The Forgotten Hero (Book 1)

Chapter 3

I awoke to the sound of yelling. I quickly got up and dressed in jeans, a heavy sweater, and thick socks and boots. I grabbed the backpack that Annabeth had given me for our quest, with necessary items in it.

I rushed outside and saw a giant bronze dragon, spitting fire into the air.

A surge of fear rose up in my chest. As other campers charged forward, I took a step back. I bumped into Jason, and he placed a hand on my shoulder, steadying me.

I stared at the dragon. Upon closer inspection, one could see a very small, Latino elf grinning as he held the reins.

"That thing is dangerous. Kill it now." I heard a voice ringing through the crowd.

"Stand down." Jason yelled, taking his hands off my shoulders, and walking towards Leo. I reluctantly followed, slinging my backpack over one shoulder.

I had a bad feeling that this was our ride.

That bad feeling was correct. I frowned as Leo taught us how to put on our safety harnesses, and how the chinks in the sides of the dragon could act as stirrups. My frown grew wider as I recalled the fact that the dragon's name was Happy.

I hated flying. Most people would find it exhilarating, and maybe even breathtaking. I, on the other hand, knew that everything about flying was wrong. There was nothing natural about flying. It was kind of cliché, but if man was supposed to fly, they would have been given wings.

I looked down at the ground. My stomach rose to my throat and I almost passed out. I had been playing this game for 30 minutes now. Every 5 minutes or so I would look down and want to die. It was probably horrible for my nerves, but everything about this felt bad.

My voice was shaky. "So how long until we land?"

"Not for a while." Leo shrugged. "Why?"

I frowned, looking down again. "This is bad." I muttered.

"Hey, I'm not gonna let you fall." Jason chuckled.

"Yeah, but I have a feeling your dad would." I looked up. "I don't know what I did to piss him off, but I do know that he doesn't want me flying."

The sky grumbled in agreement.

"Shit." I muttered, grabbing on to Festus even tighter. "It was probably Percy that pissed him off."

Piper looked over her shoulder at me. "Do you remember him at all? He seemed like such a big deal at camp."

I shrugged. "I only have one memory really. We were kids." I didn't elaborate.

"So you want us to purposefully go find Dylan, the dude who almost killed me and stole Coach from the sky walk?" The disbelief in Leo's voice was prominent.

He was ignored. "I think there's also a wolf involved, but she's friendly. At least, I think." Jason muttered. "As long as we don't show any weaknesses."

"Sounds like fun." I felt like I was slowly turning back to my sassy self. Or maybe I was just bitter from my dream the night before.

"There's also giants." Piper added. "The prophecy mentioned something about the giants' revenge."

"Giants, like more than one?" Leo turned towards us.

I yelped. "Dude, drive the dragon."

He turned back. "Why couldn't it be just one giant? Why did it have to be more than one?" He snorted.

I had to agree. Giants-- plural-- seemed like too many for a quest of four people. Especially when at least 3 of us had never been on a quest before.