At three o'clock, Leo headed to the Big House to meet Chiron. The centaur was standing on the porch, talking with two other campers Leo assumed would be his questing partners. There was a girl and a boy, but their backs were turned to him, so he couldn't tell who they were.
"Hey, Chiron," Leo said as he climbed onto the porch.
"Hello, Leo," Chiron replied. "I have told these two everything you told me. They are willing to assist you in your quest, if you are willing to accept their help."
The two campers turned around and Leo grinned. "Piper!"
His friend smiled. "It's been awhile since I've had one of these insane quests, Leo," she said. "I thought I was overdue. And a mystery twin sister? That is exciting!"
Leo turned to the other half-blood. He recognized him, though he had never really talked to him. It was Malcolm Pace, son of Athena.
"Hey, man," Leo said, fist-bumping him.
"You guys are old pros at this," Malcolm said, "but I've never actually been on a quest before. I hope you still want my help."
"Are you kidding?" Leo said. "We're gonna need some brains on the team."
Piper elbowed him and Malcolm grinned.
"Well, it's settled," Chiron said. "You three will depart for Detroit at sunup tomorrow."
The three nodded and went back to their cabins.
That night, after the campfire sing-along had long since ended and everyone else in Cabin 9 had long since fallen asleep, Leo sat on the edge of his bed, double-checking his pack for the tenth time. He just couldn't sleep. He was worried about his quest.
Of course he had been on quests before, and he had definitely been nervous before them, but this was a different kind of nervous. This was his quest. It was happening because of him. If they all got killed on this quest, it would be partially his fault.
Leo assured himself that everything would most likely be alright. Then he laughed at himself. Who was he kidding? This was a demigod quest. They never ended with "Happily ever after". But he and his questing partners had a plan (mostly courtesy of Malcolm), and they were trained to improvise. It couldn't be that bad.
Still he worried.
He also couldn't stop wondering about his sister. Who was she? Did she know she had a brother? When she met him, would she accept the protection of Camp Half-Blood?
He thought back to the prophecy. A child shivers in the cold, searched for by the ones of old. The ones of old could be anyone, anything in the mythological universe. All of it was ancient. He thought the child was his sister, but he didn't want to assume anything. After all, prophecies never meant exactly what they said. Speaking of that, how could she be cold? It was June! He had been to Detroit before and there was snow on the ground, but that was because it was winter. He was fairly certain Michigan had summertime.
His mind began to stray from what he was thinking about. He sighed. The life of an ADHD demigod was never easy.
Instead, he got up, pulled on a jacket, silently left the cabin, and headed for the one place that always seemed to cheer him up.
He headed into the woods, unarmed but unafraid. He had been in these woods too many times to get lost or hurt. Within minutes he was standing before a sheer rock wall. It looked ordinary, but when Leo put his hand to it, glowing yellow lines of fire began to spread across the surface until a door appeared.
Leo stepped inside his favorite place in the world: Bunker 9. The place always seemed to make him feel better, no matter what was going on. He took two steps and was immediately greeted by a loud creaking noise. Festus the bronze dragon lolloped over to him and greeted him with a blast of fire. Anyone else would have been burnt to a crisp, but Festus knew Leo couldn't be harmed by fire.
Unfortunately, his jacket wasn't so lucky.
It was seared right off of his body, gathering as ash at his feet. Leo didn't mind. The rest of his clothes were flame-proof.
"Hey, Festus," Leo said, stroking the dragon's snout.
"Creak?" Festus asked.
Leo knew how Festus talked. He could decipher most of his words, and now was no exception.
Leo reached over and pulled a tub of oil and Tabasco sauce out of a closet. Something sparked in his neck as Festus snorted his thanks.
"Yea, buddy, fuel up," Leo said. "Because we got another quest to do."
Festus looked up, intrigued.
"We need to go to Detroit to find my sister," Leo told him.
"Creak?"
"Yea, I have a sister. I didn't know either until recently. But we're leaving at sunup, and we need some transportation. Wanna come with?"
In response, Festus triumphantly blew fire into the sky. Only problem: they were inside, so the ceiling caught fire.
"I'm guessing that's a yes." Leo said, pulling the lever to turn on the emergency sprinkler for the ceiling.
Festus nuzzled him fondly and Leo stroked his snout. Something in his neck sparked again.
"Well, if we're going on a road trip, we should get you fixed up," Leo said to the dragon.
"Creak!" Festus said indignantly.
"Oh, come on. You've been sparking and squeaking. I should tighten any loose wires and give you a proper oiling."
Festus reluctantly gave in. Leo reached into his magical toolbelt and went to work.