Chapter 5: Fire

Leo frowned at Festus, getting more and more annoyed. "Well?" Luke asked impatiently, arms folded. Leo gritted his teeth.

"I can't figure out what's wrong with him." He said. "The wings are fine, his tail is working perfectly, and the-oh." He said, a sudden thought occurring to him. He climbed on top of Festus again. He opened the dragon's head and his heart sank. "Oh, Festus, what the heck?" he muttered.

Something had caused a flash freeze inside Festus's head, screwing with the control disk. The enchanted Greek symbols were blackened and smudged around the edges. It was the one piece of equipment Leo couldn't fix, and it was broken- again.

Leo did what he could, though it took him a good ten minutes, but he finally reinstalled the control disk. Festus's eyes blinked back to life, and he lifted his head, looking around, confused. "Hey, buddy." Leo said, and Festus turned to face him, whirring his drill-bit teeth. Leo grinned. "How you holding up?" he asked. In response, Festus shook himself, spread his wings, and roared, blasting fire into the sky and stomping his feet. Nodding, he turned to his friends. "We're all set." He said. Luke shook his head nervously, backing away from Festus.

"I'm not getting on that thing." He said.

Annabeth touched his arm gently, though it seemed to Leo a bit reluctantly. "It'll be fine, Luke." She said, leading him towards Festus. Luke still looked apprehensive, but he climbed on anyway. Piper followed, looking fearfully at the warehouse behind them. Festus spread his wings once everyone was seated, and took off into the night sky. Luke was tired from getting thrown into a wall by a Cyclops, and before he knew it, he had slumped forward, sound asleep.

He opened his eyes, but nothing changed. The blackness was more…complete, now. More real. Luke knew this dream. It haunted his mind, tearing at it every night. No matter how hard he had tried to avoid it, it always came, night after night, and Luke began to fear sleep, for it was the worst part of his life.

There was nothing all around him. He didn't move, was afraid to move, because moving might mean falling, and falling would mean…. He shuddered, pulling his mind away from it. He wished they would let him go. But they wouldn't. Bitterly, he knew how much of what they had said was true. And they had something to hold against him, something he could never hope to conquer.

Before he had given it any thought, he took three steps forward. And plummeted. Darkness assaulted him, beating at his mind in waves. He could feel his body in the real world twisting and turning madly, trying to escape from the horrors of his dream. Forcing himself to calm down, he turned to confront the shadow he knew would be looming behind him.

But something was wrong. This time, there was no shadow. Luke's breath quickened. What was going on? Instead of the shadow, and single picture hung in the air. It was him. He could see himself, sleeping on the back of the dragon. Annabeth was behind him, watching him strangely. Luke's heart twisted in pain when he saw her. Did he love her? He didn't know, not anymore. Not since the acceptance.

But something was wrong with the picture. Frowning, he tried to find out what it was. Then he knew. The city underneath them burned, flames rolling over buildings, massive skyscrapers being dragged under, swallowed by the earth. Before long, they were flying over forest, uninhabited land. The flames followed them, consuming the woodland, rushing along behind them. Luke could feel his body temperature rising, feel it happening. He could feel the heat.

It took immense effort, but he finally managed to tear his eyes away from the terrible vision. And found the shadow waiting for him. "Do you see what is to come?" it asked softly, slowly. Luke stood, rage pouring through his body, facing the looming darkness.

"I see." He said, hand on his sword.

"You know what must be done." It was not a question. Luke snarled.

"I can't." he said, fingers clenching his sword hilt.

The shadow laughed. "You have no choice, Castellan. Remember the price." It said, shifting.

Luke took a few deep breaths. "You demand too much of me, I can't do this anymore!" he shouted. He felt something press against his mind, squeezing it until it began to crack.

"There is no other way." The shadow growled, and Luke faded away.

Percy followed the dragon a few hundred feet behind and below. He wasn't sure how he knew where it was, but somehow he could see it. Which was good, because he had no idea where they were going.

He didn't know what had made him disappear while they were treating the guy Luke. Maybe it was because Luke seemed like the kind of guy who would kick you in the balls for no good reason other than he felt like it. Maybe it was because he still didn't know them well. Maybe it was to keep his "mysterious shadow protector guy" image alive. Whatever it was, it was too late to stop now. They were a good thousand feet in the air, and he was not, and didn't have the means to get up there, or to get them down without killing them.

