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Leo hadn’t slept for days. He hadn’t really noticed however, because his ADHD always messed with his perception of time. He had been in the guts of the Argo II tinkering with the Athena Parthenos - trying to figure out what made her tick. The stables smelled of stale hay and maplewood, but it wasn’t bad Leo thought. Had there been any pegasi down here… he didn’t want to imagine the stench. He had designed a plumbing and filtration system so the demigods aboard the trireme had running water and flushing toilets, but he hadn’t considered a disposal system for winged horse-poop.Luckily, it hadn’t been necessary - the only pegasus he knew was Blackjack, Percy’s ride, who had stayed behind in North America to avoid the dangers of the Ancient World. There was Arion, Hazel ’s foul-mouthed equine friend, but she was always reminding Leo that Arion was ‘a free spirit’, and wouldn’t enjoy being in the stable anyway. So, the place had remained relatively untouched until about a week ago (apart from Annabeth and Percy sneaking down here for who-knows-what).As he tinkered with the forty-foot long statue, his mind drifted back to a few days prior, when his friend Jason had returned from an excursion in Croatia with the son of Hades, Nico di Angelo. They’d been successful in retrieving this Scepter-thing from the Palace of Diocletian in Split that supposedly had the ability to raise the dead. He wondered absently if death-scepters worked on magical marble statues. Leo had tried to ask Jason about their side quest, and why Nico had seemed like he’d been forced to sit through a Broadway production of Cats (Leo had seen it once on a school trip - it was a good comparison). Jason hadn’t said much, but gave Nico a look of deep sympathy that told Leo there had been more to it than a simple search-and-rescue.The son of Hades had taken to skulking about the ship, avoiding conversations with his fellow demigods and emitting an aura of… what was it, desperation? Shame? Leo couldn’t make sense of it. But in the past few days, the guy had been exploring the deeper parts of the trireme, and kept popping up in Leo’s workspace. Leo found it… kind of nice. Having some company, sitting in comfortable silence together. Nico didn’t even make fun of him for talking to himself as he worked.Leo sighed in frustration, eyeing a spot on the Athena statue which should have been a hatch of some kind. It was perfectly square, and appeared to open, but wouldn’t budge no matter what Leo tried on it. “Just give me a sign, lady,” he murmured. “My friends are counting on me! I can’t go back up to the deck with nothing to show for…” His voice drifted off. Leo was suddenly aware of a presence behind him. He whirled around - too fast - and bumped his head on a wooden beam. “ Mis dioses! ” He exclaimed.Nico was leaning against the port-side wall of the stables, scowling. “Do you ever sleep?” He practically melted into the shadows of the stables until he spoke. Like the darkness was reaching out to him, trying to make him disappear.Leo looked at him quizzically. “You’re one to talk, always lurking and making me suffer blunt force trauma,” he replied - half-joking - rubbing his smarting forehead and getting grease all over it.“I’ve had enough sleep for a lifetime,” Nico muttered darkly. It had only been a week (or was it longer?) since the demigods left Rome, after Percy and Annabeth had fallen through the bottom of a parking garage into Tartarus. Everyone on the ship was on edge, but Nico seemed to be suffering the worst of it. Leo knew he had promised Percy to get everyone to the Doors of Death on the mortal side, and an oath like that had to be weighing on him. Not to mention whatever had gone down in Split, Croatia.“You know, if I didn’t know any better Leo, I’d think you were scared of me,” Nico said, the hint of a smile playing on his lips.“Am not , Death Boy, you just can’t sneak up on an amigo like that, it’s creepy!”Nico wasn’t smiling now. He turned to leave, seemingly giving up on the interaction. “Sorry,” he said under his breath. Leo didn’t stop him. The guy was weird , even for a demigod. Always hot then cold. He and Jason had become close recently, but whenever Leo had pressed Jason about it, his friend would close up and tell him to mind his business.Leo didn’t understand what had just happened. How long had Nico been standing there, watching him? It wasn't exactly the first time… He brushed it off, refocusing on his project. Leo took some gears and oil from his toolbelt, along with a small portable drill and several bits that varied in size. He was going to get to the bottom of this statue’s secrets if it was the last thing he did.***“What happened?” Piper asked as Leo finally slunk through the cabin hallway to his room, feeling defeated. Her multicolored eyes trained on his forehead, which had grown a nicely sized bump. “You look like you lost a fight with a grease rag.”“That statue might as well just be a massive hunk of marble. As far as I can tell, it doesn’t do anything. Except shatter power tools,” to prove his point, Leo raised his hands for Piper to see, which held broken pieces of drill bits, and a still-smoldering motor. Piper didn’t look surprised, but he could see pity for him written across her face. Everyone was always going on about how beautiful she was, but Leo had never considered her as more than a sister.“Hey! It’s fine, Beauty Queen,” he said sleepily.“Don’t call me that,” Piper muttered. Leo ignored her.“I just need to try something with a little more umph , y’know? First things first though, I need to crash. I don’t remember the last time I…” His shoulders sagged, and Leo’s knees threatened to buckle under him. Piper threw an arm around his torso and helped him to his bunk. “Thanks, Pipes,” Leo yawned, then frowned. “I feel like I’m forgetting something,” he started to turn around. “I should check on Festus before-”“Oh no, joker boy. You need rest ,” Piper chided. “Hazel and Frank are on watch, it’ll be fine.” She led him into his cabin, which was bare except for a small workbench and a cozy looking bed. Fresh sheets , he thought sleepily.“Okay, you’re right,” Leo’s eyes were betraying him - closing against his will. His head touched his pegasus-down filled pillow and immediately the world began to fall away. “Stupid statue,” he murmured. “Maybe if I try… blunt force…”And he was out.***In his dream, Leo stood on the crest of a hill overlooking the ocean. The air smelled of saltwater and lilac, and he inhaled wistfully. It had been a long time since he’d smelled anything but oil, grime, and monster guts.A short ways down the incline was a house. At least, Leo assumed it was a house, but the building looked more like an expensive Italian villa, the kind rich Americans used as a winter home. It looked brand new, but the design was ancient - which made Leo think he was seeing an image of the past. Annabeth would have gone nuts for the architecture, the walls were a mixture of marble and stucco, with terracotta friezes and cobbles winding through luxurious gardens. He felt a pang in his stomach, remembering the image of Nico’s face after Percy and Annabeth had fallen into the pit.Spinning in a three-sixty, Leo realized he wasn’t on the mainland at all, but situated at the highest point of an island, about a mile wide. There were lush trees dotting the landscape, and pockets in the earth that looked like they might be caves, but the massive villa sprawled out before him was the only structure in any direction. His consciousness floated toward the house, speeding up until Leo was afraid he’d become a ghostly smear on the side of the walls, but he simply passed right through. Inside, a woman was sitting in a rocking chair made from cypress wood, cradling a baby and humming a soothing tune.She was beautiful - but unconventionally so, almost like a nymph - and it was impossible to tell her age. Her long hair was strawberry blonde and plaited in an ancient style, the kind Leo had only seen in museum paintings or movies. She had slightly pointed ears and an upturned nose brushed with freckles. The child in her arms squirmed, but didn’t cry out. It was a baby girl, Leo realized - with a wisp of caramel hair growing from her tiny head, and almond shaped eyes, the same warm brown as the woman. The baby seemed to like the song, reaching ravioli-sized fists upward to the woman’s face and grinning. She almost seemed to glow under the influence of the tune.“There there, my child,” the woman spoke. Leo didn’t recognize her, but she had a powerful aura - the kind only a god or primordial being could emulate.“Pleione!” Boomed a deep voice from somewhere within the house. “It is finally finished!” A huge man stepped into view, and Leo’s jaw dropped. He’d seen images in books of this guy, and nothing did justice to the man (no, the god , he was clearly a god) standing before the woman - Pleione, he guessed. Leo racked his cluttered brain and vaguely remembered Annabeth mentioning her during his crash-course on Greek myths. She was an Oceanid nymph who’d given birth to seven sisters - the Pleiones - who had later become star constellations. She was the mother of another girl though, a Titan. One she’d borne with…Leo gasped, but the sound came out strangled and dull. This wasn't just any god, he was Atlas , the general of the Titan army, though he wasn’t dressed for battle. He wore a simple tunic, Greek tassels, and a jovial smile. In his ginormous hand he held an infant’s mobile, the kind meant to hang above a cradle. It spun slowly with tiny celestial bronze figures that Leo couldn’t quite make out, but they were beautiful. Atlas held it up to the fireplace, and the bronze figures glittered like magic.