LOST AT SEA | jason grace

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧.

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧. 𝑐𝑟𝑎𝑠ℎ 𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔

𝙻𝙾𝚁𝙽𝙰 𝚆𝙾𝙺𝙴 up screaming, freefalling through the air. 

She thumbled through the sky. Far below she saw city lights glimmering in the early dawn, and several hundred yards away the body of the bronze dragon spinning out of control, its wings limp, fire flickering in its mouth like a badly wired lightbulb.

A body shot past her- Leo, screaming and frantically grabbing at the clouds. "Not coooooool!"

She was too scared to care. Somewhere above her, Jason yelled, "Lorna, level out! Extend your arms and legs!"

Lorna registered the words, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't do what was told. She was close to bursting out in tears, then Jason was there, wrapping his arms around her waist.

Thank the gods, Lorna thought.

"We have to get Leo and Piper!" He shouted.

Their fall slowed as Jason controlled the winds, but they still lurched up and down like the winds didn't want to cooperate.

"Gonna get rough," Jason warned. "Hold on!"

Lorna locked her arms around him, and Jason shot toward the ground. Lorna probably screamed, but the sound was ripped from her mouth. Her vision blurred.

And then, thump! They slammed into another warm body- Leo, still wriggling and cursing.

"Stop fighting!" Jason said. "It's me!"

"My dragon!" Leo yelled. "You gotta save Festus!"

Lorna shut her eyes, squeezing them tight. They manage to get Piper who was screaming her head off.

Jason was already struggling to keep the four of them aloft, and Lorna knew there was no way he could help a fifty-ton metal dragon. But before she could try to reason with Leo, she heard an explosion below them. A fireball rolled into the sky from behind a warehouse complex, and Leo sobbed, "Festus!"

Jason's face reddened with strain as he tried to maintain an air cushion beneath them, but intermittent slow-downs were the best he could manage. Rather than free-falling, it felt like they were bouncing down a giant staircase, a hundred feet at a time, which wasn't doing Lorna's stomach any favors.

As they wobbled and zigzagged, Lorna could make out details of the factory complex below- warehouses, smokestacks, barbed-wire fences, and parking lots lined with snow-covered vehicles. They were still high enough so that hitting the ground would flatten them into roadkill- or skykill- when Jason groaned, "I can't—"

And they dropped like stones.

They hit the roof of the largest warehouse and crashed through into darkness.

Lorna landed on her left arm and she heard a loud crack. 

"Jason?" Lorna heard Piper whimper.

"Here." Lorna heard a groan.

"Leo?"

"Ow, bro!" Leo groaned. "That's my back! I'm not a sofa!"

Lorna raised her head to see Piper was on a metal catwalk that ringed the warehouse interior. Leo and Jason had landed on ground level.

Lorna tried to sit up and saw that her arm was bent in at a weird angle. "Shit."

Jason and Leo stood up, conflicted on which girl to go to first.

"Leo," Lorna groaned. "Get me some water."

"I think we should fix your arm first- "

"Water!" Lorna insisted. "Jason, go help Piper."

Leo pulled out a wad of gauze and a roll of duct tape- both of which seemed too big for the belt's pockets. Lorna had noticed the tool belt yesterday morning, but she hadn't thought to ask Leo about it. It didn't look like anything special- just one of those wraparound leather aprons with a bunch of pockets, like a blacksmith or a carpenter might wear. And it seemed to be empty.

Leo continued to pull random items out as Jason helped set Piper's foot. 

"Could you be any faster?" Lorna rolled her eyes in agony. Jason helped Piper walk over to them as Leo finally pulled out a bag of water. 

"A bag?" Lorna asked.

"Hey! At least it's water! Besides you can quench your thirst later, fix your arm!" Leo exclaimed.

"I am!" Lorna said while rummaging through her bag. She found a Ziploc full of smashed pastry squares like lemon bars. Lorna broke off a piece and gave it to Piper. "Ambrosia. It'll make the healing faster."

Instead of eating some herself, Lorna stuck her arm into the bag of water and watched as the water trickled up her arm. As if it were magic, Lorna's arm started to form back into its normal state.

"Woah," Jason, Leo, and Piper said.

Lorna twisted her sore arm. "What happened to Festus? Where are we?"

Leo's expression turned sullen. "I don't know with Festus. He just jerked sideways like he hit an invisible wall and started to fall." Leo pointed to the logo on the wall. "As far as where we are ..."

It was hard to see through the graffiti, but Lorna could make out a large red eye with the stenciled words: monocle motors, assembly plant 1.

"Closed car plant," Leo said. "I'm guessing we crashlanded in Detroit."

Lorna had heard about closed car plants in Detroit, so that made sense. But it seemed like a pretty depressing place to land. "How far is that from Chicago?"

"Maybe three-fourths of the way from Quebec? The thing is, without the dragon, we're stuck traveling overland." Jason said.

"No way," Leo said. "It isn't safe."

"He's right. Besides, I don't know if I can walk. And four people- Jason, you can't fly that many across country by yourself." Piper said.

"No way," Jason said. "Leo, are you sure the dragon didn't malfunction? I mean, Festus is old, and- "

"And I might not have repaired him right?"

"I didn't say that," Jason protested. "It's just- maybe you could fix it."

"I don't know." Leo sounded crestfallen.

He pulled a few screws out of his pockets and started fiddling with them. "I'd have to find where he landed, if he's even in one piece."

"It was my fault." Piper said.

"Piper," Lorna said gently, "you were asleep when Festus conked out. It couldn't be your fault."

"Yeah, you're just shaken up," Leo agreed. He didn't even try to make a joke at her expense. "You're in pain. Just rest."

"But-" Piper tried to say.

"Piper, let me tell you one thing I learnt from doing quests, especially those with time restraint. Blaming yourself, and each other, doesn't help. We have to work together and trust each other." Lorna said.

Piper looked like she was about to tell them something when she stopped, then nodded.

Leo stood. "Look, um, Jason, why don't you stay with her, bro? I'll scout around for Festus. I think he fell outside the warehouse somewhere. If I can find him, maybe I can figure out what happened and fix him."

"It's too dangerous," Jason said. "You shouldn't go by yourself."

"I'll go with him." Lorna said. She needed to talk to him about what happened at Quebec. Lorna was 99.9% sure she was right.

Leo reached into his magic tool belt and pulled out two flashlights. Leo and Lorna headed down the stairs, leaving Piper and Jason alone.