Ten Years After the War Against Gaea...
The apartment smelled like sweat and spilled alcohol. Leo laid on a bed - he was unsure of whose it was - next to a pretty red head named April, who had no clothes on and was asleep. Leo Valdez frowned a little and looked around before he remembered that there had been a Frat party just off the campus of Stanford University that he snuck into with Jeremy Longsley, who ditched him ten seconds in when a drunk girl offered to give him a lap dance. Leo's dad, Hephaestus, had obviously pulled strings to get him into that college. It was deserved, too, since he helped save Olympus.
Leo struggled to recall the later events: something about him miserably sitting on the couch when April sat by him. For an hour there was a silent tension before she turned to him and asked if he wanted to go make out.
"Do you have any gum?" he responded with a raised eyebrow. "I don't really enjoy the taste of cheap beer in someone's mouth."
April pulled out a pack of Stride. "Yes, I do. You're miserable and I'm bored. We'd make a good pair for the night."
"Where exactly are we talking about?"
"Scotty's bedroom. He doesn't care. C'mon, let's go before someone else takes our spot!" She then grabbed his hand and raced through the crowd to the stairs, him being towed in her grasp.
Scotty, who had not returned to his bedroom that night, obviously did not care. Leo carefully swung his legs out of the bed and let his bare feet touch the floor. Something was wet. He cringed. So did not want to know what that was. He took his jeans off of the back of a chair and pulled them on, followed by his shirt, belt, and shoes.
At twenty-five, most people would've expected Leo to grow up and stop the one-night-stands with girls five to six years younger than him. That group would include Jason Grace, who was ironically a pilot. On numerous occasions, Jason had told Leo that he needed to find a girl to settle down with. Leo would come back with maybe he would settle down when Jason was home for more than three days in a row. That usually shut him up. Another person in this group was Chiron. He said every time Leo came to Camp Half-Blood for the summer that he needed to find a sweet demigod girl and settle down instead of wasting his life on the one girl he could never get back to.
Calypso. The golden haired beauty who had stolen his heart and kept it in her breast pocket where their hearts would beat together in the same rhythm. It was the same girl he'd fell for ten years ago and it was the one who he would always love.
Then there was the problem with the Swear he made on the River Styx that could possibly keep him in the Fields of Punishment when he dies. He swore ten years ago that he would find Calypso again, something no man has ever achieved in his life. If he didn't... Well, it wouldn't be pretty.
Leo walked around to April's side of the bed and turned her phone on to see the time: 8:56. He dug in his pocket until he found a old receipt. On the back, he wrote, "Had fun last night. Leo." Under that, he wrote his number out, which was something he never did. Kissing her forehead, he walked out of the bedroom and shut the door so no one would see her naked and get any ideas. He barely knew the girl, but she had been kind to him, so he felt the need to return the favor.
Downstairs, a boy was passed out with red Solo cups taped over his eyes. Another girl had a penis drawn on her cheek. A gothic boy who Leo recognized as Jeremy had his whole face colored in Sharpie, while one boy was asleep on the counter with his face in a bowl of salsa. Leo snorted as he walked out of the house. Frat parties.
As he walked to the nearest bus stop, Jason called. Leo dug his phone out of his pocket and answered. "This is Mr. Valdez's receptionist, Fiona," he said in a high pitched voice. "How may I direct your call?"
"Haha, very funny," Jason's voice came through. "How's it going? Any more little kids in your bedroom this week?"
"The fact that you claim that I'm a pedophile offends me."
"So that's a yes," Jason sighed. "Not even going to get into it. I really called to ask when you were coming back to Camp Half-Blood."
Leo thought for a moment about the date - May 17 - and then responded, "I'll be in the thirtieth. Why do you ask?"
"We're all planning on going out to dinner one night when you get back. Everyone. Even Reyna and Nico."
