Chapter 11: Nico
I was dreaming of death and devastation. Monsters led by a giant were running amok in Camp Half-Blood, destroying every obstacle in their path. Greeks died. Romans died. Monsters died. The chaos was absolute.
Athens wasn't much better.
BOOM went Hazel and Piper's cannons as they blasted the way free into the Panathenaic stadium.
"Ugh, demigods again!" Otis snarled. "We have to prepare for the arrival of Gaia. Go away or offer yourselves as blood sacrifices!"
"Okay, Mr. Bad Hair Day! Here I come!" I heard a well-known voice from above.
It was Leo, flying an old army helicopter. I could see him faintly through the tinted glass. He looked right at home, totally in his element, steering the machine like he was born to do so, dropping little bombs on the giants below him. He even wore an old-fashioned pilot helmet and a pair of tattered goggles!
Even though the bombs didn't do much damage, they at least distracted the giants enough for the others to enter the stadium without any trouble.
I saw Hazel hiding behind a half-smashed statue, a look of intense concentration on her face. Is she summoning gold or something? What for? Jason and Frank attacked Ephialtes; Percy and Piper went for Otis. And Annabeth…oh, right. There was another helicopter circling above the stadium now. She was probably inside that one.
"Hey, Otis, don't you think it's a good idea to take a nap?" Piper tried to charmspeak the giant.
"I am sooo tired," Percy said loudly. "I think the shade over there looks perfect for a nice, long afternoon nap."
Otis did look tired, the lines of his face drooping momentarily, but then he shook his head.
"No! I have to prepare for Gaia's arrival tomorrow. Our brothers will come as well. We have to impress them. And you are in the way, demigods."
He charged and threw his net alarmingly close to Leo's helicopter. I thought that Annabeth would use this moment to attack the giant from the side, but instead she aimed at the paper garlands to his left.
"I needed those!" Otis hollered as they burned, stomping his foot like a little kid.
Percy and Piper crouched down behind a cage, whispering. I couldn't tell if they had thought of some kind of elaborate plan—it was confusing to watch.
In the meantime, Jason and Frank were vigorously attacking Ephialtes. Frank was an archery prodigy, and together with Jason's sword skills, they were able to inflict several wounds, out of which ichor streamed to fall hissing to the ground.
Hazel still hid behind the statue, but now I could see that she was focusing on the ground...summoning charcoal? No, brown coal, I realized. And quite a lot of it, too. When the pile of coal had surpassed Hazel in height, she came out from her hiding place and flashed Jason and Frank a thumbs-up. This seemed to motivate them, and they resumed their assault with renewed strength. Leo was dropping grenades at the giant's feet that went badaboom! Together they drove Ephialtes towards Hazel's pile of coal like they wanted to burn him on it. Their intention was so obvious, however, that Ephialtes dodged their attacks and moved away from the pile and towards Hazel.
Hazel saw that she was in danger and tried to run away from the giant, but—was he serious? Someone stop this monster! ARGH! I hated not being able to help her. Because damn, Ephialtes was a truly formidable fighter. He somehow managed to hold Jason and Frank at bay and lunged at Hazel. My heart nearly stopped—or did it?—but at the last possible second Leo managed to nosedive his helicopter and hit the giant right in the side.
I was so relieved that Hazel was safe that it took me a moment to notice that Leo was stuck in the half-crushed flying machine. Ephialtes had landed right on the coal pile, yes, but also half on top of the rotor blades.
"Do it now!" Leo screamed from inside the cabin.
"No way!" Jason shouted. "Get out of—"
But Leo couldn't move. The giant tried to rise again, still slightly groggy from the impact it seemed, and was putting more and more weight on the helicopter. Leo howled in pain.
"I'm immune to fire. Do it now!" he repeated in a pained voice and through the cracked glass looked at Frank. "Or it will all have been in vain."
