{Kiara}
Kiara took the reins from Leo, and he leaned forward on Festus's neck, falling asleep.
"Aren't you tired?" Jason asked.
"No, not really," Kiara replied. She didn't want to meet Jason's eyes, which was easy since she had the excuse of holding the reins.
They flew quietly for a while, the only sounds being Festus flapping his metal wings every now and then, before Jason broke the silence again.
"Do you like Piper?" he asked.
Kiara went rigid. Was she that obvious? Should she tell Jason? What if he thought she was a freak for liking the same gender she was? She regained her composure and said, "You mean, like a friend?"
"No, I mean, like like her," he said. "Like, wanting to be her girlfriend, or something."
Kiara was happy that Jason couldn't see her face, because she was blushing fiercely. "No, why?" she said, trying to sound as calm as she could.
"No reason," Jason said in a tone that made Kiara sure there was a reason behind his question. "Just curious."
They didn't speak after that, just flew in the silence of the night.
They were flying over a snow-covered city when Festus's ruby-colored eyes flickered and went off.
Immediately, they started falling.
Piper had woken up, and so had Leo. Kiara screamed as they fell, more because she was afraid of heights than because they were plummeting to their possible deaths.
"Not again!" Leo yelled. "You can't fall again!" He pulled open the panel on the dragon's neck, toggling the switches and tugging the wires.
"Jason!" he screamed. "Take Piper and Kiara and fly out of here!"
"What?" Jason yelled.
"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!"
"Leo, we can't leave you!" Kiara screamed.
Someone held her from behind. Kiara recognized the tan skin. Piper. Despite the fact that they were falling through the air, she blushed. She unblocked her harness as Jason and Piper did the same, and they flew into the air, leaving Leo alone on Festus, still tugging at the wires on Festus's neck.
Kiara saw Festus open his wings, turning his fall into a steep glide, but they were still falling too fast. If Leo didn' place a land fast... Kiara didn't want to think what would happen.
Then Festus started leaning in the direction of a big mansion by the riverbank. It had a big lawn covered in snow, its perimeter lines with spotlights: a perfect landing place for a bronze dragon.
Then, everything went wrong. As Festus approached the clearing, the spotlights fixed on him and Festus was shredded to pieces, as if the spotlights were actually... lasers.
Piper cried out next to Kiara, and so did she. Leo could be dead. She didn't want to think about the possibility of it. But Festus was definitely gone now. The way the lasers had shredded him to pieces...
Jason's muscles tensed: he couldn't carry Kiara and Piper much longer.
"I... can't... hold... much longer," Jason said in a strained voice.
"The ground is near," Kiara said, trying to reassure him. She had never been good at comforting people. "Just hold on a bit more."
They hit ground hard, and rolled in the snow.
Kiara got the breath knocked out of her, and groaned as she struggled to sit up. "Is everyone okay?"
"Depends," Piper said. She was lying in the snow to Kiara's left. "I'm pretty sure I have bruises all over, but otherwise I think I'm fine."
"Jason, what about you?"
"I need a nap," Jason said. "Like, seriously need a nap. You guys are heavy."
"Where's Leo?" Kiara asked.
She scanned the snow-covered field and saw the wreckage of the bronze dragon. The wreckage of Festus.
She scrambled to her feet and ran towards the debris. She lifted the bronze plaques, searching for Leo. She finally—and thankfully—found him lying on the snow a few feet away from Festus's wreckage, half-covered in grease and mud. He looked unconscious, but he could be—
"Is he alive?" Piper asked. She had crouched next to Kiara and was looking at Leo with tears in her eyes.
Jason checked his friend's pulse. "He's alive."
"Oh, thank gods," Kiara sighed in relief and slumped down on the snow.
Leo's eyes fluttered open and he focused on Jason and Piper who were still looming over their friend. "Where—"
"Lie still." Piper had tears in her eyes. "You rolled pretty hard when—when Festus—"
"Where is he?" Leo slightly leaned to one side, and Kiara made sure he didn't fall.
"Seriously, Leo," Jason said. "You could be hurt. You shouldn't—"
Leo pushed himself to his feet. Then he saw the wreckage. Kiara hadn't checked what had exactly happened when Festus fell, but the dragon 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 rose bushes like a pillow.
"No," Leo sobbed. He ran to the dragon's head and stroked its snout. The dragon's eyes flickered weakly. Oil leaked out of his ear.
