Mia didn't relax until Quebec City faded behind them. She calmly breathed in and out, avioding to look in Leo's direction.
"You did amazing Piper." Jason told Piper holding her hand.
She told Jason in French: "If you knew the truth about me, you wouldn't think I was so amazing."
Mia crooked an eyebrow, and Jason grinned, "What'd you say?"
"I said I only talked to Boreas. It wasn't so amazing."
Piper didn't turn to look at Mia. Leo grabbed Mia's hand.
"Good job." Leo said, but Mia scoffed, and snatched her hand off his.
Leo passed them some sandwiches from his pack. He'd been quiet ever since they'd told him what happened in the throne room. "I still can't believe Khione," he said. "She looked so nice."
"Trust me, man," Jason said. "Snow may be pretty, but up close it's cold and nasty. We'll find you a better prom date."
Leo didn't look pleased. They ate their sandwiches as they flew. Mia had no idea how Leo had stocked up on supplies, but he'd even remembered to bring veggie rations for her. The cheese and avocado sandwich was awesome.
Nobody talked. Whatever they might find in Chicago, they all knew Boreas had only let them go because he figured they were already on a suicide mission. The moon rose and stars turned overhead. Mia's eyes started to feel heavy. The encounter with Boreas and his children had scared her more than she wanted to admit. Now that she had a full stomach, her adrenaline was fading.
Leo kept stealing glances from her, but Mia wouldn't look at him. Sure, they haven't been in a relationship together, but that doesn't mean it hasn't hurt when he looked at Khoine. Leo knew why she was mad, and handed her a napkin. Mia snatched it out of his hand, and wiped her mouth. They put all their trash in Mia's plastic bag she had brought.
"I think you should go to sleep." Jason told Piper and Mia. They both nod, and Leo excitedly pushed the bags out of his way so that Mia can lay on his chest. Instead of leaning backwards onto Leo's chest, she leaned forwards and closed her eyes, leaving Leo in shock.
It seemed as if she woke up again. She was staring at her younger self, holding hands with Percy, her brother.
"You're my sister." Percy was giggling. The first time they called each other siblings. Mia's heart warmed at the thought, and she looked at her younger self.
"You're my brother." Mia giggled, clutching her stomach. Sally, who was watching, smiled. Then, she slowly pushed Mia out of the room, and shut the door. But Mia didn't want to go. Her present self began to cry. She missed the time where she didn't have a worry in life. She fell to her knees, and sobbed. She then fell backwards.
Mia tumbled through the sky. Far below she saw city lights glimmering in the early dawn, and several hundred yards away the body of the bronze dragon spinning out of control, its wings limp, fire flickering in its mouth like a badly wired lightbulb. Two arms were around her. Leo was hugging her once Mia was asleep and probably fell asleep like that.
A body shot past her—Piper, who was screaming and frantically grabbing at the clouds.
Leo yelled "Not coooooool!" but he wouldn't let go. They speed past Piper, falling own.
"Leo, I need you to let go!" Mia screamed.
"Noooo!" Leo shouted. Mia pushed his arm off, and Leo fell and tried to grab the clouds. Mia concentrated on a parachute, and a bag appeared in her hand. She placed that on her back, and she pulled on something. Hopefully, it would extend it. Then, her parachute appeared. Her eyes scanned for Leo.
Somewhere above her, Jason yelled, "Piper, level out! Extend your arms and legs!"
She fell spread-eagle like a skydiver, the wind underneath her like a solid block of ice. Then Jason was there, wrapping his arms around her waist.
"We have to get Leo!" she shouted.
"I'm getting him!" Mia yelled, "I can't find him, though!"
Mia's paracute broke, and a whole ripped. Jason caught her too, but luckily, Mia wasn't that heavy.
"Gonna get rough," Jason warned. "Hold on!"
Piper locked her arms around him, and Jason wrapped his arm around Mia's waist. Jason shot toward the ground. Piper probably screamed, but the sound was ripped from her mouth. And then, thump! They slammed into another warm body—Leo, still wriggling and cursing.
"Stop fighting!" Jason said. "It's me!"
"My dragon!" Leo yelled. ―You gotta save Festus!"
Jason was already struggling to keep the three of them aloft, and Mia knew there was no way he could help a fifty-ton metal dragon. Mia began to cry, tears falling down her face. When Piper was trying to reason with Leo, she heard an explosion below them. A fireball rolled into the sky from behind a warehouse complex, and Leo sobbed.
Mia was trying to remain calm, but it was Mia and Leo's dragon. Mia cried out, "Festus!"
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, which wasn't doing Mia's stomach any favors.
As they wobbled and zigzagged, Mia could make out details of the factory complex below—warehouses, smokestacks, barbed-wire fences, and parking lots lined with snow-covered vehicles. They were still high enough so that hitting the ground would flatten them into roadkill—or skykill—when Jason groaned, "I can't—"
And they dropped like stones. They hit the roof of the largest warehouse and crashed through into darkness. Unfortunately, Mia tried to land with her hands. Instead she landing on her head. For a few seconds she wasn't conscious of anything but pain—pain so bad that her ears rang and her vision went red.
hen she heard Jason's voice somewhere below, echoing through the building. "Piper! Where's Piper? Mia? Where are you too?"
