( ZOYA CARDAN )

⤹⋆⸙͎۪۫｡˚۰˚☽˚⁀➷｡˚⸙͎۪۫⋆ ༄

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*"𝐙𝐎𝐘𝐀?" damien white's voice shocked the girl knelt outside of the demeter cabin slightly as her hand shot to her chest to calm herself down, the fifteen year old boy gave the girl a meek smile in apology.

"you scared me you idiot" the girl said whacking the boy in the arm, not hard enough to actually hurt him.

damien white was the demigod son of nemesis, he was the only person living in the nemesis cabin. annabeth had recently finished building it 3 weeks prior so it was just as empty as her own cabin or percys when tyson wasn't around. zoya had befriended damien around the same time she had befriended ethan but now ethan wasn't here and it was just the two of them.

"i was going through some of ethan's things, chiron gave them to me and said if i wanted anything to keep it" the boy chuckled slightly but the sigh that left his lips after showed he didn't find anything about the situation funny "i know how close you two were..."

a cardboard box of discarded shirts, jumpers, trousers and random bits and bobs sat crumpled on top of eachother. damien offered the box closer to her before grabbing the shirt sat on top off and throwing it over his shoulder.

zoya noticed it was a camp half blood shirt which had been dyed black and red, black writing on the back with ethan's name could be seen. the memory of the boy was still fresh to her and anything involving him could probably break her heart a thousand times over again.

"thanks day" she smiled to the best of her ability before damien gave her a nod and a kiss on the forehead before entering his cabin for the night.

the girl could only sigh as she looked down into the box she held, she knew she wouldn't be able to bring herself to get rid of any of the things in the box. not even his toothbrush, so instead she opted for leaving it at the foot of her bed in her cabin where she knew no one would ever look. the same place she left luke's phone and armor.

                                                               "𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐞𝐝!" the voice of will solace yelled from outside of the hera cabin as the sounds of swords being withdrawn were heard. zoya's instincts kicked in as she threw the covers off herself and headed straight for the door running straight into what she thought would be a battle.

the sight in front of her caused her to gasp out loud before beginning to stumble back, a giant bronze death machine in the shape of a dragon. the camp alarm went up. a conch horn blew. all the satyrs started screaming, "don't kill me!" half the camp ran outside in a mixture of pyjamas and armor.

the dragon set down right in the middle of the green, and leo who sat atop of it 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.

zoya slowly approached the creature, it was bigger than any animal she'd ever seen. the way it shone in the sun reminded her of her markings in the dark. 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.

"valdez, you have to promise me it won't hurt anyone " she said lowering her voice as she stopped a few feet in front of the creature. it looked peaceful like it wouldn't harm anyone but who was she to say that wouldn't change.

before leo could reply 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!"

"festus?" zoya whispered to herself in momentary confusion as she stared the deathly creature in the eye.

"that thing is dangerous!" an ares girl shouted, brandishing her spear. "kill it now!"

"Stand down!" someone ordered from somewhere in the crowd. it was jason. he pushed through the crowd, flanked by annabeth and that girl from the hephaestus cabin, nyssa. he went all the way to zoya's side.

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 zoya could see he was scared to say.

"in  the woods," he said. "repaired his circuits, too, mostly, so no more problems with him going haywire."

"mostly?" nyssa and zoya asked at the same time before sharing a worried look.

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. a few of the younger campers letting out amused chuckles.

"just a few kinks to work out," leo said

"but how did you survive ?" nyssa was still staring at the creature in awe. "i mean, the fire breath"

"i'm quick," leo said. his words making zoya scoff to herself "and lucky. now, am I on this quest, or what?" no one was ever lucky enough to escape death.

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 turning to look at zoya who stood in her pyjamas with a look of worry in her eyes "but we haven't planned anything yet. we can't just-" 

"go," annabeth said. she was the only one who didn't look nervous at all. zoya's head shot to her friend with scrunched eyebrows. her expression was sad and wistful, like this reminded her of better times. "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. then he smiled at piper. "you ready?"

the girl replied with a gulp before nodding, jasons head then turning to zoya who was passed a bag by annabeth as if she were expecting this. "ready?"

"it's not my first quest" she shrugged before throwing her arms around annabeth tightly, her head nestling itself into the blondes neck as she breathed in her shampoo.

"you bring me back if percy shows up, ok?" she said pulling back slightly but keeping her arms attached to the girl.

"i swear it" annabeth said as she linked pinkies with the girl before pressing her lips to their hands with a chaste kiss.

that was the girls green light to leave, jason could see she was hesitant to leave her home with all that was going on but she knew it was the only way.

                                                              𝐳𝐨𝐲𝐚 𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐦 jacket closer around her body as they rose higher up in the air. 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. 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 piper, then zoya then jason.

zoya recognised the denim was too big for her and assumed it was one of percys that annabeth had stolen from the boy, the memory of the two making her smile to herself.

