SANITY; heroes of olympus

01.9

[act one; chapter nine     -     stand by me]

Thankfully, nothing was following them.

He steered the dragon toward the southwest. Eventually, the smoke from the burning department store faded in the distance, but Andromeda 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. Even the redhead knew those noises weren't good.

"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 three people on his back—the more she thought about it, the more worried she got. Metal dragons, just like living, breathing humans, had limits.

"Leo." Piper patted his shoulder. "You feeling okay?"

"Yeah...not bad for a brainwashed zombie." He hoped he didn't look as embarrassed as he felt. "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.

Andromeda could tell that Leo wasn't exactly focused. His mind wasn't in the present, he wasn't here with the rest of them. But then again, maybe all of them were somewhere else mentally.

"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."