Frank did not react at first, but I could sense his emotions fighting inside him. Then, with a loud scream—no, a roar, really—the new praetor turned into a giant dragon, startling even Otis at the other end of the stadium. His belly glowed dark red as he inhaled and then, in one fluid motion, he shot a huge flash of flame towards Ephialtes.
The air shimmered with heat, and even though I knew I was dreaming, I felt like I was burning up as the flames engulfed the giant on the coals...and the helicopter, with Leo still inside.
I could see movement within the huge ball of fire, but then nothing else. Smoke hung thick in the air as the flames subsided. Ephialtes was gone. I felt grim satisfaction.
"Jason." Frank, in human form again, prompted the Roman.
Jason nodded solemnly and waved his hand through the air. Wind rushed through the stadium and took with it soot and dust from where the giant had been standing. There was not a single strand of purple hair left. Good news, really, but—
"Leo!" Hazel exclaimed as she ran towards the wreck of the helicopter.
"Don't touch it!" Jason stopped her. "It's still too hot. The metal is still glowing—"
"NOOOOO! You demigods have gone too far!" Otis roared as he saw that his twin was gone.
Blind with rage, he threw statues at whatever was moving, but especially set on destroying Frank and Jason. The brute force of his attack was too much for Piper and Percy, who were both thrown towards the far side of the stadium. Annabeth was trying to attack him out of the air with bombs and other explosives, but she only fuelled his anger. Frank and Jason were both holding their ground. Still, they barely managed to defend themselves.
All of a sudden, I heard a screeching noise like metal bending. Hazel! She had taken one of the crushed rotor blades of the helicopter and was prying open the deformed passenger door. It was a wonder that the helicopter had not melted down completely, and I was scared to see what she would find. I mean, Leo was a son of Hephaestus, yes, but this had been dragon fire fuelled by Grecian coal. But then, I could not believe that he would have just burnt to ash, either. And I had not consciously felt his soul leaving for the Underworld, so—
"Leo!" she gasped as she yanked the door out of its hinges.
Holy Hades, I swore as I saw the black bundle Hazel was lifting out of the charred helicopter wreck. Leo looked like a ball of black, bleeding flesh. From what I could see, he had tried to minimize the surface of skin exposed to the heat: He had stuck his head down the neckline of his shirt and pressed his hands in his armpits. He had drawn his knees up, covering his stomach and curled into the fetal position. I could not tear my eyes from his legs… It was gruesome. The flesh on his lower legs was burnt. There wasn't much skin left; I could even see the sick yellow-white of his bones in some places.
I swallowed thickly. I had seen ghosts who had been burnt alive at the stake as witches or devil worshippers. And Leo reminded me of them. The fire had eaten away the hair on his head where the fabric of his shirt hadn't managed to completely cover it. Along with that, the flesh of his neck was burnt severely, though not as much as his lower legs. But one thing I knew, despite all this: Leo Valdez's heart was still beating. Which was a miracle, really, but somehow he had pulled through. At least for now.
"We need help, someone, please!" Hazel shouted at no one in particular.
Jason and Frank were still going against Otis and couldn't react. Annabeth who had at some time got off of her helicopter was helping Percy up at the other end of the stadium and didn't hear her either. But Piper did. I admit that I had had some prejudices against her—Aphrodite girl and all that—but she had turned out to be a valuable fighter. Her gaze fell on Hazel's distraught face and the burnt figure at her feet. She ran towards them, murmured something I could not quite make out, but I could sense the magic in her words. She was repeating it over and over again, but nothing seemed to happen. To be honest, I expected Piper to flinch at the smell of burnt human flesh, to at least grimace at the sight of the bare bones in his legs. But she did neither.
Percy and Annabeth now both joined Jason and Frank on the ground and together they intensified their attack. They managed to drive Otis in the far corner of the stadium, widening the space between the giant and Leo, Piper, and Hazel.
"Leo, hold on," Hazel whispered, still cradling him to her body.
