Chapter One- Leo
It's said to be a demigod's fate to die young. If anything proved that to be true, it was Camp Half-Blood's population one year after the Giant War.
Even with the promise the gods made to claim their children, there was a stunning lack of campers compared to the past years. Some campers had moved away to Camp Jupiter to help with construction there. Some campers had disappeared in the midst of war, running away to attempt life their own way. Many more had died in the battles. One casualty was, of course, the hero of the Great Prophecy, the wonderman, the super bad boy supreme super star, Leo Valdez.
Not that that stopped me from, ya know living.
In some ways, it was a miracle that so many did live. That's what Chiron said. He's trying to make us all look on the bright side. There is some bright side. Camp's only been in session for two days and we've already had three new campers show up with their Satyrs. Unfortunately, the Roman transfers have also shown up, immediately patrolled the entire camp, and were disgusted by our progress with rebuilding. It's been like, nine months. They picked up hammers and repaired the forge in like an hour. They even put a roof on the dining hall- there wasn't even a roof on there in the first place!
They tried to hit up Bunker 9 too, but that's where I drew the line. I sent them to the forges to sweat their asses off. That's how myself and Calypso ended up alone in the bunker- after my lovely siblings abandoned me to take a basket weaving class (it's very important to Nyssa apparently)- with Festus guarding the door, on the lookout for any roaming Romans.
I was on the workbench- I found this super cool suit of armor. It was way too clunky now, but I had ideas to re work it so that it would be way more functional for the dive-bombing idiots that love danger *cough Jason. It was either that or a bulletproof vest.
The clearing of a throat interrupted my thought process, and I spun around to see Calypso in her signature pose, arms crossed, hip popped out, eyebrow raised, complete with her signature scowl. She was radiant, as usual, with her long caramel hair tied back into a ponytail, and her eyes glistening under the bunker's skylight, which beamed down on her majestically, like the goddess (Titaness?) she was. I immediately dropped the armor on my workbench sheepishly. Next to the spinning top I found. And the monster seeking headphones. And the flamethrower spear. And the- well you get it.
"What other junk did you find," Calypso asked warily, eyeing the trinkets on my desk.
I tsked at her and looped my arm through hers, guiding her away from the workbench. "Not junk Sunshine. A new great invention. Failed by one child of Hephaestus, conquered by the next."
She rolled her eyes. "Still just looks like junk to me." She murmured under her breath, begrudgingly allowing him to guide her towards the pile of parts.
After the Romans practically assaulted me after I refused their entry, they reported me to Chiron, and I was forced to take everything and put it into a pile. So, naturally, I built a forklift. And now there's a pile so tall in my bunker that I needed to build a cherry picker. And now, here we are. Right now, everything was being sorted into parts, inventions that needed to be reworked, inventions that were already good, actual blueprints, and a pile Calypso insistently labeled junk. To be fair the junk pile was pretty large. And needed to be reworked through.
"Everything in this pile has a purpose. A new difference to make. Like this." I randomly grabbed into the pile and pulled out… a doll. "It's ah. Super cute." Calypso grinned, stifling her laughter. I shoot the doll by it's head. "Cuteness saves lives Calypso!"
After the giggling stopped, the doll was put into the "needs work" category, but my insistence, and the two of us continued sorting, settling into routine. Jazz played over the loudspeakers. The pile seemed never ending, even to me, and as time went on, I realized that the one giant pile was just dissolving into five, slightly less giant piles.
I was about to point this out to Calypso, when she suddenly hissed out in pain, dropping the object she was holding. Instantly, I grabbed a hammer and darted towards her. She was clutching her finger, frowning down.
"I'm fine," She assured me, waving me away. "Something just stung me."
The idea of wasps didn't make me want to put the hammer away more. I went over and gestured for her to let me see her hand. She rolled her eyes, but opened her palm. Sure enough a small welt was forming on her pointer finger. It was already beginning to swell up.
"Well Sunshine, guess you're done for the day."
"What? It's just a little bump, I'm fine."
"Nope. You're down. Out of action. I think I feel your pulse fading out."
"LEO!"
"Alright, alright." I chuckled, guiding her over to the first aid kit hanging on the wall. "I guess there's a nest in there. Might have to fog them out or something."
Calypso begrudgingly allowed me to slap a bandaid on her finger, refuting my repeated offers to kiss it better. Despite her protests that she was fine, I insisted we took a break for lunch. Even beyond being worried for her, I needed to check now if any of my siblings were allergic to bugs, in case any more of those suckers were hanging around.
While Calypso packed up her stuff to leave, I went over to where she was stung to check out the scene for bodies, in case it was just a suicide bomber bee. Peering down, I instead found what must have been the thing Calypso was holding whenever she was stung. I picked it up, and the familiar material of the object stopped me in my tracks. It was a small picture book, with the picture of a boy with a long nose. The cover was old, with fading red twine coming from some corners, and crumbling soot coming from other corners. "Pinocchio" was sprawled across the top in white, bold letters.
I could vaguely hear Calypso calling my name in the background, but for once in my life, I was fully focused on one thing only. With trembling fingers, I opened the book to neat cursive writing on the back of the front cover. "My dear Hope…"