The Burning Maze (The Trials of Apollo #3)(107)
Mellie and Coach Hedge strolled over, Baby Chuck still happily chewing his grenade in the coach’s arms.
‘Hey,’ Coach said. ‘You about ready, Piper? Long road ahead.’
The satyr’s expression was grim and determined. He looked at the coffin in the cargo bay, then quickly fixed his eyes on the tarmac.
‘Just about,’ Piper agreed. ‘You sure the Pinto is up for such a long trip?’
‘Of course!’ Hedge said. ‘Just, uh, you know, keep in sight, in case the SUV breaks down and you need my help.’
Mellie rolled her eyes. ‘Chuck and I are riding in the SUV.’
The coach harrumphed. ‘That’s fine. It’ll give me time to play my tunes. I’ve got Bon Jovi’s entire collection on cassette!’
I tried to smile encouragingly, though I decided to give Hades a new suggestion for the Fields of Punishment if I ever saw him again: Pinto. Road trip. Bon Jovi on cassette.
Meg bopped Baby Chuck on the nose, which made him giggle and spit grenade shavings. ‘What are you guys going to do in Oklahoma?’ she asked.
‘Coach, of course!’ said the coach. ‘They’ve got some great varsity sports teams in Oklahoma. Plus, I hear nature is pretty strong there. Nice place to raise a kid.’
‘And there’s always work for cloud nymphs,’ Mellie said. ‘Everybody needs clouds.’
Meg stared into the sky, maybe wondering how many of those clouds were nymphs making minimum wage. Then, suddenly, her mouth fell open. ‘Uh, guys?’
She pointed north.
A gleaming shape resolved against a line of white clouds. For a moment, I thought a small plane was making its final approach. Then its wings flapped.
The ground crew scrambled into action as Festus the bronze dragon came in for a landing, Leo Valdez riding on his back.
The crew waved their orange flashlight cones, guiding Festus to a spot next to the Cessna. None of the mortals seemed to find this at all unusual. One of the crew shouted up at Leo, asking if he needed any fuel.
Leo grinned. ‘Nah. But if you could give my boy a wash and wax, and maybe find him some Tabasco sauce, that would be great.’
Festus roared in approval.
Leo Valdez climbed down and jogged towards us. Whatever adventures he may have had, he seemed to have come through with his curly black hair, his impish smile and his small, elfish frame intact. He wore a purple T-shirt with gold words in Latin: MY COHORT WENT TO NEW ROME AND ALL I GOT WAS THIS LOUSY T-SHIRT.
‘The party can now start!’ he announced. ‘There’s my peeps!’
I didn’t know what to say. We all just stood there, stunned, as Leo gave us hugs.
‘Man, what’s up with you guys?’ he asked. ‘Somebody hit you with a flash grenade? So, I got good news and bad news from New Rome, but first …’ He scanned our faces. His expression began to crumble. ‘Where’s Jason?’
47
In-flight beverages
Include the tears of a god
Please have exact change
Piper broke down. She fell against Leo and sobbed out the story until he, thunderstruck, red-eyed, hugged her back and buried his face in her neck.
The ground crew gave us space. The Hedges retreated to the Pinto, where the coach clasped Mellie and their baby tight, the way one should always do with family, knowing that tragedy could strike anyone, anytime.
Meg and I stood by, Jason’s diorama still fluttering in my arms.
Next to the Cessna, Festus raised his head, made a low, keening sound, then blasted fire into the sky. The ground crew looked a little nervous about that as they hosed down his wings. I supposed private jets didn’t often keen or spew fire from their nostrils, or … have nostrils.
The air around us seemed to crystallize, forming brittle shards of emotion that would cut us no matter which way we turned.
Leo looked like he’d been struck repeatedly. (And I knew. I had seen him struck repeatedly.) He brushed the tears from his face. He stared at the cargo hold, then at the diorama in my hands.
‘I didn’t … I couldn’t even say goodbye,’ he murmured.
Piper shook her head. ‘Me neither. It happened so fast. He just –’
‘He did what Jason always did,’ Leo said. ‘He saved the day.’
Piper took a shaky breath. ‘What about you? Your news?’
‘My news?’ Leo choked back a sob. ‘After that, who cares about my news?’
‘Hey.’ Piper punched his arm. ‘Apollo told me what you were up to. What happened at Camp Jupiter?’
Leo tapped his fingers on his thighs, as if carrying on two simultaneous conversations in Morse code. ‘We – we stopped this attack. Sort of. There was a lot of damage. That’s the bad news. A lot of good people …’ He glanced again at the cargo hold. ‘Well, Frank is okay. Reyna, Hazel. That’s the good news …’ He shivered. ‘Gods. I can’t even think right now. Is that normal? Like, just forgetting how to think?’
I could assure him that it was, at least in my experience.
The captain came down the steps of the plane. ‘Sorry, Miss McLean, but we are queued for departure. If we don’t want to lose our window –’
‘Yeah,’ Piper said. ‘Of course. Apollo and Meg, you guys go. I’ll be fine with the coach and Mellie. Leo –’
Rick Riordan's Books
- The Burning Maze (The Trials of Apollo #3)
- The Ship of the Dead (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard #3)
- The Hidden Oracle (The Trials of Apollo #1)
- Rick Riordan
- Rebel Island (Tres Navarre #7)
- Mission Road (Tres Navarre #6)
- Southtown (Tres Navarre #5)
- The Devil Went Down to Austin (Tres Navarre #3)
- The Last King of Texas (Tres Navarre #3)
- The Widower's Two-Step (Tres Navarre #2)