(Leo's POV)
I didn't stick around after Piper turned beautiful. Yeah sure, it was amazing–omg she's wearing makeup–. But I had other issues to attend to. I volunteered myself for a quest my best friend was going on. Madi was forced to do this quest. I could've let Nyssa go instead, but Madi, ugh! I needed to go with her! One line of Jason's prophecy kept coming back to me.
Fire and Water shall relive the past/their true feelings revealed at last. I really hope that didn't mean what I think it meant.
"Leo?" a voice called. The fire in my palm continued to dance. The voice belonged to one girl, Madison.
"Leo!?" she called again. I remained silent. But I gave up.
"Over here!" Big mistake. I forgot to put my fire out, and Madi came and stared.
"You're holding fire!" she gasped. I nodded,
"Please don't freak..." Tears formed in our eyes, she came closer and I put my fire out. She put her cold hands on my face and stared at me as if I was a stranger to her.
"Why didn't you tell me chico?" she was clearly crying now.
"I don't know."
"Yes you do." I looked at her, she's about three inches shorter than me.
"I'm so so so sorry mi princesa," I sobbed holding her hands.
"For what?"
"The fires, and lying."
"Leo? The fire from the mechanic shop wasn't your fault. It was just a faulty machine, ok?"
I shook my head, "It was me. I almost killed you. I killed our moms. I could never live with myself again after that."
"Chico! Stop. Please. Okay, you're bringing back my memories that I want to forget." We walked for a bit looking for the dragon. Madi didn't know that.
"What memories?" I finally asked after what seemed like hours.
"I was adopted when I was ten. My family seemed nice, but hated me. They locked me in the closet under the stairs, it had no lights, it had spiders, and was very very small." She was crying, "They punished me for existing amigo. The only one nice to me was Hailey, their real daughter; we talked for hours even though her parents hated it."
"How?"
"M-morse code."
"You know morse code?"
"Yes, remember? Your mama taught me. I taught Hailey. But the closet is how I got my–"
"Claustrophobia?"
She nodded; I hugged her close.
"What are you looking for? The dragon?"
I stopped and nodded. She knew me too well. She giggled, "Of course you are!" and I blushed. I saw one of the traps that Nyssa mentioned.
In the center of the trap was tabasco sauce and motor oil, the fumes being spread out by a fan. It was pressure sensitive so that when the dragon stepped on it. BAM! One present wrapped dragon. I edged closer to the trap, I stepped on the pressure plate.
"Leo!" Madi called out in protest.
"I'm fine!" I yelled back. Why did she care about me this much? The trap did nothing. I turned around and saw two glowing red eyes, like headlights, behind Madi staring at my fire, "Madi, come to me very slowly." I directed.
"What? Why?"
"Just don't–" Madi turned around and screamed, "Scream." I finished. She dove out of the way and the dragon charged forward.
"You don't have wings." I observed. Madi hit her forehead with her palm.
"LEO!" She screamed at me, "NOT THE TIME!!"
"I mean, you're cool and all. But I would've made you with wings." The dragon just stared at me like, why aren't you running in terror? It stepped forward, "NO!" Madi yelled.
"It's a trap bronze brain. They're trying to catch you." I said. But the dragon opened its mouth and blew a wall of fire at me. It was more than I ever had endured before!
"Leo! No..." I heard Madi cry, "Please! NO!!" she mumbled something. When the fire stopped I was still there, unharmed and my clothes were unharmed as well. Which I admit, is amazing because hey! I love my army jacket! And losing my pants in front of my crush would be beyond embarrassing.
"Leo? How are you?" She was blushing and crying and stuttering. I looked at her and mouthed, "Tell you later." Then turned my attention back to the dragon.
"You can't burn me." I simply stated to the creature. It cocked its head to the side. It advanced closer to me and the trap, "Stay boy. Don't come any closer!" But the dragon did not listen. It came forward and activated the trap. Which I was still standing in, so, I got caught in it partly and got covered in motor oil and tabasco sauce.
