Book Cult (New and Improved)

Piper XVI

"Piper XVI," Hera read.

"Leo?" she yelled.

Sure enough, there he was, sitting atop a giant bronze death machine and grinning like a lunatic. Even before he landed, the camp alarm went up. A conch horn blew. All the satyrs started screaming, "Don't kill me!"

Just run. Grover thought, silently praying Leo had the dragon under control. It's all you can do. Run as fast as you can.

The Stolls snickered,

Nostalgic. Leo thought with a wide smile. Taking a calculator out of his tool belt, he quickly double-checked his math.

Half the camp ran outside in a mixture of pajamas and armor. The dragon set down right in the middle of the green, and Leo yelled, "It's cool! Don't shoot!"

...The warriors backed away, keeping their spears and swords ready. They made a loose wide ring around the metal monster.

Other demigods hid behind their cabin doors or peeped out the windows...

Piper couldn't blame them...It glistened in the morning sun like a living penny sculpture- different shades of copper and bronze- a sixty-foot-long serpent with steel talons and drill-bit teeth... It had bat-shaped wings twice its length that unfurled like metallic sails, making a sound like coins cascading out of a slot machine every time they flapped.

"It's beautiful," Piper muttered.

"She's got good taste." Leo said, scribbling down another formula. He glanced over at the phone, before adding some corrections.

"All my children have good taste." Aphrodite giggled. "What can I say? It runs in the family."

A couple gods rolled their eyes at this.

The other demigods stared at her like she was insane.

The dragon reared its head and shot a column of fire into the sky.

Nyssa, Jake, and Nico tensed.

"Relax." Leo reassured them. "It's cool."

Campers scrambled away and hefted their weapons, but Leo slid calmly off the dragon's back. He held up his hands like he was surrendering, except he still had that crazy grin on his face.

"People of Earth, I come in peace!" he shouted. Hera rolled her eyes as she read that out loud.

Hermes and his sons laughed.

His curly hair was so oily, it stuck up in porcupine quills, and he smelled strangely of Tabasco sauce. But he looked absolutely delighted. "Festus is just saying hello!"

"That's how he says 'hello'?" Nico mumbled skeptically. 

The son of Hephaestus jotted down a few more notes. "Well... he can't exactly say it."

..."Stand down!" someone ordered.

To Piper's surprise, it was Jason.

The demigods looked surprised with his sudden burst of leadership.

Thalia thought back to Future Annabeth's earlier remark. Maybe he was some kind of leader at the Roman Camp? At least he has some kind of experience...

..."It- has wings," Nyssa stammered. Her jaw looked like it might drop off her face.

A couple people chuckled.