“It is beautiful, my dear. Calypso will adore it, as she does you,” Pleione hummed gently, repositioning the baby in her arms so the child could get a better look. Her tiny almond shaped eyes widened at the sight of the mobile, and she reached up once again - this time toward her father. Atlas scooped up the baby like she weighed nothing and held her close enough to touch the celestial bronze figures. Leo’s vision zoomed in and he could make out the forms dangling from the frame now. Schools of fish swimming in inconsistent patterns, wind spirits laughing and whooshing through fields of flowers, flocks of birds dancing across a canopy of trees - but the most breathtaking part were the crystals. Inlaid around the circular frame, they seemed to change color before Leo could register them in an infinite rainbow.The baby girl - Calypso - squealed with joy, and Atlas gazed down at her warmly. “She will be a force of nature,” the Titan cooed. “This island will be our home my love, and Calypso shall tame the seas around us.” Pleione stood and wrapped an arm around Atlas, tickling her baby gently. Calypso squealed happily again. Suddenly, somewhere in the distance, an explosion rang across the hills. The Titan was alert at once. He handed baby Calypso to her mother and reached for a massive axe resting against the adjacent wall. His attire shimmered and changed - suddenly he was decked out in full Greek battle armour. He started toward the great double doors that walked out into the gardens. When Atlas spoke again, his voice boomed.“WHO DARES INVADE OGYGIA? YOU SHALL PERISH WITHOUT A NAME.”Another huge explosion shook the villa, and Leo was sucked out of the dream.***Nico was shaking him. He had the scepter of Diocletian in his right hand, and it was humming with purple energy, giving off the only light in the cabin. Leo realized it must have been the middle of the night.“Leo! We’re under attack!” He was wearing charcoal pajama bottoms covered with little black and white cartoon skulls, and a dark iron chestplate - as if he’d just awoken himself. Leo rubbed the sleep from his eyes as another boom shook the entire hull, and the ship listed to port.“Holy Hephaestus, can I catch a break?” He whined as Nico hurried him up the stairs to the main deck.When they arrived at the top, Leo could barely see the bow of the ship. It was mid August, but somehow a blizzard had formed around the Argo II and chaos reigned on the foredeck. Venti , storm spirits, zipped through the sky - tearing pieces off the sails and rocking the ship as their malicious laughter carried on the wind. Hazel and Frank were locked in combat with a familiar figure - Calais, the hockey-obsessed Boread from Quebec. His brother, Zethes, had Piper cornered near Festus - jagged ice-sword versus her bronze knife, Katoptris. Despite the frosty air, she was sweating. Zethes was still rocking the same baby blue bell-bottom jeans, rustling his purple wings and causing the temperature around them to drop. He seemed to be flirting and fighting all at once. Gross.“How did they get the drop on us?” Frank exclaimed, his voice sounding far away.Jason whizzed by on his ventus horse, Tempest, dissolving storm spirits with each swing of his golden sword. But it was hardly doing any good. They were being swarmed! Leo dashed to Festus and cursed in Spanish.“I knew I was forgetting something!”“What?” Piper called from a few feet away. Leo wasn’t sure if she was asking what he’d forgotten, or if she simply hadn’t heard him. The winds were so loud . Leo raised his voice as he rushed to the controls.“I forgot to switch from sonar to radar when we took off! And the early warning systems are frozen solid!” He cried, fiddling with his switchboard and Archimedes sphere at the helm. He darted back to the figurehead, a huge bronze dragon which was breathing fire in all directions. “Festus!” Leo called out to his mechanical friend. “Status report!” Festus clicked and whined like he was straight up not having a good time. “Sorry buddy,” he yelled back, “I forgot!” He got a few choice words in response.Piper was gaining ground on Zethes, thanks to their fire-breathing friend, but the Boread waved his hand and sent a shock of ice straight at Festus.“No!” Leo cried, but it was too late. The bronze figurehead’s ruby eyes went dark, a thick layer of ice splintering across his scales. “You’re gonna pay for that, pendejo !” Leo howled, and his hands burst into flame.He ran full-tilt toward Zethes, pushing him in the chest hard with his fists and catching the minor god so off guard, he didn’t even think to flap his purple feathers as he toppled over the edge of the guardrail and plummeted into the blizzard with a surprised, “ Merde! ”“Thanks!” Piper called, running to help Hazel and Frank. “Hey Calais!” She shouted in Charmspeak, “There’s a hockey tournament below us! Jump now or you’ll miss it!” The big lug clearly preferred hockey over their battle, and didn’t even hesitate as he dove over the edge after his brother.Over by the aft deck, Nico was clashing with a storm spirit that seemed stronger than the others. His Stygian iron blade hacked and slashed with wicked precision, and Leo couldn’t help but be impressed by his skill. When the ventus laughed maniacally, Leo recognized him as Dylan - the douche-canoe who had thrown him halfway down the Grand Canyon six months ago. Jason swooped down to help Nico, but another wind spirit caused the boom of the main mast to swing into his path, hitting Jason in the head and sending him plummeting to the deck. He didn’t move. Nico yelled, and a blast of purple energy radiated in all directions, causing Dylan to dissolve on the spot. Leo whistled in appreciation, then focused his attention on Festus.He rolled under a rogue ventus and reached the bow of the ship. When he touched the bronze dragon head, his skin burned cold. “Aw buddy, what did he do to you?” His hands blazed once more as he attempted to melt the ice, but it was going too slowly. The wind and snow picked up with a vengeance, and Leo could just make out a lilt of feminine laughter coming from the din. Now he was really mad. First this ice princess turned him down, and now she was messing with his ship? No way.“Show yourself, Frosty!” He howled into the sky. The cold laughter rose in volume as the form of Khione appeared - floating just above the figurehead. The goddess of snow had a dreamy smile on her face, and it reminded him of Gaia. The thought wasn’t reassuring.“You will pay for the fate of my brothers, Daughter of Aphrodite,” she threatened Piper - completely ignoring Leo - her dark eyes flashing with cold malice. “I know Zethes wanted to preserve you as a sculpture in our court - perhaps to one day thaw and keep as a slave - but I think I shall spare him the heartache.” With that, she spread her arms, and the storm suddenly concentrated into a icy whip, which she swung in Piper’s direction. Leo was too far away. He panicked, shooting a ball of fire at Khione on sheer instinct. The force blasted her backward, and the whip dissipated. Piper ran to Jason’s side just as the goddess regained her footing (her floating?). The temperature dropped even further, which Leo thought shouldn’t have been possible, and Khione let out a sound between a growl and a shriek. All around them, snowflakes gathered into sharp ice darts and shot out in all directions. The demigods scattered.Nico was still recovering from his blast of death-energy, and couldn't dodge fast enough. A large chunk of ice slammed into his breastplate and sent him tumbling over the portside rail, the Scepter of Diocletian going with him. Hazel screamed. Leo sprinted to the side, but when he looked over the edge, he saw nothing but darkness and the churning storm below. Without Nico, they wouldn’t get very far in the House of Hades. Leo also thought - fleetingly - that he didn’t want anything to happen to his friend. They had just begun to bond, even if it made zero sense to Leo. He turned to Frank.“Go after him!” He ordered. “I’ll take care of the Snow Bitch.” Frank turned into a massive eagle and plunged into the darkness. Leo turned to face Khione with renewed anger. “Lady, you are a pain in my trasero .” He growled with a fury he hadn’t known he had in him. He spared a glance at Hazel, who was standing guard over Piper while she inspected Jason’s injuries, sobbing and begging him to wake up. Her expression was strained, but determined. Hazel and Frank had been on watch for hours, yet she wasn’t going down without a fight. He glared at the snow goddess and imagined his entire body growing hot, matching Khione’s frigid aura with a fire of his own. His vision became ringed with blue - the hottest kind of flame. His friends would not die tonight.Then, he charged.
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Nico had never been particularly afraid of heights, but that changed quickly as he free-fell through the starry sky. He held the Scepter of Diocletian as tightly as he could manage with the velocity and wind, holding it close to his chest - but gods it was uncomfortable. Even for a child of the Underworld like Nico, the power of the staff was overwhelming after prolonged proximity, and he’d used it to boost his attack on the venti aboard the ship.What felt like hours passed by, or maybe it was days. The sky remained dark, littered with constellations. Nico eventually overcame the effects of the Zero-G, transitioning from sheer panic into boredom. He began picking out patterns he knew - Heracles, Ursa Minor, Scorpio, Perseus… and when that grew tiresome, he simply counted stars and planets.
