The Winds Of Heaven (Annabeth Chase x Male Reader)

13. Die!

Ethan kept looking back. He half expected 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, but Ethan 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."

"Can someone tell me what was that?" Y/N asked. "Where did those dragons come from?"

"In brief, they were surprise gifts from Medea," Ethan said. "What about you? What happened?"

Y/N told them about his conversation with the black-haired man. If you'd asked Ethan, he would've told you Tom was a very odd fellow indeed. He acted like he knew mysteries they couldn't even conceive of, and Ethan didn't like mysterious people. What was the point of kidnapping Y/N only to release him less than an hour later? Probably so they could know about him and fear him. Well, that wouldn't work; next time he saw the man, Ethan would make sure to hoof his ass once and for all. Y/N thought this Tom was the enemy his mother had warned him about. That didn't bode well.

Festus shuddered. Gears popped and clicked in his neck.

Leo frowned. "I'll give you a tune-up next time we land," he promised. "You've earned some motor oil and Tabasco sauce."

He turned to Ethan and the others and warned them: "We're going to have to put down soon. 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," Ethan guessed. His memories of the department store were fuzzy, but he seemed to remember hearing that.

Piper let out a shaky breath. "Look, Medea said you would all 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 Ethan didn't see anything except clouds and the lights of a few towns glowing in the dusk.

"What are you talking about?" Annabeth asked.

"That . . . whatever it is," Jason said. "In the air."

Ethan exchanged a look with Leo, who looked just as confused as he was.

"Right," Ethan said. "Could you be more specific on the 'whatever-it-is' part?"

"It looks like a vapor trail," Y/N interrupted. "Except it's glowing. Really faint, but it's definitely there. We've been following it since Chicago. Maybe Festus can sense it."

"You think Aeolus made it?" Annabeth asked.

"It's a magic trail in the wind," Y/N said. "Aeolus is the wind god. I think he knows we've got prisoners for him. He's telling us where to fly."

"Or it's another trap," Piper said.

They flew in silence for a while. Festus seemed to know where he was going. He kept his course, gently curving toward the southwest and hopefully Aeolus's fortress. Another wind god to visit, a whole new flavor of crazy—Oh, boy, Ethan couldn't wait.

He had way too much on his mind to sleep, but now that he was out of danger, his body had different ideas. His energy level was crashing. The monotonous beat of the dragon's wings made his eyes feel heavy. His head started to nod. He fell asleep.