"Oh my gods!" Madi ran over next to me. So I smeared some grease on her face playfully. But got distracted in her eyes, they were a beautiful sea green. I could stare at them for hours on end. Our gazing session was rudely interrupted by the dragon who was blowing fire everywhere. I shielded Madi from the flames.
"Okay bud. You can't burn me. I'm friendly, my friend here is friendly too, but she's not fire-proof. Now stay still, or else the others will come down here with the metal cutters and acid. Is that what you want?" I told the dragon. Madi backed up a few paces and I got to work on fixing the dragon. I moved onto the head.
"What's wrong?" Madi asked when she saw my face.
"The control disk is corroded. That's why he's so confused." I explained, "I'm going to have to take this out and clean it. I can't replace it because I don't know how to build one, or fix this one." I began cleaning the disk. Madi came over and helped. She sprinkled some water from a canteen Annabeth gave her.
"You can't fix every problem alone chico." She smiled. I went to wipe off the grease from earlier but she handed me the disk before I could try.
"Thanks. I'll keep that in mind." I replaced the disk into his brain. I hopped down and saw my hands. Madi looked at hers too. She giggled.
"Clean hands, dirty equipment," I mumbled.
"What?" Madi asked me.
"Just something my mom used to say."
"Oh. I know she was a wonderful woman."
"She was." my voice cracked, and Madi hugged me. Did I mention she's about two-three inches shorter than me? Not by a lot, but enough that she has to look slightly upwards to make eye contact.
"What should we name your dragon?" She changed the subject.
"I'm gonna call him, Festus!" I declared. She giggled. Even if she's having an awful day, I manage to make her smile. Festus bumped me onto his back, and I offered my hand to Madi. She took it and got on with me. We bounded off deeper into the woods until we came to a cliff. I hopped off, then helped Madi down.
"Where are we?" She asked aloud.
"No idea. Where are we, Festus?" Festus made creaking sounds and motioned for the edge of the cliff. I felt around and ignited my fire. A door came to life. Above it read, "Bunker Nine."
"What's Bunker Nine?" Madi and I asked in unison. I walked in first, followed by Madi, who was followed by Festus who seemed happy to be home. If this was his home. Madi yawned.
"Tired princesa?" I asked her. She nodded.
"A little,"
"Rest. I'll keep–" I stopped talking as my eyes landed on a blueprint. It looked exactly like my five year old drawing of a boat and a dragon's head.
"What is it?" Madi came over.
"That head looks like Festus. Creepy huh?" I pointed out. She grabbed my hand and looked at me.
"Let's just hope it's not Festus okay? And for now... this dragon needs some wings." She motioned to the ceiling where two bronze wings were hanging. I told her to rest and gave her my coat as a blanket. She fell asleep right away. While I worked I kept glancing at her. She was so pretty, her hair a mess, grease on her face, the way her skin glowed in the light Bunker Nine provided, and her smile. Her smile had me pegged. I loved her laugh. I found myself thinking about Madi all night until dawn approached and I had to wake her. I put my hand on her shoulder and rubbed it gently,
"Hey Princess? Time to show everyone Festus? Come on get up!"
"What?" she saw me and jolted up, "Oh hey Leo! I uhm wasn't uh–" she was blushing crazily.
"No matter." I pulled her onto Festus and we took off to show camp that I could go on the quest!
"Wait Leo!!!" Madi hugged my waist tightly and buried her face into my back.
"Oops– sorry Madi!" I said. As we descended onto the field by the cabins Madi looked around and yelled at the top of her lungs,
"HOLD YOUR FIRE WE COME IN PEACE!!" She rarely yells like that. The first time I ever heard her like that was last night at the campfire when she stood up for Nyssa and up to Drew.
"Leo?" Piper yelled. I was most definitely grinning like a lunatic. I mean who could blame me? I was sitting on a freaking flying metal dragon, with my crush/best friend. Can life get any better? The archers lowered their bows and everybody seemed anxious to get near us. Madi and I hopped down. She seemed relieved to be on the ground again.
