Another short chapter, at least compared to some of my other chapters, but I hope I make it interesting for readers.

First Person: Audrey

Zyanya walked off and we followed to find a line of blue plastic boxes that had been set up in the factory yard, Festus having crushed them all. Fortunately, they hadn't been used in a long time, and the fireball from the crash had incinerated most of the contents, but there were still some pretty gross and smelly chemicals leaking out of the wreckage, and all of us held our noses as we made our way to Festus. Heavy snow was coming down, but the dragon's hide was still steaming hot.

"Hey guys!" Leo called. He ran up to us from the warehouses. "You found Festus! He's okay, right?"

"Fine, as far as I can see," Zyanya said, climbing up on the dragon. "Leo, help me run diagnostics. Your dad's a friend, but I'm not an expert with this stuff. See what you can help me with." Leo obliged, the heat from Festus not affecting him. As Leo examined Festus, a scowl formed and then grew.

"He's perfectly fine! His body isn't even dented from the fall, and the fireball had just been from built up gasses in the toilets! Even his wings are okay. Nothing is broken and there's no reason he should've stopped. So this isn't my fault! Man, Festus, you're making me look bad!"

"Uh, Leo, check this out," Zy said, calling him over to look at the control panel on the dragon's head."

"Oh, Festus, what the heck? The wiring's completely frozen over! I know it was okay yesterday. Right? Right?! And it should be too hot in the head for any ice to form."

"Looks like the ice caused the wiring to overload and char the control disk," Zy said, reaching in a pulling it out. "I'll see what I can do, but the thing is old and enchanted with magic I don't understand. If I knew what I was working with, maybe I could repair it completely, but I wasn't present when the disk was made." She put her hand in the dragon's head and there was a slight glow. "There, the dragon's head is unfrozen. Leo, see if you can fix anything else. You guys, try and keep Festus from freezing over. He may be steaming now, but the temp and the fact that Festus isn't active means he's gonna cool over soon."

"What can we do?" Emily asked.

"Audrey, can you turn the flakes to water and keep them away?"

"Uh, I've never really tried before."

"Well, good time to get started. You were claimed, remember? This should be child's play for someone like you. Veon, Emily, follow Leo's orders to help fix the dragon. Check for anything wrong and report anything. I'm gonna see if I can't fix this disk." Leo began to mess with the dragon's head while Veon and Emily looked over the dragon. I was able to concentrate on the water droplets the moment the snow turned to water, but when it turned to steam, I lost the connection again. It angered me, how the snow was a more fuzzy connection, while the steam was a little slicker, neither following my orders. Water was adhesive, thick, strong, yet smooth, flexible and moldable. It was a comfortable connection, but though I could feel the ice and steam, I couldn't grab onto them and control them.

I clenched my fists and tried to increase the connection further, but it was like a new subject in math and the two different forms of water slipped from my mind and I just couldn't comprehend the new feeling. I didn't know what it was supposed to feel like in order to control them, so I didn't exactly know what I was supposed to be doing. I hated it when my math teachers said, "you're not supposed to know how to do it, but try it anyway." There's no freaking point in doing something if you don't know how! I'd usually just stare at the question, not knowing where to begin, how to get something from it, or where I was supposed to end. Just tell me how to do it, and I'll commit it to memory over time and repetition, but you can't just say "go ahead and do it" when I don't know what I'm supposed to do, or what I was supposed to be looking for as an outcome. It's not as easy as you think, math teachers!

But this wasn't math, and I wasn't eventually going to get the answers so that I could adjust my way of thinking. I had to use the hit and miss method, trying all kinds of angles and trying to adjust my frequency of control to get the steam and ice to obey. But I could feel the connection. Before my claiming, I couldn't feel the ice or the steam, whether I could control them or not. Now, I felt more detail in the feelings from the two.

I imagined a dial and then slowly began to turn it, feeling a slight resistance as my powers began to mold to a different control, like I was stretching a rubber band further and further. The tension that I got usually helped me pull and push the water to my will, and the tension had grown weaker and weaker as water had grown easier to control over the years, but now I thought. What if I went beyond that tension of the rubber band, beyond just controlling water in its liquid state?

