Thanks for the awesome reviews (already!) :D Any guesses where they landed?

BELOW THEM STRETCHED OUT MILES of red, cliff-like mountains. A road snaked through them – a freeway? Or just a highway? Calypso had no way of knowing. She had a feeling she'd be asking Leo a lot of questions like that in the days to come.

"Where are we?" she asked.

Leo shrugged. "I dunno. But we're setting down." He pointed to an expanse of dry grass that was coming closer and closer, next to a village nestled in a valley between the red mountains. "Right there."

Festus creaked and squeaked and groaned.

"Yeah, buddy, coming in for a landing," Leo said, laying a hand on the neck of his bronze friend. "You'll have a good rest and I'll fix you up so we can keep going."

They plummeted the last few dozen feet, and crashed to the ground. The force of impact made Calypso tumble off the dragon, followed by Leo. They lay there slightly stunned for a moment. Calypso looked up into Leo's sparkling dark eyes, and smiled.

It had really happened. He had came back for her, and taken her off the island. This crazy, insanely clever demigod had broken her curse. And gods of Olympus, Calypso loved him for that, and for everything else that he was.

Leo kissed her on the tip of her nose, then winked and got to his feet. "C'mon, Sunshine, we've got work to do."

"He's made of Celestial bronze, isn't he?" Calypso asked, running a hand over Festus's head. The dragon squeaked.

"Yeah," Leo said, distracted with examining the holes on the left side of the dragon's stomach.

"Where are you going to get that in this strange place?" Calypso asked.

"I dunno," Leo replied. "I think I can fix up enough with what I can get out of my tool belt so that we can finish the trip to Camp Half-Blood." As he spoke, Leo reached into the tool belt and pulled out a coil of thick Celestial bronze wiring. He unwound a long piece of it and clipped it with some wire clippers. He then wound it into a circle big enough to cover the largest hole in Festus's side, and summoned a small flicker of fire on his right hand. Carefully he melted the metal just enough so that it fused to Festus's body.

Calypso smiled to herself. For so long, she had ached to see Leo at work again. Now she had her wish. It was like magic to see his hands fly, exchanging tools and bits of Celestial bronze, patching up the biggest holes in Festus's side. She just knelt there beside Leo, watching him, relishing being with him again, and relishing in being free.

She hadn't even noticed the "tether" tying her to Ogygia until it was gone. Now she felt like she could do anything. And whatever she did, she wanted Leo to be at her side.

When Leo was done fixing the holes, he stood up and stretched. "I'm hungry. Let's go into that little town and see if we can find something to eat."

"You'd leave Festus?" Calypso was surprised.

"He can take care of himself long enough for me to get food. Nothing gets between Leo and food when he's hungry."

Calypso laughed. "Wait," she said. She went to her suitcases, opened the top one, and rummaged around for a minute. "Here you go," she said, and handed Leo a fresh white t-shirt.

"Fireproof?" Leo asked.

Calypso nodded. "This one's way too ripped up," she said, touching a piece of fabric hanging by his shoulder. His skin was warm and still sooty from the flames.

Leo took off his burnt shirt – it came off in pieces – and pulled on the new one. Calypso took a torn piece and stepped close to Leo.

"You've got soot smudges all over your face," she said. She dabbed at the black spots.

"Oh, Sunshine," Leo said, "soot smudges are the trademark of Leo Valdez, Dead Man Alive."

Calypso wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. He had almost not made it back to her. But his genius and Festus had saved him. How could he joke about something so serious? But that was Leo. Her Leo.

"Thanks for the shirt," Leo said. "Now, food." He took Calypso's hand, sending those warm little sparks up her arm and down her spine. "I wonder if we can find some Fonzies."

"Some what?"

"Fonzies."

"Yes, I heard that, but what are they?"

"Junk food from Italy. Cheese and corn and yum."

Calypso wondered what junk food was, but she decided she'd better not ask. "Well, I may have been cut off from the world for centuries, but I know enough to say that this – " She gestured to the dry road they were walking down, and the buildings coming closer – "is not Italy."

Leo shrugged. "There's always a chance. I came back, didn't I? Isn't that more unlikely than finding Fonzies in...whatever this place is. Somewhere in western USA. I've spent enough time in that part of the country to recognize this kind of land. Nevada, Utah, something like that."

"Were you out here for your first quest? The first trip you took with Festus?" Calypso tried to piece together bits of things Leo had told her.

Leo was silent for a moment, which made Calypso wonder if he'd heard her, but then he spoke. "Nah, not then. I was around this area when I was a kid, for a while."

"When you were a kid?"

"Yeah," Leo said. "But you don't want to hear those stories. Kind of downers, those ones. Food is much more exciting."

Calypso wondered what Leo meant by his childhood stories being a downer. Maybe someday, he'd tell her. "What about money?"

Leo reached into his tool belt and pulled out a gold coin. "Eh, wrong one." He dropped it back in and pulled out a piece of greenish paper with writing and pictures on it. "That's better."

Calypso took the paper from him and fingered it's texture. "So this is what you pay for things with now." She shook her head in amazement.

Leo grinned at her, and they walked the last stretch into the town.

Not sure if Leo will find anything to satisfy his Fonzie cravings, but he's definitely in for a pleasant surprise... Stay tuned!