"Nico. Really. Isn't he a little unhelpful when we go out to eat? I always seem to be buying his-"
Leo heard a screech of a monster from far behind him. He pulled the phone from his ear and sprinted with Jason still on the line. As he ran, the sound of wings came closer and closer. Right when he heard the WHOOSH of the Kindly One's wings, he rolled onto the ground. Her bronze talons scraped at air like knives and she soared over him. He scrambled to his feet and pulled out a small bronze cutting knife he used when he helped Annabeth rebuild Camp Half-Blood. She landed and slowly began to walk towards him on bowed legs. He swiped the knife outwards in attempt to hold her off, but a massive wave of force hit him behind his knees.
Leo crumpled onto the ground and let out a grunt, the phone falling out of his reach. The new Fury sunk its teeth into his right shoulder, causing him to let out a scream of pain. He spun the knife around in his hand and jabbed it backwards into the monsters eye. It screeched and wailed before falling back on the ground and thrashing. The other one growled deep in her throat and kicked Leo in the chin.
"That is my sister! Alecto!" she squawked and began clawing on his face. Leo screamed again and tried to block with his right arm, but he found he couldn't pick it up. "I, Tisiphone, will avenge her death!" The bronze claws hit him in the neck and the fell onto his side. He covered his head with his left arm. This was how he would die. Noises from the phone were faint but there.
The ground rumbled. Tisiphone gave an annoyed sigh and grabbed the back of Leo's shirt with her talons. "Don't die, Mortal Scum. Come on, Alecto. It's time to go home."
"H-home?" Leo managed to get out.
"Hush!" Alecto screeched as she stood, pulling the bronze knife out of her eye. She dropped it and covered her eye with her hand. Leo would've gagged if he had the strength. The poison from the Fury was beginning to sink into his system. He began to feel woozy. "Wake up, boy! We're going to meet Megaera. Alecto, if you would lead the way?"
The Fury nodded and soared into the skies. The wind hit Leo's cuts roughly and made his head spin worse. He tried to raise his head to look around, but he found that he couldn't move. Nor could he hold his eyes open... Then, darkness filled his vision.
Leo Valdez woke up on the cold stone floor of a castle. He groaned and stretched his arms. He could move now. That was good. He blinked the fuzziness out from his eyes and looked around. A fire crackled in the fireplace. Two high-back thrones and one kitchen chair sat in the center of the room, where two men sat, both with longish black hair and pale complexion. The young one sat in the lawnchair. The older one turned to him and smirked.
"Well, well; our little guest has awoken," the gods voice said calmly. "Come, son of Hephaestus. Sit."
Leo carefully stood and walked towards Lord Hades' throne. A black chair slid up behind him and knocked him onto his butt. He looked between Hades and Nico di Angelo, who sipped his tea casually. Leo frowned, confused.
"Lord Hades... and Nico. What-Why- What's going on?"
Hades set down he tea cup, which was a hilarious sight but Leo didn't dare laugh. "Leo Valdez, you've been to Ogygia?"
His heart rose up in his throat, suddenly thinking about those good times he had with Calypso. The building of the boat, teaching her that it was now acceptable for women to wear pants, even her kissing him and telling him to leave. He had been suppressing the memories, but slowly, each day for the past year they had been coming back and haunting him. Had Hades sent Morpheus after him to warn him of what was coming? He snapped out of his thought and looked back up at Hades, who looked annoyed with a black eyebrow raised and pursed lips.
"Um, yes, sir."
"Good. I need you to go back."
Leo inhaled so quickly he choked himself. Hades frowned and leaned back as Leo coughed into his hand. Nico shook his head and looked into the fire. When Leo began to cough from embarrassment, Nico smacked him on the back. "Quit that," he hissed.
Redness creeped up his neck as he wiped his hands on his jeans and carefully looked at his shoes as he replied, "Why me?"
"You know the old stories of Calypso - punished because of her fathers actions when he supported the Titan's. My son has brought up a valuable point that Calypso was wrongly done and wishes to have her brought to the mortal world to end her curse."