Three hundred forty-one, three hundred forty-two…
At some point he drifted into unconsciousness from sheer exhaustion.***He dreamed about the crew of the Argo II , his friends still amidst a snow storm and battling for their lives. Leo was glowing blue (that was new), fighting Khione with what seemed to be his bare hands. Piper was speaking to her in rapid-fire Quebecois-French, using Charmspeak to slow her down.Suddenly, Coach Hedge (who had apparently slept through the worst of the fight) came charging out from below deck, brandishing his trusty club and yelling, “Die!” at the goddess of snow. It would have been almost funny if not for the circumstances. Almost.At the same moment, Piper shouted, “ Sleep! ” and Khione’s eyes fluttered, her form dropping a few feet. Leo landed an impressive blow to her stomach, Coach Hedge clobbering her over the head with surprising agility all at once. With a grunt, the goddess crumpled, falling overboard - and the storm disbanded. The skies calmed, the temperature rose to normal, and Hazel, Leo, Piper, and Hedge caught their breath. Jason was still passed out on the starboard side of the deck, shivering.A giant eagle soared upward from somewhere below the trireme, morphing into Frank as he landed. Dream-Nico thought he looked quite graceful, but his expression was grim.“No sign of Nico,” he reported. “It’s like he went overboard and just disappeared. I don’t get it.” He looked ashamed. Nico remembered a dream he’d had inside his jar-prison, of Frank stating to the crew that he was suspicious of the son of Hades - having knowledge of both camps, but keeping the information to himself for months. Frank had proposed the crew refrain from saving him, but Hazel had stared at him like he’d grown an extra head. She had fought tooth and nail to make sure Nico wasn’t left to die. Now, the son of Mars’ face was ashen, like he had failed to make up for it. Whether it was because he’d warmed to Nico, or because his girlfriend was his brother, Nico couldn’t be sure. Did Frank genuinely care? Or did he feel obligated, guilty?Hazel started to cry. Frank reached a hand out as if to comfort her, but apparently thought better of it. His arm dropped sullenly to his side, and he hung his head.“Alright, Cupcakes! Now is not the time for mourning, we have an injured demigod to tend to!” The old goat looked pretty proud of himself for his part in defeating Khione, and turned to help Piper lift Jason. Together they took him below for healing. Jason muttered something about Nico, and his head lolled to one side.Leo had turned his attention to Festus, melting away a thick layer of ice that had completely covered the bronze dragon figurehead. When the ice finally turned to slush and fell away, Festus didn’t wake. Leo’s brows furrowed with concern for his friend, and he opened a panel on the back of the dragon’s head - fiddling with wires and circuits.“Hey Leo?” Frank called, his voice small, “Where are we? When I was flying below, I couldn’t see the coastline anymore.”“Shit,” Leo muttered. He turned reluctantly away from his task and crossed to the helm, checking the navigation system. One hand blazed as he melted ice from that, too. “Looks like Slush-Puppy and her idiot brothers knocked us several hundred miles off-course, the closest landmass is Northern Africa. I don’t even know how that’s possible . It’s going to take an extra week to make up the distance. And with Festus out of commission… We don’t have an early warning system anymore - that is, if it even still works. When I got up here the switchboard was already frozen from the inside.”“That means monsters are going to come at us at any time and we won’t be able to prepare - like tonight.” Frank was looking at Leo with a sour expression.“I’m sorry , okay? I know I’ve messed up a lot and if I could go back in time, stop the eidolon that possessed me into firing on your fucking city, I would. But I can’t! And now this stupid thing-” Leo smacked the Archimedes sphere like it was junk. “Can’t do anything besides navigate, and I couldn’t save both Piper and Nico-”“Stop!” Hazel yelled. “Stop it.” Her cheeks were streaked from salty tears, and she sniffed, wiping her nose with the cuff of her sleeve. “Arguing isn’t going to do us any good. If it’s like you say Frank, and Nico just disappeared, he must still be alive. I’d be able to tell if he was…” Her voice trailed off, but it was obvious what she wasn’t saying. Dead. “Right now we need to focus on reaching safety. Maybe there’s somewhere we can stop and regroup.”The boys didn’t seem to like the idea of landing, but they had little other choice. The ship needed major repairs, or it wouldn’t last another day - let alone a week. Then, as the sun began to rise in the East, Nico could just make out the shape of an island. But it wasn’t in the water, it was floating . Leo saw it too.“There! What the heck is that?” He steered the Argo II in its direction. As they closed the distance, the island grew in size until Nico could make out dozens of holes in the floating earth that looked like wind tunnels. The small floating mountain seemed to sing in the morning light.“That,” Frank said, “looks like trouble.”***Nico woke up to a girl’s angry face inches from his own. He started, pushing himself back and onto his elbows. The scepter of Diocletian was on the ground next to him, glowing faintly. The girl stood up straight, tapping a foot impatiently.“What? Where-”“Do you have any idea how difficult it is to kill Vivisterias?” She scolded, not seeming to care about Nico, but gesturing with one arm to the ring of dead flora around him - the other hand firmly on her hip. If her expression hadn’t been so petulant, Nico might’ve felt bad for killing her flowers. He seemed to have landed in a thick forested area, with a giant hole in the canopy above him. So that’s what broke my fall , he guessed. The plant life had died in a perfect circle all around him - evidently he’d reached out to the closest life-forms in his sleep and harvested their life force to sustain his own. Nico used to feel bad about doing this kind of thing - he’d done it verbatim to Persephone’s garden once before and almost gotten himself turned into a pomegranate tree as a result.“Vivisteria is like, the only flower that can survive in any weather conditions!” She let out a frustrated sound and began to pace.“Apparently not death-conditions,” Nico croaked. His voice sounded as if he’d swallowed fire from the river Phlegathon - which of course he had , just not recently. The girl rounded on him, one dainty finger pointing at his chest.“And you. How dare they send you , of all people.” She looked to the sky and raised her arms in desperation. “Clotho! Lachesis, Atropos - how dare you! A SON OF DEATH? ON MY ISLAND?”Nico scooted back a bit. The girl looked a bit older than him, maybe sixteen? Seventeen? She seemed harmless - adorned in a sleeveless white gown, golden arm bands covered her biceps and wrists, and her caramel hair was braided in beautiful designs. But there was a fire in her almond-shaped eyes that unsettled Nico. She looked ready to murder him. He’d seen girls like her before, in the Aphrodite cabin at camp. He knew how deceiving beauty could be.“Who-” Nico was about to ask her name, when a memory suddenly flashed into his mind. Percy telling Annabeth about the time he’d crash-landed on an island. This island. His description of the girl was painfully accurate. Which meant he must be… “No. No, no, no! ” Nico stood shakily. “I’m on Ogygia.”“Well-fucking-spotted, son of Hades,” the girl - Calypso, Nico identified her - threw her arms up once more and began stalking away from him. All the while cursing under her breath in Ancient Minoan.Nico blinked. She was not what he had expected at all .***Calypso trailed through the forest, occasionally throwing a nasty glare over her shoulder at Nico - as if it had been his idea to land here. He had grabbed his scepter and followed her, being fresh out of bright ideas. Eventually the thick canopy parted and Nico could see the sun setting on crystal-blue water. The coast of the island turned inward to create a sort of bay or lagoon. Off to the left stood a cave, just a few paces up an incline from the entrance to the forest. On his right, Nico could see lush gardens and terracotta cobbles weaving between spires that looked like they once belonged to a larger structure - a house or villa of some kind, perhaps? Straight ahead of him, Nico spotted a three-tiered fountain made from alabaster, encrusted with multi coloured crystals and carved with scenes of nature. Past that, toward the beach, was a stone slab table (or was that some kind of freaky sacrificial altar?) surrounded by chairs. He shuddered. Probably just a grandiose dinner table, but Nico decided to avoid it for now.Calypso marched up the hill and into her cave without another word to Nico, which was fine by him. He needed to get off this island and back to his friends. He held the scepter of Diocletian to his chest, like a hug from Death might make him feel better - it didn’t. Nico took a few steps toward the fountain and rested the scepter there, far away from the nearest plant. If it hadn’t been for this talisman, Nico suspected he’d have died from whatever injuries he had sustained from his fall. It had acted as a conduit, sucking the life out of the plants and feeding Nico’s soul with the energy he required to heal. He felt bad about destroying her - what had Calypso called it? A Vivisteria? He had never heard of that flower before, it seemed almost made-up.But as he gazed into the gardens, Nico noticed several different types of flora he couldn’t name. Persephone would be jealous of this place. His step-mother’s garden was lush and beautiful, but not every type of plant could survive in the Underworld. Nico sympathized with her sometimes. In fact, he kind of wanted to speak to her. If there were any gods that could understand Calypso…“Right, this is going to be awkward.”Nico started in the direction of the gardens. As the sun disappeared behind the horizon, several of the bushes and flowers began to glow. The colours were beautiful. He stopped by a creek that snaked through the grounds. As it bubbled along, it brushed against some low-hanging plants that seemed to be made of pure fire, and the resulting steam smelled of nectar. By some miracle, he still had a few drachma in his pocket. Nico picked up a crystal embedded in the soil and turned it slowly between his fingers. The light of the moon caused shades of blue and silver to twinkle around him, and he aimed the rays at the steam. A rainbow appeared, and Nico tossed in the coin. He set the crystal into the branches of a tall bush to avoid an arm cramp.