Daughter of Wine

Callida

Somehow, I appear right on Festus's back behind Leo.

"What are you doing?" I demand.

"Saving the world, no big deal." Leo tells me, his expression maniacal.

"This is not the plan!" I exclaim.

"Plan?" He asks.

"Never mind." I grimace. "Give me Gaea, I'll take care of this."

"No way!"

A storm appears around us with incredible speed. Gaea keeps disintegrating in Festus's claws, trying to trickle back to the ground, but the winds keep her aloft. Festus sprays her with flames, which seems to force her into solid form. Meanwhile, Leo and I blast the goddess with flames of our own and hurl insults. "Potty Sludge! Worm Poop! Dirt Face! THIS IS FOR ESPERANZA VALDEZ AND EMILIA RIVERA!"

I notice that the two of us are completely wreathed in orange and purple fire. Rain hangs in the stormy air, but it sizzles and steams around us.

Jason appears, zooming toward us with Piper in his arms.

Gaea turns into a loose white sand, but Jason summons a squadron of venti who churn around her, constraining her in a cocoon of wind.

Gaea fights back. When she isn't disintegrating, she lashes out with shrapnel blasts of stone and soil that Jason manages to deflect.

Together, we rise. Festus creaks and groans with the effort, but he continues to gain altitude. I still don't understand where Festus even came from, but I don't question it. Some things are more magical when they're left a mystery. I'm more than elated to see our old friend in action again.

"YOU CANNOT DEFEAT ME!" Gaea crumbles to sand, only to get blasted by more flames. Her body melts into a lump of glass, shatters, then re-forms again as human. "I AM ETERNAL!"

"Eternally annoying!" I yell as Leo urges Festus higher.

Jason and Piper rise beside us. Jason moves Piper in next to Gaea, and I try to keep the flames away from them. This is not how this was supposed to go down at all. I feel like I'm losing my grip on the situation.

"FOOLISH CHILDREN!" Gaea's face contorts with miniature earthquakes and mudslides.

Piper begins to speak to the goddess. I can't hear her over the wind and rain and thunder, but whatever she's saying, it must be powerful, because Jason looks like he's on the verge of falling asleep.

"SILENCE!" The force of Gaea's anger is so great, Jason momentarily loses control of the wind. He'd drop into free fall, but Festus catches him and Piper in his other claw.

"LIES!" Gaea crumbles into a tornado of soil and grass, but her essence seems to churn more sluggishly. Piper continues speaking. If we gain any more altittude, the air will be too thin to breathe.

"I-YOU DO NOT SPEAK FOR ME-YOU CANNOT-"

I hear one word from Piper's mouth. She says it so loudly, with so much force, that I feel the magic emanate. "SLEEP!"

Gaea solidifies intro human form. Her head lolls, her eyes close, and she goes limp in Festus's claw.

"Leo! Calli!" Piper gasps for breath. "We only have a few seconds! My charmspeak won't-"

"I know!" Leo looks like he's made of fire. Flames ripple beneath his skin, illuminating his skull. Festus steams and glows below me.

"I can't contain the fire much longer. I'll vaporize her. Don't worry. But you guys need to leave."

"No!" Jason says. "We have to stay with you. Piper's got the cure. Leo, you can't-"

"Hey." Leo grins at them. "I have a plan. You need to trust me. And by the way, I love you guys."

Festus's claw opens, and Jason and Piper fall.

I set my jaw. "Festus, let Gaea go. I've got it from here. Take Leo to safety."

Festus creaks in defiance.

"Calli, you need to get out of here. I'll vaporize you too." Leo insists.

"No." I say. "No, that's not happening. Piper has the cure, and you just droopped her. This isn't going down the way you want. I'm not leaving. Tell Festus to drop her, and I'll catch her."

"And then what?" Leo asks.

I hold up the grenade.

"You'll blow yourself up. Piper won't be able to give you the cure." He says it as if it isn't obvious.

"It's my destiny, Leo. I vowed to be the one to do this. I knew this was going to happen when I was eight years old. Let me finish my job."

"How about this." He kisses me again. "I love you. And I'm going to do you a massive favor." He winks, and with one swift motion, he shoves me off of the dragon.

With the storm winds and clouds and rain, I can't levitate myself back up. I can't see Festus through the rain, so I can't teleport. All I can do is watch as Festus becomes an indistinct ball of fire in the sky. A second sun, growing smaller and hotter. Then, in the corner of my eye, a blazing comet streaks upward from the ground with a high-pitched, almost human scream. The comet intercepts the ball of fire above us. The explosion turns the entire sky gold.

With this flash of light, I see the ground below me, coming in at a terrifying speed.

I concentrate, and appear in a flash of purple flames in the middle of the battle below. I look up at the sky, but I don't see Festus anywhere. Nothing falls from the sky. Leo is simply gone. Vaporized, right along with Gaea.

Anger rises up in my throat as I look at the army of monsters still fighting my friends. Not just anger. Frustration. Grief.

My emotions are too much. I fall to my knees and scream. That's when I black out.