Leon closed his flip phone and tried not to throw it in the sea.

Him, Madeleine, and Charlie had reached South Carolina within 8 hours. They had made a stop at Myrtle Beach (according to the GPS).

Even though it was in the middle of August, there were grey clouds and there was barely any tourists. Which was good and bad at the same time. Good because if any monster tried to attack them, they’d have space to maneuver, bad because if there were people, the monster would hesitate to attack them.

Leon had this habit that when he was angry to think of random things rather than the thing that made him angry.

“What’s wrong?” asked Madeleine, with her french accent. She was sitting on the beach, looking in the horizon. Originally, this summer, Madeleine was supposed to be go to France to visit her Dad, but, of course, the Giant War happened to be on them. Even though during their super-secret mission to Greece, they had passed through France, thinking that there were less monsters (they were wrong, of course, but that’s a different story). It still didn’t stop her from nagging and complaining. But it seems, after the war, Madeleine had grown up a bit.
‘Bad news?’ she asked, without taking her eyes off the grey beach. Leon went and sat down next to her, ‘No, not bad news. News that make you angry, but not bad news.’

‘Don’t philosophise.’ She seemed a bit tired.

‘I’m Greek, it’s in my nature to philosophise.’ retorted Leon, also looking in the horizon.
Madeleine sighed. Wasn’t it enough that she was tired and in a need of a shower? Did he have to do a sarcastic comment?
Leon continued, “It was Archibald.”
“What did he want?”
“He was transferring orders. Telling us to not go and fetch Rixter.”

“Why? And from where did he get these ‘orders’?” Madeleine found herself becoming angry. “Our leader is missing, and we have not received news that a new leader has been instated.”

“Which means that the orders came from Alex, herself.’ that was Charlie. He had been scouting the beach for any dangers and observing the clouds in case if it was a big horde of venti or something else. “Which means she’s alive.” He said that part in a singsong voice.
Madeleine became quiet, and turned her gaze back to the sea.
Leon turned to Charlie, “So? Anything, scout?” Charlie like being given titles. It made him imagine that he was doing a top secret job as a spy or serving his Majesty, Leon on a top secret mission.

“No monsters.” Both Madeleine and Leon seemed relieved, Charlie continued, “But I don’t like those clouds. According to the weather forecast, it’s supposed to be very hot and, of course, cloudless.” The grey clouds were the first things Charlie noticed. After a few clashes with his immortal half-sister, Khione, any drastic change in weather means potential danger.
“Well, you know Charlie, weather cannot be predicted at all times.” said Leon, even though he was looking up at the sky wearily, “Maybe it’s Lord Zeus or Jupiter who is having some sort of quarrel.”

“No.” Charlie was still looking at the clouds, “If it was Lord Zeus or Jupiter, we’d have seen or hear a lightning or two. Anyways, these are snow clouds.” Being son of Boread, Charlie naturally can differentiate between different types of clouds. He can also calculate temperature without looking at a thermometer.
“Snow clouds?” that was Madeleine, she turned and looked at Charlie, with a surprised and worried look “In the middle of summer?”
“Shit.” mumbled Leon. He had an idea what this might mean. He turned to Charlie, “Maybe it’s your half-sister having a tantrum because she was grounded?” Leon said that with a nervous smile.

Ever since Khione, Goddess of Snow, daughter of Boread, and #1 Ice Queen, was found out that she was working with Gaea, Lord Boread grounded her for 30 years in her room. Her half-brothers, Cal and Zethes were to work as servants for 10 years (their time was less since they were simply following Khione and it was clear that they’re fools.).
“Why would she be having a tantrum in South Carolina, at a beach, when she’s grounded in her room which is in Quebec?”

Good point, thought Leon. He was getting worried. If it was indeed her, why would she want to attack them? They didn’t do anything to her, besides help Charlie fight her. They didn’t foil her plans or anything. So, if it was her causing all this, what was she doing here? Leon’s thoughts were interrupted because of Charlie.

“You know, as I was walking a bit more further, I saw smoke coming up from something.”
“What?” that was Madeleine, she got up and got her bow and arrows ready, “Why didn’t you tell us that first?” that was Leon, he had also gotten up, shaking sand off the back of his pants.
“I thought it was campers or something since it didn’t sound like monsters.” said Charlie, innocently, as he led his two companions to where he saw the smoke. “It did smell a bit weird though, a bit like oil.”
“Oil?” asked Leon.
“Yeah” replied Charlie.