“O Iris, goddess of the rainbow. Please accept this offering.” Nico was worried this wouldn’t work - Zeus had forbidden the gods to have contact with their demigod children, and had gone so far as to recall most to Olympus. But his father had stayed in the Underworld. He wondered what Persephone had decided to do. Maybe she’d gone to Olympus with Demeter, or maybe she’d stayed with her husband. Nico was pretty sure his step-mother actually loved his dad. He realized the rainbow was dissipating. “Uh, show me Persephone, goddess of springtime.” Nico hoped that would be enough.The image rippled and bubbled. It was taking too long. This had been a long shot, but Nico didn’t know what else to do at this point. He covered his face in his hands and waited.“Is that - moonlace ?” Gasped a female voice. Nico parted his fingers and peeked at the image before him. His step-mother’s eyes were lit up with delight. He couldn’t tell where she was, but the darkness behind her was tinged red. Probably his father’s palace. “I couldn’t plant those here, they can only be planted under the light of the full moon!” Okay, definitely in the Underworld. She grew on Nico a lot at that moment.“Hey, Persephone,” Nico said shyly. Their relationship had been rocky at the start, and Nico wasn’t exactly sure where he stood with her now. One time, she had threatened Hades that she would turn Nico into a daisy. “They’re pretty, huh?” He looked at the silvery flowers around him, appreciating their glow. He’d seen one before - on the fire escape outside Percy’s apartment in Manhattan.“Where in Hades did you find-” Persephone cut herself off, taking in the rest of Nico’s surroundings. Her expression changed from excitement to sympathy. “Oh my dear boy… Ogygia?”Nico nodded sullenly. He told her everything - about the demigods’ quest, about Khione, the storm, and what had happened since he landed on the island. It felt good to talk to her, as strange as it seemed. Persephone listened intently, not speaking until Nico finished.“The fates are truly cruel.” Her tone was sad.“What do you mean?” He was confused now.“You’ll never be able to leave, darling,” Persephone sighed. “This island is cursed to be a prison for Calypso. The fates will send her companionship from time to time, but they always have to leave because if not - well, the world is usually at stake.”“I don’t follow,” Nico’s brows were knit tight. A rising suspicion was climbing his throat like bile. He knew the story, but didn’t understand how it affected him . In the old myths, Calypso had kept Odysseus prisoner for years before the gods pleaded with her to set him free. Clearly, the stories had gotten something wrong.“The hero is only able to leave when… when Calypso falls in love with them. That is her curse. They need to leave, but she wants them to stay.”Nico doubled over. He felt like he had just been punched in the gut. The air left his lungs. Percy had been lucky, he realized. Yes, he could never leave. He would never gain the affections of Calypso - not in the way he needed. Because he was- he was…“How- how long have you known?” His question came out as a whisper. He looked up to see empathy on his step-mother’s face. This entire conversation was absolutely mind-boggling.“My dear boy. I may not be my aunt, but I understand love more than most. Especially love in Death.”Nico wanted to cry. He had spent his entire life pushing down his feelings, his urges, thinking they weren’t normal - something to be ashamed of. And here was Persephone, telling him she’d seen it all along?“You knew about Percy,” he said in a small voice. It wasn’t a question. She nodded. “When?”“The day you rescued him from Hades’ cells. You almost died helping him escape Erebus. Only for him to love another.”“Annabeth,” Nico muttered. “I never told him this but, I saw her appear as a vision on the Styx. She pulled him back from death.”“And that broke you.”“Yes.”“Dry your eyes, son.”Nico hadn’t realized he was crying. He wiped his face with his shirt sleeve. This all seemed so hopeless. His friends were counting on his help - on the help of the scepter - and they would die if he couldn’t escape Ogygia.“So- what do I do?” Nico pleaded with her. “Calypso already hates me, and once she knows I’m- I’m gay, she will never love me. I’m going to be stuck here gardening Vivisteria and Moonlace forever!”Persephone laughed. It wasn’t mean or condescending, just a happy ring - like a bell. Nico let it wash over him through the mist.“I don’t think you will,” she said gently. “Don’t be such a pessimist. I think this is an opportunity. To be more honest with yourself. Tell her the truth. Besides, what have you got to lose?”With a kind smile, she waved a hand across the image, and before Nico could protest, the mist fell back into the creek with a soft pshh . Very helpful , Nico thought. Gods are so fucking cryptic .It was only after walking back to the fountain, lying down on an alabaster bench and gazing up at the stars, that Nico realized Persephone had called him son.***When he next awoke, the sun shone into Nico’s eyes. He held an arm over his face protectively. As he sat up, he remembered. Where he was, what it meant, and his chances of returning to the mortal world. Shit .Someone cleared their throat impatiently. To Nico’s right, Calypso stood with her arms crossed, glaring at him.“Well?”“Well, what?” Nico asked.“How did you get here? Who are you, and what world-ending event should you be getting back to?” Calypso clearly had this routine down-pat, and wasn’t interested in his answers - not really. She just wanted him gone. Not an unfamiliar feeling for Nico. Being unwanted was his bread and butter.“Wow,” he said, mocking her attitude. “Percy never said you were so abrasive.”That stopped Calypso in her tracks. She had been winding up for another tirade, but deflated at Percy’s name. Her arms fell to her sides.“You know Percy?” Her eyes were wide with surprise. “How long has it been? Time… time is different here.”Nico rubbed his eyes. The sun was so bright . “I don’t know, maybe two years? A little more? Can we maybe go somewhere where the sun isn’t in my personal space?”Calypso huffed, and waved for him to follow. They walked up the hill to the cave, and she held a curtain aside for Nico to follow her through. He gasped. The ceiling of the cave was dotted in crystals - the same as the one he’d used to IM Persephone last night. They lit up the cave in hues of blue, green and purple. In one corner, a four-poster bed stood with white linen sheets. On the adjacent wall a loom towered with a half-woven tapestry. It was beautiful. There was a small fire pit, with smoke snaking up and out a hole in the ceiling. A cast-iron pot hung from a stand over the flames, and the smell made Nico’s stomach gurgle. He realized he hadn’t eaten in - how long? A week? He couldn’t be sure.Calypso followed his gaze to the food, and rolled her eyes with such force Nico was worried he would never see her irises again. Then she grabbed a large bowl from the shelves on the outer wall and scooped a generous amount of food into it. When she handed the bowl to Nico, he could see it was beef stew. Calypso passed him a spoon and he dug in, ravenous.“You eat like you’ve never tasted food before.” She observed. He smiled apologetically.“It’s just-” he swallowed, not caring about the burning heat going down his throat. “I don’t actually know the last time I ate anything. Sorry.”“It’s okay, I guess. Now, can you answer me? What are you doing here? How do you know Percy? What-”“Whoa! Alright!” Nico reluctantly set down the bowl, and found a seat on the stool for the loom. He was so tired. “I have some bad news, and it might be strange. I don’t fully understand it myself.” He looked to the titan goddess, who silently urged him to continue. He sighed. “I’m on a quest.”“No surprise there, what else?”“I-” Nico wasn’t sure how she would receive this. “I’m gay.”Calypso’s eyebrows shot to her hairline. She sat on the stone floor. “That’s a new one.”“You’re not- angry?” She looked offended.“Angry? At you? Gods no! But- arrgh - why would the Fates send you ? You’re trapped here! Just… just like me.” Her shoulders sagged.“There’s a little more to it than that.” Nico told her about the giants rising, Gaia waking, and the general calamity that would unfold if he didn’t reach the House of Hades to close the Doors of Death with his friends. He rehashed the details of the Great Prophecy, and the Romans, and the history of the two camps. Calypso’s eyes began to water when Nico told her about Percy falling into Tartarus. “And that brings us to now. I was thrown off my ship and fell for like, days until I woke up on your island. And if I don’t get back, pretty much everything will fall apart.”