We were...well...screaming for our lives when Leo woke up.

We were spiraling to the ground in a free fall, still on the dragon's back, but Festus's hide was cold. His ruby eyes were dim.

"Not again!" Leo yelled. "You can't fall again!"

I could barely hold on to the dragon's metal scales. The wind stung my eyes, but I could just about see that Leo had managed to pull open the panel on the dragon's neck. He toggled the switches. He tugged the wires. The dragon's wings flapped once, but suddenly, I caught a whiff of burning bronze. I didn't have the slightest idea what was going on, but I hoped Leo knew what he was doing. I didn't think Festus had the strength to keep flying, and I was pretty sure Leo couldn't get to the main control panel on the dragon's head—not in midair. I saw the lights of a city below us—just flashes in the dark as we plummeted in circles. We had only seconds before we crashed.

"Jason!" Leo screamed. "Take the girls and fly out of here!"

"What?"

"We need to lighten the load! I might be able to reboot Festus, but he's carrying too much weight!"

"What about you?" I cried. "If you can't reboot him—"

"I'll be fine," Leo yelled. "Just follow me to the ground. Go!"

Jason grabbed Piper around the waist. He held out his arm for me. We unbuckled our harnesses, and in a flash we were gone—shooting into the air.

I could just about see Leo. He seemed to be talking to Festus as he worked.

Jason's face was going red at the strain of holding us both.

"Extend your arms and legs!" he yelled. We complied.

I could hear Festus groan—metal creaking inside his neck. His eyes flickered weakly to life, and he spread his wings. Their fall turned into a steep glide.

"Good!" Leo yelled, so loud I could hear him in the wind rushing past my ears. "Come on, big boy. Come on!"

The ground was getting closer, and closer. We needed to land.

There was a big river—no. Not good for a fire-breathing dragon. We'd never get Festus out from the bottom if he sank, especially in freezing temperatures. Then, on the riverbanks, I spotted a white mansion with a huge snowy lawn inside a tall brick perimeter fence—like some rich person's private compound, all of it blazing with light. A perfect landing field. I yelled to Leo, and pointed at it. He nodded, did his best to steer the dragon toward it, and Festus seemed to come back to life. We could make this!

Then everything went wrong. As we approached the lawn, spotlights along the fence fixed on them, blinding me. I shielded my eyes. I heard bursts like tracer fire, the sound of metal being cut to shreds—and BOOM.

Festus crashed to the ground, and Leo blacked out.


When Leo came to his senses, Jason and Piper were to one side, leaning over him, and I had my hand on his forehead. He was lying in the snow, covered in mud and grease. He spit a clump of frozen grass out of his mouth.

"Where—"

"Lie still. " Piper had tears in her eyes. "You rolled pretty hard when—when Festus—"

"Where is he?" Leo sat up, but he flopped back down again. They'd landed inside the compound. Something had happened on the way in—gunfire?

"Seriously, Leo," Jason said. "You could be hurt. You shouldn't—"

Leo pushed himself to his feet. Then his head turned towards the wreckage. Festus dropped the big canary cages as he came over the fence, because they'd rolled in different directions and landed on their sides, perfectly undamaged.

Festus hadn't been so lucky.

The dragon had disintegrated. His limbs were scattered across the lawn. His tail hung on the fence. The main section of his body had plowed a trench twenty feet wide and fifty feet long across the mansion's yard before breaking apart. What remained of his hide was a charred, smoking pile of scraps. Only his neck and head were somewhat intact, resting across a row of frozen rosebushes like a pillow.

"No," Leo sobbed. He ran to the dragon's head and stroked its snout. The dragon's eyes flickered weakly. Oil leaked out of his ear.

"You can't go," Leo pleaded. "You're the best thing I ever fixed. "

The dragon's head whirred its gears, as if it were purring. We stood next to him, but Leo kept his eyes fixed on the dragon. He closed his eyes, and silent tears streamed down his face.

"It's not fair," he said.

