Daughter of Wine

Leo

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

I steer the dragon southwest. Calli is seated in front of me, her knuckles white on the rod she grabbed at Medea's store. Upon closer inspection, it her a pinecone-looking object on the end, with razor-sharp edges. 

"Good job, Festus." I pat my dragon's metal hide. "You did awesome." 

Festus shudders. Gears pop and click in his neck. 

I don't like those noises. If the control disk is failing again... No, hopefully, it's something minor. "I'll give you a tune-up next time we land." I promise. "You've earned some motor oil and Tabasco sauce."

"You... you fixed him?" Calli turns to look at me. "Last I saw him, he was trying to burn down my cabin!" 

Festus whirrs his teeth weakly. 

"He says he's sorry." I tell her. 

She frowns, but seems to relax a bit. I can't help but remember what she had said to Medea. Her mom got killed too? I wonder if it was Dirt-Woman. Now doesn't seem like the time to ask. 

"Leo." Piper pats my shoulder. "You feeling okay?"

"Yeah... not bad for a brainwashed zombie." I hope I don't look as embarrassed as I feel. "Thanks for saving us back there, beauty queen. If you hadn't talked me out of that spell-"

"Don't worry about it." Piper tells me quickly. "Besides, I couldn't have done it without Calli. She's the one that actually fought Medea." 

Calli seems to hunch forwards a little as if she's embarrassed, just for a moment, before she sits up straighter. "Oh, yeah, that was nothing." Her voice is quiet and scratchy. As if she's holding back tears. 

"You okay?" I ask her quietly. 

She nods and offers me a gorgeous smile. "I'm great." But her eyes are wet with tears. "Don't worry about me. Top of the world."

I am worried about her, but I'm more worried about how easily Medea had set me against my best friend. Those feelings hadn't come from nowhere. My resentment of the way Jason always gets the spotlight and doesn't seem to really need me isn't an invention. I do feel that way sometimes, even if I'm not proud of it. 

What bothers me even more is the news about my mom. Medea had seem my future down in the Underworld. That was how her patron, the woman in black earthen robes, had come to the machine shop seven years ago to scare me and 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 aren't to blame, my mom's death is still my fault.

"We're going to have to put down soon." I warn. 

"Couple more hours, maybe, to make sure Medea isn't following us. I don't think Festus can fly much longer than that." 

"Yeah." Piper agrees. "Coach Hedge probably wants to get out of his canary cage, too. Question is, where are we going?"

"The Bay Area." I guess. My memories of the department store are fuzzy, but I seem to remember hearing that. "Didn't Medea say something about Oakland?"

Piper doesn't respond for so long, I wonder if I've said something wrong. 

"Piper's dad." Calli speaks. "Something's happened to your dad, right? He got lured into some kind of trap?"

Piper lets out a shaky breath. "Look, Medea said you would die in the Bay Area. And besides, even if we went there, the Bay Area is huge. First, we need to find Aeolus and drop off the storm spirits. Boreas said Aeolus was the only one who could tell us where to go."

Calli gives her a strange look, but whatever she's thinking, she doesn't share it. "So how do we find Aeolus? Boreas didn't happen to give you a nice little map or anything, did he?"

Jason leans forwards. "You mean you don't see it?" He points ahead of us, but I don't see anything except clouds and the lights of a few towns glowing in the dusk. 

"What?" I ask. 

"That... whatever it is. In the air." 

Calli, Piper, and I exchange confused looks. 

"Right." I tell him. "Could you be more specific on the 'whatever-it-is part?"

"Like a vapor trail." Jason says. "Except it's glowing. Really faint, but definitely there. We've been following it since Chicago, so I figured you saw it." 

I shake my head. "Mabe Festus can sense it. You think Aeolus made it?"

"Well, it's a magic trail in the wind." Jason says. "Aeolus is the wind god. I think he knows we've got prisoners for him. He's telling us where to fly." 

"Or, it's another trap." Piper offers. 

Her tone worries me. She doesn't just sound nervous, she sounds broken with despair. 

"Pipes, you alright?" I ask her. 

"Don't call me that." 

"Okay, fine. You don't like any of the names I make up for you. But if your dad's in trouble and we can help-"

"You can't." She says, her voice getting shakier. "Look, I'm tired. If you don't mind..."

She leans back against Jason and closes her eyes. 

Alright then. She clearly doesn't want to talk. I wish Calli would lean back against me like that, but no such luck. She sits, staring ahead silently. I wonder what she thinks of us. I mean, she survived up until Chicago on her own. A few hours into joining us and we're getting charmed and pitted against each other, and now Jason is seeing magic wind, Piper is refusing to talk, and I'm piloting a barely-functioning metal dragon. 

Festus seems to know where he's going. He keeps his course, gently curving toward the southwest and hopefully Aeolus's fortress. Another wind god to visit, a whole new flavor of crazy. Oh boy. I can't wait. 

"Catch a few Z's." Jason tells me. "It's cool. Hand me the reins." 

"Nah, I'm okay-"

"Leo." Jason insists. "You're not a machine. Besides, I'm the only one who can see the vapor trail. I'll make sure we stay on course." 

My eyes start to close on their own. "Alright. Maybe just..." I don't finish the sentence before falling into a deep sleep.