“Wait, you fell off your ship - for days ?”“It’s a flying ship, don’t ask.”Calypso looked bewildered. “Okaay…” Then something seemed to click in her thoughts. “You- you liked Percy, didn’t you?” Nico nodded.“I- I loved him.” He managed. She nodded absently, gears turning in her mind. She wiped her eyes and sniffed.“I’m sorry, Nico. I am familiar with your situation. Maybe not everything you’ve endured, but I know what it’s like to love someone who can never love you back.”They sat in silence while Nico finished his stew. It had cooled while he talked, and somehow tasted even better now. He was pleasantly surprised at how well Calypso was taking his news. Percy had said the gods would visit her from time to time, keeping her updated on the outside world and its events. So maybe that was what this felt like for her, only much more personal. Finally, Calypso stood, brushing off her gown.“Right, we need to get you back to your ship.”“But how?” Nico asked, standing up too. He paced the cave and gestured with his hands. “Even if I knew where my friends were now, how on earth would I get a raft to appear? We’re in a catch twenty-two.”“A what?” Calypso asked.“A catch twenty-two is like, when you need a thing, but you can’t get the thing without another thing, so it’s impossible to get one thing without the other.”“Well, you’re almost correct.”Nico gave her a quizzical look. “How do you mean?”“If we need a raft, it won’t appear without me falling in love. But we don’t need a raft in order for me to fall in love,” she explained. “We just need a raft.” He considered that. “Okay, you’re right. But that doesn’t solve the issue of me actually leaving .”“No, it doesn’t.”“So, what now?”Calypso handed Nico a bright white linen hat with a wide brim. “Put this on,” she ordered. “Your skin looks like papyrus.” She exited the cave, and Nico hesitated for a moment before putting the hat on and following her. He felt ridiculous with his flannel pajama pants sporting cartoon skulls, his iron chestplate over a black t-shirt, and this massive white hat - but it wasn’t like there was anyone to make fun of him. Calypso didn’t seem the type to tease traumatized teenage boys. He felt like that was a plus.They trailed down to the beach, where the stone dining table sat entrenched in the sand. Calypso turned to Nico.“We need to speak to a god.”“I tried that- last night. I called my step-mother, but she didn’t have any answers for me.”Calypso laughed. “I’m not surprised. Persephone may be good with plants - and I love her for that - but Fate is a little harder to unravel. I know someone who has had to deal with the Fates more than most, and he might have some advice for us. That is, if he shows. If it’s like you said, and the gods are forbidden from speaking to mortals… This could prove futile. But I wonder if since I’m asking…”Nico caught on. “That could work! None of Zeus’ rules would technically be broken, since you’re a god yourself.”She nodded, impressed. Then, she closed her eyes and faced the horizon. For a while the only sounds were birds and the waves lapping against sand. A gust of wind that felt oddly sentient placed two glasses of water on the table. Nico felt a spike of fear, remembering the venti that had attacked the Argo II , but this one seemed peaceful, even nice . “Thank you?” He said to the wind. A jingle of laughter floated away, then silence once more. Nico turned to Calypso. “Should something be happening?”“Shh,” she hushed him. “Concentrating.”Suddenly, a bright light appeared along the horizon. As it drew closer, Nico averted his eyes. He didn’t want to burn to ash before he got answers. The light became warmth, getting closer and closer until Nico was positive he would die from heatstroke. Then all at once, it was gone. When he looked, a man stood on the beach.He appeared to be just a normal mortal guy. The man wore a jacket with cursive embroidery on it that took a moment for Nico to decipher. It said ‘Hermes Express’ on the breast pocket. He had on jeans, a baseball cap over his sandy blonde hair, and All Star Converse shoes on his feet with white feathery wings shooting out of the heels. In his hands he carried an electronic tablet with a stylus, both of which glowed and then turned into a large staff with entwined snakes wrapped around it - a caduceus.Nico bowed his head. “Lord Hermes,” he said. “This is a surprise.”“We didn’t think anyone would come.” Calypso added. Then, she did something that knocked the socks off of Nico. She hugged Hermes. He smiled warmly.“Hello, my dear. I see you have company once more.” His head tilted to Nico. “So something tells me there is more to this visit than a simple catch-up.”Nico’s jaw dropped. They looked familial , which was an odd sight with any of the gods, let alone between a god and a titaness.“We- um- have a bit of a problem, sir,” Nico stammered.“Yes, I’d imagine so. I almost ignored Calypso’s summons until I got a strongly worded message from Persephone urging me to come. I can see why.”Nico swallowed. Was he going to have to come out to every fucking god on Olympus? It seemed cruel. He began his story once again, voice already becoming hoarse. But this time, Calypso aided him. Whenever his words failed, she picked up the tale. Nico realized what a great listener she was - she didn’t get a single detail wrong.“I see,” said Hermes again once they’d finished. “Well, it seems like we have a raft to build.”“Will that even work?” Nico asked, surprised the god was even willing to help them - well, him specifically. “Won’t it just bring me right back here?”Hermes smiled. “Calypso was right to call on me. I am more than just the god of thieves, boy. I am the god of merchants, doctors, travelers. And with the help of my uncle, I believe we will be able to guide you back to your friends.”“Your uncle..?” Nico realized who Hermes meant. Poseidon. Percy’s dad. “Oh…”“Yes, child. He believes you are the best chance Percy has of returning to us. That and Annabeth, of course.”Nico swallowed around the lump forming in his throat. He glanced at Calypso, who seemed to be experiencing similar emotions. He was actually glad she was here.“Okay,” he said, squaring his shoulders. “Where do we start?”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Three Short Stories about Buford.
Leo
Leo
ran a hand down his face. “Why do we even need the guy’s go-ahead? Can’t we just leave anyway? Who’s gonna stop us?”
Jason shook his head as he stepped off the gangplank and onto the deck of the
Argo II
. He’d been pressing their host for permission to leave the floating island for three days out of the five since they had ‘landed’, and the son of Jupiter wasn’t having any luck. The boss-dude’s personality kept shifting between Greek and Roman, just like most of the other gods. It was
really
starting to annoy Leo.
“He said he needs my help first,” Jason explained. He seemed just as pissed off as Leo.
“Of-fucking-course he does,” Leo muttered. “What’s it gonna be this time,
hermano
? Wrangle some stray storm spirits? Abduct the Wicked Witch of the South? Wax the marble floors that don’t exist?”
Jason managed a laugh. They’d been lucky that he had recovered in time for them to dock, because Jason was the only person who could enter the throne room of Notus, the Greek god of the South Wind - which was open to the coastline below. Some days he shifted and became Auster, his Roman aspect. Jason had told Leo that those audiences were much easier to get through, he could actually get a word in with the guy. But Notus was always too busy smoking weed and ordering food to be of any help. He would shush Jason and be practically impossible to pull away from his phone, scrolling through funny videos of African mammals. Auster was usually busy barking orders and creating storms, but would take a moment to negotiate with Jason, and Leo knew how precious those moments were.
“Nothing like that,” Jason muttered. He looked worse today, with bags under his eyes and a light sunburn forming under his hairline. “He just says he wants me to make a decision.”
“What kind of decision?” Leo perked up. He was bad at deciding things for himself, but ironically pretty good at advising others - usually by accident.
“He said I have one foot in two worlds, and that I have to pick one. I have to decide or the gods will never decide either, and ‘all hope will be lost’. What the hell does that even mean?” Jason put his hands on the bulwark and leaned over like he wanted to puke. Leo handed him a bottle of water from a deck cooler (yeah, they were pretty sweet - built into the hardwood benches ringing the deck, Leo’s idea) and patted him on the back.
“Well, the part about you being in two worlds makes sense. That’s obviously the camps. You were raised within Camp Jupiter, and they’re your family, of course. But you’ve kinda become a big part of Camp Half-Blood too, you know? The whole time we were building the ship, you also came to sing-alongs, made friends, helped guard the camp from monsters, and Piper-”
Jason cut him off. “So what am I supposed to do? Pick a camp I belong to? Or where I want to live? How do I choose between my past and my present? How do I know picking Camp Half-Blood won’t result in me being shunned, or even
targeted
by the Legion? Or if I choose Rome… what if Piper never speaks to me again? How do I reconcile that? Even though most of my memories have come back, I just can’t shake this feeling that I’ve had since I opened my eyes on that school bus and saw Piper’s.” He sat down dejectedly and put his head in his hands.