Leo frowned. "Why would Nico think that?"
"I'm right here-"
"Because he was sent there, of course," Hades sneered. He didn't let Nico finish his sentence. "He told me he loved her but couldn't stay with her. So he has come to me and asked me to lift her curse and bring her back. The only problem is, no one is sure how to get to her island except for you."
Leo paled and turned to Nico. He could throttle him right here and now. Nico wasn't Calypso's type! She didn't like twenty-four year old moody boys that were tall, dark, brooding... Okay, so maybe most women would find Nico attractive. He became nervous at the same time, and his stomach became queasy.
"What do you need me to do?" he asked quietly.
Hades folded his fingers together. "Go home, get your crystal that you stole from her island, and put the Argo II back into commission. I know there was a lot of blood shed on that ship, but it's the only chance you have of getting to her." Hades balled his fist, held it out, and opened it. In his hand was a blue pearl. "This will get you out of the Underworld, but when you find Calypso, send Nico an Iris message and he will meet you at a place of his choosing. Go stand by the doorway, think of a place you want to go to, and then step on it."
"Do I get anything in return?" Leo dared to ask.
"Yes. I don't kill you on the spot."
Leo nodded and remembered that the Argo II was at Camp Half-Blood in Bunker 9. "Thank you, Lord Hades."
"Yeah, yeah, just leave."
Leo walked over to the doorway and set the pearl on the ground. He tipped an imaginary cowboy hat before thinking of Camp Half-Blood and stepping on the pearl. For a moment, nothing happened.
Then suddenly, blue mist swirled around him. He closed his eyes and found himself outside of Thalia's Pine, where a purple dragon was wrapped around it like a snake. The Golden Fleece hung from one of the branches. Campers inside of the gate were laughing and playing as they trained and played volleyball. Percy Jackson was helping a younger camper with sword fighting. The little boy flicked his sword and dropped it. Percy only smiled and handed it to him and told him to try again. Leo walked inside the camp. Percy looked up and smiled some at him, but didn't speak. He continued helping the little boy. He had blond hair and grey eyes, so he was most likely doing a favor for Annabeth Chase.
Jason Grace ran out of the Big House doors and tackled Leo. He winced as grass flakes made themselves at home inside the cuts on his face. "Good to see you too," he groaned.
"I thought you were dead!" Jason scrambled off of him and pulled him to his feet. "You were on the phone and then all I hear is screeches and screams! What the Hades happened to you?!"
Leo hesitated. "Hades got his Kindly Ones to kidnap me. I was taken down to the Underworld and had a nice little chat with him and Nico. Which means that I can't talk right now. I need to finish my job so I can kill the little shi.." He felt the kids' eyes on him. "Schist."
Jason looked very confused, but he nodded. "Okay... Um, if you need anything, call, or something. Where are you going? How did you get here?"
"Hades is a god. Duh. And I'm going to the ship. I'm going to fly it."
Before Jason could reply, Leo walked into the woods in search of Bunker 9. He found it after thirty minutes of searching. They had added onto the woods and messed Leo up tremendously. When he found it, he noticed how bad the dust had collected on it and how bad of shape it was in. He cracked his neck and knuckles before taking on the challenge.
Driving this bad boy wasn't as easy as it was ten years ago.
For one, Leo had forgotten where a lot of his controls had been placed, so when he meant to raise the sail he accidentally turned on the DJ system and blasted Ke$ha to the birds. Finally he found his Wii remote when he was over Manhattan and it was smooth sailing. The only bad part was the silence. Festus had broken in the war against Gaea and Leo had worked on him all through high school, but never accomplished that. The dragon had been badly broken, and, against his own motto, unfixable.
The purple crystal glowed bright when he began to fly over the Atlantic. He carried it on a plank of wood everywhere he went, because it often turned. He was even in the bathroom once... That wasn't very fun.
