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phoebe sat straight up in her bed. she checked her clock; it was morning. quest time soon, probably. what had poseidon meant, find him? he was somewhere safe apparently, but she still had to find him? and what was the last part of her dream, where it was her brother, only remembering herself and annabeth? what was that all about?
phoebe quickly got dressed into a blue t-shirt and her camo cargo pants, brushing her teeth and hair.
then, will burst through her door. "phoebe! quest...now! dragon- come!"
phoebe, still plagued with confusion, wasted no time running out the door, with her bag over her shoulder, uncapping whirlpool. when she got outside, it was there.
the large dragon they had tried so hard to catch, now with wings, and the newest son of hephaestus atop it.
the dragon reared its head and shot a column of fire into the sky. campers scrambled away and hefted their weapons, but leo slid calmly off the dragon's back. he held up his hands like he was surrendering, except he still had that crazy grin on his face.
"people of earth, i come in peace!" he shouted. he looked like he'd been rolling around in the campfire. his army coat and his face were smeared with soot. his hands were grease-stained, and he wore a new tool belt around his waist. his eyes were bloodshot. his curly hair was so oily it stuck up in porcupine quills, and he smelled strangely of tabasco sauce. but he looked absolutely delighted. "festus is just saying hello!"
"that thing is dangerous!" an ares girl shouted, brandishing her spear. "kill it now!"
"stand down!" someone ordered.
to phoebe's surprise, it was jason. he pushed through the crowd, flanked by annabeth and that girl from the hephaestus cabin, nyssa. phoebe pushed through the crowd to get to jason and her best friend.
jason gazed up at the dragon and shook his head in amazement. "leo, what have you done?"
"found a ride!" leo beamed. "you said i could go on the quest if i got you a ride. well, i got you a class-a metallic flying bad boy! festus can take us anywhere!"
"it—has wings," nyssa stammered. her jaw looked like it might drop off her face.
"yeah!" leo said. "i found them and reattached them."
"but it never had wings. where did you find them?"
leo hesitated, and piper could tell he was hiding something.
"in... the woods," he said. "repaired his circuits, too, mostly, so no more problems with him going haywire."
"mostly?" nyssa asked.
the dragon's head twitched. it tilted to one side and a stream of black liquid—maybe oil, hopefully just oil—poured out of its ear, all over leo.
