Disclaimer: Naruto is Masashi Kishimoto's property, Percy Jackson is the property of Rick Riordan, and Jojo's Bizarre Adventure is the property of Hirohiko Araki. All other references to any other works are property of their respective owners; I don't own this in any way. Please don't sue me.
Chapter 7: Dawn of the beginning
Jason dreamed of wolves. He stood in a clearing in the middle of a redwood forest. In front of him rose the ruins of a stone mansion. Low gray clouds blended with the ground fog, and cold rain hung in the air. A pack of large gray beasts milled around him, brushing against his legs, snarling and baring their teeth. They gently nudged him toward the ruins. Jason had no desire to become a dog biscuit, so he decided to do what they wanted. The ground squelched under his boots as he walked. Stone spires of chimneys, no longer attached to anything, like totem poles. The house must've been enormous once, multi-storied with massive log walls and a soaring gabled roof, but now nothing remained but its stone skeleton. Jason passed under a crumbling doorway and found himself in a kind of courtyard. In front of him was a drained reflecting pool, long and rectangular; Jason couldn't tell how deep it was because some unknown force was concealing the bottom with mist. A dirt path led all the way around, and the house's uneven walls rose on either side. Wolves paced under the arches of rough red volcanic stone. At the far end of the pool sat a giant she-wolf, several feet taller than Jason. Her eyes glowed silver in the fog, and her coat was the same color as the rocks—warm chocolaty red.
"I know this place," Jason said. The wolf regarded him. She didn't exactly speak, but Jason could understand her. The movements of her ears and whiskers, the flash of her eyes, the way she curled her lips all of these made the message clear.
"Of course," the she-wolf said. "You began your journey here as a pup. Now you must find your way back. A new quest, a new start."
"That isn't fair," Jason said. But as soon as he spoke, he knew there was no point complaining to the she-wolf. Wolves don't feel any sympathy; they don't expect fairness.
"Conquer or die; this is always our way." Jason wanted to protest that he couldn't conquer if he didn't know who he was or where everyone wanted him to go. But he knew this wolf. Her name was Lupa, the Mother Wolf, the greatest of her kind. Long ago, she'd found him in this place, protected him, nurtured him, chosen him, but if Jason showed any weakness, she'd rip him apart, rather than being her pup, Jason would be her dinner, in the wolf pack, being a liability was not an option.
"Can you guide me?" Jason asked after a heavy silence. Lupa made a rumbling noise deep in her throat, and the mist in the pool dissolved. At first, Jason wasn't sure what he was seeing. At opposite ends of the pool, two dark spires had erupted from the cement floor like the drill bits of some massive tunneling machines boring through the surface. Jason couldn't tell if the spires are rock or petrified vines, but they formed thick tendrils that came together in a point at the top. Each spire was about five feet tall, but they weren't identical. The one closest to Jason was darker and seemed like a solid mass, its tendrils fused. As he watched, it pushed a little farther out of the earth and expanded a little wider. On Lupa's end of the pool, the second spire's tendrils were more open, like the bars of a cage. Inside, Jason could vaguely see a misty figure struggling, shifting within its confines. "Hera." Lupa snarled.
"Use your senses, pup, I care nothing for Juno, but if she falls, our enemy wakes. That will be the end of us all. You know this place. Find it again and cleanse our house. Stop this before it's too late." The dark spire grew slowly larger, like the bulb of some horrible flower. Jason sensed that if it ever opened, it would release something he did not want to meet.
"Who am I?" Jason asked the she-wolf. "At least tell me that." Wolves don't have much of a sense of humor, but Jason could tell the question amused Lupa, as if Jason were a cub just trying out his claws, practicing to be the alpha male.
"You are our saving grace, as always." The she-wolf curled her lip as if she had just made a clever joke. "Do not fail, son of Jupiter, and remember that Nature has always been your ally." Jason woke up to the sound of thunder then he remembered where he was. It was always thundering in Cabin one. Above his cot, the domed ceiling had a blue-and-white mosaic like a cloudy sky. The cloud tiles shifted across the top, changing from white to black. Thunder rumbled through the room, and gold tiles flashed like veins of lightning. Except for the cot that the other campers had brought him, the cabin had no regular furniture—no chairs, tables, or dressers. As far as Jason could tell, it didn't even have a bathroom. The walls were carved with alcoves, each holding a bronze brazier or a golden eagle statue on a marble pedestal. In the center of the room, a twenty-foot-tall, full-color statue of Zeus in classic Greek robes stood with a shield at his side, and a lightning bolt raised, ready to smite somebody. Jason studied the sculpture, looking for anything he had in common with the Lord of the Sky.
