Chapter 6
Jason jolted awake. He didn’t know what it was that woke him, but he had a moment to realize Piper was leaning back on him asleep. Something that didn’t bother him at all. Another girl flashed in his mind that wasn’t Hari that napped on him for some reason. He felt the wand in his pocket, protected by something.
That’s when he came to realize what had woken him up. Leo panicking at something wrong with their ride. Then just as suddenly Festus jerked sideways before he was dropping. The bronze dragon seemingly launching them away as it was spinning out of control, its wings limp, fire flickering in its mouth like a badly wired lightbulb. Piper woke up to the free fall and started screaming. Jason was attempting to get the winds to cooperate but they weren’t having it. He was being messed with, Jason fought for control as he missed catching Leo.
“Piper, level out! Extend your arms and legs!” Jason yelled needing the few seconds she’d gain by following his directions. After a second of thought she fell spread-eagle like a skydiver, the wind underneath them like a solid block of ice. Jason managed to wrap an arm around Piper’s waist.
Jason barely managed to controlled their fall with the winds, they still lurched up and down as the winds didn’t want to cooperate. He was being blocked meaning he didn’t have the concentration to listen to Piper. He knew he had to catch Leo or he was dead and that wasn’t an option. “Gonna get rough,” Jason warned. “Hold on!”
Piper locked her arms around him, and Jason shot toward the ground. Piper probably screamed but Jason couldn’t hear it over the wind. He managed to catch Leo who was panicking. He was wriggling and cursing. “Stop fighting!” Jason said. “It’s me!”
“My dragon!” Leo yelled. “You gotta save Festus!”
Jason knew he wasn’t that strong even if he wasn’t fighting the winds. He was struggling to keep the three of them aloft, mostly he was hoping to keep them alive when they crash landed. Jason saw the explosion below them. A fireball rolled into the sky from behind a warehouse complex, and Leo sobbed.
Jason’s face reddened with strain as he tried to maintain an air cushion beneath them, but intermittent slow-downs were the best he could manage. Rather than free-falling, it felt like they were bouncing down a giant staircase, a hundred feet at a time, it wasn’t good for any of them but he was trying to aim for as close to the dragon as he possibly could.
They wobbled and zigzagged, closer to the factory complex below, mostly warehouses, smokestacks, barbed-wire fences, and parking lots lined with snow-covered vehicles. They weren’t so high that hitting the ground would turn them into pancakes, which was their only saving grace as Jason lost all control of the wind. Jason groaned, as the last of his strength gave out. “I can’t—” And they dropped like stones.
They hit the roof of the largest warehouse and crashed through into darkness. Jason lost Piper when they went through the roof of one of the warehouses. But he shifted to cover his and Leo’s landing with that last push of energy. Something that came from a completely different place. They landed hard, but neither of them was hurt outside of a few bruises. But they both heard the scream of pain from above them.
“Piper! Where’s Piper?” Jason went to roll trying to see their surroundings only something else made him freeze. Leo was bright red as he realized he was straddling Jason a little lower then his stomach “Piper, where’d you go?” Leo yelled scrambling to get up as the boys were turning scarlet. There was a foot to the stomach that wasn’t deserved but happened. Jason only then rolled holding his stomach for a moment to get his breath back.
“Here,” she called above them in a whimper.
She was hurt and they could see the Catwalk around the edge of the warehouse. They found the stairs heading up and they were running. They reached her side to see Piper’s foot was definitely not going the right direction in comparison to the rest of her leg. Leo had started to ask, “You okay …?” before he saw her foot. “Oh no, you’re not.”
“Thanks for the reassurance,” Piper groaned.
“You’ll be fine,” Jason said worried but calm. “Leo, you got any first aid supplies?”
“Yeah… yeah, sure.” Leo dug around in his tool belt the wraparound leather ones with a bunch of pockets and pulled out a wad of gauze and a roll of duct tape, both of which were too big for the belt’s pockets. Jason didn’t even think it odd that he was pulling things that shouldn’t fit from the bag as Piper looked really off-put and confused. Leo didn’t really know how it worked either as he explained what he had figured out so far. He even reached into another pocket and pulled out a little tin box of breath mints that he offered to Piper. Jason looked at the mints suddenly hit but a memory that Hera hadn’t know to take away...
Meanwhile Leo and Piper were remembering about what Leo called ‘Rambo food’. Jason swung his little pack that had managed to survive to find the canteen of Nectar and ambrosia squares. He broke off a piece and fed it to her. She gave that familiar happy sound that followed the taste of true ambrosia. Then he felt the wand in his pocket… He could heal her. He then looked at the stuff Leo had pulled out. It would be needed as her ankle wouldn’t be able to support her full weight for a bit.
