The Poseidon Girls

Chapter 11 ~ Piper and I get Tricked (CORAL)

I found it pretty hard to relax until the glow of Quebec faded behind us.
"You were amazing," Jason told Piper. Piper replied in French:
"Si tu savoir la vérité au sujet de moi, tu ne ferait pas penser que j'étais tellement extraordinaire."
"What'd you say?" he asked.
"I said I only spoke to Boreas. It wasn't that amazing." I knew that whatever Piper actually said, it wasn't that, but I kept quiet, thinking that Piper didn't want us to know what she actually said.
"Hey," Jason reasoned, "you saved me from joining Khione's subzero collection. I owe you one."

After a while, Leo passed us some sandwiches from his pack. He'd been quiet ever since we'd told him about what happened up in the throne room.
"I still can't believe Khione," He sighed. "She looked so nice."
"Trust me, man," Jason assured him. "Snow may be pretty, but up close, it's cold and nasty. We'll find you a better prom date."
"Cass would gladly go with you?" I offered jokingly.
"Shut it, Watson." Cass replied. Ooh, someone likes Leo! I wonder if she knows it yet? Leo hadn't mentioned much about his time in the palace, or why the Boreads had singled him out for smelling like fire. I got a feeling he was hiding something. Whatever it was, his mood seemed to be affecting Festus, who grumbled and steamed as he tried to keep himself warm in the icy Canadian air. Apparently, Happy the Dragon was not so happy.

We ate our sandwiches as we flew. I found my thoughts wondering on how Leo had managed to stock up on supplies before we left. None of us spoke. Whatever we would find in Chicago, we all knew Boreas/Aquilon (seriously, why did Boreas do that?) had only let us go because he figured we were already on a suicide mission. The moon rose, and stars turned overhead. My eyelids started to feel heavy, but I couldn't sleep. Not if I was on the back of Festus - I had no-one to lean on, and I wouldn't be able to fall asleep sitting up.

All of a sudden, I found myself tumbling through the sky. Far below me, I saw the city lights glimmering in the early dawn, and, several hundred miles away, a bronze dragon was spinning out of control, its wings limp, and fire flickering in its mouth like a badly wired light bulb. I could see everyone falling below me. Wait, no couldn't. Where was Jason? All of a sudden, I felt myself slow down.
"Wait, what?"
"Coral - it's just me, I'm extending the air around me. I'm not sure how long I can do it for, though." I heard Jason's voice above me explaining what was going on. Jason was soon yelling for Piper to level out, and extend her arms and legs. When we caught up to her, he managed to catch her around her waist. He managed to pick up Cass the same way he got me.
"We have to get Leo!" Piper shouted.
"Gonna get rough," Jason warned us. "Extending the air in two places isn't easy, and the winds don't seem to want to cooperate." Piper locked her arms around him, and Jason shot toward the ground. I probably screamed, but any noise made was stolen away by the wind before it could even be heard.

And then - thump! Jason and Piper slammed into Leo, who was 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 all of us aloft, and I knew there was no way he could help a fifty-ton metal dragon. But before any of us could even attempt to reason with Leo, something exploded below us. A fireball rolled into the sky form behind a warehouse complex, and Leo sobbed, "Festus!"

As we wobbled and zigzagged towards safety, I could make out details of the factory complex below us - warehouses, smokestacks, barbed-wire fences, and parking lots lined with snow-covered vehicles. We were still high enough that hitting the ground would flatten us into roadkill when Jason groaned, "I can't -" We dropped like stones. We hit the roof of the largest warehouse and crashed through into darkness.
"Piper! Where's Piper?" Jason called out.
"Ow, bro!" Leo groaned. "That's my back! I'm not a sofa! Piper, where'd you go?"
"Here," Piper's voice sounded weak, and I had a feeling she was in pain. We set off up the stairway to where Piper's voice came from. We found ourselves on a metal catwalk that lead to the warehouse interior. I was too scared to look at the damage we'd done to the place The four of us reached Piper's side.
"You okay..." Leo began to ask. Then he saw Piper's clearly shucked up foot. "Oh no, you're not."
"Thanks for the reassurance," Piper groaned.
"You'll be fine," Jason told Piper, though worry was evident in his voice. "Leo, you got any first aid supplies?"
"Yeah - yeah, sure." Leo dug around in his magic tool belt and produced a wad of gauze and a roll of duct tape.
"How did you -" Piper attempted to sit up, and winced in pain. "How did you pull that stuff from an empty tool belt?"
"Magic," Leo replied. "Haven't figured it out completely, but I can summon just about any tool out of the pockets, plus some other helpful stuff." He reached into another pocket and produced a small tin. "Breath mint?" Jason snatched away the mints.
"That's great, Leo. Now, can you fix her foot?"
"I'm a mechanic, man. Maybe if she was a car..." Leo snapped his fingers. "wait, what was that godly healing stuff they fed you at camp - Rambo food?"
"Ambrosia, actually." Cass corrected.
"There should be some in my bag, if it's not crushed." Piper informed us through gritted teeth. Jason carefully pulled Piper's backpack off her shoulders. He rummaged through her supplies, and found a Ziplock bag filled with crushed pastry squares that reminded me of lemon bars. He broke off a piece of the ambrosia and fed it to her.
"More," she requested. Jason frowned.
"Piper, we shouldn't risk it. They said too much could burn you up. I think I should try and set your foot."
"Have you ever done that before?"
"Yeah... I think so." Leo found an old piece of wood and broke it in half to make a splint. He then got the gauze and duct tape ready. "Hold her leg still," Jason told Leo. "Piper, this is going to hurt." When Jason set her foot, Piper flinched so hard she punched Leo in the arm, causing him to yell almost as much as she did, and me to attempt to stifle my laughter. I couldn't see her foot because of where Jason and Leo knelt, but I knew it wouldn't be skew anymore.
"Ow," Piper cringed.
"Jeez, beauty queen!" Leo rubbed his arm. "Glad my face wasn't there."
"Sorry," Piper apologised. "And don't call me 'beauty queen' or I'll punch you again."
"You both did great." Jason found a canteen in Piper's backpack and gave her some water.