The Lost Hero

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Happy The Dragon

AFTER THE CAMPFIRE VIVIAN NOTICED THAT LEO SNUCK INTO THE FOREST. Ohh gods. Vivian followed Leo. The woods were great and we played Capture the Flag in the woods as well, which was so much fun. Especially when Aunt Artemis's Hunt came. Vivian created a dim fire in her hands so it didn't attract Leo's attention.

Leo stumbled along until he was sure no one back at the cabins could possibly see him. Not knowing that Vivian was right behind him. Then he summoned fire. Flames danced along his fingertips, casting enough light to see. He hadn't tried to keep a sustained burn going since he was five, at that picnic table. Since his mom's death, he'd been too afraid to try anything. Even this tiny fire made him feel guilty.

"Leo?" Vivian asked, amazed that he was a fire used just like her. Startled he turned around and saw her, also with a flame in her hand.

"What are you doing here?" Leo asked. "It's now safe."

"It's not safe for you either." Vivian countered back. "And I am here to make sure that you don't do anything stupid."

"Well I'm trying to find and fix up the dragon. And you're a fire user?"

"Yeah. Like Annabeth said on the chariot ride. I was blessed by all 12 olympians. Being able to use fire and being great with machines is my Hephaestus blessing. Now let's go and find a dragon!" I said, making Leo crack a smile. Vivian created a bigger, brighter fire and so did Leo. They made their way through the forest.

They kept walking, looking for dragon-type clues—giant footprints, trampled trees, swaths of burning forest. Something that big couldn't exactly sneak around, right? But they saw nada. Once Leo and Vivian glimpsed a large, furry shape like a wolf or a bear, but it stayed away from the fire, which was fine by them.

Nudging Vivian, he turned her attention to what Leo was looking at.

There, at the bottom of a clearing, she saw the first trap to capture the dragon—a hundred-foot-wide crater ringed with boulders.

Vivian had to admit it was pretty ingenious. In the center of the depression, a metal vat the size of a hot tub had been filled with bubbly dark liquid—Tabasco sauce and motor oil. On a pedestal suspended over the vat, an electric fan rotated in a circle, spreading the fumes across the forest. Could metal dragons smell?

The vat seemed to be unguarded. But Vivian looked closely, and in the dim light of the stars and the handheld fires, she could see the glint of metal beneath the dirt and leaves—a bronze net lining the entire crater. Or maybe see wasn't the right word —she could sense it there, as if the mechanism was emitting heat, revealing itself to her. Six large strips of bronze stretched out from the vat like the spokes of a wheel. They would be pressure sensitive, Vivian guessed. As soon as the dragon stepped on one, the net would spring closed, and voilà—one gift-wrapped monster.

"You sense it too huh?" Vivian asked Leo, still looking at the trap.

"Yeah, it's sort of like showing itself to me." He answered back.

"It's something Hephaestus children have."

Leo edged closer. He put his foot on the nearest trigger strip. As they expected, nothing happened. Hephaestus campers had to have set the net for something really heavy. Otherwise they could catch an animal, human, smaller monster, whatever. Leo doubted there was anything else as heavy as a metal dragon in these woods.At least, he hoped there wasn't.

They picked their way down the crater and approached the vat. The fumes were almost overpowering, and Vivian's eyes started watering.

This reminded Leo of a memory. He remembered a time when Tía Callida (Hera, whatever) had made him chop jalapeños in the kitchen and he'd gotten the juice in his eyes. Serious pain. But of course she'd been like, "Endure it, little hero. The Aztecs of your mother's homeland used to punish bad children by holding them over a fire filled with chili peppers. They raised many heroes that way." A total psycho, that lady. Leo was so glad he was on a quest to rescue her.