The Poseidon Girls

Chapter 17 ~ Trail in the Sky (CORAL)

I kept seeing Leo glance back, like he expected to see sun dragons pulling screaming Medea towards us, but, thankfully, nothing followed us. Festus flew southwest. Eventually, the smoke from the burning department store faded in the distance, but I found myself unable to relax from how much I was freaking out in the department store until the suburbs of Chicago faded into snowy fields, and the sun began to set. Actually, everyone looked relaxed when that happened.
"Good job, Festus." Leo praised. "You did awesome." The dragon shuddered. I hoped Festus wasn't malfunctioning... "I'll give you a tune-up next time we land," Leo promised. "You've earned some motor oil and Tabasco sauce." Festus whirled his teeth, but that was so weak, I could barely hear  it from where I sat at the back of Festus. He 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 six people on his back. The more I thought about that, the more worried I got.  I already wasn't too great with heights, since I'm a daughter of Poseidon, and I really didn't want to fall from the sky again.
"Leo. You feeling okay?" Piper asked.
"Yeah... not bad for a brainwashed zombie." he replied. "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.
"We're going to have to put down soon," Leo warned us. "Couple more hours, maybe, to make sure Medea isn't 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 cage, too. Question is - where are we going?"
"The Bay Area," Leo decided. "Didn't Medea say something about Oakland?" Piper was silent for a long time.
"Piper's dad," Jason put in. "Something's happened to your dad, right? He's gone into some kind of trap." Piper let out a shaky breath.
"Look, Medea said you guys would die in the Bay Area. I'm not sure if she meant just Katherine and the boys or if she meant Cass and Coral would too. And besides... even if we went there, they 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 a head of us, but when I leaned to the side to see what he meant, all I saw was clouds and a the light from a few towns glowing in the dusk.
"What?" I asked.
"That... whatever it is," Jason told me. "In the air."
"Uh, you're going to have be a bit more specific than 'whatever-it-is', Jason," Katherine said.
"Like a vapour trail," Jason said. "Except it's glowing. Really faint, but it's definitely there. We've been following it since Chicago, so I figured Leo saw it."
"Maybe Festus can sense it." Leo suggested. "You think Aeolus made it?"
"Well, it's a magic trail in the wind," Jason replied.
"Plus, only Jason, the son of Zeus, can see it. So it would make sense if Aeolus made it," I added.
"Yeah, 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.
"Pipes, you alright?" Leo 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," Piper told him, her voice getting shakier. "Look, I'm tired. If you don't mind..." I guessed she fell asleep, because she didn't say any more. It was clear she didn't want to talk. 

We flew in silence for a while. Festus seemed to know where he was going. He kept his course, gently curving toward the southwest (I think), and, hopefully, Aeolus's fortress. A whole new wind god to meet, hopefully this one wouldn't have orders to kill us as well.
"Catch a few Z's, Leo," Jason said. "It's cool. Hand me the reins."
"Nah, I'm okay -"
"Leo," Jason said, "You're not a machine. Besides, I'm the only one who can see the vapour trail. I'll make sure we stay on course."
"All right. Maybe just..." He didn't finish his sentence, so I assumed he'd fallen asleep.
"You know, you girls can sleep, too." He told us.
"Nah, I'll be fine, thanks. Besides, I can't sleep sitting up."
"I think I will." Katherine yawned.
"Me too," Cass agreed, leaning back against me to sleep. 

Jason and I stayed awake as we flew, not really talking much. Jason spent most of his time watching the trail in the air. I generally just sat and thought about random stuff my English friend, Ella, had told me. Apparently, she liked a band called JLS, but they'd broken up. I hadn't heard any of their songs yet, but I knew, some day, I'd search for a JLS song on YouTube maybe.

HELLO EVERYONE!!! Sorry this one's kinda short... this chapter in TLH is short. Well, not short as such... just everything else in the chapter is Leo's dream.
So. I have just realised something. Back when I lived in England, I liked this band called JLS. They've broken up now, but they had a member called Aston Merrygold. He's now released a sing on his own, which, thankfully, has also come out in Australia. But, even though I loved JLS, I didn't realise until TODAY that Get Stupid is by him! I think there's something wrong with me for not recognising him from JLS...