“More,” she said.
Jason frowned. “Piper, we shouldn’t risk it. They said too much could burn you up. I think I should try to set your ankle.”
Piper looked really nervous and scared. “Have you ever done that before?”
“Yeah … I think so.”
Leo found an old piece of wood and broke it in half for a splint. Then he got the gauze and duct tape ready. Jason looked at him, and put a finger to his lips. “Piper, look at the ceiling, this is going to hurt. Leo, hold her leg still.”
Piper didn’t see the wand Jason pulled out but Leo did. “Episkey”
Piper didn’t react like he was used to people reacting. It did at least get her ankle set and somewhat healed not that it was fully healed. She flinched so hard she ended up punching Leo in the arm. That caused both Leo and Piper to yell out in pain. Jason tucked the wand away and started splinting her leg using plywood, gauze, and duct tape so that she couldn’t rebreak it before the ambrosia could do its job. Leo and Piper bantered like siblings allowing Piper to calm down.
Jason only mildly panicked looking up through the ragged starburst hole they’d made twenty feet above them. Snow was fluttering down from them which was why Jason suspected he hadn’t been able to control the winds. Hanging from the ceiling around the hole were a few electric bulbs flickered dimly, just enough for them to see what they were doing but nothing beyond that.
Piper asked about Festus and Leo turned sullen. He explained about Festus had jerked sideways like he hit an invisible wall and started to fall. Piper to pale out rapidly thinking it was all her fault. Leo pointed to the spot next to Piper answering her second question of where they were. The corrugated metal wall was emblazoned with a company logo, but it was almost completely spray-painted over with graffiti. They could see the image behind the paint, a large red eye with the stenciled words: monocle motors, assembly plant 1. They’d crash-landed in Detroit where there was a load of closed down car plants.
It made sense as they looked down in the shadowy warehouse, they could make out huge machines, robotic arms, half-finished trucks on an assembly line. The place looked like it had been abandoned for years. They were in a world of hurt as they realized they were maybe three-fourths of the way. They now even had to travel over land which was not a good idea.
There was some arguing caused by misunderstanding and mis-phrasing, it was sorted out just as quickly as they managed to explain themselves to each other while Piper attempted to take the blame for it. Leo really just wanted to run away from the feeling of inadequacy, and the pain of not knowing what he’d done wrong but mostly the fear he couldn’t make it better again. This was shown to the others when his fiddling tic made itself known.
“Look, um, Jason, why don’t you stay with her? I’ll scout around for Festus. I think he fell outside the warehouse somewhere. If I can find him, maybe I can figure out what happened and fix him.”
“It’s too dangerous,” Jason said. “You shouldn’t go by yourself.”
“Ah, I got duct tape and breath mints. I’ll be fine,” Leo said, a little too quickly. Piper and Jason realized he was shaken and needed time to resettle. Jason didn’t want to separate them as they were on a quest and the hairs on the back of his neck were raising. “You guys just don’t run off without me.”
“Leo… why don’t I carry Piper and we can all go…?” Jason didn’t know why he needed this. Leo gave him that same signal of a secret that Jason had given him before he’d used magic. Jason nodded. Trusting him. “Come back safe.” Leo nodded reached into his magic tool belt, pulled out a flashlight, and headed down the stairs, leaving Piper and Jason alone.
“You look better,” Jason offered as he sat back down to keep her company giving her a nervous smile. They talked about Jason’s memories or lack of them. Just for something to talk about. Then it had turned to the picture in his pocket. Jason had flinched but then admitted once he relaxed about his sister. Even admitting some of his fears.
Piper looked like she was about to say something when they heard movement below them. Jason stood. He took out his coin and flipped it, snatching his golden sword out of the air. He peered over the railing. “Leo?” he called. There was no answer as all the hairs on his neck were now raised. He crouched next to Piper. “I don’t like this.”
“He could be in trouble,” Piper said. “Go check.”
“I can’t leave you alone.”
“I’ll be fine.” Piper drew her dagger Katoptris and tried to look confident it was almost convincing with the still not fading hair and make-up. “Anyone gets close, I’ll skewer them.”
Jason hesitated. “Keep your pack close. If I’m not back in five minutes—”
“Panic?” she suggested.
He managed a smile. “Glad you’re not back to normal yet. The makeup and hair are a lot more intimidating than the dagger.”
“Get going, Sparky, before I skewer you.” Piper actually meant it too.
“Sparky? Not you too.” Jason sighed really not liking that nickname. He made his way to the stairs and disappeared into the dark. Jason was careful to stay low and hidden. “Leo?” he called softly then he moved around a corner and realized just why his hair had risen. Cyclopes. There was a quick fight and then Jason saw nothing.
