The Hidden Follower

16.

    The first thing Delta heard in the morning when she woke up was Piper yelling at Leo, then she realized she was up in the air on a dragon. Delta sat up and looked at the camp, then at Leo, and there he was, sitting atop of Festus in front of her and grinning like a lunatic.

     As he tried to land the camp alarm went up. A conch horn blew. All the satyrs started screaming. Half the camp ran outside in a mixture of pajamas and armor. The dragon set down right in the middle of the green, and Leo yelled, "It's cool! Don't shoot!"

    For some reason, the archers listened and 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 windows. Nobody seemed anxious to get close.

    Delta couldn't judge, Festus was a sixty-foot long machine with bat wings and could breathe fire.

  "It's beautiful," Piper muttered. The other demigods stared at her like she was insane, which she wasn't because she was right, Festus was beautiful.

  It was at that moment Festus reared his head and shot a column of fire into the sky. Campers scrambled away and hefted their weapons, but Leo, being Leo slid off his back and held up his hands like he was surrendering, except he still had that stupid grin on his face.

  "People of Earth, I come in peace!" he shouted. He looked like he'd been rolling around in the campfire. His army coat and his face were smeared with soot, and His hands were grease-stained, how he somehow got dirtier after Delta took changed his memories from last night, how? She had no idea, Delta had soon fallen asleep after the memory change and didn't wake until now with a blanket wrapped around her. Leo's eyes were bloodshot. His curly hair was so oily it stuck up in porcupine quills, and he smelled of Tabasco sauce, more than last night at least. 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!" Delta immediately recognized the voice as Jason's and finally brought herself to sit upon the dragon she had been laying on, Jason pushed through the crowd, flanked by Annabeth and 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. Her jaw looked like it might drop off her face.

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

   "False advertisement," Delta said as she got off of Festus' back, the blanket still around her body, "We both found them and we both reattached them."

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

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

  "Mostly?" Nyssa asked.

  Festus' head twitched and Delta moves away from Leo. It tilted to one side and a stream of black liquid—maybe oil, hopefully just oil—poured out of his 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 ..."

  "He's quicker than he looks," Delta said. "And he had me. Now, is he allowed on the quest?"

  Jason scratched his head. "You named him Festus? Do you know that in Latin, 'Festus means 'happy'? You want us to ride off to save the world on Happy the Dragon?"