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 cautiously

"we won't" "the mist" zoya and jason said at the same time, the girl not turning to see the boy knowing he was probably grinning, piper feeling her hands tighten at her sides.  "it keeps mortals from seeing magic things. if they spot us, they'll probably mistake us for a small plane or something." jason explained.

"you sure about that?" piper asked glancing over her shoulder the two

"no" he admitted as he clutched the picture of thalia, annabeth and luke tighter in his hands. the memory of thalia being his sister fresher in his memory.

"well i am, the mist has been protecting our people for nearly ever" even though zoya didn't visit olympus as much as she should've she still kept herself educated with all the gods and goddess', her family.

"where are we heading?" piper suddenly asked as her body slightly stilled.

"to find the god of the north wind," jason said. "and chase some storm spirits."

                                         𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 to the four teenagers on the dragon. especially zoya, after returning to her cabin from damiens she found herself crying over one of ethan's old shirts. the shirt she currently wore well sat on top of festus.

"shut me up" leo said out of nowhere shocking the three teenagers behind him.

"what?" piper asked.

"nothing," he said. "long night. i think I'm hallucinating. it's cool."

leo couldn't see their faces, but he assumed from their silence that his friends were not pleased to have a sleepless, hallucinating dragon driver.

"just joking." leo decided it might be good to change 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?"

"he's the god of the north wind" zoya got out through a yawn as she rolled her neck.

second, jason continued for the girl, they had to find those venti that had attacked them at the grand canyon- "can we just call them storm spirits?" leo asked interrupting once again. "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. hera, hera, hera, the root of all of zoya's problems.

"so you want to look for dylan, the nasty storm dude, on purpose," leo said. "the guy who threw me off the skywalk, nearly killed zoya 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.

"uh-huh," leo said. "but you don't know where this place is."

"nope," jason admitted popping the 'p'

"there's also giants," piper added. "the prophecy said the 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. "off 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 at the same time as zoya. she wasn't completely surprised, actors had to be good-looking and piper was gorgeous and since her mother was aphrodite her father had to have been a knockout.

leo laughed. "i keep forgetting about your amnesia jay. forgetting about amnesia. that's funny. but yeah, her dad's tristan mclean."

"uh-sorry, what was he in?"

"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, 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-" the girl stopping herself after remembering zoya was behind her "i mean the first titan war, thousands of years ago-and they tried to destroy olympus. if we're talking about the same giants-"

"it took years to bring olympus back to how it once was after they began their attacks, many valuable and strong demigods were lost in those times" zoya explained as she remembered all the stories she'd been told as a child. "we barely beat kronos a few months ago and even then with all people we lost it wasn't worth the fight we put up"

a large hand rested itself on zoya's shoulder as she stopped herself from speaking of all the tragedies they'd suffered for simply being related to gods. the hand squeezing her shoulder to show a sign of comfort.

"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 his tiacallida, who was really hera, and how she'd appeared to him at camp. he managed to tell about the night his mom died, not mentioning the fire, just saying the machine shop collapsed. it was easier without having to look at his friends, just keeping his eyes straight ahead as they flew. and he told them about the strange woman in earthen robes who seemed to be asleep, and seemed to know the future.

the amount of times hera's name was used in leo's story which obviously ended in a tragedy made zoya want to curse her mother from the spot she sat, it seemed that every time she thought she could forgive her mother and understand why she did what she did the woman gives her another reason to prove she doesn't care for anyone.

it had been a fair amount of minutes since leo's story when someone finally spoke "that's, disturbing" piper spoke out loud.

"'bout sums it up," leo agreed. "thing is, everybody says don't trust hera. she hates demigods. and the prophecy said we'd cause death if we unleash her rage. so I'm wondering, no offence zoya, why are we doing this?"

"she chose us," jason said. "all four of us. we're the first of the eight who have to gather for the great prophecy. this quest is the beginning of something much bigger."

"my mother has never been one to help others, if it were my choice we'd leave her for dead" zoya spat with disgust as she let a shiver rack her body, one of nerves and regret for the harsh words she just told.

she could tell there were gods in olympus watching her right now who either agreed or thought she was acting out of anger for the years of abandonment and trauma plagued upon the girl. she wondered why she let herself become convinced to go on the quest, as she pondered a voice spoke.

"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."

"has anyone in camp tried to contact the gods?" piper asked turning to face zoya who looked as stoic as the statue in her cabin.

"we've been trying for months, my brothers and sisters have gone rogue on me. even zeus who always answers hasn't been speaking to us. its felt like they'd locked themselves away the real world"

the girls words making the new demi-gods think, they hadn't ever been to olympus or spoken to their godly parents so for every single one to not even speak to one of their children it must've been bad.