The Winds Of Heaven (Annabeth Chase x Male Reader)

6. Festus The Automaton Dragon

Ethan had seen a lot of pretty girls, and quite a few of them truly beautiful, but now. . . . Wow!

Piper was gorgeous with her makeup. The entire camp made a circle around her, transfixed. No one questioned whether Piper should be the one to go on the quest anymore.

Then, as he looked around, Ethan realized something: Leo was missing. He looked around for him and . . . there! Leo was walking briskly toward the woods, looking determined.

Curious, Ethan ducked out of the amphitheater—it wasn't hard, with Piper attracting the attention of all the boarders—and dashed after Leo.

Ethan caught up with Leo as he was at the edge of the woods.

"Hey," he said. "Where are you going?"

Leo jumped, startled. "Are you nuts? I almost had a heart attack!"

"Maybe I am. So, where are you going?"

"I can't tell you."

"You know I'm going to follow you either way, right?"

"I guess."

"Then tell me what danger I'm going to face."

Leo hesitated. Eventually he told Ethan what he was planning to do.

Just as he started explaining, Ethan exclaimed, "You want to go get the DRAGON?"

"Shhh!" Leo put his hand on Ethan's mouth. "Yeah. We need transport for the quest, something fast. And a dragon can fly. I'm immune to fire, so it won't be able to harm me."

"You know, the thing has fangs and claws," Ethan said.

"I'll be careful."

"That's what they all say."

"I don't care!" Leo said. "Anyway, now I guess you don't want to come with me. . . ."

"Of course I want to come!" Ethan said, clapping his hands. "I'm a satyr of action."

Leo sighed. "As you want."

They set off into the woods. While Ethan leaped over roots and obstacles, Leo stumbled along. After several minutes, once no one back at the cabins could possibly see them, Leo summoned fire. Flames danced along his fingertips, casting enough light to see.

"Careful with that," Ethan hissed. "I don't want you burning any tree. The nymphs would go crazy."

"Yeah, yeah, I know."

They kept walking, looking for dragon-type clues—giant footprints, trampled trees, swaths of burning forest. Something that big couldn't exactly sneak around, right? But Ethan saw nada. Once he glimpsed a large, furry shape—a wolf—but no dragon.

Then, at the bottom of a clearing, they saw the first trap—a hundred-foot-wide crater ringed with boulders.

In the center of the depression, a metal vat the size of a hot tub had been filled with bubbly dark liquid—Tabasco sauce and motor oil. On a pedestal suspended over the vat, an electric fan rotated in a circle, spreading the fumes across the forest. Could metal dragons smell?

The vat seemed to be unguarded.

Leo pointed at something. "Look."

In the dim light of the stars and Leo's handheld fire, Ethan could see the glint of metal beneath the dirt and leaves—a bronze net lining the entire crater. Once you'd realized it was there, it was easier to look at it. Six large strips of bronze stretched out from the vat like the spokes of a wheel. They would be pressure sensitive, Ethan guessed. As soon as the dragon stepped on one, the net would spring closed, and voilà—one gift-wrapped monster.