Daughter of Neptune, Book one

XXII

Leo's pov

I kept looking back. I half expected to see those nasty sun dragons toting a flying chariot with a screaming magical saleswoman throwing potions, but nothing followed us.

I steered the dragon toward the southeast. Eventually, the smoke from the burning department store faded into the distance, but I didn't relax until the suburbs of Chicago gave way to snowy fields, and the sun began to set.

I looked down at Tori, her breath steady and even. She took a pretty bad hit the head after killing one of the dragons. I just looked at her. She was so calm and peaceful unlike how she was during the quest so far, trying to remember things that just weren't there. Like friends, family, a possible boyfriend. I felt jealousy course through me.

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

Then Tori stirred and I looked down at her. I was met with two beautiful sea green and navy blue mixed eyes.

"Well someone's finally up." I said.

"What the hell—"

"Language," Jason said, interrupting Tori.

"—happened?" Ty

"You took a bad hit to the head, luckily there was no blood." I answered.

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

I frowned. I didn't like those noises. If the control disk was failing again—No, hopefully it was something minor. Something I could fix.

"I'll give you a tune-up next time we land," I 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 four people on his back—the more I thought about it, the more worried I got. Even metal dragons had limits.

"Leo." Tori, who was now sitting up on my lap, patted my shoulder. "You feeling okay?"

"Yeah...not bad for a brainwashed zombie." I hoped I didn't looked as embarrassed as I felt. "Thanks for saving us back there, beauty queen and miss amnesia. If you hadn't talked me out of that spell—"

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

But it worried me a lot. I felt terrible about how easily Medea had set me against my best friend. And those feelings hadn't come from no where—my resentment of the way Jason always got the spotlight and didn't really seem to need me I did feel that way sometimes, even if I wasn't proud of it.

What bothered me more was the news about my mom. Medea had seen the future down in the Underworld. That was how her patron, the woman in the black earthen robes, had come to the machine shop seven years ago to scare me, ruin my life. That's how my mother had died—because of something I might do someday. So in a weird way, even if my fire powers weren't to blame, Mom's death was still my fault.

When we had left Medea in that exploding store, I had felt a little too good. I hoped she wouldn't make it out, and would go right back to the Field of Punishment, where she belongs. Those feelings didn't make me proud, either.

And if souls were coming back from the Underworld...was it possible my mom could be brought back?

I tried to put the idea aside. That was Frankenstein thinking. It wasn't right. Medea might've been brought back to life, but she was quite human, with the hissing nails and the glowing head and whatnot.