Reconnects festus

Ant tracks led to the bottom, where a large metal mound glinted through the dirt. Wires stuck up from a bronze stump on one end. “The dragon’s neck,” I said… hed this. Hephaestus wanted us to find the dragon. He wanted Charlie to . . .” She choked up. “Come on,” I said. “Let’s reconnect this bad boy..

Annabeth fiddled with the wires and cursed in Ancient Greek. “We need Beckendorf. He could do this in seconds.”
“Isn’t your mom the goddess of inventors?” I asked.
Annabeth glared at me. “Yes, but this is different. I’m good with ideas. Not mechanics.”

Annabeth blushed. “Shut up, Silena. Hand me your dagger.”
I was afraid Annabeth was going to stab me with it. Instead she used it as a screwdriver, to open a panel in the dragon’s neck. “Here goes nothing,” she said.
And she started to splice together the celestial bronze wires…

Finally Annabeth stood up and exhaled. Her hands were scraped and muddy. Her fingernails were wrecked. She had a brown streak across her forehead where the dragon had decided to spit grease at her.
“All right,” she said. “It’s done, I think…

Annabeth pointed to its ruby eyes. “Those turn clockwise. I’m guessing we rotate them.”
Together we turned the ruby eyes of the dragon. Immediately, they began to glow. Annabeth and I backed up so fast we fell over each other. The dragon’s mouth opened, as if it were testing its jaw. The head turned and looked at us. Steam poured from its ears, and it tried to rise.
When it found it couldn’t move, the dragon seemed confused. It cocked its head and regarded the dirt. Finally, it realized it was buried. The neck strained once, twice . . . and the center of the crater erupted.
The dragon pulled itself awkwardly out of the ground, shaking clumps of mud from its body the way a dog might, splattering us from head to toe. The automaton was so awesome, none of us could speak. I mean, sure it needed a trip through the car wash, and there were a few loose wires sticking out here and there, but the dragon’s body was amazing—like a high-tech tank with legs.