Hurricane ~ L. Valdez

1.20 - Falling... Again

I woke up to Leo shifting against me on Festus' back. He seemed to be turning around, or looking back, but whatever the action's purpose it was highly disrupting my rest. I sat up, trying to assess where we were.

"Mornin', tormentosa." Leo said, grinning. "Sleep well?"

"I'd have slept better if you sat still." I grumbled to myself, before nodding.

"Gotta say, you really scared us for a minute there, Lara." I hear Jason say from behind me.

"I think it was just exhaustion and side effects... I feel fine now." It was true. I felt buzzing and ready to go.

"I made Leo give you some Ambrosia while you were asleep." Piper piped up. Haha piped up, get it... anyway.

"Good job, Festus." I heard Leo mumble in front of me. He patted the dragon's metal exterior. "You did awesome."

"So did you." I said softly in his ear. He jumped but sent me a grin. The dragon shuddered. Gears popped and clicked in his neck. I frowned. "Leo please tell me those are normal noises."

"I'll give you a tune-up next time we land," Leo said to Festus. "You've earned some motor oil and Tabasco sauce."  Festus whirled his teeth, but even that sounded weak. Okay something's wrong.

"Leo." Piper asked from behind me. "You feeling okay?" 

"Yeah...not bad for a brainwashed zombie." I cringed, suddenly feeling bad for all of the comments I made while he was out of it. "Thanks for saving us back there, beauty queen. If you hadn't talked me out of that spell—"

"Don't worry about it," Piper said.

"And you, hermosa." Leo turned to murmur in my ear, "Thanks for being ready to stop me... I dunno what I'd have done if I accidentally hurt you... or the others."

"Always, Leo." I smiled softly, blushing. "I'm always here."

Leo was silent for a few minutes, and so was I. Then, he spoke up. "We're going to have to put down soon," he warned us. "Couple more hours, maybe, to make sure Medea's not following us. I don't think Festus can fly much longer than that." 

"Yeah," Piper agreed. "Coach Hedge probably wants to get out of his canary cage, too." Coach is probably going to want to kill us when he gets off the canary cage.

"Question is—where are we going?"

"The Bay Area," Leo said, although his tone was not one of guessing. "Didn't Medea say something about Oakland?" 

I nodded, but no one responded, until finally my brother spoke up. "Piper's dad," Jason realized. "Something's happened to your dad, right? He got lured into some kind of trap." 

Piper let out a shaky breath. "Look, Medea said you would both die in the Bay Area. And besides...even if we went there, the Bay Area is huge! First we need to find Aeolus and drop off the storm spirits. Boreas said Aeolus was the only one who could tell us exactly where to go." 

Leo grunted. "So how do we find Aeolus?" 

Jason leaned forward. "You mean you don't see it?" He said, pointing ahead of us.

I grinned, looking at the vapor trail we'd been following. "That, my dear brother, is a Zeus kid perk. Couldn't tell you the science behind it, but its something only we can see... I dunno how Leo's been following it so well."

Leo shook his head. "Maybe Festus can sense it. You think Aeolus made it?" 

"Well, it's a magic trail in the wind," Jason said. "Aeolus is the wind god. I think he knows we've got prisoners for him. He's telling us where to fly."