The dragon clicked. A long click, and two short ones. Almost like a pattern...morse code. Leo stared at the dragon, like they were having a telepathic conversation.

"Yeah," Leo said. "I understand. I will. I promise. "

The dragon's eyes went dark. Festus was gone.

Leo cried. He didn't even look embarrassed. Jason and Piper stood on either side, patting his shoulders, saying comforting things, and I stood a bit to the side. Either way, Leo wasn't paying attention.

Finally Jason said, "I'm so sorry, man. What did you promise Festus?"

Leo sniffled. He opened the dragon's head panel, just to be sure, but the control disk was cracked and burned beyond repair.

"Something my dad told me," Leo said. "Everything can be reused. "

"Your dad talked to you?" Jason asked. "When was this?"

Leo didn't answer. He worked and tugged at the dragon's neck hinges until the head was detached. It weighed about a hundred pounds, but Leo managed to hold it in his arms. He looked up at the starry sky and said, "Take him back to the bunker, Dad. Please, until I can reuse him. I've never asked you for anything. "

The wind picked up, and the dragon's head floated out of Leo's arms like it weighed nothing. It flew into the sky and disappeared.

I looked at him in amazement. "He answered you?"

"I had a dream," Leo managed. "Tell you later. "

I knew he knew he owed us a better explanation, but right now Leo could barely speak. He looked like a broken machine himself—like someone had removed one little part of him, and now he'd never be complete. He might move, he might talk, he might keep going and do his job. But he'd always be off balance, never calibrated exactly right.

Still, he couldn't afford to break down completely. Otherwise, Festus had died for nothing. We had to complete this quest. Or the world would crumble down. Or explode. Take your pick.

I looked around. The large white mansion glowed in the center of the grounds. Tall brick walls with lights and security cameras surrounded the perimeter, but now I could see just how well those walls were defended.

"Where are we?" he asked. "I mean, what city?"

"Omaha, Nebraska," I said. "I saw a billboard as we flew in. But I don't know what this mansion is. We came in right behind you, but as you were landing, Leo, I swear it looked like—I don't know—"

"Lasers," Leo said. He picked up a piece of dragon wreckage and threw it toward the top of the fence. Immediately a turret popped up from the brick wall and a beam of pure heat incinerated the bronze plating to ashes.

Jason whistled. "Some defense system. How are we even alive?"

"Festus," Leo said miserably. "He took the fire. The lasers sliced him to bits as he came in so they didn't focus on you. I led him into a death trap. "

"You couldn't have known," Piper said. "He saved our lives again. "

"But what now?" Jason said. "The main gates are locked, and I'm guessing I can't fly us out of here without getting shot down. "

Leo looked up the walkway at the big white mansion. "Since we can't go out, we'll have to go in. "


I would've died five times on the way to the front door if not for Leo.

First it was the motion-activated trapdoor on the sidewalk, then the lasers on the steps, then the nerve gas dispenser on the porch railing, the pressure-sensitive poison spikes in the welcome mat, and of course the exploding doorbell.

Leo deactivated all of them. It was like he could smell the traps, and he picked just the right tool out of his belt to disable them.

"You're amazing, man," Jason said.

Leo scowled as he examined the front door lock. "Yeah, amazing," he said. "Can't fix a dragon right, but I'm amazing. "

"Hey, that wasn't your—"

"Front door's already unlocked," Leo announced.

I stared at the door in disbelief. "It is? All those traps, and the door's unlocked?"

Leo turned the knob. The door swung open easily. He stepped inside without hesitation.

Before Jason could follow, I caught his arm. "He's going to need some time to get over Festus. Don't take it personally. "

"Yeah," Jason said. "Yeah, okay. "

But I could tell that still he felt terrible. Back in Medea's store, he'd said some pretty harsh stuff to Leo—stuff a friend shouldn't say, not to mention the fact he'd almost skewered Leo with a sword. If it hadn't been for me and Piper, they'd both be dead. And we hadn't gotten out of that encounter easily, either.

