𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧. 𝐹𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑠
𝚆𝙸𝚃𝙷 𝚃𝚆𝙾 cages in his claws plus four people on his back, Lorna was worried that Festus was over working itself. Even metal dragons had limits.
"We're going to have to put down soon," Leo warned his friends. "Couple more hours, maybe, to make sure Medea's not following us. I don't think Festus can fly much longer than that."
"Yeah," Piper agreed. "Coach Hedge probably wants to get out of his canary cage, too."
"Why are we going to the Bay Area if it's dangerous for demigods?" Leo asked.
"Piper's dad," Lorna put in. "Something's happened to your dad, right? He got lured into some kind of trap."
Piper let out a shaky breath. "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."
Leo grunted. "So how do we find Aeolus?"
Jason leaned forward. "You mean you don't see it?"
He pointed ahead of them, but Lorna didn't see anything except clouds and the lights of a few towns glowing in the dusk.
"The sky? I've been seeing the sky so much, I'm not even scared of heights anymore." Lorna said.
"That's a dumb thing to be scared of," Jason said.
"It's a real fear!" Lorna defended herself. "Especially if the Lord of the Sky hates you."
"Why does Zeus hate you?" Piper asked.
Lorna rolled her eyes. "I'm too great for him. He's jealous."
"Maybe he's helping us," Jason said. "Do you guys not see it? That ... whatever it is, in the air."
"Could you be any more specific?" Lorna asked.
"It's like a vapor trail," Jason said. "Except it's glowing. Really faint, but it's definitely there."
Lorna squinted, only to see nothing. "Are you schizophrenic?"
"Yes," Jason played along. "I've been imagining this quest the whole time. You guys are just a fragment of my imagination."
"And why have you only decided to tell us about the trail now?" Piper asked.
"We've been following it since Chicago, so I figured you saw it." Jason said.
Leo shook his head. "Maybe Festus can sense it. You think Aeolus made it?"
"Well, it's a magic trail in the wind," Jason said. "Aeolus is the wind god. I think he knows we've got prisoners for him. He's telling us where to fly."
"Or it's another trap," Lorna said shakily.
They continued flying for a while, Jason directing them.
𝙵𝙾𝚁 𝚃𝙷𝙴 second time in the quest, the four of them were falling. They spiraled through the dark in a free fall, still on the dragon's back, but Festus's hide was cold. His ruby eyes were dim.
"Not again!" Leo yelled. "You can't fall again!"
Leo managed to pull open the panel on the dragon's neck. He toggled the switches. He tugged the wires.
Lorna saw the lights of a city below them- just flashes in the dark as they plummeted in circles. They had only seconds before they crashed.
"Jason!" Leo screamed. "Take Piper and Lorna and fly out of here!"
"What?"
"We need to lighten the load! I might be able to reboot Festus, but he's carrying too much weight!"
"What about you?" Piper cried. "If you can't reboot him- "
"I'll be fine," Leo yelled. "Just follow me to the ground. Go!"
Jason grabbed Lorna around the waist and Piper hooked onto Lorna. They unbuckled their harnesses, and in a flash they were gone- shooting into the air.
"There!" Lorna pointed to a big river. "I can cushion our fall!"
Jason nodded and strained to bring them there. When they were hovering over the river, Jason dropped them. Lorna managed to summon for a wave and it brought them to the bank.
In a distance, there was a big explosion followed by lasers.
"Leo!" Piper exclaimed and ran towards the explosion. Jason and Lorna followed her.
There was white mansion with a huge snowy lawn inside a tall brick perimeter fence which Jason had to fly them in.
They found Leo lying in the snow, covered in mud and grease.
He woke up and spat a clump of frozen grass out of his mouth. "Where- "
"Lie still." Piper had tears in her eyes. "You rolled pretty hard when- when Festus- "
"Where is he?" Leo sat up.
"Seriously, Leo," Jason said. "You could be hurt. You shouldn't-"
Leo pushed himself to his feet. Then he saw the wreckage.
Festus must have dropped the big canary cages as he came over the fence, because they'd rolled in different directions and landed on their sides, perfectly undamaged.
Festus hadn't been so lucky. The dragon had disintegrated. His limbs were scattered across the lawn. His tail hung on the fence. The main section of his body had plowed a trench twenty feet wide and fifty feet long across the mansion's yard before breaking apart. What remained of his hide was a charred, smoking pile of scraps. Only his neck and head were somewhat intact, resting across a row of frozen rosebushes like a pillow.
"No," Leo sobbed. He ran to the dragon's head and stroked its snout.
"You can't go," Leo pleaded. "You're the best thing I ever fixed."
The dragon's head whirred its gears, as if it were purring. Jason, Piper and Lorna stood next to him, but Leo kept his eyes fixed on the dragon.
"It's not fair," he said.
The dragon clicked. Long creak. Two short clicks. Creak. Creak. Almost like a pattern. He was using Morse code.
Leo listened.
"Yeah," Leo said. "I understand. I will. I promise."
The dragon's eyes went dark. Festus was gone. Leo cried. Lorna and Piper stood on either side, patting his shoulders, saying comforting things.
Finally Jason said, "I'm so sorry, man. What did you promise Festus?"
Leo sniffled. He opened the dragon's head pane.
"Something my dad told me," Leo said. "Everything can be reused."
"Your dad talked to you?" Jason asked. "When was this?"
Leo didn't answer. He worked at the dragon's neck hinges until the head was detached. Leo managed to hold it in his arms. He looked up at the starry sky and said, "Take him back to the bunker, Dad. Please, until I can reuse him. I've never asked you for anything. "
The wind picked up, and the dragon's head floated out of Leo's arms like it weighed nothing. It flew into the sky and disappeared.
Lorna looked at him in amazement. "He answered you?"
"I had a dream," Leo managed. "Tell you later."
Lorna looked around. The large white mansion glowed in the center of the grounds. Tall brick walls with lights and security cameras surrounded the perimeter.
"Where are we?" he asked. "I mean, what city?"
"Omaha, Nebraska," Piper said. "I saw a billboard as we flew in. But I don't know what this mansion is. We came in right behind you, but as you were landing, Leo, I swear it looked like- I don't know-"
"Lasers," Leo said.
He picked up a piece of dragon wreckage and threw it toward the top of the fence. Immediately a turret popped up from the brick wall and a beam of pure heat incinerated the bronze plating to ashes.
Jason whistled. "Some defense system. How are we even alive?"
"Festus," Leo said miserably. "He took the fire. The lasers sliced him to bits as he came in so they didn't focus on you. I led him into a death trap."
"You couldn't have known," Piper said. "He saved our lives again."
"But what now?" Jason said. "The main gates are locked, and I'm guessing I can't fly us out of here without getting shot down."
Leo looked up the walkway at the big white mansion. "Since we can't go out, we'll have to go in."