𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐀𝐄𝐓𝐇 》 LEO VALDEZ ¹

―eight. feminism ft. Cal

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𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐓𝐑𝐘 𝐏𝐈𝐂𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆
𝐔𝐏 𝐌𝐎𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐂𝐘𝐂𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆
𝐈𝐍 𝐀 𝐅𝐄𝐖 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐔𝐓𝐄𝐒,
𝐉𝐄𝐄𝐙
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CHARLIE STOOD AT THE SIDELINES OF THE CLEARING WHERE CAMP WAS NESTLED IN. Leo and her had separated only ten minutes ago, having spent thirty convincing her that they didn't need to make a life-size mold of her in order to fake her death. Whilst Leo had spent a few minutes making sure Festus wouldn't blow up the minute he was around a lot of people, Charlie had snuck around him and gone back to camp.

The whole 'prophecy coming true' incident had been the reason she wanted to leave in the first place and now, as the fates little inside joke, it was the reason she was back again.

''Leo?'' She heard someone yell, turning her head to the side, she spotted Piper jog forwards into the opening, staring up in disbelief. Following her gaze, sure enough, there Leo was, sitting atop the bronze death machine and grinning like a lunatic.

Even before he landed, the camp alarm went up. A conch horn blew. All the satyrs started screaming; ''Don't kill me!'' Half the camp ran outside in a mixtures of pajamas and armor. The dragon set down right in the middle of the green and Charlie moved further back into the shadows.

Leo raised his arms and yelled, ''It's cool! Don't shoot!''

Hesitantly, the archers lowered their bows. The warriors backed away, keeping their spears and swords ready. They made a loose wide ring around the metal monster. Other demigods hid behind their cabin doors or peeped put the windows. Nobody seemed anxious to get close.

The dragon reared its head and shot a column of fire at the sky. Campers scrambled away and hefted their weapons, but Leo slid calmly off the dragon's back. He held his hands up like he was surrendering, except he still had that crazy grin on his face.

''People of Earth, I come in peace!'' He shouted. Despite his bloodshot eyes and disheveled appearance, he looked absolutely delighted. ''Festus is just saying hello!''

''That thing is dangerous!'' An Ares girl shouted, brandishing her spear. ''Kill it now!'' Charlie rolled her eyes.

''Stand down!'' Someone ordered. It was Jason. He pushed through the crowd, flanked by Annabeth and the girl from the Hephaestus cabin, Nyssa. Jason gazed up at the dragon and shook his head in amazement. ''Leo, what have you done?''

''Found a ride!'' Leo beamed. ''You said I could go on the quest if I got you a ride. Well, I got you a class-A metallic flying bad boy! Festus can take us anywhere!''

''It — has wings,'' Nyssa stammered, looking like her jaw might drop off from her face. Charlie winced.

''Yeah!'' Leo said. ''I found them and reattached them.''

''But it never had wings, where did you find them?'' Charlie was oddly offended that Leo didn't correct her 'it' like he had done for her.

Leo hesitated. ''In... the woods. Repaired his circuits, too mostly, so no more problems with him going haywire.''

''Mostly?'' Nyssa sounded doubtful, with great reason too. The dragons head twitched. It tilted to one side and a stream of black liquid — maybe oil, hopefully just oil — poured out of its ear, all over Leo.

''Just a few kinks to work out,'' Leo said.

''But how did you survive? I mean, the fire breath...'' Nyssa was still staring at the thing in awe.