Sea Dragon [Discontinued]

23

"Now!" I shouted towards Reyna. I cried out as I used every last energy I had left in me, and pull the large mass of earth out of the ground and pass me in a brown blur, landing between us and our persuers.

Reyna rushed over to me and checked me over to make sure I didn't over do it. I told her I was fine and balanced myself. In all honesty I wanted to pass out right there and then. We looked back where the boulder seperated us from the others. We needed to out run them somehow and soon, since the boulder could only stop them for so long. Reyna grabbed my arm as let me lean on her for support, but we were both struggling to keep ourselves standing.

"That won't stop them for long, we need to hide or outrun them somehow and fast." I said. Reyna shook her head.

"We can't in our current state. Without Arion or any form of transport that we can access in this current time. There's no way we can outrun them by foot." Reyna pointed out while she surveyed the area around us.

"Then what should we do?" Reyna gave me a look of grief, as she couldn't think of a way to escape our situation. My heart fell. Is this the end? Will we never find a way to help Nico, Jason and Percy find a way home? Or find out why all our friends had turned against them in the first place? Tears stung my eyes and we held each other close.

"Hey! I'm sure it's not that cold tonight." A familiar voice called out from above us. The sound of metallic wing beats filled our ears. We looked up and I couldn't believe my eyes, but he was there, with his mischevious grin across his face as he sat on the back of his bronze dragon.

"Leo! Festus!" I beamed at the sight of them.

Festus slowly landed in front of us. Festus moved his head to face us and the creaking of his metal jaw made a sound that sorta sounded like a 'Hello'. Leo hopped off of Festus's back and smiled at us when he landed. I couldn't help but embrace him in a hug, before Reyna pulled me away from him.

"Reyna wha-"

"Why are you here? Didn't you accused Percy of betraying the gods?" Reyna narrowed her eyes at Leo who gulped.

Leo shool his head frantically.

"W-Wait! That wasn't me!- I mean it was, but I was under someone's control." Leo said, trying to explain himself. "I didn't want Percy banished and I would never say that he betrayed us."

I looked between Leo and Reyna before turning to Reyna to reason with her, only for her to speak before I did.

"Then tell us. How did we know if you're undercontrol or not?" Reyna questioned Leo. Then a voice called towards us.

We looked over to where the boulder was and the troops had already gathered themselves, and had  found a way around the large boulder. They marched their way towards us with sharp tipped spears in their hands.

"Listen." Leo got our attention and he gave us a pleading look. "I'm sorry for what I did to our friends and I know you don't trust me, but right now lets get out of here and talk later." I looked up at Reyna, she furrowed her brow unsure. I placed my hand on her arm and she gazed at me.

"Lets get somewhere safe first, please." I begged her. The both of us exhausted from always being on the run. Reyna let out a sigh of defeat and nodded.

"Alright hop on!" Leo said and we followed his lead up onto Festus's metal spine.

The shouts from the Roman troops faded bellow us when Festus took off into the air just before they caught us. We could finally relax at last, after days of travelling.

***

I thought I closed my eyes for a second, but I must have fallen asleep during the middle of the flight. Reyna had shook me awake and we weren't flying through the sky anymore, instead we were somewhere else. In a room with the concrete walls that had cracks and a window frame that lacked a window.

The sun peeked out of the horizon to let some light through the window frame, and illuminate the room ever so slightly.

I looked up at Reyna after she helped me sit up and greeted me a good morning.

"Where are we?" I asked her. Then I noticed Leo and Festus missing. "Where's Leo?" I looked around frantically, Reyna placing her hands on my shoulders. She was only wearing her purple 'SPQR' shirt, her armour laid on the ground next to her along with her shield and sword.

"Leo's gone to get some food from a nearby store. To answer to the question where we are now, we're in Boston." Reyna informed me. Boston? Why were we in Boston? I pushed that question aside and focused on the problem at hand.

"Can we trust Leo? I mean the fact that he said he was under someone or something's control, that could explain the others. That could explain Annebeth." We both gazed down at the ground at the mention of our blond friend. She was the person Percy trusted with his life, and when she and the others turned on him shocked us.

"We'll find a way to snap them back to their senses somehow. With Leo's help and clues he may have to what's going on." Reyna reassured me, it was nice to finally talk without the constant fear of being anbushed while our guard was down. "I haven't seen him do anything suspicious so we can trust him for now, but stay sharp at all times." I nodded in agreement. Reyna let a smile grace her features. The sun now fully revealed in the sky and lit the entire room. "Lets take this moment to relax. We have long journey ahead of us."