"Black hair? Nope. Grumbly expression? Well, maybe. Beard? No thanks. In his robes and sandals, Zeus looked like a really buff, really angry hippie." Jason rolled his eyes. "Yeah, Cabin One. A big honor, the other campers had told him. Sure, if you liked sleeping in a cold temple by yourself with Hippie Zeus frowning down at you all night."
"Come on, Jason," the voice who spoke to him yesterday broke his train of thought. "You know what to do, drop, and give me 100."
"Yeah yeah, whatever," Jason responded almost automatically as if it was something he always responded with. Jason started doing the push-ups. Then, his brain seemed to catch up with him. "Who are you."
"Still don't remember; well, I'm sure you'll remember eventually."
"Jerk." Jason rolled his eyes again.
"Now that's just mean." the voice sounded a bit depressed, and Jason got the feeling he was now sitting in the corner of his mind sulking. Jason finished his set of one hundred then went to get up only to be unable to stand. "Nope, now you give me 300 sit-ups, then another 200 push-ups, one hundred on one arm only."
"Sadist," Jason growled. Jason did as the voice told him. After doing this grueling warm-up, Jason got to his feet and saw that someone had laid out new clothes for him next to his cot: jeans, sneakers, and an orange Camp Half-Blood shirt. He needed a change of clothes, but looking down at his tattered purple shirt, he was reluctant to change. It felt wrong somehow, putting on the camp shirt. He still couldn't believe he belonged here, despite everything they'd told him. He thought about his dream, hoping more memories would come back to him about Lupa or that ruined house in the redwoods. He knew he'd been there before. The wolf was real. But his head ached when he tried to remember. The marks on his forearm seemed to burn. If he could find those ruins, he could regain his past. Whatever was growing inside that rock spire, Jason had to stop it. He looked at Hippie Zeus. "You're welcome to help." the statue didn't respond. "Truly an inspiration to us all."
"Are you honestly surprised," the voice responded, "Jupiter was never all that communicative with us before; why would he change now?"
"You know me,"
"Would certainly like to think I do. After all, you and I have been talking for a long time."
"How long?"
"Since you were 5,"
"So do I know Piper or not."
"I can't say,"
"Can't or won't?"
"Can't; it's as if something is physically preventing me."
"I'm guessing you can't tell me where the Wolf House is, right?"
"Yep, any time I try to say anything related to your past, something binds my tongue. If I were a betting man, and I am, it's a serious problem. I'd wager that Juno has something to do with this."
"Joy." Jason rolled his eyes after he changed clothes. Jason walked over and checked his reflection in Zeus's shield. His face looked watery and strange in the metal like he was dissolving in a pool of gold. Jason didn't look as good as Piper had last night after she'd suddenly transformed. Jason still wasn't sure how he felt about that. He'd acted like an idiot, passing out with the nose bleed, sure she looked terrific after Aphrodite zapped her, but she also didn't' look like herself, not comfortable with the attention. Jason had felt bad for her. Maybe that was crazy, considering she'd just been claimed by a goddess and turned into the most gorgeous girl at camp. Everybody had started fawning over her, telling her how amazing she was and how she should be the one who went on the quest—but that attention had nothing to do with who she was. New dress, new makeup, glowing pink aura, and boom: suddenly, people liked her. Jason felt like he understood that. Last night when he'd called down lightning, the other campers' reactions had seemed familiar to him. He was pretty sure he'd been dealing with that for a long time—people looking at him in awe just because he was the son of Zeus, treating him like some kind of big shot, but it didn't have anything to do with him. Nobody cared about him, only just his big scary daddy standing behind him with the doomsday bolt, as if to say, Respect this kid or eat voltage! After the campfire, when people started heading back to their cabins, Jason had gone up to Piper and formally asked her to come with him on the quest. She'd still been in a state of shock, but she nodded, rubbing her arms, which must've been cold in that sleeveless dress.
"Aphrodite took my snowboarding jacket," she muttered. "Mugged by my mom." In the first row of the theater, Jason found a blanket and wrapped it around her shoulders.
