Eye of Hecate

Ozzy

I wake up falling through the sky. I'm still strapped in to Festus, but the dragon's hide is cold and lifeless. I think I scream, but the wind rips the sound from my lungs. 

"Not again!" Leo yells. "You can't fall again!"

The wind stings my eyes. 

"I can't see!" Leo yells. "If I could just see the control panel-"

I grab my staff and light the end, holding it towards what Leo is trying to look at. 

He starts messing around inside the dragon's head as we spiral downwards, the lights of a city below us. 

"Jason!" Leo screams. "Take Piper and Ozzy and fly out of here!" 

"What?"

"We need to lighten the load! I might be able to reboot Festus, but he's carrying around too much weight!"

"What about you?" Piper cries. "If you can't reboot him—"

"I'll stay with Leo!" I yell. "I can get him to safety! Just follow us to the ground. Go!"

Jason grabs Piper around the waist. They both unbuckle their harnesses, and in a flash they're gone—shooting into the air. 

"Now," Leo says. "Just you, me, and Oz, Festus—and two heavy cages. You can do it, boy!"

Leo talks to the dragon while he works, while we fall at terminal velocity. I can see the city lights below us, getting closer and closer. I keep a solid grip on my staff as he works, though I become increasingly worried about how close we're getting to the floor. 

"Leo-"

"I've got this." He mutters. 

I let him work a few more seconds. 

"Leo!"

"I know!" 

I look down at the incoming ground. I wrap my free arm around him and focus on the wind around me. 

"Where's your faith in me, Oz?"

"Just don't want to see you as a pancake splat on the ground." 

"'Preciate it." 

Leo pulls a wire and Festus groans—metal creaks inside his neck. His eyes flicker weakly to life, and he spreads his wings. Our fall turns into a steep glide. 

"Good!!" I squeal. 

Leo keeps pulling wires. "Come on, big boy. Come on!"

We're still flying in way too hot, and the ground is too close. We need a place to land—fast. 

Leo steers us towards a big white mansion with a huge snowy lawn inside a tall brick perimeter fence—like some rich person's private compound, all of it blazing with light. A perfect landing field. He does his best to steer the dragon toward is, and Festus seems to come to life. 

"You're doing it!" I say. 

"And you doubted me." Leo tisks. 

I shove his shoulder. "You know I never doubt you, Valdez." 

He shoots me hiss classic crazy grin.

Then everything goes wrong. As we approach the lawn, spotlights along the fence fix on us, blinding us. I hear bursts like tracer fire, the sound of metal being cut to shreds—and BOOM. 

I black out. 

When I come to my senses, Jason and Piper are leaning over me. I'm lying in the snow with something heavy on top of me, covered in mud. I spit a clump of frozen grass out of my mouth.