𝐦𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫. ── 𝐣𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞

𝐱𝐯𝐢𝐢𝐢. 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞

(fluff chapter)

AELLA KEPT LOOKING BACK. SHE HALF EXPECTED to see those nasty sun dragons toting a flying chariot with a screaming magical saleswoman throwing potions, but nothing followed them.

Leo steered the dragon toward the southwest. Eventually, the smoke from the burning department store faded in the distance, but none of them relaxed til the suburbs of Chicago gave way to snowy fields, and the sun began to set.

"Good job, Festus." He patted the dragon's metal hide. "You did awesome."

The dragon shuddered. Gears popped and clicked in his neck. Leo frowned.

Aella shuddered. Some homecoming that had been. The first time she had been to Chicago in years, and she gotten assaulted by a creepy sorceress. She only hoped her mother—living in New York with her sister, Sally Jackson—was ok.

"I'll give you a tune-up next time we land," Leo promised. "You've earned some motor oil and Tabasco sauce."

Festus whirled his teeth, but even that sounded weak. He flew at a steady pace, his great wings angling to catch the wind, but he was carrying a heavy load. Two cages in his claws plus three people on his back—the more Aella thought about it, the more worried she got. Even metal dragons had limits, didn't they?

"Leo." Piper patted his shoulder. "You feeling okay?"

"Yeah ... not bad for a brainwashed zombie. Thanks for saving us back there, beauty queen. If you hadn't talked me out of that spell—"

Jason blushed. "Um, yeah. Thanks Aella." He scratched his head. "Just so you know, um, I'm sure whatever I said, when I was, um, under the influence, um, I meant it."

"Don't worry about it," Aella said, an equal shade of crimson.

But she worried a lot. How could Medea set Jason and Leo, (best friends), against each other so quickly? And those feelings couldn't have come from nowhere—was there resentment of the way Jason always got the spotlight and didn't really seem to need him? Did Leo did feel that way sometimes, even if he wasn't proud of it?

Spotlight. That word reminded her of her cousin, Percy Jackson. Every since she was 12, she and her cousin had arrived at Camp Half Blood, but Percy had gotten considerably more attention. In capture the flag, she had assisted Luke in grabbing the flag, but Percy, once again, had stolen her thunder. Never mind the fact that he was insanely protective. 

When they rescued Blackjack from the Princess Andromeda, Luke had tried to talk to her, and she wouldn't have stayed, but it was nice to talk to her older brother. But no, Percy had to ruin it by swooping in and saving her. She hadn't even had her speed powers then. She was just his baby cousin to him—almost like a sister. It didn't help that in the Labyrinth, James, a son of Apollo, had been captured by Khione, and she had to kill him.

That didn't make her popular at all.

But she still loved Percy to bits, and now that he was gone to Hera knows where, she realized how much she missed him. Missed his support, and his sarcasm, and his protectiveness.

A sharp turn by Festus shook her out of her thoughts.

"We're going to have to put down soon," Leo warned his friends. "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. Question is—where are we going?"

"The Bay Area," Aella guessed. Her memories of the department store too vivid for comfort, but she seemed to remember hearing that. "Didn't Medea say something about Oakland?"

Piper didn't respond for so long, Aella wondered if she'd said something wrong.

"Piper's dad," Jason put in. "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 pointed ahead of them, but Aella didn't see anything except clouds and the lights of a few towns glowing in the dusk.

"What?" Leo asked. "That... whatever it is," Jason said. "In the air."

Leo glanced back. Piper looked just as confused as he was, making Aella smirk. "You guys, it's a thing children of Zeus can do. Thalia, she could track this 'whatever-it-is' trail too."

"Right," Leo said. "Could you be more specific on the 'whatever-it-is' part?"

"Like a vapor trail," Jason said. "Except it's glowing. Really faint, but it's definitely there. We've been following it since Chicago, so I figured you saw it."

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."

"Or it's another trap," Piper said.

Her tone worried Aella. She didn't just sound nervous. She sounded broken with despair, like they'd already sealed their fate, and like it was her fault.

"Pipes, you all right?" she asked.

"Don't call me that."

"Okay, fine. You don't like any of the names I make up for you, Wonder Woman. But if your dad's in trouble and we can help—"

"You can't," she said, her voice getting shakier. "Look, I'm tired. If you don't mind..."

She leaned back against Festus and closed her eyes.

All right, Aella thought—pretty clear signal she didn't want to talk.

They flew in silence for a while. Festus seemed to know where he was going. He kept his course, gently curving toward the southwest and hopefully Aeolus's fortress. Another wind god to visit, a whole new flavor of crazy—Oh, boy, Elly couldn't wait.

Aella's eyes started to droop, as did Leo's. The monotonous flapping of Festus' wings slowly acted like white noise, slowing her heartbeat and causing her to lean forward.

"Catch a few Z's, both of you," Jason said. "It's cool. Leo, Hand me the reins."

"Nah, I'm okay—"

"Leo," Jason said, "you're not a machine. Besides, I'm the only one who can see the vapor trail. I'll make sure we stay on course."

"He's right, Blue Beetle." Aella chimed in.

"Hey!" Leo interjected, "if anything, I'm Batman!"

Aella furrowed her eyebrows. "I'll give you Firestar."

"Cyborg's good enough," Leo shot back.

Laughing, Leo finally climbed behind to Festus, placing Piper on his lap, who snuggled up against his chest.

Jason shot Aella a look that most likely said, Look at the little lovebirds.

Aella grinned. "So..."

He frowned at her. "You aren't exempt from sleeping either, you know."

"Hey, this is the 2nd time within 24 hours that you're forcing me to sleep, and I'm not letting you win a second time."

Jason smirked. "Oh yeah?" He took her hands and gently tugged them to wrap around his waist.

It was safe to say that her heart was currently hundreds of miles below her, probably in Nebraska. 

Jason turned to face her, and for a minute, their faces were merely an inch apart, and Aella had the strong urge to close the distance. Then Jason blushed, and turned back to the Aeolian trail in the wind.  

And she fell asleep like that, her hands clasped around Jason, her hair flowing in the wind. More at home than she had ever been.