"We'll get you a new jacket," he promised. Piper managed a smile. He wanted to wrap his arms around her, but he restrained himself. He didn't want her to think he was as shallow as everyone else—trying to make a move on her because she'd turned all beautiful. He was glad Piper was going with him on the quest. Jason had tried to act brave at the campfire, but it was just that, an act. The idea of going up against an evil force powerful enough to kidnap Hera scared him witless, especially since he didn't even know his past. Jason knew that he needed help for this journey, and it felt right: Piper should be with him. But things were already complicated without figuring out how much he liked her and why. Jason already felt guilty for messing with her head enough. He slipped on his new shoes, ready to get out of that cold, empty cabin. Then he spotted something he hadn't noticed the night before. Someone had moved the brazier out of one of the alcoves to create a sleeping niche. With a bedroll, backpack, even some pictures taped on the wall. Jason walked over. Whoever had slept there, it had been a long time ago. The bedroll smelled musty. Time had covered the backpack with a thin film of dust.
"Jason," the voice in his head warned, "it's not polite to go through someone else's stuff." Some of the photos once taped to the wall had lost their stickiness and fallen to the floor. One picture showed Annabeth much younger, maybe eight, but Jason could tell it was she: same blond hair and gray eyes, same distracted look like she was thinking a million things at once. She stood next to a sandy-haired guy about fourteen or fifteen, with a mischievous smile and ragged leather armor over a T-shirt. He was pointing to an alley behind them, like he was telling the photographer, Let's meet things in a dark alley and kill them! A second photo showed Annabeth and the same guy sitting at a campfire, laughing hysterically. Finally, pictures that had fallen. It was a strip of images like you'd take in a do-it-yourself photo booth: Annabeth and the sandy-haired guy, but with another girl between them. She was maybe fifteen, with black hair—choppy like Piper's—a black leather jacket and silver jewelry, so she looked kind of goth, but she was caught mid-laugh, and it was clear she was with her two best friends.
"That's Thalia," someone said. Jason turned. Annabeth was peering over his shoulder. Her expression was sad, like the picture brought back hard memories. "She's the other child of Zeus who lived here—but not for long. Sorry, I should've knocked."
"It's fine," Jason said. "Not like I think of this place like home." Annabeth looked ready for travel, a winter coat over purple armor that looked very familiar to Jason. Her knife at her belt, and a backpack. Jason said, "Don't suppose you've changed your mind about coming with us?" She shook her head.
"You got a good team already. I'm off to look for Percy." Jason was a little disappointed. He would've appreciated having somebody on the trip who knew what they were doing, so he wouldn't feel like he was leading Piper and Leo off a cliff. "Hey, you'll do fine," Annabeth promised. "Something tells me this isn't your first quest." Jason had a vague suspicion she was right, but that didn't make him feel any better. Everyone seemed to think he was so brave and confident, but they didn't see how lost he felt. How could they trust him when he didn't even know who he was? "If you're worried, you can say so." Jason looked at Annabeth, shocked.
"How?" Annabeth flared her eyes into existence, only this time, instead of blue, they were white.
"The Byakugan is excellent at getting a read on people; I can tell you're nervous. Just remember, a person's true strength comes out when they are protecting something precious."
"You know who I am, don't you?" Annabeth shook her head,
"I've got no idea; a thousand things seem to conflict with you, confident but nervous, powerful yet restrained. It's all a big mystery to me." Annabeth shrugged, "My best guess is you're a loner. It happens sometimes. For one reason or another, the camp never found you, but you survived anyway by constantly moving around. You trained yourself to fight. Handled the monsters on your own, somehow you beat the odds."
"The first thing Chiron said to me," Jason remembered, "was you should be dead."
"That could be why," Annabeth said. "Most demigods would never make it on their own. And a child of Zeus—I mean, it doesn't get any more dangerous than that. The chances of your reaching age fifteen without finding Camp Half-Blood or dying—microscopic. But like I said, it does happen. Thalia ran away when she was young. She survived on her own for years. Even took care of me for a while. So maybe you were a loner too." Jason held out his arm.
"And these marks?" Annabeth glanced at the tattoos. They bothered her.