“Dude,” Leo whistled. “You’ve got it bad.”
“In more ways than one,” Jason complained.
“I think you’ll make the right choice,” said a voice. Leo jumped about three feet in the air and turned to see Piper standing at the top of the steps to the aft deck. She wore a small smile. Jason looked up, his cheeks flushed, as she came down to them and sat next to her boyfriend. She put a hand on his back and began tracing little shapes. The tension in Jason's shoulders thawed. “Don’t be so hard on yourself,” she hummed, “this quest isn’t over, and you don’t have to worry about me.” Piper kissed his temple, and the red in his cheeks deepened. Leo was used to their PDA, but was always jealous too. He wanted to be able to show someone that kind of love. He knew he had it in him.
“What if I can’t say goodbye to my old home?” Jason asked Piper in a small voice. She touched a finger to his chin and gently turned his head to face hers.
“I wouldn’t ask you to do that Jason. But sweetie, I think what Auster means is that you have to decide who you feel like on the
inside
.” Piper rested a hand on Jason's chest. “If you feel like the Roman way is still
your
way, or if maybe your perspective has changed, and maybe that’s not a bad thing?” She held Jason’s eyes for a long moment, and then gave him a light peck before standing up. He seemed stunned at her words, like he’d had an epiphany. “Okay, I’m going to make a sandwich!” Piper called as she went below deck.
“
Hermano
, are you gonna make it?” Leo asked, snapping his fingers in Jason’s face. He focused on Leo.
“She’s- not going anywhere,” he said, an odd expression on his face.
“Yeah, I heard her! Cool, right? Hey, quick question - why do you look like you just saw my old babysitter with her skirt up?”
Jason snorted. “Because I think I've just made my decision. And, I think I know what Auster wants.” He didn’t elaborate, and Leo didn’t press him - like Piper had said, there would be time for that later. Jason stood and looked out across the Tyrrhenian Sea, glittering far below them. The closest African city was Tunis, just across the water from Sicily, but it was far, far below Notus’ palace. “I wonder if Nico is out there somewhere,” Jason thought aloud.
“Hazel said he’s still alive, but if we can’t find him-”
“Yeah, I know.” Deep lines appeared between Jason’s brows, as if he’d had an unpleasant thought. “We need him in order to succeed in Epirus. But he means more to me than that, and I’m worried about him.” Leo frowned. Jason had always been a straight-shooter, so to speak, but that comment made Leo wonder if there was more to the son of Hades and Jason’s relationship. He just seemed so in love with Piper…
Nah
, Leo decided.
Gotta be something else. Though Nico does have this strange magnetism to him… Like neodymium pulling everyone toward him. Maybe that’s all it is.
He would be lying to himself if he’d said he wasn’t worried too. Nico had been brooding non-stop since Split. Sure, it was kind of cute, the way he lurked around Leo while he tinkered below-decks-
but WHOA, what in Hephaestus does
that
have to do with anything? Don’t be jealous of Jason, he’s got a lot on his shoulders
, Leo reassured himself - and shoved his thoughts and feelings deep down, at least for now. They were too sudden and confusing to linger on.
“Because of what happened in Croatia?” Leo finally asked. Jason nodded. “What happened there that you’re not saying? Spill, bro!”
“It’s not for me to tell,” Jason said solemnly. “And I’m sure wherever Nico is, it’s still pretty raw for him. I just hope he’s in good company.”
Well, that made
perfect
sense. Not. Leo left him there, gazing out over crystal blue water and open air, and wondered if his friend was considering flying away.
***
Leo was wiped after five days of doing ship repairs without the help of Annabeth. He fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.
In his dream, he was running from a giant that kept sucking his fire right out of the air any time he tried to give light to his surroundings. He was in a tunnel of some kind - he knew that much, but the darkness seemed to be climbing its way down his throat. He wanted to scream, but no sound came out.
Just keep running
, he thought. He was well-practiced in that regard.
Suddenly, the entire dream shifted and became static like a TV with no satellite connection. Leo stopped running. There was a shriek of feedback and he yelped, glad he could speak again. When the static cleared, he saw the fuzzy image of a man sitting in some kind of mechanical workshop, donned in coverall-shorts, his face and hands smeared with grease and oil. He wore a pair of welder’s goggles on his forehead and had a scraggly beard that seemed to be full of sparking embers. He was pretty hideous, but he looked at Leo through shining eyes that flickered with flame, full of intelligence. One of his legs was celestial bronze from the knee down, making a tinny sound as it tapped lightly on the workshop floor. On Leo’s side of the connection, he was in his bunk on the
Argo II
, sitting on his bed and staring at the wall as if it were a holo-projection. Leo knew at once he was looking at his father.
“Hello, boy,” said Hephaestus.
Leo said nothing. He swallowed, completely in shock. His mother had always told him he’d meet his dad one day, and he had always imagined some deadbeat Latino who smoked too much, with tattoos and a gambling problem. This guy smoked a lot too, but from his beard. Leo’s mom had told him that his dad would explain everything, but for a long time the two just sat in silence.
“How is it you’re not, uh…” Leo trailed off, gesturing to his own head, unsure of how easily this god could get offended.
“Suffering from split-personalities?” Hephaestus finished. Leo nodded. “I’ll admit, there have been moments where my mind feels a little more crowded than usual, but the result is only a slight headache. My Roman aspect is nearly identical to this form. I’ve been luckier than most of my family in that respect.”
He tried to keep it down, but Leo’s next question blurted out involuntarily. “Why didn’t you come find me? After my mom died.” He sounded more confident than he felt. “You must have known, must have
seen
.”
“Zeus forbade it.” Was his only answer.
“Wait, didn’t Zeus forbid the gods from contacting their kids these past seven months? How is it you’re talking to me right now? And why
now
? Why not after I caused-” He stopped himself.
“I’m sorry, my boy.” His father sounded genuine. Leo inspected his deformed face for signs of insincerity, and found none. “I hijacked the radio waves for my television network, so Zeus can’t see us. But that’s not important - Leo, that night was not your fault. I am so sorry I wasn’t around then to tell you that. Your mother’s death was not your fault.”
Leo had just discovered one could cry in a dream. He tried to shove them down, but hot tears poured down his face despite his best efforts. “But- it was my fire,” he whispered, and pulled his knees to his chest, fisting balls of the sheets between his fingers. He would never forget that night - the shop door that wouldn't open no matter what he tried, his mother's screams as flames danced all around him, and the sinister sleepy smile of Gaia, surrounded by smoke and earth. “It was my fault.”
“No,” Hephaestus was insistent. “It was Gaia’s fault. She goaded you. Trapped you. And your mother. That is on her. My son,
no es tu culpa
.” He said the last part in broken Spanish.
It’s not your fault
.
Leo's armor cracked. He sobbed violently. Hephaestus sat watching him for a long time while he cried, but couldn’t touch him. Leo didn't even know if he would
want
that. After a few minutes, he took several deep breaths, and wiped his face with his hands. He needed to get it together. That had been seven - almost eight years ago. Leo couldn’t be blubbering about it to someone he’d just met, let alone a god - even if it was his own father.
“Is that- is that the only reason you’re here?” Leo sniffed. He was suspicious, and eager to change the subject. Gods didn’t usually interact with heroes unless they needed something, or wanted to stir trouble. But Hephaestus didn’t seem the trickster type.
“I think I can help find the son of Hades.”
Leo blinked. “You don’t beat around the bush.”
“I find it saves time,” said the god of fire. One corner of his mouth twitched. Leo’s mind switched tracks with ease. He was happy to think about something else -
anything
else.
“How do we find him?” Leo got up and grabbed a notepad and pencil from his desk drawer - kept there in case he got design ideas in the middle of the night. He had no idea if he could remember the details of his dream, but writing down the ideas might help. ADHD was a bitch. Leo briefly considered the possibility that his dream notes would be lost the minute he awoke, but this was too important.
Worth a shot
, he thought.
“Something tells me he is in a place you cannot follow. But I don’t think the same logic applies… to automatons.” Hephaestus leaned forward, like he was sharing top-secret information. “I think it’s time to dust off Buford.”
Leo stopped writing and looked up. “How the hell do you know about Buford?”
Hephaestus winked and leaned back. “I’ve kept my eye on you, boy. Helped where I can. I probably should’ve said hello sooner, but it is what it is now.”
“Okay, sure. But- what about my flying mechanical side table?”