He was also increasingly certain the Amazons were tracking him, hunting for the dangerous monster and for Arion. Well, the monster they could have, but not Arion. So what'd I miss? Arion asked.

I went in there and kicked the crap out of a few Cyclops. Percy said, shrugging mentally. No biggie.

Arion did a mental frown. No biggie? He said incredulously. You took on three Cyclops single-handedly and won! I'd say that's a biggie. Why do I miss all the good stuff?

Percy patted the horse on the side of the neck. It's probably because you're a horse. He said.

Arion whinnied a very rude word and tossed his head. Oh, I see. You're horse-racist!

Percy shook his head quickly. No, no, it's just that this world isn't as accommodating to horses as it is to humans. He said. Arion didn't seem very convinced. And besides, your hooves would have made too much noise on that floor. You might've given us away.

Well, I guess your right…. Arion said, eyes rolling up to the dragon. So the rest of you non-demigods are horse-racist. He concluded, nodding fiercely.

Yep. Totally. Percy thought, rolling his eyes.

Are you sassing me? Arion growled mentally.

Not a bit. Percy said with a completely straight face. Arion seemed a bit suspicious, but returned to following the demigods. Percy let out a quiet sigh of relief. He'd managed to avoid crossing Arion. No matter how funny it may seem in principle, he was not in the mood for getting cussed out by a horse with serious ego issues.

The day night wore on. Percy ended up asleep on Arion's back. He hadn't even realized he was asleep until Arion stopped and shook him awake. Blearily, he sat up, looking around. They were in an alley in what looked like to be Chicago. What the heck? Where are we? He asked.

He asked. Yo, Perce, welcome to Chicago! Arion said, stamping a hoof from the cold. You're buddies went down that sewer hole right there. He pointed with his nose. Percy climbed off Arion's back and pulled a few golden drachmas from his pack.

Here you go. He said, holding them out to him. Arion snatched them up, eating them greedily. He let out a noise that could only be a burp.

Yum. He said. Percy glanced towards the sewer entrance.

I get the feeling I'm gonna' be here a while. I'll call you when I need you. He said. Arion whinnied in response and vanished. Percy went to the sewer warily. Poking his head in, he saw the four demigods resting. Percy silently slipped down the entrance, making no noise. For some reason, it seemed that all the gods had given him something of a gift at one point. He had performed a deed for each of them, and had almost gotten himself killed in the process too many times. He could of course control the water from his father, Poseidon, but he could grow plants incredibly fast thanks to Demeter, was a natural archer because of Apollo, and Hermes had given him incredibly fast reflexes and speed. Now, he used Hades' gift to wrap himself in shadow, concealing him from view. He crept silently down the tunnel and sat down, shadow wrapped around his body. He was far enough away that the fire they had couldn't reach him. For some reason, the blonde guy, Luke, looked over his shoulder, but didn't seem to see anything. Percy settled against the wall, content to wait them out. The Latino kid, Leo, pulled out some tacos, which reminded Percy he hadn't eaten since he left, which was yesterday. Digging around the pack, he pulled out a loaf of bread and a granola bar. It wasn't much, but it would have to do. Eventually, they all curled up and passed out, and Percy took the opportunity to sneak in and grab an extra taco.

Luke woke suddenly, jerking against the wall. Somehow he managed to sleep, even after his nightmare a few hours before. His dreams had been…empty. It was terrifying, more so than his usual nightmare. The calm before the storm.

Piper and Leo slowly woke, stretching their tired, cramped muscles. Annabeth groaned softly, rolling over and bumping into Luke. She sat up, looking around a bit confused. "You guys ready?" Luke asked, looking back towards where they had come. It almost seemed like something was over there…. Dismissing it as his imagination, he stood, cracking his neck. "Let's go." He started off towards the other direction. He could hear the others following. They had walked for a long time before finally coming to stop in front of a set of big double doors, with a large M on them.

"For Macy's?" Leo wondered, looking around nervously.

Piper frowned. "Do they even have those in Chicago?" she asked.