"Piper," Jason said, "I know I was in a daze back in Chicago, but that stuff about your dad—if he's in trouble, I want to help. I don't care if it's a trap or not. "

Her eyes looked shattered, like someone had smashed a hammer through them, and she couldn't find all the pieces.

"Jason, you don't know what you're saying. Please—don't make me feel worse. Come on. We should stick together. "

She ducked inside.

"Together," Jason said to himself, but I could hear him. "Yeah, we're doing great with that. "

My first impression of the house: Dark.

From the echo of our footsteps, I could tell the entry hall was enormous, even bigger than Boreas's penthouse; but the only illumination came from the yard lights outside. A faint glow peeked through the breaks in the thick velvet curtains. The windows rose about ten feet tall. Spaced between them along the walls were life-size metal statues. As my's eyes adjusted to a nocturnal environment, I saw sofas arranged in a U in the middle of the room, with a central coffee table and one large chair at the far end. A massive chandelier glinted overhead. Along the back wall stood a row of closed doors.

"Where's the light switch?" Jason's voice echoed alarmingly through the room.

"Don't see one," Leo said.

"Fire?" Piper suggested.

Leo held out his hand, but nothing happened. "It's not working. "

"Your fire is out? Why?" I asked.

"Well, if I knew that—"

"Okay, okay," I said. "What do we do—explore?"

Leo shook his head. "After all those traps outside? Bad idea. "

My skin tingled. I hated being a demigod. Looking around, I didn't see a comfortable room to hang out in. I imagined vicious storm spirits lurking in the curtains, dragons under the carpet, a chandelier made of lethal ice shards, ready to impale us in T-10 seconds.

"Leo's right," he said. "We're not separating again—not like in Detroit. "

"Oh, thank you for reminding me of the Cyclopes. " Piper's voice quavered. "I needed that. "

"It's a few hours until dawn," Jason guessed. "Too cold to wait outside. Let's bring the cages in and make camp in this room. Wait for daylight; then we can decide what to do. "

Nobody offered a better idea, so we rolled in the cages with Coach Hedge and the storm spirits, then settled in. Thankfully, Leo didn't find any poison throw pillows or electric whoopee cushions on the sofas.

Leo didn't seem in the mood to make more tacos. Besides, we had no fire, so we settled for cold rations.

As we ate, I studied the metal statues along the walls. They looked like Greek gods or heroes. Maybe that was a good sign. Or maybe they were used for target practice. On the coffee table sat a tea service and a stack of glossy brochures, but I couldn't make out the words. The big chair at the other end of the table looked like a throne. None of us tried to sit in it.
The canary cages didn't make the place any less creepy. The storm spirits kept churning in their prison, hissing and spinning, and I got the uncomfortable feeling they were watching Jason. I could sense their hatred for the children of Zeus—the lord of the sky who'd ordered Aeolus to imprison their kind. The venti would like nothing better than to tear Jason apart.

As for Coach Hedge, he was still frozen mid-shout, his cudgel raised. Leo was working on the cage, trying to open it with various tools, but the lock seemed to be giving him a hard time. I decided not to sit next to him in case Hedge suddenly unfroze and went into ninja goat mode.

Despite how weird I felt, once my stomach was full, I started to nod off. The couches were a little too comfortable —a lot better than a dragon's back—and I hadn't slept since the night we went to the bunker. I was exhausted.

Piper had already curled up on the other sofa. I wondered if she was really asleep or dodging a conversation about her dad. Whatever Medea had meant in Chicago, about Piper getting her dad back if she cooperated—it didn't sound good. If Piper had risked her own dad to save them, that made me feel even guiltier. Not that I'd know what she was going through, y'know, with my dad being god of godly glamour and pzazz.

And we were running out of time. If I had my days straight, this was early morning of December 20. Which meant tomorrow was the winter solstice.


Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd!

Yours,

MilkandCheez