✦ ༉‧₊˚⋆˚( ⁿᵒᵗ ᶠʳⁱᵉⁿᵈˢ )˚⁺✧₊˚.*♡

🍪 — 006. we're going on a trip on our favorite mechanical dragon. 

ISA DIDN'T REALLY INTEND TO be awoken with Butch yelling over her head to get ready for the quest as he flew out of the cabin, seemingly in a hurry. Rubbing her eyes to get the sleep out, the girl blindly looked around the room and searched for clothes she could wear. She grabbed a pair of light-washed baggy jeans, pulling a off-the-shoulder, white sweater over her head, putting on her vans and grasping a coat from her closet because it would be cold once outside of the Camp borders.

A soft meow was heard around her legs. Isa looked down.

"You want to come too?" she asked, cooing down at her cat. Red meowed again, nuzzling his white fur against her legs, "Alright, alright."

She made sure her necklace was there, as well as all the necessities in her bag. She picked up the cat and put it inside her bag, its head the only thing you could see, and walked out of the door.

And was met with a flying dragon.

"Leo?" Piper yelled as she walked out of the Aphrodite cabin.

The dragon set down right in the middle of the green, and Leo yelled, "It's cool! Don't shoot!" 

Hesitantly, the archers lowered their bows. The warriors backed away, keeping their spears and swords ready. They made a loose wide ring around the metal monster. Other demigods hid behind their cabin doors or peeped out the windows. Nobody seemed anxious to get close. Isa couldn't blame them.

The dragon was huge. It glistened in the morning sun like a living penny sculpture ─ different shades of copper and bronze ─ a sixty-foot-long serpent with steel talons and drill-bit teeth and glowing ruby eyes. It had bat-shaped wings twice its length that unfurled like metallic sails, making a sound like coins cascading out of a slot machine every time they flapped.

"It's beautiful," Piper muttered.

The other demigods stared at her like she was insane. 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 Isa's surprise, it was Jason. He pushed through the crowd, flanked by Vivi, Annabeth and Nyssa. 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, "In. . . the woods. 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.

"Just a few kinks to work out," Leo said.

"But how did you survive. . . ?" Nyssa was still staring atthe creature in awe. "I mean, the fire breath. . ."

"I'm quick," Leo said. "And lucky. Now, am I on this quest, or what?"

Jason scratched his head. "You named him Festus? You know that in Latin, 'festus' means 'happy'? You want us to ride off to save the world on Happy the Dragon?"

The dragon twitched and shuddered and flapped his wings.

"That's a yes, bro!" Leo said. "Now, um, I'd really suggest we get going, guys. I already picked up some supplies in the ─ um, in the woods. And all these people with weapons are making Festus nervous."

Jason frowned. "But we haven't planned anything yet. We can't just ─ "

"Go," Annabeth said. "Jason, you've only got three days until the solstice now, and you should never keep a nervous dragon waiting. This is certainly a good omen. Go!"

Jason nodded. Vivi rushed over to Isa's side, hugging the smaller girl.

"Be careful," the brunette said, "Take care and don't do something I would so."

"You mean something stupid?" Isa said.

"Yeah, that." Vivi smiled, a first real smile Isa saw since the disappearance of Percy Jackson. 

Flying on the dragon was the most amazing experience ever. Up high, the air was freezing cold; but the dragon's metal hide generated so much heat, it was like they were flying in a protective bubble. Talk about seat warmers! And the grooves in the dragon's back were designed like high-tech saddles, so they weren't uncomfortable at all. Leo showed them how to hook their feet in the chinks of the armor, like in stirrups, and use the leather safety harnesses cleverly concealed under the exterior plating. They sat single file: Leo in front, then Isa, then Piper and Jason at the end.

Leo used the reins to steer the dragon into the sky like he'd been doing it all his life. The metal wings worked perfectly, and soon the coast of Long Island was just a hazy line behind them. They shot over Connecticut and climbed into the gray winter clouds.