"Well, the eagle is the symbol of Zeus, so that makes sense. The twelve lines—maybe they stand for years if you'd been making them since you were three years old. SPQR—that's the motto of the old Roman Empire: Senatus Populusque Romanus, the Senate, and The People of Rome. Though why you would burn that on your arm, I don't know. Unless you had a harsh Latin teacher …" Jason was pretty sure that wasn't the reason. It also didn't seem possible he'd been on his own his whole life. But what else made sense? Annabeth had been pretty straightforward. Camp Half-Blood was the only safe place in the world for demigods.
"I, um … had a weird dream last night," he said. It seemed like a stupid thing to confide in Annabeth, but Annabeth didn't look surprised.
"Happens more often than you think. What did you see?" Jason told Annabeth about the wolves and the ruined house, the two rock spires. As he talked, Annabeth started pacing and was becoming increasingly agitated. "You don't remember where this house is?" she asked. Jason shook his head.
"But I've seen it before."
"Redwoods, she mused, "could be northern California and the she-wolf. I've studied gods, goddesses, spirits, and monsters my whole life, even started delving into Egyptian mythology, and I've never heard that name before."
"She said the enemy was a 'her.' I thought maybe it was Hera, but—"
"I wouldn't trust Hera, but I don't think she's the enemy. And that thing rising out of the earth—" Annabeth's expression darkened. "You've got to stop it."
"You know what it is, don't you?" he asked. "Or at least, you've got a guess. I saw your face last night at the campfire. You looked at Chiron like it was suddenly dawning on you, then you both started speaking Russian. I heard Madara's name and 'Shinobi' but other than nothing. You spoke Russian because you didn't want to scare us." Annabeth hesitated.
"Jason, the thing about prophecies …the more you know, the more you try to change them, and that can be disastrous. Chiron believes it's better that you find your path, find out things in your own time. If he'd told me everything he knew before my first quest with Percy, I'm not sure I would've been able to go through with it. For your quest, it's even more important."
"That bad, huh?"
"Not if you succeed. At least I hope not."
"But I don't even know where to start. Where am I supposed to go?"
"Follow the monsters," Annabeth suggested. Jason thought about that. The storm spirit who'd attacked him at the Grand Canyon had said his boss recalled him. If Jason could track the storm spirits, he might be able to find the person controlling them. And maybe that would lead him to Hera's prison.
"Okay," he said. "How do I find storm winds?"
"I'd ask a wind god," Annabeth said. "Aeolus is the master of all the winds, but he's a little … unpredictable. No one finds him unless he wants them to. I'd try one of the four seasonal wind gods that work for Aeolus. The nearest one, the one who has the most dealings with heroes, is Boreas, the North Wind."
"So if I looked him up on Google maps—"
"Oh, he's not hard to find," Annabeth promised. "He settled in North America like all the other gods. So, of course, he picked the oldest northern settlement, about as far north as you can go."
"Maine?" Jason guessed.
"Farther." Jason tried to envision a map.
"What was farther north than Maine?" Jason pondered, "The oldest northern settlement." then it dawned on him "Canada," he decided. "Quebec." Annabeth smiled.
"I hope you speak French." Jason felt a spark of excitement. Quebec—at least now he had a goal. Find the North Wind, track down the storm spirits, find out who they worked for, and where that ruined house was. Free Hera. All in four days. Cake.
"Thanks, Annabeth." He looked at the photo booth pictures still in his hand. "So, um … you said it was dangerous being a child of Zeus. Whatever happened to Thalia?"
"Oh, she's fine," Annabeth said. "She became a Hunter of Artemis—one of the handmaidens of the goddess. They roam around the country, killing monsters. We don't see them at camp very often. Especially since she and Percy don't get along and the rest of the hunters have a sore spot in their memory for him considering the ass-kicking he gave them." Jason glanced over at the massive statue of Zeus. He understood why Thalia had slept in this alcove. It was the only place in the cabin, not in Hippie Zeus's line of sight. And even that hadn't been enough. She'd chosen to follow Artemis and be part of a group rather than stay in this cold, drafty temple alone with her twenty-foot-tall dad—Jason's dad—glowering down at her. Eat voltage! Jason didn't have any trouble understanding Thalia's feelings. He wondered if there was a Hunters group for guys.
"Who's the other kid in the photo?" he asked. "The sandy-haired guy." Annabeth's face tightened though she tried to hide it.
"That's Luke, and he's dead now."
