VI

PANDA

The ground was zooming past us and it didn't even feel like we were moving that fast. I leaned forward and rested my head against Percy's back as I stared at the inlet passing us by. It was usually peaceful and flowing freely, but today it was raging. It crashed against the bays and docks, surely soaking anyone close enough to the water. I frowned. I didn't take that as a good sign.

"Where are we going, Spyridon?" I asked, rubbing my forehead against Percy's soft cotton t-shirt.

"Towards Alaska."

"Alaska?" I echoed, clearly confused.

"Gods do not reign that land."

"Oh…" I said. I decided not to ask for further details because it would only confuse me more. Plus, I didn't want anything else on my mind. I had enough. My head was crammed with painful memories and terrible worries. I chewed on my lip as Spyridon softly glided. I made the mistake of closing my eyes. I fell asleep to the slow whoosh of his wings. The sleep was good. For the first time, there was no goddess trying to hurt me or deaths or terrible futures or places on fire. It was just blackness.

But the next thing I knew, I couldn't feel Spyridon's sleek scales under my fingertips or Percy's shirt on my forehead. All I felt was air. My eyes snapped open and the first thing that came out of my mouth was a terrified scream. I had slid off Spyridon's back.

"PANDA!" someone screamed. I felt something wrap around my wrist. Nico had caught me and Percy was holding on to his legs, as half of his body was hanging off Spyridon. I slapped my other hand onto his and held on, as Spyridon jerked from side to side.

"I've got you!" Nico yelled as he slowly pulled me up. I gripped on to Spyridon and helped pulled myself up. Percy grabbed me and between the two they hauled me up. I was breathing heavily and my hands were shaking from the scare. I'd prefer falling into a river from two thousand feet up over dangling from a cursed dragon any day.

"What happened?" I asked, but they didn't have to answer. There was a loud roar close behind us. I turned my head. My breath caught as I looked at the monster flying behind us. It was a dragon. But it was nothing like Spyridon. Spyridon was sleek, black and peaceful and maybe a little scary, but this dragon… It was a bright red, twice the size of Spyridon, which is like four school buses worth of meat. It had a long snout and long red wings flapping furiously behind us. It had giant white teeth and evil looking black eyes. It had blunt spikes lining down the middle of its body from neck to the end of its tail. It opened its mouth and blew fire. Just freaking perfect. Spyridon swerved and my hands gripped his hard skin as he took a hard right. We were now going much faster than before. I looked back again and the dragon was gaining. The dragon breathed fire again and Spyridon dove. I gripped on to Percy while Nico grasped me. We all yelled as Spyridon dove at a 90° angle. He fixed himself again and we were now about two hundred feet above the ground. The dragon wasn't far behind. Spyridon glanced back and the dragon was now in biting distance.

Spyridon flew left, but the dragon took a short cut. He went diagonally and slammed into Spyridon so hard, I felt my teeth shatter. Spyridon was pushed backwards and he lost control. I noticed then one of his wings was bent badly. His wing was broken. He tried to stay in the air, at least get out of the way of houses, but he spiraled downwards. He clashed with the ground in some kind of reserve. As soon as his body hit the ground, Percy, Nico and I went flying. I slammed against a tree and slid to the floor. I tried to stand up, but I felt an awful pain in my leg. I gasped, as my arms gave way and fell against the grass again.

My eyesight was blurry. I tried to blink it away and I could make out a red figure landing next to something black. The red dragon reared up and threw his powerful limbs upward, revealing giant sharp claws. I knew exactly what was going to happen next.

"No!" I screamed, as I stumbled up, but fell after a few steps. "NO!" I desperately yelled again, as I watched in terror the scene that was unraveling before me. But hope swelled up inside me, when Spyridon jumped up and tackled the dragon. It was like clash of the giants. The ground trembled underneath me as their feet thundered against the ground as they shoved each other and slashed at each other like a pair of lions.

Spyridon was quick, but the dragon was sheer power. They snapped at each other, the sound of their teeth clashing together reaching my ears from about a hundred feet away. Trees were knocked down, boulders were crushed. It was like to earthquakes fighting. Then, Spyridon broke free from the tackle and bit on the dragon's neck. He chomped hard because I could see green blood flowing down its neck. But the dragon broke loose and slashed at Spyridon's chest so hard he collapsed. The dragon stumbled around, green blood oozing from the deep wounds in its neck, until he too collapsed on the ground. It kicked its legs and then went limp. It slowly turned into golden ash and melted into the ground.

My eyes travelled from the disintegrating dragon to Spyridon. For a moment, I thought he was dead, but I could barely see the rise and fall of his giant chest. This time, pain was not going to be an issue. I forced myself up and limped towards him as fast I could make my leg move. As soon as I reached him, I knelt next to his big bleeding face. His mouth was slowly open and he was breathing dangerously heavy. I made myself ignore his giant teeth and touched his face. His eyes slowly opened and I almost cringed as his red eyes looked at me.

"Spyridon?" I said softly, passing my hand down his cheek bone, which was at least as big as I was.

"Yes my child?" I bit my lip to keep my emotions under control. My heart ached as I could slowly feel his life fading away.

"You aren't going to leave me, okay? You will not leave me, you got that?" I said fiercely. I heard a very weak chuckle of his echo in my head.

"You know as well as I do, that this is the end of the road for me."

"No! It's not. I won't allow it," I began whimpering. I felt his blood on my hand and when I looked; my fingers were covered in his green blood.

"You cannot control fate, my child," he said weakly. He took a giant dragon breath and he slowly blinked his eyes.

"I don't give a rat's ass about fate. You can't leave me!"

"Be brave Pandora Jackson. I know you will do the right thing. But remember my dear; fate… fate is the key." Spyridon's fierce red eyes slowly closed and with one last breath his whole body fell limp.

"No…" I whispered. "No, no, no, no," I whimpered as I stared at the lifeless body of Spyridon.

Sorry for the late update. I got a little stuck, but hopefully I'm unstuck now :D Yeah... Well, tell me what you guys think of this chapter :) I hope you guys liked it.

And thanks a lot to Percy Waterblue and MysteryPerson for the reviews. Much appreciated and a much needed push for me to continue this story. Thanks guys :)

Also, I'm going to give a shout out to Writer'sWings who is a very good and talented writer and I think you guys would like her story Like Moon and Tide. She's really good and I think you guys should check her out. Anyways, thanks for reading :)