She did not lay him down, and I agreed with her reasoning: the open wounds had to be treated and the sandy ground would do him no good.
Suddenly, the sky got darker. Out of nowhere, I saw the Argo II come flying faster than I had ever seen the ship fly before. How did it even work, mechanically speaking? It went straight for the stadium and towards Hazel.
The others had also seen the ship's arrival. Their expressions soon turned from confusion and hope to dim disappointment, though, as it did not launch a full-out automatic attack on the giant, but instead dropped its anchor and went down.
The giant, on the other hand, was happy to see the ship.
"A ship in a stadium! That's a great idea if I've ever seen one. Now if you, son of Jupiter, were sacrificed, say, bound to the crow's nest, we would bring Earth, Sea and Sky together. Yes, yes, a nice touch for Gaia's victory!" Otis enthused.
Fortunately for Percy and the others, Otis was not good at concentrating on two things at once. That's why Annabeth managed to land a well-placed blow on the giant's leg.
"UGH!" Otis cried out.
Ichor was running down his snakes-for-feet, dripping into the sandy ground. It was not pretty. Swoosh. Frank's sword forced the giant to retreat several steps, putting the ship between my point of view so that I could no longer follow their progress.
At the same time, Piper pointed her finger at Hazel and Leo.
"Wait here," she told Hazel before sprinting on board the Argo II, clutching her dagger tight in her fist.
Not like Hazel had much of a choice. Leo might not look like much, but I had noticed that he was quite muscular, and thus heavier, than he appeared to be at first glance.
"Hey, Leo," Hazel said in a quivering voice. "The ship's here. We'll… we'll patch you up in no time."
Leo was still unconscious, though, and did not reply.
Piper reemerged, carrying a stretcher and a long pink sheet, presumably from her own bed.
"Put him on this," she instructed Hazel after having draped the sheet over the stretcher.
Hazel slowly lowered Leo down, but she didn't dare loosen the cramped position he was in.
"Hazel, please prepare a bucket of water and as many soft towels as you can find, as well as the first-aid-kit. Then come back," Piper ordered my sister.
She was surprisingly calm, and Hazel complied.
As soon as Hazel was out of sight, Piper got to work. She gently lowered the neckline of Leo's shirt and pulled his head free. I expected the worst: a face burnt beyond recognition. But instead Leo's face looked...absolutely normal. Either there had been some serious magic involved or he had been incredibly lucky. As Piper slowly lowered his head on the stretcher, I could see that not only his face seemed to be unaffected, but also the collarbone area. His arms from below the elbows, however, had suffered at least second-degree burns. The fine hairs on his arms were completely charred, and the skin was covered in blisters. Nothing compared to his legs, of course, but still, he would need some strong healing lotions to ease the pain coming from his arms. His hands that Piper had pulled from Leo's armpits looked fine again. It was strange. Why had some parts of his body not been affected at all while others had been burnt to the bone? His clothes had always looked normal, but, no, they couldn't have been after all. Industrial-strength inflammable fabrics maybe. Though really there must have been magic involved at some point. Magic from Hecate, or another sorceress.
"Hazel, help me carry him," Piper yelled after laying Leo down on the stretcher, the pink sheet now covering him from head to toe.
Hazel rushed down and together the carefully carried Leo on board. They still swayed a lot, but through it all, Leo remained unconscious.
They lowered him on deck where Hazel had placed a first-aid-kit, a bucket of water and several other things. Even Coach Hedge's baseball bat to…knock him out?
"Disinfection first," Piper murmured as she rummaged through the first-aid-kit. And then: "Hazel, can you get us some nectar and ambrosia? Take some of Jason's stash; he had a lot left last time I checked. It's in his bedside drawer."
As she went to fetch it, Piper took the large disinfectant bottle and sprayed it on what had remained of Leo's legs, then on his arms and finally on his neck. She also checked the skin beneath the hem of his trousers and shirt, but seemed to see nothing that concerned her.
