𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐒𝐎𝐔𝐋. ( jason grace )

nine.

GENEVIEVE

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The next morning, Genevieve was still pretty shaken up. She sat on her bed, with both her and Kingston's backpacks, replaying her nightmare. The occupants of her cabin had already woken up and wished her luck on her quest before heading out to breakfast. Genevieve should've done the same but she couldn't eat.

She ran her fingers gently over the bandage she had wrapped messily across her foot. Genevieve never really understood how her father was Apollo. Even though she understood... how, she was never able to understand why she couldn't do what her siblings could. Like healing others or cursing them.

In fact the only thing that Genevieve was good at when it came to her cabin, was showing exactly what a bad example of an Apollo kid would be. Genevieve sat on her bed for approximately twenty minutes when she heard it.

It sounded like... a dragon?

She swung her backpack onto her back and ran out of her cabin. As she slammed the door shut, she stopped dead in her tracks. The sight before her was definitely a magnificent one.

"Leo!" She heard Piper yell from outside the Aphrodite cabin.

Sure enough, there he was, perched atop a giant bronze death machine, grinning like a lunatic. Even before he landed, the camp alarm went up. A conch horn blew. All the satyrs started screaming, "Don't kill me!" Half the camp ran outside in a mixture of pajamas and armor. The dragon set down right in the middle of the green, and Leo yelled, "It's cool! Don't shoot!"

Hesitantly, the archers lowered their bows. The warriors backed away, keeping their spears and swords ready. They made a loose wide ring around the metal monster. Other demigods hid behind their cabin doors or peeped out the windows. Nobody seemed anxious to get close.

She noticed her brother on the ground, leaning against the bronze beast as though it wasn't a fire-breathing dragon who could disintegrate him in seconds. He grinned wildly at her and waved his arms around as though he were a madman.

And by the looks of it, he was.

The dragon was huge. It glistened in the morning sun like a living penny sculpture —different shades of copper and bronze—a sixty-foot-long serpent with steel talons and drill-bit teeth and glowing ruby eyes. It had bat-shaped wings twice its length that unfurled like metallic sails, making a sound like coins cascading out of a slot machine every time they flapped.

"Woah." Genevieve breathed out.

The dragon reared its head and shot a column of fire into the sky. Campers scrambled away and hefted their weapons, but Leo slid calmly off the dragon's back. He held up his hands like he was surrendering, except he still had that crazy grin on his face.

"People of Earth, I come in peace!" he shouted. He looked like he'd been rolling around in the campfire. His army coat and his face were smeared with soot. His hands were grease-stained, and he wore a new tool belt around his waist. His eyes were bloodshot. His curly hair was so oily it stuck up in porcupine quills, and he smelled strangely of Tabasco sauce. But he looked absolutely delighted. "Festus is just saying hello!"

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

"Shove off, Wakefield!" Kingston yelled, earning a growl from the Ares boy.

"What did you just say to m—"

"Stand down!" someone ordered catching everyone's attention.

To Genevieve's surprise, it was Jason. He pushed through the crowd, flanked by Annabeth and that girl from the Hephaestus cabin, Nyssa.

Jason gazed up at the dragon and shook his head in amazement. "Leo, Kingston, 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!"

"Isn't that right, Festie." Kingston cooed rubbing the dragon's chin as it puffed out a cloud of smoke in agreement.

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

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

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

Leo hesitated, and Genevieve could tell he was hiding something.

"In... the woods," Kingston cut in. "Leo 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, sharing an amused look with Kingston.

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

"We're 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 high-fiving Kingston energetically. "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. She was the only one who didn't look nervous at all. Her expression was sad and wistful, like this reminded her of better times. "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. Then he smiled at Piper. "Are you ready, partner?"

"You bet," she said.

Genevieve sighed and walked closer towards the group. Kingston beamed at her and she gave him an exhausted glance.

"Alright, Gennie?" Kingston asked, embracing her and leaving stains of oil and— tabasco sauce?— all over her clothes.

She fixated her eyes on the bronze beauty stood in front of her and smiled softly. "Yup." She muttered in awe."Just peachy."

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