𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐀𝐖𝐀𝐊𝐄𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 •| ⊱ Jason Grace¹

•| ⊱ TEN

[ chapter ten: hermia ]

° • ° • °

Hermia, Jason and Annabeth walked through the crowd of screaming demigods. Hermia had just gotten a glimpse of the the archers lowering their bows. The warriors backed away, keeping their spears and swords ready. Mia could see 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.

Once Hermia's gaze landed on the dragon she couldn't believe how huge it was. 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.

Mia saw the dragon reared its head and shot a column of fire into the sky. 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 Mia could see he had a crazy grin on his face.

"People of Earth, I come in peace!" he shouted. Festus is just saying hello!"

"That thing is dangerous!" an Ares girl shouted, brandishing her spear. "Kill it now!" Just as Mia, Jason and Annabeth made it to the front of the crowd Jason ordered everyone to Stand down. Jason pushed through the crowd, as Mia saw Nyssa walk up to them.

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

Mia watched with a smile as Leo said, "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!"

Mia laughed while saying, "You really outdid yourself, Leo. This thing is amazing." Leo smiled proudly at Hermia while Nyssa's jaw looked like it might drop off her face.

"It-has wings," Nyssa stammered.

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

"But it never had wings. Where did you find them?" Hermia could see Leo was hesitating to answer, and even though Mia didn't know the kid for that long she could tell he was hiding something.

"In ... the woods," he finally 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 a stream of black liquid-maybe oil, hopefully just oil-poured out of its ear, all over Leo.

"Just a few kinks to work out," Leo said.

"But how did you survive ... ?" Nyssa was still staring at the creature in awe. "I mean, the fire breath ..."

"I'm quick," Leo said. "And lucky. Now, am I on this quest, or what?"