"Or entrances in the sewer?" Annabeth put in. Luke rolled his shoulders nervously.

"Only one way to find out." He opened the doors to see an elevator. "When in doubt, start at the top." He said, and pressed the fourth floor button. When the elevator came to a stop, it opened to chaos.

Leo knew something was wrong as soon as the doors opened. The shop was in ruins, smoking clothes racks everywhere. A ton of potion-like things were scattered around everywhere. Yells echoed up from below the balcony. A bright red light lit up the wall. "What the heck?" Annabeth exclaimed, and they ran to the railing as one. Peering over, they saw a scene out of a nightmare.

A bunch of female warriors-were those Amazons? - battled with a massive, three-headed beast that could only be the Chimera. A woman on the floor below them was screaming in rage. As they watched, the sun dials on the floor opened, and two big, yellow dragons crawled out. They all looked at one another. "Bad." Piper said, and they ran down the nearby escalators to fight. Leo grabbed two three-pound hammers with head shaped like potatoes as he ran, almost causing himself to drop down to the third floor. When they got the bottom, he was immediately rewarded with a blast of fire to the wall a few feet to the right and an Amazon thrown into him.

"Ow." Leo groaned, pushing her off him. Shaking his head, he saw Leo and Piper taking on the Chimera with a bunch of Amazons, while Annabeth and the rest of the women were attacking the dragons. Leo ran forward and smashed a hammer on the top of one of the dragon's head before it was able to rip off an Amazon's arm. She crawled away, moaning. The dragon shook its head and hissed at him, glowing eyes narrowing in annoyance. "Bad lizard." Leo said, and swung his hammer from below. The dragon got tossed back and up, landing awkwardly on its back. Shaking its wings out, it rolled to its feet and blasted Leo with fire. Leo stood calmly, letting the fire wash over him.

When the blaze ended, he stood there unharmed. The dragon looked at him, like, Why aren't you dead? Leo simply grinned and threw his hammer. The dragon was getting smart, though, and it dodged and came at him tooth-and-claw. That was when it started to get nasty.

It slashed quickly, and Leo barely managed to dance away. Those razor-sharp claws ripped a good-sized slash along the side of his shirt. He sprang backwards, a mere centimeter away from the dragon's claw. Rolling to the side, he tried to by himself some time by chucking a wrench at it. It smacked the dragon in the face, but didn't even faze it. Leo cursed and hurled himself to the left, crashing into an Amazon.

The pair rolled over each other, before Leo came to a stop crouched. She sprang to her feet, spun around, and slashed downwards with a sword. It cut a nick in the dragon's nose. The dragon snorted in pain, but kept coming. Before either of them had time to react, it sprang on top of her, mouth open wide.

Leo did the first thing he could think of: he shoved a monkey wrench in its mouth. The dragon bit down, but the vertical monkey wrench held it fast. He then proceeded to smash it in the side of the head with the biggest hammer he could procure. The dragon roared in pain, spitting out the wrench and turning to Leo. But the Amazon darted in from the right and jabbed it in the neck. Hissing, it rounded on her, and Leo hit it on one toe. The dragon wailed and hit him in the chest with its tail, bowling him over. He hit something furry and felt something else sink into his shoulder. Crying out, he grabbed the thing, turning his head to see that it was a massive snake. The Chimera's tail.

Percy opened the doors of the elevator with his sword in hand. When nothing jumped out at him, he stepped cautiously out of the small metal box. Then a loud roar echoed from somewhere nearby, and he jumped. A bright light lit up the wall over the balcony, and someone yelled from below, followed by another roar. Percy ran forward and looked over the railing.

Two sun dragons were attacking a bunch of Amazons and the four demigods. Blinking, he realized there was also the Chimera. He inspected the battlefield for a few moments, gauging how the fight would go if he stayed back. He decided: not good. Sun dragons were tough; he had brought back the head of one for Apollo once, and it had left him a nasty scar along his side. And of course, the Chimera was no small feat. That thing could probably kill at least half of the people down there before they got it under control.

The deciding factor was when he saw the blonde girl, Annabeth, get pinned underneath one of the sun dragons. No one was close enough to help, so he flipped his grip on Ashrow, muttered, "I hate my life.", and jumped over the balcony railing.

