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chapter twelve
( DID SHE JUST...KISSED? )
Leo steered the dragon toward the southwest. Eventually, the smoke from the burning department store faded in the distance, but Katherine didn't relax until the suburbs of Chicago gave way to snowy fields, and the sun began to set.
"Good job, Festus." Leo patted the dragon's metal hide. "You did awesome."
The dragon shuddered. Gears popped and clicked in his neck.
"I'll give you a tune-up next time we land," Leo promised. "You've earned some motor oil and Tabasco sauce."
Festus whirled his teeth, but even that sounded weak. He flew at a steady pace, his great wings angling to catch the wind, but he was carrying a heavy load. Two cages in his claws plus four people on his back.
"Leo." Piper patted his shoulder. "You feeling okay?"
"Yeah ... not bad for a brainwashed zombie." he said. "Thanks for saving us back there, beauty queen. If you hadn't talked me out of that spell—"
"Don't worry about it," Piper said.
"We're going to have to put down soon," he warned. "Couple more hours, maybe, to make sure Medea's not following us. I don't think Festus can fly much longer than that."
"Yeah," Piper agreed. "Coach Hedge probably wants to get out of his canary cage, too. Question is—where are we going?"
"The Bay Area," Katherine guessed. "Didn't Medea say something about Oakland?" Leo asked.
Piper and Katherine didn't respond for so long, Katherine's body a little hotter by her emotional.
"Piper's dad," Katherine put in. "Something's happened to your dad, right? He got lured into some kind of trap."
Piper let out a shaky breath. "Look, Medea said you would both die in the Bay Area. And besides ... even if we went there, the Bay Area is huge! First we need to find Aeolus and drop off the storm spirits. Boreas said Aeolus was the only one who could tell us exactly where to go."
Leo grunted. "So how do we find Aeolus?"
Jason leaned forward. "You mean you don't see it?" He pointed ahead of them, but Katherine didn't see anything except clouds and the lights of a few towns glowing in the dusk.
"What?" Leo asked. "That ... whatever it is," Jason said. "In the air."
Katherine didn't know much about Zuse's son abilities so she can guess it's his abilities that no one has.
"Right," Leo said. "Could you be more specific on the 'whatever-it-is' part?"
"Like a vapor trail," Jason said. "Except it's glowing. Really faint, but it's definitely there. We've been following it since Chicago, so I figured you saw it."
Leo shook his head. "Maybe Festus can sense it. You think Aeolus made it?"
"Well, it's a magic trail in the wind," Jason said. "Aeolus is the wind god. I think he knows we've got prisoners for him. He's telling us where to fly."