Piper lost track of time as her ankle didn’t hurt but it was also too tender to fully support her weight. She left the brace alone as she dug into her ambrosia stash and ate half a square remembering the warning as her instincts where telling her how something was very wrong. It was only after the fact and hearing Jason’s voice from a cyclops that she remembered their lore. She was caught and she couldn’t escape.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Leo quickly found his dragon in the worst place. Of all the places to crash, a line of Porta-Potties would be just his luck. A dozen of the blue plastic boxes had been set up in the factory yard, not far from where they’d originally landed, and Festus had flattened them all. Fortunately, they hadn’t been used in a long time, and the fireball had apparently come from built-up gasses inside the toilet units that incinerated most of the contents. There were still some pretty gross chemicals leaking out of the wreckage.
Leo had to pick his way through while trying not to breathe through his nose. After a few minutes of climbing over Festus’s inanimate body, Leo started to get irritated. The dragon looked perfectly fine. Festus had fallen out of the sky, but wasn’t even dented. Festus’s wings were intact. Nothing seemed broken. There was no reason it should have stopped.
Unknown to Leo as he was getting to Festus’s head was that his father had purposely strengthened the dragon to keep him from being damaged in the fall. But even he couldn’t foresee what Leo found when he opened the control panel on the dragon’s head.
The wiring had frozen over. The ice had caused the wiring to overload and char the control disk. Leo couldn’t see any reason that would’ve happened. It didn’t make sense, for the sole reason that Leo didn’t know who Khinoe was.
Leo could replace the wires. That wasn’t the problem. The charred control disk was bad news. The Greek letters and pictures carved around the edges, which probably held all kinds of magic, were blurred and blackened. The one piece of hardware Leo couldn’t replace was damaged. Again.
He imagined his mom’s voice: ‘Most problems look worse than they are, mijo. Nothing is unfixable.’ His mom could repair just about anything, but Leo was pretty sure she’d never worked on a fifty-year-old magic metal dragon.
He clenched his teeth and decided he had to try. He wasn’t walking from Detroit to Chicago in a snowstorm, and he wasn’t going to be responsible for stranding his friends. He decided he was going to get his dragon back in the air even if it took everything he had. Leo couldn’t help smiling, he pulled out the supplies he’d need from his tool belt. He was slowly learning it’s limits and rules. Thankfully anything lying around a shop was an easy ask.
He began cleaning off the control disk. Mostly he went into autopilot mode, his hands working by themselves as his thoughts wandered. Stopping only to melt away gathering snow. His thoughts were mostly on how Fire was bad. It had never done him any favors, he was dwelling on the bad feeling neglected due to circumstances out of his control, mostly pouting they’d gone to an Ice place and he hadn’t even been able to see it. Only his thoughts went back to how being Fire oriented was seen as bad back at camp even the prophecy said he’d destroy the world… who would want him? He’d just be on the run again.
Then there was The Jason issue. Leo had spent the last few weeks feeling like a third wheel. Only now finding out Jason’s whole time at school had been a kind of a memory burp, Leo had been secretly excited. It was a chance for a reset. That Jason was apparently dating a guy, completely separate from their group, had actually been a huge relief.
Then there had been the Incident on the warehouse floor. Leo was bright red, feeling his heart race all over again. He’d practically been straddling Jason’s hips and he’d felt Jason reacting… that way to it against his butt. But he was Dating Nico! He was cute, terrifying, and so sweet. Leo wanted to steal him from Jason. But he couldn’t do that with the guy who was turning into his actually best friend not just an imagined one, even if he also wanted to date Jason. It was never going to happen; he was going to be another third wheel. He got fed up with the interrupting thoughts he told himself to shut up and work.
He got so involved with his work, he wasn’t sure how much time had passed before he heard the voice. ‘You’re wrong, Leo,’ it said.
Leo fumbled his brush and dropped it into the dragon’s head. He stood, but he couldn’t see who’d spoken. Then he looked at the ground. Snow and chemical sludge from the toilets, even the asphalt itself was shifting like it was turning to liquid. A ten-foot-wide area formed the giant face of a sleeping woman. Leo could hear her voice in his head, as if the vibrations were coming through the ground, straight into his feet and resonating up his skeleton. ‘They need you desperately,’ she said. ‘In some ways, you are the most important of the seven—like the control disk in the dragon’s brain. Without you, the power of the others means nothing. They will never reach me, never stop me. And I will fully wake.’
