the great wave | percy jackson

𝑣𝑖𝑖𝑖 - piper

After a rather disgruntling morning in the Aphrodite cabin, Piper did not think things could get much worse until all the campers around her started screaming and drawing weapons. She looked up to see a huge metal dragon descending from the sky, a familiar scrawny imp riding atop it and whooping like a frat boy.

"Leo?" She yelled, pushing her way forward to stand next to a shocked Annabeth.

The kid touched down casually on his sixty-foot-long bronze monster, yelling at archers not to shoot like it didn't have razor-sharp talons and drill bit teeth. Nevertheless, Piper muttered, "It's beautiful," because it was. A lot of people looked at her weirdly.

The dragon shot a white-hot column of fire into the sky, making Leo hold up his hands as if in surrender. Anxious-looking demigods made a wide ring around them, not attacking but not lowering their weapons either.

"People of Earth, I come in peace!" He yelled with a crazy grin on his face. He looked like he'd been rolling around in the campfire, clothes and face absolutely smeared with soot. Piper wondered where he had gotten the new toolbelt strapped around his waist and who told him it looked cool. Maybe his new friend, Puff the Magic Dragon. Puff as in puff of smoke, that is; Piper was sure she was seeing one come off of Leo's hair. Grease fire, probably.

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

"Stand down!" two voices ordered in unison.

To Piper's surprise, it was Jason and Ash, who were pushing through the crowd with Nyssa the Hephaestus girl trailing after them. What were they doing together and why did they move like some kind of team already?

The two other members of the quest gaped up at the dragon.

"By the gods," Ash said in amazement.

Jason was shaking his head. "Leo, what have you done?"

"Found a ride!" Leo beamed. "You said I could go on the quest if I got one. 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 was about to 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, and Piper could tell he was hiding something.

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

"Imagine the look on Charlie's face," Ash whispered to Annabeth. Piper was surprised to see both of the girls looking a little misty-eyed.

"Mostly?" Nyssa asked in a high pitched voice.

The dragon's head tilted to one side like a puppy dog, pouring a stream of black liquid out of its ear and all over Leo. Hopefully that was just oil.

"Just a few kinks to work out," Leo assured.

"But how did you survive...?" Nyssa was still staring at the creature in awe. "I mean, the fire breath...!"

"I'm quick," Leo replied a little too quickly. "And lucky. Now, am I on the quest, or what?"

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

"It's perfect," Ash smiled up at Leo.

Leo beamed back as the dragon shuddered and flapped his wings. "That's a yes, bro! Now, um, I'd really suggest we get going, guys. I already picked up some supplies in the--um, in the woods. And all these people with weapons are making Festus nervous."