Haunted || Leo Valdez

11 - Nate Eats Pizza, Silena Explains, and Bianca Just Stands / Floats There

The Boreads made right for the green gabled peak and didn't slow down. Then a section of the slanted roof slid open, revealing an entrance easily wide enough for Festus. The top and bottom were lined with icicles like jagged teeth.

"This cannot be good," Jason muttered, but Leo spurred the dragon downward, and they swooped in after the Boreads.

The suite looked exactly as it had a year and a half ago when Rebecca had come for her mission. The place had been hit by a flash freeze. The entry hall had vaulted ceilings forty feet high, huge draped windows, and lush oriental carpets. A staircase at the back of the room led up to another equally massive hall, and more corridors branched off to the left and right. When Rebecca slid off the dragon, the carpet crunched under her feet. A fine layer of frost covered the furniture. The curtains didn't budge because they were frozen solid, and the ice-coated windows let in watery light from the sunset. Even the ceiling was furry with icicles.

"Guys," Leo said, "fix the thermostat in here, and I would totally move in. "

"Not me." Jason looked uneasily at the staircase. "Something feels wrong."

"Yeah, I'm not moving in either," Rebecca said.

Festus shuddered and snorted flames. Frost started to form on his scales.

"No, no, no." Zethes marched over. "The dragon must be deactivated. We can't have fire in here. The heat ruins my hair."

Oh, no, not his hair! Save the hair!

Festus growled and spun his drill-bit teeth.

" 'S'okay, boy." Leo turned to Zethes. "The dragon's a little touchy about the whole deactivation concept. But I've got a better solution."

"Destroy?" Cal suggested.

"No, man. You gotta stop with the destroy talk. Just wait. "

"Leo," Piper said nervously, "what are you—"

"Watch and learn, beauty queen. When I was repairing Festus last night, I found all kinds of buttons. Some, you do not want to know what they do. But others ... Ah, here we go. "

Rebecca watched as Leo hooked his fingers behind the dragon's left foreleg. He pulled a switch, and the dragon shuddered from head to toe. Everyone backed away as Festus folded like origami. His bronze plating stacked together. His neck and tail contracted into his body. His wings collapsed and his trunk compacted until he was a rectangular metal wedge the size of a suitcase.

"No way," Rebecca said. "That's not possible."

"Totally possible," Leo countered. He tried to lift the compacted dragon, but the thing Probably weighed about six billion pounds. "Um... yeah. Hold on. I think—aha."

He pushed another button. A handle flipped up on the top, and wheels clicked out on the bottom.

"Ta-da!" he announced. "The world's heaviest carry-on bag!"

"That's impossible," Jason said. "Something that big couldn't—"

"Stop!" Zethes ordered. He and Cal both drew their swords and glared at Leo. Rebecca let her hand drift towards the ring on her finger, ready to activate her swords of needed.

Leo raised his hands. "Okay ... what'd I do? Stay calm, guys. If it bothers you that much, I don't have to take the dragon as carry-on—"

"Who are you?" Zethes shoved the point of his sword against Leo's chest. "A child of the South Wind, spying on us?"

"What? No!" Leo said. "Son of Hephaestus. Friendly blacksmith, no harm to anyone!"

Cal growled. He put his face up to Leo's, and he definitely wasn't any prettier at point-blank, with his bruised eyes and bashed-in mouth. "Smell fire," he said. "Fire is bad."