Jason was freaked out and shocked and scared,but he was busy shaking himself and swatting at things so he didn't notice that Fatespeaker had hopped out and started fluttering around and crushing buzzy things in her jaws,now half size and hopping around with crunching noises of those creatures dying by her jaws. Jason stayed as close as he could safely by Puck.Faint red pulsed a bit in his freckles before washing to orange of frustration.

"We have to get out of here! Come on!"

They had started down the path again when a roar shook the air ahead of them, causing the swarm of killer fey to freeze in midair. It came again, guttural and savage, as something rattled the wall of thorns, coming toward them with the sound of snapping wood. Hundreds of creatures could be sensed in the brambles fleeing for their lives. The faeries scattered. Buzzing in terror, they vanished into the hedge, through cracks and tiny spaces between the thorns. In seconds, the whole swarm had disappeared. Puck peered through the branches and saw something coming down the trail, ripping through the wall of thorns like it wasnt there. Something black and scaly, and much, much bigger than the spider.

"Dang it."Jason muttered,shaking but brandished his stinger and hissed lava into his throat. "Sure wish I could shift." He said to himself,knowing that it would nearly,if not actually,kill him.

"Thiiiief!" roared a deep, inhuman voice, before a gout of flame burst through the hedge, setting an entire section on fire, making the air explode with heat. Ironhorse bugled, rearing up in alarm. Puck cursed, grabbed Jason's arm, and yanked him back the way they came.

They fled down the trail after the strange girl and her muscle-necked companion, feeling the heat from the monsters fire at their backs. "Thieves!" the terrible voice snarled, staying right on their heels. "I can smell you! I can feel your breath and hear your hearts. Give me back what is mine!"

"Great," Puck panted, as Ironhorse cantered beside them, bellowing that he would shield them from the flames. "Just great. I hate spiders. I hate wasps. But you know what I hate even more than that?"

"What?" Jason said as he stayed close,tail bouncing as he ran and his letters flickered with his speech. He didn't know if they had even taken anything...wait...or gosh. It dawned on him that those two others they had bumped into...might have taken something.

"That dragon!" He didn't hate Jason, of course. "Remind me to kill Grimalkin next time we see him."


The trail narrowed, then shrank down to a tight, thorny tunnel that twisted off into the darkness. Bending down and peering into it, they could just make out a door at the end of the burrow.

"Dang it. First a metal one now what,this one made of thistles?" He muttered,turning and looking back at the beast. "Maybe....if I..." he said softly,wings ruffling faintly.

"Not this time, dragon boy. Through the door, c'mon." He pushed Jason towards the mouth of the door. "Besides, we don't want to be in the middle if Deathbread decides to decides to sneeze on us."

Jason huffed a small puff of smoke but didn't fight,his heart skipping a beat as Puck called him dragon boy. For some reason he liked it,and for some other some reason he seemed to not mind their situation for like five seconds. "B-But we don't know where it goes,what if it's one way?" But still he didn't fight.

"It's fine. There are trods all over California." With a horrible cracking sound, the dragons head rose above the briars on a long, snaking neck, looming to an impossible height. It was bigger than Puck imagined, a long toothy maw covered in black-green scales, ivory horns curling back from its skull to frame the sky. Alien, red-gold eyes scanned the ground impassively, gleaming with cunning and intelligence. "I see you, little thieves."


Puck gave Jason a shove into the doorway