“But it never had wings. Where did you find them?”
Leo hesitated, and Piper could tell he was hiding something.
“In … the woods,” he said. “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.
“But how did you survive … ?” Nyssa was still staring at the creature in awe. “I mean, the fire breath …”
“I’m 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. “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. “You ready, partner?”
Piper looked at the bronze dragon wings shining agai
nst the sky, and those talons that could’ve shredded her to pieces.
“You bet,” she said.
Flying on the dragon was the most amazing experience ever, Piper thought.
Up high, the air was freezing cold; but the dragon’s metal hide generated so much heat, it was like they were flying in a protective bubble. Talk about seat warmers! And the grooves in the dragon’s back were designed like high-tech saddles, so they weren’t uncomfortable at all. Leo showed them how to hook their feet in the chinks of the armor, like in stirrups, and use the leather safety harnesses cleverly concealed under the exterior plating. They sat single file: Leo in front, then Piper, then Jason, and Piper was very aware of Jason right behind her. She wished he would hold on to her, maybe wrap his arms around her waist; but sadly, he didn’t.
Leo used the reins to steer the dragon into the sky like he’d been doing it all his life. The metal wings worked perfectly, and soon the coast of Long Island was just a hazy line behind them. They shot over Connecticut and climbed into the gray winter clouds.
Leo grinned back at them. “Cool, right?”
“What if we get spotted?” Piper asked.
“The Mist,” Jason said. “It keeps mortals from seeing magic things. If they spot us, they’ll probably mistake us for a small plane or something. ”
Piper glanced over her shoulder. “You sure about that?”
“No,” he admitted. Then Piper saw he was clutching a photo in his hand—a picture of a girl with dark hair.
She gave Jason a quizzical look, but he blushed and put the photo in his pocket. “We’re making good time. Probably get there by tonight. ”
Piper wondered who the girl in the picture was, but she didn’t want to ask; and if Jason didn’t volunteer the information, that wasn’t a good sign. Had he remembered something about his life before? Was that a photo of his real girlfriend?
Stop it, she thought. You’ll just torture yourself.
She asked a safer question. “Where are we heading?”
“To find the god of the North Wind,” Jason said. “And chase some storm spirits. ”
LEO WAS TOTALLY BUZZING.
The expression on everyone’s faces when he flew the dragon into camp? Priceless! He thought his cabinmates were going to bust a lug nut.
Festus had been awesome too. He hadn’t blowtorched a single cabin or eaten any satyrs, even if he did dribble a little oil from his ear. Okay, a lot of oil. Leo could work on that later.
So maybe Leo didn’t seize the chance to tell everybody about Bunker 9 or the flying boat design. He needed some time to think about all that. He could tell them when he came back.
If I come back, part of him thought.
Nah, he’d come back. He’d scored a sweet magic tool belt from the bunker, plus a lot of cool supplies now safely stowed in his backpack. Besides, he had a fire-breathing, only slightly leaky dragon on his side. What could go wrong?
Well, the control disk could bust, the bad part of him suggested. Festus could eat you.