After they went passed the huge ferris wheel, they saw the black smoke. Leon smelled the oil, too. Maybe it was instinct, he didn’t know, but he gestured for his companions to stay back. If it was a killer machine, Leon would be the best chance of deactivating it.

As he went closer, he realised it was a big heap of shining metal. And as he got even more close, Leon gasped. He found that the big heap of shining metal was a mechanical bronze dragon. His curiosity and excitement had taken over any feeling of caution, as he started going round the dragon, looking at its every detail.

It was beautiful despite some flaws. Most of the bronze body was on the sand, but the long bronze tail was in the sea. The wings were as long as a school bus, made of a beautiful celestial bronze sheet (fabric that’s been interwoven with celestial bronze filament), the wings were peppered with holes (arrows or bullets) and had black soot in some places. The head had a disc inside and it’s eyes were rubies. Leon knew by the fact that the eyes weren’t shining that the machine was off, which means that it won’t harm them. As he turned to the right side of the dragon, he noticed that there was a figure in the water, dressed in blue and white.

He called Madeleine and Charlie and proceeded to bring the figure out of the sea. It was a girl and she was unconscious. She had cinnamon hair and freckles on her nose, she was also pale. Must be by the temperature of the water. Her clothes were wet and covered in sand, but she was beautiful. Leon found himself in a trance as he looked at that face.

“It seems as if she’d crashed.” said Madeleine, making Leon come out of his trance. She looked up at the grey clouds. “I think the weather has gotten colder.”
“It has.” said Charlie, who was looking excitedly at the dragon. “I think there is also strong winds which kind of helped in the crash.”
“Well, in the state this dragon is in, it wouldn’t be surprising.” He pointed at the wings, “The wings are peppered with holes, it’s a surprise it even managed to get off the ground.” He moved towards the head, “All these scratches could have damaged the disc.” Then he moved to the left side of the dragon, “See? It’s missing a leg.”

“And there’s luggage and clothes everywhere.” said Madeleine, as she picked up an open suitcase and let the clothes tumble out. Leon figured the girl wouldn’t like that. Madeleine turned to the unconscious girl, “I think she was coming from afar or something.” Just then, the girl’s eyes fluttered open, startling Madeleine and making her fall in the sand. The girl was immediately sitting up and looking around, “Leo? Leo?” she seemed so scared and surprised, that she didn’t seem to notice the crashed dragon or the two demigods.

“Bonjour, debile.” said Madeleine, as she stood up, angrily, and brushed the wet sand off her clothes. The girl seemed to notice her surroundings just then.
“What?” she asked. Leon obliged, “Uh, hi.” he said, doing his best ‘welcome’ smile and waving, “I’m Leon and this is Madeleine.” He pointed to himself and Madeleine, who was looking at the girl angrily. The girl still looked a bit shocked but she seemed to get her bearings.

When she didn’t respond, Leon continued, “You had a pretty big crash as you can see.” The girl looked around, “Now we’re not here to hurt or harm you in any way.” continued Leon.
“Not yet, at least.” mumbled Madeleine. Leon elbowed her.
“So, can you tell us your name? What are you doing here? And are you alone?” Basic questions you ask when you want to help someone in distress.
The girl seemed to calm down, she slowly got up and straightened herself. Leon admired that.

“I’m Calypso.”
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Notes

I didn't realize how long Chapter 9 was until I decided to post it. It might be 3 parts.
Another thing, I am so so sorry if reading any of these long chapters made your eyes sore. In the future, I'll try to make chapters shorter, or at least cut them into parts.

NOW ONTO THE JUICY PART!
-Calm down.
-Ok, who let him back into the studio?
-I found my own way back. and I'm pretty angryyy...
-EEck! *hits on head with microphone* SECURITY!!

Umm... to end these notes. THank you for reading and voting and subscribing and .... and whatever else. I give you a big DANK YOU! I mean Thank you. Sorry, threw hlaf-giant hlaf something something out of the studio again.

(If you have no idea what I'm talking about, check out notes in Chapter 6: part 2,... I think...)