"Ow, bro!" Leo groaned. "That's my back! I'm not a sofa! Mia, where'd you go?"
"Here." Piper managed, her voice a whimper. Mia couldn't raise he head without hurting. Mia heard shuffling and grunting, then feet pounding on metal steps.
Her vision began to clear. She was on a metal catwalk that ringed the warehouse interior, right next to Piper. Leo and Jason had landed on ground level, and were now coming up the stairs toward her. Mia felt like throwing up. Oh gods, focus on something else. Anything else.
The hole they'd made in the roof was a ragged starburst twenty feet above. How they'd even survived that drop, she had no idea. Hanging from the ceiling, a few electric bulbs flickered dimly, but they didn't do much to light the enormous space. Next to Piper, the corrugated metal wall was emblazoned with a company logo, but it was almost completely spray-painted over with graffiti. Down in the shadowy warehouse, she could make out huge machines, robotic arms, half-finished trucks on an assembly line. The place looked like it had been abandoned for years. Jason and Leo reached her side. Jason ran to Piper, and Leo ran to Mia.
"It's okay." Leo said, grabbing Mia and pulling her towards him. Mia placed her head on his chest, and Leo put a hand on her head. He kissed her forehead, as Mia cried into his shirt.
"You'll be fine," Jason said, Mia heard. "Leo, you got any first aid supplies?"
"Yeah—yeah, sure." Leo laid Mia gently on his lap. He dug around in his tool belt and pulled out a wad of gauze and a roll of duct tape—both of which seemed too big for the belt's pockets. He also pulled out some ice, that is still cold.
"How did you—" Piper tried to sit up, and winced. "How did pull that stuff from an empty belt?"
"Magic," Leo said. "Haven't figure it out completely, but I can summon just about any regular tool out of the pockets, plus some other helpful stuff." He reached into another pocket and pulled out a little tin box. "Breath mint?"
Jason snatched away the mints. "That's great, Leo. Now, can you fix her foot?"
"I'm a mechanic, man. Maybe if she was a car …" He snapped his fingers. "Wait, what was that godly healing stuff they fed you at camp—Rambo food?"
"Ambrosia." Mia said, quickly, "Please give me some Ambrosia."
Piper said through gritted teeth. "There should be some in my bag, if it's not crushed."
Jason carefully pulled her backpack off her shoulders. He rummaged through the supplies the Aphrodite kids had packed for her, and found a Ziploc full of smashed pastry squares like lemon bars. He broke off a piece and fed it to her.
Mia ate some of it, and sighed. It tasted like tres leches, an Hispanic cake that her dad used to bake. Mia felt some of the pain in her head subside.
"More," Piper 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 foot."
Piper's stomach fluttered. "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.
"Hold her leg still," Jason told him. "Piper, this is going to hurt."
When Jason set the foot, Piper flinched so hard she punched Leo in the arm, and he yelled almost as much as she did. When her vision cleared and she could breathe normally again, she found that her foot was pointing the right way, her ankle splinted with plywood, gauze, and duct tape.
"Ow," Piper said.
"Jeez, beauty queen!" Leo rubbed his arm. "Glad my face wasn't there."
Leo turned to Mia, and placed some ice on her head. "Geez, how can you be so hot when you're so hurt?"
"Really, Valdez?" Mia asked.
"Glad you aren't mad at me anymore." Leo said.
"What happened to the dragon?" Piper asked. "Where are we?"
Leo's expression turned sullen. "I don't know with Festus. He just jerked sideways like he hit an invisible wall and started to fall."
Leo pointed to the logo on the wall. "As far as where we are …"
It was hard to see through the graffiti, but Piper could make out a large red eye with the stenciled words: monocle motors, assembly plant.
"Closed car plant," Leo said. "I'm guessing we crash-landed in Detroit."
"How far is that from Chicago?" Piper asked.
Jason handed her the canteen. "Maybe three-fourths of the way from Quebec? The thing is, without the dragon, we're stuck traveling overland."
"No way," Leo said. "It isn't safe for Mia."
"I can handle it, Valdez." Mia said, holding the ice to her head.
Piper was quiet but then she nodded. "He's right. Besides, I don't know if I can walk. And four people—Jason, you can't fly that many across country by yourself."
"No way," Jason said. "Leo, are you sure the dragon didn't malfunction? I mean, Festus is old, and—"
"And I might not have repaired him right?"
"He didn't say that, Valdez." Mia said, trying to pull up. She leaned her back towards Leo's chest.
Jason protested. "It's just—maybe you could fix it."
"I don't know." Leo sounded crestfallen. He pulled a few screws out of his pockets and started fiddling with them, and handed some to Mia, who also began to fiddle with them. "I'd have to find where he landed, if he's even in one piece."
"It was my fault." Piper said without thinking.
"Piper," Jason said gently, "-you were asleep when Festus conked out. It couldn't be your fault."
"Yeah, you're just shaken up," Leo agreed. He didn't even try to make a joke at her expense. "You're in pain. Just rest."
