NOT FRIENDS ━━━━━ p. mclean²

006.

"That thing is dangerous!" an Ares girl shouted, brandishing her spear. "Kill it now!"

"Stand down!" someone ordered. To Isa's surprise, it was Jason. He pushed through the crowd, flanked by Vivi, Annabeth and Nyssa. Jason gazed up at the dragon and shook his head in amazement. "Leo, what have you done?"

"Found a ride!" Leo beamed. "You said I could go on the quest if I got you a ride. Well, I got you a class-A metallic flying bad boy! Festus can take us anywhere!" 

"It ─ has wings," Nyssa stammered. Her jaw looked like it might drop off her face.

"Yeah!" Leo said. "I found them and reattached them."

"But it never had wings. Where did you find them?"

Leo hesitated, "In. . . the woods. Repaired his circuits, too, mostly, so no more problems with him going haywire."

"Mostly?" Nyssa asked.

The dragon's head twitched. It tilted to one side and a stream of black liquid ─ maybe oil, hopefully just oil ─ poured out of its ear, all over Leo.

"Just a few kinks to work out," Leo said.

"But how did you survive. . . ?" Nyssa was still staring atthe creature in awe. "I mean, the fire breath. . ."

"I'm quick," Leo said. "And lucky. Now, am I on this quest, or what?"

Jason scratched his head. "You named him Festus? You know that in Latin, 'festus' means 'happy'? You want us to ride off to save the world on Happy the Dragon?"

The dragon twitched and shuddered and flapped his wings.

"That's a yes, bro!" Leo said. "Now, um, I'd really suggest we get going, guys. I already picked up some supplies in the ─ um, in the woods. And all these people with weapons are making Festus nervous."

Jason frowned. "But we haven't planned anything yet. We can't just ─ "

"Go," Annabeth said. "Jason, you've only got three days until the solstice now, and you should never keep a nervous dragon waiting. This is certainly a good omen. Go!"

Jason nodded. Vivi rushed over to Isa's side, hugging the smaller girl.

"Be careful," the brunette said, "Take care and don't do something I would so."

"You mean something stupid?" Isa said.

"Yeah, that." Vivi smiled, a first real smile Isa saw since the disappearance of Percy Jackson. 

Flying on the dragon was the most amazing experience ever. Up high, the air was freezing cold; but the dragon's metal hide generated so much heat, it was like they were flying in a protective bubble. Talk about seat warmers! And the grooves in the dragon's back were designed like high-tech saddles, so they weren't uncomfortable at all. Leo showed them how to hook their feet in the chinks of the armor, like in stirrups, and use the leather safety harnesses cleverly concealed under the exterior plating. They sat single file: Leo in front, then Isa, then Piper and Jason at the end.

Leo used the reins to steer the dragon into the sky like he'd been doing it all his life. The metal wings worked perfectly, and soon the coast of Long Island was just a hazy line behind them. They shot over Connecticut and climbed into the gray winter clouds.

Leo grinned back at them. "Cool, right?"

"What if we get spotted?" Piper asked.

"We won't," Isa told them simply. "The Mist keeps mortals from seeing magic things. If they spot us, they'll probably mistake us for a small plane or something."