LOST AT SEA | jason grace

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭.

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭. 𝑑𝑖𝑟𝑡 𝑤𝑜𝑚𝑎𝑛

Lorna wished the dragon hadn't landed on the toilets.

Of all the places to crash, a line of Porta-Potties would not have been her first choice. A dozen of the blue plastic boxes had been set up in the factory yard, and Festus had flattened them all. Fortunately, they hadn't been used in a long time, and the fireball from the crash incinerated most of the contents; but still, there were some pretty gross chemicals leaking out of the wreckage.

Lorna stayed at the doorway, looking for a rock, while Leo had to pick their way through and try not to breathe through his nose.

Heavy snow was coming down, but the dragon's hide was still steaming hot. After a few minutes climbing over Festus's inanimate body, Leo started to get irritated.

Leo said the dragon looked perfectly fine. Yes, it had fallen out of the sky and landed with a big kaboom, but its body wasn't even dented. Leo said the fireball had apparently come from built up gasses inside the toilet units, not from the dragon itself. Festus's wings were intact. Nothing seemed broken. There was no reason it should have stopped.

"Not my fault," Leo muttered. "Festus, you're making me look bad."

Then he opened the control panel on the dragon's head. "Oh, Festus, what the heck?"

"What?" Lorna asked.

"The wiring, it's frozen." Leo said.

"Can you replace it?"

"I can replace the wires. That isn't the problem. But the charred control disk. . ." Leo gave it a thought. "Right," Leo muttered, brushing the snow off his shoulders. "Gimme a nylon bristle detail brush, some nitrile gloves, and maybe a can of that aerosol cleaning solvent."

"You're not talking to me, right?" Lorna confirmed.

"Unless you can give those stuff to me, then no." Leo smiled as he pulled out the supplies. Apparently, the belt's pockets did have limits. They wouldn't give him anything magic, like Jason's sword, or anything huge, like a chain saw. He'd tried asking for both. And if he asked for too many things at once, the belt needed a cooldown time before it could work again. The more complicated the request, the longer the cooldown. But anything small and simple like you might find around a workshop- all Leo had to do was ask.

Lorna watched as Leo began cleaning off the control disk. While he worked, snow collected on the cooling dragon and Lorna helped to toss it away.

"So..." Lorna started.

Leo raised his eyebrow at her.

"I knew this guy who was a son of Hephaestus, his name was Charles but everyone called him Beckendorf." 

Leo nodded along to Lorna's story.

"He had a secret, and I he only shared it with a few people. Well, you see, my dad's Poseidon and I control water..."

"Yes, I know," Leo stated as a matter-of-factly.

"Jason's dad's Zeus and he controls the wind..."

"Uh-huh."

"And Beckendorf could do something that most children of Hephaestus could not. He controlled fire."

Leo dropped his brush. He tried to play it cool but Lorna saw right through him. 

"I know you can control fire too, Leo," Lorna said. 

Leo sighed, "Fine, yes, I can control fire, but go around telling anyone."