Leo sailed for three days and two nights before the crystal flipped and landed with its tip pressing on the plank of wood. Leo rubbed his prickly cheeks and pulled a lever back. "Please be right," he whispered. He jerked up on the oars and they came to a halt, leaving the Argo II floating. He hurried to the side and looked over. Underneath him was a small island and white sand beaches. He grinned.
"YES!" he yelled triumphantly. With another wave of his hand, the boat began to lower into the clear waters. It made a slight splash as it hit the water as gently as a flying warship could. Leo forgot about the life raft he had stashed in the stables. He threw off his shoes and put his knife between his teeth. Then, he dove into the water.
He swam onto the islands shore and took the knife out of his mouth. Leo panted for a moment and then stood straight, his clothes heavy with water. "Calypso!" he called.
He began to walk towards the heart of the island when he heard yelling. He ran towards the voice, pushing past trees and letting the branches rip his shirt. He found the source on the opposite side of the island where he had began to build the boat with Calypso all those years ago. There, a blond headed boy had her pinned down on the sand.
"Love me so I can leave!" he yelled. Then he slapped her across her face. She screamed and whimpered.
Leo's blood boiled inside of him. His exhaustion left his body and he gripped his fists, where flames began to lick up his arms. Fueled by anger, he charged. The boy sat up and looked over just in time to be hit in the neck by Leo's shoulder. He began to cough and sputter, squirming, but Leo grabbed his arms. The fire scorched them and the boy screamed in terror and pain. Leo dropped his arms and punched his face repeatedly, blood splattering on his wind breaker that he had found in Jason's old closet. He felt hands tugging on his shoulders.
"Stop it! Stop it, Leo! Let him go!" Calypso cried through tears. Leo stopped hitting him and stood up, but he grabbed the boy by his collar and jerked him up roughly.
"What's your name?" he growled at him. When the boy didn't answer, he caught his hand on fire again and inched it closer to his broken face.
"Andrew!" he whimpered, trying to tug himself away from Leo. "Son of Apollo!"
Leo looked towards the water and saw that a few feet out floated a raft with nothing on it. It was nothing like the one that had been sent for Leo. He stormed out there and shoved Andrew on it. "Think of where you want to go to and leave."
"C-Camp Half-Blood..." Blood dribbled down his chin.
"I'll see you there one day," Leo growled. The raft began to float away. Andrew rested his head down and soon the raft was gone from view.
Leo turned back to Calypso and walked back up to her. She was crying with a bruised face, her head down and her arms pulled up close. When he got to her, he wrapped his arms around her and held her. The gears in his mind began to turn. Was the raft meant for Andrew or for himself? Had she fallen for the abusive boy? How many other heroes had been here? How long had Andrew been here?
As if she read his mind, she wrapped his arms around him. "I saw you and it appeared because I love you. He's only been here for two days. He was mean so I made him sleep outside. What took you so long?"
"Chiron told me to forget about you because my dream of ever finding you again was impossible because he wasn't going to issue me another quest that involved any transportation that would get me to you. He put the crystal I got in the attic and I had to wait until he was in archery training to sneak up there to get it."
"Crystal?" she asked, pulling her head back with a frown. "You mean, like this?" She reached in her white shirt and pulled out a small purple crystal that was bound to a small silver chain.
"Yes, but mine's bigger. See, it connects me to the island. It wanted to come back home. So it lead me back here. It lead me back to you."
Calypso smiled, but studied his face with worry. "Oh, Leo, your face is hurt. Come on, let's go back to the cave and I'll doctor you up."
The two walked hand-in-hand to the cave, where she made him lay back on the bed so she could wash it out with a wet towel. He told her about the engineering classes he had been taking at Stanford, which he then explained was a college, which he explained to be like Adult School. She told him that since he left, the number of heroes dropped dramatically and that she had only been getting them once a month.
"So... That's 112 heroes."
