, she recalled—who stood on the catapult platform, his purple wings spread. His white hair was still feathered in a horrible Disco Age mullet. The collar of his silk shirt stuck out over his breastplate. His chartreuse polyester pants were grotesquely tight, and his acne had only gotten worse. Despite that, he wriggled his eyebrows and smiled like he was the demigod of pickup artists.
“I knew the pretty girl would miss me. ” He spoke Québécois French, which Piper translated effortlessly. Thanks to her mom, Aphrodite, the language of love was hardwired into her, though she didn’t want to speak it with Zethes.
“What are you doing?” Piper demanded. Then, in charmspeak: “Let my friends go. ”
Zethes blinked. “We should let your friends go. ”
“Yes,” Cal agreed.
“No, you idiots!” Khione snapped. “She is charmspeaking. Use your wits. ”
“Wits…” Cal frowned as if he wasn’t sure what wits were. “Muffins are better. ”
He stuffed the whole thing in his mouth and began to chew.
Zethes picked a blueberry off the top of his and nibbled it delicately. “Ah, my beautiful Piper…so long I have waited to see you again. Sadly, my sister is right. We cannot let your friends go. In fact we must take them to Quebec, where they shall be laughed at eternally. I am so sorry, but these are our orders. ”
“Orders…?”
Ever since last winter, Piper had expected Khione to show her frosty face sooner or later. When they’d defeated her at the Wolf House in Sonoma, the snow goddess had vowed revenge. But why were Zethes and Cal here? In Quebec, the Boreads had seemed almost friendly—at least compared to their subzero sister.
“Guys, listen,” Piper said. “Your sister disobeyed Boreas. She’s working with the giants, trying to raise Gaea. She’s planning to take over your father’s throne. ”
Khione laughed, soft and cold. “Dear Piper McLean. You would manipulate my weak-willed brothers with your charms, like a true daughter of the love goddess. Such a skillful liar. ”
“Liar?” Piper cried. “You tried to kill us! Zethes, she’s working for Gaea!”
Zethes winced. “Alas, beautiful girl. We all are working for Gaea now. I fear these orders are from our father, Boreas himself. ”
“What?” Piper didn’t want to believe it, but Khione’s smug smile told her it was true.
“At last my father saw the wisdom of my counsel,” Khione purred, “or at least he did before his Roman side began warring with his Greek side. I fear he is quite incapacitated now, but he left me in charge. He has ordered that the forces of the North Wind be used in the service of King Porphyrion, and of course…the Earth Mother. ”
Piper gulped. “How are you even here?” She gestured at the ice all over the ship. “It’s summer!”
Khione shrugged. “Our powers grow. The rules of nature are turned upside down. Once the Earth Mother wakes, we shall remake the world as we choose!”
“With hockey,” Cal said, his mouth still full. “And pizza. And muffins. ”
“Yes, yes,” Khione sneered. “I had to promise a few things to the big simpleton. And to Zethes—”
“Oh, my needs are simple. ” Zethes slicked back his hair and winked at Piper. “I should have kept you at our palace when we first met, my dear Piper. But soon we will go there again, together, and I shall romance you most incredibly. ”
“Thanks, but no thanks,” Piper said. “Now, let Jason go. ”
She put all her power into the words, and Zethes obeyed. He snapped his fingers. Jason instantly defrosted. He crumpled to the floor, gasping and steaming; but at least he was alive.
“You imbecile!” Khione thrust out her hand, and Jason refroze, now flat on the deck like a bearskin rug. She wheeled on Zethes. “If you wish the girl as your prize, you must prove you can control her. Not the other way around!”
“Yes, of course. ” Zethes looked chagrined.
“As for Jason Grace…” Khione’s brown eyes gleamed. “He and the rest of your friends will join our court of ice statues in Quebec. Jason will grace my throne room. ”