"Feed him half a vial now. We'll see how it goes and give him the rest in smaller doses later," she instructed after Hazel returned.
"Do you think he'll survive?"
"I hope so. It's a little hard to tell, because we don't really know how much blood he has lost already. I think that the burns on his neck and his arms will heal eventually, as long as we can prevent an infection. I mean, ambrosia is practically magic in solid form, and those wounds aren't life-threatening as such. But I don't think there's anything we can do for his legs."
Hazel stared at her. "You want to amputate them?"
"It's not like I want to. But what's the alternative?" Piper said defensively. "Most of the muscles are gone! There's no way they'll grow back and he might die from blood poisoning or something. We'd just be doing him a favor if we cut the nerves and get it over with. Feed him a couple of drops again."
"You really think ambrosia and nectar won't be enough…but how do you know? I mean, you said they were 'magical'…" Hazel asked as she carefully tilted the vial.
Piper just looked at her and sighed. "I don't really know for sure, but I've had dreams. Bad dreams. Gaia takes great pleasure in showing me exactly how my friends from Camp Half-Blood die. I mean, the Apollo kids are great with their healing magic, but even they could do nothing when Travis, a son of Hermes, burnt his right arm. You know, he tried to rescue a daughter of Iris from the Big House, but he was too late… Anyway, Gaia made me watch how they took it off right from under the shoulder."
"That's horrible!"
Piper nodded. "Yes, but it was the only chance to prevent him from dying a gruesome death. She made me watch others dying as their limbs were eaten by infections, as they suffered from blood poisoning. What's a limb if you survive?"
"This is Leo we're talking about!"
Hazel was upset; I got that. She was totally out of her element, and apparently she cared for Leo a great deal. But Piper was right.
"Honestly, Hazel. If there's anyone who could invent fully functional metal legs, it's him. No, I've made up my mind. We have to get rid of the legs. But even that's not without risk, and I need your help. Infection is one thing, but there's also the blood loss. You don't happen to know any healing magic, do you?"
Hazel shook her head dejectedly. Next to the steering wheel several feet away, however, I saw something glowing at the mentioning of magic. It must be Leo's Archimedes Sphere.
"I'll get whatever we can use as tools. Can you look for more towels? But first spray the ones we have with the disinfection spray, okay?" Piper asked.
Hazel just nodded and went to work like she had accepted Piper's choice.
"We can do this," Piper tried to reassure her and gently squeezed her shoulder before vanishing behind a door.
Both were ignorant of the Archimedes Sphere. And while I was no expert in magic or any of Leo's machines in general, I knew that there was a reason for its glow. They had to see it!
Hazel! Sister! I yelled in my dream. But of course she didn't hear me. I was just a spark of consciousness floating above her.
Still, I tried again. Hazel! Look towards the steering wheel!
If I had been healthy, it would be so easy to force myself to wake up and shadow travel right there! It was infuriating. It was not fair!
"I need your spatha," Piper said as she came back with yet more supplies in her hands.
Their purpose could not have been more obvious: scissors, nylon threats, ethanol, more bed sheets.
"My spatha? Oh, yes, right," Hazel said. "Let me disinfect it first."
All the while the Archimedes Sphere was still glowing faintly. But neither of them noticed! How could they not?
The sphere, the sphere, THE SPHERE! I yelled unheard.
"I'll bind his knees first. Maybe we have a chance of saving the first inch after the knee cap," Piper stated.
"I don't know if I can do it. I just—"
I desperately wanted to help them, but I just couldn't. Then suddenly out of nowhere the scene shifted, and I felt pain. So much pain. You'd think I'd have gotten used to it by now, but no. It doesn't work that way. This time, it felt like a thousand hot needles were piercing my flesh time and time again, like I was a giant voodoo doll in the hands of an unknown puppet master.
My eyes shot open, and I found myself in my room in my father's palace.