“I think he has an excellent talent for getting lost, and I think I might be able to guide him to your son of Hades. The only problem is, both of them will need a way to come back to you.”
Leo ignored the ‘
your
son of Hades’ comment. An idea came to him, and he began sketching furiously. He would need to repurpose a small part of the switchboard, but it was still pretty much useless for their defence system as it was. Maybe a few spare lengths of celestial bronze from the engine room to fit the mold, and an unused circuit board that was
definitely
sitting forgotten under his bunk. He lifted the draft to face Hephaestus, who leaned forward again to inspect it. He nodded excitedly, a bright spark flying from his scraggly beard.
“Yes, yes I think that will do. Be sure to check that your beacon works before sending out Buford, but I imagine once he finds the island, your genius will guide him home.” The blacksmith god smiled proudly.
“Wait, did you say ‘the island'?” Leo rubbed his temple. “I'm pretty sure I had a dream about an island like, a week ago. Is it the same place as where Nico landed?”
His father didn't answer him, which clearly meant yes.
“If he is where I think he is… Dad, my friend is in big trouble.”
“Which is why I am sure you will save him. Your Fates are entwined.” That didn't exactly reassure Leo. Then Hephaestus looked like he was about to say something uncomfortable, but did it anyway. “You’ve always had talent, and I gave you the gift of fire because I knew you could handle it. I knew you would build great things. And you have. This ship,” he looked around the cabin, “is one of the greatest engineering feats since the conception of that sphere you have above deck. I’m proud of you for braving this prophecy, son. You will have a hand in all our destinies. But remember - don’t do it for anyone but you. Self-sacrifice has to be for the self.”
“I- I- uh, thanks- Dad. Thanks, dad,” Leo choked out. This whole conversation felt really weird. Did Hephaestus know what would happen? Could gods read minds? His father seemed to know what he was planning, and he hadn’t even decided what his plan
was
, exactly. “It’s going to work,” Leo stated firmly, more to himself than to Hephaestus.
The image began to fade to grey. “I know, kid,” he said, and it almost sounded like a goodbye. “I know.”
It struck him that Hephaestus had said he was
proud
, as he lay back and drifted into a blissfully dreamless sleep.
Buford
Buford sat nestled comfortably under a blanket in the corner of Leo's workshop. He hadn't been turned on since his excursion with Frank's dirty laundry, and needed a tune-up. When Leo arrived in the engine room (which doubled as his workshop), he dusted off the table and finished his checks, then wiped a hand across his brow and powered up the automaton.
Brrrt, whrzzzz!
Buford chittered happily, stretching his bronze legs. He was happy to see his master, and nuzzled Leo’s forearm gratefully.
“Yeah buddy,” Leo replied. “I missed you too. Hey listen, I have a pretty big job for you little man, think you’re up for it?”
Zzzimmbp Yeeeowww!
Buford was always game for a high-stakes mission.
“That’s what I like to hear!” Leo reached behind his back and retrieved a celestial bronze contraption that looked like a protractor which had been cut in half at a ninety-degree angle, fixed to a tiny telescope and several lenses that varied in size and magnification on one end. A sextant. There were star constellations on it, but before Buford could decipher them, they shifted into new patterns. “Like it? I designed it to adapt to your coordinates, and this here-” Leo pointed at a small device attached to the end opposite the eye-hole. “-is a tracking device. Once you get to where you’re going, it will guide you home.”
Buford perked up, spinning his tabletop excitedly.
Brrrrreuuung!
“Now this is really important buddy, so I need you to focus.” Being Buford’s maker, Leo had inadvertently imbued the automaton with a similar attention deficit to his own, and maintaining attentiveness was not an easy task. “I need you to get lost. Like,
very
lost. It’s the only way you’ll find the island.”
So Buford was going to find an island? Cool!
“When you get there, you need to find Nico, you got that buddy? Nico di Angelo, the son of Hades. Last time I saw him, he was wearing cartoon skull pajamas and a black armor chestplate. Looks malnourished. Probably brooding or being held captive by an evil titaness named Calypso.”
Rrrrrt?
Buford clarified.
“Yeah, she’s the daughter of Atlas - but that’s not important. He needs to activate the tracker on this sextant in order to find his way back to us, and it will adjust for travel to follow the ship if we ever get out of Africa. My dad is going to help you get there. You get all that little man?” Leo’s eyes looked wild as he strapped the device to Buford’s undercarriage.
Zzzz!
“Sorry buddy. Okay, that should hold. Let’s go, c’mon!”
Buford skittered along behind his master, up the ladder to the top deck. Frank and Hazel were doing some light sparring on the aft deck, trading blows and parries halfheartedly. They stopped and came over when their resident mechanic came above. Buford scuttled around in circles and whirred eagerly. Leo crossed to the switchboard controls and turned on the ship’s tracking beacon. Buford could feel the intermittent
ping
somewhere in his circuitry, and indicated to Leo that it was working. The son of Hephaestus came over and took a knee in front of the mechanical table, smiling bittersweetly.
“Good. I’m turning it off for now, because our current coordinates are embedded into your software. If we leave, I’ll activate the beacon. But if you don’t feel that ping, you come right back here, okay?”
MMbrrr!
Buford was anxious to take flight. He hadn’t stretched his rotors in weeks. Leo glanced over his shoulder at Hazel, who gave him an encouraging nod. Then he pressed a button on one of Buford’s legs, and propellers shot out from the centre of his tabletop. The southern wind caught the blades, and Buford shot upward. The deck of the
Argo II
shrank until the demigods looked like tiny ants below him.
A warm breeze carried Buford far away, and he puttered along happily. Then a sudden updraft took him even higher, into a cloud, and the world seemed to spin on its axis.
The little side table’s quest had begun.
Nico
“I don’t think that goes there,” Calypso warned Nico. She was reading a set of IKEA-style instructions left behind by Hermes, and Nico was getting increasingly frustrated with her lack of vision.
“You
just
said-”
“I know! But now it doesn’t look right.” She plopped down on the sand and laid back, putting a beach stone on the pamphlet to keep it from blowing away. Nico heaved a sigh. They had been working on this for an entire day, but neither of them had ever built a sea-faring vessel before, and the work was tough-going. He collapsed on the sand next to Calypso and gazed at the cloudless sky.
“So,” Nico started, “while we’re here, there’s something I should probably tell you. It’s about… Percy.” He waited for a reaction, but none came, so he continued. “Last year after the second Titan war, Percy made the council swear on the Styx to grant his wishes as long as it was within their power.”
Calypso bent up to her elbows. “Where is this going?”
He cleared his throat. “He made the gods swear to claim their children before they turn thirteen, and… well, he included you too.” Her eyes became saucers. She gestured for him to go on. “Percy stated that your punishment was cruel, and that you didn’t deserve to be stuck here anymore. He demanded they release you.”
“... What?” She hugged her knees to her chest, tendrils of her gown gently caressing her ankles in the salty breeze. “He really did that?” Nico nodded solemnly. “I- I was really angry with him when he left. I cursed him, and his Annabeth. I cursed the Fates, and all the usual things that happen when a hero leaves me. But- he- ordered my release?”
“Yeah, and he seemed pretty adamant about it. Which is why I don’t understand what you’re still doing here. You should be free by now. I know the gods aren’t known for their sense of urgency, but… I think Percy makes them nervous. He turned down the chance to
become
a god in lieu of that oath.”
Calypso let that sink in. She seemed perplexed, unable to reconcile her bitterness with her gratitude.
“I suppose it had been a while since my last visitor, perhaps the gods have been busy,” she attempted.
“Oh, they’ve
definitely
been busy, but that doesn’t excuse their negligence,” Nico reasoned. Calypso nodded sadly. “But it’s gotten me thinking - why can’t you just leave? Maybe the curse has been lifted and they just forgot to tell you?”
She shook her head. “If it had been, you would not be here.” She slumped back down, plaited hair getting caked with damp sand. “We should probably get back to work, it is almost sunset.”
They gathered themselves up off the beach floor and resumed the IKEA raft-building attempt, growing more frustrated by the hour. Finally, Calypso huffed indignantly and said she needed to order dinner - heading up the hill to her cave. The wind spirits on Ogygia seemed to do most of the work for her in terms of cleaning and cooking, which seemed pretty sweet to Nico. If she hadn’t been a prisoner here, unable to take so much as a swim in the ocean, he would have been jealous of the digs.