"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 and Piper stood next to him, but Leo kept his eyes fixed on the dragon. Kiara stood a couple feet away to give the boy some space.
"It's not fair," he said.
The dragon clicked. Long creak. Two short clicks. Creak. Creak. Almost like a pattern. Like... morse code.
"Yeah," Leo said. "I understand. I will. I promise."
The dragon's eyes went dark. Festus was gone.
Leo cried. He sobbed as Jason and Piper said comforting things to him and patted his shoulder. Kiara wasn't good at that kind of stuff. She just stood there, watching, not knowing what to say or do.
Finally Jason said, "I'm so sorry, man. What did you promise Festus?"
Leo sniffled. He opened the dragon's head panel, just to be sure, but as far as Kiara could tell, the control disk was cracked and burned beyond repair. "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. It probably weighed about a hundred pounds, but 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.
Piper looked at him in amazement. "He answered you?"
"I had a dream," Leo managed. "Tell you later."
Kiara couldn't help but notice how broken he looked, yet he tried to keep himself together for gods-know-what's sake.
He looked around, making Kiara do the same. The large white mansion glowed in the center of the grounds. Tall brick walls with lights and security cameras surrounded the perimeter. Kiara guessed those walls were defended as well.
"Where are we?" Leo 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."
Kiara would've died several times on the way to the front door if not for Leo.
First it was the motion-activated trapdoor on the sidewalk, then the lasers on the steps, then the nerve gas dispenser on the porch railing, the pressure-sensitive poison spikes in the welcome mat, and of course the exploding doorbell.
Leo deactivated all of them. It was like he could smell the traps, and he picked just the right tool out of his belt to disable them.
"You're amazing, man," Jason said.
Leo scowled as he examined the front door lock. "Yeah, amazing," he said. "Can't fix a dragon right, but I'm amazing."
Kiara turned to him. "Hey, that wasn't your—"
"Front door's already unlocked," Leo announced.
Piper stared at the door in disbelief. "It is? All those traps, and the door's unlocked?"
Leo turned the knob. The door swung open easily. He stepped inside without hesitation.
Kiara followed him inside and grabbed his arm. "Leo, I don't know how to comfort anyone, but I'm really, really sorry about Festus." She saw his chocolate brown eyes shatter.
"It's fine," he said, but Kiara knew it wasn't fine. She didn't push.
"Where's the light switch?" Jason's voice echoed alarmingly through the room.
"Don't see one," Leo said.
"Fire?" Piper suggested.
Leo held out his hand, but nothing happened. "It's not working."
"Your fire is out? Why?" Piper asked.
"Well, if I knew that—"
"Okay, okay," she said. "What do we do—explore?"
Leo shook his head. "After all those traps outside? Bad idea."
"Leo's right," Jason said. "We're not separating again—not like in Detroit."
"Oh, thank you for reminding me of the Cyclopes." Piper's voice quavered. "I needed that."
"It's a few hours until dawn," Kiara guessed. "Too cold to wait outside. Let's bring the cages in and make camp in this room. Wait for daylight; then we can decide what to do."
Nobody offered a better idea, so they rolled in the cages with Coach Hedge and the storm spirits, then settled in. Thankfully, Leo didn't find any poison throw pillows or electric whoopee cushions on the sofas.
Leo didn't seem in the mood to make more tacos. Besides, they had no fire, so they settled for cold rations.
As Kiara ate, she studied the metal statues along the walls. They looked like Greek gods or heroes. Maybe that was a good sign. Or maybe they were used for target practice. On the coffee table sat a tea service and a stack of glossy brochures, but Kiara couldn't make out the words.
The big chair at the other end of the table looked like a throne. None of them tried to sit in it.
The canary cages didn't make the place any less creepy. The venti kept churning in their prison, hissing and spinning, and Kiara got the uncomfortable feeling they were watching Jason. She didn't know why, but it was probably something personal.
As for Coach Hedge, he was still frozen mid-shout, his cudgel raised. Leo was working on the cage, trying to open it with various tools, but the lock seemed to be giving him a hard time. Kiara decided not to sit next to him in case Hedge suddenly unfroze and went into ninja goat mode. She was too tired to deal with a crazy satyr with a tree branch club.
Despite not feeling the need to sleep, she started to nod off. She had a lot on her mind but her body wanted rest. She had spent the whole night reining Festus.
Finally she dozed off.