Most people would've died falling thirty feet onto concrete. Percy just got hurt. A lot.

He came down on top of the sun dragon, driving Ashrow through its back and cracking the floor. The force of it sent Percy tumbling backwards a good ten or twenty feet. He groaned, feeling at his shoulder. It was definitely fractured, and maybe broken, but there was no time to tell. Gritting his teeth, he stood, facing the second sun dragon. He tapped his fingers together, and Ashrow appeared in his uninjured arm. Thank the gods Daedalus had made him train with his left hand as well as his right.

Leaving his right arm hanging loose, he charged the second sun dragon. It hissed and blew fire at him, but he released Ashrow and summoned his shield a fraction of a second before the fire hit. It rolled off the shield in waves, the heat making Percy wince, but he plowed through it. He reached the sun dragon and slammed it in the chin with his shield. Summoning Ashrow, he whirled around, once, twice, three times. The dragons disembodied head rolled away.

He looked up to see half a dozen Amazons and Annabeth watching him in shock. "We should probably help." Percy said, pointing his sword at the Chimera. They understood and attacked. He went over to Annabeth. "Are you all right?" he asked.

"Fine, I'm fine." She said, looking him intently in the eye. "What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Trying to keep everyone alive." He grumbled in response, and charged the Chimera. Sword in hand, he threw himself at the beast with such ferocity that it was momentarily caught off guard. Hacking with his sword, he managed to score a good slash across its lion head before he got hit in the chest by the goat and knocked away. Falling, he grunted in pain as he landed on his shoulder.

Shakily, he realized that another one of the demigods was lying nearby, face down and unnaturally pale. There was a blood-curdling mix of roar, hiss, and bleat as one of the Amazons got her spear down its throat. Percy went over and hacked at the dust motes until it was all ash. Wincing, he dropped the sword and clutched his shoulder. A cry brought him over to where Piper knelt over Leo, holding him nervously. "Something's wrong!" she said. Percy came close and saw bite marks on his shoulder. He swore loudly.

"He's been bitten by the snake head." He said. "That's one of the most deadly toxins known to demigods, other than pit scorpions. Get him some nectar and ambrosia, quick!" Annabeth dug around her pack before holding out a baggie of ambrosia and a bottle of nectar. Uncorking the lid, she poured some nectar into his mouth, which woke him with a cough. She held out two squares of ambrosia, which he gobbled down greedily. It wouldn't be enough. "I know someone who can help him, but he lives in Wichita, Kansas. We have to hurry." He said. Luke stepped forward, eyes narrowed.

"Hold on a minute, how can we trust you?" he asked. "How do we know you're not lying about this guy you're talking about?"

Annabeth stood up and faced him, angry. "Do you have a better idea, Luke?" she asked. Luke looked a bit hurt.

"Well, no…." he said weakly.

Annabeth nodded fiercely. "Exactly. Besides, he saved our lives from those Cyclops and now he saved mine again from that sun dragon. We have to trust him. Look at Leo. In case you haven't noticed, he's dying." Luke looked abashed.

Annabeth turned to Percy. "Who are we going to see?" she asked.

Percy took a deep breath. "Asclepius, god of medicine." One of the Amazons, whom Percy recognized as Kinzie, groaned.

"What's so bad about him?" Piper asked, standing up. Kinzie shook her head.

"I'll leave this one to you guys. Asclepius and I…we don't get along very well." she said, turning away.

"Hey, Kinzie." Percy called out. She looked over her shoulder. "Leave Arion alone."

Kinzie grinned. "Sorry, Percy, but I can't do that." With that said, she ran up the escalator, followed by her Amazons. Percy muttered an uncomplimentary word at their retreating backs.

"What was that all about?" Luke asked, watching them go.

Percy grunted. "Nothing. We have to get Leo out of here. Where's your dragon?" Just then, the roof exploded, and the named dragon came flying down to meet them. "Found him." Percy muttered.

"What are you gonna' do?" Annabeth asked.

"I'm flying you guys to Wichita. By the way, you'll have to deal with Asclepius alone. And don't mention my name."

"Why?" Piper asked.

Percy couldn't help but grin. "He has an overly fondness for crabcakes."