"Probably a bad idea to touch on the subject anymore." The voice in Jason's head spoke up. "I was never overly fond of angering a Hyuga." Jason focused on Thalia's face. He kept thinking he was missing something. Jason felt a strange sense of connection to this other child of Zeus, someone who might understand his confusion, but another voice inside his head, an insistent whisper, said: 'Dangerous, stay away.'
"How old is she now?" Jason asked, eventually breaking the silence.
"Hard to say," Annabeth shrugged, "she was a tree for a while, but now she's immortal."
"WHAT?!" Jason's expression must have been hilarious because Annabeth started laughing.
"Don't worry, that's not something that all children of Zeus go through. It's a long story, but, well, she was out of commission for a long time. If she'd aged regularly, she'd be in her twenties now, but Thalia looks the same as in that picture, like she's about, well, about your age. Fifteen or Sixteen." Something the she-wolf had said last night in his dream nagged Jason.
"What is her last name?" Annabeth looked a bit uneasy at his question.
"She didn't use her last name. If she had to, she'd use her mom's, but they didn't get along. Thalia ran away when she was pretty young." Jason waited in silence. "Grace," Annabeth sighed, "Thalia Grace." Jason's fingers went numb. The picture fluttered to the floor. "You okay?" Annabeth asked. A shred of memory had ignited—maybe a tiny piece that Hera had forgotten to steal. Or perhaps she'd left it there on purpose—just enough for him to remember that name and know that digging up his past was extremely dangerous. You should be dead, Chiron had said. It wasn't a comment about Jason beating the odds as a loner. Chiron knew something specific—something about Jason's family. The she-wolf's words in his dream finally made sense to him, her clever joke at his expense. He could imagine Lupa growling a wolfish laugh. "What is it?" Annabeth pressed. Jason couldn't keep this to himself. It would kill him, and he had to get Annabeth's help. If she knew Thalia, maybe she could advise him.
"You have to swear not to tell anyone else," he said.
"Jason—"
"Swear it," he urged. "Until I figure out what's going on, what this all means—" He rubbed the burned tattoos on his forearm. "You have to keep a secret." Annabeth hesitated, but her curiosity won out.
"All right. Until you tell me it's okay, I won't share what you say with anyone else. I swear on the River Styx." Thunder rumbled, even louder than usual for the cabin. You are our saving Grace; the wolf had snarled. Jason picked up the photo from the floor.
"My last name is Grace," he said. "This is my sister." Annabeth turned pale. She looked at Jason. Her eyes flared to life again. She looked at him.
"Yeah, I can see it, plus your chakra seems similar to hers. I'm not as skilled a sensory type as Percy is, but I can tell when someone is lying to me and telling when two types of chakra are similar."
"Y-you believe me?"
"Not the weirdest thing I've ever heard." Annabeth shrugged. "After all, if Percy wanted to, he could bring down the gods and establish himself as the uncontested ruler of all creation." Before Jason could ask if she was joking, the doors of the cabin burst open. Half a dozen campers spilled in, led by the bald guy from Iris, Butch.
"Hurry!" he said, and Jason couldn't tell if his expression was excitement or fear. "The dragon is back."
(Character switch)
Piper woke up in cabin ten and grabbed a mirror; after all, there were plenty of them all over the Aphrodite cabin. She sat up on her bunk, looked at her reflection, and groaned.
"I'm still gorgeous," Piper moaned to no one, then she placed the mirror back down. "I've tried everything, messing up my hair, washing out the makeup, cried to make my eyes red, but nothing worked!" The sensation of getting slapped upside the head again. "ARE YOU JUST GOING TO HIT ME EVERY TIME I START COMPLAINING?!" the only answer was a second slap.
"That is no way to speak to your elders." The voice replied, "you and I have a lot of work to do, I will begin your training later today, but for now, you have to get ready for your quest." Piper sighed and raked her fingers through her hair again, but it was no use. They just popped back into place. She looked like Cherokee Barbie.
"That's not going to work." A voice spoke up, and Piper turned to see a girl looking at her. "Mom's blessing will last for at least another day, but sometimes I've seen it last for a week."
"A week?" Piper grimaced, "you're kidding, right?" the girl shook her head.