"So you've broken my mistress' hibernation spell." I heard the voice of one of my stepmother's handmaidens. "She gave me instructions on what to do in this situation. Please drink this."
My whole body was still aching, but the sensation of burning needles slowly faded. For a moment I felt wary about the fact that I was consuming something Persephone wanted me to drink, but then again, she had been helpful since my arrival. As I drank the jug of water, my mind seemed to clear. How long had it been since I arrived here from Block Island? Two days? Three? Had Reyna arrived safely at Camp Half-Blood?
"Now eat these seeds," the handmaiden ordered me. "My mistress grew the sunflowers specifically for you. They should bring some of your strength back."
I obliged, of course. I felt not the least bit hungry, but I knew that it was foolish to ignore a gift of an immortal, especially if it was your stepmother. The sunflower seeds tasted surprisingly pleasant, like summer and sunshine. And they did make me feel better. Not like I could get up or anything, but better.
"Now you're supposed to rest a couple more hours. Then my mistress will visit and tell you about your private audience. I'll help you fall asleep."
"No, thank you," I said, but she ignored me. Of course.
The handmaiden smiled and waved her hand through the air in a complicated motion. Immediately, my eyes fell shut and I started dreaming again.
It's not like you can control your dreams when you're a demigod. That's why I was part relieved, part anxious when I found myself back on the Argo II. Leo was still lying unconscious on the stretcher. Piper and Hazel, I was thankful to see, were examining the Archimedes Sphere.
"Do what you did with Festus!" Hazel encouraged Piper. "The crystal, it's no ordinary gemstone. It's some kind of quartz variety, but there's magic laced within, I can sense it. Please, Piper, try again," she pleaded.
"Fine, I'll give it another go. But just in case it doesn't work, please disinfect his wounds again. And if you feel confident, smear the white paste from the first-aid-kit on his arms and then bandage them, okay?"
Hazel nodded, and Piper turned back to the Sphere. She jutted her jaw forwards in concentration and laid her hands on the side of the metal globe.
"You want to help Leo, I can feel it. Reveal your secret. Give us whatever will help him. Please," Piper pleaded.
Whatever she had tried, it didn't seem to work. The Sphere still glowed softly, but it had not been properly activated. She had to try harder.
"We need you. Leo needs you. Come on, there's so much he wanted to do with you. He took great care of you. He always tried to fix you. Repay him now."
I held my breath as the Sphere glowed brighter. Just a little more, Piper. You can do it!
"He's hurt. Help him. Like he helped you! You're so important to him. I think he loves you. Save him, I know—"
Suddenly the scene was drowned in a dazzling white light that blinded not only me, but also Piper and even Otis and the others; I could tell by the lack of fighting noise that came from the other side of the ship.
Through the white light I could make out a figure rising from a crouch right next to the Sphere. A humanoid monster? It was hard to tell. As the light got slightly less bright, I could make out more details. It was a young woman in blue jeans and a plain beige shirt with long hair tied up in a bun at the top of her head. No weapons as far as I could see. She went straight towards Leo. I didn't know for sure that she meant no evil, but…I didn't think it likely just judging from her appearance. She looked concerned and apprehensive, but also determined.
"Who are you? What are you doing?" Hazel asked the newcomer.
The woman, however, ignored her and knelt down next to Leo. Then she started to sing in a language so ancient that I did not understand a single word. The effect, however, was immediate. The giant howled in pain; I imagined him putting his hands over his ears, while Piper and Hazel and most likely the other demigods collapsed on the ground. The woman was emitting a white mist that wrapped itself around Leo like a blanket. Some misty strands also touched the others.
There was some serious magic going on as the woman—a sorceress, obviously—continued to chant. Drops of sweats were starting to form on her forehead. Her dark eyes were shut tight in concentration.
Suddenly, Piper gasped audibly as a white strand wound around the bandage of her arm. In the distance, Otis was still rolling on the ground howling in pain, but I also heard Jason or maybe Percy take a loud shuddering breath. All of a sudden, Leo began to moan loudly. I was unsure whether to feel relieved that he was nearing consciousness or to feel pity for him; those wounds must hurt like the water of the Phlegethon.