Leo didn’t feel anything but anger for the thing talking to him. This had been the thing that killed his mom. He heard what she said but didn’t want to. She was trying to convince him to help her by doing nothing… Leo threw a Porta-Potty seat at the face. “Leave me alone!” The toilet seat sank into the liquid earth. Snow and sludge rippled, and the face dissolved. Leo stared at the ground, waiting for the face to reappear. But it didn’t. Leo wanted to think he’d imagined it. But he knew he couldn’t.
Leo heard a crash from the direction of the factory. It was like two dump trucks slamming together. Metal crumpled and groaned, and the noise echoed across the yard. Instantly Leo knew that Jason and Piper were in trouble.
Leo reached into his tool belt and pulled out a three-pound club hammer with a double-faced head the size of a baked potato. Then he jumped off the dragon’s back and ran toward the warehouse. Leo stopped as he saw it… Spot was back. The massive Rottweiler was missing his service vest but he was there. Actually, that looked like armour… “Hey Spot.” Leo greeted getting a tongue sticking out and a tail wagging in response. “What to help me find Jason?”
The bark was soft as if he knew what was inside waiting for them. Leo approached and put a comforting hand on Spot’s head. “Does the guy down there know you’re here?” He asked. Spot nodded and looked impatient. “This is insane.” Leo muttered but he headed inside, Spot at his side.
The voice of the sleeping woman faded from his mind as he felt the Guardian of the Underworld pressed to his side. Leo wondered faintly if this was because of Nico and Hari… or were the Gods seriously helping them without actually directly helping them. No, that was crazy… Yeah too crazy even for this crazy.
Leo looked into the dark warehouse not to keen on repeating what happened last time. Nothing looked different, outside of the gray morning light filtered through the hole in the roof. Then there was a difference, not movement. No sign of his friends on the catwalk where he’d left them. He almost called out, but something stopped him… a smell, something smelled wrong. Burning motor oil and sour breath. Something not human was inside the factory. Leo was certain. His body shifted into high gear, all his nerves tingling.
Somewhere on the factory floor, Piper’s voice cried out: “Leo, help!” But Leo held his tongue. How could Piper have gotten off the catwalk with her ankle? Which was when he remembered what Jason had done but asked for his silence… which was when he felt the rumble of a growl under his hand that had found its way to resting on Spot’s back.
Leo slipped inside, Spot right behind him and ducked behind a cargo container. Slowly and surely, they worked their way toward the center of the room, hiding behind things. Finally, reaching the assembly line crouched behind a crane with a robotic arm. Spot was laying down guarding his back as Leo kept a hand on his shoulder.
Piper’s voice called out again: “Leo?” Less certain this time, but very close.
Leo peeked around the machinery. Taking in the scene around him in its entirety, not knowing that his senses were telling him things even the others wouldn’t have noticed. What he focused on were the three shadowy shapes he couldn’t name all gathered around what was actually a truck on a conveyor belt to raise it up. After watching some more, the scene revealed more. The massive humanoid shapes around the truck were not good… they could mimic voices which was not something he’d wanted to know. He got a really good look when one of the shapes made the fire even brighter to cook on it.
Piper was gagged and cocooned in chains hanging upside down, all while wiggling trying to free herself. Jason was knocked out, a red welt the size of an apple had swollen over his left eyebrow. Leo wanted to hit himself as he came to the same realization that Piper had that little bit too late. He felt even worse when he realized they could have completely avoided all this if he hadn’t been so terrified of his feelings and flustered by Jason. Now the Cyclopes were planning to cook his friends on a spit over a nasty ass fire.
Leo’s new reality for the first time was not so much strange as truly dangerous. He was very rapidly coming to the realization these were actual, flesh-and-blood, ten-foot-tall living monsters who wanted to eat his friends. He seriously wanted Festus, his fire-breathing sixty-foot-long tank. All he had was a tool belt and a backpack. His three-pound club hammer looked awfully small compared to those Cyclopes. Then he looked at Spot who was patiently waiting for him. He sighed in relief; he wasn’t alone… not anymore. He saw Spot giving him a doggy grin keeping his wagging tail from actually hitting anything and giving them away.
Leo’s brain clicked it’s connections like a perfectly functioning Automaton. This was what the sleeping earth lady had been talking about. She wanted Leo to walk away at this moment and leave his friends to die. Leo decided in that moment the fate of the prophecy and didn’t even know it. Leo’s personal choice to never again let Gaea make him feel powerless again was the first nail in her coffin.
Leo slipped off his backpack and quietly started to unzip it while still keeping an eye out on the cyclopes. Piper’s cue was coming up as the cyclops in a need for entertainment ungagged her. Piper didn’t scream. She was preparing to use her charmspeak, finally realizing the first points of using it properly.
