Ocean's Hero - HOO - Leo Valdez x OC

Chapter 14

(Time skip to on the dragon ig)

(Leo's POV)

We were all on the dragon but I kept looking back–half expecting the nasty sun dragons following us. Madi was still unconscious as I held her in front of me, she seemed less tense now that the department store had blown up.

"Good job Festus." I said. Patting his metal hide. "You did awesome." He shuddered and gears clicked and popped in his neck. I looked down at the girl in my arms. I didn't like the noises Festus made. If the control disk was failing again–No, hopefully it was something minor. Maybe something I can fix easily.

"I'll give you a tune up next time we land." I promised, "You've earned some motor oil and tabasco sauce." I looked ahead for a while then back down to Madi. She was so beautiful, I didn't think Piper or Jason were watching, so I leaned down and kissed the top of Madi's head. I felt bad that I had pushed her away while under Medea's spell. Luckily, I had managed to grab the bracelet Madi wanted. I shoved it into my toolbelt during the fight before we left.

"Leo, you feeling okay?" Piper patted my shoulder.

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

"Don't worry about it." Madi grumbled. I looked down and smiled at her lovingly.

"Hey Mads, how'd you sleep?" I asked her.

"Fine, I guess. What happened?" I then proceeded to tell her about the fight, leaving out the part where I stole the bracelet for her. It's a gift for when I ask her. I thought to myself. Madi looked down, which meant she buried her face in my chest.

"So I was useless again," She summed up. I scrunched my eyebrows and frowned. Jason was under the spell when he said that Madi hadn't been helping our quest in any way. I was hoping Madi didn't take any of it to heart, but I guess she did.

"We're going to put down soon." I warned my friends. "Couple more hours, maybe, to make sure Medea isn't 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." Madi guessed, "Didn't Medea say something about Oakland?" When Piper didn't respond I wondered if we over-stepped.

"Piper's dad." Jason said, "Something's happened to your dad, right? He got lured to some kind of trap."

Piper let out a shaky breath, "Look, Medea said you would all 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."

I grunted, "So how do we find Aeolus?"

Jason leaned forward, "You mean you don't see it?" He pointed ahead of us, but I didn't see anything other than dusk and darkness.

"What?" Madi asked, looking back at the blonde.

"That... whatever it is," Jason said, "In the air."

"Right," I 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."

I shook my 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."