Leo grinned back at them. "Cool, right?"

"What if we get spotted?" Piper asked.

"We won't," Isa told them simply. "The Mist keeps mortals from seeing magic things. If they spot us, they'll probably mistake us for a small plane or something."

"You sure about that?"

"Yup," Isa said cheerfully. It might be Piper's imagination, but she swears she heard a soft meow coming from in front of her. She wasn't imagining it as both Leo and Jason turned to look at Isa, their eyebrows furrowed as they stared at the girl. 

But the daughter of Iris didn't react to the looks, simply her hand reached for the small fluff that peaked out of her bag. Red eyes looked around at them all, examining people that were in the presence of its owner. The creature jumped out of the bag and nuzzled itself into the girl's lap, staring at Piper before closing its eyes and curling into itself.

"Um, not to be rude or anything. . . but, you've brought a cat to the quest?" Leo was the first one to speak, looking back at the girl.

"Red does what he wants," Isa simply said, "He's always around and into my business." the girl's hand rested onto the cat's fur, "Hope it's no problem."

Piper smiled softly at the sight. "No, not at all," she said before asking her next question, "Where are we heading?"

"To find the god of the North Wind," Jason said. "And chase some storm spirits."

"Shut up, me," Leo said aloud.

"Excuse you." Isa said, her eyebrow raised as she stared at the back of his head.

"Nothing, sorry," he said. "Long night. I think I'm hallucinating. It's cool."

"Tell me his joking," the dark-haired girl leaned back until her back fully leaned on Piper, her head under the girl's, "Please tell me."

Piper only patted her waist.

"Just joking." Leo added and swiftly changed the subject, "So what's the plan, bro? You said something about catching wind, or breaking wind, or something?"

As they flew over New England, Jason laid out the game plan: First, find some guy named Boreas and grill him for information ─

"His name is Boreas?" Leo had to ask. "What is he, the God of Boring?"

Second, Jason continued, they had to find those venti that had attacked them at the Grand Canyon ─

"Can we just call them storm spirits?" Leo asked. "Venti makes them sound like evil espresso drinks."

And third, Jason finished, they had to find out who the storm spirits worked for, so they could find Hera and free her.

"So you want to look for Dylan, the nasty storm dude, on purpose," Leo said. "The guy who threw me off the skywalk and sucked Coach Hedge into the clouds."

"That's about it," Jason said. "Well. . . there may be a wolf involved, too. But I think she's friendly. She probably won't eat us, unless we show weakness."

Jason told them about his dream ─ the big nasty mother wolf and a burned-out house with stone spires growing out of the swimming pool.

"Lupa?" Isa asked, her throat seemingly dry.

"You know who that is?" Jason asked.

"No." she said simply, her eyes looking ahead, far into her mind to speak.

 Leo asked, "Okay, but you don't know where this place is, do you Jason?"

"Nope," Jason admitted.

"There's also giants," Piper added. "The prophecy saidthe giants' revenge."

"Hold on," Leo said. "Giants ─ like more than one? Why can't it be just one giant who wants revenge?"

"I don't think so," Piper said. "I remember in some of the old Greek stories, there was something about an army of giants."

"Great," Leo muttered. "Of course, with our luck, it's an army. So you know anything else about these giants? Didn't you do a bunch of myth research for that movie with your dad?"

"Your dad's an actor?" Jason asked.

Leo laughed. "I keep forgetting about your amnesia. Heh. Forgetting about amnesia. That's funny. But yeah, her dad's Tristan McLean."

"What!" Isa sat up straight and whipped her head to look at the girl behind her, "Tristian McLean is your dad? The Tristan McLean."

Piper made a sour face.

Daughter of Iris laughed, "Oh boy, will Conan lose their shit! They had the fattest crush on Tristan till, like two months ago, until I introduced him to 2PM. Now they have poster of Junho above his bed."

