heavy bones [jason grace]

12. festus breaks the glass ceiling

Shards of multicolor glass rain down on us, but I don't mind. Festus drops into the department store. I jump off of the sun dragon just in time for Festus to take each dragon in one of his claws. 

"That's my boy!" Leo cheers. Festus throws the sun dragons back into the holes they crept out of. Leo races to press the marble tile on the fountain and the sundials close once more. The dragons bang into them, trying to break out, but they're successfully trapped. The three of us climb up on Festus. He flaps his wings, snatches up the cages, and begins to rise. The place is burning down and Piper is still on the second floor.

Well, she is until she jumps over the gold railing.

Leo, Jason, and I just manage to catch her. We pull her up onto Festus as he flies through the hole in the ceiling he created. By the time the department store explodes, we're already miles away.

Leo steers us southwest, glancing over his shoulder every six seconds. It isn't until the sun starts to set and the suburbs of Chicago below us are replaced by fields that he visibly relaxes.

"Good job Festus," he says, patting the dragon affectionately. "You did awesome." Festus shudders and makes some concerning noises.

"I'll give you a tune-up next time we land," Leo promises. "You've earned some motor oil and Tabasco sauce."

Piper pats his shoulder. "Leo. You feeling okay?"

"Yeah...not bad for a brainwashed zombie." He keeps his face forward, but I can tell he's flushed. "Thanks for saving us back there. If you guys hadn't done something—"

"Don't worry about it," Piper assures him. 

There's an awkward pause. I grin. "Hey, guys. Festus broke the glass ceiling. He's a feminist icon now." It's a really stupid joke and yet Piper howls with laughter. It takes a minute or two, but Leo and Jason join in. It feels good to see them back to their normal selves.

When the laughter dies down, Leo warns us, "We're going to have to put down soon. Couple more hours, maybe, to make sure Medea's not following us. I don't think Festus can fly much longer than that."

"I don't think we have to worry about Medea," I chime in. "I'm pretty sure it's a 'ding, dong, the witch is dead' situation."

"Yeah," Piper agrees. "Coach Hedge probably wants to get out of his canary cage, too. Question is — where are we going?"

Leo shrugs. "The Bay Area. Didn't Medea say something about Oakland?"

Oh, right. That. Piper goes silent. I don't want to press her on it, but holy shit. I mean, that's definitely something we need to talk about.

"Piper's dad," Jason starts to say. "Something's happened to your dad, right? He got lured into some kind of trap."

Piper's breathing is shaky. "Look, Medea said you would both die in the Bay Area. And besides...even if we went there, the Bay Area is huge! First we need to find Aeolus and drop off the storm spirits. Boreas said Aeolus was the only one who could tell us exactly where to go."

"So, how do we find Aeolus?" Leo asks.

Jason leans forward, squinting. "You mean you don't see it?" He points ahead of us, but there's next to nothing there.

"What?" Leo presses.

"That...whatever it is," Jason says. "In the air." Leo looks back. He, Piper, and I share confused looks. None of us are seeing what Jason's seeing. I mouth, 'Powers?' and accompany it with a shrug. Piper and Leo nod slightly in agreement. It's less worrying to think Jason can see whatever he's seeing because of his powers rather than because he's losing his mind.