Leo’s plan was a lot more complicated then Pipers as he started hooking remote control devices, he’d snagged from Bunker 9 to the machinery he could get to. He had to work slow and quietly or he was screwed. Pulling off his plan without making noise seemed impossible, but he didn’t have much choice. Spot seemed to understand the plan or the idea of it as he was keeping watch for Leo, making him feel a lot safer.
Piper meanwhile was ready. She started talking, being a distraction while hoping she could get them out not knowing Leo was working with her to free them all. It made him smile when Piper sounded like she was scolding a puppy. She succeeded in causing the two male cyclopes to start arguing and actually fighting. The third was female, and had some smarts… Piper’s plan wasn’t going so hot anymore meaning Leo had to move faster.
Leo tightened his grip in the screwdriver catching the mom cyclops calling Piper a Venus spawn. She knew Piper’s tricks. The lady Cyclops snarled scaring Piper enough that she stopped talking, that turned to Mama Cyclops complaining about her sons apparently.
Leo’s hands worked furiously. He twisted wires and turned switches, hardly thinking about what he was doing as he finished attaching the remote. He crept over to the next robotic arm while the Cyclopes were talking. All too grateful for Spot’s presence even if it was simply for comfort.
Leo put the running commentary out of his head as he moved as quickly and quietly as he could. But he paused frowning when he heard something about Salsa of all things. He looked in time to see Mama ugly pick-up a nearby truck chassis and slammed it over one of the other’s heads. Cyclops were a lot more durable then Leo hoped. Said cyclops was now off to fetch the salsa.
Their time was nigh. Leo quickly moved from the second to the third machine. He was small enough that the cyclopes didn’t notice him, but Piper did from her gasp. That could have been from him or Spot following him though. Thankfully, Piper was a quick thinker. She looked away from Leo and talked. They caught ‘Son of Mercury, Purple shirt and talked in Latin’. Leo’s fingers froze on the maintenance panel. Apparently, Piper was having the same thought he was, because she asked about it. Spot rumbled deeply; this news was something he didn’t like at all.
Leo forced himself back to work, but his mind was racing. The connections not quite there due to a lack of information. All that he didn’t have time to collect. Monster problem first. Though he wistfully looked at the one convenient thing to use that was unreachable. He was running short on time. The last part of his plan was the trickiest. From his tool belt he summoned some wires, a radio adapter, and a smaller screwdriver and started to build a universal remote. For the first time, he said a silent thank-you to his dad for the magic tool belt. ‘Get me out of here,’ he prayed, ‘and maybe you’re not such a jerk.’
Piper kept talking, laying on the praise that Leo wasn’t listening properly to but he could tell for all mama ugly wasn’t falling for it she sounded pleased. Piper had gotten really good at saying complete bullshit and making it sound truthful. The two Cyclops were very keen to hear Piper’s praise as she got them talking, buying Leo all the time she could manage and Leo appreciated every second.
Leo’s fingers flew, connecting the wires for the remote when Piper slipped up and they were moving to kill Jason. Leo saw wires he hadn’t connected moving to the right spots not that his brain picked up what was happening at the moment. The wires sparked the moment it was perfect. Unfortunately, it gave away his position.
Leo yelped as Spot grew to twice his pervious size and pulled him out of the way. Leo dangled there by his army Jacket; it was happening to him again. Leo frantically gunned the toggle on his makeshift remote putting that out of his mind as one of them came running at him faster then he should but his size ate up distance better then actual speed. Spot was preparing to move and dodge when the first robotic arm whirred to life.
A three-ton yellow metal claw slammed the Cyclops in the back so hard, he landed flat on his face skidding a little. Before it could recover, Leo hit a button which caused the robotic hand to grabbed ugly by one leg like one of those claw machines and hurled him straight up when it released.
The screamed echoed as he rocketed into the gloom. The Cyclops had hit one of the support girders with a harsh metal clang. The ceiling was too dark and too high up to see exactly what happened, only it never came down. Instead, yellow dust rained to the floor.
Mama ugly stared at Leo in shock unable to speak right as the other one lumbered into the firelight with the case of salsa. Leo was dropped as Spot was launching himself across the fire. The salsa case exploded like a piñata and ugly number two flew backward, right into the base of Leo’s third machine with Spot on his chest. Been immune to truck chasses, didn’t mean immune to Spot’s teeth as he ripped through the Cyclops throat. Ugly exploded into dust like a broken flour sack under Spot. Piper looked horrified for a second as she realized what had just happened.
Mama ugly was pissed and locked her eye on him. Leo’s fight with Mama Ugly turned to be not so easy as she easily started destroying his machines. One of the arms got a lucky shot it hitting her in the head… which just pissed her off. She went to use it as a baseball bat with Leo as the baseball. Spot caught it, Leo was glad as it might have missed Piper and Jason by an inch or taken them out in an instant otherwise. Mama Ugly was forced to change tactics. She now threw a discarded half-arm at Leo which he managed to dodge it with a yelp.