"I know," she snorted. "They've all been jerks. Except for the gothic boy, he seemed interested in what I was doing. I figured you were never coming back, so I asked him to stay. He said that he had a friend who might be interested, and then the raft appeared and he left."
"So... You loved him?"
"I've learned to trick it. I care for his well being and safe travels and a raft appears. It's simple, really. I told the boy that you were here one time. He seemed to know you. His name was... Nathan? No... Nico!"
Leo swallowed hard. "Nico di Angelo?"
"That was him!" She grinned. "Nice guy. A real hero. Not that I'm saying you're not."
"You know his father is Hades, right? Well, he kind of asked Hades to get you off the island so he could marry you..."
Calypso's face drained. "Oh... Leo, I don't want to marry him! Please, just stay with me on the island. We'll grow old together and if, by chance, another hero comes, you can protect me. It's scary here, seeing a strange man walk up and the gods have forced you to love them. But us, Leo... I believe this to be the works of the great Aphrodite herself." She bowed her head. "Thank you, Lady Aphrodite."
"We have to go back to the mortal world, Cal. Hades will come after me and kill me just for spite if I don't play his game by his rules. I'll... I'll talk to Nico. Maybe, by chance, he'll call off the wedding and we can open Leo and Calypso's Garage: Auto Repair and Monster Mechanics."
Calypso blushed and she grinned. "Maybe... I hope he changes his mind."
Leo gave her a slight smile. "Yeah. Me too..."
As Calypso boarded the Argo II the next day, she carried nothing except an extra pair of clothes and a basket of fruit. Leo Valdez carried extra planks of wood and supplies onto the warship. Calypso carefully walked around, letting her fingers brush the splintering sides and looking out onto the view. She looked hurt behind her eyes. She made her way over to the makeshift walk-up-plank, stepping off of the ship and walking into the trees.
"Where are you going?" Leo called, wiping his forehead on the back of his sleeve.
"To get one more thing!" She ran off. Leo shook his head with a chuckle and then continued loading supplies. Calypso came back a few minutes later with flowers in her hands. She climbed aboard the boat and sat down in the lawn chair Leo had brought with him from Camp Half-Blood. As he carried stuff, she began to make flower crowns.
Soon, the ship was loaded up and Leo pulled his Wii remote out of his tool belt. Calypso set a flower crown on her head as he began to steer out into the horizon. When the water changed from fresh water to sea water, Calypso's gem necklace wouldn't pass the line. It jerked her out of the lawn chair as the boat kept pressing forward. She choked and sputtered, clawing at her neck. Leo cursed in Latin and jerked the remote straight up, making the oars come to a halt. She was at the back end of the boat, her head and neck hanging over the edge, but her body on board by her quick thinking. The necklace was reached outwards, pulling towards the fresh water.
Leo ran towards her. Calypso hung over, trying her best not to hyperventilate. He carefully reached up and unhooked the necklace, which had began to cut into her skin. When it unlatched, it slipped from his fingers and fell into the fresh water. From the plank of wood Leo had put the larger crystal, it began to rattle. The purple rock shot past their heads and followed its mate into the water, disappearing from view.
Calypso let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Leo." She wrapped her arms around him, stepping across the invisible line that separated her from the mortal world. Then, there was silence. No thunder clashing. No random hurricane. Just silence. The waves licked the sides of the boat lazily. Leo smiled at her and kissed her head.
"Welcome to the twenty-first century, Calypso."
They met Nico di Angelo near the Capital Building in Washington D.C. He stood out in the crowd of businessmen and tourists as he sat on a park bench in a leather jacket and chains hooked on his skinny jeans. His shoulder length black hair reminded Leo of Severus Snape. His old olive complexion was replaced by a bleak and gray one. Obviously, Nico has spent a lot of time in the Underworld.