"Don't worry, we all had to go through this; it's a lot better than it used to be." The girl smiled a bit. "There was one daughter of Aphrodite, and she was a bitch to everyone, always going on and on about 'how she was a true Daughter of Aphrodite,' and how we were all 'forgetting our place as heart breakers.' Glad she's dead."
"What happened to her?"
"She was a traitor. She sold her soul to have Percy as her slave or something for the rest of eternity when the Titans took over Olympus. However, she tipped her hand a bit too early, and she was caught just before the battle of Manhattan. Percy killed her without a second of hesitation, seemed to enjoy it too."
"Why?"
"Because Drew, that's her name, tried multiple times to force herself between Percy and Annabeth, trying to get Percy to dump Annabeth to be with her instead."
"Percy seems pretty scary."
"He's a hunk," another daughter of Aphrodite spoke up.
"Don't let Annabeth hear you say that, Sammy." Another girl chimed in. "Don't forget she's the jealous type."
"Don't remind me," Sammy muttered. "I still can't move my arms properly since that Juken barrage."
"Percy can be scary." the first girl spoke up, "he's kind to his allies, and honestly, you couldn't ask for a better friend." the girl's face turned dark. "But he's ruthless to his enemies."
"Cabin 10!" a new voice and Piper turned to see Silena standing in the doorway. "We've got 15 minutes till breakfast. I want this place spotless by then!"
"Yes, ma'am!" the cabin mates responded and immediately got to work. "Piper, dear." Piper turned to look at Silena.
"Yes?" Piper asked apprehensively.
"You don't need to look so nervous," Silena smiled. "Help out our siblings clean the cabin, then get ready for your quest, and may the Gods be with you." with that, Silena walked out, leaving Piper to try and help her siblings. Piper turned to see the girl she'd been speaking with earlier staring at her.
"Piper," she spoke once she had Piper's attention. "Help us out by dusting a bit, will you?"
"Sure, uh?" Piper started not knowing this girl's name.
"Amilla," Amilla replied, holding out her hand to shake it.
"Nice to meet you, Amilla." Piper shook her hand in return. "I'm surprised everyone here is so nice. I thought this place would be your stereotypical 'popular girls and boys' area."
"We used to be like that, then Silena put her foot down and said we were changing that tradition."
"And you all listened? Just like that?"
"Well, when the person telling you to do something can punch mountains out of existence, it's in the interest of your health to do as they say." With that, Piper started helping out by dusting. As she went along, Piper noticed the layout of the cabin. The guys' had one row of bunks separated by a curtain, but their section of the cabin was just as neat and orderly as the girls'. Something was unnatural about that. Every camper had a wooden camp chest at the foot of their bunk with their name painted on it, and Piper guessed that the owner of each trunk had neatly folded them and color-coordinated them all. The only bit of individualism was how the campers decorated their private bunk spaces. Each had slightly different pictures tacked up of whatever celebrities they thought were hot. A few had personal photos, too, but most were actors or singers or whatever.
"I hope that I don't see The Poster." It had been almost a year since the movie, "by now surely everyone had torn down those old tattered advertisements and tacked up something newer." But no such luck. She spotted one on the wall by the storage closet, in the middle of a collage of famous heartthrobs. The title was lurid red: King of Sparta. Under that, the poster showed the leading man a three-quarters shot of bare-chested bronze flesh, with ripped pectorals and six-pack abs. He was clad in only a Greek war kilt and a purple cape, sword in hand. He looked like he'd just been rubbed in oil, his short black hair gleaming and rivulets of sweat pouring off his rugged face, those dark, sad eyes facing the camera as if to say, I will kill your men and steal your women! Ha-ha! "It was the most ridiculous poster of all time. Dad and I had had a good laugh over it the first time we saw it. Then the movie made a bajillion dollars. The poster graphic popped up everywhere. I couldn't get away from it at school, walking down the street, even online. It became The Poster, the most embarrassing thing in my life. And yeah, it was a picture of my dad." She turned away so no one would think she was staring at it. Maybe when everyone went to breakfast, she could tear it down, and they wouldn't notice. As Piper was dusting, she straightened her bed, then realized the top blanket was the one Jason had wrapped around her shoulders last night. She picked it up and pressed it to her face. It smelled of wood smoke, but unfortunately not of Jason. He was the only person who'd been genuinely nice to her after the claiming as he cared about how she felt, not just about her stupid new clothes. God, she'd wanted to kiss him, but he'd seemed so uncomfortable, almost scared of her. She couldn't blame him. She'd been glowing pink.