Leo realizing, he was in a really crappy position, facing a pissed off Mama Cyclops with a universal remote and a screwdriver was the worst idea… next time he was definitely taking Jason’s offer to all go together even if it was awkward.
Leo reassessed the situation like he did when he was caught by the police after running away. Mama ugly was also re-evaluating. They were both eyeing each other up. One wrong move and the wrong one of them was dead. Spot seemed to think that Leo had this as he was sticking to guarding the others. Leo actually took that boost in confidence.
“Any more tricks, demigod?”
Leo glanced up. It looked natural due to their height differences. He spotted the engine block suspended on the chain. In that instant a plan started to form. The chain had a link with metal fatigue, something he shouldn’t have been able to see or even know, but he also remembered that night with Nico when he’d causally mentioned being able to sense the Imperial bronze because it was a precious metal, the same as Leo had been able to because it was metal. It could all work if he could get Mama ugly to take one step forward.
“Heck, yeah, I got tricks!” Leo raised his remote control to be his usually annoying self to taunt the enemy. “Take one more step, and I’ll destroy you with fire!”
Mama ugly laughed. “Would you? Cyclopes are immune to fire, you idiot. But if you wish to play with flames, let me help!” She scooped red-hot coals into her bare hands and flung them at Leo. They landed all around his feet.
“You missed,” Leo said incredulously not clueing into her plan yet. The coals were quickly followed up by a barrel of kerosene. The barrel split on the floor, spilling lighter fluid everywhere. Coals sparked. Leo closed his eyes not worried in the slightest, this couldn’t possibly be hotter then Festus breath. Piper screamed.
Leo stood in the center of the firestorm. Mama ugly shriek with delight not knowing Leo was smirking. Leo felt himself smirk. After the fire finished burning away, the next step was completed as Mama Ugly took that extra step forward, which put her right where Leo wanted. “What are you?”
“The Son of Hephaestus,” Leo said, “And I warned you I’d destroy you with fire.” He pointed one finger in the air and summoned all his will. He’d never tried to do anything so focused and intense but he had to try. He shot a bolt of white-hot flames at the chain suspending the engine block above the Cyclops’s head, aiming for the link that was weaker than rest. He didn’t notice that it was directed even closer then intended due to a god ‘interfering’. The flames died. Nothing happened. Until it did. The chain snapped. The engine block fell, deadly and silent. Leo kept her attention. she didn’t even have time to look up. She was simply now a pile of dust under a five-ton engine block.
Leo got excited until the exhaustion took him to his knees. It took a few minutes for him recover. The tongue on his cheek brought him out of his daze. He heard Piper yelling at him. Leo stumbled to his feet completely drained. Spot was more then happy to be of service once again. He nudged Leo to sit on the ground for a second. Spot grew huge and bit through the chain gently lowering Piper to the ground. Leo managed to untangle her from the chains. They both looked up to see Spot already getting Jason who was still unconscious, down.
After they untangled him from the chains Piper managed to trickle a little nectar into his mouth, and he groaned. The welt on his head started to shrink. His color came back a little. Spot had shrunk down to whine looking at Jason “Yeah, he’s got a nice thick skull,” Leo said petting Spot’s head “I think he’s gonna be fine.”
“Thank god,” Piper sighed. Then she looked at Leo with something like fear. “How did you—the fire—have you always …?”
Leo looked down. “Always,” he said. “I’m a freaking menace. Sorry, I should’ve told you guys sooner but—”
“Sorry?” Piper punched his arm. When he looked up, she was grinning. “That was amazing, Valdez! You saved our lives. What are you sorry about?”
Leo started to smile in relief. Until it was ruined when he noticed what was making Spot let out the deep growl rumbling through the entire place. The powdered remains of one of the Cyclopes, was shifting across the floor like an invisible wind was pushing it back together. “They’re forming again,” Leo said. “Look.”
Piper stepped away from the dust. “That’s not possible. Annabeth told me monsters dissipate when they’re killed. They go back to Tartarus and can’t return for a long time.”
“Well, nobody told the dust that.” Leo watched as it collected into a pile, then very slowly spread out, forming a shape with arms and legs. It was actually rather horrifying.
Now the warning Boreas had given them made sense. They had to move quickly; Jason was already half draped on Spot who was looking at them impatiently. They helped the dog along and got moving. Spot purposely scattering the dust for the hell of it.