Calypso was taking in all of the scenery. She explored some of the shops, careful not to touch very much. She fell in love with McDonald's fries. Leo chuckled as she walked around in her ancient dress. People stared at her in confusion. One little girl asked her if she was a princess. She had giggled and said, "No, little girl! I'm a nymph!" Then, she skipped off. Leo had to chase after her.
When Calypso spotted Nico, she got really nervous and slowly approached him with Leo at her side. Nico stood and nodded his head at the two of them. Leo raised his chin, as if ready for war right here.
"Leo, I see you have completed my father's quest," Nico said, looking between him and the girl. "It's good to see you again, Calypso."
"I will not marry you, Nico di Angelo," she said defiantly.
"I see you have already briefed her. Here comes the hard part - I don't want to marry you either. I'm gay, thank you very much, and I need help telling my father. So when I was sent to Ogygia, I remembered Leo talking about falling for Calypso, so I figured I could help him out and blame you for making me gay. So, I'll take you both to the Underworld, you kiss me and hug me and be all happy and flirty and I'll be weirded out and then blurt that I'm gay and you two can run off into the sunset."
Leo gawked. "You? Scrawny scary son of Hades? Gay?"
Nico gave out an aggravated sigh. "Yes, Leo; I'm gay. As in back before Percy and Annabeth tied the knot, I thought Percy had a nice ass. He still does, but I can't touch without being killed by his wife, so I moved onto something a little better than water." There was a distance dreamy look in his eyes for a moment before he snapped out of it and looked back at Nico with his stone cold look of hatred and annoyance. Every time Leo saw him, he looked more and more like Hades. "So, do we have a deal?"
Leo looked over at Calypso, who seemed a little hesitant, but nodded slightly. Leo turned towards Nico and gave a nod of the head. "Fine. We'll play along with your little game as long as you help us out."
"That wasn't the death, Fire Face-"
"Well if you want us to play along with your idiotic little scheme, you're going to have to make a promise that you'll get us out of the Underworld safely. No ifs, ands, or buts. If not, then we're out."
Nico rolled his eyes and scoffed, but by the way he shifted, he seemed slightly unnerved. "I can just lie to my dad and say you won't give her to me. He'll get you back."
"So you would have me killed? After I saved your life on the quest? Gee, Nico, thanks."
He shifted his weight. "Fine. You two can leave safely. Just don't eat the fruit in Persephone's garden. The pomegranate seeds work wonders if you know what your doing. If you don't... Sucks to be you."
Leo Valdez smiled and slipped his hand into Calypso's. "Well then, lead the way, Death Breath."
Leo really began to hate Hades' castle. It smelled like mold and was covered in dust. Hades and Persephone must not have any allergies. Calypso, however, sneezed quietly into her arm, making her nose red. As he gave it a look around, the skulls unnerved him and the bowl of chicken's blood made him think twice about helping Nico out. The son of death looked unfazed, as if it was all normal. Leo wondered if he and his father took trips to Hot Topic very often.
They came into a room with two thrones and a dining room chair across from the Throne of Bones. A small table sat between them with a chess board on it. Leo could see it now. Hades and Nico would be discussing sales at Hot Topic while they played chess. Next to Hades, Persephone would be flipping through a Better Homes and Gardens magazine while rolling her eyes to see how expensive Miracle-Gro was these days. The other throne, obviously the queens, was made of black flowers and vines. The King and Queen sat in both, talking about expanding.
Persephone flipped her black hair over her shoulder. "Hades, we can't expand anymore. The only place the Underworld isn't beneath is Australia, and they have man-eating gnats. No."
"Then we'll just move the Fields of Punishment under there and put barriers up so the gnats can't get my queen." He gently caressed her face with the back of his hand, causing her to blush.
"Oh, alright. But if they get in my garden, you're going out there yourself and helping me replant everything."
Hades groaned. "Even the apple trees? The last time was terrible."
"Especially the apple trees. We'll have to buy all new Miracle-Gro, and oh my Zeus, it's so expensive these days!"