Leo stood. "Look, um, Jason, why don't you stay with her, bro? 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, and Mia realized he was a lot more shaken up than he was letting on. "You guys just don't run off without me."
"I'm coming with you." Mia said, standing up. She swayed, and fell on top of Leo. Leo had her in his arms.
"You are not coming with me, princesa." Leo said.
"Yes, I am." Mia said, "It's my dragon."
The end's of Leo's lips curled. "And I can't convince you otherwise."
"Of course not." Mia said. Jason and Piper noticed how much they like each other. Leo reached into his magic tool belt, pulled out a flashlight, and headed down the stairs, holding Mia's hand.
Mia wished the dragon hasn't landed on the toilets.
Of all the places to crash, a line of Porta-Potties would not have been her first choice. A dozen of the blue plastic boxes had been set up in the factory yard, and Festus had flattened them all.
Fortunately, they hadn't been used in a long time, and the fireball from the crash incinerated most of the contents; but still, there were some pretty gross chemicals leaking out of the wreckage.
Leo had to pick his way through and try not to breathe through his nose. He urged Mia to sit on the ground, and watch him snow was coming down, but the dragon's hide was still steaming hot. Of course, that didn't bother Leo.
After a few minutes climbing over Festus's inanimate body, Leo started to get irritated.
The dragon looked perfectly fine. Yes, it had fallen out of the sky and landed with a big ka-boom, but its body wasn't even dented. The fireball had apparently come from built up gasses inside the toilet units, not from the dragon itself. Festus's wings were intact. Nothing seemed broken. There was no reason it should have stopped.
"Not my fault," Leo muttered. "Festus, you're making me look bad."
Then he opened the control panel on the dragon's head, and Leo's heart sank. "Oh, Festus, what the heck?"
"What is it?" Mia asked, but Leo didn't say anything. Mia got up, swayed, and began to climb on top of the dragon.
The wiring had frozen over. Mia and Leo knew it had been okay yesterday. They'd worked so hard to repair the corroded lines, but something had caused a flash freeze inside the dragon's skull, where it should've been too hot for ice to form.
The ice had caused the wiring to overload and char the control disk. Leo couldn't see any reason that would've happened. Sure, the dragon was old, but still, it didn't make sense. Well, maybe it did to Leo. Mia never thought of engineering as something she would enjoy doing until Leo came.
They could replace the wires. That wasn't the problem. But the charred control disk was not good. 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 Mia or Leo couldn't replace—and it was damaged. Again.
Leo 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.
"Right," he muttered, brushing the snow off his shoulders, and then Mia's shoulders..
"Gimme a nylon bristle detail brush, some nitrite gloves, and maybe a can of that aerosol cleaning solvent." Leo said.
The tool belt obliged. Leo couldn't help smiling as he pulled out the supplies.
"It's kinda like your bracelet." Leo said, "Except mine makes me look more fashionable."
Mia laughed, for the first time Leo has ever heard her. She never even smiled at him, but a laugh was so much better. It made his heart feel warm instead, and he smiled to began cleaning off the control disk. While he worked, snow collected on the cooling dragon. Leo had to stop from time to time to summon fire and melt it away, but mostly he went into autopilot mode, his hands working by themselves as his thoughts wandered.
Mia's head thumped, so she placed her head on Leo's shoulder. Mia hummed a song as she fiddled with some of the materiel Leo has given her.
"Is it worth it?" Mia asked, as Leo looked back up at her.
"What?" Leo asked.
"Not telling them about your powers." Mia said, "Is it worth it?"
"I don't know." Leo said, fiddling with the parts.
After a piece of silence, Leo scolded himself, "Enough, Valdez. Nobody's going to play any violins for you just because you're not important. Fix the stupid dragon."
He got so involved with his work, he wasn't sure how much time had passed before he heard the voice.
"You‟re wrong, Valdez." Mia said, taking out a blanket that was in her bag, and wrapped it around her. She closed her eyes, and smelled the snow.
"She's right, Valdez." a voice said, that wasn't Mia's, "You are wrong."
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 eyes, a nose, and a mouth—the giant face of a sleeping woman.
She didn't exactly speak. Her lips didn't move. But 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.
"You." Leo was shaking so badly he wasn't sure he'd spoken aloud. "You killed my mom."
"Hm?" Mia asked, with her eyes still closed. Leo ignored her.
The face shifted. The mouth formed a sleepy smile like it was having a pleasant dream. Ah, but Leo. I am your mother too—the First Mother. Do not oppose me. Walk away now. Let my son Porphyrion rise and become king, and I will ease your burdens. You will tread lightly on the earth.
Leo grabbed the nearest thing he could find—a Porta-Potty seat—and threw it 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.
"Leo, are you okay?" Mia asked, getting up, and swaying again. Leo was shaking with fury.
Then from the direction of the factory, he heard a crash—like two dump trucks slamming together. Metal crumpled and groaned, and the noise echoed across the yard. Instantly Mia knew that Jason and Piper were in trouble.
Mia concentrated for a long sword, just like Percy's. It appeared in her hand. 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 they jumped off the dragon's back and ran toward the warehouse.