ONE LAST TIME . . . heroes of olympus

16

KAT KEPT LOOKING back. She almost expected to see a nasty sun dragon toting a flying chariot with a screaming magical saleswoman throwing potions, but nothing followed them. Probably because she killed one of those dragons. Thank the gods for Cortana.

Eventually, the smoke from the burning department store faded in the distance, but Kat 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. Kat heard some pops and clicks and winced. Yikes. That was probably bad.

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

Festus whirled his teeth, but even that sounded weak. Kat frowned. She didn't like how downcast Leo's posture was, and she didn't like how weak Festus sounded.

"Luchik." She 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, Kitty Kat. You two, beauty queen. If you hadn't talked me out of that spell—"

"Don't worry about it," Piper said quickly.

"And, gods, do not call me that," Kat poked Leo in the back. "I just saved your life. Also, my siblings call me that, and I hate it with a passion." ( Her best friend, Frank aka Bumblebee, called her that, but only him. )

But she was worried for her friends. Piper's dad was in danger, and she didn't tell any of them. Medea had a patron that had killed Leo's mom. And Jason . . . well, Kat remembered the way he had slowly gone red as he held her in his arms. But she wasn't worried about him. No, she was worried about herself, and how down bad she was. Because she really couldn't focus on this now. They had a quest to go through, and she had to be the one carrying them because she had the most experience. Right now, at least.

"We're going to have to put down soon," Leo 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," Leo guessed. "Didn't Medea say something about Oakland?"

Piper didn't respond for so long, Kat turned around to look at her, frowning and examining her features. "Your dad," she said quietly. "Something's happened to your dad. He got lured into some kind of trap."

Piper let out a shaky breath, unwilling to make eye contact. "Look, Medea said you guys would 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 when Kat turned, she 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. Kat mouthed to him, he's crazy, right?

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

"Like a vapor trail," said Jason. "Except it's glowing. Really faint, but it's definitely there. We've been following it since Chicago, so I figured you saw it."