"They?"

"Oh, Conan is non-binary," Isa said, "Hope you don't mind that, or else. . ." she said and sat in silence.

"No, of course not," Piper said, "Nothing against it."

"Good."

"Uh ─ Sorry, what was your dad in, Piper?" Jason asked.

"It doesn't matter," Piper said quickly. "The giants ─  well, there were lots of giants in Greek mythology. But if I'm thinking of the right ones, then shit. They were bad news. Huge, almost impossible to kill. They could throw mountains and stuff. I think they were related to the Titans. They rose from the earth after Kronos lost the war ─ I mean the first Titan war, thousands of years ago ─ and they tried to destroy Olympus. If we're talking about the same giants ─ " 

"Chiron said it was happening again," Jason remembered. "The last chapter. That's what he meant. No wonder he didn't want us to know all the details."

Leo whistled. "So. . . giants who can throw mountains. Friendly wolves that will eat us if we show weakness. Evil espresso drinks. Gotcha. Maybe this isn't the time to bring up my psycho babysitter."

"Is that another joke?" Piper asked.

Leo told them about Tía Callida, who was really Hera, and how she'd appeared to him at camp. He told them about the night his mother died, saying the machine shop collapsed. Isa pursed her lips and looked at the back of his head. Unlike Vivi, who could tell lies ( it was some kind of a rare ability she inherited ), Isa could read people. And now, Leo was not mentioning everything. He told them about the strange woman in earthen robes who seemed to be asleep, and seemed to know the future. 

"That's. . . disturbing," Piper said.

"'Bout sums it up," Leo agreed. "Thing is, everybody says don't trust Hera. She hates demigods."

"Which is true," Isa agreed, "She made cows go after Beth and for peacock feathers to appear around Vivi. She may seem like a good goddess, but she's spiteful. All gods are."

"You're not serious about that?" Leo asked.

"Do I look like I'm kidding," the girl pointed to her face, "Feathers were appearing in my hair and clothes because I'm usually around Vivi."

"See, one more reason to my question," Leo said, "why are we doing this?"

"She chose us," Jason said. "All four of us. We're the first of the nine who have to gather for the Great Prophecy. This quest is the beginning of something much bigger."

That didn't make Isa feel any better; it just made her think back on The Great Prophecy. But, this quest, it did feel like this was the start of something huge. 

"Besides," Jason continued, "helping Hera is the only way I can get back my memory. And that dark spire in my dream seemed to be feeding on Hera's energy. If that thing unleashes a king of the giants by destroying Hera ─ "

"Not a good trade-off," Piper agreed. "At least Hera is on our side ─ mostly. Losing her would throw the gods into chaos. She's the main one who keeps peace in the family. And a war with the giants could be even more destructive than the Titan War."

Jason nodded. "Chiron also talked about worse forces stirring on the solstice, with it being a good time for dark magic, and all ─ something that could awaken if Hera were sacrificed on that day. And this mistress who's controlling the storm spirits, the one who wants to kill all the demigods ─ "

"Might be that weird sleeping lady," Leo finished. "Dirt Woman fully awake? Not something I want to see."

"But who is she?" Jason asked. "And what does she haveto do with giants?"

Now, that is the part where Isa is confused about. Usually, she would overhear what Chiron is talking with Annabeth and Vivi, but this time, even those two girls were left in the dark, not having an answer. Isa could see just how frustrated Annabeth was when Chiron didn't tell her what he knew.

They flew in silence and that wasn't good for Isa's mind. She thought about the line of the prophecy that included her. Daughter of colors will brighten your day, and be the light to your darkest days. Light was associated with Apollo, so why was she on the quest and not some child of the god of sun. The only thing with light that Isa could do was to change the beams direction and burn stuff with it. Was that what she was supposed to do? Burn something?

Festus kept flying. The wind got colder, and below them snowy forests seemed to go on forever. 

A yawn in front of her caught the girl's attention.

