Silver | HoO

FOURTEEN

Emilio kept looking back, half expecting to see those nasty sun dragons toting a flying chariot with a screaming magical saleswoman throwing potions, but nothing followed them. Eventually, the smoke from the burning department store faded in the distance, but Emilio didn't relax until the suburbs of Chicago gave way to snowy fields, and the sun began to set.

"Good job, Festus." Leo patted the dragon's metal hide. "You did awesome."

The dragon shuddered.

Emilio hated to admit it, but he was growing fond of the dragon. He had even forgiven it for throwing them off to their near death.

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

Festus flew at a steady pace, his great wings angling to catch the wind, but he was carrying a heavy load. Two cages in his claws plus four people on his back.

"Leo." Piper patted his shoulder. "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, "Emilio did great too. If it weren't for him, I don't think we'd have gotten up there in time to stop her."

Emilio gave her a small smile. He still wasn't used to hearing praise.

"It was all you, Piper," he said, "You were amazing."

Piper returned his small smile but he could tell her heart wasn't completely in it. He thought about Medea and the message she showed her. Emilio wanted to ask about her dad but he could tell now wasn't the time.

Emilio just hoped Medea didn't make it out of the department store, and would go right back to the Fields of Punishment, where she belonged.

His thoughts then drifted to his sister. If souls were coming back from the Underworld ... was it possible she could be brought back? Would she even want to come back?

"We're going to have to put down soon," Leo warned them and Emilio frowned. "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," Leo guessed. "Didn't Medea say something about Oakland?"

Emilio really didn't want to go there, it was too close to Camp Jupiter but he knew that if Piper's dad was in trouble, he would go to help her.

"Piper's dad," Jason put in. "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 all 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, but Emilio didn't see anything except clouds and the lights of a few towns glowing in the dusk.

"What?" Leo asked.

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

Emilio glanced at Piper but she looked just as confused as they were.

"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."