Amber woke up to movement. Her instincts kicked in and she jumped up, grabbed her two katanas, Chosaint and Verja (Protect in Irish and Defend in Icelandic), from her bag, thought the word, Regressus, so her glasses would come back on her face, and pinned the offender to the couch before she realized who it was.

"Oh...uh, sorry," she said, her face flushing.

"It's no problem," Jason assured her, his face also red. "I just...needed to grab a few things from my cabin, to get ready for the quest."

"Right...that. Also, I didn't mean to fall asleep on you last night...sorry," Amber said, awkwardly getting off of him and putting her katanas back in her bag.

Are you falling in love? I have a feeling you are, Emerald greeted her.

"It-it's fine," he assured her. "I-I need to go grab my stuff from my cabin now..."

"Okay...well, see you, I guess..." Amber trailed off.

"Y-yeah. Um...how do you leave here, exactly?" Jason looked around. Amber grabbed his hand, led him over to the back of the cave, and said, "Maia!"

Her shoes brought them to the roof of the cave, then through a few leaves. They emerged, still hovering, a second later. Amber's feet touched the ground, and the wings on her shoes retracted.

"Um...bye?" Jason made it sound more like a question.

"Yeah, bye," Amber said, turning to the leaf-entrance and diving through it.

That was painful to listen to, Emerald remarked. You're both so awkward! 

Amber rolled her eyes. She then grabbed a simple black hoodie with the words, Live. Laugh. Love. Protect. on it in bold, golden letters. She changed out of her clothes and put it on, along with a pair of light blue leggings, random gray socks, and a plain white t-shirt. She slipped a few essential items into a couple hidden pockets that were everywhere, then brushed her teeth and hair and redid her braid. She grabbed a cinnamon-raisin bagel and Emerald, gave Emerald a mouse, then got out of her cave, munching on the bagel.

---

Amber had expected to see a lot of crazy things on her quest. Leo driving the metal dragon Beckendorf fixed was not one of them. 

"Leo?" Piper yelled as Amber walked towards the bronze automaton. Right before he landed, the camp alarm went up. Amber jumped at the noise, drawing a throwing knife and almost chucking it in the direction of the camper who blew the horn before realizing what it was and putting the knife back.

All the satyrs started running around, screaming, "Don't kill me!" About half the camp ran outside in a mixture of pajamas and armour. Amber saw Connor run outside with a helmet, an inside out sweatshirt, and shorts. The bronze dragon set down right in the middle of the green.

"Don't shoot!" Amber yelled, putting a hand up and walking towards Leo. She'd rather not have one of her friends die that day, if she was being honest. Hesitantly, the Apollo cabin lowered their bows. The campers backed away, keeping their weapons ready. They made a loose wide ring around the dragon, Leo, and Amber, who had walked right beside the dragon at that point and was staring at it in amazement.

"It's beautiful," Piper said, and Amber nodded in agreement.

Ah, yes, very beautiful. Until it attacks you and you slowly die in agony, Emerald remarked.

"People of Earth, I come in peace!" Leo shouted, grinning almost maniacally at them. "Festus is just saying hello!"

Festus? Isn't that Latin for happy? Amber wondered.

Happy the killing machine. It fits, Emerald hissed.

"That thing is dangerous!" Clarisse yelled.

"Clarisse--" Amber started.

"Stand down!" Someone ordered. Amber saw, with a bit of surprise, it was Jason. He pushed through the crowd, flanked by Anna and Nyssa.

Jason gazed at Festus and shook his head in bewilderment. "Leo, what've you done?"

"Found a deadly bronze automaton, apparently," Amber told him.

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

I think 'anywhere' is an exaggeration. I mean, can he take us to the moon? 

Not the time, Emerald.

But seriously! I'd love to meet Lady Artemis again. She's awesome and badass.

"It--has wings." Nyssa stammered.

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

He just...found them? Where, in a special grove of trees? Did he have to ask a geyser god or something to point him in the direction of them? Emerald deadpanned.

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

Leo hesitated, and Amber was sure he was hiding something.

"In...the woods," he said. "Repaired his circuits, too, so no more problems with him going haywire. I just have a few kinks to work out."

Jason scratched his head. "You named him Festus? You know that in Latin, 'festus' means 'happy'? You want us to go on a quest to save the world on Happy the Dragon?"

"Barney the dinosaur," Amber muttered, a muscle in her mouth twitching.

I love you, you love me, let's go out and...kill Barney! With a big shotgun, now Barney's on the floor! No more purple dinosaur, Emerald sang.

"That's a yes. bro!" Leo said. "Now, um, I really suggest we get going, guys. I already picked up some supplies in the--um, in the woods."

What's he hiding? Amber wondered.

"And all these people with weapons are making Festus nervous," Leo continued. Amber frowned slightly.

"But we haven't planned anything yet," Jason said, voicing Amber's thoughts. "We can't just--"

"Go," Annabeth said. "You've only got three days until the solstice now, and you should never keep a nervous dragon waiting," at that, she looked at Amber, who smiled in remembrance of when she was on the run and found Annabeth. One of the first things Amber had done was tell Annabeth a story about a nervous dragon to make her feel more at home. "This is certainly a good omen. Go!"

Amber stepped towards Annabeth and hugged her tightly. "I'll help you find Percy as soon as I get back, okay?" she murmured quietly. 

"Got it," Annabeth replied. "Now get lost," she said, shoving Amber away with a wistful smile. Amber nodded. Then she smiled at Jason and Piper.

"Y'all ready?" she asked.

"Ready as I'll ever be," Jason told her.

"You bet," Piper said.

They're so gonna regret going on this quest, Emerald remarked.