Daughter of Neptune, Book one

XV

Tori pov

I tumbled through the sky. Far below I saw city lights glimmering in the early dawn, several hundred yards away the body of bronze dragon spinning out of control, its wings limp, fire flickering in its mouth like a badly wired lightbulb.

A body shot past me--Leo, screaming and frantically grabbing the clouds. "Not coooooool!"

I tried to call to him, but he was already too far below.

Somewhere above me, Jason yelled, "Piper, Tori, level out! Extend your arms and legs!"

I had to control my fear, but I did what Jason said and regained some balance. I fell spread eagle like a skydiver, wind underneath me like a solid block.

"We have to get Leo!" I shouted.

Our fall slowed as Golden boy controlled the winds, but we still lurches up and down like the winds didn't want to cooperate.

"Gonna get rough," Jase warned. "Hold on!"

I felt Jason grab me and I locked my arms around him with Piper, and Jason shot toward the ground. I probably screamed, but the sound was ripped from my mouth. My vision blurred and I had to hold onto my glasses to keep them from flying off.

And then, We slammed into another warm body--Leo, still wriggling and cursing.

"Stop fighting!" Jason said. "It's me!"

"My dragon!" Leo yelled. "You gotta save Festus!"

Jason was already struggling keeping all four of us aloft, and I knew there was no way he could help a fifty ton metal dragon. But before I could try to reason with Leo, I heard an explosion below us. A fireball rolled into the sky from behind a warehouse complex, and Leo sobbed, "Festus!"

Jason's face reddened with strain as he tried to maintain an air cushion beneath us, but intermittent slow-downs were the best he could manage. Rather than free-falling, it felt like we were bouncing down a giant stair case, a hundred feet at a time, which wasn't doing my stomach any favors. As we wobbled and zigzagged, I could make out details of the factory complex below--warehouses, smoke-stacks, bared-wire fences, and parking lots lined with snow-covered vehicles. We were still high enough so that hitting the ground would flatten us into roadkill--or skykill--when Jason groaned, "I can't--"

And we dropped like stones.

We hit the roof of the largest warehouse and crashed through into darkness.

I hit my right arm on something while falling in. My arm didn't like that. Pain flared in my right arm as I hit the floor.

For a few seconds I wasn't conscious of anything but pain--pained so bad that my ears rang and vision went red.

Then I heard Jason's voice somewhere, echoing through the building. "Piper! Where's Piper? Tori! Where are you?!"

I looked at my arm, it was bleeding so much my upper right sweater sleeve was  soaked with blood.

"Ow, bro!" Leo groaned. "That's my back! I'm not a sofa! Tori, where'd you go?"

"I'm here," I said. I got up and everything looked a little blurry, but I managed. I looked up and saw Leo looking at me with a very worried look in his eyes. We made our way over to each other, meeting in the middle.

"You okay?" Leo asked me.

I glanced at my bloody arm and looked back at him and said, "Just peachy."

He gave me small smile and I smiled right back and we went over to Piper who land a level above Leo, Golden boy, and I. We made a hole through the roof about 20 feet above us. How had we even survive that drop, I had no idea.