Spot stayed with them as a guard long enough for Leo to get the last of the repairs done. They could hear the cyclops roaring for Vengeance as they were scrambling up onto Festus’s back. Piper was in the back keeping the still unconscious Jason in his seat while Leo drove. Leo and Piper yelled a thank you as Spot vanished in shadows.
Once they were actually in the air Piper asked the burning question “That was Cerberus again, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah, that was Spot.” Leo answered “We are so not telling Jason about this.”
“I so Am!” Piper said completely and utterly wanting to brag about Leo’s rescue to Jason.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jason finally woke up with a mini freak out and a lot of confusion that they settled quickly. They started exchanging information. Piper started with her bragging about Leo’s defeat of three cyclopes, that he could summon fire which Leo hadn’t wanted to mention but Piper ignored him. She also mentioning how Spot had showed up to help again. When she brought up the purple shirt and Latin Jason almost remembered something and it caused his already aching head to hurt even worse. A Son of Mercury but his image was of a girl and two boys wearing the shirt.
After a little reassuring Jason, who was feeling useless and suddenly not so alone in his heritage, explained about seeing Hera in a dream. The cage she was in was an earthen spire that was draining her and the more she fought the weaker she got. Jason then told them about the dangerous gamble that didn’t make sense. An exchange of sorts, that he was only alive because he didn’t have any memories. He was miserable because this wasn’t the first time, he’d heard that. That he needed find his so call starting point and that he needed to find his sister to do so, who he had to explain to Leo about.
That led to Jason explaining something that didn’t make sense to him. It was like Hera had been talking about a different Olympus that had closed itself off. They knew that Olympus wasn’t closed if Spot was coming to see them and there were gods checking up on the camp. They put that on hold as that seemed like a question for a very different pay grade.
Leo added what he’d been tucking away and hadn’t wanted to mention. Dirt lady. Jason was still too concussed to find the humor in the situation of Leo and the porta-potty commentary. But that’s when the mentions of the Giants came up and Piper’s better knowledge of them. She was still hiding her source but neither boy was about to press her, not when even after being chained up and nearly eaten her make-up and hair was still flawless. After the mass tension of discussing working with the gods to defeat the Giants and how it was all Hera’s fault, Leo brought the Blessing up. Piper wanted to punch him again but Jason purposely leaned back against her to keep her from reaching him.
“No playing punch buggy with the driver!” Leo yelled back grinning which got the irritated rage yell from Piper, she wasn’t actually pissed at Leo but at her mom. It did the job as they relaxed ever so slightly. Jason snickered as Piper poked a sensitive spot making him jump. Jason lost himself in thought as Piper was silently fuming and lost in her own thoughts behind him. Jason was randomly distracted though by Leo but thankfully they were far enough apart that Leo and Jason weren’t touching but were tantalizingly close enough to touch if one of them reached out.
They hit Chicago faster then they expected and managed to quickly spot a Ventus in the form of a horse. Leo took to leading Festus to follow it, trying not to be spotted in the process. All while listening to the backseat drivers behind him. Flying above the city allowed them to spot way more storm spirits then should have feasible congregated in one place. More and more of them popped up, converging on a public fountain, with two five-story monoliths rising from either end of a long granite reflecting pool. The monoliths seemed to be built of video screens, flashing the combined image of a giant face that spewed water into the pool.
When the image changed to Leo’s dirt lady before turning black, the venti as a group were sucked through the fountain’s drain kicking up a water spout almost taller then the fountain itself. There was a losing debate of following… they had no choice but to follow with only two days left. They were not happy as they landed in a field of ice, snow, and salted walkways of the park. The wind coming off the lake was bitterly cold. Anyone with sense would be inside which was to their advantage. The dragon’s hot metal feet hissed as they touched down. Festus flapped his wings unhappily and shot fire into the sky.
They dismounted, and Festus the dragon stomped his feet. There was a swift rubber mallet repair of the dragon, as Leo mentally listed more issues he needed to fix when they got back. It took Leo some thought to figure out how to get Festus to recall when they needed him. Turns out the safety whistle, orange enough to make Coach hedge jealous, was the perfect fit. Leo of course had to explain it to the dragon. The dragon snorted in understanding before launched into the air.
Piper’s ankle took that moment to make itself known again. The makeshift splint which in the chaos was broken was now doing more damage then help. Piper crouched down and cut away the binding throwing it away from her. They looked at her ankle that wasn’t broken but it wasn’t good either.
They bundled up as best they could and headed toward the fountain. Piper tried not to grimace as she limped to sit on the rim of the now empty fountain as the boys climbed into the basin. Leo had a tenser bandage out of his tool belt for her. Piper letting out a strangled noise as her bare foot touched the cold stone after taking off her boot. She blushed as Leo snickered. Jason wrapped her ankle out of pure muscle memory. While Leo threatened anything that dared pop out of the hole with a hammer. There was even a maintenance ladder leading down into the human sized drain hole.
