𝗪𝗔𝗜𝗧 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗠𝗘 ━━ l. valdez

xiv ━━ crash the party like a record scratch

01. chapter fourteen

━━━━━━━━ ( 💫 ) ━━━━━━━━

LEO AND I COMPLETELY LOST track of time and all sense of direction. it seemed impossible the woods could be so deep and wild, but the dragon traveled until the trees were like skyscrapers and the canopy of leaves completely blotted out the stars. even the fire in leo's hand couldn't have lit the way, but the dragon's glowing red eyes acted like headlights.

finally we crossed a stream and came to a dead end, a limestone cliff a hundred feet tall—a solid, sheer mass the dragon couldn't possibly climb.

festus stopped at the base and lifted one leg like a dog pointing.

"what is it?" i said, sliding off the dragon.

leo followed after me. we walked up to the cliff—nothing but solid rock. the dragon kept pointing.

"it's not going to move out of your way," leo told him.

the loose wire in the dragon's neck sparked, but otherwise he stayed still. leo put his hand on the cliff. suddenly his fingers smoldered. lines of fire spread from his fingertips like ignited gunpowder, sizzling across the limestone. the burning lines raced across the cliff face until they had outlined a glowing red door five times as tall as leo and i. we backed up and the door swung open, disturbingly silently for such a big slab of rock.

i gasped and turned my attention to leo. "what is this?"

"no idea," leo said. "but that's some first-rate engineering, right?"

the dragon unfroze and marched inside, as if he were coming home.

leo gestured to me, "ladies first."

i stepped through the entrance and leo followed behind me. the door began to close.

then lights flickered on—a combination of electric fluorescents and wall-mounted torches.

"festus," leo muttered. "what is this place?"

the dragon stomped to the center of the room, leaving tracks in the thick dust, and curled up on a large circular platform.

the cave was the size of an airplane hangar, with endless worktables and storage cages, rows of garage-sized doors along either wall, and staircases that led up to a network of catwalks high above. equipment was everywhere—hydraulic lifts, welding torches, hazard suits, air-spades, forklifts, plus something that looked suspiciously like a nuclear reaction chamber. bulletin boards were covered with tattered, faded blueprints. and weapons, armor, shields—war supplies all over the place, a lot of them only partially finished.

hanging from chains far above the dragon's platform was an old tattered banner almost too faded to read.

the letters were greek, thank goodness! i hated reading english, it jumbled with my brain. the banner read: bunker 9.

did that mean nine as in the hephaestus cabin, or nine as in there were eight others? i looked at festus, still curled up on the platform, and it occurred to me that the dragon looked so content because it was home. it had probably been built on that pad.

"do you think the other kids know...?" leo asked, but his question died as he asked it.

"this place looks like it's been abandoned for a little while," i said.

that was an understatement. this place had been abandoned for decades. cobwebs and dust covered
everything. the floor revealed no footprints except for mine and leo's, and the huge paw prints of the dragon. we were the first ones in this bunker since... since a long time ago. bunker 9 had been abandoned with a lot of projects half finished on the tables. locked up and forgotten, but why?