Daughter of Pluto | Wattys2017

XVI

The tool belt obliged. I couldn't help smiling as I pulled out the supplies. The belt's pockets did have limits. They wouldn't give him anything magic, like Jason's and Aimee's swords, or anything huge, like a chain saw. I'd tried asking for both. And if I asked for too many things at once, the belt needed a cooldown time before it could work again. The more complicated the request, the longer the cooldown. But anything small and simple like you might find around a workshop—all I had to do was ask.

I began cleaning off the control disk. While I worked, snow collected on the cooling dragon. I had to stop from time to time to summon fire and melt it away, but mostly I went into autopilot mode, my hands working by themselves as my thoughts wandered.I had completely forgotten about Aimee,I had forgotten to not show her my powers.

"Woah,so that's it,"Aimee whispered as she watched me summon fire.But I didn't hear her,I was too tuned out.

I couldn't believe how stupid he'd acted back at Boreas's palace. I should've figured a family of winter gods would hate me on sight. Son of the fire god flying a fire-breathing dragon into an ice penthouse—yeah, maybe not the best move. Still, I hated feeling like a reject. Jason, Aimee, and Piper got to visit the throne room. I got to wait in the lobby with Cal, the demigod of hockey and major head injuries.

Fire is bad, Cal had told me.

That pretty much summed it up. I knew I couldn't keep the truth from my friends much longer. Ever since Camp Half-Blood, one line of that Great Prophecy kept coming back to me: To storm or fire the world must fall.

And I was the fire guy, the first one since 1666 when London had burned down. If I told my friends what I could really do—Hey, guess what, guys? I might destroy the world!—why would anyone welcome me back at camp? I would have to go on the run again. Even though I knew that drill, the idea depressed me.I didn't want to leave Aimee behind.

Then there was Khione. Dang, that girl was fine. I knew I'd acted like a total fool, but I couldn't help myself. I'd had my clothes cleaned with the one-hour valet service —which had been totally sweet, by the way. I'd combed my hair—never an easy job—and even discovered the tool bag could make breath mints, all in hopes that I could get close to her. Naturally, no such luck.

And on top of that,I knew that I had hurt Aimee.

Getting frozen out—story of my life—by my relatives, foster homes, you name it. Even at Wilderness School, I had spent the last few weeks feeling like a third wheel as Jason and Piper, my only friends, became a couple. I was happy for them and all, but still it made me feel like they didn't need me anymore.Well that was until I had finally told Aimee about the crush I had on her.

When I'd found out that everything he had gone through with Jason and Aimee at school had been an illusion—a kind of a memory burp—I had been secretly excited. It was a chance for a reset. Now Jason and Piper were heading toward being a couple again—that was obvious from the way they'd acted in the warehouse just now, like they wanted to talk in private without me around. Aimee seemed even more distant than she had been before Quebec,she was talking to me but she hesitated and was cold whenever she did. What had I expected? I'd wind up the odd man out again. Khione had just given me the cold shoulder a little quicker than most.

"Enough, Valdez," Aimee scolded me from afar as if she had been reading my mind. "Nobody's going to play any violins for you just because you think that you're not important. Fix the damn dragon."

I nodded and got so involved with my work, I wasn't sure how much time had passed before I heard the voice.

You're wrong, Leo, it said.

I fumbled my brush and dropped it into the dragon's head. I stood pushing Aimee behind me, but I couldn't see who'd spoken. Then we looked at the ground. Snow and chemical sludge from the toilets, even the asphalt itself was shifting like it was turning to liquid. A ten-foot-wide area formed eyes, a nose, and a mouth—the giant face of a sleeping woman.

She didn't exactly speak. Her lips didn't move. But both me and Aimee could hear her voice in our heads, as if the vibrations were coming through the ground, straight into our feet and resonating up our skeletons.

They need you desperately, she said. In some ways, you are the most important of the seven—like the control disk in the dragon's brain. Without you, the power of the others means nothing. They will never reach me, never stop me. And I will fully wake.

"You." I was shaking so badly I wasn't sure I'd spoken aloud. He hadn't heard that voice since he was eight, but it was her: the earthen woman from the machine shop. "You killed my mom."

Aimee clinged to my arm,I felt her shaking.She knew this woman too,the weird Earth lady.

The face shifted. The mouth formed a sleepy smile like it was having a pleasant dream. Ah, but Leo. I am your mother too—the First Mother. Do not oppose me. Walk away now. Let my son Porphyrion rise and become king, and I will ease your burdens. You will tread lightly on the earth.

I grabbed the nearest thing I could find—a Porta-Potty seat—and threw it at the face. "Leave us alone!"

The toilet seat sank into the liquid earth. Snow and sludge rippled, and the face dissolved.I stared at the ground, waiting for the face to reappear. But it didn't. I wanted to think I'd imagined it.Then from the direction of the factory, I heard a crash—like two dump trucks slamming together. Metal crumpled and groaned, and the noise echoed across the yard.

 Instantly I knew that Jason and Piper were in trouble.Walk away now, the voice had urged. I looked at Aimee and saw that she had her sword ready.

"Not likely," I growled. "Gimme the biggest hammer you got."I reached into my tool belt and pulled out a three-pound club hammer with a double-faced head the size of a baked potato.

Then I grabbing Aimee's sword free hand and ran toward the warehouse.