Daughter of the Sea || HoO

CHAPTER SEVEN

Tori, Annabeth, and Jason sprinted out of Cabin One. Tori being small was able to pull ahead of the crowd, and she made her way to the rest of the demigods huddled around. Tori ended up next to Piper's side. Both girls looked up and and couldn't believe what they saw.

"LEO!?" Tori and Piper yelled at the same time.

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

Hesitantly, the archers lowered their bows. 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. Nobody seemed anxious to get close.

Tori couldn't blame them. The dragon was huge. 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 and glowing ruby eyes. It had bat-shaped wings twice its length that unfurled like metallic sails, making a sound like coins cascading out of as lot machine every time they flapped. 

"It's beautiful," Piper muttered. Tori stared at her like she was insane 

The dragon reared its head and shot a column of fire into the sky. Tori pulled on her necklace, drawing Tidal. The rest of the 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!" Leo shouted. He looked like he'd been rolling around in the campfire. His army coat and his face were smeared with soot. His hands were grease stained, and he wore a new tool belt around his waist. His eyes were bloodshot. 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 thing is dangerous!" an Ares girl shouted,brandishing her spear. "Kill it now!"

Tori was about to command the group of campers, but someone beat her to it.

"Stand down!" someone ordered.

To Tori's surprise, it was Jason. He pushed through the crowd, flanked by Annabeth and that girl from the Hephaestus cabin, Nyssa. 

Jason gazed up at the dragon and shook his head in amazement. "Leo, what have you done?"

"Found a ride!" Leo beamed. "You said I could go on the quest if I got you a ride. Well, I got you a class-A metallic flying bad boy! Festus can take us anywhere!"

"What the fuck, that's awesome!" Tori yelled at him and Leo beamed.

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

"Yeah!" Leo said. "I found them and reattached them."

"But it never had wings. Where did you find them?"

Leo hesitated, and Tori could tell he was hiding something. 

"In ... the woods," he said. "Repaired his circuits, too,mostly, so no more problems with him going haywire.

"Mostly?" Nyssa asked.

The dragon's head twitched. It tilted to one side and astream of black liquid—maybe oil, hopefully just oil—poured out of its ear, all over Leo.