He was fastening the sail to the mast of his little raft by the time the sun burnt hot orange, nearly touching the horizon. It looked alright, and Nico was actually proud he had figured it out. The instructions were in Ancient Minoan, which was definitely harder to read than Greek, but he’d picked up some terms and phrases from King Minos, the ghost who had manipulated him on a journey through the Labyrinth two summers ago. Nico stood back to admire his work, a soft smile on his face.
That’s when he heard it. A faraway sound like small helicopter blades, and the tinny
Bzzrrtt Drrrring Peeeeoww!
of an automaton that seemed to be singing to itself.
“The fuck?”
***
Buford landed on the beach about as gracefully as Nico had when he’d used the wings of Daedalus to escape his workshop - that is, not at all. The little side table attempted to execute a running-land, but his feet dug into the sand and he stuck fast, toppling over and crashing sideways in the surf. Then he popped back up, shaking off his legs like it had been totally deliberate. He skittered over to Nico, kicking up sand and chirping proudly.
“How in the name of my father did
you
get here, Buford?” Nico inquired incredulously.
Rrrrrrmptingg! Bllllllrrrrrrr!
Buford’s tabletop spun, and he hopped excitedly once, twice.
Nico rubbed his temples. “I have no idea what that means.”
“Nico, look!” Calypso was running back down toward the beach, pointing towards the water. He turned to see a churning column of flame gliding across the glittering orange waves, lit by the magnificent sunset and giving the illusion that the ocean was on fire. As it drew closer, Nico felt the annoyingly familiar feeling of being cooked alive and averted his eyes in the crook of his elbow. When the light and heat receded, Nico blinked spots from his eyes. Before him stood a burly man wearing greasy cutoff coveralls - one leg bronze from the knee down - boots that only a god or cyclops could fill, a set of welding goggles on his ugly head. Nico recognized him from the one time he had visited Mount Olympus, after the Battle of Manhattan. It struck him that his deformed man had somehow produced attractive offspring - Beckendorf, Nyssa, Jake Mason, and… perish the thought, Leo.
“Lord Hephaestus.” He bowed his head respectfully. The god’s eyes twinkled with orange flame. Calypso reached the beach and mimicked his bow, apparently familiar with the blacksmith god, but not on ‘hugging’ terms with him. Nico returned his gaze to Leo’s father. “With all due respect, sir, what are you doing here?”
Hephaestus gave a small smile. He looked
bashful
. “I contacted Leo, son of Hades. He seemed to think you were in grave danger. I couldn’t tell him exactly where you were, but as Fate would have it, he pieced it together all on his own. Smart boy. I am here to help you with… this,” he gestured to the IKEA raft Nico and Calypso had spent the better part of the day trying to piece together. “My brother tries to help, but alas he does not quite share my enthusiasm, or better yet my
skill
, when it comes to the invention of devices that go against nature.”
Calypso’s mouth hung open. Nico gently shut it with a finger.
“So you’re telling me that Leo, the guy who I’ve spent the better part of a week just lurking around because he doesn’t cringe in my presence, is actually fighting to
save
me?” Nico believed his words less with each one that left his mouth. “That’s ridiculous. He doesn’t even know me.”
“I think you’ll find that you have more in common than you think, boy.” Hephaestus waved a hand, and the half-built raft in the surf arranged itself into place, rivets securing themselves, twine fastening the mast Nico had built to the base. In the blink of an eye, a fully formed sea vessel rested on the sand only five feet away from them.
Brrrrrt?
Asked Buford, as he wobbled through the sand over to the blacksmith’s leg, nuzzling him affectionately.
Mmmmzzzzzp!
“Yes,” Hephaestus agreed, “go on Buford, show Nico.”
The little side table approached and suddenly bent over, as if mooning Nico. Below his top, there was a strange device duct-taped to his undercarriage. It had a pirate-vibe to it, but was a mix of ancient and modern tech. This was all so weird, Nico had to sit down. Calypso put a comforting hand on his back and knelt next to him.
“It’s a sextant,” explained the god. Nico went bug-eyed.
“A
what!?
”
“A sextant is designed for navigation using the stars.” Calypso clarified. “Should actually be pretty easy for you, star-gazer.” She wore a sad smile, like she knew something he didn’t. “Though I’m not sure what this does,” she added, pointing to a small contraption fused to one end, a single tiny light on it blinking faintly.
“That, my dear,” answered Hephaestus, “is a homing device, or tracker. The sister beacon is on Leo’s ship. I have a feeling the
Argo II
has left Africa, if it has been activated. You will need to hurry.”
Nico suddenly didn’t
want
to hurry. Leo had done all of this for
him
? He couldn’t believe that. Wouldn’t. Nobody had ever gone to such lengths to find him before, nobody except… Percy. And that had turned out about as well as a relationship between a living soul and a pomegranate. Percy eventually gave up, only to run into Nico on some quest. Happenstance. And was this effort really all for
him
? Or for the Scepter of Diocletian, which the crew of the ship needed in order to succeed on their quest in the House of Hades? Too many questions and doubts were swirling around in his head, and he didn’t want to consider the possibility that maybe…
maybe
Leo had done this because, for once, he had managed to make a friend? Albeit an annoying one who couldn’t shut up, whose appendages burst into flame when he got excited - or angry - and looked like a Hispanic elf to top it all off. Yeah, he was cute, though Nico thought he had pretty much given up on all of that.
But he couldn’t deny that over the past forty-eight hours, of all the company he had missed the most, it had been Leo’s.
This is fucking insane
, he thought. He shook his head and stood, trying to muster some courage and scare away the self-deprecating thoughts.
“So what happens to Calypso? You know about the council’s oath to free her. Lord Hephaestus, why hasn’t she been released?” Calypso was shaking her head violently as if to say, ‘
Don’t push it, di Angelo
’. But he pressed. “She may have supported her father, but look at her! She’s been frozen as a sixteen-year-old for millenia! She deserves the same chance you gave to Morpheus and Hecate. Please, talk to the council. I’ll go back, my- my friends will die otherwise, but we can’t just leave Calypso here.”
Nico was used to arguing with his father, and was winding up for rejection, but Hephaestus simply said, “You are right, son of Hades. After the Titan war, we should have enacted the requests of Percy Jackson immediately.”
“Yeah! And- wait,” Nico hadn’t been expecting the guy to
agree
. “You think I’m right?”
“Of course. And the only reason neither of us are being blasted into ribbons is because Zeus is otherwise occupied. Most of the gods are in no condition to release our dear Calypso. Their minds are host to their Greek and Roman aspects, warring with each other as the camps war each other. Perhaps,” he turned to Calypso, “you will have to wait a bit longer, and for that I am sorry.”
Calypso nodded, a bit in shock. “Time is different here, I imagine it will only feel like another week.” Something clicked in Nico’s mind. He turned to her.
“How long have I been here? If it feels like only two days-”
“My boy, you have been in Ogygia for one week,” said the blacksmith god.
“
Shit
, I have to get to Greece.”
“I would imagine so. It is time I leave you. I don’t want Zeus discovering my absence, even in his, uh, indisposed state. Good luck boy, you’ll need it for what comes next. May the Fates be with you.” With that, Hephaestus began to glow. Nico turned away once more, and then watched as the fiery column glided back out to sea, until it blinked and disappeared, as if chasing the sun.
Calypso pulled Nico into a fierce hug, which surprised him. He stood frozen, so unaccustomed to being touched - he had only just begun to let Jason hug him - that it took her squeezing him once to thaw his initial shock. He hugged her back, and when she pulled away, she was grinning, with watery eyes.
“You are not what I expected, son of Hades. And I am glad. Now go, get. Before you change your mind.”
Buford the side table did a small dance, then hopped onto the raft and folded his legs into a sitting position. Calypso handed Nico a linen bag full of food and jars of water, followed by the Scepter of Diocletian, and then did something even more wildly unexpected. She kissed him on the cheek. He felt his entire face and neck grow hot, but it wasn’t at all because he liked her like that - he was just still getting used to the idea that people actually
cared
about him. But he’d had the help of two gods in a single day, one of whom had been sent by Leo Valdez, resident fiery annoyance and handyman on the
Argo II
. Nico was going to have to talk to him when he got back to civilization, and didn’t know if he was looking forward to it or not.
The sun had already dropped below the horizon, leaving a purple twilight glow in the sky. Nico spared one glance back at the island, the gardens of glowing plants, the thick treeline, the ruins of an old house… And his new friend, as she gave a small wave. He steadied himself on the raft, then kicked off the shore, steering the sail in the direction Buford was pointing with one bronze leg.
“You know,” Nico told the table, “you’re the bravest automaton I’ve ever met.”