I pushed further, feeling the tension resist, but I didn't give in and clenched my teeth as I felt the rubber band reaching its limit. And I grunted slightly before pushing ever further, and suddenly I felt it snap. The snow and steam all froze, and it was almost creepy how easy it was now. I could feel them. They were lighter than water, slicker (the steam more than the ice), but I could push and pull them all the same. Ice should've been heavier than water, required more force in the same way steam required less, but since these were only snowflakes, they were easier to move around, a little more resistance than the steam.

I waved my hand, testing the feeling, and the snowflakes around us flew around in a dome, like we were in one of those observatory things with the screen above you playing the movie about stars and such. But I could feel it, I could control it. It was amazing, like learning to control water all over again. Feeling the freedom of a new power, being able to bend something to your will. The control was still a bit slippery, but I'd learn. The steam moved with more speed than I anticipated, like a computer mouse with the sensitivity settings cranked to the max, but I adjusted to it and was more careful in moving it.

I felt the snow wanting to melt, and the steam wanting to disperse into the air and cool to normal temperatures, or at least the temperature of the air around us, but I kept my hold on them. It was like holding a slippery bar of soap, but I just had to be careful and I could keep them in their state. I made sure than any snowflakes that came down stayed away in a dome like shape, and was even able to warm the moisture in the air around Festus since the humidity was high at the moment.

I couldn't believe I was so free with my powers. I could do so much, and ideas filled my mind. Emily was right. You were just being creative with your powers, stretching them to their limits. Ice and steam were just different forms of water, and now I could control them too. Maybe if I try later, I could push my powers further and even pull water out of thin air someday. That would be helpful if my water bottle wasn't enough or it was empty and I was in a barren landscape. Emily smiled and gave a thumbs-up, and I had never been happier.

The powers everyone had were just extensions of their base abilities, stretching them farther than simple thinking. I hadn't believed there could be anything other than controlling water. It was base, and at the most I thought I could just control other liquids, but now I wasn't limited to liquids. I couldn't do telepathy, and was limited to ice or steam, but still, my mind opened up like it never had before, and I wondered why I hadn't opened up to these powers before. A lot had changed in the last few days, I guess.

"Enough, Valdez," Leo muttered under his breath. "No one's gonna play violins for you just because you're not important."

"What?" I called up.

"Nothing!" He said. "I just am having trouble with all the old wiring. I can get some new from my belt, but I can't exactly replace the whole system in a quick snap."

"Just do what you can, Leo. Don't think we're stressing you to make the dragon perfect with so little time." He got back to work, and I went back to practicing with my powers. I got engrossed in my work, and I'm not sure how much time passed when something happened and we heard a voice.

"Leo Valdez," A woman's voice said. We looked around to find that the snow, chemical sludge, and even the asphalt was shifting like it was turning to liquid.

"Guys, that is definitely not me," I announced. A ten-foot wide area formed eyes, a nose, and a mouth - the giant face of a sleeping woman. She didn't speak aloud, her lips showing no signs of moving, but I could hear her voice in my head, like the vibrations of her voice were coming through the ground, up my feet and resonating in my skeleton.

"They need you desperately, Leo, Valdez," She said as the others all gathered forward. "In some ways, you are the most important of the seven, 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 awake."

"Leo, don't listen to her," Zyanya said.

"Ah, you. Playing such a dangerous game. Hear this: you cannot hide forever, and you will be found by Chaos soon. There is no power that can avoid your fate."

"You know nothing about Chaos. You know nothing about me."

"I know enough."

"You…you killed my mom…" Leo muttered, trembling. The face shifted, the mouth forming a sleepy smile like it was having a present dream.

"Ah, but Leo, I am your mother too. Do not oppose me, walk away now, and abandon that woman. She is no angle from the heavens. Let my son, Porphyrion, rise and become kind, and I will ease your burdens. You will tread lightly on the earth." We looked to Leo, and he grabbed the nearest thing he could find - a Porta-Potty seat - and threw it at the face.

