NOT FRIENDS ━━━━━ p. mclean²

007.

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.

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, "Smell fire," he said. "Fire is bad."

"Oh." Leo said in a small voice, "Yeah, well. . . my clothes are kind of singed, and I've been working with oil, and ─ "

"No!" Zethes pushed Leo back at sword point. "We can smell fire, demigod. We assumed it was from the creaky dragon, but now the dragon is a suitcase. And I still smell fire. . . on you." 

"Hey. . . look. . . I don't know ─ " he glanced at his friends desperately. "Guys, a little help?"

"How about we put our swords down," Isa said, walking to stand in front of Leo, "And talk about it. There must have been a mistake. Leo isn't a fire guy. Tell them, Leo. Tell them you're not a fire guy."

"Um. . ."

"Zethes?" Piper tried her dazzling smile again, though she looked a little too nervous and cold to pull it off. "We're all friends here. Put down your swords and let's talk."

"The girl is pretty," Zethes admitted, "and of course she cannot help being attracted to my amazingness; but sadly, I cannot romance her at this time."

He tried to poke his sword point into Leo's chest, but Isa didn't move. She held her hand in front of the sword point just as a rainbow barrier appeared between her and Zethes. He jumped back, not expecting anything to happen. The girl moved her head so she could speak, "Now, try that again. Leo's just a son of Hephaestus, nothing harmful about him."

"Right," Jason said, "Isa is the daughter of Iris, Piper here is a daughter of Aphrodite. I'm the son of Zeus. We're on a peaceful. . ." Jason's voice faltered, because both Boreads had suddenly turned on him. Isa dropped her hand and the barrier disappeared.

"What did you say?" Zethes demanded. "You are the son of Zeus?"

"Um. . . yeah," Jason said. "That's a good thing, right? My name is Jason."

Cal looked so surprised, he almost dropped his sword. "Can't be Jason," he said. "Doesn't look the same."

Zethes stepped forward and squinted at Jason's face. "No, he is not our Jason. Our Jason was more stylish. Not as much as me ─ but stylish. Besides, our Jason died millennia ago."

"Wait," Jason said. "Your Jason. . . you mean the original Jason? The Golden Fleece guy?"

"Of course," Zethes said. "We were his crewmates aboard his ship, the Argo, in the old times, when we were mortal demigods. Then we accepted immortality to serve our father, so I could look this good for all time, and my silly brother could enjoy pizza and hockey."

"Hockey!" Cal agreed.

"But Jason ─ our Jason ─ he died a mortal death," Zethes said. "You can't be him."

"I'm not," Jason agreed.

"So, destroy?" Cal asked. 

"Okay, you really need to stop with that destroying thing." Isa said.