"Why don't you get some sleep, Leo?" Isa said, nudging the boy in front of her, "You were up all night."

Leo wanted to protest it looked like, but he just nodded. "You won't let me fall off?" 

Isa patted his shoulder. "Please, I'm the best pegasus rider in the Camp."

"I'm trusting you on that," he muttered. He leaned forward against the warm bronze of the dragon's neck, and closed his eyes.

"Leo?" Isa shook his shoulder. The boy groaned, pushing himself up from the positions he currently was in, leaning on Festus' neck. "We're here."

Below them, a city sat on a cliff overlooking a river. The plains around it were dusted with snow, but the city itself glowed warmly in the winter sunset. Buildings crowded together inside high walls like a medieval town, way older than any place Leo had seen before. In the center was an actual castle ─ at least Isa assumed it was a castle ─ with massive red brick walls and a square tower with a peaked, green gabled roof.

"Tell me that's Quebec and not Santa's workshop," Leo said.

"Yeah, Quebec City," Piper confirmed. "One of the oldest cities in North America. Founded around sixteen hundred or so?"

Leo raised an eyebrow. "Your dad do a movie about that too?"

She made a face at him, "I read sometimes, okay? Just because Aphrodite claimed me, doesn't mean I have to be an airhead."

"You're not an airhead," Isa said, "And most of Aphrodite's children are smart. I may not like them ─ not you Pippy, can I call you like that? ─ but they're smart and real gossipers. You don't want to play crosswords with them, trust me."

"You don't like them?" Piper asked with confused and a bit hurt expression.

"Well, they spread some rumors about me, which are true, but still. . ." Isa crossed her arms, "I was going to speak about it in my own pace, not for them to share the information without my permission."

"Okay, so, the castle."

"It's a hotel," Isa said miserably.

Leo laughed. "No way." but as they got closer, of course Isa was right. The grand entrance was bustling with doormen, valets, and porters taking bags. Sleek black luxury cars idled in the drive. People inelegant suits and winter cloaks hurried to get out of the cold.

"The North Wind is staying in a hotel?" Leo said. "That can't be ─ "

"Heads up, guys," Jason interrupted. "We got company!"

Isa looked below and saw what Jason meant. Rising from the top of the tower were two winged figures ─ angry angels, with nasty-looking swords.

"I don't like this," Jason said. "They look like storm spirits."

Isa didn't know how storm spirits looked when the trio was attacked on the bridge, but as the angels got closer, she could see they were much more solid than venti. They looked like regular teenagers except for their icy white hair and feathery purple wings. Their bronze swords were jagged, like icicles. Their faces looked similar enough that they might've been brothers, but they definitely weren't twins.

One was the size of an ox, with a bright red hockey jersey, baggy sweatpants, and black leather cleats. The guy clearly had been in too many fights, because both his eyes were black, and when he bared his teeth, several of them were missing. The other guy looked like he'd just stepped off some rock album cover. His ice-white hair was long and feathered into a mullet. He wore pointy-toed leather shoes, designer pants that were way too tight, and a god-awful silk shirt with the top three buttons open. Maybe he thought he looked like a groovy love god, but the guy couldn't have weighed more than ninety pounds, and he had a bad case of acne.

The angels pulled up in front of the dragon and hovered there, swords at the ready. The hockey ox grunted. "No clearance."

"'Scuse me?" Leo said.

"You have no flight plan on file," explained the groovy love god. On top of his other problems, he had a French accent so bad Isa was sure it was fake. "This is restricted airspace." 

"Destroy them?" the ox showed off his gap-toothed grin.

The dragon began to hiss steam, ready to defend them.

Jason summoned his golden sword, but Leo cried, "Hold on! Let's have some manners here, boys. Can I at least find out who has the honor of destroying me?"

"I am Cal!" the ox grunted. He looked very proud of himself, like he'd taken a long time to memorize that sentence.

