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.His arched eyebrows made him look angry, but his eyes twinkled more warmly than his daughter’s—as if he might have a sense of humor buried somewhere under that permafrost.Jason hoped so.“Bienvenu,” the king said.“Je suis Boreas le Roi.Et vous?”Khione the snow goddess was about to speak, but Piper stepped forward and curtsied.“Votre Majesté,” she said, “ je suis Piper McLean.Et c’est Jason, fils de Zeus.”The king smiled with pleasant surprise.“Vous parlez français? Très bien!”“Piper, you speak French?” Jason asked.Piper frowned.“No.Why?” “You just spoke French.” Piper blinked.“I did?” The king said something else, and Piper nodded.“Oui,Votre Majesté.”The king laughed and clapped his hands, obviously delighted.He said a few more sentences then swept his hand toward his daughter as if shooing her away.Khione looked miffed.“The king says—”“He says I’m a daughter of Aphrodite,” Piper interrupted, “so naturally I can speak French, which is the language of love.I had no idea.His Majesty says Khione won’t have to translate now.”Behind them, Zethes snorted, and Khione shot him a murderous look.She bowed stiffly to her father and took a step back.The king sized up Jason, and Jason decided it would be a good idea to bow.“Your Majesty, I’m Jason Grace.Thank you for, um, not killing us.May I ask … why does a Greek god speak French?”Piper had another exchange with the king.“He speaks the language of his host country,” Piper translated.“He says all gods do this.Most Greek gods speak English, as they now reside in the United States, but Boreas was never welcomed in their realm.His domain was always far to the north.These days he likes Quebec, so he speaks French.”The king said something else, and Piper turned pale.“The king says …” She faltered.“He says—”“Oh, allow me,” Khione said.“My father says he has orders to kill you.Did I not mention that earlier?”Jason tensed.The king was still smiling amiably, like he’d just delivered great news.“Kill us?” Jason said.“Why?”“Because,” the king said, in heavily accented English, “my lord Aeolus has commanded it.”Boreas rose.He stepped down from his throne and furled his wings against his back.As he approached, Khione and Zethes bowed.Jason and Piper followed their example.“I shall deign to speak your language,” Boreas said, “as Piper McLean has honored me in mine.Toujours, I have had a fondness for the children of Aphrodite.As for you, Jason Grace, my master Aeolus would not expect me to kill a son of Lord Zeus … without first hearing you out.”Jason’s gold coin seemed to grow heavy in his pocket.If he were forced to fight, he didn’t like his chances.Two seconds at least to summon his blade.Then he’d be facing a god, two of his children, and an army of freeze-dried warriors.“Aeolus is the master of the winds, right?” Jason asked.“Why would he want us dead?”“You are demigods,” Boreas said, as if this explained everything.“Aeolus’s job is to contain the winds, and demigods have always caused him many headaches.They ask him for favors.They unleash winds and cause chaos.But the final insult was the battle with Typhon last summer…”Boreas waved his hand, and a sheet of ice like a flat-screen TV appeared in the air.Images of a battle flickered across the surface—a giant wrapped in storm clouds, wading across a river toward the Manhattan skyline.Tiny, glowing figures—the gods, Jason guessed—swarmed around him like angry wasps, pounding the monster with lightning and fire.Finally the river erupted in a massive whirlpool, and the smoky form sank beneath the waves and disappeared.“The storm giant, Typhon,” Boreas explained.“The first time the gods defeated him, eons ago, he did not die quietly.His death released a host of storm spirits—wild winds that answered to no one.It was Aeolus’s job to track them all down and imprison them in his fortress.The other gods—they did not help.They did not even apologize for the inconvenience.It took Aeolus centuries to track down all the storm spirits, and naturally this irritated him.Then, last summer, Typhon was defeated again—”“And his death released another wave of venti,” Jason guessed.“Which made Aeolus even angrier.”“C’est vrai,” Boreas agreed.“But, Your Majesty,” Piper said, “the gods had no choice but to battle Typhon [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]