"Leave me alone!" He shouted. The seat sank into the liquid, snow and sludge rippled and the face dissolved. We all stared in silence, waiting to see if it would reform, but it didn't. We then stood completely still, not a word. I could guess everyone was thinking different things, but we all came to the same conclusion: that was not good.

Whatever that woman was had killed Leo's mom just to make sure he was thrown away to orphanages, abandoned by his family and left to fend for himself in the life of a demigod, and she wanted to make sure he suffered. Now she was stupid enough to believe that Leo's past and current insecurities were going to be enough to make Leo take her offer of power, relief, and freedom. Sure, this world could be unfair to a lot of people, and there was no way to make it perfect, but humans weren't as base as other beings. It almost seemed foolish that the gods believed we could be swayed so easily. The promise of a good life could sway those who'd been through hell, but some of us are smart and know the gods can turn on any promise with the snap of their fingers, and we held no power in a bargain should the gods decide to turn on their word.

Unless, of course, if they held some hostage. In a situation like that, we may very well give in, even if we're unhappy with it. But for us to be considered idiots who would let this Porcupine dude rise and become king and whatnot was just insulting to humans and the gods who don't understand humanity after all these years. I guess, long ago, there were times when a woman was considered a man's "property" and she couldn't chose who to love, if she wanted to go to college, if she wanted to speak out, fight, wear anything but a million layers of skirts and makeup. My point, humanity has acted stupid in the past, but these are modern times. Keep with it, gods.

Then there was that whole thing about chaos. The sludge woman and Zyanya had talked as though "chaos" was a name, with a capital C. Even if Zyanya hadn't confirmed it, I am sure she's some kind of god in disguise. I'm not an expert on gods, but if they all look like the things we'd see in textbooks and such, she was definitely in disguise, and apparently hiding from this Chaos. Another thing to add to the list of mysteries about her.

Before anyone could question anything that had just happened, from Leo to Zy, there was a crash like two dump trucks slamming together from the direction of the factory. Metal crumpled and groaned, and the noise echoed across the yard. Everyone looked to each other, and came to a silent agreement. Jason and Piper were in trouble.

"Piper had broken her ankle," Leo said. "Jason stayed with her, but they'd be useless if they needed to run. It's not like Jason can fly them away with hyper speed."

"Then we need to go get them," Zyanya said. "No talking. The warehouse will make our voices echo, and best not give away a preemptive if there really is danger. Have your weapons ready. This is your first real fight on this quest. Follow all of my instructions. Some enemies are slick and wait for you to come into the open thinking its safe before they strike. Emily, be prepared to talk your way through this. If we can reason first, or create a distraction so we can save Jason and Piper, we'd best take it, especially if there's something big in there, and based on that loud clang before, I think it is."

"That's not very encouraging," Veon said.

"Want me to sing a song to calm your nerves?" She asked scowling. He looked to her, seemingly leaning back just a bit.

"Uh…no, I'm good." She held up her hands and a white light appeared in each, forming the shapes of two hand guns before the light disappeared to reveal said handguns. They were blue and silver with golden, swirling, decorative accents, and were small so they slipped nicely into her hands. If she moved fast enough, they wouldn't be noticeable. Subtle and deadly, not to mention the fact that any weapon she chose/summoned had to have a trick.

"Let's go," She said.

I pulled some water from the snow that had melted on the dragon and slipped it into my water bottle before drawing my new sword. It was a lot heavier than my dagger, and a bit uncomfortable, but it didn't take a genius to figure out how to swing it and adjust to the change. I'd learned how to fight monsters when I was just eight, and learning to use a sword now wouldn't be a challenge. Besides, best keep the weapon I was best with as a safeguard in case I ended up in a bind. Leo summoned a three pound club hammer with a double-faced head the size of a baked potato, probably the largest thing his tool belt could provide him as it needed cool down after certain requests. Veon drew his new sword, Emily reluctantly drew her dagger, and all of us ran towards the warehouse.

Again, sorry for the shortness of the last two chapters story wise, but the next will have a good fight and move the plot forward.