"I know I'm the god of riches, but all this soil is making me broke."
Nico di Angelo cleared his throat. The two gods turned. Hades raised an amused eyebrow. Persephone frowned. "Um, Father. The son of Hephaestus has returned with Calypso." As on cue, she stepped forward and took Nico's hand, grinning war to ear. Both gods looked stunned.
"Well, then, come in..." Hades said, dumbfounded.
Nico walked forward, hand in hand with Calypso. Leo followed behind them, watching him carefully. If he tried one thing, he was going to kill him. Nico motioned for Calypso to sit in the chair across the table, but instead she grinned and wrapped her arms around him and squeezed as tightly as she could. Nico's arms were planted firmly at his side. She squealed and began jumping.
"Oh Nico I love you!" she said loudly and shrilly. "Thank you thank you thank you! I just love you so much!"
Calypso leaned in to peck his cheek when Nico screamed, "FATHER I'M GAY."
"I knew it!" Persephone whispered with a grin.
Hades tilted his head in confusion. Nico pulled himself from Calypso's grasp and fell at his feet.
"Please don't kill us, Father, please please please..."
"Okay." Hades shrugged. Nico looked up, confused. He sat back on his calves.
"Okay?" he said in a higher octave. "That's it? No yelling? Nothing? I went to all this trouble... For a fugging OKAY."
"Don't push your luck," Hades warned.
"Sorry. But really? Why such a little reaction?"
"We don't believe in the Bible."
Nico sat there stunned. Then he stood and looked between them. "Well okay. I'm dating Apollo." He picked up a chess piece and moved it. "Check. Mate. Come on guys." He walked out.
Leo and Calypso bowed their heads and left with Nico. Hades slid Persephone a handful of drachmas. "You win this round."
On May 30, Leo Valdez and Calypso met the other demigods out for dinner. Percy and Annabeth sat next to Piper and Jason, who had taken off for a week to be here. Hazel, who was still twenty-three like Nico, and Frank, who worked at the animal shelter part time when he wasn't at school, sat by Nico, who seemed awful cheery today. Leo and Calypso came in late, hand in hand. Percy choked on bread and Jason gawked.
"Have you found a permanent girl?" he gasped.
"Calvin Klein, nice to see you again," Calypso smiled at Percy.
"It's, um, Percy. Percy Jackson. Nice to see you too, Calypso." He paled. "How did you get off Og... your island?"
"You two know each other?" Annabeth frowned, looking between her husband and the nymph.
"Um, remember when we were in the Labyrinth and we had to fight the seal monsters? Telekhines I think? Either way, when I was blasted out, I landed on her island and... We met." He turned to Calypso, his face burning red. "Calypso, this is my wife, Annabeth!"
Calypso leaned down and hugged Annabeth, who looked infuriated/jealous/confused at the same time. "Pleasure to meet you. I'm glad that you are his Penelope."
"His... Huh?"
"Let's take a seat," Leo spoke up.
They sat down next to Nico, who looked mighty pleased with themselves. They talked and ate, having one of the better times between them. Reyna came in late, her chocolate hair down and looking like a beautiful woman instead of leader of an army. There was no man on her arm.
"I thought you were bringing a date," Hazel said as the waiter brought Reyna a water. The praetor smirked some.
"I don't need a man, Hazel. They get in the way of my plans."
They talked for another hour, ordering desserts and spending more money than they should. Calypso, who has never had ice cream, was amazed. Jason and Percy agreed on a duel when they got back to Camp Half-Blood. Calypso braided her hair to the side as her and Annabeth talked architecture. When the waiter came with the check, Nico said that he was with Leo. He frowned.
"Why am I still buying your food?" he asked.
"I did you a favor-"
"And I helped you as well!"
"But Dad didn't seem to care, so you'll just be buying my food until the end of time." Nico smirked.
Leo glared at him before shaking his head and sipping his drink. "Just don't go visiting the Lotus Casino anytime soon."