plague bringer - a heroes of olympus insert

𝗑𝗂𝗏. 𝗂𝗍'𝗌 𝖼𝖺𝗅𝗅𝖾𝖽: 𝖿𝗋𝖾𝖾𝖿𝖺𝗅𝗅

Aria woke up to Piper screaming and noticed several things all at once. First she noticed none of her friends were beside her anymore, which was weird. Then she noticed that she wasn't sitting on Festus. Finally, she noticed she was falling through the air and yelped, "Oh my gods!"

Far below she saw city lights glimmering in the early dawn, and several hundred yards away the body of the bronze dragon spinning out of control, its wings limp, fire flickering in its mouth like a badly wired lightbulb.

A body shot past her—Leo, screaming and frantically grabbing at the clouds. "Not coooooool!"

She tried to call to him, but he was already too far below.

Somewhere above her, Jason yelled, "Aria, level out! Extend your arms and legs!"

It was hard to control her fear, but she did what he said and regained some balance. She fell spread-eagle like a skydiver, the wind underneath her like a solid block of ice. Then Jason and Piper were there, wrapping their arms around her waist. Thank god, Aria thought. But part of her also thought: Great. Second time this week he's saved someone falling to their death. This has to be a record of some kind.

"We have to get Leo!" Aria shouted.

Their fall slowed as Jason controlled the winds, but they still lurched up and down like the winds didn't want to cooperate. "Gonna get rough," Jason warned. "Hold on!"

Piper and Aria locked her arms around each other, and Jason shot toward the ground. Aria started quietly praying to any god that would listen that they wouldn't become a splat on the pavement. Her vision blurred. And then, thump! They slammed into another warm body—Leo, still wriggling and cursing.

"Stop fighting!" Jason said. "It's me!"

"My dragon!" Leo yelled. "You gotta save Festus!"

Jason was already struggling to keep the four of them aloft, and Aria knew there was no way he could help a fifty-ton metal dragon. But before she could try to reason with Leo, she heard an explosion below them. A fireball rolled into the sky from behind a warehouse complex, and Leo sobbed, "Festus!"

Jason's face reddened with strain as he tried to maintain an air cushion beneath them, but intermittent slow-downs were the best he could manage. Rather than free-falling, it felt like they were bouncing down a giant staircase, a hundred feet at a time, which wasn't doing Aria's stomach any favors.

As they wobbled and zigzagged, Aria could make out details of the factory complex below—warehouses, smokestacks, barbed-wire fences, and parking lots lined with snow-covered vehicles. They were still high enough so that hitting the ground would flatten them into roadkill—or skykill—when Jason groaned, "I can't—"

And they dropped like stones.

They hit the roof of the largest warehouse and crashed through into darkness.

Aria landed on her butt before falling into a heap. Her whole body was protesting, but she looked to see Jason and Leo nearby.

She watched Jason sigh in relief that they weren't all dead. "Thank goodness."

Aria rolled over to lay in a starfish position catching her breath.

Then she saw Jason hurry to stand up, definitely hurting Leo, who was directly beneath him. He yelled, voice echoing through the building "Piper! Where's Piper?"

"Ow, bro!" Leo groaned. "That's my back! I'm not a sofa! Piper, where'd you go?"

"Here," Aria heard the girl utter somewhere up in the catwalks, her voice a whimper.