You'll Learn to Love Me

Chapter 8: Crash and Burn

Laylana kept her head hidden in Leo's back for a while. She didn't want to know if those sun dragons were following them, followed by Medea throwing potions. After a while of flying, Piper assured her they were safe and she finally lifted her head from Leo's back, and unwrapped her arms from his waist. Her hands landed at her hips, where she cursed.

"I dropped one of my daggers back at Medea's." She groaned. "Fuck..." 

"I'll make you a new one." Leo grinned at her. 

"It's okay..." Laylana mumbled. "But, that would be nice. Thank you." 

Leo smiled, then turned back ahead of him, patting the dragon's metal hide. "Good job, Festus. You did awesome."

The dragon shuddered. Gears popped and clicked in his neck. Laylana couldn't help but feel thankful for not only Leo, but Festus as well. If it hadn't been for the dragon, she probably would be dead right now. She may have still been scared of him, but it was lessening as time went on. Though that did not stop her from not liking those noises he was making. If the control disk was failing again, then where would that leave them?

"I'll give you a tune-up next time we land," Leo promised. "You've earned some motor oil and Tabasco sauce."

"Leo." Piper laid a hand on Laylana's shoulder, calling over her. "You feeling okay?"

"Yeah... not bad for a brainwashed zombie." He hoped he didn't look as embarrassed as he felt. "Thanks for saving us back there, beauty queen. If you hadn't talked me out of that spell—"

"Don't worry about it," Piper said. "What about you, Lana?"

"I'm good. Thank you, Piper." Laylana smiled at the girl. "I owe you one big time." 

The three knew  that it was a lie. Laylana was not okay; whether that be from what happened with the dragons, or what was said between Leo, Jason and her when they were under Medea's spell. They never meant it, especially Leo. He felt horrible for unconsciously saying that her brother was most likely dead by now. 

"We're going to have to put down soon," Leo warned his friends. Funny how Laylana fit into that category now. "Couple more hours, maybe, to make sure Medea's not following us. I don't think Festus can fly much longer than that."

"Yeah," Piper agreed. "Coach Hedge probably wants to get out of his canary cage, too. Question is—where are we going?"

"The Bay Area," Laylana questioned. "Didn't Medea say something about Oakland?"

Piper didn't respond for so long. Laylana leaned back a little to look at the girl as Jason began to speak. "Piper's dad, something's happened to your dad, right? He got lured into some kind of trap."

Piper let out a shaky breath. "Look, Medea said you would both die in the Bay Area. And besides... even if we went there, the Bay Area is huge! First we need to find Aeolus and drop off the storm spirits. Boreas said Aeolus was the only one who could tell us exactly where to go."

Leo grunted. "So how do we find Aeolus?"

Jason leaned forward. "You mean you don't see it?" He pointed ahead of them.

"Huh?" Laylana asked. "Jason, you seeing shit?"

 "What?" Leo asked.

 "That... whatever it is," Jason said. "In the air."

Leo glanced back at Laylana and Piper, who looked just as confused as he was.

"Right," Leo said. "Could you be more specific on the 'whatever-it-is' part?"

"Like a vapor trail," Jason said. "Except it's glowing. Really faint, but it's definitely there. We've been following it since Chicago, so I figured you saw it."

"Nah, you're hallucinating." Laylana butt in.

Leo shook his head. "Maybe not... Maybe Festus can sense it. You think Aeolus made it?"

"Well, it's a magic trail in the wind," Jason said. "Aeolus is the wind god. I think he knows we've got prisoners for him. He's telling us where to fly."

"Or it's another trap," Piper said. Her tone worried Leo. She didn't just sound nervous. She sounded broken with despair.

"Pipes, you all right?" he asked.

"Don't call me that."

"Okay, fine. You don't like any of the names I make up for you. But if your dad's in trouble and we can help—"

"You can't," she said, her voice getting shakier. "Look, I'm tired. If you don't mind..."

She leaned back against Jason and closed her eyes. Laylana kept looking back at the two, growing more and more curious. She hadn't heard much with the brain fog when she was charmspeaked (charmspoken?). But she knew that what was said had hurt Piper. This angry version of her wasn't like her the whole time. She snapped at Leo, refused  to say anything to any of them... But Laylana had no idea how to approach the topic. After all, she did barely know these three. They continued to fly in silence for a while. Festus seemed to know where he was going. He kept his course, gently curving toward the southwest and hopefully Aeolus's fortress. Laylana looked ahead and noticed Leo's head started to nod.