misplaced || l. valdez

23 || the deadly security system is a little too deadly

° ~ •. ♆ chapter twenty-three ♆ .• ~ °
"the deadly security system is a little too deadly"

Mari and Jason started cursing and screaming as they spiraled through the dark in a free fall. Somehow, they were still on the dragon's back, but Festus's hide was cold, his ruby eyes completely out.

"Leo was right, I should not have taken the reins!" Mari cursed.

She felt Piper jerk awake, and soon she was screaming as well. They tumbled through the sky, the lights of the city below them coming closer and closer.

Finally, Leo snapped awake, hitting his head on Mari's chin. "Ow!"

Considering the battle they'd just gone through, Mari didn't find it all too painful. Besides, she was too preoccupied with falling to her death to care.

She could barely hold on and the wind stung her eyes, but she could see Leo pull open the panel on the dragon's neck. He started tinkering with different wires and switches, and she heard the dragon's wing flap once. But the smell of burning bronze caught her off guard, and she panicked and coughed at the smell.

Leo turned desperately back to them. "Jason! Take Piper and Mari and fly out of here!"

"What?"

"We need to lighten the load! I might be able to reboot Festus, but he's carrying too much weight!"

"What about you?" Piper yelled. "If you can't reboot him—"

"I'll be fine." Leo yelled. "Just follow me to the ground. Go!"

Jason grabbed Piper around the waist. He went to get Mari as well, but she stayed in her seat, frozen in fear. Leo turned to her, his eyes softening. "You have to go Mari."

"I can't fly— I don't want to fly." she said, her eyes closed in fear.

Leo looked to Jason and Piper. They looked hesitant, but Leo mouthed to them, I got this. They unbuckled their harnesses and gave one last look of concern before shooting into the air. Leo looked down and surveyed the area. "Mari, there's a river down there. You go and land there. I'll be fine."

Before she could say anything, Leo unbuckled her harness and pushed her off the dragon. "I'm sorry!" he yelled.

Mari screamed and cursed, but she saw that Leo was right; there was a wide river about a hundred feet below her. She turned to see Festus about thirty feet above her, slowly gliding towards a white mansion with a huge snowy lawn inside a tall brick fence. As she got closer to the river, Mari realized that she would have no way to reconvene with her friends if she fell into the river. Panic swept her body as she flailed around in the sky.

"This is the worst!" She screamed.

The river was getting closer and closer, and she still didn't have any idea how she'd be able to meet up with her friends. That was when an idea popped into her head, an idea from when she fell into the Grand Canyon. If she could control the water to go up, then maybe...

On a desperate whim, Mari shot her arm out and pulled it back just as quickly. A stream of water errupted from the river and caught her twenty feet away from the surface. She yelled triumphantly as the water stream pushed her back up. She figured out that to maneuver the small water torndo, she just had to direct her hand towards the location. She directed the water stream to go to the fence, but as Mari approached, spotlights along the fence fixed on her, and a turret popped out. It shot a loud, bright beam of heat towards her, and she screamed in fear. Mari raised her hand and a jet of water came out to shield her, but the force knocked her out anyway.