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𝐈𝐍 𝐒𝐏𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐄𝐗𝐇𝐀𝐔𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍, Iliya kept looking back where she half expect to see those nasty sun dragons toting a flying chariot with a screaming magical saleswoman throwing potions, but nothing followed them.
Leo steered the dragon toward the southwest. Eventually, the smoke from the burning department store faded in the distance, few hours later, the sun began to set and they're arrived at Chicago's snowvy field.
"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—Even metal dragons had limits.
"Leo." Iliya patted his shoulder. "You feeling okay?"
"Yeah ... not bad for a brainwashed zombie." Iliya giggles with his humor. "Thanks for saving us back there, beauty queen and Purple eyes. If you hadn't talked me out of that spell—"
"Don't worry about it," Piper said and Iliya senes her smile in the words.
"We're going to have to put down soon," Leo warned his friends. "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," Leo guessed. "Didn't Medea say something about Oakland?" But Piper didn't respon.
"Piper's dad," Jason 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 Iliya 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." Leo glanced back. Piper and Iliya looked just as confused as he was.
"Right," Leo said. "Could you be more specific on the 'whatever-it-is' part?"
