misplaced || l. valdez

13 || leo has a ride and mari joins the claimed kid club

° ~ •. ♆ chapter thirteen ♆ .• ~ °
"leo has a ride and mari joins the claimed kid club"

Mari almost crashed into Annabeth when she ran out of the Poseidon cabin. Annabeth was glued to her spot, her mouth agape at the sight in front of her. After regaining her composure, Mari stood next to Annabeth, staring up in shock at the monster in front of her.

There was a growing group of campers gathered outside to see Leo sitting atop a giant bronze death machine, grinning like a lunatic. Even before he had landed, the camp alarm went up, and a conch horn blew. All the satyrs were screaming 'Don't kill me!" and the rest of camp ran outside in a mixture of armor and pajamas. The dragon set down right in the middle of the green, and Leo 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 out the window. Nobody seemed anxious to get close.

Mari couldn't blame them. For one, it was a literal dragon. She was 99.99% that people don't come across dragons everyday. For another, the dragon was huge, glistening in the morning sun like a living penny sculpture— different shades of copper and bronze. It was a sixty-foot long serpent with steel talons and drill-bit teeth and glowing ruby eyes. It had bat-shaped wings twice its length that unfurled like metallic sails, making a sound like coins cascading out of a slot machine.

"People of Earth, I come in peace!" Leo shouted. He looked like he'd been rolling around in the campfire. His army coat and his face were smeared with soot. His hands were stained with grease, and he wore a new tool belt around his waist. His eyes were bloodshot and his curly hair was so oily it stuck up in porcupine quills, and he smelled strangely of Tabasco sauce. But he looked absolutely delighted. "Festus is just saying hello!"

"That thing is dangerous!" an Ares girl shouted, brandishing her spear. "Kill it now!"

"Stand down!" someone ordered.

To Mari's surprise, it was Jason. He pushed through the crowd with the girl from Hephaestus cabin, Nyssa, following right behind him. 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. Her jaw looked like it might drop off her face.

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

"But it never had wings. Where did you find them?"

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

"Mostly?" Nyssa asked.

The dragon's 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...?" Nyssa was still staring at the creature in awe. "I mean, the fire breath..."