"Hold on, Leo," the sorceress was muttering through clenched teeth. The white mist was swirling around him faster and faster.
Until it abruptly stopped.
"Leo!" Hazel called out. She still looked slightly dizzy, but she sprinted to him quickly and knelt beside him.
Leo was still groaning in pain, but—okay, I had apparently just witnessed a miracle. Leo's legs, which had been a mess of burnt flesh and sinews, looked almost whole now! Scarred, yes, but there were muscles where muscles were supposed to be and even the small hairs on his shin had grown back. I could honestly say that I had never seen anything like it.
"I smell Titan blood!" Otis roared suddenly. Stamp, stamp, stamp.
"Oh, no," the sorceress sighed, but jumped down from the deck of the ship. In my dream, I followed behind. She smelled of cinnamon and soil. And she had several birthmarks on her neck. The sort of odd things you notice in dream visions.
"Otis, I suppose. You're one of Gaia's little minions?" she asked casually, though she was still breathing heavily, supposedly from the exertion of the magical healing.
"I am not little!" Otis bellowed. "I am a Gigantes, born to destroy the gods and all who side with them. What are you doing here, daughter of Atlas? We do not need Titans for our great victory!"
"Calypso!" Percy blurted out in his very own mixture of incredulousness and giddy excitement.
But that did explain a lot. The sorceress from Ogygia. Apparently, Percy had not been the only one of the seven that had paid her a visit.
"I am Calypso, daughter of Atlas and Tethys, a greater sorceress than Circe herself. And I chose to oppose you and your mother. I side with the gods, and I will help these demigods," she stated formally.
"She is your father's mother, but still you go against her. A traitor is what you are! I will crush you and spill your blood as well!" Otis shouted angrily.
"No! We'll destroy you together!" Percy jumped in.
How very unsurprising.
And then they started their attack.
Percy and Jason were leading the assault, but they were not the ones that caused the most damage. Annabeth went for the giant's knees and thighs with her Underworld sword, and Piper's dagger Katropis aimed for his arteries. It was strange how little you learnt about human physiology at Camp Half-Blood's sword training sessions, but now I saw that Piper must obviously have had some kind of education in this field. It was incredibly effective. Hazel and Frank were also working brilliantly as a team. Frank turned into some kind of bigger flying animal at random intervals and carried Hazel into the air. When the others distracted the giant, he let her drop onto the giant's back. Hazel went straight for the head, and several wounds on his neck were bleeding profusely. Calypso was the most fascinating to watch, probably because I had never seen a sorceress in combat. She was carrying a small knife that I had not seen before but didn't really use it; instead, she muttered charms and curses and hurled white balls of lightning at the giant, crying, "For the Olympians!"
"You nasty demigods! It's time to destroy you once and for all. Gaia will triumph!" Otis howled, but it was obvious that he was fighting a losing battle.
They might have continued for a minute or an hour, I didn't know. Piper, who rammed Katropis through the giant's heart, dealt the final blow. And then, whoosh: the giant turned to yellow dust.
"We made it!" Percy cheered loudly, but Jason stopped him with a motion of his hand.
"Let's scatter the dust first. Hazel?"
My sister nodded and I felt kind of proud when she promptly opened up a rift in the soil next to her feet. Jason manipulated the winds and forced some of the dust down the rift, which Hazel then closed with a decisive snap of her fingers. The other dust particles were then consumed by a mini tornado that Jason sent down the hill and throughout Athens to get rid of the rest of the giant's essence.
They had really done it.
"Two giants down, an unknown number of more giants to come," Annabeth grinned wearily.
She looked tired. Well, they all did. Together, they went back on top of the Argo II, and my dream-self trotted behind.
"I need some food first," Percy said as he went on deck.