"Stand down!" Jason made his way through the crowd.
(Jason's POV)
"Stand down!" I shouted to the fighters. Leo and Madi were standing next to a giant bronze dragon. I was flanked by Annabeth and Nyssa from the Hephaestus cabin. Nyssa looked at Leo, mortified.
"What did you do Leo?" I asked him, astonished.
"Found you a ride!" Leo answered. Madi rubbed the dragon's side and he creaked like it was fun.
"Now you've got one flying A-class bronze dragon! Festus can take us anywhere!" Madi smiled at Festus.
"It has wings." Nyssa stated the obvious, "It never had wings before." Leo and Madi glanced at each other.
"Oh. I found them in the woods!" Leo explained.
"He repaired the circuits too." Madi said.
"Mostly," Leo added, "So no more problems!"
"Mostly?" Nyssa repeated. To prove some sort of point a bunch of grease and oil dumped on Leo and he shrugged. Madi laughed.
"Oh that's funny?" Leo asked playfully, and with that he smeared some on Madi's face, "How's that?" he grinned.
"How did you two survive? The claws, the fire breath?" Nyssa asked the friends. They looked at each other again.
"I'm quick." Leo said.
"And lucky!" Madi added.
"Now am I on this quest or what?!" Leo asked enthusiastically.
"You named him Festus?" I asked, "You do know that Festus means Happy in Latin right? You want us to save the world on Happy the Dragon?"
Festus shuddered and Madi gave us all a big thumbs up, "That's a yes bro!"
"Now I suggest we get going. All these weapons are making Festus nervous." Leo hopped back onto Festus and helped Madi up next. She put her arms around Leo's waist.
"But we have nothing planned!" I tried to protest but Annabeth stood up. She was the only one who wasn't fazed by Festus.
"Go." She said, "This is a good omen. And you should never keep a nervous dragon waiting." In fact. Annabeth smiled. Walked over to Madi and tossed her a bag of supplies. Then went off to look for her missing boyfriend. I looked to Piper and grinned,
"You ready Partner?"
"You bet!" She replied.
"Let's go love-birds!" Madi taunted.
"Look who's talking!" Piper said while climbing on Festus. Leo and Madi both blushed, we strapped ourselves onto the back of the bronze dragon and took off. Madi didn't scream once.
(Piper POV)
They soared so high that Piper was shocked to see that Madi hadn't screamed once. Instead she looked cool, calm, and confident. Madi was always so quiet and shy. Leo was really the only person who could make her laugh, Madi used to be sensitive and scared of heights. But right now she seems fine. She even had fallen asleep on Leo's back, still gripping his shirt and waist.
"Cool right?" Leo asked me.
"Won't people spot us?" I asked.
"The mist." Jason said, "It shields mortal eyes from magical things. If they do see us, they may just see us as a small plane or something."
"Are you sure about that?" Piper looked back to Jason, her hand on Madi's shoulder so her bestie wouldn't fall off.
"No." He admitted, "We're making good time. We should be there by tonight." He tucked a photo of a black haired girl into his pocket.
I wanted to know who the girl was. But stopped myself, Jason would tell me if he wanted to, and if he remembered. I asked the safer question, "Where are we going?"
"To see Boreas," Jason answered, "The god of the Northwind. And chase some storm spirits."
(Leo's POV)
I was buzzing. Everyone's faces when he and Madi came in on Festus? PRICELESS! Madi's sleeping on my back and I refuse to look at Piper. I can't let Piper know I like Madi! That's embarrassing. Madi told me not to tell anyone about her claustrophobia. And I said I wouldn't unless absolutely necessary.
I couldn't help but think about that blueprint of the boat in Bunker Nine; I needed to consider what it meant. He would tell his cabin mates when he came back.