Once Piper’s boot was back on and a little tighter then was normally comfortable. They went in the hole. Jason first. Piper came down second, in the middle in case she slipped so Jason could catch her but not take Leo out with her so he was following after her. They had braced for horrible sewer smells, but it wasn’t that bad. The ladder dropped into a brickwork tunnel running north to south. The air was warm and dry, with only a trickle of water on the floor. They meant to follow the draft to the south only Piper’s ankle wouldn’t let them. She wasn’t happy about feeling so weak and helpless. They instead decided to rest.
Leo started digging into his backpack the moment they all realized they needed to stop and eat something. They needed rest but they’d all been concerned about being the one to delay the mission. Piper and Jason sat on a convenient brick ledge. Piper caught Jason’s nervous tick then took the time to figure out his issues and remind him he was only one person; he wasn’t an army. He chewed on the self-flagellation over a goddess stealing the very memories that kept him alive on quests. Hera had claimed his amnesia had kept him alive, but that made no sense. They were all starting to understand why Annabeth had wanted to leave the goddess in her cage.
Jason did smile a little as a few feet away, Leo lit a small cooking fire. He hummed as he pulled supplies out of his pack and his tool belt. It was fascinating to see, just like watching him make that helicopter had been. Now all they were missing was Spot. Not that it stopped Jason and Piper’s conversation.
Piper tugged at her hair twitching as the Blessing still hadn’t faded much to her irritation. Jason was getting used to it. But he missed the girl on the bus who looked like someone he could be friends with. Not that this version was false in any way, it was just a version of herself that she hid and hated.
While Leo cooked Jason and him both watched Piper when Jason brought up her dad. Piper couldn’t do it but it was obvious her dad was in trouble and she was being hurt by it. Leo announced dinner before Piper could convince herself that she couldn’t tell them. He saw the signs. Leo came over with three plates while Piper and Jason questioned how it was all possible. However he did it, their stomachs didn’t care. It looked amazing: pepper and tofu tacos with chips and salsa. The tacos tasted as good as they smelled. While they ate, Leo lightened the mood and joke around. They were all grateful for it. It gave them that moment to just be teenagers for a moment.
They agreed to take turns sleeping and keeping watch, not that it was likely to happen. After Piper ate, she curled up and put her head in Jason lap. In two seconds, she was snoring. Jason frowned startling himself by not actually minding… who was it that had gotten him used to stuff like this? He really wanted a name! Jason looked up at Leo, who was obviously trying not to laugh and failing.
They sat in silence for a few minutes, drinking lemonade Leo had made from canteen water and powdered mix. They then slowly started talking… Jason asked about Leo’s powers much to his dread. A small ball of flame burst to life, dancing across Leo’s palm. To prove it. Jason didn’t understand Leo’s reluctance. He thought it was amazing. Reminding him they were demi-gods, weird and freaks were normal for them, they were normal here. Jason reassured Leo by flipping his argument on its head. After all the Fates and Gods only truly gave out the powerful abilities when they’re needed most. Leo was hurting as memories haunted him. Like all rare and powerful abilities; they were never truly a gift but never truly a curse either.
Jason and Leo talked a bit more, Jason trying with all his might to reassure Leo, his mom’s death wasn’t his fault and most of all that he was good enough no matter what Dirt lady said or did to tell him otherwise. That wasn’t Leo’s main problem, he was scared this important task he was meant to do… he wasn’t ready or able to do it. Jason couldn’t reassure him on that unfortunately.
Their conversation turned to the others of the seven. Jason couldn’t answer him as his memories that could have pieced the clue together and given Leo an answer was gone. He wouldn’t be able to even begin to answer that question until after they’d rescued Hera. Then he looked ill as his brain gave him the horrible thought that as a son of Zeus, he’d be expected to lead them. If he continued on the way he was… he was going to fail. All while obviously trained never to show his doubts or fears. Jason avoided admitting all this by getting Leo to go to sleep.
Leo didn’t need much convincing. He was blushing however when he tucked into his jacket a little deeper and leaned into Jason’s side opposite where Piper was sleeping. He leaned his head on Jason’s arm, he wasn’t quite tall enough to sleep on his shoulder. Leo curled up, rather obviously used to sleeping as small as possible, really tight in on himself against Jason. Piper was more sprawled out but curled up for warmth.
Jason was keeping watch and lost in thought for about what he guessed was four hours. Piper woke first and Leo grumbled something in Spanish as he very reluctantly woke up.