"That's short for Calais," the love god said. "Sadly, my brother cannot say words with more than two syllables ─ "

"Pizza! Hockey! Destroy!" Cal offered.

" ─ which includes his own name," the love god finished.

"I am Cal," Cal repeated. "And this is Zethes! My brother!"

"Wow," Leo said. "That was almost three sentences, man! Way to go."

Cal grunted, obviously pleased with himself.

"Stupid buffoon," his brother grumbled. "They make fun of you. But no matter. I am Zethes, which is short for Zethes. And these ladies there ─ " he winked at Isa and Piper, but the wink was more like a facial seizure. "They can call me anything they likes. Perhaps they would like to have dinner with a famous demigod before we must destroy you?"

Piper made a sound like gagging on a cough drop. "That's. . . a truly horrifying offer."

"Then this other lady ─ "

"Is taken," Piper said and hugged Isa from behind, bringing her back to her chest, "By me."

The girl felt heat rising to her cheeks at the tight hold of the brunette.

"What a shame. We are a very romantic people, we Boreads." 

"Boreads?" Jason cut in. "Do you mean, like, the sons of Boreas?"

"Ah, so you've heard of us!" Zethes looked pleased. "We are our father's gatekeepers. So you understand, we cannot have unauthorized people flying in his airspace on creaky dragons, scaring the silly mortal peoples."

He pointed below, and Isa saw that the mortals were starting to take notice. Several were pointing up ─ not with alarm, yet ─ more with confusion and annoyance, like the dragon was a traffic helicopter flying too low.

"Which is sadly why, unless this is an emergency landing," Zethes said, brushing his hair out of his acne-covered face, "we will have to destroy you painfully."

"Destroy!" Cal agreed, with a little more enthusiasm than Isa thought necessary.

"Wait!" Piper said. "This is an emergency landing."

"Awww!" Cal looked so disappointed.

Zethes studied Piper, which of course he'd already been doing. "How does the pretty girl decide this is an emergency, then?" 

"We have to see Boreas. It's totally urgent! Please?" she forced a smile, and Isa felt bad for her;  the blessing of Aphrodite was still present, and the girl was just as mesmerized as she was last night. Isa noticed that she was starting to use charmspeak in her voice as both Leo and Jason were nodding, looking absolutely convinced.

Zethes picked at his silk shirt, probably making sure it was still open wide enough. "Well. . . I hate to disappoint a lovely lady, but you see, my sister, she would have an avalanche if we allowed you ─ "

"And our dragon is malfunctioning!" Piper added. "It could crash any minute!"

Festus shuddered helpfully, then turned his head and spilled gunk out of his ear, splattering a black Mercedes in the parking lot below.

"No destroy?" Cal whimpered.

Zethes pondered the problem. Then he gave Piper another spasmodic wink. "Well, you are pretty. I mean, you're right. A malfunctioning dragon ─ this could be an emergency."

"Destroy them later?" Cal offered, which was probably as close to friendly as he ever got.

"It will take some explaining," Zethes decided. "Father has not been kind to visitors lately. But, yes. Come, faulty dragon people. Follow us."

The Boreads sheathed their swords and pulled smaller weapons from their belts ─ or at least Isa thought they were weapons. Then the Boreads switched them on, and she realized they were flashlights with orange cones, like the ones traffic controller guys use on a runway. Cal and Zethes turned and swooped toward the hotel's tower.

Leo turned to his friends. "I love these guys. Follow them?" 

None of them looked eager.

"I guess," Jason decided. "We're here now. But I wonder why Boreas hasn't been kind to visitors."

"Pfft, he just hasn't met us." Leo whistled. "Festus, after those flashlights!"

niki speaks!

and the quest has begun!!
i love this quarter sm,
you have no idea -
jason, leo and piper being sunshine protectors while isa being sunshine...
that's their dynamic

found a dress for my bday and i'm so excited for it !!

have a nice day/night!
bye!