"Focus, Piper." That voice spoke up again, "Think about Jason later."
"You and I really need to have a talk about personal privacy."
"I'm in your head, dear. I can't exactly help but hear what you are thinking." Piper was brought out of her thoughts by the sound of two of her siblings. Piper turned to see a boy and a girl standing there.
"Hi Piper," the boy said, "my name is Michael. Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too, Michael."
"My name is Lacy," the girl held out her hand. "Nice to meet you, Piper."
"Nice to meet you too." Piper shook her hand. "Why are you so nice to me? I don't feel like I belong here."
"Because we're family, we believe that a person's true strength comes out when they defend someone precious to them."
"When tree leaves dance, one shall find flame." Michael started.
"The fire's shadow will illuminate the village, and once again, tree leaves shall bud anew." Lucy finished. "That's what Percy taught us."
"The Will of Fire," Piper whispered.
"Exactly," Michael replied, "though it isn't what it used to be, we could still be considered The Village Hidden in the Leaves." Just then, a roar echoed over the canyon. Everyone stopped what they were doing and ran outside with speeds that Piper couldn't track. She followed them out to see Leo sitting on the back of a gigantic bronze dragon.
"LEO!?" Piper yelled, shocked, just then a conch shell blue, all the satyrs started shouted.
"Don't kill me!" Half the camp ran outside in a mixture of pajamas and armor. The dragon landed right in the middle of the green.
"It's cool! Don't shoot!" Leo yelled; hesitantly, the archers lowered their bows while others dropped their hands, clearly interrupting their handsigns. Others sheathed their weapons but were still on edge. The dragon was gigantic; it glistened in the morning sun like a living penny sculpture —different shades of copper and bronze—a sixty-foot-long serpent with steel talons and drill-bit teeth and glowing ruby eyes. It had bat-shaped wings twice its length that unfurled like metallic sails, making a sound like coins cascading out of a slot machine every time they flapped.
"It's beautiful," Piper muttered. The other demigods stared at her like she was insane. The dragon reared its head and shot a column of fire into the sky. The campers didn't flinch at the display of fire, which surprised Piper. Leo slid calmly off the dragon's back. He held up his hands like he was surrendering, except he still had that crazy grin on his face.
"People of Earth, I come in peace!" he shouted. He looked like he'd been rolling around in the campfire. His army coat and his face were smeared with soot. His hands were grease-stained, and he wore a new tool belt around his waist. His eyes were bloodshot. His curly hair was so oily it stuck up in porcupine quills, and he smelled strangely of Tabasco sauce. But he looked delighted. "Festus is just saying hello!"
"That thing is dangerous!" an Ares girl shouted, brandishing her spear. "Kill it now!"
"Stand down!" someone ordered; Piper turned to see Madara walking towards them, and Jason was pushing through the crowd flanked by Annabeth and the girl from the Hephaestus cabin, Nyssa. "Well, consider me impressed," Madara clapped his hands. "Leo. When I told you where to look for the Dragon, I didn't actually expect you to find it, then tame it."
"Well," Leo replied, smiling, "you're little pep talk helped."
"Leo," Jason spoke next, "what have you done?" Leo turned to face him.
"I found you a ride!" Leo beamed. "You said I could go on this quest if I could get you a ride. Well, I got you a class-A metallic flying bad boy! Festus can take us anywhere!"
"It has wings." Nyssa stammered; her jaw looked like it might drop off her face, and even Beckendorf looked a little shocked.
"Yeah, I found them and reattached them."
"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 and not to mention the laser cannon…"
"I'm just lucky, and now, am I on this quest or what?" Jason scratched his head.
"You named him Festus?" Jason asked. "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 nostalgic, 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. If you're looking for a good omen, you won't find a better one. Go!" Jason nodded. Then he smiled at Piper.
"You ready, partner?" Piper looked at the bronze dragon wings shining against 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. The air was freezing, 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 magical 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 image in his pocket. "We're making good time. Probably get there by tonight."
"Who is the girl in the picture, but I 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." a stinging slap upside her head brought her back to reality.
"You're getting depressed again." That voice nagged.
"Where are we heading?"
"To find the god of the North Wind," Jason said. "And chase some storm spirits."