If he came back, a small voice thought. No, I shook my head. I would come back. And so would Madi. Then when this is all done, I'll confess! That's what is gonna happen. I got my best friends, an amazing girl by my side, and one awesome flying dragon! What could go wrong? The control disk could bust. Madi won't like you. You'll fail. Festus could eat you. A voice told me. Nope, not happening. The disk was clean enough, and everyone and everything was fine. Yeah but what if–
"Shut up me." I told myself.
"You okay Leo?" Piper asked. Leo nodded.
"Yeah, I'm just tired, I might be hallucinating." I said. I couldn't see their faces. But I could tell that they wouldn't want a sleepless, hallucinating driver. I laughed, "Just messing with ya! What's the game plan Jason?"
"So first, we find this guy named Boreas and grill him for information–"
"Who's he? The god of boredom?" Madi asked, awake now.
Jason continued. The next step of the plan they had to find storm spirits that attacked them at the grand canyon. Lastly we needed to find who the storm spirits worked for, so we could find Hera, and free her.
"So we're looking for Dylan on purpose? He threw my cru— er – Leo off the grand canyon! He tried to kill us!" Madi protested. Wait? She was about to say something.
"That's about it." Jason finished, "There may be a wolf involved, but I'm pretty sure she's friendly. And she won't eat us ... unless we show weakness."
"Great." Madi rolled her eyes. Jason explained his dream about an abandoned house and stuff.
"But you don't know where this house is?" I asked.
"No." He admitted.
"And there's giants," Piper added, "the giants' revenge"
"Giants? As in plural? As in more than one?" I asked.
"And what about that other line? Water and Fire shall relive their past? I don't like that idea." I was fire, she was water. She told me hers vaguely. But Piper and Jason don't know I'm a fire guy.
"So, with our luck, we could have an army of giants to stop from revenging." I said. Madi laughed at my not a word use. (revenging is not a word), "Don't you know anything else from the movie your dad was in?" I asked.
"Your dad's an actor?" Jason asked.
"Man, I keep forgetting about your amnesia. Heh. Forgetting amnesia. Anyway yeah. Her dad's Tristan Mclean." I explained.
"What was he in?" Jason tried.
"It doesn't matter." Piper said quickly, "But there were a lot of giants in Greek mythology. And if I'm thinking of the right ones, well they were bad! Almost impossible to kill. They could throw mountains and stuff."
"Chiron mentioned something about the giants from the first Titan war," Madi recalled, "The last chapter I think. No wonder he didn't tell us everything Jason!"
I whistled, "So, not the time to mention my psycho babysitter?"
"Is that another joke?" Piper asked. I shook my head. I didn't even tell Madi about Hera being Tia Collida. I explained everything about Hera being my babysitter who tried to kill me. I left out a few details.
"WHAT!?" Madi yelled, "THE GODDESS WE'RE SAVING TRIED TO KILL YOU!?"
All I did was nod, "So all I'm wondering is, why are we doing this?"
"She chose us," Jason said, "All four of us. We are the first of the eight to assemble for the Great Prophecy. That quest is something much much bigger than this." I didn't feel any better hearing that. But Madi rubbed my back and I felt a bit better. She looked at me and smiled, I looked at her, her eyes sparkled in the sunlight. She had this calming effect on me.
"Besides," Jason added, "She has my memories. I need them back. But even if we do free her, her rage causes someone to die."
"Not a good trade off." Madi mumbled.
"And if we don't save her. The gods will be thrown into chaos." Piper said. I wasn't looking forward to freeing Tia Collida if it meant death. I had seen her in action, she liked snakes, knives, and putting babies in fires. She must love death. I yawned against my will. But I didn't want to fall asleep; I told Festus to take us North, to Boreas. I just was hoping we wouldn't land in the North Pole.
"Get some sleep Leo. Madi will take the reins." Piper said.
"You won't let me fall off?" I asked the girls. Madi shook her head.
"Trust me Valdez," Piper said, "Beautiful people never lie." And with that I layed on Festus' neck, feeling the warmth and vibrations/humming. And fell asleep.