"Well that's a surprise," Annabeth replied half-mockingly.
"Let's go to the meeting room and discuss our next steps," Jason suggested. "Do you think we can move Leo to the stretcher, Lady Calypso?"
She smiled an enigmatic smile, which left Jason dazzled. Come on.
"Just Calypso is fine. And yes, I think we can move him," she said, and Annabeth and Percy went to carry him to the meeting room.
"I have seen you in the mist, Jason Grace, and your companion Piper. And Percy and Annabeth Chase. And also a young man named Nico, but he is not here, is he?"
Me?
"He's my brother, but he got lost. I'm Hazel Levesque," Hazel said inclining her head slightly.
She looked a little sad, but not hopeless. I assumed she knew I was temporarily stuck in the Underworld, but alive. We'd see each other again.
"Nice to meet you, Hazel. I feel strong magic flowing through your veins. And you, shapeshifter?"
"My name is Frank Zhang, son of Mars," he said.
Calypso nodded knowingly, and they all went inside the meeting room and sat down. Annabeth distributed soda and sandwiches.
"A son of Mars, a daughter of Pluto, a child of Aphrodite and one of Jupiter himself. A son of Poseidon and a daughter of Athena. Clearly, the times have changed," Calypso said. "And a son of Hephaestus," she smiled.
At that, Leo on his stretcher front of the table started to move. Calypso was with him right away and started chanting again.
"More nectar," she told Piper, who already had a vial in her hand, which she gave to the sorceress.
As the third drop hit Leo's tongue, his eyes shot open.
"It's all right, it's okay," Calypso murmured. Leo smiled.
"So I died then. Are you an angel, Calypso?" he asked, his voice hoarse and feeble.
It would have been an embarrassing display of emotion if not for the fact that he had indeed very nearly died.
"No, Leo, I'm right here. You survived. It's okay," she said.
"But you were on Ogygia, how—"
"I charmspoke the Archimedes Sphere. And I think my mum helped me. The words just came out, and suddenly the crystal was glowing brightly," Piper explained.
"Piper! And Jason, Hazel... Wow, guys, we're all alive!" Leo laughed disbelievingly.
"Yes, and thanks to Calypso's magic, totally healthy. You might have a couple of scars more, but she saved your legs, you know," Hazel said.
"You did?" Leo asked Calypso and as she wordlessly nodded he added, "I think you deserve a thank you-kiss."
He smirked at her with a mix of cheekiness and uncertainty that was so very Leo. Calypso smiled and then leaned down to kiss him directly. On. The. Lips. Coach Hedge, bless his soul, would have surely screamed murder. But Leo turned bright red, and that was almost adorable.
Hazel gasped and Frank turned around completely. Jason, however, cat-called and laughed. "I'm really happy for you guys, but keep it away from the innocent eyes."
"That rhymed!" Percy commented, also smiling annoyingly brightly.
There were a couple more congratulations, but Leo's face fell quickly after Calypso helped him up and sat him down next to her.
"It's great that you're all alive and well, and it's fantastic that you're here," Leo addressed Calypso, "but I had some bad dreams. Very bad dreams. What time is it now? When is the Feast of Spes, exactly?"
"Tomorrow. The festivities traditionally start at sunset. And it's seven pm now," Annabeth answered.
"I dreamt of the giants. Gaia talked to me. She told me that three of her sons would arrive in Athens tomorrow at sunrise."
"Three, wow, that's not good news. Has she said who, exactly?" Annabeth asked.
Leo swallowed and averted his gaze. "The first one will be Polybotes, bane of Poseidon. She showed me how he took shortcut after shortcut just to get here faster. He is focused on you, Percy."
"You don't say," Percy muttered.
"But that's not all," Leo continued, unfazed. "The other two are Alcyoneus and Porphyrion. Alcyoneus is a little slower, but they're bringing loads of minor monsters with them. In other words, we're expecting an army and the banes of the Big Three."
