Daughter of Wine

Callida

I help Leo climb over me and to the control panel in the dragon's head. 

"Now," He speaks to the dragon. "Just us, Festus, and a crazy wine girl. And two heavy cages. You can do it, boy!" 

He keeps talking to the dragon as he works. I can bend light, so I try to illuminate what he's looking at the best that I can. The ground is coming in at an alarming speed. I can see city lights below us. 

He pulls a wire, and the dragon groans, metal creaking inside his neck. The eyes flicker weakly to life, and he spreads his wings. Our fall turns into a steep glide. 

"Good!" Leo says. "Come on, big boy. Come on!" 

We're still flying in way too hot. The ground is too close. 

"We need a place to land!" I tell Leo. I scoot closer and wrap my arms around him, ready to poof us away. His cheeks burn red, but he continues working. He aims us towards a white mansion with a huge snowy lawn inside a tall perimeter brick fence. It looks like the perfect landing field. The dragon seems to come back to life. For a moment, I think we're going to make it. 

Then, everything goes wrong. As we approach the lawn, spotlights along the fence illuminate us, and something pops out from the fence. Turrets. I look at the lawn and squeeze my eyes shut. But it doesn't work. There's some sort of magical barrier blocking me from teleporting inside the fence. I don't have time to adjust my location settings. I hear bursts like tracer fire, the sound of metal being cut to shreds, and BOOM. I black out. 

When I come to my senses, I see Jason and Piper are leaning over me. Leo is still in my arms, which is embarrassing. I took the brunt of the landing, skidding across the snow. My back is covered in scrapes and bruises, but Leo is okay. 

He spits a clump of grass out of his mouth. "Where-"

"Lie still." Piper has tears in her eyes. "You guys rolled pretty hard when- when Festus-"

"Where is he?" Leo sits up, looking around desperately. 

"Ow." I groan, his hand digging into my stomach. 

Something had happened on the way in. The turrets, they fired on us. 

"Seriously, Leo." Jason says. "You could be hurt. You shouldn't-"

Leo pushes himself to his feet. I manage to sit up, everything aching. 

"What happened?" Jason asks me, scowling. You were supposed to teleport him to safety."

I feel a tug of annoyance. "There's a barrier around the mansion. I couldn't get us in. I tried." I actually do feel really bad. I got too cocky, and I almost got us killed. 

"Jason, she took the brunt of the landing for Leo." Piper tells him, nodding at my back. "She still protected him." 

Jason's expression softens. "Right. Sorry." 

"No," I hear Leo sob. I look over to where he's found the dragon's head. "You can't go." He pleads. "You're the best thing I ever fixed."

I manage to stand and walk over with Jason and Piper to where Leo is crouched. I pickup my thyrsus on the way. I've been told that children of Dionysus are pretty good with them. I'll keep it, just in case. I just wish I didn't have to carry it around all the time. 

With that thought, the thyrsus sucks into itself and disappears. Weird.

"It's not fair." 

The dragon clicks a series of creaks. It sounds like morse code. 

"Yeah," Leo nods. "I understand. I will. I promise." 

The dragon's eyes go dark, and Leo cries. The three of us try to comfort him, but it's no use. My heart hurts for him. I can tell how attached he was to the dragon. Festus. Seeing Leo cry, it doesn't feel good. 

Finally, Jason manages to get through to him. "I'm so sorry, man. What did you promise Festus?"

Leo sniffles. He opens the dragon's head panel, to check the circuitry but it looks bad, even to me. "Something my dad told me." He says. "Everything can be reused." 

"Your dad talked to you?" I ask, hoping the twinge of jealousy I feel isn't evident in my words. 

"When was this?" Jason asks him. 

Leo doesn't answer. He disconnects the dragon's neck hinges and somehow manages to lift it, even though it must weigh about a hundred pounds. He looks up at the starry sky. "Take him back to the bunker, Dad. Please, until I can reuse him. I've never asked you for anything."

The wind picks up, and the dragon head floats out of Leo's arms as if it weighs nothing. It flies into the sky and disappears. 

Piper looks at him in amazement. "He answered you?"

"I had a dream." Leo manages. "I'll tell you later." He examines the grounds warily. "Where are we? I mean, what city?"

"Omaha, Nebraska." Piper says. "I saw a billboard as we flew in. But I don't know what this mansion is. We came in right behind you, but as you were landing, Leo, I swear it looked like- I don't know-"

"Lasers." I realize. I pick up a piece of dragon wreckage and throw it towards the top of the fence. Immediately, a turret pops up from the brick wall and a beam of pure heat incinerates the bronze plating to ashes. 

Jason whistles. "Some defense system. How are we even alive?" 

"Festus." Leo replies miserably. "He took the fire. The lasers sliced him to bits as he came in so they didn't focus on you. I led him into a death trap." 

"You couldn't have known." I tell him, trying to be comforting. 

"He saved our lives again." Piper agrees. 

"But what now?" Jason asks. "The main gates are locked, Calli can't teleport out because of some magical defense, and I'm guessing I can't fly us out of here without getting shot down." 

Leo looks up the walkway to the big white mansion. "Since we can't go out, we'll have to go in."