Arsonist's Lullabye ──── Leo Valdez

𝟏𝟗: '𝐂𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐠𝐨...

─────"𝐂𝐲𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐬!"

Vincent almost fell off the dragon when Jason woke up screaming.

"Whoa, sleepyhead." This time, it was Leo, then Vincent with Jason behind him and Piper at the very last on the bronze dragon, holding Jason's waist to keep him balanced. They flew peacefully through the winter sky as if nothing had happened.

"D-Detroit," Jason stammered. "Didn't we crash-land? I thought—"

"It's okay," Leo said. "We got away, but you got a nasty concussion. How you feeling?"

Vincent didn't blame him for his confusion. Everything had happened so fast.

"How did you—the Cyclops—"

"Leo ripped them apart," Piper said. "He was amazing. He can summon fire—"

"It was nothing," Leo said quickly.

Piper laughed. "Shut up, Valdez. We're going to tell him. Get over it."

She and Vincent took turns narrating—how Leo single-handedly defeated the Cyclopes family; how they freed Jason, then noticed the Cyclopes starting to re-form; how Leo had replaced the dragon's wiring and gotten them back in the air just as they'd started to hear the Cyclopes roaring for vengeance inside the factory.

When Piper told him about the other kid the Cyclopes claimed to have eaten, the one in the purple shirt who spoke Latin, Jason sucked in a breath.

"Hey, Jason, I didn't get time to ask  you before we fell but..." Vincent turned in his seat to look at the blond. "Do you know something about cohorts? And what a praetor is?"

Leo gave him a weird look, but Vince had things on his mind— particularly the boy from his dreams. Vincent wondered if he would ever see him again. Maybe if he forced himself to panic, using his powers on himself, just before he went to sleep, he might see the guy again. How do you induce nightmares?

"Cohort... Praetor" Jason repeated. "I feel like I should know those. A Praetor is one of the two Roman magistrate, but it seems familiar and as for the son of Mercury, I'm not alone, then," he said. "There are others like me."

"Jason," Piper said, "you were never alone. You've got us."

"I—I know... but something Hera said. I was having a dream..."

He told them what he'd seen, and what the goddess had said inside her cage.

"An exchange?" Piper asked. "What does that mean?"

"And with whom?" Vincent wondered. "Percy? Then where did she put him?"

"I don't know" Jason shook his head. "But Hera's gamble is me. Just by sending me to Camp Half-Blood, I have a feeling she broke some kind of rule, something that could blow up in a big way—"

"Or save us," Piper said hopefully. "That bit about the sleeping enemy—that sounds like the lady Leo told us about."

Vincent's hold on the handle tightened. Dirt lady wasn't willing to leave either of them alone. Leo nodded so Vincent cleared his throat. "About that... she kind of appeared to us  back in Detroit, in a pool of Porta-Potty sludge."

"Did you say... Porta-Potty?" Jason hesitated.

Vincent  told them about the big face in the factory yard. "I don't know if she's completely unkillable," he said, "but she cannot be defeated by toilet seats. I can vouch for that."

"She's trying to divide us." Piper said, her voice shaky.

"What's wrong?" Jason asked.

"I just... Why are they toying with us? Who is this lady, and how is she connected to Enceladus?"