PIPER
"Leo ?" shouted Piper.
And yes, it was him, perched on a gigantic bronze death machine, grinning like a demented
demented. Even before he landed, the colony alarm went off. The sound of a conch shell. The satyrs all shouted, Don't kill me ! Half the boarders emerged from their cabins, armor hastily pulled over their pajamas. The dragon landed in the middle of the lawn and Leo shouted.
"It's okay ! Don't shoot !"
The archers reluctantly lowered their bows. The warriors took a few steps back, but kept their spears and swords in hand. They formed a wide circle around the metal monster. Other demigods remained hidden behind the doors of their cabins or peered furtively through the windows. No one seemed in a hurry to approach.
Piper understood this mistrust. The dragon was absolutely enormous. The dragon gleamed in the first rays of sunlight like a living bronze and copper sculpture. Twenty meters long, with steel claws, powerful fangs and ruby-red eyes. He had bat wings twice as long as his body, spread out like metal sails, tinkling with each beat like a slot machine spitting out a stream of coins.
"It's beautiful," Piper murmured, and the other demigods looked at her as if she had lost her mind.
The dragon swung its head back and shot a column of flames into the sky. The campers hurried away and raised their weapons, but Leo slid quietly to the ground. He put his hands in the air as if surrendering, except he was still grinning ecstatically.
"People of planet Earth, I come in peace !" he shouted.
He looked as if he'd rolled into the campfire. His army jacket and face were black with soot, his hands covered with grease stains. He wore a new tool belt around his waist. His eyes were red, his hair so greasy it stood up on his head like porcupine quills, and he gave off a surprising whiff of Tabasco. Despite all this, he beamed.
"Festus just wanted to say hello !" he said cheerfully.
"This thing is dangerous !" retorted an Ares, brandishing her spear. "Let's kill it right now !"
Piper turned around to the camper who had said that, only to see that he was being shoved back by a girl with raven hair pulled up in a messy ponytail : Earlana. The latter had run out from the cabin, where she had been sleeping, when the camp alarm had gone off. Like most of the others she was still in her sleepwear, and it wasn't much... A black pair of shorts, and a black sports bra. She had darted from Cabin Five barefoot, with her golden sword in her hand. Piper couldn't tear her eyes off her, her cheeks rosing.
"Get back !" ordered a voice.
To Piper's surprise, it was Jason. He split the crowd, flanked by Annabeth and Nyssa, the girl from Hephaestus' cabin. Jason nodded at Earlana when he noticed her and then looked up at the dragon and shook his head in amazement.
"Leo," he asked, "what have you done ?"
"I've found a means of transport ! You said I could take part in the quest if I found transportation. Well, I've got you a mean flying metal bug! Festus can take us anywhere !"
"He...he... has wings," Nyssa stammered, her jaw threatening to drop.
"Yeah ! I found them and reattached them," Leo explained.
"But he never had wings ! Where did you find them ?"
Leo hesitated, and Piper knew he was hiding something.
"In... the woods. I fixed his circuits too, the main ones, let's say, so he's not likely to run wild anymore."
"The main ones ?"
YOU ARE READING
Bloody Lover | Piper McLean
Fanfiction" Earlana Ramírez Arellano has a big problem. She doesn't remember anything before waking up in a bus full of kids on a field trip. Apparently, she is best friends with Leo, a young Latino boy, and a sweet half-cherokee beauty, called Piper. The la...
